/"\ I> = I % OoLc * M Ml L T 1 1 5. s. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES The CELLAR BOOK SHOP Box 6, College Park Sta. Detroit 21, Mich. -U.S A INDIAN PROBLEMS INDIAN PROBLEMS BY S. M. MITRA WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR GEORGE BIRDWOOD M.D., K.C.I.E., C.S.I., LL.D. Ra'iyat chu bikhand, u sultan darakht, Darakht, ai pisar, bashad az bikh sakht.' SAD i. The people are the roots, the King the tree j As are the roots, so strong the tree will be. LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1908 TO THE EAEL OF CROMEK, P.O., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., C.I.E., LL.D., IN TOKEN OF REGARD AND ESTEEM FOE HIS GREAT SERVICES IN THE CAUSE OF TRUE IMPERIALISM - $tt>J-X*.>a >~Uu/v<5U71t THIS VOLUME IS, BY KIND PERMISSION, DEDICATED. 11GG592 PREFACE WHAT would England be without India ? India means the greatest customer of England ; India means the greatest employer of the best of English intellect and manhood ; India means the noblest achievement of England. Again, what would India be without England ? Who would protect her from the Central Asian free- booters ? Who would guarantee the internal peace? Who would bring her deserts and jungles under cultivation ? Who would give her the benefits of modern science and modern civilization ? The unity of England with India is therefore a Divine dispensation for the good of both the countries. And yet there are people both in England and in India who, through sheer ignorance, make mischief between the English and the Indians. The peripatetic demagogue who, on the strength of a few days' acquaintance with India, and without any practical knowledge of her intricate social, economical, and political problems, uses violent language against the Government of India, may be inspired by the vii viii PREFACE best of motives ; but nevertheless he is like a man ^ entering a powder magazine with a lighted match in hand, and such an act is as much to be deprecated in an innocent lunatic as in a criminal incendiary. In his anxiety to do good to his dusky fellow-subjects in India, Mr. Keir / Hardie, for example, has let his zeal outrun his discretion, and has done an amount of mischief which will perhaps take Anglo-Indian statesmen a whole generation to undo. It is on account of the self-appointed and ill-equipped guardians of my mother-land, India, that I have thought fit to bring a few salient facts of British administration in India to the notice of the British public. The present unrest in India is due more to the ignorance than to the want of sympathy of the Government of India, aggravated by the arrogance of some individual Englishmen. England does a great deal for her Oriental subjects, but, either through ignorance or inad- vertence,, she does it with the maximum of irri-^ tation. Russia does very little for her Oriental subjects, but does it with the minimum of irritation. Russia conciliates those among her subjects on whose loyalty depends her Oriental Empire. England, on the other hand, con- ciliates only those who succeed in making a noise, neglecting the pillars of her Oriental Empire. On the loyalty of the Native Chiefs and the Native Army in India depends the safety of the Indian Empire, yet these seldom PREFACE ix come within the scope of official conciliation. Not a single Indian Chief though he may own a country as large as France, may have his own courts, own army, own mint, and many other emblems of royalty is yet even an honorary member of the House of Lords. There is not a single Alikhanoff in the Native Army in India, though from Lord Roberts downwards all British commanders are loud in their praises of the native soldier. Is it any wonder that the British Government have failed to gain the affection of the millions in India, though they have extorted their admiration ? Very few people in this country have a clear idea of India. The area of the Dependency is about 1,870,000 square miles, and the population ,300,000,000. This is equal to the combined population and areas of twenty-one European countries viz., England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Turkey, Greece, Roumania, Servia, and Bulgaria. India is a vast continent. The inhabitants of Hindustan proper outnumber the whites residing in the United States ; the Bengalis are twice as numerous as the French ; and the 'fighting castes' in India number about 125,000,000, or more than the population of the Roman Empire ! Neither Greece nor Rome could boast of a third of the number of our King-Emperor's subjects in Asia. There are x PREFACE more Mahomedans in India than are to be found in the Mahomedan countries of Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan put together. The Holy Land of Buddhism, to which no less than 750.000,000 of the human race owe allegiance, is in India. The present awakening of Asia is due to the rise of Japan, and Japan owes its religion to India. Religion in the East means more than it means in the West. The political opinions expressed in these pages have resulted from prolonged experience of in- digenous Indian rule, and from close comparison of the native system of Government with the methods adopted by the British administration. Such a comparison alone can bring out the general problems and difficulties of Eastern administration, and by such comparison alone can one really understand the difficulties in- volved in reconciling the various differences due to caste and traditions of the East, which, being transmitted through centuries, have acquired the rigidity of race characteristics. No country in the world can possibly offer a more fascinating field for investigation to the students of politics and sociology than India. Less than 1,000 Englishmen are employed in the superior Civil Government of India. A single Englishman generally is responsible for the life and property of about 300,000 human beings, and is entrusted with jurisdiction over an area of about 1,200 square miles. Such being the PREFACE xi case, is it not the duty of every Englishman to know how his countrymen are discharging their sacred trust ? By a constant unity of purpose, with a Government that can boast of great flexibility as well as mechanical precision, the English have been successful with the teeming millions of India, in making them, to a certain extent, think for themselves, and in developing the indi- viduality of the people. The Oriental hatred for change is well known. The complexity of interests in India presents difficulties varying in character as well as in magnitude, the solution of which is hard and unromantic work. But the success of the British- Indian administration has been little less than marvellous. Most of the officials work with the precision of machines and the enthusiasm of Crusaders. They have had serious obstacles in their way. The Hindu, indifferent alike to life and comfort, to whom even the grand whip, hunger, fails to teach much, is separated from the rulers by a gulf of thoughts and aspirations. In the East thought is stronger than armies : ' The East bowed low before the blast In patient, deep disdain ; She let the legions thunder past, Then plunged in thought again.' The so-called critics, like Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., make the problem of British administra- xii PREFACE tion even more and more difficult. It is a great pity that with such critics on Indian affairs a sound knowledge of the history of the country is hardly considered essential before the forma- tion and public utterance of decided opinions. Nothing in the world is perfect, and I do not for a moment say that the British administration of India is not capable of great improvements. The immense inert mass of the peasantry has a firm faith in the Sir/car (Government), and shows a willing submissiveness to a strong and consistent Government ; and not all the harangues of the agitators have as yet been able to influence the current of devotion to the person of the Sovereign, and belief in the benignity of his rule. But the profound, possibly unconscious, indif- ference of English statesmen to Indian affairs, if much longer continued, is likely to break the spell of British prestige in India, especially as now certain faddists systematically indulge in the luxury of ferreting out isolated instances of alleged, or possibly real, injustice, and are trying to shape formless and sporadic discontent into a single and continuous outcry against imaginary widespread oppression. Sometimes English fad- dists unwittingly fan the flames of discontent for the mere love of party applause, which has risen among some of them to the height of a passion. With others it is the hunger for cheap distinction. They have evidently no time to PREFACE xiii give a thought to the serious nature of their utterances. They forget that modern India is the most striking achievement of the white people in the East. The French in Indo- China, the Dutch in Java, or the Americans in the Philippine Islands, have not been half as successful as the English in India. Therefore, statesmen possessing breadth of view, mental balance, and a tolerant habit of mind, should combine in lifting India above the plane of party bickerings, and should insist on making the sympathetic administration of this great Dependency a duty of national importance, and not a mere party cry. If thoughtful people of this country show their approval of the drift of these Chapters, and thus stimulate public interest in the vast British dominions in the East, the ' Indian Problems ' will have served a good purpose, and the writer will have been amply rewarded. I take this opportunity to thank Sir George Birdwood, K.C.I.E., for his kindness and labours, though suffering from ill-health, in writing a brief ' Introduction ' to my work. My thanks are also due to the Editor of the Asiatic Quarterly Review for allowing me to make use of some of my contributions to that magazine. I am much obliged to Mr. J. A. Murray Macdonald, M.P., Secretary to the Cobden Club, for permission to include in this work the Chapter on ' India and xiv PREFACE Imperial Preference,' which was originally written for the Cobden Club. In conclusion, I have to thank Mr. John Murray for the personal interest he has taken in the ' Indian Problems.' S. M. MITRA. THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 22, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON, W., February, 1908. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE PRESENT TROUBLES Is unrest subsiding? Attempt to murder the Magistrate of Dacca Lord Minto on Sedition The Vernacular Press Centralization versus Decentralization The Prince of Wales's speech on want of sympathy in Indian administration Hints as to practical sym- pathy Indian Mutiny due to unsympathetic legis- lation Murder of natives by Europeans not always 'adequately punished Mr. Theodore Morison's error Education system defective An unpopular police ' Cow-killing riots ' due to the license of the Vernacular Press Effect of party politics on India Lord Lytton's Vernacular Press Act A Calcutta newspaper urging the Sikh soldiery to mutiny Mr. Morley's speech at Arbroath Lord Curzon's strong sense of justice His disregard for Indian sentiment European arrogance No native V.C. CHAPTER II ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., in India The Bande Mataram Its real significance Colonial Self-Government for India an absurd idea Mr. Keir Hardie taken in XV xvi CONTENTS PAOE His mischievous utterances : ' Morley will yet yield' Dog, in Oriental languages Reuter's telegrams Hindu loyalty Mr. Morley's idealism Native States free from rioting Hyderabad and Calcutta compared Loyal manifestos and practical work Cotton duties Sad end of the Indian National Con- gress - - 64 CHAPTER III DRINK History of Drink Somarasa the ancient Indian drink Drink mentioned in the Rig-Veda and various other religious books of the Hindus The Buddha and Manu's crusade against wine Hindu literature full of references to wine Even Hindu ladies drank in ancient times drink against the religion of Mahomed But drink flourished in India under Mahomedan Kings Quotations from Mahomedan literature Megasthenes, Bernier, and Tavernier's accounts England did not teach India to drink - 94 CHAPTER IV DEPORTATION The Regulation III. of 1818 Its History Passed while Marquis of Hastings was Governor-General The legality of the Regulation discussed by the Calcutta High Court How the Regulation affects Habeas Corpus, Magna Charta, and the Petition of Rights Lex loci Acts XXXIV. of 1850 and III. of 1858, 21 Geo. III., and 13 Geo. III. The Diwani of Bengal Warren Hastings inaugurated new system Regulation applied to Maharaja Dhuleep Singh at Aden Wazir AH, the ex-Nawab of Oudh, kept a CONTENTS xvii PAGE prisoner before the passing of the Regulation Englishmen, editors of newspapers, deported from India British authority in India partly derived from the Great Mogul Deportation from Native States ; from Hyderabad Simple law suited to India Sir Lepel Griffin's view Unrestrained speech and assassination of Lord Mayo - - - 125 CHAPTER V ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE Anti-Asiatic legislation in the Colonies German rivalry and British Commerce Imperial Conference of 1 907 Asia contains half of the human race Asia Eng- land's best market Colonial indiscretions ' Asiatic danger ' panic created by trading rings The Cape House Assembly in 1876 British exports to India, distributed by three million native middlemen Trial of Europeans in Native States affecting British trade Japanese solution of anti-Asiatic legislation A system of Passports - - 148 CHAPTER VI THE PARTITION OF BENGAL An excellent Administrative act Cannot injure Bengali Nationality The Bengali has nothing to complain of The Bengali prospers everywhere Bengal originally a Mogul province Warren Hastings, as Governor, placed in charge of Bengal in 1772 In 1854 Bengal became a separate Province In 1874 Assam cut off from Bengal A want of symmetry in Indian Provinces Bengal too unwieldy, according to Sir Stafford Northcote (1868), Sir George Camp- bell, and Sir William Grey Blue-book figures prove b xviii CONTENTS PAGI the statement Education, Trade, etc., neglected Partition has made efficient administration practic- able - 163 CHAPTER VII THE BENGALI LANGUAGE Bengali is a true daughter of Sanskrit The foremost Indian vernacular Translations made from French, German, Arabic, and Persian Herbert Spencer, Mill, and Schopenhauer discussed Origin of the Bengali language obscure Devanagri characters Indo-Pali alphabet Magadhi Prakrit origin Semitic words Bengali literature in the twelfth century Jayadeva's ' Song of Songs ' Hindu Epics translated into French and Italian Lord Chester- field of Bengal First Bengali Grammar and Diction- ary edited by Europeans Englishmen as Bengali authors The Countess of Loudoun endowed a Bengali school Scarcity of political expressions Abundance of domestic expressions A spirit of Hinduism pervades Bengali literature Sir George Birdwood's views on the Bengali language Partition of Bengal cannot injuriously affect the language and literature of Bengal Mahratti language compared 187 CHAPTER VIII INDIA AND IMPERIAL PREFERENCE Mr. Chamberlain's scheme indefinite Colonial Confer- ence of 1902 did not make it clear India not treated fairly Duty on tea, coffee, tobacco, and indigo Colonial Premiers: their interest 'Daughter am I in my mother's house, but mistress in my own ' Indian army saved Natal, Legations at Pekin, and Somaliland India's Imperial contributions British CONTENTS xix PAGE trade with the Colonies and India India the best customer Mr. Morley's Indian Budget speech, July, 1906 India a debtor country India's difficulties A catastrophe to India would react on England Mr. Balfour admits India as a factor Mr. J. Chamberlain's letter to the author Increas- ing trade between Germany and India Russian duty on Indian tea The Sugar Convention Its effect on India Problem of Asiatic cheap labour Views of Sir James Mackay - - 209 CHAPTER IX A STRONG EXECUTIVE The separation of the Judicial from the Executive functions Mr. M. M. Ghose's memorandum Sir Charles Elliott's reply Lord George Hamilton's dispatch The Indian system of Administration ex- plained The average area of a Bengal District 3,200 square miles Average population of a District 1,500,000 Criminal Law and Procedure set out in Codes Lord Macaulay's Indian Penal Code Safe- guards against injustice European British subjects ' Keenly interested ' District Sessions Judge and subordinate Magistracy Revenue assessments A civil action Civil courts stationary The Indian Evidence Act Vakil Ke Raj Sedition Practice in Native States Mr. Morley on the Peace of India - - 229 CHAPTER X FAMINES Petition, dated December 20, 1900, to the Secretary ot State for India by eleven retired Indian officials Lord Curzon's reply Mr. Dutt to the front His 6 2 xx CONTENTS PAGE remedy Permanent Settlement His fallacy Pre- British famines worse than modern famines Account of a thousand years' famines Evidence of Mahomedan historians In the Malwa and other famines human flesh was eaten In Akbar's reign children sold by parents Expenditure on Railways and Irrigation up to the time of the Petition Area under Irrigation in 1900 Ryotwari and Khoti villages in the Bombay Presidency Report of the Famine Commission of 1878 Now, in extreme case, price of grain rises about six times In olden days it rose 120 times higher than the normal rates - -259 CHAPTER XI INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT Lord Cur/on on Industries Iron trade Foreign Capital versus Native Capital Buried wealth True Swade- shi Parsi enterprise Mr. Tata's scheme American and English engineers consulted Mour- bhanj ore 7,000,000 tons The extensive Raipur ore The professional patriot His propaganda libels every action of the Government Govern- ment support true Swadeshi Sir J. P. Hewett's speech on Tata scheme Tata's plant Two blast furnaces 75 feet high by 17 feet Require daily 8,000,000 gallons of water All Directors Asiatics Hydro-electric power scheme for Bombay Huge reservoirs Total surface area of 5,000 acres Storage capacity of 8,000,000,000 cubic feet, to work cotton mills of Bombay Imperial Preference in goods; no Imperial Preference in human beings Japan and Indian trade Failure of the P. and O. Company German encroachment Japan and Ger- many study Indian requirements, which England CONTENTS xxi PAGE neglects Trade - tips direct from Indians Caste factor in trade 100 per cent, increase of German exports to India Congress of Havana Hindustani for English merchants Bengal Boycott Indian Commercial Intelligence Bureau Sheep - breeding Tobacco - 284 CHAPTER XII THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS Indian Congress is not a Parliament An annual picnic In Parliament two Parties to discuss In the Congress only one Party to dictate No Party to support Government policy Pan- Islam in India a misnomer A ' negative unity' in refusal to eat pork, just like among Hindus a 'negative unity' in refusal to eat beef Congress has no local habitation nor a Library Inconsistency of Congress leaders Mr. Dutt His views as Congress leader diametrically opposed to his views as British official The Permanent Settlement of Bengal, a panacea for all evils in 1900, was in 1874 denounced as 'calamitous and ill-con- ceived ' ' The Peasantry of Bengal/ published by Mr. Dutt in 1874, when he was in the British service, contradicts almost everything he says now as a Con- gress Leader ' Poor Bengal ryot ! Hope for relief from a handful of alien rulers of the country, but from thine own countrymen, don't ' - 318 CHAPTER XIII THE NATIVE PRINCES British policy : Freedom of the Press, but no Arms Policy of Native Princes : Freedom in the use of Arms, but Press under Regulation Mr. Morley on Native Princes Over 600 Native Princes xxii CONTENTS PAGE Three-sevenths of India under Native Princes Political system of India Lord Curzon's and Lord Canning's views Sir Charles Dilke Caste, central knot of all administrative problems Murder of Mr. Rand Political Utopias Every great Indian States- man (Hindu or Mahomedan) hailed from Native States The Congress and Hyderabad Imperial Service Troops Imperial Cadet Corps Congress and the Council of the Secretary of State for India Native States Postal Department Ports in Native States Comparative growth of Population in British India and Native States Mr. Disraeli and Lord Curzon on Oriental imagination Opinion of the millions Native Princes in the House of Lords Lord Lytton's letter to Mr. Disraeli Lord Lytton's letter to Lord Salisbury - 339 i CHAPTER XIV A DIVINE UNION Mr. Bryan's attacks on British rule in India Inspired by Congress leaders India not getting poorer Testi- mony of figures Export of grain Destitute poor not more than in London Increase in native officials Reduction in Salt tax Government of India true to their trust Pressure of taxation Is. lOd. per head Moral gain Anarchy to order India not conquered by British sword Progress since Indian Mutiny Various reforms The Ilbert Bill Mr. Dutt on Hindu laws Female education Census figures - - 357 INDEX 395 INTRODUCTION THE Times of January 16, 1908, wrote (p. 18), on ' England's Work in India ' : * Government is re- sponsible for allowing the masses [in India] to be misled by seditious fanatics when it deliberately avoids correcting untruths a thousand times re- peated.' I would not belittle the blame of the Government in the matter : but while educated Indians, so well equipped with every implement of political polemics as is the author of the present volume, are ready to deal effectively with hysterical agitators, there is the less need for the Govern- ment to enter the inglorious lists against them. In these fourteen Chapters Mr. S. M. Mitra has subjected India, the brightest jewel set in the Im- perial Crown of England, to the searchlight of his keen and expert observation, and has ex- hibited some of the problems presented by that unparalleled possession of ours in aspects novel and instructive to many of his readers. His views, whether they may be acceptable or not, are those of an Indian gentleman who, as a practising advocate, and the editor of a news- paper, at the Capital of His Highness the xxiv INTRODUCTION Nizam, has had opportunities of an unusual kind for acquiring knowledge at first hand, and forming opinions thereon, daily put to proof in the fiercest strife of contending tongues. As a citizen of British India he is well acquainted with the British system of administering the country ; and as a philosophical and scholarly student of Indian politics, he has read widely, and learnt to express himself with an ease and accuracy many Englishmen might envy. Mr. Mitra writes as a loyal Indian by convic- tion. He sees that the maintenance of law and order is the first duty of a Government, and that in the absence of British rule anarchy and con- ' fusion would prevail throughout India and inter- rupt the progress and development of his beloved * mother-land.' He is therefore opposed to the airy aspirations of the Indian National Congress, which, in his opinion, is working on wrong lines, and not in any way for the practical good of India ; doing nothing, in spite of all the outcry about Swadeshi, for the material interests of India, its industries, trade, and commerce ; matters the supporters of the Congress neither seriously study, nor attempt to understand. India, Mr. Mitra points out rightly and forcibly, is invaluable to England. It imports a large proportion of British manufactures ; affords the best training-ground for British soldiers; and provides worthy and stimulating employment for a large number of the flower of our British INTRODUCTION xxv > youth, both as officials and 'merchant adven- turers.' England also is herself well aware that she is doing good work in India in the cause of humanity and civilization, and is not now likely to abandon a country that has proved so profitable a field alike for her industrial and mercantile, and intellectual and moral energies. The Pax Britannica, British justice, British railways and telegraphs, British science in famine relief and the suppression of diseases all these instances of the benefits introduced by the English into India are readily acknowledged by Mr. Mitra. But he as freely exposes the mistakes made by the Government in deal- ing with alien races, and chiefly through the want of proper information concerning the thoughts, sentiments, hopes, and aspirations of the natives of India. As a Hindu patriot he naturally presses the point that Indian ideals are too much disregarded by the British Government, and that natural racial antipathies are thereby accentuated, and the difficulties of administering the country increased. This train of thought neces- sarily raises a very important issue: Whether India is to be governed according to Western or Eastern ideas ? It is an issue that may be con- sidered to have been already decided as to main principles, though there is still ample room for considering whether in certain circumstances the old conservative ways of applying these principles followed by the Native States or the more system- xxvi INTRODUCTION atic and progressive procedures pursued within the Provinces under direct British administration should be adopted. Mr. Mitra, who must be presumed to know his countrymen, and evidently .does know them, appears in some cases to have a preference for the executive methods of the Native Rulers as conducing to greater efficiency ; but he is not blind to the merits of the English system of administration in India. As a contribution to the discussion of Indian questions, this volume of essays will afford material assistance, both to those who may agree and those who may disagree with their author. In the Chapter on ' Drink ' Mr. Mitra shows, out of his great knowledge of Indian literature, that the English people are in no way responsible for the introduction of spirituous liquors into the country, however much our excise system may be capable of improvement. ' Deportation ' is a very interesting and unique dissertation on the Regulation III. of 1818, under which political offenders may be removed and retained in jail, without trial, by warrant of the Governor- General, a procedure resembling a general sus- pension of the Habeas Corpus Act. Mr. Mitra advocates Free Trade for India ; has much to say on the grave shortcomings of our educational policy ; on the Partition of Bengal (which he justly commends) ; and on the language of Bengal, a subject on which he is a recognized authority. On the proposal to separate the INTRODUCTION xxvii judicial from the executive functions in the civil administration of India he writes strongly in favour of the necessity of maintaining unimpaired the power of the District Officer, in whose hands and responsibility, as the ubiquitous representa- tive of the Executive Government, rests the whole weight of the immediate and essential ' serjeantry ' of the country. Mr. Mitra's re- marks on Mr. Keir Hardie, like the rest of his observations, will add to the popular appreciation of our duties and dangers in India. I strongly recommend Mr. Mitra's volume to all English readers personally unacquainted with India ; and not only to those in the United Kingdom, but throughout our Colonies, in- cluding the United States of America, where I would especially desire to bring it to the attention of Mr. Bryan. He, at least, is not ' A mimic Marat or a mock Robespierre,' one of those of whom the satirist asks, ' Do chattering monkeys mimic men, Or we, turned monkeys, out-monkey them ?' but a man of high intellectual power and inde- pendence of thought ; and Mr. Mitra's earnestly laboured, accurate, illuminating, and weighty pages, will not fail to clarify his knowledge, and chasten and moderate his judgment, and haply in the future control his outrageous tongue, on 'things Indian.' GEORGE BIRDWOOD. January 22, 1908. INDIAN PROBLEMS THE PRESENT TROUBLES THE question is often asked whether the unrest in India is subsiding ; the Times has written of its decrease, and the wish that it may diminish and disappear is father to the thought that it is passing away. Whether it is so really time alone will show; meanwhile any overt indica- tions relevant to the issue must be watched. The dastardly attempt on December 23, 1907, at Goalundo to murder Mr. B. C. Allen, Magis- trate of Dacca, an officer who had lately been doing his duty in connexion with trials for sedi- tion and was proceeding on leave, is the best evidence of the state of feeling then prevalent in Eastern Bengal. It is officially held that the Panjab has so far regained its normal conditions that there is no necessity for applying to that part of the country the Act passed in November, 1907, by the Government of India (in continua- tion of the exhausted six-months Ordinance) for the Prevention of Public Seditious Meetings. This Act empowers the Local Government to declare 1 2 THE PRESENT TROUBLES any District a proclaimed area in which no public meetings will be allowed without a written per- mission under penalty of fine or imprisonment. Indeed, the Panjab agitator, Mr. Lajpat Rai, who was deported to Mandalay under the old Regu- lation III. of 1818, was released on the King's birthday and allowed to return to his native country. He appeared to have profited by the lesson taught him, as it was stated that he declined to accept the Presidentship of the Indian National Congress meeting held at Surat in December. Also it was claimed that the Seditious Meetings Act had been put in force in one district only of Eastern Bengal and Assam namely, Backer- gunge. On the other hand, the necessity for placing that Act on the Statute Book was justified, in the opinion of its supporters, by the condition of the country and the possibility of its application being required. They declined to accept the views of the Indian members of the Legislative Council who, urging that the increased powers which it conferred were necessary, and that disorders were already adequately punishable under the existing Penal and Criminal Codes, dissented from the principle of the measure. In vain did Mr. Gok- hale, the member from Bombay, refer to the growth of agitation from the Viceroyalty of Lord Dufferin to that of Lord Curzon, to the Partition of Bengal and to the feelings engendered by it ; in vain did he maintain that the agitators were few in number, and that repressive, measures THE VICEROY'S SPEECH 3 were unnecessary. The Member in charge of the Bill could reply that the measure was required, because under the existing law witnesses were never forthcoming. The Viceroy, in closing the debate on the Bill, dwelt on the first duty of a Government to maintain law and order and protect the people entrusted to their charge. Lord Minto was reported to have added : ' They would lead us to believe that we have been frightened by a phantom, that we have accepted the vapourings of a few agitators as evidence of dangerous sedition, and that by the Act just passed we are imputing disloyalty to the masses of the people of India. That I emphatically deny, but I refuse to minimize the meaning of the warnings of the last few months. We cannot forget the Lahore riots, the Rawalpindi riots, the insults to Europeans, the assaults, looting, and boycotting in Eastern Bengal, or the attempts, by means of seditious addresses, newspapers, and leaflets, to influence racial feeling and tamper with the loyalty of the Indian Army.' The Government were wise not to overlook or forget warnings ; the disregard of warnings led up to the Mutiny of 1857, which should have been nipped in the bud. So long as this Act (against seditious meetings) remains on the Statute Book, it affords evidence that, in the opinion of its Government, the condition of India requires special legislation for the maintenance of law and order ; this Act, which is not proprio vigor e in 12 4 THE PRESENT TROUBLES force anywhere, may be applied to any District by the action of the Local Government, when- ever occasion arises. Apart from the passing and existence of this Act, the condition of Cal- cutta itself affords evidence of continued unrest. The riots which occurred there in the beginning of October, 1907, culminating in attacks on the Police and the destruction of property, led the Local Government irresistibly, according to the official Resolution, to the conclusion that the disturbances were the direct outcome of the violent writings and speeches of agitators. The Lieutenant- Governor, being moved to activity, warned the Government of India of much more serious possibilities as the direct outcome of the persistent campaign on the platform and in the Press, with the object of bringing constituted authority into contempt and encouraging resist- ance to the Police. He expressed his opinion that it was imperative for the Government im- mediately to take power to stop violent speaking and writing. But in spite of this belated warn- ing, serious as emanating from the head of the Bengal Government in charge of the Capital of India, in which the riots had occurred and have since recurred no action of any importance appears to have been taken. Doubtless it may be said that the railway strike occupied the stage, postponing all other public matters, and that the absence of the Viceroy and some of his Council on tour prevented the consideration of GOVERNMENT ACTION 5 such common subjects as agitation and rioting, that the application of a remedy was only delayed, not indefinitely deferred. The quarrelling that broke out in the ranks of the National Con- gress itself, between the Extremists and the Moderates the Extremists favouring the invita- tion to Mr. Lajpat Rai, the late political detenu, to I preside over its meeting at Surat, and urged by Mr. Tilak to extreme measures were further manifestations of the evil spirit of unrest that was felt abroad, marching through the land ; it showed itself in the Panjab, in both the Bengals, in the Central Provinces, in Bombay, in Madras (where it was well arrested), and there is no saying where it may not reappear. The only action, so far as is known, taken by the Government has been the passing of the Seditious Meetings Act, and its application to the district which Mr. Keir Hardie visited, personally conducted by a pro- minent Congress leader. The Government are entitled to credit for having instituted a few prosecutions under the Sedition sections of the Penal Code, but the political effect of its spasmodic vigour is rather discounted by the ready acceptance of apologies from offenders anxious to escape punishment. Though the Act above mentioned is the only remedy which the Government have thought fit to apply with a view to meeting the immediate pressure, they announced that they would not be deflected by the temporary outbursts of 6 THE PRESENT TROUBLES sedition and rioting from their policy of intro- ducing reforms which would aim at giving the people of India wider opportunities of expressing their views on administrative matters. Their ideas were fully set forth in a circular issued on August 24, 1907, from Simla to the Local Governments.* The reforms projected are (1) the institution of Imperial and Provincial Advisory Councils, which should be invested with no formal powers of any sort, and should be purely advisory, dealing only with such matters as might be specifically referred to them from time to time ; (2) the enlargement of the Legislative Councils ; and (3) changes intended to remedy the discursive and unfruitful character of the Budget debates. The Government did well in publishing their proposals at once, so that there might be no imputation hereafter of their having acted secretly and avoided public criticism. They were very soon furnished with some criticism which could not have been very ac- ceptable. But those who would have it believed that the Government proposals are designedly reactionary, and would result in a less liberal form of Government than that which now obtains, can hardly be regarded as serious. Persons who offer such criticisms on the pub- lished papers would say anything, and their intellectual honesty would seem to be open to question. The main point in which the Govern- * Replies to this circular were due by March 1, 1908. THE GOVERNMENT POSITION 7 ment projects will fail to satisfy the demands of the Extreme party is the formal and unequivocal announcement that the Government consider it essential that they should always be able to reckon on a working numerical majority in the . Legislative Councils. They claim that the prin- ciple of a standing Government majority has never been disputed by any section of Indian opinion, except those who dispute the legitimacy of the paramount power itself. In fact, that is not an open question. The Government view on this point of principle cannot be gainsaid. As has often been stated in discussions on the constitution of the Government of India, it is not a form of Government which admits of the party in power being outvoted by an Opposition, and the latter assuming the place of the de- feated Administration. An attack made on the Government of India by the National Congress or by the Vernacular Press is not like the attack of an organized opposition on the Government of the day. There is no system of party in India. Those who attack the Government know that they cannot hope to turn them out, but they proceed as if they could do so. It is an axiom in Indian politics that the Government of " India cannot allow itself to be beaten. It sur- passes the wit of man to devise any system by which this principle the final invincibility of the Government can be reconciled with the aims of the Extreme party that it should be 8 THE PRESENT TROUBLES possible to defeat the Government. For practical purposes, the utmost possible concession is that the Indian Government should allow itself to be greatly influenced by the strength, reasonable- ness, and unanimity of an Opposition. On the other hand, the maintenance of the Government working majority will create a serious practical difficulty, as it will entail the appointment to the Imperial Legislative Council of a number of official members who, in attending its meetings, will be forced to leave their posts elsewhere in the country, to the great detriment of their work. To ensure the official majority, it has already been suggested that the presence of a number of Assistant Magistrates, collected from the neigh- bourhood of Calcutta, would be all that is required, while it would entail much less dis- location of the ordinary work than if senior officers were called up to Calcutta for the session of the Legislative Council, which has not enough business to provide for their full occupation. The device is a possible one, but it is open to obvious objections, and is hardly likely to be adopted. The alternatives appear to be either (1) to collect in Calcutta for the legislative session more representatives than has hitherto been customary or required from the several Provinces of India, so as to distribute the re- sponsibilities and the inconvenience to the Administration entailed by the change ; or (2) to make the Secretaries to the Government of India ADVISORY COUNCILS 9 and Heads of Departments, and certain of the Bengal officials stationed in and near Calcutta, temporary members of the Legislative Council, so as to constitute the working official majority. The former course would involve considerable expense, and increase the number of temporary transfers of officers, an evil of which complaint has often been justly made ; the latter would add to the labours of officers who are already over-burthened. In any case this maintenance of a working official majority will be no easy matter, and care will have to be taken lest, through the illness of official members or some inadvertence, the Government be not cast, by a snap vote, into a minority. It must be borne in mind, too, that similar considerations will affect the enlarge- ment of the Provincial Legislative Councils, and, in a way, even more seriously, as these Councils sit in other months of the year as well as in the cold weather. It is to be hoped that some means will be adopted to avoid any increase in the temporary transfers of officers to provide for the maintenance of the official majority. It would be ungracious at this stage to make depreciatory remarks on the utility of the proposed Advisory Councils of Notables, or the proposed amplification of the discussion of the annual Budget. A Council of a similar character was said by Mr. Morley to have been set up in Lord Lytton's time in 1877, and to have been a complete failure. The underlying 10 THE PRESENT TROUBLES ideas on which these proposals are based are dis- tinctly sound and good, the benefit to be derived from them will depend entirely on the spirit in which they are practically carried out. Mr. Morley has said that this reform scheme is one for bringing the Indians closely into contact with the Government of their country, or at any rate for giving them an opportunity of coming more closely into contact with it than at present. It will remain for the Indians to prove their fitness for this advance towards a more popular method of Government. The Royal Commission on Decentralization the other attempt which is being made to improve the administration of India visited India in 1907-8, under the Chairmanship of Mr. C. E. H. Hobhouse, the Under- Secretary of State for India, and it would be premature to try and forecast its results. By the terms of its appoint- ment this Commission was directed to inquire , into the relations existing for financial and ad- y ministrative purposes between the Supreme and Provincial Governments and the authorities subordinate to them ; and to report whether, by measures of Decentralization or otherwise, these relations could be simplified or improved, and the system of Government better adapted to meet the requirements and promote the welfare of the different Provinces, and, without impairing its strength and unity, to bring the Executive power into closer touch with local conditions. Upon PRINCIPLES AT STAKE 11 the project of such an inquiry into Decentraliza- tion, Lord Curzon, in his letter to the Times of June 11, 1907, took the earliest opportunity of expressing his grave doubts whether such a machinery of inquiry (as a Royal Commission) was at all called for or was the most suitable for the existing requirements of the case. Lord Curzon did so much to centralize authority in the Supreme Government during his tenure of office that he could hardly be expected to admit that any decentralization which had not been earned out in his time could be an improvement. Thus there are two schools of thought distinctly at issue on the question of Centralization versus Decentralization, and the fear is that, when the question has thus been brought into the arena of controversy, the interests of the people, the dumb millions, may be overlooked. To the people of India it will make no sort of difference whether financial control is finally exercised by the Head or the Secretary of the Local Government on the one hand, or by the authorities of the Supreme Government on the other hand. The changes that may be wrought by Decentralization will have a significance for the people according as they really bring the Executive power (to use the words of the official reference) into closer touch with local conditions. It will be noticed that the strength and unity of the Executive power are not to be impaired. The Extreme party in India must therefore not expect to get 12 THE PRESENT TROUBLES out of this Royal Commission any more oppor- tunities for upsetting the Government or over- ruling the local authorities than they already possess. The people will gain something if the future administrative arrangements resulting from this Royal Commission admit of native feelings, desires, and aspirations being more sympatheti- cally treated ; they may hope to exercise greater influence than hitherto in their own affairs, though the Executive power is to be maintained unim- paired. Much, again, has been said of sympathy being required in the treatment of the people of India. It was the key-note of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales's speech at the Guildhall after his return from India in 1906. It is generally supposed that, * sympathy ' being an abstract virtue, it is next to impossible to translate it into practice in India a continent of hetero- geneous races and creeds. Mr. Morley, in re- sponse to the speech of the Prince of Wales at the Guildhall on May 17, 1906, said: 'I will only say this, that though s) r mpathy is the supreme duty, nobody can deny that in India sympathy has also to meet with supreme difficulties. . . . It is no easy thing to get into strict sympathy with all the heterogeneous populations,' etc. With the Anglo-Indian officials and with native officials who simply imitate the Anglo- Indian officials it has become a portion of their creed that there is no room for sympathy in SYMPATHETIC LEGISLATION 13 legislation or in the administration of justice. Such Anglo- Indian officials as are sympathetically inclined towards the natives of India, therefore, confine their attention to executive measures alone. * The heterogeneous masses and their conflicting interests' have become quite classic with Anglo-Indian officials. Very few of them pause to consider that there is ample room for great sympathy in legislation as well as in the administration of justice, which will be appreciated by the millions of India notwithstanding their want of homogeneity. Let us go from the abstract to the concrete. In this country adultery is a civil offence. The injured party feels satisfied with money compensation. In India the feeling of the millions Hindus, Mahomedans, and all the heterogeneous castes and creeds is different. The injured husband is not satisfied unless and until the seducer of his wife is put in prison with hard labour. The British Indian legislator, therefore, followed the law of the Native Princes, and made adultery in British India punishable with rigorous imprisonment. The rich Indian seducer cannot get off with a cheque. The legislature took a sympathetic view of Indian feeling in this instance, and earned the gratitude of the millions without regard to race, creed, or caste. This is an instance to show that there is ample room in legislation for showing sympathy to the dumb millions of India, notwithstanding the want of homogeneity in the population of India. 14 THE PRESENT TROUBLES I will now give an instance of want of sympathy in British Indian legislation. The Indian Mutiny of 1857 was the result of continued want of sympathy in British Indian legislation. The , greased cartridges were the last straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. I have care- fully read a score or two of eminent Anglo- Indian historians on the various causes of the Indian Mutiny, but, so far as I know, not one has blamed the Indian legislature for the catas- trophe of 1857. The 'executive was to blame' is the general verdict of honest Anglo-Indian historians, and as instances they cite the annexa- tion of Oudh and other executive measures. No one has tried to break fresh ground. Unsym- pathetic legislation was at the root of the general unrest which shook the Indian Empire to the very foundation in 1857. The Act XXI. of 1850 was a measure calculated to do justice to a very limited minority, but through want of circumspection and foresight was and is to-day responsible for a great deal of heartburning among the millions. I quite understand the risk one runs in bringing out something new against Anglo-Indian classics ; but for years I have been convinced as to the inexpediency of any measure legislative, executive, or judicial which, for the sake of doing good to a very limited minority, annoys the Indian masses. The errors of the Anglo -Indian legislators are no doubt due to good intentions, but the stern fact UNSYMPATHETIC LEGISLATION 15 remains that it is not human nature to condone legislative errors on account of good intentions. I always plead for the dumb millions in preference to the educated classes, because, as Lord Lawrence said, the strongest security of British rule lies ' in the contentment if not in the attachment of the masses.' If the native soldier is disaffected, the authorities know where to find him, but if the Indian masses are discontented, it means the end of the British Indian Empire. Now to the point. I have no hesitation in stating that unsympathetic pre-Mutiny legislation was very largely responsible for the great rebellion of 1857. Seven years before the Mutiny the Act XXI. of 1850 was passed at Calcutta. The title of the Act is, ' Non-forfeiture of Rights by Loss of Caste.' It was extended to the whole of British India. The Act innocently declared that ' so much of any law or usage now in force within the territories subject to the Government of the East India Company as inflicts on any person forfeiture of rights or property, or may be held in any way to impair or affect any right of inheritance by reason of his or her renouncing, or having been excluded from, the communion of any religion (or being deprived of caste), shall cease to be enforced as law in the Courts of the East India Company and in the Courts established by Royal Charter within the same territories.' Now, the above enactment looks quite innocent at first sight, and it may appear preposterous to 16 THE PRESENT TROUBLES many that behind such innocent phraseology there should be seeds of discontent for the Indian masses. Many a thing looks quite innocent on paper, but assumes a formidable aspect when brought into the arena of practical politics. Let us see how this innocent Act works in practice throughout the continent of India. Suppose Rama to be a rich landed proprietor. According to Hindu ideas of religion and respectability he maintains an annach/iatra (a soup-kitchen for the poor). It must be re- membered that Native India knows no work- house. Organized charity on a Western scale is unknown in India. Practically every village looks after its own poor. It is part of their religion not to refuse alms to the poor who may come to their doors. That is how for centuries India has managed without work- houses and commanded the admiration of intelligent travellers and administrators. At Rama's annachhatra 200 poor are fed every day. After Rama's death, his two sons Krishna and Gopal become the joint proprietors of the estate left by Rama. With the assets they take the liability of the annachhatra. Gopal falls in love with a Eurasian neighbour's daughter, and to marry her has to embrace Christianity. Under the Act XXI. of 1850, he succeeds to his share of the paternal property. He lives happily at all events comfortably with his Christian wife in a separate house. He refuses to pay his PRE-MUTINY LEGISLATIONS 17 share of the annachhatra. Krishna, the elder brother finds it impossible to maintain 200 poor from his share. He argues that, as he inherited only half of his father's estate, he is morally bound to feed only half the number of the poor fed by his deceased father. He therefore shuts the doors of the annach/iatra after the first 100 are fed. The disappointed 100 see the force of Krishna's argu ment, and go away cursing an alien Government through whose legislation they have to starve. The economical side of the intricate caste system did not appeal to the legislators. Being worried by missionaries, who naturally see only their side of the question, the Indian legisla- ture unwittingly sowed the seeds of discontent among the masses of India. Such legislation may appeal to the theorist and the jurist, but cannot fail to undermine Imperial interests in India. If the legislature had left the question of shares in suck cases to the discretion of District Officers mostly Englishmen theo- retical justice and political expediency would both have been served by making Gopal pay his share of the annachhatra. Writing in 1858, Mr. W. H. Morley* had no hesitation in saying that this Act ' may be ranged amongst the numerous probable causes of the Indian Mutiny. The policy of the enact- ment of Act XXI. of 1850 is perhaps question- * 'The Administration of Justice in British India/ by W. H. Morley, pp. 195, 196. 2 18 THE PRESENT TROUBLES able : the beneficial results expected from its operation are at least doubtful. I allude, of course, to its anticipated effect in increasing the number of converts to Christianity. . . . The day has gone by when conversion was enforced by the mandate of the ruling power. The Act of 1850 has been termed an Act for the promotion of religious liberty ; but surely such a name can scarcely be applied with propriety to the law which not only implies a violation of the rights of property, but, in the case of a Hindu, forbids him to hope for happiness in another world, whenever his heir shall choose to forsake the faith of his forefathers.' Now, having given an idea to the British public that there is ample room for sympathy in legislation, let us see whether there is no room for sympathy in the administration of justice. It is true that the natives of India are quite satisfied with English judges and magistrates in India, when both the complainant and accused are natives of India. But there is no denying the fact that it is common belief throughout India that natives cannot expect even-handed justice when the accused happens to be a European offender against native life. It cannot be said that the belief is unfounded, for dozens of natives of India have in past times been most brutally kicked to death by Englishmen in India ; and the fact remains that very few Europeans have been hanged in India for the murder of a MURDER OF NATIVES 19 native. This injustice is firmly believed not only by the Indians of all classes, but even by Englishmen who tried to study the Anglo-Indian problem on the spot. Mr. Theodore Morison, now a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India, is one of those Englishmen who had the courage of his convictions to leave on record this ugly fact. In a work* published in 1899, in the Chapter on * Pseudo-Liberalism in India,' he writes : 'The people of India commonly say that no Englishman has yet been hanged for the murder of a native. It is an ugly fact, which it is no use to disguise, that the murder of natives by English- men is no infrequent occurrence. ... I cannot pretend to an opinion whether in these cases there has been actual miscarriage of justice, but I do unhesitatingly assert that very few English- men in India believe that an English jury, as juries are at present constituted, would, even on the clearest evidence, convict one of their country- men of the murder of a native. . . . Juries in European cases are empanelled from among English shopkeepers or railway employes of the big towns ; this is the very class in which the arrogance of a conquering race is most offensively strong, and their moral sense does not endorse the legal theory that an Englishman should atone with his life for killing a "nigger." . . . * ' Imperial Rule in India,' by Theodore Morison, Archibald Constable and Co., p. 27. 22 20 THE PRESENT TROUBLES Juries in all countries are liable to be swayed by passion or prejudice, but miscarriage of justice in India begets political evil ; the people are irritated against the Government because they do not believe that the laws are evenly administered' The italics are mine. Mr. Theodore Morison is now on the Council of India, but, from the programme of distribution of work for the Coun- cillors, prominently placed in the Library of the India Office, it does not clearly appear that he has any voice in any one of those Committees which is likely to redress that particular grievance of the voiceless native of India which struck him so forcibly in India. Nor does the programme of the Committee meetings of the India Office show that either of the two recently appointed Indian members will have any voice in such a matter. It would be interesting to know what action, if any, Mr. Morley contemplates taking in connexion with the killing of natives of India by Europeans during his tenure of office. There is already a case which may well attract his attention. Mr. Morison was evidently under the belief that no European had ever been hanged for the murder of a native. I can quite understand his indignation, but, owing to want of accurate information on the subject, he did not know that he was unwittingly adding to the long list of copy-book maxims of the rabid Indian agitators. In ten years, since the publica- tion of Mr. Morison's book, to the youthful EUROPEANS HANGED 21 4 patriot ' of Bengal the rather careless statement of Mr. Morison has become gospel. It is a pity that Mr. Morison had not information at his command to contradict this most mischievous charge against British justice. I will give the names of six Europeans who have been hanged in India for the murder of natives. I hold no brief for the British jury in India, but I only endeavour to bring out the truth, regardless of fear or favour. In 1862 at the Supreme Court, Calcutta, Sir Charles Jackson sentenced to death John Rudd, an Englishman, for the murder of a native named Fazil. The Advocate-General of Bengal prosecuted. The prisoner was defended by Counsel. The jury brought in a verdict of 'guilty.' In 1867 Mr. Justice Westropp, of the Bombay High Court, sentenced to death Wilson, Apostole, Nicholas and Peters all European sailors for the murder of four Hindu money-lenders. The jury gave a verdict of ' guilty.' In 1880 Mr. Justice White, of the Calcutta High Court, sentenced to death George Nairns a European for the murder of Golab Khan. The jury had brought in a verdict of ' guilty.' I cannot therefore accept the sweeping remarks of Mr. Morison against the English jurors in India. I, however, agree with Mr. Morison that a* a rule European offenders do get off with very unsatisfactory sentences. In fact, I go 22 THE PRESENT TROUBLES further than Mr. Morison. Often European offenders are not prosecuted at all, owing to the difficulty in getting justice. But after a close study of the subject extending over twenty years, I am inclined to think that the miscarriages of justice (which he and I equally deplore) are more due to wealth versus poverty than to the white versus brown skin of the parties. The almighty dollar more or less protects offenders in every country. I have personally felt the difficulty of defending a poor client charged with murder. In a law case, it must be admitted, success depends not always on the merits of the case, but on the forensic talents of the contending Counsel. In India, I think the rich native offender has as much chance of escape as the well-to-do European offender. The question is who engages the best Counsel before the case commences ? The Indian victims to European violence are, as a rule, poor pcui/iha-coolies and menial servants. As soon as an incident happens the Anglo-Indian Defence Associations hasten, very rightly, to defend the European ' offender.' The victim pankha-coolies only 'friend' is the Congress agitator, who thinks his duty as patriot is confined to talk, and to talk alone. I do not know a single instance in which the Congress has paid for the legal expenses for the prosecution of a European charged with causing the death of a native. There is no doubt that the Government appoints a Public Prosecutor PUBLIC SPIRIT IN INDIA 23 from among the native lawyers of the district. But the poor man, with the best of his abilities, is no match in legal warfare with the lions of the Bars of Calcutta or Bombay, who are generally employed to defend European offenders. Even the best of juries must decide a case on its merits as brought out in Court, and not on private in- formation. So the remedy lies not so much in the empanelling of the jury, but in finding the expenses of a Public Prosecutor to match the Counsel for the defence. As the popularity of the Government is being continually shaken among the masses for the victims of European violence come from the Indian masses it would be worth the while of the Government of India to issue strict instructions to all Local Govern- ments to defray the expenses of Public Prosecutors in such cases from Provincial funds. This will enable the District Officer to secure the best legal talent available. There is no doubt that there are excellent native lawyers in India, some of them Barristers, others with Indian diplomas. But the fact remains that, public spirit in India being confined with very rare exceptions to talk and to talk alone, the poor native victim of European rage or lust receives little help from his or her countrymen. In the notorious Meher- pur case, the well-known Hindu Barrister, Mr. M. M. Ghose, refused even to defend a native woman because the European prosecutor was his friend. Such being public spirit in India, the 24 THE PRESENT TROUBLES much-abused alien Government must do every- thing to preserve their prestige for justice for on that reputation alone England holds India. To make my point clear that European offenders in India get off, not because the English jury is dishonest or perverse, but because the accused Europeans have the benefit of the best legal talent available, I will give an instance in which, in the same case, the Calcutta High Court, when the legal talent on both sides was equally balanced, gave a verdict of * guilty,' and on review, the defence being strengthened by the accession of more eminent Counsel, discharged the prisoner. I need hardly say that 1 refer to the sensational Dum-Dum murder case which was heard by the Calcutta High Court in February, 1890. After a protracted trial before Mr. Justice Norris, the jury convicted Thomas O'Hara of the murder of Shaikh Selim, and sentenced him to death. On a point of law, Sir Charles Paul, the Advocate- General of Bengal, moved for a review of the case by a Full Bench under Section 26 of the Letters Patent of 1865. The second hearing was before Justices Prinsep, Pigot, Macpherson, and Norris. At the first trial only one English Counsel defended O'Hara. At the second trial two leaders of the Calcutta Bar defended the accused. The result was that O'Hara was discharged. It is clear that the result of a law case depends more on the legal talent engaged than on the facts of the case. In this case the facts were the THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 25 same, but, the legal interpretations and inferences being different, the result of the two proceedings was not the same. The discharge of O'Hara was not due to the perverseness of the English jury at Calcutta. The jury convicted O'Hara. O'Hara's discharge was due to a question of law, which would never have been brought to the notice of the Bench but for the fact that at the second proceedings two eminent Barristers of the Calcutta Bar enunciated the law which was all for O'Hara. Apart from the remedies discussed in the pre- ceding pages for the removal of the troubles of India, much dependence will have to be placed upon Education. It may be objected that this is a frail reed to lean upon, and that the results hitherto achieved do not promise well for the future. Education of a sort for the natives of India was initiated by the English long ago for instance, at the Calcutta Madrasa founded by Warren Hastings, and the Benares Sanskrit College founded in 1791. The Committee of Public Instruction was, it is said, formed for Bengal in 1831. The commencement of English Education in India really dates from March, 1835, when Macaulay's famous minute on behalf of the Anglicists routed the ' Orientalists' ' party. But Sir Charles Wood's great Education dispatch of 1854 laid down the lines which have since been mainly followed. I am never weary of reiterat- ing my belief in the benefits to be derived from sound Education benefits both to the individual I 26 THE PRESENT TROUBLES and to the State. That the Education Depart- ment has for the most part been conducted on wrong lines in India is really another bit of evidence that the English in India, the Govern- ment collectively, and its officers individually, well-intentioned as they undoubtedly are, are often supremely ignorant of the circumstances with which they have to deal, and perverse in their methods of dealing with them. Instead of developing upon Indian lines, an exotic Depart- ment has been foisted on the country, adminis- tered largely by officers absolutely ignorant of the country and devoid of sympathy with its people and their pupils. The traditional idea of Education in India is based on reverence for the teacher, whose word was law, and who was almost worshipped by his chelae (pupils). If the pupils did not live together as they actually did in the case of the Sanskrit tols they lived in such contiguity to the guru (teacher) in their own villages that they were always under his personal supervision, and probably also resided with their parents or guardians. Since the great development of the Education Department, this principle of personal supervision, which produced such reverence for the teacher, has been aban- doned or treated as unimportant. The numbers attending the schools and colleges have increased so enormously that personal supervision, though more necessary than before, has become almost impossible. Then, again, the Education Depart- MISTAKES MADE 27 ment has been the battle-ground of contending theorists, with the result that sometimes one view has prevailed, sometimes another, and continuity of policy has been wanting. Again, the Department has been expected to produce great fruits simultaneously in different directions ; when patience was required, impatience has been exhibited towards its shortcomings. Attempts have been made to revert to instruction through the vernaculars, in spite of the decision of 1835 in favour of English. Fo* a long time the Education imparted in India, as in England, was exclusively literary ; the claims of Science have had great difficulty in asserting themselves. Since appointments to the Subordinate and Pro- vincial Civil Services in India have been opened to Indians, examinations have been multiplied and the fetish of competition has been worshipped. The result, as might have been foreseen, has been the crowding of students to the schools and colleges in the hope of picking up some of the appointments, even humble clerkships on a bare living wage, for which a quasi-knowledge of English is requisite. It would be possible to go on enumerating at great length the mistakes which have been made, and such fault-finding is always open to the retort that it is easy to be wise after the event. Still, such important mis- takes as the following cannot be overlooked, as they ought not to have been committed by Statesmen or educational experts. Until recent 28 THE PRESENT TROUBLES / times little or nothing was done to provide residences within the college premises for the students. Through false economy, carelessness, or favouritism, the officers recruited in England or India to the Education Department in India have often been gentlemen of mediocre ability, or have taken but a perfunctory interest in their duties, failings which the students would be quick to observe and to resent. In most cases the Principals and Professors were not required to reside among the students ; no social intercourse with them was insisted upon or encouraged ; there was a want of association even between the English and Indian Professors of the same colleges. No wonder that the students lost the traditional Indian reverence for the teachers, of which the authorities should have known and never lost sight. The tendency to lower the examination standards, which, it must be ad- mitted, may have emanated from the Indian side through personal interest in the students, has led to the increase in their numbers, so that they have become almost unmanageable ; the standards should rather have been raised than reduced, though it would have been an unpopular measure. Knowledge has been pursued without any regard for training in the moral virtues or in the de- velopment of character. Many of the subjects and text-books selected have been badly chosen, so that immature minds have been fed with matter which they could not properly digest ; REMEDIES ADOPTED 29 they have, as it were, been allowed, in a mis- taken notion of liberty, to imbibe poison without the provision of antidotes. No wonder that crowds of disappointed, discontented young men have been produced ; the annual vacancies in the Government Services are not enough 'to go round,' so that the ranks of the professions of law, journalism, and sedition never want for recruits. Again, in the education of women and girls in India, though a beginning has been made, the greater part of the work has still to be done. The initial difficulties have no doubt been enormous, and it is something gained that they have been overcome. This is a matter in which the co-operation of the Indians themselves is especially necessary. The subject is too large to be treated at any great length on this occasion. It must not be supposed that nothing has been done by the authorities to counteract the evils which their own carelessness, ignorance, and want of foresight have allowed to spread over the country. Lord Curzon passed an Act to reform the Universities. An Educationist was obtained from England a few years ago to be Director- General of Education for all India ; two Educa- tionists one an Englishman, the other an Indian have been appointed to the Secretary of State's Council. One is acquainted with the system of education in British India, and the other under- stands the educational policy of the premier Indian Prince. ' Educate, educate, educate,' is 30 THE PRESENT TROUBLES the cry. Yes, educate certainly ; but what is the education to be ? To allay the present discontent the rising generation must be taught the benefits of the British rule in India. The present genera- tion has forgotten how India fared under the heels of the Mahratta Cavalry one hundred years ago ; they have never troubled themselves to think of the blessings which they enjoy under British rule, and it was gross negligence on the part of British rulers not to tell the modern youth what has been done for their predecessors and for them, and how much they owe to the alien Government whom they denounce so glibly. So far there hardly exist half a dozen works on the subject of the benefits of British rule which might be made text-books in Indian schools and colleges. There are other obvious points in which reform is possible without any special knowledge of India. Higher qualifications must be required in the officers, whether English or Indian, recruited for the Education Department, and, if gentlemen of adequate calibre cannot be obtained for the pay hitherto sanctioned, salaries must be raised sufficiently to attract ; the Depart- ment must not be discouraged or allowed to have grounds for imputing broken faith, by the super- session of the entire Department and the introduc- tion of an outsider from the Indian Civil Service to fill the post of Director, as was done in Bengal ; the standards must be raised rather than lowered; above all, the students must be required to reside REQUIREMENTS 31 in the colleges, and, if possible, at the schools also ; similar residence must be required for the Principals and Professors, whose services should be dispensed with, without scruple, if they showed themselves unwilling to associate with the students or incapable of exerting a beneficial influence over them. It is far from my wish to advocate harsh measures, but those who engage themselves for the Education Service should be required to make themselves acquainted with the conditions thereof, which they would be free to accept or reject. There would be no difficulty in indicating other mistakes which have been allowed to take root in the various branches of Education in India higher, secondary, or primary and in suggesting remedies, but the subject of Education has already taken up more space than was intended. Whereas mistakes have occurred through precipitancy or want of adequate information, it behoves the authorities, when bent on reform, to act with deliberation, and not to act without gaining all the information possible and taking advice from the Indian point of view. An immense responsibility lies upon the Government in its Education Department, for it is not too much to say that, through the mismanagement in the past, the rising generation has become imbued, in so many instances, with the seditious views which have given rise to the present troubles. In considering the general remedies which 32 THE PRESENT TROUBLES can, and will have to, be applied to heal the present troubles, the question naturally arises whether they have been caused by any specific grievance or shortcomings in the admin- istration, at the root of which it is possible to strike. In the disturbances, for instance, which have occurred, the rioters have always come into collision with the Police, and have displayed an animosity to that force which can hardly be accounted for by the simple explanation that it is the representative of law and order, and there- fore the object of attack. The Police are notori- ously unpopular throughout India. In England the Police are, on the whole, a popular body, and the presumption is in favour of the Police ; in India the presumption is the other way. Is there any reason for the difference ? It conies back after all to the inferior education and the ,4 I consequently inferior morale of the lower orders of the Indian Police Force. Recruited as they are from the uneducated classes, they naturally have the defects of those classes ; given a pay which, in or near the large towns, is often less than the wages earned by the coolies in the great mills and factories, often employed in isolated positions in the interior of the country under little supervision, with ample opportunities for the committal of acts of petty tyranny and pilfering, it is not surprising that the rank and file of the Indian Police Force bear a very bad name for dishonesty and corruption, and that UNPOPULARITY OF THE POLICE 33 they often are positively loathed by the general community. In the higher and better educated ranks corruption is rarer, or more skilfully con- cealed, but it would not be an excess of language to say that the Police Force is regarded as a terror throughout the country. Their unpopu- larity necessarily reacts upon the Government, who are held responsible in the public mind for employing such terrible myrmidons. A Police Commission sat a few years ago and presented an exhaustive report. Some changes have been introduced, some salaries have been increased, and it is hoped that in due course the improve- ments effected in their pay and prospects will produce a force animated by a better morale. Such improvements take time to come into operation, and they are so costly that they can only be carried out gradually, as funds are avail- able. Meanwhile the Government cannot alto- gether escape from the animus prevailing against the Police Force as at present constituted. The worst of it is that the Police are, and are likely to remain, the chief means by which the Government, through the District Officers, obtain information of what is going on throughout the country generally, apart from their particular departmental duties in the detection of crime. Until the Government provide themselves with some better means of obtaining information than the subordinate Police they will never obtain a real grasp 3 34 THE PRESENT TROUBLES of the thoughts that are in the minds of the people at large. The financial difficulty, to which allusion has just been made, is a very old story, arresting and retarding, as it does, many improvements and developments which would confessedly be to the advantage of the country. It may be admitted that for many years the finances of the Indian Government have, as a whole, been admirably managed, though there is ample room for difference of opinion on questions both of principle and of detail. The magnitude and increase of the Military Budget has always been a sore point, except with those directly responsible for the efficiency of the Army. It would require more special knowledge than I possess to offer an opinion of any weight on the question whether proper value is obtained for the great annual outlay provided for by the Military Budget. But it is open to any layman to express the hope that the recent agreement with Russia will admit of retrenchments in the military expenditure for some years to come. It surely will be possible now to avoid the expenditure that the greater concentration of troops on the North- West Frontier, which was understood to be contemplated, would entail, whether in the cost of new barracks or in increased cost of maintenance, or in the substi- tution of military or ordinary Police required to maintain order in the parts of the country denuded THE FINANCES 35 of troops. It was satisfactory to see a Calcutta telegram in the Times of January 10 to the effect that the Rawalpindi- Kohat line was ready for through traffic, a new bridge over the Indus at Kushalgarh being opened, but that the project of extending the railway into the Kuram Valley as a strategical line connected with the defence of India had been indefinitely postponed. Any such savings possible in the military expen- diture may be required during the present and following years to pay for the famine with which the United Provinces specially, and other Provinces in a lesser degree, are unfortu- nately afflicted. The gradual shrinkage in the net opium revenue will also have to be met. But the revenues of India are expanding as the administration is improved, as civilization pro- gresses, and the population increases, so that the shrinkage will be met, it is anticipated, as it occurs by the improvement in the railway receipts and general revenues, always supposing that no physical calamity, like famine, affects a large area or is abnormally severe. So flourishing, in fact, have been the revenues during the last few years that it has been found possible to make remissions of taxation, especially of the salt tax, to the great relief of the poorer classes. Taxation can never be more popular in India than elsewhere. The difference between the English and Indian systems of raising the Government revenue in India is well known. 32 36 THE PRESENT TROUBLES For the old Indian system under which the collection of the revenue fluctuated between extremes from the maximum which rapacity could extract in prosperous times to total remisson in hard times the English substituted a system of moderate assessments to be rigidly enforced. The difference between the two systems has been always so marked, especially in the collection of the land revenue, that Indians, while gratefully recognizing the modera- tion, perhaps rather chuckling over it in pros- perous times, have never ceased to complain of the rigidity introduced by the English. The tendency of the Government of late years has been to reduce the rigidity and to give greater scope for graduations of assessment and enhance- ment ; also for suspensions and temporary and permanent remissions of revenue. Thus in time of famine, among the measures of relief, the non- exaction of the due instalment of the land- revenue-demand, and the offer of advances for well-digging, are among the first to be applied. So far as this tendency is a concession to Indian ideas, it is an acknowledgment that those ideas are ingrained in the people and the conditions of India, and that it is better to act upon them than to ignore what is ineradicable. It is an instance of sympathy being translated into action. The change has been introduced in consequence of wiser counsels prevailing through a better acquaintance with the facts of the COW-KILLING RIOTS 37 problem possibly in acknowledgment of the failure of rigidity. This is the cause for which I plead that the English Government should acquire better information all round, and should pay more attention to Indian ideas, to which the people are accustomed, and which have endured so long that their survival affords at any rate some presumption of their suitability to the country. Indian ideas may be scouted as Oriental pre- judices, but, unless they are sympathetically regarded, the Government will never get at the fundamental truth. I have before now advocated that the Govern- ment of India, both in England and in India, should not be above taking a hint from the systems of administration prevalent in the Native States, where efficiency is the first object. Some years ago parts of British India were much dis- turbed by cow-killing riots, which are always likely to break out again on the recurrence of certain annual festivals, or even without them. The Hindus object entirely to the slaughter of kine, animals which they hold to be sacred. The Mahomedans, on the other hand, eat beef freely ; and in places where religious feeling runs high between the two creeds, this question of the slaughter of the animals held sacred by one party, and required for food by the other, leads to serious disturbances and human bloodshed. The British power has to interfere to keep the peace, and generally does so by some compromise, such as 38 THE PRESENT TROUBLES the seclusion of slaughter-houses, which satisfies neither side. In Native States there are not, and never have been, any cow-killing riots. The ex- planation is simple. The Vernacular Press in Native States does not enjoy the same license as in British India. In the latter the Hindu uses all the paraphernalia (leaflets, pamphlets, etc.) of a Free Press to express his hatred of the Maho- medans, and vice versa ; the result is that racial hatred is excited to such a pitch that the rival religions have recourse to violent measures ; they break each other's heads till the authorities come to disperse them. As there is no such thing as a Free Press in the Native States, there is nothing to foment racial or religious hatred. It was, therefore, most refreshing to read, in connexion with the selection of an officer to act as Foreign Secretary in 1908, that ' in making the selection particular regard was had to the necessity for bringing the Native States into sympathetic rela- tions with the Government, and to the establish- ment of the new Advisory Councils on lines which would commend themselves to the Chiefs. For this an officer was wanted who, in addition to being in touch with the thoughts and aspira- tions of the Indian aristocracy, should possess an intimate practical knowledge of Indian admin- istration in its different branches.' As the officer selected was not in the Political Depart- ment, but in the ordinary line, and had there- fore had no more opportunity of being in touch INDIAN ASPIRATIONS 39 with the thoughts and aspirations of the Indian aristocracy than any other District Officer in all India had had, the choice was somewhat of a reflection on the whole Political Department thus passed over, and it suggested that the Political officers those who are accredited to the Native States were not particularly pro- ficient in their business. If this is the case, it is much to be lamented. If the Native States have still to be brought into sympathetic relations with the Government, how is this to be effected by the selection, as the new Foreign Secretary, the special mouthpiece of the Viceroy, of an officer who has not worked among the Native States ? As District Officer of Lucknow he may know all about the Oudh Talukdars, who are a kind of superior land-holders, possessed of not very ancient titles to their estates, but they are not Chiefs or Rulers of Native States. The ex- planation volunteered ' doth protest too much, methinks,' as the Queen says in ' Hamlet,' and may give rise to some misunderstanding, besides irritating the whole Political Department. How- ever, be that as it may, it was gratifying that some regard should be shown for the Native States, and for the thoughts and aspirations of the Indian aristocracy. Now is the time for the Native Chiefs and Indian aristocracy to come forward and take full advantage of the opportunities to be afforded them of co-operating with the Govern- ment, and to show that they can give the Govern- 40 THE PRESENT TROUBLES ment the best information of native thought and sentiment. There is surely nothing in this last indication of the policy of the Viceroy with which any of the English political parties can desire to interfere. Party politics of England have been responsible for great errors in the Government of India. The vacillation in the Frontier Policy of the Government of India is due to Party pressure from England. It is notorious that for the want of a fixed Frontier Policy, the Government of India have wasted millions of the poor Indian taxpayer's money in the defence of the Afghan frontier. Governors- General and Viceroys have been recalled and retired from India according to the exigencies of Party politics in England. I need not refer to the treatment meted out to Warren Hastings. The case of Lord Lytton is yet fresh in the minds of the public both in India and in this country. The interests of poor India are seldom thought of when Whigs and Tories fight for their respective Parties in England. Unionists, in their eagerness for tariff war with Germany, forget the interests of India. They do not pause to consider that without India there is no British Empire. The Radicals, in their zeal for ' reforms,' forget that India is not England. India suffers in the sport of Party politics of British statesmen. It has often been urged that India should be excluded from Party questions in Parliament, PARTY POLITICS 41 but in practice it is hard to prevent an Opposi- tion from endeavouring to make capital, at the expense of the Government in power, out of some occurrence in India. The late Sir John Strachey stated (and nobody was in a better position to know the truth) that it was a foolish calumny to suppose that the real motive for the abolition, between 1879 and 1882, of the duties on the import of cotton into India was the Party purpose of obtaining political support in Lanca- shire, and not any care for the interests of India. There can, however, be no doubt that this view was taken at the time by many people in England and in India, and that many persons would even now demand some proof, something more than a bold assertion from the gentleman mainly respon- sible in India for the measure ; the mere suspicion and repetition of the charge was quite sufficient to injure the good name of the Government. There has, unfortunately, been another matter of great importance in which the Liberal Party can hardly escape the charge of being guided by Party principles in their dealing with India, rather than by a sole consideration for the good of the country. The Vernacular Press Act of 1878 was passed by Lord Lytton's Government, with the sanction of the Secretary of State for India (who required its amendment in one re- spect), and, while it remained in force, it proved very effective in curbing the undue license of the Vernacular newspapers, though it could not 42 THE PRESENT TROUBLES be said that they were prevented from expressing themselves quite freely so long as they restrained their language within the limits of fair and decent criticism. The Act above mentioned was bitterly denounced by Mr. Gladstone and his Party as an infringement of the liberty of the Press ; all the time-worn vituperation of which those gentle- men were capable was discharged against the authors of this Act. Mr. Gladstone probably had no notion, and never paused for a moment to consider, what views were held in India re- garding the freedom of the Press, which is, indeed, and always has been, an idea absolutely beyond the conception of all but a small proportion of the inhabitants of India. An unbridled Press is altogether unknown in the Native States ; if the newspaper editors indulge in personal attacks on the ruler or his ministers, or make themselves otherwise offensive, there is no hesitation in deport- ing them beyond the limits of the State ; no trouble is taken to prosecute the offender ; he is simply ejected. This was the old practice, and it is maintained to the present day. In spite, how- ever, of the Indian view regarding the freedom of the Press, and notwithstanding all the evidence adduced to show the harm being done through- out the country in 1878 (as now, in 1908), by the unchecked license of the Press, Mr. Gladstone had the Vernacular Press Act repealed by Lord Ripon, who went out to India as Viceroy in 1880. Since that time the Sedition sections in the SEDITION 43 Penal Code have been strengthened, but their inefficiency to restrain the Vernacular Press within limits of moderate and fair criticism has been abundantly proved in the stormy time through which India has been passing. If in the prosecutions for Sedition under the Indian Penal Code in Bengal, in 1907, the accused had not apologized and had their apologies accepted, by which they escaped all punishment, there would have been formal trials, with all the attendant evils of publicity, speeches of counsel attacking the Government, and the glorified martyrdom of the offenders. Surely the milder but more certain procedure of the Vernacular .Press Act, by which the offending Vernacular newspaper could be suppressed, was better for all concerned. During Lord Lytton's adminis- tration* that Act was only once applied. The publisher of the Som Prakdsh was called upon to give security that he would not again publish seditious writings. He gave the bond, but he closed his paper. In the following year he made his submission, and was allowed to re-issue his paper. Until some such effective procedure as was provided hi that Act is re-established, there will always be a liability to outbursts of license on the part of the Vernacular Press. During the disturbances in 1907, many persons, speaking * ' Lord Lytton's Indian Administration/ by Lady Betty Balfour, p. 521. 44 THE PRESENT TROUBLES and writing with complete knowledge of India, have come forward to advocate strong measures being adopted towards the Vernacular Press ; but nothing has been done. In the Times of January 5, 1908, there appeared the following paragraph regarding 'A Bengali Press Prosecution,' which may be quoted at length : 'At the Calcutta Police-Court last month Baikuntha Chandra Acharji, the printer and publisher of the Yugantar newspaper, was charged with sedition in reference to an article urging the Sikh soldiery to mutiny. Mr. Kings- ford, the Chief Presidency Magistrate, held the article to be so mischievous that he refused permission for a copy of the English translation put in by the official translator to be taken for reproduction in the newspapers. In the course of his judgment, Mr. Kingsford said there could be no doubt that the accused had published a series of seditious articles in pursuance of a settled plan of action. He pleaded that he was ignorant of their authorship. Whether or not this was the truth he was at any rate responsible for the fact that they had appeared in print. The history of the Yugantar in the last few months exhibited the impotence of Government to deal with this class of publication under the existing law. In the interests of good government and good order, the paper ought long ago to have been suppressed. It was difficult to measure the harm likely to MR. MORLEY'S SPEECH 45 result from such an article as that charged when it was translated and circulated, as presumably it was intended to be, amongst the soldiery to whom it was addressed. While the law remained in its present state, there was little reason to doubt that the party of disorder would, on the guarantee of a sufficient indemnity, conceal the real culprits and procure another catspaw to take the prisoner's place. The accused was sentenced to two months' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000, or, in default, to six months' additional rigorous imprisonment.' Mr. Morley explained at Arbroath, on Octo- ber 21, 1907, why nothing had been done in the direction of strong measures towards the Ver- nacular Press. He said : * We have not allowed ourselves I speak of the Indian Government to be hurried into the policy of repression. I say this to what I would call the idealist party, and in spite of nonsense that I read in some quarters that ought to know better about apathy and supineness. We will not be hurried into repression any more than we will be hurried into the other direction. Then the other party, which finds a very good voice, which is very vocal in this country, say : " But, oh ! we are astonished, and India is astonished, and it is time that India is astonished and amazed at the license that you extend to newspapers and to speakers ; why don't you stop it?" Orientals, they say, do not understand it. Yes, but just let us look at that. We are not 46 THE PRESENT TROUBLES Orientals ; that is the root of the matter. We are in India. We English, Scotch, and Irish are in India because we are not Orientals, and if I am told that the Oriental view is that they cannot understand that the Press are allowed to write what they like, well, experiments may fail ; but, anyhow, that is a Western experiment which we are going to try, not only through this Government, but through other Governments. We are representatives, not of Oriental civiliza- tion, but of Western civilization of its methods, its principles, its practices ; and I for one will not be hurried into an excessive haste for re- pression by the argument that Orientals do not understand this toleration.' The answer to this speech is that repression is not desired, but that regulation by some simple process is desirable. The case is a typical one, as showing how India is governed ; it is particularly edifying, as the one case exhibits two principles at work, though they may not be avowed. The first principle emerging from the facts is that India is governed on Party lines. The Conservatives passed the Vernacular Press Act ; the Liberals promptly repealed it. The freedom of the Press is a Liberal cry, so nothing will induce the Liberals in power to impose any restrictions on the Press, however much they may be advised and urged to do so. The other principle is that, when the Government of the day chooses, Western ex- periments are to be tried in India, however AN INCONSISTENCY 47 much they may be opposed to Oriental ideas ; and this, too, although the same speaker, Mr. Morley, a few minutes before he used the words just quoted, had said : ' Because a particular policy or principle is true and expedient and vital in certain definite circumstances, therefore it is equally true and vital in a completely different set of circumstances. A very dangerous and gross fallacy.' Having just pointed out the fallacy in this very plain manner, Mr. Morley at once proceeded to say that a Western experi- ment the freedom of the Press was to be continued in India, the circumstances of which country are as different as possible from those of England. The inconsistency was too glaring to escape observation. Is it not clear and notorious that the interests- of India are not really served by allowing the poisonous matter published in the Vernacular Press daily and weekly to be disseminated broadcast throughout the country, setting the people against the rulers, class against class, race against race, breathing hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness in every line, tainted with the most bitter animosity ? No one wants to prevent the Vernacular newspapers from criti- cizing freely and fearlessly, but when lies are deliberately published, with the obvious intent to injure Government ; when dissatisfaction and disloyalty are preached with impunity ; when sedition is openly justified, it surely is time for the Government to stop such an abuse of the 48 THE PRESENT TROUBLES freedom of the Press. The Home Member of the Supreme Council in India at the St. Andrew's dinner in Calcutta, as reported in the Times of December 24, 1907, gave some excuses for the course pursued by the Government of India in trusting to the enforcement of the ordinary law that is, to persecutions under the Sedition sections of the Penal Code ; but it was easy to see from his speech that the hands of the Government of India were tied by the decision of Mr. Morley, to the effect that no special action against the Vernacular Press would be permitted. India has to thank Mr. Morley for sanctioning the use of the deportation pro- cedure, under Regulation III. of 1818, in certain cases in the Panjab last year. Now deportation is the Oriental method, whereas trial by jury is the English method. Thus Mr. Morley can (very properly) sanction the use of an Oriental method, the efficiency of which is palpable and has been demonstrated by examples ; but when it is suggested that Oriental ideas should be applied to check the license of the Press, he takes the line that Oriental ideas must give way to a Western experiment, though he has himself just proclaimed the fallacy of such a course. Again, poor India is allowed to suffer while such dialectics are practised. Not only are Oriental thought and opinion thus deliberately disre- garded, even when supported by a large section of English opinion, but Indian feelings are con- LORD CURZON 49 stantly being ignored or overridden. When all is said, the result is that the license of the Vernacular Press is tolerated in India by the English Government to an extent which no Oriental Power would dream of allowing: the Oriental cannot and never will consider such toleration to be an indication of strength, he regards it as part of the unintelligible conduct of the Sirkar ; he attributes it to weakness, and the seditious and discontented find a means ready to hand for attacking the English with impunity ; the few prosecutions have had little or no effect. Lord Curzon tried his best to remove the causes of friction between Europeans and the masses in India. The most important measure was the Shooting Rules, specifying the conditions under which British soldiers may go out with rifles in pursuit of game. This regulation, when properly carried out, prevents collisions between soldiers and natives, because they ensure due precautions being taken for the protection of the lives of the natives and their crops. Lord Curzon, even at the risk of annoying his Englishmen, did a great deal to conciliate the native millions. His Lordship made over to the followers of the Prophet the sacred Moti Masjid (the Pearl Mosque) in the Palace at Lahore. The Choti Khwabgah in the fort is no longer a church, the Dewan-i-am is no longer a barrack. The railway office has been removed from the Dai Anga mosque at Lahore. At Bijapur, 4 50 THE PRESENT TROUBLES under Lord Curzon's orders, a traveller's bunga- low and a British post office were removed from Moslem places of worship. At Lucknow a mosque was recovered and made over to the people. At Mandalay the church and the club were removed from the gilded throne rooms of the Burmese Kings. Lord Curzon never claimed to be infallible. On the other hand, in his speech at Derby, on the occasion of the Presentation of the Freedom of the Borough of Derby, his Lordship said : ' I am not so bold as to say that we make no mistakes in India. Idaresay we make a great many. I am quite willing to claim a most liberal share for myself. Our rule is sometimes inflexible and harsh and unyielding, or, if it is not so, it appears to be so to the people. It is so difficult to understand them; it is so much more difficult some- times to get them to understand us. The points of view of the governor and the governed, and still more of the Asiatic and the European, are so wide apart that one hardly knows where to find a hyphen to connect them. . . . For my own part, I think the highest duty that a ruler of India can set before himself is to create, if I may so describe them, special interpreters between the people and our- selves, to explain our ideas to them and theirs to us.' Unfortunately Lord Curzon made a great mistake in holding the elephant procession of the Coronation Durbar at Delhi on the fast-day of AN OVERSIGHT 51 the Ramazan a sacred fast of 62,000,000 of Mahomedan British subjects. There was no particular reason why that Durbar should be on the first of January, considering that the Coronation had been held in England in the month of August previous. There was no reason for celebrating the Coronation of the new King-Emperor on the anniversary of the Imperial Assemblage (which was held for a different purpose) on January 1. But there was every reason to avoid giving offence to a large proportion of the persons engaged in various parts of the ceremony. What would have been said if the Indians had asked for the tamdsha to be held on Christmas Day, or Good Friday, or on a Sunday ? No doubt the fixture of the elephant procession for a Mahomedan fast- day was an oversight ; it could hardly have been meant for an intentional slight. But why was there any oversight at all ? The respon- sibility was his Foreign Secretary's. English- men in India are such birds of passage, things are so quickly forgotten, that a similar mistake may easily recur. A suggestion, then, may be made to prevent its recurrence. Let a Standing Order be laid down for observance in every office to this effect, that ' No date is to be fixed for any official ceremony until inquiry has been made from responsible representatives of each section of the community whether there is any reasonable objection to the date proposed.' 42 52 THE PRESENT TROUBLES A decalogue of such Standing Orders might be framed with advantage, and an officer charged with their due observance ; they would do some good in reducing the number of ignorant mistakes. Other illustrations of the effect of such mistakes can be given. When a Viceroy on tour was visiting a Mahomedan State during the time of the Mohurrum (when the Mahomedans are in mourning), it pleased His Excellency to want to shoot a tiger. The arrangements had to be made for fear of displeasing the great man, but the whole of the Mahomedan population was inconvenienced and annoyed, so that no pleasant recollection of the Viceroy's visit was left behind on his departure. Again, the Government decided to depose a ruling Native Chief for improperly administering his State. If judiciously done, this act would have gained the gratitude of all who had been the victims of his oppression. But the day selected by the authorities for the deposition was a Hindu fast-day, the eleventh day of the moon ; the gratitude of the Hindus for the deposition of the tyrant was therefore entirely lost. The Partition of Bengal was carried out during the annual festival period in Lower Bengal ; this fact added to the annoyance which was either spontaneously felt by many persons, or artificially exaggerated by political opponents to the Partition policy. Every one remembers the terrible (and admitted) mistake made in the BAD MANNERS 43 use of certain kinds of animal fat for the lubrica- tion of rifle cartridges which led to the Mutiny of 1857. No one supposes that the authorities ever intended to insult the religious scruples of the Sepoys. But the mistake was sufficiently serious for designing agitators to exploit it and use it for their own sinister purposes. The moral of it all is that the English have only themselves, their ignorance of the country, their carelessness, their hauteur, their self-confidence, to thank for the greater portion of the troubles with which they have had to contend. It is probably very rare for an Englishman to be deliberately rude to an Indian gentleman of any rank, or of no rank at all, who pays him a visit. But, from my personal knowledge, I can say that there have been, and are, English officers in India in the various services whom respectable Indian gentle- men have avoided, and avoid visiting, whether on business or as an act of respect to their position, for fear of the discourtesy to which they might be exposed. The English are not always well-mannered among themselves. There is an old story, dating back to the time of the present King-Emperor's visit to India more than thirty- two years ago, when a good deal was being said about the treatment of the natives of India a favourite subject with journalists and travelling M.P.'s. A distinguished Anglo-Indian officer, since dead, said to another : ' How can we be expected to be agreeable to the natives when we 54 THE PRESENT TROUBLES are so disagreeable to one another ?' Be this as it may, and recognizing the fact that Indians are sensitive, timorous, and ill-versed in the require- ments of English etiquette, it should be im- pressed on all Europeans in India that they would gain enormously in personal influence and success by cultivating a truly courteous and con- ciliatory manner in intercourse with natives of all classes. There may be occasions when there is some difference of opinion on some official matter, and firmness on the part of the official is requisite ; it is all the more necessary for him to be on his best behaviour, and to lose no diplo- matic advantage by an exhibition of patience or discourtesy, for which the Indian languages have plenty of proverbs. Just now I suggested a decalogue : if the term is not approved of, let ' Golden Rules ' be substituted. The following may be included as an important one of the series : ' Every English- man in India should treat the natives as he would treat the guests in his own or his father's house.' He will find himself repaid for so doing. It has been said that gratitude is not to be expected from an Indian. On the other hand, the very contrary has been asserted namely, that Indians are exceedingly prone to feelings of gratitude. The truth probably is that general statements should not be based on limited observation or information. Political agitators, who, after a long course of agitation, think they GRATITUDE 55 have succeeded in extracting from the English a greater number of the paid appointments, more seats in the Legislative Councils, a more liberal form of Government (including the right of inter- pellation), are avowedly ungrateful because they have failed to obtain all the concessions they have demanded, including the impossible one of outvoting the Government ; as they are not satisfied they decline to express gratitude for what they have obtained. Some servants have shown ingratitude to their masters ; others have, in gratitude for kindness, preserved English lives in times of danger. No general eulogy or libel of the whole community can be formulated from a few known instances. Possibly the cynical view is correct that gratitude depends on a sense of favours to come. But this could be predicated of Europeans as well as of Indians. It is hardly possible for the English to understand the workings of the Indian mind ; the Indians are adepts at psychology. Some clever Englishman has said : ' If you want to know how an Oriental would regard a question, consider what an Englishman would think of it an Oriental will think exactly the opposite.' When an English- man expects gratitude, the Indian does not see why he should be grateful ; but he is so in other ways when the Englishman might see no need for it. As their education and experience pro- gress the Indians expect to receive a greater equality of treatment with Englishmen than they 56 THE PRESENT TROUBLES have hitherto been allowed. They can fully appreciate the argument that they should be paid somewhat less than Europeans for filling the same appointments in India, as they have y,not to submit to exile from home and family, with all its attendant disadvantages. (For the same reason the Indian Members of the Council of India should be granted higher pay than the English Members.) But any distinctions on the grounds of race, creed, or colour they entirely fail to appreciate ; in fact, they are disposed to resent them. In the Civil Departments much has already been done to abolish inequalities, and too rapid an advance would not be wise, until the fitness of those who have entered where they previously had been excluded has been thoroughly estab- lished. It is in the Army that the distinctions are more particularly maintained. No native officer, though his breast may be covered with medals, may rise above a certain position of corresponding rank, not rank in the same list as the English officer. Above all, the rewards for similar conduct are not the same. It seems hardly credible that, however bravely he may risk his life, the native Sepoy is unable, being a native, to obtain the Victoria Cross, which would be awarded to the English soldier or officer under similar circumstances, but must be con- tent with the Indian Order of Merit. His Majesty the King-Emperor could perform no act NO NATIVE V.C. 57 which would have a greater effect in strengthen- ing the loyalty of the Native Army than by conferring V.C.'s, instead of the Native Order, for acts of bravery performed by Sepoys which would have won the decoration for English officers or soldiers. The selection of a limited number of Indian orderlies to attend on the King-Emperor in England for a few months annually is an excellent method of rewarding merit, and encouraging loyalty in the Native Army. At the same time, even in this matter, it must be remembered that these native soldiers are strangers in a strange land, far from all their home and professional surroundings, and that they will report, on their return to India, accord- ing to the treatment that they may receive in England. They would attach much more im- portance to a sympathetic regard for their personal wants in such matters as their devotions, food, ablutions, than to entertainments or invita- tions to great functions. The officers in charge of them have a serious responsibility ; they can win the hearts of these selected representatives of the Indian Army by showing real and practical sympathy with their wants, or can alienate them by their coldness and hauteur. The personality of the Sovereign is, and always will be, a potent y magnet to attract the loyalty of Indians of every degree. It is not mere adulation, it is not the hope of personal favours that attracts Indians ; it is that they can see the embodiment of Power. 58 THE PRESENT TROUBLES They have been for centuries habituated to the idea of a personal ruler ; autocracy, not to say despotism, is familiar to the Oriental ; autocracy is the keynote of the Government of the Native States. Representative Government, delibera- tive and Legislative Councils, were an unknown y thought to India until the idea was introduced by the English. The village panchaycts, or local juries to decide local matters, were the nearest approach to the idea, but were essentially different from it. That autocratic India should be governed by the fancies of an English demo- cracy seems as topsy-turvy as a Gilbertian drama. The intricacies of the British Constitution are somewhat beyond the comprehension of the average Indian ; the millions of India could not grasp them. The more the Sovereign can place himself in evidence as the fountain of honour, though as King-Emperor he does not personally govern India, the more will he appeal to Indian ideas, the more potent will his name be to con- jure with. It would be impossible for the King to govern more directly, as he would not have the time or the knowledge to attend to the affairs of his world- wide Empire. It has before now been suggested that a member of the Royal Family should be appointed perpetual Viceroy of India ; but there is much to be said against the suggestion. The Royal Family can hardly ,- descend into the arena of politics. Lord Ellen- borough, when Governor-General of India, RACIAL FEELING 59 was recalled by the Court of Directors, and within the last thirty-five years more than one Viceroy of India has resigned his office through inability to pull well with the English Party in power. It would not be seemly or desirable for , a Royal Prince to be exposed to such treatment. '' At any rate, the want of such an arrangement as the suggestion contemplates is not even re- motely connected with the present trouble, so the matter need not be further considered here. There are plenty of causes, all contributing to the present unrest, which have long been in operation, and so long as they continue to operate there may be a recrudescence of the troubles. Racial antipathy has long existed, and may at any moment be fanned into flames by agitation ; as, perhaps, the most radical cause of the troubles it may be the hardest to cure. Opportunities for the exhibition of racial feeling are constantly occurring ; indeed, they are never absent. For instance, in the common matter of railway travelling there are constant rows (to use the ordinary term) between Europeans and \ Indians, engendered by nothing else than racial prejudices. To the credit of the Indian Civil Service, it must be said that its members are, seldom the offenders in this matter, but the same cannot be said of other classes of Europeans. ' The records of the numerous fracas surely in- dicate something seriously wrong. The Indian Civilians, being recruited through severe com- 60 THE PRESENT TROUBLES petitive examinations, are for the most part men of considerable ability, and, as ordinarily, they alone can fill the appointments which are in- cluded in a schedule of a certain Statute, they necessarily must rise to the highest positions in the country. But there can be no doubt that, for one cause or another, the Civil Service does not occupy the same pre-eminent position that it used to hold, and it would be interesting, to say the least, to investigate the reasons of this change. I have had occasion to comment elsewhere on the low standard of knowledge of Indian Ian- guages which passes muster even among the Civilians, and I cannot but regard this as an appreciable cause of the gulf between the rulers and the ruled. No personal vigour or energy will compensate for a difficulty in communicating with the people, and unless their language is understood it is obviously impossible to penetrate their minds. Administrative changes in the right direction should do some good, but all the improvements contemplated cannot be introduced at once ; more money is required, and, unless the cost of famines and military expenditure can be reduced, the finances may not be able to afford all the desirable developments. It is most important to keep down taxation to the lowest possible limits. No changes will, however, do any good , unless the principles upon which India is to be governed are decided, and firmly maintained in THE PRINCIPLES NECESSARY 61 spite of seditious agitation and questions in Parliament. The maintenance of peace, law, and order is the first essential, without which no progress can be made. Next in importance comes the spirit in which the administration is -. to be conducted. Is sympathy to be merely an ideal, or is it to have practical results ? If so, O how is it to be translated into action ? Are native ideas merely to be considered to be put aside, or will they be allowed to prevail, or must they be subordinated to 'Western experiments' ? In the interests of the highest humanity Sati, female infanticide, and other inhuman practices have been abolished by the strong arm of English power, and no one can say now that the English were wrong in their suppression of such practices. But other * Western experiments ' enter upon much more debatable ground, and educated Indians are not satisfied at seeing Oriental ideas thrust aside to suit the Party principles of English politics. Little good will be done by obtaining the better information and knowledge of Indian thought, sentiment, and aspirations which is absolutely essential if the grievous mistakes which have been made in past times through ignorance or indifference are not to be repeated if such information and knowledge, when obtained, are not properly utilized. The whole system of Education must be reorganized, though the cost thereof may be considerable. And when all this is being done the Indians will 62 THE PRESENT TROUBLES have their own part to play. They cannot but be aware of the defects of character to which they are considered to be liable, for they are constantly being reminded of them in every way ; and it is for them to take such admonitions in good part, and to subject themselves to a process of purification analogous to that which Count Okuma claimed to have been effected in Buddhism in Japan. How can they hope to succeed when they make such exhibitions of themselves, and of their incapacity for self-government, that the Times could write of the disgraceful scenes which wrecked the meeting of the Indian National Congress at Surat as 'having once more shown how unfitted even the most " Westernized " Indians still are for the duties and responsi- bilities of representative institutions ' ? When all is said and done, the conflict of interests in India, and in regard to India, will always render it liable to temporary troubles, though it is not necessary that there should be outbreaks of violence. It will require not only the highest statesman- ship, but the co-operation of the educated classes and the teeming millions, to keep differences of , aim and opinion from assuming formidable proportions. The highest statesmanship avail- able in England at the present moment in various Departments of the Imperial Govern- ment failed to solve in a manner satisfactory to India the question of the Indian immigrants INDIANS IN THE TRANSVAAL 63 in the Transvaal. The Imperial Government, in carrying out their South African policy, and in order to please a few million Colonials and Boers, agreed to the forcible return to India of a very few thousand Indian immigrants who had been allowed to repair to the Transvaal, trusting to the protection of the Indian and Imperial Governments. What is likely to be said and thought, in the bazars frequented by the 300,000,000 of India, of such treatment of their subjects by the Imperial Government, which the Indian Government could not prevent? Such treatment inevitably would have led, as a contributory cause, to further 'troubles in India.' No two matters have done more injury to the reputation of England in India as a just nation than the cotton duties and the treatment of British-Indians in the Transvaal. ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING IT has become a fashion with * reformers ' to spend a few weeks in India, and there either to write a book suggesting 'reforms,' or to make speeches prescribing panaceas for all existing evils in India. Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., has followed this practice. While in India he was convinced that a ' Colonial form of Self-Govern- ment was best suited to India.' He was ' doing ' India under the guidance of some of the leaders of the Indian National Congress. A silver cup was presented to him by Mr. S. N. Banerji, of Bengal ' Coronation ' fame, one of the promi- nent leaders of the Congress. On November 4, 1907, Mr. Keir Hardie met the members of the Madras Mahajana Sabha at their premises, and assured them in these words : ' I am here to investigate the conditions which prevail in India. I am here principally because I have some remnants of conscience in me, which is somewhat rare in a politician.' (Cheers and laughter.) I think it was Madame de Stael who said : ' The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it.' It was Selden who re- 64 THE BANDE MA TAR AM 65 marked : * He that hath a scrupulous conscience is like a horse that is not well weighed ; he starts at every bird that flies out of the hedge.' That is exactly what Mr. Keir Hardie did in India. He did not care to pause and consider what he was doing. He is reported to have shouted the Bande Mataram. There is no doubt that he believed it to be an innocent national song a sort of a Bengali National Anthem. What is the Bande Mataram ? Bankim Chandra Chatterji was a great Bengali novelist. By caste a Bengali Brahman, he was the first native of India to take the B.A. degree in 1858. He served the British Government for about thirty years as a Deputy Magistrate, and retired in 1891 with honours Rai Bahadur and a C.I.E. He died in 1894 at the age of fifty-six. He published about a dozen Bengali novels, and is a great favourite with the educated Bengalis, who delight in calling him the * Scott of Bengal.' In 1882 about the time of the Ilbert Bill agitation Bankim published a Bengali novel called the Anandamatha. The plot referred to the Sannyasi Rebellion of 1772, near Purneah, Tirhoot, and Dinapur. The Sannyasi (lit. fakirs, or hermits) were a set of lawless ban- ditti, who, in 'bodies of 5,000 men, went oni burning, plundering, and ravaging ' parts of Bengal.* * Accounts of this rebellion will be found in Gleig's 'Memoirs'; Warren Hastings' letter to Sir George Cole- 66 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING The Anandamatha occupies 211 pages. In it Bankim introduces a song as a national war-cry, which begins with the Sanskrit words Bande Mataram. This song made Bankim famous in Bengal, as the Marseillaise immortalized Claude Rouget de Lisle in France. Like the author of the French song, the Bengali novelist composed the Bande Mataram in a fit of patriotic excite- ment after a good hearty dinner, which he always enjoyed. It was set to Hindu music, known as Mallar-Kdwali-Tal. The extra- ordinarily stirring character of the air and its ingenious assimilation of Bengali passages with Sanskrit served to make it popular. Bankim was a follower of European models, and was as familiar with the writings of Rousseau and Voltaire as with those of Byron and Scott. Some passages in the Bande Mataram are more on the lines of La Marseillaise than Die Wacht am Rhein. The Bande Mataram consists of thirty-six lines, out of which only seven are in Bengali, the remaining twenty -nine being in Sanskrit, and therefore unintelligible to the millions of Bengal, or to the masses of any other part of India. The song, as a whole, can there- fore never be national, except in the sense of the brook e, dated February 2, 1773; Hastings to Josias du Pre, March 9, 1773 ; Hastings to Purling, March 31, 1773 ; Hast- ings to Sir George Colebrooke, March 31, 1773 ; and Hastings to Lawrence, March 20, 1774. Hunter's 'Annals of Rural Bengal ' also gives a, short account of this re_be,llh>n,,. AS A WAR-CRY 67 'National' Congress. Notwithstanding the agita- tion over the Ilbert Bill, and the imprisonment of Mr. Surendra Nath Banerji in 1883, no fuss was made over the Bande Mataram. I was then in Calcutta, and remember distinctly that the thousands of students who flocked round the Calcutta High Court during the trial of Mr. Banerji did not sing the Bande Mataram. This was two years before the Indian National Con- gress came into existence, and there was no such organization in India for wire-pulling. When the Bande Mataram first appeared, all Bengali scholars agreed that in rhythm and cadence it was an excellent composition, but no one could say that it was innocuous. In the Anandamatha it is the war-cry of the Sannyasi whenever they attacked the British forces ; the leading idea of the plot is whether the Bengali mind is justified in harbouring violent thoughts against the British Government. The novel is powerfully con- ceived, and when it was published it was generally believed that it was well executed, and calculated to influence the Bengali race for good. No one had then the slightest idea that within a quarter of a century the Bande Mataram would be made use of for breaking the peace, and to mislead young students. The Bande Mataram song is in praise of Bengal, and expresses the love of her sons for the mother - country. Thirty -three lines are 52 68 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING quite harmless ; the remaining three lines which are objectionable are likely to cause mischief in the hands of unscrupulous agitators. The three objectionable lines are the tenth, eleventh (Sanskrit), and twelfth (Bengali) of the song. Those three lines, freely translated, come to this : ' Seventy millions of people (in Bengal), with one hundred and forty millions of hands to wield the sword how, then, is Bengal powerless T Such language is likely to inflame the mob, especially as the five words in italics are in Bengali in the Sanskrit context of the song. There is also no denying the fact that the Bande Mataram has got very unsavoury associations- plunder and murder. Satyananda, a Sannyasi leader, is disgusted because, though he saw the end of Moslem tyranny in Bengal, he found Bengal in the hands of another non-Hindu Government. He is therefore told : ' Be not crestfallen. . . . To bring about the revival of true Hindu religion, we should first of all dis- seminate external knowledge. We have no such knowledge, nor have we men qualified to teach us ; we are no good at educating the public, therefore we must have recourse to foreigners. The English are well up in such knowledge, and make excellent teachers. Let us, therefore, have them as our rulers.' But this does not satisfy Satyananda, who in a great rage asserts that he MR. KEIR HARDIE 69 would fertilize Bengal with the blood of the enemy (p. 210). Bhabananda (p. 160), with 2,000 rebel Sannyasis shouting Bande Mataram, attacks the British army. When they sang Bande Mataram, they felt more strength in their arms (p. 169). Mr. Keir Hardie's shouting the Bande Mataram may have earned for himself a cheap distinction among the Hindu agitators, but he has thereby caused a great deal of annoyance to millions of Mahomedans to whom the Bande Mataram, on account of its anti-Mahomedan associations, is most distasteful. The idea of 'Self-Government for India' he must have got from the Congress leaders. But he knew that the Congress was a discredited body in this country. In an interview with the representa- tive of the Madras Mail, Mr. Keir Hardie had no hesitation in saying, * The ryot (peasant) popula- tion are strongly in favour of some form of local Self-Government.' Mr. Keir Hardie, M.P., in a letter from Perth, Western Australia, to the Labour Leader, dated November 27, 1907, wrote : ' It is a positive pleasure to be once again in a country where freedom reigns. Looking back on India, the whole thing seems like a bad nightmare. Until one has actually been there, and seen things face to face, it is impossible to realize the conditions and the terrorism which obtains all round. 70 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING ' I admit frankly that the Indian people them- selves are largely responsible for this latter effect, they being too submissive ; but a new spirit is beginning to enthuse the educated sections, which will make itself felt in a very short time.' One stands amazed at such a wonderful out- burst I had almost said farrago of nonsense, and can scarcely take its author seriously. The idea of the Indian people ' being too submissive ' does not please Mr. Keir Hardie. Did he tell them to be turbulent and rise against the British ? ' Did his harangues in any way, directly or in- directly, excite some of the disaffected Indians to shoot Mr. Allen, the Magistrate of Dacca, on December 23, 1907 ? I do not know which to admire most in Mr. Keir Hardie his colossal ignorance or his astounding self-confidence, which would be called impudence in a man who was not a Member of Parliament. He takes intelligent people into his confidence, and actually assures them that the Indian peasantry are discussing Self-Government ! Is this for dramatic effect ? According to the census of 1901, the number returned as literate in English in India is only one million in a population of 300 millions that is, in other words, less than one per cent, of the people hi India know English. Literate does not necessarily mean educated. And yet the peasantry of India coolly discuss ' Self-Govern- MISCHIEF 71 ment with a Member of Parliament ! With his harangues to the Bengali agitators Mr. Keir Hardie made them more hysterical, more morbid, and more neurotic. He tried to concentrate Bengali hysterics on the single idea of ' Self- Go vernment.' The idea was pleasing to the ear of the agitators. They perhaps wanted, as Mr. Morley said in his speech at Arbroath, to get hold of the moon, and here was a Member of Parliament offering them the moon in the form of Colonial Self-Government. For the moment they lost what little common sense they possessed. All the paraphernalia of the Free Press are at their command, which distributes the hysterical emotions of Calcutta to the less imaginative people of the other Provinces of India. There was no one to rebuke effectually the passions which Mr. Keir Hardie had stimulated. If Mr. Keir Hardie himself knew any of the vernaculars of India, he would have been astonished at his own skill in playing the tune which has caused such an explosion of anti- British sentiment and racial passions. A more far-seeing man than Mr. Keir Hardie would have held up his hands in pious horror at the mischief he had caused. He would have at once seen that he did not 'play the game.' It was not 'cricket.' There is no ' sport ' in endangering the lives of one's fellow-countrymen, who are trying to do their best for the honour and glory of England. Of course there is unrest in India, but who is 72 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING responsible for it? The native of India? No, He can do nothing without mischievous guidance from English malcontents. The wires are pulled by Englishmen : some pull them from a safe distance, sitting in London ; others are anxious for greater distinction. A Radical M.P. writes from London : ' Morley will yet yield; go on and agitate.' His letter found its way, somehow, into the newspapers. An Association exists in London established deliberately for the purpose of wire- pulling, though it may be described as having for its object 'the advocacy of Indian interests.' It it notorious that this Association is inspired by ex-Civilians and M.P.s, retired or present, who use the knowledge they acquired in the public service (for which they receive pensions) in their efforts to discredit all authorities respon- sible for the Government of India, and to set the people against the officials. Several of its members have made journeys to India for the express purposes of presiding at annual meetings of the Indian National Congress, of keeping up the agitation in India, and of bringing home further material for wire-pulling here. Sir Henry Cotton failed in his efforts to get Lord Curzon, as Viceroy, to take official cognizance of Resolu- tions of the Congress. His failure has ever since been recalled as ' another grievance ' against constituted authority. The existence of a weekly paper, the organ of the Association INCITEMENT 73 above mentioned, is probably known to a very limited number. It serves the purpose of ferret- ing out and collecting together everything said or done during the week that in any way reflects, or can be made to appear to reflect, disparagingly on anything or any Englishman connected with the Indian administration. It may do no harm in England, being so little heeded here, but in India it must act like rank poison in the body politic. The wire-puller of another kind believes in the power of the tongue. He therefore travels all the way to Bengal, and there encourages his listeners to turbulence. No native of India could have indulged in utterances like those of Mr. Keir Hardie without falling into the clutches of the law. A Hindu Keir Hardie would either have been deported without a trial, or placed in the dock, charged with sedition. But British- Indian law, though in theory it is no respecter of persons, in practice is different. Mr. Keir Hardie votes with the Ministerial majority. Perhaps his vote cannot be dispensed with. Besides, Mr. Keir Hardie is a leader of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. Muzzling Mr. Keir Hardie in India therefore might have meant the loss of a number of votes to the Ministerial Party at Home. Not muzzling Mr. Keir Hardie i may yet mean the loss of many valuable English \ lives in India. I appeal to no Party; I appeal to the British nation. It is for the British nation 74 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING to decide whether they value Party votes more 'than they value the lives of their fellow-country- men in India. During the Indian Mutiny the Government of India had the good sense, under Lord Canning's guidance, to regulate the utterances of even Anglo-Indian editors. In those days there were hardly any mischievous native editors. Fifty years ago Englishmen were deported from India for mischievous agitation. In the Chapter on 'Deportation' (p. 125) I have given the names of some distinguished Englishmen who were deported from Calcutta. In those days Members of Parliament did not play the role of agitators in India. Mr. Keir Hardie's utterances have not only exasperated the bitterness against the British, but have also fanned the flame between Hindus and i Mahomedans. He is evidently incapable of weighing his words or of understanding their drift. He charged Mahomedans with violating unprotected Hindu widows. Apart from his bold assertion, he has produced no evidence to support such a serious charge. When Mr. Keir Hardie compared British rule in India to Russian rule, he did not realize what an amount of mischief unguarded harangues do in India. A speech, which looks harmless in English, often assumes quite a different form when carelessly translated into the various ver- naculars. Words have different associations in DIFFERENCE OF LANGUAGES 75 different languages. Eastern associations differ from Western modes of thought. About five years ago I was engaged as a junior to an eminent English Counsel in India in the defence of an accused person. It was before a native bench, the Court language being Hindustani. The Eng- lish Counsel was ignorant of Hindustani. It was my duty as his junior to translate viva voce the speech for the defence, sentence by sentence, as the Counsel proceeded. The Counsel in the heat of his argument thundered : * It was not a prosecution, it was a vile persecution two hounds after a helpless hare.' Now, there was nothing in the above which would startle an English audience, even when composed of ladies. But the matter assumed a different aspect in Hindustani before a Mahomedan Court. Every eye was riveted on me to see how I was going to translate the words. The ' two hounds ' referred to by the Counsel were two faithful followers of the Prophet of Arabia, who regarded a dog as an unclean animal. To have referred to them as dogs (hounds) in a Court of Justice would have been tantamount to an invitation to them to plunge a fanatical dagger of cold steel into my body. I had not a minute to think. The English Counsel, being ignorant of the language of the Court, did not see the point, but, from the craning of necks of the audience and the stare of 76 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING some of the Judges who understood English, he knew there was something unusual. In translating into Hindustani I had to alter it to ' two kites after a helpless chicken.' The unclean animal, dog, had to be kept cut of the discussion. This satisfied all parties. To impress upon the minds of the untravelled Englishmen how harmless English words and idioms may do mischief, when translated into Indian vernaculars, I will give another in- stance. A District Officer in Bengal a good many years ago was getting up a subscription for a public building at the district headquarters, and for this purpose issued a circular, stating the case. He proposed to put into it the words : Now, Promise is a good dog, but Performance is a better.' Luckily he was warned in time by a friend who knew how any such expression, referring to an unclean animal like a dog, even as a mere saying, would be unpalatable to Indians. The words were cut out, and the project was successful ; had the words been allowed to stand, they would certainly have wrecked it. Mr. Keir Hardie had, perhaps, not the faintest idea what an amount of mischief he was doing when he compared British rule in India with Russian misgovernment and Turkish atrocities. Being ignorant of the Indian vernaculars, he could not conceive how those phrases, when THE BENGALI MAHOMEDANS 77 translated into Bengali, for instance, would sound in the ears of the ignorant Bengali masses. He had no idea that his reference to the Turkish atrocities, translated into Bengali, while pleasing to the ear of the Hindu extremists, would annoy his Mahomedan audience, to whom the Sultan is the Pope of his religion, and therefore can do no wrong. With one stone Mr. Keir Hardie killed two birds : he excited the Hindu against the : British, he widened the gulf between the Hindu and the Mahomedan. Mr. Keir Hardie forgot that the Partition made Eastern Bengal practically the only real Mahomedan Province in India. The Mahome- dans form two-thirds of the population of this I new Province, and they appreciate the advan- tages of the Partition. They have therefore started a counter-agitation. Behind this idea there are enormous possibilities. The Mahome- dans think that the days for hollow fiction are over. They are anxious that the home authorities should not mistake the yell of a handful of agita- tors, led by Socialist demagogues, for the chorus of the people. A microscopic minority, despair- ing of success, generally have recourse to a coup d'etat, and succeed by hoisting for the nonce the false colour of the movement. Avowedly aiming at predominance, they manufacture grievances to keep alive a system of organized agitation, which succeeds by playing and paltering with popular passions. Such soulless, hollow, and shrivelled 78 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING agitation is ruinous to the best interests of the country. Whilst the Hindu agitator at Calcutta tries to hide his subtlety under ostensible simplicity, the procedure of the Mahomedan leaders at Dacca appears to be the converse. They have expressed in unequivocal language their moral and intellectual indignation at the Calcutta tactics. They deplore the insensibility of the Government to the duty of elevating the taste for stern realities. The Mahomedan leaders are not likely to be content till their proper position is recognized by the Government. They are determined to point out to the Government that their interests are often conflicting with, and sometimes quite antagonistic to, those of the Hindus, and, as they form two-thirds of the entire population of Eastern Bengal, any Govern- ment that fails to reflect the sentiments of the bulk of the population is, sooner or later, likely to break down. The Mahomedans are deter- mined that their ideas shall not be brushed away by the sneers of the Hindu agitators of Calcutta. Dacca is floating on the waves of agitation. The shooting of Mr. Allen, the late Magistrate of Dacca, clearly showed that the unrest in Bengal was not at an end. Wiseacres often shake their heads and say : ' Oh, there is no unrest in India Reuter is responsible for the scare.' In 1906, in respect of the * Coronation ' of Mr. S. N. Banerji, Reuter's veracity was questioned. It is well REUTER TELEGRAMS 79 known how Reuter came out triumphant. About Mr. Keir Hardie's speech in Bengal in October, 1907, again, an attack was made on Reuter 's accuracy. In fact, Mr. Keir Hardie cabled to London that Reuter 's information was ' fabrica- tion.' But a fortnight later, when the Indian papers reached London, they clearly showed that, however Mr. Keir Hardie might have tried to make verbal modifications, the latter did not change the tone of his speeches in Bengal. His letter from Australia, which I have reproduced from the Labour Leader, gives an insight into his thoughts. The British public had thus abundant evidence of the bona fides and accuracy of Renter's Indian Agency Mr. Keir Hardie's contradiction notwithstanding. The English public can scarcely divine the surprises of political oscillation in store in Eastern Bengal. Mahome- dan opinion previously was not sufficiently organized to make itself effective against mis- l representations of Mahomedan interests. It had, so far, implicit faith in the continuity of Govern- ment policy, and, therefore, did not combine to meet agitation by counter-agitation. The Mahomedans awoke to the perception that organized agitation was the only key to success. If I could have given the names of some of my Hindu correspondents, they would have been recognized as those of men of position ; but they have enjoined strict secrecy, as they are afraid of persecution. In answer to the question 80 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING of Mr. Rees, M.P.,on July 19, 1906, Mr. Morley said : ' The Local Government will no doubt keep in view the necessity of protecting public servants from intimidation ' by agitators. But what arrangements were made to protect re- spectable private individuals from unwarrantable molestation ? Those who have any idea of dala dali (faction fighting) in a Bengal village need hardly be told that a persecution there includes the loss of the indispensable services of the village laundress and the barber a loss which is a very serious infliction on the sufferers. So * public opinion ' in Bengal can easily be manufactured by the influential minority of wire-pullers, as exposed by Lord Curzon in his memorable Partition speech at Dacca on February 18, 1904. The Partition measure has been more mis- represented than misunderstood. The policy of laisser faire ceased to be wise. An attempt might with advantage have been made to re- store public confidence, so that thoughtful Bengali gentlemen might have had courage to speak out ; in the circumstances a reign of terror might have involved political danger of the utmost gravity. The Allen outrage clearly showed that the unrest was not only on the surface. A reward of 10,000 rupees (about 666) was promptly offered for the arrest of the man who fired the shot. No arrests were made. Considering that the Arms Act is in force in Bengal, and no one HINDU LOYALTY 81 can possess a revolver without the knowledge of the local police, it was clear that there was a deep-laid plot behind. Ten years ago another English magistrate was shot. In 1899 a Mah- ratta Hindu was hanged for killing Mr. Rand, the Magistrate of Poona. It is the constant vilification of the English in the Vernacular Press that makes the traditionally mild Hindu attempt the lives of innocent officials. The Hindu mind is saturated with loyalty, and Hindu religious teaching is totally opposed to political agitation of any kind. No orthodox Hindu ought to stir up opposition to the policy of the King, or even to question his lightest whim. The great Hindu sage, Yajnavalkya, says : ' He who utters anything calculated to do harm to the King, or who does anything to call forth royal ire, should have his tongue cut off.' In the Mahabharata the famous Sanskrit work, the great Bhisma says to Yudhisthira : ' He who desires to usurp the throne, whether fired by ambition or impelled by pride, should expiate his treason by self-immolation.' There is a parable in the Mahabharata illustrating the absolute loyalty of the Hindu character. Prince Parikshita was out hunting. He wounded a deer. While pursuing the animal, he met the great devotee Samika, who was deep in contem- plation and under a vow of silence. The Prince asked him if he had seen a deer. Receiving no reply, the King was enraged. With the end of 6 82 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING his bow he placed a dead snake round the holy man's neck. Samika's son, Sringi, hearing of this, was in a great rage. The sage thus ad- dressed his son : * Even if the King were guilty of a thousand transgressions, still he should be respected. The King has a share in the merit we acquire by our personal penances.' Accord- ing to the great Hindu legislator Manu, ' One crowned head is equal to ten Brahmans.' The ' Sraddha Tatwa,' which deals with offerings for the souls of the dead, says that ' the first offerings belong to the King.' The great sage, Parasara, says : ' Before a Brahman prescribes expiation to a sinner, let him first take the permission of the King, for without that expiation is no good.' Anyone who has followed the effusions of the Vernacular Press since the days of the Ilbert Bill agitation in 1883, as I have done, cannot possibly have any doubt that most of the present unrest is due to the license of the Vernacular Press. The Government, through ignorance of Indian manners and customs, commit blunders. Those blunders are magnified, and motives ascribed to them, by the Press an example of British idealism in India which has created a race hatred against the English. Mr. Morley, in his memorable speech at Arbroath on October 21, 1907, referred to Mr. Keir Hardie's visit to India, and observed : * How many of the most tragic miscarriages in human history have been due to the impatience IDEALISM 83 of the idealist !' Mr. Morley might have gone further and quoted Chapter and verse to show how much of the present unrest in India is due to nothing but English idealism. It must have struck the thoughtful British reader who has carefully followed the course of events in India during the last ten years that agitation, turbu- , lence, and rioting are confined to British territory -,'in India, and do not find scope in the Native States. It must not be forgotten that three- sevenths of India are under Native Princes. It cannot be said that the subjects of the Native Princes have no grievances, but it must be admitted that they have less scope for violent grievance-mongering. While the British are trying to give their subjects ideal justice, with hair-splitting technicalities, the Native Princes are trying to keep order and peace ; and in this they have succeeded. While British-Indian administrators are directing all their thoughts to giving the Indian prisoner an ideal trial, the Native Princes are anxious to maintain peace and order, to save their subjects from being put in the dock at all, as offenders against the public peace. In other words, British -Indian measures are punitive, while the Native States measures are preventive. From the abstract argument let us go to the concrete. Let us take the Premier Native State. In point of population Hyderabad is the fourth town in India. Only Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras surpass it. In Calcutta, 62 84 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING Bombay, and Madras the Arms Act is strictly enforced. In Hyderabad there is no Arms Act ; in fact, it is a common sight to see people walking in the streets armed to the teeth. Yet, the percentage of recorded crime is less in Hyderabad than in the three Presidency towns just men- tioned. A reference to the Criminal Administra- tion Reports of those four largest towns in India for the last ten years will convince any inquirer of the fact. Now, what is the cause of this seemingly strange phenomenon ? It is not due v , to education ; because Hyderabad is inferior to Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras in education. Freedom in the use of arms gives the subject of His Highness the Nizam more facilities for violence and crime. Besides, in Hyderabad not only fanatical Rohillas and Afghans are to be found in large numbers, but practically all the turbulent rabble of all Mahomedan countries are well represented. After over fifteen years of careful study on the spot, I have no hesitation in saying that the peace and order in which armed 'Hyderabad excels disarmed Calcutta is solely r f due to a strong Executive. It is English idealism to establish a strong Judiciary in India. Calcutta is certainly much stronger in its Judiciary than Hyderabad. But the scandalous riots in October, 1907, in which several heads were broken, without the offenders being punished or even traced, showed how far the Capital of the Indian Empire was really behind the Capital of the DANGERS OF IDEALISM 85 Premier Native State in Executive efficiency. With all the progress of education, and an ideal Judiciary, both Calcutta and Bombay have been disgraced with bloody riots over the killing of a cow, an animal held sacred by the Hindu and the food of the Mahomedan. The ordinary Executive of both Calcutta and Bombay miser- ably failed to cope with the cow-killing riots \ (Calcutta, 1897 ; Bombay, 1893), and the Military \ had to be called out to disperse the rioters. A cow-killing riot is unknown in Hyderabad or any other Native State. This shows that the British ideal of a strong Judiciary at the expense of a strong Executive is not a panacea for all Indian evils. A strong Judiciary is no doubt desirable, but a strong Executive is indisputably necessary. I therefore read with great pleasure that Mr. Morley, who presides over the destinies of my motherland, recognized the dangers of English idealism. I do not for a moment suggest that all Native State methods should be imitated by British-Indian administrators. But there seems to be no reason why some of the efficient Executive methods should not be adapted to British-Indian measures. It will be said that a strong Executive leads to oppression. I admit that it leads to occasional oppression. But perhaps the occasional oppression of the few turbulent agitators is better than the continual oppression of the many innocent citizens. It is 86 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING no secret that some of the professional agitators in Bengal and elsewhere continually oppressed poor men and women, only on the ground that they purchased cheap English cloth in preference to dear Swadeshi cloth. The ideal British jurist would no doubt have required a protracted trial of the offending agitator, but the District Officer in India, who knows the difficulties which an ignorant village woman has in prosecuting an offender in Court, perhaps twenty miles away from where the offence took place, will agree with me that he should possess the same powers of dealing with a violent agitator as he has, for instance, of preventing the entry of Afghan traders into peaceful Bengal villages. * Impatient idealists' like Mr. Keir Hardie want to transplant the British constitution to India in a day. The British constitution is the result of 1,000 years of struggle. It is the rapidity of the introduction of Occidental measures that is at the root of the present un- rest. Reformers like Mr. Keir Hardie should ponder over what England has already achieved in a short 150 years. In the great stock-taking of India, England comes out with glory : thousands of square miles of jungle brought under cultivation ; for 1,500 miles at the foot of the Himalayas, land varying from twenty to fifty miles in breadth has been brought under cultivation. In other words, quite 30,000 square miles of useless land now produces food for man. THE CHARGE OF DRAINING 87 ! Per million of the inhabitants, crime is less in India than in England. No Central Asian free- booter comes from the North, no Mahratta cavalry commit depredations from the South. Some people in this country havejbeen made to believe that England is draining India of her wealth. They forget that India has more raw produce to sell than manufactured articles to purchase ; therefore it is only natural that she should export more than she imports. She has borrowed large sums of money from England the cheapest market for capital in the world. India pays interest on her loans in her raw prpduce and not in cash. Indian ' patriots ' de- plore this ' drain,' just as Roman * patriots ' lamented over the Eastern trade, for Rome pur- chased over three-quarters of a million sterling of silver per annum from Arabia, India, and China. In the seventeenth century the East India Company was charged with ' draining ' England to the tune of 30,000 a year for India. But for that * drain ' England would not have | possessed to-day the greatest Empire in the history of the world ; so they must be ' patriots ' with a limited mental horizon who find * draining ' in every investment. ' India is drained dry * is the ciy of the Indian National Congress leaders. They forget that Calcutta and Bombay to-day \ are much richer than Delhi and Agra of the ^ \ * good old days.' They forget that both Calcutta and Bombay owe this wealth to British enter- 88 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING prise, for before the British advent they contained only a few mud-huts. Let us compare British India with the Native States. In British India the average population is 213 to the square mile, while the average population in the Native States is only 92 to the square mile. This shows the difficulty the British Indian administrator has to face. The population of India, taken as a whole, has not outgrown the food -producing powers of India. Burma is within the boun- daries of the Indian Empire. In Burma there are nearly 25,000,000 acres of fertile cultivable soil awaiting cultivation. What is wanted in India is the redistribution of the population of congested areas. Population is one of the greatest needs of Burma. The population of different parts of India differs considerably. The pressure of population on each square mile of Bengal is treble the average pressure in Madras and Bombay. Again, while in Bengal two- thirds of the entire holdings pay about ten shillings rent, and average about 2 acres, in Bombay, according to Sir William Hunter, only one-third of the holdings are under 5 acres ; and in Madras, one-half of the entire holdings pay over twenty shillings rent, at lower rates per acre than those current in Bengal. In India an acre of crop-land, under plough cultivation, is enough for a single man. The question is how to raise the income of LOYAL MANIFESTOS 89 those of the agricultural classes who do not com- mand an acre of crop-land per head ? England can supply the cheapest capital in the world. India can provide the cheapest labour in the world. Capital phis labour means wealth. A couple of millions sterling spent in increased wages would solve the poverty problem of India. Critics like Mr. Keir Hardie forget that the Government of India have great difficulties in the way of economic reforms. The Government receive no practical help from the landed aris- tocracy of India. The old class of Rajas and zemindars (land-holders) are busy with Brahmans to trace their descent from the sun and the moon ; the young ' educated ' landlords are busy issuing * Loyal Manifestos ' in order to secure a distinction in the next Gazette. A * Loyal Manifesto ' seems to please the Government more than an agricultural colony or a much- needed labour -transport scheme. Among the most thickly populated parts of India are Burd- wan and Darbhanga in Bengal. The Maharajas of Burdwan and Darbhanga issue ' Loyal Mani- festos,' but find no time to attend to the economic progress of the peasantry from whom they derive their rents. The surplus population of Darbhanga might well be transferred to Assam, and that of Burdwan to the neighbour- ing Central Provinces. The Government of Bengal have reclaimed over half a million acres 90 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING in the Sunderbuns. Their decriers, the Indian National Congress, have not yet bethought them- selves of drafting a scheme for reclaiming a single acre of waste land. The labour-transport laws so far have been based on the risks to the health of the imported labourer. I think the time has i come for the Government to consider the money ' risks of the capitalists also. -t (. *fUf The loss of cattle and want of manure has told on the agriculture of India. In the six- teenth century, in the time of the Mogul Emperor Akbar, an acre of wheat-land yielded 1,140 pounds in the United Provinces, where it now yields only 840 pounds, In East Norfolk an acre of wheat yields 1,800 pounds. When people in England compare the * wheat average ' of India with that of England, they forget these facts, which go to make their deductions in- accurate. What is wanted in India is not only ' extensive,' but ' intensive ' agriculture. And what is more important is that, while the production of food must be increased, also a fair share of the food must be secured to the actual tiller of the soil. There is no doubt that, judging from the English standpoint, the permanent remedies for the poverty of India rest with the people them- selves. They can, if they like, without the inter- vention of the Government, equalize the pressure on the soil by distributing themselves more equally over the country. But as the * Indian DAY-DREAMS 91 nation' is engaged in talking, and in talking only, the responsibility devolves upon the Government of attending to these much -needed reforms. In India to leave anything to private enterprise means that it is not done at all. Take the railways, canals, and docks in India. They owe their existence solely to Government action. Mr. Keir Hardie, who affords no evidence of having any but the most superficial acquaintance with his subject, or of having studied Indian economic problems at all, may suggest ' S elf- Government ' for India ; but I am afraid that the facts are opposed to such a day-dream. If the past is any guide to the future, * Colonial Self-Government ' is as suited to India of to-day \ as the rigid Hindu caste system would be to the I Labour Party, of which Mr. Keir Hardie is a prominent leader. The fiasco of the Indian National Congress at Surat conclusively proved that Self-Government is a wild dream of the leaders of the Indian National Congress. If 2,000 chosen 'delegates' of the people of India cannot govern themselves, how could they, in the I name of common sense, be responsible for the Government of 300,000,000 persons of various races and creeds ? 1 think that hysterical people are the most credulous. I do not know whether this is physiologically true. But it must be remembered that political hysteria differs from ordinary hysteria. My countrymen went mad over Mr. Keir Hardie. They pinned their faith 92 ENGLISH WIRE-PULLING to him for their political and industrial (swadeshi ) salvation. They forgot that the greatest of India's troubles are due to the white -labour question, and that Mr. Keir Hardie was one of the leaders of the British Labour movement. In 1894, when Lord Elgin as Viceroy of India reimposed a 5 per cent, duty on cotton goods of Indian manufacture, which had been repealed in 1882 by Lord Ripon, all India agitated against pressure being brought on an Indian Viceroy through the House of Commons by British Labour organizations. But public memory everywhere is proverbially short. India is no exception to the rule. But one would have thought that the agitation over the British- Indian question in the Transvaal white industry versus brown industry would have warned the Indian patriots from expecting anything beyond words from a British Labour leader. Mr. Keir Hardie would not care to be untrue to his own interests ; he would not, for instance, care to persuade the electorate to agree to the counter- vailing Cotton Duty in India being repealed. In conclusion, critics of the Government of India like Mr. Keir Hardie may be warned not to take the leaders of the Indian National Congress too seriously, and to believe that, as a rule, they are neither practical nor consistent. One cannot help sympathizing with Mr. Keir Hardie. He was in the position of a ' dummy ' at Bridge. His cards were on the table, but THE NATIONAL CONGRESS 93 where was his partner, the Indian National Congress? The partner came of age in 1906, and inspired great hopes in the hearts of its foster-parents in this country. Godfathers sprang up like mushrooms both within and without the House of Commons. Some blessed it with con- gratulatory cablegrams, others could not resist the temptation of travelling all the way to India to pat the hopeful prodigy on the back. With too much stimulant the youthful body became, as it were, intoxicated ; immoderate indulgence in stimulants brings its own punishment rather quickly in a tropical climate and, to the great chagrin of the Congress party in India and in England, the over-stimulated Congress meeting experienced a paralytic seizure under a shower of Mahratta shoes at Surat. DRINK PATRIOTISM is a virtue to be encouraged, and Indians have as much right to be patriotic as any other nationality. Love of their country should urge them to exertions and sacrifices, if need be, for her welfare. But patriotism must, in action, be duly regulated and restrained. Wild talk, extravagant expressions, may easily do more harm than good. The truth, however impartial, must be recognized and envisaged. A deliberate indifference to facts, or a palliation of shortcomings, is not real patriotism. A true patriot will effect nothing unless he faces the facts boldly, however inconvenient and disagree- able they may be. Is India best served by Indians seeking to throw on others' shoulders the blame for the evils that have grown up in the country? Have my fellow-countrymen been altogether blameless ? That is the question that ought to exercise the minds of all to whom patriotism or public spirit is not merely a cloak to conceal selfish ends. Some of the Indian patriots, no doubt, are men of erudition ; but they do not always seem to recognize that the 94 THE EVILS OF EXCESSIVE DRINK 95 spirit of exaggeration is neither quite harmless nor a source of strength. As is pointed out in another Chapter of this book on * Indian Famines,' a good case is often spoilt by even a single unwarranted statement. Indian ' patriots ' have been prone to exaggera- tions, and have thus caught the ear of English doctrinaires, who do not pause to consider the incalculable mischief which results from their injudicious speeches and absurd harangues against the Government of India. Such attacks are seldom answered : it would be better, perhaps, if they were met and combated. The fact is that the responsible officials of the Government of India have their hands full, without being made to occupy their valuable time in disabusing the minds of their less-informed countrymen of the erroneous impressions created by philanthropists, patriots, faddists, et hoc genus omne. Take the drink question, for example. The evils of excess in drinking are known and admitted. They are evils everywhere, and in India as much as in any other country : perhaps, indeed, they are more serious in India than elsewhere, owing to the climate and the want of popular education. It must be admitted as an incontestable axiom, that it is the duty of all well-wishers of India to do their best to minimize the evils of drink ; but it is not necessary, for this purpose, to try to prove that Indians were a perfectly sober people before the advent of the British into India. 96 DRINK Such an attempt would hardly be honest, and it would certainly fail, for truth cannot long be hidden. Long centuries before the British set foot on the Indian shores; long before the Moslem invaders thought of Hindustan ; long before Alexander the Great dreamt of the riches of the Gangetic valley, the Indian had been used to the exhilarating effects of drink. The boast is often made, in the columns of newspapers and on public platforms, that India was civilized at a time when some of the foremost nations of to- day were but savages roaming in primeval forests, clothed in the skins of wild animals and cutting one another's throats. If this is true, it is equally so that, while sages were propounding on the banks of the Ganges philosophies which still command the admiration of the Western world, other classes of the population were indulging in drink as a sort of ' religious duty.' Wine, ' which cheereth God and man,'* was used in India from time immemorial. It was drunk, and drunk freely, at sacrificial feasts ; and on noteworthy occasions the use of wine was the chief feature, as at the ancient Somarasa offering of the old Aryans, when the gods were honoured by bowls of the precious draught which ' heals the sick, inspires the poet, and makes the poor believe that all his wants are satisfied !' The use of wine is as old as the earliest record of civilization. In Greece its introduction is * Judg. ix. 13. THE RIG VEDA 97 ascribed to the god Dionysus, and in Egypt to the god Osiris. The Hebrews give the credit to Noah the second father of mankind while the old Persians say that King Jamshid introduced wine in the Land of Roses. The Old Testament mentions corn and wine as the material basis of life and comfort. Wine was an article of Phoa- nician* commerce. Wine and the olive may be regarded as indications of settled life in ancient times, for semi-nomadic people did not stay long enough in one spot to form vineyards. Pliny mentions viticulture, but for drink in India there is a much higher authority the Rig Veda. To prove satisfactorily the existence of indulgence in strong drinks it is not necessary to refer to works of doubtful authenticity. There exists, perhaps, no record in the world that carries us back to a more primitive state of the human family than the Rig Veda. It has been very appropriately said that there is no oasis in the vast desert of ancient Asiatic history equal to the Rig Veda, the earliest existing literary record of the Aryan race.f The Rig Veda, being the earliest history of the Aryan race> is justly called the historical Veda by Professor Roth and other Western savants. It is very difficult to fix the age of the Vedas, and even such profound Oriental scholars as Pro- * Ezek. xxvii. 18. t Max Miiller's 'Chips from a German Workshop/ I., p. 5 ; Roth's ' Literature and History of the Vedas/ p. 13. 7 98 DRINK fessor Max Miiller and Dr. Haug have failed to fix milestones in Vedic literature. All scholars have a habit of disagreeing. One tries to measure by the revolution of the heavenly bodies, another by the progress of the human mind. The hymns of the Vedas were, it is said, collected and ar- ranged by Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa.* Ac- cording to Bentley and Archdeacon Pratt, the date of the compilation is 1181 B.C. Max Miiller says that the Rig Veda was composed about 1,000 years before Christ. Sir William Jones and Colebrooke assign its date at 1,500 years before Christ ; while Dr. Haug fixed the Vedic literature at 2400 B.c.t According to Mr. R. C. Dutt, the Hindu Aryans the worshippers of the Devas composed the hymns which are known as the Rig Veda. Probably there is not another work in the literature of mankind which is so deeply interesting, so unique in the lessons it imparts. The hoary antiquity of this ancient work, the picture it affords of the earliest form of civilization developed by the Aryans in any part of the world, and the flood of light it throws on the origin of the myths and religions of all Aryan nations, make the Rig Veda deeply inter- esting. It explains how the mind of man in its infancy worships what is bright and glorious in Nature, what is powerful and striking. Among * Lassen's < Indian Antiquities/ I., p. 777. t Haug's ' Aitareya-Brahmana,' I., p, 4? ; and. Weber's ' History of Indian Literature,' CULT OF THE SOMA 99 less happy nations religion began with the dread of diseases and of evils, as these made the most lasting impression on the mind. The Rig Veda is the oldest work in the Aryan world* Whatever the exact date may be, the Rig Veda is, as every one admits, the oldest history of the Aryan race. Its contents have always attracted the highest reverence and admiration, f In the Rig Veda there is ample evidence that from the earliest Vedic period the people of India indulged in drink. Somarasa was their favourite beverage. They worshipped it ! Without the Soma (Asclepias-acida) two important religious ceremonies (Yajnas) called Shautramani and Bajpeya could not be performed. The Soma was from the earliest times connected with the religious history of the Indo-Aryans.J The antiquity of the cultus is attested by the references made to it in the Zend Avesta. The coincidence between the Vedic Agnishtoma and the Haoma ceremony of the followers of Zoroaster testifies to the complete development of the Soma ritual before the separation of the Indo- Aryans into different branches. * Dutt's ' Civilization in Ancient India.' f Whitney's ' Oriental and Linguistic Studies/ p. 22. { Windischmann's ' Dissertations on the Soma Worship of the Arians'; Lassen's 'Indian Antiquities,' I., p. 516; and Roth's articles in the Journal of the German Oriental Society for 1848 (p. 2l6jf.) and 1850 (p. 417 ff.}. ' Plutarch de Isid et Osir,' 46, in which the Soma, or, as it is in Zend, Haoma, appears to be meant. 72 100 DRINK The Soma plant was worshipped as a deity, and one entire Mandala (lit. circle, Chapter) of the Rig Veda is dedicated to it ; and the principal object for which the Sama Veda was composed was the performance of the sacrifices in which Somarasa was chiefly required. The exhilarating and inebriating effects of the Soma liquor are frequently referred to in the Rig Veda. Indra (the great god) drank it to such excess that on occasions his figure became perceptibly distended ! In one of the hymns of the Rig Veda it is mentioned that ' the praiseworthy Soma has from ancient times been the drink of the gods ; he was milked from the hidden recesses of the sky ; he was created for Indra and was extolled.' Again, Soma is thus invoked : ' O Soma ! there is nothing so bright as thou. When poured, thou welcomest all the gods to bestow on them immortality.'* The Vedic Aryans gradually found that the mild and fresh Soma juice did not satisfy them, so they introduced fermentation. No apostle of temperance can attempt, with any hope of success, to show that Somarasa was not a strong wine. The Somarasa, though literally the juice (rasa = juice) of the Soma plant, was by no means the juice in its natural fresh state. The drink known as Somarasa was carefully manu- factured. In all the four Vedas many mantras (incantations) are set out at length, to be used at every stage of the manufacture of this drink. * Rig Veda, IX., 110, 8 ; 108, 3. FERMENTATION OF SOMA 101 The plants were to be gathered by the roots on the hills on a moonlight night, and, after being stripped of their leaves, they were to be carried by rams to the house of the priests. The stalks were then to be deposited in the hall of oblation, to be bruised and crushed between stones, and placed with the juice in a sieve of goat's hair ; they were then to be further pressed and squeezed with the priest's ten fingers, one or two of which were to be ornamented with rings of flattened gold. Finally, the juice, mixed with barley, wheat, and ghee (clarified butter), was allowed for some days to ferment. It was, when ready, to be drawn off in a scoop called sruch. The gods had this beverage three times a day, and the priests helped themselves with ladlefuls just before offering it to the gods. The lay believer was allowed to have his turn at the beverage after the priests. The juice of the Soma creeper itself possessed no narcotic property, nor did it maintain its freshness well ; but, by being allowed to ferment with barley or nivara (wild paddy) in a jar for nine days, it acquired its inebriating effect. It was preserved in bags of cow-skin, rendered impervious by oil or resinous sub- stances.* Mr. R. C. Dutt, C.I.E., in his * Civilization in Ancient India,' says : ' The process by which the Soma juice was prepared has been fully described * Stevenson's Sdma Veda; Haug's Aitareya Brahmana, I., p. 6 ; and Rig Veda, V., 5, 19. 102 DRINK in IX. 66, and in other hymns : " 7. O Soma ! you have been crushed, you flow as a stream to Indra, scattering joy on all sides : you bestow immortal food. 8. Seven women stir thee with their fingers, blending their voices in a song to thee, you remind the sacrificer of his duties at the sacrifice. 9. You mix with water with a pleasing sound, and the fingers stir you over a woollen strainer, and filter you. Your particles are thrown up then and a sound arises from the woollen strainer. 11. The woollen strainer is placed on a vessel and the fingers repeatedly stir the Soma, which sends down a sweet stream into the vessel. 13. O Soma ! you are then mixed with milk. Water runs toward thee with a pleasing sound." The reference to cow-skin bags need not startle the religious Hindu of the twentieth century. The allusion is to the times of his forefathers, centuries before the Christian era, when bulls, rams, and buffaloes formed a portion of Hindu food. It is a fact, though it may not be generally known, that in that period of Hindu history the term * beef-eater ' was not used by way of abuse : on the contrary, an honoured guest was called | a cow-killer (goghna) 9 because in his honour the i hospitable Hindu matron always killed a cow. The guest in those days was entitled to expect to be regaled with madhuparka (honeyed meal) and beef. Mr. Dutt says that animal food was largely used by the early Hindus. There are HINDU SACRIFICES 103 frequent allusions to the sacrifice and to the cooking of cows, buffaloes, and bulls (see Rig Veda, I. 61, 12; II. 7, 5 ; V. 29, 7, and 8; VI. 17, 11; VI. 16, 47; VI. 28, 4; X. 27, 2; X. 28, 3, etc.). In X. 89, 14 there is mention of a slaughter-house where cows were killed, and in X. 91, 14 there is an allusion to the sacrifice of horses, bulls, and rams. A fairly complete account of the sacrifice of horses, such as it prevailed in Vedic times, is to be found in Hymn 162 of the first Mandala of the Rig Veda. The body of the horse was marked with a cane and was then dissected along the lines marked ; the ribs and the different limbs were subsequently separated. The meat was roasted and boiled, while the soul of the horse was sup- posed to go to the gods !* Mr. Dutt says that a Brahmana lays down instructions for carving beef, and the Gopatha Brahmana prescribes the order of distribution of the different portions. The priest received the tongue, the neck, the shoulder, the rump, the legs, etc., while the master of the house (wisely) appropriated to himself the sirloin, and his wife had to content herself with the pelvis ! Plentiful libations of Soma beer were taken to wash down the meat ! In III. 1, 2, 21 of the Satapatha Brahmana there is an amusing discussion, says Mr. Dutt, as to the propriety of eating the meat of an ox or cow. The conclusion is not very definite. * Let him * Dutt's 'Civilization in Ancient India,' p. 41. 104 DRINK (the priest) not eat the flesh of a cow and the ox.' Nevertheless Yajnavalkya, chief priest of the court of Janaka, King of the Videhas of North Bihar, the Hindu religious writer and lawgiver, subsequent to Manu, said (taking apparently a very practical view of the matter) : ' I for one eat it, provided it is tender f Beef was cooked in a kapala, and broth kept in a kalasa. These were earthen pots. In the primitive state of Hindu civilization cow -skin was largely used for making vessels and bottles.* To return to the special subject under discus- sion. In the Rig Vedaf reference is often made to wine and its use. Besides Soma, there were in ancient India other strong drinks which were publicly sold in the shops, practically with- out any reserve, to all-comers. Gradually, when drink became a national vice, law-makers began to denounce it. The subject is mentioned in the Sruti and the Smriti. The term Sruti means ' revelation,' and includes Mantras, Bralimanas, Aryanakas (1300 B.C.), and Upanishads (1100 B.C.) originally the act of sitting down near a teacher and submissively listening to him.J The term Smriti means recoUections, and includes Vedangas and Sutras. Smriti also includes, says Mr. Dutt, works composed by holy personages, the Dharma Shastras and the DJiarma Sutras of the Rational- istic Period, comprising the institutes of civil * Rig Veda, III., 45, 4. f Ibid., 45, 1. t Miiller's ' History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature/ p. 319. BUDDHA ON DRINK 105 and religious law. The distinction between Sruti and Smriti was established prior to the rise of Buddhism. The Smriti has no claim to inde- pendent authority, but derives its sanction from its relation to the Sruti. In the Sruti and the Smriti drinking was made as penal as the killing of a Brahman, for which capital punishment was awarded. But gradually the Brahman began to lose his supreme authority, so that at some period before the advent of Buddha, Vishva- mitra of the royal caste (Kshatriya) refused to submit to the hierarchical pretensions of the Brahman, and succeeded in making the proud priest reasonable, and obtained certain privileges. He was followed by King Janaka of Videha in questioning Brahman authority. Gradually, when the religion of the Brahman degenerated, and the Brahmans were unable to distinguish themselves in theological discussions, Sakya Muni, in the sixth century B.C., entered the field of religious investigation, and the people accepted Buddhism as a tolerant and comprehensive religion. A crusade against drink was one of the ten stern commandments of the great Buddha. He preached : ' The householder who delights in the law should not indulge in intoxicating drinks, should not cause others to drink, should not sanction the acts of those who drink, know- ing that it results in insanity. The ignorant commit sins in consequence of drunkenness, and also make others to drink. You should avoid 106 DRINK this : it is the cause of demerit, insanity, and ignorance, though it be pleasing to the ignorant.'* The drinking of spirituous liquors was termed mahapataka (heinous sin) by Manu. According to Manu Sanhita^ the expiation for a Brahman guilty of drinking was suicide by a draught of boiling hot spirit, water, milk, or other liquid, taken in a burning-hot metal pot. Another expiatory prescription was a draught of molten silver, copper, or lead. The great Hindu legis- lator Manu enjoined that the drunkard Brahman was to be branded on his forehead with the mark of a * vintner's flag ' to proclaim that he was an outcast. But latterly the great Manu found that it was impossible to stop drinking altogether, and he was obliged to wink at it. Nay, the great law- giver, being afraid to denounce it, actually ruled : ' * JVa mansa bJiaksJiane dosho na mady(?'i.e., y * There is no harm in eating meat or in drinking wine !' The Hindus, like the Greeks, possess two great national epics, theRamayanaandtheMahabharata. The Ramayana of Valmiki consists of 24,000 slokas, or 48,000 lines each line being of sixteen syllables and is divided into seven volumes. Whether we accept Dr. A. Holtzman's views that the principal features of the MaJiabharata go back to Indo-Germanic times, or agree with Lassen, it must be admitted that certainly it is * ' Buddhism/ by Professor Rhys Davids, pp. 1 38, 1 39. t IX., pp. 91-96. THE HINDU EPICS 107 an old epic, for Dion Chrysostom (A.D. 80) refers to it. According to Western scholars, 1250 B.C. is the date of the Kuru-Panchala War, the subject of the Mahabharata. This work consists of 100,000 couplets, or about eight times the bulk of Homer's * Iliad ' and * Odyssey ' combined. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana in their present shape are productions of a later age or, rather, of later ages and, in their present forms, the incidents of the wars described are un- doubtedly mythical, as the incidents described in the ' Iliad ' are mythical. The five Pandava brothers and their common wife are myths, as Achilles and Paris and Helen are myths. The Mahabharata received its last touches in the Pauranic Age. Though utterly valueless as a narrative of historical events, yet these epics, Mr. Dutt says, faithfully describe the manners and customs of the ancient Hindus, as the ' Iliad ' describes the manners of the ancient Greeks.* In the Adiparva of the Mahabharata wine flows like water in Arjuna's feast on the Raivatak Hill. Krishna and Arjuna looked drunk ; the Sanskrit words are madirayat netra (drunken eyes). Even Hindu ladies were no teetotallers. In the MahabJidrata Sudeshna, Queen of Virata, is described as sending her maid Draupadi to Kichak to procure liquor. Liquor was responsible for the Yadavas not recognizing the enemy in the battlefield, and killing each other instead, * Dutt's 'Civilization in Ancient India,' pp. 123, 138. 108 DRINK for we read : Barunin madiram pitva madon- mathita clieta-sam, etc. If the other epic, the Ramayana, is examined, it will be seen that the blue ribbon was not the order of the day. Even great saints (riskis) entertained each other with wines. The great Vasistha offers wine to his colleague (rival ?) Vishvamitra. Both were honoured by the great King Sudas. When King Bharata, brother of Rama, visited the great saint Bharadvaj, the escort of the King was entertained by the saint with liquor. The Jataka is full of anecdotes of drunkards. Among Sanskrit authors Kalidasa (A.D. 500) occupies, perhaps, the highest place. He refers more than once to friends offering wine. Mr. Dutt says : * We know from Sakuntala that there were grog-shops which were frequented by the very lowest castes, while among courtiers of a luxurious court, and among the profligate and the gay, drinking was not unknown. Bharavi (A.D. 550) has a canto on the joys of drinking, and Kalidasa, too, often speaks of ladies whose mouths were scented with the perfumes of liquor !' In Raghuvansa, in the ninth canto, Maharaja Aja in his lamentations refers to his sweetheart's manner of taking wine. In the Markandeya CJiandi the goddess Durga thus addresses Asura : * Tishtha tishtha kshanam mudfia madhuyabat piba myaham' i.e., 'Just wait, you idiot, till I finish my drink.' Hinduism, which has been in vogue for the last 1,300 years in India, is generally based on the Tantras TANTRAS THE KOLS 109 works which profess to be revelations made by Siva to his consort Parvati. The Tantric doc- trine has practically usurped the place of the Vedic creed. The very Vedic mantras (incanta- tions) have, in a way, filtered through the Tantras. In some ceremonies wine is indispens- ably necessary. In the Matrikabheda Tantra, Mahadeva (the great god) takes his wife -goddess Parvati into his confidence, and says : 'Brahman- a$ya mahamoksham madyapdne priyamvade' i.e., ' The salvation of Brahmans depends on drinking wine, O my darling.' In another place we read: ' Madyapanam vina devi tatvajnanam nalabhyate' i.e., ' Without drink, O goddess, you cannot understand religion.' * Ataebahi biprastu madya- panam samacharet,' 'Therefore a Brahman should drink wine.'* Drink was not confined to the Aryans. The contagion spread, and the aborigines developed a taste for liquor. Nay, they actually became drunkards. Mention may be made of the Kols, the aborigines of Bengal. While sober they evidently cannot worship the deity. To secure salvation they chant : * Pitva pitva punah pUva, punah patati bhutale: Utthayacha punah pitva \\ punarjanma navidyate' i.e., ' Drink, drink, drink again, again fall down on the ground and get up, again drink, and you shall not be born again.' Even at the present day the Tantric Yogini (female devotee) indulges in wine. But, instead * Dr. Rajendralala Mitra's ' Indo-Aryans/ Vol. I., p. 408. 110 DRINK of an earthen pot, she uses a human skull as her drinking- cup. Other instances could be quoted from Sanskrit authors to show that drink was a prevailing vice among ancient Hindus, but the above extracts ought to suffice. * The use of spirits among the ancient Hindus ' was examined by the Bengal Excise Commission of 1883-1884, who wrote, in paragraph 7 of their report, as follows : * Dr. Rajendralala Mitra, in a very learned and interesting paper contributed by him to the Asiatic Society's Journal, Volume XLIL, Part I., for 1873, shows conclusively by a profusion of instances taken from Sanskrit literature, ancient and medieval, that spirits and other intoxicating drinks have been extensively used in India at all times and by all classes. He states, indeed, that their use had been condemned by moralists and law-givers, but he proves that rice spirit was sold and drunk and used in sacrifices in the earliest Vedic times ; that the leading characters of the Mahabharat were addicted to strong drinks ; that the Ramayana frequently notices spirit- drinking with evident approbation ; that in the time of Kaliddsa drinking seems to have been very common, not only among men, but even among women of high rank ; that the Puranas abounded in descriptions of spirits and of drink- ing ; and that the Tantras afford the most indubitable proofs of a strong attachment on the part of a large section of the Hindus to over- OTHER LITERATURE 111 indulgence in spirituous drinks. He also gives descriptions of the different kinds of spirits, of the materials from which they were made, and of the manner of making them. He does not, however, write on the question of their being made a source of revenue in Hindu India, and it is understood that he is of opinion that they were not taxed. Other authorities, however, of great weight are of a contrary opinion ; but there seems to be no direct evidence on this point beyond the alleged fact that all articles sold in shops were subject to taxation. Now, in the Buddhist drama Naga Nunda there is men- tion of a spirit-shop, and there are similar references by Kalidasa and elsewhere noticed by Dr. Rajendralala. There are also many references to the use of spirit in Buddhist works, and it was stringently prohibited in Buddhist scripture. Reference to the subject will be found in Hodgson's " Languages, Literature, and Religion of Nepal and Thibet " ; in Spence Hardy's " Eastern Monachism "; in Bishop Bigandet's " Life or Legend of Gautama "; and in the second volume of Burnouf's " Lotus de la Bonne Loi." When India was under Moslem rule, was drink altogether unknown ? It is well known that wine of every kind was strictly forbidden by the Prophet of Arabia. Moslem law makes no distinction between a drunkard and a temperate wine-drinker. If two witnesses testify that a Musalman drank wine, or his breath smelt of 112 DRINK wine, the punishment was eighty stripes.* But had this prohibition much effect on the Musal- man who could afford the luxury ? Moslem historians bear testimony to the effect that India, under the followers of the Prophet, instead of abolishing the forbidden drink, actually, under royal patronage, improved it to make it acceptable to palates used to the delicate wines of Shiraz. Scores of historians may be quoted in support of this statement, but reference may be made to only some of those that enjoy more or less a European reputation. The Tarikh-us-Sabaktgin, otherwise known as the Tarikh-i-Baihaki, by Khwaja Abul Fazl bin Al Hasan Baihaki, is a well-known history, f Meer Khond, in the preface to his world-renowned work, Rauzat- us-Safa, says that it contains thirty volumes, and for this reason is sometimes called Mujal- ladat-i-Baihaki, or volumes of Baihaki. The great Ferishta and Barni have accepted it as authentic history. Akbar's Minister, Abul Fazl Allami, refers to it in his Ayin-i-Akbari. In the Tarikh-us-Sabaktgin it may be read that Muhammad Tughlak left Ariyaruk as Governor of the Panjab. The King sent him fifty flagons of wine. Baihaki says that in those days not only the soldiers and officers indulged in drunken brawls, but the * Hidaya and Mishkat, Khamr. t According to Khaki Shirazi, Baihaki died in A.D. 1077. The Tarikh-i-Baihaki is referred to in Haji Khalifa's lexicon. DRINKING-BOUTS 113 Sultan Masud himself used to enjoy regular bouts, in which his powers as a drinker exceeded those of all his fellow-topers. It is recorded that one of the courtiers easily finished five tankards each held nearly a pint of wine but the sixth confused him, the seventh bereft him of his senses, and at the eighth he was consigned to his servants. Every one rolled or was rolled away ! The actual Persian words are Chun guyi shudah i.e., having become cricket-balls ! Again, it may be seen in the Tarikh-us-Sabakt- gin that, in November, 1034, just about the time of the Mohurrum, the Sultan fell ill on the banks of the Jhelam, and in a fit of repentance renounced wine, whereupon the royal cellar was emptied into the river ; but this pious reso- lution did not last long, for the narrative states that the following New Year's Day was celebrated with great falat a drinking-bout was also held. The Jami-ul-Hikayat of Maulana Nuruddin Muhammad Ufi is known to Western scholars. Professor John Dowson (1820-1881) says that it bears much the same relation to the History of India as the ' Memorabilia ' of Valerius Maximus bears to the History of Rome. The author's residence at Delhi under Altamsh, in A.D. 1211, gave him facilities for carefully sifting his material, which he collected from the Tarikh Yamini, Tarikh Nasiri, Tarikh-ul- Abbas, Sharf- un-Nabi, and AkJibar-i-Baramika, etc. Haji 8 114 DRINK Khalifa has referred to Jami-ul-Hikayat, and a Turkish version is mentioned by Hammer Purgstall. Ufi refers to Sultan Mahmud and his courtiers drinking wine and enjoying them- selves. The Tarikh-i-Firuz-Shahi of Ziauddin Barni is the chief source from which the great Ferishta draws his account of the period. Barni says that Sultan Balban was for some time addicted to drink. His example spread, and every one acquired a taste for drink. In time the thirst for wine became insatiable, and drink was responsible for acts which in sober moments seemed impossible. Barni refers to an instance when a wily courtier took advantage of a King's drunkenness to obtain sanction for the murder of a Prince ! Under royal patronage wines improved. Barni says that the wines which Firuz Shah used to drink were of various colours and of different flavours ; some were yellow as saffron, some red as a rose, while others were white. It appears that in the case of Indian wines no acquired taste was necessary, for the taste of all was like sweet milk. Occasionally a Musalmari Dervish or Maulavi appeared on the scene and lectured the King on the evils of drink, reciting the holy writs of Islam, while he advised the King to give up wine. The result was that for a time reaction set in, and the King put wine-drinkers and wine-sellers in pits and turned out vintners from the city, but found it impossible to suppress wholly the use of wine, and was obliged to wink at a certain amount IMPERIAL PROHIBITIONS 115 of drinking, till he or his successor re-opened the wine-shops, and all the world drank. In an exhaustive dispatch to the Secretary of State for India on the subject of the ' Excise Administration of India,' dated February 4, 1890, the Government of India quoted a trans- lated extract (on the subject of drinking in the pre-British period) from the Tarikh-i-Firuz- Shahi* published in Volume XXIX. of the Journal of the Asiatic Society. ' After several days' and nights' deliberation the conclusion arrived at by these councillors was that the cause of the revolts was comprised in four things. . . . Secondly, wine, for people are in the habit of having parties for the purpose of wine-drinking, when they disclose their most secret thoughts to each other, make confederates, and hatch conspiracies. . . . Thirdly, with the view of preventing revolts in future, the drinking and the sale of wines were prohibited. After- wards the Sultan also prohibited bagui and hemp (bliang\ as also gambling. Great exertions were made to carry out the prohibition of the sale of wine and bagui, and special wells were constructed to serve as prisons. Drunkards, gamblers, bagui vendors were driven out of the city into the country, and the enormous taxes which the State had derived from them had to be struck off the revenue books. The Sultan first of all gave the order to remove from the social assembly- * History of the Reign of the Emperor Firuz Shah. 82 116 DRINK rooms of the palace all decanters, ma'baris, the porcelain vessels painted with gold, and the glasses and bottles. All were smashed, and the broken bits were thrown in heaps before the Badaon gate. The bottles of wine were also taken from the assembly-rooms and poured out, and the quantity of wine thus thrown away was so great that pools and puddles were formed, as in the rainy season. The Sultan Alauddin also discontinued his wine assemblies, and he told the Maliks to mount elephants and go to the gates of the city, and into the streets and the districts, the bazars and sarais, and proclaim that it was his order that no one should drink or sell wine, or have anything to do with wine. Decent people gave up wine-drinking as soon as the order was published, but shameless, ill-disposed wretches, pimps and panderers, erected stills and distilled spirits from sugar, and drank and sold wine in secret ; or they filled leather bags outside the town with wine and put them between loads of grass or fuel, or had recourse to other tricks of carrying wine into the city. The spies made strict inquiries, and the guards at the gates, and the runners posted there, examined every one, and seized the wine and the owners and took them before the palace. It was then ordered to give the wine to the elephants of the Imperial stables to drink and such as had sold it, or smuggled it into the city (Delhi), or had drunk any, were beaten with sticks, and fettered, and PRIVATE DRINKING 117 put into prison, where they were detained for some time. But as the number of the prisoners increased very much, they made wells before the Badaon gate at a place where all people pass by, and into these wells all were thrown that drank or sold wine. Some, from the distress and misery they suffered in the wells, died there, while others who were released after a time came out half dead, and it took ages for them gradually to recover their health and pull up strength. Many, therefore, through fear of imprisonment, abjured the use of wine, and if they were unable to control their appetites they used to go to the fords of the Jamna, and the villages ten or twelve kos off, and drink it there. In Ghiaspur, how- ever, and Indarput, and Kilukhari, and the villages four or five kos away, as well as in the sarais outside the town, the sale and purchase of liquor was no longer feasible. It is, nevertheless, certain that some reckless individuals continued to distil wine at their own houses, and to drink it and to sell it, and ultimately suffered disgrace and infamy, and were cast into prison. When the prohibition of the use of wine began to press too severely, the Sultan gave orders that if any one distilled spirits privately, and drank the liquour in seclusion, without having a party or assembly, and without selling it, the spies were not to interfere with him, nor enter his house, nor apprehend him.' The Tuzak-i-Babari, the autobiography of 118 DRINK Babar, was originally written in Turkish. It is well known to English readers by the admirable translations of Dr. Leyden (1775-1811) and Mr. William Erskine (1773-1852). ' Babar s Memoirs,' says Professor John Dowson, 'form one of the best and most faithful pieces of autobiography extant ; they are infinitely superior to the hypocritical revelations of Timur, and the pompous declamation of Jehangir, not inferior in any respect to the Expedition of Xenophon, and rank but little below the Commentaries of Ccesar.' Babar entered India in A.D. 1526. In his autobiography he makes the following edifying remark : ' As at forty I intend to give up drink (and I am now thirty-nine), I am drinking hard !' But at forty the pious resolution was not carried out. When he was defeated by the Rajputs at Sikri (now Fatehpur-Sikri), and was told that drink was the cause of his defeat, he renounced wine, and broke his drinking- cups. Akbar's reign is considered one of the brightest periods of Moslem rule in India. Volumes have been written about Akbar's reforms, and the Ayin-i-Akbari may be regarded as an authentic record of Akbar's reign. In Akbar's time wine was allowed to be publicly sold. Akbar himself indulged in wine. In the Ayin-i-Akbari may be read : ' When His Majesty is inclined to drink wine, trays of fruit are set before him.' The word used by Persian writers is sharab, which literally means 'drink,' THE EMPEROR JEHANGIR 119 but is commonly used to mean wines and spirits. The Tankh-i-Salim Shahi is another Persian history known to the Western world. It was translated into English by Major David Price (1762-1835) for the Oriental Translation Com- mittee under the title of ' Memoirs of Jehangir.' There is another translation by Mr. Jones Anderson, published in the Asiatic Miscellany, printed at Calcutta in 1785. The difference between these versions has been marked by M. de Sacy in the Journal de Savans, 1830. Jehangir was as fond of liquor as his great- grandfather Babar, and drinking-bouts were very common. It is notorious that Jehangir's brothers, Murad and Daniyal, both died of drink. Jehangir was so much addicted to drink that he made no secret of it. He is the only Moslem monarch in the world who enjoyed the unique distinction of having, with unblushing effrontery, his image, wine-cup in hand, stamped on his gold coins ! The Waqiat-i-Jahangiri is known to the Western world.* In this work Jehangir frankly states how much liquor he used to consume every day. He sometimes took twenty cups of double-distilled liquor, and each cup contained seven tolas of wine. Therefore, twenty cups meant 140 tolas, f A tax on spirituous liquors appears among the * The ' Reign of Jehangir/ by Gladwin, published in 1788, is an extract from this work. t 2 tolas = 1 ounce. 120 DRINK lists of taxes of the Mahomedan period. Thus it is clear that at times drinking prevailed even among Mahomedans, and that revenue was derived from the taxation of it.* So far, Hindu and Musalman authors have been quoted. A few extracts from the writings of disinterested travellers may also be given. The most trustworthy are, probably, those who saw things with their own eyes, and published bond fide accounts of their travels, before the days of faddists and missionaries. Megasthenes went to India in the fourth century before Christ, and lived in the court of Chandragupta at Pataliputra, or ancient Patna. Although his original account is lost, still ex- tracts from his writings are found scattered in many subsequent works. These have been care- fully collected by Dr. Schwanbeck, of Bonn, and translated into English by Dr. McCrindle, and are invaluable for the purposes of Indian history. Pythagoras, Herodotus, and Megas- thenes are unimpeachable witnesses to the high civilization of India during the three successive centuries which fall within the Rationalistic Period viz., the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries before Christ, f Megasthenes thus refers to the use of wine at sacrifices : ' The Hindu beverage is a liquor composed from rice instead of barley.' * Government of India's Dispatch, No. 29, dated Feb- ruary 4, 1 8.90, to the Secretary of State. t Dutt's 'Civilization in Ancient India/ p. 211. BERNIER'S ACCOUNT 121 Frar^ois Bernier's 'Travels in the Mogul Empire,' A.D. 1656-1668, is a well-known work. He does not deny the existence of wine in India. He drank some wine at Ahmedabad (in the Bombay Presidency) and Golkonda (in the Nizam's dominions). The good wine he found in the Mogul Empire was sent by land from Persia to Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, where it was shipped for Surat, from that port reaching Delhi in forty-six days. Another kind of wine was imported by the Dutch. He says that these wines taken in moderation were found excellent preservatives against malaria. The liquor peculiar to the country was called arak, a spirit drawn from unrefined sugar, and was harsh and burning as that made of corn in Poland. Bernier, of course, mentions that none but Christians drank openly in those days. Bernier evidently did not come across Jehangir's gold coins. There was another kind of spirituous liquor called boule- ponge, a drink composed of five (punch) in- gredients namely, arak, sugar, lemon-juice, spice, and water. Boule is still the German name for punch and allied drinks. The Bengal arak was held in great repute in those days. Ovington* says : * Bengal arak is much stronger than that of Goa, and both are made use of by Europeans in making punch.' Jean Baptiste Tavernier was, perhaps, the most renowned traveller of the seventeenth century. * 'A Voyage to Surat in the Year 1686.' London, 1696. 122 DRINK In his ' Travels ' he refers to wine at Lahore (in the Panjab). Most likely he would have found wine elsewhere, too ; but as the great traveller carried his own French wines with him, to which he makes frequent reference, he did not take the trouble to find out ; or, finding the country arak harsh to the French palate, he did not condescend to refer to it. Probably the Lahore vintners satisfied the great traveller, and hence prominence is given to Lahore wine. Captain Hawkins, also, who was with Jehangir from 1608 to 1613, has recorded what he saw. He has described at great length Jehangir's drinking habits.* With one or two quotations from official records this Chapter may be closed. In Wheeler's * Early Records of British India ' is published in extenso a letter written by the Rev. Patrick Warner, Chaplain at Fort St. George (Madras), dated January 31, 1676 : ' It may be for a lamentation to hear and see the horrid swearing and profanation of the name of God, the woeful and abominable drunkenness and uncleanness that so much reign and rage among the soldiery; and these not secretly or covertly, but as it were in the sight of the sun, and men refuse therein to be ashamed, neither can they blush.' In the ' Early Records of British India' the importation of wines from Persia is mentioned more than once. The following is * ' Hawkins's Voyages/ by Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1878. AGREEMENT OF EVIDENCE 123 taken from Captain Alexander Hamilton's narra- tive. Captain Perrin, master of a ship, brought to Bengal the remainder of ' a good store of Persian wines ' which he had failed to dispose of at Fort St. George. ' Two gentlemen of the Council, being that season bound for England, coming one day to dine with me, I (Captain Hamilton) treated them and the rest of my company with that Persian wine, which they all praised and asked me where I got it. I told them that, knowing that good wines would be scarce at Bengal that year, I had provided a good quantity at Surat, from whence I had come that season. Every one begged that I would spare them some chests, which I condescended to do as a favour, and next day sent them what they wanted at double the price the owner demanded for it, and so got off above a hundred and twenty chests, which enabled Mr. Perrin to satisfy most of his creditors.' To sum up. Quotations have been given from both sacred and secular Sanskrit literature in support of the statement that spirituous liquor and drinking were common in the Hindu period. Though the Koran strictly prohibits the use of wine, the unsolicited testimony of Moslem historians is forthcoming to the effect that not only wine was used, but was actually abused during the Mahomedan period of Indian history. If further evidence were wanted, it is available in the narratives of the three foreign travellers 124 DRINK and an Englishman, who personally lived with Jehangir, and, when writing his account, had not dreamt that his countrymen would be the conquerors of India. It is clear that Indians from time immemorial made their own wine, used it always, abused it occasionally, and im- ported it from Persia whenever they could afford the luxury, so that England did not teach India to drink. DEPORTATION AFTER the release of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, it is possible to consider coolly and deliberately the law under which they have been dealt with. It will be remembered that in the House of Commons the law in question namely, Regulation III. of 1818 was challenged with some pertinacity, as to its policy and procedure, both by Sir Henry Cotton, M.P., an ex-Civilian of Lower Bengal, and by certain Irish members. Their main attack was directed against the procedure which admits of a person being arrested on a warrant, deported to a distance, and kept in confinement, without being brought to trial or any evidence recorded against him. Mr. Morley, Secretary of State for India, consistently declined to argue at any length with his interlocutors, contenting himself with statements to the effect that the Regula- tion is the law of the land, and that he had information which justified its application in the particular cases under discussion. It can easily be understood that the production of such a weapon from the legal armoury of Government 125 126 DEPORTATION caused a feeling akin to consternation among the agitators in the Panjab, and there was reason to believe that some of the principal wire-pullers at headquarters in Calcutta felt very uneasy lest evidence against them individually should be forthcoming, which would justify similar treat- ment being meted out to them. The efficacy of the weapon has, in fact, been acknowledged by both sides, the Government and the persons affected by it. It will be interesting, then, and perhaps instructive also, to consider the Regula- tion in three aspects -firstly, the circumstances in which it was passed into law ; secondly, the law itself; and thirdly, whether it should be law. The Regulation was passed while the Marquis of Hastings was Governor- General of India 1813-1823. The earlier years of his administra- tion were fully occupied with the war against Nepal, and the Pindari and Mahratta wars. To confront the confederation of the great Mahratta Chiefs, Lord Hastings himself took the field as Commander-in- Chief. He has recorded in his Summary of his administration that (though he did not know it at the time) a wide conspiracy was forming for the expulsion of the British from India. It has elsewhere been stated that there were in the country numerous and powerful feudatories of the Sovereigns of recently con- quered and ceded provinces, nominally subjects of His Majesty, but from whom danger might at HISTORY OF III. OF 1818 127 any time be apprehended. The conspiracy against the British would have been more formidable if the Mahratta States had not been j ealous of one another. Lord Hastings left Calcutta for up-country on JulyS, 1817. The actual campaign lasted but a few months. Its chief events and the defeats of the Mahratta powers are matters of history. The Governor-General returned to Calcutta on July 23, 1818, resuming on that date charge of the administration at head-quarters from Mr. George Dowdeswell,* who, in succession to Mr. N. B. Edmonstone, had been Vice-President of the Council of India and Deputy- Governor of Fort William during Lord Hastings' absence from the seat of Government. Regulation III. of 1818, ' for the confinement of State Prisoners,' was passed on April 7, by the Vice-President in Council, and applied to the Presidency of Fort William that is, to the natives of India and to the Mofussil, or interior of the country. In James Mill's account of the internal administra- tion of the Marquis of Hastings there is no allu- sion to this Regulation : only in connexion with the abolition of the censorship of the Press, which Hastings carried out in 1818, it is mentioned that * Mr. Dowdeswell had previously been Secretary to Govern- ment in the Judicial Department, and had in 1 809 written a ' Report on the General State of the Police of Bengal' ('The Fifth Report from the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, 1812.' Madras reprint, 1883, pp. 840, 841). 128 DEPORTATION the Government had full power to arrest at their outset any mischievous attempts on the political interests of Great Britain and India. ' The History of the Political and Military Transac- tions in India during the Administration of the Marquis of Hastings,' by H. T. Prinsep, B.C.S., 2 vols., 1825, and Lord Hastings' ' Private Journal,' 2 vols., have been carefully examined ; but they make no mention of Regulation III. of 1818, although both the works, especially the former, are full of references to official matters of all kinds, and constant communication was maintained by the Governor- General with the Council at Calcutta, relays of camels being used to convey the boxes of papers from the several Departments, containing all matters not of abso- lute routine. It may be presumed, then, that the Regulation was not passed without the cog- nizance of the Governor- General. The facility with which such a Regulation could in those days become law, as being a measure required by the exigencies of the times, may be contrasted with the difficulties it would have entailed at the present day. The official reasons for the passing of the Regulation may be in the records of Government, but the arcana imperil are not accessible to the public. In those days there was no procedure like that at present in force, which requires a ' Statement of Objects and Reasons ' for a Bill to accompany its introduction into a Legislative PASSING OF THE REGULATION 129 Council. The avowed reasons for the enactment of the Regulation were declared in its preamble, as follows : ' Whereas reasons of State, em- bracing the due maintenance of the alliance formed by the British Government with foreign Powers, the preservation of tranquillity in the territories of Native Princes entitled to its pro- tection, and the security of the British dominions from foreign hostility and from internal com- motion, occasionally render it necessary to place under personal restraint individuals against whom there may not be sufficient ground to institute any official proceeding, or when such proceeding may not be adapted to the nature of the case, or may for other reasons be unadvisable or im- proper ; and whereas it is fit that, in every case of the nature herein referred to, the determination to be taken should proceed immediately from the authority of the Governor- General in Council ; and whereas the ends of justice require that, when it may be determined that any person shall be placed under personal restraint, otherwise than in pursuance of some judicial proceeding, the grounds of such determination should from time to time come under revision, and the person affected thereby should at all times be allowed freely to bring to the notice of the Governor- General in Council all circumstances relating either to the supposed ground of such deter- mination or to the manner in which it may be executed,' etc. The rules enacted by the Vice- 9 130 DEPORTATION President in Council were as follows : * First, when the reasons stated in the preamble of this Regulation may seem to the Governor-General in Council to require that an individual should be placed under personal restraint without any immediate view to ulterior proceedings of a judicial nature, a warrant of commitment, under the authority of the Governor-General in Council, and under the hand of the Chief Secretary or of one of the Secretaries to Government, shall be issued to the officer in whose custody such a person is to be placed. Second, the warrant of commitment shall be in the following form : " Whereas the Governor-General in Council for good or suffi- cient reasons has seen fit to determine that . . . So-so . . . shall be placed under personal restraint at ... Place. . . . You are hereby required and commanded, in pursuance of that determina- tion, to receive the person above named into your custody, and to deal with him in con- formity to the orders of the Governor- General in Council and the provisions of Regulation III. of 1818." ' By order of the Governor- General in Council, the warrant of commitment shall be sufficient authority for the detention of any State Prisoner in any fortress, jail, or other place within the territories subject to the Presidency of Fort William.' The question of the legality of the Regula- tion III. of 1818 was fully discussed in a case CASE IN THE HIGH COURT 131 which came before the High Court of Calcutta more than a generation ago. In that case the Court was moved to issue a writ of Habeas Corpus for the purpose of having a prisoner, who was detained in jail outside the limits of the local jurisdiction of the Court, brought before the Court together with the cause of his deten- tion. The prisoner had been arrested in Calcutta with the sanction of the Governor- General in Council, and was under detention under a war- rant in the form given in the Regulation III. of 1818, signed by a Secretary to the Government of India. It would be impossible to set out here the * dry abstract legal argument ' of the whole case. Briefly it may be said that the argument for the prisoner was that he was entitled to the writ of Habeas Corpus, and that the Court could issue the writ into the Mofussil ; that the Regulation had been enacted under 13 Geo. III., c. 63, but was a nullity, was in excess of the power of the Legislature who passed it, was never law, and could not be law in substance or in form, as being repugnant to English law, to Magna Charta and the fundamental laws of the realm, to natural justice, to the common sense of right, and to the Statute by which the Government of India existed ; that by several Statutes the English law, including Magna Charta, the Peti- tion of Right and the Habeas Corpus Acts, became the lex loci for the whole of India. It was also argued that Regulation III. of 1818 92 132 DEPORTATION had not been registered in the Supreme Court, as required by 13 Geo. III., c. 63, and was therefore not law. The Crown lawyers, in reply, protested against the Court taking cognizance of the matter, which, they argued, was a matter of State, and one governed by a Regulation which contemplates that parties may be imprisoned without being brought to trial. They relied on previous cases, in one of which it had been laid down that * the conduct of the Governor-General in so dealing with State Prisoners is exempt from the jurisdiction of the Court, as well as the Courts of the Honourable East India Company,' and, in the other, that a native arrested outside the local limits of the town of Calcutta under a warrant under Regulation III. of 1818 was lawfully de- tained, and could not be discharged upon Habeas Corpus. They urged that the Court had no power to issue a writ of Habeas Corpus into the Mofussil; that all the Statutes which were passed in England before 1726 (the date of the Mayor's Court in Calcutta) were not applicable within the jurisdiction of the old Supreme Court (which the High Court inherited) ; that the law of England was not applicable to the natives of India, and never became the lex loci as to others than British subjects ; that Magna Charta could never have been applied to India ; that the Governor-General was, under 21 Geo. III., c. 70, not subject to the jurisdiction of the High Court ; that the Regulation was valid, as it was enacted LEGALITY OF THE REGULATION 133 at a time when the Governor- General in Council had almost unlimited powers of passing laws ; that it was consistent with the lex loci ; that, in fact, Regulation III. of 1818 had been extended to the Presidency towns, etc., by subsequent Acts XXXIV. of 1850 and III. of 1858 ; that Regulation III. of 1818 had been enacted under powers conferred by Parliament in 21 Geo. III., c. 70, and 37 Geo. III., c. 142 (both which Statutes did not require registration), and not under 13 Geo. III., c. 63 ; that it was not in- valid as being ultra vires of the Legislature, and not having been registered ; and that there was nothing in the Regulation repugnant to the laws of England. The Court decided that it could entertain the application, and had authority to issue a writ of Habeas Corpus into the Mofussil (on the ground that the High Court inherited the jurisdiction which the late Supreme Court had possessed under the Charter of 1774), as the English law had been considered to be the law of the Settle- ment ; that the Regulation III. of 1818 was good law, as it had been passed by the Vice-President in Council under the provisions of 37 Geo. III., c. 142,* by which * Parliament conferred on the * ' The need for legislation proper was not felt until the Company became a territorial Sovereign by the cession of the ditvani of Bengal in 1765. After a few years' trial of the Native Government, the Company resolved in 1771 to "stand forth as Diwan " by the agency of its own servants. Warren 134 DEPORTATION Governor-General in Council a power of legis- lation concerning the rights, persons, and pro- perties of the natives amenable to the provincial Courts without restriction or limitation of any kind. The Regulation III. of 1818 is one which Hastings was appointed to inaugurate the new system, and the Regulations he promulgated in 1772 for the administration of civil and criminal justice are to be regarded as the first attempt at British legislation for India. Meanwhile, the affairs of India had come under the consideration of the House of Commons. The Statute passed in 1773, known as the Regulating Act (13 Geo. III., c. 63), besides establishing a Governor-General and founding a Supreme Court, conferred an express power of legislation upon the Governor-General and Council of Bengal. Regulations made in pursuance of this power were not valid unless registered in the Supreme Court, and this proviso led to serious difficulty. The earliest Regulation bears the date April 17, 1780. In 1781 a second Act of Parliament was passed (21 Geo. III., c. 70) empower- ing the Government to frame Regulations for the Provincial Courts of Justice without reference to the Supreme Court. It was under this Statute that the greater number of the so-called " Regulations " were passed, and, so far as they exceeded the limited authority thus conferred, the defect was cured by a subsequent Statute (37 Geo. III., c. 142). The special object of the last -mentioned Statute was to recognize the Bengal code of Regulations, itself known as Regulation XLI. of 1793. It was thereby required that all Regulations should be registered in the Judicial Department, that they should be printed, that they should be translated into the vernacular languages, that the grounds of each should be prefixed to it, and that all should be formed into a code. The power of legislation at Bengal remained substantially as thus settled down to 1 833.' (' Statement exhibiting the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India during the Year 1 882-1 883,' p. 41.) OBJECTS OF THE REGULATIONS 135 falls within that class of laws which authorizes the infliction of penalties, the privation of liberty, even the destruction of life, with a view to the future prevention of crime, and ensuring the safety and well-being of the public. It falls within the principle Solus populi suprema lex. It is useless to urge that the Regulation makes no provision against the possibility that the party may be confined on charges which may be false and malicious, and which he has no opportunity of answering. With all its defects if defects they be it was passed by a legislative authority having full power to enact it as it stands. It does no more than give to the Governor-General in Council a power analogous to that which the Parliament of the United Kingdom exercises when, by a legislative enactment, it suspends the Habeas Corpus Act.' The Court further decided that, in enacting Act III. of 1858 (which ex- tended the powers of Regulation III. of 1818, and enacted that its provisions relating to the arrest and imprisonment of persons as State Prisoners should be in force within the local limits of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Calcutta), the Indian Legislature did not ex- ceed the powers conferred by 3 and 4 Will. IV., c. 85, and was not inconsistent with the un- written law of the United Kingdom, which * would admit of a relaxation of the rules secur- ing private rights in times of public distress or danger ne quid detrimenti capiat respublica. An 136 DEPORTATION Act for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in such times is no violation of the Consti- tution.' The Court proceeded to say : ' The Regulation differs from Acts passed for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in this, that it is not a temporary Act ; but if the danger to be apprehended from the conspiracies of people of such character as these I have men- tioned is not temporary, but, from the condition of the country, must be permanent, it seems to me that the principles which justify the tem- porary suspension of the Habeas Corpus Acts in England justify the Indian Legislature in entrusting to the Governor-General in Council an exceptional power of placing individuals under personal restraint when, for the security of the British dominions from foreign hostility and from internal commotion, such a course might appear necessary to the Governor-General in Council.' The Court decided that, though it had a general power of issuing writs of Habeas Corpus, it would not be justified in issuing writs applied for in the particular case before it, as by 21 Geo. III., c. 70, ss. 1, 2, the Governor-General and Council were exempt from the jurisdiction of the Court for all official acts, and a written order by the Governor- General in Council was a justification for any act in any Court in India. The case was appealed, and, after argument, the judgment of the lower Court was upheld. After this full consideration of the point STATE PRISONERS 137 whether Regulation III. of 1818 was law or not and having regard to the fact that it has been acted upon as law for nearly ninety years, the Secretary of State could have had no difficulty in replying to Mr. MacNeill in the House of Commons on July 2, 1 907, that it is the law of the land in India. Mr. MacNeill only exposed his ignorance of Indian law and history by ask- ing (if he is correctly reported) the question, 'Whether the law of 1818 was not merely an ordinance of the self-constituted Council of the old East India Company, which had never been sanctioned by that House ?' Mr. Morley could easily admit that this particular Regulation had not been sanctioned by the House of Commons. There must be much good law in India which could be included in such a category. There can be no doubt that the Regulation has been put in force in India in recent years. I am not aware whether any Return of the State Prisoners arrested and detained under the Regulation has ever been moved for and presented to Parlia- ment. Such a return could assuredly be ob- tained from India. There is reason to believe that the Indian Foreign Office receives periodical Returns of the State Prisoners in detention under the Regulation, when the opportunity would offer of reconsidering each case on its merits. And under the Regulation itself it is open to the State Prisoners at all times freely to bring to the notice of the Governor-General in Council all the 138 DEPORTATION circumstances relating to their detention, so that each case can always be brought under revision. From the nature of the procedure it is not likely that the names of the State Prisoners would be published unless required by superior authority. From Sir Courtenay Ilbert's ' The Government of India,'* it appears that the Bombay Regulation XXV. of 1827, corresponding to the Bengal Regu- lation III. of 1818, was used in 1886 for the arrest of the Maharaja Bahadur Sir Dhuleep Singh at Aden, when he was so misguided as to abuse the permission granted to him to revisit India by issuing a political proclamation to the Sikhs, in which he claimed the Panjab. The same Regu- lation was put in force in 1897 in connexion with seditious proceedings at Poona. Whether Yakoob Khan, the ex- Amir of Afghanistan, and Ayub Khan, the victor of Maiwand, are detained under the Regulation, or as prisoners of war, I have no means of knowing. There is before me a state- ment of Sirdar Prem Singh, formerly Com- mander-in-Chief and principal Civil Governor to Maharaja Golab Singh, ruler of Jammu, to the effect that he, Prem Singh, together with Sirdars Maun Singh and Lall Singh (who were im- prisoned for * complicating '), had been kept close prisoners by the British Government for upwards of twenty years (1845-1866) in the military fort of Allahabad. Wazir AH, the ex-Nawab of Oudh, who suffered incarceration (for the murder of * Second edition, p. 262. Mr. Cherry) at the hands of the British Govern- ment for seventeen years at Calcutta and Vellore, did not come under the Regulation of 1818, as he died in 1817. But his case at least shows that, Regulation or no Regulation, the British Govern- ment in India incarcerated a State Prisoner more than a hundred years ago. Other instances of persons deported by the Government in India may be quoted. So long ago as 1794, W. Duane, editor of the Bengal Journal, was deported from India for attacking the Governor-General. In 1813 more stringent means were adopted against the Calcutta Press hitherto exclusively in the hands of Englishmen. In 1823 Mr. J. S. Buckingham, editor of the Calcutta Journal, was deported from India by Mr. John Adam, who was then acting as Governor- General. Mr. Sandford Arnot suc- ceeded Mr. Buckingham as editor, but he also was deported from India. In August, 1824, Mr. C. J. Fair, Editor of the Bombay Gazette, was deported by the Governor of Bombay, Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone.* There remains for consideration the question whether the Regulation should form part of the law of India. This may be discussed from at least two points of view how it would be regarded by Indians, both the rulers and the people, and how it operates as an instrument of * 'Bombay in the Days of George IV.,' by Dr. F. D. Drewitt. Longmans, 1907. 140 DEPORTATION the British Government. Mr. C. J. O'Donnell, M.P., in a question asked in the House of Com- mons on May 14, 1907, referred to the Regulation as an obsolete law of nearly a century ago. Had he never heard of the Regulation during his period of service in India? Has he assured himself that the law has ever been obsolete ? Can he be aware that the practice of deportation is one of the commonest of executive measures in the Native States of India ? The deportation Regulations in British India are merely the anglicized forms of the well-known Mogul measure called ' Shahr Badar,' which is constantly enforced even to this day in the Native States. As Sir C. Ilbert says, in his book above mentioned : * British authority in India may be traced, histori- cally, to a twofold source. It is derived partly from the British Crown and Parliament, partly from the Great Mogul, and other Native Rulers in India.' Down to the time of the introduction of the Penal Code of 1860, much of the Mahomedan criminal law, modified by different Regulations of the Governor- General, continued to be the law for punishing offences in India. Deporta- tion, being an old Mogul practice, is by no means inconsistent with the traditions of the rulers or people of India. It is quite an Oriental method adopted by Native Rulers of ridding the State of an undesirable it need not always be an offensive person. To avoid a pro- longed trial and the consequent scandal, the HYDERABAD 141 agitator or the individual round whom agitation is centred is quietly sent out of the State. If the individual happens to be a high official, he is deported with a handsome pension, sometimes a much higher pension than that to which he is entitled under the ordinary pension rules, to compensate him for the sudden loss of Govern- ment service. For instance, in the premier Native State, Hyderabad, well known for the agitation there prevalent and its troublesome Vernacular Press, deportation is not a matter of uncommon occurrence. Europeans are deported when their presence is regarded as objectionable by His Highness the Nizam's Government. Even a ' decoration ' conferred by the Viceroy, or a British University degree, is not protection against deportation. The Sirdar A , C.I.E., the well-known Mahomedan financier connected with the famous Deccan mining case in Parlia- ment, was deported for a time from the Nizam's dominions. An Edinburgh graduate, belonging to the Nizam's Education Department, was deported for making speeches against a railway scheme. When agitation ceased, he was allowed to return to Hyderabad, and for years served as a professor in the Nizam's colleges. The Nawab M (afterwards of Aligarh), formerly Financial Secretary of Hyderabad, was deported with a substantial pension. There have been several deportations within the last ten years. A Judicial Secretary of Hyderabad now a leading 142 DEPORTATION solicitor of Bombay was deported with a pension after only about eight years of service. In 1901 a high Revenue officer was deported from Hyder- abad with a pension. He now holds a high appointment in Maharaja Holkar's service. So deportation from one Native State does not prevent employment in another Native State, nor does it prevent the individual from earning an honourable livelihood in British India. Within the last five years no less than three Europeans (one of them a retired British officer) have been deported from His Highness the Nizam's dominions. The Times, dated August 22, 1907, published the following account of Deportation from the Capital of His Highness the Nizam: 'Deportations from States under indigenous rule in India, or from given areas therein, are ordinarily carried out under orders personally signed by the Chief with or without reason assigned, and more fre- quently political and other " undesirables " are given a hint of the intentions of the Durbar which gives them opportunity for hasty departure before expulsion is definitely ordered. In a recent case, however, the premier Chief of India, the Nizam of Hyderabad, has marked his grave displeasure at the conduct of the present head of what has been an influential and wealthy family in the State by giving full publicity to orders for his degradation and expulsion and the sequestra- tion of his property. The nobleman in question HYDERABAD 143 is Nawab Syed Jung Syed-ud-Dowlah, Bahadur, son of the late Nawab Asaf Nawaz-ul-Mulk, formerly secretary of the Sarf-i-Khas, or Crown lands of the State. Apparently the Nawab has felt himself aggrieved at some recent order of the Durbar, and in written communications has expressed his views with undue freedom. An official Gazette announces that, owing to certain very impertinent correspondence forwarded to His Highness the Nizam by the Nawab, His Highness has been pleased to direct that the titles conferred upon him from time to time shall be withdrawn ; that the mansab (grant for services) and every other kind of allowance he has been drawing from the Sarf-i-Khas, as well as from the Diwani (State) shall be stopped, and that he shall be expelled from the city of Hyder- abad forthwith, and will not be allowed to enter it again without His Highness's permission, or until further orders.' When vernacular papers published in His Highness the Nizam's capital give trouble to the Durbar authorities, either the editor is deported, or the Nizam's police stop the publication of the offending paper, without any judicial trial what- soever. Admittedly, deportation is not a pro- cedure to be adopted in ordinary cases lettres de cachet have never been desirable remedies. But it is clear that deportation is a familiar procedure, and by no means obsolete in India. In the last ten years only four political offenders have been 144 DEPORTATION deported from British India two from Poona and two from Lahore. It shows how carefully the Government of India have used their powers under the Regulation III. of 1818. It would be difficult to gauge the opinion of * the people, 1 the millions of India, on the pro- cedure of deportation. Probably they have never bestowed any deep thought on the subject. They do not care for niceties of legal procedure. They have their ideas of justice ; they can under- stand the exercise of power, and they can appreciate a ruler taking the quickest methods to rid himself of the presence of an undesirable subj ect by turning him out of his dominions. True, they have their panchayets and their deliberations, but they would not regard it as improper that the Ruler of a State should deport an objection- able person without formal trial. They would know that the Ruler would not have taken such action without good reason. The safety of the Indian Empire depends on the good-will of the Native Princes and the Native Army. Technical niceties of law are distasteful to both, who form the bulwark against sedition. A very distin- guished Indian officer, who presided over the destinies of no less than seventy Native States, had no hesitation in assuring the British public that ' there can be little doubt that our unpopu- larity is chiefly due to the Courts administering an unintelligible and intricate law and procedure. . . . They are certainly abhorred by the people, MR. MORLEY 145 who do not understand them, and who are punished for not understanding them. . . . The intricacy of our codes, which, although translated into the vernacular, only exist, for all practical knowledge of the people, in English, make our Courts more mysterious to an Indian peasant than the Maze at Hampton Court to an uninstructed visitor. If we ever lose India, it will be the fault of the lawyers.* The main feature of the Regulation is that it allows of deportation without formal trial of the prisoner. It is on this ground that this law is challenged by the Irish Members of Parliament, and by certain ex-Civilians in the House of Commons. It is this very feature that makes it so efficient an instrument in the hands of Government. In his speech on the Indian Budget* Mr. Morley declined to offer any apology what- ever for using the weapon ready to his hand. Sir Denzil Ibbetson, late Lieu tenant- Governor of the Panjab, gave Mr. Morley a good reason of which the latter entirely approved for avoiding prosecu- tions in dealing with cases of sedition. 'They have found by experience that a prosecution advertises far and wide the subject against which objection is taken, that it brings the matter to the ears of thousands who would never have heard of it otherwise, and that it attracts public attention to the prosecution of men who pose as * Sir Lepel Griffin, K. C.S.I., in the Fortnightly Review, October, 1883, p. 490. 10 146 DEPORTATION '\t> i \ martyrs for the good of their country. The speeches of Counsel are, after all, even more harmful than the original libel. Then, when the sentences are pronounced, there are pathetic scenes in Court ; there are accounts published of how the accused are attended on the road, and how they are conducted in procession through the streets.' The speeches of Counsel are, it is notorious, practically unrestrained, and remarks can easily be uttered which may do the greatest harm. In the very case which has been referred to at some length above, one of the Counsel for the prisoner asked in his speech why the latter * should be arrested for treason and be surrounded with care and attention which would not be shown him at all if he had committed the grievous crime of assassinating the Governor-General.' Through- out the case the name of the Governor- General had, in spite of the remonstrances of the Court, been constantly introduced without much respect. Who can say whether the above remark of the Counsel (who doubtless never dreamt of such a consequence resulting from his words) may not have given the idea leading up to the murder of Lord Mayo the terrible tragedy which took place at the Andamans ? It is not to be supposed that the Government would have recourse to the procedure of arrest and deportation without ample evidence of the guilt of the accused person. The whole object of the unusual procedure is to secure the removal of the offender without allowing him MR. MORLEY 147 a formal trial, an opportunity which he would utilize to the further injury of Government. All Governments must protect themselves, and in times of emergency must be allowed to have recourse to methods which are not required under ordinary circumstances. The application of Regulation III. of 1818 resembles, as has been above shown, to some extent the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, differing from it in the fact that it is a permanent law and not re- quiring to be passed anew on each occasion. It would greatly increase the difficulties of the Government of India should Regulation III. of 1818 ever be repealed. The efficiency of the Regulation as an instrument of Government has been practically proved. On July 9, 1907, Mr. Morley was able to say in Parliament that ' the proceedings under the Regulation of 1818 are generally recognized as having had a most salutary effect in the Panjab.' 102 ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE THE interest which is now being taken in inter- national commerce must inevitably call attention to the purely Imperial commercial aspect of the anti- Asiatic legislation in British self-governing Colonies. I need not recapitulate the political arguments on either side of the question contained in the voluminous correspondence on the subject.* It will perhaps suffice to say that neither the Colonial Governments nor the representatives of the British Indians whether in the Colonies or in Parliament, or at the deputation of November 8, 1906, to Lord Elgin have at all discussed the question from this point of view. The importance of the Asiatic problem in the self-governing Colonies, from a purely Imperial commercial point of view, is, in my humble opinion, in no way less important than any question on the agenda paper of the Colonial Conference. To put the case briefly, I need * Published in the Blue books Cd. 2239, Cd. 3308, Cd. 2104, Cd. 1683, Cd. 1684, C. 8596, C. 5448, C. 7911, and Green book No. 2 of 1894. 148 ANTI-ASIATIC LEGISLATION 149 only quote Sir Arthur Lawley, who, in his letter to Lord Milner dated April 13, 1904, said : * Promises have been made without knowledge or perception of the consequences involved in their fulfilment promises which it is greater crime to keep than to break.' Others took the same view ; Lord Selborne also ex- pressed his complete agreement, and urged the home authorities to sanction the prohibition of Asiatic immigration into the Transvaal. The Anglo- Japanese Alliance was a political entente cordiale ; a real entente commerciale between Great Britain and Asia can only be secured by the good treatment of Asiatics throughout the British Empire. The Asiatics who travel to distant parts of the world in search of trade, on return to their country are naturally regarded as trade experts in their small home circles, and thus become the medium for the distribution of European goods in their countries. Such commercial links are destined to play a most important part in the commercial expansion of Great Britain, or her commercial rival, Germany, according to their friendliness or the reverse. And this depends largely on the treat- ment they have received in various countries of the world under the British flag. From the anti-Asiatic spirit displayed by the Colonial Government, it is clear that they do not approach commercial problems from a truly Imperial point of view. It is to be regretted that in colonial legislation the wider commercial interests of the Mother Country are allowed to take their chance, being subordinated to local considera- tions. Politics and commerce are not only com- patible, but really inseparable. Fortunately, the final word in such a case does not lie with, for instance, the Transvaal Government, for Section 7 of Instruction VII., dated December 6, 1906, granting the Transvaal Constitution, says : * The Governor shall not assent in Our name to any law of an extraordinary nature and importance whereby Our prerogative, or the rights and property of Our subjects not residing in the Colony, or the trade and shipping of the United Kingdom and its dependencies, may be preju- diced.' My object is to show that anti- Asiatic legislation on the part of the Colonies is calculated to affect prejudicially the trade of the United Kingdom. In 1888 the then Colonial Secretary, Lord Knutsford, warned the Australian authorities that bad treatment of the Asiatics in the Colonies could not possibly quicken British interests in Asia. His Lordship, with reference to the de- plorable s.s. Afghan incident, wrote : ' It is im- portant to ascertain whether, in substitution for legislation of a similar kind' (on Chinese immigra- tion into Australia), * other arrangements more in accordance with the feelings and views of the Chinese Government, and at the same time fully effective for the purpose of restricting Chinese BRITISH EXPORTS TO ASIA 151 immigration, may not be adopted. Having regard to the political and commercial interests of the Empire, and particularly to the commercial interests of the Australasian Colonies, no avoid- able obstacles should be placed in the way of trade with China,' etc. The Asiatic question affects not only the Transvaal, but other self- governing Colonies also. Yet this is the question which the Colonial Conference did not discuss. It is not only an Empire problem, but really a world problem complicated both by Great Britain being the greatest Asiatic Power and by her alliance with Japan. Imperial commercial questions which vitally affect the whole of the Empire can only be satisfactorily dealt with by one Empire Government, and not differently by several Governments within the Empire, accord- ing to their merely local interests. It is the principle of a Central Government that Imperial policy must be based on broad Empire lines, which should not in any way prejudicially affect the real commercial interests of the Empire as a whole. Imperial commerce is of more importance than colonial trade. There is no denying the fact that upon the industrial strength of Great Britain depends the maintenance of her sea-power, and therefore the defence of the Empire. Great Britain's industrial strength depends largely on the markets in Asia an area which contains about half of the entire human race. In favour of British goods, India and some other populous 152 ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE Asiatic countries have seen many of their ancient indigenous industries dwindle and decay. Though Great Britain's trade with Asia has ample room for expansion, yet at present Asia takes over one-fourth of the total exports of the United Kingdom. In 1905 the value of the total exports of produce and manufactures of Great Britain amounted to 329,816,614, out of which Asia took goods valued at 87,379,894, as follows : VALUE OF BRITISH EXPORTS TO ASIA, 1905. British India ... ... ... 47,373,677 China (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Wei-hai-wei) ... ... 16,859,216 Japan (including Formosa) ... ... 9,661,896 Asiatic Turkey ... ... ... 3,648,406 Java and other Dutch possessions in Indian seas ... ... ... 3,485,212 Straits Settlements ... ... 3,227,239 Ceylon ... ... ... ... 1,368,469 Siam ... ... ... ... 532,872 Persia ... ... ... ... 473,026 Aden ... ... ... ... 245,768 Portuguese possessions in India ... 212,185 Indo-China ... ... ... 65,696 Korea 65,642 Dutch Borneo ... ... ... 50,639 Malay States ... ... ... 36,959 Sarawak ... ... ... 22,339 British Borneo ... ... ... 21,857 Arabia (Muscat) ... ... ... 19,577 French possessions in India ... 5,005 Labuan ... .. ... ... 4,214 Total ... 87,379,894 * ASIATIC DANGER' 153 Considering the vital interests involved, it is undesirable that Great Britain should embark on a commercial struggle with Asiatics. Morally, persecution [in the British Colonies is an admis- sion of the victory of the Asiatic. Materially, it affects prejudicially the commercial expansion of Great Britain in Asia. Anti- Asiatic feeling in the British Colonies is likely to undo what the Anglo-Japanese Alliance would have indirectly done towards the expansion of British trade in Asia. An anti- Asiatic policy is an unworthy policy for the Central Government to sanction, and cannot maintain and stimulate the industrial supremacy of Great Britain, which is a trust handed down to the nation by past generations. The true politics for a Central Government must take into consideration a commercial working policy for the whole Empire, for on that depends the defence of the Empire. The commercial expansion of Germany may appear sudden and surprising to the superficial observer ; but, in fact, it is due not so much to German activity as to British inactivity, and sometimes to British activity on wrong lines. Great Britain often pays a heavy price commercially for colonial political indiscretions. Colonial Governments look mainly to what seem to them, for the time being, necessities of the individual Colonies con- cerned. Unfortunately, in the matter of an * Asiatic scare ' termed by them 'Asiatic danger' they have shown little regard for Imperial con- siderations. In their zeal for anti- Asiatic legis- lation they forget that the Mother Country won by force rights of trade and residence from reluctant Asiatics, by whom anti- Asiatic legis- lation under the British flag will be resented. The Asiatic, finding himself unable to fight politically, will show his resentment practically by boycotting British goods in his country. A careful study of the Blue books on the subject of Asiatic immigration into various self- governing Colonies shows that at first the settlement of the question is unnecessarily de- layed ; then, all of a sudden, over the cry of 'Asiatic danger' raised, probably, by some trading ring it is settled in a panic. Is it any wonder that they forget that three-fourths of the population of the Empire are Asiatics, and ignore the real Imperial commercial aspect of the question ? It could have been nothing but ' Asiatic danger ' panic that seized the Australian Government when they went so far as to pro- hibit the employment of Asiatics on the high seas on board of any vessel under contract to carry mails for Australia ; for otherwise, it is difficult to imagine how the presence of a few lascars on a mail steamer not owned by the Australian Government interfered with the in- dustrial development of the Commonwealth. Anyhow, it showed how far colonial statesmen are out of touch with the real interests of India, an important portion of the Empire. In support ASIATICS INVITED 155 of this un-British measure, the Colonial Govern- ments generally put forward social and economic reasons for opposing Asiatic immigration. They forget that Asiatics did not creep in uninvited and unobserved. As late as 1876 the Cape House of Assembly passed Resolutions in favour of the importation of Asiatic labourers. It is not denied that Indian labourers saved the West Indies, British Guiana, and Trinidad from in- dustrial ruin, and that Natal's present prosperity is due to Indian labourers. Neither is it denied that the proportion of free Indians in the whole of British South Africa is only one in sixty-two, and that there are eleven white people to over one Indian. The Indian trader is considered respectable, for it is an open secret that both at Pretoria and Durban the Indian trader easily obtains credit from wholesale European houses when it is refused to white traders. Asiatics have done a great deal for the British Colonies. The prosperity of the Malaya, Borneo, and the Straits is due to Chinese industry. The Uganda Railway was built by Indian labourers. Morally, the position of the British Indian is unassailable. From the Colonial trade point of view he is said to be undesirable. My object, as I have inti- mated before, is to show from the real Imperial commercial point of view how impolitic it is for the Imperial authorities to give their sanction to a measure directed against Asiatics. I do not appeal to any gratuitous sentimentalities. If the 156 ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE purely commercial aspect of the question is not clearly recognized, Imperial commerce will be landed in a serious deadlock in India, if not in the whole of Asia. Anyone who is acquainted with the rudiments of the distribution of the manufactures of Great Britain among the rural population of India, which comprises about 250,000,000 persons i.e., about 80 per cent, of the entire population, the backbone of the Indian people will at once understand what I mean. Importers of British goods into India are no doubt large wholesale houses mostly British at Karachi, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, and Rangoon. But the distribution of these goods naturally is, and will always be, in the hands of native agency. According to the last census (Blue book, Cd. 2660), about three millions of native middlemen of various sorts are engaged in the distribution of commerce in India : Middlemen and their clerks ... ... 431,218 Brokers and their agents ... ... 219,300 Petty shopkeepers ... ... ... 201,723 Pedlars and hawkers ... ... 113,037 Petty dealers (manohar) ... ... 53,742 Cart owners and drivers ... ... 608,248 Pack-camel and mule drivers ... 421,498 Pack-bullock owners and drivers ... 145,105 Native boatmen ... ... ... 593,345 Total ... ... 2,787,216 The petty village traders better known in India as the banya, bohra, and kojnti serve as CHINESE BOYCOTT 157 commercial links between the wholesale British importers and the actual consumers in the Indian villages. They are thus the invaluable economic factors in the distribution of British goods among the very persons who are subjected to a form of treatment which any British subject would resent. Such treatment cannot inspire good- feeling. When they return home from distant countries, they serve as missionaries of discon- tent in India. It is well known that a section of the educated classes, representing the Indian National Congress, are trying their best to boy- cott British goods. But so far their modus operand* has met with only limited success. When, however, they get hold of these middle- men, returned indignant with the treatment received in British Colonies, England will be face to face with the most difficult problem of the sale of British goods in India. The recent Chinese boycott of American goods showed clearly how Asiatics are prone to settle political differences economically by the boycotting of goods. As it is, Germany is making successful inroads on the trade of India. The trade between Germany and India has during the last decade achieved a marked development ; the total value of the annual imports to India from Germany has increased 100 per cent, (vide Blue book, Cd. 2682-48). Germany now ranks third in importance amongst the various countries in the world in the value of both the import and the 158 ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE export trades of India. She turns to commercial advantage every political action or inaction of the Government of India. A few years ago, when I was in India, it struck me most forcibly how the German trader took advantage of British administrative orders. The British authorities in certain Native States with some vigour laid stress on an old Regulation that no European British subject could be tried by the Courts of Native Princes, with a view to bringing the procedure into line with similar law existing in British India. In enforcing the law the British Government laid stress on the fact that the right to try European British subjects in Native States was the prerogative of the para- mount Power. This was popularly believed to mean that the British authorities, and not the individual concerned, could in a Native State waive his right, which he could waive in British India. As no Europeans could be tried by Native Courts, some of the Native States have standing circulars against the acquisition in their State of land by Europeans. The result is that, if a European wishes to settle down as a trader, he finds it much easier to acquire land in the name of a native than in any other way. If an inquiry be made, it will be found that Germans are taking advantage of this loophole, and, by making use of the present unfortunate anti- English feeling in India, are pushing their trade. It is an open secret that in several Swadeshi COMMERCIAL POLICY 159 exhibitions (exhibitions of indigenous articles of India), while British goods were rigorously excluded, articles 'made in Germany' had free access. At a time like this the greatest care is required to guard British commercial interests in India in particular, and Asia in general. The commercial supremacy of England is, no doubt, without parallel and without precedent, but it is not without rivals. Every weak point in the Imperial commercial system, if not attended to at once, may in the long run work serious injury to British commercial interests in the East. External economic interests lie at the root of most international conflicts, for every nation wants markets for the sale of its surplus manu- factures. Asia is England's good customer. Asia finds employment for a large number of Englishmen in factories and wharves. The Asiatic contributes largely to the circulation of capital. These economic factors must be taken into consideration by the British nation. If the commercial vision of England is to be bounded by a colonial horizon, such a policy may lead to the practical disintegration of the Empire. Nothing can be compared with the eventual commercial disaster to which such a policy must lead, for the sinews of war mean money, and money is derived from trade. The Asiatic question in the Colonies is another phase of the struggle between a simple Asiatic life and a complex European civilization. The total 160 ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE population of South Africa, as per census of 1904, is roughly 6j millions. The total white population is less than 1| millions. Therefore it is doubtful whether the Transvaal can be called a white man's country in any other sense than that the white man can live and thrive there. The British Indian trader and the hawker rely on the support of wholesale Euro- pean houses, and the latter on the white house- holders of all descriptions. The Indian would hardly be able to exist in the Transvaal but for the support received from the white population. He is in South Africa because he is wanted, otherwise it would not pay him to be there. There is no doubt that 'the man on the spot' knows best the requirements of the 'spot.' But it does not follow, therefore, that, for the sake of a particular ' spot ' or a portion of the Empire, the commercial interests of the whole of the Empire should be allowed to suffer. If the presence of the banya, bohra, and komti, (Indian traders and hawkers) is objected to by the Transvaal Government, there are other ways of getting rid of unwelcome people than ' slam- ming the door,' the method employed by Lord Selborne. If the Home Government finally accept the statement of the 'man on the spot,' they can stop Indian immigration into the Transvaal by other methods than those calculated to wound their feelings. In November, 1897, Mr. T. J. Nakagawa, the PASSPORT SYSTEM 161 Japanese Consul in Sydney, wrote to the Premier of New South Wales : * The Government of Japan will be quite prepared at any time to make an arrangement, by treaty or otherwise, that will practically secure for New South Wales, so far as Japan is concerned, all that the proposed (anti- Asiatic) legislation can secure. 1 desire to express my most earnest hope that nothing will be allowed to occur which is calculated to check the development of the commercial intercourse of the two countries, and to destroy the friendly feeling that now exists in Japan to wards New South Wales.' But the fact of the Australian Govern- ment contemptuously ignoring the courteous offer a parallel of which will with difficulty be found in the whole records of consulate and diplomatic correspondence of any country shows the de- sirability of Imperial control over Colonial affairs where important questions of Imperial policy are at stake. An Act was passed by the Japanese Government in 1896, and amended in 1901, for the regulation and control of emigration, and for the protection of Japanese emigrants. Under this Act it is provided that no Japanese may go abroad without first applying to the Government (in writing) for permission to do so, and his appli- cation must be accompanied by a guarantee, signed by two or more responsible sureties, for the good conduct of the emigrant while abroad. On receipt of such application the Government may grant a passport, provided that it is satisfied 11 162 ASIA AND IMPERIAL COMMERCE as to the character of the applicant, the position of the sureties, and also that there is no danger of the emigrant's presence being in any way offensive to the people of the country whither he intends to go. I know the passport system suggested above will appear to the liberal mind as an un-English measure ; but I respectfully submit that it would be less un-English than the ' slam-the-door ' method now followed in the Transvaal. It would be a more conciliatory method, and likely to accomplish the end the Transvaal Government have in view, with a minimum of irritation to all parties concerned. THE PARTITION OF BENGAL THE Partition, or rather the Reconstitution, of Bengal clearly showed that there was a master- hand behind it. The liveliest imagination must give way to stern facts. The cut-and-dried phrases of the professional agitator should not confuse the British public. The Reconstitution of Bengal will in no way make a split in the Bengali race. The same University and the same language continue. It is hard to sym- pathize with the feeling which prompts people to insinuate that the so-called Partition is aimed at the growth of the Bengali language. In another Chapter 1 have shown that the modern Bengali language is a British creation. An administrative border-line cannot destroy or even impair Indian nationality. Take the Mah rattas, for example. They are separated by more than one administrative border-line. Some of them are in the Central Provinces, others in the Bombay Presidency ; others, again, in the Dominions of His Highness the Nizam. It is therefore clear that the Partition does not make the Bengali a farthing the worse, in person, 163 112 164 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL reputation, or pocket. In mind, perhaps, as far as the name Assam used in the appellation of the new Province is concerned. But surely Assam cannot now be associated with barbarism in the Bengali mind. Is not the Assamese a ' brother ' in the Indian National Congress camp ? Are not the daughters of some of the leading Bengali agitators married to the Assamese ? Then where comes in even the sentimental grievance ? In these days of the Indian National Congress, when the Calcutta Babu (not in a disparaging sense) calls the Madras Chetty a brother, and the Bombay Rao is joined with the Panjab Singh by * nationalties,' it is beyond one's comprehension where the occasion for national wailing is. But, of course, in professional agitation it is difficult to say where reality stops and fiction begins. Partition or no Partition, the Bengali has nothing to complain of. The Bengali race never attained its present position of influence under the Mahomedan Government, The Bengali holds high positions even outside his own Province. The first Hindu to sit on the Bench of the High Court of the N.W. Provinces (now U.P.) was not a native of that Province, but Mr. Justice P. C. Banerji, a Bengali ; the first Hindu selected by the British Government to dispense justice among the war- like races of the Panjab was not a native of the Panjab, but Mr. Justice P. C. Chatterji, a native of Bengal. The first Hindu on a Royal Com- BENGALIS EVERYWHERE 165 mission is not a native of Bombay or Madras, but Mr. R. C. Dutt, C.I.E., a distinguished Bengali ; the first Hindu selected to give advice to the Secretary of State for India at the India Office is also a Bengali. In his own Province the Bengali has filled every appointment Execu- tive or Judicial except that of the Lieutenant- Governor, with distinction. The association of Assam with Eastern Bengal need not frighten the Bengali, for instead of Assam absorbing a portion of Eastern Bengal, it has itself been absorbed in the new Province. The new Province in its administrative machinery is in no way inferior to the old Province of Bengal. It has a Legislative Council and a Board of Revenue, and continues under the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court. The Bengalis are therefore under exactly the same criminal and civil laws as they were before. If there is any fear of the * national tie ' (whatever it may mean) being broken by the Partition, an occa- sional sitting of the Indian National Congress in the bracing air of Chittagong will strengthen the * national tie ' to a degree which may stand the rough wear and tear of even a Surat meeting. Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa as one Province originated in the time of the Moguls. In the eighteenth century the richest Province in India, both in agriculture and manufacture, was Bengal, After the Battle of Plassey, in 1757, the English occupied Bengal. In 1773, by an Act of Parlia- 166 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL ment, the constitution of the East India Company was changed, and a Parliamentary title was given to the administration in India. Bengal, as an existing Mogul Province, was recognized by the British. Warren Hastings, as Governor, was placed in charge of Bengal in 1772. Two years later he was made Governor- General of India, but continued, in addition to his new duties, to govern Bengal under his direct supervision. This arrangement continued for eighty years. In 1854 Bengal was raised to the dignity of a separate Lieutenant-Governorship. After twenty years, with the increase in population, in 1874, it was found expedient to make Assam into a separate Administration under a Chief Commissioner. Later on, in 1892, the tract called the Looshai Hills was added to Assam. Bengal still remained a very large Province, and the population rose to about 80,000,000, or more than the popula- tion of the German Empire, and about double the population of France. It contained forty- eight districts, and covered an area of more than 150,000 square miles. Such a vast Province as Bengal was under a single man, called the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. The United Provinces (formerly N.W.P.) contained only 48,000,000, inhabitants. The Governor of Bombay ruled over only 20,000,000, and Madras Presidency had about 42,000,000. Common sense demanded either that Bombay and Madras should be thrown into one, or Bengal UNWIELDY BENGAL 167 should be divided into two. Burke worshipped the British Constitution because it was not geometrical. A constitution may not be geometrical, but in these days, even Indian administrative areas require symmetry. The famine of 1866 opened the eyes of the authorities in India. In 1868 Sir Stafford Northcote drew official attention to the fact that Bengal was getting quite unwieldy as a Province. Sir George Campbell and Sir William Grey were of the same opinion. The relief of the Govern- ment of Bengal came to be regarded as an administrative necessity, but it wanted indomit- able energy to make satisfactory arrangements regarding the reduction of the territorial jurisdic- tion of the Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal. A statesmanlike and far-sighted handling of the question was wanted. Lord Curzon proved himself equal to the task. His Lordship clearly saw that the salvation of India depended, not on Congress speeches and hysterical agitations, but on the industrial development of the country. There are many important industries in Bengal. The most valuable coalfields, the sugar, the tea, and the jute industries require administrative skill to handle. The Government could not afford to suffer long from administrative poverty. To overcome physical isolation, almost unavoid- able in a huge country, Lord Curzon very properly decided to bring the Government nearer the people. The scheme was before the public 168 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL for eighteen months. All sides of the question were carefully considered, and the balance of argument was found in favour of the Reconstitu- tion of the Provinces of Bengal and Assam. The new Province comprises an area of 106,540 square miles, and a population of 31,000,000. The old Province now consists of 141,580 square miles, with a population of 54,000,000. In the new Province Mahomedans, and in the old Province Hindus, predominate. Thus the ' Parti- tion' makes two compact self-contained Provinces more homogeneous in character. The columns of the English papers were flooded with articles, opinions, and correspondence re- lating to the 'Partition of Bengal,' which was carried out with effect from October 15, 1905. The English public must have become weary of such phrases as ' dismembering Bengal,' ' smash- ing Bengal unity,' ' double dose of coercion,' etc. Individuals who had absolutely no idea of Bengal administration not only gave but ob- truded their opinions. A sound knowledge of the administration of the country, and a study of the commercial aspect of the question, were hardly considered essential before the formula- tion and public utterance of most decided con- clusions on the Partition. In the English Press, only the sentimental side of the question was exhibited. Not a single writer went into figures to show what the question really meant. Even an ex-official of the Bengal Government, like Sir THE PROJECT OPPOSED 169 Henry Cotton, indulged only in dogmatical ex- pressions of dislike to the change. He openly declared : ' It is easy to make the statement that the charge (of the Lieutenant-Governor of Ben- gal) is too heavy, but it is difficult to support it ... the truth is that the charge was a heavier one in the past than it is now.' Is there any wonder that the people in this country were misled ? Sir Henry Cotton himself made no at- tempt to support his statement. Well-informed persons read Sir Henry Cotton's statements with amazement, not unmixed with amuse- ment. Of course, anyone could understand Sir Henry Cotton's difficult position, inasmuch as he claimed to come forward * as an interpreter of the wishes of the Indian people.' The * Indian people ' whom Sir Henry Cotton claimed to re- present in this country were evidently the leaders of the propaganda which opposed practically every act of the Government of India. As leader of such leaders, Sir Henry Cotton has to con- ciliate their party ; and therefore, whether he likes it or not, has sometimes to enter a powder magazine with a lighted match in hand. Sta- tistics were all against them, and clearly showed that the responsibilities of the Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal were too great for any man, however ambitious or hardworking. I am there- fore going to quote statistics from Blue books, to instil into the mind of the British reader some elementary knowledge of Bengal affairs to save 170 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL him from falling into extremes of pessimism re- garding the Partition question. Such a course alone is likely to remove some of the extra- ordinary ignorance of the extreme Radical party. It is not difficult to select a few facts and figures from official publications to give the English public an idea of Bengal. In addition to the administration of Bengal, as formerly constituted, the Lieutenant-Governor had to be in touch with the affairs of the independent States of Sikkim, with an area of 2,818 miles ; Bhutan, with an area of 20,000 square miles ; Cooch Behar, 1,307 square miles ; and Hill Tippera, with an area of 4,086 square miles. Besides these, he had to look after the Political States of Chota Nagpur, consisting of nine States, varying in size from 6,089 to 153 square miles. Then there were the Tributary Mahals of Orissa, most of which main- tain militias, while some possess guns. Their area varies from 4,243 square miles to 46 square miles. This gives an idea of the complex problem of the Bengal administration. < But, apart from the Native States just men- tioned, the work of the general administration of the British territory of unpartitioned Bengal may be examined in greater detail. To begin with, in 1904, the Court of Wards had under its management 154 estates. The number of estates under the direct management of the Bengal Government was 3,266. Survey and Settle- ment works on a vast scale were in progress. DETAILS OF WORK 171 The area covered by the Traverse Survey parties in 1904-1905 was 6,884 square miles, or 2,713 in excess of that dealt with in the previous year. The Cadastral Survey operations extended over 3,719 square miles. A record of rights had been framed in respect of 32,482 square miles of the Province of Bengal, and 58 Co-operative Credit Societies were working for the good of the country. These, with the Agriculturists' Loans work, might at any time require the Lieutenant- Governor's personal supervision. The question of Hamburg salt and the breaking of the mono- poly of salt vendors of Chittagong were measures of administrative importance to which the Lieu- tenant- Governor might have had to attend ; while the rising ports of Calcutta and Chittagong ought to have received a good deal of his attention. In 1904-1905, 1,367 vessels arrived at, and 1,372 sailed from, Calcutta alone ; 1,749 vessels and 123,517 seamen were inspected by the Board of Health. The receipts of the Port Trust Railway in 1904-1905 rose from Rs. 7,96,541 to 8,21,296. The increase in the receipts of the Wet Dock charges was more than 14 per cent. The Dry Dock also gave a good return on the capital cost. The river dues rose from Rs. 9,66,248 to 10,63,579. The port of Chittagong, after the Partition, was transferred to the new Province of ' Eastern Bengal and Assam '; 356 vessels entered the port in 1904-1905, and the aggregate tonnage increased from 241,367 to 283,959 tons. The 172 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL export trade showed an increase of 66 per cent. The principal articles of export are grain, jute, and tea ; and of import, salt and mineral oil. Improvements were, at the time of the Parti- tion, being made in various branches of agricul- ture in Bengal. For instance, inquiry was being made by experts into the alleged deterioration of jute. Cotton cultivation was receiving special attention. There was an indigo research institu- tion, in which two chemists and a biological botanist were engaged on a study of the chemistry of the indigo leaf and the improvements in the method of manufacture. There were seed-farm- ing experiments in Bihar, and experimental farms in Cuttack. A scheme of experiments in irrigation was being undertaken at Dumraon and Burdwan. The Bengal Government had established Advisory Agricultural Associations concerning all matters connected with the im- provement of agriculture, and the best method of reclaiming waste lands. Sericulture was re- ceiving attention. Mulberry plantation and the silk industry had been introduced into the Mid- napur district and the Tributary States of Orissa. Nor was horticulture neglected. Considerable progress had been made with the inquiry into the various species of Agave that occur in India, and investigations with reference to the ' Indian hemp ' were also being instituted. The total area under the Forest Department in Bengal amounted to 13,007 square miles. The area HIGHER FIGURES 173 cultivated with jute was about 2,209,300 acres. The total number of spindles in the jute mills worked by steam in Bengal in 1904-1905 was 372,836, and gave employment to 122,724 per- sons ; 10,230 persons were employed in the cotton mills. There were 422 tea-plantations, covering an area of 135,956 acres. The quantity of tea manufactured was 50,888,084 pounds, as against 46,027,823 pounds in the previous year. The out-turn of indigo was one and a half times greater than that for the preceding two years. The Government cinchona plantation and factory made good progress, the crop amounting to 316,757 pounds of dry bark, the bulk of which was quinine-producing. The trade of Bengal rose in 1904-1905 by 11 per cent., and in value represented the highest total hitherto reached. The import of kerosine oil from Russia and the United States fell from 34,000,000 to 23,000,000 gallons, a decline attri- buted to the increasing competition of kerosine oil from Burma, Borneo, and Sumatra. The Excise Revenue, amounting to Rs. 1,62,96,470, the net revenue being Rs. 1,54,83,634, showed an increase of 3'12 per cent, over the figures of the previous year, and was the highest on record. Plague added to the ordinary work of the Bengal -Government ; the number of deaths from this disease in 1904-1905 was 65,680, while in the 174 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL Siliguri plague-observation camp 73,974 were medically examined. Both the Colonial and Inland emigrants from Bengal are under the supervision of the Lieu- tenant- Governor. The total number of adult labourers supplied to the Colonies in 1904-1905 was 8,794 ; the number of Inland emigrants sent to the Labour Districts was 22,322. The administration of justice is one of the most important problems that the Bengal Go- vernment have to solve. In 1904-1905 there were 303,459 criminal offences reported, an increase of 4,399 on the figures of the previous year. The number of witnesses examined in the Courts of the Magistrates outside Calcutta was 476,974. The population of the Bengal jails was 21,030, and the available accommodation for under-trial prisoners was totally inadequate. Year after year complaint had been made, but owing to pressure of other demands for money the Lieu- tenant-Governor had not been able to improve matters. The Subordinate Civil Courts of Bengal were engaged in dispensing law to 642,807 plaintiffs, or nearly 20,000 in excess of the previous record. The receipts amounted to Rs. 1,19,39,997, and showed an increase of Rs. 59,717 on those of the preceding year. The receipts under Court fees, other than process fees, showed an increase on the previous year's figures of more than a lakh. In 1904-1905, 668,354 original suits were instituted VARIOUS STATISTICS 175 in the Subordinate Civil Courts of Bengal, out- side Calcutta. The number was 25,547 in excess of the figures of the previous year. The increase was mainly attributable to the development of the country, the prosperity of the people, and their implicit faith in British Justice. The value of suits instituted in 1903 was Rs. 10,57,11,164, above 2j crores more than in the previous year. The number of miscellaneous cases of a judicial nature instituted rose from 75,573 to 78,278. The number of suits decided in the Court of Small Causes, Calcutta, was 23,169. In 1904-1905 there were 454 Registration offices in Bengal. Proposals for the reorganization of this Department were submitted for the favour- able consideration of the Government of India. There were 416 Companies under the Indian Companies Act working in Bengal. Two Com- panies limited by guarantee were registered during the year. One of them, ' the Cremation Society of Bengal,' is perhaps worth noticing, as it indi- cated a departure from the established social customs of the European residents. There were 161 municipalities, with the total number of 492,843 ratepayers. The number of District Boards was 42, controlling an area of 133,110 square miles, with a population of 68,181,003. Some of the District Boards were able to give their attention to the industrial development of the country, and among other things had intro- duced the fly-shuttle loom, greatly to the ad- 176 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL vantage of the weaving industry. Besides these branches of administration, there were the Lunatic Asylums, the Educational and Archaeological Departments, and the Volunteer Corps, etc. The enrolled strength of volunteers in Bengal was 6,011 on the active list, and 59 reserves. The Legislative Council takes up a considerable por- tion of the Lieutenant- Governor's time. From these facts it will be seen that the work of the Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal was increasing by leaps and bounds. So were also the diffi- culties of administration. The Central Govern- ment must be in touch with the people. But how could a single man tour through a country with an area of 150,000 square miles and attend to his office work in addition ? The system of Public Instruction deserves more than a passing notice. Among the various measures of improvement carried out in 1904-1905 were (1) the opening of training classes for Hindu and Mahomedan widows and school- masters' wives, so as to enable them to become teachers in girls' schools ; and (2) the extension of the system of appointing Zenana teachers for women and girls of respectable family and posi- tion, who by the custom of the country do not appear in public. Various measures were taken by the Government of Bengal with the object of advancing the education of Indian females. There was a substantial increase both in the number of their schools and in the number of THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 177 pupils attending them. In 1904-1905 altogether 148,874 girls were under instruction. The use- fulness of hostels attached to the colleges was being appreciated. But the accommodation available provided for only 2 per cent, of the students attending art colleges and secondary schools. There was a great deal of room for improvement in every branch of the Bengal ad- ministration, especially in the Education Depart- ment. No one, however, could justly blame the Lieutenant-Governor for not doing more. A Province five times as large as Scotland was far too vast for one man to supervise ; and the size of the various administrative programmes was so out of proportion to the class and numbers of agents employed that it was practically impos- sible to carry them out. Real sound work had therefore to be sacrificed in attempting to manu- facture favourable symptoms ; quality was sacri- ficed to quantity, and the result was that the standard was lowered. The returns, for instance, of the Educational Department only showed the quantity of intellectual food distributed, while experience unfortunately went to show that the food had not been properly digested. The fact was that a single man at the head of such a vast Province could not possibly be expected to super- vise properly the quality of the work done. In area Bengal was five times, and in population about seventeen times, as big as Scotland. True, edu- cational Bengal was divided into five Divisions, 12 178 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL each of which had an Inspector, with Deputy- Inspectors, but, when each Deputy- Inspector was supposed to look after the education of people over an area of about 3,000 square miles, what other result could be expected ? Being overwhelmed with work, the Lieutenant- Governor could not do as much good as he might have done were his territorial area reduced, for he had no time to acquire a thorough knowledge of the various requirements of the country, or to study the forces which must guide an adminis- trative officer. The Partition of Bengal, there- fore, was an admirable move calculated to benefit the millions. The old Province lost nothing of the administrative machinery, and the new Pro- vince, under the new arrangement, was given a Legislative Council and a Board of Revenue, thus being made in no way inferior to the old Province. And perhaps the two Lieutenant- Governors will now find time to develop the coal, sugar, tea, jute, and the various other indus- tries. The running of direct lines of steamers from the port of Chittagong (now in the new Province) to the United Kingdom, and the through connexion with Assam, established by the completion of the Assam-Bengal Railway, have already caused a large increase in the foreign trade, the total value having risen from 169 to 250 lakhs in a single year. Moreover, there will now be a healthy rivalry between the ports of Chittagong and Calcutta, which will do immense THE PORT OF CALCUTTA 179 good to the Province, for, after all, the salvation of India depends on the industrial development of the country, and not on an hysterical agitation of professional patriots, whose propaganda con- tests every act of the Government of India. There is also plenty of room for improve- ment in the Port of Calcutta. It does not offer sufficient facilities for the expansion of the trade of Bengal. The six jetties for the United Kingdom and the Continental import trade, the pontoons and landing-stages above the Howrah Bridge for the inland steamers' traffic, the Bracebridge Hall coal depot, and the tea ware- houses with landing pontoons, were found in- adequate for the existing needs of Bengal, for in 1904-1905 the rush of grain-traffic forced the jute vessels out into the open. The Governments of Bombay and Burma, not being overworked, find time to attend to the various requirements of the ports of Bombay, Karachi, and Rangoon ; while the Lieutenant-Governor of unpartitioned Bengal, being overwhelmed with the work of an unwieldy Province, could not find enough time to attend to the growing Port at the very door of the Capital of the British Empire. The coal exports of the port of Calcutta doubled in the five years up to 1905. The * Luff Point ' scheme did not, it was alleged, receive as much attention as it deserved, and thus the chance of a coal port was lost. Unless the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal was relieved of a great deal of his heavy 122 180 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL burdens, it was idle to expect him to be able to attend to the questions of quays and moorings, the dry dock accommodation, port train service, and last, but not least, the problem of creating a water- way that can be navigated at all tides, by night as well as by day. There is, moreover, a great deal of room for improvement in the Bengal Pilot Service. In 1904-1905 no less than thirteen vessels, for want of pilots, were detained at the ' Sandheads.' The detention in one case was actually fifty-three hours ! The tea industry required more attention from the Lieutenant-Governor than he was able to give to it. To begin with, the tea and jute industries represent the labour problem, to solve which satisfactorily there must be more personal intercourse between the Government and the tea and jute representatives. These industries have to depend on both 'free labour' and * in- dentured labour.' Mr. (now Sir B.) Fuller, who, being the Chief Commissioner of Assam, was nominated to be the first Lieutenant-Governor of the new Provinces, in his circular dated March 28, 1905, discussed the * system upon which tea-garden labour is procured and managed.' On the satis- factory solution of this question depends the future of Bengal tea and jute. In Burma there is a great demand for pickled tea, and about 16,000,000 pounds were imported in 1904-1905 from the Northern Shan States. If proper arrangements are made, there is no reason to doubt that Bengal BENGAL TEA 181 tea will, in time, replace Shan tea in Burma. Bengal tea has a future in Persia. Correspond- ence which passed between the Government of India and the British Consul at Kerman showed that Indian tea would make its way to South- Eastern Persia. Major Sykes and Mr. Newcomen arranged to send to Persia samples of Indian tea. This tea has invaded the markets of Denmark. According to the report of the British Consul at Copenhagen, over 150,000 pounds of Bengal tea were consumed in Denmark in 1904-1905. Every Bengal tea-planter knows that China can never compete with Bengal in medium low-priced teas. Bengal tea is making its way in distant America. The Indian Tea Cess Committee sanctioned in 1905 7,000 for advertising Indian tea in that country, so as to reach the retail trade, and even the jobbers and wholesale grocers, scattered through the large cities of America. The advertisement of Indian tea thus covered the representative towns and cities of Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, and parts of Kentucky, Iowa, and Georgia, which possess a total population of 23,737,375. Of course, a single year's advertising does not mean much. But it gives an idea of the possible future of Bengal tea. Then there are other questions connected with the tea industry of Bengal for instance, the proposal to induce the Ceylon Government to exempt Indian tea from the pay- ment of duty. An animated correspondence took 182 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL placebetweenthe Colonial Secretary, the Financial Secretary of the Government of India, the Chamber of Commerce (Bengal), the Chamber of Commerce (Colombo), and the various planters and Tea Associations. The growing jute industry of Bengal requires as much looking after as the tea industry. The Bengal Government have not the same com- mercial skill or enterprise as Germany or America. At the Sindhia station of the Central Bengal Railway (now, I believe, a State railway) the river was blocked with country boats laden with jute. These boats had sometimes to wait over a week to discharge their cargo. So much for railway enterprise ! The steamer service was in no better condition. The primitive country boats do the journey in five days. Any steamer company could easily run up flats to the large jute-dispatching centres, and carry the jute cargo in a day to the nearest rail way- station. But the Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal being over- whelmed with work, the industrial development of the country was neglected. It would be interesting to know what interest the Bengali * patriot' takes in the tea and jute and other industries of Bengal. What capital have the ' Calcutta patriots ' invested in the flourishing industries of Bengal? Is it not true that the tea, jute, sugar, and most of the paying industries are in the hands of the 'foreigner'? Sir Henry Cotton and his brother Radicals might say in POPULATION OF BENGAL 183 a chorus : * India is so poor, the people have no money to invest.' That such is not the case is amply proved by the trade returns of Calcutta. In spite of the oft-repeated cries of poverty, the imports into Calcutta during the month of June, 1905, from foreign countries amounted to 335 lakhs of rupees, or considerably over 2,000,000. These imports were by no means con- fined to the necessaries of life, but included 13 lakhs of rupees' (86,666) worth of precious stones. The population of Bengal is heterogeneous. On one side may be found the peaceful bhadra lok (respectable people), representing the Aryan culture of hundreds of years ; on the other side the non- Aryan Santhal and the naked Nagas. On one side the highest principles of Theism are preached : these are confronted with Serpent- worship. In the native Tol may be seen the Pandit discussing the most abstruse questions of metaphysics, while in the neighbouring bazar a monster in human form may be actually engaged in flaying a goat alive, to secure a higher price for the skin. The Hindu Bengali says that competitive examinations should be the sole qualifications for all Government appoint- ments ; the Mahomedan Bengali, proud of his warlike ancestors, on the other hand, declares that 'nomination' is the better test. The Hindu Bengali holds the cow sacred, while the Mahomedan Bengali considers beef as a necessary article of food. The Hindu says his prayers THE PARTITION OF BENGAL facing the East ; the Mahomedan faces the West when in religious meditation. The touch of the Mahomedan ' pollutes ' the Hindu ; the expres- Ision of such Hindu feeling irritates the Mahome- dan. Custom is all-powerful in India, and Bengal is no exception to the rule. It is therefore clear that the complexity of interests in Bengal pre- sents difficulties varying in character as well as in magnitude, the solution of which is hard and unromantic work. The division of territories incorporating Bengal and Assam into two com- pact and self-contained Provinces has tended to simplify administrative difficulties to a great extent. The new arrangement has concentrated in a single Province the typical Mahomedan population of both these Provinces, and by far the largest constituents of each Province have become homogeneous in character, with clearly- defined boundaries, and equipped with the com- plete resources of an advanced administration. As a matter of fact, the Partition was really effected in 1874, when the ancient kingdom of Assam and the adjacent districts of Sylhet, Cachar, and Goalpara were separated from the administration of Bengal. But the little Province of Assam thus created was found to be too small it boiTowed its officers temporarily from Bengal. Thus, when they had been trained to a due under- standing of local circumstances and conditions, they claimed to be sent back to the pleasanter stations and better pay of Bengal. Briefly, the IMPROVEMENTS EFFECTED 185 Partition of Bengal of 1905 was an administrative measure which was practically decided upon years ago, and was partially effected, with admirable results. Enormous administrative improvements have been carried out in Assam. To take one instance alone, the district of Sylhet in 1875 pos- sessed no roads. It is now covered with a net- work of excellent roads, provided with substantial iron and masonry bridges. The rivers are covered with an excellent service of mail-steamers, due to the initiative of Sir Steuart Bayley, when Chief Commissioner of Assam. What Eastern Bengal needs is similar administrative activity, and the courageous expenditure of the welcome surpluses whenever they are at the disposal of the Govern- ment of India. There was absolutely no excuse for asserting that this administrative measure would interfere with the language and literature of Bengal. Quite the contrary. The literature of Scotland has not suffered because its adminis- tration is separated from that of England. At all events, let the administrative experiment be given a chance, and time will show that it will be as great a success as that separate administra- tion of Assam over which Sir Henry Cotton presided during the last years of his Indian service. Sentimental objections to the change will soon die away when its material advantages begin to make themselves felt. Bengal, as the largest Province of the British Indian Empire, has entered the comity of nations, 186 THE PARTITION OF BENGAL and her salvation lies in the development of her industries. Each of the Provinces will have a port, and the healthy rivalry in commerce will do good to both of the Provinces. It was the rival port of Karachi that gave so much impetus to the trade of Bombay. Lord Curzon's idea of Partition was a grand one. His lordship laid both the Bengali ryot and the English capitalist under great obligations. In no distant future Chittagong will be one of the greatest Indian ports. A glance at the map will show that the merchandise of Thibet will reach the European market through the port of Chittagong. The Brahmaputra (called 'Sampo' in Thibet) practic- ally connects Lhasa with Dibrugarh, which is one of the most important towns in Assam. A few factories in and about Dibrugarh can easily turn the raw material of Thibet into useful articles for the European and American markets, and send them by rail to the port of Chittagong. The English public will then understand the useful work done by Sir Francis Younghusband in settling the much-vexed Thibetan trade question. Apart from the military aspect of the question, it is clear, simply from the commercial point of view, that the Thibetan Mission achieved a marvellous success. The Partition of Bengal was a grand move from the administrative as well as the com- mercial point of view. The name of Lord Curzon will go down to a grateful posterity as a promoter of civilization and benefactor of mankind. THE BENGALI LANGUAGE THERE are some who profess to fear the severance of the linguistic ties of the people of Bengal as a result of the Partition. About , fifty millions of British subjects speak the Bengali language. Its growth, therefore, has a most important bearing on the political dis- cussions which affect the largest Province in the British Indian Empire. Among Englishmen of the present day, Dr. Grierson, Mr. Beames, and Mr. Gait, all of the Bengal Civil Service, are considered authorities on the Bengali language and literature. Other Englishmen who have carefully studied the Bengali language have also been struck with the beauties of the language. Mr. F. H. Skrine, author of ' The Expansion of Russia,' a retired member of the Indian Civil Service, who served in Bengal for about a quarter of a century, says : ' Bengali is a true daughter of ancient Sanskrit, and approaches its parent more nearly than any Indian language in the qualities which have rendered Sanskrit so unrivalled a medium for the expression of the highest ranges of human thought. It united 187 188 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE the mellifluousness of the Italian with the power possessed by the German of rendering complex ideas.' Another retired member of the Indian Civil Service, who has very carefully studied the Bengali language, says : ' You cannot speak too strongly of the beauties of the Bengali literature, or the charms of one of the most euphonious languages in the world.' The Bengali literature of the present day is rich in history, philosophy, biography, travel, poetry, and drama. The Bengali, not satisfied with ordinary dictionaries, has tried to imitate the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' and the modest Bengali production called the Visva Kosha, though not edited by experts, is a monument of literary industry, running into many volumes. At present there are more than fifty Bengali periodicals devoted to literature, science, art, religion, poetry, medicine, agriculture, etc. English literature and Western enlightenment have had a direct effect on the growth of the Bengali language and literature. To-day Ben- gali occupies the foremost place among the numerous vernaculars of the British Indian Empire. It is enriched with translations from the French, German, Arabic, and Persian languages. The young Bengali lady of to-day, even if she knows not so much as the alphabet of any European language, can read Guy de Maupassant's stories, discuss the poems of Heine ORIGIN OF BENGALI 189 and Victor Hugo, and the comedies of Moliere. She can enjoy a hearty laugh over the good- humoured banter in that masterpiece of Persian literature, ' The Vizier-i-Lankaran.' She may not know the ' aliph ' or ' be ' of the Arabic alphabet, and yet may follow the discussions of learned Maulavis as to whether the Arabic word Budn in the Koran, when used with reference to the Eed Sacrifice, means a camel only, or includes cattle also. She may compare the philosophy of Herbert Spencer and Mill with that of her own national Gita. She can tell you whether Schopenhauer's conception of the Hindu philosophy of Karma and Nirvana was right. The Rontgen rays and wireless telegraphy are known to her through the medium of her own language. In fact, in expressiveness and copiousness the Bengali language of to-day has all the qualities found in the most literary languages of Europe. A cloud of obscurity hangs over the origin of the Bengali language. The city of Dacca was a flourishing capital in the days of Pliny. History shows that a well - known Buddhist temple was built in Sagar Island, at the mouth of the Hughli, so far back as A. D. 430. A map of * Bengal in the Fifteenth Century,' still care- fully preserved in the Biblotheque Nationale at Paris, is of considerable interest ; but Bengal is also mentioned by name in the Raghuvanm a thousand years earlier (A.D. 500). Before the 190 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE English occupation of Bengal, Gaur and Navad- wipa (Nadiya) were the centres of Bengali culture. According to Rennell, Gaur (the modern Malda) was the capital of Bengal in 750 B.C. Tamralipta (the modern Tamluk) was the Mecca of the Buddhists about nineteen centuries ago. Fa Hian, the Chinese priest, visited Bengal in the third century A.D., and lived there for two years. Professor Wilson, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, refers to Fa Hian's visit to Bengal as a historical landmark, and as fixing one of the few dates in Indian history. Dr. Max Midler's * Relation of the Bengali to the Aryan and Aboriginal Languages of India ' offered a philological disquisition regarding the Bengali language. Dr. Max Miiller said that Bengali is a direct offshoot of the Sanskrit. Some scholars are of opinion that the Bengali alphabet is derived from the Indo-Pali or the South Asoka characters used in India before the Christian era. Max Miiller, Roth, Buhler, Gold- stucker, and Lassen all hold different views as regards tne Indo-Pali alphabet. Whatever may be the origin of the Bengali characters, they wCre evidently in existence five centuries before Christ. According to the Lalita Vistara, Vish- vamitra taught the great Buddha the Bengali characters, which are a set of symbols, like the J^^araagroVtlibugh-ef a somewhat different shape, yet based essentially on the same principles. The Bengali characters are bold and simple. They BENGALI METRES 191 are easy to remember, and, unlike the Arabic characters, easy to read and difficult to mistake. Bengali, the daughter of Sanskrit, has much of her mother's stately charm and beauty. Many colloquial words in Bengali are, however, of distinctly Magadhi Prakrit origin. Bengali owes as much to Sanskrit as French and Italian owe to Latin. The supple and beautiful rhyming metres of Bengali, though perhaps not direct descendants of the Sanskrit couplets called Slokas, are no doubt derived from the Sanskrit metrifica- tion. They are divided into Tripadi and Chaupadi metres. Not otherwise can the rhyming metres of French prosody be traced through old Christian hymns to the hexameters of Rome. For all its resemblance to the parent Sanskrit, Bengali has only a few of the blemishes which characterize the Indo- Germanic tongues. Its structure is simple, and abounds in vigorous expressions. It is not the result of a coalition of clashing languages as is modern English that hybrid of Saxon and Norman-French. Bengali, notwithstanding the influx of Semitic words and phrases, due to Mahomedan influences, owes its structure entirely to Sanskrit. Literary Bengali consists almost wholly of Sanskrit words, the ' bibhakti ' or final letters (suffixes) being generally omitted. In short, with a single stroke of the enchanter's wand, as it were, all the difficulties, such as sex- epithets, etc., peculiar to Sanskrit, have dis- appeared in Bengali. In pronunciation, however, 192 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE Bengali differs from Sanskrit. The clear brief Sanskrit a becomes in Bengali a dull o, like the 'a' of Scandinavian speech. The semi- vowel y is invariably pronounced as j, and there is no distinction between the pronunciation of v and b. Before the twelfth century, though Bengali was spoken, it was regarded as vulgar to write Bengali. As the Italians of the period of Dante wrote in Latin, as the Anglo-Saxon writers, even so late as the time of Alfred the Great, wrote in the language of Rome, the Bengalis in olden times wrote in Sanskrit. There was hardly any Bengali literature before the twelfth century. It was in the twelfth century that the songs of Manik Chand roused the Bengali nation to a sense of the beauty of their language. In these songs Buddhism still governs the poet's imagination. It is evident that Caste was then less powerful than at the present day. The Bengali then travelled widely, and took an active interest in the outer world. Several Bengali Pandits visited Thibet. Rockhill, in his ' Life of Buddha,' writes : ' In 1042 the famous Atish, a native of Bengal, came to Thibet. He wrote a number of works which may be found in the Bstanhgyur, and translated many others, relating principally to Tantrik theories and practices.' The Bengali line of the Sena Kings ruled in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and encouraged every literary movement in Bengal. Up to 1203 THE SANSKRIT EPICS 193 no foreign invader had penetrated as far as Bengal. All literary efforts were therefore confined to Sanskrit culture. There was then not a Semitic word in the Bengali language. Jayadeva, a native of Bengal, created a re- volution in the literature of Bengal. He was, according to Buhler, born in the twelfth century. His Gita-Govinda, composed in Sanskrit, im- mortalized the amours of Krishna and Radhika, and has been called the Indian ' Song of Songs.' He dealt allegorically with the relation of the soul to God, in describing the passionate love i which Radhika bore to the man-god, Krishna. Sir Edwin Arnold has rendered Jayadeva's song into admirable English verse. Chandi Das lived in the fourteenth century. Jayadeva of Bengal was imitated by Vidyapati of Mithila (Bihar), and Chandi Das imitated his contemporary Vidyapati, who, though really belonging to Mithila, is accepted as a master of singers in Bengal. There his verses are still read, although the dialect in which they are written resembles Hindi rather than Bengali. The great Sanskrit epics the Mahabharata and the Ramuyana are, of course, well known to Western scholars. They were early translated into French by Hippolyte Fanche, and an Italian version by Gorresio was published at the expense of the King of Sardinia. Both the great Sanskrit epics were translated into Bengali verse in the fifteenth century, and became very popular. All 13 194 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE over the East, whether in Persia or in India, poetry is widely read even by the humblest classes. Incidents in the life of Rama and Krishna are as well known to the millions in Bengal as the tales of Wallace and the Black Douglas to the Scotch peasantry, or as Robinson Crusoe to English children. The Bengali translations of the epics are by no means perfect ; indeed, they are rather naive paraphrases of the heroic tale than translations properly so called. But they have a simple charm which appeals even to cultivated readers, and may be compared not inaptly to such popular European epics as the ' Chanson de Roland ' or the ' Mort d' Arthur.' The translators made sundry concessions to popular taste which amuse the modern scholar. For instance, Krittibas, the Bengali translator of the Ramayana, introduced the stories of Mahi Ravan and Ahi Ravan, and the monkey-god Hanuman hiding the sun under his arm, which are not in the Sanskrit original. But Krittibas, the translator of the Ramayana, and Kashiram Das, the translator of the Mahabharata, laid the foundations of the Bengali literature. Though good Bengali translations of these great Sanskrit epics have since been published, yet the old editions, in tattered volumes on primitive wooden tablets, are still the staple literary food of the Bengali masses. The masses being illiterate, a Brahman, known as a Kathak, is employed to dole out the ancient mythology to an admiring CHANAKYA SLOKAS 195 crowd squatting on a palmyra mat under a canopy of date leaves. The institution of the Kathak, or Bard, like that of the Bhat, is perhaps as old as Indo- Aryan civilization. The masses of Bengal delight in repeating from these epics a priest's curse or a warrior's vow, perhaps because of the forcible language and its quaint impressiveness. Except the Sanskrit couplets, known in Bengal as the Chanakya slokas (the couplets of Chanakya), nothing is more popular than quotations from these two great epics. The Chanakya slokas were handed down from father to son by oral repetition, as was the case with Sadi's verses in Persia. The slokas represent the concentrated wisdom of ages in a nutshell. Dr. Haebeiiin has collected some of these apophthegms in his well-known Anthology. Their universality is beyond doubt, and they contain rules for guidance in critical positions of life. Chanakya is to Bengal what Sadi is to Persia, and perhaps what Lord Chesterfield was to educated English youth a century ago. The following translation of a couple of slokas will give an idea of ancient Bengal wisdom. Friendship is thus described : ' The man who stands by you in the day of feast- ing and in the day of calamity, in famine and in war, at the King's gate, at the resting-place of the dead that man is a friend.' The English rhyming proverb contains the same sentiment in brief : ' In time of prosperity friends will be plenty ; In time of adversity not one in twenty/ 132 196 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE Enmity is thus summarized : ' A father who runs into debt is an enemy, so is a dissolute mother ; a handsome wife is an enemy, and so is an uneducated son.' Some of the slokas are full of homely yet keen common sense ; others might almost be the work of a rustic La Roche- foucauld. In the sixteenth century, however, was the birth of a true literature. With the advent of a religious reformer, Chaitanya (born 1485), the thought and language of Bengal entered upon a new phase. Chaitanya may be regarded as the Bengali counterpart of Buddha, for Vaishnavism embodies in Hindu phraseology the doctrines of equality and brotherhood preached by Sakya-Muni. The religious reformer in every country has always used the vernacular of his country in preaching to the people. Wycliffe in England, St. Patrick in Ireland, Calvin in France, and Luther in Germany, all used the language of the people for the diffusion of new ideas. The Bengali reformer was no exception to the rule. Chaitanya's teachings gave a great impetus to the Bengali language. The Padakalpatura, Rasamanjaii, Gita Chintamani, and Padakal- palatika refer to no less than 150 Bengali poets who sang Chaitanya's doctrines. Some wrote under feminine noms de plume, like Siva-Saha- chari, etc. The Chaitanya philosophy became so popular in Bengal that even Musalmans vied with one another in composing songs in the fashion of the day. The verses of at least a FAVOURITE POETS 197 dozen such Mahomedan poets exist to this day. The Hindu system, though in theory opposed to proselytism, appears to have thus made proselytes. The Bengali Chaitanya cycle of song has attracted some attention from Western scholars. Pro- fessor Newman quotes : * If thy soul is to go into higher spiritual blessedness, it must become a woman, however manly thou may be amongst men.' In the seventeenth century appeared Mukun- daram, whom Professor E. B. Cowell, of Cam- bridge, called the * Chaucer of Bengal.' Mukun- daram is better known in Bengal by his title of ' Kabi Kankan.' Bharat Chandra, a master of mellifluous verse, and Ram Prasad, a famous songster, lived in the eighteenth century. Kabi Kankan and Bharat Chandra were long the favourite poets of Bengal. Unhappily, indelicacy has been one of the characteristics of Eastern literature, and the works of Bharat Chandra, though they display real poetical talent, are often coarsely sensual in idea and expression. The Annada Mangal of Bharat Chandra is, however, still popular, while Kabi Kankan's Chandi, once a highly popular work in praise of the goddess Durga, has lost some of its prestige. Botli these poets enjoyed the patronage of the Maecenas of Hindu literature, Raja Krishna Chandra Roy, of Nadiya. During the regime of Krishna Chandra Roy, Nadiya became the literary centre of Bengal, a kind of Bengali 198 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE Oxford. In the study of Hindu logic Nadiya still retains its ascendancy, and attracts Brahman pupils from Benares, and even from distant Dravida (Madras) and Maharashtra (Bombay). There is almost as much difference between the Bengali of a hundred years ago and the Bengali of the present day as between Rabelais and Anatole France, between Chaucer and Tenny- . son. Modern Bengali is fitted alike for the philosopher and the man in the street. But the Bengali (especially the official Bengali) of Warren Hastings' time (1772-1785) had not reached its full development. It was written in Bengali characters, it is true. Except the concluding verb, the rest of the sentence had very little to do with the parent Sanskrit. Bengali was largely intermixed with Arabic and Persian, and the vagaries of Mahomedan pronunciation often grated on the offended ear of the man of culture. Even now the variation in pronunciation may be noticed by the traveller from the banks of the Hughli to the banks of the Padma and further east. In Eastern Bengal sh is pronounced as h, in Sylhet the sound is labial, in Chittagong nasal, in the Sunderbuns palatal, and in Assam guttural. A man from Eastern Bengal even to-day, though a master of the Bengali language in writing, yet will disfigure it in speaking, as the Scotsman, by his Doric accent, offends the English ear. Those who learn Bengali through ' the cold medium of books ' can hardly be 199 expected to appreciate the capacity for music possessed by the most harmonious of Indian tongues. The Bengali language is learned with comparative ease by foreigners ; thus the majority of Mahomedans in Bengal not only speak but write Bengali. The Bengali Mahomedan usually prefers Bengali to Hindustani, and at present there is more than one Bengali monthly review conducted by Bengali Mahomedans of light and culture. The Bengali Mahomedan, when speak- ing, indulges in a language which is more or less a mixture of the phraseology of Kalidasa and of Abul Fazl, of Manu and of Abu Hanifa. The Mahomedan Bengali, thus fashioned, has acquired an inelegant stiffness which would have shocked Panini or Bhatti. But it is a pleasure to notice that the present generation of the Musalmans of Bengal are trying to improve their patois by introducing a larger number of Sanskrit words into their vocabulary ; and this gives more life and vigour to their tongue. A hundred and fifty years ago the Bengali language did not possess a single dictionary or grammar. There was hardly a prose work of sterling value. The missionaries of Christianity * created a revolution in the language and litera- ture. Carey and Marshman found Bengal so much caste-ridden as to make any intellectual effort impossible for the nation. But, as Voltaire and Rousseau shook the fabric of the priestly and aristocratic despotism in France, so did 200 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE Carey, Duff, and Marshman in Bengal. Before the days of these eminent missionaries, as has been stated, Bengali could not boast of a dictionary or a grammar. In 1778 the first Bengali grammar, Halhed's, was published, printed at Hughli, twenty-four miles from Calcutta. There was then no Bengali type. Sir C. Wilkins prepared the first Bengali type with his own hands. He afterwards edited the Ithagavat Gita. In 1800 the Marquis of Wellesley founded Fort William College (Calcutta). His masterly minute on Bengali literature is published in Roebuck's ' Annals of the College of Fort William,' 1819. By pecuniary and other encouragement, he gave an impetus to the cultivation of Bengali which produced remarkable results. It was under the patronage of the College of Fort William in 1801 that Dr. Carey published his Bengali translation of the New Testament, which was followed by his well-known Bengali Dictionary, in three volumes, quarto, containing 80,000 words. In 1816 -a Bengali translation of the Gospels, by John Ellerton, of Malda, was pub- lished at the expense of the Calcutta Bible Society. The Countess of Loudoun founded and endowed a Bengali school at Barrackpur (about sixteen miles from Calcutta). In twenty years, under the patronage of the Fort William College, in addition to over sixty Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian works, a number of Bengali books were ENGLISH ENCOURAGEMENT 201 published. Among them were the Hitopadesha in 1801, Sergeant's Bengali translation of four books of the 'J^neid,' and Monkton's Bengali translation of Shakespeare's * Tempest.' Most of these books were issued by the Serampur Mission Press. Dr. Carey was to the Bengali language what Dr. Gilchrist was to Hindustani. In 1813 the East India Company, at the instance of Lord Minto, the great-grandfather of the present \ 7 iceroy of India, fostered the revival of Oriental letters by an annual grant of a lakh of rupees (6,666). The result was the discovery of many Oriental books and manuscripts, which made the improvement of the Sanskrit and the Bengali languages possible. The Calcutta Bible Society came into existence in 1811, and received the compliments and approval of the Asiatic Society of Paris. In thirty-eight years it issued no less than 602,266 copies of the vernacular Scriptures, of which about one-fourth were in Bengali. As a result, the Bengali language improved consider- ably. But the tone was not yet healthy. The Marchioness of Hastings, finding that the Bengali nation could not supply a single native child's book in Bengali, established, in 1817, the Calcutta Schoolbook Society. At that time the Bengali language could no doubt boast of about sixty indigenous works, but most of them discussed only mythological and amatory subjects, quite unfit for the rising generation. Englishmen, as teachers of Bengali, filled this gap in Bengali 202 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE letters a century ago. The names of Mr. Stewart, the founder of the Burdwan Church Mission School, of Mr. May and Mr. Pearson of the Chinsura School, are still remembered with gratitude. Their publications, if not exactly literature, themselves served to train a new school of writers. They worked with the en- thusiasm of crusaders in the malarious and depressing climate of Bengal. They published Bengali books on history, geography, and other educational subjects. In 1818 the Digdarthan (Compass), a Bengali magazine, was published. The first Bengali newspaper, the Darpan (Mirror), was started at Serampur on May 23, 1818. The Marquis of Hastings wrote a letter with his own hand con- gratulating the editor, and directed that a large number of copies should be subscribed for at the public expense, and should be sent to the various Native Courts. The postage of the Darpan was reduced to one-fourth of the usual rate no small matter in those days. The Serampur College was founded in 1818, and did much useful work in educating the future authors of Bengal. In 1821 Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of Brahmaism, started his Brahmanical magazine. Its main object was to oppose the spread of Christian doctrines. It, \ however, disappeared in a very short time. In 1823 the Calcutta Tract Society came into existence. But the Bengali language soon after BENGALI AUTHORS 203 sustained a severe blow in the death of Felix Carey. Among Carey's Bengali translations the following may be mentioned : ' On Anatomy,' Goldsmith's ' History of England,' ' The Pilgrim's Progress,' etc. The Timirnashak (Destroyer of Darkness) in 1824, and Banga Thit (Bengal Messenger) in 1829, were among the newspapers that, before the Calcutta University was estab- lished, tried to stimulate the indifferent and instruct the learner. Subsequently the Prab- hakar, Tatvabodhini, Bangadarslian, and various other magazines, came into existence. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the first Bengali prose-writer, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar (1850) gave Bengali prose a classical dress, and it was left to Bankim (1860) to simplify prose style and adapt it to popular narrative. Professors Derozio and Richardson, of the Hindu College, in the early forties of the last century, created a revolution among the young men of Calcutta. Michael Dutt, one of the students of the Hindu College, was, among others, permeated with Western thought, and visited Europe in 1848. After his return to Bengal, in 1861, he published an epic known as the Meghnad Badh, which won for him the distinction of introducing blank verse into the Bengali language. In the last twenty years Bengali literature has made great strides. There are now Bengali poetesses, and a leading Bengali magazine is edited by a Bengali lady. 204 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE The name of Srimati Kamini Roy, the talented author of Alo o Chhaya (Light and Shade), and of Srimati Mankumari, writer of Kusumanjali (Offering of Flowers), are well known to every educated Bengali. Bengali widows sometimes express their grief in poetry. The authors of Asrukana (Teardrops) and Nirjharini] Water- fall) are young widows. Their pictures of the woes of the Hindu widow are among the most pathetic and moving lyrical poems that have ever been written in India. The Bengali language, full as it is of words expressing degrees of family relationship, has hardly any words that have a political origin. A single Bengali word expresses family ties, to express which in English one requires a long periphrasis. The word * Jethai ' at once points out the good lady who has married your father's elder brother. The word * Kaki ' tells you that she is the better half of your father's younger brother. The everyday conversation of the average Bengali begins with, and is sometimes limited to, inquiries after the health and welfare of the various members who represent the most distant ramification of the family tree. But search may be made in vain for colloquial words for ' liberal,' ' conservative,' or other most ordinary political words of everyday use. Of course there have been recently introduced into our simple literature pedantic translations of some of the modern political terms, but they are known only NURSERY SONGS 205 to the few, and seldom used even by them in conversation. Though the lives of Mazzini and Garibaldi have been translated into Bengali, the national literature of Bengal contains no political works. As to representative Government in the modern sense, the idea was, of course, unknown to India. A Government evolved out of the wishes of the people was a thing never dreamed of by our ancestors. Implicit obedience to the ruling power was alike inculcated by religion and precedent in India. The nursery songs and ballads of Bengal are very interesting. Notwithstanding the Sivaji demonstrations of late years at Calcutta, the nursery rhymes of Bengal clearly indicate the hatred felt by the Bengali for the Mahratta the * bargi ' ( ? bogey) of the national nursery rhymes. In Bengali ballads can be seen the Bengali feeling towards the Mahomedan conquerors, and it is by no means always friendly. It is difficult, however, to find a single ballad or nursery rhyme ,in Bengal uncomplimentary to the English. Nothing could be stronger evidence of the friendly feeling of the Bengali masses towards the English. In the Bengali language there is always present one strong impress of nationality the spirit of Hinduism. The Bengali literature is thoroughly Hindu ; it is sometimes saturated with Hinduism even in the writings of men who derived their literary inspiration from Mahomedan 206 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE or English writers. The poems of the Christian author, Michael Dutt, are Hindu in inspiration, and the admirable novels of Bankim, though they reproduce ideas from the Mahomedan as well as Christian literature, are Hindu. The poems of Nabin Sen are also Hindu, though he has sung of the romance of the sea with a Swin- burnian enthusiasm. Bengalis delight in calling their popular authors by English names. Michael Dutt is called the ' Milton,' Nabin Sen the * Byron,' and Bankim the ' Scott ' of Bengal. The educated Bengali likes his own literature only when there is Western thought mingled with it. This may appear paradoxical, but it is tnie. In Sanskrit erudition all Bengal will admit that Taranath Tarkavachaspati and Bharat Chandra Siromani were much superior to Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Swami Vive- kananda of American fame. But Vachaspati or Siromani did not receive a tenth of the homage from the Bengali that Vidyasagar and Vive- kananda obtained. Vidyasagar 's and Vive- kananda's knowledge of English helped them to mix Hindu ideas with Western thought, and hence their popularity. Bankim Chandra Chatter) i, the ' Scott of Bengal,' is another very popular Bengali writer. His Gita discusses the views of Western savants like Lassen and Weber. His Dharmatatva is practically Mill's philosophy in Bengali garb. Thoughtful Ben- galis clearly see that they must try to harmonize MODERN EVOLUTION 207 Bengali ideas with Western thought. The Sahitya Parishad (the Bengal Academy of Literature) of Calcutta, which numbers among its 600 members eminent High Court Judges, members of the Indian Civil Service, barristers, doctors, etc., is now engaged in the study of the bibliography of the Bengali language. It is introducing a scientific system of transliterating Moslem words into Bengali characters. Preference has been given to Grimm's law above the rules of Panini. The new system of transliteration will be on the lines of that established by the International Oriental Congress of 1894, and adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society. It will be seen that, as Sir George Birdwood pointed out in the Times, the Bengali language and literature in their modern evolution, exten- sion, and influence, are, so to say, and without paradox, an English achievement. No adminis- trative measure, such as the ' Partition of Bengal,' will have any injurious effect on the growth of the Bengali language and literature. Burns and Scott are not less English authors because Scot- land is, in a sense, separated from England. In fact, the intellectual eminence of Edinburgh was due to the fact that it was the Capital of Scotland. Who knows whether Dacca, the Capital of the new Province of East Bengal and Assam, may not yet be another Bengali Oxford, and compete with the Navadwipa (Nadiya) of former days ? Several of the best Bengali authors hail from 208 THE BENGALI LANGUAGE Eastern Bengal. Michael Dutt, who is called the * Bengali Milton,' and Nabin Sen, the * Ben- gali Byron,' are both from Eastern Bengal. The best history of the Bengali literature extant was written by a native of Chittagong. Adminis- trative divisions have not interfered with the development of the Hindustani (Urdu) and the Mahratti languages, and there is absolutely no reason why any administrative separation should affect the language and literature of Bengal. Hindustani is the language of the United Pro- vinces and Oudh, partly of the Panjab. It is the Court language of the Nizam's dominions in the Deccan. Administrative frontier lines have in no way interfered with the growth of Hindu- stani. Take Mahratti again. It is spoken both in the Bombay Presidency and the Central Pro- vinces. The administrative frontier line in no way affects it. It is proved by such precedents that administrative border-lines have nothing to do with the growth of any of the Indian ver- naculars. INDIA AND IMPERIAL PREFERENCE IN the Fiscal controversy the position of India has hardly received sufficient attention. The so- called leaders of Indian thought have not even dis- cussed it. There is not a word in the * Omnibus Resolutions ' of the Indian Congress ahout this most important subject, which affects the econo- mic condition of 300,000,000 of the Indian people. Mr. Chamberlain's Preferential Tariff scheme suggested no definite measures. The Resolution passed at the Colonial Conference of 1902 was of an extremely general and indefinite character, hedged round, as Lord Curzon observed, with qualifications and provisos calculated to admit of almost any limitation, variation, or exception when applied in practice to the conditions of any particular Colony. The proposed scheme can hardly be discussed until it is further de- veloped. The Indian Tariff, with one or two exceptions, imposes duties purely for Revenue purposes. The Indian Fiscal system is almost free from any protective intention. Only the countervailing sugar duties may be regarded 209 14 210 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE as protective in a way. Sometimes India is forced to shape her policy, not in accord- ance with her interests, but according to the demands of other constituents of the Empire. But a line should be drawn somewhere. India is not quite fairly treated. The United Kingdom levies duties on India's tea, coffee, tobacco, and unrefined sugar. Her duty on Indian coffee is about 19 per cent, ad valorem, while on Indian tea it is as much as 90 per cent. ! Her duty on Indian tobaccos is not ad valorem, but, being imposed according to weight, it operates severely on her tobacco, which is all of the cheaper varieties. If, in accordance with the general foreign system of tariffs, the United Kingdom were to impose a reasonable duty on synthetic indigo as a chemical compound, while admitting natural indigo free as a raw material, it would benefit India enormously. But it is a great pity that the British Fiscal system, instead of being altered to benefit India, is in danger of being altered with the result of causing harm to poor India for the sake of the Self-Governing Colonies. Is it fair to sacrifice the interests of 300,000,000 loyal subjects in order to further the supposed interests of only 11,000,000 belonging to the Self-Governing Colonies ? The people of these Colonies are, no doubt, of English extraction. At the same time, the 300,000,000 in India are not of savage tribes, but, as Lord Curzon said in his Guildhall speech in July, 1904, ' of races INDIA NOT REPRESENTED 211 - with traditions and civilizations much older than that of England, with a history not inferior to England in dignity or romance.' The Premiers who meet at the Colonial Conferences are, no doubt, men of great talents, yet they work most naturally only within their own limits. Not one of these Conferences has so far faced the subject of India in the Empire arrangement. \Vithout India the Colonial Conferences, instead of being Imperial, were only departmental organizations. Perhaps it was as inexpedient to ask those who had a prejudice against British- Indian labour to concern themselves with the interests of India as it would be unfair to compel India to give a preference to countries that have introduced legislation against their British- Indian fellow-subjects. Anyhow, poor India had, until 1907, no representative official or non-official in these Conferences, though their deliberations would indirectly nevertheless, enormously affect the economic position of the 300,000,000 people belonging to the Empire. All India must, therefore, be grateful to the Liberal Government for appointing a representative to watch India's interest in the Conference of May 1907. The two agenda papers of the Imperial Conference had, unfortunately, not a word about India. Unlike the Self-Governing Colonies, India does not say, ' Daughter am I in my mother's house, but mistress in my own.' India is not a Colony clinging to the parent stem only till it reaches 142 212 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE maturity and is capable of separate growth, but is like one of those dependent roots of the mighty banyan-tree, which, as it grows and develops, adds to the strength, and widens out the circumference, of the parent tree. In other words, India is irrevocably bound up with Great Britain. India is her civic as well as economic asset. India's martial races serve in the Indian Army ; her citizens pay their share of the cost of the Empire. They were soldiers of the Indian Army who recently, when India herself was distracted and weighed down by famine and plague, saved the Colony of Natal from being overrun by Boers at the beginning of the South African campaign, rescued the Legations at Pekin, and recovered Somaliland from the Mullah. But, as Lord Curzon observed in his Guildhall speech already mentioned, in the happiness of England's insular detachment, or in the pride of racial expansion, the average Englishman forgets that the greatest constituents of the Empire in scale and in importance lie, neither in these islands nor in the Colonies, but in the Asiatic Dependency. Not only in popu- lation India represents three-fourths of the Empire, but she purchases nearly one-third of the total cotton goods produced by Lancashire. She federates with England on England's terms. While Great Britain receives no contribution in aid of Imperial defence from Canada, and very little from other Self-Governing Colonies, INDIA'S HELP 213 India pays over 100,000 per annum for the British Navy, and pays her share of the military expenditure of an Imperial character. India is very useful to the Empire in various ways. During the troubles in Africa and China, India supplied 21,000,000 rounds of ammunition and 114,000 projectiles and shells, 11,000 tents, 11,000 sets of saddlery, 315,000 helmets, 169,000 blankets, 290,000 pairs of boots, 42,000 tons of fodder and rations, and 940,000 garments of various descriptions, in addition to 11,600 horses, 6,700 mules and ponies, and 2,700 bullocks. Last, though not least, in 1902 India undertook to raise for the Colonial Office five native regi- ments for service in the Asiatic Colonies or possessions of Great Britain. Thus, the union of Great Britain with India is so intimate that their relations with one another must necessarily leave their marks on both countries. India, therefore, cannot be overlooked as a factor in the solution of the Fiscal problem. In con- sideration of the part played by India in the Imperial system, and the services rendered by India in time of England's trouble, it is only natural for India to expect England to hold the scales even between her Colonies and her great Dependency. She expects this not as a favour but as a matter of justice the justice on which English rule in India is based. 214 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE TRADE WITH THE COLONIES AND INDIA. Indians the majority of them are, no doubt, poor individually, but collectively their import- ance as a constituent element of the British Empire can hardly be disregarded. Though politically India, as a Dependency, occupies an inferior position to the Self- Governing Colonies, yet, from an economic point of view, Great Britain cannot make a change in her own Fiscal policy without watching its effects, however indirect, upon India. Economically, India cannot be considered a negligible quantity, when the value of Great Britain's export to India is remembered. In 1903 it amounted to 37,359,016, including the value of stores shipped for the Indian Govern- ment (vide Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom, 1905, Cd. 3022, p. 368), which is actually more than her exports to the S elf- Governing Colonies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, put together. In that year Great Britain exported in value : To Canada ... ... ... 11,112,577 To Australia- ... ... 16,144,438 To New Zealand ... ... 6,36l } 390 Total ... ... ... 33,618,405 Every year Great Britain is gaining more in her exports to India than in her exports to the * Including Tasmania: GREAT BRITAIN'S EXPORTS 21 5 Self-Governing Colonies. Let us take the last three years : 1903. 1904. 1905. Increase. To Canada... 11,112,577 10,624,221 11,909,244 796,667 To Australia* 16,144,438 17,336,470 16,991,009 846,571 To New Zea- land ... 6,361,390 6,315,090 6,425,793 64,403 1,707,641 To India f ... 37,359,016 43,821,615 47,373,677 10,014,661 These figures, which are taken from the Blue book already referred to, clearly show that, while Great Britain's exports to India in the last three years have increased by no less than 10,014,661, her exports to the three important Self-Governing Colonies put together have in- creased by only 1,707,641; or, in other words, Great Britain's export to India in the last three , years has increased about six times her combined \ ^ exports to the Self-Governing Colonies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. And what is more important, Great Britain's trade with India, as the Blue book figures conclusively prove, unlike that with some of the important Colonies, has expanded steadily, continuously, and satisfactorily. In the British Empire India, therefore, offers the best market for British goods. Moreover, the figures already quoted leave no room for doubt that India is dowered with im- * Including Tasmania. t Including the value of stores for the Indian Government. 216 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE measurable possibilities for the future expansion of Great Britain's trade. Besides, unless the teeming millions in India had implicit faith in the pure and lofty motives of Great Britain, and were thoroughly convinced that she continued to safeguard their interests, the 76,000 British troops garrisoned in India a tiny speck of white foam upon a dark and thunderous ocean would be utterly inadequate to keep India tranquil. If by any act or omission Great Britain unwittingly were to shake the faith of her Indian subjects in her bona fides, she would irretrievably damage the stupendous and stately edifice of the Indian Empire which British statesmanship has taken generations to build up. Mr. Morley, in his Indian Budget speech, in July, 1906, said, ' India holds one of the three or four master-keys of the strength of Great Britain. Of all the subjects which engage our attention for example, in this Session, education, taxation, foreign relations, the army, the fleet, North Africa and South Africa not one of them exceeds in moment and importance to this country the wisdom or un- wisdom of the policy that is pursued in India' British policy, whether pursued in India or towards India, at home or in the Colonies, must be far-sighted, statesmanlike, and impartial. As Mr. Winston Churchill pointed out in his speech at Manchester on February 19, 1904, 'the con- dition of India is of vast importance to Lanca- shire. That her markets should be free and her THE FISCAL TIE WITH INDIA 217 people prosperous and contented is absolutely vital to Lancashire trade.' The poverty of the Indian peasant, largely due to centuries of prac- tical anarchy, is a stern fact which has to be recognized. The prosperity of India does not depend upon her productiveness alone. In a great measure it depends upon the relations of her productivity to the consuming markets in the Continent of Europe. This fact should be borne in mind. Mr. Chamberlain's Fiscal scheme is avowedly aimed at the consolidation of the British Empire. The Empire consists of about 400,000,000 people, out of which number the 300,000,000 in India are, unlike the people of Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, not con- nected with Great Britain by ties of blood, or of speech, or of religious or social affinity. It is, therefore, most desirable that the Fiscal tie between Great Britain and India should be most effective as the bond of Empire. Economic unity is essential to the unity of defence. Mutual interests constitute the primary factors which bind individuals as w r ell as nations. Ninety-five per cent, of the people in India are quite illiterate. Therefore politics do not, and cannot, enter into the ordinary life of the teeming millions of India ; but commercial changes sooner or later touch the poorest Indian peasant, and are therefore a constant element of possible approach or diver- gence between British and Indian interests. In Lord George Hamilton's telegram of 218 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE August 7, 1903, the attention of the Govern- ment of India was directed to the Resolution passed at the Conference of the Colonial Prime Ministers in 1902 in favour of Preferential Tariffs as between different members of the British Empire. Lord Curzon considered the subject from the point of view of Indian interests, and the dispatch of the Government of India, dated October 22, 1903 (Cd. 1931), said: * It is more in the interests of India to leave matters as they are than to embark on a new Fiscal policy, etc.' But if India, in her own interests, does not desire to participate in the Preferential Tariff scheme, can she remain quite aloof? Can she avoid being drawn into it ? Would not the Preferential Tariff scheme affect her, even if she avoided direct participation in it ? The permanent debt of India on which interest is payable in England is about 214,000,000 (vide Mr. Morley's Budget speech, July, 1900). Her net external obligations are about 16,000,000 per annum (vide Lord Curzon 's dispatch, No. 324, dated October 22, 1903). The major part of this great charge, as has been so ably pointed out by Lord Curzon (Cd. 1931), is payable in a currency different from that in which her revenues are collected. The only means con- sistent with India's power of discharging this obligation lie in the preservation of an equiva- lent excess of exports from India over imports into India. Thus India has to stimulate her THE BALANCE OF TRADE 219 exports in every way she can. With great diffi- culty Lord Curzon succeeded in making the Indian exchange steady. The stability of Indian finance now commands public confidence, and Indian rupee securities are now rising in value in the London market, and there is the nucleus of a reserve of gold. Now, if, owing to a change in Great Britain's Fiscal policy, the balance of trade in India's favour should dwindle, her exchange will suffer, and the value of the rupee will again go down. Such a catastrophe to India would inevitably react on Great Britain, in con- sequence of the intimate relations of the two. For these reasons the Conservative leader, Mr. Balfour, said in his speech delivered at the Scottish Conservative Club in October, 1904, that the best way to solve the Fiscal question 'is to have a free Conference with the Self- Governing Colonies and India, which will deter- mine whether an arrangement be possible or not.' Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the author of the Preferential Tariff scheme, in his letter to me dated March 23, 1906 (which was published in the Times of March 27, 1906), himself admitted the truth of this remark, for he said : * In refer- ence to the possible position of India, if a Con- ference on the subject of Tariff .Reform is held, the views of India, as expressed by her repre- sentatives, ought, in his opinion, to have the same weight as if India were a Self-Governing Colony.' 220 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE TRADE BETWEEN GERMANY AND INDIA. To understand properly the position of India in the Fiscal controversy, I must refer to the trade between Germany and India, which has during the last decade experienced a marked develop- ment. The total value of the annual exports from India to Germany has increased 100 per cent, (vide ' German Trade with India,' Cd. 2682- 2684). Germany now ranks third in import- ance amongst the various countries of the world, both in the value of the import and of the export trade of India. The total value of the imports to Germany from India in 1904 amounted to 14,745,000, and the total value of exports from Germany to India was 4,155,000. Germany takes direct from India annually about one-fifth of the aggregate Indian cotton crop. She also imports, in addition, Indian cotton via Great Britain. In 1904 Germany imported one-fifth of the total Indian raw jute exports, one-sixth of the total quantity of seeds of all kinds, one-tentli of the total quantity of rice, and one-tenth of the total quantity of manganese exported from India. Besides these, she imports from India large quan- tities of pepper, wax, oil-cake, sandal-wood, black- lead, tea, etc. The fortunes of India's imports from Great Britain are indissolubly united with those of India's exports. India is able to pay for imports from Great Britain by her exports to the 221 Continent. India exports to foreign countries far more than she imports from them. Thus she, by her exports to foreign countries, obtains a credit balance annually of about 14,000,000, which becomes available towards the payment of what are called the annual ' home charges.' It is the exchange of India's commerce by this tri- angular route that enables her to pay the annual interest due to the British holder of India stock. The Empire, big as it is, is not big enough to consume all that India already produces of some commodities. In her trade relations with Ger- many India is the gainer, as the figures given above clearly show. India's solvency, to a great extent, depends on the fact that Indian exports, to a value exceeding 38,000,000 sterling, and approximating to one-half of the entire volume of India's export trade, are admitted free of duty into the consuming markets. India is an exporter almost entirely of food-grains and raw materials. Foreign countries no doubt require raw materials for their manufacturing industries. But, as Lord Curzon pointed out so ably in his dispatch already referred to, India does by no means enjoy an effective monopoly in food-grains and raw mate- rials. Her success in foreign markets is more due to the cheapness of her raw materials than to their quality or kind. The connexion of Ger- many and other foreign countries with the trade of India is an important factor in the proper solution of the new Fiscal scheme. When Great 222 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE Britain puts a tariff on German goods it is prob- able that Germany, through her tariff, will wreak vengeance on India in order to bring pressure to bear on Great Britain. Russia enhanced her already exorbitant duty on Indian tea as an answer to the passing of the Sugar Convention Bill in the Imperial Parliament. Russian duty on Indian tea is simply enormous, amounting to nearly 275 per cent, ad valorem. With reference to the first experiment in Tariff Reform the Sugar Convention the following questions and answers reproduced verbatim from Hansard, of March 22, 1906, will be found interesting : Russian Duties on Indian and Ceylon Teas. ' SIR SEYMOUR KING : I beg to ask the Secre- tary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that Indian and Ceylon tea, shipped to Russian European ports, either direct or via the United Kingdom, is subject to a differential duty of one penny per pound as against tea produced by other countries ; and whether, seeing that recent telegrams give ground for supposing that the Russian Government contemplate still further imposts on British-grown tea, and that orders for Indian and Ceylon tea have consequently been held back, pending further information on the subject, he will say whether any remonstrances have been addressed to the Russian Government; and whether His Majesty's Government will use THE GAME OF RETALIATION 223 every effort to prevent this industry being thus handicapped in Russian markets. ' SIR EDWARD GREY : The answer to the first question is in the affirmative. I have no reason to suppose that the duty will be further increased. It is not proposed to make further representa- tions to the Russian Government, as those made a few months ago led to no result. ' SIR SEYMOUR KING : Will the Government consider the advisability of retaliating upon Rus- sian oil ? ' SIR EDWARD GREY : These particular duties which the Russian Government have imposed are by way of retaliation for the prohibition of Russian sugar under the Sugar Convention. I do not think it will be desirable to carry the game of retaliation any further.' Again, on April 10, 1906, the subject was pur- sued in the House of Commons. Russian Retaliatory Import Duties. ' SIR SEYMOUR KING : I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the fact that the Russian Government has imposed extra duties on Indian and Ceylon teas, by way of retaliation for the prohibition of Russian sugar by Great Britain under the Brussels Convention, he can state if Russia had retaliated in any way against any of the other nations which were parties to the Convention ; and if not, why India, which 224 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE was not a party to the Sugar Convention, should be singled out for vicarious punishment for Great Britain's actions ; and what steps His Majesty's Government propose to take for India's protection. ' SIR EDWARD GREY : The reply to the first question is in the negative. With regard to the second, His Majesty's Government have not been informed of the reason why Russia retali- ated upon India and Ceylon and not upon the United Kingdom. With regard to the third, I would refer the honourable member to the answer given to him on the 22nd ultimo.' A tariff discriminating against Russian petro- leum might, for a time, force Russia to lower her duty on Indian tea. But a tariff war in the long run ruins both parties. Russia's tariff war with Germany, which lasted from August, 1893, to March, 1894, taught both countries a lesson not to be easily forgotten. Trade between the two countries reached the lowest point it had touched for some years. The termination of hostilities by an agreement resulted in the renewal of growth of their mutual trade. The trade between the two countries increased both abso- lutely and in proportion to that with other countries. The exports of Russian food-stuffs to Germany, and of German manufactures to Russia, increased about 200 per cent. A tariff war never pays. India has probably lost more by Russia's retaliation on her tea than the West | THE SUGAR CONVENTION 225 Indian sugar industry has gained. It would be interesting to calculate what the net result of the Sugar Convention is loss or gain to the Empire taken as a whole. As Mr. Winston Churchill observed in the House of Commons on July 29, 1903, in his speech on the Brussels Sugar Con- vention Bill, ' every country ought to be governed from some central point of view where all classes and all interests are proportionately represented.' Is it sound statesmanship to introduce a measure which, however indirectly, takes out from the pockets of one class of British subjects in order to fill the pockets of another class of British subjects ? The Sugar Convention has not bene- fited the West Indies effectually, but has made India suffer substantially. Poor India was ap- parently sacrificed in the supposed not real interest of the West Indies, with which Great Britain's trade in 1905 amounted to only 1,967,165, as against 47,373,677 with India. That any change in the Fiscal policy of India is undesirable was held not only by Lord Curzon, but by two Secretaries of State on both sides of politics Sir Henry Fowler and Lord George Hamilton ; by three other ex- Viceroys- Lord Northbrook, Lord Ripon, and Lord Elgin ; and by at least two most prominent Governors- Lord Reay, late Governor of Bombay, and Sir M. E. Grant-Duff, late Governor of Madras. England's possession of India constitutes un- questionably the greatest and most solemn trust 15 226 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE ever placed in the hands of any nation since the creation of the world. Lord Randolph Churchill, in 1885, remarked that India was * the most truly bright and precious gem in the crown of the Queen, the possession of which more than of all your other Colonies or great possessions raises the reputation of these small islands above the level of the majority of nations and of States, and places them in a position of equality with, and possibly even superiority over, the greatest Empires of ancient and modern times.' Lord Curzon supported this view in his speech at the Royal Societies Club on November 7, 1898 : * India has always appeared to me to be the pivot and centre I do not say the geographical, but the political and Imperial centre of the British Empire. There lies the true fulcrum of dominion, the real touchstone of our Imperial greatness or failure.' At the recent Delhi Durbar, in his memorable speech, his Lordship thus emphasized the point : ' I think a principal condition of England's strength is the possession of the Indian Empire, and the faithful attachment and service of His Majesty's Indian people.' Honour and fair play alike forbid Great Britain to surrender India's interest to the Colonies. Empire is larger than race and nationality. It is with Indian labour that the colonists work the plantations of Demerara and Natal. Mr. Chamberlain's Preferential Tariff scheme is aimed at the competition of white Continental labour YELLOW LABOUR COMPETITION 227 with white British labour. In no distant future England will have to face the competition of cheaper yellow labour, worked by intelligent Japanese heads and industrious Chinese hands. But England's possession of India enables her to face even a contingency like this. In fact, England alone among the Western Powers need not dread competition with Asiatic cheap labour. When England realizes her position properly and joins English white heads to Indian brown hands, British Imperial industries will enter upon an era of prosperity undreamt of yet. The political force and the moral grandeur of England will indisputably be increased by the association of India in all Conferences which affect the Fiscal policy of the Empire, and the demonstration of such real cohesion is sure to raise the British Empire in the estimation of the world. Lord Curzon, who is by instinct and conviction a true Imperialist, pointed out in his fourth Budget speech at Calcutta on March 26, 1902, that India's services to the Empire ' do not stop short at the loan of military resources and men. India is becoming a valuable nursery of public servants in every branch of administration, upon whom foreign Governments as well as the British Empire show an increasing inclination to indent. We have over a dozen officers in the service of Siam ; we have medical officers serving in Persia, Abyssinia, East Africa, and the Straits Settle- ments ; we have engineers in Egypt, Nigeria, 152 228 IMPERIAL PREFERENCE Uganda, and China ; we have postal and telegraph officers at the source of the Nile, on the Zambesi, and at the Cape.' India, therefore, has a right to be heard. No Imperial changes should be made without considering the interest of India. * * This paper, now slightly altered and enlarged, was read before a meeting of the East India Association, held at Caxton Hall, on March 15, 1907, over which the Right Hon. Lord Reay, G. C.S.I., presided. Of it, in its original form, Sir James Mackay, G.C.M.G., K.C.I. E., who afterwards represented India at the Imperial Conference, wrote : ' I have read the paper by Mr. S. M. Mitra. It is concise, unexaggerated, economically correct as far as my humble judgment goes, and I agree with every one of his statements. I have never seen India's case so well or so simply and truly put.' A STRONG EXECUTIVE IT is to be regretted that Lord Curzon did not, during his strenuous Viceroyalty, dispose of the question of the separation of judicial and execu- tive functions in India a subject well worthy of his attention, on which he could have written with force and conviction. He alluded, in his fifth Budget speech of March 25, 1903, to the mass of reports and papers on the subject before him, and said that he would like the question to be taken up and dealt with in his time. But it was left untouched, owing to his retirement from India before the end of his second term of office. It may be expected that a clear pronouncement on the whole matter will soon be forthcoming from the Government of India. Meanwhile, the present state of parts of India necessitates a con- sideration of the subject, for in it is involved nothing less than the maintenance of the power of the Executive Government. That power is menaced when the ordinary and punitive police are attacked by mobs ; no arrests are made, and no evidence is available. A writer in the Edin- burgh Review for October, 1907, said: 'The sepa- ration of judicial and executive functions, which 229 230 A STRONG EXECUTIVE is strongly advocated by the Congress, means depriving the heads of Districts and their co- adjutors of their magisterial authority, and thus weakening their power of dealing with crime and disorder. Recent events in Bengal, Eastern Bengal, Assam, and the Panjab have shown how dangerous to the public peace such a step would be.' Like every Indian matter, this question has a long history, which could easily be reproduced. But the consideration of it would be extended to a tiresome length if I were to dwell upon the different occasions on which it has been under discussion, the names of the distinguished persons who have handled it, the various phases through which it has passed. It is sufficient to state here two results of the controversy up to date : First, the original stigma which attached to the union of the functions namely, ' that it was most difficult, if not impossible, for the same man first to catch the thief and then to try him impartially ' has, from its epigrammatic picturesqueness, become a catchword, hard to meet ; second, the decision to leave with District Officers the administration of the minor branch of criminal justice, including the control of the District Police, combined with executive functions, was embodied in the Police Act of 1861, and has formed a main principle of the successive Codes of Criminal Procedure in India. In these days of development and change, the question (that is, of the union or separation of HISTORY OF THE QUESTION 231 judicial and executive functions in India) would assuredly, somehow or other, have come to the front again ; but its revival has undoubtedly been accelerated by the formation, in 1885, of the Indian National Congress, which has made the abolition of the existing system the subject of one of its annual Resolutions, passed, of course, unanimously at each meeting. In 1896 Mr. Mono Mohan Ghose, a Bengali barrister of con- siderable reputation, compiled a memorandum of twenty cases, which purported to illustrate the evils of the existing system. In the Asiatic Quarterly Review for October, 1896, Sir Charles Elliott, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, defended the existing system, and examined the relevance and weight of the cases above men- tioned. Later, the agitation against the existing system culminated in a ' Memorial on the proposed separation of the judicial and executive duties in India,' signed by ten gentlemen (chiefly high judicial authorities), and laid, by the ' Indian Parliamentary Committee,' before the Secretary of State for India in July, 1899. Thereupon Lord George Hamilton forwarded the papers to the Governor-General of India, and asked for his conclusions in regard to the Memorial. It is the answer of the Government of India to this refer- ence which is still awaited, as Lord Curzon left it untouched. Inquiries have been made about it from time to time, but no real information has been elicited. 232 The subject is so large that careful con- densation is required to bring it within manage- able limits. I desire to grapple as closely as possible with the question as stated by the memorialists above mentioned, who may be pre- sumed to have put their case as forcibly as it can be put. I propose, therefore, to treat it in the following manner : Firstly., the main issues raised ; secondly, the existing system ; thirdly, the objec- tions to the existing system ; fourthly, the de- fence of the existing system. The two main issues that stand out for decision are: (1) how far the combination of executive and judicial functions in the same person actually leads to abuse whether there is any practical evil to be remedied, and, if so, of what nature and degree ; (2) whether there are any, and, if so, what, considerations on the other side which must be set off against such abuses as may have occurred, and which tell in favour of retaining the present system, and on which side the balance of advantage lies. Such issues have, of course, to be considered with reference to conditions as they exist in India, rather than to any abstract principles, or to the practice in other parts of the world. Moreover, the whole matter has to be examined on the broad ground of general administrative expe- diency in other words, of Indian statesmanship, or the Government of the country. Anyone who has been in India must be more THE INDIAN SYSTEM 233 or less acquainted with the system of administra- tion there in force ; but for readers in England it is necessary to describe, at least in outline, the system as it obtains in British India at the pre- sent day. Each Province (under a Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, or Chief Commissioner) is divided into a number of Districts. The number of Districts in all India is, 1 believe, 249.* They vary greatly in area and population. In Bengal, for instance, in 1901 before it was partitioned there were forty-seven Districts of British territory (exclusive of the twenty square miles of Calcutta), covering an area of 151,165 square miles, and containing a population of 73,897,070 persons. Thus the average area of a District was more than 3,200 square miles, and the average population exceeded 1,500,000 persons. The smallest area was the Howrah District, 510 square miles ; the largest was that of Ranchi, 7,128 square miles. The Chittagong Hill tracts had a population of only 124,762 persons, whereas in Mymensingh there were 3,915,068. The Districts remain the same in size, although some of them have been trans- ferred to Eastern Bengal and Assam. The size of a ' District ' in England for any Fiscal or ad- ministrative purpose conveys no idea of the size or importance of a District of an Indian Province, or of the complicated problems due to race, reli- * ' The Government of India,' by Sir C. Ilbert, second edition, p. 135. 234 A STRONG EXECUTIVE gion, and past history. The District in India is the unit of administration ; it is under the Dis- trict Officer, who is the District Magistrate, whether he be also called the Magistrate- Collector or Deputy-Commissioner. His position corre- sponds more nearly to that of the French prefet than to that of any English functionary. The District Magistrate is, or may be, according to the volume of the work of the District, assisted by a Joint-Magistrate and Assistant- Magistrates ; he has also under his general orders several Deputy - Magistrates. All these subordinate officers are Magistrates of the first, second, or third class, and are invested by Government with powers graduated according to those classes. Where there are Sub-divisions of a District some of these subordinate Magistrates are stationed at each Sub-division. The District Magistrates themselves try very few cases ; serious cases are committed by the District Magistrate and First- Class Magistrates to the Court of Session (the District Judge) for trial. Appeals from Magis- trates of the first class and from the District Magistrate lie to the District Judge ; appeals from the other subordinate Magistrates lie to the District Magistrate, or to any First-Class Magis- trate appointed to hear the appeals. The Dis- trict Magistrate has to inspect the records and registers of the cases tried in the Courts of all the Magistrates subordinate to him. Also, he is entirely responsible for the peace and criminal administration of his District. He has the general control and direction of the Police (by this super- vision exercising the most certain and effectual check upon abuse of authority by the subordinate police). Under him the administration of the Police throughout the District is vested in the District Superintendent of Police, who is the District Magistrate's assistant for police duties, and as such is bound to carry out his orders. Though in other respects he is the head of the Police, the District Magistrate has no authority to interfere in the internal organization and discipline of the Police force. The District Superintendent (whose departmental chief is the Inspector- General of Police of the Province) is independent of the District Magistrate only as far as regards the internal economy of the force and everything of a purely departmental nature ; but even in such matters he is expected to give due regard to his wishes and suggestions. The District Magistrate hears the special police reports only in serious cases during the course of an investigation. He has also certain 'pre- ventive ' powers which he may exercise, in virtue of his office, as responsible for the peace of his District. The District Officer, as Collector of the Revenue, and as Chief Executive Officer, has multifarious duties, which occupy the greater part of his time. He is the local representative of the Government ; to him the Government turns for 236 A STRONG EXECUTIVE information upon the economical, social, and sanitary conditions of his District. * Every single thing which either European intelligence or native opinion can demand of a Government, that he is expected to supply.' The District Sessions Judges try all the more serious criminal cases. Above the District Sessions Judges the High Courts have appellate powers, and powers of interference and revision over the judicial proceedings of all District Magistrates and other Magistrates. The Exe- cutive Government cannot interfere with the judicial proceedings of the District Magistrates, and can only appeal to the High Courts against acquittals by any other Court. Finally, the whole of the Criminal Law and Procedure is clearly set out in Codes, accessible to everybody. Codification* means the reduction to a definite written form of law which had previously been unwritten, or written only in an unauthoritative form, such as that of text-books and reported cases; while the kindred process of consolidation means the reduction to a single Act of all the written law upon any given subject. The Indian Penal Code, drafted originally by Lord Macaulay, though not passed into law until 1860, contains substantially the whole Criminal Law as amended from time to time by the Legislature. The Code * ' The Life of Lord Mayo,' by Sir W. W. Hunter (chap. viii. by Sir Fitz-James Stephen). CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE 237 of Criminal Procedure contains the whole of the law relating to the constitution of the Criminal Courts in their various degrees ; the functions of the different classes of Magistrates ; the appre- hension of suspected persons ; the collection of evidence of their offence ; their committal for trial ; the preparation of the charge ; the law relating to juries ; the conduct of the trial ; the infliction of punishment ; the prevention of crime by binding over persons to keep the peace, by the suppression of riots, by enabling provisional orders to be made as to the possession of land, and by various other means. The Dandabidhi and the Karjyabidhi are, like their equivalents in the other vernaculars of the country, house- hold words in Bengal. Without anticipating what will be said later, it may here be stated that so great is the publicity of all the judicial work of the countiy that there is in British territory very little chance of an illegal or oppressive act escaping notice. Sooner or later such an act would be brought to notice by judicial procedure, or by petition to the executive authorities. Publicity is the best prophylactic against the abuse of power. After this preliminary description, condensed as it is, of the existing system, the objections to it put forward by the memorialists (and generally by other objectors), as stated by themselves in a summarized form, may now be quoted and 238 A STRONG EXECUTIVE examined. These objections * are to the effect (1) that the combination of judicial with executive duties in the same officer violates the first prin- ciples of equity ; (2) that, while a judicial officer ought to be thoroughly impartial and approach the consideration of any case without previous knowledge of the facts, an executive officer does not adequately discharge his duties unless his ears are open to all reports and information which he can in any degree employ for the benefit of his District ; (3) that executive officers in India, being responsible for a large amount of miscellaneous business, have not time satis- factorily to dispose of judicial work in addition ; (4) that, being keenly interested in carrying out particular measures, they are apt to be brought more or less into conflict with individuals, and, therefore, that it is inexpedient that they should also be invested with judicial powers ; (5) that under the existing system Collector-Magistrates do, in fact, neglect judicial for executive work ; (6) that appeals from Revenue assessments are apt to be futile when they are heard by Revenue Officers ; (7) that great inconvenience, expense, and suffering are imposed upon suitors required to follow the camp of a judicial officer who, in the discharge of executive duties, is making a tour of his District ; and (8) that the existing system not only involves all whom it concerns in hardship and inconvenience, but also, by associating the judicial tribunal with the work DEFENCE OF PRESENT SYSTEM 239 of the Police and of detectives, and by diminish- ing the safeguards afforded by the rules of evidence, produces actual miscarriages of justice, and creates, although justice be done, oppor- tunities of suspicion, distrust, and discontent, which are greatly to be deplored.' The defence of the existing system (under which judicial and executive functions are united in the same person in India) does not admit of being reduced to a few striking sentences in the same manner as the objections just summarized. Even if it be admitted, for the sake of argument, that the existing system does not conform to pure theory such as would satisfy jurists like Bentham or Austin it may properly be con- tended that it answers all practical purposes, while it has certain administrative advantages, such as that it strengthens the position of the District Officer, which for the purposes of good government must be firmly established, and that under it an accused person in British territory can hardly be prejudiced or prevented from undergoing a fair trial. Whatever may have been the system in force fifty or a hundred years ago, which laid the administration of justice open to the epigrammatic objection above quoted, the state of things has been greatly changed by amendments of the law, so that now (apart from the frailty always inherent in human agency) there is no reasonable fear of injustice being caused to any accused person by the constitution 240 A STRONG EXECUTIVE of the Court trying him. Some of the safeguards introduced by the changes in the law may be briefly mentioned. Under Section 526 of the Code (of Criminal Procedure) the High Court may transfer a case from any Criminal Court subordinate to it, whenever it is shown that a fair and impartial inquiry or trial cannot be had in that lower Court. Again, under Section 556 no Magistrate may try, or commit for trial, any case to, or in, which he is a party or ' personally interested' (a term which has been liberally interpreted by the High Courts), and in certain cases a transfer for trial is obtainable and is, under Section 191, obligatory. The result is that practically a District Magistrate cannot use his judicial powers to try or commit a case in which he has exhibited 'personal interest' (as construed by the High Courts). The District Officer is subject to the restraints imposed by law upon his powers ; his decisions are open to appeal, and may be set aside by motions to the High Court. The work of the subordinate Magistrates cannot be left uncontrolled by in- spection, and the District Magistrate is the proper person to supervise them, which he can do, and does, without interfering with their judicial independence while cases are under trial in their Courts. Having stated the objections and the defence generally, it remains now to take each of the objections 1 to 8 as formulated by the memo- OBJECTIONS EXAMINED 241 rialists against the existing system, and to examine them fully seriatim. 1. ' that the combination of judicial with executive duties in the same officer violates the first principles of equity.' No one disputes the proposition that it would be wrong inequitable for a District Magistrate to conduct all the proceedings (capture, investi- gation, etc.) preparatory to the trial of an offender, and then himself to try the accused in his own Court. The imputation is, of course, that under such a system the accused would be prejudiced and would not be fairly tried. But under the existing system, as described above, offenders are, in fact and practice, not tried by the persons who bring them before the Courts, and various safeguards have been introduced into the law to ensure the fair treatment of the accused. There- fore the proposition, as stated, may be correct theoretically, but it has little relevance to the existing system. Let the judicial functions be first considered. In exceptional cases it is essential, in a country like India, that the District Magis- trate should have the power of exercising his judicial functions, though they may ordinarily be dormant. For instance, European British subjects, when accused, should be tried or com- mitted for trial to the superior Court by the District Magistrate. He would also be right in dealing judicially with cases in which local feel- ing between contending factions runs high, and 16 242 A STRONG EXECUTIVE he would be considered by every one to be the proper officer to deal with them. Again, the appeals in cases tried by the Second and Third Class Magistrate must be heard by somebody. If the District Magistrate did not hear them, they would have to be heard by the District Judge, who has, as it is, plenty of work of his own to do. Such (comparatively petty) ap- pellate work is good training for the District Magistrate, and the High Court may be moved, if required, to set aside his decisions. Again, the preventive sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure require the recording of evidence, and the District Magistrate, who is responsible for the peace of the District, is obviously the proper person to take such judicial proceedings, and any errors on his part can at once be brought to the notice of the higher authorities, judicial or executive. The executive functions of a District Magis- trate have also to be considered. The work of the subordinate Magistrates in a District requires constant inspection to secure the proper adminis- tration of justice. It must be distinctly under- stood that such inspection does not mean inter- ference with cases under trial. Such interference would properly be regarded as unjustifiable, and would assuredly be reprobated by the Govern- ment. Such inspection means the inspection of registers and records of cases previously decided, whether they ended in convictions or acquittals, FIRST OBJECTION 243 and has for its objects the correction of errors, the prevention of delays, and the education of the Magistrates all for the ultimate good of the people. It must be acknowledged that the subordinate Magistrates cannot yet be left free of all supervision, though they are, and must be, allowed to exercise their judicial functions inde- pendently. Such inspection out of Court is more properly exercised by the District Magistrate in his executive capacity than it would be by the District Judge, whose duty it is to deal indepen- dently, and without any possible imputation of partiality, with cases brought before him in Court. In the several revisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure since 1861, which have had for their object the improvement of the administration of justice, the Indian Legislature has arrived at the existing system, and it may safely be asserted that the Legislature would not have sanctioned it if accused persons were thereby prejudiced. The safeguards (already mentioned) against the trial of an accused by a Magistrate personally interested in the case, and the powers vested in the High Court and inherent in the Executive Governments, are sufficient to secure the fairness of all trials. 2. 'that while a judicial officer ought to be thoroughly impartial and approach the considera- tions of any case without previous knowledge of the facts, an Executive Officer does not adequately discharge his duties unless his ears are open to all 162 244 A STRONG EXECUTIVE reports and information which he can in any degree employ for the benefit of his District.' Both the branches of this proposition may be admitted to be theoretically correct, but the truths contained in them, though intended to raise an antithesis, and thereby condemn the existing system, convey an incorrect and incom- plete idea of the whole position of the District Officer, as now established by law, and as it should be maintained. The District Magistrate, it must be repeated, himself tries an infinitesimally small number of cases. In such cases the law, as has already been stated, provides safeguards against any suspicion of partiality on his part. In these days of publicity it is hardly possible for any Judicial Officer not to have read or heard something of the facts of any notorious case, but an officer who has reached the position of District Magistrate is perfectly aware that, in the trial of the few cases he may have to try, he has to regard the evidence produced before him and nothing else, and he can be censured and corrected if he disregards this principle. The Police Officers, not the District Magistrate, perform the work of investigating the crime of a District. The District Magistrate exercises only a general control and supervision over their work. The Police work must be controlled by some officer in authority. It is better that it should be controlled by the District Magistrate than by the Inspector-General of Police or his CONTROL OF THE POLICE 245 deputies, who naturally take a departmental interest in supporting or shielding their subor- dinates, whereas it is the duty of the District Magistrate to do justice, and not to aim at a departmental triumph. In the majority of the cases sent up by the Police for trial the District Magistrate merely distributes them for trial to his subordinate Magistrates, and knows nothing whatever of the facts. The Criminal Courts are in no way under the control of the Police. The Police have to submit special reports on certain serious offences to the District Magistrate, and in such cases the latter, if he held the preliminary judicial inquiries, would commit them to the Dis- trict Judge for trial ; in such cases (as in the cases distributed to the subordinate Magistrates) the District Magistrate's control of the Police would not affect the accused at his trial. There is no need to say anything here on the branch of the proposition regarding the duties of an Executive Officer. 3. 'that Executive Officers in India, being responsible for a large amount of miscellaneous business, have not time satisfactorily to dispose of judicial work in addition* The general argument against the existing system (the combination of judicial and executive functions) is forcible only ifr the District Magis- trate does dispose of judicial work. This argu- ment (3) is based on the supposition that the District Magistrate does not dispose of much 246 A STRONG EXECUTIVE judicial work. The opponents of the existing system cannot fairly rely upon both arguments. The answer to both has, however, practically been given already namely, that the District Magistrate tries but very few cases. As District Officer he has so many duties e.g., Judicial, Police, Revenue, Miscellaneous Executive, Cor- respondence that practically he has not the time to retain in his own hands the whole charge of any branch. He exercises general control over all, while in each branch the bulk of the work is performed by his subordinates. Thus the subor- dinate Magistrates try, or commit for trial, nearly all the criminal cases ; the District Superintendent of Police looks after the investigation and detec- tion of crime ; a subordinate officer has primary charge of each branch of work e.g., Land Revenue, Excise, Stamps, Municipal, etc. ; the clerical establishment prepare the main portion of the correspondence. A District Officer can only keep very important items of work entirely to himself. The principle of District adminis- tration is that the District Officer is responsible for all branches of work under him, but has many hands to help him. The concentration of authority in the District Officer is the keynote of the British system of Government in India, and, while it is the most effective, it is the most economical plan that could be adopted. Thus it is not intended that the District Magistrate should himself dis- pose of much judicial work. The essential point DISTRICT OFFICERS 247 is that he should possess the judicial powers, to be exercised in particular cases, when required for some special reason. 4. ' that, being keenly interested in carrying out particular measures, they are apt to be brought more 01* less into conflict with individuals, and therefore tJiat it is inexpedient that tJiey should also be invested ivith judicial powers.' This argument is so expressed that it has a plausible appearance, but it will not stand careful examination. The meaning is apparently that because District Officers are ' keenly interested ' in carrying out certain (executive) measures in the course of which they may be brought into collision with individuals they, the District Officers, should not be invested with judicial powers (under the Code). In other words, it is argued that, because a District Officer may be energetic in his executive capacity, he should not have judicial powers. It might more reasonably have been argued that, because an Executive Officer may have trap de zele, he should therefore be vested with judicial powers to steady him. There is no influence so steadying as the exercise of judicial powers. The fallacy of the argument consists in supposing that the District Officer can be acting both executively and judicially at the same time. When acting executively it is his duty to carry out the executive measures- enjoined by Government or originated by him- self in accordance with the law applicable to the 248 A STRONG EXECUTIVE measure ; when acting judicially (trying cases or committing them for trial, hearing minor appeals, issuing preventive orders), he must be guided by the Criminal Law. In neither case can District Officers transgress the law with impunity. In executive matters the keen interest of the District Officer may very properly be enlisted to ensure success ; in judicial matters it has already been explained that ' personal interest ' is a ground on which a Magistrate can be prevented by legal steps from trying a case or committing it for trial. Practically, there is no reason why one officer should not successively exercise both executive and judicial powers ; but any abuse of their combination in a District Officer would soon come to light and bring down punishment upon him. 5. ' that under the existing system Collector- Magistrates do, in fact, neglect judicial for executive work.' This can only be answered by repeating in substance what has already been stated. District Officers are not required or expected themselves to do much judicial work. Almost the whole of the judicial work of the district is performed by the subordinate Magistracy and the District Sessions Judge. The District Officer, for reasons already given, has the general supervision of the Magistracy and the Police ; he only occasionally tries cases or commits them for trial, and only those of a special character. Such little judicial OBJECTIONS DEALT WITH 249 work as he does perform he may be presumed to do well. A Judicial Officer wilfully exceeding his powers, or acting illegally, is liable to be sued for damages by the person aggrieved. All District Officers are not men of the highest capacity, but they are all men of ability above the average, or they would not be occupying the positions they hold ; and neglect of any portion of their duties is about the last charge that can properly be laid against them. 6. * that appeals from Revenue assessments are apt to be futile when they are heard by Revenue Officers' If this argument has any meaning, it is based on the assumption that every Revenue appeal deserves to be successful. The contrary is, in fact, the truth. Revenue of any kind is not ' assessed ' except under some law, and the pre- sumption must be that it is legally assessed ; for, if it were not so, it would be open to the assessee to move the Civil Courts to set aside the assess- ment. Every English reader must know what a * Civil action ' is. As in England, the County Court Judges and the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature try * Civil actions,' so in India the Munsifs, Subordinate Judges, District Civil Judges, High Court Judges (on the Civil side), try similar actions ; the lower Courts having limited powers, the higher Courts having appel- late powers. Government and its officers can be sued as defendants in these Courts in a case 250 A STRONG EXECUTIVE of alleged illegality, and the case is judicially tried. The collection of the Government Revenue requires the experience of a Revenue Officer ; it is not work that falls within the province of Judicial Officers, though in the last resort a Civil Court can tiy the legality of a Revenue assess- ment, as well as any other Civil case. Every Government, I believe, collects its dues (its * assessed Revenue ') through its own officers, and hears the appeals of Revenue-payers in its own offices such as the Treasury, Somerset House, or the Custom House while the Civil Courts are open, as said above, for the correction of illegal assessments. The Revenue Officer him- self has much more to gain by acquiring a reputa- tion for doing justice than by enforcing in a grasping spirit the Revenue demands, which will go to the Government Treasury, not to his own pocket. At any rate, the records of the Revenue Offices would show how constantly Revenue appeals are decided in favour of appellants against assessments. If independent Revenue tribunals were set up, the cost of the administration would be enormously increased ; but, having regard to the safeguards already existing against injustice in the coUection of the Revenue, they are not required. It is noteworthy that, in a scheme put forward by an opponent of the existing system, it was proposed to unite the Revenue powers of the District Officer with his Police powers, and TOURING OF OFFICERS 251 no objection was made in that scheme to Revenue Officers hearing Revenue appeals. 7. * that great inconvenience, expense, and suf- fering are imposed upon suitors required to follow tJie camp of a Judicial Officer who, in the dis- charge of his executive duties, is making a tour oj his District.' Suitor is properly the term applicable to a plaintiff in a Civil Court, and in India the Civil Courts are stationary, not peripatetic. The mis- use of the term here shows some ignorance or carelessness on the part of the memorialists. The intended meaning is, of course, that accused persons are affected, as described, by the touring of a Judicial Officer. The answer is not only that the District Officer tries but very few cases, but also that he is ' on tour ' only for about 100 days in the year, and would naturally, for reasons of convenience, deal with those few cases while at head-quarters. The objection applies more strongly to the cold-weather tours of Subdivi- sional Officers, who, as Magistrates of the first class, try criminal cases. The areas of the Sub- divisions are, however, so limited, and the means of communication are generally so well developed, that the inconvenience is not great, and can be minimized by proper arrangements ; moreover, the objection is more likely to be raised by the pleaders who have their practice at head-quarters than by the accused persons themselves. It would be interesting to know the exact per- 252 A STRONG EXECUTIVE centage of accused persons tried or dealt with by peripatetic Magistrates ' in camp ' away from head-quarters. The number would be very small. 8. 'that the existing system not only involves all whom it concerns in hardship and inconveni- ence, but also, by associating the judicial tribunal with the work of the Police and of detectives, and by diminishing the safeguards afforded by the ranks of evidence, produces actual miscarriages of justice, and creates, although justice be done, opportunities of suspicion, distrust, and discontent which are greatly to be deplored ' It would be difficult to formulate a charge more full of exaggerated and inaccurate sugges- tions. No proof is offered of the alleged hard- ship and inconvenience ; if they were felt, much more would be heard of them. Nor, hi fact, is the judicial tribunal * associated ' with the work of the Police. The relations between the District Officer and the Police have already been described. The allegations may be absolutely contradicted. The next suggestion, that the existing system ' diminishes the safeguards afforded by the rules of evidence,' is unintelligible. The rules of evidence, as contained in the Evidence Act, must be, and are, observed by every Judicial Officer, and any disregard of them would warrant the interference of the higher Judicial Courts ; the rest is mere clap-trap. In the course of twenty years a few cases of alleged irregu- PRESENT SYSTEM 253 larities occurred ; some twenty were collected in the compilation already mentioned, in which miscarriages of justice, abuse of judicial power, etc., were alleged. The whole collection was inspired with a strong animus against the Bengal Civil Service. I hold no brief for that distin- guished Service, but a perusal of the papers would show any unprejudiced person that the collected cases failed to prove the unfitness of the existing system for India. They proved that officers, being human, are liable to err, and err greatly which was no new discovery but they showed also that the officers in fault had been duly corrected and punished. The number of such cases has diminished of late years, and the High Courts and the Government are fully able to correct and punish, should such cases recur. The fact remains that the Courts are popular and trusted (especially when presided over by English officers, in spite of their incomplete acquaintance with the vernacular languages), and that the combination of powers in the District Officer is regarded by every one in the District as the most natural and suitable arrangement. The last argument advanced by the memo- rialists is that the Judicial Officer should be an expert, especially educated and trained for the work of the Court. It may readily be conceded that it is highly desirable that the highest Judicial Officers in India should be experts in law, whether selected from the Bar or the Indian Civil Service, 254 A STRONG EXECUTIVE or the body of Pleaders ; and it certainly is not desirable that a District Officer should be igno- rant of law and procedure. But such a state of things is absolutely impossible under the existing system. The District Officer, before he attains that position, must have studied the law for years, and have tried numbers of minor cases of all sorts. The Indian Criminal Law, as com- prised in the Codes, is (as already stated) emi- nently accessible and clear. For such 'judicial functions ' as the District Officer has to exercise in the trial of minor cases, or in the committal of more serious charges for trial, he is sufficiently qualified by learning, experience, and knowledge of the country, though he may not be a ' trained lawyer' in the parlance and opinion of a Bar library. There is no necessity to rake up here the whole question of the training and selection of Judicial Officers. The memorialists, com- posed principally of lawyers, may advocate that the whole of the Judicial Services should be under a High Court, and altogether independent of the Executive Government, and that all Judicial Officers should belong to the legal profession, to the exclusion of the Indian Civil Service. I cannot admit the soundness of these views. The Executive Government must, of course, be based on law ; but no country in the world, so far as I know, allows its judiciary to be altogether inde- pendent of the Executive Government. It is a charge constantly, even now, made against the DEFENCE OF PRESENT SYSTEM 255 Government that it is a Vakil ke Raj, a Govern- ment in which lawyers have the upper hand, to the detriment of strong administration, and it may be confidently predicted that the Executive would be further debilitated if the lawyers had it all their own way. In defence of the existing system the following arguments and considerations may be urged, and no change should be made unless they can be overruled. It has not been proposed to alter the established system of the general administration of India. Under that system there must be a general representative of the Executive Govern- ment in each District, to maintain peace and order, and to carry out the orders and measures of the Executive Government. For this purpose the District Officer, as that representative, must be furnished with adequate powers, and be capable of enforcing his orders under the existing laws. The concentration of power in one officer responsible for the management of the District is the Indian rather than the English idea, and it is essential that the District Officer should possess powers of all sorts, for it is always possible that he may in some emergency or special business require them, although he may not have to be using them all constantly. The tendency of administrative progress in India is to remove special Departments from the District Officer's control, because he cannot have time for every- thing, or be a specialist or expert in all Depart- 256 A STRONG EXECUTIVE ments. In all matters affecting his District, even those of the special Departments (such as Railways, Telegraphs, etc.), his opinion must carry weight ; but to enable him to perform his main duties as District Officer viz., the preserva- tion of the peace and the collection of the Revenue he must be vested with sufficient powers under the law. It was Sir Fitz-James Stephen who well said : * The exercise of criminal jurisdiction is, both in theory and in fact, the most distinctive and most easily and generally recognized work of sovereign power. All the world over the man who can punish is the ruler.' But the law which gives the District Officers the needful powers at the same time limits those powers, so that they cannot be exercised unjustly; and it is for the High Courts and the Govern- ment to see that those legal powers are not abused or exceeded. As the concentration of power in the hands of the District Officer, as the pivot of the administration, is the Indian idea, which, as being the most practical idea, finds expression in the administrative arrangements obtaining in the Native States of India, it may fairly be presumed that the separation of the executive and judicial functions is a suggestion which would not commend itself to Native Rulers, who know much better than the memorialists can tell them the system best adapted to the country. The suggestion that the existing THE MAIN ISSUES ANSWERED 257 system is anomalous from a theoretical point of view is of no weight in the minds of practical administrators. Many human institutions, in- cluding the British Constitution itself, are full of anomalies, but, nevertheless, work well. Lord Macaulay himself said : ' But what Constitu- tion can we give to our Indian Empire which shall not be strange, which shall not be anomalous ? That Empire is itself the strangest of all political anomalies.' The issues formulated above for discussion may now be finally dealt with by the light of the con- siderations which have been set out at length. The existing system is allowed to have led to abuses. There is not much practical evil to be remedied. The most important considerations tell in favour of retaining the present system ; the balance of advantage lies in maintaining it. Nor is the present the time for any diminution of the authority of the District Officer. The passing of the Act of the Indian Legislature against Seditious Meetings shows that, in the opinion of the Government, its District Officers had not previously sufficient powers to maintain peace and order in their Districts. The Executive Government can only act through the hands of the District Officers, and if the Imperial Government deliberately weakens their hands by taking away some of the powers now vested in them, it will be more difficult than ever to put down the ' unrest in India.' 17 258 A STRONG EXECUTIVE j The memorialists are not the persons charged with the maintenance of the peace of the Districts. They advocate a counsel of perfection, without sufficient regard for the practical wants of the actual administration of the country. The separation of the executive and judicial functions would certainly mean the weakening of the posi- tion and powers of the District Officers that is, of the Executive Government. And there is no evidence whatever forthcoming to show that the separation is asked for by public opinion (pace the memorialists), or that it would be acceptable to the masses, or to those who care for the welfare of India. On the other hand, the maintenance of peace and order must be the first consideration, as Mr. Morley repeated at Arbroath on October 21, 1907 as the Prime Minister himself subsequently declared and any alteration in the laws or practice that would endanger the peace of India should not be con- templated for a moment. FAMINES THE subject of Indian famines one of the most important subjects connected with India that can be found for discussion has from time to time attracted considerable attention both in England and in India. In most cases the writings on the subject have been characterized by an ardent desire to ameliorate the condition of the Indian ryot. For some time the letters and articles with reference to famine which appeared in the public press passed practically unnoticed at least, officially ; but when, on December 20, 1900, the following petition was presented to the Secretary of State by no less than eleven retired Indian officials of high rank, it arrested official attention, and their utterances carried weight as much from the past positions of the signatories as from the moderate language in which the petition was couched : 1. * In view of the terrible famines with which India has been lately afflicted, we the undersigned, who have spent many years of our lives among the people, and still take a deep interest in their 259 172 260 FAMINES welfare, beg to offer the following suggestions to your Lordship in Council, in the hope that the Land Revenue Administration may be else- where placed on such a sound and equitable basis as to secure to the cultivators of the soil a sufficient margin of profit to enable them better to withstand the pressure of future famine. 2. ' We are well aware that the primary cause of famines is the failure of rain, and that the protection of large tracts of country by the ex- tension of irrigation from sources that seldom or never fail has been steadily kept in view and acted on by the Government for many years past ; but the bulk of the country is dependent on direct rainfall, and the pinch of famine is most severely Ifelt in the uplands, where the crops fail simply for want of rain. The only hope for the culti- vators throughout the greater part of India is, therefore, that they should be put in such a , position as to enable them to tide over an occasional bad season. 3. ' To place the cultivators in such a position we consider it essential that the share taken as the Government demand on the land should be strictly limited in every Province. We fully agree with the views of Lord Salisbury, when Secretary of State for India, as set out in his minute of April 26, 1875 : ' " So far as it is possible to change the Indian Fiscal system, it is desirable that the cultivator should pay a smaller portion of the whole national PRINCIPLES ADVOCATED 261 charge. It is not in itself a thrifty policy to draw the mass of revenue from the rural districts, where capital is scarce, sparing the towns, where it is often redundant and runs to waste and luxury. The injury is exaggerated in the case of India, where so much of the revenue is ex- ported without a direct equivalent." 4. ' Without going into tedious details, we consider it very advisable that, in those parts of the country in which the Land Tax is not per- manently settled the following principles should be uniformly adhered to : (a) * Where the Land Revenue is paid directly by the cultivators, as in most parts of Madras and Bombay, the Government demand should be limited to 50 per cent, of the value of the net produce after a liberal deduction for cultivation expenses has been made, and should not ordinarily exceed one-fifth of the gross produce, even in those parts of the country where, in theory, one- half of the net is assumed to approximate to one- third of the gross produce. (b) ' Where the Land Revenue is paid by land- lords, the principle adopted in the Saharanpur Rules of 1855, whereby the revenue demand is limited to one-half of the actual rent or assets of such landlords, should be universally applied. (c) ' That no revision of the Land Tax of any Province or part thereof should be made within thirty years of the expiration of any former revi- sion. 262 FAMINES (d) * That, when such revision is made in any of those parts of India where the Land Revenue is paid by the cultivators direct to the Govern- ment, there should be no increase in the assess- ment except in cases where the land has increased in value (1) in consequence of improvements in irrigation works carried out at the expense of the Government, or (2) on account of a rise in the value of produce based on the average prices of j the thirty years next preceding such revision. 5. ' Lastly, we recommend that a limit be fixed in each Province beyond which it may not be permissible to surcharge the Land Tax with local cesses. We are of opinion that the Bengal rate of 6J per cent, is a fair one, and that in no case should the rate exceed 10 per cent. <(Sd.) R. K. BUCKLE, Late Director of Revenue Settlement, and Member of the Board of Revenue, Madras. J. H. GARSTIN, Late Member of Council, Madras. J. B. PENNINGTON, Late Collector of Tanjore, Madras. H. J. REYNOLDS, Late Revenue Secretary to the Government of Bengal, and late Member of the Legisla- tive Council of the Governor-General of India. RICHARD GARTH, Late Chief Justice of Bengal. MR. R. C. DUTT 263 ROMESH C. DUTT, Late Officiating Commissioner of the Orissa Division in Bengal, and Member of the Bengal Legislative Council. C. J. O'DONNELL, Late Commissioner of the Bhagalpur and Rajshahi Divisions in Bengal. A. ROGERS, Late Settlement Officer and Member of Council in Bombay. W. WEDDERBURN, Late Acting Chief Secretary to the Govern- ment of Bombay. JOHN JARDINE, Late Judge of the High Court, Bombay. J. P. GOODRIDGE, Late B.C.S., and formerly Officiating Settle- ment Commissioner, Central Provinces.' Among the signatories, Mr. R. C. Dutt, C.I.E. (I.C.S., retired), late Officiating Commissioner of Orissa, and member of the Bengal Legislative Council, returned to the charge in India, and carried on an active campaign in a series of open letters addressed to the Viceroy. Mr. Dutt is not an antagonist to be despised. Added to the glamour of his name as an Oriental scholar and historian, the author of some works on ancient India, there is the solid fact that he is a Revenue Officer of great experience. Lord Curzon's Government welcomed the opportunity thus 264 FAMINES afforded of discussing a question which is one of the highest national importance. Mr. Dutt's open letters were, therefore, referred to all Local Governments for their consideration and report, and, from the mass of information received from various Provinces, Lord Curzon was able to issue the Government Resolution of January 16, 1902, which is a comprehensive review of Land Re- venue policy throughout India. In that Resolu- tion (paragraph 38) His Excellency claimed to have established the following propositions : 1. That a Permanent Settlement, whether in f Bengal or elsewhere, is no protection against the [incidence and consequences of famine ; 2. That in areas where the State receives its Land Revenue from landlords, progressive modera- tion is the keynote of the policy of Government, and that the standard of 50 per cent, of the assets is one which is almost uniformly observed in practice, and is more often departed from on the side of deficiency than of excess ; 3. That in the same areas the State has not objected, and does not hesitate, to interfere by legislation to protect the interests of the tenants against oppression at the hands of the landlords ; 4. That in areas where the State takes the Land Revenue from the cultivators, the proposal to fix the assessment at one-fifth of the gross produce would result in the imposition of a greatly increased burden upon the people ; 5. That the policy of long-term settlements is 265 gradually being extended, the exceptions being justified by conditions of local development ; 6. That a simplification and cheapening of the proceedings connected with new settlements, and an avoidance of the harassing invasion of an army of subordinate officials, are a part of the deliberate policy of Government ; 7. That the principle of exempting or allowing for improvements is one of general acceptance, but may be capable of further extension ; 8. That assessments have ceased to be made upon prospective assets ; 9. That local taxation as a whole, though sus- ceptible of some redistribution, is neither im- moderate nor burdensome ; 10. That over-assessment is not, as alleged, a general or widespread source of poverty and indebtedness in India, and that it cannot fairly be regarded as a contributory cause of famine. The Government of India have further laid down liberal principles for future guidance, and will be prepared, where the necessity is established, to make further advance in respect of : 11. The progressive and graduated imposition of large enhancements. 12. Greater elasticity in the revenue collec- tion, facilitating its adjustment to the variations of the seasons and the circumstances of the people. 13. A more general resort to reduction of assessments in cases of local deterioration, where 266 FAMINES such reduction cannot be claimed under the terms of settlement. The conclusions arrived at by Lord Curzon's Government were not, however, satisfactory to Mr. Dutt, and several letters appeared in the Pionee?* and other journals over the signature of Mr. Dutt, in reply to the Government Resolu- tion. As far as I am aware, no Indian has had the courage to question in any public print the correctness of Mr. Dutt's dicta, and yet there must be some among the educated classes who know and feel that they cannot endorse all that he has said. It may have been a mistaken idea of the real meaning of patriotism, which prompted silence in the presence of a great leader of Congress thought ; or was it a natural disinclina- tion to cross swords with so doughty an opponent ? The fact remains that Mr. Dutt's statements- some of which are hardly calculated to gain for Mr. Dutt the reputation of a reliable historian have either been endorsed or allowed to pass unchallenged. An instance is readily forth- coming. Mr. Dutt says : ' The famines which have desolated India within the last quarter of the nineteenth century are unexampled in their extent and intensity in the history of ancient or modern times.' The sentence just quoted is not one hurriedly dashed off for the columns of a newspaper. It will be found in Mr. Dutt's * Economic History of British India,' published in England. The ALLEGATIONS 267 assertion is a sweeping one, and any thoughtful man may be pardoned, if, after wading through Mr. Dutt's writings on the subject, he is forced to exclaim ' Not proven.' Even the Government of India's exhaustive Resolution on the subject did not challenge this statement, and perhaps therefore, Mr. Surendranath Banerji, in his Presidential address at the Indian National Congress of 1902, asserted that the Viceroy himself said that the last famine of the last quarter of the expiring century was the severest that the country has ever known.* It may, therefore, seem temerity to venture into the arena ; but, if fallacies can be disproved, some little aid may perchance be rendered to the great work of devising means of occupying philanthro- pists, patriots, and faddists, by asking them to relinquish untenable ground, and transfer their researches to avenues where their efforts will be rewarded with more tangible results than have attended such sweeping criticism, unsupported by facts and figures, of the acts and intentions of a Government that commands the respect of the civilized world. Mr. Dutt himself will, perhaps, admit that often a good case has been spoilt by even one unreliable witness, or by an ex- aggerated statement placed on the record. Un- like the President of the Congress of 1902, who said, 'The public have not the time to verify intricate calculations, and they cannot be expected * Mr. Banerji's speech, press copy, last line, p. 21. 268 FAMINES to follow the writer on Indian economics through the mazes of his figures,'* etc., I am a great believer in figures. People who have * no time to verify intricate calculations ' have no right to complain if thoughtful men decline to listen to them. When leaders of the Congress openly show their contempt for figures, how can they possibly expect the Government to accept their suggestions ? No oratory can take the place of figures, and no * Omnibus Resolutions ' can dis- prove facts. Chapter and verse will be quoted for every statement made in the following pages. There are some, as is notorious, who are un- willing to believe anything written by English writers on Indian history, but every one must confess that no Mahomedan historian could be charged with inaccuracies when recording events which happened under the Mahomedan rulers, and which contain any reflection on their administration. It will, therefore, be safe and proper to quote Mahomedan historians in some cases from the original Persian to show how far Mr. Dutt was right in some of his statements which history disproves. Mr. Dutt said that the Indian famines of the last quarter of the nine- teenth century were unexampled in their intensity in the history of ancient and modern times. It will be easy to see what Mahomedan historians wrote ; the records of a thousand years will show what sort of famines have visited India. * Mr. Banerji's speech, press copy, p. 22. QUOTATIONS FROM HISTORY 269 The Tarikh Badauni says that about the year A.D. 960 a dreadful famine raged in the Eastern provinces of Agra and Delhi ; even jawari (barley) could not be obtained. Mahomedans and Hindus perished. Common people fed on the seeds of the thorny acacia and on the hides of cattle. The famine was called Khashmi Izad (Wrath of God), which, according to the well-known Arabic abjad system of historical calculation, gives the date. The author, Mullah Abdul Qadir, says that he witnessed with his own eyes men eating their own kind. Mullah Abdul Qadir was no obscure historian. He is mentioned in Elphinstone's 'History of India.' Mullah Abdul Qadir was a great scholar in Sanskrit also, and even now there are scholars who believe that Rajtarangini (the abridged history of Kashmir), was translated by Mullah Abdul Qadir, and not by Maulana Imad-ud-din. The Tarikh Firuz Shahi of Ziauddin Barni is the chief source from which the great Ferishta drew his account of the period. This work says that in Jalaluddin's reign, about A.D L 1290, there was such a famine that ' Hindus came into Delhi with their families, twenty or thirty of them together, and in the extremity of hunger drowned themselves in the Jamna.' The same historian says that in the reign of Sultan Mahomed ' there was a fatal famine in Delhi and its environs, and throughout the Doab (the area between two 270 FAMINES rivers) famine became general, and continued for some years, and thousands perished. Ryots were impoverished and reduced to beggary, lands were ruined, and cultivation was entirely arrested.' The same Mahomedan historian refers to the great Malwa famine about the same time. Delhi was devastated ; 'not a thousandth part of the population remained ; the country was deso- late, and all cultivation abandoned ; no horses and cattle were left in that part of the country.' About the same time, in another part of the country, Barni says, ' famine was so severe that man was devouring man.' Referring to the Gujarat famine in the same year, the Tarikh Firuz Shahi says ' men and beasts died of starvation.' The Zafarnamah, by Sharfuddin Yazdi (who died in A.D. 1446), is an important historical work. This work, Mir Khond declares, surpasses everything that had up to his time enlightened the world in the department of history. It is well known to the Orientalists of Europe by the French translation of M. Petis de la Croix,"" which was one of Gibbon's chief sources of information respecting that period. The French version was translated into English hi 1723 by J. Darby. There is also an Italian translation by Bradutti. As all Oriental scholars know, the Zafarnamah is based on the Mulfizat-i- Timuri ; its translation into various European languages * 'Histoire de Timur Bee,' Paris, 1722, 4- vols., 12mo. HORRORS OF FAMINE 271 shows that it enjoys a high European reputation. An English translation of the Zafarnamah was I published in the Delhi Archceological Journal in I 1862. In the Zafarnamah there is an account of ' women cutting in pieces and eating the skin of a horse which had died. Skins were boiled and sold in the markets. When bullocks were slaughtered, crowds rushed forward to catch the blood, and consumed it for their sus- tenance.' It is admitted universally that Akbar's reign was the best in the Mahomedan history of India. How did the great Emperor fare as regards famine ? Three great famines desolated the country during his reign. Abul Fazl Allami, in his Akbarnamah, refers to one of these thus : ' Men could not find corn ; they were driven to the extremity of eating each other, and some \ formed themselves into parties to carry off lone \individuals for their food.' The Ayin-i-Akbari admits ' at the time of famine and distress parents were allowed to sell their children.' Another Mahomedan historian may be called upon to give his version of famine in Akbar's time : the Zubdat-ut- Tawarikh was written by Shaikh Nurul Haq in the forty-second year of Akbar's reign viz., A.D. 1596. The third great famine in Akbar's reign, which took place only a % year before the work was written, was a very severe one. ' A fearful famine raged continuously for three or four years throughout the whole of 272 FAMINES Hindustan. A kind of plague also added to the horrors of this period, and depopulated whole cities, to say nothing of hamlets and villages. In consequence of the dearth of grain and the necessities of ravenous hunger, human flesh was eaten. The streets and roads were blocked up with dead bodies, and no assistance could be rendered for their removal.' These extracts are sufficient to show how Upper India fared during a famine in pre- British times. An instance of famine in the Deccan is not difficult to produce. Mahomed Amin Kaziwini, in his Pftdshcihnamah, gives some harrowing details of a famine which raged about Daulatabad and Balaghat in the reign of Shah Jehan (1628-1658). We read: 'Inhabitants were reduced to the direst extremity. Life was offered for a small loaf (the original Persian is J[dne-ba-ndne) ; the ever bounteous hand was stretched out for food ; dog's flesh took the place , of goat's flesh, and pounded bones of the dead were mixed with flour. Destitution at length reached such a pitch that men began to devour each other, and the flesh of a son was preferred to his love.' The TarikM Tahiri was written in A.D. 1621 It gives an account of Sindh. The Maulavis (learned men) of Sindh consider it the best history of their country. The Amir of Khairapur and the Syeds of Thatta carefully preserve the MSS. of this work in their libraries. Tarikhi Tahiri INTENSITY OF FAMINES 273 says that there was such a famine in Sindh in the fourteenth century that a mother, who could not see her sons perish before her eyes, besought ! them to kill her and satisfy the cravings of their 1 hunger. The sons actually killed their mother. The Zafarnamah Ibni J3atutah,the MuntakJiab- ullubab and Mukhtasirat-Tawarikh, and other well-known Persian works, give accounts of various famines in India. It is sufficient to allude to these accounts in the works of promi- nent Mahomedan historians without quoting them at length. Even if full allowance is made for Persian authors' ibarati munshiana (literary style) that is, their flowery and pedantic language, which European historians felicitously call the Jedediah Cleishbotham style there is enough to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that famines in the pre- British period were much more intense than they have been in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. So it is clear that Mr. Dutt has made a statement which the historical facts do not warrant. Sir W. W. Hunter, in his * History of British India,' wrote (Vol. ii., p. 59): * " In the same year (1630) a calamity fell upon Gujarat which enables us to realize the terrible meaning of the word 'famine' in India under native rule. Whole districts and cities were left bare of inhabitants." In 1631 a Dutch merchant reported that only eleven of the 260 families of Swally survived. 18 274 FAMINES He found the road thence to Surat covered with bodies decaying on the "highway where they died, (there) being no one to bury them." In Surat, that great and crowded city, he could hardly see any living persons, but the corpses " at -. the corner of the streets lie twenty together, nobody burying them." Thirty thousand had perished in the town alone. Pestilence followed famine. The President and ten or eleven of the English factors fell victims, with " divers inferiors, now taken into Abraham's bosom " three- fourths of the whole settlement. No man can go in the street without giving great alms or being in danger of being murdered, for the poor people cry aloud, " Give us sustenance, or kill us." " This, that was in a manner the garden of the world, is turned into a wilderness." 3 Vol. ii., p. 77 : ' " In 1630, finding it impossible to collect a sufficient supply of the * white cloths ' at Armagaon, they crept back to Masuli- patam. They returned to a city silenced by death, with no one either to help or hinder them. 'The great famine which desolated Surat had stretched across the whole Indian continent." At Masulipatam our returned factors reported that " the major part of weavers and washers are dead and the country almost ruinated." " The living were eating up the dead," and men " durst scarcely travel in the country for fear that they should be killed and eaten." Even his friends have come forward to say A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT 275 that they do not endorse all that Mr. Dutt says about famine. Mr. Pennington, M.C.S. (late Collector of Tanjore), who in December, 1900, signed the memorable petition addressed to the Secretary of State, wrote in December, 1902, in a public print, that he disagreed with Mr. Dutt in the alleged efficacy of a Permanent Settlement, and that he laid more stress on irrigation. Mr. Pennington wrote as follows, in an open letter to Mr. Dutt : * 1 do not know what exactly caused the famine in Bengal of 1770, as I have no books of reference here, though I fancy it was a good deal owing to war, unsettled Government, and over-assess- ment ; but surely it is going too far to say that there has been no famine in Bengal because of the Permanent Settlement. There has certainly been no famine in Tanjore, Godavari, and Krishna ' since the work of Sir Arthur Cotton ; yet there has been no Permanent Settlement. Nor is there any trace of famine in the Tambaraparni Valley since the great irrigation works were carried out there some centuries ago, or in the Malabar and on the West Coast generally, where the climate is perhaps even more favourable than in Bengal. You yourself have said that famine is due primarily to failure of rain or of irrigation. Bengal is exceptionally well watered, and, like all irrigated districts, is practically safe against famine, provided it has a reasonable and settled Government and is not over-assessed. I cannot 182 276 FAMINES understand your saying "that the Permanent Settlement has saved Bengal from the worst results of famines is proved by history as com- pletely and unanswerably as any economic fact can be proved." There seems to be no such proof at all.' When Irrigation plays so important a part in averting famine, and Railways are so effective in mitigating its effects, it is very material to examine what the Government of India have done in these directions. An answer will be found in the fol- lowing figures, which give the expenditure from revenue on these two items : EXPENDITURE FROM REVENUE IN INDIA ON RAILWAYS AND IRRIGATION, 1882-1883 TO 1897-1898.* Year. Railways. Irrigation. Total. Rs. Rs. Rs. 1882-1883 6,520,738 2,480,912 9,001,650 1883-1884 6,808,186 2,440,963 9,249,149 1884-1885 8,158,667 2,501,949 10,660,616 1885-1886 8,975,159 2,489,964 11,465,123 1886-1887 8,777,884 2,416,712 11,194,596 1887-1888 9,068,422 2,552,619 11,621,041 1888-1889 9,494,359 2,692,950 12,187,309 1889-1890 10,336,538 2,723,146 13,059,684 1890-1891 10,353,049 2,813,622 13,166,671 1891-1892 12,793,700 3,020,347 15,814,047 1892-1893 13,081,225 2,994,606 16,075,831 1893-1894 13,489,992 2,917,024 16,407,016 1894-1895 13,655,371 2,992,928 16,648,299 1895-1896 13,902,214 3,013,153 16,915,367 1896-1897 18,353,383 3,295,191 16,648,574 1897-1898 13,561,896 3,142,339 16,704,235 * Only figures of those years are given which were available when the petition dated December 20, 1900, was submitted. IRRIGATION 277 It t- O 1C CO OS i-l * O O CO O O * C-O00 00 iHOO O t- O iH 00 U3 r-l U3 CQ rH t- O O5 CO ^ *"OCii--o Wi V ^COC4Tt<'OOO OOO ^00 0,0^ I ^ rH i ^ 8||||1 i o td O H r- s 1 ' ailsIS llilli isllsl S 8 o * iislls si^iSi sissfl I ft) M oo rH - S^'i S| 1'I SSI'S S EH 3 I illsii 1 SS I fcslslf I og| i 00 iH O ft ^^ ^" of 09 09* rH* i-Ti-TrH" ^"^ i E" 1 Q - 1 Govern- ment Villages. . HSH| ill,! I||f| -n S" H! S - in 1 r'~ OrO If o . H.I3S 5, |1|| liiiSl i E- 1 o * ttS |*J 1 1 1 1 1 - iiJII 1111 |i!|} CO o ^ "^ 2 o I Govern- ment Villages. -"'! ? !'3'll Hn fe- 1 ' 1 ' ' 1 " ? "i 5 -. 1 ' 2 m I r5 O (8 in FAMINE COMMISSION 281 The Indian Famine Commission of 1878, of which Sir Richard Strachey was President, wrote thus in paragraph 42 of their well-known report of 1880 about the * famines of last century ': ' Regarding the famines that occurred before the British occupation of India, not enough is known to enable us even to make out a correct list of the years or the causes of these visitations. Some of those of which we find mention were due to war rather than to drought ; in all probability some have been altogether forgotten, since the object of Indian historians was generally rather to record the fortunes of a dynasty than the conditions of a people. Even regarding those famines which took place at the end of the last century in territories administered by British officers, the information is too scanty for us now to define the area or the degree of the calamity. The famine of 1770 in Lower Bengal and Bihar was extremely severe, and it was officially estimated at the time that a third of the population (or say 10 millions) had died. In 1784 another famine, which visited Upper India, was probably even more acute, and certainly covered a larger area than that of 1770 ; but the country was not at that time under British jurisdiction, and very little is known of the facts of the case. In Madras 1781 and 1782 were years of severe scarcity, caused mainly by the devastation of the war with Hyder Ali, but partly also by drought. In 1791 a severe drought afflicted the northern districts of the same Presidency, as well as Hyderabad and the southern districts of Bombay, and in 1792 the famine there was intense. It was on this occasion that relief-works were first opened by the Madras Government for the support of the famine-stricken.' In succeeding paragraphs the Report contained brief accounts of the famines of 1802-1804, 1807, 1812-1813, 1824-1825, 1833, 1837-1838, 1854, 1860-1861, in Bombay, Madras, and the North-West Provinces, in which the suffering was more or less wide- spread, and the mortality varied in intensity. The Report is accessible to anyone. It has been shown from Mahomedan histories that Indian famines, before the advent of the British, affected all classes, because then famine (meant want of grain, whereas now it means want of money to buy grain. Jawari (a kind of barley), the poor man's staple food, sells in ordinary seasons at about 30 seers per rupee. The statistics relating to food grains show that, during seasons of famine, it never sold at less than 5 seers per rupee. In other words, in extreme cases the prices rose to about six times the ordinary rate. This may be compared with what happened a few centuries back, before the English set foot in India. There is the authority of Mahomedan historians for stating that in pre- British famines the price of jawari, which ordinarily sold at about 60 seers per rupee, rose PRICES OF GRAINS 283 to |- seer per rupee, or, in other words, 120 times higher than the normal rates ! And there is the fact on record that often there was no grain to be had for any price, with the result that people had to live upon thorny acacia and cattle-skins ! The famines of the last quarter of the nineteenth century were not so intense, because they did not affect even the agricultural classes deeply. At all large relief works it has been found that the great majority of those seeking relief were not ryots, but labourers. Evidently the latter had some means of support, which helped them to tide over their temporary difficulties. A glance at the Report of the Famine Commission of 1901 will show that here, also, reliance may be placed on the unimpeachable testimony of figures. JQie famines in pre-British periods affected all classes, as is abundantly proved by Tnstory. Therefore it Is clear that the famines of the nineteenth century were not so intense as those that literally deso- lated the country before the British conquest of India. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT LORD CURZON, in his fourth Budget speech at Calcutta on March 26, 1902 (long before the days of the * Swadeshi ' agitation), said : ' India, with its great resources, ought to be far more self-sufficing than she is. One day, when we are gone, this will be a great industrial and manufacturing country, and we may be proud of having added our humble pebble to the cairn of her future prosperity.' Three years later, on March 29, 1905, in his seventh Budget speech at Calcutta, his Lordship thus emphasized the idea : ' I believe India to be merely at the beginning of its commercial expan- sion, and, if I could revisit this Council Chamber fifty years hence, I believe I should find the com- mercial member of that day delivering an oration that would be reported throughout the East. There is only one word of appeal in which I would ask leave to indulge. I entreat my Indian friends not to regard the creation of a Depart- ment of Commerce as an agency for the promo- tion of British commerce alone. They could 284 THE IRON TRADE 285 not make a greater mistake. Indian commerce, industry, and enterprise are as vital to this country (India) as British nay, I think more so. They have a future as bright before them. When we have to deal with great pioneers of Indian industry, such as the Tata family, they will tell you that they receive the warmest encouragement at our hands, and for my own part I should feel far happier if for every present Indian merchant king there were a thousand, and for every lakh [6,666] of rupees invested in mercantile under- takings, a crore ' [666,000]. The official review of the trade in India for 1904-1905 said : ' The growth of the iron trade is an indication of industrial development in certain directions ; but, on the other hand, it emphasizes the want of iron-manufacturing industry in India, of which the pioneer, and at present the sole representative in the field, is the , Bengal Iron and Steel Company, with a capital of 250,000, working at Barakar.' India is a con- tinent of immense and as yet almost unexplored natural resources. What is more, India enjoys the benefits of a settled and progressive Govern- ment, and boasts of an orderly and industrious .population. Indian labour has been found useful in building railways in Uganda and the Soudan. With Indian labour the plantations of Demerara and Natal have been exploited. There are two kinds of capital invested in India foreign and native. There are some 286 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT people who always refer to foreign capital as an ' economic drain ' on India. They forget that England itself is sometimes flooded with American capital. Capital is international. There is, of course, no doubt that India would be in a stronger position if all her capital were self- generated and self-employed. Stern facts must, however, be looked straight in the face. It is better to work with foreign capital than to do nothing for want of capital. .V, There is much hoarded wealth in India some above-ground, more underground. Before the British occupation India did not long enjoy profound peace. People were afraid of robbers. They therefore buried their money in the ground. The habit of centuries has become a custom. It has been estimated that about 800 crores of rupees (533,000,000) are to-day buried underground. If that huge sum were to be taken out and pro- ductively employed, the Famine Relief Camps, instead of counting their inmates by millions, as they do in serious famines, would count them only by thousands. But it would take perhaps another century before the Indian masses gave up the habit of hoarding their savings under- ground. Above the ground, also, there is plenty of capital i in India for ordinary undertakings. Calcutta is rich. Bombay is richer. The native of Calcutta is not enterprising ; the native of Bombay is enter- prising. The Bombay Parsi vies with Western EUROPEAN ENTERPRISE 287 nations in enterprise. The pioneer of industrial development in India is a Parsi family. Mr. Jamsetji Tata and his two able sons, Mr. Dorabji Tata and Mr. Ratanji Tata, have brought the dreams of true ' Swadeshi ' within the scope of a practical scheme. There is hardly a large industry in India which does not owe its existence to European enter- prise from the preliminary work of exploration to the subsequent risk of prospecting and work- ing. Every European enterprise has not been successful, and consequently some foreign capi- talists have been ruined. In the cases of suc- cessful European capitalists, profits have left India in the form of dividends to the share- holders. The late Mr. Jamsetji Tata saw all this. He felt for his native land, India. He was not one of those who simply wring their hands in despair and sit down and abuse the foreign capitalist for * draining ' his country. He was anxious that the profits of an industrial concern should remain in India to contribute to the general wealth. Iron is the most useful of the metals, and Mr. J. Tata decided to study the question of the iron industry in India. He carefully investigated many iron-ore deposits in Central India. After his sudden death his two sons, Mr. Dorabji and Mr. Ratanji Tata, spent over 20,000 (3 lakhs) in carrying on the investigation. Their efforts were crowned with success. They found two 288 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT iron-ore deposits which answered their purpose. One of those deposits was mentioned in the records of the Geological Survey of India, and the other was brought to the notice of Mr. Tata by Mr. P. N. Bose, an eminent Bengali geologist, formerly of the Indian Geological Survey, and now State Geologist of the Mourbhanj State in Bengal. Messrs. Tata and Sons did not believe in a spurious ' Swadeshi,' which refuses to join hands with foreign experts and foreign capital. They secured the services of the eminent American engineer Mr. Charles Page Perin, who, as their technical expert, carried on the researches and drew up a scheme for the manufacture of iron and steel calculated to ensure commercial success. He was assisted by Mr. C. M. Weld in drawing up the scheme. British expert opinion was also obtained. Mr. William Selkirk, a well-known mining engineer of London, was taken to India to investigate the iron-ore deposits. After careful examination of the ore in Mourbhanj, he was satisfied that the quality of the ore was extremely good ; and, as to quantity, he was sure that in Mourbhanj there exist at least 7,000,000 tons of ore. Mr. Charles J. Stoddart, Chairman of the Parkgate Iron and Steel Company, Limited, also visited the ore, and was satisfied that it could be converted cheaply into pig-iron, and made into steel of the very best quality. The LOCAL SUPPLIES 289 next question was one of labour that is, whether Indian labour was sufficiently trained to run an iron industry on a large scale. Mr. Stoddart therefore visited Government, railway, and other workshops in India. After a careful study he had no doubt that native labour, under careful European supervision, was capable of doing the work. There is an abundant supply of native labour. The supply of water was an important factor to be carefully provided for. A modern plant, of 500 to 600 tons' daily capacity, had been estimated to require 8,000,000 gallons of water per day. Then there was the supply of good coke-coal, which had to be settled before the business could be started, or even a prospectus could be issued to the general public. The indomitable energy of Messrs. Tata and Sons solved all these preliminary points con- nected with the enterprise. Two rich fields, containing a very large supply of high-grade ore, were secured. One is under a prospecting license, and the other under a mining lease for the company. One is situated in the Mourbhanj State in Bengal, and the other in the Raipur District of the Central Provinces. The pro- posed site of the works is near Sini Junction, on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, in the Central Provinces. Both the ores can easily be placed in railway communication with the works. There is an abundant supply of coal and limestone within 19 290 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT reasonable distance of the site of the works, in direct communication by railway. The labour question is entirely in favour of Messrs. Tata and Sons. For centuries past the natives in the neighbouring districts have been accustomed to the manufacture of iron in their primitive way. There are several native furnaces in close proximity to the ore. The imports of iron and steel into India, of the classes intended by Messrs. Tata and Sons, have averaged during the past twelve years over 400,000 tons. The imports in 1905-1906 amounted to over 600,000 tons. This is largely in excess of the capacity of the plant which it is now proposed to erect, for an output of 120,000 tons of pig-iron, and the conversion of 85,000 tons thereof into 72,000 tons of finished steel. There is thus every probability of a ready market for the whole production. There is a class of ' patriot ' in India who may properly be designated the ' professional patriot.' His business is to howl down the Government. His maxim is that the ' Government can do nothing right, and that the people can do nothing wrong.' His propaganda is to libel every action of Government. Let us see how the Government behaved towards the scheme of Messrs. Tata and Sons. In the prospectus we read : 'The Government of India have authorized the construction by the railway of a broad-gauge MEMBER'S SPEECH 291 line, equipped with specially-designed wagons, which will place the furnaces in direct railway communication with the Mourbhanj ore-beds, a distance of about sixty miles. The route has already been surveyed by the railway.' To show the interest the Government of India take in Indian industrial development, I shall now quote an extract from the speech of the Honourable Mr. (now Sir) J. P. Hewett, C.S.I., then Member of the Viceroy's Council, at the Budget Debate at Calcutta, on March 28, 1906 : * With reference to what I have previously said upon the desirability of encouraging local industries on European methods, I may mention that the most important matter which the Commerce and Industry Department has recently had to consider is that of the establish- ment of an iron and steel industry on a scientific basis. The scheme owes its inception to the far- sighted views of the late Mr. J. N. Tata, who was undoubtedly the pioneer among Indians in the scientific organization of industries, and whose name will be associated for all time with the establishment of the Tata Institute for re- search. The Government of India have taken the liveliest interest in the late Mr. Tata's project, and they have determined to encourage it by making certain concessions which were asked for by Messrs. Tata and Sons. It is pro- posed to locate the works at Sini on the Bengal- Xagpur Railway, and to bring the iron ore from 192 292 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT a hill situated some fifty miles away from the railway in the Mourbhanj State. The Govern- ment have agreed to construct a railway from the hill to the main line ; they have arranged with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway that the freight on raw materials required for the works shall be reduced to one-fifteenth of a pie per maund, and that this rate shall also apply in the case of the manufactured products sent to Calcutta for export. They have also engaged to take, for a term of ten years, 20,000 tons of steel rails each year, provided that they are rolled to the required standard and supplied at a cost not exceeding that which would be incurred in importing rails of the same quality. 'The Government of India have every hope that this venture will result in success, and, though they have limited their custom to a term of ten years in the first instance, this indicates no intention on their part of abandoning the purchase of rails at the conclusion of this period, provided that the conditions as regards quality and price are fulfilled. They have also no doubt that, if steel rails and other articles of good quality are rolled at the works, the demand for them will be great, not only among the Depart- ments of Government, but also among the railway companies and the public generally. ' The establishment of an iron and steel industry on a large scale will not only enable the Govern- ment and the public to purchase many steel LOCAL INDUSTRIES 293 articles of local manufacture which are now imported, but will also help to develop subsidiary industries, particularly those for the production of coal-tar and sulphate of ammonia, for both of which a ready market can be found in India. 'I think I may claim that the Government have, in the assistance which they have promised to give to this very important project, shown a practical proof of their desire to encourage local enterprise ; and I may also point to the recent Resolution issued on the appointment of the Stores Committee as evidence of our wish to give every encouragement to products of local manu- facture. ' We have expressed our recognition of the fact that local industries must frequently lean, to some extent in the first instance, on the support of Government ; and it is our intention to insist that whenever an article required by Government can be produced in this country of the same quality and at the same price as the imported article can be laid down in India, the preference shall be given to the locally produced article.' I do not know how any Company can reason- ; ably expect more from any Government. And ' I am perfectly sure that Messrs. Tata and Sons are quite satisfied with the encouragement they have received from the Government of India. The mammoth iron scheme has started under the best auspices. The plant will consist of two blast furnaces 75 feet high by 17 feet in the 294 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT boshes. There will be about six 40-ton basic open hearth steel furnaces, besides a blooming mill and a rail and beam mill and three merchant bar mills. The total capital required is about two crores (1,333,333). The project is an example of true ' Swadeshi.' The moving spirits are Messrs. Dorabji and Ratanji Tata and their cousin Mr. R. D. Tata, with their able lieutenants Messrs. A. J. Billi- moria and B. J. Padshah. None of these gentlemen are ' Swadeshi ' platform agitators ; they are true * Swadeshi ' workers, who recog- nize that, but for the protection and peace guaranteed by the British in India, no such project would have been possible. They appre- ciate the Pax Britannica, and, instead of carping at foreign enterprise, they had the good sense to enter the field, and thus set an example to the whole of India. The company has eight directors, all of them Asiatics. Every one of them owes his present responsible position to a careful study of European commercial methods. It is this insight into European ways of organization that has enabled them to take part in such a venture. The more they assimilate European ways the better they will be able to do real good to their country. No one realizes this better than they do. Bengal is the land of great pro- mises and futile performances. The shrewd natives of Bombay, on the other hand, are men of action. The Parsi is the leader of commercial A POWER SCHEME 295 enterprise in India. If anyone deserves well of India it is the Tata family, and those who give practical support to such great industrial schemes. Actuated by a true ' Swadeshi ' spirit, Messrs. Tata and Sons do not wait with folded hands till they can find pure natives of India to fill any place in their grand schemes. They know the dearth at present of practical intelligence in India, also the value of European expert advice. The iron and steel project will be followed by a large hydro-electric power scheme. The abnormal rainfall in the Western Ghauts near Bombay is to be harnessed and utilized for the use of man. Masonry dams across the necks of three valleys will convert them into huge reser- voirs, with a total surface area of 5,000 acres, and a storage capacity of 8,000,000,000 cubic feet. This enormous quantity of water will be utilized for working the cotton mills of Bombay. The hydro-electric power will be conducted by overhead transmission for a distance of forty- three miles to Bombay. English sentiment towards India generally suffers from a cold fit. The policy of Great Britain, instead of being insular, should be truly Imperial. One hears a great deal of talk about Imperial Preference in goods, but so far very little has been done towards Imperial Preference in human beings I mean British subjects. There can be no real Imperial unification without a 296 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT thorough Imperial Preference in British subjects. But so far this most important aspect of Imperial unification has not struck either British statesmen or the British race at large. The anti- Asiatic law in force in various parts of the British Empire applies with equal force to all Asiatics, whether they are British subjects or not. There is no Imperial Preference for British subjects. In other words, the British- Indian is plainly made to understand that he is not a citizen of the British Empire, but a citizen of only the Indian Empire. Outside India in all the British Colonies he is at the mercy of the passing fads and fancies of the various Colonial Governments. The Imperial Government in London is too weak to protect him or to guarantee him the rights of citizenship of the British Empire. The British statesmen are, unfortunately, blind to the fact that Imperial Preference in goods cannot possibly undo the mischief that the want of Imperial Preference in British subjects is bound to create. They forget that, out of the 400,000,000 people who constitute the British Empire, 300,000,000 are British-Indians. While British statesmen are busy in devising means to con- solidate the 52,000,000 people with the tie of Imperial Preference in goods, through their neg- lect they are loosening the bond of loyalty of 300,000,000 millions of their Indian subjects. This may be high politics ; it may be statesman- ship ; but, unless soon remedied, it cannot in time JAPANESE RIVALRY 297 fail to act towards the disintegration of the British Empire. The British nation forgets that, what they could do with political impunity two years ago they cannot do now, owing to the awakening of Asia due to Japan's rise. The little Asiatic baby for Japan is only a baby is adored throughout the length and breadth of Asia, and every Asiatic feels that he would like to stretch a point commercial or political in favour of Japan. There are wheels within wheels in commerce, as in politics. We all know of the Anglo- Japanese alliance. But it must be remem- bered that Japan is England's ally only in arms, and is her rival in trade in fact, in the near future, the most formidable rival in British-Indian trade. Infant Japan appears to be in full vigour of mature nationality. Her first and quite natural aim must be to have greater connexion with her Holy Land, India. A commercial connexion being easy, she is anxious to get a large share of the trade of India. Japan is not going to leave her economic future to chance; she has no idea of surrendering it to England. I take the following extract from the speech of the Chairman of the P. and O. Steam Navigation Company, published in the Times, dated Decem- ber 11, 1907 : ' Speaking of the Far East trade, he stated that the whole of their inter - colonial trade between Bombay and Japan had been wiped out by the energy of their Japanese competitors. 298 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT They had, he imagined, been forced by their Government to increase their departures from Bombay. That trade, consisting chiefly of raw cotton, and amounting to about 700,000 bales, was worked as a monopoly between an associa- tion of spinners and the shipowners. Some time ago they had thought it impossible that an en- lightened people like the Japanese could shut their eyes to the advantages of Free Trade and competition. In order to demonstrate their case, the Board caused to be purchased one or two cargoes of cotton and sent it to Japan, when they found, to their surprise and horror, that they could not sell a single bale, and had to bring it back. This policy on the part of the Japanese seemed hardly fair to the P. and O. and to others, seeing that during the war they carried on the whole of that business for the benefit of the Japanese manufacturing interest. The denouement was startling in the extreme. It seemed as if the soul of the people had suddenly awakened to a degree of almost supernatural activity. There was another curious feature in connexion with their trade between Bombay and China. The trade had been somewhat dull in China during last year, and, as far as he knew, for the first time in history; 50,000 bales of Bombay cotton yarn had this year found their way into Europe. Was this a passing incident, or was it a pro- phetic note of the influence ofjsheap labour in the Far East, of which we might hear a great 299 deal later ? But while they had had drawbacks, they had also had some countervailing advan- tages, although he could not say that the pros- pects of shipping in the way of trade at present were of a brilliant character. To sum up the total results of income and expenditure, there was a difference in favour of this year of between 7,000 and 8,000. The accounts showed as good a result as last year, and something ap- proaching 8,000 better.' Comment is needless. Whatever may be the reason, the fact remains the defeat of the P. and O. Company. It is clear that the rise of Japan is not quite an unqualified boon to British inter- ests. Unless individual commercial energy is supported by national diplomatic activity, in the long run there is not much to be gained and much may be lost in India. The Japanese believe in sound commercial knowledge. There are Indians in Japan to advise Japanese com- mercial men of the minute details of Indian trade. There is no such arrangement in England. Not one of the Chambers of Commerce in England has a single Indian gentleman associated with it, though India is England's greatest customer. The commercial supremacy of England in India has hitherto been practically unassailed, but now Germany and Japan are making suc- cessful inroads ; and unless the British trader adapts himself more to the requirements, tastes, and prejudices of the millions in India, English 300 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT trade is bound to lose ground every year. The actual volume of trade may increase in succes- sive years. I mean that English trade will fail to obtain all the increase available to it, and that German trade will gain some of that increase which English trade should gain. The only way to preserve the commercial supremacy of Eng- land in India is to adapt English trade with India to the requirements of that country, by studying the wants of the natives, their special demands, their fancies, their prejudices. Such information is not available to the mercantile community in England, and never will be available unless steps are taken to associate a native of India in one of the Chambers of Commerce in this country. It is no secret that the German Commercial Bureau at Berlin employs two natives of India regularly throughout the year to learn from them at first hand the thousand and one things regarding caste and the prejudices of the Hindus, which can never be thoroughly understood by Europeans, what- ever may be their scholarship. The truth of this remark is so obvious that it is incredible that it has never struck the Chambers of Commerce in this country. The India Office maintains in the City (73, Basinghall Street, London, E.C.) an India Trade Inquiry Office. An official of the India Office is in charge of that office. That officer no doubt is well acquainted with Blue- book figures, but he has never been to India. With his best endeavours he cannot possibly RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS 301 answer, for instance, the question, ' What is the best season in India to sell cheap trumpery articles ?' Blue books do not give this informa- tion. A question like this can easily be answered by a native of India. If an Indian were attached to the London Chamber of Commerce, for in- stance, he would at once be able to say that the Holi feast (about March) is most suitable for the sale of stuff not required to last longer than a season. The Holi is the most prominent Bank Holiday for the masses, and Holi turns even the Calcutta jtiaiddn (plain) into a Hampstead Heath, as far as primitive enjoyment is concerned. Every one wants to purchase some piece of cloth (rumal, etc.) for his friends. To him durability is of less importance than the first cost, which must be within his means. The Dfcivah feast (about October) is, on the other hand, just the reverse, from the trader's point of view. As a * Holi present ' in Hindu parlance means a cheap gift, a ' DewaU present ' conveys the idea of something substantial. The Dewali is the New Year of the commercial classes. It is for the ' Dewali present ' that the Hindu appreciates the value of British manufactured goods, and gives them preference to German make. He knows that the British goods are, in the long run, worth their price, and he therefore takes British goods for ' Dewali present.' The German merchant appreciates ' trade tips.' I remember an incident a few years ago, when 302 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT a German merchant sent a handsome cheque to a Hindu gentleman at Hyderabad for some * trade tips.' The Hindu gentleman had told him to get his goods from Germany, so as to arrive in Bombay as near as possible to a Tuesday, so that, if he took delivery at once, his goods would arrive at Hyderabad on the Thursday preceding the Mahomedan feast, the Eed. This would save him rent for storing his goods till they were sold. It was pointed out to the German mer- chant that, unlike British India, Sunday was a working day in Hyderabad, and Friday was the Moslem Sabbath, when the Customs Office and other Government offices were closed. The Ger- man merchant thanked the Hindu and left. The latter thought nothing more of the matter. What was his surprise when one morning, after some six months, he received a letter by post containing a cheque from the German merchant for his ' valuable advice.' He came in a few days, and said that by taking advantage of the Musalman feast, the Eed, he had sold his goods without paying a single farthing in rent, either at Bombay or at Hyderabad, for storing goods. He was anxious to know when the next feast of the natives would take place. The Hindu gentleman told him it was the Bathing feast of the Godavari, and gave him the date and the exact locality. But he was not satisfied. He was anxious to understand thoroughly the local conditions, and subjected him to a cross-examina- HINDU PREJUDICES 303 tion extending over two hours. In three months' time came the Bathing festival on the banks of the Godavari. A neighbouring landlord, a client of mine, invited me to see the tamdsha. As the place was only six hours' journey from Hydera- bad, 1 went there. In Southern India the Goda- vari enjoys the sanctity attached to the Ganges in Upper India. I found the German merchant. He had made the best use of local information. He was sitting on a recently cut trunk of a tree, with two Brahmans (Hindu priests) advertising his goods ! To please his customers, his shoes were made of canvas and pasteboard. He did not forget that the Hindu specially after a holy bath objects to leather in every form. His goods consisted of a sort of cheap hold-all, in which the bands were of hemp, instead of the orthodox leather ! That was not all. He was selling tin-made snuff-boxes for four annas (4d.) each, on the cover of which was the image of the Hindu god Ganesha. It was such a neat picture that even villagers who did not use snuff took a box for the sake of the image they worshipped. A knowledge of Hindu prejudices would, I think, increase the sale of preserved fruits in India. Myself a native of Calcutta, I have travelled on the banks of the distant Sutlej, Godavari, and Krishna, and mixed with the natives of those parts. I have always found that, while the Hindu refused to touch English preserved fruit, he enjoyed the Mahometans' preserved fruit known as morabba. According to Hindu ideas, as soon as a fruit is cut, the touch of a non-Hindu pollutes it. If the fruit is not cut, the highest Brahman may eat it from the hands of an Englishman or a Mahomedan. If in preserving fruit in England it is not cut, I think it will have a better market among certain classes of Hindus who can afford the luxury, and whom caste prejudices alone prevent from indulging in it. There is no place in Great Britain where a manufacturer or exporter may easily get first- hand information regarding the taste and preju- dices of the native of India. The Birmingham merchant thinks he has a grievance because German scissors of tlie same price find a better market in India than his own make. He does not know that the secret of Germany's success in scissors is due to the fact that the village tailor in India wants to keep his thumb in comfort, and therefore prefers a pair of scissors which has a larger hole for the thumb than for the index finger. The orthodox manufacturer of Birmingham does not, or will not, study the convenience of the Indian villagers. What he ignores or neglects as mere prejudices is profit- ably turned to account by his German rival. The secret of the German trader's success is that he never tries to impose his own judgment on his Indian customers. He understands that the habits of thousands of years cannot change in a INFORMATION REQUIRED 305 day. His ability to adapt himself to the ways of the natives of India is entirely due to the fact that he possesses better and first-hand informa- tion about his customer's tastes and prejudices from the two natives of India in Berlin who are associated with the German Commercial Bureau. The Germans are excellent students of Blue books, but they know that Blue-book figures, without practical knowledge of the people, is like reading geography without a map. Such study conveys very little to the mind. The instances of German success which I have given may appear to refer to small matters, but they illustrate my meaning, arid the principle underlying my suggestion applies equally to more important branches of English trade with India. It is no wonder that, with such accurate know- ledge at their command, the total of exports from Germany to India has increased 100 per cent, in the last decade. England's remedy lies, not in ' tariff reform,' but in applying the best possible information to commercial methods, which can best be done by associating a native of India in one of the Chambers of Commerce in this country. For this purpose there is no need to get a man all the way from India, for, after all, an Indian who is quite new to London may or may not suit the ways of the city. There are many Indians who have settled down in London. As an experimental measure, one of them might be selected as an Attache. 20 306 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT If the lost ground in India has to be rewon, the Chambers of Commerce must come to the help of British traders, and place at their dis- posal the services of at least one native of India with a knowledge of Imperial Commerce. Of course care must be taken that no native of India who is in any way connected with ' Swadeshi ' agitation be selected. While the attention of the British is directed towards the trade competition of Germany, they have forgotten that Japan in no distant future is likely to play a role of increasing importance in the trade of India, and then will wield political pressure, for one reacts on the other. It must also be remembered that the Indian merchant or consumer will not go out of his way to encourage German competition in India, but he will do all he can to do a good turn to the Japanese because of Asiatic affinity. Besides, the forces of geography are in favour of Japan, both as regards India and England. She is near India, and handy to the Indian merchant. She is far from England ; therefore the * open door ' at such a distance may really mean ' tariff.' The trade of India is not so safe now as it was ten years ago. The Congress of Havana is trying to kill the rice trade of India in the interests of the rice -growers of Texas and Louisiana. England must keep pace with the great industrial competition for the Indian trade. CAPITAL AND LABOUR 307 England might well make an effort in self- defence against German and Japanese trade encroachment. The competition is no doubt keen, but there is no reason to despair. England enjoys advantages in India to which neither Germany nor Japan can ever aspire. England has, in a way, paid for India with English lives, and therefore in the industrial development of India she has a better claim than any other nation. As I have already pointed out in a previous Chapter, cheap capital and cheap labour will win hi the long run. England possesses both. The cheapest capital in the world is in London ; the cheapest and most abundant labour in the world is in India. Join English capital with Indian labour and the problem is solved. Through colour prejudice, refuse to do this, and the days of England's commercial expansion are numbered. Rising Japan, with cheap Chinese labour at hand, will in no distant future create a revolution in the industries of the world. So long Europe has been the manufacturer and Asia the consumer. When Asiatic Japan becomes a large manu- facturer, what will become of the market for European manufactures ? People who are blinded with colour prejudice will find them- selves worsted in commercial competition. India, owing to her teeming population, offers a vast field for British commercial and industrial enterprise. England, through her own neglect, 202 308 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT has already lost a great deal of relative ground in India. But it is by no means too late yet. The remedy against the awakening rivalry of Japan and Germany is to unite English capital with Indian hands. But, unfortunately, to the Little Englander the name of India is anathema. India is associated with tigers, rattlesnakes, and the Congress. The fact is, that there are no rattlesnakes in India ; and as for tigers, it would cost a sportsman 100 to kill one. Anyone wanting to be killed by a tiger must go hun- dreds of miles in search of one, and then he may not succeed. As for the Boycott leader, he is a true bogey. India is kept in the background by people who have their own axes to grind in secret. They make it out that India is full of absurdities and paradoxes ; but the real fact is, as Burke in his speech on ' Conciliation with the Colonies ' said : ' If there is a country qualified to produce wealth, it is India.' It is very true. With science and British guidance India is capable of producing almost anything. There are in India vast tracts of undisturbed wealth. It only lies awaiting British enterprise, where the frugal and industrious English youth may, by joining hands with the native of the soil, become an independent proprietor. He may glean the harvest of his labours in five years, sometimes in even less. In India there is a very sound system of irrigation. Improved means of communication make it easy for the energetic THE ANGLO-SAXON 309 Britisher to move about. Even the sceptical Little Englander, if he will only take the trouble to study Indian requirements, will find India a country of enormous possibilities. The Anglo-Saxon race has in its favour natural aptitude and an inherited predisposition for trade ; and, what is more important, the zone of British political ascendancy is, after all, the best field for British commercial activity. India has been associated with England now about two hundred years. The gulf between the English and the Hindu is not one of such mental dissimilarity as between the English and the native of South Africa. The Anglo - Saxon is a man of business. His administrative and commercial triumphs and his judicial temperament have created a great reputation for him in India. For the British youth India offers a great choice of climates and varied industrial possibilities. At first he may find it lonely to work thousands of miles from home, but commercial contact with the warm-hearted and docile people of India will create new friends. He must know Hindustani, the lingua franca of India. If he knows how to respect Indian prejudices his success is assured. That is the Indian's most tender chord. If an English commercial traveller strikes that chord, he will always find the Indian responsive. He must try to understand Oriental nature. If he does not appear to dictate, he will be 'able to 310 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT influence him all the better. If he takes the trouble to speak to him in his own language, he is sure to get on with him. Such com- mercial success helps the cause of true Imperial consolidation. There is nothing to be disheartened about in the * Swadeshi ' movement in India. A true * Swadeshi ' enterprise, like that of Messrs. Tata and Sons, appreciates the expert assistance of the English. There is nothing to trouble about in the false * Swadeshi.' There is nothing genuine about it. The extreme utterances of the Indian professional agitators represent as much Indian popular feeling as Hyde Park speeches repre- sent the London Chamber of Commerce ! The Bengal Boycott is only a political ventriloquism inspired by the irrational opposition to the so- called Partition of Bengal. The native news- papers of India in their editorial columns denounce, but in their advertisement columns give a tremendous impetus to, the sale of English goods ! So much for the consistency of the Bengal Boycott. The Anglo - Saxon race is strong in commercial cleverness and resource- fulness. I have no doubt that it will prove strong enough in commercial unity to put down the Bengal Boycott. Not knowing the ABC of economics, the false ' Swadeshi ' agitators, in trying to throttle British enterprise in India, are really throttling their own country. The relations between England and India must be A COMMERCIAL fcUREAU 311 those of close co-operation. Commercial England must adapt herself to the new phase of her com- mercial position. Commercial contact leads to political unification. If British traders do not without further loss of time extend their trade relations with India, with a view to smash the mischievous Boycott movement in India, they may be hit in the long run. Encroachment upon trade means attacking the very sinews of the Empire. The solution of the problem fortunately is not beyond the com- mercial gift of the Anglo-Saxon race. If I may be permitted to suggest something on a lower level of ambition, no time should be lost in establishing an Indian Commercial Intelligence Bureau, to amass and carefully edit all kinds of Indian trade information for the proper guidance of people intending to have commercial dealings with India. All official statistics must be there ready for reference. Blue-book figures should, no doubt, constitute a solid basis of the Bureau ; but at least one native of India must be asso- ciated, to clear up doubtful points affecting caste and the prejudices of Indian customers. Thus all commercial intelligence brought into a common stock should be placed at the disposal of the British Commercial world. There must be special facilities for learning Hindustani. Commercial Associations in Europe lay special stress on the study of Esperanto, but Hindustani for India is more than Esperanto 312 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT is for Europe. Every English youth who starts for India in search of a commercial career must know before sailing at least 500 Hindustani words. The various Universities are not likely to create Hindustani Chairs at once they are satisfied with their Greek Chairs ; but all com- mercial men know that Greek scholarship does not help much in modern commerce. The India Office, judging from its past, does not appear to find time to attend much to the com- mercial expansion of India. If we consider only the proposed Indian reforms of August, 1907, we find that the commercial interests of India did not occupy a prominent place. The three great seaports in India are Bombay, Calcutta, and Rangoon ; and yet, even under Mr. Morley's new scheme of August, 1907, the Chamber of Commerce of Rangoon is not to derive much benefit. Rangoon is not considered qualified to elect a member to the Viceroy's Legislative Council. The British trader should not, therefore, leave anything to the India Office. The London Chamber of Commerce may make a modest beginning with regard to the teaching of Hindu- stani. A commercial Hindustani class in the city from 8 to 10 p.m. will amply justify its existence. Most Englishmen would feel scan- dalized if they got a Spaniard to teach English or a Russian to teach French. But they ruin the Hindustani accent of the English KNOWLEDGE AND ACCENT 313 youth by letting him learn from the lips of an Englishman. I have had scores of English- men, who have spent their lives in India, as my friends, whose administrative capacities I have always admired, but so far I have not met a single white man who spoke Hindustani or any other Indian language with the correct accent. The members of the Indian Civil and Military Services, who have made it their business more to dictate than to discuss, may get on without properly knowing Hindustani, but the com- mercial man is not in a position to dictate. His success, in these days of keen commercial com- petition, must depend entirely on his powers of persuasion and discussion. He therefore must try to pick up the proper accent of Hindustani from a native of India whose mother- tongue is Hindustani. Such a man can easily be picked up in London nowadays. In three months a young man of average ability would know enough Hindustani to make himself understood in India. A few hundred pounds, for the practical sup- pression of the Boycott movement and for the expansion of British commerce in India, cannot be considered as too great an outlay, After Hindustani comes the Indian Labour question. To understand properly the question of the supply of labour in India, one must take the trouble of ascertaining the way in which the Indian labourer (coolie) lives. Very few English- men know that to induce large numbers of 314 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT coolies to remove even fifty miles from their native districts one must first handle the village priest and the village barber. Without these two you may offer the coolie double wages, but he will refuse to budge. The Indian coolie is satisfied with very little in the shape of comforts of this world, but what he supremely wants is to make sure of the next. He wants his own village barber to shave him on festival days, and his hereditary village priest to look after his im- mortal soul. I acknowledge that it is hard for an Englishman to understand such a being. Canada is boomed in this country, India is not. The result is that the English mind is full of Canada, and has hardly any room for India. Notwithstanding the so-called Boycott move- ment, I can mention a few articles of Indian trade which are decidedly within the sphere of profitable manipulations. I have often been told that young men prefer to start life in Canada because the country is not hot. So near the Himalayan regions there is ample room for paying work for hundreds of energetic English youths ; and every youth so employed means useful employment for fifty Indian young men under him. England imports a large quantity of wool from foreign countries. In the London market a great deal is .heard about Australian wool. But New Holland had no sheep of its own. It imported Bengal sheep, which were crossed with Leicester rains, and WOOL 315 subsequently with Merinos from England. Already some experiments have been made which have shown that the Merino breeds are best suited to India. There appears to be ample scope for sheep farmers in the cold regions of the Himalayas ; there is as good pasturage as is to be found on the mountains of Scotland and Wales. The southern face of the Himalayas possesses a European climate, where the breed of Indian sheep may be easily improved. The Himalayan sheep is well known for its shaggy long wool and a fine down. It is from this wool that the famous Kashmir shawls are made. There is room also for the imported wool trade. There is a plentiful supply of wool from Bokhara, Samarkand, and other Central Asian marts. This wool finds its way to Amritsar (Panjab), where the imitation Kashmir shawl is made by mixing it with Thibet wool. Now, there is a British Trade Agent at Gyantse,' in Thibet. There pure Thibet wool may be pur- chased direct from the Thibetan, which will save so many middlemen's profits. By various simple and inexpensive methods the quality of the wool may be improved. In some countries they pen the sheep in closed rooms to make them perspire before they are shorn. This makes the wool soft. If Thibetan wool is properly handled before it is sent to European markets, there is little doubt that it will command a higher price. 316 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT There is room for the tobacco industry in India. The excellence of American tobacco is well known, but it is also known that the superiority is not due to the American soil : it is due to the exer- tions of the Virginian cultivator. Tobacco needs special knowledge regarding the preparation of the soil and the selection of plants. With the introduction of modern scientific methods of drying and curing the leaf the market value of Indian tobacco must go up. In India the trade in cigarettes has increased by over 100 per cent. in the last five years. A large trade in Indian tobacco is therefore one of the possibilities of the future. Unmanufactured leaf is sent to Aden, and cigars are sent to South Africa. There is a great demand for Indian unmanufactured tobacco in Hong-Kong and the Straits. Holland also takes Indian tobacco. The Hindu cultivator is intelligent, and under British guidance will easily be taught how to improve tobacco cultiva- tion, to the great advantage of both. There is a great deal of room for improvement in the fruit and vegetable trade of India. India sends annually to Ceylon and the Straits Settlements fruits and vegetables worth more than 200,000. A few more nurseries of apples and pears may be tried on an extensive scale on the Himalayas. Saffron and asafoetida may be improved. In India these are not used simply for medicinal purposes ; they are extensively used for season- ing food. There is ample room for intelligent CONCLUSION, WARNING 317 industry and enterprise in India, both in the production of raw material and in transforming it for human use. I need not recapitulate or summarize what has been written above, but it is important to lay stress upon certain facts. The Government of India, by their encouragement of Messrs. Tata, have shown their desire to assist private enter- prise as applied to Indian industries, and by the creation of the new Commercial Membership of Council a responsible Bureau has been established. There have been many indications that the officials in India are anxious to develop local industries. If the Indians will not bring out their hoarded capital to invest in country industries, it is better to utilize English capital than to sit with folded hands, doing nothing. But English capital is shy of seeking investment without proper informa- tion and knowledge of India, and it is open to the Indian Government in England to have that information and knowledge supplied by adopting such measures as I have suggested. If, again, nothing is done, it will be found that Germany, and possibly Japan, will, not gradually, but by leaps and bounds, filch away the trade which should legitimately belong to England. No one wants to assume the part of a Cassandra, but the figures of the Indian trade are undeniable and are full of warning. THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS THE Indian National Congress has attracted some attention in this country. Mr. Morley, in his first Indian Budget speech in the House of Commons, gave it a prominence for which the supporters of the Congress ought to be grateful to the Secretary of State for India. In the Press the Congress has been sometimes described as the ' Indian Parliament.' Nothing can be further from the truth. Members of Parliament are elected by men qualified to vote. The ' delegates ' to the Congress are men whose only qualification is that they are able to pay the railway fare to and from the place where the Congress may meet in any particular year. The language of the Congress is English, but utter ignorance of English does not prevent a man from becoming a * delegate,' provided that he is able to defray the expenses of the journey and is willing to swell the list of ' delegates.' As the Congress holds its sittings during only three days in the year and those three days are invariably fixed within the Christmas holidays it serves as an excellent picnic for people who are inclined 318 ITS CONSTITUTION 319 for an annual change. Winter is the best season in India for travelling, and this helps the crowd to swell. In Parliament there are two parties to discuss ; in Congress there is only one party to dictate. In Parliament one party always is in support of the Government ; in the Congress there is no party to support the Government view. Only those who are pledged to criticize unfavourably the actions of the Government of India are chosen to be delegates. In short, it is a one- sided arrangement, and in no sense a Parliament. If there is any discussion, it is between the * moderate ' and the ' extreme ' critics of the Government. In the Congress meeting as proved by the published Reports there is absolutely no discussion between the supporters of the Government and the opponents of the Government. The reason is plain. The supporter of the Government has no place in the Congress according to its ' constitution.' The Congress may occasionally succeed in establishing a strong opposition, but will not in the near future be able to form a really united Party. The only cementing factor, among the ' leaders ' of un- assimilated fragments of a heterogeneous con- glomerate, is the idea of opposing the administra- tion of the alien people the English. The cleavage in caste, creed, and traditions is too great for purely political sentiment. In India it is difficult to draw the line between purely 320 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS political and purely religious questions. The idea of * religion,' for instance, entertained by the Indian masses is quite different from the concep- tion of religion formed by the English masses. The religious unity of the Indian masses depends more on negative instructions than on positive precepts. We all know that the 208 millions of Hindus in India are divided into hundreds of sections and sub-sections. Their theology, tradi- tions, and caste rules all differ. In only one thing do all the 208 millions of Hindus agree ; and this is their abhorrence of beef as food. On no account is beef to touch the lips of a Hindu. When 1 was at school I remember how a Hindu boy refused even to pronounce the English word ' beef ' because that would pollute his lips. A similar idea of a unity based on negative instructions prevails among Indian Mahomedans. * Islam is a wonderful engine of unification ' may read very well in sensational Pan-Islam articles in the British Press. But the fact remains that, in addition to the occasional Shia-Sunni riots, the Upper Indian Mahomedan looks down upon the Deccan Mahomedan, and he in turn con- temptuously calls the Madras Mahomedan ' Labbay.' There is as much chance of the Madras Mahomedan mixing on terms of social equality with the proud Mahomedan of the Panjab Frontier as there is probability of an intermarriage between the Brahmans of Calcutta and the Brahmans of Poona though under the PROHIBITED FOODS 321 Congress pavilion they are one nation. The various classes of Mahomedans in India, however, agree in one particular viz., the abhorrence of pork as food. So both among Hindus and Mahomedans it is the particular item of pro- hibited foods that binds them, instead of any particular moral tenets of their respective religions. But there is a difference between beef and pork as prohibited food. The Hindu considers a cow holy, and therefore does not eat beef, whereas the Mahomedan considers the pig an unclean animal, and therefore does not eat pork. In India more human blood has been shed to wreak vengeance over a drop of cow's blood than over the throne of Delhi. The pseudo-liberal reformers forget such unpleasant facts when they try to transplant the British Constitution in a day to India. Some of the leaders of the Congress are (no doubt) men of distinction in various walks of life. But the Congress proceedings nevertheless suffer from a dearth of information on all practical questions of the day. The reason is not far to seek. The leaders of the Congress spend their time earning their livelihood as lawyers, journalists, etc., and have very little leisure to study a subject. In these days amateur politics as a pastime can make very little impression on men who have made a study of any subject. If there is a diligent worker in the Congress camp who may be willing to give up all his time to the 21 322 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS cause of Opposition in India, he has no facilities. The Congress has no local habitation, neither does it possess a library of any sort. Its self- imposed task is to attack the actions of the Government of India a Government which boasts of the grandest Service in the world the Indian Civil Service with libraries and informa- tion of the world up to date. Their opponents, the Congress, on the other hand, can furnish only such weapons as ancient copy-book maxims and exploded theories. There is no doubt that some of the leaders of the Congress are men of great intellect and liberal education, but the fact remains that when they are in the service of Government they (with rare exceptions) say one thing, and as soon as they enter the Congress camp they are at once convinced that the reverse is the truth. One can hardly blame the Govern- ment for not relying on such expressions of opinion. We all know that genius is not always con- sistent. It is consistent in its inconsistencies. Consistency sometimes crushes originality and encourages mediocrity. The leaders of the Con- gress are men of imagination. They imagine that India is one country, containing one nation of individuals with identical interests. In con- sistency there is no room for imagination, and life in the East without a lively imagination would be a burden. Besides, some of the principal Con- gress leaders are known for their poetical talent. Mr. R. C. Dutt, C.I.E., I.C.S. (retired), is not MR. R. C. DUTT'S INCONSISTENCIES 323 only a historian of distinction, but also a poet. A poetical imagination and an appreciation for stern reality are very rarely combined in the same man. Mr. Dutt, an ex-President of the Congress, who, as a lecturer on Indian History at University Col- lege, London, is regarded by Young India as an authority on Anglo-Indian politics, is by no means a consistent writer, especially when he discusses the affairs of his own Province, Bengal. His opinions, as expressed in various works, whether published in London or in India, contradict one another. It is very difficult to reconcile his statements, for his writings on India apparently represent diametrically opposite views. It may be per- missible to point out discrepancies which baffle the efforts of those who are not politicians to bring them into harmony with one another. Take, for instance, the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, Mr. Dutt's panacea for famine. In his preface to the 'Famines and Land Assess- ment in India,'* Mr. Dutt based his claims to be heard by the British public on his ' life-long study of the actual condition of the Indian culti- vator in his village' a subject most intimately connected with the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, which Mr. Dutt has handled as a Revenue Officer, studied as a scholar, and discussed with all the authority of a historian. But Mr. Dutt, while serving in Bengal as a member of the * Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd., 1900. 212 324 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS Indian Civil Service, and in actual touch with the 'cultivator in his village,' described things in colours exactly the reverse of those in which he later painted them as a Congress leader. Mr. Dutt changed not only his opinions based on the same facts, but also related the same facts differently. What clear inference is it possible to draw, whether as regards facts or the deduc- tion to be derived from them, on evidence of this kind ? Mr. Dutt in his open letter, dated April 25, 1900, to Lord Curzon, published on p. 58 of ' Famines and Land Assessment in India,' said : 'My Lord, this Permanent Settlement of the land revenues of Bengal is sometimes condemned by writers who merely look upon it as a loss to the Government revenue. But administrators who have lived and worked in Bengal districts, and have studied the far-reaching and beneficial results of Lord Cornwallis's policy, do not share this opinion. In the first place, the placing of a limit to the Government demand in the per- manently-settled tracts of Bengal had enabled the Government, by subsequent legislation, to limit the demand of the zemindars themselves from the actual cultivators, and the cultivators of Bengal are therefore more prosperous, more resourceful, and better able to help themselves in years of bad harvest than cultivators in any other part of India. In the second place, the limitation of the State demand has fostered agri- cultural enterprise, extended cultivation, and led to the accumulation of some capital in the hands of private proprietors, a result which far-sighted administrators wish to bring about in other parts of India. This capital is expended in fostering trades, in industries, in supporting schools, dis- pensaries, and charitable institutions, in exca- vating tanks and wells, and, lastly, in supporting the poorer classes in seasons of distress and famine.' On p. 60, writing about his personal experience of the zemindars (landholders) of Bengal, he said : ' My Lord, during a period of over twenty-five years that I was employed as Revenue Officer in different districts in Bengal, I had occasion to make such inquiries for myself, and I found that the rents generally realized by Bengal zemindars were about one-sixth of the gross produce in some districts, and were even less in others.' In his preface to the same book, Mr. Dutt repeated the alleged benefits of the Permanent Settlement : ' Nearly forty years ago, after the severe famine of 1860, Lord Canning recommended the exten- sion of the Permanent Settlement to all parts of India. . . . The proposal was finally rejected in 1883. I have always considered this an unfor- tunate decision for the people of India. The extension of the Permanent Settlement would have led to some accumulation of capital which is now the crying need of India ; it would have 326 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS improved the conditions of the landlords and cultivators alike, and would have made them more resourceful, and more able to help them- selves in years of drought and failure of harvest.' In The Economic History of British India,'* Mr. Dutt wrote : ' Before he left India in 1793 Cornwallis made a Permanent Zemindari Settlement of the land revenues of Bengal, a measure which has done more to secure the prosperity and happiness of British subjects of India than any other single measure of the British Government.' Again, on p. 95, Mr. Dutt said : * There may be some doubt as to the wisdom of Pitt's Permanent Settlement of the land-tax in England ; there can be no doubt as to Corn- wallis's Permanent Settlement in Bengal. In England the Settlement benefited the landed classes only, in Bengal the Settlement has bene- fited the whole agricultural community ; the entire peasant population shares the benefit, and is more prosperous and resourceful on account of this measure . . . .' Page 96 : 'It has precluded the State from increasing the annual economic drain of wealth out of the country ... it has saved the nation from fatal and disastrous famines.' The last statement viz., that a Permanent Settlement, whether in Bengal or elsewhere, is a protection against the incidence and conse quence of famine, was contradicted by Lord * Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co., 1902, p. 9. THE INDIAN LAND QUESTION 327 Curzon in the famous Resolution dated January 16, 1902, which is a comprehensive review of the Land Revenue policy of government throughout India. This Resolution was based on a mass of information supplied by the various provincial authorities in India. But official facts and figures did not satisfy Mr. Dutt. In October, 1902, he published a paper in India on ' The Indian Land Question ' in which he said : * The Permanent Settlement of Bengal has proved a blessing, not merely to the landlords with whom it was concluded, but to all classes of the community. It has benefited all trades and professions by leaving more money in the country, promoted the well-being of various degrees of tenure-holders under the landlords ; moderated the rents paid by actual cultivators ; and prevented the worst effects of famine such as are witnessed to the present day in every Province of India.' These extracts contained the views held by Mr. Dutt since his retirement from the Indian Civil Service, which he left after receiving the decoration of Companion of the Indian Empire, and filling the highest executive appointment ever held, up to that time, by any native of India. It would be interesting to know what he thought of the Permanent Settlement a quarter of a century ago, when he was actually engaged in the administration of a Bengal District directly affected by that Settlement. 328 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS In the early seventies of the last century, Mr. Dutt, then a member of the Indian Civil Service, and employed as a Revenue Officer in Bengal, contributed a series of articles to the Bengal Magazine. These articles he, subse- quently, considering ' the importance of the subject,' republished in book form in 1874 under the title of 'The Peasantry of Bengal.'* Mr. Dutt wrote in the preface : ' In advocating our rights we often betray ourselves as sadly wanting in sympathy for the uneducated millions who really constitute the nation . . . the claims of the peasantry to be educated and to be repre- sented, to be freed from the trammels of ignorance and saved from the oppression of zemindars such ideas have invariably emanated from our rulers and not from us. . . . Patriotism is another name for the advocacy of zemindars' rights and interests, and a word spoken in favour of the claims of the cultivators is regarded and branded as a certain sign of denationalization.' After these prefatory remarks, Mr. Dutt (p. 18) went on : ' The Hindus, however rich in their literature and philosophy, carried few of the practical arts of life to perfection, and least of all the art of government. . . .' Page 19: ' The zemindari system, a system (unlike the village communities) which fosters oppression, is a result of the national character, and has not been insti- tuted by this or that ruler. . . .' Page 30 : 'The * Triibner and Co. THE SETTLEMENT BLAMED 329 toiling masses of humanity peopling villages and towns, growing year after year the rice and the wheat by which the vast towering fabric of a mighty Empire is supported, manufacturing year after year those articles of use or luxury by which the commerce and the fame of the country are maintained they find no place even in the background of a false-coloured picture called history/ On p. 49 Mr. Dutt, writing when actually in touch with ' the cultivator in his village,' thus depicted the Permanent Settlement : ' Seldom in the annals of any country has hasty legislation been productive of effects so calamitous as the ill-conceived Permanent Settlement. On the head of Lord Cornwallis will rest the blame that the extortion of zemindars and their under- lings has not to the present day ceased that the ill-feeling between the ryot and his master has advanced with the advance of years. On his Lordship's head will rest the guilt that the most fertile source of revenue in a fertile country has been closed for ever, that the extension of cultiva- tion has increased, not the wealth of the culti- vators, but the number of a class of impoverished idlers, the zemindar with a two-anna or one-anna share of the ancestral estate. On his Lordship's head rests the blame that we do not see the faintest glimmerings of rural civilization, that the ryot of the present day is as thoughtless and imprudent a creature as he was centuries ago, 330 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS despite the notions of enlightenment imported from the West, despite the energetic efforts of English administration to remedy the defect/ On p. 47 Mr. Dutt was more emphatic : 'The prodigious blunder of Lord Cornwallis ought to be a living warning against all hasty legislation, specially by alien legislators.' On p. 91 Mr. Dutt cleared up all doubts : * An expectation was entertained by the framers of the Permanent Settlement that the measure would induce the zemindars to improve their possessions. The Act, however, has not only brought about no such improvement, but has actually precluded the possibility of such improvement. The zemindars themselves have been grossly negligent in the performance of such duties.' On p. 86 Mr. Dutt thus painted the Bengali landlord : ' Without an iota of education or public spirit, or desire to do good to the people, the typical village zemindar considers it the aim and object of life to extort the last penny from the im- poverished ryot.' Mr. Dutt, representing the Congress, was anxious to prove that the poverty of the Indian peasant is not due to his want of thrift, but to British revenue maladministration. In his Presidential Address at the Lucknow Congress in December, 1899, he said : ' Sometimes it is asserted that the poverty of the Indian agriculturalist is due to CONTRADICTIONS 331 his own improvidence, wastefulness, and folly. Gentlemen, that is not so. Those who have passed the best portion of their life among the Indian cultivators, as I have done, will tell you that the Indian cultivator is about the most frugal, the most provident, the most thoughtful about his future among all races of cultivators on earth.' In his work, ' Famine and Land Assessment in India,' p. 17, Mr. Dutt said : * The peasantry of India are not improvident ; they are the most frugal and the most provident of all races of peasantry on earth.' Mr. Dutt, though posing as a historian, in- dulged in poetical exaggeration. Mr. Dutt, the Congress leader, flatly contradicted Mr. Dutt the Revenue Officer of former days. While in daily touch with the Bengali peasant, he (' Peasantry of Bengal,' p. 20) wrote : * The peasantry of Bengal, therefore, it may be asserted as a fact, have never deprived them- selves of a single comfort in order to save, and have always lived from hand to mouth.' On p. 181 Mr. Dutt was perhaps more emphatic : ' The peasantry of Bengal have always been remarkable for their improvidence.' On p. 78, again : * Under such circumstances it was not a matter of surprise to find the peasantry devoid of all energy, of all hope of resistance.' Page 122 :' The improvidence of the Bengal peasant is well known ; indeed, it is the natural result of the circumstances under which he is placed, and has been placed for centuries to- gether. . . . The relationship existing between the zemindars and the ryots [peasants] do not, we are bound to say, foster habits of foresight and prudence among people. All these circum- stances have had their influence on the forma- tion of the character of the Indian peasant, and made him what he is a creature without foresight, caring only for to-day, and unable or unwilling to provide for to-morrow. . . .' Page 123: 'The prudence and foresight of the money-lenders compensate for the improvidence of the entire village population of Bengal. . . .' Page 127 : ' Alas ! poor Bengal ryot ! when will education enable thee to hold thine own against all others, and make thee a prudent and in- dependent creature ?' On p. 155 Mr. Dutt wrote : ' Never was there a time in Bengal when the ryots [peasants] could reasonably expect to enjoy to-morrow what they saved to-day . . . the almost periodical devastation by internal or ex- ternal enemies or predatory races all made saving out of the question all these have made the ryot [peasant] the careless, improvident being that he is.' Mi*. Dutt is not hopeless. On p. 185 he wrote : 'The peasantry have come in for a share of these blessings (due to British efforts in Bengal), and if they have not yet learnt to save, if they are not yet as prudent, intelligent, and provident a set of people as cultivators in happier countries . . . are day by day improving in wealth and education.' Page 60 : * The villagers of the present day are improving in their condition.' As a Congress leader Mr. Dutt may indulge in paradoxes and conundrums ; but before he joined the Congress ranks he evidently did not mince matters, and wrote in a perfectly straight- forward manner. On p. 78 it is refreshing to hear him say : * The British Government, with its correct principles of equality, . . . has already freed the peasantry of Bengal from the galling servitude of thought and action in which they remained enchained for centuries.' Under Mahomedan rule (p. 35), said Mr. Dutt, 'the ryots [peasants] lived in complete servi- tude under the zemindars, having no right except the plea of ancient custom, and no protection from unjust exactions or acts of oppression except such as was to be found in the clemency of the zemindars or their sense of self-interest.' Page 36 : ' Instead of a country desolated by long misrule, harassed by frequent invasions, plundered by its own governors ' . . . one finds * peace spreading from one end of the land to the other, commerce thriving, agriculture spread- ing, the resources of the country fast developing to a wonderful extent.' Mr. Dutt's estimate of so-called public opinion in India was thus summarized on p. 80 : ' The guilt, the crime of the British Govern- ment, has been in affording the ryot [peasant] a means of publishing, perhaps of opposing, gross oppression, and this has offended our zemindars, our Press, our so-called public opinion. . . .' Page 76 : ' Public opinion in India means the opinion of the aristocracy and middle classes, not of the cultivating and working classes, and there are ample reasons why such a public opinion should be strongly biassed in favour of the zemindars.' Mr. Dutt, before he joined the Congress ranks, evidently called a spade a spade. He wrote on p. 76 : ' Poor Bengal ryot ! Hope for relief from a handful of alien rulers of the country, but from thine own countrymen, don't.' Mr. Dutt, now the apostle of ' Self-Govern- ment for India,' before he joined the Congress, sang a different tune altogether. In the ' Peasantry of Bengal ' (p. 203) he said : ' It is a disheartening fact, but none the less true, that if British power is withdrawn from the country, before fifty years have elapsed the peasantry will sink down once more into that complete and voiceless servitude from which they have risen.' THE JURY SYSTEM 335 Mr. Dutt, who has since, on behalf of the Congress, demanded a complete separation of Executive from Judicial functions, and otherwise shown his desire to introduce in India English law institutions, when engaged in the adminis- tration of justice in Bengal, wrote (' Peasantry of Bengal,' p. 97) : * One of the most prominent instances in which an English institution has miserably failed in its working in India will be found in the system of jury trial.' Page 98 : * In India the jury system has proved positively injurious.' The jurors in India are * often blinded by gross pre- judices, and influenced by a variety of sympa- thies and antipathies utterly inconsistent with the administration of justice.' Page 99 : ' The jury system has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.' Page 100 : ' The system, there- fore, does no good, and the sooner it is done away with the better.' Mr. Dutt, who from the Congress platform clamoured for judicial reforms, when actually engaged in administering justice to his fellow- countrymen, went so far as to suggest that parties should not even be represented by Counsel, though he is himself a Barrister-at-law. On p. 103, Mr. Dutt thus explained his convictions : ' We do not know how far the employment of Barristers and vakils by private parties in the superior Courts served the purpose of justice.' 336 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS Page 104 : 'In the mofussil [District] Criminal Courts, on the other hand, the procedure is exceedingly simple, and except, perhaps, in a few serious cases, the clients [sic parties ?] need not be represented at all.' It would be easy to multiply instances, but cui bono ? After this, who can blame the Government of India for taking Mr. Dutt's specifics cum grano ? Mr. Dutt is the most prominent leader of the ' moderate ' party of the Congress. His moderation is truly remarkable. As a Government servant for thirty years, he consistently supported the Government. Now, on the Opposition bench, he consistently attacks the same Government on the same facts. The pretensions of the Congress are out of all proportion to its true significance. Ninety-five per cent, of the people of t India have, it may safely be stated, never heard of the Congress. They are illiterate, and do not trouble them- selves about politics. All their thoughts are centred in raising their incomes from 2d. to 2|d. a day. In this the Congress does not help them. So far, the Congress has not made a study of a single economical problem. Not a single sitting of the Congress has been devoted to discussing the question of Imperial Preference. In the Blue books on the Transvaal British- Indians there is not a communication from the Indian National Congress the self-appointed guardian of the 300,000,000 people of India. Is it any wonder INTERPRETERS REQUIRED 337 that thoughtful and well-read Indian gentlemen regard the Congress with feelings of amused indifference, if not of active disapproval ? At its best the Indian National Congress is a pre- mature attempt to transplant English ideas to unprepared Indian soil. The fiasco at Surat proved this fact conclusively. It was a plant of artificial growth, which could not live even a quarter of a century. There is, however, no doubt that there is ample room for a proper Indian Association, to suggest to an alien Government how their measures affect the millions. If out of the ashes of the dead Congress there shall spring up an Association equipped with a proper library containing up-to-date Blue books not of India alone, but of the whole of the British Empire with a sincere desire to discuss and not to dictate, it will do good to the rulers and the ruled. The Association should not confine its work simply to the hostile criticism of Government measures, but must also allow the supporters of the Government measures to have their say. It is better to be rational than national. At the presentation of the Freedom of the Borough of Derby, Lord Curzon said : * For my own part I think the highest duty that a ruler of India can set before himself is to create, if I may so describe them, special interpreters between the people and ourselves, to explain our ideas to them and theirs to us.' 22 338 INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS There is ample room for an Indian Associa- tion with the above object in view. But great care must be taken to represent the real views of the people, and not to manufacture them. The Congress of 1907 found the temptation too strong to resist, and therefore came to a dis- astrous and ridiculous termination at Surat. THE NATIVE PRINCES WHEN ardent ' reformers ' English and Indian suggest panaceas for all Indian evils, they only think of British India, and quite forget the territories of the Native Princes. They forget that India is by no means homogeneous, and from this fact there arise administrative diffi- culties. There is much difference of opinion between Native Chiefs and the British Govern- ment as to what is good for the people of India. The British have given their Indian subjects a Free Press. The Native Chiefs, without a single exception, think that a Free Press is not suited to the people, and therefore there is no Free Press in any of the Native States. The British Govern- ment refuse to let their subjects use arms lest they cut each otJiers' throats. The Native Chiefs, on the other hand, allow their subjects full liberty to carry and use arms, and their subjects do not cut each others' throats ! Mr. Morley, in his first Indian Budget speech on July 20, 190(5, said : ' I sometimes think we make a mistake in not attaching the weight we ought to these powerful Princes as standing 339 222 340 THE NATIVE PRINCES forces in India. ... It is a question whether we do not persist in holding these powerful men too lightly.' These are most significant words. As one who has spent the best part of his life in the premier Native State in India, I may per- haps claim to possess some knowledge of those States, and desire to record some observations on the subject. They are the outcome of the oppor- tunities I enjoyed for studying the part which a Native Prince might take in the administrative hierarchy of the Indian Empire. I venture to indicate the improvement which such a change might effect in the relations between English rule and the peoples of India. There are more than 600 Native Chiefs in India. The Native States comprise three- sevenths of the area of India. The aggregate population of the Native States is 62,461,549, or somewhat over one-fifth of the entire popula- tion of India. As Lord Curzon observed at the installation of the Nawab of Bahawalpur in 1903, ' the political system of India is neither feudalism nor federation ; it is encircled in no constitution, it does not always rest upon treaty, and it bears no resemblance to a league. . . .' The Native States ' are no longer detached appendages of Empire, but its participators and instruments. They have ceased to be the architectural adorn- ments of the imperial edifice, and have become the pillars that help to sustain the main roof.' The Indian Mutiny conclusively showed that the THEIR CO-OPERATION 341 Native States are a source of strength to Eng- land. In the words of Lord Canning, ' those patches of Native government served as a break- water to the storm, which would otherwise have swept over us in one great wave.' Statesmen who look ahead cannot afford to neglect the powerful Native Chiefs of India. They cannot fail to perceive the far-reaching effects of the influence of Native Princes. The territories of British India and of the Native States are in- extricably interlaced. Imperial measures directly or indirectly affect the Native States, and vice versfi. Some of the Native Chiefs are endowed with no ordinary powers and responsibilities. The more the Chiefs are drawn towards the British Government, the better for the cause of peace in India. The Native Chiefs, as a rule, co-operate, when opportunity offers, with the Government of India in famine, plague, and other Imperial measures. The British Govern- ment can hardly forget the princely benefaction of the Maharaja of Jaipur, who endowed the Indian People's Famine Fund with a gift of 140,000 (21 lakhs of rupees). The Maharaja of Sindhia equipped at his own expense and took out to China a hospital ship during the Boxer revolt. At the call of the Raja of Nabha, the Sikh community contributed over 130,000 (20 lakhs) for the Khalsa College at Amritsar. During the plague troubles of 1898 it often occurred to me to consider why the Government 342 THE NATIVE PRINCES of India did not, to a larger extent, share their responsibilities with the Native Princes, as they share the glories of the British rule. Unpleasant Imperial measures might, perhaps, be less ob- jected to by the Indian millions if first intro- duced through the agency of Native Chiefs. Lord Curzon, in his speech at Gwalior on November 29, 1899, remarked that 'the Native Chief has become by our policy an integral factor in the Imperial organization of India. He is concerned no less than the Viceroy or the Lieu tenant -Governor in the administration of the country. I claim him as my colleague and partner.' To have conquered India is no doubt a grand achievement, but to weld the British Territories and the Native States into a single and harmonious whole would be an exploit of the highest statesmanship. As Sir Charles Dilke says in ' Greater Britain ' : ' The course best adapted to raise the moral condition of the natives is to mould Hindustan into a homo- geneous Empire, sufficiently strong to stand bij itself all attacks from without,' etc. Lord Curzon, in his speech at the Delhi Durbar, bore this voluntary testimony : ' The Princes of India have offered us their soldiers and their own swords in the recent campaigns of the Empire ; and in other struggles, such as those against drought and famine, they have conducted themselves with equal gallantry and credit. It is difficult to give them more than CASTE 343 they already enjoy,' etc. But is it really difficult to give them more than they already enjoy? Lord Curzon admitted that the sympathies of the Native Chiefs had expanded with their know- ledge, and their sense of responsibility with the growing confidence reposed in them. I must here interpose a consideration which must be borne in mind, whether acceptable or not, in regard to all Indian questions. * It is better,' says Machiavelli, ' to follow the real truth of things than an imaginary view of them.' No one can deny that, at the base of all indigenous social and political systems in India lies Caste, a patriarchal communism against which the equalizing forces of the West will, for a long time to come, beat in vain. Caste represents the customs and beliefs that are ingrained in the people of India. Education and Christian mission enterprise have, no doubt, put forward trenches against the outworks of Caste, but no force yet discovered has hitherto succeeded in breaking through the stronghold which Caste has taken centuries to erect. In India, Caste is the central knot of all administrative problems. No keen- sighted statesman can afford to ignore Caste. It was an indirect attempt though made unwit- tingly and with the best intentions to minimize the importance of Caste in connexion with the plague measures that resulted in the murder of Mr. Rand at Poona so recently as in 1898. A Raja would have been a most serviceable inter- 344 THE NATIVE PRINCES mediary in the intricate play of Caste frictions which ensued, as a natural result of plague measures, among an ignorant population. If properly handled, a Prince, even outside his own territories, would not only be a figurehead and spokesman, but actually the propelling power of at least the Caste or community to which he belongs. Of course no one can expect ideal qualifications for such a position to be combined in one man. But no one who knows India can, on reflection, ever doubt the superiority of the claims of the Ruling Chiefs of India to those of commoners, however dignified the latter may be by handles to their names acquired through Gazette notifications. The Native Chiefs easily detect the limit that Separates the practicable from the impracticable. They are no framers of political Utopias. When they are reformers they are so by reflection and not by temperament, much less by profession. In the case of Native Princes, right and responsibility go together. The Congress leaders, on the other hand, want British rifles to keep the peace of the country, while they practise their statesmanship upon it. In one word, the Native Princes are not irresponsible men who have nothing to lose if their political nostrums prove disastrous. The Native Princes, unlike the leaders of the Indian National Congress, being in political touch with the people, fully realize that the logic of words does not always correspond to the logic of facts. INDIAN STATESMEN 345 They know that the modes of thought of the heterogeneous millions of India cannot possibly change with the indirect bidding of votes silently cast into the ballot-boxes in a distant island. In governing the millions of people under their charge they have every day to face the medley of influences, ranging from the noblest to the basest of which human nature is capable. The Indian Princes, therefore, look at administrative measures, not with any sentimental regard for abstract justice, but from an ordinary point of view of present expediency. The best, or perhaps the only, statesmen India has pro- duced in the last 200 years have been from the Native States. By common consent, Sir Salar Jang, Sir T. Madhava Row, Sir Dinkar Rao, and Sir Sheshadri Iyer, are the most prominent Indian statesmen of the nineteenth century. They all, without an exception, were developed in Native States. Sir Charles Dilke, in ' Greater Britain,' wrote : ' That such men as Madhava Row and Salar Jang should be incapable of finding suitable employment in our service is one of the standing reproaches of our rule.' The Native Prince knows that the strength of a 1 Government is seldom increased by surrenders to the clamour of irresponsible agitation. Experi- ence has taught him that hasty compromise between Bureaucracy and Democracy generally proves unworkable. That is one of the reasons why the Indian National Congress has not been 346 THE NATIVE PRINCES able to make its way into the Native States, though it has sometimes tried to insert the thin end of the wedge into them. I was at Hyderabad in 1894 when the Congress attacked the Nawab Akbar Jang, C.S.I., then Police Commissioner of Hyderabad. His High- ness the Nizam did not give a sop to quiet the Congress, but held the reins tighter, and raised the Police Commissioner to the rank of Mulk in the Hyderabad peerage. The Nizam's Govern- ment have since been left alone. The suggestion may be permitted that it would be well to look at the two sides of the question namely, to consider what the British Government in England and India would gain, and what they would lose, in giving a position of utility and preference to Native Princes. In the administration of British India these Princes have rarely had hitherto any voice as councillors. While the commoner in India has, under recent concessions, when elected or nominated, the right to sit on the Provincial as well as the Viceregal Legislative Council, and even as members of the Council of India at the India Office, the Native Prince, as such, has not a seat on them. Very rarely a Native Prince is nominated by the Viceroy to be a member of a Legislative Council. To those who know anything of India it need hardly be said that, to the Native Prince, what- ever may be his religion or his race, the idea of proposing himself as a candidate for the vote IMPERIAL SERVICE TROOPS 347 of those whom he has regarded for generations as inferiors is, and always will be, most repug- nant. Are the Government acting wisely in neglecting to find a place for the Native Chief in the administrative hierarchy of India ? Two experiments have been made with Native States viz., the formation of (1) the Imperial Service Troops, and (2) the Imperial Cadet Corps. Both have been successful. Those in- stitutions marked a change from the policy of isolation and distrust which prevailed in the earlier stages of British statesmanship. The Imperial Service Troops have already been tried beyond the frontiers of India, and given every satisfaction. They have proved of immense use, for instance, on the North- Western Frontier. Regular troops have been withdrawn from Gilgit, which, along with its subordinate posts, is ex- clusively garrisoned by the Kashmir Imperial Service Troops. The Imperial Cadet Corps gives military education to the elite of the landed aristocracy of India. Three ruling Hindu Chiefs and one Mahomedan Chief joined the corps of their own accord. So there are now openings for the Native Princes and their sub- jects in military training in the cadres of the Imperial Cadet Corps and the Imperial Service Troops, for both of which India is grateful, mostly, if not wholly, to recent Viceroys. But there has hitherto been no opening for Native Princes to learn practical civil administration. 348 THE NATIVE PRINCES Here lies an opportunity for the present Govern- ment to do something for the Indian Princes, and thus consolidate the Indian Empire. No one can say that, because the Indian Princes do not clamour for political advancement, they would not be rendered more loyal by being selected to participate in the government of the country. This must be a question of serious Government policy of the highest politics, but it may be submitted that it should be favourably considered at the present time. Remembering that the Native Chiefs form a bulwark against any disloyal organization, there would seem to be a good opportunity for the Government to enlist the services of a Native Chief. Now that two commoners have been appointed to the India Council in London, it is time that a Native Prince be nominated to the Executive Council of the Viceroy. Such an appointment would make the Indian Prince a greater personality, and thereby increase his utility as a means of communication with the mass of the people. A leader of the Congress party would hardly be eligible for high executive appointment. Perhaps that is the reason why two pronounced anti-Congress gentlemen were chosen as the first Native members of the India Council. The Congress leaders denounced the India Council in unmeasured terms at the sitting of the very first Congress. Resolution II. of the Bombay Congress of 1885 was, 'That this Congress THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 349 considers the abolition of the Council of the Secretary of State for India, as at present con- stituted, the necessary preliminary to all other reforms.' This Resolution was put to the vote and carried unanimously at Bombay on Decem- ber 29, 1885. Again, the Madras Congress of 1894 denounced the Council of the Secretary of State, a prominent Congress leader affirming that 'nothing worse could be invented by the ingenuity of man.' With a Native Prince, and not merely an Indian commoner, in the Executive Council of the Viceroy, the Government would have better guidance and help in settling some much-vexed questions, such as, e.g., those of the merging of the Imperial Service Troops with the Indian Army, the amalgamation of the British- Indian and Native States' Postal Departments, the sea customs in the ports of the Native States of Western India, and last, though not least, the Indian currency question. On the other hand, rulers of Native States might well be taught some practical lessons through the selection of one or more of their number to participate in the administration of the countiy. According to the latest census, while the population of the British Territories between the years 1891 and 1901 has increased by 10,659,992, in the Native States it has decreased by 3,613,607; or, in other words, the percentage is +4'82 in British India, while in Native States it is 5 '47. These facts 350 THE NATIVE PRINCES indicate that Indian Princes have something to learn of civil government from British adminis- trators. In 1876, with reference to India, Mr. Disraeli said in the House of Commons : * Touch and satisfy the imagination of nations, for that is an element which no Government can despise.' In July, 1904, when Lord Curzon was presented with the Freedom of the City of London in the Guildhall, he said : ' Depend upon it, you will never rule the East except through the heart, and the moment imagination has gone out of your Asiatic policy your Empire will dwindle and decay.' At the State banquet at Jaipur in November, 1902, Lord Curzon said : * I have sought and obtained their [Native Chiefs'] co- operation and advice. I have often recapitulated the benefits which, in my view, the continued existence of the Native States confers upon Indian society. . . . They have that indefinable quality, endearing them to the people, that arises from their being born of the soil.' The Government of India will then (with a Native Prince in Council) be able to know better how their administrative measures are received by the millions. At present the Government have no means of knowing it. The Indian Press is in the hands of a handful of men whose interests are not always identical with the interests of the masses. For instance, the educated classes want the separation of the PUBLIC OPINION 351 Judicial from the Executive functions, which means more litigation ; while the millions are quite satisfied with the existing procedure, for they want less litigation, so that they may have more time to attend to their fields. The Government cannot depend for reliable opinion on the leaders of the Indian National Congress, as I have already shown in a former Chapter. It goes without saying that a foreign Government, to be successful, must know the effects of their measures on the minds of the people the millions as opposed to the micro- scopic minority known as the ' educated classes.' We know that the Indian Press does not repre- sent but creates public opinion in India. The Indian National Congress does the same. There- fore, the only way left to an alien Government to understand the native mind is to discuss their executive measures with one of their natural and responsible leaders the Native Princes. For the convenience of Native Princes, and to give a rotation of Hindu and Mahomedan represen- tatives, the term of office for the Native Prince might be fixed at two years, with the possibility of renewal. One hears a great deal of the British Empire and Imperialism in these days. If the disgraceful treatment meted out to the British- Indians in the Transvaal had not been stopped, * Empire ' would have ceased to have any real meaning specially when it is borne in mind that three- 352 THE NATIVE PRINCES fourths of the population of the British Empire are British- Indians. The British-Indian of all classes felt the indignity of the Transvaal anti- Asiatic legislation. The British nation forgot Empire and Imperialism when they failed to draw a line between their British-Indian fellow- subjects and other Asiatics. The mischief was for the time done. The millions in India were rapidly being estranged. The Home Government had no excuse to offer. If the authorities, however, are sincere in their declarations of their love for India, they must try to do all they can to undo the injury which was being caused in India. There is always a way open to the authorities to win back the hearts of the millions of their loyal subjects in India. At any juncture any courtesy shown to the Native Princes will prove as a salve to the bleeding hearts of the dumb millions in India. If British statesmanship failed for a time to obtain for the Indian commoner justice and fair treat- ment in the Self- Governing Colonies, it can always, without regard to colour and creed, show justice to the Indian Lords the Native Princes of India. Let at least five of them two Hindu, two Mahomedan, and one Sikh be made Honorary Members of the House of Lords. That would show that at least in the Mother Country the dark colour of a British subject is no crime, whatever it may have been in the Self- Governing Colonies. Let the Indian Princes LORD LYTTON'S LETTERS 353 take their seats occasionally in the House of Lords in their summer visits to this country. Whether they come to England or not, they and through them the millions in India will appreciate the courtesy shown to the dark people who represent three-fourths of the British Empire. Hindu and Mahomedan soldiers of distinction are made Honorary A. D.C.'s to the King, and, though they seldom visit this country, they, and through them all Native soldiers, appreciate the honour. I will close this Chapter by quoting extracts from two letters written by Lord Lytton, who carefully studied the feeling of the millions at the first great Levee in India the Delhi Assem- blage of 1877. The opinions expressed in this remarkable letter will be endorsed by every thoughtful student of Anglo- Indian politics. In his letter, dated April 30, 1877, Lord Lytton wrote to Mr. Disraeli : * Here is a great feudal aristocracy [the Native Princes of India] which we cannot get rid of, which we are avowedly anxious to conciliate and command, but which we have as yet done next to nothing to rally round the British Crown as its feudal head. . . . It is worthy of notice that small favours and marks of honour bestowed from time to time by the British Government on the head of the family (such as an additional gun to his salute, the right to a return visit from the Viceroy, or a more honourable place in Durbar, etc.) are quite as highly prized and appreciated as the 23 354 THE NATIVE PRINCES more substantial benefits (of augmented territory or revenue) conferred in earlier times upon their family by an Aurangzeb or an Akbar.' Writing to Lord Salisbury on May 11, Lord Lytton again enforces his view as to the import- ance of this appeal to sentiment : * I am con- vinced that the fundamental political mistake of able and experienced Indian officials is a belief that we can hold India securely by what they call good government that is to say, by improv- ing the condition of the ryot [peasant], strictly administering justice, spending immense sums on irrigation works, etc. Politically speaking, the Indian peasantry is an inert mass. If it ever moves at all, it will move in obedience, not to its British benefactors, but to its Native Chiefs and Princes, however tyrannical they may be. The only political representatives of native opinion are the Baboos [Bengalis] whom we have educated to write semi-seditious articles in the Native Press, and who represent nothing but the social anomaly of their own position. Look at the mistake which Austria made in the government of her Italian provinces. They were the best-governed portions of Italy ; she studied and protected the interests of the native peasantry ; but, fearing the native noblesse, she snubbed and repressed it. When that noblesse, having nothing to gain or to hope from the continuation of her rule, conspired against it, the peasantry either remained passive or else IMAGINATION 355 followed the lead of its national superiors in attacking its alien benefactors. But the Indian Chiefs and Princes are not a mere noblesse. They are a powerful aristocracy. To secure completely, and efficiently utilize, the Indian aristocracy is, I am convinced, the most im- portant problem now before us. I admit that it is not easy of immediate solution. For whilst, on the one hand, we require their cordial and willing allegiance, which is dependent on their sympathies and interests being in some way associated with the interests of the British Power ; on the other hand, we certainly cannot give them any increased political power indepen- dent of our own. Fortunately for us, however, they are easily affected by sentiment, and suscep- tible to the .influence of symbols to which facts may inadequately correspond.'* The imagination of the teeming millions of India can hardly be touched or satisfied more strongly or practically than by the sight of a few of their Native Princes elevated to so high a position as Honorary Members of the House of Lords. Such a practical illustration of true Imperialism is likely to undo some of the evils of Transvaal anti-Indian legislation, and will be an object-lesson to Russia and other rival Powers of Great Britain. If it be said that there will be room for Ruling Native Chiefs in the Advisory * 'Lord Lytton's Indian Administration/ by Lady Betty Ballbur, 1899, pp. 108-110. 233 356 THE NATIVE PRINCES Councils of Notables, which it is proposed to create in the course of the reforms now under con- sideration, it may be replied that their ambition will not be satisfied with those Councils which, as already announced, are to be merely advisoiy and are to have no real power. Besides, those Councils will contain a number of persons of different classes, and intellect will be pitted against rank and wealth. The Native Princes will not be satisfied unless they are treated with consideration, and are nominated to positions of the highest dignity, which they are not required to share with commoners. A DIVINE UNION ' There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.' THE Times, dated January 16, 1908, said that 'men of mark, like Mr. Bryan (of America), have joined the crusade of denunciation against I British rule in India.' Mr. Bryan's attack on British rule in India was published in extenso in the Sun of New York, dated July 1, 1906. He said : ' British rule in India is far worse, far more burdensome to the people, and far more unjust than I had supposed. . . . The Briton has impoverished the country (India) by legalized pillage.' In Mr. Bryan's denunciation one looks in vain for any evidence to support his very serious charges against the British Government in India. He quotes prominent Congress leaders Sir Henry Cotton, Mr. Naoroji, and Mr. Gok- hale in support of his unwarrantable attack on the British administration in India. Lord Curzon, in his speech in reply to the farewell address from the Bombay Chamber of Com- merce on November 8, 1905, thus summed up 357 358 A DIVINE UNION the financial and commercial progress in India for the ten years from 1895 to 1905 : * The capital sunk by Government in railways and irrigation works has increased by 56 per cent, in that interval ; that invested by Joint- Stock Companies in industrial undertakings by 23 per cent. The Savings Bank deposits have gone up by 43 per cent. ; the private deposits in Presidency banks by 75 per cent. ; the deposits in other Joint-Stock Banks by 130 per cent. ; the deposits in Exchange Banks by 95 per cent. ; Government paper held in India by 29 per cent. ; the amount invested in Local Authorities' deben- tures by 90 per cent. The amount of income on which income-tax is assessed excluding at both k periods the incomes now exempted has increased I by 29 per cent. ; the rupees in circulation by 27 per cent. ; the note circulation in native use by 68 per cent. The net absorption of gold in the ten years preceding the two dates of inquiry shows an increase of 120 per cent. The total value of Indian imports has gone up 35 per cent. ; of exports 48 per cent. The productive debt has increased in the same period by 69 crores (46,000,000), but the non-productive debt has decreased by 16 crores (10,666,666). That India is poor no one can deny, but after reading the above amazing figures only a lunatic would say that India is getting poorer under the British rule. The collective testimony of the figures quoted above makes it impossible for any ENGLAND'S GOOD WORK 359 reasonable man to doubt that India is prospering, slowly but surely. That the agricultural classes, though poor, are ] not becoming impoverished may be proved by ' statistics. In 1880 there were only 194 millions of acres under cultivation ; now the total culti- vated area is about 220 millions of acres. In 1880 the yield per acre of food crops was 730 pounds ; but, in 1898, due to better irrigation and improvements in agriculture, it rose to 840 pounds per acre. The increase being practically in the same ratio as the increase in the population, there could have been no diminution of agricultural income per head of the people. People in this country have no idea of the good work England is doing in India. Let us take the latest instance of colonization in India I mean the Chenab Irrigation District. Here was an area of 2j million acres of waste land, almost without a single inhabitant. It now con- tains over 200,000 inhabitants. There are critics who denounce the Govern- or ment of India for allowing the ' enormous I export ' of food grains from India. In their opinion that is one of the principal causes of famine. But those critics who indulge in decided opinions seldom take the trouble of going into figures. The total export of food grains from India between 1880 and 1890 was 22,687,000 tons. Between 1890 and 1900 it rose to 360 A DIVINE UNION 23,257,000 tons. This means an average annual increase of only 57,000 tons over the first decade. \ But the real question is, What proportion of the I total grain produce of India is exported ? The estimated production is about 73,000,000 tons. Therefore only a little more than 3 per cent, is exported. A large portion of this export con- sists of wheat, which, in famine times, or even in ordinary times, is too expensive for poor people. Critics who lay much stress on the export of rice forget that it is very difficult ito preserve rice. In grain-pits it becomes % Jmouldy and causes disease ; besides, a modern famine is not due to the want of food grain, but to the want of money to purchase grain. A modern Indian famine at its worst drives ' about 6,000,000 persons to the Famine Relief Camps. The figures look very formidable to people in England, because they are used to smaller figures in this country. What is im- portant is not the figures themselves, but the percentage of the population. The figures 6,000,000 mean only 2 per cent, of the 300,000,000. According to the official returns the legal poor in London are more than 2 per cent. The actual percentage is 2-46. In 1867 the total number of Government posts in India with a salary above 5 per month was 13,431. It is now 28,278. In 1867 Europeans (including Eurasians) held 55 per cent, of the total. They now hold only 42 per cent. The SALT TAX 361 Hindus hold 50 per cent, and the Mahomedans hold 8 per cent, of such posts. Judging by the standard of pay, the natives of the soil have also gained. Since 1867 the aggre- gate pay of the total number of posts has risen by 91 per cent. ; out of this increase the natives of India have gained 191 per cent. Therefore it is clear that there has been a progressive increase in native employment since 1867. There has been a regular reduction in the Salt Duty since 1903, with the result that the consump- tion of salt has increased. The following figures are taken from the latest Blue book (Cd. 3787). Consumption Increase in Tons. per Cent. 1902-3 1,346,830 3-05 1903-4 1,381,344 2-56 1904-5 1,437,499 4-07 1905-6 1,496,186 4-08 1906-7 1,582,784 5-79 The Indian Government are not forced to pass unnecessary legislation, for they have to fulfil no hasty election-platform promises. The Government of India, with rare exceptions, have always been true to their trust. More than one Viceroy has fought with the Home and Colonial Governments in the interests of voice- less India. It was Lord Curzon who finally established the principle that, when India lent troops to fight campaigns for the Imperial 362 A DIVINE UNION Government outside India, every penny of the charge from embarkation to return shall be defrayed by the Imperial Government. In the question of the status of the British- Indian in the Transvaal, the Government of India have fought hard in the interests of India. Lord Curzon referred to the question in his seventh Budget speech at Calcutta in March, 1905. His Lordship denounced the South African measures as inconsistent with the reason- able claims of the British- Indians as subjects of the British Empire. When the Government of Natal sent two delegates to India, Lord Curzon demanded proper treatment for Indian settlers in Africa, and declined to take any steps towards facilitating the emigration of labourers under I indenture until the Natal authorities substantially modified their attitude. Soon after the Transvaal came under British administration, Lord Curzon addressed the Secretary of State for India and urged him to take action with a view to remove the restrictions and disabilities imposed by the Boer Government on British -Indian subjects. Lord Curzon refused to let India be drawn into the scheme of Imperial Preference. The pressure of taxation pure and simple only represents an average incidence of Is. lOd. per head per annum. Candour demands the admis- sion that the alien yoke presses lightly on the Indians, and is not one of which it can be their present interest to be rid. ENGLAND'S GIFT 363 But why should we calculate in s. d. only ? What about other advantages ? Is it an alien yoke or a Divine union for the good of both England and India ? The fundamental principle of all moral philo- sophy is that the real dignity of a man lies not in what he has, but in what he is. ' The king- dom of heaven is within you.' Such texts are no doubt to be found in the Gita, and Sakya- muni taught the ancient Hindus very much what Plato and Aristotle preached in the West ; but it was left to England to show the degener- ated modern Hindu the high ideal of human conduct and the earnestness of life. No doubt the wise Hippocrates, 500 years before Christ, said : * Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experiment slippery, judgment difficult'; but it was the English who made the degenerated Hindus give up some unworthy peculiarities of race, by giving them an idea of the real blood and bone of human heroism. The English, finding the degenerated Hindu as a sort of human.* i* lobster, who lived in the hard shell of * religious ' crust, taught him the rarest of social virtues moral courage. It is by coming in contact with the English that the modern Hindu has been encouraged to eschew his own besetting sins, moral cowardice and laziness. Punctuality and regularity he understands now, and therefore, in the place of a hollow and worthless manhood, he may enjoy a reasoned existence. Character 864 A DIVINE UNION cultivated will is better than lucre. This is .England's gift to modern India. England has taught India that life is simply an energizing reason ; what Plato called the Imperial Mind is only another name of God. Crotchet-mongers and visionaries will not agree with this view, but the opinion of cool and practical thinkers is to be preferred. The Battle of Plassey of 1757 was, Ji no doubt, a decisive battle ; but the great social and moral battles, which England fights every day in India, imperceptibly shift the centre of gravity of modern Hindu social life. All the wisdom of the Greeks, all the learning of the Germans, could not have created such an atmo- sphere of pure and elevated sentiment as may be found nowadays in really educated and refined Indian society. To understand properly what England has done for India, let us take a bird's-eye view of the main features of History from the beginning of the last century. History is, or ought to be, a tracing of the causes which lead to successive events in the life-story of a people. Accidents, pure and simple, are as rare in the History of a nation as they are in the life of an individual. Even when they do occur, they but cause a temporary aberration in the working of the great laws which regulate the march of events, and, having spent their forces, disappear, leaving the permanent and unalterable laws to work their way without further interruption. The THE COUNTRY POWERS 365 facts of to-day are but the effects of those that preceded them. It is therefore necessary to know what happened before, in order to understand what is happening to-day. Just before the close of the eighteenth century Tipu Sultan stood at the head of a powerful monarchy, viewing with no friendly eye the pro- gress of a foreign Power that had lately despoiled him of half his dominions. The Nizam, the Peshwa, the Guikwar, the Raja of Nagpur, Holkar, and Sindhia, were as yet the sovereigns of large territories and the lords of immense armies, often trained by European officers. The Pindaris all the turbulent spirits of the country, focussed under the leadership of a number of soldiers of fortune were scouring the country, leaving a track of blood, rapine and fire wherever they went. The Nawab Wazir of Oudh was busily engaged in consolidating his power in a Province that his father had originally been sent out to govern. The Sikhs had just emerged from the grinding tyranny of a Mahomedan Governor, and were preparing to be a formidable power under the future Lion of the North. The Rajput Princes had just succeeded in drowning the memory of Haldighat and Chitor under the stupefying influence of the Kusambha (a prepa- ration of the hemp plant). Descendants of Jashwant Singh and Man Singh had become the playthings of Amir Khan, and the myrmidons of Sindhia and Holkar. Such were the Princes 366 A DIVINE UNION who governed the country. Absolutism was the recognized form of Government. Almost all these Governments had their origins within the memory of men then living ; they owed their foundations to the successful rapacity of some powerful soldier or other, whose successors had not forgotten the source of their power, and were fully bent on maintaining it by the same instrument with which it had been acquired. They were ever intriguing for each other's de- struction, and had consequently no time to attend to the internal administration of their dominions. The requirements of their large armies forced them to raise as much money as they could amongst their subjects ; hence, from their point of view, their fiscal administration was always well organized. But the other portions of their administration were always in a deplorable state. There were practically no Courts of record in their dominions ; Judgeships in their civil courts were either openly auctioned, or given to Court favourites, without any regard to the qualifications of the candidates. Smaller criminal offences were seldom inquired into by anyone, except the Kotwal (Police Commissioner), who generally converted them into a source of revenue for himself. Almost every article of commerce constituted the subject of a private monopoly, conferred upon a favourite wife or a boon com- panion. The Princes sometimes had their private trading establishments and banks, where people BRUTE FORCE 367 were forced to buy and sell at prices fixed by their rulers. The farmers of revenue were nominally responsible for the police administration of their villages ; but, as a matter of fact, every strong man could do whatever he chose. Brute force was the only principle recognized by these temporary favourites of Fortune ; success amongst them justified all enormities ; honesty had ceased to guide their public relations ; treaty engagements jwere entered into only to be broken at the first ^(opportunity ; the assassination of an enemy, either by poison or the dagger, raised no senti- ment of horror in a single breast, while the sacred ties of friendship were broken with perfect impunity. Amongst their subjects the exactions of Government and the scanty protection afforded to them against foreign invasions and internal robberies, the want of roads, and the utter want of protection thereon, the numerous tolls, and other dues they were called upon to pay, struck at the root of general industry, and transformed many an honest agriculturist or trader into a robber and a cut-throat. Violence and rapine alone prospered in this uncivilized state of '; society. There were, however, some portions of the continent which were free from these conditions of anarchy and confusion. The Company's dominions on the Eastern coast and about Bombay, amidst all this widespread discordance and insecurity, enjoyed tranquillity. They were 368 A DIVINE UNION free from invasions from without, and, in spite of great imperfections in almost every branch of such administration as then existed, there was much greater security of life and property to be found within their limits than anywhere else on the continent. The Decennial Settlement (of the Land Revenue demand in Bengal) had given an impetus to agriculture that was previously un- known in the country. The summary execution of dacoits (gang-robbers) at the scenes of their crimes made the roads free for the purposes of trade. The Company's trade opened a fresh market for the produce of the country. The result was that numbers of merchants from the Native States came and settled near the Company's factories, in order to profit by the security and justice which prevailed there. At the same time, of the poorer sort, large numbers took service in the Company's army for the pay and pension it held out to them. These, on their return home, spread most favourable reports of the Company's Govern- ment. This comparative superiority of the Com- pany's administration contained within itself the key to the seemingly paradoxical fact of the conquest of an enormous country by a handful of the factory servants of a trading company. Never in the History of the world has such an enormous result been accomplished with such slender means. Even Peru and Mexico required more men and ampler means to conquer them. The question naturally arises, ' What was the THE RULING POWER 369 cause of this extraordinary phenomena ?' Patriotic Englishmen good-humouredly attribute it to the superior stamina of the Anglo-Saxon race, and gravely assure us that ' India was conquered by the sword.' But such of their countrymen as read and think know that, though gratifying to the national feeling, the explanation is incon- sistent with fact and opposed to probabilities. A reference to History will show, even to the most careless reader, that in almost every battle fought by Englishmen in India three-fourths at least of the conquering army consisted of un- mixed Indians. The absolute want of faith in their own Government could alone have pro- duced such a result. It has been shown above how, on the dismem- berment of the Mogul Empire, the country had become a prey to hostile factions ; how the dif- ferent families which had assumed to themselves regal power had failed to win the affections of their people, and had become positively hateful to them by the enormity of their crimes, the ferocity of their exactions, and the insufficient protection which they afforded. Amongst a people with a better political history this state of things would very likely have resulted in a < domestic revolution, followed by the establish- ment of limited monarchies or republics. But a Government evolved out of the wishes of the people was a thing unknown to India. Implicit ' obedience to the ruling power was alike incul- 24 S70 A DIVINE UNION cated by religion and precedent, and the people . passively wished for the advent of a better and a stronger power. The East India Company . was such a power. In their dispatches of the earlier part of the last century the Court of Directors repeatedly warned their Governors in India against any further territorial aggrandizement nay, some- times, indeed, they recalled such Governors for disobedience to their orders on this point. Yet we find, in spite of this repeated warning and prospective dismissal, each successive Governor entering into fresh wars which always ended in the 'much deprecated territorial aggrandizement.' The new Governors went out with a sincere desire to be on terms of friendship with the / neighbouring Princes, and yet no sooner had they landed in the country than they found themselves embroiled in wars. The fact was that the Indian Government was such that a State was compelled either to attack and cripple, if not altogether extinguish, its neighbours, or allow itself to be extinguished. Possessing the requisite strength themselves, and knowing the weakness of their neighbours, the Company's Governors naturally preferred the former course. They soon learnt that in India safety meant supremacy ; and as they naturally preferred the former, they found themselves forced to seek it by securing the latter. This supremacy was practically attained about the close of the second DECAY OF LEARNING 371 Mahratta War. The policy of forcing the Native Governments to keep armies officered by English- men, pursued by the Marquis Wellesley, put an end to the ever-recurring broils that had I made existence a burden and improvement an f \ impossibility. With this change in the position of the Government, a marked change came over its policy. This was the period of peaceful im- provements. Lord Minto, in 1811, wrote : 'It is a common remark that science and literature are in a progressive state of decay among the natives of India. From every inquiry which I have been enabled to make on this inter- esting subject, that remark appears to me but too well founded. The number of the learned is not only diminished, but the circle of learning, even amongst those who still devote themselves to it, appears to be considerably contracted. The abstract sciences are abandoned, polite literature is neglected, and no branch of learning cultivated but what is connected with the peculiar religious doctrines of the people. The immediate consequence of this state of things is the disuse and even actual loss of many books, and it is to be apprehended that, unless Government inter- pose with a fostering hand, the revival of letters may shortly become hopeless, from a want of books or of persons capable of explaining them.' In 1813 the East India Company directed ' that the sum of not less than a lakh of rupees in 242 372 A DIVINE UNION each year shall be set apart, and applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the British territories of India.' The first English newspaper in India was Hickeys Gazette, started in 1780. The next paper was the Bengal Journal. The editor of the Bengal Journal, Mr. William Duane, was deported from India in 1794. The next paper of any importance was the Calcutta Journal^'but in 1823 the editors, Messrs. Buckingham and Sandford Arnot, were deported from India for V ; writing scurrilous articles against Dr. Bryce, a high official of the Government. The immolation of widows was made penal in 1 1829. The Regulation of December 4, 1829, is a memorable document : ' It is hereby declared that, after the promulgation of this Regulation, all persons convicted of aiding and abetting in the sacrifice of a Hindu widow by burning or burying her alive, whether the sacrifice be volun- tary on her part or not, shall be deemed guilty of culpable homicide, and shall be liable to pun- ishment by fine or imprisonment, or both by fine and imprisonment.' A Registration Act and a quantity of adjective law on miscellaneous subjects under the name of * constructions,' were promulgated. Post-offices were established throughout the country ; each IMPROVEMENTS 373 district was subdivided into a number of thanas, presided over by a darogha ; schools and colleges were opened for the benefit of the people ; the memorable controversy about the expediency of imparting education through the medium of English or the Indian vernaculars, was settled, happily in favour of the former. In 1835 Lord Macaulay wrote : * I think it clear that we are not fettered by any pledge, expressed or implied ; that we are free to employ our funds as we choose ; that we ought to employ them in teach ing what is best worth knowing ; that English is better worth knowing than Sanskrit or Arabic ; that the natives are desirous to be taught Eng- lish, and are not desirous to be taught Sanskrit or Arabic ; that neither as the language of law nor as the language of religion have the Sanskrit or Arabic any peculiar claim to our encourage- ment ; that it is possible to make natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars, and that to this end our efforts ought to be directed.' The language difficulty was thus overcome. The great complexity and variety of the Indian vernaculars is well summed up by Dr. Grierson : * There are languages whose phonetic rules prohibit the existence of more than a few hundred words, which cannot express what to us are the commonest and most simple ideas ; and there are others with opulent vocabularies, rivalling English in their copiousness and in their accuracy of idea-consolidation. There are languages every 374 A DIVINE UNION word of which must be a monosyllable, and others in which syllable is piled on syllable till the word is almost a sentence by itself. There are languages which know neither noun nor verb, and whose only grammatical feature is syntax, and others with grammatical systems as complicated as those of Greek and Latin. There are parts of India which recall the plain in the land of Shinar, where the tower of old was built, and in which almost each of the many mountains had its own language ; and there are great plains, tens of thousands of miles in area, over which one language is spoken from end to end.' In 1 833 the following order was issued : ' 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.' Natives of India were then, for the first time, employed by the British authorities in offices of trust and responsibility. Lord Dalhousie incorporated into the Empire the dominions of the Princes of Nagpur, Jhansi, Coorg, and Lucknow, the first three on the ground of intestacy, and the last on that of mal- administration. The Panjab was also annexed after conquest. These annexations resulted in the benefit of the inhabitants, and every lover of human liberty must rejoice that personal Govern- ANNEXATIONS 375 i ment in them was replaced by Government by i ^ law. The Marquis went home, and was succeeded ; by Lord Canning. The peace-loving character of the new Governor- General, the prosperous state of the country, the strength of the army, and the efficiency of the Civil Service everything combined to promise a glorious and peaceful term of office. But a shock was soon felt through- out the Empire in the unexpected Mutiny of the Bengal Army. It is beyond the scope of this Chapter to trace the causes or the course of that national calamity. It may, therefore, be passed over. But it is of importance to examine the manners and customs of the people of those times, their education, habits of thought, religion, and superstition. From these a clear idea of the improvements since introduced may be derived. The residence of a Hindu gentleman of Bengal, for instance, of the pre-Mutiny period, generally j consisted of three sets of buildings round as many contiguous quadrangles. The first was his kutcherry (the office), the second his place of , worship and festivities, and the third his zenana (female apartments). He rose between 4 and 5 a.m., told his beads for about an hour, then sat in his kutcheiTy till about 10 a.m., disposing of disputes amongst his tenantry, examining his accounts, consulting astrologers, dictating letters, and deciding caste questions. He then bathed, and worshipped his family idols till about noon, and took his meals. Then, after making some 376 A DIVINE UNION inquiries about the arrangements for his guests, he retired for an hour or so, reappeared between 3 and 4 p.m., and held his Jwtcherry till sunset. His evenings were spent either in listening to the recital of the Puranas by a priest or to music, of which generally he was a fairly good judge. He kept an open house, where every stranger could find food and shelter for the asking. His food was composed principally of rice, flour, pulses, fruits, vegetables, milk, ghee (clarified butter), and sugar. His education consisted of some knowledge of the Persian imparted to him early in his life but which he never took the trouble to revise a smattering of Sanskrit (if he was a Brahman), and a moderate acquaintance with his own vernacular. His arithmetic reached up to what is now called ' Practice.' In history he knew only the fables of the Puranas and of the Shahnama, his geography seldom extended beyond the limits of his own district. He be- lieved in ghosts and demons, witches and incan- tations ; a priest was regularly employed in his house to read some sacred book or other, to invoke the aid of the gods in warding off the evils of destiny. He had an unlimited contempt for all foreigners, except, perhaps, Englishmen. He felt honoured in shaking hanHs with an Eng- lishman, but never forgot to bathe and purify himself, to expiate for the pollution ! He was simple, quiet and courteous in his manner, and inexpensive in his habits. He was charitable to THE PRE-MUTINY PERIOD 377 a fault, and religious according to his own idea of religion. A widow marriage or the partaking of prohibited food scandalized him beyond all measure ; but he could tolerate a bribe-taking official, or a lying neighbour. He discarded his only son for marrying out of his caste, but did not scruple to win a contested lawsuit with the assistance of documents of questionable authen- Jticity, backed by mendacious witnesses. Such were the country gentlemen of the pre- Mutiny period. The common people were more super- stitious and ignorant; scarcely one in ten thousand could write his own name. Almost all of them . worked as agriculturists, some on their own farms, others as farm-servants. Domestic service or the dangerous calling of club-men (latkials] were the only other alternatives offered them by the circumstances of the time. They were still barefooted, and, what was worse, almost naked, and decidedly poor. The growing demands of an increasing population and an ever-widening export trade had, it is true, raised both rent and prices, but the cultivator received only a small share of the increase. As yet there was no fixity of tenure in land, and the sharp competition of an ever-increasing tenantry made the zemindar (landowner) the master of the field. The educated classes were as yet few in number and of very little influence in the country. In the more important towns the schools and colleges had begun a silent revolution which has ever been 378 A DIVINE UNION at work since those days, and of which the end is not yet visible to anyone. Government had wisely prohibited the teaching of any particular religion in its institutions. But the introduc- tion of physical science and inductive philosophy into the college curriculum did more to shake the student's belief in the old faith than if Paley and Butler had been part of the prescribed course. The missionaries, headed by men like Carey, Duff, Marshman, and other eminent scholars, made converts of some of the most promising young men of the most advanced Pro- vince of India Bengal and the faith of the rest was rudely shaken. The Hindu priests of the period, steeped to the lips in the fantastic and unreasoned stories of the Puranas, appealed to their authority, which the young men despised. The emancipated children of a priest-ridden country rose in open rebellion against the old religion, which they threatened to tear up root and branch. Under the rebound the distinction between a crafty priesthood and a pure religion was forgotten. The young men took pride in openly doing everything which the old religion had prohibited. It was the old story of the folly of mankind having swung back the full swing of the pendulum; For a time an educated Hindu correlated the idea of hard-drinking and meat- eating ; and disregard of Hindu feelings, even in indifferent matters, came to be considered a necessary ingredient in the mental equipment of EVOLUTION OF THEISM 379 an educated Hindu. But the country was soon relieved from this state of godless profligacy by the appearance of Brahman leaders, who, discarding the untenable dogmatism of the latter Puranas, went deep into the Vedas and evolved pure Theism out of them. They were surrounded by all the purer spirits of the time, and the Brah- maism of the old school henceforth became prac- tically the dominant faith of the educated classes. These men established societies and published books and articles for the reform of social abuses. It was mainly through their exertions that the Civil Marriage Act was passed. In this movement Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar took an active part. The Brahmans preached anathemas against infant-marriage, exposed the follies and crimes of the priestly class, and entered into religious controversies with the missionaries of the time. As yet there were, perhaps, no more than a dozen newspapers in the country. Nearly half of these were English, and, with the exception of one, were conducted by Europeans. Gradually vernacular papers were started. They were mostly filled with local news and gossip, and contained very little matter worth reading. Economics or politics seldom received any atten- tion at their hands, and there was as yet no arrangement for press telegrams from Europe or America. The papers were mostly in the hands of uneducated people, and were filled up with ' humorous ' and satirical and sometimes obscene 380 A DIVINE UNION articles against the missionaries, and whatever of public or private nature occurred in the town whence they emanated. As yet the P. and O. Company had not made the voyage to England short. There was no such large body of non-official Europeans in the country as now. The years passed over them in their District or Sub-division without their seeing a single European. Their situation forced them either to remain altogether isolated or to mix with the people. Even the most reserved chose the latter alternative. They attended the fes- tivals of the people, were honoured guests at their marriages and funerals, attended nautch (native dance) parties, organized wrestling- matches and horse-races, and taught young men to shoot and hunt in their company. There being no railways nor refreshment-rooms at the time, they often had to thank a hospitable land- lord or mahajan (banker) for a few chupatis (Indian bread) and a night's rest. On the other hand, there was as yet no aspiration on the part of the ruled to stand on equal terms with their rulers, and no Ilbert Bill or Local Self-govern- ment Act had been mooted, to disturb the har- monious relations between them. The relation- ' ship was one between a patron and his protege. The Mutiny had passed over the country like a thunderstorm, and, like all such phenomena, had left the political atmosphere much clearer than before. Thousands of families mourned the loss DEVELOPMENTS 381 of dear relatives or of large fortunes ; but those who survived obtained the Queen's Proclamation of 1858 granting new privileges to all subjects, irrespective of colour and creed, race and domicile. Effect was given to Sir C. Wood's Education Dispatch of 1854, by the establishment of three Universities at the three Presidency towns, with a number of colleges affiliated to each. A second Lieu tenant- Governorship was created for the better administration of the Bengal Presidency. A Supreme and three Local Legislatures were established to frame laws for the varying require- ments of a progressive society. A High Court of Justice was established at each Presidency town, with better defined powers, in the place of the old Supreme Courts. New railways were opened, telegraphs laid, and feeder-roads con- structed for the better carriage of traffic ; steamers took the place of the old sailing-vessels, and a keen competition amongst independent European merchant firms replaced the practical monopolies of the East India Company. Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, a Limitation Act, and a Penal Code were passed, besides a number of local Acts in the place of the old * constructions,' and the Mahomedan Criminal Law. These were amongst the beneficial measures that immediately succeeded the transfer of the Government from the Company to the Crown. Since then Muni- cipalities and Local Funds have been established for the administration of local affairs, and natives 382 A DIVINE UNION of India have been introduced into the adminis- trative corporations, at first as was only proper cautiously ; when it was found that the ex- periment succeeded, Indians sometimes obtained at the hands of Government almost the same 'privileges in these respects as were enjoyed by the people of England. More than one Hindu has ' officiated ' as Chief Justice, and, two Ben- galis having given satisfaction as Divisional Com- missioners, one of them has been appointed a member of the Board of Revenue in Bengal. Indians have been extensively employed in the service of the Government in almost every branch of the Civil administration. Popular education, economic museums, well- digested rent laws, a Department of Agriculture and Commerce in short, every act of Government is marked by a liberality of spirit and a wise policy seldom dis- played by a foreign Government in the adminis- tration of a conquered countiy. In the year of the opening of the Universities hundreds of students went in for the matricula- tion examination. Enterprising and well-to-do young men, disregarding the anathema of caste, ventured the perils of the sea and entered the Indian Civil Service through the open door of competition. The Government of Sir John Lawrence, to show its appreciation of this bold departure, established a number of scholarships to compensate young Indians for the extra hard- ships they had to experience in competing for VISITS TO ENGLAND 383 the Civil Service. A number of young men went to Europe. Indian merchants went to England on business ; gentlemen at large began to visit the British Isles for pleasure and instruc- tion. These men returned home deeply imbued with the spirit of the institutions of the country of their sojourn. They were met half-way by the educated classes at home. Numbers of edu- cated men had entered the Uncovenanted Services of Government as Munsifs, Sub-Judges, Deputy- Magistrates, Surgeons, Engineers, and Deputy- Collectors ; others, again, had joined the Bar or had taken to trade. Most of these men came from the middle classes ; some belonged to its upper strata. But, as intellect is practically the only recognized force in modern society, the origin of these men was soon forgotten in their power. In India there was scarcely any aristo- cracy save that of service. The proudest Indian noble is forced to admit that the founder of his family was a successful Government servant. These new men were in the same position, and it was only natural that they commanded the same influence. Newspapers were started on all sides, both in English and in the vernaculars, containing selections from English papers of the speeches of the leading public men of England, replete with such criticism of the measures of Government as would be tolerated only in Eng- land or America. These made a deep impression on the minds of the people. The party organiza- 384 A DIVINE UNION tion of England furnished them with a ready model for forming associations like the British Indian (Calcutta), the Sarvajanika (Poona), and the Mahajana (Madras). To some there was nothing astonishing in the fact that the new generation should think more of their present rights than of their past history. The ideal Government, which they had been taught to value, required that a nation should tax itself; that beneficial legislation is impossible except by a representative assembly ; that the people should have some control over the national expenditure. The correctness of these abstract propositions was never doubted by any thoughtful man in England within the last century ; the young Indian like the inexperienced person that he was asserted that what is sauce for the goose ^ \must also be sauce for the gander. He forgot that there was another side of the picture, another light by which the case might be viewed. The average Englishman naturally looked with anger and disgust on what seemed to him the saucy ingratitude of a people who, only a century ago, were practically slaves under the Mahomedan Government, and who owed to himself almost everything that made life desirable its education, security, and a good deal of its possessions claim- ing equal rights with himself. He belonged to a privileged class, and his privileges were being attacked ; he could not easily realize that a people to whom the fundamental principles of ADVANCE OF INDIANS 385 Government had been almost unknown only half a century ago should claim to govern itself nay, openly assert that they could do it better and cheaper. It was true that he had taken pity on an intelligent race, made a foster-child of it, given it a liberal education, had gained from that race a rapturous admiration by his account of the chivalrous resistance of Hampden, or of the dis- interested patriotism of Washington, Mazzini, and Garibaldi. He had taken the race behind the screen, to look into the origin of Govern- ments, under the guidance of Bentham, Lubbock, and Maine ; he had sent it to Austin, Hallam, Amos, and May, to learn the conditions under which a Government is entitled to claim obe- dience at the hands of the subject the English- man had done all this for the Indian. But he had never thought that his protege would try to embody his idealism into facts, and that at so short a notice. It was the case of the fond parent \ feeling hurt at the assertion of a will of its own by the child for whom he had done so much. Matters were at this stage when Lord Lytton was entrusted with the reins of Government. With the consent of the authorities in England, His Lordship passed the Press Act and opened the Statutory Service. He was succeeded by Lord Ripon, who passed the Local Self-Govern- ment Act and repealed the Press Act. But the further progress of his policy was checked by 25 386 A DIVINE UNION the unfortunate introduction of the Ilbert Bill. It was a measure not at all calculated to do any real good to the subject race, while it touched a vital point of privilege of the ruling class. In politics much must be surrendered to expediency, especially when the Indian from time immemorial has been used to inequality in laws. Mr. R. C. Dutt, C.I.E., says :* ' There was one law for the Brahman, another for the Sudra ; the former was treated with undue leniency, the latter with excessive and cruel severity. If a Brahman com- mitted one of the four or five heinous crimes enumerated in the law-books i.e., if he slew a Brahman, violated his guru's (religious teacher's) bed, stole the gold of a Brahman, or drank spiri- tuous liquor, the King branded him on the fore- head with a heated iron and banished him from his realm. If a man of lower caste slew a Brah- man he was punished with death and the con- fiscation of his property. If such a man slew a man of equal or lower caste, other suitable punishments were meted out to him (Baud- Jiayana I., 10, 18 and 19).' Admitting that it was only a prejudice of the English, the Indians should even then have respected the inequality, as it really entailed no hardship on them. In the end they were beaten on the point, and much valuable time that could have been better utilized was lost in the controversy. A good deal of race antipathy was evolved out of it, * ' Civilization in Ancient India.' THE EDUCATED CLASSES 387 and it entailed some personal suffering on individuals. For the last fifty years the whole of India has had but one literature for its educated classes. Every educated man has gone through practically the same studies, has had his ideas and tastes formed by the same authors, and has been affected by the same laws and by the same system of Government. The railway, the telegraph, and the steamer service have in a great measure brought the most distant parts of the country near one another. The Calcutta lawyer now spends his Dussera vacation in Bombay and Poona, and the Madras Chetty his Christmas holidays in Calcutta and Bombay. The exigencies of the Imperial Service, and of an extensive and ever- increasing internal trade, bring the people of the different parts of the country into daily contact. The spirit for travel, which the Indians have imbibed from the English, now permeates through every stratum of society ; even students now spend their college vacations in visiting distant parts of the country. Fifty years ago the presence of a Mahratta turban would have collected a jeering crowd in the streets of Cal- cutta ; the Honourable Mr. Gokhale now drives unnoticed through the same streets, except it be when he returns a friendly greeting. The ab- sence of all sectarian teaching from the educa- tional institutions has added a motive to unity. It is no longer an uncommon sight to see a dozen 252 388 A DIVINE UNION men, collected from different parts of the country and belonging to different castes, sitting down together to a friendly dinner. Cases may be quoted of intermarriages between inhabitants of different Provinces of the Empire. Personal contact daily points out to them unmistakable evidence of a common origin, when they see more or less the same manners and customs pre- vailing amongst all of them. Thus, of the factors which constitute nationality a common origin, a single Government, and a common literature- two are the direct gifts of England to India, and the other has also been more vividly brought before Indians through the instrumentality of the English. It will yet take the Indians a great many years to be a compact and united people, but, under the protection of the British Govern- ment, the soldering has begun ; of this proposi- tion there can be no doubt. The first thing that strikes the philosophic observer is the disruption of the Hindu family system. The karta (head of the family) is daily losing ground, and individual will is fast becoming predominant. People now shift for themselves as soon as they are able to earn an independent livelihood ; the sight of an entire family of able- bodied men consuming in idleness the fruits of one man's labour does not so often offend the eye. It is to be hoped that the golden mean in this respect will not be overstepped, and that a loving regard, and a spirit ever ready to assist FEMALE EDUCATION 389 their relatives in their hour of need, will not for- sake the natives of India. Female education is making decided progress in the country. Wherever there is a large intel- lectual class may be found a number of well- educated ladies. The University authorities have allowed ladies to compete for degrees on equal terms with men, and at present the number of Hindu lady-graduates can be counted by the dozen. The demand for educated wives increases every year, and the supply is also fast on the increase. In India women now enjoy more con- sideration and greater liberty than they used to receive fifty years ago. The really educated Indian now understands that it is a suicidal policy to lock up half the race. By coming in contact with Englishmen he now clearly sees that ' the hand which rocks the cradle rules the world.' He now allows the ladies of his family to escape from the ancient restrictions of superannuated customs, and adorn and delight wider circles than domestic surroundings. He now has con- fidence in female virtue, and is convinced that the educated Hindu lady of to-day may safely be given the liberty which her ancestors enjoyed in ancient India. To some of the Bengali ladies of to-day even Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill are no strangers ; they read Victor Hugo's poems and Moliere's dramas. They now, with ease, follow the upward march of their husbands, and are quite fitted to take a high place in any 390 A DIVINE UNION society. The refined Indian lady is not the result of violent or hasty reform. The reform commenced with Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1813. In connexion with female education in India, the names of Lady Amherst and Miss Cook (1819) will always be remembered with gratitude. They were the pioneers of female education in Bengal. Thirty years later, on May 7, 1849, the Bethune School was opened for the education of Bengali girls. The Brahma Samaj has done a great deal in this direction. In 1866 Bengali ladies first appeared in public. It was during the Maghotsab of that year that a Bengali lady (Mrs. S. N. Tagore) appeared in an evening party at Government House, Calcutta. A great deal has been accomplished within the last fifty years towards the amelioration of the condition of women in India, but much remains yet to be done. The last Census showed improvement in almost every direction. Sir Charles Elliott, late Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, pointed out that the Census of 1901 clearly showed a vast increase ' in the population of India from 205 to 294 mil- lions in thirty years. Another hopeful sign, wrote Sir Charles Elliott, was that progress in learning English was far more rapid than the spread of general education. In 1891 the number who had learnt English up to a certain standard was returned as 537,811 persons, or 36 males and 5 females in every 10,000. In 1901 the total number was 1,125,231 persons, or 68 males and KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH 391 7 females in every 10,000. The largest number of English literates was found in Bengal, where they numbered 370,000 ; Madras came next with 1 90,000, and Bombay with 144,000. No other Province reached 100*000. It was unfortunate, however, that the Census Report did not dis- tinguish the English and Eurasians, who learn English instinctively, from the native population, who learn it educationally as a foreign language. In 1891, out of the total figure of 537,811, the native element counted for 386,032. Assuming that a similar proportion obtained in 1901, the number of natives who have learnt English would be about 789,000, or double what it was in 1891. The number returned as literate in all India was 15,686,421, or 53 per milk of the entire population. Of these, 14,690,080 were males, and only 996,341 were females, or 98 per 1,000 among males and 7 among 1,000 females. The Province which held the highest place in respect to literacy was Burma, for 378 per 1 ,000 of its male population and 45 per 1,000 of its females could read and write. This was due to the wide- spread system of free education imparted by the Buddhist monks at the monasteries, at which it is customary for every male Burman child to spend at least a year, while the instruction of females is not hampered by the prejudices in favour of their seclusion when they approach the age of puberty, which so greatly impede progress in other parts of India. 392 A DIVINE UNION The highest authorities in the country have pronounced their judgments in favour of the honesty of native officers in the Judicial Service. Untruth and want of candour are now as much deprecated in educated Indian society as they are among Englishmen. A high authority once wrote in a public document that the really 1 educated native is more English than the average Englishman. That may be an exaggeration, but there can be no doubt that with their progress in education the Indians have become more honest, truthful, and candid in all their relations. Public spirit, in the Western sense, was a thing almost "unknown fifty years ago. Now there are people who are prepared to lose a great deal in their endeavours for the public good. Fifty years ago, to be accused of cowardice, moral or physical, was scarcely considered an insult, and physical weakness was not looked upon as a misfortune. The case is very different now. Those who read the newspapers with a view to mark the changes that are taking place all round, cannot fail to notice that a spirit of resistance to personal aggression has already arisen. There is now scarcely a college in the country which has not its gymnasium. Purely Indian circuses attract the admiration of Europeans, and gentlemen athletes are not uncommon. The English conquest of India has made it possible for the Occident and Orient to meet. The result is that both are benefited. Orthodox MUTUAL BENEFITS 393 Hindus, who pretend to dislike everything Eng- lish, in reality admire everything English. This may seem paradoxical. But it is true. Erudite Indian scholars, like Taranath Tarakavachaspati and Bharat Chandra Siromani, did not receive a tenth of the homage paid to Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Swami Vivekananda. In Oriental learning, all Bengal will admit that Tarakavachaspati and Siromani were much superior to Vidyasagar and Vivekananda. Vidy- asagar and Vivekananda's knowledge of English helped them to compare Hindu philosophy with Western thought. Hence their fame. Take another example, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, the great Bengali writer, the author of the now famous Bengali song Bande Mataram. His Dharmatatva is practically Mill's philosophy in Oriental garb. His Bhagavat-Gita is a great favourite in Bengal, because in its pages views of Western savants like Lassen and Weber are discussed. India must learn Western ways and keep pace with the West, or she must go to the wall. India must assimilate Western ways. Blind imitation will not do. The Indian must try to harmonize Eastern practices with Western civilization. India under England has gained a great deal, and is likely to gain more. British supremacy in India, therefore, instead of being an alien yoke, is really a Divine Union for mutual advantage. INDEX ABDUL QADIB, MULLA, 269 Abul Fazl AUami, 271 Act XXI. of 1851, 14 Adultery, how punished, 18 Advisory Agricultural Associa- tion, 172 Advisory Council, 6, 855, 356 ' Mneid ' in Bengali, 20 Afghan incident, 150 Agave, 172 Agitation in Dacca, 78 Agricultural classes, condition of, 359 Loans' work, 171 Akbar, 271 drank wine, 118 Akbar-i-Baramika, 113 Akbarnanmh, 271 Alien rule a blessing, 334 Allen, attempt to murder Mr., 1, 78, 80 Alo o chhaya, 204 America, Tea in, 181 Amherst, Lady, 390 Anarchy, 364, 870 Anglo - Japanese Alliance, 149, 297 Annachhatra, 16, 17 Annada Mangal, 197 Anti-Asiatic legislation, 148, 296 Arms Act and Free Press, 839 Army, native, 56 ,, V.C. for natives, 57 Arnold, Sir Edwin Arnold, 193 Asia adores Japan, 297 markets of, 132 Asiatic 'danger,' 153, 154, 160 Asiatic Quarterly Revieiv, 231 Assam, 166, 184, 230 Bengal Railway, 178 Assamese, 164 Australia and Japan, 161 Ayin-i-Akbari, 112, 271 Ayub Khan, 138 B Baihaki Tarikhi, 112 Balfour, Mr., 219 Lady Betty, 355 Bande Mataram, 65, 69 Banerji, S. N., 267 Barni, Ziauddin, 114, 269 Bayley, Sir Steuart, 185 Beef as Hindu food 102, 104 and Hindu unity, 320 Bengal Iron and Steel Company, 285 Bengal Journal, 372 Bengal, Mogul Province, 165 Nagpur Railway, 292 Peasantry, 828 Bengali alphabet, 190 blank verse, 203 books written by Euro- peans, 200, 202 Dictionary, 200 Grammar, 200 language, 187 .. Magazine, 202 Mahomedan, 77, 78, 168, 199 newspaper, 202 nursery rhymes, 205 895 396 INDEX Bengali predominance, 164, 165 type, 200 Bernier, Fra^ois, 120 Bethune school, 390 Bhadra lok, 183 Bhagavat Gita, 200, 206, 363 Bharat Chandra, 197 Bhutan, 170 Bible Society, Calcutta, 200 Bibliotheque Nationale, 189 Biological botanist, 174 Bird wood, Sir George, 207 Bose, P. N., 288 Boycott, 154, 157 Bradutti, 270 Brahman, Bengali, and Mah- ratta, 320 British Guiana, 155 ,, Indian Association, 384 Brussels Sugar Convention, 222, 224 Bryan, Mr., on India, 357 Buddha, 105 Buddhist monks, 391 Burdwan, 89, 172 Church Missions, 202 C Cadastral Survey, 171 Caesar's Commentaries, 118 Calcutta, fort of, 179, 180 riots, 85 Campbell, Sir George, 167 Canning, Lord, 325, 341, 375 Cape House Assembly, 155 Capital and cheap labour, 307 foreign, 285, 286 Carey, Kev., 200, 378 Bengali Dictionary by, 200 Caste and administrative measures, 343, 344 loss of, 15 Census, analysis of, 390, 391 Chaitanya, 196, 197 Chamberlain, Joseph, 209, 217 ,, his letter to the author, 219 Chambers of Commerce and Indians, 299 Chanakya Slokas, 195 Chandi, 197 Das, 193 Character, development of, 28 Chaucer of Bengal, 197 Cheap labour, 227 Chenab irrigation, 359 Chesterfield, Lord, 195 Chinese in Australia, 150 Chittagong port, 171, 178 Chota Nagpur, 170 Christian missionaries, 17, 200 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 226 Winston, 216, 225 Cinchona plantation, 173 Citizen of British Empire, 296 ,, of Indian Empire, 296 Civil Marriage Act, 379 Codification, 236 Colonial Premiers, 211 Colonies and India, difference be- tween, 211, 212 ,, ,, trade with, 214 Colour disqualification, 57, 374 Commerce and Indian peculi- arities, 299, 305 ,, inseparable from politics, 150 Congress, Indian National : annual picnic, 319 death of, 93 dislike for figures, 267, 268 not Parliament in any sense, 318 leaders inspire Mr. Bryan, 357 Native States, 345, 346 no library, 322 see also pages 209, 230, 231 Congress, International Oriental, 207 Convention, Sugar, 222, 223, 224, 225 Cooch Behar, 170 INDEX 397 Cook, Miss, on female education, 390 Co-operative Credit Society, 171 Copenhagen, Indian tea in, 181 Cornwallis, Lord, 324, 329 Corruption, 366 Cotton cultivation, 172 ., duties, 41, 63, 92 Sir Arthur, 275 Sir Henry, inspires Mr. Bryan, 357 Council, Advisory, 6, 355, 356 , , of Secretary of State , 29 ,, of Secretary of State and the Congress, 346 Counsel's speech, mischief made by, 146 Court of Wards, 170 Cowell, Professor E. B., 197 Cow-killing riots, 37, 85 Criminal law, Mahomedan, 381 Criminal Procedure Code, 230, 237 Curzon, Lord Centralization, 11 Conciliatory acts, 49, 50 Disregard of native feeling, 51 education, 29 Guildhall speech, 210 Imperial Prefer- ence, 218 Industries, 284, 285 Native States, 340 Partition of Bengal, 167, 186 Special interpre- ters, 50 Customer, India England's best, 215 D Dacca, agitation in, 78 Dalhousie, Lord, 374 Dante, 192 Darbhanga, Maharaja of, 89 Debt, India's, 218, 221 ,, productive, 358 Decentralization, 10 Delhi Assemblage of 1877, 51, 353 Durbar speech, 342 Durbar, Elephant Proces- sion in Bamazan, 50 Deportation, 125 before passing of the Regulation, 139 case in High Court, 131 ,, Europeans, 139, 142, 372 Hyderabad, 141 ,, in full force in Native States, 141 its efficiency, 147 its legality, 131, 136 Mogul practice of Shahr Badar, 140 recent case, 142 Deposition of Raja, 52 Derozio, Professor, 203 Devanagri alphabet, 190 Dhuleep Singh, Maharaja, 138 Dilke, Sir Charles, 342, 845 Dinkar Rao, Sir, 845 Disintegration of Empire, 297 Disraeli, Mr., 350 District, 238 ,, Boards, 175 Magistrate, 234, 235, 241 Divine Union, 357, 393 Dog in Oriental language, 75, 76 ,, Flesh as human food, 272 Dowdeswell, George, 127 ' Draining ' India, 87 Drink, 94 Aborigines, 109 Buddha, 105 Hindu ladies, 107 Jataka, 108 Manu, 106 Mantras, 109 Raghuvansa, 108 Sakuntala, 108 398 INDEX Duff, Rev., 200, 378 Duin-Durn murder, 24 Durbar, Delhi, 51, 342 Duties, Cotton, 41, 63, 92 on Indian exports, 210 Dutt, Michael M. S., 203, 206 Bomesh, 99, 101, 103, 107, 263, 266, 322, 336 E Edinburgh Review, 229 Education, 25, 31, 176, 178 Dispatch of Sir Charles Wood, 25, 381 ,, Minute, Macaulay's, 25,40 Educationalists in Council of India, 29 Elephant Procession, 51 Elgin, Lord, 225 Elliott, Sir Charles, 231, 390, 391 Emigrants, 174 Empire, bond of, 217 Encyclo. Brit, in Bengali, 188 Englishmen, manners of, 53, 54 Entente Commerciale, 149 European agitators, 73, 74 Europeans deported, 139, 372 ,, as Bengali authors, 200, 202 ,, and native rows, 59 ,, enterprise, 287 ,, hanged, 21 Excise Administration of India, 115 Eevenue, 173 Executive, a strong, 229 Council of Viceroy, 348 strength of the, 256 Exhibition Swadeshi, 159 Experiments, Western, 61 Exports to Asia, 130 Fa Hian, 190 Famine, 259 dogs' flesh eaten, 272 Famine, Dutch version of, 273, 274 Human flesh eaten, 272 of 1,000 years, 269, 274 Petition of December, 1900, 259 Eelief Camp, 286 Son killing mother, 273 suicide in batches, 269 Fast Ramazan, 51 Female education, 389 Firuz-Shahi, Tarikh-i-, 114 Food-grains, export of, 359, 360 rise in price of, 282 Foreign capital, 285, 286 Secretary, 39, 51 Forest Department, Bengal, 172 Fort William College, 200 Fowler, Sir Henry, 225 Free Press and Arms' Act, 339 Free Trade, 209 G Geological Survey, 288 German merchant, 301, 305 rivalry, 149, 157, 300 Germany and India, trade be- tween, 220 Ghose, M. M., 23, 231 Gibbon, 270 Gilchrist, Dr., 201 Gita, Bhagavat, 200, 206, 363 Govinda, 194 Gokhale, Mr., 2 Golab Singh, 138 Gold, absorption of, 358 Government, true to their trust, 361, 362 Grant-Duff, Sir M. E., 225 Gratitude, 55, 56 Grey, Sir Edward, 223, 224 Grey, Sir William, 167 Grierson, Dr., 187 Griffin, Sir Lepel, 113 Grimm's law, 207 Guy de Maupassant, 188 Habeas Corpus, 131, 135, 136 Haji Khalifa, 114 INDEX 399 Halked's Bengali Grammar, 200 Hamburg Salt, 171 Hamilton, Lord George, 217, 225,231 Hanging of Europeans, 21 Hardie, Keir, Mr., 64, 93 Hastings, Marquis of, 126 Warren, 166 Heine, 188 Hewett, Sir J. P., 291 HicTcey's Gazette, 872 Hindu family system, 388 life of an old, 375, 377 food, beef, 102, 104 irrigation, 275 loyalty, 81, 82 prejudice and trade, 303 ,, social life, 364 Hindustani, 208 class for merchants, 309, 812 ' Histoire de Timur,' 270 Hitopadesha, 201 Hobhouse, C. E. H., 10 Home charges, 221 Honesty of Indians, 392 Horticulture, 172 Hugo, Victor, 189 Human flesh eaten, 269, 270, 272 Hunter, Sir W. W., 273 Hyderabad, 84, 85, 141, 143, 302, 346 Hydro-electric scheme, 295 I Ibbetson, Sir Denzil, 145 Ibni Batutah, 278 Idealism, 82, 83, 86 Ilbert, Sir C., 138, 140 BUI, 65, 67, 380, 386 Imaduddin, Maulana, 269 Imperial commerce, 148 greatness, 226 Preference, 209 and Asiatic legisla- tion, 296 in goods, 295 Imperial Preference in British subjects, 295 Imperialism, 352 Inconsistency of Congress leaders, 322, 336 India England's best customer, 215 ,, not getting poorer, 358 Office, 300 Trade Enquiry Office, 300 Indian Civil Service deteriorat- ing, 60 ,, Commercial Intelligence Bureau, 311 District, 233 Exchange, 219 Mutiny due to bad legis- lation, 14 peculiarities and British trade, 299, 305 People's Famine Fund, 341 Indians in Government service, 360, 361 in South Africa, 155 India's debt, 218 ,, solvency, 221 Indo-Pali alphabet, 190 Industrial Development, 286 International Oriental Congress, 207 Interpreters between rulers and ruled, 50, 337 Iron ores, 289 Trade, 285 Irrigation expenditure, 276 ,, extension of, 260 Hindu, 275 Iyer, Sir Sheshadri, 345 Jails in Bengal, 174 Jaipur, Maharaja of, 841 Jami ul Hikayat, 113, 114 Jane ba nanc, 272 Jang, Sir Salar, 345 Japan adored in Asia, 297 and British Trade, 307 and Indian Trade, 299 400 INDEX Japanese Consul and Australia, 161 Jaya Deva, 193 Joint-Stock Companies, 358 Journal de Savans, 119 Judge, District and Sessions, 236 Judicial, Separation of, from the Executive, 229 Jury and native life, 19 Congress leader on, 335 trials, 334, 335 Justice in Bengal, 174 Jute industry, 173, 180, 182 Kabi Kankan, 197 Karma, 189 Kashiram Das, 194 Kaziwani, Mahomed Amin, 272 Keir Hardie, Mr., 64, 93 Kerman, tea in, 181 Kerosine oil, 173 Khalifa, Haji, 114 Khalsa College, 341 Khashmi Izad, 269 Khond, Meer, 112, 270 King, Sir Seymour, 222, 223 Knutsford, Lord, 150 Krittibas, 194 Labour Districts, 174 free and indentured, 180 ,, peculiarities of Indian labourer, 313, 314 Lady graduate, 389 Lajpat Eai, Mr., 2, 125 Lalita Vistara, 190 La Marseillaise, 66 Land assessment, 324 ,, Revenue administration, 260 Revenue Resolution, 264, 265 . Land Tax, 261, 262 Lawrence, Lord, 15 Legislation, cause of Mutiny, 14 Sympathetic, 13, 18 Letters Patent, 1865, 24 Liberal education, 384, 385 Literate, 70, 391 Literature, encouragement of, 371 Looshai Hills, 166 Lords, House of, and Native Princes, 355 Loudoun, Countess of, 200 Loyalty, Hindu, 81, 82 Lucknow Congress speech, 330 Lunatic Asylum, 176 Lytton, Lord, 9, 40, 41, 385 ,, Lord, on Native Princes, 353, 355 M Macaulay, Lord, 236 ,, ,, on Education, 373 ,, ,, Education Minute, 25, 40 Mackay, Sir James, 228 Madhava Rao, Sir T., 345 Madrasa, Calcutta, 25 Maecenas of Hindu literature, 197 Magna Charta, 131 Mahabharata, 193 Mahajana, 384 Mahomed Amin Kaziwani, 272 Sultan, 269 Mahomedan, dog among, 75 Bengali, 77, 78, 168, 199 Mahratta, 163, 205, 320 Cavalry, 30 Mahratti, 208 Manners of Englishmen, 53, 54 Marquis of Hastings, 126 Marriage, Civil, 379 Marshman, Rev., 199 Max Muller, Professor, on Ben- gali, 190 Mayo, Lord, assassination of, 146 Mayor's Court at Calcutta, 132 Meetings, Seditious, 1, 3 Megasthenes, 120 Memorabilia, 113 INDEX 401 Middlemen in Indian trade, 156 Military Budget, 34 MiU, 189 Minto, Lord, 3, 201, 371 Mir Khond, 112, 270 Missionaries, 17, 199, 200, 378 Mitra, Dr. R. L., 110 Mohurrum tiger shoot, 52 Mono Mohan Ghose, Mr., 23, 231 Morison, Mr. Theodore, 19, 20, 21 Morley, The Right Hon. John, 9, 12, 20, 45, 49, 82, 85, 125, 216, 218, 258 Mr. W. H M 17 Mourbhanj, 288 Mujalladat-i-Baihaki, 112 Mukhtasirut Tawarikh, 273 Mukundaram, 197 Mulberry plantation, 172 Mulfizat-i-Timuri, 270 Municipalities in Bengal, 175 Muntakhabullubab, 273 Murder, Dum-Dum, 24 of natives, 19, 20 of Mr. Band, 343 ,, attempt to, Mr. Allen, 1, 78, 80 Mutiny, exciting Sikh soldiers to, 44 caused by bad legis- lation, 14 N Nabha, Raja of, 341 Nadiya, 190, 197, 198 Nagas, 183 Nakagawa, T. J., 160 National tie, 164, 165 Native army, 56, 144 orderlies, 57 V.C. none, 57 Princes, 339 States, 340 population, 340 ,, and Congress, 345, 346 Natives, murder of, 19, 20 Newspapers, early, 372 Nirvana, 189 Nizam, deportation by, 141 Norris, Justice, 24 Northcote, Sir Stafford, 167 Nurul Haq, Sheikh, 271 O Oriental Imagination, Mr. Dis- raeli and Lord Curzon on, 350 Orissa, 170 P Padshahnamah, 272 P. and 0. Steam N. Company, 297, 299, 380 Pan-Islam a misnomer, 320 Parishad, Sahitya, 207 Parliament, Act of, 165 Parsi, enterprising, 287 Partition of Bengal, 163 M M agitation en- gineered, 80 figures showing neces- sity for, 169, 176 Party politics, 40 Passports, 162 Patent, Letters, 1865, 24 Patriot, professional, 290 Patriotism, 328 Paul, Sir Charles, 24 Peasantry of Bengal, 828 provident. 331 improvident, 331, 332 Penal Code, Indian, 236 Pennington, Mr. J. B., 262, 275 Permanent Settlement, 264, 323 880 Petition of Rights, 181 Petroleum, 224 Pitt's Permanent Settlement, 826 Plague, 173 Plassey, Battle of, 165, 864 Police, 82 Officer, 244 Policy of India, 210 Political Associations, 884 mistake, 354 system of India, 340 Politics, party, 40 and Caste, 843, 844 402 INDEX Politics, inseparable from Com- merce, 150 Population increasing, 279 British India in- creasing, 349 Native States de- creasing, 349 Pork and Mahomedan unity, 320 Poverty of India, 358 in England and India, 360 Pre-British India, 364, 371 Prem Singh, 138 Press, 4, 7, 41, 49 Prince of Wales, H.R.H. The, and sympathy, 12 Princes, Native, 339 Prinsep, H. T., 128 Prisoners, State, 127 Public opinion, 334, 351 Public spirit, want of, 23 ,, value of, 334 Purgstall, Hammer, 114 Quinine, 173 It Raghuvansa, 189 Raja, deposition of, 52 Raj Tarangini, 269 Railway expenditure, 276 rows between Euro- peans and Natives, 59 Uganda, 155 Ramayana, 193 Ramazan Fast, 51 Ram Mohun Roy, 202, 203 Rand, murder of Mr., 343 Rauzat us Safa, 112 Reay, Lord, 225, 228 Rebellion of Sannyasis, 1772, 65 Registration Offices, Bengal, 175 Regulation III. of 1818, 125 Rennell, 190 Renter's telegrams, accuracy of, 79 Revenue appeal, 249 system, 85, 36 Richardson, Professor, 203 Riots, Cow-killing, 37 Ripon, Lord, 225 RockhiU's ' Life of Buddha,' 192 Rontgen rays, 189 Rows between Europeans and Natives, 59 Roy, Mrs. Kamini, 204 Ram Mohun, 202, 203 Royal Asiatic Society, 207 ,, Societies Club, Lord Curzon at, 226 Rudeness of Englishmen, 53, 54 Rupees in circulation, 358 Russian duty on Indian tea, 222 Russia's retaliation, 223, 224 tariff war with Ger- many, 224, 225 S Sabaktgin, Tarikhus, 112, 113 Sadi, 195 Sahitya Parishad, 207 Salar Jang, Sir, 345 Salisbury, Lord, 260 Salt-tax, reduction in, 361 Sannyasis, Rebellion of 1772, 65 Sanskrit College, 25 Sarvajanika, 384 Savings Bank deposits, 358 School Book Society, Calcutta, 201 Schopenhauer, 189 Sedition, Lord Minto on, 3 exciting Sikh soldiery, 44 Seditious meetings, 1, 3 Seed farms, 172 Self-Government, 64 Sena Kings, 192 Separation of the Judicial from the Executive, 229 Serampur mission, 201 Sericulture, 172 Shah Jehan, 272 ' Shahr Badar,' 140 Shakespeare in Bengali, 201 INDEX 403 Sharfuddin Yazdi, 270 Sharfun Nabi, 113 Sheep breeding, 314, 315 Sheshadri Iyer, Sir, 845 Sikkim, 170 Sindhia, Maharaja, 341 Skrine, Mr. F. H., 187 Solvency, India's, 221 Somarasa, 96, 100, 101, 102 Soup kitchen, 16, 17 South Africa, Indians in, 155 Spencer, Herbert, 189 State Prisoners, 127 Statesmen, Indian, 345 Strachey, Sir John, 41 Sir Richard, 281 Sugar Convention, 222, 223, 224, 225 Swadeshi, 287, 294, 306, 310 Exhibition, 159 Government and, 291, 293 ' Sword, conquered by the,' 369 Sylhet, 184 Sympathetic legislation, 13, 18 Sympathy, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on, 12 T Tagore, Mrs. S. N., 390 Tariff, Indian, 207 Reform, 219, 222 war does not pay, 224, 225 Tarikh Badauni, 269 Tarikh-i-Baihak, 112 Tarikh-i-Firuz-Shahi, 114, 269 Tarikh Nasiri, 113 Tarikhi-i-Salim Shahi, 119 Tarikh Tahiri, 272 ,, Yamini, 118 Tarikh-ul-Abbas, 113 Tarikh-us-Sabaktgin, 112, 113 Tata, Mr. Dorabji, 287 Mr. J., 285 Mr. Ratanji, 287 Tavernier, 121 Taxation per head, 362 Tea Cess Committee, 181 industry, 180, 182 Tea pickled, 180 ,, plantations, 173 Shan, 181 Thibet wool, 315 Tiger-shoot in Mohurrum, 52 Times, 1, 35, 44, 62, 142, 297 Tippera Hill, 170 Tobacco, 316 Tract Society, Calcutta, 202 Trade between Germany and India, 220 Trade, middlemen in India, 156 tips, 301, 305 Transvaal, 63 Constitution, 150 ,, and Indians, 362 Transverse Survey, 171 Tributary Mahals, 170 Trinidad, 155 Tuzak-i-Babari, 117 U Ufi, Nuruddin Muhammad, 118 Uganda Railway, 155 Union Divine, 357 Unity in India, 320 Unrest, 1 Vakil ka Raj, 256 V.C. to Native officers, 57 Vedas, 97, 98 Vidyapati, 193 Vidyasagara, I. C., 206 Visva Kosha, 188 Vivekananda, Swami, 206 Vizier-i-Lankaran, 189 W Wales, H.R.H. the Prince of, 12 Waqiat-i-Jehangiri, 119 Warren Hastings, 25, 166, 198 Wazir Ah', 138 Weakness of Imperial Govern ment, 290 Wealth hoarded underground, 286 West Indies, 155, 225 404 INDEX Western experiments, 61 Wheeler's ' Early Records,' 122 Widows, immolation of, 372 Wilkins, Sir C., 200 Wilson, Professor, 190 Wood, Sir Charles, dispatch of, 25, 381 Wool, 314, 315 Xenophon, Expedition of, 118 Yakoob Khan, 138 Yazdi, Sharfuddin, 270 Yellow labour, 227 Younghusband, Sir Francis, 188 Zafarnamah, 270 Zenana teachers, 176 Ziauddin Barui, 269 Zubdat-ut-Tawarikh, 271 THE END BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, OUILDKORO. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. t PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS BOOK CARD ,' gs e 3 "0 University Research Library O ARY FAOLITY 157 2 ft