The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-16 00:00:00

FOR, TILE SUN.

FREE PRESS.
(No. III.)
SHORT FACTS, AND HONEST OPINIONS.

" So long as we have honest and intelligent Rulers in that
Country, it will be sedulously protected from the certain and
incalculable mischiefs which such an engine in the hands of
needy and unprincipled Adventurers cannot fail to produce."—
( Quarterly Review.)

Mtt. EntTott—A respectable but inferior class
of native public officers we ‘‘ill now allude to.
They are intimately by caste and religious feeling
identified with the body of people, mentioned in
my last Letter, and without their assistance, I do
not hesitate to say, that the Government could not
conduct its operations. They are now, like their
superiors, faithful, attached,..and loyal, but only
permit them to be taught to question the acts of
their British aulers, ditrtisive statements and
seditious doctrines, and these very men, instead
of executing their orders, would be enjoined to
disobey them, and when once they began to sus-
pect that they were oppressed, or that they might
be improved in their condition, or that our proceed-
ings were nefarious and arbitrary, their hate and
detestation would be as vivid and active as is now
their zeal and obedience. I wish to be informed
w here, among the numerous evils and dangers which
I have faithfully narrated (and of which we shall
have more in due time), is a single benefit or ad-
ventage derived by the native of India from po-
litical discussion ? Not a solitary one! Yet for
the visionary and delusive Free Press are .we to
risk our empire in India, with its measureless be-
nefits to the mother country, and replunge the
now happy, contented, and prosperous llindoo
into the horrors, famines, burnings, and desola-
tions of former days, by restoring the accursed
rule-of the`Mussulman.

A Government, in bestowing a boon on its
people, if it does not look for an equivalent, at
all times looks to the certainty of improving the
state of the people ; now I wish to ask, if
discusssion would do that No !it would
only excite the chief ►►nd principal men to acts of
hostility to the British authorities, by which
assuredly, whichever party were for the time suc-
cessful, the great mass of the people would be
compromised and ruined, could we then again
tuncrile the mischief we had done ? certainly not !

Persons in this country are so little informed
of the habits and ideas of the natives of India,
that opinions are formed at once crude and er-
roneous, and they are led to believe that our
rule abroad i 3 alike arbitrary and unjust, and
those who have been to India, too often dissemi-
nate their observations on the numerous distinct
states and people from the, comparatively speak-
ing, corroßt art.* hik.arelound at the sea ports.
',l6.44#4o4,4l4o4rokiiiiptpare.teative h thirst: exists. in
the eaStea,• and in • -obedience' to the Priests.
In that country the entire body has but one
opinion, and more compactly and firmly each
man feels and resents the injury, supposed
or real, that is done to the other ; the case
is widely different in England, where none
of these bonds of unity and co-operation
exist. Lord Valentia (Earl of Mount-Norris)
has a sensible and apposite observation in his
excellent Book of Travels (Ito), Vol. I. page
'249, in speaking of the labours of the Mis-
sionaries.

" But were the paths of ambition laid open
to him by that equalization which would be the
consequence of the destruction of castes, and the
general reception of Christianity, talents would
have their free career, and !very man of spirit
would consider himself as the establisher of his
own fortune. Is it credible, then, that in such
an event, so many millions of natives would sub-
mit to be governed by a few thousand Europeans,
to whom they could feel no natural attachment
or obligation of allegiance ?"

These observations now bring me to another
portion of our Indian subjects, the fine and well
disciplined native army of 250,000 men, all
bound together by ties of caste. These men
have always looked upon us with almost venera-
tion ; they are high-minded but obedient, strongly
attached, because they are well treated and their
religious prejudices respected ; loyal, because they
believe us to be humane, just, and powerful ; and
they have not been told otherwise. No excite-
ment has ever been given to their minds, no false
doctrines have been preached, no delusive theories
held out to. them, no false grievance's suggested
by the artful to their imaginations, and no hope
of bettering their fortunes by resisting their officers,
nor has the idea of opposing the government been
instilled into their minds. • They observe the Go.
vernment to be firm and liberal, their officers
brave and considerate, getting their pay regularly,
a uniform system of mild treatment, and a provision
in their-old age ; they are happy now, and look
forward to their old age without fearof want or dis.
tress. Probably,however,this admirahleand brave
army may be reformed and improved by making
them u Weekly News-
thorn quidnunc3, giving
Paper, to he called the" Sephanies' Itemem-
brancer ;" the leading article to consist of a re•
view of the'Acts of the Government, two co-
luinns to be apportioned' to the reports received
from the various Native Corps, stating the ill
usage, the wants and 'wishes of the men in each
preceding week, With an original'erticle written
• by the senior Sulador (native Captain), on the
abilities and conduct of the British Officers 'cum•
posing the Courts'-martial or Courts of Iniitiit'y,
wltidt liave sat ; extracts from the liondoil
Journals, relating-to the abuses .and misgovern-
ment practised. in India ; -'articles from the
Ukkbars,(CourtCirculars); with the correspotAil-
enve of- retlortne& and enlightened native Civil
Officers, to-consist of original. 'essays 'on the cork