The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-03-06


Just Englisrman. called them birds
of passage and OF prey Tho people
thus plundered and deprived Of tho
rights which in Justice belong to all
civilized men. arc not barbarians, OBJ,
scNre people without a. past. They
arc ono of tho great nations of history,
Many of them are Aryans, of the san,o
race with creeks and Romans, sr-
mans and lGnglishmcn. Their civilian.
t ion is ono of the most ancient in ttlA
world. 80
These arc the people who year aft,r
year arc forced to contribute OF their
poverty to EnEland's wealth. Avenues
through which this tribute is drained
arc enumerated as. % Rich pensions
received by retired English officials;
(2) Salaries of English oftcals in
India, tho highest paid in tho world:
t3) Business profits sent to England
by, Englishmen, in lndiar- Englishmen
who are charged With l1uvihg delsiysf..
ately destroyed India enterprises fos'
| the purpose or supplantng them; lD
Large remittanccs to England by tho
government for military , stores,
equipment and arms used In. India,
partly for purposes Of defense
against possible foes, but much moro
tn hold tho Indian people themselves
surely In subjection;'' 60 interest on
English investments made in Ipala,
most of them not desired by India or
fer her benef1t'-merely forms Of ex-
ploitation."
Tho annual tribute thus paid ~
India to England is rated at frcln
s125,ooo,o0O to $15o.0OO,OO0.
Tho letter asserts. that, according
to her ability to pay, India is taxed by
her foreign rulers more than twice AZ
heavy as England and moro heavily
that any country in the world. Tho
tax OH salt alone has reached 1000 per
cent OF its cost price. England is
burdcning n starving people with the
payment OF wars carried OH outside
OF India. "some or them arc as far
away as Africa . ,@@
The letter also asserts that the
| terrible fanlines in India are not caus-
cd by any lack of food. but by all abs
| ject poverty brought about by Brit:slE
rule England is charged with spend :.
Ing on her army and strategic rail-,
ways tho peoples own money, needed
| and. demanded by them for education.
! Tho government actually spends en-
| education not more than 3 cents per
year per head. Only one male in
kninc and one female in every 144 can
read or write, and this after $50 years
OF British supremacy. =.
AS to railroads and irrigation works
in India, Indian taxes, 1t is said, paid
for, these; that, taking India as I
whole. thcro has been a shameful
neglect OF irrigation" and that tho
railroad policy OF India is controlled
wholly by tho prospect of strategic
| value and financial return to England.
Reform in India" the letter colI.s
cludes, "is Englands great and press
ing duty and can not be much longer,
cvaded or deferred"
Edmund Burke, the great Irlsl1l
statesman and orator.. denounced the;
government Of India by the British in,
| his speech on the Impeachment o.
Warren Hastings. the English governs
nor general OF India, in the 18th cen-s
tury. Burke had raised his eloqu snt.
voice In behalf Of the American Colon
les and characterized the penal laws Of
his native land as the most odious8
laws that ever emanated from 'thss
perverted ingenuity Of man." This Isl
how he describes the atrocities Of .thsi
British officials of. India: .- s5
my lords, they began by winding:
cords round the fingers Of the unhap ppys
freeholders Of those provinces, until
they clung to and were almost inco's-ss rsss
porated with one another, and then