Is Quakerism Likely to Revive.

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it is very doubtful whether any modification of the rules, after all, will take place. Propositions for any change in the rules or practices of Friends are generally referred by the Yearly Meeting to the "Meeting for Sufferings," which is a standing committee of the Society, and, in fact, its governing body; from the manner of its selection, it consists entirely of those who are called consistent Friends, and no Council of State was ever animated by a stronger conservative feeling. The ability possessed by many members of this meeting, the diligence with which professional men and tradesmen devote their time gratuitously to its service, are truly admirable; their zeal and attachment to the Society are unbounded; and, perhaps from this very cause, it is impossible to imagine any body more opposed to all change and innovation. Of this the very name they cling to is a striking proof: it was given in the early days of the Society, when they met chiefly on account of the sufferings of their fellow-members; but in these propitious days, a proposition lately made to alter the name into something descriptive of its present functions was strenuously resisted.

Believing that much good service has been rendered to philanthropy by the Society of Friends, and seeing how much remains to be done, and is called for at their hands, it is worth inquiring whether Quakerism is likely to revive,-whether, by cutting away the dead wood, by removing the fungus and parasites which absorb its nourishment, and are evidences of its decay, the tree may again flourish. Unless some decisive and vigorous action be taken by the influential members of the Society, this is not likely. An unfavourable symptom is, the rapidly widening distance between those who conduct the business of the Society and the young Friends. Whilst the former continue averse to any relaxation or modification of their peculiarities, the latter have naturally relinquished them; and there is little now to distinguish a young Quaker from other members of the community. The attendance at meetings, particularly in the large towns, has become more irregular; and it is not uncommon for the more seriously disposed young people to attend other places of worship once on the Sabbath, where an instructive ministry may be heard. They are also much less interested in what are called meetings for discipline than formerly. They complain that the proceedings are dry, formal, and uninteresting; and their views upon this subject are beginning to be forced upon the attention of the Yearly Meeting. The cultivation of music is also becoming much more extensive amongst this class, whilst it is still entirely discountenanced by the older and influential members. The altered habits of life, which prevent those engaged in trade from taking young men into their families, as was formerly the custom, and the necessity thus created for association with those

not in fellowship with the Society, has had a great effect in taking that class away from the fold, and produces an inequality of the sexes. To this there does not appear any available remedy, unless the modification of the marriage rules above alluded to might to some extent be effectual.

The early Friends made no provision for adapting their system to altered circumstances. They never anticipated that a time would come when some provision for religious teaching would be required for the edification of the body; and now their successors will admit of no change. The proposal to introduce the systematic reading of the Bible in their assemblies is always resolutely opposed; and Bible classes are looked upon with something more than suspicion. When a large and influential portion of the Society attempted to introduce some modification to supply the increasing desire for religious instruction, it led, as we have seen, to one of the greatest secessions which have ever reduced the number of the Society. There does not, on the whole, therefore, seem much likelihood of an increased vitality in the system of Quakerism as it at present exists.

ART. III.-1. Essays, Military and Political. Written in India by the late Sir HENRY MONTGOMERY LAWRENCE, Chief Commissioner in Oude, and Provisional Governor-General of India. London, 1859.

2. General Report on the Administration of the Punjab for the Years 1850-51. London 1854.

THE events of which for a period of eighteen months British India was recently the theatre, will leave indelible traces on the pages of history. They will be alternately darkened by narratives of the most revolting crimes which were ever committed by civilised man, and illumined by deeds of heroism, the brillancy of which can never be surpassed. The crisis tried human nature as it has been rarely tried before. It is not military heroism alone which has been evoked by the deadly struggle, but civilians have emerged from the arena with a glory which sheds a lustre upon their profession, and upon the nation which has produced men whose avocations were those of peace, equal to some of the most trying situations and duties of war. There are two names that are inseparably united, and which will descend the stream of time together. It is scarcely necessary to say that Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence and Sir John Lawrence are the two men by whom, looking to the human instruments employed, India has been mainly preserved to Great Britain, rescued from anarchy, and restored to the position of a peaceful, and, as we may now hope, a prosperous and progressive dependency.

It may not, perhaps, be at once understood how we connect the services of Sir Henry Lawrence with the successful termination of the struggle in which we have been engaged. He died in the zealous and heroic discharge of his duty, but at a time when the political horizon was of the darkest hue, and the hopes of British India were the most depressed. But it is to his earlier career, and the wisdom and success which marked his administration of the Punjab, that we must trace the success of those measures that gave the British generals, at a period of the utmost need, an accession of force that enabled them to stem the torrent of rebellion and wrest the capital of Mahommedan India from the grasp of a mutinous soldiery. Sir John Lawrence launched the legions of the Punjab against the city of Delhi; but Sir Henry Lawrence had previously converted the Sikh population from rancorous enemies into cordial allies, and inspired the remnants of an army that had once met the British forces in deadly strife, with as firm a loyalty to the crown of England as they had ever felt for the most renowned of their

native soverigns. Sir Henry Lawrence was the first British administrator of the Punjab, and, by his financial moderation and conciliatory policy, he transformed a province that had existed for years in a condition of chronic turbulence into the most peaceful and contented of states, and thus unconsciously prepared those elements of strength which his illustrious brother had, at a remoter period, only to organize and direct for the support of the power of Great Britain and the relief of its overtasked troops. Sir Henry Lawrence was the pacificator of the Punjab ; Sir John Lawrence again summoned it to war. Sir Henry Lawrence completely disarmed it; Sir John Lawrence once again made it glitter with steel and resound with the note of preparation. It is a remarkable fact, that the work of pacification should have fallen to the professional soldier, and the summons to arms, in a new cause and for a new master, should have been given by the man who had passed his life in the peaceful occupations of a civilian.1

The friends of Sir Henry Lawrence have only done an act of justice to the departed statesman, and to the public, by collecting and republishing the essays, which from time to time he contributed to the pages of an Indian periodical. There is much in these productions that in one sense may undoubtedly be described as out of date; but much remains from which instruction may be gathered at the present time. Many of his administrative sugges tions have been already adopted, but many yet remain to be acted upon. He saw but too clearly the rocks upon which the vessel of the state in India was drifting, and his prophetic utterances are of the most impressive kind, and would have roused into action, by their vivid representations of impending danger, any Government that was not rashly heedless of the future, and that had not obstinately shut its eyes to the realities of its false position. Upon the question of military reform, Sir Henry Lawrence is never weary of dilating; but his warning voice was unhappily lifted up in vain, and he himself fell one of the most lamented

Sir Henry Lawrence was an officer of artillery, and served, in a purely military character, until the year 1838. He was known and appreciated as a good and zealous officer, and acted as adjutant to the portion of his corps that was employed in the south-eastern division of Bengal. He took part in the first Burmese war. In 1838 he was attached, with a portion of his corps, to the army of the Indus, which was destined to change the government of Affghanistan, and place Shah Shuja on the throne. The Governor-General's agent in the Punjab was left, at a critical period, without assistants. Wearied and overtasked, he complained of his position to the commander-in-chief. "There is an officer here," said the general, "who seems to have good material in him, and who is burning for employment; let me send him to you." "Do so," said the harassed official. The officer was Captain Henry Lawrence of the Horse Artillery, and the civilian Mr Clerk, now Sir George Russell Clerk. On that day the military career of Sir Henry Lawrence closed and the political one commenced.

victims of the system that he had long energetically denounced. The lessons which these essays inculcate are still to be studied. The vital question, how the Indian army is to be reorganized, is yet to be answered; and the problem is still unsolved by our military administrators and Indian statesmen. We trust they will ponder well the lessons of wisdom which these essays afford. The empire of Great Britain in the East depends upon the decision now about to be taken; and great is the responsibility of those who have to plan the reorganization of that army upon which, as upon a pivot, turns the whole future of Indian government.

We have alluded to the prophetic anticipations of Sir Henry Lawrence. Let those who recollect the events which took place at an early stage of the insurrection of Delhi, peruse the following passage in an essay published in 1844 :

"The treasury of Delhi is in the city, as is the magazine: the latter is in a sort of fort-a very defenceless building-outside of which, in the street, we understand, a party of sepoys was placed, when the news of the Cabul disasters arrived. We might take a circuit of the country, and show how many mistakes we have committed, and how much impunity has emboldened us in error, and how unmindful we have been, that what occurred in the city of Cabul, may some day occur at Delhi, Benares, or Bareilly.”

Again,

"When a small party was beaten at Khytul, one of our army division stations, it was three days before a small force could move; it was then found, that there was no small-arm ammunition in store, and ascertained that a European corps could not move under a fortnight from Sobathoo. At that time, when both Kurnaul and Umballa were denuded of troops, and every road was covered with armed pilgrims returning from Hurdwan fair, the two treasuries, containing, we have heard, between not less than thirty lacks of rupees, were under parties of fifty sepoys, in exposed houses, or rather sheds, close to the native towns; and, extraordinary as it may appear, both within fifty or a hundred yards of small forts, in which they would have been comparatively safe, but into which, during the long years that treasuries have been at those stations, it seems never to have occurred to the authorities to place them."1

His sense of our insecurity in India is strongly exhibited :

"Rome conquered the world, by never yielding a foot-by never confessing herself beaten-by rising with renewed courage from every defeat. We require such fortitude more than Rome did. As yet our tents are only pitched in the land. We have a numerous and a noble army, but six-sevenths of it are of the soil. We have one fortress in all India. We offer no inducement to extraordinary fidelity, even while we place our magazines and treasuries, and our very throats, at the mercy of any desperado. While we English are thus reckless, we,

1 Pp. 50, 51.