• VON ORLICR'S TRAVELS IN INDIA.

CAPTAIN Von Orli& is an officer in the Guards of the King of Prussia ; who seeing no opening for active service in Europe, wished to proceed to India, to take part in the wars that appeared impending after the disasters in Cabul. The length of time that was necessarily occupied in negotiations and the voyage, " unhappily " (as he expresses it) delayed his arrival till the affair was over ; and fetes, festivities, peaceful triumphs, and private observations, were substituted for the toils and dangers of Afghan campaigns.

The subjects or topics of Captain Von Orlicles volumes embrace the outward and homeward voyage by Egypt and the Red Sea ; Bombay ; an ascent of the Indus, with remarks upon the country adjoining its banks; the grand doings of the Governor-General hi his progresses and receptions ; an embassy of ceremony to the court of Lahore ; and a return journey to Calcutta, through Delhi, Agra, and Cawnpoor; with an episo- dical Visit to Lucknow, the capital of the King of Oude. The route is not new in heels; but Von Orli& has some qualifications adapted to give character to observation. The spirited wood-cuts inter- spersed through the pages of the volumes show an artistical eye as well as a facile pencil. The correspondence with Humboldt (to whom and to

Carl Ritter the letters forming the work are addressed). indicate ;mien tastes and acquirements ; and, what is more to the purpose, the let themselves are rapid, lively, and well stored with matter, w

the :author rarely exhibits any wish to eke out his space by common- places. The attractive feature of the book, however, arises from the cir- cumstances of the author. • We gather the judgment and impressions of a foreigner and military man upon our Indian 'dominions, and the Anglo- Indian character ; although the attentions and hospitality he received, and the persons among whom he lived, have necessarily given a bias to his opiniors, and the necessity of conquest, especially of Scinde and Lahore, seems to be received as an axiom. His position also brought him into close contact with great personages. Indian geography has not yet got as fur as Prussia. No attempt, apparently, was made to impress upon Indian comprehension the systeth of the National Militia or Landwehr, even could it have succeeded. But a standing army of five hundred thousand men was intelligible enough, though its maintenance was a matter of puzzle. The Captain of the Guards of such an intimate friend and ally ot' Queen Victoria became an object of curiosity to all Indian princes. Lord Ellenborough seems to have seized the opportunity of making the most of the Prussian lion. When they met at the camp of Ferozpoor, the Governor took the Captain a ride on a tame elephant. When the army of Afghanistan returned victorious and in procession, the Governor-General presented a piece of ordnance captured at the Bala Hisser, Cabal, to the King of Prussia, and wrote a longish note upon the subject ; though it seems that the gun has not yet reached Berlin. On Von Orlieles joining the complimentary embassy to the successor of Rnn- jeet Singh, in order to see the country and court of Lahore, Lord Ellen- borough wrote as follows in his letter to Maharajah (i. e. great rajah or lord)--= " He [the Envoy] will be accompanied by Captain Somerset, my Military; Se- cretary, and other gentlemen, and likewise by Captain Von Orlieh, of the Giiirds of his Majesty the Kin. of Prussia, whom his Majesty had sent to witness the campaign in Afghanistan: but, by God's aid, the war was finished gloriously be- fore he reached India, and he has only witnessed the victorious return of the armies. He has been a witness also to the recent evidences of the mutual friend- ship of the two allied Governments; and I rejoice that he will be enabled tomport to his Sovereign that our alliance endures for ever."

From these advantages, and the circumstance of so many potentates assembling to pay their respects to the Governor-General, there is a great deal more of princes and ceremonies than is often found even in courtly voltunes ; but by no means done in bad taste or a tufthunting spirit. We think, too, that the descriptions of Von Orlich convey a better idea of Indian life in camp, or on the journey, than other accounts we have lint with. Its singularity naturally struck the stranger vividly; whereas Anglo,Indians are accustomed to it ; and the newly-arrived, who Write, do not see it, especially on so grand a scale. Here is a sample of .the Governor-General's magnificence.

. . ". GLORIES GONE."

In front of the tent of the Governer-General is a- road one hundred and fifty paces broad, along which are pitched tents of the superior civil and military officers and aides-de-camp composing the administration; above forty Clerks belong to the department of the Secretary of Government alone. At the end of this or street is the tent which has been put up for me: it is divided intoihree com- partments, with double walls and roofs, thirty feet long and twenty broad. The Governor-General has a body-guard of two officers and one hundred and twenty cavalry soldiers, and hundreds of servants. A regiment_ of cavalry,- another of infantry, and a brigade of artillery, do duty in the camp, Lord Ellenboroug.It's Dinbar tent consists of three large tents.; and is 168 feet long, 32 broad, and 28 high. The apartments are covered with the most witty carpets, and are lighted up in the evening with chandeliers; iron stoves ins warmth and cheerfulness;

ess; and a canopy, n front of which the standard of

land floats on a lofty pole, marks the entrance. From this Durbar tent a _eass door leads through a covered passage to the dwelling and sleeping-tents. When we sat down to dinner, which was served on -silver, the band of the Governor- General struck up "God save the Queen": a servant in a scarlet livery stood behind the chair of each guest, while two stately Hindoo attendants fanned his Lordship with a chowree made of the tufted tail of the Hindoo ox, in a slow and measured movement.

Courts and great men are not, however, the only topics in the volumes. Captain You Orlich is all observer of native life, of the natural and arti- ficial features of the country, and of the character and effects of the Anglo-Indian government. upon these topics his remarks are curious and interesting to its; but on the Continent they will have a useful effect, by presenting a vivid and favourable opinion of our rule. - Upon these points we take a few miscellaneous passages : full information must be sought in the volumes.

THE HOLY OF HOLIES, BENARES.

The Gyan-bapee is surrounded by pagodas and places of prayer; and it is so leosely encompassed with buildings, that we were obliged to dismount from our elephant several streets before we reached it. It is impossible to conceive any thing more dirty, disgusting, or repulsive; than the sight of this Hindoo sanctuary, which amply proves how much this religion has degenerated.

Several priests conducted us into the ulterior. The well is thirty feet deep, and is surrounded by a wall of hewn stone and fret-work, round which there are stone seats; the water was dirty and green. Close to the well there is a.platform, of blocks of granite, on which the holy cow stood. On one of the 'Steno

uches, by the wall of the well, sat a very aged little man, crouched together; and though silvery locks hung over his temples, and his countenance was furrowed and wrinkled, his eyes sparkled with youthful fire, and he spoke with enthusiasm of the sanctity and wonders of this sacred. spot. He was resolved, he said, to await his death here as he was Convinced that this would facilitate his way to heaven. At his side stood a naked fakir; whose hair hung like ropes from his head to the calves of his legs, and who had painted his body and face in such a strange and hideous manner that I could not take my eyes of him. He appeared- to answer our compassionate looks with scorn and contempt. Adjoining the well, are several small, dark temples and places of.prayer,:which are lighted only by lamps: one of these temples is set apart for childless women. As we were considered unclean, we were not permitted to enter the s.anetuarY,-in which their god, hewn in stone, was surrounded by numerous lamps; and we were obliged to content:ourselves with looking at it through the narrow door. Sacred cows and calves were walking about in several apartments: two of -these animals lay dead upon the floor, and the pestalential smell quickly drove us into the open air.

ANGLO-INDIAN OFFICERS.

I have had the pod fortune to be acquainted with most of the European armies; but I have found m none more gamma ecediality and self-denial than in the Rag-

lish. In this no one will be behind another. in this they consider themselves all

as equals; the superior officer is not distant the younger, whose interests are Ins own—in- and in sorrow they are one. A corps officers in India is, in the true sense of the word, a large family. There- is something hearty, confidential, in the manner in which the youngest offider at table challenges the general to drink a glass of wine with him. At the same time, there is the strictest regard to duty in the service, and never a neglect of that respect which the younger owes to the elder. But the British army. in India requires, like most other armies, the vigour and energy of youth at the head of the troops. Most of the generals and staff-officers are too advanced in age' and never find opportunity to arrange and to move great masses. They have passed the greater part of their lives in India; some have not visited their native country since they were seventeen years of age; others perhaps only for a short time- the Indian mode of life has become a second nature to them. Even among the captains young men are seldom found; most of them not having attained that rank till after eighteen years' service, though they obtain the rank of brevet-captain after fifteen years' service.

ENGLISH SOLDIERS.

Having said thus much of the Native soldier, I will add a few words respecting the European—the English soldier. He forms the real basis of the army in India; he is the Instrument by which the immense power of India has been founded, and by which it is supported. Only 45,000 Europeans! a mixture of all the lowest c4wa of Great Britain, but hardy, adventurous men, who, in hope of a better situation, have Bold their lives for twenty years. - The English soldier knows that he is in a foreign land—that on decisive occa- skins be must depend upon himself alone: "to conquer or to die" is his motto, which is so deeply rooted in him that it seems to him incredible that he should ever be conquered; coolness and presence of mind are combined in his character with boldness and perseverance.

In battle, the English soldier is generally employed where the hottest combat is expected, and the Native takes courage from his valour. On such occasions, there is no want of reciprocal sacrifices, in which no one will be behind the other•' and the Hindoo values chivalrous deeds as much as he is grateful for sacrifices made for himself. Thus, in the last war, some soldiers of the Thirteenth or Queen's Regiment rescued some soldiers of the Thirty-fourth Bengal Regiment from the hands of the Afghans, at the hazard of their lives: for which that regiment was sainted by the other on their meeting; and the privates of the Thirty-fourth Regi- ment prepared a festive entertainment at Femzpoor for their European comrades in the most affectionate manner, which was afterwards returned by them with a cerresponding feeling.

.Ihniappily, however, the English soldiers are not temperate; they are addicted to Spirituous liquors, by which, in this climate, so dangerous to Europeans, death makes fearful ravages among them. It may be assumed that most of the Euro- pean regiments lose ten per cent of their men in the first year of their being here.