iltlltara, Ntxa fork 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 ' COLLECTION 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 
Cornell University Library 
 SB 271.L43 
 
 Tea cultivation, cotton and other agricu 
 
 3 1924 023 642 881 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023642881 
 
TEA CULTIVATION, 
 
 COTTON 
 
 AND OTHER 
 
 AGEICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 
 
 IN INDIA. 
 
 A REYIEW. 
 
 BY 
 
 W. NASSAU LEES, l.l.d. 
 
 %onhoxi : 
 
 W. H. ALLAN AND CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S. W. 
 
 THACKEB, SPINK AND CO. 
 
 1863. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 In the early part of last year, while looking 
 through the old Nos. of the Journal of the Horticul- 
 tural Society of Bengal, for some information regard- 
 ing the experiments undertaken by the Government 
 of India for the introduction of exotic Cotton, I was 
 struck by the many interesting and instructive papers 
 this valuable series contained on a sister experiment — 
 the introduction into India of the Tea Plant. Not- 
 withstanding that Government has been now engaged 
 in this cultivation for upwards of a quarter of a cen- 
 tury, we have no history of its operations — no record of 
 its experience ; and, consequently, very great ignor- 
 ance, especially in the Hill districts, prevails on the 
 subject, and many Planters and young Companies are 
 wasting a great deal of money that, if better laid oiit, 
 might be employed with very much more profit to them- 
 selves and the country. I conceived the notion, there- 
 fore, of collecting and condensing this scattered infor- 
 
ir 
 
 mation, separating it mto two parts — a brief outline 
 or review of the experiment up to date ; and a sketch 
 of the systems of cultivation that have been adopted 
 with the best results, — intending my Review for circu- 
 lation, only, among Planters and such others in India 
 as take an interest in Agricultural experiments. I 
 had no idea of writing a book. Indeed, like most 
 officials in India, my public duties occupy so much of 
 my time as to preclude the possibility of my bestow- 
 ing such care and attention on any leisure occupation, 
 as is necessary to ensure its being well done. Every 
 line almost of these pages has been written between 
 dinner and bedtime. What was written at nighty 
 was sent unrevised to the press in the morning, — a 
 private press, in which there is but one compositor of 
 English, a Bengali. I do not make these remarks 
 with a view to disarm criticism. No attempt has 
 been made in these pages at fine writing ; and the 
 honest writer never fears fair criticism. 
 
 At the same time, a book so written, and so printed, 
 cannot but exhibit many defects, and I am con- 
 scious that this Review is disfigured by more than 
 a full complement. To appear in public in slippers 
 is always disagreeable, and though the more edu- 
 cated and polite the company, the more certain 
 it is to be indulgent and considerate, the necessity 
 for explanation will still remain, and hence this 
 apology. 
 
Apart from these considerations, 1 have no 
 objection to any views or opinions embodied in 
 the following remarks being criticised in a proper 
 spirit. Indeed, if I can succeed in inviting discussion, 
 by more experienced and wiser heads, on those topics, 
 which, at the present moment, are all-important for 
 the future progress of India, and intimately bound 
 up with the welfare of England, and with which I have 
 ventured to deal in the third Chapter of this Review, 
 I shall have attained my sole object in transferring 
 this humble eifort, from the hands of the Planters of 
 the wild yet beautiful Tea Districts of India, to those 
 of a more discerning and deep-thinking public* 
 
 Calcutta, 
 iSth March 1863. 
 
 * At page 32 will be found a note stating that the shares of the Assam 
 Company, in consequence of some irregularities in the Calcutta Board 
 of Management, had declined 25 p. o. Immediately afterwards, they rose 
 stiU higher than previously, and are now quoted at Rs. 490 to Rs. 500. 
 At page 239, 1 have stated that while Tea Seed in the N. W. Provinces was 
 distributed gratis, the Planters in the Punjab had to pay for it. The 
 Lieutenant-Governor has since cancelled his orders on this subject, and 
 I doubt not that the anticipations expressed in the text will be fully 
 realized. My endeavour in writing this Review, has been to state nothing 
 that I did not believe to be strictly true. If I have erred, it has certainly 
 not been for want of honesty of purpose. 
 

 TEA CULTIVATION. 
 Its RisEj Progress, and Future Prospects in India. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 China — Assam. 
 
 There is no feature in the development of the 
 resources of this great peninsula, of which the 
 Government of India have a right to feel more 
 justly proud, than the successful cultivation of the 
 Tea Plant. From whatever point, — external or 
 internal — we view the results obtained, they are 
 pregnant with promise. We cannot shut our eyes 
 to the fact, that France is gradually but steadily 
 creeping towards the frontiers of the great tea 
 garden of the world from the South West. Russia, 
 it is equally well known, has complete command 
 of her opposite frontier, and has long, since ob- 
 tained an influence in the interior, the limits of 
 which it is not easy to define. The Empire itself 
 
 A 
 
is torn by internal dissentions, England watches 
 the sea-board. No one can foresee into what com- 
 plications, the situation, may at any moment hurry 
 us, but any one can foretell that they, most 
 inevitably, must eventuate in a crisis, that will 
 shake the Celestial Empire to its foundations, and 
 possibly devastate every acre of those vast tea lands 
 in which England is so deeply interested. Even 
 now, if I am correctly informed, the civil war that 
 has been raging for the last five years, has shrunk 
 up thousands of acres of fine tea crops, or so 
 seriously damaged the trees a^ to leave them 
 capable of producing none but very inferior tea. 
 What has occirred with cotton, may occur with 
 tea; and in suoh circumstances, it certainly must 
 be very gratifying to Her Majesty's Ministers to 
 know, that while ladia is secure and well governed, 
 England's demand for tea, be it ever so great, can 
 be readily supplied. 
 
 But if viewed from an external point, the present 
 condition and future prospects of tea cultivation iu 
 India, are promising ; how much more so are they 
 in their bearing on the internal prosperity and 
 material progress of the country itself. I accept 
 it as a sound maxim, tliat no * country can be 
 colonized by the people of another country, in 
 which that people cannot till the soil. Now the 
 European cannot labour in the plains of India, and 
 therefore I look on the idea of colonization, gene- 
 
rally, as Utopian. Yet, if any thing can be done 
 in this direction, the cultivation of tea is most 
 certain to accomplish it ; and if its progress be 
 not checked, though we may not look forward to 
 the establishment of large European Colonies in 
 India, we most certainly can calculate on establish- 
 ing European settlements, and pleasant sanatoria, 
 on our hill slopes, containing the homesteads of 
 many busy people scattered broadcast throughout 
 the country, and extending their happy influence 
 far into the plains below. We can farther without 
 any great stretch of imagination, behold in prospectu, 
 hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin soil, now 
 lying waste and uncultivated, — lost to the country, 
 and wholly profitless to Government — covered with 
 rich and highly productive crops, affording employ- 
 ment to hundreds of thousands of (oft) starving 
 people, paid, for the most part, by foreign gold, 
 and returning Government a double revenue > that, 
 derived directly from the sale proceeds of the land; 
 and that derived indirectly, but by far the most 
 valuable of the two — from the increased prosperity 
 of its subjects. We can see again miles of malari- 
 ous and deadly jungle disappear, and our fine 
 healthy young hill colonies connected by broad 
 high ways with the termini of the great arterial 
 lines of railroads, and thus with the ports of 
 Calcutta, Bombay, Kurachi, and Madras, Finally, 
 we can see at no distant date, India supplying the 
 
Inajor portion of a present trade of twelve millions 
 sterling — a trade, which, looking at the increasing 
 demand from Australia, America, and the Continent 
 of Europe, bids fair soon to double itself, — and, 
 per contra, tea cheapened to that point, at which 
 it can be consumed as a staple, by the great mass 
 of the natives of this Country, Afghanistan, Thibet, 
 Persia, and the Orient in general. 
 
 Surely such prospects, if they be not exaggerated, 
 are a subject of congratulation, and the undertaking 
 affording them worthy of the attentive considera- 
 tion and fostering care of those entrusted with 
 the guidance and control of the affairs of. this great 
 Empire. 
 
 But to turn from the id^eal to the real, from 
 what may be, to what has been, and is^ and thus 
 to put ourselves in a better position to decide how 
 far present results justify the foredrawn conclusions, 
 I shall take a brief retrospect of the history of 
 this very interesting experiment. 
 
 Little more than a quarter of a century ago no 
 one had any well formed idea that the tea plant 
 would grow and flourish in India. It is true that 
 there were peculations on the subject; that so 
 early ' even as 1793, Lord Macartney despatched 
 plants from China to Bengal * some parts of which * 
 says Sir G. Staunton ' His Excellency had been 
 informed, were adapted for their cultivation ;' that 
 experiments had been made at Peuang, in Java, 
 
Ceylon and other neighbouring islands j' that a 
 large and healthy • tea tree, ten feet high, was 
 know to be flourishing at Katmandhu in Nipal ; 
 and that the subject had been brought under the 
 consideration of the Board of Control^ and the 
 Court of Directors of the East India Company, in 
 connection with our relations with China. It is 
 further true that in 1816, Mr. Gardiner, the Resi- 
 dent at the Court of Nipal, transmitted a plant 
 from thence to the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta, 
 and that Dr. "Wallich sent a specimen of the 
 same to Sir Joseph Banks in London ; that in 
 1826, Mr. David Scott sent down to Calcutta from 
 Munnipoor, certain leaves of a shrub * which ■ he 
 insisted upon was a real teaj' that about four 
 or five years later^ Lt. Charlton, second in Command 
 of the Assam Regiment was informed that tea grew 
 wild in Assam, and actually obtained three or four 
 young plants from the neighbourhood of Beesa, 
 which were planted in the Botanical Gardens of 
 Calcutta ; that Major Bruce of Jorehat, was aware 
 of the existence of the tea plant; and that his 
 brother Mr. C. Bruce subsequently brought it to 
 notice. But the efforts of none of these gentle- 
 men produced any practical result, though it is 
 but fair to mention that this was mainly attri- 
 butable, to the unwillingness of an eminent botanist, 
 to admit that the leaves of Mr. Scott, or the plants 
 of Lt. Charlton, were tea. Nevertheless we cannot 
 
6 
 
 accbrd to any the full merit of a discoverer, If a 
 man goes into a wild country, and finds growing 
 there a certain frtiit which he believes to be an apple, 
 and this fruit he sends to a distant botanist who 
 pronounces \t to he an apple, and this information 
 he publishes to this world forthwith, that man has 
 the merit of having first announced a fact— perhaps 
 a new one, and possibly one of great interest and 
 value. But if a man finds that there is a similarity 
 in the configuration of two coimtries; that their 
 climates as regards temperature and moisture are 
 much alike; that certain plants of the one flourish 
 at the same latitudes in the other ; and conclud- 
 ing - from these data that a particular ?-nd desired 
 ■plant of the one habitat, will grow in the other, 
 and with the riew of confirming his preconcieved 
 opinions, he sets on foot enquiries on the subject j 
 and during the course, and in the prosecution, of 
 .these enquiries it is ascertained, no matter by whom, 
 that the required plant, will not only flourish in 
 the required country, but i» growing wild there 
 already, — that man is undoubtedly a discoverer. 
 There is a wide difference it will be admitted 
 between the two cases. Lt. Charlton who first sent 
 tea pilanta to Calcutta from Assam about 1830, in 
 •acknowledging, in 1834, the Circular of the Tea 
 Pdmmittee states; ' From what I have seen of the 
 jtea plant in different parts of the world, and 
 .lately in New Holland, propagated by seeds brought 
 
direct from China, I have little doubt but that 
 found near Beesa is a species of tea, and though, it 
 may be spurious, or even a Camellia, as Dr. 
 Wallich suggests, its growing there indiginous and 
 in great abundance, affords good grounds for 
 supposing that the introductioh of the Chinese 
 plant into Upper Assam would be attended with 
 success.' Mr. Scott admitted that Mr. C. Bruce 
 was the first who brought the tea of Assam into 
 notice, though he himself had asserted its existence 
 in Munnipoor, in 1826 j and the Society of Arts 
 of London, awarded him (Mr, Bruce) ' their Gold 
 Medal for discovering the indigenous tea Tracts, 
 and cultivating and preparing tea in Assam.' But 
 Mr. C. Bruce again, in a letter dated 20th Decem- 
 ber 1836 to Captain Jenkins Agent to the Governor 
 General on the North East Frontier, says, ' my 
 late brother [Major Bruce,J who was in Assam 
 before the breaking out of the war, Yi9.di previously 
 informed me of their existence.' 
 
 Now there is nothing in all this to fix the discovery, 
 if it may so be called, of the indigenous tea plant 
 of Assam, or to warrant the slightest detraction 
 from the merit and honor due to the master mind 
 of the distinguished statesman, who, seeing the 
 great advantage that would accrue to India from 
 the introduction of the tea plant, and impressed 
 with the firm conviction that the climate and soil 
 of portions of India were suitable to it, set on 
 
foot enquries on the subject, and sketched a plan 
 for carrying out the object in view. To the wisdom, 
 the ability, the energy and active support, of Lord 
 ■William Beutinck, India is, undoubtedly, indebted 
 for this valuable accession to her wealth, and to 
 him, in my opinion, must be accorded not only the 
 full merit of having discovered that the tea plant 
 will grow in many parts of India, and is, or would 
 appear to be, indigenous to some; but of having 
 introduced it from China, and laid the foundation 
 of the present promising trade in that valuable 
 Article of Commerce. 
 
 His Lordship it is true had had the subject 
 brought to his notice by an intelligent gentleman 
 of the name of Walker, who, alarmed with others 
 at the unsatisfactory state of our political relations 
 with China, thought it not improbable 'that, at 
 no very distant period and from some apparently 
 accidental event, not only the British Nation, but 
 all foreigners might be prohibited entering the 
 ■Chinese territories.' On this ground he considered it 
 of national importance ' that some better guarantee 
 should be provided for the supply of this Article 
 (Tea) than that already furnished by the toleration 
 of the Chinese Government.' He proposed, there- 
 fore, that the East India Company should ' reso- 
 lutely undertake the cultivation on the Nepaul 
 Hills and other districts where the Camellia, and 
 other plants of a character similar to the tea plant 
 
9 
 
 are indigenous.' But Mr. Walker's idea was not 
 original. Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Govan had,- 
 long before him, recommended the experiment being 
 made in the Himalayas, and Dr. Forbes Royle, in 
 1827, had introduced the subject to the notice of 
 Lord Ahmerst, who preceded Lord William Beniinck 
 as Governor General of India, and subsequently 
 reported strongly in favor of it. Lord Ahmerst, 
 however, took no action whatever in the matter ; 
 and the Directors of the East India Company 
 do not seem to have taken any official notice 
 of Mr. Walker's memorandum, which might have 
 lain in theif archives, food for moths, had not 
 the great statesman before mentioned come to 
 India, and on the 24th January 1834 addressed 
 his Council in these words. ' It is not necessary 
 that I should trouble the Council with many 
 remarks to support the abstract question of the 
 great advantage which India would derive from the 
 successful introduction of the tea plant ; and the 
 only points for consideration are whether there 
 are not reasonable grounds for the conclusion, that 
 there must be, in all the varieties of climate and 
 soil, between the Himalayas and Gape Coraorin, 
 combinations of both, that must be congenial to 
 this particular plant; and next, how far it may 
 be practicable to have from China cuttings of the 
 true and best descriptions of the plant, and know- 
 ledge and skill for its cultivation, and for the 
 
10 
 
 subsequent process of preparing the leaves for 
 use.' ' The naturalization ' continued His Lordship 
 'of so many foreign plants and vegetables, the 
 natives of climates very different from onr own 
 would, of itself, afford very sufficient encourage- 
 ment for any attempt of this kind. There, are, 
 however, some shrubs and trees that are familiar 
 to us, of such delicacy as hitherto to have lan- 
 guished wherever transplanted j the mangosteen 
 is one of these : the claret grape has deteriorated 
 in every other spot, and probably the same is 
 the case with the hock grape. In both instances 
 the desideratum has been, a peculiar soil, united 
 to a peculiar climate. We have no such cause 
 of apprehension with regard to the tea plant, 
 which flourishes over a space embracing many 
 degrees of longitude and latitude. As a practical 
 Agriculturist, lam inclined to think that few of 
 the foreign herbs and plants that are become not 
 only naturalized, but also the mainstays of our 
 Agriculture, afforded in the first instance, a greater 
 promise of successful experiment.^ 
 
 His Lordship having thus practically enunciated 
 his news, proceeded in an equally practical manner 
 to carry them out, by appointing a Committee of 
 able men to submit to Government ' a plan for the 
 accomplishment of the object, and for the superin- 
 tendence of its execution.' This Committee was 
 called the Tea Committee, and amongst the mem- 
 
11 
 
 bera, I find the names of J. R. Colv'n, late Lieut.- 
 Governor of the North Western Provinces, 
 C. Trevelyan late Governor of Madras, N. Wallich 
 the well know botanist, B. D. Mangles, and 
 others, all of more or less distinction. The Com- 
 mittee proceeded to collect all the information to 
 be obtained from books, and independent sources, 
 and finally submitted their report. In this docu-r 
 ment, however, while they expressed their belief 
 that there were ' parts of the Company's territories 
 which present such features of climate and soil 
 that would warrant the expectation that tea might 
 be successfully introduced into them with a view to 
 commercial purposes,' from the cautious pains taken 
 to guard against the responsiblity of failure there 
 is latent evidence of the existence of some doubts 
 as to the ultimate success of the experiment. It was 
 sufiicient, however, for the Governor General, who 
 seems to have had no misgivings on the subject, 
 and who thereon immediately carried out his 
 original intention of deputing Mr. Gordon to China, 
 to procure seed, plants, and Chinamen experienced 
 in all the operations of tea planting and tea 
 making; and for this purpose a credit of from 
 twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars was placed 
 at his disposal. 
 
 In some observations drawn up by Dr. Wallich, 
 by desire of the President of the Board of Control, 
 iu 1833, he stated that the attempts made to 
 
12 
 
 introduce the tea plant at Penang and in CeyloUj 
 had failed; and that similar trials, made under 
 very similar circumstances in Java, having proved 
 ' equally fruitless/ they had in consequence been 
 given up. In his first report, dated Macao 24th 
 July 1834, Mr. Gordon says; ' from the Agent to 
 the Dutch Company I learn, that they have got at 
 Java between 3,00,000 and 4,00,000 plants; 
 and that the Company is so sanguine of success 
 that they are extending the plantations vigorously.' 
 Their annual supply of seed is immense ; and of 
 last year's despatch half has actually come up in 
 nurseries. The produce he asserts, is of very 
 good quality, between pekoe, and cougo ; but OTing 
 perhaps to the youth of their plants, they have not 
 succeeded in a perfect imitation of either pekoe or 
 Congo." And this statement as upsetting one of those 
 erroneous ideas formed from inaccurate or de fee- 
 tive information, which so helped in the outset to 
 retard the initiation of experiments in the natura- 
 lization of the tea plant, would have been valuable, 
 had not an event occured, that diverted attention 
 from Mr. Gordon and his enquiries in China, to 
 matters nearer home. This was nothing less than 
 the discovery that the tea plant was growing wild 
 at our own doors. 
 
 One of the Tea Committee's first acts was to issue a 
 Circular with a view to collecting information as to 
 the climate and soil of various localities in India, so 
 
13 
 
 that on reciept of the necessary information frOm, 
 China on these points, the seeds and plants might 
 be at once despatched to those places best adapted for 
 the cultivation. Dr. Falconer, the superintendent 
 of the Botanical Gardens at Saharunpoor, was de- 
 puted to examine and report on the countries 
 situated between the heads of the Jumna and 
 Ganges, for the purpose of selecting appropriate 
 sites for tea nurseries j and Mr. Traill and Cap- 
 tain Jenkins tlie commissioners of Kamaon and 
 Assam, were addressed with a like intention. 
 Favorable reports in regard to soil and climate were 
 received from Dr. Falconer and Mr. Traill. But on 
 the 7th and 14th May J 834, respectively, Captain 
 Jenkins, and Lieutenant Charlton, reported not 
 only the soil and climate favorable, but their 
 firm belief in the existence of the tea plant 
 in Assam. And on the 8th November of the 
 same year, Lieutenant Charlton sent down to 
 the Tea Committee, seeds, the raw leaves of 
 the indigenous plant, and tea manufactured from 
 them, ' the best test ' as he remarked ' that 
 the tree is not a Camellia as Dr. Wallich 
 imagines.' 
 
 Here then was a positive proof —not the seed ; nor 
 the leaves of a tree only ; nor yet the tree itself; 
 but actually good and drinkable tea manufactured 
 there-from. The fact was indisputable ; and on the 
 24th December 1834, it was announced by the Tea 
 
 B 
 
14 
 
 Committee to His Excellency the Governor General, 
 in the following glowing terms : — 
 
 ' It is with feelings of the greatest possible satis- 
 faction that we are enabled to announce to His Lord- 
 ship in Council, that the Tea Shrub is, beyond all 
 doubt, indigenous in Upper Assam, being found 
 there, through an extent of country, of one month's 
 march within the Hon'ble Company's . Territories, 
 from Suddya and Beesa to Younnam, where the 
 shrub is cultivated for its leaf. We have no hesita- 
 tion in declaring this discovery, which is due to 
 the indefatigable researches of Captain Jenkins and 
 Lieutenant Charlton, to be far the most important 
 and valuable that has ever been made on matters 
 connected with the sgricultural or commercial 
 resources of the empire. We are perfectly cour 
 iident that the tea plant which has been brought to 
 light, will be found capable, under proper manage- 
 ment, of being cultivated with complete success 
 for commercial purposes, and that consequently 
 the object of our labours may be before long fully 
 realized.' 
 
 The Committee proceeded to observe that they were 
 not altogether unprepared for this discovery. They 
 knew that Mr. Scott had sent down the leaves 
 of a plant he stated to be tea in 1826 ; and that a 
 similar assertion had been made in regard to the 
 existence of the tea plant in Upper Assam. But 
 they felt bound, they added, to suspend their decision 
 
15 
 
 on the subject until they should be in possession of 
 the fruitj which they considered the only test they 
 could safely take as a guide. Now eight years is a 
 very long time to allow for a suspension of judge- 
 ment regarding tlie species of a plant so long known 
 to the commercial world as the tea plant. Had the 
 Tea Committee, w'th the knowledge they con-i 
 fess to have been so long in possession of, either 
 individually before, or collectively after their 
 appoinment, taken any active measures to satisfy 
 themselves on the point which they imply in their 
 report was in question, they might have been admit- 
 ted to some share in the merit of this discovery. 
 But there is nothing to show that they did so, or 
 that they were not quite as much taken by sur- 
 prize as every one else in India. On the contrary 
 their proceedings, both before and after the dis- 
 covery, negative, any such conclusion. For, there 
 was no diiference between the circulars sent by 
 them to Assam and any other part of India, and 
 on receipt of the intelligence of the new discovery, 
 they completely altered the plan of operations they 
 had previously sketched out. 
 
 Mr. Gordon was now recalled from China, and a 
 Commission of scientific men, composed of Doctors 
 Wallich and Griffith as botanists, and Doctor 
 Mc Clelland as a geologist, was deputed to Upper 
 Assam, for the purpose of collecting, on the spot, 
 the greatest variety procurable of botanical, geo- 
 
16 
 
 logical, and other details, (wiisidered necessary as 
 preliminary to the successful commencement of 
 operations. 
 
 Now it is undeniable that, at first, there was a 
 very strong pr^udioe against Assam, as a tea grow- 
 ing country, — a prejudice arising, as very many 
 other prejudices have done before, entirely, from 
 defective information. One error, for example, which 
 almost proved fatal to the success of tea in Assam, 
 was the supposition that tea was a cold loving plant, 
 or to use the words of the Tea Committee in their 
 instructions to those appointed to select sites for 
 nurseries, ' that a decided winter climate of six 
 weeks or two months ' daration, with frost as well 
 as snow, is essential to ensure final success with 
 really good sorts of tea.' I do not know on what 
 grounds this idea was originally based, but it was, 
 1)0 doubt extensively propagated by the reports of 
 Dr. Abel, the botanist who accompanied Lord 
 Ahmerst's expedition to Chinn. It so happened, 
 unfortunately, that Dr. Abel was so ill almost the 
 whole time he was in China, as hardly to be able^ 
 to leave his boats ; and his reports were based, 
 mainly, on the information he received from those 
 who were with him. He could not then be said 
 to be an eye witness of wliat he described, and 
 his conclusions were not properly deserving of the 
 confidence that, under other circumstances, they 
 would have been entitled to. But the public, are 
 
17 
 
 not always nicely discriminate. It Was enough 
 that Dr. Abel was a botanist, and had beenin Chinas 
 Of course he knew all about tea. 
 
 Dr. Me Clelland, however, by the very simple 
 process of calling Dr. Abel's own authorities [Ellis 
 Barrow, and StauutonJ into court, and analysing 
 their published statements, showed clearly that not 
 one of them had said a single word to support the 
 theory of high altitudes in the absolute ; but that 
 all had said a good deal that might bear, -with some 
 force, the other way. He further showed, that 
 there was a remarkable similarity in the configura- 
 tion of two, at least, of the tea growing districts 
 of China, Kianff-naUi and Kiang-si, and parts 
 of Assam ; and proved, by examination, that the 
 nature of the soils was suflBciently similar to war- 
 rant the most sanguine hopes of success. He was 
 of opinion that the tea tree found growing wild 
 there was iudigeuoua j and consequently, that the 
 climate was congenial to that species of the 
 plant, and he concluded rightly from these rfaia, that 
 Assam would grow quite as good tea as China. 
 
 Dr. Griffiths again, fearlessly attacked many of 
 the erroneous opinions which had been advanced 
 on the subject in India, ably supporting his views, 
 which experience has proved, in the main, sound, 
 by the opinions of distinguished botanists in Europe, 
 and actual experience gained in China. I cannot 
 conclude this part of my report he wrote ' without 
 
19 
 
 adverting to the desultory manner in wliieh the 
 question of tea culture in India, has been treated 
 by every author who has written on the subject,, 
 with the exception of Mr. Mc Clelland. To what 
 conclusion but one, can we come, when we find an 
 authority, who has been supposed to be acquainted 
 with the question in all its details, stating very 
 gravely that a temperature between SO** and 80" 
 is requisite ; and when we find that this is as gravely 
 taken up by a popular and more philosophical 
 author/ And after expressing a hope that the 
 spirit of his remarks would be taken in the proper 
 light viz. a strong wish to protect, as far as his ability 
 would allow, the interests of Government — this gifted 
 botanist summed up his very able report with these 
 ■words. ' As affairs stand now, the scheme must recom- 
 mence ab on^mCjinVolving a loss of nearly three years-, 
 and of large sums of money r to say nothing of 
 the revulsion that mnst have taken place in the 
 minds of all interested in its prosecution. I have 
 above stated my conviction that success is, under 
 the circumstances alluded to, certain r and I htive 
 adopted this conviction on the following grounds; — 
 
 1st. That the tea plant is indigenous to, and 
 distributed extensively over, a large portion of Upper 
 Assam. 
 
 2nd. That there is a similarity in configuration 
 between the Valley of Assam^ and two of the best 
 known tea provinces of China. 
 
19 
 
 Brd. That there is a similarity between the dimateS 
 of the two countries, both with regard to tempera- 
 ture and humidity. 
 
 4>th. That there is a precise similarity between 
 the stations of the tea plant in Upper Assam, and 
 its stations in those parts, of the provinces of Keang- 
 nan and Eeano-see that have been traversed bif 
 Europeans. 
 
 5th That there is a similarily both in the assO' 
 dated and the general vegetation of both Assam, and 
 those parts of the Chinese tea provinces situated in 
 or about the same latitudes.' 
 
 I give prominent insertion to this extract, as 
 containing those philosophic principles ou which aii 
 enquiry of scientific and great national importance 
 should be conducted. It is of vital moment in a 
 country like India, where We are almost daily called 
 on to pronounce an opinion on the feasibility of 
 supplying the mother country with some new want^ 
 that important questions of this nature^nstead of 
 being decided on the random reports and desultory 
 opinions of men, adraitedly, let it be, of great general 
 intelligence, bat wholly incompetent to give au 
 opinion of any value whatever oi» questions requir-* 
 ing scientific and special attainments-— should be 
 first carefully considered by men of acknowledged 
 ability to deal with them. It will be seen on 
 reference to the minute of the Governor Generai 
 from which I have quoted above/ that he started 
 
20 
 
 from precisely the same points, as Doctors Mc Cle» 
 land and Griffith. Their couclusions formed on 
 the only fully sound bases, actual examination, and 
 practical experience, verified his Lordships prog- 
 nostication in every particular. With the reports 
 of these gentlemen His Excellency's case in favor 
 of India, as a tea growing country, was completed, 
 and to them, therefore, must be nssigned the second 
 .place in merit, in the investigations which led up 
 to the successful introduction of tea culture in 
 the Lower Provinces. It is a source of regret 
 that the experiment was not placed under the super* 
 intendence of one or other of them, at a time 
 when their services might have been of the utmost 
 vahie, instead of being jeojjardiKed, and all but aban- 
 doned, US was subsequently the case. For, I have 
 little doubt, that had the reports of Dr. Mc Clellaiid 
 and Griffith, received, at the time they were 
 furnished, the attention that experience gained, has 
 proved the}'- were deserving of, India instead of 
 of two, might now be exporting, annually, ten 
 million pounds of ten. 
 
 But to return to the Tea Committee. Mr. Gordon 
 had no sooner returned to Calcutta, than it was found 
 he had been recalled at the moment his services, 
 on the spot, were most required ; and he was deputed, 
 a second time, to China, to superintend the arrange- 
 ments he had made for procuring supplies of seed 
 fiad plants. la both his missions^ Mr. Gordon 
 
21 
 
 sent round to Calcutta several casks of seed's, 
 some plants, 'and eiglit or ten Cliinanien. From 
 tlie seed about 42^000 plants were reared, which were 
 distributed as follows : — 
 
 Madras Presidency 2,000 
 
 Assam.... 20,000 
 
 North Western Himalayas 20,000 
 
 42,000 
 
 It was further proposed, in communication 
 with Mr. Gordon, that Mr. Gutzlaff, a Missionary, 
 long resident in China, should be deputed to pene- 
 trate the Chinese provinces through Yunnara 
 into Burmah, and thence to Suddya in Assam. 
 But this proposal, apparently, fell to the ground. 
 on the whole , Mr. Gordon's seeond mission to 
 China does not seem to have been productive of 
 the results anticipated, though from the encomium 
 passed on him by the Tea Committee no blame 
 would appear to have attached to him. He re- 
 turned to Calcutta in the beginning of 1836, and 
 soon after resigned his office as Secretary, to Dr. 
 Wallich. 
 
 The plants sent to Madras for distribution were 
 planted at Coorg, Mysore, the Neelghiri Hills, 
 and in the Horticultural Gardens at Madras. Their 
 story is soon told. Six m onths after they arrived 
 (82nd August 1836) the Chief Secretary reported 
 
32 
 
 to the Supreme Government ' that the experiment 
 had completely failed ; and that with the exception 
 of a few plants on the Neelghiri Hills, and in 
 the Nagger country, the rest [had] withered away.' 
 It must not be concluded, however, from this, that 
 no part of the south of India will grow tea; as from 
 the unavoidable ingorance of those entrusted with 
 the charge of these early experiments, no other 
 result could have been anticipated. 
 
 The 20,000 plants destined for Assam fared little 
 better. They were sent up in boats in the care 
 of a Sergeant. When they reached Assam, 8,000 
 only were living. But even this nucleus would, 
 in time, have served to propagate the plant, had 
 proper precautions been observed in organizing the 
 nurseries and plantations prepared to receive them. 
 Such, however, was not the case, and as it will not 
 be altogether uninstructive, I will here trace the 
 progress of these 'unfortunate plants.' 
 
 ' A spot ' says Dr. Griffith ' was fixed upon (as a 
 nursery) by the Deputation, at Chykwa, appearing to 
 possess the requisite peculiarities of soil and situation. 
 The spot was completely cleared for the reception of 
 plants, and after a considerable time had elapsed, 
 owing to the difficulty of procuring labourers, they 
 were at length, under the superintendence of Mr. 
 Bruce and of a malee from the Botanic Gardens, 
 removed to their final destination. About August, I 
 visited the Nursery with Lieut. Millak, comman-ding 
 
23 
 
 at Sadiya, and Mr. Bruce. To my great astonish- 
 ment, not 500 of the plants were alive, and of these 
 almost all appeared, in tlie last stage of decline. 
 The ground was literally matted down with low 
 tenacious weeds, and it is a fact, that on our arrival 
 at the Nursery, not a Tea plant could be seen, owing 
 to the uniform green colour of the surface. I look 
 upon this Nursery, which would, under other circum- 
 statices, have contained many thousands of excellent 
 Chinese stock, to the existence of which, I at least, 
 attach primary importance, as totally destroyed. 
 The cause of this destruction is beyond doubt to 
 be attributed to the fact, that the plants, which 
 had for several months been under sheds, were in 
 the Nursery completely unsheltered from a suffi- 
 ciently hot sun, the obvious remedy for which would 
 have been the erection of temporary muchowns or 
 mats, by the removal of which, at certain times, the 
 plants might have become accustomed to that which 
 was to them an excess of solar influence ; and that 
 the intervals between the plants, as well as round 
 each, had apparently never been subjected to the 
 operations of a hoe or any other instrument.' 
 
 Assam was now left entirely to its own resources — 
 the indigenous trees, and the plants raised from 
 their seed ; and owing to the deep interest taken in 
 the experiment by Captain Jenkins, and Major White, 
 and their active support — and, above all to the 
 praiseworthy and valuable services of Mr. C. Bruce, 
 
24 
 
 a considerable degree of success, was obtained. 
 Mr. Bruce bad been of the greatest assistance to 
 the deputation, and oq the recommendation of Dr. 
 Wallich, he was appointed superintendent of tea 
 forests and placed in general charge of the opera- 
 tions sanctioned for the experimental manufacture 
 of tea in Assam. On this selection Dr. Griffith 
 remarked as follows : — 
 
 ' From the remarks I have made as to the impor- 
 tance of improving the Asamese plant, it will be 
 evident that certain qualifications are necessary in 
 the person who has the general superintendence of 
 the whole plan. It has been generally allowed that 
 the superintendence of the culture of any given 
 plant, requires at the least a certain degree of prac- 
 tical knowledge ; and that if this be combined with 
 some theoretical knowledge, the chances of success 
 are much increased. Now it may be fairly asked, 
 how are the above qualifications fulfilled in the 
 instance of the present Superintendent of Tea, 
 Mr. BaucE ? The question may appear invidious, 
 particularly to those unacquainted with Assam, but 
 the answer is obvious. Indeed to do Mr. Bruce 
 justice, I believe he does not pretend to possess 
 either one or the other. As a zealous hard-working 
 person Mr. Bruce can not well be exceeded, and to 
 these good qualities he adds those of a tolerable 
 aoquaintance with the natives of Upper Assam, and 
 of the Assamese language, so far as colloquial 
 
25 
 
 intercourse with the lower orders, and the possession 
 of strong physical powers/ 
 
 Now there is much truth in Dr. Griffith's remarks 
 regarding the qualifications that should necessarily 
 be united in a person entrusted with the sole 
 superintendence of an experiment of so important 
 a nature as that under review. At the same time, if 
 it cannot be said that Mr. Bruce possessed them all, 
 it must nevertheless be admitted that he possessed 
 many tliat enabled him to render very valuable 
 services to Government, and to tea interests. 
 ' Unappalled says the Tea Committee in a report 
 to Government ' by the discomforts, difficulties, 
 and even dangers of travelling in the rainy 
 season, through the jungly country of the Sing- 
 phos, on the south side of the Eerampootra, 
 he made an excursion as far as Beeralakam, on. 
 the Tarapanee, beyond the Burra Dehing river,' 
 He traversed vast provinces heretofore untrodden 
 by the foot of any European, discovered large tracts 
 of country covered with indigenous tea trees, and 
 by his knowledge of the language, and his con- 
 ciliatory manners and judicious treatment of the 
 natives, he was mainly instrumental in establish- 
 ing those relations with the chiefs and hill tribes, 
 through which the whole of the forests and waste and 
 uncultivated lands of the province, were subsequently 
 placed at the disposal of Government. He further 
 successfully cultivated the indigenous plant, first 
 
36 
 
 manufacturing from its leaves marketable tea, 
 which, when sent into the London market, was 
 so highly reported on, and sold at such fabulous 
 prices, as to encourage the most sanguine hopes 
 of the article becoming a most profitable com- 
 mercial speculation. 
 
 The report of the first eight chests of Assam 
 tea manufactured by Mr. Bruce and offered for sale 
 in the London market, was as follows : — 
 
 Souchong. 
 Lot 1, 1st quality, 34 lbs. net at 21s. per lb. 
 „ 2, 2nd „ 28 „ „ at 20s. „ 
 „ 3,3rd „ 37 „ „ at 16s. „ 
 
 Pekoe. 
 Lot 4, 2nd quality, 38 lbs. net at 24s. Qd. per lb. 
 „ 5, „ „ 40 „ „ at 25s. „ 
 
 „ 6, „ „ 33 „ „ at 27s. &d. „ 
 „ 7, „ „ 35 „ „ at 28s. Gd. „ 
 „ 8, „ „ 36 „ „ at 34s. „ 
 
 ' The result here exhibited ' the Court of Direc- 
 tors in their despatch to the Governor General 
 remarked 'will not, of course, lead you to the 
 formation of any correct opinions as to the real- 
 marketable valuable of the tea, should it arrive iu 
 quantities sufficient to be considered a staple article 
 of commerce ; on the contrary, it can only be con- 
 sidered as a fancy price, occasioned by the great 
 excitement and competition created by the novelty 
 
27 
 
 and curiosity of the sale.' The brokers however,' 
 had a high opinion of the tea^ and an offer was 
 immediately made to contract for 500 or 1,000 
 chests at Is. lO^d. to 2s. per lb.* 
 
 The injunctions of the Court of Directors to 
 the Government of India, were, 'that the opera- 
 tions undertaken in order to ascertain whether 
 marketable tea could be grown and manufaictured 
 in India, should be considered strictly experimental,* 
 their object being to induce private capatalists to 
 undertake the task of carrying on the operations to a 
 profitable issue. The required fact was now ascer- 
 tained. Tea was grown, was manufactured, and sold 
 at a high price in the London market. The work 
 the Government of India proposed to itself to 
 accomplish, was completed. The rest is soon 
 told. 
 
 A joint-stock company, ' The Assam,' with a 
 nominal capital of a million sterling was projected 
 in London (1839) for bringing the tea forests of 
 Assam, as they were called, into cultivation, and soon 
 formed. In 1810 they commenced operations, 
 on a scale of expense in keeping with the existing 
 idea, that the profits of the undertaking would be 
 so rapid and so enormous, as to render any attempt, 
 at economy imprudent and unnecessary. Under 
 
 * ThefoUowin g year (1 840) feu chests of tea were offered for sale, 
 and thougli the prices obtained were not equal to those of the 
 previous year, they were still very hig-h viz. 8s,, 9s., 10s., and 
 lU. per lb. 
 
28 
 
 the exciting influence of tliis false idea tlie most 
 extravagant expenses were incurred and sanctioned ; 
 and that nothing might be wanting to promote the 
 the enterprize. Government liberally transferred to 
 the Company its su])erintende'nt and two-thirds of 
 its own plantations and estjiblishments.. 
 
 But aiasj for the vanity of human expectations ! 
 Both Government and tlie Company were doomed 
 to disappointment. The soil in one place was not 
 selected with reference to the requirements of the 
 ■plant— labor in another was insufficient — the cul- 
 tivation in a third was bad— the superintendence 
 in a fourth was inefficient — ignorance every where 
 •was rampant, — and to crown allj the tea, ■rnhe^n 
 manufactured, was pronounced by the London 
 brokers to be bad \ The Assam Company, having, 
 by the most reckless mismanagement, thrown away 
 jg200,000,the whole of its called up capital, and about 
 ^20jOOO more, was reduced to a state of insolvency so 
 nearly verging on bankruptcy, that £20 shares were 
 sold in the Calcutta market for less than one rupee. 
 It was proposed to wind up its affairs. But this 
 catastrophe was averted by the exertions and sound 
 practical advice of Mr. H. de Mornay. On visiting 
 the plantations this gentleman found them so choked 
 with weeds. that not a siugle plant was visible. Large 
 sowings had been very regularly made, but, unfortu- 
 nately, had as regularly been suffered to be destroyed 
 by the jungle and rank vegetation which springs np 
 
29 
 
 in Assam with magic rapidity. The Company's capital 
 had literally been poured out upon the earth, and 
 there allowed to rot With the keen eye of an expe- 
 rienced man of business, however, Mr. de Mornay 
 saw in the devastation before him, the germs of 
 success. Instead therefore of advising the company 
 to wind up its affairs, he at once set about rectify- 
 ing the errors that had been committed. But to 
 make a tea garden, is a matter of time, and 
 consequently for some years tha position of the 
 Company, in public opinion, did not improvs 
 (1846-7-8.) 
 
 In the mean time G-overnment, having performed 
 it's task, and finding its only remaining garden a 
 Very unprofitable and very expensive affair, sold 
 it for a song t3 a Chinaman, and left the field 
 ■altogether to private speculators (1849.) Now it; 
 might naturally be supposed that if any one would 
 •succeed with tea, a Chinaman was the man ; but 
 in this case it was not so. Antony, for that was 
 Jiis name, most signally failed, and shortly after 
 resold his bargain far half the purchase money 
 Es. 475 i 
 
 The prospects of tea in Assam, so bright in 
 the commencement^ Were now dimmed almost td 
 extinction ; and had it not been for the energy 
 'and perseverance of a few individuals, it is possible 
 that the cultivation of the plant would have been 
 abandoned altogether. Among them should be 
 
so 
 
 speciallymentioned Mr. H. de Mornar, the regenera- 
 tor of the experiment, Mr. Williamson, and a mili- 
 tary officer, the late Lieutenant Colonel Hannay, 
 Commandant of the 1st Assam Light Infantry. 
 The latter gentleman having by high and careful 
 cultivation brought a small experimental garden, 
 of the China plant, into a flourishing condition, he 
 obtained a further grant of land, and extended his 
 cultivation with great success (1851). Encouraged 
 by the success which attended the operations of the 
 Colonel and the gentlemen above mentioned, Messrs. 
 "Warren and Jenkins, G. Barry of Seraj gunge, 
 and others, soon folJowed their good example ; and 
 the work rapidly progressed. The choked up 
 gardens of the Assam Company, had, by this time, 
 been completely reclaimed. A dividend was de- 
 clared! (1852.) Tlanters generally took heart. Pro- 
 per care was bestowed on the selection of the soil, 
 the cultivatiou of the plant, and finally, on the 
 manipulation of the leaf and other processes of 
 manufacture. The tea, always in itself good, 
 gradually assumed an altered appearance, — until 
 at laat, the produce of the indigenous Assam plant, 
 which- the brokers rejected, became more sought 
 after, and, ' once more, fetched higher prices in 
 the London Market, than the very finest China 
 teas. 
 
 • Applications for grants of lands now poured in, 
 and were complied with by Government on the 
 
31 
 
 most liberal terms. Tea Gardens sprung up iti 
 Upper Assam by dozens. Messrs. Martin and Sons 
 in Lower Assam (1854), and others in Central 
 Assam, followed in the same course. And finally, an 
 impulse was imparted to the new cultivation, which 
 has resulted in giving to a Province, heretofore 
 a penal Settlement, an importance second to none 
 in the British possessions in India. 
 
 The quantity of land appropriated to the cultiva- 
 tion of tea by the latest returns ^July 1862) 
 had reached the sum of 71,218 acres, 13,222 of 
 which are actually under cultivation, bearing aii 
 estimated crop of 1,788,737 lbs. of tea, and affording 
 employment to 16,611 daily laborers,* There are 
 now in Assam one hundred and sixty plantations, 
 owned by sixty Companies and individuals. Of 
 the Companies, five are juint-stock concerns, the 
 Assam, the Jorehat, the East India, and the Lower, 
 and the Central Assam; besides which there are 
 fifteen private Companies. And, if an idea be 
 required of the favor with which the public now 
 views India tea investments, it may be gathered 
 from the stubborn fact, that the shares of the 
 Company which, as before mentioned, were one e 
 sold in the Calcutta Market for less than one rupee, 
 
 * Very numerous additional grants have been lately applied for 
 under tlm Resolution of the Go-vernmcnt oi India regarding: the sale 
 of waste lands (17th October 1861 ;) but none will be complied 
 with pending receipt of the orders of the Uight Hon'bW the Secre- 
 tary of State , 
 
82 
 
 can With difficulty be obtained for foii.'f hundred 
 md fifty !* 
 
 Nor was the cultivation confined to Assam. It was 
 discovered for the second time (1855) that the 
 plant was indigenous to Cachar also, and the dis- 
 covery Was no sooner made, than enterprizing men, 
 (especially Messrs. Williamson and Barry^) were 
 found to turn it to account. In this province up 
 to date, (18th July 1862) upwards of 68,149 acres 
 have been leased to tea planters j there are thirty-one 
 working concerns j and, though the experiment has 
 H development of but six yearsj 6,077 acres haVe 
 been brought under culture, the estimated crop of 
 which for the year is 336,800 lbs. of manufactured 
 tea. ]?rom the chops moreover which have been 
 sent into the London Market, it has been pro* 
 nounced quite equal, in every respect, to the best 
 Assam. The cultivation afforded employment last 
 year to 6719 laborers. 
 
 At Hazureebagh, and especially Darjeeling, both 
 places in point of climate, well suite! to the European 
 constitution, the cultivation of tea has been also 
 introduced, and I believe with every success, t 
 say, I believe, because from Ha^areebagh I have 
 no information further than that the tea that 
 has come to Oalcutta from it is good. But regard- 
 
 * Since this was written the sliaies of this Oompany owing' to- 
 l-umoured irregularities on the part of some of the Calcutta Board 
 of Management, and the resignation of Mr, H. de Mornay^the 
 Managing Director, have declined 25 p. c. 
 
33 
 
 ing Darjeeling as a tea growing district, there 
 are diflFerences of opinion. Some thiiils that at 
 Sin elevation of 7000 feet, the cold is too severe for 
 the delicate young seedlings, and that the beat io 
 summer is not sufficiently great to ensure fine 
 flushes. But in opposition to these opinions, we 
 have the simple facts that practical planters have 
 taken up 21,865 acres of land for the purpose, and 
 employed, last year, 4819 laborers in cultivating it j 
 and though operations were only commenced five 
 years ago, 8762 acres have been brought under the 
 hoe. Of this, 5152 acres have been planted out, the 
 out-turn of which for the year was estimated at 
 78,244 lbs. of manufactured tea, musters of which 
 having tested, I have no hesitation in pronouncing, 
 though perhaps somewhat too highly flavored to 
 please all tea drinkers, a very flrtit class tea. 
 . It will thus be seen, that in the provinces under 
 the Authority of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, 
 the results for the year 1862, were : — 
 
 
 Extent qf grant 
 in Acres. 
 
 Area under 
 cultivation. 
 
 Crop far the 
 year 1862, 
 
 Number of 
 laborers. 
 
 
 71,215 
 68,149 • 
 21865 
 
 13.222 
 6,077 
 8,762 
 
 1,788,737 
 336,800 
 
 I66I1 
 
 Cachar 
 
 Darjeeling 
 
 6,719 
 
 4,819 
 
 Grand Total .... 
 
 161,219 
 
 28,061 
 
 2,203,781 
 
 28,149 
 
The data from which this return is compiled is 
 not, iinfortanately, as complete as it might be, 
 the managers of some private concerns declining, 
 for reasons best known to themselves, to furnish 
 Government officials with the particulars required, 
 for giving a complete statistical detail of this in- 
 teresting cultivation. 
 
 But an unerring test in such cases, where the 
 materials obtained from private sources are imper- 
 fect or doubtful, are, the trade returns. These, as 
 courteously furnished to me by the Board of; 
 Revenue, show, that for the year ending 80th April, 
 1862, the quantity of tea exported to all ports from 
 Calcutta, was 5,686 chests, containing 1,487,285 lbs. 
 of tea. Under Act X. of 1860, and XI. of 1862, teai 
 is exported free of duty. It is nevertheless valued , 
 at the Custom House. For this purpose it is 
 divided into four different classes, viz. 8 as., 12 as., , 
 I r., and 1 r., 4 as. per lb., which gives an average ■ 
 of 14 as. per lb., and a total for the year 1861 of 
 Rs. 13,01,374, or say, £130,137. And, as what tea 
 has been grown in the North West, has been almost 
 wholly consumed in the country, and comparatively 
 very little of Assam and Gachar tea is retained for 
 home use, the return here given, will afford a 
 very fair idea of the quantity of tea grown last 
 year, in the Lower Provinces of Bengal. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of North Western India — the Slopes of the 
 Himalayas — the Valley of Kangra. 
 
 Having thus given an impartial sketch of the 
 experiments made in Assam, 1 shall proceed to give 
 some account of the success which attended similar 
 experiments made in other parts of India. It 
 v\rill be recollected that the slopes of the Himalayas, 
 at altitudes varying from two to six thousand feet, 
 had been recommended by almost all authorities, 
 as better adapted than any other part of India 
 for the successful cultivation of tea. Sir Joseph 
 Banks, Dr. Govan, Dr. Wallich,-Dr. Falconer, and 
 Professor Eoyle, all, with some diflPerences as to 
 altitudes, concurred in this opinion, and there 
 can be no doubt, that facts, as ascertained at 
 the time, fully justified the conclusion at which 
 they arrived. It was generally believed that all 
 the best teas that reach England from China, were 
 grown in the north, the climate of which is tem- 
 perate, and in winter extremely cold. Many of 
 the plants and flora of parts of China, were found 
 
36 
 
 to be indigenons to the slopes of the Himalayas. 
 Very erroneous notions prevailed in England, and 
 amongst botanists, regarding the Thea Bohea, or 
 plant of the south, and the Thea Viridis, or plant 
 of the north of China, the process of manufacturing 
 the article of commerce called tea being so little 
 known, that results brought about by its agency, 
 ■were attributed solely to distinctions of species in 
 the plant. This is not the place to enter on a dis- 
 cussion regarding the different species and varieties of 
 the tea plant, nor to decide what is a species, and what 
 only a cultivated variety. Nor if it were, not being 
 a botanist, would I attempt to conduct any enquiry 
 on the subject. But from the evidence before me, 
 and present experience, I must say that I can see no- 
 thing to have caused the angry discussions that took 
 •place on the discovery of the new tea plant, and the 
 alarm that was created amongst certain botanists, on 
 the publication of the satisfactory reports of the 
 London brokers on the tea manufactured from the 
 indigenous plant of Assam. That Dr. Wallich was 
 slow in admitting that the Assam plant was of the real 
 Thea species is true ; and it is much to be regret- 
 ted. For there can be no doubt, that his unwilling- 
 ness to forego his previously conceived ideas, or rather 
 to receive new ones on the subject, postponed 
 the discovery for several years, and considerably 
 retarded subsequent experimental operations. Differ- 
 ences of opinion between savans, will arise, and 
 
37 
 
 if discussed with moderation and temper, they are 
 oftea attended with the most impdttant results. 
 But bitter criticisms and angry discussions, between 
 men of real genius, who are supposed, or who, at 
 least ought, to soar high above an atmosphere 
 infected by the noxious vapor of petty jealousies 
 peculiar to men of doubtful reputations, are especi- 
 ally to be avoided, — first because they must always 
 be fraught with danger to the objects to which 
 such men dedicate their lives^-and secondly be- 
 cause they tend very much to damage the fair 
 fame of those who indulge in themt In the 
 present instance, it is to this cause, no doubt, 
 that we owe the loss of the report of Dr. Wallich, 
 the head of the deputation to Assam, which 
 certainly would have been both interesting and 
 valuable. And, why? Because he. Dr. Falconer, 
 Professor Royle, and others had recommended the 
 slopes of the Himalayas, as offering the best pros- 
 pect of success. Yet, after reading nearly all, if 
 not all, that has been written on the subject, I most 
 unhesitatingly say, not only that these gentlemen 
 were perfectly right ; but that had they done other- 
 wise, they would have signally failed in their duty to 
 the Government they served. It was not the object 
 of the Government of India to introduce and 
 cultivate a species of the tea plant, but the species 
 of the tea plant which produced the tea of commerce ; 
 and, at the time the experiment was projected, that 
 
38 
 
 species ; was known to exist only in Chinaj and 
 believed to grow there, in highest perfection, in the 
 temperate climate of the North. Little it is true 
 ■was known of the interior of China; but how- 
 soever little that little was, it is an undoubted 
 fact, that, what was known, to the botanic world, 
 of Assam, was infinitely less, for it was — nothing 
 at all\ No. lukewarm n ess can be attributed to any 
 of the gentlemen engaged in the enquiry after it 
 was satisfactorily proved that the Assam plant was 
 a real tea ; and from that date the whole question, 
 from a botanic point of view, resolved itself into 
 this. Is it identical with the tea plant of China, or 
 a new species? And what has experience proved? 
 Why simply, that if the Thea Assamica, is not dis- 
 tinct in species from the Thea Bohea, it is quite as 
 distinct from it, as the Thea Bohea, is from the Thea 
 Viridis; that the numerous cultivated varieties of botli 
 the. latter species, found growing in the same garden 
 in China, often differ sufficiently from each other in 
 external characteristics to give color to the belief that 
 the Thea Bohea and the Thea Viridis, may originally 
 have sprung from one and the same stock ; that the 
 China tea shrub ' delights in high situations ;' and 
 that all the fine green teas of China, are grown in ti;e 
 
 temperate climate of the north, — and t\iQ finest of 
 the black teas, on the slopes of the Bohea Hills. 
 The simple fact then, would seem to be, that the tea 
 
 shrub is a peculiarly hardy plant, and in the dia- 
 
39 
 
 cussions above alluded to, uo allowance was made, 
 by either side, for differences in characteristics liable 
 to occur in a plant reproduced from seed, distri- 
 buted over an area of 28 degrees of latitude and 
 30 degrees of longitude. 
 
 An evidently intelligent Chinese author {wpui 
 Ball) in speaking of the district of Kien Ning Fu, 
 says ' there are some plantations on plains rather 
 low, the soil of which is compact, a little muddy, 
 rather black, neither very odd nor very hot, and 
 rather damp. The tea of this place is worth about 
 two-thirds more than the tea of other parts of 
 Eo-kien; — but the best of all, is procured from 
 plants which are upon high mountains in steep 
 places, sometimes like precipices ; and on this ac- 
 count iron chains are used to ascend them, and to 
 gather the leaves. These are the famous mountains 
 of Vu-ye, in the district of Kien Ning Fu.' 
 
 Now it is not my object in this place, to prove the 
 converse of what I endeavoured to prove in a previous 
 chapter, nor yet to bestow praise where censure is due; 
 but simply to show how impossible it is to form 
 certain conclusions, from imperfect, or WMceriaira pre- 
 mises ; and, under such circumstances, how possi- 
 ble it is for opposite parties to be partially both 
 right, and both wrong at the same time. We could 
 not certainly place much reliance on the opinion of a 
 Chinese author on a purely scientific subject; but 
 here we have nothing of the kind to deal with. He 
 
40 
 
 has stated simple factSj which carae under his own 
 observation, and with which he was quite competent 
 to ^pal. And it appears to me, that in this short 
 exj^act he has described, with singular aptitude, our 
 cirpumstances in India, — the first portion of his 
 reparks applying, with considerable accuracy, to the 
 conditions of the tea districts of the Lower, — and the 
 second in a great measure to those of the Upper 
 provinces of India. 
 
 The principles then for which both parties con- 
 tended are gained. Assam will gmw, has grown, 
 tea, equally good, and if not better, certainly 
 stronger than many parts of China — while experi- 
 ence gained up to date in China, in Japan and 
 lava, goes to prove, that if ' frost and snow ■" 
 be not absolutely essentials, a temperate and 
 moderately cold climate is more favorable to that 
 fragrance and delicacy of flavor peculiar to the 
 highest quality of teas, which must consequently 
 be looked for from the valleys and slopes of the 
 Himalayas, and probably at some future date, from 
 those of other Mountains of this wonderfully pro- 
 ductive country. 
 
 And, to avoid misapprehension, 1 would here draw 
 attention to a point, whicli though hitherto, perhaps, 
 not altogether overlooked, has given rise, I feiir, to 
 some mistakes on tlie pnrt of persons whose sole 
 object has been to {rrow an article suitable for Euro- 
 pean Commerce. 1 menu the indiscriminate and 
 
41 
 
 unqualfied use, by botanists, planters, tea brokers &c., 
 of the terms ' finest ' and ' commonest ' China teas. 
 The varieties of the China plant, consequent on 
 differences of climate, temperature, soil, cultiva- 
 tion &c. are very numerous ; and the difference ia 
 quality of China teas, resulting from ' withering,' 
 and peculiarities in the processes of manufacture, 
 combined with these causes, are not less so. The 
 fragrant beverage moreover, is drank in China, 
 not as we drink it, with sugar, cream or milk, but ia 
 its pure unadulterated state. Tea again to the Euro- 
 pean, is ordinarily, a grateful and refreshing beverage. 
 To the Chinaman it is much more. It is, in many 
 respects, what wine is to the European gentleman ; and 
 though it may require a nice connoiseur to distinguish 
 readily a particular chop among many, and though, 
 the lower substrata of the population may drink 
 their coarse Congo, with the same gusto as their 
 vin ordinaire is drank by the people of the vine 
 growing countries of Europe, the great body of 
 the middle classes of China, are no doubt exceed- 
 ingly nice about their teas, appreciating both body 
 aud bouquet. 
 
 In such circumstances we might naturally expect 
 to find a considerable difference of opinion in Europe 
 and China regarding the quality of teas, and 
 the point I would wish to notice is, that the teas 
 most eagerly sought after by the mercantile com- 
 munities of Europe (Russia perhaps excepted) are 
 
42 
 
 distinguished cliiefly for strength ; while thosa most 
 highly esteemed by the Chinese, and, strange to 
 say, by the people of India, are distinguished for 
 fragrance and delicacy of flavor. 
 ' The general facts, as regards the plant, which 
 I take to be pretty clearly established by ihe experi- 
 ence gained in China, Japan, Java, and India, up to 
 date, are, — that a rich soil, and a humid atmosphere, 
 with considerable heat, are conducive, to luxurient 
 crops and a tea of the greatest strength ,■ and a light 
 (though not poor) friable soil, and a temperate 
 climate, or a moderate elevation, are more favorable 
 to average crOps of the finest or most delicately 
 flavored teas. Such a combination of climate and 
 soil as will ensure the mean of these extremes, will 
 produce the most useful, and when Iiidian teas 
 find their level, I bel»eve the most profitable tea. 
 It can be obtained in India. 
 
 Had these facts been known at the commence- 
 ment of tea experiments in India, we should not now 
 have had to reconcile conflicting opinions. But 
 these differences, though resulting from the imperfect 
 acquaintance with the subject of all parties engaged- 
 in the experiment, in the end proved most fortunate 
 for the country. Por, under other circumstances, on 
 the discovery that the tea plant was indigenous t» 
 Assam, experiments in all other parts of India, 
 would, in all probability, have been abandoned, and 
 the noble field for iudftstry and the outlay of eapital. 
 
43 
 
 wliicb has been opened up in the lower and outer 
 ranges of the Himalaya Mountains closed for a 
 century — or for ever. That it helped considerably 
 to retard the cultivation, will be seen from the 
 following brief sketch of the operations undertaken 
 in that quarter, to which I shall now turn. 
 
 It will be recollected, that of the seedlings raised 
 from the seed sent to Calcutta from China by 
 Mr. Gordon in 1835, twenty thousand were set a 
 part for the North-west ; and these, with some seed, 
 were destined to form the first stock of tiie Himalayan 
 tea gardens. Professor Royle had originally selec- 
 ted sites for experimental gardeus in the valleys of 
 Gurwahl, at elevations varying from 2,000 to 6,500 
 feet. But Dr. Falconer selected other sites, at 
 Chejooree (4,000 ft.) Koth ^5,300) Rama Serai (5,000) 
 Ruroo (5,400) Benchir Bagh (5,100) and a few plants 
 he planted in an extra locality at 6,400 feet. He 
 afterwards selected a site lower down in the Deyrah. 
 Dhoon Valley (2,500 feet.) Mr. Traill ia Kamaon 
 selected Bhurtpoor and Bheeratal, in the Ghagai: 
 range (4,500 feet) and Lutehmaiser near Almorah 
 (5,200 feet.) And in charge of these plantations he 
 placed a Mr. Bliakworth. All were subsequently 
 placed under the superintendence of Dr. Falconer. 
 
 The stock of seed and seedlings sent from Calcutta, 
 however, fared little better than that sent to Assam. 
 Of the former, not a single seed germinated ; and 
 of the 20,000 seedlings,, but 3,000 reached their 
 destination alive. 
 
44 
 
 Not very long afterwards, Dr. Falconer was deput- 
 ed to conduct some scientific enquiries in Cashmere 
 and Tliibet, and we have, consequently, no reports on 
 the early progress of these plants. Those that took 
 root, however, seem to have thrived well, for from a 
 report of Dr Falconer's in 1841,1 find that 30,000 
 tea seeds were sown in 1840, and 5184 seedlings it is 
 mentioned, were thriving vigorouslv in Kamaon— 
 all produced from the very small nucleus of the 
 original stock. But the central tea authorities, were 
 evidently lukewarm as regards the experiment in 
 Upper India. 'The brilliancy ' wrote Dr. Falconer 
 ' of the discovery of the indigenous plant in Assam 
 very naturally concentrated the attention of the 
 Tea Committee upon that quarter ; and after the 
 recall of Mr. Gordon from China but feeble 
 efforts were made towards furnishing the Himalayan 
 jiurseries with fresh supplies of China seed. They 
 were left in a great measure to work on with 
 the weakened remains of the first despatch.' This 
 was exceedingly unfair to the experiment in that 
 region, and it is much to the credit of those 
 entrusted with it, that with so little practical 
 knowledge of the habits and requirements of 
 the plant, and such very scanty means of giving 
 it fair play, such respectable results were obtain- 
 ed. In a paper communicated by Lord Auckland 
 to the Horticultural Society of Calcutta, in 1843, 
 it is stated that in the Government gardens 
 near Almorab, there were 1,500 full grown trees 
 
45 
 
 bearing seed, and 20,500 healtliy seedlings; in 
 a pri?'ate garden of Mr. Blitikworth's 40,000 
 seeds ii) the ground ; and in the two plantations 
 at Bheemtal, 300 trees yielding seed, 6,046 seed- 
 lings, and 20,000 seeds sown, besides, in all the 
 gardens, about 50,000 seeds nearly ready for 
 gathering (1841.) 
 
 Up to this time, however, no tea had been 
 manufactured in the Himalayas, Dr. Falconer, 
 though some of his trees were now six years old, 
 sensibly abstaining from experiments in this nice 
 and difficult process, on the grounds, that 'were 
 unpracticed hands to attempt it by following written 
 directions, although they might ultimately blander 
 into expertness, still a failure in the first instance 
 would, in all probability, be the result, and discredit 
 would naturally, though unfairly, fall on the pro- 
 duce.' He, therefore, wisely pressed on Government 
 the necessity of furnishing him with experienced 
 Chinese manipulators and manufacturers, and as 
 the result of his recommendation nine Chinamen 
 were despatched from Assam to Kamaon (1842.) 
 
 These men on surveying the plantations, imme- 
 diately directed the whole of the trees, many 
 of which had been allowed to grow five and six 
 feet high, to be cut down level with the ground, 
 proposing to obtain a crop from the young shoots 
 in 1843. They were unanimous however in opinion 
 that the tea plant of the Kamaou plantations. 
 
46 
 
 Was the genuine cultivated Chinese plant, and far 
 superior to that growing wild in Assam,* 
 
 Dr. Falconer, was, unfortunately, compelled by ill 
 health to leave India for Europe, in the latter end of 
 1842. But the Chinamen had manufactured a small 
 quantity of tea in the autumn of that yeai', and he had 
 the satisfaction of bringing a sample of it with him 
 ,to Europe. He was detained, however, by ill health 
 ' in the south of Europe, and some of the same 
 seasons crop had already reached, and been reported 
 on, when he arrived in London. 
 
 The first specimen, the eminent tea brokers Messrs. 
 W. and J. Thomson of Mincing Lane, pronounced to 
 be of the Oolong Souchong kind, ' fine flavored and 
 strong. ' This, they added, is equal to the superior 
 black tea generally sent as presents, and better for the 
 most part, than the China tea imported for mercantile 
 purposes' 
 
 Of the second specimen Messrs. Ewart, Maccaughy, 
 and Delafosse, of Capthall. Court, reported (8th 
 September 1843) as follows : — 
 
 "The tea brought by Dr. Falconer as a specimen 
 of the growth of the China plant in the Himalayan 
 mountains, resembles most nearly the description 
 occasionally imported from China under the name 
 of Oolong. This resemblance is observable in the 
 appearance of the leaf before and after infusion. 
 
 • Report by Dr. Forbes Eoyle on the progress of tea experiments 
 Itithe Himnlayas from 1835 to 1847. 
 
47 
 
 The color of the liquor is also similar, being paler, 
 and more of the straw color than the general des- 
 cription of black tea. It is not so high-flavored as 
 the fine Ooh)ng tea with which we have compared 
 it, and has been too highly burnt in the preparation, 
 but it is of a delicate, fine flavor, and would com- 
 mand a ready sale here." 
 
 The Authorities in Thibet, to whom a sample was 
 transmitted by Mr. Commissioner Lushington, de- 
 clared the Kamaon tea to be of very superior quality. 
 They made many enquiries as to the locality in which 
 it was grown, and concluded by significantly request- 
 ing that no more of it might be sent their way. Thi- 
 betan tea, imported across the frontier in skins, used 
 to be sold in the Almorah bazar at about one rupee 
 per lb. 
 
 Dr. "William Jameson, who succeeded Dr. Fal- 
 coner as superintendent of the Botanical Gardens 
 at Saharanpoor and the Government tea planta- 
 tions in the Hill districts of the North Western 
 Provinces, evinced, from the first, a warm and 
 lively interest in the tea experiments. In his report 
 on the first year of his occupation (1843) he states, 
 'the increase of young tea seedling plants during 
 the last season, has been 113,392, or equal to 
 four times the number reared since the nurseries 
 were first established in 1835-36.' He was not quite 
 satisfied, however, that the sites selected were suflB- 
 cient to test the capabilities of the Himalayas for 
 
48 
 
 growing tea. He therefore made a careful survey 
 of the district of Kamaon, selecting sites for fresh 
 nurseries at Bheemtal, and Hawalbagh, and from his 
 report I make the following interesting extract : — 
 
 "In selecting land for the new nurseries, I have 
 paid due consideration to the geological structure 
 of the districts, soil, locality. Sec, and have selected 
 places similar to those that are considered good loca- 
 lities in China for the Tea plant. The geological 
 structure of the Kemaon province is highly interest- 
 ing. At the foot of the hills we first meet with 
 the saliferous system, consisting of red and green 
 marl, sandstone, bituminous marl slate, imbedded 
 in the marl ; enormous beds of gypsum or sulphate 
 of lime occur, highly valuable in the arts, and which 
 might be obtained here in any quantity, and a bitu- 
 minous slate clay, which abounds with alum or sul- 
 phate of alumina. This rock is of high importance, 
 as from it a vast deal of the alum of commerce is 
 procured. At Kalabaugh, on the banks of the 
 Indus, there are 14 manufactories, with from 12 to 
 18 men in each, engaged in making alum from it: 
 when made, the alum is sold at the manufactory for 
 about Rs, 19 per camel load. It is therefore well 
 worthy of the attention of Government, as the alum 
 slate occurs in inexhaustible beds in Kemaon. The 
 saliferous system rests upon a series of clay slates 
 belonging to the transition series; the magnesian 
 limestone, carboniferous and old red sandstone series, 
 
49 
 
 being entirely wanting. In several localities, but 
 particularly in tlie neighbourhood of Bheemtal, 
 greenstone is found bursting through and altering 
 tfie Neptunean strata. From this locality, on to 
 about three miks of Almora to the Neptunean rocks, 
 consists of alternations of clay slate and mica slates, 
 with enormous beds of quartz rock, all highly in- 
 clined, and dipping at angles varying from 25° to 
 7ij° to the east of north. About three miles dis- 
 tance from Almorali, we meet with granite, whicb 
 here forms monntains of considerable elevation. 
 On passing the granite, we again meet with clay and 
 mica slates, with imbedded quartz xock, which form 
 the whole neighbourhood of Almorah and HawauU 
 baugh. Such is a rapid and general view of the 
 geology of that province as far as Hawaulbangh." 
 
 The report of 1845, considering the experimental 
 nature of the operations in hand and the imperfect 
 means at Dr. Jameson's disposal, shows considerable 
 progress. He had then under his superintendence, 
 in Gurwahl and Kamaon, eight small plantations 
 of 118 acres of cultivation, containing, seedlings, 
 and plants of one to nine years old, to the number 
 of 308,122. About 346 lbs. of tea, the produce of 
 these gardens, were put up for sale in June of this 
 year, at Almorah, and realized the high average 
 price of Ks. 2-4 as. (45. GdJ^ per lb. 
 
 In 1846, 1 find the superintendent still sanguine. 
 ' I have ' said he ' some thousands [of seeds] for 
 
50 
 
 distribution. Our tea plantations are thriving 
 admirably, the land appropriated by Government 
 has been all planted, and there are in addition 
 about one and a half lacs (150,000) of young 
 plants, and seeds to the amount of ten lacs 
 (1,000,000) have been sown this season.' In order 
 therefore to keep pace with the increase of the 
 plants, I am about to recommend to Govern- 
 ment an increase of about two hundred acres to 
 the plantations. If Government acquiesce in my 
 views, we shall have the tea plantations this season 
 in Kamaon, consisting of 150 acres, in Gurwahl 
 of 100 acres, and in the Deyrah Dlioon of 100 
 ncres. The return of tea this year, is two thirds 
 more than that of last j and in addition to black 
 tea, we have made a series of different kinds 
 of green tea, which in appearance, are far superior 
 to any thing seen in Upper India.' He adds tlie 
 following curious information regarding the adultera- 
 tion of China teas. ' I had lately an interesting 
 experiment performed at this manufactory. It is 
 well known that teas are extensively adulterated. 
 To ascertain the extent to which it is carried on, 
 I had a good sample of tea procured from Meerut, 
 unrolled by the Chinese manufacturers ; and by 
 them it was shewn, that iwo-thirds of the so called 
 tea, consisted of other leaves !' 
 
 The year 1847 was an important year for the 
 tea experiment in the Himalaya Mountains. Dr. 
 
51 
 
 Jameson, in tliis year, submitted to Government 
 an able rt-port on the subject, in which he reviewed 
 the progress of the operations being carried on, 
 giving the results of his experience as to the soil, 
 elevation, atmosphere, and system of cultivatioa 
 found most suitable to the plant in the districts 
 under his superintendence ; and appended a lucid 
 account of the methods adopted in manufacturing 
 green and black teas, packing teas, preparing sheet 
 lead, buildings, tea houses, implements in use &c., 
 making at the same time some valuable suggestions 
 for the improvement of the plantations.* In this 
 communication he reported an addition to his stock 
 of 253,842 seedlings, and that he had manufactured 
 1,023 lbs* 11 oz. of green and black teas. The 
 quantity was small, but the quality, was good. The 
 Pouchong only was offered for sale, and the maxi- 
 mum price realized at Almorah for this tea in 
 English money was 7s. %d, per lb., and the mini- 
 mum 5s. ; the average being, 7s. Id. Of 38 chests 
 sold, 29 realized upwards of 7s. per lb., 20 of 
 these being purchased by natives. 
 
 The result satisfactorily established two all impor- 
 tant facts — that good tea could be manufactured in 
 Kamaon — and that a local market for it was already 
 in existence. 
 
 * This report which was illustrated with numerous drawing's, wag 
 printed and extensively circulated by Government. It was subse. 
 quently enlarg'ed, and with other papers connected with the subject, 
 published in a vol, of Government selections (No. XXIII.) for general 
 information. 
 
53 
 
 But the most important result of the report of 
 1847, was, that it attracted the attention of Govern- 
 ment to the desirability of, at last, taking eiBcient mea- 
 sures to provide for supplementing the labours of 
 their zealous superintendent, by obtaining the best 
 information, and further supplies of seed and seed- 
 lings of the finest tea plants from China, as succes- 
 sively urged by Drs. Koyle, GrifiBth, and Falconer. 
 It was a fortunate circumstance moreover, that 
 the London tea brokers had reported, most favorably 
 on the specimens of tea sent home from the Hima- 
 layas the previous year. 
 
 'From this, and examinations of former samples' 
 says one ' I am quite satisfied that the climate 
 and soil in Kamaon is as suitable to the favorable 
 growth of the shrub, as the finest of the China 
 localities ' (W. Hunt) ' The flavor ' said another 'is 
 Tcry strong, and it would therefore be serviceable 
 for mixing ; but it is so ' coarse burnt ' that all 
 richness of flavor is destroyed (W.Thompson) 'In 
 flavor ' reported the Messrs. Ewart on a sample from 
 the Deyrah Dhoon 'it most resembles the better 
 descriptions of Orange Pekoe, having, with the 
 brisk burnt flavor of that description, more than its 
 usual strength.' 
 
 The Court of Directors in forwarding these 
 reports to the Government of India, were pleased 
 to express the opinion that the specimens ' were 
 very creditable to Dr. Jameson and his establish- 
 ment.' They went on to observe ' that at a sale 
 
53 
 
 which took place at Almorah 173 lbs. of this tea, 
 produced, from Rs. 4 to Rs. 5 a seer (two lbs.) and 
 Dr. Jameson is of opinion, that the produce of 
 6,000 acres of laud, would yield a surplus of 
 Rs. 2,30,266 per autmm ;' adding in the next 
 para. ' We take a deep interest in this subject, and 
 attach great importance to the success of a project 
 from which considerable advantages would arise 
 to the Agricultural community of these districts.' 
 
 The result of these happy coincidences was, that 
 Mr. Fortune, a gentleman favorably known to the 
 botanical world by his 'Three years wanderings in 
 China,' was deputed by the Court of Directors to 
 proceed to China for the pu|?pose of obtaining the 
 finest varieties of the tea plant, as well at, native 
 manufacturers and implements, for the Government 
 plantations in the Himalayas. (18481 Mr. Fortune 
 executed the duty entrusted to him with energy and 
 enterprize. On landing, he immediately adopted 
 the dress and manners of the Chinese, and in this 
 manner visited the finest green and black tea dis- 
 tricts of China, including those of the Sung-lo, and 
 Bohea Hills. A very short time after his arrival 
 in China, he sent large quantities of tea seeds to 
 Calcutta, But, like the seeds of oaks and chesnuts, 
 tea seeds retain their vitality for a very short time oufc 
 of the ground ; and, in consequence of no special care 
 having been taken in packing them, they all died. 
 In the following year (1849) however he adopted 
 
54 
 
 a plan that was attended with the very best results, 
 and aS, in India, oor distances are very great, and 
 as a considerable amount of money has been already 
 lost, and a very great deal of disappointment occa-' 
 sioned, by the ignorant packing of tea seeds, I sliall 
 give Mr. Fortune's account of the plan adopted by 
 him in his own words : — 
 
 " My first experiment was tried in the following 
 manner. Having procured some fine mulberry- 
 plants from the district where the best Chinese silk 
 is produced, I planted them in a Ward's case in the 
 usual way, and watered them. ' In two or three days, 
 •when the soil was sufficiently dry, a large quantity 
 of tea-seeds were scattered over its surface, and 
 covered with earth about half an inch deep. The 
 whole was now sprinkled with water, and fastened 
 down with a few cross-bars to keep the earth in 
 its place. The case was then screwed down in the 
 usual way, and made as tight as possible. 
 
 When the case reached Calcutta, the mulberry- 
 plants were found to be in good condition, and the 
 tea-seeds had germinated during the voyaij;e, and 
 were now covering the surface of the soil. Dr. 
 Falconer, writing to me upon the receipt of this 
 case says, " The young tea-plants were sprouting 
 'around the mulberries aa thick as they could 
 come up," 
 
 Diiring this year (1849) large quantities of seeds 
 were sown in other cases between the rows of young 
 
55 
 
 tea* plants. These also germinated on their way to 
 India, and reached their destination in the Hima- 
 layas in good condition. 
 
 When the news of the success of these experi- 
 ments reached me from India, I determined to 
 adopt the same plan when I packed the cases which' 
 I was now taking round under my own care. Tea- 
 seeds were therefore sown in all the cases between 
 the rows of young plants. 
 
 Fourteen cases having been packed and prepared 
 in this manner, I had still a large quantity of seeds 
 — about a bushel — remaining on hand. These I 
 determined to dispose of in the following manner. 
 Two glazed cases had been prepared to take a collec- 
 tion of camellias from China to the Botaaic Garden 
 at Calcutta. The tea-seeds were emptied out in 
 front of these cases and a small portion of earth 
 thrown in amongst them. A layer of this mixture, 
 which now consisted of about one part earth and 
 two parts seeds was laid in the bottom of each case, 
 and the camellia-plants were lifted gently out of 
 their pots and placed upon it. The spaces between 
 the plants were then filled up to the proper height 
 with the mixture of tea-seeds and earth, and a little 
 soil was sprinkled upon the surface to cover the 
 uppermost seeds. The whole was then well watered, 
 bars were nailed across to keep the earth in its place, 
 and the lids of the cases were fastened down in the 
 usual manner. 
 
56 
 
 "When the cases were opened in Calcutta the 
 young tearplants were found to be in good condi- 
 tion. The seeds which had been sown between the 
 rowa. were also just beginning to germinate. These, 
 of course, were left undisturbed, as there was room 
 • enough for them to grow ; but it Wds necessary to 
 take other measures with those in the camellia cases. 
 On opening the latter., the whole mass of seeds, 
 from the bottom to the top, was swelling, and germi- 
 nation had just commenced. The camellias, which 
 had now arrived at their destination, were lifted 
 gently out and potted, and appeared as if they had 
 never left their native country. Fourteen new cases 
 were got ready, filled with earth, and these germi- 
 nating seeds were sown thickly over the surface, 
 and covered with soil in the usual way. In a few 
 days the young plants came sprouting throught the 
 soil ; every seed seemed to have grown ; and by this 
 simple plan about twelve thousand plants were added 
 to the Himalayan plantations." 
 
 On the whole, the mission of Mr. Fortune was 
 attended with very considerable success. He reached 
 Calcutta in March 1851, having introduced into 
 India, besides large quantities of seed, upwards of 
 twenty thousand tea plants, from Silver Island, 
 Chusau, and the districts about Ningpo, and also 
 from the far famed Sung-lo, and Bohea Hills. 
 
 In the mean time tea prospects in India had not 
 been looking up, lu Assam the operations of 
 
57 
 
 Government had been superceded by those of 
 private speculators ; but their affairs had been so 
 mis-maiiaged that, as before detailed, after a ruinous 
 sacrifice of capital, all hope of success hud beea 
 almost abandoned. 
 
 Ill the Himalayas, Dr. Jameson contiuued to 
 carry on his operations with as much success as 
 their experimental nature would permit. More 
 land was cultivated and planted, and more tea, greeu 
 and black, was made, — the green selling in the 
 Almorah bazar as high as Rs. 10-8 to rupees 9-4s 
 per seer (equal to lla. to 9s.-6rf. per lb.) He had 
 moreover considerably extended the sphere of his 
 operations, establishing, with the sanction of Govern- 
 ment, plantations at Bowarnah and Nagrowta 
 situated in the picturesque and beautiful Pahalam 
 Valley near Kangra. Some native zemindars, also, 
 had been induced, by liberal concessions, to under- 
 take the cultivation. 
 
 t In short the work Government had originally 
 intended to accomplish was completed. The re- 
 putation of those parts of the Himalayas iu 
 wliich experiments had been made, as regards 
 their capabilities for growing tea was fully esta- 
 blished, aud it might legitimately have retired. 
 But in North Western India, owing to the distance 
 from the metropolis, the consequeut paucity of 
 Europeans unconnected with the Civil aud Military 
 services, and existing prohibitions against covenanted 
 
58 
 
 servants of the State holding land, private enterprise 
 did not so readily, come to the relief of Govern- 
 ment. It had therefore to bear the full weight of 
 the experiment, with all its attendent difficulties, 
 expenses, and losses. And these were neither 
 light, nor a few. As was the case in Assam — 
 though, owing to the Government in the North 
 West having distinguished botanists to superintend 
 their gardens, not to the same extent, — those acci- 
 dents which invariably attend on the pioneers of 
 all new experiments, were not wanting here to throw 
 obstacles in the way of complete success. Of 
 these the impossibility of obtaining experienced 
 European Overseers was the greatest. But ia addi- 
 tion, and especially in the Deyrah Dhoon, the 
 experimentalists were met with natural and other 
 difficulties that bad not been anticipated. In one 
 place whole acres of seed refused to germinate. 
 In another, a whole plantation was well nigh de- 
 vastated by a violent hail storm. And things were in 
 this condition when Mr. Fortune reached Saharan- 
 poor, and was deputed by Government to inspect 
 their Himalayan tea gardens. His report was not 
 favorable. Indeed he pronounced the system of 
 cultivation pursued to be erroneous, and the whole 
 of the Deyrah Dhoon unsuited to the cultivation of 
 the tea plant. 
 
 ' The plants ' said Mr. Fortune ' generally did not 
 appear to me to be iu that fresh and vigorous coudi- 
 
59 
 
 tion wliicli I had been accustomed to see in good 
 Chinese plantations. Thisj in my opiniouj is caused 
 1st, by the plantation being formed on flat land ; 
 2Jidj by the system <if irrigation; 3rd, by too early 
 plucking ; and 4th, by hot drying winds, which are 
 not uiifrequent in this valley from April to the 
 bejfinning of June.' 
 
 Now the real fact was, that, allowing for the 
 failures resulting from accident and known 
 causes, tea was, at the time, succeeding as well as 
 could be expected. But a report of this nature 
 coming from a gentleman of Mr. Fortune's reputed 
 experience in all things connected with China , had 
 so damaging an efiect on its future prospects, as 
 almost to write down the experiment a total failure. 
 As if the elements, too, had conspired to aid him in its 
 condemnation, Heaven withheld that rain so neces- 
 sary to the vitality of the young tea plant, for three 
 successive cold seasons; and drought, the fatal enemy 
 of all vf gitatioii, most seriously damaged many fine 
 and flourishing tea gardens. In one plantation alone 
 (Kaoligir) no less than a million fine young seed- 
 lings were utterly destroyed, and all the planta- 
 tions cut off froLi artificial irrigation, suffered more 
 or less severely 
 
 The total failure of the periodical rains moreover 
 brought with it corresponding evils, far more serious 
 than the devastation of the Government tea gardens— 
 the total failure of all cereal crops, and— what until 
 
60 
 
 better means of inter-communication exist, must 
 in India, ever be the inevitable consequence— /awjme 
 prices for food. The attention of the Civil Authori- 
 ties, was, naturally, diverted from encouraging what 
 was considered a doubtful experiment, to their more 
 legitimate duty of importing grain from the plains. 
 The hill-men were starving ; and had the authorities 
 fed them aud employed them in thousands in pre- 
 paring land for tea cultivation, they could not have 
 discharijed their duty more agreeably to the people, 
 or more beneficially to the Government and the coun- 
 try. But the experiment had been already pro- 
 nounced a failure in Assam, and Mr. Fortune's 
 report had done something to turn popular opinion 
 in the North West in the same direction. The 
 responsibility certainly was great. It was not accept- 
 ed — and the opportunity was lost. 
 
 The results obtained, therefore, from these 
 and other causes, though commensurate with the 
 small means, and very inefficient European establish- 
 ments with which the superintendent had to work, 
 •were by no means great. Ten or twelve years had 
 elapsed since the first batch of seeds and seedlings 
 had been planted in the hills. Government from being 
 impatient, finally became lukewarm : the European 
 public strongly prejudiced against the experiment; 
 the natives seeing the little interest taken in it by 
 the authorities neglected it altogether; and for the 
 second time in the history of this interesting experi- 
 
61 
 
 ment, it may be said, that had il not been for the 
 zealous advocacy, and the untiring exertions of an 
 individual, tea cultivation in the Himalayas, as a 
 Government undertaking, would have been aban- 
 doned as it had been in Assam, and the noble field 
 now opened up to European energy and capital, and 
 native industry and prosperity, left in the undisputed 
 possession of wild men and vrild beasts. 
 
 It is impossible, if due consideration be allowed 
 for the natural difficulties he had to contend 
 with, the bigotted prejudices he had to overcome, 
 and, above all, for the entire want of any thing like 
 sound local experience to guide him, to over-estimate 
 the value of Dr. Jameson's services in connection, 
 with the cultivation of tea in the Himalaya, moun- 
 tains ; and the highest credit is due to him for the 
 energetic zeal with which he pushed on, and follow- 
 ed through all its. vicissitudes, the development of 
 an experiment, of the success of which he alone^ 
 from the commencement, never had any misgivings. 
 A conscientious discharge of his duty, and a high 
 sense of the great national importaiice of the in- 
 teresting experiment which he had been intrusted 
 by Government to superintend, were doubtless the 
 main incentives to Dr. Jameson's exertions ; at 
 the same time, it is proper to record the great 
 value of his services to tea interests in North 
 Western India, and to point out to those who are 
 now about to profit so largely by his labours, the 
 
 F 
 
63 
 
 great obligations tKey are under to him. In the 
 complete success which has finally crowned Dr. 
 Jameson's efforts, he has his reward ; and though 
 from the general distrust iu his prognostications, 
 and the consequent shyness of private speculators 
 to aid in the experiment, he has had the mortifica- 
 tion to see other parts of India shoot ahead of the 
 districts under his immediate superintendence, it 
 inust be gratifying to him to find, that experience is 
 jdaily verifying, in all important particulars, the prin- 
 jciples laid down by him in 1847, when tea cultivation 
 was almost in its infancy, — and a satisfaction to him 
 to know, that tea planters in all parts of India are 
 at last beginning to awake to the value of his early 
 reports, 
 
 • Nor did Dr. Jameson confine himself to simply 
 superintending his plantations and writing reports. 
 Through his instrumentality Mr. Fortune had no 
 sooner inspected his plantations and sent in his 
 xeport, than he was a second time deputed to China, 
 that he might make himself thoroughly acquainted 
 •with ' all the different processes of black tea mani- 
 pulation, froni the gathering of the leaf, to the 
 firing, preparing, and packing, of the teas, including 
 the winnowing sifting &c., and thus be enabled to 
 communicate the result of his observations.' It 
 was by his advice that plantations were further 
 enlarged, and establishments increased ; and under 
 his watchful care that the cultivation of the plant 
 
63 
 
 and the manufacture of the leaf were much 
 iniproved. 
 
 In 1852, the Marquis of Dalhoasie then Governor 
 General of India, visited the Kangra Valley and he 
 was so pleased with the success which had attended 
 the two small experimental gardens established at 
 Nagrowtah and Bowarnah, that he sanctioned a 
 plantation on an extensive scale being commenced 
 fit Holta. The Kangra valley is about four thousand 
 -feet above the level of the sea. It is charmingly 
 situated. Indeed in every respect, this favored spoti 
 :whether we view it ia regard to the suitability of 
 the soil for growing tea, the salubrity of its climate 
 in connection with the encouragement of European 
 rsettlers, or the picturesque beauty of its situation, 
 would seem to have been a most happy selection. 
 A. tract of land, of about a thousand acres, was 
 secured, which Mr. Fortune subsequently described 
 as so peculiarly well suited, as to soil and olimate,.for 
 tea cultivation that I subjoin the extract : — 
 
 " Tliis extent of land 'said he in one of his 
 reports to Government 'is bounded on the East and 
 West by two mountain streams which have their 
 sources amongst the snows of the Chumba rangei 
 It is very undulating in its general formation, and 
 consists of numerous spurs running out from the 
 mountains, dipping to the South, and sloping gently 
 to the Eastward and Westward. Everywhere it is 
 abuuduntly supplied with streams of fine water, 
 
61 
 
 wliicli flow from the mountains at all seasons of the, 
 J ear, and which are most useful in dry seasons like 
 the last, where newly-planted plants are apt to 
 sufl'er from drought. The original soil of this 
 Plantation has been a yellow clay ; but near the 
 surface it is now rich in vegetable matter. The 
 land appears to have been lying waste for several 
 generations, or only used for grazing purposes, and 
 consequently has been enriched annually by decayr 
 ing vegetation which it produced, and by the ex- 
 crements of animals. These annual deposits have 
 gradually enriched the soil, and at the , present time 
 it has assumed a darker hue near the surface.. Here 
 and there, on the side of some of the ridges, I 
 observed, the red clay appearing on the surface ; 
 but generally it is such as I have described. On 
 the whole, I consider it admirably adapted for Tea 
 cultivation." 
 
 About twenty acres were planted in 1852, three 
 hundred- in 1853, and nearly as many in 1854, thus 
 completing in three years a fine plantation. 
 
 In the mean time Mr. Fortune had returned from 
 his second mission to China. He was not so fortunate 
 this time as on the occasion of his first visit. In 
 consequence of the disturbed state of the country 
 it was not possible for him to proceed fur into the 
 interior, and he was therefore unable to obtain the 
 information regarding the several processes of manu- 
 facture and cultivation, system of manuring, and 
 
65 
 
 the results per acre of Chinese tea plantations, 
 so much desired in India ; and to the present day, 
 our knowledge on these and other points neces- 
 sary for a comparative analysis of the results of 
 tea cultivation and mminfacture in the two coun- 
 tries, is defective. The difficulties Dr. Jameson 
 had to contend with during his absence, as above 
 detailed, were considerable. Yet, although the 
 famine in Kamaon and Gurwahl, resulting from the 
 total failure of the periodical rains for three succes- 
 sive years, was then at its height, so confident was 
 he that he could satisfy Mr. Fortune that many of 
 the opinions expressed by him in his first report— 
 and especially those regarding the Deyrah Dhoon — 
 were erroneous, and so anxious was he to remove 
 by a second report the bad impression already 
 created amongst capitalists and speculators by the 
 first, that he solicited Government to depute him, a 
 second time, to visit and report on the plantations 
 under his superintendence. 
 
 In making his report, on this occasion, Mr, 
 Fortune found himself apparently somewhat ham- 
 pered by the opinions he had expressed in his report 
 of 1831. In some localities therein condemned, 
 he now found the tea plaiit flourishing a merveillef 
 the most remarkable instance being that of the 
 Deyrah Dhoon. In 1851 he gave four distinct 
 reasons (vide p. 59) why this valley was unsoited to 
 
m 
 
 tea cnltivation. Three years later he thus reports 
 on the plantation at Kaolegir : — 
 
 "I have great pleasure in stating that I have 
 never seen finer or more productive Plantati<)ns in 
 China. The plants are in high health, large, and 
 'bushy, and are yielding annually abundant crops 
 of leaves. Many of the bushes are five and six feet 
 in diameter. One I measured was eight feet; another 
 ten, and both six feet in height. Of course these 
 are the giants of the Plantation. And it is to be 
 noted that these plants are not " drawn up" with few 
 branches and leaves; but they are dense bushes in 
 liigh health, and formed to give large quantities of 
 Tea." 
 
 Mr. Fortune on this occasion made no allusion 
 to the flatness of the soil, the system of irriffation, the 
 over plucking, or the hot winds, but somewhat 
 naively attributed the altered appearance of the 
 plantation to the system of cultivation having been 
 changed in accordance with the suggestions made in 
 his first report. Dr. Jameson, however, denied that 
 any change whatever had been made in the system, 
 and attributed the improved condition of the plan- 
 tation, to good cultivation, good manuring, and to 
 a part of his system which Mr. Fortune had condemned 
 y'\%., partial irrigation. And in support of his position 
 be advanced the following convincing proof, — that the 
 year previous, the highly cultivated land yielded 
 
67 
 
 upward of 300 lbs. per acre, and the badly culti- 
 vated only from 50 lbs. to 60 lbs. per acre. 'The 
 whole plantation' he added, 'with an outlay of little 
 more than Rs. 9,000, yielded 12,562 lbs. of Tea, and 
 35,000 lbs. of seeds, and two millions of seedlings, 
 vast numbers of which were distributed to private 
 individuals.' 
 
 Regarding irrigation, to which Mr. Fortune 
 so frequently refers in his reports, dwelling with 
 much force on the assertion that the tea shrub is not 
 a water plant, and that the Chinies never irrigate, 
 it is of the utmost importance to tea planters to know 
 -^that present pxperience entirely negatives the con- 
 clusion at vrhich Mr. Fortune would seem to have 
 arrive 1, that all irrigation is unnecessary, if not in- 
 jurious to the health of the tea plant. It is truly 
 absurd to draw comparisons between the cultivation of 
 rice and tea, and to point out that the system adopted 
 with one, is not suitable to the other. Some of the 
 native zemindars in Kamaon, possibly, did attempt 
 to grow tea, in rice lands, and in the short sighted 
 hope of getting the most out of their land, planted 
 rice between the interstices of the tea plants ; but 
 even that was denied by both the Superintendent 
 and Col. Ramsay the Commissioner, and no such 
 ignorant folly certainly was perpetrated on the 
 Government plantations. The fact, (which I have 
 before referred to,) is, that the tea plant, is a very 
 hardy plant, and will live, nay, in some soils even 
 
68 
 
 flourish, when other crops are perishing from drought; 
 and it is this peculiarity, perhaps, more than any 
 other, which renders tea pLinting in all countries 
 which, like Upper India, are subject to frequent and 
 long droughts, so safe an investment for capital. But, 
 with the experience of Assam, the dampest climate 
 perhaps in the world, and the province in which pro- 
 bably more rain falls than any other in India, yet 
 which produces more abundant and more luxuriant 
 crops of tea than any district in the whole of 
 China, — to assert that the tea plant is not benefitted 
 by moisture is simply rediculous. Indeed Mr. 
 Fortune has himself informed us, that ' in China, 
 rain falls in heavy and copious showers towards 
 the end of April, and that these rains continue 
 in May and June;' adding ' the first gathering of 
 tea-leaves, those from which the Pekoe is made, 
 is scarcely over before the air becomes charged" 
 ■with moisture, rain falls, and the bushes, being thus 
 placed in such favorable circumstances for vegeta-' 
 ting, are soon covered again with young leaves 
 from which the main crop of the season is obtained.' 
 Tea planters in the Himalayas, then, will do well to 
 bear in mind, that though the tea plant, if planted 
 out at the proper time i. e. in the raiuy season, 
 does not require irrigation, except in so far as it- 
 may be necessary to supplement, in seasons of failure, 
 the supply from Heaven, the seedlings in nurseries, 
 undoubtedly do require occasional watering, and, if 
 
69 
 
 in the planting out season, any cessation should take 
 place in the rains, without judicious irrigation the newly 
 planted out young plants, will certainly die. And 
 I dwell at some length on this point, because in 
 the present condition of the Himalayas, where 
 scores, of amateurs, with little or no practical 
 experience of the work they are undertaking, 
 are commencing tea operations, . it is one of the 
 most important for. them to understand. Once 
 a tea plantation has been formed, and the plants 
 • are all from three to five or six years old, they 
 may, to a very great extent, be considered safe ; 
 and then, but not till then, can the planter in 
 Upper India, be considered independent of the 
 means of artificial irrigation. 
 
 The report of Mr. Fortune on the occasion of his 
 second visit generally, however, was more favourable 
 'than his first. Of Bhurtpoor near Nainee Tal 
 he said, ' the bushes are in excellent condition, 
 and fully justify the favourable opinion I formed of 
 the plantation on my first visit.' ' The bushes gener- 
 ally ' he remarked of the Kapeeiia and Luchmesar 
 plantations, (Kamaon) ' are in ^ood health, and for 
 many years past have been yielding large crops of 
 tea.' The Hawalbagh and Chullar plantations, 
 while he admitted that many portions were in a 
 most satisfactory condition, he thought capable of 
 being much improved. The Guddowli plantation 
 in Gurwahl, did not meet with his approval. 
 
70 
 
 ' Viewing it as a whole ' lie said ' I am rather 
 disappointed with it.' 
 
 The phmtations iu the. Kangra Valley seem to 
 have pleased Mr. Fortune most. 'In 1855' said 
 he, speaking of Nagrowta, ' it produced 1,437 lbs. 
 of tea, or about 300 lbs. per acre. The soil is of 
 a brownish loam, moderately rich in vegetable 
 matter, and well suited for tea cultivation. The 
 plants are healthy and vigorous.' , And of Bowarnah 
 'it is consequently in full bearing, and yields annu- 
 tilly upwards of 300 lbs. per acre.' But the highest 
 encomium was reserved for the plantation at Holta, 
 also in the Kangra Valley. * The condition of the 
 plants upon this plantation' he observed 'is highly 
 satisfactory ; they are healthy, vigoroui, and quite 
 equal to the best plantations I have seen in 
 China. * * * Upon the whole, I am inclined 
 to think this plantation the most promising of 
 all under Dr. Jameson's management, and it cer- 
 tainly reflects great Credit both upon him, and hi^ 
 overseer Mr. W. B,ogers.' 
 
 But although Mr. Fortune gave some praise, he 
 also found much fault. All the land selected was 
 not equally good. The trenches or terraces in some 
 places, were not made at right angles to the slope 
 of the hill, as they ought to have been. The trees 
 on all the plantations were too hard plucked. The 
 cultivation on many plantations was not good. 
 He also added many suggestions for the improve- 
 
ment of the plantations, and the future prospects 
 of tea cultivation in the Himalayas. 
 
 Dr. Jameson replied to Mr. Fortune's strictures in 
 an able and very comprehensive paper in which he 
 very satisfactorily disposed of the objections raised.* 
 ' In the report under consideration ' said he, ' a series 
 of suggestions have been made for the benefit of Over- 
 seers and Tea cultivators generally ; not one of which 
 is original, and had such suggestions been at all 
 called for they would have proved that I, as super- 
 intendent, was highly negligent of the duties in- 
 trusted to ray charge.' And this position Dr. 
 Jameson most completely established, by simply 
 appending a transcript of the rules furnished by 
 him, some years before, for the guidance of his 
 Overseers, in which these very suggestions are 
 embodied, and which had been translated into the 
 vernaculars, and ' extensively distributed, especially 
 in the Kangra Valley.' ' True it is ' he continued 
 'that several of the Overseers belonging to the 
 plantations have little or no experience, — men who 
 formerly belonged, or still belong to the ranks of 
 the army; and as I cannot be present every where 
 over a tract of some twelve hundred miles in which 
 the different plantations are located, mistakes in 
 planting and gathering leaves do occasionally occur. 
 But I think, that with the raw materials I possess, 
 
 "1^ Selections &om the Records of the Government of India 
 No. XX III. 
 
7? 
 
 much has been done. All the suggestions made 
 by Mr. Fortune are no novelties to us. Thus his, 
 remarks for selecting and preparing land have been 
 carried out for years. Leaves have been gathered 
 on the principle suggested by him since the planta- 
 tions were formed, but with several important modi- 
 fications.' 
 
 There can be very little doubt that the Super- 
 iiitendent had shown both the greatest energy, and 
 the greatest ability in carrying out the delicate 
 and very difficult experiment intrusted by Govern- 
 ment to hia charge, and it would not only be disinge- 
 nuous, but exceedingly unjust, to attribute to another 
 what is due alone to him. Less doubt can there 
 be that Mr. Fortune's second mission to China 
 was not accompanied by those results which were 
 anticipated, and that while Dr. Jameson's reports 
 are invaluable, those of Mr. Fortune contain, but 
 a very small amount of instrtiction of any practical 
 value to the planter. ' Had Mr. Fortune, as Dr; 
 Jameson remarked - been able to inform us how a 
 China Plantation was conducted, the quantity of ma- 
 nure given per acre, value of manure, and the expense 
 of laying it down, time of the year when plants 
 were manured, quantity of raw leaves gathered per 
 man per day, and the yield per acre from the first, 
 «econd, and third crops, proportion of the differeat 
 kinds of Teas, prepared, expense of Tea cultivation per 
 acre, — all of which points were brought promiueutly 
 
73 
 
 to his notice, and the nedes^ary information request- 
 ed, — his report would have been highly valuable. 
 But Mr. Fortune could not have done so, for, from 
 his own statements, it appeared, that he had never 
 visited a black tea factory; had never seen black tea 
 made in China ; and that whatever knowledge he had 
 on the subject, was acquired on the Government 
 plantations in the Himalayas. This, how'ev'er, was his 
 misfortune, and not his fiiult. The fact, nevertheless, 
 remains, and it is but jUst to those who have had 
 charge of the experiment in India, to announce it, — 
 that Mr. Fortune had not that practical experience 
 in tea cultivation, and tea manufacture, necessary 
 to render him a competent judge of the operations 
 he attempted to criticize, or a useful instructor ia 
 an art he professed to, but certainly did not 
 understand. 
 
 It may be asked then, why I have given such 
 prominence to the opinions and reports of a gentle- 
 man evidently not facile princeps in his subject. But I 
 have done so advisedly. Mr. Fortune's papers, thoiigh 
 the last was written now six years ago, are the only 
 reports, from an independent source, we have on the 
 Himalayan tea districts of India. Though not a 
 practical tea planter, Mr. Fortune was a respecta- 
 Tale botanist, a fair agriculturist, and I believe an 
 excellent horticulturist. He had visited the finest 
 tea districts of China, and was fully competent to 
 express an opinion on the suitability of the soil 
 
 G 
 
74 
 
 and localities selected ia the Himalayas, and the 
 health and vigour of the plants, as compared with 
 those which he saw in China. His opinions on 
 these points then, I have given in some detail, 
 because, as affirming the judgement of the Super- 
 intendent, they are satisfactory to Government ; 
 and as assuring the public that large tracts of the 
 Hymalayas are as suitable to the growth of the 
 tea plant as the best parts of China, they are 
 of the highest value to the future Capitalist, 
 That Mr. Fortune had no practical experience 
 of tea cultivation and tea manufacture was well 
 known. It was not expected, therefore, that he 
 should be acquainted with all its details. Indeed 
 it was to obtain this very information that he was 
 deputed, at Dr. Jameson's request, a second time 
 to China. The disturbed state of the country pre- 
 vented his procuring it, and it is to be regretted ; 
 but I would not have it supposed that any blame 
 is attributable to him. On the contrary, though 
 from a sense of justice to others, and because Mr. 
 Fortune's reports have helped to give currency 
 to an idea prevalent in some quarters, — that Govern- 
 ment had mismanaged an experiment of the highest 
 national importance, I have been compelled, in this 
 brief survey, to put matters in their true light, I 
 most gladly admit, that his services to the tea plan- 
 tations in the Himalayas, were, to use the words of 
 Dr. Jameson, ' invaluable.' 'Large supplies of fine 
 
75 
 
 kinrls of tea plants, implements in large numbers 
 used in making green and black teas, several sets of 
 black tea makers, two sets of sheet-lead makers with 
 implements complete, were sent by him from China,' 
 by which six Government tea factories were worked. 
 ' The duties therefore for which he was deputed to 
 China were well and efficiently performed;' 
 - In addition to his report, Mr. Fortune submit- 
 ted, at the request of Government, an estimate of 
 the expenditure and income on a tea plantation of 
 1800 acres; but I forbear to notice it, as my own 
 experience enables me to say that the data on which 
 it is prepared are altogether fallacious. 
 
 Tea had now, (1856) for some time been fairly 
 established on the Government plantations in the 
 Himalayaa, and the Superintendent's efforts were 
 therefore directed to the chief object Government had 
 in view — viz., the encouragement of the cultivation by 
 Europeans and Natives. The Europeans at first were 
 few. Colonel Elwall and Capt. Thelwell had esta- 
 blished a large plantation in the Deyrah Dhoon ; 
 but with this exception, I find, in this year, but 
 three small plantations mentioned as established 
 by Europeans; while the Natives generally, did 
 not show much capacity for a cultivation that 
 requires some care and attention, and a good 
 deal of patience. Dr. Jameson's plants however 
 were little affected by this. They went on 
 producing seed, and his nurseries seedlings, at 
 
so rapid a rate ^hat he was soon almost overcome by 
 his embarras dfi richesse. He distributed them in 
 thousands to those planters, both European and 
 Native, already established, sending them to Assam, 
 Cachar, and Parjeeling, — and even to Cashmere, 
 ■^here he had induced the Maharaja to introduce the 
 cultivation. Government on the other hand held out 
 ofifers to the public of grants of land on niost liberal 
 terms, and of tea seed and s.eedlings gratis. 
 
 In 1857-58 the Gove.rnment plantations pro- 
 du,ced greater quantities of se^d and seedlings. 
 More patives undertopk the cultivation, on 9 
 small scale, and ^ ^ew with better success. But 
 European speculators, with bona fide capital, — pre- 
 ferring perhaps to await -the result of .the opera- 
 tions of the few private planters already estar 
 blished, — or more probably from causes that will 
 be ^lluded to in i^iCiother plac?,— did not very 
 jreadily come to the Relief of Government. Tq 
 work a tea plantation up to paying point, js $ 
 labour of some years, and there >ras e«nsequently 
 some delay before capitalists, with a certainty be- 
 fore them in Assam, could be satisfied o-f the 
 prudence of investing their money in the re- 
 mote regions of the Himalaya Mountains. The 
 time ho'vpeyer was near at hand, and the forma- 
 tion of the Deyrah Dhooii Company (1859-60) 
 with a nominal capital of fifty lakhs of rupees 
 (^ 500,000), atid the purchase by it of the estates of 
 
77- 
 
 Col.Elwall aVid Captaia Thelwell, fof the respectable 
 figure of £50,000, may be considered the first sign 
 of public confidence. It certainly showed that 
 people thought something was to be done in the 
 Hills; and since then the influx of small capi- 
 talists, and settlers, in the districts of Kamaon, 
 Gurwahl, Simla, Kangra, atid even the distant 
 Hills of Hazara, has been very steady. These 
 consist chiefly of retired officers of Her Majesty's 
 Royal and Indian Armies, and others still in th& 
 Service. Some took grants on their own accounts. 
 Others, with, less capital, formed Companies or 
 Associations, and thus a very large number of 
 tea plantations were established, many of which, 
 especially the Kousannie Concern in Kamaon,* are 
 now flourishing "plantations. To all, tea seed and 
 seedlings in large quantities, were given gratis, and 
 some were furnished with native manufacturers 
 educated at the Government factories. 
 
 And here I must draw attention to a circum- 
 stance connected with the iiitroduction of tea into 
 
 • The Plantations of this Concern are sifuated about 25 miles 
 due north of Almsrah. About 10 acres were planted in 1857, and 
 60 up to 1860. Now 300 are planted, the yield from which, this 
 year, will be li,000 lbs. The teas of this Concern (manufac- 
 tured by its Manag'er Mr. Mc.Iver) were awarded a Medal at the 
 Eihibitiou (1862) and pronounced to be ' excellent in manufacture, 
 strength, and flavor.' I have specially mentioned the Concern, 
 as, looking' to its elevation, (frdm 5,000 to 6,000 feet) the results 
 obtained are worthy of attention in connection with the existing 
 differences of opinion on this point noticed in title pieTious chapter. 
 
78 
 
 North Western laclia, whicli reflects, and will reflect, 
 as long as India continues to contribute to the supply' 
 of tea required for the markets of the World, the 
 highest honor on the Government of India, viz., 
 the disinterested liberality with which it supplied 
 private persons and associations, with the means 
 of carrying on their undertakings, almost entirely 
 at the expense of the State. Actuated by the 
 noblest sentiments of philanthropy, the Government 
 of India, from tbe moment it was fairly demonstrated 
 that the lower ranges of the Himalayas would 
 grow tea — with the view of ameliorating the condition 
 of its Hill subjects, — has given this experiment its 
 most careful attention; and successive Governors 
 General, especially Lord William Bentinck, the 
 Marquis of Dalhousie, and the late lamented Earl 
 Canning, while publicly giving it their unquali- 
 fied support, have evinced the greatest personal 
 interest in its success. With a cultivation in hand,— » 
 initiated and carried an to a successful iss-ue at a 
 great expense to the State, and with a certainty, as 
 pointed out by the Superintendent, that the 
 undertaking would give enormous returns on the 
 outlay, and, if retained in the hands of Government, 
 might be made a highly profitable source of revenue, 
 the Government of India, in pursuance of a high 
 minded and statesmanlike policy, not only declined 
 to avail itself, by creating a Government monopoly, 
 of this easy means of augmenting the revenues 
 
79 
 
 of the State; but, with a liberality unparalleled iil 
 ■the annals of any Government, — instead of increas'* 
 ing the extent and value of its own plantations,-— 
 supplied, and have continued, — for ten years after it 
 was proved that tea could be grown and manu- 
 factured at a profit jn the Hiaialayas, — to supply 
 both public, and private parties, with enormous quan- 
 tities of the produce of tliose seeds and seedlings 
 which had cost such large sums of money to import 
 from China. 
 
 Nor, in abandoning all iutention of profiting 
 itself by the undertaking, was the Government 
 unmindful of the necessity of taking satisfactory 
 guarantees that the interests of the Country and 
 the public, were protected against interested parties 
 stepping in to avail themselves of advantages, which 
 it had generously resigned in favor of the welfare of 
 its subjects, and the material progress of the 
 Country. 
 
 In 1853, an application was made to the Court of 
 Directors by the chairman of a company called the 
 Himalaya tea Company, which it was proposed 
 to establish and incorporate under Royal Charter ia 
 Loudon for the cultivation of tea in the Himalaya 
 ranges, — for the transfer to them of their tea planta- 
 tions iu Kamaon, Gurwahl, and the Kangra Valley. 
 In 1856, overtures were made by the Assam Company 
 expressive of an anxious desire to take ovei» 
 ail the Government plantations ia Kamaoa . and 
 
80 
 
 Gurwahl. In 1858, it was proposed to form another 
 Joint-stock Tea Company in London, and an appli- 
 cation was similarly made to Government for UtO' 
 thirds of its plantations in the Himalaya Hills, 
 with all their implements and factories, such portion 
 being considered essential to the success of the 
 undertaking. In 1859, again, a very benevolent 
 proposition was embodied in a memorial presented 
 to the Secretary of State by the projectors of the 
 Deyrah Dlioon Company. This Company solicited 
 that the Secretary of State would be pleased to direct 
 the transfer to them of the Government plantations 
 in the Deyrah Dhoon and the Kangra Valley, on 
 the: same terms as the Government plantations in 
 Assam were made over to the Assam Company — - 
 i. e. at the estimated value of the buildings on 
 the ground, — 'nothing being allowed for plantations, 
 by far the most extensive of all in ; the possession 
 of Government, and according to Dr. Jameson, at 
 the time, yielding a clear profit of a lakh of rupees, 
 or £10,000, per annum. 
 
 The object of all these applications was trans- 
 parent. It was to create a monopoly ; and, though 
 anxious to dispose of its plantations, this the Govern- 
 ment of India distinctly refused to countenance 
 or skuciion. True it is, that promises were made 
 of supplying the public with seed and seedlings as 
 bad hitherto been done; but the Government of, 
 India cautiously, and, after the experience gained 
 
81 
 
 in Assam, I must say, very wisely, took far better 
 security than promises, for insuring to the Pirblic 
 those privileges it had so liberally, and so dearly, 
 purchased for them. It is notorious that parties in 
 Assam, in the vain hope of retaining in their own 
 hands this lucrative cultivation, for years buried 
 in the ground, and allowed to rot, annually, 
 thousands of lbs. of invaluable tea seed, thus 
 .sacrificing :the large sums of money for which it 
 could have been sold, sooner ;thaa allow it to fall 
 into the hands of other planters. The plant 
 being indigenous to many parts of the coun- 
 try, however, all efforts of the kind in Assam, 
 proved futile. Attempts were then made, to secure 
 as much as possible, if not all the lands suitable 
 for tea oultiyation ; but private interests clashing, 
 dissensions arose among the Monopolists, and re- 
 velations followed, which, if of no other public 
 utility, have satisfactorily established the wisdom 
 of the policy adopted by the Government of 
 India in regard to the Tea districts of the 
 Himal,ayas. 
 
 Government, however, had always been desirous 
 of retiring from the field, as soon as it could do so 
 with safety, and in 1859 the Lieut.-Governor <if the 
 jN. W. Provinces, in this view, suggested that all 
 tiie Government plantations, except th'it iu the 
 Deyr^h Dhoon, — which was to be retained for the 
 purpose of supplying the public with seed— should 
 
82 
 
 be sold by auction. But the Government of 
 India, again wisely cautious, was doubtful whe- 
 ther one plantation would completely provide for 
 this object. It was, therefore, finally decided 
 that only two plantations should be sold — Paoree 
 in Gurwahl — and Bhurtpoor in Kamaon. The 
 extent of the former was 350 acres, 130 of which 
 were under cultivation. At the time, it was pro- 
 ducing annually 13,000 lbs., of tea and 200 maunds 
 of seed. The upset price put upon it was a lakh of 
 rupees (£10,000.) The extent of Bhurtpoor was 
 331 acres, but only 31 were under cultivation, and 
 a very small portion of the remainder was said to 
 befit for tea cultivation. The yield of tea at the 
 time was, 1,450 lbs. and 170 maunds of seed. The 
 upset price put upon it was 20,000 rupees. Both 
 -plantations were advertized to be sold in fee simple^ 
 free of all demand on account of land revenue, and 
 with their stock and block complete and in full 
 working order. Paoree has very lately been sold 
 for the upset price. Tor Bhurtpoor no offer of 
 any kind has been made. It is much too Jimited 
 in extent. 
 
 Subsequently two offers were made for the pur- 
 cliase of tne Holta plantation in the Kangra Valley, 
 but not from parties of any mercantile status or 
 known to posses!> capital sufficient to work it. 
 
 The replies of the Government of India to all these 
 applications were co-iiceived in the same spirit — 
 
83 
 
 an anxious desire to protect the public from the 
 evils of a great monopoly, and a determination 
 to preserve inviolate to the planters already esta- 
 blished, those pledges, on the good faith of which, 
 they had undertaken the cultivation. 
 
 'As regards the Punjab,' wrote Earl Canning 
 in December 1860. — 'the L'eutenaut Governor 
 sent up a proposition in March last, to sell the 
 factories and plantations in« the Kangra district, 
 but this has since been found to be an inexpe- 
 dient measure. The Governor General was at Kangra 
 shortly after the proposal was made, and was satis- 
 fied that the sale of this property to private per- 
 sons, would have a most injurious effect. It would 
 throw the supply of plants and seed into the hands 
 of the purchasers, who would probably conceive 
 it their interest to raise the price of these ; and 
 as the carriage of either seed or plants from the 
 Kamaon country (the nearest available source of 
 supply) is expensive and precarious, the cultivation 
 in Kangra, which is now liberally encouraged by 
 the Government factory, and is just beginning to 
 be understood and undertaken by the Native Land- 
 holders, would be checked. The time at which 
 it may be advisable to dispose of it to private pur- 
 chasers will depend mainly on the progress which, 
 private plantations may make.' 
 
 'As regards the plantations proposed for sale in 
 the N. W. Provinces, the case is different. There 
 
84 
 
 are in and about Kamaon, threfe plantations belong- 
 ing to Government, besides the two which, according 
 to the last proposal of the N. W. Province Govern- 
 ment, it is- now intended to sell, and also plantations 
 in private hands. It is, therefore, scarcely possible 
 that even a partial monopoly can arise there, or 
 that the cultivation can be otherwise than encour-* 
 aged by the immediate introduction of private 
 capital and agency.' 
 
 Less than two years has sufficed to realize, to 
 the fullest extent, the expectations of the late great 
 and good Viceroy, in regard to private plantations. 
 'From the Kalee in Kamaon,' writes the Superinten- 
 dent in his last report (12th May 1863) 'to the Ravee 
 in the Kohistan of the Punjab, the cultivation is 
 being actively and energetically carried on both 
 by European and Native Capitalists; and the day 
 is not far distant when we may expect to see Tea 
 exported from the British Himalayas as its staple^ 
 article of produce, and the Hills made lucrative, 
 instead of, as at present, a drag on the revenues of 
 the Country.' 
 
 By a late return I find that there were esta- 
 blished at the end of last year, — in Kamaon 18, in 
 the Deyrah Dhoon 35, in Gurwahl 3, at Simla 3, 
 in the Kangra Valley 26, and at E.ooloo 3, bona fide 
 Tea Plantations, — or a grand total of seventy-eight 
 plantations. Of this number thirty-seven are in the 
 bands of European Companies and individuals, and- 
 
85 
 
 the remainder are worked by Natives. I omit,, more- 
 over, all mention of a long list of fiftj-six villagea 
 in the Kangra Valley, where tea is said to be cul- 
 tivated by Lumberdars, as there is some reason to. 
 believe, that many, if not most, of these, have no 
 real existence. Dr. Stewart, the late Officiating^ 
 Superintendent, in forwarding this return says, ' it 
 may be, that not a tithe of these, have accepted 
 of, or applied for seed &c., for any other reason 
 than to please their official superiors, and conse- 
 quently will not continue the cultivation for long.' 
 The Natives of India, however, are not quite so 
 simple as is often believed ; and in this instance 
 they not only stole a march on the Europeans, but 
 shamefully abused the liberality of Government. 
 Many of them applied for seed, for the alleged 
 purpose of cultivating the tea plant, and sold it for 
 considerable sums to bona fide planters, whose 
 indents could not be complied with, in full, by the 
 Government Superintendent. It is- however gratify- 
 ing to note among those Natives who have really 
 established tea plantations, the names of such 
 noblemen and gentlemen as, the Maharaja of 
 Cashmere, Raja Lall Singh, the Raja of Nadawn, 
 the Raja of Mundee, the Raja of Noorpoor, and 
 many others ; — and I would add, that since the 
 Return from wliich I take these facts was prepared, 
 the number of plantations in the hands of both Euro- 
 peans and Natives has considerably increased> 
 
 H 
 
86 
 
 ' Last year eighty-nine tons ! of tea seed — and two 
 millions four hundred thousand I seedlings, were 
 distributed, gratis, to private planters, from the 
 Government Factories. And yet, — though so im- 
 mense the supply, — it fell |far short of the demand. ' 
 Many indents sent in could not be complied with. 
 Owing moreover to the number of Tea Com- 
 panies, and Concerns, springing up in the Hill 
 Eanges of the North-Western Provinces and the 
 Punjab, and the consequent demand for Managers 
 and skilled workmen, the Government Overseers and 
 Chinese manufacturers, tempted by the higher wages 
 offered by private plauters, are leaving the Govern- 
 ment Plantations. 
 
 Such results are alike honorable to Govern- 
 ment — creditable to its able Superintendent — and 
 gratifying to the Public. As undoubtedly evincing 
 the healthy progress of tea cultivation in the 
 Himalayas, they are exceedingly satisfactory, and 
 seem to indicate that the time, if not come, is 
 Very close at hand, when Government, having 
 wisely, and with great liberality, performed its legiti- 
 mate functions, may very properly dispose of 
 its plantations, and leave the cultivation in the 
 hands of those whose interest it will be, to turn 
 howling wastes into smiling gardens. At present, 
 moreover, they seem very well inclined to under- 
 take the task, and to accept all the responsibility 
 which attaches to the receipt of the fine profits they 
 
87 
 
 anticipate from the outlay of the large amount 
 of capital it will be necessary to pour into the Hills 
 to effect this truly grand undertaking. 
 
 From the moment private eaterprize has fairly 
 taken possession of any field of mercantile specula- 
 tion, Government has no business there. The 
 encouragement system in the commencement of an 
 experimental undertaking, and up to this point, is 
 excellent ; but it may be carried beyond legitimate 
 limits. In the present case, for instance, if by the 
 promise of gratis supplies of seed and seedlings, too 
 great a number of persons be suddenly induced to 
 undertake tea operations, very serious complications 
 may arise in the labour markets of North Western 
 Jndia,, as they have in the districts bordering on our 
 South Eastern Frontier, which Government will find 
 it very difficult, if not impossible, to remedy. Care 
 then should be taken, by a judicious and well-timed 
 retirement from the field, to guard against this evil 
 in regard to the Tea Districts in the North West. 
 Care also should be taken in disposing of the Govern- 
 ment factories, lest by an exorbitant valuation they 
 remain on hand as the last two, for a considerable 
 time — or altogether ; or, if purchased at the upset 
 price, the greater portion of the captital which 
 should be expended in working and improving them,, 
 be absorbed in the purchase money. And this 
 brings me to a point which requires some speciai 
 notice, as it has, before now, been animadverted 
 
88 
 
 on to the prejudice of the Himalayas as a tea 
 growing country in comparison with other parts 
 of India, — or to that of the operations carried on in 
 those districts. I allude to the small quantity of tea 
 turned' out by the Government factories in the 
 North West, and the variable opinions of the tea 
 brokers, on the chops, for some years past, sent into 
 the London Market. 
 
 Now, it must be borne in mind that, ab origine, the 
 operations of Government in the North West, were 
 purely experimental. They were undertaken, solely, 
 with the object of ascertaining whether the Himalaya 
 Hills would grow good tea^ — and if so, whether the 
 ■cultivation could be carried on, at a fair profit, as a 
 mercantile speculation. In the early stages of the 
 Government operations therefore, their plantations 
 were simply garden's. Great attention was paid to 
 the cultivation of the plant, and the manufacture 
 of the leaf, and the specimens of tea sent into the 
 London market were generally carefully prepared. 
 The opinions of the London brokers on these speci- 
 mens were highly satisfactory, as is evidenced by 
 the extracts I have given a few pages back. But the 
 fact that good tea could be grown and manufactured 
 in the Himalayas, having been once established, 
 the energies of the Superintendent were very 
 properly and judiciously directed to propagating seed 
 and rearing young plants, for distribution to the 
 public. linage quantities of tea might very easily 
 
89 
 
 have been manufactured and sold at a considerable 
 profit to GoTernment ; but as an enormous reducr 
 tion in the yield of seed, would have been the conse- 
 quence, this was not desirable.* No comparision 
 then, can yet be fairly instituted between the 
 Himalayas and other parts of India, as tea growing 
 districts. 
 
 The Government plantations, however, it must be 
 admitted, have not been improved in a mercantile 
 point of view, by the plants being permitted to run to 
 seed; and they will require for two or three years a 
 considerable outlay, to bring them into a condition 
 for yielding a full crop of tender leaves. Purchasers 
 therefore, must possess Capital, or they will not be 
 able to do justice to these plantations, nor to make 
 their bargains profitable. It would give the public, 
 moreover, I am afraid a false impression of the value 
 of Indian teas, to estimate the crop at the Superin- 
 tendent's' valuation of two rupees (4s.) per lb. all 
 round. Although the fine teas sold in the Almorah 
 Bazar may have fetched that price, it must be borne 
 in mind |that in the Government plantations, a large 
 portion of the season's crop has hitherto been Bohea, 
 or a coarse kind of tea fit only for the, Thibetan 
 and other Native Markets; and that the Assam 
 teas, which command, on account of their great 
 
 * Dr. Jacobson of Jara, the hig:hest authority we have on tea culti- 
 vation, says, that for this reason and bacause the plants deteriorate 
 by, beings allowed to run to , seed, the Chinese always have distinct 
 plantations foi the purposes of growing seed. 
 
90 
 
 strength, higher prices than any China teas, — though 
 the Pekoes and finest Souchongs may fetch 4s. to 4s. 
 6d, per lb. — do not average in the London Market, 
 more than 1*. 8d. to Is. lOd. per lb., from which 
 must be deducted the expenses of packing, carriage, 
 brokerage, &c. Dr. Jameson in his last report, I 
 observe, values his teas at Rs. 1-8 {3s.) per lb. ; but 
 this is far too high, as an average, as it is only fiae 
 Souchongs and Pekoes that fetch these prices. 
 
 From the circular of Messrs. W. J., and Henry 
 Thompson, just come to hand (dated 10th June 1862.) 
 I extract the following remarks, which shows not 
 only prices, but how very sensitive the London tea 
 market is. Than the Messrs, Thompson, we could 
 not have a better guide : — 
 
 "Black Teas, — Of all kinds, from broten and dusty, Tip to 
 Is. 6d. per lb. there was an over supply early in the month, 
 and mnch lower prices were made in consequence, both at 
 public sale and privately ; brown leaf especially the fall showed 
 itself 2d. per lb. in some at auetion 'withorut reserve,' but part 
 of this has been subsequently roeovered. The hig^her grades have 
 met with good demand tlirong-hont, and Jine and Jlnest Kisows 
 have been sought for at extreme prices up to Ss. 6d. per lb. 
 both by dealers and exporters. Tayshans have continued extreme- 
 ly heavy of sale, but some parcels have been taken for shipping 
 at lOd. to lid.; over Is, per lb. there has not been any demand. 
 Common to fair black leaf kinds fell Id. per lb., in consequence 
 of over supply, bnt lately there has been some recovery in these 
 sorta. The better classes have of late improved in value in conse- 
 quence of the scarcity of fine and finest Moning, for which 
 there has been great and increasing demand for Russia. All 
 available parcels of these latter have been eagerly taken, and pur- 
 chases have been made to a considerable extent at 2s, 3d, ta 
 28. 5d. per lb., the market now being nearly cleared." 
 
91 
 
 Seed too, at present estimated at rupees thirty 
 per maund of 80 lbs., is not an item of permanent 
 income, as in a very short time, it will be produced 
 in very much larger quantities than can be used — 
 and possibly may then be destroyed or used for 
 manure with impunity. These matters, however, I 
 sliall notice when I come to treat of the value of 
 tea property. 
 
 In concluding this, chapter, I have to regret that 
 statistics, showing the number of acres taken 
 up for tea cultivation, the area actually planted out, 
 and the number of daily laborers employed, have 
 not as yet been published by the Goyernments 
 of the N. W. Provinces, and the Panjab. Dr. Jameson 
 has promised to furnish them ; so it may be, that I 
 shall be able to add this interesting information in a 
 subsequent Chapter. 
 
92 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of ^Experiments in India generally — Future pros- 
 pects of Tea, — Incidental circumstances connected 
 therewith— Land, Labor, Capital, Property in 
 , relation thereto — Localities, ^c. ^c. 
 
 In the foregoing chapters I have given an out 
 line of the circumstances connected with the rise 
 of Tea Cultivation in India, adding, as I briefly des- 
 cribed the progress of the operations undertaken, such 
 informatioh, statistical and otherwise, as I thought 
 might prove useful to persons purposing to em- 
 bark in Tea speculations in India, as Capitalists, or 
 Cultivators. Viewing the subject from a higher 
 stand-point, I have endeavoured, in an humble way, 
 to illustrate those circumstances which have had 
 a tendency to retard the growth of the experiment ; 
 and, per contra, those which have exercised material 
 influence in fostering, and ultimately bringing it to 
 healthy maturity, — in the hope that, the experience 
 gained in an experiment, commercially, of greater 
 National importance than any ever before undertaken 
 
93 
 
 in India, ma}- be made of some utility in developing 
 the rich resources of this great Empire, aud in 
 following up to as sucessful an issue, some other 
 of the many experiments the wants or demands 
 of Europe are daily forcing on the attention of the 
 Indian Government. 
 
 At the moment at which I write the maiiufac- 
 turing interests of the Mother Country, consequent 
 on the lamentable circumstances of the dis-United 
 States of America, are in the throes of a crisis that 
 threatens their annihilation. The operative classes, 
 paralyzed by so sudden a misfortune, are perishing 
 with want. Cold famine stares millions in the face. 
 The future of the present, holds out, literally, no 
 prospect of relief. Present misfortune, with hope, 
 is supportable. But with hope cut off, it is misery 
 indeed. Where then, it may be asked, is the 
 glory of England's colonies, if the internal broils 
 of a foreign land can so afflict her — so sorely 
 strike her, in the very heart of her home? — and 
 when one, India, alone, indisputably possesses the 
 means of supplying England's demand three times 
 over with ease, truly the question seems both fitting 
 and relevant. A reply however is very readily found. 
 India has not supplied England's demand, for a 
 double, yet very simple, reason. England is rich. 
 India is poor. The Capitalist has ni)t supplied 
 the Cultivator with the means of relieving his 
 distress. Speculating on peace, England has 
 
94 
 
 denied India even the guarantee that she will take 
 what is grown at a /air price ; and the result has been 
 quite in accordance with those sound principles of 
 Economic Science which ordinarily regulate the laws 
 of production and consumption. Manchester and 
 Lancashire have been loud in their demands on the 
 Home and Indian Governments to encourage the 
 cultivation of Cotton, — nay even to compel the ludiau 
 ryot to undertake it. But Manchester and Lanca- 
 shire, having reserved to themselves the right of 
 buying in the cheapest and best markets of the world 
 that may be open at the moment, have no just 
 ground of complaint against India, or any other 
 country that refuses to grow any staple for which 
 circumstances may have created a spasmodic de- 
 mand — that prefers certain to uncertain profits. 
 
 Such undoubtedly is the view sound economists 
 must take of this question, as one simply between 
 the Cotton Spinners of England, and the Cultivators 
 of India. But there is another point in regard to 
 the bearing of this and similar questions on the 
 welfare and material progress of India, that I do not 
 find illustrated in any of the English papprs or 
 
 speeches I have read on the subject, and which has 
 been suggested to me by certain circumstances 
 
 connected with the subject on the consideration of 
 which I am at present engaged. 
 
 The Cotton Spinner, alarmed for the safety of a 
 trade in which he has invested his all, would protect 
 
95 
 
 it from destruction, and himself from utter ruin, at 
 all ' hazards. To tell such a man that ' those who 
 ask Government to encourage this product, ask 
 it to go beyond its natural and ligitimate func- 
 tions — ask it to m eddle Tpith that which every body 
 agrees in the abstract, is best left in the hands 
 of individuals, -vfithout any interference from Go- 
 vernment — with supply and demand, production and 
 consumption, profit and loss'* — is tantamount to 
 telling a ship-wrecked man that he must not catch 
 hold of his neighbour. The Manchester men have 
 doubtless as long and as intimate an acquaintance 
 with Adam Smith and John Mill as their instruc- 
 tors. They have their excuse. Their existence — 
 the existence of the millions they support, is at 
 stake. The opposite side, with equal determination, 
 but with more reason, would protect the Indian Cul- 
 tivator from the ruin — one quite as deplorable as that 
 which now devastates certain districts of England, — 
 which must inevitably result from immense tracts of 
 country being placed under a cultivation, the produce 
 of which, when grown, circumstances might place out 
 of the market. They too have their excuse. But 
 with neither do I wish to meddle. It is certainly 
 now too late for people to look to India to afford 
 immediate relief to England's distress. The hour 
 is past. India has done her utmost; and the pre- 
 sent crisis must be tided over as best it may. But 
 
 « Home Newspaper 26th June 1862. 
 
96: 
 
 the point which concerns me, and which ought to 
 concern every one interested in the welfare of this 
 country is this. A. trade, requiring, annually, /or^y 
 millions sterling of raw material, is suddenly let 
 loose, and found seeking a source of supply — would 
 it, or would it not be advantageous to India to secure 
 permanently a portion of it? There can be but one 
 answer to this important question, and that which 
 naturally follows is 'What are the best means of 
 accomplishing this end?' I venture to refer to the 
 history of the sister experiment I have here sketched, 
 and to reply that, with present experience, were a 
 similar course pursued, the question ' Can India, — 
 can any part of India, produce cotton equal to Sea 
 Island, Upland Georgian, New Orleans &c. ?' which 
 has never yet, in my humble opinion, been disproved 
 — might be solved in a manner as satisfactorily, and 
 with as benificial results to this country, as that 
 regarding Tea. 
 
 'AH the value of success' said Lord Auckland, 
 in introducing in India a better produce of cotton, 
 suited for the immense manufactures of England, 
 is fully appreciated by me ; ai)d it is fitting that 
 renewed and special exertions being again directed 
 to the prosecution of this national object, our mea- 
 sures in furtherance of them should be well consi- 
 dered, and be as complete and effectual as circums- 
 tances will admit. We are simultaneously laboring, 
 with fair hopes, to secure the establishment of a 
 
97 
 
 profitable tea culture ia India, and it will be one 
 fortunate consequence of the state of our Chinese 
 relations if, in respect to the production for the 
 European market of two such valuable articles as 
 tea and cotton, It should give, as seems probable, 
 an active stimulus to the agriculture and commerce 
 of this country. In no other channel can the capi- 
 tal and enterprize which have at Bombay been 
 heretofore employed on the trade in opium, be now 
 turned with better prospect of advantage than to 
 the amelioration of the cotton produce of that Pre- 
 sidency, which already coramands some partial sale 
 among the English manufacturers, and affords a very 
 promising encouragement to further persevering 
 experiment/* 
 
 Both experiments were carried on simultaneous- 
 ly. Government established experimental Farms 
 for the cultivation of Cotton, as well as Gardens 
 for the cultivation of the Tea plant, in many parts of 
 India. Those for cotton, moreover, at the outset, 
 received the most careful attention. Pecuniary 
 advances were made to individuals, and rewards 
 granted to such natives as evinced zeal and ingenui- 
 ty in the prosecution of the object ; seed, in corisi- 
 derable quantites, was procured from Egypt, 
 Bourbon, the Brazils, and from North America; saw- 
 gins, used with so much success in the latter country 
 
 * Minute by the Governor General of India, on the improved 
 cultivatioa of cotton in India, dated l5th March 1839 
 
 I 
 
98 
 
 and in tte West Indies, were sent to India, and a 
 gentleman, who resided for some years in Georgia 
 and New Orleans, was deputed to superintend tlie 
 ■working of them ; several American planters were 
 employed for instructing and superintending the 
 cultivation, and large prizes were offered for the best 
 samples of cotton, of good growth and cleaned by 
 machinery, not less in quantity than 300 bales. 
 
 Thereports,however,of someofthe superiuteiidents 
 of the cotton farms, and, of all the American Planters, 
 were unfavourable to the introduction of the 
 American cotton, to which they considered the 
 climate and soil of India generally unsuitable. 
 But, they did not attempt to adapt their system to 
 either the one or the other, and seemed to forget 
 that in India, we have every description of climate, 
 and almost every description of soil, the capabi- 
 lities of many of which e. g. Assam, Cachar, the 
 Valleys of the Himalayas, and many parts of the 
 Sea-board, were then little known. There is cer- 
 tainly such abundant evidence in these very reports, 
 and the reports from cotton brokers on the cotton 
 raised at that time and during previous experiments, in 
 proof of the fitness of certain lands in India for grow- 
 ing sifiperior cotton, both from foreign and indigenous 
 seed, that little doubt remains on my mind that, were 
 the same experiments vigorously undertaken, with 
 present experience, — care bestowed on the selection 
 of localities, —attention directed to irrigation and an 
 
adaptation of systems of agriculture, — also to a proper 
 selection of bolls for seed — and finally to the 
 application of modern mechanical skill to rendering 
 this article fit for the English market, — complete 
 success would follow ; and that Cotton fully equal 
 to the best Upland Georgian, if not to Sea /s/ararf, 
 could be sent annually from India, in sufiicient 
 quantities to supply the demands, not of England, 
 only — but of half Europe. 
 
 One Mill Owner I find writing to the Agricul- 
 tural and Horticultural Society of Bengal in 
 1839, says :— 
 
 " Accompanying are 24 bundles (five pounds each) 
 of twist, spun from the cotton grown at Akra farm 
 under the superintendence of the Agricultural and 
 Horticultural Society; — also one piece of cloth (10 
 yards) made from the twist spun and wove by the 
 power loom ; and one piece (30 yards) made by the 
 native hand loom." " This cotton I have carefully 
 watched through the various stages of cleaning, card" 
 ing, roving, spinning, S^c. and have no hesitation in 
 characterising it as equal to the very best Upland 
 Georgia Cotton; its staple is fully as long, and I 
 would say stronger and better adapted for mule 
 spinning than any I have imported direct from 
 America." 
 
 " 3Jy own opinion with regard to the cultivation 
 of Upland Georgia cotton in India, judging from what 
 I have seen of it when tried under great disadvan- 
 
100 
 
 tages, is, that if judiciously prosecuted, it would 
 ultimately be crowned with the fullest success."* 
 
 A sample of Cotton grown at Hazareebagh ia 
 1836j from the superiority of its quality, led the 
 Committee of Commerce and Agriculture of the 
 Horticultural Society of Calcutta, to suppose it to 
 be the produce of Sea Island Seed, whereas it was 
 produced from Egyptian Seed. It was valued at 
 Is. 4d. to Is. 6d. per lb. A sample grown near 
 Bombay was pronounced ' quite equal to New Orleans 
 Cotton' Mr. W. Blundell again, a Merchant of 
 Calcutta, in 1856 reported on a sample of Cotton 
 grown by Colonel Hannay in Assam, from accli- 
 mated Sea Island Seed, as follows : — 
 
 A. No. 1 — Quite suitable for the English market. 
 Staple long and fine, but weak : — Worth probably 
 in Liverpool from 15d. to I6d. per lb. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Bazely of Manchester, reported on 
 a sample of cotton grown from Sea Island seed 
 on the bank of the Mutla river, (close to the site 
 were it is proposed to create a port for Calcutta,) 
 that it was a most excellent and beautiful cotton, 
 worth in the then state of the market 19rf. per 
 lb., and that a few weeks before it would have 
 been valued at 2Bd. per lb. An experiment was 
 made in Arracan, with similar seed, in 1860, the 
 result of which was declared by the Calcutta Horti- 
 cultural Society's Committee to be ' a most valuable 
 * Prootedings Hort, Socy. Transactions VOL. VII. p. 166. 
 
101 
 
 long stapled cotton — slightly stained in color, yet 
 still worth about 24c?. per lb.' 
 
 But I need not multiply evidence of this kind, 
 or further enlarge on this portion of the subject. 
 Abundant and convincing testimony to the fact 
 that exotic cotton of superior quality can be grown 
 in parts of India, is to be found in the experience 
 of the past, as admirably digested and laid before 
 the public, in the Cotton Hand-Book prepared in 
 accordance with the Eesolution of His Excellency the 
 Governor General of India in Council dated 22nd 
 July 1861, by Mr. J. G. Medlicott of the Geological 
 Survey of Bengal.* Here, also, will be found data to 
 show that — leaving altogether out of the account the 
 great districts of Western India from whence the pre- 
 sent supply of Indian Cotton reaches the English 
 Markets, — the area of land suitable for the growth of 
 cotton on the Bengal side is enormous. Col. Phayre, 
 the Chief Commissioner of British Birmah, in a report 
 to Government on this subject in 1860, states, that 
 Birmah annually exports jS250,000 worth of cotton 
 to China. He adds that ' there are in the Upper 
 portion of the Province of Pegu mani/ millions of 
 acres of ground now lying waste, where it is believed 
 that cotton of a quality far superior to any now 
 known in Birmah could, under European superin- 
 tendence, be raised.' 'It is a crop ' he continues ' to 
 
 * The Cotton Hand. Books of the Bombay and Madras Presiden- 
 cies I have not seen. 
 
102 
 
 which the people are accustomed, and to the care 
 of which they might easily be trained ;' and thia 
 statement, in conjunction with that of the Govern- 
 ment Superintendent of Cotton Experiments Mr, 
 Price, who visited Birmah in 1854, that the ground 
 lying along both banks of the Irrawaddi, from 
 Prome up to Thyet Mew, is superb Cotton land, — 
 the finest he had evet; seen, may be taken, as suffi- 
 ciently conclusive. Mr. W. Muir the late able 
 Secretary to the Government of the N. W. 
 Provinces, and now Member of the Board of Reve- 
 nue^ in 1849 estimated the area of Cotton cultiva- 
 tion likely to afford supplies for European Markets 
 at 829,753 acres, which he was of opinion was 
 capable of extension to 1,474,801 acres. In many 
 reports, moreover, I find it stated that, were sufficient 
 inducement offered i.e. of course, were cotton culti- 
 vation more profitable than other crops — the cuiti- 
 Tation could be extended fifty, sixty, and even, a hun- 
 dred fold ; and there can be so little doubt of this, 
 that I think it merely waste of time to discuss the 
 point, especially as the fact has already been accept- 
 ed by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.* 
 
 * At a meetings of tbe Board of directors of the Manchester 
 Chamber of Commerce, held on £he 16th Jaly 1862 the following 
 resolutions were considered and adopted:— 
 
 1. In the present suspension of importation of cotton froni 
 America, and with the prospect of a seriously diminished supply 
 from thence for possibly years to come, this Board have thoug-ht 
 it their duty to examine and report on the suggestion made 
 
103 
 
 On the Soil of parts of India^ I shall quote but one 
 opinion. It is that of an American Planter, Mr. 
 Finnie, who on visiting the northern portion of the 
 Bareilly district, exclaimed-—' most beautiful, as 
 good as ever I wish to see ' — ' the finest land in the 
 world.' And in another place, still speaking of 
 soil — 'all India must be the garden of the world, 
 if it were supplied with water.' Yet, there is bet- 
 ter, and far richer, soil in other parts of India than 
 that of the Bareilly district. 
 
 It is further most satisfactorily proved that the 
 indigenous cottons — of which, though not generally 
 known, there are many varieties — can be im- 
 mensely improved, and it is singularly to be regret- 
 ted that very much greater attention has not been 
 paid to this point. With such facts before us, that 
 the plant exotic in America is in India indigenous ; 
 that varieties like New Orleans and Sea Island, 
 which in the Western Continent are annuals, are 
 biennial in India, often triennial, and sometimes 
 standing for even four or more years, the second 
 year's crop being both more abundant and of better 
 
 to them, with a view of securing aa adequate and permanent 
 supply; and resolve — 
 
 2. That India affords the means of supplying the raw material 
 in great abundance, the extent, climate, soil, and population all 
 being favourable, and the country being dependent upon the British 
 Legislature. 
 
104 
 
 quality than the first ;* that some varieties of indi- 
 genous cotton plants are perennials ; that others 
 grow to the size of large trees, — it is impossible 
 to doubt that both the soil and climate of many 
 provinces and districts of India, are peculiarly 
 favourable to the growth of the cotton plant — and 
 if so, reasoning from the analogy affiorded by the 
 experience of every civilized agricultural Nation on 
 the face of the Earth, it is reasonable to con- 
 clude, that with care and attention, the foreign 
 varieties of the plant' may with great advantage 
 he largely introduced into India — and the indigenous 
 varieties may be made to yield very greatly 
 increased crops, and a very much finer quality of 
 cotton. 
 
 It would almost appear then, that the question pro- 
 posed, has been already answered, and that, in the 
 experience of the past, we have most complete and 
 satisfactory evidence of the two facts of greatest 
 primary importance viz. — that exotic cotton can 
 
 * Mr. Bingham of Cheynpoor [apud Cotton Hand-Book. Medli- 
 cott.) He adds that plants are now standing in his g'ardeu since 
 1866, healthy and prolific, and from which he anticipates continued 
 prosperity. The Collector of Cuttack reported in 1848 that 
 bushes grown from Georgian or New Orleans, some fifteen, some 
 six years old were then standing, and had produced annually 
 three crops, without cultivation, irrigation or labor of any sort 
 being bestowed on them. Kolatively, he added, to the area the 
 plants occupied, each of these crops was larger, than am ordi- 
 nary crop of indigeuoas cotton, and 'beyond all compailsott 
 superior .' 
 
105 
 
 be successfully introduced into India — and that the 
 indigenous plants can be improved; and the next 
 question that naturally arises, and that which 
 seems a mystery and a puzzle to every body, is — 
 how are these happy results to be brought about ? 
 
 I venture to answer. By Qovernment Intervention 
 Alone, a reply which brings me again, to the turning 
 point in the discussions now taking place on this great 
 question, and to my own subject — 'the essential 
 points to be considered in all agricultural operations 
 of an experimental nature undertaken in India, with 
 the view of increasing the commercial Wealth of the 
 Nation/ 
 
 The Free-Traders of Manchester have been liber- 
 ally accused of abandoning the principles of sound 
 political economy, and plentifully sneered at 
 for proposing to the Government of India to turn 
 ' Cotton Merchant.'* ^ The Manchester Chamber of 
 Commerce in reply (16th July 1862.) 
 
 Resolved. — "That any direct interference with the regular 
 course of production and trade, either by the Government of this conn- 
 try, or by any private association, by undertaliing- to purchase, or 
 giving: a guarantee, of a remunerative price, for all the cotton that 
 might be produced, would be contrary to sound principles of trade, 
 and being only temporary, and precarious in its nature, would 
 not be likely to provide for the permanent success of its cultivation." 
 
 But I see no occasion for the sneers on the one 
 hand, nor the resolution on the other. The Govern- 
 
 * See.— The Times of 3rd July 1863,— letters signed an Old 
 Indian, and many others 
 
106 
 
 ments of half the Countries in Europe, are Tobacco 
 Merchants. The GoTernment of India has been 
 an Opium Merchant for years, with great advantage 
 to the revenues of the State ; it is still a Tea Mer- 
 chant with very great prospective benefit to its sub- 
 jects both European and Native, and to the commer- 
 cial interests of both England and India ; and would 
 that, in the latter sense, the Government of India were 
 also a Cotton Merchant, is a sentiment that I am sure 
 will be heartily echoed by every one who feels for the 
 lamentable circumstances of the starving operatives 
 of the manufacturing districts of England, and 
 who takes any real interest in the welfare of India. 
 A historian tells us that an Emperor once set fire to 
 his Capital and sung an ode while the flames 
 reduced it to ashes. It is not true. Nor have we 
 here a parallel. Yet I honestly confess that the melan- 
 choly reflection such an idea gives rise to, involunta- 
 rily occurs to me when I observe people in the middle 
 of the nineteenth century, while grim Famine is 
 stalking outside their doors, with nothing more 
 practical to propose, than a discussion on the abstract 
 principles of political economy, — which have nothing 
 whatever to do with the question ! 
 
 When a very much greater quantity of any com- 
 modity is thrown on a market, than the ordinary 
 buyers in that market require or will readily carry 
 off, as regards that commodity, there is said to be a 
 glut : and, as the natural consequence— prices fall. 
 
107 
 
 When the converse takes place i. e. when a very 
 much lesser quantity of any commodity than is 
 ordinarily required, is offered for sale, the market 
 is said to be stinted ; and — prices rise. 
 
 But, in both cases, values remain the same, and 
 by the common law which (in markets regulated 
 by recognized principles of commerce) compels 
 an equilibrium between real and apparent values, 
 disturbing influences removed, prices are soon 
 adjusted. 
 
 All fhis, however, pre-supposes realities — actual 
 existences to deal with. But cut these off, and how 
 stands the case.? Supposing, for instance, one 
 country to be wholly dependent on another for the 
 supply of any particular commodity, and a rebellion 
 suddenly to break out in the former, or a war between 
 the two. The supply is, of course, suddenly 
 stopped. As regards that particular commodity 
 in the market then, howsoever great the demand, 
 there can be neither 7-eal nor apparent value — it is 
 non est, and trades existing on it are starved ; or if, 
 from a similar cause, the supply though not entirely 
 cut off, should be reduced so low as to meet but an 
 inappreciable portion of the demand, the result is 
 much the same; and this b, called, I believe, — 
 a Crisis ! 
 
 The laws and principles of Political Economy, 
 as far as with the aid of modern authorities I have 
 been able to make myself acquainted with them. 
 
108 
 
 will not help anyone here. Smith who walks 
 about the market with his breeches poekets full of 
 sound principles as they are called, will then he 
 no better off than his neighbour Jones, who flings 
 the said principles overboard at once : and a few 
 months later — or after supplies in stock have been 
 worked off — while Jones, if he has made good use 
 of the interval, to seek, or create by his own exer- 
 tions, a new source of supply, may possibly be 
 floating buoyantly on the surface. Smith will have 
 sunk never to rise again. And it is for the purpose 
 of averting these calamities, which, when they be- 
 fall us, no Goverumeiit aid, — no humau knowledge 
 or skill will suffice to ward off, that wise Nations 
 avoid being dependent on any one foreign Country 
 for supplies necessary to the well being of any large 
 body of their people. It seems almost ludicrous 
 to be talking ' first principles,^ at this hour of the 
 day ; but if people will preach, and act, as if they 
 supposed the pharmacopoeia of Economic Science, 
 contained remedies for all the ills that trade is heir 
 to, an(} pertinaciously ignore the fact, that the 
 markets of the commercial world are subject to 
 perturbations altogether outside and beyond the 
 control of its laws, there is no help for it. 
 
 The Cotton Spinners were quite right whea 
 they asserted that the Cotton Merchant should no 
 more grow his own cotton, than the Miller should 
 grow his own wheat. According to universal 
 
109 
 
 customj a Grower is one thing — a Manufacfcuret 
 another ; but if in a time of failure in cereal crops, 
 a Miller could obtain supplies of wheat, by growing 
 it himself, at home or abroad, and by no other 
 means, I am not prepared to say that, that Miller 
 ■would be the wisest in his generation, who sat down, 
 in his counting house, and refused to do so, — because 
 it was not in accordance with ' sound principles of 
 trade.' 
 
 There are other points as regards the principle por- 
 tion of the subject, which liavingamaterialbearing on 
 questions relating to India, it is important should, 
 not be lost sight of in discussing matters of the kind 
 wiiere India alone is concerned, or where commercial 
 relations between the two Countries are called into 
 existence. In the first instance, it must be recollect- 
 ed that propositions based on principles of Political 
 Economy, are true, only, in so f<ir as the conditions 
 and laws which regulate them are allowed free 
 and unrestricted action. Thus, the entire theory of 
 values and prices, as here alluded to, rests on the 
 assumption of a state of society, in which that 
 healthy competetion which arises from the self 
 interest of all parties concerned, exists. Here 
 the idea has not yet been born. Again, in drawing 
 conclusions in accordance with the laws of this 
 Science, such an amount of knowledge on the part 
 of buyers and sellers, as will admit of both making 
 themselves acquainted with the ordinary circum> 
 
no 
 
 stances and conditions of the trade in which they 
 are engaged, and sufficient intelligence to enable 
 each to know what is best for his own interests, 
 must be premised. Neither the one nor the other 
 can be predicated of Indian traders generally. Nor 
 would I be understood to restrict the circum- 
 stances under which conclusions drawn from pre- 
 mises so based, will be true, to these cases only. 
 The laws and conditions by which propositions 
 in Economic Science are determined, must be 
 recognized, accepted, and acted on by both parties 
 in their dealings, or they will be, in a great measure, 
 if not wholly, inoperative. And this must be ob- 
 vious : for, to take a case in point, suppose Smith, in 
 full prescience, himself, of the remedies which the 
 principles of his science suggest for the indisposition 
 or malady under which his trade may be suffer- 
 ing, quietly to recline in his easy chair, in the 
 confident assurance that his dittant relative Jones, 
 who alone possesses the means of relief, will, for 
 his own advantage, at once hurry to his assistance-^ 
 and, from ignorance of Smith's deplorable circum- 
 stances, or failing to see that his interest lies 
 in relieving his. sufferings, or from any other cause ' 
 whatever, Jones does not do so — Smith's trade will, 
 in ordinary course, languish, and ultimately die. 
 But leaving this unfortunate victim of sound 
 principles, let us attempt some diagnosis of the 
 disease of his trade. It is not very long : ago 
 
in 
 
 since another Smith, Adam Smith, took Englancli 
 or rather Europe, by surprise, by presenting the 
 world with his, * Wealth of Nations.' Now Adam. 
 Smith knew a great many things that his 
 contemporaries did not know. In his speciality, 
 it may very fairly be said, that he was far in 
 advance of his age. Yet experience has shown 
 that Adam Smith's knowledge was defective; 
 and that his opinions, on very many points, were 
 erroneous. The statement of this fact, is no 
 disparagement to the great reformer. It would 
 only be very disparaging to civilized Europe to 
 have stood still on the spot where he left her. 
 But Europe has not stood still. She has vindi- 
 cated civilization, and progressed very far in advance 
 of her old position, — so far, that, as Mohamma- 
 dans call the age preceeding the mission of their 
 Prophet, the * days of ignorance,' modern econo- 
 mists will not, I dare say, care to dispute the 
 point with me, if I distinguish the period prior 
 to the appearance of the ' Wealth of Nations,' as 
 compared with the present, by some such epithet. 
 Certainly, looking at the very long time it has taken 
 Europe to acknowledge the general truth of many 
 sound theories propounded by the elder Smith, 
 they will admit that, had the writings of Mill, 
 Ricardo, De Quincey, and many others who have 
 since successfully attempted a practical adaptation 
 of the theories of this science to the progressive 
 
112 
 
 advance in' Itnd'wledge and social pliilosophy of 
 succeeding periods, been exhumed from the debrtg 
 of some ancient ruin, a century before tha 
 birth of Adam Stnith, they would not hate been 
 received as Gospels. I use the word progressive^, 
 because it must not be forgotten that proposi- 
 tions in Economic, unlike those in Physical, 
 Science, ■will not admit of being solved within limits 
 bounded by the abstract principles of the Sciencet 
 itself, and that if any attempt be mad?^ to apply; 
 frinciples, without due regard to the circumstancea 
 and conditions, social^ political, educational &c.^ 
 of the nation concerned, it will end in the total 
 absence of any result whatever, or such a failure, as 
 will be more likely to bring discredit than anything 
 else, on those principles it is sought to vindicate and 
 uphold.* 
 
 If then, it be admitted that the principles of 
 Political Economy, as understood and recognized 
 in Great Britain at the present time, would not 
 have been applicable in their full integrity to the 
 circumstances of Great Britain in the ' days of 
 ignorance,^ it will, naturally I may say, follow, that 
 to look for happy results from conclusions, based 
 
 * I am Tery much afraid that it is to a somewhat similar 
 causer this Country is partly indebted for the destruction of the 
 Indig'o trade in Bengal, and for the present very lamentable 
 condition of the Coolee Trade to Assam and Cachar— See under 
 Labor infra,, 
 
113 
 
 on tile unqualified application of these principles 
 to circumstances as existing in the days of 
 British feudalism, would be to expect, more than 
 this Science contemplated accomplishing — more 
 than was ever dreamt of in the philosophy of 
 its best and greatest masters. 
 
 "Without stopping, however, to draw ^ny compari- 
 son between the conditions and circumstances of 
 Great Britain in the earlier stages of her com* 
 mercial development, and those of India in her 
 present state, I will pass on to say, that Eng- 
 lishmen, generally, in dealing with questions of 
 the nature of that under review, are too prone to 
 adopt a line of argument, and more unfortunately 
 _sti!l, a line of conduct, not very dissimilar to that 
 which when exhibited to them in the above light most 
 people will readily admit not to be the wisest. In 
 other words, forgetting altogether what Mr. Mill so 
 aptly terms the dynamics of Political Economy, they 
 are far too apt to look at economic propositions 
 affecting India from the statical point of view. Now 
 before sitting down to examine a great question 
 connected with the welfare and material progress 
 of England from the Political Economy point of 
 view, there are an infinity of things, peculiar to Eng- 
 land, to be taken into accurate account, — if it be 
 desired to .obtain a result which will exhibit the least 
 possible amount of error : and when we take into 
 cousideratipn; the area, the population, the number 
 
114 
 
 dfid diversity of races and languages, the divisions 
 of caste, the different stages of education ai.d 
 civilization of its various provinces and districts, 
 and countless other circumstances in which India 
 is antipodal to England, and regarding many, 
 if not most of ■which, moreover, the knowledge 
 of the best informed on Indian matters is defi- 
 cient, sound Economists will not dispute, that 
 if the same laws which regulate the system there, 
 tpithottt any allowance whatever heing made for 
 antagonism of ideas and difference of circum- 
 stances, be applied here, they will be met by 
 disturbing influences quite sufficient to upset the 
 tnost accurate and nicely balanced calculations. 
 
 For after all, what is a system of Political Economy? 
 Surely not a compound of aphorisims, or syllogismsl 
 Nor yet the heaping up of a standard of infallabk 
 ^nncipfes, to which all cases, occurring in nations 
 in all stages of civilisation, mwy be referred, as to 
 an undeviating Law 1 I do not think so. As I under- 
 stand it, it is, from our present point of view, simply 
 thejudieioiiB application of such general principles 
 regarding the production and distribution of wealth 
 &c., as experience has approved, to the business 
 transactions of a Nation (or the world), as will best 
 fend to the greatest development of individual 
 industry, and be most conducive to the public good 
 [QT the welfare and prosperity of mankind.) And 
 if this definition be right, it is surely sufficient 
 
1]5 
 
 to demonstrate that this Science must be most 
 intimately bound up with what is called Social 
 Philosophy : that it is eminently practical, and has 
 nothing in common with systems of metaphysics, 
 dialectics, or physics. Nor is there anything new 
 in all this ; yet are these remarks not irrelevant ; 
 for, any person who reads the discussions being 
 carried on in every public journal in Grreat 
 Britain, cannot fail to percieve that the great 
 national question which now troubles England, 
 is discussed by almost all, if not all parties con- 
 cerned, as if it admitted of being decided ou 
 economical premises alone. The time may come 
 when it will be possible to do this. Some people 
 of volatile imaginations, disregarding organic dif- 
 ferences in the bony structure of birds and beasts. 
 Still cling to the hope that we may yet fly. Count- 
 less skillful mechanics, indeed, have constructed 
 wings so cunningly designed, that in their dreams 
 they have soared beyond even their own imagina- 
 tions. But like the Artist of the ' Happy Valley,' 
 who ' waved his pinions awhile to gather air, then 
 leaped from his stand, and in. an instant dropped 
 into the lake,' all have similarly come to grief. 
 And such no doubt, to the end of time, will be 
 the fate of all, who by a misapplication of the 
 abstract principles of Political Economy to the pur- 
 poses of pure speculative reasoning, attempt to solve 
 questions, essentially practical in their nature, 
 
116 
 
 and inseparably bound up with the social condition^ 
 and progress of the humau race. 
 
 la India, we have very many stages of civiliza- 
 tion. By no means an infinitessimal part of the 
 country, is still, in the undisputed possession of 
 wild beasts.* Others are occupied by demi-savage 
 races. Large tracts of country are inhabited by 
 semi-barbarous tribes. In a few districts the state 
 of society is nomadic. But, taking a general view of 
 the whole, the great bulk of the middle and lower 
 classes of the people of the mofassilf of India, may 
 be said to be in the Agricultural stage of civiliza- 
 tion. Of course there are — and were, when England 
 was peopled by Ancient Britons — many po'pulous 
 towns and flourishing cities j but by reason of the 
 enormous distances and great difficulty of inter- 
 communication, these do not exercise any material 
 influence on the state of society in the interior. The 
 masses — the hewers of wood, and drawers of water, 
 the tillers of the soil, have little, I may say no educa- 
 tion whatever ; their food is a few handful s of rice, — ■ 
 it may be wheat or pulse ; their clothing covei's their 
 nakedness — no more. In many parts of the country 
 
 # See Official Returns showings the nnmbcr of natives destroyed 
 annually by alligators, tigers, wolves, and other wild animals, and those 
 who die from the effects of snake-bites. They average some thousands^ 
 yet the fifth portion of such cases, are never reported. In Sindh, 
 alone, the number of deaths from snake-bites, is enormous, 
 
 t The country, as opposed to cities or towns. 
 
117 
 
 the lower substrata of the people hardly know what 
 money is. Their transactions^ though nominally 
 regulated by the circulating medium, are almost en- 
 tirely carried on by exchanges. They literally have' 
 nothing but the land, and their interest in that 
 generally consists only in the right to live on it — a 
 right often limited by ^the will of their Zamindar, 
 or what is a more secure tenure, the custom of 
 the country. Their crops are almost invariably 
 under hypothecation to the money lender of the 
 village, or in remote regions to the lord of the 
 soil. In the North West, in Awadh, the Panjab, 
 and some parts of Central India, the people are 
 tetter off; but in some parts of the Madras 
 Presidency the condition of the people is not so 
 good. Throughout India generally the raiyat, can 
 seldom call the crop his. own. The cities and 
 large towns are, it is quite true, full of busy people-, 
 well to do, rich merchants and opulent bankers, 
 who carry on much trade; yet, though efforts 
 have, for some time, been made by the Govern- 
 ment to improve their condition, by diffusing 
 more widely amongst them the means of obtaining 
 education, the peasant proprietors and cultivators 
 of the soil, if generally happy and contented, are 
 still as ignorant as they are poor, and live in a state 
 of society little, if at all, removed from that in' 
 which their forefathers lived a thousand years ago, 
 I need hardly say, — it is very primitive. 
 
118 
 
 We all recollect the corn laws, their action, the 
 excitement their proposed abolition gave rise to in 
 Great Britain, and the intention and objects of 
 that measure. Before the abolition of protection, 
 the universality of some of the most important the- 
 ories of Political Economy had not been submitted to 
 the test of practical proof; and on this account, 
 the result of that great measure was doubtless 
 looked for with deep anxiety, by the thinking part 
 of Europe. That it has triumphantly vindicated 
 the truth of those principles on which sound EconO'' 
 mists took their stand, I need not mention ; but 
 I desire to draw attention to the warm and anima- 
 ted discussions that took place in the House of 
 Commons at the time, and the very strong party of 
 protectionists as they were called, that rallied 
 round the leaders who opposed this measure, as 
 evidencing that, short a time ago as this was, free 
 England had not then, generally, given in her 
 adhesion to all the principles of a science which 
 now, it would appear, an influential section of her 
 people expect to be well known and acted on in 
 remote regions of the despotic East, But it will 
 be long, centuries I am afraid, before India, will 
 be in a position to comply with this expectation,^' 
 at present wholly unreasonable. Nor do I think 
 a blind adherence to the naked principles of Econo- 
 mic Science, as applied to an island many cen- 
 turies in advance of her in civilization, will in 
 
119 
 
 any way tend to bridge the interval, or be conducive 
 to the prosperity and happiness of the people ,■ but 
 on the contrary, T consider that the adoption of suclji 
 a course will be productive of quite opposite results. 
 For let us suppose some of the States of Rajpootanah, 
 in the centre of which lies the little British possession 
 of Ajmeer, to be visited by a severe famine. As is 
 the custom in like cases, the corn merchants would, 
 of course, buy up nearly all the grain in Ajmeer, and 
 sell it in the dearest market within reach. Now 
 according to the common law, as much grain as was 
 displaced by the purchases of the corn speculators, 
 shouldjforthe same cause that led to its displacement, 
 pour into Ajmeer from other neighbouring sources, 
 and the equilibrium of prices throughout the coun- 
 try be maintained. But, unfortunately, there is no 
 Zollvereinin Rajpootanah. The native chiefs whose 
 territories, on all sides, hem in our little state, 
 being non-principle men, not a stone of corn would 
 be allowed to pass their frontiers. Consequently, 
 in the prosperous native states, the price of grain 
 would never rise at all, while British subjects 
 would have to purchase it at famine prices, — 
 a privilege, which could they understand that they 
 were the martyrs of ' sound principles of trade,' they 
 might, perhaps, appreciate ; but being very simple, 
 and very poor people, entirely ignorant of the 
 many and hard fought pitch-battles that have 
 been fought oa the floor of the British House of 
 
130 
 
 Commons, between Free Traders and Protectionists, 
 I have no doubt they would prefer adopting the 
 customs of their own country, and would consider 
 the neighbouring Eajas wise rulers, and their own 
 Government, either, very imbecile, or very cruel and 
 oppressive. Nor do I cite altogether a suppositi- 
 tious case. Something very similar actually did 
 occur in this district last year ; and such cases 
 are almost daily occuring in some part of this vast 
 Empire. As I write ' the Famine in the Deccan 
 seems to have become most severe, specially in the 
 district of Ahmednuggnr. The coarsest grain sells 
 in British territory at 8 seers for the rupee, but 
 it is aflSrmed that our own police obtain it at the 
 rate of 16 seers. On the Nizam's side of the Goda- 
 very the usual coercion of the grain dealers has 
 been resorted to, and the rate of 18 seers prevails. 
 But a cordon of the Nizam's police all along the 
 frontier prevents all intercourse from our side. The 
 people of Ahmednuggur let their cattle go wild, and 
 themselves flock in hundreds to the Railway works. 
 The wells are dried up, no rain having fallen since 
 June. We fear this will affect seriously the cotton 
 crop, July being the sowing season'* 
 
 Such visitations, human foresight cannot avert, 
 but it may be worthy of consideration, whether, for 
 the maintenance of an abstract principle, or a 
 
 • 'Friend of India,' newspaper 5 6th September 186S, 
 
121 
 
 Wen it is sound economy to suffer a whole district 
 to be devastated, and hundreds of thousands of 
 poor people to perish vrith hunger, or be utterly 
 ruined. Famines, the visitation of God, are of 
 too frequent occurrence in India to create a very 
 lasting impression, but their frequency and their 
 severity, renders it all the more imperative that every 
 protection th«t sympathy can suggest or human 
 ingenuity can devise, should be afforded to the people 
 against sufferings vrhich, if all, arc powerless to pre- 
 vent, might yet by some means be alleviated. 
 From the badness of present means of intercom- 
 munication in India, we are often compelled to 
 witness the singular and sad phenomenon, of plenty 
 reigning in one province, and famine raging in 
 another. Much has been done, and more is being 
 done by the Indian Government, to ameliorate the 
 circumstances of the country in this respect : but 
 it has often occurred to me to think, that a question 
 bearing so directly on the material prosperity of 
 the nation, and so interwoven with the welfare of 
 millions of Her Majesty's subjects, might be 
 placed on a different basis to that which it usually 
 occupies ; and that it would be well for competent 
 persons to examine, whether the outlay that would 
 be required to cover India with a network of 
 roads and irrigation canals, is not already exceeded 
 by the immense amount of wealth annually, and 
 for ever, lost to the country, by those fearful visita- 
 
123 
 
 tions which periodically occur, with terrible sererity, 
 in large provinces, and from which India, in some 
 part, is seldom entirely free. 
 
 We have hefore us a Continent as larp;e as Great 
 Britain, and, Russia excepted, half the rest of Europe 
 besides. Its configuration is peculiar. A stupendous 
 chain of mountains, the highest and most massive in 
 the world stretches along the entire north and north 
 eastern frontier; high table land occupies the centre ; 
 -chains of mountains, or ghats, run down the south 
 eastern and southwestern coast, at some distance from 
 the sea. Mighty rivers take their rise in these heights, 
 performing in their course to the sea the double duty 
 of fertilizing and draining the countries through 
 which they pass. But the distribution of these 
 great arteries with their tributary veins, is not equally 
 favourable to the whole country, and when, as is often 
 the case, a prolonged cessation of rain takes place 
 in any part, the result is one of those frightful 
 calamities with which North Western India has 
 lately been visited. 
 
 The mean quantity of water, according to Rennell, 
 discharged by one of these rivers, (the Ganges,) 
 into the Sea, throughout the whole year is 80,000 
 cubic feet in a second, or 69,12,000,000 cubic 
 feet per diem. But during the rainy months the 
 quantity is 405,000 cubic feet in a second; and, 
 as the water of the Ganges yields about one 
 part in four of sediment, it is calculated that 
 
123 
 
 during the flood seasons, there daily passes down 
 this river, a mass of matter equal to seventy-four 
 times the weight of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. 
 It is the alluviiil soil thus transported by the great 
 rivers of the world, gradually deposited and silently 
 accumulated through ages, that has formed those 
 deltas, the productive resources of which surpass 
 those of all other lauds. And the most remarkable 
 perhaps of these, is the delta formed by the 
 Ganges and Brahmaputra, the entire of which will 
 one day, probably, be reclaimed, and form the richest 
 tract of country in India. 
 
 We are thus taught an instructive lesson by 
 nature, who, if she takes a portion of the water 
 which the Earth sends forth, returns it to her in the 
 form of rain, giving back to succeeding generations 
 of man, rich and fertile plains in lieu of the sediment 
 received with the waters. Consequent, in a great 
 measure, on causes of this nature, the revenues of 
 the province of Bengal are nearly equal to a third of 
 the revenues of the whole peninsula of India ; and, 
 setting aside the questions of humanity, &nd profit, and 
 taking into consideration, only, the immense loss of 
 productive labor and wealth to the country by the 
 distructive ravages of famines, if future experience 
 establishes, even problematically, that a judicious 
 system of roads and water-works, would relieve it 
 from these visitations,* there would clearly be room 
 
 * See Col. Baird Smith's remarks, regarding^ the Ganges 
 Caaal, in his report on the Famine of 1861. 
 
124 
 
 for the outlay of many millions sterling, at a noWe 
 profit. The time for such a mighty undertaking, if 
 feasible, may not be come; but the necessity for the 
 consideration of this, or any other measure bearing so 
 directly on the existence of the population, is always 
 present. For, a famine, it must be recollected,, is not 
 quite the same in its effects and results in this 
 countryj as it is in most countries in Europe. There, 
 there is, for the most part, an interval between the 
 failure of the crops and the period of utter starva- 
 tion, in which husbanded stores and private charity, 
 serve to keep the wolf from the door. Besides 
 Tvhich there are many out-lets. In the last famine 
 whieh took place in Ireland, upwards of a million of 
 people found labor and plenty within a ten days 
 voyage of their homes. But here, how are the pea- 
 , saut proprietors and cultivators prepared for such a 
 calamity? In place of the husbanded store, there 
 is the debt to the Mahajan or Buniya;* and charity, 
 where all are involved in like distress, is hopeless. 
 Emigration, again, is barred by distance ; but were it 
 not so, want of means would render it impossible. 
 "When famines then, occur in India, the people let 
 their cattle run wild, and desertingtheir homes, wander 
 about thecountry in search of food. The Indian's love 
 for his village-home is proverbial. To desert it, is 
 his last resource. Thousands faint on the way and 
 perish; and those who reach a great city, or some 
 
 * The money-lender or corn-dealer. 
 
123 
 
 of those public works that Government, in such 
 cases, usually presses on with more than contem- 
 plated energy,* survive but to commence the world 
 a-fresh, with a heavy debt (if not remitted) for 
 the year's revenue of th-- land, that yielded no pro- 
 duce, — and for the advance received from the money 
 lender for the hypotliecatiou of the crop, that was 
 never reaped. 
 
 If such, then, is a true outline of the physical and 
 social coudition of India of 1862, it will not occasion 
 surprise if persons interested iu its welfare and 
 
 * From a Resolution of Sir Bnrtle Frere, Governor of Botobay, 
 passed lust moiith {Septr. 1862,) honorable alike to his wisdom aa 
 a statesman, his ability as an economist, and his humanity ae tt 
 man, I make the following extracts: — 
 
 "The high prices to which grain lias risen, and which, after 
 making allowance even for the effects of the recent fall of rain, 
 are 75 to 100 per cent, above the averag'e prices of the last two years, 
 renders the provision of permanent and steady employment for 
 all who require work, essential, to prevent great distress, if not 
 actual want, during- the ensuinp: season. * * * This state of 
 thinofs is ag:g:iavated by the prohibition placed by His Highness 
 the Nizam on the exportation of grain from his Provinces, which 
 u.«iially furnish large quantities of grain to the Eastern dis- 
 tricts of the Zillns and Southern Muhratta Country. * * * As 
 it is of the utmost importance that measures for relief should 
 not be delayed, until the people are bordering on starvation and 
 have lost all heart. His Excellency in Council desires that the 
 Public Works Department will take immediate steps through the 
 Rxecutive Engineers, in concert with the Collectors and local Native 
 Officers, to organize the gangs of workmen on such of the works 
 above mentioned as may be selected by the local Officers for imme- 
 diate execution." 
 
126 
 
 with some knowledge of its circumstances, should 
 Tiew, with some alarm, the daily increasing tendency 
 of Englishmen to apply to India, in full detail, sys- 
 tems of Political Economy, adapted to a people in 
 a high state of civilization, living under a constitu- 
 tion free as air — a constitution which, if granted to 
 India but for a day, the first act of the legislature 
 would be to vote every Englishman out of the coun- 
 try. Now, though I say this deliberately, I would 
 not be understood to imply that the British Govern- 
 ment is obnoxious to the natives of this country. 
 I simply mean to assert, that the ideas, characteristics 
 religions &c. of the two nations are distinct; that the 
 masses here, are too ignorant to have any political 
 opinions at allj and that in respect of place 
 and power, the upper ten thousand of India are in 
 no way dis-similar to other people — a fact which the 
 rebellion of 1857-58 I think, pretty clearly esta- 
 blished. But be this as it may, it will not follow 
 that, because they are willing to undertake the task 
 of managing their own affairs, they are competent 
 to perform it efficiently. On the contrary, to 
 place before the public satisfactory arguments and 
 proofs of tlie converse of this propsositiou, is the 
 sole object of this digression. For, what I 
 desire to maintain is, that in proportion as the 
 great' mass of the people of India, because they 
 are in a very early stage of civilization, are unfit- 
 ted for self Government, in such ratio is it tlie 
 
127 
 
 bounden duty of the paramount authority, to interpose, 
 and by the initiation of improvements, adapted 
 to the circumstances of the country, gradually to 
 lead the various races committed to its charge, up to 
 that point ill civilization, from which questions affect- 
 iiior the material progress of the Empire, may, 
 with advantage, be examined from a purely , English 
 poiut view. 
 
 I do not suppose that there is any very great origi- 
 nality in these views, and their soundness must be so 
 apparent to every competent thinker on the sub- 
 ject, that it would be needless to dwell on them 
 here, were it not that we have daily-recurring 
 instances of their being overlooked, or forgotten, 
 by very able men, accustomed for years to deal 
 with economic questions only as affecting nations 
 in a high state of Civilization. It would be im- 
 possible, perhaps to find a happier illustration of 
 what I mean, than the imposition of au incoma tax 
 in India. Many Indian questions, involving com- 
 mercial and other special considerations, may have 
 been complicated or involved iu failure, by being 
 dealt witii by persons without any experience or 
 special training iu the department to which the 
 particular question to be decided belonged. But ia 
 this matter no such cause is assignable. The ques- 
 tion was dealt with by one of England's best finan- 
 ciers — a gentleman sent out purposely to India, 
 as being perhaps the most competeat person iu th^ 
 
128 
 
 country to restore a financial equilibrium, and 
 one long accustomed to deal with similar question's 
 in England. The late Mr. Wilson's idea was, ' that 
 a principle good in one place, is good all over the 
 world J* and, if it was sound Economy in Eng- 
 land, ' that those who enjoy the protection of 
 the State must pay for it in accordance with 
 their means,'t he thought it must also be sound 
 in India; and on these points no one will dispute 
 Avith him. He was aware of the success which 
 had attended the application of this principle, 
 to a tax on income, in England, and that 
 no tax there was more easily collected, or better 
 calculated on any sudden emergency, to enable 
 a Chancellor of the Exchequer to turn a deficit 
 into a surplus. Why the same very simple rule 
 should not hold good here, though informed by 
 the writer of these remarks, as well as by many 
 other abler men — he could not imagine. Now 
 the late Mr. Wilson was undoubtedly a very able) 
 man. He saw before him a yawning cliasra, — he 
 saw also that it was hourly widening, and that unless 
 immediate and extraordinary measures were taken 
 to fill the void, it would involve him in ruin. He 
 set himself manfully to his task, and the desperate 
 
 * I quote from memory of a speech delivered in England, previou* 
 to his sailin°^ for India. 
 
 t Speech by the Right Hon'ble Jnmes Wilson, in the Legislativs 
 Council of India, 18th February 18C0. 
 
129 
 
 situation in which he found himself pkced, is some 
 excuse for his attempting to ward off impending: 
 destruction by a measure, which if some warned 
 him to avoid, the European portion of the outside 
 public of the metropolis, urged hia» strongly to adopt, 
 as tlie surest, the safest, and the most just. But, had 
 Mr. Wilson's life not been early sacrificed at the 
 shrine of public duty, he would have lived to learn, 
 as his able successor already knew, or very soon 
 discovered, that a tax, the incidence of which ia 
 one country may be comparatively light, equable, 
 and just, — in another may be unjust, intolerable 
 and oppressive. For, if the amount that will b& 
 willinffly contributed by a people, be a fair test of 
 the suitableness and propriety of a tax — and I really 
 do not think it is possible to find a better — no com- 
 petent authority in India will now dispute, that 
 double, if not treble, the amount collected, by every 
 means of extortion I am afraid, from the native 
 portion of the community on account of income 
 tax, would have been willingly contributed by them 
 in many other ways. Europeans, were unanimously 
 in favor of a tax on income in preference to any 
 other kind of tax, and Natives were as unanimously 
 against it, and this fact alone goes a great way t(> 
 aid me ia support of the position here taken up, 
 viz., that^ \i principles remain the same, it is to their 
 judicious application all Governments, and especially 
 new Governments, must look for success. 
 
130 
 
 There is perhaps no part of the wide range of 
 subjects embraced by the term Political Economy, 
 that is more difficult to define tljan what are called 
 the functions of Government. So vexed a question 
 is this, that though all may assent to the general 
 and broad principles on which other parts of the 
 system are based, on this point hardly two 
 persons will be found to think exactly alike. There 
 are two doctrines, however, vyhich though each 
 admits, within itself, of many shades of opiniott 
 regarding details, may be said to form rallying 
 points for two great schools of Economists. The 
 disciples of the one, advocate the interference of 
 Government in the business affairs of the people, 
 on the ground that it tends to advance the 
 material progress of a nation. Those of the other 
 approve the laisser-faire principle, and consider 
 the interference of Government a mischief, and the 
 greatest hinderance to a nation's progress. The for- 
 mer principle is adopted for the most part by thecon- 
 tinential nations of Europe; the latter finds favor, 
 and is often stretched to the extreme limit, iu 
 Great Britain. Possibly it is the experience afford- 
 ed by the working of the opposite principle, in 
 nations where the interference of Government has 
 not always been exerted for the good of the people, 
 that has rendered Englishmen so inveterate against 
 the doctrines of that school, as to lean to the 
 opinion, that if Government intereferes with the 
 
131 
 
 business transactions of the people at all, it must 
 be for evil. 
 
 The fundamental principles of the one school are, 
 that the persons intrusted with the Government of 
 a conntry, by their superior kno-wledge and ability, 
 must he more competent judges of what is good 
 for the people than they are themselves ; and that 
 by their power and command of resources they are 
 better able to carry out all undertakings with effi. 
 ciency. It is thought, too, that highly cultivated 
 and wholly disinterested persons, such as are 
 usually placed in charge of state affairs, are more 
 likely to study the interests of the people collec- 
 tively than persons whose sole principle of action is 
 individual self-interest. 
 
 The fundamental principles of the laisser-fairt 
 school, on the contrary, are that every thing connected 
 with what may be called the 'business of life', is best 
 managed when intrusted to those who are imme- 
 diately concerned in it, without the meddling inter- 
 ference of Government officials; that individuals 
 are the proper guardians of their own interests ; 
 and that the stronger the self-interest, the more 
 certain is the guarantee that undertakings will be 
 well and efficiently carried out. 
 
 Both admit that there are certain functions which, 
 of necessity, appertain to Government ; and these are 
 divided into the necessary, and the optional, or, as I 
 prefer to term them, the obligatory and the expedient 
 
133 
 
 —obligatory, as signifying those functions which a 
 Gorernment cannot neglect without sacrificing 
 the interests of the State or of the people; and 
 expedient, as signifying those which may be neglected 
 without fear of these results, but from the perform- 
 ance of which much, or the greatest, good, may be 
 anticipated. But here arises a diflSculty which 
 sets both schools at issue, and regarding which 
 few of the disciples of either can agree amongst 
 themselves viz., which are the obligatory, and which 
 the expedient ? Volumes have been written, — are 
 daily being written on this subject : but none of the 
 arguments adduced from the ' abstract principle ' 
 point, can possibly carry anything convincing with 
 them, for the very simple reason here dwelt on, 
 that the subject cannot be separated from social 
 considerations. The fundamental principles of both 
 schools may be productive of very happy results, 
 if rightly applied ; and if misapplied of quite the 
 reverse. Indeed, there can be no comparisiou 
 between the two doctrines, for each properly 
 contemplates an entirely different order of things. 
 The one pre-supposes a state of society in 
 which the people are not sufficiently enlightened 
 to manage their own affairs; while to admit the 
 truth of the other, it is absolutely necessary to 
 assume an amount of education, intelligence, and 
 many other qualifications on the part of the 
 people, that will warrant the belief, that they are 
 
133 
 
 the best judges, not of what they like, but, of what 
 is good for them, and this again requires not 
 only a highly cultivated, but a peculiarly constituted 
 society. Thus, if we take twenty highly cultivated, 
 and highly educated men, and set them around a 
 board groaning with delicaeies, served by a chef 
 of distinguished merit, it will not follow that 
 all, or even a majority of them, will eat and 
 drink only those things which are good for them, 
 or that the proportion of the twenty that will do 
 so, will be the same, if their number be composed 
 of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Indians, 
 Chinamen, or any other of the families which com- 
 pose the human race. So is it with the business 
 of life; and it is, consequently, wholly impossible 
 to define, or determine, the proper functions of 
 Governments in the abstract, for it is abundantly 
 clear, that those functions which are obligatory in 
 one state of society, — will be only expedient in 
 another, probably unnecessary in a third, and 
 possibly mischievous in a fourth. 
 
 When, therefore, I asserted above, that Govern- 
 ment intervention was necessary to solve the 
 Indian Cotton question, I had no intention whatever 
 of combating tlie abstract doctrine, that matters of 
 business or trade are best cared for when left in tha 
 hands of those interested in them. Such undoubtedly 
 is the case — where people have all the qualifications 
 necessary to render them the best guardians of 
 
 M 
 
134 
 
 their own interests; and looking at the cotton 
 question as one of demand and supply — consump- 
 tion and production, it will follow, that the 
 Indian authorities were unmistakably right, both 
 economically and politically, in declining, in the 
 interest of England, to interfere between tiie 
 cotton spinners of Lancashire and Manchester, and 
 the cultivators of India. 
 
 My object was rather to suggest to those who in 
 England's distress, see India's opportunity, and 
 desire to obtain for her from the presei)t or any 
 similar crisis, those permanent advantaties which 
 iiniversal opinion seems to have decided her natural 
 and physical circumstances render her capable of 
 securing, that, looking at the question from a 
 higher point of view, and in the interest of India, 
 the case is reversed ; and that the principle of 
 non-interference, if sound in the one case, will 
 be unsound in the other, in direct proportion to 
 the difference between the state of society in 
 the two countries. Aiid, if I have dwelt at length 
 on the point, it is because there has of late 
 appeared a tendency, on the part of some writers, 
 to carry the laisser-faire doctrine beyond its natural 
 and ligitimate limits, a course which, in a coun- 
 try where the first grey dawn of modern civilization 
 is struggling hard to make itself visible in the 
 darkness around, would be nothing short of advocat- 
 ing the abdication of one of the most sacred 
 
135 
 
 duties of a Government situated as is the 
 British Government in India. For though, to 
 arrest altogether the onward tide of civilizatioa 
 when once it has set in, is not easy, yet the 
 neglect by a Government of its obligatory func- 
 tions — and what duty can be more obligatory thaa 
 instruction — cannot fail in a very great degree to 
 check its progress. 
 
 All great questions affecting the material pro- 
 gress of a natioH, and especially those connected 
 with agricultural experiments, may be viewed from 
 two stand-points — the scientific and the commercial. 
 And it will be admitted that the business of the two 
 is so entirely distinct, that if those to whom one 
 appertains, meddle with the other, they are sure 
 to mismanage it. It will not be denied also, that 
 the two go hand iu hand, neither being iudepen- 
 of the other. In countries in an early stage of 
 civilization, the former, it will be apparent, properly 
 appertains to Government, for this reason, that 
 the people, from poverty and ignorance, are clearly 
 utiequal to the perforance of the task ; and, con- 
 sidering its bearing oii the welfare and existence 
 of the people, the duty, in regard to agricultural 
 experiments of national importance, may well be 
 placed amongst those tliat are obligatory. In countries 
 in an advanced stage of civilization, the case, like 
 all others, is different. The people are so highly 
 educated, and so wealthy, that they are well able 
 
136 
 
 to, and, generally, do perform efficiently tlie duties 
 of both departments, for themselves; — although do 
 country has yet reached that hiijhest state of 
 advancement, of the Government of which it may 
 said, that to aid the people in the discharge of the 
 first oflSce — is not an expedient function. 
 I The Sovernment of India has always, moreover, 
 recognized these principles, I say, recognized, 
 because, as must indeed be obvious, a Governmeut, 
 the greater portion of whose surplus means has 
 been absorbed by expensive wars, and whose time 
 and attention have — in infancy been devoted to 
 measures of self-preservation, — in youth to foreigu 
 conquests, — and in manhood — if it may yet 
 be said to have attained that period of its 
 existence — to the work of consolidating its Empire, 
 has had little opportunity of doing more. Hence 
 it is that the sources of immense wealth, exist- 
 ing dormantly in this great peninsula, are yet 
 so partially developed. We have good ground for 
 supposing that Tabacco, Silk, Flax, Wool, and many 
 other products which are in such demand in Europe 
 and America as to be sources ()f immense wealth to 
 the countries from whence the supplies are drawn, 
 might be produced here, of as good quality, 
 and at as cheap a price, if not cheaper, tlian in 
 any country in the whole world ; and amongst 
 the number we may, with much reason, place 
 Cotton. 
 
137 
 
 It may be said in regard to this comrno- 
 dity : — ' Goverament has already done its duty;, 
 experiments have been twice carried out with great 
 care and attention, and at great expense to the 
 State, and resulted in miserable failure.' The first 
 is a fact, and facts are indisputable things ; but 
 I cannot admit that the cotton experiments 
 undertaken by the Government of India were a 
 total failure, or any thing like itj and w6 have 
 fortunately to disprove it, another fact viz : that the 
 cotton now reaching England from India would not 
 have been nearly so good in quality, or nearly so 
 great in quantity, if those experiments had never 
 been undertaken. 
 
 An evidently competent authority, whose testi- 
 mony is supported by that of Mr. Haywood the 
 Agent of the Cotton Supply Association, says : — 
 
 ' I forgot to mention that besides the difference 
 in prise of more then £7 per candy, between the 
 indigenous cotton and the " New Orleans" intro- 
 duced by Mr. Shaw, there is a difference of nearly 
 twice as much in the yield, as it takes 1.3 acres to 
 produce a candy of clean cotton from the indigenous 
 plant, and only seven acres to produce one from the 
 exotic ; so that the difference in value between the 
 produce of the 280,000 acres of exotic cotton in 
 and near Dharwar, and now worth j6 1,200,000, is 
 not, as I said before, only j6240,000 above what it 
 would have been if sown with indigenous cotton. 
 
138! 
 
 but actually £628.374 above it, at the present price 
 of the indigenous staple ! Such was the improve- 
 ment in quality effected, by one resident Englishman, 
 in a comparatively small district of India; and as 
 equal, and often greater improvements might be made 
 in scores of other districts, I rejoice to hear that 
 one English company, at least, has already despatched 
 its agents to the best station in Berar, with gins, 
 packing-presses, carts, &c., and will advertise their 
 presence to every ryot throughout the cotton region. 
 If other companies follow this example their work 
 will soon bear fruit a hundredfold.' 
 
 The operations of Government, however, it must 
 be admitted, were not carried out, on the most 
 approved or most scientific principles; but, in a very 
 slovenly and very desultory manner; and were 
 stopped short, it would appear, at that point at 
 which it was most essentially important they should 
 have been pressed on with the greatest vigour. So 
 desultory were the cotton experiments in their nature, 
 that no effort even was made to bequeath to suc- 
 ceeding generations, what would now be of par- 
 amount importance viz., a full and clear record of 
 the blunders that were committed. On this point, 
 Dr. Royle observes. ' How little attention has been 
 paid, or at least, how little information is given us, 
 respecting the attention that was paid, to all the points 
 essential to insure success in culture, and improve- 
 ment in produce. Also how seldom any attempts are 
 
139 
 
 iDflcle, or reasons given, to explain the canse of 
 failure. We find, as was to be expected, equal in- 
 attention to, if not ignorance of the principles. The 
 Djajority also appear wise only after personal experi- 
 ence, and paying little attention to that of their 
 predecessors. For we find that the same course 
 is followed, the same results are obtnined, and 
 continue to he announced as new, although we 
 have had them on record for a series of years.':): 
 
 And such is quite as true now, as when the above 
 remarks were written ; and not true of cotton only, 
 but of an experiment wiiich has been attended with 
 better success. 1 allude to that, a brief outline of 
 the history of which 1 have attempted to give, in 
 the preceding chapters. 
 
 Tt will be seen tliat so little care and attention, in 
 the first instance, was bestowed on packing the tea 
 seed, that on reaching the Himalayas not one germi- 
 nated ; tbat of the first batches of seedlings sent to 
 the plantations in Assam and Madras, from the 
 ignorance of the persons entrusted with the care of 
 them, every plant was allowed to perish ; that from a 
 similar cause the selection of the soil, the cultivatioa 
 of the phint, and the manufacture of the leaf, were 
 frequently faulty ; that, notwithstanding it had been 
 established that good tea could be grown in India, 
 after thirteen years' trial, Government considering 
 
 * Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India p. 92, (Cotton 
 Hand-Book.) 
 
140 
 
 the experiment a complete failure neglected it in 
 
 Madras, starved it in the Himalayas, and abandoned 
 
 it altogether in Assam ; that Amung, tlie Chinaman, 
 
 who bought the last Government plantation in 
 
 Assam, succeeded no better with tea, than Mr. Finnie 
 
 and his brother Americans, did with cotton ; that the 
 
 Assam Company after an expenditure of £.200,1/00 
 
 in fruitless efforts to malie the cultivation pay, found 
 
 themselves insolvent, and their £20 shares selling 
 
 at less than a shilling a piece;* and finally it will be 
 
 seen, that experiments with tea have been in 
 
 progress for twent3'-seven years, and Government 
 
 though most anxious to do so, has not yet been 
 
 able in the Himalayas, to withdraw from the fields 
 
 without jeopardizing its success. 
 
 Similarly with cotton, there is no record of the past 
 
 of tea, except what is contained in Dr. Jameson's 
 
 reports ; and every planter must, consequentlv, be 
 
 also an experimentalist. f 
 
 • It is within my knowledg'e that one prentleman, in 1846 47 
 Jouffht 150 of tlie shares of this Company for Bs. 60. They are worth 
 at the present m^iket rate Rs. 72,000. 
 
 t 1 am at present carrying' on a curious correspondence with a 
 view to ascertain whether tea plants should be planted singly, or in 
 bushes containg six or seven plants. The Assam planters adopt 
 the former, the Himalayan planters the latter plan, each being equally 
 satisiied that the o ther is wrong'. No one here can decide betweeu 
 the two. The Chinese do not generally transplant, and sow from six 
 to ten seeds in u hole. In Java they adopt the bush of five plants. 
 But where seed sells at from Es. 30 to Rs. 150 a mun of 801bs. it is s 
 question of serious importance to be left undecided, after twenty seven 
 years of experimeutB. 
 
141 
 
 Notwitlistanding the magnitude of the interests 
 at stake, no precautions were tfiken in packing 
 the American cotton seed shipped to India last 
 year. It was packed any how — every how, and 
 sent to its destination in precisely the same 
 manner. The consequence followed the course of 
 nature in like cases. Hardly a seed came up. ' Of 
 the New Orleans seed/ says a report on experi- 
 ments made in Awadh, 'but one in a thousand 
 germinated.^ Another gentleman (the Deputy 
 Commissioner of Pertabghur) writes, 15th February 
 1862, 'I regret to be obliged to state that, having 
 called on all persons for a report of their success with 
 the seed, I cannot find a single instance in which 
 the seed produced any cotton.' A third report says 
 * none of the American seed came up.' And almost 
 all the reports are in the same strain, announcing 
 the general success of the Egyptian and the 
 total failure of the American seed. The unfortunate 
 result is, as usual, attributed to all sorts of causes ; 
 the heavy rain ; the bad cultivation ; the sowing 
 out of season ; the soil ; and the same suggestions as 
 to the cause of failure on which Dr. Royle remarked, 
 are repeated over and over again. One gentle- 
 man, Mr. J. D. Ward Collector of <^hittagong, 
 honestly confesses his incompetency to give any 
 opinion whatever on the subject in a few remarks 
 that are well worthy of attention. 'I am unwilling 
 to give any opinion of this only partial success. One 
 
142 
 
 gentleman told me confidently, that the raia had, in 
 the early part of November, half drowned the plants, 
 and stunted their growth. But another, as confidently 
 declared, that had it not been for that rain, none of 
 the seed would have come up. We have all about 
 an equal knowledge ot the subject, and you will 
 observe that it is not deep.' 
 
 All these circumstances, beyond doubt, tend to 
 prove — not that exotic cotton can wo^be cultivatedia 
 India as a mercantile speculation ; but simply that the 
 experiment has yet to be made : and the chances of 
 success seem to me, to be very fairly put in the follow- 
 ing remarks. ' The application of experience cannot 
 entirely ward off loss from such causes [excessive 
 rain-fall and ravages of insects;] but 1 feel confident 
 that the want of experience, generally, as to the time 
 of sowing, choice of soil, and treatment of the 
 plant, by Europeans who have hitherto essayed the 
 cultivation of the plant on this side of India, is the 
 chief cause of failure. We may therefore fairly enter- 
 tain the hope that with perseverence and increased 
 attention to these essentials, we shall, in time, 
 produce cotton, ia quantity and quality, that will 
 stand comparison with the produce of any country 
 in the world.'* 
 
 * Report of Mr., Stewart Douglas on Samples of Indian -grown 
 New Orleans and Egyptian Cotton, to the Horticultural Society of 
 Bengal (29tli March 1862.) 
 
143 
 
 But with cotton, as with all products of com- 
 mercial value^ for the supply of which there is any 
 competitionj assuming natural capabilities for f>ro- 
 ducing them in the quantity and of the quality 
 desired, there is the equally important question 
 of cost of prodvction to be decided, before it 
 can be expected that private persons will invest 
 their money in novel speculations, especially if 
 attended, as cotton cultiviition in India appears to be, 
 with considerable risks. But as quantity depends 
 generally, on conditions already known, the deside- 
 rata to be ascertained by experiment are reduced to 
 two, — quality, and cost of production. And the grand 
 question at issue is: — Whose interest — whose duty 
 is it, to satisfy capitalists on these points — that of the 
 people of the buying or selling — of the consuming 
 or producing Countries ? There is little difficulty 
 in deterrainiug that this duty — if duty it may be 
 called, — vests in the people of the producing Country, 
 for an opposite conclusion, would lead us biickto that 
 simple state of society in which each consumer (trader, 
 family, or individual) supplies his own wants. In- 
 dependent, moreover, of this view, as at the 
 present day, no civilized nation supplies all its own 
 demands, to adopt the principle that the consumer 
 should be a producer also, would necessitate his 
 carrying on his operations in a dozen, or it might 
 be, a hundred different places, many of them under 
 foreign rule, — which would be impossiible. 
 
144 
 
 But, it may be urged, if the people of the 
 producing country are infants, as the law defines that 
 term, and incapable of performing this office for 
 themselves, will not the duty then devolve on the 
 party, next most immediately interested in its due 
 performance — the consuming nation ? I venture to 
 think not; but rather on the Government of the 
 producing Country, which in such circumstances 
 is, in loco parentis, and bound, — always supposing it 
 to be manifestly for the good of the country — to 
 discharge those obligations which her wards, by 
 reason of their tender years, are unable to discharge 
 for themselves. Hence, we have the term Paternal 
 Government, as signifying, I assume, a Government 
 suitable to a coiiutry the people of which are in a 
 state oi infancy, and unfitted for the management of 
 their own affairs, or self-government. As long then, 
 as a country has a Government, in no case can it 
 be fairly said that the duty of developing the 
 natural resources of that country, devolves on the 
 people of another country. Nor, would it be wise in 
 any Government to dispute this position, for that 
 Government that would shift this responsibility from 
 its own shoulders, and impose it on those of irre- 
 sponsible agents, would retain no higher place in the 
 affections of her children, than that of a step-mother, 
 and would hardly have the same just right to lay claim 
 to ad\antages derivable from their increased abilit/ 
 to bear taxation oq attaining the age manhood- 
 
145 
 
 This is a question certainly involving very high 
 atid important considerations — a question which 
 perhaps it would be better to leave in the hands 
 of men more accustomed to deal with those pro- 
 blems of political philosophy which governments 
 are daily called on to solve, and one which I 
 should not have touched upon, were it not for 
 a confident conviction that the interests of both 
 this country and England will be better served, if 
 questions regarding India, involving interests of great 
 national importance be treated philosophically, if 
 at the same time practically, instead of being left 
 to be worked out on the principle of a theory wholly 
 inapplicable to her present circumstances, by the 
 haphazard operations of individuals — irresponsible 
 agents, acting often under the exciting influence of 
 a self-interest, which need not necessarily conduce 
 to the welfare of the country ; and if by these 
 remarks I can direct the attention of deeper 
 thinkers to the subject, and thus contribute to 
 a better understanding of the position and condi- 
 tion of India in comparison with other nations 
 of the world, I shall have accomplished my end. 
 
 I would not, however, be understood to advocate 
 a French centraliaation, nor any of those strange 
 doctrines in ecouomic science with which we are 
 occasionally favored from that country; nor yet 
 do I mean by the use of the term philosophical, 
 the iatrodu'ction of that speculative theorism, so 
 
146 
 
 tnucli decried a few pages back. Of all systems 
 this -latter is the most abominable — the most mis- 
 chievous ; because, being propped up by what are 
 called ' sound principles,' it often decieves or 
 mystifies the public, — as a rule not the thiukiug 
 portion of the people, — into the belief, that a policy 
 apparently so well considered and surely based, 
 will, in the end, be conducivp to the best interests 
 of the country, whereas, all the wliile, it simply 
 indicates a total absence of originality of ideas, — a 
 grievous want of common sense, and is the 
 greatest possible impediment to a nation's progress. 
 On the contrary, I advocate what appears to me 
 to be the most practical, and only practicable, 
 method of obtaining the end all interested in India 
 must have in view, — the development of her great 
 natural resources, in a manner, at once, the most 
 expeditious, and most beneficial to the country. 
 
 For, to take an illustration from common life, let 
 us suppose our old acquaintance Jones, to come into 
 the possession of an estiite as largo as Yorkshire. 
 His first business would naturally be to have his 
 property surveyed. His next probably to ascertain its 
 value i. e. its capabilities for production, mid natural 
 sources of wealth. Well, let us further suppose 
 him to discover that his property not only contains 
 the fine arable land in possession of the tenantry 
 already established on the estate ; but large tracts 
 of viigin soil suitable for growing tea, cofi'ee, cotton, 
 
147 
 
 flax, hemp &c. &o., lying waste and uncultivated'; 
 rich mines of coal, iron, copper, salt ; dense forests 
 of valuable timber, &c. Now what would be the 
 proper course for Jones, or any wise man of business, 
 under the circumstances, to pursue, for the improve- 
 ment of his property, the welfare of his tenantry, 
 and his own advantage ? 
 
 This seems a very simple question. It is one, at 
 least, that individuals find little difficulty in solving 
 daily, very much to their own and their country's 
 benefit. But let us follow Jones to his Estate. 
 What will he do with it ? 
 
 Well, having satisfied himself that his property, i. e. 
 his land, his minerals, his timber &c. is good, and 
 can be worked at a large profit, he will, certainly 
 not allow his immense wealth to lie long dormant ; 
 but will proceed at once to take measures to 
 develop it. This he may of course do in many 
 ways. The usual method adopted is for a proprietor 
 to let out his waste land on such advantageous 
 terms for a limited period, as will induce his surplus 
 tenantry to bring it under cultivation ; or, should 
 population, be scant, to effect that object by the 
 introduction of foreign labor. This Jones will 
 probably do. With regard to other sources of 
 wealth, the return being usually so valuable, he will 
 very likely work them himself — or should his 
 tenants be so enlightened, active, enterprizing, 
 and wealthy, as to be qualified for undertaking 
 
148 
 
 such operations, he. might finii it his advantagje 
 to effect au arrangement with them, by which the 
 undertakings might be worked, something on the 
 metayer principle, i. e. the tenants finding the cnpital 
 and labor, and the proprietor recieving a royalty 
 pf one half of the profits. This plan would 
 equally well effect the desired end — the loiver strata 
 pf the people being enriched by the working ex- 
 penses, the higher by one half of the profits, and 
 the lord of the soil by the other. The estate 
 itself would be benefitted by the great addition 
 to its productive wealth. 
 
 But it remains to be considered what course 
 Jones would pursue if his tenants were all very 
 simple people, and possessed of neither enterprize nor 
 wealth sufficient to render them an efficient means 
 to the desired end. The first idea that suggests 
 itself is, that in such circumatauces, Jones would 
 be forced to adopt the first mentioned plan ; that is,- 
 having first satisfied himself, by the most careful e»- 
 quiry and examination, or by experiment, that he had 
 good ground to assume a profitable result, to under- 
 take the task himself — provided he had capital to 
 carry it out, or security or credit on which to borrow. 
 And the latter contingency, of course, assumes, that 
 the anticipated return from the working of the 
 several sources of wealth on the estate, would far 
 exceed the normal rate of interest of uioney at 
 -the time. 
 
149 
 
 But, it will be objected, if Jones should have 
 neither capital, nor credit, or be incompetent, or 
 though none of these, should yet, for any other cause, 
 be unable or unwilling, to work out his own 
 prosperity, what would he do then? Would he 
 not be obliged to sit down and wait until he 
 should be more favorably circumstanced — or to 
 advertize in the journals of foreign countries far 
 and wide, that he had a fine estate capable of 
 yielding untold wealth in iron, gold, fibres, tea, 
 cotton, silk, and abundance of labor, and that any 
 one who liked was welcome to come and make 
 his fortune thereon, in the hope that some rich 
 and enterprizing people would come and help him. 
 
 No. I do not think it likely that Jones would 
 adopt either of these courses. Because, by the first, , 
 he would probably cut off all hope of ever realizing 
 the object of his aims ; and by the second, he would 
 certainly postpone it to such an indefinite period, 
 that his grand-children might never live to derive- 
 any advantage from the result. For, supposing 
 Jones to be a good man of busioess and competent 
 to manage his own affairs, he would at once under- 
 stand, that people with money would require a far 
 better guarantee, first, for the existence of the untold 
 wealth, and second, for the cost of producing and 
 bringing it to market, than was contained in his 
 simple assurance, before they could be induced 
 to withdraw their capital from undertakings ia 
 
150 
 
 which, if the profit were small, the security was 
 unexceptionahle, to invest it in operations under- 
 taken for the improvement of an estate, separated 
 by an immense distance from their supervision and 
 control — or before they would themselves leave their 
 homes and set out with their capital to his assistance. 
 If he were a cautious man, too, he would foresee, 
 that even if a few responded to his invitation and 
 failed, as almost all pioneers do, it would da^iage 
 the credit of his scheme, and thus materially injure 
 his prospect of success. He would further be aware, 
 that careful speculators would view a prospectus 
 holding out prospects of brilliant success, but 
 unsupported by satisfactory data, with much suspis- 
 cion, and would naturally argue somewhat in this 
 wise. * How is it if these speculations which Jones 
 wishes to float on the market, will eventually afford 
 dividends unheard of in Europe, that he does not 
 Work them, himself?' And if he were to allege 
 that he had neither capital nor credit, they would 
 reply ' Well Sir, if with such a noble estate, preg- 
 nant, as you tell us, with latent wealth, you have 
 not credit sufficient to enable you to put your pro- 
 jections before the public, in such a manner as 
 ordinary people of business find necessary to enable 
 them to obtain the confidence of capitalists, there 
 must be some enormous risk, — some mismanage- 
 ment in the interior economy of your estate, or some 
 other cause unknowu to us, that unfits it for resi- 
 
151 
 
 deuce, or that renders your schemes uncertaia or 
 unsafe, and makes it more advisable for us to keep 
 our money where it is — or, at least, to hold back until 
 such time as we see people come from your estate, 
 ladea with your iron, your copper, your cotton, 
 your tea, and satisfy us that they are good of 
 their kind, and tell us what it had cost them to 
 obtain them.' In the mean time, if Jones' income 
 and expenditure were closely balanced, he would 
 be compelled, on every sudden pressure, to raise his 
 rents, to enable him to live as he was accustomed 
 to, to construct roads, build bridges, and to perform 
 many other functions ohligaiory on all good land- 
 lords. Or, should the sovereign, or the paramount 
 authority, have fixed the tenure of his lands, this 
 source of increase would be cut off; and his only 
 alternative then would be the Money Lender ! When 
 this failed i. e. when his credit was gone, or so far 
 gane, as to render it possible for him to obtain 
 money only at a ruinous rate of interest, he would 
 be thrown back on his original position, stud, 
 abandoning all hope of improving his property, 
 he would be compelled to let it go to ruin, or, at 
 best, to sit down in inactivity with a heavy millr 
 stone of debt about his neck, leaving the com- 
 munity of his tenantry in the same state of poverty 
 as that in which he found them. 
 
 In such circumstances, it is very clear, that, the 
 last state of Jones, would be worse than the first. 
 
152 
 
 Jones, tberefore, if a man of business and wise, 
 would not entertain either of these ideas; but know- 
 ing that in ■ entering on speculations promising 
 a very much larger return than the interest he 
 was already paying for borrowed money, every 
 day passed in inactivity was certain loss, he 
 would, immediately, set about developing the 
 resources of his estate himself — if he could; or, 
 commencing such experimental operations as 
 would enable him to lay his projects before the 
 public, with such convincing data, — such positive 
 proof of success, as would at once guarantee the 
 whole of his shares being taken up, and insure 
 him besides a handsome premium for the risks 
 incident on new experiments — if he could not. 
 
 That Jones, if equal to the management of large 
 operations, should, tentatively, undertake the develop- 
 ment of the resources of his own estate, in preference 
 to having recourse to foreign agency, would be better 
 for the community of his tenantry, individually and 
 collectively, and for himself, — and this is clear. Be- 
 cause, while in both cases, the working expenses 
 would go to enrich the laborers (his tenantry), in 
 the latter, receiving all the profits himself, he would 
 be able not only to live with greater splendour, but 
 to spend a very large surplus, in works for the 
 improvement of his property, and for the public 
 good. In other words, the entire portion of Jones' 
 wealth would still remain on his estate,— the 
 
153 
 
 unproductive being made productive — and the pro- 
 ductive, as the natural result of the greater pros- 
 perity of his tenautryj beiug increased many 
 fold. 
 
 But as the major part of the success of all under- 
 takings is good management, and as experience 
 has pretty well estabislied that no system of checks 
 fiilly compensates for the absence of the ' master's 
 eye,' it is quite possible that Jones, if possessed of 
 a very large estate, might find himself somewhat 
 embarrassed on this score. His time would be 
 ipaach occupied with other pressing matters. He 
 would be busy examining the accounts of the collec- 
 tors of his rentsf; looking after the settlement of 
 disputes and the punishment of offences; giving 
 instructions to his engineers for the construction of 
 ■works of utility, canals, roads, bridges &c.; and 
 other business connected with the management of 
 his estate ; and could probably devote but a very 
 moderate amount of time and attention to oper- 
 ations undertaken with the view of opening up new 
 sources of wealth. It would be a sine qua non, 
 therefore, if he decided on retaining this depart- 
 ment in liis own hands, that he sliould retain, 
 at the same time an intelligent and efficient 
 agency, under a chief of ability, in concert with 
 whom he mii;ht work out his plans. And the 
 interest of the whole community living on the 
 estate and of the proprietor himself, would be so 
 
154 
 
 great in, and so bound up with, the result, that 
 the necessity for this would strike him at once. 
 For — always supposing Jones to be a practical 
 man — he would comprehend, that if he looked on this 
 portion of his business as secondary, and left it to 
 be worked out, in a hap-hazard manner, by persons 
 fully occupied with other duties, who had not more- 
 over the special knowledge necessary for rightly 
 understanding it, the whole of his borrowed capital 
 would, very likely, be exhausted in undertakings 
 which, under such circumstances, it could hardly be 
 expected, would turn out otherwise than expensive 
 failures, barren of results. 
 
 It often happens, however, that great landed pro- 
 prietors are not fond of entering into mercantile 
 or business speculations ; sometimes from a mistakeu 
 notion that such transactions are unbecoming the 
 dignity of high personages. Now Jones, being one 
 of a mercantile people, would not, probably, have 
 any scruples, on this score, about turning a penny 
 for his own or his peoples ' advantage, provided he 
 could do so honestly. And it is a very singular 
 fact that in those quarters where his nation is 
 so much sneered at on this account, we find 
 the most august .personages in the land violat- 
 ing the very priuciple they profess to uphold. 
 Thus, no one can travel very far over the conti- 
 nent of Europe, without running against Royal 
 Manufacturies of all sorts — manufacturies for 
 
155 
 
 clocks, watches, porcelain, glass, tapestry, &c. ; and 
 workshops for every description of material on the 
 excellence of which may depend the efficiency of 
 the public service. Much may be said, it is true, 
 on the comparative merits of different systems in 
 regard to the latter; but, at present, we will 
 not interrupt the course of our illustration, but 
 continue to accompany the progress of our proprietor, 
 in his praiseworthy exertions for the improvement 
 of his estate. 
 
 But, if Jones would have no scruples about under- 
 taking business transactions, on the score of dignity, 
 it is more than probable that he would desire to 
 refrain, as much as possible, from interfering in 
 these transactions, from a well grounded belief that 
 such a course would have a tendency to dwarf the 
 intellects, and paralyse tUe energies of his tenantry, 
 the thews and sinews from which he derived his 
 strength — the main source of all his wealth. If 
 Jones, then, were a man of sound judgement, — he 
 would abandon any short-sighted notions he might 
 have had, of looking, ultimately, to prc^fiis derived 
 from these sources, as a legitimate means of recruit- 
 ing his own finances, or of improving his estate. 
 His object would rather be to hold such property 
 in trust until the iutellects and energies of his 
 tenantry were so far developed, that they would be 
 qualified for relieving him of this duty, using the 
 surplus profits in the interim, to supplement the 
 
156 
 
 deficiency ia the contributions of the tenantry to 
 the general fund, caused by their poverty-stricken 
 and helpless condition. He would carefully avoid 
 .entering into competition with his tenantry, and in 
 this view would not occupy the field a moment 
 longer than necessity compelled. 
 
 There would, of course, he an understanding 
 between Jones and his tenantry, on his making over 
 his lucrative business, with all rights of direct partici- 
 pation in the profits, and engac;ing to retire from- 
 business altogether, that the loss should be made 
 up to him. either by a handsome royalty, or 
 such other arrangement as would make him a 
 joint participator in the general prosperity of the 
 community, and thus better able to increase the 
 efficiency of all departments maintained for the 
 public good. 
 
 But, if Jones should be compelled, or for any. 
 reason should determine, to resort to foreign ; 
 agency for the purpose of developing the re- 
 sources of his estate, he would, be relieved of 
 the trouble and expense of organizing and super- 
 vising a large department to superintendent and 
 carry out operations on an extended scale. 
 The necessity, however, for undertaking them on 
 an experimental and smaller scale, and of working 
 them out to a point that would enable him to 
 satisfy those he wished to attract to his help, 
 that they were good and would pay, would still 
 
157 
 
 remain. This business moreover would have to 
 be very carefully and skilfully performed, under 
 the superintendence of competent persons, or 
 experiments that should succeed, would fail, and 
 after the expenditure of much money Jones would 
 be no nearer the end of his aims than he was 
 before. On the other hand, if he would save him- 
 self the trouble and expense, he must forfeit, 
 as is usual in such cases, considerable advan- 
 tages. For, though the condition of the operative 
 classes would be much improved by the working 
 expenses, the profits would not return to the 
 country to be again spent in it, but would go to 
 enrich the foreign proprietors of the stock. Still, 
 on the principle tnat ' half a loaf is better than no 
 bread/ if Jones saw no other means of developing 
 his wealth, than by having recourse to foreigners, 
 he would probably lose no time in adopting active 
 and energetic measures for attracting them to his 
 estate. The working expenses would certainly 
 much enrich his people, and so improve their condi- 
 tion, that in time they might, in turn, become 
 developers, and at no very distant date the neces- 
 sity for .the employment of foreign aid might 
 disappear altogether. 
 
 It will thus appear that there are three plans 
 that Jones, or a person situated like him, might 
 adopt for working out his prosperity. To leave the 
 task in the hands of his tenantry. To undertake 
 
158 
 
 it; himself. To avail himself of ' the agency of 
 foreigners. And in each case, the method I have 
 pointed out, is that, I believe, which an ordinary man 
 of business would be compelled to adopt, to obtain ■ 
 his end. 
 
 . Now the business transactions of a Government' 
 differ in no way from the business transactions of 
 an individual, except perhaps in the greater magni- 
 tude of their proportions ; and consequently one 
 great secret of their success will always l)e, that they 
 are conducted on proper business principles. India 
 therefore, in my humble opinion, should adopt one or 
 pther of these plans,, — whichever appears to the 
 wisdom of her rulers most suitable to her present 
 circumstances, — and act upon it, as would any 
 good man of business, without delay. Thus, for 
 instance, if ; India has no interest in producing 
 cotton for England, India is quite right to remain 
 §^upiae, and to allow England to look for her supply 
 of cotton here, or there, or any where else she 
 pleases, and to adopt her own measures for obtain- 
 ing it. For, that India should be turned into a field 
 for growing whatever England requires, altogether 
 irrespective of the interest* of the people of the 
 country, would be a doctrine too monstrous, to 
 admit of argument for a moment. But, if India 
 thinks that her clirriate and her soil are suitable for 
 the growth of cotton, and she desires, for her 
 own advantage, to secure a trade in this article, 
 
159 
 
 of fifteen or twenty millions sterling per annumi 
 but has not the matins of doing it, then is it hef 
 business, and nobody else's i)nsiuess, to satisfy capita* 
 lists on all those points regarding which cautious 
 persons require information, before they will invest 
 their money in undertakings of this kind. 
 
 But in any case, where it is proposed that t)io\X'- 
 sands of square miles of any country should be 
 placed at the disposal of foreign markets, and 
 millions of people employed in cultivating it, it 
 will be for that country carefully to consider, 
 whether the distribution of profits will be such as 
 fully to compensate her for the consequences 
 resulting from the displacement of produce, novr 
 for the most part grown for home consumption. 
 
 la regard to lauds now lying waste, the case is 
 diferent. The results of placing them under culti- 
 Tatiou with cotton, or with any other staple most 
 remunerative to the cultivator, provided the labor 
 market will bear the strain, can bring nothing 
 but unmixed good to all parties concerned. But 
 the point in regard to the development of ludiaa 
 sources of wealth, that must be considered before 
 any other, is good management. It is quite super- 
 fluous to add that without this nothing can succeed ; 
 and unless a Minister of State — or call him what 
 you will — be appointed in India, whose special 
 duty it shall be to look after this department, there 
 will be, not simply a want of good management, 
 
]f)0 
 
 but no managemeat at all, aad things will go 
 on much in the hap-haz!ird way they have done 
 hitherto, experimeats being taken up vigorously 
 while a Governor General interested in their success 
 Isolds the helm, and as quietly dropped in the reign 
 of his- successor. I have not the slightest doubt that 
 ihe archives of the Indian Government, could pour 
 forth folios of reports, replete with most valuable 
 information regarding the natural products of India^ 
 .called for, but never used. Hence it is that the 
 same blunders, as remarked by Dr. Boyle, are 
 committed over and over again — and the Govern* 
 ment in time of needi is so often found running 
 here and there for information, which sometimes 
 it has paid very large sums of money to obtain,. 
 ?ind which might be found 'shelved' in the dusty 
 pidgeon holes of some Secretary's office close 
 by. Under all circumstances there surely ought tQ 
 be some one at hand, better informed on these 
 matters than any one else in the country, whose 
 business it should be to counsel and advise the 
 Government. As I write the Calcutta Chamber 
 of Commerce is deliberating on its. reply to a 
 solicitation from the Government of India for 
 fidviee regarding the packing of seeds and cultiva- 
 tion of Sotton. I doubt not that the Chamber'* 
 feply will contain as much information- as could be 
 expected from any respectable body of ten or 
 twelve Englishmen of common sense whose business 
 
161 
 
 is buying and selling, and not one of whom possibly 
 may have ever cultivated an acre of ground with any 
 staple whatever. Were there a Minister specially 
 charged with this duty, it would be proper for him 
 in all matters of national importance, to obtain every 
 information from private sources available, through- 
 out the length and breadth of the land, — to analyse, 
 and condense it, estimating the opinions of all at 
 their proper value; and this reswme embodying also 
 his own conclusions, he would submit to the Head 
 of the Government, who would then be in a position to 
 pass a final order. But I cannot help thinking that 
 the government of a country in the circumstances 
 of India, that has not such an officer, and is 
 dependent wholly on desultory sources of infor- 
 mation, is altogether disqualified from efficiently 
 carrying out any experimental operation of commer- 
 cial importance whatever; and but very ill qualified 
 to render those piivate individuals whom it invites to 
 t.'ike on themselves the trouble, the risk, and the 
 cost of these undertakings, that assistance which. 
 tliey have a right to expect. 
 
 Englanci has her Board of Trade with its Presi- 
 dent, — a Minister of State. Almost every Government 
 in Europe of any respectablity, has its Minister 
 of Commerce. And until India has her Minister, 
 with an efiBcient staff competent to take charge 
 of the vitally important and responsible duties which 
 in this country attach to such an pffi';e, I do .uot 
 
163 
 
 tbink that the undirected and desultory efforts of 
 Government officials, or private individuals, will effect 
 a tithe ofvirhat might be accomplished in this direction, 
 with better management, in a quarter of the time. 
 
 We have seen what an able Minister in a very 
 short time has effected in Finance ; yet the work he 
 had to accomplish was light in comparison to what 
 is left for a Minister of Commerce. Measuring 
 the extent of the improvement in the condition 
 of the people of India that may be effected, by that 
 which has taken place witlaa the last few years, 
 it needs not an over sanguine temperament to 
 believe that, with the rails and electric wires which 
 are now interlacing each other all over this vast 
 Continent, it is possible to crowd into the short 
 space of a geueratioa, improvements in material 
 prosperity, that in older countries have been the work 
 of centuries. I say a generation, not that that period 
 would be necessary to effect in India a creation of 
 wealth unparalleled in the history ot nations ; but 
 because the intellectual development of a people is 
 of slower growth, and must always be a work of 
 time. Many nations have grown rich in less than 
 one generation. But no nation on the face of the 
 globe, has made much intellectual progress in 
 less time. Nor will India. Yet, until India is 
 educated, be it in one, or be it in ten generations, 
 the full development of her great natural resources 
 cannot be looked for; and until the fulness of 
 
163 
 
 that time is come, the duty will be a burden on her 
 Government, which, for ita own sake, for the sake 
 of its snbjecta, it will be compelled to accept ; for, 
 let it perform the task through its own agency, 
 through the agency of foreigners, or by any other 
 means, the responsibility will rest where it was at the 
 beginning — with the Government, — and the Govern- 
 ment vvill not be able shake it off. The Govern- 
 ment, therefore, if it desires to be free, should be 
 active and not passive ; seizing with avidity on every 
 opportunity of opening up new fields of wealth, and 
 preparing them for those who it decides shall work 
 therein. But let Finance, Education, Commerce, 
 these three, be placed on a sound basis — let there be a 
 competent head appointed for each, and I have little 
 doubt that all necessity for the direct interference of 
 Government will soon vanish, and India, wealthv, 
 enlightened, and prosperous, putting off her swad- 
 dUug clothes, will walk alone, leaving her Govern- 
 ment to look after such affairs of State only, as 
 older nations, by the common consent of the 
 people, think it better for their national honor and 
 welfare, should be managed by persons appointed 
 for the purpose*. 
 
 And here I think it as well to mention that there 
 is no necessity to see in this view a tendency to 
 turn the Gnvernment of India into a * Royal Mer- 
 chant trading to the East Indies,' or to establish 
 it on the model of the, old Merchant Campany 
 
164 
 
 of celebrated memory; nor yet a desire to support 
 ia the abstract, the principle of a Government 
 supply of capital. Nothing of the kind. I simply 
 assert that the natives of this country are not in 
 a condition to work out their own prosperity, 
 nor to initiate or catry out such experimental 
 operations, as are necessary to induce others to 
 undertake the task for them, and that if the 
 Government of the country, does not do the work, 
 no body else will. 
 
 ' In India' T have observed elsewhere 'we have as 
 yet no communes, no town councils, no mayors 
 or corporations, no religious and charitable socie- 
 ties, &c. — those noble institutions, which, while 
 rendering Englishmen a self-governing people, 
 make the office of Home Secretary compara- 
 tively a sinecure. A civil commissioner there, is 
 a viceroy — the Government, both King and Father. 
 Is a bridge, jail, church, or scho A to bs built, — i 
 road, railway, or canal to be made, — a country to be 
 drained, cleared, or watered, — Government must do 
 the work — it alone must bear the cost. No aid 
 from interested parties is solicited, or expected, No 
 advice which local experience might elsewhere render 
 valuable, is looked for, or tendered. The Govern- 
 ment of India is the natives' Kamdenu — the cow 
 npon whom all have a claim, and whose powers of 
 Supply are deqmed alike everlasting and inexiiausti- 
 ble. To bear the herculean vi eight of its burdens 
 
165 
 
 it must be provided with the shoulders of an 
 Atlns.'* 
 
 If, in the mean time, outsiders come; by all means, 
 encourajje thera, help them, and give thera every 
 facility for helping themselves, provided at the same 
 time, they help India ; but good precautions must 
 be taken to ensure that they discharge both duties. 
 To cover India with thousands of foreign middle- 
 men, who should take the place of the native money 
 lenders, as I have seen proposed, would certainly 
 eifect a change : bat I am not so certain that that 
 change would be for the better. On the contrary, it 
 migh't, indeed, most probably, it would induce a very 
 inuch worse state of things than that which at 
 present exists ; for, whether true, or whether falsej 
 the native cultivators would always believe that these 
 aiddlemen were backed by the whole weight and 
 power of the Government ; and there is no reason 
 to assume that evils which existed for years under 
 a somewhat similar system with Indigo, in Bengal, 
 would not be perpetuated with other crops. TheS 
 money lender is uuboubtedly in some respects a 
 great evil; but he is also in some respects a great 
 good. Could Government be the means of scattering 
 far and wide over the country a system of small com- 
 
 * Instruction in the Oriental Languag-es considered, specially 
 as reg'&rds the l^t India Civil Services, and as a National 
 Question p. 22. . 
 
166 
 
 mercial banking establishments, undoubtedly it would 
 confer a lasting obligation on the people-^could 
 itj by any means, alleviate the evils of the pre- 
 sent system of advance, it would be doing much 
 good. But to do either, in present circumstances, 
 seems almost impossible; and the wisest thing, 
 therefore, that Government can do, is, instead of 
 attempting to substitute one evil for another, to 
 take the best measures for making ' the peasant- 
 proprietors of India, altogether independent of 
 money lenders, European or Native, at the very 
 earliest possible date. 
 
 ■ To enter into details as to the proper mode of 
 carrying out agricultural or other great national 
 {experiments is not my object. Such are invariably 
 best worked out after first principled are fixed; 
 and the same wisdom that shall determine that 
 India shall no longer be inactive in developing 
 the resources of her own wealth ; but active, — not 
 fpasmodically, but as a rule — will doubtless also, 
 suggest measures that will insure far more complete 
 and accurate information on each subject, being 
 placed before those intrusted with the duty of carry- ' 
 ing out the policy of the paramount authority, than 
 I can possibly command. There are certain principal 
 points, however, connected with the present con- 
 dition of circumstances, and with past experiments, 
 especially those undertaken to compass the cultiva- 
 tion of tea, that bear so directly on the whole 
 
167 
 
 question of European influence on India, that they 
 require some notice. ' 
 
 The plan here advised, I would observe, is not 
 essentially at variance with previous practice in 
 India; but is in strict accordance with the policy 
 which the Government of India hs.% partially pursued 
 with the greatest success. The tea experiment was 
 talked about, — written about, for years ; but nothing 
 was done, until a Governor General, suo motu, directed 
 that it should be carried out. It is true that in doing 
 80, many blunders were committed ; some naturally 
 attributable solely to the novelty of the experiment ; 
 but the major portion certainly due to the cause 
 on which I have above laid so much stress — want 
 of management. To this cause alone is it due 
 that the Government of India has been a quar- 
 ter of a century in effecting an object which might 
 have been attained in a third of that time ; and 
 in proof of tliis we have the plain and simple 
 fact, that at the time the Indian Government 
 had abandoned the experiment in tliis country 
 as a total failure, the Dutch Government of 
 Java, who commenced their experiments but one 
 year earlier, were exporting tea in large quanti- 
 ties for the markets of Europe. Does any one again 
 dream, that if the Government of India had not 
 taken the initiative in tea, we would now have in 
 India one acre under cultivation with that valu- 
 able plant. I do not think so ; and if others think with 
 
168 
 
 me, then let them believe also, that as it has been 
 with tea, so may it be with many other products; and 
 that if the principle adfopted with this staple,i be 
 adopted also with them,— rprovided that the experience 
 gained in carrying out that one experiment be 
 made proper use of, and valuable time, in other 
 words, hard pounds, be not thrown away, to save 
 miserable pennies,- — the results will be as profitable 
 to the Government, as they will be benificial to the 
 country and the people. 
 
 : There u no feature, as I said in introducing this- 
 subject, in the commercial policy of the Government 
 of India of which it has a right to feel more justly 
 proud than the introduction of the Tea Plant into 
 India: and to the results which have attended it, 
 I can fairly appeal as a jastification of the policy 
 in regard to experiments, generally, here recom- 
 mended. The results of this experiment, mareover, 
 are not all apparent, especially to the Eoglish obser- 
 ver, on the surface. It is not all, that India now 
 sends England 2,000,000 lbs, of tea, and has enabled 
 her to look on with comparatively small alarm at 
 the gradual destruction of the noble tea gardens of 
 China by the Taipings. It is this cultivation that 
 has opened up India to Europeans ; it is this- 
 cultivation that is making India known to English- 
 men; and it is this cultivation that will even- 
 tually bring about, in a larger degree then any other 
 undertaking, that ead which all profess to have so 
 
169 
 
 near at heart, yet wliicli noae, it appears to my 
 humble judgement, take the ouly practicable means 
 of accomplishing — the introductioa into India of 
 British C ipital. Let not India flatter, I had almost 
 said, flutter herself into the belief that she is going 
 to sell 5,000,000 bales of cotton at one shilling and 
 six pence, or even at the odd six pence per. lb. to 
 the cotton spinners of England. All that part of 
 the problem has been solved long ago. Time was 
 when we had plenty of European cotton growers ia 
 India. In the North Western Division of this Presi- 
 dency, may still be seen the ruins of many large 
 factories, all of whicli had their screws. A large 
 quantity of cotton was annually exported from these 
 districts which was eagerly sought for by spinners. It 
 paid well, — the growers grew fat on the profits. But, 
 in an unauspicious hour for India, cotton of a 
 better quality came into the English market, from 
 another quarter. Indian cotton declined, was gra- 
 dually neglected, and soon no longer enquired 
 for. The grower's occupation was gone ; his screws, 
 his presses, his factories, uo longer a source of 
 wealth, were abandoned, for other things. And so 
 it will be again. The war in America over, unless 
 India is in a position to send cotton in quan- 
 tity to England, of the same quality as American 
 cotton, Indian cotton will no longer be enquired 
 for. When the Government of India will show 
 
170 
 
 that this can be done, then will there be hope, that 
 the cotton crisis of England may be turned to the 
 advantage of India. It has not done so yet ; and 
 I cannot, therefore, see, that any bright prospect 
 lies before India in this direction.* 
 
 The circumstances of Tea are in many respects 
 precisely similar with those of Cotton. England — the 
 whole World^haa always been dependent on one 
 country for its supplies of this staple. The unsatisi- 
 factory state of our relations with China moreover, 
 has often caused considerable alarm in Englaad for 
 these supplies j and from one of these panics resulted 
 the experimental operations in tea cultivation in India 
 "which have just now been crowned with such signal 
 success. But how has this success been obtained ? 
 Not surely by showinjj that tea of sorts, could be 
 ■grown in quantiti/ in India? Nor yet by doing 
 nothing at all ? No, but rather by doing the one 
 thing needful— showing that India can compete 
 with China in the London Markets — 'that she can 
 send to England, not any quantity of the worst tea 
 grown on the face of the Earth, — ^but tea equal, 
 nay superior in quality to that exported from 
 
 * I am convinced that without the introduction of exotic eeed, 
 iinproTedsyBtemadfcultii^atioh, and the elevation of the quality of the 
 article we shall becompelled to abandon India as our great reliauc* 
 for the growth of cotton— .Speeoh of Mr. John Cheetham at the 
 Annual Meeting of_ the Cotton Supply Association. Manchester 
 2Srd September 1862. 
 
171 
 
 China.* And how different are the prospects" of 
 the two cultivations ? 
 
 On the one hand, we find everybody calling on 
 somebody else, to undertake that which everybody 
 admits, that anybody can do, — that somebody ought 
 to do,— but which no body will do. 
 
 On the other hand, we find monopolists destroy- 
 ing their seed, lest by any chance it should fall on 
 others ' ground, come up, and bear fruit; and knowing 
 men calling out : — ' If you would save your money, 
 have nothing to do with tea, — it is certain ruin.' 
 But these men are already deep, and plunging deeper, 
 iAto tea. Their warnitigs go unheeded. Govern- 
 meat is beseiged, on all sides, by applicants for 
 laud on which to grow this ' certain ruin.' Give 
 it to us, rent it to us, sell it to us, grant it 
 to us on any terms. These are the cries. Thousands 
 upon thousands — hundreds of thousands of acres 
 have beeii taken up for the cultivation, but 
 more is required — more than there is means to 
 survey — far more than there is labor to culti^ 
 vate. Were all the land taken up in Assam and 
 Cachar alone planted and in full bearing, it would 
 
 * There is another country coming' seconrl to America in the 
 quantity of cotton produced. I mean India; but the example of 
 India, is to be avoided rather than imitated. You have nothing tO; 
 learn from India, except indeed how to mismanage your business, and 
 produce the worst cotton grown on the face of the 'Eaxi\>..^Address 
 of Mr. John Cheetham,to the Bepresmtatives of the Cotton groimmg 
 countries at the International Exhibition— IZth August 1S62. 
 
172 
 
 produce 50,000,000 lbs. of tea-* But all the laud 
 taken up, is but a tithe of the immense tracts, 
 now covered with dense forests or jungle, which, 
 though of a rich and virgin soil well suited to 
 tea cultivation, lie waste and uncultivated, — the 
 harbours of malaria, — the refuge of wild beasts. One 
 tract alone, the Nambar Forest, is four hundred 
 square miles in extent, the whole superb tea 
 land. In the Kohistan of the North Westera 
 Provinces and the Punjab, according to the estimate 
 of Dr. Jameson, there are a million acres of land 
 available and well fitted for tea cultivation, and 
 estimating the crop at the low average of 200 lbs,- 
 per acre, it would give 200,000,000 lbs. of manu- 
 factured tea, as the out-turn of the Himalayan Range; 
 alone. Or, if-we allow one half of this vast extent of 
 land only, to be rich soil ; or reduce the yield even to 
 100 lbs. per acre, as Dr. Jameson has done, we could 
 still calculate on obtaining a supply of 100,000,0001bs. 
 annually, from this source, the greater portion of 
 which would reach the great commercial centres of 
 the World, through the London Brokers. 
 
 Nor would it be necessary, to use the language 
 of the zealous, and indefatigable Doctor, *in 
 
 * The Gorernor General's Ag:ent on the N. E. Frontier, stateiJ 
 that the quantity of land taken up in 1859, in Assam alone, waa 
 capable of producing^ 30,000,000, lbs. of tea. In the same letter 
 he says an acre of land, well cultivated, will, give six maunds (480 lbs.) 
 of tea and upwards. — (To Govern ment of Beng:al No. US, 1 1th 
 November 13S9.— Selections from Records No. XXXVII.) 
 
1?3 
 
 bringing such results about, to interfere greatly 
 with the lands now under cultivation with cereals 
 and other food crops. Let each village, as in 
 China, cultivate a certain number of acres. Let 
 the waste lands, and lands covered with virgin and 
 useless forests, there being no market available 
 for the timber, be brought under cultivation with 
 Tea, by means of British capital and enterprise, and 
 the Hill Provinces, now considered so poor and 
 wretched, would become as important to the State 
 as any others of the empire. Throughout the coun- 
 try, too, a wholesome and refreshing beverage 
 Would be spread, and a great boon conferred on the 
 people. Nowhere does a safer investment of capital 
 present itself, provided the undertaking be carried 
 on with prudence and judgment, than in Tea culti- 
 vation. But parties must not be led away by the 
 small results now obtained by the Government 
 Plantations, and suppose that all they have to do, 
 to make fortunes, is to become " Tea-planters," 
 whether they be backed by capital or not, as with- 
 out capital the undertaking must prove a failure. 
 For British capital there is a vast and boundless 
 field presented, and we think within bound, when 
 we assert that a million sterling or more, would 
 readily find profit with employment^ if invested in 
 the cultivation.' 
 
 There can be little doubt, I think, that a finer 
 field for the investment of that superabuudauos 
 
174 
 
 of capital -with w,bich great Britain seems to be 
 oppressed, thau ludian tea cultivation, if honestly 
 and well manf^ged, does not exist. As long as Indian 
 teas will fetch an average of Is. 8d. to 2s. per lb. 
 or even less, in the London, market, and the price 
 of labor in India, does not exceed present rates, 
 oertainly no investment that I am aware of, will yield 
 such high interest with so little risk. The benefits, 
 then, of this cultivation to England, as securing 
 her against any sudden interruption of her supplies 
 from China,- — as aflfbrding her a safe investment 
 for some millions of her surplus capital — aud as 
 offering her a suitable outlet for a large portion of 
 her middle class population, are very great. 
 
 But if, the prospective benefits from tea cultivation 
 to England are great, to India they are far greater ; 
 and of this we have an earnest, in the results 
 already brought about by the operations under- 
 taken in Assam and Gachar, though as yet these 
 operations are very infantile. In one district 
 alone (Luckimpoor Assam) there are still 228,634 
 acres of waste land available for tea cultivation. 
 Colonel Jenkins, the Govei'uor General's, Agent 
 on the N. E. Frontiers, in reporting the fact thus 
 observes : — 
 
 'It seems sufficient to advert to this large extent 
 of waste, — not only lying unprofitable, but most 
 injurious to thia neighbouring powerless Native 
 cultivators, from the cover these forests afford to 
 
175 
 
 herds of destructive wild animals,— to shew how 
 greatly advantageous to this Province any measure 
 must be which tends to induce the larger introduc- 
 tion of capital, and its employment under European 
 direction, in the highly profitable production of 
 Tea : not only by the reclamation of tlie jungles 
 themselves, but by the consequent beneficial efi'ect 
 on all the country.' — (Letter to Government of Ben- 
 gal dated Mth October 1859.; 
 
 And these observations are much to the point. 
 When lands lie waste and uncultivated in any 
 province, there is always a loss to the State to which 
 such province belongs. But when those lands are 
 in the vicinity of, and scattered here and there 
 through, regions already thinly populated, and are the 
 harbours of deadly malaria and wild beasts, and when 
 the population of that province are indigent and lazy, 
 it is clear that the gain of having such lands cleared, 
 cultivated, and populated, will be increased many 
 fold. And that tea cultivation will accomplish this 
 and much more than could ever have been anticici- 
 pated, not only towards improving the condition and 
 social position of the people, but in enhancing the 
 value of the land already occupied, the short past 
 famishes a very safe guarantee. 
 
 ' The effect produced in the district and on the 
 people by the cultivation of Tea ' says the Commis- 
 sioners of Luckimpoor 'is already most marked, 
 although, with teference to the quantity of land 
 
176 
 
 taken tip fof Tea, and the extent brought undef 
 cultivation, the plantations are yet in an early 
 stage of development; yet, the establishment of 
 ten factories in the vicinity of Dibroo Ghur has 
 led to material improvement. Within the last few 
 years, the value of labor has increased sensibly. For- 
 merly, previous to the demand for coolies caused 
 by the operations of the planters, the hire of 
 laborers was from Rupees 2-8 to Rupees 3 per 
 mensem, it has now risen to Rupees 4, and at 
 times it is even requisite to offer as high as 
 Rupees 4-8 to secure services required. The na- 
 tural consequence of this state of things is, that 
 the ryots are becoming more and more indepen- 
 dent. The cultivation of Tea not only affords 
 occupation for men, but women and children also 
 obtain employment as leaf-pickers; and it follows 
 that factories, wherever established, tend to pro- 
 mote comfort and plenty, and to reduce poverty 
 and want. 
 
 'The advantage resulting to the district from the 
 expenditure of capital in the manufacture of Tea is 
 not only confined to the poor classes ; carpenters, 
 artisans, writers, and tradesmen benefit. The 
 demand for produce of all articles of ordinary 
 consumption has increased, and hence a general 
 impulse is given to commerce. Within the last 
 few years the Bazaars at Dibroo have doubled in 
 extent, there has been a considerable increase to the 
 
177 
 
 trading community, and merchants from down 
 country are continually opening new shops.' 
 
 ' From what I have stated, it may fairly be de- 
 duced, that the cultivation and manufacture of Tea 
 is all-important to the well-being of the district, 
 and to encourage its extension would undoubtedly 
 conduce to most beneficial results.' 
 
 Nor is this district of Assam, a solitary instance 
 of rapid improvement. The Collector of Nowgong 
 writes: — 
 
 ' I have every r eason to believe that the cultiva- 
 tion of Tea in this district has been attended with 
 great success, and that, provided, private capital be 
 forthcoming, there is no limit to its extension. The 
 effect of such undertakings on the people of the 
 country is most favorable ; large sums of money 
 are put into circulation, the condition of the people 
 is improved, and they are encouraged and instructed 
 in habits of regular industry and thrift.' 
 
 The evidence of the Collector of Seebsagur again is 
 equally satisfactory. ' During the past three years' he 
 reports ' a considerable increase has taken place in the 
 price of grain and all other produce ; in 1856-57 dhau 
 used to sell at sixteen poorahs* for 
 * 2 Maunds'. ^^^ Rupee, and during the past two 
 years it has sold at only four poorahsf 
 for the Rupee, the producer thus receiving now four 
 times the price for his produce compared to what he 
 did four years ago, and this without paying any 
 
178 
 
 increase of land rent or tax of any kind ; and the 
 Assamese laborers being all agriculturalists, they, 
 of course, all benefit by the rise in price. I have no 
 hesitation in stating that there are no peasantry in 
 the World better off than the Assamese.' 
 
 And the reports of all authorities are in the same 
 strain, affording ample testimony to the great; 
 increase to the wealth of the North Eastern Pro- 
 vinces, since the introduction of tea cultivation. 
 
 In the North Western Provinces and the Punjab,' 
 the Lieuts.-Governor have borne handsome testi- 
 mony to the beneficial influence of European settlerst 
 in the provinces under their Government, and to 
 their steady and orderly behaviour; and on the 
 benefits of tea cultivation to the poor people of the 
 Himalayas, I need not enlarge. They will be the 
 same doubtless as they have been, to a small extent, 
 and will be to a great extent, ' in Assam. Mr; 
 Fortune, who had seen what a blessing this cultiva* 
 tion is to China, and who, if not a practical tea 
 planter, was yet an observant traveller, has well 
 •remarked on this head : — 
 
 ' At present, as a general rule, the natives of these 
 Hills are lazy and indolent, and seem perfectly 
 satisfied with a bare subsistence — indeed they can 
 scarcely be said to enjoy the common necessaries of 
 life. Their clothing is miserable in the extreme, 
 and their dwellings would scarcely be considered 
 fit for the lower kinds of animals, I will not say in 
 
179 
 
 Eagland, but even ia a half civilized country like 
 China. If a change in the habits of the people 
 could be brought about by the cultivation of Tea, 
 such a famine as that which was felt in Kumaon and 
 Gnrhwal this year (1856), is not likely to occur. But 
 if a people are so indolent as to allow their lands to 
 lie waste, ar only half tilled — if they are content with 
 their daily bread, and make no provision for the 
 future — a dry season, such as the last, may occur at 
 any time, when the crops fail, and a famine is the 
 result. Such a state of things could never take 
 place in China, at least from such a slight cause, 
 because the Chinese feel that the necessaries and 
 luxuries of life are indispensable to their happiness, 
 and they are industrious in order to supply them. 
 
 Another great advantage of Tea cultivation for 
 the Hill farmers is this : it would never fail to yield 
 a crop, even in the driest seasons. Last spring I 
 had an opportunity of seeing all the Government 
 Plantations in the dry weather, and, when nearly 
 every other crop had failed, the Tea seemed unin- 
 jurgd. This is a fact of very great importance, and 
 shows that, with proper* management, there ia 
 scarcely a chance of failure even in the. driest year.' 
 
 But Mr. Fortune in making these remarks had 
 in view the production and manufacture of tea, not 
 simply as a staple for exportation, but as an article 
 for consumption by the natives themselves. He con- 
 templatedthe introduction of a system similar to that 
 
180 
 
 -existing in China, -where small tea plantations 
 are seen dotted on every hill side, and the natives 
 are met on the roads in numbers, carrying the 
 produce of their, little farms to the market towns, 
 or to the factories of foreigners for sale. And, 
 if the Government of India desires to confer on 
 Her Majesty's Indian subjects the benefit of 
 this harmless luxury, — a luxury universally appre- 
 ciated wherever the English language is spoken, 
 and one that would evidently be highly prized 
 by the people of this country, — this is a view that 
 will be forced on its consideration; for, tea to 
 be consumed, generally, by the people of India, 
 must be reduced to a much lower price than 
 vould remunerate Europeans for growing it. If 
 the natives of India then are to add this healthy 
 and refreshing beverage, to the small number of 
 their present comforts, they must produce and 
 manufacture it themselves. 
 
 To supply tea for two hundred millions more 
 people than at present consume it, is certainly a 
 startling idea. It does not, however, involve any 
 thing impossible. A million of acres of land will 
 produce, at a very low average estimate 200,000,000 
 lbs. of tea, and of land suitable for tea culti> 
 vation, we have not one, but many millions of 
 acres, now waste and uncultivated. Nor are these 
 lands confined to those provinces in which experi- 
 ments have been already made. They are spread 
 
181 
 
 far and wide. The Neelgiri Hills, though previ- 
 ously abandoned ia consequence of the unscientific 
 manner in which the Government experiments 
 were carried out, it has been so satisfactorily proved 
 will grow excellent tea, that the Secretary of State 
 has sanctioned native tea makers being sent to 
 the Madras Presidency from the tea factories in 
 the Himalayas. It has just come to light too, 
 that tea plants planted some years ago in Chitta- 
 gong by Mr, Sconce, the late Commissioner of 
 Eevenue, are thriving well. Tea has been manu- 
 factured from them, which I have tried, and found 
 to be good. There is sound reason to believe 
 then, that the regions in which tea will grow in 
 India, are varied and numerous. The natives now 
 seek it eagerly as a restorative, and when suffer- 
 ing from catarrh; and that they will drink it 
 largely, as a healthy and refreshing beverage, as soon 
 as ever it is brought within their means,— there 
 can be no doubt whatever. 
 
 The demand for this article from Australia, from 
 America, from the Continent of Europe (where tea 
 is gradually encroaching on the domain of Coftee,) is 
 increasing so rapidly, as to leave no room, to antici- 
 pate a fall of prices ; while if, in addition, the people 
 of India, Thibet, Afghanistan, and Persia, come into 
 the market as consumers, which they seem very 
 well inclined to do, it will take very many years 
 before the supply will exceed the demand. That 
 
 Q 
 
182 
 
 the supply will keep pace with the demand/ we 
 might have doubts j but experienee warrants our 
 concluding that it will. The average quantity of 
 tea exported annually from China in the nine 
 years ending 1780, was 18,838,140 lbs. of which 
 England and her dependencies took 13,338,140 lbs., 
 Great Britain alone of this amount consuming some- 
 thing short of 6,000,000 lbs. The annual exportations 
 from China now, are about 150,000,000 lbs. And 
 of this supply, England takes the enormous quantitv 
 of 100,000,000 lbs., or possibly a little more.* China, 
 ias hitherto complied with the increased and yearly 
 increasing demand upon her for this article'; bu't 
 It must be recollected that we have a very dan- 
 gerous rival to compete with, in the demand for 
 the home consumption of 300,000,000 inveterate 
 tea,totallers in that quarter. It may be very fairly 
 doubted if, under the circumstances, the China 
 market will be able to bear a further strain ,- and 
 if such be true— and it will be admitted that the 
 large quantity of very inferior teas which now 
 reach Europe from this source give color to the 
 suspicion— it is to Indiaalone that Europe, America, 
 and the British colonies, will be able to look, to 
 make up the complement of their demand. 
 
 "The deliveries, of the month (May 1862) have ag^ain been 
 exceesaive, say SJ millions; and the exports are already Sf mil- 
 •lions over last year. (Circular of Messers W. J. and H. Thoinpson 
 London 1 th June 1862.) 
 
183 
 
 The prospects of Tea cultiration then ia ludiaj 
 whether they be exaruiaed from an external, or an 
 iuternal — an English or aa Indian point of view, 
 would seem to be pregnant with results beneficial 
 alike to to both countries. 
 
 li cannot be supposed, however, that these results 
 will be obtained without much diflSculty, probably 
 some disappointments, and certainly very great 
 care and attention on the part of the controlling 
 authority. It is impossible when examining under- 
 takings involving extensive agricultural operations, 
 to exclude considerations connected with the three 
 principle elements of their vitality viz.. Land, Labor, 
 and Capital, — their relation to one another, and to 
 circumstances as existing around them. For, these 
 considerations, as ef]fecting cost of production, it 
 is obvious, must enter if not directly more or less 
 remotely, into all questions connected with the 
 commercial policy of a nation : and, if they be 
 overlooked, complications in regard to one or 
 other, will be certain to arise, that may endanger 
 altogether the success of the undertakings, and 
 under any circumstances cause much embarrass- 
 ment. At the outset then we are met with the 
 necessity of solving problems, involving fundamental 
 principles in a comparatively new science, which, 
 however students may have previously settled them 
 to their own satisfactitm, are still disputed by the 
 ablest economists of our times. 
 
184 
 
 • With the geileral ignorance that prevails regard- 
 iiig the condition and circumstances of India, it 
 will be difficult for Englishmen to understand, 
 how difficulties could arise in disposing of questions 
 relating to these matters, in this country. The 
 general belief is, that, in India, there are mil- 
 lions of acres of land unowned and unclaim- 
 ed — millions of people starving for want of em- 
 ployment,— and countless heaps of richess — gold 
 and silver and precious stones &c. tied up in old 
 stockings and such like receptacles of hoarded 
 wealth. But such an idea, if not purely imaginary, is 
 certainly very wide of the truth, and no means 
 will better serve to dispel the illusion than a concise 
 review of the tea experiment in relation to these 
 questions, with a brief retrospect of the complicai- 
 tions that have arisen in disposing of them. 
 
 First, in regard to land, it is a mistake to sup- 
 pose that all the waste and uncultivated land in 
 India, is, like the vast tracts in America and 
 Australia, unowned and unclaimed. Much of it has 
 become waste after seasons of famine. Some has 
 been laid waste by the ravages of predatory tribes 
 or hostile neighbours. More is allowed to lie waste 
 from the indolence of the. people, and their un- 
 willingness to cultivate a rood more than is sufficient 
 for their bare subsistence. But the largest portion 
 perhaps, of such land, is uncultivated, waste, forest 
 and jungle, because the people have not the capital 
 
185 
 
 and enterprise to reclaim it, The bursting of 
 bunds, the excentricities of mighty rivers, too, often 
 devastates miles of cultivated lands. For genera- 
 tions, land may thus remain waste, and during 
 the interval, the right in 'the soil will, so to speak, 
 lie dormant; but let Government attempt to dispose 
 of the land, or let any one attempt to reclaim or 
 cultivate it, and it will soon be found that this right 
 is fondly cherished, and will be stoutly maintained 
 by some village community, or some representative 
 of the ancient possessor. In the Wynaad district 
 of Madras, in which coffee cultivation has been so 
 successfully introduced, Government has had experi- 
 ence of this, and the fact is well known to all 
 who know India. There is yet another, and more 
 powerful cause than any here given, but this I shall 
 notice under a different head. 
 
 Of the 13,554,333 acres of culturable land said to 
 be waste in the Madras Presidency, only a very limit- 
 ed extent is stated to be ' at the absolute disposal of 
 Government, the remainder being subject to certain 
 established rights of the village communities.^* 
 
 In Bombay, the land suitable for cultivation at 
 the disposal of Government,, is defined to be 'of 
 the poorer sort' and in small detached patches, 
 except in districts which are so unhealthy as to 
 be pronounced deadly to Europeans, 
 
 * Official Correspondence— Betara to an older of the House of 
 Commons dated 30th May 1863. 
 
186 
 
 The Lieuteriaht-Governor of the N. W. Proriiices 
 states, that with the exception of the tea tracts, the 
 lands at the disposal of Government ih the districts 
 under his charge 'offer very little temptation for 
 the embarkation of British Capital by reason of 
 the sparseness of the population, the difficulty of 
 communicatioh, and the deadliness of the climate 
 in which they are situated/ 
 
 In Bengal, excepting in the Soonderbnns, Assam, 
 Cachar, ArraCan, Chittagongr, and some Hill dis- 
 tricts, there is little or no land at the disposal of 
 Government. 
 
 Of culturable Waste land there is said to be 
 in Oude 438,343 acres, but this amount it is 
 stated will be greatly diminished by grants to 
 natives. Oa the prospect held out by the re- 
 mainder of these acres, the Chief Commissioner 
 thus remarks. 'The cost of felling the trees and 
 grubbing Up the brushwood is very heavy. Culti- 
 vators must be attracted by liberal advances 
 and very low rents j ai)d if sickness breaks out, 
 which it usually does in a newly cleared tract, all 
 will take to flight. It is a well known fact that 
 not one European grantee out of twenty has 
 succeeded. Those who have ultimately prospered 
 were heavy losers at first,' or bought out the first 
 possessors who were ruined. This was Mr. Cooke's 
 case. The. very largest settler in Goruckpoor was 
 ruined by clearing the forest too fast j he cut down 
 
187 
 
 the tall timber before he had made sufficient arrange- 
 meuts for bringiag the land under the plough, 
 and the conseqaeuce was, that an impenetrable 
 brushwood sprung up which it would have cost 
 hira a fortune to clear/ 
 
 [u the Punjab a very large extent of cultura- 
 ble land is said to be available viz. 7,626,785 
 acres. But here again we find the same objec- 
 tion raised. The Financial Commissioner in his 
 report on the subject says ' These lands are not 
 suited for the permanent settlement of Europeans, 
 l)ut the upper portion of them would afford a fine 
 field for European capital and enterprise. The 
 area suited from its climate for the colonisation 
 of Europeans is very limited indeed. In fact the 
 800 acres at Kotgurh, is the only tract at the 
 absolute disposal of Government which can be pro- 
 nounced both suitable for colonisation, and desirable 
 from its known productive powers, for the invest- 
 ment of capital.' 
 
 In the Province of Nagpoor, there are 526,081 
 acres of land a great portion of which it is reported 
 might he profitably cultivated. 
 
 It is said that in Mysore there are 2,917,361, and 
 in the assigued districts of Hyderabad, 1,710,880 
 acres of land uncultivated : but of the former it is 
 stated by General Cubbon the late Commissioner 
 that ' even if the climate were more favorable, there 
 are not many (of these lands) on which European 
 
188 
 
 Capital, skill, and energy could be exerted with 
 profit to the capitalist or instruction to the people, 
 except the coffee tracts in the Hilly Western 
 Districts, for the soil in general has proved un- 
 favorable to the production of Cotton, indigo, and 
 the finer qualities of tobacco; while in the careful 
 Cultivation of the various kinds of grains and oil 
 Seeds the natives of Mysore require little teaching.' 
 He adds that the Sovereignty of Mysore being 
 vested in the Raja, and the powers of administra- 
 tion being exercised, in trust, on his account, tlie 
 lands could not be rele^ised from all demand for 
 revenue; and the same objection is raised by the 
 Resident at Hyderabad. 
 
 It is a fact, moreover, satisfactorily established 
 bv the investigations of the most competent medi- 
 cal men who have turned their attention to the 
 subject, and, as regards India, especially by those 
 of the late Doctors Mackinnon and Spilsbury, that 
 Europeans born in tropical climates, and not 
 j'eared in cold countries, die out in the third 
 ceoeration, or if not, become idiotic, or, at best, 
 so physically and intellectually weak and degene- 
 rate, as to be devoid of every trace of that energy, 
 enterprise, and vigor, which are the distinguishing 
 characteristics of the Anglo-saxon race. This is 
 now tolerably well known, and the idea of colo- 
 nising India generally, has, I believe, consequently 
 been abandoned. 
 
189 
 
 It will be seen, thus, that, as regards the plains, the 
 Government of India has little to dispose of, and 
 that that little is not worth the acceptance of those 
 who can obtain all they require, if land be their desi- 
 deratum, in regions far more congenial to their 
 constitutions and habits. I have given these statistics 
 then, not because they were necessary to enlighten 
 Indian Statesmen, who must know, or who certainly 
 ought to know these facts ; but because I desire, to 
 exclude from the whole, the discussion of a question 
 which ought to be confined to a comparatively 
 limited part. 
 
 When people talk, generally, of the Secretary 
 of State — of the Governinent of India, throwing 
 obstacles in the way of European settlers obtain- 
 ing land in India, they evidently talk at random, 
 and without a knowledge of the true facts of the 
 case. The Secretary of State and the Government of 
 India, as far as regards powers of absolute disposal, 
 have, little more concern with the great area of the 
 plains of Hindostan, than Her Majesty's Ministers 
 have with the broad lands of England. But that the 
 subject may be more clearly understood, and follow- 
 ing out the principle of looking at these questions 
 from a business point of view, I will add, that were it 
 otherwise — were for instance the rights of the people 
 in the soil to be confiscated tomorrow, and iill the 
 cultivated and culturable land in India to be put 
 up to public auction the next day, except in unpopu- 
 
190 
 
 lated and wild tracts, and a few districts favored by 
 a soil and climate suitable for growing an extraordi- 
 narily remunerative crop requiring Europeun skill in 
 its management, not an acre of it would come into 
 the possession of Englishmen ,for the sound and very 
 simple reason, that it would be worth the natives! 
 while — to pay more for it ! And this, moreover, is a 
 view, that, for the right understanding of the land 
 question in its relation to European settlers in India, it 
 is highly important should be carefully borne in mind. 
 
 Of the land actually at the disposal of the British 
 Government in India, exclusive of those lands men- 
 tioned as available in the Punjab, about 189,108 acres 
 in the Gorukpoor district, some 600 square miles of 
 rocky hills in the Banares Division, and 3,028 
 square miles in Sindb, the jfoUowing table will give; 
 an approximate idea. 
 
 Pegu 28,111 square miles. 
 
 Jubbulpoor Division N. W. P 25,1 80 ditto. 
 
 Tenassaiim and Mai'taban Provinces . 14,176,011 acres. 
 
 Arraoan 4,860,000 ditto. 
 
 Cossyah and Jyntiah Hills .. .. 453,000 ditto. 
 
 Assam (4 out of 7 districts) 4,469,533 ditto. 
 
 Dehra Doon (Himalayan Baiig:e) .. I4l, 652 ditto. 
 
 Darjeeling: (ditto.) 250,000 ditto. 
 
 Kamaon, Gurwahl Simla &c. (ditto) .. No Returns. 
 
 Soonderbuns 809,648 ditto. 
 
 Cachar 200,000 ditto. 
 
 Besides some thousands of miles of 
 
 mountain and plain, covered with 
 
 forest. 
 
 /"Space enough to accom- 
 
 Chittagong' < modate any number 
 
 (, of European settlers. 
 
191 
 
 The above abstract is as complete as the state- 
 ments furnished to Grovernment enable me to make, 
 it ; but it is yet very incomplete. None of the 
 land here returned has been surveyed. 
 
 In all the above mentioned districts rules for the 
 grant of lands were published, Government offering 
 them to the public on the easiest terms. 
 
 Thus, in the Soonderbuns, the whole of the grant 
 was to be rent-free for twenty years, and one-fourth 
 rent-free for ever; the remainder being assessed 
 at about three farthings an acre per annum from the 
 twentieth to the thirtieth year ; five farthings a year 
 for the nest ten years ; two pence a year for the next 
 ten years ; and three pence a year, from the fifty- 
 flrst to the end of the ninety-ninth year. After 
 the expiration of ninety-nine years, the grant was 
 to be liable to survey and resettlement, and to such 
 'moderate assessment' as might 'seem proper to the 
 Grovernment of the day, the proprietory, right in the 
 grant, and the right of engagement with Govern- 
 ment remaining to the grantee, his heirs, executors 
 or assigns, under the conditions generally applicable 
 to the owners of estates Tiot permanently settled.' 
 
 In Aracan, the lands were divided into five classes, 
 forest lands on hills, forest lands on plains, bush 
 jungle, reed and long grass jungle, short grass 
 jungle and fallow lands. These were given rent- 
 free for periods, of 34, 24, 16, 8, and 4 years, snb- 
 ject then to rents increasing from 6d, up to la. 6d. 
 
192 
 
 an acre per annum, for periods varying from eight 
 up to sixty-four years, after which — setting aside one 
 fourth which was to be rent free for ever, — they 
 were to be subject to assessment, not exceeding 
 that of lands of similar quality in the pergunnah 
 or district immediately adjoining the estate. 
 
 The rules for the grant of waste lands in the 
 Tenasserim Provinces were very similar to those 
 promulgated for Arracan fot the first fifty years. 
 From that up tc the ninety-ninth year they ranged 
 6d. an acre higher. 
 
 In Assam and Cachar one fourth of the grant, as 
 usual, was to be rent free <!or ever ; and the remaioder 
 rent-free for fifteen years. On the expiration of this 
 period, it was to be assessed at 4id. an acre per annum 
 for the first ten years ; and for the next seventy-four 
 years at 8^d. an acre. After ninety-nine years, 
 the grant was to be subject to the same rule as 
 that applicable to grants in the Soonderbuns. 
 
 About the Hill Sanatarium at Darjeeling, grants 
 were permitted to be sold for Rs. 10 an acre. 
 
 In the Himalayan Range of the upper Provinces, 
 where the climate is most healthful and invigorating 
 to the European constitution, one fourth of the grant 
 was to be rent-free for ever. The term of the first 
 lease was to be for twenty years. For the first four 
 years, the grant was to be held rent free ; in the 
 fifth year about l^d. an acre per annum was to be 
 charged on three fourths of the grant; 2|d. in the 
 
193 
 
 sixth, 4|d. ia the seventh, and so on — l^d. an acre 
 being added in each year, till, in the last year, the- 
 maximum rate of 2s. an acre was reached.* 
 
 Nothing short of giving the land away, certainly,; 
 could be more liberal than the spirit of these rules. 
 Land for twenty years for nothing at all, and for 
 seventy-nine more, at an average rate of two-pence 
 an acre per annum, surely leaves little, as regards 
 assessment, to be desired. But light — nominal indeed 
 as these assessments were, except in the tea districts,, 
 and to a very limited extent in the Soonderbuns^ 
 they did not serve to attract settlers to the places 
 left vacant for them. The square miles in Pegu, 
 the millions of acres in Arracan and the Tenasserim 
 Provinces, are as barren of European settlers to-day, 
 as if the Governmenfhad really placed those obstacles 
 in the way,, they are so often, with more rashness 
 than reason, accused of having ever ready to bar the" 
 colonist's ingress. These lands have no market value 
 at present, and are not taken up, for the plain and 
 simple reason that ' it will not pay '' — or, what i» 
 the same thing, the prospect of profit is not suffi- 
 ciently bright, to induce people to undertake the 
 risk and cost involved in making the experiment,, 
 in climates uncongenial to their constitutions, their 
 tastes, their habits, and their associations. Govern- 
 
 * By N. W. Porders 29th September i860, the lease was ex- 
 tended to 50 years (the maximam rate 2s. per acre, not being' reached 
 till the 25th year,) and the resumption clause abrogated ia regard 
 to all cultivated land. 
 
 R 
 
194. 
 
 ment then, at present, or until some fortuitous 
 combinatiou of circumstances gives these lands a real 
 value, may offer them for nothing, with very great 
 safety ; though, if it has any particular desire to plant 
 settlers upon them, it would be perhaps wiser, instead 
 of offering the public a gift of doubtful value — to 
 pay people to go there ! 
 
 And to satisfy ourselves that this view is correct, 
 and that the result is to be traced to economic 
 laws, and not to any laws of the land, we have only 
 to turn our attention to Assam and Cacbar, — pro- 
 vinces which, in consequence of the impenetrable 
 jungle and rank vegitation with which they are 
 overgrown and begirt, and the deadly and noxious 
 miasma and malaria generated thereby, have always 
 been looked upon, as the penal settlements of 
 Bengal. The rules under which land was offered to 
 the public in these provinces, were not more favor- 
 able than those promulgated for Arracan, Pegu, the 
 Tenasserim Provinces, and other places. On the 
 contrary, instead of a twenty and thirty -four years' 
 rent-free tenure, in Assam and Cachar only a fifteen 
 years' rent-free hold was granted ; and at Darjeel- 
 ing, the very high price of £1 an acre was 
 demanded. Yet, for the last six years, developers 
 and their Agents have been hurrying to these 
 places — crowding into them so fast that, as before 
 mentioned, Government could not demarcate and 
 survey grants of land as quick as they were willing 
 
195 
 
 to take them up. Nothing then can be more clearly 
 demonstrated than, that previous regulations regard- 
 ing the tenure of land, have had as little to do 
 with driving European settlers away from some 
 provinces covered with wastes, as they have had, 
 or, in the present circumstances of India, existing 
 regulations will have, in. attracting them into 
 others. Por the one result an economic law can 
 be found quite as readily as for the other, without 
 laying any thing on the shoulders of a Govern- 
 ment, certainly over-burthened already. Settlers 
 were attracted to these places, as soon as it was 
 satisfactorily established that their soil and climate 
 were adapted for growing a highly remunerative 
 crop, and not one moment sooner. Had it not 
 been, discovered that the Tea Plant was indigenous 
 to Assam and Cachar, — had not the Government, 
 after considerable trouble and expense, proved 
 that this plant would grow and flourish on the 
 slopes of the Himalayas, — these regions, would 
 have been as untenanted now by Europeans, as 
 are other provinces where there are forests as 
 dense, and jungles as malarious as those skirting 
 the lower range of the mighty mountains that 
 form the North Eastern boundary of the Peninsula 
 of India. The fact is, point out where there is 
 money to be made, and, if the trouble and dan- 
 ger be not very great, most men will go there. 
 But give an Englishman a certainty — even a fair 
 
196 
 
 probablity of the money, and the trouble and- 
 danger will not enter into his calculations at all. 
 Nay, possibly he will like the undertaking all the 
 better for these accompaniments. Certainly he will 
 do so, if the danger to be apprehended is from some- 
 thing that he may kill, — tigers, elephants, buffaloes, 
 rhinosceroses, game birds,, and the like. 
 
 The waste-landqiues,tionin India, therefore, lamjus- 
 ti&ed in saying, was one of profit-r—ani not one of 
 tenure. 
 
 It is quite true that the great liberality of the rules 
 for the grant of waste lands above cited, was qualified 
 by conditions, some of which were obstructive; 
 Grantees, for instance, were bound to clear and ren-i 
 der fit for cultivation one eighth of the grant in five 
 years, one fourth in "ten years, one half in twenty 
 years, and three fourths in thirty years. Governmenl^ 
 again, reserved to itself the right of making such roads 
 and bridges as it might think proper, on lands so 
 granted, and also the right to all such timber, stone^ 
 and other materials as might be necessary for kfeeping 
 the said roads and bridges in repair. Objection was 
 taken to these conditions, and when we come to look 
 at the penalty involved in non-compliance with the 
 first mentioned, I am not at all surprized. 
 
 In Assam, Dacca, Cachar, Silchar, and the Soon- 
 derbuns, in regard to clearances, it was provided : — 
 
 "That on failure of all or any of these four 
 conditions — the fact of which failure shall after local 
 
197 
 
 enquiry conducted by the Collector (Sooderbuns 
 Commissioner) or other officer, be finally deter- 
 mined by the Board of Revenue — the entire grant 
 shall be resumed, aad the grantee shall forfeit all 
 right iu the lands, both those which may be yet 
 uncleared, and those which may hate been cleared 
 and brought into cultivation." 
 
 Thus, let us suppose our friend Jones to have taken 
 a grant of 10,000 acres, and at the end of twenty years 
 to have brought one-half, or 5,000 acres, under culti- 
 vation. To clear and plant jungle land in Assam 
 costs about jS20 an acre. Five thousand cleared 
 acres, therefore, would be worth in actual expenses, 
 to Jones £100,000. But, 5,000 acres planted with 
 tea plants of from six to eight years growth, would 
 be worth, At present market rates, £100 an acre, and 
 5,000 acres at that price would be £500,000. Now 
 it may have been right to impose certain conditions 
 regarding clearances to prevent land jobbing, and in 
 swampy and jungle districts on sanatary grounds ; 
 nor do the conditions fixed, seem to have been 
 severe or unreasonable. But, in the absence of frau- 
 dulent practices rendering extraordinary legislation 
 a necessity, it appears to me, that a rule giving 
 power, as this does, to a Board, on the simple ascer- 
 tainment of failure to fufil any one of these condi- 
 tions, and without any enquiry into the cause, to 
 confiscate Jones^, or any one else's property, to the 
 value of half a million sterling or more, or less, 
 
198 
 
 as the case might be, could not be desirable; and 
 that the enforcement of its provisions, would not 
 only be the arbitrary and unjust exercise of a des- 
 potic power, but that the retention of such a clause 
 in the Revenue Statute Book, would reflect discredit 
 if not disgrace on the Government of any civilized 
 nation. 
 
 The intentions of the framers of this rale were 
 doubtless the very best and purest. They desired 
 not to sacrifice the interests of the country to 
 those of individuals, and they could not devise any 
 other means of accomplishing it. I am not aware 
 moreover of the provisions of this clause having 
 occasioned much inconvenience — though the rage 
 for tea-planting being of ^■e^y recent date, the 
 time for putting them in force had not fully 
 arrived — and I am certain that in practice no injus- 
 tice would have been perpetrated. The existence 
 of the rule however, rendering, as it did, the 
 tenure of every acre of a grant precarious for the 
 space of thirty years, or more, was a blot which 
 could not have been allowed to disfigure the revenue 
 code of any province in India, had there been a 
 minister of commerce, well acquainted with the 
 principles on which business transactions are carried 
 on, at the right band of the Viceroy, for no rule 
 could possibly have been framed better calculated 
 to defeat the very object the British Government 
 had in view. It would seem, too, as if some such 
 
199 
 
 light had already begun to dawn in Bengal. For, 
 in the rules promulgated for Arracan, provision 
 was made for due notice being served on the 
 grantee, requiring him to show cause, why the whole 
 of his land should not be resumed, and directing 
 jodicial proceedings, open to appeal in the usual 
 manner, in each case. A proposal likewise came 
 up from Bengal to the Government of India in 
 1860, to modify this clause of the waste land 
 regulations ; and to provide that in case of failure 
 to comply with all, or any, of the clearance condi- 
 tions, 'such portion of the grant only as shall remain 
 uncleared, or not rendered fit for cultivation at 
 the time of the enquiry shall be resumed,' the 
 Lieutenant Governor, while he considered the con- 
 ditions to cultivate the whole of the culturable land 
 of the grant, and certain portions thereof withia 
 certain intermediate terms, indispensible, 'seeing 
 no reason for making the whole grant forfeited on 
 breach of those conditions.'* 
 
 The rights reserved by Government in the grant, 
 again were open to some objection, while the rights, 
 real or imaginary, preserved to the natives, of 
 grazing cattle and cutting timber, if they did not 
 annihilate all security of property, were certainly 
 prohibitory of all industry and enterprize. The 
 following, indeed, reads like an extract from the 
 
 * Beng'al letter No. 1998, dated 8th>ugiist 1860 to Secretary 
 Government of India. 
 
200 
 
 chronicles of the King of Oude, or the Ruler of some 
 other native State, yet it is taken from a Blue Book 
 on waste lands situated in territories under British 
 rule, 
 
 ' After spending nearly 40,000/. in the three estates 
 of Hope Town and Arcadia alone, in reclaiming the 
 waste lands, bringing a population into the Doon 
 from the plains, building mills, machinery, canals, 
 draining, &c., the Government ruled that our pro- 
 prietary right was inchoate only, and therefore not 
 complete even in lands brought under cultivation.'* 
 'Permission was given to aay one who sought it, 
 to fell and carry away the timber in our forests, 
 on the payment to Government of a price for the 
 privilege and right of so doing, and which was col- 
 lected on it its leaving the Doon, not as a toll or 
 tax, for the tax upon timber and other articles 
 imported had been abolished in 1836. f Our right 
 
 to protect and preserve our pro- 
 Lf xiv.'o^i843!"^^^' Perty was disputed or overruled 
 
 by the Government, until the 
 right for which we had been struggling was annul- 
 led, by the destruction of all timber, even to the 
 seed-bearing trees. We were compelled to submit 
 to trespassers from the plains, who brought with 
 them extensive herds of murrain -infected cattle 
 
 * The opinion of counsel was taken on this subject, both in India 
 »nd England, which declared the proprietary right of the grantees 
 to be complete,— iVofe by Col, Thomas. 
 
201 
 
 into oiir grants, by wbich hundreds of our cattle 
 perished. We have had lime-burners cut down our 
 finest timber for fuel for their kilns, because the 
 -Government had reserved to itself and to the public 
 the right of taking limestone from lands, provided 
 the price for the privilege was paid to them.^* 
 
 If then the intentions of the Indian Grovernment 
 were pure and disinterested in this matter, and 
 ;this I think Trill not be questioned, it is abundantly 
 dear that the regulations for the disposal of waste 
 lands required most careful revision, and some 
 modification. This appears, moreover, to have been 
 for some time felt by the Grovernment of India; 
 ■and, that attention was not earlier directed to the 
 subject, was probably attributable to the total 
 absence of settlers, or to circumstances, before 
 alluded to, which combined to keep the hands of 
 the supreme authorities ever full with matters 
 affecting the stability of the British rule, or having 
 for their object the consolidation of the Indian 
 Empire. The time, however, had now come for 
 seriously considering the question of waste lands in 
 India. Tea cultivation in Assam, Cachar, and the 
 
 * Letter from Lieut.-rolonel C. F. Thomas Joint Proprietor 
 and Sole Manager of East Hope Town and Arcadia Grants, to the 
 Superintendent Dehra Dhoon dated 10th October 1859. — Blue Book 
 16th June 1862. In forwarding' the letter from which the above is 
 extracted to Government, the Superintendent made no comments, 1 
 assume therefore that he was satisfied to allow judgement to go by 
 default; otherwise I should not have reprinted the passage. 
 
202 
 
 N. W. Himalayas, and Coffee cultivation in the 
 Wynaad district of Madras,hadmade considerable pro- 
 gress, and were found to offer, not only safe, but high- 
 ly profitable investments for capital. It was, moreover, 
 essential to the success of these undertakings, that 
 the operations should be carried on under the super- 
 intendence of Europeans. Enquiries, also, had, 
 from time to time, been made of Her Majesty's 
 Secretary of State for information regarding these 
 lands; and Lord Stanley on the 16th March 1859, 
 had addressed the Viceroy in these terms : — 
 
 ' I observe it stated in the papers which accom- 
 pany your letter under reply, that the extent of 
 cnlturable land in the Punjab, at the absolute dis- 
 posal of the Government, is very limited, With 
 reference to applications which may be made in this 
 country for grants of land under such conditions as, 
 after considering my Despatch of the 22d December 
 last, No. 2, you may be prepared to recommend, it 
 is very desirable that Her Majesty's Government 
 should be informed of the extent of land capable 
 of cultivation at the disposal of the Government, 
 not only in the Punjab, but throughout British 
 India, and I desire that you will take such steps as 
 may be necessary for obtaining that information ; 
 you will then submit it to me in a condensed form, 
 accompanied by a statement of the conditions 
 which, having regard to the difference in the sys- 
 tems of revenue administration prevailing in the 
 
203 
 
 respective localities, you would recommended for 
 disposing of such landsj either for terms of years 
 or in perpetuity, to persons desirous of bringing 
 them into cultivation. Your report should distin- 
 guish, as far as possible, the present state of these 
 culturable tracts; whether they are covered with 
 timber forests, or consist of grass plains inter- 
 spersed with jheels, capable of being drained, or if 
 they are tracts requiring expensive artificial means 
 to make them productive. Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment will then be enabled to afford to applicants in 
 this country an amount of information respecting 
 the facilities offered to persons proposing to settle 
 in India for agricultural purposes, which they are 
 not now in a condition to furnish. All such appli- 
 cants will, of course, be required to make their 
 arrangements with regard to the occupation of land 
 with the local authorities.'* 
 
 On receipt of these orders, information was imme- 
 diately called for from the different Governors and 
 Lieuts. of Provinces by the Governor General. The 
 local Governors, again, called for reports from all 
 commissioners of Kevenue and other officers of 
 experience under their authority, and a variety of 
 opinions, with details of considerable interest, were 
 collected, and submitted to the Supreme Govern- 
 ment for consideration. In the mean time, a second 
 despatch from the Secretary of State sanctioned 
 
 * Despatch of the Secretary of State dated 16th March 1859. 
 
20.4 
 
 tte commutation: of annual payments by one pay- 
 ment,, and the terms were notified in the ' Gazette.'* 
 By this measure that the Home Authorities ha4 
 taken, up the question, was noised abroad. An 
 extraordinary excitement followed. Prom the thou- 
 sands of square miles in Pegu and Jubbalpoor — from 
 the millions of acres in Arracan, in the Tenasserim 
 Provinces, in Chittagong &c., it is true, not a sound 
 was heard: and the demands of the tea planters of 
 Parjeeling, and the coffee planters of the Wynaad 
 had been satisfied. A small voice spoke in the 
 Doon of Dehrah. But for the rest, the great wastes- 
 of India were silent, or if their stillness was broken, 
 it was but by the roar of the tiger, which proclaimed 
 them untenanted by man. In Calcutta, howeverj'a 
 cry was raised by the owners or agents of some half 
 dozenteaconcernsin Assam and Cachar — a cry, not 
 for the removal of the resumption and other objection- 
 able clauses of existing rules, — not for a new set of 
 rules for the Provinces with which they had any 
 concern ; but for the sale in fee-simple of the 
 whole of the waste and uncultivated lands through- 
 out India — at 5s. an acre I Nothing short of 
 this, it was asserted, would meet the wants of 
 capitalists, planters^, and settlers. The withhold- 
 ing of this, it was put forth, retarded all European 
 enterprize, for the establishment of cotton plan- 
 tations, tea, and other agricultural enterprises. For 
 
 * See Calcutta Gazette 17th August 1850. 
 
205 
 
 tbis the Lieuteneut Governor of Bengal was ad» 
 dressed, — for this the Governor General in Council 
 was petitioned,-^and for this the strongest pressure 
 of the Press was brought to bear on the Supreme 
 Authority in India. No delay could be tolerated. 
 The necessities of the planters were imminent ; and 
 it was considered harsh and unjust on the part 
 0>i the Indian Government, to refuse any longer 
 that which the Lieut. Governor of Bengal had so 
 strongly recommended, — that which, it was asserted, 
 had been already conceded by the Secretary of State, 
 when he sanctioned the redemption of the land 
 tax in Madras, and the commutation of annual 
 payments in Bengal. 
 
 It is quite true that in A.ttgu^t 1830 the Lieut. 
 Governor of Bengal had transmitted to the Govern- 
 ment of India the drafc of a new set of rules for the 
 disposal of the waste lands in the provinces under his 
 Government, providing for the sale of grants as a 
 * valid heritable and transferable tenure in perpe- 
 tuity,' subject however to the conditions previously 
 in force regarding clearances, except as regards the 
 penalty of forfeiture, which included only such 
 portions of the grants as might not have been 
 brought under cultivation; and the mind of the 
 Calcutta public was in the state above described, 
 when these rules were brought before the Supreme 
 Government for consideration. One Member of 
 Council wrote a Minute, strongly advocating the 
 
206 
 
 sale out-right of all waste lands j* another drafted 
 a set of rules for carrying the measure into effect; 
 and His Excellency the Viceroy, after considering 
 in Council the opinons of all his Lieutenants and 
 their subordinates on the general question, published, 
 on the 17th October 1861, a Resolution, in which he 
 sanctioned the sale of all unassessed waste lands' 
 in India ' in which no right of proprietorship or 
 exclusive occupancy was known then to exist, or 
 to have existed in former times and to be capable of 
 revival,' — at 10*. an acre for cleared, and 5s. for un- 
 cleared land : — 
 
 ^As regards the sale of waste lands,' observed Earl 
 Canning in introducing this Resolution in Council, 
 ' there can be no question of the substantial benefits, 
 both to India and to England, which must follow 
 the establishment of settlers who will introduce 
 profitable and judicious cultivation into Districts 
 hitherto unreclaimed. His Excellency in Council 
 looks for the best results to the people of India; 
 wherever in such Districts European settlers may 
 find a climate in which they can live and occupy 
 themselves without detriment to their health, and 
 whence they may direct such improvements as 
 European capital, skill, and enterprize can effect in 
 the agriculture, communications, and commerce of 
 the surrounding country. He confidently expects 
 that harmony of interest between permanent Euro- 
 * See Parliameatary papers— Waste Lauds (India). 
 
207 
 
 pean settlers and the half-civilized tribes, by whom 
 most of these waste Districts, or the country adjoin- 
 ing them, are thinly peopled, will conduce to the 
 material and moral improvement of large classes of 
 the Queen's Indian subjects, which for any such 
 purposes, have long been felt by the Govern- 
 ment to be almost out of the reach of its ordinary 
 agencies. 
 
 But it is the firm conviction of the Governor 
 General in Council that, in order to obtain perma- 
 nently good results from such measures, it is indis- 
 pensable not only that no violence be done to the 
 long existing rights which, sometimes in a rude, 
 sometimes in a complicated form, are possessed by 
 many of the humblest occupants of the soil in India, 
 but that these rights be nowhere slighted or even 
 overlooked. Scrupulous respect for them is one of 
 the most solemn duties of the Government of India, 
 as well as its soundest policy, whatever may be the 
 mode in which that Government may think fit to 
 deal with rights of its own.' 
 
 In these two paragraphs (which, with two paras, 
 regarding the redemption of the land revenue, are pro- 
 bably the only portion of the Resolution drafted by 
 his Lordship's hand) we learn the objects and 
 reasons of this great statesman and upright and good 
 man, for a mensure which will mark a memorable 
 epoch in the fiscal laws of the British Government 
 of India, and which, as effectually overthrowing 
 
208 
 
 all those barrierSj said to have been hitherto set up 
 between British enterprize and the development 
 of India's wealth, rendered the solution of this ques- 
 tion which has so long occupied the attention of 
 English and Indian statesmen, a matter of time 
 alone. 
 
 But the terms of the Resolotion, were not accept^ 
 ed in their integrity in England. Her Majesty's 
 Crovernnient, while it cordially participated iu 
 the sentiments contained in the seoon'd of the para- 
 graphs above q;Uoted> considered the proposition 
 'to divide all the unassessed and ancl^imed lands 
 throHghout India into two classes, those which ar6 
 • encumbered with jungle,' and those which are 
 not, and to sell the lands of each claiss at a unifotm 
 ^rice per acre, without any regard to their sittiatioa 
 or to their presumed fertility ' as ' untenable ;' and 
 directed that the plan followed in most of the 
 British colonies should be followed^ arid the lota 
 for sale jmt 6p to auction, and sold to the highest 
 bidders above 5s. an acre. It also objected to the 
 provisions for placing purchasers in possession before 
 the lots had been regularly surveyed ; and to the 
 manner in which prior claims of occupancy or rights 
 of property, were disposed of; ruling that all lots 
 ^ould be surveyed and their boundaries demarcated 
 before sale, and be sold subject to any 'rights of 
 property ' o* other claims that might be established 
 in a Court of competent jurisdiction. The Resolu- 
 
209 
 
 tion had further given power to all holders of grants 
 •which had already been given for a terra of years 
 at progessively increasing rents, to redeem the 
 future land revenue at the highest rate fixed during 
 the currency of the grant, provided it did not exceed 
 the rate fixed as the price in fee-simple of wastes; 
 but the latter provision Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment considered, fixed the price for such lands within 
 too narrow limits, and disallowed it. 
 
 For the rest, the orders of the Governor General 
 were allowed to stand. All waste and unassessed 
 lands at the absolute disposal of the Government of 
 India, therefore, may now be put up to auction at 
 an upset price of 5s. an acre and sold in fee-simple 
 to the highest bidder, the purchaser being called 
 on to pay 10 per cent, of the purchase money 
 down, and being permitted to pay the balance by 
 instalments within 10 years, subject to an annual 
 charge of 10 per cent, on the portion of the pur- 
 chase money unpaid, until the whole is liquidated. 
 
 The proposal to sell out-right 100,000,000 acres, 
 more or less, of land, — an area far exceeding in extent 
 many principalities of Europe, would, at any time, 
 and in any country, be a question requiring very 
 serious consideration; but when such a questioa 
 arises in a country the main source of the revenues 
 of which is the rent derived from land, the necessity 
 for thought and reflection is much intensified. Lord 
 Canuingj doubtless, conceived that m introducing 
 
210 
 
 this measure he was acting in the spirit, and in full 
 accord with the principle, of the despatch of Lord 
 Stanley, trhich contemplated disposing of these 
 lands in accordance with his recommendation, either 
 ' for terms of years, or in perpetuity'; and with his 
 ripe experience of India, that he should be unwill- 
 ing to leave a measure, fraught with interests of 
 such magnitude to the country he had goverued 
 for six years so successfully, to be carried out by a 
 new Viceroy, is perfectly intelligible. lu this sense, 
 it is probable, he acted ; and as he had no defined 
 inatructions from Home, it is not surprising that 
 differences of opinion should have arisen on points 
 of detail between the two powers. These differences 
 have been freely commented on, the public journals 
 teeming with articles, — as regards the waste land 
 question, generally adverse to the modifications' 
 of Her Miijesty's Government. That necessity 
 compelled the publication of these differences was 
 unfortunate ; for there can be no question, that in the 
 present condition of the people of India, it is of 
 paramount importance that the authority of the 
 Viceroy should, if not in reality, in appearance, be 
 almost supreme; but the occasion, as involving an 
 act to be felt, in its effects, for ever, was one 
 of that singular importance to the future of India, 
 that had the highest authority, refrained out of 
 deference to a principle — in favor of which it can 
 hardly be doubted considerable concession was 
 
211 
 
 made — to insist on such modifications in the Reso- 
 lution as were conscientiously believed to be 
 essentially necessary for the protection of the in- 
 terests of the State, or for the good of the country, 
 the act TTOuld have been criminal. Many of the 
 arguments, moreover, brought fortvard in England, 
 against these modifications, as being applicable solely 
 to countries very differently circumstanced, lose all 
 their force when brought to bear on India. 
 
 It is not competent to me, liowever, to discuss this 
 portion of the subject. Nor is it necessary. The 
 question which was agitated, is decided — the cause 
 which was tried, has been gained; and henceforth 
 Englishmen can come and buy as much of the 
 waste and unoccupied land of India, as they choose 
 to pay for, at whatever rate, over 5s. an acre, 
 the market of the day shall decide tliem to be 
 worth. Time will satisfy all parties as to the quan- 
 tity, — out of the tea distrits, — they will take. 
 
 My own opinion on the general question, viewing 
 it both from the settler's or self interest stand-point, 
 and from a higher point of view, is, that the sale 
 of all the waste lands in India was altogether 
 unnecessary, — that the agitation for it was mischiev- 
 ous, — and that its concession, was inexpedient. 
 
 I think that the sale of these lands in fee-simple, 
 was unnecessary , — first, because, as regards security 
 of title and right of property, — the only essential 
 points involved in the question, — all the advantage 
 
213 
 
 that could possibly result to a settler or capitalist; 
 could have been obtained by other means, without 
 raising a question which in India must always be 
 involved in difficulties. Secondly, I think that it 
 was unnecessary, — because nobody wanted it; if we 
 except a few persons in two divisions of Bengal, 
 ' who wished to dispose of some tea estates in the 
 London Market, and who believed that this kind of 
 title, best suited English ideas and would conse- 
 quently take more readily with buyers, — and some 
 others interested in tea land in the same districts, 
 who, not understanding their own interests, were 
 led away by popular excitement. And thirdly, I 
 think that the measure was unnecessary, — because,; 
 if the object of the Government consisted in 
 attracting European settlers into the districts in 
 which waste lands are situated, in those d istricts 
 from whence the cry for the sale of land in 
 fee-simple emanated, that object had been already 
 gained without it. At the very time, the cry for 
 the fee-simple was being raised in Calcutta, scores 
 of Europeans were pouring into Assam and Cachar, 
 a hundred and fifty thousand acres h.a.i been already 
 leased, and more was being daily applied for^far 
 more than to bring one third part of which into 
 cultivation there was even a remote prospect 
 of getting either capital or labor for. Or were it 
 true that both these desiderata could be obtain- 
 ed — which, however, was not the case, — the seed 
 
213 
 
 for the only crop it was desired to grow, could not 
 be procured but ia the most limited quantities, for 
 the supply did not equal a tenth part of the wants 
 of those already in possession of the field. Instead, 
 therefore, of there being the slightest necessity for 
 attracting Europeans to those wastes from whence 
 the cry came, by the concession demanded, the 
 necessity, if necessity there was at all, lay entirely 
 the other way, and consisted, rather, in warning 
 an excited public against too hurriedly rushing into 
 a field which, looking at the circumstances of the 
 cultiration in progress, was over-oceupied already ; 
 or placing such checks as would serve to keep the 
 immigratioa of Europeans within the limits pre- 
 scribed by the circumstances of the Province, and 
 the cultivation in question. Indeed it became 
 ridiculous to argue the necessity part of the sub- 
 ject, after the offer to purchase the fee-simple, 
 had been made to the settlers at Madras, and 
 declined ! 
 
 I think that the agitation for the sale of waste lands 
 in fee-simple was mischievous , — because the demand, 
 including in its scope the whole of the immense wastes 
 of India, and involving the abandonment by the 
 State of its claim for revenue from these lands for all 
 time to come, required more cautious legislation than 
 would a simple request for the removal of the objec- 
 tionable clauses of existing rules, — and hence it fol- 
 lowed that the rales under which it has been thought 
 
214 
 
 advisable or expedient to sanction this measure, 
 though possibly suitable for large capitalists, are 
 very much less favourable to the great mnjority of 
 Europeans already established in Assam, Cachar, 
 and the Himalayas, and any that under present 
 circumstances are likely to go to these places, than 
 those previously in force. Under former rules, a 
 developer, or his agent, proceeded with his little 
 capital to the spot on which he wished to settle, 
 and looked out for a bit of land suitable for the crop 
 he wanted to grow. Having found it, he applied 
 for it — and the moment the Board of Revenue's 
 sanction was obtaned, he was put in possession of 
 it. He was not hampered in any way — there was no 
 survey, no advertizement, no auction. One-fourth 
 of his grant was rent-free for ever. For the remain- 
 der, he was not asked to pay a single six-pence to 
 Government, or to any one else, for fifteen years, and 
 then only about &d. an acre per annum, for eighty-four 
 years to come. By this arrangement he was enabled 
 to expend the whole of his means, minus the cost 
 of his own support, on his land, and double, or, 
 in tea, quadruple his little capital before the Govern- 
 ment asked him for one farthing of revenue. 
 
 And in what position I would ask have his friends 
 placed him ? He now goes to the spofc, and, after con- 
 siderable labor and trouble and some loss of time, 
 having selected, to the best of his judgement, a plot of 
 land suitable as regards soil, climate, and position, for 
 
215 
 
 his wants, he applies for it, — and is not put in posses- 
 sion. As soon as is practicable* it is, at the applicant's 
 expense, surveyed. It is tlien advertized, and, after 
 the expiration of one month, is put np to auction and 
 sold — probably to somebody else, who, a thousand 
 miles off, may have been advised by letter that 
 the spec is a good one, — or possibly to some 
 one nearer at hand, who, not having taken any 
 trouble, nor expended either time or money in its 
 selection, is, of course, in a position to pay more 
 for it. But if the land is knocked down to our 
 settler, he must pay 10 per cent, of the purchase 
 money down, and 10 per cent, on the balance 
 for ten years to come or forfeit it if he fails. Thus 
 if Jones had taken a grant of 4,000 acres, under 
 the old rules, he would have nothing to pay for 
 fifteen years, and then only an average of Qd. an 
 acre on three-fourths, or £75 per annum, for the 
 next eighty-four years ; but if he now takes a similar 
 grant, he must pay down, in addition to the cost 
 of the survey &c. &c. iS 1,000, or £100 within three 
 months of the day of sale, and £90 per annum until 
 he is able or willing to p;iy the balance, under pain 
 of having the grant sold in satisfastion of the 
 Government claim. But the cruelest part of the 
 arrangement is, that, while under the old rules, he 
 had a good title, holding his land, as he iiow must, 
 
 • One surveyor haa been eanctioned fur Assam a province cou- 
 taiuing' some five or six miltious of acres of waste laud. 
 
216 
 
 subject to any 'rights of property' third parties may 
 establish ia it, under the new, he has not a saleable 
 title at all.* Under these circumstances, to my mind, 
 the last state of Jones, is very much worse than 
 the first. On this pointy however, we are saved the 
 trouble of surmising. "Will settlers who hold grant? 
 under the old, commute oinder the new rules ? 
 
 I think that the concession of the sale of vraste 
 lauds in fee-simple was inexpedient for many rea- 
 sons. In ordinary sales the seller fij^es, with reference 
 to the demand, present or anticipated, the priqe he 
 will take, and holds until he gets it; or, watching 
 the fluctuations of . the market, ;he often exercises a 
 sounder discretion by lowering his price, to such sum 
 as will leave him a fair profit. Failing his obtaining 
 this, if the article will not spoil, he holds for another 
 season, or carries it to another market. Thus, a seller, 
 may fix a price beyond what a buyer will give, 
 and a buyer may offer a price below what a seller 
 will take. Under ordinary circumstances, however, 
 though the sellers fix the price, the buyers regulate 
 it, the action of each, — always supposing healthy 
 competition — operating to establish an equilibrium. 
 This I believe is termed the ' market value ;' and as 
 regards buyer and seller it may be considered 
 mutually arrived at. If, however, a seller has a 
 monopoly of any commodity,/or which there may be a 
 demand, the case is diflerent. He then fixes his own 
 
 * No law on this subject has yet been passed. 
 
217 
 
 pnice, and buyers, unable to regulate it, have na 
 alternative but to pay it — or go without. This may 
 be called the seller's price, the limit to which, can 
 be determined only, by equalizing the ratio the 
 necessities of the parties bear to each other, or 
 that of the quantity ia demand to the quantity 
 of the commodity for sale.* Another case is 
 the converse of this viz., that in which the mo- 
 
 * Mr. Mill (Principles of Political Economy p . 5 43) objects to 
 the term ratio, on the double ground of its beingr unprecise, and 
 ina,ppropriate. It may be so ; for, to speak of a raUo between two vary- 
 ing magnitudes is mathematically absurd. 1 use the term, because 
 it is current; and he has not. unfortunately, left us any better 
 to define the operation by which an equilibrium is effected — by' 
 which the terms of the equation are mads equal. In objecting, 
 that the quantity in demand is not fixed, but varies according to 
 the value, he says. ''The demand therefore, partly depends 
 on the iialvtB. But it was before laid down that the value 
 depends on the demand. From this contradiction how shall we 
 extricate ourselves?" He then lays down the following equation 
 of value. ' Demand and Supply, the quantity demanded and the 
 quantity supplied, will be made equal ;' and defines "the valtte 
 a commodity \vill bring in any market" to be, *' no other thanihevalue 
 which in that market gives a demand just sufficient to carry off the 
 existing or expected supply." Now this is quite intelligible to 
 any person with a tolerable knowledge of the subject, who reads 
 Mr. Mill's lucid explanation : but his definition does not leave it clear 
 whether the value regulates, or is regulated, by the demand, or neither 
 or both J and as he uses the word value to define both the operation and 
 the result of it, we are not left a very great choice of terais. Value is 
 no doubt, as it were, a compen.sating balance between demand and sup- 
 ply; but how to define the operation by which it adjustsitself, or is 
 adjusted, and at the same time express that the value will be highest 
 when the demand is greatest and the supply least, and vice versay 
 is a difficulty, the resort to mathematical phraseology has not 
 «utuiounted. 
 
218 
 
 Bopoly lies with the market, in which case the 
 price is fixed by the buyers, as, for instance in 
 auction sales without reserve. This, however, 
 is a species of sale, which, in consequence of 
 the greatness of the risk, is never resorted to 
 except in markets where the competition is kuowu, 
 to be such as to guarantee to the seller a good, if 
 not the highest price — or in what may be termed 
 
 'forced sales.' When we read that Mr. 's 
 
 property has gone to the ' hammer,' we need not 
 to be told that he is no longer in a position to 
 put his own valuation upon it. There are very 
 many points in connection with this subject to 
 be considered before the phenomena of values and 
 prices can be rightly understood. My object, how- 
 ever, is not to define laws, but simply to cite the 
 different kinds of valuations of property adopted 
 in the ordinary business transactions of life. If I 
 have done so correctly, there would appear to be 
 three — the mutual valuation of seller and buyer, — the 
 valuation of the seller, — and the valuation of the 
 buyer ; and the conditions of sales Under each of 
 these denominations, which for our purpose may be 
 considered essential, are : — for the first, a market in 
 which to negotiate the transaction ; for the second, 
 such a demand as will guarantee to the seller a fair 
 profit; and for the third, such active competition 
 as will ensure him against loss.* 
 
 * I oace saw a horae, cartaiulj worth £10, sold at auction for five 
 shillings. 
 
219 
 
 Now the question in regard to the thousands of 
 square miles of waste lauds in India, is. Are any 
 one of these conditions found ? And I think I may 
 safely answer — they are not. That there is no 
 market, will not be disputed;'^ that there is uo 
 competition cannot be denied ;t ^^^ that the de- 
 mand is confined to the tea and coffee districts, 
 if not patent to all before, the cotton famine has 
 satisfactorily proved. If, then, these things be true, 
 and the condition of affairs is really as I have 
 sketched it, no farther arguments, I should think, 
 are wanting to prove that circumstances are not 
 such as to render the present a favorable time for 
 a general sale out-right of all the waste land in 
 India. 
 
 Again, it is an implied condition of mercantile 
 transactions that both parties, buyer and seller, knowj 
 or are supposed to know, both the intrinsic value of 
 the commodity to be sold, — and their own in- 
 terests. Now, independent of situation in regard to 
 a market &c., a necessary condition to determining 
 the value of any land, is a knowledge of its natural 
 
 * By a market I mean a city, town, or place, where informatioa 
 can be obtained by purchasers, from a Government Office, ag'encies, 
 or other sources, and where brokers fee, and other appliances for 
 determining the market value of the thing' for sale exist. 
 
 f A special clause of the Governor Generals Resolution provided 
 for a lot for which there was more than one applicant beings put 
 up to auction; and I have only heard of one sale havings takea 
 place under it. This was in the Kang'ra Valley, where the lot 
 (100 acres) was the only one in the whole Valley for sale. 
 
220 
 
 properties, or to use more definite terms, its capa- 
 bilities for production; and to do tliis, plainly, some 
 knowledge ef the nature of the soil, and its miueral 
 wealth are necessary. The geological survey of India 
 has not extended to a hundredth part of the unculti- 
 vated part of the country. It is only the other day that 
 .the climates of Assam and Cachar,. were looked upoa 
 as deadly to human life, and their soils as capable only 
 of producing dense jungle and the rankest yegetatiou. 
 ■The capabilities of the soils of much of the great 
 wastes of India are as little known now, as those 
 of these now coveted lands were then. No one 
 then can possibly be in a position to say what 
 is their value. Hence, probably, the determination 
 to sell them by auction. But here, again, we are 
 forced on the horns of a dilemma, for it has been 
 already shown, that, in the absence of the most active 
 competition, this species of sale is precisely that in 
 which there is the greatest possible risk of loss ; 
 and to fix a limit, or upset price as it is called, 
 to any purpose, it is an essential that the value of 
 the thing to be sold be ascertainsd, which in regard 
 to this land, has been determined to be, at present, 
 impossible. Gladly would I get out of this diffi- 
 cultly, but truely I do not see the way. 
 
 I am fully aware of the differences of opinion 
 regarding the relative values of land and capital 
 in wastes reclaimed, and that some economists have 
 gone so far as to assert that the whole is capital, 
 
231 
 
 and that waste land, therefore, has no vallie.* But 
 we have only to coasider the length of time over 
 which this outlay is spread, and to place against 
 it the accumulated wealth of the produce of the 
 land, and the fallacy is transparent. When rich 
 deposits are taken from the bottom of the Sea or 
 other place where they are not now utilized, and laid 
 on barren rocks, that land may be called capital ; 
 but if so, it is capital not invested in, but capital 
 converted iato land, and its value is determined not 
 by the cost of its formation : but by its fertility 
 and advantages iu relation to other lands in the 
 neighbourhood. The exchange value of land, like 
 that of every thing else, is affected by circumstances, 
 -^-proximity to markets, population, roads, rivers, 
 climate; but there is still its power of produc- 
 tion, which the absence of any or all of these, though 
 it may put it out of the market, cannot annihi- 
 late. The diamond in the mine, gold in the rock, 
 any of the precious metals, so locked up, are subject 
 to very similar laws, and it appears to me absurd to 
 argue, that the one has intrinsic worth, while the 
 other which has inherent powers of producing the 
 
 * Mr. Carey an Amerioaa Economist in his " Priaeiples of political 
 eoononay" asserts that all the land in any country is not equal i a value 
 to anytliinj like the Capital that has been laid out on it ; or in other 
 ■vfords that to bring the laud of aay country to its present conditions 
 from a state of primoeval forest, would not pay. He concludes from 
 this that all rent is the result of capital expended, which theory if 
 true would vitiate tiie priaciples of atax on laud, , - 
 
223 
 
 inost precious of all kinds of wealth — the necessaries 
 of life — has none. 
 
 Thus if two pieces of land, one suitable for grow- 
 ing opium, and the other capable onl7 of producing 
 rice : or two mines, one a gold and the other a copper 
 mine, were situated in the same locality, and at a 
 considerable distance from a market, it is quite 
 intelligible that, the expenditure of capital and labor 
 required to produce the opium and the rice, and to 
 work the gold and the copper mine being, respectively, 
 precisely the same, the opium land and the diamond 
 mine should have a high exchange value, while the 
 rice land and the copper mine would be unsaleable. 
 Yet need not the rice land and the copper mine be 
 yalueless. As the electric fluid in the Leyden Jar is 
 imprisoned till approached by the conductor, so 
 would be the natural properties of the rice land and 
 the copper in the mine, until advancing civiliza- 
 tion, improved communication, or other circum- 
 stances, set them free. In an old country, therefore, 
 the object, of a wise man with valuable property 
 in land, or wealth in mines, should not be to give 
 them away, or to sell them, at a nominal value, 
 to the first person who would undertake to cultivate 
 the one or to work the other, but rather to endea- 
 vour, if within his power, to bring them within 
 those influences which would give them a value in 
 exchange, in proportion to their natural value, and 
 then, and — unless to do this was nearly impossible or 
 
223 
 
 the prospect indefinitely remote — not till then, to 
 sell them. 
 
 It will follow, I opine, then, that if circumstances 
 regulate the price of land, its natural properties as 
 well as the capital that may have been laid out on it, 
 determine its value. 
 
 If an upset price means any thing, in regard 
 to a number of commodities for sale of the same 
 denomination but of different values, it ought to 
 mean, the lowest price the seller can afford to 
 take, or will take, for the least valuable ; because, if it 
 be fixed with reference to the most valuable, or the 
 average value of the whole, a large proportion will not 
 sell at all. Now a large proportion of the immense 
 wastes of India is worth no more than the deserts 
 of Arabia Petrea, and the rest ascends in the 
 scale of fertility, like the lands of all other countries 
 by regular degrees. What 5s. may represent in 
 relation to the whole, I do not know. It has been 
 Calculated with reference to the terms of the present 
 leases of 99 years, that in selling these leases in the 
 tea districts of Assam and Caehar at that rate. Govern- 
 ment would not be a loser. But the return to labor 
 and capital expended on tea lands, including all 
 expenses of clearances, is several hundred per cent 
 more than that upon any land under cultivation in 
 India, except, perhaps, opium lands. If then, all 
 things considered, 5s. represents the value of this 
 kind of land, it must follow that no other wasteland, 
 
224 
 
 will sell at all— or, allowiag tlie necessary margins 
 for the operation of secoadary iaflaencea, if other 
 lands will sell at this rate to any great extent, that 
 in the absence of a very active competition, these 
 lands will be sold mach under their valne, and, 
 ultimately, very large sums of money be lost to the 
 State* 
 
 These reasons lead me to the conclusion that 
 there are, at present, no proper means of determin- 
 ing the value of any of these lands ; and that while 
 the determination to auction them will be wholly 
 inoperative, except in isolated cases, to secure the 
 State ao-ainst ultimate and serious loss in those 
 districts where there is a present demand, the 
 fixing of a uniform rate of 5s. au acre as a mini- 
 mum limit, will effectually shut out from all 
 possibility of reclamation, such tracts as the Soon- 
 derbuns, and the great proportion of the immense 
 wastes of India. 
 
 * The Secretary of State directed iu his despatch that '• the several 
 Governments aad Lieat. Governors should be instructed to fix, 
 after commanication with the chief Local Authorities, a miaimum 
 price suited to the circumstances of the various descriptions of land 
 which they may find to beat thiiir disposal in each district of their 
 Presidency or Province." There is little or no waste land available 
 in the Bombay or Madras Presidencies, and as fire shilling's has 
 boen fixed as the uniform upset price for Beng-al and the North West 
 Provinces; and as the terms ou which leases were granted in Arraean, 
 the Tenasserim Provinces, Peg'u, the Punjab, and most other 
 places were not more favourable than those granted In Bengal, it^ 
 ■may be assumed that this price will, indeed must, regulate the 
 .whole. 
 
225 
 
 ,Mj ; esteemed friend Mr. Arthur Grote ' of the 
 Calcutta Board of Revenue, in reporting on this 
 subject said.: — ■ 
 
 ' It appears to me that to grant a perpetual tenure 
 of large tracts of unoccupied laud, on the easy terms 
 at present offered in Assam, Darjaeling, and the 
 Soonderbunds, would be to repeat the error of 1793, 
 and that to allow grantees to buy a discharge from 
 all future demands for land-tax, by a present pay- 
 ment of the value of the annual tax chargeable on 
 their grants under those terms, would be a culpable 
 sacrifice of prospective State income.' 
 • ' For, the terms now offered designedly abandon to 
 the grantee a large margin of profits under the cur- 
 rent settlements, with an express view to the lands 
 being returned to the State on the expiration of this 
 settlement in a vastly improved condition. The per- 
 mission to commute by a single payment the annual 
 tax now ch argeable on their grants for a term of 
 years, which the present orders give to all grantees, 
 is fair and reasonable. A similar privilege should 
 not, I think, be given to commute in discharge of 
 all future claims for tax, except on revised terms of 
 grant,' 
 
 'This revision should provide for the annual tax 
 being fixed at an amount scarcely short of what the 
 Scate expects to find the land capable of paying on 
 the expiration of the period of our present designedly 
 moderate settlements. The State would not be 
 
226 
 
 justified in fixing the tax at all below that amoaut, 
 if it were not for the advantages promised by the 
 immediate location in its provinces of a numerous 
 body of enterprising settlers.' 
 
 ' I doubt whether commutation on such terms 
 would be sought so long as the present rates of interest 
 prevail. The same consideration would, it has always 
 been my opinion, interfere with any general resort 
 to the privilege it proffered to Bengal landholders 
 to redeem the land-tax.' 
 
 And these views appear to me so sound, and the 
 arguments used in support of them so conclusive, that 
 I cannot conceive how any one acquainted with the 
 circumstances of the Government and the people, 
 in relation to these uncultivated tracts (some of 
 which contain lands which, if equalled, are not exceed- 
 ed in fertility by the lands of any country in the 
 world,) can hold opposite opinions. Indeed it is, in 
 my opinion, clear that if waste lands, or any other 
 lands in India, not excepting those the assessment on 
 which is ^fixed in perpetuity, are sold at present, 
 they must be sold at a loss to the State, for on no 
 other terms will the people buy themj and if this 
 can be established, unless far greater advantages 
 than any yet set forth can be shown to exist, the 
 position will not be disputed. 
 
 Before entering on this portion of the subject, 
 however, I will notice, another difficulty and by 
 no means a minor one, in the way of the sale of 
 
227 
 
 these lands. I allude to the hucks, or rights of the 
 natives thereiiij those hucks the scrupulous respect 
 for which Lord Canning declared to be one of 
 the most solemn duties of the Government of India, 
 and which declaration Her Majesty's Government 
 most cordially approved. Now it must be borne 
 in mind that the native idea on the subject of 
 these hucks, is peculiar and very strong, — amount- 
 ing even to the assertion of a right of property, 
 or, at least, of joint-ownership. These rights con- 
 stitute occupancy, pre-emption, right of grazing 
 cattle, cutting wood, grass &c., use of water courses, 
 and general right to the products of all waste lands, 
 mines, quarries not worked, &c., rights of way, rights 
 to certain municipal offices, family riglits &e. To 
 the general English reader it may appear that little 
 difficulty would beset the path of a Statesman in dis- 
 posing of rights to which no title could be made out ; 
 but to all familiar with the early history of Property, 
 and the constitution of society in the Patriarchal 
 form, it will be apparent, that this subject is one 
 involved in some complication. That the state of 
 society in the greater part of India is of the true 
 archaic type, Mountstuart Elphiustone in his History 
 of India, has already acquainted the public. A 
 right of occupancy here is not, as Blackstone has 
 supposed, a 'kind of transient property in.' It is 
 asserted to be an inalienable right of possession, of 
 which the holder cannot be dispossessed without 
 
228. 
 
 iiijustice, A competent expounder of the native- 
 feeling in regard to what they consider their hacks, , 
 or rights says : — ] 
 
 'The following is an example of the regard the ^ 
 people have for their rights. In every village there , 
 are Mirdhas, who are by profession robbers. Each , 
 of these holds 10 to 20 beegahs of land, for which 
 he is expected to prevent others from committing 
 robbery in his village. For, the sake of this right 
 to their land, though they are all professional,! 
 thieves, they sometimss suffer losses; still they 
 make good robberies comm.itted by others, rather , 
 than leave their Hucks over the land. Tney abstain . 
 from committing robberies iu each other's village. . 
 Here is another remnrkable instance, — there is one 
 Chiefdom in Bandlekund called Dattia, where there 
 is no regular Police ; yet we hear travellers general- 
 ly experience no sort of inconvenience on the road, 
 for there the village Police system of the sort above 
 alluded to js in force.* This mode is also observed 
 
 * This primitive system of police, or black mail as it may be 
 called, is by no means confined to native states. In the neighbour- 
 hood of Delhi there is a larg'e village inhabited entirely by Goojurs, 
 all professional theives, of whose services the Magistrate makes valuable 
 use. During- the three years my Regiment was quartered there, I 
 had one of these gentlemen constantly in my pay. He stack his spear 
 in the compound or grounds of my house, and no more. He came on 
 the 15th of every month and took his Rs. 4 (eight shillings.) For 
 the remainder of the month I nevsr saw him; yet I slept more secure 
 than if I had had a sentry at every corner of my house. I speak of 
 the times before the mutiny of 1857. Whether or not the same 
 system is now in force I cannot say. 
 
229 
 
 in many Native States. Joshees,, Poorohits, and 
 others, above alluded to, as Astrologers, religious 
 M edicants, &c., formerly held lands or received pay* 
 meiits in cash either from the Native Governments 
 or Zemindars. Though the British Government 
 refused to sanction such grants, yet the Zemindars 
 give them out of their own Hucks. Tirth Boorohits 
 or the Priests at sacred places, such as Benares, 
 Allahabad, Muttra, &c., also receive grants of lands 
 and cash from Zemindars. These persons even apply 
 their. Hucks and lands and other property connected 
 with it to any purpose they like; they give iu 
 Grants and dowry, and mortgage it; yet the Hucks 
 are entirely voluntary ; but the claim of the owner 
 on them is, by common consent, held to be so 
 strong that they are treated like legal property. 
 This may show how the people of Hindoostau 
 value their Hucks. Indeed, iu some cases, they, iu 
 order to retain their Hucks in their family name, 
 become converts to another religion or even give 
 their lives. These Hucks, therefore, should not be 
 taken away by the Government, or made subject 
 to sale by the process of any Court for personal 
 debts. Fhey should be treated as entailed property, 
 of which the life interest only can be alienated. 
 The result from preserving and increasing the 
 existing Hucks will be good. But it will be much 
 better froin continuing the system which Lord 
 Canning has' commenced oCestablishing new rights 
 
 V 
 
230J 
 
 df- the ahfovff description ■ by giving' Estates/ 
 Talooks, &c.i* ' • - oJ h... .ij,:,. ■'}-, 
 
 -•In another place the Sajah saT$. "Institutiott 
 of a new enquiry into'grahts. Selling rights (Hnckspi 
 ■fthich the Qxhjedts valui dearer than there lives, 
 and many oHher things which will be described 
 herfeafter, are '^: cont'ribiitiug to the dissatisfactioiii 
 of the subjects." ' ' . 
 
 I have heard it said raoreovja",' by other native- 
 gentlemen, not inferior in status, or of less int&lli- 
 gence than the author of these Observations, that the' 
 rjjght of oecupancy in Indian is an exclusive ailil per- 
 manent right, which cannot be alienated or 'purchased/ 
 except withtlie bonsent of the holders. - The savage 
 mces VI ho dwell an hills and in jungle'^, are the own^i 
 of- those hills and jungles ; the tribes who squat? 
 on knds are the owners of those lauds; villagers^ 
 who, like the patriarchs of old, graze their -flbek-s on 
 vast pasture lands, who cut grass or fire wood iu' 
 forestsj have, if not an ownership in those laiids and 
 forests, a prescriptive title to these rights under the 
 law of ancieiit custom — a law iii India something' 
 fike an Act of Parliament, — of which they cannot be 
 deprived without injustice, and Viihich prohibits the 
 skle of such liands, other\iise than fenduhibertd with 
 the'se lights. " It it'asSUmed" says the Secretary of 
 State, in his despatch that half-civilized tribes will 
 
 i'-, * Memorandum of Observationa on the Administration of Iiidia by 
 Rnja Dinker Riio of Gualiar, M.eml!ei: of the Governor. Genei'*l's. 
 Council for m;il{i'ng' Laws p. 8 — Home Office, Calcutta l662. 
 
231 
 
 be ready to appreciate a commuaity of interests 
 between the Earopean settlers and themselves. I 
 apprebetid, on the contrary, that passionately attach- 
 ed as they are known to be to their ancestral lands, 
 they might naturally regard the intrusion of Euro- 
 peans strangers as an encroachment and a wrong 
 inflicted on themselves.' And such in many if not 
 all places is undoubtedly the case. In the Pahalam 
 Valley of Kangra, a spot some have thought to 
 rival, in the picturesque beauty of its scenery, the 
 vale of Cashmere, there are about 50,000 acres of 
 pasture and other land admirably fitted for tea 
 cultivation ; but not one acre will the few scattered 
 village communities permit to come into the hands 
 of Europeans, at ten times its actual value, as 
 estimated by the normal rates of the district. Oa 
 this point I am well informed, for holding pro- 
 perty in the Valley, I was anxious to add to it by 
 securing more land; and the following extract of a 
 letter from my agent will as well illustrate my 
 subject, as the success which att ended my attempts. 
 
 "I have used all my powers of persuasion, to 
 
 induce the Zemindars to sell me enough land to 
 
 complete the Raipoor estate ; but though I have 
 
 offered as high as fifteen and twenty rupees an 
 
 acre,* prices before unheard of in the country, 
 
 • The Zemiailars can sell, it must be recollected, nothing but 
 the proprietory right, subject after the expiry of the settlement, to 
 any assessment the Government chooses to impose. 
 
232 
 
 all my efforts have proved unavailing. They steadily 
 refuse to sell a single rood. They say. 'Why have 
 you come here? We don't want you. We know 
 you oaly wish to deprive us of our land, and then 
 make coolies of us to work on your estates, but we 
 are determined you shall not have the land' 
 There is, therefore, a combination amongst them, 
 not to sell any land to Europeans, and no man 
 dares to break it." 
 
 These ideas will doubtless give way before the 
 advantages^ — the solid benefits which invariably flow 
 from the introduction of capital :* but, that they 
 exist and that such claims are now put forth in 
 many parts of India, is iadisputable ; indeed tbere 
 can be no better measure of the importance 
 attached to bucks in land by the natives, than the 
 distaste with which they view the encroachment of 
 -Europeans. 
 
 It is true that the waste lands for sale are sup- 
 |)osed to be unincumbered with hucks, and at the 
 absolute disposal of Government ; but though there 
 is little definite knowledge on the subject, it would 
 seem that such is not the case, or why the pro- 
 vision for selling these lands subject to any * rights 
 of property ' that may be established in them here- 
 
 * la parts of Assam the price of ^rain has risen four hundred 
 per cent, in four years, since the introduction of tea plantingr, thus 
 placing' the Governrae at in a position to double the land tnx, and 
 Btill leave the cultivator more than twice as rich as he was before.— See 
 p. p. 176 -77 mpra. 
 
233' 
 
 after ? The inference is invitable, that the proposal 
 is nothing more nor less, than to sell that with 
 which the seller admits he can give but a doubtful 
 title' — a title that would not be recognised in any 
 country of Europe. — on the security of which, as 
 it stands at present, no English capitalist would 
 advance a shilling J and it is consequently of some 
 little importance to examine carefully into the rights 
 of the case, so that what is done may be equitable, 
 and that the State, the natives, and the settlers, 
 may receive, each and every, their /ms^ dues. 
 
 Native Rulers, brought up in the atmosphere of 
 ■native society, have doubtless been imbued with its 
 ideas. It may be asked, then, have they respected 
 these rights ? On the contrary History satisfies u8, 
 that if they have silently acquiesced in their subjects 
 appropriating waste lands, they have seldom failed 
 to vindicate the principle of Adverse Possession, 
 by respecting no rights that did not pay, and 
 others only so long as it suited their convenience. The 
 British Government, however, has not a like im- 
 munity from its own acts, and this fact has long 
 since been discovered by our Indian subjects, and 
 is often, I am afraid, turned to account to advance 
 claims to which neither Ancient Law, nor Ancient 
 Custom have given any sanction. As if, moreover, 
 the mail of legfil enactments and public opinion, 
 were not sufiBciently binding, instead of depending 
 fox a character on the uprightness and integrity 
 
234 
 
 of its acts, it is forever making pledges and promises, 
 which the very necessities of numerous societies 
 ia various and progressive stages of development, 
 render it impossible to keep. Successive Govern- 
 ments, consequently, while continually breaking 
 the pledges of their predecessors, are as actively 
 engaged in forging fresh chains for their successors 
 to wear, and in their turn to burst ; and it is thus 
 that gradually, but steadily, has been accumulated 
 a solid basis for that idea, now fixed, of the bad 
 faith of the English race. 
 
 In the present case we have two races brought into 
 collision as competitors for rights of property and 
 other rights in the soil, the one we may say in 
 the first or lowest, and the other in the last or highest 
 stage of development ; and both, as might be expected, 
 imbued with the most opposites views of justice, 
 rights of property, and their own interests. The 
 situation is, in this particular, peculiar, and calls 
 therefore for the most careful consideration, lest, by 
 adopting a process of transmutation too much in 
 accordance with the ideas which regulate the views of 
 the one party, violence be done to the feelings of the 
 other — or by a blind and indiscriminate regard for 
 traditionary rights, the true functions of a Govern- 
 ment be abandoned, and the progress of the country 
 be materially retarded. 
 
 In all other respects, however, it is not new. The 
 studeut of the history of Property is aware, that a 
 
235 
 
 state of things similar to that existing in India, has 
 afforded matter for thought to the lawgivers of 
 all civilized nations, from the earliest ages of which 
 we have a historic record. The systems of occupant- 
 village-community- family- tribe- and joint-owner- 
 ship are known to have existed amongst the people of 
 most countries in the earlier stages of their progress, 
 from the days of the Romans,— and more lately in 
 Austrian and Turkish Sclavonia and in many pro- 
 vinces of the vast Russian Empire — down to our own 
 times. The difficulties which beset the Governments 
 of these countries in administering the affairs of the 
 State, and the people themselves in transacting their 
 own business, in consequence of the fetters with which 
 proprietory rights were trammelled, are now well 
 know to jurists, and the necessity which improving 
 organizations of societies imposed on lawgivers of 
 getting rid of them, has been made patent by 
 successive laws on the subject, from that of the 
 Usucapion of the Romans, to those of Limitation 
 amongst ourselves. 
 
 Regarding rights of Occupancy, with which we have 
 now more immediately to do, the latest and probably 
 the highest authority on the subject says : — 
 
 ' Before pointing out the quarter in which we may 
 liope to glean some information, scanty and un- 
 certain at best, concerning the early history of 
 proprietary right , I venture to state my opinion that 
 the popular, impression in reference to the part 
 
236 
 
 played by Occupancy in the first stages of civilisa- 
 tion directly reverses the truth. Occupancy is the 
 advised assumption of physical possession ; and the 
 notion that an act of this description confers a title 
 to " res nuUius," so far from being characteristic 
 of very early societies, is iu all probability the 
 growth of a refined jurisprudence and of a settled 
 condition of the laws. It is only when the rights of 
 property have gained a sanction from long prac- 
 tical inviolability, and when the vast majority of 
 the objects of enjoyment have been subjected to 
 private ownership, that mere possession is allowed 
 to invest the first possessor with dominion over 
 commodities in which no prior proprietorshi p has 
 been asserted. The sentiment ia which the doctrine 
 originated is absolutely irreconcilable with that 
 infrequency and uncertainty of proprietary rights 
 which distinguish the beginnings of civilisation. 
 Its true basis seems to be, not an instinctive bias 
 towards the institution of Property, but a presump- 
 tion arising out of the long continuance of that 
 institution, that every thing ought to have an owner. 
 When possession is taking of a " res nullius," that 
 is, of an object which is not, or has neoer been, 
 reduced to dominion, the possessor ,is permitted to 
 become proprietor from a feeling that all valuable 
 things are naturally the subjects of an exclusive 
 enjoyment, and that in the given case there is no 
 one to invest with the, right of property except the 
 
237 
 
 Occupant. The Occupant in short, becomes the 
 owner, because all things are presumed to be some- 
 body's property and because no one can be pointed 
 out as having a better right than he to the proprie- 
 torship of this particular thing/* 
 
 If this view of case be the correct one, and much 
 that we find existing around us, goes a considerable 
 way to prove that it is, popular notions would seem to 
 be an unsafe guide ; and I think, therefore, that be- 
 fore any attempt was made to sell, outright, the 
 waste lands in India, it would have been desirable that 
 some definitive — some fixed principles regarding 
 rights, real or traditionary, should have been laid down 
 by competent authority, not only to entitle the 
 possessor to sell, but to prevent those blunders the 
 commission of which has so hampered successive 
 administrations of India, in their anxious endeavours 
 to ameliorate the Government of the country. Fiscal 
 questions, vitally affecting the future welfare of large 
 provinces — questions that have occupied the most 
 serious attention of the profoundest thinkers on 
 these subjects in all ages, are here not unfre- 
 quently decided off-hand, on the recommendation 
 of settlement oflBcers, or collectors, by chief Civil 
 Authorities, who if they could find the time fully 
 to consider their bearings, can hardly be expected to 
 possess the qualifications necessary to deal satisfac- 
 torily with them. A remarkable instance of this 
 
 * Ancient Law by H. Sumner Maine p. 356. 
 
238 
 
 may be found in the Kaagra Valley, to which I 
 have before aUuded, where a few years ago, a British 
 settlement officer quietly made over the proprietory 
 rights of the State iu 50,000 acres of land that 
 would now be invaluable, to a few village commu- 
 nities without any stipulation whatever, simply, I 
 ■believe, because he did not know what to do with 
 them. There were no people to cultivate this 
 laud; the village patriarchs could use compara- 
 tively but a very small portion of it for grazing 
 their flocks; and now Europeans who would fill this 
 beautiful valley with industrious people, and enrich 
 it with -wealth, are shut out of it, because they 
 are not of the Gens of the villager proprietorsj 
 who, sooner than admit alieas within their brother- 
 hood, will spend all the small resources of their 
 community in purchasing, at an enormous premium, 
 the smallest plot of laud that, by accident, may 
 ■come under the Government hammer. For twenty 
 years to come, these villagers have been endowed 
 with the power of preventing thousands of acres of 
 productive land, to which they never had the shadow 
 of a title, and for which they do not pay, and never 
 have paid a farthing, from being cultivated, and thus 
 of depriving Government of the revenue it might 
 derive from these lands, or, in other words, of the 
 means of making roads, bridges &c., and otherwise 
 improving the property of the State. It is a singular 
 fact too, that while the acts of Her Majesty's and the 
 
2S9:. 
 
 SupretHe Governments eviuce the deepest au-siety to^ 
 farther the introduction of British enterprise aiid^ 
 ciapitarl into those districts now unpeopled add w&ste/ 
 we find these large landed proprietors exempted, 
 not only from aW taxation, but from the payment 
 <»fa«y revenue on account of their immense posses- 
 sions, While a few tea planters, have to purchase- 
 dr"pay revenue for their petty holdings, and.atli 
 cnormoMS premium to these monopolists for a pro- 
 prietory right to which they never had a . title, 
 ^lould ihey he foriuMte ettough to induce .any 
 to suflFer them to obtain an acre of land. It has 
 been ruled, moreover, notwithstanding the grekt 
 disadvantages under which settlers in the Kangra 
 Valley labor, that thougii tea, seed is still distributed 
 ^rofis in the N. W. Provinces, the planters ia the 
 Punjab must pay for it, to plrOvide a fund for making 
 KOsvds and bridges, — or, in other words,- to make 
 good the deficiency of revenue caused by the illegiti-< 
 mate monopoly of the landholders; while the •hig4» 
 prices bid for land at Goverument Suctions by thb 
 Zemindars is viewed by the Authorities with much 
 satisfadtiou. Surely this state of things indicates 
 iSome iniseoficeptiotn of th6 true circumstances of the 
 position, or of the motive springs 1*1110)1 r'eg'ulate 
 the actioa of monopolists, or of societies iti an 
 archaic stage- of development. 1 am the morfe 
 convinced of frhiS, as it is well known thkt thfe 
 Biatiuguished. stittesmun a6w at the head of affaiVs 
 
240 
 
 in the Punjab, takes the warmest interest in the 
 success of the planters, — the best guarantee, that 
 when he comes to look into matters he will put 
 them to rights. 
 
 Most certMuly it is imperative on a Government 
 in the position of the British Government in India, 
 scrupulously to respect all the just rights of the 
 people in the soil or otherwise ; but it is equally its 
 duty carefully to investigate all claims on the State 
 of auy class, be they European or Native, and espe- 
 cially if supported by traditionary evidence, which 
 may either retard the improvement of the country, 
 or involve the imposition of unjust burdens on the 
 whole community. And, when the interests of the 
 State and the country, may be sacrificed, in the 
 manner above mentioned, it will be apparent that 
 some standard should be adopted, more in accord- 
 ance with principles based on sound experience, 
 than the varying opinions of settlement authorities 
 are likely to be, if it be desired that the land 
 tenure of the whole country shall ever be placed 
 on that solid basis, the singularly important relation 
 it bears to the revenues of the State, demands. 
 
 And if the present age is at fault in regard to 
 some of the links of such a chain of evidence as 
 would enable us to trace back the history of proprie- 
 tory rights to their first origin, in India we are 
 not altogether helpless. We have Institutes older 
 than Justinian's, and the advantage of having 
 
241 
 
 conquered cotifjuerors with a good code of Iaw9j 
 which, if never fully in force, have furnished the 
 ruling idea, and hence the guiding principles ia 
 disputed points, for many centuries. , 
 
 Hindoo Law it is true, is not always very clear 
 on any point; but the following extracts will 
 afford some insight into the views of Indian law- 
 givers regarding rights of occupancy and property 
 in the soil : — 
 
 Nerasinka purami. — Thrice seven times extermina- 
 ting the military tribe, Parasu Rama gave the Earth 
 to Casyapa, as a gratuity for the sacrifice of a 
 horse." 
 
 On .which the Commentator remarks. 
 
 " By Conquest, the earth became the property of 
 the holy Parasu Rama ; by Gift, the property of the 
 sage Casyapa ; and, committed by him to Cshatriyas 
 for the sake of protection, became their protective 
 property successively held by powerful conquerors, 
 
 and — NOT BY SUBJECTS CULTIVATING THE SOIL." 
 
 " But, annual property is acquired by subjects on 
 payment of annual revenue : and the king cannot 
 lawfully give, sell, or dispose of the land to another 
 for that year. But if the agreement be in this form, 
 " you shall enjoy it for years •" for as many years 
 as the property is granted, during so many years 
 the king should never give, sell, or dispose of it to 
 another. Yet if the subject pay not the revenue, 
 the grant, being coaditioual, ia annulled by the 
 
 w 
 
242 
 
 breact of tte condition ; and the Aen<;r may grant it 
 to another." 
 
 Yajnyawalcya. — " And the king shall receive a 
 sixth part of unclaimed property occupied by any 
 bf her person." 
 
 " Since the T*fOrd King here"' says the Commenta- 
 tor " denotes lord of the soil ; and since the cultivator, 
 being owner of that land, is so far equal to the 
 king ; he would be entitled to the sixth part of the 
 unowned property occupied by him. The answer 
 'is, the word king inay be explained lord of the soil 
 to exclude another king : but a royal property is 
 supposed in the use of the word ; the cultivator has 
 a subordinate usufructuary propertyj not a royal 
 'property : and Sri Ckishna Teucalancara thinks 
 there may be, in the same land, property of various 
 •kinds, vesting in the king, the subject, and so 
 forth. It should not be objected; if that be the case, 
 Tvhy cannot the king give the land to another, in 
 the same year for which revenue is paid? Because 
 a seller or giver may, by sale or gift, annul his 
 own property, and invest another with similar 
 property, but cannot create property of another 
 nature (for a sale by a subject cannot create pro- 
 perty of another nature, namely royal property;) 
 therefore, usufructuary property being raised by a 
 conditional gift to the subject, the king cannot 
 again create property in the same thing, by a gift 
 to another." 
 
243 
 
 " But whence is it deduced, that such property. 
 vests in the cultivator? There is no proof of it.. 
 His property is not by occupancy; for the king 
 being a more powerful owner, his occupancy cannot 
 be maintained : it is not by sale ; for no sale has 
 been, made : , it is not by gift from the king on con- 
 dition of revenue; for, were it so, his property 
 cannot be aaauUed , without the asseut of the 
 owner." 
 
 " Some hold, that the subject, is invested witb. 
 ownership by a gift from the king on cqndition 
 of revenue. If he go elsewhere an,d revenue be not 
 paid, the gift is cancelled by the breach of the con- 
 dition. It should not be objected, that his interest 
 in the land would be equal to the king's ; for the 
 king's assent is not given in such a form. Thus, the. 
 king assenting in these words, " let a subordinate 
 usufructuary property be held by thee, while my 
 property remains in this land, which belongs to 
 me •" such property is created, as is d,es,criibed by, 
 the terms of bis assent. Nor should it be objected, 
 that in this case property is not created, nor is effect 
 given to an existent property, but mere possession 
 as of a thing pawned. This would be inconsistent 
 with the explanation of husbandman, as given by 
 Chandeswaka and others ; that is, ' owner of the. 
 field." 
 
 " A specific agreement should be made, when the 
 land is delivered , that it shall be enjoyed year by 
 
244 
 
 year, until a greater revenue be offered by another 
 person.' 
 
 '' Others hold, that the king has no property in the 
 soil, nor power to dispose of the subject's abode, 
 because all have a right in the soil; since the earth 
 was created for the support of living animals, as 
 expressed in the Sri Bhagavala : " The Earth, 
 which God created for the abode of living creatures;" 
 and because Manu has only declared, that the sub- 
 jects shall be protected by the king." 
 
 " But, in fact; without property in the soil, there can 
 be no certain rule for the protection of the subjects." 
 
 " And if it be argued, that the positive necessity of 
 supposing a proprietary right, and the consequent 
 obligation on the king to protect the inhabitants of 
 that country; of which he is proprietor, should not 
 be affirmed, because such property is not deduced 
 from positive precept ; we answer, the exclusion of 
 every other authority is naturally implied; and it is 
 positively required, that thare be "a right of pro- 
 perty co-ordinate with the non-existence of a deter- 
 mination not to exclude other authority." 
 
 " If a potent subject be able, independent of the 
 king, to resist invaders, and even to seize the lands 
 of others ; shall his property be deemed independent 
 of the king ? No ; for that subject ought to be 
 punished by the king, if he transgress the law : but, 
 if the sovereign be not able to inflict punishment 
 on him, even he is king." 
 
245 
 
 ■ The subject's property iu the. soil is weaker 
 than the king's, for the subject is weaker than 
 the king : but it is founded on the reason of 
 the law, and on settled usage : therefore the land 
 of one subject ought not to be sold by the king to 
 another. 
 
 "The meaning of the text, which describes the 
 earth as the abode of living creatures, is positively 
 this ; the property is his, who uses the land, where 
 he resides, and while he uses it : and thus, when 
 land belonging to any person is sold by the king, 
 it is a sale without ownership."* 
 
 But, turnijig from Hindoo Law, let us examine 
 the Laws of our predecessors.- 
 
 NoQAYAH.— "Waste Land" says the Canon" "is 
 land, unproductive in consequence of want of irriga- 
 tion, and the like, for which no owner is known, and 
 situated at such a distance from all populated places, 
 that the sound of the voice of man cannot reach its 
 borders. Whoso cultivateth such laud, is the 
 owner thereof, provided he hath done so with the 
 permission of the Soltan.f Should he have made a 
 
 • Digest of Hindoo Law, wjt,h the commentary of Jagannatha 
 Tercapanchannaaa. — Colebroke, The great importaace of this portion 
 of the subject must be my excuse for the length of these extracts. ' 
 
 fin the original the words I have rendered 'owner thereof ' ara 
 malaha-ho, on which the Commentntor says i. e. he shall acquire 
 property in the land he shall have cultivated— no more. The word 
 also I have translated Saltan, is Imam, which means, a Leader, or 
 the highest legally constituted authority. 
 
246 
 
 fence round it, he may hold it for three years. At 
 the expiration of that time, should he not have 
 brought it into cultivation, the Solt^a may take 
 it away from him, and give it to another. Whoso 
 shall have dug a well in waste land, with permis- 
 sion as aforesaid, for him is a circuit of forty 
 cubits on all sides; and whnso shall have opened a 
 spring, for him are similarly five hundred cubits. It 
 shall be lawful for the owner to prohibit any 
 other person from doing the like within this cir- 
 cuit j and if any person shall dig a well or open 
 a spring on the border of the circuit of him 
 ■who shall have first dug a well or opened a 
 spring, for him is an enclosure, only on three sides 
 thereof &c." 
 
 QoDOORi fapud the Hidayah). — "And the Settler, 
 though of another religion, acquires property, in the 
 land he shall have cultivated, equally with the Moslim; 
 because it is by the cultivation of waste land that 
 property is acquired therein — always assuming the 
 permission of the Soltan, which in the case of a 
 Settler as aforsaid, is, in the opinion of all the 
 Doctors, essential." 
 
 'Some Lawgivers hold' says the Commentator, 
 "that in the case of a Moslim, the permission of 
 the Soltan is not essential to the acquirement of 
 property : but Aboo Haneefah is of a contrary 
 opinion, and his opinion has been given the pre- 
 ference by Qazee Khap, and is approved." 
 
247 
 
 And in the Fatawa-i Alamgeeri^ it is tKus written; 
 
 " The Saltan hath power to bestow waste land. And 
 if he shall have made a grant of such land to any one, 
 he shall let him alone for three years; when, should 
 the grantee not have cultivated it, it returns to him 
 (the SoZ;a«)and he may give it to another, for property 
 iu waste land is acquired only by cultivation." 
 
 The English Rules of Procedure, the only Law 
 at present on the subject, differ more or less, iu 
 every Province in India. The demand, however, 
 for Wastes being, for the most part, confined to one 
 Presidency, the following will serve as a type of 
 ths whole. 
 
 Bengal. — " If before the day of sale a claim of 
 proprietory, or occupative, right in any part of the 
 land be preferred, the Collector shall investigate the 
 claim, and, if satisfied that it is groundless, shall 
 reject it and proceed with the sale." 
 
 " If on investigation any such cl.iim should appear 
 to be well grounded, the Collector may either reject 
 the application for purchase of the lands or refer 
 it for the orders of the Commissioner. In the former 
 case the applicant may appeal to the Commissioneri 
 
 The Commissioner may direct the Collector either 
 to reject the application, or to proceed with the sale 
 of the landj either unreservedly on the conditions 
 
 • This is a collection of legal opinions and precepts in six large 
 Quarto vols, prepared by order of the Emperol; 'Alamg'eer,— iu India 
 an indisputable authority. 
 
248 
 
 prescribed in Rule 9, or, if any claim to right of 
 proprietorship, occupancy, or use in any part of the 
 lands be established to the satisfaction of the Com'- 
 luissioner, with a special reservation of such right, or 
 exclusive of the area in -which such right exists. If 
 the application for purchase of the land be rejected, 
 the amount' deposited as cost of Survery vvill be 
 forfeited." 
 
 North Western Pkovinces. — " Where it is evident 
 that there exist rights of property, or of exclusive 
 occupancy, either active or latent, the afiplicant will 
 be informed that the'case caUnot be taken up under 
 the Grant Eules, excepting in favour of the party 
 originally possessed of those rights, or who has pur- 
 chased them from such party. " It will be an im- 
 portant part of the Collector's duty to make certain 
 that any transfer of such rights shall have been made 
 with a complete and fair understanding on the part 
 of all cbncerned." 
 
 - " In case of there being any doubt as to whether 
 existing rights are of the exclusive character neces- 
 sary 'to 'bar' alienation, the Collector will report the 
 case through the Commissioner to the Sudder Board 
 of -'Revenue. If the rights claimed, though not 
 exclusive, should appear to the Sudder ' Board of 
 Revenue to be such fights of pasturage,' wood ciit- 
 tiag, &c., as commonly obtain in the Hill Districts, 
 and' are entitled, as "existing rights in a rude 
 form," to protection under paragraph Q of the 
 
249 
 
 Resolution of the Governor General in CotrneiT, 
 No. 3264, dated the 17th of October 1861, the Board 
 will instruct the Collector to endeavor to bring the 
 applicant for the Grant, and the parties who possess 
 a right to use the spontaneous products of the soil 
 within the tract applied for, to a mutual agreement 
 as to the terms upon which (if any) any hereditary 
 and transferable property in the soil may be given 
 to the former, subject to the exercise of their cus- 
 tomary right by the latter. If an amicable arrange- 
 ment be come to, the Collector will report the parti- 
 culars for the information and sanction of the S udder 
 Board of Revenue. Otherwise the Collector will 
 proceed to estimate the value of the prescriptive 
 rights, as above, on a liberal basis, and will submit 
 the case, through the Sudder Board of' Revenue, to 
 the Government in view to the payment of full 
 compensation." 
 
 All written laws must necessarily have been fram- 
 ed after Societies had advanced some stages beyond 
 the most primitive state. It is futile then, to 
 hope, by the examination of codes of laws, to ascer- 
 tain how property in the soil was first, or is naturally 
 acquired. Nor would it be of any practical use to 
 do so. The first laws of peoples, are valuable-, 
 however, as giving us the nearest possible view of 
 an interesting subject, and the concurrent testimony 
 of the lawgivers of many nations in an early 
 stage of civilization in favor of certain fundamental 
 
250 
 
 priuciples, especially if consonant with our own 
 sense of right, is useful as an index to guide us when 
 Jegislatiug for a people less advanced than ourselves, 
 in preserving to them those privileges, to which 
 they may be justly considered to have a prescrip- 
 tive right. 
 
 Now Hindoo and Mohammadan Law differ ia 
 at least one important particular as regards lapd 
 tenure generally. According to Hindoo Law, 
 though the subject may obtain a subordinate or 
 usufructuary property by cultivation, the royal, or 
 superior right of property in the soil, vests in the 
 Sovereign. Nor can he divest himself of it, except 
 by sale or gift* By the Mohammadan Law, on the 
 contrary, should a King on subduing a country by 
 force of arms, have recognized and confirmed the 
 rights of the people, or concluded a treaty of peace 
 and made a settlement with them, the proprietory 
 right in the soil vests in the people, subject always 
 to the claim of the State for khiraj or revenue. , . , 
 , But from the extracts and observations cited 
 above, it will be seen that, as regards the reclamation 
 of wastes, according to neither Hindoo nor Moham- 
 madan Law, can mere Occupancy confer any right 
 of property whatever. 
 
 Indeed the prominent features of both the Hindoa 
 and Mohammadan systems are, that they clearly lay 
 down the principle, that to create property in waste 
 land, it is essential that such land be occupied with 
 
251 
 
 the consent of the Sovereign ; that it be cultivated ; 
 and that revenue be paid for it. Failing the first 
 of these conditions absolutely, or the latter two 
 within the limits defined, the Sovereign can take the 
 land away, and give it to another. 
 
 The prominent feature of the English system, I am 
 afraid, is, thiit it does not clearly define any prin- 
 ciples. The collector is informed that where there 
 exist ' rights of properly or of exclusive occupancy 
 either active or latent,^ or other exclusive rights, the 
 land cannot be sold ; but what constitutes a right of 
 property, or what a right of occupancy, the 
 public and the collector-— the latter probably a young 
 military oflScer, but a few years emancipated from 
 regimental duty, — are left in unhappy ignorance. No 
 limit defines the extent of land over which a right 
 of occupancy may exist. No bounds limit the 
 period within which a proprietory right can keep 
 land out of cultivation, — within which the power of 
 the occupant or proprietor, to debar the State from 
 obtaining its just dues, is restrained. Yet, without a 
 knowledge of what constitutes a valid right, how shall 
 a developer select his land — how shall a collector 
 satisfactorily decide disputes? — without a revenue, 
 how shall the Government discharge those func» 
 tions which, converted by its own act from expedient 
 into obligatory,, such developers as do settle, will 
 have a right to compel it to observe ? I canned 
 clearly see how these difficulties can be got over. 
 
S53 
 
 and therefore, I think, that until tlieae points shall 
 be first decided the a.tteinpt to sell these lands, is 
 premature. 
 
 For though the testimony of the present circum- 
 stances of India, is confirmatory, in a high degree, 
 of Mr. Maine's opinio^i, that the notion, that occu- 
 pancy confers a title to " res nnllius," is not charac- 
 teristic of societies in an early state of civilization j 
 and the Law is clearly against the existance of 
 any permanent and inalienable rights in land, as 
 long as it is uncultivated and w.aste, . all the 
 difficulties which have hitherto been supposed to 
 surround this subject are not, unfortunately, re- 
 moved. The area of this peninsula — an area so 
 immense as almost to preclude the possibility of 
 people, accustomed to frame their ideas on the 
 scale of an island comparatively so diminutive as 
 Great Britain, forming any very accurate opinion on 
 the subject — has hitherto placed it beyond the power 
 of any of the Sovereign Rulers who have governed 
 it, to bring it under the control of one system of 
 laws. The variety of races, moreover, which inhabit 
 India, differing many degrees in civilization, would 
 render the adoption of any one system, in its 
 integrity, at present inexpedient. Ruling Sovereigns, 
 again, prior to the succession of Her Britannic Ma- 
 jesty have never even fully established their authority 
 within one half ot' the extent of territory over 
 which they nominally have held sway, and though 
 
253 
 
 British rule, has fof a considerable time- been tolera" 
 bly firm over the greater portion of Hindoostan 
 proper, it is only within the last few years i. e. since 
 the year 1858, it can be said that the work of con- 
 solidating the Empire has commenced. Up to this 
 day then, no Government of India has been in a 
 ■position to assert thos'e rights which legally belongeA 
 'to the Crown, and hence it has been, that in 
 different forms, and under varying conditions, 
 many have been appropriated by the subject. These 
 rights have been allowed to exist, to use the expres- 
 sion of Earl Canning, in a ' rude form,' because 
 the Government itself has existed only in a rude 
 form; and the real question is, how shall the 
 'Government, now that it finds itself in a position to 
 assert its authority over the whole of its Empire, deal 
 with rights, which, thdugh its undoubted property, 
 it has, from its own weakness or inattention, silently 
 permitted others to possess themselves of? The 
 tights of property in the soil viewed from european 
 and native points of view, are so different, and foreign 
 conquerors, changes in dynasties and laws, local cir- 
 icumstances, &c., have created so many and so great 
 a confusion of tenant rights throughout the country,, 
 that questions liable to arise out of such a situation 
 involve some nicety. They ought not, therefore, to 
 be left to be decided by young collectors, or indivi- 
 ■duals, buyers or sellers, — native or european. My 
 endeavour has been to disencumber the position of 
 
254 
 
 some of tte difficulties with which it was stippoiseff 
 tb be surrounded. But to frame a rule, or at 
 least to lay down such broad principles as commist' 
 sibners and collectors can apply to the circum- 
 stances of the localities in which they may be placed,* 
 tfithout risking a sacrifice of the interests of the 
 State, the Coiintry, or the People, is clearly the 
 business of the Crown, whose property these rights' 
 ^re, and not the business of either occupiers or 
 intending settlers, — and until the Crown has done 
 so, it cannot be said tli'at it is in a position to 
 sell. " Kings " says the Hindoo lawyer before 
 quoted, " were created "by God to decide the various 
 contests between subjects concerning occupancy 
 Arid the like, and to maintain just proceedings : 
 therefore the king, as lord of his subjects, is called 
 lord of men {nerapati.} By his own power, the king 
 prevents others from seizing "the land over which 
 he has dominion ; by his own power, he legally 
 seizes the land over which othfers reign : therefore he' 
 is not subordinate to the subject." And this would 
 seem to be the common sense 'View of the case." 
 
 But the point, as regards disposing outright of 
 waste lands, in India, requiring the gravest atten- 
 tion, is th6 intrdduction into the Country, generally, 
 of a novelpriaciple,— a principle altogether foreign ' 
 to the fiscal laws 6f ' the land, and the traditions 
 and ideas of the people; and it was partly for 
 the better elilcidation of this portion of the subjeict 
 
255 
 
 that. I have extracted so largely from Hipdoo La* 
 books. la regard to the origin of property in the 
 soil most Nations seem, as if instinctively, to staj5t 
 flrora the same point — to recognize one gre^ 
 principle viz., that the E^irth is God's.* In Hindoo 
 Law, the King holds under a deed of gift, originally 
 granted by the sixth incarnatioa of the Deityj, 
 who wrested the Earth from the dominion of tyrant 
 warriors ; and in selling land the King sells his 
 sovereignty, fqr the obligation to protect, except in 
 the case of Brahmanas i. e. the Church, implies 
 the payment of revenue, and a promise of one King 
 cannot biad his successor. In practice, moreover, 
 the idea of a King disposing of his property or 
 estate,, while able, to protect it, is unknown. Hindoa 
 Sovereigns, if revenue is not paid, imprison and 
 otherwise punish their subjects, — seize their lands, 
 cultivate them themselves, give them away, or make 
 such other arrangements as will insure their receiv- 
 ing their just share of the Earth's , produce ; but I 
 have not heard that Hindoo Rulers, have ever 
 adopted the system of selling land. 
 
 According to Mohammadan Law, in countries 
 that have been settled, the proprietary right dofS 
 not vest in the SoltS.n. Nor can he sell lands 
 that escheat to the Crown, or remit the revenue 
 
 * For in truth, there 18 no other Lord of the Earth but one, THE 
 SUPRBME GOB— Jagannatha, on a text of Manu. 
 
 The Earth is the Lord's. He gives it unto whom hf pleaseth- 
 
 QOEAK. 
 
256 
 
 justly due, unless he compensates the Bait oi-MfrI,i. e. 
 the public treasury^ either from the amount received 
 from the landj or from his privy purse, by a sura equal 
 to the khiraj or revenue accruing thereon.* PriTate 
 individuals cannot sell lands at all, otherwise thaa 
 chargeable with the revenue due to the State. lu 
 practice, it is true. Sovereigns have availed them- 
 selves largely, and often wholly regardless of the 
 Haws by which the Bait cUMat is governed; of their 
 royal prerogatives, to bestow lands, free of revenue, 
 as rewards to faithful servants. Much again of the 
 land so bestowed on individuals has been bequeathed 
 to the Church, and to be devoted to the ' service of 
 God ;' and out of this illegal exercise of a despotic 
 power, has arisen, — a beacon as it were to warn 
 posterity off this fatal rock,^ — the gradual and increas- 
 ing poverty and weakness of Mohommadun dynasties 
 when not strengthened by fresh conquests. 
 
 The comparatively small revenues of the Ottoman 
 Empire, — indeed of most existing oriental States, is 
 mainly due to this cause, and the Inaam Commis- 
 sions in India, furnish convincing evidence of the 
 •mischief and injustice that Governments may inflict 
 ■ on posterity, by a thoughtless alienation of the 
 revenues of the State. 
 
 In the East generally, and in India particularly; it 
 has been the rule that the crown has been fought for, 
 
 • rf the proprietor is very poor, the Soltau may remit the revenue, 
 in wbioh case It is written otf to Charity. 
 
257 
 
 and usurpers, it is known, have but very small 
 respect for the responsibilities of their predeces'- 
 sors. When Kings wanted money, as in former 
 times in Europe, they seized, imprisoned, and 
 tortured rich subjects, until their wants were sup- 
 plied; or later, if under the surveillance or pror 
 tection of the British, they borrowed, on the 
 security of their jewels or other valuable property, 
 from some wealthy banker. The idea of a Stat$ 
 loan, as understood in Europe, in India, is wholly 
 unknown. Jageers and rent free grants, conferred 
 by Sovereigns on their nobles and servants, as 
 a rule, have been held on the condition of main-r 
 taining troops &c., — or were the reward of personal 
 services, and were conferred, and received, with 
 a full understanding that the security for their 
 permanence was the life of the donor, the pleasure 
 of his successor, or the power of the possessor 
 to hold them against all comers. Possession, it 
 is true, is nine points of the law in most parts 
 of the world. Here, to the stronff, it has always been 
 something more. Such a title, therefore, might be 
 good as regards possession ; but that it could create 
 an absolute property in the soil-^— that it could 
 confer immunity from revenue for all time to come, 
 is an idea that could not, under such circumstances, 
 enter into the day dreams of a single individual 
 living under such a form of Government; aad;,^ 
 conseijuently, it never did^ 
 
258 
 
 Englshmen brought up — born, I mav say, witb 
 -the idea that^ land, like all other things, ought 
 to be private property, and blinded by that charac- 
 teristic prejudice ■which ever prevents them from 
 seeing good in the institutions of any country 
 but their own, have endeavoured, by experimental 
 measures, to introduce the practice here.* .But 
 these measures have proved -wholly abortive ; and it 
 is fortunate, for, the subject has never yet been con- 
 sidered carefully, practically, and on its true merits, 
 by persons thoroughly competent to deal well and 
 ■wisely with it. It would certainly be a danger- 
 ous, if not a rash policy, to introduce measures 
 involving changes in principles that may affect 
 vitally the stability of the state revenue, before those 
 principles have been discussed and examined in rela- 
 tion thereto, from every point of view. Nor do I 
 allude, now, to the great measure proposed for 
 adoption by Lord Canning; but rather to minor 
 measures, involving similar principles, adopted, appa- 
 rently, with little thought or consideration, on the 
 suggestion of local authorities. The measure of 
 that great and good Viceroy, whose name will never 
 be mentioned by any who had the happiness to 
 serve under his Government but with admiration 
 
 • For some years the land revenue has been redeemable in the col- 
 lectorate of Calcutta, Chittag^ong', and other places, at fifteen and 
 ten years parehaee, and g'enerally estates oould be freed from risk 
 <>f sale, by deposit of Government securities ; but of neither of these 
 offers has any advantage been tajcea. 
 
259 
 
 and respect; was one of a diflferent sorf. If tliere 
 was a statesman in India, distinguished among those 
 of his countrymen who have held the high office 
 of Governor General, for the cautious, calm, and 
 attentive deliberation with which he considered 
 all questions affecting important interests of the 
 people and the country over which he was set to 
 rule, that statesman was Enrl Canning. There can 
 be little be doubt, then, that had this lamented noblej- 
 man been spared to India and his countr)', posteri- 
 ty would not have wanted an explanation of liis 
 policy, worthy of his contemplative mind. It was; 
 however, not so ordered, and while his Lordship's 
 policy in regard to the redemption of the laud 
 revenue has been unsparingly commented on, we are 
 left ill ignorance of the motives which actuated him 
 in recommending a measure pregnmit with conse'- 
 quences of such enormous import to the well-being 
 of the country. 
 
 For my own part, on many grounds, and especially 
 looking to the present circumstances of India, I 
 venture to lean to the opinion of the economists 
 of Mr. Mill's school, and think it fortunate fof 
 India that she is able to obtain so large a portiou 
 of her permanent revenue from the land. , The 
 more modern English idea on the subject, howevcE, 
 would seem to be, that the natural tendency of 
 societies is to reduce all things to a state of 
 private property, and, that the, . measure of , the 
 
260 
 
 social condition or state of civilization of peoples, is 
 the mean between these two extremes — the commu- 
 nity, and the individual state of property. This 
 theory has not yet been put forth as a law. I 
 am perhaps the first that has so stated it. But 
 the arguments advanced by most writers of the 
 day who advocate the redemption of land revenue, 
 seem, for the most part, to be based on some such 
 conclusion. I would not wish either to defend or 
 to dispute the position. On the contrary, admitting 
 it to be true, as it will not be denied that the 
 advance of all societies in civilization is by steps, 
 progressive and slow, it will follow that many 
 yearSj-^many centuries I might say, must elapse, 
 before a society in a primitive or archaic state, 
 would reach that highest point in the scale, at 
 which, for the perfection of the theory, all things 
 should be the property of individuals. Now it is au 
 indisputable fact, that throughout India, community 
 iof property is not only the rule,- but it is that 
 one institution so deeply rooted in the minds of the 
 people, so ingrained in their nature it would almost 
 seem, which neither force of laws, nor force of 
 arms have been able to destroy. " Dynasty after 
 dynasty" to use the words of Lord Metcalfe " tumbles 
 down ; revolution succeeds to revolution ; Hindoo^ 
 Pathan, Moghul, Mahratta, Sikh, English are all 
 masters in turn ; but the village community remains 
 the same ;" and though there are many Provinces 
 
261 
 
 of Iiidi.i, in which individual property m the so3 
 is hfld uuder the Crown, the increase of fiimilied 
 always tends to maintain the aneieut and normal 
 state of societies, constituting communities within 
 communities, as contemplated ia their aneient laws. 
 
 It will be objected, I fear, that I lay much 
 too great stress on ancient laws, many of which 
 are contradictory, aud most of which are now 
 obsolete. But, if many are contradictory it is because 
 they were framed for societies in different stages of 
 progress, for which we have not the key, and if most 
 are obsolete it is for a similar reason. At the same 
 time a careful study of the customs and habits of the 
 people of those parts of India in which I have lived, 
 has satisfied me that viewed by the light of more 
 modern native writers, these ancient laws afford still 
 a more accurate picture of the existing state of 
 native society in the interior, than any yet sketched 
 by European pen or pencil. And, if this be 
 true, and I do not think it will be disputed by 
 those who are competent to form any sound opinion 
 on the subject, we could not have a stronger proof 
 . of the very slow degrees by which the progressive 
 development of societies, when left to themselves, 
 is worked out. Even in Calcutta,- the metropolis 
 of British India, where Newton and Bacon, Shakes- 
 peare and Milton, have been familiar as ' household 
 words,' for upwards of a qnarter of a century, 
 whole families consisting of grand-fathers, grand- 
 
362 
 
 mothers, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, brothers? 
 wives, daughters, uncles, auuts, &c., share the 
 paternal estate, under one roof, living in the con- 
 stant turmoil, toil and trouble, of female broils and 
 disputes, and native gentlemen, brought up ia 
 English schools and colleges, are unable to shake 
 themselves free of this community of interests and 
 property inherited with their birthright,— Secawfl 
 it is the custom of their country. > 
 
 If then, the theory that individuality of property 
 Is the condition of society in its highest or mp.st 
 artificial stgite, admitting progressive development^ 
 it will be self-evident that to attempt tQ introduce o? 
 to carry out the principle in India now, would -b^ 
 absurd j and; if the; application of this idea, seem? 
 absurd from jthis, the abstract principle or lowest 
 point of view, hoW' much more so will it appear, whea 
 viewed practically ? It is not my intention to go over 
 here, all the.tirguments for and against the alienation 
 of the revenue, of State derived from land,'by its 
 commutation for an immediate payment. These 
 tvill be found far more ably discussed in books 
 on political' economy, and in the state papers, 
 already before the : public, on this subject.* There 
 are one or two. points, however, which as I have 
 already travelled far beyond the limits proposed ia 
 
 * Vide particularly the very able minute of Mr. Boss D. Mang'Ies, 
 ' of the Indian Council, and the opinion of Sir John Lawrence.^Par- 
 liamentary papery 2J.8t July 1862. 
 
263 
 
 tMS'rfeview, 1 may as well notice ; for, as I confess. 
 that I am unable to see any necessity for the. 
 mieasiire, or that any advantage could be gained 
 by its iritrodactioa into India, I am bound, in a 
 
 measure, to show cause for entertaining this view. 
 
 ' 'Now, much is daily written about the principles 
 o¥ 'taxation. But, independent of that one grand 
 fKfa'daraental principle, that all, in consideration of 
 the protection they receive, should contribute to the 
 necessities of the State in proportion to their 
 means,— a principle, as based on common sense,, 
 the soundness of which all people will be inclined to 
 admit, — the rest is little else than application. And, 
 as this, most especially in countries governed by alien 
 dynasties, must be carried out in accordance with 
 the wishes of the governed, rather than the governi 
 ing body, what remains for the latter, is to exercise 
 such wisdom, judgement, and ingenuity, as will 
 direct them to collect the amount required, not in 
 accordance with any ideal principles, but in such 
 a manner aa being most acceptable to the latter, will 
 cause the burthen to press least heavily on those 
 who have to bear it. In England my Lord Lovelace 
 and Mr. Tom Smith whitewash their servants? 
 heads, and pay annually a certain sum of money 
 to the State on this account. Both do this most, 
 willingly,— the former because the custom has long 
 been in use in .his order; and the latter because 
 be wishes ta be thought a member of the fashiona- 
 
2U 
 
 fele world. All persons of respectable position put 
 
 a. device on their silver spoons, — a cat, a bird, a dog, : 
 
 a monkey &c., or on the panels of their carriages, if 
 
 they can afford carriages, and readily pay for the 
 
 privilege. Nay persons called Kings, are maintained 
 
 by the Government expressly to invent these devices 
 
 &c., for the gratification of their people. Viewed from 
 
 a philosophical point, tiiese taxes, and all such as are 
 
 directed against pride or vanity, and not against wealth 
 
 or luxury, are supremely redicnlous; but as long as 
 
 . the people are happy in bearing them, no harm is 
 
 done. To apply similar taxes, however, to a people 
 
 living in an entirely different state of society, with 
 
 different ideas and diametrically opposite views on 
 
 the subject of taxation — to a people, in short, who 
 
 will not K/illingly bear them, would not only be 
 
 unwise, but tyrannical. In ludia the land revenue 
 
 is not a tax, and never has been a tax in the sense 
 
 in which that term is understood in Europe. Nor 
 
 yet is it rent. Fusing the elements of the different 
 
 systems we have to deal with in India, without 
 
 violating the fundamental principles of any, the 
 
 question may be fairly thus simply resolved. " The 
 
 earth, the source of all wealth, is the Lord's. It's 
 
 produce is his creatures. Kings are God's Vice* 
 
 gerents on earth. As such ,they have certain duties 
 
 «ii)d responsibilities to perform towards the rest of 
 
 creation. In consideration thereof, they are legally 
 
 entitled to a portion of the produce of. the soil— a 
 
265 
 
 tenth, a sixth, a fourth, as the laws of the land, or 
 the necessities of cirGumstances, may determine."* 
 
 Virtually then, whatever may be the law — what- 
 ever the popular belief, there is no perfect property 
 in the soil, either of the king, or of the cultiva- 
 tor, the right of both to their fair and equitable share 
 of the produce being equally strong, legal, and valid. 
 Or if it be desired to define the position more clearly, 
 it can only resolve itself into this,— thstb the property 
 vests in the Community, the King is the agent, and 
 the Cultivator, the tenant or laborer, as the case may 
 be, which simply brings us back to the point from, 
 which we started, —that community of property is the 
 rule in societies living in a primitive state of civiliza- 
 tion. To speak of heavy burthens ou the land in 
 
 * Mand says :— " A Militart king', who takes even a foarth 
 pfirt of the crops of his realm, s.t a time of urg'ent necessity, as of 
 war or in»asion, and protects his people to the utmost of his power, 
 oommits no sin." 
 
 On which the Commentator observes : — " Fpom the circumstances 
 of the times, if oonfidenoe cana ot be placed in the subject, the value 
 of a sixth part, or other proparlion of the crop, any how ascertained, 
 mny be taken, whether the actual produoe be more or less thai 
 was estimated : this method is authorized by settled usag^e, and is 
 indicated hy the text." 
 
 On this law is based the revenue levied, in our own times, by the 
 Maharattas so well known under the title of Chqut i. e. the fourth,^ 
 thus establishing' satisfactorily, th-.it, up to the latest date, thepcm- 
 c^Ze observed in India, has ' been diametrieaHy ' the opposite of that 
 adopted in England, the shares in the produce of the ."ioil of the King 
 and the Cultivator in the one case, fluctuating with the seasons 
 Slid according to oircurastanees,— and in the other, being fixed and 
 i'mmutable. ' ■ ■ . . ■ 
 
266 
 
 -India is clearly an error. As long, therpfore, as 
 present ideas on the subject remain undisturbed, tlie 
 land, revenue in India, can never be considered a tax; 
 and if retained at an equitable rate, being simply 
 the rendering unto Csesar of the things that are 
 Caesar's, will always be willingly paid. Dissatisfac- 
 tion can only be the result of oppression — another 
 term for bad government. Dissatisfaction, moreover, 
 never has arisen on this score. Complaints, loud 
 and bitter, may have been raised against many of the 
 evils of the English system of Government, — 
 the interference with religion, caste-prejudices, 
 established rights, social customs, dress, food, — and 
 above all against the evils of systems of police, 
 civil and criminal courts of justice, and /Ae im/josi- 
 tion of direct and novel taxes; but even in 1857, 
 ■when the storm of rebellion was at its height, when 
 the discontent, pent up for years, was set free to 
 vent its force in one terrible outburst of rage, no 
 murmur, no sign, indicated the slightest impatience 
 on the part of the people on the score of the land 
 revenue. Instead' then, of there being any necessity 
 for drying up, for ever, this fertile, simple, and ever 
 increasing source of revenue, by exhausting its waters 
 at a drain, I cannot but think, that any action 
 likely to disturb existing ideas on the subject, or 
 tending to the substitution of a tavation peculiarly 
 abhorrent to the people of India, for payments 
 most willingly made, would not ouly be erroneous in 
 
267 
 
 principle, but fi-cally miscliievous, if not politically 
 (iHiigerous in its results. 
 
 As to the advantages which it is said would be 
 giiined by the redemptinu of the land reveaue, they 
 are I believe of a two-fold nature — political and 
 material. In regard to the first it is believed that 
 iu selling the land, the British Government would 
 purchase the loyalty of its subjects, and consequent 
 immunity from sedition, rebellion, and disaffection. 
 But the loyalty of a whole people cannot be pur- 
 chased with gold, nor yet I fear with land, — its price. 
 The experience of history from the earliest ages 
 down to our own times teaches us this. The holders 
 of maafee, or rent-free tenures, are in the position of 
 persons who have redeemed the land revenue. They 
 were not one whit more loyal than others in 1857. 
 The people of Bengal now, are not more loyal thaa 
 the people of the North West, but on the contrary, 
 if they had the power, would certainly be the 
 very first to drive us out of the country. It has 
 been the invariable custom moreover, in the many 
 struggles for dominion which have deluged India 
 with blood," for the various Rajas and great Jageer- 
 dnrs or land-holders, to make terms with that one 
 of the contending parties which appeared to be the 
 strongest; and it would be unreasonable to suppose 
 that any intelligenc foreign power who might dis- 
 pute the sovereignty of tins realm with us, instead- 
 of endeavouring to s>trengtheu its arms, by holding 
 
268 
 
 out proinises of still greater advantages than those 
 which the people enjoy under British rale, if so 
 unjust, would be so intensely stupid as to inaugurate 
 its advance, by confiscating the the people's rights 
 in the soil. On the other hand, it must be remem- 
 bered, that, though all Englishmen may be fully ^ 
 satisfied, that if the British Government in India . 
 is to be overturned, it must he overturned by a 
 European, and not by a Native power, a generation, 
 at least, must pass away, before anj/ confidence 
 in the stability of our rule will be established in 
 the minds of the natives. This fact, of itself, 
 is quite sufficient to indicate the measure of the 
 success likely to attend any, present attempt at a 
 redemption of the land revenue, and, at the same 
 time to show, — what it appears strange it should 
 be necessary to reitirate so soon after 1857 — that 
 though our Government must, of necessity, be 
 sustained in peace and order by the good will of 
 the people, it is maintained only, as all Governments 
 similarly circumstanced can be maintained — by the 
 strong arm of power. Looking to the character 
 of the people, and estimating the future by our 
 knowledge of the past, I am of opinion that things 
 will go hard indeed with the English in India, 
 when the land revenue, if equitable, be it free, 
 perpetually, decennially, or annually fixed, will have 
 the weight of a grain of sand, in turning the scale 
 of their fortunes. Indeed there is little need to 
 
269 
 
 argue this point. It is fully established. The 
 natives of ladia will not speculate on the security 
 of British rule iu India, on any terms that are 
 likely to be offered by Her Majesty's or any other 
 English Government, and this sets the question, ia 
 its political bearing, at rest. 
 
 With regard to the advantages in material pro- 
 gress likely to result from the redemption of the 
 land revenue, their value to the State in a financial 
 point of view, is real, only, in so far as they represent 
 abilitv to bear increased taxation. For instance, if a 
 Government owed £ 100,000, and were to sell land 
 producing a revenue equal to the interest it had 
 annually to pay, for that sum, with a promise that no 
 tax should be substituted for this revenue, it would 
 be simply the extinction of an annuity by the pay- 
 ment of its value, the gain to either party being 
 nil. Now taxation in any shape, it will be admitted, 
 is, or is considered to be, a burthen ; but, if taxation 
 be equal, or equitable in its incidence, and if the 
 transaction be a bargain, in which both, or all parties, 
 understanding clearly the advantages and respon- 
 sibilities likely to accrue to them therefrom, will- 
 ingly acquiesce, many of the objections often raised 
 thereto are avoided. In England these matters 
 are settled by the people themselves through their 
 deputies in parliament assembled, and as these 
 deputies represent all classes and all interests, the deci- 
 sion is usually both just and equitable, and agreeable 
 
270 
 
 to the people. Iil a country circamstanced lifee India, ; 
 however^ there are two parties to a transaction of 
 this kind— -the Community and the Landholders ; and ■ 
 the part the King i. e. the State, has to perform, is 
 clearly to rnediate between these two interests. Now 
 it has been before shown that the land rerenue in 
 India, is simply the return of that' portion of. the 
 produce of the soil to the King, as the trustee for the 
 Community, whioh is his rightful property, and not 
 atax ; and' iti is essential to the i right understand-: 
 ing of this question that this point he kept pro- 
 minently; ia view. For, if it be set aside, and the 
 question i>e argued as if the land was the property 
 of individuals^ or iu other words, from an English 
 point of viewj the error pf the (premises will inevi- 
 tably apipear in the conclusion, and vitiate the 
 result. To make any such attempt, moreover, would 
 be at' once to overturn the main principle on which, 
 the fiscal, systeta pf India has from time immemorial 
 been based^— and to cut from tinder the Govern- 
 ment of India, as it were, the solid ground oa 
 vhich it has always justified its right to derive 
 so large a portion of its revenue from the land.- 
 Strong in the sense that it was dealing with the 
 property of the State, and not taxing the property 
 of individuals — the Government of India, as the 
 necessities of the Community in regard to protection 
 find good Government increased, has always had the 
 power, withia fait limits, to increase, concyrrently* 
 
271: 
 
 its demand on the produce of the soil'; and if, in a 
 country -where it is of paramount importance that 
 the Government should be based on the support 
 of a contented people, the destruction of this ancient 
 principle, and the substitution for it of a grinding 
 system of taxation, can be considered an advantage, 
 it, is certainly an advantage, the results of which 
 will not be unaccompanied with some evil. 
 
 It is in reality then rights in property with which 
 we have to deal, and not the distribution of taxar 
 tion, which has not, or, from an equity point of 
 view, ought not to have, any thing whatever to dq 
 ■with the question. 
 
 Now, admitting the King's power to dispose of 
 the rights of the Community in the soil, it is evident 
 that before they are sold, some means must be ascer- 
 tained for properly estimating their value. But, 
 as these rights are in the produce, and the produce^ 
 especially in India, is not a fixed quantity, but very 
 fluctuating, and as its money value varies considerar 
 bly, and as population increases and the means of 
 intercommunication improve, will vary very much, 
 more,* — this cannot now be done with any thing 
 approaching that accuracy which it is absolutely 
 necessary for an administrator or trustee to observe, 
 when dealing with the property of others. It is 
 
 * In parts of Assam the money value of rice within the last 
 ■four years has Increased three hundred per. cent! Seep.p,' 17fi.6-7, 
 
272 
 
 ionly then wlien the resources of a country have 
 been developed to the fullest, and when population 
 has reached that point where emigration should 
 step in to relieve the strain, that such a balance 
 can be struck as will enable the King to ascertain, 
 with certainty, the true value of the property 
 he would dispose of. But, the advantages to be 
 derived from the sale of the laud are this very 
 development of the resources of the country — that 
 increase of population which invariably follows an 
 increase of wealth — in short the material progress 
 of the country — and it is to ensure the speedy 
 accomplishment of this end, that it is proposed, not 
 to compound for the estimated increase in the value 
 of the property to be disposed of, but to sell it at 
 present rates, bestowing the future surplus on the 
 purchasers, in consideration of the improvements it 
 is assumed they will make on their own estates. It is 
 conceded that great prospective gain must accrue to 
 one of the parties concerned — the Land-holders. It 
 is conceded, also, that equal prospective loss must 
 result to the other — the remaining, or the poorer por- 
 tion, of the Community. And it might be enquired, 
 by what principle of constitutional Government, 
 the King could justify or sanction an arrangement 
 which involved a sacrifice of the property of one 
 class of the subjects of the State— that class the 
 interest of which in this instance it should be his 
 special province to guard — in favor of another ? But 
 
273 
 
 there is little need to pursue the enquiry in this 
 direction. If the loss to the Community, of a 
 considerable portion of their legal share of the 
 produce of the soil, were all they had to com- 
 plain of in such an arrangement, the case of the 
 advocates for the present redemption of the land 
 revenue of India would not be irretrievable. Com- 
 pensation, in other WRys, might be made. When, 
 however, it appears that instead of the poorer 
 portion of the Community-being compensated for the 
 loss resulting from the bestowal of their property, 
 by their own Guardian, on their more wealthy 
 and powerful fellow subjects, that Guardian makes 
 a free gift of it, with the avowed intention of 
 compelling these unfortunate people to make good 
 the deficiency of their own estate, the case assumes 
 a very different aspect. It is no longer a question 
 of policy. It is one rather for the opinion of the 
 Grown Lawyers. 
 
 Scrupulous respect for rights of the people in the 
 soil, it has been said, and, most firmly do I believe, 
 most conscientiously said, is one of the most solemn 
 duties of ii Government, and the sentiment has beeri 
 cordially concurred in by Her Mnjesty's Govern- 
 ment, and as heartily echoed, I am certain, by every 
 lioiiorable man. Indeed there can be no doubt 
 whatever, that however opinions may differ, all' 
 persons ofiScially concerned in this measure could 
 have been actuated by but one sentiment in their 
 
2r4 
 
 treatment of this momentous question,— an anxious 
 desire to benefit tlje country and the people God's 
 providence has entrusted to our care. I doubt, 
 therefore, if many, and especially those brought 
 up in a country where the land has long been the 
 property of individuals, have fully apprehended 
 this, T^ew of the question: — a view, which in my 
 humble opinion, is not only fully applicable to the 
 circumstances of India, but in strict accord withi 
 the ideas of the people. The people of India,, 
 from times. anterior to History, have been led ta 
 consider the Earth the source of all wealth, and the 
 main and legitimate source also front which the 
 revenues of the State should be derived ;* their 
 Sovereigns, whether Hindoo, Mosalman, Mahratta, or 
 English, have ever recognized the correctness of this 
 principle; and whether it be wise or unwise, sound in 
 principle or the reverse, that the land of a country 
 should be the property of individuals, surely it is 
 too much to expect thnt in the short space of a 
 decade — for it is liardly more since the Indian 
 Government has attempted the introduction of 
 European principles of Government, and consider- 
 ably less since any effort at the spread of education 
 has been made — an ancient people forgettinii those 
 ideas which governed the actions of their rulers for. 
 centuries — perhaps for thousands of years, should 
 
 * The Earth in Hindoo Shatter is called Kamdenu — the Cow 
 that g;rants every wish. 
 
275 
 
 patiently submit the neck to a j'oke, necessitated 
 by the deliberate alienation of their own properly, 
 by their Sovereign Tphose special province it was to 
 protect it. 
 
 India is undoubtedly a rich country ; her resour- 
 ces indeed seem almost inexhaustible; and, assum* 
 ing peace and good Government, that she will be 
 yet both wealthy and prosperous, there is little room 
 to doubt. But, if there is little room to doubt this, 
 there is still less room to doubt that she will not 
 assume that position among the nations of the world 
 to which her uaiional capabilities give her every right 
 to aspire, one hour before those conditions uuder 
 fl hich other nations have emerged from darkness 
 are found : or in other words, before her people are 
 EDUCATKD, ENLIGHTENED aud FiiEE. Any uumber of 
 novel experiments, will certainly not has-ten by one 
 moment the approach of the wished for time; but, 
 on the contrary, if calculated to irritate the people, 
 will be far more likely to postpone it, and possibly 
 to create such a feeling of suspicion, distrust, and 
 hostility to the ruling power, as to render it a matter 
 of extreme difdculty to initiate any reforms at all. 
 
 But were it otherwise — were it as probable that the 
 anticipated advantages would follow the redemption 
 of the land revenue, as it is certain that they would 
 not, there is one insuperable obstacle to the measure 
 at present, which cannot be got over. Had this 
 been foreseen, it would have prevented this extremely 
 
276 
 
 awkward question from ever having been raised, 
 and Her Majesty's Government would thus have 
 been saved the embarrassment they must have 
 felt, when committed to a line of policy official 
 documents on the subject would seem to indicate 
 ^hey partially adopted with the utmost reluctance. 
 To this obstacle 1 have before alluded.* It is 
 simply this. The Government can only sell the 
 land at a certain price, — and that price the land- 
 holders will not pay. 
 
 Many, arguing on the attachment of the natives 
 to ancestral rights in the soil, their desire to fiee 
 it from all risk of sale, and the facilities a fee-simple 
 tenure affords for raising money, have expressed the 
 opinion that the natives would largely avail them- 
 selves of the privilege of redeeming the land 
 revenue on their estates, at twenty or twenty-five 
 years,' purchase. A few, more cautious again, have 
 expressed doubts as to whether much success would 
 attend the measure while the rate of interest for 
 money in India remains as high as it is at present ; 
 and this is correct. Yet the exact position does 
 not appear to have been clearly apprehended by 
 anv. Some say 'we will calculate the rate of 
 interest at 5 per cent., and sell at twenty years' 
 purchase.' Others say 'no! rates will fall. Yoii 
 must, therefore, calculate the rate of interest at 
 
 4 p. cent. We cannot then afi^ord to sell under 
 * See pag;e 326 sup'a. 
 
2?? 
 
 twenty-five years' purchiase.' Now it is quite trud 
 that, when land is in the hands of a Government aind 
 poptilation excessive, that Government may demand 
 for it any rent or price it thinks fit; and the utmost 
 discrimination and judgement are necessary in such 
 cases, lest, by the imposition of a rack-rent, tenants 
 be prevented from improving their holdings, and, aSi 
 often occurs, the land of the whole country be wora 
 out and ruined, — or, by renting it on too easy terms^ 
 the interests of the Community be sacrificed tothos6 
 of a particular class. In Ireland it was, perhaps I 
 may say is not uncommon for tenants to bid up 
 rents to any height, in the firm intention of paying 
 only so much a s they are able, and no more. In 
 short, a monopoly of land is the most absolute of 
 all monopolies, for, the desire to possess being acted 
 on by the necessity of procuring the necessaries of 
 life, the price is forced up to the very highest 
 possible point, and people are left no alternative^- 
 but to pay it — or starve. In such cases, the seller 
 certainly fixes the price ; and to this state of things 
 only, is the reasoning above given applicable^ 
 
 The question then is, is th*" present one of 
 these cases— are these conditions now found in 
 India? Certainly not. Land, not population, here 
 is in excess. The revenue moreover is fixed in- 
 perpetuity, and, as a matter of course, its value is 
 simply a question of calculation ; or it is settled 
 periodically,— usually on the metayer principle of 
 
278 
 
 leaving half the surplus profits in the hands of 
 the landholder. In all cases the people are left 
 in possession, and latterly, where the lands of 
 provinces have been re-settled, rates have been re- 
 duced. Admitting constitutional Government then, 
 Tvhat the Government can afford to take for the land, 
 is altogether beside the question. Its demand, except 
 under a threat of enhancing present rates, could 
 not influence prices one iota. What is required 
 to be known, is simply, what the land, or rather the 
 Community's share of its produce, is worth — what 
 it will fetch in the market. That is its price — and 
 the Government, if it desires to sell, must take 
 that, or nothing at all. 
 
 Such being the condition of things, it may not 
 he uninstructive to enquire what is the market value 
 of land in India generally. I say generally, be- 
 cause it is obvious, that all conclusions regarding 
 a country of such immense extent of area, must be 
 accepted with considerable margin. It has been 
 already shown that in India, the conditions of a 
 strict monopoly are not found. Its exchange value, 
 therefore, will be regulated similarly with that of 
 other things, i. e. land will be cheap if it is 
 plentiful and money is scarce, and dear if it is 
 scarce and money is plentiful. Now it is a fact, that 
 in India there are many thousand square miles 
 of rich and highly productive land lying waste 
 and uncultivated. Land then is plentiful. Again, 
 
279 
 
 a principal reason why so mucli land is waste, is, 
 that there is not Capital in the country to bring it 
 under cultivation. Money, then is scarce, la 
 India, therefore, land ought to be cheap, and money 
 dear. And so it is. But how cheap? How dear? 
 This I shall endeavour to show. 
 
 " A lender of money" says Manu " may take 
 in addition to his Capital the interest allowed by 
 Vasistha, an eightieth part of a hundred by the 
 month," — that is to say, one and a quarter per cent^ 
 per mensem, or fifteen per cent, per annum. 
 , Vyasa, again is more explicit. He says " monthly 
 interest is declared to be an eightieth part of the 
 principle, if a pledge be given ; an eighth part, is 
 added, if there be only a surety ;* and if there be 
 neither pledge nor surety, two in the hundred may 
 be taken" — that is to say, one and three fifths per 
 cent, per mensem, or nineteen and one fifth per cent; 
 per annum with a surety j and twenty four per cent, 
 per annum without one. 
 
 It will naturally be objected that the ancient 
 laws of ancient lawgivers have little to do with a 
 practical question in the middle of the nineteenth 
 century. True. I refer to ancient law, however, to 
 show what little progress India has made since the 
 
 # Commentators are not happy in their explanation of this passage. 
 They make 'the eighth part added' to be a sixteenth ; bat are only 
 able to do so, by assuming' a clerical error, which as it occurs in 
 many MSS. seems hardly admissable. 
 
280 
 
 days of Manu-^wjiat little change the revolution of 
 so many centuries has made in the value of money 
 in this country. The rates of interest for money in 
 India, it must be admitted, are extremely arbitrary, 
 Taryipg from 6 to 75 per cent. ; but the following 
 will, I think, give as nearly as is necessary, the 
 prevailing rates all over the country. , Bankers 
 lend money to bankers, at 6 per cent, per 
 annum. Bankers lend money, in large sums, to 
 other approved parties, or on good security, mart* 
 gage of landed property &c., at 12 per cent. The 
 normal rate of Bankers interest of the country, 
 for small sums, is 24 per cent. An enormous 
 business, however, in very small sums, is done 
 by Buneeas, small Traders, Headmen &c., z.% \ an 
 ana with a surety or pledge, or at one ana or one 
 sixteenth in the rupee, per mensem, without either, 
 or at the rates of 37^ and 75 per cent, per annum. 
 Accounts, by European Bankers, are invariably 
 made up half yearly, and by natives, generally, 
 
 yearly. 
 
 Money transactions between Bankers are carried 
 on at the comparatively low rate of 6 per cent. 
 in consequence of the unexceptionable nature of the 
 security^ The Banking system of India is peculiar, 
 and, looking to the present state of society, perhaps 
 the most peculiar feature in it, is the integrity 
 with whiph it is conducted. The credit of the Bar- 
 ings and Rothschilds in the Western world, is 
 
281 
 
 not better than that of some of our Indian Bankers 
 over the whole extent of a peninsula as large as 
 half Europe. Their Bills are as good in the native 
 markets as the notes of the Bank of England are 
 in Great Britain, and for a long time to come, I 
 am afraid, will be preferred, among a very large 
 class of the mercantile cummunity, to the Govern- 
 ment notes. When, however, we come to pass 
 beyond the limits of the Bankers guild, the. com- 
 plexion of circumstances is altered. Money is 
 scarce, the prevailing order of things in India ug^ 
 to the most recent date, has been uncertainty, the 
 great body of the aristocracy, large landed proprie- 
 tors &c., &c., fond of pomp and show, are extrava- 
 gant ; and these circumstances combined has had. 
 the effect of keeping the rates of interest for money 
 very high, — so high, that as above mentioned, 1? 
 per cent, on the security of good landed property, 
 is a fair and moderate rate of interest, in the 
 territories under British ruJe. In native States 
 indeed the difficulty of obtaining money is so 
 great, that landed proprietors, sometimes, make 
 over their estates with their rents, as security, to 
 money-lenders, until the debt with interest is paid 
 in full, the money-lender receiving the full return 
 of the estate in addition, for the time he may hold 
 it.* We cannot then fix, very accurately, the rates of 
 
 • This practice would seem to be contiary to Hiodu Law. MANn 
 says. ' If he take a pledge to be used foi his profit, he must hare 
 
282 
 
 interest for money prevailing in native society. Yet 
 we must clearly understand, that this is the proper 
 test, and not be led into the error committed by Eng- 
 lish politicians, in making the Government securities, 
 the standard of value ; for, though they may affect 
 the question from the sellers', stand-point, they have 
 really nothing to do with it from the buyers' point of 
 view. If, however, we are satisfied that money cannot* 
 be obtained on the security of good landed property 
 under 12 percent.; or the converse, if capitalists 
 can obtain 12 per cent, with the security of good 
 landed property — and it will be admitted, I am 
 sure, that this does not overstate the case, — we 
 have a sufficiently accurate and true standard by 
 which to find the present value of land in India in 
 relation to money. 
 
 Land in India is worth, in these circumstances, 
 just eight years and four months' purchase ; and 
 if we allow an increase of about two years, in 
 Consideration of the greater security of property, 
 attachment to ancient rights in the soil, &c., — and 
 looking at the question as one concerning so vast an 
 area, we cannot do more, — it will give ten years 
 purchase, as the exact viilue of landed property in 
 
 no other interest on the loan.' But there are 80 many and 
 apparently conflicting' opinions regarding pledges "to be used," 
 and pledges " to be held in custody," that it is not easy to determine 
 the Law. In Lukhuow, and other Mahommadan States to evade 
 the law against receiving interest for money, to make over estates, 
 with usufruct j was common. 
 
283 
 
 India. And that this is correct, moreover, there 
 can be no doubt. The share of the State has been 
 offered for sale by Government, at fifteen years' pur- 
 chase in the Collectorate of Calcutta, the place of 
 all others where land might be supposed to be highest 
 in value, and at ten years' purchase in Chitta- 
 gong, — and in both cases declined. 
 
 Now, the British Government can borrow money 
 in India at 5 per cent, per annum, and in Eng- 
 land, on the security of the Crown, at 4 or even 
 3^ per cent, per annum. With reason, then, Her 
 Majesty's Government say, ' we cannot afford to 
 sell the share of the Community under, at least, 
 twenty-five years' purchase.' But, with equal reason, 
 the people of India say ' we cannot afford to buy, 
 above, at most, ten years purchase.' And the most 
 embarrassing feature in the case is that both are 
 right. How, then can an agreement be come 
 to — how are the terms of a bargain, in which the 
 standard of exchange has a seperate value on either 
 side, to be equalized ? It cannot be done ; and thus 
 ends the great question of the redemption of the 
 land revenue of India, for the year 1861. 
 
 It is quite excusable, I admit, English politicans 
 -having taken, as in England, the Government securi- 
 ties as an index of the value of money. , I have been 
 myself eighteen years in India, and my avocations 
 and predilections have kept me in constant inter- 
 course with the natives of the country : yet, I am 
 
284 
 
 daily learning some new phase of native character, 
 some, to me, novel features in their various systems 
 of Economy, social, religious, and political. There 
 is unfortunately a wide gulf between tlie Hindoo 
 and the Englishman, which nothing but time and 
 education will suffice to bridg<^ It is perfectly 
 intelligible, then, that Europeans in India should 
 not have minute and accurate information on all 
 points relating to the social philosophy of the people, 
 and bat an imperfect acquaintance with the prin- 
 ciples on which they transact their business ; but 
 it is inconceivable to me how any one who has 
 resided in the interior of the country, even for a 
 short time, and who has had opportunities of obtain- 
 ing the smallest insight into the existing state of 
 the country, could have supposed, for an instant, 
 that a people so proverbially alive to their own 
 interests — so quick, in general, at making a bargain, 
 should all at once become so intensely stupid, as to be 
 willing to pay nearly three times its actual value for 
 anything, mncii less for a thing of which they are in 
 actual possession, and already enjoying the fruits. 
 
 Since the accession of our beloved Queen to the 
 Sovereignty of this great Empire, a great change 
 has taken place in the future prospects of India. 
 Thousands of miles of electric wires now traverse 
 the length and breadth of the country, bringing 
 the most distant points of this vast peninsula, — points 
 which but a few short years back were a three 
 
885 
 
 weeks' interval apart, into inomentary cnmmuuica- 
 tion. Already lines of rails are in progress, that 
 will soon connect all the great centres of political 
 and mercantile importance, A firman has gone 
 forth, authorizing the holding of landed property by 
 Europeans in India. They are thronging into the 
 country. Banking establishments, joint stock Com- 
 panies for the manufacture of Indigo, Cotton, Tea, 
 Coffee, Beer, Salt, &c. — for the mining of Coals and 
 Iron, — Companies for sea and river steam communi- 
 cation — Tramway and other Companies are springing 
 up in all directions. A tide of the precious metals, 
 undoubtedly, is setting in with auch a full flood, that 
 people may well wonder whether India can, at once, 
 absorb the silver stream that is rolling in ; land is 
 being reclaimed ; trade is being extended ; wages 
 are rising ; India, in short, imbued with fresh life 
 and vigor, is rapidly growing. And will the develop- 
 ment of these beginnings not effect a change in the 
 relative values of land and capital? Will it not 
 enhance the money value of the community's share of 
 the produce of the soil ? Most certainly it will ? 
 
 Under the circumstances then, if far distant, it 
 cannot be said that the time will not come when 
 the land of India may be worth, not twenty-five 
 years' purchase at present rates; but twenty-five 
 years' purchase at infinitely higher rates than any 
 that have ever yet prevailed in India. And setting 
 aside legal considerations regarding the right of a 
 
286 
 
 non-representative Government to dispose of the 
 property of the Community in the Soil, and viewing 
 the question as one simply of policy, nothing more 
 should be wanting to prove, that the present is the 
 least opportune time that could possibly have been 
 chosen, for attempting the introduction of a measure 
 of such fundamental importance in the philosophy 
 of government, as the transfer of the property 
 of the Community, or the Crown, in the soil, to 
 individuals. The outline of things above sketched 
 certainly indicates that there is great room for 
 profitable speculation in land . hut for such, capital 
 is required, and notwithstanding Middlemen, which 
 a few short years ago were considered the curse 
 of Ireland, are thought by some to be required 
 in India, I doubt very much whether the transfer 
 of estates from ancient and noble families to native 
 money-lenders and English Capitalists, is a policy 
 that would tend to ensure those political advantages 
 considered of so much importance. The present sale 
 laws for arrears of revenue, though possibly not more 
 stringent than is necessary, have undoubtedly not 
 made the people more attached to the Government of 
 their Rulers. Indeed it is an admitted fact, that if 
 the arm of the law were restrained to-morrow, every 
 such new proprietor would be ousted by the people, 
 and the property restored to its hereditary possessor. 
 That the immense wastes of India should be 
 brought under cultivation is, certainly, most desira- 
 
287 
 
 ble, and the advantages to the country resulting 
 from such a measure, all will fully admit. But I have 
 fairly demonstrated that to efifect this object, the «a?e, 
 of the land is not necessary, and that a question 
 involving such great interests to the millions of Her 
 Majesty's Indian subjects, as the redemption of the 
 land revenue, should have grown out of it, and should 
 have come up for consideration and decision on the 
 application of a few tea planters, I look on as a 
 serious misfortune. From the sale of wastes much 
 good, and no present harm cau possibly result. There 
 is reason to believe, however, that provinces like 
 Assam and Cachar, the soil of which is not exceeded 
 in fertility by that of any soil in the world, will ere 
 long, be quite as populous, and far more prosperous 
 than any part of India. It will naturally be argued 
 by native Zemindars then, that if the sale of the lands 
 on very easy terms is thought good for Europeans, it 
 must be thought equally good for us, and Government 
 could hardly refuse to grant it, if dematided. Had 
 the question regarding the redemption of the land 
 revenue or the sale of the rights of the Community 
 generally, after full and fair discussion, been decided 
 in the aflarmative, there could be no objection to 
 the sale of wastes; but until such has been done, 
 it is not expedient to introduce an idea into 
 India which possibly may cause dissatisfaction 
 with fisc al arrangements that till now have been 
 considered correct in principle, and have been for 
 
288 
 
 centuries approve(f and acquiesced in, not only by 
 f he people of India, but by the people of _all Asiatic 
 countries. 
 
 A Governor General of India brought up in an 
 English school of politics, can have no knowledge 
 wbaterer, from personal intercourse with the na- 
 tives and practical experience of the country, of 
 many circumstances necessary to the complete 
 Understanding of an Indian question. Of necessity, 
 therefore, on those points requiring this special 
 knovrledge he must be guided by the opinions of 
 his advisers. The late EmfI Canning in sanctioning 
 the redemption of the land revenue of India was 
 apparently fully sensible of the momentous nature 
 of the question with which he was dealing. He 
 foresaw the important bearing such a measure, if 
 carried into effect, must have on the finances of 
 the State, on the prosperity of the country, and the 
 welfare and happiness of the people. Above all he 
 foresaw that such a measure, if once passed, was 
 irrevocable. His information was defective ; he 
 knew it, and his cautious wisdom • suggested that iu 
 legislating on so important a point — a point on which 
 opinions so widely diflfered, — ^experience, tlie truest 
 of all tests in matters involving doubts and difS- 
 culties, would be his best and safest guide, Hq 
 determined, therefore, before committing the Govern- 
 ment to a measure involving such serious conser 
 quencesj to fortify his judgement by experiment. 
 
S89 
 
 "Aito the redemptioa of the Laud Revenue" 
 said his Lordship, "great caution is necessary iu 
 dealing with what has always formed so large a 
 part of the revenues of, the Government of India. 
 The Governor General in Council proposes, there- 
 fore, in the first instance, to limit the permission 
 of redemption in any one district to such a number 
 of estates as shall, in their aggregate assessment, 
 not exceed 10 per cent, of the total land tax of 
 the collectorate, or corresponding fiscal divisiou of 
 the country." 
 
 This restriction will enable Government to ascer- 
 tain in eacti province, without undue risk to its 
 permanent fiscal resources, the practical effect of 
 permitting the redemption, both in completely 
 populated and well cultivated districts, and in those 
 whera there is much uncultivated land and a thia 
 population. It will aflford an opportunity of here- 
 after reconsidering the effects of the measure with 
 the light of ample experience, while the limit which 
 it prescribes is large enough to allow of a consider- 
 able number of those who may be able and desirous 
 of redeeming the Land Revenue of their estates, 
 to do so partially or wholly." 
 
 But Her Majesty's Ministers again over-ruled 
 the Viceroy's orders, limiting the power to redeem 
 the land revenue to lands required for dwelling 
 houses, factories, gardens, plantations, ■Sea., and subw 
 stituting for the tentative and experimental mea- 
 
 z 1 
 
290 
 
 sure of Earl Canning, the larger and more extended 
 measure of a perm anent settlement throughout 
 ladia, in all districts and parts of districts where 
 the assessment was ascertained to be equitable and 
 no considerable increase could be expected. 
 
 To renew the discussion of questions which have 
 been already considered and decided by the advisers 
 of the Crown, is in India open to objection. I find 
 some little difficulty, therefore, in treating thia 
 portion of the subject, especially as great differences 
 of opinion have arisen between the highest authori- 
 ties in arriving at present conclusions, and, if the 
 question be narrowed to an election between redemp- 
 tion as an experiment, and permanency of settle- 
 ment as a rule, I am decidedly of opinion, that of two 
 evils, our late deeply lamented and respected Viceroy 
 chose the least. Great questions, however, of this 
 nature are of no mere local interest. They involve 
 principles which are of universal application, — prin- 
 ciples which have been discussed by economists in 
 all ages, which will be so discussed probably to 
 the end of time , and which concern not Her 
 Majesty's Ministers nor the Indian Government 
 alone, but the Governments of all existing Empires, 
 and the thinking portion of the whole civilized 
 "World. The land tenure is perhaps of all questions 
 concerning a country, that which is most intimately 
 bound up with its material progress, and the welfare, 
 prosperity, and happiness of its people ; and every 
 
291 
 
 change in connection with it. oughtj therefore, to 
 be introduced with the utmost caution, and only after 
 the fullest and most careful consideration. It is 
 not ray business, as I before said, to review the 
 proceedings of either Her Majesty's or the Indian 
 Government. At the same time, it would answer 
 no useful purpose to ignore opinions that have 
 been commented on by every public Newspaper 
 in England and India. Her Majesty's Government 
 have been freely accused of not only destroying 
 the prestige of the Government of India, but of 
 attempting by the illegitimate exercise of an auto- 
 cratic or despotic power, to bring it into contempt 
 with our Indian subjects. Now I venture to differ 
 from the conclusions arrived at by both those high 
 governing authorities, and can consequently be 
 accused of no partizanship, yet I have no hesita^ 
 tion in saying that a perusal of such correspon- 
 dence as has been made public ou the subject, 
 leads me to a conclusion the very opposite of 
 this. No Government could possibly have been 
 placed in a position of greater difficulty than was the 
 Government of Her Britannic Majesty in dealing 
 with this very important question. Their greatest 
 difficulty, moreover, lay in reconciling their honest 
 convictions of what was best for the welfare of 
 our Indian subjects and the Country, and their 
 auxions desire to maintain supreme the authority 
 of Her Majesty's Representative in India; and 
 
292 
 
 that their embarassment on this point was extreme, 
 every line of the public despatch on the subject 
 bears conclusive evidence. So apparent is this, 
 that, as it is perused, the impression becomes almost 
 irresistable, that solely out of deference to the prin- 
 ciple which Her Majesty's Ministers are accused 
 of violating, a decision has been come to at varience 
 with their better convictions. Indeed on no other 
 supposition is it easy to reconcile some of the con- 
 clusions arrived at with the arguments on which 
 they are based. In such circumstances, where the 
 object of all is the same — the welfare of India — the 
 better plan, is to direct our attention to principles,' 
 in which all have a common interest, leaving differ- 
 ences regarding procedure to be settled by thosfr 
 whom they alone concern. I shall step aside for 
 One mometit, however, to notice an idea which seems 
 to have been adopted as the watchword of a party 
 viz., that ' India should be governed in India.' India, 
 undoubtedly, should be governed in India, because 
 from the moment a contrary principle is recognized, 
 there is danger of the fulfilment of a prediction once 
 uttered by a very wise head, that 'India will be lost 
 in the House of Commons. But, if there are sound 
 reasons why India should be governed in India, 
 there are quite as sound reasons, both political and 
 constitutional, why the proceedings of the Indian 
 Governnient should be subject to the watchful 
 control of" the Sovereign. The intricate foreign 
 
298 
 
 relations of the Indian Government, and the proud 
 character of the races with which it has to deal, are 
 sufficient to indicate the necessity, from a political 
 point of view, of not sinking the identity of the 
 Sovereign in that of her Viceroy ; while the con- 
 stitution of the Indian Government, and the very 
 great difficulty of some of the great questions of 
 internal policy liable to arise, is an equally strong 
 argument against permitting them to be decided, 
 unless first carefully examined and considered by 
 some of the wisests heads in England, as well as 
 India. 
 
 Without any disparagement of the Indian services, 
 which have contained among their ranks some of 
 the most able statesman of modern times, it must 
 be obvious that the training they receive, is not 
 calculated to fit them for dealing, finally, with 
 questions of imperial policy, requiring special know- 
 ledge. Able politicians and administrators, both 
 Military and Civil, may be as plentiful in India as 
 blackberries are in England ; but if we look amongst 
 the ranks of Her Majesty's Indian services for 
 an Economist, a Financier, a Jurist, an Educationist, 
 we look in vain. Much may be done to repair 
 this deficiency, as has been satisfactorily demons- 
 trated in Finance, by importations from England ; 
 and as the Government of India gains fresh 
 strength, the reins of control may be gradually 
 relaxed, possibly with much benefit to the country ; 
 
294 
 
 but that they should ever be permitted to slip 
 altogether from the hands of the Sovereign, is an 
 idea that could not, with safety to the best interest 
 of the Country, be entertained. The real remedy 
 foj" this difficulty, however, is not the leavening of 
 the Indian services from England ; but the con- 
 terse — the employment or apprenticeship of some 
 members of the Indian services in England. But, 
 strange to say, against this plan, simple and inexpen- 
 sive as it would be, theHome authorities have ever 
 set their faces. Yet we have living instances of the 
 success of the plan. Sir Charles Trevelyan served 
 a twelve years' apprenticeship in India. Why we 
 should not have many such very able and useful 
 public servants, I cannot see. 
 
 But to return to my subject. In regard to a 
 permanent settlement of the land revenue of India, 
 it is obvious that, in principle, it is precisely the same 
 as redemption, the only diflference being, that in the 
 One case the income is distributed over an indefinite 
 term of years, and in the other it is capitalized. In 
 both cases the income is fixed for ever. For in- 
 stance, if A buys a house worth £1,000, and 
 B buys a house of the same value ; but the house 
 that A buys, bears a grbund rent of £5 a year, and 
 the land on which the house that B buys is held 
 in fee simple, A will only pay for his house £1,000, 
 while B will have to pay £1,100; or £100, more 
 than A, supposing the normal rate of interest for 
 
295 
 
 money in the country in which the house may be 
 sjcuateel to be 5 per cent.,— or £125 if it be 4 per 
 cent., £167 if it be 3 per cent., and so on. This 
 is clear and simple, and it will follow, that, from 
 this point of view, the only poiot to be considered 
 is the alteration in the value of money in the 
 country concerned, which, as I have already shown, 
 in regard to India, is a question of much import- 
 ance. Some people talk much of the depreciation 
 in the value of the precious metals, but this is a 
 very loug process, aud seems to have been intro- 
 duced in^o the argument, rather as a remnant of the 
 old confusion of ideas regarding prices and values, 
 than from any practical hearing it has on the ques- 
 tion under discussion. Long before the quantity 
 of the precious metals in circulation in the world, 
 could influence the result of this measure, if it ever 
 could influence it at all, the gain or loss to the 
 State, would have been absorbed in its powerful 
 affects for good or evil on the Country. 
 
 Now I have before stated my objections to the 
 principle of redemption, as applied to India in its 
 present circumstances, and as the principle, or at 
 least, the effect of a permanent settlement of the 
 land revenue from a financial point of view, is pre- 
 cisely the same, it is superfluous to say that the 
 same objections which apply to the one, apply to the 
 other, though possibly with greater force ; and this 
 
296 
 
 would seem to be admitted* The measure of Lord 
 Canning was preferable, I think, to a permanent 
 settlement throughout India, because it was 
 designed to be partial, tentative, and purely experi- 
 mental. At present it would certainly have been 
 wholly nugatory, and ere mischief was done, experi- 
 ence and the expression of public opinion, would 
 have placed the Indian Government in a position to 
 come to a satisfactory conclusion on all points of 
 dispute and doubt. 
 
 As matters now stand. Her Majesty's Government 
 are prepared to sanction the settlement in perpe- 
 tuity of revised assessments throughout India ; but 
 it is provided that each case should be recom 
 mended by the Viceroy, or that the recommenda- 
 tion of the local Government should have his 
 support. The Government of India have still the 
 power, of staying proceedings, and it is therefore 
 not too late to express a hope that time may be 
 given for the measures of good Government and the 
 development of the resources of the country in pro- 
 gress, to work themselves out, before any action 
 whatever be taken in the matter. 
 
 Without entering on the consideration, in detail, 
 of the advantages expected to result from a per- 
 
 • Whatever advantajfes or disadvantag'es are anticipated from a 
 direct permanent settlement will be equally caused by the indirect 
 mode of attaining the same object by the redemption of the land 
 aiaessment.— Despatch Secy, qf State 1862. 
 
297 
 
 manent settlement of the land revenue, it is suffi-> 
 cient to say that they embrace mainly what is called 
 advancement in material progress, — the creation of 
 wealth ; or, viewed financially, ability on the part of 
 the people to bear increased taxation. 
 
 Now if the advantages anticipated would neces- 
 sarily follow this measure, there would clearly be 
 ground for the sacrifice that, from one point of 
 view, it must inevitably entail. The advocates of 
 the measure entertain no doubt whatever, that theyi 
 would follow, and not only follow, but follow very 
 much on the principle that an effeqt does a cause.; 
 On the country, without in any way disputing that 
 the relation of the two may be precisely as stated,; 
 I am. of opinion that there is a certain condition of 
 circumstances which, is indispensible to the truth of 
 the proposition, — that unless that condition is found, 
 results will not equal expectations, — that that con- 
 dition is not now found in India, or in any part of 
 it, — and that it will not be found for many years to 
 come — if ever. I venture to think, therefore, that 
 while the sacrifice would be certain, the renlizatioa 
 of the compensating advantages is, if not chimerical, 
 extremely doubtful ; or, at all hazards, far too remote 
 to warrant any action involving much future risk. 
 
 Seventy years ago Lord Cornwallis proposed, by 
 the introduction of a permanent settlement into one 
 Province, to accomplish precisely the same ends as 
 are now de&ired to be brought about over the whole 
 
298 
 
 Country. la ratifying this measure, the Governor 
 General declared himself to be fully confident " that 
 the proprietors of land, sensible of the benefits con- 
 ferred upon them by the public assessment being fixed 
 for ever, would exert themselves in the cultivation of 
 their land, under the certainty that t ey would enjoy 
 exclusively the fruits of their own good management 
 and industry, and that no demand would ever be made 
 upon them for an augmentation of the assessment in 
 consequence of the improvement of their estates,"* 
 words which, without book, might easily be quoted as 
 an extract from a despatch of 1862. " To conduct 
 themselves" the Ordinance continues "with good faith 
 {tad .moderation towards their dependent talookdars 
 and ryots,are duties at all times indispensably requir- 
 ed from the proprietors of land, and a strict observ- 
 ance of these duties is now more thaa ever incumbent 
 upon them, in return for the benefits which they will 
 themselves derive from the orders now issued. The 
 'Governor General in Council therefore expects, 
 that the proprietors of land will not only act in 
 this manner themselves towards their dependent 
 talookdars and ryots, but also enjoin the strictest 
 ■adherence to the same principles, in the persons 
 whom they may appoint to collect the rents from 
 them." 
 
 His Excellency, no doubt, thought to make English 
 landlords of the Zemindars of Bengal ; but it is patent 
 * Vide Bei^ulatiou I. 1793, Section Til. 
 
299 
 
 to the World, that he succeeded only in making 
 Irish ones. It is asserted, however, that the in- 
 terests of the cultivators were sacrified to those of 
 the landlords &c., and that other errors were com- 
 mitted in the manner of carrying out this measure 
 that fully accouut for its failure. With the light of 
 present experience such , errors, it is stated, would 
 not be permitted to take place, and it is confidently 
 believed that by their avoidance in future all objections 
 to a similar attempt being now made would be remov- 
 ed. It is further advanced, that notwithstanding the 
 notoriously depressed condition of the cultivators, a 
 creation of wealth has taken place ip' Bengal, that, 
 contrasting it with other parts of India, is truly 
 remarkable. I fully admit the increase of wealth ; 
 but to what, I would ask, is it due? It is due, not to 
 the activity, energy, and eiiterprize of an intelligent 
 landed proprietory ; but to the extraordinary fertility 
 of the Gangetic Delta, its freedom from famines, 
 and to those gains arising from an increase in the 
 area of cultivation, to which the landlords of Bengal 
 had no right or title, and which, however upright 
 the intentions of the framers of the law of 1793, can 
 be vievred in no other light than the illigitimate 
 and unjust alienation of the property of the whole 
 community for the benefit of a favored class. In 
 ^the year 1793, 30,000,000 acres of land were un- 
 der cultivation in Bengal, and in the year follow- 
 ing, the land revenue was ^63,335,259. la the 
 
300 
 
 year ending the 30th of April 1857, or ten days 
 before the outbreak of the rebellion, 70,000,000 
 acres were under cultivation in Bengal, and the 
 land revenue was £3,295,378. Had the excess of 
 40,000,000 of cultivated acres been assessed at the 
 nominal rate of one rupee an acre, it would 
 have yielded, with little expense, with less trouble, 
 and with no dissatisfaction to the people, a clear 
 revenue of £4,000,000 per annum. Seventy years 
 have elapsed since the year 1793, and taking but one 
 half of this period, the accumulation of the illigiti* 
 mate annual gains of the landholders of Bengal, 
 if hoarded, would represent 140,000,000 sterling, a 
 sum far in excess of the entire present debt of India, 
 the interest of which the whole Community have 
 now to pay. This is certainly a very startling fact, 
 and though it need not follow, and it is not proposed, 
 that a permanent settlement should be made with 
 the proprietors of estates including any large area 
 of uncultivated land, taken in connection with the 
 admittedly depressed condition of the cultivators, 
 and the deplorable state of the public works, and 
 the internal commerce of the Province, it is 
 sufficient to upset any direct conclusions, drawn 
 from general premises, regarding the effects of 
 Lord Cornwallis* settlement, in its relation to the 
 wealth of the Country. True, it may be said that 
 the free gift of large tracts of w aste land, has accel- 
 lerated their cultivation; but the reclamation .of 
 
30i 
 
 wastes, is not a portion of this side of the t[uestIoii, 
 It has no concera ■whatever with it. 
 
 It is undoubtedly to this cause mainly, if not 
 entirely that the accumulation of wealth spoken 
 of has taken place in Bengal, and that this wealth 
 has centered in a favored class, which forms 
 but a very limited portion of the Community, will not 
 be disputed. Were it otherwise, the measure would 
 never have been open to those objections, which, in 
 my humble judgement, are fatal to the successful 
 adoption of a similar policy in the present cir- 
 cumstances of India. Were, for instance, the land 
 tenure throughout India r«iyj/-?/>an as in Madras and 
 Bombay,* and the j^reat bulk of the revenue payers 
 industrious peasant-proprietors, like those of Norway, 
 Switzerland, Belgium, and many parts of France 
 and Germany, the gain being to the actual cul- 
 tivators, a large portion of the increase would 
 find its way back to the soil, and, the injustice to 
 the community being confined within the narrowest 
 possible limits, the evil would, in great measure, 
 be counterbalanced by a corresponding amount of 
 good, in the increased prosperity and happiness 
 of the great mass of the people. But Englishmen, 
 
 * The assessment in Madras until lately sadly required revision, 
 or rather equalizing. Judgfing- from the condition of the people, as 
 described by Mr. Bourdillon, the assessment must certainly, as a rule, 
 have been too higfh. Operations however, are in progress, which will 
 put the land assessment of Madras on, apparently, a very sound and 
 equitable basis. 
 
 Z 2 
 
303 
 
 proverbially disinclined to see good in any systems 
 other than their own, do not believe in peasant-pro- 
 prietary tenures, because, they no longer exist in 
 England — because they are Continental — and be- 
 cause they cannot understand them.* 
 
 Or, were the transaction presented in the form 
 of an agreeement or bargain, that is to say — were 
 Government to say to the landholders,—" We will 
 fix your land assessments for ever, giving you not 
 only all the surplus profits and fruits of your 
 own industry and outlay of capital, but such 
 security of title, such property in the soil, as by 
 enabling you to raise money, will place you in a 
 position so to improve your land that, in a few 
 years to come, instead of returning you as at 
 present 10 per cent, on your outlay or purchase 
 money, it will yield you 30 or 40 per cent., 
 provided that when that day comes, instead of 
 giving us, as now, 5 per cent, or half your 
 profits, you will give us 10 per cent, or one third, 
 or one fourth of your profits, in whatever form 
 may be most convenient or most agreeable to 
 yourselves," the arrangement would be a very 
 desirable one for all parties. But such was not 
 the shape of the measure of 1793, and, con- 
 
 * Those who would wish, to know something on the subject of 
 peasant-proprietors may consult, with advantage, the Continental 
 travels and other works of Arthur Young', those of the elder Laing, 
 of the thorough Englishman Howitt, the Educationist Kay, the 
 French Economist Sismondi, the English Economist Mill &c. 
 
303 
 
 sequently, the most serious complications have 
 arisen, to which I shall presently allude; and, 
 notwithstanding the full flood of hght, seventy year's 
 experience has shed on the suhject, such is not 
 the shape of the measure of 1862. 
 
 We have shown, then, that the accumulation of 
 wealth arising from the increased area brought under 
 cultivation in Bengal since the year 1793, has 
 centered in the Zemindars, or landholders, — who 
 it may be as well to reiterate were originally mere 
 collectors of revenue, and never proprietors of the 
 soil. It remains to be enquired — what have they 
 done with it? It is admitted that they have 
 increased their own wealth, and added to the value 
 of their personal estates by the reclamation of 
 wastes, and I should be extremely sorry to deprive 
 them of any credit which is their just due on this 
 score. But have they aided in improving the means 
 of land or river inter-communication; have they 
 made roads, built bridges or canals ; have they estab- 
 lished hospitals for the sick, alms-houses for the poor, 
 caravansaries for the weary and exhausted ; have they 
 assisted in the maintenance of an ef&cient police ; have 
 they built colleges or schools, attempted to improve 
 the existing wretched \\Uage paishallas of the country 
 or expended any portion whatever of their accumu- 
 lated savings in elevating morally or intellectually 
 their less fortunate fellow countrymen ; have they 
 given long leases to their tenants on such terms 
 
304 
 
 as have enabled them to improve their holdings and 
 attain a small degree of prosperity ; have they built 
 houses for them, drained, or bunded their land, 
 or in any way cared for their comfort or welfare j 
 finally have they shown a particle of that enterprize, 
 energy and activity of character, which, in other 
 countries, tend to divert the surplus wealth of one 
 section of the people into channels from whence all 
 derive advantage, and to which England owes her 
 fine roads, her many railways, her mighty steam com - 
 panics, her mining, iron-working, and other com- 
 panies? They have done none of these things. 
 
 How then has this vast accumulation of wealth 
 been expended — into what channels has it per- 
 meated ? Has it found its way back to the soil, to 
 fulfil the ordinance of the Creator, to increase many 
 fold the Earth's produce — to reproduce fresh wealth 
 which all might enjoy, and of which the King, as 
 trustee for the Community or the State, might 
 receive his just share ? It has not. 
 . The bulk of this wealth has been squandered 
 in natches, poojas or festivities in honor of my- 
 thological Gods and Goddesses, marriage and other 
 ceremonies, feeding Brahmins &c. ; some has been 
 hoarded J much has been put into gold and silver 
 ornaments, jewels, brocades, shawls ; and considerable 
 sums have been expended in barbaric splendour.* 
 
 * The Rajah of Pachete has about 100 elephants, the keep of which 
 caunot cost him less than £3000 per annum. 
 
305 
 
 Nay more, the celebration of these wasteful festivals 
 and ceremonies is often the source of grinding 
 oppression on the part of many Zemindars, who 
 invariably make them the occasion of imposing 
 abtoabs, or taxes, on their tenants, a practice which, 
 though it has been disallowed by law, is universal. 
 
 No contrast could be more striking than that 
 which meets the eye of the traveller from the North 
 West, as he approaches Calcutta — the Metropolis 
 of British India ! Bridges broken down, roads 
 in some places washed away, and in others dis- 
 gracefully out of repair, are every where to be 
 seen. A few years back, I counted, for miles 
 along what is called the grand trunk road, heaps 
 of metal which had been deposited for four or five 
 successive seasons, and never laid down. Nor could 
 there be any mistake. The growth of the vegeta- 
 tion — which in Bengal springs up after a rainy season 
 even out of burnt bricks, — readily told the tale. In- 
 deed it may truly be said, that in the interior of 
 Bengal, there are no roads at all. Dacca, the once 
 flourishing Capital of Eastern Bengal under Mahom- 
 madan rule, is still unconnected with the Metro- 
 polis. A trip to Darjeeling, the Hill Sanatarium of 
 Bengal, and the only rising European colony of the 
 Province, is literally a perilous undertaking. The hill 
 portion of the road the last official report on the 
 subject tells us will not h& practicable far carts, before 
 the end of 1861. In the North Western Provinces of 
 
806 
 
 India, where Government is the landlord, though very 
 much remaihs to be done, we have the finest rosids 
 perhaps ia the whole World, sarais stud the great 
 lines of iatercomraunication at conveaieiit intervals, 
 noble canals for irrigation hundreds of miles in 
 length, intersect two great divisions of the country, 
 ^nd others are being built in the Punjab. In truth, 
 it is common ' to hear persons arriving in Calcutta 
 from the upper Provinces exclaim that Bengal is a 
 century behind the North West in material progress, 
 and the assertion is undoubtedly not without some 
 foundation. I am well aware of the great diflferenco 
 in climate between Bengul and the North West, 
 and the greater engineering difficulties, and the 
 absence of kankar or road stuff in many parts of the 
 former. I have resided nine years in each division 
 of the Bengal Presidency, but making all due allow- 
 ances for these differences, and at the same time taking 
 into account that frightful famines have periodically 
 decimated the population of the one throwing half 
 the country out of cultivation, and that the other, 
 besides being naturally far more fertile, has been 
 entirely free from these visitations, I am unable to 
 alter the conclusion at which I have arrived, that if 
 the perpetual settlement in Bengal has enriched the 
 Zemindars, it has kept the people in a sadly im- 
 poverished and depressed condition, and immensely 
 retarded the material progress of the country. It 
 may be said that to build bridges and to make 
 
307 
 
 roads is the business of Government ; but it is follj 
 to argue as if Government were some benign 
 individual, that disinterestedly distributes its favora 
 from a sense of philanthropy whoHy regardless of 
 return. No landlord lays out Capital on his estate 
 without entertaining reasonable expectations of a 
 return, unless it be for the purpose of beautifying 
 it or improving its salubrity. Were he to do sq 
 the World would assuredly write him down an 
 Ass! And as the position of Government in this 
 sense, differs in no respect from that of a good 
 and wise landlord, why should the Government 
 of Bengal have laid out millions of money in public 
 works that could not have tended to increase 
 its income by one shilling per annum ? There is 
 no sound practical reason for the adoption of such 
 a course. It consequently systematically refused 
 to do 80, and if any one entertains doubts on 
 the subject, let him consult the miiiutes of Sir 
 John Peter Grant the late Lieut. Governor of 
 Bengal, who for the last sis. years has strenuously 
 endeavoured to obtain the ways and meaus of 
 improving Bengal, in this respect, in vain. 
 
 The Government of India in making a perpetual 
 settlement with the Zemindars of Bengal, doubtless 
 considered that they had made over, with the sur- 
 plus profits accruing by the increase in cultivation 
 and the value of the produce, the duties and res. 
 poQsibilities which it still retained in its owa hands 
 
808 
 
 in the North West, and it confidently expected 
 that the Zemindars would willingly accept the high 
 responsibility which attaches to ownership iu the 
 soil. How the two Landlords have discharged 
 their trust, what I have stated above will suffi- 
 ciently show. But it is not all. The Zemindars 
 have not only not discharged those duties and 
 responsibilities in respect of public works, which 
 in other countries landlords most cheerfully accept ; 
 but shielding themselves behind the letter of the 
 enactment Avhich perpetuated the decennial settle- 
 ment, they have refused all further aid to Govern- 
 ment iu lieu of any extraordinary protection they 
 may be afforded in times of extreme peril, — or for auy 
 public purpose whatever. Whi^n, in consequeuce 
 of the inefficient state of the Police, especi- 
 ally of the Village-Watch, thefts, gang-robberies, 
 and dacoities had increased to an alarming extent 
 in parts of Bengal, and Government sought all 
 the assistance it could obtain, in righting the evil, 
 it was alleged by the Zemindars "that Government 
 were bound to defray the entire expenses of the 
 Police establishment, and had not even the right to 
 insist on the appointment of the village watchmen, 
 if the Communities considered their interests did 
 iiot require it."* It would be monstrous to sup- 
 ■ Statement of objects and reasons of a bill to amend the law 
 relating to Police chowkedars introduced by Mr. Moffat Mills into the 
 Legislative Council of India, 16th September 1854,— Mr. Mills con- 
 tinued, " The Course of Legialation on this subject which is described 
 
309 
 
 pose that the Bengalis, a race wholly devoid of 
 physical courage, who have ever been at the mercy 
 of the first stalwart race of Northern men who 
 chose to invade them, should be protected both 
 in life and property at an enormous cost to Govern- 
 ment, — that the State should be saddled with a debt 
 of a hundred_millions sterling on this score, and they 
 contribute nothing towards its liquidation. It is 
 wholly inconcievable, out of India, that persons 
 situated as are the Zemindars of Bengal, — persons 
 who, as before shown, within little more than a 
 quarter of a century, have been permitted to accu- 
 mulate a hundred and fifty millions sterling over 
 and above their legitimate gains, should be unwill- 
 ing to aid a Government which had successfully 
 strained every nerve to save them and their 
 property from destruction ; yet in 1859, when an 
 income tax was proposed, the Zemindars of Bengal, 
 not only declared themselves such, but claiming 
 immunity under the very Act that effected, it may 
 be said, the creation of their -wealth, they most 
 stoutly resisted its incidence, loading the Govern- 
 below, does not in my opinion bear out this assertion," and lower down 
 in his statement he adds, — " the consequence of these defects in the 
 Law is, that the village-watch, the basis of our Police system, is 
 utterly inefficient, the Chowkedars are inadequately and uncertainly 
 paid, and ' being' kept in a permanent state of starvation,' they 
 keep themselves comfortably, by leaguing with thieves and robbers." 
 In the original the extract given in the text, is in the present 
 tense. 
 
310 
 
 ment with accusations of injustice and bad faith, 
 in lieu of those outpourings of gratitude and sub- 
 stantial donations which might have been looked 
 for. Behind such facts as these, the confident 
 expectations of Lord Cornwallis vanish into the 
 thinnest of thin air ; and with them before us, I would 
 venture to ask, what solid ground have we on which 
 to rest the shadow of a hope, that the future of the 
 present will bear better fruit ? 
 I would add, however, that, though in clearly 
 stating the case as between Government and 
 its subjects, the peculiarity of the situation com- 
 pels me to lay bare facts in all their nakedness, 
 I do not desire to be understood as blaming 
 the Zemindars of Bengal in the degree the un- 
 measured terms here used would seem to imply. 
 In viewing the case I have looked at it from 
 an English stand-point, for the special benefit 
 of Englishmen unacquainted with the circum- 
 stances of India and its people. It falls to 
 my lot officially to translate into the native 
 languages for publication, the returns of the public 
 works annually executed by private individuals in 
 Bengal, and I am fully aware that, in their own 
 small way, the Zemindars have always done some- 
 thing towards building wells, tanks, school-houses, 
 making village roads &c. The Bengali Zemindar has 
 acted in accordance with the dictates of his unedu- 
 cated mind and his narrowed intellect, and possibly 
 
311 
 
 in a manner not very very dissimilar to that in which 
 other people, similarly situated and in a similar 
 stage of social, moral, and intellectual progress, would 
 act. Before the powerful influence of self-interest 
 was allowed to form so fundamental a portion of 
 our Eropean systems of Economy, the contrast 
 between the English and the Bengali landlord was 
 not so great as it is now; and if we excuse the 
 Government on the ground of its being precluded 
 from deriving any profit from, the outlay of its 
 capital, we must assuredly make some allowance for 
 the Zemindar, who, though deeply interested, is at 
 least two centuries behind the Englishman in educa- 
 tion and social progress. My intention, then, is not 
 to bespatter the Bengali with dirt j but simply to 
 point out to those who know less of the people of 
 India than those on the spot, that before plunging 
 irrevocably into a policy which, if mistaken, will 
 inevitably prove disastrous, some more certain data 
 than ' anxious wishes ' and ' confident expectations,' 
 are necessary, if it be desired that its results should 
 be dififerent to those which have attended other 
 measures introduced with similar intention. 
 
 It is distinctly stated that the object aimed at 
 by a perpetual settlement in India, is to improve 
 the condition of the people, so as to enable them to 
 bear direct taxation. Now the people of all countries 
 living under anything approaching a constitutional 
 Government, have, undoubtedly, a right to pro* 
 
312 
 
 nounce an opinion on such a question. It has heen 
 repeatedly dechired ex cathedra, that the principle of 
 British Rule in India is not a Militay Despotism ; 
 but on the contrary, that it is Her Majesty's 
 ■wish that the British Government in India shall 
 be based on the contentment and good will of 
 the people. In European Countries, it is not a 
 very easy matter to ascertain the wishes of the 
 people. Of this we daily have convincing proof. 
 In India, moreover, in consequence of the variety 
 of races and religions, to say nothing of the caste 
 prejudices we have to deal with, it would be almost 
 impossible to find the people of accord on very many 
 question of state policy of. great importance. In 
 such cases the Government must be left to its 
 own honest convictions to act as to its wisdom aiid 
 judgement seeraeth best for the great mass of 
 the people, and the past furnishes us with a good 
 guarantee, that where information is not defective, 
 and honesty and integrity of purpose are apparent, 
 the people of India, ever accustomed to despotism, 
 and, alas, too often, to despotism tyrannically exer- 
 cised, will accommodate themselves to the wishes 
 of their Rulers, with a readiness and a good will 
 unknown in any part of Europe. But if there is 
 one point in the policy of the British Government 
 on which the people of India are in accord, — that 
 point is direct taxation. Against this the voice 
 of the nation has unmistakeably declared itself, and 
 
313 
 
 looking to the anomalous positioa of the British 
 Government in India, and its expressed determina- 
 tion to govern with, and not against the will of the 
 people, there seems to be some contradiction of 
 principles involved in this measure and the declared 
 objects and reasons for its introduction, that it would 
 be well to consider, before it is too late, I trust my 
 remarks will not be misconstrued into an arrogant 
 attempt to dogmatize on points of principle and 
 policy, which are disputed by persons and authorities 
 of infirutely greater wisdom and experience in the 
 philosophy of Government. The question under 
 review involves interests of far too great magnitude 
 for the admission into its discussion, by any con- 
 scientious person, of feelings other than those which 
 spring from an anxiou s desire for the good of this 
 great Empire. Whatever then my views are, they 
 are the honest result of ray experience of the people 
 amongst whom I have lived for the better part of 
 a quarter of a centurj', and the only object I 
 have in stating them, is to endeavour to throw such 
 light on this very difficult question, as any oppor- 
 tunities of observation I may have had, enable me. It 
 would be well, 1 say, to consider this point now, be- 
 cause the time when the tax-gatherer should knock 
 at the peoples' doors, will not be the most convenient 
 for the purpose, nor yet the most favorable for ex* 
 planations. I have already shown how the Zemindars 
 of Bengal refused all voluntary aid to the Govern- 
 
 z 3 
 
314 
 
 ment for the amelioration of the police administra- 
 tion, and denied its legal right to tax them on 
 that account; and it is worthy of remark that 
 they were supported in their views by the opinion 
 of the highest legal authority in the land, the pre- 
 sent Chief Justice of Bengal. Sir Barnes Peacock 
 held, that " the same principle which prevents an 
 augmentation of the assessment, equally precludes 
 the taxation of the owners in respect of the rent 
 or produce of their estates " as " such taxation 
 must necessarily prevent them from enjoying exclu- 
 sively the fruits of their own good manaijement 
 and industry." Yet a similar principle is now 
 enunciated, and it is dwelt on with force, that the 
 benefit of all improvements is to go into the pockets 
 of the landlords, and that the State is to be pre- 
 cluded from ever obtaining any future augmenta- 
 tions of income from this source (the land.) 
 
 How the Zemindars of Bengal responded to the 
 call of Government in the day of its trouble, and 
 how, on the ground of their assessments being fixed, 
 they objected to the income tax, are matters of too 
 recent date, and are too well known, to need notice 
 here. 
 
 It is true that it is now declared to be the inten- 
 tion of Government to look to taxation as the 
 source from whence all future increase of revenue 
 must come ; and as regards the intention of the law 
 on this point, no future duubt could possibly 
 
315 
 
 arise. But it must be borne ia mind that the 
 people of India are very ignorant. The masses 
 cannot read and write. They are clearly, ia 
 these matters, in a state of infancy. Of this great 
 question which so deeply concerns every man iu 
 the country — which has agitated Anglo-Indian, 
 and a large section of English society for the past 
 year, and been discussed in almost every English 
 Journal and Review in both Countries, not one in> 
 twenty thousand of our Indian subjects has even so 
 much as heard.* Should the Zemindars, then, when 
 the time comes for Government to legislate for the 
 deficiency of revenue, disclaim all knowledge of the 
 intention of the previous law, it appears to me that 
 it would be awkward. But should the Community, 
 by that time more enlightened and independent, take 
 higher ground, and admit an acquaintance with the 
 
 * It ia a curious fact, that the raiyitrvari Settlement of Madras 
 is a perpetual settlement, and when first made was declared to be so, 
 a declaration which has since beea repeatedly re-asserted by the 
 highest authority. The Madras Board of Revenue in 1857, in pointing 
 out the erroneous impression that prevailed, reg'ardingf the Bombay 
 settlement of 30 years giving a greater permanency of tenure than the 
 Byotwari settlement of Madras, observed : — " This is altogether 
 an error, for the Madras Ryot is able to retain his land in perpetuity, 
 mithaut any increase qf assessment, as iong as he continues to" fulfil 
 his enj^agements." And the Madras Government in the same year 
 stated :— " The proprietory right of a Ryot is perfect, and as long as 
 he pays fhejixed assessment on his land, he can be ousted by no one." 
 The new assessments now being- made, are subject to revision after 50 
 years, a modification of which the people, I should think, have no' 
 knowledge whatever. 
 
8l6 
 
 intention, but demand a distribution of taxation in 
 such a manner as to effect the restitution of their pro- 
 perty, on the ground that they were not consenting 
 parties to the transaction, I cannot foresee what 
 answer could satisfactorily be given to them. For, 
 should the Government be weak, the people would 
 certainly resist ; and, should it be strong, and carrying 
 things with a high hand refuse to listen to the re- 
 monstrances of its subjects, they would inevitably 
 inveigh against the injustice and bad faith of the 
 English, as of late has not been uncommon. In any 
 case, there is some reason to doubt the realization 
 of those political advantages regarding which all 
 seem now so certain. 
 
 Nor do I raise objections merely for the 
 sake of argument, nor yet for the purpose of mak- 
 ing difficulties where none actually exist. I simply 
 state, knowing as I do the detestation of the 
 people of India of direct taxation, what has 
 taken place, and what I firmly believe would take 
 place again. The people of India, at present are whol- 
 ly unacquainted with European systems of taxation. 
 They cannot understand them; and though they will 
 submit to any tax that is not oppressive or inquisi- 
 torial without any apparent exhibition of dissatis- 
 faction, every fresh imposition is carefully registered 
 in their account with their rulers, and helps to 
 .svvell the measure of their disaffection, when any 
 violent revulsion of feeling calls for its exhibition. 
 
317 
 
 In the North West, we have a thirty, and in Ma- 
 dras, 9. fifty years settlement. The landholders and 
 peasant-proprietors, having a perfect right of occu- 
 pancy, sell and mortgaore their land without let 
 or hindrance. Can anything further, as regards 
 security of title, be required ? Does any English 
 landlord give such good leases to his tenants? I think 
 not. Assuredly then, security of title is not what is 
 required to give the people of India such an interest 
 in the soil, as will induce them to expend capital 
 upon it. They have it to the full already; and if 
 proof of the fact be wanting, I refer to the rent-free 
 tenures. Rent-free estates are scattered throughout 
 the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies. One sixth of 
 the whole of the land in the Madras Presidency 
 is held free of rent. Compare the condition of the 
 cultivators of both, and what is the result ? The 
 bulk of the testimony of the Government officials 
 on the subject is, that the condition of the people 
 paying revenue to Government is better than that 
 of those paying none, the reason assigned being, that 
 the demand of Government acts as a beneficial 
 stimulus on their dormant energies. 
 
 We must seek, therefore, for some other causes 
 for the depressed condition of the cultivators and 
 peasant-proprietors of India, than the absence of a 
 perfect property in the soil. Nor is it diflficult to 
 find them. Tiiey are, high assessments, rack rents, 
 short leases, oppression of landlords, excess of 
 
318 
 
 land over population., famines, defective means cf 
 communication, peculiar characteristics of the peo- 
 ple, &c. It is to these evils and not to the tenure of 
 the land, that attention should be directed ; and 
 it seems to. me that far more may be done to 
 remedy them, if Government remains the Land- 
 lord, than if the sole property in the soil be made over 
 to individuals. And there is yet one more cause — a 
 cause more potent than any yet assigned, in its 
 influence on. the condition of the cultivators, and its 
 bearing on this highly important question. I allude 
 to the low degree of the intellectual development of 
 the people. I am fully alive to the magic of pro- 
 perty in the soil. I heartily concur in the opinion, 
 that if you give a man secure possession of a 
 bleak rock, he will turn it into a garden; and 
 if you give him a ten years lease of a garden, he will 
 convert; it into a desert. But, I conceive that by a 
 man, is here meant, a thinking intelligent being, 
 one who not only knows his own interest, but knows 
 how to work it out; and, if Adam Smith's authority 
 is of any weight, this coiild not have been predicated 
 of an English man a century ago, and it cer- 
 tainly cannot be predicated of any race or section 
 of the people of India at the present day. 
 ' Eiigflish settlers and speculators, as pioneers, and 
 by the introduc'ion of capital, will do much for the 
 material progress of the country; but it must 
 ■never be lust sight of, that Eagliskmeu iu India, 
 
319 
 
 are but a means to an end, and that though in the 
 attainment of this end, the interests of both races 
 may be well served, as long as the existence of 
 the one race is exotic, the interests of both must 
 ill no small degree be antagonistic. Englishmen in 
 India, from this point of view, are useful only in 
 so far as they supplement the deficiencies of the 
 natives, for, birds of passage as they are, if they 
 bring one rupee into the country, it is only that 
 they may take two, or more probably four, out 
 of it. India is certainly the one rupee richer; 
 but still the two or four poorer than if the developers 
 were true sons of the soil. 
 
 It is Education then, to which England must look 
 as the true means of effecting such a regeneration iu 
 the people of India, as will make theia a willing 
 instrument ia the hands of an enlightened and 
 upright Government to work out their own pros- 
 perity ; and it is by the force of example, that lever . 
 which Arnold held to be of first importance in the 
 philosophy of education, that the English developer, 
 will prove so able and so valuable a help to the Govern- 
 ment of India. Under the circumstances, it cannot 
 but be a source of deep and sincere regret to those 
 who wish India well, to see adepartnaent, of all those 
 of a Government the most powerful iu its influence 
 for good, or for evil — a department on the efficient 
 and judicious. administration of which must ultimately 
 depeud the solutiou of the very difficult problem on 
 
320 
 
 which Her Majesty's Governnient are now employed, 
 so sadly neglected Without a head, without the hasis 
 of any fixed principles, this Department is altoge- 
 ther unrepresented in the Supreme Government, 
 and thus that bark which carries the best fortunes 
 of the people, is left to drift whither the currents 
 of the varying and crude opinions of half a dozen 
 Directors of Public Instruction may carry it. Yet, 
 I have no hesitation in saying, that the greatest, 
 indeed the only great obstacle to the introduction 
 of the policy Her Majesty's Government are so 
 anxious to induct, is — the ignorance of the people. In 
 their present state of intellectual development, it 
 is utterly impossible that the people can understand 
 their own interest, and assuming their interest to 
 be the object of Government, it requires no logic 
 to establish, that until they do know it, the action 
 of the Government and its subjects will be opposed 
 to one another. Had the people of India not been 
 ignorant and superstitious, the rebellion of 1857 
 would have been an impossibility. 
 
 It will be argued that the process suggested 
 is long, and there is no doubt of it. But if 
 there is no doubt of it, there is, unfortunately, 
 no help for it, and, consequently, the greater reason 
 why no time should be lost in straining every 
 nerve in completing, consolidating, and perfecting 
 the measures at present in operation. Nor will it 
 follow that, in the mean time, any measures of good 
 
321 
 
 Government suitable to the procjressive develop- 
 ment of society, should be delayed oue moment 
 beyond that time when the condition of the people 
 renders them desirable. No inventions of modern 
 times have exercised such magical influence on 
 the progress of nations as Electricity and Steam. 
 Telegraphic wires now connect the most distant 
 points of the Empire. Bailroads are in rapid pro- 
 gress along all the great lines of communication 
 and trafic. Their effects will assuredly not be 
 wanting in accelerating the accomplishment of that 
 final task, to the completion of which the energies 
 of all are directed. Combine these forces, let all 
 work in harmony, and there can be little doubt 
 that everything that could be desired will follow 
 so rapidly, as to astonish even the most sanguine 
 progressionist of the day. 
 
 And of those questions which may be considered 
 with a view to ad interim measures, that which first 
 merits attention, and is of far more pressing import- 
 ance than the title of property in the soil, against 
 the principle of which not the breath of a murmur 
 has ever been raised — is Labor. 
 
 I have said above that it is popularly believed, 
 that there are millions of people in India starving 
 for want of employment.* Now this is a most 
 erroneous idea. Yet it cannot be confined to the 
 outside public, for it seems hardly credible that 
 
 * Vide p. 184 mipra. 
 
333 
 
 Her Majesty's Ministers, if fully aware of the 
 existing state of ladia in relation to this question, 
 would be concluding treaties with foreign powers, 
 to deprive her of her greatest want— her most 
 precious wealth. The existence of the popular 
 belief on the subject, can be very readily under- 
 stood. It is maintained by talkers on Indian 
 subjects, — persons who seem, to consider it their 
 mission to address themselves to the redress of 
 Indian grievances. These gentlemen are generally 
 well intentionedj and often do much good; but 
 as they will not always take the trouble to 
 make themselves acquainted with the subjects, they^ 
 take up, and, more frequently, have not the best 
 opportunities of obtaining accurate informa,tion, 
 they sometimes do a good deal of mischief. When 
 I first came to India, now about eighteen years 
 ago, it was customary to set down the popula- 
 tion of British India at 130,000,000. I have 
 been extremely amused in observing how this 
 number has gradually been swelled up, first to 
 150,000,000, then to 180,000,000, and lastly to 
 300,000,000, at which, for the present I believe, it 
 stands. Trae, Her Majesty's possessions in India 
 have increased considerably withiu the last eighteen 
 years. Bat in what ratio? The Punjab added, say 
 10,000,000; Nagpoor 5,000,000; Oude 5,000,000; 
 Pegu 1,000,000 to the population of British India, 
 making a total of 31,000,000 souls : — or, allowing 
 
323 
 
 for the lapse of minor States and Principalities, 
 say in round numbers 25,000,000. The latest 
 returns to Parliament give the population of British 
 India as 135,369,598. Yet in every speech in the 
 House of Commons, in every newspaper article, in 
 every review on the subject, 200,000,000 of Indian 
 subjects are regularly paraded before the public with 
 the same confidence as if they had been actuallr re^is- 
 tered, mustered, and returned. Were the pu'blic" at 
 the same time, favored with even an approximate esti- 
 inate of the area of this great peninsula-were it 
 alwavs added, for instance, that, Russia excluded 
 lad.a ,s larger than half Europe, there would not be 
 so much harm in the multiplication of these hundreds 
 of m^lhona of people. But, generally, no allusion 
 ^vhatever ,s made to this simple fact. The public 
 consequently, never very discriminating in statistical 
 matters, and having no standard of comparison pre 
 sented to their minds other than that of their own 
 l.ttle island, at onco run away with the idea, that 
 India has a teeming population, with whichitissadlv 
 oppressed and over-burthened. That the contrary is 
 the case that India is extremely under-populafed, 
 and that the crying want of the Country is a popuk- 
 fonin some degree proportionate to its immense 
 area, the vast tracts-the thousands of square miles of 
 nch, bghly productive, and culturable land, which is 
 now lying waste, for the simple reason that there are 
 no people to till it, are a sufficient proof. 
 
324 
 
 But to pursue the enquiry a little further, let 
 us examine the question in greater detail. The 
 number of souls per square mile in Belgium is 413, 
 in Holland 271, in Great Britain 237 in France 
 177 in Prussia 159 in Austria 144. We are 
 very badly off in India for statistics of any kind. 
 A very great portion of the Country has never 
 been surveyed. Without any great fear, however, 
 of being over the mark, we may estimate the area 
 of British India, at not less than 1,000,000 square 
 miles, and taking the population at 135,000,000 
 it will give only 135 souls per square mile.* Now 
 the produce of the soil of any Country, only reaches 
 its maximum, when the pressure of population 
 forces cultivation up to the highest possible point ; 
 and as it is an axiom that each increase in pro- 
 ductive power, is gained at a higher proportional 
 increase of labor and outlay, the tendency of popula- 
 tion is to increase beyond the power of the soil 
 to support it, — or in other words, the ratio of the 
 increase is always in favor of consumption, and 
 against production. The Maximum attained, should 
 population still increase, ia a self-supporting Coun- 
 try, one of two courses only remains — population 
 must be checked, or emigration carry off the 
 surplus. It is impossible to compare a country 
 of such vast extent as India, as a whole, with 
 
 • The total area of India, including' native states, the parliamen- 
 tary return gives as 1,476,316 square miles. 
 
323 
 
 any Country of Europe^ except perhaps Russia; 
 What, then, the comparative capabilities of the 
 soil of India for supporting population may be . I 
 cannot say. But taking into consideration that 
 in almost all parts of the Country, two, and in 
 several as many as three or four crops are obtained 
 in a year, its power if not greater, ought not to 
 be less than the European average. And if these 
 data be approximately correct— and the figures 
 here given certainly leave a very large margin for 
 error, — it will appear, that taking tbe whole superfi-. 
 cial area, ladia is very much Mfflrfer-pop.ulated.* 
 
 It is quite true tliat population in India is very un- 
 equally distributed ; so much so that while enormous 
 tracts of country are waste and wholly without iuhabi- 
 
 * The area of British India as computed up to date by the 
 Surveyor General, is 836,746 square miles, which would give a 
 population of 156 souls per square mils ; but even this nuinber though 
 less than that of the most populous European countries, is, I think, an 
 over-estimate. The returns of population based on the censuses taken 
 in the N. W. Provinces in 1826 and 1848 are manifestly fallacious. The 
 first gave an average, in six or seveu districts, of 484 aoula per 
 square mile, the second an average of 323. But all censuses in 
 India have been little better than guess work. The truest test, 
 for general purposes, is the price of grain, and in most parts of 
 India, making all due allowances for the dearneas of money, except 
 in times of dearth it is, comparatively, extremely cheap. Cultivation 
 tboroughout India is low, and large tracts of laud are waste. 
 We require no other data to satisfy us that po,.ulation is not in 
 excess of the productive powers of the soil. In China, where 
 population is really excessive, we find cuUiyation at the highest 
 point, and emigrutioD very active. The laws of nature are always 
 a very saf« guide. 
 
 Z 4 
 
326 
 
 tants, population in others, is, as it wete, lumped. The 
 characteristics of the people, their love of father-land 
 and place of birthj caste restrictions and prejudieesj 
 famines, innundations, poverty, ravages of disease, 
 and of wlars-^all these have combined to assist in 
 maintaining in the midst of large provinces unsur- 
 passed in fertility of soil and natural capabilities 
 by any country in the v^rld, a stagnation unknown 
 in Europe. Thus in the province of Assam, the 
 soil of which will literally produce any crop in 
 luxuriant abundance, population is t)ot ouiy so 
 sparse that six millions of acres are waste; but in 
 populated districts, the people are so indolent and 
 lazy, that the 'productive powers of the soil are, 
 c&m'parati'Vely speaking, allowed to lie almost wholly 
 dormant. And this brings me back to the Tea 
 districts off Eastern Bengal, and the immediate 
 subject of this Review from which I have long 
 strayed, — the rise and progress of Tea Cultivation 
 in India. 
 
 Assam was once apparently a flourishing 'and 
 well populated Province. The developer now as he 
 Weilds his axfe, frequently comes upon ruins of 
 considerable extent buried in the jungle of 
 dense forests. The remains of noble buildings too, 
 which are to be found scattered here and there, 
 attest that the people had attained a no small 
 degree of civilization. But the province had been 
 subject to frequent inroads from hostile neighbours 
 
327 
 
 and savage tribes, who ravaged the country, 
 massacreiMg' thousands of the inhabitants and carry-. 
 iug off their cattle. Immediately preceding the 
 occupation of the country by the British, it hadl 
 been overrun by a Burmese army, which it is said 
 carried off 30,000 captives into slavery. The whole 
 province, therefore, though of great natural fertility, 
 through the annihilation of its population, and the 
 plunder of their property, was reduced to a state of 
 great prostration. The condition of things when the 
 Englisjh first toQk possession of Assam, is thus describe 
 ed by Colonel Jenkins the late Governor GeneraVs 
 ^/i.gent on the North 'Eastern Frontier: — "When 
 therefore we assumed the charge of the country, 
 nothing could possibly be more unpromising than 
 tbe state of the country. The small remnant of 
 the people had been so harassed and oppressed by 
 the long civil and internal wars that had followed 
 the accession of Raja Gourinath Sing in 178Q 
 down to 1826, that they had almost given up cul- 
 tivation, and lived on jungle roots and plants, and 
 famine and pestilence carried off thousands that 
 had escaped the sword and captivity. AU men of 
 rank, the heads of the Great Ahom and priestly 
 families, had retired to one District, Gowalparra, 
 having, with little exception, lost the whole of their 
 property. With the nobility and gentry retired 
 a vast body of the lower classes; the former mostly 
 returned to Assam after our occupation, but large 
 
328 
 
 numbers of the latter never returned, and tlieir 
 decendants form still a Lirge part of the population 
 of Habraghat and Kootaghat." But British troops 
 drove out the Burmese, the British Government 
 restored peace and security of property, and in 
 accordance with the laws of nature, increase of 
 population and wealth should have rapidly followed. 
 Unfortunate! J', however, among the characteristics 
 'Of the people, laziness and indolence are most promi- 
 nent. They determinedly refuse to do more work 
 than will just sufifice to maintain them in the 
 comfort of a rude existence. More unfortunately 
 still, they are addicted to the use of a drug which 
 heightens these characteristics by its baneful influ- 
 ence on their physical powers — Opium ! This drug 
 is consumed, in quantities, by 70 per cent, of the 
 people. They give it even to their children, and 
 the results ou the whole population are very 
 evident. 
 
 "The habit" reported D. J. Long in 1853, "acta 
 very injuriously on the people : it renders them 
 listless and apathetic; weakens their digestive 
 system and produces congestions of the brain and 
 other organs, particularly of the liver and kid- 
 neys. It has before been noticed the liability to 
 severe congestive inflammation of the lungs, to which 
 opium-eaters are liable after slight labour. 
 
 " So long as the opium-eater is able to procure 
 good and nourishing diet, suited to his system. 
 
829 
 
 and to provide himself with proper clothing and 
 comfortable lodging, the evil eflfects of the drug 
 are not so speedily seen as in the case of his poorer, 
 brother, who, to obtain the means of indulging the. 
 vicious habit, is obliged to stint himself in whole- 
 some food and to go badly provided as to lodging, 
 and clothes ; but even in the more comfortable class, 
 the evil day is only put off. At length, under the. 
 use of opium, the system gives way; the bowels be-, 
 come torpid J the liver and kidneys congested; the 
 circulation of the blood slugcjish, and the brain, 
 unfitted for the healthy performance of its func- 
 tions; torpor of mind and body becomes establish- 
 ed and goes on iiicreasitisr, till dropsy or some other 
 disease comes to close the scene." 
 
 "The oftspriiig of such a race is a degenerate, 
 one, weak and sickly. " 
 
 Yet the cultivation of no crop reqi^ires a larger 
 amount of labor than Tea. On an average one 
 m:in per acre is required to work a tea plantation 
 efficiently. In clearin,g and planting, it may be 
 ranked with other Jigriculturai operations, but in 
 hoeing or dressing, and plucking and manufacturing 
 the leaf, it i^ peculiar. The trees flush from twenty 
 to thirty or more times a year, and at these times/ 
 all hands must be in readiness to a day, for the leaf 
 if not plucked, hardens on the bushes and becomes 
 unfit for tea in a couple of day8,-^and when plucked 
 and withered, must be at once rolled aad fired. In 
 
330 
 
 the infancy of Tea cultivation the lahor of the 
 Province sufficed for the wants of the Planters. But 
 as soon as the tea expHriraent was an esttiblished 
 success, and cultivation had extended to !>ome 
 thousands' of acres, tlie pres'iure for liibor begran t<v 
 Befelt. That the populntion of Assam was very scant 
 was well knowV It had frdqupntly been reported by 
 tlje Governor General's Agent, and the other officials 
 of the province. Tea- cultivation had been intro- 
 duced by Government as a nleasure of jtreat national 
 iimporta'nce both to India and England, and it is 
 Certainly one in which both conntries ave equally 
 ihteriest^d. It was clearly then the business of 
 (yoverriihent, after inducing English capitalists and 
 speculators to relieve it of the cOst a!nd tfoUbTe 
 of an ex^eriVnientr admittedly of Imperial import- 
 ance, and after encouraging them to expend very 
 large sums of money in their operations, to take 
 some precautions that facilities foi- carrying them 
 on were placed within their reach. But from 
 the very unscietitific manner in which the Tea 
 expierihients in India were conducted, th6 Goveru- 
 tn'ent of India Was wholly ignorant of the circum- 
 stances and necessities of the cultivation. What 
 proved a severer blow to the too credulous capita- 
 lists, who, responding to the invitation held oftt, 
 embarked theij capital in the iindertakingf, was 
 that the Government of Bengal, ignored all respon- 
 sibility in the matter, and ignorant or regardless 
 
331 
 
 of the fact that plantations in Assam were snperin- 
 tented and carried on, not by Statesmen or rich mer* 
 chants princes -well acquainted with the trne prin- 
 ciples of commercial policy, and 6f great local 
 experience, \mt, for the most part, by young men 
 with' very limited means, and erUployes often raw 
 and wholly new to the country, refused to take 
 any action whatever except on the sB<jfgeStion of 
 the planters — winch was nothing short of abandon- 
 ing the prerogatives of a Government, and shifting 
 its highest duties and responsibilities from theip 
 ligitimate and proper resting place, to the shoulders 
 of a few tea planters. 
 
 "It is manifest "wrote Sir John Peter Grant 
 late Lieutenant iGovernor of Bengal on the 20th 
 January 1860 "that the great want is a suffi- 
 ciency of labor for the proper cultivation of land 
 already obtained for, and in part planted with Tea, 
 and for the proper gathering and manufacture 
 of the leaves.' This is work in which the men, 
 Women a'nd grown children of a whole family can 
 be employed ; and it is therefore mast favorable 
 for the importation of labor at a moderate charge, 
 and the fixing of a new laboring population in thfe 
 neigbourhood of the Tea plantations. It is also 
 found that the profit of Tea cultivation is such as 
 richly to repay an adequate expenditui-e in increa- 
 sing iti This state of things indicates the prb- 
 priety of high wages ; and the gfetierally scanty 
 
333 
 
 populafcion of Assam, its remote position, and it» 
 difficulty af. access for poor people from the popu- 
 lous parts of India, indicate the expediency of 
 taving resort to a systematic course of proceed- 
 ing- in the importation of labor from other parts 
 of India. But it is not for Government but for 
 those immediately interested in the Tea planta- 
 tions of Assam, to apply themselves to this as to 
 other requirements of their position. If they do 
 so, they may be sure that whatever Government 
 can legitimately do to facilitate their endeavours, 
 will be readily done." 
 
 Following out the abstract . principle argumentj 
 and again ignoiing the practical fact that the 
 normal rates of wages in many countries is three 
 or four times greater than in India, the planters 
 were informed that the Sugar planters of Mauritius 
 found it to their advantage to pay £1 a month 
 to Indian laborers, and were told that if they would 
 establish an organized system of immigration and 
 pay equal or less wages, the coolies would doubt- 
 less elect for Tea in preference to Sugar. 
 
 Time out of mind did the Tea planters, to the 
 best of their ability, give, general ideas of their 
 wants, and while imploring assistance, at the 
 same time, express their perfect willingness to pay 
 any rates short of such exorbitants rates as would 
 bouleverse the labor market of the whole province, 
 provided Goverument would simply establish an 
 
333 
 
 immigration agency, and afford resiSonHblc pro- 
 tection to their Interests. On this subject Mr. Wil- 
 liamson, one of the earlist experimentalists ia 
 Tea, wrote in November 1859. "As to the mea- 
 sures which the Government could adopt to assist 
 the Tea Planters in extending tlie cultivation of 
 the Tea plant, I think a moderate increase in the 
 land revenue would in some degree tend towards 
 this object and might be carried out without de- 
 triment. A decrease in the Opium cultivation 
 ■would also cause a greater number of loborers to 
 work on Tea plantations. A steady flow of emi- 
 grant labor in to the province is, I think, the prin- 
 cipal means by which the cultivation of the Tea 
 plant can be extensively increased. Au emigra- 
 tion scheme to be successful, would require to be 
 conducted under the auspices of Government, 
 and a fund for the purpose provided by the Tea 
 planters. And after remarking to the same effeet, 
 Mr. Stewart, another planter added : — "By issuing 
 more stringent laws to compel laborers and con- 
 tractors to respect their agreements, and a summary 
 mode of proceeding against them when they do 
 not do so, and when they desert the factories, as at 
 present numbers mi them do with very large ad- 
 vances in their hands, whenever they please; hereby 
 causing great loss to the Planters, who, before they 
 can obtain legal redress from the Courts as at 
 present constituted, see most of their crops perish 
 
334 
 
 before their eyes, with no other means at hand of 
 saving the same." 
 
 Numbers of such suggestions could be culled from 
 official documeuts ou the subject ; but they seem 
 to have had no effect. The correspondence con- 
 cludes with the final resolve of the late Lieutenent 
 Governor in his letter to the Commissioner of 
 Assam No. 2123 of the I7th August 1S60; ex. 
 pressed in the following remarkable words. "No- 
 thing can be done by Government, till the scheme 
 for immigration of all (sic in orig) the planters 
 i-s stated." 
 
 The results of this inaction on the part qf the 
 Government of Bengal, were very lamentable. 
 Situated in a country in which it is notorious that no 
 important operation, if new, can be undertaken with 
 the remotest chance of success, without Govern- 
 ment supervision and support, the planters, thus 
 abandoned, were driven back on their own re- 
 sources ; — and, reduced to the utmost straits to save 
 their property from ruin, they adopted such 
 means of aiding themselves, as were within their 
 reach. Plantations were rapidly progressing. The 
 labor of the province was wholly inadequate to the 
 increased demand. Powerful companies, and those 
 planters who had capital sufficient, endeavoured 
 to establish independent agencies for immigra- 
 tion. But the rules rendering all grants liable 
 to confiscation by the Government for thirty 
 
335 
 
 vears, prohibited the possibility of obtaining any 
 advance of money on the security of the cultiva- 
 tion, and the bulli of the planters being men 
 of small means and unequal to operations on a 
 large scale, they were compelled to witness the 
 plants, in which they had invested their little all, 
 choked with rank jungle, or their precious leaves 
 harden and spoil on the bushes before their eyes. 
 The cultivation, thua, was seriously checked ; and 
 a struggle arose for the labor that was available. 
 The course pointed out by the Lieutenent-Governor 
 was partially adopted. Inducements, higher wages, 
 were offered by those planters who were reduced 
 to the greatest straits. The temptation had its 
 effect Coolies under engagements for a term c(f 
 years, broke their contracts aud deserted in 
 bodies. The planter who to-day hugged himself 
 in the belief that the next day he should pludk 
 a full crop of leaves, a/Woke on the morrow to 
 find half his Coolies gone. Ill-feeling naturally 
 arose. Every planter looked upon his neighbour 
 with suspicion and distrust. True, the planter 
 could prosecute each coolie for breach of contract 
 and imprison him for fifteen days ; but what rcouM 
 he gain ?— an infinity of -trouble, and the loss of 
 his time and more money. 
 
 At this juncture, the Government of Bengal turned 
 its attention to the advancement of Public Work<s. 
 Here was a chance for the Province. Paternal by 
 
336 
 
 tradition, and wise in the wants of tbe Prorince 
 by experience, the Government would surely import 
 labor in large quantities for the prosecution of 
 the roads, bridges, and other works it proposed 
 to take in hand. It would, possibly, now adopt 
 a suggestion which so often came up from Assam 
 viz. to employ Jail labor on useful Public Works. 
 Vain hope I Labor was not imported ; and to 
 employ convicts, it was objected, would make Assam 
 a penal province. The Public Works Department 
 backed by the whole power of Government, and 
 with its unlimited capital, entered the labor market 
 of the province already strained to the utmost 
 limit. Planters remonstrated. Their remonstrances 
 were considered unreasonable. They had long 
 asked for roads and bridges. Fuuds were novr 
 available for the purpose. They must be carried on. 
 Double treble fixed rates of wages were offered — and 
 accepted. Tlie planters in despair, urged that of their 
 wants, labor was the most pressing, aud prayed for 
 the discoutiiiuance of the Works- It was argued, 
 iu official correspondence, that the planters paid by 
 the piece, avid that in reality the rates paid by 
 them were higher than those offered by the Public 
 Works Department : but the argument is altoge- 
 ther irrecoiicileable with the result. Otherwise, the 
 supply of labor of the province must have been 
 iu excess of the demand, which was not the case, 
 or tbe department would not have obtained a coolie. 
 
337 
 
 But were it even as stated, it would not alteir 
 the bearings of the case ia the remotest degree, for 
 it having been admitted that the crying want of 
 the province was a sufficiency of labor, it behoved 
 the ruling autliority to use every exertion to increase 
 rather than to deminish the supply. 
 
 Such was the situation in Assam and Cachar in 
 1861 and 1863. It was certainly not satisfactory. 
 But a far more painful feature of the case remains to 
 be noticed. It will be recollected that the planters 
 had expressed their perfect willingness to pay the 
 expenses of a proper immigration agency; but stated 
 their inability to set on foot the necessary machinery 
 of an organized system. And to any person ac- 
 quainted, with the circumstances of the cultivation ; 
 the attempts of the more powerful Tea Companies 
 to maintain a monopoly ; the rival interests and 
 extreme jealousy of all ensjaged in tea operations; 
 and the consequent impossibility of securing any 
 thing like co-operation,— that such was in reality 
 the case, must have been obvious. But sound prin- 
 ciples as understood in Bengal, must be allowed 
 room for unrestricted freedom, it being apparently 
 entirely everlooked, that the action of Government 
 was required more for the protection of coolie, than 
 the assistance of the planter. In other words 
 nothing was done — and behold the result. 
 
 Coolies were contracted for, by private parties, as so 
 many sheep or bullocks, the Contractors receiving a 
 
 z 5 
 
338 
 
 certain sum for those who arrived in the district, 
 and for those who died en route, but none for deser- 
 ters. To those, who have been in India, and know 
 what an Indian Contractor is, an explanation of 
 his modtis operandi is unnecessary. They know 
 thatj as a rule, he is unscrupulous, and that as 
 long as he puts money in his purse, whether it be 
 human beings or the beasts of the field he has to 
 deal with, the amount of dishonesty or cruelty 
 he perpetrates, will not sit heavy on his conscience. 
 Nor was it otherwise in this instance: False repre- 
 sentation, corruption, oppression of every and the 
 worst description, were used to swell the number 
 of the Contractors' recuits. The old and decrepid, 
 the young and tender, the halt, the maimed, and 
 the blind, — nay even the infected, the diseased, 
 and the dying, were pressed into the service of 
 these most degraded of crimps. There was no 
 Government Protector,— no Medical Examiner. On 
 arriving at the depots, these unfortunate creatures 
 were located in places, the pestilential vapours 
 of which, generated by the ordure and filth with 
 which they were filled, were deadly to human 
 life. Many, in these cess-pools, contracted the 
 germs of distemper and disease, and in this state 
 were placed in gangs on board boats to be 
 sent to their final destination.* Here, crowded 
 
 * It is but just to add, that these condemnatory remarks 
 apply only to native contractors, the official report speaking in 
 the hig^hest terms of commendation of Mr. Banneritz Agency. 
 
339 
 
 and huddled together, and compelled to live in a 
 state of unelefinness revolting to human nature, as 
 might be expected, Cholera, and other malignant 
 diseases, broke out with fearful effect. In some 
 instances ten per cent of these wretched victims 
 were carried off in as many days. In others the 
 mortality reached to forty or fifty per cent, in a 
 three weeks voyage. With some truth may it be 
 said that the horrors of the slave trade pale before 
 the horrors of the coolie trade of Assam and Cachar 
 in the years 1861-62. Yet is the worst not yefc 
 told. The dead feel no pains — let us follow the 
 living. Arrived at their destination, many urged 
 that they were unequal to field labor, that they had 
 been engaged as artizans, menial servants, — nay even, 
 as priests of temples, at treble the rates of wages they 
 were offered. But the planters had contracted for' 
 coolies, — had paid for them, as such — they had signed 
 contracts to serve as such for three or five years — they 
 were able bodied, — they must work. Bat what of the 
 weak, the halt, the maimed, and the blind ? Re- 
 jected by the planters as useless, they were turned 
 adrift, to find their way, penniless, hundreds of miles 
 to their village homes, or, more probably, to starve- 
 to die ! The imagination of the English reader, 
 will recoil with horror from such a picture as this — 
 possibly reject it as purely immaginary or untrue, 
 yet nothing has been stated that ofiicial documents 
 have not recorded, and in India it is a rule that i^ 
 
340 
 
 such cases, the worst is never told. For the greater 
 satisfaction of the credulous however I add the fol- 
 lowing extract from the Annual Report on the 
 Administration of the Bengal Presidency for the 
 years 1861-62. 
 
 " The system under which the Tea plantations of 
 
 Assam and Cachar are supplied -with laborers from 
 
 Bengal has attracted the serious 
 
 Emigration of Coolies ., ,. , ,-^ , -i • 
 
 to Assam and Caohar. attention 01 Government dunng 
 the year. It was reported that 
 in almost ever?/ shipment of laborers from Calcutta a 
 fearful amount of mortality occurred from Cholera 
 and other diseases during the journey. In one case 
 the mortality was said to have reached even to 50 per 
 cent. From enquiries -which were made, there 
 seemed to be too much reason to believe that this 
 'fearful mortality was attributable chiefly to great 
 "want of foresight and care in the despatch of labor- 
 ers, especially in the River Steamers. A Commit- 
 tee of gentlemen of much experience in the work- 
 ing of the Emigration Department was accordingly 
 appointed to report upon , the arrangements in 
 force for importing labor into Assam. The opinion 
 ■^t which they arrived after careful enquiry was, that 
 Coolies were shipped in large batches without any 
 arrangement to secure order and cleanliness ; that 
 uncooked food teas issued withouf cooks to prepare it, 
 that the Medical charge of the Coolies in many 
 cases was left to ignorant Chupprassies, who were 
 
341 
 
 entrusted with small supplies of Medicine with 
 the uses of which they they were of coarse as 
 ignorant as the men to whom they administered it : 
 in other cases unqualified Medical OfiScers were sent 
 in charge ; laborers u/ere embarked in some instances 
 almost in a dying state ; over-crowded Flats were 
 lashed to Steamers day and night, and the Coolies 
 on board were thus deprived of their only chance of 
 free ventilation. The Committee found that there 
 was no uniformity of system in the despatch and 
 recruitment of Coolies ; laborers, in most cases, were 
 provided by Native Contractors at so much per 
 Lead ; practically the supply of laborers was, they 
 found, an ordinary commercial transaction between 
 a Native Contractor and the Planter, " all parties 
 considering their duty and responsibility discharged 
 when the living are landed and the cost of the dead 
 adjusted." There appeared to he no specific engage- 
 ment on starting between employer and laborer, — a 
 state of things which opens a road to an immense 
 amout of false statement and exaggeration on the 
 part of the Native Recruiters. They found an entire 
 absence of any efficient Medical inspection of Coolies 
 before shipment, and even when the men were inspect, 
 ed by the Planter's Agents, feeble and sickly persona 
 were, it was believe, substituted for the healthy men 
 accepted and passed, — persons at the point of death 
 having been Icnoivn to be sent on board. There 
 was no inspection of the boats employed. The 
 
342 
 
 depot of a Native Contractor is- thus described by 
 the Committee. " We found little trace of any 
 habitation, but a square of ground was pointed out 
 to us, in the neighbourhood of Fenwiels's Bazar, as 
 Thakoor Lalla's depot ; and a hut, a few feet square, 
 only now in course of completion, was said to be the 
 sole accommodation. This square resembled rather 
 the half-dried bed of a small tank, greatly defiled by 
 the surrounding people, than any thing else that we 
 can compare it with. A spot more repulsive to sight 
 and smell we could not imagine ; and having assured 
 ourselves beyond all doubt that the Contractor's 
 laborers did really congregate here, we felt no 
 surprise at the stories which we heard of the numbers 
 that yearly fall victims to disease in his hands. We 
 found no person in this place who would acknow- 
 ledge any connection with Thakoor Lalla, nor any 
 sort of preparation for the reception of human 
 beings, except the hut above mentioned ,■ and we 
 were forced to conclude that the proprietor, having 
 heard of our intended visit, had removed all that 
 belonged to his depot from fear of more damaging 
 disclosures." The Supply of women is stated to 
 be out of all proportion to the supply of men, the 
 rate being only 5 to 15 per cent. The smallness 
 of this proportion is considered by the Planters to 
 be the principal cause of the very numerous deser- 
 tions which take place during the river passage and 
 after arrival.' 
 
843 
 
 " Ignorance neglect, and misconduct worse than 
 either, on the part of those intrusted with the care of 
 immigrating bands of coolies" again says the Com- 
 mittee report "have been brought to light in the 
 course of our enquiry, and of these, the legitimate 
 results are disease and death.^' 
 
 But it is unnecessary to quote further from 
 official documents. The above extracts, thougli 
 they tell but half the sad tale, contain sufficient 
 to show that something was very wrong in the 
 state of Bengal ; and it will naturally be asked who 
 was to blame ? Not the Contractors, surely for 
 if men could be allowed the free and uncontrolled 
 exercise of their will, there would be no need of 
 Laws. Even Manu quaintly, but truly, tells us that 
 "if a King were not to punish the guilty, the stronger 
 would roast the weaker, like fish on a spit." Nor 
 yet the planters, for having to pay for the dead as 
 well as the living freight, besides the unfortunate 
 coolies, they were the greatest and only sufferers. 
 Again it has been shown that they not only warned 
 the Government of their utter inability to make effi- 
 cient arrangements : but declared their perfect will- 
 ingness to pay all expenses, I have no desire to fix 
 blame on any individual ; but I do desire to point out 
 what very serious mischief — what extreme cruelty may 
 possibly result from the barren discussion of ' sound 
 principles', when the urgent necessities of a crisis 
 require that men should be up and doing, not what 
 
344 
 
 a profound knowledge of principles indicates t& be 
 the ' correct thing ;' but what * common sense' 
 dictates that the immediate exigencies of the case 
 requires, — and consequently what absolute necessity 
 pxists, for the Supreme Authority in India, exercising 
 such vigilant control as will prevent the best inter- 
 ests of mighty provinces beinjr ruined and the people 
 from being cruelly oppressed. Centralization may 
 certainly be an unmiti<»ated evil ; but centralization, 
 if it insures good or better Governmeut, can only 
 be an unmixed good. 
 
 If we examine this case carefully, it is not diffi- 
 cult to see that the evils commented on, originated 
 in a complete misunderstanding of ih.e situation ; 
 and the application of a policy not only unsuited 
 to the country, but wholly inapplicable to the 
 circumstances of the case. And if proof be want- 
 ing that such is the truth clearer could not well 
 be obtained than from the fact that after two years 
 of inaction, the report of the Committee appoint- 
 ed to investigate the matter, did nothing mora 
 than expose to the full glare of light the fright- 
 ful nature and extent of the sores that had been 
 pillowed to fester under the very nose of the Govern- 
 ment,* and reiterate and confirm the statement 
 of the planters, made three years before, that 
 any systerU of immigration "to be successful, 
 
 * The depot of Tliakoor Lalla alluded to in the administratiou 
 Report of Beng'al, is -situated within a few hundred yarda of iha 
 Council Chamber. 
 
345 
 
 would require to be conducted under the auspices 
 of Goverumeiit." 
 
 The question was treated by the Government 
 of Bengal, from the outset, as one of labor and 
 capital, instead of one of Colonisation, into which 
 the relation of these elements, from the Government 
 point of view, did not enter at all. It is the more 
 singular that this error should have been com- 
 mitted ; because it would seem that the Government 
 of Bengal was fully alive to the circumstances of 
 the province in January 1860; and in the extract 
 from the published correspondence given abovej 
 (p. 331) the position is so very clearly described 
 as similar to that in which even antiquated econo- 
 mists admit that the maghitude of the interests 
 to the nation are so great, and the consequences 
 resulting to society and posterity from the errors, 
 misconduct, or incapacity of individuals, may be 
 so serious, that interference is necessary, that it is 
 difiBcult to reconcile the opinion that, " it is not for 
 Government but for those interested in the tea plan-> 
 tations of Assam, to apply themselves to this, as to 
 other requirements of their position," not merely with 
 the pledged faith of Her Majesty's Government to 
 encourage and assist those who relieve it of the duty of 
 developing, the resources of the Country, but with an 
 acquaintance with the true functions of Government, 
 
 There are many parts of the world in which large 
 and rich countries, are without inhabitants — many 
 
346 
 
 in which, though populated, there is no form of 
 Government. The now tolerably well understood 
 law of population, and the less defined though 
 equally recognized principle of progressive develop- 
 ment, ever impelling man in a forward direction, 
 are gradually evolving order from confusion, and 
 !is steadily fulfilling the divine ordinance. — "Be 
 fruitful and multiply — replenish the Earth and 
 suhdue it." Here are fields in which consumers 
 may also become producers; but is this course 
 followed ? On the contrary, we find the secret 
 of colonization tq lie in an essentially opposite 
 principle, and that unless shoots from the parent 
 stock take root and fiourish in the new soil, in . 
 their turn contributing as consumers and pro 
 ducers for the mother country, the object of the 
 Divine law is not fulfilled — the wealth of the 
 world is not proportionately increased. It has been 
 the knowledge of this simple principle, that has 
 made England's Colonies her glory — and placed her 
 at the head of the commercial nations of the world. 
 It has been the ignorance of this simple principle, 
 thatj with population congested in many places, 
 has left whole provinces in India howling wilder- 
 nesses which might be smiling gardens, and thus 
 assisted in maintaining a stagnation antagonistic 
 to all progress. " The fixing of a new laboring 
 population ■" in those remote and isolated provinces 
 of India, which, though rich and productive, have 
 
347 
 
 by the visitation of God or the inroads of 
 savage man, been wholly, or in part, denuded 
 of inhabitants, is not the duty of tea planters, or 
 any other individuals who come with their capital 
 and energy into the country to aid the Government 
 in developing its resources. The question of colo- 
 nization involves perhaps the highest and best 
 interests of civilization, and is pre-eminently the 
 business of Government : — first, because to be carried 
 out on a scale commensurate with even moderate 
 success, except in peculiar circumstances, it can be 
 undertaken only by a body as powerful and wealthy 
 as a Government ; secondly because to insure those 
 beneficial results to the nation and posterity which 
 should flow from the removal of population from 
 the over-populous rcf^ions of the world to wastes, 
 it must be conducted under such rules and regula- 
 tions as wise and experienced statesmen alone 
 are competent to frame, and a Government is able 
 to enforce ; thirdly, because it is Government alone 
 that possesses the power to bestow that for which 
 people in number migrate— land ; fourthly because 
 the benefit derived from such a measure by the 
 Country and the Community or State, is infinitely 
 greater than that derived by individuals;— _^if^/y, 
 because colonization when undertaken under proper 
 rules and regulations by a Government, can not 
 only be made self-supporting, but eminently remu- 
 ijerative, whereas if undertaken by individuals, it 
 
348 
 
 ntwsf entail ruinous loss; sixthly because indepen- 
 dent of all financial considerations, it is the sacred 
 duty of a Government to aid in the distribution- 
 of the population which it has pleased God to 
 commit to its care, in such a manner as will best 
 conduce to the prosperity, the welfare, and the 
 happiness of all. 
 
 It is a specious argument to advance, that those 
 who are engaged in a cultivation, the return to the 
 the cost of production of which, is very large, are the 
 proper people, and can well afiFord, to provide for all 
 the necessities of their position. But the class of 
 people who emigrate from any country, except as be- 
 fore mentioned under the pressure of peculiar circum- 
 stances — are the poor. In the outset at least, all 
 their expenses must be defrayed, and howsoever 
 lucrative the business, trade, or cultivation for 
 which their labor may be required, should these 
 expenses or advances be defrayed by producers ot 
 capitalists, they must be given some security that they 
 will recover their advances, or at least that they 
 shall, be the people who will reap the benefit of 
 their outlay. Hence the necessity for a Contract 
 law. But here again we are met by a greater diffi- 
 culty, for however stringent may be the laws framed, 
 no really good security can ever be given to capita- 
 lists, Kvm^ in a //•«« cowra^ry, that after having paid 
 all the expenses of importing labor, their laborers 
 will continue to work for them. And this is 
 
349 
 
 obvious, because the wages of laborj like the prices 
 of all things, are regulated not by contracts, but 
 by the circumstaaces of markets. The plan of 
 coatraots for labor ia like cases, has been tried; 
 over and over again, and in every instance — and 
 latest in the province of Assam — it has been found,, 
 as above shown, to be wholly inoperative, for this 
 very simple reason, — that the trouble, the delay 
 and expense, of enforcing labor contracts, has 
 always far exceeded the gain to be anticipated 
 from a successful civil suit. From the moment a 
 Contract system such as that contemplated by the 
 bill lately introduced by the Indian Legislature, but 
 which the Secretary of State vetoed, is made law, 
 the free laborer is reduced to a state of bondage ; 
 and such complications are certain to arise where 
 legislators address themselves to surface sores, instead 
 of to the deep seated disease of which they are but 
 the off-spring. 
 
 The m )st approved plan— that which has been 
 attended with so much success in Australia and New 
 Zealand, is that called the Wakefield system, in 
 which the sale proceeds of unoccupied land are 
 formed into a fund to defray partially, or in full, the 
 expenses of emigration. But this excellent system, 
 by which it seems possible to create a sympathy, as 
 it were, between the surplus of one country and the 
 deficiency of another, and thus maintain a con- 
 tinuous and ever increasing stream of the over-flow 
 
 z 6 
 
350 
 
 of population to those places where there is a 
 superabundance of land ready to absorb it, would 
 seem to have been unknown, or altogether set 
 aside in Bengal. It is singularly to be regretted 
 that this very serious question, involving as it does 
 considerations of the highest national importance, 
 was not, from the commencement, treated philoso- 
 phically : and taking into account the great in- 
 crease to our knowledge of the true principles of 
 colonization within the last quarter of a century, 
 it seems almost incomprehensible, that, with such 
 very willing helps as the tea planters of Assam 
 and Cachar, no attempt whatever should have been 
 made to take advantage of the opportunity to put 
 them into practice. 
 
 But it would answer no useful purpose to pursne 
 inquiries after the day for them has gone by. The 
 Planters have suffered ; the coolies have died ; 
 a dynasty has passed away ; another has succeed- 
 ed; — Bengal has beeu boru again. 
 
 The first act of the present head of the Govern- 
 ment of Bengal, was to visit the tea districts of the 
 provinces under his control; to go amongst the 
 planters and the people ; to listen to their repre- 
 sentations ; in fine, to satisfy himself, of the true 
 circumstances and wants of the whole province ; 
 and while acknowledging it to be the duty of the 
 ruling authority to discharge faithfully its trust by 
 the people, to warn and counsel all, that in remind- 
 
351 
 
 iug Governoient of its duties they must not forget 
 their own responsibilities. 
 
 " It has always" said Mr. Beadon, "been, the first 
 aim of> the British government on the occupation 
 of a province, to give security of life and property to 
 all, and to ensure to every man his just rights. 
 These are the very elements of civilization and 
 prosperity. That in this district the government has 
 been successful in accomplishing this end, chiefly, I 
 may say, through the able and distinguished officers 
 who have been charged with the, local administra- 
 tion, is evident from the increase of wealth, revenue, 
 and population ; from the clearance of many thou- 
 sand acres of forest ; from the contented appearance 
 of the people ; and from the existence of this thriving 
 town and station in a spot, where a few yeare ago, the 
 voice of man was not heard." 
 
 " But something more is required. It is the 
 desire of the Goverarnent that every encouragement 
 should be given to further development by the grant 
 of waste lauds on favourable terms ; by opening out 
 roads throu^jhont the province ; by establishing at 
 every statiou schools in which sound knowledge may 
 be imparted to all, both in English and in your own 
 language; and by every other useful and practicable 
 measure- It is for you to shew your appreciation of 
 these measures by taking advantage of them, and 
 thereby to co-operate with the government in the 
 advancement of your country." 
 
353 
 
 " I exhort you especially to have your children 
 taught English as soon as the means of such instruc- 
 tion are provided, from funds with which the govern- 
 ment is prepared to supplement the efiforts of private 
 liberality. A large English community is springing 
 up amongst you, from the example of whose enter- 
 prise, industry, and integrity you cannot fail to 
 profit. English is the language of your rulers, and 
 is fast becoming the language in which all public 
 business must be conducted. You may be assured, 
 that every Assamese child of respectable family now 
 living who is not instructed in English in his youth 
 will have cause to lament it in mature age." 
 
 " Major Bivar has mentioned to me that a general, 
 desire is felt by the community for the extension of 
 the Electric Telegraph to Dibroogurh. This is a 
 measure which I have long advocated, and I am 
 happy to say that sanction has already been given to 
 the construction, next season, of a line to connect 
 Gowhattee with Calcutta, and that the extension of 
 this line to Dibroogurh is promised in the following 
 year."* 
 
 The expression of such sentiments alone, gives the 
 public fair grounds to assume that the interests 
 of this noble province will be duly cared for, and 
 as tending considerably to reassure those who have 
 
 * Address of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal at an audience 
 held for the reception of the European and native gentry at Dibroo- 
 ghur ia Upper Assam.— 9«A August 1863. 
 
S53 
 
 lately been deterred from embarking in tea specula- 
 tions, will immensely increase the flow of wealth 
 into the province. But Mr. Beadon did not rest 
 satisfied witli talking good Government. While in 
 Assam, the Rules for the sale of waste lands were 
 published, and in framing them every possible 
 endeavour was made to make them as liberal as 
 the terms of the Secretary of State's despatch 
 would admit of. Bengal before last, was now first 
 in the field of progress. Other Presidencies and 
 Provinces of India followed ; but it is certainly in a 
 great measure to the liberal views of the present 
 Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, English capitalists 
 owe that this measure, as sanctioned by the Home 
 Government, was put in a shape to be practically 
 worked. He projected a main road from one end 
 of Assam to the other, and bursting the chains of 
 ideal principles which had so long fettered Bengal, 
 he boldly announced that if the labor of the province 
 was unequal to the strain, the Government itself must 
 import. Further he extended the Presidency town's 
 Act for breach of labor contracts to Assam and 
 Cachar ; and finally, having matured his knowledge, 
 he caused to be introduced into his Council, a bill to 
 regulate the immigration of Coolies to the tea dis- 
 tricts of the Lower Provinces. That this measure 
 will satisfy the planters, as long as foreign emigra- 
 tion is carried on under less stringent regulations, is 
 doubtful ; but that it will be sufficiently powerful 
 
354 
 
 in its effects to afford protection to the we&kand 
 ignorant, and generally to ameliorate the evils of 
 a traffic, which a sense of honesty compels me 
 to say has not been very creditable to any one 
 concerned, we have the guarantee that it was framed 
 and introduced by a gentleman so distinguished in 
 the cause of philanthropy as the Hon'ble Ashley 
 Eden* 
 
 But there is yet a phase of this case, which viewed 
 from an Imperial point, is perhaps of greater import- 
 ance than any yet noticed. I have already explained 
 the condition of India to be that of a mighty penin- 
 sula, larger than England, France, Spain, and Ger- 
 many put together, having a moderate population, 
 but so unequally distributed as to be congested 
 in some places, while others are waste and 
 unoccupied. The Indian question which has occu- 
 pied the greatest attention in England for thp 
 last few years, has been the reclamation of these 
 wastes, and the Indian Government and Her 
 Majesty's Ministers have declared themselves to be 
 so deeply interested in the result, as to be prepared 
 to make great sacrifices to accomplish it. Now 
 for the attainment of this much desired end, 
 two things are vitally necessary. Population and 
 Capital; but primarily population. In these two then, 
 consists the real wealth of India ; and of the two 
 population is the most valuable, for without labor, 
 * Since, the above waa written this Act has become Law. 
 
355 
 
 in this matter, Capital is as it were, locked up and 
 useless. Now it was known that Capital in India is 
 scarce. Governmentj therefore, has used its best 
 endeavours to induce Englishmen to bring this desi- 
 deratum into the country, and in the Tea Districts 
 of Lower Bengal its exertions have been attended 
 with considerable success. Kegarding population 
 there has been much misconception in England. But 
 it has been shown that, in proportion to the area, it is 
 very much below the average of populous European 
 countries. Capital then being secured, the point 
 it appears to me, to which the most serious 
 attention should have been directed, was the 
 leading of the over-flow of those districts in 
 which population is excessive, into those for the 
 reclamation of which their labor was required. But 
 this point, does not seem to have been considered. 
 Advertisements for years have filled the offieiul 
 Gazettes informing the public that Government 
 was prepared to give away land for nothing, or 
 next to nothing, and some astonishment I believe, 
 has been felt that no one has come forward to 
 take it. As well, in my humble opinion, might a 
 proclamation be issued informing hungry High- 
 landers that breeches were to be had in the Sand- 
 wich Islands for six pence a pair, and that all who 
 chose to go there might buy them and wear them. 
 It is notorious that the peasant-proprietors of Hin- 
 dostan proper are groaning under an iniquitous 
 
356 
 
 system of advances, because tliey have not the 
 meaus of cullivating the little holdings around 
 their own homesteads, and to expect those who 
 are poorer still, to find means to migrate, and 
 then funds for a year's support to enable them to 
 settle, does not appear much wiser. But it is ar- 
 gued, that no such expectation is entertained- — that 
 it is the business of capitalists and speculators to 
 provide means for these wants, as well as for all others 
 of their position. Now if out of deference to the 
 argument, we admit the correctness of this view, and 
 consider the question as one simply of labor and 
 capital, it cannot be denied, that, the admitted object 
 of Government being to reclaim these wastes, it is a 
 part of its business to co-operate, at least, in trans- 
 porting labor to where capital, on its invitation, has 
 been accumulated for the purpose, but which, for 
 the want of it, is unemployed. Again, since it has 
 been shown that the labor of the whole of India 
 -as compared with its area, is short of the average 
 of European countries, that it would be politic to 
 endeavour to prevent the labor that is wanting 
 in India, being diverted to other countries, will 
 I think be conceded. In this view, then, were the 
 Indian Legislature to pass an Act prohibiting foreign 
 emigration, it would only be following a course 
 that would doubtless be adopted by most European 
 Governments under similar circumstances. But such 
 is not necessary here. Since the passing of the Act 
 
357 
 
 of 1839, "the general law has recognized it as a 
 penal offence to contract with any native of India 
 for labor in a colony beyond Seas, or to aid any 
 native of India in emigrating for employment 
 as a laborer. " And since the expenditure sanction- 
 ed for Public Works this year, reaches the enor- 
 mous sum of £12,000,000, and the Secretary of 
 State has admitted that the whole of this amount 
 cannot be laid out, because labor is not forth- 
 coming for the purpose, the present would not 
 seem to be the most favourable time for initia* 
 ting a change of this policy. Those, therefore, who 
 have the interest of India at heart, cannot but 
 observe with deep concern the recurrence of trea- 
 ties with foreign powers entered into by her Ma- 
 jesty's Government, to deprive India of that which 
 she cannot spare — of that the want of which, it ia 
 now admitted, retards her own progress. The 
 philanthropic policy of the British Government in 
 regard to the Slave Trade, in the steady pursuance 
 of which England still spends millions of money, 
 must be the admiration of .the World, for all ages 
 to come. But it is questionable how far it will be 
 considered admisssable, or how far it is the in- 
 tention of her Majesty's Ministers to sacrifice 
 the best interests of India, to a question of British 
 policy, after it has been acknowledged that the 
 laboring population is below the wants of the 
 Country itself. 
 
358 
 
 It is argued by some persons in this Country, 
 that any interference with these treaties would be 
 objectionable as opposed to the full freedom which 
 ought to be given to every man living under 
 British Rule, to carry his labor to the best market. 
 But this idea seems to have originated, rather in 
 a misconception of the true principle involved, 
 and a fear of being wrecked among the rocks and 
 shallows of Protection, than from any desire to support 
 a policy that must prove detrimental to the interests 
 the Country. As long, however, as protection is the 
 recognized policy of Government in its Home De- 
 partment, and these treaties require special Acts to 
 over ride the Law of the Land, such arguments in 
 relation to treaties with foreign powers, must appear 
 a little whimsical. To concede to the natives of 
 India, the freedom of carrying their labor to any 
 market they please is one thing, — and to con- 
 cede to foreign powers the right to send agents 
 into your territories to entice away the labor which 
 your owQ country requires for reclaiming culturabie 
 waste laud is quite another. The one is a right the 
 natives enjoy, or ought to enjoy, in virtue of their 
 subjection to British rule. The other is a right I 
 have yet to learn that any nation on the face of the 
 globe has thought proper to concede to foreigners. 
 The one right involves a principle which is an 
 important element of the British Constitution. The 
 other a principle which if carried to the extreme 
 
359 
 
 limit, would place all poor countries at the mercy of 
 the rich — possibly depopulate many. i 
 
 I have repeatedly in the course of this review had 
 occasion to dwell on the fact that the natives of India 
 are in a state of infancy, and consequently in 
 need of protection, — not in the sense in which that 
 term is opposed to free trade; but in the sense 
 in which the Law applies it to persons under age. 
 In the present condition of things, however strict 
 emigration Rules and Regulatiorjs may be framed, it 
 is wholly impossible for Government to provide 
 against poor people being enticed from their 
 homes under delusions, the falsity of which cannot 
 he made apparent until the victims are beyond seas, 
 and the reach of help. I have no hesitation in saying 
 that many if not all the evils above commented on 
 in regard to Coolie immigration to Assam, exist, 
 though possibly iii a milder form, iu the present 
 system of emigration to British and foreign 
 colonies. The Government of India has no in- 
 formation of the emigrants, after they leave the shores 
 of India, neither en route to their destination, nor 
 when they reach it; and there is too much reason to 
 believe that, in some instances, the mortality on the 
 voyage is excessive, and that the climate, and the 
 work the coolies are put to, causes a very large 
 proportion to be 'expended.'* In these circum- 
 
 • The climate of the French Colony of Re -union is considered fatal 
 to Africans, and Dr. Mouat, an advocate for emigration both 
 
360 
 
 stances, I have very grave doubts how far, from 
 a moral point of view, the British Government 
 is justified in permitting its subjects to be removed 
 from under the segis of its protection, until such 
 time as they are of full age, without some better 
 guarantees than at present seem to exist, that in 
 doing BO it is not violating the very principle, it 
 has sacrificed so much to uphold. The Government 
 of India in this matter is helpless. The Govern- 
 ment of Great Britain concludes a treaty, and 
 forthwith the Governor General is ordered to pass 
 an Act to carry out its provisions. Such an 
 Act has lately been passed by the Legislative 
 Council of the Governor General, to legalize the 
 emigration of native labor to the Danish Colouy 
 of St. Croix; and it is to be hoped that the very 
 interesting debate on that measure, will attract such 
 attention in England, as will at once cause an end to 
 be put to the conclusion of treaties with foreign 
 powers to deprive India of her most precious wealth. 
 
 Iconceive|Indiato be under thedeepestobligationsto 
 my esteemed friend the Hon'bleMr. Ellis, the Member 
 of Council for Madras, for the able,lucid,and fearless 
 manner in which he laid this matter in all its bear- 
 ings before the Legislative Council; — " In reality" 
 
 to Ite-union and Mauritius, thinks, that if the mortuary returns 
 are correct, the climate is not much more adapted for Asiatics than 
 for Africans. He states the number necessary to supply the full 
 Wants of the Island at 50,000. 
 
361 
 
 sfiid Mr. Ellis "the future progress of India, speak- 
 ing not of particular portions of the country, but, 
 of the Empire generally, ran a serious risk of being 
 interrupted and del.iyed, by the want of a suffici- 
 ent population. This deficiency of labor was likely 
 to retard an object in which His Lordship's prede- 
 cessor in the Government of this country, and the 
 English public generally, had shown so great an 
 interest, the reclaiming of the vast tracts of jungle 
 and waste land, and the application to the soil of 
 English capital under tiie superintendence of 
 English settlers. When lie reflected upon the vast 
 extent of llnilways still remaining incomplete; the 
 tramways, feeders, and roads required to bring the 
 great lines of Railway into profitable operation ; and 
 the vast works of irrigation which were beingunder- 
 taken with th« object of fertilizing and enriching 
 the country ; when they knew that all these great 
 enterprizes were not looming in the distance, but 
 were already in progress he (Mr. Ellis) confessed 
 that he thought they should view any increase ia 
 the number of emigrants, and any measures which, 
 like the present Bill, have a tendency to encourage 
 emigration, as matters of regret, and as a serious evil. 
 "The Liws relating to emigration would, he did 
 not doubt, be found very sufficient in countries 
 where the people were more civilized and self-reliant 
 than they were in India; but he did not believe 
 that the law, in its present state, was sufficient to 
 
 z 7 
 
362 
 
 guard the Natives of the interior of the coun- 
 try from being deceived and enticed from their 
 homes on false, or what was nearly as bad, on 
 insuflBeient information. He believed that if we 
 could follow the recruiters of emigrants into the 
 interior of the country, and if we could watch their 
 proceedings more closely than had hitherto been 
 done, we should find them holding out the moat 
 eiaggerated prospects to the most ignorant class 
 of the population, and making promises as extra- 
 vagant as those of the recruiting Serjeant to the 
 bumpkins of a village in England, when a few fine 
 men were wanted for service in India. The Natives 
 in the interior completely misapprehend the posi- 
 tion and powers of these recruiting agents. These 
 agents displayed before their evfs a Purwaunah, 
 as they styled the document they receive from the 
 Emigration Agent, and they were invested, in the 
 eyes of the people, with a certain degree of official 
 aiuthority. They were listened to all the more 
 readily in consequence of its being supposed that 
 their objects had the support and approval of the 
 Government. When once a gang of Coolies was 
 collected, care was taken to gain over a few of the 
 most intelligent among thpm. These were appoin- 
 ted as Sirdars over small companies of the Coolies, 
 were favored by the recruiter, and combined with 
 the recruiter to keep up the illusions which caused 
 ths Coolies to enlist. These Sirdars obtained, 
 
363 
 
 ^during the march to Calcutta, a very great iiiftu>- 
 ence over their respective gangs, and, by the time 
 the C;)oIies reached their depot at Calcutta, they 
 were fully persuaded of the reality of the promises 
 held out to them when they left their homes, and 
 that these would be speedily realized. Acting 
 under the direction o,f their leaders they, parrot- 
 Jtike, expressed their contentment when questioned 
 by the Protector, and their entire willinguqss to 
 fulfil their engagements. He (Mr. Ellis) must 
 '.beg to observe that he believed the work of the 
 Protectory so far as .lay in his power, was most con- 
 scientiously performed at Calcutta by the Officer 
 appointed for that purpose ; but he maintained that 
 the bands of. intending emigrants were deceived 
 before reaching the depotrand the influence of their 
 Sirdars dictated their answers to the Protector." 
 ; " He did not wish to dwell upon the lamentable 
 and excessive mortality which had recently occurred 
 ^mong the emigrants to the Island of Re-union-, 
 and which had engaged, he believed, the attention 
 of the Government of Bengal, and the Government 
 of India, for he had no doubt that efficient reme- 
 dies would be applied. This mortality, which was 
 nearly double that which occurred among the emi- 
 grants to the Mauritius, amounted, to 4^ per cent 
 during the short time occupied in the. voyage, and 
 in the distribution of the Coolies. . With reference 
 to this uarticular branch of emigratioh .from this 
 
364 
 
 country, he had carefully examined the reports 
 regarding Cooly labor, inserted monthly in the 
 Commercial Gazette published at St. Denis. He 
 gatheerd from those reports some importanft acts. It 
 appeared that the mortality among the Coolies receiv- 
 ed from Calcutta was of the very serious character 
 which he had already noticed, that this mortality 
 was continuous during a great part of the year, 
 and also that the Coolies received from Calcutta 
 were physically ill-suited for the labors assigned 
 to them on the sugar-cane plantations and in the 
 sugar factories. It was added, and he thought 
 this a very signiRcant remark, that the demand 
 for labor in the Island was so great, that in spite 
 of the large numbers already sent, the planters 
 and manufacturers were eager to obtain these 
 Coolies, although it was admitted that their physi- 
 cal condition was unsuited for this labor. "When 
 it was remembered that the Island of Re-union 
 did not admit of much e:xtention of cultivation, 
 and that the climate, though favorable to Euro- 
 peans, is considered fatal to Africans, and hostile 
 to Asiatics he very much feared, from the facts 
 he had mentioned, that it had been found, as 
 was the case with imported slave labor in America, 
 that it paid to employ at excessive labor an 
 Indian Cooly, even for a limited period, and that 
 a large proportion of those employed succumbed to 
 this labor." 
 
365 
 
 It is extremely refreshing to find a tone so healthy 
 prevading the debates of a Council the mernber-a 
 of which at one time it was thought were doomed 
 to be dummies. From such constitutional proceed- 
 ings as this debate records, evincing as they do 
 respect for the wishes of the Supreme Authority, with 
 an honorable and conscientious resolve faithfully to 
 discharge the sacred trust with which members are 
 invested, the public can augur nothing but the 
 strengthening of the power of the Executive, and the 
 welfare of the Country. It is further gratifying to 
 know that Air. Ellis has not spoken in vain, — that 
 this highly important debate has not been barren of 
 results. Agreeably to the orders of the Secretary of 
 State, the Act has become law ; but the discussion 
 was not a week old before the propriety of deputing 
 a Government Commissioner, as suggested by Mr. 
 Ellis, to all the colonies to which coolies are sent, 
 to obtain the information asked for, was considered; 
 and it is tlie intention of the Government of India 
 to revise and consolidate all the laws relating to 
 the emigration of laborers from India. The revision 
 and amendment of these laws will effect one portion 
 of the object — the protection of the emigrant before 
 he leaves India—and the deputation of a Commisr, 
 sioner, should such an officer independent of all local 
 Colonial influences be appointed, will go some way 
 towards extending that' protection to hira, after he 
 has left it. Thus, the Government of India will have. 
 
36« 
 
 done all that lies in its power to neutralize evils, which 
 I fear must be inherent in every system of emigration 
 ■where the emigrants are not sufficiently enlighten- 
 ed and intelligent to understand, thoroughly, the 
 engagements entered into ou their behalf. It will 
 remain for her Majesty's Government to decide 
 the points which seem to be disputed in India — viz. 
 whether the direction of future legislation in regard 
 to the population of India, is to be for the benefit 
 of India herself, or for the benefit of British and 
 foreign Colonies — and whether the existing anomaly 
 shall continue, of the Indian laborer being pro- 
 hibited by law from the freedom of carrying his 
 labor where he pleases, and foreign agents being 
 permitted to come and lure him to a distant land 
 beyond Seas, when he might obtain all that he 
 requires in his own country, within reasonable 
 distance of his home, and under the protective laws 
 of his own Government. If still anxious to reclaim 
 the great wastes of India, it will be for both 
 Governments, in concert, to consider, what arrange- 
 ments, if any, can be made that will facilitate 
 the removal of a laboring population from over- 
 crowded districts to those where European Capita- 
 lists are ready to employ it. And when we reflect 
 that it has been satisfactorily established, that some 
 of those districts which are now unpopulated, are 
 admirably adapted for the growth of the best des- 
 criptions of that commodity, the want of which has 
 
367 
 
 reduced so'many hundred thousands, if not millionit 
 of our own countrymen, to a state bordering on: 
 starvation, the question is one that ought to have 
 special interest for the people of England. 
 
 The physical obstacles in the way of establishj 
 ing a communication between the North Eastern 
 Frontier of Assam, and the territories of the King 
 of Burmah, are doubtless very great j but if the 
 Burmese could march an army into the province, 
 devastate it, and drive before them into Burmah 
 30,000 captives, with their cattle and house-hold 
 goods, to the British Government these obstacles can- 
 not be insurmountable. Now, moreover, since by the 
 late commercial treaty, political difficulties are in some 
 degree removed, the hostility of the Singphoos and 
 other Hill tribes, can hardly be considered a valid 
 ground for objecting to attempt this highly important 
 measure. Our Burmese territories almost border 
 the most populous country in the whole World ; a 
 country in which — notwithstanding an unequal 
 struggle has long been maintained between the laws 
 of Man, and the laws of Nature, to restrain the 
 over-flow of population from streaming out of 
 it — the people are daily seeking new outlets for 
 their energy and industry. In Pegu, we have 
 28,000 square miles of uncultivated land, a grea^t 
 portion of which has been pronounced to be equal 
 to any Cotton land in India; and these circum- 
 stadces^ to my mind, indicate that there are Acts 
 
368 
 
 left for the Legislature of India to pass, that would 
 tead more to the advancement of the interests of 
 both England nnd this Country, than Acts to legalize 
 the abstraction of India's laboring population. Nor 
 in holding this opinion am I altogether singular. 
 Within the last few months a proposition has come 
 up from the Chief Commissioner of British Burmah to 
 sanction an expenditure of some £10,000, or ^612,000 
 for the purpose of inaugurating a system of immigra- 
 tion from China. But it has not, I am sorry to say, 
 met with the approval of the Supreme Government. 
 It must he borne in mind, however, that the great 
 que^stion of the development of India's vrealth, ha-t not 
 hitherto been fairly looked at from all points. The 
 actual relationship betweeu the great elements of 
 prosperity — Land, Labor, and Capital — has not been 
 accurately apprehended. Regarding land there could 
 be no mistake. Vast tracts were there. Capital, 
 people were not quite so certain about. It might be 
 there; but if so, it: was locked up — hoarded. In 
 tlie matter of population, however, there were no 
 doubts whatever. Every body firmly believed it to be 
 excessive. But it appears that on the attempt being 
 made to reclaim one, out of the many provinces of 
 this great peninsula in which large tracts are waste, 
 the failure was uot iu that element regarding 
 which people had fears — capital; but in tiiat iu 
 which people least expected it — population. This now 
 is kuow and admitted ; aad it may- be hoped that 
 
369 
 
 with the light of this new knowledge, the ques- 
 tion will be dififerently viewed, and tliat if invit.i- 
 tions be still held out to English capitalists to 
 bring or send their money into India, some endea- 
 vour will be made to aid them in obtaining the 
 means of making use of it. If not, capitalists will 
 decline the offers made, and the solutiati of the 
 problem must be left to time and circumstances. 
 
 That it is the duty of a Government, with popula- 
 tion excessive in some parts, and large tracts of rich 
 land unpopulated in others, to take some measures to 
 encourage the transfer of the surplus population to the 
 surplus land, no reasonable being will deny. In older 
 and richer countries, in which the people are more 
 active, intelligent, and enterprising than the people 
 of India, — in short in self-governing countries, 
 a Government has little more to do than to 
 advertise land, and /joor people very soon find their 
 way to it. Here it is different. Advertisements 
 are so much waste paper. The people who are 
 wanting, cannot read or understand them. If they 
 could, they would not believe them. Or if they 
 did, they have not the means to avail them'selves 
 of the advantages they hold out. 
 
 And this brings me to ^he third point of this 
 important subject — Capital. 
 
 In treating of the rates of interest for money pre- 
 vailing in this country, I have said suflScient to 
 show that the popular notion of the riches of India 
 
370 
 
 is very erroneous. When any Gommodity is to 
 be obtained in al)undance, it isahviiys chea|). Thus, 
 though we can conceive situations in which air and 
 water, would be worth more tlian gold and pre- 
 cious stones, ordinarily they have no value in 
 exchange. If, therefore, money in India, a.t has 
 been shown, is dear, it is a sure indication that 
 it is scarce. Much may be — indeed is hoarded ; but 
 taking into consideration the extent, and the na- 
 itnral and productive richness of the country, the 
 amount of the precious metals withdrawn from 
 cirealation is not such as to vitiate any general 
 'conclusions, diawn from circumstances as we find 
 them existing around us. 
 
 We have no means of making even an approximate 
 estimate of the Capital of the whole country, nor yet 
 ■of ascertaining, with any approach to accuracy, the 
 condition of any section of the upper classes of the 
 people. We must, therefore, rest content with gene- 
 ralities, which however will fully suffice for the pur- 
 pose. From the days of the Phoenicians, the wealth 
 of India has been proverbial. Nor can there be any 
 doubt that India is an extremely rich country. 
 From time immemorial, streams of gold, brocades, 
 precious stones, muslins, spices, fibres, dyes &o. &c. 
 have been flowing from India to Europe, which 
 have enriched the raerchnnts <«f Venice, Genoa, 
 England, and those of other countries, tiirough whose 
 hands they passed. There could be no mistake about 
 
371, 
 
 these things. People saw them. Persons again who 
 came to India, beheld mighty Kings and Princes, 
 clothed in rich garments glittering with precious 
 stones, living in all the pomp and splendour of. 
 Orieutiil state. All this indicated immense riches.; 
 Yet. the people were very poor. They had no. 
 Capital. The country was in short, at once, the 
 richest, and the poorest on the face of the Earth. 
 How shall we explain the paradox — how reconcile 
 the existence of immense wealth, with the absence 
 of any Capital ? Nothing is easier. All Capital is 
 the result of saving. In India, one class excepted, 
 from the highest to the lowest, no one saves. All 
 spend — often more than they can call their own. 
 The King who bestows largesses with an open 
 hand and dies in debt, is lauded in prose and 
 verse as a noble and generous monarch. The 
 King who departs this life leaving a full Trea- 
 sury, IS satirized as a mean spirited miser. 
 And the voice of the Nation concurs in the 
 verdicts of these poets laureate. The one clasa 
 alluded to are the Mahajan and Bunneea, or 
 banker and money lender, class, whose business 
 it is to supply the wants of others — to live and 
 grow fat on the necessities of the remainder of 
 the community. For the rest, in India, every one 
 spends what he produces, or what is produced for 
 him : and as such a state of things is inconsistent 
 with the existence of Capital, that there is much 
 
372 
 
 wealth, but no Capital, in ludia, is not at all sur- 
 prising. 
 
 Bub in the midst of so much wealth how is 
 it that the great body of the people are, so misera- 
 bly poor ? This would seem to be more difficult 
 of explanation; but it is not so. In India the 
 system on which society is regulated is pecu- 
 liar. Tliere is a despotism — an Oriental despotism 
 About it, which percolates through all ranks of 
 society from the highest downward, that is not 
 rtadily understood in Europe, Kings prey upon 
 the wliole community ; the Governors of provinces 
 prey on the people of the provinces over which they 
 rule ; the great landholders prey on the landlords : 
 and the landlords prey on the ryots. Kings 
 having a large number of persons to prey upon, 
 are rich ; and in their persons is represented the 
 greatest portion of the surplus wealth of the 
 Nation. Governors, petty Rajas, Nawabs, great 
 landlords, &o., for the same reason, are, rich and 
 well to do. But the unfortunate ryots, preyed 
 upon by every one, have no one on wiiom in turn 
 to prey, and are therefore very poor, — so poor that 
 they are left nothing beyond the bare means of sub- 
 sistance, — nothing to pay thecost of cultivating their 
 little f^irms. Hence the necessity for the system 
 of advances, against the iniquity of which so 
 much is said and written, by people who under- 
 stand very little about it, Nor do I allude solely 
 
373 
 
 to English writers ; but to many in' India whose 
 knowledge while only surface deep, is often taken, 
 in England, for very reuch more than it is 
 worth. The system . of advances, so much railed 
 at in Euglaud and India, is simply a necessity 
 arising oat of the extreme poverty of the people, 
 and its only cure lies in such a settlement of the 
 land tenure, as ensuring to the actual cultivators 
 of the soil a larger share of the profits resulting 
 from their own industry, will enable them, after 
 providing themselves with the necessaries of life, 
 to call their crops, at least, their own. The sale of 
 land in fee-simple to ignorant and unenlightened 
 landlords will not effect this. Nor yet the redemp- 
 tion of the laud revenue. A perpetual settlement 
 will be equally impotent to accomplish the end. It 
 has not accomplished it in Bengal. On the con- 
 trary, the ryots are admitted to be in an extremely 
 depressed conditon. Before much beneEt can result 
 from any improvement in the land tenure of tho 
 country, landlords must be better educated, and 
 cultivators more intelligent than at present. The 
 former must learn that the ryots, as the source 
 of their wealth, must be solicitously cared for, and 
 that some better and more profitable use may be 
 made of their accumulated savings, than squander- 
 ing them in personal luxuries, marriage ceremonies, 
 and barbarous festivals. Tlie ryot too must un- 
 derstand, and be placed in a position to prove, that 
 
374 
 
 his thews and sinews, are not merely a means of 
 maintaining liis existence; but the means of en- 
 abling him to live in a certain degree of comfort, 
 and to bring np his children to industrious and 
 useful callings. Until this happy state of things is 
 brought about, India will be dependent, in a great 
 measure, for her advancement on English capital, 
 for at present, ' with all her riches — with all her 
 productive wealth, India is so pbor, that the whole of 
 her accumulated savings^ as compared with her 
 .population and immense extent of ^rea, is but a drop, 
 as it were, in the Ocean of the Capital of the 
 World. 
 
 The history of the Tea experiment is curiously 
 Jilustrative of the want of Capital in India. In the 
 N. .W, Provinces, the Government, as already 
 explained, took considerable pains to introduce the 
 ■Cultivation of the plant, and after nearly a quarter 
 of a century of experiments, carried out at great 
 ,expe'nse, it succeeded. Now the production of tea, 
 necessitates a steady outlay for four years, without 
 any return, and hence it requires the command 
 ,of considerable-Capital. But English capitalists 
 declined to invest their money in speculations so 
 f^r removed - from the great centres of European 
 commerce. There was neither ciipital nor enter- 
 prise among the people themselves, and the Goverii- 
 ment, havipgjspent its money for the attainment 
 of an object by which it hoped to confer, a uationa 
 
375 
 
 benefit on the country, was about to lose it, at the very 
 moment it looked for the fulfilment of its expecta* : 
 tions. Fortunately the cultivation of Tea is a garden 
 operation, — an agreeable, gentlemanly, and profita- : 
 ble occupation. A few Civil and Military officers,? 
 therefore, v?ho had retired and settled in the Hills, i 
 at once commenced to make plantations. Others, , 
 still in the service, 'wished to invest their savings in 
 like speculations; bat the rules of the Indian 
 Servicesy did not permit Government servants to hold 
 laud. The question was referred to the Secretary 
 of State, Lord Canning suggesting that the rules 
 should be relaxed. The Secretary of State disap- 
 proved, on the ground that public officers' whole 
 time and attention should be given up to their 
 public duties. Lord Canning and his Council re- 
 monstrated against this decision, zealously advo- 
 cating the independence of the Services, The Secre- 
 tary of State gave way in regard to Military Officers; 
 but not in the case of Civil servants, or Military 
 Officers in the discharge of Civil duties. Again 
 did Lord Canning, the real and steadfast friend 
 of India and the Services, urge, that Government 
 had full knowledge of the character and conduct, 
 of all its servants, and that in dealing with honor- 
 able men, full reliance on their integrity, with re- 
 wards and punishments, were a better preventive 
 of the abu3e of privileges, than disabilities and pro^* 
 hibitory euactmeuts. Finally the Secretary of SJatfi 
 
376 
 
 , modified his orders, so tliat regimental officers might 
 be permitted to hold land anj' where in India, and 
 Civil Officers^ and Military Officers holding Civil 
 appointmeivts, to hold it anv where out of the 
 presidency or division of the presidency or Lieute- 
 nant Governor-ahip in which they were serving, 
 and so the matter now stands. ; 
 
 Now had the Government of India been unable to 
 procure a modification of the Secretary of State's,, 
 first decision, the fine field for Tea, Chinchona, Silk, 
 Hop cultivation, Iron works, &c. &c. opened up in the 
 Himalayan ranges, must have remained unoccupiedv 
 for many years; for, it having been determined that, 
 Government will not work these undertakings on its 
 own account to a profitable result^ the information 
 required by English capitalists before they will invest 
 their money in speculations in the remote East, 
 could not have been obtained. Natives, except the 
 class before alluded to, do not save; and besides 
 the savings of the government civil and military 
 Services, there is no Capital in the North Western 
 Provinces of India, available for investment in un- 
 dertakings for the development of the resources 
 of the country. Lord Canning, when he advocated 
 the cause of the independence of the Services in 
 regard to the employment of their private means, 
 was possibly aware of this fact ; but in the official 
 documents I have seen on the subject, this point 
 is not difelt on. When we consider, however 
 
377 
 
 the peculiarity of our position in India, it comes 
 to be a matter of considerable importance to take 
 advantage of every possible means to compenaate 
 for the drain on the Capitnl of the country that 
 it necessitates. Tlie Home charges now amount to 
 110 less a sum than nine millions sterling, — hard 
 Rupees, which are withdrawn from India, to be 
 expended in England. Last year, it is true, that 
 this amount, or nearly so, being required for Railway 
 expenditnre, it was simply transferred on paper; 
 yet had it not been required, an equal amount 
 of Railway Capital, must have been sent into 
 India. But taking the annual Home cliarges for 
 salaries, pensions, payment of troops &c. at four 
 millions sterling, it is clear that during the cur- 
 rent century, an amount of capital, not less than 
 £248,000,000, has been collected from the ryots 
 of India, and spent in England. We have to add, 
 moreover, to this very large sum, the amount 
 represented hy the accumulated savings of all 
 the civil, military, and other servants of Govern- 
 ment, the wealthy mercliauts, tradesmen, planters, 
 barristers and Englishmen of jill grades, who come 
 to India to make money, — not to spend in it, but 
 to take out of it. The influx of capital thus 
 acquired and saved in India, has already had an 
 appreciable effect throughout Scotland. Tyburnia 
 in London shows outward and visible signs of havinc 
 benefitted by India's capital. The Cape of Good 
 
378 
 
 •H9pe> on the other hand, has severely felt the with-r 
 drawal of the annual increase to its wealth, bv the 
 alterations; in; the furlough regulations, whieli, 
 depriving the Indian services of the privileges in re- 
 gard to pay and service they enjoyed when on. leave 
 in the Eastern Seas, induces them to spend their 
 leaves in Europe. We have no means of obtain- 
 ing even an approximate idea of the amount annually 
 withdrawn from India and spent in Greut Britain by 
 our migrating European population. But takin<j all 
 things into consideration, if we set down the whole 
 amount, including the Home charges for the present 
 century at J300,000,000, we shall probably not 
 very much over estimate it. It may be argued that 
 if Englishmen had not come to India, much.of thia 
 capital never would have been created, and the trade 
 returns satisfactorily prove the truth of the argu- 
 ments. But the question is not whether capital has, 
 or has not been created by the English in India; but 
 whether the wealth of the nation has been pro- 
 portionately increased, — whether the capital that has 
 been created, has gone to enrich the country — and 
 if it be admitted that some of it has, it cannot be 
 denied that much of it has not When therefore, 
 it is apparent that the circumstances of our 
 position necessitate so large a portion of what may 
 legitimately be called the Capital of India, being 
 spent in other countries, it obviously becomes a 
 question of some moment, not only to encourage 
 
879 
 
 the intrtfdiictiori of foreign capital into India"; 
 but to take every legitimate precaution to prevent 
 native capital, that might be retained in the country^ 
 from being taken out of it. 
 
 I have mentioned above, that it is of the essence 
 of colonisation that emigrants take root in the 
 new soil. Novv there are serious and insurmoun* 
 table obstacles against colonising India; yet some- 
 thing may be done, and the first and most essential 
 step in that direction, is the granting permission 
 to Europeans to acquire landed or real property* 
 The persons to whom we would most naturally 
 look to settle in India, and from whose settlement, 
 India would undoubtedly derive the greatest benefit, 
 are those who, by long residence, have acquired 
 n knowledge of the country, and an acquaintance 
 with the religious, laws, habits, and languages of 
 the people — gentlemen of high standing, integrity, 
 and principle, who would treat the people well, and 
 to whom the people were accustomed to look 
 up. Such certainly are the Military and Civil 
 .servants of Government ; and these servants, and 
 this country, are under the greatest obligations 
 to our late deeply lamented Viceroy, for the consist- 
 ency and zeal with which he advocated the policy of 
 allowing the former to acquire property in the soil. 
 In regard to Military Officers, there seemed neither 
 reason nor justice in maintaining a restriction of 
 the kind, for after the transfer of India to tlie 
 
380 
 
 Grown, Military Officers ■ serving in India, should 
 naturally preserve the privileges as British subjects 
 they enjoy elsewhere. In rejrard to Civil Officers 
 too, there seemed some slight inconsistency in the 
 prohibition. All over the world, it is especially 
 land-holders, as those most deeply interested in the 
 maintetiance of order, thnt Governments endeavour to 
 enlist in the magistracy and other similar depart? 
 ments of the Service of the State. Lord Canning had 
 long been of opinion that it was a serious defect in 
 our Indian system, that it did not admit of such 
 Zemindars as the Raja of Burdwan, and other less 
 wealthy land-holders, in some way talcing part in 
 the Government of the Country ; and as a beginning 
 he invested certain talooqah-dars in Oude and the 
 Punjab, with rangisterial powers. In the spirit 
 of this policy, also, the Secretary of State added 
 native Members, large landed proprietors, to the 
 Council of the Governor-General. It was distinctiv 
 ordered, again, that the restrictions regarding the 
 holding of property in the soil, were not to be made 
 applicable to the native und uncovenanted, but only 
 to the European and covenanted civil servants of 
 Government. Latelj"^, moreover, especially in Bengal, 
 a considerable number of Indigo planters and other 
 European developers, were made honorary Magis- 
 trates, for the districts in which their properties were 
 situated. It would seem, then, as if Government 
 was endeavouring, ou the one side, to make landed 
 
381 
 
 proprietors Magistrates, — and on the other, ta 
 prerent Magistrates from becoming landed proprie-i 
 tors. The object of such a policy is not very intelligi- 
 ble. True, it is advanced that in a conntry where 
 litigation between ryots and landlords, is so rife, it 
 would not be safe to permit Magistrates and Collec-; 
 tors to acquire property that might, involve tba 
 necessity of their trying suits, in which they them< 
 selves would be interested parties. But surely it 
 vould be a libel on the high and honorable Civil 
 Service of India, to declare its Members less trust- 
 worthy than their native uncovenanted fellow 
 servants; and from this point of view, no other 
 conclusion can follow. The fact is, that there is 
 an objection to Civil Servants holding land in the 
 districts in which they may be employed : but it is not 
 this, and has no reference whatever to their integrity, 
 which, as a rule, is undoubted. The objection lies in 
 the moral condition of the people. However high the 
 character of the Collector, Magistrate, Deputy 
 Magistrate, or Assistant, native or European, may 
 be, no native suitor will dream of bringing any 
 suit into Court, in which the presiding authority 
 is supposed to have the slightest personal interest; 
 No amount of argument — no number of examples^ 
 will convince a native, that a judge, under any 
 circumstances, could decide a case contrary to his 
 bias, much less his personal interest. This certainly 
 is a serious — perhaps a fatal objection to Civil 
 
382 
 
 Servants holding property which is liable to be the 
 subject of dispute in courts over which they 
 preside : but it applies equally to covenanted and! 
 uncovenanted, European and Native Servants. Its 
 cure lies, like that of many others to which India- 
 is heir, in education; and until education has 
 done its work, existing restrictions can hardly be 
 removed. The objection, it is true applies only ta 
 the district in which a civil Ofi^r is employed;^ 
 but, as the service is at present constituted, it 
 never would do to hamper the Government, as t» 
 the employment of its civil Servants' in whatevei? 
 part 'of a presidency their services may be moab 
 required. 
 
 At the same time, looking at the question from^ 
 the capital, and many other points of view, it seems 
 to me, that it is extremely desirable to encourage 
 by all legitimate means, the acquirement of property 
 in the soil, by both military and civil Servants in 
 India; and to attain the desired end, that property 
 must be acquired while they are in the service of Go- 
 vernment, — not when they have left it. Men while 
 so situated may invest their savings in agricultural 
 and other speculations, and when they have made 
 sufficient progress to be enabled to see their way, 
 they may retire from the service of Government, 
 with' the view of settling on their estates and 
 managing them. But, should they be prohibited 
 from investing their savings in this manner, they will 
 
383 
 
 not retire until they have secured such a competency 
 as will enable them to bid good-bye to India, and 
 live in their native land. This has been the rule 
 hitherto J and the result has been England's gain, 
 but India's loss. Under any circumstances, the 
 number that would elect for India, would probably 
 not be excessive : but it is but justice to India to 
 give the country a fair chance. 
 
 It ought not to be forgotten, moreover, in the 
 scramble for Indian loaves and fishes which seems 
 to be commencing, that the holders of property, 
 and especially of property in the soil of any 
 country, have certain responsibilities to discharge 
 in regard to that country, which it is the duty 
 of Government to control; and that one of the 
 first of these is residence. A man may have 
 landed-property in half a dozen countries. He can 
 reside, at the same time, however, only in one. 
 Kesidence, therefore, can, with difficulty, be made 
 a compulsory condition to the acquirement of landed 
 property. Non-residence, nevertheless, may be 
 accompanied by certain restrictions that will place the 
 resident on somewhnt better terms than the non- 
 resident ; and this would seem to be only fair. A very 
 great outcry was raised against what was called the 
 double income Tax. Yet nothing, in my judgement, 
 could be more equitable ; for, if an Absentee taxis 
 good, for Ireland, I cannot see why some such 
 provision should not be -good for India also. Very 
 
384 
 
 -large fortunes are being made by persons engaged 
 in tea cultivation in India; and I should be very glad 
 to make one of these fortunes myself. Now if I 
 make this fortune, and spend it in India, I benefit 
 India — I help to enrich her, first by my outlay, and 
 second hy t\\Q expenditure of my profits. But if 
 it is my pleasure to enrich some other country with 
 the fortune which I derive from India, I do not 
 see why ], or why any other man similarly situated, 
 should not be made to pay something for the luxury 
 of living abroad. 
 
 An acre of land in Assam, the richest tea dis- 
 trict in India, costs, to purchase it iu fee-simple, 
 five shillings. To clear, plaut, and cultivate it 
 for six years costs about £30. The produce up to 
 the sixth year may be estimated at 800 lbs. This 
 is worth, after deducting all expenses of manufac- 
 ture j£40; the acre thus repaying the whole of 
 the outlay, and leaving a balance of £,10 over 
 and above. But an acre of tea uuder good cul- 
 tivation, will, when the plants are in full bearing, 
 or after the sixth year, produce annually 500 lbs. 
 of manufactured tea, and at present market rates, 
 this may be sold at a clear profit of £'io. Tea, 
 if planted in low wet soil, is liable to be attack- 
 ed by crickets, and another small insect which 
 injures the trees : but in proper teelah, or undulating 
 laud, it is free from these destroyers. We are yet 
 unaware, moreover, of any disease or blight to 
 
385 
 
 which the tea plant is subject. In the Himalaj:& 
 Hills, droughts have done mischief, and therefore 
 the means of irrigation are indispensible. But with 
 ordinary precautions,the tea crop is perhaps safer than 
 any other agricultural crop grown in India. That 
 property in tea, then, is highly valuable to proprie,-* 
 tors, and a safe and very remunerative investment 
 for Capitalists, there can be no doubt. 
 
 The crgp of tea from Assam and Cachar, alone, 
 this year, will be 2,500,000 lbs. Next year it will 
 not be less than 3,000,000 lbs. The working 
 expenses on this quantity of tea, ought to be 
 under £100,000; but looking to the number of 
 plantations not yet yielding, and the, very exten- 
 sive operations in progress, the outlay of capital 
 in the tea districts of India will certainly exceed 
 £200,000, and that, for the most, in parts of the 
 country where some little time ago, money was not 
 known. But tea in India is in its infancy ; and 
 what is now produced, is but an earnest of what 
 can, and will be produced, as soon as labor and seed 
 are more plentiful. When, however, we consider 
 that grain and other produce has in some parts 
 of Assam risen three hundred per cent, in four 
 years (see p. 177); that the wages of labor, within 
 the same period, have more than doubled ; and that 
 thriving towns and stations are springing up, 
 • where,' to use the words of the present Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Bengal, 'a few years ago the voice 
 
 Z9. 
 
386 
 
 of man was not heard/ that is sufficient evidence that 
 the benefits which must result to the country from 
 tea cultivation, will be imTnense. The GoTernment of 
 India will certainly share in these benefits in many 
 ways. But it is England that will gain most 
 largely by the capital her people invest in tea in 
 India. With the exception of an inappreciable 
 quantity, the entire of the teas grown in India, are 
 shipped for the London market ; and as the duty 
 on every lb. of tea sold there, is \s. Bd. the gain to 
 the revenues of England next year, from Indian 
 teas, will exceed J200,000. But tea in India 
 as mentioned, is yet in its infancy. A very few 
 thousands, only, out of the millions of acres that will 
 grow tea, are now under plant. The cultivation 
 will certainly extend rapidly. Every year will add 
 enormously to the quantity of seed available for 
 new plantations, and the application of machinery 
 to many of the operations of manufactore, will aid 
 in suppldnientiBg the efforts we may expect to see 
 Government making to increase the supply of labor. 
 Without beidg over- sanguine we may anticipate 
 that ■H'ithin the next twenty years, the quantity of 
 tea exported frdm India for the London market, 
 will not fall short of 30,000,000 lbs, which, if the 
 duty be reduced to one shilling, as it must be, will 
 still represent of the revenues of Englaild no less 
 a sum than £1,500,000. The profits on this 
 quantity of tea will be ,£1,500,000 ; and the working 
 
38/ 
 
 expenses will not fall shprt of £750fiOQ.. Two-, 
 thirds of the profits, or £1,000,000, will probably 
 go to increase the capital of England; and one 
 third, with the whole of the working expenses, or 
 £1,350,000, that of In^ia, thus, in this respect,^ 
 making a tolerably fair division of benefits. Every 
 acre of ground put under tea in India, now 
 adds £25 to the revenues of England. Nor 
 need the objection be raisedtbat the quantity of: 
 tea shipped from China, will be reduced by the 
 quantity shipped frooi India. It is an established 
 fact in economy, that Supply influences Demand, 
 and the capacity of the World to consume Tea, 
 appears to be so enormous, and to be increasing so 
 rapidly> that there seems little doubt, that by a 
 slight reduction in dujjy, it may be multiplied almost 
 ad libitum. By the reducj^ion of the prohibitive 
 duties prior to 1784, the quantity of tea consumed 
 in Great Bititaan, was trebled in tu/o years. In 1783 
 the quantity of tea sold at the East India Com- 
 pany's sales, amounted to 5,157,883 lbs. In 1785, 
 it reached 16,307,4i33 lbs. The quantity of tea im- 
 ported into Great Britain, in 1833, was 32,057,832, 
 lbs, and in 1858 it was 75,432,578 lbs.* I have not 
 got the Trade Returns of last year, but from the 
 circulars of Messrs. W. J. & H. Thompson for the 
 months of the first half of the year, we have data 
 
 * The quantity of tpa re-exported was, in 1833—254,460 lbs, and 
 in 1858,-7, 249,276 lbs. 
 
888 
 
 to assume, that the quantity of tea imported inta 
 Great Britaia in 1863, was very little short of 
 100,0Q(/,000 lbs. ! !* 
 
 To say nothing of the possibility of an interruption 
 of the trade with China, these results show how 
 deeply concerned both India and England are, or 
 ought to be, in the subject of this Review j and it is 
 to be hoped that the Governments of both Nation* 
 will see the necessity of acting in concert for the 
 advancement of a cultivation which may confer 
 such solid benefits on both countries. Let them 
 carefully examine existing rules regarding waste 
 lands, immigration regulations &c., and deliberately 
 consider how thfey may be best modified so as to give 
 those desirous of investing their money in tea, if 
 no favor, z.^ least a fair field. If I may be the 
 exponent of their views, I would venture to say that 
 they want — no more. 
 
 Nor must it be supposed by Englishmen anxious 
 to seek their fortunes in foreign laitds, that the 
 tea districts of India, if more profitable, are less 
 attractive than many other parts of the world 
 to which emigrants are daily flocking. Assam, it 
 is true, was once thought to be so wild and unhealthy 
 a province, that when troops were sent there the 
 European Officers were permitted to draw extra 
 allowances. But those days have passed. Much of 
 
 * America before the present disunion, eonsumed about 35,000,000, 
 Ibi of tea. 
 
389 
 
 the jungle with whiqh, fof want of population, it 
 was covered, is cleared away, and the province 
 is now found to be not only very much cooler, but 
 very much healthier than many parts of India. The 
 noblest river in India, the Bramahputra, flows 
 through the Valley, which is enclosed, on two sideSj 
 with hills, and on these hiH^j ere long, will be estab- 
 lished pleasant Sauataria. The Scenery of some parts 
 of this fine province moreover is picturesque and 
 beautiful, while the soil is unsurpassed in fertility by 
 the soil of any country in the world. For the profi- 
 table cultivation of tea,, no district, in India can be 
 placed befpre Assam. 
 
 But should a cold climate be prefered, there are 
 many I'rom which to select : — Darjeeling, overlooked 
 by the towering and snow-capped peaks of Mt. Everest 
 and Chiuchinjunga, the loftest mountains in the 
 world,; the charming, salubrious, and fertile valleys 
 of Kamaoa ; or the pleasant and milder Doon of 
 Deyrah. More westerly still, are Simla and Hazarah ; 
 but far before all the tea districts of India in the 
 grandeur of its scenery, and the picturesque loveli- 
 ness of its situation, is the valley of Kangra. Many 
 consider this valley more beautiful even thaa Cash- 
 mere, and I cannot better conclude this hurried aud 
 imperfect Review, than by the following extracts 
 from the official report of Mr. G. Carnac Barnes 
 B. C. S. on the settlement of this part of the 
 country, in which he has sketched, at once so 
 
390 
 
 graphically and so faithfully, the noble featares of 
 this ^ Happy Valley,' that I make no apology for 
 the space I allot to his interesting remarks. 
 : " The District of Kot Kangra, with nominal excep- 
 ' ' ■ tions, comprizes all the Hill 
 
 Territory belonging to the British 
 Government, situated between the Rivers Ravee 
 and Sutlej. It extends from Shahpore near the 
 Ravee on the West, in Lat. 33° 30', Long. 75° 45% 
 to the borders of Chinese Tartary in Lat. 32?, Long. 
 78° 10'. The Northern extremity touches upon 
 Ladakh, and the Southern limits of the district 
 rest upon the plains of the Baree and Julundbur 
 Doabs." 
 - "The area contained within these general confines 
 
 can only be conjectured, since a 
 
 JEntire District. , .- i . , j 
 
 great portion has not been and 
 
 may never be, surveyed. The entire space may be 
 roughly estimated at 8,000 square miles. Three 
 pf the Punjab Rivers, the Beas, the Ravee, and the 
 Chenab, take their rise withiu this tract. Various 
 races of . men, belonging to distinct types of the 
 human family, and speaking different languages; 
 are distributed over its surface. Here are Hills 
 just raised above the level of the plain, and moun- 
 tain crests higher than any peak of the Andes. 
 Every zone of climate and variety of vegetation is 
 here to be met with, from the scorching heat, and 
 exuberant growth of the tropics, to barren heighti 
 
391 
 
 destitute of verdure, and capped with perpetual 
 show." 
 
 "Kangra consist of a series of parnllel ranges, 
 divided by longitudinal Valleys; 
 
 ara e ^ngea. ^y^^ general direction of whichj 
 from Nortb-West to South-East, bave determined 
 the shape of the District. These ridges and valleys 
 increase gradually in elevation as they recede from 
 the plains, and approach the snowy barrier which 
 forms the Northern Boundary. The characteristic 
 features of Hill and Valley are best defined where 
 nearest to the plains. Thus, the border chain, 
 which seperates the level tracts of the Doab from 
 the Hills, runs in an uniform course from Hajee- 
 pore on the Beas, to Roopnr on the Banks of the 
 Sutlej. The Valley which it incloses, known as 
 the " Juswun Doon," preserves the same regular 
 simplicity, and stretches in one unbroken parallel 
 to the same extremes. But the further we penetrate 
 into the interior of this mountain system, the 
 less these distinctive lineaments are maintained. 
 Hills dissolve into gentle slopes, and platforms of 
 table land and valleys become convulsed and up- 
 heaved, so as no longer to be distinguished from 
 the ridges which environ them." 
 
 " The colossal range of mountains, which bounds 
 Kangra to the North, deserves more 
 
 The Chumba or iv xi • . j ... ,, 
 
 'Snowy Range. '^"*° this passing description. Al- 
 though the direction, of this range 
 
392 
 
 is in general conffopmity to that of the lower hills, 
 yet the altitude is so vastly superior, and the* struc- 
 ture so distin-ct, as to require a seperate notice. In 
 other psrts of the Himalaya, the effect of the snowy 
 mountains is softened, if not injured, by interme- 
 diate ranges, and the mind is gradually prepared 
 by a rising succession of hills, for the stupendous 
 heights which terminate the scene. But in Kangra 
 there is nothing to intercept the view. The lower 
 hills appear, by comparison, like ripples, on the 
 surface of the sea, — and the eye rests, uninterrup- 
 ted, on a chain of mountains which attain an 
 absolute elevation of 13,000 feet above the valleys 
 spread out at their base." 
 
 "I know no spot in the Himalaya, which for beauty 
 or grandeur, can coinpete with the Kangra valley, 
 and these over-shadowing hills. No scenery, in 
 my opinion, presents such sublime and delightful 
 contrasts, Below lies the plain a picture of rural 
 loveliness and repose. The surface is covered with 
 the richest cultivation, irrigated by streams which 
 descend from perennial snows, aid interspersed 
 with homesteads buried in the midst of groves 
 and fruit trees. Turning from this scene of 
 peaceful beauty, the stern and majestic hills 
 confront us. Their sides are furrowed with pre- 
 cipitous water-courses. Forests of Oak clothe their 
 flanks^ and higher up give place to gloomy aud 
 funereal pines. Above all, are wastes of snow or 
 
393 
 
 pyramidal masses of granite too perpendicular for 
 the snovf to rest on." 
 " These Valleys by no means present a general 
 
 evenness of surface. Their contour 
 anee."'™' **"""■ is pleasantly broken by transverse 
 
 ridges and numerous streams which 
 descend from the mountains above. A hundred 
 canals, filled with clear water, intersect the area in 
 all directions, and convey the blessings of irrigation 
 to every field. Trees and plants of opposite zones 
 are here intermingled, and Alpine vegetation con- 
 tends for pre-eminence with the growth of the 
 tropics. The Bamboo, the peepul and the mangoe, 
 attain a luxuriance not excelled in Bengal, while 
 firs and dwarf oaks, the cherry, the barberry, and 
 the dog-rose, flourish in their immediate vicinity. 
 Among cereal productions, rice and maize alternate 
 with wheat, linseed, and barley : and three-fifths of 
 the soil yield double crops in the course of the 
 year. The dwellings of the people are seldom 
 grouped together, but lie sprinkled in isolated 
 spots over the whole Valley. Every house is 
 encircled by a hedge of bamboos, fruit trees, and 
 other timber useful for domestic wants. Some- 
 times a cluster of five or six houses occurs, 
 and here a grain-dealer's shop and extensive groves 
 denote the head-quarters of the town-ship. These 
 scattered homesteads, the pictures of svlvan 
 elegance and comfort, relieve the monotonous 
 
394 
 
 expanse of cultivation, and lend an additional 
 charm to the landscape. 
 
 " There are mountainous massess still undescribed, 
 
 which it is difficult to bring under 
 cription! '"^ ™ either of the broad distinctions of 
 
 ridge or Valley. If they fall under 
 either definition they should properly be classed as 
 valleys, although in shape and aspect they more 
 resemble hills. Besides being contained within the 
 parallel chains, and on the area that would be 
 occupied by the valley, they belong to a later 
 formation. Instead of the secondary sandstone we 
 have a clay soil, and rounded pebbles mixed with 
 conglomerate rocks. Such for instance are the low 
 alluvial eminences which constitute the Talooquas 
 of Burgiraon, Teera, Muhul Loree, and that portion 
 ofRajgeeree south of the river Beas. An English 
 traveller, Mr, Vigne, passing through the hills of 
 Muhul Moree, compared them, not inaptly, to an 
 agitated Sea suddenly arrested and fixed into stone. 
 The crests are like angry waves succeeding one 
 another in tumultuous array, and assuming the 
 most fantastic forms. Viewed from a distance when 
 the tops alone are visible, these hills have a bleak 
 and barren aspect Their sides are often bare and 
 precipitous, and it is a peculiarity of the tract that 
 it is entirely destitute of forest trees. Not a hut is 
 to be seen, not a single field to relieve and gladden 
 the eye. Approach nearer, and how sudden and 
 
395 
 
 agreeable the surprise ! Between the dreary hills, 
 are romantic glades and hollows, resonant with the 
 busy hum of men and the lowing of cattle. Cottages 
 nestle under the hill side, and the corn waves 
 luxuriantly, protected from the winds that desolate 
 the heights above." 
 
 " Such are the prominent features of this interest- 
 ing region. I am conscious of many and serious 
 defects of description, but so general a sketch must 
 needs be imperfect : and to do fully justice to the 
 endless variety of scene would require a far abler 
 and more imaginative pen than mine. " 
 
 END OF PART I. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Extract of a letter to a gentleman in Calcutta 
 interested in Foreign and Colonial Ehiigration. 
 
 " I HAVE, read, with much attention, the papers oq 
 Colouiiil emigration you placed in my hands, and 
 though they have helped to perfect my knowledge 
 on many points, and show that much care is takeu , 
 to insure the comfort and well being of the emi- 
 grants, they have not induced me to alter the 
 opinions I previously entertained, regarding this 
 deeply interesting and highly important subject. 
 I would not in any way be understood to advocate 
 the imposition of any restrictions on the freedom 
 of labor. His labor is all thepoor man has to bring 
 to Market, and any interference with his free and 
 unrestricted liberty to carry that, to where he can 
 dispose of it to the best advantage, while the wealthy 
 merchant may take his goods, without let or hin- 
 derance, to any market in the world, would not only 
 be economically a retrograde and, false step, at 
 variance with those sound principles which have 
 regulated the policy of the British Government 
 now for many years, but extremely despotic, if not 
 oppressive. At the same time, it must be borne 
 in mind, that the labor of every country is its 
 most precious wealth, and I conceive, that wbiFe 
 
II. 
 
 ■recognizing to the full that ri^ht of unrestricted 
 freedom in regard to emigration -whicli its subjects, 
 by virtue of its constitution, enjoy, it would be 
 more consistent with tlie policy of the British 
 G-overnment, to leave the laborer to* his own free 
 choice, than to take legislative action with the avowed 
 object of facilitating the entrance of foreigners into 
 this country to entice him out of it, and thus 
 deprive Indict, of that wealth which she most 
 requires." 
 
 " The question as regardslndia, it appears to me, is 
 
 one, not of price, as many suppose, but one purely 
 
 of progress ; and the anomaly, is not that while we 
 
 are crying out for labor in. front, we are permitting 
 
 it to stream owt of the country in rear ; but that 
 
 while the kw of the land restricts the liberty 
 
 of the subject in regard to emigration evea 
 
 to British and Indian Colonies (\ide the Act of 
 
 1839^) we are daily forging new Acts to legalize the 
 
 -transport of labor to countries over the laws of 
 
 .which we have no control, and in which we cannot 
 
 -consequently guarantee our Indian subjects proper 
 
 protection ; — and that while Coloiiial and foreign 
 
 Governpieats give their developers every possible 
 
 assistance in obtaining this labor, for three whole 
 
 years, the late Lieutenant Governor of Bengal 
 
 systematically refused to afford the same aid to> 
 
 £«5r^i«A>»e» engaged ia developing the resources of 
 
 .th e proTince he was paid for adipiaistering, aa^ 
 
111. 
 
 tniuntiiiiied that Government had no concera 
 whatever in the matter." « 
 
 It is unnecessary that I should allude to the 
 results of this, to me, seemingly mistaken policy. 
 You are well aware that they have been an amount 
 of oppression, cruelty, desease and death it is painful 
 to call to mind." 
 
 It would be ridiculous to argue that the system 
 of Government now maintaining in England, would 
 have been suitable for the people of England, two 
 centuries back, and 1 need not endeavour to demon- 
 strate, that those who would attempt to apply it^ 
 in its full integrity, to India in its present stage 
 of development, could hardly expect the happiest 
 results. I know that this is not allowed gener- 
 ally in England, and I am aware that it is only 
 partially admitted in India. Still I conceive that 
 it is only because it is believed that the people of 
 India are not yet sufficiently intelligent and 
 enlightened, to know and understand what is best 
 for their own interests, and with a view toprotect 
 them from being crimped and kidnapped for the 
 benefit of others, that the law of 1839 prohibit- 
 ir)g emigration, is still retained in the statute 
 Book. Such, at least, is the conclusion I draw 
 from the tenor of the late debate in the Council 
 of the Governor-General, in which the principle 
 of freedom in labor as in other things, was fully 
 recognized," 
 
^v. 
 
 "Now I contend that whatever may be the strin- 
 gency of the laws fra,med by the Indian Governtnent 
 oh the subject of emigration, they will be insufficient 
 to pi-eVent the coolie from being lured away, T do not 
 say, against his will, but with a very misty and im- 
 perfect idea of what is before him. It must not be 
 forgotten that he does not leave the Indian shores a 
 free man. lie Ifeiaves it under the bondage of a five 
 years contract, which, however unsuitable he may find 
 the work He is put to, he is compelled to complete, 
 and a further service of five years, before he can 
 claim a passage biack to his native land. Under 
 such a system, view it as you please, emigration 
 must partake in some degree, remote let it be, of 
 the naturte of the slave trade. As long as the 
 coolies go, J^ a British colony the Indian Government 
 has tho^l^isfaction of knowing, that living under 
 the prSfection of English laws, their slavery will be 
 of the very mildest form ; but in the case of foreign 
 " coloiiies it has no such guarantee." 
 ■ "From the moment the Government of India 
 ~ considers its Indian subjects to be in a condition 
 to exercise their free will in matters of this 
 kind, the bearings of the case are completely 
 altered. The native of India then, will be as free 
 as the native of Britain. But until that time has come, 
 apart altogether from considerations regarding the 
 wants of this country, I certainly would not advocate 
 the multiplication of treaties, at least with foreign 
 
powers, to facilitate the emigration of Indian 
 coolies. The Hon'ble Mr. Eden says tlmt return 
 coolies bring back large sums of money — somie- 
 tiraes as much as Rs. 5,000 ; and Dr. Mitchell of 
 Trinidad in his letter to Mr. Chamevorzow, states 
 ' that since the year 1850, 1705 male adults, with 
 their families, have returned to India from Trinidad 
 who transmitted earnings through the Colonial trea- 
 sury amounting to £34,855.' Both statements no 
 doubt are quite true. But, without at all denying 
 that those coolies who do return to India, come 
 back in better circumstances than they went, the 
 amount stated by Dr. Mitchell only shows an 
 average of £20 per family saved in nine years 
 of exile, and. such instances as that cited by 
 Mr. Eden, are certainly isolated, and furnish no 
 argument whatever against the principle I uphold, 
 or prove that the same persons NV'ould not have 
 made quite as much money in their own coun- 
 try. The late Moti Lai Seal commenced life 
 in Calcutta by selling empty bottles, and died 
 worth a quarter of a million sterling. A door- 
 keeper I dismissed a short time ago, had lent 
 E.S. 500 of his savings to the other servants. I 
 ofifered a return laborer from Assam last week, £5 
 a month, wages, to take service on a tea plantation iu 
 the Hills, and he refused it. I have no doubt 
 whatever, that on plantations in Assam where a 
 fair system of jtask. work is in force, the laborers 
 
VI. 
 
 (Could save more than lialf tlieir earnings. But be 
 ■that as it may, a question so large and so important 
 iu its bearing on the interests of civilization, cannot 
 be narrowed to one simply of the profit of a few 
 individuals. It extends far berond it." 
 
 " I freely confess that I am not an advocate for 
 the encouragement of emigration in the present 
 •circumstances of India; but if it be sound in prin- 
 ciple — if it be necessary, desirable, expedient, or 
 -politic, that, with infinitely more work in India 
 than the laboring population can do, and higher 
 rates of wages than ever before prevailed, the 
 Government of India should be compelled out of its 
 own scarcity, to supply the wants of foreigners, — by 
 all means let it be : provided that the Government of 
 India, at the same time, adopts the course followed by 
 other Governments, and helps its own Country. Let 
 it not look on passively at the property of its own 
 subjects — Englishmen, who, at its urgent solicitation, 
 put their capital into the soil — perishing, while the 
 labor that could save it, and which they are quite 
 willing to pay for, is streaming out of the country, 
 without stretching out a finger to help them." 
 
 "The Planters asked the Government of Bengal, 
 to Ao notliing for the provinces of Assam and 
 Oaehar, that the Governments of France, Denmark, 
 and those of her Majesty's Colonies who import 
 •coolies, do not consider it their bounden duty to do 
 for the Colonies for which they require labor. They 
 
VM'., 
 
 asked the Government of Bongnl fo establish an 
 imtnigration agency, with the necessary machinery 
 of a Protectorate, Medical Examiner, &c., all the ex- 
 penses of which tliey expressed their perfect willing- 
 ness to pay. Tiieir request was refused ; and by this 
 refusal, I think the interests, not only of the planters, 
 but the interests of the Government, the Country, 
 and the People, were sacrificed,. The planters;, 
 therefore, in my humble jiidgement at least, have a 
 just ground for eomi)la,int. Had what they required 
 been conceded at the out-set, the country would 
 have been spared the calamities the Immigration 
 Committee's report disclosed, and none of the com- 
 plications which have since retarded the progress 
 of the tea districts, and taken up so much of the 
 valuable time of the Supireme Government would 
 have arisen." 
 
 " I have visited the emigratiojj agency for Mauritius 
 with its efficient superintendent Dr. Payne, and I 
 can bear testimony to the excellency of the arrange- 
 ments for the comfort, cleanliness, and health of 
 the coolies ; the duties of the Protectorate too, are 
 jnost conscientiously and well performed; and when 
 a little supervision, care, and attention on the part 
 of Government, can ensure such results, I cannot 
 understand why we should hear of such depots as that 
 of Thakoor Lalla, in Bengal. Were the several Local 
 Governments of India now, to take isnofe kindly tp 
 ths plan adopted by fQreign and colonial Goyern- 
 
Till. 
 
 Aents, and aid Railway aillfhorities, developers, an?' 
 others, in the transport of labor, I doubt very much 
 if we would hear any thing more of a scarcity of 
 labor, in any part of India ; for it cannot be denied, 
 that if the population of the whole country is, 
 proportionately with its area, below the average 
 of populous European countries, it is still very 
 dense in some parts The greatest quantity of labor 
 is required for Hallway operations, and in the com- 
 pletion of these works, the Government of India, 
 and every tax payer in the country, are directly and 
 deeply interested. "Within the last ten years, some 
 fifty millions sterling have been imported into India 
 for the prosecution of Railway works, and as the 
 largest portion of Railway expenditure is in labor, 
 this amount no doubt required a very considerable 
 quantity of labor to absorb it. But in regard to 
 the cultivation of Wastes, the case is quite different. 
 The whole amount of capital expended in the same 
 period, iu the tea districts of lower Bengal, for this 
 purpose, does not aggregate even half a million 
 sterling; and, assuming the semblance of a Govern-, 
 ment, that any complications on the score of labor 
 should have arisen in absorbing this fraction, seems 
 almost ludicrous. Complications, however, and very 
 serious complications, have arisen. These are now 
 patent to Government as well as to the public,' and 
 «uch being the case, the very serious question that 
 grows out of them is, with what countenance can Her 
 
IX. 
 
 Majesty's Secretary of State go before the British 
 publiCj and iavite Capitalists to invest their money 
 in land which he knows they cannot get labor 
 to cultivate ? Has the Government of India no 
 concern with this, I would plainly ask ? 
 
 With a little pains and trouble on the part of 
 Governmentj I believe that labor can be found for 
 all the present wants of India, and for the Colonies 
 besides; but if the economical idea put forth by 
 Sir John Peter Grant, viz., that it is no part of the 
 business of Government to trouble itself about these 
 thingSj be acted upon^if the local Governments of 
 India be allowed to do just as they please, and to 
 decline to take that small amount of trouble which 
 is necessary, and which Colonial and other Govern- 
 ments deem it their duty and find it their interest to 
 take, then Indian developers will continue to make 
 an outcry against foreigners taking away that which 
 they want, and, in my humble judgement, they 
 have reason and riffht on their side." 
 
 W. N. L.