The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-03
LIFE IN INDIA.
-FOm As ooTahiH Magazine.
"Any news from India Z"
''onlV another row.D


mot this time something about oilman's
stores and mutton.n
Buch, with Incidental variations, Is too often
tAe style Of conversation heard after the arrival
Of an Indian mail. The great sensation of the
month is some new scandal The Indian
journals indeed are seldom without an excite
ment of an intensely personal character. Some
hody's reputation is being tried in the balance.
As soon as the country ceases to be convulsed
with war, the conflicts Of peace commence. A
drOwsy cantonment, or bustling hill station,
may be the scene OF strife. The contention
may be purely among the men or a woman, II
the cGusd tete,Timd beIH, may be mixed up with
it, and ''more embroil the affray.D In some
easee, perhaps, there may be grave infractions
Of the moral law but in others the story is en-.
Crustod with the pettiest personalities which,
however exciting they may be on the spot, are
regarded at distance simply with contempt !;
and the pity of 1t is that too often great and
honorable names are associated with these
small and discrediiable scandals" The general
inference then is, that there is something in an
Indian sun that "breeds maggots,n not only in
dead dogs" but also In ''liye lions," A distin-
guisned general, who Is supposed to know as
much at least of the theory OF war as any man
IN the British army. and who is said to be
e1ns..J sagacious in council, is suddenly paraded
before the public in connection with an un-
seemly dispute with one of his aides-de-camp.
Itswould be foreign to our purpose to enter into
the merits of the last scandal" even II the
fact that 1t was, at the date OF our last advices
from India, still under Investigation by judi
Vial ty1puun,. O..s uvs loruu any pIo-JU"s
of the case. Nor shall we apalyze any Of Its
predecessors But the natural history of these
1'scandalsn is not unworthy of examination.
We hear much about the "demoralizing effects
OF the Indian climate" 1t is said that these
things would not have happened anywhere else.
Is it so? We will endeavor to show how far the
conditions Of Anglo-Indian society contribute
to the growth of the evil
We are unwilling to accept those sweeping
statements so often made to the effect that
Anglo-Indian morality is on very low scale in
comparison with that which is maintained
among Englishmen at home. There are, doubt
less, some special circumstances which must be
admitted to have deteriorating effect upon So
ciety in India-circumstances of which we
shall presently speak in detail-but there are
Others the tendency OF which is towards the
maintenance of sound morality Foremost
among these Is the fact that there can be no
secresy; nothing can be Gone In the darkness.
The Englishman In Indie is a marked man. He
Do never lost in crowd. All his habits and
ways Of life are we'll known. He cannot go
hither and thither without being watched.
Privacy is impossible 10 him. Literally and
igurativeIy, he lives with his doors and wln-
dows open towards every point of the compass.
His countrymen are able to take his exact
measure. He cannot lead disreputable life
and bear respectable character There is no
such thing as keeping up appearances.n In
England you may live next doer to a man. or
take no account of his name, much gu fess fkss
of his doings. In our large towns, we
are mostly too busy to concern ourselves
about the affairs of our neighbors; the multitude
Of those neighbors is distracting; and individual
recognitions, except on very limited scale, are
impossible. Mr.. Brown in Belgravia may be
''Mr. Jones" in st. Johns Wood; yet no account
lords may slip their peerage in the "shady
groves of the Evangelist" and bring no scandal
upon their names. But in India, our country
men for the most part live In state of society
resembling that which exists, not in a large
town, but in small village at home. And in
our small villages scandals abound, although
they seldom obtain more than limited local
nOtoriety. Even in the case of such residence,
in the midst of small rural societies, men prone
TO irTegularity of life may run up TO London
business" and commit manifold transgressions,
without any one OF their neighbors, or even the
members of their own household, knowing any
thing about it. But in India man can do
nothing ION the sly" Even the place where he
dimes is matter of notoriety. He lives, as it
were, IN glass-house, surrounded by servants
who follow him everywhere. Moreover, he is
generally tied down to a particular locality by
official or other engagements. He cannot play
the truant il he would.
There are better-by which we mean more
bonorable-reasOns than this ''hazard of con-
cealment" for not tempting the Illicit rove"
We are disposed to think that the sanctity of
domestic life is less frequently violated in India
than In England, chiefly because husband and
wife are s'thrown upon each otherp more are
more mutually dependent, in the former coun-
try than in the latter This sense OF reciprocal
reliance, doubtless, rvets the chains of coniugal
love and fidelity. Neither men nor women have
the same external resources, the same means of
obtaining excitement and variety abroad, as in
European countries; and, therefore, they are
the more ready to reconcile themselves to the
dulness and monotony OF home, to take interest
in small things, and to cultivate the domestic
charities. There is, indeed, no state of society
in the world in which the blessing of good
wife 10 more thoroughly appreciated than It is
among Englishmen in India.
But 1t must be admitted, on the other hand,
that there are some adverse circumstances
which may tend in some measure 10 counterbal-
ance these advantages 1t is true that women
marry very young IN India, and that marriages
are formed after very short acquaintance and
with very slig ut mutual kno Wedge of character.
A morning call or two, little conversation at
the band, O dinnerparty, ball, and the thing
Is done. 1t is said, too, that what is irreverentIy
calieu the marriage market" in India is not
supphed with produce of the best kind; that at
an early age girls are deprived of parental care
are imperfectly educated in England, under the
supervision OF STRANGERS, and return, whilst yet
IN their teens, TO the care of parents in
India of whom they know little or nothing
But this evil has been in recent wears
very much modified by the exten SION of steam
communication and by the more liberal char
acter OF the furlOugh regulations. In old times
child was often sent 10 England and ten or
twelve years afterwards returned a grown
woman to father and q mother whom dnring
al that time she had never seen. But, in these
Gays, rarely happens that separation of
THIS KIND endures during many years. The
separation is OF another kind-fhe senarafion
OF husband and wife. And this Is another Of
the deter0rating circumstances TO which we
have referred. The domestic scandals" of
which, unhappily, we have too MANY inAtances
ON the records of the divorce court are mos,Iy
the growth OF these enforced separat1ons ThSa