The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-08-31
THE vAsrNess OF INDIA.

Ancient Nations. Great Cities, Fighting
Peoples-Occupations and Industries.
For eighty years at least writers have en-
deavored to bring home to Englishmer the
vastness Of India, but, SO far as can be per-
ceived, have failed. The Briton reads what
they say, learns up their figures, tries to
understand their descriptions, bus fails, for
all his labor, to realize what India is-a con-
tinent large as Europe west of the Vistula,
and with 0,0O0, 600 more people, fuller of an
cient nations, of great cities, of varieties Of
civilization. of armies nobilities, priesthoods,
organizations for every conceivable purpose
from the spreading Of great religions down
to systematic murder. There are twice as
many Bengalese as there are Frenchmen; the
Hindostanees, properly SO called, outnumber
the whites in the United States; the Nah
rattas would fill Spain, the people of the
Punjab with Scinde are double the popula-
tion of Turkey, and have named but four
Of the more salient divisions
Everything is on the same bewildering
scale. The fighting peoples of India, whose
males are as big as ourselves, as brave as
ourselves, and more regardless Of death than
ourselves, number at least 100. .OO0, 600, equal
to Gibbons calculation Of the population Of
the Roman empire There are 100000
trained brown soldiers in native service, of
whom we hear perhaps once in ten years, and
ut least 2, COO, 900 men who think their proper
profession is arms, who would live by arms
il they could, and Of whom we in England
never hear word. II the Prussian con-
scription wero applied in India, we should,
without counting reserves or landwehr or
any force not summoned in time Of peace
have 2,500, 600 soldiers actually in barracks,
with 500, 900 recruits coming up every year
"a force with which not only Asia, but the
world, might be subdued. There are tens of
millions Of prosperous peasants whose hoard
ings make Of India the grand absorbent of
the precious metals, tens of millions of peas
ants beside whose poverty fellahs or Sicilians
or Connaught men are rich; millions of arti-
sans, ranging from the men who build pal
aces to the men who, nearly naked and al
most without tools, do the humblest work of
the potter.
Every occupation which exists in Europe
exists also in India. The industry of the
vast continent never ceases, for India, with
oil her teeming multitudes, with a popula-
tion in places packed beyond European
precedent, imports nothing either to eat
or drink, and, but for the Europeans, would
import nothing whatever. She is sufficient
to herself for everything save silver. Amid
these varied masses, these 5o,0o0, 600, whose
mere descriptions would fill volumes, the
tide of life flows as vigorously as in Europe.
There is as much labor, as much contention,
as much ambition, as much crime, as much
variety Of careers, hopes, fears and hatreds.
It is still possible to a moneyless Indian to
become vizier of a dynasty older than his
tory, or finance minister Of new prince
whose personal fortune in hard cash is
double that of the late Emperor William, or
abbot Of monastery richer than Glaston-
bury ever was, owner Of an estate that COW
ers a county, head Of firm whose transac-
tions may vie with those Of the Barings or
Bleichroders. One man, Jute Pershad by
name, fed and transported the army which
conquered the Punjab.-Meredith Townsend
in Fortnightly Review.