Character of the insurrection.

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united, and sustained efforts manifested by the hydra-heads of the insurrection, under the control of no chief or party;-and also, by the long proved weakness of the Imperial Government, evidenced quite as much in all it leaves unattempted, as in that which it actually undertakes, but invariably fails in accomplishing. It is not because the insurgents' counsels are bold, or the material force they wield strong and compact, that they have so long had the command of all the various cities and strong places in the provinces wherever they directed their march. If any of these distinguishing characteristics were theirs, if they had unity of counsel and energy of purpose, they would have been in Pekin in 1853, six months after they had taken Nanking. They owe their successes, such as they have been, and their prolonged power and misrule, to the weakness of the Government, arising from the universal corruption of its administration, and the absence of all military virtue, organisation or discipline. The first has lost Government the respect and affection of the people and the great literary classes, which springing from the poorer classes are essentially democratic in origin, and conservative only so long as the avenues of distinction and power are left open to them;-the second destroys the prestige of the Tartar power founded on conquest, and saps the very foundations of the authority hitherto exercised by the Manchoo rulers; while the declared penury of the Government not only paralyses their action by the want of material means, but still farther by bringing them into contempt. They have on their side the passive resistance to the progress of the insurrection, opposed by all the middle and easier classes. The bourgeoisie in China see nothing but ruin in its extension, and so do the literary classes, so far as these have received office, since to their hands falls all the administration of the country. Even the disappointed and excluded men of this latter class only desire the reform of those abuses in the sale of places, which shutout the mass of poorer candidates from office. They wish not the overthrow of Government; for they see in the wholly illiterate character of all who have hitherto joined the insurgents, a motive alike for fear and contempt-fear lest the Government of the country should get into such hands, and contempt for the crasse ignorance and incapacity of such would-be rulers. And it is this comparatively inert mass of opposing influence, and the obstacle its passive resistance offers to the progress of the insurgents, which to all appearance neutralises any efforts they might be disposed to make, either for an advance on Pekin or to organise themselves as a governing power in provinces or districts south of Nanking and the Yangtzi-Kiang, rather than any active resistance, or means of attack possessed by the Government at Pekin. But this, if it be

a ground of hope that a total political disorganisation and universal anarchy may be averted in the end, not less clearly points to the other result, only one degree less fatal to the peace and prosperity of the empire and all foreign interests in the country-namely, the indefinite prolongation of a state of general disorder, with a nominal Governor at Pekin unable to sustain his authority in the districts and ports where our interests lie ;-and still less able to enter into political arrangements with us so as to give enlarged facilities for India by opening up the interior to our merchants-the one great want of our position.

With this conviction as to the certainty and the magnitude of the dangers with which our relations, both political and commercial in this country, are actually menaced, there only remains the other question-Are there any means which Great Britain singly, as most largely interested, or the three treaty powers in combination, can employ to avert the mischief and put an end to the danger?

To do justice to this part of our subject it would be necessary to take into account much that is characteristic in the social, religious, and political institutions of the country, and determine with some approximate accuracy the real influence of them on the people and present aspect of affairs; to pass in review, however rapidly or briefly, the history of our political and commercial relations with China, more particularly in connection with our own past and present policy; and this would far exceed our present limits. We conclude at present therefore with the considerations already suggested, as determining the precise amount of our interests in the prosperity and good government of the country, and the exact nature and extent of the dangers with which the empire and its foreign trade are actually menaced. The causes in operation, which have either originated or may be tending to consummate these evils, together with the means it may be in our power to invoke in contending against the worst so as to rescue our commerce from its perilous condition, remain as subjects of discussion. It is precisely on these points of social and religious characteristics, interwoven with political institutions, that M. Huc and Mr. Meadows are rich in materials both for instruction and amusement. We yet hope to lay them. under heavy contribution more Sinensi, though not, as is too much the fashion in that classic land of extortion, for our own exclusive benefit, but chiefly for the profit and pleasure of our readers.

ART. II. THE USES OF OUR FIBROUS PLANTS.

The Fibrous Plants of India fitted for Cordage, Clothing, and Paper. With an account of the cultivation and preparation of Flax, Hemp, and their substitutes. By J. FORBES ROYLE, M.D., F.R.S. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. Bombay: Smith, Taylor, & Co. 1855.

THIS is an important work published at a fitting time; not that it will subserve a purpose merely temporary; on the contrary, it will remain as a record to be referred to by all future experimental and practical men, engaged in the increase of productions, which may probably one day form exports from India of as much importance as that of Indigo now is.

Dr. Royle, in treating of each product, gives every information regarding it that can be gleaned from books or gathered from official records. In short, we have the whole subject of every individual article ab ovo ad mala, and if a fault is to be found with the book it is-that copious information on the uses of some of the products, such as the Cocoanut, is already abundantly patent to the public through the medium of a thousand popular books and manuals, and need not therefore have been repeated here with so much superfluity and minuteness of detail. The work might have been condensed into a form more convenient for reference in the camp or in the field. However, we accept it with all its redundancies most gratefully, satisfied as we are that no other book on this subject contains half of its information. The author is most fully master of his subject, so that it seems difficult to account for the origin of certain depreciatory statements which we have seen, and in which it was asserted, that numerous persons who were present at the lecture which the Doctor gave on Fibrous Plants, were of opinion that he knew little of what he was speaking.

It would hardly be found pleasant reading were we to recapitulate the subjects handled by the author; it will be a sufficient task for us to indicate the bearing of his remarks on our own Western Presidency, and occasionally to extend them where (which is not often the case) there is room for extension.

Differing as the climate of Western India does from that of Bengal, Assam, and other Eastern countries, we must expect to find a corresponding distinction in the several staple products; though the habitat of a few, such as Musa Textilis and Sunn Hemp, seems to

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stretch from the West into the far East; so that some articles are of universal production. Many others, however, the children of a moister climate than that which we have, can hardly be reared here save as exotic products fitted for show rather than for use.

Previous to entering on the main subject, we may state, that it is interesting to note from the facts given in this volume, how frequently the India House authorities have, for the last fifty years, endeavoured to direct the attention of the several local governments to the improvement and increase of these fibrous products. Much has been occasionally done by individuals, such as the great Roxburgh, in carrying out these instructions; while others have worked in the same line independently, for their own fame or benefit, and still oftener for the advantage of the numerous people around them. It is, however, discouraging to observe how entirely this work has been left to the unaided exertions of a handful of Europeans sprinkled throughout the country. Except the few valuable remarks by Ram Komul Sen on the preparation of the Jute Fibre, (vide page 244,) there is absolutely no native information regarding any of the subjects referred to in this book. One might have supposed that some, out of the numerous, rich, and educated Baboos who inhabit the lower Gangetic valley, would have lent a helping hand to their countrymen in this great work; but, no! their vocation seems to be the subha or assembly for talk, rather than to read and observe the many products of beneficent nature to be found in the fields and forests.

It seems undeniable, that unless the more educated and easycircumstanced classes of natives will exert themselves to help their countrymen in preparing many of the products now under review, we may look in vain for any permanent improvement in their quality, and we shall continue to be shewn what can be done, by means of samples, which active Europeans may occasionally prepare, rather than have any solid benefit in the shape of permanent and mercantile supply.

Now that the annually increasing importation of British Twist must inflict great but silent misery on many of the native poor by curtailing their means of subsistence,-especially on widows, who of all classes in India have the most cheerless lot,--of how great importance is it that every help to earn an honest livelihood should be afforded them; and in what more rational and easy manner can this be done than by leading them to discover how valuable may be a thousand products of the field, which are now either thrown away as useless, or presented in a state so imperfect and dirty, as seriously to damage their chances in the market? Let us hope, that native education may be directed to objects somewhat more practical than those which it has hitherto embraced, and that regulated and

Grasses, Screw-pine, and Pine Apple.

253

profitable pursuits in the field may not continue to depend upon the impulse which is given to them by the European officer, who is often overtasked; while his native friends are instructing, or it may be amusing, themselves with the study of the higher curves, with declamations from Shakspeare, or Historical Essays on the landing of the Romans in Britain.

may

On our side of India we are less richly provided with those gigantic grasses, which in the valleys of the Ganges and Burmapootra form such important parts of household economy. Still in our forests or dangs, and in some of the internal rivers of Guzerat, there are supplies sufficiently ample for many purposes, if we but had the industry to turn them generally to account. That they can be partially worked up into a shape at once useful, light, and elegant, be seen in those tent-houses constructed of reeds which form the dwellings of our Indian gipsies, gopalas, and other wandering tribes. Some of these huts can with ease be carried on a small donkey, and the material is so closely woven as to resist the heaviest rain. Possibly, had our brave troops at Sebastopol possessed a few thousands of them, they might have been saved much sickness and suffering between November and March. That the use of such fabrics is not extended even to our floors, is a proof how backward certain small but very useful branches of art are with us in Duckland. Our most finished artisans in Bombay cannot turn out a decent tent-screen or check. They have not yet got beyond a few coarse strips of bamboos strung together. Yet in this small branch of art, thousands of people might be employed; but instead, however, we go on purchasing China matting to the detriment of our purses as well as of our poorer population. Why should not young Bombay make a beginning in this division of industry? It is true that in Sind the manufacture is more extended, and the grass chairs of that province, as well as the boat mats, are models for lightness and comfort.

Of the Screw Pine and Pine Apple, we have on our coasts, especially towards the South, an extensive supply which might be turned to account by the fishermen. This class of men, however, are eminently well to do; and what with their stake nets, bummalocuring, the repair of their common materials, the preparation of "phoke," "pah" fish, and sharks' fins, for the China market, seem to have a pretty constant employment for their ever numerous families. In the interior, both of these plants are but sparingly met with. We believe it will be found that in Goa a number of the poorest classes actually do gain a subsistence by working up the pine apple and other fibres.

Of the Agave our supply in Western India is abundant, and might be rendered a thousand times more so, under a steady de