The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-26

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inches with arched tops which act shelves,
3 on which stored books. clothes. crockcry, Or
food. There i usually very little furniture, I'M
less the merchant has become bitten with the
craze 20 initiate the Russians in which there
arc Chgl. ..tigs and chairs of conventional
type lU.1-tet from Russia, for such Things are
not made r Tashkent. The truly native house,
. however, ,,a,hins little but rugs and mattresses,
/ with rIutr. s small round table, carved
: or painted SO olcn cupboard. The womcn's quart
! eTs are veg ma,b the same in arrangement and
I furniture, tN'yit that they may have broad bed
tine charpoy OF lrdia-msde Of a wooden frame
/ with a network Of ropes, raised few feet from
tie floor. The usual bed is merely 4 rug thin
rsGt-ress stretched on the ground. In many OF
I the rooms small basin is let into a corner of
the hoor, with jug standing by, for the numer-
ous a5!utionS required by the Mussulman's re-
lIgion An honorcd visitor to such house as this
/ l. always treated to what is known dustar
/ AhJE titcrally tlbecloth) which means thai 4
pitCc Of striped calico or silk Is laid down, and
dishes of sweCtuI1ats fruits are brought in ard
placed On it. 4 favorite di-h consists OF carrots
chopped fine in honey, and little round cakes are
much liked. The bread. which is thin and
waior-like, is baked by being plastered on the
sides of 4 round oven.
Mr.. Colquhoun calls attention here to
the fatalism which forms so large part
Of Oriental life. and says that once the
Tsar proved his power. the Sart, and even
the nomad tribes, at once accepted the in
, evitable. Manites;ly, when peop,e are so
easily led to accept the inevitable. it te-
hooyes governments concerned TO see what
is thus meekly and irrevocably taken for
granted.
After this detailed discussion of Rus
sian possessions in Asia, the author p!o-
coed to consider the resources of Great
Britain in that continent He admits,
what is suspected more or less by every
one, that the support for which England
can hope among her native Indian subjects
is rather problematical. There are 300,
eC0,0G0 people in Her Majesty's Indian
Empire, and they are Of all the races, ma
toaalities, traditions, and conditions I'M
der the sun. The view which Mr.. Col
quhoun takes of this huge population is
that held BY the most progressive and en-
lightened men of the Indian civil service
and the British Army stationed in that
country; ana in one or TWO pages Of this
chapter he sums up his ideas so concise
ly and so well that the passage is gu tie
worth quoting in full:
In the administration of such mighty
pre, England has easy task TO perform. Her
system OF government may be-and probably IS,
all things considered better one than the ma
tiv,s coGld hope Cor under any other rule; but,
even SO, there is much that needs reform. And
without question of the fiIst reforms should
be to give 10 the British rule il india less OF
a inGchine-like aspect, and to introduce more
Of the personal element At present, the people
are unknown TO their rulers and the rulers 10
the people. 1t has been APPLY remarked that
before the Mutiny 1.-THE people had rulers;
they have ouly rules" the majority OF the
officials, mixing almost exclusively as they do
with their English colleagues and finding the
greater part OF their time fully occupied in
trdHsacting the vast amount Of detailed work
connected with their respective apartments, have
/ little opportunity for acquiring intimate
knowledge Of, z practical sympathy with, the
native population; and should any Of them,
indeed. attempt 10 introduce reform, he re-
ceiyes but small encouragement from the lndisn
or the Home authorities. ReionmoTz are even
] less popular in India than elsewhere.
The Central Government and high officials
/ live i'll fact, in world Of their own, and viii
! not hear OF any such thing as Giscontcnt-still
! less that it be due 70 the best possible
! system in the best OF worlds None the less
/ is the evil work, and 10 a dangerous extent
/ TIE tendency in India is increasingly toward
! bureaucracy Of a hard-aHI fast type. The ave
! nue. TO career or rapid promotion in lnIiI is
through the portals OF the Secrctariat, the Off
: cial Holy OF Holies;'' and the governments are
| composed OF men who. endowed with industry,
! ready pen, and the art OF repcrt-wri ing,
| have yet never been outside the walls Of the
/ Seer tarists in Calcutta and Sm.a. such men
| know little OF the native OF lHdia-his
| aspirations. his hopes, his fears-than might an
average permanent official in Downing Street
The ''paperrule" system Of INDIAN impersonal
/ one-has grown 10 such an extent that 1t Is q
grave danger. From the poor peasant in his
held 20 the Secretary Of State FOR India-through
all the successive stages Of district officer, pro
yiucial administration, and the Government OF
trop de zeIe are the watchwords OF this high
est form yet known il the evolution Of Cir
In the place Of laws Issued by tar-distant
Government and administered by unknown and
unsympathetic officials the people want more
personal rule: they want judgments they can
follow and understand. Justice, at the price
which they now have to pay Tor it, Is beyond
their means and it comes about that the
poor. who constitute the vast majority Of the
population. are oppressed, while the wealthy
claszes flourish. There can be little doubt that
to continue 10 force the people code of
laws suitable only to Western civilization
to attempt the introduction Of democratic gov
eminent would be az the present time, whatever
it may be in the future, a vast mistake.
This last sentence is perhaps the most
significant of all. Mr.. Colquhoun goes
On to explain at some length his reasons
for thinking that democratic government
is not suited to the people of India. He
seems 10 be of much the same opinion
as that writer OF romances who said if
teen years ago that it was impossible to
reform Asia. because there was too much
Asia. and she was too old; and that, fur
thermore. she would never attend Sunday
school. or learn to vote save with swords
for tickets.
The main reason for this conviction is
that India is inhabited by two races of
widely different characteristics. The Mo-
hammedan is warlike, masterful, and
courageous; the Hindu supple. unwarlike,
and fond of argument Democratic insti-
tutions give power 10 the latter. who
swiftly learn TO read, write, and argue,
and they ALLEVIATE the Sikh and Rajput,
who are the hereditary enemies Of the
Bengal, do not take to reading and writ
ing, and are highly useful in time of war.
The question which comes up for discus
zion here is. Which is the best policy for
oretical democracy which will end In Rus
sian rule, through the alienation OF the
Mohammedan element and its absorption
By Russia. or plan which will make al
lies OF the MohammeJans, and enable
England to hold the peninsula with the
help OF her native troops? That is the
whole thing in a nutshell, ard the aver
age English officer has little patience with
Downing Street bureaucracy. which may
end IN his having a second mutiny on his
hands.
However, Mr. Colquhoun's idea Of re-
form does not involve any Injustice. only
Justice administered in a way which will
be Ineligible to the Oriental. AS every
body knows who has read the Arabian
Nights, Oriental courts are extremely
simple and the personal element is a
large factor in them. The people under
stand the value OF just judge, and all
Oriental literature is full of proverbs in
his praise. 70 take from them this simple,
personal sys EN- OF administering law and
introduce d complex and. TO ;h.I mys-
FERROUS mass OF lego! enactments In its
,,.-.1. l. n@t G'h2 Hindu wt' has a
natural love for subtleties, revels In law
suits when he is rich enough to asord
them; but the Mohammedan. originally a
warlike nomad, does not understand or like
these things. Add TO this the fact that
the country is overcrowded and over
taxed, and that, owing 10 political in
q L. La - In