The Yankee amongst the Mermaids, by a Cape Codder, St. George and the Dragon. The true Tale divested of its tradi- King Mob; the last Days of the French Monarchy, by Mrs. Romer, Kirdjali, the Bulgarian Bandit. A Tale by Thomas Shaw, "Are there those that read the future?" by the Author of "The Ex- The Rise and Fall of Masaniello, by the Author of "The Heiress of Narrative of the Wreck of the Archduke Charles, by a Naval Officer, 392 The eventful Days of February 1848, in Paris, by an American Lady, Scenes from the last French Revolution, Literary Statistics of France for Fifteen Years, The Hospital of the San Spirito at Rome, a Narrative of Facts; by Charles Edward Stuart; or, Vicissitudes in the Life of a Royal Exile; Tom Pringle requested to keep his hands to himself, Portrait of Isaac D'Israeli, Esq. The Yankee amongst the Mermaids, Portrait of Major-general Sir Harry G. W. Smith, Bart. G. C. B. LORD HARDINGE, AND THE RECENT VICTORIES IN INDIA. BY W. C. TAYLOR, LL. D. WITH A PORTRAIT, FROM A PICTURE BY ROSS. HENRY, Viscount Hardinge, one of the most distinguished of the companions of the immortal Wellington, is the grandson of Nicholas Hardinge, long the chief clerk to the House of Commons, and eminently distinguished for his attainments in constitutional law. His father was the late Rev. Henry Hardinge, rector of Stanhope, Durham, a clergyman highly respected for his unaffected piety and benevolence. As Henry was a younger son advantage was taken of his family connections to obtain him a commission in the army at a very early age. But, notwithstanding the temptations that beset youth under such circumstances, he devoted himself earnestly to learn the duties of his profession, and acquired such proficiency that he soon attracted the favourable notice of his superiors. His name was first brought prominently before the public in connection with that of the lamented General Sir John Moore, on whose staff he served during the memorable campaign which ended in the disastrous retreat to Corunna, and the glorious victory which threw a gleam of brilliancy over the close of a period of loss and suffering. Captain Hardinge was standing near Sir John Moore when that general was struck by a cannon-shot. It was to Hardinge, who attempted to remove his sword, that the dying hero addressed the energetic words, "It is as well as it is; I had rather it should go out of the field with me;" to the same gentleman, and to Col. Anderson, Sir John Moore expressed his satisfaction at falling as became a soldier on the field of victory, and his pathetic hopes that his country would do him justice. After the death of Sir John Moore, Captain Hardinge became still more intimately connected with Sir Arthur Wellesley-the immortal Wellington. He served under him during the whole of the peninsular war, and at the battle of Waterloo, where Sir Henry Hardinge, who had received the order of the Bath for his meritorious career in Spain, had the misfortune to lose an arm. To write the history of this portion of Sir Henry Hardinge's military career, would be merely to repeat the narrative of campaigns which are or ought to be familiar to every Englishman. During the entire period Sir Henry was so identified with his illustrious chief that it is scarcely possible to dissever his achievements from those of Wellington. Soon after the conclusion of the war (Nov. 1821), Sir Henry Hardinge married Lady Emily Vane, daughter of Robert, the first Marquis of Londonderry, and relict of John James, Esq. About the same time he entered into political life, and was known as the sincere friend rather than the partizan of the Duke of Wellington. VOL. XXIII. B He has held the offices of clerk of the ordnance and secretary-at-war, he was also during a brief but a very troubled and important period, secretary for Ireland. In this last-named post he displayed administrative talents of the highest order; uniting to firmness of purpose the most conciliatory habits and demeanour, so that he won not merely the respect but the regard of his most inveterate political opponents. It was for these qualities that he was selected to fill the high office of governor-general of India at probably the most critical period in the history of our empire in that country which has occurred since the days of Warren Hastings. So very little of the real state of India is known to the general public, and particularly of the relations between the British government and the independent native powers, that it will probably be no unacceptable service if we briefly state the rise and progress of the Sikhs from their first appearance as a sect to the time when they ventured to compete with the British for supremacy over India. The Sikhs first appeared about the middle of the seventeenth century as a sect professing principles of peace and submission, not unlike those of the people called quakers; their tenets were a mixture of Hindooism and Mohammedanism, and exposed them to the persecutions of the bigots of both these creeds. In the later age of the empire of Delhi these persecutions were so severe that the patience of the Sikhs was worn out; they took up arms in their own defence, and very soon rivalled their oppressors themselves in violence and cruelty. As the great Mogul empire crumbled to pieces, the parts of which it had been composed began to assume the various forms of barbarous independence; the Sikhs grouped under many different leaders, formed a confederation of chieftaincies called Misuls in the country, which, from being watered by the five branches of the Indus, bears the name of the Punj-áb or "land of five waters;" some other Misuls were established on the east side of the Sutlej, who were sometimes in alliance with the chiefs of the Punj-áb, but who also sometimes formed a confederacy of their own. About the commencement of the present century the Sikhs of the Punj-áb were united into one monarchy by Runjeet Singh, one of the most able and enlightened despots who has appeared in modern Asia. His monarchy was called the kingdom of Lahore, from the name of its capital, but it also retained its geographical name of the Punj-áb. Having established his power firmly at the west side of the Sutlej, Runjeet Singh cast a covetous eye on the possessions of the Sikhs at the eastern side of the river; but these had in the meantime been taken under the protection of the British, and Runjeet could only gratify his ambition at the hazard of a perilous war. The recent overthrow of the great Mahratta powers by the English arms quite daunted him, and he entered into a treaty with the British authorities on terms mutually advantageous to both parties. One of the most common calumnies against the British administration in India is that ambition has ever been its chief motive, and that it has sought by secret, and not very honourable means, to sap and weaken the strength of native states in order to render them easy of conquest. The course of policy pursued towards Runjeet Singh is a triumphant refutation of this libel. Every possible aid was given him in consolidating and strengthening his kingdom at Lahore; he was encouraged to introduce discipline into his army, |