New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-01-13
THE INDIAN TROUBLES.

Ethplred the Unready mas many S"c'c''o'"
I'm Britain: or might be rcckoncd 10 nave "
his nickname meant what 1t seems. FOR I'M
readiness Is the great fault OF British adhiihis-
tration. in peace and in war. 1t was noticed
in the Crimean War, when the commissariat
broke down, and the troops actually starVeu
for lack Of food and frOZe for lack or cloth
ing The same wrctched business was repeat
ed on a smaller scale, in the first Ashah''e
campaign and again in the futile march 10 the
relief of Gordon ut Khartoum. Ana now we
see II once more in India, where FAMINE ~ de-
stroying people by scores of thousands. lhcre
was ample warning. But the officials heeded
II not-thc little tin gods on wheels whose
denquencics and red-ape methods Mr. MP
ling has so scathngly set forth. Ihey content
ed themselves with watching and whlstling Tor
rain which would assure harvest some
months hence but could do not the slightest
good in the awful emergency OF present need
The result is now revealed. Deaths may soon
he numbered by millions, which readiness anu
energy might have prevented Wheh ono"
aroused the British Government is the supreme
incarnation Of tremendous and triumphant en-
ergy but it often takes a weary while to rouse
II. I'm which time disaster and ruin have their
sway.
The trouble at Bombay Is due to other causes
The local officials there seem to have exercised
all possible prOmptness and energy in dealing
with the plague but all in van There can be
no question OF the seriousness Of the situation.
though il cannot of course be nearly as bad as
some i-advsed reports have represented 1t 10
be- The other day. for example. it was said
that the weekly death-rate was POO to the 1000,
which was evidently prcposterous. For the
plague has been raging for about three and n
half months and in that time. at that rate, it
would practically have eXterminated the popu-
lation of the city, reducing it from about mill
ion TO some twenty thousand. No one imag-
ines. of course, that there have been nearly
million deaths: probably not tenth OF that
number. nor a twentieth of it. Still. the NOR
tality is dreadful and the danger of extension
of the Epidemic to other crowded centres OF
population is very great. There need be no fear
of its reaching this country. nor even the en-
lightened communities Of Western Europe; but
in Egypt and Turkey and Southern Russia
where II is already reported to have got foot
hold-the outlook is grave 1t Is the "black
death" which devastated Europe centuries ago,
and there are many towns and cities whose con
ditions to-day are as inviting to it and as IA
The authorities at Bombay are making gal
liant fight as well they may, for the issues at
stake are the lives of millions.
These two visitations Of woe upon India
famine and pestilence- to mind clearly
the vast beneGcence Of British control of that
country, not only to India itself, but to the world
at large For. while the British Government
NAV have been sadly slack IN dealing with the
famine. there is no question that under purely
native administration affairs would be incom-
paraby worse than they are The story or
Orssa would be repeated dozen times What
the State Of Bombay would be without British
authority and science one shudders TO think
There might then easily he death-ratc of one
fifth Of the whole population each week. and
spreading unchecked in all directions the pcsti-
lence might almost depopulate that entire quar-
ter of the globe. British rule over India was
harshy established and has at times been
harshly maintained. but in single such emer-
cency as this 1t more than repays all it has
cost the country.