Nor sparkling glass, which us'd to shine That scene where Gurth and Wamba met, I see the burn in Winton dell, The grouse-cock claps his wings, and crows; And wander on from hill to hill, Till lengthen'd shades the mountains show, Bleak winter comes with snow and hail; The corm'rant guards the empty halls. amiable mind in the vale of years, seeking a transient solace in the amusement of poetical composition-in pleasing and kindly recollections of the past, and in devout aspirations. Our kind correspondent has our kindest wishes. May the sunset of life be to him as benign as his own spirit is gentle and joyous! Edit. I dwell upon a mournful theme; however dark it be, Oh! she was bright and beautiful-her charms her birth enhance; Yea, she was bright and beautiful-unfortunate and fair; What youthful heart from folly's free? What star hath not its spots ? With deep dark eyes, and laughing hair, and cheek like blush of even, Away! away!-the breezes swell the surging waters foam! And now her head is on the block-she breathes her fervent prayer :- * We have not inserted these verses on our own judgment-but a jury of wits, to whom we remitted them, have returned a verdict of" Exquisite." The public, however, will judge for themselves, in this as in weightier matters of the law-and whatever the award may be, our hands are clean. It is an invariable rule with us, never to publish the names of our contributors when they are original and therefore, in this instance, we suppress the author's name. Any name must be high indeed, which can give attraction to a Magazine contribution-and we seek no factitious celebrity to the articles we publish, from names of equivocal or mediocre acceptance with the pub lic. Be her's the slumber of the bless'd-Heaven rest her wearied soul: Oh! Caledonia bold and free! while flow thy living fountains; Yea, when thy cruel murderer's name with horror meets our ears, WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH INDIA? A youth of our acquaintance wrote on the hand-bill in which this question was recently propounded to the good folks of Auld Reekie"Mr Buckingham should put it in his breeches pocket." And so we think he could do as easily as solve the problem in a "single lecture," which he professed to do on Monday the 7th curt. embracing above forty topics, beginning with the "Settlement of the sovereignty of India," and ending with "Securities for an improved race of Colonial offspring to perpetuate the British name!" We had not the felicity of listening to Mr Buckingham's last speech, and therefore must rely on the authority of some newspapers that it was exceedingly brilliant, although not quite orthodox on some points. Having already devoted a few of our pages to the exhibition of this mischievous and miserable quack in his true colours, in order to guard our countrymen against his fictions and his factious propensities, we think it right still further to show him up as a shallow adventurer, incessantly occupied in attempts to disturb the peace of society, and to fill his pockets at the same time; and this can scarcely be done more effectually than by republishing a discussion which has taken place in the columns of the Caledonian Mercury relative to his last lecture. Mr Buckingham has encountered a new and rather a formidable adversary; and nothing can be more complete, or ought to be more conclusive with regard to Mr Buckingham's character, than the result of this tulzie. The "celebrated traveller" fled hurriedly from the arena; and though he has since made a feint rally after his retreat, he has shown a total want of bottom in this last tug of battle. Instead of even attempting to defend his nonsense, he (according to his usual custom) leaves it to shift for itself, and reiterates his threadbare and mendicant story about his lawsuits and pecuniary losses and personal sufferings. Without further preface, we subjoin the papers to which we refer; and shall content ourselves with a short commentary on his last epistle, which is highly characteristic. INDIA AND MR BUCKINGHAM. "India and Mr Buckingham!" What a title! The empire of China and a China orange! But a truce to the absurdity of the collocation, and a word or two in sober earnest on a subject of vast and daily increasing importance. "What is to be done with India ?" asks Mr Buckingham, who, in the same breath, tells us that he is prepared with an answer to his own question. We have heard the answer, and we confess we are as much in the dark as ever. The question yet remains to be solved, nor has Mr Buckingham contributed one iota towards its solution. On the contrary, he has darkened counsel by words without knowledge. He can describe clearly and cleverly, recount his personal adventures in an easy, agreeable, chit-chat, conversation style, tell a pleasant story from Joseph Miller, Esq. p. 49, with singular volubility, and laugh immoderately at his own wit (at second hand); but when he comes to deal with questions involving an acquaintance with the cognate sciences of politics, economics, and legislation, he absolutely sinks into a state of drivelling deliration altogether inconceivable. This was lamentably exemplified in his Lecture of Monday evening, which, we confess, astounded us by its incredible silliness, extravagance, and folly. Had Mr Buckingham taken his davy beforehand that he would babble for two hours and a half on the subject of India without once stumbling upon an idea which any accurate-thinking man would desire to carry away, we protest we should not have believed him. We should have appealed from Philip drunk to Philip sober; or rather we should have praised his modesty, and waited incredulous for his speech. The result, however, has shewn the absurdity of highly-excited expectatations. The davy would have been conformable to the strict verity, and our anticipations the mere creatures of our own heated fancy. In plain English, we have been sorely disappointed. Mr Buckingham the raconteur, and Mr Buckingham the would-be legislator, are two very different persons. The one is a pleasant, lively, gossipping fellow, admirably qualified to make an idle hour slip away agreeably ; while the other is a weak maudlin twaddler, equally vain, shallow, and presumptuous; with audacity enough to attempt every thing, but utterly destitute of the power or preparation of mind necessary to fit him for grappling successfully with any thing. Only think of such a proposal at this time of day as that of introducing a capitation (vulgarly called a poll) tax of ten shillings a-head per Hindoo! and of this tax, like the land-tax of Quesnay and his followers, superseding every other! Suppose any man in this country were gravely to propose that the Duke of Buccleuch and the poorest shopkeeper in Dalkeith should contribute exactly the same sum towards defraying the expenses of the state, videlicit, ten shillings each and what would be thought of him? To the former this sum would be about a four-hundred-thousandth part of his income to the latter a fortieth, perhaps a twentieth part. In the one case it would be a drop withdrawn from the ocean: in the other it would amount to a serious inroad upon the very means of existence. But in India the inequality would be infinitely greater. Few Hindoos earn more than five shillings a month, or three pounds sterling per annum; while the earnings of others vary from two pounds to eighteen shillings per annum: yet Mr Buckingham proposes that these wretched creatures should pay as much in the shape of a direct tax as Ramohun Roy, or any other expert Bramin who had contrived to amass a fortune of some two millions or two millions and a half. But this was not the only atrocity which Mr Buckingham perpetrated in the course of Monday evening. He laboured to prove that the East India Company were not the sovereigns of India, because their ships sailed under a particoloured flag, very like that which British sailors call "the d -d Yankee stripes;" and that the fact of these ships sailing under such a flag was a virtual admission of the sovereignty of the King. Now, the answer to this nonsensical drivelling is easy. First, the sovereignty of the King was never doubted, except perhaps by Mr Buckingham. Secondly, the Company are merely lessees, in which capacity they exercise, in virtue of the lease granted them for a term of years by the Legislature, a species of quasi-sovereignty under the King. Thirdly, they are moreover a body of merchants trading to the East Indies; in which capacity they may use any flag they please to distinguish their ships from all others engaged in the same traffic. Lastly, wherever either a company's ship or a company's officer holds a commission signed by the King, in that case the King's, or, in other words, the national flag is hoisted. Next, and not inferior in absurdity to this, was the project for making cadets perambulate at large for three long years, and then enter into contracts for spouses, which yet were to be no contracts at all, as they were to be binding on neither party; the scheme for compelling all Europeans to learn Hindostanee, and all Hindoos to learn English; together with many other equally notable extravagances, which we have not time to particularise. In a word, the whole thing, from beginning to end, was a piece of mere galimathias; or rather, we should say, an indifferent attempt at a speech "on the general question" (our professional readers will be at no loss to understand what we mean,) without one particle of the broad humour and glorious fun which a certain witty and ingenious friend of ours is accustomed to display, when discoursing at large in this boundless region. But the cream of the joke yet remains. "At the close of the lecture, Mr James Spittal, merchant, (as the Observer hath it,) rose and said, he believed he spoke the sense of every lady and gentleman present, and had no doubt but it would be grateful to the feelings of Mr Buckingham, that they should return to that gentleman their warm thanks for the great exertions he had made in the course in which he was engaged; and for the display of oratory with which they had on that and former occasions been so highly delighted.-(Great Applause!)— Mr Buckingham, in a neat speech, acknowledged the compliment, and expressed a hope, that the period was not far distant when he would have the pleasure of again meeting them!" We had not the happiness to hear the speech of our friend Mr Spittal, or Mr Buckingham's " neat" reply; but the scene must have been altogether excellent and unique. By his "great exertions" and "displays of oratory," Mr Buckingham has contrived to bag some five hundred odd pounds in Edinburgh for about half a score long speeches, or at the rate of fifty pounds a speech, which, we take the liberty to hold, is tolerably fair payment; and over and above all this, Mr Spittal presumes to speak the sense of every lady and gentleman who contributed aliquot parts of these fees, and to return Mr Buckingham "their warm thanks" for having done them the honour to pocket the proceeds; to which Mr Buckingham replies, "in a neat speech," (what else could it be when the question was one of net profits ?) acknowledging the compliment, and expressing a hope," that the period was not far distant when he would have the pleasure of AGAIN MEETING THEM!” We cannot imagine any thing to surpass this.* SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. S. E. S. E. writes us as follows:-" I have seen Mr Buckingham's advertisement, and really look forward with but small satisfaction to the prospect of being dragged into a dispute with the man whom Sheikh Ibrahim (Mr Burckhardt) first, and Captain Boog afterwards, denounced in no measured or equivocal terms. Mr Buckingham's sensibility in some instances appears to be as acute as his silence in regard to others is inexplicable. He fires at a newspaper criticism on his three hours talk about India, and advertises his forthcoming reply in his usual confident and presumptuous manner; yet in matters that concern his character and reputation, he either maintains an obdurate silence, or contrives to evade all attempts to bring him to close quarters. Up to the present moment, he has never ventured to say one word in reply to Captain Boog. Everybody here knows how cunningly he managed, when last in Edinburgh, to escape from the grasp of Dr Bryce's agent, who, I am told, had in his hands the most ample proofs to convict" the celebrated traveller" of having defamed and belied that Reverend Gentleman. The New Scots Magazine, too, has been ripping up the whole of Mr Buckingham's conduct in India, and publishing statements which it most nearly concerned him to have refuted if he could. But though he finds it convenient to pass these matters sub silentio, he comes forward with a petulant gasconading advertisement, announcing a formal reply to the cursory strictures on his last lecture, which appeared in your paper of Thursday; in the hope, doubtless, that by this flourish of trumpets beforehand, he may succeed in predisposing the public in his favour. I observe, also, that he affects to be very witty on the subject of my signature, which," he says, "appropriately represents Silliness and Emptiness combined." But if that be the case, Mr Buckingham ought to adopt it forthwith; for whatever appropriately represents Silliness and Emptiness combined," must, for that very reason, be the most suitable and " appropriate" representative of Mr Buckingham. • Mr B. published an advertisement in the papers of 11th curt. intimating a reply to S. E. |