pany's servant (Mr. Verelst) "than the provision of the Company's investment. We sought advantages to our trade with the ingenuity, I may add selfishness, of merchants. . . . . All our servants and dependents were trained and educated in the same notions; the credit of a good bargain was the utmost scope of their ambition." This was intended to be a commendatory picture of Indian official life in the middle of the eighteenth century. What a contrast does it present to that which, in the middle of the nineteenth, we see another Company's servant has given us. Though the Civil Service of the present day comes directly from the old stock of merchants, factors, and writers, and the old titles are still retained, it has little or nothing in common with the ancient establishment of traders. A writer now goes out to India to take his part in the government of the country. He has no longer anything to do with investments. He receives a fixed salary for doing certain specific duties; and he is neither permitted to trade on his own account, nor to receive bribes from the natives. Formerly these were the main sources of emolument. The pay of a Writer barely sufficed to keep him in clean linen. Even the legitimate perquisites which he was allowed were not sufficient to secure him a competence, and he was compelled therefore to grow rich by irregular means. The improvement in the character of the Civil Service, dated from the time when a more liberal and enlightened policy provided for the servants of the Company a fixed rate of remuneration proportionate to the magnitude of the responsibilities which were entrusted to them, and the high qualifications which the due discharges of their duties necessarily demanded. The average pay of the civilians on the Bengal Establishment amounts to about 2,000l. a year. Many receive much less; and many considerably more. But this may be taken as about the average. And we do not believe that any advantage to the State would be derived from the reduction of it.

The salary, however, is sufficiently good to render a writership a great prize, and happy the family which can obtain one for Master John or Master Harry. Cadetships are not to be despised, but they are more numerous and less valuable. A Director of the East India Company has seldom more than one Writership to give away every year; but he has, perhaps, eight or nine Cadetships. The Company's military service, as compared with the civil, is poorly remunerated; but it is the finest military service in the world. No army is so well paid, or-what is of still more importance-so well pensioned. The qualifications required from, and the responsibilities imposed upon, the Cadet are lighter, in proportion with those which the civil service exact, and it is right, therefore, that the general scale of emolument should be lower. But some of the most important political offices of the State are open to the military servants of the Company, and the remuneration attached to them is commensurate with their importance. And it is not a little to the honour of these military servants, that many of these most important political offices are not only open to, but are held by, the Company's military servants. Every Addiscombe Cadet, who goes through the manual and platoon exercise before the Chairman of the East India Company on Examination day, knows that he may, at some not very remote period, be at the head of the Board of Administration, like Henry Lawrence, at Lahore, or like Low, Caulfield, Nott, Pollock, and others, be Resident at Lucknow.

These are the great prizes of the Company's military service, gained by

men of more than ordinary vigour and intelligence-athletes of the highest order; but it must be admitted that the dead level of this service, in its ordinary environments, is far below that of the civil department. We cannot find a picture of the Company's military officers, "painted by themselves," which we can set beside that which Mr. Raikes, magistrate of Mynpooree, has given us in illustration of his own branch of the service. One of the best limners with whom we are acquainted is Lieutenant Burton of the Bombay army, who, in his recent admirable work on "Scinde, or the Unhappy Valley," gives us these two sketches of a subaltern and an old captain in the Company's service :

"See how that young gentleman-a 'fast' infant, who has been smoking all day, crushing and throwing away every second cigar with an air, drinking at least two gallons of ale, and yet complaining that he is stinted in his liquor,'—undresses himself. Stretched upon his litter, and presenting the appearance of a spread eagle couchant, he superintends the operation of unbooting, unsocking, and unpantalooning, as performed by Baloo, a boy' of fifty. Mr. Ensign Snooks' temper has been ruffled-how, I cannot say, but the fact is unimpugnable. He does nothing but kick the said Baloo's shins, and indulge in curious physiological allusions to his (Baloo's) maternal progenitor, his wives, sisters, and the other ladies of his family. Not that the boy cares much about that matter; he has taken the 'griffin-line, angles for embryo commanders-in-chief; fleeces them for the few first months after their arrival in the country, convoys them to their first outstation, and turns them off when they begin to study Hindostanee.-Turn we to another picture-I may scarcely term it a smiling one. For instance, that old captain, with a stock-fish complexion, and a forehead which looks as if the skin had been pinched up into a hundred wrinkles. He is going to grumble himself to sleep, and to enliven the last hours of discontented day, by witnessing the dire discomfort of some sleepy black, who is ordered to shampoo the old benevolent's arms and legs till, to translate his own phrase, his eyes turn white' with fatigue."

6

These are not very flattering pictures-they represent men whose principal occupation seems to be to have their feet washed, to have their legs shampooed, to smoke cigars and to drink beer. Such pictures do not cut a very imposing figure, hung up beside Mr. Raikes' portrait of a model Bengal civiliau. But Mr. Burton, like Fuseli and other men of genius, delights in the representation of atrocities, and gives us only the pet monsters of the class. They exist the pictures are not unreal. But they are faithful pictures of very unpleasant realities, and do not fairly represent the genus Cadet. Your Pottingers and Lawrences-your Rawlinsons and Outrams-your Abbotts and Conollys-your Edwardses and Lakes-are men of a very different order. We may some day, perhaps, give an account of the chivalry of the Indian army.

Our space is limited-but before we conclude we must offer, in behalf of English literature, our thanks to the "Writers and Cadets." Looking around our library we see at a glance how much our shelves are indebted to the officers of the civil and military services of the East India Company. Not to speak of such earlier works, as the Malcolms, the Elphinstones, the Todds, the Briggses, the Galloways, the Wilsons, the Prinseps, the Sykeses, the Hendersons, and others, we might readily name, who have contributed to our literature, in volumes with which we would not willingly dispense, we may summarily allude to the more recent works of Sir Henry Elliott (on the "Mahomedan Historians of India"), to his brother, Captain Charles Elliott's contributions to the Papers of the Royal Society (on the operations of " The Magnetic Survey at Singapore")-to Mr. Henry Torrens's admirable translation of the

"Arabian Nights," and his later work on the "Study of Military History," a book overflowing with curious information, but too little known in England-to Lieutenant Ouchterlony's valuable history of the "War in China"-to Sir Henry Lawrence's "Adventures in the Punjab," a book which conveys, through a slight and unassuming vehicle, more sound intelligence regarding the Sikh rulers and people than many a more pretending and elaborate work-to the "Rambles and Recollections" of Colonel Sleeman-to Captain James Abbott's "Journey to Khiva"-to Captain Cunningham's able "History of the Sikhs"-to Major Edwardes' " Year in the Punjab "-to Colonel Everest's account of the "Great Trigonometrical Survey of India"-to the excellent work, on the "Revenue Survey of India," by Captains Thuillier and Smith-to Colonel Dixon's accounts of the humanizing efforts of himself and colleagues in "Mhairwurrah "-to Captain Baird Smith's recent book on "Italian Irrigation" to Mr. Burton's very clever works on Goa and Sindh- to the lively volumes of Captain Hervey (" Ten Years in India")-to Mr. Campbell's recent valuable work on "Modern India"-to Captain Macgregor's exquisite" Translations from Petrarch,”—and above all, to the learned labours of Colonel Rawlinson, of whose genius not only any service but any country may be proud,-to show how much the literature of the country is indebted to the "Writers and Cadets." Lord Brougham once wrote that in India " eloquence evaporates in scores of paragraphs," and there is a tradition to the effect that an aspiring youth, who inquired what style of writing was most welcome at the India House, was told (in a spirit, however, which seemed to belie the assertion) that "the style we affect most is the hum-drum." But our Indian writers seem to have abjured the hum-drum, and the once-evaporated eloquence has come back to them with renewed vigour. We often wonder, when we think of the enervating and exhausting effects of the Indian climate, at the amount of freshness and animation that is to be found in the writings of our "Writers and Cadets."

TO MISS MITFORD.

AH, Lady! deem not his a task of pain
Who privileged by noble art and power,
May dedicate to thee the envied hour,
And from thy votaries grateful homage gain.
For who that o'er thy charmed page hath bent,
But thrills with pleasure e'en thy name to hear,
And shall we not the master-hand revere,
Which makes familiar each dear lineament?

The sweet, serene expression of thy face,

The tranquil smile, the mild benignant eyes,
Where all the charities of life we trace,

Warm, as we gaze, our heart's best sympathies,
And with delight we ponder on the mind
Of rarest worth and beauty there enshrined.

A. M. R. 1848.

MEMOIRS OF COUNT DE LA MARCK.

"THE first object which Mirabeau had in view was to endeavour to save the King amidst the general overthrow of things, and to rescue him from the hands of the anarchists, who could not fail in time to become his executioners. If he could succeed in this object all would not be lost; but what means had he in his power for carrying out so bold a project? He possessed, indeed, many personal resources, but he stood alone, and would be obliged to act in the dark. He would have to combat all kinds of prejudice; for had he not provoked it by his past life? he was surrounded by persons who feared his talents and were envious of them, and who did not scruple to calumniate him. Even the apparent representatives of power opposed him; for the Ministers, who should really have possessed it, were only nominally invested with it, and were, besides, quite incapable of forming any decided and courageous plan of action, even with regard to matters which concerned them personally; at least they did not seize the right moment for carrying it out. Finally, had he not been one of the principal authors of this very Revolution, the errors and excesses of which he so much deplored, and the progress of which he so vainly endeavoured to arrest? He could only hope to alter its course by still adhering to it; in order to overthrow anarchy he must appear to make common cause with her.

"Such was Mirabeau's position when he resolved to devote himself to the King's cause. He had come to this determination even before he pledged himself in the letter of the 10th of May. Of course, he would risk his life, and, perhaps, would have perished like many others on the scaffold, if he had not died a natural death in the midst of the struggle. At that period the Ministers, instead of seconding his views, only contrived to harass him and cast obstacles in his way; it was, therefore, his business to get them dismissed, and to have their places filled by men who were favourably disposed to his ideas of government. This was the reason he so frequently attacked the Ministers; but the chief obstacle to his plans arose from another and much more powerful quarter, and was one which he would find much more difficulty in removing from his path than the Ministers, against whom, upon the first opportunity, he might obtain a majority in the Assembly. This stumbling-block in his way was M. de La Fayette, who was a furious republican, and full of presumption; he was the idol of the bourgeoisie of Paris, who now formed the National Guard. Though this body was in itself essentially anarchical, it was the only public force which was capable of establishing some degree of order amidst the general confusion, and M. de La Fayette was its commander-in-chief. From the nature of his office, he was admitted at all times and seasons to the King's and Queen's presence, under the pretext of watching over their safety; the honours and lucrative posts which the King had yet at his disposal were, for the most part, bestowed according to his request, it would have been unwise to refuse him what he asked, although his principles and actions could only tend to the destruction of the legitimate power of his sovereign. The King, however, was obliged to be cautious in his behaviour towards him, and even to treat him with a kind of familiarity, which only served to increase the inso

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lence of deportment which the intoxication of success had induced him to adopt. It was quite necessary, therefore, either to remove M. de La Fayette from the scene of action, or to put it out of his power to do mischief; but it would be almost a matter of impossibility to execute either of these plans. The whole of France was at his feet; the Assembly itself, the only authority which could oppose his own, looked upon him as its protector, and as the firmest support of the Revolution which it desired to see progress.

"As La Fayette could not be removed there was nothing left but to make a compromise with him, and thus endeavour to diminish the difficulties of the case. Mirabeau thought that it would be better for the King's interest if he were to make the first advance, and for the same reason he did not feel any scruple in speaking warmly of the talents and good qualities of La Fayette, although he knew that he did not possess them, for he believed that this flattery was likely to be the best instru ment for winning a man who was full of amour propre and ridiculous pretension.

"He accordingly wrote the letter to him dated the 1st of June, 1790, which will be found among the other materials. This letter did not find M. La Fayette in a more tractable mood than those which had preceded it, and Mirabeau did not persist for the present in attempting to establish the political alliance which he had wished to contract in this quarter. I do not believe, however, that these two men could have long pursued the same course. La Fayette was yielding more and more to his republican inclinations, and Mirabeau held very decided monarchical principles, which he did not strive to disguise, whenever he was able to disclose them without endangering his popularity. When two men clash who are playing such important parts, it is not easy to imagine that a good understanding could ever subsist between them. Mirabeau took no pains any longer to conciliate La Fayette, and expressed his opinion of him very freely, especially when conversing with his friends, who never forgot to repeat the cutting remarks which they had heard. La Fayette, for his part, affected to treat Mirabeau with contempt and hauteur. 'I succeeded in vanquishing the King of England in his power,' said he one day to M. Frochot, the King of France in his authority, the people in their fury; and I shall certainly not yield to M. Mirabeau.' These two men unceasingly contradicted each other, but without daring to make open war upon each other, -for under those circumstances each would have compromised himself, and would have afforded his enemies, who were observing their proceedings, great advantage over them.

"When Mirabeau gave me his letter to the King, I took it sealed to the Count de Mercy, and begged him to get it placed in the King's hands through the medium of the Queen. I saw the Count de Mercy very shortly after, and was anxious to learn the impression which this letter had produced; the King and Queen had shown it to him, and seemed to be much pleased with it; the satisfaction which they appeared to feel at its contents far exceeded that which I experienced. I had been brought much more into contact with the men and circumstances connected with the Revolution than their Majesties, and therefore I arrived at quite another conclusion from themselves, and foresaw widely different results to those which this brilliant but vain illusion led them to anticipate. I observed to the Count de Mercy, that, whatever my confidence in Mirabeau's talents might be, I could not help looking upon the French