infallibility," and upon grounds of plain his- | they stand, in this respect, on the same foottorical evidence, Dr. Donaldson believes in ing as our belief in any truth that rests on the inspiration of the Bible with the same testimony, and any historical fact, the most confidence that he does in his own restora- familiar and certainly believed. Such protion of the Book of Jashar. bability, to use Butler's expression, is the guide of life, and must be so. But while inspiration, in one sense, is an historical fact to be proved and legitimately established on grounds of historical evidence in the first instance, it is also a fact of revelation to be received, on the testimony of God, by all who believe that a revelation has been given. These two aspects of the fact are not contradictory or exclusive of each other. The fact that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, is one that can be established, on strict grounds of historical evidence, as much as any fact of profane history, the most familiar and best aecredited. The same fact is an announcement and doctrine of revelation, which, to those who receive a revelation on its proper evidence, comes to them in addition with the seal and authority of God. But we must have done. We have made no attempt, in the course of the remarks, to indicate the amount of the positive evidence in favour of the inspiration of Scripture, nor have we touched upon the wide field of the objections that have been brought against the doctrine which, with many people, is the most difficult part of the discussion. Our limited space has forbidden us to do either. In thus putting the fact of revelation and the fact of inspiration upon the same level in respect of evidence, and resting them both, in the first instance, on the grounds of ordinary moral and historical proof, we are quite aware that we are renouncing in their favour the "infallible testimony" which Dr. Donaldson unfairly avers that the argument for infallibility secretly and illegitimately assumes. Nay, more than this we are aware that, in basing our proof on the ordinary grounds and principles of historical evidence, we are admitting the theoretical possibility of "unintentional error" on the part of the witnesses for inspiration, when they assert the fact of their own supernatural endowments and commission by God. But this possibility is no more than the possibility which, from their nature, must belong to the testimony of fallible beings, and amounts simply to the concession, that the argument for revelation and inspiration is made up of probable and not demonstrative evidence, in the technical sense of these words. That a man could be subject to "unintentional error" as to the fact of his receiving or not receiving a communication from God, is possible, not more, but less, than that he could be so as to his For the present we content ourselves with receiving, a moment before, an important stating our belief, that there is evidence, oral communication from a fellow-creature, sufficient both in amount and in kind, to in the words familiar to his ear of his most establish the fact of the supernatural inspiraintimate acquaintance. That a man could tion of the sacred record; and that the obdeceive himself, as to recording or not re-jections which have been brought against the cording the communication given from God, is a possibility not more, but less, likely to occur, than that he could do so as to whether or not, an hour ago, he sat down and wrote the words that now lie before him, as the record of the communication of his nearest friend. The possibility stands upon very much the same level, in point of evidence, as the possibility that no man in the world knows whether or not Dr. Donaldson has addressed to it a lengthened book, misnamed "Christian Orthodoxy," although some few have actually read it; and that his printer does not know whether or not he transferred the manuscript thoughts to the printed pages, although it got him much labour and little wisdom to do so. matter of historical fact, the questions of a revelation or an inspiration being given or not from God, belong, from their nature, to the department of probable not demonstrative evidence, the former admitting of degrees THE prophets of evil are always unpopuof certainty which the latter does not; and lar. doctrine, whatever may be made of them as difficulties to be explained or not, ought not to be allowed to counterbalance the proof of the fact. ART. X.-1. Selections from the Papers of 2. etc. Allen's Indian Mail; or, Register of Intelligence from British and Foreign India, etc., etc. July, 1857. 3. The Homeward Mail, from India, China, As a and the East. July, 1857. 4. The Mutinies in the East Indies. Papers presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of her Majesty. July, 1857. The howlings of Cassandra are an swered with a howl. If this does not silence | ions were not in accordance with the general the ill-omened cry, it is bellowed down by a wisdom of the man.* chorus of the nation. Neither states nor individuals can bear to be aroused from sleep, and to be reminded of danger. The intrusion upon our tranquillity is sure to be resented. We call the alarmist a fool, and betake ourselves again to our slumbers. The next time we wake up, we find our house in a blaze. sages as the following, by the light of present history, with a right appreciation of their wisdom. The first which we have marked for quotation illustrates the feelings. with which Metcalfe regarded what we now look upon as the paltry mutiny at Barrackpore in 1824. It is taken from a letter to a private friend :- In this respect, the Life of Charles Metcalfe, and the Selections from his papers now before us, were published some two or three years too soon. If the materials of these works were now placed, for the first time, in Mr. Kaye's hands, he would, doubtless, take some pains to illustrate the extraordinary foresight of this great Indian statesThis has, unhappily, been the case with man, and instead of speaking apologetically respect to our Indian possessions. For of the occasional prognostications of evil many years there have been prophets of which, in the performance of his editorial evil, announcing, with more or less distinct- functions, he seems to have inserted someness, that mighty dangers were casting their what reluctantly in the published volumes, shadows before. Considering the nature of would have dwelt with laudatory zeal upon our tenure of India, it was really not a ha- such evidences of prescient sagacity as now zardous prophecy. We have been accus- lie intelligibly before us. "Time's old tomed to contemplate, with quiet and level daughter, Truth," has come to the rescue. eyes, the most wonderful political phenome- The "barrel of gunpowder," upon which non that the world has ever seen. The Metcalfe used to say that we were sitting, spectacle of a handful of white-faced men, has now exploded; and we read such pasfrom a remote island in the western seas, holding in thrall an immense oriental continent numbering a hundred and fifty mil. lions of inhabitants, has long been so familiar to our sight, that it has ceased to lift our eyebrows or to raise our hands with a look or gesture of astonishment. And yet it was altogether so strange and exceptional a case, that if any one declared that it was not "News has come from Calcutta-you in the nature of things that such an anomaly have already seen it in the papers-of the should last for ever, he uttered a mere tru- blackest hue and the most awful omen, such ism to which every one might have been as for a time must absorb all the faculties expected to yield assent. But if any one of a man anxiously alive to the dangers assented to it, it was in a limited and quali- which beset our empire in India. I allude fied sense. To hint at the existence of any to the mutiny at Barrackpore. A regiment impending danger, that might at any time of Bengal Sepoys, ordered to Chittagong to descend upon us, was to raise a suspicion of form part of an army to be opposed to the the weakness of the alarmist's intellect; or, Burmans, refuses to march, separates itself if the "howl" proceeded from a man of gen- from its officers, turns the major-general of erally high reputation, this doubt of the the station off the parade, quits its lines, stability of our rule was regarded as a marches to the race-course with forty rounds whim-a crotchet-a spot upon his intel- in pouch, and there threatens to resist any lectual escutcheon. Thus, when, a few years attempt to bring them to order! All exago, the life of Lord Metcalfe was published, postulation failing, two King's regiments, and people gladly recognised the soundness which happen by chance to be within call, and clearness of his intellect, as well as the the body-guard and the artillery, are brought marvellous sweetness of his temper under against them. The mutineers refuse to lay all provocation, and his almost unexampled down their arms, are attacked, make no repatience and fortitude under suffering, they sistance, and flee. About 70-at first said could not forbear from asking one another to be 450-are killed on the spot. Six how it happened that a man of such strong more (vide Gazette), I have heard, have sense and large experience could be perpe- since been hanged; others brought in pritually doubtful of the stability of our Indian. empire, and continually declaring that we should wake some day and find it crumbling beneath our feet. His biographer speaks of these as the "peculiar views of Sir Charles Metcalfe," and evidently seems to thinkindeed he more than hints-that such opin *As a matter of fact, however, Mr. Kaye is quite right when he says: "There is no parallel of this in the antecedents of Indian history. It is commonly the home-bred statesman who is most alive to the Minto were much more sensible of danger than Sir dangers of our position. Lord Wellesley and Lord John Shore and Sir George Barlow." "Our hold (of India) is so precarious, that a very little mismanagement might accomplish our expulsion; and the course of events may be of itself sufficient, without any mismanagement. "We are to appearance, more powerful in India now than we ever were. Nevertheless, our downfall may be short work. When it commences it will prohably be rapid, and the world will wonder more at the suddenness with which our immense Indian Empire may vanish, than it has done at the surprising conquest that we have achieved. soners and in chains in the fort. About Four years before, Metcalfe had written 100 taken prisoners in the first instance. with reference to his favourite Colonisation Now, what does this mutiny proceed from? Scheme, that he would give it up, if he were Either from fear of our enemy, or from dis-"sure that our army would always be faithaffection to our Government. The Se-ful." "But," he added, "drawn, as it must poys have always disliked any part of Ben- be, from a disaffected population, it is wongal, and formerly no corps marched thither derful that its feeling is so good; and it is from the Upper Provinces without losing too much to expect that it will last to etermany men by desertion. They detest the nity." At a somewhat later period, when castern part of Bengal more than the west- the revision of the Company's Charter was ern; and the country beyond our frontier under consideration he wrote:they believe to be inhabited by devils and cannibals; the Burmans they abhor and dread as enchanters, against whom the works of mere men cannot prevail. What does all this amount to in brief but thisthat we cannot rely on our Native Army? Whether it be fear of the enemy, or dissa tisfaction towards us, they fail us in the hour of need. What are we to think of this, and what are our prospects under such circumstances? It is an awful thing to have to mow down our own troops with our own artillery, especially those troops on whose fidelity the existence of our empire depends. I will hope the best. We may get over this calamity. It may pass as the act of the individual mutineers. The rest of the army may not take up their cause. A feeling may be roused to redeem the character thus lost. But we shall be lucky if all this turn out exactly so; for there is no doubt that the feelings which led to the mutiny were general. Open mutiny, indeed, was not confined to the 47th: 200 of the 62d seized the colours of their corps and joined; 20 men of the 26th seized one colour of their corps and joined the mutiny. What were the rest of the regiment about, if 20 men could commit this audacious outrage? The whole business is very bad; and we shall be very fortunate if it lead to nothing more. But we are often fortunate; and the mind of man is an inexplicable mystery. "Sometimes these violent ebullitions of bad feeling are succeeded by good conduct; let us hope that it may be so in this instance; and let us take warning not to rely so entirely on one particular class of troops. More officers, more European regiments, and a greater variety in the composition of our force, seem to be the only remedies in our power to counteract the possible dis affection of our Native Infantry; and whether our resources will enable us to carry these remedies to a sufficient extent is doubtful. Enough of this for the present. It is the most serious subject that could have roused the anxiety of those who, like myself, are always anxiously alive to the instability of our Indian Empire." "The cause of this precariousness is, that our power does not rest on actual strength, but on impression. Our whole real strength consists in the few European regiments, speaking comparatively, that are scattered singly over the vast space of subjugated India. That is the only portion of our soldiery whose hearts are with us, and whose constancy can be relied on in the hour of trial. All our native establishments, military or civil, are the followers of fortune; they serve us for their livelihood, and generally serve us well. From a sense of what is due to the hand that feeds them, which is one of the virtues that they most extol, they may often display fidelity under trying circumstances; but in their inward feelings they partake more or less of the universal disaffection which prevails against us, not from bad government, but from natural and irresistible antipathy; and were the wind to change-to use a native expression-and to set in steadily against us, we could not expect that their sense of honour, although there might be splendid instances of devotion, would keep the mass on our side in opposition to the common feeling which, with one view, might for a time unite all India from one end to the other. "Empires grow old, decay, and perish. Ours in India can hardly be called old, but seems destined to be short-lived. We appear to have passed the brilliancy and vigour of our youth, and it may be that we have reached a premature old age. We have ceased to be the wonder that we were to the natives; the charm which once en compassed us has been dissolved, and our quite sufficient to show that danger exists. subjects have had time to inquire why they He admits that we have no hold on the af have been subdued. The consequences of fections of our subjects; that our native the inquiry may appear hereafter. "If these speculations are not devoid of foundation, they are useful in diverting our minds to the contemplation of the real nature of our power, and in preventing a delusive belief of its impregnability. Our greatest danger is not from a Russian invasion, but from the fading of the impression of our invincibility from the minds of the native inhabitants of India. The disaffection which would willingly root us out exists abundantly; the concurrence of circumstances sufficient to call it into general action may at any time happen." army is taken from a disaffected population; that our European soldiery are too few to be of much avail against any extensive plan of insurrection. This is quite enough, and more than I have hitherto alluded to; for it is impossible to contemplate the possibility of disaffection in our army, without seeing at once the full force of our danger. As long as our native army is faithful, and we can pay enough of it, we can keep India in order by its instrumentality; but if the instrument should turn against us, where would be the British power? Echo answers, where? It is impossible to support a sufficient army of Europeans to take the place of our native army. "The late Governor-General appears also to adopt, in some measure, the just remark In the same paper, Sir Charles Metcalfe wrote:-"We can retain our dominion only by a large military establishment; and, without a considerable force of British troops, the fidelity of our native army could of Sir John Malcolm, that 'in an empire like not be relied on." One more passage will suffice. It is doubly important, inasmuch as it contains a remarkable dictum of Sir John Malcolm, which Metcalfe emphatically endorses : that of India we are always in danger, and it is impossible to conjecture the form in which it may approach.' This sentiment expresses the reality of the case in perhaps the truest manner, and I will not longer dwell on this part of the subject." "The prevalent disaffection of our subjects, the uncertainty under which we hold We wonder now that such utterances as any part of our Indian possessions, without these should have been rare and exceptionthe presence or immediate vicinity of a mili-al, and not at all consonant with the general tary force; the utter inability of our civil belief. For, looking at this whole question establishments to stem the torrent of insur- of Indian government, or endeavouring to rection, their consternation and helplessness look at it, as though we were regarding the when it begins to roar, constitute in reality the greatest of our dangers in India; with out which a Russian invasion, or any other invasion, might, I doubt not, be successfully met and repulsed. great political phenomenon for the first time, the feeling uppermost in the mind is one of wonder, not that a great disaster should befall us at the end of a century, but that the structure we have reared should have lasted half that time, with even a semblance of stability about it. But this marvellous edifice of our Indian Empire had become a "Persons unacquainted with our position in India might throw in our teeth that this disaffection is the consequence of bad government, and many among us, connecting mere matter-of-course. Content with its the two ideas together, are reluctant to cre- wonderful present, people troubled themdit the existence of general disaffection. selves little about either its past or its But this feeling is quite natural without any future. Practically they seemed to doubt misgovernment. Instead of being excited whether it had ever had a beginning; and by our misrule, it is, I believe, in a great they felt assured that it could never have an degree, molified by our good government. end. It was enough for the multitude, that It exists because the domination of strangers the Anglo-Indian Empire, like Topsy in -in every respects strangers-in country, Mrs. Stowe's fiction, had "growed." The in colour, in dress, in manners, in habits, in religion, must be odious. It is less active than it might be, because it is evident to all that we endeavour to govern well, and that whatever harm our government does proceeds from ignorance or mistake, and not from any wilful injustice or oppression. "Although Lord William Bentinck appears to despise the dangers of either foreign foes or internal insurrection in India, his Lordship admits some things which are fact is, that we have been too successful. From generation to generation, through one reign after another, we have floated down the stream of prosperity, basking in the summer sunshine, and falling asleep with the rudder in our hand. From this pleasant drowse we have now been awakened by a terrible collision; and have therefore begun to condemn ourselves, or more properly, to condemn one another, for the want of ordinary prudence and caution, which has led us to disregard the rocks and whirlpools more or less familiar with these details; lying in our way. And yet nothing is more and, as we write, is anxiously awaiting the true than that disaffection may be prevalent without any actual mismanagement on the part of the Indian Government at home or abroad. angrily accusing and condemning, and people knowing nothing about it are, in accordance with the usual scale of inverse proportion, louder and angrier still. arrival of further intelligence, upon the nature of which greatly depends whether order will speedily be restored to the disturbed districts, or whether, at the commencement That cartridges greased with bullock's fat of the cold weather, England will have to should be served out to Hindoo Sepoys, ap- commence the re-conquest of Northern pears prima facie to constitute a case of India. In the meanwhile, people knowing mismanagement. But we know so little something about the matter, are loudly and about the history of these cartridges, that we are not prepared either to fix the extent to which this alleged grievance may have contributed to the great military outburst, or how it happened that anything so inflam- It is natural that there should be an outmable was placed in the Sepoys' hands. cry against some one. Some one ought to All, indeed, that we know with any certain- have known better; some one ought to ty is, that there has been a terrible disaster. have foreseen all this; some one ought to Whole regiments of Sepoys, in different parts have prevented it. But, after all, it is the of the Bengal presidency, have broken out great Outis, or No one, who has done all into revolt. They have not only raised the the mischief. Outis has put out the giant's standard of rebellion, but have turned against eye, and left him to grope in the darkness. their European officers, and murdered them We say it not ironically, but seriously, without a pang of remorse. In many places, truthfully, that no one is to blame for the the mutineers have struck indiscriminately false security in which the nation has long at white life; massacring, often with a refine- been lapped. It was the necessary result ment of cruelty impossible to describe, man, of progressive success. Indeed, we are by no woman, and child; burning and pillaging in means sure that it has not been also the every direction; sweeping away the civil cause of our progressive success. A more government like chaff; and openly declaring cautious and suspicious policy might not the rule of the Feringhee usurper at an end. have been so successful. We have raised, And this storm, it may be said, has burst step by step, during the last century, an suddenly on the land. It is true that we army consisting of two hundred thousand heard, some months ago, distant murmur-natives of India-men of different nations ings, indicating a troubled state of the poli- and different castes, all differing from ourtical atmosphere. We knew that one or two selves in colour, creed, institutions, language, regiments near the capital had exhibited habits, everything that can separate one peosymptoms of disaffection; but it was be- ple from another. Over this immense mass lieved that the feeling was local, that it of Indian humanity, a handful of English had been suppressed, and that it would not gentlemen has held undisputed sway. break out in other places. In this country thousands and tens of thousands have it had excited no alarm, and scarcely any obeyed the word of the dominant tens. attention, until, on the morning of the 27th And not only have these thousands and tens of June-four days after the centenary of of thousands obeyed the dominant tens, but the great battle of Plassy, which, in the millions and tens of millions have followed stereotyped historical phrase, "laid the the same straight line of obedience. Hirefoundation of our Indian Empire"-the preg-ling troops-foreign mercenaries are to be nant sentences of the telegraph announced found everywhere, ready to fight and to as tragic a story as has ever yet been em- kill any one for pay. In India, the English bodied in a few terrible words. pay has been paid with a regularity wholly unknown under any oriental government. The Sepoys, therefore, have had their reward. And for this reward, obedience was expected in return. But we have had no We need not enter into details, which will be found fully and accurately narrated in the excellent summaries of Indian intelligence, the names of which we have placed at the head of this article.* Every reader such claim, no such hold upon the affections in the United Kingdom has made himself of the people. The legitimate inference, therefore, was, that the soldiery were more likely *It is difficult to over-estimate the value and the to be true to us than the people; and that interest of these publications at the present time, we should always be able to keep the latter when even the copious details in the morning jour-in check through the agency of the former. nals fail to satisfy the painful curiosity of the public; and especially of that large portion of it which is The general proposition has been, that our personally connected with India. tenure of India is safe, so long as we can |