27 SEPTEMBER 1845, Page 16

SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

11111TOZT.

The History of the British Empire in India. By Edward Thornton, Esq., Author o

"India, its State and Prospects," &c. Vol. VI Alan and Co. nom sr,

Body the Rover; or The RIbbonman. By William Carleton, Author of" Traits and

Stories of the Irish Peasantry," &c. &c Ringrose and Co.; Duffy, Dublin. POLITICS,

Essays on the Repeal of the 'Union, to which the Association Prizes were awarded ;

with a Supplemental Essay, recommended by the Judges Duffy, Dublin.

THORNTON'S HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA.

Tins sixth volume of Mr. Thornton's History concludes the work ; con- taining the period from the renewal of the Charter to Lord Ellenborough's

recall. The smaller topics embrace the squabbles of the Company with the Whig Government touching the appointment of the Governor-General and so forth,—which we suppose means patronage ; a clear account of the case of the Nabob of Oude's debts ; a narrative, equally clear, of the ease of the Rajah of Sattara, so often debated at the India House ; and a notice of the measures adopted by Sir Charles Metcalfe between Lord William Bentiuck's resignation and Lord Auckland's arrival. The Affghan war, in its great first causes, its proximate origin, its commencement, its pro- gress, and its disasters, with our closer "connexion" with Scinde by a wooing that would take no denial, form the chief features of Lord Auck- land's administration ; as our triumphant "retirement" from Affghan- istan, and the annexation of Scinde, belong to that of Lord Ellenborough. A unity of narrative, however, is preserved by treating each subject con- tinuously.

Like the five previous volumes, which ran over the whole subject of Hin- doo, Mahometan, and British India, the sixth volume is rather memoirs than history, from Mr. Thornton's deficiency in critical acumen and comprehen- sive grasp. It is, however, quite as readable, and much more useful. In the compass of a single volume, we have a connected view of the In- dian story of the last dozen years, since " Companee " gave up the shop for state affairs alone. On minor matters this is very useful, because we have information, in a collected and readable form, upon topics some- times alluded to, but which cannot be understood except by wading through a mass of India House speeches, pamphlets, and nobody knows what. The preliminary story of the Affghan and Scinde wars though the former is tinctured with a Russophobia, have the same kind of utility.

The military narratives themselves are not so fresh—at least to us who have read so much upon them ; and the stirring nature of the large events, with the fearful disasters of Cabool as told by Eyre and Lady Sale, have probably rendered them familiar to most readers. However, there is a connected and in some sort a critical view of the two wars in this volume ; though Mr. Thornton is more at home in civil than in mili- tary matters.

The impartiality of the author is the same as in the previous parts of his work, but does not appear so. His statements are accurate, his con- clusions mostly fair, and in the main just ; but he shows his leanings too strongly, especially in regard to persons. Lord Auckland he likes, but cannot venture to praise; so he dismisses him and his administration without a character, "for obvious reasons " : Lord Ellenborough, who is certainly nearer to "this present time of writing," and more surrounded by the uncleared mists of prejudice and faction, has his character drawn in the usual measured historical style, to wind up the work.

"Of Lord Ellenborough, as Governor-General of India, it is as yet difficult to speak with the freedom which may be used towards the statesmen of a former age. It is certain, however, that his Indian administration disappointed his friends; and if a judgment may be formed from his own declarations previously to his departure from Europe, it must have disappointed himself. He went to

India the avowed champion of peace and he was incessantly engaged in war. For the Affghan war he was not, indeed, accountable—he found it on his hands; and in the mode in which he proposed to conclude it, and in which he would have

concluded it but for the remonstrances of his military advisers, he certainly dis-

played no departure from the ultra-pacific policy which be had professed in England. The triumphs with which the perseverance of the generals command-

ing in Affghanistan graced his administration seem completely to have altered

his views; and the desire of military glory thenceforward supplanted every other feeling in his breast. He would have shunned war in Affghanistan by a course which the majority of his countrymen would pronounce dishonourable. He might without dishonour have avoided war in Scinde, and possibly have averted hostilities at Gwalior; but he did not. For the internal improvement of India he

did nothing. He bad, indeed, little time to do anything. War, and preparation

for war, absorbed most of his hours; and in a theatrical display of childish pomp many more were consumed. With an extravagant confidence in his own jud - ment, even on points which he had never studied, he united no portion of -

mess or constancy. His purposes were formed and abandoned with a levity which accorded little with the offensive tone which he manifested in their defence, so long as they were entertained. His administration was not an illustration of any marked and consistent course of policy; it was an aggregation of isolated facts. It resembled an ill-constructed drama, in which no one incident is the result of

that by which it was preceded, nor a just and natural preparation for that which is to follow. Every thing in it stands alone and unconnected. His influence shot across the Asiatic world like a meteor; and but for the indelible brand of shame indented in Scinde, like a meteor its memory would pass from the mind with its disappearance."

In mentioning the justness of Mr. Thornton's conclusions, one great exception must be made. He seems to have adopted Sir Robert Peel's notion, that political morality is a matter of geography; that laws of right depend upon latitude and longitude, and that in the East Indies they are altogether suspended in favour of the Company. Any thing done by Eastern diplomatists is regarded with indulgence, and defended with an unction and in a style worthy of a Russian agent : but the argument by which he defends the justice of the Affghan war (for be admits its 'im- prudence) is of the strangest character. "In judging of this most important measure, as of all of similar character, two questions occur—Was it just? and if just, was it expedient? " The tenure of sovereign power in the East is for the most part so fragile and insecure, that far less attention is due to hereditary right than might properly, be required in Europe. Usurpation is so common, and meets such ready acqmes- cence, that the possession of actual sovereignty is generally regarded as a suffi- cient title, if the person in possession be strong enough to maintain it by the only conclusive argument, that of the sword. The family of Futteh Khan, who had usurped the sovereignty of the greater part of Afghanistan, had no very respect- able title to boast; neither could their thrones be regarded as possessing any un- usual degree of stability. Yet they were treated by the British Indian Govern- ment as the rulers of the country which they had appropriated; and as the Eng- lith were not bound, like knights of old, to enter the lists of mortal combat in de- fence of all who had been deprived of their rights, they were justified in recog- nizing the authorities (such as they were) which were found in existence, without any very nice inquiry as to their origin. They did thus recognize them, and sought to establish relations of friendship and alliance. Their overtures being rejected, there was no obligation to continue to profess respect for a very bad title, or to abstain from aiding any one who had a better, in seeking to give it effect. Shoojah-ool-Bloolk had a better title, for lie was a member of the family formerly ruling in Afghanistan, and recently expelled by a violent revolution. No one can say that he had not a right to enforce his claim; and 2f this be so, those who aided him could not be wrong, unless they were involved in some special obligation, which precluded them from lawfully affording him assistance. The English were under no such obligation; for the reigning chiefs of Kabool and Kandahar, when the opportunity offered, had declined to bring them within the operation of any. It cannot be urged that the British Government in India is precluded from inter- fering in disputes relating to the possession of sovereign authority in other coun- tries; for it is certain that the Governments of Europe do interfere on such sub- jects, and that in our own times many instances of such interference have occur- red. Fervently is it hoped that in all cases where interference takes place those who exercise it have due regard to the question of light; but it cannot be sup- posed that in any case they altogether overlook their own interest in the success of the cause which they espouse; and it is not too much to believe that a regard to this is generally the chief motive for interfering. The British Government thought it for their interest to interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan for the sup- port of Shoojah-ool-Moolk ; but it must not be disguised that his claim to the throne was not indisputable. llahmood, who like himself had been expelled, was his elder brother: he left a son, who was reigning at Herat; and as Mahmood had been in actual possession of the throne, the title of his son Kamram was valid. As against Kainram, therefore, the title of Shoojah was not unassailable: but in states which would feel it derogatory to be compared with the wild and lawless tribes of Affghanistan, such occurrences as the preference of a younger to an elder branch of the royal house occasionally take place. In France, a prince who has been thus preferred sits calmly on the throne, and is acknowledged by every state in Europe as the lawful monarch of the country over which he bears rule. In Russia, too, which pretends to be a civilized state, the ordinary rule of succession was departed from when its last Emperor, Alexander, perished childless. The brother next in age was summarily set aside, (for everything is summary in Russia, even the deaths of its Sovereigns,) and a younger brother substituted. AS the title of Louis Philippe was good against all but the elder branch of his house—as the title of Nicholas was good against all but Constantine—so was that of Shoojah-ool-Moolk against every one but Kamram; and the British Govern- ment were not called upon to support a Prince who suffered hit claim to slumber, and appeared to acquiesce in the diminution to which his dominions had been sub- jected. If character were admitted as an element of choice, that of Karnram, it may be observed, was by no means calculated to attract. But whether or not the claim of Shoojah was valid against Kanuum, was not the question to be settled— it was good against the iidventurers who had possessed themselves of the larger part of Afghanistan.; and that was enough."

Shah Shoojah's _title was undoubtedly good de jure against the rulers de facto of Affghanistan, if he could enforce it. Had the British been at war with the Affghans at the time of his expulsion, they would have had an undoubted right to take up his cause for their own objects. We strongly incline to deny the right of any state to make the internal conduct of another state a cams belli, or to wage war on any such Quixotic plea as disputed titles or wronged sovereigns : but, in either case, we had barred ourselves against any such right if it exists, by our own conduct in acknowledging Dost Alshomrned and treating with him as a rightful sovereign. This would not have prevented us from waging war on valid grounds ; but the adoption of the puppet Shah was one of the most impudent and naked lies in the annals of diplomacy. Another point connected with the earlier causes of the Affghan war is, the utter uselessness of mere diplomacy, when it wanders from its proper business of keeping up the connexion, to attempt the control of future events by paper agreements. To the India rulers of the earlier part of the century Napoleon was no less a bugaboo (and on better grounds) than the Russians to Lord Auckland. Persia in each case was the stake or object ; our diplomatists aimed at beating Bonaparte on paper in Ispahan, and after some tussle the French were expelled from court. The treaty, however, was not ready to be signed till about the time of Napoleon's downfall, when its object was at an end : but it provided for any and every thing in the way of offensive and defensive amity ; and lo ! after it had been in operation some years, we paid a sum of money to be off from one of the principal stipulations; all the rest gradually tinned out to be bosh—nothing—yielding false hope and real trouble; and the masterpiece of Persian diplomacy was about as worth- less as this its opening flourish : "These happy leaves are a nosegay plucked from the thornless garden of concord, and tied by the hands of the plenipotentiaries of the two great states in the form of a definitive treaty, in which the articles of friendship and amity are blended."