The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-21

dullest when it is most fertilizing Calcutta
has million Of people, and trade OF forty
millions, and wealth untold, and does not see
pageant, display either of pomp or powe',
twice in generation. This is the hardor
from the singular tone which the city, Tue
third in Importance in her Majesty doplin-
ions, has for more than O century perslstently
maintained. Partly from the character OF the
people, ninety per cent. of whom are ben-
galees, Ooreyahs, or foreigners, partly from
the remarkable absence of distress-actual
hunger being nearly unknown-anu partly
from the conviction of the upper class, that
whatever the merits or dement's OF Brit
ish rule, il means wealth lor tnem,
Calcutta has presented since 1870 tho singular
sneotacle of an enormous city which is at
once capital and port, which is ruled by
foreioners. which contains from fifty to sixty
thousand men who are fighters by trade, yet
are not in Government service, and which
has never yet seen q serious riot, or indeed
riot of any kind. Troops, we believe, have
never yet been called out in Calcutta, and the
swarming native town remained throughout
the mutiny as quiet as the deck of Queens
ship. No honor of the ceremonial kind, and
especially no honor from the throne, can be
said to be undeserved by such a capital, and
it is clear the people considered the visit of
the Shahzada to be one. They turned out in
thousands, sat with that marvellous patience
which is to the Hindoo what resignation is to
the Christian, for hours in the sun, cheered
in their way with the sharp, shrill cry which
suggests q half sob in the hurrah, and lighted
up at night with the best-tempered
unanimity. There is not trace in
Calcutta of the Venetian feeling towards
Austria, nor was there the slightest mark of
any in the princes who had gathered together
from the more warlike provinces to receive
the Queens son. Sindiah, it was. said, was
out of temper because he did not have a
guard of honor-very like a duke wanting
one-but he was not out of temper with the
Prince, and everybody else came down to the
festivities radiant with pleasure. 1t will be
the same all over the Northwest, in Agra, in
the heart of the mutiny districts, everywhere
| deep sense of qualification will be both ex-
pressed and felt; and it may be worth while
to explain, or try to explain, why it is so, why
| race which, if it saw chance, would expel
| the British tomorrow, and which, if it waits
| q thousand years-what is a thousand years
| to q race that never forgets and never changes
| its mind ?-will expel them in the end,
| should yet welcome the son of the British
sovereign with hearty cordially. The ex-
| planation that it is mere childish love of fuss
| is of course q very easy one, but to men who
| remember that Hindoos conquered and
civilized a continent, built a thousand great
| cities, organized an original society which
has lasted, and thought out new philosophy,
| such reply is more facile than satisfactory.
| The Hindoo is not tho child but the female
| of humanity, and his character is worth a
little study, even on point like this.
In the first place, then, one of the bitterest
| incidents of conquest is wanting to the
Hindoo. He does not look upon the con.
| queror guG conqueror as an oppressor, an
| immoral being claiming from the sword what
he ought to derive only from election. Con
quest in his eyes is right, the conqueror {
man who, by being conqueror, proves that h'
is somehow in harmony and favor with the
destinies. 1t is his business to conquer if h
can, not to sit still and talk about peace ant
goodwill to all mankind A well-known Cal
cutta Rajah brought this theory out with ex
traordinary force. He was the Cardinal O
Hindooism, the head of the ultra ORTHODOX
party, the fierce opponent of white customs
the champion of the Brahmins, the Chancel
lor of Nuddea--the Bengalee Oxford
and man of the highest social posi-
ton; but he joined in a testimo
nial to Lord Dalhousie on the avowe
ground, eloquently maintained in a vernacula
speech, that to lament the fall of thrones wa
quite right, but that the moral duty of
Viceroy was to make them fall, to fling king
doms into his sovereign's lap, to subdue Q
many people as he could, and to get all tn
treasure fairly belonging to the conquerol
Lord Dalhousie had done his duty splendidly
and though that duty crushed his own people
he should vote for paying him deserve
honor. There spoke the true Hindoo, and i
that idea, the necessary unity of right an
force, is the secret of Hindoo loyalty even
a foreign power. He may hate it, he may plC
! to destroy tin which case his own powe
having proved its reality, will also be legit
mate-but he is not stricken to the soul by i
I not degraded by that any more than by an
other manifestation of the Supreme Will.
1t follows that no manifestation Of loyalt
l to the actual power impairs the Hindoo's sci
; respect; that if foreign band plays, he ca
l listen; if foreign Prince arrives, he can a
tend his levee as subject; that if the actu
. Sovereign comes, he can strew her path wit
= roses; and yet be trusted by rebels, and y,
not be dishonest. He is performing part
$ that mighty ceremonial which it is his duty
t perform through life, and which, in turn,
3 expects to be performed towards him. A n
Z tive who having the opportunity of honoriI
r the Queen SOD, did not honor him, would
t a rufian in his own eyes, boor KNOWN
: nothing of right or wrong, and this the mo
t especially if the Queens son were inherent
his superior, that is, of birth older than b
Q own, as in every case, except one or tw
s Prince Alfred is admitted by an Indian Prin
q tobe. And this brings us to the second poi
n which makes royal visit so acceptable. T.
Is one precious possession in the eyes of gre
II native, for which he will at any nome
81 make any sacrifice, is his rank, his dignit
9, or, as he often calls it, his honor. There
y no nobility on earth so punctilious or so o.
a. bilious as this group of tawny kings. No
ie suit to that is ever forgiven. No acknowled
re ment of that is ever forgotten. No estf
g. Given as n reward has the effact of an ext