29 MARCH 1884, Page 23

The Decisive Battles of India, from 1746 to 1840, inclusive.

By Colonel G. B. Malleson, C.S.I. (W. H. Allen and Co.)—A work bearing such a fascinating title, and from the author of "The Life of Lord Clive," deserves fuller notice than we are now able to give it. To a certain extent, however, and inevitably, Colonel Malleson here goes over what is with him old ground; thus he had already told the stories of Plassey and Kevenplik in his "Life of Clive." This is just the sort of book we should feel inclined to place in the hands of boys —if there are such—whom the influence of msthetio or luxurious mammas may be in danger of rendering milksops. The annals of the Roman Proconsulate do not contain a more stimulating story of en- durance, daring, and the manlier virtues generally, than that told in Colonel Malleson's twelve chapters, beginning with the struggle of St. Thome, and ending with the battles of (we cannot reconcile our- selves to all the Colonel's spelling) Chilianwallah and Gujerat. Colonel Malleson does well to give such prominence to the little-known battle of St. Thome, for, as he says, it is the key to all others in India. "It was the victory of Farad* on the Adgal, over the army of the native ruler of the Karniitak, which inverted the position of the Europeans on the eastern coast and the children of the soil." Almost every page of this volume shows traces of original research, and Colonel Malleson brings personal knowledge to bear on the con- flict between the British authority and the Mahrattas, showing him- self frequently opinionative. What Anglo-Indian is not ? He is never dull. His narratives of the battles of Kaseripak, Baksar, and Assaye, in chapters ii, vii., ix., respectively, strike us as exception- ally good.