Russell.

tion of Sindh..

CHAPTER IV.

THE ATHENÆUM, 1860-1861.

THE New Year opened brightly for every branch of intellectual effort, "in somewhat singular contrast to the lowering of the landscape in the more agitated provinces of faith and politics." India and the Mutiny was still a prominent My Diary in subject, and 'My Diary in India, in the Year India,' by W. H. 1858-9,' by W. H. Russell, LL.D., is reviewed in the first number of the year: "In the long, painful and acrimonious controversy about the The annexa- annexation of Sindh the English public chose Napier for their hero, and degraded Sir James Outram, the Bayard of modern times, into a mere carpet knight. To such a height had grown this miserable dissension, that even the daring of the bravest of English braves was questioned. The base slander died in the glorious light of battle-fields in Oudh, yet even their light might have been eclipsed, but for the generous sympathy of the Times Special Correspondent; and envy, dead though it be, has not altogether failed of its purpose, since no cross

of valour adorns the man who of all our Indian host best deserved that honour. On the 28th of January, 1858, Mr. Russell landed at Calcutta 'without prejudices to overcome or theories to support.'"

Mr. Russell while in the Crimea had first heard of the annexation of Oudh,

"'which was represented not only as an act of the highest political wisdom, but also as a political necessity. Now, near the spot, I hear wise men doubt the wisdom-and see them shake their heads when one talks of the necessity of the annexation.'......

"Hired pens had long drafted lengthy bills of indictment against the princes of Oudh as

Strange that tyrants

against every native ruler.
should have made an Eden of their home. Yet
we read,

""A vision of palaces, mirrors, domes azure and golden, cupolas, colonnades, long façades of fair perspective in pillar and column, terraced roofs-all rising up amid a calm, still ocean of the brightest verdure......There is a city more vast than Paris, as it seems, and more brilliant, lying before us. Is this a city in Oudh? Is this the capital of a semi-barbarous race, erected by a corrupt, effete and degraded dynasty? I confess I felt inclined to rub my eyes again and again."

The Athenæum in concluding the article says: "We have cited enough to show how the Special Correspondent of the Times became converted to the opinions which have often, and long before he wrote, been exhibited in these

The annexa

tion of Oudh.

1860. The literature

columns. Enough has been said to prove the difference between telescopic views of far-off India and examination on the spot. Let those who despise the theories and principles of Indian statesmen turn to these volumes, and they will find enough to show that experience is the best guide to theory."

The literature of the year included 'Narrative of the year. of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, in the Years 1857, '58, '59,' by Laurence Oliphant; 'Some of My Bush Friends in Tasmania: Native Flowers, Berries and Insects,' by Louisa Anne Meredith; 'The Life of the Duke of Wellington,' by Charles Duke Yonge; 'Notes on Nursing,' by Florence Nightingale; 'Travels in Eastern Africa; with the Narrative of a Residence in Mozambique,' by Lyons M'Leod; 'The Life of the Right Rev. Daniel Wilson, D.D., late Lord Bishop of Calcutta,' by the Rev. Josiah Bateman; Essays and Reviews'; 'Pictures of Sporting Life and Character,' by Lord William Lennox; 'Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith,' by Sir John E. Eardley-Wilmot; Poems before Congress,' by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Life of Edmond Malone, Editor of Shakspeare,' by Sir James Prior; 'Arrest of the Five Members by Charles the First a Chapter of English History Rewritten,' by John Forster; The Mill on the Floss,' by

:

6

George Eliot;

Memoir of the Life of Ary

Scheffer,' by Mrs. Grote; Lucile,' by Owen Meredith; the fifth and sixth volumes of the 'History of England, from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth,' by James Anthony Froude; Personal History of Lord Bacon: from Unpublished Papers,' by William Hepworth Dixon; Autobiographical Recollections,' by the late Charles Robert Leslie, R.A., edited by Tom Taylor; 'The Lake Regions of Central Africa a Picture of Exploration,' by Richard F. Burton; the fifth volume of Ruskin's 'Modern Painters'; 'Memorials of Thomas Hood'; 'The Physiology of Common Life,' by George Henry Lewes; 'A Second Series of Vicissitudes of Families,' by Sir Bernard Burke; 'The Glaciers of the Alps,' by John Tyndall, and Dr. Forbes's reply; 'The Sources of the Nile,' by Dr. Beke; and A Book about Doctors,' by J. Cordy Jeaffreson.

William Spence, the surviving author of that classical work 'An Introduction to Entomology; or, Elements of the Natural History of Insects,' died on the 6th of January at his residence in Lower Seymour Street, at the age of seventyseven, and an obituary notice is given of him on the 14th: "In early life Mr. Spence was engaged in business at Hull, and here it was he contracted that taste for the study of insects which

William

Spence.

tion of Naval

led to his introduction to Mr. Kirby, and the production of the work which has made their names familiar as household words' wherever insects are recognized as worthy of study. The history of the production of this work is the most interesting passage in the life of Mr. Spence, and this is most truly given in the 'Life' of Mr. Kirby by Mr. Freeman......He sat at one time in Parliament and became very generally known for his advocacy of plans for making Great Britain independent of foreign nations. He wrote a pamphlet on this subject which attracted great attention at the time."

46

On the same date it is announced that on Monday evening next the promoters of an The Institu- Institution of Naval Architects will hold their Architects. first meeting in London. The organization of this Institution has been silently proceeding for some months past, and only needs the meeting of Monday to give it completeness. The basis of the Institution is broad, for we learn that its council comprises not only several distinguished private ship-builders, but most of the principal ship-building officers of Her Majesty's Dockyards, and the chief Surveyors of Lloyd's Shipping Register Office......The Honorary Secretary of the Society is Mr. E. J. Reed."

Mr. Cobden had lost nearly the whole of his private fortune by investment in American rail