The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

111011 WATIR AT LONDON BRIMS,

lets DAY =-17(nrO1114. 355.
10-11011. ROW llorntng. S. .Atlasea. Sh. Sim

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 2G.

THE figures cited in the nine resolutions pro-
posed by the Minister for India on Thursday
night are very interesting and exceedingly en-
couraging in regard to the condition and prospects
of India ; but certain inferences from them, and
certain facts related by Sir C. WOOD are of more
importance, and yet stronger interest. Having
once heard we are not likely to forget that whereas
there was a deficit of fourteen millions five years
ago, there is now a surplus ; but there are
several facts at least as important as this which
must be kept before the public mind, for the
chance of the day coming when the
public will care as much as it ought
about Indian affairs. We should be very
glad to see any promise of that day being
near at hand ; but the attendance in the House
on Thursday was, perhaps, scantier than ever.
Everybody there thought this shameful ;
and those who were not there bare nothing
to say in the way of denial. They find an excuse
in the lateness of the date, year by year, of the
Indian Minister's exposition ; while he may very
well plead that up to the last day of the latest
session members can attend on any occasion
which really interest, them. it would be a useful
experiment to try for once what sort of attendance
there would be on an Indian night immediately
after Easter, as was suggested by some members
ashamed of the appearance of the House on Thurs-
day ; but we all know very well that under such
complaints and suggestions there lies a conicious-
nese of the vicious circle in which the public,
and especially the parliamentary, mind
is running. Members avoid the subject
of India, because they are ashamed of know-
ing so little about a realm and a people
living under parliamentary government ; and, on
the other part, they wil 'never know more nor feel
a stronger interest while they go on avoiding the
subject. In such a state of affairs there is no
use in scolding the ignorant and taunting the timid.
Reproach will only make the subject more dis-
tasteful than before. The better way is to point
out some broad general facts which are of common
importance to the people of India and the people
of England, and to trust that a due interest must
ere long be kindled in that way.
One such fact comes out very clearly this year :
that the improvement in the finances of India is
largely due to a reduction of public expendi-
ture—to an anxious economy in administering
each department of government. While Mr.
GLADSTONE is jocosely treated for his earnest and
steady counsel to the country to take in hand the
work of retrenchment ; and while the present
House of Commons shows such reckless tendencies'
as to make its constituents suppose that, in affairs
so large, there is nothing for them but to trust that
the increase of income will be a match for the in-
crease of expenditure, it is interesting in the ex-
treme to see what has been done in India by such
an economy as is the duty of every government.
There is no bigotry and no sordidness about this
economy. The expenditure on the dispensation of
justice is cheerfully increased, in order to bring
justice within the people's reach ; and public works
have never for one day stood still for want of en-
couragement and aid from headquarters. Just
and liberal things cau be done by the Government
by means of the retrenchment effected in
the military department especially ; but also
in several others. Here is a broad hint for
the Liberal members, rebuked for their inefficiency
as economists when the estimates are before the
House, and for the constituencies, that they should
return men who see the more instead of the less
reason for retrenchment in the vastness of our pre-
sent national expenditure.

Another fact of string and various significance
is that only a small part of the Indian revenue is
derived from customs. This is, in the first place,
a lesson to Government to select wisely the com-
modities which are to bear a duty; and it is, in
the next place, a suggestion of a wonderful pros-
pect for India whenever the people shall learn the
use and enjoyment of many things which become
useful and enjoyable with the progress of civiliza-
tion. Except on salt and piece goods the natives
pay scarcely any customs duty at all—not more
than 400,0001.—the rest being paid by the
European residents. There can be little
doubt that before very long the natives will
make their own salt, instead of paying as
they do for that from Cheshire ; and then they
will have learned to v►lue other foreign commodi-
ties for which they at present show no liking at
all. They are already enjoying a higher rate of
wages and of payment for their produce than was
ever known in the country before ; and when they
have supplied themselves to their will with rings,
and chains, and strings of coins, they will begin to
demand other things than gold and silver, as many
of them began to do as long ago as Bishop Hesea's
time. This is a hint to us to provide for a great
future increase of the customs duties by imposieg

re.

only good ones, and in • sensible • sod also
to study the character and , ;ha peoplo
of India so as to introduoe the!' of early as pose.
ble to the good and pleasant commodities which it
will be a benefit to us to produce and to them to
consume.

Another lesson that we are taught is that the
article of opium should be placed outside of our
calculations whenever we wish to be accurate in
our estimate of Indian revenue. Sometimes there
is a million more, and sometimes nearly two mil-
lions leas, than had been expected. In some con-
nexion with this is the striking fact of the fluctua-
tions in the value of everything which are at pre-
sent perplexing the authorities and the native
citizens and the Europeans alike. If in the rural
districts wages have risen so as to enrich the mul-
titudes who buy nothing but salt and a cotton gar-
ment, in the great ports and cities the prices of all
commodities are so high—having been excessively
low not long before—that everybody is in difficul-
ties of one kind or another. It was the state of
the currency which caused the last great lass on
the opium duty; and it is the state of the
currency which creates or aggravates the
irregularities of prices now in Bombay and
in the other great cities. The more difficult
the question of the currency in India, the more
need there is of a speedy decision on some
course, and, in the meantime, of members not
running away whenever any topic of Indian
economy is to be discussed. A decision about a
gold currency in India has to be made ; and Sir
C. WOOD promises a speedy appeal to the country
or its economists upon it, and it is not too much
to say that the fate of India may depend upon
the issue.

We never relished the exportation of coolies
from a country so imperfectly developed as India,
and now we see how inadequate the labour snpply
really is, from the moment when capital and labour
begin to have anything like fair play. The striking
increase of the land revenue and of the area of
cultivation explains how some of the labour has
been absorbed, and why wages continue to rise
through all the caprices of an unsettled currency.
While hearing of so many hopeful signs, and see-
ing that the improvement on the whole must be
genuine, we must bear in mind any dismal secrets
which we may happen to know of as hidden
behind the brilliancy of the prosperity. The
indigo planters and their unhappy growers
are chafing and despairing still, as at any time for
several year. Their industry may be a type of
any or every other if the Parliament and people
of England shirk their duty of providing for the
government of India on the soundest principles,
applied in the most sagacious way.
The man who is the very ideal of a Viceroy is
at the service of India, and he has already done
what will save millions of lives from destruction
by war and pestilence. Such rulers being natu-
rally well served, other wise and good men are
also devoted on the spot to the welfare of India.
If their work is spoiled, or ever so little delayed,
by fault in the India-office, or by the ignorance,
indolence, or indifference of Parliament, the crime
will be as grave an one as any self-governing
nation ever had to answer for.