The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-19
THE RECoNQuEsT OF INDIA.

IAe Eng1Sn government mas that II mas no
slight work upon its hands, in reconquering In
dia. The outbreak of last winter cannot be
suppressed with one of half dozen victories.
The enemy is scattered all over India, is dog.
In short, the natives of India are obstinately
opposed to English rule in India, as illustrated
by their conduct in the past An Indian official
writes as follows to England:
g 1t is most astonishing how very little you
good people of England seem to know of India,
even in such times as these. AS for the insur.
rection being at an end, it is no more so at
this moment than it was twelve months ago.
If anything, further from it. Government
might then have brought it to an end, but they
would shut their eyes to its extent and cause.
They would not allow that it was anything else
than mere military mutiny, caused by some
creased cartridges, whereas the i'll feeling and
disposition to rebel were every whit as general
and intense among all classes of natives as
among the sepoys. This, to many, was appar-
g e6e fsH broE s on aha Int Is f Not f41s
when the Government say sthey were quite
taken by SURPRISE The Government had been
warned over and over again, by many good and
true men, but the old saying, 'Oh, never
mind, it will last my day. quieted and lulIed
all their fears to sleep.
"That cursed itch to annex; the vile and
abominoble corruption, bribery, and extortiop,
practiced in our civil courts and by the police the
dislike OF the natives to our system of land ten.
| ure, which, however fine and specious in theory,
and to write on, or to make speech on in Par
lament, was most distatteful to the native cul.
tivators, and left them entirely at the mercy of
apto md II
ruin to the poor ryot; the naughty, overbearing.
supercilious manner of the civilians, to ali
classes but their own-seven out of ten living
indoent, luxurious lives, careless of everything
but their own ease and comfort; the gross and
| shameful mismanagement of as fine and loyal
an army as ever stood under arms-diegustipg
the European officer, lowering him in every
possible way in the estimation of the sepoys,
| and then depriving him of all influence over
them-doing away with one old privilege after
another, till no war officer or sepoy knew what
| to trust to-all confidence in the Government
was lost; these are the real causes of the mu.
| tiny and instruction, and no mere inherent
dislike and antipathy on the part of the native
| to the European, such as a parcel of ignorant
people in England now pirate about. The ma.
tive has no such feeling inherent in him, every
| thing of this kind that now burns within him,
| we have planted there ourselves, by our own
| unprincipled conduct; and positively declare
| it was utterly impossible for mutiny of this
kind and extent to have existed in the Bengal
army when first came to India in l824-when
the officers and men had some feelings and ideas
in common--when the oficer lived among and
was allowed to hold control over his men such
mutiny was then simply impossible. The
| Government have Only to thank themselves for
bringing it about. These are some of the
causes of the instruction, and against such
evils what redress had the natives? Thew
demonstrated, and appealed to the Government
of India the Court of Directors, the Board of Con
troll the Parliament of England, and with what
success? ALI alike ignored their cries, and
treated them with contempt, till at last they
had recourse to the only mode of redress left to
| them-rnutiny, Instruction, and rebellion
And / do say, for all the horrors and sad
calamities which followed, England is respon
sible."
There is doubtless very much of truth in this
representation of the state of things in India
and the causes which produced the rebellion
But it is little one sided. There can be nc
question among impartial men as to the con
duct of the British Government in India. The
natives have been oppressed; India has been
| governed as province; it has been farmed eut
to the highest bidders-Englan has amassed
fortunes out of the province, made places fol
second cons within its boundaries-in short
used India for her own advantage.
But, on the other hand, the natives of a great
portion of India are vastly better off than they
were before they were invaded by English civil
zation. Though oppressed, their burden il
lighter than it was under native princes. MOI
can there be any doubt of the final result of the
colonization of India--it will civilize and Chris
tianize that vast country, those millions of PEG
pie, though it may take centuries to accom-
plish this grand work. The English, let III
remember, do not enslaue the native-hs is MOI
made chattel of, as our Republican reformer.
do of the African, in the pretended hope o.
sleuating him The natives of India are i'm
proving in condition every year, are growing
more intelligent and more wealthy, 30 that there
is ground for believing that the race viii
eventually take place among the nations Of
civilized men.
For its mistakes of government in India