Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-04-03
English Rule in India.

cit is q far crv to ''SOcnOW was Ill oiueu
times the boastful cry of the Campbells, In
the vaunt that their distant location in the
north of Scotland gave them practical I'M
munity from attack. So sit is a far cry for
American interest to busy itself about the
remote land of India Yet our increased at
teotion to international politics and the i'm
portant fact that India is certain to be the APP
pie of discord which will yet precipitate one
of the greatest wars of modern times tend to
keep this remarkable land actively before the
public eve The fact that the thought of
India was the main factor in the chain OF
causes which led up to the Egyptian lmhrog-
lilo is only one out of many which could be
cited to show how important an element this
is in the plans and calculations of Great
Britain. English rule in India is one OF tie
most romantic of historical episodes. and
embraces the acts of a drama in which the
most terrible and picturesque passions have
been the actors. From coun'ry
whose fabulous wealth tempted the
aggressions of long series of con-
querers from Genghis Khan down to
John Company, India has become one of the
most poverty stricken lands in the world.
Amrita Lal Roy, Hindoo who contrihut~s a
paper to the last number of the North Am RI
can Review, says of the hopeless misery of
the people wherever you go through the
vast dominions of the Empress of India. you
see a population starved, luckless. cnwed,
crestfalen, brooding thoughts of darkness and
despair. while stalks hither and thithrr the
Anglo Saxon riding over their breasts, spit
ting in their faces, spreading desoation and
Leaving nightmare where ne passes. The
peasant slowly stoops TO pick the food that
lays no hunger, wondering YEARLY If death
IL. glgrl
the awakened mind mournfully asked if in
deed it is for trumpery British prestige that
it must put up with condition IN whic1 lie
is one long suffering
The Hinioo writer draws up terrible in
dictment against British rule in his unEortu
nate country. He asserts that with all the
evils of native rule, it was, and is, far better
than that of the British alien. However
cruel the native tyrant, there are GER
tain fixed limits to his opposition. In
the native states the peasantry are rot in
debt, and the imposts are variable according
to the Weld Of the year. Revenue exactions
are comparatively light. and the absolute ne
cessities of life, such as water and salt are
not taxed On the other hand, under the
boosted English system, the miserable ryot,
who under the best Conditions could do little
more than gam frugal living on rice and
millet, is obliged to plunge into debt or else
starve to meet the claims of his conquerers,
who have organized law into a vast and mer-
CHESS machine which imposes the direst slav-
ery under the sham of nOminal liberty. The
counts in his accusations are many-tar too
many to be cited now If they are true, they
present a blasting commentary on the claims
of English writer's, who point to the admins
rative reforms which have been carried out
| IL. L.,,l i, l..
Company to that of the Queen-Empress
Even assuming that the race bitterness of one
of the conquered. whose sensitiveness has
been sharpened ten fold by the liberalizing
influences of western culture, overstates man
ifoldlv the truth, what is left makes woful
narrative of suffering and misery.
Mr.. Lal Roy discusses the possible Anglo
| Russian complications which threaten in the
near future the English possession of India
| As bitter as he is against the English rulers
| of India, he sees in Russian aggression dan
ger still more to be dreaded The incoming
of new horde of conquerers he believes tc
| be disaster far worse than any hitherto in
| hicted and the last drop in the cup OF bitter
ness. As between foreign rulers, England
would be far preferable to any other. The
| Hindoos, according to this prognosis of tht
situation, would give 4 hearty support to the
English ms being the least of two great evils
| This assurance of an able and highly cultiva
ted native, who is a keen observer and who
| does not conceal his deteststion of his cou n
try's rulers. has good deal of Importance
However much England is now absorbed il
the solution of the Irish question, the Rus
sian danger looms like a thunder cloud in thu
East. and is watched with anxious eyes. Or
the loyalty or the active disstfection of hel
Indian subjects in such contingency as tn,
grapple of the English lion with the Musco
vite bear vast deal would depend.-N Y
Times.
A train of cars is plainly heard on the lin,