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Article PENCILLINGS PROM THE SKETCH-BOOK OE A MA... ← Page 3 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Prom The Sketch-Book Oe A Ma...
tends to the good of our fellow-men broadcast o ' er the land , by means of which the native ' s prosperity shall be advanced , and his mind be elevated and refined—in the contemplation of which , the language of the poet , when apostrophizing England , suggests itself to us : —
" 0 thou Ocean Queen , Be these thy toils , when thou hast laid The thunderbolt aside ! HE who hath blest thine arms Will bless thee in these holy works of peace ! " The time has been , and I can recollect it , when no European adventurer could travel into the interior without a passport . In
days gone by , too , there was no free press . As a contrast in respect of travelling between what has been and what will now be in India ' s improved condition , let me here make a passing remark on the state of what were , rather amusingly , called our 'hi gh roads , but a few miles only from the metropolis of Southern India . They were mere lanes of mud or sand , according as the season was wet or dry , and when passing over the great " Maidan" or olains ' the route could only be
discoverable here and there by the ruts of some lately revolving handy , or cartwheel , as the ponderous and ilhshapen carriage had traversed the indistinctly-marked way , laden with supplies of pale ale and confectionary for a military mess at some distant station . The p hysical features of the country were , in fact , about the same as they must have been in the days of Alexander the Great ; for it may fairly
be said , at any rate with regard to the Presidency of Madras , that until lately , when the great thoroughfare from the Carnatic to Mysore , and thence across the entire peninsula to the Nilgherry Hills and through Coorg to Mangalore , was . wonderfully improved , and in some parts practically opened for the first time , saving within the precise limits of civil and military stations , by-roads in England were fifty per cent , better . The impression a traveller would have formed would be , that seemingly we had heretofore been accustomed
to view India as a grand field for the display of martial prowess ; ¦ ' —as the vantage ground of heroes , a safety-valve for the aspirings of the adventurous youth of Britain ' s redundant population ; —as a sort of moving camp on a gigantic scale . It will no longer bear this aspect ; and doubtless , under Providence , one great and prominent advantage
arising from the introduction of railways , will be the avoiding m future the chances of that fearful scourge , the cholera ; since , instead of the long and tedious inarch of hundreds of miles at the average rate of ten miles a day , and occupying months to accomplish , the transit of troops can be effected by the train . In like manner , shortly will the old expedient of a palanquin and bearers , to stead the passenger to the interior , be exploded , and in place thereof he will take his ticket , ftud scat himself in the railway-carriage , as at home . " i Up to tin ' s point , indulgent reader , I have endeavoured to engage
your attention to a personal narrative ; but , as I and my companions have now established ourselves at the cadets' quarters , permit me here
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Prom The Sketch-Book Oe A Ma...
tends to the good of our fellow-men broadcast o ' er the land , by means of which the native ' s prosperity shall be advanced , and his mind be elevated and refined—in the contemplation of which , the language of the poet , when apostrophizing England , suggests itself to us : —
" 0 thou Ocean Queen , Be these thy toils , when thou hast laid The thunderbolt aside ! HE who hath blest thine arms Will bless thee in these holy works of peace ! " The time has been , and I can recollect it , when no European adventurer could travel into the interior without a passport . In
days gone by , too , there was no free press . As a contrast in respect of travelling between what has been and what will now be in India ' s improved condition , let me here make a passing remark on the state of what were , rather amusingly , called our 'hi gh roads , but a few miles only from the metropolis of Southern India . They were mere lanes of mud or sand , according as the season was wet or dry , and when passing over the great " Maidan" or olains ' the route could only be
discoverable here and there by the ruts of some lately revolving handy , or cartwheel , as the ponderous and ilhshapen carriage had traversed the indistinctly-marked way , laden with supplies of pale ale and confectionary for a military mess at some distant station . The p hysical features of the country were , in fact , about the same as they must have been in the days of Alexander the Great ; for it may fairly
be said , at any rate with regard to the Presidency of Madras , that until lately , when the great thoroughfare from the Carnatic to Mysore , and thence across the entire peninsula to the Nilgherry Hills and through Coorg to Mangalore , was . wonderfully improved , and in some parts practically opened for the first time , saving within the precise limits of civil and military stations , by-roads in England were fifty per cent , better . The impression a traveller would have formed would be , that seemingly we had heretofore been accustomed
to view India as a grand field for the display of martial prowess ; ¦ ' —as the vantage ground of heroes , a safety-valve for the aspirings of the adventurous youth of Britain ' s redundant population ; —as a sort of moving camp on a gigantic scale . It will no longer bear this aspect ; and doubtless , under Providence , one great and prominent advantage
arising from the introduction of railways , will be the avoiding m future the chances of that fearful scourge , the cholera ; since , instead of the long and tedious inarch of hundreds of miles at the average rate of ten miles a day , and occupying months to accomplish , the transit of troops can be effected by the train . In like manner , shortly will the old expedient of a palanquin and bearers , to stead the passenger to the interior , be exploded , and in place thereof he will take his ticket , ftud scat himself in the railway-carriage , as at home . " i Up to tin ' s point , indulgent reader , I have endeavoured to engage
your attention to a personal narrative ; but , as I and my companions have now established ourselves at the cadets' quarters , permit me here