The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-18 00:00:00

Mr, Samuel Laing on India.

Last Taesday evening Mr Laing, late Finance
Minister for India, gave a lecture in the Grammar
School at Kirkwall, his native place, in accordance
with the invitation of the Young Men's Literary
Association. The Orkney Herald reports the lecture
at length, and from it we gather that he opened by
remarking upon the manner in which his work was
received at home. He found, greatly to his surprise,
on landing in England, that instead of having satis-
fied every one that Indian finance was restored, Sir i
Charles Wood was taking every opportunity to ra•
press his countrymen with the belief that his budget
was a delusion. Of course he was very angry, but he
could now look back with equanimity at the con•
troversy, especially, he added, because every one of
his disputed figures had been substantiated by the
result. But he admitted that Sir Charles Wood's
attack upon him was not so entirely without excuse
as it appeared to him at the time. His character as a
Finance Minister was not sufficiently high to justify
Sir Charles Wood in taking for granted his assertion
that the chronic deficit of £6,000,000 had in a
few short months been converted into a surplus.
Sir Charles Wood acted from a sense of public duty,
and he bore him no grudge. Leaving this matter,
Mr Laing traced the progress of India from the
small settlement of a few factories, scarcely a cen-
tury ago, to the empire of 150,000,000 subjects now
under our rule; and then he spoke of the condition
of Indian finance when he landed. He found a
deficit of £6,000,000; newly imposed taxes unpopu-
lar and unproductive; the credit of the Government
low ; and only £28,000,000 ail-ear revenue, admit.
ting reduction. Out of this they saved £5,000,000
by reduction in three months; £2,000,000 more
during the next year, and that with the buoyancy
of the revenue gave a surplus, after remitting
taxation and increasing outlay upon public
works. No salaries were reduced by these
savings, though regiments were disbanded and
offices were consolidated or abolished. He always
considered the principle of managing public affairs
should be the same as in private business. The
plans he pursued in India were precisely similar to
those he had adopted when called to the chairman.
ship of the Brighton Railway at a time when its
finances were at a low ebb. The question of bar.
racks and public buildings was very like that of
stations and platelayers' cottages ; so also the ques.
tion whether one battalion could be safely trusted to
the work of two, was similar to the question, could
one pointsman instead of two be trusted at a certain
junction. Patience in hearing evidence, common
sense in weighing the pros and cons, and prompti.
tude in carrying out the decision, were required in
both cases. Having described the changes made in
the government on the ending of the East India
Company's rule, he said there was one grave pies-
tion on which he always differed from Sir Charles
Wood, and upon which he felt the greatest un.
easiness, that is, as to the extent to which the
government of India is to be conducted in
India or in England. " Admitting that some
cheek on the absolute power of a Governor-
General, as wielded by Lord Dalhousie and the
great viceroys who preceded him, is necessary and
desirable, the question is, shall this be done as re-
gards England by the general supervision and con.
trol of the Secretary of State in important matters;
and as regards India by decentralisation and in-
creasing the strength and authority of those great
councils of the State where public matters are dis-
cussed and different interests are represented; orshall
it be done by demolishing the authority of all Indian
government from the Viceroy downwards, and prac-
tically vesting the government in a Secretary of
State and a council of retired Indians sitting iu Lon-
don P The former was the principle advocated by Lord
Canning and all the distinguished Indian cfficials
with whom I came in contact in India. The latter had
been the principle held by the Home Government,
and to a great extent acted on for the last 3 years."
He was of opinion that this system impairs the
prestige and authority of the Governor-General,
always the miinspring of the government of India.
It seemed to him that to centralise everything in
London was only to repeat in a tenfold more dan-
gerous manner the mistake of Lord Dalhousie in
centring everything in Calcutta. The inevitable
result of the system was that the colonial Govern-
ment would be unpopular. It was now unpopular
in Canada, Australia, the Cape, and everywhere,
and would be so, so long as it attempted to govern
distant colonies from Downing-street. In three
cases out of four it was wrong, with the very best
intention, from the want of local knowledge ; in
the fourth case, where it was right, it was sure to
be misunderstood, and often more bitterly abused
than when it had made a mistake. He then spoke
of the competitive system, and feared it had been
carried too far in regard to Indian appointments.
The old system, whatever may have been its
defects, worked well in the essential point of
giving us an admirable body of public servants,
who were,' as a general rule, proud of the service,
and attached to the country. Competitive examina-
tion may give a class of equal abilities, but will not
give men of equal standing, and equally attached to
India by ties of family connexion. The first man
whom you may pick up on the streets may be in■
trinsically as good a man as the son of Sir John
Lawrence, but Mr Laing doubted if he is likely to
be as good a man for the special work you want out
of an ledian official, In conclusion Mr Laing spoke
of the future of India. " Lord Canning," he said,
" left India in the flood tide of prosperity, and at
the very pinnacle of his own personal reputation
and popularity. The recollections of the mutiny
were not only effaced, but a new and unknown
feeling of loyalty to the Crown and attachment to
British rule had sprung up among a large class of
the native population. The official European com-
munity was proud of its chief; the nonofficial
Europeans, once bitterly hostile, were tho-
roughly reconciled ; and when Lord Canning
left India, it is hard to say whether he was
most esteemed and beloved by natives or
Europeans. When he met Lord Elgin on the steps
of Government House he handed over to him a new
empire, pacified, reconciled, reorganised, in a state
of the highest material and financial prosperity,
and full of hope for the future. It is because I had
the privilege of sharing in the council of that illus-
trious statesman, and of taking a zealous and active,
though humble part in the great work which was
going on, that I have presumed to-night on the
patience of an indulgent audience to discourse at
length on subjects which to me must always retain
the deepest interest. It is because I feel this deep
interest that I have th,nght it my duty, in drawing
a picture of India's present prosperity, not to omit
mention of those rising dangers by which, iu my
judgment, that prosperity may be imperiled. I see
nothing in the situation of India itself which is not
full of promise. I see no limit to the material pros.
perity which awaits it as communications are opened
up, commerce extended, and agriculture improved;
and I see no limit to the social, political, educa-
tional, and ultimately religious and moral advance
which will surely attend on this development of
peaceful progress and contact with expanding civic
lisation. The only cloud in the horizon seems to
me to be the tendency to centralise details of Go-
vernment too much in an office 8,000 miles off, and
where, in the absence of free contact with the varied
classes, European and native. Indian society, red-
tape of necessity assumed undue preponderance,
and a narrow, illiberal, and irritating tone is given
to the relations between the supreme power and
thei body of public servants, from the Governor-
General downwards, by whom the work of govern.
rug India must, after all, be practically done on the
scot. I think we shall be shutting our eyes to all ex-
perience if vet) are not led to apprehend that, with
ttu ernPire so rapidly in all the elements of
wealth, intelligence, itnd independence the unpopu.
attended larity which has all attempts to concentrate
details of government .nl:It
rning-streetdid not
soon extend from the officialia
non-officiale
=niter, and as in the celeb°ratht d
inatance of the
Mysore grants, unite all Eneland in one chorus of
indignant remonstrance ageism, a
of
thestorm Government
too
distant to hear even the whistle
whien
it had raised. The other great danger which I see
is that of the deterioration of the great Indian ser.
vices by too complete a rupture with their past
traditions, and too absolute en application of the
favourite English theories of the day. After all,

men, not measures, are the great requisite in India.
As long as we have a succession of men in the civil
and military services like those of wh )n-i the two
Lawrences, Frere, ()dram, Montgomery, Grant,
Edmonstone, and Beadon may be taken as the type,
I have no fear for India. But shall we re.•
tain that stamp of men when the system under
which they were selected and trained has been
obliterated, and when the posts of emolument
and prospects of preferment have been con•
siderably curtailed ? Will a staff corps, to be re-
cruited by officers who may volunteer from the
Queen's regiments serving in India, give us the same
class of men as the cadets of Addiscombe—men
who, like Havelock, were content for years with the
patient drudgery and hardly earned pay of saheb.
tern service in a native Indian regiment, while all
all the time they had in them to be ealled foreh in
case of need, the elements of the hero and the states-
man ? For my part I can only say that I hope for
the best, but that it is a hazardous experiment. It
is an experiment which I would not myself have
ventured to make. I would not, to use a homely
phrase, have" put all my eggs in the same basket.,'
I would have retained the old organisation of the
Indian army in Madras and Bombay, where it had
remained faithful, and confined the experiment of
reorganisation in the first instance at least to
Bengal when the native army had dissolved
itself by the mutiny. I would have retained
Addiscombe sad Hayleybury, and introduced
the system of competitive examination only
partially, and at an earlier age. I would
have given the new system a fair start by such a
prompt and liberal settlement with all superseded
officers as should make the whole service feel they
had been dealt with generously. But these are
mere dreams. I had no power in these matters, and
in all probability never shall have any. I merely
signalise dangers which appear to me to menace
the future, but which I heartily hope may be suc-
cessfully surmounted. After all, / have great faith
in the good sense and sterling qualities of Britons
of every grade and under all circumstances. If de-
fects are found to exist in India they will be dis-
covered there and amended. The country is so
prosperous that it will take a great deal to hurt it.
The finances are in such a state that, with continued
economy in great matters, money is no obstacle in
carrying out reforms proved to be desirable. The
only thing I fear is the centralisation of authority
at a distance, until officials on the spot lose the
habit of thinking and acting for themselves,
while the distant authorities ignore dangers till
they become serious, simply because they live 8,000
miles off in a different circle of ideas and surround-
ing atmosphere. I must now conclude. I fear you
may think I have anticipated the privilege of old
age, to which I sin hardly yet entitled, by indulging
in the pleasure of heating myself talk on topics
more interesting to myself, from personal recollec.
tion, than they can possibly be to a general audience.
Bat they are topics of real importance and interest,
which will form hereafter a portion, and that per-
haps not the least considerable of the history of
the age in which we live. They are topics which
vitally affect the present welfare and future des-
tinies of the population of 150,000,000 souls which
Providence has entrusted to the guidance of the
British race in India."

The Late Father Mathew.

(From the 11 vies )

If any man ever earned a perpetual memory in
his city and country, Father Mathew deserved the
statue which has just been erected in Cork. He
was a greater benefactor to Ireland than all its so-
called Liberators and patriots combined, and Cork
was at once the origin and the headquarters of his
work, and his final resting-place. If he had never
been known as the Apostle of Temperance Cork
could hardly have forgotten him. He had worked
for something like twenty years among the poorest
and most degraded of the population, and his in.
fluence was firmly established throughout the city
long before the memorable evening on which he
signed the pledge with the characteristic words,

" Here goes in the name of God." His perfect'
charity, his free and open earnestness, his aim-
plicity acd truth as a preacher, bad won him affec•

Hon and obedience, and when he joined the temper-
ance movement he curried to it an influence which
had been hardly and laboriously earned. Of the
immense benefits which he conferred on his country
when ho threw himself into that cause it is sufficient
to say that in three years the consumption of spirits
in Ireland had diminished by one-half. From being
over twelve million gallons in 1839 it had sunk in
1842 to less than six millions and a half. Of this
benefit Cork must have received a larger share than
any other city or neighbourhood. There the new
work began, and there it continued even to Father
Mathew's death; for on his deathbed, when he was
barely sensible, men knelt at his bedside to repeat
the pledge, and received from his hands the sign of
the Cross on their foreheads. His memory appears
from our correspondent's description last week to
have not lost its charm over the population of his
city. Fifty thousand people crowded into the streets
to witnees the procession which preceded the inau.
guration of the statue ; yet there was not a single
policeman to be seen on duty through the town, and
there was not a single instance of disorderly conduct.
Many women, even with children in their arms, and
mothers with infants at the breast, were to be seen
in the crowd. The corporation, all the trades of the
city, and the Friendly Societies joined in the pro-
cession, In short, the whole city seems to have gone
out to celebrate the memory of their friend and see
his features once more. Nothing could be a more
appropriate tribute to his memory or a more fitting
inauguration of his statue than this universal yet
temperate enthusiasm, this spectacle of the whole
population of his adopted city forming one united
and orderly multitude, animated by one generous
impulse. What other memory or what other prin.
ciple or object would unite the population of say
Irish town in a similar demonstration ?

Father Mathew stands far above the vulgar
crowd of teetotalers or total abstainers. He
had nothing but the name in common with the
fanatics or simpletons who would treat all the
vices and diseases of humanity by the water-cure.
The enthusiasm of the movement may have carried
him somewhat beyond the goal which would be
fixed by a cooler reason, but there was.no folly, nor
fanaticism, nor ignorance, nor want of considera-
tion in the course he adopted. He weighed the sub-
ject long and carefully, he estimated it in all its
bearings, and he supported it upon his deliberate
judgment. His life grows out of the circumstances
of his time, and derives all its harmony from them.
At the time when he commenced the movement Ire-
land had reached the highest point in its consump-
tion of spirituous drinks. In the course of many
years' constant work among the poor of Cork
Father Mathew had witnessed the ruinous and
debasing effects which followed this intemperance.
He came to the conclusion that if he could put a
stop to the drinking he would strike at the root of
an immense amount of the evil and misery around
him. He found that he could not do this effectually
by the usual religious and moral motives for mode-
ration, and he saw no effectual means open to him
but to get rid of drinking altogether if possible.
For this purpose he signed the pledge, and became
the apostle of total abstinence. He did not main-
tain, as fanatics do now, that there is anything
wrong in itself in drinking stimulating liquors, but
he simply believed that there was no other way of
shaking off the vast incubus of drink which was
dragging his countrymen down but to threw it off
resolutely at once. His object was to rescue the
people from the vices which made their country
miserable. He convinced himself that drunkenness
was a principal cause of these, and he set himself
to remove the very possibility of drunkenness. It
was by means of the nobleness, simplicity, and truth
of this object that his extraordinary powers were
able to attain such a success. He did not attack
-any isolated vice, nor did he net his appeals upon
any mere theory, nor touch upon any partial or
subordinate emotion, but he worked upon the most
fundamental principles of religion and uorality. It
I was this nobleness and loftiness in his purpose
which raised him so high and commanded such
universal sympathy. Abstinence was not au object
with him, but a means, and men saw in the very
enthusiasm with which he threw himself into a
generally despised movement the evidence of the J

profound religion and love of virtue which absorbed
his whole nature. His labours, in short, as the
Apostle of Temperance were undertaken only in the
discharge of his duties as a priest. There never
was a greater misconception than when men ima-
gined that he had some political purpose in view.
He wanted to make his countrymen religious and
moral, and he pursued that object with a sincerity
and enthusiasm, and at the same time a collected
thoughtfulness, which it is safe to say has never
been surpassed.

Considering his life in this way, and seeing the
harmony of his great undertaking with the still
nobler and greater tenour of his whole nature, our
love and admiration become wholly independent of
our general opinion of the so-called temperance
movement. As a general rule, that name is an
obvious misuse of words. Temperance consists in
using things temperately, and is actually made im.
possible by refusing to use them at all. Father
Mathew may claim the name of the Apostle of
Temperance, for it was only in the interests of tem-
perance that he preached total abstinence, but tee-
totalers in general have no right to the use of the
word. Their virtue is but an intemperate avoidance
of intemperance. In ordinary circumstances, there-
fore, the movement will receive the support of no
man of common sense. We should soon go back
to primitive barbarism if we abandoned every pro-
duct of civilisation which is liable to abuse. More-
over, if the total abstainers could carry the day,
they would simply annihilate a virtue. The ques.
tion from this point of view is not worth wasting
an argument upon. Bat experience seems to show
that in such circumstances as those in which
Father Mathew commenced his work the pledge
offers the only chance of recovery. The fascination
of drink to habitual drunkards is something quite
incomprehensible. Let them but touch it, and all
their resolutions of moderation are drowned. On
the other hand, it seems also proved by expe-
rience that, except in unusual cases, they can leave
off drinking entirely without any bad results. It
must be added that it seems undeniable that, as a
rule, all the ordinary demands of physical labour
may be met without any recourse to stimulants. In
exceptional cases, therefore, the pledge becomes a
valuable moral instrument, and there can be no
doubt that it has done an immense amount of good.
Only do not let it be urged as a universal obliga-
tion, and its preachers may be wished good speed.
No doubt, too, considering that, as we have said,
alcoholic stimulant seems generally unnecessary for
the support of healthy physical labour, it would be
often bat wise economy in a labourer to deny him-
-631f what can be little more than a luxury. Our
working classes would be in a very different posi-
tion if but half the money were saved which is an.
necessarily spent in drink.

To enforce all these considerations it is only neces•
sary to remember the life of Father Mathew. The
actual observance of the pledge is, no doubt, decay.
ing even among the populations which were most
immediately under his influence. It is inevitable
that it should do so. But the effect of his preach-
ing and his example will support temperance long
after his followers have broken through the tyranny
of total abstinence. As we read of hundreds of
thousands in Ireland, in this country, and in Ame-
rica having signed the pledge under his influence,
it becomes impossible to conceive the amount of
good which he must have accomplished. When
will Irish agitation pursue the same object by
equally legitimate means? When will they see, as
he did, that the weakness and unhappiness of his
country are due entirely to the vices or failings of
his countrymen. and that the only thing necessary
to enable their splendid qualities to achieve the
success which is their due in the practice of the
simple qualities of honesty, industry, patience, and
perseverance ? He who should succeed in arousing
Irishmen to a recognition of this truth, and in
making them act upon it, would deserve a statue in
every city in Ireland.