The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-25 00:00:00

e

[PRICE SD•

Were the questions of less vital
not so much of human weal end itrbtveP64'.'"P.;
their right solution—the cynicism of the followicg
remarks (wbich we quote from the Overland Eastern
Star) would be amusing. As it is, they show how
lightly the interests of the Indian population press on
the consciences of the official class in our eastern do-
minions—we might almost-say, on those of the Euro-
pean residents in the three'presidential capitals. With
few exceptions, the Indian pr€ss is in the hands of the
army and the bureaucracy. Sometimes the Euro-
pean merchants and planters contrive to influence it.
But of the natives it takes no note. If an official is
unjustly displaced, or if his promotion is unduly re-
tarded—if a regulation by the Gov -,retnent iffects
disadvantageously the pockets of merchants or, plan tcrt,
the Indian press gore etiaightway into hystericaled
yells as if heaven and earth were coming tog-Arrer.
But it will be seen from the fei!owing quotation ,
with what sublime and unwincing stoicism the seine
sensitive gentlemen can endure the sufferings of mere
natives :
THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE oP
tieing in our last issue the subjects with regard to the
Company's administration of this country into which ti.e
Pbultr'tiaimmeentotsrely Cakoomampitat:seinis:
adlilrueseiteeed ttoo sqthe uirts,ismvpeiehta,id_
ttbheepneroeurs
aivioe
fwsueonertthieel
ea
tuub jtehcet
Dhnae assvielybo°.fiNe-tnehweeso,n list.wfi hr Seed: nllbcsye attention to what he describes as
b"itshoreweevweroyrdrse:m—arkable omissions," which we detail in
" In the first place, it is not proposed by Government
bto e ascertain,reaeb e
d ty except
examinationindeed
systems, the material condition of the 150,000,000 of
incidentally,
the financial aslaar and judicial
c may
people who really constitute India.
" The next omission is of inquiry. into the policies
which have led to such immense additions to our Indian
dominions since 1834.
"And, lastly, the Committee has not catered into any
inquiry into our relations with the native princes within
the circle of our own territories."
These may be very remarkable omissions "as our
home contemporary terms them, but it seems to us that
it would have been far more remarkable if the Commit-
tee of Inquiry had investigated these important subjects
what
on
about
with o
theouslriglhstoe,oost
150,000,000
oowof of success. As for the condi-
tionhome Committee of Inquiry elicit
even here we know nothing about it. The local govern-
ment console themselves with the reflection that they
have done their duty; they allow missionaries to prose
earthtbat? could a
Why,
cute their labours uninterrupted, and they have built and
endowed a number of schools; and further they know or
care nothing. The mass of the natives of India are at
the very bottom of the social scale, and, politically, they
have no existence at all. No one appears to think about
them. Even in Bengal—the richest, most fertile, and
most populous province of our empire—the disorganisa-
tion of the lower classes is positively without a parallel.
Every one knows and acknowledges the evil, but
no attempts are made to remedy it. Law or system
there is none, save that which is simulated within a
•
circle of a few hundred yards round each judiclil
cutcherry. The country teems with those who make
plunder their occupation, and who know no other. The
peasantry
.are pillaged and oppressed, but they lack the
spirit to complain; and if they did, their complaints
wouldbtsoui
ept,phgreater
rr
retbyaei
ots
ent
brr
udh t
detestation
addingetedsetda native.t
ipo
policeman
lni
tesphueoaml
insult
act
aneo
professedti ha injury,earens ebfriot
era tnel
o‘yef,ri
deceit.sy t
oneblt
iunot
stisehti its
support acquainted with the Mofussil must acknowledge that
Mofussil there are four classes—thezemiudars, the po-
licemen, the daeoit-, and
policemen,
r
the t:yots. The zemindars
jemploy the dscoits, bribe the
.oatsia.d
Talblis is these
oin in oppressing the unfortunatee
bird's-eye view of the state cf
_Bengal
favomour w eclotolostlaie it vherays
upo n.
suburbs of the metropolis, and we shouldup
suppose that
the other provinces are not more
been from time immemorial, and r,f,j
as next to impossible. We have, it is true, our look
Euro-
pean judges, and collectors and magistrates: bat how
many of them, we should like re know, are indepen-
dent
of—that is to say, influenced by—their nativ
subordinates? And how many of these native subordi-
nates are inaccessible to the soft voice of adulation,
accompanied by the far more melodious clinking of a
bribe? These are questions for the Committee of
aln-
quiry to propose and have answered; but this we know,
and this we say without fear of contradiction—a heavy
purse and a flattering voice have gained far more suits in
the Mofussil Courts than have ever been decided in fa-
vour of the humble and oppressed. Talk about the
" material condition" of the 150 millions that constitute
India! Why, the topic is eschewed with the most reli-
gious caution by the local authorities, and whence, then,
is to be derived the information that should guide the
researches of a home Committee of Inquiry? As well
might they seek to discover the whereabouts of tat
mysterious of monarchs—the great Prester John.
As we are still inclined to hope against hope that the
investigation of the Committee may result in some bene-
fit to this country, wo are glad that they have avoided a
subject, the vastness of which would inevitably perplex
them, and the intricacy of Ihich watid assuredly baffle
all their attempts to understand. Wit, as it has baffled the
attempts of men, if not abler, &least possessed of far
more light to guide their research.
Leaving, then, the " material condition" of the 150
millions of India, we come to the next omission—that
of inquiry into the policy which has so immensely ex-
tended our dominions since 1834. This we stiould re-
gard as an unpardonable omission were the case really
as stated by the Daily News; but it is far otherwise. It
hes not bean any extensive and persevering scheme of
policy that has yearly pushed our frontier further into
the heart of Asia. Oar policy, if we had any, was ever
stationary; but circumstances, " over which we had no
control," drove us onwards. The Company's govern-
ment in the East may truly exclaim that they have been
throughout their career the sictims of circumstances—
willing victims, perhaps, in some instances, but still vic-
tims. After they bad first gained a firm footing in
India, all that they now possess came in the natural
course of events. They but took their seat under a teeming
tree, and as the fruit ripened it naturally fell into their
lap. Now and then they certainly dtti accelerate the
work of nature by giving the branches a shake, but in
these cases they were always urged on by some suddenly-
concocted idea, or some half-involuntary impulse—never
by any settled plan of policy. As well ask why the
time-worn and crumbling tower yields to the fury of the
blast, as inquire why the worn-out despotisms of India
letbtie deboafrriers British
once
re-
moved—it have one by one bowed down and fallen befene the stern
energy ofthteued upon India—the Anglo-Saxon.
The
enter-
prise
once re
has silently but incessantly crept onwards,
either over-topping or sapping and undermining all the
obstacles that would check its course. What may be its
destined boundaries it is beyond the power of man to
determine, but certain it would appear that they have
not yet been reached. All that our Indian politicians
have ever essayed to discover has been the " natural
boundary" of the British Indian empire, and now the
object of our search seems as remote as ever. Heaven
knows in what remote r • egion it may be eventually die,
covered.
The last subj •
ect of inquiry upon which the Committee
are forbidden and to enter—not the least intricate,
de-
cidedly the most unsatisfactory—is, the state of our re-
lations with the native Princes, within the circle of our
dominions. These relations are as manifold as they, are
I complicated. Oar favourite luaus operandi briefly
this: a native Monarch, finding it uselessietwo
oppose,oera
thinks it best to conciliate us, and with that
f cvourse gladly
alliance and friendship. The proposal is
forthwith pro-
acceded to, and the devoted Prince
East India Company.
claimed the friend and ally of the otir friend and
Our next step is to discover anddel:nPot fortunately sided
ally with the conviction that had be would undoubtedly
with us at an opportune Dials ee coarse all gratitude,
have been lost. Our protege
t promises to be guided in
and in the fulness of hi:who.° We are however_ willing to'
all matters by ours di for We will not only ad-
do far more than th
d the better to enable us to
vise but protect heiraet, few corps expressly for his iser-
do so we at once ruaie
d to him on the simple condition that
vice, which foil heir support; or, if he feels unwilling
he will ouch ready cash, it will suit us " all
pay fors°
to part 7,1: take over a province or two. Oar friend,
the same bas a strange dislike to parting with a corner
however,
ao inions, so be covenants to pay the contingent
°f bil- After that his downward progress is rapid.
hilluet;„aa are controlled by a British resident who
His 'capital far more real power than himself;
hin his
i.ete—ubjeots, feeling that their lord is himself a de-
o•
r, Ent rebel; the revenue falls into arrears• an h
ot ee
de• dd I t the contineent and the rebellion is
ressed, but a sad deficit is perceptible in the tr
sum)
This can only be made good by extra ea"
sury.taxation,
to which the people, suffering still from the destit •
consequent upon intestine commotions, naturally ution
object,
and another civil war is the result. This, we will
sup-
pose, is again suppressed; but the victorious m
a beggar, his treasury exhausted, the revenue ill is
his people discontented and rebellious, and ue ill paid,
himself bur-
dened wi'h a load of debt. Then his friend
comes 'forward, and proposes to secur andb patron
of the country by again strengtheningsecure the
9panne
contingent. The result is soon told;
friendthe
and ally sinks under the weight bi our
bli
a-
tions. The contingent falls into arrears;o! to go-
vernmentg press for the payment of their debt; the re-
venue falls short, and what is the prince to do? Ha
cedes a couple of districts in part payment of his crush-
ing liabilities, and for a time the clamour of the credi-
tors is stayed—the final day of reckoning is staved off.
But sooner or liter it will come. The burden which the
consolidated revenue of the kingdom was unable to bear
fall; with undiminished weight upon a part; embarrass-
ments increase; the friend end patron demendseretpbaty-
ment of his loan; the people can give no more, %doe ler
euedieica is 'whited out to tbe untortuuse.
Pauncipat length
throne as to proof of his inability to
in the eyes ofg
he succumbs. Impoverished, degradedhis
p ble of asesticg hAnself or
subj, cts, and utterly
s incapable
seindness at length consents
them, 1-
t• 1 t) victim 0, eeenf-
t king, and bccomes a
to relinquish the empty naafi„
the Last India ‘dompany—
mioeer on the bounty of
tip and Alliance" being followed
the farce of " Friendship hi hl -
owe and ele y popu a)terpiece—
up by the ku
" Annexation.
We think the framers of the " subjects of inquiry "
did well to omit notice of our relations
with native
The subject is an extremely delicate one, as our
rulers are wall aware, Princes' ware, and will not bear ell'
rough handling.
—m °rainy paper.

ANOTHER ENGINE CAPTURED.-011 Saturday last
another of the Great Northern engines
trespasser at the Nottingham station by the Midland autho-
rities.— Sheffield Times. was impounded as a
N

• -
RENEWAL OF THE .
/:",: .41‘,141 --?-Z
•,, \ 4 ,‘,-,11
CHARTER A .;',,,V. '...,-....--. , '4,ly
__