The New York herald., 1873-12-22
rMs rmpsndisg Famins An Bengal.

Tho Hmpendisg Femme In Bengal.
From general failure Of the crops, particu-
larIy of the rice crop, in the province of Ben
gal. in the heart of British India, forty mill
IONS of people are on the verge Of terrible
faIVine, according to q letter from a HERALU
correspondent at Calcutta 1t will be seens
however,, that the British authorities, fully
apprised OF the impending calamity, ara
actively prenaring to meet it, and though it is
feared that hundreds of thousands of destitute
people must perish, and that destructive
pestilence, as in Persia, may accompany the
famine, it is har1ly possible chat the fatality
from these causes aan be SO frightful in the
basin of the Ganges. as it was in the scattered
arabic districts of the\ Persian deserts. With
out navigable rivers without railroivds, and
hemmed in on all sides by lofty mouutains:
without any foreign trade to speak OF, with its
inhabited patches widely sepasated from,ea
other by burning deserts, with its producing
classes, in the best Of seasons. living frUm
hand to mouth. under the pressure Of perha. .ps
the worst government in che world, and undtM
the terrors of countless rowing bands of rob41
bers, the wonder is, not that Persia from its late
famine and pestilence lost two or three millions
OF its ten millions of people, but that half it's
population was not swept away. That vast
and populous region now known as British
India, on the other hand, famous in all ages
as one of the most fertile and fruitful regions
of the globe, intersected by navigable streams
and by railways, and, under the rule of Eng
land, made more productive than ever before,
unless visited by o famine covering most of
the rice-producing area of the country, cannot
suffer as Persia has suffered from failure of
the crops for one or two seasons. The dis
tricts which have surplus of rics or wheat
at good prices will come to the relief of those
which have exhausted their short supplicss
and yet an exhausted province, which con-
sumes twenty thousand tons of rice every day,
will require immense shipments and skilful
distribution to prevent q fearful mortality
among it's people.
The London Economist says that the reports
of this impending famine in Bengal which
have been coming in since the first alarm was
sounded shave crystalized into conviction
that calamity without parallel in the his
tory of British India must fall upon the most
populous and most helpless province of that
Empire, and that it may seriously affect the
revenues of England. 1t Is we'll that the
British authorities on the ground are prepar-
ing for the emergency, for otherwise famine
and pestilence in Bengal may be followed by
mutiny and another Indian war.
The CUBAN SLAvE-OwNERs AND THE IHEvI-
TABLE.-A HERALD correspondent telegraphs
from Havana the points Of an interview he
had with Senior Zulueta, the great slave lord
of the island Of Cuba, who has browbeaten 30
many Captains General in his day. The sub
ject discussed was the abolition Of slavery.
and the President of the Casino was found
raising his voice in acceptance Of the wish Of
the home government. Naturally the slave
owners desire gradual plan, +" which means
that the slave labor may be secured to them
for yet few years. They are well aware that
the sentiment of civilization is strongly
against them, but if they can defer the actual
fact Of abolition for year two they will
have all that time to work for the overthrow
of the Republic, which is the only Spanish
erty in human flesh. CASTELAR, holds the slave
owners now between cross fire and should
compel abolition before he let's them go.
TwnD1sM AND THE SATURDAY REuEw-
Elsewhere we publish an article from the last
number of the Saturday ReoieS on our muni-
cipal misgovernment The enterprise Of this
periodical will be appreciated when We an
nounce that it is the first to publish the intel
gence Of the suicide of the late Judge George
G. Barnard.
Why THE VILE DU HAvRR- Was LOsT-Be-
cause she put her helm to starboard instead Of
to port
PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE.