The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-04 00:00:00

ducing the question at that late period. He said "
c'nr'stion, when it corn a, will be telten ur in heste,
ceded in Lette, and we sbell creeed the eiseeasien ieto a
few weeks, or postpone all discussion until that eve of dew
cision." On the 10th July, when the Bill was actually
in Committee, Mr. Charles Wynn quoted those werds,„
and added, " I regret that Sir James Mackintosh's pro-
phecy has been so closely fulfilled." Mr. Grant, in ,in-
troducing the Bill, declared that the political existence 0
the natives would be acknowledged. • Now Parliamen
a right to demand in what way the recognition by
the Bill of the existence of 100,000,000 of men had been
acknowledged by those to whom the trust was consigned;
and the House ought not to hesitate to grant an inquiry
on the spot, conducted by men above the suspicion
of partiality. By the Bill of 1833, the removal of
certain grievances was supposed to be provided for.
The House was bound to ascertain whether those
grievances had been redressed. He asserted that there
was not one grievance in existence at the time which
did not now exist in all its original deformity. Take,
for instance, the question of monopoly. When Mr.
Buckingham brought the question of the land revenue;
under the notice of Parliament in the form of a motion,
Mr. Grant said, " that is rather a matter fit for the cone
sideration of the Governor-General and his legislative
council, and I trust he will be able, with the accession of
power we propose to give him, satisfactorily to dispose 0
the general question. The particular subject of the
ryotwar rent is a subject for the Law Commission." 00
the following day Mr. Grant said, "I am happy to be
able to assure the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Wilbraham),
that the Government, both at home and in India, have
agreed that the taxes on opium and salt shall be removed.''
Now up to this moment the Governor-General had not •
legislated on the land tenant question,-nothing had bseni
done by the Law Commission relative to the ryotwar
rent, and the monopolies still existed. At the present:
moment the House was only in possession of the evi-
dence of those whose interest it was to stifle inquiry,
and endeavour to obtein the prolongation of their power,
for no one imagined the East India Company an angelic
hierarchy, or the Board of Control a community of
archangels.—(A laugh.) He would now draw the
attention of the House to a remarkable document,
which would show that the natives of India were
keenly alive as to their grievances. On the 12d; •
of February, 1840, an address, signed by no les;
than 100,000 of the natives in Madras and its vicinity,
was presented to the then Governor of that Presidency,
in which they said: " We are the people of this country's
inheriting this land for thousands of generations; fronr,
our industry its wealth is supplied; by our arms it is
defended from foreign foes; by our loyal obedience tot
the established Government its peace arid its safety are'
maintained." Now, he would ask the House if it was
just to ignore the existence of such a people? Not only
did the grievances complained of in 1833 still exist, but
the people were in a worse condition than they were at
that time. He would not trouble the House with any 01
the evidence adduced before the Select Committee to in'
quire into the growth of cotton in India, but would eon'
fine himself to the language of the report, which bore on
the face of it every mark of compromise. That reports
which was unanimously adopted by the Committee, of
which the Honourable Member for Honiton (Sir J. W.
Hogg) was a member, thus describes the condition of the
natives of India now under British rule:—" The veil
low and abject condition of the cultivators of the soils
the absence of capital, and the extent of the Government
demand for rent or revenue, circumstances which were
brought prominently under our notice, rendered it nee
cessary for your Committee to enter at considerable
length into an inquiry into the system of land assess'
went, and to take the evidence of several officers of the
Indian Government on the subject. It appears from
the testimony of almost every witness that the condi'
Lion of the cultivating population of India is one of ex'
treme poverty; and this is stated to be the case in every
part of the country to which the evidence with regard to
cotton cultivation specially refers." This was the con-
dition of the people who had enjoyed the blessings Of •
British rule, under guarantees imposed by the British
Parliament in 1833, for a period of seventeen years.
The Committee spoke of the extent of the Government
demand for revenue. Now how was the revenue of India
made up? Of direct taxes, indirect taxes, monopolieSt
and wholesale confiscations. The servants of the come
pany went to India under the pretence of delivering the ,
people from the tyranny of their Mahommedan and Mob"
ratta conquerorsebut according to the unanimous testimony
of all the witnesses examined, and the documents produced
before every Committee, the company in every case
had improved even upon the maximum exaction;
that existed under either the Mahommedan or Mahratto
rule, for they never claimed the direct sovereignty
of the soil of India. Mr. Came Brown being
asked to define his notion of a native cultivator of land
in India, said, " to me he has always appeared to be a
person whose whole province has been to raise revenue
fur the East India Company." To raise this one article
of revenue—the rent laid upon the land occupied by the '
natives—nine• tenths of them were sold up every year.
unless it should please the collectors to show a little
mercy. These parties had the power to imprison person;
in default; but Mr. Williamson, who was for a long,
time connected with the presidency of Bombay, said
" the power of imprisonment has, in most cases, fallen
into disuetude, because if the insolvent is in prison be
must be fed." The company must feed him, but the
company did not choose to undergo that expense. It '
appeared from the report of the Committee of 1813 that
the power of constraint and sale was a much more vex'
atious and oppressive power, and much more unpopular,
than the power to imprison. Notwithstanding these
enormous exactions, the net revenue never amounted t° •
20,000,0004, although, under the comparatively mild and.
equal system which existed in the worst time of their
former conquerors, 13,000,0004 were easily annual)/
raised. The revenue derived from land was in no case lea;
than 45 per cent. on the return. The assessment on which
this exaction was made, was a one-sided assessment;
founded, perhaps, on some data in the archives of the cons'
pany, which existed long before the idea of low prices;
and on this data they had proceeded to calculate the
value of the land without consulting the natives. I°
districts where the assessment was permanent, the per.
sons who are subject to It never get it altered or reduced;
and on the other hand, in districts where the assessment
is annual, the most exorbitant levies were raised, and the
services of the collector were valued in proportion to the •
sums which he succeeded in extorting from the inbabie
tents. In estimating the amount of the collection the
value of the crops for the year was always taken into
consideration, and the smallest possible pittance upon
which life could be supported was left to the wretched
population. But these were not the only grievances 0;
which the native of India had to complain. He also putt'
a house-tax and a trade-tax; and as an instance of the
manner in which the latter tax operated, it might be •
stated that a carpenter paid twice the value of the tool;
which he used for licence to carry on his trade. There '
was also all through India a tax upon water drawn *cn
wells, an article especially needed in the warm climate
of India, where it was used by the husbandmen in the
cultivation of their land. And in addition to all these
taxes and confiscations, and indirect taxes levied on lir
ports, and, until a recent period, upon exports' also, the
natives had further to endure monopolies of some of the
great necessaries of life, which the East India Compaq
retained in their own hands, and which, by a just retri'
bution of Providence, were gradually, but surely, reduce
ing the revenue which those monopolies .were original,
intended to enhance, besides contributing more and
more every day to the misery of the people. These •
monopolies were those of salt, opium tobacco, beeswaXe
tumeric, and other articles. With regard to the mono'
poly of salt, he need not remind the House that salt was
an article of prime necessity to a rice-consuming pope'
lation like that of India. Now, it could be demonstrates
that the price of salt imported into India could not pos'
sibly exceed one shilling a bushel on the quays of Madre;
or Bombay. But, by the internal laws of the country,
salt was made a contraband article, and the natives were
forbidden to import it, or to make it for themselves
either on the coast or in the interior. This prohibition
was enforced by tremendous penalties, in regard to
which it would be sufficient to mention one provision re'
cognised by the courts of law. By this regulation, an/
native bringing salt water from the sea, and subjecting 16
to evaporation for the purpose of extracting the salt,
was guilty of a violation of the monopoly with respect to
salt, and he might be conveyed before a collector, who
was also a magistrate, and, upon conviction, might be
imprisoned and kept to hard labour for a term or two
months, besides being obliged to pay a fine of some
hundreds of rupees if he was considered ab'e to dis"
charge it., Now, what compensation did the Co';
pony make in return for this monopoly? They lulu
certain manufactories of salt, one in particular in the
Sunderbund, a district which, under European rule, had
become a:waste of sand and jungle, flooded by.the water; ,
of the Ganges in the wet season, and at all times infested
by tigers. In this spot was the principal manufactory
of salt, where the company compelled a certain troop of
natives, who were bound by tenure to this service, to
work in the manufactory. These natives, living in a
climate too pestilential to admit of a European residing
in it, were catried off in hundreds by disease, that
were continually swept away by the winter floods, and
it was calculated that from forty to fifty of them were
annually carried off by the tigers which infested the
spot. Now the salt which might be purchased on the
quays of Bombay at Is. a bushel could not be bought
in the Sunderbund under Is. 6d. a bushel. After it was
made it was carried to the depiits,of the East India Coln-
,f
pany, where the monopoly price was fixed; and it was 0
fact that, whatever the prime cost might be, it was always
enhanced 280 per cent. at the depots of the company. The
salt wee then sent off to other depots in the interior, the
price being further enhanced by the way, so that by the
time it reached the hands of the consumer, the price often
rose to 10 or 12 rupees, or from 20e. to 245. a bushel.
An Hon. Gentleman behind him reminded him that 00
alteration had taken place with respect to the salt
monopoly. True ; but what was the nature of that
alteration? From the evidence of the collectors, give;
before the Committee on Cotton, in 1848, it appeared
that when, with the view of conciliating some share 0,
the public approbation, it was agreed that the tax shah; '
be taken off exports, the East India Company demanded
some equivalent for this concession, and they accordiegil
raised the price of salt, which was now 25 per can; '
higher than it was in the year 1833. It was a remark
able circumstance that the appearance in India of the
mysterious and formidable disease known by the name
of cholera, was simultaneous with the creation of the
salt monopoly. They both came into that country at
the same time with the East India Company, and the/
have never since disappeared from the soil; and it wag -
stated by the scientific witnesses before the Committee
already referred to, that the use of vegetables by Or
natives without salt, together with the wretched sane'
tary condition to which the country was reduced, forme°, •
together the direct causes of cholera.—(Hear, bear.)
He would now pass from the salt monopoly to that in
opium—a monopoly which, be need hardly remind the
House, was the cause of a bloody and disgraceful Re
arwith the Empire of China some years ago. Now, t.
found that the East India Company was directly IT
solely responsible for the monopoly a opium. The