The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-04 00:00:00

LORD IIERBERT ON TEE FAMINE

IN INDId.

On Wednesday afternoon, a public meeting of
the inhabitants of Wilton, convened by the mayor
of the borough, was held at the Town Hall, for the
purpose of co_operating in the subscription now in
progress in London and other places for the purpose
of alleviating the distress caused by the famine in
India. It was expected that Mr. Gladstone, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had been a guest
at Wilton House for several days, would have been
present, but having been suddenly called to London
he was unable to attend.
The proceedings were briefly opened by the
Mayor (Mr. H. Blackmore), who called upon Lord
Herbert to propose the first resolution.
Lord HERBERT, who was well received, said—l
have attended here this day at the request of my
friend, the mayor, for the purpose of moving a re-
solution upon the subject which has already been
described to you. You will be aware from the
statements which have appeared in the public
papers that India has been visited by famine, and

I see that the numbers which are supposed to be
suffering under that calamity are very differently
estimated ; but the lowest I have seen it put at is
1,500,000. But then, again, you will see it stated
that the population of the districts to which the
famine extends is not less than seven millions, and
I apprehend that the discrepancy between the
two calculations is that one has taken the number
of people through the district in which the famine
prevails, and the other has taken the number
of persons from among the population who
are liable to fall victims to it by per-
ishing actually for want of food. Now, the
mayor has stated that India is an immense tract
of country, and we must not forget that the result
of that great extent is to aggravate immensely the
sufferings of the people, because where the means
of communication are defective, and where, for ex-
ample, there are no railroads except one, and almost
no roads, of course the difficulty of transporting
food is immensely aggravated, and delay in this case
is death. (Hear.) Well, the country has been
desolated, not only by famine, but, within the last
few years, by civil war, which, like all wars, tends
greatly to impoverish a country. Crops are laid I
waste, houses are burnt, the ordinary avocations of
industry are interrupted, the production of the
country is greatly impeded and diminished, and
therefore a famine which comes at such a time, when
a country is unable to meet the requirements for its
own preservation, is naturally attended with the
most disastrous consequences. (Hear.) Now, I
confess that, looking back upon the history of our
connection with India, and judging it impartially,
we do not stand very well in the eyes of the nations
of the world. We have gone there as traders, we
have gone there as conquerors, and we have made
a great deal of money and attracted great pros.
perity to this country through our connection with
India. (Hear, hear.) But lam not certain that
we have done all that we might or ought to have
done for the country itself. (Hear, hear.) In
the first place, I believe that we Anglo-
Saxons, who are accustomed to self-government—
who have been accustomed, in fact, not to be go-
verned at all—who have no notions of government,
therefore, bond that of giving security to life and
property—ve have not the genius of dealing with
Asiatics, who require a mind to guide them, energy •
to supply the failure of that quality, and a hand to
execute what the brain imagines. We have left
the country too much to itself, and have not done
enough in the way of public works, for example,
which might have saved the country from famine.
The irrigation effected by means of canals and the
diversion of rivers from their course has saved those
portions of the country in which it has taken place
from the perils and dangers of famine ; but through
a great tract of country we have done nothing, and
the people are reaping the reward of it. It is often
said—l have often heard it said—that we should
carry Christianity to India. Well, we have not
carried Christianity to India, and perhaps one of
the reasons is that Christians are little agreed
amongst themselves, and that Christianity, there-
fore, means to the ears of the Hindoo some great
diversity of opinion amongst the different religious
sects. (Cheers.) The people of India see that we
do not agree amongst ourselves, and therefore they
are unwilling to listen to us. (Hear, hear.)
But on this occasion we may carry Christianity
to them. In this sense we shall show the
practical effects and proofs of that religion in
our desire to do good, and in attempting, as far
as we can, to relieve them from their wants and
necessities. (Hear, hear.) I have seen it stated at
the time of the Irish famine that not only did the
natives of India subscribe very liberally- to the
relief of the sufferers from the famine in Ireland,
but actually the native soldiers ; those men who
certainly—time has shown—were not well affected
to our rule, subscribed their pay-, and sent it to
alleviate the sufferings of their con,querors, and
handa iesson to us,
surely that ought to operate
th put down the
(Hear.) Having with a strong
.we
ae for-
get all
rebellion and re-estabillics)r ileme government
Indian
of the Queen, shall we not
Widths that rebellionb
now as fellow-su jeets in
kaet all the sufferings
by looking upon
as a nation stretchinge out their hands to
distress,
us for food ? (Hear, hear.) I trust, therefore,
that as
Englishmen we shall do our part in
wiiton to
show that we are not deaf to their
calls, but that we have the same anxiety to relieve
their distress which they showed on a previous
occasion towards us. (Cheers.) With this feeling
I beg to propose " that those present at this meet-
ing deeply sympathise with the sufferings of the
people of India under the awful visitation of famine
with which they are afflicted, and hold it to
be their duty to do h • t eir utmost to alleviate the dis-
tress of their fellow-subjects in India." (Cheers.)
The Rev. Prebendary CHERMSIDE, rector of
Wilton, seconded the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.
Mr. S*AYNE, clerk of the peace for Wilts,
moved, and Mr. J. E. NIGHTINGALE seconded, the
appointment of a committee to carry out the ob-
jects of the foregoing resolution, which was also
agreed to.
The MAYOR announced a subscription of. £lOO
from Lord Herbert, £lO from the corporation of
Wilton, £5 from Mr. Swayne, and other smaller
sums, and the meeting broke up.