The Irish standard., 1899-02-04

suicidal frontier war and its savagery,
of the wholesale destruction of villages,
unworthy of any people, but far more
so of English civilization; the unwise
and suicidal prosecutions for sedition,
the absurd and ignorant cry of the dis
loyalty of the educated Indians, and for
the curtailment of the liberty of the
Indian press; the despotism-like that
of the Imprisonment of the Natus-and
the general insufflciency and inef1ciency
OF the administration-of all these and
many other minor evils, the main cause
is the unrighteous and un-British sys-
tenn of government which produces an
unceasing and ever-increasing bleeding
Of the country, and which is maintained
by political hypocrisy and continuous
subterfuges. unworthy Of the British
honor and name, and entirely in oppo-
sition to the wishes of the British peo-
pie, and utterly in violation of acts and
resolutions of parliament, and Of the
most solemn and repeated pledges of
the British nation and sovereign.
THAT unless the present unrighteous
and un-British system of government is
thoroughly reformed into righteous
and truly British system, destruction
to India and disaster to the British en-
pire must be the inevitable result"
Does any one doubt that, if we annex
the Philippines and govern them by
agents sent from here, questions be-
tween them and the people of the
United States will be settled by the
people of the United States and for the
benefit of the people of the United
States? If we make subjects of them
against their will and for our own bene-
fit, are We likely to govern them with
any more benevolence?
Mr.. Hyndman, an English writer, in
pamphlet issued in 1897, calls attention
to English Indifference to India's wrongs
and, as an illustration of this indiffer-
ence, cites the fact that during the pre-
ceding year the India budget, affecting
the welfare of nearly 30O,000,0O0 OF peo-
pie, was brought before parliament on
the last day of the session, when only a
few members were present. He asserts
that matters are far worse now than
they were in the days of the old East
India company" and that nothing short
of great famine, terrible pestilence or
revolt on a large scale, will induce the
mass of Englishmen to devote any at
| tention whatever to the affairs of India"
To show how, in the government of
India, the interests of English office
I holders outweigh the interests of the
natives, I give an extract from the
pamphlet already referred to.
First, under. the East India COM
pany, and then, and far more complete
ly, under the direct rule of the crown
and the English people, the natives have
been shut out from all the principal po-
sitions of trust over ive-sixths of Hindo-
stan, and have been prevented from
gaining any experience in the higher ad-
ministration Or In military affairs.
| Wherever it was possible to put in an
Englishman and oust a native, an Eng
lishman has been put in, and has been
paid from four times to twenty times
as much for his services as would have
sufficed for the salary of an equally
capable Hindoo or Mohammedan Of
fetal. * At the present time,
out of $4,000 officials who draw salary
of more than 1000 rupees year, $4,000
| are Englishmen, and only 1900 natives
| Moreover, the 1000 natives receive as
salaries only e3,O00,OO0 year; the 2s,-
600 Englishmen receive G15,0O0,OOO a
year. Out of the $50 important civil Of
fees which really control the civil ad-
ministration Of India, 900 are filled by
Englishmen, and only 60 by natives.
Still worse, if possible, the natives of
India have no control whatsoever, in
any shape or way, over their own taxa
ton, or any voice at all in the expendi-
tnre of their own revenue. Their en-
tire government-I speak, of course, Of
the 250,000,00O under our direct control
is carried on and administered by for
eigners, who not only do not settle in
the country, but who live lives quite re-
mote from those of the people, and re-
turn home at about As or so years of age
with large pensions.
| "As l have often said in public, India
is, in fact, now governed by successive
relays of pet-baggers who have as
little sympathy with the natives as they
have any real knowledge of their habits
and customs"
The Statesman's Year Book of 1897,
published by Macmillan & Co., London,
contains some interesting statistics in
regard to India.
1t seems that there are but 2,O25, 900 of
Christians in India, less than l per
cent-after so many years of English
control.
1t appears, also, that in 1891, only a
little more than 100000 out of O0,O0O,- :
900 were under instruction.; little
more than 100000 were not under in
struction, but were able to read and
write, while 246, 100000 We're neither un-
der instruction nor able to read or
write. twenty-five millions appear un-
dor the head "nOt ret,lrned' -