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Meisenbach
THE HONOURABLE DADABHAI NAOROJI.
S
apply to my
ESSAYS,
SPEECHES, ADDRESSES AND WRITINGS,
(ON INDIAN POLITICS,)
OF THE
HON'BLE DADABHAI NAOROJI,
.
haw
PRESIDENT OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS OF 1886 (CALCUTTA);
ADDITIONAL MEMBER OF THE BOMBAY LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL;
EX-DIWAN OF THE BARODA STATE,
&c. &c. &c.
(WITH LIFE AND PORTRAIT,)
EDITED BY
CHUNILAL LALLUBHAI PAREKH,
VICE-PRESIDENT, ARYA DNYAN VARDHAK SABHA.
I venerate the man whose heart is warm,
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life,
Co-incident, exhibit lucid proof
That he is honest in the sacred cause.
To such I render more than mere respect,
Whose actions say that they respect themselves.
FRANK BARNES,
Cowper,
21, LINDEN CARDENS,
Bombayowek, W.
PRINTED AT THE
CAXTON PRINTING WORKS.
.
I
1887.
[All rights reserved.]
DS
4791
NIO
“We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territory by the same
obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects; and those obligations, by
the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil.
"And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of whatever race or
creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which
they may be qualified by their education, ability and integrity duly to discharge.
* In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our security, and
in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of all power grant to us and to
those in authority under us, strength to carry out these our wishes for the good of our
people."-Queen's Proclamation, 1858.
"There is one sinple test which we may apply to all Indian questions : let us
never forget thot IT IS OUR DUTY TO GOVERN INDIA NOT FOR OUR OWN PROFIT
AND ADVANTAGE, BUT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE NATIVES OF INDIA."
Lord Northbrook, late Piceroy of India.
541403.12f
TO
SIR WILLIAM WEDDERBURN, BART.,
LATE OF THE BOMBAY CIVIL SERVICE,
WHO LOVED THE PEOPLE AMONG WHOM HE LIVED FOR 27 YEARS
Who, loving them, worked for them,
Always endeavouring to promote their welfare,
I BEG RESPECTFULLY TO DEDICATE
(With his kind permission)
THIS COLLECTION OF THE ESSAYS, SPEECHES,
TOY
I
ADDRESSES AND WRITINGS
OF
ONE OF INDIA'S MOST DISTINGUISHED AND POPULAR PATRIOTS.
C. L. PAREKH.

MR. DADABHAI'S SERVICES TO HIS COUNTRY.
"No man living has done more service to his country than Mr. Dadabhai
Naoroji of Bombay."
"He has sacrificed years of labour and all his private means, acquired by the
hardest work, to the service of India."---Justice.
"Not only Bombay, but the whole of India, should be proud of a gentleman
like Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji.”—Hindu Patriot.
" As an authority on Indian economical questions there is none equal to him
in all India. He has devoted over a quarter century of his life to the study of
Indian subjects, and by pressing his views upon the Secretary of State and
upon influential Englishmen in England, he has turned his knowledge to the
best account possible. Old as he is, Mr. Dadabhai is a man of remarkable energy
and his genuine patriotism has won for him the confidence of his countrymen
of the Hindus and Mohamedans, as well as Parsees in every part of the country.'
-Hindu.
6 Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji is one of the ablest of our countrymen, and possesses
an amount of practical knowledge of the condition of our country, which is, we
believe, unrivalled. Even the British India Association will not deny the weight
of such testimony as he may give.”---Indian Nation.
- Our respect for Mr. Dadabhai is profound. He is a patriot to the backbone
He is also a man of great abilities, experience and intelligence. He is well
versed in economic subjects. If he succeeds in entering Parliament, he will be
of invaluable service to us. He is one of the few men in India who are really
worthy of the highest honour that this country or England can bestow on him.
He is a man of sterling worth and bears an unblemished character."--Indian
Mirror.
66 The highest authority on economical questions, a genuine and earnest patriot
and a man of indo mitable energy, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji is held in the highest
esteem by his countrymen.”—Behar Herald.
66 The honourable patriot has worked throughout his life for securing equal
justice to European and Native candidates for the Civil Service.”-Mahratta.
« Mr. Dadabhai is one of our few genuine leaders who are ever ready to sacri-
fice personal interest for the welfare of the dumb millions of India. . ,"
Native Opinion.
"Our men must follow such a good example of patriotism and self sacrifice."
Dnyan Prakash.
“ The well-being of India is dependent on the exertions of such high spirited
gentlemen. . ."-Koh-i-lur.
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji is the person who, whether as school-master or professor
merchant or agent, diwan or administrator of a State—in all these different
stages of his life—has worked with untiring industry and strict honesty for the
only aim of his life-viz., to do gocca to the people, at the sacrifice of his own
personal interests. He is the person who has endured porerty for the advance-
ment of others; who has sacrificed his interests for founding large funds for bene-
volent purposes ; who has lived in comparative poverty and humbleness for the
sake of enriching large institutions, and who has sacrificed his own emoluments
and incomes for tie benefit and advancement of others.-- Rast Goftar,
Bombay has recognized Mr. Dadablaias one in a million these twenty years
past. - The Gujrati,
"Undoubtedly Mr. Dadabhai is a leading representative of India." --Sanjabania
PREFACE.
(D
IN placing this book, containing the writings and speeches of
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, before the public, I do not think it is necessary
for me to say much by way of preface. Mr. Dadabhai is one of our
most distinguished public men. Both by Natives and Europeans, his
ability and the moderation of his views have been recognized and
appreciated. There is perhaps no other native in India who has made
statistics his study so well and so carefully, and who has used them to
such eminently useful purpose in discussing some of the weightiest
problems of Indian finance as Mr. Dadabhai. His language is marked
by charming simplicity. There is in his speeches and writings not
the slightest attempt at what is termed an embellished style ; and
hence the greatest merit of them is that when you read them, you not
only find it easy to understand what he has written or said, but you
feel that you are in the presence of an earnest man, whose sole purpose
is to convince you, and who, actuated by that purpose, means what he
says and says what he means.
O
LE
It is often said by those who criticise the intellectual faults of the
educated native of India, that in discussing political questions he shows
a disposition to deal with vague ideas and general or abstract principles;
in other words, the charge is frequently brought against him that with
him principles are everything, their application is nothing ; that he is
wanting in that habit of mind which enables a writer or speaker to deal
with all grave problems more from the point of view of a practical politi-
çian than a speculative thinker. I do not pretend to judge whether this
criticism is borne out by facts. But this I may, I think, venture to
say, that Mr. Dadabhai's writings and speeches deal with political
U
CA

questions in the spirit of a practical statesman. He hates genere
isations; for mere abstract principles he seems to have little or no regar
He takes facts and figures, ascertains, as far as possible, that they ar
correct, and pursues all his enquiries by the light of them. Indeed, the
reader will observe from the following pages that, generally speaking,
Mr. Dadabhai has dealt with none but subjects involving the consideration
of practical problems in his writings and speeches, and that his mode
of dealing with those problems resembles that which Mr. John Morley
tells us both Cobden and Mr. Bright pursued in the course of their
crusade against protection, i.e. while, like them, Mr. Dadabhai avoided
6 the stilted abstractions of rhetoric,” he, like them too, has never been
.
to think seriously on what are called questions of practical politics,
Mr Dadabhai's 6 details” of facts and figures, and of figures more than
of facts, may seem to detract from the value of his writings and his
speeches. But Mr. Dadabhai's highest merit, I apprehend, is that he
has written and spoken not for those who like to be pleased, but for
those who are called upon in the present circumstances of this country to
think and to act and by means of their thought and action to promote
India's welfare and make the connection between her and England a
source of greatness and glory to both. His habit of mind has been
essentially that of a practical economist and statistician, and even those
pho have differed from some of his views have not failed to recognize this
specially striking feature in his writings and speeches.
2
And that, I may be allowed to add, is a feature which ought to
enhance the value of the humble attempt I have made to collect
Mr. Dadabhai’s writings and speeches, and to present them to the public
in the present form. The number of those who discuss political
questions in India is daily increasing ; and in this age of newspapers,
congresses, and political discussions, the Indian student of politics,
-
whether of the present or future generation, cannot do better than take
Mr. Dadabhai for his model, and learn to speak and write on political
questions in the spirit of practical statesmanship, of which his writings
and speeches furnish many examples.
I have only to add that I am extremely obliged to Mr. Dadabhai for
having permitted me to bring out this book, and to my friend Mr. Motilal
Jamnadas Shroff for useful help throughout its preparation,
C. L. PAREKH.
512, Shaikh Meman Street,
Bombay, November 1887.
CONTENTS
Page
PART I.
ESSAYS.
Page 1
CHAPTER I.
VI.-The Wants and Means of
I.--The European and Asiatic
India oooo . 97
: Races ...
II.—England's Duties to India . 26
VII.-- On the Commerce of India . 112
III.--Expenses of the Abyssinian
VIII.--Financial Administration of
War ... ... ... 51
India .. ... ... 137
IV.-Mysore ... " ".
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER II.
ESSAYS--(continued).
ESSAYS-(continued).
V.-Admission of Educated L IX-Poverty of India, Part I ... 160
Natives into the Indian
Poverty of India, Part II.. 218
Civil Service ... .. 75
Reply to Criticisms.. :. 276
PART 11.
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES. I
CHAPTER IV.
mo
I.--India's Interest in the Gene
nal Election (1886) ...
II.-Election Speeches in Eng-
land
Town Hall Speech (1) ...
2. Store Street Hall Speech 310
3. Old Friends Hall Speech
4. Phønix Hall Speech ...
5. Town Hall Speech (2) ...
Great Reception Meeting
(Bombay)... ... ... 316
III.-The National Congresses-
1. The First Indian National
Congress (Bombay, 1885) 318
2, The Second Indian Na-
tional Congress (Calcutta,
1886)
IV.-Miscellaneoús Speeches and
Addresses.-
1. The Indian Civil Service (1) 345
2. Extension of Lord
Ripon's Viceroyalty ... 354
Se Retirement of Lord Ripon. 355
4 The Fawcett Memorial
Meeting ....... .. 32
Dinner by the Ripon Club..
India and the Opium
Question ...
7. England's best way of
retaining India ... ...
The Political Condition of
Dinner by the North-
brook Club, London ...
Our Responsibilities in
India ... ...
II. On Political Reform ...
12. The Indian Civil Service (2) 378
os
India
o
"
331
PART III.
WRITINGS.
2. Memorandum No. 1, Views
on Mr. F. C. Danvers'
CHAPTER V.
Paper ... com ... 441
3. Memorandum No. 2, The
1.--The Baroda Administration
Moral Poverty of India,
and Native Thoughts on
in 1874 (Reply to Par-
the present British Indian
liamentary Blue Books)... 382
Policy
464
II.-Condition of India (Corres-
4. Memorandum No.3, Memo-
pondence with the Secre-
randum on Statements in
tary of State for India).
the Report of the Indian
1. Administration Report of
Famine Commission,
the Punjab (1876-77) ... 414 |
... ... ... 480
1880
CONTENTS.
Page
Page
CHAPTER VI.
VIII. Replies to Questions put by
the Public Service Com.
WRITINGS-(continued).
mission ... ... ... 534
III.-Admission of Educated Na-
CHAPTER VII.
tives into the Indian Civil
Service (a memorandum
WRITINGS—(continued).
on) ...
... 490
: IV.-Indian Civil Service 500 1. IX.--Sir M. E. Grant Duff's
V.-Indian Exchanges ... ...
Views about India (1) ... 549
VI.-Bi-metallismo
(2) ... 56
VII.---The Indian Services ... 521 | Index ... ... ...
u 19
505
517
MR. DADABHAI'S CANDIDATURE IN THE PARLIAMENT-
ARY ELECTION (1886).
O
., But he has far higher qualifications, whether for an Irish or an Enge
lish seat. He is by far the ablest, the most high-principled, and the most accom.
plished native of India who has ever visited this country. He knows England,
and English politics, and the English language, like an Englishman. And as &
political official and administrator he has occupied some of the highest posts in his
own country. His forte is finance-the rock on which the English rule of India
may go to pieces some day or other. For the sake of India--which I know pretty
weil-and for the sake of English Imperialism, I should rejoice to see able natives
of the stamp of the Hon. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji in the English House of
Commons. - Weekly Times and Echo, London, May 30th, 1886.
Mr. Naoroji is another native of India whose presence in the House of Commons
would be of great advantage both to English men and to our Indian fellow
subjects. During forty years he has been to the front in every good movemen
in Bombay, where he is regarded by the natives with something like the sam
enthusiasm which Mr. Gladstone's name inspires here. But more than half that
time he has passed in England, moving to and fro, so that he is as familiar as any
Englishman can be with our home politics, and in all respects he possesses rare
intelligence and remarkable capacity for independent judgment and honest
action. The Holborn Liberals will do as much honour to themselves as to
Mr. Naoroji by doing their utmost to secure his election.- Weekly Dispatch, 20th
June, 1886.
He has always taken a leading interest in the affairs of India and this
country.--Times, June 25th, 1886.
Like Ireland, India had grievances to be redressed, and it was right that her
representatives should have an opportunity of bringing those grievances before
the people of England. Apart from the special knowledge which he would bring
to bear upon the Indian question, Mr. Naoroji, by 20 years' residence in England,
had made himself fully acquainted with English political questions, and by
returning him to the House of Commons, Holborn would prove itself one of the
grandest constituencies in Great Britain. (Cheers.) –Times, 26th June 1886.
His candidature is exciting great interest among the natives of India in the
Metropolis, by whom he is regarded with the deepest respect and admiration.--
York Herald, June 25th, 1886.
Although in the estimation of his countrymen he is a great authority on all
questions affecting the interests of India, he is also intimately acquainted with the
politics of this country, having resided here at one period of his life for many
years, and taken an active part in public matters.-Rochdale Observer, 29th
June, 1886.
• And ruled with great distinction for some time overtwo millions of people
(cheers). In fact, his administration was so beneficent that it called forth from
the British Governors in India the warmest testimony of admiration. Well, he
contended that a gentleman who had struggled so long for the rights of his own
country, and who had shown such distinguished capacity as a statesman, ought
to prove himself a worthy representative of Holborn.-Freeman's Journal, Dublin,
26th June, 1886.
The electors of the division have an opportunity of returning a sound Radical
in place of Colonel Duncan, their late Tory member, and at the same time of
giving a graceful example of the broad tolerance which is a feature of the demo.
cracy. It is to be hoped that our Indian fellow-citizen, stamped with the approval
of the Holborn Liberal Association, will receive the support of all the working-
men voters.-- Reynolds, June 27th, 1886.
He is a “Gladstonite." .... Apart altogether from party politics, we
think the House of Commons would gain by his election, and are gratified by the
cordial welcome Mr. Naoroji received from the electors of Holborn.--Christian
Million, July 1st, 1886.
The Holborn electors are in a dilemma. They rejoice in a Liberal candidate
(the Hon. D. Naoroji). We hope he will get in. Although it is not an easy
matter to articulate his name, we wish him a pronounced success. Funny Folks,
Fleet Street, 3rd July, 1886.
Mr. Naoroji has received a generous reception even from voters who do not
approve of his Irish politics, and who, but for the fact that the only issue now
before the country is that of Home Rule for Ireland, with its unknown conse-
quences, would accord to him their hearty support. .
- The friend of India and of Ireland," as he was called at the meeting, was
received with loud and long continued cheering,
It is well that able and honourable men of the stamp of Mr. Naoroji and Mr.
Ghose should obtain a hearing, not only before English constituencies, but before
the English Parliament.
. For example, it will be a good day for London when it can boast of a
Municipal Government like that of Bombay-of which, by the way, Mr. Naoroji
himself was a distinguished ornament. It is as the candidates for India that he
and Mr. Ghose richly deserve the confidence of English constituencies.--Echo,
Strand, 3rd July, 1886.
In Holborn the ex-Prime Minister of Baroda is creating a great impression on
the constituency, and convincing many, both in and out of Holborn, that whoever
is left out of Parliament, Dadabhai Naoroji ought to be inside. --Pall Mall Gazette,
Strand, 3rd July 1886.
On Thursday night there was a grand Liberal demonstration at the Holborn
Town Hall, in favour of the candidature of Mr. D. Naoroji, and we venture to
say that a meeting of such dimensions and enthusiastic unanimity has never
taken place in the Holborn Town Hall before.-Holborn Guardian, 26th June
1886.
And holds such Radical opinions that he should make a good member for
Holborn. Besides, it would be of great Imperial advantage if we had a real
Indian to make us fully acquainted with Indian affairs at first hand in the House.
Good luck to Naoroji l-Penny Illustrated Paper, 26th June 1886.
MR. DADABHAI'S APPOINTMENT IN THE BOMBAY
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
“Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji has been offered, and has accepted, a seat in the
Local Legislative Council, vacated by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. The appointment
is a most popular one. His services in the cause of this country point him out
as the most fitting recipient of the honour.”—Madras Times.
"The Native Press is gratified at such recognition, for in Mr. Dadabhai Naorojee
is realized the popular ideal of a people's man, quite as much as a colleague and
counsellor for the head of Government."- Indian Spectator.
os In appointing Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji to a seat in the Legislative Council, the
Government of Lord Reay has honoured itself, and honoured the native com-
munity more than it has honoured Mr. Dadabhai personally. Mr. Dadabhai's
ability, earnestness, and public spirit had long marked him out as the people's
champion and representative, but it was reserved to Lord Reay to reward
those services, and to mark his approval of a career of disinterested patriotism.”-
Indu Prakash.
"No more competent person can be chosen from the Native community of
Bombay. He is a close student of Indian economical problems, and is well
known to leading men in England as well as in India. In choosing him as a
member of the Legislative Council, the Governor of Bombay has exercised rare
discretion, and has conferred honour on his Legislative Council as well as on
the Native community of Bombay."--Indu, Madras. .
"Bombay could not have produced a more able and experienced person to
represent it in the local legislature, and the Government could not have selected
a better man.”—Hindoo Patriot.
" We may not hesitate to say that Mr. Dadabhai will prove an accession to
the enlightened Government of Lord Reay,”-Native Opinion.
• The appointment of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji as a member of the Bombay
Legislative Council has given universal satisfaction. Mr. (D.) Naoroji has been
known for a long series of years as a remarkably able man, and the recognition
of his claims has been a bare act of justice.”—Indian Nation.
6. The appointment of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, though it comes very late in
the day, is a fitting recognition of the services rendered to his country by this
most selfless of Indian patriots."-Indian Echo, Calcutta.
This our "Master” of former times was reckoned as the gem of the educated
Natives. By fawning or sacrificing the independence of his opinion, he could have
worked himself up to a high Government post, and would have by this time
secured a pension. But Professor Dadabhai preferred the interests of the people
to his own. . . . . But Dame Fortune never favoured him, nor did Govern.
ment give him his due, because high officials never recognized the worth of the
6. Good Dadabhai.” But what does a patriot care for Government recognition !
..Really, no other Governor has brought together such solid pillars-such
gems of the native community-as Messrs. Dadabhai, Badrudin, Telang, and
Ranade, in the Legislative Council.-Jam-e-Jamshed.
There is no doubt that Mr. Dadabhai will prove himself a real representative
of the people in the Legislative Council, and an excellent adviser of the Govern.
ment. His complete knowledge of the political questions of India, and of the
condition of the native public, his high political experience, acquired during a
prolonged stay in England, are sufficient to prove his fitness for the post. We
believe that, with his zeal for the interests of the public good, he will prove him.
self more useful than before to his fellow countrymen while in the Council. , .
His Excellency Lord Reay has, so to say, made a new epoch by the nominations
of Messrs. Dadabhai and Ranade to the Legislative Council. ...-Bombay
Samachar.
His Excellency the Governor and his councillors have made a really proper:
appointment in nominating Mr. Dadabhai to the Legislative Council in succession
to Sir Jamsetjee, and the public of Bombay are doubly pleased at the recognition
of the worth of a worthy gentleman.-Akhbar-e-Soudagur.
The accession of this Master-mind in the ranks of such cultured men as the
Honourable Messrs. Badrudin, Telang and Ranade, has greatly strengthened the
voice of the native community. ...-Kaiser-z-Hind.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETOH
OF THE
HON'BLE DADABHAI NAOROJI.
“Mr Dadabhai Naoroji is one in a million-we might almost say one in a
hundred and fifty millions."-Oriental, 1873 (England).
It is usual in publishing the writings and speeches of a man that has made his
mark as a sound thinker and able writer, to give an account of his life. Mr.
Dadabhai Naoroji's life may be described as the life of a man from which the
younger generation of the natives of India may derive many profitable lessons..
Those lessons may be summed up in the language used by Mr. N. G. Chandavarkar
in the article on “ New life in Bombay," which appeared in the Indu Prakash
over the signature of " A Political Rishi." Writing of Mr. Dadabhai, Mr. Chan.
davarkar truly said :-“ All agree in saying that if there is one man more than
another, who now fills the gap between the old and the new, it is he-this venera-
ble gentleman, who can work under any disadvantages and has the wonderful
knack of bringing together conflicting forces so as to make them operate towards
one end and that is, the public good. No one can come across him without feel-
ing the charm of his presence, and drawing some inspiration from his example,
To see him is to see Carlyle's picture of the holiness and sanctity of works
personified. He labours and others feel ashamed not to go and do the same.
And such is his quiet influence that without him Bombay would be like the sheep
that had no shepherd." Mr. Dadabhai's has been a life of unostentatious,
honest, and yet active work, done with no higher aim than that of promoting
the welfare of his country and making the connection between England
and India a source of mutual advantage and glory to both. He has never cared
for the smiles of office or the applause of the multitude ; and where they have
come to him, they have come uninvited and unsought. His private life has.
been as pure and unblemished as his public career has been distinguished and
useful. Simple in his habits, punctual in his engagements, true to his word, and
industrious in his work, he has afforded to all those who have known him and
some in contact with him, a fair illustration of what the poet Wordsworth calls.
“plain living and high thinking."
A short but interesting biographical sketch of Mr. Dadabhai, who is now
sixty-two years of age, having been born in Bombay in September 1825, appeared.
in the columns of the Bombay Gasette in September 1886, on his nomination by
Lord Reay to be an Additional Member of the Bombay Legislative Council. The
facts of Mr. Dadabhai's career were succinctly told by the writer of that sketch,
and I need make no apology for reproducing them here in the writer's language.
“From his early years Mr. Dadabhai showed himself to be a bright boy. H.
was generally the Exhibition boy, both in the vernacular and the English schools.
On one occasion, in the Government English school, another boy of his class
earried off the prize in mental arithmetic by preparing most of the ready--
reckoner by heart; but at the public exhibition for the distribution of prizes,-
the prize-boy broke down, when the little 'Dady' stepped to the front, regained
his hrst place, and there and then won his prize from one of the spectators. It is
of this incident, we believe, that Mrs. Poston, in her · Western India,' speaks
regarding the little Parsee lad 'with an overhanging forehead, and small sparkling
eyes, peculiarly attracting our attention. The moment a question was proposed
to the class, he quickly took a step before the rest, contracted his brows in deep
and apxious thought, and with parted lips and finger eagerly uplifted towards
the master, silently but rapidly worked his problem in a manner peculiar to
himself, and blurted out the solution with a startling haste, half painful, half
ludicrous. The little fellow seemed wholly animated with the desire of excelling,
and his mental capabilities promised him a rich reward. In 1845 Sir Erskine
Perry, Chief Justice of Bombay and President of the Board of Education, with
his general desire to promote education among the natives, proposed to send
Mr. Dadabhai to England to study for the Bar, offering to contribute half the
expenses himself, and asking Sir Jamsetjep Jeejeebhoy, the first Baronet, and other
shetts, to give the other half. The proposal was at first accepted, but was subse-
quently declined ; and the general report of the reason was that somebody had
frightened Sir Jamsetjee that young Dadabhai might be tempted to become a
Christian in England, as a few years previously there had been much excitement
among the Parsees on account of some conversions to Christianity. Soon after.
wards Mr. Dadabhai was appointed head native assistant master, and, on the
occasion of the annual exhibition for the distribution of prizes, was declared by
Principal Harkness to be entitled to the gold medal of the year. His subsequent
career as assistant Professor and Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philoso-
phy in the Elphinstone College, in succession to Professor Patton, was successful
and satisfactory. The distinction of assistant professor was conferred upon him
in consideration of his great usefulness as well as of his very high character.
Every successive professor had borne testimony to the extent of his acquirements,
as well as to his zeal and energy ; and the Board of Education testified to the
repeated opportunities of observing his devotion to the cause of native educa-
tion.' Mr. Dadabhai was the first native professor, not only in Bombay, but in
all India ; and the Board of Education, in their report for 1854-55, referred to his
appointment in these terms-To complete the arrangements, we gladly availed
ourselves of the opportunity of confirming Mr. Dadalihai Naoroji as Professor of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, the duties of which he had been performing
to our entire satisfaction for nearly tiro years. We feel sure that the distinction
he has thus won by a long and laborious devotion to mathematical studies, and
by an able discharge of his duties in the institution, will stimulate bim to still
greater exertions. It is now twenty-eight years since the subject of the Elphin-
stone professorships first came under consideration, with the view of commemo.
rating the high sense entertained by the natives of Western India of the public
and private character of the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone on his retirement
from the government of this Presidency. At a public meeting held in the library
of the Native Education Society in August 1827, a resolution was unanimously
passed that the most appropriate and durable plan for accomplishing this object
would be to found professorships for teaching the English language, and the arts,
the sciences, and the literature of Europe. In the resolution which was thus adopted,
a hope was expressed that the happy period would arrive when natives of this country
would be found qualified for holding those professorships. It was therefore with
no ordinary feeling of satisfaction that we felt ourselves justified in nominating Mr.
Dadabhai Naoroji to the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy-a measure
so entirely in accordance with both the letter and spirit of the resolution.' On
another occasion, Dr. M. Stovell, secretary of the Board of Education, wrote to
Mr. Dadabhai a letter of congratulation and advice, telling him to 'go on in the
same steady, straightforward course, and with the same singleminded views; and
you may prove in time a great blessing to your countrymen.'
“During his educational career, and before his visits to England, Mr. Dadabhai
did not confine his energies to his own regular work, but was either one of the
originators of, or an active labourer in, most of the public movements of the time.
The Students' Literary and Scientific Society, the Dnyan Prasarak Society, the
Bombay Association, the Rahnoomae Mazdisna Society (for religious reforms
among the Parsees), the Framjee Cowasjee Institute, the Iranee Fund, the Parsee
Gymnasium, the Widow Remarriage movement among the Hindoos, the Victoria
and Albert Museum, and the first girls' school of the Students' Literary and
Scientific Society were indebted to him as an originator or active labourer for
their success and advancement. In the cause of female education he threw his
whole heart and soul; and he was spoken of by those who had watched and
known his anxious work as 'the father of the girls' schools.' In the infancy of
the movement a few volunteer teachers from the members of the Students' Society
had at first opened the schools at their own houses, and were teaching during their
leisure hours in the morning. In all his work Mr. Dadabhai esteemed and respect.
ed his fellowworkers, and they in turn worked under his lead with pleasure and
unanimity. Much of the success of the Parsee Law Association in England in
the special legislation asked for was due to the joint exertions of Mr. Dadabhai
and Mr. Nowrozjee Furdoonjee. Mr. Dadabhai was the president of the Native
Literary Society, which was incorporated with the Students' Literary and
Scientifie Society in the year 1848. He was vice-president and treasurer of the
latter society, and one of the volunteer teachers and superintendents of the
Society's female schools. He was president of the Gujeratee Dnyan Prasarak
Society for four or five years ; secretary of the Rahnoomae Mazdiasna Society for
two or three years; one of the promoters and a member of the committee of the
Bombay Association ; and one of the promoters and on the committee of the
Framjee Cowasjee Institute. He took an active part in the success of the
Iranee Fund, raised for ameliorating the condition of the Zoroastrians resident in
Persia ; and in the settlement of the trust of the Fort Charitable Dispensary. He
took an active interest in the success of the Parsee Gymnasium, and drafted a set
of rules for its management, which were adopted. He projected the Canning
Fellowship, which, unfortunately, owing to the commercial crisis, was allowed to
fall through. Mr. Dadabhai was among the first of those to propose a statue to
Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the first Baronet, and was largely instrumental in
carrying through the proposal for a statue of the Hon. Jugannath Sunkersett.
Mr. Dadabhai's connection with journalism clates as far back as 1851, when he
contril:uted to the Samachar Durpan, a daily Gujeratee newspaper, a series of
help the various public movements in which he took a share, and to introduce a
higher style and tone of journalism ami ng the Parsees, Mr. Dadabhai in the year
1851 started the Rast Goftar newspaper, which he edited for two years without
any remuneration, and paid others for editing it when he could not write for want
of time. The amount of literary work he went through was highly creditable to
his industry. He contributed to the Dnyan Prasarak Magazine some eighteen
lectures on Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, which had been delivered at
meetings of the Society of that name, as well as papers on different social subjects.
Before the Students' Literary and Scientific Society he read several papers and
delivered lectures. In the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy Philosophic Institute he
delivered a lecture on Astronomy. As secretary of the Rahnoomae Society, he
worked with the president, Mr. Nowrozjee Furdoonjee, in editing its periodical
publications, and wrote one or two papers himself. While a discussion was going
on on tbe subject of introducing native ladies at dinners and social gatherings,
Mr. Dadabhai wrote an account of the condition of women in different countries
in past times, which was subsequently published in a local newspaper. With
these and other burdens upon him, he could yet find time to learn several
languages; for he has a knowledge, besides English, of French, Persian, Hindu-
tani, Gujeratee, and Marathi.
“When the project of starting the first native mercantile firm in England wass
taken up by the Camas, Mr. Dadabhai was offered a share in the firm, though he
never had the least experience as a merchant. - He accepted the offer solely
because he was desirous to promote a more intimate an.l personal connection
between England and India, and more especially to make a home for young
natives to go to England for education and competition for the Indian Civil and
Medical Services, which were then recently thrown open. India for the Indians?
was then, as now. his aim. But for this he would not have exchanged mathe-
matics for merchandise. He first went to England in 1855, and has spent well-
nigh twenty years there, returning to Bombay from time to time as the exigencies.
of his own and pulilic business required. While in England he imposed upon
himself the anxious and arduous task of making Englishmen take an active
interest in Indian questions, and to read papers on Indian subjects. It
was this silent work to which he had for a time to devote much perseverance,
energy, tact, and some money. He persuaded many friends in Bombay and
olsewhere to send their sons to England, and took upon himself their
guardianship. He has now the satisfaction of seeing numbers of natives
visiting England for education, business, profession, or travelling. Many a
native who has visited England will remember his ever-ready help, advice, and
kindness. As a merchant, Mr. Dadabhai has always been respected for his
straightforwardness and honesty in all his dealings and business relations;
and so far was he then respected and esteemed that when, in trying to extricate a
mercantile friend from his embarrassments, he lost three lakhs of rupees, and
owing to large failures in Bombay his own firm failed, his creditors deeply sympa.
thised with him, and not only released him within a few weeks, but helped him by
engaging his services in the liquidation ; while some friends at once gave him new
loans to set him up in business again. Much public sympathy was expressed for
him at the time. Mr. Sorabjee Shapurjee Bengalee, c. I. E., refers, in his lately
published book, to an incident illustrative of the high commercial character
Messrs. Dadabhai Naoroji and Co. enjoyed in England. One or two Indian banks
having attempted to hold back documents, the drafts of which Messrs. Dadabhai
Naoroji & Co. were ready to pay, Mr. Dadabhai at once stoutly resisted the attempt
by raising a controversy in the Times; and the Governor of the Bank of England
saw Mr. Dadabhai at his office aud complimented him on his spirited resistance
and the justness of his contest. While in England Mr. Dadabhai was connected
with several public bodies, and was a member of the Liverpool Literary and
Philosophic Society, of the Philomathic Society, and of the Council of the Liver-
pool Athenæum ; a member of the Cotton Supply Association of Manchester,
of the Royal Institution of London, of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain
and Ireland, of the Ethnological and Anthropological Societies, of the Society
of Arts, and the National Indian Association. He was also president of the
London Indian Society, and honorary secretary of the East India Association.
He was appointed Professor of Gujeratee in the London University College and a
member of its Senate; and was a director of the Queen Insurance Company, and
& guarantor of the Exhibition of 1862. He was as highly respected as a Mason
as he was as a man and a merchant. He was secretary and one of the founders
of the Lodge named “Marquis of Dalhousie,' and is one of its past masters. He
made a speech at the Mansion House on the occasion of a subscription fund raised
for India. In 1859 he corresponded with Lord Stanley, then Secretary of State
for India, on the subject of the Civil Service rules, which ended in an assurance
given to Mr. Dadalihai that no further changes in the regulations would at any
time be made without early publicity being given to them. In 1860 he spoke
at a public meeting at Manchester on the cotton supply, and his address, was
highly spoken of by the English papers at the time. In 1861 he read papers before
public meetings on the Manners and Customs of the Parsees and on the Parsee
Religion. In the same year Mr. Dadabhai and other Parsees resident in London
worked hard in the matter of Dr. Muncherjee Byramjee Colah, who was shut out
from the competition for the Indian Medical Service. Dr. Muncherjee
now occupies a high position in the service. In 1865 Mr. Dadabhai addressed the
London Indian Society on the subject of the rules for the Civil Service examina-
tions ; and the discussion at and the representations made by the Society to the
then Secretary of State for India succeeded in getting the marks for Sanskrit and
Arabic restored to the former figures from which they had been reduced. In 1866
Mr. Dadabhai read a paper before the Ethnological Society on 'The European and
Asiatic Races,' with a view to vindicate the character of the latter from the attack
and aspersions made by Mr. Crawford, the president of the Society. The rest of Mr.
Dadabhai's disinterested labours were confined mostly to the papers he read
before the East India Association, and to the part he took in the discussion of pa-
pers read before the Association by other gentlemen. The papers he read in the year
1867 were on-England's Duties to India ; Mysore ; Memorial and Address for the
admission of natives into the Indian Civil Service; and the expenses of the Abys-
sinian War. The papers read in 1868 were - Memorial of the natives of the Bom-
bay Presidency resident in England, and correspondence with Sir Stafford North-
cote for the establishment of Female Normal Schools as proposed by Miss Car-
penter; Admission of educated Natives into the Indian Civil Service ; Reply to Sir
Stafford Northcote's speech in Parliament on the subject ; Correspondence with
Sir Stafford Northcote on the Indian Civil Service clause in the
Governor-General of India Bill ; Reply to Lord William Hay on Mysore ; Duties
of Local Indian Associations; and Irrigation Works in India. We need scarcely
say that since 1866 Mr. Dadabhai is better known for his work in connection
with the East India Association and the championship of the rights of the Indian
people. On his return to Bombay in 1869 for a time, the native community of
Bombay voted him an address, * a purse, and a portrait. Out of this purse, he
has, according to general report, spent the greater portion in works of public
*" To DADABHAI NAOROJI, Esquire.
“We, your friends and admirers, feel it our duty on the eve of your departure
to England to express our feeling of heartfelt gratitude and sincere thankfulness
for the valuable services you bave rendered to our country. Wherever you have
been, at home or abroad, you have always evinced the way mest interest in the
promotion of the social, political, and moral welfare of India and its inhabitants.
"Pre-eminently you are one of those self-made men, who rise by the force
of their individual merits and conduct ; all the greater therefore is our respect and
esteem for you.
“Your distinguished career as a scholar at the Elphinstone Institution, your
native taste and talent for Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and your sterling
qualities as a teacher were not long in bringing you to the notice of the late
Board of Education and the Government of Bombay, by whom you were nomin-
ated to the Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the Elphinstone
College on the death of the late lamented Professor Patton, and in your nomina-
tion the whole native commuuity felt itself highly honoured, for you were the
first native after the late lamented Professor Bal Gungadhur Shastri, on whom
this honourable post was conferred ; and it has afforded us extreme pleasure
to find that during your tenure of office you conducted your duties with credit
to yourself and advantage to those entrusted to your care.
“From early life you bave always taken an active part in every movement
which bad for its object the improvement of the moral, social, and political
condition of our countrymen, and in particular, you have evinced great interest
in the cause of popular education, and the diffusion of useful knowledge. The
records of the Students' Literary and Scientific Society, the Guzerati Dnyan
Prasarak Sabha, the Native General Library, the Framjee Cowasji Institute,
the Parsi Girl School Association, and the Bombay Association, bear ample
testimony to your indefatigable energy and zeal for the public cause.
" For the spread of vernacular literature, and the creation of a taste for
reading in the Guzerati speaking population of this Presidency, we are in a
great measure indebted to you. In starting the Guzerati Dnyan Prasarak
Sabha, the first of its kind in Bombay, and the magazine bearing the same
name, you took a prominent part, and besides delivering public lectures in the
vernacular, and contributing instructive and interesting essays to the magazine,
you materially assisted its funds, so as to cheapen its price and bring it within
the reach of the poorer classes of the community.
“ In respect of Female Education your services are not less marked. You
were one of those few who took an important part in establishing the first
Native Girls' School under the auspices and superintendence of the Students'
Literary and Scientific Society, and assisted in overcoming by their personal
influence and labours as voluntary teachers the prejudices of the people against
female education. With the valuable aid of several leading members of the
Parsee community, you contributed not a little to put the Parsi Schools on a
permanent footing.
"Such were your labours in the cause of native progress and enlighten-
ment, when, fifteen years ago, you proceeded to England as partner in the first
native firm established in that country with the important object of naturaliz-
ing native commercial enterprize therein.
“By directing your attention during your stay in England towards the
study of politics, you have proved yourself of immense service to India, being
able thereby to represent our cause honestly and faithfully before the English
public.
•
6
usefulness. By far his most important and earnest labour has for some years
past been directed to an exposition of the poverty of India and its remedy; and
anybody who carefully reads his papers on the subject, read before the Bombay
Branch of the East India Association, will see how thoroughly and earnestly he
has discussed the subject. Latterly he has carried on some direct correspondence
on this subject with the India Office, with some good effect; and has succeeded
in awakening an intelligent and sympathising interest in England in connection
with this matter. With respect to Mr. Dadabhai's public labours since 1868, we
may say that in 1869 he delivered three Gujeratee and one English lecture for the
East India Association, and an address at the formation and inauguration of the
Bombay Branch. About the same time he delivered a lecture in Gujeratee on
"The Condition of India,' at a meeting called by the Thakore Saheb of Gondal;
wrote another paper on the Civil Service clause in the Governor-General of India
Bill, which was sent from Bombay to the East India Association ; and one on the
Bombay Cotton Act of 1869, which, with the discussions on the subject, resulted
in the Act being vetoed by the Secretary of State. In 1870 he wrote a paper on
the Wants and Means of India ; and in 1871 on the Commerce of India and on the
Financial Administration of India. In 1872, while in Bombay, he took an active
part in the agitation for municipal reform. In 1873 Mr. Dadabhai gaye evidence
before the Parliamentary Select Committee. In 1874 he entered on the duties of
the Dewanship of Baroda at the earnest solicitation of the Gaekwar, being the
first Parsee Dewan in an important Native State at a time when the administration
of its affairs was beset with serious and harassing difficulties. His vieirs,
theoretical and practical, of governing, were truth and straightforwardness; that
governments and princes were made for the people, and not the people for
them; and that the true welfare of a State was identified with the welfare and
progress of the people. The space at our command precludes us from referring
to the crowding incidents of that year, and we must refer our readers to Mr.
Dadabhai's reply to the Baroda Blue-books. It may be remarked that the struggle,
in which a Resident was removed by a Viceroy like Lord Northbrook, must have
been one of no ordinary character. The removal of a Resident for the sake of a
native Dewan is an event of rare occurrence. Sir Bartle Frere, writing to Mr. Da.
dabhai in February 1874 said I have received with the utmost interest all the
information you have sent home regarding your doings at Baroda. You must not
be discouraged by anything that happens. You have undertaken, as I warned
you, a terribly difficult work, but I feel sure you have undertaken it in the right
spirit and from none but the purest motives.' Again in the following year Sir
Bartle Frere wrote to Mr. Dadabħai : 'It has been a matter of regret to both of us
[himself and Sir Erskine Perry] that you were not allowed an opportunity of
"Your disinterested labours in the establishment and conduct of the
London Indian Society and the East India Association, and in the formation of
a branch of the latter at Bombay, your valuable services in the discussion of
important Imperial questions affecting the rights and interests of the natives of
India, are too recent and well known to require lengthy acknowledgments.
“ Such are your services, and when to your high character for integrity
and probity, dear Sir, we add your readiness disinterestedly to devote your
time, talents, and energy towards the advancement and welfare of India, with
such urbanity of manners and width of sympathy as to place your valuable
advice within the reach of every countryman who might need it, we cannot
refrain from publicly acknowledging them, and as a small token of our esteem
and affection we request your kind acceptance of a purse which we have
subscribed.
“We also solicit the favour of your kindly consenting to have your life.
size portrait placed in the Hall of the Framjee Cowasjee Institute.
" In conclusion we beg heartily to wish you a happy voyage to England,
and we pray Almighty God to grant you long life and prosperity, and that we
may have the happiness of once more seeing that benign and cheerful countenance
among us.--We remain, dear Sirs your sincere friends and admirers."
carrying out the reforms you desired, and thus making one of the most interesting
experiments possible in a Native State. But you have the consolation of having
done your best. I do not see that any human being could have done more under
the circumstances.' In 1875, during his stay in Bombay, Mr. Dadabhai was
elected a member of the Corporation and of the Town Council, and worked in those
offices for a little over a year. His treatment of some of the more troublesome
questions of several years standing elicited from the Corporation a special vote of
thanks for his zeal and ability,' and an expression of regret at his resignation
in September 1876. In addition to the routine work, his principal work during
the year was showing that Government were demanding from the Municipality
fifty lakhs of rupees more than they were entitled to on the Vehar Loan, and
that the delivery of water by the Vehar system was only about fourteen gallons
a head per day, and not seventeen gallons ; and suggestions for loans for improve.
ments and for amendments in the Municipal Act. In 1876 Mr. Dadabhai wrote
his two papers on 'The Poverty of India,' which were read before the Bombay
branch of the East India Association ; and his reply to the discussion on the
poverty of India. From 1876 to 1879 he carried on a private correspondence
with Sir Erskine Perry on the higher and larger employment of natives, and
with Sir David Wedderburn about getting returns of the salaries, pensions, &c.,
given to European employes in all departments of the State. In 1880 he wrote
letters to the Secretary of State on the Productions and Wants of the Punjaub
and India ; a letter to the same high authority on “The Moral Poverty of India
and Native Thoughts on the present British Indian Policy,' and 'A few
statements in the Report of the Finance Commission of 1880. From 1878 to
1881 Mr. Dadabhai carried on a private correspondence with Mr. Hyndman on
Indian subjects.
5 Mr. Dadabhai was appointed a member of the Grand Jury in 1855; was
nominated a Fellow of the Bombay University in 1864, and a Justice of the
Peace in 1883, in which year he again joined the Corporation. Since his return
to Bombay he has started the Voice of India. He submitted a note on Education
to the Education Commission when they held their sittings in Bombay. He made
praiseworthy exertions for the success of the Ripon Memorial,"
In August 1885, Lord Reay appointed Mr. Dadabhai an Additional Member of
the Bombay Legislative Council. His appointment was hailed with universal
satisfaction, though it was felt by all that very tardy justice was done to him by
Government. Mr. Dadabhai took a leading part at the meetings of the First
Indian National Congress which sat in Bombay on the 27th, 28th and 29th
December 1885. A few months after he left for England with a view to try
his chance at the General Elections and secure a seat in Parliament. The help
of several English friends of India enabled him to find a constituency
willing to accept him as a candidate. At a meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee of the Holborn Liberal Association, held on Friday, the 18th of June
1886, it was unanimously resolved to commend him to the Electors of Holborn as
sa fit and proper person to represent the Liberals and Radicals of the Borough in
Parliament.” Mr. Dadabhai accepted the candidature and issued his address to
the Electors of the Holborn Division of Finsbury on the 19th of June 1886. The
issue at the General Elections of June 1886 turned upon the question of Home
Rule for Ireland, and the English public were so much divided in opinion on the
question, and, besides, so strongly Conservative was the borough selected by
Mr. Dadabhai, that from the first the chances of his election seemed slender.
Most things were against him in the contest, but nevertheless he threw himself
into it with great courage and resolution. He addressed a large number of meet-
ings and was at all of them received most enthusiastically. Many of the English
papers noticed his candidature and spoke favorably of the impression he had in a
few days succeeded in making on the mind of his audiences. Mr. Dadabhai was
defeated at the elections, he securing 1,950 votes while his Conservative opponent
secured 3,651. Mr. Dadabhai's defeat was, under the circumstances, a victory.
When he accepted the candidature, it was feared that he would hardly be able
to secure 500 votes. The constituency was known to be strongly conservative,
and Mr. Dadabhai's opponent, Col. Duncan, had almost everything on his side-
wealth, local influence, and the English antipathy to Mr. Gladstone's Home
Rule policy for Ireland. That fighting against such odds, Mr. Dadabhai should
have been able to secure so many as 1,950 votes, surprised all who had feared
that he might not be able to secure even half that number. While in England he
wrote to the Times and Daily News several letters on Exchange and Bi-Metallism,
then the most pressing of Indian economical questions. Mr. Dadabhai returned
to India in November with a view to join the second Indian National Congress
which was to assemble in Calcutta in the closing days of December. He was
of it in the large hall of the Calcutta Town Hall is notable for the moderation of
its tone, and the spirit of loyalty and reform which breathed through it.*
During the deliberations of the Congress he felt most anxious about the
Indian Civil Service question of which he had made a life-long study. He guided
the Congress Civil Service sub-committee as its chairman towards the important
resolution on the subject arrived at by the Congress, and in the end of 1886 he
published a paper on the Indian Services, and early in 1887 prepared his well-known
Replies to the questions of the Public Service Commission supplementing these by
oral epidence before the Commission during its sittings in Bombay in April.
After receiving the thanks of the public of Bombay for himself and his brother
candidate Mr. L. M. Ghose, who were both very warmly welcomed at a most
crowded meeting in the Franji Cawasji Institute, and after a complimentary
dinner from the Ripon Club, Mr. Dadabhai again left for England. While in
England Mr. Dadabhai has contributed two Essays to the Contemporary Review
by way of reply to Sir M. E. Grant Duff's crude observations on India and its
educated classes. The Essays have elicited praise even from the Anglo-Indian
journals, and have been universally applauded by the native press of India. It
is the dearest wish of India universally expressed that early seats may be obtained
by him and Mr. L. M. Ghose in Parliament, and THIS GRAND OLD MAN
of ours may continue to serve the interests of the country in an unselfish and
independent way as he has done for many years is India's humble and sincere
prayer to God.
LET OTHER “PATRIOTS" TAKE A LEAF OUT OF HIS BOOK.
* The writer, who had the honour of attending the Congress as a delegate of the
Arya Dnyan Vardbak Sahba, was an eye-witness of this, and he cannot here
help quoting the following from the introductory article to the printed Report of
the Second Congress, which does full justice to his address :
“ Throughout, the speech was interrupted, at the close of almost every period,
by the most enthusiastic cheers, showing how thoroughly the speaker's words
were going home to the hearts, not only of his brother delegates, but of the vast
crowd of educated listeners that thronged every portion of the great hall."
1.5ño
ESSAYS, SPEECHES, ADDRESSES, & WRITINGS.
ESSAYS.
CHAPTER I.
THE EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC RACES.
(Read before the Ethnological Society, London, March 27th, 1866, Observations
on the Paper read by John Crawfurd, Esq., F.R.S.)
I FEEL very thankful to Mr. Crawfurd and the Council for allowing
me to make a few observations upon Mr. Crawfurd's paper, “on the
European and Asiatic Races."
Mr. Crawfurd tells us, in illustration of the mental inferiority of the
Asiatics, that in the seminaries at eighteen the native is left far behind
by the European, and never after recovers his lost ground. What are
the facts ? Only a few mails ago, The Friend of India tells us, that at
the Calcutta University there were then above 1,200 candidates for
entrance ; that 447 underwent the first examination, and that 120 had
applied to compete for the B. A. degree. The Friend remarks, “ These
examinations are assuming a Chinese magnitude, and present a spectacle
at once curious and gratifying.” The result of my own experience as a
teacher and professor for ten years in the Elphinstone Institution, and of
my observations for ten years more, is entirely contrary to Mr. Crawfurd's
statement. Gambier, Perry, Lewin, Sims, Warden, and others, have
given similar opinions in their evidence before Parliament. The mistake
made by Mr. Crawfurd is one of those which foreign travellers and
writers are very apt to fall into from superficial observation and
imperfect information.
When English seminaries were first opened in India, boys were
principally sent there with the object of acquiring a sufficient knowledge
of the English language to enable them to get a situation in government
offices, or to talk and write English. The consequence was, that for
some time these seminaries did not produce any scholars, the pupils
generally leaving on attaining their main object. With the imperfect
S
education with which they usually left school, and falling again in the
society of their own equally or more ignorant countrymen, they were not
able to continue their studies. Those Englishmen, however, who watched
their progress, but did not understand the cause, wondered at such a
result, and concluded that the native youth was incapable of progress
after eighteen. There is another circumstance which unfortunately
aggravated the mischief; the custom of early betrothal and marriage
among the natives. The pupils, therefore, were often fathers before
they were eighteen or twenty, and the necessity of supporting a family
soon drove them from school to service.
For those who take a real interest in the natives of India, I cannot do
better than refer them to that mass of interesting evidence given before
Parliamentary Committees by interested and disinterested persons, and
I have no doubt that any impartial and candid inquirer will find that the
natives of India are not below the average of the head and heart of any
other nation in the world.
This evidence was given in 1853 and 1858; but since that time the
progress in education and several other matters has been so marked,
though not very great, that even this evidence has become obsolete in some
particulars. No careful observer will now make the statement that the
Hindu is not capable of keeping up his studies after leaving college,
much less that he falls back at eighteen and never regains his lost
ground. The very fact that the Hindus were even capable of producing
a vast and varied literature in all departments of human knowledge,
shows beyond all doubt that the capacity to study all life is not wanting.
The fertile soil is there, but neglected. Let it have its proper cultivation,
and it will again show the same fruit.
Lastly, as Sir C. Trevelyan very justly remarks, what is said about
the natives takes place in some degree in all countries, even in England,
and as a remedy, he says,—“The main thing required is to open to them
a proper field of mental and moral activity in after life ... and we
should encourage a wholesome mental activity in the pursuits of
literature, science, and the fine arts ... all the avenues of employment
in the service of the state should be opened to them. They have very
considerable administrative qualities, great patience, great industry, and
great acuteness and intelligence.”+
I do not know whether the remarks made by Mr. Crawfurd on Asiatic
literature and the dearth of great names are based upon his own personal
* Lords' Committee, 1853, ques. 6644.
.
† Ib. 6605.
S
knowledge of all these literatures or on the authority of others who
possess such knowledge, or on the assumption that, because Mr. Craw-
furd does not know them, therefore they do not exist. Mr. Crawfurd
himself admits that there have been some conquerors, lawgivers, and
founders of religious sects. I suppose such names as Christ, Maho-
med, Zoroaster, Manu, Confucius, Cyrus, Akbar, Fardoosi, Hafiz, Sady,
Calidas, Panini, Abool Fazil, and a host of others, are such as any nation
may be proud of. The Royal Asiatic Society has a descriptive catalogue
of 163 manuscripts in their library of 100 distinct Persian and Arabic
- works on the single subject of history. Sir W. Jones thinks* Persia
has produced more writers of every kind, and chiefly poets, than all
Europe put together. He mentions a manuscript at Oxford of the lives
of 135 of the finest Persian poets.t
Mr. Crawfurd speaks disparagingly of the Shanameh, as consisting
" of a series of wild romances of imaginary heroes, and of such slender
merit that no orientalist has ever ventured on presenting it in a Euro-
pean translation." I hope Mr. Crawfurd has read it, or has authority
for what he says. In my humble opinion, from what little I know of it,
it is a work of great poetic merit. $ Sir W. Jones, after giving the palm
of superiority to Homer, asserts a very great resemblance between the
works of these extraordinary men; and admits that both drew their
images from nature herself, and both possessed, in an eminent degree,
that rich and creative invention which is the very soul of poetry.
He considers the characters in it as various and striking; the figures
bold and animated, and the diction everywhere sonorous, yet noble ;
polished, yet full of fire. Sir J. Malcolm thinks that the most fasti-
dious European reader will meet with numerous passages of exquisite
beauty in the noble epic poem of Firdoosi ; that some of the finest
scenes are described with simplicity and elegance of diction, and that to
those whose taste is offended with hyperbole, the tender part of his work
will have most beauty. I Sir W. Jones considers that the Persian lan-
guage is rich, melodious, and elegant; that numbers of admirable works
have been written in it, by historians, philosophers, and poets, who
found it capable of expressing, with equal advantage, the most beautiful
* Vol. x., p. 349.
† I have given the opinions of others as closely as possible in their own words.
| Dr. Julius Mohl informs me that he has already published four volumes of
the text and translation ; the fifth is nearly ready for publication, and the sixth is
printing.
Il Vol. x., p. 355.
Ibid. 354.
Vol. ii., p. 539.
and the most elevated sentiments.* With reference to the ridiculous
bombast of the Persian style, he remarks, that though there are bad
writers, as in every country, the authors who are esteemed in Persia are
neither slavish in their sentiments, nor ridiculous in their expressions.
Upon Mr. Crawford's remarks as to the absence of any literature or
history among the Persians before the Arabian conquest, let us see what
Sir John Malcolm says. He says, the Arabs, in their irritation at the
obstinate resistance of the Persians for their independent religion,
destroyed their cities, temples, etc. etc. And the books, in which were
written whatever the learned of the nation knew, either of general
science, or of their own history and religion, were, with their possessions,
devoted to destruction. He refers, as a parallel, to the fate of Greek
and Roman manuscripts, to show how few of the works of a conquered
and despised nation like Persia, would be saved amid the wreck to which
that kingdom was doomed.
He further says-—" We know from sacred history, that the deeds of
the kings of Persia were written in a book styled the chronicles of that
kingdom; and we are told by a Grecian author, who was at the court
of Artaxerxes Mnemon, that he had access to volumes which were
preserved in the royal archives.”+
* Vol. V., p. 165.
† Mr. Ed. B. Eastwick, in reply to my inquiries as to his opinion upon
the extracts I have given from Sir W. Jones and Sir John Malcolm on Persian -
Literature, &c., says :-
“I thoroughly agree in the.opinions expressed of Firdausi, and of the Persian
poets, by Sir W. Jones and Sir J. Malcolm. The narratives of events in the Shanaméh
are not so unnatural, hyperbolic, or absurd as those in the Iliad, and the curiosa
felicitas verborum' of the Persian poet is little, if at all, inferior to that of Homer.
Mr. C. cannot be aware that M. Mohl has translated the Shanaméh into French
and that Atkinson has rendered some portions into English. If Arabic and
Persian were taught in our schools, as Greek and Latin are, we should have as
many and as careful translations of the Sharraméh as of the Iliad. It is not the
slender merit of the poet, but our ignorance of Persian, that has made the
dearth of translations. As yet we have only dipped into Persian poetry. No
European can pretend to have explored that ocean of literature."
I am sorry that my very slight knowledge of French prevents me from study-
ing, for the present, the annual reports of Dr. Julius Mohl; but I give below, an
extract from his letter to me, which I think gives the Eastern literature its
proper place in the history of man.
- “ Oriental literature can only take its place in the universal literature of
mankind, when intelligent historians show its value for history in its largest sense-
history of the development of the human race, its ideas, its manners, etc. ; and
show, too, how large has been the past of the East, and how great in some
respects its influence. This is gradually being done, in proportion as translations
and researches on special subjects put the materials in the hands of thinking
people. It is, above all, the bistory of religion, of legislation, of philosophy, and
of poetry, which will show the importance of Oriental literature, but it is slow
.
1
I need not take up your time with more extracts on the merits of
other poets. Mr. Fraser, after naming Nizami, Omar Keyormi, Oorfi, and
Rudki, says he might cite a hundred others as high examples of genius.
Lastly, we must bear in mind, that a large amount of Asiatic and
European literature may have been lost in that deplorable act of
destruction of the Alexandrian Library by Omar.
In Arabic literature, to the Arabian Nights, at least, I hope Mr. Craw-
furd accords some merit; for according to his test of merit the work is
translated in European languages, and extensively read, too. Chrick-
ton's History of Arabia gives an account of a varied and vast Arabian
literature. He thinks Europe indebted to the Arabs for some of her
most valuable lessons in science and arts. He also gives the names of
more than half-a-dozen female poetesses and philosophers.
Professor Max Müller thinks that the achievements of the Brahmins
in grammatical analysis, which date from six centuries before Christ,
are still unsurpassed by any nation.* Colebrook thinks that among
the infinity of volumes on Nyaya, there are compositions of very cele-
brated schoolmen,f and that the Hindu writings abound in every branch
of science. Sir W. Jones strongly recommends to Europeans the study
of Indian medical works. He says there are many works on music, in
prose and verse, with specimens of Hindu airs in a very elegant nota-
tion, that the Sanscrit prosody is easy and beautiful, that there are
numerous astronomical works, and that wherever we direct our atten-
tion to Hindu literature, the notion of infinity presents itself, from which
we may gather the fruits of science without loading ourselves with the
leaves.
No doubt there may be much leaves and branches, or much trash, in
this vast forest of literature, but we know also what amount of trash is
daily poured upon us in the present day.
Sir W. Jones ventures to affirun that the whole of Newton's Theology,
and part of his Philosophy, may be found in the Vedas, which also
abound with allusions to a force of universal attraction. With regard
to the Sanscrit language, he says, whatever be its antiquity, it is of
work, and cannot be otherwise, by the nature of the case. Greek and Latin
literature will always prevail in Europe ; our minds have been moulded upon
them, and they are nearest to us; but this does not extinguish the claim of the
East to take its place. I have said this over and over, in my annual reports to
the Asiatic Society."
* Science of Language, p. 80. f Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, p. 167.
I Vol. iii., p. 246
·
6
wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than
the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either.* With all the
above opinions of Sir W. Jones Dr. T. Goldstucker concurs.
Horace Wilson thinks it probable that in fiction much of the invention
displayed on the revival of letters in Europe was referable to an Indian
origin ;† that enough has been ascertained to determine the actual
existence in Sanscrit or in vernacular translations from it of a very
extensive literature of fiction, in which many of our European
acquaintances are at once to be recognised, † and that the Hindus
occupy an early and prominent place in the history of fiction ;ị that
in speculations upon the nature of the superior being and man, the
Hindus traverse the very same ground that was familiarly trodden
by the philosophers of Greece and Rome. He also remarks :-" That
in medicine, as well as in astronomy and metaphysics, the Hindus once
attained as thorough a proficiency in medicine and surgery as any people
whose acquisitions are recorded, and as indeed was practicable, before
anatomy was made known to us by the discoveries of modern inquirers.
That surgery (as well as other departments of medical science) was
once extensively cultivated and highly esteemed by the Hindus."
Lastly, I appeal to Professor Goldstucker, whether Sanscrit literature
was not important enough to warrant the formation of the Sanscrit
Text Society, headed by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
Further development was checked by the frequent invasions of
India by, and the subsequent continuous rule of, foreigners of entirely
different character and genius, who, not having any sympathy with the
indigenous literature—on the contrary, having much fanatical antipathy
to the religion of the Hindus—prevented its further growth. Priest-
hood, first for power and afterwards from ignorance, completed the
mischief, as has happened in all other countries.
Mr. Crawfurd tells us that the Asiatics are untruthful, very inferior
in morals, and have no fidelity to engagements. I Beginning with the
*Vol. iii., p. 34.
† Vol. iii., p. 156. ] Vol. v., p. 108.
Il Vol. ii., p. 115.
Mr. Crawfurd says, “In morals there has ever existed a wide difference
between Europeans and Asiatics. Truth, the basis of all morality, has never distin-
guished the races of India. In Europe fidelity to engagements has been in esteem
even in rude times, and increased with the advance of civilization. Not so in
Asia, for it may safely be asserted that there the most civilized nations are found
to be the least truthful, among whom may be named the Persians, the Hindus,
ancient Persians, Zoroaster, hundreds of years before Christ, taught,
" I understand truth-telling exalted; all the days of the holy man are
with thoughts of truth, words of truth, and deeds of truth. Those that
tell untruths and do wicked actions shall not receive the reward of life
from Hormuzd. To speak true words is true excellence ; in the trea-
sures of religion exalt truth above all. What is the high religion ?--
That which promotes my holiness and truth, with good thought, word,
and deed. In this house may ... prevail words of truth over words of
lie.-- Punish the breakers of promise, and those that induce others to
break their promise."* Coming down in the course of time to the
third century of the Christian era, Ardai Viraf, a high priest, holds out
the punishment of hell, among others, to the following :-
“ The man who used false weights and measures, took full weight
and returned false, who adulterated his goods by mixing water with
milk, to men who were liars and talebearers. The crime of lying being
the most displeasing in the sight of God; even the most trivial and
innocent falsity being a heinous sin. The man who was a bearer of
false witness; who was fraudulent and deceitful; who, though he kept
his word and rigorously performed his agreement with those of his own
sect and faith, yet held it no sin to break his faith with those of a
different persuasion; this, in the eye of Omnipotence, being a heinous
sin, and the keeping of a promise even with an enemy being a duty
inculcated.”
Mr. Pope, the translator of Ardai Viraf, concludes with the
following remark, " that the philosophers will rejoice to find them (the
modern Parsees) neither deficient in virtue or morality.” Mr. Rawlin-
son says, “ that in their (Zoroastrian) system, truth, purity, piety, and
industry were the virtu es chiefly valued and inculcated.”
O
Coming down to the latest times, the Parsee children are taught as
a religious lesson to speak the truth, and not to tell untruths nor to
commit treachery.
and the Chinese. Integrity is most prevalent among the educated classes in
Europe; but with the more civilized, tħe want of it pervades all classes in Asia.
The European maxim that 'honesty is the best policy' is not recognised by the more
civilized people of Asia ; on the contrary, finesse is substituted. It is only among
Asiatic nations of the second order of civilization (Mr. C. knows only them, it
appears), such as Burmese, Malays, &c., that we find an adherence to truth, and
even they become demoralised in the attainment of power. The difference in
morals between Europeans and Asiatics seems to have belonged to all ages.”
* My paper on the Parsee religion read before the Liverpool Literary and
Philosophical Society.
The above is the testimony of the religious literature of the Persians.
Let us see what the foreigners have said of them. Greek testimony
about Persians is to be taken with care and caution. When we see
that in the nineteenth century, gentlemen of learning and authority,
with every means of obtaining correct information available, commit
such mistakes as the one I have pointed out before, about the educa-
tional capacity of the natives of India, and make statements contrary
to well known facts, how much more necessary is it to sift carefully the
testimony of a hostile people given at a time when intercommunication
was rare and difficult, and the character and manners of the two people
very different. Even good Greek testimony, however, is in the favour
of the Persians. Herodotus says, “ Their sons are carefully instructed
.... to speak the truth.” He also says, “They hold it unlawful to
talk of anything which is unlawful to do; the most disgraceful thing in
the world they think is to tell a lie, the next worse to owe a debt,
because, among other reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell lies."*
Next, there is the testimony of the inscriptions in which lying is taken
as the representative of all evil. Darius's successors are exhorted not
to cherish but to cast into utter perdition the man who may be a liar, or
who may be an evil doer.t The modern Parsees are admitted by Mr.
Crawfurd himself, as well as others, as a trustworthy and truthful race.
C
Of the modern Mahommedan Persians of Persia I do not know much.
But I may say this much, that if they be truthful, Mr. Crawfurd's
statement, then, is incorrect; if untruthful, Mr. Crawfurd's conclusion
of his paper is so far upset. For, the present untruthful Persians, being
the descendants of an old truth-speaking race, the difference in the
character is no proof of difference of race, and that external circum-
stances have great influence in modifying a nation's character.
About the Hindus I can speak, both from personal knowledge and
from other testimony, that Mr. Crawfurd's charge against them is
unfounded. This mistake also arises from causes I have alluded to
before-superficial observation and hasty conclusions. Fortunately
there are many who have studied the native character more carefully.
Not to take up much of your time, I refer you to the evidence given
before Parliament, 1853 and 1858, and I think that a careful and candid
examination of that evidence will satisfy anybody, that the general
character of the natives of India is as good as that of any other people.
* Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii., p. 222.
Ť Ib. note 7. .
9
.
I shall very briefly refer to some of this testimony here. Beginning
with the early writers, Strabo testifies to the truthfulness and virtue of
the Hindus.* Arrian also describes the Hindus as truthful, saying,
“and indeed none of the Indians were ever accused of that crime
(falsehood).”Coming down to later times, Abool Fazil, the cele-
brated Mahommedan minister of Akbar, describes the Hindus in
the sixteenth century as lovers of justice, admirers of truth, grateful,
and of unbounded fidelity. I Coming down still later to the present
time, Sir G. Clerk thinks the morality among the higher classes
of Hindus of a high standard, and of the middle and lower
classes remarkably so. He thinks there is less immorality than in
many countries of Europe. Sir E. Perry tells us, that offences against
property and crimes generally are less frequent in the island of Bom-
bay than in any similar community in Europe, and that it is the
opinion of the Hindus that native morality suffers by coming into close
contact with the English–the pristine simplicity and truthfulness of
the native village disappears in drunkenness, intrigue, and a litigious
spirit supervening,|| and that their commercial integrity has always
been famous. T
@D
This commercial integrity is mentioned by Strabo also, who says -
that “ they make their deposits, and confide in one another."** It is a
fact at the present day, that transactions of great value take place
between natives, for which there is no further evidence than the entry
in the books of the seller. I do not suppose there is any parallel to
this in Europe.
Colonel D. Sims considers the natives not inferior to the people of
other countries in point of honesty, and even veracity, and says that
people are apt to judge of the natives of India by those whom they find
about the precincts of the different courts of justice, where, temptations
to mendacity being many, the atmosphere is unfavourable to truthful-
ness, as is probably the case in any other countries under the same
circumstances.ft When Mr. Fowler, a planter, gained the confidence
of his labourers by his fair dealings with them, everything went on
* Vol. iii., p. 106. .
† Vol. ii., C. xii., p. 206.
IJ. Crawfurd's Researches, vol. ii., p. 139.
§ Report of Select Committee, 1853, Ques. 2278.
'll Bird's-eye View of India, p. 77.
1 Report of Select Committee, 1853, Ques. 2582.
** Vol. iii., p. 105. †† Report of Select Committee, 1853, Ques. 8548-9.
10
smoothly, and he was never in any part of the world where he had less
trouble with his labourers.*
Horace Wilson tells us not to imagine that the Hindus are ignorant
of the foundations of all morality, or that they do not value truth,
justice, integrity, benevolence, charity, to all that lives, and even the
requital of evil with good ; that these duties are all repeatedly enjoined,
and Hindu authorities commend as earnestly as those of any other
language. Ť
The complaint often made about untruthfulness of natives, has, I
think, this cause. There are several professional experts about the
courts who sell their evidence. The judge is very often not sufficiently
familiar with the vernacular; some of the subordinates in the court
being most wretchedly paid, yield to the temptation of bribery, and
these three causes combined together make the task of the judge some-
times difficult, and every instance of successful perjury naturally
encourages it more. The obvious remedy, one would think, would be
that if proper severe examples were made of the perjurers, instead of
merely raising up the cry of untruthfulness against the whole nation,
their number, if at all unusual, would soon be reduced.
The other cause of the Hindus being sometimes denounced as untruth-
ful, is the following clauses in the Institutes of Menu :-
Chap. iv., 138. “Let him say what is true, but let him say what is pleasing ;
let him speak no disagreeable truth, nor let him speak agreeable falsehood. This
is a primeval rule."
139. “Let him say well and good,' or let him say'well' only ; but let him
not maintain fruitless enmity and altercation with any man."
Chap. viii., 103. “In some cases, a giver of false evidence from a pious motive
even though he know the truth, shall not lose his seat in heaven : such evidence
wise men call the speech of the gods,"
either of the servile, the commercial, the military, or the sacerdotal class, would
be occasioned by true evidence, from the known rigour of the king, even though the
fault arose from inadvertence or error, falsehood may be spoken : it is even prefer-
able to truth.” (The. italics in all extracts from Menu are from the commentators
on Menu.)
* Colonization Committee, Ques. 5742-4.-In Mr. Justice Phear's opinion, "the
character of the average oral testimony in the Guildhall of London, and that of
the same in the townhall of Calcutta, were ou a par." And the Hon. Mr. Camp-
bell fully admits that it was the courts which were to blame for the character of
native testimony. (Native Opinion, Bombay, 25th March, 1866.)
† Vol. ii., p. 109.
11
entirely different from your present one; the will or wisdom of the
sovereign is the practical law of the land. I do not propose here to
read a dissertation on truth, but I may simply, as parallel to the above
extracts from the works of a Hindu legislator, refer to what is said
by some of the European thinkers of modern times. Bentham allows,
1, falsehoods to avoid mischief, the case of misdirecting a murderer ;
2, falsehoods of humanity, the case of physicians ; 3,. falsehoods of
urbanity, an exaggerated compliment. In these cases, or at least in the
first two, he says, “ falsehood is a duty ; in other cases it may be
allowable, as in all those in which the person addressed has no right to
know the truth. This would embrace most of the cases discussed by
Grotius and Puffendorf.” Instead of making any further quotations, I
refer you to an article in the Saturday Review of July 2nd, 1864, on
“ Lying," from which the above extract is taken.
I give in a note below extracts from the Institutes of Menu to show
how highly truth and virtue are valued among the Hindus. * Dr. Gold-
stucker kindly writes to me to say, that in Rigveda and Jagurved
" the necessity of speaking truth and avoiding untruth is emphasised in
the most beautiful language, but unfortunately there are as yet no
translations of these texts."
* Chap. iv., par. 175. Let a man continually take pleasure in truth, in
justice, in laudable practices, and in purity; let him chastise those whom he may
chastise, in a legal mode ; let him keep in subjection his speech, his arm, and
his appetite.
Par. 237. By falsehood the sacrifice becomes vain. .
Par. 256. All things have their sense ascertained by speech; in speech they
have their bases ; and from speech they proceed ; consequently, a falsifier of
speech falsifies everything.
This is somewhat similar to Bentham's description of truth, in his Theory of
Legislation (p. 260): "Every instant of our lives we are obliged to form
judgments and to regulate our conduct according to facts, and it is only a small.
number of these facts which we call ascertain from our own observation. Then
results an absolute necessity of trusting to the reports of others. If there is in
these reports a mixture of falsehood, so far our judgments are erroneous, our
motives wrong, our expectations misplaced. We live in restless distrust, and we
do not know upon what to put dependence. In one word, falsehood includes
the principle of every evil, because in its progress it brings on at last the
dissolution of human society.”
Par. 255. For he, who describes himself to worthy men, in a manner
contrary to truth, is the most sinful wretch in this world : he is the worst of
thieves, a stealer of minds.
Chap. vi., par. 92. Content, returning good for evil, resistance to sensual
appetites, abstinence from illicit gain, purification, coercion of the organs,
knowledge of Scripture, knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, veracity, and freedom
from wrath, form their tenfold system of duties.
Chap. vii., 26. Holy sages consider as a fit dispenser of criminal justice,
that king who invariably speaks truth, who duly considers all cases, who under-
12
Mr. Crawford admits the commercial integrity among native mer-
chants. Dealings in money, however, produce the greatest temptations
to dishonesty, and when the commercial portion of a nation can stand
this ordeal well, one would think it must tell much in favour of the
general character of a people.
2
Mr. Crawfurd denies integrity even to the educated classes. I do
not hesitate to give a direct contradiction to this statement. From my
actual acquaintance and experience of the educated natives in the
Chap. viii., par. 79. The witnesses being assembled in the middle of the
court-room, in the presence of the plaintiff and the defendant, let the judge
examine them, after having addressed them altogether, in the following manner :-
Par. 80. What ye know to have been transacted in the matter before us
between the parties reciprocally, declare at large and with truth, for your
evidence in this cause is required.
Par. 81. A witness, who gives evidence with truth, shall attain exalted seats
of beatitude above, and the highest fame here below : such testimony is revered
by Brahma himself.
Par. 82. The witness who speaks falsely, shall be fast bound under water,
in the snaky cords of Varuna, and be wholly deprived of power to escape torment
during a hundred transmigrations : let mankind, therefore, give no false
testimony:
Par. 83. By truth is a witness cleared from sin ; by truth is justice advanced :
truth must, therefore, be spoken by witnesses of every class.
Par. 84. The soul itself is its own witness; the soul itself is its own refuge;
offend not thy conscious soul, the supreme internal witness of men!
Par. 85. The sinful have said in their hearts :.“None sees us." Yes; the
gods distinctly see them ; and so does the spirit within their breasts.
Par. 89. Whatever places of torture have been prepared for the slayer of a
priest, for. the murderer of a woman or of a child, for the injurer of a friend, and
for an ungrateful man, those places are ordained for a Fitness who gives false
evidence:
Par. 90. The fruit of every virtuous act, which thou hast done, O good man,
since thy birth, shall depart from thee to dogs, if thou deviate in speech from the
truth.
Par. 91. O friend of virtue, that supreme spirit, which thou believest one
and the same with thyself, resides in thy bosom perpetually, and is an all-
knowing inspector of thy goodness or of thy wickedness.
Par. 92. If thou beest not at variance, by speaking falsely, with Yama, or
the subduer of all, with Vaivaswata, or the punisher, with that great divinity
who dwells in thy breast, go not on a pilgrimage to the river Ganga, nor to the
plains of Curu, for thou hast no need of expiation.
Par. 93. Naked and sborn, tormented with hunger and thirst, and deprived
of sight, shall the man, who gives false evidence, go with a potsherd to beg food
at the door of an enemy.
· Par. 94. Headlong, in utter darkness, shall the impious wretch tumble into
hell, who, being interrogated in a judicial inquiry, answers one question falsely.
Par. 95. He who in a court of justice gives an imperfect account of any
transaction, or asserts a fact of which he was no eye-witness, shall receive pain
instead of pleasure, and resemble a man who eats fish with cagerness, and swallows
the sharp bones.
Par. 96. The gods are acquainted with no better mortal in this world, than
the man of whom the intelligent spirit, which pervades his body, has no distrust,
when he prepares to give evidence.
13
Bombay Presidency, I can with confidence. assert, in Mr. Crawfurd's
own words, that integrity is most prevalent among them as among the
educated in Europe. This mistake about the integrity of the educated
is also like that about the capacity for education. There are many
youths who know how to speak and write English without being
educated, and Englishmen often confound them with the educated.
Y
L
2
Polygamy.—The Parsees are strictly monogamists. The old and
young, the most bigoted orthodox and the most liberal, all agree in
their abhorrence of bigamy. They prevailed with government to make
bigamy criminal among them. I am not able to refer to the books, but
I have a strong impression that there is nothing in the religious
literature of the Old Persians indicative of the prevalence or sanction
of polygamy among them. It is the most universal belief among the
modern Parsees that they have always been monogamists, and they
consider concubinage, also, a sin. Greek testimony, however, is against
the Persians in this matter. But at the same time, the Greek best
authority lays the blame upon the Greeks themselves, for Herodotus
CD
(D
1. Par. 97. Hear, honest man, from a just enumeration in order, how many
kinsmen, in evidence of different sorts, a false witness kills, or incurs the guilt
of killing.
Par. 193. That man who, by false pretences, gets into his hands the goods of
another, shall, together with his accomplices, be punished by various degrees
of whipping or mutilation, or even by death.
Par. 257. Veracious witnesses, who give evidence as the law requires, are
absolved from their sins; but such as give it unjustly, shall each be fined two
hundred panas.
Chap. X., par. 93. Avoiding all injury to animated beings, veracity, abstaining
from theft, and from unjust seizure of property, cleanliness, and command over
the bodily organs, form the compendious system of duty which Menu has, ordained
for the four classes.
Chap. iv., par. 170. Even here below an unjust man attains no felicity; nor
he whose wealth proceeds from giving false evidence ; nor he who constantly
takes delight in mischief.
Chap. V., par. 109. Bodies are cleansed by water; the mind is purified by
truth ; the vital spirit, by theology and devotion; the understanding, by clear
knowledge.
Chap. ii., par. 97. To a man contaminated with sensuality, neither the Vedas,
nor liberality, nor sacrifices, nor strict observances, nor pious austerities, ever
procure felicity.
Chap. vii., par. 13. Let the king prepare a just compensation for the good,
and a just punishment for the bad : the rule of strict justice let him never
transgress.
Chap. viii., par. 111. Let no man of sense take an oath in vain, that is, not
in a court of justice, on a trifling occasion ; for the man who takes an oath in
vain, shall be punished in this life and in the next.
Par. 86. The guardian deities of the firmament, of the earth, of the waters,
of the human heart, of the moon, of the sun, and of fire, of punishment after
death, of the winds, of night, of both twilights, and of justice, perfectly know
the state of all spirits.clothed with bodies.
11
tells us, “ as soon as they (Persians) hear of any luxury they instantly
make it their own, and hence, among other novelties, they have learnt
unnatural lust from the Greeks. Each of them has several wives and a
still larger number of concubines." It appears, then, that we have
to thank our good friends, the European Greeks, for this unnatural lust.
The magi of the Medes are charged with worse institutions than
polygamy by some Greek authorities, but Mr. Rawlinson says, " whether
it had any real foundation in fact is very uncertain."*
The Desatir, which in some parts is, according to some, of great
antiquity, and according to others only a work about three hundred
years old, but, withal, the work of an Asiatic, says, “Marry only one
woman and do not look with a wicked eye on or cohabit with any other
woman." This fact deserves much consideration. Had the Persians
been originally polygamists, it is strange that, during their residence in
India for 1,200 years in the midst of the Hindus and Mohammedans,
who are more or less polygamists, they should have so strictly preserved
their monogamic character.
e
I asked Professor Spiegel to point out any texts in the religious
literature of the Parsees for or against polygamy.
He replied, “As far as my knowledge goes, there is no instance of
polygamy in the religious literature of the Parsees. It is said that
Zerdusht had three wives, but he had them successively. I share with
you the conviction that the majority of the Parsees were at all times
monogamists, although, perhaps, indulgences have been granted to kings
and other individuals of high station.” In another reply to further
inquiry from me, about these indulgences, he repeats that there is
not a single text of the Avesta or the later Parsis, which alluded to
polygamy, and that the indulgences he referred to were upon Greek
and Latin authority,
Moreover, Sir J. Malcolm thinks, " There is every reason to believe
that the manners of the ancient inhabitants of Persia were softened,
and in some degree refined, by a spirit of chivalry which pervaded
throughout that country from the commencement till the end of the
Kayanian dynasty. The great respect in which the female sex was
held was no doubt the principal cause of the progress they had made
in civilization ; these were at once the cause of generous enterprise and
* Vol. iii., p. 131.
15
its reward. It would appear that in former days the women of Persia
had an assigned and an honourable place in society, and we must
conclude that an equal rank with the male creation, which is secured to
them by the ordinance of Zoroaster, existed long before the time of that
reformer.” I can say, in confirmation of this, that even among the old
and most orthodox in the present Parsee society, the above remarks on
the respect to the female sex are true, and to the best of my recollec-
tion, I can confirm the remark of the equality of rank of the female
and male creation by the ordinance of Zoroaster.
- Mr. Rawlinson also thinks the Aryan races seem in old times to
have treated women with a certain chivalry, which allowed the develop-
ment of their physical powers, and rendered them specially attractive
alike to their own husbands and to the men of other nations.
The existence of polygamy among the Hindus cannot be denied, but
on reading the Institutes of Menu, I think that any one will be satisfied
that, short of a perfect equality with man, and strict monogamy, woman
has high consideration shown her. Menu says, “When females are
honoured then the deities are pleased ; but when they are dishonoured,
then religious acts become fruitless" (cha. iii. 56). The duties enjoined
to husbands and wives are as good as those of any other people. They
are summed up in the following words :-"Let mutual fidelity continue
to death (chap. ix. 101) ; this, in few words, may be considered as the
supreme law between husband and wife." I give below a few more
extracts.*
Strabo says of the Hindus, "and the wives prostitute themselves
unless chastity is enforced by compulsion.” This bears evident mark
of a hasty conclusion from some partial observation. Domestic matters
are always most difficulto to be ascertained by a foreigner. Certainly
the people who not only considered chastity a high virtue, as I have
already shown, but even a power, and represented it so in the drama,
cannot be charged with such degradation.
* Par. 58. On whatever houses the women of a family, not being duly honour-
ed, pronounce an imprecation, those houses, with all that belong to them,
utterly perish, as if destroyed by a sacrifice for the death of an enemy.
Par. 60. In whatever family the husband is contented with his wife, and the
wife with her husband, in that house will fortune be assuredly permanent.
Par. 28. From the wife alone proceed offspring, good household management,
solicitous attention, most exquisite caresses, and that heavenly beatitude which
she obtains for the manes of her ancestors, and for the husband himself.
Par. 165. While she who slights not her lord, but keeps her mind, speech, and
body devoted to him, attains his heavenly mansion, and by good men is called
sádbird, or virtuous.
.
16
Damayante, on being insulted by a hunter in the forest, uttered loud
her curse of wrath :-
" As my pure and constant spirit swerves not from Nishadha’s Lord,
Instant so may this base hunter lifeless fall upon the earth !
Scarce that single word was uttered, suddenly that hunter bold
Down upon the earth fell lifeless, like a lightning-blasted tree."*
On the subject of chivalry among the Hindus, Sir Bartle Frere, in a
speech at the distribution of prizes to the girls' schools of the Students'
Literary and Scientific Society of Bombay, says to the natives around
him, after alluding to the spirit of chivalry and its effects in Europe,
36 There is no doubt that our ancestors regarded the female portion of
the community as the great, almost the chief instruments in bringing
back civilisation to Europe. I wish all my native friends to recollect,
that this spirit, although if manifested chiefly there, was not confined
to Europe. If they read any history of Rajpootana, they will see that
this spirit was a desire to make them as far as possible 'equal to this.
This spirit is essentially the spirit of the old Hindu races—a spirit which
subdued India and drove out the barbarous tribes of those days, and
formed such communities that they are now, after the duration of many
centuries, still vigorous and still able to oppose to us a vital power,
which in spite of this government and its forces, can command the
respect of all who go among them.”ť
Lastly, I beg to draw Mr. Crawfurd's attention to the phenomenon.
of Mormonism anong European races of the nineteenth century.
It is a matter much to be regretted that gentlemen, like Mr. Craw-
furd, make sweeping denunciations against the character of the Asiatics.
They naturally provoke recriminations like the following, with all their
mischievous consequences.
A Parsee gentleman, during his residence in this country for nearly
eight years, disgusted with these sweeping charges, used to say :-
'Look at all the mass of untruths in the daily advertisements and puffs ;
in the daily language of shop-keepers ; how much swindling is there in
the concoction of companies for the benefit of the promoters only ; see
what the book on facts, failures, and frauds discloses ; what extremely
watchful care one is obliged to have in his dealings in the city, where
every kind of scoundrelism is so rife; how many manufacturers alırays
* Story of Nala, p. 35.
† Stud. Lit, and Scientific Society's Report, 1864-5.
· 17
V1
give you the best article only, at any price; how cleverly flaws are
found in contracts ; how artizans always require more time for wage-
work than for job ; how often you get goods different from patterns
and samples; and he asked what grounds are there for Europeans to
boast of higher commercial morality than that of the natives of
India ? ' He asked ;— Look at the number of immoral haunts in London,
read the account of Life in Liverpool, see the social evil and street
immorality, cases of unfaithfulness in domestic life, great immorality
wherever numbers of the two sexes work together, the amount and
character of crime disclosed by police and law reports, and election
corruption, and all this among a highly civilised people? Is there not
more reason for humiliation than boasting on the part of Europeans as
to their morality ? See the constant changes of views in the papers
about Indian matters as it suits the purpose of the writer at the moment;
the mode in which India has been acquired :-
“War, disguised as Commerce, came;
Won an empire, lost a name."
When it suits their purpose the Hindus are described as most loyal
obedient, civilised, etc. ; at other times they are cowardly wretches,
disloyal, ungrateful, barbarous. They first give a bad name, and then
cry out to hang them. They draw millions every year from India, and in
return abuse its people, caring not so much for it as for a rotten English
borough. They yield with the greatest reluctance and difficulty any of
the just rights and privileges demanded by the natives. Look at that
iniquitous annexation policy in spite of treaties ; see how the cost of the
Afghan war is clapped on the shoulders of India; their whole aim being
how to get most money from India.' Reasoning in this way he
concluded, the only God the English worshipped was gold ; they would
do anything to get it,' and he illustrated this by saying, “that if it were
discovered that gold existed in human blood, they would manage, and
with good reasons to boot, to extract it from thence.'
He said “the English boast of fair play, etc., and yet see with what
different measures they deal it out sometimes to the European and
native; with what flagrant injustice was Dr. Colah treated; how bully-
ing they are towards the weak, and very polite and reasonable with the
strong. Coercion alone, it seems, makes them do what is right. He
said that as long as an Englishman wanted anything he was the very
embodiment of politeness, but the object gained, he was no more the
same person, and pointing to the treatment of India generally, he thought
gratitude was not a very prominent trait in the English character.
They pay native officials most wretchedly, and yet claim from them
as efficient and honest service as they get from the highly-paid English
officials, forgetting how rife corruption was among themselves in the
days of small pay and much service. They complain of the untrust-
worthiness of native servants, but in their innocence they do not know
how cleverly English landladies and servants manage to have their
pickings and discounts.
.
Studying the English character in this manner, the gentleman
formed his opinion that the English were the most hypocritical, the
most selfish and unprincipled people, and had no right to boast of
higher morality and integrity. Now, if such evidence as Mr. Crawfurd
relies upon be conclusive as to the character of the natives of India,
I do not see how this Parsee gentleman's conclusions cannot be also
admitted as proved. Strange to say, the principal argument that was
flung at our face against our attempt some sixteen years ago to establish
female schools, was the state of English society, which the objectors,
from superficial observations, urged was not highly moral, as female
education afforded opportunities of secret intrigue and correspondence.
I trust it is not such kind of evidence that will be considered sufficient
by any thinking man to traduce whole nations.
When we left India in 1855 to come over here to open the first
Parsee firm, the principal advice given by our European friends was to
be exceedingly careful in our business in the city against the many
rogues we should meet with there. “In India," said some one, "we
keep one eye open ; in England, you must keep both eyes wide open."
· In the cause of truth and science I do not in the least object to the
proclamation of truth regardless of consequences; but I appeal to
Mr. Crawfurd himself, and to Englishmen, whether, in the instance of
the natives of India, the case at the worst is but doubtful, such whole-
sale abuse of the whole nation from persons of position and authority
in science is not much to be deplored; it creates ill feeling and distrust,
excites recrimination, and engenders a war of races.
ē
India, gentlemen, is in your power and at your mercy; you may
either give it a helping hand and raise it to your political and
enlightened condition, to your eternal glory, or keep it down with the
foot of the tyrant upon its neck, to your eternal shame! The choice is
in your power, and, as I am happy to believe that, true to English
nature, the first course is chosen, though not yet very energetically
1o
pursued, is it not very necessary, for men of weight or influence, not
to say or do anything to mar this great and good work ?
Abuse from persons like Mr. Landon of Broach, or Mr. Jeffries of the
East Indian Association, natives care not for. The natives know the
men and their motives; but disinterested gentlemen of weight and
authority ought to ponder well upon their responsibilities. I do not
mean to say that you should not point out to the natives of India their
real faults and shortcomingsmin fact, you cannot do a better act of
friendship; but pointing out real faults is different from traducing
indiscriminately. I may demand, in the words of Horace Wilson, “ Let
whatever they urge be urged in charity.”
In my remarks about the general moral character of the Parsees and
Hindus, I do not mean to be understood that they are models of
perfection; they have no doubt their fair share of black sheep also, and
their faults arising from centuries of foreign rule and more or less
oppression ; but, judging from the experience of some past years, there
is every hope of these faults being corrected by education.'
The intercourse between the Europeans and natives is not, except in
few instances, of that frankness and confidence which alone can enable
them to judge of each other rightly. Coupled with this, they very
often misunderstand each other; and the Englishman, generally being.
an educated man, judges of every native by the high standard of his
own enlightenment and civilization. The result is often anything but
a right conclusion, and hasty generalisation. Every wrong act of the
native is at once condemned as innate in the native; similar acts of
Europeans are of course only individual delinquencies, or capable of
explanation!
There is nothing strange in the natives feeling shy and misunder-
standing the rulers. The other day the Welsh farmers did not fill up
government returns about cattle, after deliberation, on the ground that
government wanted to tax cattle.
There is no doubt that owing to a colder and more bracing climate,
the enjoyment of free institutions for centuries, the advantages of high
educational establishments and high moral culture, free public opinion,
and the advancement in material prosperity and mode of life by the
discoveries of physical science and mineral resources, the modern
Englishman is, in his physical and mental development, in his pluck
and public spirit, in literature, science and arts, superior to the modern
20
Hindu ground down and depressed as he is by centuries of foreign rule
and oppression, and possessing less advantages of climate and food for
personal vigour. But the very fact that the Hindu has under all such
unfortunate circumstances preserved his character for morality and
virtue, for high commercial integrity, for his bravery and military
aptitude, and that he has 'at one time produced his vast ancient lore,
shows that there is no want of capacity, and that, under the influence
of British rule rightly administered, and re-invigorated by modern
western civilization, he may once more regain his former high position
among mankind.
At present he has not yet fully recovered from the staggering blow
of the most extraordinary revolution by which a small nation in the far
West has become a ruler of his vast country. He does not yet quite
understand his new rulers. He is only just beginning to see dimly that
after all he has perhaps some reason to congratulate himself for the
change. The higher classes, the rulers non displaced or still remaining,
are in a bewildering state of mind. They lying prostrate, with all their
energies fled, and smarting at their fallen condition, cannot be naturally
expected to reconcile themselves suddenly to the loss of their power,
and to find themselves, once rulers of millions, now of less importance
than an ordinary English official, and sometimes treated rith injustice or
indifference. The revolution in all its aspects, military, political, social,
or intellectual, is so extraordinary and unparalleled in the history of
mankind, that it cannot but be a work of time before a people, number-
ing two hundred millions, though now a fallen, but once a highly civilised
nation, can be reconciled and assimilated to the new order of things..
Under these circumstances, coupled with some unfortunate social
barriers between the rulers and the ruled, the ignorance of each other's
language, and the little interest shown by Englishmen, the Englishman
and the native of India are still at a wide distance from each other, and
know therefore little of each other's true merits and faults. The time,
however, I hope will come, when, as some who have taken a real
interest in the people have already done, the English people will with
better knowledge think well of the natives of India. It will be the
fault of the rulers themselves if they do not find the Hindus a loyal and
a grateful people, and capable of the highest degree of civilisation,
Even Abool Fazul, the minister of the greatest Mohammedan ruler of
India, has borne high testimony for them. Unfortunately, the mischief
of distance between the Englishman and natives is aggravated by the
conduct of a class of Englishmen in India, who, either from interested
CD
21
motives or from pride of superiority, always run down the natives,
and keep up an ill feeling between the races. Sometimes some English
gentlemen claim ten or twenty years' experience who have hardly been
on intimate terms, or have familiarly conversed, with as many natives, or
have hardly learnt to speak as many sentences in the language of the
natives as the number of years they claim experience for; and such
gentlemen constitute themselves the infallible judges of the character
of the people. Perhaps a parallel to this to some extent is to be found
in the accounts about Englishmen themselves given by European
foreigners. When Englishmen are incorrectly described by these
foreigners, they of course open their whole artillery of ridicule upon
such ignorance, and yet it does not always occur to them that in
their judgment on natives of India, with less mutual acquaintance, they
may be as much, if not more, egregiously mistaken.
There are several peculiar difficulties in India in the way of rapid
progress. Education permeates the mass very slowly on account of
many different languages; the efforts of the educated to improve their
countrymen remain confined within small limits, while in this country
an idea in the Times is known over the whole length and breadth
of the land within twenty-four hours, and the whole nation can act
as a man. .
The natives are sometimes charged with want of moral courage. We
have only to look at the difference of treatment by the Bombay Govern-
ment between a native and an English judge-I mean Mr. Manockjee
Cursetjee and Mr. Anstey—and one may ask what result can be expected
from such circumstances.
However, though such unfortunate circumstances do now and then
occur, the educated are beginning to learn that the rights of intellect
and justice are the same for all, and that, though often snubbed and
discouraged, they may rely upon the ultimate triumph of truth and
justice.
Lastly, I think Mr. Crawfurd's treatment of this important subject
is one-sided, and not judicial and scientific. The paper professes to draw
a conclusion from certain facts, but to me it seems the facts are selected
for, and adapted to, a foregone conclusion. All explanatory causes of
difference are made light of and thrown into the background, and all
tending to prove the conclusion brought most forcibly into the fore-
ground. The whole reasoning is that, because there is a diversity
in the intellectual, moral, and physical character of various nations,
22
they must therefore have separate origins, but the premises do not
warrant the conclusion ; moreover, there are several assumptions which
are not correct.
In one place a comparison is made between different countries, and
it is assumed that the greater the natural resources the greater must
be the development; while a most important feature in human nature,
_“necessity the mother of invention,”-greater difficulties compelling
greater exertions, and calling forth the exercise of higher powers, and
the bracing effects of colder climates, are ignored. In one place the
Phoenicians, Jews, and Mamelukes are taken over to the European side
as they seem to disturb the argument.
Mr. Crawfurd alludes to the bad governments in Asia as their own
creation, as if bad governments had never existed in Europe, and no
European kingdoms or empires had to thank bad governments and
degeneracy for their fall.*
One principal objection to Mr. Crawfurd's paper is an unfair
comparison between the old Asiatic civilisation and the modern European
civilisation, with all the impetus given to its material advancement by
the discoveries of physical science, both in the arts of war and peace.
The ancient civilisation of both continents may be a legitimate subject
of comparison. The Asiatics, after their fall from the first civilisation,
had not new blood and vigour brought to them. The Goths and other
wild tribes, mainly derived from Asiatic races, permanently settled in
and brought new vigour to Europe, and created a new civilisation in it
with the advantages of a ground-work of the old civilisation. It would be
interesting to make a fair comparison between the old civilisations of the
two continents and between the modern condition of the people among
whose ancestors the old civilisations prefailed. But to compare a hand
armed with an Armstrong gun with an unarmed one, and thence to draw
the conclusion of superior strength and warlike spirit of the former, may
be complacent, but does not appear to me to be fair.
Differences in the conditions of nations and their various peculiarities,
arising from differences of political, physical, and social circumstances,
and these circumstances reacting upon each other, require careful study
and due allowance before attributing any share to innate difference.
* In the nineteenth century, and in the very heart of Europe, a king claims
"divine right," and a minister sets all law and justice at defiance. Poland and
the Duchies are a strange commentary upon the political justice of Europe. Has
not Italy till very lately groaned under bad governments ?
23
I do not mean to undertake here the solution of the most difficult
problem of the unity or plurality of races, or of maintaining or denying
what may legitimately follow from Mr. Crawfurd's conclusions, that there
are as many distinct races with distinct origins as there are countries or
even provinces with peculiarities of their own. I leave to ethnologists to
say whether the present philological and physical researches which
Mr. Crawfurd has altogether ignored, and other ethnological inquiries,
lead to the conclusion of the unity or plurality of races, or whether more
light is still necessary upon the subject.
I shall only make a few remarks suggested by the paper. The races
of Europe present a large variety in their size, from the Highlanders to
the Laps. The Asiatic races have their Afghans, of the large size, and
other races of different sizes. Herodotus writes :* “For in boldness
and warlike spirit the Persians were not a whit inferior to the Greeks ;"
in another place he says :f “And in the mid battle, when the Persians
themselves and the Saca had place, the barbarians were victorious, and
broke and pursued the Greeks in the inner country.” In the compari-
son between the Greeks and Persians; Herodotus accounts for the
inferiority of the latter in deficiency of discipline and arms only.
Rawlinson, in his Five Monarchies, judges from the sculptures that the
ancient Aryan race is a noble variety of the human species-tall, grace-
ful, and stately; physiognomy handsome and somewhat resembling the
Greek; and that on the authority of Xenophon and Plutarch the Median
and Tromen Persians were remarkable for their stature and beauty. Pal-
grave calls the Arabs of inhabited lands and organised governments one
of the noblest races of earth. I A large portion of the Sikhs and Afghans,
and large numbers of Bramans in Central India, have fáir complexions
and fine features.
We must not also forget, in comparisons of nations, the part which
accident, or commonly called luck, plays. We know what part storms
played in the defeat of the navy of Xerxes and of the armada of the
Spaniards. The European lives in a colder and bracing climate. I do
not suppose the innate physical character of any European race will enable
it to preserve its vigour and strength intact on the plains of India for
* Vol. iv., p. 354. † Vol. iii., p. 405. I Vol. i., p. 24.
§ Now a single law sometimes fixes the character of a nation for a time for good
or evil. What extraordinary changes have been wrought since the recognition of
free trade by this nation ! I do not suppose Mr. Crawfurd means the English of
the past generation were a different race, because they were protectionists, less
tolerant, and in several other respects different from the present generation.
24
a long time. The European, says Mr. Crawfurd, enjoys walking, the
Asiatic prefers sitting. The Asiatic, when here, enjoys walking as much
as any European can do, for he must walk in this climate to preserve his
health. The European in India, after the fatigue and heat of the
day, often prefers sitting in a cool breeze. With the European dress, and
in this climate, sitting with his legs tucked up under him, becomes irksome
to the Asiatic also. The rigidity of the muscle of the European is much
modified in India. I suppose it is a well known fact to ethnologists that
animals are capable of acquiring a large variety of physical characters
in different climates, though originally of the same stock. Mr. Crawfurd's
statement, that the Jews of Asia are substantially Persian among Persians,
Arab among Arabs, and difficult to distinguish from Hindus among
Hindus, and that their social advancement in Europe is with the people
of the community among which they dwell, tends rather against his
theory, showing that external circumstances have modified the character
of a people within historic times.
In estimating the character of a people, we must not forget that some-
times single events have given a peculiar direction to their character
and history. . Had it not been for taxed tea, we do not know whether
there would have been a United States now. Had the confederates been
victorious, what would have been the future history of the United
States and of Slavery ? Had Britain been connected with the continent
of Europe, it is probable that it might have had a different history,
either a large European empire, or a province of some other. What
change was wrought in the character of the Britons when they
complained, “ The Picts drive us to the sea, and the sea drives us to the
Picts ?” Was that change in character, the result of external influence
of the Roman civilisation and Government, or not ?
The one-sided and partial treatment of the subject by Mr. Crawfurd
is best illustrated by the comparison made between Greece and the
Island of Java. The wide difference between the climate and products
of the two countries is admitted, but the legitimate conclusion of its
effects in stimulating or checking exertion are ignored ; the rest of the
comparison might as well not have been made.
The Guzerati-speaking Hindus are eminently commercial, and carry
the Ghauts and in Concan the Maratha-speaking Hindus are quite
uncommercial, except so far as some inland trade is concerned. Whether
these may be considered as two distinct races by Mr. Crawfurd or not I
25
cannot say, but there is this marked difference in their character, arising,
to a great extent, from local and historical circumstances, the Guzerat
people having commercial connections with Arabia and the West from
ancient times.
Again, in Western India there is even now a marked difference in the
educational, and therefore intellectual condition of the Mahommedans
and Hindus of Concan ; though they have the same physiognomy, speak
the same language, and, in fact, are originally the same people, there
are not half a dozen of these Mahommedans attending the English
seminaries, while the Hindus swarm in numbers. Should this state of
things continue for some length of time, the difference in the characters
of these two portions will be so great that, according to Mr. Crawfurd's
theory, I suppose they will have to be put down as two distinct races.
I wish I had more time to examine more fully the several points I
have touched upon, and also to examine a few more statements of
Mr. Crawfurd's paper, especially about Hindu astronomy, music, and
architecture, and Chinese literature and character. The ethnologist
should study man in all his bearings, and make due allowances for every
cause of disturbance. Mr. Crawfurd's conclusion may be right or wrong,
but, with every deference to him, all I wish to submit to the Society is
that the evidence produced is not only not sufficient but defective in
itself, inasmuch as it is superficial, and several statements are not quite
correct.
I have not made these remarks for the pleasure of objecting, or simply
for the sake of defending the Asiatics; truth cannot be gainsaid, and I
hope I shall be the last person to deny it wherever it is proved to exist,
no matter in howsoever unpleasant a form. The sole business of science,
found, and not to bend and adapt facts to a foregone conclusion.
RE
II.
ENGLAND'S DUTIES TO INDIA.
(Read before a Meeting of the East India Association,
London, May 2nd, 1867.)
Gentlemen,-I propose to discuss the following three questions—Is
the British rule in India a benefit to India and England ? If so, what
are the best means to make it endure the longest time possible ? Are
such means adopted ?
The political condition of India before the consolidation of the British
rule was the usual Oriental despotism, with all its regular attendants of
disorder, want of law, want of security of property and life, and general
ignorance. True it is that now and then monarchs appeared who made
the welfare of the country their anxiety and duty. Well may India
rejoice in some great names. But it cannot be denied that India was
for a long time politically a degraded nation. The intrigues and
murders in the families of the many rulers in the different parts of
India, their imbecility and their utter incompetence to understand their
duties towards their subjects, left the people of India without that
powerful political aid which is so vital to the growth and welfare of
any nation ; added to this, the constant internal wars between the dif
ferent rulers completed the obstacles to healthy development. War,
oppression, and exaction may be said to have been the normal political
condition of India.
In their moral condition the natives of India have been equally
unfortunate during centuries by the influence of an ignorant priesthood,
superstition, and some unfortunate institutions, such as suttee, lifelong
widowhood, female infanticide, &c. Materially, India was at a stand-
still. The agriculturist tilled the soil, reaped the crop, lived upon it and
died, just as his forefathers did thousands of years ago. The artizan
worked on in the same ancestral way and line. There was utter stagna-
tion and gradual retrogression. All desire to progress and improve, to
develop the resources of the country, had completely died out; on the
contrary, the wisest course was that of our "ancestors.” The division
into castes and distinct professions checked any growth of genius and
talent, and prevention from foreign travelling checked any expansion
of ideas and general knowledge. On its intellect all the above baneful
causes had their full effect. The literature of thousands of years ago is
the literature of which the modern Hindu is proud. He can only point
27
to his Kalidas and his Panini, his Ramayan and his Mahabharata, his
Veds and his Menu's Institutes.
Contrast with this the results of British rule. Law and order are its
first blessings. Security of life and property is a recognized right of the
people, and is more or less attained according to the means available, or
the sense of duty of the officials to whom the sacred duty is entrusted.
The native now learns and enjoys what justice between man and man
means, and that law instead of the despot's will is above all. To the
enlightenment of the country the results of the univerities and educa-
tional establishments bear witness. In place of the old general darkness
and ignorance thousands of natives have derived, and millions will derive
hereafter, the benefit of the highest degree of enlightenment which man
has attained. In material progress it can be easily seen what impulse will be
given to the development of the natural resources of the country by railways,
canals, public roads, &c., ard, above all, by the introduction of English
enterprise generally. The social elevation of the people, their rescue from
some of the most horrible rites ever known to mankind, and the better sense
of domestic, social, and religious duties awakened in them, are boons of the
highest importance to a nation sunk for centuries in a debasing superstition.
The last but not the least of the benefits which India is deriving at the hands
of the British is the new political life they are being inspired with. They
are learning the most important lesson of the highest political condition
that a nation can aspire to. The freedom of speech which the natives are
now learning the necessity of, and are enjoying, and with which the natives
can now talk to their rulers face to face for what they want, is another
invaluable blessing.
Such, gentlemen, is the picture the Englishman presents to the natives
of India, and asks whether the British rule is not a benefit and a blessing to
their nation. Unfortunately, this question is sometimes asked in the man-
ner in which the artist in 'Punch' asked the candid opinion of his friend,
by first giving the friend a hint that whoever found fault with his picture
should deserve to be knocked down. The answer naturally in such a case
can be easily conceived. But there are Englishmen, both here and in
India, who ask this question in all sincerity of purpose, who in a spirit of
true patriotism on the one hand, and true philanthropy on the other, desire
a candid reply as much for England's as for India's sake, and the candid
answer is sometimes given. Various are the replies, according to the
feelings, the interests, and the knowledge of the answerers, and the points
of view from which they look upon the matter.
28
To those who are overthrown and who have lost their power, the ques-
tion strikes as an impertinence. They are not in a mood to understand
all this benefit and blessing, but, smarting under their fall, reply with a
bleeding heart, “Blessing, indeed! Rulers of millions, we are now either
beggars or rebels,”—a reply given unfortunately in lines of blood in
some of the deplorable events of 1857.
2
Those who still retain more or less power and state, either real or nominal,
and who have now commenced to understand the effects of English rule so
far as they are concerned, say:—“It is true that Englishmen always pro-
claim their justice, honesty, and fair play, but what guarantee is there that
their acts will always accord with their words ?” The cases of several
annexations and of Mysore are a strange commentary upon these pro-
fessions. These princes naturally wish to be satisfied that the English are
really just, that they would always subordinate might to right, and that
in their dealings with them honesty and not“ empire” would be their
guiding principle.
CD
The mass of the people, even up to the present time, understand but
little the "benefits.” To them the existing Government has always been
the sircar ; whether it was Mahommedan, Hindu, or British, has not mat-
tered much. They can hardly be expected to understand and appreciate
the various benefits in all their different aspects. They see them yet but
dimly : in fact, they are often hopelessly. puzzled if an attempt is made to
edify them by a lecture on the benefits of the British rule. The poor
labourer has hitherto had his simple criterion. If he is able to earn and
enjoy his little without disturbance, and lias his creed tolerated and his
feelings not hurt, all is right with him, and his ideal of a happy political
condition is realized, no matter who rules over him. If, on the contrary,
any causes bring starvation to him, or outrage his religion or his
feelings, all is wrong with him, and he curses his Raj, be it English,
Mahommedan, or Hindu. But the fusion which railroads are now
gradually effecting, and the various questions with reference to labour
and the ryots now coming under public discussion, are, however, now
teaching this hitherto apathetic and ignorant mass some new political
lessons, and creating a new national life: with what result in the future
will depend upon the character and conduct of their present British
teachers. At present their ideas of benefits, or otherwise, of the British
rule are confined to the conduct of the officials of their district. These
officials are all sircar, all “Mabap.” They can make the British Raj
beloved or hated as they like.
A
29
But the reply which most concerns the rulers as well as the future of
'India, is that of the educated and the thinking portion of the natives.
They admit fully the force of the question. They acknowledge the
benefits to their fullest extent, and express gratitude. But they say all
this is true, but it is not the whole truth. The picture has another
side also. Security of life and property we have better in these times,
no doubt, but the destruction of a million and a half lives in one famine
is a strange illustration of the worth of the life and property thus secured.
In the shape of "home charges” alone there has been a transfer of
about 100 millions of pounds sterling, exclusive of interest on public
debt, from the wealth of India to that of England since 1829, during
the last thirty-six years only. The total territorial charges in India since
1829 have been about 820 millions. Supposing that out of the latter
sum only one-eighth represents the sum remitted to England by
Europeans in Government service for maintenance of relatives and
families, for the education of children, for savings made at the time of
retiring, the sums expended by them for purchase of English articles for
their own consumption, and also the sums paid in India for Government
stores of English produce and manufactures--there is then another
100 millions added to the wealth of England. In principal alone,
therefore, there is 200 millions, which at the ordinary interest
of 5 per cent. will now make up above 450 millions, not to say
anything of the far better account to which an energetic people like the
English have turned this tide of wealth. This addition to the wealth
of England of 450 millions is only that of the last thirty-seven years.*
Now with regard to the long period of British connection before 1829,
the total of territorial charges in India from 1787 to 1829 amounts to
about 600 millions. Taking only one-tenth of this for remittance for
purposes mentioned above, there is about 60 millions in principal, which ,
with interest to the present day, added to the acquisitions previous to
1787, may fairly be put down for 1150 millions.† Thus there are some
1600 millions, if not more, added to the wealth of England from the
Indian territorial source; but, to avoid any possibility of over-estimate
at all, say 500 millions, an amount not far short of all investments for
railways in this country. From commercial returns also it can be shown
that during the last fifty years only, England has made no commercial
return to India and China for above 300 millions of imports independ-
ent of interest, or, in other words, kept this amount as the price of her
* Appendix A.
.
† Appendix B.
30
rule in India.* England thus derives at present the benefit, in the shape
of interest alone (not to say anything of commercial and manufacturing
profits) of the above 500 millions, some 25 millions a year. In addition
to this, the tribute in its hundred shapes continues to flow, and brings
to England some 10 millions a-year more, or say 8 millions; England,
therefore, is benefiting from its Indian connection to something like 33
millions a year, at an exceedingly low estimate. Besides this extraordi-
nary accession to the wealth of England, India finds at present provision
and career, to the exclusion of her own children in both respects, for
about 12,000 from the middle and higher ranks of the people of this
country, and above 60,000 from the lower ranks, affording much relief
to the professions and industries of this country.t Then, there is the
political debt of nearly 100 millions as the result of the British rule.
It is easy to speak of the elasticity and irrepressibility of the
English revenue, and the honesty of the English taxpayer, and to
contrast these favourably with those of India ; but it is not borne in
mind that out of the revenues raised in India, nearly one-fourth goes
clean out of the country, and is added to the resources of England.
Were it not for the opium revenue, so fortunate for India, though one
cannot be sure of its morality, the condition of India would have been
by this time not a very enviable one.
With regard to the expansion of the commerce of India under
British rule, the question is whether India has profited by it. The
British rulers may claim credit if it can be shown that India has derived
some commercial profit from its commerce after paying the price for the
British rule.
The foreign invaders of former times had their plunder once for all.
They returned to their country laden with spoils, and there was an end
of the evll. India by her industry perhaps soon made up the gap in
her national wealth. When all other foreign invaders retained possession
of the country, and became its rulers, they at least became of the country.
If they plundered the rich and screwed the ryot, the wealth was still
in the country. If individuals were plundered or oppressed, the country
remained as rich as ever. But entirely different has been the case with
the foreign rule of the British. In former times the country received
blows and bruises here and there, but her vital blood was not lost. The
natural action of her constitution sooner or later cured the wounds.
* Appendix C. .
.
+ Appendix D.
31
But now, as the country is being continually bled, its vitality and
vigour must get low, unless permanent improvements already made, or
future development of her material resources, shall restore it to its
former health. In point of security of life also, can it be said that there
has been less loss of it during the British connection than for the same
period previously ?
1
There is again the almost total exclusion of the natives from a
share and voice in the administration of their own country. Under
former rulers there was every career open for the talented. For the
voice of a few small boroughs Parliament has been wrangling for years,
while the Indian budget of over 40 millions is voted before scarcely a
dozen honourable members, and without a single voice to represent the
millions who pay the taxes. Why should not 200 millions of your
fellow-subjects who contribute so largely to your wealth and prosperity,
and who form an integral part of the British empire, have a few repre-
sentatives in the Imperial Parliament to give their voice on imperial:
questions?
Such is the reply of the educated and thinking. They admit all
the benefits, but urge that if India is now deriving the benefit of law
and order, England has also had the benefit of India having enormously
contributed to her wealth, and of having rendered her one of the mighty
powers of the earth. As the reply and feelings of the educated and
thinking are of the greatest importance to the rulers, I think it neces-
sary here to show thit the opinions I have expressed above are not
simple creations of my imagination. I shall cite hereafter a few
instances out of many of the expression of these views from the native
papers,
There is no doubt that the influence and enlightenment of the
educated being not only entirely the creation of the English rule, but
even of the English type, the educated class is grateful for the boon and
thoroughly loyal. True it is that historical acts of patriotism, the staunch
and deep-rooted patriotism of Englishmen-how they would fight to
the last man before allowing an inch of their soil to be conquered by a
foreigner, how as it were by the mere wave of the magic wand, to the
call of patriotism, 200,000 volunteers suddenly sprang from the ground
for the defence of their country—perplex the educated in India, and
their patriotism is put to a severe trial. But notwithstanding this per-
plexity, the educated or thoughtful patriot of India believes that his
best patriotism consists in wishing the continuance of the British rule,
32
as he hopes from the high sense of honour and duty of the Briton the
future true welfare and regeneration of his country. For instance,
while entertaining the views about the drawbacks arising from the
present rulers belonging to another country, "The Native Opinion,' an
English paper conducted by educated natives, gladly avows that under
English rule educated natives hope their country will doubtless progress,
though slowly.* "The Rastgoftar,' a vernacular paper, asks “What
better means than education can be shown for not only the good and
the prosperity of the people, but love and loyalty towards the Raj?t
Contrasting the European and native rule, the same paper says, “The
rule with which the subjects are distressed and dissatisfied, cannot last.
long. The chief reason why most of the natives like English rule better
is, that the Government always strive and desire to promote the happi-
ness of the people.”"The Bombay Samachar,' a vernacular paper, in
the course of an article recommending strongly this Association to the
support of the natives, remarks, “ that it is not at all wise to fight the
present sircar and to raise the flag of independence." "The Hindoo
Patriot,' an English paper conducted by natives, says, "No educated
native will prefer any other rule to British rule. England has done to
India an amount of good which no other conquering nation has been
able to do. So long as this fact is remembered, no feelings of disloyalty
can exist in the mind of the Indian."| Besides the inference from the
above extracts, I can venture to assert, from my own knowledge, that
the loyalty of the educated is undoubted, and it is the more necessary
that their views should be known and attended to by the rulers. I give
you now the few extracts promised above, to show that the reply I have
sketched before to the question of the benefits to India from the British
rule, is not merely my own creation. Referring to “the state of India,
the taxes collected in which are partly spent elsewhere,” the Native
Opinion' says:"Native art and trade languish day by day, money
becomes more and more scarce, and a general feeling is generated of
despondency and despair of all future prosperity for the country and the
race..... But our would-be economists about town' would
not let the people of India into the dangerous knowledge that their
country has to pay a "tribute'; nor would they like to lead England out
of the unpleasant delusion that India is to her an unmitigated source of
weakness and loss. It is true England gives a Government which we
could secure at the hands of few other nations (though it may be a form
* 2-12-66
+ 7-1-67
27-1-67
$ 15-1-67
|| 18-12-65
33
of mere hyperbole to say that India is indebted for all the prosperity
and wealth it possesses to its annexation to the British Empire,' for
before that connection was formed, classic Ind was not the poorest country
in the world, and it was her riches, and not poverty, which has tempted
one and all of her conquerors, and the company of traders especially,
hitherward); but that is no reason why the price of the boon should be
pitched so high, or why nothing should be done which fairly could
be to lighten the drawback.”* The 'Rastgoftar,' in alluding to the
hone charges, says:—“Though the subject is an old one, yet it is of
extreme importance. Up to this day, by England's dragging away
the wealth of this country, Hindustan is crushed down." † The
Suriodaya,' a vernacular paper, has several articles on the duties
and shortcomings of the British rule, in the course of which, in giving
its opinion as to the undesirability of any other foreign power
displacing the British rule, it says, in illustration :-"A fox having got
entangled among some creepers, a swarm of flies pounced upon him to
suck his blood. A crow asked the fox whether he might drive away
the flies. "No,' replied the fox, “these flies are now satisfied, and if
you drive them away another hungry swarm would take their place.""}
The paper further expresses a hope that England may now be satisfied
with what it has acquired, and not covet more, and let the natives
have a fair share in the government. The · Bombay Samachar' thinks
the ryots are not so well off now as they once were."S More than
twenty years ago, to my knowledge, a small band of Hindu students
and thoughtful gentlemen used to meet secretly to discuss the effects
of British rule upon India. The home charges, and the transfer of
capital from India to England in various shapes, and the exclusion of
the children of the country from any share or voice in the administration
of their own country, formed the chief burden of complaint. These
gentlemen were otherwise very well disposed. They were no would-be
agitators. They were, and have been, peaceful and good citizens and
subjects, and have since been either efficient Government servants, or
have followed successfully some independent profession. They were
discussing the matter, I think, more to mourn over the event than for
any active purposes. At least, they were brooding over it gloomily.
The Hindu Patriot,' comparing Algeria with India, says :—“He
(Napoleon) has proclaimed the eligibility of the Arabs for all military
offices of the empire, and all civil offices in Algeria. The policy of the
British Government in India has been rather illiberal in this respect.
* 30-12-66
+ 23-12-66
9 9-66
§‘Native Opinion,' 27-1-67.
3
.
34
Until a few years since the civil service of India was a close monopoly ;
and even now, when apparently all invidious distinctions have been
swept away, the monopoly exists in practice. ... Indeed, the
Mahommedan government, which was admittedly a tyrannical
government, was in this respect a more liberal one than that under
which we now live. Some of the Hindus filled, during the reign
of the Mussulman kings, the highest civil and military offices in the
empire.”* The "Indu Prakash,' a Marathi and English paper, in
complaining about the examination for the civil service being confined
to England, says :-“In fact, if an honest experiment is to be made
whether the natives are capable of the highest qualifications for govern-
ment, there is no way but to open the civil service examination in India.
... This is the only way of trying the experiment. And if
England really governs India as a sacred trust, and is really to be an
exception to the general historical truth that even the best government
of a foreign people is a curse to the subject race, she cannot but adopt
it.” Alluding to the establishment of a Parliament in Egypt, the
*Native Opinion ' says :-“India under Britain must not be left behind
the country of the Pharos under Ibrahim Patcha.” | If necessary, I
think I can give a volume of extracts from various vernacular and
English papers conducted by natives, corroborative of my statements
that the educated are thoroughly loyal, and that they feel strongly the
loss of wealth to the country, the great necessity for developing its
resources, and the exclusion of natives from a reasonable participation
and voice in the affairs of their own country. I hope the short,
imperfect sketch I have given above will give some idea of the present
thoughts and feelings of different classes of natives. I have endea-
voured to give as faithful an account as I possibly could from my own
personal knowledge, as well as my reading on the first question.
Now arises, therefore, the important second question I have given
at the cutset : What are the best means to secure to India the benefits
of the British rule for the longest time possible, with the greatest
benefit to India as well as to England, and with satisfaction to the people
of India ? The question has been treated in various ways. First, it is
urged by some that India is conquered by the sword, and must be
retained by the sword. This I may call the policy of the sword.
Second, some advise to treat the natives kindly, but never to give them
any share in the administration : or, the policy of kind despotism.
* 2-65
+ 27-3-67
# 3-2-67
35
1
Third, equality among all her Majesty's subjects and honesty, with the
princes of India : or, the policy of justice and honesty.
MA
The first policy simply amounts to this—that England may keep
India as long as it can by a strong grasp, and India may drive out
England as quickly as it can. No prophet is required to foretell the
ultimate result of a struggle between a discontented two hundred
millions, and a hundred thousand foreign bayonets. A drop of water
is insignificant, but an avalanche may sometimes carry everything before
it. The race is not always to the swift. A disaffected nation may fail
a hundred times, and may rise again, but one or two reverses to a
foreigner cannot but be fatal. Every failure of the natives, adding
more burdens, will make them the more impatient to throw off the
foreign yoke. Besides, there are some other European nations who, I
suppose, would be but too glad to see the British rule in India in such
plight. Suppose that England is able to hold by the sword for ever,
But is it the infamy of perpetual tyranny and inglorious avarice that
is the highest aspiration of the British nation, or the regeneration of a
nation and the progress and happiness of mankind ? But I shall not do
the British people an injustice by discussing seriously this narrow-minded
and short-sighted policy. It is utterly contrary and repugnant to the
genius and character of the English nation that it could or would, be a
tyrant. It could, or would, no more inflict a despotism over others than
it would submit to it itself. It is this circumstance, in fact, which is
the principal, if not the only consolation to the natives of India against
all the drawbacks of the foreign rule.
The second policy scarcely deserves better treatment than the
policy of the sword. It is not possible in human nature that two
hundred millions of people—a people who have known power, wealth,
and civilization, government, laws, literature, and art, long before they
most intellectual play yet discovered, and who are still unsurpassed in
the application of art to manufactures—would quietly remain contented
as merely something better than helots, and would be dead to all high
aspirations and noble ambition. The expounders of this, as well as the
first policy, forget that it is the thought that under British rule lies the
hope of a political and mental regeneration, that so well conciliates
and reconciles the thinking portion of the native community, and turns
their patriotism towards loyalty to the British rule. I appeal to the
common-sense of Englishmen, whether a nation is more likely to be
36
long reconciled and grateful to benefactors or despots, even though kind,
Declarations of policies like these, though futile, create unnecessary
dissatisfaction and distrust in the minds of the natives. The short-
sighted persons who make them little know the amount of mischief they
do, and the obstacles they throw in the way of peaceful and rational
submission to government, and in promoting the sentiments of loyalty
which at present is naturally a delicate plant, requiring the utmost care
of the rulers to foster and strengthen it. If such policy were actually
pursued, India must continue to sink lower in degradation in a worse
degree than under former rules or invasions, and the boast of benefits of
British rule would only become a mere hypocrisy and delusion, and the
rule itself a curse. Each such utterance creates the necessity of
thousands of English bayonets. I must however pause, and not do the
British people an injustice by discussing this policy any more than the
first. Fortunately both for Epgland and India these and such other
policies do not find an echo in the British people. They have been and
shall be idle words, with the only result of doing now and then some
unnecessary mischief.
The third policy, the policy inaugurated by the great and good
statesman Lord Stanley, and proclaimed to the people and princes of
India in the name of our gracious Sovereign, is the hope of India and
anchor of England. You can scarcely conceive the enthusiasm and
heartiness with which this proclamation was welcomed by those who
understood it. A new day dawned to them, full of brightness and
hope. It is, gentlemen, fortunate and congratulatory that at the present
stage of the British rule the policy to be pursued by England towards
India is not a vexed question, at least so far as the actual rulers are:
concerned. The Sovereign and the ministers have finally decided that
all-important point, to their great glory and to the satisfaction of the
people of India. It is gratifying and hopeful to find that the statesmen
who rule and the thinkers who guide the policy of this country have
distinctly seen and clearly enunciated that India should be ruled for
India's sake ; that the true and only tower of strength to the English
rule is not a hundred thousand English soldiers, but the willing consent
and grateful loyalty of the people themselves; and that when the time
comes for a separation, and which I trust is far distant, the world may
rejoice in a glorious chapter added to its history, of the regeneration of
an old, but long unfortunate race, and India may for over remember
gratefully, the benefactors who restored her to more than her ancient ,
splendour and civilization. There is no donbt in my mind that since
37
the “Stanley policy” has been proclaimed, every true patriot of India
wishes a long continuance of the present rule. For he knows well that
it is by this means only that law and order, political elevation,
intellectual development, and material prosperity shall be attained ;
that the greatest misfortune that can befall India, and plunge it
again into anarchy after having already paid such heavy price
for the benefit of the British rule, would be the withdrawal of the British
sovereignty. She will have suffered all the evils of a foreign rule with-
out deriving any of its benefits, which are yet but in the seed, and
require time to grow and fructify. They hopefully look to a bright
future.
The only right policy having been thus decided and proclaimed in the
name of the sovereign, the third question arises, whether the best means
are being adopted to fulfil it, to win the loyalty and attachment of the
Indian subjects and princes. I am afraid as much is not done hitherto
as is desirable and practicable towards the accomplishment of this great
object. The difficulties thrown in the way of according to the natives
such reasonable share and voice in the administration of the country as
they are able to take, are creating some uneasiness and distrust. The
universities are sending out hundreds and will soon begin to send out
thousands of educated natives. This body naturally increases in in-
fluence. The native papers are mostly in their hands. Their loyalty
is as yet undoubted. The native press is beginning to exercise a large
influence on the mass of the people. The educated class are becoming
their natural leaders. The education, as I said before, is thoroughly
English, and therefore highly favourable to the English rule. The
isolation of thousands of years is now being broken through. Calcutta,
Bombay, Madras, and other places of importance, now freely and fully
exchange ideas. A common language among the educated is forging
strong bonds of nationality. The railways are producing a similar effect
on the mass of the population. They see and know more of each other,
and so at least politically their sympathies are growing stronger towards
each other. In short, whatever may be the effect in other matters, the
nation is now gradually becoming assimilated for political purposes,
either for good or for evil, as the rulers may choose. The time is come
when the rulers should seriously consider the question. As you now
Sow, so will you reap hereafter. It is high time that some decisive steps
should be taken to turn the strong current of the gratitude and loyalty
in the rising generations to the support of the British rule, and to give
a greater vitality and force to the opinion now more or less prevailing,
38
that the true patriotism of the native consists in his desire for a long
English rule. Once this is achieved, once the leaders of the mass are
with you, what shall there be to fear, or what will require the 80,000 or
100,000 bayonets ? The loyal heart is a stronger weapon than any
that the hand of the tyrant will ever forge. It is therefore necessary
that some reasonable scope should be now given to their just and legi-
timate aspirations. Such timely concessions given with grace and with-
out asking, will carry with them a force of gratitude, which cannot be
attained by yielding to pressure and with a bad grace. All unnecessary
1
those natives who have talents and attainments may be able to enter
the various services, with only as much trouble as Englishmen are put to.
The problem is clear, and there is no use shirking it. Either the
educated natives should have proper fields for their talents and educa-
tion opened to them in the various departments of the administration
of the country, or the rulers must make up their minds, and candidly
avow it, to rule the country with a rod of iron. The question has been
however, to everybody's satisfaction, and to the great honour of the
rulers, answered, by opening the competition for the civil, judicial, and
other services to all her Majesty's subjects. The examinations being
conducted, however, in this country is a virtual exclusion of the natives.
By all means, these youths say, make your standards as high as you
think proper, but let us have fair play. Let the disregard of creed or
colour be not a mockery and delusion, putting us to unnecessary and
improper disadvantages. They ask that the examinations for a portion,
however small at first, of the appointments for the services should be
held in India. If it be considered that a native would be better for a
visit to England before entering the services, they would be, I think,
quite willing to submit to that necessity after their nomination. In the
case of the civil service, the selected candidates can be required to
complete their studies and undergo their “further examination” in
this country.
Whether a suitable military career should also be opened to the
tent myself with quoting the views of The Hindoo Patriot,' which I
think deserve consideration. In the same article, “ Algeria and India,"
which I have quoted from before, · The Patriot says, “In India the
higher ranks of the civil service are to some extent open to the natives,
but as regards the military service, the natives can only enlist them-
selves as privates. The aristocracy of Northern and Western India
39
are born warriors, and they thirst for a military career, but the rules
of the military service are such that their wishes cannot be gratified,
and consequently they are condemned to a life of inglorious idleness,
and discontent if not disaffection prevails in many parts of the empire.
The British Government professes to rule us with justice and liberality,
but their professions have been only partially made good. It is said
that the British Government fear to throwy open the higher ranks of the
military service to the native aristocracy, lest they should turn their
strength against the ruling power. If there be such a fear it is an idle
fear. No educated native will prefer any other rule to British rule.
England has done to India an amount of good which no other conquer-
ing nation has been able to do, and so long as this fact is remembered,
no feelings of disloyalty can exist in the mind of the Indian England
has held and she is capable of holding, India at the point of the bayonet,
but certainly no one will desire that she should continue in this
attitude."
The question of the native army is a matter requiring careful con-
sideration. I shall, however, remark that in my humble opinion,
considering the exigencies of the vast interests of the British empire,
and of the political relations in Europe and America, and the desire of
some of the Powers to possess India, Britain can hardly do without
confiding in a native army, and depending to a great extent upon the
loyalty and gratitude of the leaders of native opinion. The English
have come to India as merchants, and not as conquerors. The native
army has been chiefly instrumental in the creation of the British Indian
empire, and I feel that, with proper treatment of India, the same native
army will maintain the empire they have contributed to create.
For the gradual improvement of the people at large, and to prevent
the utter starvation that now and then overtakes millions of human
beings, the least that the British people can do is to lend back to India
the wealth derived therefrom, in order to develop its resources. The
English people are bound by duty as well as interest to do all they
can for India Every penny invested in the development of that vast
and naturally rich portion of the British empire will be repaid a hundred-
fold in a hundred different ways. The greater the prosperity of India,
the greater will be the benefits of the commercial and political relations
of the two countries. If strenuous and great efforts are not made to
develop the resources of the country and thereby ameliorate the material
condition of the mass of the population, one of two results will naturally
40.
follow-either, under incessant depletion, the patient may die of sheer
exhaustion, or may rebel. If there is a nation on earth—and there
is one-on which India has a claim for charity in the time of distress,
or of assistance, with capital for the development of its material resources
by means of railways, roads, works of irrigation, &c., it is England.
But the great misfortune of India, is that the British public know very
little of their duties towards India, and care less. Efforts are often made
to keep them under the delusion that India is a source of weakness.
Surely this is a very great joke. Thirty-three or more millions pounds
a year, and provisions found for sixty thousand Englishmen as soldiers,
and above ten thousand as civilians and officers, is a source of weakness
indeed! How many European nations, or what other nation on earth,
would not but be too glad to be subjected to such a source of weakness ?
During my pretty long residence in this country, I have observed that
the English public as a body are very ignorant, and even to some extent
misled, on Indian matters; but that whenever any subject is fairly and
fully put before them, their decision is certain to be on the side of fair
play, justice, and honour. It is painful to observe the utter indifference
of the British public towards Indian matters, and the delusion of the
natives when they think that an article in an overland paper is an
expression of the public opinion of England. Fond are the hopes they
cherish, and how grateful and satisfied do they feel, when they read a
few words of kindness and of a just policy in these papers. But what
is the actual state of affairs ? The destinies of two hundred millions is
not a subject of sufficient importance to attract and keep to their places
a dozen members of Parliament, and the Secretary of State felt it
necessary to make an apology last year to the few members who were
present for entering into some details. Here is his apology. He said,
6. I am quite conscious of the reluctance with which the House listens
to details so little affecting their own constituents : still, as it has imposed
on the Indian Minister the task of making the statement, I think it
my duty to make it tolerably complete.” Of course, as the thirty-three
millions or more a year are not directly handed over the counter to
these constituents, these details do not affect them! One gentleman,
high in office, asked me last year whether the educated natives of
India took any interest in Indian politics! I hope the day is not
distant when the Parliament, press and people of this country will
do their duty towards India, when they will fully understand and
recognize the benefits derived by the British nation from their Indian
connection and the responsibility arising therefrom. I must confess,
41
with feelings of great pleasure and satisfaction, that the commence-
ment is already made. The formation of this very Association, the
names on its lists, and the more frequent appearance than heretofore of
Indian topics in the leading journals of this country, though unfortunately
sometimes misleading, are hopeful signs. If this Association will make
the British nation familiar with the single fact, that India has con-
tributed not a little to its prosperity, and that they owe and incur
serious responsibility as its present rulers, it will have conferred a lasting
benefit on India and earned its deepest gratitude. I repeat here, that the
rulers ought to study more sincerely and earnestly the condition of the
mass of the population. The rulers, as well as the whole British people
must strain every nerve to save them from destruction which always
stares them in the face. Vast public works of productive character
ought to be undertaken with the assistance of loans from this country
and this country, under proper precautions for the safety of their invest-
ments, should regard India, both for the interests of Britain as well as
those of India, as the best field for investment and enterprise. I need
not trouble you with statistics here, but you ought to know, or at least
those that care to know do so well enough, how important India is as a
commercial connection, and how vastly the present commerce may be
enlarged and developed to the benefit of both sides by a proper develop-
ment of its material resources. We are thankful for the sixty millions
you have already lent us, and the twenty millions more you are to lend
for the railways already projected. Of this eighty millions, however,
you haye already derived the benefit of above twenty millions having
been spent already in this country. We trust you will continue to
give your utmost aid to India, and you will find that you will have
both the pleasure of having performed a duty and the profits of a goop
investment.
There is another means which ought, I think, not to be neglected, of
binding closer the ties of good feeling between the English and the
Indians. Whenever there is any call of distress from India, Englishmen
should respond to it generously and with sympathy. Each such instance
will produce lasting good. I am sorry to see that the course adopted in
England with reference to the Orissa famine has reasonably produced an
unfavourable effect in India. The ground urged here for not doing
anything was and is, that the Indian Government ought to do all that
was necessary. Now this simply means that England, the mismanage-
ment of whose officers is the cause of the disaster, should stand with
hands folded, and that the relief must be provided from the taxes paid.
42
by the natives of India, and that additional burdens should be laid upon
them for the purpose. I do not at all mean to absolve the Indian
Government from the blame of that defect in her administration by
which they have not adopted means to prevent such disasters, by provid-
ing the necessary works of irrigation and by taking proper precautions
to mitigate the horrors of a famine when expected to occur; but the
worst of the matter is that the administrators are Englishmen selected
by England, and the failure in the due performance of their duty is
visited on the poor Indians, first by allowing famine to overtake them,
and then taxing them to relieve it, and to make up deficits of revenue ;
and all this is done as if for the purpose of making the Indian Government
do their duty. Certainly, if by making the Indian Government do their
duty it was meant that the bungling English officials in the administration
were made to pay from their own pockets for the relief, the reason
urged by Englishmen here would mean something. As it is it simply
means, we won't help you, you must help yourselves. I am sure the
people here have not thus intentionally withheld their help, but they have
acted under a misapprehension, which I also had at first thoughts
shared; and unfortunately a very unfavourable impression has been
produced in India. Of all the benefits that you can confer on the poor mass
of India, help in their distress comes most home to them. Such benefits
are remembered for ever, and such sentiments of gratitude are worth
hundreds of legions to the British rule. I sincerely hope that England
will always be ready to hold out a helping hand to India in distress, and
thereby create a community of feeling and good-will towards each other
to their mutual benefit.
I have before alluded to the necessity of turning the current of the
present loyalty of the educated natives to account, and retaining and
strengthening it by giving them some share in the administration of their
country. Besides such exclusion, what these natives feel most is their
exclusion from any representative voice in the government of the
country. They are taught how their fellow-subjects in England fare,
and they feel and smart under the contrast of their position. This is a
subject requiring much discussion and consideration, which I cannot
embrace in this paper. I may in short say here that, though I do not.
think the lower classes of the population even understand and much less
care for a representative government, and that there are not as yet the
necessary elements and qualifications for the introduction in its integrity
of the representative system for the whole country; still I think some
* reasonable concessions should be made. I know with what feelings of
43
lively satisfaction was welcomed the admission of natives to the legislative
councils as the earnest of better things to come, and how Sir Charles
Wood's name was spoken of with gratitude. Some arrangements might
be made to have a few representatives from India to the Imperial Parlia-
ment, and for local legislation at least those members of the legislative
councils who are supposed to represent the presidency towns, might be
elected by those towns instead of being selected by Government. These
towns can now furnish very respectable constituencies. Such steps
taken in time will go far to consolidate the British rule, and increase the
loyalty of the people.
The subject of education is of great importance. I am glad to see
that Government is fully alive to its value as the best means of elevating
the nation and of securing to the British rule sincere gratitude and
loyalty. The impulse, however, is given; the higher classes of natives
are gradually perceiving the value and necessity of education ; and
before long I hope to see good results. For the education of the mass
of the people, however, there is much room for more strenuous and
greater efforts.
The last thing, though I think it is not the least, I have to say about
the policy towards the “people” of India is kind treatment of and
ordinary courtesy towards them. The natives have had enough of abuse
and reviling. It is time that this thoughtless course should cease,
especially on the part of those who are men of influence, position, and
authority. The natives are as much human beings as others. They
feel as others feel. It is not possible that you should call them liars and
rascals, and yet expect that they should love you any more than you
would in similar circumstances. Some of the horrors of the mutiny had
some cause in the kind of conduct for which a lady, the author of the
“Gup," in the Temple Bar Magazine, “ felt the keenest sympathy."
The 'Bombay Samachar' characterizes this “Gup” as real gup
(falsehood). The natives, gentlemen, have their shortcomings, no doubt,
but they deserve your pity and assistance, and not your abuse and your
kicks. The servants and other people about Englishmen in India
form their own opinions, and are influenced by such opinions in
times of emergency. The meanest worm when trodden upon dashes its
head against your foot. Of all dangers, those that arise from the out-
raging the feelings of a nation are the most to be dreaded, and the most
disastrous in their results. Nowadays a large number of Englishmen
from the lower classes, as mechanics, &c., go to India, and sometimes
present not a favourable picture of English morals and manners, and
44
furnish the natives with materials for retaliation of any abuse directed
against them. This circumstance also renders it highly necessary for
Government not to fail in maintaining its high character for honesty
and sincerity, and preserve that spell of higher morality and superior
intelligence which has hitherto so deservedly commanded the admiration
and confidence of the natives.
The princes of India, I think, are not quite in a satisfied state of
of mind. The various annexations, and till very lately the special
pleadings about and the uncertain fate of Mysore, have produced a feeling
of distrust in the honesty of the British, and it will require some efforts
to restore confidence. The late decision of Lord Cranbourne not to
annex Mysore, and his lordship's views expressed in the last year's
budget speech on English policy in India, will go far to restore this
confidence, and his lordship's name will be remembered by the natives
with respect and admiration, notwithstanding his decision about Mysore
being based on policy instead of justice, and notwithstanding his few
unfortunate remarks in the budget speech unnecessarily irritating and
painful to the natives, which Lord W. Hay appropriately replied to.,
It is of no use now my discussing the justice or otherwise of former
annexations,—that we can leave to the verdict of history, but it is very
necessary to satisfy the present princes that, whatever doubt they may
reasonably or unreasonably have of the past conduct of Britain, hereafter
the policy of honesty towerds them will be strictly carried out. Towards
thiese princes there is another duty to perform. The British Govern-
ment should take all possible care, by good advice, influence, and
rewards, to encourage them to introduce improved systems of govern-
ment into their territories, and more particularly to bring up their
successors in a way to fit them for their onerous and responsible duties.
YTY
O
These are the various duties before the British nation. The task is
as good as it is great. Let them, true to their nature and genius, apply
themselves courageously and honestly to it, and conjointly, with no little
benefit to themselves, let them add to their name the glory of the
benefactors of a great nation and of mankind.
The business of this Association will be to assist in the accomplish-
ment of this great work. Those Englishmen who have retired from
India owe as much filial duty to India as to England, to the mother who
bas provided for them as to the mother who gave them birth, and right
well I hope will they perform that duty by assisting in the labours of
this Association.
45
Before concluding, I wish to address a few words to my countrymen.
Great as are the duties of England and the work before this Association,
greater still are the duties and work to be performed on their part. They
must show the same earnestness, perseverance, patriotism, and self-
sacrifice, the same respect for law and order as the English do, if they
deserve and desire to attain the same political condition as Englishmen,
and a reasonable share and voice in the government of their country.
They must show the same enterprise and forethought in the development
deserve to be as prosperous as: Englishmen. They should also readily
support English gentlemen of rank and influence who have now come
forward to advocate their cause through this Association, and in the
exercise of their constitutional right, in a constitutional way, persevere in
their representations to the Imperial Parliament till their reasonable
demands are accorded. I have no reason to doubt that my countrymen
will show themselves possessed of these qualifications. The existence
and conduct of the British Indian Association, the warm interest which
country, and the growing native enterprise, are sufficient to inspire hope
and confidence. If they should, however, contrary to all expectations,
show themselves to be blind to their own interests, they should at least
not do hereafter the injustice to complain that Englishmen in this
country do not at all care for them. No one will be to blame or sorry
if they do not get what they do not struggle for and show themselves to
deserve."
Lastly, if aught in this paper appear to be as appealing to the fears
of the British rulers, I at once disclaim any such intention on my part.
I have simply tried to give as faithful a representation as I could of the
views and sentiments of the natives as far as I know, and am desirous
that the important question of the practicability of the long continuance
of the British rule with satisfaction to the natives of India may be
fully and dispassionately discussed in all its bearings. If I am shown
to be wrong in any statements, nobody will be more happy than myself
to correct it.
46
APPENDIX A

Year.
Charges in
India.
Charges in
England.*
* From Parliamentary returns of
Indian accounts.
+ The charges in India from 1829
to 1851-52 are exclusive of charges
for collecting stamp duties, land,
sayer and abakaree revenues and
customs, and costs and charges of
salt, opium, &c.
1829-30 13,536,000
1830-31 12,947,000
1831-32 12,935,000
1832-33 12,896,000
1833-34 12,245,000
1834-35 12,706,000
1835-36 · 13,000,000
1836-37 11,806,000
1837-38 •11,987,000
1838-39 13,030,000
1839-40 14,103,000
1840-41 14,261,000
1841-42 14,719,000
1842-43
15,307,000
1843-44
15,688,000
1844-45
15,551,000
1845-46 16,263,000
1846-47 16,557,000
1847-48 16,472,000
1848-49 16,687,000
1849-50 17,170,000
1850-51 17,117,000
1851-527 17,366,000
1852-53 23,816,000
1853-54 25,292,000
1854-55 26,007.000
1855-56 26,599,000
1856-57 26,316,000
1857-58 35,078,000
1858-59 43,590,000
1859-60 44,622,000
1860-61 40,408,000
1861-62 37,245,000
1862-63
36,800.000
1863-64
Į 38,087.000
1864-65 1 39,452,000
1865-66 | 40,615,000
1,715,000
1,446,000
1,476,000
1,227,000
1,293,coo
2,162,000
2,109,000
2,210,000
2,304,000
2,615,000
2,578,000
2,625,000
2,834,000.
2,458,000
2,944,000
2,485,000
3,044,000
3,065,000
3,016,000
3,012,000
2,750,000
2,717,000
2,506.000
2,697,000
3,262.000
3,011,000
3,264,000
3,529,000
4,492,000
6,051,000
5,042,000
5:394,000
5,209,000
4:943,000
4:777,000
4,802,000
4,982,000
| One-eighth of charges in India
as representing—1st. Remittances to
England by European employes for
support of families, relatives, &c.;
for education of children ; for say.
ings; and for purchase of goods
for their own consumption. 2nd.
Purchases by them, in India, of arti-
cles of British manufacture and pro-
duce for their consumption in India.
3rd. Purchases in England and India
of articles of British manufacture and
produce for Government stores not
included in Home charges.
VAVA
Total... £818,276,000
€116,047,000
Add
...
...
...
102,284,000)
218,331,000
In Principal.
Add Interest at 5 per
cent., about ...
270,000,000
Total...
...£488,331,000
Ir Rough estimate of the wealth deriv-
ed by England during the last
thirty-six years.
i 47
APPENDIX B.
Charges of
India.*

Years.
1787-88
1788-89
1789-90
1790-91
1791-92
1792-93
1793-94
1794-95
1795-96
1796-97
1797-98
1798-99
1799-1800
1800-I
1801-2
1802-3
1803-4
This Table, as well as those in Appendix
A, includes interest on public debt.
Should it be considered that such interest
must be treated as for money actually
paid by English capitalists, an allowance
made from the total result of this Table
to the extent of £200,000,000 will be
more than sufficiert. Taking the booty
and various other unascertainable sources,
the total result may fully amount to
above £1,500,000,000. Appendix C
confirms this result from commercial
returns.
| 18056
I have
not
been
able
to get
these
returns.
5,275,000
5,599,000
5,898,000
5,678,000
5,845,000
6,317,000
6,639,000
6,503,000
7,012,000
7,641,000
8,254,000
9,786,000
10,111,000
11,653,000
12,547,000
12,594,000
15,052,000
15,000,000
15,000,000
15,000,000
15,000.000
15,000,000
15,000,000
15,000,000
15,000,000/
15,333,000
15,340,000
15,887,000
16,858,000
17,025,000
17,763,000
19,404.000
19,183,000
19,590,000
19,648,000
20,055,000
21,046,000
22,086,000
24,057,000
23,323,000
23.932,000
21,594,000
1806-7
1807-8
1808-9
1809-10
1810-11
1811-12
1812-13
1813-14
1814-15
Nearly.
1815-10
1816-17
X
1817-18
1818-19
1819-20
1820-21
1821-22
1822-23
1823-24
1824-25
1825-26
1826-27
1827-28
1828-29
Total
Add, say
Add, say.
... £596,528,000
19 One-tenth, for purposes mentioned at*
59,652,000 13 in Appendix A.
.. 800,000,000 ĭ Interest till 1866.
(For acquirements by England before
1788," say £10,000,000 in principal,
... 300,000,000
which, with interest to 1866, will be
above $300,000,000.
... 488,331,000 Total of Appendix A.
( Rough estimate of the amount of benefit
1647,983,000 derived by England from India as the
result of English rule.
* From Parliamentary returns of Indian accounts.
Add
...
48
APPENDIX C.
The following Tables, from 1814 to 1858, are taken from the
Parliamentary Returns of 1859, No. 38, Sess. 2. From 1859-65 from
No. 15409 of 1866 :-

Years.
Importations
into United
Kingdom
from India,
Singapore,
and China.
Exports from
United
Kingdom
to India,
Singapore,
and China.
Exports from
United
Kingdom
of Bullion to
India and
China.
Official
Value.
Declared * and
Official
Value.
The exports to and imports
from India (including Ceylon),
Singapore, and China, are
taken together in these Tables,
because the remittances to
this country are not only made
from India direct, but through
1814
1815
1816
1821
6,293,386
8038,736
8,310,697
7,687,278
7,337,689
7,537.563
7,562,647
6,233,571
5,108,041
6,918,540
7,312,355
6,282,659
7,410,536
7,751.355
8,247,171
7,744,286
7:555,633
7,814,114
8,154,338
1822
1823
commercial balance between
China and the United Kingdom
should be considered as
squared except so far as the
amounts disbursed for Governa--
ment purposes in China, which
are not charged to India; but
these amounts will be too
small to affect the general
conclusion that the balance, as
shown in this Appendix,
represents the amount retained
by England as her territorial
benefit from India,
1825
1826
1827
1828
to be
Bullion exports before 1843 seem
small amounts, and cannot be found in any
returns I have seen.
1829
1830
O CO CO OO
2,251,282
3,166,961
3,203,518
3,679,973
3,852,308
2,780,516
3,632,062
4,596,652
3,889,294
3,822,161
3,738,987
3,549,207
4,400,786
4,896,311
4,809,261
4,213:981
4,344,704
3,798,240
3,882,771
3,867,211
3,838,114
4,841,233
6,297,695
4,748,943
5,495,152
6,209,571
7,656,313
7,347,032
6,710,890
8,910,354
11,005,868
9,831,388
9,095,707
7,824,383
7,393,731
9,460,171
10,423,621
10,703,121
10,445,270
10,524,103
.
1842
1843
8,590,293
9,559,662
12,449,165
11,617,994
10:454,812
10,919,795
10,472,522
13,447,832
13,543,625
13,707,026
16,348,284
16,938,403
16,271,702
18,314,579
17,011,194
18,594,973
20,007,928
22,941,166
21,360,626
25,088,096
1844
1845
Note for next page.
(a) Balance of imports over
exports, or the amount in
principal retained by England
during the last fifty years on
Real Value,
account of the British rule in
India, and for which Britain
has made no commercial return
319,252 to India. If, however, all the
88,841
further deductions suggested
in note* (next page) could be
made, this balance may fairly
16,495
go much above £250,000,000.
7,844
There is, moreover, another
8,185
perly corrected, would increase
16,006 the balance still a great deal
240,125 more. It will be seen in the
166626€ Table that there are some
1,666,265 l
es giren as official values."
3,227,734
Now, from the instance given
5,107,949
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
Carried forward
* Exports of British goods are "deolared values," and exports of foreign and colonial goods are
so official values."

Years.
Importations Exports from Exports from
into United i
United
United
Kingdom from Kingdom to
Kingdom
India, Singapore, India, Singapore, of Bullion to
and China. ] and China. | India and China.
Real Value.
Declared Value
Ī
Real and
Real Value.
£
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865 /
22,098,653
23,505,311
28,795,172
32,542,940
24,450,274
27,021,805
27,759,150
35,203,641
51,150,767
68,150,997'
73,213,187
54,719,071
11,601,748
12,624,667
14,613,929
16,167,916
21,910,244
27,523,610
25,566,407
23,558,608
20,284,141
27,572,803
27,857,799
27,000,000
3,272,920
5,650,557
10,984,141
18,296,600
5,088,850
16,003,267
8,124,236
7,279,839
10,710,209
8,817,656
7,555,442
3,808,260
below, table (a)*, it will be seen
that in these is official values,"
somehow or other, the imports
are greatly undervalued, and
the exports overvalued. So it
is evident that could those
"official values" be converted
into real values, the balance of
imports over exports during
the last fifty years will be far
above £300,000,000, perhaps
£400,000,000, say £350,000,000.
These £350,000,000, with in-
terest, will be above
£1,000,000,000, while all before
1814, with interest, still
remains to be added. My
adoption of £500,000,000 may
not be one-third of the actual
· benefit already derived by
England.
Deduct Bullion exported by
Government in the years
1857-62.
923,368,844
491,420,718
116,338,019
7,842,381
108,495,638
7:594,624
£116,090,262
Add 7 per cent, for charges and
profits.
I
19,075, 312
(Deduct stores exported for Government purposes
as far as they can be made up from returns of
- Charges in England” from 1829 to 1865.
472,345,406
17,622,172
Deduct railway stores exported, which are paid
{ from the loan. Return No. 7066 of 1865.
454,723,234
113,680,808
116,090,262
| + Balance of commercial exports.
SAdd 25 per cent. for charges for transit to the
place of destination and profits to the exporter. I
Add bullion exported as per above Table.
..
.-
Deduct 684,494, 304
STotal commercial exports, including transit, charges, and profits to
India and China.
£238,874,540(a) (See preceding page).
* Table (a) from Appendix (A) of Second Customs Report of 1857 :-
Official Value.
Real Value.
Years.
Imports into the Exports from the Imports into the Exports from the
United Kingdom. | United Kingdom. United Kingdom. United Kingdom.

124,136,018
117,284,881
131,937,763
136,215,849
243,879,892
258,414,653
291,929,377
286,194,531
152,389,053
143,542,850
172,544,154
187,646,335
a una
115,821,092
116,691,300
139, 220,353
145,419,872
4
.
00.
+ From this the followin: unascertainable items also require to be deducted to ascertain the exact
commercial exports as between two independent countries :-
ist. Goods of British exports purchased from merchants in India, Singapore, and China, for
Government consumption.
2nd. Goods of British exports consumed by European employés of Government in these countries.
3rd. Exports of stores by Home Government to China and Singapore,
4th. Railway stores of British manufactures purchased in India.
| The imports into the United Kingdom include transit charges and profits. In making a fair
comparison with cxports ir is necessary, in order to square the commercial accounts of two
countries, that addition should be made to exports also for transit, charges and profits ; 25 per
cent., I think, will be a very fair average allowance for the purpose.
50
APPENDIX D.
The present yearly benefit to England from the annual Indian
revenues may be roughly estimated in the following manner :-

European Employés.
Parliamentary
Return. *
Salaries
paid
in India,
about
Description.
No.
I,775 |
| (Exclusive of
2,250,000
2,250,000 |
furloughs in
England.
No. 116 of 1860 ...
Covenanted Ci- /
11 vil Servants. † sl
Uncovenanted ,
Civil Servants,
including Indo-
No. 2014-VI. of 1858 Britons, are }
3082, of whom
say Europeans
Care . . . .
500
00
250,000
( Taking an aver-
age of £500
a-year.
305
70,000
No. 201—IX. of 1858 Indian Navy ,
No.251 -I. part H, V Officers ...7
Grant, No. 3 of 1866.1 1 Army. ...
Total ...
8,231
67,121
5,000,000 | Exclusive of
1,150,000 12 furloughs
£8,720,000
.
Half of the salaries may represent transfer to
England for support of families, relations, &c.,
for education of children, for savings, and
for purchase in India and England of British
goods for consumption in India ...
Add Home charges, about
£4,360,000
5,000,000
Total
...
.
•
£9,360,000
.
If to this total be added purchases in India of Government stores of British
manufactures, the amount of annual transfer to England may be fairly taken
above £10,000,000 ; but, to make allowances that may be necessary, such as for
interest paid in England for public debt, and to avoid any over-estimate, I have
put down only £8,000,000 in the paper.
* I cannot obtain any later returns.
+ This includes Governors, Judges, Bishops, and Ch aplains.
III.
EXPENSES OF THE ABYSSINIAN WAR,
(Read before an Afternoon Meeting of the East India Association, London,
Friday, November 29th, 1867. Lord William Hay, M.P., in the chair.)
My LORD AND GENTLEMEN,-In our views on Indian matters we
shall sometimes agree and sometimes differ with the Indian Government.
When we agree, we shall be only too glad to express our views accord-
ingly. When we differ, either from looking at the subject from a different
point of view, or from more or less information, we shall respectfully lay
before the Government our views. In doing so, it cannot be supposed
that our object is to set up an opposition party. On the contrary, our
object is co-operation, as the aims both of the Government and of our-
selves are the same, viz. the good government and welfare of India. I
believe that Government would rather be glad than otherwise to know
our independent views, provided we always confine ourselves to a dis-
passionate and careful examination of their acts, and lay our reasons of
difference before them in a becoming manner, especially making
“ measures, not men—arguments, not abuse,” our rule of conduct. I
hope, therefore, I shall not be misunderstood for laying before you my
views, and you for expressing yours on the subject of this paper,
I beg to submit for your consideration that the decision of the
Cabinet not to pay the ordinary pay of the Indian troops employed in
the Abyssinian expedition is an injustice to India, and an injury to the
prestige of England; that the decision is not only unfair in principle, but
contrary to the reasonable practice of former days. I first examine
whether there are any past events or precedents which can guide us to a
just decision.
When the English Government was only one of many independent
Indian Powers, and when temporary assistance like the present was
needed from each other, on what principles was such assistance given
and taken? I find that in these cases the English had acted on the
fair and equitable principle that the party receiving assistance should pay
the whole charge of the trocps during the period of assistance. I shall
not take up your time with many extracts, I shall give only three or
four short ones. In the treaty with Hyder Alli, 1769, it is provided
(Article 2)—
“That in case either of the contracting partieś shall be attacked, they
shall, from their respective countries, mutually assist each other to drive
the enemy out. The pay of such assistance of troops from one party to
another to be after the following rates, viz. to every soldier and horseman
fifteen rupees per month, and every sepoy seven and a half rupees per
month. The pay of the sirdars and commandants to be as it shall be
agreed on at the time."*
The treaty of 1770 contains similar stipulations, which are again
confirmed in the treaty of 1792.
In the treaty of alliance with Bazalut Jung, 1779, it is provided
(Article 4)-
"If the Nawab Shujah-ool-Moolk's territories be invaded by an enemy,
we shall, besides the troops that are stationed with him, send such a suffi-
cient force as we can spare to his assistance. The ordinary and extraor-
dinary expenses of such troops, whatever they may amount to, shall be
paid agreeably to the Company's established customs by the Nawab, who
will sign the accounts.” †
Again, in the treaty with the Nizam, 1790 (Article 4)-
body of cavalry to join the English forces, the Nawab Asuph Jah and
Pundit Prudhan shall furnish to the number of 10,000, to march in one
month, &c. ..... The pay of the said cavalry to be defrayed monthly
by the Hon. Company at the rate and on conditions hereafter to be
settled.”
In the “ Articles explanatory of the 3rd Article of the Treaty of
Mysore, concluded in 1799," Article 3 provides
“ If it should at any time be found expedient to augment the
cavalry of Mysore beyond the number of (4,000) four thousand, on
intimation to that effect from the British Government, His Highness the
Rajah shall use his utmost endeavours for that purpose ; but the whole
expense of such augmentation, and of the maintenance of the additional
numbers at the rate of (8) eight star pagodas for each effective man and
horse while within the territory of Mysore, and of an additional sum or
batta at the rate of (4) four star pagodas a month after the expiration
of one month from the period of their passing the frontier of Mysore, as
described in the 2nd article, shall be defrayed by the Hon. Company."S
* Aitchison's Treaties, rol. V., p. 128.
+ Aitchison's Treaties, vol. V., p. 36. Ibid., p. 44.
53
Now I ask why this reasonable and just practice should have been
subsequently departed from. I hope the standard of fair play of the
Crown is not to be inferior to that of the Company. Next, I ask a few
questions. Suppose the tables were turned, and England sent some
troops for India's assistance, will the English tax-payer and Parliament
allow the assistance without charging India with the whole expense ?
or rather, has the British Government ever given any assistance to the
British Indian Government, or the British Indian Government. to any
native Power, of the sort without making the receiver of the assistance
pay fully ? Suppose some subjects of the Nizam were held in captivity
by some Arab chief, and the Nizam, to liberate his subjects and to
maintain his honour, deciding to send an expedition to Arabia, requested
his allies, the British, to assist him temporarily with troops; would
such assistance be given without charging the Nizam with the pay of the
troops, as well as any extra expenses? If not, then on what grounds
of equity or fair play should England now get the Indian troops without
being charged for their pay? Why, instead of the British Government
having ever given any assistance of the kind, it has a few accounts to settle
with its conscience for having made India pay even more than what
could be fairly due from it.
S
It is said that India will lose nothing. What is it that the troops
are kept in India for? Whatever that is, that India loses. If it is
nothing, then the army should be reduced by so much. If it is some-
thing, then India is not losing nothing. If the troops are required for
security, then it is unfair that India should be deprived of that security,
and yet be made to pay for it. The question resolves itself into this :
Should the pay of the troops be allowed to be a saving to India or to
England ? For if India is made to pay, it is so much a saving to England,
and if England pays, India saves so much. Now whether on the grounds
of equity, or of need, or of ability, certainly India has the claim to be allowed
to save what it can. England has always charged for everything she has
given on similar occasions, so she should not pow shrink from paying when
it is her turn to do so. The need of India to save whatever it can, is
greater than that of England. Famines, intellectual and physical, are
its crying evils, and the weight of a large army keeps some of its urgent
wants in abeyance. Lastly, England is the richest of the two, and well
able to pay for what it receives. The very circumstance that England
is able to avail herself of a ready-made army, a very convenient base of
operations, and the services of Indian officials and of experienced Indian
officers, is in itself a great advantage to the English tax-payer.
54
· It is urged, that because the prestige of England is important,
therefore India must contribute. But what prestige is it that England
has and needs to maintain ? Is it that England is poor in means and
unfair in dealing, or that her resources are as great as her arm is strong,
and that her sense of justice is above suspicion ? Here England sends
her envoys to Abyssinia, and finds in its ruler a troublesome customer.
Her honour is insulted, and her representative is kept in captivity. The
prestige which England has to maintain under such circumstances is to
show that she is herself able to hold her own, from her own resources ;
not that she is so poor or unfair that she is unable or unwilling to
pay for the very troops which are employed in vindicating her honour,
and liberating her own representative, and helps herself 'from the
Indian purse. Can the world be blamed if they consider it strange
that the England which is ready to spend some four millions or more
for her honour, should shrink to pay a few hundred thousands ?
However, even the question of the few hundred thousand pounds is
not of so much importance. A far more important question, of the prin-
ciples of the financial relations between the two countries, is involved in
the present course of the Cabinet : Who is the guardian of the Indian
purse? and are the British Government and Parliament absolute masters
and disposers of it, or is it a trust in their hands to be discharged on
some equitable principles ? I should think that in the present condition
of the political relations of England and India, the Indian Secretary ought
to be its natural guardian ; that he ought, when English and Indian
relations are to be adjusted, to act as if he were an independent Powers
representing Indian interests, and negotiate with the Foreign Secretary
on terms fair and equitable to both parties. If this position of the
Indian Secretary is faithfully acted upon, India will have the satisfaction
to know that they have some one here to protect them from any unjust
treatment. Parliament being the ultimate court of appeal. The Indian
Secretary, instead of offering to make a present to the English tax-payer
from the Indian revenue, ought to protect it from any encroachment.
India is unable to protect itself, and as the British Government and
Parliament hold its purse in trust, it is the more necessary for them that
they should not be generous to themselves with others' trust-money, but,
on the contrary, adopt the only proper course of treating the trust with the
strictest justice and care, especially in the relations with themselves.
Clause 55 of the Indian Government Act of 1858, runs thus :
“ Except for preventing or repelling actual invasion of Her Majesty's
Indian possessions, or under sudden and urgent necessity, the Revenues
S
55
of India shall not, without the consent of both Houses of Parliament, be
applicable to defray the expenses of any military operation carried on
beyond the external frontiers of such possessions by Her Majesty's forces
charged upon such revenues."
The evident object of this clause, I submit, is to prevent the applica-
tion of Indian revenues except for Indian purposes, or otherwise the
clause means nothing. If Indian revenues can be applied for the payment -
of troops beyond the Indian frontiers, then the clause becomes simply
useless, for England then can use Indian troops under any circumstances,
as the two grounds-viz. of Indian purposes, and of loan to England for
her own wars-will embrace all cases.
I have now laid before you as briefly as possible my reasons why
England should pay the entire expense of the Expedition, under any
consideration, whether of justice and fair play or prestige, with the hope
of eliciting an impartial discussion from you. Upon the necessity of the
expedition, and when and how Englishmen should vindicate their honour,
it is not for me to tell them. Among the nations most able to uphold
their honour, the English have never held a second place. Their whole
history, and their instinctive love of liberty and honour, are enough to
satisfy the most sceptical that England is well able to take care of
herself, and to know what her honour is and how to uphold it,
When I wrote this paper I could not know the reasons of the Govern-
ment; therefore I must crave your indulgence while, in continuation of
the paper, I make a few remarks on the debate of last night. But, in
making those remarks, it is far from my intention to make any personal
reflections on any speaker: Parliament has accepted the reasons, and
decided upon the resolution ; consequently any remarks I may make
apply as much to Parliament itself as to any of the individual speakers.
To make my remarks as few as possible, I shall just read a few extracts
from some of the speeches of last night, which give nearly the pith of the
whole argument, and give my views upon them. Sir S. Northcote said
"From the first moment that this expedition was thought about, early in
the month of April last year, in reply to communications addressed to the
Secretary of State in Council, we stated that we were willing to place the
resources of India at the disposal of the Home Government, but must
stipulate that, as the matter was one in which Indian interests were not.
concerned, India should not bear any portion of the charge. At that time
it was clearly understood, though we did not put that into the despatch
to the Treasury, that, though we were determined to resist any attempt
56
to charge the revenues of India with any new burthen, we did not, to use
a homely expression, want to make money by the transaction.” This
amounts to saying that India must pay under all circumstances. If Indian
interests were concerned, then, of course, India must pay all; and if
Indian interests were not concerned, then also India must pay for the
troops in order "not to make money.” Can this be considered right ?
Sir Stafford Northcote says-" It is said, and we have said it ourselves,
that India has no interest in this matter. That is perfectly true if by
'interest' you mean material interest. But there are principles which
shauld be upheld in the interest of both countries, even at the cost of
blood and treasure; and one of them is this—that envoys of the Sovereign
of this country should be protected by us. That is a leading principle
of international law, and we should be untrue, not only to ourselves, but
to the civilized world, if we fail to uphold it.” If that principle is to be
admitted, if the envoys of England are to be protected everywhere at the
expense of India, then India could be made to share in the expenses of a
European or American war. Also, in other words, if the United States
dismissed an English ambassador, and insulted the dignity of the Crown
and if the Crown went to war with America, India must contribute for it;
or if the Crown embarked in a European war, India must contribute. This
I trust, would not be allowed by Englishmen as just. Again, the interests
of the Colonies are as much, or perhaps more, involved in this principle.
What are they contributing to the present expedition ? And would they
be always ready to act according to the principle laid down in the extract
I have read ? Sir Stafford Northcote has been at great pains to show that
the news about the Abyssinian captives, and the efforts made to release
them, is carried to the natives of India, and that in undertaking this
expedition the opinion of the people of India about the power and
resources of England is most important to be taken into consideration,
If it be considered so important that the prestige of England should not
suffer in the slightest degree in the estimation of the natives of India,
then that is just the reason why Parliament should not have passed the
resolution. For it will be naturally thought that though the English
Government admit that the war is for their own purposes, that it is for
liberating their own captives, that it is for vindicating England's honour;
yet they, while ready to spend five millions, or ten millions if necessary,
to protect their country's honour, and to punish its insulters, take from
India a little because India cannot help herself. That cannot increase the
prestige of England in India ; it is likely to have just the contrary effect,
not only among the natives of India, but perhaps among all Asiatics.
· Let us now consider the precedents brought forward by Government
for what they propose to do now. We have the Persian war and the
Chinese war referred to. There is one important difference between the
precedents I have brought before you and those of the Government. In
the precedents I have referred to there were two parties, both able to take
care of themselves, who negociated with each other, and who were able
to strike the right balance between them ; whereas in the case of Govern-
ment precedents the holder of the purse was also its disposer, without
any voice from the owner, and therefore the transactions themselves
required examination. Even granting, for argument sake, that former
transactions were in just proportions, they are not at all applicable to the
present expedition. The Persian war and the Chinese war do not bear
analogy to this. In the Chinese and Persian wars we can, at least, trace
some Indian concern--with the former commercial, with the latter
political, the alleged necessity of arresting Russian progress ; but Govern-
ment itself acknowledges that, in the present expedition, Indian interests
are not concerned. All these present complications have arisen without
the India Office or the natives of India having anything to do with the
matter. It is entirely the Foreign Office affair. Even at present it is the
Foreign Secretary who takes the whole brunt of the battle in Parliament,
and the only way in which India is brought forward is that it is the best
agency through which the Foreign Secretary can accomplish his object of
carrying on the war in the cheapest and most expeditious way possible.
Sir Stafford Northcote says“ All that India undertakes to do is to lend
her troops, without charge, as long as she can spare them. That is the
principle upon which we have proceeded, and which, I contend, is a just
and liberal one. I say it is just, because India really loses nothing what-
ever in point of money ; she only continues to pay that which, if the
expedition had not been ordered, she would still pay; and it is liberal,
because India places at the disposal of Her Majesty forces which the
Imperial Government could not obtain without paying for them.” If to
be prevented from saving when saving can be made, is not losing, then I
do not know what losing means. Again, if India loses nothing, then how
can there be any liberality? I have no doubt if England ever needed
aid or liberality, India, from very gratitude to England for the position in
which it now stands, ought, and would, strain every nerve to give it.
But is the present such a case? The world naturally does not like trustees'
to be liberal to themselves. It is a matter of regret more on account of
England herself, that she should present the spectacle of, on the one hand,
being able and ready to spend any number of millions for her honour,
TU
58
and on the other of taking a few hundred thousand pounds from India
for the pay of the very troops to be employed in vindicating that honour.
However, had Government stopped at the argument of liberality, or sense
of gratitude, or friendly feeling towards England, there would not have
been much to complain of, and the natives, perhaps, would have been glad
to have been looked upon as friendly ; but by citing precedents for justifi-
cation, and arguing for rights, the question assumes a different aspect, and
occasions the present discussion. Then the Government has taken very
great pains to prove that after all what India has to pay is very little, and
that if all the former precedents were followed, it would have had to pay
more. But suppose it is a small affair, then it is a greater pity that they
should have made so much fuss about it, and not paid this little them-
selves, and should not have taken this opportunity to show that they are
as just as they are strong and rich. Sir Henry Rawlinson says—“Our
system of Government in India was essentially for the maintenance of our
power, and when we spoke of Indian interests we meant our own interest
as the ruling power of India.” If that is the case, and that is the guiding
principle of the Government, then against such argument of the rights of
might there can be no discussion. But I believe the English Government
to be guided by the principles of justice and truth and not of the rights
of might. Sir Henry Rawlinson says—“The Royal Navy now fulfilled
gratuitously all the duties connected with the defence of India, that were
formerly discharged by the Indian navy—a service which drew heavily
upon the Imperial Exchequer; and in many instances the Home Govern-
ment had sent out, as its own expense, expeditions of which the objects
more nearly related to India than to the rest of the British Empire."
I have no right to question the truth of that statement. I only say if it
be true, and as it is also intimated by Mr. Gladstone, that India is better
off in its financial relations with England, it is indeed a great pity that
the natives of India should be allowed to remain under a false impression.
If it be true that England has, on occasions, performed services for India
to which India has not contributed, it is in the first place necessary, for
the sake of justice to both parties, that the financial relations between
the two countries in respect of those services should be fairly examined
and adjusted ; and next, if India has been so benefited as alleged by
England, it is proper and just that India should know and feel that
benefit, and knowing it be grateful for it. At present India is under the
impression that England, having the purse, appropriates it at its own
pleasure, and that unjust burthens have been placed upon her. As Sir
Henry Rawlinson has not given us any instance of what he refers to, we
59
are left in the dark ; but against his statement there is one of another
authority, equally, if not more important. Lord Cranbourne says" At
all events the special injustice of the course now about to be pursued
consists in this--that when we employ English troops in India they are
paid for out of the Indian revenues from the moment they land in that
country; but when we employ Indian troops on English duty, we say
that India must pay for them.” I do not, of course, impute to Sir Henry
Rawlinson, who has only lately given a signal instance of his sense of
justice to India, that he would state anything that be did not thoroughly
believe. I wish he had given the cases, for it is very desirable, for the
sake of both countries, that the real state of the case, in regard to this
matter, should be known. It is also necessary to know how far the
Colonies, which also benefit by the Royal Navy, contribute to it. Then
there is some stress laid upon this, that India benefits by this expedition ;
that by the expedition going from India, stores are brought there, and
money is poured into the country ; but nobody can seriously urge that,
therefore, India must contribute to the expedition. I do not suppose that
cotton merchants, or ship.owners, paid anything towards the American
war because they benefited largely by its occurrence. The fact is, that
India is resorted to on this occasion in order that the interests of the
English tax-payer may be served in the best possible manner. Lord
Stanley distinctly stated that he referred to the Indian Secretary, and to
the Indian authorities, in order to carry out the expedition in the most
successful way. He found in India a ready machinery for carrying out
the expedition. That induced the English Government to make India
the basis of operations. In concluding my remarks I once more suggest
that the discussion should be confined to the one point which I have
brought before you, and I hope that we shall follow the advice of our
noble Chairman, and not be guilty of any personalities, but shall confine
ourselves entirely to the arguments of the case. It is my sincere convic-
tion that Lord Stanley or Sir Stafford Northcote would never allow any
injustice intentionally. All their acts would at once refute any contrary
assumption. I take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Fawcett and the
other twenty-two members, and the English press, for their advocacy of
justice to India.
IV.
MYSORE.
S
.
1
(Read before a Meeting of the East India Association,
London, Friday, July 5th, 1867. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., M.P., in the Chair.)
I trust the meeting will make some allowance for the imperfections
of this paper, hurriedly prepared within two days; and by their own
temperate, disinterested, and judicious discussion, make up its
deficiencies.
It is discovered by Lord W. Hay that Lord Wellesley drew his pen
through the words “heirs and successors," and it is therefore argued that
Lord Wellesley therefore intended the subsidiary treaty to be only a
personal one. The question then naturally arises, whether any
alterations made in drafts can affect the actual compact ultimately
agreed upon ? Next, had Lord Wellesley any right to depart from the
stipulations of the partition treaty, which is the sole authority for the
subsidiary treaty ? The very draft of the subsidiary treaty goes to show
that the drawer of the treaty naturally felt that the subsidiary treaty
was to be an hereditary treaty. If we accept the argument now based
upon the new discovery in the British Museum, we are driven to the
necessity of casting a reflection upon the character of Lord Wellesley.
For leaving aside, for the present, the consideration and proper
interpretation of the words "unnecessary and dangerous,” this discovery,
as it is proposed to be interpreted, would mean that a British statesman,
knowingly and intentionally, just left in words enough to lull any
suspicion, and left out words enough for some private ulterior motives.
Here are the words left in: "A treaty of perpetual* friendship and
alliance”—and, “as long as the sun and moon shall endure ;” just
sufficient to lull any suspicion, and yet, behind the back of the other
contracting party, "heirs" and such words are omitted, in order that
when the opportunity came, advantage might be taken of the omission.
I sincerely trust that the present English statesmen are not going to
hold out this as an edifying and statesmanlike course of conduct to be
learnt by the natives from their enlightened English teachers. No, I .
do hope that a more reasonable and satisfactory explanation may
be given of the discovery which Lord William Hay has brought to light.
I shall revert to this point again further on. It is urged that the words
s as long as the sun and moon shall endure” are only conventional
* The italics in all the extracts are mine.
61
terms; and in support of this, the following sentence is quoted from
Sir T. Munroe :—"The terms employed in such documents, - for ever,
‘from generation to generation,' or in Hindu grants, while the sun and
moon endure,' are mere forms of expression, and are never supposed,
either by the donor or the receiver, to convey the durability which they
imply, or any beyond the will of the sovereign.” On' what authority
or grounds this proposition is laid down I cannot say. If it means
anything, it means that there are no such documents as were really
intended to mean perpetuity by the donor and receiver. According to
this proposition the British Government can make one clean swoop
of all property possessed under any grants whatever; for even the words
“generation to generation,” and “for ever," are not safe from its grasp.
Then again, were there ever perpetual grants made or not under
the former rulers ? and how could they ever be considered so if words
like "for ever” and “from generation to generation” were meaningless ?
It is true that high-flown compliments, raising one to the seventh
forms, but to say that words expressing the duration of an engagement
mean nothing, is more than I ever knew among the natives. I wonder
how such duration can or was ever expressed, if not by the words
“during life," or "for ever," or "from generation to generation,” &c.
To me it appears that it is not correct to assume that both the
receiver and the donor did not understand the words to mean what
they said, but that the Hindu sovereign, being in the very nature
of his position a despotic sovereign whose will was law, and above
law, and at whose mercy lay, not only any grants, but even any
property whatever of his subjects, as well as their lives, did sometimes
confiscate by his will such grants, though originally intended to be
perpetual. Such arbitrary exercise of power could not, however, make
the contract the less binding, but there was no power above that of the
will of the sovereign to compel him to abide by his contract; it was
simply the power of might over right. But this treaty is not of a Hindu
sovereign. It is drafted and made by Englishmen for an English
sovereign. Is the English sovereign the same despotic ruler ? Is it
right for the Englishmen to boast of their superior political condition, in
which the sovereign is no less subordinate to law and bound to good
faith than the meanest subject, and yet, for a purpose like this, suddenly
to sink down to the level of the despotic Hindu rulers? Whatever may
have been the conduct of the Hindu rulers in such matters, certainly
the English rulers ought to set a better example, especially in a case
62
when they are parties to the words - as long as the sun and moon shall
endure," not only in the Mysore treaty alone, but quite pointedly again
in another treaty of 1807, explanatory of the third article of this very
subsidiary Mysore treaty: by the words, “ these four additional articles,
which, like the original treaty of Mysore, shall be binding on the con-
tracting parties as long as the sun and moon shall endure." .
Such pointed expression of the duration of the treaty of Mysore,
coupled with the words “ treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance,"
at the very heading of the treaty itself must certainly make any English
statesman who has the slightest consideration for the honour of his
country's word, pause before trying special pleading. I appeal to you
as Englishmen to say whether, had such pleas been put forward by a
native ruler, the most indignant denunciations would not have been
poured out, not only against himself but against the whole Hindu race ?
How loud and angry would have been the uproar of the virtuous indig-
nation of the upright Englishmen against the innate depravity and
treachery of the Hindu race? And yet it is calmly pleaded by English
statesmen, that in their language, in treaties made by themselves, when
it suits the occasion, " perpetual” means "temporary;" that the dura-
tion of the existence of the sun and moon means only a man's lifetime;
and that “ treaties” mean “deeds of gift.” But, strange to say, as the
sun and moon sometimes send a ray through the heaviest cloud, to
assure poor mortals of their existence, the sun and moon of this treaty
have sent one stray ray through the heaviest cloud. In the dispatch of
August 31, 1864, from Sir John Lawrence to Sir Charles Wood, it is
said :-"By the favour of the British Government, and in the exercise of
its sovereign right, acquired by conquest, the Maharaja was raised from
a prison to the government of a large principality, subject to conditions ;
which, if fulfilled by him, would have been the safeguard of his autho-
rity, and the guarantee of the continuance of a native rule in Mysore.”
Now, I leave to you, gentlemen, that if this treaty was simply a per-
sonal treaty, what is meant by “subject to conditions which, if fulfilled
by him, would have guaranteed the continuance of a native rule in
Mysore ?" Are there, then, certain conditions in the treaty guaranteeing
the continuance of a native rule in Mysore? Then what becomes of
the personal character of the treaty ?
Now, revert to the question, whether Lord Wellesley had a bad in-
tention in drawing his pen through certain words, or whether he meant
to do something consistent with a faithful performance of his obligations
-
63
under " the partition treaty.” The only explanation I can at present
see of Lord Wellesley's proceedings, is this. There is no doubt in my
mind that Lord Wellesley did not mean to act in bad faith; that in
allowing the words perpetual, and about the sun and moon, to remain,
he did mean what he said ; but that his object in striking out the word
" heir,” &c., was to keep such full control over the native principality
as to enable the English Government to oust any particular oppressive
sovereign, and put some other in his place, or, in cases of disputed
succession, that the English may be able to decide in favour of one or
the other without being encountered by the difficulties which the word
"heir” might occasion ; that the word “unnecessary” in the margin
means that as far as permanency of native rule was concerned, the
words "perpetual” and “as long as the sun and moon shall endure."
are sufficient; and that the word “dangerous” means the strong title
which an “heir” may maintain, and thereby lessen the complete
English control ; and that according to practice a new treaty may be
made with every successor, with such modifications as time and circum-
stances may require. I venture to offer this explanation for your consi-
deration, leaving alone the question whether any departure from “the
partition treaty” was justifiable. I cannot, however, persuade myself
that a statesman like Lord Wellesley would be guilty of such a mean
act as the present discovery of Lord William Hay is made to imply.
I du not stand here as the advocate of either the Raja or the English.
I wish only for justice and truth, be it on the one side or the other.
Much has been said about Lord Canning not having sent the adoption
sunud to the Raja. Was Lord Canning justified in doing so? Did he
do so as a punishment for the Raja's past offences ? This is not the
case, as the Raja was declared deserving of reward for his thorough
loyalty. Two reasons are urged : first, it was because Lord Canning
knew that the Raja intended to leave his territories to the English,
By admitting this position, Lord Canning admitted the power of the
Raja to bequeath ; but it was subsequently urged that the treaty itself
did not entitle him to any such adoption. Now, I ask, do English
words mean one thing in one treaty and another thing in another
treaty ? If not, I request explanation for the following anomaly.
The treaty of 1805, with the Raja of Travancore, is, word for word,
in all its important portions bearing upon the present issue, the same
with the treaty of Mysore. I give these portions in the Appendix.
Now I trust it is a fair question to ask, why the very same words
which in the Travancore treaty entitled the Travancore Raja to the
64
adoption sunud, did not mean the same thing with the Mysore Raja..
The parallel, however, does not end here. The Raja of Travancore,
like the Raja of Mysore, also incurred the displeasure of the British
Government, and the latter were going to assume the internal adminis-
tration of the country. But the Raja died. Nobody, however, then
thought of interpreting the treaty of 1805 as a personal one, and the .
heir was allowed to succeed. The difference, then, in the cases of the
Raja of Mysore and that of Travancore, seems to be that the latter, by
his death, made the treaty of 1805 an hereditary one, and the former,
by living longer, has rendered, in some mysterious way, a similar treaty
a personal one. It is pressed that Sir Stafford Northcote ought not to
have reversed the policy and gone against the opinion of three governor-
generals and two secretaries of state. Sir Stafford can well be left to
hold his own. He needs no defence at my poor hands. But I ask, Is it
because the others were right that Sir Stafford should not have reversed
their acts, or is it meant that even they were wrong, Sir Stafford should
have abided by their decision ? I know full well what English prestige
means in India. In fact, it is the settled opinion of the natives for
the English high character, that is your principal charm and spell
over them. When once that is broken, half your strength is gone.
But it is not by special pleadings, or persisting in a wrong course, that
the prestige will be increased. Howsoever vehemently or authoritatively
may assertions be made of honest decisions, the natives can think for
themselves, and can know where there is real honesty and where there
is sham. If Sir Stafford has subverted the decision of fifty governor-
generals and as many secretaries, if he has but done what is right, he
will have increased your prestige far more than any amount of
persistence in a wrong course. I trust the objectors on the ground of
authority do not mean to contribute a wasp of an idea to Mr. Buxton's
collection, that “the perpetration of a wrong is a justification for
persisting in it.” If the objectors mean that the former decision was
right and Sir Stafford is wrong on merits, then let them discuss on
merits only, instead of holding up the bugbear of high and many
authorities.
e
Again, it must be remembered, that we look for authorities when the
subject is exclusively a study for few students ; when the materials for
ordinary judgment are not sufficiently accessible, and when therefore
decisions for action can only be based on authority, the number and
positions of authorities are matters of importance; but as in the present
case, when the materials are at the command of all who choose to see
65
them, when Sir Stafford Northcote is exactly in the same position as any
other individual, to judge for himself, how could mere priority of time
give to the others an infallibility ? On the contrary, Sir Stafford ought
to be, if he make a right use of his opportunities, under a proper sense
of responsibility, in a better position to decide rightly, having the views
and arguments of his predecessors before him.
There is again the argument of the good of the people of Mysore.
I hope I am not dead to a desire for the welfare of any people, and more
especially of my own countrymen. The picture of an Englishman
holding off the savage ruler from his victim is no doubt a very pretty
and gratifying one, but unfortunately there is a little want of truth in
it, and a little daub in it. First of all, the Rajah repeatedly offered to
allow such arrangements for the welfare of the people as would be
satisfactory to the British, and so there is no savage king tearing up his
victim. But then, is not in that case the Rajah a mere puppet? How
strangely does this exclamation come from persons who pride in their
sovereign being not a despot, but subject to law and order, and guided
by wise and able ministers. What constitutional sovereign is not a
puppet, if to govern under fixed and well-regulated administration be to
be a puppet? Besides, it is a strange reflection upon the British
Government that with their control and influence they do not bring up
the native princes in the way they should go. Besides there being
some untruth in the picture, there is this daub. In the corner of the
picture the natives of Shorapore and the assigned districts restored to
the Nizam stand surprised at this turn of philanthropy. Now is it
possible for the native to increase his esteem and believe in your sincerity
with such inconsistent conduct before them, notwithstanding the most
vehement assertions of your desire for the good of the Mysoreans ?
To destroy the native rule in Mysore it is pressed that as English-
men have settled there, it ought to be taken into English possession.
This I suppose is an invention of the nineteenth century. What a fine
prospect this opens up of conquering the whole world without much
trouble. Some Englishmen have only to go and settle in a country, and
then the English Government has simply to say, “You see English
people cannot be managed by you, therefore you should give up the
country to us; ” and there is a conquest ! But, unfortunately for the
inventor, those stupid fellows the French and other continentals, the
Americans and such others, won't see it.
Then again, is this an encouragement to the other native Rajahs to
allow Englishmen to settle in their country, and derive the benefits of
ct
66
the contact of English enterprise and knowledge ? If they take such a
step the result is loss of rule, on the plea that Englishmen cannot be
managed by natives. If they do not, then they are blamed for being
apathetic, and indifferent to the best interests of their dominions and
people.
The important question constantly arises, Who is to judge when
the British Government and a native prince are at issue? How can
the decision of the stronger party in its own favour be free from the
suspicion of being interested? Cannot, when such important questions
of the rights of Government arise, an important judicial commission of
some of the best judges of this country be appointed to try the matter?
I should think that, considering the confidence the natives of India have
in the integrity, uprightness, and independence of English high judges,
the natives would feel satisfied to have such issues tried by such impartial
tribunals : otherwise the native, like anybody else, naturally thinks
when the decision is against him, that injustice is done to him; and it
is only when the justice of the decision is so clear as to be entirely above
suspicion, that the British Government does not run the risk of being
considered as having taken advantage of their might against right.
I have not here entered upon the general question of adoption, as
in the present case the reason urged is that the Rajah is by the treaty
itself not entitled to leave his territories even to his own son, any more
than to his adopted son. Nor do I here enter into a discussion of the
general question of annexation, nor into that of the rights of the Nizam,
as the present decision of the Secretary of State renders this discussion
unnecessary.
I would not take up much of your time upon the subject of the
relative position of the Nizam and the British power at the time the
subsidiary treaty was made, and the real source of that treaty. I shall
simply quote a few sentences from two or three treaties, leaving you to
draw your own inferences. In the treaty of 1790, between the English,
the Nizam, and the Mahrattas, Article 6 says-
“The three contracting powers having agreed to enter into the
present war, should their arms be crowned with success in the joint
prosecution of it, an equal division shall be made of the acquisition of
territory."
In the treaty with the Nizam of 1798, in the preamble it is said,
" And the present juncture of affairs, and the recent hostile conduct and
67
evil designs of Tippoo Sultan, so fully evinced by his sending ambassa-
dors to the Isle of France, by his proposing to enter into a treaty,
offensive and defensive, with the French republic against the English
nation, and by actually receiving a body of French troops into his
dominions, and immediate pay, rendering it indispensably necessary that
effectual measures for the mutual defence of their respective possessions
should be immediately taken by the three allied powers united in a
defensive league against the aforesaid Tippoo Sultan,” &c. &c.
In the treaty of 1800 with the Nizam occur these words :
“Who, with uninterrupted harmony and concord having equally
shared the fatigues and dangers of war and the blessings of peace, are, in
fact, become one and the same in interest, policy, friendship, and honour."
The partition treaty of 1799 says-
"And whereas it has pleased Almighty God to prosper the just
cause of the said allies, the Honourable English Company Bahadoor,
and his Highness Nizam-ood-Dowla Ausuph Jah Bahadoor, with a
continual course of victory and success, and finally to crown their arms
by the reduction of the capital of Mysore, the fall of Tippoo Sultan, the
utter extinction of his power, and the unconditional submission of his
people; and, whereas the said allies being disposed to exercise the
rights of conquest with the same moderation and forbearance which
they have observed from the commencement to the conclusion of the
late successful war, have resolved to use the power which it has pleased
Almighty God to place in their hands for the purpose of obtaining
reasonable compensation for the expenses of the war, and of establishing
permanent security and general tranquillity for themselves and their
subjects as well as for all the powers contiguous to their respective
dominions. Wherefore a Treaty for the adjustment of the territories of
the late Tippoo Sultan between the English East India Company
Babadoor, and his Highness the Nawab Nizam-ood-Dowlah Ausuph Jah
Bahadoor, is now concluded by...... according to the under-
mentioned articles, which, by the blessings of God, shall be binding on
the heirs and successors of the contracting parties as long as the sun and
moon shall endure, and of which the conditions shall be reciprocally
observed by the said contracting parties.”
D
The above extracts show what the relative position of the English
and Nizam was, and the last extract shows that “the partition treaty "
was binding on both parties for ever.
68
(D
27
This partition treaty, binding, as above stated, on “heirs and
successors” of the contracting parties, provides in Article 4 ..
" A separate government shall be established in Mysore ; and for this
purpose it is stipulated and agreed that the Maharajah Mysore Kishna
Rajah Oodiaver Bahadoor, a descendant of the ancient Rajahs of Mysore,
shall possess the territory hereinafter described upon the conditions
hereinafter mentioned.”
Again, in Article 5 :-
" The contracting powers mutually and severally agree that the
districts specified in Schedule C, hereunto annexed, shall be ceded to
the said Maharajah Mysore Kishna Rajah, and shall form the separate
government of Mysore, upon the conditions hereinafter mentioned."
Article 8, again, throws some light on the relative position of the
Nizam and English :-
'" Then the right to the sovereignty of the several districts herein-
before reserved for eventual cession to the Peishwa Rao Pundit Prudhan
Bahadoor, shall rest jointly in the said English East India Company
Bahadoor, and the said Nawab Nizam-ood-Dowlah Ausuph Jah Bahadoor
WHO will either exchange them with the Rajah of Mysore for other districts
of equal value more contiguous to their respective territories, or otherwise
arrange and settle respecting them, as they shall judge proper."
Article 9 gives the conditions referred to in Article 5, and is the
authority of the subsidiary treaty.
So the facts are these : A separate government of Mysore was to be
formed, and which stipulation is binding on the heirs and successors of
the contracting parties. The question then simply is, Was Lord
Wellesley justified in introducing anything into the subsidiary treaty
that would in any way destroy the "separate government of Mysore,”
or anything beyond the condition contained in Article 9 as to the
provision for a subsidiary force ?
This is Article 9 :-
“It being expedient, for the effectual establishment of Maharajah
Mysore Kishna Rajah in the government of Mysore, that his Highness
should be assisted with a suitable subsidiary force, it is stipulated and
agreed that the whole of the said force shall be furnished by the
English East India Company Babadoor, according to the terms of a separate
treaty to be immediately concluded between the said English East India
VA
69
Company Bahadoor and His Highness the Maharajah Mysore Kishna
Rajah Oodiaver Bahadoor.”
In accordance with Article 9 of the partition treaty, given above, the
subsidiary treaty was made, and the preamble simply recites the same
purpose, as it in honesty ought.
The heading begins with the words, “ A treaty of perpetual friend-
ship and alliance ;" then the preamble says, in accordance with the
partition treaty :-
"Whereas it is stipulated in the treaty concluded on the 22nd of
June, 1799, between the Honourable English East India Company
Bahadoor and the Nawab Nizam-ood-Dowlah Ausuph Jah Bahadoor,
for strengthening the alliance and friendship subsisting between the said
English East India Company Bahadoor, his Highness Nizam-ood-Dowlah
Ausuph Jah Babadoor, and the Peishwa Rao Pundit Prudhan Bahadoor,
and for effecting a settlement of the territories of the late Tippoo Sultan,
that a separate government shall be established in Mysore, and that His
Highness Maharajah Mysore Kishna' Rajah Oodiaver Bahadoor shall
possess certain territories, specified in Schedule C annexed to the said
treaty, and that, for the effectual establishment of the government of
Mysore, His Highness shall be assisted with a suitable subsidiary force,
to be furnished by the English East India Company Bahadoor; where-
fore, in order to carry the said stipulations into effect, and to increase
and strengthen the friendship subsisting between the said English East
India Company and the said Maharajah Mysore Kishna Rajah Oodiaver
Bahadoor, this treaty is concluded by Lieutenant-General George Harris
..... and by His Highness Maharajah Mysore Kishna Rajah
Oodiaver Babadoor, which shall be binding upon the contracting parties
as long as the sun and moon shall endure.".
Nothing can be clearer than the preamble, distinctly based upon the
partition treaty, which binds for ever the English for a “separate
government in Mysore," and providing for a suitable force. And yet
this is the treaty which is endeavoured to be made personal, and by which
some Englishmen have created a right of annexation.
Let us see the treaty further on. The very first article treats the two
parties on an equality of duties, like two independent powers :-
« The friends and enemies of either of the contracting parties shall
be considered as the friends and enemies of both.”
Further articles relating to the question are given in the Appendix.
70
I shall make only one more short extract, which shows that the
assumption of power by the British Government was not to be perpetual,
but temporary. These are the words in Article 5 :-
"Provided always, that whenever and that so long as any part or
parts of His said Highness's territory shall be placed and shall remain
under the exclusive authority and control of the East India Company,"
&c. &c.
I leave now to you, gentlemen, to say whether the subsidiary treaty
could, under all these circumstances, be considered as a simple personal
treaty, and that the English have the right to annex Mysore on the
death of the Rajah ?
This paper is written by me not for complaint, but for thanksgiving.
To Sir Stafford Northcote, as well as to Lord Cranbourne and the few
councillors who sided with them, sincere thanks are due not only from the
natives of India, but even from Englishmen, for having to the former
done an act of justice-or if you will have it, a proper and politic act
of generosity—and for the latter, vindicated and maintained to the
natives of India and to the world the character of the English nation
for justice and liberality.
What gratitude and admiration such noble words as the following from
Sir S. Northcote deserve, needs no comment from me:-"And we should
endeavour as far as possible to develop the system of native government,
to bring out native talent and statesmanship, and to enlist in the cause
of government all that was great and good in them.”
The following letter was addressed to Lord William Hay in connec-
tion with the above subject :-
32, GREAT ST. HELEN'S, LONDON,
MY LORD,
8th July, 1868.
I again take this opportunity of thanking you for pointing out to me
without hesitation what you considered as an oversight on my part. I
have no object in this matter except truth and justice. We may now
see whether I have really made any mistake. You will please first
remember that the words perpetual,” or “for ever,” or “ as long as the
sun and moon shall endure," or words of that character, are not admitted
by you as of any consequence in giving to the treaty a permanent
character. You want the words “heirs and successors,” or either of
them, to make the Mysore Treaty a permanent one.
71
In the Travancore Treaty of 1795 the word “ heirs” does not occur
anywhere. The word “successors” does occur often ; but, as you will
see below, in the Treaty of 1805 great care is taken not only to strike
out this word “successors,” or any other words of similat import, but
even pointedly to describe the Rajah of Travancore as one of the con-
tracting parties, as “His Highness the Rajah of Travancore for himself,'.
which words “ for himself” are not used even in the Mysore Treaty.
This itself would be sufficient to show that if the subsidiary Mysore
Treaty was a personal one, the Travancore Treaty of 1805 was especially,
by the special wording of that treaty, a still more personal one for
the Rajah with whom that treaty was concluded.
Now, if under the 5th Article of the Mysore Treaty the English were
entitled to take the administration of Mysore into their own hands and
afterwards to claim that the country should not be restored because the
Mysore Treaty was a personal one, it was the more logical, that as the
Treaty of 1805 was concluded by the Rajah of Travancore " for himself,"
and as the special stipulation made by himself” was infringed by the
Rajah, that therefore under the treaty his country should have been
annexed. I say that this single circumstance of the words " for
himself” would have been enough, according to the argument adopted
with Mysore case, to annex Travancore to British India, which was
not done.
But I proceed further, and show that the Travancore Treaty of 1805
was, with all possible care, made to correspond in every possible way with
the Mysore Treaty, and whatever may have been Wellesley's objects
Rajah of Travancore was put in the same position as the Rajah of
Mysore, or if anything in a worse one, by the words " for himself.”
In the preamble of the Treaty of 1795* the Rajah, as a contracting
party, is described not only by his own name, but is further described as
“the reigning Rajah of Travancore," while in that of the Treaty of 1805
the Rajah of Travancore for himself."
Article 2 of 1795 is modified by Article 1 of 1805. It will be seen in
this that while in the Treaty of 1795 the words used are " the country
of the said Rajah or of his successors," in that of 1805 the words
s his successors” are omitted.
* See Appendix, in which both the Treaties of 1795 and 1805 are given.
72
Article 3 of 1795 is modified by Article 3 of 1805. It will be seen
that in the Article 3 of 1795, “The Rajah of Travancore doth engage
for himself and his successors," hile in Article 3 of 1805 the words "his
successors” are omitted, and only “His Highness engages to pay," and
only “His said Highness further agrees."
Article 4 of 1795 is modified by Articles 3 and 4 of 1805. It will be
seen that while in Article 4 of 1795 the stipulations are on behalf of "the
Rajah and his successors,” in the corresponding Articles 3 and 4 of the
Treaty of 1805 the words “his successors” are omitted, and instead of
“the Rajah and his successors” the words are only the said Maharajah"
or “ His Highness."
Articles 5 and 6 of the Treaty of 1795 are modified in the 7th and
in the Articles of 1795 the Rajah is described, “the Rajah present and
future," " the Rajah or his successors,” and “the reigning Rajah of
Travancore for the time being," in Articles 7 and 8 of 1805, we have
neither “Rajahs future," nor his successors," nor "reigning for the
time being,” but only “His Highness Maharajah Ram Rajah Bahadoor,"
" His said Highness," or " His Highness."
Article 7 of the Treaty of 1795 is repealed by Article 2 of 1805
Now in the Article 7 of 1795 we have the said reigning Rajah for the
time being," while in the 2nd Article of 1805 we have only " Ram Rajah
Bahadoor.” I do not suppose it was intended, or that it has been, or
that it is likely to be, so acted upon, that after the death of this Ram
Rajah Babadoor of the Treaty of 1805 “his successors” would, by the
7th Article of the Treaty of 1795, cancelled, as above shown, be made
to pay again what was released and discharged in this Article 2 of 1805.
Article 9 of the Treaty of 1795 is altered by the Articles 5 and 6 of
the Treaty of 1805. Now it will be seen, that while in Article 9 of
1795 there are the words “ Rajah or his successors' country” in the
· Articles 5 and 6 of 1805, the words are only “the possessions of his
Highness Ram Rajah Bahadoor,” or “his Highness."
The above Articles 5 and 6 of 1805, are the most important Articles
by which the British Government came to have any right to interfere
in the administration of the country, and in providing for this new right,
Wellesley not only omitted the words “successors, &c.,” but adopted
almost entirely the language, word for word, of the stipulations of the
73
An
Mysore Treaty. This right of interference is essentially the provision
of the Treaty of 1805, and can be exacted in terms of that treaty only,
without any reference to any previous treaty, for previous treaties have
nothing to say on this point: and so far as any interference is concerned,
it is with Ram Rajah “ for himself,” as the contracting party, that the
arrangement was made by Wellesley. .
1
S
(
Now, is it a fair inference or not, that by so deliberately and carefully
omitting in every Article of the Treaty of 1805 the words “successors,"
«s for the time being," " Rajahs in future," &c., Wellesley deliberately
intended to bring the position of the Rajah of Travancore to the level
of the Rajah of Mysore ? And is it not also fair to infer, that had that'
part of Article 9 and Article 11 of 1795 which are the only Articles
(out of the few which have not been modified) that contain the word
s'successors” by implication or directly, been also modified or repeated in the
Treaty of 1805, the word “successors" would have been deliberately and
carefully struck out? If not, then why were they struck out throughout
the whole of the Treaty of 1805, However, whether you admit this
inference or not, what does the Article 9 of the Treaty of 1805, from
which you quoted, amount to ? It cannot certainly renew and confirm
what is altered in the Treaty of 1805. It renews and confirms that
part of the Treaty of 1795 which is not modified in that of 1805. Now
there are only part of Article 9, and the Article 11, which contain
directly, or by implication, the word "successors,” to which this con-
firmation can be of any consequence for the present argument (if the
confirmation is at all such as you suppose, which is not the case, as I
shall show hereafter). But I ask again whether, had these clauses
been at all fouched in the Treaty of 1805, Wellesley would have allowed
the word “successors” to remain ? However, be this as it may, for whom
does the Article 9 of 1805 “confirm and renew" the remaining
Articles of 1795 ? It is distinctly for the “ contracting parties.” And
who are the contracting parties ? The Indian contracting party of the
Treaty of 1805 is not, as in the Treaty of 1795, the “ Rajah and
successors,” or “ Rajahs future," or "for the time being," but only
“ His Highness the Rajah of Travancore for himself,” and nobody
else any more than I.
Now what I say is this, be the intentions of Wellesley what they may,
they were the same with regard to the Rajahs of Travancore and Mysore,
and the two treaties are on the same footing; and that this is clear by his
having so carefully and deliberately expunged the words successors, &c.
74
in every Article in the Treaty of 1805, by adopting the very
phraseology of the Mysore Treaty in that of 1805, as far as possible,
and by “ confirming” in the 9th Article, for the " contracting parties"
only, and not for “successors,” &c.
I hope, therefore, you will now be satisfied that I have not been
inaccurate in my statement, and that I had carefully compared the
Treaties of 1795 and 1805 ; and I am correct in stating, and in
accordance with the Travancore Treaty of 1805 and the Mysore sub
sidiary Treaty, the Rajahs of Mysore and Travancore were deliberately-
put on the same footing by Wellesley, whatever that footing was.
As you do not desire any controversy upon the merits of the Mysore
case annexation, &c., I do not enter into that discussion, and content
myself with the simple remark, that in my humble opinion your remarks
on that subject are refutable.
0
I remain, yours truly,
)
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
LORD WILLIAM HAY.
CHAPTER II.
ESSAYS-(continued).
V.
ADMISSION OF EDUCATED NATIVES INTO THE
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
(Read before a Meeting of the East India Association, London, Friday,
April 17th, 1868. E. B. Eastwick, Esq., C.B., F.R.S., in the Chair.)
GENTLEMEN,-Since our deputation waited on the Secretary of State
for India with the. Memorial* relative to the Indian Civil Service, I find
several objections urged from different quarters; and, as I see that Mr.
Fawcett is going to move a resolution, I beg to submit for your consi-
deration my views on those objections. They are, as far as I have met
with, principally these :-
1. That the natives are not fit, on account of their deficient ability,
integrity, and physical power and energy.
2. That Europeans would not like to serve under natives.
3. That native officials are not much respected by the natives, and
that when a native is placed in any position of eminence, his fellow-
countrymen all around him are ready to backbite and slander him.
4. That natives look too much to Government employment, and do
not show sufficient independence of character to strike out for them-
selves other paths of life.
5. That though natives may prove good subordinates, they are not
fit to be placed at the head of any department.
6. That natives who seek for admission into the Civil Service should
be Anglicised.
7. That natives ought not to be put in positions of power.
8. That the places obtained by the natives will be so many lost to
the English people.
9. That natives are already largely employed.
. To avoid confusion, I give hereafter the replies to these objections
separately, but it is necessary to guard against being drawn into a
* Appendix B,
76
TUIN
discussion of these objections, and thereby missing the real point at issue.
Whatever may be the weight or value of these objections, they are now
altogether beside the question. The real position of the question at
present is simply this : That, notwithstanding all these and other such
objections, after a searching inquiry, and after taking them all into very
careful consideration, Parliament has decided and publicly enacted,
“ That no native of the said territories (India), nor any natural-born,
subject of His Majesty resident therein, shall, by reason only of his
religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from
holding any place, office, or employment under the said Company."
This enactment by Parliament in the year 1834 was again confirmed in
distinct, honest, and emphatic terms by our gracious Sovereign in the
year 1858: “We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian
territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other
subjects, and those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we
shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil. . . . . It is our further will
that, so far as may be, our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be freely
and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which
they may be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity duly to
discharge.” The tests of qualifications, character, and health are laid
down. Now the question simply is, whether these solemn Royal decla-
rations and enactments of Parliament are to be fairly and honestly carried
out, or whether they are only to be a mockery and a delusion as far as
the British subjects in India are concerned. This is the whole question.
I have not the least doubt that the intentions, of our Sovereign and
Parliament are honest, and the only course open is, not to subject any
one class of British subjects to greater difficulties and sacrifices than
another. Every obstacle left or thrown in the way of the natives of
India is equivalent to making the Royal word and Parliamentary enact-
ment, as far as they are concerned, a dead letter and a mockery. The
only way in which natives of India can be put on an honestly equal
footing with Englishmen is by holding examinations in India also: I
trust that in the debate in Parliament this real point at issue will not
be lost sight of, and will be distinctly pronounced upon.
S
The questions which will have to be necessarily discussed in con-
nexion with this point are-1st. Whether it is practicable to hold
examinations in India. It is evident that there can be no insurmount-
able difficulty. I need hardly take up your time on this point, as you
are all well aware that there are competent staffs of examiners in India.
I would only throw out one or two suggestions. If it be considered
77
necessary that all the candidates both of this country and of India
should be subjected to the same examination, papers for both written
and vivâ voce examinations can be sent from here, to be opened in India
in the examination rooms on the same day as they are opened here ;
and in the case of the viva voce examinations (whether papers are sent
or not, or questions additional to those given in the papers are put by
the examiner for obtaining fully the object of the vivâ voce examinations),
if the examiners are required to write down all the questions
put and answers given, with such remarks as may occur to them as
to the manner of the replies of each candidate, the Commissioners here
will be well able to control the whole examination, and bring it to a
common standard. If, on the other hand, the Government of India be
left to carry out the examination in India, there will be no difficulty
whatever in finding a competent staff of examiners. It is neither
desirable, nor should it be expected by the natives, that the English
portion of the service should not be larger than the native ; and a small
portion of the annual appointments left to be competed for in India, is all,
I think, that they can at present fairly ask. In that case the latter plan
of leaving to the Government of India to conduct the examinations
would be preferable. The chief objection to this latter plan is that by
a separate examination a native may come in who may be inferior to the
English candidates rejected here. To avoid this difficulty, either the
first plan of "same papers” must be adopted ; or, if the Government of
India adopt a sufficiently high standard of examinations and a high mi-
nimum, considering that the number of appointments will be very small
indeed compared with the number of candidates who are likely to com-
pete in such a large population, the successful candidates will not only
be comparatively, but absolutely, good and superior men. Again, on the
other hand, the chief objection to the “ same examination for all” is that
as the number of candidates will be in the course of time much larger in
India than here, on account of the immensely larger population
from which they will come, there is some chance that the Commissioners
may find a much larger number of natives coming high than the
Secretary of State may think desirable to give appointments to. If,
therefore, any natives are then rejected and their English inferiors are
selected, the cry of injustice will naturally arise, which contingency
ought, I think, to be avoided. Upon the whole, therefore, I think
leaving the examination to the Government of India, with a sufficiently
high standard, will be the most practicable plan, as the chance is very
slight of inferior men passing in a very large competition. Again,
78
whether the examinations should be held in some one place only, or at
all the Presidency towns, is another question. This can be well left to
the Viceroy. Each Presidency is so large a country by itself that, if
a distribution of the appointments were made among them, the work
of the examiners will be ample, and the civil servants being thus drawn
from the different localities of India, a larger and more varied experience
will be introduced into the service than if they were all or most of
them drawn from one province only, which I think will be an advantage.
These details, however, had better be left to the judgment of the
Secretary of State.
As to the general character of the candidates, the certificates will be.
mostly from the English heads of their colleges, about whom certainly
nobody can object that they would not be as conscientious and honest
as the heads of the colleges here. The weight of any other certificates
that may be produced by the candidates can easily be judged of by the
examining authorities. In short, Government may adopt such rules
as they may deem necessary to get the Indian candidate of the same
level with the English, whether in acquirements, character, physical
to a fair standard, it would be their own fault; they only ask a fair
trial. Now suppose any inefficient person by some accident found
admission into the service (which is very unlikely in a large competition
for very few places), or suppose that after admission the integrity
of any was not found satisfactory; there is no difficulty for Government
in discharging such a person. By his appointment once he does not
become a permanent fixture. Nor is it incumbent upon Government
to promote any servant who does not prove his fitness for promo-
tion. So there is no reason whatever why the enactment of Parliament
or the proclamation of our Sovereign should not be fairly carried out,
and the mere bugbear of the fear that some native employe may
misbehave himself be allowed to interfere with a necessary act of
justice and policy.
As to the locality for the examinations, Clause XXXII. of the Act
of 1858 does not fix any. The Secretary of State for India is not
prevented from holding examinations where he may think necessary.
The second question will be the necessary expenditure, but it is
only natural and quite evident that the natives would only be
too glad to have any necessary portion of the revenue devoted to
such purposes.
79
' I need not here do more than simply state that the two requests made
in our memorial have been by some confounded with each other as
alternatives, but you are aware they are not so. The very wording of
the second request and the speech of Sir H. Edwards shows that the
two requests have two different objects, the first to give a fair, free, and
impartial chance to the natives to enter the Indian Civil Service on the
same footing as Englishmen, and the second to send out natives in
various independent professions to India, "where by degrees they
would form an enlightened and unprejudiced class, exercising a great
and beneficial influence on native society, and constituting a link
between the masses of the people and their English rulers.”
1
When I moved the, memorial, I did not go further into this matter
than pointing out that our Sovereign and the Parliament, and the press
as representing the people of this country, and the present Government
were of the one opinion which is expressed in the words I have quoted
before from an Act of Parliament and from the proclamation of our
Sovereign. Even now the press of this country, while commenting on
. the Blue Book of the comparison of the British and native rule, have
almost unanimously declared that a fair field for the aspiration of
natives of ability and character is one of the most important wants
of the British rule, both to make it beloved as well as as efficient.
I also then urged that the best interest of the service required that the
first competition for selection should take place in India, in order that
selection of qualified natives may not be made from a small body only,
but to select the best talent and character from the whole talent and
character of the country.
(D
With such a clear case of law, justice, and necessity, we may think,
and properly too, that I should have nothing more to say, and that my
paper should end here. So I had thought on the occasion of proposing
the memorial, but as some objections have been since started from
quarters, no matter of whatever character, and as it is likely that some
members of Parliament may desire to know the value of these objections,
though, as I have explained before they are all now quite irrelevant, I
discuss them one by one.
1. “That the natives are not fit, on account of their deficient ability,
integrity, and physical power and energy..
The reports of the education department of India and of the adminis-
trative departments show what the abilities and acquirements of the
80
natives are, and how offices of trust and responsibility hitherto
entrusted to educated Indians have been discharged by them.
The testimony as to the ability and intelligence of the natives is now
complete, that the intellect of the natives of India is equal to that of
any other people. Its ancient literature speaks for itself, and the result
of modern education is that its universities declare, year after year, that
their work is successful, and that graduates begin to number by
hundreds, and undergraduates by thousands. I shall revert to this
point again shortly, in connection with the question of integrity.
With regard to the general integrity and character of the whole
nation, it would be too long to go over the ground I have once treated
in my paper on the European and Asiatic races. Nor is it at present
necessary for me to do so, as the question now before us is not the
indiscriminate employment of natives generally in high offices of trust
and responsibility, but only of that class which proves itself qualified by
its high education, ability, and character. Now, it would be a strange
commentary on the educational results of the English colleges in.
India (which are very justly regarded, both by the English nation and
the natives, as one of the greatest boons and blessings conferred by
England upon India), and on the character of all English intellectual,
moral, and scientific literature, if the highly educated youths of these
colleges did not also attain to high moral character. But as in the
immutable order of nature a good seed can nerer produce bad fruit,
especially in a soil that has once proved itself fertile, it is not the fact
that the education of these colleges does not raise the sense of moral duty
of the students. I might here reason out a long argument to show why the
natives ought to be and are as good as any other people under similar
circumstances ; but, as any length of argument or number of assertions
will not carry conviction home to those who have now to pronounce on
this point so completely as a few actual facts, I applied myself to
this task. Before I give you the result, I have to make one observation.
I do not do this in any spirit of recrimination, or ill-feeling, nor do I
wish to urge the delinquencies of any one class as any justification for
those of another; but it is only in simple fairness and justice that I
ask English gentlemen to make proper allowances. Those gentlemen
who so often cast stones at the want of integrity and the corruption of
the natives, should not forget how some Englishmen in India, in former
days, were suddenly transformed into rich nawabs ; how Mr. Drake
got his Rs. 280,000, or how a number of others got their lacs to side
(D
with one or other of the contending native princes, to the tune of some
millions sterling within nine years, from 1757 to 1766,* and how, after
selling their power and influence in India in the above manner, the
Company bought their power in the English legislature, by bribing in
the legislature to something like 90,0002. in the year 1693;f how the
Company's servants cheated their own masters; how, in Mr. Mills'
words, in one matter, “The conduct of the Company's servants upon
this occasion furnishes one of the most remarkable instances upon
record of the power of interest to extinguish all sense of justice, and
even. of shame.”I It is natural for gentlemen who have received a
high education, and who begin their Indian service or life with high
pay or profits, and high prospects, to feel indignant at the bribery and
corruption of the poor people with low education, low pay or profits,
and low prospects, and exclaim how can such things be. But if those
gentlemen would only observe a little more around themselves, observe
the amount of fraud and “doing.” in this metropolis, if they would
only remember the cry very recently raised against butchers and grocers,
and discounts for servants, the convictions for false weights, the puffs
of advertisements, the corruption among the “independent and
intelligent electors," and their respectable corruptors, that, as said
above, English gentlemen bought and sold power, and that several
Englishmen from the lower classes are not behaving quite creditably in
India now, &c., they will then see that such things not only can
be, but are to be found even in this country under similar
circumstances, learn to make allowances for similar phenomena among
other people, and agree in the “decided conviction” expressed by the
Court of Directors, that “we have no right to calculate on them
(the natives) resisting temptations to which the generality of mankind
in the same circumstances would yield.”
The real question now, gentlemen, is whether, when natives are as
highly educated as Englishmen, they attain to the same character for
integrity or not, whatever may be the difference of opinion about the
character of the whole nation, or of native agency generally.
I have collected a large amount of testimony with regard to native
agency. Here I have in my hand a pamphlet of ninety-five pages,
entitled “Evidences relating to the Efficiency of Native Agency in
* Mills
British India,' vol. iii., ed. 1826; p. 326. † Ibid, vol.i., ed. 1826, p. 115.
# Ibid., vol. iii., ed. 1826, p. 300.
§ Letter to Bengal Government, dated 23rd July 1824.
82
ws
India, published under the superintendence of the British India Society,
reprinted with a supplement by the British Indian Association,
Calcutta, 1853.' This pamphlet contains a collectior of the testimony
of Indian officials up to 1853. We have further in the Parliamentary
reports of the same year a large amount of evidence on the same subject,
and also a good deal scattered over in different works, or in periodical
literature. But for our present purpose nearly the whole of this mass
of evidence is inapplicable ;, and therefore useless to lay before you.
All, this evidence has been chiefly upon the question of native agency
generally, but the present question is not the efficiency and integrity of
the natives generally, but of the particular body who can pass the ordeal
of a high examination and produce satisfactory testimony of character.
I therefore thought proper to request several Indian officials now
resident in this country to give me their opinion. I addressed the
following letter :-
"I shall be exceedingly obliged if you would kindly give me your
opinion as to the efficiency and integrity of the educated natives employed
in the various departments of the Indian service in offices of trust and
responsibility.”
To this inquiry several gentlemen have kindly replied. I give you
all these replies in Appendix A, and leave you to judge for yourselves.
Out of the testimony already published I give you a few extracts only
in the same appendix, which directly bear upon the present question.
It will be observed that the appended testimony represents all parts of
India. Sir W. Denison's opinion appears unfavourable. He admits
that there are, even though as exceptions, some natives who are serving
the state with efficiency. Now it is only for men like these, and who
can also prove their character, no matter whether they are few or
many, that our memorial asks for free admission. It is only those
natives who can prove their ability by passing through a severe ordeal,
and who can also prove their character by satisfactory testimony
(and not natives indiscriminately), that we ask admission for. And
even after such natives are admitted, if any is found wanting, either in
efficiency or integrity, there is nothing to prevent Government from
dismissing him. Nor is Government bound to promote, unless satisfied
with the merits of any servant. Against Sir W. Denison's opinion
representing Madras, we have, on the other hand, a different opinion
from Lord Harris, Sir C. Trevelyan, General Briggs, and Mr. Edward
Maltby. On a fair estimate of the whole evidence, I venture to conclude
that the educated natives of India, when employed in the public service,
83
hqve proved their efficiency and integrity. My humble testimony may
be worthless, especially in a matter in which I am one of the petitioners ;
but I think I may at least say what I conscientiously believe, that as a
native, and therefore having good opportunity of knowing the private
character of the educated natives of the Bombay Presidency, many of
whom were my students, fellow-students, friends, acquaintances, or
fellow-labourers in public movements (without undertaking to give an
opinion as to their efficiency, though I know well their ability), I
conscientiously believe that their integrity is undoubted, and that they
are actuated by a true and genuine sense of moral duty in their good
conduct and public spirit. Among them a spirit of condemning any
lapse of duty, to the want of which, among natives generally, Sir R.
Wallace alludes, is getting very strong, and the severest reproach that
any one administers to another is to tell him that he did not behave in
a way worthy of his education. The feeling among them is very strong,
that their high education demands from them a high moral character,
and a performance of their duties. I can give extracts of open censure
from the native press. Our present rulers may well be proud of such
result of their educational establishments, and point to it as one of their
strongest claims upon our loyalty and gratitude. It only now remains
for our rulers to let such results bear good fruit, instead of running into
discontent and mischief, by giving a fair and reasonable scope for the
talent evolved. The question is simple : either the natives must be
allowed to have a fair share in the administration of the country, or the
nation must be kept ignorant, and the rulers take the chances of the
results of such ignorance and hatred for foreign rule combined therewith.
I am glad to say that as far as I am aware of the views of some of
the English principals and professors of the colleges in the Bombay
Presidency, they are the same with mine, and it is with much pleasure
I find that Sir A. Grant, the present Director of Public Instruction, has
distinctly recorded his opinion as follows. In his report as Principal of
Elphinstone College, * for 1862-63, he says, “ As far as my experience
goes, nothing can be more untrue than the common notion that English
education is injurious to the moral principle of natives. In the College,
I have invariably found that students improve in trustworthiness and
respectability in direct ratio to their improvement as scholars.” Any
doubts about the physical energy or pluck of the candidates can easily
be removed by requiring any tests for the purpose. Certainly the
* Bombay Education Report, 1862-63, p. 94.
84
people with whose assistance, as the native army, the British Indian
Empire has been mostly built up, cannot be pronounced as wanting in
physical power and energy. They ought to have a fair trial. From
the political cause of long subjection to foreign rules, and several
religious and social causes, it cannot be denied that the people of several
portions of India are enervated,—those of Lower Bengal I am' told
especially; and some Englishmen, observing the effeminacy of these
people, have drawn the general conclusion with regard to all India.
But about this very people Mr. Anstey told us the other day*: "Who
were the Sykhs when their prophet first found them out ? Poor
miserable starving fugitives from Bengal, of whom their great founder,
knowing well the stuff from which Asiatics were made, looking with a
prophetic eye into the future, said, “I will teach the sparrow to strike
the eagle.' In comparison with the great dignity of Aurungzebe, it was
the sparrow as compared to the eagle, and in less than a century the
sparrow did strike the eagle.”
Let, therefore, the natives once feel that it is time for them to
shake off this effeminacy, and that, under the blessing and ægis of the
British rule, there is full scope for the head, heart and hand, and I
have no doubt that they will prove themselves worthy of the power and
civilization they once possessed, and of the blessing of the new regene-
ration now bestowed upon them by the light of the higher enlighten-
ment and civilization of the West by their British rulers.
In short, whatever may be the value of the objection as to the
efficiency, integrity, and energy of the natives, the very fact that none
can find admission into the service who are not qualified as required,
removes the objection altogether. I once more wish to impress that it
is not only the willingness of a native to be examined that will find him
admission into the examination-room, but he will have to prove to the
satisfaction of Government that he is a person of character, in the same
way as the candidate is required to do here ; that his further promotion
will be entirely in the hands of Government, and his failure will bring
dismissal.
2. - That Europeans would not like to serve under the natives."
This I cannot help considering as a libel on the English character.
I have a much higher opinion of it than to believe that Englishmen are
not capable of appreciating and respecting true merit. Moreover, fäcts
* Journal of the East India Association, No. 2, p. 182.
85
disprove this objection. The native judges of the high as well as the
subordinate courts, and natives in any other position of eminence, are
respected by English subordinates. Englishmen serve both here and in
India native masters with every respect. In the Bombay dockyard,
Englishmen served under native superiors. In short, it would be
strange if it were otherwise, for Englishmen are especially alive to merit.
Why, if there be any Englishmen in the service, who should be so lost
to their sense of duty and appreciation of true merit as to be reluctant
to serve under natives of merit, they do not deserve to be in the service
at all.
3. “That native officials are not much respected by the natives, and
are envied and slandered."
This objection can only be the result of the ignorance of the feelings
of the natives towards officials of real merit, be they Englishmen
or natives. The gratification of seeing their own countrymen rise in
dignity and honour is naturally as great among the natives as among
any other people. That narrow minded or interested people will
envy others is a trait which can be met with as much among any other
people as among the natives of India. Only some weeks ago I read in
the · Hindu Reformer' of Bombay, of 15th January last, " We hail with
excessive joy the selection of Mr. Mhadeo Govind Ranade, M.A., LL.B.,
Niayadhish of Kolapore, to fill the chair of English Literature and
History in the Elphinstone College. . . . . The honour which is
thus conferred on Mr. Ranade is as much deserved by him as it is
suggestive of his superior accomplishments as a scholar, and we have not
the slightest doubt that it will cause much satisfaction to all who take an
interest in the cause of the education of the youth of this Presidency."
This is a fair specimen of the feelings of the natives towards their
countrymen of merit. I can give more extracts if necessary. When
I was appointed Professor of Mathematics in the same college, I can
candidly say that I think I was looked upon with very kindly feelings
by my countrymen around me generally, as well as by the students of
the College and the masters of the school departments. The feelings
of my European colleagues were so kind towards me that I shall always
remember them with pleasure and gratitude.
Turning to official testimony, I think none can be more satisfactory
and complete than the following :-
In one of the Government Gazettes of Calcutta, of last year, the
following paragraph appeared :-“The Governor-General in Council has
86
received, with sincere regret, official intimation of the death of the
Honourable Shamboonath Pundit, one of the Judges of Her Majesty's
High Court at Fort William. The Honourable the Chief Justice in
communicating this intelligence to the Governor-General has said, 'So
far as Mr. Justice Shamboonath Pundit was concerned, the experiment
of appointing a native gentleman to a seat in the High Court has
succeeded. He had a considerable knowledge of his profession, and a
thorough acquaintance with the natives. I have always found him
upright, honourable, and independent, and I believe that he was looked
up to by his countrymen with respect and confidence. The interest
which both in India and England attaches to the experiment of placing
a native gentleman in the highest judicial situation in the country has
induced the Governor-General in Council to make public the opinion of
the Honourable the Chief Justice, in which His Excellency entirely
agrees.”
Certainly the above extracts prove anything but envy. They also
disprove the first objection as to the ability and character of the natives.
Sir A. Grant is no ordinary judge of scholarship, and that he should
appoint a native as Professor of English Literature and History speaks
volumes. The testimony of the Governor-General and the Chief Justice
about Pundit Shamboonath speaks for itself.
The Court of Directors say, “The ability and integrity of a large and
increasing number of the native judges to whom the greater part of the
civil jurisdiction in India is now committed, and the high estimation
in which many among them are held by their fellow countrymen,” &c.*
The North-West Provinces report that the Courts of Honorary
Magistrates appear to possess the confidence of the people.fi
4. “That natives look too much to Government employment, and
do not shew sufficient independence of character to strike out for them-
selves other paths of life.”
This is also contrary to facts, and has its origin in superficial obser-
vation, or in the knowledge of particular localities. That they should
look to Government appointments, and wish to aspire to a share in the
administration of their own country, is only as natural with them as
with Englishmen here. Until lately there were very few openings for
educated men. The legal profession being.now open to them, many
,* 'Educational Despatch of 1854', p. 77.
† “Return, Moral, &c., Progress, 1867', p. 88.
ST
are going to it. The medical profession is availed of as far as it can be,
in spite of the prejudices against dissection. But except at the Presi-
dency and some other large towns, an educated doctor can hardly get
practice suited to his position; the number, therefore, of well-educated
practitioners who can at present pursue this profession with profit is
limited. The fact that European doctors chiefly confine themselves to
the Presidency and some few other towns, shows that the field for edu-
cated medical men is not yet very large. The educated theological
profession has yet to be created, except among native Christians. The
Gujurati Hindus of India have been merchants from time immemorial,
and they are still as enterprising as ever. There is a large internal
commerce carried on by the natives. Many among educated natives
would gladly become merchants, or follow other professions, if they had
the requisite capital or means. During the years 1862-64, when there
was such a rush for trade and speculation, many natives left Govern-
ment service. The manufactures of England, especially textile, have
broken down very much the corresponding industries of India ; and
now, as the establishment of manufactories is a question of large capi-
tal, it is naturally shut to those who do not possess it. Still, several
natives get employment in such as are established. In railways and
other works they are ready to be employed. Besides, civil and marine
engineering is adopted by several.
17
In short, this objection may be answered briefly in this way—that
there are only about 400 natives in Government service at a salary
above 3001. per annum and upwards (see Return 201-206, 1858, 223;
sec. ii., 1859). What do all those other thousands of natives do who
are also earning as much ? So far as the native finds an independent
opening, he does not fail to take advantage of it. I know from my
experience of the educated natives of the Bombay Presidency, that they
are very glad to have independent careers.
So far was I convinced of this and of the necessity of affording facili-
ties for new careers, that I made an attempt in 1864 to adopt some
means to enable highly talented natives to continue their studies for
professional careers after completing their college education. One of
the natives of Bombay offered a lac, and some others Rs. 1,75,000 for
two fellowships of Rs. 200 and Rs. 300 per month respectively, and
asked Government to contribute as much ; but unfortunately the offer was
not accepted by Government.
88
In addition to these fellowships, which were intended to encourage
high education and high independent careers, there was also started for
the less educated, and the enterprising spirits generally, a “Students'
Loan Company,” to lend money at moderate interest to persons wishing
to visit England and other places, to complete their education or to
learn any trade, art, or profession. The Rs. 300 fellowship and the
Students' Loan Company were intended for the benefit of all India.
D
that there can be any question that the natives do not look to Govern-
ment employments any more than the people of any other country in
similar circumstances. Supposing, however, for argument's sake, that
there was among the natives some tendency to look a little too much to
Government employments, that certainly can be no good reason that
they should therefore be debarred from aspiring to a reasonable extent
to a share in the service of their own country when qualified by their
ability and character. It is said that this tendency was observed in
Lower Bengal, but, even in that part of India, the tendency, if it ever
existed to any unreasonable extent, is now changing. The body of
independent barristers, solicitors, and vakeels, doctors, and merchants
shows that even the Bengalees are not blind to the advantages of
independent careers as they become open to them.
5. “That, though natives may prove good subordinates, they are not
fitted to be placed at the head of any department.”
Without giving a fair trial, such an objection is, to say the least,
very unreasonable. Besides, the objection is not borne out by facts.
In any instances in which natives have been put in positions of trust
and responsibility, they have shown themselves equal to their duties, as
you must have seen from the evidence I have read to you. If, in any
case, Government found inefficiency, there could be no difficulty in
removing it, just as it does with English servants. Moreover, after
getting admission into the service, the natives would not be put at the
head all at once. They will have to show their efficiency, and to work
their way up; and Government will have every opportunity of testing
whom they can trust and whom not with higher positions.
6. “That natives who seek for admission into the civil service
should be first Anglicised.”
The education that natives receive in India is in itself a process of
Anglicising them, with this advantage, that they retain the sympathy
and knowledge of their own country; and if a native is required to
89
CD
visit this country after his selection by the first competition, the object
of the visit to this country will be realized. If it be thought that two
years' visit to this country is not enough, there can be no difficulty in
arranging and requiring the native successful candidates to spend a
little longer time here ; beause the reasons why English candidates
are required to go India at an early age do not apply to the natives, as
the natives do not require to be acclimatized, nor do they require the
same time to learn the character, thoughts and habits of the people that
foreigners do.
I do not mean to say that young boys should not also be brought here
for education. But there are many difficulties and troubles for taking
care of them. Unless good care is taken to keep them within the charm
of the circle of good society, there is some danger of evil instead of good
resulting. When those educated in India come here at a mature age,
everything they see is novel to them, every moment of their sojourn here
is valuable, and spent in comparisons; they return to India enthusiastic,
and do much good. We know what good a Karsandas Moolji or a
Dosabhoy Framjee has done to their country by their visits here. Now,
it is not to be understood that the objections given above to very young
boys coming here, or what I have said in favour of visits at a greater
years, who I am sure, will do credit to themselves and benefit to their
country. I give the above pros and cons not as a speculation, but the
actual result of my experience during the past twelve years, during
which time a good many youths have been under my care, coming here
at different ages, from about ten to twenty-one. Upon the whole, I think
that the necessity of coming here at an early age cannot be reasonably
urged against holding examinations in India. There is much to be said
in favour of both early and late visits to this country, and the best
course will be to have a proper proportion of both. As I shall point out
hereafter, there are strong objections urged to making compulsory any
visit at all to this country, either before or after selection, on account of
the caste difficulty for the Hindus, who form the majority of the native
population.
7. “That natives ought not to be put in positions of power."
If the British rule is to be based on willing consent and sincere loyalty,
it is necessary that means be adopted to give the natives an interest in
and a gratitude for the British rule, by giving them a reasonable share
and voice in the administration of the country. If India is a trust for
90
the good of India, that trust ought to be faithfully discharged. It is
rather strange that there should ever have been at this day a necessity
to ask whether the British or native rule was more liked by the natives
The question should have been by this time put beyond all doubt. There
is no comparison between law above sovereign and sovereign above law.
I must wait for another opportunity to give my views fully on this
subject. If, instead of fearing to give a reasonable share of power to the
natives, our rulers would do what remains to be done, they may well
challenge the whole world to say whether they have not acted nobly.
Unless the people are taught what British rule and machinery of admin-
istration are, and are brought up with the idea that the British rule is a
blessing to them, it is simply unreasonable to hope that they could appre-
ciate what they do not understand. We may as well expect the blind to
appreciate a painting. If with this knowledge, by national education, is
associated a gratification of the high aspirations and patriotic feelings of
the educated native for a voice and share in the government of his country,
and if the material prosperity of the mass is promoted by a bold policy
for public works to develop the resources of the country, and if the
princes and the aristocracy be sure of good faith with them, and receive
the benefit of good advice, Britain may well point to its handiwork with
pride, and India may for ever remember with gratitude the hand that
retain her power in India, it gave India the benefit of all her influence
and credit, by guaranteeing the Indian debt, the relief to India of some
two millions a year will go far to the attainment of the other objects.
would achieve this glorious work of regenerating a nation of 200 millions.
If the British don't prove better rulers, why should they be in India ?
However, be the value of the above remarks what it may, one thing is
certain, that among the remedies pointed out, and those I think as neces-
sary to make the British rule popular and beloved, this one at least, of
giving freely and impartially to the natives a share in the administration
of the country, is admitted on all hands by those who have given their
opinions to the Viceroy, and their reviewers in the Press and Parliament.
I will just remark here that, in connection with the necessity of giving a
voice in the application of the revenues, the very modest proposal made
in a petition by the British Indian Association of Calcutta, reported in
the Times of India' Summary of 7th March last, will, I hope, have due
consideration from the Secretary of State for India.
That there is no danger in entrusting power to educated natives is
proved by the well-known fact that they understand and appreciate
most the benefits of English rule, and, in the words of Sir B. Frere,
“And now, wherever I go, I find the best exponents of the policy of the
English Government, and the most able coadjutors in adjusting that
policy to the peculiarities of the natives of India, among the ranks of
the educated natives,” &c. &c. I also showed this at some length in
my paper on “England's Duties to India."
8. “That the places obtained by the natives will be so many less to
the English people.”
The mere statement of this objection is its own condemnation as to its
selfishness and want of a due sense of justice, statesmanship, and the
high moral responsibilities of the British in India. It is the plain duty
of Government to secure the most efficient service they can, and for that
purpose let the words proclaimed in the name of the Sovereign be
honestly fulfilled, “that as far as may be our subjects, of whatever race
or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the
duties of which they may be qualified by their education, ability, and
integrity to discharge." To compel the natives to come to England for
competition for service in their own country is no more reasonable, free,
or impartial, than it would be to compel Englishnien to go to India or
· Australia for admission into the Civil Service in England.
9. “That natives are already largely employed.”
the covenanted services in India at a cost of above three millions per
annum, at a salary of from 2401. to 25,0001. per annum (Return 116
uncovenanted service, at salaries of 3001. and upwards; while of
natives there are only about 600 at a salary at and above 2401. a year
(Return 201-vi. 1858, 223, sec. ii., 1859), of whom about 350 are
between 2401. and 3601. per annum. This return will also show how
very few-only about a dozen--natives there are at salaries at and
above 8407. a year. Since these returns there have been some few more
high positions given to the natives, but I cannot say whether there is
yet any or more than one or two above the salary of 2,0001. per annum.
In my remarks of course I don't mean to say that there are not, and
would not hereafter be, found black sheep among the educated natives
as among any other people, but that in a fair trial the natives will come
up to the average of ability and honesty of any other people.
92
There is only one more point to which I wish to draw your attention.
To the Hindoo the caste question is socially of great importance till the
Service ought to show that he has the moral courage to break through
selection, but it is certainly not reasonable to expect that any one should
subject himself to great sacrifices both of money and social position on
the risk of the uncertain result of his venture. If he succeeds in his
competition in India, he acquires a certain position of respect, and he can
then well undertake the journey to this country with the 1001. for the
first year, and 2001. for the second year, which will be allowed to him by
Government, with the double object of completing his qualifications and
of giving a finish to his education, and of dealing with the trammels of
caste with advantage. It is not proper to sneer at the cowardice of
submitting to the caste system. The English even now have their
trammels in other shapes, as of fashions, society, &c., and had
till very lately their exclusive guilds. The English ought also not to
forget at what cost reformations have taken place in Europe, and what
previous preparation of the revival of knowledge has been necessary,
and has led to them. The Hindu institution of caste has a growth of
centuries, and over a people numbering above a hundred and fifty
millions. It is so intimately mixed with some of the most important
social relations of births, deaths, and marriages, that due, allowance
ought to be made for the difficulties and sacrifices of overcoming
its difficulties.
Some English and native gentlemen, with much effect, urge that the
Hindus should not be subjected to this sacrifice at all, by being required
to come to this country even after selection. When I consider the
advantages of travelling in foreign countries, which is so much consider-
ed of for the youth of this country even, when I see the necessity of the
natives in high positions being able to deal with English officials on a
footing of equality in the knowledge of the world, especially of the
English world, I cannot help still urging that the visit to this country
after the selection should be insisted on; though I think the first
Hindus coming here, even after the selection, will have to put up with
much inconvenience and sacrifice, and be something of martyrs in a
good cause.
I am also emboldened to adhere to this opinion by finding that some
of the native papers of Bombay, conducted by Hindus themselves, have
93
also expressed their views that the visit to this country after selection
is desirable. Moreover, in the petition from the Bombay Association,
adopted at a large and influential meeting at the house of its President,
the Hon. Munguldass Nathoobhoy, and by last advice being extensively
signed by all classes of natives, it is also proposed, “that if necessary
they (the selected candidates) may be required to proceed to England to
receive a course of special training, prescribed by the existing regulations, ·
for which there are greater facilities in Europe than in India.” Besides,
though there may be some inconveniences to the first native civilians,
the respectability of their position, and the certainty of the number of
such officials increasing every year, will. give them in time sufficient
weapons to fight their battles against losing caste, Also, if I am not
mistaken in my impression, I think the following circumstance has
already met the difficulty, or at least prepared the way for the visitors
to this country, after their selection, being able to deal with some ease
and power with the question of losing caste. I remember, whether
from reading or from conversation I cannot tell, that his Highness the
Holkar intended to send some pundits to this country. He called a
meeting of the learned Brahmins, and asked their opinion. It was
decided in that assembly, that persons going abroad for State purposes
do not lose caste, because in the glory and height of Hindu power,
ambassadors went to different courts for state purposes. If so, that
will be just the proper argument for selected candidates. After their
selection, being servants of the State, and being required by their
Sovereign to visit this country for qualifying themselves for State
purposes, they cannot lose caste,
It is said by some that if Government grant the second part of our
memorial, by conferring scholarships upon youths after a certain
competition, those youths will be able to study for the service and
compete here; and the object of opening the service freely and
impartially to the natives of India will be gained. Nothing can be a
greater mistake, I think. Now it must be borne in mind that the
scholarships are intended to leave the scholars holding them free to
pursue whatever professional study they like, in order especially to create
an independent class of educated native gentlemen. If the stipend of
these scholarships is sufficient to enable youths to come here, its natural
effect will be that most of them will prefer other independent professions,
as certain in their results, to studying for the Indian service with the risk
of failure, and the want of opportunity to learn any profession after-
wards. Then to the Hindu the failure in the competition here will be
.
94
the greatest injury possible ; for having first incurred the penalties of
losing caste, and the displeasure of his friends, the mark of failure
on his forehead, no matter whether deserved or not, would render
him an object of ridicule among his countrymen. Such an amount
of sacrifice it is utterly unreasonable and cruel to exact. But after
he is selected in India, and is sure of his position, it is reasonable
for important purposes that some sacrifice and inconvenience should be
asked from him. There is another way in which mere dependence upon
these scholarships will not secure the free admission of the best talent of
the country. We must remember that it is not the horse who makes
the best start that always wins. So by this plan of scholarships, if even
all studied for the Indian service, contrary to the real object, the State
well be spending money upon good starters only, whether they may
ultimately succeed or not. But by allowing the competition in India, the
State without this expenditure gets the actual winners of the race in a
competition of a large number, who have proved their mental calibre as
well as their character, by their stay through a trying college course and
by fulfilling all the conditions of ability and character for admission, and
who at an advanced age can be left by their friends to act as they like,
and are able to take care of themselves. While the boys are very
young; many parents would be unwilling to allow their sons to go to a
distant country out of their own care, and thus again the area of selec-
tion for the scholarships will be much limited, but young men at the age
required for the competition are more free to act and more able to take
care of themselves. So that we then have a competition among all those
who have proved talent and character. You will see, therefore, that
though these scholarships may remove the obstacle of money, there are,
in the case of the Hindus especially-who, it must be borne in mind,
form the principal population of India-other most serious obstacles,
which can only be dealt with by transferring the examination for a
portion of the selection to India.
The Governor-General in his resolution last year admits that “he is
fully alive to the urgent political necessity that the progress of education
has created, for opening up to natives of ability and character a more
important, dignified, and lucrative sphere of employment in the
administration of British India;" and as the remedy, his Excellency
recognizes the eligibility of natives for only some higher grades
in the non-regulation provinces. First of all the natural effect of this
will be that those serving and living in those provinces will very
likely have in time the little benefit thus held out, while in the regu-
95
lation provinces--those in which education has advanced most-the
natives of which have the greatest claim for a share in the administration
as British subjects of long standing, should be required to incur all the
sacrifices and risks (which to the Hindu are of no ordinary order)
involved in a visit to this country for several years as youths. If the
political necessity is so emphatically admitted by the Viceroy, I do not
see how it is possible to rest satisfied with offering a few situations in
the non-regulation provinces. Mark again, it is only to men of ability
and character. If so, how can anything short of a free competition in
India give a satisfactory fulfilment to this political necessity, and an
honest performance of the promise of our gracious Sovereign?
Such honest and candid declarations of necessity and justice, when
followed by poor and inadequate fulfilment, naturally create dissatis-
faction and irritation.
It is said that high appointments in the uncovenanted service may be
given to natives in the regulation provinces also ; but if qualified natives
are to be trusted with such high appointments in the uncovenanted
service, in regulation or non-regulation provinces, why are they unfit to
enter the covenanted service ? Certainly no one means to say that high
uncovenanted appointments require less trustworthiness, responsibility,
respect, or confidence than covenanted appointments. Has the word
"uncovenanted” such a charm that it at once removes all those objec-
tions which are urged against the free and impartial admission of qualified
natives into the covenanted service? If the declarations of Govern-
ment are sincere, of which I have no doubt, then I see no escape for the
honest fulfilment of the words of our Sovereign and Parliament from
holding examinations in India, as proposed by us, so as to put all Her
Majesty's subjects on a fairly equal footing.
Again, in the uncovenanted service also, the principle of appointment
or promotion should be fitness, no matter whether the right person
be European or native, only that the principle should be honestly
adhered to.
It is sometimes urged that natives do not learn for learning's sake,
It is strange anybody could be expected to appreciate a thing before he
knows what it is. Educated natives fully appreciate learning.
I hope, gentlemen, I have satisfied you that educated natives have
already shown ability and character as among any other people (and
which is tacitly admitted by the Viceroy himself), and that the only
96
honest way of fulfilling the promise of our Sovereign and Acts of
Parliament, of securing the best talent for the service, and of increasing
the loyalty and gratitude of India, is by giving a free admission to such
natives of ability and character by competition in India.
You will have observed that I have not entered into any discussion of
the great benefit to the administration and of the encouragement and
inducement to high education, not only among the people generally, but
among the higher and aristocratic classes, by the granting of our
petition. The whole of India will by this concession be quite electrified.
But as on this point there is no doubt or question, it is unnecessary for
me to take up your time, nor could I enter on it fully in this paper.
Now, gentlemen, I have said my say, and leave to you to say or act as
you think proper. I conclude by moving the resolution of which I have
given notice :-
"That a letter be addressed to the Secretary of State for India, with
a copy of this paper, to request him to take it into his consideration, and
in reply to Mr. H. Fawcett’s motion, to accede to the memorial presented
on 21st August last by a deputation from this Association.”*
* Appendix B.
VI.
(The following paper, which had been previously circulated among the Members,
was taken as read, in a Meeting at the Society of Arts, London, Wednesday, July
27th, 1870. Sir Charles Trevelyan, K.C.B., in the Chair.)
GENTLEMEN,—After the able paper of Mr. Prichard, and the calm,
earnest, and thoughtful address with which we have been so kindly
favoured by Sir Bartle Frere, I intended to plead some justification for
troubling you to meet a fourth time upon the subject of finance. I
think, however, that now I need not offer any apology, as the occasion
of this meeting will give us the opportunity of knowing the views of our
Chairman, of whose long experience and ability you are already well
aware. In order that he may have sufficient time for his address, I
circulate this paper beforehand, so that all the time saved in its reading
will be turned to much better account by him. I propose the following
question : Is India at present in a condition to produce enough to supply
all its wants ?
I shall first see what its wants are.
1st. Sufficient food, clothing, and shelter for the whole population, to
keep it in a healthy condition.
2nd. Sufficient to provide for all its social wants, arising from various
social duties and positions.
3rd. A sufficient saving by each individual, and of the wealth of the
nation generally every year, to meet any unforeseen contingency of
natural calamity.
4th. Means for improvements or new public works.
5th. Means to pay for the high price of foreign rule, which causes a
great and continuous drain in consequence of the amount withdrawn
from India to the extent of 10,000,0001. annually.*
* “ Home charges ” (exclusive of railways) are nearly 8,000,0001., and out of
about 9,000,0001. paid in India to English employés of all classes, I take only
4,000,0001, as remitted to England as savings, for education of children, for support
of families, for English goods for their consumption, English manufactured stores
purchased by Goverument in India, &c., making a total of 12,000,0001., including
interest paid in England on public debt of about 2,000,0001., leaving 10,000,0001.
as assumed by me. (I have treated this subject at some length in my paper “ On
England's Duties to India,'' East India Association Journal,' vol. i., No. 1.)
11V
98
The first four wants are common to all nations; but the fifth want
is peculiar to India. It is one of the principal elements of disturbance
which causes our financial troubles. The whole question of the existence
of a foreign rule depends upon this peculiar circumstance. No foreign
rule can maintain itself unless it manages to enable the country to pro-
also for the price of the foreign rule itself. If the foreign rule fails to
produce this result, its existence is naturally felt as a crushing burden
to the nation, and either starvation, decimation, and poverty, or rebellion
against the foreign rule, is the inevitable consequence. If therefore our
British rulers desire to perpetuate their rule, and I sincerely trust they
may be able to do so for a long time to come, with benefit both to England
and India, they must look this question in the face. Let them distinctly
ask themselves whether India is at this moment producing enough for
all its ordinary wants and the 10,000,0001, or so more that must be
remitted to England every year for the price of the English rule. It is
no use blaming the Finance Minister or the Viceroy if they are required
to supply all these wants while India is not producing enough for the
purpose, for they cannot produce something out of nothing.
One would think that India, on account of this one circumstance of
having to remit some 10,000,0001. clean out of the country, was heavy
weighted enough in its race for prosperity. But in addition to this, it
has 100,000,0001. of national debt. If the whole interest of this debt were
being retained in India, it would not be a matter of so much consequence
economically, but out of the total registered debt of India some 15,000,0001.
are held in this country, besides the loans raised here of about 30,000,0001.
This makes an annual interest of about 2,000,0001. to be remitted to
this country. Again, of the registered debt of India, which is about
60,000,0001., nearly 30,000,0001, are held by Europeans, so that a portion
of the interest on that amount is also transferred to this country. There
are besides 600,0001. for interest on East India Company's stock. Thus,
then, there is another item of about 3,000,0001., besides the 10,000,0001.
sterling for the price of the English rule, which India has to produce
every year over and above its ordinary wants. Moreover, I shall take the
total item at 12,000,0001. to be on the safe side, or even 10,000,0001.
Again, during the past twenty years while the railways have been building,
the present generation has been put to the strain of providing some
30,000,0001. in the shape of guaranteed interest for railways. Of this
about 14,000,0001. have been recovered from railway income. But what
we have to bear in mind is that the burden of providing these 30,000,0001.
99
was first thrown upon the present generation when it could least afford
to do so, for the benefit of the future.
But there is not an end to all yet. The present generation has been
compelled to spend within the last twelve years in what are called .
"original ordinary public works,” somewhere above 30,000,0001., inde-
pendent of repairs amounting to about 9,000,0001., and all this heavy
outlay at the sacrifice of the present generation for the benefit of the
future, or as if all these public works were only to last for the year when
they are built !
Such is the strain to which the present generation has been put, and now
I ask, Can any one prove that our English rulers have, while putting
on such heavy burdens, enabled India to produce enough to meet these
wants ? or has India been to some extent starved to meet these require.
ments ? If so, is it an act of justice to the present generation to crush
them so heavily for the benefit of the future, instead of arranging matters
in such a way that the present and the future should be made to contri-
bute in the proportion of their capabilities and their benefits ?
The next question is, What does India produce ? I do not presume
to be able to answer this question completely. My chief object in this
paper is to set the friends of India here to discuss this vital question.
If anybody can satisfactorily show that India is producing sufficient for
its wants, none shall be more glad than myself. I shall be glad because
I have as much desire to see the British connection with all its moral
benefits continue for a very long time, as that India should not be stary-
ing and in distress. Now let us see what the economical condition of
India is.
· I am obliged under the pressure of the current work of our Asso-
ciation to prepare my paper at much disadvantage, and am therefore
not able to place all such figures before you as I might otherwise have
done, I am compelled to content myself at present with those ready
at hand.
In the United Kingdom the imports of the ten years 1858 to 1867
are (including bullion, &c.) 2,640,000,0001., and exports 2,110,000,0001.
These imports include all remittances, such as interest on or repayment
of loans to foreign countries and India, and say, a good deal above
100,000,0001. of political remittances from India. On the other hand,
we have to deduct from exports about 80,000,0001. of railway loans and
other public loans during the period raised for India, as also any loans
100
remitted to foreign countries.
I omit taking minor items into account.
exports must be greater than the non-commercial imports. In other
words, the actual excess of the commercial imports over commercial
exports must be a good deal more than the difference of the figures I
have given above, i.e. 2,640,000,0001. minus 2,110,000,0001., equal to
about 530,000,0001., giving something like 25 per cent, profit on the
amount of exports. In order to be quite within limit, I suppose no one
will object if we put down the commercial profits of any nation to be
15 per cent. or even 10 per cent. Such is the economical condition of
the United Kingdom. I may just remark here, whether it is not unjust
or mistaken to make any comparison between the position of the finance
ministers of England and India. The former has a highly prosperous
country, in which nearly the whole revenue of 70,000,0001. returns back
to the taxpayers themselves, and which is further aided by the political
remittance of some 10,000,0001. a-year from India, while the latter
has a poor country, of which the whole revenue of 50,000,0002. does not
return to the taxpayers, but some 10,000,0001. of it go clean out of the
country.
Let us further see how the Colonies are faring—for instance, Aus-
tralia and Canada. The imports of Australia, including bullion, &c.,
during the same ten years (1858-67) are 309,000,0001., and exports
(including bullion, &c.) 268,000,0001., leaving excess of imports over
exports of about 41,000,0001. The imports of Canada (including bul-
lion, &c.) are 148,000,0001., and exports 120,000,0001., leaving excess
of imports 28,000,0001.
This shows how the Colonies are prospering ; while under the same
Let us take the United States before examining Indian figures. The
total imports for the years 1868 and 1869 are 381,000,000 dollars and
463,000,000 dollars, while the corresponding exports are only 341,000,000
dollars and 365,000,000 dollars.
Now with regard to India, I again take the ten years 1858-67.
Before I give the figures for these years, it must be borne in mind that,
as I have shown in my paper “On England's Duties to India,” England
has down to the year 1858 derived from India during the connection of
the two countries as the price of English rule, at the lowest computation,
without adding anything for interest or booties or bribes of former times,
more than 200,000,000. This amount on the one hand has fructified in
7
101
the hands of the energetic and enterprising people of this country,--I
cannot venture to say how many fold,—and on the other hand diminished
so far the productive power of India. This drain has to be made up by
some wise, statesmanlike policy of our rulers. Leaving this, however,
for the present alone, and taking India as it is, we find that even with
the help of opium and the productive benefits of the railways, as well as
irrigation and other works, increased land under cultivation, &c. &c., in
short, with everything you may, name as having contributed to increase
production, the total exports (including treasure) for the years 1858-67
are 456,000,0001., and the imports (including treasure) are only
419,000,0001. ! But even this amount of imports (short as it is of
exports by some 37,000,0001., or about 4,000,0001. a-year) includes about
72,000,0001. of railway loan and other public-debt loans raised during
these ten years, and the whole profits of the cotton trade during the
American war. Were it not for this railway loan, &c. &c., which to
some extent modified the effect of the political remittances, in what a
sad condition would India have been now!
India’s exports say, are about 50,000,0001. a-year at present. Now
can this sum earn enough of profit to pay 10,000,0001. a-year of the poli-
tical remittance, and leave something to be added to its capital ? As it
is, the opium revenue which is paid by China makes up some 7,000,0001.
for the political drain, and the rest must be withdrawn from the produc-
tion of every year, reducing the productive capital so much.
In addition to this, India has to suffer another economical disadvan-
tage, which in Mr. J. S. Mill's words is this :-'
“A country which makes regular payments to foreign countries,
besides losing what it pays, loses also something more by the less advan-
tageous terms on which it is forced to exchange its productions for
foreign commodities."*
It cannot be therefore wonderful, under such circumstances, that Lord
Lawrence should have recorded his deliberate opinion in his minute of
the 26th March, 1864, that "India is, on the whole, a very poor country.
The mass of the people enjoy only a scanty subsistence. They are
impatient of taxation, except where it is of that peculiar nature to which
they have long been accustomed. The tendency of new modes of
taxation is to irritate and even to oppress. We ought to avoid, so far as
may be practicable, such fruitful causes of discontent.” In the year 1864
* Mill's 'Political Economy', vol. ii., p. 178, 3rd ed.
102
7
when Bombay went mad with the cotton prosperity and revelled in
fictitious share-wealth—when the imports of India were the highest, say
50,000,0001. (though even then less than exports by 16,000,0001.), the
highest official in India, the Viceroy himself, declares that “India is, on
the whole, a very poor country, and the mass of the people enjoy only a
scanty subsistence,” and Mr. Grant Duff, the highest Indian official sitting
in the House of Commons, so late as 10th May last (after all the progress
made by the help of such railways and other public works as have been
already constructed), asks the House, in reply to Mr. Lawson's motion
about opium, whether it would be tolerable to “grind an already poor
population to the very dust ?” Can it be then a matter of any surprise
that the very first touch of famines should so easily carry away hundreds
of thousands as they have done during the past twelve years ? I appeal
to the British nation whether such poverty should be the result of their
rule in India, or whether this is to be their mission in that country ?
I say it as much in the interest of Great Britain as in that of India, that
if the British people and Parliament do not pay their most serious
attention to India, and repair the impoverishing effect of a foreign
rule. by the importation of large foreign capital, I am afraid they
will have an Indian difficulty in time, far more serious and disastrous
to the natives than any they had ever to deal with. But, moreover,
we must also remember that the opium revenue may at any time
slip through our fingers, and unless great efforts are made to in-
crease the quantity and improve the quality of cotton, I am afraid
that trade will also fail us when most needed, for America is making
great exertions to regain its lost ground. It has already produced
3,000,000 bales, is likely to give 3 next year, and hopes to produce
5,000,000 before five years are over. How great is the necessity that
our British rulers should take every care!
Let us see whether we can apply another test regarding the poverty
of India.
The whole produce of India is from its land. The gross land-tax is
put down for 1870-71 a little above. 21,000,0001. Now I suppose I
shall be within the mark if I say that Government takes for this land-
tax on an average one-eighth of the gross produce, if not more. This
gives for the gross production of the country, say about 168,000,0001. ;
add to this, gross opium revenue about 7,000,0001.; gross salt revenue,
6,000,0007. ; gross forest, 600,0001. The total thus of the raw produce
of the country amounts to under 182,000,0001. To be on the safe side,
103
let us say 200,000,0001. to include the produce of half a million tons of
coal, of alienation lands, or anything else there may be. Now the
population of the whole of British India is nearly 150,000,000, giving
therefore less than 27s. a head for the annual support of the whole
people. But unequally distributed as this produce must be, viz.
10,000,0001. remitted to this country, the rich and middle classes keep-
ing a larger proportion for their share, and provision for a large admi-
nistrative and military expenditure, what a “scanty subsistence" indeed
must remain for the “very poor” mass! I am sorry I have not time at
present to work out this test of the total production of India fully; I
take it at present very roughly.
Some may say that I had not taken excise revenue into account. It
or other manufacturing industry does not affect the estimate of raw
produce. The manufacture of spirits and drugs from which this excise
is derived is for 1870-71 about 2,250,0001., and if I make this to repre-
sent 10,000,0001. of value added to the production of the country, I shall
be above the mark. As to other manufacturing industries of the country,
we know that the exports of manufactured goods do not make up
2,000,0001., and the inland manufacturing industry is limited and confined
to a low stage. If therefore I raise the total production from 200,000,0001.
to 300,000,0001., I shall be, I think, making a high estimate. This makes
40s. a head for the gross production of India. Add 75,000,00ul. more
if you like, and make the gross production 50s. a head ; and what is
that after all! The people of the United Kingdom pay above 488. a
head for revenue only. While the imports of the United Kingdom are
above 91. a head, those of India are not 9s. a head.
.
If I am wrong and if somebody will show that India does produce
equal to her peculiar wants, none shall be more glad than myself. If
Lord Lawrence and Mr. Grant Duff are right, then the question 'must
be carefully considered how the remedy is to be provided. If India does
not produce what it needs, the evident reply is, Make India produce
more. If Mr. Grant Duff's desire, expressed in the same speech I have
alluded to, of making "the already poor" India “one of the most pros-
perous portions of the earth's surface," the only remedy is increased
production. England is bound to do this for the consolidation of its
power in India, as well as to fulfil its beneficent mission of making India
what Mr. Duff desires. I think Sir Bartle Frere's proposition is the
most suitable remedy; that large public works are absolutely necessary,
that the necessary capital must be supplied by this country, and
0
104
that in order that this capital be used without waste and judiciously,
Parliament must enquire from time to time how it is employed. More-
over, as long as the Supreme Legislature of India is not composed of a
sufficient number of independent and representative members to examine
every item of the Budget every year, as is done here by the House of
Commons, the control of Parliament and investigation, not only for the
application of such funds, but for the whole general administration of
India from time to time, is absolutely necessary. I do not mean the
slightest reflection upon the officials of Government, but it is only human
nature that when one has the fear of being called to account, he will take
greater care in his work.
Mr. Mill says, in his ‘Political Economy,'* “In countries where the
principle of accumulation is as weak' as in the various nations of Asia,
where people will neither save, nor work to obtain the means of saving,
unless under the inducement of enormously high profits, nor even then,
if it is necessary to wait a considerable time for them, where either pro-
ductions remain scanty, or drudgery great, because there is neither
capital forthcoming nor forethought sufficient for the adoption of the con“,
trivances by which natural agents are made to do the work of human
labour; the desideratum for such a country, economically considered, is
an increase of industry, and of the effective desire of accumulation.
The means are, first, a better government, more complete security of
property, moderate taxes, and freedom from arbitrary exaction under
the name of taxes; a more permanent and more advantageous tenure of
land, securing to the cultivator as far as possible the undivided benefits of
the industry, skill, and economy he may exert. Secondly, improvemeat
of the public intelligence, the decay of usages or superstition which inter-
fere with the effective employment of industry, and the growth of
-
STY
- YV
Thirdly, the introduction of foreign arts, which raise the returns deriv-
able from additional capital to a rate corresponding to the low strength
1
which renders the increase of production no longer exclusively depend-
ent upon the thrift or providence of the inhabitants themselves, while
it places before them a stimulating example, and by instilling new ideas
and breaking the chains of habit, if not by improving the actual condi-
tion of the population, tends to create in them new wants, increased
ambition, and greater thought for the future. These considerations
* Vol. i., p. 230, 3rd ed.
105
apply more or less to all the Asiatic populations, and to the less civilized
and industrious parts of Europe, as Russia, Hungary, Spain, and
Ireland.”
Now India has not only all these requirements, but also those of a
foreign rule, which renders her case still more urgent for suitable
remedies.
Again, Mr. Mill has shown that production depends upon natural
agents, labour and capital.
Now let us see how matters stand in India.
Natural agents we have in any quantity in the waste land, in the
capability of much greater production in the lands already under culti-
vation, with any quantity of water if properly utilized, not to say any-
thing of its vast mineral and other undeveloped resources. The utiliza-
tion of the waste land is a great necessity, but how can it be utilized or
improved, cultivation introduced, and all the facilities of communication
supplied without labour and capital, and without Government paying the
best attention to the matter ? Labour we have enough if famines are not
allowed to carry away hundreds of thousands, and emigration checked by
the supply of work at home. More than a quarter of a million of able-
bodied men have emigrated during the years 1858-67. The natives
of India are not very fond of emigration if they can find work at home.
At all events this is a fact, that during the three years 1862, '63, and ’64
of the cotton prosperity of the Bombay Presidency, not one man emigrated
from that part, but a commencement has again set in. But land and
labour are both useless unless we have sufficient capital : Mr. Mill dis-
tinctly proves that industry is limited by capital, that law and govern-
ment cannot create industry without creating capital. Capital, then, is
the great and imperative want of India, as much for the existence of the
foreign rule as of the people themselves. Next we may consider the
requisites described in the long quotation given above :- 1st. “Better
government, more complete security of property” (these we have). As
to “moderate taxes,”—when the mass of people enjoy only "scanty sub-
sistence," what taxes can be moderate ? On the subject of "proper tenure
of land,” &c. &c., I shall not speak at present, as the great doctors of
land tenure disagree, and it is too important and wide a subject to be
treated off-hand. 2nd. “Improvement of public intelligence," &c. &c.
This is increasing, but if Government showed confidence in the great
importance of this element, they would and ought to do far more than
106
what they have done. 3rd. “ The importation of foreign arts,” &c. &c.,
"the importation of foreign capital,” &c. This last is the most vital
point. If sufficient foreign capital is brought into the country, and
carefully and judiciously laid out as suggested by Sir Bartle Frere, all
the present difficulties and discontent will vanish in time. But that by
any tinkering or legerdemain we can create something out of nothing
is simply impossible. The Calcutta correspondent of the "Pall Mall
Gazette,' of 18th inst., quotes Mr. Hunter (the author of · Rural Bengal'
and the editor of the 'Imperial Gazetteer,' now being compiled) as saying
in his yet unpublished statement about the necessity of the Gazetteer,
“No country ever stood in greater need of imported capital than India in
its transition stage." The railways and other public works, though few, are
the hope of future good, and far more is necessary in the same direction.
Hitherto I have spoken on the supposition as if the whole present
administrative and military expenditure were reasonable and necessary.
But our Chairman had said in his Budget speech of April, 1863,
“I agree with those who are of opinion that with proper economy
12,000,0001. may be taken as the standard of the expense to be incurred
in India for the military force of all arms, even supposing it to be main-
tained at its present establishment. ... The great interests of our
nation in India require that the estimate of the Indian army should at
least undergo the sifting to which the War Office estimate is subjected
before it is laid before Parliament."
1
And now in December, 1869, as Mr. Nowrozjee Furdoonjee has
pointed out to us, His Grace the Duke of Argyll says, “ The necessity of
effecting every practicable reduction of expenditure was fully apparent
to me when my financial despatch of 2nd January last No. 62, was
written. In that despatch I called your attention to the military charges,
and stated the grounds on which I consider that those charges should be
reduced to at least the scale of 1863-64, and that it might be possible
to bring the whole military charges in India, including stores, a million
and a half below the present amount.” Mr. Grant Duff also says, “Its
(army's) weakest part was its enormous cost” (Speech, 3rd August, 1869).
The Hon. Mr. Strachey, in his speech on the 28th April last, in the
Supreme Legislative Council, traces the causes of the present financial
difficulty to the circumstance, " that although the growth of the revenues
has been very great, the growth of expenditure has been still more rapid.
. .. I think it clear that the increase has gone on at a far greater
rate than was either right or necessary;" and he gives in proof the re-
107:
ductions made within six or seven months of the discovery of the financial
difficulties. He further says, “Our financial system requires radical and
fundamental changes."
His Excellency the Viceroy, in his speech of the same day, says, “If
I am asked whether I think the main principles of future budgets
should be the same as the present, I would frankly confess that I do not
think so, and agree with Mr. Strachey that there is great room for
improvement."
About the waste of every sort in the public works department we
have heard enough, especially in Sir B. Frere's address.
There is another point of view from which the question of State
expenditure may be seen. In the year 1856 the total expenditure was
less than 32,000,0001. For the year 1870-1 the estimate is some
49,000,0001. I leave out the provision for wordinary” original works
from revenue, for there is nearly universal condemnation of that plan.*
The increase of expenditure is therefore some 17,000,000l. Now the
question is this : In order that India should be able to find 17,000,0001.
a-year of more revenue, how many times 17,000,0001. must its production
have increased to make such increase of State expenditure justifiable ?
Can any one show that there has been even so much as four times
17,000,0001. of more production than that of 1856, so as to allow Govern-
ment to take 25 per cent. of it for the use of the State? Moreover, what
a hardship it is that of this addition of 17,000,0001. more than 3,000,0001.
are made up by salt revenue !
During the period of this increase of 17,000,0001. of expenditure, what
a loss there has been of life and property, and therefore of the power of
production, by the mutiny and by famines ; and what a mercy it is that
railways, irrigation works, and the windfall of cotton profits have to some
extent counteracted their evil effects and made up to some extent the
.
* The Rigbt Hon. Mr. Massey in his Financial Statement of 9th April, 1868,
says in reference to works like barracks, trunk roads, &c. :~"But if the question
lay between new taxation and providing for these works wholly or partially by
loan, we put it to the Secretary of State whether it would not be the preferable
course to borrow; rather than strain the resources of the country by additional
taxation for the mere purpose of constructing great works, of which posterity
would reap the benefit."
Mr. Laing's opinion we already know from his letter to 'The Times.' And also
the opinion of The Times' itself in the several able and forcible articles that have
lately appeared in it. In India the opinion has been general during the recent dis-
cussions, that barracks, roads, and such "ordinary” works, must be constructed by
terminable loans. Sir B. Frere's opinion on this subject, as you are already aware,
is decisive against depending upon revenue.
108
political drain. But will it be seriously contended that the progress of
production has been such as to justify an annual increase of 17,000,0001.
of State expenditure in 1871 over that of 1856 ?
I hope, therefore, that I have shown that the only salvation for India
is large irrigation works, railways, and roads, and other public works of
necessity, and parliamentary inquiry from time to time into the adminis-
tration. Till the commercial exports are sufficiently large to pay from
their profits the price of the foreign rule,-or in other words, till the
amounts of the commercial exports and imports will be equal, leaving
the profits on the exports to be retained by England for the price of its
rule.--India cannot be said to be producing enough for its wants; and
it will be only when the commercial imports begin to exceed commercial
exports, that it will be making any addition to its wealth by the instru-
mentality of the British rule.
02
There is one important way to contribute to India's wants, in which
England, as a good manager, can give to India the benefit of its credit and
moral power without taxing the English public a shilling. If England
guaranteed the public debt, a saving will be made in the interest which
India has now to pay on it. I propose, however, that this saving be not
allowed to remain in the pockets of the Indian taxpayers, but be used in
paying off the debt itself. The consequence will be that the whole debt
may be paid off in a limited period, without England being required to
contribute a single shilling from its own revenue. I cannot on this
occasion treat of the moral duty of England to give this help, or enter
into the subject at any length.
In Sir B. Frere's speech on Mr. Pricbard's paper, he first tells us that
elastic as the Indian revenue is, its requirements are still greater, and
then he wants us to find out new sources of revenue. I venture to
submit, with every deference, that what the anxiety of the Finance
Minister or any Indian statesman should be, is not so much to discover
new sources of revenue as new sources of production or prosperity.
There is no royal road to prosperity or finance. Blood cannot be got
out of stone. When prosperity is fairly secured revenue will take care .
of itself, and the Finance Minister, as in this country, will have to be
embarrassed, not with deficits, but surpluses.
Sir Bartle does not see much objection to the present guaranteeing
system. I agree with Mr. Fitzwilliam that it is objectionable in
principle and not very effective in practice. I do not think the railway
109
builders have much right to throw stones at the so much condemned
versus State railways was not fairly fought out at the Society of Arts upon
Mr. Andrew's paper. I am morally certain that there has been great
waste in the construction of the guaranteed railways; but it is enough for
us to know that such is the opinion of Mr. Juland Danvers, who ought to
know. By all means let there be private enterprise, but it must be real
and not sham enterprise. Mr. Sumner Maine's proposal, mentioned to
us by Sir Bartle, of the association of Government and private enterprise
in works in which Government control is necessary, so that each takes its
very well adapted to supply the element of “self-interest,” the want of
which Sir Bartle so clearly showed to have a great deal to do with the
evil of waste. We shall then also have the full benefit of the knowledge
and experience of business men as directors on behalf of the private
shareholders, for if anything went wrong, the shareholders will soon call
them to account.
Now, with regard to the thoughtful scheme of Sir Bartle Frere,* I
give it as a note, with only two alterations from myself, which are in
italics.
* Propositions for providing the capital required for public works in India :-
1. The capital required for public works in India, undertaken by the Govern-
ment, is not to be restricted to the sum which can be annually spared from current
revenue, but is to be provided from loans to be raised in the following manner.
2. Commissioners to be appointed by Parliament, and empowered to raise by
loans in England, under authority and with the consent of the Secretary of State
in Council, a sum not exceeding
millions. The interest on such loan
to be paid by the Secretary of State in Council from the revenues of India,
which in the case of reproductive works shall be paid after any portion is completed
and in a working stute, and, in proportion to that portion, and the money to be
applied to the execution of public works in India undertaken by the Government.
3. Commissioners to be empowered to advance the money so raised to the
Government of India, or to the local governments and administrations on the
conditions bereinafter mentioneci.
4. The local governments and administrations to which advances may be made
to be the following :-
The Governments of Madras.
» Bombay.
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.
North-West Provinces.
Punjab.
The Chief Commissioner of British Burmah.
· Central Provinces.
Mysore.
The Commissioner of Sind.
5. The Commissioners to certify-
1st. That in the case of each advance, they have received copies of the
working plans and estimates, or contract specifications sufficient to
110
For the alteration in No. 2 I shall give my reason in the words of the
despatch of the Indian Government, of 9th March, 1865, on irrigation :
“ Practically the charge of interest on the money sunk until the work is
in a condition to pay, is just as much a part of the first cost as the direct
outlay on the construction. There is no reason whatever for regarding
such an interest charge as a burden on the revenues, and it may with
perfect propriety be paid from the loan. The only essential point is to
be assured that all the works undertaken shall, in the end, at least bring
back to the State the interest on the capital expended on them, and with
a proper system of management we do not doubt that this may be always
As for my second alteration, I rather think that in the case of the
reproductive works, the repayment of capital should be provided for
from the income only of the works and not from revenue. However,
taking the scheme as it is, the principle of my alteration is that if on the
one hand you should not burden posterity, it is also necessary that you
should not be unjust to the present generation, especially because the
benefit of all these works will be enjoyed more by the future than the
present. I don't think, therefore, that I am asking anything unreason-
able to distribute the burden over less than two generations in the one
case and four in the other. When, last October, I said something to the
same effect at our meeting on the occasion of Mr. Hyde Clarke's paper, I
was little prepared to find that Nemesis was pursuing the Indian Govern-
ment so rapidly for their injustice to the present generation. Sir Bartle's
propositions appear very large to some persons, but they forget the large
size and population, and therefore the large requirements of India. In
indicate clearly the limits of the work to be done, and to satisfy them
that there is a reasonable prospect of the work specified being executed
with the aid of the sum applied for.
2nd. That they have received an assurance of the loan required for the
work being repaid by the authority to which the sum has been advanced,
with interest sufficient to cover all expenses, within a period not
exce
years, but not less than forty years for sordinary"
works, and not less than eighty years for “extraordinary works," and that
they are satisfied with the security given for such repayment.'
6. The Commissioners to make an annual report to Parliament, specifying the
sums raised, applied and repaid under these rules, 'up to the 31st December in
each year, with the following particulars-
(a) The Government or Administration to which money has been advanced.
16) The names of the works for which the advance was required, and the
total sum which each work was estimated to require, and, in each case,
the total sum advanced, expended, and repaid up to the end of the year
preceding.
(c) The nature of the security given for punctual repayment.
c) an enumeration of projects on behalf of which loans have been asked
for and refused, with the reasons of refusal in each case.
111
the United Kingdom, with only 30,000,000 of population, 500,000,0001.
are invested in railways, not to say anything of other works. I express
this much of difference of opinion from Sir Bartle Frere, with every
deference. Mr. Maclean says the income-tax as a war-tax is uselėss in
India, and Government must depend upon its credit. He is right in the
case of a rebellion ; but in that case, if Government will not be able to
collect the income-tax, it will not be able to collect any tax. In the case
of a foreign invasion, however, if the English rulers have done their duty
by the people, they, in their turn, will submit to any reasonable burden
when necessary; and if the public debt is guaranteed as I have proposed,
the credit upon which he depends most will be much improved. On the
subject of the income-tax I shall not say more, as I hope we shall have
the benefit of our Chairman's views, who, as you are aware, once sacrificed
himself on this very account.
We have had now much discussion both here and in India. We have
seen how very various are opinions on the subject of the present con-
dition of India and its administration, and we see now more clearly than
ever that Parliament should step in and make a searching inquiry into
the whole matter, for Parliament after all is the fountain head, and
Parliament I hope will not shrink from doing its duty to a nation of
200,000,000.
As Mr. W. Tayler's proposal completely embraces the scope of this
paper, as well as of former ones, the discussion would be best begun by
Mr. Tayler moving his resolution after the Chairman's address is finished.
We have Sir Bartle Frere's weighty opinion, that Parliament should
be asked to institute inquiry into the conduct of the Administration.
Our Chairman has expressed to me a similar opinion, and we have Mr.
Fawcett expressing his belief that there never was a time when the
finances of India more urgently required the keen and scrutinizing
investigations of the House of Commons."
This inquiry I think will do as much service to the Indian Govern-
ment itself as to the people of India, if not more.
VII.
ON THE COMMERCE OF INDIA.
(Read before a Meeting at the Society of Arts, London, Wednesday, February
15th, 1871. Sir Bartle Frere, K.C.B., G.C.S.I., in the Chair.)
The commerce of India is one of the most important subjects that can
engage the attention of the public of England. I do not think the
audience before me needs to be told the reason why. They know well
enough how the prosperity of this country, as of any other, depends
chiefly upon its commerce, and how important it is to them that the vast
continent of India, with its teeming population, should be opened up for
their commercial enterprise. It is a calamity to India, and a great loss
to this country, that the subject of the commerce of India is not fully
considered by the public or press of England, aud that even the mer-
chants and manufacturers do not give to it the attention it demands.
I am constrained to say, after my residence in this country for fifteen
years, that the knowledge of the public here about India is not only
imperfect, but in some matters mischievously incorrect. But why should
I blame the English public or others, when those who ought to know
best, and upon the information furnished by whom the public must depend,
the past India House itself has made statements entirely at variance
with facts ? I do not wish to blame anybody, but set it down with
grief to the misfortune of India. The Parliamentary return No. 75 of
1858, gives "A Memorandum (prepared at the India House) of the
Improvements in the Administration of India during the last thirty years."
This return, at page 11, gives a paragraph entitled “General Prosperity.”
In the part referring to the commerce of India, after giving figures for
exports and imports of India, at the interval of twenty-one years (from
1834 to 1855) the paragraph ends, in relation to the commerce of India
for these twenty-one years, with the strange words, “ The great excess
of exports above imports (of merchandise) being regularly liquidated in
silver.” It also states that the exports of merchandise increased 188 per
cent., and imports 227 per cent., during the same twenty-one years.
I cannot trouble you at present with several other fallacious state-
ments in this paragraph. I confine myself at present to those I have
mentioned about the trade of India. It is a yonder to me how this
statement about the liquidation in silver of the excess of exports over
imports could have issued from the India House. A return (No. 369)
made by the India House itself, on Mr. Bright's motion, in the ycar 1853,
113
gives the total imports and exports of India. The total exports, accord-
ing to this return, including all treasure for the first fifteen years (1834
to 1850) out of the twenty-one to which the return of 1858 refers, are
given as a little above 231,000,0001., and the total imports of India,
including all treasure, a little above 163,500,0001., leaving a difference of
67,500,0001. of excess of exports above imports, for which, neither in the
shape of silver nor of any other goods, has there been any import what-
soever into India. So far, therefore, for the first fifteen years' “ regular
liquidation in silver” for 67,500,0001. of excess of exports was simply a
creation of imagination.
* Now, let us see about the remaining six years. The return (No. 3891
of 1867) gives the total of exports, including treasure, about 125,500,0001.,
and the total of imports, including treasure, about 105,000,0001. These
I take this remittance to be only 10,000,0001., as a low figure, as I
cannot get from official returns the exact amount. Deducting this, and
not making any allowance for any remittances on account of public debt
made during the same period, the total amount of imports is about
95,500,0001., or “the excess of exports above imports ” of about
30,000,0001. which was not liquidated either in silver or in any other
goods. Thus we have a total of about 97,000,0001.; and allowing, to
some extent, for the amount of public loans raised in England and remitted
to India during the twenty-one years under consideration, an “excess of
exports above imports” of above 100,000,0001. which was never liqui-
dated in silver or in other goods. To this must be added about
30,000,0007. of profit on exports, thus making about 130,000,0001. for
which India has received no return in imports. And yet the India
House coolly told the English public, in the year 1858, that during the
twenty-one years previous to 1856, “the great excess of exports above
imports was regularly liquidated in silver.” I appeal to you, gentlemen,
to say whether there ever was a more misleading statement made ; and is
it a wonder that the English public are indifferent to the complaints of
India ? The India House would have been correct if it had said that
the great excess of exports above imports of India, during the twenty-one
years, amounting to above 130,000,0001., was retained for the benefit of
England. Now I would not have alluded to a statement made twelve
years ago, were it not that I have seen its mischievous effects to the
present day. So far as my reading goes, I have not come across a single
statement in the subsequent Parliamentary returns which distinctly and
directly corrects it, and in my conversation generally, except in very
114
few instances, I have found that this misleading statement has led to the
almost universal belief that India is rich and prosperous, when it is not
so. No more have the imports, with all silver included, been equal to
exports after 1856. Notwithstanding the so-much-talked-of wealth
poured in during the American war, the total figures are, for 1856 to
1869,* exports (including treasure), about 588,000,0001.; imports (in-
cluding treasure), about 545,000,0001. Out of these imports, about
72,000,0001. (the total expended till end of 1869 being 82,000,0001., of
which I have taken 10,000,0001., the total to 1856) are railway loans,
about 27,000,0001. are public loans raised in England, and about
15,000,0001. † of registered debt of India, transferred to this country,
leaving the actual imports in exchange for exports about 431,000,0001.
This gives an excess of exports above imports of about 157,000,0007.
during the last thirteen years, which is not liquidated either in silver or
in any other goods. Add to this the profits of the export, say about
60,000,0001., making a total of above 210,000,0001., for which there is
no commercial imports into India.
Now, instead of a misleading statement, that the “great excess o
exports over imports was liquidated in silver," if the English public were
told that during the past thirty-four years exports for about 260,000,0001.
have had no corresponding material return in imports, nor the ordinary
commercial profits of these thirty-four years, to the extent of some
90,000,0001., had been returned to India, its attention would be naturally
directed to the strange phenomenon ; for everyone knows that in the
ordinary course of commerce every country gets a full return with some
profit for its exports, and that it is simply impossible for any country to
carry on such a commerce as that of India without being impoverished,
unless special means are adopted to counteract the evil.
I propose to consider, 1st, the real extent of the commerce of India;
2nd, the reason why it is extremely limited, notwithstanding the progress
it has to some extent made ; 3rd, what suitable remedies should be
adopted for such an unsatisfactory state of affairs. First, we may see
what the extent of the real commerce of India is. I take the latest
year for which I can get returns. The table for exports from India, as
given in return C., 184 of 1870, including treasure, gives the amount
for the year 1868-9 about 53,700,0001., and imports including treasure,
about 51,000,0001. Now, we must examine whether these figures repre-
*
Parliamentary Return' 3891 of 1867, and C. 184 of 1870.
Parliamentary Return' 258 of 1869.
115
sent the commerce of India. I have no doubt every gentleman here
reads the little paragraph in the money articles of the daily newspapers,
about the bills drawn by the Secretary of State for India. I would
not undertake to say how many readers of that little paragraph under-
stand its full significance, or care to do so. I am afraid the number is
not large. The total of these bills for the last official year was estimated
at about 7,000,0001. What are these bills drawn for? Certainly not
for any commercial purpose. What is the operation of these bills ? It
is simply this, that out of the proceeds of the exports from India the
Indian Secretary keeps 7,000,0001. here, and India receives no corres-
ponding commercial import for the amount. In this manner, what are
called “the charges in England on the revenues of India” are paid, that
is, India exports about 7,000,0001. worth of produce to pay for these
charges.* You will therefore see that out of the so-called exports of
India, about 7,000,0001. are not commercial exports at all. Next, in
India there are about 2,500 English civilians, covenanted and uncovenant-
ed, about 5,000 English military officers, and some 60,000 soldiers. All
these naturally remit to this country, for the education of their children,
and for the support of their families and dependent friends, and bring
with them their savings. The total of their pay is about 9,000,0001.,
and I put down what an English friend, who ought to know well, tells
me is a low estimate, about half for the remittances I have alluded to.
There are, besides, certain English goods especially wanted for the
consumption of Europeans in India. If I, therefore, take 5,000,0001.
as the exports of India for all these purposes, to say nothing of remit-
tances by non-efficial Englishmen, such as barristers, solicitors, doctors,
merchants, planters, &c., making up a large sum, I shall be found much
under the mark.. Thus, then, we have a total of about 12,000,0001.,
out of the so-called exports, which do not form a part of the commerce
of India at all, whatever else they may be. I cannot discuss what they
really are, or what their significance is, before this Society. I may just
tell you that Sir George Wingate calls this item the stribute” India pays
to England; or that another intelligent Englishman calls it the " salary
of England” for ruling over India. Be that as it may, one thing is
clear, that these 12,000,0001. are not a part of the commerce of the
country, and for which there is no liquidation either in silver or any other
goods. India must send out annually at least 12,000,0001. worth of
* The "charges on the revenues of India," disbursed in England, are, for
1869-70, above 7,700,0001.; and those for 1868-69 about 7,350,0001. I put down,
say 7,000,0001. Return 234 of 1870.
116
produce, whether it will or no, without any corresponding commercial
return. Besides the above two items, there is another which strictly is.
not commercial. I mean the remittance of interest from India on rail-
ways, irrigation, and other such loans. I must not be misunderstood,
however. I consider these loans as one of those things for which India
in any spirit of complaint. Far from it. On the contrary, I always
think of it with great thankfulness. It is a blessing both to the receiver
and the giver. I only mean that the interest, even supposing it to be
all earned by the railways, though forming a part of the exports of
India, is not a part of the commerce of India. This item is about
4,000,0001., making altogether about 16,000,0001. of exports from
India which are not commercial. The balance of the exports repre-
senting the real commerce of the country is therefore about 37,000,0001.
for 1868-9.
Let us now analyze the imports. The total is about 51,000,0001.
We must deduct the following items as not commercial :-Railway loan
for the year, about 5,000,0001. ; irrigation, State railways, and other
loans which I have not been able to ascertain, say about 2,000,0001. ;.
Government stores, about 1,500,0001. ; payment on account of the
Abyssinian expedition, about 1,250,0001. ; leaving about 41,250,0001.
as commercial imports. So we have roughly considered about 37,000,0001..
exports and 41,000,0001. imports. This shows something like a national
commercial profit of about 4,000,0001. But as, on the other hand,
India has had to pay to this country 12,000,0001. for its administration,
the real balance of India's profit and loss account is some 8,000,0001.
on the wrong side for the year.
Leaving the question of the nature and consequences of this balance-
alone for the present, we have this remarkable fact, that while the exports.
of the produce of the United Kingdom are nearly 61. 10s. a head of
population, of British North America about 31. a head, and of Australia
about 197. a head, for 1868, those of India are scarcely 4s. a head, or
altogether, including political and non-commercial remittances to this
country, about 58. a head. Even deducting the gold exports, the other
exports of Australia are about 111. per head.
I may remark here, that just as the India House liquidation in silver
of excess of exports is incorrect, so does its assertion of the increase of
188 per cent. in exports, and 227 per cent. in imports, require explana-
tion. From what I have already said, you may have seen that a good
117;
portion of this increase is owing to causes other than commercial, viz.
increase of political charges in England, of national debt, and the
increasing remittances of official and non-official Europeans.
The question is often asked, "why India does not take largely of
British manufactures ? Why is it that, with a population of 200,000,000,
there are only about 17,500,0001. worth of British manufactures, or less
even than 28. a head, exported to India, while Australia, with a popula-
tion of less than 2,000,000, takes about 13,000,0001., or more than 67. a
head, and British North America, with its population of about 4,500,000,
about 5,000,0001., or about 25s. a head ? Before I proceed to a discussion
of this scantiness of the export of British manufactures into India, I
must clear away two misapprehensions. On account of such misleading
.statements as those of the India House, and a quantity of silver being
actually imported into India, it is a general impression here that India is
a great sink for silver, that there is great hoarding, and that it is rich.
The fact is, first, that India has not imported as much silver as the India ·
House statement leads one to believe ; and secondly, that under the
British administration, silver has naturally become a necessary com-
modity. The revenue having to be paid in cash, a great demand arose
became a necessity. Besides coins, it must also be remembered that, as
in all countries, several social customs require the use of a certain quan-
tity of the precious metals. I am not at all here taking into considera-,
tion the withdrawal of the treasure from India that had taken place in
the earlier times of the East India Company. And yet, see what the
gross total amount of bullion is which India has retained during the
whole period of the last seventy years, from the commencement of the
present century. I think you would hardly believe me when I
say it is only about 34s.* a head. Conceive, gentlemen, 34s. a head,
not per annum, but in the whole course of seventy years, for all purposes,
commercial, social, and political, for circulation, wear and tear, for re-
mittances, for railway and other loans, and to fill up the drain of former
periods-in short, for every possible purpose.
Why, in the United Kingdom, for the last twelve years only, from
1858 to 1869 (there are no earlier returns for imports), you have retained.
for your national uses nearly 30s. a head, besides leaving about 18,000,0001.
in the Bank of England intact at the ends of 1857 and 1869. There
may be some little hoarding by some men, as the means of investment
* Return 133 of 1864 and [C. 184] of 1870.
118
and circulation in India are not yet developed; but may I ask whether
there is any gentleman now present who has not some hoarding about
him of several pounds in his watches, pins, &c.? However, here is the
whole quantity of bullion imported into India during seventy years,
34s. per head. Now, in discussing the question why India takes less
than 2s., or about 1s. 9d., a head of British manufactures, you will see
that the general cry of large imports of silver being the cause is not
correct. The wonder is that 348. a head, received in the whole period of
seventy years, could be sufficient for all necessary wants and wear.
The second misapprehension which requires explanation is the notion
that wages and prices have risen enormously, and that therefore India is
very prosperous. This notion is not only an exaggeration, but it is also
incorrect to a great extent. It would be impossible for me to discuss it
to-night, as it would require a long time to do so clearly. I need simply
say, what I think I am able to prove from actual facts and official docu-
ments, that though there is some general rise in prices (not, however, to
the extent usually supposed), it is not an addition to former sufficiency,
but a return from a low ebb, to which it had gone down before, and that
it only indicates some progress towards, but not actual, sufficiency, much
less prosperity. There is much confusion of ideas on this subject. For
instance, while some writers point to rise in prices as a proof of pros-
perity, the India House return, in the same paragraph to which I have
already referred, speaks of “the cheapening of agricultural produce” as
a matter to boast about. Now, the “enormous" or "unexampled” rise
in prices or wages, about which so much noise is made by some writers,
is no more true than that because there may be a few millionaires in
London, therefore all Londoners are millionaires. The phenomenon is
simply this, that in special localities, where railway and other public
works are being constructed, money congests, and prices and wages for a
time go very high, because, on account of imperfect communication,
neither labour nor food is drawn there in sufficient quantity to equalize
or moderate wages or prices. And because at some of these special
localities prices and wages rise very high, a general conclusion is hastily
drawn, as if prices and wages had gone up enormously all over India. I
shall give hereafter a few instances of prices, which will show that the
notion of enormous general rise in prices is incorrect.
I must now return to the question of the causes of the miserable extent
to which the natives of India take British manufacture. Do not, gen-
tlemen, for a moment suppose that a native does not wish to put on a
119
better coat- or rather a coat at all-if he can get it. You should
seriously ask the question why India does not afford to English industry
and enterprise a field commensurate with its vast extent, population,
and natural resources, though it is under your own control and admi-
nistration. If this country could export of its - produce only 1l. a head
of India's population, it will be as much as you now export to all parts
of the world.
There is no question of the vastness and variety of India's resources.
The number of principal articles it exports to this country is above fifty,
many of them in great varieties, and some two or three dozen of minor
importance. Much more can this number be increased. Why should
not India alone supply to this country cotton, coffee, sugar, tea, silk,
seeds, fibre, or anything else, in any quantity wanted ? The causes of
this unsatisfactory state of affairs are various, both moral and material.
The moral cause, I am sorry I cannot discuss before this Society; I shall
only mention them. As long as a people have no reasonable voice, or
have only a farce of a voice, in the legislation and taxation, municipal or
imperial, of their own country, it is simply impossible there can be that
watchful care and attention to its wants which those most interested
alone can give. So, also, as long as the people of a country have no fair
share in its administration, the powerful stimulus of patriotism and self-
interest cannot come into action. Moreover, this want of a proper share
for the native in the administration of the country produces one deplor-
able moral evil: as long as the English are officials, their mouths are shut.
All the wisdom acquired by their experience is of no use in guiding the
natives. The moment they are non-official they leave the country, and
thus drain poor India of wisdom also. After coming to this country, the
majority of these retired English officials forget India. Here, for instance,
is Lord Lawrence. I congratulate the London School Board on such an
acquisition, but there is also another side of the picture. What does
this mean to India ? Here is wisdom of above thirty years, I suppose,
acquired in India, and it is all now lost to it. When and how will India
have its own Lawrences, its Freres, Trevelyans, &c., to guide the nation
towards progress, enlightenment, and prosperity ? This is most de-
plorable for India that natives are not allowed a due share in the admi-
nistration, to acquire the necessary wisdom of experience to become the
guiding spirits of the country.
One more moral cause I would just touch upon, is the want of ade-
quate education. Most sincerely thankful as I am for even the small
120
extent to which education has progressed, I need simply say just now
that education, both high English and professional for the higher classes,
and vernacular and industrial for the mass, is far from being adequate,
and yet Government are committing the political suicide of discouraging
English education in Bengal.
Having thus simply stated the three moral causes, I now come to the
material. What, I wonder, would you say to the following fact? I have
been studying for the past six months the administration reports of the
different Presidencies of India. From these and other sources (thanks
to Mr. Grant Duff, and other gentlemen in the India Office, for lending
me any books I wanted), I have myself worked out, as a rough outside
estimate, the total gross produce of all cultivated land in the average
good season of 1867-8 :-Central Provinces, North-West Provinces,
Madras Presidency, Bengal Presidency, and Oudh, less than 40s. a head
of their respective population ; Punjab produced less than 50s. a head;
and the Bombay Presidency, with all the advantages of the late American
war, railway loans, and three lines of railway converging into it, produced
100s. a head. But even Bombay, I am afraid, on account of disastrous
losses during the last five years, is gradually lowering its level. The
average of all British India will be a good deal under 50s. a head per
annum, or say 1s. a head a week. If I put 80s. a head per annum, or
1s. 6d. per week per head, as the total production of all kinds (agricul-
tural, manufacturing, mineral, &c.) of the country, I shall be, I cannot
help thinking, guilty of exaggeration or over-estimate.
With this low production we must bear in mind that a larger pro-
portion goes for the consumption of the Europeans in India, of the
higher and middle classes of natives, 12,000,0001. a year are to be ex-
ported to this country, and a portion is to be reserved for seed, and then
we may ask how much of this 1s. 6d. a week a head could go to the share
of the poor mass, from whose labour, after all, must all production be
raised. Is not this one cause alone quite enough to explain the whole
problem why India is such a poor and wretched customer of England ?
Is it any wonder, then, that Lord Lawrence deliberately stated, in 1864,
that “India is, on the whole, a very poor country; the mass of the popu-
lation enjoy only a scanty subsistence ;” and that Mr. George Campbell,
in h is paper on “Tenures of Land in India,” published by the Cobden
Club, quotes from an official authority a report made so late as 1869,
about the Madras Presidency, as follows : -The bulk of the people are
paupers. They can just pay their cesses in a good year, and fail alto-
121
gether when the season is bad. Remissions have to be made perhaps.
every third year in most districts. There is a bad year in some one
district, or group of districts every year.” Lastly, I would refer to an
incidental remark made in the Calcutta correspondence of The Times,'.
published as late as the 12th December last. It says :-“But an ordinary
native can live comfortably on about 2d. a day. He only needs a few
rags for clothing, a little rice, and pulse or bean, and 'curry stuff.'"
Now, I ask you, gentlemen, whether it is from such men, who are
obliged to be satisfied with 2d. a day, a few rags, and wretched hovels,
that you can expect to raise 50,000,0001. of annual revenue (nearly one-
fourth of which has to be remitted to this country); or even 11. a head,
or 200,000,0001. of commerical exports, receiving large imports of your
British manufactures in return ? Pray do not suppose the native would
not like to be þetter fed, clothed, and lodged. Such a supposition will be
simply contrary to human nature and to fact. Let us examine a little
more closely. Insufficient as the whole production is, and scanty as must
be the share of it for the great bulk of the population, perhaps hardly
1s. a head a week, the mischief is further aggravated by imperfect distri-
bution, so that the plenty of any one part is not available for the
scarcity or famine of another. The best test of this is the difference in
the price of food in different parts. If wheat sold at 50s. in one part of
this country, and 70s. or 80s. in another part, I wonder how long this
Society, or the English public, would allow such a state of things to
endure ? In Punjaub, in 1869, the average price in Delhi was 52 lbs.
of wheat per rupee, while at Mooltan, 34 lbs., and at Peshawar, 30 lbs.
In the Madras Presidency, in the year 1867-68, a good season year,
at Cuddapa, the price of rice is 492 rupees per garce (9,2564 lbs.), at
Vizagapatam it is 203 rupees, and Godavery, 222 rupees. In the North-
West Provinces, for the month of June, 1868, as the month of average
plenty, at Meerut, wheat is 54 lbs. for 1 rupee, but at Allahabad and
Mirzapore only 34 lbs. In the Central Provinces, in 1867-68, an average
good-season year, rice, at Hoosingabad is 5 rupees for 1 maund (80 lbs.),
while at Rypore and Belaspore it is only 1 rupee; at Sumbulpore,
1 rupee 2 annas. In the Bombay Presidency, for February, 1868, as a
month of average plenty, at Dharwar, the price of jowaree is 84 lbs. for
1 rupee, while at Thanna it is 27 lbs. per 1 rupee. Again, bajree at
Dharwar is 80 lbs. per 1 rupee, while at Dhoolia only 26 lbs., and
at Broach and Thanna only 24 lbs. (These prices are taken from
administration reports and the 'Bombay Government Gazette.')
122
In Bengal, the “Calcutta Gazette' gives, for June, 1868, average good
time, what are described for rice of cheapest sort, the “ordinary prices
for 1 rupee, and at Bancorah, 47 seers or 94 lbs. per rupee ; while close
by at Singbhoom, it is only 20 seers or 40 lbs. for 1 rupee ; at Patna,
13 seers or 26 lbs.; in the 24 Parrugnas, 16 seers or 32 lbs.
But there is another deplorable test.
Now, what better proof can you have than that when, in the year
1861, while British India exported to the United Kingdom alone, at the
distance of thousands of miles, more than 3,000,000 cwt. of rice, at about
12s. a cwt here, after paying all charges of freight, profits, &c., or at
about 6s. to 88. a cwt. at the ports of shipment; and to all parts of the
world grain worth 3,500,0001., or say about 6,600,000 cwt., the North-
West Provinces lost a quarter of a million of lives and immense property
by famine.
In the year 1866, the United Kingdom imported above 2,000,000 cwt.
of rice from British India, at about 6s. to 88. a cwt. at the ports of ship-
ment: and all parts of the world imported grain from British India
worth 5,250,0001., or say, above 10,000,000 cwt., while Orissa and Madras
lost nearly a million of lives and millions worth of property.
Again, the last two years, Rajpootana lost a million of lives, says the
Calcutta correspondent, on the authority of Rev. Mr. Robson, in “The
Times' of 27th December last, while the exports of rice to the United
Kingdom has been 4,000,000 cwt. in 1868, and I think as much in 1869 ;
and of grain to all parts of the world worth 2,600,0001., or above
5,000,000 cwt. each year. Thus in India, for want of proper communi-
cation, and therefore of easy distribution, famine destroys millions of
lives and property. Good God, when will this end ?
The question may be put by you, what it is I want to suggest. I ask,
gentlemen, only for some good English common sense, both political and
economical, that common sense which destroyed monopolies and corn-
laws, upset the mercantile theory, and established free-trade ; and I trust
the desire of Englishmen, which is no less mine, and I believe of all
educated and thinking natives, that British rule should endure long,
would be fairly accomplished—a blessing to India and a benefit to
England. Like the causes, the remedies I wish to be applied are also
moral and material. About the moral remedies, the statement I have
already made of the causes suggests also the remedies. There are, Sir
123 .
.
John Shore said eighty years ago, certain "evils inseparable from the
be counteracted if that foreign dominion is to endure, and be based on
the contentment and loyalty of the people. These evils can be stated
in four words, “ material and moral drain.” The first I have already
shown to be at present 12,000,0001. a year. The moral one is that of the
wisdom of administration brought over to this country on the retirement
of every English official, to whom alone both practical legislation and
higher administration are chiefly confined. These two drawbacks politi-
cal common sense requires should be remedied, or the people cannot be
satisfied. It is no use thwarting nature, however strong your arm may
be. Nature will avenge every departure from truth and justice. Thus
simply touching on the moral remedies, I come at once to the material
ones. The very first question suggests itself, Why should India hare to
remit 12,000,0001. a year to this country? This, to a certain extent, is
inevitable. If India is to be regenerated by England, India must make
up its mind to pay the price. The only thing I have to say is, that
England, on its part also, should act justly towards India ; the financial
relations between the two countries should be equitably adjusted. No
unreasonable 'burdens should be imposed on India because it is at your
mercy; and the revenues of India should be administered with economy,
wisdom, and the sense of responsibility of a great trust. I appeal to the
conscience of English statesmen and thinkers to give a careful consider-
ation to this subject. Here, however, I must leave this point, hoping
that England will de justice to India in this matter.
The other, and still more important material remedies, I must discuss
at some length, as falling within the province of this Society. It is again
a little economical common sense that is required. The most obvious
remedy for the very poor production of the country, and its extra-political
wants, is to increase production and facilitate distribution. It is no discovery
of mine. Irrigation to increase production, and cheap communication are
the crying wants of a country like India. These re-act upon each other.
Irrigation will supply traffic for communication. Cheap communication
will re-act by stimulating production, opening up new markets, and
equalizing distribution. This certainly sounds very common-place, and an
oft-told tale, but it is this common-place remedy upon which the material
salvation of India depends, and it cannot be told too often till it is ac-
complished. Well, you may say the Indian Government don't deny this.
I grant they are as loud in their acknowledgment of this necessity as
anyone else. Then where is the hitch ? That is just the question.
124
In order to avoid confusion and save time, I give you at once my own
views, without entering into a discussion of the present policy of Govern-
ment. The expenditure on public works may be divided into two sorts
mon repairs and on original works. For repairs, by all means pay from
the revenue, for it would be unjust to saddle posterity with any debt for
them. The "original works” are divided by Government into “ordinary”
and “extraordinary.” Ordinary are those which do not pay directly,
such as barracks, buildings for civil administrations, and common roads.
These do not bring direct returns certainly, like railways, but repay
indirectly, in the saving in rent, and in many other ways,
Now, nobody will contend that these works are only useful for the
day, and that posterity, or even one or two generations after the present
can have no interest in them. Is it just, then, not to say anything of the
want of economical common sense, that the present generation, so little
able to bear the burden, should be pressed to furnish the whole means,
without any distribution of the burden with the next one or two genera-
tions ? I maintain that Government should adopt the just as well as the
economical policy of distributing the burden of these ordinary works
over say fifty years or two generations by means of terminable loans.
By adopting this policy, the other most injurious effects of stopping
works from time to time, according to the condition of the revenue, will
be avoided. What is of the utmost importance is, that these works once
decided upon should be carried out vigorously, and completed as soon as
possible. I repeat, then, that I ask for only common sense in this
matter. When a large load is to be raised, a common, unintelligent
labourer tries to raise it directly by his hands, an intelligent labourer
tries a lever, and a man of knowledge uses a system of pulleys or some
machinery. What is the whole secret or aim of all mechanical science ?
Simply to distribute weight. Use, I say, the same common sense in
financial matters. Use suitable financial machinery, and distribute the
weight. Don't waste time, energy, and means in trying to raise the
heavy load directly.
It looks almost ridiculous before an English audience to insist on
this, but the Indian Government somehow or other does not do this.
The mischief of this policy of making revenue pay at once for the
ordinary original works is threefold—uncertainty, delay, and the con-
sequent waste in the works themselves; the intolerable pressure of
taxation upon the people, and their dissatisfaction; and lastly, what is
still worse, the withdrawal of so much capital, which at present is very
dear, and insufficient for the ordinary wants of the production and
commerce of the country, Government using capital worth 9 per cent.
and upwards, when it can easily get the same for 4 or 5 per cent, causing
thereby to a poor country like India a serious loss, and shutting out
England from safe investments in a country which is under its own
control. Paying for these ordinary works from revenue, or from termi-
nable loans, makes the whole difference to the people between being
crushed by a load or carrying it with the greatest ease. It must be
also borne in mind that any increase in the communications of the
country, and the better attention to the wants of the country, will make
the future generation better able to bear greater burdens than the
present.
I next come to extraordinary public works, such as railroads, irrigation
works, canals, &c. In the case of these works, Government has fortu-
nately adopted the policy of borrowing ; but somehow or other, there is
some hesitation in going vigorously and boldly into the matter.
The hesitation for borrowing is grounded mainly, as far as I can make
out, on one reason. It is said England's tenure in India is uncertain,
and that if, after England lent a large sum, she should have to leave
India, she may lose her loans. This is a very fair question, and must be
fairly discussed. Now what is the best guarantee the English can have?
As a native of India, I may answer, the loyalty and affection of the
people. But as Englishmen you may say, “Well, we fully appreciate
loyalty and gratitude; but after all, it will not be prudent to depend
upon that guarantee alone." Well, then, I ask, what is the best thing
you can have? Can you have anything surer than a sufficiently strong
English army? And if by the same policy which may enable you to
have a strong army, you can also secure the loyalty and gratitude of the
people, how much more will yonr security be increased. How can you
have a sufficiently large English army without a sufficiently large revenue, -
and how can you have a large revenue unless the people are able to pay
it, and pay it without feeling crushed by it? If, on the one hand, the
present political drain continues, and the country is not helped to develop
its resources, the result is evident. The people must get poor, and
revenue must diminish. If revenue must diminish, you cannot provide
paired, and still more so by the discontent of the people. On the other
hand, if the Government went boldly and vigorously into the prosecution
of all necessary public works by sufficient cheap loans, the production
TU
126
and commerce of the country and the ability of the people to pay taxes
will increase, Government will be able to raise with ease larger revenue,
and will be able to keep up the necessary strength of the army, the
security by which will be further enhanced a hundredfold by the
contentment and loyalty of the people.
The most absolute wants of any country, in the undeveloped condition
of India, are irrigation and railroads, canals and other cheap communi-
cations. Even now, the only or chief bright spot in the administration
of the past fifteen years, for which Government claims, and justly re-
ceives, the greatest credit, for which India is most thankful to the
English public, and which has opened a hopeful day for it, is even with
all the waste and jobbery, the railways, canal, and irrigation works already
built by English loans. I beseech, therefore, that Government should
pursue with vigour this hopeful path, for on this alone do the material
salvation of India, and the strength and benefit of English rule depend.
There is one more question in connection with loans which requires a
fair discussion. It is the opinion of many that the loans should be
raised in India. The reasons assigned are, either the fear of uncertain
tenure of English rule, or that India may not have to remit interest to
this country. The first, I have already answered, is suicidal. With
regard to the second reason, I say, if India is able, by all means raise
the loans there. I am very glad that Government have succeeded in
inducing some of the native princes to lend money to build railways. •
But I have shown you already that India does not at present produce
enough for its ordinary wants, much less can it save or spare capital for
these loans. The very fact that capital is worth 9 per cent. ordinary
interest in India shows its insufficiency, even for its very limited
commerce.
1
The idea of making India raise loans is like ordering water to run
up a hill. Raise loans in India, the result will be still the same. Water
will gravitate to the lowest level. Beyond a certain amount needed in
India for investments of trusts, retired persons, banks, unenterprising
zemindars, &c., the rest will be bought up by this country. Be this as
it may, the test is a very easy one. Let Government open loans at
4 per cent., both in India and England, at the best prices capitalists
would give for this interest, and in such a way that the notes be easily
negotiable both in India and England, and that the interest may be also
obtainable in both countries without unnecessary trouble; and the natural
laws of capital will settle the rest. If the English public bave confi-
127
dence enough, and if the 4 per cent. sterling loan is now at a premium,
why should the Indian Government not allow India the benefit of these
loans, and the capitalists of England an investment under the control of
the British themselves ? It is said that if Government resorted to loans,
the future debt of India would be very large. But why such should be
the case I cannot understand. As to the ordinary works, the very fact
of terminable loans means contributions from the revenue, and limit to
the duration of the loan, the great advantages being “distribution of
weight.” With regard to extraordinary works, they are paying works,
and even if they fail in paying the whole interest, the prosperity of the
country will easily yield increased resource to make up for any deficit of
interest. All progressing countries are building their public works by
loans, and come to this country for borrowing, while poor India, with all
her material and moral drawbacks, and struggling for her very existence,
:is tortured by all sorts of vexatious local and imperial cesses and taxes.
When I ask Government to build the works vigorously themselves,
I should not be misunderstood as being in any way against true private
...enterprise ; in fact, the principal articles of present export, except cotton
and rice, owe their productions mostly to English private enterprise.
Who are the producers of the greater part of tea, coffee, indigo, silk, &c.,
and even in the case of cotton, how much is owing to Manchester con-
stantly knocking at the door of the India House to build roads, canals, &c.?
If English capital is encouraged in a reasonable manner, to open up new
sources of production, what great benefit may be the consequence, both
to England and India. England's benefit would be double ; the profits
of the investors will ultimately come over here, and consumption of
British manufactures will be cxtended, with the greater ability of the
natives to purchase them. The administration reports of the different
governments give us figures of many millions of acres of culturable waste
land. If Government only did the ordinary duty of opening up these
lands by providing necessary communication, and, wherever practicable,
necessary irrigation, what a vast store of treasure would be brought out,
and what prosperity bestowed upon poor India.
.
Natives also would do a great deal, if properly guided and encouraged.
I am afraid encouraging natives to look out does not seem to be much in
the line of officials. I know of an instance, in which one Mr. Rustomjee
Bomanjee, a Parsee of Bombay, has been running about for two years
froni collector to commissioner, and from one official to another, to be
allowed to undertake, on his own account, an irrigation project near his
128
property in Bassein, without, I fear, any result. I do not know whether
anything has been lately decided. I don't wish to blame anybody. I
cannot say what Government's ideas in the matter may be, but such
dancing as this persevering gentleman has had is, I think, sufficient to
discourage anybody. Moreover, scanty, if any, encouragement is given
to natives to enter the engineering service.
I would just sum up the remedies I have been discussing in a few
words of Lord Lawrence, às Commissioner of Punjab, and which are
quite as applicable now for all India :—" Let means of export, the grand
desideratum, be once supplied, everything will follow.io. Then money
will be abundant, prices will recover their standard, and the land revenue
will flourish." *
· Before finishing the discussion of these remedies, I must urge one on
the English public, which I sincerely believe to be an important one.
The great misfortune of India, and consequently a great loss to England
also, is that its real condition is not known here, and very little cared
for. Every institution in this country has its independent body or
society to watch its interest; for India, also, some such machinery is
absolutely necessary. The India Reform Society, under the leadership
of Mr. Bright, aided by the exertions of Mr. J. Dickinson and others, did
at one time good service. Latterly, the East India Association has been
formed for this purpose. I think it very essential, if England is to derive
the full benefit of its Indian Empire, and be at the same time a blessing
to it, that this East India Association, or some such body, whose object
is to make India better known here, and to watch all Indian and English
interests, be well supported by the English public. The result of my
fifteen years' observation in this country is, that some such institution is
absolutely necessary, or England cannot do its duty to India, and poor
India must continue to suffer from the want of an independent watchful-
ness of the administration over it. I can only appeal to the existence of
this very Society, and of many others, without which I do not know how
much good would have remained undone, and how much mischief would
have continued unchecked. At present the want of unity among the
different interests produces its usual consequences of weakness and failure.
As each interest, such as tea, or coffee, or cotton, or manufacturers,
planters, commercial, civil or military, or any other, English or native,
attacks the India Office in its small detachment, it is easily repulsed.
But should all these interests combine together, and with the strength of
* Select Government of India,' No. xviii., p. 30.
129
the union of a powerful body, propose well-considered measures calcu.
lated to be beneficial to all interests, the India Office, less able to resist
such action, will most probably welcome it to aid in its administration,
and Parliament will be better guided in any efforts it may make, from
time to time, to do its duty to India.
Nuw, gentlemen, whatever attention you may think my address worth,
I am sure that on one point we should all agree that the subject of the
commerce of India is one of those most important ones for the attention
of the English public, whether for duty to India or for their own interest.
You are aware that the East India Association has resolved to petition
for a select committee of Parliament, and that Mr. Fawcett, having last
session moved for a committee, the Right. Hon. the Prime Minister has
shown a disposition to be favourable to the motion when made this
session. I sincerely trust the Council of the Society, in the way that
and in getting it to institute a searching inquiry into the great questions
why India's commerce is so miserably small, and not commensurate with
its vast resources, extent, and population. Is it correct or not that the
total production of the country is with all the progress said to be made,
yet so wretched as 1s. 6d., or say even 2s. per week per head ; and, if so,
is such a state of affairs creditable to British administration ? Are the
British rulers practically adopting a policy which would justify their
declarations in the report of the material and moral progress for 1868-69,
that “the State has now publicly announced its responsibility for the
life of the least of its subjects,” or the noble sentiment expressed by
Lord Mayo, “The coils that she (England) seeks to entwine are no iron
fetters, but the golden chains of affection and of peace”? Will the next
ten years be free from the heartrending, destructive famines of the past
decade; and cannot the people of India be rendered so contented and
loyal as to make Russia's ambition for the conquest of India a mere
dream to be laughed at?
In submitting my views at present, and asking the help of this power-
ful Society in obtaining and utilizing the select committee, nothing is
further from my mind than any hostile feeling to the Indian Government
both at home and in India. I only desire to see the right administra-
tion of the country, and I wish to point out that, just like all the interests
of this country itself, those of India also require intelligent, independent
investigation by select committees of Parliament at reasonable intervals,
and the watchfulness of some independent, well-organized body. The
130
O
Prime Minister himself has given the strongest reason last session :-
“And the fact, which we must all deplore, that it is not easy to secure
adequate attention within these walls to Indian affairs, is an additional
reason for having a committee to inquire into the matter."
It is, gentlemen, my deep conviction that the future elevation of the
200,000,000 of the people of India cannot be in better hands than those
of the British nation. I only beseech you to do the good which is in
your power, both to yourselves and to India, crowned with the blessings
of a sixth of the human race.
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, in replying (after the discussion), said he felt
exceedingly thankful for the way in which his paper had been received
and discussed; and, notwithstanding that some few remarks had been
made, as was supposed, in opposition to his views, he could not but con-
gratulate himself that his main points had been maintained and developed
much more forcibly by other speakers than by himself. He had,
however, been, in one or two instances, slightly misunderstood, as he
would endeavour to explain. He had purposely avoided drawing any
comparison between the past and present, and had introduced the
statistics showing the excess of exports over imports merely to show
how fallacious were the statements sometimes put forth on the highest
authority; and although this was, no doubt, unintentional, it was
none the less misleading. In a question of commerce, in which
figures were the basis of the whole argument, it was absolutely essential
that they should be accurate, and he must therefore be excused for
saying that a great deal more care than was usually given was required
in drawing conclusions from the statistics to which he had referred.
He had never denied that some progress had been made during the last
fifteen years, but upon this point also he would venture to use the
following illustration :-A strong man knocked down a weaker one,
and, to use the words of Mr. Grant Duff, almost ground him to dust, and
then, after giving him a glass of water to revive him, said, “See how I
have benefited you; I have given you a good glass of water, and now
you are ever so much better.” Down to 1850,* India was being con-
tinually impoverished, and then the Government themselves, being aghast
at the results, began to look about to see what could be done. They
soon struck upon the right path, which was, to send back to India the
wealth which had been drained from her during seventy years, to the
* Sir A. Cotton told me, after the meeting, that I was quite right, that about
.131
extent of hundreds of millions. 100,000,0001, had been lent for the pur-
pose of constructing railways, but this was not enough. England had
drawn from India twenty times as much as she had yet lent her. He did
not claim that it should be returned, he simply asked for a loan of so
much money as would enable India to supply herself with necessary
public works, and it should all be repaid, with a thousand thanks for
England's good government. When India was lying in the dust, ex-
hausted and helpless, only just reviving a little, it was no use saying to
her, “You must help yourself.” If no other feeling prompted such
action—though he contended there could be no higher object of ambition
than to raise up a nation of 200 million souls-selfishness alone should
lead Britain not to drain India entirely dry. Many speakers had mis-
taken his views, but all had agreed that India required further help; and
in replying to the charge which had been made against him in some
quarters, of not doing justice to the good services which England had ren-
dered to India, he had simply to submit a Dr. and Cr. account which he
had sketched out, and to which he believed no exception could be taken.
CR.-In the cause of Humanity.—Abolition of suttee and infanticide.
Destruction of Dacoits, Thugs, Pindarees, and other such pests of
Indian society.
Remarriage of Hindoo widows, and charitable aid in times of famine.
Glorious work all this, of which any nation may well be proud, and
such as has not fallen to the lot of any people in the history of mankind.
In the cause of Civilization.—Education, both male and female.
Though yet only partial, an inestimable blessing as far as it has gone,
and leading gradually to the destruction of superstition, and many moral
and social evils. Resuscitation of India's own noble literature, modified
and refined by the enlightenment of the West.
The only pity is that as much has not been done as might have been
in this noble work; but still India must be, and is, deeply grateful.
Politically.-Peace and order. Freedom of speech and liberty of the
press. Higher political knowledge and aspirations. Improvement of
government in the native States. Security of life and property. Freedom
from oppression caused by the caprice or avarice of despotic rulers, and
from devastation by war. Equal justice between man and man (some-
times vitiated by partiality to Europeans). Services of highly-educated
administrators, who have achieved the above-mentioned good results.
132
- Materially.—Loans for railways and irrigation. (I have been parti-
cularly charged with ignoring this, but I consider it one of the greatest
produce more than we could before, though there is not yet enough for
all India's ordinary wants, and I have said this in my paper.) I cannot
ascertain the exact amount of investments in irrigation works, but I take
them to be about 10,000,0001., making the total 110,000,0001. The
development of a few valuable products, such as indigo, tea, coffee, silk,
&c. Increase of exports. Telegraphs.
Generally. A slowly-growing desire of late to treat India equitably,
and as a country held in trust. Good intentions.
No nation on the face of the earth has ever had the opportunity of
achieving such a glorious work as this. I hope in this credit side of the
account I have done no injustice, and if I have omitted any item which
anyone may think of importance, I shall have the greatest pleasure in
inserting it. I appreciate, and so do my countrymen, what England has
done for India, and I know that it is only in British hands that her
regeneration can be accomplished. Now for the debit side.
Dr.-In the Cause of Humanity.-Nothing. Everything, therefore, is
in your favour under this head,
In the cause of Civilization.—As I have said already, there has been a
failure to do as much as might have been done, but I put nothing to the debit.
Much has been done, or I should not be standing here this evening.
Politically.—Repeated breach of pledges to give the natives a fair and
reasonable share in the higher administration of their own country, which
has much shaken confidence in the good faith of the British word. Poli-
tical aspirations and the legitimate claim to have a reasonable voice in
the legislation and the imposition and disbursement of taxes, met to a
very slight degree, thus treating the natives of India not as British sub-
jects, to whom representation is a birthright.
[I stop here a moment to say a word as to a mistake into which my
friend, Mr. Hyde Clarke, fell, in supposing that I desired the govern-
ment of India to be at once transferred to the natives. In my belief a
greater calamity could not befall India than for England to go away and
leave her to herself.]
· Consequent on the above, an utter disregard of the feelings and views
of the natives. The great moral evil of the drain of the wisdom of prac-
tical administration and statesmanship, leaving none to guide the rising
133
generation. (Here, again, have I been misunderstood. I complain not
of Englishmen returning to their own country, but of the ribole adminis-
tration being kept entirely in English hands, so that none of the natives
are brought up to and taught the responsibilities and duties of office, so
that we have none amongst ourselves to guide us as our elders, and to
teach us our duties as citizens and as moral beings. A foster mother or
nurse will never supply the place of the real mother, unless she shows
more kindness and attention to her charge than the real mother, and the
natives will therefore naturally follow their own leaders, unless you
prove more kind, humane, and considerate. Draw these leaders on your
side.) The indifference to India, even of a large portion of those who have
had an Indian career, and who are living on Indian pensions. The cul-
pable indifference of a large portion of the people, the public press, and
Parliament of this country to the interests of India ; therefore, periodical
committees of inquiry are absolutely necessary, for the knowledge that
such will take place would be a check on careless administration. With
regard to the native States, though their system is improving, it is most
'unjust that their cases should be decided in secret. The frequent change
of officials is a constant source of disturbance in policy, and though it
may be unavoidable, it is none the less hard upon India.
Financially.—All attention is engrossed in devising new modes of
taxation, without any adequate effort to increase the means of the people
to pay ; and the consequent vexation and oppressiveness of the taxes im-
posed, imperial and local. Inequitable financial relations between Eng-
land and India, i. e. the political debt of 100,000,0001. clapped on India's
shoulders, and all home charges also, though the British exchequer con-
tributes nearly 3,000,0001. to the expenses of the colonies. The crushing
and economically rude and unintelligent policy of making the present
generation pay the whole cost of public works for the benefit of the
future, instead of making the political like all other machinery, and dis-
tributing the weight so as to make a small power lift a large weight by
the aid of time. The results of trying to produce something out of
nothing, of the want of intelligent adaptation of financial machinery, and
of much reckless expenditure ; in financial embarrassments, and deep
discontent of the people.
Materially.--The political drain, up to this time, from India to Eng-
land, of above 500,000,0001., at the lowest computation, in principal
alone, which with interest would be some thousands of millions. The
further continuation of this drain at the rate, at present, of above
134
12,000,0001., with a tendency to increase. (I do not mean this as a com-
plaint; you must have a return for the services rendered to India, but
let us have the means of paying. If I have a manager to whom I pay
10001. a year, and he only makes the business produce 4001., so that
6001. a year must be paid him out of capital, any man of business can see
what will be the result. Peace and order will soon be completely estab-
lished by the closing of the concern:)
The consequent continuous impoverishment and exhaustion of the
country, except so far as it has been very partially relieved and re-
plenished by the railway and irrigation loans, and the windfall of the
consequences of the American war, since 1850. Even with this relief,
the material condition of India is such that the great mass of the poor
people have hardly 2d. a day and a few rags, or a scanty subsistence.
The famines that were in their power to prevent, if they had done
their duty, as a good and intelligent government. The policy adopted
during the last fifteen years of building railways, irrigation works, &c.,
is hopeful, has already resulted in much good to your credit, and if
persevered in, gratitude and contentment will follow.
Contra.—Increase of exports ; loss of manufacturing industry and
skill. Here I end the debit side.
About Sir A. Cotton's remarks I would just say this. Suppose rice
could be got at the shipping ports in India at 68. a cwt., and transit to
this country cost 2s. more, the price at which people here get it is only
about 98., and not that people here pay 24s. for which in India natives
pay only 6s. If it were so, if English people would be kind enough to
give us 24s. or 188. for what in India fetches 6s., we shall be very thank-
ful, and rich in a very short time. Again, if an article costs 5s. here,
and takes 1s. transit to India, the people in India have not to pay one-
third (or 2s. only) of what you pay for them, but have to pay with ordi-
nary profit 7s. for the article. What I suppose Sir A. Cotton means is,
that for certain necessities of existence here you require somewhat more
material, and therefore more money, than in India. That is true ; but
what I maintain is, that comparatively less as the absolute wants of
natives may be, these have not even been sufficiently supplied. It must
also be remembered that the wants of the natives of Northern India are
greater than in Southern India. But to say that the natives of India
would not like to enjoy as much the good things of this world as any
other people, is neither fact nor nature.. See the manner in which the
rich Hindoos and Mahommedans of Bombay live.
135
· It is sometimes said that loans beget waste. I cannot see how money
of loans can have waste in its character more than money from revenue.
The right horse to saddle with waste is the officer who wastes, and
not that the money is a loan. A wasteful officer would as much waste
money from revenue as from loans. The condemnation of waste must be
in the administrative system and men, and not in the source from which
money comes.
With regard to exports being merely surplus produce, there cannot be
a greater mistake than that which was advanced by one speaker, that a
country could not export anything until all her own people were fed. A
country might not consume a farthing's worth of its own produce, but
might send it all away, and, getting in return what was more valuable,
become wealthy and happy. Surplus has nothing to do with it. England
formerly tried by forcible means to keep her own produce at home, but :
now she got corn from all the world. To sum up the whole, the British
rule has been morally, a great blessing ; politically peace and order on
one hand, blunders on the other ; materially, impoverishment (relieved
as far as the railway and other loans go). The natives call the British
system "Sakar ki Churi,” the knife of sugar. That is to say there is no
oppression, it is all smooth and sweet, but it is the knife, notwithstanding,
I mention this that you should know these feelings. Our great misfor-
tune is that you do not know our wants. When you will know our real
wishes, I have not the least doubt that you would do justice. The genius
and spirit of the British people is fair play and justice. The great prob-
lems before the English statesmen are two. 1. To make the foreign
rule self-supporting, either by returning to India, in some shape or
other, the wealth that has been, and is being, drawn from it, or by stop-
ping that drain in some way till India is so far improved in its material
condition as to be able to produce enough for its own ordinary wants
and the extraordinary ones of a costly distant rule. If you cannot feel
yourself actuated by the high and noble ambition of the amelioration of
200,000,000 of human beings, let your self-interest suggest to you to
take care of the bird that gives the golden egg of 12,000,0001. a year to
S
the name of humanity, I implore our rulers to make up their minds not
to prevent the restoration of the equilibrium, after the continuous ex-
haustion by drain and by horrible famines. I do not in the least grudge
· any legitimate benefit England may derive for its rule in India. On the
contrary, I am thankful for its invaluable moral benefits; but it is the
further duty of England to give us such a government, and all the bene-
136
fit of its power and credit, as to enable ús to pay, without starving or
dying by famine, the tribute or price for the rule. 2. How to satisfy
reasonably the growing political aspirations and just rights of a people
called British subjects, to have a fair share in the administration and
legislation of their own country. If the Select Committee solve these
two problems, before which all other difficulties, financial or others, are
as nothing, they will deserve the blessings of 200,000,000 of the human
race.
VIII.
FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA.
[Addressed to the Select Committee on East India Finance, 1871.]
· A CONSIDERABLE number of the best informed and most influential
Native and English inhabitants of India, together with others of Her
Majesty's subjects of all ranks who have the welfare of that portion of
the British Empire at heart, asked for Parliamentary inquiry. Parliament
readily granted a Select Committee of the House of Commons, though for
an inquiry which was to be limited to Financial Administration. It is, I
think, due to Parliament and to the Select Committee that those who
prayed for inquiry should say in time what they want, for it would
be both unreasonable and useless for them to complain afterwards that
the Select Committee did not do this or that. As a native of India, and
one who joined in a petition from the East India Association, I most
respectfully submit for the consideration of the Select Committee a few
remarks as to what I hope and desire from it.
The Financial Administration of any country, like all other human
institutions, requires four important elements :-
1st. Materials.
2nd. Head to design.
3rd. Hand to execute.
4th. Sound principles of design and execution. Upon the degree of
perfection of each and all of these requisites depends the measure of
success.
I.-MATERIALS.
This is the most important and fundamental question for decision.
Without sufficient and suitable materials to work with, all the other
requisites are of no avail whatsoever.
The question, then, is : Does India, even at the present day, produce
enough to supply, without hardship or privation, both its ordinary wants
as a nation, and its extraordinary and peculiar want to remit to a foreign
distant country a portion of its produce as the natural economical result
of a foreign rule ? I say that India does not produce enough even for
the ordinary necessary wants of its children, much less for all their social
138
and peculiar political wants. Is this a fact or not? The Indian Govern-
ment is bound to answer this question definitely. If the India Office
should prove me to be wrong, no one will rejoice more than myself. If
I be right, then, no ingenious device of even ten Wilsons or Temples will
relieve the Financial Administration of its difficulties, unless the Indian
legislators and financiers possess the Divine power of creating something
out of nothing. The poverty and privations of the country once admitted,
the question then will be, how to remedy this fundamental evil. The
subject of the remedies ultimately resolves itself into the following:-
1st. Provision of capital necessary for all public works of a permanent
character, both ordinary and extraordinary, which are required to increase
production and facilitate distribution, to be provided, if India is
impoverished, and has it not.
2nd. A just adjustment of the financial relations between India and
England, so that the political drain may be reasonably diminished.*
3rd. The best way of attracting capital and enterprise to utilise the
vast culturable waste lands.
4th. The best way of increasing the intelligence of the people by a
comprehensive plan of national education, both high and popular.
. * I give this chief cause of the impoverishment of a country in the words of Sir
R. Temple himself, written under the direction of Lord Lawrence. (Punjaub
Administration Report for 1856-8, Parliamentary Return 212 of 1859, page 16):-
"In former reports it was explained how the circumstance of so much money
going out of the Punjaub contributed to depress the agriculturist. The native
regular army was Hindustanee; to them was a large share of the Punjaub revenues
disbursed, of which a part only they spent on the spot, and a part was remitted to
their homes. Thus it was that, year after year, lakhs and lakhs were drained from
the Punjaub, and enriched Oudh. But within the last year, the native army being
Punjabee, all such sums have been paid to them, and have been spent at home.
Again, many thousands of Punjabee soldiers are serving abroad. These men not
only remit their savings, but also have sent quantities of prize property and plunder,
the spoils of Hindoostan, to their native villages. The effect of all this is already
perceptible in an increase of agricultural capital, a freer circulation of money, and
a fresh impetus to cultivation.”
“The Report has been prepared under the direction of Sir John Lawrence,
K.C.B., Chief Commissioner of Punjaub, by
GR. TEMPLE,
Secretary to Chief Commissioner, Punjaub."
May I appeal to Sir R. Temple to ponder over this extract, and in his new place of
a financier of India, look this same evil for all India boldly in the face, and firmly
suggest its proper remedies ; so that the burden of the millions and millions that are
“ year after year drained" from India to England may be reasonably lightened, and
the ability of the people to meet the legitimate portion of the drain increased to the
necessary extent? Is it also too much for India to expect, or even to claim from
Lord Lawrence to represent this evil to the Select Committee and to Parliament,
and to obtain for India full redress?
139
• If the fact of the poor production of India can be proved directly, any
indirect test may not be considered necessary; but as questions have been
already put in the Committee about such tests, and as these tests are
necessary to say a few words regarding them. The tests I refer to more
particularly are “rise” in prices and wages, and imports of bullion. I
hope mere general assertions on these points will not be considered suf-
ficient. To understand correctly the phenomena of prices and wages, it
is absolutely necessary for the India Office to prepare a return of the
prices and wages of all districts from, say, twenty years prior to the
British acquisition, to the present day, giving also opposite to the figures
for each year the causes of the rise or fall, as the case may be. Such
a return alone will show the effect of the drain,” after the British
acquisition, either as to how far any rise, on the one hand, was the result
of scarcity of production, or of increase of prosperity, or of local expen-
diture on public works ; or, on the other, how far any fall was the result
of abundance of produce or the poverty of the district; and, further,
whether the rise or fall was general or local, permanent or temporary.
The average of a collection of districts of the whole country must also
be taken correctly, and not in the erroneous manner in which they are at
present made up in the Administration Reports.
To show the necessity of what I ask in the above paragraph, I give a
few instances. In the Madras selection from Government Records, No.
XXXI., of 1856, prices are given of certain periods for several districts.
I take those of Chingleput (page 23), for the years 1841-50 (Fuslee,
1251-60), during which the prices suddenly rose from Rs. 82 per garce
of paddy in 1254, to Rs. 126 in the next year 1255, and to Rs. 124 in
1256, and again went down to Rs. 96 and 69 in the succeeding years.
So at Rajahmundry, in the prices for the years 1236 to 1245 (1826 to
1834), there is a sudden rise from Rs. 64 in 1241 to Rs. 111 in 1242,
and to Rs. 168 in 1243, going down again to Rs. 95 and 63 in the suc-
ceeding two years. Now, are these high prices in the two couples of
years the result of scarcity or prosperity? If the former, how very
wrong it would be to take the high averages of these ten years for com-
parison or as an indication of prosperity? The last two years in the
1st January, '68, to 1st January, '70, at Delhi, from 26 seers (of 2 lbs.)
per Re. 1 to 9 seers; at Ambala from 24 seers to 9 seers; at Lahore,
from 18 seers to 9 (Punjaub Adm. Report for 1869-70, p. 95).
140
C
Now, is it right from high averages occasioned in this manner to infer
prosperity? An hon. member recently quoted in Parliament the high
price of rice at Jubbulpore. Had his informant been a little more com-
municative, he would have learnt that, while at Jubbulpore, say in the
average good season of 1867-8, the price was Rs. 38 per maund, in the
adjoining division of Chutteesghur, the price at Raipore and Belas-
pore was only Re. 1 per maund, or nearly one-fourth ; and that therefore
Jubbulpore, with its local expenditure on public works, was no criterion
for the rest of the country. In the North-west Provinces, the price of
wheat was about the same in the years 1860 and 1868. But during
that interval the province passed through a great famine, and had
famine prices. Now, will the average taken with these famine prices be
a proper criterion for inferences of prosperity? With regard to the
erroneous mode of taking averages of a number of districts, by adding
up the prices and dividing the total by the number of the districts,
without reference to the quantity produced in each district, I need
simply refer to the average taken in the Report of the Central Provinces
for 1867-68. It is there made out for rice to be Rs. 2per maund,
when the actual average was only about Rs. 17.
These few instances will, I hope, suffice to show how carefully the
test of prices, and similarly that of wages, have to be ascertained and
applied. With reference to wages, two important elements must be
borne in mind—the number of the labourers who earn each rate of wages,
and the number of days such wages are earned during the year.
So far as my inquiries go at present, the conclusion I draw is, that
wherever the East India Company acquired territory, impoverishment
followed their steps, and it is only from the time that loans for irriga-
tion and railways and other public works, and the windfall of the
benefits from the American War returned back, as it were, some of the lost
blood, that India has a little revived. But it will require vigorous and
steady efforts to increase the production of the country, and diminish its
drain to England, before it will be restored to anything like ordinary
good health, and be freed from famines.
· With regard to imports of bullion, there are sufficient returns for the
past seventy years; but they require to be carefully examined to draw
any correct inferences from them, taking into consideration the non-
production of bullion in the country, the revenue being required to be
141
paid in money, and thereby making silver a necessity in all ordinary
transactions of life, the vast population among whom these imports are
distributed, and the amount of treasure the East India Company and
their servants carried away. during the last century in the shape of
salaries, bribes, booty, &c. Cannot the India Office make some return on
this point, to show the exhaustion of the country thus caused which
required to be replenished by subsequent imports? It is no use simply
depending upon the re-echcing of the general exclamation, “What an
enormous quantity of silver has gone to India!" I entreat most earnestly
that the first element~-viz., the material condition of India—may be
most carefully sifted, and the necessary remedies be applied. If this
question be not boldly and fairly grappled with, it will be, in my humble
opinion, the principal rock on which British rule will wreck. It is im-
possible for any nation to go on being impoverished without its ultimate
destruction, or the removal of the cause.
II. HEAD TO DESIGN.
The head which designs the Imperial financial legislation is the
Supreme Legislative Council, while local legislation is designed by the
local Councils. All these Councils have a controlling head in the India
Office Council in London. The questions, then, to be decided, in order
that the designing head may be as efficient and adapted to the end as
possible, resolve themselves into these :-
· 1st. Can any legislation ever do its work satisfactorily in which the
opinions, feelings, and thoughts of the people paying the taxes are not
fairly represented ? Englishmen, no matter how able, and with whatever
good intentions, cannot feel as the natives feel, and think as the natives
think. The co-operation of a sufficient number of intelligent natives in
all the Councils is an absolute necessity to any satisfactory financial
legislation. As to any fear of political mischief from taking natives
more largely into confidence, I think it to be entirely groundless. But,
even granting that there was any risk, I need simply refer to the Act
of 1861, in which ample checks and securities are provided. With a
sufficiently large number of vatives, with a corresponding increase in
the number of non-official English members, there will not only be no
risk, but, on the contrary, every cause for satisfaction. I may just point
out the checks I allude to
“ Provided always, that it shall not be lawful for any Member or
142
Additional Member to introduce, without the previous sanction of the
Governor-General, any measure affecting
"1. The public debt or public revenues of India ; or by which any
charge would be imposed on such revenues. *
“ 2. The religion or religious rites and usages of any class of Her
Majesty's subjects in India ;
“ 3. The discipline or maintenance of any part of Her Majesty's
Military or Naval Forces ;
States." (Clause 19.)
Moreover, the Governor-General has his power of veto; and the
ultimate consent of Her Majesty's Indian Secretary is also necessary.
(Clauses 20 and 21.)
Clause 22, limits even the power of the Governor-General as to what
he shall not legislate upon, and Clause 43 repeats, with certain addi-
tions, as to what the local Council cannot legislate upon except with
the sanction of the Governor-General. With such checks there can be
nothing to fear.
2nd. Whether decentralization, such as Sir Charles Trevelyan and
Sir C. Wingfield, and others who agree with them, propose, is necessary
or not to solve difficulties like the following. Some provinces complain
that they are taxed more to make up the deficits of others. For
instance-supposing that the Zemindars of Bengal are right in claiming
exemption from any additional burden on lands, under the Regulation
of 1793, would not the scheme of decentralization enable the Bengal
Government to provide in some other appropriate way for its own
wants, instead of the Supreme Council being obliged to impose the same
taxes upon the other parts of India also, as it cannot tax Bengal by
itself.
The distant Presidencies complain that the Supreme Council is not
able to understand fully their peculiar requirements. With the
* Though the Indian Councils are thus prohibited from imposing charges on
Indian revenues without direct legislation, and the sanction of the Governor-
General first obtained to introduce the measure, the Indian Council in England
is, in a very anomalous way, left to do what it likes with the revenues of India ;
take, for instance, the way in which certain charges connected with the Cooper-
hill Civil Engineering College are put upon Indian revenues, or the large sum
of money spent upon the India Office, or any other charges that the Indian
Council chooses to make.
143
Governor-General having a veto upon all the legislation of the sub-
ordinate Governments, could not the Supreme Government be better
able to attend to all Imperial questions without any loss of dignity or
power, and yet leave fairly upon the heads of the different Presidencies
their fair share of responsibility? These and similar questions with
regard to the constitution and work of the Councils in India have to be
decided.
Similar questions have also to be considered with regard to the
Indian Council in England. First, need there be such a large Council ?
Secondly, need the Council have the work of supervision of everything
that is done in India ; or will it act merely as an appellant power, to
interfere when appealed to ? Is the constitution such as could satis-
factorily perform its work with the due knowledge and appreciation of
the continuous change of conditions going on in India ? And is it not
necessary, moreover, that, as in the Councils in India, some suitable
representation of native views and interests should exist in the India
Office ? Lastly, is it right that this Council should have the power to
spend the revenues of India as it likes, without some such open legisla-
tion, discussion, and check, as is provided for the Councils in India ?
From this, I hope it will be sufficiently apparent that the element of
“the head which designs and controls” the financial administration of
India requires careful consideration. The necessity of a fair expression.
of the views and feelings of the natives has another aspect-viz., that
with such co-operation Government will be very largely relieved of the
odium of any dissatisfaction among the natives.
All the remarks with reference to the necessity of a fair representation
of natives in the Legislative Councils apply equally to all taxation and
expenditure of local funds. For, besides the Imperial revenue of some
50,000,0001., there are local funds raised as follows :-
144
LOCAL FUNDS.
Gross Receipts for 1867-8, according to Part I, of Finance and Revenue
Accounts of India, published by the Government of India, Calcutta,
1870, Account No. 34, pages 116, 118, 120, and 122.
Government of India ...
£41,028
Oude ... ...
194,728
Central Provinces
173,410
British Burmah...
105,550
Bengal ... ...
623,722
N. W. Provinces
825,007
Punjaub
326,870
Madras ... ..
459,199
Bombay ...
1,093,133
Berars (11 months of 1866-67, £130,148) Not given.
Total...... £3,842,647
III.-HAND TO EXECUTE.
This hand is formed by all the different services in the Adminis-
tration. The questions are
1st. Can these services be fully efficient without a proper proportion
of natives of talent and integrity in all grades ? I consider the question
here solely with reference to successful financial administration, inde-
pendently of its very important social and, especially, political bearings,
of the claims of right and justice, and of the great evil of no elders of
wisdom or experience being prepared among the natives, as all the
wisdom and experience of English officials is lost to India on their
retirement, except perhaps of a few, who have conscience enough to feel
the debt they owe to India, and to do what they can in England to
promote its welfare.
2nd. Can the English officials, no matter however clever, manage
the natives as well as natives of the same standing, ability, and
integrity ? A word of persuasion and assurance from a native of official
position will, in the nature of things, carry more influence than that of an
Englishman. A native will far more easily understand and know how to
deal with the ways of natives. The assistance, therefore, .of a proper
proportion of natives in all departments is a necessity for successful
organization and working of details. Even now it is the native in
many instances who is the real soul of the work, though the credit is
all taken by his English superiors.
S
U
145
O
02
Conscientious men, like Sir Henry Ricketts, of the Bengal Civil
Service, make no secret of such a circumstance, and rightly urge to let
credit be given to whom it belongs. It is only natural that the English-
man, with his frequent changes and his ignorance of the people around
him, is depended upon, and at the mercy of, his subordinates. If there
were in the service natives of the same position with himself, he would,
by comparing notes with them, be much helped in understanding the
feelings, views, and idiosyncrasies of natives, which he has no other
means of learning.
Successful administration requires complete knowledge, and for such
knowledge the co-operation of the natives is simply a necessity.
There is, moreover, the economical, and, therefore, the immediately
financial, point of view from which this subject has to be considered.
Supposing that the native official was paid as highly as his English col-
league, the mere fact that all the earnings of the native official remain in
the country, as he has no remittances to make to a foreign land for the
education or maintenance of his children or family, or of his savings, is
in itself so far an economical and, therefore, a financial advantage to
the country; and it is the bounden duty of the English rulers 'to allow
India this economical saving, consistently with their political supremacy.
In some of the services, such as the Public Works, Telegraph, and Forest,
political considerations have no place; while economy and justice, and
the oft-repeated pledges of Parliament, demand that qualified natives should
have free and fair admission into all the services. Unless this economical
saving is allowed to India to a fair extent, all professions of administering
the finances of India for the good of India cannot but be merely a
mockery and delusion. Politically considered, it is not at all improbable
that before long the English rulers of India will have some troublesome
questions to solve, if due foresight is not used in this matter.
IV.--PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN AND EXECUTION.
As a whole the questions are :
1. Whether, by the present principles and modes of taxation, the
burden is equitably distributed over the shoulders of all classes
of people ?
2. Whether the present expenditure is not capable of being largely
curtailed, and much waste prevented, without impairing the
efficiency or strength of the English rule ?
To solve these two important questions it is necessary to work in the
10
146
way in which the Committee has already commenced, to examine the
principle and necessity of each item of receipt and expenditure. Now,
there is no doubt that the opinion of this governor, or that revenue
officer, or such a commander, may be worthy of all weight and respect;
but, at the same time, in order that the committee should arrive at an
satisfied with mere general opinions of the witnesses, but should require
a clear statement of some satisfactory proofs upon which those opinions
are based. I hope, therefore, that mere assertions of officials, that "all is
right,” will not be considered sufficient. For instance, we may take the
question of the land revenue, which is the very subject the Committee has
commenced with. There is a variety of land tenures, and each is based
upon several principles. I take the instance of one of these principles—
viz., the proportion of the rate of assessment to the income of the
cultivator, or the produce of the land.
There are two questions. First, Are the principle or principles of
the rates sound? and, second, if so, are the rate or rates adopted, such as
to encourage increase of cultivation, lead to increase of capital, and
thereby to increase of production and prosperity ?
First take the principles of the rate.
In Bombay one and the chief principle of the last settlement seems to
me to be this. It is illustrated by a table by Captain (now Sir George)
Wingate and Lieut. Nash. (Bombay “Selection," No. CVII., New Series
page 14. See also pages 109 and 110.)
The soil is divided from No. 1 to No. 9. The gross produce of soil No. 1
is supposed, for illustration, to be Rs. 172 4 as. for every Rs. 100 of culti-
gross produce is supposed to be Rs. 127 6 as. 3 p. for every Rs. 100 of
cultivation expenses—.e., Rs. 27 6 as. 3 p. is net produce. The Govern-
ment assessment is then adjusted as follows : Out of the net produce of
Rs. 27 6 as. 3 p. of No. 9 soil, the Government rate is, for supposition
taken as Rs. 5 13 as. 4 p., leaving to the cultivator Rs. 21 8 as. 11 p.m.e.,
something like 75 per cent. of the net produce. But what is proposed to
be left to the cultivator of No. 1, whose net produce is Rs. 72 4 as.? One
would think that, like the rate of the No. 9 soil, Government would take
one-fourth, or say, Rs. 18, and leave to the cultivator three-fourths, or
Rs. 54. Such, however, is not the case. The cultivator of No. 1 soil
is also to keep only Rs. 21 8 as. 11 p. and give up to Governmen
Rs. 50 11 as. 1 p.-that is, Government takes above two-thirds and the
147
cultivator less than one-third ; the principle being that, no matter what
the net produce for every Rs. 100 invested may be, every cultivator is not
to have a definite proportion of his net produce, but an absolute fixed
quantity. This would be something like imposing the income-tax upon
the principle that if one merchant makes a profit of 501. on an investment
of 1001., and another of 101. on the same investment, they are not to pay
some definite proportion or proportions of their profits ; but if the latter
is to pay 21. out of 101., and retain 81., the former should also retain 81.
only, and pay 421. to Government. I wonder how British merchants and
manufacturers would like this principle! However, it is not my object
here to discuss the merit of this principle, but only to state it, for com-
parison with that of the other provinces.
Now take Madras. There the principle is, after allowing for ridges,
boundaries, unproductive portions of fields, seasons, cultivation expenses,
&c., to adjust the Government Assessment at two-thirds of the net pro-
duce on wet or irrigated lands, and a sort of compromise between two-thirds
of net produce and one-fourth of gross produce on dry lands; the balance
of about one-third of the net produce being left to the cultivator.
(“Madras Selection,” No. XIV., of 1869, pages 142—160, Settlement
of Chellumbrum and Manargoody Talookas, of South Arcot.) Taking
Punjaub, the principle of the first settlement was on the basis of two-
thirds of the net produce, but by the revised settlement it is on one-half of
the net produce for Government. In the N. W. Provinces (Adm.
Report, '67-'68, page 47) “the standard of assessment is now 55 per
cent. of the assets, of which 5 per cent. goes for cesses; the remaining
45 per cent., after defraying the village expenses, forms the profit of the
proprietors."
To sum up the whole, I give an extract from a memorandum of the
India House (Return 75, of 1858). “And in all the improved systems
of Revenue Administration, of which an account has been given in the
preceding part of this paper, the object has not been merely to keep the
Government demand within the limits of a fair rent, but to leave a large
portion of the rent to the proprietors. In the settlement of the N. W.
Provinces, the demand was limited to two-thirds of the amount, which it
appeared, from the best attainable information, that the land could afford
to pay as rent. The principle which has been laid down for the next
settlement, and acted on wherever settlement has commenced, is still
more liberal; the Government demand being fixed at one-half instead of
two-thirds of the average net produce—that is, of a fair rent. The same
general standard has been adopted for guidance in the new settlement of
148
the Madras territory. In Bombay no fixed proportion has been kept in
view, but the object has been that land should possess a saleable value."
(The italics are mine.).
Now, in giving this extract I have also the object of directing
attention to the use of the words “net produce” and “fair rent” as
synonymous. Is it so? Is the net produce, of which one-half is settled
as Government assessment, rent only in the sense in which economists
use that word, and for “ leaving a large portion of which” Government
claims credit of liberality ?
Now to the next question. Taking the absolute amount of the net.
produce, is the portion allowed to the cultivators sufficient, on an
average, for their year's ordinary wants of common necessaries, and
some reasonable comforts, together with a saving to face a bad season,
or to increase the capital of the country for increasing production ?
The test of " the satisfaction of the ryots” is often quoted as a proof
of soundness. But it requires to be ascertained whether because an
element like that of fixity of tenure and non-interference for a long period
is felt satisfactory, it follows that the other elements or principles of the
settlement are also necessarily satisfactory or just, even though, as a
general result, the agriculturists may feel themselves somewhat better
off than they were before ? Or is the fact of such profits as the Bombay
Presidency had the good fortune to make from the late American war,
faction to the cultivators, a proof of the soundness or justness of each
and all the principles adopted in the settlement ? To come to a right
conclusion, each principle requires to be examined on its own merits,
without reference to general results : for if all the principles were sound,
much more satisfactory may be the results.
The Bombay settlement, as well as that of other parts, is now under
revision. It is important to ascertain the real present incidence of land
revenue, and the reasonable increase that may be made, with sufficient
left to the cultivator to subsist on and to save for increase of capital. I
am afraid the Bombay re-settlement is not quite reasonable.
I shall take one or two more instances in connection with land
revenue. Whether the zemindars of the permanent settlement can be
taxed for extra cesses has been the subject of much controversy and dis-
satisfaction, and even up to the present day the India Office is divided
against itself. Now, as long as mere opinions of this official or that
149
Indian Secretary are the sole guides, I do not see how the controversy
will ever end. It is a simple question of documentary evidence—the inter-
pretation of a regulation. Would it not be the best plan to subject this
question to the decision of a judicial authority, such as the Privy Council
after hearing the arguments of counsel on both sides? The decision of
such a tribunal must end the matter. The same course, either on the
original side of the High Court of Bombay, or in the Privy Council, might
be adopted with regard to the extra anna-cess imposed upon the existing
Bombay settlements. I believe it is the opiniou of many that it was a
breach of faith on the part of Government. A decision of a competent
judicial tribunal would be satisfactory to all parties.
The prestige of the British name for good faith should never be in the
least imperilled, if it is to exert for Government the moral influence it
possesses, independently of political and other reasons.
Lastly, in reference to the principles of the land revenue, as a part of
the whole design, is the burden of taxation on the cultivator of land in an
equitable proportion with other classes? Government claims the rights of
a landlord. Does that mean that Government must have a certain portion
of the produce no matter even though the exaction be inequitably higher
than that from other classes of people ? Or is the Government demand
upon land to be adjusted on the principle that Government requiring a
certain revenue, the land should pay its equitable quota with all other
industries ? or is it that, because richer interests can resort to agitation,
and make themselves heard, while the poor labourer and cultivator cannot,
it is felt easier to squeeze them than the other classes ?.
II. Is the machinery for the collection of the land revenue sufficiently
economical ? I think the evidence of a person like Dewan Kazi Shaha-
budin, for the Bombay side, will be valuable; for, as a native revenue
official as he once was, he knows the feelings and views of the natives in
a way and to an extent which it is almost impossible for an English
official to acquire.
After this one instance of the land revenue, I do not think I need go
into the details of the other items of the Budget further than to say that
the test of Questions I. and II. under the fourth head has to be rigidly
applied to all the items; and to ascertain whether the system of keeping
accounts is such as it should be. I shall take only one more item. The
salt-tax, especially, requires most anxious consideration. It is the cause
of the poor, who cannot speak for or help themselves. Is it at all right
)
1
150
to tax salt; and, even allowing the necessity, is the incidence of its
burden on the poor similar to that on the other classes for the share they
pay towards reyenue ?
The salt gross revenue for different parts is as follows for 1869-70 :-
(Ret. c. 213 of 1870.)
Per head
Population about
about
S. d.
Bengal ... ... £2,583,562 40,000,000 131
Oudh ... ... 1,219 11,000,000
Central Provinces... 115,167 9,000,000 0 3
N. W. Provinces ... 488,728 30,000,000 04
Punjaub
923,060 : 17,500,000 1 01.
Madras ... ... 1,164,736 23,000,000 1 0
Bombay ... 599,407 14,000,000 0 10
Total... 5,875,879 144,500,000 09 average
.
Now, taking the share of the agricultural produce which can be con-
sidered as left to the mass of the poor, agricultural, and other common
labouring population, to be 20s. a-head, an ordinary coolie or workman
pays in his salt some 4 per cent. out of his wretched pittance. But it
must also be borne in mind that 4 per cent. out of 20s. is far more im-
portant to the poor man than 10 or 20 per cent. out of the income of
the richer classes. Taking 25s. a-head, the rate will be 34 per cent.
Of the four elements I have described above, the first three are
essentially questions for Parliament.
1. It is Parliament alone that can decide what the financial relations
between England and India should be; how far the guarantee of England
can be given for the alleviation of the burden of the public debt, which is
the result of English wars in India, or other countries of Asia; and how
far the benefit of England's credit and capital can be given to help in the
restoration of India's prosperity and prevention of famines.
2. It is Parliament alone that can modify the constitution of the
Legislative Council and the Indian Council, or give the people of
India such a fair voice in their own affairs as they are now capable
of exercising, because these Councils are the creation of an Act of
Parliament.
151
3. It is Parliament alone that can insist on the faithful fulfilment of
the repeated pledges they have given by Acts of Parliament for the
admission of natives into the various services, according to competence and
character, and. without any regard to caste, creed, colour, or race. In
the Public Works Department there is a farce of a regulation to admit
natives in India on proof of competence; but very good care is taken
that natives do not get in. On the Bombay side, as far back as 1861,
three natives proved their competence (and one did the same in 1866),
and to my knowledge none of them had found admission into the
Engineering Department up to 1868. Whether they have since been
admitted I do not know, though during the interval dozens of appoint-
ments have been given every year. English interests exercise such
pressure upon the Indian Governments, that unless Parliament does its
duty and insists that, in accordance with its pledges, justice shall be
done to the children of the soil, there is but little hope on that score.
4. The principles of the whole design of Financial Administration,
or of its details, will have always, more or less, to be settled and con-
trolled by the Indian Governments themselves, according to change of
circumstances. The best service, therefore, that Parliament can do on
this head—and which Parliament alone can do—is to inquire, at certain
reasonable intervals—say every ten or twelve years—how the Indian
Governments have discharged their trust. This simple necessary control
of the great Parliament of the Empire will prevent many of those evils
which freedom from a sense of responsibility induces, and infuse into the
Administration all that care and forethought necessary to its success,
May, 1871.
D
After I had posted the foregoing part of this pamphlet from. Alex.
andria, I came across a speech of Lord Mayo, in the Times of India's
summary, of 8th April last. I read one paragraph in it with feelings of
mixed regret and hopefulness; regret, that one in the position of a
Viceroy should have put forth what, in my humble opinion, is an
erroneous and misleading statement; and hopefulness, because now that
the Viceroy has directed his attention to the all-important subject of the
insufficient production of the country, he will, I hope, be able to grapple
with it, investigate its causes and evil consequences, and earnestly
endeavour to apply suitable remedies.
I refer here to the paragraph in which his Excellency endeavours to
refute the assertion that Indian taxation is “crushing." His lordship on
152
this point has made several assumptions, which require examination.
I shall, therefore, first consider whether the conclusion drawn is legiti-
mate, and whether all necessary elements of comparison have been
taken into account.
Last year, in my paper on “The Wants and Means of India,"
which was read before the East India Association, a rough estimate was
given of the total production of India (including opium, salt, minerals,
manufactures--in short, production of every kind) as about 40s. a-head
per annum.
Mr. Grant Duff, in his speech of 24th February last, referred to the
relative incomes of England and India, and endeavoured to show that
while the former was estimated at 301. a-head, the latter was " guessed”
as 40s. a-head per annum. Now, his lordship the Viceroy quotes Mr.
Duff's statement of 40s., and believes that Mr. Duff has good reasons
for his statement. So that we have it now on the highest authority that
the total production of India is only 40s. a-head per annum.
His Excellency the Viceroy, after admitting this fact, compares the
taxation of India with that of some other countries. In doing this, his
lordship deducts as land revenue (whether rightly or wrongly, will be seen
hereafter) the opium, tributes, and other small receipts from Indian taxa-
tion, and then compares the balance with the taxation of other countries.
Being on board a steamer in the Red Sea, I cannot refer to returns
to see whether his lordship has made any similar deductions from the
taxation of the latter. The result of the comparison would appear to
be that, while India pays only 1s. 10d. per head of taxation per annum,
Turkey pays 7s. 9d., Russia 12s. 2d., Spain 18s. 5d., Austria 19s. 7d.,
and Italy 17s. per head per annum. The conclusion drawn is that the
the word “ crushing” I cannot say, but his lordship seems to forget the
40s. per head. Now, this amount is hardly enough for the bare neces-
saries of life, much less can it supply any comforts or provide any re-
serve for bad times ; so that, living from hand to mouth, and that on
“scanty subsistence” (in the words of Lord Lawrence), the very touch of
famine carries away hundreds of thousands. Is not this in itself as
“ crushing” to any people as it can possibly be? And yet out of this
wretched income they have to pay taxation as well.
His lordship has, moreover, left out a very important element from
account. He is well aware that, whatever revenue is raised by the other
153
LU
countries, for instance, the 70,000,0007. by England, the whole of it
returns back to the people and remains in the country; and, therefore, the
national capital, upon which the production of a country depends, does
not suffer diminution; while, on account of India’s being subject to a
foreign rule, out of the 50,000,0001. of revenue raised every year, some
12,000,0001., or more, are carried clear away to England, and the
national captial-or, in other words, its capability of production is
continuously diminished year after year. The pressure of taxation, there-
fore, if proper remedies are not adopted to counteract the above evil,
must, necessarily, become more and more crushing every year, even
though the amount of taxation be not increased. It is quite intelligible
that the English people, with an income or production of some 301. per
head, aided by or including some 12,000,0001., or more, annually drawn
from India, may not feel the taxation of 21. 10s. a-head as crushing : or
12,000,0001. annually to pay for a foreign rule, and being, most probably,
able to produce enough for all their wants, may not feel the 7s. to
19s. 7d. as crushing; but, in my humble opinion, every single ounce of
rice taken from the “scanty subsistence of the masses of India is to them
so much more starvation, and so much more “ crushing."
I shall now consider what would have been the fairest way of making
the comparison of taxation. Every nation has a certain amount of
income from various sources, such as production of cultivation, minerals,
farming, manufactures, profits of trade, &c. From such total income
incidence of taxation will be to see the proportion of the amount which
the Government of the country takes for its administration, public debts,
&c., to the total income. You may call this amount taxation, revenue, or
any thing you like; and Government may take it in any shape or way
whatsoever. It is so much taken from the income of the country for the
purposes of government. In the case of India, whether Government
takes this amount as land tax, or opium revenue, or in whatever other
form, does not matter, it is all the same, that out of the total income of
the country Government raises so much revenue for its purposes which
otherwise would have remained with the people.
Taking, therefore, this fair test of the incidence of taxation, the
results will be that England raises 70,000,0001. out of the national
income of some 900,000,0001.-that is, about 8 per cent., or about
21. 108. per head, from an income of about 301. per head; whereas the
154
Indian Government raises 50,000,0001. out of a national income of
300,000,0001.—that is, about 16 per cent., or 6s. 8d. per head, out of an
income of 40s. per head.
Had his lordship stated the total national income and population of
the countries with which he has made the comparison, we would have
then seen what the percentage of their revenue to their income was, and
from how much income per head the people had to pay their 7s. to 19s.
7d. per head of taxation, as quoted by his lordship.
Further, if in consequence of a constant drain from India from its
poor production, the income of the country continues to diminish, the per-
centage of taxation to income will be still greater, 'even though the
amount of taxation may not increase. But, as we know that the
tendency of taxation in India has, during the past twelve years, been to
go on increasing every year, the pressure will necessarily become more
and more oppressive and crushing, unless our rulers by proper means
restore India to at least a healthy, if not a wealthy condition. It must,
moreover, be particularly borne in mind that, while a ton may not be any
burden to an elephant, a few pounds may crush a child ; that the English
nation may, from its averge income of 307. a-head, bear with ease a burden
of even 51. or 101. of taxation per head, while, to the Indian nation, 5s, out
of 40s. may be quite unbearable and crushing. The capacity to bear a
burden with ease or to be curshed by it, is not to be measured by the
percentage of taxation, but by the abundance, or otherwise, of the
means or income to pay it from. From abundance you may give a large
percentage with ease ; from sufficiency, the same burden may be just
bearable, or some diminution may make it so ; but from insufficiency,
any burden is so much privation.
But as matters stand, poor India has to pay not only the same per-
centage of taxation to its income as in England, but nearly double; i.e.,
while England pays only about 81 per cent. of its national income for
the wants of its Government, India has to pay some 16 per cent. of its
income for the same purpose ; though here that income per head of
population is some fifteenth part of that of England, and insufficient in
political necessity to pay a foreign country for its rule.
I sincerely trust, and very hopefully look forward, that when those in
whose hands the destiny of India is now placed such as Mr. Grant
understand this great evil, it will not be long before really effectual
155
(D
remedies shall be adopted, with the assistance of Parliament. Parliament
being the fountain of all power, and as the Indian Government can only
act as Parliament directs, it becomes its bounden duty to God and man
to lay down the great principles of a just, efficient, and beneficent govern-
ment for the administration of India, and to see from time to time to
their being acted on.
In stating the Viceroy's views, I am obliged to trust to memory, but
I hope. I have not mis-stated them. Now that we have the testimony of
the two latest Viceroys—Lord Lawrence stating that the mass of the
people live on scanty subsistence, and Lord Mayó believing Mr. Grant
Duff's statement of the income of India being only 40s. a-head per
annum as well founded the Select Committee may not think it necessary
to ask for any returns, but take the fact as proved. Perhaps the time
thus saved to the Select Committee may be well employed in ascertaining
the best remedies for such a deplorable state of affairs, and it may not
seem very reasonable to request the Committee to put the India Office to
the trouble of making any returns on this subject. But I hope that,
though the Select Committee may not now think it necessary to ask for
any returns for its own use, it will recommend-or the Indian Govern-
ment will, of its own accord, require—the return of a table of total income
of the country as an essential part of the annual Administration Reports
of all the different provinces, and embody it in the return now annually
published, showing the moral and material progress. The Houses of
Parliament and the English and the Indian public will then be able to
see every year clearly what the material condition of India really is, and
how far measures are adopted to improve the present state of matters.
To prepare returns of the total production of the country, there are
ample materials in the tables required by the Calcutta Statistical
Committee in the Administration Reports. All that is necessary is
simple calculation. For instance, one table gives the total acreage of
different crops grown; a third table gives the produce per acre of each
kind of crop ; a fourth table gives the prices of the produce in the
markets of the districts. Now it is easy to see that, with these
materials, the value of the total produce of all the districts of a province
can be easily worked out.
An erroneous principle has crept into the Administration Reports. I
have already once referred to it in connection with the question of prices.
I point it out here again, so that it may be avoided in this important
calculation. In the above tables of the Administration Reports averages
156
are taken, for instance, of the prices of all the districts of the province,
by the number of districts. This is evidently absurd, for one district
may have produced a million of tons of rice, and may sell it at Re. 1 a
maund, and another may have produced only a thousand tons, and the
price there may be Rs. 5 a maund. It will be incorrect to make the
average price as Rs. 3 per maund, when it will actually be only a little
more than Re. 1. In the same manner the produce per acre may be very
large in one place where probably the acreage under cultivation also is
very large, while in another district the cultivated acreage may be small
and the produce per acre may be small also. If the average is taken by
number of districts, the total of the produce thus obtained will be less
than the actual quantity. Avoiding this mistake in the principle of taking
averages, from the above-mentioned tables can be calculated the total
production of cultivated land. Then there are other sources of income to
be added, such as stock, opium, salt, minerals, manufactures, fisheries, &c.
The Reports already have the figures for most of these items, and
saving may be ascertained. Such a return, with two others I shall refer
to hereafter for every province, would be of great importance.
If this calculation of the total income of the country is made out every
year, we shall have the most direct evidence of the actual condition of
the people, instead of being obliged to draw inferences indirectly from the
complicated and misleading phenomena of differen-ces of prices or wages.
Except Bengal, all the provinces have the means of obtaining the
necessary materials for the different tables required by the Statistical
Committee. In Bengal, the perpetual settlement, I think, makes it
unnecessary for the Revenue Department to ascertain the actual extent of
the whole cultivation, and of the different crops. But for such an important
purpose, I have no doubt, the Bengal Government will devise some
means to procure the necessary information. In the Report for 1869-70,
they have, I think, intimated their intention to do what they can.
Not commanding the time and the means necessary for minute calcu-
lations, I have made a rough estimate, and I think that if averages are
worked out by the statistical staff at the India Office or at Calcutta, the
result will be very nearly what Mr. Duff has stated, and which his Excel-
lency the Viceroy adopts--viz., a total income of about 40s. a-head per
annum. From this, the European residents and the richer classes of
157
natives above the common labourer get a larger proportion, and the por-
tion remaining for the mass of the people must, therefore, be much less.
It must also be remembered that this average of 40s. per head is for
the whole of India ; but for the different Presidencies or Provinces, each
of which is as large and as populous as some of the countries of Europe,
the proportion of distribution of this total production is very different.
For instance, in Bombay the total production, if accurately worked out,
may be found to be 100s., a-head, Punjaub perhaps about 45s. to 50s.
a-head ; consequently the other provinces will have under 40s. a-head.
Then, again, there is another drawback-viz., the want of cheap com-
munication—by which even this insufficient production of 45s. a-head is
not fully utilized, so as to allow the plenty of one Presidency to be avail-
able for the population of another. Not only does this difficulty of dis-
tribution exist between different Presidencies, but even between parts of
the same province. I shall give just one instance—that of the Central
Provinces. While at Raipore and Belaspore the price of rice at the end of
1867-8 was Re. 1 for a maund of 80 lbs., at Hosungabad it was Rs. 5 per
maund, at Baitool it was Rs. 4 per maund, at Jubbulpore Rs. 312 ans. per
maund. In this way, while in one district a part of the produce was perhaps
rotting or being wasted, other districts were suffering from scarcity.
Upon the whole, I think the average income per head of the poor labour-
ing population of all the provinces (except Bombay and Punjaub) will be
found hardly above 20s. a-head per annum, or may be, from 20s. to 25s.
This can be tested directly if the Administration Reports give, in addi-
tion to the return for the total income of the province, a second return,
something like the following (I believe they have all the requisite mate-
rials, or can obtain them) :—The number of people living upon unskilled
labour, and rates of wages, with details; the number adults (male and
female) capable of work, say between twenty-one and fifty; the number
of youths, say from twelve to twenty-one years of age (malé and
female); the number of the old incapable of work, or, say, above fifty
years of age; the number of children under twelve years of age; the
average wage earned by males and females of the above different classi-
fications (calculating the average on the correct principle of taking the
number of labourers earning each rate into account); the number of the
sick and infirm'; and the number of days during the year that the
different rates of wages are earned. From these materials it will be
easy to ascertain the real average income of the unskilled labourer, who
forms the majority of the population, and upon whose labour depends
* 158
the subsistence of the nation. I hope the India Office will order such
returns to prepared for the Select Committee. It will be a direct proof
of the actual condition of the mass of the people of each Presidency,
and will be a great help to the Committee.
I may now give a few particulars, which are at hand, of the cost of
living, for the bare necessaries of life.
The Bombay Report for 1867-68 gives Rs. 41 13 ans. 10 p. as the
average cost for diet per prisoner, and Rus. 5.10 ans. 11 p. for clothing
and bedding. The N. W. Provinces Report gives the average cost for
central gaols—for diet, Rs. 18 1 an. 8 p.; for clothing and bedding, Rs. 3
5 ans. 11 p. For divisional gaols—for diet, Rs. 24 6 ans. 104 p.; and
clothing and bedding, Rs. 4 3 ans. 41 p.; and for district gaols-for diet,
Rs. 15 8 ans. 114 p.; and for clothing and bedding, Rs. 3 2 ans. 6 p. In
the Central Provinces, the cost for diet is Rs. 257, and for clothing and
bedding Rs. 57; and in the Punjaub—for diet, Rs. 23 6 ans.; for clothing
and bedding, Rs. 31 13 ans. 6 p.
This is what the State thinks it necessary to give to criminals as bare
necessaries of life. There may be some little allowance to be made for
the proportion of females and the young being smaller in a prison than
in the outside world. Making this allowance, can it be said that the
labourer gets the necessaries of life to this extent ? To this has to be
added some cost for lodging, something for reasonable social wants, and
something to save for a bad day or old age: Do the people get this ?
Surgeon S. B. Partridge, Government Medical Inspector of Emigrants,
in a statement dated Calcutta, 26th March, 1870,* proposes the following
as a scale of diet, to supply the necessary ingredients of nourishment, for
the emigrant coolies during their voyage, living in a state of quietude :-
RICE DIET FOR ONE MAN.
For FLOUR DIET.
ozs.
ozs.
Rice
...
... ... 20 0 Flour ... ... ... 16 0
... 60l Dhal
Dhal ... ... ... 4 0
Preserved Mutton
Vegetables
... ... 4 27
Vegetables
Ghee
... ... 1 0
Ghee ... ... ... 15
Mustard Oil
05 Mustard Oil
05
1 0 Salt
... ... ... 10
Total...... 35 27
Total...... 29 77
Dhal
...
IO
or
Salt
* The Indian Economist of 15th October, 1870 ; “Statistical Reporter,' p. 45.
159
This is absolutely necessary to supply the necessary ingredients of
nitrogen and carbon; not the slightest luxury-no sugar, tea, or any
little enjoyment of life, but simply animal subsistence.
From the above data, returns can be worked out, at the prices of
particular districts and provinces, of the absolute necessaries of life, which
will show whether a province produces enough for these, and for all its
political, social, economical, and administrative wants. With these three
returns-first, of the total income per head per annum ; secondly, the
average per head of the earnings of the mass of the labouring population ;
and thirdly, the average actual requirements per head for all the different
absolutely necessary wants of the labouring population—the ruler of every
province will be able to give a clear picture of the actual material con-
dition of his charge, and will get any credit he may deserve for the
improvements made by him. I hope the India Office will place these
three returns before the Select Committee. Complacent assertions of
officials that all are happy and prospering can be had in any quantity ; but
unless the test of actual facts is applied by such returns, these assertions
are not only worth nothing, but are positively mischievous as they mis-
lead Parliament and the English public, who, believing such statements,
become indifferent to India, to be roused only by some great calamity,
either physical or political.
If the facts brought to light by these returns show that the people are
really suffering from insufficiency to supply their absolute wants for
ordinary healthy human life, and that, therefore, having no reserve either
of strength or means, or no intelligence, they are easily swept away by
hundreds of thousands in time of scarcity, what a responsibility lies upon
our British rulers to remedy this wretchedness! Remedy it they could, if
they but chose to set about their work with a due sense of their responsi-
bility, and with earnestness and determination. India needs the help of
their capital and credit, needs reduction in expenditure, needs an efficient
and economical administration of which native co-operation must form
an essential, and not an incidental element, needs a wise and fair adjust-
ment of her financial relations with England, and, finally and imperatively,
* wise and rapid diffusion of the blessings of education.
. CHAPTER III.
ESSAYS—(continued).
IX.
POVERTY OF INDIA
PART I.
(Read before the Bombay Branch of the East India Association
on Monday, February 28th, 1876.)
WHILE pointing out in these notes one of the unfavorable results of
the present system of British administration, I do not for a moment
mean to ignore the very bright side of British rule, and the many
blessings of law and order which it has conferred on India. On the latter
subject I have already expressed my sentiments on several occasions.
My object at present is to shew in greater detail what I have already
stated before, that, under the present system of administration, India
is suffering seriously in several ways, and is sinking in poverty. In my
humble opinion, this is the question, or rather the most serious question,
of the day. Whether I am right or wrong will be for you to judge,
after hearing what I have to say. If I am right, I shall have discharged
a duty as a loyal subject to urge upon our rulers to remedy this most
serious evil. If, on the other hand, I am shown to be wrong, none will
rejoice more than myself; and I shall hare equally done a duty, as a
wrong feeling of a serious character will be removed.
These notes were written two to three years ago. I lay them before
you as they are. If necessary, I shall consider hereafter any modifica-
tion that the light of subsequent events may suggest, either in confirma-
tion or refutation of the views expressed in them. There will be a few
repetitions from my former papers, but they are necessary in order to
make these notes complete. I have endeavoured to avail myself as
much as possible of the weight of official or other great authorities,
and facts from official records ; hence I shall have more quotations than
might be thought suitable in an address before an audience; and my
notes may prove dull, but I only hope they may be found of some
importance to atone for such dulness. I may propose here that any
discussion upon the notes may be deferred till they are all read, and my
whole argument placed before you, or otherwise there will be confusion
in the discussions.
161
Total Production of India.
In July 1870, I made a rough estimate, in my paper on "The Wants
and Means of India," placed before the East India Association, as
follows :-
“ The whole produce of India is from its land. The gross land-tax
is put down for 1870-71 a little above £21,000,000. Now, I suppose
I shall be within the mark if I say that Government takes for this land-
tax, on an average, one-eighth of the gross produce, if not more. This
gives for the gross production of the country, say, about £168,000,000;
add to this--gross opium revenue about £7,000,000 ; gross salt revenue,
£6,000,000 ; gross forest, £600,000. The total, thus, of the raw
produce of the country amounts under £182,000,000, to be on the safe
side, let us say £200,000,000 to include the produce of half a million
tons of coal, of alienation lands, or anything else there may be. Now,
the population of the whole of British India is nearly 150,000,000;
giving, therefore, less than 278. a-head for the annual support of the
whole people.”
I then further raised the production from £200,000,000 to
£300,000,000, to include the value of manufacturing industries, excise
on spirits, and a large margin for any omissions, making 40s. a head for
the gross production of India as a high estimate.
Since then I have endeavoured to work out the same problem directly,
as far as the official data I could get enabled me to do so.
Parliament requires a yearly report of the moral and material progress
of India ; and a Statistical Committee is formed at Calcutta to supply
the necessary information. This Committee has prescribed certain
tables to be filled up by the different Governments in their administra-
tion reports.
The Central Provinces and Burmah reports are the only two complete
in their agricultural tables as far as practicable. Four others (Madras,
North-West Provinces, Punjab, and Oudb) give them imperfectly.
Bengal and Bombay gave the least, or none, up to 1869-70. For what
I could not get from the reports, I applied to the India Office, which
naturally replied they could not give what they did not get from India.
It will be seen, therefore, that I have been obliged to work out the
production under much difficulty. Not only is the quantity of informa-
tion insufficient, but the quality even of such as is given is defective.
For instance, in the tables of prices of produce in the different districts
C
11
162
of the Central Provinces, in order to get an average the prices are added
up together, and the total is divided by the number of the districts.
This principle is generally adopted by the returns made by all the
Governments with respect to average of produce or prices. The prin-
ciple, however, is altogether fallacious. In taking the average of prices,
the quantities of produce sold at the different prices are altogether lost
sight of. In the same way, in taking the average produce per acre, the
the extent of land yielding different quantities is overlooked.
The result, therefore, is wrong, and all arguments and conclusions
based upon such averages are worthless. Taking the instance of the
Central Provinces in the administration report of 1867-8, the average
price of rice is made out to be Rs. 2-12-7 per maund, when in reality
for the produce of rice per acre gives the average as 579 lbs., when in
reality it is 759 lbs. Now, what can be the worth of conclusions drawn
from these wrong averages ? These averages are not only worthless,
but mischievous. It is a pity that, with large Government estab-
lishments, more accurate and complete information should not be
given. I sincerely trust that future reports will not only work averages
upon correct principles, but also work out the total production of their
respective provinces. Then only we shall know the actual condition of
the mass of the people. All 'I thinks' and my opinions' are of no
use on important subjects. The whole foundation of all administration,
financial and general, and of the actual condition of people, rests upon
this one fact—the produce of the country, the ultimate result of all
capital, labour and land. With imperfect materials at command, and
not possessed of the means to employ a staff to work out all the details
as they ought to be, I can only give approximate results.
On the question of taking proper averages and supplying complete
information, I addressed a letter, in February 1871, to the India Office,
which I have reason to believe has been forwarded to the Governments
in India. I hope that some attention will be paid to the matter. As a
specimen of the correct principle of averages, I have got worked out
table A of the averages of price and produce of some of the principal
productions of the Central Provinces. From this will be seen that the
above ; also that the correct average of produce is 759, and not 579 lbs.,
of rice per acre. I have explained, in the following calculations for the
different provinces, the mode I have adopted for each. Though working
163
with insufficient and defective materials, and without the means and
time to work out details, I have endeavoured to calculate above the
márk, so that, whatever my error, it will be found on the safe side, of
estimating a higher produce than the reality.
The principle of my calculations is briefly this. I have taken the
largest one or two kinds of produce of a province to represent all its
produce, as it would be too much labour for me to work out every
produce, great and small. I have taken the whole cultivated area of
each district, the produce per acre, and the price of the produce; and
simple multiplication and addition will give you both the quantity and
value of the total produce. From it, also, you can get the correct aver-
age of produce per acre and of prices for the whole province, as in this
way you have all the necessary elements taken into account.
CENTRAL PROVINCES.
The total area of cultivated land (table 2, Fiscal of Report, 1867-8—
an average good season year) is 12,378,215 acres. The price of produce
per acre, as worked out in table A for the important articles rice, wheat,
other food-grains, oil-seeds, and cotton, is Rs. 11-13--5—say Rs. 12.*
The total value of agricultural produce will be acres 12,378,215 x
Rs. 12 = Rs. 14,85,38,580. To this is to be added the produce of
Sumbulpore; but the acreage of that district is not given. Making
some allowance for it, I increased the produce to, say, Rs. 16,00,00,000,
or £16,000,000, for a population of 9,000,000.
UA
I have lately met with an unexpected confirmation of my views. The
Times of India Summary of 6th June 1873 takes from the Englishman
some particulars from Mr. Pedder's reply to the Viceroy's circular on
local funds. Mr. Pedder makes out, as the value of produce in the
Nagpore district, about Rs. 8 per acre, and my estimate of the whole of
the Central Provinces is Rs. 12 per acre. I do not know whether
* The table A is too large for insertion.
Summary.
Acres.
Rs.
Rice
... ... 2,938,328 4,18,43,575
Wheat ... ... 3,313,677
3,51,77,956
Other Food Grains 4,197,516 4,70,63,760
Oil Seeds ... ... 697,100 1,04,42,854
Cotton
... ... 643,390
50,28,838
Total......11,790,011 13,95,56,983
Average, Rs. 11-13-5.per acre,
164
Mr. Pedder has avoided the wrong principle of averages-whether he
calculates for an average good season, and whether any allowance is
is made for bad seasons.
PUNJAB.
• The administration report of 1867-8 gives all the necessary agricultural
tables, except one, viz., the produce per acre of the different kinds of
crops. I take this year (1867-8) as a better season, and with a larger
extent of cultivation, than that of 1868-9.
The chief crops are wheat and other inferior grains—the former
nearly 20, and the latter 50 per cent., of the whole cultivation. The
price of wheat is higher than that of other inferior grains, and as I take
the prices of first-class wheat, I think the average price of the produce
of one acre of wheat, applied to the whole cultivated acreage, will be
very much above the actual value of the production, and my estimate
will be much higher than it ought to be.
As the administration reports of both 1867-8 and 1868-9 do not give
the produce of crops per acre, I ascertain it from other sources,
In the administration report of the Punjab for the year 1850-51 (pub-
lished in 1854 by the Court of Directors), drawn up by Mr. (now Sir
Richard) Temple, a detailed table, dated Jullundhur, 25th October 1851,
gives the produce per acre. The table gives 14 instances of first-class
lands, which, by the rough process of adding up and dividing by the
number of instances, gives 147 maunds = 1,160 lbs.; (a maund equals
82 lbs.--Report 1855-6); for the second class from 8 instances, I find
the average 131 maunds, or 1,107 lbs.; and for the third class from
6 instances, I find 11 maunds, or 902 lbs. From this table I have taken
all at 10 maunds or upwards as representing irrigated land, and the
second class representing the bulk of it, as producing 1,100 lbs. per acre.
For unirrigated land I have not sufficient data. I adopt 600 lbs. per
acre, for reasons I have stated under heading North-West Provinces.'
After I had made my following calculations on the above basis, I was
favoured with a loan from the Record Department of the India Office of
the administration report for 1869-70. The produce per acre is given
in this report, but the average is taken on tbe objectionable principle of
adding up the produce of all districts and dividing by the number of
districts, without reference to the extent of cultivation in each district.
According to this, the average of the produce of wheat per acre of all
the districts is given in the report as only 624 lbs. The highest produce
165
in three districts included in this average, is 1,044, 1,066, and 1,000
lbs. ; so that my assumption of 1,100 lbs. per acre for all irrigated land
is much above the mark.. Again, even making allowance for the
drought of the years 1868-9 and 1869-70, my assumption of 600 lbs. of
wheat per acre of all unirrigated land only, is also above the mark. .
I take the calculated area of 1867-8, which is also the largest of the
three years 1867-8, 1868-9, and 1869-70; and I take prices for 1867-8,
that having been an average good season. The prices of 1868-9 and
1869-70 are scarcity-prices. The year 1867-8 is a fair test for the
produce of the Punjab in an average favorable seaons.
The report for 1867-8 does not give prices of produce for all districts
separately, but only of a few important towns, viz., Delhi, Umballa,
Lahore, Sealkote, Mooltan, and Peshawur (page ciii.); and as I take
these prices to represent not only those of the whole of the districts of
these towns, but of all the districts of the Punjab, I evidently assume a
much higher price than actually must have been the case. My results,
therefore, will be affected in a double way (viz., firstly, in taking first-
class wheat to represent all produce; and secondly, in taking the prices
in the principal towns to represent all Punjab); and will show then the
total value of the production of all Punjab much higher than the reality.
I therefore think I shall not be unfair in deducting 10 per cent. as some
correction of this double error; and even then I shall be above the
mark. The prices given in the report for 1867-8 are as follows (III. E.
J. Statement, showing the prices of produce in the Punjab for the year
1867-8):-

Price in Seers for 1 Rupee.
1st June
1866
1st Jan.
1867
1st June
1st Jan.
Average.
.
Delhi ...
Umballa ...
Lahore ...
Sealkote ...
1
The Seer is 2 lbs.
$
Mooltan ...
Peshawur...
166
I take the above averages of the towns to represent their whole
districts, and then the average of the six districts to represent the whole
of the Punjab in the following calculation (wheat first sort is taken to
represent all produce) :-

Districts.
Irrigated Produce
Land. | per Acre.
Total | For
Produce. Re. 1.
Total
Value.
lbs.
Acres.
200,955
1,100
Rs.
51,40,709
11
Delhi
Umballa ...
96,328
24,64,204
Lahore
447,295
lbs. lbs.
221,050,500 43
105,960,800 43
492,024,500 41
433,649,700
556,325,000 311
274,058,400 41
1,20,00,597
394,227
1,05,76,821
Sealkote ...
Mooltan ...
505,750
1,76,61,111
Peshawur...
249,144
66,84,351
Total... 1,893,699
5,45,27,793
The average Falue of produce per acre of the irrigated land of the six
districts will, therefore, be Rs. 28-7-9.
I now apply this to all irrigated land of the Punjab.
Total irrigated acres are 6,147,038, which, at Rs. 28-7-9 per acre,
will give Rs. 17,69,73,224 as the total value of the produce of irrigated
land of the Punjab for 1867-8.
I now calculate the value of the produce of unirrigated land (wheat
first sort is taken to represent all produce) :-

Districts,
Unirrigated
Land.
Produce
per Acre.
Total
Produce.
For
Re. 1.
Total
Value.
lbs.
Acres.
307,690
lbs.
600
Rs.
42,93,348
Delhi
Umballa ...
856,701
Lahore
lbs.
184,614,000
514,020,600
334,729,200
255,264,000
71,210,400
...
557,882
1,19,53,967
81,64,126
62,25,951
Sealkote ...
425,440
Mooltan ...
118,684
311
22,60,647
Peshawur
456,661
273,996,600
66,82,843
.
Total... 2,723,058
3,95,80,882
167
The average value of produce of one acre of unirrigated land of the
six districts is Rs. 14-5-3. Applying this to the unirrigated land of the
whole of the Punjab, the result will be as follows:-Total unirrigated
acres 14,810,697, at Rs. 14-5-3 per acre, will give Rs. 21,51,99,427
as the value of the produce of all unirrigated land of the Punjab for
1867-8..
Adding up the value of the produce of irrigated and unirrigated land,
the total will be Rs. 39,21,72,651. From this I deduct 10 per cent.
for reasons stated above, which will leave Rs. 35,29,54,800 for a popu-
lation of 17,593,946, or say £36,000,000 for a population of 17,500,000.
NORTH-WEST PROVINCES.
I take the figures of 1867-8, being an average good season. The
subsequent ones, 1868-9 and 1869-70, have been bad.
The administration report does not give the distribution of chief crops,
but I find in the Statistical Reporter of the Indian Economist (page 136)
of 15th March 1871, a table of the crops for 1868-9. From this it will
be seen that, out of a total of about 22,000,000 acres, rice, jowari, bajri,
wheat, and barley make up-
Rice ... ...
... ... ... 2,479,874
Jowari and Bajri ... ... ... 4,302,890
Wheat and Barley ... ... ... 7,257,873
!
Acres 14,040,637 or nearly
As I cannot get the prices of all the above kinds of produce except
wheat and barley, if I take wheat to represent all, I shall be above the
mark
In the administration report of 1868-9 there is a table given of prices
of wheat and barley. I take the prices for the months of April, May,
and June as those of the good season of 1867-8. The subsequent prices
are affected by drought. I should have preferred to take the prices for
January to June 1868; but the table does not give the earlier months.
These prices are of some of the chief markets only, so that, taking the
prices to represent the whole of the respective districts, and then
taking the average of these few districts to represent the whole of the
North-West Provinces, the result will be much higher; so, as in the
case of the Punjab, I deduct 10 per cent, as some correction for these
errors of excess.
168
The prices given in the report of 1868-9, pages 29, 30, are as follow:-
“The following table gives the prices at the close of each month for the
year in the chief markets of the provinces. The figures denote seers
and chittacks. . . . . .
I
WHEAT.
April. May. June. Average.

WHEAT.
Districts.
My Remarks.
S. c. s. c. S.C.. C. lb. oz.
Saharunpore...
Meerut
Moradabad...
Bareilly ...
26 10 25
Muttra
Agra
Cawnpore ...
...22
which seer this is.
26 13 53 10 Formerly I seer is given
25 83 51 1] equal to 2:057 lbs.
26 520 (Parliamentary Return
I No. 29 of 1862, page 5.)
24 0 48 0 I take this seer = 2 Ibs.
23 5 46 10 16 chittacks=1 seer.
22 0 22 11 45 6 The report also does not
say whether these quan-
18 4 18 0 17 0 17 12 35 8 tities were got for one
18 0 18 0 0 17 103 35 6 rupee, but it evidently
117 5 18 5 18 0 117 15135 14! appears to be meant so.
Allahabad....
Mirzapore ...
Benares
CO OS
The administration reports give no table of produce per acre of
different crops. I adopt the same scale as given in the case of the
Punjab, for the following additional reasons :— * Captain Harvey
Tuket's estimate in the year 1840, from 2,000 experiments, of which 512
were for wheat, made by the Government of the North-West Provinces,
gives the average produce of wheat per acre at 1,046 lbs. The late
Mr. Thornton, formerly Secretary to that Government, has recorded
that, judging from his own experience, he should say that 1,200 lbs.
per acre was a high average for irrigated land, and 700 lbs. for that of
which a considerable portion is dry. † Mr. Maconochi, in his recent
settlements of Oonah (Oudh), gives for irrigated land-
· 1st class 21 bushels=1,218 lbs. (at 58 lbs. per bushel)
3rd , 9 = 522 ,
and for unirrigated land-
1st class 11 bushels=638 lbs.
2nd , 9 „ =522 ,
. 31d , 7 , =406 »
* The " Agricultural Gazette of India" of the Indian Economist, 15th August
1870, No. 1.
† See also Parliamentary Return No. 999 of 1853, page 471.
169
Taking second class as representing the bulk, the average for irrigated
land may be considered as 928 lbs., and for unirrigated 522 lbs. From
all the above particulars it will be seen that the estimate I have adopt-
ed, of 1,100 lbs. per acre for irrigated and 600 lbs. for unirrigated land,
is something above a fair average. A settlement officer of the North-
West Provirces, in a letter to the Indian Economist of 15th February
1871 ("s Agricultural Gazette," page 171), sums up all that is known
to him on the subject of the produce of wheat per acre in those provin-
ces. It will be too long an extract to insert here ; but, making allow-
ance for the "mischievous fallacy" of all official documents alluded to by
this writer, about which I have already complained to the India Office
and which vitiates averages for a number of years or places, I think
the average I have adopted above is something more than a reasonable
one. When administration reports will give, as they ought, correct
particulars for each district every year, accurate estimates of the actual
produce of the provinces could be easily made. I give the calculations
below. The table of cultivated land, given at page 45 of the appendix
to the administration report of 1867-8, does not give the irrigated and
unirrigated extent of land separately for the Moradabad, Tarrae,
Mynpoorie, Banda, and Ghazipore districts.
I find that the totals of irrigated and unirrigated land bear nearly the
proportion of two-fifths and three-fifths respectively of the whole total
cultivated land. I assign the same proportion to the above districts in
the absence of actual particulars.
Wheat.

Districts.
Irrigated
Land.
Produce
per acre.
Total
Produce.
For
i Re.
Total
• Value.
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
oz.
Rs.
1,100
Saharunporc ...
Meerut
Moradabad
Bareilly
Muttra
Agra ...'
Cawnpore ...
Allahabad
Mirzapore
Benares
::::::::::
160,058
577.346
806,930
344.662
332,542
434:166
397,396
345,624
198,823
238,971
3,836,518
| 176,063,800
635.080,600
787,623.000
379,128,200
365,796,200
477,582,600
437,135,600
380,186,400
218,705,300
262,868,100
.61
35,65.849
10 1,17,26.444
1,73,83,069
72,82,174
89,22,837
1,02,43.058
96,33,842
1,07,09,476
61,82,481
35 14 75,01,549
9,31,50,779
Facao Ormo
Total...!
The average value of the produce of one acre will be Rs. 24-2-8.
170
Applying the average of the above districts to the whole of the
irrigated area of the North-West Provinces, the result will be-acres
10,045,050 x Rs. 24-2-8 = Rs. 24,38,93,814.
In a similar manner, the total value of the produce of unirrigated
land, as represented by wheat, will be as follows :-

Districts,
Unirrigated
Land,
Produce
per Acre.
Total
Produce.
For
1 Re.
Total
Value.
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs. oz.
Rs.
600
Saharunpore ...
- Meerut
Moradabad
Bareilly
Muttra
Agra ...
Cawnpore
Allahabad
Mirzapore
Benares
::::::::::
621,382
453,694
484,158
768,283
406,153
374,976
436,636
644,594
614,658
202,818
372,829,200
272,216,400
290,494,8co
460,957,800
243,691,800
224,985,600
261,981,600
386,756,400
368,794,800
121,690,800
Baca Donna
75:50,960
50,76.288
56,88,992
88,53.920
50,76.912
48,25.424
57,73,696
1,08,94:544
1,04,25,280
33.92,064
Total...
5,007:352
6,75,58,080
The average value of wheat per acre of unirrigated land is therefore
Rs. 13-4-9.
Applying this average to the whole unirrigated land of the North-West
Provinces, we get-acres 14,132,111 x Rs. 13-4-9 = Rs. 19,06,42,177.
The grand total of the value of the produce of irrigated and unirrigated
land will be-
Irrigated......10,045,050 acres = Rs. 24,38,93,814
Unirrigated...14,132,111 , = „ 19,06,42,177
Total...24,177,161 2 = „ 43,45,35,991
Deducting 10 per cent. for reasons stated above, the remainder will be
Rs. 39,10,82,392 for a population of 30,086,898, or say £40,000,0G0 for
a population of 30,000,000.
BENGAL.
The administration reports till 1869-70 give no information required
by the Statistical Committee, except the area of districts in square miles
and acres (report 1869-70). For information for cultivated area,
distribution, produce of crops and prices, I have to look out elsewhere,
or make a rough estimate.
171
First with regard to the extent of cultivated land, I adopt the following
plan as the best I can. The total area of the North-West Provinces is
about 50,000,000 acres, of which about 25,000,000 are cultivated. The
population of those Provinces is, by the late census of 1865, about
30,000,000, so we have the total area 5 acres to 3 persons, and of
cultivated area five-sixths of an acre per head. Now, assuming Bengal to
be at least as thickly populated as the North-West Provinces, and the
total area, as given in the administration report of 1869-70 (appendix,
page xxi.), being about 105,000,000 acres, the population of Bengal will
be about 63,000,000; and I am encouraged to adopt this figure instead
of 36,000,000 of the report of 1869-70, as the Englishman of 25th June
1872 states that the census of Bengal, as far as the figures are made
up, lead to an estimate of about 65,000,000. Again, as in the North-
West Provinces, I allow five-sixths of an acre of cultivated land per
head, and take, therefore, 54,000,000 acres of cultivated land for a
population of 65,000,000.
With regard to produce, coarse rice is the chief produce of Bengal, and
in taking it to represent the whole produce, I shall be near enough the
mark. For the produce of rice per acre, I take a table given in the re-
port of the Indigo Commission (Parliamentary Return No. 721, of 1861,
page 292), in which produce of paddy per beegah is given for a number
of districts. The rough average, without reference to the quantity of
land in each district, comes to about 9 maunds per beegah.
The maund I take is the Indian maund of 82 lbs. The quantity of
produce per beegah given in the table is evidently for rice in husk; for,
though not so stated, this would be apparent by comparing the money
values of these quantities given in the same table, with the prices for
1860 given in the table at page 291.
The beegah I find explained, at page lxi. of the same return, at about
one-third of an acre. Thacker's Bengal Directory for 1872, page 2,
gives the following table for “Bengal square or land measure":-
1 chittack=45 square feet or 5 square yards.
16 „ =1 cottah= 720 sq. ft. or 80 sq. yds.
20 cottah =l beegah=14,400 1 or 1,600 »
This gives a little more than 3 beegahs to an acre.
Mr. Cowasjee Eduljee, the manager of the Port Canning rice mills and
lands, thinks, that for an average of all lands, or say for standard land,
172
7 maunds of paddy per beegah will be a very fair calculation. I take
8 maunds. Mr. Cowasjee further says, as the outturn of his mills, that
paddy yields 55 per cent. of rice at the outside.
For the price of rice I take the season 1867-8. I take the rough
average of the weekly prices given in the Calcutta Gazette for the months
of January to March 1868, as fairly representing the effect of the season
of 1867-8. This average is taken by simply adding up the prices and
dividing by the number of districts, and not on the correct principle
of taking the quantities of the produce of each district into account
(as in specimen table A I have given for the Central Provinces). The
average, therefore, which I have adopted, must be much higher than the
actual one, and will require some reasonable deduction. I shall deduct
only 10 per cent. as some correction for this, and to make up for any
error in the produce per acre. Besides, the prices given in the
Gazette are retail prices, and are therefore higher than the prices all
over the country; so my deduction of 10 per cent. will be but a very
small correction for all the errors of my rough calculation. I cannot
get the extent of cultivated land for each district. I gire below the
calculations. Since writing these notes, I have seen the late census
report, which gives the population as 66,856,859, or say 67,000,000.
The approximate area of cultivated land will be, say, five-sixths of
67,000,000 or 56,000,000 acres. The produce per acre, taken as
24 maunds paddy per acre, will give about 13 maunds of clean rice, or
1,066 lbs.-say 1,100 lbs. The total produce of 56,000,000 acres will
be 616,000,000 lbs., which, at 58 lbs. per rupee (as obtained by the
rough average of the weekly prices of the three months of January,
February, and March 1868), will give Rs. 1,06,00,00,000, or
£106,000,000. Deducting 10 per cent. will give £95,400,000, or say
£96,000,000 for a population of 67,000,000. This will amply cover
the higher price of some of the articles, such as silk, indigo, cost price
of opium, tea, &c. or any double crops, &c. The percentage of these
products is a small one; the total value for all these will be under
10 per cent. of the whole produce, while the average of price I have
taken for rice as representing the whole produce of the presidency will
be found much above the actuals. On the whole, I cannot help thinking
that the total value of all productions of the Bengal Presidency will
be found much under, than above, my estimate. It is very desirable,
however, to get a correct result, and the Statistical Committee or
Agricultural Department should give it.
173
MADRAS.
I take the administration report of 1868-9 as I have not been able to
get an opportunity of studying that of 1867-8. Besides, as prices have
not much altered, the later report is the better. I am obliged to ascer-
tain the produce per acre from other sources : the report does not give
this information. I take paddy to represent the produce of wet and
cumboo for dry land, as they form the bulk of the produce of the
country.
Mr. H. Newill, the Director of Settlements for South Arcot, in his
letter of 27th August 1859 (Selections of the Madras Government,
No. 14 of 1869, Appendix Y, from page 142), gives an elaborate table
of produce per acre of the principal grains, as ascertained by a large
number of experiments and general enquiry; and the result of his
investigations gives, for the different classes of soils, the following
produce, from which 5 per cent. is to be deducted for numerous ridges
for regulating irrigation channels, exterior boundaries, &c. :--
AR
174
Produce of Wet Land per acre for " Good Crop” first grade Land.
Description
Value assigned
for good
of Soils.
Crops per acre.
H.C. (Bazar Huris Cullum.)
45
o oo av os er in eo
o
to
141
15)
Average...30
Deducting 5 per cent. for ridges, &c., 30 — 11 = 281 H. C.
For third grade deduct 20 per cent., which will give 22:8 H. C. For
bad seasons Mr. Newill deducts 10 per cent. more, which I do not;
so that the produce calculated by me is for good crop,” or in “good
season," as in all other cases. Taking second grade as the bulk of the
land, I take 241 H. C. as the average of all wet land.
For dry land for cumboo (page 150), Mr. Newill gives the produce
per acre as follows :-
Descriptions of Descriptions of Descriptions of
Soils.
Soils.
Soils.
H.C.
H.O.
H.C.
1 21
6 17
11 12
2 18
7 15
12 10
8 13
13 10
4 16
9 12
14 9
10 14
15 8
er la CON
The CON
Average...1311
say 14 H. C.
175
The next thing necessary is to ascertain the correct average price.
I take the average price as given in the administration report (calculated :
on the wrong principle referred to by me before), bearing in mind that
the correct average, as worked out according to specimen table A, would
be very likely found lower. Again, taking the rough average of first
and second class paddy, the price comes to Rs. 180 per garce; and as
second class paddy must be the bulk of the produce, the correct average
price in this respect also must be lower. In taking, therefore, Rs. 180
per garce, some reasonable allowance will have to be made. I shall
make it only 10 per cent. for all kinds of excess. It is too much work
for me to calculate as in table A.
Wet land under cultivation (except South Canara and Malabar,
where areas under cultivation are not given) is for 1868-9, 2,957,748
acres at 241 H. C, produce per acre (and 1337 H. C.=1 garce*)
will give 511,490 garces, which, at Rs. 180 per garce, will give
Rs. 9,68,53,500—the total value of the produce of wet land,
Dry cultivated land (except South Canara and Malabar) is
13,560,329 acres, and with produce at 14 H. C. per acre (and
133 H. C.=1 garce), will give 1,427,403 garces. I take the
rough average price as given in the table—Rs. 188 per garce-
in the administration report of 1868-69. This will be an over-
The total value will be—1,427,403 garces at Rs. 188 = Rs. 26,83,51,764.
· Total produce of wet and dry lands will be Rs. 36,52,05,264 ; adding
10 per cent. for South Canara and Malabar, the total for all the Madras
Presidency will be a little above Rs. 40,00,00,000. From this is to
be allowed 10 per cent. as a correction for errors of high averages,
which will leave, say, £36,000,000 for a population of 26,539,052
(Parliamentary Return No.951843), or say 26,500,000.
BOMBAY.
The season 1867-8 was a favourable one (Bombay administration
report, 1867-8, page 59); that for 1868-9 unfavorable (report for 1868-9,
page 65). I take the former to ascertain the produce of a fair good
season. I am sorry that the administration reports give no agricultural
information. I therefore take the necessary particulars from other
* 24 Madras measures ==1 Huris Cullum,
1333 Huris Cullum=1 Madras Garce.
! (Selection of the Madras Government, No. XIV. of 1869, page 16.)
176
sources. The Revenue Commissioner's reports for 1867-8 give the
total area under cultivation for the Northern Division at 5,129,754
land 611,198 acres and 226,708 beegabs. The actual cultivated land
will, after deducting this, be 4,518,556 acres and 1,036,431 beegahs =
609,842 acres, or total acres 5,128,398. Out of this bajri, jowari, rice,
and cotton make up nearly two-thirds, or above 60 per cent., as
follows:
Bajri.....
Jowari
Rice ...
Cotton
Acres.
985,427
676,377
616,802
519,058
Beegahs.
56,857
224,210
94,306
319,572
2,797,664 694,945—408,791 acres,
or total acres 3,206,455.
• Similarly for the Southern Division, out of the total acres, 13,985,892,
jowari, bajri, rice, and cotton make up above 60 per cent., as follows:-
Jowari
Bajri
Rice...
Cotton
Acres,
... 4,906,073
... 2,715,719
504,015
... 704,629
8,830,436
I take, therefore, these four articles to represent the produce of the
whole presidency, though this will give a higher estimate. Neither
the administration nor the Revenue Commissioner's reports give pro-
duce per acre or prices. I take these two items as follows. From
Selections of the Bombay Government, Nos. 10 and 11 of 1853, I get
the following estimate of produce :-
177
Produce per Acre in Pounds.

Selection,
Districts
reported upon.
Bajri with
Kuthole.
Jowari with
Kuthole.
Sathi, or
Coarse Rice.
Kupas, or
uncleaned
Cotton,
Remarks.
Page.
Ibs.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
X.
15 Prant of Hu-7
sore
1,0201
700
Morassa & Bayar ļ 6801 1,020
Pergunnah in I Jowari
AhmedabadCol- . in fal-
lectorate ...) (low-
land.
106 Duskroee per-
gunnah, Great-
est ... ... 1,700 1,500
Least ... i .. 270 2101
Cleaned Cotton as per
experiments made under
order of Mr. Saunders,
Resident of Hyderabad, in
Bassein district of Berar
-average of 8 acres giv-
ing 31 lbs. of clean Cot-
ton and 831 lbs. of Seed.
410 (Agricultural Gazette of
200 India of 21st August 1871,
page 3.) This would give
82 lbs. for 305 lbs. of ku-
4101 pas.
200
1,360
410
XI.) 15 Dholka-
Greatest
Least...
..
...
1,7001 1,5001 1,3601
270 2101 410
Rough average.
305
11.
1H**.....
Nr1v-'**
*:
O
VIN
C
ENDA
22AM
WATU *
rr
*
-.-
Ore
The above averages belong to a fertile part of the Northern Division;
so that if I put down 900 lbs. for bajri, jowari, and rice per acre, and
80 lbs. of cotton for the whole of that Division, I shall be making a
high estimate.
The next thing to settle is the prices. I take them from the Govern-
ment Gazette weekly prices for the months of January to May 1868,
as fairly representing the effect of the average favorable season of
1867-8. These are retail prices of the chief markets of the respective
districts, and it will be necessary to deduct 10 per cent. to make a fair
average for the whole of the Division. For cotton I take the export
prices from the Prices Current of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce
for January to May 1868. This gives an average of Pis. 181 per candy.
The export prices I have taken represent more than the average value
of the whole crop of the presidency, as the above average is for Fair
Dhollera and Bhownuggur, which necessarily give a higher figure than
the average of all the different varieties. Again, the bulk of the cotton
is not fair,' but midfair ;' so, to make a fair allowance for all these
circumstances, I take the price for 1867-8 as Rs. 170 per candy
of 784 lbs.
12
The Southern Division.—As a whole, this Division is not as fertile as
the Northern. I shall take, however, only 50 lbs. less for bajri, jowari,
and rice; and for cotton I take 60 lbs. per acre—a high average for the
whole of the Division ; for Mr. J. B. Smith, M.P., in his paper of 1857
read before the Society of Arts, quotes Mr. Vary, the then late Super-
intendent of Government Cotton Experiments in Sattara and Sholapore,
to the effect that “ 40 lbs. per acre per clean cotton is considered a fair
crop.” For rice, I take Rutnagherry as exceptional in its produce. If I
give 1,700 lbs. per acre for the whole district, it will be a high average.*
I take the prices from the Government Gazette in the same way as for the
Northern Division, and a similar reduction of 10 per cent. will have to
be made. I give below a table worked out in the manner described
above :-
* The Statistical Reporter of the Indian Economist of 22nd January 1872 gives a
table, on official authority, of the total produce of the Bombay Presidency. The
of rice is given as 10,110,964 maunds of 82 lbs., which will be above 7,200 lbs. per
acre. The best land may produce as much as 3,000, but 7.200 lbs. is simply out of
the question. In the Pardy settlement (Indian Economist of 15th July 1871, page
330) an acre of rice, "in embanked land receiving full supply of water for a crop of
rice," is put down as producing 3,400 lbs. Even in Bengal and Burmah-rice-
producing countries there is no such production as 7,000 lbs. per acre. For
the rest of the presidency (excepting Canara), the total produce is given as
follows :-
Ricer
Produce, maund
Acres.
of 82 lbs.
822,218
9,197,713, giving an average of 917 lbs.
Jowari and Bajrin
Produce, maund
Acres.
of S2 lbs.
9,476,687
44,557,600, giving an average of 385 lbs.
Now, the year 1869-70 is reported to have been an average favourable season,
in which case my adopting 900 lbs. for the Northern and 850 for the Southern
Division for all grains, is very much higher than the real average. For cotton
the figures are acres 1,937,375, maunds 3,264,464, giving an average of 1.68 maunds
or 136 lbs. It is not stated whether this is cleaned or seed cotton. Any way
this cannot be correct. It is, however, remarked by the official who supplies these
statistics-" The figures in table iii., giving the weight of produce, are not, it is
feared, very reliable, but now that attention is being given to the subject, they
will become more so every year." I earnestly hope that it will be so; correct
statistics of this kind are extremely important.
179
Bajri.

Collectorates.
Cultivated
Area.
Total Produce
(at 900 lbs.
per Acre).
Price per
1 Re.
Total Value,
lbs.
Rs.
33:6
Ahmedabad... ... ...
Kaira ... ... ..
Surat
Khandeish ...
Tanna... oor
Total,..
Acres
129,365*
150,841
27,217
711,447
lbs.
116,428,500
135,756,900
24,495,300
640,302,300
30'0
25.5
27.6
34,65,134
45,25,230
9,60,600
2,31,99,359
1,018,870
3,21,50,323
(850 lbs. per
Acre.)
709,176,250
979,468,600
204,140,250
34"7
34'3
64:41
|
Poona ...
Ahmednuggur ei
Kulladghee ...
Rutnagherry
Belgaum
Dharwar ... ...
Sattara... ...
2,04,37,356
2,85,55,936
· 31,69,880
:::::::
:::::::
834,325
1,152,316
240,165
76,228
14,158
398,573
59'2
64,793,800
11,991,800
338,787,050
69.0
52'9
10,94,489
1,73,795
64,04,292
Total...
2,715,715
5,98,35,748
Jowari.

Collectorates.
Cultivated
Area.
Total Produce
(at 900 lbs.
per Acre).
Price per
1 Re.
Total Value.
lbs.
...
...
Ahmedabad...
Kaira ... ...
Surat ... ...
Khandeish ...
Tanna ... ...
Acres.
119,679
44,536
178,839
465,198
10
107,711,100
40,082,400
160,955,100
418,678,200
9,000
lbs.
42-4
42'4
27.1
40'4
26.8
Rs.
25,40,356
9,45,339
59,39,302
1,03,63,322
336
Total
808,262
1,97,88,655
...
1,487,816
852,232
1,162,582
(850 lbs. per
Acre.)
1,264,643,600
724,397,200
988,194,700
49:5
456
70'0
2,55,48,355
1,58,85,903
1,41,17,060
Poona ... ...
Ahmednuggur
Kulladghee ...
Rutnagherry
Belgaum ..
Dharwar on
Sattara... ...
•
...
426,542
511,389
465,509
362,560,700
434,680,650
395,682,650
660
83:8
52:6
54,93,344
51,87,120
75,22,487
Total...)
4,906,070
17,37,54,269
TOTA
Ł
.
-
+.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
* Gujera t in Northern Division ; the cultivated area is given partly in acres
and partly in beegahs. The beegahs are converted into acres, as 1:7 beegahs =
I acre.
† Bhagalkote price is taken,
180
Rice.

Collectorates,
Cultivated
Area.
Total Produce
(at 900 lbs.
per Acre.)
2nd Sort
price per
1 Re.
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
::
Ahmedabad ...
Kaira ... ... ..
Surat
Khandeish ........
Tanna ... ...
31,902
51,443
108,348
12,081
468,499
28,711,800
46,298,700
97,513,200
20.50.842
37,94,975
14'0
12'2
II'27
20'I
20:17
421,649,100
5,40,940*
2,09,77,567
Total...
672,273
605,045,700
3,60,16,783
Poona ... ... ...
Ahmednuggur ...
Kulladghee ...
Rutnagherry
108,643
28,922
5,496
130,403
(850 lbs. per
Acre.)
92,346,550
24,583,700
4,671,600
221,685,100
(1,700 lbs. per
Acre.)
'60,255,650
78,064,000
57,647,000
22'2
123
20'9
2700
19,98,674
2,23,521
82,10,559
Belgaum
Dharwar
Sattara
...
...
...
...
20,77,781
..
70,889
91,840
67,820
29'0
27-1
22'4
28,80,590
25,73,527
Total...
504,013
539,253,600
2,21,24,406
Cotton.
Collectorates.
Cultivated
Area.
1 Produce
per Acre,
Total
Produce.
Price
1 per
Candy.
Total Value

Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
Rs.
..
Ahmedabad
Kaira ...
Surat ...
Khandeish
Tanna oko
...
...
on
::::
707,041
80
56,563,280
170
1,22,64,997
...
Poona ..
Ahmednuggur
Kulladghee ...
Rutnagherry
Belgaum ...
Dharwar... ...
Sattara ......
:::::::
704,629
60
42,277,740
170
91,67,367
* Average of Tanna and Alibaug.
+ Price at Dhoolia being not given, I have taken the same with Tanna.
181
Rs.
Acres.
Bajri ... 1,018,870
Jowari ... 808,262
Rice ... 672,273
SUMMARY.
Northern Division. .
Rs.
Rs.
3,21,50,323
1,97,88,655
3,60,16,783
8,79,55,761 - 10% = 7,91,60,185
1,22,64,997
Cotton ... 707,041
Total... 3,206,446
Rs....9,14,25,182
Rs.
Average per acre, Rs. 28:51
Southern Division.
Acres,
Rs.
Rs.
Bajri... ... 2,715,715 5,98,35,748
Jowari ... 4,906,070 7,37,54,269
Rice ... ... 504,013 2,21,24,406
15,57,14,423 - 10% = 14,01,42,981
Cotton ... 704,629
91,67,367
Total ... 8,830,427
Rs. ... 14,93,10,348
Rs.
Average per acre, Rs. 17.
Total Cultivated Area.
Acres.
Northern Division... 5,128,221 at Rs. 2851 = 14,62,05,580
Southern 2 ... 13,985,892 at , 17 = 23,77,60,164
Total... Rs. 38, 39,65,744
This gives for the whole of the Bombay Presidency the total value
as Rs. 38,39,65,744, or say £40,000,000, for a population of 11,000,000.
About two or three months ago I came across an unexpected confirma-
tion of my calculations. I was able to get from my friend Mr. Nowrojee
Furdoonjee a few notes from Colonel Prescott's reports on the settlement
of Akleshwar Taluka-I suppose an average Gujerat taluka. Colonel
Prescott has made the value of gross produce (excluding straw) about
Rs. 24 per acre. Why, my estimate for the whole of the Northern
Division is above Rs. 28 per acre.
OUDH..
The administration report does not give the agricultural tables, but
they are given in the revenue report. Wheat forms the most important
produce in Oudh, as in the North-West Provinces. I take it to re.
present the whole produce. In the revenue report ending 30th Septem-
her 1868, the average produce per acre is given as 892 lbs., say 900 lbs.
11
182
Now, in Oudh, irrigated land is nearly within 10 per cent. of unirrigated
land. I shall give the above produce per acre for both, as the table
also gives this as the average of all land. The year 1867-8 was some-
what below an average good season, and the prices, therefore, higher
than they would be for an average good season year. I take them,
however, as they are. The average for wheat, first quality, is given at
Rs. 1-9-7 per maund of 80 lbs., and for second quality Rs. 1-8-4—the
average will be about Rs. 1-9. As a small correction for the prices being
of an inferior season, the average being on the usual wrong principle,
and the second quality being the largest quantity, I shall deduct only
10 per cent. The total cultivated area is 12,486 square miles, or
7,991,040 acres. The total produce, at 900 lbs. of wheat per acre, will
be 7,191,936,000 lbs.;. and the total value, at the rate of Rs. 1-9 per
maund of 80 lbs., will be Rs. 14,04,67,500. This, less 10 per cent., will
be Rs. 12,64,20,750 or say £13,000,000 for a population of 9,500,000.
Summary.

Provinces.
Value of the produce
of Cultivated Land.
Population.
Produce
per head.
Rs.
Central Provinces ..
Punjab ...
North-West Provinces...
Bengal ...
Madras ...
Bombay...
Oudh ..
Total...
16,000,000
36,000,000
40,000,000
96,000,000
36,000,000
40,000,000
13,000,000
9,000,000
17,500,000
30,000,000
67,000,coo
26,500,000
11,000,000
9,500,000
2
.
1
277.000.000
| 170.500.000
Such is the produce of India for a good season year, in which any
second crops will be fully included. I have not taken the produce of
grazing-land, or straw or kurby, though the cattle required for cultivation
and stock need not only all these grazing-lands, but also a portion of the
produce of the cultivated land, such as some grains, fodder, and other
produce. From the above total of £277,000,000 it is necessary to deduct
for seed for next year, say, only 6 per cent., that is, allowing sixteen-
fold for produce of land. The balance will be about £260,000,000 as
the produce of cultivation, during a good season, for human use and
consumption for a year. If the Government of India would calculate this
production correctly, it would find the total a good deal under the
above figures.
183
I have next to add for annual produce of stock for consumption, annual
value of manufacturing industry, net opium revenue, cost of production
of salt, coals and mines, and profits of foreign commerce.
Salt, opium, coal, and profits of commerce will be about £17,000,000.
For annual price of manufacturing industry or stock, I have not come
across full particulars. The manufacturing industry in the Punjab—where
there are some valuable industries, such as shawls, silks, &c., to the total
estimated value of the “annual out-turns of all works”-is put down as
about £3,774,000. From this we deduct the value of the raw produce ;
and if I allow this value to be doubled by all the manufactures, I shall
be making a good allowance. Say, then, that the value of the industry
is about £2,000,000, including the price of wool; the manufactures of
other parts of India are not quite as valuable. Therefore, for the popu-
lation of all British India, which is about ten times that of the Punjab,
if I take £15,000,000 for the value of manufacturing industry, I shall
not be far from the mark, The total for Central Provinces for 1870-1
for all manufactures is about £1,850,000. There are no very valuable
industries, allowing, therefore, £850,000 for the value of the industry
for a population of 9,000,000. In this proportion, the total value
for India will be about, say, £17,000,000. For the annual produce of
stock and fish for human consumption as milk or meat, I can hardly get
sufficient data to work upon. I hope Government will give the particulars
more fully, so that the annual production of stock for consumption, either
as milk or meat, may be known, I set it down as £15,000,000 as a
guess only.
1
All this will make up a total of about £307,000,000. I add for any
contingencies another £30,000,000, making at the utmost £340,000,000
for a population of 170,000,000, or 40s, a head for an average good season.
I have no doubt that, if the Statistical Department worked out the whole
correctly and fully, they would find the total less. Again, when further
allowance is made for bad seasons, I cannot help thinking that the result ..
will be nearer 30s. than 40s. a head. One thing is evident—that I am
not guilty of any under-estimate of produce.
184
Adding this additional £63,000,000 in proportion of population, that
is to say 7s. 5d. per head, the total production of each province will be
as follows:-
Per head,
s. do
Central Provinces ...
... ... ... 43 5
Punjab ...
North-West Provinces
... ... ... 35 5
Bengal ...
... 37 5
Madras ...
... . ... 35
Bombay ...
... ... 79 5
Oudh
... 35 5
:::::::
ilo luccicrururur.
Average... 40
Necessary Consumption.
I now consider what is necessary for the bare wants of a human
being, to keep him in ordinary good health and decency.
I have calculated production chiefly for the year 1867-8. I shall take
the same year for ascertaining the necessary consumption.
Surgeon S. B. Partridge, Government Medical Inspector of Emigrants,
in a statement dated Calcutta, 26th March 1870,* proposes the follow-
ing as a scale of diet to supply the necessary ingredients of nourishment
for the emigrant coolies during their voyage, living in a state of
quietude :-

Rice Diet for One Man.
For Flour Diet.
OzS.
OZS.
Rice
...
"
.
..
10
16.0
..
...
..
Flour
Dhal
Dhal
Preserved Mutton
Vegetables
Ghee
Mustard Oil
Preserved Mutton
Vegetables
Ghee ... ...
Mustard Oil
0.5
5
Salt...
ooo
...
1.0
Salt
...
.
Total...35-27
Total...29.77
A
-
* The Indian Economist of 15th October 1870, Statistical Reporter, page 45.
185
The administration report of Bengal for 1870-1 gives, in appendix 11
D2, the following “scale of provisions for ships carrying Indian emigrants
to British and foreign colonies west of the Cape of Good Hope.”
“ Daily Allowance to each statuje Adult Children above two
and under ten years of age to receive half xations].

Class.
Articles.
Remarks.
Rice
Flour
Ghee 3 for flour-
in lieu of preserved multorum
TI
oz. drs. 1
... ... 20 0
... ... 16 0
Grain ... ...
(for rice-
J. eaters. 60(Four kinds of dhals make up this
Dal
7 for flour-
quantity.)
leaters. 40
Half an ounce extra allowance of ghee
(for rice-
eaters. 10
I to each adult for every day that
dried fish is supplied.
Oil ...
teaters. 1 8
Mustard Oil ... 08
Meats, &c. ... Preserved Mutton 2 8
ed mutton to be sup.
plied at scale rate dried fish fortwo to
three weeks. Fresh mutton (sheep)
ri oz. pump-
one week.
lkins or yams
Vegetables .. .
5 0 In lieu of fresh potatoes, a sufficient
2 oz. potatoes
2 oz. onions...)
quantity of preserved potatoes to
allow 2 ozs. twice a week to each
Garlic ..
Mustard Seed ...
adult, or about five weeks' supply
Chillies ...
at scale rate.
Black Pepper
Coriander Seed ...
Turmeric
Tamarind
Salt
Narcotic
Prepared tobacco
2 Leaf
Or in lieu of firewood, its equivalent
Firewood ...
in coal for half the quantity.”
Curry
&c. ...
Stuff,
200000000OOOG
Besides the above, there is an allowance for dry provision to be used
at the discretion of the surgeon, for medical comforts, medicine, instru-
ments and appliances for hospital' and dispensary. Again, for confirmed
opium-eaters or ganja-smokers, the surgeon superintendent is to see a
proper quantity supplied. Surgeon Partridge's scale is absolutely
necessary to supply the necessary ingredients of nitrogen and carbon;
not the slightest luxury—no sugar or tea, or any little enjoyment of
life, but simple animal subsistence of coolies living in a state of quietude.
I have worked out below the cost of living according to Surgeon Par-
tridge's scale for the year 1867-8 at Ahmedabad prices. The scale in
the Bengal administration report provides curry-stuff and narcotics in
.186
addition, which I have not calculated in this table, though it can hardly
be said that they are not necessaries to those poor people.
Cost of necessary living at Ahmedabad prices, on 30th January 1868,
as given in the “ Bombay Government Gazette."
Rice, second sort, 20 oz. per day, or 37} lbs. per month, at 15 lbs.
per rupee ... ... ...
... ... ... Rs. 2 8 0
Dhal 6 oz. per day, or 114 lbs. per month, at 20 lbs.* per rupee ... , o 9 0
Preserved mutton 250 oz. per day, or 4 lbs. II oz. per month, at
63 lbs.† per Rupee... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,; OII 7
Vegetable 4:27 oz. per day, or 8 lbs. per month, at 20 lbs. I per rupee , 0 6 5
Ghee i oz. per day, or 1 lb. 14 oz. per month, at 2 lbs, 1 oz. per rupee , OII
Mustard Oil 0'5 oz. per day, or i lb. 8 oz. per month, at 6 lbs.§ per
rupee ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... , 0 4 0
I oz. per day, or i lb. 14 oz. per month, at 38 lbs.ll per rupee ... , 0 0 10
Per Month... Rs. 5 2 10
The annual cost of living or subsistence only, at Ahmedabad prices, is
thus Rs. 62-2.
The following is an estimate of the lowest absolute scale of neces-
saries of a common agricultural labourer in the Bombay Presidency
annually, by Mr. Kazee Sahabudin :-
Food-
Duabe.
.
Il lbs. Rice per day, at Rs. 2 to Rs. 2-8 per maund of 40 lbs., say... Rs. 28 8
Salt, including waste, about 1 oz. a day ...
1 lb. Dhal...
*** ". ... ... ... . 9 0
Vegetables ... ... ...
Food-oil ... ... ...
... ... ... ... .5 O
Condiments, chillies, &C....
. . . O o
Tobacco ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ? 5 0
00OOOOOO
Rs. 48 8
* There are three kinds of dhal–Oorud, Moong, and Toor. I take an average,
† I don't find price of preserved mutton. I have taken of mutton.
I No price is given for vegetables. I take it the same as dhal.
§ No price of mustard-oil is given. I have taken for teel, which is the cheapest
among the four kinds of oil given in the table.
ll This is the price of common sea salt, which would require to be taken more
than a oz. to make up for the oz. of good salt required. Also there is some
187
Clothing
O
...
...
...
... Rs.
3 O
O 12
8
3 Dhotees a year ... ...
1 pair champal (shoes) ...
a turban... ... ...
I Bundee (jacket)
2 Kamlees (blankets) ...
I Rumal (handkerchief)...
I Rain-protector ... ...
od boy ow
:::
...
9 10
OO OOO N + 1
Oo
O 4
Rs. 8 2
The dress of the female of the house
...
...
...
...
..
I1 Saree (dress) ...
ee (dress) . ...
.
1 Cholee (short jacket) ...
Oil for head ...
Bangrees (glass bangles)
1 Champal (shoes)
Extras ... ... ...
... Rs. 3 12
... „ O 12
... 2 1 8
, 06
"
""
HOOROW
"oo . Io
-
Es. 7 10
The old members of the family will require as much.
Lodging-
25
0
Hut (labour taken as his own) ... ..
Hut repairs (bamboos, &c.), per annum
Oil for lamp, per day ... ... ...
Barber, per month
Domestic utensils per annum ... ...
;;
,
0.0%
o I
;
O 12
Say altogether Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 for the family.
i
Taking one-quarter less, for reasons stated further on, to calculate
the cost per head of family, the result will be-
Food
...Rs. 36)
Lodging. ... ,
37
letting alone luxuries, and anything to spare for bad
seasons.
188
The report of the Bombay Price Commission gives the following
particulars of the wants of the lowest servants of Government (pages
85, 86), supplied from the Poona District :-

Quantities
per month.
Cost per month
in 1863.
Remarks.
Seers.
Rs. a.
-
:
--
Bajri
Toor Dhal, &c. ...
Ghee
Vegetables
Oil ...
Firewood ...
Salt
Mussala ...
:::::::::
so vs go to x = v v CO
that simple living and
clothing are here exhi-
bited, and nothing is
taken into account for
support of dependent
members of family, ser-
vants, religious and
other domestic ex-
penses.
Chillies.co
Milk
Betelnut-leaves ...
Rs...
.
-
Clothing
Turbans
Dhotee
Puncha
Rumal ...
Coats ...
Waistcoat
Shoes...
Cost
per Month.
... Rs. 0 8
... » O 10
... » O 2
... · O o
... » O 3
... » O 2
... » O 11
Total... Rs. I II
ооооо
Grand Total... Rs. 8 6 per month.
For Poona the above scale is calculated to cost Rs. 6-11 per month,
or Rs. 80-4 per annum, at the high prices of 1863, while my estimate,
according to Surgeon Partridge's scale for 1867-8, is Rs. 5-2-10 per
month, or Rs. 62-2 per annum-nearly 24 per cent, less, as prices
have gone lower. For clothing, the estimate for 1863 is Rs. 1-11 per
month, or Rs. 20-8 per annum, while Mr. Shahabudin's estimate is only
Rs. 8-2 in 1868. Even allowing for fall in prices, Mr. Shahabudin's
estimate is lower, and calculated on a very low scale for an agricultural
labourer in the poorest districts, while that of 1863 is for the lowest
class of Government servants. Upon the whole, therefore, the estimate
189
given for 1867-8, as for the bare necessaries of a common agricultural
labourer, is evidently under the mark.
Lately I found the following in the “Statement of the Moral and
Material Progress of India” for 1871-2 ;-" The best account of the
Bombay peasantry is still probably that by Mr. Coats, written fifty years
ago. The clothes of a man then cost about 128., and the furniture of
his house about £2,"—(Parliamentary Return No. 172 of 28th
April 1873.)
I have not been able to work out the details of cost of living in other
parts of India. For the present I give the following approximate
comparison for 1867-8:-
Jails.

Provinces.
Cost of Living.
Cost of Clothing.
Total.
Rs.
a. p.
Rs. a. p.
| Rs, a. p.
Central Provinces
Punjab ...
31 00
wu
:::::::
crowwwer
o cours corpo
8 000000
Bengal* ...
Madras ...
Bombay ...
Oudh
31 II
28 30
*49. 2
41 13
53
2:4
47
0
M
ew
Now, the Bengal Census Report of 1872, page 109, of the appendix,
gives the percentage of population according to age as follows :-

Males.
Temales,
Not
exceeding
12 Years.
Above
12 Years,
Not
excecding
12 Years.
Adove
12 Years.
188
31*3
34-2
The Census of the N. W. Provinces
gives nearly the same result.
Above 12 years' adults, 64'4 per
cent. ; under 12, 35-6 per cent.
(see Administration Report for
1871-72, page 55 ; Census Report,
vol. I, page 31).
* Administration Report of Jails for 1871, page 39 of appendix.
+ This appears to be a very large expenditure. Besides, the average is taken
on the wrong principle, without taking the number of the prisoners in each
district into account. The correct average will be above Rs. 50.
190
The total adults, that is, above 12 years, are 65.5 per cent., and infants
or children under 12 years 34.5 per cent., which gives the proportion
of 2 adults to each child, or 1 child to every 3 persons.
From taking the cost of adults per head to be a, and cost of the mass
per head to be x, and supposing that, out of 34 per cent. of children
under 12, only 17 per cent. cost any thing, say one-half of the adult
(though the Bengal provision is half for children from two to ten years),
while the other 17 cost nothing at all, the problem will be
66a+179 +17 x 0 = 100.
& = 70or say 700 or ga,
1. e., the cost outside jail, or for the whole mass per head, will be about
three-fourths of inside the jail, allowing the jail for adults only. Thus,
taking the cost of 3 persons in the jail, or of 3 adults, to 4 persons
outside, or of the mass, it comes to this :-
Production per Head.
Three-fourths of Jail Cost
of Living, or Cost per head
outside Jail.
Central Provinces ...
...
...Rs. 21 or say
... 24 9
Rs. 23
»
witlopko poekotla
وو
وو
25
18
North-West Provinces
Madras
... ...
Bengal
Bombay
Oudh ...
...
...
co
9
,
)
... ,
...,
17
18
20
16
41
23-12
35
)
رو
9
مام
.....
.:
(D
It will be seen, from a comparison of the above figures, that, even for
such food and clothing as a criminal obtains, there is hardly enough of
production even in a good season, learing alone all little luxuries, all
social and religious wants, all expenses of occasions of joy and sorrow,
and any provision for bad season. It must, moreover, be borne in mind
that every poor labourer does not get the full share of the average pro
duction. The high and middle classes get a much larger share, the poor
classes much less, while the lowest cost of living is generally above the
average share.
Such appears to be the condition of the masses of India. They do not
get enough to provide the bare necessaries of life.
On the subject of necessary consumption, I shall be very glad if some
members of this Association, or others who possess or can ascertain the
necessary information, will supply it, as I have not been able to make
such minute and extended enquiries myself as I could wish.
191
DEFICIT OF IMPORTS COMPARED WITH THE
EXPORTS OF INDIA.
The total imports and exports of the United Kingdom for the years
1858 to 1870 are-
Imports ...... £3,608,216,242 (including Bullion)
Exports ... ... £2,875,027,301 ( 2
)
This shows an excess of imports over exports of £733,188,941, i. l.,
the imports are above 25 per cent. greater than the exports.
This excess is to be increased to the extent of about £125,000,000,
the balance of loans to India included in the exports, less interest on
these loans included in imports of about £60,000,000, and by such
further amounts as may be rade up by balances of loans and interests
with foreign parts. As England is the greatest lending country
in the world, the ultimate result of excess of commercial imports over
commercial exports will most probably be above, rather than under,
£733,000,000, or 25 per cent. of exports. At all events, it will not be
less than 15 per cent.
For British North America, the total imports and exports, including
bullion, for the years 1854 to 1868, are-
Imports......................£200,257,620
Exports.....................£154,900,367
This shows an excess of imports over exports of £45,357,253, i. e., the
imports are about 29 per cent. more than the exports, subject to a
modification of the extent to which it has received from, or given loan to,
foreign parts. As far as I can see, it is a borrower, and the excess to
that extent will be lesser.
For Australia, the total imports and exports, including bullion, for
the years 1854 to 1868, are:-
Imports...... ... ... .. ... ... £443,407,019
Exports.....................£384,503,081
The excess of imports over exports is therefore £58,903,938, i. e. the im-
ports are 15 per cent. more than the exports, subject to modification, as
in the case of British North America, for its foreign debt. These figures
show that the normal condition of the foreign commerce of any country
is generally such that for its exports there is always a return in imports
equal to the exports, plus profits. On an average, commercial profits
may be taken at 20 per cent. Indian merchants generally insure by
192
sailing vessels 25 per cent. more, and by steamers 15 per cent., for pro-
fits, as by steamers the same capital may be turned over oftener. If I
take general commercial profits as 15 per cent., I shall be quite under
the mark.
Now we must see what the case is with India. The exports of India
for the years 1835 to 1872 being about £1,120,000,000, the imports,
with an addition of 15 per cent. to exports for profits (of about
£168,000,000), should be about £1,288,000,000. Besides this, India has
incurred to foreign parts a debt of about £50,000,000 for the public
debt, and about £100,000,000 for railways, during the same period.
Now, on the other hand, in return for the exports, plus profits, of
£1,288,000,000, and £150,000,000, of the loans, India has actually
imported, during the last 38 years, from 1835 to 1872 (not, as would
be the case in a normal condition, £1,430,000,000, but) only about
£943,000,000, leaving a balance of about £500,000,000, which England
has kept back as its benefit, chiefly arising from the political position it
holds over India. This is without including any interest át all.
Towards this drain, the net opium revenue contributed by China
amounts to about £141,000,000. The balance, of about £360,000,000,
is derived from India's own produce and profits of commerce. The pro-
fits of commerce are, say, about £168,000,000. Allowing, then, the
whole opium revenue and the whole profit of commerce as having gone
towards the drain, there is still a deficiency of nearly £200,000,000,
which must have gone out of the produce of the country. Deducting from
this £200,000,000 the interest on railway loans remitted to England, the
balance still sent from the very produce of the country is about
£144,000,000. Strictly speaking, the whole £200,000,000 should be
considered as a drain from the very produce of the country, because it is
the exhaustion caused by the drain that disables us from building our
railroads, &c., from our own means. If we did not suffer the exhaustion
we do, and even then if we found it to our benefit to borrow from England,
the case would be one of a healthy natural business, and the interest then
remitted would have nothing to be deplored in it, as in the case of
other countries, which, being young, or with undeveloped resources, and
without much means of their own, borrow from others, and increase
their own wealth thereby, as Australia, Canada, the United States, or
any other native-ruled country that so borrows. However, as matters
stand at present, we are thankful for the railway loan, for in reality
that, though as a loan (with the profits during the American War), has
revived us a little. But we are sinking fast again. Allowing for the
193
of imports, or drain to England, as only about £453,000,000, the follow-
ing is the yearly average for every five years :-
Yearly Average.
Years.
1835 to 1839...
... 5,347,000
1840 ,, 1844...
... 5,930,000
1845 , 1849...
... 7,760,000
1850, 1854...
... 7,458,000
1855 ,, 1859...
... 7,730,000
1860 ,, 1864...
... 17,300,000
1865,, 1869... ... ... ... 24,600,000
1870., 1872... ... .. ...27,400,000
Now, can it be shown by anybody that the production during these
38 years has been such as to leave the same amount per head every
year, and surplus besides to make up the above £200,000,000 taken
away from the produce of the country, in addition to opium revenue
and profits of commerce? In that case it will be that India is no better
that the production of the country has been such as to be the same per
head during all these years, and a surplus greater than £200,000,000
besides, then will it be that any material benefit has been derived by
India to the extent of such excess of surplus over £200,000,000. It
must, however, be remembered that, in the years about 1834, the
condition of the people had already gone down very low by the effects
of the previous deficits, as will be seen further on from the official
opinions I have given there.
The benefit to England by its connection with India must not be
measured by the £500,000,000 only during the last 38 years. Besides
this the industries of England receive large additional support for
supplying all European stores which Government need, and all those
articles which Europeans want in India from their habits and customs,
not from mere choice, as may be the case with natires. All the produce
of the country, thus exported from sheer necessity, would otherwise have
brought returns suitable to native wants, or would have remained in the
country, in either case, to the benefit of the produce or industry of India.
Be it clearly borne in mind that all this additional benefit to English
industries is entirely independent of, and in addition to the actual
deficit between the export plus profits and imports. Everything I allude
to is already included in the imports. It is so much additional capital
drawn away, whether India will or no, from the industry of India to the
19.
194
benefit of English industry. There is again, the further legitimate benefit
to England of the profits of English firms there carrying on commerce
with India, the profits of the shipping trade, and insurance. The only
pity-and a very great one toomis that the commerce between England
and India is not so large as it should and can be, the present total exports
of India to all the outside world being only about 58. a head, while the
exports of the United Kingdom are about £6 10s, a head, of British
North America about £3 a head, and of Australia about £19 a head,
including gold (and exclusive of gold about £11 a head). Again, what
are imports into India from the United Kingdom, including treasure,
Government stores of every kind, railway and other stores, articles for
European consumption, and everything for native consumption and use ?
Only less than 38. a head, as below :
Total Imports, including Treasure, into India from the
United Kingdom.
1868.. £31,629,315 )
1869...£35,309,973 | Say £32,000,000, on an average, for a population of
1870...£30,357,055 / about 225,000,000, or less than 38. a head.
1871...£28,826,264
(Parliamentary Return (c. 587] of 1872, page 16-Trade and Navigation Returns
of the United Kingdom.)
What a vast field there is for English commerce in India ! Only
£! a head will be equal to nearly the whole present exports of the
United Kingdom to all parts of the world. There is one further
circumstance against British-Indian subjects, which will show the actual
drain from the produce of the country of more than £200,000,000 as
borne by British India. The exports from India do not all belong to
British India ; & portion belongs to the Native States. These States
naturally get back their imports equal to their exports, plus profits-
less only the tribute they pay to British India, of only about £720,000
altogether per annum, of which even a portion is spent in their own
States. No account can I take here of the further loss to India (by
famines) of life and property, which is aggravated by the political
exhaustion. It is complained that England is at the mercy of India for
its loan of some £200,000,000, but let it be borne in mind that, within
the next few years, that sum will bave been drawn by England while
India will continue to have its debt over its head.
The figures of the deficit previous to 1834 I cannot get. Il: pe the
India Office would prepare a table similar to this for this pravilius p.: od,
195
in order that it may be ascertained how India had fared materially under
British rule altogether.
The effect of the deficit is not equally felt by the different presidencies.
Bengal suffers less than the others on account of its permanent settle-
ment. I do not mean that as any objection to such settlement, but I
state it merely as a fact.
The Court of Directors, in the year 1858, deliberately put forth before
the Parliament and public of England the statement (Parliamentary
Return No. 75 of 1858 ) that “the great excess of exports above imports
is being regularly liquidated in silver.” Now, is it not India's misfortune
that not one man in the India Office pointed out how utterly incorrect,
misleading, and mischievous this statement was ?
Now, Mr. Laing makes the following statement before the present
Finance Committee :-“Question 7660 of 2nd Report-Would it not be
correct to state that the difference between the value of the exports from
India, and the imports into India, which now amount, I think, to the
pays to England ? Answer.—No, I think not; I should not call it a
tribute when there is a balance of trade of that sort between the two
condition of exporting considerably more than they import from one
particular country, and the balance of trade is adjusted either by other
payments which have to be made, or by transactions through third
countries, or finally by remittance of bullion."
First of all, the question was not about India's commerce with any
particular country, but about all its exports and imports. And next,
taking his answer as it is, it is altogether incorrect and inapplicable to
India, as must be evident from the facts I have already laid before you..
Next comes Mr. Maclean. He is reported to have said before this
Committee something to the effect that, if we compare India, for instance,
with the United States, which can hardly be called a country that is
being drained of its natural wealth, we will find that the excess of
exports over imports in the United States is very much greater than the.
corresponding excess in India. Now, let us see what the facts are. I
have prepared a table, and have taken the figures from the year 1795
the earliest I could get. From the totals I have excluded the years 1802-6,
1808-14, 1818-20, because the imports for them are not given, and
the years 1863-6 for reasons well known ( the American War). The
result till 1869 (I cannot get later authentic figures ) is not, as
196
Mr. Maclean says, that “the excess of exports over imports in the United
States is very much greater than the corresponding excess in India," but
that the excess of imports over exports is about $493,000,000 till 1847,
and £43,000,000 from 1848-69, excepting the years I have mentioned
above; and if all the necessary modifications from various other circum-
stances be made, the excess of the imports will be found necessarily
much greater. In fact, the United States are no exception to the
ordinary laws of political economy, in a country where the rule is a
native, and not a foreign, one. I have made up my tables from
Parliamentary Returns.
The deficits of £500,000,000 in imports, do not, as I have already
explained, show the whole drain ; for the English stores, whether
Government or private, are all already included in the imports, nor is
any interest calculated. With interest, the drain from India would
amount to a very high figure.
This drain consists of two elements—first, that arising from the remit-
tances by European officials of their savings, and for their expenditure
in England for their various wants both there and in India ; from pen-
sions and salaries paid in England ; and from Government expenditure in
England and India : and the second, that arising from similar rem ittances
by non-official Europeans. Over the first we have no control, beyond
urging upon our rulers that thepresent system of administration is an unna-
tural one, destructive to India and suicidal for England. For the second,
it is in our own hands what its extent should be. It is no blame to these
European gentlemen for coming here to seek their fortunes—and in fact
we had need for them to some extent; but if we are blind to our own
national interests and necessities, and if we do not support, encourage,
and preserve in every possible way, every talent, trade, industry, art, or
profession among the natives, even at certain sacrifices, the fault is our
own, and we deserve to be, and shall be, impoverished. In complaining,
therefore, about the vast drain from India, and our growing impoverish-
ment, it must be borne in mind that, for a certain portion of it, we
have to thank our own blindness to our national interests, but for
a large portion the cause is the present system and policy of Indian
administration,
We may draw our own inferences about the effects of the drain, but I
give you below official opinions on the subject, from early times to the
present day, for each presidency.
197
BENGAL.
Sir John Shore, in 1787, says in his famous minute ( appendix to 5th
report, Parliamentary Return No. 377 of 1812 ):-
"129. Secondly, it is a certain fact that the zemindars are almost
universally poor. . . . Justice and humanity calls for this
declaration.
"130. . . . I do not, however, attribute this fact to the
extortions of our Government, but to the causes which I shall hereafter
point out, and which will be found sufficient to account for the effect,
I am by no means convinced that the reverse would have taken place
if the measure of our exactions had been more moderate.
"131. Thirdly, the Company are merchants, as well as sovereigns o
the country. In the former capacity they engross its trade, whilst in
the latter they appropriate the revenues. The remittances to Europe of
revenues are made in the commodities of the country which are pur-
chased by them.
“132. Whatever allowance we may make for the increased industry
of the subjects of the State, owing to the enhanced demand for the
produce of it (supposing the demand to be enhanced), there is reason to
conclude that the benefits are more than counterbalanced by erils
inseparable from the system of a remote foreign dominion.
“135. Every information, from the time of Bernier to the acquisition
of the Dewani, shows the internal trade of the country, as carried on
between Bengal and the upper parts of Hindustan, the Gulf of Moros
the Persian Gulf, and the Malabar Coast, to have been very consider-
able. Returns of specie and goods were made through these channel,
by that of the foreign European companies, and in gold direct for opium
from the eastward.
"136. But from the year 1765 the reverse has taken place. The
Company's trade produces no equivalent returns, specie is rarely
imported by the foreign companies, nor brought into Bengal from other
parts of Hindustan in any considerable quantities.
“141. If we were to suppose the internal trade of Hindustan again
revived, the export of the production of the country by the Company
must still prevent those returns which trade formerly poured in. This
is an evil inseparable from a European government.”
198
Page 194. A large proportion of the rents of the country are paid
into the Company's treasury, and the manufactures are applied to remit
to England the surplus which remains after discharging the claims on
this Government, and to augment the commerce and revenue of Great
Britain.”
Lord Cornwallis' minute on land settlements, dated 10th February
1790, says :—“The consequence of the heavy drain of wealth from the
above causes (viz., large annual investment to Europe, assistance to the
treasury of Calcutta, and to supply wants of other presidencies), with
the addition of that which has been occasioned by the remittances of
private fortunes, have been for many years past, and are now, severely
felt, by the great diminution of the current specie, and by the languor
which has thereby been thrown upon the cultivation and the general
commerce of the country."
Behar continuously deteriorating, caused a long and minute survey of
the condition of the people. This survey extended over nine years,
from 1807 to 1860. The reports, however, lay buried in the archives
of the India House, till Mr. Montgomery Martin brought them to light.
He sums up the result of these official minute researches in the
following remarkable words (vol. I., page 11):-“ It is impossible to
avoid remarking two facts as peculiarly striking-first, the richness of
the country surveyed; and second, the poverty of its inhabitants."
Before proceeding further, I must first say that the drain to which
these great men have referred was much less than at present. I give
the figures in Mr. Martin's words (page 12):—“The annual drain of
£3,000,000 on British India has amounted in 30 years, at 12 per cent.
(the usual Indian rate) compound interest, to the enormous sum of
£723,900,000 sterling... So constant and accumulating a drain,
even in England, would soon impoverish her. How severe, then, must
be its effects on India, where the wage of a labourer is from two-pence
to three-pence a day?"
In volume III., page 4, &c., alluding to the nine years' survey, Mr.
Martin says that the obscurity to which such a survey was consigned
was to be deplored, “and can only be accounted for by supposing that
it was deemed impolitic to publish to the world so painful a picture of
human poverty, debasement, and wretchedness"; and Mr. Martin draws
many other painful conclusions,
199
Coming down to later times, Mr. Frederick John Shore, of the Bengal
Civil Service, has left us the following account of the condition of the .
people in 1837 (vol. II., page 28) :-"But the halcyon days of India are
over; she has been drained of a large proportion of the wealth she once
possessed, and her energies have been cramped by a sordid system of
misrule to which the interests of millions have been sacrificed for the
benefit of the few." "The gradual impoverishment of the people and
country, under the mode of rule established by the British Government,
has” &c. &c. . . . . . . . . .
" The English Government has effected the impoverishment of the
country and people to an extent almost unparalleled.”
For the manner in which the cotton industry of India was
destroyed, see note at page 37 of the same volume. In his con-
cluding remarks (vol. II., page 516), Mr. Shore says:—“ More than
seventeen years have elapsed since I first landed in this country ;
but on my arrival, and during my residence of about a year
in Calcutta, I well recollect the quiet, comfortable, and settled
conviction, which in those days existed in the minds of the
English population, of the blessings conferred on the natives of India
by the establishment of the English rule. Our superiority to the native
Governments which we have supplanted; the excellent system for the
administration of justice which we had introduced; our moderation ;
our anxiety to benefit the people—in short, our virtues of every descrip-
tion-were descanted on as so many established truths, which it was
heresy to controvert. Occasionally I remember to have heard some
hints and assertions of a contrary nature from some one who had spent
many years in the interior of the country ; but the storm which was
immediately raised and thundered on the head of the unfortunate indi-
vidual who should presume to question the established creed, was almost
sufficient to appal the boldest.
"Like most other young men who had no opportunities of judging for
themselves, it was but natural that I should imbibe the same notions ;
to which may be added, the idea of universal depravity of the people,
which was derived from the same source."
After stating how his transfer to a remote district brought him into
intimate contact with natives, how he found them disaffected towards
British rule, and how this conviction in spite of himself was irresistible,
he says :-—"This being the case, an attempt to discover the reasons for
such sentiments on the part of the native population, was the natural
200
result. Well-founded complaints of oppression and extortion, on the
part of both Government and individuals, were innumerable. The
question then was, why, with all our high professions, were not such
evils redressed? This, however, I was assured, was impossible under the
existing system ; and I was thus gradually led to an enquiry into the
principles and practice of the British-Indian administration. Proceed-
ing in this, I soon founl myself at no loss to understand the feelings of
the people both towards our Government and to ourselves. It would
have been astonishing indeed had it been otherwise. The fundamental
principle of the English had been to make the whole Indian nation
subservient, in every possible way, to the interests and benefits of them-
selves. They have been taxed to the utmost limit; every successive
province, as it has fallen into our possession, has been made a field for
higher exaction ; and it has always been our boast how greatly we have
raised the revenue above that which the native rulers were able to extort.
The Indians have been excluded from every honor, dignity, or office
which the lowest Englishman could be prevailed upon to accept.
“Had the welfare of the people been our object, a very different
course would have been adopted, and very different results would have
followed ; for again and again I repeat it, there is nothing in the
circumstance itself, of our being foreigners of different colour and faith,
that should occasion the people to hate us. We may thank ourselves
for having made their feelings towards us what they are."
In vol. I., page 162, Mr. Shore says :-" The ruin of the upper classes
(like the exclusion of the people from a share in the government) was
a necessary consequence of the establishment of the British power; but
had ve acted on a more liberal plan, we should have fixed our authority
on a much more solid foundation."
Colonel Marriot, at the East India Association meeting in July last,
referring to Bengal, said : “But he had no doubt that he accurately
quoted the words of the present Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal in saying
that the mass of the population is probably poorer, and in a lower social
position, than any in India."
The “ Material and Moral Progress" for 1871-2 (page 100) says that
“the Calcutta missionary conference had dwelt on the miserable and
abject condition of the Bengal ryots, and there is eridence that they
suffer many things, and are often in want of absolute necessaries."
201
BAY,
Mr. Saville Marriot, one of the Commissioners of Revenue in the
Deccan,' and afterwards a member of council, says in 1836, in his letter
to Sir R. Grant:-“You will readily conceive that my opinions are the
result rather of practical experience than deductions drawn from scientific
views. . . . . . . . . . .
“For many years past I have, in common with many others, painfully
witnessed their decline (the peoples]; and more especially that part of
the community which has emphatically been styled the ‘sinews of the
State'-the peasantry of India. It is not a single, but a coma bination of
causes, which has produced this result. Some of these are, and have
bean from the beginning, obvious to those who have watched with
attention the development of the principles of our rule in relation to such
as have been superseded, become blended with our system, or are
opposed to it in practical effect. Others are less apparent, and some
complex; whilst another class of the decline may possibly be involved in
obscurity.
" It is a startling but too notorious a fact, that though loaded with a
vastly greater absolute amount of taxation, and harassed by various
severe acts of tyranny and oppression, yet the country was in a state of
prosperity under the native rule when compared with that into which it
has fallen under the avowedly mild sway of British administration.
Though, in stating the subject, I have used the expression a vastly
greater absolute amount of taxation, yet I would beg to be understood
as being fully aware those terms must be treated in a qualified sense, since
it is manifest that, relatively viewed, a smaller numerical amount of
taxation may, with reference to the means of payment, be, in point of fact,
more burdensome than a much larger one where the resources are more
adequate to the object. But, in the particular case in point, it is, I
believe, ability which has diminished; and that, too, to many grades
below the proportionate fall in the pecuniary amount of fiscal demand.
To the pecuniary injurious result are also to be added tlie many unfavor-
able circumstances inseparable for a time from a foreign rule. In
elucidation of the position that this country is verging to the lowest ebb of
pauperism, I would adduce a fact pregnant with considerations of the
most serious importance, namely, that of late years a large portion of
the public revenue has been paid by encroachment upon the capital of
the country, small though that capital is in itself. I allude to the
property of the peasantry, which consists of personal ornaments of the
202
precious metals and jewels, convertible, as occasions require, to pro
fitable purposes, and accommodations in agricultural pursuit, most fre-
quently in the shape of pawn, till the object has been attained. I feel
certain that an examination would establish that a considerable share
of this and other property, even to cattle and household utensils, has been
for ever alienated from its proprietors to make good the public revenue.
In addition to this lamentable evidence of poverty, is another of equal
force, to be seen in all parts of the country, in the numerous individuals
of the above class of the community wandering about for the employ-
ment of hirelings, which they are glad to obtain even for the most
scanty pittance. In short, almost everything forces the conviction that
we have before us a narrowing progress to utter pauperism."*
Mr. Marriot in another place (page 11). says:~"Most of the erils of
our rule in India arise directly from, or may be traced to, the heavy
tribute which that country pays to England.”
And with regard to this tribute, he quotes the Chairman of a Court
of Proprietors held on the 28th February 1845, as follows :—"India
paid to the mother-country, in the shape of home charges, what must
be considered the annual tribute of £3,000,000 sterling; and daily
poured into the lap of the mother-country a continual stream of wealth
in the shape of private fortunes.” To this should be added all earnings
of Europeans, except what they spent in India for Indian supplies;
which would show that there is something far beyond even private
fortunes which is continuously poured into the lap of England.
Mr. Marriot goes on to say :-“It will be difficult to satisfy the mind
that any country could bear such a drain upon its resources without
sustaining very serious injury. And the writer entertains the fullest
conviction that investigation would effectually establish the truth of the
proposition as applicable to India. He has himself most painfully
and he has every reason to believe that the same evil exists, with but
Blight modification, throughout our Eastern empire."
Again says Mr. Marriot (page 17):—“A different state of things
exists in the present day on that point; and, though the people
still, and gratefully so, acknowledge the benefits they have derived from
the suppression of open violence, yet they emphatically and unanswer-
ably refer their increasing penury as evidencing the existence of a
* Mr. Marriot's pamphlet re-published in 1857, page 13. The italics are mine.
203
canker-worm that is working their destruction. The sketch which I
have given shows a distressing state of things; but lamentable as it may
appear, I would pledge myself to establish the facts advanced, and that
the representation is not overdrawn.”
Mr. Robert Knight says:-"Mr. Giberne, after an absence of fourteen
years from Guzerat, returned to it, as judge, in 1840. •Everywhere'-
he told the Commons' Committee on Cotton Cultivation in 1848_'he
remarked deterioration,' and ' I did not see so many of the more wealthy
classes of the natives. The aristocracy, when we first had the country ,
used to have their gay carts, horses, and attendants, and a great deal of
finery about them, and there seems to be an absence of all that. . .
The ryots all complain that they had had money once, but they had none
now."
In a private letter, dated 1849, 'written by a gentleman high in the
Company's service,' and quoted in a pamphlet in 1851, the decay of
Guzerat is thus described :-"Many of the best families in the province,
who were rich and well to-do when we came into Guzerat in 1807, have
now scarcely clothes to their backs. . . . . . . .
Our demands in money on the talookdars are more than three times
what they originally paid, without one single advantage gained on their
parts. Parties, from whom they have been compelled to borrow at
ruinous rates of interest, enforced their demands by attachment of their
lands and villages; thus they sink deeper and deeper in debt, without
the chance of extricating themselves. What, then, must become of
their rising family?"*
Lieutenant A. Nash, after giving a table of the prices of grain from
1809 to 1838 in Indapore (Bombay Government Selections, No. 107,
New Series, page 118), says :-“The table is chiefly interesting in
showing the gradual diminution in the price of corn from the days of
the Peishwas to our own. By comparing the prices at the commence-
ment with those at the end of the table, and then reading the list over,
this circumstance will become apparent." I give this table in my
notes on prices.
* Mr. Robert Knight's paper read before the East India Association, 3rd
March 1868.
204
MADRAS.
Mr. John Bruce Norton, in his letter to Mr. Robert Lowe in 1854
quotes the words of Mr. Bourdillon-'one of the ablest revenue officers
in the Madras Civil Service, and a Member of the Commission on Public
Works '-about the majority of the ryots :- Page 21.-"Now, it may
certainly be said of almost the whole of the ryots, paying even the highest
of these şums, and even of many holding to a much larger amount, that
they are always in poverty and generally in debt.” Page 22.-"A ryot
of this class, of course, lives from hand to mouth. He rarely sees
money, .. His dwelling is a hut of mud walls and thatched roof
far ruder, smaller, and more dilapidated than those of the better classes
of ryots a bove spoken of, and still more destitute, if possible, of anything
that can be called furniture. His food, and that of his family, is partly
thin porridge made of the meal of grain boiled in water, and partly boiled
rice, with a little condiment; and generally the only vessels for cooking
and eating from, are of the coarsest earthenware, much inferior in grain
to a good tile or brick in England, and unglazed. Brass vessels, though
not wholly unknown among this class, are rare."
About the labourer he says :-“As respects food, houses, and clothing,
they are in a worse condition than the class of poor ryots above spoken
of. It appears from the foregoing details that the condition of the agri-
cultural labourer in this country is very poor. .. In fact, almost
the whole of his earnings must necessarily be consumed in a spare allow-
ance of coarse and unvaried food, and a bare sufficiency of clothing. The
wretched hut he lives in, can hardly be valued at all. As to anything
in the way of education or mental culture, he is utterly destitute of it.”
Such is the testimony in the year 1854. Now let us come down to so
late a time as 1869. Mr. (now Sir George) Campbell, in his paper on
tenure of land in India, published by the Cobden Club, quotes from an
official authority a report made so late as 1869 about the Madras Pre-
sidency, as follows:~"The bulk of the people are paupers. They can
just pay their cesses in a good year, and fail altogether when the season
is bad. Remissions have to be made, perhaps every third year, in most
districts. There is a bad year in some one district, or group of districts,
every year.”
Again the Parliamentary Report of the Moral and Material Progress
of India for 1868-9, page 71, says—“ Prices in Madras have been falling
continuously."
205
PUNJAB...
The administration report for 1855-6'(Government of India Selections
No. 18, 1856) gives the following table :-
Average Prices.

For Ten Years up 10
1869--51.
Wheat, Rs. 2 per
Blaund of 82 lbs.
Indian Corn,
Rs. 1 it per Maund,
1851-2
1
Rs. 1 per maund.
, 17
Rs. Ofi per maund.
» 11'
1852-3
1853-4
ܙܝ
ܕܝ 1
1854-5
,
1
'»
» 018
10ti
1855-6
..
..
..
..
»
With the usual effects of the introduction of a foreign rule, and the
seasons happening to be good, the result was a fall in prices to nearly
half during the five years after the annexation. The political portion
of the causes of this depression is well described in a subsequent report,
and how a change in that political portion produced a favorable reaction
in the province.
The administration report of 1856-8 (Parliamentary Return No. 212
of 1859, page 16), “prepared under the direction of Sir J. Lawrence,
K. C. B., Chief Commissioner of Punjab, by R. Temple, Secretary to Chief
Commissioner, Punjab,' says:-“In former reports it was explained how
the circumstance of so much money going out of the Punjab contributed to
depress the agriculturist. The native regular army was Hindustani; to
them was a large share of the Punjab revenues disbursed, of which a part
only they spent on the spot, and a part was remitted to their homes. Thus
it was that, year after year, lakhs and lakhs were drained from the
Punjab, and enriched Oudh. But within the last year, the native army
being Punjabi, all such sums have been paid to them, and have been
spent at home. Again, many thousands of Punjabi soldiers are serving
abroad. These men not only remit their savings, but also have sent
quantities of prize property and plunder, the spoils of Hindustan, to their
native villages. The effect of all this is already perceptible in an
increase of agricultural capital, a freer circulation of money, and a fresh
impetus to cultivation."
. This is just the cause which, in a far more aggravated form and
on a far larger scale, operates on the whole of British India in
206
its relations with England. Millions are drained to England ; and
till the reversing cause of the retaining and return of wealth in some way
does not come into operation, the evils of the drain cannot be remedied.
And what is the condition of a labourer now? Here is the Punjab
Government's own answer in the administration report for 1867-8
(page 88). After stating the rates of unskilled labour as ranging from
two annas (three-pence) to five annas (seven and a half pence) per diem
and alluding to a considerable rise in rates in places affected by the
railway and other public works, where labour in any shapé commands
higher remuneration than formerly, the report says :-"It may be
doubted whether the position of the unskilled labouring classes has
materially improved.”
NORTH-WEST PROVINCES.
vinces (Parliamentary Return No. 29 of 1862), referring to the famine
of 1837, says :-Page 57.-"From the time of our earliest acquisition
of any part of these up to 1833, our fiscal system, notwithstanding some
improvements on the native method which were gradually introduced,
had been thoroughly bad.” Page 59.—“Speaking in general terms,
therefore, native society in the N. W. Provinces had to face the calamity
in 1837, debilitated by a fiscal system that was oppressive and depress-
ing in its influence. . . . In India we all know very well
that when the agricultural class is weak, the weakness of all other
sections of the community is the inevitable consequence.”
I have not come across Mr. Halsey's report on the assessment of
Cawnpore, but I take an extract from one given in the Bombay Gazette
Summary of 21st June 1872, page 12:-"I assert that the abject poverty
of the average cultivator of this district is beyond the belief of any one
who has not seen it. He is simply a slave to the soil, to the zemindar,
to the usurer, and to Government. . . . I regret to say
that, with these few exceptious, the normal state of between three-
fourths and four-fifths of the cultivators of this district is as I have
above shown. It may appear to many to be exaggerated, and, from
the nature of the case, it is of course in possible to produce figures in
support of it ; nevertheless, it is the result of my personal observations,
and I feel confident the result of the whole discussion will be to prove
I have not overstated the trutii."
The figures I have given of the total produce of the North-West
Provinces proves by fact what Mr. Fibey gives as his observations
207
Hardly 278. per head-say even 308.-cannot but produce the result
he sees.
CENTRAL PROVINCES.
· Here is the latest testimony about the people. Mr. W. G. Pedder
says*_"Who the people], if an almost universal concensus of opinion
may be relied on, are rapidly going from bad to worse under our rule,
is a most serious question, and one well deserving the attention of
Government.”
Lastly to sum up the whole, here is Sir John Lawrence (Lord Law-
rence) testifying so late as 1864 about all India :-—" India is, on the
whole, a very poor country ; the mass of the population enjoy only a
scanty subsistence.” And Lord Mayo, on the 3rd March 1871, says,
in his speech in the Legislative Council_“I admit the comparative
poverty of this country, as compared with many other countries of the
same magnitude and importance, and I am convinced of the impolicy
and injustice of imposing burdens upon this people which may be called
either crushing or oppressive.
“Mr. Grant Duff, in an able speech which he delivered the other day
in the House of Commons, the report of which arrived by last mail,
stated, with truth, that the position of our finance was wholly different
from that of England. “In England,' he stated, you have a compara-
tively wealthy population. The income of the United Kingdom has,
I believe, been guessed at £800,000,000 per annum ; the income of
British India has been guessed at £300,000,000 per annum. That
gives well on tu £30 per annum as the income of every person in the
United Kingdom, and only £2 per annum as the income of every person
in British India.
“I believe that Mr. Grant Duff had good grounds for the statement
The made, and I wish to say with reference to it, that we are perfectly
cognizant of the relative poverty of this country as compared with
European States." .
So here is a clear admission by high authorities of what I had urged
in my paper on the “ Wants and Means of India," and what I now
urge, that India's production was only about 40s. a head.
And now in the year 1873, before the Finance Committee, Lord
Lawrence repeats his conviction that the mass of the people of India
* Times of India Summary of 6th June 1873.
208
are so miserably poor that they have barely the means of subsistence.
It is as much as a man can do to feed his family or half feed them, let
alone spending money on what may be called luxuries or conveniences.
Mr. Grant Duff asked Mr. Lawson, so late as in May 1870, in the
House of Commons; whether he meant to “grind an already poor
population to the very dust.”
The following picture about England itself under similar circum-
stances, may, I hope, enable the British people to realize our condition.
The parallel is remarkable, and the picture in certain portions
life-like of the present state of India. Draper's "Intellectual Devel-
opment of Europe,” 5th edition :- Page 365.-"In fact, through
the operation of the Crusades, all Europe was tributary to the Pope
(Innocent III.) . . .
A steady drain of money from every realm. Fifty years after the time
of which we are speaking, Robert Grostale, the Bishop of Lincoln and
friend of Roger Bacon, caused to be ascertained the amount received
by foreign ecclesiastics in England. He found it to be thrice the
income of the king himself. This was on the occasion of Innocent IV.
demanding provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian
boy-should hare a stall in Lincoln Cathedral.” Page 397.—“In
England—for ages a mine of wealth to Rome—the tendency of things
was shown by such facts as the remonstrances of the Commons with the
Crown on the appointment of ecclesiastics to all the great offices, and
the allegations made by the 'Good Parliament' as to the amount of
money drawn by Rome from the kingdom. They asserted that it was
five times as much as the taxes levied by the king, and that the Pope's
revenue from England was greater than the revenue of any prince in
Christendom.” Page 434.--"It is manifest by legal enactments early
in the fourteenth century. . . .
England to the Pope for ecclesiastical dignities is fourfold as much as
that coming to the king from the whole realm ; that alien clergy, who
have never seen, nor cared to see, their flocks, convey away the treasure
of the country.” Page 477.—“ The inferior, unreflecting orders were
in all directions exasperated by its importunate unceasing exactions of
money. In England for instance, though less advanced intellectually
than the southern nations, the commencement of the Reformation is
perhaps justly referred as far back as the reign of Edward III., who,
under the suggestion of Wickliffe, refused to do homage to the Pope ;
209
but a series of weaker princes succeeding, it was not until Henry VII.
that the movement could be continued. In that country, the imme_
diately existing causes were, no doubt, of a material kind, such as the
alleged avarice and impurity of the clergy, the immense amount of money
taken from the realm, the intrusion of foreign ecclesiastics.” Page 478.
_" As all the world had been drained of money by the Senate and
Cæsars for the support of republican or imperial power, so there was a
need of like supply for the use of the pontiffs. The collection of funds.
had often given rise to contentions between the ecclesiastical and tem-
poral authorities, and in some of the more sturdy countries had been
resolutely resisted."
The result of this drain from England to Italy was the condition of
the people, as pictured at pages 494-5, than which nothing could be
more painful. Mr. Draper says :—“For many of the facts I have now
to mention, the reader will find authorities in the works of Lord
Macaulay, and Mr. Froude on English History. My own reading in
other directions satisfies me that the picture here offered represents the
actual condition of things. . . . . . . . .
“ There were forests extending over great districts ; fens forty or fifty
miles in length, reeking with miasma and fever, though round the walls
of the abbeys there might be beautiful gardens, green lawns, shady
walks, and many murmuring streams. . . . . . .
The peasant's cabin was made of reeds, or sticks, plastered over with
mud. His fire was chimneyless--often it was made of peat. In the
objects and manner of his existence, he was but a step above the indus-
trious beaver who was building his dam in the adjacent stream. . .
Vermin in abundance in the clothing and beds. The common food was
peas, vetches, fern-ronts, and even the bark of trees. . . The
population, sparse as it was, was perpetually thinned by pestilence and
want. Nor was the state of the townsman better than that of the rustic;
his bed was a bag of straw, with a fair round log for his pillow. . .
It was a melancholy social condition when nothing intervened between
reed cabins in the fen, the miserable wigwams of villages, and the con-
spicuous walls of the castle and the monastery. . . . .
Rural life had but little improved since the time of Cæsar; in its
physical aspect it was altogether neglected..
“ England, at the close of the age of faith, had for long been a chief
pecuniary tributary to Italy, the source from large revenues have been
14
210
i
drawn, the fruitful field in which herds of Italian ecclesiastics had been,
pastured. . . At the beginning of the sixteenth century,
the island was far more backward, intellectually and politically, than is
commonly supposed.”
We see, then, to what condition the people of England were reduced
under the Italian drain. India cannot but share the same fate under
similar causes, unless England, as she sincerely means to do, adopts the
necessary precautions and remedies to prevent such results.
Before I close the subject of the drain and its consequences, I direct
your attention to a few facts connected with the subject of railways,
and such other useful public works. You are well aware that I strongly
desire these works, but I cannot shut my eyes to the following facts :-
America, for instance, requires money to build a railway, takes a loan
and builds it—and everybody knows it is immensely benefited. I need
not read to you a chapter on political economy why it is so. I need only
say every man employed in the construction of that railway is an Ameri-
can; every farthing, therefore, that is spent out of the loan remains in the
country. In the working of the railway, every man is an American ; every
farthing taken out of the produce of the country for its conveyance
remains in the country; so whatever impetus is given to the production
of the country, and increase made in it, is fully enjoyed by the country
paying, out of such increase in its capital and production, the interest
of the loan, and in time the loan itself. Under such ordinary economical
circumstances, a country derives great benefit from the help of loans
from other countries. In India, in the construction of the railroad, a
large amount of the loan goes towards the payment of Europeans, a
portion of which, as I have explained before, goes out of the country.
Then again, in the working of the railway, the same drawback, leaving
therefore hardly any benefit at all to India itself, and the whole interest
of the loan must also go out of the country. So our condition is a very
anomalous one-like that of a child to which a fond parent gives
a sweet, but to which, in its exhausted condition, the very sweet
acts like poison, and as a foreign substance by irritating the weak
stomach makes it throw out more, and causes greater exhaustion. In
India's present condition, the very sweets of every other nation
appear to act on it as poison. With this continuous and ever increasing
drain by innumerable channels, as our normal condition at present,
the most well-intentioned acts of Government become disadvantageous.
Sir Richard Temple clearly understands this phenomenon, as I have
211
.
already shown. But, somehow or other, he seems to have now forgotten
what he so clearly pointed out a score of years ago. Many a time, in
discussing with English friends the question of the material drain
generally, and the above remarks on railways, irrigation-works, &c., I
found it a very difficult task to convince. Fortunately, a great authority
enunciates the fundamental principles very clearly and convincingly,
and I give them below, hoping that an authority like that of the late
Mr. Mill, will, on economical principles especially, command attention,
I give a few short extracts from Mill's Political Ecomony,
chapter V.:-
“Industry is limited by capital,”
“To employ industry on the land is to apply capital to the land.”
"Industry cannot be employed to any greater extent than there is
capital to invest."
“ There can be no more industry than is supplied by materials to
work up, and food to eat. Yet, in regard to a fact so evident, it was
long continued to be believed that laws and governments, without
creating capital, could create industry.”
"While, on the one hand, industry is limited by capital, so on the
other every increase of capital gives or is capable of giving, additional
employment to industry, and this without assignable linit.”
“A second fundamental theorem respecting capital relates to the
source from which it is derived. It is the result of saving. All capital,
and especially all addition to capital, are the result of saving.”
“What supports and employs productive labour is the capital
expended in setting it to work and not the demand of purchasers for
the produce of the labour when completed. Demand for commodities
s not demand for labour,"
“The demand for commodities determines in what particular branch
of production the labour and capital shall be employed. It determines
the direction of labour, but not the more or less of the labour itself, or
of the maintenance or payment of the labour. These depend on the
amount of the capital, or other funds directly devoted to the sustenance
and remuneration of labour."
“This theorem—that to purchase produce is not to employ labour ;
that the demand for labour is constituted by the wages which precede
the production, and not by the demand which may exist for the com-
C
212
modities resulting from the production—is a proposition which greatly
needs all the illustration it can receive. It is.to common apprehension
a paradox."
These principles applied to the particular case of India, amount to
this :-Poor India has not even to support its absolute want, even were
the whole production employed in supporting labour. But as this is
not the case,-as there must be some portion of the produce consumed
unproductively in luxuries,—the share for the support of labour for
reproduction becomes still more scanty ; saving, and therefore addition
to capital, being altogether out of the question. Moreover, not only is
there no saving at the present rate of production, but there is actual
continuous yearly abstraction from this scanty production. The result
is an additional evil consequence in the capability of labour deteriorating
continuously, for "industry is limited by capital”-so the candle burns at
both ends,-capital going on diminishing on the one hand, and labour
thereby becoming less capable, on the other, to reproduce as much as
before. The last theorem of Mill is a clear answer to those who say
that, because the railways open up a market for the commodities, the
produce of the country must increase. I need only repeat the “demand
for commodities is not demand for labour,” and that “industry cannot
be employed to any greater extent than there is capital to invest.”
If these principles are fairly borne in mind, and the element of the
drain from India fairly considered, the gradual impoverishment of India,
under the existing system of administration, will cease to appear a
paradox.
The Moral Drain.
1
Beyond the positions of deputy-collectors or extra-commissioners, or
Similar subordinate positions in the Engineering, Medical, and all other
services (with a very few somewhat better exceptions), all experience
and knowledge of statesmanship, of administration or legislation, of
high scientific or learned professions, are drained away to England,
when the persons possessing them give up their service and retire to
England.
The result, in Sir T. Munro's words, is this :—“ The conse-
quence of the conquest of India by British arms would be, in place of
raising, to debase the whole people.”—(Life of Sir T. Munro, page 466,
quoted in Mr. Torrens' “ Empire in Asia.”) For every European em-
ployed beyond absolute necessity, each native capable of filling the
213
same position is displaced in his own country. All the talent and
nobility of intellect and soul, which nature gives to every country, is to
India a lost treasure. There is, thus, a triple evil-loss of wealth,
wisdom, and work to India-under the present system of administra-
tion. Whether the power of education which the British rulers are
raising with the glorious object of raising the people of India, and
which is day by day increasing, shall be a bulwark or weakness hereafter
to the British rule, is a question of great importance. As matters stand
at present, in the words of Sir Bartle Frere—“And now, wherever I go, I
find the best exponents of the policy of the English Government, and
the most able coadjutors in adjusting that policy to the peculiarities of
the natives of India, among the ranks of the educated natives.” Of the
future who can say? It lies in the hands of our rulers whether this
power they are raising shall continue to be their “coadjutor," or become
their opponent. The merit or fault will be entirely their own.
Sir J. Malcolm says :-“We are not warranted by the History of
India, nor indeed by that of any other nation in the world, in reckoning
upon the possibility of preserving an empire of such a magnitude by a
system which excludes, as ours does, the natives from every station of
high rank and honorable ambition. Least of all would such a system
be compatible with the plans now in progress for spreading instruc-
tion. . . . . . . If we do not use the knowledge
which we impart, it will be employed against us. . . We find
in all communities, bold, able and ambitious individuals who exercise an
influence and power over the class to which they belong, and these must
continue enemies to a Government, however just and humane in its
general principles, under which they are neither trusted nor employed.
. . High and aspiring men can find no spot beyond the limits
of our authorities, and such must either be systematically watched and
repressed as enemies of our power, or cherished and encouraged as the
instruments of its exercise; there is no medium. In the first case, the
more decidedly we proceed to our object, the better for our safety; but I
should, I confess, have little confidence in the success of such a proceed-
ing. As one head of the hydra was lopped off another would arise; and
as well might we strive to stem the stream of the Ganges, as to depress to
the level of our ordinary rule the energies and hopes which must con-
tinually arise in so vast and various a population as that of India."*
There can be but one conclusion to the present state of affairs--either
the people will become debased, as Munro thinks ; or dead to all true
1
* Malcolm's “Government of India,” page 174.
214
wisdom, experience; honour, and ambition to serve one's country, or
use their knowledge of it against the very hand that gives it. As Sir
J. Malcolm observes—“ If these plans [of spreading instruction] are not
associated with the creation of duties that will employ the minds which
we enlighten, we shall only prepare elements that will hasten the
destruction of our empire. The moral evil to us does not thus stand
alone. It carries with it its Nemesis, the seeds of the destruction of the
empire itself.”
Pressure of Taxation.
In Lord Mayo's speech of the 3rd March 1871 (Times of India Sum_
mary of 8th April 1871), he endeavours to refute the assertion that
Indian taxation is crushing.' His Lordship on this point has made
several assumptions which require examination. I shall therefore first
consider whether the conclusion drawn is legitimate, and whether alli
necessary elements of comparison have been taken into account.
I have already shown that the production of India is hardly 40s. a
head, and that Lord Mayo has adopted that estimate as being based on
good reasons by Mr. Grant Duff. After admitting this fact, Lord Mayo
compares the taxation of India with that of some other countries. In
doing this, he deducts as land revenue (whether rightly or wrongly will
be seen hereafter) the opium, tributes, and other small receipts from
Indian taxation, and then compares the balance with the taxation of
other countries. I do not know whether he has made similar deduc-
tions from the taxation of the latter. The result of his comparison
would appear to be that, while India pays only 1s. 10d. per head of
taxation per annum, Turkey pays 78. 9d., Russia 128. 2d., Spain 188.
5d., Austria 19s. 7.d., and Italy 178. per head per annum. The con-
clusion drawn is that the taxation of India is not crushing.' What
idea His Lordship attaches to the word "crushing I cannot
say, but he seems to forget the very first premise that the total produc-
tion of the country is admitted to be 40s. per head. Now, this amount
is hardly enough for the bare necessaries of life, much less can it supply
any comforts, or provid: any reserve for bad times; so that living from
hand to mouth, and that on "scanty subsistence” (in the words of Lord
Lawrence), the very touch of famine carries away hundreds of thousands.
Is not this in itself as 'crushing' to any people as it can possibly be?
And yet out of this wretched income they bave to pay taxation !
"His Lordship has, moreover, left out a very important element from
account. He is well aware that whatever revenue is raised by other
(D
215
S
countries—for instance, the £70,000,000 by England—the whole of it
returns back to the people, and remains in the country; and therefore,
the national capital, upon which the production of a country depends,
does not suffer diminution; while, with India, as I have already shown,
the case is quite different. Out of its poor production of 40s, a head,
some £25,000,000 go clean out of the country, thereby diminishing its
capital and labour for reproduction every year, and rendering the
taxation more and more crushing.
I shall now consider what would have been the fairest way of making
the comparison of taxation. Every nation has a certain amount of in-
come from various sources, such as production of cultivation, minerals,
farming, manufactures, profits of trade, &c. From such total income all
its wants are to be supplied. A fair comparison as to the incidence of
taxation, will be to see the proportion of the amount which the Govern-
ment of the country takes for its administration, public debts, &c., to the
total income. You may call this amount taxation, revenue, or anything
you like; and Government may take it in any shape or way whatsoever
It is so much taken from the income of the country for the purposes of
Government. In the case of India, whether Government takes this
amount as land-tax or opium revenue, or in whatever other form, does
not matter, the fact remains that out of the total income of the country,
Government raises so much revenue for its purposes which otherwise
would have remained with the people.
Taking, therefore, this fair test of the incidence of taxation, the result
will be that England raises £70,000,000 out of the national income of
some £800,000,000, that is, about 8 per cent., or about £2 10s. per head
from an income of about £30 per head; whereas the Indian Government
raises £50,000,000 out of the national income of £340,000,000, that is,
about 15 per cent., or 6s. per head out of an income of 40s. per head.
Had His Lordship stated the national income and population of the
countries with which he has made the comparison, we would have then
seen what the percentage of their revenue to their income was, and
from how much income per head the people have to pay their 7s. to 198.
Further, if, in consequence of a constant drain from India from its
poor production, the income of the country continues to diminish, the
percentage of taxation to income will be still greater, even though the
amount of taxation may not increase. But, as we know the tendency
of taxation in India has, during several years, been to go on increasing
216
U
every year, the pressure will generally become more and more oppressive
and crushing, unless our rulers, by proper means, restore India to at
least a healthy, if not a wealthy, condition. It must, moreover, be parti-
cularly borne in mind that, while a ton may not be any burden to an
elephant, a few pounds will crush a child; that the English nation may,
from its average income of £30 a head, be able to pay £2 10s. per head,
while, to the Indian nation, 6s. out of 40s. may be quite unbearable and
crushing. The capacity to bear a burden with ease, or to be crushed by
it, is not to be measured by the percentage of taxation, but by the
abundance, or otherwise, of the means or income to pay it from. From
abundance you may give a large percentage with ease; from sufficiency,
the same burden may just be bearable, or some diminution may make it
80; but from insufficiency, any burden is so much privation.
But as matters stand, poor India has to pay not the same percentage
of taxation to its income as in England, but nearly double; i.e., while
England pays only about 83 per cent. of its national income for the wants
of its Government, India has to pay some 15 per cent. of its income for
the same purpose; though here that income per head of population is
some thirteenth part of that of England, and insufficient in itself for even
its ordinary wants, leaving alone the extraordinary political necessity to
pay a foreign country for its rule.
Every single ounce of rice, therefore, taken from the "scanty subsist-
ence” of the masses of India, is to them so much starvation, so much
more crushing.
Lord Mayo calls the light taxation of the country, which he calculates
at ls. 10d. a head, as a happy state of affairs. But that, in so lightly-
taxed a country, to get a 6d. more per head without oppression should
tax the highest statesmanship and intelligence without success, is in
itself a clear demonstration that there must be something very rotten in
the state of India, and that the pressure of taxation must have already
arrived short of the proverbial last straw that breaks the camel's back.
The United Kingdom pay a total revenue of about £2 108. per head.
India’s whole production is hardly £2 a head; it pays a total revenue
(less net opium) of hardly 58. a head, and is unable to pay a shilling
more. Why so? Short of only representation, India is governed on the
same principles and system as the United Kingdom, and why such
extraordinarily different results ? Why should one prosper and the
other perish, though similarly governed ?
217
I take this opportunity of saying a few words about the recent tele-
gram that Lord Salisbury had instructed the Indian Government to
abolish the duties on cottons, as the matter is closely connected with the
subject of my paper. The real object, says to-day's TIMES OF INDIA, is to
“nip in the bud” the rising factories in India--the ostensible reason
assigned is free trade. Now I do not want to say anything about the real
selfish objects of the Manchesterians, or what the political necessities of a
Conservative Government may be under Manchester pressure. I give
credit to the Secretary of State for honesty of purpose, and take the reasen
itself that is given on this question, viz.--free trade. I like free trade,
but after what I have said to-night, you will easily see that free trade
between England and India in a matter like this is something like a race
between a starving, exhausting invalid and a strong man with a horse to
ride on. Free trade between countries which have equal command over
their own resources is one thing, but even then the Colonies snapped their
fingers at all such talk. But what can India do? Before powerful English
interests, India must and does go to the wall. Young colonies, says Mill,
may need protection. India needs it in a far larger degree, independent
of the needs of revenue, which alone have compelled the retention of
the present duties. Let India have its present drain brought within
reasonable limits, and India will be quite prepared for any free trade.
With a pressure of taxation nearly double in proportion to that of England,
from an income of one-fifteenth, and an exhaustive drain besides, we are
asked to compete with England in free trade? I pray our great states-
men to pause and consider these circumstances.
·
-
-
PART II. .
(Read before the Bombay Branch of the East India Association, April 27th, 1876.)
As the first part of my paper is already in your hands, I need not
trouble you with a recapitulation to-day. I place further notes before
you.
PRICES.
e
We hear much about the general enormous rise of prices, and con-
clusions drawn therefrom that India is prosperous. My figures about
the total production of the country are alone enough to show that there
is no such thing as that India is a prosperous country. It does not pro-
duce enough for mere existence even, and the equilibrium is kept up by
scanty subsistence, by gradual deterioration of physique, and destruction
No examination, therefore, of the import of bullion, or of rise of prices
and wages, is necessary to prove the insufficiency of production for the
maintenance of the whole population. When we have such direct positive
proof of the poverty of the country, it should be useless to resort to, or
depend upon, any indirect evidence or conclusions. But as there
appears to me much misapprehension and hasty conclusion from a
I deem it necessary to say something upon these subjects. I shall
consider each subject separately. High prices may occur from one of
the three following causes :-
1st.— From a natural healthy development of foreign commerce, which
brings to the country fair profits upon the exports of the country ; or,
in other words, the imports exceed the exports by a fair percentage of
profits, and thus add to the wealth and capital of the country.
2nd. From a quantity of money thrown into the country, not as the
natural profits of foreign commerce, but for some special purpose
independent of commercial profits, such as the railway and other loans
of India expended in certain parts where the works are carried on, and
where, therefore, a large collection of labour takes place requiring food
that is not produced there; and on account of bad or imperfect com-
munications occasioning a local and temporary rise in prices.
3rd.—From scarcity of food or other necessaries, either on account of
bad season or bad communications, or both; in other words, either there
is not enough of food produced, or the plenty of one district cannot
supply the deficiency of another, or both.
219
We may now see how each of these causes has operated. As to the
first cause, it is clear that so far from India adding any profits to its
wealth from foreign commerce, not only does an amount, equal to the whole
profits of foreign commerce including the whole of the opium revenue,
go elsewhere, but even from the very produce of the country some
£7,000,000 more annually. This shows, then, that there is no increase
of capital or wealth in the country, and consequently no such general
rise in prices as to indicate any increase of prosperity. From want of
proper communications, produce in provinces near the seaports is exported
to foreign countries, not because the foreign countries give better prices
than can be obtained in this country, but because if not exported, the
produce would simply perish. For instance, Bengal and Madras export
rice at any reasonable prospect of profits, even though in some of the
interior parts there may be scarcity, or even famine, as in the case of
the North-West Provinces, Orissa, and Rajpootana...
The first cause, therefore, is not at all operative in India in raising
prices; on the contrary, the constant drain diminishes capital, and there-
by gradually and continuously diminishes the capability of the country
even to keep up its absolutely necessary production. . Besides the
necessity of seeking foreign commerce on account of bad communications,
there is a portion of the exports which is simply compulsory—I mean
that portion which goes to England to pay for the political drain. So
far, therefore, the alleged increase of prices in India does not arise from
any natural addition to its wealth by means of a healthy and profitable
foreign commerce. Then, the next thing to be examined is whether the
different kinds of produce exported from British India are so exported
because foreign countries offer more profitable markets for then, that is
to say, offer greater prices than can be obtained in the country itself;
thus indicating that, though prices have risen in the country itself, still
higher prices are got from foreign countries. Suppose we find that
Indian produce has been selling in foreign countries at about the same
prices for the last fifteen years, what will be the inevitable conclusion ?
Either that, in the country itself, there is no great rise of prices, or that
the people of India are such fools that, though there is an “enormous”
rise in prices in their own country, they send their produce thousands
of miles away—to get what? Not higher prices than can be got in the
country itself, but sometimes much less! We may take the principal
articles of export from India. The exceptional and temporary rise in
the price of cotton, and its temporary effect on some other produce, was
owing to the American War ; but that is gradually coming down to its
220
former level, and when America once makes up its four or five million
bales, India will have a hard struggle. The opening of the Suez Canal
has been a great good fortune, or Indian cotton would in all likelihood
have been driven out of the English market particularly, and perhaps
from European markets also.
The following table will show how near the prices are returning to
their old level before the American War (Parliamentary Return [c. 145]
of 1870) :-
Average Price per cut.
1857 1858 1859 1860* 1861 1862 1863
£2-8-8 2-10-7 2-5-10 1-17-0. 2-17-5 6-5-9 8-18-11
1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870
£8-9-
9 6 -5-7 4-12-0 3-2-10 3-12-
8 4 -5-8 3-5-6
So far the rise in cotton is going; but great as this rise has been, it has
XO
Leaving the exceptional prices of cotton during the cotton famine out of
consideration, let us examine the most important articles of export ; and
if we find that these articles have fetched about the same price for nearly
fifteen years past, there could not have been any normal general rise in
the country itself of which the exporters could take advantage, and
thereby prefer earning more profits by selling in the country itself, than
getting less by exporting to foreign parts.
Take Coffee. The average prices in the United Kingdom (Parliament-
ary Return (c. 145] of 1870) are per cwt.:-
Average.
Years.
£ $. do £ s. d.
... 3 3 0
1855
...
3 11
غ بی بی بی بی بی
1857
::::
... 315 3
1858
1859
3 13 6
3 II
0
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
::::
...
...
...
...
...
بی بی با هم در
3 18
3 16
3 18
4 o
3 9
MANTOO OOONNlauwooo
3 16
g
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
...
... 3 16 2
1 ... 3 16 4
... 3 19 i
... 3 6 1
... 37 II
3 6 6
3 12
0
* This year there was a large American crop.
221
1863
1864
.
"
"
35 18 0
1867
ONO NO
1860
"
40 4
1869
D
This does not show any rise.
Take Indigo.
Average
Average
Years.
Price
Years.
Price
per cwt.
per cwt.
£ $. d.
£ s. d.
1855
27 8 0
28 4 7
1856
30 II 4
..
***
... 30 10 o
... ... 33 I
1865
O
... ... ... 31 1 2
1858
1866. ... ... ... 31
1859
... 31 8 9
... ... 35 17 6
... ... 33 13 II
1868
1861
1869 ... ... ... 38 2 6
1862
... 36 II 3 1870 ... ... ... 35 4 8
The average of first five years, 1855-59, is £31 13s. 5d., of 1860-64, £33
5s. 8d., of 1865-70, £35 6s, 10d.-making a rise of 12 per cent. over
the first five years. Now, this is an article in which India may be said
to have a sort of monopoly, and yet there is virtually no rise from any
increased demand. The average of the last six years is raised by the
year 1868, but the quantity imported into the United Kingdom was in
that year 2,000 cwts. less than in the previous year, and the scarcity
gave a temporary high price.
Now take Rice. This is the most important article; rise or fall in its
price requires careful consideration. It is the alleged rise of price in
this article which is held up as proving the prosperity of the country.
The average price of rice in the United Kingdom, after paying all
charges and profits from India to arrival in England, is per cwt. :-
Years.
s. d. 1 Years.
S, d.
... ... 14 6 1863
... ... 10 6 1
1864
1857
ooo ... ... II 3
1865 roo .. . 12 4
1858
1866
... ... .. 13
... 10 9 1867
1868
com ... ... 12 2
1861
... ... 10 8
1862
... II 10 1870
1o 11
Averages of five years, 1855-59, 118, 22.; 1860-64, 128. 11d.; 1865-70,
12s. 3d.
ros
ou
...
II II
O oooo wonin
O
NA W N kod
CON US feed A Net
.
.
.
1869
This does not show that there is any material rise any more than the
varying wants of the country and the average fluctuations of all ordinary
articles of commerce, taking also into consideration the effect of the
American War during some of these years. Such are the prices paid in
England for Indian rice during the past fifteen years, and yet India had
three or four famines, and in the famine districts food could not be got
to save life at any price. If the United Kingdom got Indian rice at the
222
above steady prices, how could there have been any real natural 'enor-
mous' rise of prices in India proving its prosperity? This simple fact
is enough to show conclusively that, if the United Kingdom could
get its thousands of tons of Indian rice at such steady prices during the
past fifteen years, there is no such thing as an enormous general healthy
rise of prices throughout the country. Whatever partial local and -
temporary rise there has been in certain localities, has arisen, as will be
seen hereafter, from partial local and temporary causes, and pot from
any increase of prosperity.
Take Silk. The prices of silk are as follows:-
· Years.
S. d.
.
CO
.
...
...
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
...
...
...
...
...
8. d.
12 9
18 10
19 8
17 8
19 I
NI
.
+ O CONOale co con la co
11
.
......
..
21
1860
... 20 2
1861
... 16 10
1862
... 18 8
1863
... 18 8
1864
... 18 5
18 7
1865 ...
... 23 6
1866 ...
... 22 0
1867 ...
1868 .
1869 ...
.... 23 0 :
1870 ...
... 22 4
22 773
This shows an apparent rise of 28 per cent. over the first five years, but
the quantities imported in the years 1867, 1868, and 1869 were very
small, being in 1867 2,469 lbs., in 1868 32,103 lbs., in 1869 17,845 lbs.
Whereas in 1865 it is 183,224 lbs., in 1866 123,561 lbs., and in 1870
123,600 lbs. There is then a rise in the price of this article, only a
scarcity rise. Besides, its fate hangs upon the China market, and its
produce in India yet is too small to have any important effect on general
prices in ordinary economic conditions, much less when all such little
or large profit is not retained by the country at all. The total quantity
of waste as well as raw silk exported from India to all foreign parts is
about £1,500,000 worth.
223.
Sugar.—There are three or four qualities of sugar imported into the
United Kingdom from India. I give below the price of middling as a
· fair representative of the bulk:-
Years.
Years.
Price
per cwt.
£ s. d.
... 1 98
... I 12 6
... I 17 6
.. I 10 3
Price
per cwt.
£ s. d.
... I 6 5
... I 5 II
1863
1864
1865
1866
:::::
1867
uz vwwwwer
1868
1860
1861 :
1862
...
...
... I 6 91
1869
1870
... I
... I
2
7
The averages are from 1855-59 £1 11s. 6d., 1860-64 £1. 6s. 11d., and
1865-70 £1 4s. 5d. There is, then, an actual deciine, and it cannot,
therefore, be expected that there was a rise in India notwithstanding.
Linseed.--Average prices as follows per quarter:-
Average
£ 8. d.
Years.
£
8.
d.
1855
...
...
...
"
...
...
...
1856
1857
...
...
" ...
...
...
...
...
3 II 6
2 18 0
3 2 0
2 15 I
99
1858
:
1859
NN 1. Now now
2 19 3
1860
1861
...
...
...
1862
2 12 9
2 15 10
3 4 7
3 4.7
2 19 7
1863
:
1864
...
|
2 19
6
:
.
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
..
...
...
...
...
.3 0 5
... 3.811
... 3 6 9
... 3 I 8
... 2 18 9
... 2 19 7
-
پر
یہ
یہ
3
2
8.
This shows a rise of about 5 per cent., which is nothing when allow-
ance is made for the temporary effect of the American War from 1861, .
and the prices have latterly gone down again to the level of the
average, 1855-59.
224
CX
... 3
5
7
N N N Nw nwto
OOR OOR
vö
:::::::
.. 2 I7
o
NNMAA
6
1863
1864
1865
o
balco make the foo hooo
Rapeseed per quarter :-
Years.
£ s. d.
Years.
8. d.
1855...
1863...
1856...
1864...
1857...
1865...
1858...
... 2 13 4
1866...
1859...
1867...
... 2 12 6
1860...
2 16 II
1868 ..
2 II 4
1861...
1869...
... 2 18 i
1862...
... ... 3 7 4 I 1870...
* 3 4 II
This also shows the temporary effect of the American War, and hardly
any rise, the averages being—1855-59, £2 17s. 5d.; 1860-64, £3; and
1865-70, £2 188. 6d.
Wool.–Average price per lb.-
Years.
Years.
1855 ..
... ... ... 115
...
1858 ...
1866
... 9th
1859...
1867
1868
1869
... 77
1862 ...
11870
7747
The temporary effect of the American War is clearly to be seen in the
above prices, and latterly they are getting down again to their old level.
Indian Tea.--Average price per lb.-
Years.
$. d. 1 Years.
s. d.
1856
.. ... 2 4 1864 ...
1857
1865 ...
... ... 2 34
1858
1866 ...
... ... Ille
1859
... 20 1867
... ... I 9
1860
... I 9 1868
1861
... I 98 1869
... I 83
1862 ...
1870 ...
ve I 9
1863
... III
Here again is a decline.
I have given above the most important articles of export, and it can-
not be concluded from the above figures that prices have increased in
India to any material extent, much less “enormously.” The necessary
causes for a healthy rise do not exist, the effect, therefore, is only a
dream. On the contrary, the causes to diminish capital and labour are
unceasingly at work, and the consequence can only be increased poverty
instead of prosperity.
Cause No. 2 stated by me at the commencement of this paper, will
partly account for such rise as has actually taken place in some parts of
India, and has misled many persons to the conclusion of a general rise
and increased prosperity.
I
ool
...
I
9
225
During the last twenty years, something like $82,000,000 (Railway
Report 1869) have been sent to India for railway works, out of which
some £26,000,000 are spent in England for stores, &c., and about
£55,000,000 remitted to India to be spent here. This amount has been
spent in certain parts, with the effect of raising prices there in two
ways. Large numbers of labourers are collected in such places, and to a
great extent agricultural labour is diminished in their neighbourhood, the
want of good communication preventing other parts from supplying the
demand.
The result is that less food is produced and more mouths to feed, and,
with the labourers well paid, a temporary and local rise of prices is the
inevitable consequence. On looking over the maps, and examining the
prices given in the tables of administration reports, it will be easily seen
that, in every presidency in good seasons, the localities of high prices
have been those only where there have been large public works going on.
For instance, in the Central Provinces in the year 1867-68, when there
was an average good season, the districts in which the price of rice was
highest were-Hoshungabad Rs. 5 per maund, Baitool Rs. 4 per
maund, Nursingpore Rs. 3-12 per maund, Jubulpore Rs. 3-12 per
maund, Nagpur Rs. 3-8 per maund, and Saugur Rs. 3-9 per maund.
While the lowest prices were-Raipore and Balaspore Re. 1
per maund, Sumbulpore Rs. 1-2, Balaghaut Rs. 2, Bhandara Rs. 2,
Chindwara Rs. 1-8. Now, the places having the highest prices are
almost all those along, or in the neighbourhood of, railway lines, or
carrying on some public works; and those with lowest prices are away
from the lines, &c. In 1868-69, the range of prices is about the same
though higher on account of bad season, Hoshungabad being Rs. and
Raipore Rs. 2; and through the season being unequal in different
parts, there is some corresponding divergence from the preceding year.
Take the Madras Presidency. The districts with highest prices in
1867-68 are :-
::::
... Rs. 492 per garce.*
... ;; 477
...! 474
... 469
Cuddapah
Madura
... ....
Coimbatoor
Bellary
The districts with the lowest prices are
Vizagapatam .
Godavery ..
Ganjam... ....
South Canara ...
Rs. 203 per garce.
"" ; 222
... » 232
.o. 308
:
39
2
* Garce =9,256 lbs. (Parliamentary Return 362 of 1853).
.
15
226
48.
38
"
»
::
S
Almost all the high-price districts are on the railway line, or have some
public works. The districts of the lowest prices are away from the line.
In the Godavery dis trtict I do not know how far irrigation has helped
to produce abundance.
Take the Punjab, for June 1868-69.-The report gives prices for the
following districts only :-
Delhi
... ... Wheat 26 seers or 52 lbs. per Re. 1.
Umballa ...
. ... ... 29
Sealkote
... ... ... »
»
Lahore
34 2
Multan ...
34 ?
Peshawar ..... ..
...
30 ,
Now, the first three are those where railways are finished, the last three
are those where new lines are being constructed.
In the North-West Provinces. For the month of June 1868 (I have
taken this month in which there was no scarcity; the months after,
prices gradually rose to famine prices) --
Meerut
... "
... 27 seers, 8 chittacks or 55 lbs. per Re. 1.
Saharunpore ...
...25 · 14 · 50 , nearly
Bareilly
50 ,
:
Moradabad
Muttra
48 , 2
Agra
Cawnpore
... ...225
44 ? ?
Benares ... ... ...18 4
363 ,
;
Allahabad .. .. ..17
34 · ·
Mirzapore . ... ....17
34 1 ;
Ajmere ... ... ... 165,
32" ;
The East Indian Railway being finished, the irrigation-works now going
on are beginning to tell; the Agra Canal raising prices at Agra and
Muttra.
Cawnpore and the places mentioned after it have had railway works
in progress about them. In these Provinces, besides railways, there is
public works expenditure from imperial funds close upon a crore of
rupees during 1868-69, greater part of which is spent in places where
prices are high.
In the Bombay Presidency.-_What with cotton money lately poured
in, and perhaps not quite re-drained yet, and large railway works going
on for some time past, prices are comparatively higher than in all the
other parts of India, but most so only where railway works and cotton
.. 25
227
combined, such as all such places on the Bombay, Baroda and Central
India line as Surat, Broach, Kaira, Ahmedabad, &c., or on the G. I. P.
line, either northward or south. Belgaum and Dharwar, not being on
a line, have not high prices.
All the very high prices in the Bombay Presidency in the year 1863 :
(the year of the inquiry of the Price Commission) are things of the past.
For instance, in the report of the Commission the prices given for the
town of Belgaum for November 1863 are (page 32)
Seers of 80 tolus or 2 lbs. per Rupee.
21st Nov.
Seers.
Coarse Rice ... ... ... ... ...
Bajri ... ... ... ... ... ...
Jowari ... ... ... ... ... ...
Contrast these with the prices in 1867-68 :-
14th Nov.
Seers,
... 8
... 10
... 9.3
Nov. 1867.
Seers.
... 14:40
... 24
... 28
Nov. 1868.
Secrs.
13:9
26
2nd Sort Rice ...
Bajri ... ...
Jowari ... ...
...
...
...
...
35
In Bengal.-All places which are cheapest in 1868 are distant from
the railway lines --Tipperah, Purneah, Cuttack, Puri, Dacca, Maun-
bhum. Even in some places where the railway line has passed, the prices
are not so high as they are, I think, rice-producing districts such as
Rajmahal and Bankurah. As in other parts of India, it will be
found that in Bengal also prices rose for a time where railway and other
public works were building. These facts show that railway capital
and money for other public works, raised prices temporarily in certain
localities.
I must not be misunderstood, however. I do not mean to complain
of any such temporary effects produced during the prosecution of such
public works as railways, roads, canals, or irrigation works, or any work
of reproduction or saving. My object is only to show that the state-
ment often made, that India is prosperous and happy because prices
have risen, is a conclusion not warranted by actual facts; and that
any partial, local, or temporary rise in prices is attributable to the tem
porary and local expenditure of railway and other loans, or of imperial
and local funds on public works.
So far I have shown that any rise that has taken place has been only
local and temporary, as long as railways or public works were building
there. I shall now show more directly how in every province as it came
under the British rule, prices went down, as the natural consequence
of the drain setting in under the new system, and that there has not
been a general rise of prices..
Take Madras.—Return 362 of 1853 gives “the average price per cwt.
of Munghi 2nd sort in the month of January 1813” as 7s. 6£d. to Is..
8d., and Bengal table-rice 14s. Old. After this, Madras kept sinking,
till, in 1852, there is 3s. to 35. 6 d..per cwt., and the Board of Revenue
felt it necessary to inquire into “the general decline of prices, and to
find out any general measures of relief” to meet falling prices.—(Madras
Selections No. XXXI. of 1856, page 1.) This selection gives prices from
almost all districts of Madras, and the general result is that there is a
continuous fall in prices (excepting scarcity years) from the commence-
ment of the century to 1852, the year of the reports. Then further on,
what are the prices now in the first half of March 1873 ?
Present fortnight ...
Past
;
.
"
Rice, 1st sort.
/ So that best sort
...Seers 124 or lbs. 27-28 is about Ss. 2 d. per
-
124
cwt. ; common sort
6s. 6 d. to 7s. 4d. per
... Scers 15.6 or lbs. 34:32cwt. (Indian Gazette,
... 139 30:8 | 5th April 1873).
(1 seer= 2.2 lbs.
Rice, common.
Present fortnight ...
Past
...
...
2
This is the only number of the Indian Gazette I have come across.
Again, the average price of Madras rice for the year 1868 in the United
Kingdom, after paying for freight, insurance, conimission, profits,
and all other charges from Madras to arrival in that country, was 9s.
8d. per cwt. (trade returns, 1868), while the price for January 1813
given above is 8s. 24 d. in Madras itself. Or, let us take the export
price in the ports of the Madras Presidency. The export price of cargo
rents of the Madras Chamber of Commerce, in the year 1867, is put
down uniformly in the price tables at Rs. 6 per bag of 164 lbs. or
2 Indian maunds ; but in the remarks in which precise quotations are
given, the price ranges from Rs. 3-15 to Rs. 6-2. Rs. 6, though a
higher price than the average for a bag of 164 lbs., is equal to 8s. 2d.
per cwt. ; and even this price, though not higher than that of 1813, was
owing to bad season and short crop; and certainly prices consequent
upon bad seasons are not an indication of prosperity. In the year
229
1868, the season being average good, the price quoted for cargo rice is
quoted, but Rs. 4 will be quite an approximate average. Rs. 4 per bag
is nearly 5s. 6d. per cwt. During 1669, the same Rs. 3-15 is the gene-
ral quotation; but the season of 1869 not being good, prices went up
in 1870 to Rs. 5-8, with an average of about Rs. 5, or about 6s. 10d. per
cwt. Thus, then, there is no material rise in price in the Madras Pre-
sidency compared with the commencement of this century. The subse-
quent fall-made the poor people wretched. Government inquired and
reduced the assessment, which, with expenditure on railways, &c., gave
some little relief. But the depression is not yet got over. On the con-
trary, the Material and Moral Progress (Report for 1869, Parliamentary
Return (c. 213 of 1870], page 71) tells us that "prices in Madras
have been falling continuously,” and my impression is that they so still
continue.
Bengal.—The Parliamentary Return 362 of 1853 gives the prices at
Calcutta from 1792 only (and that is stated to be a year of famine),'
when there was already about that period much depression by the action
of the Company's rule. I cannot get in this return earlier prices of the
time of the native rule to make a fair comparison. For 1813 the prices
given in the then depressed condition are from 2s. 8 d. to 3s. 7d. A
comparison with this depression of the present prices is, of course, not
fair. In 1832, Patna rice is quoted at 7s. 5 d. per cwt., and Patchery at
7s. 12d. Now, the best sort of rice of Patna in the first half of March
1873 is quoted 21.50 seers, or 43 lbs., per rupee, or about 5s. 1}d. per
cWt. In 1852 the above return quotes Patna at 5s. 4£d. per cwt.
Colonel Baird Smith, in his famine report (Parliamentary Return 29 of
1862, page 55) quotes as follows the ordinary prices of grain, &c.,
“from an official statement prepared from authentic documents by the
Fiscal of Chinsura” at that station between the years 1770 and 1813 (as
given in “Gleanings in Science,” vol. 1, page 369, 1829)-rice best
sort 28 seers per rupee, coarse sort 40 seers per rupee. The same
statement gives prices for the year 1803 also for ordinary rice at
40 seers per rupee (page 56). And in the Bengal Government Gazette
for the year 1867-68, it will be found that, in some places in Bengal,
the ordinary price of cheapest sort of rice is even then between 40 and
50 seers per rupee (this seer being 2 lbs). So we have the same story
ment, by the railway loan, cotton, &c., again got over the depression
to a certain extent.
230
Bombay.—The same return, 362 of 1853, gives the average price of
rice between the highest and lowest prices of the year 1812-13, as 15s.
41d. per cwt. This price goes on declining to about 3s. 5d. to 7s. 630.
in 1852, and what is it now in the first half of March of 1873 (Indian
Gazette, 5th April 1873, page 448), after all favorable circumstances of
railways and other public works, some of them still going on, cotton-
wealth, &c.?
Rice best sort-
Seers.
Present fortnight. 74 = 16'28 lbs., less than 145. per cwt.
Previous ..6.8=15 ; ; 155. »
Rice, common ... 10 = 22 23 ; IOS.
The average between the highest and lowest prices will be about 12s.
6d. per cwt., when in 1812-13 this is 15s. 41d.
In the report of the Indapore re-settlement (Bombay Selections, cvii.,
new series, pages 118 and 71), the price of jowari is given from 1809
to 1865-66 :-

Years.
Pucca seers
per Rupee.
368
... 12
24
::::
og
C
'99
C
Years.
February 1809...
1810...
1811...
1812...
1813...
March 1814...
February 1815...
1816...
April 1817...
February 1818...
1819...
1820...
March 1821...
1822...
R 1823...
Pucca seers
per Rupee.
April 1824...
1825...
February 1826...'
1827...
... 27
> 1828...
1829...
... 33
1830...
26 May 1831...
February 1832...
... 24
1833...
... 17
1834...
... 191
1835...
... 32
1836...
1837...
1931
.... 32 .
C
482
"
::::::
...
32
.,
..
...
After giving these prices, Lieutenant A. Nash remarks—"This
table is chiefly interesting as showing the gradual diminution in the
price of corn from the days of the Peislı was to our own. By comparing
the prices at the commencement with those at the end of the table, and
then reading the list over, this circumstance will become very apparent.”
231
About the year 1836-37, when prices had gone down very low, the
Survey Settlement commenced, and the prices subsequently are given
for Indapore as follows:
Seers per
Rupee.
::
Seers per
Rupee.
... 40
... 56
... 56
Years.
1836-37...
1837-38...
1838-39...
1839-40...
1840-41...
1841-42 ...
1842-43...
1843-44...
1844-45...
1845-46...
1846-47...
1847-48...
1848-49...
1849-50...
1850-51...
::::::::::
Years.
1851-52...
1852-53...
1853-54...
1854-55...
1855-56...
1856-57...
1857-58...
1858-59...
1859-60...
1860-61...
1861-62...
1862-63...
1863-64...
1864-65...
1865-66...
::::::::::::::::
... 18
Now, from the year of the Mutiny, followed by the cotton famine,
the times were exceptional, so that the prices in 1856, or about that
period, can only be considered normal, and that is about 32 seers, while
in 1809-13 about 25 seers. Now, in 1867-68 the average from Novem-
ber 1867 to September 1868 for Ahmednuggur (Bombay Government
Gazette price list) is about 24ž seers.
Thus, then, it is the old story. From the time of the Peishwa, prices
kept going down under the British rule till, with the aid of railway
loans, cotton windfall, &c., they have laboured up again, with a tendency
to relapse.
I take the following figures from the Price Commission report of
Bombay (Finance Committee's Report of 1871, page 617). I take
jowari as the chief grain of the presidency :-
.:
Years.
1824
1825
1826
1827
Tolas per Rupee.
Poona. Belgaum.
... 1,892
2,480
... 1,548
2,600
3,040
2,200
3,268
2,800
2,752 2,640
3,440
Ahmedabad."
2,560
1,840
3,240
3,600
4,000
4,800
1828
:i.
4,200
1829
232
Poona.
1853
1854
1855
2,432
Instead of quoting' here the whole table, which is already published
in the first report of the Finance Committee, page 617, I take six years,
from 1850 to 1855 :-
Tolas per Rupee.
Years.
Belgaum. Ahmedabad.
1850 ... ... ... 3,056
4,240
3,520
1851
... 3,440
4,569
4,320
1852
... 3,440
3,280
2,800
. ... 4,128
3,200
2,800
... 2,504
3,040
3:400
2,540
4:520
Even taking the rough average without consideration of quantities
in each year, the latter six years are lower than the former. It
is only about and after 1857 that prices rose under exceptional
and temporary circumstances—the Mutiny and the American War,
aided by the expenditure on railways, &c. After the American War,
prices have commenced falling. Contrast the prices in 1863 with those
of 1867-68 for the same places-Poona, Belgaum, and Ahmedabad (I
take the rough averages from the monthly prices given in the Bombay
Government Gazette for 1867-68) :-
Tolas per Rupee.
Years.
Poona. Belgaum. Ahmedabad.
... ... ... 1,120
720
880
... 1,786
2,633
1,180
For 1868 and 1869. This year, except in the southern part of the
Southern Division, was a bad season, and the Bombay Administration
Report says that the distress in two districts, Poona and Ahmednuggur,
became “so great that it became necessary to afford relief to the labour-
ing poor by undertaking works of public utility.” In the Northern
Division, in Ahmedabad, Kaira, and the Panch Mahals, “the scanty
rains of June and July were followed by severe floods in August, which
were succeeded by drought. In Khandeish there was an entire failure
of the later rains in some talookas.” In some talookas, with no rain, “there
were no crops to watch, and no harvest to reap.” In Khandeish, also,
relief works had become necessary, as the effects of scarcity were
heightened by immigration from · Rajpootana. Such was the generally
unfavourable character of the season, and yet the rough average of retail
prices from the Bombay Government Gazette is as follows for the same
three places :-
Tolas of Jowari per Rupee. ...
Nov. to Oct.
Poona. Belgaum. Ahmedabad.
1868-69 ... ... ... 1.227
2,100
(lower than those of 1863).
1863
(
930
233
CC
I may just say a word here about the Price Commission Report of
Bombay of 1864 to which I have referred above, and from which Sir
Bartle Frere has made up his statement, embodied in the first report of
the Finance Committee, that all the tables given in it, as averages
either of a number of years or of a number of places, are worthless for
any correct and practical conclusions with regard to the actual change
in prices or the actual condition of the people. Because, in these
averages, as is generally done, no regard, I think, is had for the different
quantities of produce in different years or different places. This remark
applies, as I have already said before, to all averages taken on the
wrong principle of adding up prices and dividing by the number of
the prices.
Take Cotton.—I cannot get a list of prices in India, but the prices in
Liverpool may be taken as a sufficient index of the changes in India.
Dr. J. Forbes Royle, in his “Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India”
(1851), gives before the title-page a diagram of the prices and quantity
of American and Indian cotton imported into the United Kingdom from
the year 1806 to 1848. The prices. of Indian cotton in Liverpool in
1806 is 164d., in 1807 154d. In 1808 it went up to 20d., and then
declined, till in 1811 it touched 12d. It rose again, till in 1814. it
went up to 21d. It had subsequently various fluctuations, till in 1832
it just touched 4£d., but again continued to be above till 1840 with an
average above 6d. It subsequently continued at a low average of about
4d., and would have remained so to this day, or perhaps gone out of the
English market altogether, as was very nearly the case in 1860, but for
the American War which sent it up. Now, looking at the figures given
above, it will be seen that, now that the temporary impulse of the
American War is over, cotton is fast sinking again, and we can no
longer expect to see again that high curve of the first quarter of the
present century ranging from 7d. to 21d. The Suez Canal opening
direct communication with European Ports, has only saved the Indiali
cotton trade from perishing altogether. The Administration Report
of 1871-72 gives a distressing picture of the season over nearly the
whole of the presidency, and of the inability of the people to stand it;
and are the prices of such years to be glad about, and to be taken in
averages of rise ?
The Central Provinces.-- In the Central Provinces the average price
of rice, as I have pointed out before, for the year 1867-68—a year of
average good season—is Rs. 1-8 per maund of 80 lbs., not a high price
certainly; and if these be an “enormous rise in former prices, what
234
wretched prices must they have been before? I have not materials for
comparison with prices before the British rule.
Of the North-West Provinces I have not come across sufficient materials
to make a fair comparison, but, from what data I have, I feel that the
conclusion about these Provinces will be similar to those of other parts
of India.
As an imperfect indication, I may refer to the table given in Colonel
Baird Smith's report of prices in 1860, and those of 1868-69 given in
the administration report. Both years have nearly the same common
features, in 1860, in July and August, scarcity prices ; in 1868-69,
latter part of the year, of scarcity. On a comparison, the prices of
1868-69 are, if anything, something lower on the whole, except at
Allahabad and Cawnpore, where railway works are in progress. I give
this comparison below.
Prices of fine Wheat at the undermentioned places.
SEERS PER RUPEE.

Saharunpore.
Meerut.
Allyghur.
Cawnpore.
Allahabad.
Allahabad.
Muttra,
Agra.
May
22-8
24-1
21-12 | 17-8
At the end of
1860
1868
1860
1868
1860
to
26-13
25-14 | 27
25-12 | 20
25-14
ão ő
June
بنا بر M
18
22-8
27-8
5
19
24
24
July
1868
17.8
1860
18
b
August
September
1868
1860
23-11 26-8
II-12 | 11-81
18-4 | 22
13-2 | 11-8
11-13 | 21-4
9-
9 9 -8
12-15 | 17-12
5555
pun baru
| 24
21-4 I 9-1210
15 18 19-8
91 9-12
16-2 | 14
18-12 10-12 11
20
o
October
1868
1860
1868
This really does not show any enormous rise during the nine years
which of all others are supposed to have raised prices most.
Take the Punjab.The prices of wheat in Lahore are (Report of
Punjab, 1850-51, page 74) as follows :-
Years.
1844
lbs. per
Rupee.
lbs. per
Rupee.
... 45
... 46
... 391
ose 54
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
...
... 431
.
235
Mr. John (now Lord) Lawrence repeats, in his report of 1855-56
(page 28), that, for ten years up to 1850-51, wheat was Rs. 2 per maund
of 82 lbs., i.e., during the native rule, ten years previous to annexation,
the price was 41 lbs. per rupee. Now, the Administration Report for
1855-56 (Government of India Selection No. XVIII. of 1856) gives
the following table :-
AVERAGE PRICES.
For 10 years up to 1850-51.
Wheat Rs. 2 per maund of 82 lbs.

1851-52 ...
1852-53 ...
1853-54 ..
1854-55 ...
1855-56 ...
Rs. I per maund.
, I
;; 11 ;
,, I . is
» It's
This table shows how prices fell after the annexation. Assessments
were revised and lowered, railway and other public works created demand
for labour, and another additional very important element operated,
which, in the words of Sir R. Temple, is this :—“But within the last
year, the native army being Punjabi, all such sums have been paid to
them and have been spent at home. Again, many thousands of Punjabi
soldiers are serving abroad. These men not only remit their savings,
but also have sent quantities of prize property and plunder, the spoils
of Hindustan, to their native villages. The effect of all these is already
perceptible in an increase of agricultural capital, a freer circulation of
money, and a fresh impetus to cultivation."
Now, the prices after all such favorable circumstances, even as late
as 1867-68, are about the same as they were in 1844-47---about 34 to
46 lbs. per rupee. In 1868-69 the prices are higher on account of bad
season.
I trust I have made it clear that the so-called rise in prices is only a
pulling up from the depth they had sunk into under the natural econo-
mic effect of the British rule, by the temporary help of the railway and
other loans, and by the windfall of the high cotton prices for a short
period—so that India got back a little of its lost blood, though the
greater portion of it is borrowed.
But, among the causes of the occasional rise in prices and whose effects
are indiscriminately mixed up in the averages, there is one which no
236
person who gives the slightest consideration to it will regard as a matter
for congratulation. Besides the public works expenditure causing high
prices locally, the additional cause to which I allude is scarcity and bad
season. Such rise will not certainly be regarded by anybody as a sign
of prosperity, but calculation of averages often include these scarcity
prices, and their results and conclusions are mischievous, in leading to
wrong practical action. For instance, take the Central Provinces. The
average price of rice for all the districts is Rs. 1-8 per maund for 1867-68,
while in 1868-69 it is Rs. 4-4-9 per maund, and this is entirely owing
to a bad season. But there are writers who do not, or would not, see
the bad season. They see only the high prices, and clamour prosperity
and for increased assessments.
In the North-West Provinces the price of wheat is given, say, in
Saharunpore above 50 lbs. per rupee in June 1868, and in December
1868 it rises to as much as 20 lbs. per rupee. I give a few more
figures from the Report of 1868-69-
April 1868. Sept. 1868.
Scers. Chittacks. Seers, Chittacks.
Meerut ... ... ... ... ... 26 0
II
Moradabad...
IO
Bareilly ... ... ... ... ... 25 10
Muttra
... ... ... ... 24 0
Agra ....
... 23 0
So are these places more prosperous in September than in April, when
they are, in fact, suffering from near famine prices ?
Again, for 1871-72 (Administration Report for 1871-72, pages 1 and
2), both the kharif (autumn crop) and rabi (spring crop) had been short,
and the consequence was rise in prices. Is such rise a healthy sign of -
prosperity ?
In Madras the price of cargo rice is, all throughout in 1868-69, about
Rs. 3-15 per bag; and, by the end of July 1870 it goes up to Rs. 5-10,
owing to bad season.
The comparative high prices of 1865 to 1867 were owing to bail
season; 1867-68, a good season, brought them down. Bad season again,
and a rise and continuous fall since 1870. Return No. 335 of 1867 on
the Orissa famine gives a list of prices rising many times, in the time of
various famines; and are these prices of prosperity ? Leaving extreme
cases of past famine alone, let us take present times.
237
Punjab.—The Administration Report for 1868-69 says (page 101)-
“ Appendix III. El shows that food was cheaper in June 1868 than
during the preceding year, but in January 1869. prices had risen to
famine rates, in consequence of the drought that prevailed during the
intervening months. In January 1869, wheat was selling at Delhi a
114 seers (221 lbs.) per rupee, and in the other districts specified in the
return as follows :-
June.
21
Umballa
... 9. seers.
Lahore ...
... ... ... ... ... ...
Sealkote ...
... 103
Multan
... 11! ;)
Peshawur ...
.... ... ... ... . .. 1410 ;;
Now, the prices in the above places in January and June 1868 were-
January.
Delhi .. .
25 seers.
26 seers.
Umballa
..... ... ... ... ... 201 :
24
Lahore... ... ... .. ... .... 17
18
Sealkote
... ... ... ... ... 16 :
19 ;s
Multan ... ... . ... ... ... 138
17 ;;
Peshawur
· 15
20 ;;
So the prices are more than doubled in January 1860. And this
unfortunate state continues, after a little relief.
Here is the summary of the table in the Report for 1869-70
(page 95):- :
ist June 1st Jan. Ist June 1st Jan.
• 1868 1869 1869 1870 .
Seers. Scers. Seers. Seers.
Delli ... ... ... ... 26 1 1 5 91 vi
Umballa ... ... ... ... 24 9 $ 137 9 1.
Lahore ...
... 18 98 132
Scalkote ... ... ... ... 19
10
Multan ...
... ... 17
111
Peshawur ... ... " 203 141 17] 177 )
To sum up,--the course of prices during the last two years has been,
if anything, downward, except in places of drought or famine, or new
public works"; and all my remarks based upon 1867-68-69 will, I think,
derive greater force from the statistics of the past two years.
I trust I have proved that there has been no general healthy rise of
prices in any part of India from the time of its acquisition by the British.
On the contrary, there has been continuous depression, till the railway
loans, &c., and cotton money revived it a little, and that even tempo-
rarily and locally, from its extreme previous illness. And that very
S
.
Prices in
seers of 2 lbs.
per rupee,
د
19
137
12}
ا
د
238
often the so-called high prices are the result of misfortune, of scarcity
rather than of increased prosperity.
It will tax the ability of Indian statesmen much, and will require a
great change in the policy of the British rule, before India will see
prosperity, or even rise above its absolute wants.
. WAGES...
It is alleged that there is great rise in wages, and that therefore
India is increasing in prosperity. Almost all remarks applied to prices
will do for this. The rise is only when railway and other works have
gone on, and is only local and temporary. In other parts there is no
material alteration.
With regard to Bengal, there is the same difficulty as in the case of
prices—that I cannot get earlier wages than 1790-91, which were de-
pressed times. I find for the year 1830-31 the daily wages of a cooly
was on zemindari estate two annas in the Collectorates of Dinagepore,
Bakergunge, Dacca, 24-Purgunnahs, Murshedabad, in the Purgunnahs
of Calcutta, Barughati (Return No. 362 of 1853).
Now, in the year 1866-67, the daily wage of unskilled labour in several
districts of Bengal, where even public works were going on, were as
follows:
:::::::
::::
.
... 28
a. p.
Ist Division Grand Trunk-road Division
... ... ... ... 2 6
and
%
Patna Branch Road Division ...
Barrakar Division
Tirhoot
Behar Road ,
... 20
Barrackpore ,
Purneah ,
Bhagulpore .
Behrampore ,
... 26
Dinapore
... ... 16
Ramghures
...As. 2 to 1 6
24 Pergunnahs ,
... ... 26
Chittagong »
1 ... 26
Burdwan ;
.... 26
... ...
... i 6
In some divisions it is as high as $ annas, but the general rate is as
above, and it is the rates paid by the Public Works Department. So
the general average rate of a cooly on zemindari estates, I think, cannot
::::::
:
:::::::::::::
:::::::
::::
::::
:::
239
Wages
be much above two annas a day—just what it was forty years ago. I
have obtained the above figures from the Public Works Department
through a friend in Calcutta.
Bombay.—Sir Bartle Frere has given a table from the Price Com-
mission Report of 1864 of Bombay, of the monthly wages of a cooly or
common labourer (Finance Committee, first report, page 616). On
examining this table (which I do not repeat here), it will be seen that
there is hardly a rise in wages worth mentioning between the average
of 1824-29 and 1850-59, the intervening period having some depression,
It is after 1859, as in the case of prices and from same causes (Mutiny,
railways, and cotton), wages rose suddenly. But that they are falling
again will be evident from what is passing in Bombay itself, as the
centre of the greatest activity, and as where large public works are still
going on, one would hardly expect a fall. I obtained the following
figures from one of the Executive Engineers' office for wages paid by the
Public Works Department. The following rates were current during
the last six years in Bombay (the letter is dated 11th June 1872):-
Wages
Wages
of Biggari
of Women
of Boys
Yeais.
per diem.
per diem. per diem.
. p.
a. p.
&. p.
1867-68
60
3 0
1868-69
6 0
1869-70 ...
1870-71
1871-72 ...
This is a fall from 1863, when in Bombay the maximum was Rs. 13-8
per month, and minimum Rs. 7-12 per month, or 7 annas and 24 pies
per diem and 4 annas and 13 pies per diem respectively. Now, had
large public buildings not been building in Bombay, these wages would
have gone much lower than given in the tables above. I am not aware
how the wages are during 1872 and 1873, but my impression is that
they are lower, and will be again down, after the present buildings are
finished, to the old levels shown in the table to which I have already
referred (page 616 of Finance Committee's first report).
In Punjab the highest rate in 1867-68 is 5 annas and 4 annas per day,
chiefly in those parts where public works are going on, such as Sealkote,
Multan, Lahore, &c. But even in these the lowest and in most of the
other districts the rate generally is 2 annas. The average given of
wages of unskilled labour in the Report for 1868-69 is-
O
cở v +
BOO000
b c co
O
5
NNNW
O
5
Highest, 3 annas 3 pies, or 4d.
Lowest, 2 annas 5 pies, or 3şd.
240
This average is taken without any reference to the number of persons
earning the different wages. Were this element considered, the average
will come down to the old famous 3d. a day. There is the further
element to consider, how many days of the year are the different wages
earned! However, even with regard to any high rate, that is, in some
districts, the Punjab Government says what is applicable to other parts
of India under similar circumstances. The Administration Report for
1867-68 (page 83) says—“ The rates of unskilled labour range from
2 annas (3d.) to 5 annas (7 d. per diem. There has been a con-
siderable rise in rates in places affected by the railway and other public
works, and labour in any shape commands higher remuneration than
formerly; but as prices of the necessaries of life have risen in even a
higher ratio, owing chiefly to the increase of facility of export, it may
materially improved.” Leaving the cause to be what it may, this is
apparent, that higher wages in some places hare not done much good to.
the poor labourer. The general rate of wages is, however, about
2 annas. In the Central Provinces (excepting those parts where railway
works have been going on), in Raipore, Belaspore, Sumbulpore, Balaghat,
Bhundara, and Chindwara, the rate of wages for unskilled labour is
(D
the other hand, where railway works are going on and the price of food
is high, wages are also high—as in Hoshungabad, 3 annas ; Baitool
4 annas; Nursingpore, 3 annas; Jubbulpore,' annas; Nagpore, 3 annas,
&c. Thus only locally and temporarily are there high wages in some
parts. The general rate of wages is not improved. Even with all such
high wages for a few, the average all over the Provinces in 1868-69, as
well as in 1870-71, is put down as 3 annas, or 41d.; but if the number
of those earning the different pages, and the number of days when such
wages are earned, were considered, as well as the temporary effect
of the buildings of public works, we shall again come to our old friend
3d. per day, or perhaps less. Except, therefore, all over India where
railway or public works have congested labour temporarily, without
good facility of communication of bringing food, the general rate of
wages is scarcely above 2 annas a day. The notion of a general rise of
wages, and of the vastly improved condition of the labourer, is a
delusion. Here is the latest summary of wages on the highest authority
(Material and Moral Progress of India for 1871-72, pages 100-101).
In Punjab, wages are 6d. to 2d. a day for unskilled labour. In Oudh
11d. for unskilled labour a day. In Central Provinces, unskilled labour
S
241
is 3d. to 11d. per day. In the Bombay Presidency unskilled labour is ·
6d. to 3d. a day. The rates of other provinces are not given. It must
be remembered that the lower figure is the rate earned by the majority;
and are these present rates of 14d. to 3d. an enormous rise on the
former ones ?
BULLION.
It is often alleged that India has imported large quantities of bullion,
and is very much enriched thereby. Let us see what the facts are !
First of all, India has not got its imports of silver as so much profits
on its exports, or making up so much deficit of imports against exports
and profits. As far as exports go, I have already shown that the
imports (including all bullion) are short of exports plus profits, to the
extent of not only the whole profits, but the whole opium revenue, and
a good deal from the produce itself besides. The import of bullion hax
been chiefly from commercial and financial necessities, as will be seen
further on, except during the few years of the American War, when some
portion was sent in because the people could not suddenly create a large
demand for English goods in payment of profits. The total balance of
the imports and exports of bullion from the year 1801 to 1863, accord-
ing to Parliamentary Return 133 of 1864, is £234,353,686; and from
1864 to 1869, according to Return c. 184 of 1870, is £101,123,448
(which includes, mark! the years of the great cotton windfall, and large
remittances for railway loans), making altogether £335,477,134 from
1801 to 1869. The British rulers introduced universally the system
of collecting all revenue in money instead of in kind. This circum-
stance produced a demand for coin. The foreign trade of the country
having increased (though without any benefit to India), increased the
demand for coin. The coinage of India from 1801 to 1869, according
to the same returns, amount to £265,652,749, exclusive of coinage
in Madras for the years 1801 to 1807, and for Bombay for the years.
1821-22, 1824 to 1831, and 1833 (particulars of which are not given),
leaving a balance of about £70,000,000 of bullion for all other wants of
the country. It may be said that some of the coinage must have been
re-melted. This cannot be to a large extent, as specie is 2 per cent,
cheaper than coin, as the mint charge is 2 per cent. for coining.
Mr. Harrison, in reply to question 3993 of the Finance Committee,
confirms this—that the coinage “is burdened with a charge of 2 per
cent., which is a clear loss to all persons wishing to use it for any other
purpose than that of coin.”
16
.
242
. Then there is the wear and tear to consider. The wear and tear of
shillings and sixpences given by the return (24 of 1817) is 28 per cent.
on shillings and 47 per cent. on sixpences. The period of the wear is
not given in the return. In India, this wear, from the necessity of
moving large quantity of coin for Government purposes, and a much
rougher and more widespread use of the coin by the people generally,
the percentage per annum must be a large one indeed.
Mr. Harrison again says on the subject>" Question 3992.—But do
you, then, think that a million fresh coinage a year is sufficient to sup-
ply the wants of India ? Mr. Harrison.—More than sufficient, I suppose,
to supply the waste of coin or metal.” This, I cannot help thinking,
is under the mark, but it shows that nearly a million a year must be
imported for simply making up waste of coin or metal.
The coinage of India as per return is from 1801 to 1869, about
£266,000,000 (not including the coinage in Native States). Deducting
only £66,000,000 for wastage for the sixty-nine years, there should be
in circulation £200,000,000. Taking the wide extent of the country
(equal to all Europe, except Russia it is said), this amount for revenue,
commercial, and social purposes is not an extravagant one. Strike off
even £50,000,000 for re-melting, though at the loss of 2 per cent. value,
I take the coin as only £150,000,000. Deducting this amount
and wastage of £66,000,000—or say even £50,000,000 only (to be
under the mark)-making a total of £200,000,000, there will remain
for all other social and industrial wants, besides coinage, about
£135,000,000. This distributed over a population of above 200,000,000,
hardly gives 13s. 6d. per head, that is to say, during altogether sixty-
nine years, India imported only 13s. 6d. per head of bullion for all its
various purposes, except coin. What an insignificant sum !! Take
even the whole import altogether of £335,000,000 auring the long
period of sixty-nine years, and what is it? Simply about 33s. 6d. per
head for all possible purposes, and without making any allowance for
wear and tear. Just see what the United Kingdom has retained for its
purposes. I cannot get any returns of import of silver and gold before
· 1858. I take only, then, 1858 to 1869 (both inclusive). The total
imports are £322,628,000, and the total exports £268,319,000, leaving
a balance of about £54,300,000. Deducting about £10,000,000 for the
excess of the quantity in the Bank of England at the end of 1869 over
1857, there remain about £44,000,000 for the social and trade use of
the country, allowing equal amounts for coin in 1858 and 1869. This,
therefore, is about 30s. a head retained by the United Kingdom within
.
243
a period of twelve years, independent of its circulating coin, while India
retained only 33s. 6d. a head during a period of sixty-nine years for all
its purposes. Much is said about the hoarding by the natives, but
how little is the share for each to hoard, and what amounts are
in a shape hoardings, in all plate, jewellery, watches, &c., the people use
in England ! I do not suppose that any Englishman would say that
the natives of India ought to have no taste and no ornaments or articles
of use, and must only live like animals; but, after all, how little there
is for each, if every one had its share to hoard or to use. The fact is,
that, far from hoarding, millions who are living on “scanty subsistence"
do not know what it is to have a silver piece in their possession. It
cannot be otherwise. To talk of oriental wealth now, as far as British
India is concerned, is only a figure of speech, a dream! When we talk
of all the silver having a purchasing power, we forget how minutely and
widely a large portion of it must be distributed in India to be of no use
for national purposes. The notion that the import of silver has made
India rich, is another strange delusion! There is one important cir-
cumstance which is not borne in mind. The silver imported is not for
making up the balance of exports and profits over imports, or for what
is called balance of trade. Far from it; as I have already explained.
It is imported as a simple necessity, but it therefore no more makes
India richer, because so much silver is imported. If I give out £20
worth of goods to anybody, and in return get £5 in other goods and £5
in silver, and yet if by so doing, though I have received only £10 worth
in all for the £20 I have parted with, I am richer by £5, because I
have received £5 in silver, then my richness will be very unenviable
indeed. The phenomenon in fact has a delusive effect. Besides not
giving due consideration to the above circumstances, the bewilderment of
many people at what are called enormous imports of silver in India is
like that of a child which, because it can itself be satisfied with a small ·
piece of bread, wonders at a big man eating up a whole loaf, though
that loaf may be but a very“ scanty subsistence” for the poor
big man.
2
The little England can have, £l a head out of £30,000,000, the big
India must have £200,000,000 to give this share per head to its popula-
tion. Yet the 33s. 6d. per head in sixty-nine years appears to the
bewildered Englishman something enormously larger than 30s. a head in
twelve years they themselves have got, and that as a portion of the
profits of trade-while India has it for sheer necessity, and at the highest
price, as silver is its last destination, and paying that price by the actual
244
produce of the country, not from any profits of trade, thereby diminishivg
to that extent its own means of subsistence.
There is one more point to be borne in mind. How much did the
East India Company first drain away from India, before it, as a matter
of necessity, began to re-import bullion for its wants ? What are the
statistics of the imports and exports of bullion before 1801?
Where can we find an account of the fortunes which the Company's
servants made, by foul means or fair, in spite of their masters' orders,
and which they may have taken over to their country in various ways
independently of the custom-house, with themselves in their own boxes ?
Sir John Shore (afterwards Lord Teignmouth) says in his minute of
1787 (Report of Select Committee of 1812, appendix, page 183) in
reference to Bengal-
**137. The exports of specie from the country for the last twenty-
five years have been great, and particularly during the last ten of that
period. It is well understood, although the remittances to China are by
the Government, provided by bills, that specie to a large amount has
been exported to answer them. .... Silver bullion is also
remitted by individuals to Europe ; the amount cannot be calculated, but
must, since the Company's accession to the Dewany, have been very
considerable.
“140. Upon the whole, I have no hesitation in concluding that,
since the Company's acquisition of the Dewany, the current specie of
the country has been greatly diminished in quantity ; that the old chan-
nels of importation by which the drains were formerly replenished are
now in a great measure closed; and that the necessity of supplying
China, Madras, and Bombay with money, as well as the exportation of
it by the Europeans to England, will continue still further to exhaust
the country of its silver. . . .
“ 142. It is obvious to any observation that the specie of the country
is much diminished; and I consider this as a radical evil.”
In a. quotation I have given before, Lord Cornwallis mentions the
great diminution of the current specie,' in pointing out the result of the
drain.
Such was the exhaustion of British territory in India of its specie
before it began to re-import. The East India Company and their ser-
vants carried away viâ China or direct to England, the former the surplus
of revenue, the latter their savings and their bribes, in specie. The
245
country was exhausted, and was compelled to re-import specie for
its absolute wants, and it is from the time of such re-importations after
exhaustion that we have the return of bullion from the year 1801, and
which, after all, is only 34s. a head for all possible wants, commercial,
social, religious, revenue, industrial, trade, railway and other public
works, or any other, in a period of sixty-nine years. And having no
specie left to pay for the heavy English drain, it began to pay in its
produce and manufactures, diminishing thereby the share of its children
year by year, and their capacity for production. Be it remembered also
that this import of specie includes all imported for building railways,
and which is a debt on the country to be repaid. This debt to the end
of 1869 was some £82,000,000.
As far as I could I have now placed before you a series of facts and
figures directly bearing upon the question of the Poverty of India. I
now place before you a few further notes as to the moral effect which
the chief causes of the poverty of India has produced on our British
rulers.
NON-FULFILUENT OF SOLEMN PROMISES.
“We have not fulfilled our duty, or the promises and engagements
which we have made," are the words of the highest Indian authority,
His Grace the Duke of Argyll. The evil which is the cause of the
excessive drain from India, and its consequent poverty, and which con-
sists in the excessive employment of Europeans in every possible way,
leads the British Government into the false and immoral position and
policy of not fulfilling “ their duty, or the promises and engagements
made by them.” I shall now illustrate this phase of the condition of
the natives in some of the various departments of the State. Here is a
bold and solemn promise made forty years ago. Parliament enacted in
1833 (Chapter LXXXV., Section LXXXVII.)—“And be it enacted
that no native of the said territories, nor any natural-born subject of His
Majesty resident therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of
birth, descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any
place, office, or employment under the said Company."
• At the enactment of this clause, Mr. Macaulay, on July 10, 1833, in
defending the East India Company's charter bill on behalf of Govern-
ment, said as follows-on this part of the bill, in words worthy of an
English gentleman :-
246
“ There is, however, one part of the bill on which, after what has
recently passed elsewhere, I feel myself irresistibly impelled to say a
few words. I allude to that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause
which enacts that.no, native of our Ināian Empire shall, by reason of
his colour, his descent, or his religion be incapable of holding office.
At the risk of being called by that nickname which is regarded as the
most opprobrious of all nicknames by men of selfish hearts and contract-
ed minds—at the risk of being called a philosopher-I must say that, to
the last day of my life, I shall be proud of having been one of those who
assisted in the framing of the bill which contains that clause. We are
told that the time can never come when the natives of India can be
admitted to high civil and military office. We are told that this is
the condition on which we hold our power. We are told that we are
bound to confer on our subjects—every benefit which they are capable
of enjoying ? No. Which it is in our power to confer on them ?-No.
But which we can confer on them without hazard to our own dominion.
Against that proposition I solemnly protest, as inconsistent alike with
sound policy and sound morality.
“I am far, very far, from wishing to proceed hastily in this delicate
matter. I feel that, for the good of India itself, the admission of natives
to high offices must be effected by slow degrees. But that when the
fulness of time is come, when the interest of India reqnires the change,
we ought to refuse to make that change lest we should endanger our
own power :- this is a doctrine which I cannot think of without indigna-.
tion. Gorernments, like men, may buy existence too dear.
“ Propter vitam vivendi perdere causus' is a despicable policy either
in individuals or in states. In the present case, such a policy would be
not only despicable but absurd. The mere extent of empire is not
necessarily an advantage. To many Governments it has been cumber-
some, to some it has been fatal. It will be allowed by every statesman
of our time that the prosperity of a community is made up of the
prosperity of those who compose the community, and that it is the most
childish ambition to covet dominion which adds to no man's comfort
or security. To the great trading nation, to the great manufacturing
nation, no progress which any portion of the human race can make in
knowledge, in taste for the conveniences of life, or in the wealth by
which those conveniences are produced, can be matter of indifference.
It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derire
from the diffusion of European civilization among the vast population of
the East. It would be on the most selfish view of the case ; far better
247
.
TA
CD
for us that the people of India were well-governed and independent of
us, than ill-governed and subject to us that they were ruled by their
own kings, but wearing our broadcloth and working with our cutlery;.
than that they were performing their salams to English collectors and
English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy,
English manufactures. To trade with civilized men is infinitely more
profitable than to govern savages. That would, indeed, be a doting
wisdom which, in order that India might remain a dependency, would
make it an useless and costly dependency—which would keep a hundred
millions of men from being our customers in order that they might
continue to be our slaves. It was, as Bernier tells us, the practice of
the miserable tyrants whom he found in India, when they dreaded the
capacity and spirit of some distinguished subject, and yet could not
venture to murder him, to administer to him a daily dose of the pousta-
a preparation of opium, the effect of which was in a few months to
destroy all the bodily and mental powers of the wretch who was drugged
with it, and to turn him into an helpless idiot. That detestable artifice,
more horrible than assassination itself, was worthy of those who em.
ployed it. It is no model for the English nation. We shall never
consent to administer the pousta to a whole community, to stupefy and
paralyse a great people whom God has committed to our charge, for the
wretched purpose of rendering them more amenable to our control.
What is that power worth which is founded on vice, on ignorance, and
on miseryo-which we can hold only by violating the most sacred duties
which, as governors, we owe to the governed—which, as a people blessed
with far more than an ordinary measure of political liberty;, and of
intellectual light, we owe to a race debased by three thousand years of
despotism and priest-craft ? We are free, we are civilized to little pur-
pose, if we grudge to any portion of the human race an equal measure
of freedom and civilization. Are we to keep the people of India ignorart
in order that we may keep them submissive ? or do we think that we
· can give them knowledge without awaking ambition ? or do we mean to
awaken ambition and to provide it with no legitimate vent? Who will
answer any of these questions in the affirmative ? Yet one of them
must be answered in the affirmative by every person who maintains
that we ought permanently to exclude the natives from high office.
I have no fears. The path of duty is plain before us; and it is also
the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, of national honor.
.
-
01
248
1
(
“The destinies of our Indian Empire are covered with thick darkness
It is difficult to form any conjectures as to the fate reserved for a Stato
which resembles no other in history, and which forms by itself a separate
class of political phenomena ; the laws which regulate its growth and its
decay are still unknown to us. It may be that the public mind of
India may expand under our system, till it has outgrown the system ;
that, by good government, we may educate our subjects into a capacity
for better government, that, having become instructed in European
knowledge, they inay in some future age demand European institutions.
Whether such a day will ever come I know not. But never will I
attempt to avert or to retard it. Whenever it comes, it will be the
proudest day in English History. To have found a great people sunk
in the lowest depths of slavery and superstition, to have so ruled them
as to have made them desirous and capable of all the privileges of
citizens, would indeed be a title to glory all our own. The sceptre may
pass away from us. Unforeseen accidents may derange our most pro-
found schemes of policy. Victory may be inconstant to our arms. But
there are triumphs which are followed by no reverses. There is an
empire exempt from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs are
the pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism; that empire is the
imperishable empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our
laws."
I should not add one word of any other speeches, though others also,
had spoken at the time, and with general approbation, of the sentiments
expressed; I would only say, that had these pledges and policy been
faithfully followed, now after forty years great blessing would have
been the result both to England and India. Once more I appeal
to the British to revive the memory of those noble sentiments,
follow the "plain path of duty that is before you.” That unfortunate
plea—-unfortunate both for England and India—of political danger was
fully considered and deliberately cast aside, by the statesmen who enacted
“that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause," as unworthy of the
British nation, and they as deliberately adopted the policy of plain duty
and true glory.
'In such language and with such noble declaration was this clause pro-
claimed to the world. I haře made a copy of all the speeches delivered
in Parliament on this subject since 1830; but as I cannot insert them all
here, I content myself with one of the early ones which I have read to
you, and the latest delivered by the highest Indian authority which I
give further on.
(D
249
Again, in 1858, our Gracious Majesty, in solemn, honest, and distinct
terms, gave the following pledge in her gracious proclamation :-"We
hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territories by the same
obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and these
obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and
conscientiously fulfil. It is our further will that, so far as may be, our
subjects, of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to
offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified, by their
education, ability, and integrity, duly to discharge.” Such were the
great solemn pledges given by the Queen and Parliament.
We may now see what the present (1873) highest authority, His
Grace the Secretary of State for India, says as to the due fulfilment of
these pledges, when the East India Association were making efforts in
respect of the admission of natives in the Covenanted Civil Service.
The following is the correspondence between the East India Associa-
tion and Mr. Grant Duff in 1873, giving His Grace's speech, and a brief
account of the events from 1867 to 1873:-
S
East INDIA ASSOCIATION,
20, Great George Street, Westminster,
London, September 1873.
Το
TI
M. E. GRANT DUFF, Esq., M.P.,
Under-Secretary of State for India, India Office.
SIR,—By the direction of the Council of the East India Association, I
have to request you to submit this letter for the kind consideration of
His Grace the Secretary of State for India.
On the 21st August 1867, this Association applied to Sir Stafford
Northcote, the then Secretary of State for India, asking that the com-
petitive examination for a portion of the appointments to the Indian
Civil Service should be held in India, under such rules and arrangements
as he might think proper, and expressing an opinion that, after the
selection had been made in India by the first examination, it was essen-
tial that the selected candidates should be required to come to England
to pass their further examinations with the selected candidates for this
country.
Sir Stafford Northcote soon after introduced a clause in the Bill he
submitted to Parliament, entitled “ The Governor-General of India Bill."
250
The enactment of this Bill continued in abeyance, until, under the
auspices of His Grace the present Secretary of State, it became law on
the 25th March 1870, as “East India (Laws and Regulations) Act."
Moving the second reading of the Bill on the 11th March 1869, His
Grace, in commenting upon Clause 6, in a candid and generous manner
made an unreserved acknowledgment of past failures of promises, non-
fulfilment of duty, and held out hopes of the future complete fulfilment
to an adequate extent, as follows :-
“I now come to a clause-the 6th—which is one of very great
“importance, involving some modification in our practice, and in the
“ principles of our legislation as regards the Civil Service in India. Its
"object is to set free the hands of the Governor-General, under such
“ restrictions and regulations as may be agreed to by the Government at
“home, to select, for the Covenanted Service of India, natives of that
"country, although they may not have gone through the competitive
“examination in this country. It may be asked how far this provision
“ is consistent with the measures adopted by Parliament for securing
"efficiency in that service; but there is a previous and, in my opinion, a
“much more important question which I trust will be considered -how
«s far this provision is essential to enable us to perform our duties and
“fulfil our pledges and professions towards the people of India ? ...
"With regard, however, to the employment of natives in the Govern-
"ment of their country, in the Covenanted Service formerly of the
“ Company and now of the Crown, I must say that we have not fulfilled
“our duty, or the promises and engagements which we have made.
“In the Act of 1833 this declaration was solemnly put forth by the
“Parliament of England :- And be it enacted that no native of the said
"territories, nor any natural-born subject of His Majesty resident
"therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent,
“colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or
oss employment under the said Company.'
“Now, I well remember that in the debates in this House in 1853,
“when the renewal of the charter was under the consideration of Lord
“ Aberdeen's Government, my late noble friend Lord Monteagle com-
“plained, and I think with great force; that, while professing to open
“every office of profit and employment under the Company or the Crown
" to the natives of India, we practically excluded them by laying down
"regulations as to fitness which we knew natives could never fulfil. If
" the only door of admission to the Civil Service of India is a competitive
251
“ examination carried on in London, what chance or what possibility is
“there of natives of India acquiring that fair share in the administration
" of their own country which their education and abilities would enable
6 them to fulfil, and therefore entitle them to possess ? I have always
« felt that the regulations laid down for the competitive examination
“ rendered nugatory the declaration of the Act of 1833 ; and so strongly
" has this been felt of late years by the Government of India, that
“ various suggestions have been made to remedy the evil. One of the
"very last—which, however, has not yet been finally sanctioned at home,
« and respecting which I must say there are serious doubts—has been
“suggested by Sir John Lawrence, who is now about to approach our
“shores, and who is certainly one of the most distinguished men who
“have ever wielded the destinies of our Indian Empire. The palliative
“which he proposes is that nine scholarshipsmnine scholarships for a
“ Government of upwards of 180,000,000 of people !-should be annually
" at the disposal for certain natives, selected partly by competition, and
“partly with reference to their social rank and position, and that these
"nine scholars should be sent home with a salary of £200 a year each,
s to compete with the whole force of the British population seeking ad-
“ mission through the competitive examinations. Now, in the first
“place, I would point out the utter inadequacy of the scheme to the
"ends of the case. To speak of nine scholarships distributed over the
“whole of India as any fulfilment of our pledges or obligations to the
“ natives, would be a farce. I will not go into the details of the scheme,
“as they are still under consideration ; but I think it is by no means
"expedient to lay down as a principle that it is wholly useless to require
“natives seeking employment in our Civil Service to see something of
“English society and manners. It is true that, in the new schools and
“colleges, they pass most distinguished examinations, and, as far as
"books can teach them, are familiar with the history and constitution
“of this country; but there are some offices with regard to which it
“would be a most important, if not an essential, qualification that the
"young men appointed to them should have seen something of the
“actual working of the English constitution, and should have been
“impressed by its working, as any one must be who resides for any time
"in this great political society. Under any new regulations which may
“ be made under this clause, it will, therefore, be expedient to provide
" that natives appointed to certain places shall have some personal
“ knowledge of the working of English institutions. I would, however,
“by no means make this a general condition, for there are many places
252
“ in the Covenanted Service of India for which natives are perfectly
"competent, without the necessity of visiting this country ; and I believe
" that by competitive examinations conducted at Calcutta, or even by
"pure selection, it will be quite possible for the Indian Government to
“secure able, excellent, and efficient administrators.”
The clause thus introduced, in a manner worthy of an English
generous-minded nobleman, and passed into law, is as follows :-
1
“6. Whereas it is expedient that additional facilities should be
“ given for the employment of natives of India, of proved merit and
" ability, in the Civil Service of Her Majesty in India, be it enacted
" that nothing in the "Act for the Government of India,' twenty-
"one and twenty-two Victoria, chapter one hundred and six, or in
" the "Act to confirm certain appointments in India, and to amend
s the law concerning the Civil Service there,' twenty-four and twenty-
or five Victoria, chapter fifty-four, or in any other Act of Parliament,
" or other law now in force in India, shall restrain the authorities
"in India, by whom appointments are or may be made to offices, places
“ and employments in the Civil Service of Her Majesty in India, from
“ appointing any native of India to any such office, place, or employment,
" although such native shall not have been admitted to the said Civil
“ Service of India in manner in section thirty-two of the first-mentioned
“ Act provided, but subject to such rules as may be from time to time
“prescribed by the Governor-General in Council, and sanctioned by the
“ Secretary of State in Council, with the concurrence of a majority of
“ members present; and that, for the purpose of this Act, the words
"natives of India'shall include any person born and domiciled within
“ the dominions of Her Majesty in India, of parents habitually resident
s in India, and not established there for temporary purposes only; and
" that it shall be lawful for the Governor-General in Council to define
"and limit from time to time the qualification of natives of India thus
" expressed ; provided that every resolution made by him for such
“purpose shall be subject to the sanction of the Secretary of State in
“ Council, and shall not have force until it has been laid for thirty days
“ before both Houses of Parliament."
It is now more than three years since this clause has been passed, but
the Council regret to find that no steps have apparently yet been taken
by His Excellency the Viceroy to frame the rules required by it, so that
the natives may obtain the due fulfilment of the liberal promise made
by His Grace.
253
The natives complain that, had the enactment referred to the interests
of the English community, no such long and unreasonable delay would
have taken place, but effect would have been given to the Act as quickly
as possible ; and they further express a fear that this promise may also
be a dead-letter.
The Council, however, fully hope that further loss of time will not
be allowed to take place in promulgating the rules required by the Act.
The natives, after the noble and g enerous language used by His Grace,
naturally expect that they will not be again doomed to disappointment,
and most anxiously look forward to the promulgation of the rules-to
give them, in some systematic manner, " that fair share in the administ
tration of their own country which their education and abilities would
enable them to fulfil, and therefore entitle them to possess,” not only as
a political justice, but also as a national necessity, for the advancemen-
of the material and moral condition of the country. .
I remain,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
W. C. PALMER, Capt.,
Acting Honorary Secretary of the
East India Association.
INDIA OFFICE, LONDON,
10th October 1873.
SIR,—I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd October, relative to
the provisions of the 33rd Victoria, cap. 3., section 6; and to inform you
that the subject is understood to be under the consideration of the
Government of India, the attention of which has been twice called to it. .
2. The Duke of Argyll in Council will send a copy of your letter to
the Government of India, and again request the early attention of that
authority to that subject.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(Sd.) M. E. GRANT DUFF.
The ACTING HONORARY SECRETARY,
EAST India ASSOCIATION.
25+
Such is the candid confession of non-performance of duty and non- .
fulfilment of solemn pledges for thirty-six years, and the renewed pledge
to make amends for past failures and provide adequate admission for the
future for a fair share in the administration of our own country. The
inadequacy is clearly shown by the ridicule of nine scholarships for
180,000,000 souls, and the proposal to adopt means “ for the abolition
of the monopoly of Europeans.” When was this confession and this
new pledge made ? It was to pass the 6th clause of Act 33 Vic., cap. 3.
The clause was passed on 25th March 1870, one year after the above
speech was made, and nearly three years after it was first proposed.
Next March (1874) it will be four years since this clause has been
passed. Twice did Sir C. Wingfield ask questions in the House of
Commons, and no satisfactory reply was given. At last the East India
Association addressed the letter which I have read to you, to the India
Office, and from the reply you have seen how slow our Indian authorities
had been, so as to draw three reminders from the Secretary of State.
With regard to the remark in the letter as to the complaint of the
natives that, “ had the enactment referred to the interests of the English
community, no such long and unreasonable delay would have taken
place,” I need simply point to the fact of the manner in which the
Coopers' Hill College was proposed and carried out in spite of all
difficulties.
Now about the scholarships to which His Grace alluded to in his
speech. These scholarships had nothing to do with the provision for
affording facilities to natives to enter the Covenanted Service. They
were something for a quite different purpose. The following corres-
pondence of the East India Association of 3rd March 1870 with
Mr. Grant. Duff, gives briefly the real state of the case :-
EAST INDIA AssociaTION,
20, Great George Street,
Westminster, S.W., 3rd March 1870.
Sir,-I am directed by the Council of the East India Association to
request you to submit, for the kind consideration of His Grace the Duke
of Argyll, the following resolutions passed at a large meeting of the
Bombay Branch of the East India Association.
Resolutions.
That the Managing Committee, Bombay Branch, be requested to
bring to the notice of the head body in London, the recent suspension of
255
the Government of India scholarships, and at the same time to lay
before it the following representations on the subject :-
1. That the Bombay Branch has learnt with great regret that the
Government scholarships, lately established to enable Indian youths to
proceed to England for educational purposes, are not to be awarded
this year.
2. That the Bombay Branch are aware that the Right Hon'ble the
Secretary of State for India considers these scholarships as quite an
inadequate provision for a government of 180,000,000 souls, and they
look forward with hopeful confidence to the day when His Grace will
unfold before the British Legislature a measure suggested by his long
experience and study of Indian affairs, elaborated and matured by the
generous and large-minded sympathy and interest which he has always
evinced towards the natives of India, and worthy at once of his own
high name and intellect, and those of the country which has entrusted
him with his present high post.
3. That, while thus far from being un-mindful of the good intentions
which have most probably prompted the suspension of these scholarships,
the Bombay Branch feel bound to submit that, even as a temporary and
inadequate measure, these scholarships were calculated to do an amount
of good which the preparation of a larger and more comprehensive
scheme did not by any means in the meantime render it imperative to
forego..
4. That the suddenness of the suspension of these scholarships has
given it a sort of retrospective effect with regard to those youths who
framed their course of study in the expectation of obtaining the benefits
of the notifications issued by the several Indian Governments in respect
of these scholarships, thus entailing great disappointment on particular
individuals.
. 5. That the East Indian Association will have the kindness to carry
the above representations to the Right Hon'ble the Secretary of State
for India, in the manner it may deem most proper and effective.
In submitting these resolutions, the Council respectfully urge that
the object of the proposer, the late lamented Sir H. Edwards, of
this prayer for scholarships in the memorial presented the 21st
August 1867, to the late Secretary of State, Sir S. Northcote,
was “to aid the natives not merely to enable them to compete
for the Civil Service, but to return in various professions to India,
X
256
so that by degrees they might form an enlightened and unpre-
judiced class, exercising a great and beneficial influence on native society,
and constituting a link between the masses of the people and the rulers.''
It is evident that Lord Lawrence, the then Governor-General of India,
also understood and declared the object of these scholarships to be as
above ; for, in the resolution No. 360, the object is stated to be “of
encouraging natives of India to resort more freely to England for the
purpose of perfecting their education, and of studying the various
learned professions, or for the civil and other services in this country ;''
ånd also, in another part of the same resolution, it is declared to be “not
önly to afford to the students facilities for obtaining a University degree,
and for passing the competitive examinations for admission into the
İndian Civil Service, but also to enable them to pursue the study of
Law, Medicine, or Civil Engineering, and otherwise prepare themselves
for the exercise of a liberal profession."
The Council, therefore, venture to submit that, considering the im-
portant objects pointed out by Sir H. E. Edwardes, it is very desirable
that the scholarships be continued.
The Council are glad to find, from your speech in the House of
Commons, that the question of these scholarships has not yet been
settled, and they therefore trust that His Grace will accede to the
request so urgently made in the above resolutions.
The Council have every reason to believe that the natives of the
other presidencies also share similar feelings, and confidently leave the
matter in the hands of His Grace.
S
I have the honor to be,
Your obedient Servant,
DADABHAI NAOROJI,
Honorary Secretary.
MOUNTSTUART E. GRANT DUFF, Esq., M.P.,
Under-Secretary of State for India.
INDIA OFFICE, March 18, 1870.
Sir, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, on the subject
of the Government of India scholarships.
257
In reply, I am instructed to inform you that the Secretary of State in
Council has very fully considered the whole subject, and does not deem.
it expedient to proceed further with the scheme of scholarships.
You are aware that a bill is now before Parliament which will enable
the Government to give to the natives of India more extensive and
important employment in the public service.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
HERMAN MERIVALE.
It is now (1873) nearly four years and this “ employment” is still
under consideration ; but the scholarships which had nothing to do with
this matter, after being proclaimed to the world in the Indian Gazette,
and after a brief life of one year, are gone. I next examine how far
the great pledges of 1833 and 1858 have been carried out in the
uncovenanted and other services.
THE UNCOVENANTED SERVICE.
Sir S. Northcote, in his dispatch of 8th February 1868, wrote to the
Indian Government—"The Legislature has determined that the more
important and responsible appointments in those provinces shall be
administered exclusively by those who are now admitted to the public
service solely by competition, but there is a large class of appointments
in the regulation, as well as in the non-regulation provinces, some of
them scarcely less honorable and lucrative than those reserved by law
for the Covenanted Civil Service, to which the natives of India have
certainly a preferential claim, but which, as you seem to admit, have
up to this time been too exclusively conferred upon Europeans. These
persons, however competent, not having entered the service by the
prescribed channel, can have no claim upon the patronage of the Govern-
ment—none, at least, that ought to be allowed to override the inherent
rights of the natives of the country ; and therefore, while all due
consideration should be shown to well-deserving incumbents, both as
regards their present position and their promotion, there can be no valid
reason why the class of appointments which they now hold, should not
be filled, in future, by natives of ability and high character.” Now, is
this done ? I have not been able to get a complete return of the higher
Uncovenanted Servants. I shall use what I have got. The Govern-
ment of India, in their dispatch in the Financial Department, to the
17
258
Secretary of State for India, No. 227, dated 4th October 1870, gives
two tables ; the first headed—“Abstract of Appendix A referred to in
the 6th paragraph of the above dispatch, being a statement of the number
of offices in India which were filled in 1869 by Uncovenanted Servants,
but which might have been filled by Covenanted Servants or Military
Officers." Now, this list gives of such Uncovenanted Servants 1,302
Europeans and 221 natives.
I am sorry I cannot get a return of the salaries of these 1,302
European Uncovenanted Servants; but with regard to natives, the
second table of the same dispatch shows that out of these 221
only I gets a salary of Rs. 1,500 to 1,600 per month.
9 1,200 to 1,300
,, 1,100 to 1,200
, 1,000 to 1,100
800 to 900
700 to 800
600 to
500 to 600
2 400 to 500
700
265
“One Native Judge of the Bengal High Court at Rs. 4,160-10-8 per mensem.”
Out of the last 125 there must be about 44 which the Government of ,
India did not think fit for the Covenanted Servants or Military Officers.
And it must also be borne in mind that the 1,302 do not include all
those uncovenanted appointments which are filled by military officers
already. If we can get a return of all uncovenanted appointments from
Rs. 400 upwards, we shall then see how the inherent right” possessors,
the children of the soil, have fared, even in the Uncovenanted Service,
before and since the dispatch.
If anything, the tendency and language of the Indian Government
is such, in the very correspondence from which I have given the table,
that even the small number of natives may be squeezed out. All
appointments that are worth anything are to pass to the Covenanted
Servants and the military officers, and to the rest the natives are welcome!
Here and there, perhaps, a few better crumbs will be thrown to them.
I sincerely hope I may prove a false prophet. An annual return is
necessary to show whether Sir S. Northcote's dispatch has not been
also one more dead-letter.
259
THE ENGINEERING SERVICE.
D
When Cooper's Hill Engineering College was in contemplation, some
correspondence passed between me and His Grace the Secretary of State,
In this I gave detailed particulars of the cases of Messrs. Daji Nilkunt,
Lallubbhoy Kheshowlal, Chambas Appa, Gungadhur Venaek, and
Bomanji Sorabji. Now, the first four had duly qualified themselves and
were entitled to be promoted to the Engineering Department as far back
as 1861, and the fifth in 1867, and yet they never got admission into
the Engineering Department as far as I was then (1873) aware, though
a large number of appointments had been made during the period. I
said, in connection with this part of my letter, that such treatment
and bitter disappointments produced much mischief, that the Public
Works Department rules were a mere farce, &c. &c., and requested
inquiry. This His Grace promised to do, but I do not know what has
been done. But Mr. Grant Duff, in his speech on 3rd March 1871 in
Parliament, said—"Then we are told that we were asking too much money,
that the Engineering College would be merely a college for the rich,
We replied that we asked £150 a year for three years, in return for
which we gave to those young men who passed through the college.
£420 in their very first year of service. It is said, too, that we are
excluding the natives from competing. So far from this being the
case, young Englishmen are obliged to pay for being educated for the
Public Works Department, while young natives of India are actually
paid for allowing themselves to be educated for that service, and the
scholarships available for that purpose are not taken up." Now, some-
how or other, it did not please Mr. G. Duff to tell the whole truth.
He omitted the most essential part of the whole story. He did not
tell the honorable members that what he said about the encourage-
ment with regard to the English youths, only a minute before, did
not at all exist with regard to the natives. He did not tell that,
in return for any natires who duly qualify themselves in India,
we do not give £420 in their very first year of service, or allow
them fair and equal promotion with the English. The native, on the
.contrary, has every possible discouragement thrown in his way, as will
be seen subsequently. And, lastly, in his peroration, what great things
done by the “we” of the India Office Mr. Duff points out—“We claim
to have done, first, an imperative duty to India in getting for her the
trained engineering ability which she wanted.” From whom, gentlemen ?
Not from her own children, but from English youths, as if India was
simply a howling desert and had no people in it at all, or was peopled
260
by mere savages and had no national wants. But after this clever way
of benefitting India, Mr. Duff proceeds to point out what the “we” have
done for England.“We have created a new profession. We have
widened the area of competition. We have offered a first-rate education
cheaper than a third-rate education can now be got. We have done
service even to those institutions which growl most at us... We
have done service to practical men. , . Lastly, we have done good
service to English scientific education.” It wouid appear as if India and
Indians existed only to give England the above advantages. Now,
here is His Grace giving the first intimation of his intention for establish-
ing a college, on 28th July 1870, before the House of Lords. And on
what ground does he recommend it ? Among others, the following :-
“ It would afford an opening to young men in this country, which they
would, he thought, be anxious to seize, because it would enable them to
secure a very considerable position almost immediately on their arrival
in India, where they would start with a salary of about £400 a year,
and rise in their profession by selection and ability. They would be
entirely at the disposal of the Governor-General of India, and they
would have the prospect of retiring with a pension larger than in former
times.” It would appear that while saying this, His Grace altogether
forgets that, besides these " anxious" young gentlemen of England, there
were India's own children also, who had the first claim to be provided
for in their own country, if India's good were the real policy of England ;
and that there were solemn pledges to be fulfilled, and the national
wants of India to be considered. Why did it not occur to him that
similar provision should be made for the natives?
The case of the five natives referred to before, is enough to show how
the code and rules were a mere farce. But this is not all. The follow-
ing will show how even when a positive pledge for one appointment
was giren in Bombay, in addition to the rules of the code already referred
to—how even that was trifled with, and how only under strong protest
of the Principal of the College and the Director of Public Instruction
that it is restored this year (1873). In 1869, Sir Seymour Fitzgerald,
at the Convocation, exhorted the students to emulate their forefathers
in their engineering skill, &c. I immediately complained, in a letter to
the Times of India, of the uselessness of such exhortations, when every
care was taken that the natives shall not get into the service. Soon
after, it was some consolation to find a little encouragement held out,
and the first Licentiate of Engineering every year was guaranteed an
261 .
Assistant Engineership, and the first year Government became liberal and
gave three instead of one. But the fates again pursue us, and that
guarantee of one Assistant Engineership soon virtually vanished. Let
the authorities themselves speak on this subject.
In the Report of 1869-70, the Director of Public Instruction said
(page 65)-"In the University Examination three candidates passed
the examination for the degree of L. C. E. The best of these received
the appointment in the Engineering Branch of the Public Works
Department, which Government guarantees yearly. Eight such appoint-
ments are guaranteed to the Thomason College at Roorkee, where the
first Department on 1st April 1870 contained 31 students, while the
University Department of the Poona College contained 38 on the same
date. But the Poona College has no cause to complain of want of
encouragement, as Government has since been pleased to appoint
the remaining two Licentiates also to be Assistant Engineers. All the
graduates of the year have thus been admitted to a high position in the
public service, and I hope that they will justify the liberality of Govern-
ment.” So far so good. But the effort of liberality soon passed off ;
and we have a different tale the very next year, which is the very
second year after the guarantee.
The Principal of the Poona College says (Report 1870-71, para. 8,
Public Instruction Report, page 365)—“ The three students who obtain-
ed the degree of L. C. E. in 1869 have all been provided with appoint-
ments by Government. Up to the present, however, the first student
at the L. C. E. examination in 1870 has not been appointed, though it
is now more than six months since he passed. This delay on the part
of the Public Works Department, in conferring an appointment guaran-
teed by Government, will, I fear, affect injuriously our next year's
attendance."
Upon this the Director of Public Instruction says—In 1870 two
students of the University class passed the examination for the degree
of Licentiate, and eight passed the first examination in Civil Engineer-
ing. The great attraction to the University department of the College
is the appointment in the Engineering branch of the Public Works
Department, guaranteed by Government yearly to the student who
passes the L. C. E. examination with highest marks. This guarantee
has failed on this occasion” (the usual fate of everything promised to
natives), “as neither of the Licentiates of 1870 has yet received an
appointment. For whatever reason the Public Works Department
262
S
delays to fulfil its engagement, it is much to be regretted that any doubt
should be thrown on the stability of the Government's support.”
Such is the struggle for the guarantee of one appointment-I repeat,
one single appointment to the natives of the Bombay Presidency, and
the following is the way in which Government gets out of its guarantee,
and replies to the just complaint for the precious great boon :-" The
complaint made in para. 657, the Report for 1870-71, that Government
had withdrawn the Engineering appointment promised to the graduate
in C. E. who shall pass with the highest marks, appears to be without
sufficient foundation. All that Government has done is to limit the
bestowal of this appointment to those who pass in the first class, while
three appointments, in the upper subordinate establishments (of the
Public Works Department) are reserved for those who pass the final
examination of the College. This would seem at present sufficient
encouragement to the pupils of the institution, and the confinement of
the highest prize to those who pass in the first class, will probably
act as a stimulus to increased exertion on the part of candidates for
degrees."
We may now see what the Principal of the College says on this.
(Extract from Report of Principal of Poona Engineering College,
1871-72, Director of Public Instruction's Report, page 500.) The
Principal says—“Government have, however, I regret to say, during
the past year withdrawn the guarantee of one appointment annually to
the first student in order of merit at the L. C. E. examination, and have
ordered that in future, to gain the single appointment, a first-class
degree is to be considered necessary. This condition practically removes
for the University test, it will not be possible for a student to obtain 66
per cent. more frequently than once perhaps in five or six years. I
have proposed that 50 per cent., which is the standard for a first-class
B.A., be also adopted as the standard for the first-class degree in Civil
Engineering. ... The offer of an appointment to the student who
obtains a first-class degree only, is, as I have already said, equivalent to.
a withdrawal of the guarantee altogether. The University calendar
shows that a first-class at the B.A. examination has only been gained
, by 11 students out of 129 who have been admitted to the degree, and
I do not suppose that any larger proportion will obtain a first-class
at the Engineering examination. In what condition, then, do the
graduates in Civil Engineering at present stand? One man, Abraham
Samuel Nagarkar, who passed the L. C. E. examination in 1870, was
263
offered a third grade overseership at Rs. 60 per mensem-a post which
he could have obtained by simply passing successfully the final examina-
tion of the second department of the College. The case of another
Licentiate, Mr. Narayen Babaji Joshi, is a still harder one. This
youth passed the final examination of the second department of this:
College (taking second place) in October 1867. He subsequently served
as an overseer in the Public Works Department for two years, during
which time he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his
superiors. He resigned his appointment, and joined the University
class in this College in November 1869; and now that he has obtained
the University degree, for which he has sacrificed a permanent
appointment, he is without any employment, and is obliged
to hold a post in the College on Rs. 50 per mensem—a much
lower salary than he had when he was an overseer in the Public Works
Department two and a half years ago. ... But the Engineering
graduates have absolutely no future to look forward to, and it cannot be
expected that candidates will be found to go up for the University
degree if there be absolutely no likelihood of subsequent employment.
At present almost all the engineering employment in the country is in
the hands of Government. The work of the old Railway Companies in
this presidency is completed, and the new railways are being undertaken
under Government supervision. Except in the presidency towns, there
is little scope for private engineering enterprise, and if Government
does not come to the assistance of the College and its University gra-
duates, the University degree will, three or four years hence, be entirely
un sought for, and the University department of the College will be
numbered among the things of the past.” I understand from
Nowroji Furdoonji's evidence that Government has yielded, and
reguaranteed one appointment as before. Such is the story of the grand
guarantee of one appointment in our presidency. Now with regard to
promotions.
In 1847, after a regular course of three years under Professor Pole,
nine natives passed a severe examination, and were admitted into the
Public Works Department, but, to their great disappointment, not in
the Engineering department. The little batch gradually dispersed-
some leaving the service, seeing poor prospects before them. After a
long eleven years, three of them had the good fortune of being admitted
in the Engineering department in 1858, but one only now continues in
the service. What is Mr. Kahandas's position later on? In the list of 1st
October 1868, I find him an Executive Engineer of the 3rd class, while
.
(
:
264
the following is the position of others in the same list, for reasons I do
not know :-Three Executive Engineers of the 2nd Grade whose date of
appointment in the Department is 1859—and of one in 1860. Of the
five Executive Engineers of the 3rd Grade above Mr. Kahandas, the
date of appointment of three is 1860, of one is 1862, and of another
1864. How Mr. Kahandas is placed at present relatively with others,
I have not yet ascertained. Mr. Naservanji Chandabhoy, after all sorts
of praises, is much less fortunate, and leaves the service, as he calls its
in disgust. Now we may see how our neighbours are faring.
MADRAS.
The following is the cry from Madras. In the Report on Public
Instruction for the year 1870-71, at page 242, Captain Rogers, the
Acting Principal of the Civil Engineering College, says“ In the case
of natiyes, it is evidently the difficulty of obtaining employment, after
completing the course, which deters them from entering the institution.”
The Director of Public Instruction, Mr. E. B. Powell, says (page 21)-
“It is to be remarked with regret that, owing to the absence of
encouragement, the first department exists rather in name than in
reality. It is clearly most important that educated natives of the country
should be led to take up Civil Engineering as a profession ; but in the
present state of things, when almost all works are executed by Govern-
ment, Hindus of the higher classes cannot be expected to study Civil
Engineering without having a fair prospect of being employed in the
superior grades of the Public Works Department.”
ROORKEE ENGINEERING COLLEGE.
In its first institution in 1848, the natives were not admitted in the
upper subordinate class at all—till the year 1862. In the Engineering
Department I work out from the College Calendar of 1871-72 the
natives passed, and their present appointment, as follows :
Names of Natives
Their present
Year. passed.
Appointments,
1. 1851 Ameerkhan.
2. 1852 Huree Charan.
3. ✓ Kanyalal... ... ... ... ... Exec. Engr. 2nd Grade
4. 1853 Nilmoner Mitra.
5. 1854 Azmutoollah.
6. 1855 Rampursad.
7. » Madhosadan Chatterji.... ... ... Asst. Engr. Ist Grade.
(D
265
Their present
Appointments.
၌ E လို့
»
Names of Natives
Year. passed.
8. 1858 Soondaralal.
9. 1859 Narandas.
10. , Ghasuram.
Sheoprasad.
1860 Khetternath Chatterji. ...
13. 1862 Isser Chandar Sircar
14. .
Beharilal ...
15. 1870 Rhadhilal ... ... ...
16. Bujputroy...
17. 1871 Bhajat Sing.
18. , Sher Nath.
Asst. Engr. 1st Grade.
99 999
29 %
Engineer Apprentice.
...
...
Out of the total number of 112 that passed from 1851 to 1870, there
are 16 natives, and 7 only have appointments at present. Why the
others have not, I am not able to ascertain. About the first Bengalee
that passed, the Hindoo Patriot says he was so ill-treated that he
resigned Government service in disgust, and alludes to another having
done the same. From the falling-off from the year 1862 to 1870, I
infer that there was no encouragement to natives. Out of the 96
Europeans passed during the same time, 10 only have no “present
appointments” put after their name, and 2 are with their regiments.
Again, Kanyalal, who passed in 1852, is an Executive Engineer of the
2nd Grade, while 1 European who passed a year after, 2 Europeans who
passed 2 years after, and 3 Europeans who passed 3 years after, are
Executive Engineers, 1st Grade; and 2 passed 2 years after, 1 passed 3
years after, 1 passed 5 years after, and 1 passed 6 years after, are also
Executive Engineers 2nd Grade; and these lucky persons have super-
seded some European seniors also. Madhosadan Chatterji, passed in
1855, is now an Assistant Engineer of the 1st Grade, while 2 Europeans
passed a year after him are Executive Engineers of 1st Grade, 1 passed
2 years after him is in “Survey Department” (and I cannot say whether
this is higher or not), 1 passed 3 years after is an Executive Engineer of
the 2nd Grade; and of those passed 4 years after him, 2 are Executive
Engineers of 3rd Grade, 1 Executive Engineer of 4th Grade, and 1
Deputy Conservator of Forests (I do not know whether this is higher);
and 2 Assistant Engineers of the 1st Grade, i.e., in the same footing
with him ; of those passed 5 years after, 1 is Executive Engineer of 3rd
Grade, 2 Executive Engineers of 4th Grade, and 1 Assistant Engineer
of 1st Grade; of those passed 6 years after, 1 is Executive Engineer, 3rd
Grade, and 1 Executive Engineer, 4th Grade ; of those passed 7 years
after, 2 are Executive Engineers 4th Grade, 1 Assistant Superintendent,
266
1st Grade Revenue Survey, and 1 Assistant Engineer, 1st Grade; of
those passed 8 years after, 1 is Executive Engineer 4th Grade and 1
Assistant Superintendent, 1st Grade Survey Department; of those passed
9 years after, 4 are Executive Engineers of 4th Grade, 1 is Assistant
Superintendent, 1st Grade Survey Department, and 2 are Assistant
Engineers, 1st Grade ; of those passed 10 years after, 1 is Executive
Engineer, 4th Grade, 1 Deputy Assistant Seperintendent (?) Revenue
Survey, and 1 Assistant Engineer of 1st Grade; of those passed 11
years after, 1 is Assistant Engineer, 1st Grade ; of those passed 12 years
after, 1 is Executive Engineer, 4th Grade, 1 is Assistant Engineer, 1st
Grade, and 1 is Deputy Conservator of Forests. As to the natives, the
abovementioned 1 passed in 1855, 1 passed in 1860, and 2 in 1862-are
only Assistant Engineers of the 1st Grade, so that the very few who
have been fortunate enough to get appointments are all at a stand at
the 1st Grade of Assistant Engineers, except one who is Executive
Engineer of the 2nd Grade. What may be the reason of such unequal
treatment ? And yet Mr. Grant Duff coolly tells Parliament “that
the scholarships available for that purpose are not taken up," as if these
scholarships for two or three years were the end and aim of their life-
career. The upper subordinate department was entirely closed to
natives till 1862 ; the lower subordinate was only open to them. Under
such circumstances, is it any wonder that the natives do not go in for
the higher Engineering Department? I cannot do better than let the
Principal of the College himself speak to show how he struggles to get
a guarantee for the natives which he thinks will not commit Govern-
ment to more than one or two appointments annually, and what he
thinks of the fitness of natives and their first claims (Principal Lang's
Report for 1870-71, College Calendar for 1871-72, page 269)—" Nor
can I hope to see many natives join it, although I consider that they
have perhaps the first claims upon the College, and should be more
encouraged to enter the higher grades of the P. W. Department. ...
A sub-overseer as turned out of this College is in many particulars a more
highly trained subordinate, after his two years' curriculum, than the
overseer who leaves after one session in the College ; and I am by no
means prepared to assent that he is not, on 35 rupees a month, quite
as useful a man in most cases as the European overseer on Rs. 100.
... But few, however, comparatively of the higher or wealthier
families have furnished candidates for the superior grades of the Engi-
neering profession. ... That the natives of this country under
fạ vorable conditions are capable of excellence both as architects and
LO
267
builders, the beauty and solidity of many of the historical monuments
of the country fully testify; and that they could compete with European
skill in the choice and composition of building materials, may be proyed
by comparing an old terrace-roof at Delhi or Lahore with an Allahabad
gunshed, or many a recent barrack."
After referring to the encouragement given to one native, the Principal
proceeds—" But I consider that get more encouragement should be
given. I do not think that the natives have yet made sufficient way in
the profession to feel confidence in themselves, or to command the
confidence of the public. Such we may hope to see effected ere long,
but the time has not yet come for State aid and encouragement to be
withdrawn; and it is with this view that I have urged that, for the
present, Government should guarantee appointments to all passed native
students in the Engineering classes, whether they stand amongst the
first eight on the lists at the final examinations or not, especially as
such à guarantee would commit them to but very few-one or two-
appointments annually. When the guarantee did commit Government
to a large number of appointments, it would be time to withdraw it ; its
object would have been gained, the stream would have set in in the
required direction, and might be expected to flow on.
618. Although this proposition has not yet received the approval
of the Government of India, I hope that it may be found possible to
sanction it, as such a guarantee, published in the calendar and circulars
of the College, will be a thoroughly satisfactory assurance to a candidate
or student that it rests only with himself to command an entrance into
the P. W. Department.” .!
Such is the struggle, and such are the reasons which Mr. Duff might
have told Parliament why the scholarships were not taken up.
· BENGAL.
Bengal appears to have been liberal about 1867-68, but, with the
usual misfortune of natives, seems to be falling-off. The Administration
Report of 1871-72 speaks in somewhat hopeful language, but we must
wait and see. I give the extracts from the reports of the College since
1867-68 to explain what I mean (Educational Report of 1867-68,
p. 522, Presidency College)—“ The six Licentiates of 1867-68 have
received appointments in the grade of Assistant Engineers in the Public
Works Department on probation," I understand all the six to be
natives.
268
(1868-69, page 437)-- " Three out of the four final students of the
Session of 1867-68 went up to the University examination for a license,
and two were passed-one in the first class, and one in the second."
(Page 438)— " The two Licentiates were awarded scholarships....
But after being attached for a short time to some of the works in pro-
gress in Calcutta, they applied for and obtained appointnients as Engi-
neer apprentices in the Public Works Department.” Why they applied
for the apprenticeship, and did not get the Assistant Engineership, I
cannot ascertain. It looks as if this were the first step towards the
cessation of former liberality, for we see afterwards as follows (Report
1869-70, page 302)—-" There were 8 students in the final class of the
Session who went up to the University Examination. One was a can-
didate for B. C. E., and he passed in the second class. The other
7 went in for the license, and four passed in the second.” Whether these
have obtained appointments I cannot say; there is complete silence on
this matter as if this were the second step towards the discouragement.
We do not read even of the apprenticeship now. (Report 1870-71,
page 305)—"Nine of the students in the third year class went up to the
University examination for a license, and 3 were passed, 1 being placed
in the first class and 2 in the second.” I could not find out whether
appointments were given to these : the report is again silent. The fol-
lowing is the hopeful, but unfortunately not very clear, language of His
Honor the Lieutenant-Governor (Bengal Administration Report,
1871-72, page 237)—“Students who obtain a Licentiate's certificates, are,
after a short probation, eligible for the grade of Assistant Engineer,”
Now, what this expression eligible' means, it is difficult to say. Were
not the 5 men of Bombay, about whom I have already spoken, eligible
to be Assistant Engineers ? And there they were with the precious
eligibility, and that only in their possession for years, and I do not
know, whether this eligibility of some of the previous Bengal successful
Licentiates has ripened into appointment.
“The several branches of the Public Works Department have hitherto
been able to provide employment for all, or nearly all, the students
who pass the several Civil Engineering examinations, and adopt Engi-
neering as a profession.” The word 'nearly' is again a very suspicious
one. That the subordinates may be all employed is a necessity-for
Europeans cannot be got for inferior work, but if the word 'nearly' is
applied to the Licentiates, then we have the same story as in the other
presidencies. In 1872, 7 have passed the Licentiate and 1 the degree
of Bachelor. It would be very interesting and gratifying to know whe-
269
t
S
ther these 8 have obtāined appointments as Assistant Engineers, or will
get them. Altogether, I think some 45 passed the Licentiate since
1861—a return of how these men have fared in their appointments and
promotion will be a welcome one. The following sentence is an encour-
aging one, and makes me think that Bengal has not been so unjust as
the other presidencies :—- Some Bengalees who graduated in the Civil
Engineering College have already obtained lucrative and responsible
posts in the Engineering Departments of Government, and a few years'
experience will show whether Bengalees are, or are not, unsuited for,
and whether the best Bengalee students will continue to keep aloof from
the profession of Civil Engineering.” Are these appointments like those
of the passed natives of Roorkee, to a certain point and no further ; or
have the natives fared, and will they fare, equally with the Europeans
in their promotion ? The only pity is that the word ' some' commences
this sentence instead of all, unless it means all who have graduated, or
who have liked to enter Government service. We shall have not only
to know whether the Bengalee is or is not unsuited, &c., but also what
treatment he receives at the hands of the P. W. Department in his
future career. Unless both these matters are taken together, the
conclusion about suitability or otherwise will be simply absurd and
worthless.
THE NATIVE MEDICAL SERVICE.
In this also the natives are put at great disadvantage, in having to go
to England to find admission. But apart from this, the treatment in
India is as follows :- I give below a statement of the difference between
the treatment of the European and native divisions.
SUB-ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
SUB-ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
APOTHECARY CLASS.
(1) Preliminary Education,
(1) Preliminary Education.
Individuals, natives of Bombay, who
The members of the apothecary class
ultimately wish to become sub-assistant
enter the service as hospital apprentices,
surgeons, must enter the Medical Col-
lege by first producing the University
and candidates who enter the service
pass a most elementary examination,
certificate of having passed the Matri-
culation or First Examination in Arts.
consisting of reading an ordinary school-
When admitted, they have to pay an
book, some knowledge of explaining
entrance fee of Rs. 25, and a monthly
sentences, dictation, and arithmetic as
fee of Rs. 5 throughout the college
far as Rule of Three and fractions. A
candidate satisfying the examiners on
course of five years.
these points is admitted into the Medi-
cal Service as a hospital apprentice, and
draws from Rs. 16 to Rs. 20 a month,
with an additional allowance of Rs. 10
for rations or batta. It will thus be
seen that the members of the apothe-
cary class enter the Medical Service in
270
the first place, and this gives them the
privilege of acquiring a free medical
education at the Medical College, that
is, without any cost, and while in the
receipt of Government pay.
COURSE OF STUDY.
(2) A full and thorough college course (2) Hospital apprentices, after enlist-
on the following subjects :-anatomy, ing into the Medical Service, serve at
physiology, chemistry, materia medica, some regimental hospital for two years,
comparative anatomy, pharmacy, medi during which time they are transferred
cine, surgery, medical jurisprudenee, to Sir Jamsetji Jijibhoy Hospital, and,
midwifery, ophthalmic surgery, hygiene, whilst serving there as medical appren-
practical chemistry, practical toxicology, tices, draw Government pay; they are
dissections, hospital practice, and surgi-
cal operations. This course extends apprentices to acquire medical know-
over five long years—in so thorough and ledge. These apprentices, then, are made
complete a manner as to be equal, and in to attend the same lectures which are
some cases superior, to the College courses given to the students proper to whose
given in Great Britain. These constitute classes they are attached, but the standard
the students' classes. They are composed of their acquirements and final exami-
of students from the Hindoo, Parsee, nations is altogether different; it is
Mussalman, and Portuguese com greatly inferior to that of the students
munities.
proper. The apprentices are called upon
to attend the College for three years only.
(3) At the end of three years, the (3) At the end of the three years-
students proper have to pass what is they are examined by the College Pro,
called the First L. M. Examination at fessors in the College itself, and if they
the University of Bombay. At the end pass their standard of examination,
of the fifth year, the second or final they are made “passed hospital appren-
L. M. Examination has to be passed, tices.” They now leave the College to
and, if successful, the students receive serve again at some regimental hospital
the degree of L. M. Before the Bombay and draw Rs. 50 a month.
University came into existence, there N.B.-In the last two paras. it is
were two corresponding examinations, stated that the apprentices attend the
then called A and B Examinations, and same class-lectures for three years as
the students proper. This arrangement
cessful students received the diplomas
is adopted in the College, as the Pro-
and were called G. G. M. C. It is from fessors cannot give separate course to
these successful students that the sub the students and to the apprentices.
assistant surgeons were made, but with But the amount of knowledge required
in the last two years they are also made at the final examination of the appren-
(very unjustly) from the apothecary tices at the end of three years, is much
and hospital assistant classes, as will be smaller than the knowledge required at
seen further on, on very different and the final examination of the students
comparatively trifling examinations. proper at the end of five years.
(4) There are three classes of sub (4) The passed hospital apprentices"
assistant surgeons, as under :-
then go on with their regimental duties,
Pay Allow- Total and are promoted in the following
Y ance
3rd Class Sub-Assist- Rs. Rs. Rs.
order, till they reach the grade of senior
ant Surgeon during
apothecary :
the first 7 years'
Rs.
service ... ... 100 100 200
Passed Hospital Apprentice ......... 50
2nd Class Sub-Assist-
Assistant Apothecary under 5 years 75
ant Surgeon, be-
Assistant Apothecary after 5 years.
tween 7 and 14
Apothecary under 5 years ...
years' service ... 150 150 300
Apothecary after 5 years ...
1st Class Sub-Assist-

100
50
... 200
Senior Apothecary ...
... 400
ant Surgeon after
14 years' service till
service
...
... 200
150 350
271
.
Education of the Apothecaries.
Soon after the opening of the G. M.
College, Government ordered that the
members of the apothecary class should
receive medical education in the Col-
lege; they then attended the same lec-
tures as are given to the students' classes
for three years, at the end of which
period they are examined. The stand-
ard of the examination is the same easy
one which is now adopted for the ap-
prentices, also at the end of three years'
course. These examinations are taken
at the College, not by the Bombay
University,
(5) A sub-assistant surgeon cannot
become an honorary assistant surgeon.
During the course of the last twenty-
three years during which the class of
sub-assistant surgeons is in existence,
no medical charge ever given to him
has brought him more pay than Rs. 350
a month,
(5) The members of the apothecary
class can be made honorary assistant
surgeons. An honorary assistant sur-
geon, or an assistant apothecary, or
apothecary draws Rs. 450 a month if
placed in temporary medical charge of
a native regiment.
(6) No provision of this sort for sub-
assistant surgeon.
(6) When an honorary assistant
surgeon, or an apothecary, or an assist
ant apothecary, is allowed to retain
medical charge of a native corps for
upwards of five years, his salary is in-
creased to Rs. 600 a month.
(7) The following is the Financial
Resolution No. 2295 of April 1867 :-
« Governor-General of India in Coun-
cil is pleased to lay down the following
revised scale of consolidated salaries
for uncovenanted medical officers, other
than sub-assistant surgeons, when in
medical charge of civil stations."
From this, it is clear that sub-assistant
surgeons are particularly debarred from
receiving the advantages of this Finan-
cial Resolution : they cannot become
uncovenanted medical officers.
(7) Honorary assistant surgeons,
and other members of the apothecary
class, when employed in independent
medical charge of civil stations, will
receive pay according to the scale laid
down in Financial Department's Noti-
fication No. 2295, dated the 25th April
1
OY
Rs.
Under 5 years' service in independ-
ent civil charge ...
350
From 5 to 10 years ...
From io to 15 years
... 550
Above 15 years
(8) The following apothecaries are
in medical charge of the stations placed
opposite to their names, with their
pay :-
... 700
Rs.
(8) The following two sub-assistant
surgeons hold medical charge of the
stations opposite their names, with
their pay :--
Rs.
Burjorjee Ardesir, Savuntvaree ... 350
Abdool Rahim Hakim, Bassadore... 200
These are the only two sub-assistant
surgeons who hold charge of civil
stations. There are now 34 sub-assist-
ant surgeons on the Bombay Medical
Establishment; not one of them receives
more than Rs. 350 a month; 34 sub-
B. Burn, Nassick ...
A. Pollard, Dapoolee
D. Munday, Vingorla
E. H. Cook, Shewan
J. Leahy, Sukkur ...
L. George, Gogo ...
J. Sinclair, Külapore
... 450
J. Anderson, House-Surgeon to J. J.
Hospital ... .
... ... 450
::::::?
272
1
16
assistant surgeons receive pay as fol-
Rs.
lows :
W. Conway, Sada Political Agency 350
Monthly W. Waite, Khandeish Bheel Corps. 450
Rs. T. MacGuire, Honorary Assistant
8 Sub-Assistants ... ... each 350 Surgeon ... .. ... ... 450
9 )
... ... , 300 And there are others also, but they are
... , 200 omitted here, as their salaries cannot
5 99
... , 100 be made out just now.
RANK OR POSITION.
(9) The rank of sub-assistant sur (9) Apothecaries generally are war.
geons is that of “native commissioned rant medical officers (Rule 8 of 1st July
officers of the army," whose designa- 1868)—5 apothecaries now hold the
tions and pay are as follows :-
rank of honorary assistant surgeon, or
Monthly that of lieutenant; junior assistant
Subadar
... Rs. 100 apothecaries can reach the rank of sub-
Jemadar ... ... ... . 35
assistant surgeons by a College study
Havildar ...
of Two years, and the same privilege
Sub-assistant surgeons must remain is allowed to hospital assistants. This
sub-assistant surgeons all their life-time, is being done within the last two years,
with such low rank as native commis- Now, contrast the rules for the sub-
sioned officers, whose education is next assistant surgeons with those of the
to nothing. It is also understood that apothecary class, so very different and
when in civil employ (which is not favourable in every respect for the
often the case), the sub-assistant sur favored class.
geons hold the relative rank of mam These rules can be seen in the sup-
latdars, deputy collectors, and subordi plement to the Indian Medical Gazette
nate judges. Their relative ranks were of ist July 1868. They are too long
mentioned in the first set of rules pub for insertion here.
lished some twenty-four years ago.
They are omitted in the rules of “Sub-
Assistant Surgeons and Charitable
Dispensaries" published by Govern-
ment under date 25th March 1861.
Rule 8 says-"In official intercourse it
is the wish of Government that sub-
with the same degree of respect which
is paid to native commissioned officers
of the army, &c.” What this “ &c."
means I do not know.
SUB-ASSISTANT SURGEONS.
APOTHECARIES.
PROMOTION
(10) For the students who form the (10) The only examinations which
College classes proper.
the members of the apothecary class are
For the graduates of the Grant required to undergo are two-namely,
Medical College there was first an En- one (of English knowledge) on the ap-
trance examination in the College. prentices entering the Medical Service,
Then the A Examination (medical) at that is, the same as mentioned in para.
the end of three years' College course, I under the head of "Preliminary
and a final examination at the end of five Education"; the second is the medical
Bombay University, the Entrance Exa-
mination is the present Matriculation
Examination. Then, at the end of the
third year, there is the First L. M.
Examination taken at the University,
and at the end of the fifth year there is
the Second L, M. Examination.
of the three years' College course, as men-
tioned in para. 3 and N.B. There are
no more examinations than these two,
although the apothecary may serve the
State for full thirty years, and although
he may rise from the rank of apprentice
(Rs. 16 pay) to that of uncovenanted
medical officer on Rs. 700 monthly.
273
After this the student becomes a sub-
assistant surgeon, and is admitted into
the 3rd class. After seven years' service
he is again examined in the College,
and if successful, is promoted to end
class of sub-assistant surgeon. Then,
at the end of 14 years' service, he is
examined again, and if successful, is
promoted to the 1st class of sub-assistant
surgeon. After this there is no promo-
tion till the sub-assistant surgeon is
either pensioned or dies.
(11) Thus for the graduates or licen. (11) During thirty years service
tiates becoming sub-assistant surgeons, there only two examinations--one in
and during thirty years' service, there
are five examinations-one Entrance, the other the medical, at the end of
and four Medical, viz.
three years' course and the man may
1st. --The First Entrance or the Ma rise up to Rs. 700 per month. For
triculation Examination on entering the further encouragement, Rule 46 of the
College.
Rules of 1868 provides for the further
2nd.--First L. AL. Examination. advancement of the junior members of
3rd. Second L. M. Examination. the apothecary class, when well recom-
Then, after joining the Medical Ser mended to rise to the position of sub-
vice as sub-assistant surgeon-
assistant surgeon, and allowed after five
4th.-First promotion examination at years' service to attend the Medical Col-
the end of seven years' service.
lege for a period not exceeding two
5th.--Second promotion examination years, to qualify themselves for the
at the end of fourteen years' service.
grade of sub-assistant surgeon. Now,
N.B.-The two last examinations are the rule does not state whether, after
taken with a view to find out whether these two years' study, the person has
the sub-assistant surgeon has kept up to to pass any such examination as the
the advances made by the Medical Ser 2nd L. M. before he is appointed to the
vice.
post. But I think it is merely a much
simpler examination at the College--and
not the University examination of 2nd
L. M., or anything like it. N.B.--An
assistant apothecary is promoted to the
grade of full apothecary, and this again
to that of senior apothecary, and the
latter again to that of uncovenanted
medical officer or honorary assistantsur-
geon without any examination whatever'.
(12) Sub-assistant surgeons are pen- (12) Special provisions are made for
sioned agreeably to the rules of the the apothecary class for retiring, in-
Uncovenanted Service generally. Wi- valid, and wound pensions, as from
dows of this service are refused any paras. 22 to 26 of General Order No.
pension. This subject is brought for- 550 of 1868. Para. 27 provides pensions
ward to show how well the apothecaries to the widows of the apothecary class.
are cared for.
What can be a better test of the comparative merits of these two
classes of servants than the following, and how different is their treat-
ment in spite of all professions of equality of all British subjects
without reference to colour or creed !
GRADUATES AND L. Ms.
APOTHECARIES.
During the last sixteen years the This class of subordinate medical
following graduates of G.“ M. College servants are in existence fully for half-
and licentiates of medicine of the a-century at least. Their number has
University of Bombay have passed the always been large, and they are now
examination of assistant surgeon in 105 in all.
18
274
England, without a single failure, and Not a single apothecary or assistant
they are all now in the Medical Service. apothecary has up to this day ventured
Many more would prove their com- to appear for the examination of an
petence but for the unfair disadvantage assistant surgeon.
at which they are placed in having to. It is true that five apothecaries now
go to England at much expense and hold the honorary rank of assistant
inconvenience.
surgeon, but this honorary rank is only
G. G. M. C. 1.-Rustomji Byramji, given to them in India by the Indian
M.D. He passed in 1856; so he is Government, in consequence of that
now full surgeon. He is now serving at strange order of the Government of
Jacobabad.
India No. 550 of 1868.
L. M. 2.--Atmaram S. Jayaker,
Before the publication of this order
assistant surgeon, passed in 1867, acting
the two most senior apothecaries used
civil surgeon at Muscat.
to be made honorary sub-assistant sur-
L. M. 3.-A. J. Howell, assistant
geons, beyond which grade they could
surgeon, passed in 1869.
not aspire. Now-a-days the same senior
L. M. 4.-Ruttonlal Girdhurlal, M.D.,
apothecaries laugh at the idea of being
an assistant surgeon, passed in 1872,
called sub-assistant surgeons, as Govern-
He is now serving in the Bengal Presi-
ment could accord them the higher
dency. Although he was a candidate
rank of honorary assistant surgeon.
from Bombay, he preferred to go to the
The attainment of this rank does not,
Bengal Presidency.
involve the idea of any examination
Besides all these
whatever. All promotions take place
G. G. M. C.-Dr. Muncherji Byramji in this class of servants by length of
Cohola, M. D., should be mentioned. service only.
This gentleman is now in the Bombay
Medical Service as an uncovenanted
medical officer, and superintendent of
vaccination, Northern Division. He had
gone to England to pass for an assistant
surgeon, but unfortunately for him
he had gone there soon after the Indian
Mutiny, when all natives of India were
prohibited admission into the Indian
Medical Service, and therefore he had to
return disappointed to Bombay without
the examination. He, however, passed
a successful examination in England
for M. D.
Even an honorary assistant surgeon-
ship is not accorded to the sub-assistant
surgeon, no matter what his merits.
This comparison shows how natives, far better educated, are put very
much inferior in rank, position, and emoluments to Europeans very much
inferior in acquirements. The class of natives from which alone some
have gone over and successfully passed the examination in England, is
put below a class of Europeans from which not one has even ventured,
as far as I can ascertain, to stand the ordeal of the same examination.
In the Telegraph and Forest service it is the same; natives are
virtually debarred by being required to go to England to enter the higher
departments, as far as I am aware. So here we are after forty years, as
if the great enactment, of which great statesmen were proud, had never
taken place. And all pledges, even such as that of our Most Gracious
Majesty, were idle words.
275
Now I conclude my notes on the Poverty of India. As I told you
before, these notes were written more than two to three years ago. It
remains to be seen what modification should be made in these views by
the light of the events of the subsequent .years. For the present the
inevitable conclusion is that there is a heavy and exhausting annual
drain, both material and moral, from India, caused by the excessive
employment of Europeans; and to remedy this unnatural and serious,
evil, such employment needs to be limited to some reasonable extent, so
that India may be able to retain to itself some portion of the profits
of its trade, and, by thus increasing its capital and prosperity, may
be strengthened and confirmed in its loyalty and gratitude to the
British nation. I hoped to be able to speak more definitely on this
point, but though it is now nearly three years since Sir D. Wedderburn
moved for a return of the number, salaries, allowances, &c., of all
Europeans and natives, employed in all the departments of the State
drawing a salary of above Rs. 100, it is not forthcoming yet.
I expected that such a return would enable us to consider more
carefully the extent and remedy of the serious evil I am complaining
of. I would have closed my paper here, but as I have seen what
appears to be a confirmation of the remedy I ask for of the necessity
of clipping European service, from a most unexpected quarter, I desire
to say a few more words. The quarter I mean is the Bombay Gazette,
or Mr. Maclean. If I understand him rightly, we do not appear to be
far from each other, except what difference may arise from his interpre-
tation of his own words. In his paper of 23rd March last, in com-
menting upon the causes of “the debased rupee,” he considers home
remittances to have some effect in that direction. And he proposes the
remedy. I give his own words. He says_"To decrease these (home
remittances) by clipping establishments, or rather re-framing them on
an economical basis, by never employing other than natives of this country*
except where good policy and public convenience demand it, and if
possible, by establishing some check on the extravagant follies of the
Secretary of State, should be the task of the Indian Government."
This is just what I ask now, and what I asked before the Select Com-
mittee. Not only that the native services will be economical in
themselves, but that, even if they were as highly paid as the European
services were at present, the economical result to India will be pure
gain, as all such payments will continue and remain as the wealth and
* The italics are mine.
276
capital of the country. The only thing to be ascertained is what Mr.
Maclean’s ideas are as to the extent of the employment of Europeans
that “good policy and public convenience may demand.”
The demoralising effect upon our rulers of this fundamental and
serious evil shows itself in various ways, besides the most prominent one
of the open non-performance of engagements, &c., which I have already
pointed out. Take, for instance, the revenue legislation, for the
Presidency of Bombay. This legislation, instead of maintaining the
height of English justice, in which it commenced in the earlier
Regulations of 1827, and in which English prestige took its founda-
ion, gradually degenerated into a legalised Asiatic despotism, till
the new Revenue Jurisdiction Bill crowned the edifice, and be
which the Collector, who was hitherto the "king,” now becomes thy
emperor, and whose will generally will be the law of " the land.”
The drain of India's wealth on the one hand, and the exigencies of
the State expenditure increasing daily on the other, set all the ordinary
laws of political economy and justice at naught, and lead the rulers to
all sorts of ingenious and oppressive devices to make the two ends meets
and to descend more and more every day to the principles of Asiatic
despotism, so contrary to English grain and genius. Owing to this on
unnatural policy of the British rule of ignoring India's interests, and
making it the drudge for the benefit of England, the whole rule move,
in a wrong, unnatural, and suicidal groove.
· As much as our rulers swerve from “ the path of duty that is plain
before them," so much do they depart from “.the path of wisdom, of
national prosperity, and of national honour.”
Nature's laws cannot be trifled with, and so long as they are immu-
table, every violation of them carries with it its own Nemesis as sure as
night follows day.
REPLY TO CRITICISMS.
(July 1876.)
(Before an adjourned Meeting of Bombay Branch of the E. I. Association, on
Monday evening, 24th July 1876, in the Framjee Cowasjee Institute. Mr. R. N.
Khote in the chair.)
I BEGIN with Mr. Maclean. He bas very much misunderstood my
papers. As a first instance, when he asks me to deduct the exports of
India (less the exports from Native States) from my estimate of the
277
.
production of India, he does not see that my estimate is for the total
production in India, and that what is exported is not to be deducted
therefrom.
As a second instance, he asks me to add 15,000,0001. for cotton
manufactures. My estimate for production includes all raw cotton
of British India, and I have already included in my estimate the
additional value the raw cotton acquires by the application of industry
in its conversion into cloth. Coal and foreign stores that are
used in the mills are paid for from, and are therefore included in,
the production I have estimated. The only additional value is that of
the labour employed. But even if we allow the whole additional value
acquired by raw cotton in its conversion into cloth, what will it be? Mr.
Maclean's “Guide to Bombay"(1875) (which is much later than the time
of my notes) gives the number of the then working spindles as about 6
lakhs in the whole of the Bombay Presidency. Taking 5 oz. per day
. per spindle and 340 working days in the year, the total quantity of raw
cotton consumed will be about 81,300 candies, which, at Rs. 150 per
candy, amounts to about 1,220,0001. The price of cloth is generally
about double the price of raw cotton, as I have ascertained from the
details of two or three mills of Bombay; so that the whole addition
caused by the mills to the value of raw cotton is only 1,250,0001., say
1,500,0001. sterling to leave a wide margin. Then, again, there are, about
the time of my notes, yarn imports into India worth about 2,500,0001., per
annum. This, of course, is paid for from the production of the country.
The value added to it is its conversion into cloth. Now the cost of
weaving is about 25 per cent. of the value of yarn, so that the value
thus added is about 600,0001., say 1,000,0001., to include any contin-
gency, making the total value to be added to the raw production of about
2,500,0001. If deduction is made for coal and foreign stores, this amount
will be much lessened. Again, we know that hand-spinning is much
broken down, and there can be but a little quantity of cloth woven out
of hand-spun yarn in India. Giving even 500,0001. more for that indus-
try, the outside total of addition to the raw produce would come to, as
a high estimate, 3,000,0001. instead of the 15,000,0001. which Mr. Mac-
lean asks me to add without giving a single figure for his data. Let him
gire any reasonable data, and I shall gladly modify my figures so far.
As a third instance of misunderstanding my paper, when Mr. Maclean
asks me to take 5,000,0001. for gold and silver ornaments made in this
country, he forgets that gold and silver are not produced in this country. .
All bullion is imported, and is paid for from the produce of India'; it there-i
278
fore can add nothing to my estimate of production. The only addition
is the industry employed on it to convert it into ornaments. This indus-
try for the ordinary native ornaments will be amply covered by taking
on an average an eighth of the value of the metal, which will give about
625,000 Ing or say 750,0001. sterling, or even 1,000,0001., while Mr.
Maclean wants me to take 5,000,0001.
As a fourth instance : while Mr. Maclean tells me to add
15,000,0001. and 5,000,0001. when there should be hardly one-fifth of
these amounts, he does not see that I have actually allowed in my
paper for all manufacturing industrial value, to be added to that of raw
produce, as 17,000,0001.; and, further, for any omissions 30,000,0001.
more (Eust India Association Journal, vol. ix., No. 4, page 257).
These four instances, I think, would be enough to show the charac-
ter of Mr. Maclean's criticism, and I pass over several other similar
mistakes and mis-statements. I come to what is considered as his
most pointed and most powerful argument, but which in reality is all
moonshine. After contradicting flatly in my paper his assertion that
the exports of the United States were in excess of imports, I had said
that I had no reliable figures for the years after 1869. To this he
replies, “Here they are;” and he.gives them as follows. I quote his
own words:“Mr. Dadabhai says he cannot get'authentic figures' of
s6 American trade for a later year than 1869; here they are for
66 him:-
1871 ..
IMPORTS---MERCHANDIZE AND BULLION. EXPORTS--MERCHANDIZE AND BULLION.
1869
£87,627,917 1869 ...
£99,330,735
1870 ...
97,779,351 1870 ...
117,534,993
1871 ...
112,552,770
138,084,908
1872 ...
117,259,889 1872 ...
128,337,183
1873 ...
132,709,295
142,240,730
1874
119,172,249 1874 ...
... 130,582,689
£667,085,481
£756,111,238
1873
"The excess of exports over imports for the six years is therefore,
“89,000,0001. sterling, giving a yearly average of nearly 15,000,0001.
" against only 11,500,0001. for India. The explanation of the deficit in
simports in the case of the United States is, of course, similar to that
“ which accounts for so much of the Indian deficit. The United States
“ form a favourite fielà for investment of English capital, the interest of
56 which is paid by America in the form of exports of produce. Yet we
“never heard an American citizen complain that his country was being
“drained of its wealth for the benefit of foreigners. He is only anxious
279
" to borrow as much English capital as he can, knowing that, invested
“ in reproductive works, it will repay him a hundredfold the paltry rate
s of interest he has to send abroad."
To these remarks of Mr. Maclean I reply, that he has taken his
figures from the “ Statesman's Year Book.” This book has made
curious mistakes. It has included bullion in the figures for exports
of "merchandize," and again given bullion separately; and it has not
converted the “currency" value of exports of “domestic produce” from
the Atlantic port into gold. These two and some such other mistakes
render this book's figures for the years quoted above, taken by Mr.
Maclean, utterly wrong. I give the following illustration of these mis-
takes in the figures for the year ending 30th June, 1871. The correct
official* figures are :-
RE-EXPORTS (GOLD VALUE). ·
Merchandize
.". ... ... ... ... ... $14,421,270
Gold and Silver ... ... ... ... . ... 14,038,629
LYT
Total ... ... ... ... ... ... $28,459,899
Merchandize.
EXPORTS,
From Atlantic Ports. From Pacific Ports. ' Specie and Bullion (Gold Value).
Currency Value. Gold Value. From Atlantic Ports. From Pacific Ports.
$464,300,771 ... $13,712,624
$76,187,027 ... $8,318,229
(equal to Gold Value)
$414,826,393
Total...$84,505,256
Total-Mixed Value, $562,518,651, equal to Gold Value, $513,044,273
TOTAL EXPORTS.
Domestic Esports (Gold Value) ...
Re-Exports (Gold Value) ... .. .
Total (Gold Value) .. ...
...$$13,044,273
... 28,459,899
...$541,504, 172
Now, instead of the above correct official figure of $541,504,172 as
the total exports from the United States (including bullion), the
“ Statesman's Book” makes "merchandize” $590,978,550 and bullion
$98,441,989, which I find to be made up as follows: It takes from the
official returns total mixed value of domestic exports, $562,518,651, and
then adds to it the total re-exports, $28,459,899, and makes the addition
of these two figures as the total for “ merchandize”-yiz., $590,978,550.
It will be now seen by a comparison of these figures with the official
* Monthly Reports on the Commerce and Navigation of the United States, by
the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, for the year ending 30th June 1871, p. 386,
280
.
ones, that the "currency" value of the domestic exports from the Atlantic
ports is not converted into gold, and that though in the two official
totals of $562,518,651 and $28,459,899, bullion is already included, the
total of these in the “ Statesman's Book” is given for "merchandize"
alone, and a further statement is given for bullion as $98,441,989, made
up nearly of $84,505,256 of domestic exports and $14,038,629 of
re-exports.
Mr. Maclean takes the total $590,978,550 of "merchandize"
(which already includes bullion) and bullion over again, $98,543,885,
and makes the exports $689,420,539, or 138,084,9081. It will thus
be seen that his figure for 1871 contains bullion to the extent of
$98,543,885, or 19,889,1981, taken twice, and the currency value of
domestic produce exported from the Atlantic ports is not converted into
gold value, making a further error of $49,474,378; or the total error in
Mr. Maclean’s figure for exports for 1871 alone is $98,543,885 +
49,474,378 = $148,018,263, or nearly 31,000,0001. sterling at 50d. per $.
I take 50d. per $, as the Parliamentary Returns for Foreign States,
No. XII., have taken this rate of exchange.
Mr. Maclean has given the figures for six years. I am not able to
verify the figure for 1874, so I give a comparison of the official correct
figures and his figures for the years ending June, 1869, to 1873.
The “Statesman's Book’s” wrong figures :-
IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
Merchandize. Bullion.
Merchandize. Bullion.
1869... $417,506,379 $ 19,807,876 1869... $439,134,529 $57,138380
1870... 462,377,587 26,419,179 1870... 529,519,302 58,155,666
1871... 541,493,774 21,270,024 1871... 590,978,550 98,441,989
1872... 572,510,304 13,743,689 1872... 561,808,381 79,877,534
1873... 642,030,539 21,480,937 1873... 626,595,077 84,608,574
$ 2,635,918,583 $ 102,721,705 $2,748,035,839 $378,222,143
Add... 102,721,705
Add... 378,222,143
Total $2,738,640,288
$3,126,257,982
2,738,640,288
$387,617,694, Excess of Exports.
281
1870
Official correct figures* :-
IMPORTS-INCLUDING BULLION.
(GOLD VALUE.)
1869 ...
... $437,314,255
... 462,377,587
1871 ....
541.493,708
1872 ..
640,338,706
1873 ...
663,617,147
Total
$ 2,745,141,403
Deduct Exports ... 2,466,589,293
Excess of Imports... $278,552,110
EXPORTS, INCLUDING BULLION.
(GOLD VALUE.)
Domestic. Foreign.
1869... $318,082,663 $25,173,414
1870... 420,500,275 30,427,159
1871... 512,802,267 28,459,899
1872... 501,285,371 22.769,749
1873... 578,938,985 28,149,511
$2,331,609,561 $134,979,732
Total... $2,466,589,273
Mr. Maclean's total error for the five years, 1869 to 1873, is there-
fore $278,552,110 + 387,617,694 = $666,169,804 = 138,785,0001., at
50d. per $ ; or $133,233,961 = 27,757,0001. per annum.
In making, however, a comparison between the trade returns of India
and the United States, there is one important matter to be considered,
and when taken into account, as it ought to be, the imports of the
shown to be. In India the exports are declared at the value at the
port of export. It is the same with the United States. The imports
in India are declared at the "wholesale cash price less trade discount"
port, plus freight, insurance, and other charges to the Indian port of im-
port, and also plus 10 per cent. for profits. This is the principle on which
the imports are declared in the Custom Houses in India when the tariff
value is not already fixed, or the market price not agreed upon by the
importer and the Custom House. But in the case of the United States
the declared value of imports is only the value declared at the foreign
port from which the merchandize was exported, which means without
adding the cost of freight, insurance and other charges, and 10 per cent.
profits. Now Mr. Edward Young, the “ Chief of the Bureau of Statis-
2
-
* Monthly Reports on Commerce and Navigation of the United States, by
Edward Young, Ph. D., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, for the year ending 30th
June 1874, p. 177.
of Customs Act (6) of 1863, section 180, also inquiry at the Custom House, gave
10 per cent. to be added on the importer's invoice, or 20 per cent. on the manu-
facturer's invoice.
I Annual Report of Commerce and Navigation, 1873, says (p. 3): “Import
6 entries : sworn specie values at foreign places of export.”
282
tics, Treasury Department” of the United States, calculates 6 per cent.*
as representing the freight from foreign ports to America.
This 6 per cent. for freight (without taking the further additional
charges for insurance, commission, &c., into account), together with the
10 per cent. as calculated in India for declaration for imports, makes it
necessary to add 16 per cent. to the imports of the United States, before
the actual excess of imports of the United States, on the principle adopt-
ed in India, can be ascertained and compared with that of India. In
that case the actual excess of imports over exports in the United
States will be $717,774,734 =149,536,4037.f for the five years, 1869 to
1873, or $143,554,947 = 29,907,2801. per annum. Thus the correct
result about the United States (on the principle of the Indian Custom
House) is that, instead of there being an excess of exports of 15,000,0001.
sterling per annum, there is actually an excess of imports of double that
amount, or nearly 30,000,0001. sterling; thus making a difference between
Mr. Maclean's and the correct figures of nearly 45,000,0001. sterling per
annum.
Mr. Maclean clearly admits my most important statements; he
says : “ It has been estimated that the amount of the annual earnings
so of Englishmen connected with India which are thus transmitted
“ home cannot be less than 20,000,0001., and we should be inclined to
“place it at a very much higher figure.”I
Again: “ To decrease these (home remittances) by clipping establish-
“ments, or rather re-framing on an economical. bàsis, by never employing
"other than natives of this countryi except when good policy and
>
“check on the extravagant follies of the Secretary of State, should be
- the task of the Indian Government.”
* Monthly Reports for the year ending 30th June, 1874, p. 352 : “The value
“ of the imports of merchandize, as presented in the first table, being those at the
sports of shipment, it will be proper to add thereto the amount of freights to the
"several ports of the United States ... it is believed that 6 per cent. on the total
" value of imports is an estimate of approximate accuracy.”
of Total Imports ...... $2,745,141,403
Add 16 per cent. ... 439,222,624
$3.184,364,027
2,466,589,293
Deduct Exports......
Excess of Imports ...$717,774,734, at 50d., for five years = £149,536,403
Average per annum $143.554,947, at 50d.= £29,907,280.
I The italics are mine.
283
This is just what I say, that there is an enormous transfer of the
wealth of this country to England, and the remedy is the employment
of Natives only, beyond the exigencies of the British rule. But for this
single circumstance, his remarks about the United States would apply to
India perfectly well-viz., “He (the American) is only anxious to
" borrow as much English capital as he can, knowing that, invested in
“ reproductive works, it will repay him a hundredfold the paltry rate of
“ interest he has to send abroad.”
The Indian will do just the same; but while the American derives the
full benefit of what he borrows, the Indian, borrowing with one hand,
has to give the money away to England with the other hand in these
“home remittances” of Englishmen and “home charges,” getting for
himself the burden only of the debt. The very idea of comparing the
circumstances and condition of the United States and India as being
similar, is simply absurd; on this point another reason will be given
further on.
I will now answer Mr. Shapoorjee, who says India is in the same boat
with the United States. In support of his assertion, he says the United
States have foreign debts of about 1,625,000,0001. I requested him. to
show me any official or sufficiently reliable authority for these figures,
and he shows me none.
Had Mr. Shapoorjee read my papers carefully, he would not have
said a word about America's public debt, for he would have seen
that I have excluded from my total of imports and exports those
very years in which the United States contracted nearly the whole
of its public debt (1863 to 1866). Again, Mr. Shapoorjee tells
us that the railways of the United States “could not have cost
“less than 20,0001. a mile," while the “Railway Manual” for
1873-4, which he has kindly lent me, gives the average cost at
$55,116, and the “Statesman's Book” gives $50,000 a-mile. This
is about 10,0007. to 11,0001., or nearly half of Mr. Shapoorjee's
figure ; and thus nearly half of his “ 850,000,0001, if not more,” of
foreign capital for railways disappears. Now I give one more reason
why Mr. Shapoorjee's figure of 1,625,000,0001. sterling as the present
foreign debt of the United States cannot be accepted. Mr. Edward
Young, whom I have already mentioned the highest official authority
on the Treasury statistics of the United States,-calculates and gives (in
his official "Monthly reports on the Commerce and Navigation of the
“ United States for the year ending June 30, 1874,” page 352 ) his
284
own personal and unofficial estimate of the "aggregate foreign debts
ss of the United States.” He says ; “ Although there were no national
“securities held abroad at the commencement of our late war, get some
“ of the bonds of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and probably of
66 Massachusetts and other States, as well as railroad shares and securi-
“ ties, were owned in Europe. In the absence of accurate data on the
4 subject, it is believed that $50,000,000 is an ample estimate for these
sante bellum securities. With this addition, our aggregate foreign debt
"amounts to nearly TWELVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.” Such is Mr.
Young's estimate of the aggregate debts, “national, State, municipal, and
“corporation, held in foreign countries ”mi.e., $1,200,000,000—when
Mr. Shapoorjee asks us to take the figures nearly seren times larger ;-
1,625,000,0001. equal to $7,800,000,000. I trust I may be excused for
not accepting his figures, and his conclusions based thereon. Again,
Mr. Shapoorjee has been good enough to give me an extract from the
Westminster Review of January 1876. This extract gives ( in 1875 ) the
national production of the United Kingdom as 281. per head of popula-
tion, of the United States as 281. per head, and of Russia as 71. 10s. per
head ; France, 221. ; Austria, 181. ; and Italy, 151. ; while India hardly
produces 21. a-head. The simple fact, then, that the United States is
the second richest country in the world, and its people have all their
revenues and resources at their own command and for their own benefit
only, is enough to show that it is simply absurd and idle to compare it,
in its circumstances and condition, as being in the same boat with the
half-starving and ever-draining India. When the Americans are sub-
jected to a “home remittance” to a foreign country of some “ very
much higher figure” than 20,000,0001. sterling a-year, and “home
charges,” and when a large number of foreigners engross all official and
important positions to their own exclusion, causing thereby such heavy
drain, then will be the proper time to make a comparison between
America and India.
The comparison with Russia and other European States is equally
unreasonable. In spite of the inferior administration of Russia, and the
great military expenditu re, its national income is nearly four times as
much as that of India, a nd that of the other European States is much
larger still; and they have no.“home remittances and charges” to remit,
which India has to do from its wretched income of hardly 27. per head
per annum.
Mr. Schrottky misunderstands me when he thinks that in the present
discussion about the material condition of India, I mention the necessity
285
of the employment of natives as anything more than the only remedy
by which the capital of the country can be saved to itself, to enable the
agricultural as well as all other industries to get the necessary lifeblood
for their maintenance and progress. If it were possible that every Euro-
pean coming to India would make it his home, so that the item of the
“home remittances and charges” would be nearly eliminated, it would
not matter at all, as far as the present question of the material prosperity
of the country is concerned, whether the European or the Native is in
office. The only remedy is, that either the Europeans must, like the
Mahome dan conquerors, become Natives and remain in the country, or
remain out of office beyond the exigency of the British rule. If not,
then it is idle to hope that India can rise in material prosperity, or be
anything else but a wretched drudge for England's benefit. On the
other hand, a natural and just policy would make India, with its teeming
population, the best customer for England, and the best field for
England's enterprise, and its agriculture would derive all the aid which
Mr. Schrottky could desire in the goodness of his heart.
To Mr. Trant I have only to say that his political economy may be
applicable to a Native-governed country, but when he takes the element
of the “ howe remittances and charges” into account, he will not differ
much from me.
In reply to Mr. Collett's remarks, I have to request him to take several
elements into account which he appears to have forgotten.
1. To add 15 per cent.* profits to exports. (During the American
War, the percentage of profits on the exported produce was very much
larger.)
* For the following countries the profits, or excess of imports over exports, are
as under, subject to modification for foreign debts or loans:-
The United Kingdom ...
... 25 per cent. (1858 to 1870)
Australia
"*" " " 15 " "
British North ümeric
(1058 to 1868)
. ... 29 „ (1858 to 1868)
(East India Association Journal, vol. ix.,
No. 4, page 263.)
United States (as under) ... ... .. 18 ,, (1869 to 1873)
Imports... ... ... ... ... ... . . . $2,745,141,403
Add 6 per cent. Freight (leaving other charges
Commission, Insurance, &c.-alone ... ... ... ... 164,708,484
$2,909,849,887 ,
Deduct Exports . ... ... .. ... ... 2,466,589,293
Excess of Imports or Profits--say!18 per cent, above Exports $443,260,594
286
2. To deduct from import nearly 140,000,0001. of foreign debt (public
and railway) incurred during the eighteen years he has taken.
3. To remember that the profits of opium as well as of all India's
commerce are as much India's property and resources as the profits in
coal, iron, and all other exported produce and manufactures of England
are England's property and resources, though all such profits are derived
from foreign nations; and that all the profits of opium and general
commerce of India are included in my total production of India.
4. To remember that, notwithstanding that opium and the profits of
commerce are legitimate property and resources of India, even after
deducting these amounts, or that, in addition to these amounts being sent
away to England, there is the further amount of about 200,000,0001. in
principal alone gone to England during the thirty-eight years I have
taken ; and that Mr. Collett has not pointed out any mistake in my
calculations.
For his eighteen years also, if he will take the items he has forgotten,
his results will not differ from mine.
For 1858 to 1875 his figure for Exports is ... ... ... 2910,995,000
Add 15 per cent. Profits ... ... ... 136,649,250
Total proceeds of Exports ... ... ... £1,047,644,250
His Imports are
... ... ... £764,310,000
Deduct Loans Imported, about ... ... 140,000,000
Actual Commercial Imports (including Government Store)... £624,310,000
Excess of proceeds of Exports ... ... ... ... 423,334,250
Deduct Railway Interest ... ... ... ... ... 51,133,987
Transfer to England from India's resources (excluding In-
terest on Railway Loans) ... ... ... ... ... 372,200,263
This transfer is equal to the whole of the
Opium Revenue
... ... £108,156,107
The whole of profits on Exports ... ... 136,649,250
And furthermore, from India's vesources ... 127,394,906
21
or nearly 130,000,0001. in addition to the railway interest. The actual
transfer is even larger than this, as will be seen further on.
Ferrerofits of all during
Mark, then, during Mr. Collett's eighteen years all opium revenue,
all profits of commerce and guaranteed interest on railways, are trans-
ferred to England, and 130,000,0001., besides making a total, in prin-
cipal alone, of 424,000,0001., or 372,000,0001. excluding railway
287
S
interest. Moreover, it must be remembered that during the American
War great profits were made, and this having to be added to the
exports, is so much more transferred to England.
Thus, as Mr. Collett's figures are imperfect, I need not trouble the
meeting with any comments on the confusion into which he has fallen on
account thereof. I have taken his own figures and shown what they
lead to, as the best way of pointing out his mistake.
Thanks to my critics, they have led me into a closer examination of
some points, and I find the case of India worse than what I have already
made out, I have to modify some of my figures, * which I now do.
I have shown that the imports into India (including bullion) from
1835 to 1872 are 943,000,0001. Now, in making out a nation's balance-
sheet with foreign countries, the balance of profit should be taken between
the price of exports at the port of export, and the price of imports as laid
down or costing at the port of import, and not the market price at the
place of import, which include the profit on the import obtained in the
importing country itself.
I may illustrate thus: I laid out Rs. 1,000 in cotton and sent it to
England. There it realized proceeds, say, Rs. 1,150. This may be re-
mitted to me in silver, so that when the transaction is completed, I
receive into my hands Rs. 1,150, in the 'place of Rs. 1,000 which I had
first laid out, so that the country has added. Rs. 150 thereby to its
capital. But suppose, instead of getting silver, I imported, say, ten bales
of piece goods which were laid down in Bombay for Rs. 1,150. The gain
to the country so far is the same in both cases-an addition of Rs. 150.
But any gain to me after that in the sale of these piece goods in India
itself is no gain to India. Suppose I sold these goods for Rs. 1,300.
That simply means that I had these goods and another person had
Rs. 1,300, and we simply. exchanged. The country has no addition made
to its already existing property. It is the same-viz., the ten bales of
piece goods and Rs. 1,300 ; only they have changed hands. Bearing this
in mind, and also that the declared value of imports into India is not
the laying down price, but the markett price, which means the laying
down price plus 10 per cent. profit, it is necessary, for ascertaining the
real profits from the foreign commerce of India, to deduct 10 per cent.
from the declared value of imports (merchandize). Doing this the
* East India Association Journal, vol, ix., No. 4, p. 264.
See the first note at page 149.
288
total imports from 1835 to 1872 should be taken at 943,000,0001, minus
62,000,0001.,* which will be equal to 881,000,0001. In that case the
real deficit of imports under what the imports ought to have been
(1,438,000,0001.) will be 557,000,0001. in place of the nearly 500,000,0001.
I have given in my paper.
The figure of the amount, after deducting opium and profits of
commerce, will be 248,000,0001. instead of nearly 200,000,0001.; or the
total transfer of wealth to England in addition to the railway interest
(40,000,0001.) will be 517,000,0001., instead of 453,000,0001. given in my
paper, and the yearly average of every five years of this amount of
517,000,0001. will be proportionately larger—about 13 per cent. The
averages will be about-
1835 to 1839
£6,000,000
1840 to 1844
6,600,000
1845 to 1849 ... ... ... ... ... ... 8,700,000
1850 to 1854 ... ... ... ... .so ...
8,400,000
1855 to 1859 ... ... ... ... ... ... 8,700,000
† 1860 to 1864
19,000,000
1865 to 1869 ...
· 27,500,000
1870 to 1872 ...
31,000,000
This average during the American War would be much increased
if the whole profits on the exported produce of the time could be
ascertained.
In preparing this reply I have had to work out all the figures
hurriedly, but I hope they will be found correct.
I hare not seen the late Administration Reports, but I trust they
give fuller details than the previous ones with which I had to deal, and
if so, more precise results could be obtained as to the actual annual pro-
duction of the country, which is the most important point to be settled
to give us an accurate knowledge of the actual poverty, or otherwise of
this country.
Since I wrote the above I purchased a copy of the latest Adminis-
tration Report of Bengal (1874–5) in the hope of obtaining from it some
more definite statistics about production than I have been able to embody
* Imports-merchandize, 1834-5 to 1872, 618,000,000l., 10 per cent. of which is
nearly 62,000,000l.
† I could not find the amount of enfaced paper given for every year before
1860. I have, therefore, taken the whole amount in 1860, which increases the
average for 1860-64, and correspondingly diminishes the aferage of the previous
years, but not to a large extent.
289.
in my paper. Great was my disappointment when I read Sir R. Temple's
statement : “ Again, the survey embraced only the exterior bound-
“aries of each village or parish, and afforded no details of cultivá-
stion and waste, culturable or unculturable.” The question at issue
is a simple matter of facts and science. Is there so much cultivated
land or not? is there so much produce or not? and are such and
such the prices or not? And then common arithmetic gives you
certain results. No amount of indirect reasoning or assumption can
falsify facts and arithmetic, and make 2 and 2 equal 5. So far as the
official statistics are imperfect, it is the duty of the Government to give
to the public full details. We know the national production of other
countries, and there is no reason why the Indian Government should not
be able to give us similar important information. That would be the
best and surest guide and test of the actual condition of the people of
India, and our rulers would see from them their way clearly to the
most proper and effectual remedies. I have not the least doubt in
my mind that if the English Government once clearly see the evil,
they will not shrink from applying the proper remedies. My estimate of
40s. a-head has been accepted and argued upon by an Under-Secretary
of State (Mr. G. Duff) and a Viceroy (Lord Mayo), and another Viceroy
(Lord Lawrence) has told us that the mass of the people are half-fed.
country. Mr. Grant Duff, in his reply to Mr. Lawsen, asked whether the
" already poor population of India” was to be ground down to the very
"dust"' by the removal of the opium duty. So the margin between the
present condition of India and of being ground down“ to the very
« dust” is only the opium revenne. Is this prosperity ? I have been
lately reading the expression, "balance in favour of India. The
writers evidently suppose that what they call the balance of trade in
favour of India was something that India had to receive some time or
other. They do not seem to understand that of all the deficit of import
against the proceeds of export, not a single pie in cash or goods is to be
received by India ; that, similarly, of all the excess of imports in all
the other parts of the British Empire to the extent of 15 to 25 per cent.
over exports, or 18 per cent. in the United States, not a single farthing
has to be paid to any country. It is, in fact, the profit of their exports.
and the deficit of India is so much transfer of its wealth to England,
19
290
Mr. Dadabhai concluded by thanking the meeting for extending so
much indulgence to him, and the many gentlemen who had come forward
to join in the discussion. When they first met in that hall, their fear
was that they would have none to oppose or to criticise the paper ; but
he was agreeably surprised to find that it had been criticised by so many,
and he was sure that this would bring out the real truth, and he hoped
that in future his critics would exert their influence to make India some
thing like the United States. ( Hear, hear,” and cheers.)
THE REMEDY.
. When I wrote these notes in 1873, or read them in 1876, I little
dreamt that they would so soon obtain such terrible confirmation as the
present deplorable famines have given them.
The chief cause of India's poverty, misery, and all material evils, is
the exhaustion of its previous wealth, the continuously increasing ex-
hausting and weakening drain from its annual production by the very
excessive expenditure on the European portion of all its services, and
the burden of a large amount a year to be paid to foreign countries for
interest on the public debt, which is chiefly caused by the British rule.
The obvious remedy is to allow India to keep what it produces, and
to help it as much as it lay in the power of the British nation to reduce
her burden of the interest on the public debt; with a reasonable pro-
vision for the means absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the
British rule.
For this purpose it is necessary, on the one hand, to limit within a
certain amount, the total of every kind of expenditure (pay, pensions and
every possible kind of allowance), for the European portion of all the
services both in England and India, directly or indirectly connected
with or under the control of Government (including, therefore, guaran-
teed railways or other works, manufactures, local funds, &c.); and to
guarantee the public debt; and on the other hand, for the important
political object of maintaining the British rule, to reserve by law for
Europeans alone, such places of power as may be absolutely necessary
for the purpose with a fair proportion of the army, within the limited
amount of expenditure for the European portion of all the services.
Under some judicious arrangement of the kind I propose, the people
of India, being allowed to keep most of what they produced, will rise in
material prosperity under, what is upon the whole, a good system of ad-
ministration, blessing the hand that gave such prosperity, and increas-
291
ing the benefit to the English people also manifold, by the extensive
commercial relations that must necessarily be then developed between
England and India : and all fears of any danger to the British rule will
be dispelled, both from the gratitude, loyalty, and self-interest of the
people of India, and from the possession of important posts of power and
a fair portion of the army by Europeans alone. Then will Macaulay's
words be verified to the glory of England, as also to her benefit :-
.“.We shall never consent to administer the pousta to a whole com-
munity, to stupefy and paralyse a great people whom God has committed
to our charge;" and we shall not “keep a hundred millions (two hundred
millions), of men from being our customers, in order that they might
continue to be our slaves."
02
SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES
CHAPTER IV.
I.
INDIA'S INTEREST IN THE GENERAL ELECTION (1886).
1
(Before a meeting of the members of the Bombay Presidency Assiocation, held
in the rooms of the Association on Tuesday evening, the 29th September 1885, Mr.
(now Sir) Dinsha Maneckji Petit in the chair,)
The Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji proposed :-"That the following can-
didates, on account of their services and opinions publicly expressed by
them on Indian questions, are deserving of the support of the Indian
people :— The Right Honourable Mr. John Bright, the Marquis of
Hartington, Mr. J. Slagg, Sir J. Phear, Mr. L. Ghose, Mr. W. Digby,
Mr. W. S. Blunt, Mr. S. Keay, Mr. S. Laing, Captain Verney, and Mr.
W. C. Plowden. That the views regarding Indian questions publicly
expressed by the following candidates cannot be approved by the people
of India, and these candidates cannot be accepted as representing Indian
interests :-Sir Richard Temple, Mr. J. M. Maclean, Mr. A. S. Ayrton,
Sir Lewis Pelly, and Sir Roper Lethbridge.” He said :-I speak to the
motion which is placed in my hands with a deep sense of its importance.
Hitherto it has been, and it will be so generally, that the English peo-
ple can mostly derive their information about India from Anglo-Indians,
official and non-official, but chiefly from the former. But there are
Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Indians. Some, but their number is small,
have used their eyes rightly, have looked beyond the narrow circle of
their own office, have sympathised with the natives, and tried to
understand them and to find out their true wants and aspirations.
Unfortunately the larger number of Anglo-Indians do not take such wide
views, or such interest in the natives as would enable them to judge
rightly of the actual condition of India. Now when we consider of
what extreme importance it is to us that the people of England should
have correct information of our condition and wants; how almost entire-
ly we have to depend upon the people and Parliament of England to
make those great reforms which alone can remove the serious erils from
which we are suffering, it is no ordinary necessity for us that we should
take some steps, by which we may inform the great British pullic, on
which sources of information they could rely with any confidence. As
293
S
and interest in the natives is very small. It is extremely necessary that
such should be pointed out by us. We also find that several English-
men visiting India, as impartial observers, without any bias or pré-
judices, have often formed a more correct estimate of the position and
necessities of India than many an Anglo-Indian of the so-called ex- :
perience of twenty or thirty years. Even some, who have not been
here at all, form fair and just estimates. It is not always that we can
approach the British people in a way so as to secure the general atten-
tion of the whole nation at the same time. The present occasion of the
new elections is one of those rare occasions in which we can appeal to
the whole nation, and especially in a way most useful for our purpose.
It is in Parliament that our chief battles have to be fought. The
election of its members, especially those who profess to speak on Indian
matters, requires our earnest attention, and we should point out clearly
to the electors, which of those candidates who make India a plank in
their credentials, have our confidence. We do not at all intend to
influence the electors in any way in matters of their choice of the
representatives that suit them best for their local politics. What we
desire to impress upon them is, that so far as the important element of
the deliberations on Indian questions is concerned, we desire to name
those candidates who are deserving of our confidence and support, and
on whom we can rely as would fairly and righteously represent our real
wants and just rights before Parliament. It is with this object that I
ask you to adopt the resolution before you. The first name in our
resolution is the bright name of The Right Honourable Mr. John
Bright. Now I do not certainly presume that I can say anything, or
that our association can do anything that can in the least add to the
high position Mr. Bright occupies. What I say, therefore, is not with
any view that we give any support to him, but as an expression of our
esteen and admiration, and of our gratitude for the warm and righteous
interest he has evinced on our behalf. I would not certainly take up
your time in telling you what he is and what he has done. His fame
and name are familiar to the wide world. I may simply refer to a few
matters concerning ourselves. Our great charter is the gracious Pro
clamation of the Queen. That proclamation is the very test by which :
we test friends or foes ; and it is Mr. Bright who first proposed and
urged the duty and necessity of issuing such a proclamation, at a time
when the heads of many were bewildered and lost, in his speech on the
India Bill in 1858. I should not tarry long on the tempting subject,
U
294
for if I went on quoting from Mr. Bright's speeches, to show what he
has done more than a quarter of a century ago, asking for us what we
have been only latterly beginning to give utterance to, I might detain you
for hours. I must, however, give you a few short extracts, showing
both the earnestness and the intense sense of justice of the man. “The
people of India,” he said, "have the highest and strongest claims upon
you-claims which you cannot forget-claims which if you do not act
upon, you may rely upon it that, if there be a judgment for nations as
I believe there is, as for individuals-our children in no distant genera-
tion must pay the penalty which we have purchased by neglecting our
duty to the populations of India.” In his speech of 1853, on the
occasion of the renewal of the E. I. Company's charter, referring to the
miserable condition of the masses of India, he said: "I must say that
it is my belief that if a country be found possessing a most fertile soil
and capable of bearing every variety of production, and that notwith-
standing, the people are in a state of extreme destitution and suffering,
the chances are that there is some fundamental error in the government
of that country.” When, may I ask, will our rulers see this "funda-
mental error ?” I have purposely confined myself to his older
utterances so far, that we may fully appreciate the righteous advocacy
at a time when our own voice was feeble and hardly heard at all. You
will allow me to make one reference to his later words, and you will see
“ Public Letters," in a letter written by him last year to a gentleman
at Calcutta, he says :-" It is to me a great mystery that England
should be in the position she now is in relation to India. I hope it may
be within the ordering of Providence that ultimately good may arise
from it. I am convinced that this can only come from the most just
Government which we are able to confer upon your countless millions,
and it will always be a duty and a pleasure to me to help forward any
measure that may tend to the well-being of your people.” The Marquis
of Hartington also occupies a position to which we can hardly add any-
thing. But as we have during his State Secretaryship of India observed
his disposition towards a due appreciation of and fulfilment of the noble
principles of the proclamation, and his emphatic identifying himself with
the righteous Ripon policy at a time of crucial trial-during the excite-
ment of the Ilbert Bill--we cannot but take this opportunity of express-
ing our thanks and our confidence in him. To assure you the wore
fully of this daty upon us, you will permit me to read a few words on
this ýery topic from his speech of 23rd August, 1883. After pointing
31
295
out the insufficiency of the administration, and the inability of India to
afford more for it, he said :-_" If the country is to be better governed,
that can only be done by the employment of the best and most intel-
ligent of the natives in the service. There is a further reason, in my
opinion, why this policy should be adopted, and that is, that it is not
wise to educate the people of India, to introduce among them, your
civilization and your progress and your literature, and at the same time
to tell them, they shall never have any chance of taking any part or
share in the administration of the affairs of their country except by their
getting rid, in the first instance, of their European rulers.” I cannot
refrain myself from expressing my deep regret that we are not able to
include in our present list a name that stands pre-eminently high as one
of our best friends—I mean Mr. Fawcett. But I trust you will allow
me to give a few short extracts, as a warning and a voice from the grave,
of one who had the welfare of the poor and dumb millions at heart.
Though he is dead his spirit may guide our other friends, and our rulers.
I give these extracts as specially bearing on the present disastrous move
of imposing a permanent additional annual burden of some two to three
crores of rupees upon us, and on the whole Indian problem. With refer-
ence to the Afghan policy he said in 1879:—“It cannot be too strongly
insisted upon that in the existing financial condition of India, no peril
can be more serious than the adoption of a policy, which, if it should
lead to a large additional expenditure, would sooner or later necessitate
an increase of taxation... The additional taxation which must be
the inevitable accompaniment of increased expenditure will bring upon
India the gravest perils." Again——“The question, however, as to the
exact proportion in which the cost of pursuing a forward policy in
Afghanistan should be borne by England and India respectively will
have again to be considered anew, now that it has become necessary to
renew hostilities in Afghanistan.” These words apply with equal force
to-day when we are threatened with a large unnecessary additional
burden. On the subject of the whole Indian problem, he said:—“Al-
though there is much in the present financial condition of India to cause
the most serious apprehension, yet there is one circumstance connected
with it which may fairly be regarded as a most hopeful omen for the
future. Until quite lately, India was looked upon as an extremely
wealthy country, and there was no project, however costly, that India
was not supposed to be rich enough to pay for. Now, however, juster
ideas of the resources of the country and of the condition of the people
prevail. The recurrence of famines. • .. have at length led the
296
English public to take firm hold of the fact that India is an extremely
poor country, and that the great mass of her people are in such a state
of impoverishment that the Government will have to contend with
exceptional difficulties if it becomes necessary to procure increased
revenue by additional taxation.” “Without an hour's delay the fact
should be recognised that India is not in a position to pay for various
services at their present rate of remuneration. A most important saving
might be effected by more largely employing natives in positions which
are now filled by highly paid Europeans, and from such a change
political as well as financial advantages would result.” “The entire
system in which the Government of India is conducted must be changed.
The illusion is only just beginning to pass away that India is an ex-
tremely wealthy country," “ The financial condition of India is one of
such extreme peril that economy is not only desirable but is a matter of
imperative necessity.” “No misfortune which could happen to India
could be greater than having to make her people bear the burden of
increased taxation.” “In order to restore the finances of India and
prevent them drifting into hopeless embarrassment, it is absolutely
essential that the policy of 'rigid economy in erery branch of the public
service which has been recently announced by the Government should
be carried out with promptitude and thoroughness.” This policy was
announced by the Conservative Government, and now all this is forgot-
ten and the Conservative Government are proposing to burden us with
additional expenditure of two or three millions, or may be more! We
cannot too strongly protest against this. In all the extracts I have read
you will perceive the kind of policy which our friends have urged, and
this test, or as I may shortly call, the Royal Proclamation policy, is the
principal one by which we may discriminate friends from those
who either from ignorance or narrow-minded selfishness advocate
a different policy. Judging by this test, I may say that all the
other names in the first part of the resolution are fairly entitled to our con-
fidence and to an appeal from us to the constituencies to return them to
Parliament as far as our interests are concerned. Their writings show
that they have a good grasp of our position and wants. I may refer to
Mr. Slagg's views and efforts to abolish the India Council. Nothing can
be more absurd than that in the nineteenth century and in England
itself, the first home of public and free discussion upon all public matters,
there should exist a body to deliberate secretly upon the destinies of a
sixth of the human race! It is an utter anachronism. Mr. Slagg's
laudable and persistent efforts to get an inquiry into the Government of
297
India promises to be successful. Messrs. Slagg, Digby, Keay, Blunt,
ånd Verney's writings show that they understand us and have done us
good service. About Mr. Lal Mohun Ghose I need not say more than
that he is the only one through whom the Indians will now have a
chance of speaking for themselves. I have every hope that he will do
justice to himself, and fulfil the expectations which India has rested on
him by honest and hard work for the welfare of his country. We must
feel very thankful to the electors of Greenwich for giving him şuch
welcome and sympathy as they have done. They have shown remarkable
liberality, vindicated the English spirit of justice and philanthropy,
have held out a hand to us of equal citizenship, and nobly confirmed the
sincerity of the Royal Proclamation, by their action as a part of the
English nation. Mr. Laing has, I am afraid, some incorrect notions
about the balance of the trade of India, but we know that he under-
stands India well and will continue to be useful in promoting our welfare.
Sir John Phear and Mr. Plowden are known to us for their sympathies
with us. Sir John Phear's book “ The Aryan Village,” shows much
sympathetic study of the country and its institutions, and he proved
7
higher duty to India than to consult the prejudices of this kind of a
few thousands of our own countrymen, who are there to-day, but may
be gone to-morrow. We have to govern that vast empire in the interest
of the millions who constitute the indigenous population of the country.”
Mr. Plowden says, with reference to Lord Ripon's policy :-“I know it
to be just, I know it also to be honest and earnest, I believe it to be sound
and thoroughly practical.” I next come to our second list. As I have
already said, we do not ask the constituencies not to return them if they
are suitable to them on other grounds. We only ask that whatever weight
the electors may give to their other qualifications, they would not take
them as fair exponents or trustworthy interpreters of India's wants and
just wishes, and as favouring us by electing them. With regard to Sir R.
wrong and mischievous impression upon the minds of the English people
that India is prosperous and increasing in prosperity, in the teeth of the
early and latest testimony of eminent men and in the teeth of facts.
Mr. Fawcett told that the illusion was passing away, while Sir Richard
keeps it up! I do not advert to some of his acts in India, such as the
strange contrast of 2 lbs. rations in Bengal and the disastrous 1 lb. ration
famine policy here, probably to please higher authorities--his high-hand-
ędness, his treatment of the local funds, &c. &c. I confine myself to an
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utterance or two of his after leaving India. It is strange that a quarter
of a century ago Mr. Richard Temple was able to take and express a
remarkably intelligent view of the Indian problem. In connection with
the Punjab he expounded the causes of Punjab's poverty and revival in
his report of 1859 in these significant and clear words :~"In former
reports it was explained how the circumstance of so much money going
out of the Punjab contributed to depress the agriculturist. The native
regular army was Hindustani, to them was a large share of the Punjab
revenue disbursed, of which a part only they spent on the spot and a
part was remitted to their homes. Thus it was that year after year,
lakhs and lakhs were drained from the Punjab, and enriched Oudh.
But within the last year, the native army being Punjabee, all such sums
have been paid to them, and have been spent at home. Again, many
thousands of Punjabee soldiers are serving abroad. These men not only
remit their savings, but also have sent quantities of prize property and
plunder, the spoils of Hindustan, to their native villages. The effect of
all this is already perceptible in an increase of agricultural capital, a
freer circulation of money and a fresh impetus to cultivation.” Now,
gentlemen, am I not justified in saying that it is strange that what Mr.
Richard Temple of twenty-five years past saw so intelligently, about
Punjab, Sir Richard Temple of the present day does not or would not
see about India, whence, not merely “lakhs, and lakhs" but hundreds
and hundreds of lakhsm--thirty hundred or so lakhs are drained to
England. He cannot, it appears, now grasp the problem of India as he
did that of the Punjab. I cannot undertake to explain this phenome-
non. What may be the reason or object? He alone can explain. As
he is presently doing mischief by posing as a friend, I can only
say “save us from such a friend." We cannot but speak out, however
unwillingly, that Sir Richard Temple is not a safe and correct
guide for the people of England for India's wants and wishes. While
Bright in '53, Lawrence in ’64 and '73, Fawcett in '79, the London
Punch's grand cartoon of Disillusion in 79 pourtraying the wretch-
ed Indian woman and children, with the shorn pagoda tree over
their heads, begging alms of John Bull, Hunter in '80, Baring in '82,
deplore the impoverishment of the masses of India, Sir Richard in a
fine phrenzy talks in '85 “ of their homes becoming happier, their acres
broader, their harvest richer.” “India is prospering, that there is no
lack of subsistence, no shrinkage of occupation, no discontent with the
wages at home, and in consequence no searching for wages abroad."
And yet some light-hearted people coolly talk of sending him as a
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Viceroy here ! No greater misfortune could befal to India ! About Mr.
Maclean I need not say much as you are all well aware, that he has been
throughout his whole career in India a thorough partisan and an avowed
and determined anti-native, with a few rare intervals of fairness. He
can nerer be a fair and trustworthy interpreter of our views and wishes.
He off-handedly says in his letter in the Bombay Gazette of 9th June
last : “Mr. Slagg recited the usual rubbish about the deplorable poverty
and overtaxation of the Indian people.” So you see, gentlemen, who
Mr. Maclean is. He is a great man before whom the views of such
persons as Bright, Fawcett, Lawrence, the Punch, and Baring are all
mere rubbish! Mr. Ayrton's whole policy can be summed up in a few
words-treat natives gently, but give them no posts of power or respon-
sibility, have no legislative councils with non-official element, and if you
have, put no natives in them. He says :-“The power of governing
must remain, as it had hitherto been, solely and exclusively in the hands
of British subjects going out of this country.” “Why were we to teach
the natives, what they had failed in discovering for themselves, that they
would one day be a great nation.” This un-English narrow-mindedness
and purblindness is the worst thing that can happen to England and
India both, and according to it all that the best and highest English
statesmen, and even our Sovereign have promised and said about high
duty, justice, policy, &c., must become so many empty words, hollow
promises, and all sham and delusion. My personal relations with Sir
L. Pelly at Baroda were, as you know, friendly, but the reason of his
name appearing in this list, is that he was an instrument of Lord Lytton's
Afghan policy, and that as far as his views may have coincided with the
Lytton policy, he cannot fairly represent our views against that policy.
About Sir Roper Lethbridge, I was under the impression that when he
was Press Commissioner, he was regarded as one sympathising with the
natives. But when the day of the crucial trial came, the Ilbert Bill and
the Ripon policy, he was then found out that his views were anything
but what would be just, fair and sympathising towards the natives of
India. In addition to the names I have mentioned, I am required to
mention Sir James Ferg usson, and I cannot but agree to do so though
with some reluctance. I have personally much respect for him, and I
do not forget that he has done some good. In the matter of the native
princes he enunciated a correct principle some eighteen years ago when
he was Under-Secretary of State for India. Presiding at a meeting of
the East India Association, 1867, he said :-“It is earrestly to be hoped
that the princes of India look upon the engagements of the British
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Queen as irrevocable," and I believe he consistently carried out this
principle when here with the princes of this Presidency. We cannot
also forget that when acting upon his own instincts he did good in matters
of education and social intercourse, and nominated to the Legislative
Council our friends the Hon. Budroodeen and the Hon. Telang as
representatives of the educated class, retaining also the Hon. Mundlik.
You can easily conceive then my reluctance to speak against him, not-
withstanding some mistakes and failures in his administration as Go-
vernor under official misguidance. But when I see that after his arrival
in England he has made statements so incorrect and mischievous in
results, in some matters most vital to India, it is incumbent upon us to
say that he does not know the true state of India. Fancy, gentlemen,
my regret and surprise when I read these words from the latest Governor
of Bombay :-"At the present time her (India's) people were not heavily
taxed, and it was a great mistake to suppose that they were.” This is
à matter of easy ascertainment, and the heaviness of taxation is repeat-
ed by acknowledged eminent men. Here are a few figures which will
tell their own tale. The income of the United Kingdom may be roughly
taken at £1,200,000,000 and its gross revenue about £87,000,000,
giving a proportion of about 71 per cent, of the income. Of British
India the income is hardly £400,000,000 and its gross revenue about
£70,000,000, giving 171 per cent. of the income, and yet Sir James
tells the English people that the people of India are not heavily taxed,
though paying out of this wretched income, a gross revenue of more
than double the proportion of what the people of the enormously
rich England pay for their gross revenue. Contrast with Sir James's
statement the picture which Mr. Fawcett gives in his paper in the
Nineteenth Century, of October, 1879 :-" If a comparison is made
between the financial resources of England and India, it will be found
almost impossible to convey an adequate idea of the poverty of the
latter country * * an consequently it is found that taxation in India has
reached almost its extreme limits.” Again he says: “It is particularly
worthy of remark that the Viceroy and Secretary of State now unre-
servedly accept the conclusion that the limit of taxcation has been reached
in India, and that it has consequently become imperatively necessary
that expenditure should be reduced.” (The italics are mine.) Now,
gentlemen, mark this particularly. When in 1879 the Conservative
Viceroy and Secretary of State had, as Mr. Fawcett says, unreservedly
accepted that the limit of taxation had been reached in India, the
gross revenue was only £65,000,000, while the budgetted revenue of
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the present year is already £72,000,000, and we are now threatened by
the same Government with an addition of £2,000,000 or £3,000,000
more permanently. This is terrible. Change the entire system as Mr.
Fawcett says, substitute far the present destructive foreign agency, the
constructive and conservative native agency, except for the highest posts
of power, and you can have a hundred millions or two hundred millions
with ease for purposes of government or taxation. This is the difference
between Fawcett and Fergusson. Both are gentlemen, but the former
speaks from careful hard study, the latter without it. Mischievous as
such statements generally are, they are still more so when delivered before
a Manchester audience, who unfortunately yet do not understand their
own true interests, and the interests of the English workmen. They
do not understand yet that their greatest interest is in increasing the
ability of the Indians to buy their manufactures. That if India were
able to buy a pound worth of their cotton manufactures per head per
annum, that would give them a trade of £250,000,000 a year instead
of the present poor imports into India of £25,000,000 of cotton
yarn and manufactures from all foreign countries of the world. Sir
James, I think, has made another statement that all offices in India
are occupied by the natives except the highest. I am not able to
put my hand just now upon the place where I read it. But if my
impression be correct, I would not waste words and your time to
animadvert upon such an extraordinary incorrect statement, so utterly
contrary to notorious facts. Why, it is the head and front, the very
soul of all our evils and grievances that the statement is not the fact. or
reality as it ought to be. This is the very thing which will put an end
to all our troubles, and remedy all our evils of poverty and otherwise.
Let Sir James bring it about, and he will be our greatest benefactor and
England's best friend. In concluding, I may lay down a test for our
appeal to the electors, that whichever candidates are not in accord with
the Royal Proclamation, and with the lines of the Ripon policy, they
are those whom we ask to be not regarded as trustworthy and fair
interpreters of our views and wishes. The resolution has Mr. Blunt's
name in the first list and Mr. Aryton's in the second. This will show
that we are not actuated by a spirit of partisanship. Whoever are our
real friends, be they Liberal or Conservative, we call them our friends.
Differences of opinion in some details will no doubt occur between us
and our friends, but we are desirous to support them, because the broad
and important lines of policy, Thich India needs, such as those of the
Proclamation and the Ripon policy, and the broad and important facts
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of our true condition, are well understood and adopted by those friends
for their guidance in their work for the welfare of India. (Applause.)
II.
THE ELECTION SPEECHES IN ENGLAND.*
(Before various meetings in support of his candidature as the Liberal candidate
for the Holborn Division of Finsbury in the General Election of 1886.)
1
THE HON. DADABHAI NAOROJI'S GREAT SPEECH. +
(At a meeting of the Electors of the Holborn Division, held on the 27th June
1886, in the Town Hall, Holborn. Mr. W. Percy Bunting in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, (on rising to address the meeting, was received
with prolonged cheering, the audience rising and waving hats and
handkerchiefs,) said : I really do not know how I can thank you from
the bottom of my heart, for the permission you have given me to stand
before you as a candidate for your borough. I appreciate the honour
most highly, I will not take up more of your time on this point, be-
cause you may believe me when I say that I thank you from the bottom
of It was a very crowded meeting of the Electors of the Holborn Division, and on
the crowded platform were Mr. Bryce, M. P., Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, Mr. B. Molloy, M. P., the Rev. Stewart Headlam, Mr. Hodgson
Pratt, Major Evans Bell, Mr. W. Martin Wood (late editor of the Times of India),
and others. Letters from Lord Ripon, Mr. Charles Harrison, Mr. Samuel Smith,
M.P., Professor Hunter, M. P., Lord Hobhouse, Mr. John Slagg, Mr. Chesson, Mr.
Arnold Morley, M. P., and others, warmly approving of the candidature of Mr.
Dadabhai, were read. Lord Ripon wrote :-"I have learnt with much pleasure
that you contemplate offering yourself as a candidate for a seat in parliament at
the approaching General Election. Your intimate acquaintance with the feelings
and wishes of the people of India, particularly in the Bombay Presidency, would
enable you to give very valuable assistance in the discussion of Indian questions
in the House of Commons. Your experience in the Bombay Council would be
useful to you, and I am quite sure that your election to parliament would give
great satisfaction to your compatriots in India."
* Ata fully attended Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Holborn Liberal
Association, held on Friday, the 18th of June, 1886, it was unanimously resolved
-" That this Meeting, having heard the political views of The Honorable Dada-
bhai Naoroji, earnestly commends him to the Electors of Holborn as a fit and
proper person to represent the Liberals and Radicals of the Borough in
Parliament."-THOS. JOHNSON, Chairman. HARRY T. EVE, Hon. Sec.
The following is Mr. Dadabhai's Manifesto to the Electors of the Holborn Division
of Finsbury.
GENTLEMEN,
I am greatly honored by an invitation to contest your Borough as the Liberal
Candidate.
To many of you I am a man of strange name and race. This fact must plead
as my excuse for a few remarks about myself. I am an Indian subject of the
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of my heart. It is really and truly so. (Cheers.) Standing as I do
here, to represent the 250,000,000 of your fellow subjects in India, of
course I know thoroughly well my duty ; for if I am returned by you,
my first duty will be to consult completely and fully the interest of my
Queen. The best years of my life have been spent in mercantile pursuits in this
country. With English life and English politics I am familiar ; I have voted at
British Elections; I have worked for Liberal Candidates. Now, by your favour,
I aspire to a seat in the British Parliament.
In my own country I have been largely concerned with important affairs. I
was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Baroda. I have done my share of munici-
pal work in the Town Council and Municipality of Bombay. At this moment I
am a Member of the Bombay Legislative Council. On the condition of my coun:
try I have frequently written, having given special study to economic questions
affecting my countrymen ; I have not the less given my best attention and consi-
deration to subjects gravely affecting the welfare of my English fellow subjects.
I am a Liberal in politics, prepared to support the great measures of Social
Reform, including a change in the Land Laws affecting dwellers alike in town and
country, which have been announced by the Great Leader of the Party. .
Upon the inomentous issue now before the Electors of Great Britain and Ireland,
I am at one with Mr. Gladstone in his noble-hearted and heroic effort to satisfy
the just aspirations of the Irish people to control their own affairs whilelyet remain-
ing a part of the great British Empire. The Irish problem must be solved.
To my mind a measure of Irish Self-Government, embodying the principles of
Mr. Gladstone's Manifesto to his Constituents, far from disintegrating the Empire,
as some wrongly allege, is, in my humble opinion, calculated to produce a real and
lasting union between Great Britain and Ireland in place of the sham, or worse
than sham, union which at present exists. Further, I am of opinion that
when Ireland gets her own Parliament, the material advancement of the Irish
people will be ensured.
It is with especial pride and pleasure that I, an Indian, address a Metropolitan
Constituency as a candidate for the suffrages of the Electors. I remember that it
was a neighbouring Constituency to your own that elected my friend Henry
Fawcett, when he was rejected by Brighton, and retained him as its repre-
sentative until his lamented death.
I will not, here and now, set forth the features of Indian Reform which I hope
to be privileged, by your kind favour, to advocate in the House of Commons. . In
due course I hope to take counsel with you on these matters.
I pray you, members of the race which rules India, to remember the condition
of that Empire, and to give me the opportunity of serving my countrymen in
Parliament.
By favour of the Executive Committee of your Liberal Association, I have the
opportunity of appealing to the Electors of your Borough, and I appeal to your
generous spirit, which is always prepared to do what is good and right, to give
me your votes, enable me to enter Parliament, and there demonstrate the pressing
need of my country and countrymen for a consideration of Indian affairs from their
standpoint. At the same time I need hardly add that I should give my best and
fullest attention to the interests of my constituents.
The time for fighting is short. I may not be able to see all the Electors before
the day of polling; but by public meetings, and in other ways, I hope to be able
to make myself acquainted with you, and to lay my views in detail before you.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
NATIONAL LIBERAL CLUB,
June 19th, 1886.
The following was the result of the ballot :-Colonel F. Duncan (C) 3651;
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji (L) 1950.
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constituents. I do not want at present to plead the cause of India. I
am glad that that cause has been ably and eloquently pleaded by our
worthy chairman, by Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, and by Mr. Bryce. But the
time must come, if I am returned, to lay before you the condition of
India—what little we want from you, and with little we are always
satisfied. For the present, therefore, I would come to the burning
question of the day--the Irish Home Rule. (Loud cheers.)
“CONSISTENT WITH JUSTICE.”
The question now before you is whether Ireland shall have its Home
Rule or not. (“Yes, yes.") The details are a different question alto-
gether. I will therefore confine myself to those particular points which
affect the principle of Home Rule. The first thing I will say is some-
thing about Mr. Gladstone himself. (Loud cheers.) Grand Old Man
he is—(renewed cheers)—and not only all England, but all India says
$o. (Vociferous cheers.) He has been much twitted that he is in
consistent with himselfthat he has said something some time ago and
something different now. But those that can understand the man can
understand how very often a great man may appear inconsistent when
in reality he is consistent in the best and highest sense of the word:
That is, he is consistent with truth, justice, right, and has the couragė
of his convictions. Mr. Gladstone thought something at one time, but
as circumstances changed, and new light came, and new power was
wielded by the Irish people, he saw that this change of circumstances
required a reconsideration of the whole question. He came to the con-
clusion that the only remedy for this discord between two sisters was to
let the younger sister have her own household. (Cheers.) When he
saw that he had the courage of his conviction, the moral courage to come
forward before the world and say, "I see that this is the remedy: let
the English nation adopt it.” And I have no doubt that they will
adopt it,
" INCOMPATIBLE WITH TYRANNY."
I have lived in this country actually for twenty years, and my entire
connection in business with England has been thirty years, and I say
that if there is one thing more certain than another that I have learned,
it is that the English nation is incompatible with tyranny. It will at
times be proud and imperious, and will even carry a wrong to a long
extent; but the time will come when it will be disgusted with its own
tyranny and its own wrong. (Cheers.) When once an Englishman
sees his mistake he has the moral courage to rectify it. (Cheers.) Mri
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Gladstone, then, has represented your highest and most generous ic-
stincts, and I have no doubt that the response from the country, sooner
or later, must come to the height of his argument and of his sentiment.
The greatest argument against Home Rule is that it will disintegrate
the Empire. Now, it has been a surprise to me how this word Empire
has been so extraordinarily used and abused.
THE NONSENSE OF DISINTEGRATION.
What is the British Empire? Is it simply Great Britain and Ireland ?
Why it exists over the whole surface of the world-east, west, north,
south-and the sun never sets upon it. Is that Empire to be broken
down, even though Ireland be entirely separated ? Do you mean to say
that the British Empire hangs only upon the thread of the Irish will?
(Laughter.) Has England conquered the British Empire simply because
Ireland did it ? What nonsense it is to say that such an Empire could
be disintegrated, even if unhappily Ireland were separated ! Do the
colonies hold you in affection because Ireland is with you? Is the Indian
Empire submissive to you because you depend upon Ireland ? Such a
thing would be the highest humiliation for the English people to say.
(Cheers.) The next question is, Will Ireland separate ? (“No.") Well,
we may say that because we wish it should not; but we must consider
it carefully. Let us suppose that the Irish are something like human
beings. (Laughter and cheers.) Let us suppose them to be guided
by the ordinary motives of humanity. I put it to you fairly whether
Ireland will separate or not. I say she will not.
Home RULE-HOME LIFE.
What will Ireland be after it has this Home Rule? It will simply
have its own household, just as a son who has come of age wishes to
have a home in which his wife may be supreme. Ireland simply asks
its own household independence, and that does not in the least mean
that the Empire is disadvantaged. The Imperial concern is in no way
concerned in it. Just as, I and my partner being in business, I leave
the management of the concern to him. I have confidence in him,
I know he would not deprive me of a single farthing; but as a partner
in the firm I am not compelled to live with him, nor-to submit myself to
him for food and clothing, and the necessaries of life. You do not
mean to say that, because Ireland has a separate household, therefore
she will also be separated from the Imperial firm, and that they would
have no connection with each other? The British Empire still remains,
to be shared by them.
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Take the Colonies. They have their own self-government, as Ireland
asks, but there the position of the colonies ends. Ireland, with this Par-
liament granted to it, will be in a far higher position than the colonies
are. Ireland will be a part of the ruling power of the British Empire.
She and England will be partners as rulers of the British Empire, which
the colonies are not. And if the Irish separate, what are they? An
insignificant country. If they should remain separate, and England and
America, or England and France should go to war, they would be crushed.
There is a saying among the Indians that when two Elephants fight the
trees are uprooted. (Laughter.). What could Ireland do? It would
not be her interest to sever herself from England, and to lose the honour
of a share in the most glorious Empire that ever existed on the face of
the earth. (Loud cheers.) Do you then for a moment suppose that
Ireland will throw itself down from the high pedestal on which it at
present stands? It supplies the British Empire with some of its best
statesmen and warriors. (Cheers.) Is this the country so blind to its
own interests that it will not understand that by leaving England it
throws itself to the bottom of the sea ? With England it is the ruler of
mankind. I say therefore that Ireland will never separate from you.
(Cheers.) Home Rule will bring peace and prosperity to them, and
they will have a higher share in the British Empire. (Cheers.)
Depend upon it, gentlemen, if I live ten years more~ I hope I shall
live-if this bill is passed, that every one of you, and every one of the
present opponents of Home Rule, will congratulate himself that he did,
or allowed to be done, this justice to Ireland. (Cheers.)
A PEOPLE “ VALIANT, GENEROUS, AND TENDER.”'
There is one more point which is important to be dealt with. I am
only confining myself to the principle of Home Rule. Another objection
taken to the Bill is that the Irish are a bad lot-(laughter)—that they
are poor, wretched, ungrateful, and so forth. ("Who said so ?'')
Some people say so. (“Salisbury," and cheers and hisses.) We shall
see what one says whom you have entrusted with the rulership of two
hundred and fifty millions of peoplem I allude to Lord Dufferin, himself
an Irishman. (Cheers.) What does he say? How does he describe
Ireland ? I may shoot the two birds at once by referring to his de-
scription of the country as well as of the people. He says that Ireland
is a lovely and fertile land, caressed by a clement atmosphere, held in the
embrace of the sea, with a coast filled with the noblest harbours of the
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world, and 6 inhabited by a race valiant, generous, and tender, gifted
beyond measure with the power of physical endurance, and graced with
the liveliest intelligence.” It is not necessary for me to say any more
about a people of that character. I think it is a slander on humanity
and human nature to say that any people, and more especially the Irish,
are not open to the feelings of gratitude, to the feelings of kindness.
If there is anything for which the Irish are distinguished-I say this
not merely from my study of your country, but from my experience of
some Irish people that if ever I have found a warm-hearted people in
the world, I have found the Irish. (Loud cheers.)
A PEOPLE “ ACCESSIBLE TO JUSTICE."
But I will bring before you the testimony of another great man,
whom, though he is at present at variance with us on this question of a
separate Parliament, we always respect. It is a name highly respected by
the natives of India, and, I know, by the Liberals of this country. I mean
John Bright. (Hisses and cheers.) What does he say ? " If there be a
people on the face of the earth whose hearts are accessible to justice, it is
the Irish people.” (Cheers.) Now, I am endeavouring to take all the
important points brought forward against this Home Rule. Mr. Glad-
stone proposes that they should give a certain proportion of money to the
Imperial Exchequer. Their opponents say, “ Oh, they will promise all
sorts of things." Now, I want this to be carefully considered. The
basis of the most powerful of human motives is self-interest. It is to the
interest of Ireland never to separate from England.
Not TRIBUTE, BUT PARTNERSHIP.
I will now show you that this, which is called a tribute and a degrada-
tion, is nothing of the kind. Ireland would feel it its duty to pay this
It is not tribute in any sense of the word. ' Ireland is a partner in the
Imperial firm. Ireland shares both the glory and the profit of the British
rule. Its children will be employed as fully in the administration and the
conduct of the Empire as any Englishman will be. Ireland, in giving
only something like £l in £15 to the Exchequer will more than amply
benefit. It is a partnership, and they are bound to supply their capital
just as much as the senior partner is bound to supply his. They will get
the full benefit of it. Tribute is a thing for which you get no return
in material benefit, and to call this tribute is an abuse of words. I have
pointed out that those great bugbears, the separation, the tribute, and the
bad character of the Irish are pure myths. The Irish are a people that
are believed by many an Englishman to be as high in intellect and in
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morality as any on the face of the earth. If they are bad now, it is your
own doing. (Cheers.) You first debase them, and then give them a
bad name, and then want to hang them. No, the time has come when you
do understand the happy inspiration which Mr. Gladstone has conceived.
HOME RULE--THE GOLDEN RULE.
You do know now that Ireland must be treated as you treat yourselves.
You say that Irishmen must be under the same laws as Englishmen, and
must have the same rights. Very good. The opponents say yes, and
therefore they must submit to the laws which the British Parliament
makes. I put to them one simple question. Will Englishmen for a
single day submit to laws made for them by those who are not
Englishmen? What is the proudest chapter in British history ? That
of the Stuarts. You did not tolerate the laws of your own Sovereign,
because you thought they were not your laws. (Cheers.) You waged
civil war, regardless of consequences, and fought and struggled till
you established , the principle that the English will be their own
sovereign, and your own sons your own legislators and guides. You did
not submit to a ruler, though he was your own countryman. Our
opponents forget that they are niot giving the same rights to the Irish
people. They are oblivious of this right, and say Ireland must be govern-
ed by laws that we make for her. They do not understand that what is
our own, however bad it is, is dearer to us than what is given to us by
another, however high and good he may be. (Cheers.) No one race of
people can ever legislate satisfactorily for another race. Then they
object that the Saxon race is far superior to the Celtic, and that the
Saxon must govern the whole, though in the next breath they admit that
the one cannot understand the other. (Laughter.) A grand patriarch
said to his people thousands of years ago, “Here is good, here is evil ;
make your choice : choose the good, and reject the evil.” A grand
patriarch of to-day-the Grand Old Man-(loud cheers)—tells you,
"Here is the good, here is the evil; choose the good, reject the evil.”
And I do not say I hope and trust, but I am sure, that the English
nation, sooner or later, will come to that conclusion-will choose the good,
and will reject the evil.
A WORD ABOUT INDIA.
I only want now to say one word about my own country. (Loud
cheers.) I feel that my task has been so much lessened by previous
speakers, that I will not trouble, you much upon this point. I appeal to
you for the sake of the two hundred and fifty millions of India. I have
(
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a right to do so; because I know that India regards me at least, so it
is said—as a fair representative. I want to appeal to you in their name
that, whether you send me or another to Parliament, you at once make
up your minds that India ought to have some representation—(cheers)
-in your British Parliament. I cannot place my case better than in the
words of an illustrious English lady, whose name for patriotism, philan-
thropy, and self-sacrifice is the highest amongst your race--Miss Florence
Nightingale. (Loud cheers.) She writes to me in these words :-
Miss FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE TO THE ELECTORS
of HOLBORN.
“ London, June 23, 1886.-My dear Sir,--My warmest good wishes
are yours in the approaching election for Holborn, and this not only for
your sake, but yet more for that of India and of England, so important
is it that the millions of India should in the British Parliament here be
represented by one who, like yourself, has devoted his life to them in
such a high fashion to the difficult and delicate task of unravelling
and explaining what stands at the bottom of India's poverty, what are
India's rights, and what is the right for India : rights so compatible with,
indeed so dependent on, loyalty to the British Crown ; rights which we
are all seeking after for those great multitudes, developing; not every day
like foliage in May, but slowly and surely. The last five or eight years
have made a difference in India's cultivated classes which has astonished
statesmen—in education, the seeds of which wereso sedulously sown by the
British Government–in power, of returning to the management of their
own local affairs, which they had from time immemorial ; that is, in the
powers and responsibilities of local self-government, their right use of
which would be equally advantageous to the Government of India and
10 India (notwithstanding some blunders); and a noble because careful
beginning has been made in giving them this power. Therefore do I
hail you and yearn after your return to this Parliament, to continue the
work you have so well begun in enlightening England and India on
Indian affairs. I wish I could attend your first public meeting, to which
you kindly invite me to-morrow; but alas for me, who for so many years
have been unable from illness to do anything out of my rooms. Your
most ardent well-wisher, FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE." (Loud cheers.)
INDIA'S APPEAL.
Well, gentlemen, in the words of this illustrious lady, I appeal not
only to you, the constituents of Holborn, but to the whole English
nation, on the behalf of 250 millions of your fellow subjects--a sixth
2
310
part of the human race, and the largest portion of the British Empire,
before whom you are but as a drop in the ocean; we appeal to you to do
us justice, and to allow us a representative in your British Parliament.
(Loud and prolonged cheers, the audience rising in great enthusiasm.)
2
THE HON. DADABHAI NAOROJI AT THE
STORE-STREET HALL,
(Before a large number of Electors in the Store-Street Hall on Monday night,
28th June 1886. Mr. Newton Wilson in the chair.)
The Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji, in the course of his speech, said
in allowing him to stand for their constituency. (Hear, hear.) The
chairman had very kindly said something about him, and he would not
trespass much upon their patience by dwelling more upon that point.
He would only say that he stood before them representing 250,000,000
of their fellow-subjects in India, and he stood before them as a fair
representative of India. He appealed to the people of England to allow
a single voice or two to be heard in the British Parliament on behalf
of these 250,000,000 people, yet he did not forget that his first duty
would be to the constituency itself, and he should feel it his duty, if
returned, to represent the interests of the constituency to the fullest
extent before even representing the interests of India. He was not
altogether a stranger in this place. The first time he had ever put his
foot in this country was in 1855, and he had been altogether more or
less a resident in this country since. He had resided in England during
the past twenty years, only going to his own home at short intervals.
Under these circumstances he could claim fairly on one hand to
represent his own countrymen, and on the other hand he hoped he
should fulfil his duty to his constituents if he was honoured with their
representation in the House of Commons. (Loud cheers.) He could
tell them that the Indians felt a keen interest in this question of the
election of Indians in the House of Parliament here. Two or three days
ago, on the wings of lightning, a message from that vast assemblage
—a telegram to the people of this country-stating that they were
watching, with keen interest, the candidature of the Hon. Dadabhai
Naoroji and Lalmohun Ghose, and a desire was keenly felt and uni-
versally expressed for their success, and much gratitude was felt to
Holborn for supporting the candidature of Mr. Naoroji, and also that a
public meeting, expressing confidence, would soon be held. (Cheers and
311
applause.) That telegram had been despatched from India since it was
known that Holborn had honoured him with their acceptance. This
was not the time or the place for him to enter into the wants of India,
which his countrymen were desirous he should represent in the House of
Commons. This was the time to consider a far more immediately urgent
question the question of Home Rule for Ireland. (Cheers and applause.)
After dealing at length with the question, the speaker went on to
say one word no behalf of his own country. Miss Nightingale had
written him a letter in which she appealed to the English nation on
behalf of India, and expressed her pleasure at the success of the meeting
in the Holborn Town Hall, and her ardent hope that the electors of
Holborn would return Mr. Naoroji to the House of Commons. Lord
Ripon had also written him a letter since the meeting in the Town Hall,
congratulating him on the success of that meeting, and expressing the
hope that he would be returned ; a fact which would give great joy to
his compatriots in India. (Cheers and applause.) The speaker con-
cluded by making an earnest appeal on behalf of the five millions in
Ireland and 250,000,000 of India, and resumed his seat amid cheers.
THE HON. DADABHAI NAOROJI AT THE OLD
FRIENDS' HALL.
(Before a Meeting of the Electors of the Holborn Division in the Old Friends, .
St. Martin's Lane, on Tuesday night, 29th June 1886. Mr. J. P. Murrough in the
chair.)
The Hon. D. Naoroji, on rising, was received with rapturous ap-
plause. After some few preliminary remarks the speaker said, amid
cheers, that England had shown herself to be the friend of struggling
nationalities all over the world, and it was a great pity that when she
came to Ireland she should stop there. He did not think, however,
that England would stop at the case of Ireland, which had now spoken
with a firm voice her demand for Home Rule. Much had been said that
this question had not been formally brought before the country, but
times and circumstances produced the man fit for the purpose. A great
deal had been made of the heated expressions of the Irish members when
the battle was raging. No doubt words had been uttered which in
cooler moments would be heartily condemned, but when men were in
the thick of the fight they did not care how or where they hit. (Cheers.)
Now, however, in peaceful moments, a better tone and temper prevailed.
It was an Irish poet who said that failure was rebellion, and success
312
patriotism. Well Mr. Gladstone had converted rebellion into patriotism,
and the rebels of yesterday were the patriots of to-day. (Cheers and
applause.) He had no doubt whatever in his mind, that the Irish
people would justify the confidence of the Grand Old Man (cheers) -
and the English people at the present juncture would also, he believed,
justify the confidence to be placed in them to return him to power to do
this great act of justice for Ireland. (Loud cheers.) On the motion of
Mr. Campbell, a vote of confidence in the Hon. D. Naoroji's candidature
was unanimously passed. A vote of thanks to the chairman brought the
proceedings to a close.
d
THE HON. DADABHAI NAOROJI AT THE PHENIX HALL.
(Before a crowded meeting of the Electors in the Phoenix Hall, Hatton Hall,
... on Wednesday night, 30th June 1886. Mr. T. Jobuston in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, who was received with ringing cheers, thanked
the electors for the kind reception they had accorded to him. He had come
there from a distant land, which under the dispensation of Providence,
was ruled by a race distinguished for its love of liberty and justice, and
he appealed to that race that they should grant that liberty and justice
to India which they so highly esteemed themselves. He had received
a telegram stating that on the previous day a meeting had been held in
Bombay, thanking Holborn and Deptford for having chosen as Liberal
candidates Mr. Lalmohun Ghose and the Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji. It
was also stated that meetings were being held throughout the length and
breadth of the Bombay Presidency, in which the most lively interest
was exhibited in the elections for these two constituencies. He could
assure them that it was not for the simple ambition of placing the letters.
M.P. after his name that he sought their suffrages, but because he
wished to continue a worker in the good cause. If he were honoured
with their representation, he could assure them he would do justice to
their choice. (Hear, hear and applause.) During his whole life he had
always made it a point to work for the amelioration of the poor, dis-
tressed and ignorant, and he hoped to pursue that course to the end of
his days. He would consider it to be the crowning work of his life to
get into the British Parliament to endeavour to serve 250,000,000 of
his countrymen, and of their fellow subjects in India. After stating
his opinion of the Irish question, the speaker said it would be for the
people of England to choose the good and reject the evil. (Hear, hear.)
The good was to do justice to Ireland, and by doing that they would be
rejecting the evil. (Loud and prolonged cheers and applause.)
D
313
THE HON. DADABHAI NAOROJI AT THE TOWN HALL. -
(Before a crowded meeting of the Electors on Friday, July 2nd, 1886, in the
Town Hall, Holborn. Mr. Eve, B. L., in the chair. This meeting was a most
enthusiastic one.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, (who was received with loud and prolonged
cheers and applause, which lasted for several minutes), said:–He had had
before the honour of addressing them in that hall. He referred to the
object of his standing before them, viz., to ask for justice for India; and
he was not going to dwell longer on the point, except to read to them the
substance of three telegrams he had received from that country. The
National Telegraphic Union, which represented all parts of India, had
sent a telegram to Holborn and Deptford to assist Lalmohun Ghose
and himself in getting seats in Parliament, and also thanked them for
accepting their candidature. On the subject of Home Rule he had
already addressed to them certain arguments, but he would now take up
the thread of those arguments, and answer certain objections. He
would not enter into details, for the simple reason that the principle of
a measure should be first agreed upon, and if they agreed in adopting
the principle it was time enough to discuss the details, but if
the principle was not agreed upon, it would be simple waste of
time discussing the details. (Hear, hear, and applause.) He had,
stone in acceding to the demands of the expressed wish of the Irish
people. In sending his message of peace to Ireland, amid the turmoil
by which he was surrounded, he had kept his temper and pursued the
even tenor of his way, confident in the strength and of the righteous-
ness of his cause. He did his utmost to meet the views of his party,
which proved how great and good a man he was. There were persons
who called themselves Unionists, but really it was the Gladstonians who
were the Unionists, and the opposition was the sham Unionists, because
the Union they were defending was a sham union, and not one of hearts
and affections. (Cheers and applause.) They could not say there had
been a real .union during the past eighty-six years, or that it had pro-
duced any good result. (Hear, hear, and applause.) The union be-
tween the two countries had really been brought about by the basest
corruption ; in fact, so mean were the ways by which it was brought
about, that Lord Cornwallis was so utterly.disgusted that he said, “Would
to God that I had never put my hand in this dirty business.” (Applause.)
Were they afraid that Empire would be broken up simply because Ire-
land had a Home Rule Government? In India there was a number of
314
native states which possessed Home Rule, the only connection that they
had with the British rule being that they paid a small tribute to the
British authorities. These native states proved a strength to the British
Empire, for in 1857, at the time of the Indian Mutiny, these states form-
ed contingents to restore peace to the country; and again, at the scare
of Russian invasion, these states, thoroughly independent, came forward
ready to assist the British forces in repelling that invasion. A great
deal was said about the exclusion of the Irish members, and that taxa-
tion should not go without representation ; but if the Irish people, whose
right it was to be represented in the Imperial Parliament of their own
free will, wished to forego that chance, why should others complain ?
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Speaking of the opposition to the measure ex-
pressed by certain persons in Ireland, the Speaker said that all classes,
after the passing of the Bill, ought to unite in doing the best they could
for their country; and the gentlemen who had spoken on behalf of the
Protestant Home Rule Association had shown there was no danger
whatever in their minds on the score of persecution of the minority. He
had not the least doubt in his mind, although in the present excitement
opposition of this kind might be raised by those who enjoyed certain
privileges, still the time must come when these very gentlemen
would be foremost in taking advantage of the privileges conferred
upon Ireland, and would be glad that they had been conferred upon
her. He had not the least fear that any one in Ireland would have
reason to complain of the effect of opening a new Parliament there.
(Hear, hear.) At one time Home Rule was synonymous with rebellion,
but the Irish leaders had managed their affairs in such a way that
it was now synonymous with patriotism. The time had come when
the greatest statesman of the age held out the hand of fellowship to
them, gave them a message of peace, and they thankfully accepted the
offer made to them and said now will begin the regeneration of the
country. They showed that if they knew how to fight they also knew
how to make peace. Having shown this capacity on their part, they might
rely upon it they would justify the confidence which Mr. Gladstone
was willing to put in them. Much was said about the curtailment of
the powers of the Imperial Parliament. Mr. Bright said that any laws
which Parliament passed they could also repeal. Some said if the Irish
had a Parliament they would enact laws which would be oppressive and
contrary to the wishes of the English people, and which would end in
civil war. Suppose the Irish were so foolish to do such a thing, as
Englishmen, had they never known what civil war was they who
315
refused to take the laws from their own sovereign, and said they would not
have them, as they were not made by the people themselves. They
should not forget that love created love, confidence produced confidence,
thistles produced thistles, and evil was never productive of good except
Providence turned it in some way or other. They had had no con-
fidence in the Irish. Lord Salisbury, in speaking before the Worship-
ful Company of Grocers, said, “In respect to institutions and property,
we have again and again the fact forced upon us that confidence will
create far greater riches than by confiscation can ever be gained. If
you destroy confidence, no confiscation will repay you.” He would only
ask the same thing from Lord Salisbury. Let them have confidence in
the Irish, and the Irish would rise and prosper. One of the great
arguments used against the Irish was the outrages and murders and assas-
sinations that took place there. But did they suppose that a nation
who, in physical endurance, was as good as any on the face of the earth,
and whose mental calibre distinguished them amongst men, did they
think they would take a blow without giving another. It was absurd
to expect such a thing. He did not want for a moment to justify the
outrages or any violence that might have taken place in Ireland, but he
would say in the nature of things, they could not expect any other
result. Those who opposed the measure because there were outrages
committed in Ireland, were using that as a shift, because they had no
other argument. See what Mr. Bright says :~" The first thing that
ever called my attention to the state of Ireland was the reading an
account of one of these outrages. I thought of it for a moment, but
the truth struck me at once, and all I have ever seen since confirms it,
when law refuses its duty, when Government denies the right of the
people , i those people are driven back from law and from the
ways of civilization to that which is termed the law of nature, and if
not the strongest, the law of the vindictive.” After referring to the
decision of the population in Ireland, he said he hoped that the measure
would be accepted with gratitude, and that it would be given not only
as a matter of justice, but of reparation of the past. By giving this boon
to Ireland, England would add to its history a brighter chapter than any
it at present contained. Their greatest man had been inspired to do
that act. Let them feel that inspiration and help him in the struggles
which he was now undergoing, carrying him on their shoulders to
victory, and not only would they earn the blessing of five millions of
Irishmen, but they would also earn the blessing of fifty times five
millions of the inhabitants of India. * (Cheers.)
ho opposed things, they couldlace in Irelan
* In the above meeting the following resolution was passed—“That this meeting
of Holborn electors having heard the expression of the Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji's
political opinions, cordially accepts him as the Liberal candidate for this borough,
and pledges itself to use every legitimate effort to secure his return.'
316
· GREAT RECEPTION MEETING IN BOMBAY.
: (Before the public meeting of the inhabitants of Bombay called by the Bombay
Presidency Association at the Framjee Cowasjee Institute on Sunday, the 13th
February 1887, to pass a vote of thanks to the Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji and Mr.
Lal Mohun Ghose for their exertions on behalf of India at the Parliamentary
elections of 1886 in England. Mr. (now Sir) Dinshaw M. Petit in the chair.)
The Hon'ble Dadabhai Naoroji (amidst long and immense cheering),
said :-Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,-I feel extremely
obliged by the very kind reception you have given to my friend Mr.
Ghose and myself, and for the confidence you have reposed in us. Such
hearty acknowledgments of my humble services and of my friend's
arduous exertion cannot but encourage us largely in our future work.
(Cheers.) As natives of India, we are bound to do whaterer lies within
our power and opportunities. In undertaking the work of trying to
get a seat in Parliament, the first question that naturally arose was
whether it would be of any good to India and whether an Indian
member would be listened to. The first thing, therefore, I did on
arriving in England was to consult many English friends, several of
whom are eminent statesmen of the day and members of Parliament.
I was almost universally advised that I should not hesitate to try to
carry out my intentions, that it was extremely desirable that there
should be at least one or two Indians in Parliament to enable members
to learn the native view of questions from natives themselves. (Cheers.)
That if I could by any possibility work way into the House, I would
certainly be doing a great service not only to India, but to a large extent
to England also. (Cheers.) Several fundamental important questions
of policy can be fought out and decided in Parliament alone as they
depend upon Acts of Parliament, and Parliament is the ultimate appeal
in every important question in which Government and the native public
may differ. To get direct representation from India was not at present
possible. An indirect representation through the liberality and aid of
some British constituency was the only door open to us. I undertook
to contest Holborn under many disadvantages. I was just. occupied in
making acquaintances and feeling my way. I had no time to find out
and make the acquaintance of any constituency ; I was quite unknown
to the political world, when of a sudden the resolution came on upon
me, The Liberal leaders very properly advised me that I should not
lose this opportunity of contesting some seat, no matter however a
forlorn hope it might be, as the best means of making myself known
317
to the English constituencies, and of securing a better chance and choice
for the next opportunity. That I could not expect to get in at a rush,
which even an Englishman was rarely able to do except under parti-
cularly favourable circumstances. I took the advice and selected
Holborn out of three offers I have received. I thus not only got expe-
rience of an English contest, but it also satisfied me as to what prospects
an Indian had of receiving fair and even generous treatment at the
hands of English electors. The elections clearly showed me that a
suitable Indian candidate has as good a chance as any Englishman, or
even some advantage over an Englishman, for there is a general and
genuine desire among English electors to give to India any help in their
power. (Cheers.) I had only nine days of work from my first meeting
at the Holborn Town Hall, and sometimes I had to attend two or three
meetings on the same day. The meetings were as enthusiastic and
cordial in reception as one's heart could desire. Now the incident I
refer to is this. Of canvassing I was able to do but very little. Some
liberal electors, who were opposed to Irish Home rule, intended to vote
for the conservative candidate, but to evince their sympathy with India,
they promised me to, abstain from voting altogether. Unknown as I
was to the Holborn electors, the exceedingly enthusiastic and generous
treatment they gave me, and that nearly two thousand of them recorded
their votes in my favour, must be quite enough to satisfy any that the
English public desire to help us to have our own voice in the House
of Commons. (Cheers.) Letters and personal congratulations I receiv-
ed from many for what they called my "plucky contest.” · Lord Ripon
(cheers)—wrote to me not to be discouraged, as my want of success
was shared by so many other liberals as to deprive it of personal
out, that worked specially against me, and he trusted I would be suc-
cessful on a future occasion. Now it was quite true that owing to the
deep split among the liberals in the home rule question, it was estimated
by some that I had lost nearly a thousand votes by the abstention of
liberal voters. In short, with my whole experience at Holborn, of both
the manner and events of the contest, I am more than ever confirmed
in my opinion that India may fairly expect from the English public
just and generous treatment. (Cheers). I have no doubt that my
friend Mr. Ghose--(cheers)--Frith his larger electioneering experience
of two arduous contests, will be able to tell you of similar conviction
and future hopefulness. There is one great advantage achieved by
their contests, which in itself is an ample return for all the trouble-
318
I mean the increasing and earnest interest that has been aroused in the
English public about Indian matters. From everywhere you begin to
receive expressions of desire to know the truth about India, and invita-
tions come to you to address on Indian subjects. The moral effect of
these contests is important and invaluable. (Hear, hear.) A letter I
received from an English friend on the eve of my departure for India
this time fairly represents the general English feeling I have met with.
Nothing would give him, he says, greater satisfaction than to see me
sitting in the House of Commons--(cheers)—where I would arouse in
the Englishrepresentatives a keen sense of England's responsibilities,
and show them how to fulfil them. (Cheers.) For the sake of England
and of India alike, he earnestly hoped that I might be a pioneer of this
sacred work. My presence in the House of Commons was to his mind
more important than that of any Englishman whom he knew-(cheers)
though that seemed saying a good deal. With these few remarks
I once more return to you my most hearty thanks for the reception you
have given us, and it would be an important credential as Fell as an
encouragement in our further efforts. (Loud cheers.)
III.
THE FIRST INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
(HELD IN THE GOKULDASS TEJPAL SANSCRIT SCHOOL, GOWALLIA
TANK, BOMBAY). .
First Day's Proceedings (28th December 1885). .
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji said :- I had no thought of speaking on this
resolution, * but I see I must say something. There is a notion running
under some remarks, that if a Conservative Government appoints a
Committee, it will not be a good one. I do not think there is any good
reason for that assumption. The Conservatives are not so bad as that
they will never do a good thing, nor are the Liberals so good that they
never did a bad thing. In fact we owe good to both, and we have
nothing to do with them yet as parties. We are thankful to either
party that does us good. The Proclamation is the gift of a Conservative
* Resolution. That this Congress earnestly recommends that the promised
inquiry into the working of the Indian Administration here and in England should
be intrusted to a Royal Commission, the people of India being adequately
represented thereon, and evidence taken both in India and in England.
319
Government. I have some experience of a Parliamentary Committee and
that Committee, a Liberal one ; and yet under the Chairmanship of a
gentleman like Mr. Ayrton, you cannot be sure of a fair hearing. On
the other hand, a fair minded Chairman and similar members, be they
Conservatives or Liberals, would make a good Committee, and give a
fair inquiry. Much depends upon the Secretary of State for India. If
he is a fair minded person and not biassed in any particular way, you
will have a fair Committee. If we are asking for a Parliamentary
Committee, we need not be afraid of asking one from a Conservative
Government. A Secretary of State like Sir Stafford Northcote (Lord
Iddesleigh) will give a fair one, and we should not assume that the
present Secretary will not give a good one. We should only desire
that Anglo-Indians may not be put in it, or only a few such in whom
Natives have confidence. In such an inquiry Anglo-Indian officials are
on their trial, and they should not be allowed to sit in judgment upon
themselves.
From the remarks already made, there appears to be an undecidedness,
whether to ask for a Committee, or for a Royal Commission. And there
seems also a notion underneath, that if we were not satisfied with the
one we could ask for the other. Now we must bear in mind that it is
not an easy thing to get a Parliamentary Committee or a Royal Com-
mission, and that you cannot have either whenever you like. Do not
suppose that if we have a Committee or a Commission and if we say
we are dissatisfied with its results, we would at once get another for the
asking. We must make up our minds definitively as to what we want
and what would be the best thing for us. You should not leave it open
whether there should be a Committee or Commission. Whichever you
want, say it out once for all. . In dealing with Englishmen, make up
your minds deliberately, speak clearly, and work perseveringly. Then
and then only can you hope to be listened to, and get your wishes.
You must not show that you do not know your own mind. Therefore,
know your own mind, and say clearly whether you desire a Parliamentary
Committee, or a Royal Commission. It is evidently the desire here,
that a full and impartial enquiry by fair and high minded English states-
men, with an adequate number of Natives on the enquiring body, should
be carried on in India itself. If so, then we must remember that a
Parliamentary Committee can consist only of members of Parliament,
and can sit in the Parliament House only. For our purpose to lay
bare the actual conditions of India, an inquiry in India, in all depart-
ments and in the whole condition of India-material and moral-is
320
absolutely necessary. No enquiry in England, and that with the evi-
dence of Anglo-Indians chiefly–who themselves are on trial, and who
would not naturally condemn their own doings and work-can ever
bring out the truth about India's true condition and wants, and necessary
reforms. We, then irresistibly come to one conclusion, that an enquiry
in India itself is absolutely necessary, and that such an enquiry can be
conducted by a Royal Commission. Only let us clearly say our mind
that we ask for a Royal Commission. Do not let there be any doubt
about what we do really want. If I am right in interpreting your desire,
then I say let there be no vague general resolution, but say clearly and
distinctly that we require a Royal Commission.
Second Day's Proceedings (29th December 1885).
The Hon'ble Dadabhai Naoroji (Bombay), in supporting the resolution,*
said :-I am glad my friends, the Hon'ble Mr. Telang and the Hon'ble
Mr. S. Iyer, have relieved me of much trouble, as they have anticipated
a deal of what I had to say, which I need not repeat.
We asked for representation in the Legislative Councils of India. It
is not for us to teach the English people how necessary representation is
for good government. We have learnt the lesson from them, and
knowing from them how great a blessing it is to those nations who enjoy
it, and how utterly un-English it is for the English nation to
withhold it from us, we can, with confidence and trust, ask them to give
us this. I do not want to complain of the past. It is past and
gone. It cannot be said now that the time is not come to give us representa-
tion. Thanks to our rulers themselves, we have now sufficiently
advanced to know the value of representation and to understand the
necessity that representation must go with taxation, that the taxed must
have a voice in the taxation that is imposed on them. We are British
subjects, and I say we can demand what we are entitled to and expect
still at British hands as their greatest and most noble institution and
heritage. It is our inheritance also and we should not be kept out of it.
* Resolution.—That this Congress considers the reform and expansion of the
Supreme and existing Legislative Councils, by the admission of a considerable
proportion of elected members (and the creation of similar Councils for the North
West Provinces and Oudh, and also for the Punjab) essential ; and holds that all
Budgets should be referred to these Councils for consideration, their members
being moreover empowered to interpellate the Executive in regard to all branches
of the administration ; and that a standing committee of the House of Commons
should be constituted to receive and consider any formal protests that may be
recorded by majorities of such Councils against the exercise by the Executive of
the power, which would be vested in it, of overruling the decisions of such
majorities,"
321
Why, if we are to be denied Britain's best institutions, what good is it
to India to be under the British sway? It will be simply another
Asiatic despotism. What makes us proud to be British subjects, what
attaches us to this foreign rule with deeper loyalty than even our own
past Native rule, is the fact that Britain is the parent of free and re-
presentative government, and, that we, as her subjects and children,
are entitled to inherit the great blessing of freedom and representation,
We claim the inheritance. If not, we are not the British subjects which
the Proclamation proclaims us to be-equal in rights and privileges with
the rest of Her Majesty's subjects. We are only British drudges or
slaves. Let us persevere. Britain would never be a slave and could not,
in her very nature and instinct, make a slave. Her "greatest glory is
freedom and representation, and, as her subjects, we shall have these
blessed gifts.
Coming to the immediate and practical part of our demand, I may say
that it will be to Government itself a great advantage and relief-ad-
vantage, inasmuch as it will have the help of those wbo know the true
wants of the Natives, and in whom the Natives have confidence, and
relief so far that the responsibility of legislation will not be upon the
head of Government only, but upon that of the representatives of the
people also. And the people will have to blame themselves if they
fail to send the right sort of men to represent themselves. I think
Government has now reason rather to thank than repel us for demanding
this boon which, if granted, will, on the one hand, make government
easier and more effective, and, on the other, attach the people to British
rule more deeply than before.
· Our first reform should be to have the power to tax ourselves. With
that and another reform for which I shall move hereafter, India will
advance in material and moral prosperity, and bless and benefit England.
The proposal about the right of interpellation is very important--
as important and useful to Government itself as to the people.
The very fact that questions will be put in the Council, will
prevent in a measure that evil which at present is beyond
Government's reach to redress. Government will be relieved of
the odium and inconvenience which it at present suffers from misun-
derstanding and want of opportunities of giving explanation. The British
Parliament and public, and the British Government in all its depart-
ments, benefit largely by this power of putting questions in Parliament,
and the same will be the result here. There will be, in the circum-
stances of India, one essential difference between the British Parliament
21
322
and the Indian Legislative Councils. In Parliament, the Government,
if defeated, resigns, and the Opposition comes into power. That cannot
be done in India. Whether defeated or not, Government will remain
in power. Moreover, the Secretary of State for India will have the
power to veto, and no harm can happen. If the Government, either
Provincial or Supreme, disregard the vote against it, and if the Secretary
of State support the disregarding Government, there will be, as a
last remedy, the Standing Committee of Parliament as the ultimate
appellate body to decide on the point of disagreement; and thus
Parliament will truly, and not merely nominally as at present, become
the final controlling authority.
We are British subjects and subjects of the same gracious sovereign
who has pledged her royal word that we are to her as all her other
subjects, and we have a right to all British institutions. If we are true
to ourselves, and perseveringly ask what we desire, the British people
are the very people on earth who will give what is right and just.
From what has already been done in the past we have ample reason
to indulge in this belief. Let us for the future equally rely on that
character and instinct of the British. They have taught us our wants
and they will supply them.
· After some discussion, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji said :-Before the
Hon'ble Mr. Telang replies, I may ask to be allowed to say a few words.
I may just explain what an important thing this Standing Committee
will be. During the East India Company's time, Parliament was entirely
independent of it. Parliament was then truly an effective appellate
body. It took up Indian questions quite freely and judged fairly,
without the circumstance of parties ever interfering with its deliberations.
If there was a complaint against the Company, Parliament was free to
sit in judgment on it. What is the position since the transfer of the
government to the Crown ? The Secretary of State for India is the
Parliament. Every question in which he is concerned becomes a Cabinet
question. His majority is at his back. This majority has no concern
in Indian matters further than to back the Government, i.e. the Secretary
of State for India. All appeals, therefore, to Parliament against the
Secretary of State become a mere farce. M. P.s are utterly discouraged
from their inability to do any thing. And the Secretary of State
becomes the true Great Mogul of India--a despotic monarch. His will
is his law. Nor can the people of India influence him, as their voice
is not represented in Parliament. Thus, that tribunal can scarcely
exercise any effectual check over his despotism. The present legislative
323
machinery, from the Local Councils upwards, is simply a device to
legalise despotism and give it the false mask of constitutionalism. The
tax-payers have no voice in the imposition of the taxes they pay, and
Parliament has not the ability to prevent the levy of unfair or oppressive
taxation. The ultimate controlling authority seems helpless to control
anything! Now if we have complete representative legislation here,
and if we have a Standing Committee in Parliament, we shall have both
the voice of the taxed on the one side and effectual control of Parlia-
ment on the other. Such a Standing Committee will naturally be in-
dependent of all parties. Its decision will be no defeat of Government.
It will be simply a final decision on the point of difference that may
have arisen between the representatives of the people in India on the
one hand, and the Government on the other, on any particular question.
India will thus have an effectual parliamentary control.
It is said we should propose something as a substitute for the
present India Office Council. The resolution now before the Congress
makes this unnecessary. The Council, when it was established, was
considered to be protective of Indian interests. It has not proved so.
When it suits the Secretary of State, he screens himself behind that
Council. When it does not suit him, he flings the Council aside. We
have no means of knowing what good at all is done by the Council.
Its irresponsibility and its secrecy are fatal objections to its continuance.
Such a thing in the government of an empire of 200 millions of people
and under the British is an utter and an inexplicable anachronism.
Moreover, the majority of the Council consists of Anglo-Indians. These,
sitting in judgment on their own handiwork, naturally regard it as
perfect. Having left India years ago, they fail to realise the rapid
changes that are taking place here in our circumstances, lose touch
with us and offer resistance to all progress. Times are now changed.
The natives, I may say, have come of age. They can represent directly
their wishes and views to the Government here, and to the Secretary of
State. They do not require the aid of this Council at the India Office
for their so-called representation or protection.
I may here remark, that the chief work of this the first National
Congress of India is to enunciate clearly and boldly our highest and
ultimate wishes. Whether ie get them or not immediately, let our
rulers know what our highest aspirations are. And if we are true to
ourselves, the work of each delegate present here will be to make the
part of India where he happens to live devote itself earnestly to carry-
ing out the objects resolved upon at this Congress with all due delibera-
YTYT
324
tion. If, then, we lay down clearly that we desire to have the actual
government of India transferred from England to India under the simple
controlling power of the Secretary of State, and of Parliament, through
its Standing Committee, and that we further desire that all taxation and
legislation shall be imposed here by representative Councils, we say
what we are aiming at. And that under such an arrangement on
Council advise to the Secretary of State is necessary. Neither is a
Council needed to attend to the appellate executive work. There is a
permanent Under-Secretary of State who will be able to keep up con-
tinuity of knowledge and transact all current business. There are,
besides, Secretaries at the head of the different departments as experts.
I do not deny that at times the India Office Council has done good
service. But this was owing to the personality and sympathy of in-
dividual men like Sir E. Perry. The constitution of the body as a
body is objectionable and anomalous. When the whole power of im-
posing taxation and legislation is transferred here, the work of the
Secretary of State will be largely diminished. It will only be confined
to general supervision of important matters. Whatever comes before
him for disposal will be set forth by the Government from here fully
and fairly in all its bearings. No Council will be needed to aid him in
forming his judgment. Thus no substitute is required for the India
Office Council. It is enough for us to formulate the scheme, now
submitted for your consideration, as one which India needs and desires,
viz., representative Legislative Councils in India, with full financial con-
trol and interpellatory powers. And we shall not need to trouble much
the authorities in England.
Third Day's Proceedings (30th December 1885).
The Hon'ble Dadabhai Naoroji, in moving the fourth Resolution, *
said :--The Resolution which I am proposing does not in any way involve
the question whether the distinction between the covenanted and uncove-
nanted services should be abolished or not. That is a separate question
*" That in the opinion of this Congress the competitive examinations now held
in England, for first appointments in various Civil departments of the public service,
should henceforth, in accordance with the views of the India Office Committee of
1860, "be held simultaneously, one in England and one in India, both being as far
as practicable identical in their nature, and those who compete in both countries
being finally classified in one list according to merit,' and that the successful can-
didates in India should be sent to England for further study, and subjected there
to such further examinations as may seem needful. Further, that all other first
appointments (excluding peonships and the like) should be filled by competitive
examinations held in India, under conditions calculated to secure such intellectual,
moral, and physical qualifications as may be decided by Government to be neces-
sary. Lastly, that the maximum age of candidates for entrance into the Covenanted
Civil Service be raised to not less than 23 years.''
325
altogether, and in fact, if my resolution is adopted that question will become
unnecessary or very subordinate. The resolution which I propose to you
is of the utmost possible importance to India. It is the most important
key to our material and moral advancement. All our other political
reforms will benefit us but very little indeed if this reform of all reforms
is not made. It is the question of poverty or prosperity. It is
the question of life and death to India. It is the question of ques-
tions. Fortunately, it is not necessary for me on this occasion to go
into all its merits, as I hope you are all already well aware of my views
and their reasons, or it would have been very difficult for me to lay
before you all I should have had to say without speaking for hours.
There is an additional good fortune for me that what I want to propose
was already proposed a quarter of a century ago by no less an authority
than a Committee of the India Office itself. The report of this Com-
mittee gives the whole matter in a nutshell from the point of view of
justice, right, expediency and honest fulfilment of promises. And the
reasons given by it for the covenanted civil service apply equally to all
the other services in the civil department. I do not refer to the military
service in this resolution, as that is a matter requiring special considera-
tion and treatment. To make my remarks as brief as possible, as we
are much pressed for time, I shall first at once read to you the extract
from the report of the Committee consisting of Sir J. P. Willoughby,
Mr. Mangles, Mr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Macnaughten, and Sir Erskine Perry.
The report, dated 20th January 1860, says :-
“2. We are, in the first place, unanimously of opinion that it is
not only just but expedient that the Natives of India shall be employed
in the administration of India to as large an extent as possible, consist-
ently with the maintenance of British supremacy, and have considered
whether any increased facilities can be given in this direction.
“3. It is true that, even at present, no positive disqualification
exists. By Act 3 and 4, Wm. 4, C. 85, S. 87, it is enacted “that no
Native of the said territories, nor any natural born subject of His
Majesty resident therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of
birth, descent, colour or any of them, be disabled from holding any
place, office or employment under the said Company.” It is obvious
therefore that when the competitive system was adopted it could not
have been intended to exclude Natives of India from the Civil Service of
India.
“4. Practically, however, they are excluded. The law declares
them eligible, but the difficulties opposed to a Native leaving India, and
326
residing in England for a time, are so great, that as a general rule, it is
almost impossible for a Native successfully to compete at the periodical
examination held in England. Were this inequality removed, we should
no longer be exposed to the charge of keeping promise to the ear and
breaking it to the hope.
"5. Two modes have been suggested by which the object in view
might be attained. The first is by allotting a certain portion of the
total number of appointments declared in each year to be competed for in
India by Natives and by other natural-born subjects of Her Majesty's
residents in India. The second is, to hold simultaneously two examina-
tions, one in England and one in India, both being, as far as practicable,
identical in their nature, and those who compete in both countries being
finally classified in one list according to merit by the Civil Service Com-
missioners. The Committee have no hesitation in giving the preference
to the second scheme, as being the fairest, and the most in accordance
with the principles of a general competition for a common object.”
Now according to strict right and justice the examination for services in
India ought to take place in India alone. The people of Australia, Canada
and the Cape do not go to England for their services. Why should [u-
dians be compelled to go to England to compete for the services, unless
it be England's despotic will. But I am content to propose the resolu-
tion according to the views of the Committee for simultaneous examina-
tions, both in England and India, and the reasons that apply to the Civil
Service apply equally well to the other services in the Civil Department,
viz., Engineering, Medical, Telegraph, Forest, and so on.
I may here remind you that in addition to the Act of 1833 referred
to by the Committee, we have the solemn promises contained in the Pro-
clamation of our gracious Sovereign. The fact is told to us in unmistak-
able language :-“We hold ourselves bound to the Natives of our
Indian territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all
our other subjects; and those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty
God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil.” And then they
declared her gracious promise specifically on this very part of the ser-
vices :-" And it is our further will that, so far as may be our subjects,
of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices
in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified, by their educa-
tion, ability and integrity, duly to discharge.” This gracious proclama-
tion and the promises contained therein were made known in 1858.
And the India Office Committee showed, in 1860, in what way these
promises could be fulfilled, so as to relieve the English nation from “ the
327
charge of keeping promise to the ear and breaking it to the hope." With
the Act of Parliament of 1833, the solemn promises of 1858, of our
Sovereign before God and man, and the declaration by the India Office
of the mode of fulfilling those promises in 1860, it is hardly necessary
for me to say more. Our case for the resolution proposed by me is
complete. As a matter of justice, solemn promises and even expediency,
I would have ended my speech here, but my object in proposing this
resolution rests upon a far higher and a most important consideration,
The question of the extreme poverty of India is now no more a controver-
sial point. Viceroys and Finance Ministers have admitted it. The last
official declaration by Sir E. Baring is complete and unequivocal. In
his budget speech of 18th March 1882 he said :-" It has been calculat-
ed that the average income per head of population in India is not more
than Rs. 27 a year; and though I am not prepared to pledge myself to
the absolute accuracy of a calculation of this sort, it is sufficiently accu-
rate to justify the conclusion that the taxpaying community is exceedingly
poor. To derive any very large increase of revenue from so poor a popula-
tion as this is obviously impossible, and, if it were possible, would be
unjustifiable.” Again, in the discussion on the budget, after repeating
the above statement regarding the income of Rs. 27 per head per annum,
he said :—“But he thought it was quite sufficient to show the extreme
poverty of the mass of the people. In England the average income perhead
of population was £33 per head; in France it was £23; in Turkey, which
was the poorest country in Europe, it was £4 per head. He would ask
Honorable members to think what Rs. 27 per annum was to support a
person, and then he would ask whether a few annas was nothing to such
poor people." With this emphatic and clear opinion before you, I need
not say more. The question is what is the cause of this poverty ? I have
shown in my papers on the poverty of India, and in my correspondence
with the Secretary of State for India, that the sole cause of this extreme
poverty and wretchedness of the mass ofthe people is the inordinate employ-
ment of foreign agency in the government of the country and the consequent
material loss to and drain from the country. I request those who have
not already seen these papers to read them, for it is utterly impossible
for me to go through the whole argument here. It will be, therefore,
now clear to you that the employment of Native agency is not merely
a matter of justice and expediency, according to the views of the India
Office Committee, but a most absolute necessity for the poor, suffering,
and starying millions of India. It is a question of life and death to the
country. The present English rule is no doubt the greatest blessing
328
India has ever had, but this one evil of it nullifies completely all the
good it has achieved. Remove but this one evil, and India will be
blessed in every way and will be a blessing to England also in every
way. The commerce between England and India will increase so that
prosperity than what she does now. There will be none of the constant
struggle that is at present to be witnessed between the rulers and the
ruled—the one screwing out more and more taxes, like squeezing a squeezed
orange-inflicting suffering and distress, and the other always crying
itself hoarse about its inability to provide them owing to extreme poverty.
By the removal of the evil-India will be able not merely to
supply a revenue of £70,000,000, but £170,000,000, with ease and com-
fort. England takes over 50 shillings a head for her revenue, why may
not India under the same rule be able to take even 20 a head ? Indians
would easily pay £200,000,000. I should stop now. I hope you will
see that this resolution is of the greatest possible importance to India,
and I implore every one of you present here to-day to strain every
nerve and work perseveringly in your respective localities to attain this
object. With regard to the second part of the resolution, the uncove-
nanted services, the same reasoning and necessity apply. A fair system
of competition, testing all necessary qualifications mental, moral and
physical—will be the most suitable mode of supplying the services with
the best and most eligible servants, and reliere Government of all the
pressure of back door and private influences, and jobbery.
The subject of the age of candidates for the Civil Service examination
needs no lengthened remarks from me. It has been only lately threshed
out, and it has been established beyond all doubt that the higher age
will give you a superior class of men, whether English or Native. I
conclude, therefore, with the earnest exhortation that you will all apply
yourselves vigorously to free poor India from the great evil of the drain
on her resources.
If the British will once understand our true condition, their conscien-
tious desire to rule India for India's and humanity's good, will never
allow the evil to continue any longer. Lastly, I hope and trust that
our rulers will receive our representations in their proper spirit. We
sincerely believe that the good we propose for ourselves is also a good
for them. Whatever good they will do to us cannot but in the very nature
of things be good to them also. The better we are in material and
moral prosperity, the more grateful, attached and loyal we shall be; the
worse we are, the less our gratitude and loyalty shall naturally be. The
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UT
more prosperous we are, the larger shall be their custom ; the worse we
are, the condition will be the reverse. The question of our prosperity
is as much the question of the prosperity of England and her working
man. England's trade would be enriched by £250,000,000, if with our
prosperity each unit of the Indian population is ever able to buy from
England goods worth only £l per annum, What is wanted is the
fructification in our own pocket of our annual produce. I repeat that
it is my hope and trust that our rulers may receive our prayers in their
right spirit and do us all the good in their power, for it will redound to
their good name, honour and everlasting glory. Let us have the Royal
Proclamation fulfilled in its true spirit and integrity, and both England
and India will be benefitted and blessed.
With these observations I beg to propose the Fourth Resolution.
The Hon'ble Dadabhai Naoroji, in reply to the discussion, said:- I am
glad I have not much to reply to. The appreciation of the importance of
the resolution is clear. My remarks will be more as explanations of a few
matters. I had much to do with the passing of the clause for granting to us
the Statutory Civil Service. It is an important concession, and we have
to be very grateful for it. I need not here go into its history. The states-
men in England who gave us this were sincere and explicit in the
matter. Whatever complaint we have, it is with the authorities here.
First of all, after the clause was passed, the Government of India en-
tirely ignored it and did nothing to give it effect for 6 years! It was
only when pressure was applied to it from England, into the details of
which this is not the time or place for me to enter, that the necessary
rules were at last prepared and published. These rules have been so
drafted that they may be carried out in a way to bring discredit on the
Service. And whether this is done intentionally or not, whether the
subsequent objectionable action upon it was also intentional or not, I
cannot say. But the most important element in the carrying out of this
clause was partially or wholly ignored, and that has been the real cause
of its so-called failure,—I mean educational competence, ascertained
either by suitable competition, or proved ability, was an absolutely in-
dispensable condition for admitting candidates to this Service. It is
just this essential condition that has been several times ignored or for-
gotten. Let therefore your efforts be devoted strenuously, not against
the clause itself, but against the objectionable mode in which the nomi-
nations are made. The Bengal Government has moved in a satisfactory
direction, and its example should be followed by all the Governments.
It will be the height of folly on our part to wish for the abolition of
.
330
this Statutory Civil Service-excepting only when simultaneous examina-
tions are held in England and India giving a fair field to all, as proposed
in the present resolution. In this fair competition, Eurasians, or
domiciled Englishmen, in fact all subjects of Her Imperial Majesty, will
Anglo-Indians come under the definition of what is called “statutory
Natives.” . It is only right that those whose country is India should be
considered as Natives, and should enjoy all the rights and privileges of
Natives. United action between the Natives and Eurasians and domi-
ciled Anglo-Indians will be good for all. What is objectionable is, that
Eurasians and domiciled Anglo-Indians blow hot and cold at the same
time. At one moment they claim to be Natives, and at another they
spurn the Natires and claim to be Englishmen! Common sense must
tell them that this is an absurd position to take up and must ultimately
do them more harm than good. I desired that there should be cordial
union between all whose country is, or who make their country, India
One of the speakers remarked that the employment of Natives will be
economical. This is a point which I am afraid is not clearly understood.
The fact is that the employment of a Native is not only economy, but
complete gain to the whole extent of his salary. When a European is
employed, he displaces a Native whom nature intended to fill the place.
The Native coming in his place, is natural. Every pie he eats is there-
fore a gain to the country, and every pie he saves is so much saved to
the country for the use of all its children. Every pie paid to a foreigner
is a complete material loss to the country. Every pie paid to a
Native is a complete material saving to the country. In fact, as I have
already endeavoured to impress upon you as earnestly as possible, it is
the whole question of the poverty or prosperity of the country. We
should of course pay a reasonable price for English rule, so that we
may have the highest power of control and supervision in English
hands, but beyond that is simply ruin to India and not such a benefit to
England as she would otherwise have, were India a prosperous country.
Our friend there expressed some doubt about the necessity of going to
England. I say without the least hesitation that the candidate himself
as well as the service will be vastly benefitted by a visit to England
The atmosphere of freedom and high civilization which he will breathe
will make him an altered man-in character, in intelligence, in experi-
ence, in self-respect and in appreciation of due respect for others. In
short, he will largely increase his fitness and command more respect iu
331
expenses of such visits to England by the candidates who have success-
fully passed the different examinations for the different services in
India, should be paid from the public revenue. It may be made clear
in the resolution, by adding “at the public expense.”
I conclude with my most anxious and earnest exhortation to this
Congress, and to every individual member of it, that they should per-
severingly strain every nerve to secure the all important object of this
resolution as early as possible. Once this foreign drain, this “ bleeding
to death,” is stopped, India will be capable, by reason of its land, labour
and its vast resources to become as prosperous as England, with benefit
to England also and to mankind, and with eternal glory to the English
name and nation.
2
SECOND INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
(Held on the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th December, in the Rooms of the
British Indian Association and the Town Hall, Calcutta).
INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE
HON. DADABHAI NAOROJI, PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS.
(Before the Public Meeting of the inhabitants of Calcutta, held in the Town Hall
on the 27th December, to receive the Delegates from different parts of India.
Dr. Rajendralal Mitra, LL.D., C.I.E., in the chair. At this Meeting Hon. Mr.
Dadabhai Naoroji was appointed the President of the Second Indian National
Congress.) .
I need not tell you how sincerely thankful I am to you for placing
me in this position of honour. I at first thought that I was to be
elevated to this proud position as a return for what might be con-
sidered as a compliment paid by us to Bengal when Mr. Bonnerjee
was elected President of the first Congress last year at Bombay. I
can assure you however that that election was no mere compliment
to Bengal, but arose out of the simple fact that we regarded Mr. Bon-
nerjee as a gentleman eminently qualified to take the place of Pre-
sident, and we installed him in that position in all sincerity as the
proper man in the proper place. I now see, however, that this election
of my humble self is not intended as a return of compliment, but that,
as both proposer and seconder have said, you have been kind enough to
select me because I am supposed to be really qualified to undertake
the task. I hope it may prove so, and that I may be found really worthy
of all the kind things said of me; but whether this be so, or not, when
332
such kind things are said by those who occupy such high positions
amongst us, I must say I feel exceedingly proud and am very grateful
to all for the honour thus done me. (Loud cheering.)
Your late Chairman has heartily welcomed all the delegates who
come from different parts of India, and with the same heartiness I
return to him, and all our Bengal friends on my own behalf and on that
of all the delegates from other provinces, the most sincere thanks for
the cordial manner in which we have been received. From what has
been done already, and from what is in store for us during our short
stay here, I have no doubt we shall carry away with us many and most
pleasant reminiscences of our visit to Calcutta. (Cheers.)
You will pardon me, and I beg your indulgence when I say that when
inaugural address, it was with no small trepidation that I agreed to
undertake the task; and I hope that you will extend to me all that
indulgence which my shortcomings may need. (Loud cheers.)
The assemblage of such a Congress is an event of the utmost import-
ance in Indian history. I ask whether in the most glorious days of
Hindu rule, in the days of Rajahs like the great Vikram, you could
imagine the possibility of a meeting of this kind, where even Hindus of
all different provinces of the kingdom could have collected and spoken
as one nation. Coming down to the later Empire of our friends, the
Mahomedans, who probably ruled over a larger territory at one time
than any Hindu monarch, would it have been, eren in the days of the
great Akbar himself, possible for a meeting like this to assemble
composed of all classes and communities, all speaking one language.
and all having uniform and high aspirations of their own ?
· Well, then, what is it for which we are now met on this occasion ?
We have assembled to consider questions upon which depend our future,
whether glorious or inglorious. It is our good fortune that we are under
a rule which makes it possible for us to meet in this manner. (Cheers.)
It is under the civilizing rule of the Queen and people of England that
we meet here together, hindered by none, and are freely allowed to
speak our minds without the least fear and without the least hesitation.
Such a thing is possible under British rule and British rule only.
(Loud cheers.) Then I put the question plainly : Is this Congress a
nursery for sedition and rebellion against the British Government (cries
of no, no); or is it another stone in the foundation of the stability of
that Government (cries of yes, yes)? There could be but one answer,
and that you have already given, because we are thoroughly sensible of
333
0
the numberless blessings conferred upon us, of which the very existence
of this Congress is a proof in a nutshell. (Cheers.) Were it not for
these blessings of British rule I could not have come here, as I have
done, without the least hesitation and without the least fear that my
children might be robbed and killed in my absence ; nor could you have
come from every corner of the land, having performed, within a few days,
journeys which in former days would have occupied as many months.
(Cheers.) These simple facts bring home to all of us at once some of
those great and numberless blessings which British rule has conferred
upon us. But there remain even greater blessings for which we have
to be grateful. It is to British rule that we owe the education we
possess; the people of England were sincere in the declarations made
more than half a century ago that India was a sacred charge entrusted
to their care by Providence, and that they were bound to administer
it for the good of India, to the glory of their own name, and the
satisfaction of God. (Prolonged cheering.) When we have to ac-
knowledge so many blessings as flowing from British rule--and
I could descant on them for hours, because it would simply be recounting
to you the history of the British Empire in India--is it possible that an
assembly like this, every one of whose members is fully impressed with
the knowledge of these blessings, could meet for any purpose inimical to
that rule to which we owe so much ? (Cheers.)
The thing is absurd. Let us speak out like men and proclaim that
we are loyal to the backbone (cheers) ; that we understand the benefits
English rule has conferred upon us; that we thoroughly appreciate the
education that has been given to us, the new light which has been poured
upon us, turning us from darkness into light and teaching us the new
lesson that kings are made for the people, not people for their kings ;
and this new lesson we have learned amidst the darkness of Asiatic
despotism only by the light of free English civilization. (Loud cheers.)
But the question is, do the Government believe us ? Do they believe
that we are really loyal to them; that we do truly appreciate and rely
on British rule; that we veritably desire its permanent continuance ;
that our reason is satisfied and our sentimental feelings gratified as well
as our self interest ? It would be a great gratification to us if we could
see in the inauguration of a great movement like this Congress, that
what we do really mean and desire is thoroughly and truly so under-
stood by our rulers. I have the good fortune to be able to place before
you testimony which cannot be questioned, from which you will see that
some at least of the most distinguished of our rulers do believe that what
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334
we say is sincere; and that we do not want to subvert British rule ; that
our outspoken utterances are as much for their good as for our good.
They do believe, as Lord Ripon said, that what is good for India is good
classes which was given 25 years ago by Sir Bartle Frere. He possessed
an intimate knowledge of the people of this country, and with regard
to the educated portion of them he gave this testimony. He said : 'And
now wherever I go I find the best exponents of the policy of the Eng-
lish Government, and the most able co-adjutors in adjusting that policy
to the peculiarities of the natives of India, among the ranks of the edu-
cated natives. This much at least is testimony to our sincerity, and
strongly corroborates our assertion that we, the educated classes, have
become the true interpreters and mediators between the masses of our
countrymen and our rulers. I shall now place before you the declaration
of the Government of India itself, that they have confidence in the loyalty
of the whole people, and do appreciate the sentiments of the educated
classes in particular. I will read their very words. They say in a
despatch addressed to the Secretary of State (8th June 1880): “But the
people of India accept British rule without any need for appeal to arms,
because we keep the peace and do justice, because we have done and are
doing much material good to the country and the people, and because
there is not inside or outside India any power that can adequately occupy
our place. Then they distinctly understand that we do believe the
British power to be the only power that can, under existing circumstances,
really keep the peace, and advance our future progress. This is testi-
mony as to the feeling of the whole people. But of the educated classes
this despatch says: "To the minds of at least the educated among the
people of India and the number is rapidly increasing--any idea of the
subversion of British power is abhorrent, from the consciousness that
it must result in the wildest anarchy and confusion. (Loud cheers.)
We can, therefore, proceed with the utmost serenity and with every
confidence that our rulers do understand us; that they do understand
our motives, and give credit to our expressions of loyalty, and we need
not in the least care for any impeachment of disloyalty or any charge
of harbouring wild ideas of subverting the British power that may be
put forth by ignorant, irresponsible or ill-disposed individuals or cliques.
(Loud cheers.) We can therefore quietly, calmly, and with entire con-
fidence in our rulers, speak as freely as we please, but of course in that
spirit of fairness and moderation which becomes wise and honest men,
and in the tone which every gentleman, every reasonable being, would
335
adopt when urging his rulers to make him some concession. (Hear, hear.)
Now although, as I have said, the British Government have done much,
very much for us, there is still a great deal more to be done if their
noble work is to be fitly completed. They say this themselves ; they
show a desire to do what more may be required, and it is for us to ask
for whatsoever, after due deliberation, we think that we ought to have.
(Cheers.)
Therefore, having said thus much, and having cleared the ground so
that we may proceed freely and in all confidence with the work of our
Congress, I must at once come to the matter with which I should have
commenced had I not purposely postponed it until I had explained the
relations between ourselves and our rulers ; and that is the most happy
and auspicious occasion which the coming year is to bring us, viz., the
Jubilee of our good Queen-Empress' reign. (Loud cheers.) I am ex-
ceedingly glad that the Congress has thought it right to select this as
the subject of the initial resolution, and in this to express, in humble
There is even more reason for us to congratulate ourselves on having for
half a century enjoyed the rule of a Sovereign graced with every virtue,
and truly worthy to reign over that vast Empire on which the sun never
sets. (Loud cheers.) That she may live long, honoured and beloved,
to continue for yet many years that beneficial and enlightened rule with
which she has so long reigned, must be the heartfelt prayer of every soul
in India. (Prolonged cheering.)
And here you must pardon me if I digress a moment from those sub-
jects which this Congress proposes to discuss, to one of those which we do
not consider to fall within the legitimate sphere of its deliberations.
It has been asserted that this Congress ought to take up questions of
social reforms (cheers and cries of yes, yes), and our failure to do this
has been urged as a reproach against us. Certainly no member of this
National Congress is more alive to the necessity of social reforms than I
am ; but, gentlemen, for everything there are proper times, proper cir-
cumstances, proper parties and proper places (cheers) ; we are met to-
gether as a political body to represent to our rulers our political aspirations,
not to discuss social reforms, and if you blame us for ignoring these you
should equally blame the House of Commons for not discussing the ab-
struser problems of mathematics or metaphysics. But, besides this there
are here Hindus of every caste, amongst whom, even in the same pro-
vinces, customs and social arrangements differ widely, there are Ma-
homedans and Christians of various denominations, Parsees, Sikhs,
336
Brahmos and what not-men indeed of each and all of those numerous
classes which constitute in the aggregate the people of India. (Loud
cheers.) How can this gathering of all classes discuss the social reforms
needed in each individual class ? What do any of us know of the in-
ternal home life, of the customs, traditions, feelings, prejudices of any
class but our own? How could a gathering, a cosmopolitan gathering
like this, discuss to any purpose the reforms needed in any one class ?
Only the members of that class can effectively deal with the reforms
therein needed. A National Congress must confine itself to questions in
which the entire nation has a direct participation, and it must leave the
adjustment of social reforms and other class questions to class Con-
gresses. But it does not follow that, because this national, political
body does not presume to discuss social reforms, the delegates here pre-
sent are not just as deeply, nay, in many cases far more deeply, interested
in these questions than in those political questions we do discuss, or that
those several communities whom those delegates represent are not doing
their utmost to solve those complicated problems on which hinge the
practical introduction of those reformis. Any man who has eyes and
ears open must know what struggles towards higher and better things
are going on in every community: and it could not be otherwise with the
noble education we are receiving. Once you begin to think about your
own actions, your duties and responsibilities to yourself, your neigh-
bours and your nation, you cannot avoid looking round and observing
much that is wrong amongst you ; and we know as a fact that each com-
munity is now doing its best according to its lights, and the progress that
it has made in education. I need not I think particularise. The Ma-
homedans know what is being done by persons of their community
to push on the education their brethren so much need ; the Hindus are
everywhere doing what they can to reform those social institutions which
they think require improvement. There is not one single community
here represented of which the best and ablest men do not feel that much
has to be done to improve the social, moral, religious status of their
brethren, and in which, as a fact, they are not striving to effect, gra-
dually, those needful improvements ; but these are essentially matters
too delicate for a stranger's handling--matters which must be left to the
guidance of those who alone fully understand them in all their bearings
and which are wholly unsuited to discussion in an assemblage like this
in which all classes are intermingled. (Loud cheers.)
I shall now refer briefly to the work of the former Congress. Since it
met last year, about this time, some progress, I am glad to say, has been
337
made, and that is an encouragement and a proof that, if we do really ask
what is right and reasonable, we may be sure that, sooner or later, the
British Government will actually give what we ask for. We should
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resting assured that the English nation will grudge no sacrifice to prove
the sincerity of their desire to do whatever is just and right. (Cheers.)
Our first request at the last Congress was for the constitution of a
Royal Commission. Unfortunately the authorities in England have
not seen their way to grant a Royal Commission. They say it will
upset the authorities here ; that it will interfere with the prestige and
control of the Government here. I think that this is a very poor com-
pliment to our rulers on this side. If I understand a man like Lord
Dufferin, of such vast experience in administration, knowing, as he does,
what it is to rule an empire, it would be impossible for him to be daunted
and frightened by a commission making enquiries here, I think this
argument a very poor one, and we must once more say that to the in-
habitants of India a Parliamentary Committee taking evidence in Eng-
land alone can never be satisfactory, for the simple reason that what the
Committee will learn by the ear will never enable them to understand
what they ought to see with their eyes if they are to realize what the
evidence of the witnesses really means. Still, however, it is so far satis-
factory that, notwithstanding the change of Government and the
vicissitudes which this poor Parliamentary Committee has undergone,
it is the intention of Parliament that under any and all circumstances a
Committee shall be appointed. At the same time this Committee in
futuro ties the hands of the authorities here to a large extent and pre-
vents us from saying all we do really want.
Another resolution on which we must report some progress was to
the effect that the N. W. Provinces and the Punjab ought also to have
Legislative Councils of their own. We know that the Government has
just given a Legislative Council to the N. W. Provinces, and we hope
that this progress may extend further and satisfy our wishes as to other
provinces also.
The fourth resolution had regard to the Service question. In this
matter we really seem to have made some distinct progress. The Public
Service Commission is now sitting, and if one thing more than another
can prove that the Government is sincere in its desire to do something
for us, this appointment of such a Commission is that thing. You
perhaps remember the words which our noble Viceroy used at Poona,
He said ; 'However, I will say that from first to last I have been a
UI
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1
strong advocate for the appointment of a Committee or Commission of
this sort, and that when succeeding Governments in England changed, I
have on each occasion warmly impressed upon the Secretary of State the
necessity of persevering in the nomination of a Commission. I am
happy to think that in response to my earnest representations on the
subject, Her Majesty's present Ministers have determined to take action.
I consequently do not really see what more during the short period I have
been amongst you, the Government of India could have done for that
most important and burning question which was perpetually agitating
your mind, and was being put forward by the natives as an alleged
injustice done to the educated native classes of this country in not
allowing them adequate employment in the Public Service. I do not
think you can point out to me any other question which so occupied
public attention or was nearer to the hearts of your people. Now the
door to inquiry has been opened, and it only remains for you, by the
force of logic of your representations and of the evidence you may
be able to submit, to make good your case; if you succeed in doing so,
all I can say is, that nobody will be better pleased than myself. In
regard to other matters, which have been equally prominent in your
newspapers and your addresses, and which have been so constantly
discussed by your associations, I have also done my best to secure for
you an ample investigation.'
There we have his own words as to his intentions and the efforts he
made to get this Commission. This should convince us of his good
faith and sympathy with us. When I think of Lord Dufferin, not only
as our present Viceroy, but bearing in mind all we know of him in his
past career, I should hesitate to believe that he could be a man devoid
of the deepest sympathy with any people struggling to advance and
improve their political condition. Some of you may remember one or
two extracts which I gave in my Holborn Town Hall speech from Lord
Dufferin's letters to the Times, and I cannot conceive°that a person of
such warm sympathies could fail to sympathise with us. But I may
say this much that, feeling as I naturally do some interest about the
views and intentions of our Viceroys and Governors, I have had the
opportunity of getting some information from friends on whom I can
rely and who are in a position to know the truth ; and I am able to say
in the words of one of these friends that "the Viceroy's instincts are
eminently liberal, and he regards with neither jealousy nor alarm the
desire of the educated classes to be allowed a larger share in the
administration of their own affairs. Indeed be considers it very
339
2
creditable to them that they should do so.' As Viceroy he has to
consider all sides of a question from the ruler's point of view, and to
act as he thinks safe and proper. But we may be sure that we have
his deep and very genuine sympathy, and we may fairly claim and expect
much good at his hands.
But yet further I would enquire whether the intentions of the Secre-
tary of State for India and of the other home authorities are equally
favourable to our claims. The resolution on its very face tells us what the
intention of the Secretary of State is. It says : 'In regard to its
object: the Commission would, broadly speaking, be required to devise
a scheme which may reasonably be hoped to possess the necessary
elements of finality, and to do full justice to the claims of natives of
India to a higher and more extensive employment in the Public Service.'
There we have the highest authority making a declaration that he
desires to do fall justice to the claims of the natives of India. Now
our only reply is that we are thankful for the enquiry, and we hope that
we may be able to satisfy all, that what we ask is both reasonable and
right.
As another proof of the intentions of our British rulers, as far back
as 53 years ago, when the natives of India did not themselves fully
understand their rights, the statesmen of England of their own free will
decided what the policy of England ought to be towards India. Long
and important was the debate; the question was discussed from all
points of view ; the danger of giving political power to the people, the
insufficiency of their capacity and other considerations were all fully
weighed, and the conclusion was come to in unmistakable and unam-
biguous terms, that the policy of British rule should be a policy of
justice (cheers), the policy of the advancement of one-sixth of the
human race. (Cheers.) India was to be regarded as a trust placed by
God in their hands, and in the due discharge of that trust they resolved
that they would follow the plain path of duty,' as Mr. Macaulay
called it; on that occasion he said, virtually, that he would rather see
the people of India free and able to govern themselves, than that they
should remain the bondsmen of Great Britain and the obsequious
toadies of British officials. (Cheers.) This was the essence of the policy
of 1833, and in the Act of that year it was laid down: That no native
of the said territories, nor any natural-born subject of His Majesty
resident therein shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth,
descent, color or any of them be disabled from holding any place, office
or employment under the said Company.' (Prolonged cheering.)
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We do not, we could not, ask for more than this; and all we have to
press upon the Commission and Government is that they should now
honestly grant us in practice here what Great Britain freely conceded
to us 50 years ago, when we ourselves were too little enlightened even
to ask for it. (Loud cheers.)
We next passed through a time of trouble, and the British arms were
triumphant. When they had completely surmounted all their difficulties,
and completely vanquished all their adversaries, the English nation came
forward, animated by the same high and noble resolves as before, and
gave us that glorious proclamation which we should for ever prize and
reverence as our Magna Charta-greater even than the Charter of 1833.
I need not repeat that glorious proclamation now, for it is engraven on
all your hearts (loud cheers); but it constitutes such a grand and
glorious charter of our liberties that I think every child as it begins
to gather intelligence and to lisp its mother tongue, ought to be made to
commit it to memory. (Cheers.) In that proclamation we have again a
confirmation of the policy of 1833 and something more. In it are embo-
died the germs of all that we aim at now, of all that we can desire
hereafter. (Cheers.) We have only to go before the Government and
the Commission now sitting and repeat it, and say that all we want is
only what has already been granted to us in set terms by that proclama-
tion, and that all we now ask for is that the great and generous con-
cessions therein made to us in words shall actually be made ours by
deeds. (Loud cheers.) I will not, however, enter into further details,
for it is a subject on which I should be led into speaking for hours, and
even then I should fail to convey to you an adequate idea of all that is
in my heart. I have said enough to show our rulers that our case is
complete and has been made out by themselves. (Cheers.) It is enough
for me therefore to stop at this point.
Another resolution is the improvement and enlargement of the
Legislative Councils, and the introduction into them of an elective
element, but that is one on which my predecessor in the chair has so
ably descanted that I do not think I should take up more of your time
with it. I need only say that in this matter we hope to make a further
advance, and shall try to place before our rulers what we consider a
possible scheme for the introduction of an elective element into the
Legislative Councils. I need not say that if this representation is
introduced, the greatest benefit will be conferred upon the Government
itself, because at present whatever Acts they pass that do not quite
please us, we, whether rightly or wrongly, grumble and grumble against
.
341
09
the Government, and the Government only. It is true that we have
some of our own people in the Councils. But we have no right to
demand any explanation even from them; they are not our representa.
tives, and the Government can not relieve themselves from any dis-
satisfaction we may feel against any law we don't like. If our own
representatives make a mistake and get a law passed which we do not
want, the Government at any rate will escape the greater portion of the
consequent unpopularity. They will say—here are your own repre-
sentatives ; we believed that they represented your wishes, and we
passed the law. On the other hand with all the intelligence, all the
superior knowledge of the English officials, let them come as angels from
heaven, it is impossible for them to enter into the feelings of the people,
and feel as they feel, and enter into their minds. (Cheers.) It is not
any disparagement of them, but in the nature of things it cannot be
otherwise. If you have therefore your representatives to represent your
feelings, you will then have an opportunity of getting something which
is congenial and satisfactory to yourselves; and what will be satisfactory
to you must also be satisfactory to and good for the Government itself.
(Cheers.)
This brings me also to the point of representation in Parliament.
All the most fundamental questions on which hinge the entire form and
character of the administration here are decided by Parliament. No
matter what it is, Legislative Councils, the Services,-nothing can be
reformed until Parliament moves and enacts modifications of the
existing Acts. Not one single genuine Indian voice is there in Parlia-
ment to tell at least what the native view is on any question. This
was most forcibly urged upon me by English gentlemen who are in
Parliament themselves; they said they always felt it to be a great defect
in Parliament, that it did not contain one single genuine representative
of the people of India.
One of the questions which will be placed before this Congress and
will be discussed by them, is the deep sympathy which this Congress
Yi
that when we struggle for admission into the Services it is simply to
gratify the aspirations of the few educated. But if you examine this
question thoroughly, you will find that this matter of the Public Services
will go far to settle the problem of the poverty of the Indian people.
One thing I congratulate myself upon. I don't trouble you with
any testimony about the poverty of India. You have the testimony
of Sir Evelyn Baring given only a couple of years ago, who told
342
us in plain terms that the people of India were extremely poor,
and also of the present Finance Minister who repeats those
words. But amongst the several causes which are at the bottom of
our sufferings this one, and that the most important cause, is begia-
ning to be realized by our rulers, and that is a step of the most
hopeful and promising kind. In the discussion about the currency,
the Secretary of State for India, in a letter to the Treasury of the 26th
January 1886, makes certain remarks which show that our rulers now
begin to understand and try to grapple with the problem ; and are
not, ostrich-like, shutting their eyes to it. I was laughed at when I first
mooted the question of the poverty of India, and assigned as one of its
causes the employment of an expensive foreign agency. But now the
highest authority emphasizes this view. The Secretary of State, in the
letter just referred to, said: "The position of India in relation to taxa-
tion and the sources of the public revenues is very peculiar, not merely
from the habits of the people and their strong aversion to change,
which is more specially exhibited towards new forms of taxation, but
likewise from the character of the Government, which is in the hands of
foreigners, who hold all the principal administrative offices, and form so
large a part of the army. The impatience of new taxation which
would have to be borne, wholly as a consequence of the foreign rule
imposed on the country and virtually to meet additions to charges
arising outside of the country, would constitute a political danger, the
real magnitude of which, it is to be feared, is not at all appreciated by
persons, who have no knowledge of, or concern in, the Government of
India, but which those responsible for that Government have long
regarded as of the most serious order.'
We may be sure that the public conscience of England will ask why
the natives of India, after a hundred years of British rule, are so poor ;
and as John Bull, in a cartoon in Punch is represented as doing, will
wonder that India is a beggar when he thought she had a mint of
money.
Unfortunately this idea of India's wealth is utterly delusive, and if
a proper system of representation in the Councils be conceded, our re-
presentatives will then be able to make clear to these Councils and to
our rulers those causes which are operating to undermine our wealth and
prosperity, and guide the Government to the proper remedies for the
greatest of all evils—the poverty of the masses. All the benefits we
have derived from British rule, all the noble projects of our British
rulers, will go for nothing if after all the country is to continue sinking
343
1
deeper and deeper into the abyss of destitution. At one time I was
denounced as a Pessimist, but now that we have it on the authority of
our rulers themselves that we are very poor, it has become the right, as
well as the duty, of this Congress to set forth its convictions, both as
to this widespread destitution and the primary steps needful for its
alleviation. Nothing is more dear to the heart of Englandmand I
speak from actual knowledge—than India's welfare ; and if we only
speak out loud enough, and persistently enough, to reach that busy
heart we shall not speak in vain. (Prolonged cheering.) There will
be several other questions brought before the Congress at their Com-
mittee meetings during the next three days, and I am sure from the
names of the delegates, as far as I am informed, that they will prosecute
their deliberations with all possible moderation. I am sure that they
will fully appreciate the benefits of the rule under which they live, while
the fact that our rulers are willing to do whatever we can show them to
be necessary for our welfare, should be enough to encourage all in the
work. I do not know that I need now detain you with any further
remarks. You have now some idea of what progress has been made in
respect of the matters which were discussed last year. I hope we may
congratulate ourselves next year that we have made further progress in
attaining the objects alike of the past year's resolutions and those we
may this year pass. I for one am hopeful that, if we are only true to
ourselves, if we only do justice to ourselves and the noble education
which has been given to us by our rulers, and speak freely, with the
freedom of speech which has been granted to us, we may fairly expect
our Government to listen to us and to grant us our reasonable demands.
(Loud cheers.)
I will conclude this short address by repeating my sincere thanks
to all of you for having placed me in this honourable position, and by
again returning thanks to our Bengal brethren on behalf of all the
delegates whom they have so cordially welcomed here.
(The President resumed his seatſ amidst the most energetic and pro-
longed cheering ; throughout, the speech was interrupted, at the close
of almost every period, by the most enthusiastic cheers, showing how
thoroughly the speaker's words were going home to the hearts, not only
of his brother delegates, but of the vast crowd of educated listeners that
thronged every portion of the great hall.)
344
At the close of the second National Congress (30th Dec.) Mr. Dadabhai
said :-In responding to the vote of thanks, which you have so kindly
accorded to me, I hope the meeting will allow me to say that my expect-
ations as to the admirable conduct of this large assembly have been
thoroughly fulfilled and more than fulfilled. I am only speaking tamely
I fear when I say that from first to last nothing could possibly have
been more honourable to our country than the conduct of all concerned
or than the spirit that has pervaded the entire assemblage. In the heat
of argument, under that greatest of all stimuli, patriotic enthusiasm, not
one word, I believe, has escaped“ a single speaker that he need wish
unspoken. Kindness, courtesy and a spirit of cheerful mutual concession
have pervaded our proceedings, which, but for this, could never have
reached this happy and successful termination. (Loud cheers.) You
are pleased to thank me, but it is for me rather to thank you, for had
it not been for the noble spirit in which each and all of you have co-
operated in the work and for the support which you have so heartily
afforded me in respect of every proposition which has come before the
Congress, I could never have succeeded in thus bringing to a successful
close the important business that devolved upon us. (Cheers.) I
heartily, therefore, thank you one and all for having enabled me to
perform my duty and for having made it so easy for me to do it.
(Loud cheers.)
There is, however, just one point to which I ought perhaps to refer
more particularly, and that is, to the spirit of fairness and moderation
and respect towards the Government which has characterized your proceed-
ings from the beginning to the end. I need hardly say how gratified
I have been to observe how thoroughly all have seemed to be imbued
with that spirit. Not only is it to our interest that it should be so, but it
is what the Government, after all they have done for us, have a just
right to expect from us. (Cheers.) And I only hope that the example
which this great assemblage has set in this respect will be followed not
only at all future meetings of the Congress, not only by all and every Asso-
ciation throughout the country, but also by the entire Indian Press,
some members of which, under the influence of the bad example too often
set to them by a portion of the Anglo-Indian Press, have at times, it
must be confessed, transgressed in this respect. (Hear, hear.) If we
really desire to be respected, if we wish our request to be attended to, if
we honestly expect that the English nation will do its duty towards us,
wemust prove ourselves worthy by showing that we are never unreasonable,
never violent, never uncharitable. We must shew that we are earnest,
345
but temperate, cognizant of our own rights, but respectful of those of
others ; expecting the fairest constructions of our own acts and motives,
and conceding these to those of others ; that, in a word, whatever our
status in life, high or low, rich or poor, we have become gentlemen in the
highest sense of the word. Unless we are and can prove ourselves
gentlemen in this highest, noblest sense, I do not know that we are worthy
to receive the concessions for which we are pressing. (Loud cheers.)
I do not think I need trouble the Congress with any further remarks.
I will simply say once more : I thank you. I thank you for myself, for
the honour you have done me in choosing me as President, and for the
generous kindness with which you have upheld me in the performance of
the responsible duties of that high position, and I thank you on behalf of
all your countrymen-on behalf of posterity--for the noble manner in
which, at this great Congress—which history will not readily forget-
you have upheld the credit, the character, the dignity of our beloved
India. (Long and enthusiastic cheering.)
III.
MISCELLANEOUS SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES.
THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
(Before an evening Meeting of the East India Association, at London, Tuesday,
August 13th, 1867. ' Lord Lyveden in the chair.)
1
In proposing for your adoption this memorial,* I am glad that I
have a very easy task before me, unless I create some giants of my own
imagination to knock them down, for on the principle of the memorial I
see on all hands there is but one opinion. Beginning with our gracious
Sovereign, she has emphatically declared with regard to the natives of
India (in a proclamation dated the 1st of November, 1858), “We hold
ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territories by the same
*"We, the members of the East India Association, beg respectfully to submit
that the time has come when it is desirable to admit the natives of India to a
larger share in the administration of India than hitherto.
"To you, sir, it is quite unnecessary to point out the justice, necessity, and
importance of this step, as in the debate in Parliament, on May 24 last, you have
pointed out this so emphatically and clearly, that it is enough for us to quote your
own noble and statesmanlike sentiments. You said— Nothing could be more
wonderful than our empire in India ; but we ought to consider on what conditions
we held it, and how our predecessors held it. The greatness of the Mogul empire
depended upon the liberal policy that was pursued by men like Akbar, availing
themselves of Hindu talent and assistance, and identifying themselves as far as
346
obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and those
obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and
conscientiously fulfil.” Then, referring to this particular point, the
proclamation goes on, “ It is our further will, that so far as may be,
our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially
admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which may be qualified
by their education, ability, and integrity duly to discharge.” That being
the gracious declaration of the will and pleasure of our Sovereign, let us
pass next to the opinion of Parliament upon the subject. The opinion
of Parliament has been all long decisive upon this matter. As far back
as 1833, in the Act of that year, it was distinctly declared, “That no
native of the said territories, nor any natural born subject of his Majesty,
resident therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth,
descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office,
or employment under the said Company ;” and on every occasion when
Parliament has had the matter before it, there has scarcely been any
possible with the people of the country. He thought that they ought to take a
lesson from such a circumstance, and if they were to do their duty towards India
they could only discharge that duty by obtaining the assistance and counsel of all
who were great and good in that country. It would be absurd in them to say that
there was not a large fund of statesmanship and ability in the Indian character.'
(Times, 25th May, 1867.). With these friendly and just sentiments towards
the people of India we fully concur, and therefore, instead of trespassing any
more upon your time, we beg to lay before you our views as to the best mode of
accomplishing the object.
“We think that the competitive examinations for a portion of the appoint-
ments to the Indian civil service should be held in India, under such rules and
arrangements as you may think proper. What portion of the appointments should
be thus competed for in India we cannot do better than leave to your own judg-
ment. After the selection is made in India, by the first examination, we think it
essential that the selected candidates be required to come to England to pass
their further examinations with the selected candidates of this country.
“In the same spirit, and with kindred objects in view for the general good of
India, we would ask you to extend your kind encouragement to native youths of
promise and ability to come to England for the completion of their education.
We believe that if scholarships, tenable for five years in this country, were to be
annually awarded by competitive examination in India to native candidates
between the ages of 15 and 17, some would compete successfully in England for
the Indian civil service, while others would return in various professions to India,
and where by degrees they would form an enlightened and unprejudiced class,
exercising a great and beneficial influence on native society, and constituting a
link between the masses of the people and their English rulers.
"In laying before you this memorial we feel assured, and we trust that you will
also agree with us, that this measure, which bas now become necessary by the
advancement of education in India, will promote and strengthen the loyalty of
the natives of India to the British rule, while it will also be a satisfaction to the
British people to have thus by one more instance practically proved its desire to
advance the condition of their Indian fellow-subjects, and to act justly by them.
“ We need not point out to you, sir, how great an encouragement these examina-
tions in India will be to education. The great prizes of the appointments will
naturally increase vastly the desire for education among the people."
347
opposition to the principle enunciated by this memorial. Again, up to
the latest day, during the past three or four debates in Parliament which
have taken place this year, we have seen the same principle emphatically
declared ; even in last night's debate we find the same again brought
forward in a prominent way by some who are friends to India, and who
also wish well to England. While we have this testimony on the part
of our Sovereign and Parliament, we find that the press upon this
matter at least is unanimous. So far back as 1853, in commenting upon
the petition presented by the Bombay Association, I find a large propor-
tion of the press here admitted the justice and truth of the complaints
made by the natives of India, as to the exclusiveness adopted in the civil
service at the time, and urging that the natives should be to a suitable
extent introduced into the enjoyment of the higher places of responsi-
bility and trust. And recently, in commenting upon the debates that
have taken place in Parliament, which I have just referred to, the press
has been equally unanimous in reference to this subject. As far as
Parliament and the press are any indication of the opinions of the people,
we can say the people are at one on this subject. As far as my personal
knowledge is concerned, during the twelve years I have been here, or
while I was in India, I must confess that I have always found every
Englishman that I have spoken to on the subject, admitting its justice,
and assuring me that England will always do its duty towards India.
I have been sometimes told that some civilians, perhaps, do not like it
but I should not do the injustice to say that I recollect any instance in
which such an opinion has been expressed to me. The testimony
of all eminent men in the Indian service is in favour of giving
all necessary facilities for the admission of natives of India to the civil
service, as well as that of all those eminent statesmen here who have
made India their study. The interest that the natives feel in this subject
I need not at all enlarge upon ; that can be at once conceived by their
presence here ; the interest they would feel in the Government of India
by having the responsibilities of that administration on their own heads,
speaks for itself; and at the same time the strength it would give to the
British rule is also a matter of the greatest importance. Lastly, I find
that the present Government itself has emphatically declared on this
point. In the words I have quoted in the memorial, Sir Stafford North-
cote has distinctly stated, “Nothing could be more wonderful than our
empire in India ; but we ought to consider on what conditions we held
it, and how our predecessors held it. The greatness of the Mogul
348
Akbar availing themselves of Hindu talent and assistance, and identify-
ing themselves as far as possible with the people of the country. He
thought that they ought to take a lesson from such a circumstance, and
if they were to do their duty towards India, they could only discharge
that duty by obtaining the assistance and counsel of all who were great
and good in that country. It would be absurd in them te say that there
was not a large fund of statesmanship and ability in the Indian char-
acter.” With such complete testimony on the principle of this memorial,
I think I was quite justified in saying at the beginning that my task was
a very easy one. This last extract, again, enables me to dispose of
another point, namely, as to the capacity of the natives of India for
administration and for high education. I may at once leave that alone,
because at this time of day, after the education which has been received
by the natives of India, after the results as shown by the university
examinations, and with the actual facts of the efficiency of the services
rendered by the natives of India, whenever they are employed in any
office of responsibility and trust, it would be simply ridiculous on my part
to try to prove to you their capacity for administration and for study,
and their high character. The importance and justice of introducing
natives of India into the administration to a proper extent, has been
urged by various eminent men at different times before committees of
the Houses of Parliament. If I had considered it necessary, I could
have collected a volume of such extracts. I need only glance at this point,
namely, the assistance which the Government of India would derive from
the native element being introduced into it. With the best intentions,
Englishmen cannot understand the natives of India as a body; their
feelings, their ways of thought, and their original education, are so
different, that with the best intentions on the part of Englishmen, they
very often fail in pointing out the exact remedies for any complaints
made by the natives ; but if the natives of India were introduced to a
proper extent into the administration of the country, naturally their own
countrymen would have more sympathy with them. Those native ad-
ministrators would know where the exact difficulties were, and many of
the problems of the present day, to grapple with which all the energies
of our English administrators are taxed in vain, would be solved most
easily. We would then have the sympathy of the natives with the
British rulers, and one of the results of such a concession to the
natives would be gratitude on their part, which would form a strong
when I advocate that which would have a tendency to uphold the
349
British rule in India, it is not for the sake of the English, but for the
sake of the natives themselves. They have every reason to congratulate.
themselves on being under the British rule, after the knowledge they
have now derived, and are every day deriving, of the benefits of it. I
come, then, to the practical part of the memorial itself. At present the
arrangement is that the civil service examination is open to all British
subjects; and under that arrangement, no doubt, the natives of India can
come here, and they have come here, and undergone the competitive
examination (one has passed, and is now serving in India). But if we refer
back to the gracious words of our Sovereign, that the natives of India be.
admitted “freely and impartially," the question naturally arises whether
under the present arrangement that declaration and that assurance
is practically given effect to. The difficulty on the face of it is this, that
the natives are put to the disadvantage of coming over here and remain-
ing here for several years. The risk of losing a sum of money which
perhaps they cannot afford, is in itself a disadvantage sufficient to require
some change in the arrangement. But, supposing even some few were.
willing to come here and to compete in the examination, it is not desirable
that only those few should be admitted into the civil service; the interests
of the civil service require that those serving in it, whether native or
English, should be of the highest talents. We do not want those
having the longest purses only, but what we want is in the words of
Sir Stafford Northcote—the assistance and counsel of all who are great
and good in the country; and we cannot attain that object unless we
have a competitive examination which would enable all the best men of
India to compete for appointments in the Indian civil service. Such
are the men who ought to be introducd into that service. Therefore,
putting aside all the disadvantages that the native is put to in coming
over to this country, and which are in themselves sufficient to require
that some alteration should be made in the present arrangement, the
very best interests of the service require that some competition should
take place in India whether at an earlier stage or at a later stage ; and
that a selection should be made, not only of those who can afford to
spend a few thousands to come here, but of those who possess the best
talent among the people. I have nothing more to say than to refer to
the plan I have suggested in the memorial, and I have left it as general
as possible, because, with the evidence before us of the interest
which Sir Stafford Northcote has taken in the subject, and the emphatic
manner in which he has expressed his views as to the necessity and
justice of introducing the native element into the service, I can,
350
with the utmost confidence, leave any of the details that would be
best suited for the purpose to himself. The natives of India are
willing to submit to any standard ; if they could not come up to the
standard required by the service, it would be their own fault, and
nobody would have any right to complain ; but as long as they can
assert that they would be able to stand any standard of examination
which they may be reasonably subjected to, it is only just and proper
that they should have the opportunity given them. Take, for instance,
the case of the fair trial given to the natives for acquiring high
education. There were no B.A.s or M.A.s before. The universities
being established, we know the result, that the natives have fully
vindicated their intellect. And they only ask a fair trial for the civil
service. I am desirous, that instead of taking up more of your time,
the members present should discuss this fully, and I therefore conclude
as I began with the words of our Sovereign, “ In their prosperity will
be our strength, in their contentment our security, and in their
gratitude our best reward;" and my only prayar is, that a reward
nobler than that which has ever been attained by any nation, or
any individual, may be earned by our British rulers.
In the proposal made by me, the examination takes place in India,
just as it takes place here; the candidates that pass in India are exactly
on the same footing as what are called selected candidates in England.
After passing the competitive examination, there are what are called
further examinations here, and it is for those further examinations
here that I wish those natives to come here, which would be no hardship
on them ; the utmost sacrifice which they might be required to make,
if the Government would not assist them, would be the voyage home; if
the Government would pay that, then there would be no hardship,
because, as soon as they come here they begin to prepare for their further
examination ; they get the first year 1001., and the second year 2001.,
and then, if they shof the necessary proficiency in the subjects they are
required to study, there is no competition and no rejection afterwards;
they have only to show that they have spent two years in the necessary
studies, having in view the special duties required of them in India ; so
that there is no risk of their being rejected. The competitive examina-
tion in India would be what it is here, and after they passed that they
would be admitted as selected candidates. As I am on my legs, allow me
to add to what I have already said, that there is no practical difficulty in
what is proposed. The whole thing is embraced in the rules published by
the Secretary of State for India every year; the Secretary of State for
351
India has only to decide as to what proportion of natives it would be
advisable to introduce into the civil service, and then to send out in-
structions to the local government to institute examinations of the same
character and under the same rules that are followed here, under which
examinations the candidates would be selected; the number may be five
or ten, or I should be satisfied if there were two for Bengal and one for each
of the other presidencies. Those examinations would take place there
under the same rules and the same arrangements under which they take
place here. The best on the list would become the selected candidates,
and when once they became selected candidates there would be no risk
of failing in the competition. There are no practical details to propose ,
the arrangement of the whole thing is already practically carried out.
The simple question for the Secretary of Statel to decide being, what
proportion of the appointments should be competed for in India, it would
be, I think, more proper on the part of this Association to leave that to
Sir Stafford Northcote and the Council. They are best able to judge as
to that, and I have every .confidence that they would do that which is
right. The manner in which justice has been done in the case of
Mysore, makes me perfectly confident that we have a Government not
only willing to make professions, but willing to do what they profess.
As I did not contemplate that any details should be proposed, except
simply that a certain proportion of appointments to be decided on by
the Secretary of State should be competed for in India, the managing
committee, to whom this proposal was referred, thought wisely that we
might at once go to the whole Association itself, and we have
done so. If the Association are inclined to adopt the proposal of the
noble chairman, of referring the matter back to a committee, I do not
say anything against it, but there is nothing to be considered ; the
whole thing is ready cut and dried. There are only two points to be
decided by Sir Stafford Northcote : first, whether a certain number of
appointments should be competed for in India or not, and next, wbat
proportion of the appointments should be so competed for. With
regard to the various remarks which have been made by Mr. Hodgson
Pratt, I agree with the full force of them. When he, some years
ago, was anxious to promote the plan of bringing over to England
young men to be educated, I endeavoured to contribute my humble
mite to that endeavour. All I say upon the remarks he has addressed
to you is this, that he attaches a little too much importance to an
independent body of natives in India who had received their education
in England, and who would spread themselves in all the different depart-
352
ments of life, being the only means by which the tone of society, and
the status of the whole population would be raised; for we must not
forget that, attaching to the administration of the country itself, there are
responsibilities that must be incurred; and when a native is introduced
into the administration he comes under a responsibility which an out-
sider cannot appreciate. If we bad only a body of independent educated
natives we should have nothing but agitation; there would be no counter-
poise to it, there would be no men trained under the yoke of responsi-
bility, who would tell them that there were such and such difficulties in
the way of the administration. I have considered this matter very
carefully for a long time. I have taken the utmost possible trouble
to induce my friends to come over here for their education, and most of
the twenty-five who have been referred to are under my care. I have
taken that responsibility, because I feel strongly upon the point. I
have taken that guardianship for the past twelve years with no little
anxiety to myself, but I am glad to say that those young men have
behaved most admirably, never having given me cause to complain, and
the character that has been given of them, whether by the gentlemen
with whom they have been residing, or by the professors of their college,
has been that they have been very steady and very good. But in this
way we cannot get the best talent. Therefore, I hope that it will not be
considered by the Association that I have brought forward this question
inconsiderately and immaturely. I do not see the necessity of troubling
a committee to go into it again. Here I have my proposal in some
detail :-“ First Examination for the Civil Service of India, to be held
in India." (I would be satisfied even with a few to begin with ; I
suggest five.) “ Five candidates shall be selected every year as follows:
-2 from Bengal, 1 from Bombay, 1 from Madras, 1 from the North-
west Provinces and the Punjaub. The examination shall be held in
each of the above territories, under the instruction of the local govern-
ment, in the subjects, and according to the rules adopted from time to
time by the Civil Service Commissioners for the first competition exa-
mination in England. The highest in rank shall be deemed to be
selected candidates for the civil service of India. The selected candidates
shall, within three months of the announcement of the result of the
examination, proceed to England, and the local government shall pay
the passage money. After arrival in England these selected candidates
shall be subject to the rules and terms for the subsequent further
examination,' &c. like the selected candidates of England." If it is
necessary for a plan to be attached to the memorial, here is one. I
2
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admit the force of the remark made by Mr. Hodgson Pratt, that mere
education in colleges and universities is not enough, that there are other
qualifications necessary. But though I do not agrec with those who say
that the education given in India does not raise the moral as well as the
intellectual character of the pupil, still I purposely make it essential
that those natives who are selected for the service should come over to
England for those two years, in order that they may acquire all the
benefits in England which Mr. Hodgson Pratt so ably described. As
to the competitive system, it must be recollected that it has been
established as being the best system that can be adopted for arriving
at the qualities and capabilities of a man. If the Council think that
there ought to be a standard of proficiency at the oar or at cricket, let
them establish such a standard; I daresay the natives of India would be
quite prepared to try a hand at bowling or at the oar with the natives of
England; only, let every one be put on an equal footing. We no longer
select men for the service in India according to the system of patron-
age; we know how that system worked in former times-how proprietors
joined together to get their nephews in. I do not refer to past grievances ;
let the past be the past, we have enough to be thankful for; we select
our best men in the best way in our power, by a competitive examina-
tion, and though, in a competition of 200 for 50 or 60 situations, there
is some chance of an incompetent man getting in, by cramming' or by
some accident, still, where there is a competition of 100 or 1,000 for only
one or two places, the chances are infinitesimally small that anybody
who does not possess the highest order of intellect will be able to take
those prizes. I beg to submit to our President, with very great deference,
that the proposal I have made has been carefully considered. I have
consulted several gentlemen who are deeply interested in the matter,
and I hope our noble President will support me in approving of this
memorial, with the addition which Sir Herbert Edwardes has made,
to which I have no objection ; it gives the memorial a wider scope,
and meets the other difficulty which our noble President suggested
as to the expense. It is desirable, instead of simply allowing a few
young men to enter the Civil Service, that we should also carry out
a comprehensive principle of giving some opportunity to natives of
entering upon other independent departments. I fully agree that the
assistance proposed by Sir Herbert Edwardes' amendment should be
held out to the youths of India ; we want the best talent of the
country brought here ; therefore, I propose that Sir Herbert Edwardes'
addition should be embodied in the memorial. Our noble President
.
23
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2
has said that this memorial does not properly come within the province
of this Association. With every deference, I beg to differ from his
Lordship. The very basis upon which this institution has been formed
is, as expressed by the second rule, the promotion, by all legitimate
means, of the interests and welfare of India generally. If the object
and purpose of the Association is simply to supply information, I do
not see that the Association can do any very great good ; but if the
Association takes up one subject after another, considerately and
carefully, as our noble President suggests, and does actual practical
good to the various interests of India, the Association then will have
fulfilled its mission of bringing India and England together, doing
justice to India, informing the people of this country of all that is
necessary to be known by them in relation to Indian matters, and
suggesting to them what they, in the situation in which providence has
placed them, as rulers of India, ought to do towards India. If the
Association has not been formed to attain those objects, I do not see
what good it can do. We may read papers here and have a pleasant
discussion on them, and go away with the feeling that we have had
a very successful meeting ; but if we are to end there, what good
shall we have done? Wbat is the object of all our discussion ? It
is to take such practical steps as may influence the people of this
country, and as may influence the Government to rectify existing evils,
the rectifying of which would have the effect of consolidating the
British rule in India, to the great benefit of both England and India.
2
EXTENSION OF LORD RIPON'S VICEROYALTY.
(Before a public meeting called by the Bombay Branch of the East India Associa-
tion for the purpose of memorialising Her Majesty the Queen, praying for the
extension of the Viceroy's (Lord Ripon) term of office, on the 17th February 1983,
at the Framji Cowasji Institute.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, who was received with much applause, said
that he had been asked to say a few words, and he would tell the meeting
what Lord Ripon was as a man. This was clearly shown in his speech
at Lahore, where he told his audience that he ruled this country, not as
a ruler, but as a friend. (Cheers.) The Viceroy also said that he
wanted India to be politically educated, and that he was prepared for all
sorts of failures. He further said that they should not pull up the
plant every time, in order to see how far the roots bad gone, as that
would be the best way of destroying the plant. He was determined that
355
his scheme of local self-government should not suffer from any negligence
of officials, upon whose minds he had impressed that experience was the
best school in which to learn political or moral wisdom. (Cheers.) The
Viceroy had boldly and fully carried out what he said in practice. He
considered that it was only by experience that public spirit could be
aroused among the people of this country, and that they could become
a nation of men, instead of being merely subservient slaves. (Cheers.)
He (Mr. Dadabhai), who had been considered a pessimist, was glad to
say that Lord Ripon was destined not only to be the saviour of the
country, but to be the greatest patriot of England. (Cheers.) Because
if England performed the great duty of raising this great nation of
250 millions of people to political elevation and civilization, assuredly she
ought to be grateful to the man who had achieved such a noble object.
(Cheers.) Here was a man, kind and beneficent, of a clear and com-
prehensive intellect, and firm in carrying out whatever he wanted to be
done. When they had such a man, let them do their utmost to secure
his services for as long a time as possible. What grasp must this man
have who had taken the bull by the horns, who had understood the
wants of India so thoroughly that every word he uttered showed that he
understood the natives from their own standpoint, and tried to meet
their wants in conformity with their habits and ways ! (Cheers.) The
Viceroy was justly of opinion that the people should grow naturally and
gradually to strength and perfection. The speaker prayed that the
Viceroy might long be spared to rule over them, and that Her Majesty
might allow him to consummate the good he had done. (Loud cheers.)
RETIREMENT OF LORD RIPON.
(Before the public meeting of the native inhabitants of Bombay in honour of
Lord Ripon, on his retirement from the Viceroyalty, convened by the Sheriff in
the Town Hall, on Saturday, the 29th November 1884. The Hon'ble Sir Jansetjee
Jeejeebhoy, Bart, C.S.I., in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, who was received with loud and prolonged
cheers, in supporting the resolution, * said :-Mr. Chairman and Gentle-
men,- All India from one end to the other proclains the righteousness
and good deeds of Lord Ripon. There are not many persons among
the thousands that have assembled here, or among the hundreds of
* That this meeting, representing the various native communities of Western
India, tesires to place on record the deep sense of gratitude entertained by them
for the eminent services to India rendered by the Marquis of Ripon during his
aclministration as Viceroy of India.
356
thousands of this city or among the millions of this Presidency, who
have not his great services by heart. (Cheers.) It will be useless for
me to waste any time in a reiteration of them. I shall touch upon
what strikes me as the brightest stars in the whole galaxy of his deeds.
The greatest questions of the Indian problem to my mind at present
are, our material and moral loss, and our political education for self-
government. For the former, the first great achievement of the Ripon
Government is a courageous and candid acknowledgment that the
material and educational condition of India is that of extreme poverty.
After this bold and righteous recognition, England will feel bound to
remedy this great evil. (Cheers.) Lord Ripon’s Government has,
however, not remained satisfied with their acknowledgment, but has
laid the foundation of the remedy by resolving that Indian energy,
Indian resources, and Indian agency must be developed in every way
and in all departments with broad and equal justice to all. For the
second-our political education-nothing can be a more conclusive proof
of the success of his measures in that direction than the sight of the
great and national political upheaving in the ovation that is now being
poured upon him throughout the length and breadth of India. And we
ourselves are here to-day as the proof of the success of our political.
education. (Cheers.) We are to propose a memorial to Lord Ripon.
But what will hundred such memorials be to the great monuments he
has himself raised to himself ? As self-government, and self-administration
and education advanced, for which all he has raised great new land-
marks, his memory shall exist at every moment of India's life, and they
will be the everlasting monuments, before which all our memorials will
(D
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monument was. This, St. Paul itself, was his monument, was the reply.
What is Ripon’s monument ? It will be answered India itself—a self-
governing and prosperous nation and loyal to the British throne. Can-
ning was Pandy Canning, he is now the Canning the Just, of the British
historian. The native historian with admiration and gratitude, and the
English historian, with pride and pleasure, will point to Ripon, as Ripon
the Righteous, the maker and benefactor of a nation of hundreds of
millions. (Loud cheers.) But by far the greatest service that Ripon has
done, is to England and Englishmen. He has raised the name and glory
of England and the Englishmen, and rivetted India's loyalty to the
British rule. Deep and unshakeable as my faith is in the English
character for fairness and cesire to do good to India, I must confess
during my humble efforts in Indian politics, I was sometimes driven
357
to despair, and to doubt my faith. But Ripon has completely restored it
to its full intensity, that England's conscience is right and England will
do its duty and perform its great mission in India, when she has such sons,
so pure of heart and high in statesmanship. (Cheers.) I pray that our
sovereign give us always Viceroys like Ripon. The good deeds of Ripon
are sung all over the land by from the prince to the peasant. I am
informed that addresses will flow from the poor agriculturists when Lord
Ripon arrives here, and I have the pleasure of reading to you a letter to me
from a prince. This is what H. H. the Thakore Saheb Bhagratsingjee of
Gondul says :—“I am happy to note that a movement is being set on
foot in Bombay to perpetuate the memory of the retiring. Viceroy, Lord
Ripon. He has a strong hold on the loyalty and affection of our people,
with whose vital interests he has identified himself. So the movement
of which you are a promoter has my best sympathies. As a slight
tribute of my admiration for the noble Lord Ripon, I beg to subscribe
Rs. 3,000 to the Ripon Memorial Fund.” (Cheers.) For the sentiments
of his Highness the Jam Saheb Vibhajee of Jamnuggur, you can judge
best when I tell you that he with his Kuvar Jasvatsingiee has sub-
scribed Rs. 10,000 to the Ripon Memorial. The Thakore Sahebs of
Rajkote and Katosan have also subscribed. My friend Mr. Hurkissondas
has just this moment received a telegram from H. H. the Thakore Saheb
of Limree, the Hon. Jesvatsinghjee, subscribing Rs. 5,000 to the
Ripon Memorial. A deputation from the great meeting of Sholapore,
which was presided over by Mr. Satyendranath Tajore, has attended
here. Also another deputation from Khandeish. Well, gentlemen,
these two months will be an epoch and a bright page in Indian history,
and we shall be for ever proud that we had the good fortune to have
had a share in honouring the great name of Ripon. (Loud and
prolonged cheers.)
THE FAWCETT MEMORIAL MEETING.
(Before the public meeting of the inhabitants of Bombay, held in the Town
Hall, on the 2nd September 1885, convened by the Bombay Presidency Associa-
tion for the purpose of taking steps to raise a memorial to the late Professor
Fawcett. His Excellency Lord Reay, Governor of Bombay, in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, who was greeted with loud and prolonged
cheers, said :-Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,-I beg to pro-
pose that a committee be formed to take necessary steps for collecting
funds for the memorial, and for deciding what form the memorial should
358
take, Mr. P. M. Mehta, the Hon. K. T. Telang, Messrs. D. E. Wacha,
R. M. Sayani, and Vundrawandas Purshotumdas acting as honorary
secretaries to the fund. I take this proposition in hand with more grief
than delight. I knew Professor Fawcett personally, and I know what
loss we have suffered. There is a great deal that is always made
public and appreciated by the public as far as it is known, but
there is a great deal that is done by good men which never sees the
light of publication, and which consequently is never appreciated. I
give my personal experience of the worth of this great man, which will
show you that, whereas in a public way he has done a great deal of
good, he has also privately and behind the scenes been proved as useful
a friend of India as ever any man has been. To give my own personal
reminiscences of one or two incidents, I can tell you that when I appeared
before the Finance Committee in England in 1873, I had perhaps the
rashness of writing a letter beforehand of what I wanted to give my
evidence upon. What I said there, somehow or other, did not suit Mr.
Ayrton, the chairman of the committee, and he hindered and hampered
me in every way. Before I went to the committee I saw Mr. Fawcett, who
was always sympathising with us, and I laid before him the notes which
I wanted to submit to the committee. He considered them very care-
fully and told me that that was the very thing that ought to be brought
to the committee. But, strange to say, that when I went before the
committee Mr. Ayrton chose to decide that that was just the thing that
was not to be brought before the committee. On the first day I was
hardly able to give evidence of what I wanted to say. But the next
day, when it came to Mr. Fawcett's turn to examine me, in a series of
judicious and pointed questions, he brought out all that I had to say in
a brief and clear manner. You will see from this that although such
little incidents scarcely become public, they are in themselves not
without their value. He did, in fact, an invaluable service in enabling
a native of India to say all that he wanted to say, whether it was right
or wrong. Here is an instance of the justice and fearlessness with which
he wanted to treat this country. (Cheers.) Fancy a noble commanding
figure standing on the floor of the House of Commons respectfully
listened to by the whole House, pleading the cause of hundreds of
millions of people whom he had not seen, pleading as effectively as any
of India's own sons could ever do (cheers), holding like unto the blind
deity of justice the scales in his hands even between friends and foes in
small matters and in great. (Loud cheers.) That is the blind man we
have assembled to-day to honour. You can easily perceive how many a
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time, as I saw him pleading our cause, I felt a sort of awe and venera-
tion as for a superior being. (Cheers.) In his speeches he never
stooped to catch a momentary applause, but he always spoke in sober
language words of wisdom—words that sprang from his inner conric-
tion--that in their turn carried conviction to every one around him.
(Cheers.) We are told that where good men stand the ground becomes
holy. Here his influence and his words reach and permeate the whole
atmosphere, and whoever breathes the atmosphere catches something of
that goodness and that sincerity towards nature and God. He was one
of those men who not only in the senate stood firm and bold and dealt
out even justice to friend and foe alike, but on the stumping platform
too he was the same considerate man, who never uttered a word to sink
into the vulgar crowd, but always tried to raise them to a level higher
and better than they were before he spoke. He himself, we know, had
grappled the subject of Indian problems with perfect clearness and in
all their details. He learned from Anglo-Indians, but he subsequently
became the teacher of all Anglo-Indians. He told them that the time was
coming when the policy of the British administration should be entirely
changed, that the way in which British India was governed was not the
way in which it was fit to be governed by a nation of Englishmen. He
understood and always declared that he belonged to a nation to whom
India was confided in the providence of God for their care and help.
He felt himself to be cne of that nation, and he felt the instinct of
Englishmen to do that only which was just and right, and to receive the
of mankind instead of trampling them down under foot. He felt that
duty as an Englishman, and he earnestly and devotedly performed that
duty as far as one man of ability and earnestness could ever do. (Cheers.)
We are now threatened with a permanent addition to the expenditure
of some two millions. Do those statesmen who make such a propos a
at all think of what they are about ? Fawcett's voice from the grave
now rises once again, and we are reminded of his words in connection
with the Licence Tax. He said that if such an odious and unjust tax
had been imposed, it was because no better one could be substituted in
its place, and he further stated that when the time came for them to
impose another tax, the Government would be reduced to great straits,
and they would have to impose a tax as must end in disaster and serious
peril. (Cheers.) The statesmen who are now thinking of imposing
the additional burden of expenditure must bear in mind the words of
this great man, ponder over them, and carefully consider how far they
360
can impose further burdens on the extremely poor people of India.
(Cheers.) When I say the people are extremely poor, the words are
not mine, but those of Mr. Fawcett and many other eminent statesmen.
I do not want to detain the audience any longer, but I will only say the
man is dead, but his words will remain ; and I only hope that he will
inspire others to follow in his footsteps and to earn the blessings of
hundreds of millions of the people of this country. (Loud and prolong-
ed cheers.)
DINNER TO HON. MR. DADABHAI NAOROJI BY THE
RIPON CLUB.
(Before the Members of the Ripon Club at a dinner given in honour of
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji on his departure to England. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy,
Bart., C. S. I., in the chair.)
The Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji, who was greeted with loud cheers,
said:-Sir Jamsetjee and friends,–I cannot but feel the greatest grati-
fication at the honour you have done me. I value this compliment as
one of the highest I can receive. Age brings with it its gratification or
the reverse for the past. The individual may be able to judge truly or
imperfectly of his own conduct, the true test is the verdict of his fellow
countrymen. (Cheers.) If such as the present is the verdict of my
countrymen, however extra sweetened it may be with the feeling of kind-
ness towards me, I cannot but feel gratified that I have in my humble
way been of some use to my country, and such a feeling. is the highest
reward I can possibly wish for and enjoy. I remember distinctly what
feelings had actuated our first small band of workers who deroted them-
selves earnestly to the task of social, political, and other reforms. It was
his, thate educated as we had been at the expense of our country, the
deep debt we owed to the British rulers being the instrument and pro-
jectors of our intellectual elevation, and having been the few fortunate
recipients of such a blessing in the midst of millions of our fellow-coun-
trymen, it was a most serious duty devolved upon us to repay our rulers
and our country with loyal and grateful service in every way it may be
in our power to do so. This has been all along our animating spirit, and
with such reward as I, one of them, have this day received, an emphatic
approval is given through me to the workers in the service of their coun-
try. It is sometimes said by some, to suit their purpose, that the educat-
ed natives do not represent their countrymen. But what is the real
state of the case ? It is only the educated that can at all and do represent
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the wants of the dumb millions. It is the educated only who on the one
hand can understand the advanced civilization and ideas of our rulers,
and on the other hand, the ideas and wants and wishes of their country-
men. It is the educated only that can become the true interpreters, and
the connecting link between the rulers and the ruled. (Cheers.) And,
moreover, it is the educated and intellectual only that can as in all
countries, not England excepted, lead the van of all progress and civiliza-
tion, and whom the rest of the people follow. The few earnest and
talented have always, will always, be the leaders of mankind. My ele-
vation to the membership of the Legislative Council naturally leads me
to say that while sincerely thanking you for your good words, I cannot
but feel that the situation is one of most onerous responsibility. To
legislate for a people, whose weal or woe depends upon such legislation,
is one of the highest as well as the most responsible of human duties and
functions, and I shall consider myself very fortunate if I even partially
succeed in this duty. As to all my past to which you have alluded in
such exceedingly kind terms, I can only say I thank you most heartily.
The work in which I have had my share with such persons as our much
lamented friend Nowrozjee Fardoopjee, and many others, has, I trust,
done something for our social and political advancement. (Cheers.)
The progress has, no doubt, been yet small, but it is hopeful. If we are
true to ourselves, and earnestly and single-mindedly work for the welfare
of our country, all other circumstances are in our favour. Education
is advancing though slowly, the mass of the people are beginning to be
leavened with and awakened to civilizing influences. All India is begin-
ning to work in concert like the National Congress held here last year.
And above all we have rulers who above all others are pre-eminently the
nation of progress, political advancement, freedom and human civilization:
The highest ambition tu which every true patriot of India should aspire
is to desire the continuance of the British rule for a long, long time to
come, and to strengthen it with every possible effort and true loyalty.
(Loud cheers.) This is the very reason why we should not hesitate to
lay ourselves freely before our rulers in order that, understanding our
wants clearly, our rulers may be enabled to see their way to do what
may be necessary. One thing I am assured of in the English character,
Oppose and have a stand up fight with an Englishman. He may beat
you or you may beat him. When the fight is over, he will respect you
the more for your manliness, because he is himself manly and appreciates
manliness in others. (Cheers.) You know well I have not a little
exercised my birthright of English grumbling, and yet as long as it is
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362
S
believed by any Englishmen to be genuine and from pure motives, I have
received from such nothing but expressions and treatment of attention
and respect, however much they may have differed from my views. In
our present rulers we have this remarkable hopeful feature. The English
nation is at bottom a nation of conscience and fairness, with an instinct
to do what is right and necessary. That they may take longer than we
should desire at times to meet our wishes, but in the end, we may be
perfectly assured, will be done what is right and just. This, then, is à
most important circumstance in our favour, in any exertions we may make
for the welfare of our country in all its multifarious needs. Our work
till now may have been like all beginnings slow, but if properly persevered
in with continuous force, it must at last be crowned with success.
Persevere should be our motto, no matter how often we may be dis-
appointed. (Cheers.) And when the rising generation sees how even
such humble efforts as mine, in conjunction with those of others, are
appreciated and rewarded by such public recognition as the one you have
given me, it cannot but be a great encouragement to the younger
generation to move in the same path. Taking, therefore, the honor you
have done me in this double aspect, I feel highly gratified not only for
my own sake, but for the further good this demonstration will do to
younger and fresh workers in the cause of the general welfare of our
country. I repeat my most sincere thanks for the honour you have done
me this evening. It is a compliment which I shall cherish all my life
and with all my heart. (Loud and prolonged cheers.)
The Hon. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji then proposed the toast of the
chairman. He said :--Our worthy chairman stands at the head of our
community. (Cheers.) He belongs to a stock of which we as Parsees
are proud all over the world. (Cheers.) Wherever the name of Sir
Jamsetjee is known, the Parsees have a free and pleasant passport.
(Cheers.) I have experienced that myself many a time in England. It
was enough to say that I belonged to the community of Sir Jamsetjee.
(Renewed cheers. Apart from the worth and high position of the
family, Sir Jamsetjee was one of those men who always cordially and
heartily joined in all things which conduced to the welfare and well-
being not only of our own community but to mankind at large. (Loud
and prolonged cheers.)
363
INDIA AND THE OPIUM QUESTION.
(Before a conference which took place at the offices of the Society for the Sup-
pression of the Opium Trade, Broadway Chambers, Westminster on Monday
afternoon, October 15th, 1886, to have a frank interchange of opinion with
the Hon'ble Dadabhai Naoroji, M. L. C., and other Indian gentlemen on the sub-
ject of the opium trade with special reference to its Indian aspects.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji said--I have listened to the remarks of the
gentlemen with very great interest, for the simple reason that I am
almost of the same opinion. The best proof that I can give to you, not
only of my own mere sentiments, but of my actual conduct in respect to
opium, is that when I joined a mercantile firm in 1855, it was one of my
conditions that I should have nothing whatever to do with opium. That
is as far back as 1855. In 1880, in my correspondence with the Secretary
of State on the condition of India, one of the paragraphs in my letter
with regard to the opium trade is this; and I think that this will give
you at once an idea of my opinion :-
“ There is the opium trade. What a spectacle it is to the world ! In
England no statesman dares to propose that opium may be allowed to
be sold in public-houses at the corners of every street, in the same way
as beer or spirits. On the contrary, Parliament, as representing the
whole nation, distinctly enacts that opium and all preparations of
opium or of poppies,' as 'poison,' be sold by certified chemists only,
and 'every box, bottle, vessel, wrapper, or cover in which such poison
is contained, be distinctly labelled with the name of the article, and the
word “poison," and with the name and address of the seller of the
poison. And yet, at the other end of the world, this Christian,
highly civilized, and humane England forces a 'heathen' and 'bar-
barous' Power to take this poison,' and tempts à vast human race to
use it, and to degenerate and demoralize themselves with this posion!'
And why? Because India cannot fill up the remorseless drain; so
China must be dragged in to make it up, even though it be by being
poisoned.' It is wonderful how England reconciles this to her con-
science. This opium trade is a sin on England's head, and a curse on
India for her share in being the instrument. This may sound strange
as coming from any natives of India, as it is generally represented as
if India it was that benefited by the opium trade. The fact simply is
that, as Mr. Duff said, India is nearly ground down to dust, and the
opium trade of China fills up England's drain. India derives not a
particle of benefit. All India's profits of trade, and several millions
from her very produce (scanty as it is, and becoming more and more
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364
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so), and with these all the profit of opium go the same way of the
drain--to England. Only India shares the curse of the Chinese race.
Had this cursed opium trade not existed, India's miseries would have
much sooner come to the surface, and relief and redress would have
come to her long ago ; but this trade has prolonged the agonies of
India.”
In this I have only just explained to you what I feel on the matter
personally. With regard to the whole of the important question,
which must be looked at in a practical point of view, I must leave
sentiment aside. I must, at the same time, say that this opinion of
mine that the opium revenue must be abolished is a personal one. I
do not put it before you as the opinion of all India. I state it on my own
responsibility. There is a great fear that if the opium revenue were to
cease, the people of India would be utterly unable to fill up the gap in
the revenue. They feel aghast at the very suggestion of it, and they go
so far as to say that the opium revenue cannot be dispensed with. I
just tell you what is held there, so that you may understand both sides
of the question thoroughly. Therefore you hare not the complete
sympathy of the natives of India in this matter, and you will find,
perhaps, several members of the Indian press expressing their opinion
that they could not dispense with the opium revenue. In fact, Mr.
Grant Duff, in answer to some representation from your Society, or
somebody interested in the abolition of the opium trade, has asked, in
1870, whether they wished to grind an already poor population to the
dust. So that he showed that even with the help of the opium revenue
India was just on the verge of being ground down to the dust.
This, then, is the condition in which India is situated. The question
is how to practically deal with it. Before you can deal with any
such subject it is necessary for you to take into consideration
the whole Indian problem—What has been the condition of India,
and what is the condition of India, and why has it been so ? Mr. Dadabhai
then cited official authorities from the commencement of the present
century up to the present day, including that of the late and present
Finance Ministers, that British India had been all along “extremely
poor.” He pointed out the exceedingly low income of India,
viz, only Rs. 20 per head per annum, as compared with that of
any tolerably well self-governed country; that a progressive
and civilizing government ought to have increasing revenue ; but India
was utterly unable to yield such increasing revenue. He explained how,
comparatively with its income, the pressure of taxation upon the subjects
365
of British India was doubly heavier than that of England; that of
England being about 8 per cent. of its income, and of British India
about 15 per cent. of its income; that England paid from its plenty,
and India from its exceedingly poor income, so that the effect on
British Indian subjects was simply crushing. He pointed out that
while the trade with British India was generally supposed to be very
large, it was in reality very small and wretched indeed. He illustrated
this by some statistics, showing that the exports of British produce to
India was only about 30,000,0001., of which a portion went to the
Native States of India and to part of Asia, through the northern border,
leaving hardly a rupee a head worth for the subjects of British India.
This certainly could not be a satisfactory result of a hundred years of
British rule, with everything under British control. A quarter of a
century ago, he said, Mr. Bright had used these remarkable words: “I
must say that it is my belief that if a country be found possessing a
most fertile soil, and capable of bearing every variety of production,
and that, notwithstanding, the people are in a state of extreme destitu-
tion and suffering, the chances are that there is some fundamental error
in the government of that country.” Mr. Dadabhai urged that the
Society should find out this fundamental error, and unless they did
that, and made India prosperous, they could not expect to gain
their benevolent object of getting rid of the opium revenue except
by causing India to be ground down to dust by increased taxation
in other shapes. This of course the Society did not mean, thus they
ought to go to the root of the evil. India was quite capable of giving
200 instead of 70 millions of revenue, if they were allowed to keep
what they produced, and to develop freely in their material condition;
and in such a condition India would be quite able to dispense with
the curse of the opium revenue. Mr. Dadabhai then proceeded to
point out what he regarded as the cause of the poverty of British Indiana
He cited several authorities upon the subject, and showed it was simply captain
that the employment of a foreign agency caused a large drain to the
country, disabling it from saving any capital at all, and rendering it
weaker and weaker every day, forcing it to resort to loans for its wants,
and becoming worse and worse in its economic condition. He explained
at some length the process and effect of this fundamental evil, and how
even what was called the “development” of the resources of India was
actually thereby turned into the result of the “deprivation” of the re-
sources of India. In pointing out a practicable remedy for all the evils,
he said he did not mean that a sudden revolution should be made ; but
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the remedy which had been pointed out by a Committee of the India
Office in 1860 would be the best thing to do, to meet all the require-
ments of the case. After alluding to the Act of 1833 and the great
Proclamation of 1858, a faithful fulfilment of which would be the fulfil-
ment of all India's desires and wants, he said that the Committee of the
India Office to which he had referred had recommended that simulta.
neous examinations should be held in India and England, and
the list be made up according to merit; and he added to this scheme,
that the successful candidates of the first examination should be made to
come over to England and finish their studies for two years with the
successful candidates of England. This was the resolution of the
National Indian Congress which met last Christmas in Bombay. It was
also necessary that some scope should be given to the military races to
attach them to the British rule. If this fair play and justice were given
to the natives in all the higher Civil Services, and if some fair com-
petition system were adopted for all the uncovenanted and subordinate
services, India would have fair play, and free development of herself-
would become prosperous, would be able to give as much revenue as a
progressive and a civilizing administration should want, and then only
would the philanthropic object of the Society be fully achieved. Other-
wise, if India continued as wretched as she was at present, there was no
chance of the object being attained except by great distress to the Indian
tbemselves and grave political dangers to the British rulers, or the whole
may end in some great disaster. Mr. Dadabhai was glad that British
statesmen were becoming alive to this state of affairs, and the highest
Indian authority, the Secretary of State, fully shared his appreciation of
the position, when he wrote to the Treasury on the 26th of January last;
“ The position of India in relation to taxation and the sources of the
public revenue, is very peculiar, not merely . . . but likewise from the
character of the government, which is in the hands of foreigners, who hold
all the principal administrative offices, and form so large a part of the
army. The imposition of new taxation, which would have to be borne
wholly as a consequence of the foreign rule imposed on the country, and
virtually to meet additions to charges arising outside of the country,
would constitute a political danger, the real magnitude of which, it is to
be feared, is not at all appreciated by persons who have no knowledge of,
or concern in the government of India, but which those responsible for
that gorernment have long regarded as of the most serious order."
367
(Before a Meeting at the Manchester Atheneum in November 1886. Mr. Samuel
Ogden, President of the Institution, in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji said that he, with many other native Indians,
had been afraid that in the desire to make money, Manchester had
altogether forgotten the duty of alleviating and humanising peoples all
over the world. From all he had seen and heard, he believed so
no longer, but that Manchester was true to its old traditions, and had
still the old desire to be fair and just to everybody. He believed the
appeal he had to make would not be unheard in this great city. (Applause.)
After 100 years of British rule, he would ask the question, was India
prosperous ? That great empire was anything but prosperous, but was,
on the other hand, one of the poorest countries in the world. Its annual
production was not half even that of Turkey. The income of England
was £38 per head per annum, France £25, United States £33, South
America £6, India hardly . £2. And this after one hundred years of
British rule! The time had come, then, for Englishmen, as rulers of
India, to try and understand the position of their empire, and remedy
the evils of which he spoke. As to taxation, there was an utterly
fallacious idea that India was lightly dealt with. But the fact was
that India, on the £2 per head income, paid 18 per cent. in taxes
for Government purposes, while in England the percentage was only
8. What were the reasons why India, which in his opinion was
capable of paying the same rate of taxation as England, now felt
so greatly the strain of that taxation ? The reasous were various.
One of the chief of them was the fact that India was as yet in
effect under foreign rule, whereas our rule should assimilate as nearly
as possible to native rule. So long as England went on draining the
country of its material resources through this foreign agency, so long
would the poverty of India continue. Every year from 20 to 30
millions was taken from the country in this way. Not only that, but
English servants, after acquiring experience in administration, were
withdrawn when they could be of most use, were pensioned and came
home. This was a moral evil as great even as the material. And now
with regard to taxation had come the last straw. India had to remit
17 millions of money every year to England for what were called
“ home charges.” But the rate of exchange had fallen from 2s. to 18.
4d., and the result was the amount of produce which the Government
368
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had to send would have to be increased to the extent of seven or eight
millions in order to make up the sum. It meant an increase of taxation
on the natives to that extent. But it was impossible to grind a farthing
more out of them than at present. The Government themselves con-
fessed that the state of affairs would be an evil in any country; in a
country such as India it was pregnant with danger. He agreed that the
condition of affairs was becoming dangerous to the rulers themselves.
The fact was that unless there was a great change, the people must
either die off or English rule must be overthrown. It must be one or
she other. He was convinced, as the Indian people were convinced, that
as soon as the state of affairs was properly understood, England would
do fairly and justly. It had been the boast of England that she helped
every struggling nationality to have self-government, to be free, to enjoy
political rights which God has bestowed on Englishmen. Let England
do the same for India ; let her perform the promises contained in the
solemn proclamation of 1858 made by the Queen. India wanted self-
administration and self-legislation, and with this blessing conferred the
Empire would be knitted to England with a gratitude and loyalty worth
more to this country than 500,000 soldiers. (Applause.) How was it
to be done ? The question was answered by the proclamation he had
referred to. Let the Indian Civil Service be open, as the Queen had
promised it should be. It was practically banned and barred to all but
a few Indians who were able to come over to England to pass the exa-
minations. The solution he proposed was the carrying out of a recom-
mendation given by an Indian Committee that the Civil Service
examinations should take place in India and England simultaneously,
and the result be according to merit. (Applause.) Mr. Dadabhai
proceeded to refer to the economic position of the country and to advocate
various reforms. India did not take goods from England to the extent
of 1s. 6d. per head. It ought at least to be £l per head ; with some
of our colonies English trade was £20 or £30 or £40. The natives
were naturally industrious and productive, and if allowed to become
prosperous, England would be unable to supply all their wants. (Ap-
plause.) The economic condition of India was utterly unnatural, and at
the bottom of it all was the simple fact that foreign rule was a curse,
and that our rule in India ought to approximate to native rule.
N
369
THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF INDIA,
(An address before the Members of the Reform Club, King's Street, October 1886.
Mr. H. Lee in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhoy Naoroji, who was received with applause, assured his
hearers that in standing before any audience in England on an Indian
platform the appeal he made was not simply to any particular party, or
any particular class, but was the appeal of the whole people of India to
the whole people of England. He appealed as much to the Conservatives
as to the Liberals on all subjects connected with India. The Manches-
ter people were interested in it not only as belonging to the English
nation or as governing India, but at the same time they had a particular
and intimate interest in India, commercially and economically. The two
subjects, the political condition and the economic condition of India
were so intimately interwoven with each other, that without giving somie,
explanation of the one the other could not be clearly understood. He
took up the subject of the political condition of India in order that when
that was clearly understood its economic and commercial position could
be properly appreciated. The best thing he could do was to place before
them not only his own individual opinions, but the views and opinions
expressed last Christmas at a National Indian Congress held at Bombay.
That Congress was attended by delegates from all parts of India, repre-
senting all the principal associations of India. Those who attended
formed a portion of the picked educated classes of India. Before en-
tering on the subject of the opinions formulated by that Congress, he
must at the outset acknowledge very emphatically and clearly that
great and important blessings had been conferred on India by the
British rule. (Applause.) There was no question that since the
accession of the British rule India had been completely changed
in its whole character, physically, morally, socially, and intellectu-
ally. (Applause.) There was no doubt that from one end to the
other of India security of life and property was the British rule.
There was no doubt whatever that through the instrumentality of
the British Government the Indian people had had education given
to them, and the enlightenment of the West had been communicated to
them, and for that they could never be too thankful. Sufficient informa-
tion had, he believed, been given on the good England had done to
India, and he would, therefore go on to consider what they required at
England's hands in the future. He did not mean to speak in any
spirit of cavil or complaint. He spoke with thankfulness for the past
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370
and hopefulness for the future. It was for the future, therefore, that
he placed before them what the people of India, and the educated people
of India particularly, desired at their hands. He proceeded to quote
from the published statements of eminent Anglo-Indians in support of
the view that the educated natives were the deservedly trusted guides
of the people. Any idea of the subversion of British rule was said to
be abhorrent to the educated natives, from the consciousness that it must
result in the wildest anarchy and confusion. It was men who enter-
tained such views as these that met in Congress to consider the condition
of India and place boldly, and at the same time with the utmost loyalty,
their wishes and needs before the British public. A subject which
engaged the careful attention of the Congress was the difficulties placed
in the way of natives holding civil appointments in India. In 1833 it
was enacted that no native of India should by reason of his colour
decent, or religion, be incapable of holding office. That promise had
been renewed, but as yet very little had been done to make it an ac-
complished fact. In the opinion of the speaker this reform in the
Civil Service was intimately connected with the economic condition of
India, and he appealed to England, and to Lancashire in particular, to do
their utmost to secure to the natives of India a fulfilment of the solemn
promises made to them years ago, in the confident belief that thereby
they would be not simply gratifying the aspirations of educated Indians,
but conducing in a marked degree to the prosperity of our great depend-
ency and to the augmentation of our trade with that country. As
affairs now stand the people in the Native States were better off than
those in British India, because in the former countries all that was raised
in taxes was spent among themselves and went back to them, whereas
in British India a sum of £17,000,000 was annually raised and remit-
ted to this country. Of course the people of India did not want to
upset the Civil Service arrangements all at once. They simply pleaded for
air play and to have their educated youths allowed to compete on equal
terms with Englishmen for the offices at the disposal of the Govern-
ment of India India was poor, it was impossible to tax her more, and
so she would inevitably remain until her own people had a fair share in
the task of government. If they would consider this question carefully,
they would see in what direction they had to work in order that they
might make India their best customer. The next resolution he wished
to bring to their notice was with regard to the Legislative Councils.
The constitution of those Councils was such that the natives had no
voice in whatever was done for them, in the laws passed for them, in the
371
taxation imposed upon them, or in the manner in which that taxation
was spent. India, after being for such a long time under British rule,
and after being educated for nearly half a century, had a sufficient
number of people who were prepared to understand that taxation must
go with representation. England did its utmost to help, either morally
or materially, every struggling community to acquire freedom and to
acquire constitutional government. Unfortunately she had not been as
liberal towards her own possession—what had been described as “the
brightest jewel in her crown.” If a proper representation was intro-
duced into those Legislative Councils, Government itself would be reliev.
ed of a great deal of odium and a great deal of trouble, because when-
ever any law was passed by them with the representative voice of the
people themselves, Government would necessarily be relieved of having
done anything without consideration for the views and sentiments of the
natives themselves. Another great change needed was that a system of
interpellation should be introduced into those councils. This was a right
which the natives of India expected at the hands of the British people,
because if India could benefit at the hands of the British people it was
by being elevated to the political level of the British people. Up to the
present time the British had degraded themselves to the level of the
Asiatic despotism, for their rule had been merely an absolute rule. The
will of the Government was the law of the land, or rather the will of
the English people as expressed in Acts of Parliament was the law of
the land. Owing to the want of a few native members in Parliament, a
great deal was done that was injurious to the people of India, and an
urgent necessity existed for having a few native members to represent
the native side of questions in Parliament. Whether the time would
ever come when representatives would come from all parts of the world
to sit in the British Parliament he did not know, but he thought they
had good grounds on which to appeal to a few English constituencies
to enable one or two natives of India to sit in the House of Commons
and present to Parliament the native side of Indian questions. Another
institution needing reform was the India Office Council. That was a
Council which deliberated in secret, and which assigned no reasons
for the conclusions to which it came. That Council ought to be
either abolished or altered, because it was an anachronism, it was
inherently defective, and it was naturally likely to do more harm
than good. Another question which required to be dealt with was
that of the customs duties, but that again was intimately bound up
with the question of the prosperity of India. The most important
Or
372
question after all that they had to consider was to find out why India
was so poor, and if they only discovered the reason, and applied the
true remedy, they would have as great a benefit as ever any nation had
offered to another. (Applause.)
DINNER TO HON. MR. DADABHAI NAOROJI BY THE
NORTHBROOK CLUB.
(At a dinner given to the Hon. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji by the Northbrook Indian
Club, London, on the 4th November 1886, to bid him farewell on his return to
India. Lord Ripon in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabbai Naoroji declared himself unable to find adequate terms
in which to express the feelings by which he was overwhelmed on that
occasion; but whether it was modesty on his part or not, he would tell
the truth and declare the intense satisfaction and pride which the
honour he was receiving that evening gave him. When a native of
India was thus honoured by two of the greatest and best Viceroys India
had ever had—(loud cheers)—he might fairly indulge in pride. Refer-
ence had been made to his connection with Baroda, and, in connection
with that matter, he wished to acknowledge the deep debt of gratitude
he owed to Lord Northbrook for justice done him irrespective of his
being a native of India. But it was a characteristic of England and
of the English race that whenever they thought a man had done good
and useful work, they had their esteem and respect ready for him
whoever he might be. The generosity of the spirit in which his ser-
vices had been received was enhanced by the fact that if there was one
man more distinguished than others for grumbling at some fault of
British rule, that man was himself. But, knowing the good purpose he
always had in view, they did him honour in spite of his grumbling.
And to whom was due the glory of the fact that he was able to stand
before them in this way as an honoured guest ? That glory was their
own : it belonged to the British rule. Had it not been for the education
he had received at the blessed hands of the British rulers, he would not
have been with them then speaking of his gratitude that night. And
for this one circumstance alone--for the enlightenment it had bestowed
upon them—England was entitled to the everlasting gratitude of the
people of India. Nor was this all that England had done for India.
She had raised up a descending nation and had endowed it with a new
political life. For the past the natives of India had every reason to be
grateful to the British rule; and while England sent out such Viceroys
(D
373
as the good Mayo, the just Northbrook and righteous Ripon, British rule
would assuredly command the loyal devotion of India. Of the good
work which it had accomplished no better illustration could be found
than the National Indian Congress, held last year at Bombay. India
had never, in her whole historical career, seen such a phenomenon as
that. It was only possible under free and enlightened British rule.
The pick of the educated natives from all parts of India met together
and spoke out with the freedom that they owed to the British rule. That
was a unique phenomenon and it gave some idea of the good work which
had been already done. For all the kind things his lordship had said he
was very grateful, but, he would repeat the glory was their own.
When he received the education he had passed through, when he imbibed
the illustrious literature he had been introduced to, he could not but be
so influenced that the guiding rule of his life became the debt he owed to
his country and to his Sovereign. He was endeavouring to repay
that debt in some measure by trying to make himself useful to both sides.
He concluded with an earnest reiteration of the pride with which he
received the honour done him.
10
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN INDIA.
(Before the members of the North Islington Liberal Club, Holloway Road, London,
November 1886. Mr. Newton Wilson in the chair.)
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, in commencing his address, said the question
of the evening was not one he associated with any particular political
party, but he appealed to the whole British people. The first aspect
of the subject he would speak upon was with regard to the constitution
of the Civil Service. On this matter the whole political and economic
condition of India depended. As far back as 1833 a solemn promise
was made to every subject of the throne in India, that religion, descent,
or colour, should be no bar to office or employment in the East India
Company. Lord Macaulay said he was proud of having been one of
those who framed the Bill, which included so noble and benevolent a
clause. In 1858, after the close of the unhappy mutiny, the promise
was repeated in the most solemn manner in a declaration of the Sovereign.
Since then some attempt had been made to leave the service open for
competition, but it had been only in a partial manner without any really
faithful interpretation of the proclamation. The Duke of Argyll, Mr.
Bright, the late Mr. Fawcett, Lord Ripon, Lord Hartington, had all at
1
374
different times acknowledged this fact. Had the promises been fulfilled
in the spirit in which they were made, the condition of India would have
been better and brighter, and more especially in a commercial sense
would the country have been 100 times better. What was commercially
the connection between England and India ? England sent goods to
India worth from 13d. to 2s. per head per annum, after a connection of
more than 100 years. After our having full economic and political
control during all these years, had the relations between England and
India been of different character ? Was India prosperous ? That great
empire was anything but prosperous, was, on the other hand, one of the
poorest countries in the world. Its annual production was not half
even that of Turkey. The income of England was £38 per head per
annum, France £25, United States £33, South America £6, India
hardly £2. And this after one hundred years of British rule! The
time had come, then, for Englishmen, as rulers of India, to try and
understand the position of their Empire, and remedy the evils of which
he spoke. As to taxation, there was an utterly fallacious idea that
India was lightly dealt with. But the fact was that India, on the £2
per head income, paid 18 per cent. in taxes for Government purposes,
while in England the percentage was only 8. What were the reasons
why India, which, in his opinion, was capable of paying the same rate
of taxation as England, now felt so greatly the strain of that taxation ?
The reasons were various. One of the chief of them was the fact that
India was as yet in effect under foreign rule, whereas our rule should
assimilate as nearly as possible to native rule. So long as England went
on draining the country of its material resources through this foreign
agency, so long would the poverty of India continue. Every year from
20 to 30 millions were taken from the country in this way. Not only
that, but English servants, after acquirivg experience in administration,
were withdrawn when they could be of most use, were pensioned, and
came home. This was a moral evil as great even as the material. And
now with regard to taxation had come the last straw. India had to
remit 17 millions of inoney every year to England for what were called
" home charges.” But the rate of exchange has fallen from 2s. to 1s.
4d., and the result was the amount of produce which the Government
had to send would have to be increased to the extent of seven or eight
millions in order to make up the sum. I meant an increase of taxation
on the natives to that extent. But it was impossible to grind a farthing
more out of them than at present. The Government themselves confess-
ed that the state of affairs would be an eril in any country ; in a country
375
such as India it was pregnant with danger. He agreed that the con-
dition of affairs was becoming dangerous to the rulers themselves. The
fact was that unless there was a great change, the people must either
die off, or English rule must be overthrown. It must be one or the
other. He was convinced, as the Indian people were convinced, that as
soon as the state of affairs was properly understood, England would do
fairly and justly. It had been the boast of England that she helped
every struggling nationality to have self-government, to be free, to enjoy
political rights which God had bestowed on Englishmen. Let England
do the same for India ; let her perform the promises contained in the
solemn proclamation of 1858 made by the Queen. India wanted self-
administration and self-legislation, and with this blessing conferred, the
Empire would be knitted to England with a gratitude and loyalty worth
more to this country than 50,000 soldiers. (Applause.) How was it
to be done? The question was answered by the proclamation he had
referred to. Let the Indian Civil Service be open, as the Queen had
promised it should be. It was practically banned and barred to all but a
few Indians who were able to come over to England to pass the ex.
aminations. The solution he proposed was the carrying out of a recom-
mendation given by an Indian Committee that the Civil Service
examinations should take place in India and England simultaneously,
and the result be according to merit. (Applause.) He proceeded to
refer to the economic position of the country, and to advocate various
reforms. India did not take goods from England to the extent of 1s. 6d
per head. It ought at least to be £1 per head ; with some of our
colonies English trade was £20 or £30 or £40. The natives were
naturally industrious and productive, and would become so if allowed to,
because prosperous England would be unable to supply all their wants.
(Applause.) The economic condition of India was utterly unnatural, and
at the bottom of all it was the simple fact that foreign rule was a curse,
and that our rule in India ought to approximate to natire rule.
(Applause.)
kond
376
11
ON POLITICAL REFORM.
(At the third Annual Dinner of the Elphinstonians at the Elphinstone Institution,
December 18, 1886. The Hon. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji in the chair.)
D
The chairman returned thanks for the exceedingly kind manner in
which they always received the toast of his health. Referring to the
letter on the subject of the Public Service Commission which had ap-
peared that morning in the English dailies, Mr. Dadabhai said they need
not concern themselves much about such creakings for this reason, that
the Government themselves were perfectly satisfied about the goodness
of the motives by which the people of India were actuated in their
action. The Government of India in one of their despatches to the Sec-
retary of State had distinctly stated that as far as the educated portion
of the people of India was concerned, and their number was rapidly in-
creasing, the idea of the subversion of British rule was utterly abhorrent
to them. (Cheers.) Such being the testimony given to them from the
highest quarters, they need not feel much concern at any misrepresenta-
tions, or misconstruction or misapprehension of their motives. Mr. Phe-
rozeshaw had very well pointed out that their progress, political, econo-
mical, social and educational, depended entirely upon the continuance of
the British rule. If they were now urging what they considered to be their
claims, it was the best proof possible of the liberal policy of Government
which had enabled them to understand those claims and ask for them ;
and since the Government had put them in this position, it was not possible
for them to misunderstand their motives, and to think that the people
of this country could ever be so ungrateful, or so devoid of all apprecia-
tion of their own self-interests as to wish for the subversion of British
rule. (Cheers.) Nay, when they asked for any claims, or desired any
reforms, the Gorernment would see in it the people's desire for their own
good, as well as their sincere desire for the greater stability of the British
rule. (Hear, hear.) In his resolution on the Public Service Commis-
sion, the Secretary of State had stated that he wanted the Commission
to devise a scheme which should have some reasonable elements of
finality in it, and should do full justice to the claims of the natives of
India. With such a clear and straightforward avowal of the motives of
Government in this matter, there could be no room for any misappre-
hension, and it would be the people's own fault, if they did not now come
forward and say firmly, loyally, and respectfully that such and such were
their claims which in their opinion would do full justice to their desires
377
and requirements. The Charter of 1833 was given to them of their own
free will by the Government, without any agitation on the part of the
people. At that time, it was felt by statesmen, as rulers of hundreds
of millions, to be their duty to decide on what basis the British rule
should rest in India. A debate took place in Parliament, in which
Macaulay, Lansdowne, Ellenborough and other eminent men took part,
the question with all its pros and cons was fully discussed, and the result
was that it was deliberately laid down that the admission of natives
into the public service should be entirely irrespective of considerations
of caste, creed or colour, but should solely depend upon the fitness of
the individual. The Charter of 1833 was ultimately confirmed by our
gracious sovereign in most emphatic and solemn terms, stating that all
Her Majesty's subjects would be treated alike and would be held equally
dear to the sovereign. (Hear, hear.) With these assurances before
them, it was not for them to be whining and complaining that the Go-
vernment was going to deprive them of what they had already got. All
they had got to do now was to come forward and ask the Government
plainly and distinctly to fulfil the solemn promises repeatedly made to
the people. The question would then naturally arise--which would be
the most effective way of carrying out those promises ? It fortunately
happened that soon after the Proclamation of 1858 was made known, a
committee of the India Office sat upon this very subject, and after a careful
consideration, they decided that the best method of carrying out the
spirit as well as the letter of the Act of 1858 would be to hold examina-
tions for the public service simultaneously in England and in India,
That was the fairest solution of the difficulty. Now that the whole
thing lay clearly cut out before them, all that they had to do was to
place it before the Commission, asking that the decision arrived at by
the Committee of the India Office should be acted upon. He would not
go on that occasion into the question of the reform of the Legislative
Councils, because at present the most important and burning question, as
Lord Dufferin had properly called it, which had agitated them for a
long time, was that of the admission of natives into the service of their
country. (Cheers.) Rather than blame Lord Dufferin, they should be
thankful to him for the share he has taken in this matter, and it was
now for the educated portion of the community to say what they wanted
the Government to do for the benefit of the country. (Cheers.)
378
12
THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
(Before a meeting of the East India Association, at which Mr, A. K. Connell read
a paper on “ The Indian Civil Service," July 1887. Mr. John Bright in the
chair.)
(D
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji said : Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
-My first impulse was not to send up my card at all, but after attend-
ing this meeting and hearing the paper that has been put before us, it is
necessary that I should not put myself in a false position, and as I disagree
with a portion of this paper, it became necessary that I should make
that disagreement known. The third part of the paper is the part that
is objectionable ; and it seems to me it is a lame and impotent conclusion
of an able and well-considered beginning. For me to undertake to
reply to all the many fallacies that that third part contains, will be
utterly out of the question in the ten minutes allotted to me; but
I have one consolation in that respect—that my views are generally
known, that they are embodied to a great extent in the journals of this
Association; that I also direct the attention of Mr. Connell and others
to two papers that I submitted to the Public Service Commission, and
that I hope there are two other papers that are likely to appear in the
Contemporary Review * in the months of August and September. These
have anticipated, and will, I trust, directly and indirectly answer most
of the fallacies of Mr. Connell's paper. I would, therefore, not attempt
the impossible task of replying to the whole of this paper, but I wil
make a few remarks of a different character altogether bearing upon the
vital question before us. This question of the services is not simply a
question of the aspirations of a few educated men; it is the question of
life and death to the whole of British India. It is our good fortune
that we have in the chair to-day the gentleman who put a very pertinent
question, going to the root of the whole evil, as far back as a third of a
century ago. Mr. Bright put the question in the year 1853. He said :
“I must say that it is my belief that if a country be found possessing
a most fertile soil and capable of bearing every variety of production,
and that notwithstanding the people are in a state of extreme destitution
and suffering, the chances are that there is some fundamental error in
the Government of that country.” Gentlemen, as long as you do not
give a full and fair answer to that question of the great statesman—that
* These papers will be found at the end of this book,
379
statement made a third of a century ago—you will never be able to
grasp this great and important question of the services. It is not, as
I have already said, a question of the mere aspiration of a few educated
men Talking about this destitution, it is a circumstance which has
been dwelt upon in the beginning of the century by Sir John Shaw.
Lord Lawrence in his time said that the mass of the people were living
on scanty subsistence. To the latest day the last Finance Minister,
Sir Evelyn Baring, testified to the extreme poverty of the people, and
so does the present Finance Minister. The fact is that after you
have hundred years of the most highly-paid and the most highly-praised
administration in that country, it is the poorest country in the world.
How can you account for that ? Grasp that question fully, and then
only will you be able to see what vast interest this question of the
services means. Then I come to the pledges that have been given.
Here are open honorable pledges. The statesmen of 1833 laid down
distinctly, in the face of the important consideration-whether India
should be allowed ever to be lost to Britain. They weighed every
circumstance, and they came to the deliberate conclusion which was
of that fear of the risk of losing India Twenty-five years afterwards
you actually experienced that very risk ; you actually had a mutiny
against you, and what was your conduct then? Even after that ex-
perience, you rose above yourself ; you kept up your justice and
generosity and magnanimity, and in the name of the Queen, and by the
mouth of the Queen, you issued a Proclamation, which if you “ con-
scientiously” fulfil will be your highest glory, and your truest fame and
revard. Gentlemen, take the bull by the horns. Do not try to shirk
this question. If you are afraid of losing India, and if you are to be
actuated by the inglorious fear of that risk, let that be stated at once.
Tell us at once, “We will keep you under our heels, we will not allow
you to rise or to prosper at any time.” Then we shall know our fate.
But with your English manliness-and if there is anything more
characteristic of you than anything else, it is your manliness—speak out
honestly and not hypocritically, what you intend to do. Do you really
mean to fulfil the pledges given before the world, and in the name of
God, with the sanction of God and asking God to aid you, in the
execution of that pledgedo you mean to stick to that pledge or to get out
of it ? Whatever it be, like honest Englishmen, speak out openly and
plainly. “We will do this” or “ We will not do this.” But do not expose
yourselves to the charges--which I am not making, but your own members
380
of the India Council have made-of" keeping the promise to the ear, and
breaking to the hope.” Looking at the time I cannot now enter into all
the different and important considerations that this paper raises, but I
simply ask you again this question, whether like honest Englishmen such
as you are, in a manly way, you say the thing and do it. If you mean to
fulfil these pledges honestly, do so; if you do not mean to fulfil them hon-
estly,say su, and at least preserve your character for honesty and manliness.
Mr. Connell had in the first part of his paper laid down as emphatically
as he could the principles upon which the English nation is bound to act,
and the third part of the paper he has done his utmost to discredit the
whole thing, and to say how not to do it. But he forgets one thing:
that the pledge you have given, you have never given a fair trial to :
if you only give a fair trial to that pledge, you will find that it will not
only redound to your glory for ever, but also result in great benefits to
yourself; but if India is to be for a long time under your rule with blessing,
and not with a curse, it is the fulfilment of that pledge which will secure
that result. Ah! gentlemen, no eternal or permanent results can ever
follow from dodging and palavering. Eternal results can follow only
from eternal principles. Your rule of India is based not on sixty thou-
sand bayonets or a hundred thousand bayonets. But it is based upon the
confidence, the intense faith like the one that I hold, in the justice, the
conscience and the honor of the British nation. As long as I have that
faith in me, I shall continue to urge and plead before statesmen like
Mr. Bright, and before the English nation. Fulfil your pledge honestly
before God, because it is upon those et ernal principles only that you can
expect to continúe your rule with benefit to yourself and benefit to us,
The reply to your (President's) question, Sir, about the fundamental
error is then this. A foreign rule ca u never be but a curse to any
nation on the face of the earth, except so far as it approaches a native
rule, be the foreigners angels themselves. If this principle is not fairly
borne in mind, and if honest efforts are not made to fulfil your pledges,
it is utterly useless for us to plead, or to expect any good result, or to
expect that India will ever rise in material and moral prosperity. I
do not mean to say a word against the general personnel of these services,
as they are at the present time they are doing what they can in the
false groove in which they are placed ; to them there is every honor due
for the ability and integrity with which most of them have carried on
their work ; but what I say is this. This system must be changed. The
administration must become native under the supreme control of the
English nation. Then yon have one element in India, which is pecu-
a
381
liarly favorable to the permanence of your rule, if the people are satisfied
that you give them the justice that you promise. It is upon the rock
of justice alone that your rule stands. If they are satisfied, the result
will be this. It is a case peculiar to India : there are Mahomedans
and Hindus; if both are satisfied, both will take care that your suprem
macy must remain over them ; but if they are both dissatisfied, and any
paltering with justice and sincerity must produce that result. They
will join together against you. Under these circumstances you have
everything in your favor ; in fact, the divine law is that if you only
follow the divine law, then only can you produce divine results. Do
good, no matter what the result is. If you trifle with those eternal
and divine laws, the result must be disastrous. I must stop as the
time is up.
382
WRITINGS.
CHAPTER V.:
I.
THE BARODA ADMINISTRATION IN 1874.
(A Statement in reply to Remarks in the Baroda Blue Book of 1875, concerning
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji and his colleagues, submitted to the Secretary of State for
India, to be published as a Blue Book, Bombay, November 25, 1875.)
BLUE Book* No. 1.
On reading all the Numbers of the Baroda Blue Book of this year, I
find the amount of misunderstanding, misrepresentation and falsehood
regarding me and my colleagues as something awful. To attempt to
explain or refute them all in detail would be like trying to cut down a
swarm of mosquitos with a sword. Moreover it will be now an utterly
unprofitable thing to enter into a minute examination of the details of
every day work of administration, and for which, besides, I should have
the Baroda Records before me. It will be sufficient for me to say, as it
will be apparent hereafter, that from the very beginning, Colonel Phayre
has taken a jaundiced view of my and my colleagues' motives and actions.
I confine myself to an exposure of only the most glaring misrepresenta-
tions and falsehoods, leaving as to who is guilty of them, to be settled
between Colonel Phayre and his "highly respectable” and “honorable”
informers on whom he relied. It will also be for Colonel Phayre to say
whether the various messages from and reports about him which I have
given hereafter require any correction.
Colonel Phayre in his letter of 1st January, 1874, (page 59) says, with
reference to the Gaekwar's khareeta of 31st December, 1873, “The
difference of tone of this khareeta not only contr asts strongly with His
Highness' last one of 25th October last, but with the strong determina-
tion expressed by Mr. Dadabhoy Nowrojee as to the reforms he was
about to initiate at once.” I shall now first give the history of the
khareeta of 25th October 1873, as reported to me by Mr. Bapoobhoy
and other old Durbarees. This Bapoobhoy is one, as will be seen
hereafter, who has been pronounced "respectable” by Sir R. Meade's
Commission, and considered very highly of by the Colonel himself.
When Colonel Phayre found that the Vicerny took the appointment of
the Commission into his own hands and left him (the Colonel) to play a
* [C-1203. 1875.]
383
subordinate part, he was very much displeased, told the Durbarees that
the “Calcuttawalas bachá lok haé, kuch nahi samajtė,” (the Calcuttawalas
are mere children, don't understand anything) and suddenly turned very
sympathetic towards the Gaekwar, encouraging him in his desire to
remonstrate against the appointment of the Commission. He then so far
showed his cordiality that the draft of the khareeta received a perusal
and some fostering and suggestive care at his hands; and the khareeta
contains the following high praise for the Colonel from the Gaekwar,
with whom his relations had hitherto been anything but of a friendly or
sympathétic character.
(Page 50) "I am deeply obliged to Colonel Phayre, whom I consider as my best
friend and well-wisher of the State, * * * and further being backed in my
endeavours at reform by a zealous and energetic officer and Resident like Colonel
Phayre, who is only (I am happy to say) too glad to assist me with his advice, and
to the best of his power, in carrying out these views, as well as those affecting the
grandeur, honor, and stability of my State, and whose appointment at such a time
as Resident at my Court, I have therefore reason to congratulate myself upon,
what need then is there for the appointment of a Commission, when I am sincerely
willing, and have resolved to carry out thoroughly this work of State reform,'
by the advice and co-operation of Colonel Phayre ?"
How significant is all this when read by the light of its little history,
and it is no wonder that Colonel Phayre should look fondly back to the
khareeta of 25th October.
Now with regard to the Gaekwar's khareeta of 31st December 1873
any body who reads it will see that there is nothing improper in it, but
only a respectful representation of the then position of the Gaekwar, nor
is there anything to contrast with my determination to initiate reforms at
once. For I do not see why I may not be able to represent the just
rights of the Gaekwar to Government and at the same time introduce
any reforms in the State. This representation against me has gone to
Government, within three weeks of the Colonel's assurance to me, when
I had first seen him on the day of my arrival at Baroda, of his cordiality
and support, and of his taking credit to himself that my going to Baroda
was the successful result of his exertions for reform!
Colonel Phayre further says, “I was privately and confidentially in-
formed by a highly respectable person who was present in Durbar when
this khareeta was signed, that His Highness hesitated to attach his
signature, saying that it required consideration. He was, however, over-
ruled by Mr. Dadabhoy Nowrojee, the acting Dewan." This information
is simply false, neither had His Highness shown the least unwillingness
to send such a khareeta, nor had I overruled him. His Highness was
particularly desirous to make such a representation.
D
384
D
S
Colonel Phayre says in his letter (page 21) to the Bombay Government
of 18th August 1873, “I am always kept well informed of Durbar
proceedings.” Judging from this case and from what I shall show here-
after, it appears that the Colonel's "highly respectable” informers gene-
rally fed him upon misrepresentations and falsehoods. In spite of the
above misleading and false statements in the Colonel's letter, (page 61)
His Excellency the Viceroy gives the khareeta of 31st December a
courteous reply and calls it “ Your Highness' friendly letter. " The letter
of the Bombay Government to the Indian Government, of 5th March
1874, referring to my interview with His Excellency the Governor, says:
(Page 64) “He fairly admitted that he had not had the slightest practical
experience in public affairs, though he had made them the subject of much study.
He likewise stated that the present Dewan would remain about the person of the
Gaekwar under the title of Pritinidhe, and that the four Parsee* gentlemen from
Bombay, to whom he proposed to entrust the four Chief departments of the
Government, would have associated with them the Ministers who are at this
moment in charge. It would be difficult to imagine a worse arrangement.''
His Excellency the Governor (who I think hardly knew much about me
had, no doubt, every right to object to my want of practical experience.
I might say here, on the other hand, what some persons in high position
as well as some princes, who knew me well, and whose opinions would
be, I think, generally respected, had thought of my selection at the time.
But it is enough that the Bombay. Government itself admit in the
previous paragraph of the same despatch, " This gentleman stands high
in the estimation of many persons both here and in England, and would
no doubt make every effort in his power to introduce a better system of
Government;" and Mr. Tucker, the first Councillor in the Bombay
Government, says in his minute (page 71), “Mr. Dadabhoy Nowrojee
is without administrative experience, but he is a man of some culture and
intelligence, and with a constitutional form of Government, I see no
reason why he should not be tried,” and “I am not able to suggest
anyone at the moment who would seem likely to have a better chance
of success in such a difficult position."
Now about his Excellency's objection to Nanasaheb remaining near
the Gaekwar, and the old Ministers remaining with the new, being urged
as reasons against me, I have, I submit, just grounds to complain. The
Bombay Government were well aware of what had already passed be-
tween them and the Indian Government. The Bombay Government in
* Not all Parsees, -One Parsee, one Hindu and one Mahomedan.
385
their letter of 29th August 1873 to the Indian Government (page 18)
say : “But his Excellency feels precluded from entertaining any such
expectations, and fears that the Gaekwar will be unable, even if desirous
of so doing, to introduce and maintain a proper system, or to check and
punish the evil practices of his Ministers and confidential retainers, some
of whom are known to have been his evil advisers during the reign of
his late brother. And I am, therefore, directed to apply for the
authority of the Government of India to instruct the Resident to demand
from the Gaekwar the immediate suspension of the Dewan, and the
Revenue Sir Soobah with his deputy, Narayen Bhai; the last, a man
of bad character, dismissed from the service of this Government in the
Rewakanta. The suspension for the present of these officers is the more
essential, as I am further instructed to solicit from the Government of
India, authority to appoint a British Commission for the purpose of
inquiring into the system of revenue administration, and the alleged
practice of the abduction of females from their families for the purpose
of converting them into loundis. This Government attaches the great-
est importance to the appointment of this Commission; and as the
Gaekwar will be expected to render it every assistance in the prosecution
of its inquiry, it is obviously desirable that his efforts to that end should
not be thwarted during its progress by the Ministers whom I have
mentioned.”
This pressing application of the Bombay Government to suspend three
of the old Ministers was replied to by the Government of India as
follows (letter 19th September 1873).
(Page 31) “The Government of Bombay have suggested that the Gaekwar should
be advised to suspend or remove the Dewan, the Revenue Sir Soobah and his
deputy, but the Governor General in Council is of opinion that it would be better
to await the result of the enquiry before demanding their suspension or removal.”
Now in the face of this, the Government of Bombay expect from me,.
what they themselves could not do, because the Viceroy, under a
sensé of justice, would not allow it to be done. I may further complain
that while talking upon this subject, His Excellency the Governor did
not express to me his decidedly adverse opinion of the arrangements, or
I would have pointed out the above reply of the Viceroy and explained
to him its temporary necessity, and also that the real power, however, was
left in the hands of my colleagues. On the contrary, while talking of the
various difficulties in my way, Mr. Lee Warner encouraged me with the re-
mark, that the British Government had taken 60 years to do what they had
done in this Presidency, and that much yet remained to be done, and His
25
386
CU
S
Excellency himself, at my parting, in a most kindly way told me "go on
quietly." Had I dismissed or suspended any of the old Ministers, as
matters are now disclosed by the Blue Book, Colonel Phayre would have
turned round upon me, to denounce me on my back, as having insulted
the Viceroy by doing what the Viceroy had expressly desired was not
to be done. Again while the Bombay Government object to Nanasaheb
having been allowed to remain as Pritinidhi near the person of the Gaek-
war. they forget that they themselves not only allowed him to remain
so, but even as the Dewan, by not recognising my appointment and there-
by not only retaining but aggravating the very evil they complain of.
The Bombay Government having thus made up their mind to object to
my appointment, without expressing it to me or to the Gaekwar, not
only gave me no moral support, but refused to me the aid of Government
officials which I solicited and very much needed, and by also refusing to
recognise me as Dewan, largely impaired my position and usefulness, in
the eyes of the public. This gave the "highly respectable” persons
of Colonel Phayre, opportunities of misrepresenting and maligning me
and my colleagues to him for their own private ends, and he, as now
appears from the Blue Book, was only too willing to hear them, and to
turn their information to account against us without any inquiry into
their truthfulness. It was a curious vicious circle in which the affairs then
moved. The Bombay Government would not recognise me, or give me
any aid. My position being thus weakened and rendered uncertain as
to the intentions of Government in the eyes of the public, I myself would
not like to ask good hands to come to serve under me, nor would they like
to come, though very willing. Thus though weakened by the action of the
Bombay Government itself, and being compelled to go on with the old
hands as best I could, they turned round upon me, for keeping on these
old hands, besides forgetting that the Viceroy would not allow them to
· be dismissed or suspended.
Mr. Tucker says, (page 71)—"I disapprove altogether of the existing
arrangement by which there are virtually two Ministers, and neither
has, I imagine, any real power.” To this objection I have already
replied above. Further, —“I was present at Mr. Dadabhai Nowrojee's
examination before the Indian Finance Committee of the late House of
Commons last year, and was not then impressed with the accuracy of his
knowledge of the subjects upon which he was examined or of his
readiness in applying what he did know."
I cannot blame Mr. Tucker for his impression. My examination has
a little history of its own, which this is not the proper occasion to
387
discuss. I need only say that Mr. Ayrton, the chairman, did his best to
prevent me from giving my evidence upon the subjects for which I was
prepared and which I had proposed in a letter to be examined upon ;
and he dragged me, against my remonstrances, into questions with
which I had nothing to do. I. had, previous to appearing before the
Committee, shown my notes to an influential and active member of it,
and he had told me that the subjects I had selected were just some
of those most important to be brought forward before the Committee.
But Mr. Ayrton evidently thought otherwise, and at the end of my first
day's examination, to which Mr. Tucker's remark applies, another
member of the Committee told me that my that day's troubles were
owing to my being a little too ambitious in the subjects I proposed. I
then understood the cause of my unusual treatment. The next day, when
Mr. Ayrton was not in the chair, I had some fair treatment given me.
Be this as it may; I am not the less thankful to Mr. Tucker for his
opinion which I have already quoted before.
It is true, as Mr. Gibbs remarks in his minute of 28th May 1874
(page 350) after doing justice to the honesty and good intentions of
myself and my colleagues, that the old Durbarees were then making
efforts to thwart us, though they had been only nominally associated
with my colleagues. But these Durbarees began to take heart, and lead
back the Maharaja to his old bad ways, because the Bombay Govern-
ment refused to aid or recognise me, and thereby were generally un-
derstood to be against me, because Colonel Phayre kept up open opposi-
tion to me and my colleagues, and gave his ear and encouragement to
men like Bapoobhoy who knew well how to turn such power and oppor-
tunities to account, and because somehow or other Damodar entirely
escaped any remark from Sir R. Meade's Commission, though. Colonel
Phayre was always talking loudly against him as the Maharaj's worst
evil genius.
The long delay in the decision on the Report of Sir R. Meade's Com-
mission also unfortunately contributed largely towards encouraging the
old Durbarees and giving time for the development of their intrigues.
They took much advantage of the delay by getting up “gups” from
time to time, at first that the Report of the Commission was favourable
to the Gaekwar, and latterly that the decision on the report was to be
all right for the Gaekwar; and with the aid of such gups they tried to
lead the Gaekwar into their own ways again. In short, for what Mio
Gibbs complains, the Government and Colonel Phayre have themselves
been the principal cause,
388
BARODA BLUE BOOK No. 2.*
TY
Colonel Phayre, in his letter to the Bombay Government (page 15)
of 9th May with a P.S. of 11th May, with reference to tbe Gaekwar's
khareeta of 9th May, makes some remarks about me. Before noticing
the most glaringly false statements in it, I may here state a circumstance,
which if true, throws a clear light upon Colonel Phayre's whole future
conduct towards me. Messrs. “ the respectable” Bapoobhoy and Govind-
rao Mama reported, that on the receipt of the khareeta, the Resident
became exceedingly angry, and that at a subsequent interview two or
three days after, he said that the khareeta had been written by me and
that (“suiting the action to the word” with a strong emphasis and
gesture of hands) he would "girengá or giráengá” (fall or throw down)
me. When this was reported to me by Nanasaheb, I took it only as a
bit of the Colonel's big talk, and thought no more about it. But the
Blue Book now discloses that he seems to have exerted all his might and
main to make good his vow of “giraoing” me, and I can only account
by such vow for the strangely virulent attacks against me, and the
persistent dinning into the ears of the Government several misrepresenta-
tions about me, even though in some matter he had both public and
personal explanations from me as to the true state of the cases.
Colonel Phayre, referring back to my having written the precedence
khareeta of 5th December 1872, alludes in an insinuating way to my
obtaining Rs. 50,000 for the writing of it and for the agitation of the
question, though he knew the true state of the case from myself personally
as well as from the public explanation I had already given. I shall have
to say more about this matter further on.
Colonel Phayre calls me a “thoroughly disappointed man," "unani-
mously pronounced to be a failure here as an aspirant to the office of
Minister not having been able up to the present time to effect any
reform, &c."
. I do not know how the Colonel found out my disappointment, whatever
that means, unless it be that the wish was father to the thought, and it is
no matter of surprise that his highly respectable” informers, or perhaps
the “respectable” Mr. Bapoobhoy, (who, we now find, was himself an
aspirant to the office of Dewan, and was considered fit by the Colonel,)
should have opined that I was a failure and made no reforms; and that
Colonel Phayre with his desire to "girao" me or at least with his bias
*[C.-1249.]
389
against me, should welcome such opinion and make a special note of it to
Government.
vouring to thwart us under the circumstances I have already mentioned
in connection with Mr. Gibbs' minute, and they took advantage of the
Colonel's inclinations against me.
Colonel Phayre says that Nanasaheb repudiated the obvious direct
meaning of the words “much as I already suffered in dignity and
authority from the Resident's open hostility to my administration,” &c.
First of all the obvious meaning of this is simply a fact, there was no-
thing to repudiate. And next, if Nanasaheb made any show of repudi-
ating a single word of the khareeta, or as the Colonel further on says,
"he also expressed his disapproval of the general tone of the khareeta
by saying that such a production would never have emanated from any
of the old Durbaree servants, and appeared to express anxiety as to
whether it would be despatched to-day or to-morrow," he told a false
hood. For the Gaekwar, Nanasaheb and all the old Durbarees, approved
of the khareeta, and none more so than Nanasaheb himself. In fact
it was at the desire of the Gaekwar and Nanasaheb that a khareeta of
the kind should be sent, that I wrote it out, as I and Mr. Wadia agreed
that this desire was reasonable. Colonel Phayre says that he had “heard
from independent sources that the withdrawal of the khareeta was actu-
ally mooted in the Durbar.” This is either false information, or I know
nothing of such mooting.
Of the Colonel's poor tactics of making capital out of representing
me as a “mischievous political agitator” I need take no notice. When
I am conscious of being actuated in all my public acts only by a simple
sense of duty, I can afford to treat this and other such miserable clap-
trap and devices with contempt.
Colonel Phayre says “facts like these prove the utter unfitness of
Mr. Dadabhoy for the work of reform.” As are the premises, so is the
conclusion. The so called “ facts” being all fiction, there is no need to
say what the worth of the conclusion is. And a question naturally
arises, what is the Colonel's own fitness to judge of the fitness of others ?
The present Blue Book and the Sind-resolution of 1872, answer this
judgment, by ascertaining who are his fit men. This I shall have to
speak about further on. It is quite enough for me to say here that his
ideal being "the respectable” Bapoobhoy, there is no wonder in his
390
opinion about my unfitness. I may, before finishing with the Colonel's
letter under comment, make a remark here once for all, that the Colonel's
power of speaking Hindustani is indifferent, and I had several times to
interpret his Hindustani to the Maharaja. Heaven knows how much
mischief may have arisen from the Colonel's misunderstanding and being
misunderstood by others.
All the above clap-trap and abuse of nie seem to have gone for nothing.
for His Excellency the Governor of Bombay, instead of foolishly rushing
into motives, &c. looked to the khareeta itself, and in a becoming reply,
endeavoured, according to His Excellency's views, to explain the
Fiesident's conduct, and ended his explanation with the courteous conclu-
sion, “I feel sure that your Highness, with this explanation before you,
and being thus made acquainted with what had passed between the
Resident and your Ministers, will perceive that the former acted in
obedience to his instructions and will acquit him of any intention to
offer you a public insult.”
Some time after this answer was received from His Excellency the
Governor of Bombay, Colonel Phayre sent me a message with Mr. Bapoo-
bhoy, in Hindustani, “give Dadabhai my compliments and tell him to
secure his passage in the steamer as Government has decided to turn
him out." What to say or think of this, what now appears to be simple
impudence and a false use of the name of Government, I do not know;
or is it an invention of the respectable” Bapoobhoy.
I find from this Blue Book (page 23) some expression of disapprobation
against His Highness on the part of the Viceroy, with reference to the
correspondence upon the subject of the insult and especially about His
Highness's yad of 7th May 1874, to the Resident. I do not at present
undertake to controvert His Excellency's views. I need simply say that
as far as I remember, this disapprobation has not been communicated to
the Gaekwar, and there was, therefore no opportunity of giving any
explanation, and that with regard to the yad of 7th May, it so happens
that though I do not say we objected to it, it was suggested and dictated
in Marathi by one of the old Durbarees, approved of by all the others,
and simply translated by us. Did the Colonel's “respectable” informers
tell him this ?
S
391
BLUE BOOK No. 4.*
This number contains a great deal of correspondence upon the question
of redressing a variety of complaints. Instead of wading through each
case it will be sufficient to give a general explanation for the whole. The
“ honorable” gentlemen who had the Colonel's ear, had organized a
regular system by which the people were kept up in a continued state of
agitation. The mode of operation was this ;-with regard to the
cultivators, a number of rakeels went about the districts telling people
they were going to manage through the Saheb to get the assessment
reduced half or more, that the ryots should resist payment and complain
loudly at the least real or imaginary coercion by the authorities.
Then either the vakeels or ryots would first complain at once to the
Resident, then come to me, Mr. Kazi or to both of us, make insolent
demands from us, and the moment we commenced any question or inquiry,
they would refuse to answer, threaten us they would go back to the
Saheb and complain that their complaints had not been heard cr
redressed, and away they would walk off to the Saheb. I explained
this to the Resident several times but to no effect. He would take
it for granted that we paid no attention to the complaints, hurl
vexatious yads to us and write letters to Government inclosing peti-
tions, or statements taken by himself, containing all sorts of falsehoods
and exaggerations. In short either we should give all that everybody
chose to demand with the Saheb at their back, or we were at once pro-
nounced as deaf to the complaints of the people and having no intention
to carry out the recommendations of the Commission, &c. &c. In this
way was the farce of coming to us and getting no redress, and a continued
agitation was kept up among all classes of complaints. It was simply
impossible for us to come to any reasonable settlement with any com-
plainants. They always showed clearly and openly that they were con-
scious of their strength that the Saheb would get them all they wanted.
With regard to the Sirdars especially, it was a common report that they
had advice from the Colonel himself to remain thoroughly combined and
not to come to any terms directly with the Gaekwar, and a case has come
to my knowledge lately that, after a certain individual obtained redress
directly from the Durbar, he found the doors of the Residency shut
against him for any visits. In the case of two or three settlements
made by me, the parties in a day or two withdrew from the arrangements
and were again among the crowd of complainants meeting at the
f
* [C.—1251.]
392
D
Residency. It is useless now to go into all the details of the long
correspondence in the 4th Number of the Blue Book. I would only
glance at some important matters.
With reference to the long and fussy correspondence about the Sirdars,
the whole pith of it is contained in one sentence of Colonel Phayre's yad,
(page 17) No. 1965 of 19th October 1874, viz. “ also whether, referring
to my yad No. 1502 C. 7, dated 12th August 1874, any, and if so,
what steps have been taken by your Highness towards settling the
grievances of this class."
Now in connection with this subject of the Sirdars while he is writing
to Government about my inexperience and my inability to grasp general
principles, &c., the following will explain his own actual conduct in the
matter. To the above question put by him, a reply was sent, but some-
how that reply does not make its appearance in the Blue Book ; or that
reply would have shown the character of the Colonel's proceedings and
tactics. As I have not got the Baroda records at command, I write
from memory. The facts are these. Soon after I commenced working
with Colonel Phayre, I proposed to him as the most practicable and
shortest way of settling all the claims brought before the Commission,
and chiefly those of the Sirdars, that he wouli kindly give me his own
views after a fair consideration of each case, as to how it should be
settled ; that I would endeavour to carry out at once such views as I
could agree to, and that for all those cases in which we differed, I would
draw up a statement of my views to be submitted with his remarks upon
them for the consideration and final advice of Government. To this
proposal he agreed, and gave me a statement of his views on some cases.
Then he stopped, and whenever I pressed for more, he told me he was
very busy and with one reason or other further progress stopped. And
while it was thus with him that the cause of delay rested and in the face
of the arrangement between us he suddenly turned round and asked the
question quoted above. The Gaekwar's reply then naturally was a
reminder of our arrangement, and the Colonel was red-hot angry with me
when I visited him the next day after the reply was received by him,
for telling him in the reply that the cause of delay was himself.
After he cooled down he said he would take up the cases, and would
give any assistance be could, and if I remember right, he wrote so in his
-reply also. But little or nothing further, I think, was done, and when
one day he blurted out, “I am not going to shew you my hand,” I
gave up hopes of any further assistance from him, and my colleagues
i
393
and myself set to work to prepare our own proposals to be submitted
to Government. To come to any reasonable settlement direct with
the complainants themselves was out of the question, as long as
they entertained the hope that the Saheb, who had fought so hard for
them before the Commission, was sure to get them all they asked.
Our proposals were subsequently forwarded to Government in a
khareeta. The above explanation and the khareeta will shew first
that there was no want of desire on our part to settle the claims
on some reasonable basis, and secondly, that the matter required a much
wider and juster consideration than the Colonel would allow with his
great statesmanlike grasp. Thus it will be seen that the Colonel himself
was the chief cause of the delay in the settlement of the Sirdars' cases,
and yet he makes so much artful fuss about my inexperience, inability,
&c. &c. to Government.
In his letter of 11th August, (page 23) Colonel Phayre says, “ His
Highness has long wanted to part from Mr. Dadabhai himself, but he
fears, as I before reported to Government, his home influence, and that
he will give him a bad name.” Whether the Colonel has known this
from his “highly respectable" informers, or from the Gaekwar is not
mentioned. The Gaekwar knew very well and I had often told him,
that if he desired a change at any time I would never be in his way for
a moment, and I never held out to bim any of my supposed “home influ-
ence,” or even of any exertion on my part to do him harm if I left him.
I had always told him openly to consult his own best interests only, and
that I would go out at his desire just as I had gone in at his urgent
request. Was the Colonel ever told this ?
The Colonel says “Mr. Dadabhai, I am reliably informed, went so far
a day or two ago as to draw up an agreement of 25 articles to the effect
that the Maharaja was to make over the Raj to him and his party, in
order to effect the reforms specified in His Excellency the Viceroy and
Governor-General's khareeta of 25th ultimo." As I have to notice this
misrepresentation further on when it is again repeated, I pass on to the
next statement with the simple remark, that it betrays a ridiculous
credulity to suppose that I could ask the Maharaja to“ make over the
Raj” to me and my party. But he had" reliable” information, of course,
The Colonel says, “ when consulted I gave my decided opinion that
Mr. Dadabhai and his party had not the knowledge, ability, experience
or weight of character sufficient to carry out the reforms needed in every
394
department of the State. Certainly, the Colonel is quite right. We
were not his men. His ideal was the “respectable” Mr. Bapoobhoy, and
the report was that men like Mr. Narayan Wasudew Kharkar were con-
sidered by him a hundred thousand times better than us ; and Nana-
saheb said he was in favour again and could manage to get the Dewan-
ship for himself, offering to one of my colleagues the Naeb Dewanship,
which was declined. Men like s the honourable and perfectly reliable”
the Bhaoo Poonekar, to whom I am told the Colonel has given a flaming
certificate, and whose transcendent merit he has also recorded in the
Residency, and the “highly respectable” informers of the proceedings
of the Durbar, who, traitors to their master, also managed to sell the
Colonel for their private ends, were men to the Colonel's heart. By-the-
bye what should be thought of an English gentleman fraternising with
and encouraging men in the confidence of their master to become his
informers ? What wonder then that we, not possessing the knowledge,
ability, experience and weight of character, and other extraordinary
merits of the “respectable” Bapoobhoy and “ the hundred thousand
times better than us" Mr. Kharkar, were discarded by the Colonel as
worthless ?
Had we only shown the extraordinary merit of the policy of "please
the Saheb,” we would have turned out the greatest administrators and
reformers in all India. But unfortunately our schools taught us one or
two naughty lessons, such as to look to both sides of every question, to
do our duty, &c., and so of course we must suffer the consequence of
such pernicious teaching, and be denounced unfit and unequal to the
superior men of the Colonel's heart! The Colonel has, several times,
dinned into the ears of Government about our inability, &c. &c. I shall
not repeat the above remarks, but simply note the statement hereafter.
The Colonel says “ that none of the people from the Sirdar downwards
had the least confidence in them." I suppose this is also the informa-
tion from his “ highly respectable” informers. I am speaking in no
spirit of boastfulness, but I may say, that the mark we have left and
the confidence we have inspired among all classes of the people, (except
the harpies, the intriguers and their dupes), by showing the difference
between pure and impure justice in general administration, and between
honesty of purpose and shams and intrigues, and by the progress we actually
made in a short time, and against tremendous difficulties, will take a
long time to be forgotten. This statement is not intended to be a history
395
of our work, but only a notice of the matters mentioned in the Blue
Book with reference to us. I may therefore only give a few broad facts.
We have to clean an eugean stable besides introducing new systems.
The Nazrana system in judicial cases, which in plain English means
selling justice to the highest bidder, was put down by us against great
opposition. This was the very question which first brought us into
collision with the Gaekwar and the old Durbarees, and the “respectable”
Mr. Bapoobhoy was most active in promoting the very first case of
Nazrana-justice that cropped up before me.
From the day Mr. Bal Mangesh took charge of the Court, the pro-
ceedings of the Court underwent, what to the people was, an extra-
ordinary change. Instead of the hole and corner arrangements between
the Vakeels and the Judges for the amount of the Nazrana to the
Gaekwar and bribes for the Judges and other Durbarees, a thorough
investigation of each case in open Court and decisions based entirely
upon merits, without any private interviews with the Judge, may well
inspire the confidence which should take long to be forgotten.
In Mr. Wadia's Court a similar change was simply astonishing to the
people, to see Vahivatdars and Fozdars and other officials (supposed to
possess influence at high quarters) accused of corruption or oppression,
tried in open Court or thoroughly cross-examined as witnesses, and
made to feel the weight of law and justice when found guilty.
Sir L. Pelly testifies (No. 6, page 42) that “ Until purged by the
administration of Mr. Dadabhoy, the criminal and civil administration
of justice was notoriously venal and corrupt.”
Messrs. Mangesh and Wadia had under my direction nearly prepared
the Penal Code and the Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, on the
basis of the English Codes with such modifications as were adapted to
his best to meet all pressing evils that wanted immediate redress or
attention, was recasting the revenue system. Re-organisation of Courts
of Justice, Police, the Revenue system, the Municipality and Public
Works, &c. was all being prepared, and the financial condition was fully
placed by me before Sir L. Pelly. I had also then pointed out to Sir
L. Pelly, that Baroda was a most promising state. That it would do
credit even to ordinary management, provided that the management
was honest, and that its chief want, and that most indispensable one, was
good men and a thorough though gradual change of personnel in all
departments. Its revenue was capable of being much increased even
396
with diminished incidence of taxation, and that even as the condition
of the revenue then was, ordinary, careful and honest administration
and check of extravagance should leave a large surplus, with a
liberal administrative expenditure. But the great want was the men
to carry out all the plans of reform settled upon by us. Only
four of us had to slave the whole routine work till nearly the time
we left. At first, the Bombay Government refused us the aid of the
officials we asked, till the Viceroy's decision on the report of Sir R.
Meade's Commission should be known, and latterly we lost nearly
another three months before we at last got some men.
Thus therefore the obstacles to rapid progress was the Resident's open
opposition, the passive opposition of the Government, and the encourage-
ment thereby given to the old Durbarees to lead the Gaek war back to
their own ways. A fair moral and direct support from the Resident and
the Bombay Government would have produced far more satisfactory
results. I think, I may say that it was surprising, we were able to do
what we did against such great odds. Enthusiasm and faith in the right
cause alone enabled us to stand the high-pressure and harassing work we
had to do and we did, and had I had the necessary time to carry out our
plans of reform, I had fair hopes of showing that my appointment was
not a mistake.
Again, notwithstanding that Colonel Phayre was fully aware of the
nature of the obstacles I have mentioned above, and especially that I
had not yet obtained the aid of men I wanted to carry out the reforms,
and that I could not have had any fair trial, he endeavours to mislead
Government (page 24), " that judging from the fair trial which Mr. Dada-
bhai has had for the last nine months, and Mr. Kazi Shahabudin for
five, together with the results of that trial, I saw no hope of the requisite
work being done by them.” Of course not! It would not suit bim to
see anything of the kind in us, because his men (persons like Bapoobhoy)
and he did not want us. But even the Bombay Government, with all
their desire to support him, could not swallow this, and admitting partly
the true causes, I find them telling him it could not with certainty be
stated that we had a fair trial,
The Colonel says “that I doubted if men of ability and character
from British districts would serve under Mr. Dadabhai.” Certainly the
Colonel may well doubt that his men of character and ability like
Mr. Bapoobhoy would like to apply to serve under me lest they may not
be accepted. As to men like Messrs. Mahadev Govind Ranade, Nana
397
Morojee, Dosabhoy Framji, Gopalrao Hurri Desh Monk, The Honor-
able V. N. Mandik, Mr Pestonji Jehangir, Mr. Shambhooprasad and
others, they of course do not, I suppose, possess any character and abili-
ty in the Colonel's eyes. If I said that Sir T. Madava Row might not
have objected to serve under me, would be of no avail. None of these
can reach the high standard of the “respectable” Bapoobhoy whom he
proposed in this very letter as one of the Provisional Government in
our place, and who was somehow discovered by the Colonel to be
already then “really doing the Dewan's work,” i.e., my work, even
when I was still the Dewan! After this what absurdities would not
the Colonel believe and say !
The Colonel says “as might naturally be supposed Mr. Dadabhai and
his friends are indignant at my having expressed such an opinion regard-
ing them." The Colonel, I suppose, either took this as a matter of
course, or his respectable informers told him this. The fact is that
when we heard that the Colonel was against us, we plainly told His
Highness that we did not care a straw, if he thought it would be to his
interest that we should leave. I reminded him especially that he knew
well that it was not love of power, position or pelf that had taken me
there, but only his urgent, request for his and his State's good; and
that he had therefore to make up his mind as he thought best and only
express his wish, and we would be out of his way at once. All this
the Durbarees knew, but the Colonel did not get this information, I
suppose !
In his letter (page 28) to the Bombay Government of 13th August
1874, the Colonel, while objecting to the Gaekwar's proposal to make
Nanasaheb Pratinidhi, drags me in as follows :-" That if this was the
kind of reform His Highness was going to carry out under Mr. Dada-
bhai's administration, it could only end in one result, and that very shortly.',
Now as a mere matter of opinion I should have taken no notice of this
especially as the Bombay Government have told him how wrong he was
in the way in which he objected to the Pratinidhiship. But this short
sentence pours a flood of light for which I was not prepared, and I see
the Bombay Government have been struck with it, and in their mildest
manner notice it as “injudicious.” But they could have hardly realised
the full import of this blurting, as I cannot help reading it in conjunc-
tion with the reports and events of the time.
The Colonel was reported to have made his vow to “girao” me in
May as I have already mentioned, but as matters now appeared, taking a
A
398
turn contrary to his wishes and as his clients (the complainants before
the Commission) began teasing him that, after all, the Gaekwar was
going to have his own way in the appointment of his Minister and a
trial for 17 months, Colonel Phayre was then reported to have said that
he would bring down my administration within 2 or 3 months by raising
all Baroda territory up against it. I had laughed out this report at the
time. I had taken it to be a bit of the constant braggardism of Bhaoo
Poonekar and others, and whatever I may have thought of Colonel
Phayre’s weaknesses, and of the charm his “honorable” friends were
exercising upon him, I never believed that an English gentleman of
Colonel Phayre's position and education would degrade himself to such a
plot to gain a triumph over me. But reading the “injudicious," out of
place and illogical sentence as it is; looking back to the devices with
which the Sirdars were made to rise, and the ryots kept up in a state of
agitation and passive rebellion (which with the spark of a single hasty
step en my part might have burst out into a conflagration); also calling
to mind that only 2 days before he wrote his letter under comment, he
had sent among other messages to the Gaekwar, with his "respectable"
Bapoobhoy and Govindrao Mama, that my appointment would be war
and not peace and that it would bring about His Highness' ruin in
3 months ; and remembering the way in which the Colonel had once
blurted out to me that the Gaekwar had narrowly escaped a general
rising, and as if I might have still to look out for it; I think I cannot be
blamed to be inclined to believe the report. The Colonel can say
whether it was true or not, but one thing seems certain, that the rascals,
I beg their pardon, the “respectable” and “honorable” men around him
took every advantage and made splendid capital and mischief out of his
blind side and weakness of great self-esteem. This same remarkable
letter, containing the prophecy of my administration coming to an end
"shortly,” also discloses another remarkable fact; a touching wail of the
“respectable” Bapoobhoy, and the Colonel's sympathy therewith. The
Colonel communicates to Government, “and at last Bapoobhoy himself
remarked that everything appeared to have been turned upside down,
that he who was recommended by the Commission has been rejected,
and that Nanasaheb who has been rejected was to have promotion."
Goodness knows how Sir R. Meade's Commission made out Bapoobhoy,
the respectable man out of the whole lot of the Durbarees, and I wonder
what the Gaekwar and Nanasaheb would have to say to this, remem-
bering how Bapoobhoy was telling them every day of the valiant fights
he was fighting for them with the Resident. Verily Bapoobhoy is a
399
L
remarkable man, devoted to and in the confidence of his master, and yet
"respectable” and beloved among his master's opponents and enemies.!
Discovered by the Commission mainly under the guidance of Colonel
Phayre's opinion, to be the only respectable man, amidst all the scamps
of Durbarees, was it not unkind of that Commission not to have recom-
mended that such a “respectable” person should at once be rescued from
such. bad company and sent out of Baroda, a consideration he so well
deserved!
About the great offence (page 29) I am supposed to have committed
in calling the Colonel " toom," and which in fact was an oversight on
the part of the Furnis, I have already made penance, by immediately
withdrawing and altering the yad when the Colonel mentioned his
objection. This somehow does not appear in the Blue Book. I had no
more idea of insulting him in this or any other way than of taking his
place, though the Colonel gave me the credit of calling this a maneuvre
on my part for some sinister object. About the second “manouvre"
with which I am credited as having said that when advice is wanted it
will be asked for, and which the Colonel supposes to be "put forward
in order as far as possible to prevent my (Colonel's) seeing real reforms
carried out and the orders of Government respected," I need not take
any notice, as the Bombay Government has discharmed him of his delu-
sion by telling him that his objection was " most unreasonable" and
“it is difficult to see what other answer the Gaekwar could have been
expected to give.”
Now comes the Colonel's highest effort to dislodge me and my party ;
his letter of 15th August 1874 (page 31) which requires some detailed
notice. I pass over his third or fourth dinning into the ears of Govern-
d
tition seems to be in the eyes of the Colonel a grand argument. The
statement in the second para. that it was under my advice the Gaekwar
had refused to go to Bombay during the Viceroy's visit, is untrue. The
statement that I persuaded the weak minded Malharrao to appoint me
his agent in England, is untrue. And the Colonel can have no excuse
of being misinformed on this subject. Not only had I publicly* denied
- EN
* Annual Meeting of the East India Association, August 6, 1873.
Mr, Dadabhai Naoroji said that, before the vote of thanks to the Chairman
was proposed, he desired to make some brief explanations to the members, and
this perhaps was the most fitting opportunity. With regard to the donations
given by the Princes of India, there was, it appeared, some misapprehension.
Although the Council had clearly and unequivocally shown that these donations
had been given entirely upon public grounds, and simply for the general good of
400
this some twelve months before, but I had personally told him at my
first visit to him that I had never asked to be, nor had been, appointed
an Agent of the Gaekwar in England. That the Residency Parsee head
the country, he would now emphatically repeat this in order that there might be
no misunderstanding or misapprehension on that point. There was absolutely no
condition, no promise, no hope, held out that the donors should have any personal
interest or benefit from the efforts made by the Association in England. He
wished it to be distinctly understood that there were no more conditions attached
to the donations than to the ordinary yearly subscriptions or donations of any of
the members present, except that the gifts were princely, as became the gifts of
princes. Any contrary opinion would seriously endanger the position of the
Association, and therefore he wished to set the matter at rest at once and, be
hoped, for ever. In further explanation, he might add that in his journey through
Western India, he visited the Court of Baroda in March last year, to solicit sup-
port, but his Highness was not inclined to do anything. Some months after-
wards, however, he received a letter inviting him to return, and when he went,
his Highness asked bis advice and assistance on certain private affairs. He accord-
ingly undertook the performance of certain work for His Highness, without
having any idea of expecting anything like pecuniary remuneration. But His
Highness urged that the service performed was of great value to him, and-finding
that a personal recompense would not be acceptable-he insisted upon making a
provision for his (the speaker's) children to the extent of Rs. 50,000. (Hear, hear.)
He (the speaker) felt the great delicacy of the position he held as regards thé
East India Association, and hence his first resolve to accept no pecuniary recom-
pense even in the form so considerately urged by His Highness. Subsequently,
however, he consulted with some of his best friends in India-friends who would,
he knew, care more for his honour than his pocket-that they told him that, in
their opinion, he need not have the slightest hesitation in accepting the provision
for his children, (hear, hear)—especially as he had earned it by honest and valued
labour. (Hear, hear). Still, he was undecided in the matter, and he had since
consulted some of his English friends in England, who, after hearing all the circum-
stances of the case, one and all said as strongly as possible that he should not have
the slightest hesitation in the matter, and that he was bound to allow his children
the benefit of his work. (Hear, hear). He would not have troubled the meeting
with this explanation about a private affair, but a public character had been
given to the circumstance, and it was also supposed that he had undertaken some
agency of his Highness, and had come over to Englan 1 to fight his cause or to
excite the East India Association to do so, and to advance his personal interests.
This was altogether wrong. (Hear, hear). He had heard in Bombay that certain
high officials bad entertained misapprehensions of the kind to which he referred :
and only the other day, when in the Committee-room of the House of Commons, a
gentleman high in authority, and for whom he had respect, said " If you are going
to give any evidence about Native Princes, I should look out for you.” [This
gentleman afterwards explained to me that he meant no reference to the report
about my accepting agencies, but simply to my views about Native States.] This
confirmed his suspicion that some misapprehension existed. It was to dispel this
misapprehension that he held an agency, that he had ventured to trespass on the
time of the Association in making this explanation, and he would distinctly repeat
that he had always felt bis position in regard to the Association to be so peculiarly
delicate, that, although it was probable that he might have experienced little
difficulty in making two or three lacs if he had chosen to undertake agencies, he
had throughout maintained strictly his resolve that his character and conduct
should be entirely above suspicion, and therefore to all such offers he bad always
replied that he had a broader work to do, and that he could not serve God and
Mammon at the same time. He hoped that as long as he was the Honorary
Secretary of this Association, he should ever do anything which would. in the
slightest degree, compromise the Association, or which would be calculated to
produce any prejudice against its work, (Journal of the East India Association,
Vol.! VII., No. 2, page 622).
401
clerk had given me aid or information is untrue. This “manoeuvre”
comes with very ill grace indeed from the Colonel who him self tells
Government “I am always kept well informed of Durbar proceedings"
and who had "highly respectable” persons of the Durbar to keep him
"! well informed.” Others may be wrong for doing such things, but in a
Resident perhaps it may be all right!
About the matter of the Rs. 50,000 which the Colonel misrepresents
in the 4th para. for the second or third time, I have the same complaint.
As I have already said before, not only had I given a public* explanation
of this matter, but I had personally explained to him my whole previous
connection with the Gaekwar ; and yet the Colonel has thought proper to
take every opportunity of misrepresenting this matter. To the public
explanation I may add here, that had I followed my.own impulse, and
had I not been pressed by the Gaekwar, and strongly persuaded by
friends, I would have simply declined the offer as I at first did, and the
matter would have ended. That this is not an after-thought may be
judged from the facts that I had declined similar offers before of 25,000
and 30,000 Rupees from two other princes, that if I had chosen, I could
have entered into an arrangement with a third prince to become his
Agent with 30 or 40,000 Rupees cash down, and a lac or so in prospect.
Moreover, not in any of these cases was there any promise of exerting
influence in high quarters. It was all the service of personal brain-work.
During the last thirty years I have given such brain-work to many
persons without remuneration.
I again pass over the Colonel's remarks in the 5th para. about
my unfitness &c. As to the long list of counts in his indictment
against me in this para., viz. the " deliberate neglect of the recom-
mendations of the Commission for eight months, the increasing
injustice done to British subjects, the continued oppression of the
ryots, the systematic resistance to all reasonable demands of the
British Government as represented in the large number of cases
still pending; there is the neglect to take notice of Government
references of the most urgent kind ; there is the injury done to our
trade, and the direct act of disrespect shown to the Resident in the
opium case” and others ; I have only to say that all these are creations
of his imagination. I really wonder how Colonel Phayre could think of
writing such nonsense. He might just as well have proceeded to say
* See Note on pages 399 and 400.
26
402
that I was going to set fire to the ocean, or still better, to drink it all up.
What strange impulse or desire must have made him write all such
things !
In the 6th para, (page 32) comes again that ridiculous story of my
party turning the advice of the Governor-General in his khareeta of
25th July 1874, to our own account by endeavouring to induce the
Gaekwar to sign “an agreement” to the general effect that the
administration should be placed in our hands for a certain period ; or
as he says in another place " an agreement of 25 articles," "to make
over the Raj" to me and my party; and that my proposal for His
Highness signing an agreement" to make over Riasat to any one whatever
except the British Government” was “an offence against the sovereignty
of the paramount power.” Where on earth had the Colonel's common
sense fled when he seriously wrote all this stuff of my “taking over
the Raj” and “ offending against the sovereignty of the Paramount
Power !"
My colleagues did not then require any binding for a fix period. They
had been originally engaged for three years; with the provision that if
the Gaekwar dispensed with their services before that period, they were
to receive half of the salary for the balance of the period. At this time,
instead of asking for a fixed period, they were actually giving up their
places of their own accord. As to myself, I had never asked a binding
for any fixed period. My only condition with the Gackwar from the very
beginning was, and of which the Colonel was well informed by me, that
as long as I had the Gaekwar's confidence and I felt myself useful, I
serve; and then the confidence and usefulness cease, I make my salam
and go. I never attached the slightest importance to any bond or signa-
ture of the Gaekwar on this matter. I went only on a call of duty, and I
cared not to remain longer than I could perform that duty. I may give
here a brief sketch of the facts about the extraordinary "agreement”
by which I and my party were deposing the Gaekwar, and making the
Raj our own; our threats to leave Baroda, and what is most ridiculous
and racy, my taking Damodar into my counsels and aid.
Under the causes I have already mentioned the old Durbarees began
their pranks to lead back the Gaekwar to his old way, by first reviving
the practice of deciding judicial cases by Nazránás. After remonstrating
and opposing this step for some time, about the beginning of July (the
Viceroy's khareeta of 25th July being received by us on 3rd August)
we let His Highness know, that if he was bent on reviving the Nazri'ná
t
403
and relapse into some other old practices, he might please himself and
we should go. This message, communicated both in writing and verbally
by Mr. Wadia, led to a discussion between us and His Highness, which
went on for more than a fortnight. During this time Damodar had
once seen me on some business, when he also communicated to me a
message from the Gaekwar upon the subject of the remonstrance I had
made. I then told him that His Highness had to consider carefully the
course he was taking. He said he would communicate the message to
His Highness, but I saw no more of him afterwads, and this is
magnified into taking him into my counsels and aid, and to make my
connection with him effective with Government and to shew my
company, the Colonel has taken particular care to describe him as
“the notorious Damoderpunth, the present favourite of the Gaekwar,
the panderer to his grossest vices, the oppressor of women, &c.," though
somehow Sir R. Meade's Commission did not get any information to say
a word about this man, when all other evil-advisers were denounced.
Our discussion with the Gaekwar was for a few days interrupted on
account of Mr. Wadia's absence to Bombay. When he returned, and
we found that neither His Highness nor his Durbarees appeared to
understand our remonstrances, I sent word with Mr. Wadia that we
must go and that he was simply wasting time and words, and was much
mistaken if he thought we would care a straw for our places, and allow
him and his mandal to go back to their old ways.
A
He was now fairly roused and earnestly requested Mr. Wadia to ask
me to make a memo. of what I wanted. This was on the 29th July,
This request of the Gaekwar led to what Colonel Phayre calls an "agree-
ment of 25 articles" to "make over the Raj to us,” and which proved
such a nightmare to him, in his anxiety for the sovereignty of the para-
mount power, but which in reality was simply a letter from myself to the
Gaekwar to let him see clearly what we considered necessary for pre-
venting the old abuses from creeping in again, and for making
proper reform, if we were to serve him in our respective posi-
tions. As I have already said, I never cared for any signed bond
or agreement, as it would both be no use if he did not observe
0
404
it, nor would I care to serve under such circumstances
below* translation of the monstrous "agreement”
I give
of 25
* To His Highness Shrimant Sirkar.
Ajam Hormusjee has communicated to me all that Sircar said to him in Shri-
mant Nanasaheb's house ; after that Sircar sent to me Nanasaheb and Rajeshree
Damodarpunt. I told them to communicate to Sircar that if the substance of
what Sircar told Ajam Hormusjee be as stated below, I cannot carry on the work.
1. Nobody can ever alter Sircar's orders
2. Sircar will give orders as he likes.
3. Sircar will spend as much as he likes altogether.
4. To take Sircar's sanction in every matter.
5. Orders are to be from Sircar and power for Dadabhai.t
Of the above matters, Damodarpunt took a note to communicate to the
Sircar, and promised to get a reply from him, but no reply has been received.
After that I sent word to Sircar, that I could not carry on the administration
of the Raj. We should therefore be allowed leave to go with willingness. Thereupon
Sircar toid Ajam Hormusjee to bring a memo, of what Dadabhai Sett wanted.
Now if Sircar determine to continue in the same views which he expressed to
Ajam Hormusjee, I cannot carry on the administration. Had I known such viets
ať the commencement, I would not have undertaken the work; and if the Sircar's
present views remain the same, I have then no hope that my viels rould be
accepted. But as Sircar has desired to let him know my views, I cannot but accede.
My simple object is the Sircar's, and Sircar's State's welfare, otherwise I have
no business here. The chief foundation of the State must be laid upon justice
and fairness.
And Sircar giving me his confidence, should assist in and sanction my work with
a sincere heart. Bearing this object in mind, I state below what I ask.
1. Written orders should be sent to all departments, that orders written in the
name of the Sircar or Hazoor and countersigned by Dadabhai are only to be
obeyed. No other orders should be obeyed,
First Explanation. The necessity for my counter-signature is only this, that
the order to be made coming to my knowledge, I may be able to give my opinion
or advice, or make any inquiry that may be necessary, and should there be any
mistake or misunderstanding, I may be able to explain it. So that proper orders
alone may be given.
Second Explanation. Sircar says that if on some occasion, under a pressure from
the Raneesaheb, the Sircar gave direct orders without my knowledge, I should not
object to that About this I have to submit with every respect, that if on even a
single occasion Sircar would give a direct order, people will bring recommendation
to Sircar and Raneesaheb and constantly interfere with the regular course of
business. 6 Bandobust” is such a thing that if one link is broken the whole
chain is rendered useless. With one irregular instance Sircar will lose all his
praise, †
2. All " chities" or orders for payment on the State Banks must be initialled by
me. Without that no payments should be made from the “ Dookans"--such order
must be made to the “Dookans.': $
3. A certain amount should be fixed for Sircar's private expenditure, includ-
ing that of his “ Kangi Mandal” or private friends and attendants. ||
* This, I bad explained, was unintelligible to me. It was meant, I suppose,
that I was only to execute orders given by the Gaekwar.
# One additional important reason was that the Durbarees and even Jasoods
would now and then take advantage of giving orders in the Gaekwar's name.
$ Without this arrangement irregular expenditure could not be checkei.
· ] Without this it was impossible to bring Finances into order,
405
articles which scared the gallant Colonel so much, and in which I had
adopted the same principles which I had recommended to His Highness
the Holkar, during his negociations with Sir T. Madaya Row, viz., that
in all matters to end in permanent results, the voice of the sovereign
should prevail, the Dewan giving his best advice ; that in all ordinary
every-day administration, the Dewan should be left free and, under the
peculiar circumstances of the case, a large latitude should be left to the
Dewan to introduce the necessary reforms, as the responsibility of the
extent and result of the reforms would be chiefly on the head of the
Dewan, and as in this case it was an especial feature that it was mainly
for the purpose of reforms that I had been invited.
4. It is necessary to engage the services of several new fit men, and to increase
the salaries of fit men already in the service, and to make several reforms and
alterations. For this purpose I should have permission to spend five lakhs per
annum more for three years, than the present (administration) expenditure ; (of
course) expenditure will be incurred as necessary only*.
Like the above His Highness the Holkar has arranged with Sir T. Madava Row.
5. What I am not to do without the sanction of the Sircar.
1. To give land or village to anybody.
2. To incur any new charitable or religious expenditure, or to make a present
of more than Rs. 500 to anybody.
3. To bestow a charitable, or other annuity on anybody.
4. To make new laws.
5. To entertain or dismiss servants of salary exceeding Rs. 500 per month.
6. To alter the rates of assessment.
7. To do any public work costing above Rs. 1,000.
Explanation. Sircar should give these sanctions personally; it is hoped that
Sircar reposing confidence in me will give sanction quickly. Delay or incon-
venience in the sanction, would produce disappointment and a check to hearty
work. For taking such sanction Sircar should fix a place and time, to enable me
to have private interviews for a certain time every day.
6. Nothing should be done contrary to the existing Revenue, Civil and Criminal
laws, till altered by new laws.
7. All correspondence with the British Government to be carried on according
to the satisfaction and sanction of the Sircar.
8. No Nazrana whatever should be taken in matters of justice, or of appoint-
ments or dismissal of officials.
Explanation. In no case, old or new, should any Nazrana be taken by anybody.
The cases of Vaso and Rajmoodar must be inquired into and decided according to
justice.
9. Several high officials ought to be made to resign their Durbaree posts.
10. Should Sircar have to make any appointment in state service, I should be
consulted.
Explanation. Moteram Dulpatram had once applied to me for service. I had
refused. Sircar knew this, and yet without asking me, Sircar has engaged him to
Under the circumstances of the time, when the old Durbarees always
endeavoured " to thwart” reforms, this latitude as well as that of the sub-clause
5 of cause 5 lecame an absolute necessity.
406
CD
The Memorandum, asked by the Gaekwar, was at once prepared in the
shape of the letter from me given at foot of pages 404 to 406, and the
Gaekwar entered into a fair discussion of the conditions proposed ; but
while this discussion was going on, we received the Viceroy's khareeta
on 3r1 August. Colonel Phayre, however, makes out the “ agreement"
as being proposed by us a day or two before his letter of 11th August,
and as being “one of our first efforts” to turn the advice contained in
the khareeta to our own account, by snatching away the Raj; and the
old Durbarees, for the nonce, suddenly become good men in the eyes of
Colonel Phayre, as being solicitous to save their master from the
clutches of the monsters who were going to devour the Riasat! When
the Viceroy's khareeta of 25th July arrived on 3rd August, its con-
sideration engrossed the attention of the Gaekwar, and the “ agreement”
fell into the background altogether. New intrigues started on their
feet under pressure of Colonel Phayre's, what the Bombay Government
call “determined personal opposition to me," and his encouragement to
Bapoobhoy and to Nanasaheb as I had then heard.
When this came to our knowledge, we at once actually gave in our
resignations on the 9th of August, so that the Gaekwar was left com-
pletely free to act as he liked without any difficulty or discussion from
our part, and get rid of us by simply accepting our resignations. But
he would do nothing of the kind, and on that very same day he brought
such a pressure of entreaty upon us not to leave him, that we felt our-
selves forced to withdraw our resignations. Then Colonel Phayre
must have heard that His Highness would not allow us to go, Bapoobhoy
and Govindrao-mama brought a message from the Colonel to the Gaekwar
on the 11th of August, that His Highness should not appoint me,
should turn all four of us out, that he (the Colonel) was ready to say this
to our face ten times over, that Manibhoy, Boevey, and Kharkar were a
hundred thousand times better than I, that he would shut up the
bangalow if I was appointed Dewan, that my appointment would be
war and not peace, and that it would bring about His Highness ruin
in three months, &c. &c. Further in the evening we heard that
do some secret Political work. This is against my riews. He should not be
retained in the service.
I nov most earnestly request that if Sircar would order to conduct the administra-
tion according to the above clauses, it is most essentially necessary for the Sircar
to make a thorough determination, not to disturb it aftertards. It is my duty to
to do all I can in that way. Dated 31st July 1874.
(Siynec) DADABHAI NAOROJI
407
Bapoobhoy was also one of the Colonel's contemplated Cabinet. We
again told His Highness that the Colonel was really strongly against
us, and that though we thought that if he (the Gaekwar) was sincere and
loyal in his promises of reform, and showed that sincerity unmistakably
by his actions, no harm would come to him from the British Government,
and especially the present Viceroy, who had so clearly shown his
consideration and justice towards him, we still desired that he should
consider carefully before he decided upon my continuing in my
Dewanship. The Gaekwar, however, made up his mind and sent the
yad for military honors to be accorded to me as Dewan, on the 14th
of August. This yad brought forth this letter of 15th August, which
I am commenting upon, and which is a tissue from beginning to end
of misrepresentations and false statements. Of the rest of the letter
from para. 7 and of another string of hallucinations and abuses, and of
further dinnings about my unfitness, &c., I need not take any notice.
They are of a piece with the rest of the letter ; all false and imaginary.
S
· Almost all the above misrepresentations, &c., and further repeated
dinnings about my unfitness, want of grasp &c. are repeated in Colonel
Phayre's Report of 2nd November 1874. But it is sickening and useless
to go through them again. I shall notice just a few things that are
new and important. I may give an instance of what is either his extra-
ordinary gullibility and carelessness, or his desire to misrepresent me.
(Page 60) “ The salary,” says he, "of the new Dewan, Mr. Dadabhai
Nowrojee, has been fixed at a lakh of Rupees per annum.” Certainly
a matter like this should be expected to be known to and described by
a Resident more accurately. He could have easily ascertained this as
well as many other truths by asking me, instead of writing all sorts
of untruths behind my back. Now my salary proper was only 63,000
Baroda Rupees, then equal to about 53,000 Bombay Rupees. Out of
the rest of the “lakh,” Rupees 31,000 was simply the pay for a Paga,
serving in the contingent, which was proposed to be transferred to niy
name, (but which I had not allowed so to be transferred, as the then
holder of it had represented to me a grievance upon the subject); and
6,000 Rupees were for the maintenance of an elephant and for other
state ceremonial requirements for the Dewan, 1,000 of them being
"palkhi" allowance.
The report of 2nd November is in itself the best proof of the undue
and vexatious interference of the Colonel which most seriously interfered
with my regular work, and of either his utter want of thought, or inten-
408
tional ignoring, that reforms and redresses could not be made without
men and time to inquire and to act, and that to very nearly the time of
this very report we had not received the aid of British officials we had
asked for. Even the Bombay Government recognised this necessity and
recommended that 3 months more should be allowed in the probation
on account of the delay; viz. “ to extend this term from the 31st of
December 1875 till the 31st March 1876" (page 75).
In para. 145 of this report (page 60), the Colonel writes as a matter
of complaint against me, that “ Again in a khareeta written by Mr.
Dadabhai to His Excellency the Viceroy, dated 19th April 1874, acknow-
ledging the receipt of the report of the Commission, he stated that he was
preparing a full reply to the Report.” Even if I had said so, there would
have been nothing wrong, had I been of the opinion that a reply should
be made. But what should we think of this statement, after reading
its following short history. The Gujaratee saying "tilto Chór Kotwal
ne clandé” (The thief fining the magistrate insteail) is well verified in
this instance. The Report of the Commission was received at Nowsaree.
I and Mr. Wadia went there on 13th April. After reading and explain.
ing the report, a short khareeta was prepared the next day,* as the
Gaekwar desired and we approved. This was copied fair, signed and
sealed on the 15th April. The next morning Nanasaheb took it to Colo-
nel Phayre. On reading his own copy of it, the Colonel flung the
paper away, and said this was no reply. It was only a trick of mine to
seat myself firmly, and to leave the old Durbarees out in the cold. A full
reply should at once be made to the Report. The khareeta was brought
back, the Resident himself so suddenly turning over a new leaf and
sympathisingly recommending a full and immediate defence. I need
not say that I had not the remotest idea of the motive imputed to me
in the above message which Nanasheb brought and which was repeated
by Bapoobhoy. Now with the Resident's recommendation, the old Dur-
barees became strong in their advice to defend at once. We two gave a
decided “no." We explained, that though the Report of the Commission
was open to some exception and attack, it would be simply suicidal on
**I have received with pleasure your Excellency's friendly khareeta of 31st
March 1874, with a copy of the Report of the Commission.
In my khareeta of 31st December 1873, I had requested to be furnished with
a copy of this Report in order that I might be able to express my views upon it
before your Excellency determined upon any friendly advice to be given to me.
As your Excellency, however, is to communicate to me shortly your friendly
advice, I shall take the opportunity of expressing my views upon the Report, when
I shall reply to your Excellency's friendly Khareeta containing that advice. I
beg to express, &c. &c.
409
the part of His Highness to make any such attempt, and that we should
not be surprised if Colonel Phayre took hold of it to shew to the Viceroy
that the Gaekwar had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, and that he
was still incorrigibly bent on his old ways which the Commission had so
unmistakably condemned. To me, I said it was quite puzzling, that
Colonel Phayre should suddenly become so solicitous about the character
of those very people whom he was himself most instrumental in getting
denounced. However, be the Colonel's motive what it may, we said we
were decidedly against making any defence at all, especially then, till
something more was known of the Viceroy's mind, and that we should
not mar the friendly spirit that was shown in the Viceroy's khareeta.
His Highness took time to consider and agreed with us. Another
khareeta, with certain additions to meet his wishes to some extent, was
prepared, adopted, copied fair on the usual gold paper and ready for
signature. But during this time the old Durbarees were at it again.
Had not even the Resident recommended that a defence should be made,
and that at once, so at last the Gaekwar turned round and refused to
sign the khareeta and determined to defend at once. We repeated
our advice distinctly. We would not have any defence at all, at least
not any then, and left him to please himself. The stakes, large as they
were, were his, and we had discharged our duty to give him our best
advice. The Resident's recommendation and sympathy carried the day.
•A telegram was prepared to be sent at once to the Viceroy and a
corresponding alteration was made in the khareeta, as follows. In the
rejected khareeta, the paragraph was :-
“As your Excellency, however, is to communicate to me shortly your
friendly advice, I reserve, for the present, the question of the opinion
of the Commission about my general administration, and more particu-
larly even about my personal conduct and that of my Dewan from which
I should naturally desire to clear ourselves at an early opportunity. I
need only say at present that I have an earnest desire, &c."
For this was substituted (page 343, No. 1)—“ As your Excellency,
however, is to communicate to me shortly your friendly advice, I have
telegraphed to your Excellency that should the opinions and recommend-
ations of the Report of the Commission be likely to influence your
Excellency adversely to my rights, I request your Excellency to postpone
determining upon the friendly advice to be given to me till my reply
to the Report is received by your Excellency. I am preparing this full
reply to the Report. In the meantime, &c.” With this alteration the
410
khareeta was sent on 19th April 1874, and to which the Colonel refers.
in a way, as if I had done something very wrong and encouraged the
Gaekwar to give a full reply. Now, be my advice sound or mistaken,
it is strange that Colonel Phayre who is himself the cause of the com-
plaint he makes, fathers it upon me and in a way to insinuate a prejudice
against me in the mind of the Viceroy. Or did his "respectable” Bapoobhoy,
Nanasaheb and others invent the message from him that he strongly
advised a full immediate reply. And I may also ask whether his “highly
respectable” informers who “kept him well-informed of the proceedings
of the Durbar," had told him or not that we were all along openly
against making any defence, or at least then, against the Report of the
Commission, and that it was entirely owing to his advice being thrown
in the scale that an immediate defence was determined upon. If the
Colonel really recommended the reply, and then made the offer to reply,
as a matter of complaint, it was, to say the least, most disingenuous on
his part. I can hardly even now persuade myself that Colonel Phayre.
could have stooped to such conduct. If not, it is a pity that his and
others' eyes should be opened when too late to his blind faith in his
6 respectables” and “honorables” and the injustice and mischief that
must have been caused thereby.
I may here ask the Colonel whether his friend ever informed him or
not that from the very first day I came in contact with the Gaekwar, I
1
-
that however strong his treaty-rights might be, and that though I
would represent them from his side to Government to the best of my
ability, he should never expect to preserve his rights safe, unless he
performed his duties of a good ruler. These were not hole and corner
conversations ; they were almost always open and in the presence of
the Durbarees. While I have, on the one hand, done my best to serve
the Gaekvar faithfully and to take care of his legitimate rights and
interests, I have nerer, on the other hand, failed in or shirked my
duty to advise him, and to have done my best to lead him to the per-
formance of his duties towards his subjects. But such things the
Colonel never learnt.
(Page 63) Colonel Phayre's insinuation that by the terms of our
appointment we were entirely subject to the will of the Gaekwar, in-
plying as if we were bound to allow the Gaekwar to perpetrate any
injustice or enormity he liked, is ridiculous and absurd. Now nothing
was more well known and noised abroad than the fact that we would
411
not allow the Gaekwar to do as he willed, but at once protested against and
prevented any irregular or undue interference with the administration.
Why, that monstrous “agreement” which frightened the Colonel so
much was the result of this very position that we would not submit to
allow the Gaekwar or his Durbarees in his name, to do anything wrong.
That was our chief and continued struggle with the Durbar. Colonel
Phayre and all the Durbarees knew this well, and yet this attempt to
misrepresent us! It is simply a libel to say that the gentlemen who
were with me would agree or that I would agree or ask them to serve on
such conditions.
. After thus briefly noticing some of the most glaring misrepresentations
and falsehoods in Colonel Phayre's writings, I pass over without notice
his remarks upon the Gaekwar's khareeta of 2nd November 1874, as,
first, they are mostly a repetition of what had been stated by him
before, and upon the glaring portion of which I have already commented;
and secondly, the Indian Government have done sufficient justice to the
khareeta in their despatch to the Secretary of State, of 27th November
1874.
The despatch (page 104) says “the Gaekwar has addressed the
Viceroy a khareeta in which His Highness has in temperate language
begged for the removal of Colonel Phayre.” ** “We are constrained
to admit ( apart from certain objections raised by Colonel Phayre to
the accuracy of the Gaekwar's statement of two particular instances
of interference ) the general correctness of His Highness' complaints
of Colonel Phayre's proceedings.”
Again the Indian Government in their despatch to the Secretary of
State, (No. 5, page 4) of 15th April 1875, say, “ In his communications
with the Gaekwar and with Mr. Dadabhai Nowrojee, the Minister whom
the Gaekwar had selected, Colonel Phayre was wanting in consideration."
Lord Salisbury in his despatch of 15th April 1875 (No.4, page 106)
says, “His (Colonel Phayre's ) character was little fitted for the delicate
duties with which he had been recently charged, and his departure from
the orders he had received was too serious to be overlooked.”
Again in their despatch of 29th April 1875, (No. 5, page 43) to the .
Secretary of State, the Indian Government do me the justice ( for which
I feel thankful ) to say " shortly after Sir Lewis Pelly's arrival, Mr.
Dadabhai Naorojee, the Minister in whom Mulhar Rao professed to
412
place confidence, and who, so far as we could judge, had been honestly
desirous of reforming the administration, * resigned office, and no expla-
nation has been afforded to us of the reason for his resignation.”
S
i
With regard to our resignation the Secretary of State also in his
despatch of 3rd June 1875, (page 52) to the Indian Government, says,
“ Almost the last incident in the history of his reign, before it was closed
by his arrest on the charge of poisoning, was the mysterious resignation,
without reason given, of the reforming Minister who had been appoint-
ed under the pressure of Sir R. Meade's report,"
Our resignations were communicated to the Gaekwar on 21st Decem-
ber 1874, when nothing was known to us of His Highness being
implicated in the poison-case. This was first mentioned to me on 23rd
December by Sir Lewis Pelly, after I had communicated to him our
reasons for our resignation. On 25th December, I repeated those
reasons at an interview, at the Residency between His Highness, Sir
Lewis Pelly and myself. 1st, I reminded His Highness that I had
undertaken the duties of the Dewan at his pressing request, that I had
plainly given him my condition in acceding to his request that as long
I had his confidence and I was useful, I serve, and that when that
confidence was withdrawn and my usefulness impaired, I make my
salam and go ; that we had on two former occasions withdrawn our
resignations at his pressing and earnest solicitations, and that notwith-
standing all this, he had, during the past week or so allowed himself to
play in the hands of his old Durbarees, and forgotten that he had
requested me to become his Dewan and not a karkoon merely to obey
his biddings. 2nd, that after showing long and sufficient forbearance
and giving a long trial to the old Durbarees to mend their ways, we had
found it absolutely necessary that they should be sent out of Baroda,
and I gave a list of Damodar, Bapoobhoy, Govindrao Mama, Kharhar,
Hurybadada (Nana Saheb having himself offered to leave Baroda for
some time), and several other names. His Highness in reply expressed
his regret at my first complaint and promised me every confidence, but
my second demand he pressed me to waive. I then expressed our
determination not to withdraw our resignations. When I decided to
resign, all the 8 or 9 officials from the Bombay Government, besides my
3 colleagues, who had wilfully and readily agreed and come to serve
under me, also decided to resign with me, though they had been hardly
* The italics are mine.
413
a month or two in their new posts. This is a strange commentary
upon Colonel Phayre's views that no officials of weight and character
from the British districts would like to serve under me, and that my
selections would agree to serve under the old Baroda ways.
I pass over Colonel Phayre's last shot, (No. 6, page 9) fired a
day after he received the private intimation to resign ;—"a day or
two after this, Mr. Dadabhai Nowroji made his false and malicious
attack upon me in the khareeta of the 9th May.” This was as much
imaginary as many other things I have already noticed, if not the effect
of the irritation of the previous day's intimation. In connection with
No. 7 of the Blue Book, it is enough for me to extract the letter I
addressed, at the close of the last Commission; to the Times of India.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES OF INDIA.
SIR, -As I have not been put into the witness-box either by the prosecution or
the defence, I hope you will allow me to say a few words about some matters
concerning me personally which were referred to at the enquiry.
It is true that I received the resolution of May 1872. The history of the affair
is simply this. Mr. Hurry.chund Chintamon, who is at present in England as His
Highness's agent, obtained a copy, and I believe honestly, from an English friend,
in England. It was when he sent it to me about last June that His Highness,
myself and my colleagues came to know of it. Mr. Hurrychund brought the
existence of this resolution to the notice of Lord Salisbury on the 24th June last.
The document was given to the defence by me, as I had received it. In the course
of a conversation I mentioned the resolution to Sir Lewis Pelly. He asked for a
copy of it and I gave it.
Colonel Phayre says I made no complaints to him about his course of proceedings
Colonel Phayre may have forgotten, but as a matter of fact I did complain to him
several times. Colonel Phayre says he gave me all the assistance in his power,
Had I been so fortunate as to have received that assistance, no necessity would
have arisen to write the khareeta of 2nd November. Colonel Phayre says I more
than once acknowledged the assistance he had given me in the matter of the Sirdar
cases and others. True ; but I am only sorry that the occasions were few and far
between. I had more occasions to thank Sir Lewis Pelly in one week than I had
for thanking Colonel Phayre in three months, and I was able to do more work both
towards introducing new reforms and redressing old complaints in one week with
Sir Lewis Pelly, than I was able to do in three months with Colonel Phayre.
Colonel Phayre says the facts of the two instances given in the khareeta of 2nd
November are not correctly stated. I have not yet learned what was incorrect in
them. For my part I can say that every fact is correctly stated.
Yours faithfully, DADABHAI NAOROJI.
I close this painful task with the hope that it may open the eyes of
Government to the mischief and iniquity of the present system of the
political department, of receiving secret reports and acting thereon.
DADABHAI NAOROJI...
414
II.
CONDITION OF INDIA.
(Correspondence with the Secretary of State for India, 1880,)
32, Great St. Helens,
London, 24th May 1880.
To
(
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE MARQUIS OF HARTINGTON,
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA,
· INDIA OFFICE.
MY LORD,
I beg to submit a series of tables, working out in detail the total
production of the Punjab, for the year 1876-7.
My objects in troubling your Lordship are as follows:-
In 1876 I read some påpers on the Poverty of India before the
Bombay Branch of the East India Association of London. These
papers are published in the Journals of the Association, and I send
herewith a copy. At pages 237 to 239* I have explained how the mode
of taking the averages adopted in the various Administration Reports
of India, was quite wrong. When preparing my Papers on the Poverty
of India, I had not sufficient time to work out all the averages for all
the Provinces in detail. I have now worked out in detail the averages
of all the production Tables of the Administration Report of the Punjab
for 1876-7. I request now that the different Governments in India
may be directed to supply their tables of production, as fully as are
prescribed by the Statistical Committee of Calcutta, that the averages
may be correctly taken, as I have done in the enclosed tables, and that
in addition to the tables prescribed, may also be given a summary of the
total agricultural production like the one given at page 21 of my tables,
a summary of the whole production (agricultural, manufactures and
mines) like that at page 23, and a table of the absolute necessaries of
life for an agricultural labourer, like that at pages 26 to 28.
It is only when such complete information is furnished by the Indian
authorities, that any true conception can be formed of the actual
material condition of India from year to year, and our British rulers can
only then clearly see, and grapple with effectually, the important problem
of the material condition of India, and the best means of improving it.
I have also to solicit your Lordship to submit my tables to the Statis-
tical Department of the India Office, and to direct to oblige me by point-
ing opt any mistakes of facts or figures there may be in them.
* Pages 161 to 163 of this book.
415
In troubling your Lordship with these requests, I have no other object
than to help, as far as my humble opportunities go, to arrive at the real
truth of the actual material condition of India. For it is only natural
that without the knowledge of the whole truth on this most important
subject, all efforts, however well and benevolently intentioned, must
generally result in disappointment and failures.
I also earnestly desire and solicit that your Lordship will kindly take
into your consideration the representations I have urged in my papers on
the Poverty of India.
I remanin,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient Servant,
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF PUNJAB 1876-7.
Page 77, "Upon the whole the character of the weather during the
year 1876-7 was favourable for agriculture.”
I have taken 1 seer equal 2.057 lbs. from the Compilation entitled
"Prices of food grains throughout India-–1861-76, compiled in the
Financial Department of the Government of India-Calcutta, 1878."
The prices I have adopted are the average of the prices given in the
Report for 1st January 1876, 1st June 1876, and 1st January 1877—
the last being the latest price that is given in the Report.
For all such particulars or figures as are not given in the Report, I
have consulted a Punjab farmer, and adopted such information as he
has given me.
There are some figures in the report which are evidently some mis-
takes and are much in excess of probability. But I have not altered
them, though by retaining them as given in the report, the quantity and
value of some of the articles become much higher than what they must
most probably really be.
Excepting such mistakes, the farmer thinks the tables of the Report
give a fair representation of the produce of Punjabấthe averages being
worked out in the right way they should be, and not as they are given
in the Report, worked on a wrong principle.
416
ADMINISTRATION REPORT-PUNJAB 1876-7.
RICE.

Districts,
Acres.
Per Acre.
Total
quantity.
Price
per 1 Re.
Total value.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
720
1,152
670
var A
27,900
1,591
53,113
10,506
5,326
8,285
117,941
3,963
1,875
9,192
28,835
147,766
20,128
81,583
74,100
22,415
9,925
6,543
1,093
6,969
N
Слнил
W
I Delhi...
2 Gurgaon
3 Karnal
4 Hissar
5 Rohtak
Sirsa...
7 Umballa
8 Ludhiana ...
9 Simla
10 Jullundar ...
II Hoshiarpur ...
12 Kàngra
13 Amritsar ...
14 Gurdaspur ...
15 Sialkot ...
16 Lahore
17 Gujranwala
18 Firozepore
19 Rawalpindi
20 Jhelum
21 Gujràt
22 Shahpur
23 Mooltan
24 Jhang
25 Montgomery....
26 Mazaffargarh
27 D. I. Khan
28 D. G. Khan ...
29 Bannu
30 Peshawar ...
31 Hazára
32 Kohát
A
1371
19'2
21.94
23-31
25:37
21.94
19.88
16:45
18:51
16-45
17.82
29:48
18:51
1577
3085
30'17
19:88
20-91
12'34
11.65
17'82
2263
1371
1371
13071
our
861
920 25,668,000
1,145,520
61,186,176
7,826,970
3,568,420
869 7,199,665
880 103,788,080
1,096 4,343,448
620 1,162,500
1,085 9,973,320
752 21,683,920
415 61,322,890
974 19,604,672
755 61,595,165
1,029 76,248,900
19,299,315
759 7,533,075
795 5,201,685
1,060,210
219,719
4,083,834
782,100
7,350,000
35,687
1,145 9,011,150
8,671,656
267,736
7,182,513
110,000
9,230,550
1,152 14,139,648
1,507 1 3,558,027
Average. -
796 564,054,551
18,72,210
59,662
27,88,795
3:35,777
1,40,655
3,28,152
52,20,728
2,64,039
62,804
6,06,281
12,16,830
20,80,152
10,59,139
39,05,844
24,71,601
6,39,685
3,78,927
2,48,765
85,916
18,860
2,29,171
34,560
5,36,105
2,603
6,57,268
5,27,152
20,835
3,99,028
8,560
6,86,286
4,90,960
2,39,920
COR
970
233
990
790
ہر ہر
::::::::::::::::
.
9,800
127
7,870
10,178
1,366
14,001
125
10,325
12,274
2,361
16:45
12:85
18
12.85
1345
894
28.8
14.83
Average.
2042
Total...
708,699
276,17,270
.
I take produce of rice as 25 fold, and deduct 4 per cent. for seed. The
quantity will then become lbs. 541,492,369 and value Rs. 2,65,12,580.
Again the price of rice given in the Report is for "1st sort” only. The
medium or 2nd sort forms the bulk and there is lower sort still. 2nd
sort is generally about 75 per cent of the 1st sort. I take upon
the whole 85 per cent. The value then for the whole bulk will be
Rs. 2,25,35,693.
417
(EAT.

Districts.
Acres.
Per Acre.
Total quantity.
Price
per Re. 1
Total value.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
49°37
fet a mimo
48.68
548
732
51:08
460
LOON GUAWN Mode
49:02
557
793
159,900
132,425
113,110
39,048
99,428
56,310
296,322
137,012
3,610
269,010
349,863
144,170
263,265
325,529
197,000
368,000
203,745
241,180
424,135
480,273
268,316
199,325
186,040
161,169
263,494
201,363
176.055
156,594
262,728
232,975
100,570
97,533
Total .. 6,609,497 1
913 145,988,700
53.82
856 113,355,800
1,319
149,192,090
21,398,304 48.34
72,781,296 - 49'37
255 14,359,050 49'02
1,000 296,322,000 51-25
1,013 138,793,156
550 1,985,500 38.39
1,339 360,204,390 49:37
592 242,105,196 48.68
66,318,200 37'02
1,038
273,269,070 52:11
856 278,652,824 50°74
910 179,270,000
204,976,000 50-39
161,569,785 50.74
177,508,480 58.97
776 329,128,760
448,094,709
197,360,576 57:42
790 157,466,750 58.62
655 121,856,200
41.83
108,627,906
49937
1,252 329,894,488
53:48
1,248 251,301,024
777 136,794,735 69:42
119,794,410 44:57
523 137,406,744 88.28
139,785,000
57.47
993 99,866,010
58.97
816 79,586,928 70.89
Average.
Average.
840'4 | 5,555,014,081 | 53:48
27,12,536
22,96,046
30,64,751
4,42,662
14,74,200
2,92,922
57,81,892
27,17,172
51,719
72,96,017
49,73,401
17,91,415
52,44,081
54,91,778
36,57,078
40,67,791
31,84,268
30,10,148
47,76,905
69,52,594
34,37,139
26,86,229
29,13,129
22,00,281
61,68,558
57,27,006
19,70,537
26,87,781
15,56,487
24,32,312
16,93,505
11,22,682
736
68.9
64:45
933
21
22
736
674
43.88
765
600
10,38,75,022
I take produce of wheat 25 fold, and deduct 4 per cent. for seed. The
quantity will be lbs. 5,332,813,517, and value will be Rupees 9,97,20,021.
The price given in the report is for 1st sort only. The 2nd sort forms
the bulk, and is generally about 12 per cent. lower in price. I take
only 8 per cent. lower for the whole bulk. .
The value of the whole will then be Rs. 9,17,42,419.
418
MAKAI (INDIAN CORN).

Districts.
Price per
Per Acre, Total quantity. | Rei
Acres,
Total Value.
lbs.
lbs.
1,500
13,900
1.344
6,215
Rs.
2,89,583
26,730
1,38,748
2,596
89
465
624
66:51
24:21,538
14,16,373
41,859
21,14,604
1,544*
100.736
62,802
1,282
86,392
105,651
65,093
44:426
49,977
33,000
A w to Hoo CON Gurf W N
ноосоол
1,500
1,412*
1,500
16,535
42,428
66,392
2,423
16,507
lbs.
20,850,000 72
2,016,000
9,322,500 67:19
133:500
51:42
109,5007
699,000+
151,104,000
94,203,000
1,923,000 45.94
133,389,248 63'08
158,476,500 55-54
97,639,500 39*77
62,729,512 6514
74,965,500
53.48
49,500,000 58.28
51,225,000 65.82
24,802,500 61'02
63,642,000 81'59
99,588,000 94.62
3,634,500 64'45
24:760,500 68.57
1,326,000 63-08
213,000 50'05
3,475,500 65.82
3.768,000 49'37
25:500
90-85
45,000T
55,603,500 12427
120,813,000 84.42
297,037:500 95-09
19:380,000 97.92
Average.
196,118.760
1,430,281,500 ħ add for
-853,500 lbs.
1,626,400,260
24,55,104
9,62,995
14,01,748
8,49,450
7.78,258
4:06,465
7,80,022
10,52,504
56,392
3,61,098
21,020
4,255
52,803
76,321
884
142
2,317
17
280
CON
O
www
N
30
37,069
80,542
198,025
12,920
Average.
* 130,818 | 1,499.17
953,521 1,500
4,47,441
14:31,094
31,23.751
1,97,916
2:37.64.323
12,478
OX
LS
Total... 1,084,339
2:37:76,801
For makai I take 50 fold and therefore deduct 2 per cent. for seed.
The total quantity will then be lbs. 1,593,872,255, and value will be
Rs. 2,33,01,265.
OD
* In the report crop per acre is given for 2 districts only marked *. The
average for these two, viz. 1499·17-say 1,500 lbs. is applied to all other districts
by me.
Ť No price is given in the report for the 3 districts marked t. The arerage of
the others, viz .68.4 lbs., is applied to these.
419
Jow (Barley).

Acres.
Districts.
Price per
Per Acre. Total quantity.
Total value.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
7302
69 94
72:68
8365
75:42
108.33
72
56:39
*856
50*74
7542
II
76079
*250
52:11
84:34
503
63.08
83.65
61,290
197,145
29,856
30,312
42,353
101,408
35,787
106,202
3,134
25,211
21,602
56,831
36,509
123,635
122,000
57,181
64,082
195,298
43,383
17,879
67,094
15,657
11,832
6,083
21,802
10,987
19,203
5,925
26,282
238,161
70,079
10,014
30,828,870
99,163,935
15,017,568
15,246,936
21,303,559
51,008,224
18,000,861
53:419,606
1,576,402
21,580,616
10,865,806
14,207,750
18,364,027
62,188,405
61,366,000
28,762,043
32,233,246
98,234,894
21,821,649
8,993,137
33,748,282
7,875,471
9,465,600
3,059,749
10,966,406
7,460,173
9,659,109
2,980,275
13,219,846
119,794,983
35,249.737
5,037,042
82.96
88:45
4,22,197
14,17.842
2,06,625
1,82,270
2,82,465
4,70,859
2,50,011
6,18,354
31,068
2,86,139
1,41,500
272.649
2,17,738
9,85,865
7:33,604
3,46.697
3.64,423
9,81,367
2,81,642
1,18,159
4,10,163
1,00,760
1,58,685
40,938
1,56,797
1,23,635
1,02,451
• 49,325
98,876
11,48,561
342,296
46,092
*800
503
*679
W
100'I
77.48
76:11
82'28
78.16
59:65
74.74
69 94
60'34
94.28
60:42
13397
104'30
102.98
109'28
Average.
82°76
29
30
31
32
.
Total... 1,874,217
942,700,207
1,13,90,053
For barley I take 16 fold. Deducting for seed 1/16th, the total
quantity will be lbs. 883,781,444—and the value will be Rs. 1,06,78,175.
* Crop per acre is given for only these 4 districts, the average of which for
104,861 acres is 503 lbs., and this average is applied to all the other districts for
1,769,356 acres.
420
GRAM.

Districts.
Acres.
Price per motal value.
Per Acre. Total quantity.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
645
*
* 620
On aura w Nba
* 680
645
57,500
101,184
119,935
76,534
119,240
37,762
175,094
171,984
37,087,500
62,734,080
81,555,800
49,364,430
94,199,600
515,104
875,562
11,27,395
615,363
12,05,214
236,815
14,83,847
14,25,464
*
112,935,630
72
71.65
72'34
80'22
78.16
102:85
76'11
77.82
51'08
73-37
61'02
51:08
84
73-37
74'05
89.82
v
19
* 1,233
645
* 290
* 1,394
Ohod mimo NO CO
65,158
46,324
370,802
103,350
31,347
21,500
171,216
31,682
255,898
38,263
34,115
83 65
26.68
7679
65.14
3,225
80,339,814
29,878,980
107,532,580
144,069,900
20,218,815
13,867,500
110,434,320
20,434,890
165,054,210
24,679,635
22,004,175
22,399,560
15,361,965
5,420,580
7,756,770
52,642,320
24,622,618
7,689,690
1,264,845
15,168.582
610,815
143,190
1,279,680
21
68
10,94,995
4,89,658
21,05,179
17,15,117
2,75,573
1,87,272
12,29,507
2,44,290
17,07,221
3,21,391
3,37,798
3,08,194
2,07:453
94,682
1,05,721
6,79,431
4,43,331
80,833
26,494
1,42,722
13,866
2,320
18,187
22
urA co
74'05
57-25
73-37
77.48
23:817
8,404
12,026
81,616
12,679
11,922
1,961
53,037
947
222
1,984
* 1,942
645
* 286
645
55.54
95-13
47.74
106-28
n
M بیا در برا
Abend
o
61.71
70'36
Average.
Average.
Total...... 2,272,236
645 | 1,466,041,869
7589 1
1,93,16,062
*
-
I
.
-.-
.
I take gram 30 fold. Deducting for seed accordingly, the
total quantity will be lbs. 1,417,173,807, and the value will be
Rs. 1,86,72,194.
* Crop per acre is given for these districts only. The average from them is
applied to others, viz. 645 lbs.
421
INFERIOR GRAINS (as noted below.)f

Price
Per Acre./Total quantity.Iper i Re.l
Distri
Acres.
Total
value.
lbs.
522
40:11
10
.
O
un
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
114,677
59,861,394 66.85 8,95,458
404,175 447 180,666,225 66 27,37,367
196,787 521 102,526,027 64.79 15,82,436
1,256,158 393 493,670,094 76.79 | 64,28,833
441,437 412 181,872,044 64879 28,07,100
680,225 118 80,266,550 104.39 7,68,910
195,893 680 133,207 240 66.16 20,13,410
214,111 1,355 290,120,405 68:91 42,10,135
3,406 520 1,771,120)
44,156
165,767 395 65,477,965 62'05 10,55,245
I11,933
685 76,674,105 58:41 13,12,687
30,366 362 10,992,49271
71,937 590 42,442,830 67.88 6,25,262
154,306
648 99,990,288 48 20,83,1:31
94,070 745 70,082,150 65'14 / 10,75,869
141,579 374 52,950,546 69.94 1 7,57,085
123,515 449 55,458,235 6445 8,60,484
477,728 608 290,458,624 82:11 | 35,37.433
287,941 554 159,519,314 ! 92:91 17,16,923
209,379 722 151,171,638.. 70-28 | 21,50.990
21 239.640 632 151,452,480 80:91 | 18,71,863
22 68,819 I100 75,700,900 66:16 | 11,44,209
98,847 468 46,260,396 51:08 9,05,646
218 12,093,332 6017 | 2,00,986
43.823.738 55:54 17,89,048
76,969
53,339,517 49:37 10,80,403
43,618
21,154,730 89:13 2,37,346
178,113 640 113,992.,320 54.17 1.21,04,344
56,541,568 | 11142 5,07,463
107,183
58,950,650 1 5948 9,91,100
52,074 960 49,991,040 74:05 6,75,098
69,465 770 53,488,050 | 112:28 | 4,76,380
Average.
Average.
Total... 6,534,963 510-5 / 3,335:968,007 / 69878 4,76,46,800 for * for
Add 1,57,530) which
price is
4,78,04,330 || not given,
20
6
105,488
wwwNN
536
550
.
-
x
x
...
8
X
X
Seed required per acre.
+ Joár per acre 40 lbs.
Bájri ...
Kangni
China...
Moth...
Matter
Mash ..
Mung
Masur
Arhar
X
for acres.)
2,221,535 | The total of the products of these
2,339.796 =168,694,604, divided by the total
58,434 | 6,534,963 of acres, will give an aver-
74,842 | age of 26 lbs. per acre of seed for
982,208 } a crop of average 510 lbs.—say 20
106,865 | fold. Deducting then 5 per cent.
213.465 | for seed, the total quantity will be
263,324 | lbs. 3,169,169,607 and total value
187,544 | will be Rs. 4:54:14,114.
86,950)
X
X
X
X
X
6,534,963
422
It should be noted that the prices of Jowár, Bájrá, Másh, Mung and
Arhar are nearly the same generally, but of the remaining 5 kinds of
grain, via. Moth, Kangni, China, Matter and Masur, the prices are
generally nearly 25 per cent. lower. The prices I have used in the
table are as given in the Report for Jáwar and Bájrá only—though the
acreage of the lower priced grains is 1,409,893 acres out of 6,534,963
acres, or above 20 per cent. If the allowance for the lower price of the
5 kinds of grains mentioned above were made, the value will evidently be
much lower than I have given above. It requires also to be noted that
out of the inferior grains a portion goes for the feed of animals in about
the following proportions :-
A
CD
Grain
Proportion for
animal's use.
Proportion for
human use.
*
..
...
...
...
...
Bájrá
Jowár
Moth
Másh
also Jow
Gram
..
X
X
· So that out of the total acreage of grains of all the above kinds, viz.
Gram
Bájrá
2,339,796 x 1 = 6,000,512 acres are for
Jovár
2,221,535 x | animal use, or nearly three-
Jow
1,874,217 x fifths of the total acres
Moth
... 982,208 x 3 9,903,457.
Mash
213,465 x
X
WACOALCOCO okol
X
X
X
9,903,457
And out.of the whole acreage of all kinds of grains, i.e. 19,083,971
acres, about 30 per cent. is used for producing food for animals.
423
POPPY (Opium).
Districts. Acres. Per Acre.
Total
quantity.

lbs.
lbs.
3,620
65,160
69
244
w
732
Opel
578
163
. 4,617
ów
16,663
278
til
140
770
147
263
3,850
1,470
o
336
2,182
800 Foő año our
m
795
1,134
5,040
21,820
150
270
846
440
184
10,700
erilo
201
1,638
182
Average.
Total...
12,348
135,710 for 10,842 acres.
12:51 add 18,840 , 1,506 „
for which no crop per
acre is given, at 12:51
( average.
154,550 » 12,348
Government pay Rs. 5 per seer or Rs. 2; per lb. to the producer.
The total value will therefore be Rs. 3,86,375.
The additional value at which Government sells opium is a part of
the national income as it is chiefly paid by, a Foreign country as profit
of trade, and therefore (as I have done in my "Poverty of India") the
net opium Revenue will have to be added to the total production of the
country. The particular provinces only from which this revenue is
derived, viz. Bengal, Bombay and other opium producing places, cannot
be credited with this income. It belongs to the whole nation, as every
place is not quite free to cultivate opium,
424
TOBACCO.

Districts.
Acres.
Per acre.
Total quan- | Price per
tity. Re. I
Total value.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
5:14
14:4
co
16:45
16:45
16:45
14'4
12'34
27:25
9:5
24:68
19:88
II
13
14
1234
18:51
16:45
:
917
7,472
6,635,136
2,424
1,454,400
481,425
1,636,584
951,414
323,850
2,610,160
1,550
1,433,750
. 4,230
2,793
4,359,873
3,782
1,733 6,554,206
776
532 412,832
2,169 984 2,134,296
3,973 1,040 4,131,920
5,785
5,304,845
3,460
461 1,595,060
3,259 669 2,180,271
3,827,229
1,380
1,490,400
492,624
593 1,416,677
1,700 1,424,600
1,839 656 1,206,384
1,173
961,860
851
1,042 886,742
762,840
2,029
1,247,835
783
579,420
393,240
1,250
1,100,000
12,960
3,307 846 2,797,722
- Average. -
71,867
60,804785
16:45
16:45
17:14
13'03
12,90,882
1,01,000
29,266
99,488
57,836
23,489
2,11,520
52,614
440
1,76,656
3,29,688
33,454
1,15,305
2,51,180
3,22,483
96,964
1,27,203
2,93,724
90,601
27,628
1,14,803
1,15,445
1,85,312
· 77,946
53,872
50,552
98,409
79,590
19,089
50,343
726
2,55,033
5,879
1,080
16:45
792
Nvuvw
615
17.83
12:34
12:34
6.51
1234
16:46
15'09
12:68
7.28
206
21.85
17.83
10'97
Average.
12:58
452
740
880
30
31
480
324
Total...
846
48,32,541
No deduction is made for nursery or seed. The average of 12.58 lbs.
per rupee is rather a high price. It is considered, 12 seers or 24 lbs.
per Rupee would be nearer the average. I have, as above, kept the
Report's price, though it is considered so high.
* The produce per acre for these is not given in the report. I have applied
the average of the other districts, viz, 846 lbs. to these.
425
TURMERIC.
Neither produce per acre, nor price is given in the Report. I take 10
maunds for green, which gives 2 maunds dry or 164 ibs. dry per acre.
The price is taken say 10 ibs. per 1 Rupee.
4130 acres x 164 ibs. = 677,320 ibs.--at ibs. 10 per rupee =Rs. 67,732..
CORIANDER SEED.
As above neither produce per acre nor price is given in the Report,
I take as follows :-
Acres 6934 x 330 lbs. dry per acre = 2,288,220 ibs. at 16 ibs. per
Rupee=Rs. 1,43,014.
GINGER.
As above.
· 286 acres x 205 ibs. per acre (dry)=58,630 lbs. at 7 tbs. per Rupee
=Rs. 8376.
CHILLIES
Produce per acre given for 4 districts only, viz :-
The average of 808 lbs. is
ibs. applied to the rest. The
No. 2 acres 774x600 lbs. .= 464,400) total quantity then is
611x410 „ = 250,510 | 19,003,502 iħs. of green
3,604 x 924 „ = 3,330,096 crop. Dry quantity will
30
77 x640 „ = 49,280 $ be one-fifth or 3,800,700
- Average. - -- ibs. and at 8 lbs. per Rupee,
Total... 5,066 808 4,094,286 the value will be
Add for 18,452@, 14,909,216 ) Rs. 4,75,100.
23,518
19,003,502
OTHER KINDS OF DRUGS AND SPICES.
These are chiefly Ajmá, Bádián, Jeree, and Sowá. Neither produce
per acre nor price is given in the Report. I take as follows:--
Acres 35,074 at 330 lbs. per acre=11,574,420 lbs. at average of
14 lbs. per Rupee, Rs. 8,26,744.
13
18
JUU
426
OIL SEEDS.

Districts.
Acres. Per Acre
Total quan-
tity.
lbs.
lbs.
I
10,260
11,506
13,018
21,582
12,304
79,160
27,229
11,172
297
715
310
gun WNhd
582
408
11,392
25,911
18,442
35,996
24,923
23,806
81,894
17,952
70,315
69,294
60,169
50,375
293 3,006,180. The price of these seeds is not given in the
237 2,726,922 Report.
500 6,509,000 | I take as follows :-
242 5,222,844 Linseed and ( Rs. 3 per maund or 27 lbs.
3,654,288 Sarso
per Re. I.
* 80 6,332,800 Til seed, Rs. 4 per maund or 20 lbs. per Re. 1.
560 15,248,240 Taramira, Rs. 21 per maund or 32 lbs. per
668 7,462,896
Re. 1.
The quantity of these seeds is about in
8,145,280 proportion of 55 per cent. of Linseed & Sarso.
8,032,410
15 , 2 Til.
352 6,491,584
Taramira.
20,949,672 The price then 'will be
10,168,584
lbs.
777
18,497,262 55 per cent. by 27=1,485) Average 27'45.
260 | 21,292,440 | 15 per cent. by 20= 300 lbs. per Re, I.
307 15,511,264 | 30 per cent, by 32= 960)
601 | 42,259,315
311 21,550,434 Taking 27 lbs. per Re. I, the total value
481 28,941,289 will be Rs. 1,22,83,423.
291 | 14,659,125
For seed,
3,534,000
per acre.
462 4,407,942
Linseed...6 lbs)
Average
875,196 Sarso ...8 , ) by 55 per cent..!
| 13,869,252 | Till ....... 6,
7.15 lbs.
by 15 2 I per acre..
7,042,464 Taramira 8 ,. by 30
8,194,240
492 10,072,716 Taking 7 lbs. of seed required per acre-
136 544,544 for produce of 392 lbs. gives 56 fold. Den
460 | 13,912,240 | ducting 56th part, the total quantity will
533 | 11,195,665 | become lbs. 325,730,071, and total value will
251 | 1,342,348 | become Rs. 1,20,64,076.
Average.
392 331,652,436
O
· 4,712
750
OWN
252
288
464
9,541
3,473
29,076
24,453
17,660
20,473
4;004
30,244
31 21,005
32 5,348
Total 846,689
30
* This evidently is some mistake. It may be 280.
427
COTTON.

Districts.
Acres.
Per
Acre.
Total quan.
tity.
Price per Total value.
Re. Il
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
186
164
6:51
6:51
24,565
47,855
21,510
20,323
49,073
77
27,332
11,488
4,569,090
7,848,220
3,011,400
1,768,101
3:435,110
6:43
6.17
7.2
7,01,857
12,05,563
4,68,336
2,86,564
4,77,098
. 798
3,10,395
1,54,019
4:928
6:17
un
1,967,904
976,480
6*34
6:34
IL
5:49
129
5:49
N NaN NU
6:17
vourAWN OO 009 auAWN
128
26,093
122
24,420
6,733
23,597
37,474
11,425
25,305
3,3,376
9,680
33,745
25;557
24,716
26,029
16,550
16,881
15,838
29,632
11,175
29739
7,544
16,468
8,280 1001
6,396 I21
Average
668,876 105
3,183.346 5-14
3,321,120
148,126
5.14
1,510,208 565
1,873,700 514
742,625 5.65
3,492,090 5:49
4:305:504
1,529,440
· 4:319,360 4:46
3;117,954
1,062,788
1,301.450 549
1,357,100 5965
1,468,647 5*27
2,359,862 531
3,674,368
1,285,125
2,498,076 5.7
550.712 5:36
1,729,140 5:23
828,000 4'II
773,916 4:41
-Average
70,013,890 | 5.66
6,19,328
6,04,940
28,818
2,67,293
3,64,533
1,31,438
6,36,082
7,84,244
2,47,883
9,68,466
5,91,642
2,29,543
2,37,058
2,40,194
2,78,680
4,44,418
6,12,394
2,14,187
4,38,259
1,02,744
3,30,619
2,01,460
1,75,491
149
I 24
* 105
Total..
1,23,54,344
The average of 105 lbs. per acre is evidently too high. 80 lbs. will be
nearer the mark. If so, the above quantity and value are nearly 361
per cent. above the right quantity and value.
Very probably some of the figures of produce per acre are for unclean-
ed or seed cotton. The report uses the word "cotton” only in the
column of produce per acre, while in the column for prices it uses the
words - Cotton (cleaned).”
* The produce per acre for this is not given in the Report. The average of the
others (652,408 acres) is applied to this.
428
HEMP.

Districts.
Acres.
Per Acre. |
Total
quantity. I
Price lbs. Total
per Re. 1. 1 value Rs.
lbs.
lbs.
head
2,100
* 1,158
116
516
450
in
465
220
305
398
1,085
2,788
16,146
1,619
1,637
3,655
6,424
5,263
1,002
1,622
3,205
537
355
1,649
417
203
2,431,800
59,856
The prices are not given
in the Report.
488,250
426,564 pared fibre as 20 lbs. per
7,507,890
Rupee. The value of
18,770,866 lbs. at 20 lbs.
356,180
per Rupee will be
499,285 | Rs. 9,38,543.
1,454,690
1,233,408
1,642,056
444,888
570,944
567,285
164:322
144,130
359,482
50,040
73,080
277:706
192
312
444
352
177
w
a
un
306
406
218
120
360
286
250
500
† 25
366
9,150
9,360
240
Average
366
Total...
51,260
18,770,866
In the Report the figures of crop per acre are given under the head-
ing “Fibres." In the columns per acres cultivated '-Cotton and
Hemp are given under the heading of “Fibres ;" and as produce per
acre of cotton is given separately, the produce per acre under the
heading “ Fibres” applies to Hemp.
* This is apparently a mistake. The figure is too high,
† The crop per acre for this district being not given in the Report, I have given
it the average 366.
429
KASSAMBA (Saflower).
Neither produce per acre nor price is given in the Report. I take
40 lbs. per acre of dry prepared stuff—and price 21 lbs. per Re. 1.
Acres 24,708 by 40 lbs. = 988,320 at 21 lbs. per Re. 1, gives
Rs. 3,95,328.
.
INDIGO.

Districts.
Acres,
Per Acre.
Total
quantity.
Price lbs.
per Re. 1.
Total
value Rs.
lbs.
lbs.
100
3,000
5,600
56
The price is not given
17,640
nas 12 per lb. which will
give the total value to be
Rs. 30,53,205.
*
*
588
785
1,526
1,798
2,467
1,162
111,476
87,351
30,914
51,128
624
4,747
1,959,464
26
75,364
58
160
20,603
23,999
29
1,030,150
695,971
3,998,283
Total...
Average.
72,658
3144
* ada
129,465
4,070,941
* For these (2,311 acres) produce per acre is taken of the average for the
others, viz. 31:44.
430
VEGETABLES.

Districts.
Acres.
Per Acre
Total Price
quantity. per Re. 11
Total value.
Ibs.
Ibs.
lbs.
Rs.
11,700
43.88
*
9,387
39*77
3,485
920
Onu
"3,495
7,560
na hasa
7.731
IL
12,67,322
19,55,625
1,01,107
5:75;146
1,22,658
'1,17,308
4,65,967
11,91,006
551
13,39,607
5,17,905
6,30,684
19.84,776
11.76,553
4,33,272
11,06,593
68.10,761
2,61,686
5,47,564
5:58,937
36,14:920
6,551
15,175
6,790
27043
4,753
55,610, 100
*6,000
56,322,000
28.8
4,753 4,021,030
16,564,205 28.8
4,372,7601 35.65
3,217,781 27:43
16,611,735 35.65
35:932,6801 30:17
33,271 60-34
36,745,443 2743
17,044,258 32.91
31,136:903 49:37
72,1 26,775 36'34
32,272,870
14,259,000 3291
27,310,7381 24:68
270,863.964 39977
* 2,015 8,612,110 32'91
4,753 22,148,980 40-45
17,628,877 3154
104,109,712
28.8
52,625,216
138,972,967
110,283,8591 20:57
6,763,519 27043
14,710,535 21.25
3,816,659 33:42
3,773,882
20:57
19,734,456
45625
17,258,1431 32-05
2,842,294 45.25
2,847,047.31.45
Average
Average
4,753 1,220,573,777 30*98
56,988
* 4,274
4,660
3,709
21,904
11,072
29,239
23,203
1,423
3,095
803
N
26'74
CON aur A W
51,97,194
53,61,393
2,46,574
6,92,260
.. 1,14,202
1,83,465
4,36,120
5:38,475
62,813
90,526
lbs.
3,77,02,970 for 1,167,948,561
O
4,16
3,631
598
32
599
Total.
256,800 1
-.
.
.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The prices I have taken above are given in the Report for potato
only—and the average comes to say 31 lbs. per Re. 1. This is a higli
average price. The average price of potato will be nearer 60 than
31 lbs. I take however the average of 31 lbs.
* Produce per acre is given for vegetables for these two districts only, and the
average of these viz., 4,753, is applied to all others.
431
D
Now out of the vegetables grown, about one-eighth only will be potato
and seven-eighths other kind of general vegetables.
This will give, out of lbs. 1,220,573,777-seven-eighths of general
vegetables=lbs. 1,068,002,055.
• The price of vegetables is not given in the Report. It may be taken
as 11 maunds per Re. 1 or 124 lbs., say 100 lbs. per Re. 1—which will
give the total value of vegetables to be about Rs. 1,06,80,020.
Again the average of 4,753 lbs. is of vegetables, but potato will be
only about 30 maunds or lbs. 2,460 per acre, and as potato will be about
{th of the acreage planted with vegetables, or about 32,100 acres, the
total quantity of potato will be 32,100 x 2,460=78,966,000 lbs. This
at the price of 31 lbs. per Re. 1 will give Rs. 25,47,290.
I make no deduction for seed potato, or seed for vegetables.
TEA.
The produce per acre is given for 1 district only. But the Report at
page 78 takes the general average to be the same, viz. 96 lbs. The
price is not given. I take 3 lbs. per Re. 1.
Districts. Acres.
75
12
7,985
19 468
30
356
Total...
8,884 x 96 lbs. = lbs. 852,864--at 3 lbs. per Re. 1, will
give Rs. 2,84,288.
132
SUGAR.

Districts.
Acres.
Per
Acre.
Total
quantity.
Ist sort
Price per Total value.
Re. 1.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
**1,500
34,881
1,125
14,309
646
5:49
6.68
7:03
95,30,328
1,08,795
34
52,321,500
726,750
9,243,614
$ 21,964
21,527,304
2,334
7,151,200
9,518,400
33,324
=
26,44;631
* s
* 389
ܩܩ ܩ ܞ ܂
368
25,540
14,400
* 280
* 661
တံ တံ
12,26,620
13,87,521
*
*
* 294
ܩ ܩ ܩ
360
ܩܩ ܩ ܩinf ܩܵܟܐ
un coco novou
Obave
22
43,963
23,344,353
35,85,922
42,015
25,082,955
38,52,988
8,139
4,020,666
6,25,297
36,579
23,630,034
33,23,492
41,375
14:895,000
26,36,283
29,009 646 18,739,814
28,78,619
2,527
1,632,442
2,88,927
26,625
17,199.750
25,27,743
1,916
785,560
1,30,926
1,538,126
2,42,606
414
267,444
45,873
7,221
4,765,860
7,32,082
1,312
I 847,552
2,406,996
3,90,112
67,860
11,482
113
: 72,998
11,831
4,355
2,813,330 5.83 4,82,560
56,848
5.65 10,061
35,530
6,793
5,443
3,516,178 5'361 6,56,003
9,914
6.404,444
10,53,362
561
362,406 549 66,022
20
12,920 5.74
2,250
Average
Average-
for lbs.
391,630) 646 | 253,012,132) 634 / 3,97,74,378 252,142,616 ex.
cluding the 2 quantities marked [
3:726
6:17
5'91
i
6:17
n
88
55
5:23
ноооо
6.08
22
Total.
* For these districts only is the produce per acre given in the Report. I have
applied the average of these to others.
† This is evidently a mistake. Though other districts, such as Ludhiana (8) are
better than Delhi-and while 661 lbs. is considered a fair average for Ludhiana, 1,500
for Delhi cannot be correct. It is more likely 500 than 1,500. If 500 be adopted
the average will become 487 instead of 6:46 lbs. And it is also considered,
that an average of about 489 will be near the mark. I have allowed the figure 1,500
to remain, though this increases the average above 487 lbs, nearly 32 per cent.
433
The average price, as obtained on the basis of the prices given in
the Report, is, for “1st sort” or what is called Misri. But there are
different qualities of sugar, viz. Gol, Red Sugar, ordinary 2nd sort sugar,
and best or 1st sort sugar. Taking the price of 1st sort as averaging
6 lbs. per Rupee, the prices of the other kinds are :-
Gol ....... 24 lbs. per Rupee Of these the first two form nearly
Red Sugar ... 16 ,
rds and the last two form rd
Ordinary and 7 ,
of the whole quantity.
1st sort ... 6
, ) Taking in this ratio we get
3rds at 20 lbs.=131 1or 151 or say 15 lbs. per Rupee.
frd 67, - 235
The whole quantity, being 253,012,132 lbs., will at 15 lbs. per Rupee
give the total value Rs. 1,68,67,475.
For seed, to deduct cane equal to 40 lbs. of sugar per acre.
This gives 16 fold, and taking the higher average of 646 lbs., I
deduct say 6 per cent.
The whole quantity is then lbs. 237,831,405.
And the whole value is then Rs. 1,58,55,427.
If, as I have pointed out above, the average of Delhi (1) were taken
500 lbs. instead of 1,500 lbs., which would make the average produce of
the whole of the Punjab 487 lbs. instead of 646, the above quantity
and value will prove some 30 per cent. higher than they should be.
It may be noted here, that the Report itself makes the average 449
lbs. only, on the fallacious principle of simply adding up and dividing
by the number of districts, while when properly calculated the figure
should be 646 instead of 449. This is an instance of how misleading
and incorrect the averages are as they are generally calculated in the
Administration Reports.
28
28
.
434

Summary of Produce of all Districts.
Produce.
Acres.
Total quantity.
Average per Acre.
Total value.
Average price per Re. 1
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
lbs.
541,492,369
20:42
53:48
6804
69978
75-89
2.Rs. per lb
I paid by Govt.
Rice ...
Wheat...
Makai (Indian corn)
Jow (Barley)...
Gram ... ...
Inferior grains
Poppy (Opium)
Tobacco ...
Turmeric ...
Coriander seed
Ginger... ...
Chillies
Other kinds drugs and spices
Oil seeds
Cotton...
708,699
6,609,497
1,084,339
1,874,217
2,272,236
6,534,963
12,348
71,867
4,130
6,934
286
23,518
35,074
846,689
668,876:
51,260
24,708
129,465
256,800
8,884
391,630
796
8404
1500
503
645
510-5
12'51
846
164 (dry)
330 99
205
$808 (green)
161.6 (dry)
330
392
105
5,332,813,517
1,593,872,255
883,781,444
1,417,173,8c7
3,169,169,607
154,550
60,804,785
677,320
2,288,220
58,630
3,800,700 (dry)
11,574,420
325,730,071
70,013,890
18,770,866
988,320
4,070,941
1.,068,002,055
78,966,000
852,864
237,831,405
2,25,35,693
9,17,42,419
2,33,01,265
1,06,78,175
1,86,72,194
4,54,14,114
3,86,375
48,32,541
67,732
1,43,014
8,376
4,75,100
8,26,744
1,20,64,076
1,23,54,344
9,38,543
3,95,328
30,53,205
1,06,80,020
25,47,290
2,84,288
1,58,55,427
...
5'66
366
20
25
Kassamba (Safflower)
Indigo ...
Vegetables
Tea ..
Sugar ...
40 (dry)
31:44
4753
2460
96
646
100 Green vegetables.
31 Potato.
Average of 4
15 1 qualities.
Total...
21,616,420
27,72,56,263
435
Manufactures.
Goods.
Value given in the
Report.
Deduct for raw Material already calculated and
included in the produce, or imported and
paid from produce.
Balance
representing
labour.
Rs.
:
Say half for Material (imported)
1 40°% per 1 2
9,81,024
70,02,222
1
20°%
·
·
1,28,315
39,641
1
25%
:
14,42,044
Silks ...
Cottons
Wool ...
Fibres...
Paper ...
Wood ...
Iron .. ...
Brass and Copper ...
Building
Leather
Gold and Silver lace
Dyeing ...
Oil ... ... ..
Shawls ... .
Other Manufactures
Rs.
19,62,049
1,75,05,556
9,42,329
6,41,578
1,58,565
67,28,686
43,26,132
6,38,573
43,22,867
63,21,802
56,27,054
7,38,926
12,45,966
8,96,507
30,81,205
, 3rd
» 400%.
..
..
,
2,55,429
Rs.
9,81,024
1,05,03,334
9,42,329
5,13,263
1,18,924
67,28,686
28,84,088
3,83,144
43,22,867
63,21,802
18,75,685
7,38,926
6,22,983
8,21,798
30,81,205
4,08,40,058
:
37,51,370
:
:
frd
Material not stated.
frd or say i Material
ryth Material imported
Not described
„
»
6,22,983
"
:
74,709
:
Total......
436
MINES.
We
There is no clear statement of the value of the produce of Mines
given in this Report. The chief article is Salt. The report does not
give any account of the cost of Salt.
Parl. Return No. 176 of 1878 gives (page 30) “The quantity
manufactured, excavated or purchased” daring the year (1876-77) as
Maunds 1,795,956. In the statistics published by the Government of
India (1875) at Calcutta-part III., page 79, it is said “ Since 4th July
1870, one anna per maund has been charged as the cost price of the salt
in addition to the duty." At this rate the above production of Salt,
viz. Maunds 1,795,956 will cost Rs. 1,12,247. Duty is paid from the
produce of the country.
For other minerals I can get no estimate. I roughly and as a very
outside estimate put down the whole product of mines at Rs. 3 lacs.
STOCK.
S
I am unable to make any estimate of the annual addition to stock
during the year. All that portion however which is used for
agricultural or manufacturing purposes need not be estimated, as its
labour, like that of the agriculturer and the manufacturer himself, is
included in the agricultural or manufacturing produce. The portion of
the annual produce or addition, which is used for other than agricultural
and manufacturing purposes, such as carriage and food and milk, needs
to be added to the production of the year. Though I cannot estimate
this, still it will not matter much, for, as I have shown in the table for
inferior grains, a certain portion of them goes in the feed of animals---
and as this portion supplies the feed of the whole stock that requires
grain, and not merely that of the annual addition, the non-estimate of
that portion of the annual addition to the stock which is used for
carriage and for food may be more than covered by the value of the
grain used for animals. Moreover, as I also give a margin upon the
total estimate for any omission, any such item will be fully provided for.
Summary of the total production of Punjab.
Value.
Agricultural Produce ... ... ... ... Rs. 27,72,56,263
Manufactures
... » 4,08,40,058
Mines
...» 3,00,000
...
Rs. 31,83,96,321
437
In order to meet any omissions (fish, &c.) I allow a further margin
of above 31 crores of Rupees, making say the whole produce of Punjab
35} crores of Rupees, or at 28. per Re. = £35,330,000, which, for a
for the year 1876-7.
The approximate estimate I had made out for the year 1867-8 in my
paper on The Poverty of India was 49s, 5d., showing that either my
calculation for the year 1867-8 was too high or the production of the
province has diminished in value. The truth most likely is between
both.
At all events unless any error of importance is pointed out, it seems
clearly established that the value of the production of one of the best
Provinces of India is Rs. 20 per head per annum at the outside.
FOOD PRODUCE.
GRAIN.
Total Quantity.
lbs.
Rice ... ooo
Wheat
Makai (Indian corn)
Jow (Barley)
Gram ...
Inferior grains
... 541,492,369
5,332,813,517
1,593,872,255
883,781,444
.... 1,417,173,807
... 3,169,169,607
1
X
Quantity raised
Total... 12,938,302,999
for animals. about
Gram lbs. 1,417,173,807x1=
708,586,903
Jow , 883,781,444 x3
662,836,083
Jowár acres 2,221,535 x =1,481,023 lbs. per
Bájrá 1 2,339,796 x1=1,169,898 acre less
Moth , 982,208x2= 736,656 seed
Másh , 213,465 x = 71,155|(510-26)
X
X
ro os OT
X
X
X
ساعات مداحامراد
Total...3,458,732 x 484=1,674,026,288
Total...3,045,449,274
Balance remaining for lo
9,892,853,725
human use.
Or 562 lbs. per annum or lb. 1 oz. 8:65 per day per head for a
population of 17,600,000.
438
Even taking the whole quantity of grain as for human use and thus
not allowing any portion at all for animals (which would of course not
be right to do) the quantity per annum will be 735 lbs. or 2 lbs, per day
per head.
In the value I have calculated for grain, I have taken the whole grain,
1. e. including the portion for animals.
VEGETABLES.
General Vegetables.*
Total quantity 1,068,002,055 lbs. gives 60.7 lbs. per annum or 2.66 oz.
per day per head.
POTATO.
Total quantity 78,966,000 lbs. gives 4:48 lbs. per annum or .2 oz.
per day per head.
Rs.
LAND REVENUE OF THE PRINCIPAL PROVINCES
OF INDIA FOR 1875-6.*
Revenue. Population. Revenue
per head.
Rs. a. p.
Bengal poo ooo
3,77,65,067 60,502,897 0 10 0
Punjab ..
2,00,15,260 17,611,498 1 2 2
N. W. Provinces ... 4,24,57,444 30,781,204 1 6 03
Madras
4,54,50,128 31,672,613 16 11
Bombay (including
Sind) ...
3,69,43,563 : 16,302,173 2 4 3
* I have taken 1875-6, for, on account of the Famines in the Bombay and
Madras Presidencies in the year 1876-7, a comparison for the year 1876-7 will be
an unfair one.
439
Cost of absolute Necessaries of life of an agricultural labourer.-(Punjab, 1876-7.)
FOOD
Quantity per
Items.
Quantity | Price for
for 1 year. Re. 1.
day.
Cost for
1 year.
Remarks.
I
91
v
ca o come
45
Salt
I 02.
II
WHN
I
19
IL
Seers,
Seers.
Seers. Rs. a.
Flour
365
25
The price in the Report is 20 seers for 1st sort; I have taken
25 per cent. lower price for lower quality.
Rice
The price in the Report is 10 seers for ist sort; I take 30
per cent. lower price for inferior quality.
Dal
The price in Report is 16 seers ; I take it 12 per cent, lower.
The price of the Report—which is Government sale price.
Ghee
The price in the Report is less then 2 seers.
In taking 3 seers, I lower it above 50 per cent., or rather to the
price of oil.
The quantity 1 oz. is also rather low for a Punjabee,
Condiment ...12 pies worth.
3 13 )
Tobacco ... ... 12
These are regarded as under the mark.
"
Vegetables ...I 19
Total..
37 2 With
Without any meat, sugar, milk or any drink or any kind of
| luxury whatever.
WOMAN.
All the above items will be nearly the same, except tobacco. Deducting tobacco, it will be Rs. 34-2 as., say Rs. 32.

w
del NW
14
2 MORE MEMBERS IN A FAMILY.
1 Young person, say between 12 and 18--Say Rs. 26.--though there will not be so much difference.
1
under 12
Say » 20 though this cannot be the case generally.
440
*
Cost of absolute Necessaries of Life of an agricultural labourer-
(continued).
CLOTHING FOR 1 YEAR.

Man.
Woman.
Remarks.
...
head
Rs. a.
Rs. a.
2 Dhotees
... no ... I 0 1 2 Pajamas
2 Pairs shoes ... ... .. I .0 i Gagra ... ... 2 ol No holiday cloth-
I Turban
2 Chadars ... I 8 ing, nor for occasions
2 Bandis for warm and cold 4 Cholees... ... I Olof joy and sorrow,
weather ... ... ... I 8 Bangles... ... O 8 are reckoned.
2 Kamlees ..
2 Pairs shoes ...08
1 Small piece of cloth for
Hair Dressing ... O 31
langootee, &c. ... ... O 4
I Chadar
I Pajama ono . ... O
w
Total......10
4
6 11
For 1 young person, say Rs. 6—for the 2nd, say nothing,
:: FAMILY EXPENSES IN COMMON.

Calculated
on
Cottage, Rs. 60 Say Rs. 4 o for 1 year.
Repairs ..
30
Cooking and other utensils. 3 8
Firewood, anna per day. 5 II
Lamp oil, i oz. per day, at 3
seers per Re. I .. ... 3 12
Total... 19.15
Taking 4 in the family.
without any fur-
niture-such as
cots or mats, or
stools or any
thing,
5

Food. Clothing,
Family
expenses.
Total.
Rs.
Rs. a.
10
4
Man ... .o
Woman
Youth (12 to 18)
Child (under 12)
22 15
19 15
137 14–say Rs. 136.
Which will be Rs. 34 per head per annum in a family of 4-against
the production of Rs. 20 per annum at the outside.
441
No wedding, birth, and funeral expenses calculated, nor medical,
educational, social and religious wants, but simply the absolute necessaries
for existence in ordinary health, at the lowest scale of cost and quantity.
The prices this year are the lowest during 10 years.
The Report says-page 83—“ Salt and tobacco show a rise in price.”
This is a mistake into which the writer is led by the mistake of the
clerk in taking his totals and division by the number of districts. The
figures in table 45 (page clxxvii) in the line of the " General Average"
of tobacco viz. 4-5 and 5-7 are wrong. And so also in the line of Salt
7 and 7-5 are wrong. I do not mean these figures are wrong on account
of the fallacious principle of the report in taking averages, but in taking
the average according to the report's own method, i. e. of adding up the
columns and dividing by the number of districts.
C
.
Memorandum on My. Danvers's papers of 28th June 1880
and 4th January 1879.
Mr. Danvers says :-"In examining Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji's paper, it
appears that in his čalculations he has omitted to make any allowance
for the value of straw, and he has made no attempt to estimate the value
of the increase of Agricultural stock, but he has added an arbitrary sum
for the latter and for other omitted items."
I have omitted not only straw, but also Grass, Cotton seed, and any
fodder or other food for animals which I have not taken in my tables;
and further, I should also omit all that portion of the inferior grains
which I have shown in my table at page 9 of about 30 per cent. of the
whole acreage of grains, and which is grown for the food of animals.
The reason is this. The principle to be considered is :-1st-Either
the whole gross annual production of the country may be taken (including
straw, grass, &c. &c.) and from this gross production, before apportion-
ing it per head of human population, a deduction should be made for the
portion required for all the stock—which in the case of the Punjab are
above 7,000,000 large cattle and near 4,000,000 sheep and goats ; or 2nd
--All straw, grass and every production raised for animal food should be
can be turned to human use, should be apportioned among the human
population. Mr. Danvers may adopt either of the above two methods.
- whichever he may consider would give most correctly the actual pro-
duction for human use. It would not be correct to include the produce
442
raised for animal use and then not to make the necessary deduction for
such use. I would put this matter in another form.
Suppose on the 1st of Janaury 1880, we have in India a certain amount
of material wealth in all its various forms, and we take complete stock
of it; that during the year following the country works in all its varieties
of ways, consumes for all its various human, animal and instrumental
wants from the store existing ou the 1st January 1880 ; and that after
the end of the year, on 1st January 1881, we gather together or take
stock of every possible kind of material production (agricultural, mineral
and manufacturing and addition from profits of foreign trade) during the
year. This production during the year will have to meet all the wants
of the next year. If this production prove less than what would be
wanted for the next year, then there would be a deficiency, and either
the original wealth or capital of the country will have to be drawn upon,
or the people will be so much less supplied with their wants in some
shape or other ; in either way showing a diminution of prosperity—both
as property and capacity. If on the other hand, the whole material
production of the year prove more than what would be necessary for
the next year for all ordinary or usual wants, then a surplus would accrue,
and so far in some permanent form, add to the capital of the country and
increase its prosperity.
I request therefore that Mr. Danvers may be asked to work out the
total production and wants of India, for say the last dozen years, on
correct principles of calculations, from such materials as are already
available at the India Office, supplementing such information as may
be deficient by asking from India and from experienced retired officials
who are now in this country. Such tables will show what the actual
material condition of the country is, and whether it is increasing or
diminishing in prosperity. Unless such information is obtained, the
Government of the country will be blind and in the dark, and cannot
but result in misery to India, and discredit to the Rulers, their best
intentions notwithstanding. It is hopeless to expect intelligent govern-
ment without the aid of such important information annually.
I am glad Mr. Danvers has made an estimate of the annual increase
of agricultural stock in his paper of 4th January 1879, and as I have
to say something upon this paper further on, I do not say anything here
upon the subject of stock.
Mr. Danvers says :-"Mr. Dadabhai has adopted the principle of
equally apportioning the value of agricultural produce and manufactures:
443
as ascertained by him from the statistics available, amongst the whole
population, without distinguishing how many are agriculturists, how
many mechanics, and how many belong to other trades or professions,
or possess property, and whose incomes therefore are derived directly
neither from agriculture nor from manufactures. Thus he omits all
reference to railway wealth, Government stock, house property, profits of
trade, salaries, pensions, non-agricultural wages, professional incomes,
and returns to investments, and all other sources from which a man who
does not grow food himself may obtain the means of purchasing it."
“From the Census Report of 1871 it appears that, out of a total
population of 17,611,498 under British Administration, in the Punjab
9,689,650 are returned as agriculturists, 1,776,786, adult males, equiva-
lent to about 4,500,000 of population as engaged in industrial occupa-
tions, thus leaving a population of nearly 3} millions directly dependent
neither upon agriculture, manufactures, nor mining, and who must
therefore derive their means of subsistence from other sources.”
I take each of the items ;-
Ist-"Railway wealth.” I am not sure what Mr. Danvers means by
Railway wealth.' In his paper of 4th January 1879 he regards
railways "enhancing the value of food grains and adding, protanto, to
the wealth of the districts through which they run.” If he means in
the above extract, by w railway wealth” something different, then that
needs to be explained. In the mean time I adopt the interpretation as
I make out with the aid of his paper of 4th January 1879.
Suppose 100 maunds of wheat exist in the Punjab, and its cost to the
producer, say, is Rs. 100—suppose that this wheat is carried by railway
to Bombay and its value at Bombay is Rs. 125. Does Mr. Danvers mean
that this circumstance has added Rs. 25 or anything at all to the
existing wealth of India ?
If so, then no such thing has happened. The 100 maunds of wheat
existed in the Punjab, and the Rs. 125 existed in Bombay, before the
wheat was moved an inch. After the movement, the only result has been
change of hands. The wheat has gone to Bombay and the Rs. 125 are
distributed between the owner at Punjab, who receives Rs. 100, and the
railway owners and workers, and the merchant who carried through the
transaction, who between them divide the Rs. 25. By the mere fact of
the removal of the wheat from the Punjab to Bombay, not a single grain
of wheat nor a single pie of money is added to what already existed in
444
India before the wheat was touched. Such " railway wealth” does not
exist. If the mere movement of produce can add to the existing wealth,
India can become rich in no time. All it would have to do, is to go on
moving its produce continually all over India, all the year round, and
under the magic wheels of the train, wealth will go on springing, till the
land will not suffice to hold it. But there is no Royal (even railway) road
to material wealth. It must be produced from the materials of the
Earth till the great discovery is made of converting motion into matter.
I should not be misunderstood. I am not discussing here the benefits of
railways, whatever they are, to any country or to India. To show that
the people of India are not deriving the usual benefits of railways, I give
hereafter a short separate section. Here it is enough for me to state that
railways are in a way an indirect means of increasing the material pro-
duction of any country, but that whatever that " means” is, its result is
fully and completely included in the estimate of the actual annual pro-
duction of the country, and that there is nothing more to be added to
such actual material production of the year.
2nd- Government Stock.” Suppose I hold a lakh of rupees of Govern-
ment 4 per cent. Rupee paper. It does not from itself produce or create
or make to grow out any money or food or any kind of material wealth
for me. It simply means that Government will give me Rs. 4,000 every
year, and that, not by creating anything by any divine power, but from the
revenue of the country; and this revenue can be got from only the actual
material production of the year. So in reality my income of Rs. 4,000
from “ Government Stock” is nothing more nor less than a share out of the
production of the country, and is therefore fully and completely included
therein. No addition has to be made from “Government Stock” to the
actual material production of the year. No such addition exists at all.
3rd--"House Property.” Suppose I have taken a house at a yearly
rent of Rs. 1,000. The house does not grow or create the rent by the
mere fact of my occupying it. I have to pay this amount out of my
income of the Rs. 4,000 from Government Stock, and so the house-owner
receives through me and the Government his share out of the produc-
tion of the country. The discussion of the other items further on will
show that, be my income from any of the various sources Mr. Danvers
suggests, it is ultimately and solely derived from and is included
in, the yearly production of the country, and the owners of " House
Property?' simply take their share, like everybody else, from this
same store.
445
4th_"Profits of Trade.” I take first foreign trade. Mr. Danyers is
quite right that the foreign trade of a country adds to its annual income
or production.* But unfortunately the case with India is quite other-
wise. The present system of British Administration not only sweeps
away to England the whole profits of the foreign trade, but also drains
away a portion of the annual production itself of the country. So
India, instead of making any addition from its “ profits of foreign trade”
to its yearly production, a deduction has to be made from such production
in estimating the actual quantity that ultimately remains for the use
of the people of India. A portion of the actual production, through the
channel of foreign trade, goes clean out of the country to England,
without an atom of material return. The manner in which the foreign
trade of India becomes the channel through which India's present
greatest misfortune and evil operate, I treat further on in a separate sec-
tion, to avoid confusion. It is enough for me to say here, that as mat-
ters actually stand, instead of there being, as should be, any addition
from foreign trade to the annual production of India, there is actually a
diminution or drain of it, clean out of the country to England, to the
extent of some £18,000,000 a year, together with and over and above
all its “ profits of trade." I grieve, therefore, that I have nothing to
add from “profits of trade” as Mr. Danvers suggests, but much to subtract.
maunds of wheat at Punjab, say a merchant buys at Rs. 100 and sends
it to Bombay, where he gets Rs. 125. The result simply is, that the
wheat is still the same 100 maunds, and the Rs. 125 that existed in
Bombay are still Rs. 125, but that out of Rs. 25, the merchant
receives his "profit of trade," and the railway its charges for carrying.
Not a single atom of money or wheat is added to the existing wealth of
the country by this internal trade ; only a different distribution has taken
place. I should not be misunderstood. I am not discussing here the
usefulness of internal trade whatever it is. I am only pointing out that
any increase in the material income of the country by the mere trans-
actions of the internal trade, is a thing that does not exist, and that
whatever benefits and “profits of trade” there are from internal trade,
are fully and completely included in the ultimate result of the actual
material production of the year.
* Taking the aggregate wealth of the world, Foreign Trade even adds nothing.
It simply then becomes Internal trade, and is mere change of hands, as explained
further on,
446
5th_"Salaries and pensions." These will be official and non-official.
Official salaries and pensions are paid by Government from revenue, and
this revenue is derived from the production of the country; and so from
that same store are all such salaries and pensions derived. For non-
official salaries or pensions, the phenomenon is just the same. I pay
my clerks or servants, either from my profits of trade, or interest of
Government stock, or from rent of my house property, or from any of
the sources which Mr. Danvers may suggest, but one and all of these
incomes are drawn from the same store,-the annual material produc-
tion of the country. All salaries and pensions are thus fully and
completely included in the estimate of the production.
But this is not all. In these salaries and pensions, &c. do we come to
the very source of India's chief misfortune and evil, which, as I have
already said, works through the medium of the foreign trade. It is the
salaries and pensions, and all other expenditure incident to the excessive
European Agency, both in England and India, which is India's chief
curse, in the shape of its causing the exhausting drain which is destroying
India. In the ordinary and normal circumstances of a country when all
the salaries, pensions, &c. are earned by the people themselves, and
remain in the country itself to fructify in the people's own pockets,
there is no such thing as an addition to the annual production of the
country from “ salaries and pensions.” But as far as India is concerned,
the case is much worse. All salaries and pensions &c. paid to Europeans
in England and India beyond the absolute necessity of the maintenance
or supervision of British rule, are actually, first, a direct deprivation of
the natural provision for similar classes of the people of the country, and
second, a drain from the property and capacity of the country at large.
So, unfortunately, is there nothing to be added, as Mr. Danvers asks,
from “ salaries and pensions,” but much to be subtracted, that is, either
spent in England or remitted to England from the resources of India,
and for which not a particle returns, and what is enjoyed in India itself
by the Europeans.
Mr. Danvers may kindly consider his own salary. It is derived
from the production of India. It is brought to England and not a
farthing out of it returns to India. Even if it returned, it would be
no addition to the wealth of India, but as it does not return, it is so
much actual diminution from the means of the subsistence of the people.
I should not be misunderstood. That for a good long time, a reasonable
amount of payment for British rule is necessary for the regeneration of
India, is true, and no thinking native of India denies this. It is the evil
447
of excessive payment that India has to complain of. But what I have
to point out here is that salaries and pensions, even to the natives
themselves, are no addition to the wealth, aud much less are those which
are not paid to the people of the country. The increase supposed
by Mr. Danvers does not exist. There is, on the contrary, much
diminution.
6.th-“Non-agricultural wages."
A person, employed by a farmer, say as a labourer, upon building his
house, is paid from the farmer's agricultural income. A person
employed by a merchant, a house holder, a stock holder, a pensioner, or
a salaried man, or on a railway, is paid from their income, which, as I
have explained, is derived from the only great store—the annual
material production of the country. In short every labourer--mental or
physical—has his share for his subsistence, through various channels,
from the only one fountain-head,—the annual material production of
the country. There is no source, outside the production (including any
addition to it from profits of foreign trade) from which any individual
derives his means of subsistence.
7.th—" Professional incomes."
I consult a doctor or a solicitor. The mere act of my consulting
these professional gentlemen does not enable me to create money to
pay them. I must pay them from my income as an agriculturist, or a
miner, or a manufacturer, or a stockholder, or a householder, &c. &c.,
and my such income is all and solely derived from the material produc-
tion of the country.
I need not now go any further into a repetition of the same argument
with regard to.
8th.--"Returns to investments, and all other sources from which
a man who does not grow food himself may obtain the means of
purchasing it ;" or leaving a population “ directly dependent
neither upon agriculture, manufactures, nor mining, and who must
therefore derive their means of subsistence from other sources."
There do not exist any such "other sources,” except profits of foreign
trade. But unfortunately for India, instead of foreign trade bringing
any profits, it is actually the channel by which, in addition to all such
profits, a portion of the production itself is also swept away. So India
exhibits the strange phenomenon, that her people cannot get any
benefit from profits of foreign trade, and cannot enjoy for their subsist-
G
2
448
ence even their own production fully or adequately. The result of all
the different influences, forces, labour, knowledge, land, climate, railways
or all other kinds of public works, good government, justice, security of
property, law, order, and all the above 8 and other so-called sources of
income, is fully and completely comprised in the ultimate resultant of
all of them, viz. the actual material income of the year. Its increase or
decrease every year, is in fact the test of the ultimate and full result of
all the above direct and indirect means of the production of a country.
If the material income of the year does not suffice for all the wants of
the whole people for the year, the existing “capital” wealth of the
country is drawn upon, and so far the capital and the capacity for
annual production are diminished.
I submit therefore that Mr. Danyers' argument of the "other sources"
has to be laid aside.
Mr. Danvers says, “Mr. Dadabhai makes out the total value of the
agricultural produce of the Punjab to be Rs. 27,72,56,263, and that
from manufactures and mines Rs. 4,11,40,058. To this he adds, to
meet any omissions, a further margin of 37 crores, making the whole
produce of the Punjab 354 crores of Rupees, "which for a population
of 17,600,000 gives Rs. 20 per head per annum at the outside for the
year 1876-77,” to which year the figures he has taken refer. At page
27 of his tables he shows that the cost of absolute necessaries of life of an
agricultural labourer is Rs. 34 per annum, but he omits to explain how,
under these circumstances, the people of the Punjab managed to live, and
leaves the reader to draw his own conclusions how, with only Rs. 20
per annum, he can provide for an expenditure of Rs. 34."
Why, that is the very question I want government to answer,--how
they can expect people to manage to live, under such circumstances,
without continuously sinking in poverty. The first real question is,--
are these facts or not? If not, then what are the actual facts of the
"means and wants” of the people of India ? If they are, then the
question is for Mr. Danvers and government to answer how people can
manage to live. The answer to the question is however obvious, viz
that as the balance of income every year, available for the use of the
people of India, does not suffice for the wants of the year, the capital
wealth of the country is being drawn upon, and the country goes on becom-
ing poorer and poorer, and more and more weakened in its capacity of
production; and that the American War, for a little while, gave, and
the various loans, give a show of prosperity to end in greater burdens,
and great destruction by famines.
449
These facts of the insufficiency of the means for the wants go to prove
late Lord Lawrence's statements made in 1864 as Viceroy and
in 1873 before the Finance Committee. In 1864 he said that India
was on the whole a very poor country and the mass of the people enjoyed
only a scanty subsistence; and in 1873 he repeated that the mass of the
people of India were so miserably poor that they had barely the means
of subsistence, that it was as much as a man could do to feed his family
or half feed them, let alone spending money on what might be called
luxuries or conveniences. Such then is the manner in which the people
of India manage to live ; scanty subsistence, and dying away by millions
at the very touch of drought. In the case of the Punjab as the latest
British possession and least drained, and from other circumstances noted
below,* the people have had as yet better resources, in their “ Capital”
wealth to draw upon. But taking India as a whole, Lord Lawrence's
words are most deplorably but too true.
I need not discuss Mr. Danvers’s paper of 28th June 1880 any further. .
The fallacy of “ other sources,” besides agriculture, mines, manufactures,
and foreign trade, pervades his whole argument, and in the latter part
of the paper, 2 different matters are mixed up, a little misapprehension
has taken place as to my meaning, and some part is irrelevant.
The whole question now before us is simply this.
* The Punjab is favoured by nature and by circumstances. By nature, inas-
much as it is one of the most fertile parts of India. It is “ Punj-aub," the land
of the 5 waters, and it has both natural and artificial irrigation. It is favoured
by circumstances, inasmuch as that (excepting Bengal in its special fortunate
circumstances of the permanent settlement, Punjab pays the least land revenue-
viz. the Punjab pays Rs. 1-2-2 per head per annum, the North West Provinces
pay Re. 1-6, Madras Rs. 1-7, and Bombay Rs. 2-4-3 (see my tables , page 25). I
have taken these figures for 1875-6. Those for 1876-7 would be unfair and abnor-
mal on account of the Bombay and Madras Famines. Further, the Punjab has
been further favoured by other circumstauces in the following way :-
The Administration Report of 1856-8 says-" In former reports it was explained
how, the circumstance of so much money going out of the Punjab, contributed
to depress the agriculturists. The native regular army was Hindoostani. To them.
was a large share of the Punjab revenue disbursed, of which a part only they spent
on the spot, and a part was remitted to their homes. Thus it was, that year after
year, lakhs and lakhs were drained from the Punjab and enriched Oudh. But
within the last year the native army being Punjabi, all such sums have been paid
to them and have been spent at home. Again many thousands of Punjabi soldiers
are serving abroad. These men not only remit their savings but also have sent.
a quantity of prize property and plunder, the spoils of Hindustan, to their native
villages. The effect of all this is already perceptible in an increase of agricultural.
capital, a freer circulation of money, and a fresh impetus to cultivation.”
It will be seen that the Punjab has more capital to draw upon, and has some
addition to its resources at the expense of the other provinces, to make up some of
its deficiency of its production.
29
450
Ist—What the whole actual, material, annual income of India is, as
the ultimate balance of all sources and influences, that is available for
the use of the whole people of India.
2nd-What the absolutely necessary wants, and the usual wants of
all classes of the people, are; and
3rd-Whether the income of India is equal to, less, or more than
such wants.
By carefully ascertaining these facts every year, shall we ever be able
to know truly, whether India is progressing in prosperity, or sinking in
poverty, or is in a stationary condition. This is the whole problem, and
it must be boldly faced and clearly answered, if the mission of Britain
is the good of India, as I firmly believe it to be.
15
As to the question, how and by whom, directly or indirectly, the in-
come is actually produced, and how, and by whom, and through what
channels, this income is distributed among the whole people, is entirely
a different matter, and though important in itself and involving much
legislation, is quite separate from the first and fundamental question of
the whole total of the means and wants of India.
I may explain the misapprehension to which I alluded above. In my
tables for consumption, in taking “the cost of absolute necessaries of
life of an agricultural labourer," I meant him, as merely representing the
lowest class of labourers of all kinds, so as to show the lowest absolute
necessary wants of the people.
I am under the impression that there is a Statistical Committee at
Calcutta existing for the past 20 years, and I hope it will adopt means
to give complete tables of the means and wants of India.
As I am requesting His Lordship, the Secretary of State for India, that
Mr. Danvers be asked to work out the means and wants of the people of
India during the last 12 years, and that the Government of India may
adopt means to perfect the machinery for getting complete information
for the future, I submit a fery remarks on Mr. Danvers's tables of 4th
January 1879, so kindly sent to me. As I have my Punjab tables
only, for comparison, I examine Mr. Danvers's Punjab tables only.
In his table of quantities of all the inferior grains, Mr. Danvers has
taken the crop per acre of only some of the grains whose average is 510
lbs. per acre. But the produce of makai and gram, which are included by
Mr. Danvers in the inferior grains, is larger, and the result is a large
451
error. The acreage of makai is 1,084,339 acres, and the average produce
per acre is 1,500 lbs., so that this produce is under-estimated to the
extent of taking only about one-third of the actual quantity. The
average produce of gram is 645 lbs. per acre, and the acreage is
under-estimate. The result of the whole error in the table of inferior
grains is, that the total quantity is taken by Mr. Danvers as
6,504,880,162 lbs., when' it actually is 7,371,110,343 lbs., or above
866,200,000 lbs, more.
In the prices of inferior grains it is necessary to make proper allow-
ance for the lower prices of such grains as Moth, Kangni, Chìnà, Mater,
aad Masur, which are nearly 25 per cent. lower than the other grains--
Jowár, Bájrá, Másh, Múng, and Arhar. This makes an over-estimate of
and separate estimates should, therefore, be made of the values of these
grains, to obtain all possible approximation to truth and accuracy.
The total under-estimate by Mr. Danvers is £1,300,000 in the value
of inferior grains. .
In "other crops," the value assumed by Mr. Danvers is nearly only
one-fourth of what I make, by taking every item separately, i, e. I make
Rs. 19,16,294 against Mr. Danvers’s Rs. 4,73,200.
In the following articles, Mr. Danvers has adopted the average given
in the report, which, as pointed out by me on previous occasions, are
taken on the fallacious principle of adding up the produce per acre of
the districts and dividing by the number of districts, without any
reference to the quantity of acreage of each district.

Error,
Correct average.
Produce.
Incorrect
average,
Correct
average.
· Less
More per cent.
per cent.
4,008
4,753
646
449
102
105
Vegetables
Sugar* ..........
Cotton* ................
Tobacco .......
Fibres .............
Indigo ..........
Opium ............
825
846
366
31
IO
12:5
.
H
.
* For some probable errors in these two articles in the Report, I have already
given my views in my tables,
452
In the case of Indigo, Cotton, Tobacco, and Hemp, the error has not
been large, as the incorrect average is adopted by Mr. Danvers for a
few districts only. I notice such differences, as 2 and 3 per cent, also,
because in dealing with figures of hundreds and thousands of millions,
these percentages, singly as well as collectively, seriously disturb the
accuracy of results. It is very necessary to avoid, as much as possible,
all avoiilable errors, large or small, so that then reliance can be placed
upon the results.
S
The report gives the price of 1st sort sugar only, but which, applied
to the whole quantity of all kinds, makes the value of nearly rds of
the whole quantity, quite 22 times greater than it actually is—the
over-estimate comes to near £1,800,000.
The price of Indigo, as ascertained by me (Rs. 60 per maund), is
nearly 20 per cent. higher than that assumed by Mr. Danvers (Rs. 50
per maund).
Mr. Danvers has taken seer=2 lbs. when in reality it is nearly 6 per
cent. of a lb. larger, which becomes a serious error in the large amounts
Mr. Danvers has adopted the prices of 1st January 1877 only, instead
of taking an average of the prices of the 4 periods given in the Report,
to represent the whole year.
In his remarks at page 16, Mr. Danvers makes no allowance for seed,
which is an important item. He includes straw, all inferior grains, and
cotton seed, and yet makes no allowance at all for the feed of animals,
(some 7 millions large cattle and near 4 millions sheep and goats) before
apportioning the produce per human head. Grass being not taken,
makes some allowance for animals so far,
I cannot say on what grounds, (page 16) 4 per cent. is assumed for
annual increase of large cattle and 15 per cent. of sheep and goats. I
have not got the report for 1878-9, when the next quinquennial enuinera-
tion of stock nust have been made, but on comparing the numbers of
453
the last two enumerations of 1868-9 and 1873-4, the result is as
follows :

1868-9.
1873-4.
8
| Per
Increase, Decrease. |
cent.
and
227,349
N
OX
12
Cows, Bullocks
Buffaloes* ...
Horses ... ...
Ponies ..
Donkeys ...
Camels ...
6,797,561
96,226
51,302
257,615
148,582
6,570,212
84,639
288,118
165,567
.
51,395
93
30,503
16,985
II 8
II
Total
...
...
191,355
7,351,286 – 7,159,931
3,803,819 3,849,842
Sheep and Goats
...
. 46,023
IT
2
From this comparison, it appears, that in the important items of
cows, bullocks and buffaloes, instead of any increase, there is actually
decrease of 227,349 or 3} per cent. during the 5 years. In horses also,
there is a decrease of about 21 per cent. every year instead of 4 per cent.
increase. In ponies the increase is hardly } per cent. in 5 years, in
donkeys about 11 per cent, and in camels about ll per cent., in all the
5 years, or about 21 per cent. per year instead of 4 per cent. In sheep
and goats, the increase is hardly 11 per cent. in 5 years instead of 15.
per cent. per year. For cows and bullocks, and sheep and goats, there
is one allowance to be made, viz. for what are killed for food. To
make out the increase in cows, &c. of 4 per cent, every year, nearly 4
per cent. must have been killed every year for food, and for sheep and
goats the percentage of killed should be nearly 14, per cent. per annum.
Is it so ?
Mr. Danvers has assumed ghi, produced in the Punjab, as 4 times as
much as imported (52,303 maunds) into it, and he thus makes the
quantity produced to be 209,212 maunds. Now the value of the
imported ghi is also given in the report, as Rs. 9,64,028 which, taken
4 times, would be £385,611. But Mr. Danvers has overlooked this
actual price and adopted the fallacious average of the table of prices in
the report, which makes the price 1s. 12c. per Rupee. At this incorrect
price, the value will be £478,198, or nearly 25 per cent. more than
* In the report of 1868-9, the heading is only “ COws and bullocks," while in
1876-7, it is given as " cows, bullocks and buffaloes." Now if buffaloes are not
included in 1868-9, the diminution in cattle will be very much larger. Most
probably buffaloes are included in 1868-9 figures. But this must be ascertained.
It is a serious matter.
454
the actual value given in the report. But not only has there been this
incorrect increase thus made, but by some arithmetical mistake, the
value put down by Mr. Danvers, is above 3 times as much as even this
increased amount, i. e. instead of £478,198, Mr. Danvers has put down
£1,501,096. If this be not merely an arithmetical mistake, it requires
explanation.
Mr. Danvers has taken the import of ghi from “foreign trade” only,
and has overlooked a further quantity of import “inter-provincially"
of 16,312 maunds of the value of £34,741, which, taken 4 times,
would be £138,964, making up the total value of the assumed produce
of ghi in the Punjab to be £385,611 + 138,964 = £524,575.
Working upon Mr. Danvers's own assumption, and what information
I have been at present able to obtain, it appears that the assumption of
4 times the import—or £525,000, will be an under-estimate by a good
deal. I am not at present able to test the accuracy of Mr. Danvers’s
assumption of the produce of milk, nor of the information I am using
below, but I give it just as I have it, to illustrate the principle. I
to be milch animals. The number then will be 657,000. Of these,
cows may be taken, I am told by a Punjabee, at 75 per cent., and
buffaloes 25 per cent. This will give 164,250 buffaloes and 492,750
cows. Each buffalo may be taken, on an average, as giving 6 seers of
milk per day for 6 months in the year, and each cow about 3 seers. The
seers days
quantity of milk will then be 164, 250 x 6 x 180 = 177,390,000 seers.
492,750 x 3 x 180 = 266,085,000 ,
Total .. 443,475,000 ,
Mr. Danvers assumes for milk used in the province to be about Rs. 10
per annum from each of the 10 per cent. of the cattle, and taking the
price of milk to be 16 seers per Rupee, the quantity of milk used would
be 657,000 x 160 = 105,120,000 seers. This, deducted from the
above total produce of milk, will give (443,475,000_105,120,000)
338,355,000 seers as converted into ghi. The produce of ghi is about
to of milk, according to quality Assuming as the average, the
total quantity of ghi will be about 28,196,250 seers = 704,906 maunds,
or allowing a little for wastage, say 700,000 maunds, which, at the
import price (Rs. 13,11,445 for 68,615 maunds) of Rs. 19 per maund,
mill give about £1,339,300, or nearly 2 times as much as Mr. Danvers
455
has assumed. I have endeavoured in a hurry to get this information as
well as I could, but it can be obtained correctly by the officials on the
spot. My object, at present, was simply to show that, calculated on Mr.
Danvers's assumption of milch-cattle and milk used, how much ghi
should be produced in the country, if the information I have used be
correct.
For hides and skins, the export only is taken into account, but a
quantity must be consumed in the province itself, which requires to
be added.
The value assumed, Rs. 100 per horse, is rather too high. Rs. 60
or 70, I am told, would be fairer, so also for ponies, Rs. 25 to 30
instead of Rs. 35, and camels, Rs. 60 or 70 or 75 instead of Rs. 100.
For sheep, &c. Rs. 1} instead of Re. 1, would be fairer. .
But as I have said above, officials in India can give all this inform a
tion correctly for every year, and I do not see any reason why this
should not be done. I urgently repeat my request, that the wants and
means of the last 12 or 15 years may be ordered by His Lordship, the
Secretary of State, to be carefully worked out, as far as practicable, and
that future reports should be required to give complete information.
RAILWAYS.
I may take railways to represent Public Works.
The benefits generally derived from Railways are these.
They distribute the produce of the country from parts where it is
part of the produce is wasted, which, otherwise, would be the case if no
facility of communication existed. In thus utilising the whole produce
of the country, the railway becomes directly a saving agent, and indirect-
ly, thereby, helps in increasing the production of the country.
It brings the produce to the ports at the least possible cost for
exportation and commercial competition for foreign trade, and thus
indirectly helps in obtaining the profits of foreign trade, which are an
increase to the annual income of a country.
Every country in building railways, even by borrowed capital, derives
the benefit of a large portion of such borrowed capital, as the capital of
the country, which indirectly helps in increasing the production of the
country. Excepting interest paid for such borrowed capital to the
foreign lending country, the rest of the whole income remains in the
country.
456
But the result of all the above benefits from railways, is ultimately
realised and comprised in the actual annual income of the country,
The misfortune of India is that she does not derive the above benefits
as every other country does..
You build a railway in England and, say, its gross income is a million.
All the - oployés, from the Chairman down to the common labourer,
are Englishmen. Every farthing that is spent from the gross income,
is so much returned to Englishmen, as direct maintenance to so many
people of England, and to England at large as a part of its general
wealth. Whether the shareholders get their 5 per cent. or 10 per cent.
or 1 per cent. or 0 per cent. or even lose, it matters not at all to the
whole country. Every farthing of the income of the million is fully
and solely enjoyed by the people of the country-excepting only (if you
borrowed a portion of the capital from foreign parts) the interest you
may pay for such loan. But such interest forms a small portion of the
whole income, and every country with good railways, can very well
afford to pay. All the benefits of railways are thus obtained and
enjoyed by the people of the country.
Take the case of the United States. India and the States are both
borrowers for their railways (the latter only partially), and they both
pay interest to the lending countries. They both buy, say, their rails,
machinery, &c. from England, the States buying only a portion. So far
they are under somewhat similar circumstances. But here the parallel
ends. In the United States, every cent of the income of the railway
(excepting the interest on the Foreign loan) is the income of the people of
the country is a direct maintenance for the people employed on it, and
an indirect property of the whole country and remaining in it.
In India the case is quite different. First, for the Directors'
home establishments, Government Superintendence, and what not in
England, a portion of the income must go from India ; then a large
European staff of employés (excepting only for inferior and lowest
places or work left for natives) must eat up and take away another large
portion of the income, and to the rest, the people of the country are
welcome, with the result, that out of their production which they give
to the railways, only a portion returns to them and not the whole, as in
all other countries (except interest on foreign loan); and the diminution :
lessens so far the capacity of production every year. Such expenditure,
both in England and India, is so much direct deprivation of the natural
maintenance of as many people of India, of similar classes, and a loss to
D
457
U
the general wealth and means of the people at large. Thus, the whole
burden of the debt is placed on the shoulders of the people of India,
while the benefit is largely enjoyed and carried away by the people of
England, and yet Englishmen raise up their hands in wonder, why India
should not be happy, pleased, and thankful ! Some years ago, I asked
Mr. Danvers to make a return in his annual Railway report, of the sala-
ries and every kind of disbursement on Europeans, both in England and
India. If I remember right (I cannot just now lay my hands on the cor-
respondence) he was kind enough to promise he would try. But I do not
know that this information has been given. Let us have this information,
and we shall then know why India does not derive the usual benefits of
railways ; how many Europeans displace as many natives of the same
class, and deprive them of their natural means of subsistence (some 3,600
in India and all those in England), and what portion of the income the
people of India do not see or enjoy a pie of.
Instead, therefore, of their being any railway wealth' to be added to
the annual production or income of India, it will be seen that there is
much to be deducted therefrom to ascertain what really remains for the
use of its own people. For the income of railways is simply a portion
or share of the production of the country, and what is eaten up and taken
away by Europeans, is so much taken away from the means of the people.
It is no wonder at all, that the United States have their 70,000 or
more miles of railways, when India, under the British Government, with
all its wonderful resources, with all that good government can do, and
the whole British wealth to back, has hardly one-tenth of the length,
and that even, with no benefit to the people of the country. In short, the
fact of the matter is, that as India is treated at present, all the new de-
partments, opened in the name of civilization, advancement, progress,
and what not, simply resolve themselves into so much ner provision for
so many more Europeans, and so much new burden on exhausting
India. We do pray to our British rulers, let us have railways and all
other kinds of beneficial public works, by all means, but let us have
their natural benefits, or talk not to a starving man of the pleasures of
a fine dinner. We should be happy too and thankfully pay for such
European supervision and guidance as may be absolutely necessary for suc-
cessful work ; but do not, in heaven's and honesty's names, talk to us
of benefits which we do not receive, but have on the contrary to pay for
from our own. If we are allowed to derive the usual benefits of railways
and other public works, under such government as the British-of law,
458
order and justice,--we would not only borrow 200, but 2,000 millions
and pay the interest with as many thanks, with benefits both to ourselves
and to England, as India would be then her best and largest commercial
customer.
The real important question, therefore, in relation to public works,
is, not how to stop them, but how to let the people of the country have
· their full benefits. One of the most important part of England's great
work in India, is to develop these public works, but to the people's
benefit and not to their detriment—not that they should slave and
others eat.
FOREIGN TRADE.
Resuming our illustration of the 100 maunds of wheat from the
Punjab, arriving at Bombay, costing to the Bombay merchant Rs. 125,
we suppose that this merchant exports it to England. In ordinary
course and natural conditions of trade, suppose the Bombay merchant,
after two or three months, gets his net proceeds of Rs. 150, either in
silver, or as a bale of piece-goods, which could be sold at Bombay for
Rs. 150. The result then of this “foreign trade” is, that before the
wheat left Bombay, there were 100 maunds of wheat costing Rs. 125
at the time of export; and after the operation, India has either Rs. 15€,
or a bale of cotton goods worth Rs. 150. There is, thus, a clear "profit
of trade” of Rs. 25, or in other words, an addition of Rs. 25 worth
either in silver or goods, to the annual income or production of the
country. This, in ordinary commercial language would be, India export.
ed value Rs. 125 in the shape of wheat, and imported value Rs. 150
in the shape of silver or merchandise, or both, making a trade-profit of
Rs. 25.
Under ordinary natural circumstances, such is the result of foreign
trade to every country, I shall take the instance of the United King-
dom, and we may see what its ordinary foreign trade-profits are during
a few past years, say, from 1871 to 1878.
459
PROFITS OF FOREIGN TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
IMPORTS.
EXPORTS.
Years.
Merchandise.
Treasure.
(Gold and
Silver.)
Total.'
| Years. Merchandise.
Treasure.
(Gold and
Silver.)
Total.
Foreign
Trade
Profits.
Per cent.
£
1871
331,015,480
38,140,827
1871
283,574,700
33,760,671
317,335,371
51,820,936
369,156, 307
384,301,636
1872 |
354,693,624 | 29,608,012
314,588,834
30,335,861
344,924,695
39,376,941
1873
371,287,372
33,599,231
404,886,603
1873
311,004,765
28,899,285
339,904,050
64,982,553
1874
370,082,701 30,379,188
400,461,889
1874
297,650,464
22,853,593
320,504,057
79,957-332
1875
373,939,577 | 33,264,789
407,204,366
1875
281,612,323
27,628,042
309,240,365 | 97,964,001
-
-
1876
375,154,703 | 37,054,244
412,208,947
1876
256,776,602
29,464,082
286,240,684 125,968,263
-
-
--
-
--
1877
-
394,419,682
37,152,799
431,572,481
1877
252,346,020
39,798,119
292, 144,139
139,428,342
--
-
1878 !
368,770,742' 32,422,955 401,193,697
Grand Total... ...) 3,210,985,926
245,483,858 ! 26,686,546 272,170,404 129,023,293
Grand Total... ... 2,482,463,765 1728,522,161 = 29'34


460
S
The result of the above table is, that during the 8 years, the United
Kingdom has received as trade-profits 29:34 per cent. This result
requires the following further consideration. It includes the results of
all money-trade, or loans to and from foreign countries. Suppose
England has lent a hundred millions to foreign countries; that forms a
part of Exports. Suppose it has received in interest, say, £5,000,000
that forms a part of the imports, and unless any portion of the Principal
of the loan is returned, the whole or balance (if a portion is paid) of the
loan remains outstanding, and is so much more to be added to the above
figure of trade-profits. Again, there is the political profit from India of
some £27,000,000 a year (as shown further on). That forms a part
of the import, and has to be deducted from the figure of trade-profits.
England contributes to the expenses of the Colonies. This is a part of
its exports. Thus the formula will be :-.
£728,522,161 +outstanding balance of loans of the 8 years the
political drain from India to England (£216,000,000)+contributions
to the Colonies = the actual profits of all commercial and monetary
transactions with the world, or in other words =the actual profits of the
Foreign Trade of the 8 years.
Now the figure £728,522,161 is 29.34 per cent. The Political drain
of India forms nearly 9 per cent, vut of this. There remains, above
20 per cent. + the amounts of balance of loans, and contributions to
the Colonies, as the actual rate of profits of the Foreign Trade of the
United Kingdom.
I may fairly adopt this rate, of at least 20 per cent. for the profits of
the Foreign Trade of India. But to be quite under the mark, I adopt
only 15 per cento
Now we may see what actually happens to India—taking the same
period of 1871-8.
The actual Exports (excluding Government stores and treasure).
Merchandise and Gold and Silver...
= £ 485,186,749
Take profits only 15 per cent.
= £ 72,778,012
The Imports as they ought to be ... ... ... = £ 557,964, 761
Actual Imports (excluding Government stores and
treasure.)
Merchandise and Gold and Silver... ... ... £ 342,312,799
Deficit in Imports, or what is drained to England ... £ 215,651,962
1. e. nearly 27 millions a year.
461
...
Again taking actual Exports
And actual Imports...
£ 485,186,749
£ 342,312,799
.
Abstraction from the very produce of the country
(besides the whole profits), is ... ... ... = 142,873,950
in 8 years or nearly £18,000,000 a year or 29.4 per cent.
Thus, with all the advantages of good Government, law, order, justice,
&c., railways, and every other influence of a civilized rule, the actual
result is, that not only does India not get a single farthing of the 15 or
20 per cent. or whatever it be, of the profits of her foreign trade, but
actually has a further amount of nearly 30 per cent. of her exports
kept away from her. This is not all. There is, moreover, the halter
round her neck of the accumulated railway debt of nearly a hundred
millions, held in England, (from which her people have not derived the
usual benefits); about 60 millions of public debt (out of £134,000,000—
mostly owing to wars) held in England, and £5,000,000 spent in Eng-
land on account of State Public Works; and yet Englishmen wonder
why India is poor, and her finances inelastic! Good God, when will
this bleeding-to-death end!
Keeping as much as possible on the right side, we find some
£18,000,000 from the production itself, swept away from India, besides
all her profits, and besides what Europeans enjoy in India itself, to the
so much exclusion and deprivation of her own people. But this item
of £18,000,000 would be found much under the mark. For instance,
all duty-articles imported into India, are, I believe, valued 10 per cento
more than their laying down value. If so, roughly taking, the customs,
revenue being 21 millions, represents roughly a duty at 5 per cento
on £50,000,000—and to make up this £50 millions, with 10 per
cent. extra, require an addition to the actual value of imports of about
£5,000,000. If so, then there will be this much above £18,000,000
taken away from the actual production from India, besides the whole
trade profits, maintenance of Europeans in India, debts, &c.
The real abstraction from the very produce of the country is most
likely much above £20,000,000 a year, and the whole loss above
£30,000,000 a year-besides what is enjoyed in India itself by Europeans.
Under such circumstances it is no wonder at all, that Famines and
Finance should become great difficulties, and that Finance has been the
grave of several reputations, and shall continue to be so, till the dis-
462
covery is made of making 2 and 2 equal to 5, if the present unnatural
treatment of India is to continue.
Far, therefore, from there being anything to be added to the an-
there is the deplorable fact of much to be deducted in the case of India,
and the consequences of such abstraction, in impoverishment and de-
struction by famines &c., lay mostly at the door of the present unnatural
policy of the British Administration. Let our rulers realise this fact
intelligently and face it boldly in a way worthy of the British moral
courage and character, and the whole scene will be entirely changed
from deplorable poverty to prosperity; from the wail of woe to joy and
blessing. Our misfortune is that the great statesmen of this country
have not the necessary time to see into Indian matters, and things are
allowed to drift blindly; or England would never become, as she un-
wittingly is at present, the destroyer of India. Her conscience is sound.
It is natural that in all discussions on Finance, curtailment of expen.
diture and economy are, at first blush, recommended :—to cut the coat
according to cloth. But, unfortunately, no one asks the question, why
the cloth is short ; why, under such rule as that of the English, India
should not do well, if not quite as well as these Islands, but should be
only able to pay the wretched revenue of some 6s. a head, and that even
after “ wringing out the last farthing."
No doubt, vigilance for economy will always be a necessity in the best
of states (not excepting England, as debates in Parliament testify) as long
as the world lasts. But the real question, the most important question of
all questions at present, is not how to get £60,000,000 or £100,000,000
for the matter of that, if that be necessary, but how to return to the
people what is raised from them.
There is no reason whatever, why India with all her vast resources,
the patient industry of the people, and the guidance and supervision of
British high officials, should not be able to pay 2 or 3 times her present
wretched revenue, say a hundred or hundred and fifty millions, for effi-
cient administration by her own people under British supervision, and
for the development of her unbounded material resources. Is it not
unsatisfactory or even humiliating, that British statesmen should have
to confess, that they have hopelessly to depend, for about a sixth of the
net revenue, on supplying opium to another vast human race; and to
ask despairingly, what they were to do to get this amount of revenue
from India itself. Then again, nearly as much more income has to be
463
raised by an oppressive and heavy tax on salt, so that between a third
and a fourth of the net revenue has to be derived, a part, by pinching
and starving the poor millions of India in one of the absolute necessaries
of life, and the other part, by poisoning and demoralising the millions
of China. Surely a great people like the English, with their statesman.
ship of the highest order and with all their genuine desire to do good to,
and to advance mankind, should not be able to get the necessary
revenues from India from her own healthy and natural prosperity,
is a strange phenomenon in this advanced age.
LT
as in England the revenue raised from the people, returned to the people ;
if the income of railways and other public works taken from the people,
returned to the people, to fructify in their pockets,—then will there
be no need for anxiety for finance or famines, nor for pinching in salt,
nor poisoning with opium, millions of the human race. India will then
pay with ease a hundred or two hundred millions of revenue, and will
not be the worse for it. It would be far better also, which would then
be the case, that India should be able to purchase a pound or two worth
a head of British manufactures, and become England's best and largest
customer, instead of the wretched one she is at present.
I repeat, therefore, with every earnestness, that the most important
question of the day is, how to stop the bleeding drain from India. The
merit or good of every remedy, will depend upon and be tested by its
efficacy in stopping this deplorable drain, without impairing the wants of
the Administration, or checking India's natural progress towards prosperity.
There is a deep conviction among educated and thoughtful natives,
that, if there is any one nation, more than another, on the face of the
earth, that would, on no account, knowingly do a wrong to or enslave,
degrade or impoverish a people, and who, on feeling the conviction of
any injury having been unintentionally done by them, would, at once
and at all reasonable sacrifice, repair the injury without shrinking,--that
nation is the British nation. This conviction keeps the thinking natives
staunch in their loyalty to the British rule. They know that a real
regeneration, civilization and advancement of India, materially, morally
and politically, depends upon a long continuance of the British rule. The
peculiarly happy combination of high civilization, intense love of liberty
and nobility of soul in the British, cannot but lead them to the desire of
the glory of raising a vast nation, instead of trampling upon them. This
noble desire has foundļexpression from some of their best men.
464
The English people have a task before them in India, for which there
is no parallel in the history of the world. There has not been a nation,
who, as conquerors, have like the English considered the good of the
conquered as a duty, or felt it as their great desire, and the natives of
India may, with the evil of the present drain stopped, and a representa-
tive voice in their legislation, hopefully look forward to a future under
the British rule, which will eclipse their greatest and most glorious days.
May the light of heaven guide our Rulers.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
32, Great St. Helens,
London, 13th September 1880.
INDIA OFFICE, S. W.,
15th October 1880.
Sir,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th
September, which, together with its enclosure, has been duly laid before
the Secretary of State for India.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
LOUIS MALLET.
MR. DADABHAI NAOROJI.
32, Great St. Helen's,
London, 16th November 1880.
SIR LOUIS MALLET,
The Under Secretary of State for India,
India Office,
London, S. W.
Sir,
letter of 13th September with enclosure had been duly laid before His
Lordship the Secretary of State for India, and hoping that the same
kind attention will be given to it as to my previous letter, and that if I
am wrong in any of my views I would be corrected, I beg to submit for
His Lordship’s kind and generous consideration the accompanying
Memorandum No. 2, on the Moral Poverty of India and Native Thoughts
on the British Indian Policy.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
DADABHAI NAOROJI,
465
THE MORAL POVERTY OF INDIA,
AND
NATIVE THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT BRITISH INDIAN POLICY.
In my last paper, I confined myself to meet Mr. Danvers’s line of
argument, on the question of the material destruction and impoverish-
ment of India by the present British Indian policy. I endeavoured to
show that this impoverishment and destruction of India was mainly
caused by the unnatural treatment it received at the hands of its British
rulers, in the way of subjecting it to a large variety of expenditure
upon a crushing foreign Agency, both in India and England, whereby
the children of the country were displaced and deprived of their natural
rights and means of subsistence in their own country. By what was
being taken and consumed in India itself and by what was being con-
tinuously taken away by such agency clean out of the country, an ex-
haustion of the very life-blood of the country was unceasingly going on.
That till this disastrous drain was not duly checked, and till the people
of India were not restored to their natural rights in their own country,
there was no hope for the material amelioration of India.
In this Memorandum I desire to submit for the kind and generous
consideration of His Lordship the Secretary of State for India, that
from the same cause of the deplorable drain, besides the material
exhaustion of India, the moral loss to her is no less sad and lamentable.
With the material wealth go also the wisdom and experience of the
country. Europeans occupy almost all the higher places in every
department of government, directly or indirectly under its control.
While in India they acquire India's money, experience and wisdom, and
when they go, they carry both away with them, leaving India so much
poorer in material and moral wealth. Thus India is left without, and
cannot have, those elders in wisdom and experience, who in every
country are the natural guides of the rising generations in their national
and social conduct, and of the destinies of their country—and a sad, sad
loss this is !
.
Every European is isolated from the people around him. He is not
their mental, moral or social leader or companion. For any mental or.
moral influence or guidance or sympathy with the people, he might just
as well be living in the moon. The people know not him, and he
knows not, nor cares for the people. Some honorable exceptions do, now
30
466
and then, make an effort to do some good they can, but in the very
nature of things, these efforts are always feeble, exotic, and of little
permanent effect. These men are not always in the place, and their
works die away when they go.
The Europeans are not the natural leaders of the people. They do
not belong to the people. They cannot enter into their thuughts and
feelings; they cannot join or sympathise with their joys or griefs. On
the contrary, every day the estrangement is increasing Europeans
deliberately and openly widen it more and more. There may be very
few social Institutions started by Europeans in which, Natives, however
fit and desirous to join, are not deliberately and insultingly excluded.
The Europeans are and make themselves strangers in every way. All
they effectually do, is to eat the substance of India, material and moral,
while living there, and when they go, they carry away all they have
acquired, and their pensions and future usefulness besides.
This most deplorable moral loss to India needs most serious considera-
tion, as much in its political as in its national aspect. Nationally
disastrous as it is, it carries politically with it its own Nemesis. With-
out the guidance of elderly wisdom and experience of their own natural
leaders, the education which the rising generations are now receiving, is
naturally leading them (or call misleading them, if you will) into direc-
tions which bode no good to the rulers, and which, instead of being the
strength of the rulers as it ought to and can be, will turn out to be their
great weakness. The fault will be of the rulers themselves for such a
result. The power that is now being raised by the spread of education,
though yet slow and small, is one that in time must, for weal or woe,
exercise great influence. In fact it has already begun to do so. How-
ever strangely the English rulers, forgetting their English manliness
and moral courage, may, like the ostrich, shut their eyes by gagging
acts or otherwise, to the good or bad influences they are raising around
them, this good or evil is rising nevertheless. The thousands that are
being sent out by the Universities every year, find themselves in a most
anomalous position. There is no place for them in their mother-land.
They may beg in the streets or break stones on the roads, for aught the
rulers seem to care for their natural rights, position and duties in their
own country. They may perish or do what they like or can, but scores
of Europeans must go from this country to take up what belongs to them,
and that, in spite of every profession for years and years past and up to
the present day, of English statesmen, that they must govern India
for India's good, by solemn acts and declarations of Parliament, and above
467
D
all, by the words of the August Sovereign Herself. For all practical
purposes all these high promises have been hitherto, almost wholly, the
purest romance, the reality being quite different.
The educated find themselves simply so many dummies, ornamented
with the tinsel of school education, and then their whole end and aim of
life is ended. What must be the inevitable consequence? A wild
spirited horse, without curb or reins, will run away wild, and kill and
trample upon every one that came in his way. A misdirected force will
hit anywhere and destroy anything. The power that the rulers are, so
far to their credit, raising, will, as a nemesis recoil against themselves, if
with this blessing of education they do not do their whole duty to the
country which trusts to their righteousness, and thus turn this good
power to their own side. The nemesis is as clear from the present
violence to nature, as disease and death arise from uncleanliness and
rottenness. The voice of the power of the rising education is, no doubt,
feeble at present. Like the infant, the present dissatisfaction is only
crying at the pains it is suffering. Its notions have not taken any form
or shape or course yet, but it is growing. Heaven only knows what it
will grow to! He who runs may see, that if the present material and
moral destruction of India continued, a great convulsion must inevitably
arise, by which either India will be more and more crushed under the
iron heel of despotism and destruction, or may succeed in shattering the
destroying hand and power. Far, far is it from my earnest prayer and
hope that such should be the result of the British rule. In this rule,
there are every element to produce immeasurable good, both to India and
England, and no thinking native of India would wish harm to it, with
all the hopes that are yet built upon the righteousness and conscience of
the British statesinen and nation.
The whole duty and responsibility of bringing about this desired con-
summation, lies upon the head and in the hands of the Indian authorities
in England. It is no use screening themselves behind the fiction and
excuse, that the Viceroys and authorities in India are difficult to be got
to do what they ought, or that they would do all that may be necessary,
They neither can nor will do this. They cannot go against acts of Parlia-
ment on the one hand, and on the other, the pressure of European inter-
ests, and of European selfishness and guidance, is so heavy in India, that
the Viceroys in their first years are quite helpless and get committed to
certain courses; and if; in time, any of them, happening to have sufficient
strength of character and confidence in their own judgment, are likely to
take matters in their own hands, and with any moral courage to res st
468
interests, hostile or antagonistic to the good of the people, the end of
their time begins to come near, their zeal and interest begin to flag, and
soon they go away, leaving India to roll up Sisyphus's stone again, with
a new Viceroy. It is the highest Indian authority here, the Secretary
of State for India, upon whom the responsibility wholly rests. He alone
has the power, as a member of and with the weight of the British Cabinet,
to guide the Parliament to acts worthy of the English character, con-
science and nation. The glory or disgrace of the British in India, is in
his hands. He has to make Parliament lay down by clear legislation,
how India shall be governed for “ India's good," or it is hopeless for us
to look forward for any relief from our present material and moral
destruction, and for future elevation.
Englishmen sometimes indulge the notion, that England is secure
in the division and disunion among the various races and nationalities
of India. But even in this, new forces are working their way. Those
Englishmen who sleep such foolish sleep of security, know precious
little of what is going on. The kind of education that is being received
by thousands of all classes and creeds, is throwing them all in a similar
mould; a sympathy of sentiment, ideas, and aspirations is growing
among them ; and more particularly a political union and sympathy is
the first fruit of the new awakening, as all feel alike their deprivation,
and the degradation and destruction of their country. All differences
of race and religion and rivalry are gradually sinking before this
common cause. This beginning, no doubt, is at present insignificant,
but it is surely and steadily progressing. Hindus, Mahomedans, and
Parsees are asking alike, whether the English rule was to be a blessing
or a curse. Politics now engross their attention more and more. This
is no longer a secret, or a state of things not quite open to those of our
rulers who would see. It may be seen that there is scarcely any union
except only in political associations. In these associations they go hand
in hand with all the fervour and sympathy of a common cause. I would
here touch upon a few incidents, little as they are, still showing hos
nature is working in its own quiet way.
Dr. Birdwood has brought to the notice of the English public certain
songs now being spread among the people of Western India, against the
destruction of Indian industry and arts. We may laugh at this as a
futile attempt to shut out English machine-made cheaper goods against
hand-made dearer ones. But little do me think what this movement
469
2
is likely to grow into, and what new phases it may take in time,
The songs are at present directed against English wares, but
they are also a natural and effective preparation against other
English things when the time comes, if the English in their blindness
allow such times to come. The songs are full of loyalty, and I have
not the remotest doubt in the sincerity of that loyalty. But if the
present downward course of India continue, if the mass of the people
at last begin to despair for any amelioration, and if educated youths,
without the wisdom and experience of the world, become their leaders,
it will be but a very, very short step from loyalty to disloyalty, to turn
the course of indignation from English wares to English rule. The
songs will remain the same ; one word of curse for the rule will supply
the spark.
Here is another little incident with its own significance. The London
Indian Society, a political body of many of the native residents of
London, had a dinner the other day, and they invited guests. The three
guests were, one Hindu, one Mahomedan, and one Parsee. The society
itself is a body representing nearly all the principal classes of India.
It is small and may be laughed at as uninfluential and can do nothing.
But it shows how a sympathy of political common cause is bringing
the different classes together, and how, in time, such small seeds may
grow into large trees. Every member of this little body is carrying
back with him ideas, which as seeds may produce crops, sweet or bitter
according to the cultivation they may receive at our rulers' hands.
I turn to one bright incident on the other side. True to their Eng-
lish nature and character, there are some Englishmen who try to turn
the current of native thought towards an appreciation of English
intentions, and to direct English thought towards a better understanding
of England's duty to India. The East India Association is doing this
beneficent work, more especially by the fair and English character of its
course of bringing about free and full discussion upon every topic and
from every point of view, so that by a sifting of the full expression of
different views, truth may be elicited. Though yet little appreciated by
the English public, the English members of this Association are fulfilling
the duty of patriotism to their own country and of benefaction towards
India. How far their good efforts will succeed is yet to be seen. But
they at least do one thing. These Englishmen, as well as public writers
like Fawcett, Hynaman, Perry, Caird, Knight, Bell, Wilson, and
others, vindicate to India the English character, and show that when
470
Englishmen as a body will understand their duty and responsibility, the
natives of India may fairly expect a conduct of which their's is a sample
-a desire and deed to act rightly by India. The example and earnest-
ness of these Englishmen, though yet small their number, keep India's
hope alive;that England will produce a statesman who will have the
moral courage and firmness to face the Indian problem, and do what
the world should expect from England's conscience, and from England's
mission to humanity.
I have thus touched upon a few incidents only, to illustrate the various
influences that are at work. Whether the result of all these forces and
influences will be good or bad, remains, as I have said, in the hands of
the Secretary of State for India.
In my last paper, I said, the thinking natives were as yet staunch in
their loyalty to the British rule, as they were yet fully hopeful of the
future from the general character and history of the English people. They
believe, that when the conscience of the English nation is awakened, it will
not be long before India receives full and thorough redress for all she
has been suffering. While thus hopeful of the future, it is desirable
that our rulers should know and consider, what about the past is passing
in many a thinking native mind.
They are as grateful as any people can be, for whatever real good
of peace and order and education has been done for them. But they
also ask what good upon the whole England has done to India. It
is sadly poor and increasing in poverty, both material and moral. They
consider and bewail the unnatural treatment India has been receiving.
1
They dwell upon the strange contrast between the words and deeds
· of the English rulers. How often deliberate and solemn promises are
made and broken, I need not here instance again what I have at
some length shown in my papers on the Poverty of India under the
heading of
"Non-fulfilment of Solemn Promises." *
I would refer here to one or two characteristic instances only. The
conception for an Engineering College in London was no sooner formed
than it became an accomplished faet; and Mr. Grant Duff, then Under
* The Duke of Argyll, as Secretary of State for India, said in his speech of
11th March 1869 with regard to the employment of Natives in the Covenanted
Service :-"I must say that we have not fulfilled our duty or the promises and
engagements which we have made." See page 245 of this book,
471
Secretary of State, in his place in Parliament, proclaimed what great boons
“we” were conferring on the English people, but quite oblivious at whose
sacrifices. It was an English interest, and the thing was done as quick
at it was thought of. On the other hand, a clause for native interests,
proposed in 1867, took 3 years to pass, and in such a form as to be
simply ineffectual. I asked Sir Stafford Northcote at the time of the
proposal to make it in some way imperative, but without effect.
Again, after being passed after 3 years, it remained a dead letter
for 7 years more, and might have remained so till doomsday
for aught any of the Indian authorities cared. But thanks to
the persevering exertions of one of England's true sons, Sir
Erskine Perry, some steps were at last taken to frame the
rules that were required, and it is now, in the midst of a great deal of
fine writing, making some, though very slow progress. For such even
as it is we are thankful, but greater efforts are necessary to stem the
torrent of the drain. Turning to the uncovenanted service, Sir Stafford
Northcote's despatch of 8th February 1868 declared that Europeans
should not be allowed in this service to override " the inherent rights of
the natives of the country.” Now in what spirit was this despatch
treated till very lately? Was it not simply, or is not even now, almost
a dead letter?
In the matter of the load of the public debt of India, it is mainly due
to the wars of the English conquests in India, and English wars abroad
in the name of India. Not a farthing has been spent by England for
its British Indian Empire. The burden of all England's wars in Asia,
has been thrown on India's shoulders. In the Abyssinian War, India
narrowly and lightly escaped, and in the present Afghan War, her escape
from whatever portion she may be saved, is not less narrow. Such
though the character of nearly the whole of the public debt, (excluding
for public works) being caused by the actions by which England has
become the mistress of a great empire and thereby the first nation in
the world, she would not move her little finger to give India any such
help as is within her power without even any material sacrifice to her-
self, viz. that of guaranteeing this public debt, so that India may derive
some little relief from reduced interest.
V
e
When English interests are concerned, their accomplishment is often a
foregone conclusion. But India's interests always require long and
anxious thought--thought that seldom begins, and when it does begin,
seldom ends in any thorough good result. It is useless to conceal that
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0
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rulers is much shaken, and were it not for the faith in the conscience of
the statesmen and people in this country, any hope of good by an
alteration of the present British Indian policy would be given up.
The English rulers boast and justly so, that they have introduced
education and western civilization into India, but on the other hand,
they act as if no such thing had taken place, and as if all this boast was
pure moonshine. Either they have educated or have not. If they
deserve the boast, it is a strange self-condemnation, that after half a
century or more of such efforts, they have not yet prepared a sufficient
number of men fit for the service of their own country. Take even the
educational department itself. We are made B. As. and M. As. and
M. Ds., &c, with the strange result that we are not yet considered fit to
teach our countrymen. We must have yet forced upon us even in this
department, as in every other, every European that can be squeezed in.
To keep up the sympathy and connection with the current of European
thought, an English head may be appropriately and beneficially
retained in a few of the most important institutions. But as matters
are at present, all boast of education is exhibited as so much sham and
delusion.
In the case of former foreign conquests, the invaders either retired
with their plunder and booty, or became the rulers of the country.
When they only plundered and went back away, they made no doubt
great wounds, but India with her industry revived and healed the
wounds. When the invaders became the rulers of the country, they
settled down in it, and whatever was the condition of their rule, accord-
ing to the character of the sovereign of the day, there was at least no
material or moral drain from the country.* Whatever the country
produced, remained in the country. Whatever wisdom and experience
was acquired in her services, remained among her own people. With
the English the case is peculiar. There are the great wounds of the
S
CL
* Sir Stafford Northcote, in his speech in Parliament on 24th May 1867, said :-
“ Nothing could be more wonderful than our empire in India, but we ought to
“consider on what conditions we held it, and how our predecessors held it. The
"greatness of the Mogul empire depended upon the liberal policy that was
“pursued by men like Akbar availing themselves of Hindu talent and assistance,
"and identifying themselves as far as possible with the people of the country.
“He thought that they ought to take a lesson from such a circumstance, and if
" they were to do their duty towards India, they could only (lischarge that duty
sby obtaining the assistance and counsel of all who were great and good in that
“ country. It would be absurd in them to say that there was not a large fund of
“ statesmanship and ability in the Indian character.”—Times of 25th May 1867.
473
first wars in the burden of the public debt, and those wounds are kept
perpetually open and widening, by draining away the life blood in a
continuous stream. The former rulers were like butchers hacking here
and there, but the English with their scientific scalpel cut to the very
heart, and yet lo! there is no wound to be seen, and soon the plaster of
the high talk of civilization, progress, and what not, covers up the
wound! The English rulers stand sentinel at the front door of India,
challenging the whole world, that they do and shall protect India
against all comers, and themselves carry away by a back-door the very
treasures they stand sentinel to protect.
In short, had England deliberately intended to devise the best means
of taking away India's wealth, in a quiet continuous drain, without
scandalising the world, she could not have hit upon a more effectual
plan than the present lines of policy. A Viceroy tells,—the people of
India enjoy but scanty subsistence—and this is the outcome of the
British rule.
No doubt, the exertions of individual Europeans at the time of
famines may be worthy of admiration ; the efforts of Government and
the aid of the contributions of the British people to save life, deserve
every gratitude. But how strange it is, that the British rulers do
not see that after all they themselves are the main cause of the
destruction that ensues from droughts; that it is the drain of India's
wealth by them that lays at their own door the dreadful results of
misery, starvation, and deaths of millions. England does not know
famines, be the harvest however bad or scanty. She has the means
of buying her food from the whole world. India is being unceasingly
deprived of these means, and when famine comes, the starving have to
be taxed so much more to save the dying.
England's conduct in India is in strange contrast with her conduct
with almost any other country. Owing to the false groove in which
she is moving, she does violence to her own best instincts. She sym-
pathises with and helps every nationality that struggles for a constitu-
tional representative Government. On the one hand, she is the parent
of, and maintains the highest constitutionalism, and on the other,
she exercises a clear and, though thoughtlessly, a despoiling despotism
in India, under a pseudo-constitutionalism in the shape of the farce of
the present Legislative Councils.
Of all countries in the world, if any one has the greatest claim on
England's consideration, to receive the boons of a constitutional repre-
474
sentative government at her hands, and to have her people governed as
England governs her own,—that country is India, her most sacred trust
and charge. But England, though she does every thing she can for other
countries, fights shy of, and makes some excuse or other to avoid, giving to
the people of India their fair share in the legislation of their country. Now
I do not mean to say that India can suddenly have a full blown Parlia-
ment and of such widespread representation as England enjoys. But
has England made any honest efforts to gradually introduce a true re-
presentation of the people, excepting some solitary exceptions of partial
municipal representation ? I need not dwell upon the present farce of
the nomination system for the Legislative Councils, and of the dummies
that are sometimes nominated. I submit that a small beginning can
be well made now. I would take the Bombay Presidency as an
instance. Suppose the present Legislative Council is extended to
21 members, 13 of these to be nominated from officials and non-officials
by the government, and 8 to be elected by the principal towns of the
Presidency. This will give government a clear majority of 5, and the
representative element, the minority, cannot do any harm, or hamper
Government. In England the majority determines the Government.
In India this cannot be the case at present, and so the majority must
follow the Government. It would be, when something is extremely
outrageous, that the minority would, by force of argument and truth,
draw towards it the Government majority, and even in any such rare
instance, all that will happen will be that Government will be prevented
from doing any such outrageous things. In short, in such an arrange-
ment, Government will remain all powerful, as it must for a long time
to come, while there will be also independent persons actually represent-
ing the people to speak the sentiments of the people, thereby giving
Government the most important help and relieving them from much
responsibility, anxiety, and mistakes. The representative element in
the minority, will be gradually trained in constitutional government.
They will have no inducement to run wild with prospects of power.
They will have to maintain the reason of their existence, and will there-
fore be actuated by caution and good sense. They can do no harm but
· a vast amount of good both to the Government and the governed. The
people will have the satisfaction that their rulers were doing their duty
and endeavouring to raise them to their own civilization.
There are in the Bombay Presidency the following towns of more
than 50,000 population. Bombay having by far the largest, and with
its importance as the capital of the Presidency, may be properly allowed
three representatives.
475
The towns are :-
* Bombay.
644,405
Poona. Ahmedabad. Surat.
118,886 116,873 107,149
Karachi.
53,526
Sholapore.
53,403.
Thus Bombay having 3—the Gujarati division of the Presidency will
be represented by Ahmedabad and Surat, the Maratha portion by Poona
and Sholapur, and Sind by Karachi, making altogether 8 members
which will be a fair though a small representation to begin with. Gov-
ernment may with advantage adopt a larger number ; all I desire and
insist is, that there must be a fair representative element in the councils.
As to the qualifications of electors and candidates for election, govern-
ment is quite competent to fix upon some, as they did in the case of the
Bombay Corporation, and such qualifications may from time to time be
modified as experience may suggest. With this modification in the
present Legislative Council, a great step will have been taken towards
one of the greatest boons which India asks and expects at England's
hands. Without some such element of the people's voice in all the
Legislative Councils, it is impossible for Englishmen, more and more
estranged and isolated as they are becoming, to be able to legislate for
India in the true spirit and feeling of her wants.
After having a glorious history of heroic struggles for constitutional
government, England is now rearing up a body of Englishmen in India,
trained up and accustomed to despotism, with all the feelings of impa-
tience, pride, and high-handedness of the despot becoming gradually in-
grained in them, and with the additional training of the dissimulation of
constitutionalism. Is it possible that such habits and training of despo-
tism, with which Indian officials return from India, should not, in the
course of time, influence the English character and institutions ?
descending and degenerating to the lower level of Asiatic despotism.
Is this a nemesis that will in fulness of time show to them, what fruit
their conduct in India produced ? It is extraordinary how nature may
revenge itself for the present unnatural course of England in India, if
England, not yet much tainted by this demoralisation, does not, in good
time, check this new leaven that is gradually fermenting among her people.
There is the opium trade. What a spectacle it is to the world.
In England, no statesman dares to propose that opium may be allowed
* Statistical abstract of British India--1879, page 21.
476
to be sold in public houses at the corners of every street, in the same
way as beer or spirits. On the contrary, Parliament, as representing the
whole nation, distinctly enacts “opium and all preparations of opium or
of poppies” as "poison," to be sold by certified chemists only, and “every
box, bottle, vessel, wrapper or cover in which such poison is contained,
be distinctly labelled with the name of the article and the word poison,
and with the name and address of the seller of the poison.” And yet,
at the other end of the world, this Christian, highly civilized, and humane
England, forces a “heathen" and " barbarous" power to take this “ poi-
son,” and tempts a vast human race to use it, and to degenerate and de-
moralise themselves with this “poison." And why,-because India
cannot fill up the remorseless drain, so China must be dragged in to make
it up, even though it be by being “poisoned." It is wonderful, how England
reconciles this to her conscience. This opium trade is a sin on England's
head, and a curse on India for her share in being the instrument.
This may sound strange as coming from any natives of India, as it is
generally represented, as if India it was, that benefited by the opium
to dust, and the opium trade of China fills up England's drain India
derives not a particle of benefit. A ll India's profits of trade, and sev-
eral millions from her very produce, (scanty as it is and becoming more
and more so), and with these, all the profit of opium, go the same way
of the drain to England. Only, India shares the curse of the Chinese race.
Had this cursed opium trade not existed, India's miseries would have
much sooner come to the surface, and relief and redress would have come
to her long ago. But this trade has prolonged the agonies of India.
In association with this trade, is the stigma of the salt tax, upon the
British name. What a humiliating confession to say, that after the
length of the British rule, the people are in such a wretched plight that
they have nothing that Government can tax, and that Government must,
therefore, tax an absolute necessary of life to an inordinate extent
The slight flash of prosperity during the American war, showed how the
people of India would enjoy and spend, when they have anything to enjoy
and spend—and now, can anything be a greater condemnation of the
results of British lines of policy, than that the people have nothing to
spend and enjoy, and pay tax on, but that they must be pinched and
starved in a necessary of life.
The English are, and justly and gloriously, the greatest champions
of liberty of speech. What a falling off must have taken place in their
character, when after granting this boon to India, they should have even
477
thought of withdrawing it. This act, together with that of dis-
arming the people, is a clear confession by the rulers to the world,
that they have no hold as yet upon the affection and loyality of the peo-
ple, though in the same breath, they make every profession of their
belief in the loyalty of the people. Now which is the truth ? And are
gagging and disarming the outcome of a long benign rule?
Why do the English allow themselves to be so perpetually scared by
the fears of Russian, or any other foreign invasion ? If the people of
India be satisfied, if their hearts and hands be with England, she may
defy a dozen Russias. On the other hand, do British statesmen think
that however sharp and pointed their bayonets, and however long-flying
their bullets, they may not find the two hundred millions of the people of
India, her political Himalaya to be pierced through, when the present
political union among the different peoples is more strengthened and
consolidated ?
There is the stock argument of over-population. They talk, and so
far truly, of the increase by British peace, but they quite forget the
destruction by the British drain. They talk of the pitiless operations
of economic laws, but, somehow, they forget that there is no such thing
in India, as the natural operation of economic laws. It is not the pitiless
operations of economic laws, but it is the thoughtless and pitiless action
of the British policy, it is the pitiless eating of India’s substance in
India, and the further pitiless drain to England,-in short, it is
the pitiless perversion of economic laws by the sad bleeding to
which India is subjected, that is destroying India. Why blame
poor nature, when the fault lies at your own door. Let natural and
economic laws have their full and fair play, and India will become
another England, with manifold greater benefit to England herself than
at present.
As long as the English do not allow the country to produce what it
can produce ; as long as the people are not allowed to enjoy what they
can produce; as long as the English are the very party on their trial ;
they have no right, and are not competent, to give an opinion, whether
the country is over-populated or not. In fact, it is absurd to talk of
over-population, i. e. the country's incapability, by its food or other
produce, to supply the means of support to its people, if the country is
unceasingly and forcibly deprived of its means or capital. Let the
country keep what it produces, and then, can any right judgment be
formed, whether it is over-populated or not. Let England first hold
478
hands off India's wealth, and then there will be disinterestedness in, and
respect for, her judgment. The present cant of the excuse of over-popula-
tion is adding a distressful insult to agonising injury. To talk of over-
population at present, is just as reasonable as to cut off a man's hands
and then to taunt him, that he was not able to maintain himself or move
his hands.
When persons talk of the operation of economic laws, they forget the
very first and fundamental principles. Says Mr. Mill, “Industry is
limited by capital.” “ To employ industry on the land, is to apply
capital to the land.” “Industry cannot be employed to any greater
extent than there is capital to invest.” “There can be no more indus-
try than is supplied by materials to work up and food to eat. Yet, in
regard to a fact so evident, it was long continued to be believed, that
laws and governments, without creating capital, could create industry.''
And while Englishmen are sweeping away this very capital, they raise
up their hands and wonder why India cannot have industry.
The English are themselves the head and front of the offending, and
yet they talk of over-population, and every mortal irrelevant thing, but
the right cause, viz. their own drain of the material and moral wealth of
the country.
The present form of relations between the paramount power and the
princes of India, is un-English and iniquitous. Fancy a people, the
greatest champions of fair play and justice, having a system of political
agency by which, as the princes say, they are stabbed in the dark; the
Political Agents making secret reports and the government often acting
thereon, without a fair inquiry or explanation from the princes. The
princes, therefore, are always in a state of alarm, as to what may
befall them unawares. If the British authorities deliberately wished to
adopt a method by which the princes should always remain alarmed
and irritated, they could not have hit upon a more effective one than what
exists. If these princes can feel assured that their treaty rights will
be always honourably and faithfully observed, that there will be no con-
stant nibbling at their powers, that it was not the ulterior policy of the
British to pull them down gradually to the position of the mere nobles
of the country, as the princes at present suspect and fear, and if a more
just and fair mode of political agency be adopted, I have not the least
hesitation in saying that, as much from self-interest alone, as from any
other motive, these princes will prove the greatest bulwark and help to
perpetuate British supremacy in India. It stands to reason and common
479
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sense, that the native princes clearly understand their interest, that by a
power like the British only, with a!l the confidence it may command by
its fairness as well as strength, can they be saved from each other and
even from themselves. Relieved of any fear from the paramount power,
they will the more readily listen to counsels of reform which they much
need. The English can then exercise their salutary influence, in advising
and helping them to root out the old corrupt regimes, and in making
them and their courtiers to understand that power was not self-
aggrandizement, but responsibility for the good of the people. I say
from personal conversation with some of the princes, that they thorough-
ly understand their interest under the protection of the present para-
mount power.
It is useless for the British to compare themselves with the past native
rulers. If the British do not show themselves to be vastly superior, in
proportion to their superior enlightenment and civilization, if India do
not prosper and progress under them far more largely, there will be no
justification for their existence in India. The thoughtless past drain we
may consider as our misfortune, but a similar future will, in plain English,
be deliberate plunder and destruction.
I do not repeat here several other views which I have already expressed
in my last Memorandum.
I have thus given a general sketch of what is passing in many natives'
minds on several subjects. It is useless and absurd to remind us con-
stantly, that once the British fiat brought order out of chaos, and to
make that an everlasting excuse for subsequent shortcomings, and the
material and moral impoverishment of the country. The natives of the
present day have not seen that chaos, and do not feel it, and though they
understand it, and very thankful they are for the order brought, they
see the present drain, distress, and destruction, and they feel it and
bewail it.
By all means, let Englishmen be proud of the past. We accord them
every credit for the order and law they brought about, and are deeply
thankful to them, but let them now face the present, let them clearly
realise and manfully acknowledge the many shortcomings of omission
and commission, by which, with the best of intentions, they have
reduced India to material and moral wretchedness : and let them.
in a way worthy of their name and history, repair the injury they have
inflicted. It is fully in their power to make their rule a blessing to
India, and a benefit and glory to England, by allowing India her own
480
administration under their superior, controlling and guiding hand--or iu
their own oft-repeated professions and words, “ by governing India for
India's good."
May the God of all nations lead the English to a right sense of their
duty to India, is my humble and earnest prayer !
16th November 1880.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
32, Great St. Helens,
London, 4th January 1881.
SIR LOUIS MALLET,
The Under-Secretary of State for India.
· India Office,
London, S. W.
SIR,
I beg to request you to submit the accompanying Memorandum, No. 3,
on some of the Statements in the Report of the Indian Famine
Commission, 1880,” to his Lordship the Secretary of State for India,
and I hope His Lordship will give his kind and generous consideration
to it.
I remain,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
MEMORANDUM ON A FEW STATEMENTS IN THE
REPORT OF THE INDIAN FAMINE COMMISSION, 1880.
Part II., Chapter I., Section VII. treats of Incidence of Taxation.
I submit that the section is fallacious, gives an erroneous notion of
the true state of the matter, and is misleading.
We shall see what the reality is.
The income of a country consists of two parts
1. The internal total annual material production of the country
(Agricultural, Manufactures,- Mines and Fisberies).
2. The external annual profits of Foreign Trade.
There is no other source of income beyond these two, excepting, in
the case of British India, the tributes, and contributions of Native
States of about £700,000.
481
The incidence of taxation of any country means that a certain amount
or portion is taken out of this income for purposes of Government.
Call this portion revenue, tax, rent, service, contributions, blessing,
curse or by any name from A to Z in the English vocabulary. The
fact simply is, that the country has to give a certain proportion out of
its income for purposes of government. Every farthing that the country
from Foreign trade, or, in other words, has to be given from the annual
income. No portion of it is rained down from heaven, or produced by
some magic by the government of the country. The £24,000,000 which
the Commissioners call “ other than taxation," do not come down from
the heavens, nor are to be obtained from any other source than the
annual income of the country, just the same as what they call taxation
proper. And so also what the Commissioners call “ rent," with regard
to the revenue derived from land.
Whatever plans, wise or unwise, a government adopt of distributing
the incidence of the revenue among different classes of people; from what-
ever and how-many-soever different sources, government may obtain its
revenue ; by whatever hundred-and-one names may these different items
of revenue be called ;-the sum total of the whole matter is, that out of
the annual income of the country, a certain portion is "raised for the
purposes of government, and the real incidence of this revenue in any
country, is the proportion it bears to the actual annual income of the
country, call the different modes of raising this revenue what you like.
Now England raises at present for purposes of government
about £83,000,000. The income of the United Kingdom is well nigh
£1,000,000,000* a year. The proportion therefore of the revenue of
£83,000,000 or even £84,000,000, is about 83 per cent. out of the
annual income.
Now India's income, as I have first roughly shown in 1870 in my
paper on the Wants and Means of India,t and subsequently in my
papers on the Poverty of India, I is hardly £300,000,000 per annum,
This statement has not been refuted by anybody. On the contrary.
* The Westminster Review of January 1876 gives the National profluction for
1875 of the United Kingdom as £28 per head of population. I do not know
whether profits of trade are included in this amount. Mi. Grant Duff, in 1871. took
£800,000,000—or roundly £30 per head of population. The population is above
34,000,000,-- which, at £28, gives £952,000,000.
† Page 97 of this book.
I Page 180 of this book.
31
482
Mr. Grant Duff, though cautiously, admitted in his speech in 1871, in
these words:-" The income of British India has been guessed at
£300,000,000 per annum.” And Lord Mayo quoted Mr. Grant Duff's
speech soon after, without any contradiction, but rather with approval.
If the fact be otherwise, let government give the correct fact every year.
Out of this income of £300,000,000, the revenue raised in India for
purposes of government is £65,000,000 or very near 22 per cent.
Thus, then, the actual heaviness of the weight of revenue on India,
is quite 21 times as much as that on England. This is the simple fact,
that out of the grand income of £1,000,000,000--of only 34,000,000 of
population, England raises for the purposes of government only 87 per
cent., while out of the poor, wretched income of £300,000,000 of a
population of nearly 200,000,000~two and a half times more, or nearly
22 per cent., are raised in India for the same purpose, and yet people
coolly and cruelly write that India is lightly taxed. It must be further
realised, what this disproportionate pressure, upon a most prosperous
and wealthy community like that of England, and the most wretched,
and poverty and famine-stricken people of India, means. To the one, it
is not a fleabite, to the other, it is starvation and death of millions,
under her present unnatural treatment. For, this is not all. A far
deeper and worse depth lies behind.
Let me then once more repeat that out of the grand income of
£1,000,000,000 a year, England gives only 83 per cent. for government
purposes, while out of the wretched poverty of India of an income of
£300,000,000~she gives 22 per cent for purposes of government.
Now comes the worst evil of the whole, to which English writers, with
few exceptions, always shut their eyes.
Of the £83,000,000 of revenue, which is raised in England, every
farthing returns in some shape or other to the people themselves. In
fact, England pays with one hand, and receives back with the other.
And such is the case in every country on the face of the earth, and so it
must be—but poor India is doomed otherwise. Out of the £65,000,000,
taken out of her wretched income, some £30,000,000 or £40,000,000 are
never returned to the people, but are eaten up in the country, and taken
away out of the country, by those who are not the people of the country
by England, in short. I pass over this mournful topic here, as I have
to refer to it again further on.
I may be taken to task, that I am making a very indefinite statement,
when I talk of "some £30,000,000 or £40,000,000—as being eaten up
483
and taken away by England." The fault is not mine, but that of
government. In 1873, Sir D. Wedderburn moved for a return for the
number, salaries, &c. of all the services. The return was ordered in
July 1873. It is now past 7 years, but has not been made. Again
1879—Mr. Bright moved for returns (salaries, &c. 19th June '79) and
Sir D. Wedderburn moved for Returns (East India Services—20th and
23rd June ?79), and (East India Services--24th June 179). These
returns have not yet been made. I hope they are being prepared.
When these returns are made, we shall know definitely and clearly what
the amount is, that, out of the revenue of £65,000,000, does not at all
return to the people of India, but is eaten up in, and carried away from,
India every year, by England. Such returns ought to be made every
year. Once it is made, the work of succeeding years will be only the
alterations or revision for the year, or revised estimates every 2 or 3
years even will do. To government itself, a return like this will be
particularly useful. They will then act with clear light, instead of
groping in darkness as at present, and though actuated with the best of
intentions, still inflicting upon India untold misfortune and miseries.
And it will then see, how India, of all other countries in the world, is
subjected to a most unnatural and destructive treatment.
The next sections VIII and IX on Trade and Railways, are peryaded
with the same fallacies as those of Mr. Danvers's Memo. of 28th June
1880, and to which I replied with my letter of 13th September 1880.
I, therefore, do not go over the same ground here again. I need only
refer to one statement, the last sentence of para. 4 of Section VIII:-
“As to the other half of the excess, which is due to the
cost of English Administration, there can hardly be room for doubt
that it is to the advantage of India, to pay the sum really necessary to
secure its peaceful government, without which, no progress would be
possible; and so long as this condition is not violated, it does not
seem material whether a part of the charge has to be met in England
or not."
A statement, more wrong in its premises and conclusion, can hardly
be met with. Let us see.
By "the other half of the excess” is meant £8,000,000.
The Commissioners tell the public that In dia pays £8,000,000
for securing peaceful government. This is the fiction. What are the
facts ?
484
England, of all nations on the face of the earth, enjoys the utmost
security of life and property of every kind, from a strong and peaceful
government. For this, England “pays” £83,000,000 a year.
In the same manner, India “ pays" not £8,000,000, but £65,000,000
for the same purpose, and should be able and willing to “ pay's twice
or thrice £65,000,000, under natural circumstances, similar to those of
England.
Thus, England "pays” £83,000,000 and India “ pays” £65,000,000
for purposes of peaceful government. But here the parallel ends, and
English writers, with very few exceptions, fight shy of going beyond
this point, and misstate the matter as is done in the above extract. Let
us see what is beyond.
(
Of the £83,000,000 which England « pays” for security of life and
property, or peaceful government, every farthing returns to the people
themselves. It is not even a fleabite or any bite to the people of
England that they "pay” £83,000,000 for peaceful government. They
simply give with one hand and receive back with the other. The
country and the people enjoy the full benefit of every farthing they
either produce in the country or earn with foreign trade.
But with India, the fact is quite otherwise. Out of the £65,000,000
which she “pays” like England for peaceful government, £30,000,000
or £40,000,000 do not return to the people of the country. These
£30,000,000 or £40,000,000 are eaten up in the country, and carried
away from the country, by a foreign people. The people of India are
thus deprived of this enormous amount, year after year, and are, as a
natural consequence, weakened more and more every year in their
capacity for production, or, in plain words, India is being simply
destroyed.
The romance is, that there is security of life and property in India,
The reality is, that there is no such thing.
There is security of life and property in one sense or way, i. e. the
people are secure from any violence from each other or from native
despots. So far, there is real security of life and property, and for
which India never denies her gratitude. But from England's own grasp,
there is no security of property at all, and as a consequence no security
for life. India's property is not secure. What is secure and well
secure is, that England is perfectly safe and secure, and does so with
perfect security, to carry away from India and to eat up in India, her
485
property at the present rate of some £30,000,000 or £40,000,000
a year.
The reality therefore is, that the policy of English rule as it is (not
as it can and should be), is an everlasting, unceasing and every-day-
increasing foreign invasion, utterly, though gradually, destroying the
country. I venture to submit, that every right-minded Englishman,
calmly and seriously considering the problem of the present condition
and treatment of India by England, will come to this conclusion.
The old invaders came with the avowed purpose of plundering the
wealth of the country. They plundered and went away, or conquered
and became the natives of the country. But the great misfortune of
India is, that England did not mean, or wish, or come, with the inten-
tion of plundering, and yet events have taken a course which has made
England the worst foreign invader she has had the misfortune to have.
India does not get a moment to breathe or revive. More Europeans,'
more Europeans,' is the eternal cry, and this very report itself of the
Commission is not free from it.
The present position of England in India has, moreover, produced
another most deplorable evil, from which the worst of old foreign
invasions was free. That with the deprivation of the vital, material blood
of the country, to the extent of £30,000,000 or £40,000,000 a year,
the whole higher “wisdom” of the country is also carried away.
I therefore venture to submit, that India does not enjoy security of
her property and life, and also moreover, of “ knowledge” or “wisdom.”
To millions in India, life is simply “half feeding" or starvation, or
famines and disease.
View the Indian problem from any point you like, you come back
again and again to this central fact, that England takes from India
every year £30,000,000 or £40,000,000 worth of her property with
all the lamentable consequences from such a loss, and with a continuous
diminution of the capacity of India for production, together with the
moral loss of all higher wisdom.
India would be quite able and willing to "pay," as every other country,
or as England "pays,”' for peaceful government. But no country on
the face of the earth can stand the deprivation of property that India
is subjected to, without being crushed to death.
Suppose England were subjected to such a condition at the hand of
some foreign; power and would she not to a man clamour, that far better
486
D
would they fly at each other's throat, have strifes in streets of civil wars, or
fights in fields for foreign wars, with all the chances of fame or fortune
on survival, than to submit to the inglorious, miserable deaths from
poverty and famines, with wretchedness and disease in case of survival. I
have no hesitation in appealing to any Englishman to say, which of the
two deaths he would prefer, and I shall not have to wait long for the reply.
What is property worth to India, which she can only call her own in
name, but not in reality, and which her own children cannot enjoy?
What is life worth to her that must perish by millions at the very touch
of drought or distress, or can have only a half starving existence ?
The confusion and fallacy in the extract I have given abore, therefore,
consists in this. It is not that India pays for peaceful government some
£8,000,000. She pays for it £65,000,000, just as England pays
£84,000,000. But there is one feature peculiar to India. She needs
British wise and beneficent guidance and supervision. British aid of
this kind can, under any circumstances, be but from outside the Indian
family, i. e. foreign. This aid must be reasonably paid for by India.
Now, if the whole foreign agency of European men and materials, re-
quired under the direct and indirect control of government, both in
India and England, in every shape or form, be clearly laid down, to be
confined within the limit of a fixed “foreign list " of say £5,000,000, or
even say £8,000,000, though very much, which the Commissioners ask
India should pay; India could very probably pay, without being so
destroyed as at present. But the present thoughtless and merciless
exhaustion of some £30,000,000, or £40,000,000, or may be even much
more, is crushing, cruel, and destructive.
In fact, leaving the past alone as a misfortune, the continuance of
the present drain will be, in plain English, nothing less than plunder
of an unceasing foreign invasion, and not a reasonable price for a bene-
ficent rule, as the Commissioners wrongly and thoughtlessly endeavour
to persuade the public.
The great misfortune of India is that the temptation or tendency
towards selfishness and self-aggrandisement of their own countrymen, is
too great and blinding for Englishmen (with few exceptions) connected
with India, to see that power is a sacred trust and responsibility for the
good of the people. We have this profession to any amount, but unless
and till the conscience of England, and of English bonest thinkers and
statesmen, is awakened, the performance will remain poor or nil as at
present.
487
Lord Ripon said—India needs rest. More true words cannot be
spoken. Yes she needs rest-rest from the present unceasing and
ever-increasing foreign invasion, from whose unceasing blows she has
not a moment allowed to breathe.
I said before that even this Famine Report was not free from the
same clamour, "more Europeans, more Europeans.”
Whenever any question of reform arises, the only remedy that suggests
itself to English officials’ minds, is, "apply more European leeches, apply
more European leeches !"
The Commission suggests the institution of an Agricultural Depart-
ment, and a very important suggestion it is. But they soon forget
that it is for India this is required, and that it is at India's expense it
has to be done, that it is from India's wretched income has this expendi-
ture to be provided, and that India cannot afford to have more blood
sucked out of her for more Europeans, and deprive so much her own
children ; in short, that native agency, under a good English head or
two, would be the most natural and proper agency for the purpose.
No, prostrate as India is, and for which very reason, the Commission
was appointed to suggest a remedy, they can only say, “more
Europeans”-as if no such thing as a people existed in India.
Were any Englishman to make such a proposal for England that
French or German youths be instructed at England's expense, and that
such youths make up the different public departments, he would be at once
scouted and laughed at. And yet, these Commissioners thoughtlessly
and seriously suggest and recommend to aggravate the very evil for
which they were expected to suggest a remedy. .
I appeal most earnestly to His Lordship, the Secretary of State for
India, that though the department suggested by the Commissioners is
very important, His Lordship would not adopt the mode which the
Commissioners have suggested with good intentions, but with thought-
lessness, about the rights and needs of India. That with the exception
of some thoroughly qualified necessary Europeans at the head, the
whole agency ought to be native, on the lines described by the
Commissioners. There can be no lack of natives of the kind required,
or it would be a very poor compliment indeed to the Educational
exertions of the English rulers during the past half a century.
A new danger is now threatening India. Hitherto India's wealth
above the surface of the land has been draining away to England. Now
488
the wealth under the surface of the land, will also be taken away, and
India lies prostrate and unable to help herself. England has taken
away her capital. That same capital will be brought to take away all
such mineral wealth of the country as requires application of large
capital and expensive machinery. With the exception of the employ-
ment of the lower classes of bodily and mental labourers, the larger
portion of the produce will, in several shapes, be eaten up and carried
away by the Europeans, first as servants and next in profits and
dividends, and poor India will have to thank her stars, that she will
get some crumbs, in the lower employments of her children. And
great will be the sounding of trumpets of the wealth found in India,
and the blessings conferred on India, just as we have sickeningly
dinned into our ears, day after day, about Railways, Foreign Trade, &c.
Now, this may sound very strange, that knowing full well the benefits
of foreign capital to any country, I should complain of its going to
India.
There is, under present circumstances, one great difference in the modes
in which English capital goes to every other country and India. To
every other country, English capitalists lend, and there is an end of their
connection with the matter. The people of the country use and enjoy
the benefit of the capital in every way, and pay to the capitalists their
interest or dividend, and as some capitalists know to their cost, not even
that. But, with India, the case is quite different, English capitalists
do not merely lend, but with their capital, they themselves invade the
country. The produce of the capital is mostly eaten up by their own
countrymen, and after that, they carry away the rest in the shape of
profits and dividends. The people themselves of the country do not
derive the same benefit which is derived by every other country from
English capital. The guaranteed Railways, not only ate up everything
in this manner, but compelled India to make up the guaranteed interest
also from her produce. The remedy then was adopted of making State
Railways. Now under the peculiar circumstances of India's present
prostration, state-works would be, no doubt, the best means of securing
to India the benefits of English capital. But the misfortune is that the
same canker eats into the state-works also,—the same eating up of the
substance by European employés. The plan by which India can be
really benefited rould be, that all kinds of public works, or mines, or all
works, that require capital, be undertaken by the state, with English
S
1
the head, as may be absolutely necessary.
489
Surposing that there was even extravagance or loss, government mak-
ing up any deficiency of the interest of the loans from general revenue,
will not matter much, though there is no reason why, with proper care,
a native agency cannot be formed good enough for efficient and economic
derive the benefit of English capital, as every other country does, with
the certainty of English capitalists getting their interest from the govern-
ment, who have complete control over the revenues of India, and can
without fail provide for the interest..
For some time, therefore, and till India, by a change in the present
destructive policy of heavy European agency, has revived and is able
to help herself in a free field, it is necessary that all great undertakings
which India herself is unable to carry out for developing the resources
of the country, should be undertaken by the State, but carried out
chiefly by native agency, and by preparing natives for the purpose.
Then will India recover her blood from every direction. India
sorely needs the aid of English capital. But it is English capital that
she needs and not the English invasion, to come also and eat up
both capital and produce.
As things are taking their course at present with regard to the gold
mines, if they prove successful, great will be the trumpeting of India's
wealth being increased, while it will all be being carried away
by England.
In the United States the people of the country enjoy all the benefits
of their mines and public works with English capital, and pay to England
her fair interest ; and in cases of failures of the schemes, while the
people have enjoyed the benefit of the capital, sometimes both capital
and interest are gone. The schemes fail, and the lenders of capital may
lament, but the people have enjoyed the capital and the produce as far
as they went.
I have no doubt that in laying my views plainly before the Secretary
of State, my motives or sentiments towards the British rule will not be
misunderstood. I believe that the result of the British rule can be
a blessing to India and a glory to England,-a result worthy of the
foremost and most humane nation on the face of the earth. I desire that
this should take place, and I therefore lay my humble views before our
rulers without shrinking. It is no pleasure to me to dwell incessantly on
the wretched, heart-rending, blood-boiling condition of India. None
will rejoice more than myself if my views are prored to be mistaken. The
490
sum total of all is, that without any such intention or wish, and with
every desire for the good of India, England has, in reality, been the
most disastrous and destructive foreign invader of India, and under
present lines, unceasingly and everyday increasingly continues to be so.
This unfortunate fact is to be boldly faced by England; and I am
sanguine that, if once England realises this position, she would recoil
from it and vindicate to the world her great mission of Humanity
and Civilization among mankind. I am writing to English gentlemen,
and I have no fear but that they would receive my sincere utterances
with the generosity and love of justice of English gentlemen.
In concluding these remarks, I feel bound to say that as far as I can
judge from Mr. Caird's separate paper on the Condition of India, he
appears to have realised the abnormal economical condition of India,
and I cannot but feel the true English manliness and moral courage he
has displayed, that, though he went out an avowed defender of the Indian
government, he spoke out his convictions, and what he saw within his
opportunities. India needs the help of such manly, conscientious, true-
hearted English gentlemen to study and probe her forlorn condition,
and India may then fairly hope for ample redress ere long, at England's
hands and conscience.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
32, Great St. Helens,
London, 4th January 1881.
2121
LULU
CHAPTER VI.
WRITINGS/(continued).
III.
ADMISSION OF EDUCATED NATIVES INTO THE
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
( A Memorandum respectfully submitted for the consideration of Sir Stafford
Northcote, May 2, 1868.)
“There is only one other point included in the Bill which I must
mention, and it is one of considerable importance and interest. I am
sorry I do not see the member for Brighton in his place, who has given
a notice with reference to the subject-it relates to the admission of the
natives into the Civil Service of India. It was always felt by the old
Court of Directors, by the Indian Council, by all the Home authorities,
and, indeed, by the Indian authorities also, that it was most desirable,
as far as possible, to make provision for the employment of the natives
of India ; but the difficulty has been in what way it could be accom-
491
plished. When the member for Brighton brings forward the motion for
which he has given notice, that competitive examinations should be held
in India, I shall feel it my duty to state the reasons why I cannot
assent to that proposal. I do not think it would be at all suitable to
the condition of India, that the Civil Service should be thrown open to
anybody who can pass the best competitive examination among the
natives of India ; for, although I am a strong advocate for competitive
examinations in this country, I do not think they apply to such a
country as India, where you require, not the cleverest men, but various
other qualifications, which you are not so well able to test by competitive
examinations.”—Extract from Sir Stafford Northcote's Speech in the
House of Commons, 23rd April.
It is said in the above extract:-
“ It was always felt by the old Court of Directors, by the Indian
Council, by all the Home Authorities, and, indeed, by the Indian
Authorities also, that it was most desirable, as far as possible, to make
provision for the employment of the natives of India ; but the difficulty
has been in what way it could be accomplished.”
This comes rather strange, at this time of day, in the thirty-fifth year
of a statute, and tenth year of a Royal Proclamation, as if proving that
those suspicious natives, who regarded the statutory and Royal promises
as never intended to be fulfilled, were in the right. Or otherwise, why
should there have been any difficulty ? Parliament and our gracious
Sovereign have declared that race or creed should make no difference
between her Majesty's subjects, and why should not, then, the natives
of India have been, or be even now, allowed a door similar to that by
which the English enter the service ?
Further :-
5 For although I am a strong advocate for competitive examinations
in this country, I do not think they apply to such a country as India,
where you require, not the cleverest men, but various other qualifications,
which you are not so well able to test by competitive examinations."
I do not suppose that Sir Stafford Northcote does not require clever-
ness as one of the necessary qualifications. And next, it does not appear
how, if those“ various other qualifications” cannot be tested by compe
titive examination in the natives, they can be tested in the Englishmen.
How is the cleverness to be tested ? Competition is the means
adopted for the English candidates. Why should it not be for the
492
natives? No doubt it is the opinion of some that competitive examina-
tions are useless. Be the worth of that opinion what it may, you have
adopted the system, and till you abolish it, there is no reason why it
should not be equally applicable to all candidates. However, be the
test of cleverness that Sir Stafford Northcote may consider best what it
may, it is necessary that, whatever that test may be, it should be clearly
laid down, so that the natives may know what is required of them,
endeavour to qualify themselves accordingly, and may get admission if
so qualified. * Next comes the question of the “various other qualifica-
tions” which Sir Stafford says are necessary. These may be divided in
two classes, personal and adventitious. Every one will admit that
besides education and integrity, there must be also in the servant, tact,
judgment, good temper, zeal, industry, and general administrative
powers. I do not suppose that Sir Stafford requires that a candidate
must first show that he is a Canning, a Lawrence, or an Elphinstone,
before any opportunity is given him. About ability and integrity, I
have given ample testimony to show that the educated natires, and even
others (according to Sir F. Halliday and others) now in the public
service, have generally proved themselves able and trustworthy. As to
tact, judgment, &c., the very fact of the success and efficiency with which
these servants have performed their duties, is sufficient to prove that these
servants must have shown those other qualifications, or otherwise they
could not have performed their duties with efficiency. How are these
qualities tested in the English candidates? and why should there be any
other method adopted for the natives of India, especially when they have
shown, by actual service, so far as limited opportunity is afforded them
that they possessed the “ other qualifications" also. If it be said that
out of those employed in the public service only few have shown any
very great administrative abilities, it is simply because they had very,
little opportunity. If they cannot rise above the deputy-collectorships,
or assistant-commissionerships, how can they show whether any of
them have great abilities and qualifications ? But even under every
drawback, in the very narrow opportunity the natives have had, some
e
* It is sometimes said that intellectual education is not enough. Now it is a
mistake to suppose that the education of the English schools and colleges of India
is only intellectual. With the exception of not teaching the principal dogmas of
Christianity, their education is as moral as can possibly be. The whole range of
the English literature in which the native is educated is full of the high moral and
religious tone of the nineteenth century. It is giving very scanty credit to this
literature, and to the efforts of English educationists, that the result is not
productive of moral good, but thanks to both such is not the fact.
493
.
* capital administrators” have risen among them. We know what is
thought of Sir Salar Jung, or Sir Dinkar Rao, or Sir Madaya Rao by
Government officials themselves.
Sir Richard Temple, in his letter on the Comparative Merits of
British and Native Pule, says : “Further, in justice to native rule, it
should be said that within the century of our supremacy, there have not
only been good sovereigns who are too well-known to require mention
here, but also good ministers, really capital administrators" (the italicis-
ing is mine), “who have adorned the service to which they belong;
such as Purnea of Mysore, and Tantia Jogh of Indore, in the past, and
Sir Salar Jung of Hyderabad, Sir Dinkar Rao of Gwalior, Sir T. Madaya
Rao of Travancore, in the present."* The latter have not merely been
declared as able administrators, but have been for that reason considered
deserving of being knighted by our sovereign.
It cannot be fairly urged that natives have not in them elements of
success and greatness if they get the opportunity. It must also be re-
membered that, notwithstanding thousands of English civilians during
the past century, the great names cannot be counted by scores ; and
these were, of course, attained according to opportunity and ability of
the individuals. More cannot be, and ought not to be, expected from
the natives. If a certain method is adopted for the selection of the
Englishman, there is no reason (except for some exceptional circum-
stances to which I shall refer hereafter,) that a different one should be
adopted for the natives.
I certainly do not wish to say a word against the proper respect and
position due to these in state or society. But to say that for public
service any of these is absolutely necessary, is not only unreasonable,
but detrimental to the State. It may be said that Hindus of high caste
may not respect those of lower castes in the service. Is it for the
British to maintain and encourage such distinction and feeling ? or is it
the mission of Britain (and to which several of the comparers of the
* In a note, Sir Richard Temple, with natural pride, says that both Sir Salar
Jung and Sir T. Madava Rao owed to British training. Why, excepting some
faults, both of omission and commission, it will be difficult to deny that almost
all good that India now enjoys is owing to British rulers, or their presence, advice
or example. The real question now to be studied from time to time is, how far
does any native state approach the English standard, and how far the English,
rule in India approaches the English rule in England.
494
British and native rule referred with pride) to teach the natives of India
that before law the high and low are equal, and that merit, and not
caste, will carry the day. However, be this as it may, is it a fact that
the higher caste people will not respect power and merit in a person of
the lower caste? Are the Gaikwar, and Scindia, and Holkar of high
caste? Are there not several princes and nobles, and men high in
public service, or wealthy, who are not of high caste ; and are they for
that reason treated with less respect than if they had been. Brahmins
· or Kshutrees ?
Again, among the Mahomedans there can be no such distinction and
disinclination arising from “caste.” In connexion with this question
of caste, there is one exceptional circumstance, to which I shall refer
hereafter.
The same remarks apply to riches. No doubt, when a man rises,
whether from a low caste, or from poverty, there will be many found,
quite as much in this country as in any other, who would first look
down upon him with superciliousness, and call him an upstart; but
when he is in power, or influence, and has stamped his character, we
know how those very sneerers will turn round and admire the “self-
made man." Is it for the English rulers to teach the people of India
that riches are the passport to service and honour ? I cannot persuade
myself that Sir Stafford meant riches as a necessary qualification, that
a young man may be a mediocre, or a dunce, and yet, if he is born
with a silver spoon in his mouth, he is qualified to serve the State;
while another, no matter whatever his personal qualifications may be,
is to be cast aside because his father is a poor man, and maintains his
family by honest industry. Riches shall always have its due influence
and respect, but that it should be a necessary qualification for State
service will, I dare say, be not seriously urged by any. Is birth, again,
a necessary passport for respect by the people? As the present matter
relates to India, I would draw my illustrations from that country,
What birth could the late Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy boast of, and yet
is there a man more universally respected and admired than he ? Are
not the natives of India proud of that name? Did the late Hon. Shum-
bhoonath, to whose high character and qualifications the Governor-
General and the Chief Justice of Calcutta have borne high testimony-
495
claim high birth ? He was a “self-made man,” and yet we learn on the
highest authority that he was respected by his countrymen.*
In fact, it is only human nature, whether here or in India, that the
man of merit, and in power, will command respect, be his origin humble
or high, or rather the humbler origin will command the greater admi-
ration. Mountstuart Elphinstone says, the first Nawab of Oude was a
petty merchant, the ancestors of Holkar were goatherds, and those of
Scindia slaves, the first Peshwa a village accountant.
Many other highly respected natives can be named who have not claims
to high birth, or at most of a generation or two, and that under British
auspices.
Are the natives so far an exception to human nature, that while a
Disraeli becoming a Premier may be admired and praised, not only in
the United Kingdom, but all over the world, more than if he had been
born with a coronet on his head, the people of India would be so lost to
a feeling of natural pride in similar cases, that they would be sorry to
see any among themselves rise from the ranks ? I am certainly the last
person not to allow to birth its due. It has its advantages to the poli-
tical and social condition of a country, which it is impossible to ignore.
It is, therefore, highly desirable that this element should have its due
strength and position in society. But it must not be forgotten that there
is no family of birth but that it had an humble origin. When a family
has once risen, it is capable of doing a great deal of good (if it has the
will and ability), acting from a certain vantage-ground of position and
influence, which the one which has yet to raise itself does not possess.
But if free scope is not given to others, who have energy of character
and nobility of soul and intellect, and thus fresh blood is not introduced
from time to time, the aristocracy of a country may gradually sink. It
will suffer the worst consequences of "caste," as capacity and character
are not the monopoly of the high-born. Every age, while proud of those
that left their marks in former times, must leave, and very properly
* The father of Baboo Dwarkanath Mittra, the present Judge of the Bengal High
Court, was a clerk at Rs. 5 per month ; Baboos K. M. Chatterjee and S. Sirkar,
both occupying high positions in the service, began as cooks. Baboo Digumbur
Mittra, lately a member of the Legislative Council of Bengal; Pundit Vydiasagur,
late Principal of Sanscrit College; the present Principal of the same College; Molvi
Abdool Lalif, lately a member of the Legislative Council of Bengal; Moonshi Ameer
Ally, also a member of Council, and several other worthies of Calcutta, claim no
high birth. The father of Mr. Maneckjee Cursetjee, the second Judge of the
Small Cause Court of Bombay, was a “self-made man." Messrs. Dosabhoy Framjet
and Nana Morojee, Magistrates of Bombay, are highly respected,
O
496
aspires to leave, its own mark also, and this mark of one Disraeli is worth
a great deal more than that of other equally good and great men born
with power and influence. Such a result, however, can only be possible
when there is a fair field for all. These remarks apply to India with
special force, as I shall show hereafter, when treating of the few excep-
tional circumstances connected with the question of Indian Civil Service.
At first, want of education and integrity was urged, and very justly
too, as a bar to the service of the state. Committees of Parliament
repeatedly questioned witnesses with regard to these necessary qualifi-
cations. And, up to the present time, it was considered that, if these
qualifications could be proved to be possessed by the natives, their
eligibility to high service in the State, and their right to similar treat-
ment with Englishmen, would be complete. When, however, not only
in abstract discussion or theory, but by actual facts of service rendered
with efficiency and integrity, these qualifications are proved, “other
qualifications” now come to light, to be necessary for the natives of India,
as if those other qualifications were not as equally necessary for the
English servants; as if those " other qualifications ” were, in the case
of the English candidates, proved by competition alone ; and as if the
test of these other qualifications in the Englishman will not be made as
much in his actual service as in the case of the native.
It is proposed that the uncovenanted service be made native. Then
the question naturally arises, do not these uncovenanted offices also
require those “ various other qualifications ?? If they do, and if the
natives can be supposed to possess them, so as to be fit for the uncove-
nanted service, on what grounds can they be debarred from competing for
the covenanted service, and showing in actual service, as they would do
in the uncovenanted service, that they possess the “ various other
qualifications” also ?
There are, in the case of India, as I have said above, some exceptional
circumstances, and it is, I fully admit, necessary to bear them in mind,
and to make proper provision for them. These are political and religious.
If India wants England to rule it for a long time, for its own regenera-
tion and benefit, it stands to reason that the English service must be in
main in their hands only. Let the English boldly and straightforwardly
say that, for the interests of both countries, as they must be the predo-
minant people, they must have the larger share in the service; and let
them say that two-thirds or three-fourths of the service must be English;
197
that, moreover, all positions of the highest executive power, such as Gover-
nors, Executive Councillors, and any such others, which must be distinctly
described, must remain at the disposal of the Government, and, if neces-
sary, for Englishmen only. Such a straightforward avowal, though it
may, perhaps, prove a little distasteful to some natives, will at least
command their respect and also the acquiescence of all reasonable natives,
Both the rulers and the subjects will know.clearly their position, and
mutual satisfaction, contentment of the natives, and sure stability of the .
British rule will be the result.
The next special circumstance is that the survivors of the old power
displaced by the British should be as far as practicable drawn into the
service, and made to feel an interest in the British rule, or at least to
be reconciled to their change of fate. For this purpose, it would be no
doubt an important act of policy, to make some arrangements by which
the scions of these old great families' might be brought into the service.
If it be contended that such scions would not condescend to stand
competition with other people (whether it may be desirable or not, as
far as possible, to encourage such a feeling), as such a feeling does exist,
and will for a generation or two naturally exist; and as, at the same
time, the exceptional circumstances of the case require that some
concession be made to them, if these scions otherwise follow the advice
of the rulers and qualify themselves for the service, let a portion of the
one-third or one-fourth of the service that may be fixed upon to be native
be reserved for such appointments, at the discretion of the Viceroy.
But there is no reason whatever that, because some exceptional provision
of this nature is required to be made for these scions, the just rights of
the whole population should be kept in abeyance. There is another
very important reason, both arising from policy as well as justice, that
the rising educated generation should be enlisted in the cause of the
British rule. The higher classes in general, and especially those who
have lost power, have still kept themselves aloof from educating their
sons, and are hardly quite reconciled to the loss of power and influence
they have sustained. There is no blame to them in this state of affairs.
They do not see quite yet what they have to do with English learning,
or what its character is. What they understand as learning is their
Shastras or their Koran, and other Oriental literature, and this learning
they are accustomed to leave to the Brahmin or Molvi. When they
want the advice of learning, they can have it from these depositories.
In such circumstances it is a puzzle to them, when they think
about it at all, what English learning may be, and why they should
32
498
want it. Moreover, the want of a career adds to their indifference.
If some such plan as I have suggested before can be adopted,
by which these scions can be drawn into English service, and made to
feel their interest in its continuance, no doubt it will be a great advan-
tage. I do not mean to cast the least suspicion on the probable loyalty
or gratitude of the fallen great of the past, and admit fully the necessity
of reconciling them to the revolution in their fortunes. It would not
be, however, surprising if the good feeling towards the British rule
ended with this reconciliation, and did not develop into thorough loyalty
or deep gratitude. They may consider that the share given to them in
the administration was their due, and an act of policy. Be this view
native rule have expressed in no encouraging terms, the present or
possible feeling of these fallen great. Supposing, however, this view
to be wrong, and as I sincerely hope and believe the native chiefs and
noblemen, when they are once led to understand and feel an interest
in the English rule, would prove loyal and grateful, a foreign govern-
ment like the English in India cannot afford to depend upon this
contingency only. This government also needs an aristocracy, a native
power,—an influence of its own creation. It only stands to reason that
those who would owe their rank, position, in short their all to the British
Government, and who would strongly feel their interest in the preserva-
tion of the order of things in which they rose, would naturally be its best
supporters, both from gratitude and interest. A power of no mean
order is now rising in the State. Say what you will, the native press
does, and will exercise its influence. It gradually passes into the hands
of the educated, and the talent of the country. The feeling of loyalty in
this body is at present undoubted. The sentiment that they owe their
education and elevation as men to the British is very strong, and it is
high time that, by reasonable concessions, they must be enlisted in the
English cause. They understand and appreciate the genius and spirit of
the British rule most, and they are its best exponents at present. Enlist
this rising power created by yourselves on your side, and, coupled with a
bold system of public works for the prosperity of the mass, you may well
defy any internal revolution or external invasion. The opening therefore
of the competition in India, and making the native feel an equality with
his English fellow-subjects, instead of the humiliation of a conquered
people, and thereby making them sure of a proper share in the adminis-
tration, has now become not only an act of justice, but of great state
policy. It would be a great pity to let this power feel dissatisfaction
499
0
and brood over its wrongs. It will afterwards be useless, when mischief
arises, to charge the natives with ingratitude. You cannot destroy a
power, whether physical or moral. You can only regulate it. If you
stop a current, it will overflow its barriers. If you stop a moral force,
it will as surely break through its barriers.
The third special circumstance to be considered with regard to India
is the position of the people of some of the lowest castes, whom the
higher castes do not touch even. Government has from a wise policy
of toleration thought proper not to hurt the feelings of the natives, by
compelling association of these people among them, so in all Government
schools these people are not allowed admission. In missionary schools
there is no such prohibition. The consequence is that some of them
may offer themselves at the door of the examination room. Now, how-
ever unwilling Government may be to cast out any man for his caste, the
same consideration which has induced it to exclude them from Govern-
ment schools must prevail also for their exclusion from the service ; at
least for some time, because this exclusion will not last long. On the
one hand, the educated rising generations are gradually divesting them-
selves of such social bans; and on the other, new influences, the rail and
steam, are effectually breaking down these unfortunate distinctions,
Lastly, there is some provision necessary to be made for several meri-
torious persons already in the service. They cannot now enter the
covenanted service by competition. If powers properly defined, so as
not to be suffered to be a dead letter, be allowed to the Viceroy, these
meritorious servants may also be admitted into the covenanted service,
within the limit that may be allotted for the native service, in addition
to promotions in the uncovenanted service. With the exception of the
above-stated four exceptional circumstances, I do not know that there is
any other to be specially provided for, and there is no reason that,
the English and native subjects of her Majesty into the covenanted
service. The strangest part of the whole thing is, that on the one hand
we are told that competition is not applicable to India, and, on the other,
we have taunts thrown into our teeth by others, that we wish to escape
competition, and to get into the service without passing the ordeal to
which Englishmen submit. While competition is here declared to be
inapplicable to India, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal finds it necessary
to adopt it, to some extent, as a first step for the subordinate service.
As Sir Stafford has not stated what the “other qualifications” are to
which he alluded, I am obliged to work in the dark at present. I there.
500
fore earnestly request in simple fairness that no adverse decision be come
to on Mr. Fawcett's resolution, so that a fair opportunity be given to
discuss the merits of Sir Stafford's objections and provisions at the second
reading of the bill.
The reply of Sir Stafford Northcote to the deputation which waited on
him in August last, was an approval of our two prayers, and I hope
that this approval may now be carried into effect.
D
19
IV.
THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
Revised Memorandum on the most important Reforms needed by India.
(Submitted for the consideration of the late and present Viceroys,
and some other high Officials in India in 1884.)
The whole Indian problem in all its aspects, material, moral, indus-
trial, educational, political, &c., will be solved only when means are
adopted to check the annual disastrous drain of the produce of India
and to bring it within reasonable and moderate limits. I have gone into
the details of this subject in my papers on - The Poverty of India,' and in
the Correspondence with the Secretary of State for India on the “Con-
dition of India." I shall add here only one more testimony of the
highest financial authority, the late Finance Minister, Sir E. Baring, on
the extreme poverty of India, and corroborating my calculation of the
very low income of this country as compared with the worst European
country—Turkey. Here is this emphatic testimony in addition to the
opinions given in my "Poverty of India,” Part I., especially of Lords
Lawrence and Mayo, and of Mr. Grant Duff as Under Secretary of State
for India, with regard to all India, at page 278. Sir E. Baring in his
Budget speech of 18th March, 1882, says : .
“ It has been calculated that the average income per head of popula-
tion in India is not more than rupees 27 a year, * and though I am not
prepared to pledge myself to the absolute accuracy of a calculation of this
paying community is exceedingly poor.
To derive any rery large increase
* I make not more than rupees 20. I requested Sir E. Baring to give me his
calculations, either to correct mine or his, but I am sorry he declined. However
this difference is a matter of not much consequence, as it makes but very little
difference in proving the cactreme 2; overty of India. The italics are mine.
501
S
D
of revenue from so poor a population as this is obviously impossible,
and if it were possible, would be unjustifiable."
Again, in the discussion on the same Budget, he said, after repeating
the above statement of rupees 27 per head per annum :-
"... But he thought it was quite sufficient to show the extreme
poverty of the mass of the people. In England the average income per
head of population was £33 per head; in France it was £23; in Turkey,
which was the poorest country in Europe, it was £4 per head. He
would ask honourable members to think what rupees 27 per annum was
to support a person, and then he would ask whether a few annas was
nothing to such poor people.”
This was stated in connection with salt duty. It must be remembered
that rupees 27 (or my rupees 20) is the average income, including that
of the richest, or all various disproportionate distribution that takes
place among all grades of people, while the average of the lower classes
only will be very poor indeed.
The whole problem of India is in a nutshell. Never can a foreign
rule be anything but a curse to any country, except so far as it approaches
a native rule.
Hoping that my papers will be carefully studied, I confine myself
here to the remedy of the evil in its practical form. I may explain
here that a part of the drain I complain of is not to be laid directly at
the door of Government. It is in the hands of the natives to prevent it
if they could and would. I mean the employment of non-official pro-
fessional agency, such as barristers, solicitors, engineers, doctors, &c.
Though not directly, the English official agency indirectly compels
natives to employ such European non-official agency. English officials in
power generally, and naturally, show more sympathy with and give
greater encouragement to English professional men. The result is that
the portion of the drain caused by the non-official Europeans is as much,
though indirectly, the result of Government or official action, as the
other portion of the drain. The remedy, therefore, I am proposing,
will influence the whole drain.
This remedy is in the power of the English Parliament only. It is
(though at first sight it is not so readily apparent) the transference of
examinations to India for services in all the civil departments--civil,
medical, engineering, forest, telegraph, or any other, Canada, Australia,
or the Cape, are not compelled to go to England for their services.
Over India alone does England impose its despotic will in this one
502
respect. This, in fact, is the one important act of the British nation,
which is now un-English and unjust, and which mars and nullifies all the
other blessings (which are not few) conferred by it upon India. Let
England be just to India and true to itself in this one respect, and
honestly, according to the Queen's proclamation, and declarations of
British statesmen, and Acts of Parliament, let the natives have free scope
of good government and administration, or for improving the material
and moral condition of India, which at present generally fails or pro-
duces poor and doubtful results, will be crowned with success. Every
matter will then fall into its natural groove, and the effect on everything
will be marvellous. Private efforts will receive natural and immense
impetus for providing all higher education, leaving Government to devote
itself, with far ampler means than at present, to primary education as
in England. So will railways and all public works and all private
enterprise receive a rapid and successfu ldevelopment. And, above all,
will be this most important result—that the growing prosperity of India
will lead to a truly great and extensive trade between England and India,
far outweighing the present benefit to England at the sacrifice of and
misery to India.
Of course when examinations for all the higher services in all the civil
departments are transferred to India, the ruling and controlling offices
should be mainly reserved for Englishmen, such as the Viceroy, the
Governors and their Councillors, the Chief Secretaries, and Board of
Revenue (if such boards be of any use) and chief heads of departments.
Admission of any natives to any such appointments should be entirely
in the gift of the Government, as a special reward for some high and
exceptional services and deed of loyalty. In the military department,
the English should have the chief share, leaving some fair scope for the
warlike races, to draw and attach them to the side of the British rule.
It will never do to repress all military ambition altogether. This will
be a great mistake.
The subject of the confidence which our British rulers ought to show
towards their subjects, and thereby beget and acquire the sincere
confidence of the subjects in response, both by trusting them with
reasonable military position, and by allowing and encouraging volunteer-
ing, under some well-considered principles and rules, is too important
and extensive to be adequately treated in a short space. I can only say
that it deserves our rulers' serious consideration. The open want of
confidence by the British rulers is a weakness to them, and cannot but in
time lead to evil.
503
If the examinations, as a first step, are not altogether transferred to
India, simultaneous examinations at least ought to be held in India for
all the services. This great reform and justice to India is absolutely
necessary. This alone will be a fair fulfilment of the promises of the
Act of 1833, of the gracious proclamation of 1858, and of the various
declarations made from time to time by English statesmen and Govern-
ments. At least, for simultaneous examinations in India and England,
the India Office itself has unequivocally admitted its justice and necessity.
I give below an extract from a Report of a Committee of the India
Council (consisting of Sir J. P. Willoughby, Sir Erskine Perry, Mr.
Mangles, Mr. Arbuthnot, and Mr. Macnaghten) made to Sir C. Wood
(Lord Halifax) on 20th January, 1860. The Report says :
“2. We are in the first place unanimously of opinion that it is not
only just, but expedient, that the natives of India shall be employed in
the administration of India to as large an extent as possible, consistently
with the maintenance of British supremacy, and have considered whether
any increased facilities can be given in this direction.
"3. It is true that, even at present, no positive disqualification exists.
By Act 3 and 4, Wm. IV., c. 85, s. 87, it is enacted that no native of
the said territories, nor any natural born subject of His Majesty resident
therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent,
colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or
employment under the said Company. It is obvious, therefore, that
when the competitive system was adopted, it could not have been
intended to exclude natives of India from the Civil Service of India.
“4. Practically, however, they are excluded. The law declares them
eligible, but the difficulties opposed to a native leaving India and residing
in England for a time are so great, that as a general rule, it is almost.
impossible for a native successfully to compete at the periodical exami-
nations held in England. Were this inequality removed, we should
no longer be exposed to the charge of keeping promise to the ear and
breaking it to the hope.
55. Two modes have been suggested by which the object in view might
be attained. The first is, by allotting a certain portion of the total
number of appointments declared in each year to be competed for in
India by natives, and by all other natural-born subjects of Her Majesty
resident in India. The second is to hold, simultaneously, two examina-
tions, one in England and one in India, both being, as far as practicable,
identical in their nature, and those who compete in both countries being
504
1
finally classified in one list, according to merit, by the Civil Service
Commissioners. The Committee have no hesitation in giving the prefer.
ence to the second scheme as being the fairest and the most in accordance
with the principles of a general competition for a common object."*
This principle ought to apply to all the services. :
Now I say let Government lay down any test—mental, moral and
physical—and the natives cannot and would not object being on equal
terms with the English candidates. It may also be arranged that every
successful candidate in India be required to go to England and study
for two years more with the successful candidates of England in their
respective departments; or any other arrangement may be adopted by
which the successful candidates of India may derive the benefit of two
years' residence and study in England in the department in which they
have competed successfully. India will be but too happy to have a por-
tion of its revenue devoted to this purpose,
Till this most important, “just and expedient" and "fairest” measure
is adopted, England can never free itself from the charge of “keeping
promise to the ear and breaking it to the hope," and India can never be
satisfied that England is treating her justly and honestly.
But I earnestly submit that this is not merely a question of "justice
and expediency,” though that is enough in itself for this reform, but
that it is absolutely necessary for the far larger necessity of the material
and moral prosperity of India—for the chief remedy of the present
“extreme poverty” of India—if English rule is really and honestly meant
to be a just rule and a blessing to this country. My earnest desire
and intense interest in this great reform to hold examinations in India,
solely, or, at least, simultaneously, for all the services in the Civil
Departments (with some fair scope in the military) do not arise simply
from the motive of seeing an opening made for the gratification of the
natural ambition of educated natives to serve in their own country, but
more for the solution of the great question—the question of questions-
· whether India is to remain poor, disloyal, and cursing England, or tu
become prosperous, loyal, and blessing England.
Coming to the uncovenanted services, both higher and lower, they
must also be reduced to some system of examination, based upon some
clear and just principles. The system worked by the Civil Service
Commissioners in England for subordinate servants for all the different
* The italics are mine.
505
10
departments of State may well provide a model for these examinations,
according to the higher and lower wants of all the departments for
their uncovenanted servants. It will be the best way to secure servants
most fitted and best prepared for their respective departments, and to
give to every subject of Her Majesty a free and fair scope and justice
according to his merits, relieving Government from the obloquy that
is often cast upon it for injustice or favouritism in its appointments.
Next to this great reform for examinations solely or simultaneously
in India for all the covenanted services, and for all the uncovenanted in
India alone, is the important question of introducing due representation
and reform in the Legislative Councils in India. But I consider the
first reform as of such paramount importance that I do not mix up the
second and some others with it here.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
INDIAN EXCHANGES.
(From the TIMES, 9th September 1886.)
SIR,--I hope you will kindly allow me to make a few observations
upon Indian exchanges. I shall first describe the mode of operation of
an export transaction from India. In order to trace the effect of the
exchange only, I take all other circumstances to remain the same-i.e.,
any other circumstances, such as of supply and demand, &c., which
affect prices.
I take an illustration in its simplest form. Suppose I lay out
Rs. 10,000, to export 100 bales of cotton, to England. I then calculate,
taking exchange into consideration, what price in England will enable
me to get back my Rs. 10,000, together with a fair profit-say 10 per
cent.-making altogether Rs. 11,000. Suppose I take exchange at 2s.
per rupee, and find that 6d. per lb. will bring back to me in remittance
as much silver as would make up Rs. 11,000, I then instruct my agent
in England to sell with a limit of 6d. per lb., and to remit the proceeds
in silver, this being the simplest form of the transaction. The result of
the transaction, if it turned out as intended, will be that the cotton sold
at 6d. per lb. will bring back to me Rs. 11,000, and the transaction will
be completed.
506
Now, I take a transaction when exchange is 1s. 4d, instead of 2g. per
rupee. I lay out Rs. 10,000 for 100 bales of cotton, all other circum-
stances remaining the same. I calculate that I can get back my
Rs. 10,000, and 10 per cent. profit, or Rs. 11,000 altogether, if my cotton
were sold at 4d. per lb. Then I instruct my agent for a limit of 4d.,
which being obtained, and silver being remitted to me at the reduced
price, I get back my Rs. 11,000.
The impression of many persons seems to be that just as I received
6d. per pound when exchange was 25. per rupee, I get 6d. also when
exchange is only 1s. 4d. per rupee, and that, silver being so much lower,
I actually get Rs. 16,500, instead of only Rs. 11,000. This, however,
is not the actual state of the case, as I have explained abore. When
exchange is at 2s. per rupee and I get 6d. per lb. for my cotton, I do
not get 6d. per lb. when exchange is only 1s. 4d. per rupee, but I get
only 4d. per lb.; in either case the whole operation is that I laid out
Rs. 10,000 and received back Rs. 11,000. When exchange is 2s. I get
6d. of gold ; when exchange is 1s. 4d., I do not get 6d. of gold but 4d.
of gold, making my return of silver, at the lower price, of the same
amount in either case-viz. 11,000.
0
I explain the same phenomenon in another form, to show that such
alone is the case and no other is possible. Supposing that, according
to the impression of many, my cotton could be sold at 6d. per lb. when
exchange is only 1s. 4d., that is to say, that I can receive Rs. 16,500
back for my lay-out of Rs. 10,000, why my neighbour would be only
too glad to undersell me and be satisfied with 40 per cent. profit in place
of my 50 per cent. profit, and another will be but too happy and satis-
fied with 20 per cent., and so on till, with the usual competition, the
price will come down to the natural and usual level of profits.
The fact is no merchant in his senses ever dreams that he would get
the same price of 6d. per lb. irrespective of the exchange being either 2s.
or 1s. 4d. Like freight, insurance, and other charges, he takes into
consideration the rate of exchange, and settles at what price his cotton
should be sold in order that he should get back his lay-out with the usual
profit. This is what he expects, and he gains more or less according
as the state of the market is affected by other causes, such as larger
supply or demand, or further variation in exchange during the pendency
of the transaction.
507
exchange remaining the same during the period of the completion of the
transaction, the effect of the difference in the exchange at any two differ-
ent rates is that when exchange is lower you get so much less gold in
proportion, so that in the completion of the transaction you get back in
either case your cost and usual profit. In the cases I have supposed
above, when exchange is 2s. and price is 6d. per lb., then when exchange
is 1s. 4d. the price obtained or expected is 4d. per lb., in both cases
there is the return of Rs. 11,000 against a cost of Rs. 10,000.
I stop here, hoping that some one of your numerous readers will point
out if I have made any mistake. It is very important in matters of
such complicated nature as mercantile transactions that the first premises
or fundamental facts be clearly laid down. If this is done, a correct
conclusion will not be difficult to be arrived at, I have therefore con-
fined myself to simple facts. If what I have said above is admitted,
I shall next explain the operation of imports into India, and then
consider in what way India is actually affected by the fall in exchange
or in the value of silver.-Yours faithfully,
National Liberal Club, Sept. 2.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
2.
(From THE TIMES, 16th September 1886.)
SIR,-In reply to “ R. L’s ” letter in The Times of yesterday, I may
first explain that I made no reference to actual prices in the market, as
such prices are the resultant of many influences-supply, demand,
bulling and bearing speculations, present stocks and future prospects of
supply, every day's telegraphic news from all parts of the world, political
complications, Bank rate of interest, and various other small and
temporary influences. I therefore explain again that what I am consider-
ing at present is the effect of only the fall and rise in exchange, leaving
all other circumstances that affect prices as uninfluenced or unaltered.
“R. L.” says :“As a matter of fact, when exchange was 2s. per
rupee, the price of cotton was about 3d. per lb., and now, with the ex-
change at 1s. 5d., it is about 4d. per lb." I do not find this to be a
fact. Even were it fact it would not matter at all, as all other circum-
stances of supply, demand, &c., have to be taken into account therewith.
But what “R. L.” states does not appear to be a fact. I shall confine
myself to cotton, though I could give similar decline in other principal
commodities.
508
Exchange began to decline about the time when Germany demone-
tised its silver, about 1873. The statistical abstract of the United
Kingdom, 33rd number, gives the "average price” of raw cotton as
follows :-
1
(

MO
1873 1874
4:01 | 3.62
1875
3.17
1876
3.02
1877
2:93
1878
2:80
1879
2:76
Per cwt. £
11
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
Per cwt. £
..
...
... | 2.94 | 2.92
2.93
2.91 | 2.85 | 2.86
This shows a fall of nearly 30 per cent.
Now Mr. Furrell's letter. He is right in supposing that the ship
per's instructions mean not to sell below the limit. I have been a mer-
chant and an agent in the city for some 25 years, and, knowing full well
what my sbipper meant, I sold at the best price I could get. He is also
right in saying that the price is determined by the whole of the condi-
tions affecting the market at the moment, and that is just the reason
why, as I have said above, I did not refer to actual prices. So far we
agree, but Mr. Furrell's fallacy begins in this sentence :-“ Other things
being equal, the instant effect of a sudden fall in exchange is to increase
the exporter's margin of profit.” Here he first forgets the whole of the
conditions,” to which he referred in the previous paragraph, as determin-
ing the price at any moment, and next he forgets that the increase of
the margin takes place in the case of those exporters only who have
already entered into their transactions, and those transactions at the
moment are uncompleted, so far as the remittances of the proceeds are
concerned. But those exporters who have yet to begin their transac-
tions, have no such increase in their margin of profit, as they have not
yet had any transaction or margin of profit, pending or existing. I took
the simplest instance of an exporter entering into a transaction at a
particular rate of exchange, and described the process of the operation of
that transaction from its initiation, as far as exchange alone was concern-
ed, independent of "the whole of the conditions.” And then I further
explained that any fluctuation in exchange during the pendency of the
transaction was the exporter's further chance of profit or loss. But I
may go further, and now explain that even in the case of transactions,
already entered into, the fluctuations in exchange do not affect the
exporter in the bulk of the trade. The bulk of the shipments from
India are drawn against, and as soon as this is done, the exporter has
no further interest at all in any subsequent fluctuations in exchange
509
D
beyond his little margin above the amount of his bill, and thus it will
be seen that in most cases there is no instant effect to increase the
exporter's margin of profit.-Yours faithfully,
National Liberal Club, Sept. 14.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
Il
(From the TIMES, 27th September 1886.)
SIR, -Mr. Furrell's letter, published in The Times of to-day, con-
cludes :-“ The fact is Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji: and myself are in
agreement except on one point, to which he makes no reference in the
letter under reply. He contends that competition operates by reducing
prices in England proportionally to the fall in exchange. I contend
that competition operates by concurrently reducing prices in England
and raising them in India.”
Now what Mr. Furrell says in his first letter is this :--" Competition
as your correspondent points out, immediately sets in to reduce profit
to its normal level. But in what way is it that competition operates to
produce this effect ?" And then he answers himself by begging the
whole question :-"Surely by inducing an increase of supply.” And
he goes on, “ Other things being equal” (though he does not allow
· among the "other things" supply to remain equal), "it is in virtue of
such an increase of supply alone that the price of the cotton in London
can be lowered.”
Now, as an independent fact, an increase of supply may, no doubt,
lower prices. But it is not in virtue of an increase of supply alone that
prices can be lowered in London. What I am pointing out is, how the
competition and the lower price are the direct result of lower exchange
or higher value of gold only, without any increase of supply being at all
induced or made, and any rise in price being caused in India. The fact
simply is that, because gold is of higher value, cotton is sold at as much
less gold as would suffice to bring back to the exporter his actual outlay
and profit. Or, putting it in another way, the manufacturer of England
may send his order direct to India to buy at the silver price there, and
pay his gold for it at the rate of exchange, without a single ounce of
additional supply or any increase in price in India being necessitated.
What I mean, then, is simply this. To treat the subject in its
simplest form, I take every other circumstance-i.e., supply, demand,
&c.—to remain the same, and consider the effect of exchange only, and I
show that from this simple cause-viz., the lower exchange only if
510
price be 6d. when exchange is 2s., the price will be 4d, when exchange
is 1s. 4d., irrespective of or without causing any increase whatever in
the supply or in the price in India.--Yours faithfully,
National Liberal Club, Sept. 20.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
(From the Daily News, 24th September 1886.)
SIR,“I now state the mode of operation of an import transaction into
India. Taking all other circumstances to remain the same, suppose I
am willing to lay out Rs. 10,000 for importing, say., 50 bales of grey
shirtings-supposing that 2s. per rupee being the exchange-I find that
I shall have to pay 6s. per piece in order that, at the market price in
India, I should be able to realise Rs. 11,000 on the sale. Now, when
exchange goes down to 1s. 4d., I see that, unless I am able to buy in
England at 4s. a piece (instead of 6s.), either I cannot send the indent
from India, or the market price must rise in India as much as I may
have to pay more than 4s. in England. Under the ordinary operation
of economic laws, it is not necessary that I should be obliged to pay
more than 4s. per piece in England. Gold having appreciated here-in
other words, prices of all commodities having proportionately fallen-
the cost of production to the manufacturer will be so much less gold.
What cost him 6s. in gold before now costs him only 4s. in gold, and he
is able to sell to me at 4s. for what he formerly charged 6s., the value of
4s, now being equal to that of the 6s. before, and I am able to sell at
the same number of rupees now in India as I did before, when exchange
was 2s. per rupee, and the price of the shirting was 6s. per piece. Sup
pose in England the produce of a farm is worth 1001., and that the land
lord, the tenant, or farmer, and the labourers divided it equally, or 3341,
each, Now suppose gold having risen, the same produce is worth only
751. The share of each should then be 251., which, at its higher value
or purchasing power, is equal to the former 33}l. But the landlord
thinks he must still have his 333l., and the wage-earners ask for the
same quantity of gold as before, and a struggle arises. But whatever
the struggle between them into the merits of which I need not enter
here) the produce fetches 751. only (equal in value to the former 1001.)
The manufacturer thus gets his raw produce, whether home or foreign
at the depreciated price. The manufacturer also has his difficulty with
the item of wages, which, if not proportionately reduced according to
the rise in gold, prevents the cost of the manufactured article being
fully reduced But the market price of the article falls in accordance
511
with the appreciation of gold, and the indentor from India gets what
he wants at such reduced gold price. Articles produced in limited
quantities or of reputed makers, or of some specialities, may and do
command their own prices, and Indian importers may be, or are, obliged
to pay some higher price for the same, but for the great bulk of the
articles of trade the Indian importer has not to pay generally much more
than he did before, except so far as any fluctuations in exchange during
the course of the transaction may necessitate any higher or lower pay-
ment. All other circumstances remaining the same, the indentor from
India pays more or less gold according to the state of the exchange,
paying less gold when gold is high or exchange and silver low, or paying
more gold when gold is low and exchange or silver high ; the result
being that the importer pays the same amount of silver whether
exchange is low or high. He lays out his Rs. 10,000 and gets the goods
in England at such varying prices in gold, according to exchange, as
enable him to get Rs. 11,000 on sale in India.
To sum up, for the bulk of the trade, other circumstances remaining
the same, India does not get for her exports more silver for her produce,
but less gold at lower exchange ; and she does not pay for her imports
more silver, but less gold at lower exchange. In actual operation the
result of course is not quite so rigid. Various influences affect the
course of the market. What I mean is, that taking the simple element of
appreciation of gold and fall in silver or exchange, the course of trade
is not much affected in prices in India. Were India concerned merely
in the fall in exchange and nothing else, that would not have mattered
much to her, beyond making the owners of gold so much richer in
proportion to the fall in silver, as compared with gold, and introducing
an additional element of the chances of profit or loss, in the fluctuations
in the rate of exchange during the pendency of the transactions. But
even in that case, the exporting merchant protects himself from this
risk by selling his bills against his produce to the Indian Banks, whereby
the rate of exchange for his transaction is fixed. The proceeds of his
produce have to pay.a certain sterling amount to the bank here. As
far as the banks are concerned, they are dealers in money. For every
bill that they buy in India in order to receive money in this country,
they sell also in India a bill to pay in this country. The two operations
are entered into at the same time at different rates of exchange, and the
difference of the rate is their profit of the day, all selling and buying
transactions covering each other. Those exporters who do not draw
against their produce or shipment, and wait for returns from England,
512
undertake the additional chance of loss or gain of the fluctuation of
exchange, just as they take the chance of loss or gain from fluctuations
in price from other causes. The importer of goods into India is not so
well able to protect himself against the fluctuations of exchange when
he cannot buy ready-made goods, and must wait for some time for the
execution of his order by the manufacturer. But by telegraphic com-
munications and by selling bills forward here, much protection is secured.
Upon the whole, as I have said above, fall in exchange would not matter
much to India if her trade alone were concerned. She can control her
wants by taking more or less. But the direction in which India really
suffers, and suffers disastrously, from the fall in exchange or silver is a
different one. I shall state my views upon that subject in my next.
National Liberal Club.
Yours faithfully,
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
11
S
(From the DAILY NEWS, 28th September 1886.)
SIR,I would give a few details of the transactions of trade between
England and India to make the effect of fluctuations in exchange a
little clearer. Resuming the illustration of my first letter of Rs. 10,000
exporter does not draw against his shipment, but waits for remittance
of proceeds of sale from England. Suppose he has based his trans-
action on an exchange of ls. 4d. per rupee to sell at 4d. per lb. to get
back his Rs. 11,000. Suppose. before the cotton is sold exchange
falls to Is. 2d. This fall in exchange (all other things remaining the
same) lowers the price to 3 d. per lb., and suppose the cotton is so sold.
To the exporter this fall will make no difference, as though his co-
ton, sold at id. less, he gets the difference made up by the lower
exchange of 2d., and thus gets the same amount of silver as he had
calculated on. The same will be the result if exchange rose and price
rose with it. Though he will get more gold from the rise in price, he
will get as much less silver owing to the rise in exchange, the result
being the original amount of silver. Suppose again that exchange falls
or rises after the cotton is sold, but before the proceeds are converted
into silver, by the purchase of silver or bill of exchange. In that case,
if the exchange falls, it is so much profit to the exporter, as he will get
more silyer for the gold already secured by the sale when exchange was
higher; and if exchange rises he loses, as he gets so much less silver at
the higher exchange. Next I take the transaction in which the exporter
draws against his cotton, so that he gets his silver back at once from
513
2
the Bank that buys his draft at the exchange he has calculated on, and
undertakes that the Bank shall have a fixed amount of gold paid to it in
England out of the proceeds of the sale. In other words, the exporter
converts his outlay froni silver into gold—i.C., instead of Rs. 10,000 in
silver, it is now fixed to a certain amount in gold to be paid to the Bank
in England.
Now, suppose exchange falls before the cotton is sold. With the fall
in exchange there is a corresponding fall in price, and the exporter
realizes so much less gold. But as he has already engaged to pay a
fixed amount of gold to the Bank on the basis of a higher exchange, he
suffers as much loss as the proceeds are shorter than the amount of the
craft. A fall in exchange in such a case is a loss and not a profit to
the exporter. In that case it is the rise in exchange before produce is
sold that is profitable to the exporter. Next, suppose that exchange
rises or falls after the cotton is sold, that would not matter to the
exporter at all, because he has not to receive any remittance, but the
gold of the proceeds is to be given away to the Bank, excepting only
such surplus or deficit that the proceeds may leave after the payment to
the Bank. It will be seen from the above that in the two different kinds
of operations,—viz., clear shipments and draft shipments, the results from
the fluctuations of exchange are entirely the reverse of each other. In
the second case, in which the shipment is drawn against, and which
forms the bulk of the actual export transactions, a fall in exchange
before the goods are sold is a loss, and not profit, to the shipper.
In considering, therefore, the result of the fall in exchange, it is necessary
to bear in mind whether the particular transaction is a free shipment, or
a draft shipment, for in each case the result is quite different. And as
the bulk of the export trade of India is of draft shipments, the result of
a fall in exchange is a risk of loss, and not a chance of profit. The
shipper who draws against his shipment does not desire a fall in exchange,
but a rise, before his goods are sold; for such rise, by raising the
price, will give him so much more gold to leave a balance in his favour
after paying the Bank the amount of gold already contracted for and
fixed by the draft. The surplus gold will go back to him as so much
more profit than he had calculated upon. The general idea that a fall
in exchange is somehow or other always a gain to the exporter of pro-
duce from India, is not correct. As shown above, in the case of ship-
ments against which bills are drawn (and which is the case with most
of the export business), a fall in exchange before the cotton is sold is
actually adverse and a loss to the exporter. Once exchange becomes
2
11
0
33
514
TY
settled, subject only to the usual small trade fluctuations, it is no matter
at all whether a rupee is 2s. or 1s. The price of produce will adapt
itself to the relations of gold and silver, and the exporter will get back
only his outlay and usual profit, whatever the exchange may be.
In the case of imports into India, in a certain way the importer is
able to be free from any risk of the fall in exchange. He telegraphs
his order to his agent here to buy at a certain price at a certain exchange.
The agent manages, if the market allows it, to buy at the limit, and sell
a bill at the same time at the required exchange. If the goods are ready
made, the agent sells his bill at once. If there is delay in the manufac-
turing of the goods, he sells the bill forward, so that when the goods
are ready, the Bank engages to buy the bill at the stipulated rate of
exchange, no matter whether the rate of the day is the same or more or
less. As in the case of the exporter, it is also the same with the im-
porter, that when exchange is normally settled, it does not matter to him
whether it is 2s. or Is. per rupee. The price and the trade adjust
themselves, and settle down into a normal condition, according to the
relation between gold and silver. As a further elucidation of the fact that
fall in exchange brings down proportionally a fall in the price of the
produce exported from India, I may mention that if the holders of cotton
in England did not sell their cotton in accordance with the relation
between gold and silver, or in other words according to exchange, the
cotton manufacturers can send their orders to Bombay to buy there at the
silver price, and then pay in gold according to the exchange, i. e., remit
from England silver or bank bills according to the price of silver or rate
of exchange. The manufacturers in England know every day what the
prices are in India, and can, and often do, buy there by telegram as
readily as in Liverpool or London. As this letter has already become
long enough, I postpone the consideration of the actual and permanent
injury to India caused by the fall from 2s. per rupee, to my next letter.
Yours faithfully,
National Liberal Club, Sept. 24.
DADABHAI NAOROJI,
(From the Daily News, 5th November 1886.)
Sir,—To understand fully how India is seriously injured by the fall
in exchange below 2s. per rupee, it is necessary to bear a few facts in
mind. Were it not for these facts, it would be, as I hare already
explained in my former letters, of no material consequence to the Indian
trade, whether gold and silver settled down in the relation of 2s., or 1s.,
or 3s. per rupee. The peculiarity of the present position of India does
not arise so much from economic as from political causes, and as long as
X
515
enter into a discussion of these political causes. I confine myself to the
facts as they exist at present. India has to remit about £14,000,000 in
gold value every year, not as trade exports, but as a remittance for
which there is very little return in the shape of any imports of mer-
chandise or treasure, except for Government stores. This remittance
has to be made through the channel of trade exports, and gives a false
appearance to the extent of the true trade of India. When exchange
is 2s. per rupee, India has to send produce worth 14 crores (140 millions)
of rupees. When exchange falls to say 1s. 4d. per rupee, India has to
send half as much more produce to make up for the fall. This result is
disastrous to British India. To realise fully the seriousness of the evil
to British Indian subjects, it is necessary to consider the nature and
extent of their true trade exports. I take the exports of all India as 83
crores (830 millions) of rupees for last year. But of these exports a
portion belong to the Native States. I take the figures roughly, as
there are no official figures to be guided by. The population of the
Natives States is about 22 per cent. of the whole population of India.
At this percentage, and deducting 70 lacs of tribute which they pay to
British India, their portion of the exports will be about 17 crores. The
exports of the European producers in India of coffee, tea, &c., may be
roughly put down at 10 crores. Some portion of the exports belongs
to other parts of Asia, which I do not take into account. The re-
mittances for honie charges take up say about 21 crores ; and private
remittances of Europeans (official and non-official) may be roughly taken
as 10 crores. A further portion of the exports is for getting back goods
suitable for the consumption of Europeans only. This may be roughly
taken as one crore. Deducting these various items from the exports of
India, there remain only about 24 crores of rupees' worth, which are
the true trade exports of British Indian subjects. Taking even 25 crores,
to be quite on the safe side, there is hardly 2s. worth of exports per head
per annum. With the above analyses of the exports of India, it is neces-
sary to mention a few other facts. Lord Lawrence said in 1864 that
the mass of the population enjoyed only a scanty subsistence. In 1873
he repeated this opiniion—that the mass of the people were “miserably
poor.” The late Finance Minister (Sir E. Baring) and the present
Minister (Sir A Colvin) have similarly declared the tax-paying commu-
nity as exceedingly poor.
Bearing all these facts in mind, the present situation is this. The
" miserably poor" people, in addition to having to remit produce worth
516
140 millions of rupees at 2s. per rupee for home charges, have to remit
another 70 millions or so worth more to make up the fall in exchange,
say at 1s. 4d. This to be done from "scanty subsistence" may well
appal our British rulers, as disastrous to the people and dangerous to
the rulers. No wonder, then, that the Government of India express
anxiety and embarrassment in their letter of 2nd February last : “ This
state of affairs would be an evil of the greatest magnitude in any
country in the world ; in a country such as India, it is pregnant with
danger.” But the Secretary of State for India probes the whole evil
and points out its true cause in the following significant words. Till
this cause is fairly faced and removed, there can be no hope for India.
The letter of the Secretary of State for India to the Treasury, of 26th
January last, says :-
“The position of India in relation to taxation and the sources of
public revenue is very peculiar, not merely ... but likewise from
the character of the government, which is in the hands of foreigners, who
hold all the principal administrative offices and form so large a part of the
army. The impatience of taxation which would have to be borne wholly
as a consequence of the foreign rule imposed on the country, and virtu-
ally to meet additions to charges arising outside the country, would
constitute a political danger, the real magnitude of which, it is to be
feared, is not at all appreciated by persons who have no knowledge of
or concern in the government of India, but which those responsible for
that government have long regarded as of the most serious order.” (The
italics are mine.)
It is a matter of great congratulation for India that there is now
the declaration and confirmation of the highest authority that the root
of all Indian difficulty is "the character of the government, which is in
the hands of foreigners, who hold all the principal administrative offices,
and form so large a part of the army." The first most vital question
therefore to be faced by the Government and the Silver Commission is
this "peculiar position" of India. When this difficulty or evil is remov-
ed, fall in silver would not be of any consequence beyond the ordinary
risks of international trade, and the whole Indian difficulty will disap-
pear, with benefit and blessing both to England and India. Some
Anglo-Indians urge that they should be paid on the basis of 2s. per
rupee. I sympathise with them for any loss that is caused to them.
But if rightly considered, though in their remittances they get less gold,
that gold is of higher purchasing power. Excepting for any fixed
liabilities in gold, there is no loss to them. If a contract is made, it should
517
,
no doubt be faithfully performed. But this is a simple fact that every
Englishman going to India knows very well, that the services are paid
in rupees, no matter whether the rupee is 2s., or more or less ; that he
has never declined to receive the rupee when it was above 2s.; and that
if by some new discovery the rupee became worth 2s. 6d. or 3s., he will
still receive and insist on receiving his rupee. In all cases, therefore,
in which pay or pension has been hitherto always paid in rupees, it is
idle and unjust now to claim to be paid in gold or at 2s. In addition
to this equitable side of the question, there is the moral one that the
« miserably poor people cannot bear the additional burden. These
gentlemen can afford to lose something, even if they did really lose so;
but to the wretched British Indian taxpayers it will be sheer cruelty.
If these gentlemen would ponder over the words of the Secretary of
State, they would see that at bottom (though no blame to them, but to
" the character of the government") they themselves are the cause of
the Indian troubles.
To sum up-1. Fall or rise in exchange does not matter much in
international trade, beyond introducing one more element of chances of
profit or loss during the currency of any transaction. 2. When the
relation of gold and silver is settled, subject only to the ordinary
fluctuations of trade, it will be of no consequence whether a rupee is 2s.,
or 18., or 3s. 3. Any other silver-using country which is not peculiarly
politically situated like India by "the character of its government,”
will not be affected by any evil similar to that of British India by the
fall in silver. 4. The real and lasting remedy for all British India's
evils does not lie in any artificial devices or manipulation of the currency,
either of “extreme poverty” or troubles from fall in silver, or any evil
or fear of political dangers of any magnitude to the British rule will
ever arise, but both England and India will be benefited and blessed. I
am, &c.,
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
National Liberal Club, Nov. 3rd.
VI.
BIMETALLISM.
(From the TIMES, 23rd December 1886.)
SIR,—-I wish to state some views about bimetallism for the consider-
ation of its advocates. It means that both gold and silver be made
legal tender at a fixed ratio-say, for illustration, 16 to 1. Suppose,
also, that the intrinsic value of silver is 24 to 1 of gold, or, putting it in a
.
518
simpler form, say that the legal tender of silver be made ten florins to a
gold sovereign, while the intrinsic value of silver is only fifteen florins
to £1 gold. The effect of such legal tender would, it appears, be as
follows, all other trade circumstances remaining the same :The
producer of silver can take his silver to a mint to be coined. He cannot
claim to be paid in gold from such mint. After he receives his coin, he
will have to put it into circulation. Though his silver is legal tender,
he will not be able to force it on the world, in exchange for any other
commodity, at its legal tender—_.c., at its fictitious-value of ten florins
to £1 gold. Take the ordinary instance of the batter. Suppose the
silver-holder goes to a hatter and offers ten florins for the hat, the price
of which is originally one gold sovereign. The hatter knows that the
intrinsic value of the ten florins is not equal to £1. He can and will,
therefore, decline to part with his hat at ten florins. His easiest plan,
to protect himself from receiving the lower metal at its fictitious value,
would be to put the price on his hat in the lower metal at its intrinsic
value-i.C., at fifteen florins.
Thus the trade, and in fact all people who can avoid receiving ten
florins for £1 gold, will do so in sheer self-defence. For the law which
would now arbitrarily give a fictitious higher value to silver, and cause
loss to existing gold creditors of all kinds, might at any time withdraw
such fictitious value and cause loss to the silver-holders or creditors.
There is no, nor can there be any, guarantee that this could or might
not be done. So, though silver may be made legal tender at ten
florins to £1, the world, knowing its intrinsic value, would not take it at
any higher worth. It will decline to pay silver-producers 50 per cent.
profit, or whatever it may be.
If the gold basis of the notes of the Bank of England be repealed to-
morrow, they will no longer hold their present undoubted currency.
If the notes are issued simply on Government credit altogether, they
will fuctuate like Consols, according to such credit and all other cir-
cumstances that affect Consols. In British India the paper currency is
based on a reserve of silver and Government securities. If this sound
basis be tampered with, the notes would fall in their value, even though
“the promise to pay on demand” of the Indian Government is printed
on them. Nothing that is not intrinsically sound can be foisted on the
world by any law. It would be like trying to stop or regulate the action
of gravitation by law. The result would be that the actual currency
will be reckoned in silver at its intrinsic value, gold being dealt with at
its intrinsic premium, causing temporarily confusion and loss to the
1
519
ignorant and to the existing gold claimants. The parties who would
be compelled to receive silver at its legal tender would be all existing
gold creditors of every kind, unless some provision is made for their
protection. Government will be obliged to accept its revenue in silver
at its legal or fictitious value. Government servants, and present
holders of Government securities, will also be obliged to accept the same.
The loss to Government and their servants will be a permanent one
unless taxation is increased and salaries raised. For, with the excep-
tion of Government servants, the rest of the world, who are free to
make their contracts with Government, will protect themselves by bas-
ing their estimates and prices at the intrinsic value of silver, and
Government will have to pay so.
Will the Bank of England be bound to part with its gold at the offer
of silver in exchange at its legal-tender value? If so, it will be the
interest of the silver holders and producers to possess themselves of gold,
as the most certain of the two metals in intrinsic value. If the Bank
is drained of its gold, what will be the effect on its notes? Will the
present note-holders be obliged to accept silver at its fictitious value
instead of gold to which they are entitled ?
The farmers will be able to sell their own produce at the intrinsic
value of silver, but they will tender rents to the landlords at the legal-
tender value of silver. Thus a new difficulty will arise between them
till, by some arrangement, the dispute is settled. And so on will be
the case with all sorts of existing claims in gold.
The inconvenience of the carriage of the heavier weight of silver will
partially operate against it, but in advanced commercial countries like
England, this inconvenience will not be much felt, as all transactions,
especially the larger ones, are conducted by cheques and clearing-houses.
Whatever may be the effect of the increased demand for silver, the
object of the bimetallists that a fixed ratio between gold and silver
will be forced upon the world by law is not likely to be realized as long
as there is an intrinsically different ratio between the values of the two
metals.
Now, if the above views be correct, the effect on British India will,
it seems, be this. The pensioners in England who are entitled to receive
their pensions in gold, the servants of the India Office, the existing pre-
sent creditors holding railway and other gold loans, or others having
any claims in gold on the India Office, will be obliged to receive silver
520
at its fictitious value. But will they submit quietly to such a loss?
Will they not force helpless British India to pay in gold or, if in silver,
at its intrinsic value? What will the English military authorities do?
Will they demand payment in gold or in silver at its intrinsic value, or
will they quietly submit to accept silver at its fictitious value? They
will simply make up their claims or accounts in the intrinsic value of
silver. The Anglo-Indian officials in British India will remain where
they are. Their rupee converted into the florin in England will remain
intrinsically 15 florins to the pound, or at whatever the intrinsic value
of silver may be.
The result, then, most likely, will be that British India will be left
where it is now, will have to remit home charges as at present with
increased quantity of produce to make up the higher intrinsic value of
gold payments; and the present distress and political danger, to which I
shall refer further on, will remain the same. The hope that India will
be benefited by bimetallism will be, I am afraid, disappointed.
Suppose, on the other hand, the views given above (viz., that the
world will not take silver except at its intrinsic value only) be not cor-
rect, and that though the intrinsic value of silver be 15 florins to £l, it
will, notwithstanding, be actually raised 50 per cent. in its purchasing
power; or that the world will pay to the producer of silver his 50 per
cent, profit. Then, the effect on British India will, I am afraid, be
disastrous. Silver is not produced in British India. It has to be pur-
chased by her with her produce. Being the last purchaser she has to
pay the highest price for it. Now, if silver actually rises 50 per cent.
in its purchasing power, British India will have to pay so much higher:
price for it. This means that the agriculturist will have to part with
half as much more of his produce as he did before to get his rupee,
which he has to pay for Government assessment. In other words, the
tax on the taxpayer will, at one bound, be raised 50 per cent., or what-
ever the higher value of silver may be.
On the other hand, Government servants will have, in effect, their
salaries raised 50 per cent, at one bound. The taxpayer will be ruined
and the tax eater fattened. Not only will the whole present evil arising
from the home charges remain undiminished, but the taxpayer will be
burdened with additional taxation of 50 per cent. all round. This can
not but be disastrous; and the fears of political danger which both the
Indian Government and the Secretary of State for India, have expressed
as below, will be vastly aggravated. The Government of India, in thei
521
letter of the 2nd of February last to the Secretary of State for India,
thus express their fears and anxieties :-"This state of affairs would be
an evil of the greatest magnitude in any country of the world; in a
country such as India it is pregnant with danger.” The Secretary of
State for India, in his letter to the Treasury of the 26th of January last,
in expressing similar fears, also points out the true cause of the whole
evil of British India. He says :-
“The position of India in relation to taxation and the sources of
public revenue is very peculiar, not merely . . . but likewise from the
character of the Government, which is in the hands of foreigners, who
hold all the principal administrative offices and form so large a part of
the army. The impatience of taxation, which would have to be borne
wholly as a consequence of the foreign rule imposed on the country and
virtually to meet additions to charges arising outside the country, would
constitute a political danger, the real magnitude of which, it is to be
feared, is not at all appreciated by persons who have no knowledge of
or concern in the government of India, but which those responsible for
that government have long regarded as of the most serious order.”
The whole matter is very important, and needs to be well considered
from every point of view.
Yours faithfully,
Steamship Malwa, Suez.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
VII.
THE INDIAN SERVICES.
The first deliberate and practical action was taken by Parliament in
the year 1833.
All aspects of the question were then fully discussed by eminent men.
And a Committee of the House made searching inquiry into the whole
subject. I cannot here introduce the whole debate, but make a few
extracts, and give in the appendix the speeches of the Marquis of Lans-
down, Lord Ellenborough, Mr Macaulay, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Charles Grant
and the Duke of Wellington at some length, as they are of some of the
most eminent men who have discussed the question from opposite sides
and reviewed all the bearings.
1830.—Mr. Peel, after expatiating on the vastness and variety of the
subject, said:-“sure I am at least that we must approach the considera-
tion of it with a deep feeling, with a strong sense of the responsbility we
shall incur, with a strong sense of the moral obligation which imposes
522
it upon us as a duty to promote the improvement of the country and the
welfare and well-being of its inhabitants so far as we can consistently with
the safety and security of our dominion and the obligations by which we
may be bound.” * * * "in a word, to endeavour, while we still keep
them under British rule, to atone to them for the sufferings they endured,
and the wrongs to which they were exposed in being reduced to that rule;
and to afford them such advantages and confer on them such benefits as
may, in some degree, console them for the loss of their independence
(hear). These, Sir, are considerations which, whatever may be the
anxiety to extend British conquest and to maintain the rights of British
subjects, must indisputably be entertained in a British Parliament."
Mr. Wynn said :-"How can we expect that the Hindu population
will be good subjects unless we hold out to them inducenents to be-
come so ? If superior acquirements cannot open the road to distinc-
tion, how can you expect individuals to take the trouble of attaining
them? When attained, they can answer no other purpose than that of
showing their possessor the fallen condition of the caste to which he
belongs. This is true of man in all countries. Let our own native
Britain be subjugated by a foreign force, let the natives of it be
excluded from all offices of trust and emolument, and then all their
knowledge and all their literature, both foreign and domestic, will not
save them from being in a few generations a low minded, deceitful and
dishonest race."
Sir J. Macintosh.--"He had heard much, too, of the natural inferi-
ority of particular races, that there was one race born to command and
the advocates of oppression, and he knew there was no foundation for it
in any part of India. This, he declared, he spoke upon due considera-
tion, because he had observed boys of all races in places of public
education. He had observed the clerks in counting houses, and even
in the Government offices, for some were admitted to the subordinate
situations and thus allowed to sit in contact, as it were, with all the
objects of their ambition, though they were only tantalized by the
vicinity of that which they could never attain."*
** I may here quote a similar passage from Macaulay's History of England. After
describing the usual assumption against the Irish, he saysmand he (the English-
man) very complacently inferred, that he was naturally a being of a higher order
than the Irishman: for it is thus that a dominant race always explains its ascendancy
and excuses its tyranny."
523
"That he was convinced that the more the Hindus came into contact
with English gentlemen the more they would improve in morality and
knowledge. In this view he cordially concurred, and that improvement
civil distinctions between the different castes. He, therefore, was ready
to give the petition ( of the Indo-Britons ) his warmest support.”.
Sir C. Forbes.--"He had been seventeen years in this country, after
having been twenty-two years in India ; the more he saw of the Old
Country, the better he liked the Natives.”
1833.—Mr. Buckingham:—"Above all, however, he approved of that
great admission in the Bill which recognised for the first time the poli-
tical rights of the Native population, which opened the door for their
admission into office, and which, by elevating them in their own dignity,
would enable them the better to elevate their children, and these again
their future offspring, untilevery succeeding generation should have greater
and greater cause to bless the hour when the first step was taken towards
their political advancement, and gradual but certain emancipation from
the treble yoke of foreign subjugation, fiscal oppression, and degrading
superstition.”
Mr. Hume:"If it was desired to make the Natives attached to the
Government of this country, there ought to be a provision for allowing
them to sit in the Councils of India. There ought at least to be one
Native in each of those Councils."
Mr. Stewart Mackenzie :-"That much had already been done, by
internal regulations in India, to fit the Natives for the enjoyment of
those privileges which the Honorable Member for Middlesex was anxious
to see too suddenly communicated to them.”
Mr. Frederick G. Howard " enforced the fitness of employing Natives
in different situations, not only on the grounds of economy and efficiency,
but because it would tend to conciliate and to give a motive to others
to qualify themselves for such posts."
Now after an exhaustive debate in Parliament, and an exhaustive
both Houses adopted the following enactment without any equivocation or
reservation in definite and noble terms. They deliberately enacted our
first great Charter:-
524
“That no Native of the said territories nor any natural-born subject
of His Majesty resident therein shall by reason only of his religion,
place of birth, descent, color or any of them, be disabled from holding
any place, office, or employment under the said Company."
'It should be remarked that, as it should be under the fundamental
principle of the British rule—justice to all equally-the clause makes no
distinction whatever between any classes or communities of Natives,
Europeans or Eurasians. Next it should be remarked, and what is of
great importance, that this great Charter is a spontaneous act of our
British rulers. Macaulay says "gratitude is not to be expected by rulers
who give to fear what they have refused to justice." But this Charter
is not wrested by the Natives on the field of battle, or at the point of the
sword ; there was no heavy pressure from Natives, no important Native
voice by way of agitation either in the debate or in the Committee, to.
influence the decision ; it was the deliberate, calm, well and fully dis-
cussed act and decision of a great people and Parliament. It is done
with grace, and the glory is all their own. It is their love of fair play
and justice, it is their deep sense of the mission which God has placed on
them to lead and advance the civilization and prosperity of mankind,
it is their instinct of freedom and their desire that, “free and civilised
as they were, it was to little purpose if they grudged to any portion of
the human race an equal portion of freedom and civilization,” which
have impelled them to grant with grace this first Charter to us, which
redounds to their everlasting credit as the greatest and best of foreign
rulers. If ever a people can be reconciled to, satisfied with, and be loyal
to the heart to a foreign rule, it can be only by such noble principles and
deeds. Otherwise, foreign rule cannot be beneficial, but a curse.
Twenty years passed and the revision of the Company's Charter again
came before Parliament in 1853; and if anything was more insisted on
and bewailed than another, it was the neglect of the authorities to give
effect to the Act of 1833. The principles of 1833 were more emphati-
cally insisted on. I would just give a few extracts from the speeches of
some of the most eminent statesmen.
Lord Monteagle, after referring to some progress made by Lord W.
Bentinck in the "uncovenanted offices," says:-"Yet notwithstanding his
authority, notwithstanding likewise the result of the experiment tried,
and the spirit of the clause he had cited (that of 1833) there had been
a practical exclusion of them (Natives) from all covenanted services,
as they were called, from the passing of the last Charter up to the
present time.”
D
525
“Mr. Bright.—Another subject requiring close attention on the part of
Parliament was the employment of the Natives of India in the service
of the Government. The Right Hon. Member for Edinburgh (Mr.
Macaulay), in proposing the India Bill of 1833, had dwelt on one of its
clauses, which provided that neither colour, nor caste, nor religion, nor
place of birth, should be a bar to the employment of persons by the
Government; whereas, as matter of fact from that time to this, no
person in India had been so employed, who might not to have been
equally employed before that clause was enacted;" Mr. Bright quotes
Mr. Cameron—" fourth member of Council in India, President of the
Indian Law Commission, and of the Council of Education for
Bengal”:
“He (Mr. Cameron) said— The Statute of 1833 made the natives
of India eligible to all offices under the Company. But during the
twenty years that have since elapsed, not one of the Natives has been
appointed to any office except such as they were eligible to before the
Statute."
Viscount Jocelyn says :- When Sir George Clerk, whose knowledge
of the natives of India was, perhaps, greater than that of any other
man, and who was in favour of giving employment to the Native
population, was asked what was the grade in the service which he would
propose should be assigned to the Native population, he said that,
perhaps, in the courss of ten years they might look forward to being
appointed to the office of Collector.”
Lord Stanley—“He could not refrain from expressing his conviction
that, in refusing to carry on examinations in India as well as in
England—a thing that was easily practicable—the Government were, in
fact, negativing that which they declared to be one of the principal
objects of their Bill, and confining the Civil Service, as heretofore, to
Englishmen. That result was unjust, and he believed it would be most
pernicious," This was said in reference to continuing Haileybury
College without providing a similar arrangement in India.
Lord Stanley.—" Let them suppose, for instance, that instead of
holding those examinations here in London, that they were to be held
in Calcutta. Well, how many Englishmen would go out there—or how
many would send out their sons, perhaps, to spend two or three years in
the country on the chance of obtaining an appointment! Nevertheless,
that was exactly the course proposed to be adopted towards the natives
of India."
526
Earl Granville.—“T, for one, speaking individually, have never felt
the slightest alarm at Natives, well qualified and fitted for public employ-
ments, being employed in any branch of the public service of India.”
It is not necessary for me to go into any more extracts. I come now to
the greater and more complete Charter of all our political rights and
national wants, I mean that great and gracious Proclamation of our
Sovereign, of 1858.
I quote here the clauses which refer to the present subject :-
“ We hold ourselves bound to the Natives of our Indian territories by
the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and
those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and
conscientiously fulfil.”
“ And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of
whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in
our service, the duties of which they may be qualified, by their education,
ability and integrity, duly to discharge."
(D
“In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our
security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of
all Power grant to us, and to those in authority under us, strength to
carry out these our wishes for the good of our people."
Glorious as was the manner of the Charter granted to us by the Act
of 1833, far more glorious still and magnanimous is the issue of the
Proclamation. It was not that the Empire was on the brink of being
destroyed, or that the fear of a successful Mutiny compelled the rulers to
yield to any dictation,—10, it was at the moment of complete triumph
over a great disaster. It was, as true to justice and humanity and to
noble English instincts, that the nation held out this gracious Proclama-
tion, and thus ten times enhanced its value.
What more can we want? When this glad message was proclaim-
ed to India in the midst of the rejoicings of the hundreds of
millions amidst illuminations and fireworks and the roar of cannons
what were the feelings of the people ? It was said over and over
again: "Let this proclamation be faithfully and conscientiously
observed, and England would not need one English soldier to
maintain her rule and supremacy in India. Our gratitude and
contentment will be her greatest strength.” Since the Act of 1833,
more than half a century has elapsed, and since even the glorious Pro-
527
(D
clamation, more than a quarter of a century has elapsed. Intellectual,
moral, physical progress has gone on steadily under the blessed educa-
tional work of our rulers. Whatever may have been the justification
or otherwise for the non-fulfilment of the solemn and public promises
in the past, there is now no excuse to delay a faithful, honest and com-
plete fulfilment of those promises, which in reality are our birthrights
from the very circumstance of our having become British subjects—and
that we are not British slaves.
As far as these promises have been neglected, so far has there been
failure in the financial and economic prosperity of India and in the
satisfaction of the people. Inasmuch as these promises have, even
though grudgingly and partially, been carried out, so far the hopeful
conviction of the people is maintained that justice will at last be done
and that the good day is coming. That good day. has at last come
Let us loyally, respectfully and clearly ask for what we need and claim,
and what has been promised us, as well as our birthright as British
subjects.
The question of the loyal ty of the Natives, and especially of that of
the educated classes, is now no longer a doubtful one. Our rulers are
perfectly satisfied that the educated are for English Rule, that the very
idea of the subversion of the British Rule is abhorrent to them. I need
but give you only one testimony, the latest, clear and decisire, from our
highest authorities in India.
Government of India's letter to the Secretary of State, 8th June
1880, in reply to Mr. Caird's minute, Parl, ret. [c. 2732] 1880 :
“To the minds of at least the educated among the people of India-
and the number is rapidly increasing-any idea of the subversion of the
British Power is abhorrent, from the consciousness that it must result
in the wildest anarchy and confusion.”
Our British rulers have rightly appreciated the true feelings of the
Indian people generally, and of the educated particularly, in their above
statement. It is simple truth. In 1833 the question of our capabilities
and character was as yet somewhat open, our progress in education
small, our feelings towards the British rule doubtful. Half a century
has passed-our capacity, our loyalty, our progress in education and the
integrity of the educated have stood the trial and are now undoubted.
We have had 54 years of neglect, or a grudging partial fulfilment of the
noble principles and promise of 1833. Let us have now a 50 years of a
e
528
1
fair hearty trial of the promise. As long as such a fair trial is not
allowed, it is idle and unjust and adding insult to injury to decide any-
thing against us. The trial and responsibilities of office will and can
alone further develop our capabilities. Let the standards of test,
mental, moral or physical, be what they like, as along as they are the
same for all-Natives and Englishmen,--all we ask is “fair field and no
favour," an honest fulfilment of the Act of 1833 and of the Proclamation
of 1858.
If this is done, I have no hesitation in saying that India will
improve financially, economically, commercially, educationally, indus-
trially and in every way, with amazing rapidity, and will bring manifold
benefits and blessings to England also. And last, though not least,
India's loyalty will be firmly rivetted to British rule for the best of all
reasons-self-interest as well as gratitude.
This great, or rather the greatest Indian question,-of the Services,-
has now come to a crisis. A Commission is appointed to consider it.
- And, says the Resolution appointing that Commission, that the Secretary
of State for India intends that :-
“In regard to its object, the Commission would, broadly speaking, be
required to devise a scheme which may reasonably be hoped to possess
the necessary elements of finality, and to do full justice to the claims of
natives of India to higher and more extensive employment in the public
service.” The Natives have therefore well to realise the seriousness of
the present crisis. Whatever is settled now will have to last, for weal
or for woe, perhaps another half a century. This finality “and full
justice” will be always opposed to any further demands or representa-
tions from us. It is practically good and essential for Government
itself, that there should be some reasonable elements of finality, for the
continuation and development of dissatisfaction is not only injurious to
the current administration of the country, but most probably, productive
of serious difficulties and troubles in the future. .
Now is the time for the Natives to give their most serious considera-
tion to the matter, to speak out freely and loyally and firmly, to
represent to our rulers what ought to be done.
We must remember that Government does not ask us for a compro-
mise. It distinctly offers reasonable finality and full justice to our
claims. Our business is to ask, what we should have as full justice, and
we may fairly hope that Government would act honestly by us. Our
claims are clear and already settled. All we have to do is to ask for
their fulfilment.
529
The statesmen of 1833 knew well that it was a true act of sovereignty
and statesmanship for them to decide what the future policy of the British
rule was to be —whether of justice, freedom and fairplay, or despotism
and subjection ; whether the Natives were to be treated as British subjects
possessed of all the rights of British citizens, or as British slaves—mere
hewers of wood and drawers of water,--subject to an Asiatic despotism
aggravated in all its evils by its being not even a Native but an
entirely foreign domination and despotism. That policy was fully con-
sidered by those who were competent to do so. True to the English
character and mission, a glorious policy was spontaneously decided and
solemnly proclaimed to India and the world, by a deliberate Act of
Parliament,
Far from entertaining the least desire to make the British rule a
galling and debasing foreign domination, the wish of the great statesmen
of 1833 was, in Mr. Peel's words, “ to atone to them for the sufferings
they endured and the wrong to which they were exposed in being
reduced to that rule, and to afford them such advantages and confer on
them such benefits as may in some degree console them for the loss of
their independence.” And Mr. Macaulay placed the whole matter on
the highest grounds to prefer India, independent and self-governing, to
its becoming a British slave, to earn the glory of the triumphs of
peace, and of raising a nation in freedom and civilization, instead of the
infamy of degrading and debasing it. Can any Englishnan read the
speeches of those days without feeling a glow of pride and triumph for
his race, and can any native of India read those speeches without high
admiration, delight and gratitude ? Again a second time, a great and
extraordinary occasion arose, and it became necessary to declare unmis-
takeably once more the policy of the rulers, and by the mouth of the
august Sovereign, England proclaimed in the most solemn and binding
manner, before God and Man, what her high policy shall be towards
India. Thus the contract and decision of our rights have been settled
and sealed as solemnly and as effectively as the Magna Charta or the
Petition of Rights--with only this difference, to the great credit and
glory of the gracious sovereign and statesmen, that in the case of
English rights, they were wrested from the sovereign by the people at the
point of the sword, but in the case of India, her rights were granted
spontaneously and with grace. .
Our position simply then is this :-
Here are our great Charter of 1833 and the still greater one of 1858.
The half of a century since 1833 has developed every phase of the
f
IV
34
530
question and has brought it to a simple issue : that it is completely
settled beyond all further question or discussion, that no distinction
whatsoever should be made between the natives of India and any other
British subjects. The gracious words, sealed by an appeal to "the
blessing of Almighty God," are these :-
“We hold ourselves bound to the Natives of our Indian territories by
the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and
those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully
and conscientiously fulfil.”
Next, here are the two solemn promises and obligations of 1833 and
1858. Of 1833_" That no Native of the said territories, nor any natural
born subject of His Majesty resident therein shall, by reason only of his
religion, place of birth, descent, colour or any of them, be disabled from
holding any place, office or employment under the said Company."
Of 1858 :"And it is our further will, that, so far as may be, our
subjects of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to
offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified, by their
education, ability and integrity, duly to discharge.”
• The issue now is a simple one : how can these promises be « faithfully
and conscientiously fulfilled" so that all the subjects of our gracious
Empress "be freely and impartially admitted” in all the services ?
Fortunately for us, the exact question has been already considered and
decided by a competent authority.
Not long after Her Majesty's Proclamation of 1858, a Committee was
appointed by the Secretary of State for India of the following members
of the Council of the India Office :-
Sir J. P. Willoughby, Mr. Mangles, Mr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Macnaghten,
and Sir Erskine Perry. .
This Committee made its Report on 20th January 1860, from which
I give the following extracts :-
652. We are in the first place unanimously of opinion, that it is not
only just, but expedient that the natives of India shall be employed in
the administration of India to as large an extent as possible, consistently
with the maintenance of British supremacy, and have considered whether
any increased facilities can be giren in this direction.
3. It is true that, even at present no pisitive disqualification exists.
By Acts 3 and 4 Wm. 4, C. 85, S. 87, it is enacted “that no Native of
i
.
D
531
“ the said territories nor any natural-born subject of His Majesty resi-
“dent therein shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent,
" colour or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office or
"employment under the said Company.” It is obvious, therefore, that
when the competitive system was adopted, it could not have been
intended to exclude natives of India from the Civil Service of India.
4. Practically, however, they are excluded. The law declares them
eligible, but the difficulties opposed to a Native leaving India and residing -
in England for a time, are so great, that, as a general rule, it is almost
impossible for a Native successfully to compete at the periodical exami-
nations held in England. Were this inequality removed, we should no
longer be exposed to the charge of keeping promise to the ear and
breaking it to the hope.
5. Two modes have been suggested by which the object in view might
be attained. The first is, by allotting a certain portion of the total
number of appointments declared in each year to be competed for in
India by Natives and by all other natural-born subjects of Her Majesty
resident in India. The second is, to hold simultaneously two examina-
tions, one in England and one in India, both being, as far as practicable,
identical in their nature, and those who compete in both countries
being finally classified in one list according to merit, by the Civil
Service Commissioners, The Committee have no hesitation in giving
the preference to the second scheme, as being the fairest, and the most
in accordance with the principles of a general competition for a
common object.”
Here, then, are the solemn promises and their “ fairest” solution
before us on competent and high authority, and nothing can be reason-
ably final that is short of this solution.
The question of the Uncovenanted Services is also very important.
There must be some right principle and system upon which admission
to these services should be based, so that no class or community of Her
Imperial Majesty's subjects may have any cause to complain that the
principle of the Act of 1833, and of the proclamation of 1858—of equal
justice to all, is not fairly and fully carried out.
The first National Indian Congress of last year, which met at
Bombay, very carefully considered the whole question of all the Civil
Services, and passed the following resolution :-
"IV. That in the opinion of this Congress the competitive examina-
tion now held in England, for first appointments in various Civil Depart-
532
ments, of the Public Service, should henceforth, in accordance with the
views of the India Office Committee of 1860, "be held simultaneously,
one in England and one in India, both being, as far as practicable,
identical in their nature, and those who compete in both countries being
finally classified in one list. according to merit,' and that the successful
candidates in India should be sent to England for further study, and
subjected there to such further examinations as may seem needful.
Further, that all other first appointments (excluding peonships, and the
like) should be filled by competitive examinations held in India, under
conditions calculated to secure such intellectual, moral and physical
qualifications as may be decided by Government to be necessary. Lastly,
that the maximum age of candidates for entrance into the Covenanted
Civil Service be raised to not less than 23 years."
With regard to the expenses of the visit to England, that will be a
charge on the public revenues of India, because already the selected
candidates get certain allowances in England during their residence.
The only difference will be an additional passage from India to England.
Moreover, such a charge will not be at all grudged by the natives of
India, as it will be to improve the fitness and character of their own coun-
trymen for their own service, and such charge will be amply repaid in
the higher tone, character and efficiency of the services.
I am glad to say that in England this resolution has met with sympa-
thy not only from non-Anglo-Indians but from many Anglo-Indians also.
The only thing they desired particularly was, that the selected candidates
of India should be made to finish their studies and reside for some time
in England and pass necessary further examinations with the selected
candidates of England. When they found that the resolution proposed
such visit to England, they were satisfied. The best thing I can lay
before you to show this, is a resolution embodied in a letter addressed to
Members of Parliament by the Council of the East India Association.
The sub-committee, which prepared this letter, and which unanimously
proposed the resolution in that letter, consisted of 3 official Anglo-Indians,
one non-off.cial Anglo-Indian and one Native. The resolution I refer to
was this :-
“9. The larger employment in the public services of the inhabitants
of India irrespective of race or creed :-
(a) By arranging, in respect of superior appointments in all Civil
departments of the service, that the examination for such
appointments nor held in England be henceforth held simultane-
533
ously in England and in India, the selected candidates from
India being required to proceed to England and undergo the
training and Examinations now prescribed.
(6) By introducing in respect to all Subordinate Civil Services for
which educational training is required, the principle of com-
petitive examinations, with such safeguards as may be
deemed applicable to the particular circumstances of each
.. Province.”
The question now to be considered is, whether those gracious and
solemn promises of 1833 and 1858 were made with the honest intention
of being faithfully fulfilled or not? I do not think that any person
acquainted with the English character, traditions and history, will for a
moment hesitate to say that there was honest intention. My own
conviction is now deeper than ever, that the British People and Parlia-
ment do mean to act justly by us, and to fulfil the gracious words which
they have given to India before God and the World, by the mouth of
vur august Sovereign and by an Act of Parliament. Let us, therefore,
respectfully and clearly place before the Commission* our views as to
how all the departments of the Civil Service in both superior and sub-
ordinate divisions should be hereafter recruited, and that as far as
necessary, Parliament be solicited to give their legislative sanction
thereto.
. We should then respectfully submit to the Commission and to our
Rulers, that the 4th Resolution of the National Congress of last year
is what we ask.
I do not here discuss the question of the Native Services in their
important relation to the economic and financial condition of India and
as an absolutely necessary and chief remedy for the poverty of India,
as I have already given my views upon this subject in my papers on the
India, and others.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
Bombay, 7th December 1886.
* i. e. The Civil Service Commission appointed by the Government of India
by a Resolution No. , dated 4th October 1886.
157
534
VIII.
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS
PUT BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
My paper on the Indian Services, dated 7th December 1886, covers
a large number of these questions, and renders some of them unne-
cessary to reply to. I now reply to those which need reply from me.
. I would first make a few general remarks.
The only firm rock upon which a Foreign Rule, like that of the
English, can be planted in a country like India, is that of equal justice
to all British subjects, without any regard to any class or creed. The
principles of high policy and statesmanship, which the statesmen
of 1833 and 1858 laid down, are the best and the only right ones that
can be adopted by a civilized and advanced nation like England.
Every deviation from this “plain path of duty" cannot but lead to
troubles, complications and difficulties. Like a step mother, England
can win the love and affections of her step-children by treating them
with the same love and justice with her own. Children might submit
to tyranny and injustice from their own mother, but would always
resent the least injustice from a step-mother.
The more firmly and steadfastly England would adhere to the noble
principles of 1833 and 1858, the stronger would be her hold upon the
loyalty, gratitude and attachment of the Indian people. Diverse as the
races and the classes are in India, it will be the strongest self-interest
of each and all to preserve the headship and rule of a just power, under
which all could be equally protected and prosperous.
Under the simple principle of equal justice to all, none could
reasonably ask for special favours, and a host of complications and
troubles would be avoided. As in the case of erery law of nature, this
moral law will gradually adjust everything into natural and harmonious
action and development, though, as in all transitions, some temporary
difficulties may occur. It is admitted from experience that the
larger the field of competition, the higher is the standard of the
results. By the simultaneous first examinations in India and England,
India will have the benefit of the best talent of the country. The
backward provinces or classes will be stimulated by emulation and
ambition to spontaneous exertions, and the best help Government can
give to them will be to aid them in their education. The best service
that the leaders of such classes can do to their community is to
encourage them to depend upon their own exertions, to help them to pre-
..
535
pare themselves for fair and manly struggle, and thus to win their
position both in the services and in other walks of life, and not under the
debasing and demoralising influence of favouritism. This manly course
will keep them backward for a short time, but it would be the best for
them in the end. Favouritism cannot last long under the British
administration. It must break down and these classes will have to begin
their manly course then. The sooner they set themselves to work in that
way, the better for them, and the quicker will they come to the front
and obtain whatever they may deserve.
1
One of the best results of the first simultaneous examination in India
and of the general carrying out of the 4th Resolution of the National
Congress of 1885, will be a great impulse to education. The New York
State Commission in their report say:-“ Nor does there seem to be any
reason to doubt that opening of the Public Service to competition will
give to education here, as it did in Great Britain, a marvellous impulse.
The requirement proposed in the 4th Resolution of the National Congress
of India of last December, for the successful candidates of India to finish
their studies and examinations with the successful candidates of England
is a very important matter. It has to be considered by us not as a condition
to be imposed by Government, and as an injustice to us, but as a thing to
be highly desired by ourselves, in order that our native officials may, in
every possible way, stand on a perfectly equal footing with their English
colleagues, and there may not be left any ground to cast any slur of
inferiority upon them. Moreover, without a visit to, and study in, Eng-
land for some time, our officials will never sufficiently acquire a full
feeling of self-respect and equality with their English colleagues, their
education will not acquire that finish which it is essential it should have
to administer an English system, by studying that system in its birthplace
itself. The visit of the successful Indian candidates to England is much
to be desired for our own benefit, at least for some years to come, when
experience will show the desirability or otherwise of continuing it.
1
S
The standard and tests of qualifications, Mental, Moral and Physical
to be alike for all candidates. Age to be same, and all British
subjects to be admitted without any disqualification for race, creed,
or colour. The competitions in the different Provinces of India for the
Uncovenanted services to be in the same way open and similar for all.
The circumstances of qualifications being alike, there should be no
S
536
Yul
The remark made by Sir C. Aitchison in his minute on the Age
question is well applicable to the whole question of the competition for
the Services. He says :-
"I think they are right in rejecting the Statutory system and
resenting it as an unjust imputation upon their capacity and intellectual
ability, and in demanding that the conditions of competition shall be so
framed as to make it possible for them to enter the competition on a
fair footing as regards their European fellow subjects, and to win by
their own exertions an honourable position in the Civil Service."
Such fair footing cannot be obtained by the Indian candidates without
a simultaneous examination in India.
“I. WORKING OF THE EXISTING STATUTORY SYSTEM.
II. MODE OF SELECTION OF STATUTORY CIVILIANS."
Questions 1 to 45.
Following the lines of my first paper, it is evident that the Statutory
Service should cease, if simultaneous examinations are held in England
and India. Otherwise, it would be an undue favour to the natives. Any
system of scholarships also to enable natives to go to England to qualify
for the Civil Service, then would be unnecessary.
III. COMPETITION IN ENGLAND FOR THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
Questions 46 to 67.
No additional facilities need be given to the Native candidates to go
to England. The simultaneous first examination in India puts them on
an equal footing with the candidates in England.
54. From this Province, there have been Hindu, Mahomedan and
Parsee candidates in England; and I think, 1 Hindu, 1 Mahomedan and
3 Parsees have passed.
55. Expense, risk of failure and the greater risk of young lads going
wrong, and the consequent unwillingness of parents to let their children.
go out of their own and family control and influence, are very serious
objections to sending young boys to England. Out of those few who
have sent, some have regretted it. Among certain classes of Hindus
there is religious objection. The elderly people will for some time yet
continue to feel it objectionable to go to England, but such youths of
the rising educated generation as would succeed in the first competition,
will not object to go. Even the general feeling is now gradually
diminishing
22
(D
537
.
IV. COMPETITION IN INDIA FOR THE INDIAN Civil SERVICE.
Questions 68 to 92.
72. The present Educational establishments will not for some time
quite adequately furnish all the requirements of the Indian candidates,
but by the very fact of the demand arising, the existing institutions will
develop themselves, and new ones will arise.'
73-74. An open Competition will not be likely to give any decided
advantages to any particular class or caste, except to those persons who
are competent to pass it and who would in time form a class of their
own. It could not be otherwise, where fitness should be the only pass.
The Third Annual Report of the United States Civil Service Commission
says :-
“The fundamental idea of this reform, that public office is a public
trust, to be exercised solely for the public welfare, and that offices
should be filled only by those best qualified for the service to be rendered,
after their fitness has been ascertained by proper tests, is the cornerstone
of popular government."
This principle applies with far greater force to a foreign Government.
75. Far from there being any political or administrative objections
to open simultaneous competition in India, there are important reasons
why it should be so. For politically, just treatment will be the greatest
political strength.
On administrative grounds, this policy will be the best means of
getting the fittest and best British subjects for service, and will relieve
assailed, and which will go on increasing as long as they keep astray
from the plain path of duty and from the easiest, justest, and most
natural principles of government. In taking this plain path of duty,
the roots of their power will sink deeper and deeper into the hearts
and affections of the people.
76. The question of getting the aristocracy into the Service is a very
important one. Their influence is great and their attachment to the
Rule is desirable. But the exigencies and requirements, and the whole
system of civilized British administration rests upon educational, moral
and physical fitness. It will be no service or kindness to put any cadet
into a position for which he is not fit. He soon falls into ridicule, and
leaves the service in disgust. If a cadet is well educated and competent,
538
his own aristocratic feeling of dignity would impel him into a fair and
manly contest. And he would not like to be in a position, to be looked
down upon as inferior and as a creature of "mehrbany” (favour). If
he is incompetent, Government cannot put him into a place for which
he his not fit. In the old and now passing regime of Native States, a
cadet may be put anywhere to draw his pay, and a deputy or some
subordinate does his work. But in British Administration this is utterly
out of the question, and will not be tolerated. a single day. As Sir
C. Aitchison has said :—"Manifestly it is our duty to the people of
India to get the best men we can”; or as the Civil Service Commission-
ers in England have showu the necessity of obtaining the advantage of
getting “not merely competent persons, but the best of the competent.”
So all attempts to draw the cadets by favour will naturally end in
failure and disappointment. It will be an anachronism. The best way
in which Government can do the aristocracy real and permanent good
and a true kindness is to induce them, by every means, to give their
sons suitable education, and whether they afterwards care or not to get
into the Services, their general advance in knowledge and intelligence will
enable them to appreciate truly the merits of the British rule, and will
make them intelligent and willing supporters of it. The best favour,
therefore, that Government can do to the aristocracy is to persevere still
·more earnestly in the course it has already adopted to promote education
among them, and the whole problem of the true position and dignity, in
the new state of circumstances, will naturally and smoothly solve itself.
The more they aitain their self-respect, the more able will they be to
preserve their dignity, position and influence among their countrymen,
and the more will they appreciate the true merits of the British rule.
To a great many of the aristocracy, a military career would be more
congenial, and it would be very desirable to adopt suitable means in this
direction to draw them to become attached and devoted, in their self-
interest and self-respect to British rule.
78. For the higher service the simultaneous competition in India
ought to be from the whole of India, to secure “the best of the compe-
tent" for such high service.
For the Uncovenanted service, each Province should be left to itself
for the necessary competition.
79. Under simultaneous examination in India and further study
and examinations in England with the English successful candidates,
the position of the Indian official will be quite equal to that of the
English official.
I
539
80. Any fixed portion of the service to be allotted to natives, will
violate the fundamental principle of the Act of 1833 and of the Procla-
mation of 1858—will not hold in itself reasonable elements of finality
and will not do full justice to the claims of the natives. Should, how-
ever, Government be now not prepared “to do full justice" and to allow
the chance or possibility of all successful candidates turning out to be
natives, Government may, for the present, provide that, till further
experience is obtained, a quarter or half of the successful candidates
should be English.
With the fair field opened freely by the simultaneous examinations,
the Statutory service, as I have already said, will have no reason to exist.
for first appointments.
81. The age must be the same for all candidates, so that no stigma
of inferiority or favour might stick to any. About what the age should
be, I agree with Sir C. Aitchison, and the Resolution of the Congress of
last year, that it should be 23 maximum, and 19 minimum.
82-83. The Civil Service Commissioners in England are most fitted
from their experience to fix all necessary tests and qualifications that
would be fair to all candidates, and such tests or qualifications should
be the same for all. Lord Macaulay's Committee has said, as to some
“Early superiority in Science and Literature generally indicates the
existence of some qualities which are securities against vice--industry,
self-denial, a taste for pleasures not sensual, a laudable desire of honour-
able distinction, a still more laudable desire to obtain the approbation
of friends and relations. We therefore believe that the intellectual test
which is about to be established will be found in practice to be also the
best moral test which can be devised."
In regard to physical fitness, I think that, beyond merely looking to
freedom from any physical organic defects, some tests should be institut-
ed to test certain physical accomplishments of all candidates, such as
riding, swimming, shooting and military and gymnastic exercises.
At the Cooper's Hill College, in the Public Works and Telegraph
Departments (and I think Forest is also now included), the following
rules exist :-
“37. Every student will be required to go through a course of exercise
in the gymnasium, and of Military exercises, including the use of the
rifle."
540
“ 39. Every student selected for the Indian Service before pro-
ceeding to India, will be required to furnish evidence of his competency
in riding."
85-6. The very essence of equal competition is that every subject,
test qualification or condition should be alike in England and India for
all candidates—fair enough not to handicap any unreasonably, and with
an eye to secure the best fitness, the highest educational and mental
training, and suitable physical capacity. This will give the best men al]
round.
89. With training on such thorough equality of tests, &c., there will be
no difference of circumstances in the case of persons who enter through the
simultaneous examinations, and there will be no reason to make the
rules for pay, leave, pension, &c., different. On principle also the
duties of an office should carry its own remuneration, &c., the fittest
person being got for the office, and such reasonable remuneration should
be fixed for the purpose as would induce superior men to seek the service
90-92. The Covenanted Servants will be sufficiently tested, and will
not, I think, need a probation, after joining service in India, beyond what
is at present required. However, whatever probation may be deemed
necessary, it should be the same for all-Europeans and natives.
V. PROMOTION FROM THE UNCOVENANTED SERVICE.
93 to 101.
This is an important chapter. It is very desirable that some prizes
should be beld out for marked, meritorious and able service in the
Uncovenanted services.
Any scheme for the purpose must be such that the person promoted,
being thus considered qualified, should afterwards be on a footing of
equality, with regard to pay, &c. &c., with the Covenanted Servant
occupying similar situation. The promotion to be open on the principles
of 1833, without regard to race or creed. The recommendation of any
Provincial Government, with satisfactory reasons, to be subject to the
confirmation of the Viceroy and the Secretary of State.
That not more than one such promotion should be made in any one
year in any one Province—or some maximum must be fixed.
That in the year in which such promotions are made, the number of
appointments to be competed for at the regular first competitive exami-
nation of that year, should be lessened by the number of promotions.
541
In such promotions, probation will not be necessary, as Government
would not select anybody for such a prize, where capacity and fitness for
business is not already marked and proved.
VI. PAY, LEAVE AND PENSION.
102 to 120.
Under the principles of 1833 and 1858, the Statutory service ceasing
to exist, no distinction being reserved for any class or race, and equal.
qualifications being fixed for all, by the simultaneous examination in
England and India and future associated study and examinations in
England, no distinction of Pay, Leave or Pension can be justified. The
duties and responsibilities should carry their own recompense fixed on
a reasonable scale. Equal furlough, I think, will induce persons to visit
England, which is desirable. After all the European could only need
about 5 weeks more for going to and from England.
The question of admission from the professional classes is rather a
difficult one. Those who succeed in their profession are generally not
likely to seek service, and those who would seek service are generally not
likely to be superior men. Then, after severe competitions and suitable
qualifications are required from those who enter the service at the
regular door, and who for that purpose devote themselves to the neces-
sary preparation, it becomes unjust to them to open a side-door
for others. It may be a matter for consideration, which I think it is
already, whether, after the first general competition in England and
India to test high culture and capacity, a division should not be made,
out of the passed candidates, for judicial and executive services, so that
their subsequent preparation, for two or three years in England, may be
devoted in the respective direction. The point to be borne in mind is
that if a side-door is opened, the principle of competition and fairness will
receive a serious blow, and nepotism, favouritism, interest, &c., will force
their way into the services,—a thing most to be deplored.
Under the present system of the Uncovenanted service, judicial
appointments are, I think, made from persons called to the Bar who
prefer service to practice. But when a proper system is adopted for all
the Uncovenanted services so as to secure the best men for first
appointment through a regular door, this necessity will no longer exist.
VII. GENERAL.
121 to 165.
123-125. The Indian schools develop force of character and other qual-
ities, as similar institutions in England do. In fact the Indian schools are
on the model, and follow in the footsteps of English schools.
542
The full development of force of character and other qualities depends
upon their future exercise and opportunities. When any limb of the
body or faculty of mind is not used or exercised, it gradually decays. The
actual responsibilities and performance of duties develop and strengthen
all necessary qualities, and in time become hereditary in classes. The
British advanced system of administration, requiring intellectual, moral
and physical fitness, will in turn create from the educated its own new
class of administrators, and an intellectual aristocracy who would, from
self-interest, right appreciation and gratitude, become and remain
devotedly attached to the British rule, and to the system in which they
would whave been born and bred. The present old landmarks cannot
and will not continue. The world, and especially the present progres-
sion of India, cannot stand still. Circumstances are fast changing in these
days, and the condition of things must change therewith.
The wisdom of the Government will be in directing these changes
aright and in their own favour with grace, instead of forcing them into
opposition against themselves.
-:1
.
: --
-
The exclusion of the natives for nearly a century has much to answer
for any decay of administratorship or fitness that may be now observed.
The change of this policy and the adoption of the noble policy of the
Act of 1833 and the Proclamation of 1858 will give new life to the
nation, will redress the past wrong, benefit India, and benefit and bless
England. Richly will then be realised those noble and glorious hopes
of the Proclamation : “In their prosperity will be our strength; in their
contentment our security; and in their gratitude our best reward.”.
126-131. The objection for want of sufficient means to be risked for
the purpose operates to a very large extent. It is chiefly the educated
and middle class that makes some attempt. The rich do not much care,
even up to this time, both for education and for service, though education
is forcing some progress among them. The great difficulty is the natural
unwillingness of parents to cast their raw young sons, unformed in
character, at the most critical period of their life, among strangers in a
land far away, and full of temptations and snares for them ; without the
parental and family control and influences to guard and guide them.
Sev eral parents have regretted the day when they allowed their dear
ones to part from them.
In a hundred ways that can hardly be described, a raw native youth
has difficulties, temptations and risks.
543
By confining the examinations to England we get only a few of those
who can afford to risk some money, but we cannot get the best of the
talent and fitness from the whole country, besides it being utterly unjust
to handicap the Natives so heavily. The few that go are not necessarily
of the best.
By residence in England, young boys do often more or less get out.
of touch and sympathy with the people in India.
These remarks do not apply to those who go at a higher age, and
after their character is formed and their intelligence fully developed.
They derive great advantage from the visit. They are able to under-
stand and study things intelligently, make comparisons with things in
their own country, are vividly struck with striking differences, and are
inspired with a desire to improve by them. They do not cast off their
touch and sympathy with their own people. On the contrary, they are
generally more sharpened. With the novelty and intelligent observation,
they return with a sort of enthusiasm, to do some good in their country.
The kind of young men who will go to England after the first examina-
tion in India, will be just the persons who will derive the greatest
benefit from the visit. Every moment of their sojourn will be well and
profitably spent, their great stakes and formed character keeping them
straight and desirous to do their best.
132. The requirement of temporary residence in England 'precedenť to
first competition is the main grievance. This requirement following' on
success in India in a simultaneous examination, will remove the grievance,
and will not have the effect of preventing any considerable or important
section, who are prepared for competition, from competing.
133-4. Once the first competition is freely opened to all, and the
Statutory service abolished, excepting so far as it is adopted to give a
reasonable opening for the most meritorious among the Uncovenanted
servants, another special service for any class cannot be justly made,
and for no long time will all classes of Hindus allow the present caste
objections to continue.
135-141. It is desirable to avoid opening many doors for admission
to the Services, once the regular doors are so freely opened to all. The
cases of servants not knowing English will become rarer every day.
Should such cases arise of very meritorious servants, they might be
There may arise sometimes a case, such as of some important political
mission in which any certain individual, owing to connection, influence
544
or position, becomes especially most fitted for the task. Power should
be reserved to Government, with the sanction of the Secretary of State,
to make such extraordinary appointments outside the Services--though
it is desirable to avoid this as far as possible. The peculiarly special
fitness becomes a special reason for the occasion.
142. No, there should be no proportion or show of any favour
introduced. In a free and open competition, numbers will in time have
their proportionate share. Any such departure and complication vitiates
the principle of 1833. The natural ambition of each community will
bring it into the field in proportion to its number and capacity, and the
principle of the fittest' will be observed with the greatest advantage to
the whole country, without trouble to Government and with best
service done to every class, by having been set to help itself manfully.
143. No such classifications are needed. They will be contrary to
the principles of 1833, and will be the source of much trouble and diffi-
culty. It is undesirable to crystallize or select any class or classes to
monopolise any services. In the present transition state, things should
be left to develop and arrange themselves naturally, with free field and
scope.
144. For the high Covenanted posts, it is not desirable to restrict
the natives to their own provinces, and this cannot be done for a gene-
ral competition by simultaneous examinations in England and India. We
and then they may be distributed as Government may think best, or
the present system may be continued by which the selection of the
Provinces is left to the candidates in the order of their merit in the
first competition. But even then the Government has the power of
making transfers.
145-157. All such schemes violate the fundamental principles of the
Act of 1833. They will deprive us of what we already possess by this
law. The simple machinery of a fair field for all, and the employment
of the fittest can be the only best scheme founded on a just and sound
principle and giving the best results.
164-5. I do not know whether there is any such system in Bombay.
Any system cannot be good, if it be not based on some sound principle
and fitness. Once the field is opened freely and fairly to all, every such
contingency will in time naturally settle itself, and Government will be
saved much trouble and complication of the vain endeavour of satisfy-
ing every body or class separately.
545
EXECUTIVE AND SUBORDINATE JUDICIAL SERVICE.
156 to 184.
167. The sections who take advantage of education and they
mainly belong to the middle classes.
168. The rich and the commercial classes do not much care for
service. It is chiefly from the natives of middle class, good family and
education, that most of the candidates come. And every native who is
educated is desirous to confer the same blessing upon his children.
169. Some prefer an independent line or a profession and some
willingly accept appointments.
172-5. After a fair field is opened for all, there will be no justifica-
tion for any appointments being practically reserved for natives of pure
descent or for any other class. Fitness must be the only principle-
the principle of 1833—and then no just complaint can arise.
176-183. Suitable high education and fitness must be an essential
qualification. It cannot be otherwise under the British system; and
after educational, moral, and physical fitness is decided upon as the only
right basis for employment, Government are the best judges as to what
the tests should be to secure the necessary qualifications.
Separate examinations may be established to test separate require-
ments of the different departments of the subordinate services, a certain
extent of high general education and training being necessary for all.
Open competition for all classes and fitness to be the fundamental princi-
ple, and the examinations and tests so arranged as to secure the best
qualifications for the service for which the appointment is to be made.
Something like the Civil Service Commission of England may be
founded here, who would be able to arrange all suitable details, and go
on improving the system as experience suggested—the sole principle
and aim being justice to all subjects alike and fitness for the duty.
Each Province will be better left to make its own arrangements suit-
able to its wants for the subordinate services. Probation is useful, and
the length of this also will be best fixed by the authorities or the
Commission as experience suggests.
Some probation will be advisable, though it is not absolutely neces-
sary. The Civil Service Commission of the United States say in their
third report of 1885-6:-
“It could be shown statistically that those who pass highest in the
examinations are likely to make the most useful public servants.”
. "A man taken from the head of a register is far more likely
546
to be a valuable public servant than one taken from the foot, and there-
fore the examinations do test superior capacity for the public service.” .
“Despite all the antecedent probability of fitness which the precau-
tions just described create, it is beyond question true that we cannot be
absolutely certain, that a well-informed man of good habits will prove
a good worker. A real test of the fact by doing the public work is
precisely what the merit system provides. That test is a probationary
service of six months before an absolute appointment.” ...
This practical test, by actually doing the public work, is not only
an integral part of the merit system, but originated with it. If these
facts were generally understood, they would doubtless be regarded as a
full answer to the oft-repeated criticism, that mere information is not
proof of business capacity.”...
6 The experience of the Commission has shown how great is the ma-
jority of those, having passed the examination, who have proved them-
selves to be persons of good business capacity.” After giving some
statistics :-“The results, indeed, go far towards showing that a proba-
tionary term is not essential, though unquestionably useful, under the
new system.”
184. It would be desirable, if candidates in the first examination of
the Covenanted Service, who may have shown decided proficiency, but
failed to secure a place among the successful candidates, and who are
passed the age of competition, are allowed, if they so desire, to be placed
at the head of the list of the successful candidates of the year in one of
the Uncovenanted Services. For, a superior class of servants will thus
be secured without any injustice to anybody-only that the person will
have passed a much higher examination and a higher order of tests and
qualifications, which will be an advantage.
It will be a good field for the recruiting of the subordinate service, if
such persons can be secured. As such persons will have to commence at
the bottom of the service, they will often prefer with their high acquire-
2
But should they desire to enter the subordinate service, they should be
allowed.
. General Remarks.
Though I have answered some of the questions relating to schemes or
details, and whatever may be their suitability, all I have to urge is that
the principle of 1833 and 1858 must be the foundation of the whole
edifice, and every scheme be based upon, and in accordance with it. We
should not, after half a century of progress, be now deprived of our
547
great charter in the slightest degree. Once this principle is faithfully
IL
secure the best results. For the Covenanted services the machinery
already exists, all that is necessary is to make the first competitive
examination simultaneously in India with that of England. And for
the Uncovenanted services, a Civil Service Commission may be devised,
who would prepare suitable schemes in detail for every department and
carry them out.
The chief point which I desire to urge is this. Let Government adopt
any scheme of competition, only let every one,-European or Nativemo
hare a free and fair field, so that neither should be in any way
handicapped, and all are subjected to the same tests.
No distinction of race, creed or colour being left, Government will be
relieved of all the troubles and complications that must otherwise arise,
and the whole machinery of Government will settle itself into smooth
work under a just and sound principle, with benefit to the country and
glory to the Rulers.
As I have often said, the question of the services or foreign agency, is
a question of the highest importance for the economic condition of India,
and the material condition of the masses. It is the one "evil incident to
a foreign rule” which requires to be minimised as much as possible, if
English rule is to be a true and great blessing to India. The following
words of the Secretary of State for India, show what political danger also
lies in this foreign " character of the Government” :-
Parl. Ret. [ c. 4868 ] 1886, page 4.
“ The position of India in relation to taxation and the sources of the
public revenues is very peculiar, not merely from the habits of the people
and their strong aversion to change, which is more specially exhibited to
new forms of taxation, but likewise from the character of the Government
which is in the hand foreigners, who hold all the principal administrative
offices and form so large a part of the army. The impatience of new taxa-
tion which would have to be borne wholly as a consequence of the foreign
rule imposed on the country, and virtually to meet additions to charges
arising outside of the country, would constitute a political danger, the
real magnitude of which it is to be feared is not at all appreciated by
persons who have no knowledge of, or concern in, the Government of
India, but which those responsible for that Government have long
regarded as of the most serious order." . (The italics are mine.)
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
Bombay, 4th January 1887,
CHAPTER VII.
WRITINGS-(continued).
IX.
SIR M. E. GRANT DUFF'S VIEWS ABOUT INDIA.*
2T
(Mr. Dadabhai Nowrojee's views, published in the Contemporary Review of
August and October, 1887, on Sir Grant Duff's reply to Mr. Samuel Smith's
(M. P.) articles about India.)
I offer some observations on Sir Grant Duff's reply to Mr. Samuel
Smith, M.P., in this “ REVIEW.” I do so, not with the object of defend-
ing Mr. Smith. He is well able to take care of himself. But of the
subjects with which Sir Grant Duff has dealt, there are some of the
most vital importance to India, and I desire to discuss them.
I have never felt more disappointed and grieved with any writings by
an Englishman than with the two articles by Sir Grant Duff-a gentle-
man who has occupied the high positions of Under-Secretary of State
for India and Governor of Madras. Whether I look to the superficiality
and levity of his treatment of questions of serious and melancholy
importance to India, or to the literary smartness of offhand reply which
he so often employs in the place of argument, or to the more sensational
assertions which he puts forward as proofs, I cannot but feel that both
the manner and matter of the two articles are, in many parts, unworthy
of a gentleman of Sir Grant Duff's position and expected knowledge.
But what is particularly more regrettable is his attitude towards the
educated classes, and the sneers he has levelled against higher education
itself. If there is one thing more than another for which the Indian
people are peculiarly and deeply grateful to the British nation, and
which is one of the chief reasons for their attachment and loyalty to
British rule, it is the blessing of education which Britain has bestowed
on India. Britain has every reason to be proud of, and to be satisfied
with, the results, for it is the educated classes who realize and appreciate
most the beneficence and good intentions of the British nation ; and by
* Compare the remarks on this essay in the Pioneer of 21st September 1887, under
the heading -Natives and the Noble Ciause”, wherein even that champion of
Indian Bureaucracy has been obliged to admit the essayist's sincerity of motive,
and the decided hit made by him in the publication of this essay.
549
the increasing influence which they are now undoubtedly exercising over
the people, they are the powerful chain by which India is becoming
more and more firmly linked with Britain. This education has produced
its natural effects, in promoting civilization and independence of charac-
ter--a result of which a true Briton should not be ashamed and should
regard as his peculiar glory. But it would appear that this independ-
ence of character and the free criticism passed by the educated classes
on Sir Grant Duff's acts have ruffled his composure. He has allowed
his feelings to get the better of his judgment. I shall have to say a
few words on this subject hereafter,
purpose of enlightening their countrymen when they come home”_"Is
it too much to ask that these last should take the pains to arrive at an
accurate knowledge of facts before they give their conclusions to the
world ?" May I ask the same question of Sir Grant Duff himself ? Is
it too much to ask him, who has occupied high and responsible positions,
that he, as far more bound to do so, should take the pains to arrive at
an accurate knowledge of facts before he gives his conclusions to the
world ? Careless or mistaken utterances of men of his position, by
misleading the British public, do immeasurable harm, both to England
and India.
Of the few matters which I intend to discuss there is one--the most
important-upon which all other questions hinge. The correct solution
of this fundamental problem will help all other Indian problems to settle
themselves under the ordinary.current discussions of every day. Before
proceeding, however, with this fundamental question, it is necessary to
make one or two preliminary remarks to clear away some misapprehen-
sions which often confuse and complicate the discussion of Indian subjects.
There are three parties concerned-(1) The British nation, (2) those
authorities to whom the Government of India is entrusted by the British
nation, and (3) the natives of British India.
British rule. On the contrary, we have every reason to be thankful
that of all the nations in the world it has been our good fortune to be
placed under the British nation-a nation noble and great in its
instincts; among the most advanced, if not the most advanced in civiliza-
tion ; foremost in the advancement of humanity in all its varied wants
and circumstances; the source and fountain-head of true liberty and of
political progress in the world ; in short, a nation in which all that is
just, generous, and truly free is most happily combined.
550
The British nation has done its part nobly, has laid down, and pledged
itself before God and the world to a policy of justice and generosity
towards India, in which nothing is left to be desired. That policy is
Complete, and worthy of its great and glorious past, and present. No,
we Indians have no complaint against the British nation or British rule.
We have everything from them to be grateful for. It is against its
servants, to whom it has entrusted our destinies, that we have something
of which to complain. Or rather, it is against the system which has been
adopted by its servants, and which subverts the avowed and pledged
policy of the British nation, that we complain, and against which I appeal
to the British people..
Reverting to the few important matters which I desire to discuss, the
first great question is What is Britain's policy towards India? Sir
Grant Duff says : “Of two things one : either we mean to stay in India
and make the best of the country-directly for its own advantage,
indirectly for that of ourselves and of mankind at large, or ve do not."
Again he says : “ The problem is how best to manage for its interest,
our own interest, and the interest of the world. ..." Now, if anybody
ought to know, Sir Grant Duff ought, that this very problem, exactly as
he puts it and for the purposes he mentions, has been completely and
exhaustively debated, decided upon, and the decision pledged in the most
deliberate manner, in an Act of Parliament more than fifty years ago,
and again most solemnly and sacredly pledged more than twenty-five
years ago. Sir Grant Duff either forgets or ignores these great events.
Let us see, then, what this policy is. At a time when the Indians were
in their educational and political infancy, when they did not and could
not understand what their political condition then was or was to be in
the future, when they had not uttered, as far as I know, any complaints,
nor demanded any rights or any definite policy towards themselves, the
British nation of their own accord and pleasure, merely from their own
sense of their duty towards the millions of India and to the world,
deliberately declared before the world what their policy should be
towards the people of India. Nor did the British people do this in any
ignorance or want of forethought or without the consideration of all
possible consequences of their action. Never was there a debate in
'both Houses of Parliament more complete and clear, more exhaustive,
more deliberately looked at from all points of view, and more calculated
for the development of statesmanlike policy and practical good sense.
The most crucial point of view—that of political danger or of even the
possible loss of India to Britain--was faced with true English manliness;
1
551
and the British nation, through their Parliament, then settled, adopted
and proclaimed to the world what their policy was to bem-viz., the
policy of justice and of the adrancement of humanity.
I can give here only a very few extracts from that famous debate of
more than half a century ago--a debate reflecting the highest glory on
the British name.
Sir Robert Peel said
"Sure I am at least that we must approach the consideration of it
with a deep feeling, with a strong sense of the responsibility we shall
incur, with a strong sense of the moral obligation which imposes it upon
us as a duty to promote the improvement of the country and the welfare
and well-being of its inhabitants, so far as we can consistently with the
safety and security of our dominion and the obligations by which we
may be bound ...."
The Marquis of Lansdowne, in the House of Lords, said:-
“But he should be taking a very narrow view of this question, and
one utterly inadequate to the great importance of the subject, which
involved in it the happiness or misery of one hundred millions of human
beings, were he not to call the attention of their Lordships to the
bearing which this question and to the influence which this arrangement
must exercise upon the future destinies of that vast mass of people.
He was sure that their Lordships would feel, as he indeed felt, that
their only justification before God and Providence for the great and
unprecedented dominion which they exercised in India was in the happi-
ness which they communicated to the subjects under their rule, and
in proving to the world at large, and to the inhabitants of Hindoostan,
that the inheritance of Akbar (the wisest and most beneficent of Mahome-
dan princes) had not fallen into unworthy or degenerate hands....."
His Lordship, after announcing the policy intended to be adopted,
concluded : “He was confident that the strength of the Government
would be increased by the happiness of the people over whom it presided,
and by the attachment of those nations to it.”
Lord Macaulay's speech is worthy of him, and of the great nation to
which he belonged. I have every temptation to quote the whole of it,
but space forbids. He calls the proposed policy "that wise, that bene-
volent, that noble clause," and he adds :---
552
O
“I must say that, to the last day of my life, I shall be proud of
having been one of those who assisted in the framing of the Bill which
contains that clause... Governments, like men, may buy
existence too dear. 'Propter vitam vivendi perdere causas' is a despicable
policy either in individuals or States. In the present case such a policy
would be not only despicable, but absurd..... To the great
trading nation, to the great manufacturing nation, no progress which
any portion of the human race can make in knowledge, in taste for the
conveniences of life, or in the wealth by which those conveniences are
produced, can be matter of indifference. ... To trade with
civilized men is infinitely more profitable than to govern savages. That
would indeed be a doting wisdon, which, in order that India might
remain a dependency, would make it a useless and costly dependency-
which would keep a hundred millions of men from being our customers
in order that they might continue to be our slaves. It was, as Bernier
tells us, the practice of the miserable tyrants whom he found in India,
when they dreaded the capacity and spirit of some distinguished subject,
and yet could not venture to murder him, to administer to him a daily
dose of the pousta, a preparation of opium, the effect of which was in a
few months to destroy all the bodily and mental powers of the wretch
who was drugged with it, and to turn him into a helpless idiot. That
detestable artifice, more horrible than assassination itself, was worthy of
those who employed it. It is no model for the English nation. We
shall never consent to administer the pousta to a whole community, to
stupefy and paralyze a great people whom God has committed to our
charge, for the wretched purpose of rendering them more amenable to
our control. ... . I have no fears. The path of duty is plain
before us; and it is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, of
national honour. . . . . To have found a great people sunk in the
lowest depths of misery and superstition, to have so ruled them as to have
made them desirous and capable of all the privileges of citizens would
indeed be a title to glory—all our own. The sceptre may pass away
from us. Unforeseen accidents may derange our most profound schemes
of policy. Victory may be inconstant to our arms. But there are
triumphs which are followed by no reverses. There is an empire exempt
from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs are the Pacific
triumphs of reason over barbarism ; that empire is the imperishable
empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our law."
1
553
Now what was it that was so deliberately decided upon--that which
was to promote the welfare and well-being of the millions of India,
involve their happiness or misery, and influence their future destiny ;
that which was to be the only justification before God and Providence
for the dominion over India ; that which was to increase the strength
of the Government and secure the attachment of the nation to it; and
that which was wise, benevolent and noble, most profitable to English
trade and manufacture, the plain path of duty, wisdom, national pros-
perity, and national honour, and calculated to raise a people sunk in the
lowest depths of misery and superstition, to prosperity and civilization?
It was this " noble” clause in the Act of 1833, worthy of the British
character for justice, generosity, and humanity : “ That no native of
the said territories, nor any natural-born subject of his Majesty resident
therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, or
any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or employment
under the said Company."
I now ask the first question. Is this deliberately declared policy
honestly promised, and is it intended by the British nation to be honestly
and honourably fulfilled ; or is it a lie and a delusion, meant only to
deceive India and the world ? This is the first clear issue.
It must be remembered, as I have already said, that this wise and
noble pledge was given at a time when the Indians had not asked for it.
It was of Britain's own will and accord, of her own sense of duty
towards a great people whom Providence had entrusted to her care,
that she deliberated and gave the pledge. The pledge was given with
grace and unasked, and was therefore the more valuable and more to
Britain's credit and renown. But the authorities to whom the per-
formance of this pledge was entrusted by the British nation did not do
their duty, and left the pledge a dead letter. Then came a time of
trouble, and Britain triumphed over the Mutiny. But what did she do
in that moment of triumph ? Did she retract the old, great, and noble
pledge? Did she say, “You have proved unworthy of it, and I
withdraw it." No! True to her instincts of justice, she once more
and still more emphatically and solemnly proclaimed to the world the
same pledge, even in greater completeness and in every form. By the
mouth of our great Sovereign did she once more give her pledge, calling
God to witness and seal it and bestow His blessing thereon ; and this did
the gracious proclamation of 1858 proclaim to the world :
“We hold ourselves bound to the natives of our Indian territory by
the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects;
554
and those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faith-
fully and conscientiously fulfil.
“And it is our further will that, so far as may be our subjects, of
whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in
our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their education,
"In their prosperity will be our strength, in their contentment our
security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God
of all power grant to us and to those in authority under us strength to
carry out these our wishes for the good of our people.”
Can pledges more sacred, more clear, and more binding before God
and man be given ?
I ask this second question. Are these pledges honest promises of the
British Sovereign and nation, to be faithfully and conscientiously fulfilled,
or are they only so many lies and delusions ? I can and do expect but
one reply; that these sacred promises were made honestly, and meant
to be honestly and honourably fulfilled. The whole Indian problemi
hangs upon these great pledges, upon which the blessings, and help of
God are invoked. It would be an insult and an injustice to the British
nation, quite unpardonable in me—with my personal knowledge of the
British people for more than thirty years—if I for a moment entertained
the shadow of a doubt with regard to the honesty of these pledges.
The third question is-Whether these pledges have been faithfully
and conscientiously fulfilled ? The whole position of India is this : If
these solemn pledges be faithfully and conscientiously fulfilled, India
will have nothing more to desire. Had these pledges been fulfilled, what
a different tale of congratulation should we have had to tell to-day of
the prosperity and advancement of India and of great benefits to and
blessings upon England. But it is useless to mourn over the past. The
future is still before us.
I appeal to the British nation that these sacred and solemn promises
should be hereafter faithfully and conscientiously fulfilled. This will
benefits, and blessings which the statesmen of 1833 have foretold, to
England's eternal glory, and to the benefit of England, India, and the
world. The non-fulfilment of these pledges has been tried for half a
century, and poverty and degradation are still the lot of India. Let us
have, I appeal, for half a century the conscientious fulfilment of these
pledges, and no man can hesitate to foretell, as the great statesmen of
555
1833 foretold, that India will rise in prosperity and civilization, that
“the strength of the Government would be increased by the happiness
of the people over whom it presided, and by the attachment of those
nations to it.” As long as fair trial is not given to these pledges, it is
idle, and adding insult to injury, to decide anything or to seek any
excuses against us and against the fulfilment of the pledges.
If this appeal is granted, if the British nation says that its honest
promises must be honestly fulfilled, every other Indian question will
find its natural and easy solution. If, on the other hand, this appeal
shall go in vain—which I can never believe will be the case—the
present unnatural system of the non-fulfilment of the great policy
of 1833 and 1858 will be an obstacle and a complete prevention of the
right and just solution of any other Indian question whatever. From
the seed of injustice no fruit of justice can ever be produced. Thistles
will never yield grapes.
I now come to the second important question-the present material
condition of India, as the natural result of the non-fulfilment of the
great pledges. Mr. Samuel Smith had remarked that there was among
the well-educated natives "a widespread belief that India is getting
poorer and less happy,” and he has subsequently expressed his own
impressions. “The first and deepest impression made upon me by
this second visit to India is a heightened sense of the poverty of the
country.” Now, to such a serious matter, what is Sir Grant Duff's
reply? First, a sneer at the educated classes and at higher education
itself. Next, he gives a long extract from an address of the local
reception committee of the town of Bezwada, in which, says the address
by means of an anicut, “At one stroke the mouths of a hungry and
dying people have been filled with bread, aud the coffers of the Govern-
ment with money." Now, can levity and unkindness go any further ?
This is the reply that a great functionary gives to Mr. Smith's serious
charge about the poverty of India. What can the glowing, long extract
from the address of the committee of Bezwada mean, if Sir Grant Duff
did not thereby intend to lead the British public into the belief that,
because the small town of Bezwada had acknowledged a good thing done
for it, therefore in all India all was happy and prospering? However,
Sir Grant Duff could not help reverting, after a while, to the subject a
little more seriously, and admitting that "there is in many parts of
· India frightful poverty.” What, then, becomes of the glowing extract
from the Bezwada address, and how was that a reply to Mr. Smith's
charge ? However, even after making the admission of the “frightful
556
poverty in many parts of India," he disposes off-hand of the grave
matter--remarking that other people in other countries are also poor, as
if that were a justification of “the frightful poverty in many parts of
India,” under a rule like that of the British; and conducted by a service
the most highly praised and the most highly paid in the world ? Sir
Grant Duff, with a cruel levity, only asks two or three questions, with-
out any proof of his assumptions and without any attention to the
circumstances of the comparisons, and at once falls foul of the educated
classes, as if.thereby he gave a complete reply to the complaint about
the poverty. Now, these are the three questions he puts :-“ The
question worth answering is : Do the Indian masses obtain, one year
with another, a large or smaller amount of material well-being than the
peasantry of Western Europe ?” And he answers himself : "Speaking
of the huge province of Madras, which I, of course, know best—and I
have visited every district in it“I think they do. ..." They "do"
what? Do they obtain a larger or smaller amount? His second
question is: “but is there not the same, and even worse, in our own
country?" And lastly, he brings down his clincher thus :—“As to our
system 'draining the country of its wealth,' if that be the case, how is
it visibly increasing in wealth ?" And he gives no proof of that
increased wealth. Thus, then, does Sir Grant Duff settle the most
serious questions connected with India. First, a sneer at educated men
and higher education, then the frivolous argument about the town of
Bezwada, and afterwards three off-hand questions and assertions without
any proof. In this way does a former Under-Secretary of State for
India, and only lately a ruler of thirty millions of people, inform and
instruct the British public on the most burning Indian questions. We
may now, however, see what Sir Grant Duff's above three questions
mean, and what they are worth, and how wrong and baseless his
assertions are.
· Fortunately, Mr. Grant Duff has already replied to Sir Grant Duff.
We are treated by Sir Grant Duff to a long extract from his Budget
speech of 1873. He might have as well favoured us, to better purpose,
with an extract or two from some of his other speeches. In 1870
Mr, Grant Duff asks Sir Wilfrid Lawson a remarkable question during
the debate on Opium. He asks : "Would it be tolerable that to enforce
a view of morality which was not theirs, which had never indeed been
accepted by any large portion of the human race, we should grind an
already poor population to the very dust with new taxation ?” Can a
more complete reply be given to Sir Grant's present questions than this
557
reply of Mr. Grant Duff: that the only margin that saves - an already
poor population” from being ground to the very dust is the few millions
that are obtained by poisoning a foreign country (China).
Again Mr. Grant Duff supplies another complete reply to Sir
Grant Duff's questions. In his Budget speech of 1871, he thus depicts
the poverty of India as compared with the condition of England—“one
of the countries of Western Europe" and the “our own country” of his
questions. Just at that time I had, in a rough way, shown that the
whole production or income of British India was about Rs. 20 (40s.)
per head per annum. Of this Mr. Grant Duff made the following use
in 1871. He said: “The position of the Indian financier is altogether
different from that of the English one. Here you have a comparatively
wealthy population. The income of the United Kingdom has, I believe
been guessed at £800,000,000 per annum. The income of British India
has been guessed at £300,000,000 per annum. That gives well on to
£30 per annum as the income of every person of the United Kingdom,
and only £2 per annum as the income of every person in British India.
Even our comparative wealth will be looked back upon by future ages
as a state of semi-barbarism. But what are we to say of the state of
India ? How many generations must pass away before that country
has arrived at even the comparative wealth of this ?”
But now Sir Grant Duff ignores his own utterances as to how utterly
different the cases of England and India are, Mr. Grant Duff's speech
having been received in India, Lord Mayo thus commented upon it and
confirmed it :-
"I admit the comparative poverty of this country, as compared with
many other countries of the same magnitude and importance, and I am
convinced of the impolicy and injustice of imposing burdens upon this
people which may be called either crushing or oppressive. Mr. Grant
Duff, in an able speech which he delivered the other day in the House
of Commons, the report of which arrived by the last mail, stated with
truth that the position of our finance was wholly different from that of
England. "In England,' he stated, you have comparatively a wealthy
population. The income of the United Kingdom has, I believe, been
guessed at £800,000,000 per annum ; the income of British India has
been guessed at £300,000,000 per annum ; that goes well on to £30 per
annum as the income of every person in the United Kingdom, and only
£2 per annum as the income of every person in British India.' . I
believe that Mr. Grant Duff had good grounds for the statement he
made, and I wish to say, with reference to it, that we are perfectly
C
558
cognisant of the relative poverty of this country as compared with
European States."
Here again is another answer to Sir Grant Duff's questions, by the
late Finance Minister of India. Major (Sir) E. Baring, in proof of his
assertion of “the extreme poverty of the mass of the people” of British
India, makes a comparison not only with “ the Western countries of
Europe” but with “ the poorest country in Europe.” After stating that
the income of India was not more than Rs. 27 per head, he said, in his
Budget speech of 1882: "In England, the average income per head of
population was £33 per head ; in France it was £23 ; in Turkey, which
was the poorest country in Eupope, it was £4 per head.”
It will be seen, then, that Mr. Grant Duff and a higher authority than
Sir Grant Duff have already fully answered Sir Grant Duffs questions.
The only thing now remaining is whether Sir Grant Duff will undertake
to prove that the income of British India has now become equal to that
of the Western countries of Europe ; and if so, let him give us his facts
and figures to prove such a statement-not mere allusions to the
prosperity of some small towns like Bazwada, or even to that of the
Presidency towns, but a complete estimate of the income of all British
India, so as to compare it with that of England, France, or Western
countries of Europe.”
I may say here a word or two about " the huge province of Madras,
which," says Sir Grant, “I, of course, know best, and I have visited
every district in it." We may see now whether he has visited with his
eyes open or shut. I shall be glad if Sir Grant Duff will give us
figures to show that Madras to-day produces as much as the Western
countries of Europe.
Sir George Campbell, in his paper on tenure of land in India, says,
from an official Report of 1869, about the Madras Presidency, that "the
bulk of the people are paupers.” I have just received an extract from
a friend in India. Mr. W. R. Robertson, Agricultural Reporter to the
Government of Madras, says of the agricultural labourer :-
. “ His condition is a disgrace to any country calling itself civilized.
In the best seasons the gross income of himself and his family does not
exceed 3d. per day throughout the year, and in a bad season their
circumstances are most deplorable. ... I have seen something of Ireland
in which the condition of affairs bears some resemblance to those of this
country, but the condition of the agricultural population of Ireland is
vastly superior to the condition of the similar classes in this country.”
559
There cannot be any doubt about the correctness of these views ; for
as a matter of fact, as I have worked out the figures in my paper on
“ The Poverty of India," the income of the Madras Presidency in 1868-69
was only about Rs. 18 per head per annum.
Such is the Madras Presidency, which Sir Grant Duff has visited
with his eyes apparently shut.
I shall now give a few statements about the “extreme poverty of
British India, by persons whose authority would be admitted by Sir
Grant Duff as far superior to his own. In 1864 Sir John (afterwards
Lord) Lawrence, then Viceroy, said : “India is on the whole a very
poor country; the mass of the population enjoy only a scanty subsist-
ence.” And again, in 1873, he repeated his opinion before the
Finance Committee, that the mass of the people were so miserably poor
that they had barely the means of subsistence. It was as much as a
man could do to feed his family, or half-feed them, let alone spending
money on what might be called luxuries or conveniences. In 1881 Dr,
(Sir W.) Hunter, the best official defender of the British Indian
Administration, told the British public that 40,000,000 of the people
of British India - go through life on insufficient food." This is an
official admission, but I have no moral doubt that, if full inquiries were
made, twice forty millions or more would be found." going through
life on insufficient food, and what wonder that the very touch of
famine should destroy hundreds of thousands or millions. Coming
down at once to the latest times : Sir E. Baring said, in his finance
speech in 1882 :-
tion in India is not more than Rs. 27 a year; and though I am not
prepared to pledge myself to the absolute accuracy of a calculation of
this sort, it is sufficiently accurate to justify the conclusion that the
tax-paying community is exceedingly poor. To derive any very large
increase of revenue from so poor a population as this is obviously
impossible, and if it were possible would be unjustifiable.”
Again, in the course of the debate he repeated the statement about
the income being Rs. 27 per head per annum, and said in connection
with salt revenue : “But he thought it was quite sufficient to show
the extreme poverty of the mass of the people.” Then, after stating
the income of the some of the European countries, as I have stated them
before, he proceeded : “He would ask honourable members to think
what Rs. 27 per annum was to support a person, and then he would ask
560
whether a few ánnas was nothing to such poor people.” I asked Sir
E. Baring to give me his calculations to check with mine, but he
declined. But it does not matter much, as even "not more than
Rs. 27” is extreme poverty of the mass of the people. Later still the
present Finance Minister, in his speech on the Income Tax, in January
1886, described the mass of the people as “men whose income
at the best is barely sufficient to afford them the sustenance necessary
to support life, living, as they do, upon the barest necessaries of life.”
Now, what are we to think of an English gentleman who has
occupied the high and important positions of an Under-Secretary of
State for India and Governor of the thirty millions of Madras, and
who professes to feel deep interest in the people of India, treating
such grave matters as their “extreme poverty” and “scanty subsist-
ence” with light-heartedness like this, and coolly telling them and
the British public that the people of Bezwada were gloriously pros-
perous, and that there “at one stroke, the mouths of a hungry and
dying people have been filled with bread and the coffers of the
Government with money!”
I shall now give a few facts and figures in connection with the
condition of India, and with some of the other questions dealt with
by Sir Grant Duff. First, with regard to the poverty to which Mr.
Samuel Smith referred. Sir Grant Duff may rest assured that I shall
be only too thankful to him for any correction of my figures by him
or for any better information. I have no other object than the truth.
In my paper on “ The Poverty of India,” I have worked out from
official figures that the total income of British India is only Rs. 20
(40s., or, at present exchange, nearer 30s.) per head per annum. It
must be remembered that the mass of the people cannot get this
average of Rs. 20, as the upper classes have a larger share than the
average ; also that this Rs. 20 per head includes the income or produce
of foreign planters or producers, in which the interest of the natives does
wages. All the profits of such produce are enjoyed by, and carried
away from the country by, the foreigners. Subsequently, in my cor-
respondence with the Secretary of State for India in 1880, I placed
before his lordship, in detailed calculations based upon official returns,
the income of the most favoured province of the Punjab and the cost
of absolute necessaries of life there for a common agricultural labourer.
The income is, at the outside, Rs. 20 per head per annum, and the cost
of living Rs. 34. No wonder then that forty or eighty millions or more
561
16
::::::::
...
people of British India should go through life on insufficient food."
My calculations, both in “The Poverty of India" and " The Condition
of India” (the correspondence with the Secretary of State), have not
yet been shown by anybody to be wrong or requiring correction. I
shall be glad and thankful if Sir Grant Duff would give us his calcula-
tions and show us that the income of British India is anything like that
of the Western countries of Europe.
I give a statement of the income of the different countries from
Mulhall's - Dictionary of Statistics" :-
Gross earnings
Gross earnings
Countries. per inhabitant. Countries. per inhabitant.
England
£41 i Belgium ... ... £22:1
Scotland .. ...
32 Holland ...
26
Ireland
Denmark
23.2
United Kingdom
35.2 Sweden and Norway, 16.2
France ...
2507 Switzerland...
16
Germany Hon.
18:7 Greece
11.8
Russia
9.9 Europe ...
18
Austria
16.3 United States
27.2
Italy
12 Canada
26.9
Spain
13.8 1 Australia ...
43:4
Portugal ...
13.
61
The table is not official. In his “Progress of the World” (1880),
Mulhall gives Scandinavia, £17 ; South America, £6 ; India, £2.
What is then poor India's whole income per head ? Not even as much
as the United Kingdom pays to its revenue only per head. The United
Kingdom pays to revenue nearly 50s. per head, when wretched India's
whole income is 40s. per bead, or rather, at the present exchange, nearer
30s, than 40s. Is this a result for an Englishman to boast about or to
be satisfied with, after a century of British administration? The income
of British India only a third of that of even the countries of South
America! Every other part of the British Empire is flourishing except
wretched India.
Sir Grant Duff knows well that any poverty in the countries of
Western Europe is not from want of wealth or income, but from unequal
distribution. But British India has her whole production or income
itself most wretched. There is no wealth, and therefore the question
of its right distribution, or of any comparison with the countries of
Western Europe or with England, is very far off indeed. Certanly a
gentleman like Sir Grant Duff ought to understand the immense
difference between the character of the conditions of the poor masses of
562
British India and of the poor of Western Europe ; the one starving from
scantiness, the other having plenty, but suffering from some defect
in its distribution. Let the British Indian Administration fulfil its
sacred pledges and allow plenty to be produced in British India, and
then will be the proper time and occasion to compare the phenomena of
the conditions of Western Europe and British India. The question at
present is, why, under the management of the most highly paid services
in the world, India cannot produce as much even as the worst governed
countries of Europe ? I do not mean to blame the individuals of the
Indian services. It is the policy, the perversion of the pledges, that is
at the bottom of our misfortunes. Let the Government of India only
give us every year properly made up statistical tables of the whole
production or the income of the country, and we shall then know truly
how India fares year after year, and we shall then see how the present
system of administration is an obstacle to any material advancement
of India. Let us have actual facts about the real income of India,
instead of careless opinions like those in Sir Grant Duff's two articles.
Instead of asking us to go so far as Western Europe, to compare
conditions so utterly different from each other, Sir Grant Duff might
have looked nearer home, and studied somewhat of the neighbouring
native States, to institute some fair comparison under a certain simi-
larity of circumstances. This point I shall have to refer to in the
next article, when dealing with a cognate subject. Sir Grant Duff
says: “I maintain that no country on the face of the earth is
governed so cheaply in proportion to its size, to its population, and to
the difficulties of government.” Surely Sir Grant Duff knows better
than this. Surely he knows that the pressure of a burden depends
upon the capacity to bear it: that an elephant may carry tons with
ease, while a child would be crushed by a hundredweight. Surely he
knows the very first axiom of taxation that it should be in proportion
to the means of the taxpayer. Mulhall very properly says in his
Dictionary: “The real incidence of all taxation is better shown by
comparison with the people's earnings." Let us see facts. Let us see
whether the incidence in British India is not heavier than that of England
itself. The gross revenue of the United Kingdom in 1886 is £89,581,301 ;
the population in 1886 is given as 36,707,418. The revenue per head will
be 488. 9d. The gross revenue of British India in 1885 is (in £1= ten
rupees) £70,690,000, and population in 1881, 198,790,000—say
roundly, in 1885, 200,000,000. The revenue of the United Kingdom
does not include railway or irrigation earnings : I deduct, therefore,
563
these from the British Indian revenue. Deducting from £70,690,000,
railway. earnings £11,898,000, and irrigation and navigation earnings
£1,676,000, the balance of gross revenue is £57,116,000, which, taken
for 200,000,000, gives 5s. 8£d.-say 58. 8d.-per head. Now the
United Kingdom pays 48s. 9d. per head from an income of £35.2 per
head, which makes the incidence or pressure of 6.92 per cent. of the
income, British India pays 5s. 8d. out of an income of 40s., which
makes the incidence or pressure of 14:3 per cent. of the income.
Thus, while the United Kingdom pays for its gross revenue only
6.92 per cent. out of its rich income of £35-2 per head, British India
pays out of its scantiness and starvation à gross revenue of 14:3 per
cent. of its income ; so that, wretchedly weak and poor as British India
is, the pressure upon it is more than doubly heavier than that on the
enormously wealthy United Kingdom ; and yet Sir Grant Duff says that
no country on the face of the earth is governed so cheaply as British India,
and misleads the British public about its true and deplorable condition.
But what is worse, and what is British India's chief difficulty, is this :
In England, all that is paid by the people for revenue returns back to
them, is enjoyed by them, and fructifies in their own pockets; while in
India, what the people pay as revenue does not all return to them, or is
enjoyed by them, or fructifies in their pockets. A large portion is
enjoyed by others, and carried away clean out of the country. This is
what makes British India's economic position unnatural.
I give below the incidence of a few more countries :—Percentage of
expenditure to income: Germany, 10:7; France, 13.23 ; Belgium,
9.5; Holland, 9.61; Russia, 10.1 ; Denmark, 5:17; United States, 3:9;
Canada, 5'0; Australia, 16•2. But in all these cases, whatever is spent
returns back to the people, whether the percentage is large or small.
The Budget Estimate of 1887-88 is nearly £77,500,000, so the ..
percentage of incidence will increase still higher. Sir Grant Duffs
object in this assertion is to justify the character and prove the success
of the present British Indian policy. It will be hereafter seen that this
very argument of his is one of the best proofs of the failure of this
policy and of the administration based upon it. Sir Grant Duff says:
"Mr. Smith proceeds to admit that India has absorbed some £350,000,000
sterling of silver and gold in the last forty years, but makes the very
odd remark that, although English writers consider this a great proof
of wealth, it is not so regarded in India.” To this, what is Sir Grant
Duff's reply? Of the same kind as usual; mere careless assertions,
564
and a fling at and misrepresentation about the educated classes.
He says :-
"It may suit A or B not to regard two and two as making four, but
arithmetic is true, nevertheless; and there is the bullion, though doubt-
less one of the greatest boons that could be conferred upon India would
be to get the vast dormant hoards of gold and silver which are buried
in the ground or worn on the person brought into circulation. Can
that, however, be hoped for as long as the very people whom Mr. Smith
treats as exponents of native opinion do their utmost to excite hostility
against the British Government ???
To avoid confusion I pass over for the present without notice the
last assertion. It will be seen further on what different testimony even
the highest Indian authorities give upon this subject. With regard to
the other remarks, it is clear that Sir Grant Duff has not taken the
pains to know what the natives say, and what the actual state of the
matter is, with regard to these economic conditions. The best thing I can
do to avoid useless controversy is to give in my second article a series of
facts and official figures, instead of making bare assertions of opinion
without any proofs, as Sir Grant Duff does. These economic questions
are of far greater and more serious importance, both to England and
India, than Sir Grant Duff and others of his views dream of. These
facts and figures will show that British India has not received such
amounts of gold and silver as is generally supposed, or as are more than
barely adequate to its ordinary wants. The phenomenon of the import
of bullion into British India is very much misapprehended, as will be
shown in my second article; and Sir Grant Duff's assertions are mislead-
ing, as such meagre, vague, and offhand assertions always are. By the
present policy British India is prevented from acquiring any capital of
şts own, owing to the constant drain from its wretched income, and is
on the verge of being ground down to dust. Such foreign capital as
circulates in British India carries away its own profits out of British
India, leaving the masses of its pecple as poor as ever and largely going
through life on insufficient foode
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
1
-
I shall now consider the important questions of trade, bullion, popu
lation, drain, &c., to which Sir Grant Duff has referred, As promised
in my first article, I shall at once proceed to give official facts and
figures, which will enable the public to judge for themselves.
565
I begin with the question of the trade of British India. What is the
true trade of British India ? The trade returns of British India, as
published in Blue-books, both in England and India, are misleading to
those who do not study them with certain necessary information to guide
them. What are given as trade returns of British India are not such
really, as I explain below. The exports of the produce of a country
form the basis of its trade. It is in return for such exports, together
with ordinary commereial profits, that the country receives its imports.
I shall first analyze the so-called exports of British India. A large
portion of them, together with their profits, never return to British
India in any shape, either of merchandise or treasure ; though in every
true trade all exports with their profits ought so to return. The pre-i
sent exports of British India consist of
1. The exports of produce belonging to the Native States.
2. The exports of produce belonging to the territories beyond the
davey
3. The exports of the produce belonging to European or other foreign
planters or manufacturers, the profits of which are enjoyed in and
carried away out of the country by these foreigners, and do not belong
to nor becomc a portion of the capital of the people of British India.
The only interest the people have in these exports is, that they are the
labourers, by whose labour, at poor wages, the resources of their own
country are to be brought out for the profit of the foreigners, such profit
not to remain in the country.
4. Remittances for “ home charges," including interest on public
debt held in England, and loss in exchange, and excluding interest on
debt which is incurred for railways and other productive works.
5. Remittances for interest on foreign debt incurred for railways
and other productive public works. What in this case the leaders get as
interest is all right; there is nothing to complain of in that. In other
countries, beyond the interest to be paid to the lenders, the rest of the
whole benefit of such loans remains to the people of the country. This,
however, is not the case with British India.
6. Private remittances of Europeans and other foreigners to their
own countries for their families, and on account of their savings and
profits. This remittance, together with item four, and what the foreign-
ers enjoy in the country itself, is so niuch deprivation of the people
and causes the exhausting annual drain out of the very poor produce or,
income of British India. This is India's chief evil.
566
7. The remainder are the only true trade exports of the produce
belonging to the people of British India.
Let us now examine the actual figures of the so-called exports of Bri-
tish India, say for 1885. For easier understanding I give the figures in
sterling, taking the conventional £1 = Rs. 10. The amount of mer-
chandise exported is £83,200,528. This, however, consists of not only
domestic produce and manufactures of all India, but also foreign mer-
chandise re-exported. I do not include treasure in these exports, for
the simple reason that the gold or silver is not produced in India, but
is simply a re-exportation out of what is imported from foreign parts. I
take all my figures from the statistical abstracts published among
parliamentary returns, except when I mention any other source. I take,
then, exports of merchandise to be £83,200,528. We must first know
how much of this belongs to the native States. The official trade re-
turus give us no information on this important point, as they should. I
shall therefore make a rough estimate for the present. The population
of all India is nearly 254,000,000, out of which that of the Native States
is 55,000,000, or about 21.5 per cent.; or say, roundly, one-fifth. But
the proportion of their exports will, I think, be found to be larger than
one-fifth, All the opium exported from Bombay comes from the Native
States. A large portion of the cotton cxported from Bombay comes
from the Native States. According to Hunter's “ Imperial Indian
Gazetteer,” one-sixth of such cotton comes from Kathiawad alone. To
be on the safe side, I take the total of exports of the Native States to be
one-fifth only i.., £16,600,000. Next, the export of merchandise
from the frontier countries is about £5,300,000. I may roughly take
only one quarter of this as exported out of India. That will be
£1,300,000.
The exports of coffee, indigo, jute manufactures, silk, tea, &c., which
are mostly those belonging to foreign planters and manufacturers,
amount to about £11,500,000. I cannot say how much of this belongs
to native planters, and not to foreigners. I may take these exports as
£10,000,000.
Remittances made for " home charges” (excluding interest on railway
and productive works loans), and including interest on public debt and
loss in exchange, come to about £11,500,000.
Remittances for interest on foreign loans for railways and other pub-
lic works are about £4,827,000. I cannot say how much interest on
the capital of State railways and other productive works is paid in Eng-
567
land as part of the interest paid on "debt" (£2,612,000). If I take
debt as £162,000,000, and capital laid out on productive works
£74,000,000, the proportion of interest on £74,000,000 out of
£2,612,000 will be about £1,189,000. If so, then the total amount of
interest on all railways and public works will be about £6,000,000
leaving all other home charges, including exchange and interest on
public debt, as £11,500,000, as I have assumed above.
Private remittances of Europeans and other foreigners for their fami-
lies, and of savings and profits, and for importing merchandise suitable
for their consumption, may be roughly estimated at £10,000,000, though
. I think it is much more.
The account, then, of the true trade exports of British India stands
thus :-
£83,200,000
Total exports of all India and Frontier states
Native States ..
Frontier Territory ... ... ...
European planters
Home charges in
Interest on all railways and public works
loans ... ... ... ...
Private remittances
... ...
£16,600,000
1,300,000
10,000,000
11,500,000
6,000,000
10,000,000
55,400,000
The true trade exports of the people of British India ... £27,800,000
Or say, roundly, £30,000,000 for a population of nearly 200,000,000,
giving 3s. per head per annum. If proper information could be obtain-
ed, I believe this amount would turn out to be nearer £20,000,000 than
£30,000,000 for the true trade exports of the people of British India,
To be on the safe side, I keep to £30,000,000. It must be remembered
that this item includes all the re-exports of foreign merchandise, which
have to be deducted to get at the true exports of domestic produce.
Is this a satisfactory result of a century of management by British
administrators ? Let us compare this result with the trade exports of
other parts of the British Empire. As I have no information about the
foreign debt of those parts, for the interest of which they may bave to
export some of their produce, I make allowance for their whole public
debt as so much foreign debt. This of course is a too large allowance.
I take interest at 5 per cent., and deduct the amount from the exports.
I am therefore evidently under-estimating the exports of the other parts
of the British Empire. As the exports of British India include re-
568
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70
5
exports of foreign merchandise, I have taken the exports of all other
countries, in a similar way, for a fair camparison. No deduction for
any payment of interest on foreign debt is made for the United King-
dom, as it is more a lender than a borrower. I cannot give here the
whole calculation, but only the results, and they are these :-
True trade export
True trade exports
Countries per head (1885). Countries. per head (1885). .
S. d.
S. d.
The United Kingdom ... 149 4.1 Cape of Good Hope (exclusive
Australia (including bullion
of diamonds)
35 5
and specie which it pro-
North American Colonies ...
duces) ooo oo ... 271 0 West India Islands ... ... 75 4
Natal
... ... 28 8 ) British India, only ... ... 30
Let us next take some of the foreign countries, and see how wretched
British India's trade is when compared with even them. For a few of
the foreign countries I can get particulars of their public debt, but not
of that portion of it which is foreign debt. I have taken the amount of
the whole public debt, and allowed 5 per cent. interest on it, to be de-
ducted from the exports, as if it were all foreign debt. In this way I
have under-estimated the true trade exports. These countries I mark
with an asterisk ; those marked † include bullion. For these I cannot
get separate returns for merchandise only. In the case of the United
States the figure is really a great under-estimate, as I take its foreign debt
as equal in amount to its whole public debt, and also as I take interest at
5 per cent. I cannot get particulars of the foreign debts if they have
any, of other countries, and some allowance will have to be made for that.
But in all these cases the amount of exports is so large, as compared
with the paltry figure of British India, that the contrast remains most
striking :-
Exports per
Exports per
Countries.
heach,
Countries.
head.
d.
* Russian Empire ...
12.
Austro-Hungarian Empire
* Norway ... ono
† Roumania ...
Sweden ...
†Greece
* Denmark ...
Egypt .
German Empire....
* United States ...
55 6
Holland
348 1 † Mexico ...
* Belgium ...
375 2 Chili ...
* France
.68 7 † Argentine Republic
of Portugal .
Ť Uruguay ...
Spain
... .. 3
* Italy
British India ... ....
Even Japan, only so lately opened up, is exporting more than British
India.
After seeing how poor the true trade exports are of the people of
British India from the point of view of British India's interests, let us
2
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569
next examine the matter from the point of view of England's interests.
What benefit has England's trade derived, after possessing and adminis-
tering British India for more than a hundred years, under a most ex-
pensive administration, with complete despotic control over it, the people.
having no voice and no control of any kind. Has British India so im-
proved as to become an important customer for British goods ? There
was no protection, no heavy duties to hamper British imports, as in
other parts of the British empire itself, or in foreign countries, and yet
We find that British India is by far the most wretched customer for
British produce or manufactures. Here are the facts :-The total of
the exports of British and Irish produce from the United Kingdom to
India is for the year 1885, £29,300,000. As I have explained before
about exports from India, that they are not all from British India, so
also these exports from the United Kingdom to India are not all for
British India, though they enter India by British Indian ports. These
British exports have to be distributed among—(1) Native States ; (2)
frontier territories ; (3) consumption of Europeans ; (4) railway and Go-
vernment stores ; and (5) the remainder for the natives of British India.
Let Government give us correct information about these particulars,
and then we shall be able to know how insignificant is the commercial
benefit England derives from her dominion over British India. I shall
not be surprised if it is found that the real share of the people of British
India in the British exports is not half of the £29,300,000 imported
into India. It must be remembered that whatever is received by the
Native States and the frontier territories is in full return, with the ordi-
nary profits of 15 per cent., for their exports to the United Kingdom.
Their case is not like that of British India. They have no such ex-
hausting drain as that of British India, beyond paying the small tribute
of about £700,000. If I take £15,000,000 as British and Irish produce
received for the consumption of the native subjects of British India, I
think I am on the safe side. What is this amount for a population of
200,000,000 ? Only 1s. 6d. per head. Take it even at 2s. per head if
you like, or even £25,000,000, which will be only 2s.6d. per head.
What a wretched result for four-fifths of the whole British Empire ! The
population of British India is 200,000,000, and that of the rest of the
British Empire outside India, including the United Kingdom, about
52,000,000.
S
2
India with those to other parts of the British Empire and to other
foreign countries. I give the results only :-
570
OR
N5 0 ,
14
ha
BRITISH EMPIRE.
EXPORTS OF BRITISH AND IRISH PRODUCE PER HEAD FOR 1887.
To Countries.
To Countries.
British India, Is. 6d. or 2
Ceylon ...
North American Colonies. 30 8 Mauritius ...
West Indian Islands and
Cape of Good Hope and
Guiana ... ... ... 37 10 Natal e
... 45 8
British Honduras ... ... 66 7 West African Settlements.
Australasia ... ... 155
Possessions on the Gold
Straits Settlements ... 86 10 Coast ... ... ... 13 10
Some deductions may have to be made from these figures.
What a sad story is this! If British India took only £1 per head,
England would export to British India alone as much as she exports at
present to the whole world (£213,000,000). What an amount of work
would this give to British industries and produce ? Will the British
merchants and manufacturers open their eyes ? Will the British work-
ing men understand how enormous their loss is from the present policy,
which involves besides à charge of dishonourable violation of sacred
promises that clings to the British name? If India prospered and
consumed British produce largely, what a gain would it be to England
and to the whole world also ! Here, then, will be Sir Grant Duffys-
“ India's interest, England's interest, and the world's interest”-to his
heart's content, if he will with a true and earnest heart labour to achieve
this threefold interest in the right way.
Let us next take other foreign countries, with most or all of which
England, I think, has no free trade, and see how British India stands
the comparison even with them :-
les)
...
...
0 11
EXPORTS OF BRITISH AND IRISH PRODUCE PER HEAD.
To Countries.
S. d.
To Countries
s. do
British India ...
Russia (perhaps partly sup-
Germany ... ... ...
... 7 3 plied through intermedi-
France...
ate countries) ...
Sweden and Norway
Greece... ...
Denmark and Iceland
*Turkey in Europe ...
... 16 8
Holland (this may be sup-
*
Asia
plying some portion of
Egypt...
Central Europe) ... .... 44 3 United States
Belgium (do. do.) ... ... 28 3 *Central America
Portugal ... ...
Spain ..
w
"
... 39
Uruguay
Italy (perhaps partly sup-
Argentine Republic ... 31 8
plied by intermediate
Chili .... ...
countries) ..
Japan ... ...
Austrian territory (ditto) ... 0 8
Japan, so lately opened, has commenced taking 1s. 1d. worth per head.
... 3 10
... 10 2
... 8 9
1
... 12
4
4
9
...
* Whitaker's Almanac.
571
These figures tell their own eloquent tale. Is it too much to expect
that, with complete free-trade and British management, and all « de-
velopment of resources,” the prosperity of British India ought to be
such as to consume of British produce even £1 a head, and that it would
be so, if British India were allowed to grow freely under natural
: economic conditions?
In the first article I have referred to the capacity of British India
for taxation. Over and over again have British Indian financiers lamented
that British India cannot bear additional taxation without oppressive-
ness. Well, now, what is the extent of this taxation, which is already so
crushing that any addition to it would s grind British India to dust ?"
It is, as I have shown in the first article, after squeezing and squeezing
as much as possible, only 58. 8d. per head per annum, and according to
the present budget a little more—say 6s. Let us see what the capacity
for taxation of other parts of the British Empire and of other foreign
countries is, and even of those Native States of India where anything
like improved government on the British Indian system is introduced.
I give results only :-
BRITISH EMPIRE.
GROSS REVENUE PER HEAD PER ANNUM.
Countries.
S. d. 1 Countries.
British India ...
... 6 o Natal ...
United Kingdom
48 91 Cape of Good Hope ...
Ceylon ...
North American Colonies
Mauritius
40 51 West India Islands ...
Australia...
... 1398 | British Guiana ....
FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
GROSS REVENUE PER HEAD PER ANNUM.
Countries
. s. d. 1 Countries
Russia in Europe
... 24 5| Austro-Hungary...
Norway ..
Italy ...
Sweden ... ore
Greece
Denmark ... ...
Servia ... ...
German Empire...
Bulgaria .... ...
Prussia ... ..
Roumania
Saxony ...
Egypt (proper)
Grand Duchy of Oldenburgh
United States (different States
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
have their separate revenue
Bavaria ... ... ...
besides)
Wurtemburg ...
Mexico ... ..
Grand Duchy of Baden
Brazil ... ...
o , Hesse
Guatemala ...
Alsace-Lorraine ...
Niceragua
Holland ... ... ... ... 47
Salvador ...
Belgium ...
Orange Free State
France ...
Persia
...
one
Portugal ... ..
.... 31. 6
...
Republic of Peru
Spain ..
... 41 10 | All territory directly under
Switzerland
... ... 12 21 Turkey... ... ... ... 13 3
N.B. Some of the above figures are worked out of Whitaker's Almanac, 1886.
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It will be seen that British India's capacity for paying taxation is very
poor indeed, compared to that of any other country of any consequence.
Of the above figures I cannot say which may be oppressive to the people
I give this as a fact, that these people pay so much for being governed.
But it must be further borne in mind that every farthing of what these
people pay returns back to them, which is not the case with British
India. Can it be said of any of these countries that one-fifth or one-
third of its people goes through life on insufficient food from sheer
poverty of only 40s. income, and not from imperfect distribution ?
I shall next take the case of some of the Native States of India. I
have taken some where during the minorities of the princes English
officials have administered the State, and put them into order and good
government. The capacity for taxation which I give below is not the
result of any oppressive taxation, but of the natural developments by
improved government, and of the increasing prosperity of the people.
I give instances in the Bombay Presidency that I know, and of which
I have been able to get some particulars.
GROSS REVENUE PER HEAD.
£1 = Rs. 10.
S. d.
Baroda ... ros
12 3 L Gondal ...
18 0
Cutch
7 11
Morbi
17 2
Bhavnagar ...
Wadhwan
... 18 10
These States have no debts. Baroda, Bhavnagar and Gondal have
built and are extending their own railways, and all have built and are
building their own public works from revenue, and have good balances.
Baroda has a balance in hand of £2,100,000, equal to eighteen months'
revenue ; Cutch has £140,000, equal to eight months' revenue ; Bhav-
nagar has £560,000, equal to two years' revenue ; and Gondal has
£150,000, equal to fifteen months' revenue. I give only one or two short
extracts from official statements. Sir W. Hunter, in his “Imperial
Gazetteer," says about Bhavnagarin connection with Kathiawad : “Bhav-
nagar has taken the lead in the material development of her resources,
and is the first State in India which constructed a railway at her own
expense and risk.” I may say that Gondal did the same in conjunction
with Bhavnagar, and Baroda had done that long before. In handing
over the rule of Gondal to the prince on the completion of his minority,
Major Nutt, the British Administrator, and in charge of the State at the
time, says with just pride and pleasure, in reference to the increase of
revenue from £80,000 in 1870 to £120,000 in 1884 : “ One point of
s.
11.
.6
573
special interest in this matter is, that the increase in revenue has not
occasioned any hardship to Gondal's subjects. On the contrary, never
were the people generally-high and low, rich and poor in a greater
state of social prosperity than they are now." The Bombay Govern-
ment has considered this “highly satisfactory."
At the installation of the present Chief of Bhavnagar, Mr. Peile, the
Political Agent, describes the State as being then “with flourishing
finances and much good work in progress. Of financial matters I need
say little ; you have no debts, and your treasury is full.” When will
British Indian financiers be able to speak with the same pride, pleasure,
and satisfaction ? “No debt, full treasury, good work in progress,
increase of revenue, with increase of social prosperity, for high and low,
rich and poor.” Will this ever be in British India under the present
policy? No.
There are some other States in Kathiawad in which higher taxation
per head than that of British India is paid by the people, though I
do not know that it is said that there is oppressive taxation there. I
may instance Junagadh as 118. per head, with £500,000 balance in
hand, equal to fifteen months' revenue ; and Nawanagar as 16s. 30.
per head, and gradually paying off some debt. I have no doubt that
Native States will go on rapidly increasing in prosperity as their system
of government goes on improving. I know from my own personal
knowledge as Prime Minister of Baroda for one year that that State
has a very promising future indeed. There are several other Native
States in India in which the gross revenue per head is higher than that
of British India. All the remaining first and second class Kathiawar
States are from 8s. to 13s. per head; Gwalior, 75. 8d.; Indore, 13s. 5d.;
Bhurtpore, 8s. 8d.; Dholepur, 8s. 10d.; Tonk, 78.; Kotah, 11s. 4d.;
Jallawar, 8s. 10d. Only just now Sindia lends £3,500,000 to the
British Government ; Holkar, I think, has lent £1,000,000 for the
Indore railway. .
There cannot be much oppression in these States, as the Political
Agents' vigilance and superintendence, and the fear of the displeasure
of Government, are expected to prevent it.
Then Sir Grant Duff maintains that no country on the face of the
earth is governed so cheaply as British India. In the first place, this
is a fiction, as the heaviness of burden on poverty-stricken British India
is more than double than that on the enormously rich England ; and
secondly, Sir Grant Duff's object is to show that this cheapness is a
574
proof of the success of the present British Indian policy. But, on the
contrary, the facts and figures I have given above about British India's
wretched income and capacity for taxation, its insignificant trade and
the very paltry commercial benefit to England, are conclusive proofs of
anything but success in improving the prosperity of the people.
Moreover, for the so-called cheapness, it is no thanks or credit to
Government. It is not of choice that Government takes only 6s. per
head. On the contrary, it is always longing, ever moaning and using
every possible shift to squeeze out more taxation if it can. By all means
make British India capable of paying even 20s. per head (if not 50s.
make its income £20 per head, if not £41, like that of England; and
then fairly claim credit for having raised to some material extent the
prosperity of British India. Let us have such results, instead of tall talk
and self-complacent assertions. Had Government given us year after
year correct information about the actual income and condition of the
people of British India, Britain would then have known the deplorable
results of the neglect of and disobedience to her deliberate and sacred
mandates.
Again, Sir Grant Duff's boast of the cheapness of government is
wrong, even in the misleading sense in which he maintains it. He tries
to show that because British India pays only 6s. per head, it is therefore
the most cheaply governed country on the face of the earth—i.e., no
other country pays a less amount per head. But even in this he is not
quite accurate. He would have found out this had he only looked about
in India itself, and he would have saved himself the surprise which he
expresses at Mr. Smith being startled when he (Mr. Smith) was told
that taxation was lighter in Native States than in British India. As a
matter of fact, there are some Native States in which the revenue per
head is lighter than in British India. Whether that is a desirable state
of affairs or not is another question ; but when he twits Mr. Smith, he
should have ascertained, whether what Mr. Smith was told was at all
correct or not. There are some of the Native States where the gross
revenue is very nearly as low as or even less than 6s. per head :
Hyderabad, 6s. 4. ; Patiala, 6s. 4d. ; Travancore, 5s. 8d. ; Kolhapur, 58.
6d.; Mysore, 4s. 10d. ; Dungapore, 28.; Marwar, 4s. 10.; Serohi, 28. 3d.;
Jeypore, 4s. 3d. ; Banswara, 3s. 8d.; and Kishengarh, 4s. 10d. Travancore
is known as a well-governed country. £15,000 of its revenue is interest
on British Indian Government securities, and it holds a balance in
hand in Government securities and otherwise of £564,000-equal to
575
nearly eleven months' revenue. Jeypore has the reputation of being a
well-governed State. There are similarly even some foreign countries
outside India which are as “cheaply governed” as British India :
United States of Columbia, 5s. 10d. ; Republic of Bolivia, 5s. 11d.
Sir Grant Duff refers to the absorption of gold and silver and to
hoarding. What are the facts about British India ? In my “ Poverty
of India ” I have treated the subject at some length. The total amount
(after deducting the exports from imports) retained by India during
a period of eighty-four years (1801 to 1884), including the exceptionally
large imports during the American war, is £455,761,385. This is for
all India. The population at present is 254,000,000. I may take the
average of eighty-four years roughly-say 200,000,000. This gives
458. 6d. per head for the whole eighty-four years, or 6d. per head per
annum. Even if I took the average population as 180,000,000, the
amount per head for the eighty-four years would be 50s., or 7d. per
head per annum. Of the United Kingdom I cannot get returns before
1858. The total amount of treasure retained by the United Kingdom
(after deducting exports from imports) is, for twenty-seven years from
1858 to 1884, £86,194,937. Taking an average of 31,000,000 of
population for twenty-seven years, the amount retained for these twenty-
seven years is 55s. 7d. per head, or very nearly 2s. 1d. per head per
annum; while in India for more than three times the same period the
amount is only 45s.6d. per head, or 6d. per head per annum.
France has retained from 1861 to 1880 (Mulhall's Dictionary)
£208,000,000; and taking the population-say 37,000,000—that gives
112s. per head in twenty years, or 58. 7da per head per annun. ..
Sir Grant Duff ought to consider that the large amount of bullion is
to be distributed over a vast country and a vast population, nearly equal
to five-sixths of the population of the whole of Europe; and when the
whole population is considered, what a wretched amount is this of gold and
silver-viz., 6 d. per head per annum-received for all possible wants !
India does not produce any gold or silver. To compare it with Europe
-Europe retained in ten years, 1871-1880 (Mulhall, “Progress of the
World," 1880), £327,000,000 for an average population of about
300,000,000, or 21s. 10d. per head, or 2s, 2d. per head per annum. India
during the same ten years retained £65,774,252 for an average popula-
tion of say 245,000,000; so that the whole amount retained for the ten
years is about 5s, 4d., or only 6 d. per head per annum, against 21s. 10d.
S
576
and 2s. 2d. respectively of Europe. This means that India retained only
one-fourth of what Europe retained per head per annum during these
ten years. It must be further remembered that there is no such rast
system of cheques, clearing-houses, &c., in India, as plays so important
a part in England and other countries of Europe. Wretched as the
provision of 61d. per head per annum is for all wants--political, social,
commercial, &c.— there is something far worse behind for British India,
All the gold and silver that I have shown above as retained by India is
not for British India only, but for the Native States, the frontier terri-
tories, and the European population; and then the remainder is for the
native population of British India. We must have official information
about these four divisions before we can form a correct estimate of what
British India retains. The Native States, as I have said before, have
no foreign drain except the small amount of tribute of about £700,000.
Some frontier territories receive something instead of paying any tribute.
These States therefore receive back for the exports of their merchandise,
and for the ordinary trade profits on such exports, full returns in im-
ports of merchandise and treasure, and this treasure taken away by the
Native States and frontier territories forms not a small portion of what
is imported into India. It must also be considered how much metal
is necessary every year for waste of coin and metal, and for the wants
of circulating currency. When Government can give us all such inform-
ation, it will be found that precious little remains for British India
beyond what it is compelled to import for its absolute wants. I hope
England does not mean to say that Englishmen or Englishwomen may
sport as much as they like in ornaments or personal trinkets or jewel-
lery ; but that the wretch of a native of British India, their fellow-
subject, has no business or right to put a few shillings' worth of trinkets
on his wife or daughter's person ; or that natives must simply live the
lives of brutes, subsist on their “scanty subsistence;" and thank their
stars that they have that much.
I now try to give some indication of what bullion British India
actually retains. Mr. Harrison gave his evidence before the Parlia-
mentary Committee of 1871-74 that about £1,000,000 of fresh coinage
was more than sufficient to supply the waste of coin or metal. Is it too
much to assume that in the very widespread and minute distribution,
over a vast surface and a vast population, of small trinkets or ornaments
of silver, and their rough use, another million may be required to supply
waste and loss ? If only a pennyworth per head per annum be so
Wanted, it would make a million sterling. Next, how much goes to the
577
et
native States and the frontier territories ? Here are a few significant
official figures as an indication : The “ Report of the external land trade
and railway-borne trade of the Bombay Presidency for 1884-85” (p. 2),
says of Rajputana and Central India-" 13. The imports from the
external blocks being greater than the exports to them, the balance of
trade due by the Presidency to the other provinces amounts to
Rs. 12,01,05,912, as appears from the above table and the following." I
take the Native States from the table referred to.
EXCESS OF IMPORTS IN BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.
From Rajputana and Central India
... ... .Rs. 5,55,46,753
, Berar ... ... ... ... ... ... ... „ 1,48,91,355
» Hyderabad ... ... ... ... ... ... » 8,67,688
Total .. .. 'Rs. 7,13,05,796
Or £7,130,579. This means that these native States have exported so
much more merchandise than they have imported. Thereupon the
Report remarks thus :-" The greatest balance is in favour of Rajputana
and Central India, caused by the import of opium from that block.
Next to it is that of the Central Provinces. It is presumed that these
balances are paid back mainly in cash" (the italics are mine). This,
then, is the way the treasure goes; and poor British India gets all the
abuse, insult added to injury. Its candle burns not only at both ends,
but at all parts. The excessive foreign agency eats up in India, and
drains away out of India, a portion of its wretched income, thereby
weakening and exhausting it every year drop by drop, though not very
perceptibly, and lessening its productive power or capability. It has
poor capital, and cannot increase it much. Foreign capital does nearly
all the work, and carries away all the profit. Foreign capitalists from
Europe and from Native States make profits from the resources of
British India, and take away these profits to their own countries. The
share that the mass of the natives of British India have is to drudge
and slave on scanty subsistence for these foreign capitalists; not as
slaves in America did, on the resources of the country and land belong-
ing to the masters themselves, but on the resources of their own
country, for the benefit of the foreign capitalists. I may illustrate this
a little. Bombay is considered a wealthy place, and has a large capital
circulating in it, to carry on all its wants as a great port. Whose capital
is this? Mostly that of foreigners. The capital of the European ex-
change banks and European merchants is mostly foreign, and most of
the native capital is also foreign-.e., that of the native bankers and
merchants from the Native States. Nearly £6,000,000 of the capital
37
578
working in Bombay belongs to native bankers from the Native States.
Besides, a large portion of the wealthy merchants, though more or less
settled in Bombay, are from Native States. Of course I do not mean
to say anything against these capitalists from Europe or Native States.
They are quite free and welcome to come and do what they can. They
do some good. But what I mean is, that British India cannot and does
not make any capital, and must and does lose the profit of its resources
to others. If British India were left to its own free development, it
would be quite able to supply all its own wants,! would not remain
handicapped, and would have a free field in competition with the foreign
capitalists, with benefit to all concerned. The official admission of the
amount of the drain goes as far as £20,000,000 per annum ; but really
it will be found to be much larger (excluding interest on railway and
public works loans) :-add to this drain out of the country what is
eaten and enjoyed in the country itself by others than the natives of the
country, to the deprivation by so much of these natives, and some idea
can be formed of the actual and continuous depletion. Now, take
only £20,000,000 per annum to be the extent of the drain, or even
£10,000,000 per annum; this amount, for the last thirty years only,
would have sufficed to build all the present and great many more of
railways and other public works. There is another way in which I may
illustrate the burning of the candle at all parts. First of all, British
India's own wealth is carried away out of it, and then that wealth is
brought back to it in the shape of loans, and for these loans
British India must find so much more for interest; the whole
thing moving in a most vicious and provoking circle. Will nothing
but a catastrophe cure this? Even of the railway, &c., loans the
people do not derive the full benefit. I cannot go into details
about this here. I refer to my correspondence with the Secretary
of State for India, published in the Journal of the East India Associa-
tion under the title of - The Condition of India.” Nor can I go
here into the calculations about the drain. I can only refer to 'my
papers on "The Poverty of India” and “Condition of India.” Let Sir
Grant Duff kindly show me where I am wrong in those papers, and I
shall be thankful ; or he will see that no country in the world, not even
England excepted, can stand such a drain without destruction. Even
in those days when the drain was understood to be only £3,000,000
per annum, Mr. Montgomery Martin wrote in these significant and
distressing words :*
I
* “Eastern India, 1838," rol, i.. p, xii.
379.
“ The annual drain of £3,000,000 on British India has amounted
in thirty years, at 12 per cent. (the usual Indian rate) compound
interest, to the enormous sum of £723,900,000 sterling..., So
constant and accumulating a drain, even in England, would soon
impoverish her. How severe, then, must be its effects on India, where
the wage of a labourer is from two-pence to three-pence a day! Were
the hundred millions of British subjects in India converted into a
consuming population, what a market would be presented for British
capital, skill, and industry !”
What, then, must be the condition now, when the drain is getting
perhaps ten times larger, and a large amount besides is eaten in the
country itself by others than the people. Even an ocean would be
dried up if a portion of its evaporation did not always return to it as
rain or river. If interest were added to the drain, what an enormous
loss would it be !
In the darkness of the past we see now a ray of light and hope,
when the highest Indian authority begins to perceive not only the
material disaster, but even the serious “political danger" from the
present state of affairs. I only hope and pray that Britain will see
matters mended before disaster comes. Instead of shutting his eyes,
like an ostrich, as some persons do, the Secretary of State for India
only last year, in his despatch of 26th January 1886 to the Treasury,
makes this remarkable admission about the consequences of the present
is character of the Government,” of the foreign rule of Britain over
India :-
"The position of India in relation to taxation and the sources of
the public revenues is very peculiar, not merely from the habits of the
people and their strong aversion to change, which is more specially
exhibited to new forms of taxation, but likewise from the character of
the Government, which is in the hands of foreigners, who hold all the
principal administrative offices, and form so large a part of the army.
The impatience of new taxation, which would have to be borne,
wholly as a consequence of the foreign rule imposed on the country,
and virtually to meet additions to charges arising outside of the country,
would constitute a political danger, the real magnitude of which, it is
to be feared, is not at all appreciated by persons who have no knowledge
of or concern in the Government of India, but which those responsible
for that government have long regarded as of the most serious order,"
(The italics are mine.)
580
This gives some hope. If, after the faithful adoption of the policy
of 1833 and 1858, our material condition do not improve, and all the
fears expressed in the above extract do not vanish, the fault will not be
Britain's, and she will at least be relieved from the charge of dishonour
to her word. But I have not the shadow of a doubt, as the statesmen
of 1833 and the proclamation of 1858 had no doubt, that the result will
be a blessing both to England and India.
A second ray of hope is this. Many Englishmen in England are taking
active interest in the matter. Mr. Bright, Mr. Fawcett, Sir C. Trevelyan,
and others have done good in the past. Others are earnestly working
now-Mr. Slagg, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Digby, Mr. S. Sunith, Mr. Hyndman,
and several others. A further ray of hope is in an increasing number of
members of Parliament interesting themselves in Indian matters, such as
Dr. Hunter, Mr. S. Smith, Dr. Clark, Mr. Cremer, Sir J. Phear, Sir W.
Plowden, and many others; and we cannot but feel thankful to all who
have taken and are taking interest in our lot. All unfortunately, how-
ever, labour under the disadvantage of want of full information from
Government, and the difficulty of realizing the feelings and views of the
natives. But still they have done much good. I must also admit here
that some Anglo-Indians begin to realize the position. We owe much to
men like Sir W. Wedderburn, Sir G. Birdwood, Major Bell, Mr. Ilbert,
Mr. Cotton, and others of that stamp, for their active sympathy with us.
Mr. Bright hit the blot as far back as 1853 in his speech of the 3rd
January :“I must say that it is my belief that if a country be found
possessing a most fertile soil and capable of bearing every variety of pro-
duction, and that notwithstanding the people are in a state of extreme
destitution and suffering, the chances are that there is some fundamental
error in the government of the country.” It is not necessary to go far
to seek for this fundamental error. It is the perversion of the policy of
1833 which in the more widened and complete form of 1858 is virtually
still a dead letter.
Much is said about poor natives wasting money in marriages, &c. I
hope it is not meant that these poor wretches have no right to any social
privileges or enjoyments, and that their business is only to live and die
like brutes. But the fact of the matter is, that this is one of those falla-
cies that die hard. Let us see what truth the Deccan Riots Commission
brings to light. The Report of that Commission says (page 19, par.
54): “the results of the Commission's inquiries show that undue pro-
minence has been given to the expenditure on marriage and other festi-
vals as a cause of the ryots' indebtedness. The expenditure on such
581
occasions may undoubtedly be called extravagant when compared with
the ryots' means ; but the occasions occur seldom, and probably in a
course of years the total sum spent this way by any ryot is not larger
than a man in his position is justified in spending on social and domestic
pleasures." (The italics are mine.) And what is the amount the poor
ryot spends on the marriage of his son ! Rs. 50 to 75 (£5 to £7 10s.
say the Commissioners.
Sir Grant Duff says : "We have stopped war, we are stopping famine.
How are the ever-increasing multitudes to be fed ?" Is not Sir Grant
Duff a little hasty in saying “We are stopping famine." What you are
doing is, to starve the living to save the dying. Make the people them-
selves able to meet famine without misery and deaths, and then claim
credit that you are stopping famine. However, the true answer to the
question, “ How are the ever-increasing multitudes to be fed ?" is a very
simple one, if gentlemen like Sir Grant Duff will ever have the patience
to study the subject. The statesmen of 1833 and of 1858 have in the
clearest and most emphatic way answered this question. They knew
and said clearly upon what the welfare and well-being of the hundreds of
millions depended. They laid down unequivocally what would make
British India not only able to feed the increasing multitudes, but pros-
perous and the best customer of England ; and Mr. Grant Duff's follow-
ing kind question of 1871 will be fully answered : “But what are we to.
say about the state of India ? How many generations must pass away
before that country has arrived at even the comparative wealth of this
(England)?” This benevolent desire of Mr. Grant Duff would be
accomplished in no long time. This question of population of "the
ever increasing multitudes” requires further examination. Macaulay, in
his review of Southey's “ Colloquies on Society," says :
“ When this island was thinly peopled, it was barbarous ; there was
little capital, and that little was insecure. It is now the richest and the
most highly civilized spot in the world, but the population is dense ...
But when we compare our own condition with that of our ancestors, we
think it clear that the advantages arising from the progress of civiliza-
tion have far more than counterbalanced the disadvantages arising from
the progress of population. While our numbers have increased tenfold,
our wealth has increased hundredfold ... If we were to prophesy that
in the year 1930 a population of fifty millions, better fed, clad, and lodg-
ed than the English of our time, will cover these islands, . . . many
people would think us insane. We prophesy nothing; but this we say
if any person had told the Parliament which met in perplexity and terror
582
after the crash in 1720, that in 1830 the wealth of England would sur-
pass all their wildest dreams,: , . that for one man of ten thousand
pounds then living there would be five men of fifty thousand pounds,
$.. our ancestors would have given as much credit to the prediction as
they gave to 'Gulliver's Travels.'"
I claim no prophecy, but the statesmen of 1833 have prophesied, and
the Proclamation of 1858 has prophesied. Do what they have said, and
their prophecies shall be fulfilled.
Now let us see a few more facts. Because a country increases in
population it does not necessarily follow that it must become poorer ;
nor because a country is densely populated, that therefore it must be
poor. Says Macaulay : “ England is a hundredfold more wealthy
while it is tenfold denser." The following figures speak for themselves :
.
Countries.
Inhabitants per sq. mile
about 1880.
Income per inhabitant
(Mulhall's Dictionary
of Statistics, 1886).
... 497
478 (1886)
315
£22:1
41 (1882)
26
12
257
229
...
217
18.7
191
16.3
184
184
Belgium...
...
England...
Holland ...
Italy
British India
Germany...
Austria ...
France ...
Switzerland
Ireland
Denmark
Scotland
Portugal...
Turkey ...
Spain ..
Greece ...
Russia in Europe
Sweden ...
Norway ... ...
153 (1886)
132
128 (1886)
2507
16
16 (1882)
23.2
32 (1882)
13.6
4 (Sir E. Baring)
13.8
11.8
9.9
...
126
120 (Mulhall)
...
41
16.2
...
15 )
The densest province of British India is Bengal (443). Thus here
are countries denser and thinner than British India, but every one of
them has a far better income than British India. Belgium, denser than
the densest presidency of British India, is eleven times more wealthy;
England, as dense, is twenty times more wealthy. Here are some very
thinly populated countries : Mexico, 13 per square mile; Venezuela,
4.7 ; Chili, 8.8; Peru, 18:6; Argentine Republic, 2:6; Uruguay, 7-8;
583
and several others. Are they therefore so much richer than England or
Belgium ? Here is Ireland, at your door. About its people the Duke
of Argyll only a few weeks ago (22nd April last), in the House of
Lords, said : “Do not tell me that the Irish labourer is incapable of
labour, or energy, or exertion. Place him in favourable circumstances
and there is no better workman than the Irishman. I have mysel,
employed large gangs of Irishmen, and I never saw any navvies work
better ; and besides that, they were kind and courteous men.” The
population of Ireland is less than one-third as dense as that of England ;
and yet how is it that the income of England is £41 and that of Ireland
poor?
British India's resources are officially admitted to be enormous, and
with an industrious and law-abiding people, as Sir George Birdwood
testifies, it will be quite able to produce a large income, become as rich
as any other country, and easily provide for an increasing population and
increasing taxation, if left free scope.
Lastly, a word about the educated classes, upon whose devoted heads
Sir Grant Duff has poured down all his vials of wrath. Here are some
fine amenities of an English gentleman of high position : “Professional
malcontents ; busy, pushing talkers; ingeniously wrong ; the pert
scribblers of the native press; the intriguers ; pushing pettifoggers,
chatterboxes ; disaffected cliques ; the crassa ignorantia ; little coteries
of intriguers; silly and dishonest talk of Indian grumblers ; politicizing
sophists threaten to be a perfect curse to India,” &c.
I leave these flowers of rhetoric alone. Not satisfied even with this
much, he has forgotten himself altogether, and groundlessly charged the
educated classes "Who do their utmost to exite hostility against the
British Government,” « who do their utmost to exite factitious disloyalty.”
I repel this charge with only two short extracts. I need not waste many
words.
The following, from the highest authority, is ample, clear, and conclu-
sive. The Government of India, in their despatch of 8th June, 1880, to
the Secretary of State for India, bear this emphatic testimony: “To the
minds of at least the educated among the people of India—and the
number is rapidly increasing any idea of the subversion of British power
is abhorrent, from the consciousness that it must result in the wildest
anarchy and confusion." Secondly, on the auspicious day of the Jubilee
demonstration the Viceroy of India, in his Jubilee speech, says:
584
“Wide and broad indeed are the new fields in which the Government
of India is called upon to labour-but no longer, as of aforetime
need it labour alone. Within the period we are reviewing education has
done its work, and we are surrounded on all sides by native gentlemen
of great attainments and intelligence, from whose hearty, loyal, and
honest co-operation we may hope to derive the greatest benefit. In fact, to
an Administration so peculiarily situated as ours their advice, assistance,
and solidarity are essential to the successful exercise of its functions.
Nor do I regard with any other feelings than those of approval and good-
will, their natural ambition to be more extensively associated with their
English rulers in the administration of their own domestic affairs."
Look upon this picture and upon that!
Two Indian national Congresses have been held during the past two
years-the second great one, at Calcutta, having 430 delegates present
from all parts of India, and of all classes of the people; and what is it that
both these Congresses have asked ? It is virtually and simply the “ con-
scientious fulfilment of the pledges of 1833 and 1858. They are the pivot
upon which all Indian problems turn. If India is to be retained to
Britain, it will be by men who insist upon being just, and upon the
righteous fulfilment of the proclamation of 1858. Any one can judge of
this from the kind of ovations given to Lord Ripon and Sir
W. Wedderburn on their retirement.
Here, again, our gracious Empress in the year of her auspicious Jubilee
once more proclaims to the world and assures us, in her response to the
Bombay Jubilee Address, 1st June, “ It had always been, and will always
be; her earnest desire to maintain unswervingly the principles laid down
in the proclamation published on her assumption of the direct control of
the government of India." We ask no more.
DADABHAI NAOROJI.
" Caxton Printing Works," Bombay.
INDEX
Page
...
... 536
.. 220
...
245
...
30
Page
Abul Fazil, Akbar's Minister ... 9 Charter Act (1833)... 376, 377, 530
Abyssinian War, Expenses of 51-59
Chinese War... .
Adoption in India is ...
Chivalry, Hindu Spirit of ... ... 16
Agricultural labourer, Indian, con. Civil Service, limit of age for, 325–
dition of ... ... ... ... 558 328 ; examinations for ... ... 368
Aitchison, Sir Charles
Civilization, Asiatic and European 22
Anglicism of natives
Classes, Indian Educated ... 12, 13
Annexations, Indian...
Clark, Sir George, on Hindu mo-
Arabian Nights, the
rality ...
... ... 9
Ardai Viraf, Persian high priest ... 7 Coffee, average price of ...
Argyll, Duke of ...
Coinage of India ... ... ... 242
Aristocracy, native... ... 39, 203, 537 | Colebrooke ...
Army, Native . ... ...
Commerce, Indian ...
39
Arrian, on the Hindus ... ... 9
Contemporary Review, papers
Aryan race ...
in ...
... 548–584
Asiatics, alleged mental inferiority Condition of India, Correspondence
of ... ... ... .. .
about
... 414-490
Aspirations, native ...
Cooper's Hill Engineering College,
Assessment, rates of Indian 146–148 the ...
... 259
Association, East Indian, 41 ; Bri Cotton, prices of ... .
s ... 233
tish Indian ... ... ... 45 Council Bills, Indian ... ...
Australia, imports and exports of... 100 Cornwallis, Lord (1790) ...
Ayrton, Mr ... ... ... ... 299 Cranbourne, Lord ... ... ... 59
Creditor Account of India, -in the
cause of Humanity, of Civiliza.
tion, of Peace and Order, materi-
ally and generally ..... 131, 132
Baring, Sir Evelyn ... ... 558, 559 Criticisms on Poverty of India, and
Baroda Administration (1874) 382–413 reply to ... ... ... 276-290
Bazalutjung, treaty with (1779) ... 52
Beutham on falsehood ... ... II
Bi-metallism, letter to the Times on,
(1886)
Dr . .
Birdwood, Dr.
517-521
...
... ... 468 Danvers, memorandum on papers
Borrowing for India ... ... 125 of Mr. ... ... ... 441-464
Brahmanical... ... ... ... 5 Debtor Account of India, in the
Bright, Mr. John, 292, 293, 314, 315, 525 cause of humanity, of civiliza-
British Indian policy, native tion, Politically, Financially and
thoughts ou ... ... 465-480 Materially ... ... ... 132-134
British manufactures, import of, Diet, scale of, in India ... 158, 159
into India ,
... 117
Denison, Sir W. ...
British Policy towards India 550–554 Despotism, policy of land ... 34, 35
British Rule in India, 26; results Drains from India, two elements
of, 27 ; character of ... 549, 550 of, official opinions on, for Bengal,
Budget, Indian ...
... 104 Bombay, Madras, Punjab, N. W.
Bullion, import of, into India, Provinces, Central Provinces,
139, 140, 141, 241--245; in
196-202, 331, 374, 486
India
... ... 575, 576 | Duties, cotton ...
... ... 217
B
...
...
82
Campbell, Sir George . ... 204
Canada, imports and exports of... 100
Canning, Lord ... ... ... 63
Capital in India ... ... ... 138
Castes, the Hindu institution of ... 92
Charges in India, 46 ; in England 46
Character, native, 8; of Indian
candidates...
East India Association ; letter to
members of Parliament, from
... .. 48
Council of ... .. ... 532-536
Education in India, 37, 43, 119, 120,
131, 138
Educated Classes, Indian ... 466, 467
Educated Natives
Election manifesto for Holborn,
302, 303
INDEX
19
.
.
"...
566, 567
Page
Page
Employes, European Government. 50 Hay, Lord William... ... 60, 70
Englishmen in India
Herodotus on the Persians ... 8, 23
Engineering service, India, non. Hindus, Gujerati speaking, 24, 25;
fulfilment of pledges in 259–269 chivalry amongst, 16; habits of
Essays of the Hon'ble Dadabhoy
study, 2; morals of, 8 ; polyga-
Naoroji ... ... ... 1291 my amongst on
Examinations, competitive, 38;
Hindu Patriot, the ... ... ... 38
simultaneous in India, 76, 77, 324, Holborn, election speeches in, 302-315
350, 375; 503, 538, 547 Home charges, the Indian... 29, 97
Exchanges, letters on Indian 505–517
Home Rule for Ireland ... 305, 314
Excise Revenue of India ... ... 103
Hunter, Sir W. W. ... ... ... 106
Expenditure, Indian
Exports to India, 48, 49, II
of British India...
Exports and imports of India ... 191
Income, estimated average, of India,
156, 157, 538
Ilbert Bill, the ... ... ... 294, 299
Imports, Indian ...48, 49, 114, 116
Famine, the Orissa ...
... 4. India, commerce of, 112-136;
Famine Commission, Indian (1880), debtor and creditor account of,
Memorandum on statements in
131-136; England's duties to,
report of ... ... ... 480-490 26–50; English capital in, 488;
Fawcett, Mr. ..
... ... 59 income of, 481 ; impoverishment
Fawcett Memorial Fund Meeting, of, 138, notes ; moral drain of, 119;
Bombay, Speech at, 1885 ... 357–360 old invaders of, 472, 473, 485;
Fellowships for Natives .. ... 89 our responsibilities in, 373-375;
Ferguson, Sir James ... 299, 300
political condition of, 26, 369-
Firdusi
372; produce of, 102 ; wants
Fiction, Sanscrit literature on ...
and means of ... ... ...97-III
Financial administration of India, Indian Civil Service, 378–381; ad-
the elements of, materials, design
dress on, 345–354; admission of
and execution, details of 137-159 educated natives into, 75-96;
Foreign invaders, Indian ... ... 30 competition in England for, 536,
Foreign rule in India
in India for, 537–540 ; memoran-
Free Trade for India ...
dum on admission of educated
Frere, ISir Bartle .. ...
natives into: (1868), 490-500 ; ob-
Public Works, scheme of ...
jections to admission of natives
into, 75, 79; revised memoran-
dum on (1884) ... ... 500m-505
Indian Candidates, character of ... 78
(1) Indian Exchanges, letters to
General Election, 1886, India s in the Times on, 505-509; to the
.... 292, 302 Daily News ... ... ...509-517
Indian Government Act (1858) ... 54
Gladstone, Mr. ... ... 304; 312
Indian Legislative Council ... 371
Goldstücker, Dr. T. .. ..
India Office Committee, report on
Government representative, 42; Civil Service examination (1860),
cost of Indian... ... 573–579 503 ; report ... ... ... 530, 531
Grants, perpetual ... ... ... 61
India Office Council, the ... 143, 323
Grant, Sir A.
... ... 83 India and the Opium question 363_-366
Grant Duff, Mr., 102, 103, 207, 214, Indian National Congress, the first,
259 ; Reply to Papers of... 548-584
Granville, Earl ...
.... ... 526 second (1886), inaugural address
Gujerati Hindus, mercantile turn of. 87 at ...
... 331–348
Indian matters, indifference of Bri-
tish public towards ... ... 40
Indian purse, guardian of ... 54
Indian public deht, English gua-
Hartington, Marquis of ... 294, 295 ) rantee for ...
is.
-
"
...
98
1
108
INTEX
jij
SAI-
-
N
Page
Page:
India Reform Society, the ... 128 Medical Service, Indian, non-ful-
Indian Services, the, memorandum
filment of pledges in ... 269, 270
on (1880) .. . 521-536 Medicine, Hindu ... ...
Indigo, average price of (1833-70) 221 Merchants, native ... .
Integrity, Indian commercial... 9 Military career for natives...
Irrigation, 126, 132 ; want of, in Military charges of India ... IOI
India ... ... .. ... 123 Mill, John Stuart ... ... 104, 211
Mohl, Dr. Julius, 4 foot note ...
Moral courage, native ... ... 21
Moral drain of India, 119, 132, 133, 212
Moral poverty of India ... 465–480
Jones, Sir William ... ... 3
Moral remedies of India, 15; poverty
122, 123
Morality, European and Indian,
6 footnote ... ...
Mormonism ...
* "
... ...
16
16
Labourer, condition of Indian ... 204 Munro, Sir Thomas, 61; on the
Laing, Mr., 107 notes o s. .. 195 ]
moral drain of India
61118, Ml, 107 notes
... 212, 213
Land Revenue of India ... 148-150 Mysore, 44, 60-74; treaty with
Land tax of India ... ... ... 102 (1799) ... ... ... ... 52
Language, the Persian, 3; the
Sanscrit
... ... 5, 6
Lawrence, Lord, 101, 119, 128, 155,
207, 539
Legislative Councils of India, Natives, alleged large employment
141-143, 320—324, 337, 370, of, 91; alleged unfitness of, 75,
371, 474, 505 79, 80; educated, 12; Euro-
Lethbridge, Sir Roper. ... ... 299 peans serving under, 84, 85; in-
Linseed, Average price of (1855–70) 223 tegrity and character of, 75, 80;
Literature, Arabic, 5; Asiatic,
how far unfit as heads of depart-
2, 3; Oriental, 4, note 2 ; Per-
ments, 88; kind treatment of, 43;
sian, 34 notes ...
... 2
moral condition of, 26; physical
Local Funds of India ... 143, 144 energy of, 83, 84; in possession
Loans for India ... ... 126--127 of power ... ... ... ... 89
on Indian Society . .. 469 Native officials, alleged want of
respect towards ... ... 85, 86
Native papers, views from... 31-34
Nation, assimilation of the Indian . 37
Nationality, Indian ...
Mackintosh, Sir James ... ...
Maclean, Mr. ... 195, 271, 283, Native rule compared with British
Madras Presidency, prices in ...
rule...
... ... 201
Malcolm, Sir John, 3, 14; on the Native states of India, 314, 572,
moral drain of India is ...
573, 576
Manu on truth and falsehood, 10; National Telegraphic Union, Indian 313.
on truth, 11 and notes ... ... I Nash, Lieutenant (1838) ... ... 203
Marriage, native early ...
Nightingale, Miss Florence, letter
Marriot, Mr Daniel (1836), 201, 2021 from (1886) ... ... ... 309
Masses, the Indian ... ... ... 28 Nizam, treaty with (1752), 52;
Massey, Mr. ...
treaties with (1798-1800) 66-69
Materials for financial administra. " Norton, Mr. John Bruce ... ... 204
tion of India
... 137-141 Northbrook Club, speech at dinner
Material causes of India's
""
?
Lo
ondon Indian Societo
M
"*
"*
37
| National debt Indian
2
... 107
by ... ... ... ... 372, 373
poverty
...
rd, 55-59, 249,
Material remedies of India's 319, 471, 472, note ... 1, 490
poverty .
Max Müller, Professor
Mayo, Lord... ... 151, 207, 214–217
Macaulay, Mr. (1833), 245, 248 ;
Lord ... ... ... 372, 539' Offences in Bombay... woo ... 9
Nort
INDEX
Page
Page
Opinions, official, on the drain
from India ... ... 196-212
Opium Trade, Indian ... 475, 476
Public Service Commission, 338,
376, 377; replies to questions by,
534, 547
Public Works of India, 99, 108,
124, 125, 126
, 373
S
Panjab, improvement of ... ... 138
Parliament, Indian representatives Races, European and Asiatic 1-25
in ... ...
1 ... 31 Railways, 132 ; Indian ... 455, 458
Parliamentary Committee for India 319 Rapeseed, average price of (1855-
Parsees, monogamy amongst
1870) 224
Pay, leave and pension, Indian, ob Reception Meeting, Bombay
servations on ... ... ... 541
(1887), 316, 318
Pedder, Mr. W. G. ... ... ... Remittances to England ... 115, 565
Perry, Sir Erskine ... ... 9, 321 | Revenue, Indian opium ... ... 30
Persian war ...
Revolution in India ... 20, 25
Phayre, Colonel, Resident at Baro Resources of India, 119; develop-
da ...
... 382-414
ment of ... ...
Phear, Sir John ... ... 292, 297 | Rice, average price of (1855-70) ... 221
Pledges to India ... ... 553, 554 Rigveda and Yajurveda on truth... II
Plowden, Mr. ... ... 292, 297
Ripon, Lord... ...311, 354-357,
Poets of Persia
ren 3 Ripon Club, speech at dinner by
Policy of justice and honesty, 35,
360—372
36; of the sword... ...
... 34, 35
Robinson, Sir Henry ... 15, 58
Political aspirations of India . 136 Roorkee Engineering College 264–267
Political condition of India 369-372 Royal Commission on India . 329, 337
Political drain of India ... 133, 134
Rule, British and Native, compara-
Political reform, Indian ... 376, 377 tive merits of ... ... ... 493
Polygamy ... ... ... 13--15
Poverty of India in
... 102
Poverty of India, Part I., total
production of India, Central
Provinces, Bengal, N. W. Pro-
Salaries in India ... ... ... 150
vinces, Panjab, Madras, Bombay; Salt Revenue of India
necessary consumption, cost of Salt-tax, Indian ... .. ... 476
living ; deficit of imports com-
Scholarships, Indian Government,
pared with the exports of India,
251, 254-257
Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Pan Seminaries, English, in India ... I
jab, N. W. Provinces, Central Shahnameh, the ...
w
i
... 3
Provinces; pressure of tax. Shore, Mr. Frederick John (1837),
ation... ... ... ... 160-217 199, 200 ; Sir John (1787) 197, 244
Part II., prices, wages, bullion, Silk, average price of (1855-70) ... 221
moral causes, non-fulfilment of
Sims, Colonel D. ... ... ... 9
solemn promises, uncovenanted
Sirdars of Baroda ... ... 3914-393
service, engineering service,
Slagg, Mr. ... ... ... ... 296
medical service, reply to cri-
... 150
"**
***290
Smith cioneſ Reinä
ticisms, the remedy 218, 291, 341, 342 Solemn promises, non-fulfilment of,
Prices, Indian, 44, 118, 478 ;
in India ... ... ... 245-276
causes of high prices, coffee, Speeches and Addresses of the
indigo, rice, silk, sugar, linseed, Hon'ble Dadabhai Naoroji 292-381
rapeseed, wool, tea ; prices in Speeches, election (1886), in Eng-
Bombay, Bengal, Madras, N. W.
land
* 302–315
Provinces, Punjab... ... 218, 238 Spiegel on polygamy
Prices and wages, Indian ... 139, 140 Stanley, Lord ... ... 36, 525
Private enterprise for India ... 127 Statutory Civilians, selection of ... 536
Problems, Indian ... ... 135, 136 Statute, Parliamentary (1834) ...
Proclamation (1858) ... 36, 249, 526 Students Loan Company ...
Production of India, 105, 120, 137, 374 | Strabo on the Hindus ... ... 9,
.: 206
INDEX
Pago
Page
Suhnrdinate service, Indian, com. United States, imports and exports
position. recruitment, &c, of. 545, 546 of
100
Sigar. average price of(1855-1870) 223 | Uutruthfulness, Hindu
Sword, the policy of the ooo 34, 35
V
Odo
OOO
200
000
Vedas, the
100
voor
20.
000
5
000
ooo
Taxation in India, 54, 72, 757,571;
Indian. 833 ; pressire of, in India,
214–217; inci lince of. 451, 562, 563 | IVages in India, Bengal, Bombav,
T-lant, Hon'ble Mr. K. T. ... 320, 322. Panjab, Central Provincus, $18,
Temple, S.r Ricbard, 154, 289, 292,
238241
297, 298, 493
Wallace, Sir R. . ooo ... 82
Territorial charges, Indian . .. 29 Wants of India . ooo 97-103
Trade of British India ob 565–571 Wants and means of India... 97-III
Travancore, treaty with (1805) ... 63 Wellesley, Lord. ... ... 60, 62
Treaty, Mysuru, 61; Travancore Wheat, prices of (1844-68) ... 234
(1795) ...
71--73
Wilson, Professor H. H., 6; on
Trevel yan, Sir Charles ...
Hindu habits ... ooo oo so
Truth, Persian halits of one on on
Wingate, Sir George ... ... 115
Women, Persian ...
Wool, average price of (1855-70).... 224
Writings of the Hon'ble Dadalhai
Uncovenanted service, Indian, 95, Naoroji ooo ooo ooo 382-584
504; non-fulfilment of pledges
in, 257, 25%; promotion fron] 540
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一​、
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​重重重重重​,事事
​賽事重量​。
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| | 事事
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