The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-29

The black shadow OF the great Indian
mutiny, which still hangs over peoples
memories, is apt to exaggerate any dis
turbance in England's far-off empire
Into gigantic proportions. There have
been frequent rumors Of religious dis
content, and whispers, for a year past,
that it needed but little to stir the ma
tive populace into q holy war" An
attack that has been made upon the
British forces in Northern India is her
aided abroad as possible beginning Of
another general uprising against Eng
fish rule. Nothing is further from the
probability; and, even were the worst
that is feared to be realized, the resto-
ration of order by the British forces
would be a vastly different thing to-
day from what it was in the days Of
the mutiny. .-........... -
There is no doubt that native India
is penetrated with a ferment Of dis
content and with the fever of religious
fanaticism. The subject races of Hin
dostan are separated mentally from
their rulers by chasm so wide that
even the Western imagination can
scarcely bridge it. We get a glimpse
occasionally, in history and in the sto-
ries of Indian life-and, above all, in
the sketches and poems of Rudyard
Kipling-of this utter absence Of touch
between the West and the East be-
tween the Oriental yooda of +bo,oL.
and action and the Anglo-Saxon point
Of view. The effort is for either to
have the slightest comprehension Of
the other. The people of India have
accepted the inevitable, but the bodv
OF them are as far today from believ-
ing that English rule is a blessing or
that it is destined to last forever. as
the Turk is from acknowledging the
benefits Of Christianity and ciyilza
ton. They bide their time with the
wonderful patience and submissiveness
of their race, but they do not know
content. They are, moreover, within the
sway of forces which, almost too fool
9sh, to our minds, for notice, are to
them as wide and sure in their opera
ton as nature herself
The visitation Of famine and pesti-
1ence has made a tremendous impress
sion on the minds Of the people of In
Ola. From mouth to mouth has run the
whisper that the Affections are sent by
Coo as a punishment for liberation of
the foreigners rule. How are we bet
~ off. say the masses to one anotbar
than we were before these sahibs
came? There is no bread for US to eat
Eight million people are said to have
persisted by hunger. The bubonic
plague has carried off its victims nv
thousands. The celebration of HAa
queens jubilee, attended by great DEM
onstrations of splendor in every place
where Great Britain rules, has exas-
perated the Indian people by the con-
trast between their misery and the Iux-
uTy of their conqueror A severe earth
quake, with vast destruction Of prop
erty and some loss of life, has added
to the supernatural terrors that nos
sess their minds. The fakirs and re-
1iSious enthusiasts Of all degrees. who
desire to sustain and strengthen their
hold upon the devout, have TO-
Mentcd distrust and attributed all the
sufferings Of the empire to the domi-
nation of an alien race and a relig-
dous faith which is as much an abom-
dnation in Rindostan as 1t was in the
days when regiments mutinied against
their commanders because they were
told that they must bite off the ends
of cartridges supposed to have been
creased with the fat of the bullock.
There is all the material for q rIsa
against the English in India TODAY that
There ever was. Still, the people have
learned some thing. They know mora
Df the force of British arms than thew
once did, and they have not forgotten
the traditions that have been handed
down of the terrific ard memorable
revenge that Gre britain took for her
NaughHcY@3 soldiers and her murdered