The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-05-11
CHANGING AT HINDOSTAN.

CHANGING At HINDOsTAN.
The Astattc Possessions of the Empress Of
India.
1t is the richest country in the
world, its exports being annually
s10O,G00,0O0 in excess of its imports.
Its 248, 100000 of inhabitants speak
100 distinct dialects, and are govern
ed by the people Of one little island
in the North Atlantic. Sixty mill
lions are still no,ninally under the
sway of princes, who have very re-
spectacle armies. 70 control this
number Of human beings England
has only 10000 European and 15O,1
600 native soldiers. 1t is generally
believed that there are four castes,
the Brahmins, the warriors, the trad
ers, and the working people in Hin
dostan, but there are only two, Brah-
MINIS and working people.
Some Brahmins look with con-
tempt upon other Brahmins, and the
working people are selfdivided into
about 80 subdivisions. A gold
smith is conceded to be at the head
of the working class, and he deems
himself little inferior to the Brah-
minis. He disdains carpenters and
blacksmiths. But wherever the in
fuence Of the Anglo Saxon is strong
est the lines of demarcation between
the classes are indistinct. A Brah-
min, for instance, often finds that he
must ride in a railway carriage With
working man. The Brahmins are
often poorer than the working people,
and must accept aims from them
But the workingman's shadow even
must fall athwart the Brahmin's.
Whenever the English have gain
ed new territory they have assigned
officers to survey it and give a title to
the native owner Of even the smallest
part of it, and for every acre of cult
! waited land a legal deed is held. The
burning of widows and the destruc-
| tion Of female ch ildren is as uncom-
mon in India to-day as in New York.
In 1849 the last suttee that came
within the cognizance of the Eng
lish was performed. The magis-
trate of the district was informed
that it would be done the following
morning unless he should interfere.
He rode hard and fast, attended by
soldiery, but the priests had hastened,
and dying embers alone marked the
place where the woman had been
burned. The priests and her near
est relative were tried and sentenced
to death, but were transported for
life; But the abolition Of suttee, and
of the destruction of female children,
was not so much due to rigorous laws,
as to the enlightenment of the Brah-
min doctors Of the law by European
scholars.
Laborers in India get $3.50 a
month and find themselves, but if
they can maintain themselves upon
half of that sum, it is good pay.
Carpenters receive 50 month. Yet
there is no poverty in India. Labor
ers' wives and children wear a
surprising number of gold and silver
ornaments. Their sayings are invest
ed in then, for they have no banks.
1t has been calcu lated that S50,000,.
| 900 worth Of the precious metals are
lost by attrition every year in In
dia.
| AS soon as the sun goes down, the
days work is deemed at an end.
The women shoulder their pitchers
and 20 to the wells. There they lott
er and gossip. The men engage in
games of checkers, or gather in the
groves, lit by myriads of 6re-fies,
and listen to wonderful tales about
Brahma. The English dare not en-
gage in the conversion of Hindostan.
If the Hindoos once thought that the
English intended to force them from
their religion, the whole land would
be in blaze.
The English have built up vast
railway system, established police and
excellent prisons, sternly enforce the
laws, have introduced irrigation and
; wonderful network of canals, but
they cannot openly favor the work of
Christian missionaries among the
Hindoos.