Italians are never breathless-but waiting joyously, chatteringly and laughingly, for the moment of intense gratification, the commencement of "the races," looked for during the whole year, and not to be renewed for another year to come. Oh! ye of Doncaster, of Newmarket, of Ascot, of all the celebrated English races, lend them your sympathy now, lend it to that mass of human beings congregated there before us, at that curiously culminating point of human feeling, when a moment more converts it into pain. I confess that I could not deny them mine, Sunday though it was, and though I really did not forget that it was so, nor cease to regret to see it thus, according to our ideas, desecrated. No carriages are allowed to enter upon the race-course, except those of the royal family, and upon this occasion they did honour to the privilege. For here they are, entering with no less than six, each drawn by six splendidly handsome horses, besides the outriders, which promises well, to English anticipations, for "the racehorses;" and, the enthusiasm with which the sovereign is received, of whatever perhaps mixed nature it may be, which was restrained through respect for the two preceding occasions of his public appearance, now burst forth in a manner that must satisfy his pride, if not gratify his heart. I draw the distinction, because I fear he could not have forgotten, that it was only three years since, he was not only received with equal enthusiasm by these his new subjects, but that a portion of his ancient ones, on hearing that, in the exchanges then making between the sovereigns "hereabouts," they were to pass over to Parma, followed him hither-a whole community, and in the public streets threw themselves on their knees before him, and with tears and lamentations besought him not to send them out from his paternal government. The good-natured prince mingled his tears with theirs; and promised them his best consideration, but that consideration, as it appeared, had already been given, either by him or others, and Pontremoli belongs to Parma !

It would be an interesting and perhaps not wholly unprofitable study, to endeavour to ascertain the influence which the throwing back of sincere and disinterested affection upon the heart has had, from time to time, upon the human character. It must be tremendous — for tremendous is the shock to him or them who offer that which instinct tells them is of rare and priceless value; but notwithstanding all that enthusiasm, before the year was expired Leopold had fled from both his old and new dominions, in order to avoid a civil war. Well, but here he is again and the enthusiasm apparently returned; and as the Italians and Austrians have met cordially in society for the first time here on this occasion, let us hope that matters will creep back into their right and natural current.

The evening is most delicious, and promises a good two hours of delightful sport: and see! the Grand Duke has alighted from his carriage; and there follow the comely, good-humoured Grand Duchess, attended by her handsome, princely-looking Maggior Domo

of uncountable long noble descent and the rest of the royal family. They proceed to their places and take their seats, but are obliged to rise again and again to acknowledge the renewed greetings; for, independent of any deeper feeling of loyalty, the joyous excitement of the people is at this moment glad of any vent; and there is a vague instinct amongst them, that they can thus coax for

ward the moment desired by all the many thousand eyes aroundthe moment for which that fabric has been raised; those adornments bestowed, and, on this occasion, all refreshed; those toilettes selected, the money paid, and, in short, "the whole thing got up: "—and hark! it would seem as if they calculated justly; for every voice is suddenly hushed, and there is instead that indescribable movement amongst the people that bespeaks the expected event, whatever it may be, at hand. Yes! the horses, hitherto concealed from the spectators, are about to appear to start. Ay, here they come in the distance-no-yes—

--

yes! it is they! - "the races "the races " have commenced - they are off! ay, here they come flying round! - but, what small horses! -and only three ?-and-and-the jockeys! - how very small- eh! -what?-why-are they children ?-no-yes-they are really young children. Ah! I see; this is some little sport for the royal infants, that they may be sent home early, and then "the races will begin. Bravo! little fellows! they go merrily round the circus! ah! one is off -the other two keep on tolerably well-they have made three rounds of the circus in about five minutes, and there they stop the little fellow in blue has won. I wonder how many minutes will now intervene before" the races" begin! But, why are the people moving all together, and the crowd thinning?-Why are the Sovereign and Court rising ?What is the matter?-Has any accident happened?-any of the Royal family been taken ill ? No, but, "the races are over!

The races were indeed over; the people immediately dispersed, and the Royal family, re-entering their carriages, came upon the walls, those magnificent ramparts, on parts of which more than twenty carriages could drive abreast, besides the handsome, commodious, umbrageous part at each side for pedestrians; and having made the tour, bowing incessantly to the saluting crowds retired; the six state-carriages being followed by an open barouch, containing the hereditary prince and his next brother, with their gentlemen, who returned military salutes to the people, consistently with their military rank and the brazen helmets they wore, and after which came another open carriage, containing the Royal infants; who, being for the first time probably present on a public occasion, as they stood or knelt upon the cushions held by their attendants, gazed upon the thousand heads bowing to them, as yet in the full enjoyment of nature's instinct, which receives willingly without ever thinking of the necessary law of exchange!

After the races there was again only time to make another hasty change in the toilet, and take some slight refreshment before hurrying to the opera, where the Royal family was again received with enthusiasm; but which presenting no feature peculiar to the country, claims no farther notice from us here; and so terminated what, properly speaking, is the festival of Santa Croce. The fair which took place next day, for the lower orders, should have been crammed in to the devotion and diversions of the 14th, but, that day falling this year upon Sunday, the present Sovereign has already taken what, considering all circumstances is a somewhat decisive step, of not allowing it to be held until the Monday following; perhaps as the precursor of some further changes of a similar tendency-changes, however, which to be effective, must in these countries be made with judgment and precaution, in order to avoid offending our weaker brethren.

VOL. XXX.

Y Y

OUR INDIAN EMPIRE UNDER LORD AUCKLAND AND LORD ELLENBOROUGH.*

"HISTORY is philosophy, teaching by examples." When Lord Bolingbroke wrote this pithy, condensed sentence, which has been often quoted, he had present to his mind, and distinctly engraved on his memory, the stern, uncompromising integrity, the accurate, penetrating research, the unexaggerated truth, the well-poised estimate of evidence and authority, with the profound deductions, which characterise the pages of Thucydides, Polybius, and Tacitus. Great teachers, who have bequeathed to posterity imperishable lessons drawn from human events as they occurred, with the true causes from which they emanated, and the effects they produced on the social and political world. This was the "History" Bolingbroke intended to eulogize. He had no thought of the spurious imitations or travesties of reality so commonly palmed upon the public, as authentic details of great public transactions, and gathered together by hired writers or avowed partisans, from government manifestoes, authorised bulletins, official instructions, and selected correspondence. The brilliant, volatile, and unprincipled state-secretary of Queen Anne, could understand the advantage of moral truth, although he was incapable of feeling the perfect beauty and inestimable benefit of Christian revelation. When, on the other hand, in direct contradiction to Bolingbroke, a fully experienced, and far more honest statesman, Sir Robert Walpole, said

Trust anything but history, for that is always false;" it is equally clear that he based his opinion, not on the unimpeachable purity of Greek and Roman annalists, but on a very opposite estimate of the political corruption, time-serving, and bigotry of more recent chroniclers. From these conflicting opinions delivered by high authorities, and many more on the same subject, we may venture to lay down two very safe conclusions:—that it is extremely difficult to get a true history of any period, and that such a history is a document of the highest value, when it can be obtained. Of the war in Afghanistan, we believe there is but one opinion on the minds of all who have studied the subject, and have weighed impartially such evidence, as has hitherto been placed within their reach, connected with that melancholy episode. From the beginning, it was unjust in principle, unsound in policy, and most unmilitary in execution. The first authority in existence, the Duke of Wellington, pronounced decidedly against this war, as soon as he knew it was undertaken. "With the termination of your military successes," said he, "your difficulties will commence." Everybody felt that he spoke with oracular wisdom, but the government of the day paused not in their mad career. It was destined by a higher Power, that their deeds should be accomplished.

The war in Afghanistan divides itself into three distinct sections. The first deceptive success-the annihilation of the Caubul division

History of the War in Afghanistan. From the unpublished Letters and Journals of Political and Military Officers employed in Afghanistan throughout the entire period of British connexion with that country. By John William Kaye. 2 vols. 8vo.

the retributive invasion by Generals Pollock and Nott. Nine years have rolled on since the last event took place. Passions have cooled down, prejudices have given way to time, and varying opinions have subsided into uniform conclusions. The world is now prepared to examine a very startling epoch of our national history, with the calm, unbiassed judgment which the subject requires. The period is judiciously selected for a complete work on these important events, which is now for the first time laid before the public. It will be dealt with fairly, and will be judged according to its merits, and the accuracy of the information supplied. Such a work was wanting, and is amply furnished in the volumes of Mr. Kaye, now lying before us. The task has fallen into able hands, and is executed in a bold, clear, fearless spirit, which speaks integrity and an honest purpose, and may be taken as a guarantee that we shall have truth throughout, and are in no danger of being mystified by one-sided evidence, or prejudiced misrepresentation. Mr. Kaye does not tell us by what means he became possessed of the large mass of documentary authorities, to which he so copiously refers at every page, and through the possession of which he is enabled to become a faithful historian. This is a matter of secondary consideration, as the evidences speak for themselves and carry internal proof of authenticity. Neither can we trace in our author any leaven of personal prejudice, when he sums up the characters or doings of the prominent actors in the busy scene. While he endeavours to fix the many lamentable mistakes that occurred on the shoulders of those who have the most undoubted right to bear the unenviable load, he also, in the fairness of an impartial writer, sets up a per contra balance of general ability and honest intentions, as a qualifying contrast to the more unfavorable side of the picture, which the severe justice of history compels him to draw. Many who were well qualified have shrunk back from a similar task, deterred by a dislike of stripping off ill-founded reputations, and of giving pain, by reducing hyperbole to the sober standard of truth. No one could write such a thoroughly dependable history of his own great career, as the illustrious Duke of Wellington himself. It has been said to exist, in a great measure, in his general orders and despatches, as compiled by Colonel Gurwood. This compilation is of the highest value, as we once heard a very pious old lady say of Paley's Evidences, "as far as it goes," and many think it goes a long way in the right direction. But public orders and despatches contain no secret history, and very little detail of the actual causes which lead to important events. They are not, therefore, to be considered the most unexceptionable guides for authentic history. What rational reader ever swallowed Napoleon's celebrated twenty-ninth bulletin, as a true account of the Moscow campaign, although it was got up as such for the special benefit of the Parisians, and all the consolation they received for the loss of the two hundred thousand Frenchmen, whose bones were bleaching on the plains and steppes of Russia? These remarks apply to foreign despatches exclusively. English generals sometimes exaggerate suspicious victories, and inflate or suppress a little; but they never falsify on the grand scale, or totally misrepresent the event of an expedition. John Bull stared incredulously at the magnificent gasconade in which Napoleon announced to the world, after the irretrievable disaster of Leipzig, that the French army,

victorious on every point, and successful in all its great combinations, was, by an unforeseen union of adverse circumstances, compelled to retreat on the Rhine, with the aspect of defeat. It is recorded, on unquestionable authority, that when the Duke was asked if he had preserved notes or materials for a personal history, he replied, emphatically-" No, no. I have no such intention. Were I to do so, I must tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and then I should do more mischief than ever Bonaparte did." His Grace also, in a published letter, in reply to Mr. Dudley M. Percival, says, in further allusion to this subject-"I have a great respect for Colonel Napier and his work, but I have never read a word of the latter, as I foresaw it might involve me in a controversy more difficult and complicated than the operations the colonel has undertaken to describe."

Mr. Kaye informs us, in his preface, that, although he took no part in the events he narrates, he enjoyed the confidence of some of the chief actors concerned. He also adds, that the same amount of materials might not have been accessible to any other writer, and that he is unrestrained by the obligations of official position, from that fulness of revelation and freedom of discussion, which a work of this kind demands. These are rare advantages to an impartial chronicler. At the same time, he is fully aware of the difficulties to be steered through, and determined to deal with them conscientiously. "I have been walking," says he, as it were, with a torch in my hand, over a floor strewn thickly with gunpowder. There is the chance of an explosion at every step. But if I cannot confidently state that I have asserted nothing which I cannot prove, I can declare my belief that, except upon what I had a right to consider as good and sufficient authority, I have advanced absolutely nothing. It will be seen how careful I have been to quote my authorities." The accompanying marginal notes and references are voluminous, but we agree with Mr. Kaye that he was right to retain them as indispensable to the authenticity of his work. The whole will be objected to as too long, by the impatience of many modern readers, or rather glancers over books, who can endure nothing beyond homœopathic doses on any subject, and turn away from either instruction or amusement, unless conveyed in shorthand text, and at railroad speed.

We feel grateful to Mr. Kaye (and in this feeling, we are convinced the public will sympathise) for sparing us the infliction of learned Eastern phraseology, which pervades other publications on portions of the same subject, to such an extent, that we cannot distinctly classify them as being written either in English or Hindostanee, but rather as ungraceful hybrids clumsily compounded of both. The style of the volumes before us is perspicuous, condensed, full of vigour and wholesome reflection, perfectly intelligible, and rising occasionally to a very impressive eloquence. We want nothing but a map, without which it is impossible to follow clearly so many complicated operations, embracing an enormous extent of territory, and often simultaneous although widely separated.

The first two books must be considered introductory, and include a long period from 1801 to 1838; on the 1st of October, in which year, Lord Auckland announced the war by his famous Simlah Manifesto. We have in this portion a review of the different changes in the Douranee Empire; the threatened invasion of Hindostan by the Afghans, always an empty bugbear, which governors-general of the