The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-04 00:00:00

NOVEMBriI 4, 1854.

Its professions, as manifested in its des
patches, and the explanations of its organs
in the House of Commons, breathe the purest
benevolence towards all, and especially the
most fatherly love and care for the native
race. On this ground it rests its justification
of the wholesale spoliation of native princes
and landlords now in progress, in defiance of
the most solemn treaties and engagements.
It admits that there may be to a certain
degree a breach of faith in the proceeding, but
it asserts that the greatest happiness of the
greatest number is a consideration paramount
to all others; and that this, in India, is only
to be found under the liberal and enlightened
government of the Company. It does so
happen, to be sure, that the doctrine is a very
convenient one, as these successive additions
to our exchequer serve to replace in some
measure the dilapidations in our revenue
which mismanagement has caused; while, as
every increase to our territory brings a vast
increase of patronage to the Governor-General,
the President of the India Board, and the
directors, in the shape of numberless new
appointments, varying in value from six thou-
sand pounds per annum downwards, the en-
couragement of the doctrine affords an un-
limited field for the provision of relatives and
friends. But, of course, any sordid considera-
tion of this sort is loudly repudiated by those
who benefit by the proceeding, and the purest
regard for the welfare of the natives of India
is alleged as the only reason that actuates the
Government in following such a course
A late Madras paper supplies a more than
usually flagrant instance of the Company's
disregard of its professions in relation to the
land revenue settlement of Bellary, a portion
of what are called the ceded districts, which
have been in the possession of the Company
for half a century. Throughout this period
these philanthropic rulers have had the power
of dealing with the land and the cultivators
of the ceded districts as they pleased, and the
following is the plan which they have pursued.
For wet land, that is, for land possessing the
means of irrigation, the only land in India on
which a crop is certain, they charge twenty-
nine shillings rent the higah per annum,
which is about three times as much as was
taken by the most extortionate native Govern-
ment that has existed in India in our times,
that of the Scinde Ameers, and six times as
ranch as the late Sir CHARLES NAPIER fixed as
thehi ghest rent to be charged for similar land in
Scinde. The result of this extortion is just
. what might have been expected. Cultivation
has diminished daily instead of increasing,
• and, though the population of the district had
• increased in the fifty years in which it has
been in our possession by a million and a half
of souls, there is much less land cultivated in
it now than there was then.
This our readers will probably think bad
enough, but far worse remains behind. At
the time that we obtained possession of
Bellary half of the lands of the district were
possessed by a native aristocracy holding
under grants of preceding sovereigns which
we engaged to respect ; and the following is the
manner in which our Government has dealt
with them. These rent-freeholders, seeing
that to demand the exorbitant rate of rent
levied by the Company would only entail ruin
both on their tenantry and themselves, and
not having, like the Company, a public ti ea-
sury to fall back upon in case their tents failed,
fixed a moderate assessment on their lands of
similar quality, charging seven shillings and
threepence a begah only, which they thought
was as much as the land could pay. The
result of their moderation was, that their
estates flourished, while the lands of the
Company did not. This was not to be tole-
rated by the Company, and they enacted a
law that any person renting the lands on pri-
vate estates should for every one acre so rented
be charged the rent of ten acres of the Com-
pany's lands at the Company's rates, whether
they cultivated it or no—such assessments to
be enforced by sale of goods and imprison-
ment, just as if the man had agreed to take
the land for which he was made to pay ! The
tenants of the native landowners were thus at
once reduced to
.the same state of beggary as
the Company's tenants, and their lands to the
same state of waste and desolation. The law

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THE PRESS.

then enacted is still in force, and such at
this present hour is the manlier in which the
Indian Government, which is perpetually
annexing new lands on the ground of its
superior mode of discharging the duties of a
landlord, deals with the territory which has
been subject to it for half a century. The
Manchester school support the existing
administration on the ground of their free-
trade principles. We shall be glad to learn
what they think of this mode of applying those
principles to the cotton fields of India by Sir
CHARLES WOOD.

OFFICIAL NEGLECT.
THE statement of Sir CHARLES SHAW, that in
the course of last spring he brought " the sack
tents" of the French army under the special
notice of the authorities, is of importance.
He says, positively, that, after having himself
witnessed the efficacy of these newlyinvented
tents, he took steps for directing notice to
them, but that no attention was paid to his
communication! If our soldiers had been
furnished with such covering, they would not
have been exposed to the horrors of the night
of September the 14th, when it rained torrents.
The miseries of such a night fearfully swelled
the casualties from cholera ; and it is mortify-
ing to reflect that the French army were all
covered, while our men were left without de
fence. .

Addressing himself to the economical pre-
judices of some of our rulers, Sir CHARLES
makes it a question of L.S.D., after having first
detailed the sufferings of our soldiers :
I shall not now speak of the sufferings of the men, but
of the pecuniary loss to the nation from this unpardonable
neglect. The sack tents can be made for each soldier at
2s. 61. (a French soldier would rather part with his
blanket than his sack tent). Each soldier, as he landed
in the Crimea, cost 1501.; 27,000 landed, so the cost of
putting them under cover would have been 3,5001. After
the night's soaking, 1,5110 were sent to the Kangaroo, so
that we might easily calculate that 2,000 were rendered
unfit for duty--a temporary loss of 2,000 men at 1501., say
350,00 W. But of the 2,000. at least 000 of these either
died or were ever after useless as soldiers : that is, there
was a total loss of 90,0001., which might have been saved
by an outlay for tents for these 600 at 2s. od.—that is,
00/. ( Sack tents, with muskets, could serve well for
stretchers.)
We are curious to learn what reply will be
offered to this statement of Sir CHARLES SHAW.
What comes from his pen is of some impor-
tance, as he was one of the first to direct at-
tention to the new French rifles.
On the organisation of the staff of nurses,
Sir CHARLES SHAW expresses his fears that the
plan adopted is rather too theoretical, and
that its practicability is not equal to its phi-
lanthropy of design. The blunder of sending
worn-out Chelsea Pensioners in the ambulance
corps was a notable one ; and Sir CHARLES
fears that some of the nurses recently sent
out will be merely " Chelsea Pensioners in
petticoats," requiring assistance for them-
selves. Unquestionably, professional aid is
always better than the efforts of enthusiasm,
and the hospitals of the kingdom could supply
experienced nurses for the occasion, with a
proper system of rewards. The neglect of
providing beforehand for the wounded has
been " unpardonable," and redounds much to
the discredit of our War Department.