The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-01-14
THURSDAY. u IA.

lDuG q Jill tudt iOftS W mty
of foreign troops could keep in quiet subsection
a population of a hundred and fifty millions,
united by O religious creed as despotic as any that
exists. Like a child, India has, for a century,
been under the guardianship of a nurse, who now
proves unable to govern its unruly spirit, and
requires the aid of its powerful mother, who
claims the offspring as her own, and who will
hereafter deal with it as such.
1t is not strange, then, that the receipt Of tho
recent news from the East, containing intel
ligence of the fall Of Delhi, was made an occa-
sion of general rejoicing in England-for the
belief prevailed that the recapture of this ancient
and populous capital of the Mogul emperors, this
powerful stronghold in the heart of British India,
was but the foreshadowing of a speedy and sue
cessful termination of the war Delhi, the CEN
ter of the great theatre of operations, had again
passed into British hands, and at last accounts
reinforcements from China and the Cape of Good
Hope had begun to arrive at Calcutta, and were
already on their way to the aid of their be-
Ieaguered, though victorious, countrymen. Pro-
badly, with their assistance, and the assistance OF
those who will come after them, the mutiny of a
hundred thousand Sepoys will be quickly crushed;
and the mere moral force of a large foreign army
II ODcI8tC a. q ShcIe W PNS'Nhs Wv A
spreading or gathering strength in the other and
less disafected provinces of the empire. A brief
period only will elapse before the British Lion
whose name has been rufied for a moment by the
breath of war-will again rule supreme in India.
1t may not be uninteresting at this moment to
glance at the rise of the East India Company,
towards the affairs of which the recent important
events i'll Hindostan have directed the attention
of the civilized world. 1t was originally organ
lied as a trading corporation, and probably none
of its founders, in their most Utopian dreams,
ever anticipated the vast commercial monopoly Of
which they laid the foundation stone. In a fnan-
cial point of view, the enterprise was successful;
and as the operations of the company increased in
magnitude, large establishments were instituted
under its auspices at Calcutta, Bombay and Ma
dras. 1t was at this period that the French,
jealous of the increasing influence of their Eng
lish rivals, and anxious for their share of the
East Indian spoils, unsuccesfully endeavored to
obtain possession of the two latter posts aud at
the same time the English were startled by the
menacing attitude assumed by the Surajah Dow
lab, the viceroy of the Emperor, a petty tyrant,
the most prominent acts of whose life had been
the plumber of the foreign houses at Calcutta,
and the sitting of one hundred and twenty-three
Englishmen in the Black Hole. Give, at the
head of a comparatively small force of British
troops, took the field against Surajah Dowlah,
and in the year 1857, one hundred and one years
ago, signally defeated him at the battle of Plassy-
inaugurating then and there a career of conquest
which was to result in the formation of the great
est soyereignty-with the exception of the Chi
nese-in the modern world. Victory followed
upon victory, until at length the Emperor reluc-
faulty consented to acknowledge Give as Gov
ernor and absolute ruler. of Bengal.
Warren Hastings succeeded Give, and con-
tinuing the course of policy which had been
adopted, extended the influence of the Company,
enlarged its dominion and increased its revenues
and thus the subjugation of India has gone on
from year to year, until now the whole peninsular
of Hindoostan. from the Himalayas to Cape
Cormorin, from the vale of Cashmere to the jun
giles of Calcad, bows submissively to the will of its
European conquerors.
In the year 1888 the political influence of the
company becoming, in the opinion of the govern
ment, too great to be entrusted to a mere corpo-
ration, It's powers were made over to the State
an annual dividend of ten-and-a-half per cent.
being guaranteed to the stockholders, and the old
DO8rQ y DiIcctorS DciuS ptllulttcu ciii W IcItii /
the nominal management of its affairs. The real
control of the organization was transferred to. and
has continued, in the hands of the British Minis
try, and they alone are responsible for the policy
pursued.
Thus in q single century the proves of British
arms has won, and the power of British influence
has oyerspread one of the most fertile countries Of
the world-a region stored with the resources of
agricultural, manufacturing and commercial
wealth, and inhabited by a population of one hun
dred and fifty millions of people. The secret of
these wonderful successes iseasily explained. The
Empire of British India comprises many distinct
nations, widely differing from each other in the
characteristics and interests of nationality. United
under one powerful leader, these nations might
have successfully resisted any foreign invasion.
Strong in union they could have laughed at the
vain efforts Of the European strangers to dispossess
them of their birth rights. But divided and dis
tracted as they were at the period of the COM
mencement of the English rule, with no master
spirit to combine their strength, and governed in
many cases by task-masters whose ~cruelties and
e~xactions had rendered them odious to their sub
iects, they offered no ~efectual resistance. At
tackled in detail they submitted, one by one, some
times peaceably and sometimes perforce, to the
sway of their enterprising foe-
The preservation of the individuality of these
separate nationalities and governments is a pecu-
liar feature of the Indian management. The
show of former royalty has in most instances been
retained, and the Court supported at the expense
of the company. All outward forms Of respect
and ceremonial are observed. But the quiet Off
Gals that move about so unostentatiously among
the regal splendors that surround the throne, are
the real powers behind it, that pull the wires
touch the springs of government. modern
gives an illustration of this quiet way Of
governing, in the case of Akbar III. He says that
until within a few years past the law of Akbar's
Court varied but little from the sanguinary rule
former days /; and the hands, noses and ears of
all who incurred the royal displeasure were
lasro~ &c ILL.,