The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-07-27
ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS.
BRITISH RULE IN INDIA

BRITISH RULE IN INDIA
England has not been 80 anxious
about the security of her Indian en-
pire since t.e Gays of the Sepoy mu-
tiny as she is at present. At that time
she had to face revolted army, but
now she has TO hol5 in check the
hopes and aspirations of a whole
whole people who are demanding a
larger measure of liberty. In the days
OF the great mutiny the native popu-
lation was supine and comparatively
indifferent TO what was going on
around them, but now the natives
have acquired the idea of nationality
and are willing to make sacrifices to
obtain II. In the half century that has
elapsed since the Sepoys mutinied
there has been a wide diffusion OF edu-
cation throughout India and II has in
creased the discount of the natives.
Very few of the educated class are
thoroughly loyal to Great Britain, al
though 1t is England herself that has
furnished the means Of education.
India is, above ali others under the
sun, the land OF contrasts, the most
most string that have ever exist
ed. There is in that strange country
more pomp and pageantry and splen-
dor than anywhere else in the world
and at the same time more poverty
and misery. Enormous amounts OF
treasure. gold, silver and precious
stones, are both exhibited and con-
cealed in India. Money is boarded
and buried there to such an extent
that some financiers think a large part
OF the worlds supply of coin is hid
den by the Hindus. The country pro-
duces so much OF what the world de-
sires, and which can be found no.
where else, that the riches of all ma
tions show a tendency to take them
selves wings and fly to the banks of
fhe Indus and the Ganges, never to
yeturn. And yet millions OF the
people are miserably poor, SO des-
titute that the American mind can
hardly form an adequate idea OF their
condition. Millions of them have died
OF famine in the last half century,
Notwithstanding that England has
spent large sums for irrigation and
vast amounts in the construction of
railroads. But at the same time the
Hindus complain that the English
system of government takes away
more than it gives and does nothing
TO cure the chronic poverty OF the
masses.
Human suffering is so common in
Inu.a .nat 1t excites very little atten-
tion there and pity becomes exhausted
by the constant demands on it. More
there than anywhere else II Is every
man for himself. II is doubtful IL a
majority OF the people of India have
had all they could eat in any one day
for the last two thousand years. The
pressure OF population on subsistence
has always been made worse by mis-
government and the mild Hindu"
has had very little reason for being
thankful for the boon of existence.
He comes into world so crowded
that he has to live the life of an un-
welcome Intruder. Indeed, 1t has been
argued that India was. on the whole,
better on before the English came,
because the constant wars between
the native princes held the popula-
tion within limits that did not SO |
much exceed the food supply. Eng
land has kept the peace between the
natives and they have multiplied and
starved.
The English maintain, OF course,
that the natives of India are wholly
unfit to manage their own affairs !
without British supervision and wiK
make things worse than they are now
{ they should ever attain to complete