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
he 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

:o natural and inevitable causes, there has been a

most unfortunate want of foresight and of energy

on the part of tho3e who were charged with the
administration of the province where it occurred ;
and that some gr tve 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 Beaclon, the
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, should have placid
implicit reliance on the Board of Revenue, but the
Secretary of State cannot but regret he should have
continued that cmtidence 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 became 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 attentlen.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 supplip would have
speedily been sent. This was n done, and the
responsibility for the omission appears to rest chiefly
upon the Board of Revenue, whose action upon one
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 evid,mce—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 aaribated to Sir C. Beadon's own fault, or to
the fault of oiliers? Answering this question, the
right hon. gentleman writes:—" It appears to me,
after 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 had 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 he 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 hhu, and who ought to have been veal-