The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1852-11-12
LIBERTY, EQUALITY, PROGRESSION.
0, NOV EMBER i, 1852
what the East Indies Cost the British
Government.

what the East Indies Cost the British
~ Government.
sMerrie England is not entirely exempt
from those difficulties ever consequent upon
Iastiugge for the 'loaves and fishes snd Ire
spolls OF Office. The iselrtl Committee on
l9lian Affai:s. it's highly prpbahlr will be
renewed al the next session of the House OF
Cohmcis; and The Wig journals are ex.
leseeingIy fearful ilIat the civil patronage OF
India viii be made over for twenty years 10
The Times. This ame civil list is a very
nice thing for those who ure so fortunate as
TO be upon it, amounting as il does, in the
aggregate, to about 93, 3,5O0,000, exclusive
IofGlie Charge of collection, or aboutsixteen
twenlielhs Of the " hole Indian {, revenue.
vile the civil list OF Grea; Britain only
amounts to about six and a-half one hun
idredihs Of the revenue. The numberof su-
ipelfuou; Goyerpme nls, there being no less
than seven of them, and monstrous sa laries,
are be tie principal causes Of this great ex-
Ativa ofiicer, from the day he arrives Il,
India, receives the full pay Of Lieutenant
Colonel in the British lnfantry, and after
ten years service, has pension of fl 900
per annunl. -"
The salary Of the Governor, General is
f25, 900 per anunum, five times as much
al the President Of the United S,ates), be-
side furnished place, any quantity oi SER
wants, public feasts at public cost, all his
travelling expenses, and the snug sum of
f5, 600 for profit and passage money. There
are four counseiors 10 advise him at salaries
of 100000 each; one of them. the Com
manhr-in- Chief, who does nothing in par
ticuiar, has $4,000 per annum in addition
TO bismiliiary capacity. The Governors of
Madrts and Bombay have not quite so much,
but ale cruelty obliged TO manage on fl5,-
600 PER annum, while their counsellols suffer
on The short allowance of only E8,0O0.--
Thus he Executive and Legislative Govern.
ment pf India costs about 92,500,00O per
annum.
The judicial branch is not far behind. II
costs $4,000 600 more, which is little
shortOf f700,000 more than that Of Great
Britain and Ireland. rtla ats4s
There are four Queens Courts, three Su-
preme, and one Recorders Court, with eight
Judges in all. Their annual cost is about
$275,000. The Chief Justice of Bengal
has $4,000 year, and those of Madras and
Bombay $4,000. The Puisnes of Bengal
have $4,000 each, and those of Madras and
Bombay f5,000 The Recorder of the
three Eastern settlements, who travels over
about 500 miles to fulfill his duties, has f4,-
500, and all have pensions, after ten years
service, of from fl 600 in $4,000 per year,
beside outfit and passage money.
There are also extensive ecclesiastical es-
adjustments, consisting of Bishops, Arch
deacons, Chaplsins, Presbyterian Ministers
of the Scotch kirk, and others, all of whom
receive salaries, outfits, passage money,
ETC., but whether they return quid pro quo
in Indian souls saved is not settled or tallt n
into consideration. 80. y g.e,,s...,.s. s.,sS
7 The passage money alone in 1851 amount
ed TO fl9,405 lis Sd. = l.'
Reward for service is not in any degree
proportionate 10 the dignity or usefulness OF
The office; all are rewarded as near as can
be alike; the only principle governing being,
that every officer should be paid as large a
sum as possible. Supreme Judges and Col
lectors Of Taxes receive the same salaries.--i
A Chief Provincial Judge has $500 year.
and an Excisemdu exactly the same sum
The pension list is open to all alike, after
the prescribed time of service, from the
small tax collector with his e., 800 year
up 10 an Indian counsellor, growing bilious
on 10000.
Such spoils' as these are worth having,
but the contrast between these enormous
salaries paid to the English officers, and
those paid 10 the English subordinates, is
very great. There are 100000 Indians,
and in all India only about 100000 English
men, There are three classes of native
Judges who receive salaries amounting to
G522, ,93O6. and fl34 per year, The first
draws Just one tenth of he salary OF an
English Supreme Judge, the second one
twelfth of the salary Of an English Provin-
cial Judge, aud the third less than one-twen n
tieth OF what is paid 10 asubordina:e Col
lector Of Land Tax, lg.
The inordinAte salaries Of the English off
GERS in India were fixed at time it was
thought to be rich in mineral wealth, but il
has proved poor enough, since the wages of
the laboring classes are only two pence a
day, and lO0000,0O0 Of people only con-
tribute R25 00o, 900 or about one half OF
what quarter of the number of people
contribute in Great Britain. The salaries Of
the Governor General and Judges were fixed
eighty years ago, and some high subordinate
officer sixty years since, when voyage to
India occupied six months, and was very
expensive. 1t can now be made easily and
agreeably in thirty days, and one may live
in Calcutta almost as cheap as he can in
London, and enjoy the same luxuries that
the great metropolis affords. t '@a8t Z
| An East India Director with this enor'
nous patronage to bestow is certainly man
to dotf. ones hat 10, and whose smile and
favor are not TO be despised. But all thi:
goes to show that much ofthese possessions
upon soma of which The sunrise flag is being
hoisted every hour out of the twenty-foul
costs more than it comes to, and that it may
be all very well to boast Of, but it lisa ex'
ceedinsly expensive luxury to keep.-lN. Y
Express. o