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There are gangs of lively youths smoking short clay pipes, and keep ing company with pale-faced young females who are sucking oranges. We do not know whether babes in arms come in for nothing, or whether children under twelve years may be charged half-price; but it is certain that big families are brought to sow crops of souvenirs, which may possibly blossom and fructify in later life. And of course our American friends are to the front, in enormous strength; and an ordinary American out on his holiday ramble is nothing if not vociferous. The jackdaws, as the Americans would say themselves, are not a circumstance to them. As for the thrushes, in Western mining vernacular, 66 we don't mention them;" though the American ladies send a shrill whistle through their rapturous transports which does remind one of the exaggerated and perverted piping of the thrush. We make every allowance for the extreme difficulty of turning the fancies, nursed among the pork-curing establishments of Cincinnati or the grainelevators of Chicago, to bear suddenly on the medieval romance of an old English baronial fortress. But all the same, the effect is unfortunate upon any one who must listen, and is constrained to laugh. The ruins are still imposing, and Lord Clarendon, who is proprietor, does everything to preserve them. Though the floor has fallen in, you may look up at the baronial hall where Elizabeth was feasted, with its spacious chimney-place high overhead, and the windows that once commanded superb views of the pleasance. You may climb the winding staircase in Mervyn's tower, once ascended and descended by Michael Lambourne, when he dashed the keys in Lawrence Staples's

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face and broke "the strongest jail between this and the Welsh marches." You may look in at "Lord Leicester's Lodgings," and clothe the crumbling walls with gorgeous tapestries, as when the rooms were inhabited by the sumptuous earl. But we find the unsatisfactory feeling strongly borne in upon us, that the " Kenilworth of Scott was but a fiction after all. No doubt his topography is exact; but then Time has been passing his ploughshare over everything. The gardens are gone, like the summerhouse, where the queen stumbled upon Amy; and the pleasance, with its coverts for deer and boar, is turned into pleasing grazing enclosures, rather apt to be swamped, as we should say, in a wet season. For at Kenilworth, as at Shottery, the eye and mind fall back upon the brook, which probably has hardly altered its course during centuries.

From Kenilworth there are at least two ways back to Leamington, either of which may tempt the pedestrian. The longer leads round by the grounds of Stoneleigh Park, and introduces him, as we have said, to magnificent sylvan scenery. The Avon runs through the meadow-land, with its fertilising stream; and accordingly, the oaks at Stoneleigh are magnificent. But you meet again with the Avon all the same, if you follow the straight road to Warwick, and set your face towards Guy's Cliff. The highroad itself, with its scenery and its fine timber, is a very pleasant one, though perhaps scarcely up to the mark of an apocryphal American legend. It is said that two enthusiastic American tourists had met at Liverpool, on the eve of embarkation for home. After exchanging their raptures over rural England, they asked each other

what bit of country each had most admired. It was agreed that they should write it down, and cross papers. One wrote, "The road from Kenilworth to Warwick;" the other, "The road from Warwick to Kenilworth." Be that as it may, it is a pretty road, where you may listen to an enchanting concert of singing birds, and a very appropriate approach to Guy's Cliff. Of Guy's Cliff there is little to be said, except that the situation is singularly beautiful. For ourselves, we should rather look at the house than live in it, though Dugdale praises "the dry and wholesome situation." Standing low, clasped closely between the steep wooded cliff behind and the river, we should fancy that it could hardly fail to be damp. But had one been bred a Dutchman, and nursed on schnaps and tobacco, or were we indifferent to all that might "nourish agues" ("Henry IV.," Part I.), we know few spots that a "mind innocent and quiet' would sooner "take for a hermitage"-except, indeed, of a Sunday, when it is beleaguered from Leamington and Warwick. That was evidently the opinion of the chivalrous Guy, who came thither after

his feuds in war and love, to tell his beads in a hermit's cell, and moralise on the text that "All is vanity." The mansion is grey and grave and dignified, though somewhat fantastic. The rising amphitheatre of wood behind is singularly rich in leafery, even for southern Warwickshire, with the blackgreen and russet-like columns of the tall Scotch firs dominating the lighter foliage. Beneath is the gentle Avon, meandering among flags and sedges; opposite are the fat meadows, fed by heavy beeves and by hunters summering among frolicsome colts and fillies. And the opposite slope is crowned by the little parish church of Milverton, with its "God's acre" shaded in the clump of timber. But the most seductive corner in the enchanting precincts is that where a foot-bridge is flung across the Avon, in front of the old mill with the open oaken galleries extending under the broad eaves of its granges. And with that characteristic bit of Warwickshire scenery we bring our article to a conclusion, expressing a hope that we may have fairly succeeded in our attempt to touch lightly on the salient points in the guide-books.

LORD RIPON'S "SMALL MEASURE."

THE internal condition of the Indian empire is such as to justify the gravest anxiety. Lord Ripon's Government have attempted to deal with three burning questions all at the same time, and the result is that they have succeeded in setting the peninsula in a blaze from one end of it to the other. The Bengal Rent Law has stirred very deeply the numerous classes who are interested in the land of Bengal. It is a heavy blow aimed at the powerful zemindary interest. The Local Government Bill exhibits the design of revolutionising the administration in a way which creates a maximum of disturbance. An unwise proposal to amend criminal procedure, in the teeth of a well considered compromise made in 1872, and ratified in 1882, has fanned to a flame the smouldering embers of race animosity beyond anything which has been seen in India, except the mutiny, to an extent which has astounded the most experienced observers. A correspondent in the 'Daily News' of June 7 describes our Indian empire as "a seething mass of discontent and agitation"; and a bulky report which we have perused of the official proceedings and published literature on the last of these measures, fully bears out the description, at least as regards the Anglo-Indian portion of the community. vate letters amply confirm it, and represent a state of things which is serious to the last degree. The good results from the conciliatory measures adopted at the proclamation at Delhi, and in bringing native troops to Malta, Egypt, and even to England, are apparently thrown away. With opinion in this excited condition, the humb

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lest incident is pregnant with consequences. An English judge ordered, in a civil case between Hindus, after consulting the native attorneys on both sides and his Hindu interpreter, that an idol should be brought to the corridor of the Court. We have ourselves known an idol brought into Court and laid before the judge without disturbance of any kind. But the recent incident has been seized upon, and the cry of religion in danger has spread far and wide throughout the empire. The spark has fallen on very inflammable materials, which have been strewn to the right and to the left by the action of the Government. A state of things like this reflects no credit on the sagacity or judgment of Lord Ripon's administration. will however assume, though the probabilities appear to be all the other way, that both the Rent Law and the Local Government scheme are wise and prudent measures, and that there were sound reasons for urging both forward at the same time, notwithstanding the resistance and opposition which they were sure to occasion. the Bill which is known as Mr Ilbert's Bill, the Government themselves practically admit that if they had foreseen the angry vehemence with which it would have been opposed, they would have abided by the golden rule of quieta non movere. They have proposed, in one word, to subject Englishmen, and certain others who stand on the same footing as Englishmen, to the criminal jurisdiction of native magistrates and judges; and they have proposed that this should be done throughout the length and breadth of the

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peninsula, in districts however remote from the public eye.

Every one who knows anything of the history of British rule in India, knows that this is one of its most burning questions. It

is also one of the most difficult; for it involves the consideration of a number of principles, all of which must necessarily be limited in their application, and not one of which has been so consistently recognised as to command general acquiescence. But any one can understand and appreciate the deep reluctance with which a whole district of English planters, with their wives and families, would accept the criminal jurisdiction of a native planted in their midst. Whether it is subject to appeal or not is merely a question of mitigation. There he lives amongst them, alien in race, religion, habits, and sympathies, but vested with that last attribute of power, the power of punishment. Nothing stands between him and its exercise, in cases however false, but his own wish to do justice, and his capacity to discriminate. If neither of these failed him, if both were above suspicion, there remains the inborn antipathy of a white man to be subject, actually or potentially, to a black one; there remains also the political difficulty of maintaining the authority of a handful of whites over a vast population when the symbols and exercise of that authority are thrown away. In an empire where personal laws and personal privileges meet you at every turn, the sole personal privileges which the Englishman (whom we may venture to term without offence a member of the dominant conquering race) claims relate to criminal jurisdiction, the most important of which is that of being tried in criminal cases by a jury of his own coun

trymen and a judge of his own race. He is amenable, and has been for more than twenty years, to the same criminal law as natives, in a large degree to the same criminal tribunals; but he claims, with all the energy of passion, that it is his privilege and birthright that his jury shall be a jury of Englishmen, his judge a fellowcountryman of his own. The questions are, whether this is intrinsically a reasonable claim; whether it has been so recognised; whether any circumstances have arisen to justify its denial.

We are aware how difficult it is to interest a large majority of the English people in a question which concerns the internal administration of India. But this is one which comes home to us all, and is a personal one to every family in the country which has, or may at any time have, sons and daughters in India. Are we prepared, in deference to the theories and sentiments of a few doctrinaires, and against the advice and opinion of many Indian statesmen of practical experience, to sanction the principle that those of our countrymen who, with their wives and families, take up their residence in the East, either to defend our empire by arms, develop its resources by their energy and capital, promote its education, or carry on missionary enterprise, shall be, contrary to all the practice of the past, in violation of their personal dignity and self-respect, and without reasonable cause or present necessity shown, subjected to the criminal jurisdiction of the natives of the country? If such principle is once admitted, in deference to mere sentiment, and not to political necessity, it will then become a mere question of time whether the other privileges which they have hitherto retained, and which have

been recognised by two centuries of parliamentary legislation, will one by one disappear. There is not a family in the country to which this question may not at any time become one of practical personal interest. We think it desirable to put the case before them.

Lord Salisbury has spoken out upon this question, and put the case before a Birmingham audience in these terse and vigorous words:

"There is only one other matter with respect to which I wish to point out to you the importance of a truly national policy, as opposed to the various theories and sentiments which are suggested now. I do not know if you have looked at the papers lately sufficiently to be aware that a great and vital question has been raised in India, the question whether Englishmen in that part of the empire shall or shall not be placed at the mercy of native judges. What would your feelings be if you were in some distant and thinly populated land, far from all English succour, and your life or honour were exposed to

the decision of some tribunal consisting of a coloured man?

What

will be the effect of this ill-advised measure, which has been adopted in defiance of national interests, and for the sake of those theories and sentiments of which I spoke?"

That is the point of view from which an English statesman of authority and Indian experience (he has, as our readers recollect, been twice Secretary of State for India for lengthened periods) regards the subject. We need hardly say that he is criticising the broad principle which lets in native jurisdiction as to life, and not the narrow proposal of to-day, which merely affects liberty and honour. Sir Arthur Hobhouse, however, who was for some years legal member of the Viceroy's Council, and who has come forward to re

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present the official opinion which is generated above the clouds at Simla, as against the non-official community, has chosen to refer these expressions to the particular words of the Bill, and not to the principle which underlies them. In an article in the Contemporary Review' of last month, he attacks it as "pregnant with misconception of the small measure now pending." But his whole article shows that the small measure now pending is not the subject which he, any more than Lord Salisbury, has in his mind. He argues that the small

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removes

a

hurtful obstruction to a great policy." He recommends advancing "towards the highest ideal by

the most cautious and well-considered steps," of which this small The measure is one out of many. great policy and the high ideal are the "welfare of the Indians," whoever they may be (and Lord Kimberley should send out a commission of inquiry to ascertain who they are), that Indians should learn the arts and practice of government, with a view eventually to replace our own. Half a century is placed under review, in order to demonstrate that this is the declared policy of Parliament, successive ministries, and the people of England. Granted that it is so, -that the wellbeing of the masses of India, the higher education of the Hindus (for the Mohammedans do not avail themselves so readily of our favours), and the increasing employment of natives in the higher posts of administration, are the immediate aims of the British with a view to ultimate retirement,-still the question whether the native is to exercise criminal jurisdiction over his benefactors during the long interval which must elapse before he is ripe to assume the burdens of empire,

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