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

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WAL OF THE EAST INDIAN,

CHARTER ACT.

Were the questions of less vital import.ance--were
not so much of human weal and woe dependent on
their right solution—the cynicism of the following
remarks (which we quote from lobe 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 easterndo-
minions—we might almost say, on those of the .Euro-
pean residents in the three'presidential capitals. With
few exceptions, the Indian press is in the hands oi" the
army and the bureaucracy. Sometimes the &S-
-peen 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 Government affects.
disadvantageously the pockets of merchants or planters,
the Indian press goes straightway into hysterics and
yells es if heaven and earth were -coming together.
But it will *be seen from the following quotation,
with what sublime and tin wincing stoicism the same
sensitive gentlemen can endure the sufferings of mere

natives : .
TUE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE OF INQlllRY.—No-
tieing in our last issue the suejscts with regard to the
Company's administration of this country into which tae
.Parliamentary Committee is directed to inquire. we had
but time to make a passing allusion to the incomplete-
ness •of the list. Since then one views on the tutijece
have been coufirmed by the perusal •of an aruele in the
Daily News, who calls attention to what he describes as
" three very remarkable om/isions," which we detail in
his own words:—
t! In the first place, it is not by Government
to ascertain, except indeed incident :Hy. ae far as it may
be reached by examination into the financial and judicial
systems, the material conditioa of the 150,000,000 of
people who really ()Destitute India.
" The next omission is of inquiry into the policies
which have led to such immense additions to our Liaises
dominions since 1834.
"And, It stlY,' the Committee has not entered into any
inquiry in:o our relations with the native princes within
the cieele of cur own territories." '
These may be "very remarkable omissions" as our
home contemporary terms them, butsit seems to us that
it would have been far more remarkable if the Commit-
tenof Inquiry had investigated these important subjects
with the slightest shadow of success. As for the condi-
tion of our 150;000,000 of peoph-, whattn earth could a
home Committ(e of Inquiry elicit about that? Why,
even here we know nothing abourein __The local govern-
'inclit-consule themselves` with the refi:ction that they
have done their duty; they allow thiesienaries to tatise-
cute their labours uninterrupted, and they have built and
endowed a number of schools; and further they know or
care notbieg. The mass of the natives of India are at
the very bottom of the social scale, and, politicalty, they
have no existence at all. No one appears to think about
them. Even in Bengal—the richest, most fertile, and
meat pepulous province of our empire—the disorganisa-
tion of the lower classes is positively without a parallel.
Every one knows and acknowledges the evil, but
twattempts are made to remedy it. Lew or system*
there is none, save that which is simulated within a
circle of a few hundred yards rotted each judicial
CuteherrY• 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
would be unheeded. A police there certainly is, but its
support is but adding insult to !njury, for every one at
all acquainted with the Mofussil
must acknowledge that
to the ryot a native police
man i:W
hie, greater detestation than an object of, if possi-
ble,
dacoit. In the
Molussil there are four elset:se—the zemindars, the po-
licemen, the dacoite, and the
employ the dacoits, bribe the polriYeem"s. The zemindars
, and all these
join in oppressing the unfortunateenryots. This is a
bird's-eye view of the state of Bengal '
suppose
the very
suburbs of the metropolis, and we shoulitlp that
the other provinces are not more favoured. So has
been from time immemorial, and refoem WO look
as next to impossible. We have, it is true, our Eunr°O-!
pan judges, and collectors and magistrates: but how
many of them, we should like ro know, are indepen_
dent of—that is to say, influenced by—their native
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 In-
qeiry to propose end have answered; but this we know,
und 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-
gions 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 tho 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 bete-
fit to this country, we are glad that they have avoided a
subject, the vastness of which would inevitably perplex
them, and the intricacy of which would assuredly baffle
all their attempts to understand it, as it has baffled the
attempts of men, if not abler, at 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 should re-
gard as an unpardonable omission were the case really
as stated by the Daily News; but it is far otherwise. It
has not been any extensive and persevering scheme of
policy that has yearly pushed our frontier further into
the heart of Asia. Our 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 victims of circumstances—
willing victims, perhaps, in some instances, but still vic-
tims. After they had 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 dtd 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
have one by one bowed down and fallen befose the stem
energy of the Anglo-Saxon. The tide of British enter-
prise once turned upon India—the barriers once re-
moved—it has silently but incessantly crept onwards,
either over-topping er 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 region it may' be eventually dis-
covered.
The last subject of inquiry upon which the Committee
are forbidden to enter—not the least intricate, and de-
cidedly the most unsatisfactory—is, the state lof our with the native Princes, within the_cires ley
ere
dominions. These relations are as manifold s '
complicated. Our favourite modes to oppose,
rfseLeedes i is briefly
this: a native Monarch, finding view proffers
thinks it best to conoiliate us, and with that
alliance and friendship. The proposal is of course gladly
is forthwith pro-
acceded to, and the devoted PI:1 East India r
of meg' ....ompany;
claimed the
rudefrie tsnd ally
and impress mg friend and
Oar next step discoeotrhad he not fortunately aided
ally with the conviction that he would undoubtedly
is of course all gratitude,
with us at an opportanerotege
have been lost a e promises to be guided in_
and in the fulness°o fi Our
vs
ile'ee.a ft We are however willing to
all matters by oartheot for him. We will not only ad-
do far more thanhice, and the better to enable us to
vise but P
- tact him,
a few corps expressly for his ser-
do so we a
Iwe lend to him on the simple condition that
vice, which ter their support; or, if he feels unwilling
he will Pa.' ao much ready cash, it will suit us " all
with
to Parnt ose take over a provihce or two. Our friend,
the es-e has a strange dislike to parting with a corner
bowel°,o • -
of his dominions, so he covenants to pay the contingent
After that his downward progress is rapid.
his actions are controlled by a British resident who.
exereisas in his capital far more real power than himself;
his subjects, feeling that their lord is himself a de-
pendent, rebel; the revenue falls into arrears; another
corps is added to the contingent, and the rebellion is
suppressed, but a sad deficit is perceptible in the trea-
sury. This can only be made good by extra taxation,
to which the people, suffering still from the destitution
consequent upon intestine commotions, naturallyobject,
and another civil war is the result. This, we will
sup-
pose, is again suppressed; but the victorious
a beggar, his treasury exhausted, the revusumeeinllar cipaid,s
his people discontented and rebellious, anden
bur-
dened with a load of debt. Then his friend andth himself
patronelcomes forward, and proposes to secure
.0 p _
of the country by ne •
Kam strengthening the
contingent. The result is soon told; our friend
and ally sinks under the weight of his obliga-
tions. The contingent falls into arrears;
tie go-
vernment press for the payment of their debt; e re-
venue falls short, and what is the prince
cedes a couple of districts in part payment of his crush-
ing liabilities, and for a time the clamour of the credi-
torsf is stayetel to do? Be
--tbe final day of reckoning is staved ob .
But sooner or litter it will come. The burden
consolidated revenue of the kingdom
falls with undiminished weight upon
ments increase; the friend and
repay-
ment of his loan; the people
condition is pointed out to the liity
throne as a proof of his U
be succumbs. Impove!xscaps
subjects, and utterly incapable
them, the victim otua"
to relic wish the
hc p p!ivter
no
pi ble which
bearte
w"
rutn•aembarrass-
:n demandsa
more, and their
cannFoirtunate puppet on the
a to rule; and at length.
Led, degraded in the eyes of his,
ble of as sting htanself or
kindness at length consents
empty name of king, and becomes a
jeebnorbtyipof the East India Company—
pensioner ocni,
the farce te
up by the well,--no
Fri,
wn andAlliance" being followed
and highly popular afterpiece—
" Annexation.
We think tee framers of the " subjects of inquiry "
did well to omitno tice of our relations with native
The subjectis an extremely
princes.
11 aware, and •
will not bear rough handling.
rulers are w*delicate one, as oar
Paper.
—Morning

ANOTHER ENGINE CAPTURED.—On Saturday last
another of the Great Northern engines was impounded as a
trespasser at the Nottingham station by the Midland autho-
rities.— She Time:.