The morning call., 1891-04-08
A GATHERING STORM.

The uprising of the natives in the Mani
pur country in British India appears to have
been followed by a similar demonstration in
the Kohat district in the Punjab, in which
number OF British officers and soldiers lost
their lives. Tie scene of the latter Move
ment was the fertile valley of Miranzai
which is in the foothills of the Himalayas and
is one Of the most productive districts of
Northern India. 1t lies a few miles south
of Peshawur, go miles by rail from Delhi
and some 500 miles as the crow flies west of
Simla, where the Government of India goes
into summer quarters when the hot weather
begins The River Indus constitutes its
eastern boundary. 1t was embraced in the
Punjab when that district was annexed to
British India after the defeat OF tho Sikh
army forty-two years ago.
These details are of interest in conse-
Quence of the vast distance which separates
Miranzai from Manipur. The two places are
nearly OH the extreme limits of British India,
the one in the west and the other in the
east. 1t is hardly possible that there can
have been any communication or concert OF
action between the insurgents at the two
points. But it is quite possible. nay proba-
bic. that the movements may have been in
spired by purpose which was common to
both, and which may be entertained by the
natives of India generally. That purpose,
ii not unnatural desire to shake off the for
egn yoke, is but natural fruit of an i'm
possible situation.
The English papers cOmplacently observe
that the rising of the people of Manipur will
be the means of anneXing to British India
the country north of Burmah. which now
intervenes between the British dominions
and the Chinese province of Yunnan. That
indeed is likely to be the case. From the
foundation of the Fort of ST. George to the
present day the British have been invinci-
BILE in India. They have met with re-
verses, but they never undertook war in
which they were not successful and which
did not extend their dominion. Valiant,
intelligent robust and patient of discipline
as some of the Indian tribes have proved
themselves they have never been able TO
cope with the foreign invader. Whenever
they have tried conclusions i'll the field they
have been wOrSted. Numbers have availed
them nothing. Small British armies of
40, 600 or 90 COO men have marched through
districts which could turn out half a million
Of drilled soldiers and have brushed them
aside with ease. Every time the natives
have risen to assert their independence they
have been crushed to powder and their con-
ditions Of life have been made harder than
before. 1t has come to be an axiom in In
dia that with such magnificent fighting ma
terial as the Sikhs and the Gnorkhas an en-
terprising officer could defeat any enemy
unless he marched under the English flag.
Against that flag native courage, skill and
numbers are pOwerleSs.
And yet, so mouStrOus an anomaly as
the government of $40, 600 900 people by a
handful of foreigners not numbering 100000
cannot possibly endure forever. Apologists
for British rule aver that it has given to the
Hindostanese so much better government
than they ever enjoyed under their native
rulers that the people would resist a
change. The premise is correct; but the
conclusion is at variance with human eXpe-
renee. 1t is true that the English have ex-
tended education. fostered agriculture, pro-
noted industry, maintained order, ayerted
famines, established regular lines of COM
municaton between province and province,
and raised the people of the peninsula to a
degree OF prosperity and intellectual ad-
vancement which they never reached be-
fore. But these benefits never yet recon-
ciIed people to the domination of foreign
race, alien in color, creed, habits and Gus
lUuS' OCNdoipudl III blCIVo III tibiol uld5d-
zines from the pens of Indian writers show
that the one idea ever present in the minds
of the more intelligent natives is how TO
exuel the invader and conquer indepen-
dence.
1t has been the misfortune of the English
that every step which they have taken to
popuarize and strengthen their sway has
been calculated to ensure their overthrow.
The splendid educational system which they
have established is teaching the natives how
| to win the freedom which they learn they
are entitled to enjoy. The vast network of
railroads will enable an insurgent leader to
| throw his forces from one strategic point to
another The vigOr with which agriculture
has been fostered will enable him to feed
| his troops wherever they7go. And the high
| discipline and thorough organization of the
native army will some day be turned against
| its founders with fatal effect. That, in all
probability, is a distant contingency, but it
| is inevitable sooner or later.