It would be strange indeed if the events of tne passing year a passing (year indeed !) did not call forth a more than ordinary amount of excited speculation ; and accordingly, on every hand we hear the voices of the times, in various notPS of declamation, urging the popular measure of the hour. “India must be christianized”—"India must be colonized.”—“The Moliammadan religion must be suppressed.”—“We must abolish the vernacular and substitute cur mother-tongue.” Such aie but a few, and„ by no means the most intemperate of the exclamations which at cnce surround and bewilder us ; and if energy of vociferation, and force of lurg, could recommend political measures or supply the p’ace of reasoning and enquiry, the measure thus strenuously advocated might fairly be supposed to be among the most rational and the most practicable in the world.
Lord Canning Disregards This AntiMoselm Cry
We learn from an article by the Duke of Argyll that Lord Canning disregarded this anti-Moslem cry, which led to a petition for his lordship’s recall, as the following extract will show: Throughout the Mutiny Lord Canning persevered in showing his confidence in the native races whenever and wherever he had' an opportunity of doing so. The employment of natives in civil office, long urged upon the Government of In'da, had been increasing during recent years. It is perfectly true that, amongst the natives so emploved, there were some instances of treachery cl-ring the , heiuht of the Muiiny. But Lorcl Canning did not allow this fact to reverse a cour.-e of policy on which so much depends. The European inha bitants ~f Calcutta, in the petition which they signed for Lord Canning’s recall record it* as one. of ihehigh crimes and misdemeanours of the GovernorGeneral, “that he had lately sanctioned the appoint ment ot a Mahommedan to be Deputy Com miss’oner of Patna ; and also the appointment of other Mahommdans to places of trust—to the great offence they are pleased to add, “and discouragement of the Chris*ian population of the Presidency.”—Page 93. India under Dalhausie and Canning, by the Duke of Argyll ; from the Edinburgh Review” of January and April, 1863, London, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green. 1865.
Sir J. C. Bose’s Instruments
The Inquirer of London quotes the portion relating to the nervous system of plants in Sir J. C. Bose’s seventh anniversary address at the Bose Institute, which we printed in full immediately after its delivery. In that address Prof. Bose said:
“It was after the successful invention of instruments of very high delicacy and precision that these very significant discoveries could be made.”
The Inquirer’s comments are as follows:—
“Before Sir J. C. Bose invented and utilized these new instruments, in which the registration of extremely minute movements is made possible by reflected light-beams, it was generally supposed by physiologists (led by certain German speculations) that “water-movement” of the response of plants to transmitted excitation. Now, however, the new methods of investigation are being pursued in German universities and editions of his works are not only in preparation in Germany but in France. A practical side to these interesting researches is pointed out by Sir Jagadis: “The discoveries in the laws of growth hold out great possibilities in increasing growth in plants on which the food-supply of the world depends.”
Fey, Morocco
In the course of a vivid description of Fez, published in the Neiv Tori. Times Magazine, it is said :— Through the branches, to their left, looms an ancient crenelated'wall. Behind it lies anotheii hez. It is the Fez of Islam, sacred city of Morocco. ’ City too of learning, with marvelously decorated universities, where Europe came to study a thou sand years ago. Fez of narrow tortuous streets made tor shade and shady action, swarming all the day with 60,000 Moors solid, living, thinking ghosts of generation which once conquered Spain. Jtez of anachronism; Fez of another, unknown world.
If Moslems again lead in learning, the world will again come to sit at their feet; not otherwise.
Surendranath Banerjea’s Oratory
i( Reviewing Sir. Surendranath Banerjea’s “A Nation in Making,” The Nation and the* Athenaeum observes : . No one who heard him in his prime fulminatmg, for example, against the Curzon Universities Bill or the Partition of Bengal could either doubt or resist him. He was probably as near perfection m force and style as any orator in English since the heroic age, _IIe played a great part in the India of the transition. That period is unimaginable without him. But no student of modern India can fail to perceive the irony lying in the fact of the great rhetorician’s eclipse by the revolutionist crusader who makes no use of oratory.
Widow-Marriages in India
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The honorary Secretary to the Yidhva Yivah Sahaik Sabha, Punjab, has sent us the following report: Reports of 181 widow-marriages have been received from the different branches and coworkers of Yidhva Yivah Sahaik Sabha Lahore (Panjab) throughout India in the month of September 19135. The total number of marriages held in the
