The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-02 00:00:00

THE FAMINE IN INDIA.

A copy of a despatch of the Secretary of State to
the Governor-General of India, dated the 25th ult.,
relative to the Bengal and Orissa famine, was pub-
lished yesterday as a parliamentary piper.
The despatch commences with an allusion to the
painful effect which the calamity has produced on
all classes of the people. "Such a visitation," writes
Sir S. Northcote, " even if we could console ourselves
with the' reflection that every available means had
been used to avert and to mitigate it, must neces-
sarily be felt as a severe misfortune ; I deeply re-
gret that on the present occasion this consolation is
denied to me. I am reluctantly brought to the
conclusion that, though the melancholy loss of life
which the commissioners report may be due mainly
to natural and inevitable causes, there has been a
most unfortunate want of foresight and of energy
on the part of those who were charged with the
administration of the province where it occurred ;
and that some grave errors of judgment have been
committed."

The Secretary of State does not forget the diffi-
culties and qualifying circumstances, and indeed he
recapitulates them ; but he adds his opinion that a
sufficient amount of attention to the facts, as they
were gradually brought to light, would have shown
the authorities, at a comparatively early period, the
duty of supplying the necessary food. The blame
of the failure does not rest exclusively upon any
particular individual. It is not to be wondered at
that in the early period Sir Cecil Beadon, the
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, should have placed
implicit reliance on the Board of Revenue, but the
Secretary of State cannot but regret he should have
continued that confidence so long. The course of
events in 1865-66 must have led him to perceive the
necessity for more active personal investigation, and
the fact that he found it necessary to visit Orissa
proves that it had done so, though even then he
seems to have been under the influence of the views
he had imbibed from the board. It is unfortunate
that the Government of India, although their
attention appears to have been specially called to
the subject, did not exercise their influence
in favour of a more vigorous .course. At an early
period the Governor-General was personally of
opinion that it might become desirable to import
food, which opinion was not shared by members of
the Council. " The amount of information actually
in possession of the Government at that time,"
writes Sir S. Northcote, "was perhaps hardly suffi-
cient to justify so exceptional a measure; but it was,
I think, enough to have awakened the most serious
apprehensions, and to have induced your Govern-
ment to urge the Lieutenant Governor to undertake
an immediate and searching inquiry." Had the Go-
vernment, as soon as their attention,was called to
the subject, instituted a strict inquiryinto the actual
condition of the district and made/public the result,
there can be little doubt the supplies would have
speedily been sent. This was not done, and the
responsibility for the omission appears to rest chiefly
upon the Board of Revenue, whose action upon due
or two critical occasions was most unfortunate.
Having given illustrations of their want of percep-
tion of the importance of accurate information, and
of the tenacity with which the board clung to the
belief that there was a sufficiency of food—a belief
accepted on very inadequate evidence—the Secre-
tary of State proceeds to advert to the visit of the
Lieutenant Governor to Orissa in February, 1866.
Are the imperfections of this personal investigation
to be attributed to Sir C. Beadon's own fault, or to
the fault of others? A nswering this question, the
right hon. gentleman writes:—" It appears to me,
of ter careful consideration, that they are to be attri-
buted partly to the one and partly to the other.
Undoubtedly he had been misled by the representa-
tions which bad reached him through the Board of
Revenue, and had come with preconceived views,
which he could not readily lay aside. Undoubtedly
the information tendered to him, and the opinions
advanced by the local officers with whom be came
in contact during his visit, fell very short of the
truth, and were calculated rather to confirm than to
dispel his error. Undoubtedly, too, those who ac-
companied him, and who ought to two been pecu-

liarly well qualified to form a judgment—l refer to
Mr. Cockburn and Col. Nicholls—shared his belief
that matters were in a much better state than un-
fortunately they really were. Still, after making
allowance for all these considerations, I am obliged
to say that Sir C. Beadon did not, upon this occa-
sion, show the energy or the sagacity which might
have been expected from au officer of such high dis-
tinction and such well-deserved reputation. It was
to be expected that, having undertaken this visit,
he would have made a minute personal inquiry into
the real state of the district, and would not have
been satisfied with the general statements of the
local offices, but woul I have questioned them
closely, demanded explanations of their alarming
telegrams and other representations, and would
have tested their evidence both by cross-examina-
tion and by comparing it with that of others. Such
an examination would probably have startled them
from their security, and brought them to a proper
appreciation of the facts of the case. It is, there-
fore, the more lamentable that this, the last chance
of amelioration, should thus have been lost."

Sir S. Northeote, alluding to the conduct of the
officers who were brought into contact with the
famine, expresses his surprise to find that Colonel
Nicolls, who had such peculiar facilities, should
have done so little to enlighten the Lieutenant-
Governor. Mr. Barlow's conduct is, upon the
whole, very praiseworthy, but the Secretary cannot
think that, upon the occasion of the Lieutenant-
Governor'a visit, he was so fully alive to the real
state of affairs as the commissioners apparently con-
sider him to have been. "If I could believe that
he was so," continues the Secretary of State, " and
that he withheld his information deliberately,
through fear of an official rebuff, I should regard
his conduct as highly censurable." The suggestions
of the commissioners will have the secretary's serious
attention ; and the right hon. gentleman will also
take into consideration whether any alterations are
desirable in the organisation of the Government of
Bengal, or in the constitution of the Board of
Revenue —points upon which he requests the advice
and co-operation of the Indian Government.

In conveying his thanks to the unofficial persons
—Europeans and natives—whose benevolence and
liberality are so warmly acknowledged by the com-
missioners, the right hon. gentleman adus I
particularly desire that the thanks of the Govern-
ment may be forwarded to the Rajah of Parricood,
whose conduct was both honourable to himself and
well calculated to set a bright example to the native
landowners, whose aid it has always been the desire
of the Briti3hGovernment to obtain in dealing with
the great body of the people."