The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

BRITISII INDIA AND ITS FINANCE''

(From the Derbyshire Courier.)
The nation has arrived, with ren.ard to British.
India, at that grand starting•point a all improve
ment in this country, when John Bull opening his
eyes, and thrusting his hands
resolutely into his breeches'-ds sipocets,ifi pron tlounces
gncany and
that " something must be done."
The first thing now in fashion towards doing
a geoha
something is to appoint somebody with
salary, who is to do what- all the nobodies wit
good salaries have failed to do. Ministers have
caught their somebody. Passing by Lord Elgin,
who is too great and too independe hoarepudiating
Sir John Lawrence, who is too g, they base
West-
pitched upon the arithmetical member for
bury, Mr. James Wilson. Mr. Wilson is
man
a
of figures ; he has had practical experience of the
advantages of buying, in the dearest and selling in
the cheapest market ; he knew s all about balance;
sheets, the price of stocks, shares, bonds, scrip, anu.
omnium. The national balance-sheet of India pre-
sents an unpleasant array of figures on the wrong
side ofthe account, and so who but Mr. James Wilson
of the Economist, can put it right ? True,
cedents furnish no great security for successful
financial arrangement, but let us hope that he may
manage the affairs of British India better than be
did his own.
To the Cutlers' Feast, at Sheffield, therefore,
his ante:
comes the Right Honourable James Wilson,ssures
" the
second person ' Mr. Alderman 'Matthews a
us, " in our Indian empire, being, in fact, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer in India." if note
Mr. Wilson's address on the occasion
novel was amusing- It was the proudeay ei,
his life, nothing but the " deepest sense of oddest dduty:,
would have induced him to accept his " responsible
—and lucrative—appointment in India. But India,
" the brightest gem in the British Crown 7 was
earn
danger. Duty !my country ! ten thousand a-y •
" Ha! thou hast touched me nearly !"
From the poetical and heroic, Mr. Wilson
ascend"scend
to the financial and the practical. " Gent
almy days
he says, with a mental glance at the p
of the Economist, when people believed its
and relied on its figures, " gentlemen, facts
It lies
mere arithmetic. Finance is a great policy'.
at the bottom—at the root of government in every
country. Without sound finance no good government
is possible. Without sound policy no sound finance
it possible." These are brave words ! Finance lie!
finance is not
m standing,
at the root of good government, and I, the Rightwhether
Honourable James Wilson, a
on my head or my heels I have yet scarcely learned,
on the top of the financial
And what does Mr. Wilson propose to do ? After
reading his speech we defy any one to discover the
announcement of anything approaching.. to arapro-
bable solution of the Indian difficulty. Free tde,
world."
Mr. Wilson tells us, is " good all over the
Very well—but India must possess trade, before,
acres of rich land uncultivated, with
that Lade can be made free. With raillions 0,
tens 13
millions of natives willing to work, but at present
scarcely clothed at all, fed on vegetables or
rice, paid a penny or twopence a day for their
labour, and oppressed and pillaged, poor as they are,
by extortionate tax-gatherers ; something far more
free
practical than the abstract financial pin
any
trade is required before the first step in anY gee-
lioration of their condition can be effected.
We agree with what is said by Mr. Wilson of
the importance of giving Christianity to the nativee;
This is most important. Let us trust that 0.1,11
schoolmasters, missionaries, clergy,.and bishops will,
as years roll on, effect most beneficial improven3enl'
a little
among the native population in this direcion;
But this will be a very gradual and protrac.ea
process. We do not send out Mr. Wilson tobut to rectify the finances of India,
in-
culcate the principles of the Christian religiO3.!
with as little delay as possibl. Then there is "t 3
difficulty of caste," of which Mr. Wilson's kliceis(o
ledge must be of a very limited nature. He re'e-
ad-
further, to railways, steam navigation, and the
ministration of equal justice. We are already eella-
tributing largely to the two former objects, alio.
Mr. Wilson can teach little to such men as Sir C•
Trevelyan about the administration of justice. -"''-o
so Mr. Wilson, after uttering the absurd asserticali.
and to do.i:
that Peel put our finances in " a flourishing eal 4
lion," falls back on the hope that " the improvvs
fiscal and commercial legislation" which, be siaiii;
has done so much for England, may succeea
_d
India in replenishing an exhausted exchequer, eel.
raising the social condition of 200 millions u
natives.
,i!We will endeavour to give a more definite (.)1)..i;
nion on the financial requirements of India tea
has been given by Mr. Wilson. He tells us tr,s
" witholt sound finance no good governmet:',l
possible." and we tell him that without a government:
monetary system no sound finance is possible. `,17.
are glad to see that the importance of an impro
ee_.
ment in the monetary system of India is no long r_
the despised opinion of a few Currency Reformer':
whose watch is before the time in which they liN f
but is referred to in the recent Parliamentary re-.
port on India, and is admitted even by the hut:
lionist Times. The monstrous absurdity of paYlng_
the army and collecting the taxes in two.shlline
pieces is too barbarous to be retained. paper
pieces is now recognised as a necessity for British
India. There can be no doubt that a pap
currency would be a means of giving the Sepl.,3
and the natives in general a direct interest in t"ii
stability aad prosperity of the British ancert."o.
ment. But beyond this a currency is required is
develope the grand resources of India. There a
abundance of capital in India. Land and la ue 0
are the natural elements of capital. There
VII! ..,
enormous undeveloped wealth in the he
uncultivated soil of the country. And there are
millions of able and willing hands waiting to ii.
employed in the cultivation of this teeming le of
Money, the representative of all capital, sou, is
land and labour, important elements of capital
alone wanting to develope the riches of the countrY•
That money, in the shape of a Paper ender
receivable for taxes, and exchangeable for sitiao
and gold at its market price the Government "of
the power to supply, immediately, for the use
India. It might be lent out by a Board appointed
for the purpose, for the irrigation, enclosure, and
improvement of the land. And concurrently t
this an improvement should be made, witto,
delay, in the land tenures of India. Long leuli,
to be followed by the ownership of the land 03 the
payment of a moderate tax to Government, sheet,
be immediately encouraged. This would lead
the creation of a body of industrious and inePkehil;
dent ryots, or cultivators of the soil. -With b t
creation of this body would arise an improverar eell
taxable articles, as well as in immediate
in the revenue from increased consuinption o'. a 0
increas
in the receipts from the land-tax.
Whatever difference of opinion may exist on tile,
objection raised to the payment of
moonetary question, there can be little rations:
British and native, in Government the tree') '
pate" toyer)'
As little can be said against a system of Gacetrhe
ment loans B,nd advances which would rescue
natives from the extortions of the Hindoo monetYo:
lenders, and enable them to borrow rnsan el„e or
reasonable interest instead of paying 20,
3u, A
even 100 per cent., as is sometimes the
case
present.
We commend these suggestions to the considera-
tion of the new Indian financier and of the o°l:elirs
ment. The day of palliatives is past. If India is
to be retained decided measures must be canauer"-
And no measure, or set of measures, we
succeed without that mainspring of all financial
prosperity, a sound monetary system.
----------- repeat,
.9j

-----
s
mußc
much Lfi finer
Rt
hAaLn• —The
metweatherropo i
sa,t
andßalm
generallyseem thoroughly to enjoy the change ~ ~.,
has also been more fortunate than usual in his sport
e.y'.
the day after the arrival, when the woods of Aberg_ 1.e0":
were driven for deer, the Prince Consort had the good U.
tune to shoot a buck, and a second one has fallenhtaoshl;:kerl::
since. His royal highness, by way afersrioely'sport, by tile
couple of days' grouse shooting, p
way, which a the eo Princemp i ec.cdh
sgeubdeayrnmpthcleyeol liwts,yihp;teoasr does,4tta
Journal.
Sir G . Grey,
e,sa:neieert nisli o.toa ntfintrrdaahi uhye theeadchoeasasianti flutee.etete
73s
°faffect'
chicas.B,l, ,
ianolhoaacalulntrymt:i Ppefiucrorahccrerreiht,
oantdufliF. car
nctieuesaysosnslelsesianktdcosnhr:Aout i
the deer
dcaneeebc,
eliNreeev
savf
ott:rrfeys
tgt
h.
_i n g
'of minor importance being
ARRIVAL OF SPECIE.—LIVERPOOL, Saturday.---
The Eagle has arrived from Melbourne with 34,000 ounces
of gold. She sailed on the 4th of June.
The Rev. Horace Roberts, M. who was 00
board the Great Eastern steamship when the explosion oe:
curred, and who, after his own providential escape, rend ere:
e r
mbtNaoulhe:rff
Ira nee(rlohrtfklemr-tßosost
mtlihdrt
eeehs
aeuteLtthi.len
yesterdayjuHl r3eet
lad,.
subsequently
uNsb.
etsr.efiremensigeivaoetfnhattantrydei
nposert6hect
aheor r ,
cuessPa i Ili ~,
which was one of the Psalms of the day, " Thou 110t4.1,a
'llli f:mreec
LOCUSTSri tgeidlni tgmi,sys'
it'rdaEn.i—nd ntivefiflenaenetdsfotrfrootinhne,siNpl'
of the migratory locust was found a[few days ago on the call
of the parish church-yard, Bradford. The insect was about
three inches in length, and was quite active when cauarl',..
A similar visitant was taken up in a cornfield near 1.1 r
gate a day or two previously.
THE LATE FLOGGING AT WOOLIVICII.--ThePieai
puty-Inspector-General of Hospitals, and letter I.de„cipal.nrnsed
.fileer at Woolwich, J. E. T. Paratt, in a r/ ith
to the editor of the Times, and dated Sept. 10, says col: h
irneftehreenTeeiloesthoefltehttee,rtfhr,ohmeaydoeudr 3,l‘rireilsiptaor)nd.
Feniotgagt
ilclitee-;
whose
to state that yesterday morning I examined the manca
___ol
case is therein described, and found the remain of bsi';do..
boil, the size of a shilling, over the upper part of til
not to awe
bone, where the mark of the lash appeared a
0„ _ipall
reached, and two or three small pimPl"' triathezlaciersatioa
peas, where the punishment was intlie.to
penetrated deeper than the skin,
an
the editor laconluou
erfrexaonanmaxiin,:vseh,di,co,h was so superficial as evdideen,:tlsyecintioetrittc)y.bbl
Really he tied." At the end of the letter
nThtheen9lanth",was flogged on September 1, and 'VP'.