Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-18

Problems which Threstea Essiand's
Eassern Empire.

EaStrH EmBtrcs
A London cabls Of the 18th to the
Washington Post says:
The existing tension IN the relations
of Russia with England, arising from
the Bulgarian question. gives great
scuteness TO the financial difficulties 81
the Indian Government. 1t is to these
difficulties we eve the appointment. Of q
royal commission on the cur
rency. The fall in silver has
brought the Indian Government
within q measurable distance Of
catastrophe described by competent
observers in England and India as the
seyersst in the history of the Anglo-ln-
dian empire. The warnings given by
Sir James Card, the eminent Scotch
Liberal and famous sgriculturist, who
Was sent out eight years ago 70 inquire
into the financial prospects OF India
and the causes Of the Indian famine.
are now commanding alarming at
tention even from Indian officials.
Card ct that time summed up the
Indian situation in these ominous
words There are more people every
year to feed from the land which in
many parts OF India is undergoing
gradual deterioration" He then point
ed out that while wages rose at the
centres Of Indian industries, they did
not rise in agricultural India, the re-
suit being the Indian agriculturalist
gets the same dole out Of the land that
be did in the last generation. Numbers
Of such people are increasing and their
condition is becoming every day more
desperate"
Eight years of dread have passed
since these words were written, aud
now, thanks in part TO the fall in silver
and the drain from India to England
which in 1874 WAS sl00, 600, 900 annu-
ally. and has now risen TO, or nearly TO,
quite 500, GOO, 000-her condition is de-
plortble.
An important work by Hyndnsn,
which will appear tomorrow, entitled
The Bankruptcy Of India" clearly
sets forth that at the present time 224,-
600, 900 of people are living in India
on the produce Of las, 100000 Of acres
of land; q statement which shows
that India, so far from being able
with advantage 10 herself to throw
her grain into competition in Eng
land with the grain Of the Western
States Of America, is actually unable
TO feed her own people adequately; her
great and growing grain export being
drawn from her TO meet her vast and
eyer-increasing liabilities TO England,
and giving 10 commercial returns 10 the
Indian people Of any class. In this
situation no margin is left whatever for
increased taxation in India, and II Is
officially announced that tie burdensin-
posed on the Indian Government by the
Burmese war and by the threatening a.
ttude Of Russia at the present moment
cSnno; be met by taxation. The reiiei
expected from the remOneiization OF
silver by England, or by an inierna-
tiopal agreement, cannot therefore, in
the Judgment Of men well informed on
Indian affairs, come day TOO soon 10
mitigate the pressure which Is begin
ming 20 exasperate the Indian pOpula-
ton. and which threatens the fabric OF
British dominion more seriously than
any thing since the outbreak Of the mu-
tiny Of 1857.
Navropii, the ablest living Parse
fnspcier Of India. is now IN London,
brought hitber by the stringency OF the
existing situation, to urge upon the i'm
perial Government the Importance o.
action. By his elaborate calculations
be shows that the value Of the produc-
tons Of the Pupjsub, one Of the most
fertile provinces in India, Is at
the outside twenty rupees, or ten
dollars American money, per head per
annum. These figures tell their own
tale, which is further illustrated BY
the statement that, while the common
price Of grain in the southern States OF
America on which the free negro ls-
borer is fed is the same as that Of the
Indian laborer, the average wage OF
the negro laborer in the South IS eight
times that Of the Indian la6orer.
Lord Rosebery. who is going TO In
ola in October. informed me yesterday
of his intention 10 make personal In
yestigatCD into these conditions Of the
Indian problem which, in the language
of Robert Griffin, head statistician OF
tie Board Of Trade, make the solution
Increasingly dangerous. The facts
which have cited show the importance
Of this problem to our own wheat
growers Of the West, the enforced ex'
port Of Indian wheat TO England having
been the leading factor during the last
four years on the face Of prices which
has SO iDjuTiOusly affected the great
West.