24 JANUARY 1891, Page 25

The Indian Mutirey of 1857. By Colonel G. B. Malleson.

Seeley and Co.) — Although the Indian Mutiny has been abundantly written upon, no apology is needed for a volume giving in convenient compass and in a readable style the history -of that great crisis. Colonel Malleson, moreover, maintains that while previous writers on the subject have dealt amply with the consequences of the Mutiny, they have but dimly shadowed forth its causes. He is not inclined to stop at the greased cartridge ; on the contrary, he went a step further back in the history of the outbreak in 1880, when he published the concluding volume of Kayo's History of the Mutiny. A viait which he made to India has confirmed him in his chief conclusions, that whilst the action of the Indian Government in Oudh and elsewhere had undermined the loyalty of the sipiihis and prepared their minds for the conspirators, the conspirators themselves, of whom the chief were the Maulavi of Faizilbid, Nana Sahib, and the Rtinf of Jb4ass1, had done all in their power to bring about rebellion ; and that the action of the land system introduced into the North- West Provinces by Mr. Thomason predisposed their inhabitants to revolt. "There remained only to the conspirators to find a grievance which should so touch the strong religious susceptibili- ties of the sipilafs as to incite them to overt action. Such a grievance they found in the greased cartridge." It is unnecessary to follow Colonel Malleson in his lucid and easy-flowing narrative. It must suffice to say that he does equal justice to the achievements Of individual Englishmen in the Mutiny, and to the general lines of strategy the following up of which brought it to a close. While he gives all credit to Havelock, Outram, Clyde, and the two Lawrencee, he says of John Nicholson, who fell at Delhi at the age of thirty-seven : "He died with the reputation of

being the most successful administrator, the greatest soldier, and the most perfect master of men in India. The reputation was, I believe, deserved." The storming of Delhi is exceptionally well described. Altogether, this may fairly be pronounced as the most useful handbook of the Indian Mutiny that has yet been published. It is to be hoped that its usefulness will not be impaired by the author's spelling of some well-known Indian names, such as "Kanhpur " and even " Dehlf." Colonel Malleson tries to justify what to most readers will seem an eccentricity ; yet they will probably find it an inconvenience rather than a help.