ANGLO-INDI A—SOCIAL, MORAL, AND POLITICAL,
Is a collection of articles from the Asiatic Journal. They consist of general talk about the social system of India, some sketches of its bench and Bar, tales illustrative of native and European character, especially when brought into conjunc- tion, and a few biographical notices of Indians or Anglo-Indians of mark. To eke out these into the required bulk, a selection of papers from some Oriental periodicals are added, with a variety of productions of that nondescript class which fall under the head of "light articles."
The art angemeut mentioned in the titlepage is merely arbitrary, and probably an afterthought. There is as much of morality introduced into the descriptions of society, as there is in the part more expressly devoted to it ; and the political state of India is indifferently unfolded by a few biographies. This defect, however, would have been of little importance, had tie book possessed either matter or merit; but it has little of one or the other. The lighter parts are flimsy, the graver unanimated ; and though the writer or writers have a knowledge of Indian life, it is fully counterbalanced by the possession of its political prejudices or its narrow social views. To those who take a direct interest in India, the vo'urnes will furnish some useful hints, and some passable reading for leisure hall-hours; and any one may pick up some- thing from its pages. But we think either object would have been sufficiently attained frcm the Asiatic Journal. The most lifelike parts of ;he work are those which treat of the bench and bar of India; for, though diffuse and discursive, they consist of anecdote and character, albeit initials are too often sub- stituted for names. The following stories of MACKINTOSH are not without point ; though the conduct described perhaps arose quit as much from a full remembrance of his own convenience, and Ibrgetfultiess of that of others, as from any Parson-Adams-like was subject also to certain Parson-Adams.like habits of forgetfulness of eommon things and lesser proprieties; and this brought down upon him no slight share of tauat and ridicule. It happened on his arrival at Bombay, that there was no house ready for his reception; and it would be a fortnight before a residence in the Fort could be prepared for him. Mr. Jonathan Duncan, the Governor of the Presidency, therefore, with great kindness, offered his garden. house, called Sans Pareil, for the temporary accommodation of Sir limes and his family. But months and months elapsed, till a twelvemonth had actually revolved : Mackintosh and his wife during all this time found themselves so comfortable in their quarters, that they forgot completely the limited tenure on which they held them; appearing, by a singular illusion, not to have the slightest suspicion of Mr. Duncan's proprietorship, notwith. 'goading some pretty intelligible hints on the subjeet from that gentleman, but communicated with his usual delicacy and politeness. At last, politeness and delicacy were out of the question, and the poor Governor was driven to the ne- cessity of taking forcible possession of his own property. This was partly indo. knee, partly absence of mind, on the part of Sir James. He was eonstitu- tionally averse to every sort of exertion, and especially that of quitting any place where he found himself comfortable. Before he went out to India, he made • trip into Scotland with his lady ; and having taken tip his abode for the night at an inn in Perthshire, not far from the beautiful park of the late Lord Melville, then Mr. Dundee, sent a request to Lady Jane Dundee (Mr. Dundee hi ing absent) for permission to see the house and grounds, which wt11 most civily granted. Mr. Mandan being expected is the evening, her Lad) ship politely pressed them to stay to dinner, and pass the night, their accon modatiout at the inn not being of the first description. Mr. Dundee returnea the same day ; sad, though their politics were as adverse as possible, was so charmed with the variety of Mackintosh's conversation, that he requested his guests to prolong their visit for two or three days. So liberal, however, was the interpretation they put upon the invitation, that the two or three days were Fon acted into as many months ; during which every species of hint was most ineffectually given, till their hosts told them, with many polite apologies, that they expected visitere and a numerous retinue, and could therefore no longer accommodate Mr. and Mrs. Mackintosh."
Of the general society of India, and of the futility of any golden expectations now to be realized in that quarter, our authors give a saddening account. Under the guise of a compli- ment, they are also pretty sharp upon the marriage speculations of India; but, as their general fidelity is established, they offer the following ingenious resolution of the cause.
"It may perhaps diminish the value of the compliment, but it is almost an obvious truth, that in India our wives are better guarded by one little cireum- stance in their domestic economy, than if they were sechalcd with Turkish jealousy from every eye, or secured from in:intact by ramparts of brass. Eon. jogai infidelity is no:0- to impracticable : and what do you think it is which renders it impracticable? " In the first place, (do not smile, reader,) in every house, through every apart- ment, the doors of which, from the necessity of the climate, are always open, there are egnstantly gliding along, with noiseless and inaudible tread, a variety of domestics, with various nanies, and acting in various offices. They are eter- nally at the elbow of their mistress. If she shakes off Ilamasftwrny, Vencatah is sure to succeed him. The moment the Iransunaar leaves the saloon, the kit. mugar steals into it. So unheard and unperceived is their foot.fall, that they are like flies with respect to their exits and entrances. He who does not per- ceive the influence that so perpetual an exposure to observation will have upos time female conduct, must needs have the dullest apprehension in tire world. The force of such a restraint is almost incalculable. It acts upon the wife as a supernumerary conscience ; and it has all the efficacy of the severest penalties which law could inflict. In truth, your black servants, whose eyes are those of lynxes, and who are endued with a kind of invisible ubiquity, may be relied upon by the most jealous husband as so many walking statutes against adultery. /Nor are there in your houses in India any of those snug receptaeles of intrigue, those petits boudoirs, which in England are considered by every lady to be inviolable—her castellion, her sanctuary, into which none but a few foolishly indulgent wive, will permit even their husbands to intrude. The eye may com- mand at once every apartment of the mansion, whicla is seldom of more than one story, as distinctly as Don Cleofas inspected the interior of the houses of Madrid, which his friend the lame devil had unroofed to his curiosity. Con- eider again, I beseech you, the necessary effect of this one circumstance, in the formation and preservation of chaste and guarded habits, and the bridling irre- gular and licentious passions, by the almost entire impossibility of indulging them, and you will set a proper value on a moral restraint at once so gentle and so effectual.
"Another most invaluable restraint, which keeps down in India this worst of domestic scourges in English society—that pernicious crime which, in the world of fashion, is so often snapping asunder the golden cord of wedded affection—is a restraint of a physical rather than a moral kind ; but it operates with equal force on the seducer and the victim. What I mean is, the almost absolute im- practicability of eioping. There are no post-horses to carry off the erring couple, as it were, on the wings of love, or at least with the degree of velocity which their escape from shame and retribution requires. Palanquins are out of the question. As fir running away on horseback, it is quite impossible. No lady in that torrid climate could endure the fatigues incident to a mode of travelling so disconcerting to the female nerves. Every successive bump would be a lecture upon her imprudence; her misplaced desires would be completely jolted to pieces; and I question whether the gallant himself, whilst spurring his flagging Arab under a burning sun, would not he inclined to think that he had at least gone far enough, and to begin to vote the whale affaie to be a bore. Then there are not, as in Engl ind, delightful inns, stored with exquisite viauds
and admirable wines, with smiling landlords and obsequious waiters, where the fugitive pair may halt to recruit their spirits, and drown in champagrie or claret the squeamish and uncomfortable risings of remorse that may obtrude upon their felicity. But for these there are, at occasional distances, certain buildings called choultries, facetiously said to have been erected for the comfort
of travellers,—desolate, cheerless, uninhabited, echoing to no sounds but the howl of jackalls and the hum of musquitoea. In these inhospitable edifices there is nothing to cheer or support you ; and a much better chance of your being yourself eaten up than of finding any thing to eat."
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