The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-13 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

been a blessing to India, the evils I have men-
tioned would probably not have sprung up under it.
Mr. Macleod observes that "the men who govern
India are not a portion of the people of India, and
that this circumstance, which at first sight may seem
calculated to aggravate the evils commonly attendant
on the rule of race over race, really removes them by
setting the rulers free from the partial interests and
pas-ions by which they would otherwise of necessity
be swayed." Suppose France should conquer Britain,
and send Frenchmen to govern it, assigning as a
reason that Frenchmen, not being a portion of th e
people of Britain, cannot be swayed by partial in.
terests and passions, would Mr. Macleod admit the
reason to be sound and just? I suspect he would
not.

Mr. Macleod, in one part of his minute, states that,
" supposing even that a genuine native, considered
one of themselves by the mass of the Hindoos, were
placed on the bench of the proposed High Court,
the Hindoos generally would not be pleased by the
appointment, and the Mahomedans would decidedly
dislike it;" and in another part of lila minute he
asserts that "if the measure for opening unheard-of
roads to the bench proposed for Bengal should not be
brought into operation in any of the other Presiden-
cies, it would produce disappointment and discontent
there, and probably not there only, but elsewhere,
through the natural sympathies of men who belong
to the same class." These two statements of Mr.
Macleod are evidently inconsistent with each other.
If the appointment of a native to the bench in Bengal
is not likely to please the natives in general, the ex-
clusion of a native from the bench in any other
Presidency is not likely to cause disappointment and
discontent amongst them.
Mr. Macleod alleges that " when the barrier which
fences off men not of the close Civil Service from the
offices appropriated to that body was broken down,
natives would have no chance of success in the
stru2gle for the places thrown open ; that they would
have no chance even of keeping what they now have;
that it is by the present system, and especially by the
instramentality of the Civil Service, that they are
protected, cherished, favored, and maintained in
possession of a multitude of public offices; and that
when that protection was removed, the energy of the
Anglo-Saxon race would triumph over them and
trample them under foot, leaving to them nothing
that was worth taking from them." Mr. Macleod
has strange notions of the abilities and character of
the natives of India, and must have lived in their
country when there were no English schools er col-
leges for their instruction, and when few natives
could be found who could converse with him in
English. I, however, have a much higher opinion
of the intellectual and moral qualities of my country-
men than he has, and am happy to say that schools
and colleges are now being established in India for
their education. I have no doubt that when a
university is also established in India, and the
natives are allowed the same facilities for competing
for civil appointments as are allowed to the English,
they will nave no reason to fear or complain. The
natives have not yet had a fair trial, the civil ap-
pointments being allowed to be competed for only in
England, where very few natives are able to go.
When they have a fair trial and fail, they will deserve
to be trampled under foot.
Mr. Macleod has inserted in his minute, in support
of his opinion "that natives of India are more
numerously employed in the public service under the
British Government, and are better paid for their
services than is commonly supposed," the following
statement of natives of India employed in 1849, and
of their salaries, converted into English money, at
two shillings per Company's rupee
:-
1
8
12 . 720 to 840 „
68
60
. 300 to 480 „
277
1,173
1,147
To show that the natives of India are numerously
employed as public servants, and well paid for their
services, Mr. Macleod should have inserted another
statement, exhibiting the proportion which the num-
ber of natives employed in the public service bears
to the population of their country, the proportion
which the number of British subjects employed in
the public service of Britain bears to the population
of that country, and the proportion which the average
salary of a native servant bears to the average salary
of a European officer in India. Why Mr. Macleod
did not give a statement of the proportions referred
to may be easily guessed.
Mr. Macleod also seems to be of opinion that a
salary of 3601. a year to a native servant in Judie is
more than equivalent to a salary of 5,0001. a year to
an English civil servant in the same country. I can
assure Mr. Macleod that lie is quite wrong in enter-
taining such an opinion ; that 360/., instead of being
more than equivalent to 5,0001., are actually less