The East India sketch-book; an account of the present state of society in Calcutta, Bombay, &c, Volume 1

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Page 93 - England in so far as they do not oppose prejudice and usages which cannot be relinquished by the natives should prevail. The measure besides its equity is calculated to preserve that influence which conquerors must possess to retain their power.
Page 51 - He is overflexible to the touch of his native butler,"' said the Major. " 'Ah ! if it were permitted, " I could a tale unfold," of a man who, without common sense, truth, honour, or honesty, military skill, or — military courage, solely from his relationship to a man in office, is kept in an important position, in which he can only injure the government he serves, and ruin the officers who have the misfortune to serve under him.
Page 86 - Perjury seems to be committed by the meanest and encouraged by some of the better sort among the Hindus and Mussulmans, with as little remorse as if it were a proof of ingenuity, or even a merit.
Page 52 - said Mulgrave ; ' that alone contains a cure for more than half the complaints of the body military.' " The spirit and style of the military conversation we have quoted, may surely make prudent or thinking minds pause, when they ask themselves whether a free press would be so safe or efficient a remedy for military grievances as Lieutenant Mulgrave supposes? A newspaper, breathing the spirit of these...
Page 76 - ... inventory of modes is offered for sale. But it would be cruel to visit them with an austere criticism, when we advert to the unhappy circumstances of their maternity and their country education ; for it is the good fortune of a few only to be educated in England. Native women, it must be recollected, of the higher class, are never the mothers of children by Europeans. They are generally of the lowest ; frequently menials of the most degraded description, ignorant of every moral obligation, and...
Page 92 - to leave the natives to their own laws would be to consign them to anarchy and confusion ', since they were divided into two religious bodies almost equal in point of numbers and ' averse beyond measure to one another
Page 51 - ... in which characters are dissected with the coarsest butchery. " ' What upon earth placed that man at the head of a force ? It is an enormity sufficient to afford matter of memorial to the Honourable Court. A frontier station on the borders of a foreign territory is a door worth keeping locked with strong springs, and to put such a warder over it ! — a man who has neither head to direct, nor hand to execute.
Page 256 - It is a pity you did not come to that conclusion sooner,' said Mrs. Parke amiably; ' for every officer of ours has sent a refusal, except Grampus, who goes any-wherefor a feed gratis.' *" I don't care, — so much the better,' returned Lieutenant- Colonel Parke, sulkily; 'my young men want a few courts-martial amongst them, and I'll see if I can't have two or three of them in arrest before long. I'll...
Page 204 - ... use the author's favourite phrase, would be very far from being improved. But it is worth while to observe the sophism, under which he shelters himself, when he contends for the right of unrestricted animadversion upon official characters. The actions of public servants are public property, he says, and no man holds office exempt from this condition. The press, therefore, the organ of the public, has the right of stamping them with the brand of shame. What a world of exceptions and reservations...

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