The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-04-30

a. ". Stevens, the correspondent who
made hsmsels famous Ia the 0fecc-Tur-
kish war. writes 10 the London Mall ~
follows;
There are three calcu.sas--she winter
capital OF India. the metropolis OF the
largest white population in the country.
and perhaps the tightest packed human
sAriineA tin IN the world.
As you see 1t first II 10 the only British
town In India. Both A. sat OF government
and center Of European populaticn. II has
taken on an English aspect. which you do
not find elsewhere. Not only are the build
ings English, but they are English build
tngs Of good standing. The prevalent
style - eighteenth century classical, and
the color is that bun white Of Regent
its Doric or Ionic pillars. its haiustraded.
roof. In the fiithiest native quarters you
will come on such houses Erfmy, peeling.
sumhling to pieces--,he homes Of forgotten
Sahits. now foriorn islands In q turbtd sea
Of bamboo shanties Calcutta, you can
see, has not merely history: every town
IN India has that but British history.
Its history. indeed, and it, greatness are
all Bsittsh: wherein II 10 unique among
Indian cities. 1t 10 not the cradle OF British
India. the cradle was Surat. which was
opened TO British trade in l6l2. and in the
imperial library at Calcutta you reverence
a. the oldest archives Ct British India the
letters OF the Surat factors and the list OF
them wherein an unfortunate. otherwise
obscure. Va Heart II branded 10 eternity
as drinking sotf.''
II was In 1857 that the company came to
Calcutta. and named Fort William after the
Dutch king. who came two years later. In
those days, and long after, distinction BE-
tween the imperial and commercial was
not. dispatches then were letters from ''the
gentlemen at Port 81. Davtds." and the
member OF council then aapired TO the once
OF export warehouse keeper. Only when
Warren Hastings became nfat govsrnoF-
general Of Bengal. In TIA. with = vague su-
perintendence over Madras and Bombay.
did Calcutta begin to be imperial
The year before Fort william had been
finished. and still remains--A lud,croua
anachronism now. for what need could
there be Of = fort in Beugal?-but an i'm
An ocsagon Of fosse and srass-grown ram
part, bastion and curtain and sally port.
with the governors buff-white Georgian
house standing up out OF It: 1t stands there
to remind you Of what nowadays you might
easily forget: there lived strong men be.
fore the Northwest frontier.
North and east Of the fort spreads the
Hindustani for nat open space. To the
profane mind the broad expenses Of burnt
grass-about a mile and half square
suggest Chaplain Common in August; : but
the Madam Is much more. AT one corner
Is a racecourse.s elsewhere tennis courts.
golf links. bicycle tracks, cricket pitches.
riding roads II IL an exercise ground for
horses and dogs, playground for children,
and fashionable promenade for all CAL
cutta.
In the evening. when the sky II red over
the factory smoke beyond the Hugh and
the spArs and tackle OF the ships and
harks are silhouetted on it like dia-
grams. the unending file of carriages rolls
up and down the balustraded Red road.
or fingers over the river to watch the esol
sunset.
Then the band plays In the Eden Gar
dens. and Calcutta promenades at ease tin
II Is time 10 dress for dinner. The Madam
Is very Engiish--Clapham Common. HYDE
Park and Sandown Park all In one-a ne
cessity OF English iife And the statues
with which IL IL starred everywhere--Har-
dinge. Lawrence. Mayo. outram. DufYerin.
Roberts--are also part OF the life, the i'm
periai life Of British India.
Yet the life, the thirty -fve-yeArs resi-
dent VIII tell you. In not what Il was. In
the old pictures you see ChowrinGhee. the
great street along the Madam. q range Of
piiiared bungalows: now much Of II 10 red
brick, stores hotels, boarding houses In
the pictures the sahih drives In q chariot
often with four horses: now he uses a VIC
toria or dog cart. Comfort, groan the ED
er men. is dying out Of Calcutta In the
sixties, when II took four months 70 come
out, men found II worth white to settle
down IN India and make Il their home.
Now II is very rare to ind man who
has been ten years on end In the country.
fn nUA
ers OF Behar and Assam you VIII still ANA
those who have not seen homo for dfteen
ana twenty years. But now. A. q rule :
man goes homo after ave years ana mar.
ries: after ten years his children 70 home.
MS wife goes TO see thenn every other year
or so. Lie Is disiocafed. Nobody IL aulte
sure whether ne lives In India or Euror.
and Is a; home In neither.
Among the merchants--ths legitimate
III not the iineai. heirs OF the a9enfleu,e,
at Fort William" ard sun the Ia cLn..,,.
y taicussa-there will be. say, three part.
ners OF whom one IL always spending .
year AT nome. Or else the senior mcfnher
ives =. nome and sends Junior axassan,s
20 ih1sa. 10 the detrsment Of Rrt;inh srade
And yet. though croakers crosk. .rac. {.
saicassa 's sstli q great and .mp0sln@ hs.ss-
ness. III in cotton its ten mile capro.
compare with Bombzys III, n Ia.
monopoly OF juie spinning, and over .
ssors 81 TAI ehfmneys smirch the laeda
Indian cir s1
For every kind of retail trade (. 4. .ns
nnest center tn India IL has the larxess
"hiss population among the cities. and i,
70 the emporium for the iarvess vns,.
country popuiasion-tha indigo and tea
planters OF Behar and Darling ard Asas =
ana OF late years Calcutsas trade haa re
cessed powerful impulse from tne de-
setop'nenf OF the Bengal coaiaeia. The
Zines are mostly within 80 miles wext
aid northwest az Calcutta: the prox.uct,oy,
hAs sesped IN twenty years from as,afn
IONS 20 s.fi2so. the expectations. In ten
years. from y: tona to f3<oDr.
As steam eoas II mag not be 90 good a.
me SasdiH product. nothing IL II snasee
nsSsn more ash: bat Their, east OF sizes /,
~ very mitch cheaper. When yos, ear h,v
II N eoigfssno at rs a ton. and nave -,
ray Is for Cardiff coal. the expense ~
an extra hand or two In q stok.-noid i =
sEnal matter
~ you want 90 be convinced thu. .-.t-
cGftA iz srst ut all city OF business vas,
need only look al its river and docks n,
any 6ay. az any hoar. ina Husa carries =