The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-09
THE OUTBREAK IN INDIA
GREAT BRITAIN FACING 4 CRISIS IN
HER ORIENTAL EMPIRE.
Vast Majority of the Natives Anxious
to Throw on the Yol<e-Cause~ of
Popular Unrest and Hatred.
London Letter in ST. Louis Globe-Demo-

material that confronts me as | sit down
to examine those features of human veal
and which, at the moment. seem
to command attention. 1t is difficult TO
| believe that these accommodating records of
the rapid growth of sedition with threat
ened revolt in India are actual chronicles
| of the jubilee year of the Victorian reign,
| instead of revivals of dead memories.
| 1t is a genuine and terribly serious crisis
which the British government has at last
decided to face boldly in its Indian empire.
| The warnings have been manifold, and.
heaven knows, unmistakable. 1t will soon
be made clear whether or not the sharp
resistance to the incipent mutinies has
! come to an end. Sedition and revolt have
! been openly preached in the native press
| for weeks. Political murders of English
officials have been committed and the
| murderers have been successfully shield
| ed from discovery by the native popula-
! ton. The English officers have condoned
the revolutionists' agitation, and have
| failed to punish the crimes of violence.
This week the policy of liberation and in
action was changed to one of repression,
ard the result will be watched with in
terest and anxiety not only by England,
but by the world at large as well.
1t is impossible to deal decisively with
the question of provocation which the
natives of India alege they have received,
and which has aroused the rebellious spirit
now rampant throughout the empire. Very
ugly stories are told, with wealth of de-
tail, of alleged outrages perpetrated upon
the people by British soldiers and other
officials in the name of health regulations
| and plague suppression. Many of these
| stories no doubt are false. There may be
| just enough truth in them to account for
| the outbreaks of native fury in certain in
stances. But Indian discomfort is by no
means so recent a growth as the outbreak
of the last plague. The murmurings nave
been growing louder and louder for Two
! London Standard at Poona, the scene or
! the recent murders of health othcers, puts
| the general situation in its true colors
| when he says:
NATIVES DISLOYAL
''In the first place, there is a general i'm
preston in England that the natives are
perfectly satisfied with our rule. and thor
| oughly loyal to the Queen. There can be
no greater mistake made. The great mass
| of the people, where they are not against
us, are profoundly Indifferent. The whole
aim and object of the lower classes is to get
| the wherewithal to feed themselves and
families, and they think of nothing else
| They have no ambition and know nothing
of politics. To them the Queen Empress is
| at best only an empty aim. Our rule as
far as they are concerned, Is much the same
| as that of the Mogul of the Mahratta They
| recognize that whoever may be in power.
the struggle for life remains much the
| same.
Our boosted justice does not prevent
| their being ground down and prosecuted by
native SubOrdinateS, and it has certainly
| made their position much worse so far as
| our courts are concerned. In none or the
! great political commissions which India has
| passed through has the peasant taken any
| part In 1857 he was merely looker-on for
| the most, and. in the few cases where he
was not so, he was more often against Us
| than with us. In q word, the great mass
| Of the agricultural population may De
| looked upon a negligible quantity for all
1T is quite otherwise with the lower
| classes of the town. In our urban popuIa-
ton. there is a rabble running into thou
sands v'ho only require opportunity and
| leader to take a willing hand in slaughter
! ing all Europeans within reach. In the up
per classes some no doubt really loyal
to us others, and probably the majority.
| pretend to be so, but are really nothing OF
the sort. There is plenty of lip service al
| ways forthcoming. loyal addresses and the
like, but it is very doubtful whether we
could count on the help of more than a
| quarter OF the upper classes should we ever
Bengal is almost VIGOROUSLY dsaffected,
and so also is Bombay. The bulk OF our
north of India-the Punjab. Rajputana and
| northwestern provinces. North of q line
from Kikanir to Lucknow our friends
/
! they would almost certainly be in mi
nority But apart from these considerations
the point which should be grasped by the
| beloved by any considerable portion of the
| people, and that we are actively helped by
a great many.
WHY BRITISH ARE DISLIKED.
''It may be asked what are the reasons
| for this dislike of ourselves and for its re-
cent intensification? For that we are daily
| md lose red is a
matter admitting of very little doubt. Pri-
marly, it is because are, Mr.. Da-
dabhai Naoroj delights to remind us, an
alien race, whose customs, habits and re-
| ligion are repulsiVe to the people whom we
rule. The cant about justice of our rule
| passes for nothing out here however ef-
fectively it may be brought into an after
! dinner speech. The Oriental does not I'M
derstand nor does he require, imperial JUS
tice The methods which have been in use
with him for centuries methods which OBJ
tain to-day in many native court and all
| over the East. are TO him tar preferable
| to British justice. He knews to his cost,
! that when once he has been caught within
! the tolls of our cumbrous legal machinery
there is no escape for him until he has paid
a far larger sum than he would have dis
| bursed had he settled the matter in the
| time-honored fashion of the East A horde
of blood-suckers, in the shape of unscrupu-
lous vakis and the facility of appeal, will
| probably go far toward running him in the
]
Not only have we made ourselves un-
! popular on account of our own customs and
| Institutions, but have Immediately ag-
| gravated the feeling by our interference
with the habits of the people. We have
| brought confusion into the marriage sys-
| tenn by preventing child marriages, we have
! outraged Hndoo feeling by allowing the
| slaughter of cattle and we have meddled
| with the customs of the people In number
| of other ways. The predatory classes de-
| test us because their occupation is gone.
| Many of the sem-independent chiefs are
bv no means friendly to us on account of
/ our constantly mixing ourselves up with
their affairs. The educated classes, almost
| to a man, are against us actively.
ITO begin with, let us remember that,
despite the vaporngs of a noisy and inter
| csted few, India, as at present constituted,
! is utterly united for constitutional gov
| eminent. Centuries hence matters may be
! different; but we are considering the pres
ent and immediate future only A beneVo-
eminent which is suitable In our day. This
we have, but its authority Is being con-
stantly Slapped by interference from home
OFFICIALS HAMPERED.
1.-THE telegraph and the submarine cable
are the curse of modern India so far as the
administration of the country is concerned
The government of the country is rapidly
centralized. District and local authorities
are no longer trusted to do anything
Everything must be first referred TO SlmlS
or Whitehall before any action is taken
Thus our officers are naturally afraid e
take responsibility upon themselves ana ar'
allowed no power. They sutter IN the est1
nation of the natives accordingly. IL wa