The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-08 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAI, OCTOBER 8, 1866.

A matter of very great importance was on Satur-
day discussed at the Social Science Congress. Whe-
ther we regard the nature of the subject, the repu-
tation of the writer of the paper read on the occa-
sion, or the ability and experience with which the
question was treated, we must regard Major-
Gen. Sir ARTHUR COTTON'S essay on " Famines in
India : 'Their Causes and Remedies," as one
of the most remarkable contributions to the
Congress of 1866. Indian interests are now

happily regarded as Imperial interests. At
one time no one not immediately connected with
India either in a civil or military capacity took
any trouble about its prospects or its concerns, and
consequently no one presumed to give an opinion on
matters on which every man of ordinary intelli-
gence and education is in reality capable of
forming a judgment. The result has been that the
administration of affairs has been left altogether in
the hands of a limited number of gentlemen, whose
prejudices, interests,
and associations all bound them
to the old red tape and routine system, bad
enough in any country, but worst of all in a
half-civilised nation like India, where the population
are totally devoid of the
power of self-government,
and pTivate enterprise never counteracts the
deficiencies of public neglect. The people
expect to have everything done for them, and
even were they differently constitute • •
, it would be
idle to expect them to effect what engi •
neerwg skill
and science are necessary to do. The slow and
uncertain manner in which the public Works of
India hive been carried on is disgraceful to
our intelligence and our humanity alike. It is not
surprising that Sir AnTnun;C OTTON, after nearly half
a century's experience, cannot contain his indignation
at the neglect and supineness which results inwhole-
sale murder. He sees the splendid natural capacities
of the country ; he sees the comparative facility
with which they can be turned to account ; he
sees the wonderful success which has attended
the little that has hitherto been done ; and he sees

the hundreds of thousands that periodically perish
. from our neglect of these opportunities. The sta-
tistics which Sir A. COTTON brought before the
meeting on Saturday were certainly most startling,
and he plainly reminded his hearers that he was fully
conversant with his subject, having been engaged on
irrigation works during the last 45 years. " Whether

we consider this question," says Sir ARTHUR,
ply as connected with the lives of millions, or as to
our character in their eyes, from the mode in -which
we deal with it, either leaving them to perish, or
showing sympathy, wisdom, and energy in endea-
vouring to save them ; whether we look upon it
as a matter of duty or of interest, the terrible
importance of the subject is beyond calculation." It
must be remembered that not only is every famine in
itself a terrible and devastating calamity, but their
periodical return makes them assume a prominent
place in Indian history. In some parts of India
they occur every ten or twelve years, and
consequently, as Sir A. COTTON observes, " they
ought to occupy a regular position in the cal-
culations of every Indian Government. One dis-
trict, severely visited by famine some 30 years ago
was selected by Sir A. COTTON as a sample of -the
devastation effected by it, because there happened
to be fullers statistics concerning it. In 1831 the
population of Guntoor, a district of 4,700 square
miles, the 270th part of India, was 512,000 ; in
1833 it was 255,000—a loss of 257,000 ; and of
these the report states that it appears certain that
200,000 had perished," and this was not an
exceptional case. In Colonel BAIRD SMITH'S report
on the famine in the north-west in 1810, he esti-
mated the mortality at 80,000 or 90,000 in the cen-
tral section of the famine tract alone, or 2 per cent.
of the population ; in another part 8 per cent. In
the accounts now received from India it is stated
that 2,500 are dying weekly in one district, and
that 900 dead bodies were picked up in the streets
of Balasore in one morning. The extent of country
suffering under this visitation is unusually large,
and it is as yet impossible to estimate the
total loss of life. Those who are more sen-
sible to the claims of property may reflect upon
the actual loss sustained by the country in conse-
quence of these famines. Of the loss of property,
Colonel SMITH estimates it, in 1860, at 31 millions
sterling. In 1833, in Guntoor alone, the public
works report estimates the total loss at 2* millions.
" But," as Sir ARTHUR CorroN says, " how can we
estimate the loss of character to a Christian Go-
vernment which foresees such evils, but lifts no
finger to avert them?" In 1854, when there was a
local famine, he wrote, he tells us, as chief engineer,
to press upon the Government the necessity of pre-
paring for it, but nothing was done ; and when the
local officers found themselves overwhelmed with
100,000 starving men, the GovernMent tried
to employ them, but nothing was ready,
and the poor creatures were too weak to
work. So 4 has been now. So soon as the failure
of the harvest was known, engineers should have
been sent to plan out works of irrigation, to provide
shelter, to supply tools, and lay in a stock of food
from a distance, so that as soon as the gaunt enemy
showed itself employment and food could be found
for all under proper organisation. Had this, says
Sir A. COTTON, been done in Bellary, that district
would ever since have been secured from famine.
" It is, in fact, only labour and organisation that is
wanted in most cases. When Guntoor lost 200,000
by famine, a river was flowing through it which
never fails, and which in a single day carries to the
sea 4,000 million cubic yards of water ; and as
6,000 cubic yards will secure a crop of rice,
on an acre, water enough was running to waste in
that one river in a day, in that very district, to
secure 700,000 acres of rice, the food of 2} millions
of people for a year. A single day's water would
thus provide food for five times the whole popula-
tion of that district. The sole cause of the famine
was that the water was not distributed over the
land." What startling facts are these, and how
greatly must we blame that official supineness which,
from the highest to the lowest, seems to pervade
our Anglo-Indian authorities. Money can scarcely be
the obstacle, since, as Sir A. CorroN observes, if the
Government can afford to lose a million by a famine,
it can surely afford half a million to prevent it. The
works at Godovery, which have produced such
beneficial effects, and which water a million of acres,
were executed at a cost of half a million of money.
It is not a question which can afford to be longer
trifled with, for we are surely answerable for every
life lost through our neglect of our-plain and mani-
fest duties as rulers of the country. British sub-
jects are dying and suffering by the thousand for
want of the common necessaries of life ; while we
in England pause and hesitate and are indifferent,
and our representatives sit with their hands folded,
while famine does its terrible work.

The Prussian Royal Patent taking formal pos-
session of Hanover was promulgated on Saturday,
and no disturbances took place on the occasion.
There was nothing new in the terms of the docu-
ment. It demanded, as all such formulas do, that
the sway of the Prussians should be complete,
containing some rigmarole at the end about the
community of origin, language, and customs of
Hanover and Prussia. Hanover is insulted by
being reminded that the " reorganisation of Ger-
many demands the incorporation of Hanover, and
thus Germany has acquired what Prussia has gained."
How absurd this is, when every one is quite aware
that Prussia fully intends to keep all her possessions
exclusively for her own use. This fact is best
proved by noticing that the Berlin Government
go
on precisely the same -whether they meet with ac-
quiescence or non-acquiescence to their demands.
The Frankfort Senate has sent the Prussian Com-
missioner a document which protests against the
incorporation of Frankfort with Prussia, and re-
serves the rights of the citizens as based upon the
independence of the city. What regard or attention
is this Jikely to meet with? we may very well ask.
Will there not be the same asseverations made
as to the claims of Prussia, and will there not
be a repetition of what has gone before in
other States, resulting in the loss of liberty to the
doomed dominions. From Stutgardt we hear that
the Chamber of Deputies has recorded its opinion
against the union of the southern part of Germany
with the north, declaring very trucloyntfheadtertahtieoynsefeo!:
in vain in
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desirable, it is urged tha
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desirable thing, and, at any rate,
entertained
as being that already suspicions arc
as to the desirability of the changes so
hastily made by Prussia. Austria seems likely
to get into difficulties with her affairs ; and, indeed,
she has reached that stage where the complications
are so great that as fast as one is arranged another i
is sure to :zpring up. The cession of Venetia seems
to have been conducted in as satisfactory a manner
as possible, and no feelings of enmity appear to be
indulged in by the Austrians. The semi-official
Vienna Journal contains au article that is written
in a very sensible strain respecting the affair. It
declares that it is the wish of the Austrians
that their former adversaries should expel all
bitter feelings from their hearts, and learn
how much they will consider their true interests 14
cultivating a friendly feeling towards Austria. It is
also announced that the mission of the latter in
Europe does not lead her in the direction of the
South. It seems a pity that this conclusion was not
arrived at at 813 earlier period, for it would have