Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-03-08

the province Of Guntoor, district in the
Madras Presidency, was reduced from half
to a quarter of million by famine and pes
thence. During the following thirty wears
there were many minor famines-minor,
that is, comparatively speaking and then
there was the great drought which swept
over the North West Provinces in lS6O.6i
To these disastrous years the famine was on
a gigantic scale but, as large numbers of
the people concealed their distress, endur-
ing it even unto death, rather than break
the rules Of caste, or run counter TO the
feelings of their tribes, the number OF those
who are known TO have perished-from
eighty thousand to ninety thousand-d0es
not represent the total mortality. The ac-
tual sufferers number one million and a half
and the loss of property amounted in value
to three millions and three quarters sterl-
ing.
Being of such frequent occurrence, the
reader unacquainted with the system of In
| dian misrule would never for a moment i'm
agine that the remedy for such deep and
wide spread distressi is plaiu-to ipr1gate the
| country, from reservoirs of water stored up
during the wet season. But, that such is
the easy remedy is confessed by all observ-
ant authorities Store up the waters BY
dams and basins in the lower levels, and BY
making reservoirs Of valleys up among the
hills, and the great annual drouth is strip
ped of its terrors. OF course such work
would require large sums Of money, but the
mere material returns would amply compen-
safe the outlay, to say nothing Of the suffer
ing it would avert The Government Of
India, however, does not seem to have been
established for any purpose Of mercy. Take
from the country all 1t can yield, and have
no care for its people save as a source of
profit, is the key note of English policy.
Talk OF the Yankee being money worship
per The heartless cruelty practiced by the
English in India--the grinding" process
in use to force large revenues from its soil
and people-are facts which stamp the Brit
ish conqueror as one of the fercest and most
knew. Place Yankees in possession of the
vast country Watered by the Indus and Can
ges, and the first thing we should have would
be a just and humane government ; the next
thing, just and humane system of labor
the next thing, correct and economical sys-
tenn Of land culture, which would defy fam
inc, and make the soil produce two-fold re-
turns. All this might. possibly, proceed
from a spirit Of selfishness, rather than from
a spirit Of humanity; but, the schools,
churches, just laws, happiness and prosper
ity, which the Yankee race would be also
sure to instate, would possibly stand as hv-
ing witnesses that, with all their enterprise
and thirst for prosperous personal coudi-
ton, the sons of New England were saga
cious with the wisdom Of humane men.
India never will know happiness or pros
perity under British domination. What in
Ireland is petty tyranny, in India is the iron
heel, Sepoy rebellion is ever impending
for the races of Hindostan bear nothing but
a feeling of malice and revenge toward their
eonquerers. The native races never will be
reconciled to their rule, and so long as the
British power In the East is supreme, we
shall not cease to hear of India famines, In
dia 1ebellions, India misrule