1831.] A/airs in General. 553 



pronounced " Decus et Tutamen." The Glory and Protection. The 

 Order of the Garter, the glory and protection of England ! We are 

 content to let this absurdity stay in Latin or Sanscrit ; English would 

 be shamed by it. The Order of the Garter, which goes round the 

 knee of any man, who comes with the minister's fiat on the subject, and 

 which has no more relation to British glory or British defence than the 

 Order of the Blue Button or the Yellow Frog of his majesty the em- 

 peror of China ; and this is to go forth on our national gold coin ! and 

 for fear that the folly would not be sufficiently spread it is to be stamped 

 on our crowns and half-crowns ! The shillings and sixpences luckily 

 escape : plain English will do for them. And all this goes on from year 

 to year, while we have in the example of France a model of what a 

 mint ought to be. Every foreigner makes purchases at the French 

 mint; and the series of national medals executed there is a public 

 honour and a public profit too. But who ever thinks of purchasing 

 English mintage except for bullion ? With a history full of the most 

 stirring events, we have not a single medallic series ; we have scarcely a 

 single medal. But we have in lieu of those vanities a master of the 

 mint, who is tost new into the office on every change of party, who has 

 probably in the whole course of his life, never known the difference be- 

 tween gold and silver but by their value in sovereigns and shillings ; 

 but who, in the worst of times, shews his patriotism by receiving a 

 salary of no less than five thousand pounds a year. 



<e Mr. James Taylor, who has for several years devoted his time to establish 

 a steam communication between England and India, proceeded eighteen 

 months since to Bombay, through Egypt, and by the Red Sea ; and left it in 

 May last to return to England. He took his route by Bagdad to Aleppo, and 

 was joined by Messrs. Bowater, Aspinall, Elliott, Stubb, and Captain Cockell 

 the two latter officers in the Indian army. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Bowater 

 proposed proceeding to Aleppo, the former intending to go from thence to 

 England. On the 15th August the caravan was attacked, at midnight, on the 

 plains of Sindjar, by two numerous bands of Arabs, and, as resistance seemed 

 useless, it took flight back. It was not till the morning that it was ascertained 

 that Messrs. Taylor, Bowater, and Aspinall, with a Maltese servant to Tay- 

 lor, were missing. Mr. Taylor's horse came into the party during the day, with 

 all his baggage, and some of his papers. Mr. Taylor, it is feared, and his 

 companions have been put to death by the savages into whose hands they had 

 fallen. He has left a widow and four young children to lament his untimely 

 and cruel fate." 



We are no worshippers of Ibrahim Pacha nor Mohamed Ali, and yet 

 we wish that the scymeters of both were let loose from the head of the 

 Red Sea down to the Straits of Babelmandel. Conquest is mercy when 

 it restrains the bloodthirsty and the robber, and gives civilization the 

 power of passing along in its tranquil and noble progress through the 

 great deserted regions of the globe. We fear we have to record the loss 

 of a vigorous and useful man by the Arab sword. Whether this was 

 owing to any mismanagement on the part of our countrymen, or any 

 treachery on that of their guides and attendants, we must expect that 

 our consuls on the station will make due inquiry for both the recovery 

 of the individuals, if they are still to be found, and the punishment of 

 the criminals. It may be difficult to catch the Arab in his deserts, but 

 he may come within the reach of justice notwithstanding, and no exer- 



M.M. Nerv Series. VOL. XL No.H5. 4 B 



