The Life of Edward John Eyre, late Governor of Jamaica.
By Hamilton Hume. (Bentley.)—In the earlier part of this book Mr.
Hume comes forward as a witness to character, arguing that a man
who plunged, into deep water before he could swim never would have attempted to stem the torrent of insurrection unless he had been a
practised swimmer, and that a man who was just to blacks in Australia could not have been =just to them in Jamaica. But when Mr. Hamilton Hume and his hero come to Jamaica, disregard for facts is changed into defiance of both facts and logic. The manner in which Gordon's trial is related is a fair sample of the zeal of Mr. Eyre's defender. We hear of a "properly constituted Court," when it is notorious that the cotut-martial was illegal in its composition, and paid no attention to tile laws of evidence. We are assured that Mr. Eyre was satisfied as to Gordon's guilt, and that Mr. Hamilton Hume is satisfied that Mr. Eyre had a right to be satisfied. Fortunately, however, for his own reputation, Mr. Hume has •printed in an appendix Professor Tyndall's letter to the Jamaica Committee, and one sentence of that letter •is the only possible commentary on Mr. Eyre's biographer.
We are implored not to permit the folly of Governor Eyre's admirers to colour our judgment in a grave question. We accede to that request,
and we will not let Mr. Hamilton Hume's panegyric blind us to the substantial merits of Mr. Eyre's Australian career, or persuade us that there could not have ever been a man of such courage and energy, because there was so weak and intemperate a governor.
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