The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-12-07
TAR AND CATHOLIC MESSENGER, SUNDAY DECEMBER 7ls73
Threatened Famine in India,

Threatened Famine in India.
Ominous notes of warning reach the
India office in Downing street that the
greatest of the presidencies Of India is this
year threatened with all the horrors of fa.
ted with railways and pierced with navi-
gable rivers, can scarcely realize even in
imagination what famine is. We have
heard of the misery, the wretchedness, the
pangs intense and indescribable which
fwsnay nso or ,h six years sgo dePGPuated
the peasantry and left millions without
necessary sustenance. Though the Bri.
tlsh Parliament voted millions, though
private generosity from abroad, as we'll as
in the British isle, sent ship loads of pro-
:, visions Q, to the famishing poor, they died by
an island accessible Cd all sides from the
sea; penetrated by railroads and rivers.
Iu Silesia about the same time the scourge
fell so heavy that within a narrow area,
one district only, the famine left l6,O 900 or
phans to be provided for. Only two years
visitation. Out of q population of only
q ,O0O, 600, hundreds of thousands persisted.
Pestilence always follows famine. Those
who survive are wasted, enfeebled, ema-
ciated, succumb in multitudes to the fever
induced by depressed vitality. It lii is oe esti.
human beings persisted in Bengal in ITO,
and in the single province of Orissa last
time it was visited by want 1000 900 died
from famine and the diseases which follow
in it's track.
The Hindoos depend almost exclusively on
rice, as the Irish before the famine did up
| on the potato. Of late years, owing to the
| increased construction of works for irriga-
| ton, the yields of rice have been enormous.
Little, however, of the old crops were held
over, and the Threatened scarcity finds
whole districts almost destitute of the sta
pie food. The jute and sugar-cane have
also withdrawn many fields from the cul
tivation of rice, leaving even in ordinary
! seasons less surplus than otherwise. Burd
wan and Trihoot, where the scarcity is
| most alarming, even in ordinary years are
| compelled to obtain supplies from Oude,
| Scinde and the Pupjab. The drought has
| unfortunately fallen upon these great pro-
requiring importation for their own uses.
In tie threatened districts the population
is very dense in Burdwan 573 to the square
! mile, and in Trihoot $50. The population
Of Bengal, by the census of 1870, is Co.
o56, e59 souls-a population more numer-
o1s t than that Of the United States by &c.
oOO,OOO; more than all of North America
by 10 ,O0O, 600. 1t is we'll that other dis
tricts of the great Indian peninsula have
had abundance of rain and will be able to
supply, to some extent, their less fortunate
| neighbours. Madras and Bombay are both
in communication with Bengal by rail and
steamship. Bengal, happily, is no longer
in ITO. Then it was reached by narrow,
dusty or muddy causeways, or by creeping
river boats. Now railways pierce it from
end to end, steamers ply on tie Ganges
and the jumna, and the bay is full of swift,
capacious vessels.
The Governor General has left Simla for
Calcutta month earlier than usual, and
Sir George Campbell, the active, unwearied
Lieutenant Governor, has visited all the
| Threatened districts, conferred with the
local authorities and given the necessary
instructions to the local officers. Extern
sive public works will be begun in the re-
gions likely to suffer most, where the ma
tives will be employed at the public ex-
pense, and the storhouses of gram furnish
| ed by Government whence the natives
may buy at moderate prices the food ne
cessary for substance.
And yet, when all has been done that
Government can do to furnish relief, the
suffering to which it must look forward is
appalling. There ia no arithmetic which
can compute it. What could our Govern
ment do toward furnishing food, with all our
facilities for transportation, to it's 10000
600 The traditional apathy of Hinduism
and MahomedOnism only makes matters
worse. They see the approach of famine
and disease sent by Indra OF Allah, re-
signed to complete iDaction, and accepting
them rs the DEGREES of fate. They silently
wait their approach, aud without a mnr-
muir lie down aud die. AS we approach
the G,ver of all Good in thankfulness for
our multiplied blessings, let us not 10 our
thanksgiving forget the unfortunate of
either lands, but in til" midst of our re
jOicing breathe a prayer to heaven that ia
mine and pestilence among our dusky kin
dred abroad may be averted.-Louisrille
| Courier Journal.