DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY T\ Vv ' WALTER LAMBETH COLLECTION INDIA. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/india01stra_0 THE OMAN EMPIRE V> •, BY SIR JOHN STRACHEY, G.C.S.I. NEW AND REVISED EDITION LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd, 1894 DEDICATION TO THE FIRST EDITION. ^ 5^.5 TO SIR JAMES FITZJAMES STEPHEN, K.C.S.I., &c. &c. &c. My dear Stephen, Fifteen years ago you dedicated one of your books to me, and in now offering to you this less worthy gift, the fittest words that I can find are almost those which you addressed to me. I dedicate this book to you as an expression of strong personal regard and of gratitude for great kindness, and in recollection of that time in India when we served together and which neither of us can forget. I am, my dear Stephen, Your sincere friend and late colleague, October 1888. JOHN STRACHEY. From out the sunset pour’d an alien race Who fitted stone to stone again, and Truth, Peace, Love, and Justice came and dwelt therein. PREFACE. In 1884 I gave a course of lectures on India before the University of Cambridge. They formed the basis of the First Edition of this work, published in 1888. Since that time great changes have been made in the constitution of the Indian Legislatures, in the organisation of the Civil Services and Army, and in other branches of the adminis¬ tration. Questions which, some years ago, were especially prominent, have fallen into the background, while others now demand more notice than was formerly given to them. Many alterations have been made in this book to bring it into accordance with present facts ; parts of it have been entirely re-written, and it is now so different from the lectures in which it had its origin that it has been thrown into a new shape, and no division into imaginary lectures remains. I feel that this change has one drawback. While the book retained the form of a course of lectures, it was obvious that it professed to be nothing more than a series of papers, not necessarily connected with each other, on various Indian topics; that many subjects of import¬ ance necessarily and designedly remained untouched ; and that I did not pretend to attempt the impossible task of VI11 PREFACE. describing in a single volume the vast and infinitely various continent of India. In this respect the purpose of the book remains as it was before ; the only change is that, instead of being a collection of lectures on certain Indian subjects, it is now a collection of chapters. During the last few years several valuable works have been published, dealing with special branches of Indian administration or with subjects of special interest, and to these I have acknowledged my obligations. I wish, how¬ ever, more particularly to mention the contributions to our knowledge of India that have been made by the officers who conducted the Indian Census of 1891, and especially the Report of Mr Baines, the Census Commissioner, who superintended the whole of the operations. It would be difficult to give to his work more praise than it de¬ serves. Mr Baines, in the Preface to his Report, has applied to himself the saying of Molffire, “ Je prends mon bien ou je le trouve.” Every one who writes on such a subject as India must say the same ; for my own part, there is no one from whom I have appropriated so much, and, as I hope, with so much advantage to myself, as from Mr Baines. Other obligations of a more personal kind have to be acknowledged. Mr G. H. M. Batten, who has, in my opinion, given in his paper, read before the Society of Arts in March 1892, the best existing description of all the facts connected with the Opium controversy, of which we have lately heard so much, has been good enough to contribute to my book a chapter on this subject. I have also to PREFACE. IX thank him for much other assistance. My acknowledgments are also due to Major-General Newmarch, without whose help the chapter on the Army in India could hardly have been written, and to General and Mrs Richard Strachey. A distinguished Frenchman, M. Harmand, has done me the honour of translating into French the first edition of this book, and he has prefaced his work with an Intro¬ duction which, if it had been less flattering to myself, I should have been glad to reproduce in English, showing, as it does, the opinions of a most competent and intelligent foreign observer on the government of our Indian Empire. M. Harmand, during a long residence in the Asiatic posses¬ sions of France and in British India, in both of which he held important official posts, had rare opportunities of forming an accurate judgment on the problems which have to be solved by the Western rulers of Oriental peoples. He has discussed the principles on which the government of a great Eastern possession can alone be wisely con¬ ducted, and, taking India as his object-lesson, has en¬ deavoured to show to his countrymen why the efforts of the English to establish a solid and self-supporting dominion in the East have been crowned with such extraordinary success. Another interesting book, written with aims similar to those of M. Harmand, has been published by M. Chailley-Bert, the worthy possessor of an illustrious name. 1 I commend to Englishmen who feel an honourable pride in the work of the men who have built up and who are maintaining the wonderful 1 “La Colonisation de l’lndo-Chine, l’Experience anglaise.” X PREFACE. structure of their Indian Empire, the calm and impartial testimony of M. Harmand and M. Chailley-Bert. I have to thank Sir William Hunter for allowing me to use for this book the map prepared for his ‘ Imperial Gazetteer of India.’ JOHN STRACHEY. May 1894. CONTENTS. ■ 0 - CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PAGE English ignorance regarding India—India not a country but a continent—The names India and Hindustan—The great differences between the countries of India— Bengal and Northern India—No countries or nations of the European type—No unity in India, physical, political, social, or religious—The English in India— The British Government—The growth of a single Indian nationality impossible— Danger of generalisations ........ 1-7 CHAPTER II. THE GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. The main features of Indian geography—The Indo-Gangetic plain—The countries in¬ cluded in it—Presidencies and Provinces—The table-land of Central and Southern India—Area and population of British provinces and Native States—Physical causes of the great differences between the countries of India—Sind and Bengal— Meteorology—The monsoons—The periodical rains and their distribution - Mr Blanford on the contrast between Indian climates . . . . .8-17 CHAPTER III. THE HIMALAYA. The Himalaya—Its influence on India—Its geography—The great rivers of India— The Ganges and Gogra—British and Native Himalayan districts—The KumAon Himalaya—Scenery of the Himalaya ....... 18-27 CHAPTER IV. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT IN INDIA. Presidencies and provinces—The Presidency of Bengal—First constitution of the Government—The Regulating Act of George III.—Hastings and his Council “Changes between 1773 and 1833—Renewal of the East India Company’s Charter in 1833—The Governor-General of India in Council—Separation of the North- Western Provinces from Bengal—Renewal of the Charter in 1853—A Lieutenant- Governor appointed for Bengal — The mutiny of the Native army—Transfer of the Government to the Crown — The Indian Councils Act of 1861—The existing con¬ stitution of the Supreme and Provincial Governments—The Governor-General in Council — The Indian legislatures—The Councils Act of 1892—Their powers—The Governments of Madras and Bombay—The Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and the Punjab—The Chief Commissioners of Burma, the Central Provinces, and Assam—Former cumbrous mode of transacting business— Opinions of Mr J. S. Mill—Observations of Sir Henry Maine — The Indian Councils Act and changes made by Lord Canning—Reforms completed by Lord Lawrence —The Council converted into a Cabinet—Departments and Secretariats — Manner of transacting business—Power of Governor-General to overrule the Council— Exercise of this power by Lord Lytton—Migration of the Government to Simla— Relations between supreme and provincial Governments—Mr Bright on the government of India—Decentralisation ...... 28-48 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. THE HOME GOVERNMENT. The Home Government—The Secretary of State and Council of India—Mode of trans¬ acting business—Nature of control over the Government of India—Parliamentary interference—Its dangers ........ CPIAPTER VI. THE CIVIL SERVICES. Principles on which first appointments are made—The Covenanted Service—System of nomination before 1853—System of open competition—Natives in the Covenanted Service—The Statute of 1833—The Queen’s Proclamation of 1858—The Statute of 1870—Admission of Natives to posts of importance—Principle on which regulated — Lord Lytton’s Rules — Public Service Commission — Its recommendations — Imperial and Provincial Services—Their constitution—Covenanted and Uncove¬ nanted Service—Small number of Englishmen in the Civil Service—The greater part of the administration in Native hands—High character of Native officers— Their salaries—Necessity for maintaining English principles of Government— Question of holding competitive examinations in India—Transfer of important offices to the Provincial Services—The Public Works, Telegraph, Forest, Police, and Educational Services ........ CHAPTER VII. THE LAWS AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. The foundations of the existing Judicial System—Regulations and Acts—The Laws and the Courts before the transfer of the Government to the Crown—Regulation and Non-regulation provinces—The Indian Law Commission—Lord Macaulay and the Penal Code—The progress of codification—Sir Henry Maine on the Indian Codes —Sir James Stephen on the Indian Penal Code—The Establishment of High Courts—The Code of Criminal Procedure—Constitution of the Criminal Courts— Criminal jurisdiction over European British subjects—Changes in the Law in 1884 —The codification of the Civil Law—Hindu and Mohammedan Law—Chapters of the Civil Code already enacted—Simplification and Consolidation of the Law—The Code of Civil Procedure—Constitution of the Civil Courts—Civil jurisdiction over Europeans—The “Black Act” of 1836—Lord Macaulay—The Native Judges— Defects in the existing Judicial System ...... CHAPTER VIII. THE FINANCES AND PUBLIC REVENUES. The Department of Finance and Commerce—Reforms instituted by Mr James Wilson —Financial decentralisation—Existing system of administration—England contri¬ butes nothing to Indian charges—Wisdom of this System—Growth of the Public Revenues—Their present amount—Small proportion of revenues derived from taxation—The sources of the public income ...... CHAPTER IX. REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE DERIVED FROM TAXATION. The Land Revenue—Its nature described—Its incidence under Native and British Governments — Moderation of Assessments—Aurangzi'b’s Revenues —Rates on Land . . . . . . ... n PAGE 49-55 56-71 72-89 90-99 >0-107 CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER X. REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE DERIVED FROM TAXATION—( Continued). PAGE The opium revenue—Its amount—Mr Batten on the opium question—Introduction of opium into India—State monopoly under Moghals—Existing system in Bengal— Value of poppy crop in Bengal—Opium in the Punjab—In Central India and RajputSna—Total value of Indian poppy crops—Alleged reasons for suppression of opium trade—Opium in China—Wars with China—Chefoo Convention—Poppy cultivation in China—Effects of consuming opium—De Quincey—Opium consump¬ tion in China and India—Society for suppression of the opium trade—Its misrepre¬ sentations—Consumption by Sikhs and Rajputs—Stringent system of excise— Injustice and folly of attempted suppression of opium consumption—Forests— Tributes from Native States—Post Office—Telegraphs .... 108-132 CHAPTER XI. REVENUES DERIVED FROM TAXATION. The Salt Tax — Sources of salt supply—Former system of levying duties—The Inland Customs Line—Its abolition—The present system—Results of reforms—The policy to be followed — The stamp revenue — Excise on spirits and drugs— Misrepresentations—Principles of excise administration—Assessed taxes—Income Tax—Registration ........ I 33" I 43 CHAPTER XII. revenues derived from taxation— (Continued). Customs duties—Duties before 1875—Duties on other goods—The necessity for free trade in India — Abolition of Import duties — The results—Indian Tea—Its consumption in Great Britain—Export duty on rice—The demand for the re¬ imposition of Import duties ....... 144-154 CPIAPTER XIII. FOREIGN TRADE—HOME CHARGES—CURRENCY. Growth of Indian trade—Conditions under which trade is carried on—Imports of gold and silver—Excess of exports over imports—Home charges—The Secretary of State’s Bills—Home charges not necessarily a drain upon India—The manner in which these charges are met—The currency—Fall in the gold value of silver— Loss by exchange — Serious consequences—The closing of the Indian Mints in 1893 .......... 15S-164 CHAPTER XIV. PUBLIC WORKS. Mr J. S. Mill on the duties of Governments—Famines in India—Necessity for roads, railways, and canals—Absence of roads under Native Governments—Their con¬ dition under the East India Company—Measures taken by Lord Dalhousie— Railway construction — Creation of Public Works Department—Progress up to 1887 — Irrigation works in Northern India—Canals of Mohammedan sovereigns— The Ganges and other Canals — Their value—Irrigation works in Central and Southern India and in Sind — Expenditure on railways and irrigation works—The manner of providing funds—Guaranteed Companies—Policy of Borrowing for investment in public works ....... 165-178 XIV CONTENTS, CHAPTER XV. THE PUBLIC DEBT. The Public Debt—Its amount—Division into Ordinary and Public Works Debt— Increase of debt owing to the Mutinies of 1857—Subsequent Decrease of Ordinary Debt — Investments of the Government in railways—Railways constructed by guaranteed companies—The financial results of the policy of borrowing for public works—Expenditure from revenue on public works—Insurance against famine— The policy adopted—The Famine Commission—Diminished danger of Famine in India .......... 179-186 CHAPTER XVI. EDUCATION IN INDIA. First establishment of colleges in Bengal—Controversy between advocates of Oriental and English study—Lord Macaulay in 1835 —His contempt for Oriental literature —Mountstuart Elphinstone on Indian education—System established under Mac¬ aulay’s influence—Neglect of primary education—System laid down by Lord Halifax in 1854—main features—Proportion of population able to read and write—Female education—Lady Dufferin’s Association—Mr Baines on illiteracy of the people—The Indian Universities—Colleges—Number of Natives knowing English—Collegiate Instruction—Education of Mohammedans—Sir Syad Ahmad Khftn—His College—The Mayo College—Medical Colleges—Technical and Art Schools—Secondary Education—Small number of educated Natives—Neglect of study of Science—Sir Henry Maine on study of English classical literature—The teaching of false history—Inaccuracy and bad faith of James Mill—Books and newspapers—Their general character—Mr Baines on influence of the literate class —Liberty of the Press in India. ....... 187-220 CHAPTER XVII. RACES—LANGUAGES—CASTES—RELIGIONS. Races—Aryans—Dravidians—Languages of India—Distribution of population among various religions—The Hindus—Animism—Sir Alfred Lyall on the religion of the Hindus—Mr Ibbetson’s report—Illustrations of the religion of an Indian province —Brahmanism—Caste—Reverence for Brahmans—Caste not confined to Hindus —The Mohammedans in India—Their distribution—The more orthodox Moham¬ medans—Animosity between Hindus and Mohammedans—Causes of political anxiety — Increase of Mohammedanism in Bengal — Jains—Sikhs — Parsis— Buddhists—Christianity in India ....... 221-246 CHAPTER XVIII. AN INDIAN PROVINCE. The North-Western Provinces and Oudh—Area, population, and history—Aspect of the country—The agricultural population—Cities—Manufactures—Architectural monuments—Agriculture in Northern India—Erroneous beliefs regarding food of the people—Sir Henry Maine on Mr Buckle’s generalisations—The agricultural year—The rainy season—Summer, autumnal, and winter crops—Irrigation— Methods of agriculture—Rotation of crops—Tea .... 247-262 CHAPTER XIX. an Indian province—( Continued ). The land revenue—Tenures—Settlements—Village communities—Classes of cultiva¬ tors—Incidents of land revenue—Settlements in Northern India—Surveys— Principles of assessment—The settlement officer—Record of rights—Village ac- CONTENTS. XV countants—Recent reforms — Settlement reports — Settlements in Oudh—The Talukdars—Lord Canning’s Proclamation—Confiscation of rights—Measures of Lord Lawrence—Recent improvements—Condition of Oudh—Agricultural depart¬ ments—Their importance ........ 263-281 CHAPTER XX. AN INDIAN PROVINCE—( Continued ). Administration of an Indian province—An Indian district—The Magistrate and Collec¬ tor or District Officer—His functions—Subdivisions of districts—The Tahsildars— Executive and Judicial Powers—The Joint, Assistant, and Deputy Magistrate and Collector—The Police—Jails—Hospitals—Sanitation—Vaccination—Public works —Education—General illiteracy—Municipalities—Local self-government—Com¬ missioners of division—The Revenue Board—Heads of departments—Sanitaria— The Lieutenant-Governor—The Legislative Council—The Judicial Courts . 282-299 CHAPTER XXI. an Indian PROVINCE —{Continued), Condition of the people—Increasing wealth—Increase of population—Emigration— Character of the people—Their great honesty—Cruel customs—Crime—Infanti¬ cide—Criminal Tribes ........ 300-315 CHAPTER XXII. BENGAL. Exceptional character of Bengal and its people—The Bengal Lieutenant-Governorship —Natural features, area, and population of Bengal Proper—Products—Scenery— Climate — Cities—Art — Hindus and Mohammedans—Lord Macaulay’s description of the Bengalis—Their effeminacy—The Mohammedan peasantry—The Permanent Settlement—Zemindars and ryots—The consequences of the Permanent Settlement —Loss of public revenue—Confiscation of the rights of the peasantry—Weakness of the Government — Absence of records of agricultural rights—Former constitution of the Bengal Government—Its inefficiency — A separate Government constituted— Improvements in the administration—Difficulty of problems to be solved—Great increase in rentals of the Zemindars and loss by the ryots—Maintenance of con¬ ditions of the Permanent Settlement—Claims of the Zemindars for exemption from taxation—The proper remedies for .existing evils—Rates on the land— Changes in the Bengal Rent Law—Condition of the people in Behar—The Tenancy Act—Cadastral Surveys—Effects of English education. . . . 316-340 CHAPTER XXIII. THE ARMY IN INDIA. The advance of Russia—Consequent changes in our position—The armies of India before 1857—The Mutinies—The reorganisation of the Native Army—Its present constitution—Its fighting qualities — The Bengal Army—The Staff Corps—The Police—Increase of the army in 1885—Present strength—The British troops — Im¬ provement in their health—Hill stations—Frontier and Port defences—Volunteer corps—Changes in 1893 in constitution of Army—Existing commands—Armies of the Native States—Special contingents for Imperial service . . . 341-355 CHAPTER XXIV. THE NATIVE STATES. Area, population, and revenue of Native States—Meaning of the term Native States— Prevalent mistakes—Native States not nationalities — Native princes often foreigners XVI CONTENTS. —The English have destroyed no ancient dynasties—Different classes of Native States—Mohammedan and Maratha States—Their foreign character—Ancient dynasties preserved by the British—Mysore—Travancore—The States of Rajputana and the Punjab—The Governments of Native States—The personal despots—The tribal chiefs—Antiquity of Indian families—The supremacy of the British Govern¬ ment—Our relations with Native States—The doctrine of lapse—Right of adoption —Assumption by the Queen of title of “ Empress of India”—Sir Henry Lawrence on Native States and British Residents—The character of Native rulers—Frequent necessity for British intervention—The annexation of Oudh—Condition of Oudh before annexation—Baroda—Deposition of the Gaikwar—Gwalior and Indore— The States of Central India—Kashmir—Sir Lepel Griffin on misrule in Native States—Desire of the British Government to maintain the Native States—Their misrule their sole danger—The conditions essential to their preservation—The restoration of Mysore to Native rule—Terms on which the transfer was made— The results—The necessity of more general application of similar principles 356-383 CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION. Cruel customs not discouraged by educated Hindus—Neglect of social questions—- Reasons for avoiding their discussion—The employment of Natives in the public service—Political hypocrisy—The duty of maintaining our dominion—Offices to be retained by Englishmen—Natives of India often as much foreigners as English¬ men in provinces other than their own—The manlier races cannot be ruled by the feebler—Sir Syad Ahmad Khan on Mohammedans and Hindus—The results of British Government—The popularity of our Government—Lord Lawrence’s opinion—Reasons why our Government cannot be popular—The dangers to which our dominion is exposed—The principles on which our Government must be conducted .......... 384-399 INDIA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. , English ignorance regarding India—India not a country but a continent—The names India and Hindustan—The great differences between the countries of India—Bengal and Northern India—No countries or nations of the European type—No unity in India, physical, political, social, or religious —The English in India—The British Government—The growth of a single Indian nationality impossible—Danger of generalisations. Sir Henry Maine, referring to the ignorance regarding India which prevails even among educated men in Eng¬ land, has declared his conviction that for one who desires to unveil the stores of interest which India contains, the first necessity is that he should not shrink from speaking on matters which appear to him too elementary to deserve discussion, that he should sympathise with an ignorance which few felicitous efforts have yet been made to dispel, and that he should remember that the language of adminis¬ tration and government in India has become so highly specialised and technical that it forms an imperfect medium for the communication of ideas to Englishmen. Believing this, I make no apology for beginning this book with some very elementary matters, and I ask at starting this element¬ ary question, What is India ? What does this name India really signify ? The answer that has sometimes been given sounds paradoxical, but it is true. There is no such INTRODUCTORY. country, and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned. India is a name which we give to a great region includ¬ ing a multitude of different countries. There is no general Indian term that corresponds to it. The name Hindustan is never applied in India, as we apply it, to the whole of the Indian continent; it signifies the country north of the Narbada River, and especially the northern portion of the basins of the Ganges and Jumna. I have been told by intelligent Natives of India who have visited Europe that they could see little difference between the European countries through which they had travelled ; the languages being equally unintelligible offered to them no marks of distinction ; the cities, the costumes, the habits of life, the manners and customs of people, so far as a passing oriental traveller could judge, seemed much the same in England, in France, and in Italy. The differences between the countries of India, between, for instance, Bengal and the Punjab, or between Madras and Rajputana, seemed to them, on the other hand, immense, and beyond comparison greater than those existing between the countries of Europe. Englishmen have often similar impressions in visiting India; they can¬ not see the great diversities that exist. As to persons who know nothing of geology or botany or agriculture, rocks and trees and crops present comparatively few distinctive features, so it is with those who look with uninformed minds on conditions of life and society to which they have not been accustomed. The differences between the countries of Europe are undoubtedly smaller than those between the countries of India. Scotland is more like Spain than Bengal is like the Punjab. European civilisation has grown up under conditions which have produced a larger measure of uni¬ formity than has been reached in the countries of the Indian continent, often separated from each other by DIVERSITY OF INDIAN COUNTRIES. O greater distances, by greater obstacles to communication, and by greater differences of climate. It is probable that not less than fifty languages, which may rightly be called separate, are spoken in India. The diversities of religion and race are as wide in India as in Europe, and political catastrophes have been as frequent and as violent. There are no countries in civilised Europe in which the people differ so much as the man of Madras differs from the Sikh, and the languages of Southern India are quite as unin¬ telligible in Lahore as they would be in London. A native of Calcutta or Bombay is as much a foreigner in Delhi or Peshawar as an Englishman is a foreigner in Rome or Paris. People often complain that Indian authorities differ so greatly among themselves that you can never be sure that you have learned the truth. These apparent contra¬ dictions have frequently no real existence, but arise from false generalisations. To one, for instance, who has gained his knowledge of India in Lower Bengal, India is a country of almost constant heat and damp, luxuriant vegetation, rivers, tanks, rice-fields, and cocoanuts, with few cities and no monuments of art, densely inhabited by a mild and timid population. To such an India as this, a vivid imagination could hardly conceive a completer contrast than the India of Agra or Lahore. Instead of one of the dampest and greenest countries of the earth, you find in the early summer one of the brownest and most arid, a country scorched with winds like the blast of a furnace, but in the winter it has the climate of an Italian spring, cold, frosty, and invigorating. In the latter season, instead of the tropical vegetation of Bengal, you find thousands of square miles covered with wheat and barley and the products of the temperate zone. It is a country with famous cities and splendid monuments, and its population is not inferior to that of many parts of Europe in manli¬ ness and vigour. 4 INTRODUCTORY. I have spoken of the different countries of India, but they are not countries in the ordinary European sense. A European country is usually a separate entity, occupied by a nation more or less socially and politically distinct. But in India, as Sir Alfred Lyall has explained in his ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ a work that is a mine of knowledge and wisdom on Indian matters, there are no nations of the modern European type. The same fact has been clearly brought out by Professor Seeley in his lectures on the ‘ Expansion of England.’ “ Geographical boundaries,” says Sir Alfred Lyall, “ have no correspondence at all with distinctive institutions or groupings of the people, and have comparatively little political significance. Little is gained toward knowing who and what a man is by ascertaining the State he obeys, or the territory he dwells in ; these being things which of themselves denote no difference of race, institutions, or manners. Even from the point of political allegiance, the Government under which a man may be living is an accidental arrangement, which the British Viceroy or some other inevitable power decided upon yesterday and may alter to¬ morrow. Nor would such a change be grievous unless it divorced from him a ruler of his own tribe or his own faith. . . The European observer—accustomed to the massing of people in great territorial groups, and to the ideas (now immemorial in the West) contained in such expressions as fatherland, mother- country, patriotism, domicile, and the like, has here to realise the novelty of finding himself in a strange part of the world, where political citizenship is as yet quite unknown, and terri¬ torial sovereignty or even feudalism only just appearing. For a parallel in the history of Western Europe we must go back as far as the Merovingian period, when chiefs of barbaric tribes or bands were converting themselves into kings or counts; or, perhaps, he should carry his retrospect much further, and con¬ ceive himself to be looking at some country of Asia Minor lying within the influence' of Rome at its zenith, but just outside its jurisdiction. He gradually discovers the population of Central India to be distributed, not into great governments, or nation¬ alities, or religious denominations, not even into widespread races, such as those which are still contending for political NO INDIAN NATION. 5 supremacy in Eastern Europe, but into various and manifold denominations of tribes, clans, septs, castes, and sub-castes, religious orders, and devotional brotherhoods.” 1 This is the first and most essential thing to learn about India—that there is not, and never was an India, or even any country of India, possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity, physical, political, social, or religious ; no Indian nation, and especially no “ people of India,” of which we hear so much. It is a consequence of all this, that in every great Indian province the political sympathies of large sections of the population towards men who, geographically speak¬ ing, are their own countrymen, are often as imperfect as they are towards their English masters. We have never destroyed in India a national government, no national sentiment has been wounded, no national pride has been humiliated; and this not through any design or merit of our own, but because no Indian nationalities have existed. They no more exist in the so-called Native States than in our own territories, and the most important of those States are ruled by princes who are almost as much foreigners to their subjects as we are ourselves. “ India,” M. Harmand writes, “ is a mere mosaic of races, religions and languages having nothing in common with one another, and this segregation is carried out further to an in¬ definite extent by the decomposing institution of caste. This pulverisation of the human atoms forming the vast population of India has from time immemorial condemned the Natives to foreign domination, and rendered the task of conquest and administration inconceivably easier to the English than appears at first sight. When, after a series of historical events, the English had succeeded in ousting their European rivals, they had nothing further to fear of danger to their supremacy, for there were no nationalities and no rooted dynasties to fight with 1 ‘Asiatic Studies,’ p. 152. Sir Alfred Lyall was specially referring to Central India in this passage, but it is equally true of India generally. 6 INTRODUCTORY. and subdue, no religion adequately organised, nor even one language spoken over a large area; in short, there were none of those factors round which the antagonism and the dislike of the subjugated inhabitants might be grouped against the foreigner .” 1 The diversities between the countries of India and the people inhabiting them extend, more or less, to their administration by the British Government. The ordinary English notion is that the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy and his Council carry on, somehow or other, the Government of India. Few Englishmen understand how comparatively little these high authorities have to do with the actual administration, or appreciate the fact that the seven or eight chief provinces of British India, which may be compared, in area and population, to the chief countries of Europe, have all their separate and, in a great measure, their independent governments. Under circumstances of such extreme diversity as those which exist in India, no single system of administration could be appropriate. Instead of introducing unsuitable novelties from other countries, Indian or European, we have taken, in each province, with some unfortunate exceptions, the old local institutions as the basis of our own arrangements. Good or bad administration in India depends to a far greater extent on the Government of the province than on the distant authorities in Calcutta or London. The vast majority of the population is hardly conscious of the existence of the Viceroy and his Govern¬ ment. From time to time a glimpse is caught of the great Lord Sahib. He passes perhaps along the streets of some famous city with a train of elephants, recalling the traditions of Aurangzib, or at some immense gather¬ ing, more picturesque and magnificent than any of the ceremonial shows of Europe, he receives in Darbar the homage of princes and chiefs. From the splendour of his 1 1 L’lnde,’ Priface de M. Jules Harmand. DANGER OF GENERALISATIONS. 7 surroundings people derive some vague notions of an authority above the powers by which they know that they are governed. Although in the management of the greater portion of the public business immediately affecting the every-day interests of the 221 millions of people inhabiting British India the part of the so-called Government of India is comparatively small, this central power, administered by the Governor General in Council, under the supreme authority of the British Government at home, has, of course, from another point of view the highest importance. It regulates and harmonises the Governments of the British provinces, controls the Native States and our relations with foreign powers, provides for military defence, makes war and peace, and manages those branches of the admin¬ istration which directly concern the general interests of the empire. It must not be supposed that such bonds of union can in any way lead towards the growth of a single Indian nationality. However long may be the duration of our dominion, however powerful may be the centralising attrac¬ tion of our Government, or the influence of the common interests which grow up, no such issue can follow. It is conceivable that national sympathies may arise in particular Indian countries; but that they should ever extend to India generally, that men of the Punjab, Bengal, North-Western Provinces, and Madras, should ever feel that they belong to one great Indian nation, is impossible. We might with as much reason and probability look forward to a time when a single nation will have taken the place of the various nations of Europe. I wish especially to insist on the fact that we can never hope to arrive at any accurate knowledge of India until we properly appreciate the immense diversities of the countries included under that name, and understand that there is no part of the world in which it is more easy to be misled by generalisations. CHAPTER II. THE GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. The main features of Indian geography—The Indo-Gangetic plain—The countries included in it—Presidencies and provinces—The table-land of Central and Southern India—Area and population of British provinces and Native States—Physical causes of the great differences between the countries of India—Sindh and Bengal—Meteorology—The monsoons— The periodical rains and their distribution—Mr Blanford on the contrast between Indian climates. EXCLUDING Burma, India has an area of nearly 1,400,000 square miles ; it contains more than 280 millions of people ; and it may be roughly divided into two regions. The first of these is a vast alluvial plain, lying immedi¬ ately below the Himalaya, and stretching with an unbroken surface for some 1,700 miles across Northern India. Its eastern and central portions are watered by the Ganges and Brahmaputra and their tributaries, the northern and western portions by the river-system of the Indus. At its highest point, on the watershed between the feeders of the Indus and Ganges, it is not more than 1,000 feet above the sea. At its eastern end, it extends over the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, and includes the greater part of the province of Bengal. At its northern and western extremities, it spreads down the Indus to the Arabian Sea, over the Punjab, the western states of Rajputana, and Sind. The central portion of the plain comprises the North- Western Provinces and Oudh. The alluvial deposits of which this vast tract is composed are, as General Strachey says, “ so finely comminuted that it is no exaggeration to say that it is possible to go from the Bay of Bengal up the Ganges, through the Punjab, and down the Indus again to TWO MAIN DIVISIONS. 9 the sea, over a distance of 2,000 miles and more, without finding a pebble, however small." 1 The Indo-Gangetic plain comprises the richest, the most fertile, the most populous, and historically the most famous countries of India. Its south-western extension includes the desert tracts of Western Rajputana, and the almost rainless dis¬ tricts of Sind. It covers more than 500,000 square miles, an area almost as large as that of France, with the German and Austrian empires, and it contains more than 150 millions of people. The greater part of the northern plain, excluding the countries on the extreme west, was formerly included, for certain purposes, in the so-called Presidency of Bengal. I shall have to explain how the name Bengal has had, at different periods, different meanings, and how the term “ Presidency,” although still used in official papers, has almost ceased to have any special signification. British India is now divided not into the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, but into provinces, eight of which are extensive countries under separate governments. The second region of India lies to the south of the Indo- Gangetic plain, and includes the great triangular peninsula which projects into the Indian Ocean. It has an area of about 700,000 square miles, with a population of more than 120 millions. The greater part of this tract consists of a hilly table¬ land, 2 having an average elevation above the sea of about 1,500 feet, but rising in the south, in Mysore, to 3,000 feet. It may be said, in general terms, to include the whole of that part of India which lies to the south of the Tropic of Cancer, with a relatively small extension to the 1 ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica,’ Art. ‘Asia.’ J I take tlie following note from Colonel Yule: “A friend objects to this application of ‘ table-land ’ to so rugged a region of inequalities. But it is a technical expression in geography, applicable to a considerable area, of which the lowest levels are at a considerable height above the sea.”—‘ Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words,’ Art. ‘Tibet.’ 10 GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. north, where it gradually merges into the southern borders of the Gangetic plain. On the western and eastern sides of the peninsula, the table-land terminates in the ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats. Roughly speaking, they run parallel to the coast on the two sides of Southern India, leaving between them and the sea a more or less broad strip of low-lying land. The Eastern Ghats are an ill-defined range of no great height. The Western Ghats rise steeply from the sea to about 4,000 feet, and near their southern extremity reach more than 8,000 feet in the Nilgiri mountains. Further north, nearly in the same line with the Western Ghats, the Aravali range, in which Mount Abu rises to 5600 feet, forms the western border of the table-land. The northern border cannot be sharply defined ; it is broken up into hills which pass more or less gradually into the plains of the North-Western Provinces. The Vindhia and Satpura ranges, the highest points of which have an elevation of more than 4000 feet, run from west to east across the northern parts of the table-land of Central India. “ Now pierced by road and railway” (says Sir William Hunter), “they stood in former times as a barrier of mountain and jungle between Northern and Southern India, and formed one of the main difficulties in welding the whole into an empire. They consist of vast masses of forests, ridges, and peaks, broken by cultivated tracts of the rich cotton-bearing black soil, exquisite river valleys and high-lying grassy plains.” 1 Through two deep and almost parallel depressions in this tract, the waters of the Narbada and Tapti flow west¬ ward to the Arabian Sea. With these exceptions, all the chief rivers of the peninsula, the Son, which joins the Ganges, the Mahanadi, the Godaveri, the Ivistna, and Kavari, flow eastward, and fall into the Bay of Bengal. The high ranges of the Ghats, on the western edge of the 1 1 The Indian Empire,’ 3rd edition, p. 68. EXTENT AND POPULATION. I I peninsula, throw off nearly the whole of its drainage to the eastward. This table-land, with the low-lying tracts on its borders, comprises the British provinces of Madras and Bombay, the Central Provinces, and many of the chief Native States in India. Among the latter are the Maratha States of Sindhia and Holkar, and those of the Nizam and Mysore. Besides the countries that I have named, and the Hima¬ laya, to which I shall again refer, there remains the great province of Burma, the latest addition to our empire. Although a dependency of the Government of India, it is completely cut off and differs essentially from every part of India. The province known as Lower Burma has an area of nearly 90,000 square miles and a population of four and a half millions. The territories of Upper Burma, now united to it, not including the protected Shan States, cover more than 83,000 square miles, with a population of about three millions. The provinces of British India cover 965,000 square miles, and contain more than 221 millions of people. The Native States cover 595,000 square miles, with a population of 66 millions. The French and Portuguese possessions have a population of 844,000. There are other tracts, the most important of which are British Baluchistan, the Shan States, Manipur, and a wild hilly region of Rajputana, where the regular operations of the census have not been carried out. The estimated population of these tracts exceeds a million. Altogether India has an area of about 1,600,000 square miles, and a population exceeding 289 millions. Excluding Russia, Europe is about equal in extent to India, but falls short of it in population. Although the main geographical features of India are comparatively simple, there are nevertheless very remark¬ able differences between the climates and many of the 12 GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. physical conditions of its various countries, and these differences are, as I have said, greater than any to be found between the countries of Europe. The explanation is not difficult. Excepting in temperature, and in a rainfall the amount of which varies within no very wide limits, the general climatic conditions of the countries of Europe, excluding those in the extreme north, are not very different. On the other hand, it is hardly possible to imagine greater con¬ trasts than those which often exist between the climates of various parts of India. Take, for example, the two extremities of the great northern plain, Sind on the western, and Lower Bengal on the eastern side of India. These countries are almost in the same latitude ; each of them is an unbroken alluvial plain, slightly elevated above the sea. In Sind, so little rain falls that the country may be said to be rainless. It is the Egypt of India, and without artificial irrigation would be an uninhabitable desert. Bengal, on the other hand, is a country of tropically heavy rain and luxuriant vegetation. The rainfall on the mountains along its eastern borders is heavier than any that has been observed in any other part of the world. At Cherra Punji, on the Khasiya hills, on the frontiers of Eastern Bengal, the average yearly rainfall is between 500 and 600 inches, and 40 inches have been measured in a single day. The average annual rainfall of London is about 25 inches, a quantity less than that which not unfrequently falls in twenty-four hours in many parts of India. It is not difficult to imagine from this illustration, taken from two Indian provinces, how great must be the differ¬ ences in physical conditions between countries presenting such extraordinary contrasts of climate. The one characteristic, common at certain seasons to the whole of India, except at great elevations, is exces¬ sive heat. The southern half of India, including nearly METEOROLOGY. the whole of the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, lies south of the tropic. The northern half, including nearly the whole of the Indo-Gangetic plain, lies north of the tropic.' Although in the southern or tropical region the mean tem¬ perature of the year is higher, the variations of temperature between summer and winter are comparatively small ; and it is in the second region, in the plains north of the tropic, where the days are longer and the power of the sun more continuous, that Indian heat reaches in the summer months its greatest intensity. In parts of the Punjab and of the North-Western Provinces, and in the desert on the borders of Sind, the temperature in May and June is probably exceeded in no part of the world ; but this extreme heat brings by its own action the relief without which all life would perish. “ The dominant feature of Indian meteorology (I am quoting from the late Mr Blanford, formerly the head of the Meteorological Department in India) “is the alternation of the monsoons, the annual reversal of the prevailing wind- currents. This alternation is consequent on the fact that, in the early summer, the broad plains and tablelands of India are heated to a far higher temperature than the seas which bathe their shores ; whereas, in the winter, the seas retain much of their warmth, while the land radiates away and throws off into stellar space much more heat than it receives from the oblique rays of the sun during the shorter winter days, and, especially as regards Northern India, speedily cools down to a temperature much below that of the surrounding seas.” 1 Observations of these phenomena and their consequences, especially in regard to the winds and the rainfall, show us, as Mr Blanford says, “ how each season in succession affects in diverse modes the different portions of the country ; why one province may sometimes be devastated by flood while another is parched with drought, and why, with special adaptation to the pecu- 1 ‘ Statistical Atlas of India,’ chap. iii. >4 GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. liarities of its own seasons and resources, each of them has its own agricultural system, its own staples, its own rotation of crops.” After March the heat in Northern India rapidly increases. As the air above the heated earth becomes hotter, the atmospheric pressure becomes less. At the same time an increase of pressure is going on over the ocean south of the equator, which has then its winter. Thus, a current of air laden with moisture is gradually established towards the continent of India from the sea. This is the so-called south-west monsoon, which brings the periodical rains every year to India, when the heat of the summer has reached its greatest intensity. Towards the end of May the monsoon has usually become established in the south-western ex¬ tremity of India, and before the end of June it has extended to the greater part of the northern provinces. The quantity of rain that falls in any part of India depends mainly on the configuration of the surface of the land, and on its situation with reference to the vapour¬ bearing winds. As the amount of watery vapour which air can hold in suspension varies with the temperature of the air, and increases with the temperature, any cause which cools the current from the sea tends to condensation of the vapour and to the fall of rain. One of the chief of such causes is the existence of moun¬ tains which stand in the path of the winds, and force the vapour-bearing currents to rise over them. Thus, the range of the Western Ghats, which form an almost continuous barrier along the western coasts of Southern India, meet first the whole force of the monsoon as it comes saturated with moisture from the sea. A great condensation of rain is the immediate result of the fall in the temperature of the hot moist air as it is forced to rise in passing across the mountains. On the face of the Ghats, not far from Bombay, the annual rainfall in some places exceeds 250 inches ; but a very large part of the moisture which the current of air THE MONSOONS. 15 contains is drained away by the excessive precipitation near the coast, and, as the current flows on over the land, the quantity of rain is greatly reduced. At Poona, only sixty miles from the sea, the annual rainfall is not more than 26 inches. Similar phenomena are observed in a still more remark¬ able form on the Himalaya. The line of maximum eleva¬ tion is not far from the southern edge of the great mountain mass. When the monsoon winds strike the outer ranges of the Himalaya, a large amount of rain immediately results ; the quantity diminishes as the wind passes over the mountains, and when it reaches the regions of perpetual snow, about 100 miles from the plains of India, almost the whole of its remaining moisture is condensed. Thus, the periodical rains are completely stopped by the ranges of the southern face of the Himalaya; they can find no entrance to the mountains beyond, or to the tableland of Tibet, one of the driest and most arid regions of the world. Similar causes shut off, though less completely, the rain¬ bearing south-westerly winds from the Madras provinces, on the south-eastern coast of India. These winds cannot carry much moisture over the obstacle to their course formed by the Western Ghats, and little rain falls in the eastern districts of Madras during the summer months. But, as I shall presently notice, the remedy for this deficiency is not wanting. Where, on the other hand, the configuration of the land is such that no obstacles are offered to the passage of the monsoon current from the sea, there may be no condensa¬ tion of its moisture. Thus, when it strikes upon the coast of Sind, very slightly elevated above the sea, it finds a hotter and not a cooler surface than that which it has left, and it passes on with all its watery vapour for 1000 miles across the rainless plains to the Punjab, where at last the Himalaya converts the vapour into rain. If, as General GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. 16 Strachey has observed, there had been a range of moun¬ tains connecting the high land of the Indian peninsula with that of Baluchistan, hardly a drop of rain would have reached the Punjab and the North of India. It would be easy to multiply illustrations of the manner in which geographical position and configuration deter¬ mine the fall of rain in the various provinces of India, and even local conditions of a kind which might have seemed of little importance produce remarkable results. Thus, for instance, a deep depression in a range of mountains may afford an opening for the entrance of the vapour-bearing currents of air, and give an ample supply of rain to a tract of country which would have been almost rainless if the mountains had been continuous. In this manner, the valleys of the Tapti and Narbada rivers, which enter the sea north of Bombay, are gates through which the mon¬ soon finds access to the provinces of Central India, and makes them fertile and prosperous. As the sun travels southward after midsummer, the south-west monsoon passes gradually away, and towards the latter part of September it ceases to blow over Northern India. Causes acting in the converse direction, but similar to those which brought it with its rain-bearing currents, lead to its cessation. The temperature falls as the sun goes south, and the vast dry tracts of the Asiatic continent become rapidly colder; the barometric pressure over the land increases, and winds begin to blow from the north towards the south. These winds are the north-east monsoon. This monsoon, although far less important than its pre¬ decessor to the greater part of India, is essentially neces¬ sary to Madras and the south-eastern provinces of the peninsula, which, as already explained, are cut off by their geographical position from the benefits of the monsoon from the south-west. When the wind from the north-east is established, these are the only parts of India which it RAINFALL. 17 reaches after passing across the sea, and, while everywhere else the current of air is dry, it takes up in its passage across the Bay of Bengal a supply of moisture. Under the opera¬ tion of the same laws which give their rainy season in the summer to the other provinces, the moisture brought by the north-east monsoon from the sea is precipitated in rain on the eastern districts of Madras and Southern India from October to December. This slight sketch of some of the main facts of Indian meteorology may serve to illustrate the causes which render the physical conditions of various parts of India so extremely different. As Mr Blanford has observed, we may speak of the climates, but not of the climate of India. “The world itself (he says) affords no greater contrast than is to be met with, at one and the same time, within its limits.” When these facts are understood, it will no longer seem surprising that India and its inhabitants, its natural productions, and all the conditions of life, should present such contrasts and diversities. B CHAPTER III. THE HIMALAYA. The Himalaya—Its influence on India—Its geography—The great rivers of India—The Ganges and Gogra—British and Native Himalayan districts— The Kumaon Himalaya—Scenery of the Himalaya. I HAVE referred in some detail to the two regions into which India is divided, but there is a third region, which has been barely mentioned, on and outside its borders, the influence of which over a great part of the Indian continent is so important that some knowledge of it is essential to a proper comprehension of Indian geography. I refer to the Himalaya. Without these mountains some of the richest tracts of India would be deserts ; they give to India her principal rivers, and through the effect that they pro¬ duce on the monsoons and the rainfall, they affect all the conditions of life in the plains above which they rise. This is a subject on which books on India have usually not much to say. It is unfortunate that we are taught to call these moun¬ tains the Himalaya, instead of giving them their more euphonious old Sanskrit name Himalaya, “the abode of snow.” There is an excellent general account of the Himalaya in the last edition of the ‘ Encyclopaedia Brit- annica.’ In it General Strachey shows that the Himalaya is not a mountain chain in the ordinary acceptation of the term. There stretches across a large part of Asia, im¬ mediately to the north of India, “ a great protuberance above the general level of the earth’s surface.” We usually call the whole of its southern border by the name Himalaya, and its northern border, in a much less definite EXTENT. 19 way, Kuenlun, and between them lies the mountainous table-land of Tibet, with an average elevation above the sea of 15,000 feet or more. Neither the Himalaya, nor Kuenlun, nor the Tibetan table-land, have any special or separate existence, the whole constituting one huge agglomeration of mountains. A range of mountains like those to which we are accus¬ tomed in Europe gives no notion of the Himalaya. It extends from east to west for some 2000 miles, and, with its Tibetan development, from its southern to its northern edge the average distance exceeds 500 miles. The Himalaya, thus defined, would stretch from England to the Caspian, and it covers r, 000,000 square miles, an area as large as that of Great Britain, the German and Austrian Empires, France, Spain, and Italy all together. Mountains like those of Europe have never been obstacles very diffi¬ cult to pass ; but except for a comparatively short distance on the north-western frontiers of India, where the moun¬ tains of Afghanistan and Baluchistan run southwards from the ranges of perpetual snow, the Himalaya and its offshoots form a barrier between India and the rest of Asia, which for all practical purposes may be called impassable. Except in the quarter that I have named, the Himalaya has in all ages given protection to India along a frontier 2000 miles in length. But the exception has been a serious one. From this vulnerable side, in the course of the last eight hundred years, a swarm of invaders has five times come down upon India, sometimes to conquer, sometimes only to destroy. Who shall say that she has seen the last of these invasions ? As might be supposed from its vast proportions, the Himalaya comprises many countries, differing from each other in almost everything except in this, that they consist entirely of mountains. We find in them every possible variety of climate, of vegetation, and of all natural products, and they are peopled by various tribes of various 20 THE HIMALAYA. character, in most different stages of civilisation. The Himalaya offers a good illustration of the misleading generalisations which are common in regard to almost everything Indian. Some authorities tell us that the mountains between the plains of India and the regions of perpetual snow are bleak and bare and arid, and that their scenery, in spite of its stupendous scale, is uninteresting; others tell us that they are covered with forest and rich vegetation, and present, in the higher regions, scenes more beautiful and sublime than anything to be found in Europe. Both stories are true ; but considering, as I have just said, that these mountains would stretch from England to the Caspian, we might as reasonably expect to find the same conditions in the Grampians, the Alps, and the Caucasus, as to find them in the Himalaya. It is only with that portion of the Himalaya which rises immediately above the plains of Northern India that I am now concerned. The highest peaks hitherto measured in the Himalaya or in the world are, for the most part, found on the southern side of the watershed between India and Tibet, at a distance of about ioo miles from the Indian plains. Mount Everest reaches 29,000 feet ; many of the peaks exceed 25,000, and still higher points may possibly remain to be discovered. The elevation of the passes from India into Tibet is seldom less than 16,000 feet, and the average elevation of the watershed probably exceeds 18,000 feet. The table-land of Tibet is usually 15,000 or 16,000 feet above the sea. I have already referred to the manner in which the lofty mountains that rise along the southern margin of the Himalaya form an impassable obstacle to the periodical rains of the south-west monsoon. The moisture-bearing currents cannot pass such a barrier, and all their vapour is condensed on the southern or Indian side of the chain. It is now well known that this furnishes the simple explana¬ tion of the fact formerly discussed by Humboldt and ELEVATION — RIVERS. 2 I others, and long misunderstood, that the line of perpetual snow is lower on the southern than on the northern slopes of the Himalaya. Although on the north of the Indian watershed, in Tibet, the winter cold is almost arctic in its intensity, very little snow will be found therein the summer months even at 20,000 feet, because the air is so dry that snow can hardly form ; while on the southern slopes of the chain the snow-line is found at an elevation of 15,000 or 16,000 feet. The greatest rivers of India all come from the Hima¬ laya. It is remarkable that, although their courses through India to the sea are so widely divergent, their chief sources are not far apart from each other. They are in the high Tibetan plateau, near the lake of Manasarowar and the peak of Kailas, names among the most sacred of Hindu mythology. This is strictly true of the Indus, the Sutlej, and the Brahmaputra, and, although the Ganges seems to be an exception, it can hardly be said to be one. The true story of the sources of the Ganges is curious. We all know how, in the last century, Bruce was supposed to have discovered the sources of the Nile, and how it afterwards appeared that he had been to the head, not of the great river, but of one of its tributaries. Something of the same sort may be said of the Ganges. Almost every work on the geography of India still tells us that the Ganges has its origin in the glacier, or, as it is oftener and inaccurately called, the snow-bed of Gangotri, where it issues from the ice-cave, the “ cow’s mouth ” of the sacred books of the Hindus. The truth is that, apart from mythology and religion and common belief, and judging as we judge less holy streams, Gangotri has no claim to be called the source of the Ganges, designating by that name the river that issues from the mountains at Hardwar. The river which comes from Gangotri is the Bhagirathi, one only of the numerous Himalayan feeders of the true Ganges. The main stream is that of the 22 THE HIMALAYA. Alaknanda, which has a much longer course and, at all seasons of the year, a much larger body of water than the Bhagirathi; its most distant sources are on the southern side of the watershed, near the Niti and Mana passes into Tibet, and it collects the drainage of the peaks and glaciers of the Kumaon and Garhwdl Himalaya, from Nanda Devi to the sacred shrines of Badrindth and Kedarndth. These two streams unite about forty miles above Hardwar. But the Ganges, applying that name, according to universal custom, to the combined river that flows through Bengal past Patna and Rajmahal, and thence on to the sea, has also, like the Indus, the Sutlej, and the Brahmaputra, its trans-Himalayan sources. The Gogra, or more correctly the Ghagra, which joins the Ganges above Patna, about 500 miles from the sea, is hardly known to European fame, but in the upper portion of its course it is a much larger river than the Ganges. It rises on the north of the Indian Himalaya, not far from the sources of the other great rivers, near the lake of Manas- arowar, finds its way through the mountains of Nepdl, under the name of Kauriali, and flows on through Oudh until it joins the Ganges. The Kauriali, near the borders of NepAl, after it has entered the plains, is said to have a minimum discharge of 11,000 cubic feet per second, where¬ as that of the Ganges at Hardwar is only 6300 feet. Whether at the junction betv/een the Ganges and the Gogra, the former, after its longer course through the plains of India, has become the larger stream, is a question to which no certain answer has hitherto been given. It may seem curious that it should still be possible to doubt whether the Gogra can properly be called an affluent of the Ganges, whether it ought not rather to be held that the Ganges, in its passage from the mountains to the sea, falls into a river greater than itself, the very name of which is hardly known in Europe. The question has no material importance, and the truth is that no standard has hitherto NATIVE HILL STATES. been clearly recognised by which to determine the char¬ acters that justify us in speaking of any particular affluent of a river as its source. It remains undecided whether that term should be applied to the affluent which has the longest course, which has the greatest catchment area, or which has the superior volume ; and, if volume be the test, whether this is to be measured when the stream is at its highest, its lowest, or its average level. Between Assam, the British province on the extreme north-east of India, to the western frontiers of Kashmir, a distance of 1500 miles, the countries of the Indian Himalaya and its offshoots cover more than 150,000 square miles, and contain 6,500,000 people. They are mostly under Native rule, and among them the most important is Nepal, the one State in India, or on its borders, which has remained entirely independent of our power. In 1815 and 1816 the Nepalese measured their strength against ours, and lost in consequence Kumdon and Garhwal, their richest districts. Since that time they have preserved an unvarying policy of absolute but friendly isolation. The British representative at Katmandu, their capital, is treated almost as a highly honoured prisoner, and Central Africa is more accessible to European travellers than the greater part of Nepal. However unenlightened from our point of view this policy, which the geographical position and con¬ figuration of the country alone rendered possible, may have been, it has had the result of shutting out all causes and opportunities of dispute, and of preserving the inde¬ pendence of Nepal. The other Native Hill States are all under British con¬ trol. The most important of them is Kashmir, with its dependencies in Western Tibet. I have spoken of the great differences between the various countries and peoples of these mountains. A remarkable illustration is seen in the contrast between the States on the Eastern and Western extremities of the Indian Himalaya. There are 24 TIIE HIMALAYA. no braver soldiers than the little Gurkhas of Nepal, and no greater cowards than the stalwart Mohammedans of Kashmir. In the Western Himalaya, in the Punjab Lieutenant- Governorship, several districts, of which Kangra is the most important, are under British administration, and in one of them is Simla, the summer head-quarters of the Government of India. But the most considerable tract of British territory in the Himalaya is the province of Kumaon and Garhwal, bordering on the plains of Rohil- khand, in the North-Western Provinces. It would be foreign to my purpose to speak to you at length regarding this or any other portion of the chain, and, as I have just said, in treating of so vast a subject as the Himalaya it is easy to be misled by generalisations. I will, however, say something about Kumaon, because in its main features it affords instructive illustrations of many of the chief and most widely prevailing characteristics of these mountains, and because it is a country with which I have had unusual opportunities of making myself acquainted. The province of Kumaon has an area of more than 12,000 square miles, and its population exceeds a million. Its whole surface is covered by mountains. They rise with strange suddenness from the plains of India. We pass almost in a moment into the mountains, and when we have once entered them, we hardly find level ground again until we have gone 400 or 500 miles across the Himalaya, Tibet, and the Kuenlun. The Gagar range, described with enthusiastic admiration by Bishop Heber, rises immediately above the plains to more than 8,000 feet, and in one of its valleys lie the little lake and station of Naini Tal, the summer head-quarters of the .Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces. After travelling through Kumaon for more than 100 miles, through a constant succession of high ranges and kumAon and garhwal. 25 deep gorges, we pass the great peaks of the Indian Himalaya, and cross over into Tibet, but, looking north¬ ward from the watershed, we see again fresh snowy ranges and mountains that look as endless and as vast as those that we have left behind. In .the earlier part of my Indian life I had the good fortune to be employed for about ten years in various offices in Kumaon and Garhwal, and I spent many summers in the higher regions of the Himalaya, sometimes among the almost countless glaciers at the sources of the Ganges and its tributaries, or visiting the passes into Tibet, one of them more than 18,000 feet above the sea, or on the forest- covered ranges immediately under the snowy peaks. I have seen much of European mountains, but in stupendous sublimity, combined with a magnificent and luxuriant beauty, I have seen nothing that can be compared with the Himalaya. Although none of the Kumaon summits reach an eleva¬ tion equal to that attained by a few of the peaks in other parts of the chain, for only two of them exceed 25,000 feet, it is probable that the average elevation of the snowy range of Kumaon is nowhere surpassed. For a continuous dis¬ tance of some 200 miles the peaks constantly reach a height of from 22,000 to more than 25,000 feet. The Alpine vegetation of the Kumaon Himalaya, while far more various, closely resembles in its generic forms that of the Alpine regions of Europe; but after you have left the plains for 100 miles and have almost reached the foot of the great peaks, the valleys are still, in many cases, only 2000 or 3000 feet above the sea, conveying, as General Strachey says, “ the heat and vegetation of the tropics among ranges covered with perpetual snow.” Thus, he adds, the traveller may obtain at a glance a range of vision extending from 2000 to 25,000 feet, “ and see spread before him a compendium of the entire vegetation of the globe from the tropics to the poles.” Something similar may 26 THE HIMALAYA. be said of the animal world. Tigers, for instance, are common in the valleys; and it is not very unusual to see their footprints in the snow among oaks and pines and rhododendrons 8000 or 10,000 feet above the sea. If I wished to give to anyone, acquainted only with European mountains, some notion of the scenery of the Kumaon Himalaya, at elevations of about 6000 to 10,000 feet, I should advise him to travel in the Italian valleys of the Alps, to which, on a far greater scale, the gorges of the Himalaya have often a strong resemblance. The Val Anzasca, as you go up towards Macugnaga through the chestnut woods, with Monte Rosa always before you, is not unlike in miniature a valley in the Himalaya, and I hardly like to say that it is less beautiful. But the Indian mountains are grander, their forests are nobler, their whole vegetation is more rich and varied, and nowhere in Europe will you find the splendour of the atmospheric effects and colouring of the Himalaya. Still less is comparison possible in the higher regions of the mountains. To the traveller who remembers the wild magnificence of the peaks and glaciers of the Himalaya, and the general sublimity of its aspect, Zermatt and Chamouny seem insignificant. The mere fact that the ranges of the Himalaya are often twice as high as those of the Alps gives no idea of their relative magnitude. The whole of the Bernese Alps might, it has been said, be cast into a single Himalayan valley. We might almost as reasonably, when the Scotch or Welsh hills are white with snow, compare them with Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, as compare anything in the Alps with Nanda Devi and Trisul. If, preserving the form of its great obelisk, we could pile the Matterhorn on the Jungfrau, we should not reach the highest summits of the Himalaya, and should have a mountain less wonderful than the astonishing peak of Dunagiri. Among earthly spectacles, it is hardly possible that any MOUNTAIN SCENERY. 2 7 can surpass the Himalaya, as I have often seen it at sunset on an evening in October from the ranges thirty or forty miles from the great peaks. One such view in particular, that from Binsar in Kumaon, stands out vividly in my re¬ membrance. This mountain is 8000 feet high, covered with oak and rhododendron. Towards the north we look down over pineclad slopes into a deep valley, where, 6000 feet below, the Sarju runs through a tropical forest. Be¬ yond the river it seems to the eye as if the peaks of per¬ petual snow rose straight up and almost close to us into the sky. From the bottom of the valley to the top of Nanda Devi we see at a glance almost 24,000 feet of mountain. The stupendous golden or rose-coloured masses and pinnacles of the snowy range extend before us in un¬ broken succession for more than 250 miles, filling up a third part of the visible horizon, while on all other sides, as far as the eye can reach, stretch away the red and purple ranges of the lower mountains. “ In a hundred ages of the gods,” writes one of the old Sanskrit poets, “ l could not tell you of the glories of Himachal.” It must be added that few of those who spend the summer in the hill stations of Northern India have the opportunity of witnessing such scenes as these. If they suppose that, at a place like Simla, they have seen the Himalaya, they greatly deceive themselves. CHAPTER IV. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT IN INDIA. Presidencies and provinces—The Presidency of Bengal—First constitution of the Government—The Regulating Act of George III.—Hastings and his Council—Changes between 1773 and 1833—Renewal of the East India Company’s Charter in 1833—The Governor-General of India in Council —Separation of the North-Western Provinces from Bengal—Renewal of the Charter in 1853—A Lieutenant-Governor appointed for Bengal—The mutiny of the Native army—Transfer of the Government to the Crown— The Indian Councils Act of 1861—The existing constitution of the Supreme and Provincial Governments—The Governor-General in Council —The Indian legislatures—The Councils Act of 1892—Their powers— The Governments of Madras and Bombay—The Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and the Punjab—The Chief Com¬ missioners of Burma, the Central Provinces, and Assam—Former cumbrous mode of transacting business—Opinions of Mr J. S. Mill—Observations of Sir Henry Maine—The Indian Councils Act and changes made by Lord Canning—Reforms completed by Lord Lawrence—The Council converted into a Cabinet—Departments and Secretariats—Manner of transacting business—Power of Governor-General to overrule the Council —Exercise of this power by Lord Lytton—Migration of the Government to Simla—Relations between supreme and provincial Governments—Mr Bright on the government of India—Decentralisation. In the earlier times of the East India Company, the affairs of the three principal settlements in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, were, in each case, administered by a President and a Council composed of servants of the Company, and the term “ Presidency ” was applied to the whole tract over which their authority extended. The term has lasted to the present day, and is still used in official papers, but it has almost ceased to have any special meaning. British India is not divided into presidencies, but into provinces, eight of which are extensive countries under separate 28 THE PRESIDENCIES. 29 Governments. The presidencies of Madras and Bombay are now the provinces of the same names. The term “ Presidency of Bengal ” requires some ex¬ planation. The name Bengal has had, at different periods since the country came into our possession, very different meanings. It was originally applied, as it still is by the Natives of India, to the tract sometimes called Lower Bengal, in¬ cluding the deltas of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, and inhabited by the people who speak Bengali. The earliest factories and settlements on that side of India were established in Bengal, and, as British authority went on extending, the name Bengal was applied to all the territories administered from Fort William, the official head-quarters in Calcutta. Thus, the Presidency of Bengal, or, according to its proper official designation, Fort William in Bengal, came to include not only Bengal and the neighbouring provinces of Behar and Orissa, but the whole of the British conquests in Northern India. Some remnants of the old system have lasted into our own times. There was, until lately, a single army for the provinces of Bengal, the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, and the Punjab, and this, although, as I shall have again to notice, it had not a single native of Bengal in its ranks, retained the name of the Bengal Army. Another survival from old times is seen in the Bengal Civil Service. The members of the Indian Civil Service, recruited under the system of open competition, are appointed, before they leave England, to the provinces to which under ordinary circumstances they remain per¬ manently attached. The Civil Services of the North- Western Provinces and the Punjab are, for all administra¬ tive purposes, as distinct from that of Bengal as from those of Madras and Bombay ; but, in regard to some matters connected with annuities to widows and children, they are still treated as a single body and included in the so-called Bengal Civil Service. 30 CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. The first Act of Parliament which prescribed a definite system of government for the affairs of India was that of 1773. 1 It provided for the appointment of a Governor- General and a Council of four members for the Presidency of Bengal. The administration was to be carried on in accordance with the votes of the majority of the Council, and the Governor-General had no power to set aside their decisions. Certain powers of control, vaguely defined, were given to the Government of Bengal over the presiden¬ cies of Madras and Bombay. Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General of Bengal. The scandalous dissen¬ sions in his Council, under the malignant influence of Francis, have become a well known matter of history. They showed that Government by the constantly shifting majority of a Council was impossible ; but although similar facts repeatedly occurred to illustrate the folly of such a system, it was not until 1786 that a partial remedy was applied, after Lord Cornwallis had made it a condition of his acceptance of the office of Governor-General that the power of overruling his Council should be given to him. On the renewal of the Company’s Charter in 1793, 2 the powers of the Governor-General were further extended; authority to overrule their Councils was given to the Governors of Madras and Bombay; the power of the Governments of those presidencies to make laws and regulations for their own territories was recognised ; and the supreme authority of the Governor-General in Council over the whole of India was distinctly declared. No very important changes in the constitution of the Government were made after this until the renewal of the Charter in 1833, 3 when the trading powers of the Company ceased. The Governor-General in Council of Bengal then became the Governor-General of India in Council. Bengal was to be divided into two presidencies, Fort William in Bengal 1 Regulating Act, 13 Geo. III. c. 63. 2 33 Geo. III. c. 52. 3 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85. SUPREME AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS. 31 and Agra. The Governor-General was to be Governor of the former, and a Governor was to be appointed for the latter. The Agra presidency was not constituted, but by an amending Act passed in 1835 1 the territories which were to have been included in it were placed, under the name of the North-Western Provinces, under a Lieu¬ tenant-Governor without a Council. Madras and Bombay retained their Councils, but no Council was appointed for Bengal. In 1853 the Charter of the Company was again renewed, 2 and an important change in the Government was made. It had long been obvious that it was impossible for a single person to discharge the double duty of Governor-General of India and Governor of Bengal, and the administration of Bengal had notoriously become less efficient than that of any other province in India. The Governor-General was relieved from this charge, and a Lieutenant-Governor, without a Council, was appointed. In 1857 came the mutiny of the Bengal Native army. In the following year, by the “ Act for the better govern¬ ment of India,” 3 the Government was transferred from the East India Company to the Crown, and it was provided that all the powers of the Company and of the Board of Control should be exercised by a Secretary of State, in concert, in certain cases, with a Council. This Act, of which I shall again have to speak, applied almost solely to the Government in England, and the Government in India was carried on as before. In 1861 important changes were made in the constitution both of the Supreme and Provincial Governments in India. The ‘‘Indian Councils Act” 4 then passed still regulates, for the most part, the Governments in India. I shall describe its principal provisions. The Governor-General and the Ordinary members of his 2 16 and 17 Vic. c. 95. 4 24 and 25 Vic. c. 67. 1 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 52. 3 21 and 22 Vic. c. 106. CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. Council are appointed by the Crown. No limit of time is specified for their tenure of office, but custom, not often disregarded, has fixed it at five years. The term “Viceroy” has been commonly applied to the Governor-General since the transfer of the Government to the Crown, but it is not recognised by law. There are five Ordinary members of Council, and, by an Act passed in 1874, 1 a sixth member may, at the discretion of the Crown, be appointed for public works. Three of the members must have served in India for at least ten years ; two of them are members of the Covenanted Civil Service, and the third is a military officer ; but this distribution is a matter of custom, not of law. One of the two remaining members must be a barrister, or a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland, of not less than five years’ standing; he has charge of the legislative department. The fifth member has charge of the finances. The Commander-in-Chief in India may also be, and in practice always is, an Extra¬ ordinary member of the Council. The Governors of Madras and Bombay become Extraordinary members if the Council meets within their presidencies. Whenever it is declared by the Governor-General in Council to be ex¬ pedient that the Governor-General should visit any part of India without his Council, he may nominate one of the members of his Council to be President of the Council. The President, during the absence of the Governor-General, exercises the powers which the Governor-General may exercise at meetings of the Council, except that of assent¬ ing to or withholding assent to laws; and the Governor- General, when so absent, may himself exercise all or any of the powers which he might exercise as Governor-General in Council, except the power of making laws. The Council may assemble at any place in India which the Governor- General in Council appoints. For the purposes of legislation, Additional members are 1 37 and 38 Vic. c. 91. COUNCIL OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL. 33 nominated to the Council. The Legislative Council is often spoken of as if it had a separate existence, but this is a mistake ; only one Council is known to the law. The Additional members are nominated by the Governor- General, and they join the Council when it meets for legislative purposes. Not less than one-half of their number must be persons not holding offices under the Government; some of them are always Natives of India. The Lieutenant-Governor of any province in which the Council may meet acts as an Additional member. When the Council meets for legislative purposes, and the Ordi¬ nary members are present, the Government can usually command a majority of votes. Under the Indian Councils Act of 1861 the maximum number of Additional members was twelve, all of whom were nominated at the discretion of the Governor-General. The Council, when it met for legislation only, could occupy itself with no matters except those directly connected with the legislative business before it. It had no concern what¬ ever with any of the functions of the executive government. The Provincial Legislatures, of which I shall have again to speak, were similarly constituted, and their powers were similarly limited. In 1892, an important change was made in the con¬ stitution of all the Indian Councils. It had long been felt that the time had come when the administration might gain much advantage if public opinion could be brought more largely to bear upon it. This was especially true of the Provincial Governments, the ordinary business of which is of a kind in which local knowledge is necessary, and on which the expression of intelligent independent criticism may often be very valuable. By an Act of Parlia¬ ment, passed in 1892, 1 it was provided that the number of Additional members in the Council of the Governor- General should not be less than ten nor more than 1 515 and 56 Vic., c. 14. C 34 CONSTITUTION OF T 1 IE GOVERNMENT. sixteen. The exact number is left to the discretion of the Governor-General for the time being. The Governor- General in Council, with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council, makes rules defining the manner in which the nominations of Additional members are to be made, under which the annual financial statement of the Govern¬ ment may be discussed, and under which questions may be asked. It was obviously impossible to obtain, by any system of popular election or otherwise, any direct repre¬ sentation on the Governor-General’s Council of the multi¬ farious interests of the vast populations of the numerous countries of the Indian empire, and the following procedure was adopted in the rules passed under the Act. There are sixteen Additional members, of whom six are officials appointed by the Governor-General, and ten are non¬ official. Four of the latter are appointed by the Governor- General on the recommendation of a majority of the non¬ official Additional members of the Provincial Legislatures of Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, each of these bodies recommending one member. A fifth member is recommended by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce. The Governor-General can, if he thinks fit, decline to accept a recommendation thus made, and in that case a fresh recommendation is submitted to him. The remaining five non-official members are nominated at the discretion of the Governor-General, “in such manner as shall appear to him most suitable with reference to the legislative business to be brought before the Council, and the due representation of the different classes of the com¬ munity.” In the words of a despatch from the Govern¬ ment of India, “ measures may at one time be before the Council relating to interests which ought to be specially represented in their discussion ; at another time the legis¬ lative work may be of a different description, calling for the selection of representatives from particular local divisions of the empire, or of persons chosen to represent the most RECENT CHANGES IN COUNCIL. 35 skilled opinion upon large measures affecting British India as a whole. It is desired also to reserve to the Governor- General the liberty of inviting representatives from Native States.” Under the law as it stood, before the passing of the Act of 1892, there was no opportunity of criticising the financial policy of the Government except on those occasions when financial legislation was necessary. Under the rules now in force, the annual Financial Statement must be made publicly in the Council ; every member is at liberty to make any observations that he thinks fit, and the Financial member of Council and the President have the right of reply. Rules have also been made defining the conditions under which questions may be asked in the Council. The ques¬ tions, of which due notice has to be given, must be requests for information only, and must not be put in argumentative, or hypothetical, or defamatory language, nor is discussion permitted in respect of an answer given to a question on behalf of the Government. These two restrictions are sub¬ stantially identical with those in force in the British House of Commons. The President may disallow any question which, in his opinion, cannot be answered consistently with the public interests. Certain Acts of Parliament under which the Govern¬ ment of India is constituted cannot be touched, and no law can be made affecting the authority of Parliament or allegiance to the Crown, but with these exceptions the legislative powers of the Governor-General in Council over the whole of British India are unrestricted. Measures affecting the public debt or revenues of India, the religion of any of her Majesty’s subjects, the discipline or mainten¬ ance of the military or naval forces, and the relations of the Government with Foreign States, cannot be introduced by any member without the previous sanction of the Governor- General. Every Act requires the Governor-General’s assent. The assent of the Crown is not necessary to the 36 CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. validity of an Act, but the Crown can disallow any Act that has been passed. Apart from these ordinary legislative powers, the Governor-General in Council was authorised in 1870 1 to make, without calling in the additional members, “ Regula¬ tions ” having the force of law for the less advanced parts of the country, where a system of administration simpler than that in force elsewhere is desirable. The effect of this was to put on a legal basis the administration of the so-called “ Non-Regulation Provinces.” Further, in cases of urgent necessity, the Governor- General can, on his own authority and without reference to his Council, make Ordinances which have the force of law for six months. This power was given by the Act of 1861 for the first time. It has seldom been exercised, and only for reasons of temporary convenience. The constitution of the Executive Governments in Madras and Bombay was not altered by the Act of 1861, and they still retain some signs of their former dignity and partial independence. On certain matters they cor¬ respond directly with the Secretary of State, a privilege not possessed by other provincial Governments. The Governor and the Ordinary members of Council are appointed by the Crown. The Governor is usually an English statesman sent from England. Two members of the Civil Service constitute the Council. Until 1893 there was, in each of the two Presidencies, a Commander- in-Chief, who was also a member of the Council, but, as I shall have to notice in describing the constitution of the Army in India, the offices of Provincial Commander- in-Chief were, in that year, abolished. The power of legislation, which had been taken away in Madras and Bombay by the Act of 1833, was restored in 1861. Under the Act of 1892, to which I have already referred, changes similar to those made in the Council of the 1 33 Vic., c. 3, sec. 1. COUNCILS—MADRAS AND BOMBAY. 37 Governor-General were also made in the Councils of the Provincial Governments. Additional members are nomin¬ ated by the Governor, and they join the Council when it meets for legislative purposes. Their number, both in Madras and Bombay, is twenty, of whom, under the rules laid down, not more than nine can be officials. The system under which the non-official Additional members are chosen is so nearly identical in the two provinces, that it will be sufficient to describe that adopted in one of them. I take the Bombay Council as the example. There are eleven non-official members. Nominations to eight of these seats are made by the Governor on the recom¬ mendation of various bodies and associations. The Cor¬ poration of Bombay and the Senate of the University each recommend one member. Six members are recommended by groups of Municipal Corporations, groups of District Local Boards, classes of large land-holders, and by such Associations of merchants, manufacturers, or tradesmen as the Governor in Council may prescribe. The remain¬ ing non-official members are nominated by the Governor “ in such manner as shall in his opinion secure a fair representation of the different classes of the community.” The rules for the discussion of the annual Financial Statements in the Provincial Councils are the same as those applicable to the Council of the Governor-General, except that the discussion must be limited to those branches of revenue and expenditure which are under the control of the Provincial Government. The rules regarding questions are also the same, with two restric¬ tions. Questions cannot be asked or answered as to any matters other than those under the control of the Pro¬ vincial Government; and in matters which are or have been the subject of controversy between the Provincial Government and the Government of India or the Secretary of State, no question can be asked or answer given except on matters of fact. 3 § CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. All laws require the sanction of the Governor-General, and may be disallowed by the Crown. The powers of the Governor-General in Council to legislate for all matters throughout India are not affected by the establishment of the local legislatures, but, as a general rule, the latter are left to deal with subjects of local and provincial in¬ terest. They cannot repeal or amend any Act of Parlia¬ ment, or any law passed in India before the time when the Indian Councils Act of 1861 came into operation, nor, except with the previous sanction of the Governor-General, can they take into consideration any measure affecting the public debt, customs, imperial taxation, currency, the post office and telegraph, the penal code, religion, the military and naval forces, patents, copyright, or relations with Foreign States. In the other great provinces of India the Governments are differently constituted. Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and the Punjab, are administered by Lieutenant- Governors ; they must be chosen from officers in the service of the Crown who have served in India for at least ten years; they are appointed by the Governor-General with the approval of the Crown ; and, with one exception, they have always been members of the Covenanted Civil Service. 1 The Lieutenant-Governors have no Councils for executive business, but the Governor-General in Council may establish in each province a Council for legislative purposes only. This power has been exercised in Bengal and in the North-Western Provinces ; I shall have occasion to refer again to their Legislative Councils ; they are similar in their constitution to those in Madras and Bombay, the Lieutenant-Governor taking the place of the Governor. The Governments of Burma, the Central Provinces, and Assam, are administered by Chief Commis¬ sioners. Excepting in name and dignity and in amount of salary and patronage, there is little difference between 1 5 k and 6 Will. IV., c. 52, sec. 2, and 16 and 17 Vic., c. 95, sec. 16. EXECUTIVE BUSINESS. 39 them and Lieutenant-Governors. For Provinces which have no legislatures of their own, laws are passed by the Governor-General in Council. I must now speak of the manner in which the executive business of the Governor-General in Council is transacted. The system is very different from that in force under the Government of the East India Company. Although after the Act of 1793 the power of the Governor-General to over-rule his Council was not open to question, the funda¬ mental idea, on which previous legislation had been based, still remained, that the Government was to be carried on by the Governor-General in concert with the whole Council. All public business of every kind, however trivial, was supposed to come before all the members of the Govern¬ ment. Questions were ordinarily decided by the majority, the Governor-General having a casting vote if the votes were equal. If the Governor-General determined to over¬ rule the majority, it was provided that he and the members of Council should “ mutually exchange with and communi¬ cate in writing to each other the grounds and reasons of their respective opinions.” They were then to meet a second time, and if both parties retained their first opinions, their minutes were to be entered on the consultations, and the orders of the Governor-General were to be carried out. In his “ Essay on Representative Government," pub¬ lished in 1861, when the procedure which I have described was still legally in force, Mr J. S. Mill described the manner in which he considered that Ministers in charge of the great departments of an Executive Government ought to be assisted by Councils. “ The Councils should be consultative merely, in this sense that the ultimate decision should rest undividedly with the Minister himself: but neither ought they to be looked upon, or to look upon themselves as ciphers, or as capable of being reduced to such at his pleasure. The advisers attached to a powerful and perhaps self-willed man ought to be placed under 40 CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. conditions which make it impossible for them, without discredit, not to express an opinion, and impossible for him not to listen to and consider their recommendations, whether he adopts them or not. The relation which ought to exist between a chief and this description of advisers is very accurately hit by the constitution of the Governor-General and those of the different presidencies in India. These Councils are composed of persons who have professional knowledge of Indian affairs, which the Governor- General and Governors usually lack, and which it would not be desirable to require of them. As a rule, every member of Council is expected to give an opinion, which is, of course, very often a simple acquiescence ; but if there is a difference of senti¬ ment, it is at the option of every member, and is the invariable practice, to record the reasons of his opinion ; the Governor- General or Governor doing the same. In ordinary cases the decision is according to the sense of the majority; the Council, therefore, has a substantial part in the Government, but if the Governor-General or Governor thinks fit, he may set aside even their unanimous opinion, recording his reasons. The result is that the chief is, individually and effectually, responsible for every act of the Government. The members of Council have only the responsibility of advisers ; but it is always known, from documents capable of being produced, and which, if called for by Parliament or public opinion, always are produced, what each has advised, and what reasons he gave for his advice ; while from their dignified position and ostensible participation in all acts of government, they have nearly as strong motives to apply themselves to the public business, and to form and express a well-considered opinion on every part of it, as if the whole responsibility rested with themselves.” I must continue my quotation, for Mr Mill’s commentary on the system thus described is remarkable :— “ This mode of conducting the highest class of administrative business is one of the most successful instances of the adapta¬ tion of means to ends which political history, not hitherto very prolific in works of skill and contrivance has yet to show. It is one of the acquisitions with which the art of politics has been enriched by the experience of the East India Company’s rule ; and like most of the other wise contrivances by which India has MILL ON INDIAN ADMINISTRATION. 41 been preserved to this country, and an amount of good govern¬ ment produced which is truly wonderful considering the circum¬ stances and the materials, it is probably destined to perish in the general holocaust which the traditions of Indian govern¬ ment seem fated to undergo, since they have been placed at the mercy of public ignorance and the presumptuous vanity of political men.” Mr Mill’s anticipations have been to some extent veri¬ fied. The manner of transacting business which existed under the East India Company has perished, but, I venture to say, not for the reasons which he predicted, but because it was not the wise contrivance which he supposed. The principle which he laid clown was undoubtedly true, that while a man in the position of Governor-General of India ought to possess, in the last resort, power to act upon his own judgment, he ought also to be obliged to hear the opinions of experienced councillors, and that those coun¬ cillors should have the right of making their opinions known, whether they were followed or not. This principle has not been infringed. If Mr Mill had himself seen in operation the system which he described, he would, I am sure, have given it a different character. The truth is that a more cumbrous, I might say a more impossible, system of administration for a great empire could hardly have been invented than that which prevailed under the govern¬ ment of the East India Company, when every case was supposed to be laid before the Governor-General and the whole Council, and to be decided by them collectively. The only reason that enabled such a system to last so long was that in matters requiring prompt and vigorous action it was not really acted upon. In the latter years of the East India Company, and for a few years after the transfer of the government to the Crown, the Governor-General was frequently" separated from his Council. His presence was often required in Northern India by reasons of political necessity. He was 42 CONSTITUTION OF TIIE GOVERNMENT. authorised to exercise, while absent from the Council, all the powers of the Governor-General in Council, except the power of legislation. The Council remained in Calcutta under the presidency of the senior member, who exercised, during the Governor-General’s absence, all the powers of the Governor-General in Council, except the power of giving assent to laws. There was a double Government, with a division of authority and responsibility fatal to good administration. Sir Henry Maine has described, from his own observation as a member of Council, the manner in which the system actually worked :— “ A division of business was made between the Governor- General in the Upper provinces and the President in Council at Calcutta. Everything which was of importance was referred directly to the Governor-General, and there was either a rule or an understanding that if any matter which came before the Presi¬ dent in Council assumed, contrary to expectation, the least importance, it should be sent on to the Governor-General. . . Except in regard to matters belonging to the Foreign department, of which it was usual for the Governor-General himself to under¬ take the primary management, the severance of the Governor- General from the Council dislocated the whole machinery of Government. I was myself in Calcutta, as a member of Council during the absence of Ford Elgin in the Upper provinces, in the summer of 1863. 1 believe it to be impossible for any human arrangement to have worked more perversely. Lord Elgin was distinguished by remarkable caution—though I doubt whether his caution was practically greater than that which any man comparatively fresh from England would display under simi¬ larly vast responsibilities—and all or most important matters were transferred by him over a distance of 1,500 miles for the opinions ''of his Council. The result was that a great deal of work was done twice over, and a great deal not done at all.” 1 In earlier times, when there were no railways or telegraphs, and hardly any roads, the duties of the Government were very different from what they are now. Kingdoms were Memorandum on the Administration of Bengal, December 2, 1867. PROCEDURE IN GOVERNOR-GENERAl’s COUNCIL. 43 annexed and conquered, and stirring events were constantly going on, but the ordinary business of administration was comparatively small. But in the years immediately pre¬ ceding the mutinies of 1857 rapid changes were in progress in all branches of the Government, and when the great reign of Lord Dalhousie was over he declared it to be morally and physically impossible that the Governor-General should efficiently discharge all the duties imposed upon him. The events of 1857 made the burden still heavier. The insertion by Parliament of a few words in the Indian Coun¬ cils Act of 1861 gave to Lord Canning and his successors the means of reforming a system of government which had become intolerable. It empowered the Governor-General to make from time to time rules and orders for the more convenient transaction of business in his Council, and pro¬ vided that any order made or act done in accordance with such rules and orders should be deemed to be the order or act of the Governor-General in Council. These provisions made it possible to bring legally to an end the system under which the whole Council was supposed to take part collec¬ tively in the disposal of all the business of the Government. Rules were made by Lord Canning, assigning to each member of the Council the charge of a separate depart¬ ment of the administration, and the Council was virtually converted into a Cabinet, of which the Governor-General was the head. When this change was made it became obvious that the separation, for long periods of time, of the Governor-General from his Council was incompatible with efficient administration. The reform of procedure was completed by Lord Lawrence. Since his time the old plan of double government, under which the Governor-General was frequently absent from the Council, with a President in Council in Calcutta, has been abandoned. It is now never adopted except as an occasional measure of merely temporary convenience. Although the separation of departments in India is less 44 CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. complete than in England, and the authority of a member of Council much less extensive and exclusive than that of an English Secretary of State, the members of Council are now virtually Cabinet ministers, each of whom has charge of one or more of the great departments of the Government. Their ordinary duties are rather those of administrators than of councillors. The Governor-General regulates the manner in which the public business shall be distributed among them. He usually keeps the Foreign department in his own hands; the other departments are—Home, Revenue and Agriculture, Finance and Commerce, Mili¬ tary, Public Works, and Legislative. While the member of Council takes the place of the English Secretary of State, there is in each department a Secretary holding a position analogous to that of a permanent Under-secretary in England. It is the duty of this secretary to place every case before the Governor-General or member in charge of his department, in a form in which it is ready for decision. He submits with it a statement of his own opinion. In minor cases the member of Council passes orders which are final. If the matter be one of greater importance, he sends on the papers, with his own orders, to the Governor-General for his approval. If the Governor-General concurs, and thinks further discussion unnecessary, the orders are issued. If he does not concur, he directs that the case shall be brought before the Council, as in England an important case might come before the Cabinet. The duty rests upon the secretary, apart from his responsibility towards the member of Council in charge of the department, of bring¬ ing personally to the knowledge of the Governor-General every matter of special importance. All orders of the Government are issued in the name of the Governor-Gen¬ eral in Council. Although, when a question comes before the whole Council, it is usually decided in accordance with the opinion of the majority, power is reserved by law to the DEPARTMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 45 Governor-General to act on his own opinion alone, when¬ ever the safety, tranquillity, or interests of the British possessions in India may, in his judgment, be essentially affected. 1 Recourse to this power is very seldom necessary. The only occasion in recent times on which it has been exercised in a matter of importance occurred in March 1879, when Lord Lytton, in opposition to the opinion of a majority of his Council, partially abolished the Indian import duty on English cotton goods. The occasion will be remembered in the economic history of India, because this measure rendered inevitable the speedy application to India of the policy of the freedom of trade. Another consequence has followed from the changes that I have described. The abandonment by Lord Lawrence of the system of double government, and the establishment of the departmental responsibility of the members of Council, rendered it necessary that when the Governor- General left Calcutta for Northern India he should be accompanied by the Council. Lord Lawrence made Simla the ordinary summer headquarters of the Government. There has been much criticism of these annual migrations, but no one who has had personal knowledge of the Govern¬ ment of India doubts the increased efficiency of its admini¬ stration since it has passed a portion of every year in a climate less enervating than that to which it was exposed in the tropical heat of Calcutta, and in which Englishmen can work as vigorously as at home. The Government does not go to Simla for a holiday, but for the hardest and most continuous portion of its work. The evil influence of the climate is not the only reason why the Government of India should not remain permanently in Bengal. It has no local duties. Its business is one of general control, and the countries of Northern and Western India will always be those which demand the largest share of its attention and anxiety. 1 33 Vic., c. 3, sec. 5. 46 CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. I shall give in another chapter some account of the man- ner in which the administration of a great British province is carried on. The last twenty years have seen a great and beneficial change in the relations between the supreme and provincial Governments. In the speeches on India made by Mr Bright, about the time when the Government of India was transferred to the Crown, one of the principles on which he insisted was the necessity of decentralising the Government. There is much in those speeches with which I am unable to agree, and much that was once true has ceased to be applicable, but I wish to quote some passages which seem to me to indicate the principles on which government in India can alone be successfully conducted. Mr Bright’s speeches are accessible to everyone, and I need not be accused of misrepresenting his views if I quote only those passages with which I myself agree, and which serve my present purpose :— “ The point which I wish to bring before the Committee and the Government is this, because it is on this that I rely mainly -—I think I may say, almost entirely—for any improvement in the future of India. I believe a great improvement may be made, and by a gradual process that will dislocate nothing. What you want is to decentralise your Government. . . . You will not make a single step towards the improvement of India unless you change your whole system of government—unless you give to each presidency a Government with more indepen¬ dent powers than are now possessed. AVhat would be thought if the whole of Europe were under one Governor who knew only the language of the Feejee Islands, and that his subordinates were like himself, only more intelligent than the inhabitants of the Feejee Islands are supposed to be ? . . . How long does England propose to govern India? Nobody answers that ques¬ tion, and nobody can answer it. Be it 50, or 100, or 500 years, does any man with the smallest glimmering of common-sense believe that so great a country, with its twenty different nations and its twenty languages, can ever be bound up and consolidated into one compact and enduring empire ? I believe such a thing to be utterly impossible. We must fail in the attempt if ever we INCREASED DECENTRALISATION. 47 make it, and we are bound to look into the future with reference to that point.” Mr Bright, seeing that the union of the various countries of India into a single state was impossible, went on to pro¬ pose that each of the five great provinces should have a separate and almost independent Government of its own, directly subject to the British Crown, and that the central Government of India under the Governor-General in Council should be abolished. It is with no want of respect for Mr Bright that I say that the latter suggestion was not feasible. There is nothing more essential to the mainten¬ ance of our empire than a strong central authority ; but Mr Bright’s belief was undoubtedly true that there can be no successful government in India unless the fundamental fact of the immense diversities of Indian countries and peoples be recognised, and each great province be ad¬ ministered by its own separate Government with a mini¬ mum of interference from outside. There was a time when the tendency in India was towards greater centralisation ; but since the Viceroyalty of Lord Mayo the current has happily turned in the other direction, and the provincial Governments are now more independent than they were twenty years ago. This change has been mainly the result of the measures of financial decentralisation initiated in 1870, which have been pronounced by Sir Henry Maine to be “ much the most successful administrative reform which has taken place in India in his time.” 1 I shall speak of this in another chapter. The Government of India now interferes very little with the details of provincial administration, and it invariably happens that the wisest and strongest Viceroys are those who interfere the least. They recognise the fact that the provincial Governments necessarily possess far more know¬ ledge of local requirements and conditions than any to 1 “ The Reign of Queen Victoria ”—‘ India,’ vol. i. p. 516. 4 § CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. which the distant authorities of the central Government can pretend. Although the Governor - General in Council exercises only a general supervision over the internal administration of the empire, there are some branches of the public busi¬ ness which concern the whole of India, and which ob¬ viously can be efficiently managed by the central authority alone. The military defence of India, and the conduct of our relations with Foreign powers and with the Native States of India, rest with the supreme Government. Although the duty of administering the laws rests with the provincial Governments, and with the local courts and authorities, the Government of India is in a great measure responsible for the excellence or imperfection of the laws themselves. Subject to the control of the Secretary of State,, it makes provision for the construction of the rail¬ ways and canals, without which there can be no proper development of the public health, or protection against drought and famine. It administers the post office and telegraph. It is mainly responsible for the management of the finances, and it lays down the principles by which the fiscal policy of the empire is to be guided. It depends on its decisions whether commerce shall be free, or fettered by unwise restrictions, whether salt and clothing shall be cheap, or made dear by taxation. CHAPTER V. THE HOME GOVERNMENT. The Home Government—The Secretary of State and Council of India— Mode of transacting business—Nature of control over the Government of India—Parliamentary interference—Its dangers. I MUST now refer to the Act of 1858, by which the Govern¬ ment of India was transferred to the Crown. It provided that all the powers of the East India Company and Board of Control should be exercised by a Secretary of State, in concert, in certain cases, with a Council, and, although various changes have been made in it by subsequent legislation, it remains in essential respects still in force. 1 The Council, styled the Council of India, consisted, as it was first constituted, of fifteen members appointed by the Secretary of State. In 1889 power was given to him to reduce the number of the Council to ten, by abstaining from filling vacancies wherever he thought fit to do so. Three of the members “having professional,jor other peculiar qualifications ” may be appointed for life ; the others hold office for ten years, and this term may, for special reasons of public advantage, which must be laid before Parliament, be extended for five years more. The majority of the Council must be persons who have served or resided in India for at least ten years, and who have not left India more than ten years before their appointment. Most of the members are always men who have held high 1 The principal Acts referring to this subject are the following:—Act 21 and 22 Vic., c. 106 ; Act 22 and 23 Vic., c. 41 ; Act 23 and 24 Vic., c. 100 ; Act 32 and 33 Vic., c. 97 ; Act 39 Vic., c. 7 ; Act 52 and 53 Vic., c. 65, D 49 50 THE HOME GOVERNMENT. office in India. Several of them have usually belonged to the Indian Civil service, and have been Lieutenant-gover¬ nors of provinces or Members of the Viceroy’s Council; others are soldiers, engineers, bankers, or men of diplo¬ matic, official, or mercantile experience. The object aimed at by the law is to give to the Secretary of State, who must ordinarily have little personal knowledge of the details of Indian administration, the help of a body of experts. The position of the Council differs essentially from that formerly held by the Court of Directors of the East India Company, for, unlike that body, which possessed and exercised large independent powers, it has no initiative authority. Questions of the greatest importance, notorious to all the world, may be pending, but the Council can give no opinion on them until they are laid before it by the Secretary of State. Every order proposed to be made by the Secretary of State must, before it is issued, either be submitted to a meeting of the Council or be placed in the Council-room for seven days for the perusal of the members, unless the Secretary of State considers the matter urgent, in which case, recording his reasons, he may make the order. If there is a difference of opinion between him and the Council his decision prevails, but there is one limitation on the powers thus given to him. He cannot order expenditure without the consent of a majority of the Council. The Act of 1858 provides that “the expenditure of the revenues of India, both in India and elsewhere, shall be subject to the control of the Secretary of State in Council, and no grant or appropriation of any part of such revenues, or of any other property coming into the possession of the Secretary of State in Council by virtue of this Act, shall be made without the concurrence of a majority of votes at a meeting of the Council.” The powers thus given to the Council in controlling THE COUNCIL OF INDIA. 5 1 expenditure are, however, far from being as great as at first sight they seem to be, for they can only be exercised in regard to the ordinary business of the administration. Orders involving large expenditure may be given by the Secretary of State without either the consent or the know¬ ledge of the Council. In dealing with questions affecting the relations of the Government with Foreign powers, making war or peace, prescribing the policy to be followed towards Native States, and generally in matters in which secrecy is necessary, the Secretary of State acts on his own authority alone. Before the transfer of the Govern¬ ment to the Crown, the Board of Control was empowered to send to India any orders on these subjects through the Secret Committee, which consisted of not more than three members of the Court of Directors, and those powers were transferred to the Secretary of State. Despatches from India on similar matters may be marked “Secret” in India, and they are not communicated to the members of the Council unless the Secretary of State so directs. Such questions as an Afghan war, negotiations with Russia and the Amir of Kabul regarding the affairs of Afghanistan, or the annexation of Burma, do not come before the Council. Its members have not only no power of interference, but they have no recognised means of obtaining information in regard to such subjects other than those of the general public. Apart from questions of this character, most of the ordinary business passes through the Council, and, con¬ sisting as it does of men possessing special experience of Indian affairs, its advice is naturally, in the great majority of cases, followed by the Secretary of State. The business is distributed among the various depart¬ ments, each of which is in charge of a permanent secretary, and the Secretary of State appoints, for consideration of the questions coming before each department, a committee consisting of three or four members of the Council. They THE HOME GOVERNMENT. 52 are chosen according to their presumed knowledge of the subjects likely to be referred to them. The recommenda¬ tions of the committees are laid before the Secretary of State, and, if he so directs, before the Council. It has often been said that one result of the transfer of the Government of India to the Crown has been to increase very greatly the interference of the Home Government, and to weaken the authority of the Government in India itself. Having myself been a member of the Government of India for nearly nine years, under five Viceroys, from Lord Lawrence to Lord Ripon, and afterwards a member of the council of the Secretary of State, this is a point on which I feel that I have authority to speak. The increased facilities of communication, the establishment of telegraphs, the greater interest in India taken by the British public and by Parliament, the growth of the business of the Home Government in consequence of the large invest¬ ments of British capital in India, and other causes, have made the relations between the two countries far more intimate than was formerly necessary or possible, and have made more frequent the cases in which final orders cannot be passed in India ; but it is an error to suppose that the Secretary of State is constantly interfering in the ordinary work of Indian administration. The description of the Home Government given by Mr J. S. Mill in the time of the East India Company is as applicable now as when he wrote:— “ It is not,” he said, “ so much an executive as a deliberative body. The Executive Government of India is, and must be, seated in India itself. The principal function of the Home Government is not to direct the details of administration, but to scrutinise and revise the past acts of the Indian Governments; to lay down principles and issue general instructions for their future guidance, and to give or refuse sanction to great political measures which are referred home for approval.” The action of the Secretary of State is mainly confined RELATIONS WITH THE GOVERNMENT IN INDIA. 53 to answering references made to him by the Government in India and, apart from great political or financial ques¬ tions, the number and nature of those references mainly depend on the character of the Governor-General for the time being. Some men in that position like to minimise personal responsibilities, and to ask for the orders of the Home Government before taking action. Others prefer to act on their own judgment and on that of their councillors. The Secretary of State initiates almost nothing. So long as the Government of India is content to carry on the administration without largely increasing the cost of existing establishments, and without incurring new and heavy charges, it is practically almost independent, so far as its action in India is concerned. Even in matters con¬ nected with the public expenditure, in regard to which, as I have said, special responsibilities which cannot be avoided have been placed by Parliament on the Secretary of State in Council, the financial powers of the Governor-General in Council, and of the local Governments have been largely extended since the transfer of the government to the Crown. So far as the Secretary of State is a free agent, the foregoing observations require no qualification. He has no disposition to interfere needlessly in the details of administration in India. Pressure, however, not easy to resist, is sometimes brought to bear upon him. The growth of interest in the good government of India among the people of this country, and among their repre¬ sentatives in Parliament, is earnestly to be desired, but if such interest is to be practically useful it must be intelligent and prudent, and be kept apart from the slippery domain of party politics. It cannot be said that, in late years, these conditions have always been fulfilled. More than one instance could be quoted in which serious injury to India has been caused or threatened by the interference of the House of Commons in matters in regard to which the 54 THE HOME GOVERNMENT. great majority of its members are profoundly ignorant, but out of which some temporary political advantage was apparently to be gained, or which possessed some special interest for the always numerous body of doctrinarians and fanatics. “ Nothing,” says Goethe, “ is more dangerous than ignorance in action,” and it may be feared that among the difficulties and perils of the future that are in store for our Indian dominion, not the least serious will be those that spring from the ignorant action of the British House of Commons . 1 Although by far the greater part of the administrative improvement of the last thirty years has been due to the Governments in India, credit for some of it must be given to the Government at home. A body constituted like the Home Government of India is slow to move and some¬ times obstructive, and its general policy has been conserva¬ tive and cautious. The more ardent among Indian re¬ formers have sometimes chafed under the restrictions placed upon them, but in their anxiety for improvement they are sometimes more aggressive than is politically prudent. The most important part of our administration in India has the inestimable advantage of being carried on by comparatively young men, but youth and prudence do not always go together. One of the weakest points in our government is the incessant process of change in the per¬ sonnel of the administration, and the constant waste of 1 The following passage deserves quotation as an illustration of political foresight. It was written in 1857 by Mr J. S. Mill, shortly before the transfer of the Government of India from the Company to the Crown :— “ In the exceptional cases in which Parliament and the Nation interfere in Indian affairs, the interference will not be founded on knowledge of the sub¬ ject and will probably be for the most part confined to cases where an Indian question is taken up from party motives as the means of injuring a Minister, or when some Indian malcontent, generally with objects opposed to good government, succeeds in interesting the sympathies of the public in his favour. For it is not the people of India but rich individuals and societies representing class interests who have the means of engaging the ear of the public through the press and through agents in Parliament.” INTERFERENCE OF PARLIAMENT. 55 mature experience. Neither the Viceroy nor any member of his Council, nor any Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, holds his office for more than five years, nor is there much greater permanency in the tenure of other offices held by Englishmen. The climate, and the peculiar conditions under which the government has to be carried on in a foreign country by a small body of men, make these con¬ stant changes unavoidable. This renders it difficult to maintain at all times a wise continuity of policy, and in this respect the India Office often exercises an important influence. The advisers of the Secretary of State, although their knowledge is apt to get rusty, often know more about India than most of the officers of the Government in India itself; they preserve the traditions of administration and the lessons of experience. CHAPTER VI. THE CIVIL SERVICES. Principles on which first appointments are made—The Covenanted Service— System of nomination before 1853—System of open competition—Natives in the Covenanted Service—The Statute of 1833—The Queen’s Proclama¬ tion of 1858—The Statute of 1870—Admission of Natives to posts of im¬ portance—Principle on which regulated—Lord Lytton’s Rules—Public Service Commission—Its recommendations—Imperial and Provincial Services—Their constitution—Covenanted and Uncovenanted Service— Small number of Englishmen in the Civil Service—The greater part of the administration in Native hands—High character of Native officers—Their salaries—Necessity for maintaining English principles of Government— Question of holding competitive examinations in India—Transfer of important offices to the Provincial Services — The Public Works, Telegraph, Forest, Police, and Educational Services. It was long ago laid down as a maxim in regard to the employment of European officers in the more important branches of the public service in India, that the first selec¬ tion of young men shall not be made in that country, but shall rest with the authorities in England, while, after the first selection, those authorities shall exercise no interfer¬ ence. The distribution of offices, and all questions of appointment and promotion, are left absolutely to the Governments in India itself. “ It is a historical fact ” (I am quoting from an official paper) “ that the observance of this wholesome rule has more than anything else conduced to the purity of Indian patronage, and to its general freedom from party and political bias.” The Statute of 1793, 1 modified by that of i86r, 2 reserved to members of the so-called Covenanted service, appointed 1 33 Geo. III., c. 52. 24 and 25 Vic., c. 54. 56 SYSTEM OF APPOINTMENT. 57 in England, the right to hold, under ordinary circumstances, the principal civil offices in India under the rank of Mem¬ ber of Council. 1 These offices are enumerated in a Schedule of the latter Act. It includes the offices of the Secretaries to Government, the Head of the Account Department, the Civil and Session Judges, Magistrates and Collectors of Districts in the Regulation Provinces, Joint and Assistant Magistrates and Collectors, Members and Secretaries of the Board of Revenue, Commissioners of Revenue, and others. Persons not belonging to the Covenanted Service can only be appointed, under special circumstances, with the approval of the Secretary of State, and a majority of his Council. These Statutes are still in force, but, as I shall presently show, they have been modified, in one important respect, by other legislation. Until 1853, the first appointments to the Covenanted Service were made by the Directors of the East India Company by nomination. In that year the nomination system was abolished by Parliament, 2 and the service was thrown open to public competition of all British subjects, without distinction of race. In 1854 regulations for the competitive examinations to be held in accordance with the Act, were prepared by a Committee under the pre¬ sidency of Lord Macaulay, and these, although altered from time to time, have for the most past remained in force ever since. The main object of the competition was declared to be this,—to secure for the Indian Civil Service young men who had received the best, the most liberal, 1 The meaning of the term “Covenanted” is as follows:—The superior servants of the East India Company were obliged to enter into covenants, under which they bound themselves not to engage in trade, not to receive presents, to subscribe for pensions for themselves and their families, and other matters. This custom has been maintained. Successful candidates, after pass¬ ing their final examinations, enter into covenants with the Secretary of State before receiving their appointments. - 16 and 17 Vic., c. 95. 58 THE CIVIL SERVICES. the most finished education that this country affords. The scheme of examination was accordingly made to embrace most of the subjects of the Honour School of the Univer¬ sities of Great Britain and Ireland. The limits of age for candidates have varied. Since 1892 they have been from 2r to 23. Successful candidates remain for one year on probation, at the end of which time they have to pass a final examination in subjects specially connected with the duties they will have to perform in India. Candidates who are found to have a competent knowledge of these subjects then receive their appointments to the Civil Service of India. Candidates are encouraged by the grant of a special allow¬ ance of £100 to pass their year of probation at one of the Universities or Colleges approved by the Secretary of State. No one now doubts that this competitive system has been successful in its results. It cannot be said that it has given us better officers than the old system of nomination which it superseded, but it has certainly led to no falling off in general efficiency. It is as true now as it has been in the past, that no country has ever possessed a more admirable body of public servants than the Civil Service of India, and in that term I must here include not only its Covenanted members, but those of its other branches, and the numerous military officers who have contributed to its success. Although the competitive examinations are open to all classes of British subjects, the number of Natives of India who have been successful in obtaining appointments has been small. In 1892 the Covenanted Civil Service com¬ prised 939 members, of whom 21 were Natives. Other means have, however, been provided by which they can rise to high office. Parliament, during the last sixty years, has from time to time enacted measures with the avowed object of giving to Natives of India a larger share in the administration. The OPEN TO NATIVES OF INDIA. 59 Act of 1833 1 declared that “no Native of the said ter¬ ritories, nor any natural-born subject of His Majesty resident therein, shall by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any of these, be disqualified from holding any place, office, or employment under the East India Company,” but while the nomination system lasted, no Native of India received an appointment to the Covenanted Service. The Statute of 1858, which trans¬ ferred the Government from the Company to the Crown, re-affirmed the system introduced in 1853, by which the Covenanted Service was thrown open to the public com¬ petition of Englishmen and Natives alike ; and on the 1st November 1858, when the transfer was completed, a Proclamation was issued declaring it to be the will of Her Majesty, that “ so far as may be, our subjects of what¬ ever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our Services, the duties of which they may be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity to discharge.” In 1870 another important measure was enacted. The Statute of that year 2 declared it to be “ expedient that additional facilities should be given for the employment of Natives of India of proved merit and ability in the Civil Service of Her Majesty in India,” and that subject to rules to be made by the Governor-General in Council, with the sanction of the Secretary of State, such Natives might be appointed to any of the offices which had been reserved by law to the members of the Covenanted Service. Thus two roads have been opened, by which high offices in India may be reached. The road through competition in England is open to Englishmen and Natives alike, that through “proved merit and ability” is open to Natives alone. It will be understood, from what has been already said, that the system of holding competitive examinations 1 3 and 4 Will. IV., c. 85. - 33 Vic., c. 3. 6o THE CIVIL SERVICES. in England was designed with the object of obtaining for the Indian Civil Service, in the best practicable manner, a sufficient number of officers to fill the posts which must ordinarily be held by Englishmen. The Statute of 1870, on the other hand, was designed with the object of giving to Natives of India another means of access to offices for which it was admitted that they might be fit, but from which they were practically, to a great extent, shut out. The declared intention of Parliament was to provide “ additional facilities for the employment of Natives of India of proved merit and ability.” It was obvious that this could not be done by any fresh system of competitive examination, for not only would such a system have been unsuitable to India, but it could afford no proof of that merit and ability on which the right to employment was to depend. It was recognised by Parliament, as the Duke of Argyll, who was then Secretary of State, wrote to the Government of India when announcing the passing of the Act, that “ our duty towards the Natives of India in respect of giving them a larger share of employment in the administration of their own country is a duty which must mainly be discharged in India on the principle of careful and cautious selection.” He pointed out that if this were wisely done we should gain the advantages of a competitive examination of the best kind, that we must proceed gradually, employing Natives in those offices and places which, in the actual condition of things, the Govern¬ ment of India might determine were really suited to them, and he gave this wise and statesmanlike warning, that “ it should never be forgotten, and there should never be any hesitation in laying down the principle that it is one of our first duties to the people of India to guard the safety of our own dominion. ... In the full belief of the beneficial character of our administration, and of the great probability that on its cessation anarchy and misrule would reappear, the maintenance and stability of our rule must RULES FOR ADMITTING NATIVES. 61 ever be kept in view as the basis of our policy, and to this end a large proportion of British functionaries in the more important posts seems essential.” Nothing could be done towards carrying out the pro¬ visions of the Act of 1870 until rules had been made by the Governor-General, and the Act remained almost a dead letter until 1879, when rules were laid down by Lord Lyt- ton with the approval of the Secretary of State. Under these rules, when they came into full operation, a sixth part of the whole number of offices reserved to the Cove¬ nanted Civil Service would have been held by natives of India. In order to give gradual effect to this object the number of young men appointed in England was in 1880 permanently reduced by one-sixth. Appointments were made by selection by the Provincial Governments, tests of qualification being supplied by special examinations, and in 1889, when the system was changed, about sixty Natives had obtained offices, which had previously been reserved for men appointed in England. The rules, however, were not found to work satisfactorily, and after much discussion it was decided by the Secretary of State, Lord Kimberley, in 1886, that a Commission should be appointed by the Government of India with instructions “ to devise a scheme which might reasonably be hoped to possess the necessary elements of finality, and to do full justice to the claims of Natives of India to higher employment in the public ser¬ vice.” In the previous year Lord Kimberley had pointed out in a despatch to the Government of India, that the Act of 1870 was intended by Parliament to be “ the primary remedy for any defects that might show themselves in the competitive system established in 1853, and for any incon¬ venience or injustice which the Natives of India might be shown by experience to suffer through the necessary adap¬ tation of the examination in London to the circumstances of home-born rather than of Indian competitors.” The Act, he said, was “ a measure of remarkable breadth and 62 THE CIVIL SERVICES. liberality, affording an unlimited field of experiment in methods of selection.” The Commission appointed by the Government of India was carefully constituted. Its President was Sir Charles Aitchison, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab ; its mem¬ bers, fifteen in number, were chosen from the principal provinces of India, and six of them were native gentlemen. The Commission visited every province of India except Burma ; it examined several hundred witnesses, members of the various branches of the administration, and repre¬ sentatives of the educated classes of the non-official Native and European community. The report of the Commission was unanimous, and this was the more satisfactory, because it expressed the opinion of men chosen from the most in¬ telligent section of the Native public, both Hindu and Mohammedan, and its proposals afforded, in their judg¬ ment, a due measure of satisfaction to the reasonable expectations of their countrymen. The main principles of the scheme recommended by the Commission have been carried into effect. Under the system that has been established, the Civil Service for the management of the higher branches of the Executive and Judicial Administration is divided into two sections. The first of these consists of an Imperial ser¬ vice, called the Civil Service of India, recruited by compe¬ tition in England, under suitable conditions and standards of its own, open, without distinction of race, to all subjects of Her Majesty, European or Native. Its numbers are to be no more than will enable it to fill the majority of the highest civil offices, with such number of less important offices as may be sufficient to provide a course of training for the younger men. The second of the two services is a Provincial service, recruited in each of the chief provinces, under conditions suitable to local circumstances, and con¬ sisting almost entirely of Natives of the Province. Until 1889 the Civil Service was usually, but not quite DIVISIONS OF THE SERVICES. 63 accurately, said to consist of two great divisions, the Cove¬ nanted and the Uncovenanted Services. The former is now the Civil Service of India. The latter had no existence as a single and separate body. Every public servant, em¬ ployed in the civil administration, who did not belong to the Covenanted Civil Service or to the Army was an Un¬ covenanted officer. The term “Uncovenanted Service” is no longer used, its members now forming part of the Provincial Services. It is a common but complete mistake to suppose that the greater part of the Civil administration in India is retained in the hands of Englishmen, and that natives of the country are excluded from important posts. Nothing could be further from the truth. The number of English¬ men in the Civil Service is so small that it is not the least extraordinary fact connected with our Indian dominion that we should be able with such a handful of men to control the administration of so vast an Empire. In 1887, in the whole of British India, excluding Burma, there were only 765 civil charges ordinarily, but by no means always, held by members of the Covenanted Service. In 1892 this branch of the service comprised 939 members, but these numbers include officers on leave and others not actually employed, and there has been since that time no important change in the number. Roughly speaking, it may be said that, including military officers and others, less than 1000 Englishmen are employed in the civil government of 221 millions of people, and in the partial control of 67 millions more. In British India there is about one English civil officer to every 300,000 of the population and to every 1200 square miles. According to this proportion there would be assigned five or six English¬ men to an Indian territory with an area and population equal to that of Wales. If we exclude officers holding posts at the headquarters of the Supreme and Provincial Govern¬ ments, and take those only who are employed in the actual 64 THE CIVIL SERVICES. administration of Districts, the proportion of Covenanted Civil servants is still smaller. For instance, in the North- Western Provinces and Oudh, a country with a much larger area and a much larger population than those of the United Kingdom, there were, in 1892, only 94 members of the Covenanted Service employed in district duty, or about one to every 1200 square miles, and to every half million of people. In the course of the preceding twenty years the number of important posts held by natives was nearly doubled, while the number of English officers was largely reduced. Although the highest offices of control are necessarily held by Englishmen, by far the greater part of the actual administration is in Native hands. Excluding the 765 offices held by members of the Covenanted Service, and excluding also all posts of minor importance, nearly all of which are held by Natives, there are about 2600 persons in the superior branches of the executive and judicial ser¬ vices, and among them there are only about 30 Europeans. These are facts which are often ignored in discussing the question of the admission of Natives to a larger share of public employment. Notwithstanding the constantly in¬ creasing demands for improved administration, the strength of the Covenanted Service recruited in England has been reduced in the last twenty years by more than 32 per cent., and further gradual reduction is in progress. During the same period the number of Natives employed in the execu¬ tive and judicial services has gone on constantly increasing, and, with exceptions so rare that they deserve no con¬ sideration, they now hold all offices other than those held by the comparatively small body of men appointed in England. Under orders passed in 1879 by the Govern¬ ment of Lord .Lytton, no person other than a Native of India can be appointed to any post in the executive or judicial service carrying a salary of 200 rupees a month and upwards without the previous sanction of the Governor- NATIVE CIVIL SERVICE. 65 General in Council. These orders are still in force, and how completely they have been carried out is shown by the fact just stated that these branches of the service are prac¬ tically manned entirely by Natives of India. The organisation of our great and highly efficient Native Civil Service is one of the most successful achievements of the British Government in India. Native officers manage most of the business connected with all branches of the revenue, and with the multifarious interests in land. Natives dispose of the greater part of the magisterial work. The duties of the Civil Courts, excepting the Courts of \ppeal, are almost entirely entrusted to Native judges. A Native judge sits on the Bench in each of the High Courts. For many years past, Native judges have exercised jurisdiction, in all classes of civil cases, over Natives and Europeans alike. It is my belief that, as a rule, their work is quite as good as that of the English judges. Thirty years ago the Native Civil Service was badly paid, comparatively ineffi¬ cient, and not always trustworthy. In these respects there has been a great change. Nothing in the recent history of India has been more remarkable than the improvement that has taken place in the standard of morality among the higher classes of Native officials. Much of this has certainly been due to the fact that their position and salaries are far better than they were, and that temptations to corruption have been removed, but it cannot be doubted that much has been due to their better education. Another powerful cause has been in silent and constant operation. The Native officials have had before them, through a long course of years, the example of the irreproachable in¬ tegrity of the Englishmen employed in the higher ranks of the public service. Living in an atmosphere of official uprightness has made Native judges and magistrates upright also. The salaries given to Natives in posts of importance are very liberal, and they certainly do not err on the E 66 TIIE CIVIL SERVICES. side of being too small. With, possibly, the exception of England, there is no country in Europe in which judicial and executive officers receive salaries equal to those given in the Native Civil Service of India. 1 Salaries depend on the service to which a man belongs, and are not affected by questions of nationality. Thus, in the Imperial service, recruited in England, the rules regard¬ ing pay, leave, and pension are the same for all members, whether they are European or Native. In the provincial services, recruited in India, the conditions of service are fixed on independent grounds. They are regulated in 1 It is difficult to compare salaries in countries where the conditions of life and the official duties to be performed are very different. Subject to this warning, which, however, tells strongly in favour of what I have said regard¬ ing the salaries paid to Natives of India, I give the following facts. In Bengal a Native High Court judge receives Rx. 5000 a-year. The salaries of the Native subordinate judges range from Rx. 720 to Rx. 1200, and those of the Munsifs (the lowest class of judges) from Rx. 300 to Rx. 480. The salaries attached to posts in the Provincial services to which Natives are now eligible, and which were formerly reserved by law for members of the Covenanted service, vary from Rx. 9600 to Rx. 24,000 a-year. The salaries of the higher grades in the executive service are not very dissimilar. In Algeria, the highest judicial officer, the first president of the Court of Appeal, who is always a Frenchman, receives £ 720, with a furnished house. No other judge has more than ^400. The Juges de Paix, also Frenchmen, receive from ^108 to ^160 a-year, with furnished houses. The salary of no Mohammedan judicial officer, a native of Algeria, exceeds £60. The Prefet of Algiers receives .£1000, and two other Prefets receive ^800; each Prefet has also a travelling allowance of £200 a-year and a furnished house. No Sous-Prefet has more than .^360. In France itself the salaries of the higher judicial and executive officers are smaller than those given to Natives in India. For instance, the First President of the Cour de Cassation receives ^1200. In the Cour d’Appel, the salaries of the First Presidents range from £6oc to _£iooo, and of the other Presidents from ^300 to ^550. In the Tribunaux de Premiere Instance the salaries of the judges are from ^144 to £800. The Juges d’lnstruction receive from .£115 to ,£384 ; the Juges de Paix from £72 to ^320. In many cases these salaries are supplemented by the grant of furnished houses and by various allowances, usually of small amount. A com¬ parison between the salaries given to officers of the executive service in India and in P'rance would show similar results. The great majority of the Prefets in France, who hold offices second in importance to hardly any in the country, receive less than Native Deputy Magistrates of the higher grades in Bengal. COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS. 67 both cases by consideration of the terms necessary to secure the desired qualifications. I have shown how extremely small is the number of Englishmen in the Covenanted or Imperial service, which may be said to represent the only permanent English official element in India. The Public Service Commission laid great stress upon this fact, and on the consequent necessity of recruiting that service in a manner which shall always secure the maintenance of English principles and methods of government. They therefore rejected as altogether inadmissible the proposal that competitive ex¬ aminations for Native candidates should be held in India as well as in England. That proposal has lately been revived by a resolution, passed under circumstances on which I will not dilate, by the House of Commons, with¬ out any knowledge of the facts or consideration of the probable consequences of its action. 1 The principle on which the Commission insisted is “ that the conditions of the open competitive examination in England should be framed with the object of securing candidates trained in the highest and best form of English education. If, under such conditions, Native candidates succeed, they will then, as Lord Macaulay said, enter the service in the best and most honourable way. . . . Natives of India who under¬ go English training and show the degree of enterprise, strength of character, and other qualities without which success can scarcely be expected in the English examina¬ tion, are to be welcomed as suitable recruits for the Covenanted Civil Service.” No assumption of the posses¬ sion of such qualities can be made in the case of Natives whose education and training have been entirely Indian. They may be thoroughly competent for many important offices, but we cannot depend on their possessing the habits of thought, the sympathy with English principles 1 See Chapter V. pp. 53 and 54. 68 THE CIVIL SERVICES. of administration, the vigour and the energy which are necessary qualifications for employment in a comparatively small service constituting the corps d'dite entrusted with the highest functions of government. There are other considerations of importance. “To attract English youths of suitable education and intellectual promise to the Covenanted service in India, it is necessary to offer greater inducements in salary, pension, and furlough than would be requisite were the duties to be performed in their own country or under less unfavourable conditions of climate. To compensate successful Native candidates for the incon¬ venience of presenting themselves at the examination in England, and to avoid an invidious distinction, similar advantages are allowed them. But it would impose an unnecessary, and therefore unjustifiable, burden on the revenues of India, to provide larger emoluments or fur¬ lough privileges than are sufficient to attract Natives of high education and ability to an examination for the public service in India. This consideration has constantly been kept in view by the Government of India. As educa¬ tion in that country has from time to time qualified, more extensively, Natives to take part in the administration, European agency has been curtailed, and the field for the employment of Natives has been extended. At the same time, the Statute of 1870 has put it in the power of the Government to secure the services of Natives who have given proof of eminent capacity for employment in any of the offices reserved by the Statute of 1861.” 1 It was not possible, without obvious injustice to existing interests, to carry out immediately to the full extent to which it will ultimately be applied, the transfer to the Members of the Provincial services of offices reserved by the Statute of 1861 to the Covenanted branch, but the number of young men annually appointed in England has, as I 1 Despatch from Secretary of State to Government of India, Sept. 12th, 1889. NATIVES IN HIGH OFFICES. 69 have shown, been largely reduced, and one-sixth of the offices in question will gradually become available for the Provincial services. Thus there will be “a series of offices, rising from the subordinate classes of administrative busi¬ ness to a very high level of superior and responsible duties, judicial and executive, which will throw open a sure and honourable prospect of employment to persons appointed in India, and of continuous promotion to officers of tried merit and ability.” 1 A considerable number of these appointments, formerly reserved to the Covenanted service, has already been de¬ clared open, in each province, to Natives belonging to the Provincial service. Thus, for example, in Bengal, twenty of these offices may now be held by Natives ; among them are six Judge-ships, and four appointments of Magistrate and Collector, the highest judicial and executive posts, as I shall hereafter explain, in an Indian district. Rules have been laid down in each province prescribing the conditions under which the Provincial Government may appoint Natives of proved merit and ability to any of these offices. The first and paramount condition of appoint¬ ment in every case is absolute and proved fitness for the post, and, apart from such fitness, seniority gives no claim. Barristers and pleaders, Natives of India, who have been enrolled for not less than ten years, may, in special cases, be appointed to judicial offices, although they do not belong to the Provincial service. The Statute of 1870, under which these rules are made, permits the appointment of Natives only to these reserved offices. In the so-called Regulation provinces of Bengal, Madras, Bombay, and the North-West Provinces, no Europeans other than members of the Covenanted ser¬ vice can hold any such offices, unless appointed with the special sanction of the Secretary of State and a majority of his Council, under the Act of 1861. That Act does not 1 Secretary of State to Government of India, Sept. 12th, 1889. ;o THE CIVIL SERVICES. apply to the Non-regulation provinces, the Punjab, Oudh, Central Provinces, Assam, and Burma. In these parts of India there has been no restriction on the discretion of the Government to exercise the power of appointment in any way that it thinks fit, and a considerable share in the higher branches of the civil administration has been en¬ trusted to military officers belonging to the Staff Corps, and to others. In addition to the two branches of the Civil Service that have been described, there is a large subordinate service in each province, from which promotion to the Provincial service may be made as a reward for conspicuous merit. This is essentially a Native service, in which practically no Europeans are employed. Some of the offices comprised in it, although inferior in dignity to those belonging to the superior services, are important and well paid. I have hitherto referred only to the executive and judicial services. In other important branches of the administra¬ tion a similar division has been made between the Imperial and Provincial services, the members of the former being recruited in England, and consisting for the most part of Englishmen, the latter recruited in India, and mainly com¬ posed of Natives. In some of these services, requiring special scientific and technical knowledge, it is at present seldom possible to find Natives qualified to hold the more important posts. Engineers and the superior officers in the Public Works, Telegraph, and Forest services are chosen in England by competitive examination, open to all classes without distinction of race. They go through a special course of instruction to fit them for their duties in India, at the Royal Engineering College at Cooper’s Hill, which, although open to others, is maintained primarily for this purpose. In the Police service a strong European element is essential, and it is probable that, for first ap¬ pointments, the system of open competition in England, which has already been experimentally introduced, will SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SERVICES. / I be permanently adopted. The first appointments to the superior Educational service are made in England by selection by the Secretary of State for India. In a subsequent chapter of this book I shall return to the subject of the employment of Natives of India in posts of importance. 1 1 See Chapter XXV. CHAPTER VII. THE LAWS AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. The foundations of the existing Judicial System—Regulations and Acts—The Laws and the Courts before the transfer of the Government to the Crown —Regulation and Non-regulation provinces—The Indian Law Commission -—Lord Macaulay and the Penal Code—The progress of codification—Sir Henry Maine on the Indian Codes—Sir James Stephen on the Indian Penal Code—The Establishment of High Courts—The Code of Criminal Procedure—Constitution of the Criminal Courts—Criminal jurisdiction over European British subjects—Changes in the Law in 1884—The codi¬ fication of the Civil Law—Hindu and Mohammedan Law—Chapters of the Civil Code already enacted—Simplification and Consolidation of the Law—The Code of Civil Procedure—Constitution of the Civil Courts—• Civil jurisdiction over Europeans—The “Black Act” of 1836—Lord Macaulay—The Native Judges—Defects in the existing Judicial System. Although much had been done by Warren Hastings to reform and organise all branches of the public service, the main foundations of the existing administration of justice in India were laid in the time of Lord Cornwallis. In 1793 the issue of formal and definite legislative enactments began in the series of laws known as the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Regulations. Since 1833 the term “Regula¬ tion ” has ceased to be used ; the laws are called, as in England, “ Acts.” These Regulations and Acts, and such Acts of Parliament as apply to India, constitute, apart from Hindu and Mohammedan law, of which I must speak separately, the civil and criminal law of British India. Before the transfer of the Government to the Crown, the administration of criminal justice was in an unsatisfactory condition. The police was often oppressive, inefficient, and corrupt. In the greater part of British India, the 72 FORMER CONDITION OF LAWS. 73 criminal law and procedure were a jumble based on the old Mohammedan law, eked out and rendered tolerable by the Regulations and Acts of our own Government, by fragments of English law, and by the decisions and instruc¬ tions of the superior courts. Civil justice was in a worse condition. The law was only to be found in a wilderness of enactments and “circular orders” of the courts, and as the number of these increased they became in course of time, as Sir Henry Cunningham says, “hopelessly un¬ wieldy, entangled, and confusing. Human diligence shrank from the task of searching amid the voluminous provisions of obsolete or repealed legislation for a germ of living law, and grave illegalities not unfrequently occurred, owing to the ignorance which the chaotic condition of the statute- book rendered almost inevitable.” 1 These difficulties were increased by the devotion of the superior Indian courts of that time to technicalities which survived long after they had ceased in England to be seriously mischievous. Even in the later years of the East India Company, the civil courts often seemed to be intended rather for the performance of certain forms and ceremonies than for the administration of justice. While this was the condition of the law and procedure, the expansion of the empire was in more or less constant progress, and when new provinces were annexed the Government shrank from taking the judicial system of the older provinces as a model. Apart from such reasons, when the people had never been accustomed to anything but personal rule of the roughest sort, it was often neces¬ sary, on the first introduction of our Government, to con¬ centrate executive and judicial authority in the same hands. Government by regular course of law cannot be substituted in a moment for a Government of irresponsible power. Moreover, the simpler forms of administration were much cheaper. 1 ‘ India and its Rulers,’ p. 203. 74 LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. It thus came to pass that there were two systems in force —one in the older provinces, and the other in the territories which had more recently come into our possession. The former were called “ Regulation,” and the latter “Non-Regu¬ lation ” provinces. A Non-Regulation province was one to which the old Regulations and Acts in force in the Regu¬ lation provinces had not been extended, in which fewer officers were employed, and in which executive and judicial functions were, to a great extent, exercised by the same persons. Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, Madras, and Bombay were Regulation Provinces; the Punjab, Oudh, the Central Provinces, and British Burma, were Non-Regulation. It is a mistake, though a common one, to suppose that in the more advanced of the Non-Regulation Provinces, as, for example, in the Punjab, when the Government was transferred to the Crown, the administration was conducted in a rough and ready way, in accordance with our officers’ own notions of equity, unhampered by law. The Govern¬ ment of the Punjab, in i860, really deserved better than the Government of the North-Western Provinces or of Bengal, so far as the judicial administration was concerned, to be called a Government by law. In the former the laws, though simple, were rational, intelligible, and certain; in the latter the system was so chaotic that there was virtually almost no law at all. When the admirable codes of law and procedure, of which T shall presently speak, were introduced, less change had to be made in the system of administering criminal and civil justice in the Non- Regulation than in the Regulation Provinces. The superiority of the administration which was so marked in the Non-Regulation Provinces towards the close of the East IndiaCompany’s Government ceased before many more years had passed. Improvement in the older provinces went on rapidly, and, although differences in the form of the ad¬ ministration still exist, the distinctions between Regulation and Non-Regulation Provinces have become much less im- REGULATION AND NON-REGULATION PROVINCES. 75 portant than they were. Excepting Burma, a few wild hill tracts on the frontiers alone remain outside the pale of the codes of law and procedure which apply to the whole of British India. The first steps towards the simplification and improve¬ ment of the law were taken in the time of the East India Company, but they led to little practical result before the transfer of the Government to the Crown. In 1833 it was provided by the Act of Parliament which renewed the Com¬ pany’s charter that a fourth member of Council should be appointed, in concert with a Commission, for the purpose of preparing a body of law for British India. Lord Mac¬ aulay was appointed member of Council, and the first sub¬ ject taken up was the preparation of a Penal Code. This work fell chiefly upon Lord Macaulay, and it was completed by him while he was in India, between 1834 and 1838. The code remained as a mere draft for twenty-two years, and it was not until i860 that it became law. During this interval it was revised from time to time by Lord Macaulay’s suc¬ cessors, and especially by Sir Barnes Peacock, the last Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta. “ The long delay in the enactment of the Penal Code,” writes Sir James Stephen, “had thus the singular but most beneficial result of reserving a work which had been drawn up by the most distinguished author of the day for a minutely careful revision by a professional lawyer, possessed of as great ex¬ perience and as much technical knowledge as any man of his time. An ideal code ought to be drawn by a Bacon and settled by a Coke.” 1 Although many valuable recommendations for the im¬ provement of the criminal and civil law were made by the Commission of which Lord Macaulay was a member, the Penal Code was the only important result of its labours, n 1853, when the Company’s charter was again renewed, 2 1 ‘ History of the Criminal Law,’ vol. iii. p. 300. * 16 and 17 Vic., c. 95. 76 LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. a fresh Commission was appointed in England, and this was followed in 1861 by a third Commission, for the pur¬ pose of preparing a body of substantive law for India, “ and also to consider and report on such other matters relating to the reform of the laws of India as might be referred to them by the Secretary of State.” To these two Commis¬ sions, whose work continued until 1870, and to the eminent men who since the time of Lord Macaulay have held the office of legal member of Council, we owe the succession of excellent laws which have been passed by the Indian Legislature, and which form chapters in a system of codi¬ fied law. This system is not yet complete, but there is no country where the work of codification has made greater progress. “British India,” writes Sir Henry Maine, “is now in possession of a set of codes which approach the highest standard of excellence which this species of legislation has reached. . . . In form, intelligibility, and in comprehensive¬ ness, the Indian codes stand against all competition.” 1 The Penal Code, which became law in i860, was followed in 1861 by the Code of Criminal Procedure. Substan¬ tially, the whole criminal law of British India is contained in these two laws. In regard to the merits of the Indian Penal Code no one can speak with higher authority than Sir James Stephen, and in forming his judgment he has not only had the advantage of his English experience, but of personal know¬ ledge gained by observation in India. He has pronounced it to be “ by far the best system of criminal law in the world,” and I cannot doubt that he is right in his prediction that it will prove the most remarkable and lasting monu¬ ment of Lord Macaulay, its author. The authority of his other writings is far from as indisputable as it was, but his Penal Code has (in Sir James Stephen’s words) “triumph¬ antly supported the test of experience for upwards of twenty-one years, during which time it has met with a 1 ‘ The Reign of Queen Victoria ’—“ India,” vol. i. p. 503. CODIFICATION OF LAWS. 77 degree of success which can hardly be ascribed to any other statute approaching the same dimensions.” I cannot do better than continue my quotation :— “ The Indian Penal Code may be described as the criminal law of England freed from all technicalities and superfluities, systematically arranged, and modified in some few particulars (they are surprisingly few) to suit the circumstances of British India. ... It is practically impossible to misunderstand the Penal Code, and, though it has been in force for more than twenty years, and is in daily use in every part of India by all sorts of courts and amongst communities of every degree of civilisation, and has given rise to countless decisions, no obscurity or ambiguity worth speaking of has been discovered in it. . . . Since its enactment it has been substantially the only body of criminal law in force in India, though a few other statutes contain penal provisions on various special subjects. I have already expressed my opinion that the Indian Penal Code has been triumphantly successful. The rigorous administration of justice of which it forms an essential part has beaten down crime throughout the whole of India to such an extent that the greater part of that vast country would compare favourably, as far as the absence of crime goes, with any part of the United Kingdom, except perhaps Ireland in quiet times and apart from political and agrarian offences. Apart from this, it has met with another kind of success. Till I had been in India I could not have believed it to be possible that so extensive a body of law could be made so generally known to all whom it concerned in its minutest details. I do not believe that any English lawyer or judge has anything like so accurate and comprehensive and distinct a knowledge of the criminal law of England as average Indian civilians have of the Penal Code. Nor has all the ingenuity of commentators been able to introduce any serious difficulty into the subject. After twenty years’ use it is still true that any one who wants to know what the criminal law of India is has only to read the Penal Code with a common use of memory and attention .” 1 Until 1861 the Supreme Courts established by Royal Charter in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay exercised 1 ‘ History of the Criminal Law,’ vol. iii. p. 332. /S LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. original criminal and civil jurisdiction over all classes within the limits of the three Presidency towns. The principal criminal and civil courts established by the Com¬ pany’s Government in the Mofussil (as everything outside the Presidency towns was termed) were called respectively the Sudder Nizamat and Sudder Diwani Adfilat. They were the supreme courts of appeal, and capital sentences were referred to the Nizamat Adalat for confirmation. In 1861 the Supreme and Sudder courts were abolished by Act of Parliament, 1 and in substitution for them High courts with both criminal and civil jurisdiction were estab¬ lished, one for each of the provinces of Bengal, Madras, Bombay, and the North-Western Provinces. For parts of India not included in either of those provinces, High courts were formed under other names by the legislative authority of the Government of India ; in the Punjab there is a Chief court, with three judges ; in the other provinces the chief appellate authority is an officer called the Judicial Com¬ missioner. The judges of the High courts are partly English barristers and partly members of the Indian Civil Service, and there are usually in each court one or more Native judges chosen from the Native judicial service or from the pleaders. The High courts in each province are the courts of Appeal from the District courts, criminal and civil, and their decisions are final, except in certain civil cases in which an appeal lies to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England. Sentences of death require the confirmation of the High court. The High courts exercise constant supervision over all the subordinate courts. Elaborate returns are regularly sent to them at short intervals, showing in great detail the business disposed of, and, as the whole of the evidence in every case, or a memorandum of its substance, has to be taken down by the judges or magistrates with their own hands, and a record made of every order that is passed, the 1 24 and 25 Vic., c. 104. HIGH COURTS — CRIMINAL LAW. 79 High courts are able, by examining the returns, by sending for proceedings, and by calling for explanations, as well as from the cases that come before them in appeal, to keep themselves acquainted with the manner in which all the courts are discharging their duties. The Code of Criminal Procedure, which became law in 1861 , has been recast and amended from time to time, but in essential respects it has not been much altered. It is in force throughout British India, although a few of its pro¬ visions have, in some parts of the country, been modified to meet special requirements. Among all the laws of India there is no one more important than this, which regulates the machinery by which peace and order are maintained, and by which crime is prevented and punished. It describes the constitution of all the criminal courts ; it defines the powers which each court can exercise; it classifies the offences under the Penal Code or other laws which each judge or magistrate can try; it regulates the manner in which police investigations are to be carried on ; the powers of the police to make arrests with or without the warrant of a magistrate; the proceedings to be taken for keeping the peace and for preventing unlawful assemblies ; for the re¬ moval of public nuisances ; the manner in which accused persons are to brought before the magistrate, in which inquiries and trials are to be held, in which evidence is to be heard and recorded, in which commitments to the superior courts are to be made ; it contains rules for the trial of cases with juries and assessors, for the admission of appeals, for the revision of sentences and orders by the superior courts, and for many other matters more or less directly connected with criminal procedure. As Sir James Stephen said in one of his speeches in India, this code is the prin¬ cipal means through which the practical everyday business of governing the empire is carried on. The system which it lays down is complete, efficient, and successful. In every province there are a certain number of divi- SO LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. sions, in each of which a Court of Session is established, presided over by a Sessions judge. Additional, joint, and assistant Sessions judges may be appointed. Every Sessions division consists of a certain number of districts, to each of which a magistrate, called the District magistrate, is attached. Any number of subordinate magistrates that may be required are appointed in the district, subject to the general control of the District magistrate. In the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay there are magis¬ trates called Presidency magistrates. To enable a magis¬ trate or judge to exercise jurisdiction over European British subjects, he must be appointed a justice of the peace, and a justice of the peace must himself be a European British subject. There are certain exceptions to this rule. The judges of the High courts, the Sessions judges, District magistrates, and Presidency magistrates are justices of the peace ex officio, and the law does not require that they shall be European British subjects. A High court may pass any sentence authorised by the Penal Code or other law. All trials before the High court are by jury. A Sessions judge may pass any sentence authorised by law, but sentences of death are subject to confirmation by the High court. All trials before the Court of Session are either by jury or with assessors. There are three classes of magistrates :— (1) Courts of Presidency magistrates, and of magistrates of the first class, in which District magistrates are included ; they can pass sentences of imprisonment not exceeding two years, and of fine not exceeding 1000 rupees. In cases where they are not competent finally to decide, they commit for trial to the Court of Session or High court. (2) Courts of magistrates of the second class. They can pass sentence of imprisonment not exceeding six months, or of fine not exceeding 200 rupees. (3) Courts of magistrates of the third class. They can JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES. pass sentences of imprisonment not exceeding one month, or of fine not exceeding 50 rupees. In certain cases and under certain restrictions, magis¬ trates of the first class, or, if specially so empowered, magistrates of the second class, can pass sentences of whipping. Excepting the High courts, the judges of which are appointed by the Crown, all the judges and magistrates are appointed by the Provincial Governments. While the substantive criminal law is the same for all classes, certain distinctions of procedure have always been maintained in regard to criminal charges against European British subjects. 1 Until 1872, excepting in trivial cases, a European British subject could only be tried or punished by one of the High courts. The result was often a complete denial of justice, for prosecutors and witnesses might have to travel for many hundred miles before a case could be heard. This state of things was remedied in 1872, when the Code of Criminal Procedure was re-enacted, in accord¬ ance with the proposals of Sir James Stephen, who was legal member of Council. It was then provided that European British subjects should be liable to be tried for any offences by magistrates of the highest class, who were also justices of the peace, and by judges of Sessions courts; but it was necessary, in both cases, that the magistrate or judge should himself be a European British subject. A magistrate might pass sentence of imprison¬ ment for three months and fine of 1000 rupees ; a Sessions judge might imprison for one year, and fine. Cases requiring severer punishment were referred to the High 1 The following definition of the term “ European British subject ” is given in the Code of Criminal Procedure:—“European British subject means— (1) any subject of Her Majesty born, naturalised, or domiciled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in any of the European, American, or Australian Colonies or Possessions of Her Majesty, or in the Colony of New Zealand, or in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope or Natal; (2) any child or grand-child of any such person by legitimate descent.” F 82 LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. court. In the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, the Presidency magistrates were justices of the peace by virtue of their offices, and, whether they were Europeans or Natives, they could try and punish European British subjects. Matters remained in this position until 1883, when the Government of India considered that the law regarding jurisdiction over European British subjects required altera¬ tion. Some of the Native members of the Covenanted Civil Service had reached a stage when, in the ordinary course of promotion, they would become District magis¬ trates and judges in the Courts of session. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure no Native holding one of these offices could try any charge against a European British subject. The Government considered that the law in this respect ought to be altered. It was stated that “ the Government of India had decided to settle the ques¬ tion of jurisdiction over European British subjects in such a way as to remove from the code, at once and completely, every judicial disqualification which is based merely on race distinctions.” This declaration, made in uncompromising terms, pro¬ voked a storm of indignation on the part of the European community throughout India. It was not confined to the non-official classes, but extended almost equally to the servants of the Government; it reached a point at which it threatened to become a cause of serious political anxiety, and nothing could be more lamentable than the animos¬ ities of race that were aroused, the prejudices, the bitterness and bad feeling between Europeans and Natives that were excited. No one can desire more strongly than myself the removal in India of disqualifications on account of differ¬ ence of race, so far as this is compatible with the security of our dominion and with good administration. A Native of India, who, by his own capacity and merit, has risen EUROPEAN BRITISH SUBJECTS. 83 to high judicial office, should be as completely trusted as an Englishman. I consider that the Native judge of a Court of Session ought to exercise the same jurisdiction over Europeans and over everybody else which he would exercise if he were an Englishman. I therefore sympathise with the object which the Government of India had in view, but I think that the form in which its proposals were made was unfortunate. I have always believed that, if matters had been more discreetly managed, every amend¬ ment of the law that was essential might have been made without objection on the part of the European community. The controversy ended with the virtual though not avowed abandonment of the measure proposed by the Government. Act III. of 1884 extended rather than diminished the privileges of European British subjects charged with offences, and left their position as excep¬ tional as before. The general disqualification of Native judges and magistrates remains ; but if a Native be ap¬ pointed to the post of District magistrate or Sessions judge, his powers in regard to jurisdiction over European British subjects will be the same as those of an Englishman holding a similar office. This provision, however, is sub¬ ject to the condition that every European British subject brought for trial before the District magistrate or Sessions judge has the right, however trivial be the charge, to claim to be tried by a jury of which not less than half the number shall be Europeans or Americans. No such claim can be made by Natives charged with offences, and it is a claim which could not be made by an Englishman in any magis¬ trate’s court in his own country. The Legislature has virtually declared that the summary powers of the Euro¬ pean District magistrate over European offenders shall be taken away, not because this was held to be in itself desirable, but because such powers could not be given to a District magistrate who is a Native. While this change was made in the powers of District magistrates, the law in 84 LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. regard to other magistrates remained unaltered. All English magistrates of the first class, outside the Presidency towns, other than the District magistrate, are appointed to be justices of the peace, and they exercise jurisdiction over European British subjects as they did before ; but no Native magistrates in similar positions can be appointed to be justices of the peace or exercise such jurisdiction. There are many districts in which it may happen, when a charge against a European British subject comes before a District magistrate, that a sufficient number of Europeans and Americans cannot be found to constitute a jury ; the case must then, under the orders of the High court, be transferred for trial to another district where a jury can be formed. Thus, opportunity is offered for the occasional revival of the old scandals and denials of justice and hard¬ ship which were common before 1872, when the trial of European British subjects could only take place before the High courts, and complainants and witnesses were liable to be sent away to great distances from their homes. It is true that this is not likely often to occur in practice, because the District magistrate, to whom alone these new provisions of the law apply, will usually take care to try in his own court no charge against a European British subject, but will transfer it, as he can always do, to one of his European subordinates, whose summary powers of dealing with such cases have not been touched. The law has certainly not been changed for the better, but for practical purposes it remains much as it was before Act III. of 1884 was passed. The only other change was that District magistrates trying European British subjects with a jury were authorised to pass sentence of imprisonment, which may extend to six months, or fine which may extend to 2000 rupees, or both. It may be feared that the result of all this has been that we must leave to a distant future the hope that the Govern¬ ment of India will be able to place the law regarding juris- CODIFICATION OF CIVIL LAW. 85 diction over European British subjects on a satisfactory footing. The codification of the criminal law of British India is complete. The codification of the civil law is a far more difficult task. Both Hindus and Mohammedans are in possession of great bodies of law, parts of which are believed by them to be of more or less divine origin, con¬ taining elaborate instructions on every sort of subject affecting property, inheritance, and the relations of life. Unless Native customs and feelings and prejudices are repugnant to humanity and justice, we are bound to respect them, and the mere suspicion that we desired to interfere with them might be politically dangerous. No one is likely to attempt to codify the Mohammedan law, and there is no single body of Hindu law that is generally recognised ; it differs in different provinces, and is con¬ stantly modified by local and personal custom. A large part of the substantive civil law is, therefore; and must remain, untouched by our legislation. Those branches, however, both of substantive and adjective law, where these difficulties do not apply, have been dealt with in a com¬ prehensive manner. Codes relating to contracts, negotiable instruments, transfer of property, trusts, easements, and other subjects, evidence, limitation, and a complete Code of Civil Procedure, have already been enacted, and these, with certain exceptions, saving local and other usages and customary rights, are generally applicable throughout British India. Another important chapter of the Civil Code, the Succession Act of 1865, contains the law of intestate and testamentary succession ; but the greater part of it applies only to Europeans, East Indians, and some other classes domiciled in British India, and has no application to Hindus or Mohammedans. Subject to the serious exceptions that I have noticed, there is hardly any country in which the laws are contained in so small a compass, in which they are so excellent both in sub- 86 LAWS AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. stance and in form, and in which they are so easily intellig¬ ible. The codification and simplification of the law has been one of the greatest reforms of modern times in India. There has been a prevalent but mistaken notion that India has been suffering from over-legislation. Speaking generally, the result of recent legislation, apart from that which must always be required to meet current wants of the day, has been greatly to reduce the body of the law, to get rid of obsolete enactments, and to consolidate and simplify the laws in force. Many illustrations of what has been done in this direction might be given. Thus, the law under which the civil courts in Bengal were constituted had formerly to be searched for in thirteen Regulations and Acts scattered over seventy-seven years; now it is to be found in one short Act of thirty-eight sections. I remember Sir James Stephen giving to the Legislative Council in India ocular demonstration of the nature of the process that had been going on, by pointing to a series of huge volumes which contained the law as it used to be, and which the table before him could scarcely hold, and then showing us a few octavo volumes which contained all the existing Acts of the Legislature. I have referred, for the most part, to those laws only which are in force throughout India, but local conditions vary so greatly that there are many other laws applicable to particular provinces only. It cannot be said that the practical administration of justice has been as successful in the civil as in the criminal courts, but the improvement has been great since the transfer of the Government to the Crown. Before 1859 the procedure was extremely complex and technical, the delays and opportunities for corruption and fraud were endless, the Native judges were often very im¬ perfectly educated, and their integrity was sometimes open to grave suspicion. They were so miserably paid that to CIVIL COURTS. 87 expect any high standard of honesty or efficiency was un¬ reasonable. In 1859 the Code of Civil Procedure was enacted, and it has from time to time been amended. It has rendered the procedure of the courts simple and reasonable; the position of the Native judges has been greatly improved; they are now a well-educated class, with a good knowledge of law, and highly paid, and an immense change has taken place in their character and competency. The constitution of the civil courts, below the High court of which I have already spoken, varies somewhat in different provinces; but in Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, Madras, and Bombay, it is substantially uni¬ form. There are usually three classes of courts: District judges, Subordinate judges, and Munsifs or Subordinate judges of the second class. The judge exercises a general control over all the courts in his district, and hears certain classes of appeals. The Subordinate judge can try, sub¬ ject to some restrictions, cases of any value. The juris¬ diction of the Munsif varies. In some provinces he can hear suits not exceeding 5000 rupees, in others his powers are more limited. Appeals lie to the High court from the decisions of the District judge. There are also Small Cause courts, which decide cases of small amount without appeal. In the Punjab, the Central Provinces, and Oudh, the system is somewhat different, but it need not now be described. Until the year 1836, European British subjects were under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts alone. It was then decided, by Act XI. of 1836, that they should be made amenable to the civil courts of the Company, and that in this respect no distinctions should be maintained between them and the Natives of India. This measure, commonly known as the “ Black Act,” was received in Calcutta with the furious opposition described by Lord Macaulay, the history of which is familiar to the readers of his life. Lord Macaulay was then a member of the 88 LAWS ANI) ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. Governor-General’s Council, and to him is mainly due the honour of having insisted upon passing this wise and necessary law. The opposition of the Europeans, al¬ though to the last degree violent, was virtually confined to Calcutta, and as the number of the English outside the Presidency towns was then comparatively small, the out¬ cry against the Government was less formidable than that of 1883. I quote from a minute of Lord Macaulay the following description of the state of things that then prevailed :— “Till the passing of Act XI. of 1836 an Englishman at Agra or Benares who owed a small debt to a native, who had beaten a native, who had come with a body of bludgeon-men and ploughed up a native’s land, if sued by the injured party for damages, was able to drag that party before the Supreme Court of Calcutta (a distance perhaps of 1000 miles), a court which in one most important point—the character of the judges—stands as high as any court can stand, but which in every other respect I believe to be the worst in India, the most dilatory, and the most ruin¬ ously expensive. . . . The expenses of litigation in England are so heavy that people sit down quietly under wrongs and submit to losses rather than go to law, and yet the English are the richest people in the world. The people of India are poor, and the expenses of litigation in the Supreme Court are five times as great as the expenses of litigation at Westminster. An unde¬ fended cause which might be prosecuted successfully in the Court of King’s Bench for about £8 cannot be prosecuted in the Supreme Court under £ 40 . Officers of the court are enabled to accumulate in a few years, out of the substance of ruined suitors, fortunes larger than the oldest and most distinguished servant of the Company can expect to carry home after thirty or forty years of eminent service. I speak of Bengal, where the system is now in full operation. At Madras, the Supreme Court has, I believe, fulfilled its mission. It has done its work. It has beggared every rich native within its jurisdiction, and is inactive for want of somebody to ruin.” Since 1836 no distinctions of race have been recognised in the civil courts throughout India. At the present time, Native judges preside over the great majority of the courts; excepting the higher appellate tribunals, almost NO DISTINCTIONS OF RACE. 89 the whole administration of civil justice is in their hands. They exercise jurisdiction in all classes of civil cases over Natives and Europeans alike, and no word of objection on the part of the latter is ever heard. The Lord Chancellor did not give the Native judges too high a character when he said in the House of Lords in 1883, as the result of his experience of Indian cases appealed to the Privy Council, that “in respect of integrity, of learning, of knowledge, of the soundness and satisfactory character of the judgments arrived at, the judgments of the Native judges were quite as good as those of the English.” I think that the highest authorities in India would even go further, and say that, excepting the High courts, the Native judgments are the better of the two. In disposing of business of this sort, superior knowledge of the language and habits of the people gives to the Native many advantages over the Englishman. Notwithstanding the great improvement that has taken place, the system under which civil justice is administered cannot be said to be altogether satisfactory. It is often difficult for an ignorant population to understand, and it is too mechanical and rigid in its operation. For the more difficult class of cases it is excellent, but for the mass of the judicial business in India the machinery is too elabor¬ ate for the work. Out of nearly 2,000,000 suits annually brought before the courts, about one-half are for sums under 20 rupees, and three-fourths of them are for sums under 100 rupees. I am afraid there is much truth in a remark of Sir Lepel Griffin, that our courts are more mysterious to an Indian peasant than the maze at Hamp¬ ton Court to an uninstructed visitor. They are also too expensive. Heavy stamp duties still exist; they were originally imposed partly as a means of obtaining revenue to meet the expenses of the courts, and partly under the unfortunate notion, not yet altogether exploded, that need¬ less litigation is encouraged by making recourse to the courts cheap and easy. CHAPTER VIII. THE FINANCES AND PUBLIC REVENUES. The Department of Finance and Commerce—Reforms instituted by Mr James Wilson—Financial decentralisation—Existing system of administration— England contributes nothing to Indian charges—Wisdom of this System — Growth of the Public Revenues — Their present amount — Small proportion of revenues derived from taxation—The sources of the public income. I HAVE explained that the final responsibility for the control of the finances of India has been placed by Parlia¬ ment on the Secretary of State in Council. Although he cannot divest himself of this duty, the administration could not be carried on unless the authorities in India itself were invested with ample financial discretion. The Secretary of State has therefore delegated to the Government of India large but strictly defined powers, under which it can sanc¬ tion fresh expenditure and create new offices of minor importance. This is for ordinary times, but in cases of emergency, when reference to England would cause delay injurious to the public interests, there is practically no limit to the financial powers which the Government of India exercises. In the time of the East India Company a properly organised system of financial administration hardly existed. After the mutinies of 1857 an immense increase of ex¬ penditure took place ; their suppression and the restoration of order involved an addition of more than ,£42,000,000 to the public debt ; there was hardly a branch of the admin¬ istration which was not more or less reorganised, and demands arose for every sort of improvement. The 90 FORMER CENTRALISED CONTROL. 91 revenues were insufficient, and the financial difficulties of the Government were serious. No reforms were more urgent than the establishment of an efficient system of public accounts and of strict financial control throughout India. This work was begun most efficiently in i860 by Mr James Wilson, the first financial member of the Governor-General’s Council under the Crown, and it was afterwards actively continued and completed. In carrying out these reforms it was perhaps inevitable at the outset that the central Government should retain in its own hands a larger measure of financial control than it would ultimately be expedient that it should exercise. In its anxiety to prevent extravagance it imposed rules of such stringency that no financial authority remained except its own. The whole of the revenues from all the provinces of British India were treated as belonging to a single fund, expenditure from which could be authorised by the Governor- General in Council alone. The provincial Governments were allowed no discretion in sanctioning fresh charges. They could order, without the approval of the Supreme Government, and without its knowledge, the adoption of measures vitally affecting the interests of millions of people; they could make changes in the system of administration that might involve serious consequences to the State, they could, for instance (and this is a case which actually oc¬ curred), alter the basis on which the assessment of the land revenue had been made, and largely reduce the income derived by the Government from the ,land, but they could carry out no improvements, great or small, for which the actual expenditure of money was required. If it became necessary to spend £20 on a road between two local markets, to rebuild a stable that had tumbled down, or to entertain a menial servant on wages of 10s. a month, the matter had to be formally reported for the orders of the Government of India. No central authority could possibly possess the knowledge or find the time for the efficient 92 FINANCES AND PUBLIC REVENUES. performance of such functions throughout so vast a tract of country. The result was complete absence of real financial control, frequent wrangling between the supreme and pro¬ vincial Governments, and interference by the former not only in financial but in administrative details with which the local authorities were alone competent to deal. Under these circumstances, as General Strachey wrote at the time, “ the distribution of the public income degenerated into something like a scramble, in which the most violent had the advantage, with very little attention to reason ; as local economy brought no local advantage, the stimulus to avoid waste was reduced to a minimum, and as no local growth of the income led to local means of improvement, the interest in developing the public revenues was also brought down to the lowest level.” In 1867 definite proposals were made by General Strachey for the reform of this system, and in 1871 they were adopted by Lord Mayo, who was then Viceroy. They were based on the principle that there was only one means by which local economy and efficient financial administration could be secured ; that each provincial Government must be made responsible for the manage¬ ment of its own local finances; a certain income capable of expansion by good administration was in each case to be assigned, and, subject to some general conditions, the manner in which that income might be expended on the various branches of the public service was to be left to the provincial Government to determine. The system of financial decentralisation inaugurated by Lord Mayo was largely developed during the vice-royalty of Lord Lytton, and a similar policy has been followed by his successors. The effect has been felt throughout the whole system of Indian administration. While no.useful powers of financial control have been surrendered by the central Government, the provincial Governments have been freed from vexatious interference which weakened FINANCIAL DECENTRALISATION. 93 their authority and efficiency, and their relations towards the Government of India have become more harmonious. They are entrusted with the management of those branches of the revenue which depend for their productiveness on good administration, and they have now a direct and, so to speak, a personal interest in rendering that management as efficient as possible, because they know that a large portion of any increase of income that may be obtained will be at their disposal for useful expenditure within their own provinces. The financial arrangements between the supreme and provincial Governments vary in detail, but are in each case similar in principle. Some branches of the public adminis¬ tration are obviously imperial rather than provincial in their nature. The Government of India must, for instance, be responsible for the military defence of the Empire, for payment of the interest on the Public debt, and for the charges to be met by the Home Government. Some de¬ partments, such as the Post Office, Telegraphs, and Mint, must be managed throughout India on a uniform system, and are more conveniently controlled by the central authority. Receipts and charges under the following heads are treated wholly or chiefly as imperial—Opium, Salt, Customs, Tributes from Native States, Post Office, Telegraph, Mint, the Public Debt, Railways, and Army Services. The revenues from Land, Stamps, Plxcise, Assessed Taxes, and other sources, are shared in varying proportions between the imperial and provincial Gov¬ ernments. In 1892-93, out of a total gross revenue of Rx.90,000,000, the provincial Governments were en¬ trusted with the expenditure of Rx.23,250,0009 From 1 Before 1873 the gold value of the rupee was usually not much less than 2s., or one-tenth of a pound sterling, and, until 1886, it was the custom, in the public accounts, to convert rupees into pounds at this conventional rate. Thus, for example, Rs. 1000 was shown in the accounts as £ 100 . In consequence of the great depreciation in the gold value of the rupee, to which reference will be 94 FINANCES AND PUBLIC REVENUES. this income they had to provide for the greater part of the expenditure incurred on the various departments of the civil administration entrusted to them ; for the collection of the land revenue, for the courts of justice, jails, police, education, medical services, civil buildings and roads, and for a multitude of other charges. An arrangement is made under which each provincial Government receives for a specified term, usually for five years, certain revenues from which it has to meet certain charges. The amount in each case is regulated by the estimated requirements of the province. Subject to general rules and conditions, the detailed management of the assigned revenues and services is left to the provincial Governments ; they have the benefit of any economies that they can effect; and they receive either the whole or a share of any increase of revenue which may accrue during the period of the arrangements between them and the Government of India. There is under ordinary circum¬ stances a steady growth in the productiveness of the revenues administered by the provincial Governments. They have thus, if their management be good, an increas¬ ing income to meet increasing demands for material and administrative improvements. When the time for a new arrangement arrives, the imperial Government takes such share as it thinks fit to claim in the increase of the revenue which has accrued. I have already quoted the opinion of Sir Henry Maine on these measures of decentralisation. I believe with him that no more important and successful reforms have been made in Indian administration since the transfer of the government to the Crown. But they have not reached made hereafter, it became impossible to maintain this system. The accounts are now shown in tens of rupees, and the symbol officially adopted to represent ten rupees is Rx. The English sovereign is now received at the Government treasuries in India as the equivalent of fifteen rupees, or at the ratio of is. 4d. per rupee. At this ratio, therefore, the figures in the text are equal respectively to £ 60 , 000,000 and ^15,500,000. PROVINCIAL AUTONOMY. 95 their final limits. I have repeatedly insisted that the primary fact lying at the root of all knowledge about India is the immense diversity of the countries and peoples which it comprises, but it is a fact which centralisation of the Government ignores. While our empire was being gradually built up, concentration and centralisation in the adminis¬ tration were often inevitable. Now that it has been con¬ stituted on a firm and peaceful basis, decentralisation is an essential condition of progress. The time will come when, in regard to nearly all the ordinary matters of internal ad¬ ministration, each great province of India will be virtually almost a separate state. Not only will this result be ob¬ tained without the sacrifice of any part of that supreme authority of the central Government which it is essential to maintain, but we shall gain a largely increased measure of political security. No central Government, as Sir Henry Maine has observed, entrusted with the charge of such an unexampled undertaking as the rule of India, can escape serious occasional errors. “ Under a centralised Govern¬ ment there is danger of generalising a local mistake. Localised, a mistake can be connected with comparative ease ; it becomes dangerous in proportion to the area of its diffusion.” 1 It has been said truly that India has become one of the great powers of the world, and, so far as her public finances are concerned, she has no dependence on Great Britain. This country does not contribute a single farthing to the maintenance of her Indian empire. For all the work that she undertakes for India, whether it be for the British Army by which India is garrisoned, the charges for the India Office at home, or for any other services, great or small, she exacts full payment. Although, in some financial matters, India has been, and is still, treated with scant generosity, there can be no doubt that the general principle which England has thus laid down has been altogether wise. 1 ‘ The Reign of Queen Victoria ’—“ India,” vol. i. p. 515. g6 FINANCES AND PUBLIC REVENUES. Great dependencies, if they are to be permanently retained, must, as M. Harmand has observed, “ be organised like true States, provided with all the organs essential to the exist¬ ence and working of a State, and possessed of all the characteristics which go to form a State, excepting one— political independence. . . . An autonomous administration alone is in a position to develop local resources, to utilise them judiciously, and to administer them with prudence and foresight, to become acquainted with the needs of the sub¬ ject populations, to legislate in conformity with their special conditions, and to lead them onward to prosperity ; in short, to enable these communities to live their own life, to defend themselves with their own unaided resources from the attacks of external foes, and to keep them, when peace is concluded, still attached to the mother-country.” 1 A few figures will show what India has become finan¬ cially, and they will illustrate the remarkable changes of the last fifty years. In 1840 the gross revenues of India were Rx.21,000,000; in 1857, the year before the assumption of the Government by the Crown, they were Rx.32,000,000 ; in 1892 they were Rx.90,000,000. In 1840 the total value of the foreign trade was Rx.20,000,000 ; in 1857 it was Rx.55,000,000; in 1892 it was Rx. 197,000,000. Equally remarkable figures might be given for the public expenditure. I will give one example only; in 1840 the gross expenditure on account of all classes of public works in India hardly exceeded Rx.200,000; in 1857 it had risen to nearly Rx.3,000,000 ; in 1892, including the cost of working the railways and interest on the Public Works debt, it exceeded Rx. 30,000,000, It is true that few of these figures are really comparable, but I give them to illustrate the magnitude of the changes that have taken place in India. One fact is sufficient to show that it is only for this purpose that such comparisons 1 1 L’Inde,’ Preface de M. Jules Harmand. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 97 can usefully be made. Since 1840, six great provinces, covering some 500,000 square miles, with a population of more than 60,000,000, have been added to the empire. The immense growth of the revenues has been in no degree due to increased taxation. If, without going back to a time with which no comparisons are possible, we com¬ pare the present revenues of British India with those of twenty-five years ago, we shall find that under almost every head there has been a diminution rather than an increase in the public burdens. The land revenue, measur¬ ing it by its incidence on the area assessed, is everywhere lighter than it was. The salt duties were generally higher than they are now. Heavy customs duties were levied in the former period on every article of import and export, whereas until lately there has been almost absolute freedom of trade. I do not propose to speak of the present financial posi¬ tion of India, of surpluses, deficits, and so forth. The amount of the public income and expenditure is affected in all countries by circumstances which are constantly chang¬ ing. But I shall describe the principal sources from which the revenues are derived, and give some of the more im¬ portant facts connected with Indian taxation, trade, and economical interests. The gross annual revenues of British India at the present time amount to more than Rx.90,000,000, but it would be a mistake to suppose that this sum represents the amount taken from the people by taxation. The State in India has resources which render heavy taxation unnecessary, and there is certainly no country in the world possessing a civilised Government in which the public burdens are so light. The taxation falling annually on the population of British India is less than 2s. per head. If we were to include the land revenue it would be about double that amount, but this would be no more reasonable than, in a similar calculation for our own country, to reckon as G 9 3 FINANCES AND PUBLIC REVENUES. taxation a large proportion of the rent paid to private landholders. In 1892-93, out of a gross income of Rx.90,021,200, only Rx.25,686,700 was raised by taxes properly so called; Rx.64,334,500 was derived from other sources. In Eng¬ land, in 1886-87, out of a total revenue of ,£90,000,000, £75,000,000 wasderived from taxation,and only £1 5,000,000 from other sources. In England, taxation supplies five- sixths, and in India not much more than one-fourth of the public income. The difference is really greater, for the Indian figures include not only the receipts of the imperial Government, but those derived from Provincial and local sources of revenue throughout India, excepting taxes raised in municipalities for the service of the towns. The following table shows the actual gross revenues of India for 1892-93 under each of the principal heads :— Sources of Revenue. Receipts, 1892-93. ' Land Revenue Opium ..... Forests ..... Tributes from Native States Gross Interest ..... revenue Post-office, Telegraph, Mint . derived from “( Receipts by civil departments sources other and miscellaneous than taxation. Railways .... Irrigation works Buildings and roads Receipts by military depart- ments ..... r Salt. „ Stamps ..... Oross Excise revenue p rovinc i a i rate s derived from Customs . taxation. Assessed taxes t Registration .... Total gross revenue Rx. 24,857,600 7.966.500 1.627.600 798.600 868.600 2 . 755.500 2.559.200 19,064,200 2,404,300 639,100 793.300 64 , 334,500 8.648.600 4.458.200 5.203.600 3,645,700 1,616,800 1,683, 100 430,700 -—-- 25,686,700 90,021,200 SOURCES OF REVENUE. 99 Many of these receipts do not represent sources of net revenue. In the Indian accounts the gross receipts in every branch of the administration are entered, whether net revenue is yielded or not. For example, the Govern¬ ment lends money to Native States and to various public bodies, and receives from them payments of interest ; these are shown among the gross receipts ; but on the other side of the account there is a far larger outlay for interest on the ordinary public debt. So again, the amount of gross revenue which the Government receives from railways and irrigation works is exceeded by the expenditure on those classes of works. Under other heads, representing real sources of net revenue, the expenses of collection are shown on the other side of the account. Thus, for instance, while in 1892-93 the sum of Rx.24,857,600 was entered as the gross amount of the land revenue, nearly Rx.4,000,000 appeared under expenditure as charges of collection. There arc other receipts called “ departmental,” but with one or two exceptions I need not refer to them, or to receipts under heads which do not show a net income. Setting off against expenditure receipts of this kind, and deducting from the gross revenues the charges of collection, the actual net revenue of British India in 1892- 93 was Rx.51,473,400. I shall now explain what are the great sources of revenue. CHAPTER IX. REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE DERIVED FROM TAXATION. The Land Revenue—Its nature described—Its incidence under Native and British Governments—Moderation of Assessments—Aurangzib’s Revenues —Rates on Land. The most important of all the sources of revenue in India is the Land revenue, which yields a gross amount of nearly Rx.25,000,000 a year, and this, as I have explained, is not derived from taxation properly so called. From time immemorial the ruling power throughout India has been entitled to a share of the produce of every acre of land, and this share is the so-called land revenue. Mr Fawcett, in his ‘ Manual of Political Economy,’ has described the land revenue of India in a passage which I cannot do better than quote :— “ The Government in India exercises over a great portion of the soil the same rights of property as those which an English landlord exercises over his own estate. 'The Government in India takes the place of individual landlords, and the cultivators of the soil rent their land from the Government instead of from private landholders. ... As far as the cultivators of the soil are concerned, it can be a matter of no consequence whatever to them whether they pay a land tax to the Government, or whether they pay rent to private landowners. Hence a land tax is no harder upon the cultivator ; nor does this impost cause any loss to the rest of the community. It, therefore, follows that a land tax, so long as it does not exceed a rack-rent, cannot increase the price of products raised from the land, for those who grow products would not sell them cheaper if they paid rent to a private landlord instead of paying the same amount to the Government in the form of a land tax. A land tax consequently IOO LAND REVENUE. IOl differs from all other taxes, for it possesses the excellent quality of providing a large revenue for the State without diminishing the wealth of any class of the community. Those, therefore, are completely in error who quote the aggregate amount of taxation which is raised in India in order to prove how heavily the people of that country are taxed. At least ^20,000,000 per annum is obtained in India by the land tax, but it would be as unreason¬ able to consider this amount as a burden laid upon the people as it would be to consider that the whole rent which is paid to English landlords in this country is an impost levied on the culti¬ vators of the soil.” 1 Instead of giving opinions of my own to the same effect, I will make another quotation from Mr J. S. Mill:— “ A large portion of the revenue of India consists of the rent of land. So far as this resource extends in any country, the public necessities of the country may be said to be provided for at no expense to the people at large. Where the original right of the State to the land of the country has been reserved, and its natural—but no more than its natural—rents made available to meet the public expenditure, the people may be said to be so far untaxed ; because the Government only takes from them as a tax what they would otherwise have paid as rent to a private landlord. ... It is, of course, essential that the demand of revenue should be kept within the limits of a fair rent. Under the native Governments, and in the earlier periods of our own, this limit was often exceeded. But, under the British rule, in every instance in which the fact of excessive assessment was proved by large outstanding balances and increased difficulty of realisation, the Government has, when the fact was ascertained, taken measures for reducing the assessment. The history of our government in India has been a continued series of reductions of taxation; and in all the improved systems of administration the object has been not merely to keep the Government demand within the limits of a fair rent, but to leave a large portion of the rent to the proprietors. . . . Thus, by far the largest item in the public revenue of India is obtained virtually without taxation, because obtained by the mere interception of a payment which, 1 ‘ Manual of Political Economy,’ 5th Edit., p. 568. 102 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. it not made to the State for public uses, would generally be made to individuals for their private use.” 1 In the last fifty years the land revenue of British India has more than doubled in amount, but it must not be sup¬ posed that the burden on the land has become heavier. The truth is that the process, described by Mr Mill as “ a continued series of reductions of taxation,” has gone on during this period without intermission. The increase of land revenue has been mainly due to the extension of the empire. Since 1840 there has been an addition of some 500,000 square miles of territory. In our older provinces the growth of the land revenue has been entirely the result of increase in the area of cultivation and in the value of agricultural produce, and in no instance has it been due to enhancement of the incidence of the Government demand. Thus (I am now quoting from Sir Henry Cunningham), “in Madras the area assessed increased from 9,750,000 acres in 1850 to 20,000,000 in 1875-76, and, though the land revenue is £\ ,000,000 sterling higher, its incidence per acre is reduced by 4-|-d. on dry land and 5s. on irrigated land. Similarly, in Bombay, the assessed area has increased from 12,500,000 acres in 1856 to 20,300,000 in 1875-76, and an increase of ^750,000 in the land revenue has resulted, notwithstanding an average reduction of 4-Ird. per acre in the assessment. In the same manner, in the North-Western Provinces, where the land revenue is calculated on the supposed value of the rental, the share of the rent claimed by the Government has much decreased. ... In the Punjab it is notorious that the land revenue is infinitely lighter than that in any previous period, and the fact is corro¬ borated by the enormous increase in the price of land since it passed under our rule from the cruel rack-renting of the Sikh Government. 2 There has never, so far as our knowledge goes, been a Government in India that has taken so small a share in the 1 ‘ Memorandum of the Improvements in the Administration of India,’ 1858. 2 ‘ British India and its Rulers,’ p. 141. MODERATION OF GOVERNMENT DEMAND. IO3 profits of the soil as that taken by ourselves. This is true of every province of British India. Under all preceding Governments, and under Native Governments to this day, there has been, in the words of Mr Thomason, “ no other limit to the demand upon the land than the power of the Government to enforce payment and the ability of the people to pay.” Under the system laid down by Akbar, and carried into effect in the year 1582 by the famous settlement of Todar Mai, the sovereign was held to be practising a wise moderation when he fixed his share of the gross produce of the land at 33 per cent., but this was much less than was ordinarily demanded. The Marathas took at least one-half; and the same proportion was ordinarily assumed to be their proper share by the Governments that preceded us in Madras. The result of the minute inquiries made towards the end of the last century showed that the Native rulers in Bengal usually took about 54 per cent. In the Punjab, when we first occupied the province, it was found that the share of the gross produce taken by the Sikh Government was from 40 to 50 per cent. Elphinstone, in his ‘ History of India,’ thus sums up the facts in regard to the land revenue under Native Governments : “ The sove¬ reign’s full share is now reckoned at one-half. A country is reckoned moderately assessed if he only takes one-third ” ; and in one of his minutes, referring to the Deccan, he says that it seems to have been “the original principle in all settlements for the Government to take half and leave half to the cultivator.” Compare the foregoing facts with the following. Instead of sweeping off the whole or the greater part of the surplus profit of the land, our Government never takes more than a fixed share, which falls at an average rate of from 3 per cent, to 8 per cent, of the gross outturn. Many of the Native States of Bombay have been surveyed and settled on the system adopted by our Government, and 104 REVENUES other than those from taxation. their rates are usually io to 15 per cent, higher than in the British districts. In the North-Western Provinces, where the basis of the assessment is the rental of the land, and not the gross produce, our Government, at the beginning of this century, took 90 per cent, of the rent. We took the same proportion under the permanent settlement in Bengal. In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh the share of the State is now 50 per cent, of the rental, an amount estimated to be equivalent to y 8 per cent, of the gross produce. 1 In Bengal the incidence is much less, but this has been the result of special causes, to which I shall again refer. Although the demands made upon the land by the British Government are much lighter than those of the Govern¬ ments that preceded it, it must be remembered that the principles on which our demands have been regulated are altogether different from theirs, and comparisons between the two are misleading. While our policy has been to en¬ courage the growth of private property in land, and to take for the State only a moderate share of the rental or pro¬ duce, former Governments hardly recognised the existence of such property, and frequently took from the cultivator an amount as large as the full rack-rent which might have been taken by a private landlord, or the whole of the surplus profit after the expenses of cultivation had been defrayed. The cultivator was entitled to subsistence ; everything else belonged to the State. 2 This is often the assumption in Native States at the present time. In the words of Mr J. S. Mill : “ Except during the occasional 1 These figures, showing the proportions of the gross produce taken as revenue, are taken, for the most part, from the Report of the Indian Famine Commissioners. a “The following maxim is believed to express the ruling idea of the revenue system maintained under the Emperor Akbar :—‘ There shall be left for every man who cultivates his land as much as he requires for his own support till the next crop be reaped, and that of his family, and for seed. This much shall be left to him ; what remains is land-tax, and shall go to the public treasury.’ ”— Sir E. Buck’s ‘ Statistical Atlas of India,’ p. 22 . ASSESSMENT UNDER NATIVE RULERS. 105 accident of a humane and vigorous local administration, the exactions had no practical limit but the inability of the peasant to pay more.” At the same time, when the peasant has no rights of property, and cultivates as a rack-rented tenant, it cannot be assumed that he pays less under our system that he paid before, when there was no private land¬ lord between him and the State. An interesting investigation was made by the late Mr Edward Thomas, in his ‘ Revenue Resources of the Moghul Empire,’ into the question of the amount of the revenue derived from the land and other sources by the Moghul Emperors ; but the materials which he was able to collect were very imperfect, and it is difficult to say what confid¬ ence should be placed in conclusions based upon them. The revenues doubtless reached their highest point under Aurangzib. Mr Thomas tells us that two manuscripts in the British Museum, copies apparently of official documents, give the land revenue of the empire for 1664-65 at £26,743,000 and £24,056,00c. 1 Bernier, about the same time, gave the amount as £22,593,000; his de¬ tails for the various provinces differ greatly from those in the Museum manuscripts, and Bernier himself describes his list as “ce memoire que je ne crois pas trop exact ni veritable.” Towards the end of the seventeenth century a Venetian physician, Manucci, was employed at the Court of Aurangzib, and an account of much that he learned there is to be found in Catrou’s ‘ Histoire g6nerale de l’Empire du Mogol ’ (Paris, 1702). A list is given, on Manucci’s authority, of the amount of the land revenue in each province in 1697, when Aurangzib’s empire was much larger than it had been thirty years before. The total reaches the sum of £38,719,000. Whether these figures represent the demand or the collections is not stated, but no doubt the former is intended. Three 1 In these and the following figures taken from Mr Thomas, the rupee is assumed to have been equivalent to 2s. 106 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. manuscripts in the India Office Library give the amount of Aurangzib’s land revenue at sums varying between £34,187,000 and £34,641,000; the years to which they refer are not stated, and athough the totals do not much differ, the discrepancies in the details are great. Considering that the land revenue of the British Government amounts only to £23,000,000, drawn from a more extensive empire than that of Aurangzib, the sums said to have been received or demanded from the land by the latter seem at first sight to deserve little credit. It seems to me, however, by no means impossible that even the largest amount mentioned may be approximately correct, because, as I have just explained, no comparisons are really possible between the land revenue of former Governments and our own. The £38,000,000, or whatever may have been the actual amount of Aurangzib’s revenue from land, included not only all that we now take as land revenue, but the greater part of the profit that we leave to private proprietors. For example, the rental of the land¬ holders of Bengal is now probably not less than £20,000,000, of which only about £4,000,000 is taken by the State. If a ruler like Aurangzib were to take our place, nearly the whole sum would be claimed by him which is now inter¬ cepted by the zemindars. 1 1 The views above stated seem to me to accord with Manucci’s remarks in the following passage. After detailing the revenues of Aurangzib, he says :— ‘ On est etonn£ sans doute d’une si prodigieuse opulence, mais il faut con- siderer que tant de richesses n’entre dans les tresors du Mogol que pour en sortir tous les ans, du moins en partie, et pour couler une autre fois sur ses terres. La moitie de l’empire subsiste par les liberalites du prince, ou du moins elle est a ses gages. Outre ce grand nombre d’officiers et de soldats qui ne vivent que de la paye, tous les paysans de la campagne, qui ne labour- ent que pour le souverain, sont nourris a ses frais, et presque tous les artisans des villes, qu’on fait travailler pour le Mogol, sont payes du tresor imperial. On conjecture assez quelle est la dependance des sujets, et par consequent, quelle est leur deference pour leur maitre.’ Although I see nothing incredible in the amount which Aurangzib’s land revenue is said to have reached, the evidence given by Mr Thomas to support the opinion that the total revenue of the empire was ^77,438,000, seems to me OTHER CESSES AND RATES ON LAND. 107 Although the land revenue of India is not derived from taxation properly so called, but is a portion of the rent or produce reserved by the State, in accordance with im¬ memorial custom, the land is not entirely exempt from taxation. It is liable to certain rates which vary in the different provinces, but which are everywhere light. They are mainly applied to local purposes, such as the con¬ struction and maintenance of roads, schools, hospitals, and dispensaries. insufficient. It is arrived at by doubling the amount of the land revenue, and is based on the following passage from Catrou’s work. After enumerating the miscellaneous sources of revenue, he says, on Manucci’s authority: “Tout ce casuel de l’empire egale, a peu pres, ou surpasse mime, les immenses richesses que l’empereur pergoit des seuls fonds de terre de son domaine.’’ Another Italian traveller, Careri, writing in 1695, says: “ I was told that the Mogul receives from only his hereditary countries 80 crores of rupees (,£80,000,000) a-year.” There is apparently no other authority, excepting these general statements, for the conclusion that the total revenues of Aurangzib approached £80,000,000, and I cannot think that they deserve much credence. This ques¬ tion of the amount of the revenues of the Moghal Emperors has been carefully reconsidered by Sir W. Hunter in his ‘Indian Empire’(3rd edition, 1893, pp. 357 and 547). His conclusion is that during the last century of the Moghal empire the average net land revenue demand was probably about Rx.32,000,000, while the corresponding annual demand of our own Govern¬ ment, during the twelve years ending 1891, from a more extensive territory, was Rx. 19I millions. An elaborate discussion of the subject will also be found in Mr Stanley Lane-Poole’s ‘Aurangzib’ (Rulers of India Series). His conclusions are that in 1700 a.d. the Moghal land revenue was as much as .£43,000,000. I have left my own remarks on this subject unaltered, as they stood in the first edition of this work, because they seem to me to be as good an approximation to the truth as with our present information can be given. Little confidence can, in my opinion, be placed in the particular figures which purport to represent the amount of the Moghal revenues. CHAPTER X. REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE DERIVED FROM taxation—( Continued ). The opium revenue—Its amount—Mr Batten on the opium question—Intro¬ duction of opium into India — State monopoly under Moghals—Existing system in Bengal—Value of poppy crop in Bengal—Opium in the Punjab —In Central India and Rajputana—Total value of Indian poppy crops— Alleged reasons for suppression of opium trade—Opium in China—Wars with China—Chefoo Convention—Poppy cultivation in China—Effects of consuming opium—De Quincey—Opium consumption in China and India—Society for suppression of the opium trade—Its misrepresen¬ tations—Consumption by Sikhs and Rajputs—Stringent system of excise —Injustice and folly of attempted suppression of opium consumption— Forests—Tributes from Native States—Post Office—Telegraphs. Next to the land revenue, the most productive source of the public income in India is Opium. A portion of the opium revenue, amounting on an average to about Rx.730,000 a-year, is derived from opium consumed in India, and this is credited in the public accounts under the head of Excise. Including this, the average amount of the net opium revenue for the five years ending 1892-93 was about Rx.7,100,000. Questions connected with the system under which the Indian Goverment derives this great revenue have been the subject of so much discussion in this country, and of so much ignorant, although honest misrepresentation, that I wish to state somewhat fully what I believe to be the truth. I am fortunate in being able to do this with an authority and accuracy greater than would have been possible if I had been solely dependent on my own knowledge and experience. The most complete account of the facts regarding opium in India which has ever been made public is contained in a paper read by Mr OPIUM REVENUE. 109 G. H. M. Batten, formerly of the Indian Civil Service, before the Society of Arts in March 1892, and Mr Batten has been good enough to make the following abridgment of his paper, and to allow me to insert it in this chapter of my work. “ Apart from moral considerations, the opium question, so far as India is concerned, is generally discussed as if it were one affecting only the public resources of the Indian Administration, but it is much more far-reaching. The amount of revenue realised is but a part and not the greater part of the actual pecuniary value of the poppy crop and its products, while the well-being and happiness of hundreds of thousands of the people of India would be greatly affected by its extinction. “ India is essentially an agricultural country, and nearly the whole of its exports consists of products of the soil. One of the most important and valuable of these products is the opium- yielding poppy. It is impossible to state with accuracy when this plant was first introduced into India. There is little record of its early history, but it .is known that the Mohammedans had succeeded, in the fifteenth century, in introducing the cultiva¬ tion of the poppy into Cambay and Malwa, and that when the Emperor Akbar, in the latter half of the next century, established the Moghal Empire over Central India, he found Malwa opium a characteristic product of that country. He and his successors regarded opium as of necessity a State monopoly. There is ample evidence to prove that a large trade had been going on in opium between India and surrounding countries long before the East India Company, in 1773, undertook the supervision of the manufacture of opium in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. “ The Company, in fact, inherited from the Moghal Government this important and legitimate source of revenue on an article of luxury which India had shown itself capable of producing in high perfection, and for which there was a large demand both in and out of that country. At first they continued the system of farm¬ ing the exclusive right of opium manufacture, but this was found to entail many abuses. Amongst them was the pressure brought by the contractors, in spite of the most stringent regulations to the contrary, on the cultivators, whom they forced to carry on the cultivation, and whom they cheated in various ways. It also led to the adulteration of the drug and its illicit vend. The con- 1 IO REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. sequences were so injurious to the revenue that, in 1797, the contract system was abandoned, and the Government assumed the monopoly of manufacture through its own agencies, a system which has remained in force until the present day. There was, indeed, at that time, no practicable alternative. The strongest opponent to the system of Government manufacture would hardly contend that the growth of the poppy and the manu¬ facture of opium should have been left free and unrestricted, as that would infallibly have led to a great increase in the produce of the drug, and probably to its deterioration. On the other hand, if it ever entered into the conception of the Court of Directors to suppress, in the interests of morality, the cultivation of the poppy in the territories then in their possession, it is doubtful whether they would have had the power in those times to have done so, and it is certain that they could not have controlled the production of the vast poppy-growing tracts outside those terri¬ tories in Malwa, Cambay, and elsewhere. The only result would have been that the opium consumers in India would have been supplied from sources outside British territory, and that the export trade would have been transferred to ports other than British. It would certainly have been impossible in those days to establish a Customs line to prevent the entry of opium into the Company’s possessions. The Company would have sacrificed its revenue, and no one would have been benefited except the people of the territories outside the Company’s posses¬ sions, at the expense of those within them. “ The State monopoly continues to be administered by the Bengal Government, although its operations now extend into the North-West Provinces and Oudh. Under it, no person may cultivate the poppy except with a licence from the Government, and every cultivator is bound to sell the opium produced from his crop to the Government, in whose two factories, at Patna and Ghazipur, it is manufactured into the opium of com¬ merce. A portion of the manufactured opium is retained for consumption in India through vendors licensed by the Excise Department, and the remainder is sold monthly, by auction, in Calcutta to merchants, who export it. The Government prescribes rules for the cultivation of the poppy, the manufacture, possession, transport, import or export, and sale of opium, and any contravention of such rules is subject to stringent penalties, which may extend to imprisonment for one year STATE MONOPOLY. I I I or fine of 1000 rupees, or both. Poppy illegally cultivated, and opium the subject of any offence against the law, is liable to confiscation, together with the vessels, packages, and coverings in which it is found, and their other contents, and the animals and conveyances used in carrying it. “ Like most crops, the poppy is subject to wide seasonal fluctua¬ tions, which formerly greatly affected the market prices of opium, led to speculation and gambling amongst the buyers for export, and caused corresponding uncertainty in the Government revenue. When, owing to the shortness of the supply, the price in Calcutta rose high, the direct effect was to stimulate the production of other opium competing in the foreign market with the Bengal drug, and amongst these the native production of China. Thus—and I would call particular attention to this fact, as having an important bearing on the question before us—the diminution of the supply of Indian opium to China was an incentive to the extension of poppy cultivation in China. To remedy the evils thus arising from the uncertainties of the seasons, the Government decided, twenty-five years ago, to limit the sales of opium in Calcutta to a quantity which would permit the formation of a reserve stock in plenteous years to meet deficiency in years of scarcity. “ Recognising the fact that the Chinese demand a large supply of opium, and that to whatever extent India was unable to satisfy that demand, it would be met, either by increase of the produce in China itself, or by increased imports from other countries, the Government of India has thought it right, in the interests of the people of India, to shape its measures so as not to lose the natural advantages India possesses in the superior quality of its produce. Any one familiar with the records of the Govern¬ ment of India relating to this subject, must admit this is a fair representation of its policy and motives, and that nowhere in those records can be found any indication of a desire to stimulate the consumption of opium by the Chinese. “ In pursuance of this policy, the Government yearly regulates the extent of the poppy cultivation, guided chiefly by the market prices and the stock of opium in hand. No one is forced to grow a crop of poppy against his will. The sole inducement is the price offered by the Government for the produce. t For the past ten years this price has been 5 rupees a seer, which is exactly equivalent to 2 % lbs. troy. The Government makes advances, 1 I 2 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. not bearing interest, before the crop is sown, and from time to time during its progress, thus saving the ryots from the exorbitant demands of the village money-lender. The crop, which is sown in the autumn and gathered in the spring, succeeds an autumn crop usually of Indian corn. The yield of opium per acre varies. For the five years ending 1889-90, the average produce per acre was a little over 16 lbs. avoirdupois, which, at 5 rupees a seer, gave the cultivator a gross return of near 40 rupees per acre. In addition to this, he receives payment for the poppy flower petals and the stalks and leaves, which are used in the factory for packing the opium cakes. The total average annual payments by the Bengal Government to the poppy cultivators exceed Rx.2,000,000. “ Besides the produce purchased by the Government, the seeds of the poppy are an important article of consumption and com¬ merce. They are eaten parched, or employed as a condiment in the preparation of food; but perhaps their chief use is for the expression of oil, for which purpose they are not only largely used in India, but are exported in considerable quantities, chiefly to Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. The average pro¬ duce of seed per acre, after deducting what is required for sowing, is stated to be about 260 lbs., yielding by native processes, from 80 to 100 lbs. of oil. This oil is edible, and is used largely in Europe, either as a substitute for, or adulteration of, salad oil. It is also used for illumination, mixing with paints, soap, and varnish making. The oil-cake is eaten by the poorer classes and by cattle, being rich in nitrogen. The young seedlings, which are removed at the first weedings of the crop, are sold and eaten as a salad. I may state that these by-products of the poppy crop are perfectly free from opium. “ In spite, therefore, of the labour entailed in the culture of the poppy, which requires frequent watering, and in spite of the vicissitudes of the season, which greatly affect this crop, the cultivation is popular, and the refusal of licenses is looked upon as a grievance by the ryots, as well as the landowners, to whom they pay their rent. “As I have already stated, the cultivator is bound by law to deliver the whole of the opium produced to the Government agents. It is manufactured at the factories at Ghazipur or Patna into the opium of commerce, under the supervision of the scien¬ tific experts, who are employed by the Government, and is then SYSTEM IN BENGAL. i'3 sent to Calcutta, where it is sold for export at auction by monthly instalments. The greatest care is taken to preserve the purity of the drug and the uniformity of its consistence. It is owing to this care, added to the natural advantages of soil and climate, that Indian opium has maintained its high reputation in the Chinese market, where it is admitted by the practical test of price to be far superior to the drug produced in China. Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-General in China, in a report written in 1881, states that ‘ the native product sells for one-half of the price obtained for the foreign drug.’ In determining the number of chests to be annually manufactured and sold, the Government is guided prin¬ cipally by the state of the reserve stock, the aim being to keep up a reserve equal to half a year’s supply. It is also guided, as I have already stated, by the prices obtained at auction. If the prices rise much, production in China and Persia is stimulated, and it is necessary to increase the production in India to maintain its market; on the other hand, if the prices fall low, and opium becomes cheap, consumption is stimulated, and the production has to be restricted. The object of the Government, as I have explained, is to maintain, so far as possible, uniformity in the price, and thus to avoid fluctuations in the market and in the revenue. “ The average annual auction sale proceeds for the five years end¬ ing 1889-90 were Rx.6,267,703, giving the average of Rs.1132 per chest. In the year 1890-91 they fell below Rx.6,000,000, owing to the extension of the cultivation in China. “ The Bengal Government supplies the Excise Department not only in Bengal, but also in all the other Provinces, except the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, with opium for consumption in India. The average receipts from this source amount to Rx.200,000 a year. The opium is sold to the consumers through licensed vendors, to whom it is supplied at an enhanced price, and who have to pay fees for the licenses to vend. The average receipts by the local governments from this source amount to about Rx.800,000 a year. “ The declared value of the poppy seed exported from Bengal on the average of the five years ending 1890-91 was Rx.i 75,000. “Summing up these figures, we obtain the following result for the Bengal poppy crop :— H I 14 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. Auction sale proceeds on opium for export, . Rx.6,000,000 Excise opium credited to Opium Department, 200,000 Receipts of Provincial Governments from the vend of Excise opium, . . . 800,000 Value of poppy seed exported, . . 175,000 Total, . Rx.7,175,000 “ In order to arrive at the ultimate annual value of the Bengal poppy crop, we must add several items which cannot be pre¬ cisely estimated. These are the profits to Indian merchants and shippers on the opium exported, the profits to the Indian vendors of Excise opium, the value of the poppy seed consumed in India as seed-oil or oil-cake, and of the young plants used as food, and finally, the value of the illicit opium, which, in spite of all pre¬ cautions, the cultivators are able to pass into consumption. On a moderate estimate, the value of this large trade cannot be taken at less than Rx.3,000,000, bringing up the annual total value of the Bengal poppy crop to over Rx. 10,000,000. “ The territory in which this crop is produced may be described as a belt of country between 500 and 600 miles in length, with an average breadth of 180 miles, running north-west and south-east, between the 78th and 85th parallels of longitude, and the 24th and 29th parallels of latitude. The total area may be taken at about 100,000 square miles, lying in the Provinces of Behar (Bengal), the North-West Provinces and Oudh. The average area cultivated with poppy for the five years ending 1889-90 was 527,200 acres, but in the last of those years was only 482,557, or 745 square miles, only three-quarters per cent, of the whole tract referred to, and this for only half the year, as another crop is almost invariably obtained from the same land during the other half. In the year 1889-90 no fewer than 1,322,355 cultivators were employed on the crop, while over 3000 Hindus and Moham¬ medans were employed by the Government in the factories and administration of the department. “ The only other province in British India where the poppy is allowed to be cultivated is the Punjab. It is there grown under license in nearly every district. The cultivator may dispose of his poppy crop standing to license-holders, who extract the opium; or he may extract the opium himself, and dispose of it, or of the produce, in the shape of poppy heads, to licensed vendors. The poppy heads are used as an infusion, forming a poppy tea, which IN PUNJAB AND NATIVE STATES. 1 1 5 is drunk by the Sikhs, who are forbidden by their religion to use tobacco in any form. The value of the Punjab poppy crop can only be estimated. The average retail price of the opium is about Rs.20 a seer, or Rs.8oo a maund, so that, from this source alone, it yields Rx. 13 2,000 on the average annual produce. Adding the value of the poppy heads, seed, and other by-products, and of illicit opium, which cannot fall short of Rx. 18,000, we get a total of Rx. 150,000. “Outside of British India, the cultivation of the poppy is con¬ fined to certain native States in Central India and Rajputana, and the territory of the Gaikwar. The opium there produced is known by the generic name of Malwa opium. There are no trustworthy statistics showing the acreage under poppy, or the total quantity of opium produced. After providing for the home consumption within the native States, which must be a very large quantity, as the habit of consuming opium there has been long established and is widespread, the remainder is consumed in those parts of British India not supplied with Bengal opium, also in Hyderabad and Mysore, or is exported by sea to China, the Straits Settlements, &c. “ The importation of Malwa opium into British territory is subject to very stringent regulations. Previous to the year 1831, by separate treaties with the native States, the British Govern¬ ment reserved to itself a monopoly of Malwa opium, which was purchased by the British Resident at Indore, and sold by auction either at Bombay or Calcutta. But in that year it was deemed advisable, chiefly on account of the large quantity of opium smuggled to the Portuguese settlements on the coast, to relinquish the monopoly (which involved much unpalatable interference in the internal affairs of the native States), to open the trade to the operations of private enterprise, and to substitute, as a source of revenue, the grant, at a specified rate of duty, of passes to cover the transit of Malwa opium through British territory. The present rate on opium for foreign export is Rs.6oo a chest. “ All opium transported out of the native States of Central India, Rajputana, and Baroda, has to be weighed and tested at scales established at convenient places in those States under the superintendence of officers of the British Government. The transport is permitted only under passes granted on payment of the duty and by certain specified railway routes. The average exports for the five years ending 1890-91 were 30,000 chests, valued at over Rx.4,000,000. The remainder of the Malwa I I 6 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. opium leaving the native States—about 2000 chests—is con¬ sumed in India, chiefly in the Bombay Presidency ; but the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad, and Mysore are also supplied from this source, and some goes to the Punjab. The value of these 2000 chests may be taken at about Rx.250,000, making a total value, for 32,000 chests, of Rx.4,250,000. To this must be added, as in the case of the Bengal opium, the profits of the merchants and shippers exporting the opium, and of the vendors in India, say nearly Rx. 1,500,000. “ The average annual exports of poppy seed from Bombay are valued at Rx.212,697. They amounted, in 1890-91, to Rx. 310,930. Thus, the total annual value of the Malwa opium brought into British territory, and of the Malwa poppy seed exported from India, cannot be less than Rx.6,000,000. “ There remains to be considered the value of the Malwa opium consumed in the native States of Central India, Rajputana, and Baroda ; also the value of the Malwa poppy seed not ex¬ ported from India, and of the other by-products of the crop. As I have already said, there are no data available for ascertaining or estimating the acreage under poppy cultivation in the native States in question, much less for determining the quantity and value of the whole products of that crop. The population of those States is 21,750,000, or about one-tenth of the population of the rest of India. We know that a considerable proportion of the people of these States has, for centuries, been in the habit of consuming opium, we know that the restrictions placed on the cultivation of the poppy, and on the vend of opium in British India, do not exist in these States, and we know that a vast quantity of opium is smuggled out of them. If we estimate the value of the crop, exclusive of the value of the product licitly exported, at Rx.3,000,000, it will certainly be under the real value. “ The total annual value of the poppy crops in India may thus be estimated to be as follows :— Bengal crop, . Punjab crop, . . . . Malwa crop, licitly consumed in British India and exported by sea, Malwa crop, consumed in Central India, Rajputana, and Baroda, and smuggled thence, . . . . Rx. 10,000,000 150,000 6,000,000 3,000,000 Total, Rx. 19,15 0,000 TOTAL VALUE OF POPPY CROP. II 7 “ This is divided between the producers and manufacturers, the landlords, the British and native administrations, the middle¬ men, merchants, shippers, vendors, &c., of India, and is paid by the ultimate consumers, principally Chinese. “ This is a very moderate estimate of the sum India is asked to sacrifice annually by suppressing her opium trade. The demand for this sacrifice is made not by the people of India, not by the people of China, not by the responsible administrators of those countries, but by an irresponsible party of philanthropists seeking to obtain their ends by the despotic action of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in which India has no representatives. “What are the reasons put forth for demanding the destruction by a foreign country of a valuable Indian industry which, besides satisfying an internal demand in India itself, provides one-tenth of the whole export trade of merchandise from India ? “ The basis of this demand is the hypothesis that, except for medicinal purposes, the use of opium is wholly pernicious, that it demoralises and ruins, body and soul, the consumer, and that it produces no countervailing benefits which for a moment can be compared with the evils it causes. “ A second reason given is that the English people have created the demand for opium by the Chinese, that they have compelled the importation of Indian opium into China by force of arms, and that they are, therefore, morally responsible for the asserted degradation of the Chinese from the use of this drug. “ If there is one fact more certain than any other connected with this question, it is that the people of China had used opium for centuries before the people of England had any voice in the affairs of India. A valuable ‘ Historical Note on Opium in China ’ has recently been drawn up by Dr Edkins, of the Chinese Customs Service, and published by Order of Sir Robert Hart, the Inspec¬ tor-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs of China. From this note it appears that opium was first brought to China by the Arabs early in the eighth century, and it is frequently mentioned by Chinese writers of that time. “ But, it is said, the English have forced Indian opium on the Chinese. Idle war with China, which terminated in 1842, has been called the Opium War, and its immediate cause was no doubt the seizure and destruction by the Chinese of a large number of chests of Indian opium belonging to English mer¬ chants. But contemporary history shows that the real objec- I I 8 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. tions of the Chinese were not to the import of opium, but to the necessity of paying for it in silver. Commander J. Eliot Bingham, who served in that war, and wrote its history, shows that the imports into China of opium, metals, cotton, &c., ex¬ ceeded the exports of tea, silk, &c., by 2,500,000 sterling. The Chinese held the economic fallacy that this state of things was injurious to their country, as it drained away their silver. The Imperial edicts enlarged more on the abstraction of their sycee silver than on the injury from opium to the morals of the people. “ But to whatever extent the wars with China were connected with the smuggling of Indian opium, it is certain that since 1858, when the Treaty of Tientsin was signed, the Chinese Government has had a perfectly free hand in the matter of the importation of opium. By that treaty certain commercial concessions were arranged, which included the legitimatising of the import of opium, subject to a duty being levied thereon. But in the treaty itself there was no mention of, or allusion to, the opium trade. Lord Elgin wrote that he intentionally abstained from urging any treaty recognition of that trade. The preparation of the tariff devolved on Mr Lay, the Chinese Secretary to Lord Elgin’s special mission, at the desire of the Chinese no less than that of Lord Elgin. Mr Lay, in a letter to the Tunes of the 22nd October 1880, wrote:— “ ‘ When I came to “ opium,” I inquired what course they proposed to take in respect to it. The answer was, “ We have resolved to put it into the tariff as foreign medicine.” I urged a moderate duty in view of the cost of collection, which was agreed to. This represents with strict accuracy, the amount of “ extor¬ tion ” resorted to. . . . The Chinese Government admitted opium as a legal article of import, not under constraint, but of their own free will deliberately.’ “In the Times of the 25th of same month, a letter appeared from Mr Laurence Oliphant, who was secretary to Lord Elgin’s Mission, in which he confirmed the statement made by Mr Lay. He says he, with the Commissioner appointed by the Chinese Government, went through the tariff elaborated by Mr Lay with the subordinate Chinese officials :— “ ‘ When we came to the article “ opium,” I informed the Commissioner that I had received instructions from Lord Elgin not to insist on the insertion of the drug in the tariff, should the TREATIES WITH CHINA. I 19 Chinese Government wish to omit it. This he declined to do. I then proposed that the duty should be increased beyond the figures suggested in the tariff; but to this he objected, on the ground that it would increase the inducements to smuggling. . . . I trust that the delusion that the opium trade now existing with China was “ extorted ” from that country by the British Ambas¬ sador may be finally dispelled.’ “ In 1876, an Agreement, called the Chefoo Convention, was arrived at between the Governments of Great Britain and China, in which the British Minister, Sir Thomas Wade, promised to move his Government to make certain special arrangements as to the import of opium. These arrangements were finally carried out by an additional Article, signed at London in 1885. By this Article an addition to the import duty of 30 taels per chest was agreed to. It amounts to a further 80 taels per chest, and frees the opium from any further duty or tax whilst in transport in the interior, being, in fact, a composition of the likin tax. When the package is opened at the place of consumption, it is subject to any tax which may be levied on native opium. “ The receipts of the Chinese Government from the import of opium average 8§ millions of Haikwan taels a year. The great appreciation which has taken place in the value of gold has, of course, lowered the exchange value of the silver tael, and this, no doubt, affects China in the payment of debts to gold standard coun¬ tries ; but for internal purposes the value of the tael has been little affected. This large revenue, equal now to about ^2,000,000, and forming more than one-third of the entire Customs revenue of China, is collected by the department presided over by Sir Robert Hart—a department admirably administered, and scrupu¬ lously accounting for its collections to the Imperial Government at Pekin. The likin, for which the payment of 80 taels per chest is a composition, was formerly collected as transit duties by the local Chinese authorities through whose provinces the opium passed. The Imperial Government received only such portion of the collections as they could manage to get out of the Pro¬ vincial Governments, who, on the other hand, strove to retain as much as possible. The arrangements under the Chefoo Con¬ vention are, therefore, very advantageous to the Imperial Govern¬ ment at Pekin, which cannot afford to dispense with this large revenue derived from the import of opium. 1 20 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. “ It is clear that Indian opium is now imported into China with the full approval and consent of the Chinese Government. It is equally certain that Great Britain would never fire a gun to force Indian opium on the Chinese. “ I have already referred to the early history of opium in China. Sir Robert Hart said, in 1881, that ‘Native opium was known, produced, and used long before any European began the sale of the drug along the coast.’ The production of opium in China has gone on steadily increasing, and has been encouraged by the restrictions and heavy taxation placed on Indian opium by the Government of India. All travellers and the Consular authorities testify to the vast areas under poppy cultivation. The produce of native opium has been estimated to be from three to ten times the quantity of the imported drug. Chinese opium is now much better prepared than it formerly was, and it has practically driven Indian opium out of the markets of Northern China, and, so far as we know, it supplies the bulk of the demand in the inland and western provinces. The local drug is much cheaper than im¬ ported opium. The Burma revenue officers are constantly striving to prevent importation of cheap Chinese opium into Burma. Of the numerous recent travellers in China, I will quote only Mr Iiosie, a Consular Agent, who, in 1883, travelled from February to June through the provinces of Sse-ch’uan, Yunnan, and Kueichon. His diary has almost daily references to the ex¬ tensive poppy cultivation through which he passed. In many places it was the principal crop. With regard to the Government prohibition, he writes :— “ ‘ I have noticed in several places west of the provincial capi¬ tal a proclamation dated the 9th November 1882, by the Gov¬ ernor-General of Sse-ch’uan, prohibiting the cultivation of the poppy, and enjoining a more extended sowing of the cereals. It was always more or less mutilated, whether intentionally or not I cannot say. At all events, poppy was frequently growing on the side of the road opposite to that on which the proclamation was posted. It is one thing to issue instructions, another to see that they are carried out.’ “ The prohibition is evidently in the nature of a pious opinion, meant for show and not for use. “Mr Hosie, writing on the 5th June, 1883, says :— “ ‘ It seems superfluous daily to mention poppy as a crop. POPPY CULTIVATION IN CHINA. I 2 I To-day, however, it was exceedingly prominent, growing every¬ where on the hill-sides and bottom lands. Large rice bowls heaped with the drug were exposed at the door of almost every shop in every hamlet and village, not a bowl here and there, but several, eight being a very common number. In fact, the whole country reeks and stinks of opium.’ “ With these facts before us, how can it be maintained that the consumption of opium in China can be affected by the imports of Indian opium, except in so far that these supply a purer and more expensive article, the suppression of which would lead to larger products of native opium of inferior quality ? “ 1 could multiply to any extent the evidence of the extensive cultivation of poppy in China, but I think I have said enough to show that it is a fact which cannot be denied. “ I will now proceed to discuss the crucial question as to the effects of consuming opium, of which there are various forms. In China the usual form is by what is called smoking opium. In India it is eaten. In Europe it is drunk in the form of laudanum, or a tincture prepared in spirits of wine. We must consider what is the effect on the average consumer, and not confine our attention to the cases of those persons only who indulge in the habit to excess, cases which I shall show are exceptional. “ It may be safely said that all but a very small percentage of the people of this country are absolutely ignorant of the normal effects of the habit of using opium. The popular ideas on the subject which prevail are largely due to De Quincey who, in 1822, published the confessions of an English opium eater. Many have read this fascinating work, and many more have heard of it, and look upon De Quincey as the ‘ shocking example ’ of such a habit. But I venture to say that his confes¬ sions completely disprove the allegations put forward by the opponents of the use of the drug. He was a man of a naturally delicate and nervous constitution, whose early life was subject to great physical hardship and exposure. He was driven at the age of nineteen by excruciating rheumatic pains to the use of opium, in which he indulged during the rest of his life, for a long period in excessive quantities. He married, and had a large family of sons and daughters. He retained his mental qualities unim¬ paired, led an active literary life, was one of the most brilliant, accomplished, and intellectual writers England has produced, and 122 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. lived to the good age of seventy-five years. De Quincey’s experien¬ ces are quite consistent with the assertion that the moderate use of opium, by a person in good health, may be continued for years, not only without any harmful effects, but with absolute benefit. “ Let us now see what is the effect on the Chinese, who resort to the more innocuous habit of smoking opium. In February 1882, three lectures were given in St James’s Hall by the late Mr William Brereton, and were subsequently published under the title, ‘The Truth About Opium.’ Mr Brereton lived and practised as a solicitor for nearly fifteen years in Hong Kong, where he had daily experience of the custom and effects of opium smoking. He was in no way engaged in the opium trade, and had no pecuniary interest in it, but felt it his duty to endeavour to dispel what he called the unfounded delusions which have taken possession of the public mind on the subject. His book is a storehouse of facts and arguments. It is written in a bright and intelligent style, and I strongly recommended its perusal to any one interested in the question. The facts have never been denied, or the arguments answered by any one having a personal knowledge of the subject. “ Mr Brereton states that, having had daily intercourse with the people from whom the best and most trustworthy information on the subject of opium and opium smoking could be obtained, his experience is that opium smoking as practised by the Chinese is perfectly innocuous, and that this is a fact so patent that it forces itself upon the attention of every intelligent resident in China who has given ordinary attention to the subject. He quotes numerous high authorities in support of this view. Amongst these I may mention Dr Philip Ayres, for many years Inspector of Hospitals in Hong Kong ; Mr John Crawfurd, F.R.S., a savatit of high reputation, who had been Governor of the Straits Settle¬ ments, and had travelled for many years in the East ; Dr Oxley, a physician and naturalist of eminence, and who has had a larger experience than any man in Singapore, where there is the highest rate of the consumption of the drug ; Dr Sinibaldo de Mas, who had been for many years the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Court of Spain at Pekin. He had travelled much in China, India, Java, Borneo, and Malacca, and learned the Chinese language. Baron Richthofen, the most experienced traveller who ever visited Sse-ch’uan, where the habit of opium smoking is extraordinarily prevalent; Mr Colborne EFFECTS OF OPIUM CONSUMPTION. 123 Baber, who knew more of that province and its people than any living Englishman ; Mr W. Donald Spence, Her Majesty’s Consul at Tchang, who in 1881 visited the capital of Sse-ch’uan ; Sir Henry Pottinger, Her Majesty’s Governor-General and Minister Plenipotentiary in China, and others. The evidence of all these persons, given from their own personal knowledge and experience, confirms that of Dr Eatwell, which was as follows :— “ ‘ Having passed three years in China, I may be allowed to state, as the result of my observation, and I can affirm thus far, that the effects of the abuse of the drug do not come very fre¬ quently under observation, and that when cases do occur, the habit is frequently found to have been induced by the presence of some painful chronic disease, to escape from the suffering of which the patient has fled to this resource. ... As regards the effects of the habitual use of the drug on the mass of the people, 1 must affirm that no injurious results are visible. The people are generally a muscular and well-formed race, the labouring portion being capable of great and prolonged exertion under a fierce sun, in an unhealthy climate.’ “ The picture drawn by the opponents of opium is that those who are in the habit of using it are a set of degraded, depraved miserable wretches, enfeebled in mind and body, unfit for the active duties of life—thieves, vagabonds, and beggars. They do not admit—or, at any rate, never refer to the possibility of—the existence of moderate consumers, who, although they take their daily dose, are not only none the w r orse for it, but are actually benefited. Yet we know from numerous unimpeachable witnesses that the abuse of opium by the Chinese is the exception and its moderate and beneficial use is the rule. “ Turning now to the evidence as to the effect of opium con¬ sumption by the people of India, we find that early in 1892 a Parliamentary Blue-book (c. 6562) w r as published on this subject. It contains the reply of the Government of India to a memorial of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, complain¬ ing of the increased consumption of the drug in India—a com¬ plaint which has been triumphantly disproved. This Blue-book contains the opinions of experienced officers engaged in the administration of the country, writing from their own personal knowledge, which it was a part of their duty to acquire, as to the effects of opium consumption on the people of India. 124 REVENUES other than those from taxation. “The evidence of these officers from every part of India is singularly unanimous, and it completely establishes the conten¬ tion that it is the abuse and not the use of opium which is harmful, that moderate use is the rule, and that excess is the exception. “ The most eminent medical officers in India have testified to the same effect. The only Province in which the local authori¬ ties have given a contrary opinion is Burma, and even there they declare that ‘ there are large numbers of the non-Burmese com¬ munity (Chinese and Indians) constituting, perhaps, the most thriving and industrious section of the population, to whom the drug is a necessity of life and by whom it is rarely abused.’ “ We have, then, a great consensus of opinion arrived at by a number of independent persons of high character and reputation ; gentlemen of ability and integrity, who have attained to respons¬ ible positions, in which they have had the best opportunities of ascertaining the truth ; whose duty it has been to state the truth, and who have had no personal interest in perverting it. They deliberately declare that the daily use of opium in moderation is not only harmless, but of positive benefit, and frequently even a necessity of life; that this moderate use is the rule, and that excess is the exception. On the other hand, we are told by a society, chiefly consisting of Englishmen who have no personal knowledge of the facts, that all this evidence goes for nothing, and that the use of opium, except for strictly medicinal purposes, is an unmitigated evil, and ruins every one who habitually has resort to it. If we accept this view, which differentiates opium from every other stimulant used by great masses of people, we must believe that all those experienced persons who have testified to the direct contrary are either grossly incapable or grossly dis¬ honest. It is no use mincing words ; a man must be one or the other who, having lived for years amongst an opium-consuming people, and having made a careful study of the effects of the habit, deliberately declares as the result of his inquiries that which is untrue. “ The Society for the Suppression of the Opium trade pro¬ poses— “ i. That the Bengal system of licensing the growth of the poppy and of manufacturing opium be at once stopped, except so far as may be needful for legitimate medical use. “ 2. That the necessary measures be at once taken, by raising THE ANTI-OPIUM SOCIETY. 125 the tax or otherwise, to prevent any extension of the cultivation of the poppy in Malwa, so as to compensate for the diminution of the supply from Bengal. “ What is meant by ‘ legitimate medical use ? ’ When we find whole tribes of people, living in malarious and fever-stricken tracts, using the opium daily as a prophylactic, is that a legiti¬ mate medical use ? Or is it intended that no one shall be per¬ mitted to purchase opium except under the written authority of a duly certificated member of the medical profession ? How many of the opium consumers in India are within reach of an English doctor ? Could you trust the native Baids, Hakims, and Pansaris, the doctors and druggists of the country, with this power ? Anybody with any knowledge of India would laugh at such an idea. How then are you to meet this great practical difficulty ? “ It may be possible in British territory, by the exercise of despotic power, to prevent the poppy being grown, but what are ‘ the necessary measures ’ so vaguely suggested for preventing its extension in the native States ? Every tyro in Excise or Customs administration knows that the power to raise duties on an article in large demand is limited by the means of preventing its illicit production and sale, and that if you increase the profits of smug¬ gling, you will proportionately have to increase your preventive measures. Unless British officers and establishments were appointed to overrun the native States, and to interfere with the agricultural operations of the people, the cessation of the growth of the poppy in British territory would infallibly lead to an enormous extension of the cultivation in native States. The export thence of opium could only be prevented by Customs’ barriers, and patrols round Rajputana and Central India, involv¬ ing a line between 2000 and 3000 miles in length, and heavy expenditure on the establishments. How would the native States concerned regard such measures ? I have no hesitation in saying that the discontent occasioned not only in those States, but amongst our own people, including the Sikhs—from whom the flower of our native army is recruited—would constitute a very serious political danger. “ But how are you to conciliate the native States for interfer¬ ence in their poppy cultivation ? Will the people of India, or the people of this country, submit to be taxed in order to compen¬ sate these native States, and to reconcile their rulers to an army of British preventive officers scattered over their territories ? And 126 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. if you reconcile the rulers by paying them, how are you to con¬ ciliate their people, who have been accustomed for centuries to the unrestricted use of opium ? Without such preventive measures British India will be supplied with the Malwa drug, which, from its great value in a small bulk, is comparatively easy to smuggle. And these preventive measures must be of the strictest kind, involving the searching of the persons and goods of all travellers, and domiciliary visits, to detect the carriage, and prevent the storing of the drug. “ I now come to the third proposal of the Society for the Sup¬ pression of the Opium Trade. It is as follows :— “ 3. That the Chinese Government be approached with pro¬ posals for diminishing the export of Malwa opium, simultaneously with the suppression of the growth of the poppy throughout China. “ I do not wish to use disrespectful language, but I can hardly speak of such a proposal with gravity. The Chinese Govern¬ ment, who have for centuries fulminated futile edicts, threaten¬ ing the heaviest pains and penalties against the growth of the poppy and the use of opium, but whose officials have never had the will or the power to enforce them, and who are known to connive at the open and unconcealed infringement of the law, are to be ‘ approached ’ by the British Government, with this request:—‘ Now that we are doing our best to deprive you of Indian opium, which your people for centuries have demanded on account of its superior quality; now that we have, by our restrictive measures, encouraged the growth of the poppy in China, and the home production of an inferior article, to such an extent that whole provinces are covered with its cultivation ; now that we are mulcting your import customs revenue of about ^2,000,000 sterling a year : will you be good enough at once to stop the cultivation in China, and deprive your people of an article which we believe to be an unmitigated evil; although there is a large body of Englishmen who, from personal experience, have testified that it is harmless to the great mass, who are moderate con¬ sumers ? ’ How would such a request be met ? If the solemn and self-possessed Chinaman has any sense of humour, by inex¬ tinguishable laughter. “ I am aware that many of the opponents of opium would also prohibit the use of alcoholic drinks in the United Kingdom, but before ‘ approaching ’ China, let the people of this country set SUGGESTED PROPOSALS TO CHINA. 127 the example, and make the liquor traffic, except for purely medicinal purposes, illegal; let them forbid by law the cul¬ tivation of the hop plant, and the growth of barley for distillation or malting ; let them forbid the import of wine and spirits from the Continent of Europe and elsewhere, and then they will be in a position to ‘ approach ’ China with a prayer for the destruction of the poppy cultivation and the trade in opium. “ It has been suggested that if the culture of poppy were pro¬ hibited other crops would take its place and thus supply a great part of the loss. But would the farmers of Kent be satisfied if the temperance party were to say to them, ‘ We will pass a law to prohibit your cultivating hops. You can, however, grow potatoes or gooseberries instead ” ? “ It is true that a more moderate party in this country does not go the length of prohibiting the cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium in Bengal. They are shocked at the direct management by the Government of these industries. No question has been more fully discussed in India than this, there are volumes of correspondence relating to it, but the upshot of all these dis¬ cussions has invariably been the recognition of the fact that, under any other system, the cultivation could not be so well restricted, that smuggling would be more rife, that the cultivators would be brought under influence of speculators, from which they are at present guarded, and that whatever evils now exist would be largely increased. The Society for the suppression of the Opium Trade recognise this, and in the pamphlet I have quoted, declare that the proposal is entirely inadequate, and that their demand is nothing short of absolute prohibition. “ India has had the advantage of drawing from England, for more than one hundred years, a number of upright, honest, and able administrators. It is remarkable that there is not a single instance of an Englishman who has been directly responsible for the well-being of India, and who has had an important voice in its administration, who has ever suggested the prohibition of the cultivation of the poppy. That has been left for a party of irre¬ sponsible persons in this country, whose want of knowledge is patent to everyone who has studied the question on the spot. “ In conclusion, I would say to the Society for the Suppression of the Opium trade—You may make this a party question ; you may win votes relying on the uninstructed philanthropy of your fellow-countrymen ; you may, through Parliament, use the despotic 128 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. power of the British Government to destroy one of the most valuable products of India, and subject the people to new taxa¬ tion in order to supply the loss of revenue now paid chiefly by the Chinese; you may deprive hundreds of thousands of Her Majesty’s Indian subjects of a prophylactic which enables them to resist fatigue, to sustain privation, and to save life ; you may thereby increase suffering, sickness, and mortality ; you may cover India with an army of preventive officers to watch another army of smugglers, created to satisfy a natural demand of which you have suppressed the legitimate supply ; you may harass the people by personal searches and domiciliary visits ; you may thus create discontent amongst our native subjects, and dis¬ affection in the best forces of our native army ; you may, by unwarranted and unprecedented interference in their internal administration, and, owing to the pecuniary losses both rulers and subjects will sustain, disgust and alienate the native States of Central India and Rajputana, our bravest and most loyal allies ; you may drive the consumers of opium to alcohol and hemp ; you may do all this, but you will never persuade the Chinese to follow in your footsteps, and abandon the ever-in¬ creasing culture of the poppy. In short, you may inflict on India a cruel injury, the extent and the consequences of which you are incapable of calculating ; but you will fail in any way to benefit China, unless you count it a benefit greatly to extend the cultivation of the poppy, and the manufacture of opium within her borders.” I wish to add very little to the account which has thus been given by Mr Batten. I passed thirty-eight years of my life in India, and during that time I held a great variety of offices, beginning with those of little importance, to the very highest posts in the civil service of the State. I was brought into personal comrpunication with all classes, from the greatest princes to the humblest ryots. I endeavoured to learn the truth upon this subject, and I am entitled to say that I can speak with knowledge of the facts, both as regards the people of India and the policy of the Govern¬ ment. I can confirm, in every respect, Mr Batten’s con¬ clusions. Taking India as a whole, the proportion of its vast population that is accustomed to the use of opium is CONSUMPTION OF OPIUM IN INDIA. I 29 extremely small. Certain classes, however, have long been in the habit of consuming it, and it is a remarkable fact that these classes include the races that are physically the finest in all India. Among them the Sikhs and Rajputs are especially conspicuous. The Sikhs are the flower of our Indian army, and one of the bulwarks of our Indian empire ; it would be difficult to find in any country of the world a more manly, handsome, and vigorous people, and their use of opium is almost universal. Statements that the consumption of opium in India has been fostered by our Government with the object of obtaining revenue are absolutely without foundation. There is reason to believe that more opium was consumed in India under Native rule, one hundred and fifty years ago, than now, and the stringent system of excise established by our Government has so greatly increased the price of the drug that consumption is reduced to a minimum. The danger is that this policy may be carried too far, and that, by making opium too dear and too difficult to obtain, we may not only encourage smuggling, but may cause people who have been content with the moderate and beneficial use of opium to have recourse to alcohol, or to cheaper and more noxious stimulants, the consumption of which no Government can prevent. As regards China, as Mr Batten has shown, the popula¬ tion practically depends for the supply of opium not upon the imports from India but on that produced at home. If all that were said about the ruin of the Chinese by opium were true, instead of being, as it is, altogether false, the prohibition of the imports from India would afford no remedy. If the richer classes in China were deprived of Indian opium they would suffer as the richer classes in Europe would suffer if they were deprived of the choice vintages of Bordeaux and Burgundy, or as tobacco smokers would suffer if no more cigars were to come from Cuba. In such a case, in our own country, the frequenters of I 130 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. public-houses would be conscious of no hardship, and the vast majority of the opium-smokers of China would be equally unconscious if they received no more opium from India. If, as I have said elsewhere, in deference to ignorant pre¬ judice India should be deprived of the revenue which she now obtains from opium, an act of folly and injustice would be perpetrated as gross as any that has ever been inflicted by a foreign Government on a subject country. India now possesses the rare fortune of obtaining from one of her most useful products a great revenue without the imposition of taxes on her own people, and we are asked to sacrifice the manifest and vital interests of these people, to whose good we are pledged by the highest duties, in hope of protecting others, against their will, from imaginary evils; in other words, to inflict certain injury where we have the power, in pursuit of a benevolent chimera which must elude us. Truly, to use the words of Condorcet, “ Venthousiaste ignorant est la pins terrible des betes ferocesi' Mr Batten has brought out very clearly the essential fact, usually altogether ignored, that the revenue derived from opium constitutes a comparatively small part of the Indian interests involved. There has been much idle talk about the readiness of England to bear, in whole or in part, the loss that the suppression of the cultivation and sale of opium would cause. It would be waste of words to say much regarding a proposition which it is certain will never be carried into effect. England, which levies without shame or scruple a revenue of £26,000,000 from alcoholic liquors, and whose “ drink-bill ” is said to amount to £140,000,000 a year, would never be guilty of such ex¬ travagant and hypocritical folly as to think of paying for the suppression of opium in India. But it is well that English people should understand that no money payment, how¬ ever large, could make good to India the loss of this great industry. If England were to make to her a free gift of £100,000,000, or indeed much more, it would be no com- FORESTS—TRIBUTES—POST OFFICE—TELEGRAPH. I 3 I pensation even for the material injury that she would suffer, and still less could there be compensation for the political catastrophes that would inevitably follow. There remain to be briefly noticed a few other heads of revenue not derived from taxation. In 1892-93, Rx. 1,628,000 was received under the head of Forests. This revenue is derived from the sale of timber and other produce from the Government forests; but the greater part of it is spent on forest conservancy and other charges, and the net income in 1892-93 was only Rx.729,000. Before the transfer of the Government to the Crown, practically nothing had been done towards the preservation of the forests of India, which are very extensive and valu¬ able, and their destruction was rapidly going on. They cover altogether more than 120,000 square miles. In 1861 a separate Forest department was created. Up to 1892 more than 72,000 square miles of forests had been demar¬ cated, and strictly reserved for the benefit of the public under the management of officers who have received special scientific instruction in forestry in Europe. The creation and development of this department, for the pro¬ tection of a valuable source of the public wealth, is one of the important reforms of modern times in India. The Tributes and contributions from Native States are fixed by treaties, and yield more than Rx.800,000 a year. They are chiefly paid for the maintenance of troops locally required. The Government of India is responsible for the preservation of peace throughout the whole of India, and the contributions that it receives from the Native States are an insignificant return for the services that it renders. The revenue yielded by the Post Office and Telegraphs is slightly exceeded by the expenditure. The Government has not aimed at making a profit from the Post Office. The receipts increased from Rx.177,000 in 1856-57 to Rx. 1,491,000 in 1892-93, but they have been largely devoted to the improvement of the postal service. There is no 132 REVENUES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM TAXATION. country where the rates of postage are so low, or where the Post Office is better managed. The number of letters, newspapers, and parcels passing through the post was 38,000,000 in 1856 and 325,000,000 in 1891. There could hardly be a more striking illustration of the progress of the country. The construction of telegraph lines was commenced in 1850. In 1891 there were 114,000 miles of wire in India, and more than 35,000,000 messages were delivered. The net receipts from the telegraphs gave in 1891-92 a fair return on the capital expended in their construction. I shall refer in another chapter to the revenue derived from Railways and works of Irrigation. CHAPTER XI. REVENUES DERIVED FROM TAXATION. The Salt Tax—Sources of salt supply—Former system of levying duties—The Inland Customs Line—Its abolition—The present system—Results of reforms—The policy to be followed—The stamp revenue—Excise on spirits and drugs—Misrepresentations—Principles of excise administration— Assessed taxes—Income Tax—Registration. TAXES, properly so-called, yielded altogether in India, in 1892-93, a gross revenue of Rx.25,686,700. Among them the most important is the tax on salt. It gave in 1892-93 a gross income of Rx.8,648,600. The system under which the Salt duties are levied varies in different parts of India. Bengal and Assam, with 77 millions of people, obtained, until not long ago, almost the whole of their salt from England. There are hardly any local sources of supply for these provinces except the sea, but on the greater part of the coasts of Bengal salt cannot be made cheaply by solar evaporation; the climate is damp, and the difficulty is increased by the vast quantity of fresh water brought to the Bay of Bengal by the Ganges and Brahmaputra. There are no protective duties, and the locally produced salt cannot compete with that imported by sea. Owing to the fact that the exports from India are largely in excess of the imports, freights to India are very low, and salt costs little to import. The tax in Bengal is levied as an import duty at the port of entry. Before 1888 nearly all the salt consumed in Bengal was brought from Cheshire ; but in consequence princi¬ pally of a great increase in the price of English salt caused by the action of the Salt Syndicate, a large supply is now *33 i34 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. furnished by Germany and Arabia. Increased facilities of inland communication are also encouraging the displace¬ ment of foreign salt by salt manufactured in other Indian provinces. In Madras and Bombay, although the facilities for com¬ munication with other countries are equally great, foreign salt does not compete with that produced locally, for the manufacture of salt from the sea is an easy process. The duty in Madras is collected partly under an excise system, and partly under a monopoly, by which all salt is manufac¬ tured for the Government and sold at a price which gives a profit equal to the duty. In Bombay the duty is levied as an excise. The North-Western Provinces and Oudh, and parts of the Central Provinces and of the Punjab, derive their chief supply of salt from lakes or springs impregnated with salt in the Native States of Rajputana. The salt is pre¬ pared by solar evaporation at works controlled by the Government. Further north, the greater part of the Punjab is supplied from rock-salt, which is found in inex¬ haustible quantities. The salt is extracted and sold by the Government, the duty being included in the selling price. Until 1882-83, the amount of duty varied in different provinces. It was higher in the Bengal Presidency than in Madras and Bombay. So long as there were no railways and few roads, the inconvenience of these different rates was not much felt; but as communication improved, it became more and more impossible to prevent salt taxed at a lower rate from coming into provinces where the tax was higher, and a system gradually grew up in India to which, for extraordinary folly, it would be hard to find a parallel. 1 In 1843 the establishment of a customs line was com- 1 The following account of the Inland Customs Line is taken from ‘ The Finances and Public Works of India,’ by Sir John and Lt.-Gen. Richard Strachey, 1882. SALT—INLAND CUSTOMS LINE. 135 menced, and by 1870 it had extended itself across the whole of India from a point north of Attock, on the Indus, to the Mahanadi, on the borders of Madras, a distance of 2500 miles. Along the greater part of its length it was a huge material barrier, which Sir M. E. Grant Duff, speak¬ ing from personal observation, said could be compared to nothing else in the world except the Great Wall of China; it consisted principally of an immense impenetrable hedge of thorny trees and bushes, supplemented by stone walls and ditches, across which no human being or beast of burden or vehicle could pass without being subjected to detention and search. If this customs line had been put down in Europe, it would have stretched, in 1869, from Moscow to Gibraltar ; as late as 1879, when it was abolished, it was still more than 1500 miles long, a distance as great as that from London to Constantinople. It was guarded by an army of officers and men, some 12,000 in number, divided into beats which were constantly patrolled by night and day, and watched from 1700 guard-posts. It may easily be imagined what obstruction to trade, what abuses and oppression, what annoyance and harassment to individuals, took place. The interference was not confined to the traffic passing into the British provinces, for an ex¬ port duty of a most objectionable character, not abolished until 1878, was levied on all sugar passing from British territory into Native States, and sometimes from one part of British territory to another. Obstructions were offered to the traffic from whichever direction it came. It was impossible, without great loss of revenue, to get rid of this inland customs line while the salt tax was levied at different rates in different provinces, and until we had the means of controlling the manufacture and taxation of salt produced in Native States and brought into our own territories. The first steps towards a better system were taken by the Government of Lord Mayo in 1869. An amicable ar- 136 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. rangement was made with the Native States of Jaipur and Jodhpur, under which we acquired the sole right of manufac¬ turing salt at the Sambhar salt lake, the chief of the salt sources of Rajputana, and from which a large proportion of the supply of Northern India is derived. The same policy was followed during Lord Northbrook’s administration, and an important reduction was made in the length of the customs line in its southern section, where it passed through British territory only. At last,.in 1879, under the Government of Lord Lytton, this system, which had been one of the opprobria of British rule, finally disappeared. In 1878, Lord Lytton declared the maintenance of the inland customs line to be a great political and commercial scandal, and it will always be a cause of satisfaction to me that I was able to help him in getting rid of it. The abolition of the customs line was rendered possible by two measures. By the first the duties throughout India, although not quite equalised, were made to approxi¬ mate so nearly that salt could not profitably be taken from one province to another. By the second measure agree¬ ments were entered into with the Native States of Rajpu¬ tana, under which the British Government obtained leases and control of all the more important sources of salt manu¬ facture. Liberal compensation was given to the chiefs of the Native States for loss of revenue. The equalisation of the salt duties throughout India, at a reduced rate, was completed in 1882 under the Government of Lord Ripon. The duty was then fixed at two rupees per maund (82 lbs.). In January 1888, in con¬ sequence of financial pressure, the duty was raised to two and a half rupees per maund, but it may be confidently hoped that this will be again reduced when circumstances permit. At the present rate the duty is about equivalent to an annual tax of fivepence per head of the population. This is the only obligatory tax which falls upon the PRESENT RATE OF SALT TAX. 137 masses of the population in India, and. although they are very poor, it cannot be said that the additional price which they have to pay for their salt is felt as an appreciable burden. The case was different twenty or thirty years ago, when high duties and, still more, the absence of means of communication made it difficult for the poorer classes in some parts of India to obtain a sufficient supply of salt. In 1877 the Government declared that its policy would aim at giving to the people throughout India the means of obtaining an unlimited supply of salt at the cheapest possible cost; that the interests of the people and of the public revenue are identical, and that the only just and wise system is to levy a low rate of duty on an unrestricted consumption. This principle has been acted upon ever since with satisfactory results. The consumption has steadily increased, and the combined effect of reduction of duty, the extension of railways, and the general improve¬ ment in the means of communication, has been to make salt cheaper in the greater part of India than it had ever been before, while the revenue is larger than before the reform of the old system was begun. Unfortunately the temptation is always great in times of financial pressure to have recourse to the easy expedient of increasing the duty on salt. The vast majority of the people throughout India are probably unaware even of the existence of the tax ; but it is on them—that is, on the poorer classes—that the actual burden falls. The masses remain unmoved and silent, while the small and wealthier minority, who alone can make their voices heard, give loud approval to measures which impose no appreciable obliga¬ tion upon themselves. No efforts consistent with financial prudence should be spared to reduce to the utmost the price of salt throughout India, and thereby to stimulate consumption. A time of extreme political emergency may come when a large and immediate addition to the revenues is necessary, and when fresh direct and unpo- 1 38 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. pular taxation cannot wisely be imposed. Under such circumstances, the tax on salt might without serious objection be temporarily increased, for the Government would thus be able to obtain, by a small increase of duty, large additional resources, almost without the knowledge of the people. Salt ought to be looked on as the last great financial reserve, to be drawn upon in case of urgent necessity, but not otherwise. Under existing conditions in India a moderate tax upon salt is open in principle to little objection. The reasons for this conclusion were summed up by the Duke of Argyll, when Secretary of State for India, in a passage which I can¬ not do better than quote :— “ On all grounds of general principles, salt is a perfectly legi¬ timate subject of taxation. It is impossible in any country to reach the masses of the population by direct taxes. If they are to contribute at all to the expenditure of the State, it must be through taxes levied upon some articles of universal consump¬ tion. If such taxes are fairly adjusted, a large revenue can thus be raised, not only with less consciousness on the part of the people, but with less real hardship upon them than in any other way whatever. There is no other article in India answering this description upon which any tax is levied. It appears to be the only one which, at present, in that country can occupy the place which is held in our own financial system by the great articles of consumption from which a large part of the imperial revenue is derived. I am of opinion, therefore, that the salt tax in India must continue to be regarded as a legitimate and impor¬ tant branch of the public revenue. It is the duty, however, of the Government to see that such taxes are not so heavy as to bear unjustly on the poor by amounting to a very large percentage upon their necessary expenditure. The best test whether an in¬ direct tax is open to this objection is to be found in its effect upon consumption .” 1 The Stamp revenue is derived partly from stamps on commercial papers, and partly from fees, levied by means 1 Despatch to Government of India, January 21, 1869. STAMPS AND EXCISE. 139 of stamps, on proceedings in the judicial courts. It amounted in 1892-93 to Rx.4,458,000, of which more than Rx. 1,250,000 was derived from commercial stamps, and the rest from court fees. The revenue under the head of Excise is derived from duties on spirits and intoxicating drugs. The people of India generally are extremely abstemious ; the consump¬ tion of spirits is for the most part confined to the lower classes, but even among them there is, in the words of the Government of India, “ a condition of things which, if it existed in England, would be regarded almost as a millen¬ nium of temperance. Drunkenness in the English sense of the term hardly exists in India.” There has been a large and steady increase in the excise revenue. In 1870 it was less than Rx.1,250,000; in 1880 it was Rx.2,840,000; and it was Rx.5,204,000 in 1892-93. Benevolent people in this country, carried away by the enthusiasm of ignorance, have found in such figures as these the opportunity for indignant protest against the wickedness of a Government which, with the object of obtaining revenue, affords, in defiance of native opinion, constantly increasing facilities for drinking. There is no foundation for such assertions. The sole cause of the increase of revenue has been improved administration and the suppression of illicit distillation and sale. I quote from a despatch of the Government of India the following sum¬ mary of the facts :— “ Few subjects have of recent years obtained greater attention at the hands of the Government than questions relating to excise administration. In each of the three larger Governments the excise system has, within the last six or seven years, been com¬ pletely examined in its operation and in its effects. These examinations have been made under the instructions of the local Governments, and in direct communication with us, and the principles on which they have been based, and which have been unanimously accepted by all the authorities concerned, have been these: that liquor should be taxed and consumption 140 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. restricted, as far as it is possible to do so without imposing posi¬ tive hardships upon the people and driving them to illicit manu¬ facture. The facts now placed on record show that in this policy the local Governments have been completely successful, and that the great increase of excise revenue in recent years, which has been taken as evidence of the spread of drinking habits, really represents a much smaller consumption of liquor, and an in¬ finitely better regulated consumption, than the smaller revenue of former years. . . . “ There is not the slightest reason to imagine that in the days of native administration the Indian populations refrained from indulgence in a practice which it requires the constant watchful¬ ness of the British administration to prevent. Under the Moham¬ medan administration, which immediately preceded the British rule, the facilities for drinking were very much greater than have ever since existed, and the prevalence of drinking habits was quite as much complained of. The reports of the Chief Com¬ missioners of the Central Provinces and of Assam prove that it is precisely those tribes and races which have been the least ac¬ cessible to the influences of British rule which are most addicted to intoxicating drinks and drugs. We have at the present day ample evidence on this very point in the conflict between the British and Native excise systems wherever British and Native territory meet. These are the only points where the British system breaks down, because the restrictions imposed upon manufacture and consumption on the British side of such fron¬ tiers are not met by equivalent restrictions on the other side. One of the main difficulties which the excise authorities have to meet is that of excluding from British territory the more lightly taxed and more easily obtained spirit available in Native States. “ It is only by strong preventive establishments that illicit dis¬ tillation can be prevented. The great increase in the revenue does not mark the extension of drinking habits, but is the result of a great and general increase in the rate of tax, which it would have been entirely impossible to realise but for the great im¬ provement in preventive measures which has accompanied it. In fact, the ability of the Excise department to prevent illicit distillation is the only limit which is imposed in practice to in¬ crease in the rate of taxation.” There is hardly a province in British India in which, PROVINCIAL RATES—LICENCE-TAX. 1 4 I during the last ten years, there has not been a decrease in the number of liquor shops and in the consumption of liquors. The real question now is not whether restriction has been carried far enough, but whether it has not, in some parts of India, been carried too far. There is reason to fear that there has been, not infrequently, a serious increase of illicit production which it is impossible to pre¬ vent, that the difficulty of obtaining liquor at a reasonable price has sometimes largely stimulated the consumption of drugs, especially hemp, that are more noxious, and that classes which have always been accustomed to the use of liquor have been forced into systematic evasion of the law. The next head of Indian taxation is that of Provincial Rates, which I have already mentioned. In 1859, the year after the transfer of the Government to the Crown, Mr James Wilson was appointed financial member of the Governor-General’s Council. The heavy charges incurred in the suppression of the mutinies and the reorganisation of the administration rendered the imposi¬ tion of fresh taxation necessary, and in i860, under the advice of Mr Wilson, a general Income tax was imposed. It was levied at the rate of 4 per cent., or rather more than 9^d. in the pound, on all incomes of 500 rupees and upwards, and at half that rate on incomes between 200 and 500 rupees. It yielded in 1861-62 a net revenue of nearly ,£2,000,000. Many changes have from time to time been made in the system thus introduced. The direct taxation of incomes has several times been wholly or partially abolished, and several times it has been restored. Some¬ times there has been a general tax upon all incomes, sometimes a licence tax on professions and trades, and sometimes on trades only. In 1877-78 the question of direct taxation was forced into prominence by the necessity of making provision against the financial dangers caused by the liability to famine to which the greater part of India is from time to time subject. Taxes which were 142 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. called licence taxes, but which were really in the nature of taxes on income, were then imposed throughout India on the commercial and trading classes, and additional rates were placed on the land in some of the provinces. In 1886 a further step was taken. An Act was then passed imposing a tax on all incomes derived from sources other than agriculture. The rates already levied on land re¬ mained unaltered, and the licence taxes were removed. This Act affects no income below 500 rupees ; on incomes of 2000 rupees and upwards, it falls at the rate of 5 pies in the rupee, or about 6jd. in the pound ; and on incomes between 500 and 2000 rupees at the rate of 4 pies in the rupee, or 5d. in the pound. The poorer classes are not touched. An income of ,£50 a year seems very small to us in Europe, but to a native of India, in his own country, it is almost as large an income as £500 would be here. I hope it may now be assumed, after many years of contest, that an income tax has been finally accepted as a per¬ manent source of revenue in India. The amount yielded by the income tax in 1892-93 was Rx. 1,683,000. There is no country where a general tax upon incomes is more just than in India; but there has been much difficulty in imposing and maintaining it, because it has been opposed by the richest and most powerful classes, who alone can make their voices heard. It has long been a reproach to our administration that they have borne no fair proportion of the public burdens. The official classes, in the absence of direct taxation, contribute almost nothing. The mercantile and professional classes derive, from the security which they enjoy, greater benefits from our govern¬ ment than any other part of the community, but they have paid almost nothing for its support, except when direct taxation has been imposed upon them. Even the land, although it provides so large a portion of the public revenues, sometimes fails to contribute anything like an adequate amount; the most notorious example of this fact INCOME TAX - REGISTRATION FEES. 143 is seen in Bengal, where the zemindars, the richest class in the richest province of the empire, not only, in consequence of the mistakes of the last century, pay an altogether insufficient sum as land revenue, but remain in great measure exempt from taxation. Much has been said about the unpopularity of an income tax in India. It is undoubtedly disliked by those who have to pay it; but out of the 221,000,000 people in British India, some 300,000 are liable to the tax, and no such term as unpopular can reasonably be applied to it. I do not undervalue the fact that the small minority on which the income tax falls is politically the most influential section of the whole com¬ munity, but its discontent is a less evil than the injustice of allowing it almost entirely to escape taxation. The revenue under the head of Registration is not very important in amount. It is derived from fees levied on instruments brought for registration ; in some cases, when immovable property above a certain value is affected, the registration of documents is obligatory, in other cases it is optional. CHAPTER XII. REVENUES DERIVED FROM TAXATION— ( Continued). Customs duties—Duties before 1875—Duties on other goods—The necessity for free trade in India—Abolition of Import duties—The results—Indian tea—Its consumption in Great Britain—Export duty on rice—The demand for the re-imposition of Import duties. I HAVE gone through all the heads of taxation except Customs. I propose to give in some detail the history of legislation on this subject, because a nearer approach to complete freedom of trade has been made in India than in almost any other country. Until i860 nearly everything imported into India was taxed at the rate of 10 per cent, ad valor'em. On some articles the rate was much higher. Almost everything exported paid a duty of 3 percent. In 1864, the general rate of duty on imports was reduced to per cent., and in 1875, under the Government of Lord Northbrook, to 5 per cent. Many exemptions from export duty were made from time to time, and in 1875 the only exports still taxed were rice, indigo, and lac. The application to the Indian customs tariff of free trade principles might have been long delayed but for the fortunate accident that the interests of a great British industry were affected. Cotton goods were among the articles on which import duties were imposed. The English manufacturers complained loudly that the prac¬ tical result was to levy a protective duty to their detriment in favour of cotton manufactures rapidly growing up in India. After a long and acrimonious discussion, the ques¬ tion at issue, so far as the principles at stake were con- 144 • CUSTOMS DUTIES. H5 cerned, was decided on May 31, 1876, in a despatch to the Government of India from the Marquis of Salisbury, who was then Secretary of State for India. He showed that there was no conflict between the interests of India and of England, and that while the abolition of these duties would give legitimate relief to a great British industry, it was a measure still more urgently required in the interests of India. He said that while the duties had the effect of checking the import of British manufactures, they were at the same time exposing to future injury an Indian industry which it was of the first importance should rest upon sound foundations, which there was every reason to believe would rapidly increase, and which ought not to be allowed to grow up under influences which experience had shown must be injurious to its healthy and natural development. - “ Whether (he wrote) the question be regarded as it affects the consumer, the producer, or the revenue, I am of opinion that the interests of India imperatively require the timely removal of a tax which is at once wrong in principle, injurious in its practical effect, and self-destructive in its operation.” In the following year (July 11, 1877), a resolution was adopted by the House of Commons, without a division, that “ the duties now levied upon cotton manufactures imported into India, being protective in their nature, are contrary to sound commercial policy, and ought to be re¬ pealed without delay so soon as the financial condition of India will permit.” Famine and other causes of financial difficulty prevented immediate action, but in the financial statement, March 1878, an important step, not only towards the abolition of the duties on cotton goods, but towards the complete freedom of trade, was announced. A declaration on the part of the Government of India was then made by myself of the principles which it was intended to carry out gradually as circumstances allowed : — K 146 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. “ It is not necessary to discuss the advantages to a country of free trade, and the disadvantage of protective duties. It is sufficient to say that these have been admitted for many years by the statesmen who, of whatever party, have guided the policy of the United Kingdom. . . . The principles on which the customs legislation of the United Kingdom has been based are now admitted axioms by all who recognise the theoretic advantages of free trade. These principles are, as regards imports : “ 1. That no duty should exist which affords protection to native industry; and, as a corollary, that no duty should be applied to any article which can be produced at home without an equivalent duty of excise on the home production ; also, that no duty should be levied except for purely fiscal purposes. “ 2. That, as far as possible, the raw materials of industry and articles contributing to production should be exempt from customs taxation. “ 3. That duties should be applied only to articles which yield a revenue of sufficient importance to justify the interference with trade involved by the machinery of collection. “ As regards exports : That duties should be levied on those commodities only in which the exporting country has practically a monopoly of production. “ These principles are of general application, but in the case of India they possess a peculiar significance. India is a country of unbounded material resources, but her people are a poor people. Its characteristics are great power of production, but almost total absence of accumulated capital. On this account alone the prosperity of the country essentially depends on its being able to secure a large and favourable outlet for its surplus produce. But there is a special feature in the economic conditions of India which renders this a matter of yet more pressing and even of vital importance. This is the fact that her connection with England, and the financial results of that connection, compel her to send to Europe every year about ^20,000,000 sterling worth of her products without receiving in return any direct commercial equivalent. This excess of exports over imports ... is really the return for the foreign capital, in its broadest sense, invested in India, including, under capital, not only money, but all advan¬ tages which have to be paid for, such as the intelligence, strength, and energy on which good administration and commercial pros¬ perity depend. From these causes the trade of India is in an REMISSION OF IMPORT AND INLAND DUTIES. 147 abnormal position, preventing her from receiving, in the shape of imported merchandise and treasure, the full commercial benefit which otherwise would spring from her vast material resources. The comparatively undeveloped condition of the trade of India may be illustrated by the following figures :—The value of the imports and exports, taken together, per head of the population is in the United Kingdom about ^20. In British India it is about 1 os. The customs revenue on the few articles now re¬ tained in the import tariff of the United Kingdom is about 12s. per head, while that of India, on all the articles of its lengthy tariff, is about 3d., showing that, small as is the proportion of the foreign trade of India to that of England, the proportion of cus¬ toms revenue derived from it is smaller still. Here then is a country which, both from its poverty, the primitive and mono¬ tonous condition of its industrial life, and the peculiar character of its political condition, requires from its Government, before all things, the most economical treatment of its resources, and, therefore, the greatest possible freedom in its foreign exchanges.” Excluding the duties levied on salt and liquors, which corresponded to the internal excise duties imposed on those articles, the Indian import duties yielded at that time (1876-77) Rx.1,275,000 ; and Rx.811,000 of this was derived from cotton goods. Apart from the latter sum there remained, therefore, only Rx.464,000 levied from a multitude of articles, many of which yielded an insignificant revenue. It was clear that after the abolition of the duties on cotton goods it would be impossible to maintain the rest of the import tariff, and the intention was declared of getting rid of all import duties as soon as the state of the finances permitted. The first step was at once taken, in March 1878, by the remission of duties on a great number of articles, and on some of the coarser descriptions of manu¬ factured cotton goods. The inland duties on the export of sugar across the great inland customs line, to which I have already referred, were at the same time abolished. This was a most objectionable and indeed irrational tax, im¬ posed as it was on one of the most important agricultural staples of our own provinces. In the following year, in 148 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. March 1879, the duty on all so-called grey cotton goods, except those of the finer qualities, was remitted. None of the previous steps towards the abolition of customs duties had been taken by the Government without difficulty, and this further measure, which it was obvious must lead before long to the destruction of the whole fabric of the customs tariff, met with much opposition. Popular opinion in India has always, in regard to questions of fiscal reform, been obstructive and ignorant ; and the fact that the abolition of customs duties would be favour¬ able to English manufacturers was enough, in the belief of many, to prove that the party purpose of obtaining political support in Lancashire, and not any care for the interests of India, was the real motive of the Government. This op¬ position, as I have said elsewhere, satisfied Lord Lytton that he must carry out the measure himself, or acquiesce in nothing being done at all. He believed that the essential interests of India required it, and he was not to be deterred by the imputation of base motives. The case was one of those which had either to be settled by a bold and en¬ lightened Viceroy, or to be allowed to drift on, to the serious discredit of the Government and injury of the country. The measure was held by Lord Lytton to be so necessary that it could not rightly be delayed, and it was carried into effect on March 13, 1879. This step was taken by Lord Lytton in opposition to the opinion of a majority of his Council, but on the advice of Sir John Strachey, the financial member. It was approved, on April 4, 1879, by the House of Commons, in the following resolution :— “ That the Indian import duty on cotton goods, being unjust alike to the Indian consumer and the English producer, ought to be abolished, and this House accepts the recent reduction in these duties as a step towards their total abolition, to which Her Majesty’s Government are pledged.” 1 1 ‘ Finances and Public Works of India,’ p. 287. FREE TRADE POLICY FOR INDIA. 149 The declared object of the Government of India being not merely the abolition of the duties on cotton goods but the complete freedom of the import trade, the measures actually adopted were taken with the knowledge and intention that they must lead to the speedy collapse of the whole fabric of the customs tariff. It was soon generally admitted that it was not reasonable that certain cotton goods should be free while others of almost the same character remained liable to duty. Both manufac¬ turers and importers complained, and, as the condition of the Indian finances had by this time become highly pros¬ perous, it was impossible to justify the retention of the re¬ maining duties on the finer qualities of goods ; and, as already explained, it was clear that, when the cotton duties were given up, the rest of the import duties must go with them. The history of these proceedings, and the forecast of the future which had become inevitable, was summed up in the year 1881 in the following passage which I quote from the ‘ Finances and Public Works of India ’: “ The policy followed by the Government of India during the Vice-royalty of Lord Lytton was one of absolute free trade, with¬ out reservation or qualification, and financial necessities alone prevented that policy from being carried out to the fullest extent. These proceedings have rendered inevitable the almost total abolition of customs duties, which of all Indian taxes are pro¬ bably the worst. The cotton duties are virtually dead, and the other import duties cannot long survive them. How long a period may elapse before such a consummation is reached cannot be predicted ; but the time is not very far distant when the ports of India will be thrown open freely to the commerce of the world. “The people of India consume at present hardly any foreign luxuries ; and cotton goods, which are among the necessaries, and not among the luxuries of life, are the only articles of foreign production which come largely into their consumption. There is no present possibility of deriving a large customs revenue from anything else. . . . The reforms which have been described will REVENUES FROM TAXATION. 150 be remembered hereafter in the economical history of India, and they will be set down among the honourable titles of Lord Lytton’s and Lord Salisbury’s administration. They will be re¬ membered, not only because they were the first application to India of the principles of free trade, but also because they have been carried out in a manner which has made the adoption of any other policy virtually impossible in the future, and has rendered it almost a matter of certainty that, within a short period of time, the absolute freedom of Indian commerce will be accomplished. “ The authors of this book may be pardoned for recollecting the part they have taken in this work, and while on public grounds they must regret the almost universal opposition and disapproval in spite of which the policy they have so long maintained has been carried out, they cannot pretend that their personal satis¬ faction in the success which has been gained already, and in the greater future success which is inevitable, has been diminished by such considerations. “ Non tam portas intrare patentes Ouam fregisse juvat.” 1 This was written early in 1881, and in March 1882 the anticipations of the authors were verified by the abolition of all the remaining import duties, on the advice of Sir Evelyn Baring, by the Government of Lord Ripon. In January 1886 the financial member of the Governor- General’s Council, Sir Auckland Colvin, gave, in the Legislative Council, the following summary of the results that followed :— “ The value of imports of manufactured goods, treasure, and Government imports apart, which in the ten years before 1878- 79 averaged ^35,000,000, was, in 1884-85, ^53,000,000. The average of the four years from 1878-79, when the first duties were remitted, to 1881-82, the year before the final abolition, was ^47,000,000; the average of the three years from 1882-83 to 1884-85 has been ^51,000,000. The percentage of increase from 1878-79 to 1881-82 was 28; from 1878-79 to 1884-85 1 ‘ The Finances and Public Works of India,’ by Sir John Strachey and Lieut.-General Richard Strachey. ABOLITION OF IMPORT DUTIES. I 5 I it has been 45. If we remember that during this period prices have been steadily falling, and that these figures represent value, not quantities, the real increase will be much greater. I am not so foolish as to suppose that the great growth of our imports since 1878-79 is due solely or mainly to the abolition of the import duties. It is due to a variety of causes. It is partly due to the increase in our exports; it is partly due to the cause to which so much of the increase of our exports is due—namely, to the ex¬ tension of our railways, and to the consequent improvement in the distribution and cheapening of commodities ; it is due to the forcing of accumulated stocks, owing to the fall of prices in England, upon the Indian market; it is very largely due to the fall of prices in England; but, unquestionably, it is also partly due to the abolition of import duties.” The first serious remission of duty on cotton manufac¬ tures was made in March 1879. In the four years preced¬ ing that date, the average annual value of the imports of cotton goods was Rx. 18,760,000; in the four years follow¬ ing the complete abolition of the duty, and ending with March 1886, it was Rx.24,690,000, and in the five years ending 1892-93 it was Rx.29,718,000. The prices of cotton goods have greatly fallen since the Indian import duties were remitted, and the increase in the quantities imported has been more striking than the increase in value. English cotton goods constitute in value nearly one-half of the whole import trade of India. During the last few years, however, the progress of this branch of trade has been comparatively slow ; there can be no doubt that the com¬ petition of the Indian mills with those of England has become more active, and the great fluctuations in the Exchange value of the rupee have had a depressing effect upon imports into India, merchants being reluctant to embark in transactions which might involve them in serious embarrassment. There has been a rapid growth in India, and especially in Bombay, of the manufacture of all but the finer qualities of cotton goods. In the ten years following 1876 the !5 2 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. number of the Indian mills was nearly doubled. In 1877 they employed 1,289,000 spindles, and in 1893 this number had risen to 3,378,000. Not only do their products come largely into the local markets, but a very important export trade in cotton yarns and piece goods has sprung up from India to China and other countries of Asia. The value of this trade rose from about Rx. 1,000,000 in 1876-77 to Rx.8,000,000 in 1892-93. In the former year China received its principal supplies of yarn from England ; in the latter year the exports from India were much larger than those from England. Thus, the anticipations ex¬ pressed by Lord Salisbury in 1876 have been fulfilled. Far from any injury having been caused to Indian manufac¬ turers by the removal of protective duties, a great industry, the prosperity of which is to India a matter of extreme importance, has been rapidly growing up, exposed to none of the influences which threatened to interfere with its natural development. I shall hereafter refer to the introduction into India of the cultivation of tea. Its progress was at first slow, but in the last thirty years it has rapidly increased. In 1892-93 nearly 115 millions of pounds of tea, valued at Rx.6,292,000, were exported from India, chiefly to the United Kingdom. With one exception, which will presently be mentioned, India had now done everything in her power to establish complete freedom of commercial intercourse between the two countries. England cannot say the same; she still maintains her duties on Indian tea and coffee, deriving from the former more than £2,000,000 sterling a year. Although so recently as 1886 China supplied two thirds of the tea imported into Great Britain, India and Ceylon now supply three fourths of these imports. In 1891 the total value of tea imported into the United Kingdom was £10,733,000, and of this only £2,207,000 was yielded by tea from China. It seems probable that before long the EXPORT DUTY ON RICE. 153 quantity of tea brought from China to this country will be reduced to very small proportions. I have spoken of the abolition of duties on imports, but there are two articles on which they are necessarily imposed, because the same articles are subject to an in¬ ternal excise duty. One of them is salt, which is liable to an import duty at the same rate at which excise duty is levied ; liquors are the other. Arms and ammunition are also subject to a duty which, on all the cheaper qualities, is prohibitory, but this is imposed for political reasons, it being inexpedient to allow the free import of arms into India. In January 1888 an import duty was imposed on petro¬ leum. With this exception, so far as the import trade is concerned, the principles of free trade were, until March 1894, carried out in India more completely than in any other country. The same cannot be said of the ex¬ ports. One export duty still remains, that on rice, chiefly grown in Burma. The revenue taken from the land in Burma is very small, and Burma and India had, for many years, something approaching to a monopoly of the supply of rice to Europe. This rendered the results less injurious than they would otherwise have been ; but the tax is one that cannot, on economical grounds, be defended, and the reasons that were formerly given in its defence have be¬ come still weaker than before. Since 1880 there has been no important increase in the trade, and the fall of prices in Europe has encouraged the use of other grains in place of rice in the manufacture of starch and for distillation. The only excuse for the maintenance of this tax has been its productiveness ; during the five years ending with 1892-93, the average revenue yielded by it was nearly Rx.800,000. The duty is levied at the rate of 3 annas per Indian maund of 82 lbs., or about 4d. per cwt. We still heard, from time to time, demands for the re¬ imposition of import duties in India, but it is not only in t 54 REVENUES FROM TAXATION. that country that the most elementary principles of free trade are often forgotten or denied. There was, it might have been expected, as little actual danger of retrograde legislation in India as in England, and it seemed improb¬ able that England would ever permit her trade to be again subjected to the fiscal restraints from which it had been relieved. These anticipations were disappointed. In March 1894, the Government of India, in consequence of financial pressure caused by the fall in the gold value of the rupee, considered fresh taxation to be unavoidable, and the least objectionable method by which they could increase the public revenues appeared to them to be the re-imposition of duties upon imports. The tariff of 1875, under which, with the exception of the precious metals, almost everything imported into India was subject to a duty of 5 per cent., was with some modifications restored. Two important changes were made. Silver bullion was included among dutiable articles, and cotton goods, which had hitherto, in regard to liability to duty, been treated like other articles of merchandise, were excepted. Thus, while with the object of obtaining additional revenue the policy of free trade was abandoned, no taxation was im¬ posed on that article which would have yielded the largest return. In regard to these measures I shall say this only, that if it be granted that owing to financial pressure the imposition of duties upon imports had become necessary —a subject on which I here give no opinion—the exemp¬ tion of cotton goods from taxation was, in my judgment, altogether indefensible. The entire responsibility for that exemption rested with the Government at home. CHAPTER XIII. FOREIGN TRADE—HOME CHARGES—CURRENCY. Growth of Indian trade—Conditions under which trade is carried on—Im¬ ports of gold and silver—Excess of exports over imports—Home charges —The Secretary of State’s Bills—Home charges not necessarily a drain upon India—The manner in which these charges are met—The currency —Fall in the gold value of silver—Toss by exchange—Serious con¬ sequences—The closing of the Indian Mints in 1893. The development in recent years of the foreign trade of India has been very great, and it affords a remarkable illustration of the increase in the material wealth of the country. In 1840 the total value of the seaborne trade was about Rx.20,000,000 ; in 1857, the year before the transfer of the Government to the Crown, it was Rx. 5 5,000,000 ; in 1876-77 it was Rx.i 14,000,000 ; in 1892- 93 it was nearly Rx. 197,000,000. The foreign trade of India is now as large as that of Great Britain fifty or sixty years ago. It was carried in 1892-93 by nearly 11,000 vessels, with a tonnage of 7,700,000 tons, of which 81 per cent, were under the British flag. The tonnage employed in the foreign trade of Great Britain in 1840 was smaller than that employed in the trade of India at the present time. More than two-thirds of the whole trade of India passed in 1892-93 through the Suez Canal. The recent expansion of trade has probably been more rapid in India than in any other country in the world. The conditions under which the foreign trade of India is carried on are peculiar. FOREIGN TRADE. 156 It is probable that out of the 290,000,000 people inhabit¬ ing India 200,000,000 are more or less directly dependent upon agriculture for support. Great manufacturing indus¬ tries have no existence except when, to some extent, they have been established by European capital or under European influence. There is hardly one of the principal agricultural staples of the world which is not or may not be produced in India. The products both of the temperate and tropical zone find, in one or more of the regions within her boundaries, the climate, soil, and all other conditions that they require. The power of cheap agricultural production in India, and her capacity for supplying to other countries food-stuffs and raw materials for manufacture, are prac¬ tically unlimited, while the capacity of Europe to consume is, or may become, as large as that of India to produce. Almost everything that the people of India desire to meet their simple requirements is produced at home. This is true even of the comparatively rich, to the great majority of whom the wants and luxuries of European life are unknown. It is not so much the general poverty of the people, as the peculiar and slowly changing character of the social and industrial conditions under which they live, that confines within narrow channels their demands for the productions of other countries. The only articles of general consumption which they can often obtain from abroad more cheaply than they can produce them, are clothing, simple metal manufactures, and metals as mate¬ rials for their own industries. But there is one other important demand that cannot be supplied except from foreign sources. There has always been a flow into India of the precious metals, and centuries of disorder and oppression, the lessons of which are not soon forgotten, have led the people to invest their savings in what seems to them the safest form. Large quantities of gold and silver are thus constantly required for the purpose of IMPORTS OF GOLD AND SILVER INTO INDIA. 157 hoarding. These hoards are kept for the most part in coin, but also in the shape of personal ornaments. It often surprises Englishmen to see the profusion of gold and silver bangles and other jewellery with which the women even of the humbler classes deck themselves on occasions of festivity. In the ten years ending with 1891-92, the value of the net imports of gold into India was nearly Rx.38,500,000, and that of the net imports of silver Rx.92,500,000. The greater part of the silver was converted into rupees, which, with the exception of fractional and copper coins, constitute the whole of the metallic currency of India. Since 1836 there has been no coinage of gold as money, gold coins have ceased to be a legal tender, and the gold imported has been hoarded. For the ten years ending with 1892-93, taking together the imports of merchandise and treasure, the average annual value of the imports into India fell short of the value of the exports by nearly Rx.21,000,000. For this excess India receives no direct commercial equivalent, but she receives the equivalent in another form. English capital to a very large amount has been, and is still being, invested in India by the State and by private individuals in railways, irrigation works, and industrial enterprises, and interest on these investments has to be remitted to England. In addition to this, large sums are required in England for what are really investments for India of another kind. It is an inevitable consequence of the subjection of India that a portion of the cost of her Government should be paid in England. The maintenance of our dominion is essential in the interests of India herself, and, provided that she is not compelled to pay more than is really necessary to give her a thoroughly efficient Government, and in return for services actually rendered to her, she has no reason for complaint. The charges to be met in England are numerous : interest has to be paid on sterling debt incurred for India in HOME CHARGES. 158 this country ; there are charges for the civil and military administration, furlough allowances, pensions, payments to the English Government for British troops, stores of every kind required for use in India, railway material, and so forth. The charges which the Secretary of State for India has to meet in England necessarily vary from year to year. I will take a single year as an illustra¬ tion. In 1891-92 the net expenditure in England charge¬ able to the Government of India was £16,590,000. Of this sum, £ 2 , 625,000 was for interest on ordinary debt ; £5,652,000 for railway obligations; £5,340,000 for army charges, including stores, leave, and pension allowances ; £1,256,000 for civil leave, allowances, and pensions ; £1,274,000 for other stores, of which about two-thirds were for the construction of State railways and irrigation works. Exclusive of charges connected with the supply of stores to India, the cost of the Secretary of State’s administration—that is, of the India office and all con¬ nected establishments and charges—was under £140,000. In addition to the revenue and capital charges above referred to, the Secretary of State has to deal with a number of items of receipt and disbursement which are in the nature of debt. These include public loans raised or repaid, sums advanced to or recovered from railway companies, other advances or deposits, adjustment of accounts with Her Majesty’s Treasury, etc. In 1891-92 the receipts under these heads exceeded the disburse¬ ments by about £784,000, and so far relieved the pressure on the Secretary of State’s Treasury. I must briefly notice the manner in which the payments due by India to England are made. The average amount by which the exports from India annually exceed the imports has, as I have said, during the ten years ending with 1892-93, been about Rx. 21,000.000. This sum has to be paid in coin in India for the produce exported. The pro¬ cess by which this is effected is as follows:—The exporter SECRETARY OF STATES BILLS. 159 from India sells his Indian produce in Europe ; to pay for it in India the European importer must either send money to that country or he must purchase bills on India in London. The chief demand for remittances of money from India is that of the Secretary of State ; he draws bills on the Government treasuries in India, which are paid in India out of the public revenues; and while the European importer obtains the money that he requires in India by the purchase of these bills, the Secretary of State at the same time receives the money that he requires in England. For the ten years ending with 1892-93, the average annual amount of the Secretary of State’s bills was Rx.20,483,000. It is this process which is sometimes represented as one by which India is being constantly drained of her resources, and forced to pay a crushing tribute to England. Such assertions are unfounded. England receives nothing from India except in return for English services rendered or English capital expended. The payments made by India are the result and the evidence of the benefits which she derives from her connection with England. In place of constant anarchy, bloodshed, and rapine, we have given to her peace, order, and justice; and, if our Government were to cease, all the miseries from which she has been saved would inevitably and instantly return. Her payments in England are, as I have already said, nothing more than the return for the foreign capital in its broadest sense which is invested in India, including as capital not only money, but all advantages which have to be paid for, such as the in¬ telligence, strength, and energy on which good adminis¬ tration and commercial prosperity depend. India derives from these investments benefits far outweighing in value the price that she has to pay, and it is through the excess of her exports over imports that she meets her liabilities. The remittances on account of interest on English capital invested in useful public works in India involve no real charge to India, because such investments give to her a far 160 EXCESS OF INDIAN EXPORTS EXPLAINED. larger profit than the interest sent away. Thus, for example, more than Rx.250,000,000 has been spent in India on rail¬ ways and irrigation works, and that sum has been provided partly by State loans or from revenue, and partly through companies receiving a guarantee of interest. The State and other railways give a gross income of, say, Rx.21,000,000. which is paid, in the first instance, into the Government treasuries ; the greater portion of this sum is spent in India itself in wages and working expenses, and about Rx.5,500,000 is sent to England as interest on the capital expended. The persons who voluntarily pay the Rx.21,000,000 for the use of the railways are largely benefited by them, and would have had to pay much more had they been obliged to use ruder means of conveyance. It has been not unreasonably calculated that, in conse¬ quence of the greatly reduced cost of transport, India now derives from her railways, constructed for the most part with English capital, a benefit equivalent to £50,000,000 or £60,000,000 a year. The payment of Rx.5,500,000 in England indicates, under such circumstances, no drain upon India, but a transaction which has conferred upon her enormous benefits. The same may be said of the smaller investments in tea, coffee, indigo, cotton mills, and other industries, mainly supported by British capital, the interest remitted on account of which implies the enrichment and not the impoverishment of the country. 1 There has, however, been one respect in which India has suffered serious injury from the necessity of having to make these heavy payments in England. This has resulted from the fact that the two countries have not had the same standard of value. Gold being the standard of value in England, the pay¬ ments which India has to make in this country must be made in gold, while the whole of her revenues are received in silver. Until June 1893 the standard of value in India 1 ‘ Finances and Public Works of India,’ pp. 315 and 104. DEPRECIATION OF RUPEE. 161 was silver, and the Mints were freely open for coinage ; the metallic currency is exclusively silver, with subsidiary copper coins. The paper currency is established on a silver basis, notes being convertible on demand into silver coin. Before 1873 the fluctuations in the value of silver in relation to gold were comparatively small. The exchange value of the Indian rupee was seldom much less than two shillings. After 1873, in consequence, principally, of changes in the monetary systems of France and Germany, the causes which had maintained throughout the world, at an almost uniform ratio, the value of silver to gold, no longer operated. Of these causes I do not propose to speak, but, after they ceased to act, depreciation followed in the value of silver in relation to gold. One of the consequences was that when India had to buy the gold required for the dis¬ charge of her obligations in England, she had to give for it an increased number of silver rupees, for gold in India and silver in England were merely articles of merchandise. When the rupee was worth 2s., 1000 rupees would purchase £100 in England ; when, as was the case in 1892, the rupee was worth is. 3d., the same number of rupees produced only £62, I os. It is easy to understand what a serious matter this be¬ came when the Government of India had to purchase with depreciated silver the large amount of gold re¬ quired for meeting its liabilities in England. In 1892- 93 the amount remitted from India to meet the Home charges was £16,532,000, and this required a payment of Rx.26,478,000. If this remittance could have been made at the rate of exchange prevailing in 1873-74, the payment would have been Rx. 17,752,000. Thus the fall in the gold value of silver involved an additional payment by India of more than Rx.8,700,000 from the revenues of the year. In other words, taxation to that amount, equivalent, at the rate of is. 4d. per rupee, to £5,800,000, had to be levied in India over and above what would have been necessary if L 162 EXCHANGE AND CURRENCY. these changes in the relative value of gold and silver had not taken place. It was, at the same time, so impossible to foresee the course of the exchanges that the Government could not estimate, within many millions of rupees, the pro¬ bable expenditure of the year. Its most careful anticipa¬ tions were liable at any time to be completely upset by causes absolutely beyond its control. “ The financial posi¬ tion,” Sir David Barbour wrote in March 1893, “ is at the mercy of exchange, and of those who have it in their power to affect in any way the price of silver. If we budget for the present deficit of Rx. 1,595,000, and Exchange rises one penny, we shall have a surplus ; if it falls a penny, we shall have a deficit of more than Rx. 3,000,000 ; if we impose taxation to the extent of Rx. 1,500,000, a turn of the wheel may require us to impose further taxation of not less mag¬ nitude ; another turn and we may find that no taxation at all was required. What we have got to consider in making our arrangements for next year is not so much the question of increasing the public revenue, or restricting that portion of the public expenditure which is under our control, but the chances of a settlement of the currency question.” Writing on this subject in 1888, I used the following language :—“ No one can say where this continuous de¬ preciation of silver is to stop, or when we shall see the end of the constantly recurring increase in the liabilities of the Government which follows as the inevitable result. Re¬ course has already been had to taxes that are economically objectionable, and which place fresh burdens upon the poorer classes, and we are perilously near the time in which we may be called on to adopt measures which may be politi¬ cally dangerous or inexpedient. We have hitherto never introduced into India any strange and unpopular taxation affecting the masses of the population. If we were to change this policy, and were to impose heavy burdens of a kind hitherto unknown, our position might become very different to what it has been in the past. Our difficulties would be PROPOSED REMEDIES. 163 seriously increased if such burdens were to meet charges from which the Indian taxpayer derived no benefit, the nature of which he was unable to understand, and which were the direct result of the existence of a foreign dominion. But the truth is that, for such a state of things as that which exists, no readjustment of Indian taxation could afford a remedy. Even if India were a country like Great Britain, where the public revenues, in case of necessity, can al¬ most at any moment be largely increased, she would find, while her standard of value differed from that of England, and while the gold value of silver continued to fall, no relief from pouring into the bottomless pit of her treasury constantly increasing supplies of silver. No language that I could use would be too strong to express my sense of the gravity of this question. There is no Indian authority who does not feel that, if it be allowed to drift on in the future as it has drifted in the past, we may some day find ourselves in a position not only of extreme financial difficulty but of political peril.” The serious anticipations thus expressed in 1888 were soon fully verified, and in 1892 the Government of India submitted proposals to the Secretary of State for stopping the free coinage of silver in India, with a view to the introduction of a gold standard. The result was the appointment of a Committee, under the presidency of Lord Herschell, for the consideration of the whole subject. The inquiries of the Committee gave complete confirmation to the conclusion that the financial position of the Government of India had become, in consequence of the fall in the gold value of silver, extremely critical, and that it was probable that a further serious fall was impending. It was far from unlikely that the value of the rupee might before long not be more than one shilling. There was already a large de¬ ficit, and the Committee were of opinion that, if no remedy for the currency difficulty were applied, that deficit might be increased by as much as Rx. 10,000,000. It was not 164 CLOSING OF INDIAN MINTS. conceivable that any such sum could be provided by re¬ duction of expenditure, and to provide it by fresh taxation would have been impossible, unless we were prepared to adopt measures that would not only have been economically disastrous, but which would have involved political dangers of the utmost gravity. The result of the Committee’s deliberations was to agree with the Government of India that it had become necessary to establish a common stand¬ ard of value between India and England ; that the Indian standard should be gold ; that the Indian mints should be closed to the public for the coinage of silver, but should be used by the Government for the coinage of rupees, if required by the public, in exchange for gold, at a ratio fixed, in the first instance, at is. 4d. per rupee ; and that gold should be received at the Government treasuries at the same ratio in satisfaction of public dues. It was not proposed that this ratio should necessarily remain always unaltered. Circum¬ stances might render it proper that it should hereafter be raised by the Government of India with the sanction of the Secretary of State. In June 1893 an Act was passed by the Governor- General in Council to give effect to these recommendations. It was recognised that the first arrangements could only be regarded as provisional. The making of gold coins legal tender, the settlement of the permanent rate of exchange between gold and the silver rupee, and the other mea¬ sures necessary for the final and effective establishment of a gold standard in India, were left to be provided by further legislation in the light of future experience. Thus the currency of India has become a silver token currency of enormous magnitude. It would be futile to attempt to foresee all the consequences of this momentous change, but the difficulties and dangers of the position had become in¬ tolerable, and without the adoption of a common standard of value between India and England there appeared to be no possibility of relief. CHAPTER XIV. PUBLIC WORKS. Mr J. S. Mill on the duties of Governments—Famines in India—Necessity for roads, railways, and canals—Absence of roads under Native Govern¬ ments—Their condition under the East India Company—Measures taken by Lord Dalhousie—Railway construction—Creation of Public Works Department—Progress up to 1887—Irrigation works in Northern India —Canals of Mohammedan sovereigns—The Ganges and other Canals — Their Value—Irrigation works in Central and Southern India and in Sind —Expenditure on railways and irrigation works—The manner of pro¬ viding funds*-Guaranteed Companies—Policy of Borrowing for invest¬ ment in public works. The duties of the Government in India go far beyond those which we expect from a Government in countries like our own. “ In the particular circumstances of a given age or nation,” writes Mr J. S. Mill, evidently with India especially in his mind, “ there is scarcely anything really important to the general in¬ terest which it may not be desirable, or even necessary, that the Government should take upon itself, not because private indi¬ viduals cannot effectually perform it, but because they will not. At some times and places there will be no roads, docks, harbours, canals, works of irrigation, hospitals, schools, colleges, printing presses, unless the Government establishes them ; the public being either too poor to command the necessary resources, or too little advanced in intelligence to appreciate the end, or not sufficiently practised in conjoint action to be capable of the means. This is true, more or less, of all countries inured to despotism, and particularly of those in which there is a very wide distance in civilisation between the people and the Government, as in those which have been conquered and are retained in sub¬ jection by a more energetic and more cultivated people.” 1 1 ‘ Principles of Political Economy,’ vol. ii. p. 551. 165 PUBLIC WORKS. 166 But for our Government, hardly any of these require¬ ments of civilised life would now be supplied in India, and in India there are special reasons which make the duty which thus falls upon the Government extraordinarily urgent. Lord Macaulay did not speak too strongly when he said that, excepting only the inventions of the alphabet and the printing press, no inventions have done so much for the moral and intellectual progress of man as those which abridge distance and improve the means of communica¬ tion. Roads, railways, and canals, and other works and appliances which facilitate communication are necessary in India, not only for reasons universally applicable, but because they are required to save, the 4 people from calamities of which, in Europe at the present time, we have happily little experience. In India, the very exis¬ tence of the people depends on the regular occurrence of the periodical rains ; and when they fail through a wide tract of country, and, still worse, when they fail in successive years, the consequences are terrible. The greater part of India is liable periodically to this danger, but the country is so vast that it never happens that all parts of it suffer at the same time. Improvements in the economical condition of the people, and especially more diversity of occupation, can alone bring complete safeguards, and render general famine, in its extremest fojm, through a great tract of country, impossible. But this must be a long and gradual process. Meanwhile, it has been found by experience that although the entire prevention of famines, the most destructive of all calamities, is beyond the power of any Government, we can do much to mitigate them by removing obstacles which hinder commercial intercourse, and which diminish the productiveness of the land. The instruments by which we can do this are roads, railways, and canals. FORMER ABSENCE OF ROADS. 167 If, to give one illustration, we read the history of the great Indian famine of 1877-78, we shall find ample proof of the incalculable value of such works. Without them, millions of people must have been left to perish without the possibility of relief. It has only been within the last thirty or forty years, and especially since the transfer of the Government from the East India Company to the Crown, that we have at all recognised the duties which thus fall upon us. Before that time, India was, to a great extent, governed on principles that might have commended themselves to a beneficent Oriental ruler rather than to modern Englishmen. Even an enlightened man like Sir Charles Metcalfe could maintain, sixty years ago, that India required no roads; and in fact there were none. No Native prince* ever 'made a road. Before the establish¬ ment of our Government there was not a road deserving the name in all India. Under the Native Governments that preceded us (I am quoting from the Indian Famine Commissioners), nothing more was done than to plant trees along each side of the track used as a road, and occasionally to throw up earth on it when it passed through a depression ; such bridges as existed were made at the private expense of civil magnates or governors desirous of leaving a name behind them. The graphic description which Lord Macaulay has given of the highways of England, in the time of Charles II., is almost exactly applicable to those of India as I remem¬ ber them in my youth. On the best lines of communica¬ tion in England, he tells us, it was often hardly possible to distinguish the road at all, or to avoid losing one’s way in the dark ; the mud lay deep on the right and left, and only a narrow track of firm ground rose above the quagmire ; it happened almost every day that coaches stuck fast until a team of cattle could be procured to tug them out of the slough ; when the floods were out, i68 PUBLIC WORKS. passengers perished in the attempt to cross, or narrowly- escaped being swept away, or had to wander across meadows, and ride to the saddle-skirts in water. The markets were often inaccessible during several months. “ The fruits of the earth were sometimes suffered to rot in one place, while in another place, distant only a few miles, the supply fell far short of the demand.” When Prince George of Denmark went to visit Petworth he was six hours in going nine miles, and it was necessary that a body of sturdy hinds should be on each side of his coach, in order to prop it up ; an unfortunate courtier who was one of the party complained that during fourteen hours he never once alighted, except when his coach was overturned or stuck fast in the mud. All this, which I have borrowed from Lord Macaulay, is precisely what might have happened to Indian travellers, on the most frequented highways of the country, forty years ago, if they trusted themselves to wheeled vehicles. But prac¬ tically, for people who could afford it, the only means by which a long journey could be accomplished was to be carried by men in a palanquin. A dak journey, as it was called, of a thousand miles was, to an Englishman at least, a process of misery which in these days can hardly be understood. I remember Lord Lawrence tell¬ ing me that when he was a young man he was thought to have performed an extraordinary feat, because, travel¬ ling day and night, he reached Delhi a fortnight after leaving Calcutta, a journey, at the present time, of about thirty hours. Throughout a great part of India it was only in the dry season that travelling was possible without extreme difficulty, and, during three or four months of the year, trade, excepting where water-carriage was available, came altogether to a standstill. As Sir George Chesney says in his ‘ Indian Polity : ’ “ The Court of Directors, until almost the termination of their existence, did not recognise the prosecution of public works as DIFFICULTIES OF COMMUNICATION. 169 a necessary part of their policy. The construction of a road or canal was regarded by them, in their earlier days, much in the same light that a war would be—as an unavoidable evil, to be undertaken only when it could not be postponed any longer, and not, if possible, to be repeated.” In 1836-37, the year preceding the Queen’s accession, the total expenditure of the Government on roads and buildings in India was Rx.81,000; and before 1850 the expenditure on all classes of public works, other than barracks, hospitals, and public offices, never reached Rx.400,000 in the year. In 1892-93 the outlay on railways and irrigation works, by the State or by companies guar¬ anteed or subsidised by the Government, and on roads and other public works, exceeded Rx. 12,500,000. Speak¬ ing in 1858, Mr Bright said that in a single English county there were “ more travelable roads than in the whole of India, and the single city of Manchester, in the supply of its inhabitants with the single article of water, has spent a larger sum of money than the East India Company spent in the fourteen years from 1834 to 1848 in public works of every kind throughout the whole of its vast dominions.” I do not doubt that Mr Bright’s statement was substantially not far from correct. In the last years of the East India Company, however, and especially during the vigorous Government of Lord Dalhousie, matters began rapidly to improve. Under the enlightened rule of Mr Thomason, one of the wisest of Indian statesmen, great progress was made in the North- Western Provinces in the construction of metalled roads, and bridges, and other useful works ; and his example was vigorously followed by his successor, Mr John Colvin, and in the Punjab by the Lawrences. The grand trunk road from Calcutta to the North was rapidly pushed on. In 1854 the Ganges Canal, the greatest irrigation work in the world, was opened, though not completed. People had become alive to the fact that without the I/O PUBLIC WORKS. material appliances which facilitate and cheapen the means of communication and production, there could be no rapid progress either in the condition of the people or in the efficiency of the Government. In 1853 the necessity of constructing railways to connect the chief provinces and cities of India was declared by Lord Dalhousie in a Minute which laid the foundation of the existing system of railway communication. Three great lines were soon afterwards commenced : the East Indian Railway, from Calcutta towards the Northern Provinces; the Great Indian Pen¬ insular Railway, and the Madras Railway, starting re¬ spectively from Bombay and Madras, and running through Western and Southern India. These lines were con¬ structed by private companies, under a guarantee from the Government of a minimum return of 5 per cent, on the capital expended. In 1854 a separate Department of Public Works was for the first time created under the Government of India. In 1 856-57 the outlay on public works, exclusive of the sums spent on railways by the guaranteed companies, had risen to nearly Rx. 2,2 50,000. The mutinies of 1857 brought fresh and the strongest possible proof of the necessity for improved means of com¬ munication. When peace was restored, and the Govern¬ ment was transferred to the Crown, the construction of public works went on with increased speed, and from that time to this there has been constant progress. Consider¬ ing the vast extent of India and the fact that almost every¬ thing has been done by the Government, and almost nothing by unaided private enterprise, we may be well satisfied with the work that has been accomplished. The contrast in this respect between the India of the present time and the India of thirty or forty years ago is astonishing. I have told you what it was formerly. Rail¬ ways now connect the principal districts and cities; the great rivers are bridged ; the country has been covered INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS. I 7 I with roads, and there is no considerable town without its telegraph office. In 1893 more than 20,000 miles of rail¬ way were open or under construction, and 124,000,000 passengers and 26,000,000 tons of goods were carried on them. The time, however, is distant when it will cease to be true that the provision of increased means of com¬ munication is one of the chief duties that rest on the Government of India. There is another result of the construction of railways in India that I must not omit to mention. They have in¬ creased, to a degree that is hardly calculable, our military strength ; and so long as we retain our maritime supremacy, and the determination to maintain our empire, it will, we may reasonably hope, be impossible that any combina¬ tion of hostile powers should dangerously threaten our dominion. I must now refer to works of another kind, hardly second in importance, in some parts of India, to those of which I have been speaking. In Northern India, even in good seasons, artificial irriga¬ tion is a necessity for the successful cultivation of many of the more valuable crops, and when there is a general failure of the periodical rains there is no other means by which drought and scarcity can be prevented. A large portion of Northern India is now protected by canals of greater magnitude than any that exist in other countries of the world. This is especially true of the tract in the North- Western Provinces called the Dofib, lying between the Ganges and Jumna, and containing more than 12,000,000 people. Owing to its geographical position, which made it the chief centre of the Moghal Empire, and to the in¬ dustry of its numerous population, it has been for centuries one of the most important countries of India. Long before our time some of the Mohammedan sove¬ reigns had undertaken works on the western bank of the Jumna, with the object partly of irrigation, but still more 172 PUBLIC WORKS. with that of affording a supply of water to the city and imperial palaces of Delhi. A canal, the course of which is not very clearly known, was made by Firoz Toghlak, as far back as 1351 A.D., and more important works from the Jumna were constructed by Akbar and by Shah Jehan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. An elaborate sys¬ tem appears to have been in force for regulating the distri¬ bution of the water. The orders of Akbar provided “ that all parties, rich or poor, weak or strong, shall share alike and directed, for the comfort of travellers, “ that on both sides of the canal trees of every description, both for shade and blossom, shall be planted, so as to make it like the canal under the tree in Paradise, and that the sweet flavour of the rare fruits may reach the mouth of everyone, and from these luxuries a voice may go forth to travellers, call¬ ing them to rest in the cities, where their every want will be supplied.” 1 Not long after the death of Aurangzib, when the empire was rapidly broken up, the canals of the Moghal sovereigns ceased to flow, and it was not until 1817, after these provinces had passed under the British Govern¬ ment, that their restoration and improvement was com¬ menced. Later on, an examination of historical records led to a result which deserves to be noticed. Describing the excavations for the canal of Firoz Toghlak, the historian Fer- ishta mentions incidentally that the work-people employed upon them found, near the foot of the hills, quantities of giants’ bones. “ To minds familiar with discoveries in fossil geology the old chronicle had a gleam of significance,” and the investigations which followed led to the discovery, by Falconer and Cautley, of the gigantic fossil remains now in the British Museum. 2 Little of the old irrigation works of our predecessors is retained in the existing canals. Practically, all of these have been made by ourselves, and the often-repeated state- 1 Calcutta Review , “ Canals of Irrigation,” 1849. 2 Ibid. IRRIGATION CANALS. 173 ment, prompted, I suppose, by that strange inclination to depreciate their own achievements which often besets Eng¬ lishmen, that the old canals have been more profitable than those constructed by ourselves, has not the least foundation of truth. The most important of these works in the North-Western Provinces are those which distribute the water of the Ganges and Jumna. In the winter and spring, before the Ganges has been swollen by the melting of the snow in the Himalaya, and when water is urgently required for agricultural operations, nearly the whole visible stream of the great river at Hard war, where it leaves the mountains, is thrown into an artificial channel. The works on the first twenty miles of its course are in a high degree remarkable, for the canal intersects the drainage of the lower Himalaya, and has to be carried across rivers which often become furious torrents, bringing down enormous floods. These obstacles have been overcome by various methods, with a skill of which our Indian engineers may well be proud. One torrent flows harmlessly in a broad artificial bed over the canal which runs below ; over another, still more for¬ midable, with a bed more than two miles wide, the canal, which is virtually the whole Ganges, is carried by an aque¬ duct. Some 200 miles lower down, the Ganges has again become a large river, and nearly all its water is again diverted into a second canal. The two canals together are capable of discharging nearly 10,000 cubic feet of water per second ; the ordinary supply of each is more than double the volume of the Thames at Teddington in average weather, and this great body of water is distributed over the country by a number of smaller channels, for the irrigation of the land. The length of the main channels exceeds 1000 miles, and there are more than 5000 miles of distributories. Three canals of smaller dimensions, but which in any other country would be looked on as works of great mag- 174 PUBLIC WORKS. nitude, distribute in a similar way nearly the whole of the water brought by the Jumna from the Himalaya. In Behar, the border province of the Bengal Lieutenant-Governorship, which in its physical character closely resembles the adjoin¬ ing provinces of the north-west, another great canal is taken from the river Son. There are other important irrigation canals in Orissa and in Bengal; but in the latter province irrigation is not ordinarily so essential as in countries further north, where the climate is drier and the seasons are more precarious. The following facts, which I take from the Report of the Indian Famine Commissioners, will give some idea of the value of the irrigation works of the North-Western Provinces :— “Up to the end of 1877-78 the capital outlay on completed canals had been ,£4,346,000. The area irrigated in that year was 1,461,000 acres, the value of the crops raised on which was estimated at £6,020,000. Half the irrigated area was occupied by autumn crops, which, but for irrigation, must have been wholly lost, and it may be safely said that the wealth of these provinces was consequently increased by £3,000,000 ; so that three-fourths of the entire first cost of the works was thus repaid to the country in that single year. “In 1891-92 the area irrigated by canals in the North-Western Provinces exceeded 2,000,000 acres.” In the Punjab, works of equal importance have been constructed, to utilise the waters of the Sutlej, the Ravi, and other rivers, and their value has been as great as in the North-Western Provinces. “During the droughts of 1877-78,” Sir Henry Cunningham tells us, “their benefits were extended to 1,333,000 acres, the greater portion of which would, but for canal irrigation, have been absolutely barren. During this period the land irrigated by the two principal canals produced food grain to the amount of 300,000 tons, worth ^2,000,000 sterling, and enough to keep 1,800,000 people for a year; while the non-food crops—sugar, PROTECTION AGAINST DROUGHTS. 175 dyes, spices, &c.—were reckoned to be worth another ^1,000,000. In other words, the value of the crops saved by the two canals in a single season was more than equal to the entire cost (,£2,260,000) of the completed system.” 1 The benefits described by Sir Henry Cunningham have become far greater since this passage was written. The Sirhind Canal, which distributes the water of the Sutlej through not only our own territories but through the Native States of Patiala, Nabha and Jhind, is a work of greater magnitude than either of the canals from the Ganges. It is capable of discharging more than 6000 cubic feet of water per second ; the length of its main channel is 540 miles, and that of its distributories 4700 miles; and it can irrigate 1,200,000 acres. Its cost has exceeded Rx.4,530,000, and the direct returns to the State in 1890-91 amounted to about 4 - 6 per cent, on the capital expended. Different systems of irrigation prevail in other parts of India. In Central and Southern India, large tracts of country are dependent for their supply of water on lakes or reservoirs, known by the not very appropriate name of tanks. These are in some cases natural lakes, but oftener they have been formed by the construction of dams of masonry or earth across the outlets of valleys in the hills, and they are fed sometimes by rivers and sometimes by the rainfall of a more or less extensive area. They vary in size from ponds irrigating a few acres, to lakes of several miles in circumference. Some of them are works con¬ structed in times of which we have no historical record. These are not the only means of irrigation in Southern India. Works hardly inferior in importance to those of the North-Western Provinces and Punjab, but on a different system, have been carried out by the British Government in the Madras presidency, for utilising the waters of the 1 ‘ British India and its Rulers,’ p. 134. 176 PUBLIC WORKS. Godaveri and Kistna rivers. At the head of each of the deltas which they form before they reach the sea, a great weir, or, as it is locally called, an anient, is thrown across the river, which is diverted into irrigation canals and distributing channels, some of which are also used for navigation. A large area, with a population of nearly 2,000,000, thus obtains complete protection against failure of rain ; and these works have not only been in the highest degree beneficial to the people, but very profitable to the State. In the famine of 1876-77 these irrigated tracts produced rice to the value of Rx.5,000,000, a large part of which was available for the relief of suffering districts. Without canal irrigation there would have been no crops at all, and the value of the produce in a single year was four times as great as the whole of the capital expended on the canal works by the Government. Further south, in Tanjore, works of a similar kind provide the means of utilising through a large tract of country, in the delta of the Kaveri, almost the whole water supply of that river. In Northern India the ordinary rental of land is doubled by irrigation, and it is often more than quadrupled in Madras. In the province of Sind another system prevails. Little rain falls there, and without irrigation there would be no cultivation. In the same way that agriculture in Egypt depends on the inundation of the Nile, it depends in Sind on the floods brought down by the Indus in the season of the periodical rains. There is great room for further improvement, but the existing irrigation renders the province fairly prosperous, and gives the means of sub¬ sistence to 2,400,000 people. Altogether there are, in India, under the management or supervision of the British Government, some 36,000 miles of canals and other works, irrigating nearly 14,000,000 acres, or more than 21,000 square miles. Although some of the canals have been financially unsuccessful, and others were incomplete, the irrigation works of India, taken as COST OF RAILWAYS AND CANALS. I 77 a whole, yielded, in 1891-92, a net return of sh P er cent, on their cost, which amounted to about Rx.32,300,000. It is a remarkable illustration of their great utility that this sum falls far short of the annual value of the crops they protect. In the single year, 1891-92, the estimated value of the pro¬ duce of the land irrigated by works constructed by the Government was more than Rx.55,000,000. No similar works in other countries approach them in magnitude, and it is certain that no public works of nobler utility have ever been undertaken in the world. Up to 1892, about Rx.225,000,000 had been spent on railways in India. Nearly the whole of this outlay has taken place since the transfer of the Government to the Crown, and by far the greater part of it during the last twenty-five years. In spite of the efforts of the Govern¬ ment, and all encouragement which it could legitimately give, little private capital has hitherto been forthcoming without a guarantee of interest for railways in India. Almost the whole cost has been provided either directly by the Government, or by English companies aided by a guarantee. Under the terms of the contracts, the Govern¬ ment is entitled at certain periods to purchase the guaranteed railways, and it has already exercised this power in some cases. I must briefly explain the system under which the funds for this great expenditure on railways and irrigation works have been supplied. When, after the mutinies of 1857, the obligation of pro¬ viding numerous works of improvement had been recog¬ nised, it became evident that the ordinary revenue could not furnish the means of meeting the necessary outlay. The financial difficulties involved by the suppression of the mutinies were great, and for some years afterwards the necessity of providing barracks and hospitals for the largely increased force of British troops was so urgent that the progress of other works was crippled. M 178 PUBLIC WORKS. In 1864 the principle was accepted, that for the con¬ struction of works of irrigation it was right to supply by loan the funds which could not be otherwise provided. This conclusion first took a practical shape in 1867-68, during the Government of Lord Lawrence, in accordance with a scheme drawn up by General Richard Strachey. It was clear that only a comparatively small part of the necessary outlay could be met from the revenues; the rest was to be supplied by loans. No project was to be taken up which did not promise to be fairly remunerative within a reasonable time ; it was believed that the earnings would before long more than cover the interest on the borrowed capital, and that no ultimate charge would fall on the general revenues. In 1869 General Strachey pro¬ posed to extend this system to the development of rail¬ ways. His plans were adopted by Lord Lawrence, and the first steps were taken by Lord Mayo in 1870 for carrying them into effect. I will not describe the various phases through which this policy has passed. The main principle, that railways and irrigation works in India may wisely, and without financial danger, be constructed with borrowed money, has been consistently carried out, partly by the Govern¬ ment directly, and partly through the agency of companies assisted by a guarantee of interest or by subsidies from the State. The complete success of this policy will be further illustrated in the next chapter. CHAPTER XV. THE PUBLIC DEBT. The Public Debt—Its amount—Division into Ordinary and Public Works Debt—Increase of debt owing to the Mutinies of 1857—Subsequent de¬ crease of Ordinary Debt—Investments of the Government in railways— Railways constructed by guaranteed companies—The financial results of the policy of borrowing for public works—Expenditure from revenue on public works — Insurance against famine — The policy adopted — The Famine Commission—Diminished danger of Famine in India. It will be understood from what has been said in the last chapter that the subject of public works is closely connected with that of the public debt. The public debt of India amounted in 1892 to Rx. 103,000,000 in India, and £107,000,000 in England. The debt is divided for purposes of account into two parts —the ordinary debt, similar in character to the public debt of other countries, and the public works debt, consisting, as I have explained, of money invested in productive works, that is, in railways and works of irrigation. The Indian and English figures cannot properly be added together, but, if we take the rupee at the old conven¬ tional value of 2s., the total debt of India in 1892 was £210,000,000, of which £134,000,000 had been incurred for public works and £76,000,000 for other purposes. In 1857, just before the outbreak of the mutinies, the public debt of India was about £51,000,000. The task of suppressing the mutinies and the reorganisation of the ad¬ ministration added more than £42,000,000 to the debt; and in 1862 the total amount of the debt was £97,000,000. Thus, in the twenty-nine years that elapsed after the sup- r 79 i8o THE TUBLIC DEBT. pression of the mutinies and the cessation of the extra¬ ordinary expenditure immediately due to them, the debt was increased by ,£113,000,000. This increase resulted entirely from the policy of borrowing for investment in railways and irrigation works. Apart from such invest¬ ments, the public debt in the period I have mentioned not only received no increase, but was reduced by about £"21,000,000. This will appear the more remarkable when it is remembered that India during this time suffered from a succession of serious famines, involving an expenditure of nearly £15,000,000 for their relief, that a net sum of £12,250,000 was spent on wars in Afghanistan and Egypt, and that a large increase of charge has been caused by the fall in the gold value of silver. The existing State railways have in many, but not in all, cases been constructed directly by the Government. Under the terms of the original contracts it has exercised, in most of the cases in which this has been possible, its power of purchasing the railways constructed by com¬ panies. These railways then became State lines. The most important of the undertakings thus purchased was the East Indian Railway, the great line connecting Cal¬ cutta with Delhi and the Northern Provinces. The trans¬ action has proved very advantageous to the State. In the ten years ending with 1893 it brought to the public revenues, after meeting all charges including interest on borrowed capital, a clear profit of nearly Rx.6,000,000, and, in addition, a further sum of more than Rx.900,000, representing capital debt paid off through the operation of the terminable annuity, by means of which the purchase of the line was m'ade. At the end of seventy-four years from 1880, when the annuity expires, the Government will come into the receipt of a clear yearly income, which may be estimated at not less than Rx.3,000,000, equivalent, after making allowance for all outgoings, to the creation of a capital of upwards of fifty millions sterling. In this NET CHARGE FROM PUBLIC WORKS DEBT. I 3 I and in some other cases the working of the line has not been managed directly by the Government, but through a company under a working lease. The rate of interest guaranteed on the capital of the railways first constructed by companies was 5 per cent., and the Government bound itself to make good any sum by which the net traffic receipts, after paying' all working expenses, fell short of the amount necessary to provide interest at that rate. The later contracts have been more favourable to the Government. The true measure of the burden of public debt is the annual charge thrown upon the revenues by the payment of interest. The financial results of the policy of borrow¬ ing for investment in public works, judged by this test, have been highly satisfactory. In 1862-63 the total net charge to the State on account of debt of every description, including that invested in public works, and also including the sums paid for guaranteed interest to railway companies, was Rx.6,585,000. In 1891-92 this charge had fallen to Rx.4,425,000, a reduc¬ tion of Rx.2,160,000. The financial results would be more favourable but for the fact that some of the railways are incomplete, and that there are many on which the receipts have not nearly reached the amount which may be ultimately expected. Some of them have been constructed for the special purpose of giving protection against famine to poor and remote districts, and with little prospect of profit. Others are required for military reasons connected with the defence of the north-western frontier ; no works are more necessary, but they are not likely to give much commercial return. It is probable that, for some years to come, these causes will make the general financial results of railway construction in India seem less successful than they really deserve to be considered. I here is another cause which has largely diminished the 182 THE PUBLIC DEBT. direct profit from Indian railways. The effect of the fall in the gold value of the rupee has been in this respect very serious; the earnings of the lines are in silver, but the greater part of the interest on the capital expenditure, the annuities paid in respect of guaranteed railways purchased, and nearly the whole of the payments to the guaranteed companies, have to be paid in gold. In 1891- 92 these gold payments amounted to ^5,65 2,000. To provide this sum India had to pay nearly 25 millions of rupees more than would have been required if the rupee had retained its old value of 2s. The net earnings of the Indian railways amounted to more than 5J per cent, on their capital cost, and but for this heavy charge on account of exchange they would have yielded a large revenue to the State. Enough has been said to show that, in spite of all drawbacks, the policy of borrowing for investment in productive public works has been highly successful, and that it has conferred most important benefits on the country. I have hitherto spoken only of those public works which give a direct return in cash on the money spent upon them. Since the transfer of the Government to the Crown there has also been a very large expenditure from revenue on works which, although some of them do not come into that class, are of high utility. Within this period, nearly Rx.200,000,000 has been devoted to roads and bridges, telegraphs, hospitals, barracks and military works, colleges, sehools, and other public buildings, and minor works of irrigation and navigation. Nearly forty thousand miles of telegraph lines have been constructed, and I cannot tell how many thousand miles of roads. Before leaving the subject of public works and debt, there is one other matter to which reference must be made. It has been pointed out that, in addition to the reasons which in other countries render the construction of railways INSURANCE AGAINST FAMINE. 1 83 necessary, they are required in India because without them it is not possible to give adequate relief on the occurrence of the famines to which India is from time to time exposed through the failure of the periodical rains. In some provinces the provision of irrigation works is not less important. Thus, the question of the construc¬ tion of railways and canals is closely connected with that of the measures which the Government ought to take for the prevention and relief of famine. It was not until 1874, when Lord Northbrook was Viceroy, that it was recognised that, since famines could not be looked on as abnormal and exceptional calamities, it was essential that provision against the grave financial obligations which they involve should be made as one of the ordinary charges of the State. “ Whatever means,” Lord Northbrook said, “ we may take to obviate or miti¬ gate them, it must, under present circumstances, be looked upon as inevitable that famines will from time to time occur;” he concluded that to meet them merely by borrow¬ ing would be financially ruinous, that it was necessary to reserve in prosperous times a substantial surplus of revenue over expenditure, and that, if this surplus were devoted to the reduction of debt, or to the construction of productive public works, thereby preventing the increase of debt, there would be no objection, when famine occurred, to meeting from borrowed money charges to the full extent to which debt had been reduced or prevented. In 1877-78 measures were taken by the Government of Lord Lytton for giving practical effect to these principles. Between 1873 and 1878 the actual expenditure on the relief of famine, including remissions of land revenue, was nearly Rx. 16,500,000. This was a period of exceptional disaster, and the Government came to the conclusion that, taking an average of years, it might safely be assumed that the annual charge for relieving famine was not likely to exceed Rx. 1,500,000. It was determined, therefore, that 184 THE PUBLIC DEBT. in addition to that necessary margin of revenue over ex¬ penditure which a prudent administration always desires to maintain, a surplus of Rx.1,500,000 must every year be provided on account of famine relief alone, and that this sum, when the country was free from famine, must be regularly devoted to the discharge of debt, or to the prevention of debt which would otherwise have been in¬ curred for the construction of railways and canals. The practical result of such a plan would be to store up, in times of prosperity, resources by means of which, when famine occurred, it would be possible to meet the heavy obligations of the State. If, for example, this policy were followed during a period of ten years in which there was no famine, debt at the end of that time would have been reduced or prevented to the extent of Rx. 15,000,000, and, if serious famine then occurred, Rx.l 5,000,000 might be borrowed for its relief without placing the country in a worse position financially than that of ten years before. The original scheme under which Rx.1,500,000 was to be annually devoted to the reduction or prevention of debt was subsequently modified, and it was determined that a portion of this sum should be directly expended on the construction of railways and canals required for the protec¬ tion of districts specially liable to drought and consequent scarcity. This policy of insurance against famine was simple in its nature, but it has been constantly misunderstood. It has often been supposed that a separate fund was consti¬ tuted, into which certain revenues were to be paid, and which could only be drawn upon for a specified purpose. No such impracticable notion was ever entertained, and every idea of the kind was from the first repudiated by the Government, and by myself, who was responsible for the original scheme. The “ Famine Insurance Fund,” of which people have often talked, never existed. The intention was THE FAMINE COMMISSION. 185 nothing more than the annual application of surplus revenue to the extent of Rx. 1,500,000 to the purposes that I have described. Financial pressure has sometimes made it impossible to make the full annual grant under the famine insuiance scheme, but substantially the system has been successfully maintained. In the ten years following 1881 the sum of Rx. 12,650,000 was set aside from revenue under the head of Famine Relief and Insurance, and was expended either on the actual relief of distress, on protective irrigation works and railways, or on the reduction and prevention of debt. After the great famine of 1876-77 a Commission, under the presidency of General Strachey, with Sir Charles Elliott as secretary, was appointed by Lord Lytton to inquire into the whole subject of famines in India, and to advise the Government on the measures to be taken for their prevention and relief. The result was the preparation of an elaborate code of instructions for every province, lay¬ ing down the principles to be observed and the practice to be followed on every occasion of threatened or actual scarcity and famine. This has been a work of very great utility. Wisely to define the conditions and limits within which the intervention of the Government is necessary or is injurious is a matter of extreme difficulty, and lamentable mistakes, prompted by the humanest motives, have sometimes been made by which distress has been aggravated rather than alleviated, and by which large sections of the population have been seriously demoralised. So great has been the improvement in the means of communication that, although it would be too sanguine to expect that there will be no recurrence of these calamities, it may reasonably be hoped that we shall not again see, in its most aggravated form, the horrors of a wide-spread Indian famine. Large tracts of country which were formerly isolated by physical ob¬ stacles, and almost inaccessible to trade, and which were dependent on the food produced within their own borders, THE PUBLIC DEBT. I 86 are now easy of access, and prices which, before the con¬ struction of railways, varied immensely in different districts, have become to a great extent equalised. In the Bombay Presidency, which in past times has suffered terribly, the Government has declared its belief that no such famine as that of 1876-77 is any longer possible, that the Govern¬ ment will never again be required to face the problem of the supply of food to a great population, and that the ut¬ most responsibility likely to fall upon it will be the provision of sufficient employment for those willing to work, the sus¬ pension or remission of revenue demands, and the grant of loans for agricultural improvements. CHAPTER XVI. EDUCATION IN INDIA. First establishment of colleges in Bengal—Controversy between advocates of Oriental and English study—Lord Macaulay in 1835 —His contempt for Oriental literature—Mountstuart Elphinstone on Indian education— System established under Macaulay’s influence—Neglect of primary education—System laid down by Lord Halifax in 1854 —Its main features—Proportion of population able to read and write—Female education—Lady Dufferin’s Association—Mr Baines on illiteracy of the people—The Indian Universities—Colleges—Number of Natives knowing English—Collegiate Instruction—Education of Mohammedans—Sir Syad Ahmad Khan—His College—The Mayo College—Medical Colleges— Technical and Art Schools—Secondary Education—Small number of educated Natives—Neglect of study of Science—Sir Henry Maine on study of English classical literature—-The teaching of false history—Inac¬ curacy and bad faith of James Mill—Books and newspapers—Their general character—Mr Baines on influence of the literate class—Liberty of the Press in India. It was only during the later times of the East India Company’s Government that the promotion of education in India was considered one of the duties of the State. The encouragement, however, of Oriental learning had long, to some extent, been acknowledged to be a matter of importance, both for its own sake, and because a know¬ ledge of Mohammedan and Hindu law was necessary in the civil and criminal courts. To Warren Hastings belongs the honour of having founded, in 1782, the first college in Bengal, and it was maintained for some years at his expense. It was especially intended to encourage the study of Arabic and Persian literature and Mohammedan theology, “ to qualify the Mohammedans of Bengal for the public service, chiefly in the courts of justice, and to enable 187 EDUCATION IN INDIA. 188 them to compete on more equal terms with the Hindus for employment under Government.” In 1791, a college with similar objects, but “designed to cultivate the laws, literature, and religion of the Hindus, and specially to supply qualified Hindu assistants to European judges,” was established at Benares. A few more institutions of a similar kind were founded, and as time went on the demand for other forms of education increased. A long controversy took place between the advocates of Oriental and English study ; the former desired to give more liberal help to students of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian, to encourage the production of literary and scientific works in Oriental languages, and to provide for the translation of valuable books from the languages of Europe into those of India ; the latter maintained that all the higher branches of knowledge should be taught through the medium of English alone. The controversy virtually ended in 1835 with a minute by Lord Macaulay, who was then a member of the Governor-General’s Council in Calcutta. Nothing could exceed the contempt which in his picturesque sentences he poured forth on the languages and literature of the East. “ The question before us,” he wrote, “ is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach this language—English—we shall teach languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be compared to our own ; whether, when we can teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by universal confession, wherever they differ from those of Europe, differ for the worse ; and whether, when we patronise sound philosophy and true history, we shall counten¬ ance, at the public expense, medical doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier, astronomy which would move laughter in the girls at an English boarding-school, history abounding with kings thirty feet high and reigns thirty thousand years long, and geography made up of seas of treacle and seas of butter.” It is interesting to compare the scornful utterances of VALUE OF ORIENTAL AND ENGLISH STUDIES. 1 89 Macaulay with the views which one of the wisest of Indian statesmen, Mountstuart Elphinstone, expressed in a Minute on education not many years before. “ Sanskrit poetry,” he wrote, “ has called forth the enthusiastic admiration of no mean judges among ourselves. Even without the example and assistance of a more civilised nation, the science possessed by every people is gradually superseded by their own discoveries as they advance in knowledge, and their early works fall into disuse and oblivion. But it is otherwise with their poetry ; the standard works maintain their reputation un¬ diminished in every age, they form the models of composition and the fountains of classical language, and the writers of the rudest ages are those who contribute the most to the delight and refinement of the most improved of their posterity.” In the same Minute he deplored the fact that we had dried up the sources of Native talent, that the existing learning of the country was being lost, and the productions of former genius forgotten. “ A class of men,” he said, “ was formerly maintained whose time was devoted to the cultivation of their understanding; their learning may have been obscure and degenerate, but still it bore some affinity to real science, into which it might in time have been improved. They were not, perhaps, much inferior to those monks among whom the seeds of European learning were long kept alive; and their extinction, if it did not occasion the loss of much present wisdom, would have cut off all hope for the future. . . . When once the college had become an established place of resort for Brahmans, it would be easy to introduce by degrees improvements into the system of educa¬ tion, and thus render the institution a powerful instrument for the diffusion of civilisation. Some such alterations must be the fruit of time, and- cannot be adopted until we have instruments better fitted to impart instruction, as well as auditors better prepared to receive it. At no time, however, could I wish that the purely Hindu part of the course should be totally abandoned. It would surely be a preposterous way of adding to the intellectual treasures of a nation to begin by the destruction of its indigenous literature, and I cannot but think that the EDUCATION IN INDIA. 190 future attainments of the Natives will be increased in extent as well as in variety by being, as it were, engrafted on their own previous knowledge, and imbued with their own original and peculiar character.” 1 No one was more desirous than Elphinstone to encourage the study of the English language. For a native of India there is no other key by which he can unlock the richer stores of Western knowledge, and without it he cannot hope to take any prominent part in the higher branches of the public administration. Whether it was right to assign to English and the classical literature of England the almost exclusive position which they have been made to hold in our system of education in India, and almost to ignore the existence of the vernacular languages of the country and the literature of the East, is another matter. Few will now doubt that the views of Warren Hastings, and Sir William Jones, and Wellesley, and Elphinstone were far nearer to the truth than those of Macaulay, and that for Hindus and Mohammedans the study of their own languages and the literature of their own people and kinsmen was not less essential than the study of English. The influence of Macaulay was irresistible. The Govern¬ ment of Lord William Bentinck decided that “ the great object of the British Government ought to be the promo¬ tion of European literature and science among the natives of India, and that all the funds appropriated for the purpose of Education would be best employed on English educa¬ tion alone.” Although some of the old institutions were allowed to go on teaching in a feeble way the classical languages of the East, the conclusion virtually arrived at was that Oriental studies required no encouragement from the State. During the next ten or fifteen years progress was made in the establishment of English colleges and schools. Very little was thought at that time about 1 Forrest’s ‘ Selections from the Minutes of the Hon. Mountstuart Elphin¬ stone ’—Minute.on Education, March 1824. PRIMARY EDUCATION. I 9 I primary education for the masses of the people. Education, it was said, would “filter downwards.” So far as higher education is concerned, the principles laid down in 1835 have been in the main adhered to ever since. All higher education, whether scientific or literary, is given in English, and a young man may go through nearly the whole of his University course without having occasion to make use of the language of his own country. The bare statement of the fact that little can be learned in our colleges except through the medium of a foreign tongue, goes far to explain their comoarative failure. But the subject of the results obtained by our system of education is one to which I shall return. There were some exceptions to the general neglect of primary education which followed the measures taken in 1835. In the North-Western Provinces, in particular, their wise and enlightened Lieutenant-Governor, James Thoma¬ son, laid the foundations of a system of village schools ; but it was not until 1854 that the duty of the State in regard to this matter was distinctly recognised. In that year orders, for which Lord Halifax (then Sir Charles Wood) was mainly responsible, were sent by the Court of Directors to India, and the despatch containing them has been not improperly called “ the charter of education in India.” I shall quote, from the Report of the Indian Education Commission of 1883, a summary of its con¬ tents ; it will show the system on which the Government has been working ever since :— “ The immediate aims of the Government were the same as those to which the attention of every European State was first directed when organising its system of public instruction. The existing schools of all kinds were to be improved and their number increased, systematic inspection was to be established, and a supply of competent teachers was to be provided. But in India the attitude of the State to national education was affected by three conditions to which no European State could furnish a EDUCATION IN INDIA. I92 parallel. In the first place, the population was not only as large as that of all the European States together that had adopted an educational system, but it presented, in its different provinces, at least as many differences of creed, language, race, and custom. Secondly, the ruling power was bound to hold itself aloof from all questions of religion. Thirdly, the scheme of instruction to be introduced was one which should culminate in the organisa¬ tion of a literature and science essentially foreign. While, there¬ fore, on the one hand, the magnitude of a task before the Indian Government was such as to make it almost impossible of achieve¬ ment by any direct appropriation from the resources of the empire, on the other, the popular demand for education—so im¬ portant a factor in the success of the European systems—had to be created. The Government adopted the only course which circumstances permitted. It was admitted that ‘ to imbue a vast and ignorant population with a general desire for knowledge, and to take advantage of the desire when excited to improve the means for diffusing education among them, must be the work of many years; as a Government, we can do no more than direct the efforts of the people, and aid them wherever they appear to require most assistance.’ ” Under the orders of 1854, supplemented by later in¬ structions, a separate Department of Public Instruction was constituted. Universities were to be founded in Cal¬ cutta, Madras, and Bombay; institutions for training teachers for all classes of schools were to be established ; the number of Government colleges and high schools was to be increased ; new middle schools were to be created ; efforts were above all to be devoted to the development of elementary education with the object of “ conveying to the great mass of the people, who are utterly incapable of ob¬ taining any education worthy of the name by their own unaided efforts, useful and practical knowledge, suited to every station in life.” The English language was to be the medium of instruction in the higher branches of educa¬ tion, and the vernacular languages of the country in the lower, and English was to be taught wherever there was a demand for it. The extension of education in the higher EXISTING SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 193 branches would, it was thought, be mainly effected by applying the system of grants-in-aid ; the resources of the State were to be so devoted as to assist those who could not be expected to help themselves, while it was hoped that the richer classes would gradually be induced to pro¬ vide for their own education. The system of grants-in-aid to private institutions was to be based on entire abstinence from interference with the religious instruction given in the schools ; aid was to be given, within certain limits, to all schools which imparted a good secular education and were under competent management; all aided schools were to be open to inspection by Government officers. This system has been put into practice throughout British India. Every province has its separate Educational Department under an officer called the Director of Public Instruction, with a large staff of officers, colleges, schools, and grants-in-aid. I can¬ not profess to think that the results have been in all respects satisfactory. There were formerly many advocates in India of “ the downward filtration ” theory of education, to which refer¬ ence has already been made. There can be no country in which the expectation that education would “ filter down¬ wards ” was more impossible to be fulfilled. The literary classes—if we are to give them so inappropriate a name —whether they are Brahmans learned in the sacred liter¬ ature of ancient India, or men primed with the most modern knowledge that our English colleges can impart, agree alike in absolute rejection of the idea that education ought to be extended to the masses of the people. But for many years past the Government has adhered to the principle affirmed in 1854, that the main duty of the State lies in providing means of primary instruction to the classes which can make no provision for themselves. I need hardly enlarge on the magnitude of such an under¬ taking in India. Anything like compulsory education is out of the question. Even if unlimited funds were avail- N 194 EDUCATION IN INDIA. able, it would be impossible to succeed, except by slow degrees, and by steady perseverance through a long course of years, in educating any large proportion of two hundred and twenty millions of people, nearly the whole of whom are now totally illiterate, and filled to a degree which can hardly be exaggerated with the prejudices of ignorance, and caste, and superstition. It was an almost inevitable consequence of the difficulty of such an undertaking that the Government, notwith¬ standing the principles that it had laid down for its guidance, should continue to spend too large a proportion of the available funds on higher education, the results of which were more immediately apparent, and too little on the extension of elementary instruction. In some parts of India there have been, from time immemorial, considerable numbers of village and local schools, in which instruction of a very elementary kind is given. In the Hindu schools the instruction is chiefly or wholly secular; the Mohammedan schools have a religious character. In Bengal and in Madras the existing system of primary instruction is in a great measure based on the indigenous schools, which receive grants-in-aid from the State ; in Bombay, in the North-Western Pro¬ vinces and the Punjab, on the other hand, the primary schools are mostly provided by the Government at the cost of local funds, raised by rates on the land. In Burma, where a far larger proportion of the population can read and write than in any part of India, primary education, according to the ancient custom of the country, is almost entirely in the hands of the Buddhist monks. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and sometimes a little mensuration, are taught in the primary schools. Although progress has undoubtedly been made, the pro¬ portion of the population of India which has received even the smallest amount of elementary instruction is almost infinitesimally small. CENSUS RETURNS OF ILLITERATE. *95 The census returns of 1891 dealt with a total population of 261,840,000, of whom 133,370,000 were males, and 128,470,000 were females. Out of the male population, 118,819,000 were illiterate, and, including boys under instruction, 14,550,000 could read and write. Out of the female population, no less than 127,727,000 were illiterate, and 740,000 could read and write or were being instructed. In other words about eighty-nine per cent, of the male and nearly ninety-nine and a half per cent, of the female popula¬ tion were illiterate. Excluding Burma, the differences in these respects between the various provinces of British India and the Native States are not very great. In Madras, where education has made most progress, eighty-five per cent, of the male and ninety-nine per cent, of the female population are illiterate. In Oudh, which is almost at the bottom of the list, the corresponding figures are ninety-four and very nearly a hundred. Even these figures do not adequately represent the real illiteracy of the mass of the people, for, as Mr Baines has shown, more than half of the whole number returned as literate are found among a few classes, comprising less than nineteen per cent, of the whole population. The Brahmans, as might be expected, head the list ; although they constitute only five per cent, of the total population, they include seven¬ teen per cent, of the literate class, and more than twenty per cent, of those who know English. Percentages of this kind must not, however, be taken for more than they are worth, in dealing with a population larger than that of civilised Europe. Classes grouped under similar names differ greatly in different Indian countries. For instance, seventy-two per cent, of the Brahmans of Madras appear in the census returns as literate, and only eighteen per cent, of those of the North-Western Provinces ; the Brahmans in the latter case, unlike those in the former, being very largely agricultural. There were, in 1891, 2,998,000 boys and 198,000 girls 196 EDUCATION IN INDIA. under instruction. It is considered that about twenty per cent, of the population are of an age to require elementary education. On this assumption, the total number under instruction was one-and-a-quarter per cent, instead of twenty ; there were about 3,000,000 boys at school instead of 26,700,000, and less than 200,000 girls instead of 25,700,000. 1 Women in India take a larger and more active share in the practical business of life than is usually supposed ; in the management of family and household affairs they pro¬ bably exercise almost as great an authority and influence as women in Europe ; they often manage estates and large commercial concerns, and show extreme acuteness and in¬ telligence. An example of their practical ability is seen in the Native State of Bhopal, which for two generations has been ruled by women. But the idea that women, or at any rate respectable women, ought to receive a school educa¬ tion, or any of the instruction that is proper for boys, is one that is almost unknown in India, even among that small section of the population that has been powerfully affected by Western habits of thought. There are of course, as I shall presently notice, exceptions, but they are comparatively rare, and as a rule those who have received the highest training that our English schools and colleges can give, show no disposition to encourage the education of their wives and daughters. In their domestic life they prefer to follow the customs of their caste and the example of their forefathers. Not unfrequently it is considered that to be able to read and write is an accomplishment which a modest woman had better be without. While such opinions as these continue to be generally held, it is im¬ possible that the Government can take any very active steps for the promotion of female education. 1 There are great.discrepancies between the educational returns of the Census and those given by the various departments of Public Instruction in India. Mr Baines, in his General Report, has given his reasons for preferring the former, and they have been adopted by me. FEMALE EDUCATION. 197 In spite of these difficulties, there has been some pro¬ gress. Remarkable instances have occurred in which Native ladies have attained literary and academic distinc¬ tion ; several have passed the University Entrance ex¬ aminations, and two or three have obtained degrees. With very rare exceptions, however, the instruction af¬ forded has been purely elementary. The chief progress has been in Southern India, where women are less secluded than in the North. While in 1871 there were about 10,000 girls receiving school instruction in Madras, the numbers had risen to 59,000 in 1891. Such progress as there has been, is in a great measure due to the missionary societies. The girls in their schools are more numerous than in those of the Government, and zandna missions connected with the societies give more or less secular instruction in a considerable number of Native families. The example given by English ladies who have devoted themselves to teaching in thezananas has, to some extent been followed by Natives themselves, who are often unwilling to admit avowed Christian influences into their families. The Report of the Indian Education Commission states that “ in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and in many large cities of India, it is now possible for a wealthy native to obtain instruction for the ladies of his family within his own house. A distinct class of zanana agencies on a secular basis is springing up, con¬ ducted by committees of native gentlemen, or by mixed commit¬ tees of Natives and Europeans, with the object, in some cases, of imparting education in zananas without any element of religious teaching; in others, of testing by periodical examinations, and encouraging by records, the home-education of governesses. These agencies are already doing useful work, although on a comparatively small scale, and the commission trusts that they will receive a still larger measure of sympathy and co-operation from English ladies in India.” 1 In connection with the subject of female education I 1 ‘ Report,’ p. 535. 198 EDUCATION IN INDIA. must mention the admirable scheme initiated by the Marchioness of Dufiferin and Ava for supplying female medical aid to the women of India. I have referred to the success of the medical colleges established by the Government, and to the great aptitude shown by Natives of India in the practice of surgery and medicine. The country is covered with hospitals and dispensaries; but the women of India are shut off from the benefits brought by European science to their doors, because their customs make it impossible to allow the professional attendance of men. A lamentable amount of unnecessary suffering is the consequence. The association that has been founded, and which has made remarkable progress, has for its objects the provision, on a large scale, of the means of teaching and training women in India to act as doctors, hospital assistants, nurses, and midwives ; the establish¬ ment, under female superintendence, of dispensaries and hospitals for the treatment of women and children ; the opening of female wards under female superintendence in existing hospitals and dispensaries ; the provision of female medical officers and attendants for existing female wards ; and the supply of trained nurses and midwives for women in hospitals and private houses. It has been laid down as a fundamental rule of the association that it shall be absolutely unsectarian in its aims and conduct, and that no one of its servants shall ever be allowed to proselytise or interfere in any way with the religious belief of the people. This excellent movement has received active en¬ couragement both from our own Government and from the rulers of Native States. The figures that have been given show how small an im¬ pression has hitherto been made on the enormous mass of Indian ignorance. In connection with this subject, there are, as Mr Baines has pointed out, two facts to be remem¬ bered. The first is the fact that the great mass of the popu¬ lation is agricultural, and in far more civilised countries OBSTACLES TO PRIMARY EDUCATION. 199 this is not the class among which education flourishes. “ The second influence antagonistic to a more general spread of literacy is the long continued existence of a hereditary class, whose object it has been to maintain their own monopoly of all book-learning as the chief buttress of their social supremacy. Sacerdotalism knows that it can reign over none but an ignorant populace. The opposition of the Brahman to the rise of the writer castes has been already mentioned, and the repugnance of both, in the present day, to the diffusion of learning amongst the masses can only be appreciated after long experience. It is true that the recognition by the British Government of the virtue and necessity of primary education has met with some response on the part of the literary castes, but it is chiefly in the direction of academic utterances, which cannot, in the cir¬ cumstances, be well avoided. It is welcomed, too, in its capacity of affording the means of livelihood to many of these castes, as they have to be engaged as teachers, and are bound accordingly to work up to the State standard of efficient tuition. The real interest of the castes in ques¬ tion is centred on secondary education, of which they almost exclusively are in a position to reap the advan¬ tage:” 1 Discouraging as the actual condition of primary educa¬ tion may seem, things are far better than they were, and the progress that has been made must not be undervalued. In the whole of India, excepting the North-Western Provinces, when the Government was transferred to the Crown there were only some 2,000 Government and aided elementary schools, with less than 200,000 scholars, while in 1891 there were 130,000 of these schools and 3,000,000 scholars. Nor should it be forgotten how short a time has elapsed since our own country, under far less difficult circumstances, began practically to recognise the necessity of elemen¬ tary education. Four years before the Queen’s accession 1 ‘ General Report on the Castes of India,’ 1891, p. 211. 200 EDUCATION IN INDIA. no public money was granted in England for elementary schools. Reference must now be made to the means provided for higher education and to the results that have been obtained. The three universities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were established in 1857 ; a fourth was established at Alla¬ habad for the North-Western Provinces in 1887. Their constitution is similar to that of the London University ; they have a Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and Senate, with a governing body ; they are examining bodies only, but by their examinations they control the course of study through¬ out the greater part of India, in the colleges affiliated to them. In 1882 a university was established at Lahore for the Punjab, and this is not only an examining but a teaching body also. The entrance examination for matriculation is open to all. The subjects are English, a classical or vernacular language, history, geography, mathematics, and in Madras and Bombay, elementary physical science. The usual age of the candidates is between sixteen and eighteen, and, according to the estimate of the Education Commission, the standard of knowledge required is about that which at the age of sixteen an English boy of average intelligence will be found to possess. Success in this examination admits a student to any of the affiliated colleges. The college course does not much differ in the various provinces. After two years, a student may present himself for the first examination in Arts, the subjects being English, a classical language (Oriental or European), history, mathe¬ matics, logic, and, if he so desires, a branch of natural science. Two years later he may present himself for the B.A. de¬ gree. Degrees are conferred in Arts, Law, Medicine, and Civil Engineering. The M. A. degree completes the college course; the examination is held in one or more of the following subjects : languages, history, mental and moral UNIVERSITY ENTRANCES AND DEGREES. 201 philosophy, mathematics, pure and mixed, and physical science. The proportion of students who go beyond the entrance examination is not large, and the number who obtain degrees is small. Taking the five universities together, in the five years ending with 1890-91, 25,683 candidates out of 76,022 passed the entrance examination. During the same period there were 23,743 candidates at the First Arts Examination, of whom 8082 passed ; there were 4885 B.A. and 347 M.A. graduates. Commenting on this subject in his General Report on the census of 1891, Mr Baines observes that the main points brought out appear to be, “ first the insignificant number of pupils that carry instruction beyond the rudi¬ ments ; secondly, the remarkably unprepared state in which the minute remainder appear for matriculation ; and, lastly, the relatively infinitesimal number that obtain a University degree.” The number of Natives possessing a knowledge of Eng¬ lish was, in the whole of India, in 1891, only 386,000, and this included boys under instruction. The number seems extraordinarily small,and can apparently, as Mr Baines says, only be explained by the fact that the study of English ends in a very rudimentary stage, and that the class is numerous “ that learn a certain amount of English at school, but carry the use of it no further than the last examination, and cease to be able to read and write it after the lapse of a few years.” In regard to the general scope and character of colle¬ giate instruction in India, I cannot do better than quote the account given in the Report of the Indian Education Commissioners :— “ The system is now almost uniform throughout India. Purely Oriental colleges must be excepted. These, however, are so few in number that they scarcely enter into a consideration of colle¬ giate education in its modern development. The college of to¬ day aims at giving an education that shall fit its recipient to take 202 EDUCATION IN INDIA. an honourable share in the administration of the country, or to enter with good hope of success the various liberal professions now expanding in vigorous growth. The English and Oriental classes occupy an important place in the collegiate scheme. In history, philosophy, mathematics, and physical science, English is the medium of instruction, and the passport to academic honours. . . . The affiliated colleges are of two grades : those whose students go no farther than the first Arts examination, and those in which they proceed to the B.A. and M.A. degrees. The strength of the teaching staff varies with the wealth of the in¬ stitution, the number of the students, and the class of examina¬ tions for which candidates are sent up. Thus, the Presidency College in Calcutta has a Principal, eleven Professors, and two teachers of Sanskrit and Arabic. This staff provides for lectures being given in all the various subjects of all the examinations. A smaller college will be content with a Principal, two Professors, a Pandit, and a Maulavi. In their scheme of discipline, and in the academic life of their students, Indian colleges have but little analogy.to those of the older of the English universities, their resemblance being closer to those of Scotland and Germany. Residence in college buildings is not only not generally com¬ pulsory, but the colleges are few in which any systematic pro¬ vision is made for control over the students’ pursuits out of college hours. Boarding-houses are indeed attached to certain institutions, and their number increases year by year, but unless the student’s home be at a distance from the collegiate city, and he have no relatives to receive him, it is seldom that he will incur the expense which residence involves. Two principal reasons account for this feature in our system. First, the initial outlay upon buildings is one from which Government and independent bodies alike shrink. For so poor is the Indian student that it would be impossible to demand of him any but the most moder¬ ate rent—a rent perhaps barely sufficient to cover the cost of the annual repairs. The second obstacle lies in the religious and social prejudices which force class from class. Not only does the Hindu refuse to eat with the Mussulman, but from close con¬ tact with whole sections of his own co-religionists he is shut off by the imperious ordinances of caste. Experience, however, has already proved that the barriers of custom are giving way. In the North-Western Provinces and the Punjab, where the resi¬ dential system has been widely tried, the success has been con- PROGRESS GREATER AMONG HINDUS. 203 siderable, and nothing but want of funds stands in the way of a fuller development. In the more important Bombay colleges, also, a considerable number of the students are in residence ; in Bengal and Madras the system has been less fully recognised.” 1 Although an important share in higher education is taken by the institutions established by private effort, with the help of grants-in-aid from the State, there is no present probability of the arrival of the time, to which many have looked forward, when it may be possible for the State to devote nearly the whole of its efforts to the encouragement of primary instruction, leaving the main provision of the means of higher education to private institutions, aided and supervised by the Government. But it would be difficult to give too much honour to the work of secular educa¬ tion which has been undertaken by private agencies, and especially by Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries. In 1890 there were in British India nearly 300,000 scholars in the colleges and schools of Protestant missionaries. The success of the measures for the promotion of higher education has been more marked among Hindus than among Mohammedans. In many parts of India, Moham¬ medans, especially those of the upper classes, have always been disinclined to accept the education offered in our schools and colleges, and frequent complaint has been made that they are consequently unable to compete on equal terms with Hindus for employment under Government. Feelings of religious intolerance sometimes tend to make the Mohammedans refuse to admit the necessity of western knowledge, but apart from such reasons, and (in the words of the Indian Education Commission), “ Apart from the social and historical conditions of the Moham¬ medan community in India, there are causes of a strictly educa¬ tional character which heavily weight it in the race of life. The teaching of the mosque must precede the lessons of the school. ‘ Report of the Indian Education Commission,’ p. 273. 204 EDUCATION IN INDIA. The one object of a young Hindu is to obtain an education which will fit him for an official or a professional career. But before the young Mohammedan is allowed to turn his thoughts to secular instruction, he must commonly pass some years in going through a course of sacred learning. The Mohammedan boy, therefore, enters school later than the Hindu. In the second place, he very often leaves school at an earlier age. The Mohammedan parent belonging to the better classes is usually poorer than the Hindu parent in a corresponding social position. He cannot afford to give his son a complete education. In the third place, irrespec¬ tively of his worldly means, the Mohammedan parent often chooses for his son while at school an education which will secure for him an honoured place among the learned of his own community, rather than one which will command success in the modern pro¬ fessions or in official life. The years which the young Hindu gives to English and mathematics in a public school, the young Mohammedan devotes in a Madrasa to Arabic and the law and theology of Islam. When such an education is completed, it is to the vocation of a man of learning rather than to the more pro¬ fitable professions that the thoughts of a promising Mohammedan youth naturally turn.” 1 It must not be assumed from the fact that the Moham¬ medans look with little favour on our system that they are always less alive to the value of education than Hindus. In the North-Western Provinces, for instance, the Moham¬ medan section of the population furnishes, in proportion to its numbers, more pupils than the Hindu. In spite of the disadvantages under which the Mohammedans are placed by their dislike of the education given in our colleges, they hold, in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, in pro¬ portion to their total numbers, a larger number of offices in the service of the Government than the Hindus. But this is not the case in the greater part of India ; as a rule, the share of the Hindus in public employments much exceeds that of the Mohammedans. These difficulties in regard to the higher education of Mohammedans have been similar in kind to those 1 ‘ Report,’ p. 505. MOHAMMEDAN EDUCATION. 205 which have frequently arisen in Europe. That education should be severed from religion is an idea as repugnant to a good Mohammedan as it is to many Christians. There is now little use in discussing whether we have not carried out too rigidly in India the principle of holding ourselves aloof from all concern with the religious educa¬ tion of the Mohammedans. No similar questions arise with Hindus, for their religion is not one that can be taught, or that they desire to see taught, for it has no fixed dogmas and tenets. It may be true that it would have been right and politically wise to show greater sympathy with the belief and habits of thought of our Mohammedan subjects, and to treat more respectfully a literature and philosophy which they highly and naturally prize, but it was and is practically impossible for any English Govern¬ ment to act in these matters on any other rule than that which has been adopted. We cannot teach the doctrines of Islam. Thus it has come to pass that the colleges of the Government, those in the hands of Hindus, and those conducted by missionaries, are all unacceptable to the Mohammedan who desires that his son shall be instructed in his own faith, and in the classical languages of his people. There was a man among the Mohammedans of Northern India who believed that this difficult problem could be solved. Sir Syad Ahmad Khan, belongs, as his name be¬ tokens, to an ancient family that claims to be descended from the Prophet. His ancestors came into India from Central Asia, and held high office under the Moghal Em¬ perors. I am proud to call him my friend, and there is no man for whom I feel a more true respect. It was soon after the mutinies of 1857 that I first knew him at Morada- bad. He was then one of the most distinguished of our Native judges, bearing, at a time when Native courts of justice were often far from immaculate, a character as high 206 EDUCATION IN INDIA. as that of any Englishman. He was in the prime of life, a man of noble presence, honoured by all our countrymen for the loyalty and courage with which he had devoted himself to our cause, when our Government had been swept away, and not one Englishman remained in Rohilkhand. Syad Ahmad Khan, although he did not possess the power of fluent speech in English, had made himself well acquainted with our language. He was in every respect a thoroughly enlightened man, alive to the value of European knowledge, and to the fact that unless the Mohammedans could accept the results of western civili¬ sation there was no hope for them in the future. He felt that after a century of British rule there was still little sympathy between the Mohammedans and ourselves, and that nothing but the better education of his countrymen could bring the two races into more friendly relations. This education could not be supplied by the State; it must be supplied by the Mohammedans themselves, in a manner consistent with the dictates of their religious belief. Syad Ahmad Khan, like the friends of knowledge and progress in other countries, had to bear the open or covert opposition of many of his countrymen. His doctrines were declared to be unorthodox and dangerous, nor were Englishmen wanting whose opinions had been cast in moulds of a sort similar to those approved by Moham¬ medan bigotry, and who looked with little favour on Syad Ahmad Khan’s innovations. For he, a Musalman, declaring that he reverently accepted the authority of the Christian Scriptures, had dared to enter into critical dis¬ sertations of their meaning, and to appeal to them for evidence of the mission of Mohammed. Syad Ahmad Khan has always been a sincere believer in his own religion. He has claimed for it that it shall not be judged by the opinions of the ignorant and the bigots, or by those of its enemies of another faith, but THE ALIGARH COLLEGE. 20 7 that it shall be interpreted in the liberal spirit in which wise Christians interpret theirs. According to his belief, the faith of Islam, properly understood, is the friend of truth and progress in every branch of human knowledge. With this conviction Syad Ahmad Khan devoted him¬ self to the establishment of a college for the higher education of Mohammedans. He has given to this object for many years every effort of his life, and the whole of his worldly means. He was joined by some influential friends; as time went on, hostile prejudices and opposition dimin¬ ished ; munificent endowments were offered, and help and encouragement came not only from Mohammedans, but from Hindus and Englishmen. In 1883, the college founded by him at Aligarh, in the North-Western Pro¬ vinces, had made such progress that the Indian Education Commissioners wrote of it in the following terms :— “ It is in some respects superior to any educational institution in India, and one which bids fair to be of the greatest importance from a political as well as from an educational point of view. . . . It is the first expression of independent Musalman effort which the country has witnessed since it came under British rule. The Aligarh Society has set an example which, if followed to any large extent, will solve the problem of national education : and it is difficult to speak in words of too high praise of those whose labours have been so strenuous, or to overrate the value of the ally which the State has gained in the cause of education and advancement.” The college receives a grant in-aid from the Govern¬ ment. It has an English Principal, who not long ago was a member of the University of Cambridge, and seven Native Professors, three of whom are Masters of Arts. The schools attached to the college have an English head¬ master, and Native teachers of English, Arabic, Persian, and Hindi. Religious instruction is given to Moham¬ medan students, both Sunni and Shiah, in Arabic or Persian, as a part of the daily exercise; but although 208 EDUCATION IN INDIA. the college was primarily intended for Mohammedans, so much sympathy and generosity were displayed by Hindu friends, that its secular classes have been thrown open to Hindus also. In regard to scholarships and prizes, the rules of the college show no partiality to Mohammedans, and separate boarding-houses are pro¬ vided for Hindu students. The college is affiliated to the Allahabad University, and, with the schools attached, it contained, in 1892, 400 students. I will finish this account of Syad Ahmad Khan’s college with his own words, addressed especially to his English friends, assembled at Aligarh in January 1877, when Lord Lytton, the Viceroy, laid the foundation-stone of the new buildings. “ The personal honour,” he said, “ which you have done me assures me of a great fact, and fills me with feelings of a much higher nature than mere personal gratitude. I am assured that you, who upon this occasion represent the British rule, have sympathies with our labours, and to me this assurance is very valuable, and a source of great happiness. At my time of life it is a comfort to me to feel that the undertaking which has been for many years, and is now, the sole object of my life, has roused, on the one hand, the energies of my own countrymen, and, on the other, it has won the sympathy of our British fellow-subjects and the support of our rulers; so that when the few years I may still be spared are over, and when I shall be no longer amongst you, the college will still prosper, and succeed in educating my countrymen to have the same affection for their country, the same feelings of loyalty for the British rule, the same apprecia¬ tion of its blessings, the same sincerity of friendship with our British-fellow subjects as have been the ruling feelings of my life.” Syad Ahmad Khan’s task is by no means completed. Although the college has found liberal supporters, and has made extraordinary progress, the Mohammedan com¬ munity is generally poor, and if more money were forth¬ coming the benefits of the college might be very greatly EDUCATION OF UPPER CLASSES. 209 extended. There are many people in England anxious to assist, if they knew how, the work of Indian progress. Let them send their help to Sir Syad Ahmad Khdn’s college. They could find no more certain way of doing good. 1 When the Indian universities were first established, Lord Canning expressed the hope that the time was near when the nobility and upper classes of India would think that they had not had the dues of their rank unless they passed through the course of the university. This ex¬ pectation has not been fulfilled. The upper classes, even where no religious objections have existed, have for the most part kept themselves aloof. India being a country where the influence of birth and position is extremely great, this is unfortunate, but there is nothing in the fact that is surprising. The princes and chiefs and great landholders of India have seldom been educated. To be absolutely illiterate usually involves, even at the present time, no discredit ; sometimes, indeed, it is held positively honourable, because to be anything else would be a viola¬ tion of immemorial custom. Native chiefs and nobles have shown, with comparatively rare exceptions, no dis¬ position to send their sons to our colleges, because they attach little value to education, and are afraid of social contamination. A good beginning has, however, been made in this matter through the institution of special colleges. The most important of these is the Mayo College at Ajmir, established by desire of Lord Mayo for the education of the sons and relatives of the chiefs, nobles, and principal families of Rajputana. Many of them have sent their sons to the college. It has been liberally endowed by the 1 Sir Syad Ahmad Khan was for some years a member of the Council of the Governor-General for making laws and regulations. lie has also been a member of the Legislative Council in the North-Western Provinces, and the Queen has recognised his services by conferring on him the dignity of Knight Commander of the Star of India. O 210 EDUCATION IN INDIA. principal chiefs, and receives a grant-in-aid from our Government. “ English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Persian, Urdu, arithmetic, algebra, Euclid, history, and geography are now among the studies of the college. It is not desired to make these young chiefs great scholars, but to encourage in them a healthy tone and manly habits. To this end the training they receive is admirably adapted. If at the outset the chiefs displayed no great alacrity in sending their relatives, and if some of these looked with dislike upon their new phase of life, the experience of the past seven years has almost entirely dissipated the earlier reluctance. All the principal States have erected boarding¬ houses for their own cadets.” 1 Institutions with similar objects have been established at Lahore, and in several other places, and there is no doubt that the rising generation of Native chiefs will be better informed than its predecessors. Some very useful colleges have been established for special objects, such as the study of medicine and surgery, and engineering. The medical colleges deserve particular notice, for no educational institutions in India have been so remark¬ ably successful. There are more than 1700 hospitals and dispensaries in British India, in charge of Native surgeons educated in our colleges and schools. Among all the benefits conferred upon the people by our rule, there is perhaps no one more highly and universally valued than this. Surgery is an art for which Natives of India have a remarkable aptitude ; many of the Native surgeons are extremely skilful, and perform difficult operations in a manner that would not discredit the surgeons of London or Paris. More than 10,000,000 patients are treated every year at the Indian hospitals and dispensaries. Little has hitherto been done in the greater part of India towards the establishment of institutions for tech- 1 ‘ Report of Education Commission,’ p. 482 . TECHNICAL-ART—SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 21 1 nical instruction, but a useful beginning has been made, especially in Bombay. This is a want which even in England is being slowly supplied, and we see in India the reflection of English indifference. The establishment of Agricultural Departments, to which I shall again refer, will, it may be hoped, lead to an increasing recognition of the importance of applying scientific knowledge to the methods of agriculture, the chief of all the industrial arts of India. In several provinces schools of art have been established, and in some instances they have been presided over by highly accomplished men. It may, however, be hoped, that they are in course of abolition or of conversion into schools for technical instruction. India has nothing to learn from us in the matter of decorative art. We have done much to debase her beautiful and still living arts, and almost all the influence that we have exercised has been destructive. A wide field, on the other hand, is open for instruction and practical training in many industrial handicrafts and manufactures. The systems followed in different provinces in respect of secondary education vary so much that no description would be generally applicable. There is usually at the head-quarters of every district'a Government Higher school, where English and the subjects required for the entrance examinations at the universities are taught. Many schools of a similar kind have been established by missionaries, and receive grants-in-aid. In most of the smaller towns there is a Middle school, giving an education intermediate between that given in the higher and primary schools, and English is sometimes taught. In 1890-91 there were about 5000 Government and aided institutions of various kinds for secondary education in British India, with 470,000 scholars. Although the number of the Natives of India who are good English scholars is small, there are many who have 212 EDUCATION IN INDIA. learned enough cf our language for the ordinary clerical work of the public offices, and they hold almost all the minor appointments of this kind. They are a very useful and efficient class, but they have seldom any pretensions to be called educated men. The great majority of the young men at our higher schools and colleges go there because it is a certain way of getting on in life. It is a very successful way both for themselves and for their em¬ ployers, but, with rare exceptions, they are content with the smallest amount of English education which enables them to perform their work. A few are more ambitious, and qualify themselves for higher employment. In some provinces they hold important offices in the executive service, and supply a large proportion of the Native Judges. Some of them have reached, as Judges of the High Courts, the highest judicial rank which anyone, whether he be Native or English, can attain in India. Many practice with great success at the bar; others are professors and masters in the colleges and schools, or in charge of the numerous hospitals and dispensaries. Out of 1696 graduates of the Calcutta University be¬ tween 1871 and 1882, 1155 are known to have entered the public service, or to have become lawyers or doctors. In 1882, out of 971 graduates at Madras, 796 were holding remunerative employment in various professions. In 1887, in Bengal, among 623 Native officers holding important posts in the executive and judicial services, 542 had either passed the entrance or first arts examination, or had taken degrees. In Madras and Bombay, more than 50 per cent, of posts of the same class were filled by men with similar qualifications. In Northern India, English education has made less progress, and the proportion is smaller. Although our educational system has thus been, in some important respects, successful, the number of natives of India who can be called highly educated, according to a European standard, is almost infinitesimally small in pro- PROPORTION OF EDUCATION TO POPULATION. 213 portion to the vast population of the country. Sir Henry Maine, commenting on the fact that in the twenty years ending with 1883 not more than 5000 M.A. and B.A. de¬ grees were given altogether, wrote as follows:—“ I will assume that every man who has taken a Bachelor of Arts degree is sufficiently educated to have valuable ideas on politics ; and for the purpose of including all who, in any sense, can be called educated men, I will multiply the total by five. That gives 25,000 Indian gentlemen of an educa¬ tion and age to take an interest or a part in politics.” 1 Sir Henry Maine added that he thought it probable that his estimate of 25,000 was much above the mark. I have no doubt that he was right in this opinion, and, considering the infinitesimally small proportion of the 290,000,000 of people in India who possess any education at all, I be¬ lieve that there are far less than 25,000 men who can be called educated. The female population of India exceeds 140,000,000, and among them there are probably not 1000 women to whom the term educated could properly be applied. Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff tells us that in Madras, prob¬ ably, as he says, the most educated and Anglicised part of India, the proportion of graduates to the population is thirty-eight to a million. The number of Brahmans who are more or less learned in ancient Sanskrit literature is considerable, although there are not many great scholars. With rare exceptions, they have no acquaintance with any branches of Western knowledge, nor any desire to obtain it. I have spoken of the controversy of 1835, which, under Lord Macaulay’s influence, ended with the decision that English literature and science, taught through the medium of the English language, must be the basis of higher educa¬ tion in India. Very little science was taught in those days even in England, and still less in India; it was the study, 1 ‘ The Reign of Queen Victoria ’—“ India,” vol. i. p. 526. 214 EDUCATION IN INDIA. not of English science, but of English classical literature, that was practically encouraged, and so it has been ever since. As Sir Henry Maine has often pointed out, the strict and sober tests of truth which modern science can alone supply were exactly the element that was wanting in the education of Orientals, and especially of Hindus. Native thought and literature, as he says, “ is elaborately inaccurate ; it is supremely and deliberately careless of all precision in magnitude, number, and time.” “ The Indian intellect stood in need, beyond everything else, of stricter criteria of truth. It required a treatment to harden and brace it, and scientific teaching was exactly the tonic which its infirmities called for.” Even at the present time, although matters in this respect are somewhat better than they were, science holds an altogether secondary place in the Indian universities. We may find an illustration of the truth of Sir Henry Maine’s remarks in the remarkable success achieved by Natives of India whose professions have a more or less scientific, exact, and practical basis. This is especially the case with those who have devoted themselves to the study and practice of European surgery and medicine, and to that of Anglo-Indian law, the character of which is eminently accurate and precise. The best re¬ sults of English education in India are seen in the Native surgeons and in the Native judges; the worst results are seen in those whose education has been merely literary. Natives have not been successful as engineers. As a rule, they dislike physical exertion that can be avoided. A good engineer must be himself a master of mechanical arts, always ready in case of necessity to make use of his own hands, and this is usually not agreeable to the educated Native. Almost nothing of our knowledge of ancient or modern India, whether of its history, its languages, or its people, and nothing that can help us in the arduous task of ad¬ ministering this vast empire, has been contributed by men DANGERS OF ENGLISH LITERARY TEACHING. 2 1 5 who have been educated in our Indian schools and colleges. These institutions give, in the English language, a more or less good imitation of the purely scholastic part of an ordinary English education, but the young men of India learn in them almost nothing about their own country, or about the Government under which they live, and, least of all, are they taught to be good and loyal citizens. Sir Henry Maine has pointed out with admirable truth the mischievous results to India of the fact that the English classical literature of the end of the last century, which we teach in our colleges, was “ saturated with party politics,” and that its views are often absolutely false. “ This,” he says, “ would have been less serious if at this epoch one chief topic of the great writers and rhetoricians—of Burke and Sheridan, of Fox and Francis—had not been India itself. I have no doubt that the view of Indian government taken, at the end of the century, by Englishmen whose work and speeches are held to be models of English style, has had deep effect on the mind of the educated Indian of this day. We are only now beginning to see how excessively inaccurate were their statements of fact and how one-sided were their judgments.” 1 The prevailing burden of this classical literature of Eng¬ land is, as another eminent man has observed, the duty of “ resistance to authority, the doctrine that Governments are always oppressive and unwise, and the canonisation of those who have built up the shrine of liberty with stones plucked from the fortress of tyranny. Much of the hostile attitude we meet with in India is due to the books we have placed in the hands of school-boys ; we have fed them with the invectives of Milton and Burke, and they, with their great imitative faculty, have conceived that we stand to the people of India in the position of the Stuarts and the Georges towards the people of England.” All this sort of education, as M. Harmand has observed, “ is dangerous fare for Asiatic brains. It seems to dislocate all the 1 1 The Reign of Queen Victoria ’—“ India,” vol. i. p. 506. EDUCATION IN INDIA. 2 [6 foundations of what they know and what they feel, to de¬ prive them of moral stability, and to perturb their souls with irresolution to their very depths.” 1 In late years valuable contributions have been made to the history of British India, but it still remains true that the old stories of the crimes by which the establishment of our power in India was attended have been passed on as articles of faith from one author to another. A few students know that for the most part these stories are false, and (to use the words of Sir Alfred Lyall) that “ the hardihood and endurance of the men who won for England an empire, were equalled only by the general justice and patience with which they pacified and administered it.” These calumnies have caused, and still are causing, no little mischief both in England and in India. Thousands of excellent people are filled with righteous indignation when they read of the atrocious acts of Clive and Hastings, the judicial murder of Nandkumar, the extermination of the Rohillas, the plunder of the Begums. No suspicion reaches them of the truth that these horrors never occurred, and the fear can hardly be repressed that there may be some foundation even now for charges of Indian mis- government and oppression. Disparagement of their own countrymen has always been one of the common failings of unwise Englishmen, those “ birds of evil presage who,” as Burke has told us, “ have at all times grated our ears with their melancholy song.” They find in the supposed crimes of the founders of our Indian empire an unfailing source of invective and obloquy. This false history is systema¬ tically taught by our schools and colleges and universities, and believed by the educated Natives of India to be true. It is impossible that this should not have a serious effect on their feelings towards their English rulers. We owe to Sir James Stephen, to whom India owes many other debts for good service, “the first attempt (I am 1 ‘ L’ Inde,’ Preface de M. Jules Harmand. JAMES MILLS FALSE HISTORY. 21 J quoting the words of Sir Henry Maine) to apply robust, careful, and dispassionate criticism to this period of his¬ tory.” One at least of the imaginary crimes to which I have referred—the judicial murder of Nandkumar by Impey and Hastings — will hardly again appear in sober history. The great criminal in this matter was James Mill, whose history, “ saturated,” if history was ever so saturated, “ with party politics,” is ordinarily accepted to this day as the standard and veritable history of British India. His “ excessive dryness and severity of style,” Sir James Stephen says, ’‘produce an impression of accuracy and labour which a study of original authorities does not by any means confirm. . . . His want of accuracy is nothing to his bad faith. My experience is that when he makes imputations, especially on lawyers, he ought always to be carefully confronted with the original authorities.” 1 I should have hesitated even on such authority as that of Sir James Stephen, to accuse an historian not only of in¬ accuracy but of bad faith, if I did not feel that I had qualified myself to form an independent opinion on the subject. I have personally had occasion to investigate the facts of perhaps the worst of the crimes of which Hastings has been accused, the sale and extermination of the Rohillas. 2 Several years of my Indian service were passed in the pro¬ vince of Rohilkhand. When I was first sent there, men were still living who remembered having heard in their childhood the story of Hafiz Rahmat, the great Rohilla chief, of his defeat by the English, and his death. I went to Rohilkhand without a doubt of the truth of the terrible story told by Burke and Mill, and by Lord Macaulay in his famous essay, but I soon changed my opinion. I found 1 ‘The Story of Nuncomar and the Impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey,’ vol. ii- P- 149 - 2 ‘ Hastings and the Rohilla War,’ by Sir John Strachey, 1892. 2l8 EDUCATION IN INDIA. myself in the midst of a population by which the history of those times had not been forgotten, and of which an import¬ ant and numerous section consisted of Rohillas, the children and grand-children of the men whose race was supposed to have been almost exterminated. I was in frequent communi¬ cation with a Rohilla prince who ruled over a considerable territory which his ancestor owed to Warren Hastings, and which had been in the possession of his family ever since. No one had ever heard of the atrocities which to this day fill Englishmen with shame. Later in life I was able to undertake an examination of the original authorities on the Rohilla war, and I can hardly express in moderate language my indignation at the misrepresentations, the suppression of truth, the garbling of documents of which I found that Mill had been guilty. The English army was not hired out by Hastings for the destruction of the Rohillas; the Rohillas, described by Burke as belonging to “ the bravest, the most honourable and generous nation on earth,” were no nation at all, but a comparatively small body of cruel and rapacious Afghan adventurers who had imposed their foreign rule on an unwilling Hindu popula¬ tion ; and the story of their destruction is fictitious. It was unfortunate that Lord Macaulay accepted Mill as an authority deserving the fullest confidence. There is hardly an important statement of fact in his essay on Warren Hastings which is not taken from Mill’s History, or from the equally inaccurate charges and speeches of Burke. I share the admiration which Sir James Stephen has ex¬ pressed for the services rendered to India by Lord Macaulay, and of him I shall speak no word of disrespect. But it is a misfortune that he was thus misled. I fear that the time is distant when English people will cease to accept his brilliant essays as the chief sources of their knowledge regarding the establishment of our empire in India. A few words must be added on the subject of the books and newspapers published in India. The number of books THE NATIVE AND VERNACULAR PRESS. 219 that appear every year is large, but the number of new works of permanent value by Native authors, issued from the Indian press, is infinitely small. In 1890-91 there were 5595 publications, of which 2157 were in various vernacular languages, 424 in Sanskrit, Arabic, or Persian, 650 in English, and 955 Polyglot. “According to the Official Reporter (I am quoting from Mr Baines), a few works on Sanskrit texts, with an occasional drama on a historical occurrence or a subject of the day are all that are likely to survive the year of their birth. A good deal of this infant mortality, so to speak, seems to be attributable to the very high proportion of the publications which deal with the text books prescribed for University or School Examinations, or other ephemeral works designed for the same market. ... A more favourite outlet for budding talent is found in journalism, of which we find 490 ex¬ ponents in the list. The largest circulation is stated to be 20,000 in the case of one paper in Bengal ; about 6000 is the maximum in Bombay, and 5000 in Madras. Else¬ where it seems to rarely reach a thousand. This does not represent, of course, nearly the number of readers.” It is a serious misfortune that discredit should often be thrown on the results of English education by the foolish talk and disloyal writing of a section of the English- speaking Natives of India. This is chiefly true of the Bengalis. Many of them are gifted with a remarkable faculty of fluent speech and writing. Although to our taste their English is often antiquated and magniloquent, few foreigners master so completely the difficulties of our language. Their newspapers, published in English, are sometimes, so far as the style is concerned, well written, but with honourable exceptions, little else can be said in their favour. The vernacular press of Bengal is often distinctly seditious and shamefully scurrilous. This is by no means equally true of some of the other provinces, where many of the newspapers, although they may have 220 EDUCATION IN INDIA. little or no value, are at least conducted with propriety and decorum. To everyone who desires to learn the truth regarding the progress of education in India, the admirable state¬ ment of the facts contained in the Report by Mr Baines on the Census of 1891 cannot be too highly commended. Many references have already been made to it, but I must quote also the words with which he concludes his chapter on the “ Literacy of the Population.” “ Where so much is heard as at present of the literate claims of India, it is just as well to define the limitations of that term. It may thus be judged how far the a 0 eyy»';? of the handful of people to whom, under the most liberal interpretation, the term can be said to apply, is to be held capable of illuminating the thoughts and conditions- of the vast mass from whom the very education, apart from the traditions, of that close corporation, inclines them to stand aloof.” I do not propose to describe how it has come to pass that no means are provided by the law in India for punishing the authors of publications that are unquestion¬ ably seditious, which stir up dangerous strife between men of different religions, or are used as the means of levying blackmail from Native Princes and Native officials. I doubt whether there is any civilised country in the world where the things would be tolerated which are tolerated in India, or where Liberty of the Press is interpreted as it is interpreted there. When, in 1835, Lord Macaulay rightly and successfully advocated the abolition of the restrictions then existing on the Press in India—restric¬ tions which no reasonable man would desire to see restored—he said that if the law that he proposed were adopted, “ no person would be able to print or publish sedition or calumny without imminent risk of punishment.” He can do this now with no risk at all. CHAPTER XVII. RACES—LANGUAGES—CASTES—RELIGIONS. Races—Aryans—Dravidians—Languages of India—Distribution of population among various religions—The Hindus—Animism—Sir Alfred Lyallon the religion of the Hindu—Mr Ibbetson’s report—Illustrations of the religion of an Indian province—Brahmanism—Caste—Reverence for Brahmans— Caste not confined to Hindus—The Mohammedans in India—Their distribution—The more orthodox Mohammedans—Animosity between Hindus and Mohammedans—Causes of political anxiety—Increase of Mohammedanism in Bengal—Jains—Sikhs—Parsis—Buddhists—Chris¬ tianity in India. I DO not propose to say more than a few words regarding the ethnographical history of India. Knowledge of the subject is still in its infancy. There seems, however, to be no doubt that some at least of the conclusions drawn from modern philological and physiological research, and from the ancient literature of India, must contain a con¬ siderable amount of truth. It appears that in times of which we have no historical record, there came into North Western India from Central Asia a race of men called Arya. Their language was Sanskritic, closely allied to the languages of Greeks, Romans, Celts, and Germans. Gradually they spread themselves over Northern India, expelling or enslaving the races with whom they came into contact. These were dark-coloured people, inferior in all the arts of civilised life to the Aryan immigrants. In the North, under Aryan domination, the Hindu polity and religion grew up, as they are described in ancient Sanskrit literature. Many vestiges of the lower races still remain, especially in the wilder and more inaccessible tracts, but 221 222 RACES AND LANGUAGES. throughout the Indo-Gangetic plain their subjugation was complete. In the southern parts of India the Aryans never established themselves in general possession, but the Brahmans succeeded in obtaining recognition for their claim to universal veneration, and in including the local religions within the pale of Hinduism. The so-called Dravidian races of Southern India differ greatly in physical characteristics from the peoples of the North. Throughout almost the whole of the countries of North¬ ern and North-Western India, containing a population of nearly one hundred and forty millions, Aryan supre¬ macy is shown by the languages of the people. Although these differ greatly among themselves, the vocabulary of all of them is mainly Sanskritic. The most widely spoken of these, and of all the languages of India, although its dialects are very numerous, is Hindi. It is spoken, in various forms, by some eighty-eight millions of people. Eighteen millions speak Punjabi, eleven mil¬ lions Gujarathi, nineteen millions Marathi, and forty-one millions Bengali. The Dravidian languages of Southern India have no affinity to those of the Aryan group. They are spoken by about fifty-three millions of people. The chief of them are Tamil, Telugu, Kanarese, and Malayalam, but there are many dialects. Other distinct classes of languages are those known as Kolarian, spoken by various tribes, of which the Santhals, in Bengal, are the most numerous ; the languages allied to Tibetan ; and Burmese. The last-named lan¬ guage is spoken by about six millions of people. Altogether, seventy languages are enumerated in the census returns of 1891 as spoken in India, but many of these are dialects rather than distinct languages. Europe does not present, in this respect, greater diversity than India. According to the census of 1891, the two hundred RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 22 3 and eighty-seven millions of people, for whom returns were furnished, were distributed among the principal religions as follows :— Hindu Animistic Sikh Jain Parsi Buddhist - Jew Christian - Musalman 207,732,000 9,280,000 1,908,000 I > 4 1 7,ooo 90,000 7,131,000 1 7,000 2,284,000 57,321,000 In regard to the religion of the Hindus as it existed in ancient times, and is described in ancient Sanskrit literature, or in regard to the forms in which it is professed by the less ignorant classes, who constitute a very small proportion of the population, I shall say nothing. The subject is one on which it is easy to find information. I propose now to refer only to the religion of the masses of the people, which, until not very long ago, had hardly been noticed in books pro¬ fessing to describe the religious beliefs and practices of the Hindus. The religion of the agricultural population, which includes the great majority of the inhabitants of the Indian continent, has little or no resemblance to the more orthodox forms of Hinduism. I have laid much stress on the fact, which lies at the very root of all knowledge about India, that neither India as a whole nor any Indian country possesses, according to European ideas, any sort of unity. This is especially true of religion. There are more than two hundred millions of people that we call Hindus, but the term Hindu is one of which no definition is possible. Excepting the wild tribes which have not yet been en¬ gulfed in the ocean of Brahmanism, everyone in India is 224 ANIMISTIC RELIGIONS. called a Hindu who is not a Mohammedan or a Christian, or a professor of some other recognised creed. “ The faith of the masses,” as Mr Baines says, “ is purely local,” and “ saturated with Animistic conceptions.” Before going further, this term “ Animistic,” which was adopted in the census of 1891, must be noticed. I quote from the report of Mr Baines, Dr Tiele’s interpretation of the word :— “ AnimiSm is the belief in the existence of souls or spirits, of which only the powerful—those on which man feels himself de¬ pendent, and before which he stands in awe—acquire the rank of divine beings, and become objects of worship. These spirits are conceived as moving freely through earth and air, and, either of their own accord, or because conjured by some spell, and thus under compulsion, appearing to men ( Spiritism ). But they may also take up their abode, either permanently or temporarily, in some object, whether lifeless or living it matters not : and this object, as endowed with higher power, is then worshipped or employed to protect individuals or communities ( Fetishism ). Spiritism, essentially the same as what is now called Spiritualism, must be carefully distinguished from Fetishism, but can only rarely be separated from it.” “ In the stage of development (Mr Baines continues) in which we find Animism in India, it has passed from its archaic and in¬ determinate shape into a collection of polydaimonistic tribal religions, in which spells, magic, and exorcism are all prominent. In this stage the malevolent spirits are considered the more im¬ portant, and little notice is taken of the good. The main object, in the first place, is to get power over the spirits by magic, and, in a higher stage of belief, by gifts or homage. These notions are to be found in every stage of evolution in different parts of India, but the term Animistic has been restricted, in the census tables, to a certain class of the community. As in the case of several other forms of creed in that country, it is necessary to define the scope of the title negatively, or by explaining what is not included under it, rather than what is. In anticipation, there¬ fore, of an explanation of the term Hindu, it may be stated that it was the intention of the framers of the rules for enumeration that under the head of Animistic should come all members of RELIGION OF THE HINDUS. 225 the forest tribes who were not locally acknowledged to be Hindu, Musalman, Christian, or Buddhist by religion. . . . The dis¬ tinction between the tribal form of faith and that of the lower grades of Brahmanic community is very elastic. . . . But the dis¬ tinction is really of little moment, because every stratum of Indian society is more or less saturated with Animistic conceptions, but little raised above those which predominate in the early stages of religious development.” 1 Sir Alfred Lyall has given, in his ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ an interesting account of modern Hinduism. “ The term ‘ Hindu ’ is not,” he writes, “ a national, or even a geographical denomination, but signifies vaguely a fortuitous con¬ glomeration of sects, tribes, hereditary professions and castes.” The Hindu religion is “ a religious chaos.” . . . “ I doubt whether anyone who has not lived among Hindus can adequately realise the astonishing variety of their ordinary religious beliefs, the con¬ stant changes of shape and colour which these beliefs undergo, the extraordinary fecundity of the superstitious sentiment.” Hin¬ duism is “ a tangled jungle of disorderly superstitions, ghosts, and demons, demi-gods, and deified saints, household gods, tribal gods, local gods, universal gods, with their countless shrines and temples, and the din of their discordant rites—deities who abhor a fly’s death, and those who delight still in human victims.” 2 If a religion be a creed with certain distinctive tenets, Hinduism is not a religion at all. The sacred books of Sanskrit literature represent in no way the religion of the masses of the people. The sanctity of the Vedas is an accepted article of faith among Hindus who have heard of their existence, but they have nothing to do with the existing popular beliefs. The Puranas, and other comparatively late works, which Elphinstone says may be called the scriptures of modern Hinduism, have no practical connection with the religion of the great majority of the population. Some of their gods and goddesses and heroes, 1 4 General Report on the Census of India,’ 1891, p. 157. 2 4 Asiatic Studies,’ p. 2. P 226 RELIGIONS. indeed, have almost everywhere, in one form or another, places among the recognised deities. Millions of pilgrims flock to the shrines of Vishnu and Siva, for, as Mr Baines says, “pilgrimages are the substitutes for most other re¬ ligious observances, always excepting those connected with the propitiation of local spirits, whether family or attached to the house or village.” Krishna and Rama are loved from one end of India to the other, and the popularity of Hanu- man is universal, but the everyday life of the ordinary Indian peasant is usually very little affected by thoughts of Hindu mythology. I am now speaking of the rural population. In the larger towns there is much more of the Hinduism that we read about in books. Sir Alfred Lyall has given in his first chapter an interest¬ ing description of the religion of an Indian province, taking his illustrations mostly from Berar, in Central India. I will not refer to them because they are easily accessible, but I will quote some passages from an excellent report by Mr Ibbetson, of the Civil Service, on the census of 1881 in the Punjab. It follows closely on the lines of Sir Alfred Lyall’s work, and its facts are applicable in their general character, although not in all their details, to a very great part of India. Hinduism—or, to give it its more appropriate name, Brahmanism—is, as Mr Ibbetson says, a sacerdotalism rather than a religion. “ The veneration for Brahmans runs through the whole social as well as religious life of a Hindu peasant, and takes the practical form of either offerings or food. No child is born, named, betrothed, or married; nobody dies or is burnt; no journey is undertaken, or auspicious day selected ; no house is built, no agricultural operation of importance begun, or harvest gathered in, without the Brahmans being feed and fed ; a portion of all the produce of the field is set apart for their use; they are consulted in sickness and in health, they are feasted in sorrow and in joy. But with the spiritual life of the people, so far as such thing exists, they have no concern. Their business as REVERENCE FOR BRAHMANS. 227 Brahmans is to eat and not to teach. . . . The sacerdotal des¬ potism has altogether overshadowed the religious element, and the caste system has thrust its roots so deep into the whole social fabric that its sanction is social rather than religious. A man may disbelieve in the Hindu Trinity; he may invent new gods of his own, however foul and impure; he may worship them with the most revolting orgies ; he may even abandon all belief in supernatural powers, and yet remain a Hindu ; but he must reverence and feed the Brahmans, he must abide by caste rules and restrictions, he must preserve himself from ceremonial pollution, and from contact and communion with the unclean on pain of becoming Anathema Maranatha.” This general veneration of Brahmans, and the recognition of their divine right to be fed by the rest of the community, is the main link between the countless shapes of Hinduism ; this, to the great majority of Hindus, constitutes in practice the chief part of their religion. But there is another bond of union which must not be forgotten, the universal belief in the holiness of the cow. The Hindu is by no means remarkable for humanity in the treatment of his cattle, but their lives are sacred. Kine-killing has often been a capital offence in Native States. In Kashmir it has been, until quite lately, punished either with death or with im¬ prisonment for life. Sir Alfred Lyall was the first to explain clearly the process which has been going on, t and which, wherever opportunity offers, goes on still, by which Brahmanism brings within its pale almost all the forms of worship with which it comes into contact, and adopts without objection all sorts of strange gods and demons. With regard to the worship of the gods, the important matter to the Hindu peasant is the propitiation of the tribal or other deity who attends to the affairs of his own particular caste or occupation, and of the local gods and ghosts and saints and demons who haunt every hill and grove and village. Their names are often unknown, or little cared for, outside the limits of their personal or terri- 228 RELIGIONS. torial authority, and their numbers are countless. These powers, for the most part malevolent, go on multiplying or perishing ; they are maintained or degraded according to their deserts ; frequent miracles, the stream of which in India is never ending, support the faith of their devotees or transfer it to some new object ; and all of them are readily accepted as worthy of veneration or fear by the Brahmans ; the gates of the Hindu Pantheon are never shut. These local gods and evil powers are at all times on the alert to resent and punish neglect and disrespect. Little is to be hoped from them, but everything is to be feared. Every disease and every misfortune is more or less dependent on their influence, and the life of the Indian peasant is bound up with the observances required to give a certain amount of security against this ever-present danger. In Southern India, and in Lower Bengal, the number and power of local deities and malevolent spirits are even greater than in the north. “ It almost seems (Mr Baines observes) that the weaker the race the more numerous and bloodthirsty are its gods, and the greater the influence of the sacerdotal system of caste.” In the Indian superstitions there is almost always a grotesque element. I will give a few examples of them ; they will not be applicable to any one extensive tract, for custom in regard to these matters is infinitely various, but they will not on this account be less characteristic . 1 The most dreaded of the minor deities in Northern India are those who cause special diseases. The small-pox god¬ dess, Si'tala, is the eldest and most formidable of seven 1 I have taken these illustrations of local superstitions from Mr Ibbetson’s ‘ Report on the Census of the Punjab,’ from Sir Henry Elliot’s ‘ Races of the North-Western Provinces,’ and from the ‘Report on the Settlement of Bareilly,’ by Mr Moens. I have often given the words of the original authors, but so much has been omitted or altered that I have not marked all my borrowings as quotations, and it has therefore to be explained that nearly all that is said on this subject is due to the authorities that I have named, and especially to Mr Ibbetson’s interesting Report. INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS. 229 fatal sisters. She is worshipped by women and children only, and enormous numbers of them attend her shrines. She usually rides on a donkey, and therefore it is proper to give a feed of grain at her shrine to the donkey of the village potter, first waving the grain and white cocks over the head of the child to be protected. At the same time black dogs are fed, fowls, pigs, goats, and cocoa-nuts are offered. An adult who has had small-pox must let a pig loose for Sitala, or he will be attacked again. If an epidemic of small-pox appears in the village, the goddess is punished by the cessation of all worship and offerings, but so long as the disease is absent nothing is too good for her. She is easily frightened or deceived, and when a woman has lost a son by small-pox, and fears that another may be attacked, it is desirable to let the goddess under¬ stand that the second son is of no value, and, as evidence of this, to send him round the village in a dust-pan, or to dress him in old rags borrowed from the neighbours. Everything is to be feared from the malevolent dead. A man who has died a violent death, or without sons, is dangerous, and it is prudent to erect a shrine to him. One of these ghosts of great fame in the Delhi territory is Teja. He was taking milk to his aged mother when a snake bit him on the nose. He begged to be allowed to take the milk to her, and then came back to be again bitten and killed. These evil ghosts are especially dangerous to women and children after eating sweetmeats, and a pinch of salt should be taken as a precaution. They are fond of going down your throat when you yawn. They cannot set foot on the ground, so it is wise in haunted places to sleep on the ground and not on a bed. Very often they take up their abode in animals dangerous to human life. The Evil eye is more common and dangerous than the gettatura of Naples. Malignant influence is often exer¬ cised by inanimate objects. I have myself been officially RELIGIONS. 23O obliged, in one of the Hill districts, to interfere on behalf of a considerable population, to give protection against a small white house newly built in a conspicuous situation, the owner of which sorrowfully admitted that, through no fault of his own, it was undoubtedly bringing ruin on his neighbours. Sir Alfred Lyall has given examples of the worship of inanimate objects of strange appearance. I knew a case in which the sight of a distant mountain peak of peculiar form had caused for many years the complete abandonment of a village and of a rich tract of cultivated land. Good and bad omens are innumerable. Two water- pots, one on the top of the other, are especially fortun¬ ate if they be left to the right in passing ; and the same rule is applicable to cows and antelopes; a snake, on the other hand, should be passed on the left. I will give, merely as illustrations, a few examples of local superstitions. “ If,” writes Mr Ibbetson, referring to the Punjab, “ a boy be born, a net is hung over the doorway, a chain stuck on to the wall, and a fire lighted on the threshold, which is kept up night and day to prevent evil spirits from passing. The swaddling- clothes should be borrowed from another person’s house. On the night of the sixth day the whole household sits up and watches over the child, for on that day his destiny is determined, especially as to immunity from small-pox. If he go hungry on that day he will be stingy all his life. None of these precautions are taken on the birth of a girl.” No agricultural operations can be carried on without the performance of certain ceremonies, and the supersti¬ tions connected with them are endless. I will give one or two illustrations taken from the North-Western Pro¬ vinces and the Punjab. This is the manner in which the planting of sugar-cane is commenced in parts of Rohilkhand. When the ground is ready, the plough is worshipped and decorated. This goes first, and is followed in the same furrow by a second. Behind this comes the AGRICULTURAL SUPERSTITIONS. 23I sower, wearing silver ornaments, a necklace of flowers, a red mark on his forehead, and lamp-black on his eyelids. Before beginning his work he is regaled with ghee and sweetmeats. He strews the bits of sugar-cane into the furrow at intervals of about a foot. He is called the elephant. Behind him comes a second man, called the crow, who picks up any bits which have not fallen into the furrow. A third man, called the donkey, supplies the elephant with sugar-cane from a basket tied to his waist. It is a fortunate omen if a man on horseback comes into the field while this is going on. When the work is done, all who have been engaged in it go to the house of the cultivator of the field and have a dinner, composed of pulse, milk and spices, rice, and cakes of unleavened bread. In some districts, the wife of the elephant follows with a ball of cotton. At some unexpected moment he turns on her, and after a sham contest bears her to the ground. The cotton, being forced out of her hand, spreads upon the ground, and the parties present exclaim, “ May our sugar¬ cane grow and spread like this cotton.” Not the least essential part of this and all other proceedings is that the Brahmans must be fed and proper offerings given to them. Mr Ibbetson gives some examples of superstitions in the Punjab regarding cattle. Nothing connected with them, such as butter or leather, must be bought or sold on Saturday or Sunday. The manner in which, when cattle- plague first appears in a village, it can be cast out, and transferred to the next village in the East, is curious. All field work, grinding, and cooking are stopped on Saturday morning, and on Sunday night a procession takes a buffalo skull, a lamb, sticks of the siras tree, butter-milk, fire, and sacred grass to the boundary, over which they are thrown, while a gun is fired three times to frighten away the disease. “ Last year a man was killed in an affray resulting from an attempt to transfer the plague in this manner. A villager in Gurgaon once 232 CASTES. captured the cattle-plague in its material shape, and would not let it ^go till it promised never to remain where he or his descendants were present ; and his progeny are still sent for when murrain has fastened on a village, to walk round it and call on the plague to fulfil its contract.” Great power over milch-cattle is exercised by the Singhs, or snake-gods, and the milk of the eleventh day after calving is sacred to them. These Singhs have a widespread reputation among the villagers of Northern India. Those best known are the black, green, and grey Singhs; but dead men have a way of becoming snakes, so their numbers multiply, and shrines must be erected to them. If a peasant sees a snake he will salute it, and if it bites him he or his heirs will build a shrine to prevent similar occurrences in future. Among the delusions about modern India which it seems impossible to kill, the belief still survives that although there have been many changes in the system of caste, it remains true that the Hindu population is divided into the four great classes described by Manu : Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. In India itself this notion is fostered by the more learned among the Brahmans, who love to make themselves and others believe in the continuous existence of a divinely con¬ stituted organisation. To what extent the religious and social systems shadowed forth in the ancient Brahmanical literature had an actual existence it is difficult to say, but it is certain that little remains of them now. The Brahmans, indeed, maintain their exceptional position. Excluding the Brahmans, caste, whatever may have been its origin, means for the most part, at the present time, hereditary occupation. India, in the words of Sir Henry Maine, is divided into a vast number of independent, self¬ acting, organised social groups—trading, manufacturing, cultivating. “ In the enormous majority of instances, caste is only the name for a number of practices which BRAHMANS. 233 are followed by each one of a multitude of groups of men, whether such a group be ancient and natural or modern and artificial. As a rule, every trade, every profession, every guild, every tribe, every class, is also a caste ; and the members of a caste not only have their special objects of worship, selected from the Hindu Pantheon, or adopted into it, but they exclusively eat together, and exclusively intermarry. Among the almost innumerable castes there is none that has so many members as that of the Brahmans. Accord¬ ing to the census of 1891 they numbered 14,800,000. Be¬ sides these there are only three castes, each of which has more than 10,000,000 natives ; Rdjput, Kunbi (agricul¬ turists), and Chamar (workers in leather). A.bout 16 per cent, of the inhabitants of India are included in these four castes. There are between forty and fifty others, each of which has more than a million members. The distinctions and subdivisions of all these castes are innumerable, and even the Brahmans are as much divided among themselves as the rest. According to Mr Sherring, in his work on ‘ Hindu Tribes and Castes,’ there are more than 1800 Brahmanical subdivisions; and it constantly happens that to a Brahman of some particular class 01- district the pollution of eating with other Brahmans would be ruinous. They are numerous almost everywhere; Oudh is one of their especial strongholds. In that province in 1881 they numbered more than 1,250,000, and constituted one-seventh of the Hindu population. “ Every one of them,” writes Mr Benett, “ is invested with a reverence which no extreme of abject poverty, no infamy of private conduct, can impair, and which is beyond anything which a mind not immediately conversant with the facts can conceive. They are invariably addressed with the titles of divinity or highest earthly honour. The oldest and highest of the members of other castes implore the blessing of the youngest and poorest of theirs ; they are the chosen recipients of all charity, and are allowed a 23 4 CASTES-RELIGIONS. licence in their private relations with the inferior castes which would be resented as a deadly injury in any but themselves.” The Brahmans have become so numerous that only a small proportion can be employed in sacerdotal functions, and the charity which it is a duty to bestow upon them could not, however profuse, be sufficient for their support. They are found in almost every occupation. They are soldiers, cultivators, traders, and servants; they were very numerous in the old Sepoy army, and the name of one of their subdivisions, “ Pande,” became the generic term by which the mutineers of 1857 were commonly known by the English in India. The number of Brahmans in the public service is very large. Out of 1866 of the chief executive and judicial offices held by Hindus in 1887, 904 were held by Brahmans. “Their number”—I am quoting from the Report of the Public Service Commission—“ is sixfold that of any other Hindu caste, except the Ivayasths—who, however, are only half as numerous as the Brahmans—and it represents a proportion of about 35 per cent, on the total number of persons employed in these branches of the public service. This is especially noteworthy when it is remembered that the number of males of the Brahman caste bears a proportion of only between 7 and 8 per cent, to the total male Hindu population of British India.” It is remarkable that the Brahmans, with rare exceptions, have never aspired to actual sovereignty. The ordinary assumption that caste in India is an insti¬ tution peculiar to Hindus is altogether erroneous. Mr Ibbetson, in his Report on the census of 1881 in the Punjab, shows how completely it is true that caste is a social and not a religious institution. Conversion to Mohammedanism, for instance, has often no effect on the caste of the convert. The same is sometimes true of converts to Christianity. Mr Baines tells us of a Christian apothecary in Madras who asked that a wall might be DISTRIBUTION OF MOHAMMEDANS. 2 35 built, round the yard of the dispensary of which he had official charge, in order that the women of his family might take exercise in the seclusion due to their caste. There has often been much misapprehension about the Indian Mohammedans, of whom there are more than 57,000,000. Among all the countries of India, there are only two in which the Mohammedans are very numerous, and the larger proportion of them are so ignorant of the religion to which they nominally belong, and so little de¬ voted to its tenets, that they might almost as properly be counted among the innumerable classes of Hindus. Throughout the long strip of country, for the most part scantily peopled, in the valley of the Indus, below the mountains of Afghanistan and Baluchistan that form the western frontier of India, the great majority of the population has been for many centuries Mohammedan. This tract, varying in breadth to a maximum of about 400 miles, extends some 800 miles, from beyond Peshawar on the north, through the plains of the Western Punjab and Sindh to the sea. Although within the geographical limits of India, it is very distinct from any other Indian country. The dominant races of Pathans and Baluchis are of foreign origin, but the majority of the population consists of the descendants of Hindu or aboriginal tribes, who long ago accepted, more or less, the religion of their conquerors. In the eastern and richer and more populous parts of the Punjab, Mohammedans, real or nominal, descended mostly from converts from Hinduism, are also very numerous. There are altogether nearly 13,000,000 of Mohammedans in the Punjab and its subordinate States, and they constitute about one half of the whole population. Seventy per cent, of the people of Kashmir are Moham¬ medans. Excepting these countries, on the northern and western frontiers of India, the only great Indian province in which CASTES-RELIGIONS. 236 a very large proportion of the population has embraced Mohammedanism is Bengal proper. Out of a total population of 38,300,000 there were, in 1891, 19,600,000 Mohammedans and 18,000,000 Hindus. In the eastern districts of the delta of the Ganges, and beyond the Brahmaputra to the eastern limits of India, they con¬ stitute the great bulk of the agricultural population. Nothing is known historically of the time or manner in which this religious conversion occurred. But the conversion was nominal rather than real. Out of a total Mohammedan population of 57,000,000, some 37,000,000, or nearly two-thirds of the whole number, are found on the western and eastern borders. In the rest of India, containing about 220,000,000, there are about 20,000,000 of Mohammedans. The pro¬ gress of the Mohammedan religion in India generally has therefore been far smaller than might be supposed from the bare statement of the numbers that profess it, and that progress will seem still smaller when the true character of Indian Mohammedanism is under¬ stood. The majority of the Mohammedans of India hardly deserve that name. They differ little from their Hindu neighbours in their customs, and often not very much in their religion, and they maintain similar distinctions of caste. The following description is given by Mr Ibbetson of the Mohammedans of the Eastern Punjab, and a very similar story might be told for other parts of India:— “The Musalman Rajput, Gujar, or Jat is, for all social, tribal, political, and administrative purposes, exactly as much a Rajput, Gujar, or Jat as his Hindu brother. His social customs are unaltered, his tribal restrictions are unrelaxed, his rules of marriage and inheritance unchanged ; and almost all the differ¬ ence is that he shaves his scalp-lock and the upper edge of his moustache, repeats the Mohammedan creed in a mosque, INDIAN MOHAMMEDANS. 237 and adds the Musalman to the Hindu wedding-ceremony. . . . The local saints and deities still have their shrines, even in villages held wholly by Musalmans, and are still regularly wor¬ shipped by the majority, though the practice is gradually declin¬ ing. The women especially are offenders in this way, and a Musalman mother who had not sacrificed to the small-pox goddess would feel that she had wantonly endangered the life of her child. The Hindu family priests are still kept up and consulted as of old, and Brahmans are still fed on the usual occasions, and in many cases still officiate at weddings side by side with the Mohammedan priests. As for superstitions, as distinct from actual worship, they are wholly untouched by the change of faith, and are common to Hindu and Musalman. A brother officer tells us that he once entered the rest-house of a Mohammedan village in Hissar, and found the headmen refresh¬ ing an idol with a new coat of oil, while a Brahman read holy texts alongside. They seemed somewhat ashamed of being caught in the act, but, on being pressed, explained that their Mulla had lately visited them, had been extremely angry in seeing the idol, and had made them bury it in the sand. But now that the Mulla had gone they were afraid of the possible consequences, and were endeavouring to console the god for his rough treatment. The story is at any rate typical of the state of the Mohammedan religion in the villages of the Delhi territory.” 1 In these matters the Hindus are ready to meet the Mohammedans more than half way. The Brahmans have no sort of scruple in accepting Mohammedan saints as proper objects of veneration, and nothing is commoner than to see Hindus taking an active part in Mohammedan ceremonies, and beating their breasts at the Moharram like good Musalmans. This is true of the lower classes only, but centuries of Mohammedan supremacy have also left their mark on the higher classes of Hindus. The general seclusion of their women is one of the instances in which they still follow Mohammedan custom. The great majority of the Musalmans of India are 1 ‘ Report on the Census of 1881 in the Punjab,’ p. 143. CASTES—RELIGIONS. 238 the descendants of Hindu converts. The Mohammedan sovereigns usually treated their subjects, in matters of religion, with great tolerance; but more or less pressure was from time to time brought upon Hindus to induce them to embrace the faith of the ruling power. This was especially the case in the time of Aurangzib, the most bigoted of the Mohammedan emperors. The change of faith was often little more than nominal, and took place to an extent just sufficient to save the joint property of the village community from molestation. One section of the brotherhood would become Moham¬ medan, while the rest remained Hindu. The change of religion had little practical result, nor did it affect the rules of caste or the social life of the community. There is, of course, in India a large and very important body of Mohammedans of a different type, descended, with little or no admixture of the Hindu element, from the servants and soldiers of the Mohammedan rulers, and from former invaders or immigrants, who hold with more or less orthodoxy the tenets of their faith. They are especially to be found in Northern India. The Moham¬ medan population of the towns is usually far less Hinduised than that of the country villages. In the North-Western Provinces, only 7 per cent, of the Hindu population live in the towns, while 25 per cent, of the Mohammedans are found there. In the agricultural districts about 10 per cent, of the people are Mohammedan, but in the towns the Mohammedans constitute more than one-third of the inhabitants. This fact tends to make their political im¬ portance greater than it would otherwise be. In many of the towns much religious animosity prevails between Mohammedans and Hindus, and this often leads to serious and sanguinary affrays. Among the agricultural popula¬ tion the members of the several creeds usually live to¬ gether more peaceably. This, however, is not always the case, nor does it by any means follow that Mohammedans MOHAMMEDANS OF FOREIGN DESCENT. 239 who know little or nothing of the tenets of the religion they profess are on that account less fanatical in their hatred of Hindus. When a Mohammedan rises in the world he becomes more orthodox, and begins to assume foreign titles to respect. He calls himself Khan, or Shaik, or even Saiyad, a descendant of the Prophet. “ In the Punjab,” writes Mr Beames, “ where the process of conversion has been carried out on a very large scale, there used to be a proverbial couplet to this effect, supposed to be spoken by a convert— Last year I was a weaver, this year I am a Shaikh, Next year, if grain is dear, I shall be a Saiyad — meaning that if he sold his crops well he should be wealthy enough to assume this latter title.” 1 The chief classes of Mohammedans claiming foreign descent are the Saiyad, Moghal, Pathan, and Shaikh. Among these the Shaikhs are the most numerous, but the great majority of them are the descendants of Hindu converts. Politically, the Pathans, people of Afghan origin, are the most important. During the Mohammedan dynasties, and especially while the empire was breaking up, they poured into India as adventurers and soldiers of fortune, ready to sell their swords to the highest bidder. Their unscrupulous violence and courage gave them great influence, and they were the only Mohammedan foreigners who permanently established themselves in the plains of India in large numbers. These were the people, who, under their Indian name of Rohillas, fought against us in the time of Warren Hastings. The story of their cruel extermination has become an accepted fact of history, but, as I have shown, it is purely fabulous. Recollections of their old dominion, and the splendid monuments which testify to the magnificence of their former sovereigns, have exercised a powerful influence 1 Elliot’s ‘ Races of the North-Western Provinces,’ vol. i. p. 185. 240 RACES-CASTES-RELIGIONS. in keeping alive among the higher classes of Moham¬ medans in Northern India feelings of pride in their re¬ ligion and race ; but their social and political importance has diminished since the mutinies of 1857, when many of their chief families became implicated in rebellion, and suffered in consequence. They still, however, hold a more influential position in the country than their mere numbers would give them ; they are more generally energetic than Hindus, and possess greater independence of character. In perfection of manner and courtesy a Mohammedan gentleman of Northern India has often no superior. It is not possible to say what proportion of the 57,000,000 Mohammedans may be held to represent the classes once dominant in India. Sir George Campbell, whose knowledge entitled him to speak with unusual authority, thought that on an outside estimate we might assume them to be 5,000,000. Whatever be the actual number, it is comparatively small. It doubtless includes many who feel for us and our Government a deep and fanatical dislike, but it also includes a large number of men who, perhaps above all others in India, deserve our confidence and respect. It is a mistake to suppose that the better classes of Mohammedans are as a rule disloyal; there are no people to whom such a term is less applicable. It is remarkable that English education, which not un- frequently seems to develop and bring into prominence the least admirable qualities of the feebler races, seldom leads to such results among Mohammedans, but tends to make them more manly and self-reliant, and more loyal citizens. The fears that have sometimes been expressed that we may see in India a general outburst of Mohammedan fanaticism, and a simultaneous rising of millions of Moham¬ medans against our Government, are altogether groundless. If Mohammedanism contains any elements of political dan¬ ger, they are nullified by the fact that the feelings of true MOHAMMEDAN AND HINDU RIOTS. 241 Mohammedans towards idolatrous Hindus are more hostile than towards Christians, and that Hindus will never desire the restoration of Musalman supremacy. Nothing could be more opposed to the policy and universal practice of our Government in India than the old maxim of divide and rule; the maintenance of peace among all classes has always been recognised as one of the most essential duties of our “ belligerent civilisation ; ” but this need not blind us to the fact that the existence side by side of these hostile creeds is one of the strong points in our political position in India. The better classes of Mohammedans are a source to us of strength and not of weakness. They constitute a comparatively small but energetic minority of the popu¬ lation, whose political interests are identical with ours, and who, under no conceivable circumstances, would prefer Hindu dominion to our own. I have laid much stress on the fact that the majority of Indian Mohammedans differ in some respects little from Hindus ; but there has undoubtedly been a growing ten¬ dency during the last half century towards the purification of their faith. We must hope that with the increase of knowledge and civilisation this progress will continue, but it is not likely, within any time that we can foresee, to bring with it increased harmony of feeling between Mohammedans and Hindus. The more orthodox a Mohammedan becomes, the wider becomes the gulf that separates him from every form of idolatrous worship. Although there is no danger to our Government from Mohammedan disaffection, the animosity, which is so easily aroused between Mohammedans and Hindus, is undoubtedly a cause of serious and increasing anxiety. In past times it has often led to violent conflicts, and in late years it has shown itself with much virulence. Outbreaks of religious exasperation, attended with destructive rioting and blood¬ shed, have been unusually frequent; in some instances they have assumed very large proportions, nor have they been Q 242 RELIGIONS. confined to the towns where the population is, as a rule, more disposed to be fanatical and turbulent. In 1893, for example, widespread disturbances of a most serious char¬ acter, affecting a considerable tract of country and a large population, occurred in the district of Azimgarh, in the North-Western Provinces. They were traced to the in¬ fluence of cow-protecting societies which have, for some years, been carrying on their propaganda and have lately became more aggressive. In the same year, the great city of Bombay, containing more than 800,000 people, was for three days the scene of furious conflict. Eighty persons were killed and some hundred were wounded, and mosques and temples were desecrated and ruined. Order was not restored until a large force of troops, including British Cavalry and Infantry and Artillery, had been called out. In this, as in almost all similar cases elsewhere, the chronic hostility between Hindus and Mohammedans had been stimulated by the agitation against cow-killing. This has been a cause of increasing trouble throughout a great part of India, and while primarily directed against Mo¬ hammedans, it has obviously a serious significance for our¬ selves. There was, the Bombay Government reported as the result of its inquiries, “ an uneasy feeling among Mo¬ hammedans that they and their faith were suffering at the hands of the Hindus, that they were being gradually but surely edged out of the position they have hitherto held, and that their religion needed some special protection.” In some parts of India, and especially in Bengal Proper, there has been a large increase of Mohammedanism during the last twenty years. Mr O’Donnell, who superintended the census of 1891 in Bengal, believes that the number of Mohammedans in Bengal Proper has increased by two millions since 1872, while the number of Hindus has hardly increased at all. In 1872 the Hindus out-numbered the Mohammedans by half a million ; in 1891, the Moham¬ medans were more numerous than the Hindus by a million BUDDHISTS. 243 and a half. On this subject Mr O’Donnell writes as fol¬ lows :—“ It is known that a powerful Mohammedan propa¬ ganda is at work, and that the preaching of the ubiquitous Mullahs and Mirs is directed not only to instil the precepts of a higher life, according to the doctrines of the Kuran, on Musalmans, but to gain over followers for its teachings. That converts should result seems natural, but, however this may be, it is certain that the great growth of Musal- manism in Bengal Proper is connected rather with physical than doctrinal forces. The Musalman with his more varied and nutritious dietary is probably a more vigorous man than the Hindu. Moreover, the universal practice of widow marriage, which the Bengali Hindu holds in abhorrence, adds very largely to the reproductive class amongst Mo¬ hammedan women. On the other hand, ill-sorted marriages are far more common amongst Hindus, men well advanced in years being united to girl-wives, who in the natural course of human life are left widows, debarred from further mater¬ nity, at a comparatively early age.” Nearly all of the 7,100,000 Buddhists of the census are found in Burma. Buddhism no longer exists among the religions of the Indian continent. Even in Burma, Mr Baines writes, “the popular belief is little but Animism, and the attachment to the higher creed is largely due to the educational influence of the religious orders, because every boy has to be sent, if only for a short period, to one of the monasteries as a novice or lay brother. Like the Neo-Brahmanism, too, it is gradually absorbing within its sphere the forest tribes who are professedly Animistic in their belief, and like its former rival, it places no embargo on their tutelary gods, whilst through the monastic system it tends to raise them in the social scale. Considerably more than half the males in Burma can read and write, a feature in which the difference between the two systems is very clearly denoted.” Out of 2,284,000 Christians in British India and the 244 RELIGIONS. Native States, 168,000 were Europeans, of whom a little more than one half were in or connected with the Army. The other half included the civil employes of the Govern¬ ment and their families, the railway servants, and the whole of the non-official European community. There were about 80,000 Eurasians. The Christians of Indian origin numbered 2,036,000. Of these more than one and a half million are found in Madras and in the Native States of Malabar, the great majority of them belonging to the Church of Rome, descendants of the converts made in the sixteenth century by St Francis Xavier and by his followers. Altogether the Native members of the various Protestant sects numbered 592,000, those of the Roman Church 1,244,000, and those of the Syriac Church 200,000. These figures are exclusive of the French and Portuguese posses¬ sions, where the Christian population is almost entirely Roman Catholic. Its number is about 300,000 and the total Roman Catholic population of the whole of India is thus about 1,500,000. The census returns of the Christian population in 1881 were incomplete, and it is not possible to make any exact comparison between them and the re¬ turns for 1891, but the following figures are probably ap¬ proximately correct. The total increase of the Christian population in the ten years, in British India and the Native States, was 422,000. The increase in the number of Europeans and Eurasians was 43,000, and of Natives, 379,000. The number of members of the Roman and Syriac Churches increased by 232,000, and that of the various Protestant sects by 147,000. The greater part of the increase was in Southern India, but there was no province in which the number of Christians was not larger in 1891 than ten years before. The increase of the total population of India in this period was about 13 per cent., that of Mohammedans 14 per cent., of Roman Catholics 20 per cent., and of Protestants 30 per cent. Although the Christians in India constitute considerably CHRISTIANS-JAINS - SIKHS. 2 45 less than one per cent, of the whole population, these figures are remarkable. Judged by even a low standard, the religion of the great majority of the Native Christians is Christianity in little more than name, nor can it be professed that they have gained for themselves any exceptional measure of respect either among their own countrymen or among Europeans. There has been no apparent connection between the increase in the number returned as Christians and the progress of education. Whatever may be the effect of higher English education on the religious beliefs of Hindus, and this is doubtless very great, it has little tendency to make them Christian. Converts from Mohammedanism are compara¬ tively few. The large majority are drawn from the lower castes of Hindus and from the Animistic tribes. The only other purely Indian religions that need be noticed are those of the Jains and the Sikhs. Jain¬ ism is, in its doctrines, very similar to the more orthodox forms of Buddhism. There is, Mr Baines tells us, in parts of India, a tendency for it to become virtually a sect of Brahmanism. “ In the north and west of India the Jains are still a cultivated class, mostly engaged in commerce, whilst in the south they are, as a rule, agriculturists.” The Sikhs are politically important, but in matters of religion there is no great difference between them and Hindus. “ In the present day,” writes Mr Baines, “ peace has relaxed the bonds of discipline, and the distinction between Sikhs and the rest of the Brahmanic community is mainly ritualistic. For example, it was found by ex¬ perience that at the census, the only trustworthy method of distinguishing this creed was to ask if the person in question repudiated the services of the barber and the tobacconist, for the precepts most strictly enforced now¬ adays arc that the hair of the head and face must never be cut, and that smoking is a habit to be absolutely avoided.” 1 1 ‘ General Report on the Census of India, 1891,’ p. 164. 246 RACES—RELIGIONS. The Parsis form a very small but highly respectable community, devoted for the most part to mercantile pur¬ suits. Their enterprise as traders, and their freedom from all prejudices of caste, takes them into all parts of India, but the great majority of them are found in Bombay. They have gained for themselves by their character, their superior education, and their wealth, a somewhat excep¬ tional position, but they have so little in common with anything Indian, and their numbers are so extremely small, that they can only be mentioned as an interesting group of foreigners, who for many centuries have retained their ancient creed, and have kept themselves apart from the people of all Indian countries. CHAPTER XVIII. AN INDIAN PROVINCE. The North-Western Provinces and Oudh—Area, population, and history— Aspect of the country—The agricultural population—Cities—Manufactures —Architectural monuments—Agriculture in Northern India—Erroneous beliefs regarding food of the people—Sir Henry Maine on Mr Buckle’s generalisations — The agricultural year — The rainy season — Summer, autumnal, and winter crops—Irrigation—Methods of agriculture—Rotation of crops—Tea. If anyone were to propose to give in a few chapters an adequate description of all the countries of Europe—their geography, their climates, their governments, and systems of administration, the character and customs and languages and religions of their inhabitants—his undertaking would not be more impossible than that of giving within the same limits an adequate description of India; nor, however much those limits might be exceeded, do I believe that for the latter task any man living possesses the necessary knowledge. I think that if I endeavour to give some account of one of the great provinces, noting, as I go on, points which in other Indian countries differ or correspond, I may be able to convey more accurate information than by any other plan that I could follow. This will be especially true in regard to the public administration ; for notwithstanding my warnings about the danger of general¬ isations, the main structure of the Government through¬ out British India has been built up on not very various lines. I propose to take as my example of an Indian province the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. I choose them 247 248 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. because I know them best. A large part of my Indian service was spent in them, and I have been, as Lieutenant- Governor and Chief Commissioner, at the head of their administration. The North-Western Provinces lie within the great Indo- Gangetic plain. They comprise nearly all the upper portion of the basin of the Ganges and Jumna, from their sources in the Himalaya to the borders of Bengal. They are one of the most homogeneous of the great provinces of India, in the aspect of the country and in the condition and char¬ acter of their inhabitants. Including the small Native States of Rampur and Garhwal, they cover about 88,000 square miles, and contain 35,000,000 people. Oudh, excepting on the north, where its boundary is the Himalayan State of Nepal, is surrounded by districts of the North-Western Provinces. It contains 24,000 square miles, and 12,700,000 people. Physically, there are no important differences between the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, the whole forming together one continuous alluvial plain, broken only by the rivers which intersect it; but politically, the two provinces have been, until some years ago, under separate administra¬ tions. Oudh became British territory in 1856; it was partially amalgamated with the North-Western Provinces in 1877; and although there are still many differences in the revenue and judicial systems of the two provinces, they have become virtually a single province under a Lieutenant-Governor, whose head-quarters are at Allaha¬ bad. The united province covers 112,000 square miles, with a population of 47,700,000. Its area is not much smaller, and its population is much larger than that of Great Britain and Ireland. There are no countries in Europe, excepting Belgium and England, in which the population is so dense. The average number of persons to the square mile in Belgium is 540, and in England it is about the same; in the North-Western Provinces it is 411, DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. 249 in Oudh 522, and in the United Province 436. No other Indian province is so thickly peopled, with the exception of Bengal, where the average number to the square mile is 471. It should be remembered that comparisons between the density of population in India and in countries like England are apt to be very misleading, unless we bear in mind the great differences that exist in the distribution of the people. In England more than half of the whole population is congregated in large towns, while in India the correspond¬ ing proportion is extremely small. According to the last census there were only 227 towns in India with more than 20,000 inhabitants, and these contained less than 14,000,000 of people out of a total of nearly 290,000,000. Includ¬ ing all the smaller towns the total urban population of India was 27,250,000, or less than 10 per cent, of the whole population of the Empire. 1 Throughout the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, although there are many differences of dialect, the mass of the people speak the same lauguage, Hindi. The mixed language called Urdu, or Hindustani, which has become a lingua franca , very generally understood throughout a great part of India, grew up in the Northern provinces in the time of the Mohammedan sovereigns. Its grammar is Hindi, while in its vocabulary there is a large admixture 1 It may usefully be borne in mind that people generally are too much in the habit of assuming that average or mean results havenecessarily a realsignification, and represent facts. Very often this is far from being the case. An average or mean is strictly an abstract arithmetical idea, and in that sense every such mean, properly calculated, is correct, but when this abstract idea is applied to facts it may often have no useful meaning whatever. Thus, if we had before us a hundred objects, one of which was 1001 feet high, while the remaining ninety-nine were each t foot high, we should say correctly, in one sense, that the average height of the whole was 11 feet. But, in fact, the height of none of the objects would be at all near to 11 feel ; the arithmetical idea would have no useful significance, but would confuse and lead us wrong. This is frequently true in dealing with statistics of population, and many other matters. 250 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. of Persian and Arabic, the languages of the Musalman in¬ vaders. Urdu is the literary and official language of the North-West ; it is commonly spoken in the towns and by the upper classes, and especially by the Mohammedans. This has been for ages the most famous part of India. In pre-historic times it was the Central or Middle land, the Madhya-desha of the sacred books of the Hindus and of the ancient poets, the abode of the solar and lunar races, and of the gods and heros of the Mahabharata and Rama- yana. To say nothing of the more or less mythical cities of which little but the names remain, this tract contains the most holy places of India—Benares, Ajodhya, Kanauj, Mattra, and many others. It was here that Buddha is said to have been born, to have preached, and to have died, and it was from this centre that his creed spread over a great part of the Eastern world. In more modern times Hindu¬ stan was the chief seat of the Mohammedan power. Delhi and Agra became the capitals of the Afghan and Moghal sovereigns, and although the great majority of the popula¬ tion always remained Hindu, there was for many centuries no part of India in which Musalman authority and organi¬ sation were so complete. In our own times this has been politically the most important portion of our Indian Empire. The North-Western Provinces came into our possession between 1775 and 1803. Until 1833 they were governed from Calcutta as a part of the so-called Bengal presidency; in that year a separate government under a Lieutenant- Governor was constituted for them. These provinces and Oudh were the principal scene of the mutinies of 1857. Before that year the seat of the Government of the North- Western Provinces was at Agra ; it was then transferred to Allahabad, and has remained there. Delhi, which until 1857 had belonged to the North-Western Provinces, has been since that time under the Government of the Punjab. Sir Henry Maine, referring to Northern India, has spoken of the monotony of life and ennui “ caused by its ungenial ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY. 2 5 ‘ climate and the featureless distances of its plains,” and he quotes the words of the Emperor Baber, the founder of the Moghal dynasty, on closing the history of his conquest:— “ Hindustan is a country that has few pleasures to recommend it. The country and towns are extremely ugly. The people are not handsome. The chief excellency of Hindustan is that it is a very large country, and that it has abundance of gold and silver.'’ It cannot be denied that immense tracts in Northern India, and precisely those of which English travellers see the most, deserve, for a portion of the year, the epithets of monotonous and featureless and ugly. There is, for the most part, no luxuriance of vegetation ; during the hot dry months, when the crops have been cut everything is burnt up by the fiery winds ; the ground is almost everywhere highly cultivated, but all is brown and arid. At other seasons, although a country so absolutely flat can hardly escape being monotonous, there is, the towns apart, as much to admire in the plains of Northern India as in those of France, and more than in those of Northern Germany. I referred in my first chapter to the great physical differences between this part of India and Bengal. In the rainy season and winter, travelling along the railway through the central parts of the North-Western Provinces, a distance of more than 500 miles, the whole country through which we pass is a continuous sheet of rich cultivation, studded with groves of mango, the most valuable of the fruit-bear¬ ing trees of India, a constant succession of thriving villages, many prosperous towns, and not a few great and famous cities. It would be difficult to find in any part of the world, on so large a scale, a more striking prospect of industry and quiet contentment ; and if, judging by a European standard, the traveller sees few signs of wealth, he sees almost none of extreme poverty. Nearly the whole of the agricultural population is collected in villages, between which stretch the wide unbroken fields. There 252 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. are few of those scattered homesteads which are so often seen in Europe. This feature of rural life, a consequence of the universal insecurity which until the present century had prevailed from time immemorial, is common throughout India. In 1891, out of 47,700,000 people in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, about 41,000,000 were Hindu and 6,600,000 were Mohammedan. There were 28,000 Euro¬ peans, including British troops, 7000 Eurasians, 23,000 Native Christians, 86,000 Jains, a small number of Sikhs, Buddhists, and others. As everywhere else in India, the mass of the population is agricultural, and the number of non-agriculturists is smaller than would be supposed from the figures of the census. A large proportion of the people returned as en¬ gaged in trades and employments are village servants and village artisans and shopkeepers, who belong in fact to the agricultural community. It is probable that 90 per cent, of the whole population are, more or less, directly connected with the land. There is, however, no part of India in which large cities and towns are so numerous as in the North-Western Provinces. Benares has 219,000 inhabitants; Cawnpore, 189,000; Allahabad and Agra, about 170,000 each; and twelve other towns have populations of from 60,000 to 120,000. Oudh is more entirely agricultural. It has only two large towns—Lucknow with 273,000, and Faizabad with 79,000 inhabitants. Trade is active in these provinces. The exports consist almost entirely of agricultural produce, wheat and other food-grains, ghee, oilseeds, sugar, and indigo ; the imports are chiefly European manufactured articles, piece-goods, metals, drugs, and salt. Manufactures of commercial im¬ portance there are none, excepting in a few instances, as at Cawnpore, where they have been established by Europeans, but large numbers of people throughout the country are ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS. 253 employed in domestic handicrafts. The coarser cotton cloths which form the ordinary clothing of the poorer classes are chiefly of home manufacture. Some of the textile fabrics, as the kinkhabs, or gold brocades of Benares and the embroideries of Delhi , 1 are costly and beautiful. I cannot speak at any length of the splendid works of architectural and decorative art which are found in these provinces, and which surpass everything of the kind in India. Except in Athens, nothing has ever been built more beautiful than the Taj. “ Perhaps in the whole world,” says Mr Fergusson, “ there is not a scene where nature and art so successfully combine to produce a perfect work of art as within the precincts of this far- famed mausoleum. . . . No words can express the chastened beauty of that central chamber, seen in the soft gloom of the subdued light that reaches it through the distant and half- closed openings that surround it. Used as a Barah Durrie, or pleasure-palace, it must always have been the coolest and the loveliest of garden retreats ; and now that it is sacred to the dead it is the most graceful and the most impressive of the sepulchres of the world.” 2 I doubt whether any European palace can show any¬ thing equal in beauty to the audience-halls of the Moghal emperors. No portals approach in magnificence those of Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi. Giotto’s campanile is not a more perfect work than the great minaret of the Kutb. In this part of India the most splendid architectural monuments are those left by the Mohammedan sovereigns. Simple and admirable in general design, they are still more remarkable for the faultless taste of their decoration. Nothing has ever surpassed the surface ornamentation of stone carving with which some of the buildings of the Afghdn dynasties are covered, or the later and still more 1 I speak of Delhi as if it were still included in the North-Western Provinces, but since the mutinies of 1857 it has been transferred to the Punjab. 2 Fergusson’s ‘ History of Indian and Eastern Architecture,’ pp. 575, 598. AN INDIAN PROVINCE. 254 beautiful inlaying with precious stones adopted by the Moghals. There seems no doubt that the art of pietra dura decoration was introduced into India by Italians, but the masters were far surpassed by their pupils. The process was applied in a new and independent style, and there is nothing in Italy in this sort of decoration that can be compared, in beauty of design, or colour or effect, with the work found in the palaces and tombs of India. The Oriental artists of the Mohammedan sovereigns had at their disposal unbounded wealth, unlimited labour, and the most lavish profusion of precious materials, but nothing is more remarkable in their finest works than the sobriety and refinement of their taste. I will not dwell on the stories of British vandalism which has ruined or suffered to perish some of the most admirable works of Oriental architecture, or of the general decadence in which European influences have helped to involve the beautiful arts of India. I trust that we have seen the worst. Our English governors have, I hope, become generally alive to the disgrace which, in past times, our countrymen have too well and too often deserved for their barbarous destruction or ignorant neglect of works of priceless artistic or historic value. Whatever may once have been the case, no such reproach now attaches to the North-Western Provinces. During the winter, a large part of Northern India has a climate as cold as that of spring in the south of Europe, and the time between October and April is sufficiently long to bring to maturity many of the chief agricultural products of the temperate zone. During the summer months, on the other hand, the crops are those of the tropics, or of a kind that do not suffer from excessive heat. There is thus in the productions and processes of agriculture a variety of which we have no example in Europe. I am afraid that the belief that the people throughout FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. 255 India live generally upon rice is almost as prevalent in England as ever. There could be no more complete delusion. Rice, in the greater part of India, is a luxury of the comparatively rich. It is grown where the climate is hot and damp, and where there are ample means of irrigation ; it is a valuable crop in a great part of India, but it is only in Lower Bengal and in parts of Madras and Bombay, in districts where the conditions of soil and climate are suitable to its abundant production, that it forms the ordinary food of the people, or enters to an important extent into the consumption of the poorer classes. Out of the whole population of India it is probable that not more than a fourth part live upon rice. The mistaken notions that prevail on this subject doubtless had their origin, as Sir Henry Maine has observed, in the fact that the English have in a great measure obtained their ideas about India from what they have seen or heard on its coasts. Because the ordinary food of the people in Lower Bengal is rice it was assumed that it was the ordinary food throughout India. Sir Henry Maine has drawn from this an instruc¬ tive illustration of the danger of over-bold generalisa¬ tions—a danger, as I have more than once remarked, which cannot be too carefully guarded against in regard to a multitude of Indian questions. “ Mr Buckle,” he says, “ in the general introduction to his ‘ History of Civilisation,’ has derived all the distinctive institutions of India, and the peculiarities of its people, from their con¬ sumption of rice. From the fact he tells us, that the exclusive food of the natives of India is of an oxygenous rather than a carbonaceous character, it follows by an inevitable law that caste prevails, that oppression is rife, that rents are high, and that customs and law are stereo¬ typed.” This is as if an Indian traveller, landing on the west coast of Ireland, and finding that the people lived on potatoes, were to assume that potatoes were the ordi- 256 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. nary food throughout Europe, and were to base upon the fact conclusions regarding the conditions of Society in Germany and Spain. Excepting in the rice-consuming countries that have been named, millets form the chief food of the population throughout almost the whole of India, and they furnish also the most important of the crops used as fodder for cattle. Pulses of various kinds are largely con¬ sumed. Little or no meat is eaten by the poorer classes, and the pulses supply the nitrogenous element which is required. Meat, however, is commonly eaten by Mohammedans when they can afford it, and the great majority of Hindus who abstain from it do so because it is an expensive luxury, rather than from religious scruples. The millets and pulses which form the chief food- supply of the people flourish throughout the greater part of India. In the damper and more tropical regions they are cultivated in the drier months of the warm winter; in the drier countries where the winter is com¬ paratively cold, they are the principal crops of the summer. In Northern India the agricultural year begins with the periodical rains which, as explained in my second chapter, are established towards the end of June. The crops of the cold season are cut in March and April, after which comes a period of about two months, when, owing to the intense heat and drought, agricultural operations are almost at a standstill. Towards the middle or end of June the heat reaches its extremest point. Midnight is hardly less oppressive than midday, except that during the day a fiery wind blows strongly from the west. Vegetation is burnt up ; hardly a sound of animal life is heard. All day and all night, except for a short time about sunrise, when the temperature is at its lowest, you will, if you are wise, keep every THE CLIMATE OF NORTHERN INDIA. 257 door and window closely shut to bar out the raging heat. Sometimes, but less frequently in the North- Western Provinces than in the Punjab, there comes one of those remarkable atmospheric disturbances known as dust-storms, when the day becomes as dark as the darkest night, the violent winds which accompany them occasionally bringing destructive hail or torrents of rain. 1 Among all the phenomena of nature, there are few more impressive than those which usher in the rainy season in Northern India. It is not only of heat and discomfort that one has to think. Until rain falls the fields cannot be ploughed for another harvest, and the danger of drought and famine, if the coming of relief should be too long delayed, cannot be forgotten. The telegrams with news of the progress of the monsoon from the sea are every day eagerly expected, as in time of war news of the progress of a campaign. In India, and in regions of the earth lying under similar geographical conditions, within the tropics or in their neighbourhood, the changes of the seasons recur with a regularity and an intensity unknown in Europe, and, if their normal course be seriously interrupted, the consequences have a significance which in temperate climates it is not easy to appreciate. The vital import¬ ance for good or evil of the variations of the seasons is, of course, obvious in other countries, but in India it is brought home to every one with extraordinary strength and vividness. Not a year passes in which it is not clear to almost the whole population that the very existence of the country as a dwelling-place for 1 “ Non altrimenti fatto che d’un vento Impetuoso per gli avversi ardori, Che fier la selva senza alcun rattento ; Li rami schianta, abbatte, e porta fuori: Dinanzi polveroso va superbo, E fa fuggir le fiere e li pastori.” Dante, “ Inf.,” ix. 67. R AN INDIAN PROVINCE. 253 man depends on the regular sequence of the seasons. In Europe drought or floods may cause misery and loss, but they can hardly lead to absolute ruin over thousands of square miles and to many millions of people, such as that which has not unfrequently happened in India from failure of the periodical rains. In favourable years the rains have usually set in about the middle of June on the Bombay coast and in Bengal ; they travel up gradually towards Northern India, where they arrive about a fortnight later, and their advance may often be traced from one day to another. At last, when the heat has become greater than ever, the clouds begin to collect, and there comes down a deluge, almost always accompanied by thunder and lightning. When the rain is plentiful and all goes well, nothing can be more wonderful than the change which comes almost instantaneously over the whole face of nature. Under the influence of the tropical heat and abundant moisture, within a time that may be measured by hours rather than days, the country that was like a desert begins to look like a garden. The rapidity of the progress of vegetation is astonishing, and the manner in which animal life suddenly reappears is not less wonderful. We are reminded of the description of Aaron and the magicians stretching forth their hands over the streams and over the ponds, and bringing up frogs which covered the land of Egypt. As soon as the rain has sufficiently moistened the ground, the fields are ploughed and the summer and autumnal crops are sown. All these are included under the general name of kharif. The most widely-cultivated, and the itk st important to the poorer classes, since they furnish to them and to their cattle the principal means of subsistence, are the millets called juar and bajra (Sorghum vulgare , and Pennisetum typhoideuin). In districts where the climate is damp and irrigation easy, rice is extensively grown at this season. Sugar- KHARIF AND RABI CROPS. 259 cane is another crop of much importance ; in no other part of India is it so valuable as in the North-Western Provinces ; it may be classed among the hot-weather crops, since it remains on the ground nearly throughout the year, and its growth mainly depends on the heat and moisture of the summer. Some of the pulses, maize, indigo, and cotton, are also cultivated at this season of the year. The rains are over in Northern India towards the end of September, and in the following month the autumn crops are for the most part cut. In October and November, when the excessive heat and moisture have passed away and the cold season has begun, the soil and climate become suitable for the agri¬ cultural products of temperate latitudes, and the winter crops, known under the general name of rabi , are sown. Between November and March it would be difficult to find a more delightful climate for Englishmen than that of Northern India. The nights and mornings are cold and even at times frosty, and the days pleasantly warm. After Christmas there is almost always a short season of moderate rain, which is of much importance to the growing spring crops. The chief agricultural staples of Northern India at this period of the year are wheat and barley. They occupy nearly 60 per cent, of the whole food-producing area in the North-Western Provinces. Wheat from the North-Western Provinces and Punjab has already become an important source of supply to England, and, as the means of communication are extended and cheap¬ ened, it will, it may be expected, become still more important hereafter. To what extent Indian wheat may ultimately compete in the English market with wheat from America is a question on which I will not speculate, but there is no doubt that India is capable, under favourable conditions of price, of providing a very large and increasing supply. Wheat in the Punjab is a still 26 o AN INDIAN PROVINCE. more important crop than in the North-Western Provinces. It is also extensively grown in parts of Central India, Bombay, and the Northern Deccan, and in those countries, as well as in Northern India, it forms the chief article of food among the richer classes. Barley is largely con¬ sumed by those who cannot afford to eat wheat. Various kinds of pulses, tobacco, opium, linseed, and mustard are widely cultivated at this season. Oil-seeds are one of the chief articles of export from India to Europe. The principal winter crops are harvested in March and April. Although, as furnishing the chief means of subsistence to the mass of the population, the first importance must be assigned in this part of India to the summer crops, which are dependent on the periodical rains ; the more valuable products, on which the people have mainly to rely for increase of wealth and prosperity, and for the means of paying their revenue and rent, are those grown in the winter. Even in favourable seasons arti¬ ficial irrigation is necessary for their successful cultivation. The rental of irrigated land in Northern India is usually double that of land dependent on the season alone. I have already given some account of the magnificent irrigation canals constructed by the British Government, surpassing in magnitude and usefulness all other works of the kind in the world. In Northern India it is for the crops of the cold season that they are especially valuable. Important as they are, the wells constructed by the villagers themselves are more important still. In the great alluvial plain, water can almost everywhere be found from ten to forty feet from the surface of the ground. If the soil be solid, a well can often be dug for a few shillings ; if sandy strata have to be passed through, the well must be lined with masonry, and costs much more. In the North-Western Provinces and Punjab, a large proportion of the cultivated area is constantly irrigated from wells during the winter months, and the number of wells is usually a good index to the condition of the agricultural population. Unfortu- SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURE. 26 l nately, although the value of well-irrigation, under ordinary circumstances, cannot be over-estimated, the supply of water in extremely dry seasons often fails, and wells cannot give the complete protection against drought and famine which is afforded by canals drawn from the great rivers. Little need be said about Indian methods of agriculture. The implements are simple, but the persevering industry of the people is great. Wheat and barley, under good cultivation, yield a produce equal in quality and quantity to that usually obtained without artificial manure in Europe or America, although the result is of course inferior if the comparison be made with the produce of land to which costly and scientific methods have been applied. As Dr Voelcker, speaking with high authority and per¬ sonal knowledge, has observed, “ there can be no question that the ideas generally entertained in England, and often given expression to in India, that Indian agriculture is, as a whole, primitive and backward, are altogether erroneous. . . Taking everything together, and especially considering the conditions under which Indian crops are grown, they are wonderfully good.” The Indian cultivator, Dr Voelcker assures us, is at his best quite as good as the average British farmer, and in some respects superior to him. “ Taking,” he says, “ the ordinary arts of husbandry, nowhere would one find better instances of keeping land scrupulously clear from weeds, of ingenuity in device of water-raising appli¬ ances, of knowledge of soils and their capabilities, as well as of the exact time to sow and to reap, as one would in Indian agriculture, and this not at its best alone, but at its ordinary level. It is wonderful, too, how much is known of rotation, the system of mixed crops, and of fallowing. I have never seen a more perfect picture of careful cultivation, com¬ bined with hard labour, perseverance, and fertility of resource, than I have seen at many of the halting places in my tour.” 1 1 ‘ Report on the Improvement of Indian Agriculture,’ by J. A. Voelcker, Ph.D., Sec., See., Consulting Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Dr Voelcker was appointed, at the recpiest of the Government of India in 262 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. The system of rotation of crops in Northern India is simple. In the richer and better-manured lands two crops are often raised from the same land within the year. In the rainy season maize or indigo is grown, or some other crop that can be cut before it is too late to plough for the spring harvest, and wheat or barley is sown in October or Novem¬ ber. On the greater part of the land the usual plan is to raise one crop only. In the first year millets are grown in the rainy season, and after the crop has been cut the land will be left fallow for nearly a year, until the following October, when it is ready for sowing wheat or barley. This will be cut in March or April, and when the rains be¬ gin in June it will be followed by another crop of millets. There is another product of Northern India that must be mentioned. Some sixty years ago, in the time of Lord William Bentinck, the Government began the attempt to introduce the cultivation of tea. Gardens were established in the Himalayan districts of the North-Western Provinces, and men were brought from China to superintend opera¬ tions. For many years the result was doubtful, and if the experiment had been in other hands than those of the Gov¬ ernment, which could afford to wait, it would have been abandoned as hopeless. At last, when experience had shown what was required and what was to be avoided, the success became so great that action of the Government was no longer necessary, and the field was left to private enter¬ prise. This was the beginning of the great tea industries of India and Ceylon, which now supply three-fourths of the tea consumed in Great Britain. The hill districts of Eastern Bengal have since proved more favourable to the abun¬ dant production of tea than those of the North-Western Provinces. 1889, to investigate the whole subject of Indian Agriculture, and to report on the measures that might be taken for its improvement. He spent thirteen months in India, the whole of which time was devoted to practical and scientific inquiries in the various provinces. CHAPTER XIX. AN INDIAN PROVINCE— {Continued ). The land revenue—Tenures—Settlements—Village communities—Classes ot cultivators—Incidents of land revenue—Settlements in Northern India— Surveys—Principles of assessment—The settlement officer—Record of rights — Village accountants — Recent reforms — Settlement reports — Settlements in Oudh—The Talukdars—Lord Canning’s Proclamation— Confiscation of rights—Measures of Lord Lawrence—Recent improve¬ ments—Condition of Oudh—Agricultural departments—Their importance. Except where the State has alienated its rights in favour of individuals, or of religious or charitable institutions, or otherwise, private rights in land have always been subject in India to the superior rights of the sovereign. A description has been given in a former chapter of the nature of the land revenue. It has been shown that it must not be looked upon as taxation, properly so-called, but as the share of the produce to which, from time immemorial, the State, as the chief proprietor of the land, has been entitled; that no Government in India has ever taken so small a share as that which we demand ; and that the rate at which the land revenue falls has gone on constantly diminishing. It has been the policy of our Government to encourage, by the limitation of its demand, the growth of private pro¬ perty in land ; to define for a term of years or in perpetuity the shares of the produce or rent which the private land¬ holder and the State shall respectively receive, and to give security to the former that improvements made by him on the land shall not lead to an increased demand by the Government. The interests connected with the land possess an altogether paramount importance. The variety 263 264 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. of tenures and agricultural customs is infinite, but there is no part of India in which the condition of the people and the success or failure of the administration are not inti¬ mately affected by the manner in which the rights and responsibilities of the State and of individuals in the land are regulated. One warning in connection with these subjects must be borne in mind. Such terms as “ property in land,” “proprietor,” and “tenant” have to be used in default of others more appropriate ; but since private proprietorship in land has hardly existed in India in the form in which it exists in England, misconception easily arises. It has happened not unfrequently that English ideas of property, derived from a different condition of things, have exercised a pernicious influence on the interests of the actual occupants of the land. What is technically called a “ Settlement of the land revenue” consists in the determination of the share of the produce or rental to which the State is entitled, and in the record of all private rights and interests in the land. The systems for the assessment of land revenue may, speaking generally, be said to fall into two great divisions, one being in force in Southern and the other in Northern India. In the Madras and Bombay provinces the land is for the most part in the possession of peasant proprietors, with every one of whom the Government enters into a separate engagement. The tenure is called ryotwari. 1 “ The tenure of the ryot in Southern India (I am quoting from the Report of the Indian Famine Commissioners) is as secure and simple as can well be conceived. He holds his land in pro¬ prietary right, subject to the payment of the assessed revenue, 1 The meaning of the term ryot in Southern India is different from that which it bears in the North. In the former case it means the private owner of the land ; in the latter case it means a cultivating tenant who has often no permanent rights at all. ASSESSMENT OF LAND REVENUE. 265 which is fixed for a period of thirty years. He has the option of resigning his entire holding, or any individual field, at the end of the agricultural year. His improvements cannot be made a ground for increasing his assessment at the time of the periodical settlement. He can sell, mortgage, or let his land to anyone without requiring the consent of the Government, and at his death the land descends to his children according to the rules of inheritance.” The land is marked off by the Survey department into fields or blocks, on each of which the Government demand is assessed. In Bombay a valuation is made of every field, under a minute system of investigation, in regard to soil, produce, situation, markets, prices, past history, selling and letting value, and other particulars, and the demand of the Government is fixed at a rate estimated to fall at from 3 to 16 per cent, of the gross produce, the general average being y 6 . The assessments are made for thirty years. In Madras, by an elaborate system of classification, ex¬ periment, and inquiry, an estimate is made of the average annual value of the produce of the plot to be assessed. After deducting the cost of cultivation and making a large allow¬ ance for vicissitudes of season, one half of the net produce is taken as the share or revenue of the Government. This falls at an average rate of about 6'3 per cent, of the gross produce. The settlements are made for thirty years. In Northern India the system is different. The Govern¬ ment revenue is assessed, not on each field or block, but on the whole of the land included within the boundaries of the village. The village is the unit of assessment. 1 The 1 The term “ village ” has, in the official language of Northern India, a tech¬ nical meaning. By “ village ” Mr Baden-Powell explains in his ‘ Land Systems of British India,’ “ we do not mean a small collection of houses with a green, a few shops, and a church spire rising above the immemorial elms; we mean always a group of landholdings aggregated in one place ; there is generally one, or more than one, group of dwellings situated somewhere in the area, and the ‘ village ’ has a common tank, graveyard and cattle-stand, and probably an area of scrub jungle and grazing ground attached to it.” Wishing to avoid, as far as possible, the use of unfamiliar Indian words, I have said that the village 266 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. Government has usually no dealings with individual cul¬ tivators. There is often a class of landholders intermediate between the Government and the cultivator; they receive rent in cash, or, much less frequently at the present time, in a share of the produce, and they pay a portion of this rent as land revenue to the Government. Often, in Bengal and in Oudh, and sometimes in the North-Western Pro¬ vinces, these proprietors, under the name of Zemindars, or Talukdars, hold very large estates. In a large part of the North-Western Provinces, and still more commonly in the Punjab, the land is held by small proprietors, cultivating their own land wholly or in part, and associated together in village communities. “ These communities are represented by an elected or hereditary head, and are jointly responsible for the payment of the Government revenue due from the entire village. Sometimes all the land is held in common, and the pro¬ ceeds are thrown together and divided among the sharers by village custom. Sometimes the proprietors all have their separate holdings in the estate, each paying the quota of revenue due from his plot, and enjoying the surplus profits of it.” 1 As I have already explained, the share of the rental to which the State, as chief proprietor of the land, is held to be entitled, was formerly much larger than it is now. At the beginning of the present century, in the North-Western Provinces, it was 90 per cent.; it was afterwards 66 per cent. ; and since 1854 it has been 50 per cent. This is considered equivalent to about 7 - 8 of the gross produce. is the unit of assessment, but this is not quite technically accurate. The real unit is the “ mahal,” a word usually translated “ estate,” but which has no exact English equivalent. It signifies “ a local area held under a separate engage¬ ment for the payment of the land revenue, and for which a separate record of rights has been made.” The “village” is not always the same as the “mahal.” There may sometimes be several “villages” in a “mahal,” and there may be more than one “mahal” in a “village.” 1 ‘ Report of Indian Famine Commission,’ Part IT., p. no. TENURE OF LAND. 267 The manner in which the Government revenue, assessed on the village as a whole, is to be distributed among the shareholders is usually settled by themselves. Any pro¬ prietor may demand the separation of his property from the rest of the village, but so long as the village estate remains undivided, the ultimate responsibility for the payment of the Government revenue rests jointly on the whole com¬ munity. “The present tendency,” as Mr Baden-Powell says, “ is to divide, and for each man to bear his own burdens, and take the benefit of his own industry and exer¬ tion. The advantages of the system of union and exclusion of strangers were more felt in times of war and trouble, when defence against a raid had to be continually prepared for, and when common exertion was necessary to bear up against a heavy assessment, than they are now. The happy pictures of self-governing communities, careless of the world outside, that our books draw, are more visionary than real.” 1 In the Punjab the village proprietors themselves cultivate the greater part of the land. In the North-Western Pro¬ vinces a larger proportion of it is cultivated through tenants paying rent. It is a consequence of this fact that the average standard of comfort among the agricultural classes is lower than in the Punjab. Whatever be the tenure of land, the system of agricul¬ ture throughout India is one of petite culture. In the words of Sir Edward Buck, you may consider that almost the whole country is split up into millions of five-acre farms. The holders of these farms are small proprietors or tenants, either paying revenue directly to the State or rent to an intermediate landlord. Tenants, technically so called, but who, it must be re¬ membered, hold a very different position from the tenants of England, are almost everywhere divided into two classes. A large proportion of them possess, according to imme¬ morial custom, a right of permanent and hereditary occu- 1 ‘ Land System of British India,’ vol. ii. p. 153. 268 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. pancy in the land so long as they pay the rent that is due. The amount of their rent mainly depends on local custom, not on competition. In some cases they are entitled to hold at permanently fixed rates, and their right is heritable and transferable. In other cases the rent can only be enhanced on certain grounds specified by law. Such tenants can only be ousted by decree of court, on proof of non-payment of rent ; and without a decree of court the landlord cannot obtain a higher rent. The principal ground of allowable enhancement is that the tenant is paying at a lower rate than that usually paid by neighbouring tenants of the same class for land of equal value. Cultivators of this descrip¬ tion are, in fact, co-sharers in the land, possessing limited rights of property. They often derive their present position from the fact that they or their ancestors were once pro¬ prietors ; a man who loses his proprietary right is still, according to ancient custom, allowed to retain his occu¬ pancy as cultivator. Similar rights may, under certain conditions, accrue by mere lapse of time. A tenant who, by himself or his ancestors, has held during twelve years uninterrupted occupation of the same land acquires a permanent right of occupancy. Cultivators of these classes are usually far better off than those who have no such privileges. “ Whenever,” say the Indian Famine Commissioners, “inquiry has been made, it has been found that in all matters relating to material prosperity, such as the possession of more cattle, better houses, and better clothes, the superiority lies on the side of the occupancy tenant, and as a rule they hold larger areas of land. About 70 per cent, of the cultivated land in the North-Western Provinces is tilled either by the proprietors themselves or by tenants with these rights.” Below this class come the tenants-at-will. They con¬ stitute a very large class, but they are less numerous than the tenants with occupancy rights. The tenant-at-will can be evicted at the close of any agricultural year, and the CADASTRAL SURVEYS. 269 amount of his rent depends on the bargain he can make with his landlord. Whenever a tenant is evicted, a claim may arise for compensation for improvements which he has made. Below the tenants come the agricultural labourers, the poorest section of the community, depending on wages usually paid in kind. Although they constitute a large class, they are happily far less numerous than the tenants. The land revenue in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh amounted in 1890-91 to Rx. 5,994,ooo. 1 The first step towards a settlement of the land revenue is an accurate survey. The great Trigonometrical survey was commenced early in the century, and has now ex¬ tended its network of triangles over the whole of India. Its operations, in the measurement of an arc of the meri¬ dian, and in affording data for determining the figure of the earth, have possessed the highest scientific value, and have served as the basis of innumerable useful undertakings. On it has been founded the Topographical survey, which delineates the geographical features of the country, and the Revenue or Cadastral survey, which provides maps of villages, estates, and fields. The latter is the basis of every settlement of the land revenue. Each village has its maps, showing its boundaries and principal features and every field. There are, it is said, more than 30,000,000 fields and plots in the North-Western Provinces, all of which have been measured and mapped. The settlement of the amount to be paid annually as land revenue in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, and in the greater part of British India, excepting Bengal, is usually made for a term of thirty years, during which time there can be no increase, under any circumstances, in the Government demand. Of the permanent settlement in Bengal, made nearly a century ago, I shall have to speak 1 The average incidence of the land revenue per cultivated acre is Rs. 1 8a. 8p. in the North-Western Provinces, and Rs. I I la. 3p. in Oudh ; the corresponding rate in Madras is Rs. 1 12a. 6p., and in Bombay, Rs. 1 oa. 9p. 2JO AN INDIAN PROVINCE. again. It was also applied in 1795 to Benares and to three other districts of the North-Western Provinces, bordering on Bengal, and it is still in force. In the rest of Northern India this misfortune has been escaped. In the North- Western Provinces, however, the loss in the permanently settled districts has been that of the State alone. It does not now obtain the full amount of land revenue which it would otherwise have been receiving ; but the people have not suffered, as in Bengal, from the absence of a Cadastral survey and record of rights. There is no difference in this respect between the permanently settled districts and the rest of the Province. The thirty years’ assessment is made on the assumption that the amount payable to the State is a fair average sum which, taking one year with another, can be paid without difficulty during the term of the settlement, the profits of good years covering the losses of bad ; but in practice, when unusual calamities of season occur, the Government is never backward in allowing the temporary suspension or permanent remission of its demand. The responsibility for the proper supervision of all arrangements connected with the periodical assessments of the land revenue rests, in the first instance, on the settle¬ ment officer. His duty is both fiscal and judicial; he has to determine the amount of the Government demand, and to make a record of all existing rights and responsibilities in the land. He has a large staff of experienced subor¬ dinates, almost all of whom are Natives of the country, and the settlement of the district assigned to him is a work which has usually required several years of constant work. The reforms consequent on the recent establishment of Agricultural departments will, however, lead, as I shall presently notice, to much simplification of the settlement officer’s proceedings, and to much greater rapidity in the completion of the settlements. All the work of the settle¬ ment officer is liable to the supervision of superior officers ; THE SETTLEMENT OFFICER. 271 the assessments proposed by him require the sanction of the Government before they become finally binding; and his judicial decisions may be reviewed by the civil courts. It is the duty of the settlement officer to make a record of every right which may form the subject of future dispute, whether affecting the interests of the State or of the people. The intention is to alter nothing, but to maintain and place on record that which exists. One of the necessary results of these proceedings is the prevention of litigation and of crime. In the words of Mr Thomason, the settlement officer “ comes among the people as their friend and peacemaker rather than as their judge. He does not ordinarily interpose between two parties when their passions are inflamed by the animosity of a fierce dispute or the anxiety of a protracted lawsuit; his first object has been to fix a moderate assessment, and to lay restric¬ tions on a right possessed by the Government, which they all acknowledge and consider sacred, and for moderation in the exercise of which they are grateful. Having successfully accom¬ plished this, and thereby conferred on them a new and valuable property, he calls upon them, whilst their minds are calm and their best feelings brought into action, to come to an agreement on all points likely to produce disputes among them ; he then reduces the terms of the agreement to record, and gives to the record the stamp of judicial authority.” 1 A most elaborate system was long ago contrived for the preparation and maintenance of the record of rights. Every field, as I have explained, is shown in the village maps, and it has a number corresponding with a register or field-book. In this are entered the area of the field, the crop, whether or not it is irrigated, the rent payable for it, the names of the proprietor and tenant, and other particu¬ lars. A rent-roll is prepared for every village, showing the fields and area of each cultivator’s holding, the length of time for which he has held, the rent which he has to pay, and the person to whom it is payable. A list is also drawn 1 Directions to Revenue Officers. 2J2 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. up showing the proprietors of land in the village, the share of each, and the amount of revenue for which each is responsible. Until not long ago it was a weak point in the land revenue system of Northern India, that no sufficient pro¬ vision existed for maintaining the accuracy of the records prepared at the time of the settlement with so much labour. It is obviously not enough to make a record of facts connected with the land at any given time ; the con¬ stant revision of the record is necessary, so that it may always represent the actual condition of things. Every village or circle of villages in Northern India has, according to ancient custom, among the servants of the community, a local accountant or notary called the Patwari, and on him the responsibility primarily rests for the maintenance of the village records. In the North- Western Provinces and Oudh there are about 30,000 patwaris, each of whom has charge of three or four villages. It was found extremely difficult in practice to ensure the accuracy of the patwari’s papers. Maps and records, pre¬ pared at the cost of the State with the utmost care, fre¬ quently lost the greater part of their value by failure to maintain them up to date. This had long been recog¬ nised as a serious evil. Public and private interests alike suffered from the frequent inaccuracy of the official registers. The establishment in 1875 of a separate department of Land Records and Agriculture, to which reference will again be made, has made it possible effectually to remedy these defects, and to ensure the constant correction of the village records. I quote from an official report the following account of the manner in which this is done :— “ Changes occur every year under nearly all the heads of the record which the patwdri has to prepare. Field boundaries are altered ; waste land is brought under cultivation; parts of hold- VILLAGE RECORD OF RIGHTS. 2 73 ings are relinquished by tenants; tenants are ejected: new tenancies are created ; rents are raised or lowered ; proprietors die and their lands are divided among the heirs; sales and mortgages take place ; irrigation and crops vary perpetually with season and market. All such changes are carefully noted every year by the patwari in the map and in his annual record. Abstracts of each year’s record are made for each village and tabulated, and these again are compiled for each sub-division of the district. In this way the agricultural resources of every village, sub-division, and district can at any time be ascertained. “ To render these records accurate, and to enforce their punc¬ tual preparation, a very rigorous system of supervision and testing is necessary. This is effected through Native inspectors called Kanungos. There is in each district a staff of these officers, whose duty it is to supervise and check the field work of the patwaris, to test their annual entries, and verify changes recorded by them. There are nearly 1200 kanungos of various grades in these pro¬ vinces. In every district there is a special training school, through which the patwaris are required to pass and qualify according to prescribed standards.” These measures for ensuring the accuracy of the village records have also led to very important improvements in the system under which settlements are periodically revised. The policy of fixing for all time the demand of the State upon the land has been—we may trust, finally— abandoned. We have had sufficient evidence of the folly of such a policy in the consequences to which, after nearly a century’s trial, it has led us in Bengal. It has never¬ theless always been felt that there were serious evils con¬ nected with the system under which settlements were made in Northern India for a term of years. Whatever care be taken, operations of survey and inquiry and record cannot be carried on continuously for several years with¬ out harassment of the agricultural classes, and without causing uneasiness and discontent. When the term of the settlement approached its close, not only was a check placed on improvements, but positive deterioration was S -74 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. to be feared, because the people were apprehensive that signs of prosperity might lead to enhancement of the Government revenue. The necessity for elaborate local investigations ceases when the village records are accurately maintained, and in a great part of the North-Western Provinces these are now so trustworthy that when a new settlement is neces¬ sary they can be used as a sufficient basis for the revision of the assessment. An official paper gives the following account of the system under which settlements are now made in the North-Western Provinces:— “ These most valuable and successful reforms, carried out under the direction of the Department of Land Records and Agriculture, which have laid the foundations of all the recent improvements in the revision of land assessment, were originally devised and inaugurated by Sir Edward Buck. In the districts about to be brought under settlement, the annual correction of the village maps has made them so nearly accurate as to render a fresh survey unnecessary, and the rent-rolls compiled by the patwaris, under the supervision of the kanungds, are sufficiently correct to serve as the basis of assessment. For the costly and troublesome temporary establishments which used to be employed has been substituted this ordinary and permanent agency, and the results have been, that proceedings which would have lasted at least ten years under the old system will now be carried out in three years, and probably at less than a quarter of the expense. The first duty of the settlement officer is to verify the rent-roll drawn up by the village accountant; and unless he has grounds for believing that the rents are fraudulently under¬ stated, or that for any other reason they are very much below the rents paid in similar circumstances in the same neighbour¬ hood, he accepts them as the basis of his assessment, and fixes the Government revenue at half the rental. He is forbidden to take prospective assets into account, and in every case the assess¬ ment will rest on the ground of actuals. In assessing land cultivated by the proprietors themselves, for which no true rent is paid, he applies a rate which is 25 per cent, lower than the rent paid by tenants in the same village.” SETTLEMENT REPORTS. 2 75 No enhancement of the Government demand can be made on account of increased value given to the land by wells or other permanent improvements made at the expense of the owner or occupier. The importance of the reforms that have thus been carried out, and which are due to the formation of the provincial Agricultural department, can hardly be over¬ stated. They have brought about a complete revolution in the system under which settlements were formerly made. The administration will be strengthened ; the interests of the agricultural population will be better protected ; the efficiency of the courts will be increased, because they will have access to trustworthy records of the rights of all persons interested in the land ; the expenses of litigation will be reduced ; and the saving of money to the Govern¬ ment will be very large. 1 The Reports of the settlement officers constitute, in the words of Sir Henry Maine, “ a whole literature of very great extent and variety, and of the utmost value and instructiveness.” I have now before me one of these Settlement Reports, a folio volume of more than four hundred pages. I doubt whether there is any English county of which so minute a description could be found. Physical geography, climate, history, castes, religions, com¬ munications, population, commerce, condition of the people, education, agricultural statistics, systems of cultivation, tenures of land, history of past and present settlements, rates of rent and revenue—there is hardly a subject of interest, in regard to which the results of long and patient investigation have not been recorded. This is the class of authorities to which we must go if we desire to learn the truth about the condition of the people. 1 It has been estimated that the saving in the cost of settlement operations which these reforms have made possible in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh will amount, in the period of thirty years for which the settlements are made, to Rx. 1,187,000. 276 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. Excepting in Bengal, where nearly a century ago a permanent settlement of the land revenue was made without surveys, and on data to which at the present time we should attach no value, systems of settlement as careful and elaborate as that which has been described exist in all the chief provinces of British India. The plans followed in the Punjab and in the Central Pro¬ vinces are based, for the most part, on those of the North-Western Provinces. In Southern India, where the prevailing tenures of land are different, the systems of assessment are, as I have already said, different also. Under one system or another, cadastral surveys have been made and registers of rights and possession have been prepared, which, notwithstanding inevitable imper¬ fections, are probably more complete than any that exist in any other country. Much in the existing land revenue system of Northern India is due to the great Akbar ; it assumed almost its present form under the East India Company; it owes much of its perfection to James Thomason, 1 one of the most enlightened men that have administered an Indian province; and its efficiency has gone on increasing since the transfer of the government to the Crown. No greater and more beneficent work has ever been undertaken than these vast operations, extending over several hundred thousands of square miles, designed to protect the interests of 150,000,000 of people. The system adopted in the North-Western Provinces has formed the basis of the settlements in Oudh ; but in the latter province there are some exceptional facts which I must notice. I shall have occasion to refer again to the condition of Oudh in 1856, when it became British territory. The Talukdars were the great landlords, and about two- thirds of the province were included in their estates. 1 Mr Thomason was Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces from 1843 to 1853. LAND SETTLEMENTS IN OUDH. 277 Some of them belonged to families which had been in possession for centuries, and their claims to be recognised as proprietors could not rightly be denied. Some had been officials or revenue contractors, intermediate between the Native Government and the village proprietors ; by their ability or rapacity they had often become holders of large estates, and had managed to appropriate to themselves more or less completely the rights of the old occupants. On the annexation of Oudh in 1856, the Talukdars were treated neither with discrimination nor justice. In the first settlement of the land revenue, claims were often ignored which ought to have been admitted, and when the mutinies of 1857 occurred the majority of the Talukdars went into open rebellion. I will not give in any detail the history of what followed. A proclama¬ tion was issued by Lord Canning, confiscating to the British Government, with a few exceptions, all landed property in Oudh. His object, regarding which there was at first much misunderstanding, was to get rid of all the obligations involved by the settlement of 1856, to obtain a tabula rasa which would give the opportunity of repairing the injustice with which many of the Talukdars had been treated, and of restoring their estates on con¬ dition of loyal submission. This purpose was effectually carried out, but unfortunate consequences followed. After the mutinies there came over the British Government and its officers, almost throughout India—happily, for a short time only, but long enough to do much injury— a flood of reactionary opinions, and all the experience of the past seemed forgotten. Permanent settlements of the land revenue were to be introduced ; great land¬ lords were to be created or their growth encouraged, in the belief that they would become devoted supporters of our Government ; the system of dealing with small village proprietors and communities was pronounced AN INDIAN PROVINCE. 278 politically unwise ; the rights of tenants were declared to have no existence, or at any rate must not be strengthened to the detriment of the landlord. When Oudh was reoccupied after the mutinies, in 1858, it offered a fine field for the application of such opinions. “ The maintenance,” the Government of India wrote to the Secretary of State in November 1859, “ of a landed aristocracy in India, where it exists, is an object of such importance that we may well afford to sacrifice to it something of a system which, while it has increased the independence and protected the rights of the culti¬ vators of the soil, has led to the exhaustion or decay of the old nobility.” India is doubtless a country in which it would be foolish to ignore the consideration due to families whose position and claims may have been recognised for centuries, and which in the eyes of the people still retain their titles to honour, and in the settle¬ ment of 1856 many of the Tfilukdars received scant justice. But the injustice that followed the new arrangements was worse. The ancient rights of multitudes of small proprietors and cultivators, rights often older and more undoubted than those of the Talukdars, were swept away or ignored ; the Talukdars not only recovered their estates, but they received, in many cases, privileges to which they themselves made no pretensions, and solemn promises that those privileges should be maintained were given by the Government. It is true that, under the orders of Lord Canning, all subordinate rights in the land which had been actually enjoyed before the annexa¬ tion of the province were to be preserved ; but the onus of proof lay upon those who claimed them. In consequence of the orders of confiscation, followed by the grant of full rights of property to the Talukdars, the legal presumption was primd facie that the right of the Talukdar was complete, and that other rights in the land had been extinguished. Anarchy prevailed in PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO TALUKDARS. 2/9 Oudh before annexation, and it was difficult for an ignorant peasant to prove that he had enjoyed at that time rights independent of those of the Talukdfir. The fate of the tenants was no better. With rare excep¬ tions, rights of occupancy in the land were declared to have no existence in Oudh. Lord Lawrence, when he became Viceroy, was anxious that remedies should, so far as was possible, be applied to diminish the injustice which he was satisfied had been done. I was myself, as Chief Commissioner of Oudh, one of the agents through whom he acted, but I look back with little satisfaction on such amount of success as was gained. Public opinion in India was still going through the phase of admiration for artificially-created aristocratic institutions ; and, both in his own Council and in England, Lord Lawrence met with such strong opposition that it was impossible to do much. He did all that seemed at the time practicable, but it may be a question whether it would not have been better to have done nothing ; for although protection was given to an important class of small proprietors, and to a small class of tenants, it may be feared that the measures that were taken tended, in some respects, to give greater strength to a vicious system. About two-thirds of the land in Oudh are owned by two hundred and seventy-two great landlords, the Taluk- dfirs, and one-third by proprietors of small estates, or by the sharers in village communities. The greater part of the province is cultivated by tenants possessing no permanent rights. Custom has gradually been giving way to competition in the determination of rents. Much, however, has been lately done to improve the position of cultivators. The Talukdars have concurred in legisla¬ tion to render the condition of tenants less precarious. Under an Act passed in 1886, important checks have been placed on enhancement of rent and eviction. Sitting 28 o AN INDIAN PROVINCE. tenants are now, as a general rule, entitled to continue in undisturbed occupation of their holdings, at present rates, for periods of seven years ; and on the expiry of each period they are entitled to renewal at a rent not exceeding by more than 6 \ per cent, that formerly paid. In all cases compensation for improvements is due to tenants before they can be evicted. In spite of all mistakes the condition of the people of Oudh is beyond all comparison better than it was before the establishment of our Government. There has been a great increase of cultivation, the means of communica¬ tion have been immensely improved by the construction of roads and railways, new markets have been opened, the prices of agricultural produce have risen, and the culti¬ vators, although usually very poor, are better fed, better clothed, and better housed than they were. In speaking of the system under which the assessments of land revenue are periodically revised, and under which land records are maintained, 1 referred to the improve¬ ments that have followed the creation of a separate depart¬ ment for the control of this branch of the administration. I must return for a moment to this subject. Lord Mayo was the first Governor-General who gave practical recognition to the value of the study of questions connected with Indian agriculture. “ For generations to come,” the Government of India wrote in 1870 to the Secretary of State, “the progress of India in wealth and civilisation must be directly dependent on her pro¬ gress in agriculture. Agricultural products must long continue the most important part of the exports, and the future develop¬ ment of Indian commerce will mainly depend upon the im¬ provement in the quantity and quality of existing agricultural staples, or on the introduction of new products, which shall serve as materials for manufacture and for use in the industrial arts. . . . There is perhaps no country in the world in which the State has so immediate and direct an interest in such questions. The Government of India is not only a Government, but the DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FORMED. 281 chief landlord. The land revenue, which yields more than ^20,000,000 of her annual income, is derived from that portion of the rent which belongs to the State and not to individual proprietors. Throughout the greater part of India, every measure for the improvement of the land enhances the value of the pro¬ perty of the State. The duties which in England are performed by a good landlord fall, in India, in a great measure, upon the Government. Speaking generally, the only Indian landlord who can command the requisite knowledge is the State.” In 1870 a separate Department of Agriculture and Commerce was created under the Government of India. It was foreseen by Lord Mayo that this central depart¬ ment of control would be able to do comparatively little until working departments with similar objects had been established under the local Governments. In 1875, when I was myself Lieutenant-Governor, the first provincial department of Agriculture was created in the North- Western Provinces, and the example has since been followed in the other provinces of British India. These departments are still in their infancy, but they have already led to most valuable reforms. I do not doubt that much will ultimately be done, by the applica¬ tion of more scientific methods, towards the actual im¬ provement of Indian agriculture, but up to the present time the chief work undertaken has been the improvement of the land revenue administration, the better organisation of the system for maintaining accurate land records, and the reform of the methods under which the land revenue is assessed. I have shown some of the advantages which have been already obtained in the North-Western Pro¬ vinces. CHAPTER XX. AN INDIAN province— {Continued). Administration of an Indian province—An Indian district—The Magistrate and Collector or District Officer—His functions—Subdivisions of dis¬ tricts—The Tahsildars—Executive and Judicial Powers—The Joint, Assistant, and Deputy Magistrate and Collector—The Police—Jails— Hospitals—Sanitation—Vaccination—Public works—Education—General illiteracy — Municipalities — Local self-government — Commissioners of divisions—The Revenue Board—Heads of departments—Sanitaria—The Lieutenant-Governor—The Legislative Council—The Judicial Courts. I NOW propose to give a sketch of the manner in which the administration of an Indian province is carried on, taking, as before, the North-Western Provinces and Oudh as my example. In regard, however, to many matters little need be added to what has been already said. Some account, more or less generally applicable to the whole of British India has already been given of the constitution of the provincial Governments, of the Civil Services, of the system under which justice is administered, of the measures taken to encourage education, of the railways and works of irriga¬ tion, and of the principal sources of the public income. I shall now refer more particularly to some of the executive branches of the provincial administration, to which little reference has hitherto been made. Throughout British India the District, technically so called, is the unit of administration. Every province is divided into Districts, each of which has its separate organ¬ isation. A province is a collection of Districts; and with¬ out a clear conception of a District no one can understand how the actual government of India is carried on. In the 282 DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION. 283 details of District organisation there are great differences in different provinces, but the general principles on which the administrative system is based are much the same everywhere, and the account which I am about to give of a District in the North-Western Provinces is, in many respects, generally applicable to the whole of British India. The North-Western Provinces and Oudh are divided into forty-nine districts, each of which is a compact tract, having usually an area of 1500 or 2000 square miles, and a population of 750,000 to 1,500,000. This is about the area and population of one of the larger English counties. In several provinces, and especially in Madras, the districts are much more extensive. In India, where an absolute government is administered by a small body of foreigners far more advanced in civilisa¬ tion than the people of the country itself, the most essen¬ tial condition of safety to the rulers, and of good govern¬ ment to the people, is that authority should be strong, and authority cannot be strong unless it is concentrated. In every district of British India the Government has its representative in whom all executive authority centres. This officer, in the North-Western Provinces, in Bengal, in Madras, and in Bombay, is called the Magistrate and Collector, or Collector alone; in the Punjab, in Oudh, in Burma, and in the other so-called Non-Regulation pro¬ vinces, he is called the Deputy Commissioner. The term, “ District Officer,” by which he is often known, is applicable in both cases. The name Collector conveys to English ears a very false idea. A collector in England is a petty officer who collects rates and taxes; in India, he is, in many respects, the most important officer in the whole administrative hierarchy. I borrow from Sir William Hunter the following descrip¬ tion :— “ The district officer, whether known as collector-magistrate or 284 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. as deputy commissioner, is the responsible head of his jurisdic¬ tion. Upon his energy and personal character depends ultim¬ ately the efficiency of our Indian Government. His own special duties are so numerous and so various as to bewilder the out¬ sider ; and the work of his subordinates, European and native, largely depends upon the stimulus of his personal example. His position has been compared to that of the French prefet, but such a comparison is unjust in many ways to the Indian district officer. He is not a mere subordinate of a central bureau, who takes his colour from his chief and represents the political parties or the permanent officialism of the capital. The Indian collector is a strongly individualised worker in every department of rural well-being, with a large measure of local independence and of individual initiative. As the name of collector-magistrate implies, his main functions are twofold. He is a fiscal officer, charged with the collection of the revenue from the land and other sources; he is also a revenue and criminal judge, both of first instance and in appeal. But his title by no means exhausts his multifarious duties. He does in his smaller local sphere all that the Home Secretary superintends in England, and a great deal more, for he is the representative of a paternal and not of a constitutional Government. Police, jails, education, municipalities, roads, sanitation, dispensaries, the local taxation, and the imperial revenues of his district are to him matters of daily concern. He is expected to make himself acquainted with every phase of the social life of the natives, and with each natural aspect of the country. He should be a lawyer, an accountant, a financier, and a ready writer of state papers. He ought also to possess no mean knowledge of agriculture, political economy, and engineering.” 1 All this signifies, not that he is expected to be omni¬ scient, but that the magistrate and collector is the principal officer of Government in every branch of the executive administration of the district. As the local representative of the Government, through whom all the orders and measures of the ruling power are issued and made known to the people, and on whom the Government depends for information of every serious matter that occurs, he holds a 1 ‘ The Indian Empire,’ p. 513. THE MAGISTRATE AND COLLECTOR. 285 position of great and exceptional importance. If the dis¬ trict officer is weak and incapable, authority and law in the district are weak also; if he is strong and competent, they are respected. Every cause which tends to diminish his influence lessens the authority of the Government, whether that cause be shortcomings of his own, or the injudicious action of his superiors. At the same time, it must not be supposed that he has any irresponsible and arbitrary power ; all his more important duties are strictly regulated either by law or by rules laid down by the Government, and all his proceedings are subject to super¬ vision and, when necessary, to correction. His duties as collector differ in different provinces, ac¬ cording to the system on which the land revenue is assessed, the prevailing tenures of land, and other local circum¬ stances. Thus, in Bengal, where the Government demand has been fixed in perpetuity, and where no attempt has been made to maintain accurate records of existing rights in the land, the duties of the collector are less important and difficult than in the temporarily settled provinces. In the North-Western Provinces, the collector, as Mr Thomason writes, “ in order properly to discharge his duties, must possess the most complete knowledge of the landed tenures in his district, and of everything which tends to affect the interests of the agricultural population.” He has to act in many capacities. He supervises the arrangements for securing the payment at the appointed times of the land revenue, the excise upon spirits, the revenue derived from stamps, and the assessment and collection of the in¬ come tax. He is personally responsible for the care of the Government treasury at the head-quarters of the dis¬ trict, and for the punctual preparation and submission of the public accounts. The records and registers affecting landed property are deposited in his office ; and, in connec¬ tion with the Agricultural department, to which reference was made in the last chapter, the duty rests upon him of 286 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. maintaining in a condition of efficiency the elaborate system laid down for their preservation and correction. He decides judicially, subject in many cases to an appeal to the Civil courts, disputes regarding rent and other questions between landlords and tenants. “ Nothing can pass in the district of which it is not his duty to keep himself informed, and to watch the operation. The vicissi¬ tudes of trade, the state of the currency, the administration of civil justice, the progress of public works, must all affect most materi¬ ally the interests of the classes of whom he is the constituted guardian. Officious interference in matters beyond his immediate control must be avoided, but temperate and intelligent remon¬ strance against anything which he sees to be wrong is one of his most important duties.” 1 It need hardly be said that the district officer cannot administer personally the details of all this business. He has at his disposal a large staff of officers, only a few of whom are English, through whom the work is carried on. An efficient district officer watches every department of the administration ; he is always ready to intervene, but he does not occupy himself with the details of business which his subordinates are as competent as himself to transact. His duties of supervision are so onerous and important that he ought, as Mr Thomason has said, to do nothing that he can make others do for him. Every district is partitioned, for the convenient adminis¬ tration of business, into a number of subdivisions, often corresponding with those that existed before our time. Each revenue subdivision is in charge of a Native officer of high standing, called in the Northern provinces a Tahsil- dar, and in Southern India a Mamlatdar. He superintends the collection of the revenues, and all business connected with the land. The Tahsildars are the principal agents of the collector in the interior of the district, and their duties, on a smaller scale, are almost as various as those of 1 ‘Directions for Collectors, N.W.P.,’ p. 184. EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS. 287 the collector himself. They are chosen with care, and are an intelligent and excellent class of public servants. “ The satisfactory administration of the subdivision,” the Famine Commissioners write, “ the proper carrying out of the details of government, the protection of the people from hardships and oppression, the detection of abuses, and the general well-being of the community, very greatly depend upon the integrity, zeal, and ability of the Tahsildar.” There are usually five or six Tahsildars in each district of the North-Western Provinces. The district officer is also the chief magistrate of the district; the powers which he exercises in this capacity have already been described. His title of magistrate is hardly, according to English ideas, more appropriate than that of collector. He exercises, it is true, magisterial and judicial functions, but he is a great deal more than a magistrate. The responsibility for the protection of life and property throughout the district, for the maintenance of the public peace, and for ensuring obedience to the laws, rest ultimately upon him. He exercises supreme authority over the police, and all the magisterial courts and the gaols are under his supervision. In one capacity or another, he possesses all the authority necessary to make him, in the eyes of the people, the representative of the Executive Government. We often hear demands for the more complete separa¬ tion of executive and judicial functions in India, but they are demands based on the assumption that because this is good for England it must be good for India also. There could be no greater error. The first necessity of good ad¬ ministration in such a country as India is that it should be strong, and it cannot be strong without the concentration of authority. In the everyday internal administration there is no office so important as that of the Magistrate and Collector. He is one of the mainstays of our dominion, and few steps could be taken in India which would be 288 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. more mischievous and dangerous than to deprive him of those powers which alone enable him to maintain his posi¬ tion as the local representative of the Government. 1 The first place on his staff is held by the Joint Magis¬ trate and Deputy Collector ; in the Non-Regulation Pro¬ vinces he is called Assistant Commissioner. He is always an officer of considerable length of service and experience. The territorial or other limits of his jurisdiction are deter¬ mined by the district officer; the extent of his executive authority mainly depends on the amount of confidence placed in him by his superior; but in respect of cases heard by him as a magistrate, his powers are almost the same as those of the district officer himself. Next below him comes the Assistant Magistrate and Collector; if the district be large and the work heavy, there may be more than one officer of this grade. No assistant is invested with any powers or receives promotion until he has given evidence of his competency by passing examinations in the Native languages and in law. The magistrate and collector, the joint magistrate and deputy collector, and the assistant, are, as a rule, Englishmen belonging to the Covenanted Civil service, but, as I already explained, a certain propor¬ tion of these offices have been thrown open to the Native members of the Provincial service. The other chief officers of the executive staff are the Deputy Collectors and Deputy Magistrates ; they are almost always Natives. There are several in each district, some of them at the head-quarters, and others in the interior of the district. Reference has been made in a previous chapter 2 to the Code of Criminal Procedure which defines the various 1 It must be understood that these remarks regarding executive and judicial functions are only intended to refer to the powers of the District Officers in Regulation Provinces. In the Non-Regulation Provinces, with some excep¬ tions, the Deputy Commissioner is not only a Magistrate and Collector, but a Chief Judge also. This is undoubtedly objectionable, and there are no reasons for maintaining the system except reasons of economy. 2 Chapter VII. THE POLICE. 289 classes of magisterial and other criminal courts, and the powers which each class of officers can exercise. The system under which the police is administered differs in different provinces, but its general organisation throughout India is based on a law passed in 1861, and the manner in which its duties are to be performed is laid down in great detail in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Every district is divided into a number of police divisions, each of which is in charge of a police officer, almost always a Native, with a force of constables, clerks, and other sub¬ ordinates. Every village or circle of villages has, according to the ancient custom of the country, its chaukidar, or watchman, whose duty it is to report all occurrences falling within the cognisance of the police. Under the Native Governments that preceded us there was, outside the towns, hardly any police at all, and the responsibility for preserving the peace and for the detection of serious crime rested on the proprietors of land. This responsibility still attaches to them by law, and various old regulations define their obligations for reporting, prevent¬ ing, and detecting crime. It was inevitable that as the administration became more regular, and more completely organised, the difficulty of enforcing general responsibilities of this kind would become greater, and the assistance practically given by the landholders in matters of police is usually small. At the head-quarters of every district there is an officer called the District Superintendent of police. He is, with rare exceptions, an Englishman. He supervises, with the help of his staff of inspectors and others, and subject to the general control of the magistrate of the district, all police arrangements, and is responsible for the efficiency and good behaviour of the force. The law gives to the district officer a general power over the police of the district, but the interference which he practically exercises varies in different provinces. In the North-Western Pro- T 2go AN INDIAN PROVINCE. vinces and Oudh his supreme authority and responsibility have been carefully maintained ; but in some other pro¬ vinces (unfortunately, as I think) his powers have been so strictly limited that the police has become virtually a separate department, administered by the District Super¬ intendent, under the orders of the Inspector-General of police, at the head-quarters of the Government. The character of the police in India varies very much. Before the transfer of the Government to the Crown, no branch of the administration was in greater need of reform. The police was often oppressive and corrupt. The traditions of police management in India tended to encourage much that was bad. Under all Native Governments, past and present, torture has been avowedly or tacitly permitted, and has been looked upon as a natural and legitimate means of obtaining evidence. The people, for the most part, will not protect themselves, but have been accustomed, from time immemorial, to submit unresistingly to all official action. Under such circumstances it has always been difficult to guard against abuses. The improvement has been great. There is little violent crime, and the pro¬ tection to life and property is as complete as in almost any European country. But there can be no doubt that Sir James Stephen is right when he gives, as a result of his personal experience in India, the opinion that “no part of the Institutions by which India is governed requires more careful watching in order to prevent the police, which is designed for the protection of the people, from becoming a means of petty oppression. The Code of Criminal Pro¬ cedure is full of provisions intended to guard against this and at the same time to make the police efficient for their purpose.” 1 Every district has its gaol, and there are central prisons in convenient situations. Although not in all respects managed on the system adopted in England, there are 1 ‘ History of the Criminal Law of England,’ vol, iii. p. 331. GAOLS — HOSPITALS — SANITATION. 291 few countries in Europe where the gaols are so well looked after. A great Indian prison is a model of cleanliness and good management. Every district has also its engineer establishments for the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, and other public works and buildings ; its telegraph and post-offices ; its schools and hospitals. In 1892 there were 299 hospitals and dispensaries in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, and more than 3,000,000 patients were treated in them. I have already spoken of these institutions, and of the great skill of many of the Native surgeons. They are highly valued by the people, and for the most part are supported from local funds or by voluntary local subscriptions, the Government supplying the Native doctor and European medicines. There were also, in 1892, twenty-one separate hospitals for the exclusive use of women, belonging for the most part to that excellent institution, the Dufferin Fund Association. 1 Each district has a European officer, called the Civil Surgeon, who supervises all the medical establishments. I wish that I could give as satisfactory an account of the progress of sanitary improvement, but the prejudices and ignorance of the people make even simple reforms difficult. Much, however, has been done to improve the sanitary condition of the larger towns, and in several cases im¬ portant works for water supply and drainage have been constructed. There is another respect in which much progress has been made. Small-pox has always been extremely fatal in Northern India, but a large part of the North-Western Provinces is now becoming well protected by vaccination. The prejudices and suspicions of the people have gradually been giving way, and vaccination is extended with constantly increasing success. In the Himalayan districts, in particular, small-pox, which forty years ago sometimes decimated the population, has been almost extirpated. A staff of vaccinators is maintained by 1 P. 198. 292 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. the Government in every district of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, and, in 1891-92, 1,300,000 persons were vaccinated. It is only in a few of the larger canton¬ ments that vaccination has been made compulsory. The registration of vital statistics becomes every year more complete and trustworthy. The whole sanitary depart¬ ment of the province is under the control of an officer called the Sanitary Commissioner. I will not again speak of the public works constructed by the British Government in Northern India. Some account has been already given of the great canals of irrigation, and of the immense improvement that has taken place in the provision of means of communication. The principal towns and districts are now connected by rail¬ ways, and the country is well supplied with roads and bridges. An account was given in a previous chapter 1 of the system of education followed in the Indian universities, colleges, and schools. The villages in the districts of the North-Western Provinces are grouped together in small circles, each of which has its Government school, affording elementary instruction to the poorer classes of the agricul¬ tural population. These schools teach, in the language of the country, reading, writing, arithmetic, and a little geography and mensuration. They numbered in 1892, nearly 4000, but contained only 134,000 scholars. One hundred and thirty-six primary schools for girls with 2900 scholars, were maintained by the Government, and about 6000 girls were in aided schools. Besides these there were about 64,000 scholars in so-called indigenous schools, which have no connection with the Educational depart¬ ment of the Government. In each revenue subdivision there is a school, teaching, in the vernacular language, grammar, geography, Indian history, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mensuration, and 1 Chapter XVI. EDUCATION. 293 the elements of natural science. At the head-quarters of the district there is always a Government school of a superior kind, in which English is taught, and in many of the larger towns there are good schools conducted by private agencies, chiefly by missionaries, receiving grants- in-aid from the Government. These schools often give an education up to the standard of the entrance examination of the university. Reference has already been made to the colleges, of which there were, in 1892, eight maintained by the Govern¬ ment with 1297 students, and seven aided institutions with 995 students. Until 1887 the direction of higher education was in the hands of the University of Calcutta, but in that year a university was established at Allahabad, to which the colleges of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh have been affiliated. Like the other Indian universities, with the exception of that at Lahore, it is not a teaching body. I have shown in a previous chapter 1 how vast a propor¬ tion of the population of the countries of India remains altogether illiterate. The North-Western Provinces and Oudh are no exception to the rule. According to the census of 1891, out of a total population of 47,700,000, no less than 46,100,000 were illiterate. The male population was 24,700,000, of whom 1,510,000 could read and write. The female population was 23,000,000, and the number that could read and write was 47,200. Assuming that about 20 per cent, of the population are of an age to require elementary instruction, and assuming the returns of the census and of the Department of Public Instruction to be approximately correct, there were 266,000 boys at school or college instead of 4,900,000, and 9000 girls instead of 4,600,000. Obviously no satisfaction can be derived from any of these figures, but the subject of education in India is one to which I must not return. Chapter XVI. 294 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. For the management of local affairs every large town has its municipality, the members of which are chiefly natives of the place not in the service of the Government. There are 103 of these municipalities in the North- Western Provinces and Oudh, and 3,270,000 people live within their limits. These non-official bodies co-operate usefully with the Government authorities in the manage¬ ment of the roads, conservancy, schools, hospitals, and in all the local business. Many of the Native members are honorary magistrates, often associated in Benches. A large proportion of the less serious criminal cases brought to trial in the North-Western Provinces are decided by the unpaid Native magistracy. In almost all cases a large majority of the members of the municipal boards are elected by the townspeople. The voting qualification depends on amount of income, house-rating, and contribution to municipal taxation. The rules under which elections are conducted are framed by the Provincial Government, and vary according to local circumstances. The chairman is usually the magistrate of the district, but in this matter the boards have generally the power of making their own choice. The income of the municipalities of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh amounted in 1891-92 to Rx.580,000, nearly half of which was raised by octroi duties on articles brought into the towns for consumption. There are similar boards in the rural districts. An electoral-body is nominated by the Government, and this body chooses from its own members not less than three- fourths of the board. The magistrate of the district is the chairman. These boards levy no rates, but local funds and grants from the provincial revenues are assigned for the local duties entrusted to them. During the last few years much has been done through¬ out India in the direction of local self-government, but the systems in force are still to a great extent in a tentative MUNICIPAL AND RURAL LOCAL BOARDS. 295 stage. It cannot be said that the people usually take much interest in such matters ; they care nothing for sanitation, or for any of the modern improvements to which we attach importance, and if they were left to please themselves they would ordinarily prefer that their towns and villages should remain in the condition with which their forefathers were content. No taxation is more unpopular in India than direct taxation for local purposes. People can understand that they must contribute .towards the expenses of the State, for the maintenance of the army, for the courts of justice, and so forth ; but that they should be made to pay for the drainage of their streets, and for so-called improve¬ ments which we tell them will diminish mortality and disease, is a thing of which they fail to see the necessity or justice. Nevertheless men are often found among the Native members of the municipalities who are sufficiently enlightened to understand the value of the work in which they are engaged, and glad to help in performing it. Including the cities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, there were in 1892 in British India 750 municipalities, with an income of about Rx. 3,000,000, and a population, within municipal limits, of about 14,000,000. I must now speak of the manner in which the executive authorities of the districts are brought under the control of the Provincial Government. The forty-nine districts of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh are grouped together into eleven Divisions, technically so called, each of which is in charge of an officer called the Commissioner. In matters connected with the revenue in all its branches, and with the executive administration generally, he exercises powers of super¬ vision over the proceedings of the district officers, but he does not interfere in the details of the business entrusted to them. In certain cases appeals lie to him, and nothing of importance can happen without his knowledge, because all communications between the district officers and the Government pass through his hands. 296 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. A similar system prevails in other parts of British India, with the exception of Madras, where there are no Com¬ missioners. In that province the district officers com¬ municate directly with the Government, except in revenue matters, on which they make their reports through the Revenue Board. Besides the commissioners of divisions, there is a large staff of officers, through whom the executive business of the province is supervised, reported on, and submitted for the orders of the Lieutenant-Governor. The members of the Revenue Board are entrusted with the duty of super¬ vising the proceedings of the collectors and commissioners in matters connected with the land, and the collection and management of the public revenues. The term “board” has become, in this and other provinces, a misnomer. It has been found in India, as elsewhere, that, as Bentham expressed it, almost every board is a screen, efficient for hiding what ought to be known, and for avoiding indi¬ vidual responsibility. Each member of the Revenue Board has now his own separate duties. The departments of Police, Jails, Education, Medical Services, Public Health and Vaccination, Agriculture and Commerce, Forestry, Meteorology, Registration, Stamps and Excise, and Public Works have all, under one title or another, their respective heads, who act as the advisers of the Lieutenant-Governor. They make their reports and receive their orders through the Secretaries to the Government. The head-quarters of the Government of the North- Western Provinces and Oudli are at Allahabad, but they are removed during the hottest months of the year to the Himalayan Sanitarium of Naini Tab Each of the great Indian provinces has had, for many years past, its Hill Station. I have already referred to the benefit to the public service which attends the annual migration of the Supreme Government to Simla, and, although abuses have sometimes THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. 297 occurred, there can be no question that the efficiency of the Provincial Governments is also greatly increased by the custom of allowing officers, who have no local duties to perform, to carry on their work in a cool climate, instead of remaining in the enervating heat of the plains. Authority, in every branch of the public service except¬ ing the judicial, is centralised in the Lieutenant-Governor, subject only to the paramount authority of the Governor- General in Council. Excepting the Viceroy, no officers in India are entrusted with so large a measure of personal power as the Lieutenant-Governors of the great Indian provinces. They have no executive councils. Their nominal dignity is less than that of the Governors of Madras and Bombay, but the territories ruled by the Lieutenant-Governors are in no way inferior in political importance, and, in the case of Bengal and of the North- Western Provinces, they have larger populations and larger revenues. The checks against the wrongful exercise by the Lieutenant-Governor of arbitrary power, are, however, complete. There is no branch of the administration in which he is not bound either by positive law, or by the standing orders of the Supreme Government, or by the system which has gradually grown up under his prede¬ cessors. Any great changes which, he may desire to intro¬ duce must first receive the approval of the Governor- General in Council. He can impose no new taxation; his powers of sanctioning fresh expenditure, although large, are carefully restricted ; and he has no control over the military forces in his province. As I shall explain, the Government of India keeps the army in its own hands throughout Bengal and Northern India. Until 1887 the Lieutenant-Governor of the North- Western Provinces had no Council for legislative pur¬ poses, and all laws required for the North - Western Provinces and Oudh were passed in the Council of the Governor-General. He has now a Legislative Council 298 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. similar to those in Madras, Bombay, and Bengal, the constitution of which was described in a former chapter. 1 Under the Indian Councils Act of 1892, the number of Councillors must not exceed fifteen, and the Rules passed under the Act provide that not more than seven of these shall be officials. The appointments to the Council are made by the Lieutenant-Governor. Six of the non-official members are nominated on the recommendation of various bodies. The Senate of the University of Allahabad re¬ commends one member. Five members are recommended by groups of Municipal Boards or Committees, groups of District Boards, Associations of landholders, whether landlords or tenants, and Associations of merchants, manu¬ facturers, or tradesmen. There are other departments of the administration which, as before explained, are under the control of the Supreme and not of the Provincial Government, because they deal with matters of imperial interest, common to the whole of India ; among these are the Post Office' and Telegraph, the Survey, the Public Accounts and Currency. Before leaving this part of my subject I must repeat that no one can understand how the actual government of India is carried on until he has obtained a proper appreciation of the facts which are stated in the earlier part of this chapter. The unit of administration in every province of British India is the district; every district has its own organisation; the province is a collection of districts, with the addition of the strong central authority of the Provincial Government which controls and gives unity to the whole; the machinery by which this central authority is exercised is efficient and complete ; nothing of public importance can occur in any district or in any village, information regarding which is not immediately laid before the Government of the province. I have hitherto referred to the executive administration 1 Chapter VI. THE COURTS OF JUSTICE. 299 only. The courts of justice, as in other countries possess¬ ing civilised systems of government, are independent of the executive power; the Government, like its subjects, is amenable to the law, and, like them, may be sued in the courts. A general account has already been given of the system under which the administration of justice in India is carried on. 1 In the North-Western Provinces each district has a Civil Judge, a member of the covenanted Civil Service, who also presides over the court of session. The district is divided into a convenient number of sections, in each of which there are courts of civil jurisdic¬ tion, subordinate to the court of the Judge. There are two classes of these courts; those of the Munsifs, who try suits up to the value of 1000 rupees, and those of the Subordin¬ ate judges, who try them, with certain restrictions, to any higher amount. Appeals lie in the smaller cases to the Judge, and in cases for more than 5000 rupees to the High court. There are also Small-cause courts, which decide petty cases without appeal. Out of more than 200 Sub¬ ordinate judges and Munsifs in the North-Western Pro¬ vinces there are only two or three who are not Natives. In the North-Western Provinces, the High court, which has its seat at Allahabad, consists of a Chief Justice and four Puisne Judges, all appointed by the Crown. One of the Judges and the Chief Justice are chosen from the English Bar, two of the Judges are members of the Cove¬ nanted Civil Service, and one of them is a Native gentle¬ man. The Lieutenant-Governor appoints the district judge, and possesses in criminal cases the power of pardon, but he has no control over the judicial administration. 1 Chapter VII. CHAPTER XXL AN INDIAN PROVINCE— {Continued). Condition of the people—Increasing wealth—Increase of population—Emigra¬ tion—Character of the people—Their great honesty—Cruel customs— Crime—Infanticide—Criminal Tribes. Reference will be made hereafter to some of the results of the elaborate system of government which I have been describing. Something must now be said regarding the material condition of the people. It is easy in almost every country to find examples of extreme poverty, and it is easy in India. The day labourer is often little better than an hereditary bondsman, and in bad seasons his condition is miserable. It would be hard to discover people living in a worse state of moral and physical degradation than that of the lowest classes of Mohammedans in many of the towns of Northern India. It is easy for the Indian pessimist to take cases of this kind, which are not rare, and then, by a bold generalisa¬ tion, to assume that extreme poverty and misery are the normal condition of the agricultural population throughout India. We might as reasonably, on evidence of the condi¬ tion of the poorest classes in the West of Ireland, or in the worst slums of the great cities of England, conclude that the rural and town population of our own country are universally wretched and degraded. Referring to Northern India, I have already said that there is no country in which more complete and trust¬ worthy information has been placed on record in regard to every subject affecting the agricultural population. 300 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 3OI The immediate requirements of life are easily satisfied in the climate of India, and if we compare the physical ease and comfort of the average Indian peasant with that exist¬ ing among the same class in the greater part of Europe, it cannot be doubted (I am now quoting the conclusions of ths Indian Famine Commissioners) that “ the advantage would probably be greatly in favour of the former, al¬ though his life may be shorter and subject to greater risks.” The great majority of Indian agriculturists have the advantage of possessing, either as peasant proprietors or as cultivators with occupancy rights, permanent interests in the land. The condition of the people mainly depends on the degree in which these interests exist. This is always shown in a striking manner when seasons of drought occur. The first to suffer are the field-labourers, who live on the wages of their labour. If the rainy season fails, the land cannot be cultivated, and they are thrown out of employment. The next to suffer are the tenants-at-will, with no fixed rights and little credit. Where, on the other hand, the land is cultivated by the proprietors themselves, or by tenants with hereditary rights, it is only when drought is unusually severe and prolonged that these classes require help, for they have stocks of food and money to fall back upon, and they have credit with the money-lenders. The field-labourers, who have no permanent and hereditary employment in their villages and depend on wages paid usually in kind, are the only class in the condition of which it is probably true that there has been no general improvement. They are often worse off than in the times when there were no roads and railways, and when the value of agricultural produce was lower. To the menial servants of an Indian village a rise in prices does not bring increased wages, and they are usually too ignorant and helpless to think of bettering their condition by going elsewhere for employment, which 302 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. would not in these days be difficult to find. Rut these are exceptions. Unless the seasons be especially unfortunate, the ordinary life of the Indian peasant is far from unhappy. The fact that he has very little money has often led to mistaken conclusions on the part of English writers. It is forgotten that the term poverty has no absolute and invariable signification, and that this depends on the relation between a man’s wants and the means of supply¬ ing them. The ordinary supposition is that the Indian, like the English peasant, buys all that he requires for his support, but nothing could be more erroneous. As a rule, he derives from the land which he himself owns or culti¬ vates most of the necessaries of life for himself and his family. “ He retains,” in the words of Mr T. H. Thornton, “ so much of his produce as he requires for seed and home con¬ sumption, and disposes of the surplus only, and this surplus he does not ordinarily sell in open market, but makes over to the village banya, or shopkeeper, with whom he has an account current for cash advanced and goods supplied. To attempt to give a money value to these primitive transactions, and formulate the financial condition of the peasantry in terms of cash receipts and payments, must be a very hazardous under¬ taking.” Little money passes through the hands even of the well-to-do Indian peasant. He need buy little or nothing except the simple implements of husbandry, cooking- vessels, clothing, sweetmeats, and tobacco ; and all these together will not cost him many shillings in the year. In the provinces to which I have more particularly referred, his mud-walled cottage affords clean and, accord¬ ing to his ideas, comfortable shelter. He has not much clothing, but much is not wanted ; even in the winter he suffers little from the cold. Under ordinary circum¬ stances, he has sufficient food of the only kind that he INCREASING WEALTH AND PROSPERITY. 303 desires, the produce of his own fields or garden, his millets and lentils, his barley or his rice, his much-appreciated ghee , made from the milk of cows or buffaloes, the vege¬ tables, spices, and condiments of which in a hot climate there is no lack, and as much tobacco, sugar, and sweet¬ meats as he can afford to buy. His wife has often her holiday attire and her silver ornaments, for after pro¬ viding the necessaries of life there is frequently some¬ thing left for simple luxuries and for buying jewellery. If as is usually the case, he drinks no spirits, the only tax that he has to pay is about fivepence a year for salt, for himself and each member of his family. The improvement in the condition of the people in Northern India within my own recollection has been obvious. As one of the settlement officers observes, the vessels used by the peasantry forty years ago were almost always earthen ; now they are of brass; their clothing is better, and they have more of it ; “ now every tenant dresses like a Brahman or zemindar of old days.” One of the most experienced officers of the North-Western Provinces has declared, as the result of his inquiries and observation, his belief that the landowning classes are, speaking generally, four or five times as rich as they were at the beginning of the century ; “ everywhere,” he says, “ there has been an extraordinary rise in the value of land, and the great advance in wealth and prosperity of the agricultural classes is too plainly evident to be called in question.” Similar improvement has taken place in the greater part of British India. It has been estimated by competent observers that in the Punjab the value of land has more than sextupled in value in the last thirty years. In many parts of Bombay the progress has been remarkable. I have now before me the report of the revision of settlement in one of the divisions of Kdndesh. It shows that in the course of thirty years the population increased 40 per cent.; 304 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. there was an increase of 70 per cent, in the area of cultiva¬ tion ; the number of substantial houses was three times larger; the number of carts belonging to the peasant pro¬ prietors doubled ; there was a great increase in agricultural stock, and in all the signs of prosperity; whereas thirty years ago trade could hardly be carried on except on the backs of bullocks, the country is now intersected by a rail¬ way and by roads and the local value of agricultural produce is double what it was. In the Bombay Presidency, even in the last ten years, the area under wheat cultivation has increased by about 69 per cent., and this has not been at the expense of other crops, for the acreage under the grains that supply the ordinary food of the people has increased also. 1 In a previous chapter 2 I showed the enormous progress of the commerce of India; progress which it is not possible should have taken place without a corresponding develop¬ ment of the wealth and industry of the country. This in¬ crease of the external and internal trade has occurred simul¬ taneously with an equally remarkable increase in every branch of the public income, although taxation has been largely reduced. The statistics of the railways, the tele¬ graphs, the post office, and the savings banks all tell the same story. That all this should be compatible with any¬ thing but a great and rapid improvement in the material condition of the people is contrary to reason. Gloomy forebodings have been not uncommon in regard to the difficulties to which India may be exposed in a not very distant future from the pressure of population on food. In some Indian countries the population is already denser than in almost any part of Europe, and there can be no doubt that it is rapidly increasing. Among the checks on the growth of population which formerly existed—war, pestilence, and famine—the first has ceased, and the last 1 Speech by Sir J. B. Peile in Bombay Legislative Council, July 14, 1886. 2 Chapter XIII. GROWTH OF POPULATION. 305 has lost some at least of its power. Whether the rate of mortality has diminished is less certain; cholera and small-pox and fever seem as rife as ever. No obligation, both for men and women, is more universally recognised than that of marriage at the earliest possible age. Emi¬ gration across the sea makes small progress, and the time must be very distant in which it can afford an outlet of much importance to the surplus population of India. In the ten years ending with 1891 there were 130,000 emigrants. In spite of all this, I see no reason to doubt that before the growth of population becomes a serious question, in¬ crease in the productiveness of the soil, increase of cultiva¬ tion, which goes on rapidly, and changes in the habits of the people will have supplied a remedy. Railways, and improved communications, and increasing wealth are bringing about great changes. Not long ago it was hardly possible to emigrate from one part of India to another; in 1891 there were nearly 122,000,000 passengers on the railways. Bengal furnishes the labourers required by Assam for its tea-plantations, and Burma receives every year a large number of immigrants from Southern India. When the people become less unwilling to leave their own provinces for countries where the conditions of life are easier, and when diversity of occupation increases, they will find ample space within the limits of the Indian continent. Exclusive of Bengal, for which there are no statistics, there are said to be in India some 80,000,000 acres of unoccupied land fit for cultivation—an area exceeding that of the United Kingdom. The land actually under cultivation would, with improved methods, support a far larger population, and already, in some parts of India, important manufacturing industries are growing up. The people are eminently fitted for industrial occupa¬ tions, and the natural resources of the country afford u AN INDIAN PROVINCE. 306 abundant opportunities for their development. The supply of coal is unlimited, its quality is good, and its cost is small. It has been shown by experience that almost all the requirements of the railways can be satis¬ factorily supplied by Indian mechanics. There is no apparent limit to the extension of many manufactures, or to the means of subsistence which will thus be pro¬ vided for very large numbers of the population. Something must be said about the character of the people in the provinces which I have been attempting to describe. English officers will tell you that they would not hesitate to lead their Sikhs and Pathans and Gurkhas against any European enemy. We could not go so far as this in speaking generally of the population of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh; but the people are by no means wanting in manliness and courage, and some classes furnish excellent soldiers. In regard to their other qualities it is dangerous to generalise. There is no country in Europe in which the differences between the various sections of the population are as great. A Hindu gentleman of great intelligence once said to me that while he fully admitted the superiority of the English not only in the arts of civilised life, but in many noble qualities, there was one virtue, on which the English especially prided themselves, in which they seemed to him inferior to his own countrymen. “ The English,” he said, “ seem to think that honesty consists in not telling a lie in answer to a direct question. Almost all of us tell lies when it seems convenient to do so ; but, in my opinion, in the particular quality of honesty we are better than the English.” There was a good deal of truth in the contention of my Hindu friend. If lying be the test of dishonesty, it would be hard to equal the dishonesty that you meet with in India. I have heard one of the most eminent of our HONESTY OF THE PEOPLE. 307 judges doubt whether the perjury that goes on in his court in England could be surpassed in India ; but I think he was wrong, and that in this matter the Indian courts would easily carry off the palm. Nevertheless, if I were asked what was the most striking characteristic of the people of Northern India, I should say it was their honesty. Mr Benett of the Indian Civil Service has well expressed what I believe to be the truth on this subject:— “ Writing two centuries before Christ, of the Hindus in the kingdom of Patna, an educated Greek selected as the leading feature in their character their honesty and integrity in the ordinary relations of life; and, paradoxical as it may sound to most English ears, it is probable that this is almost as true of the Hindu village of to-day as it was of the Buddhist court of two thousand years ago. Even among our own servants no one can fail to have been astonished at the absolute safety with which large sums of money may be entrusted to their keeping, when theft would be almost impossible of detection and would secure them comfort for the remainder of their lives. In the higher ranks, the well-paid and educated office-clerks are faithful and trust¬ worthy beyond any other class of men who can be procured for their responsible duties. What has been said applies to their relations with foreign masters, for whom they can rarely feel any affection, and who not unfrequently regard them with a suspicion which would be itself enough to make most men dishonest. In their relations with their own people the quality is far more con¬ spicuous. Trade transactions involving enormous sums are carried through with a want of precaution which we should con¬ sider idiotic, but which is justified by the rarity of breaches of faith. In a country where writing is an art as common as it is with us, large debts are contracted every day on nothing but the verbal security of the borrower; and if there may be occasional repudiation in our courts, the fact that that security is still con¬ sidered sufficient is ample proof that the debts are honourably acknowledged among the parties themselves. In such cases limitation is never thought of, and families who have emerged from poverty will discharge debts contracted by their ancestors a century back, of which no other record exists but an entry in AN INDIAN PROVINCE. 308 the money-lender’s private ledger. Their whole system postu¬ lates an exceptional integrity.” 1 No people are more charitable. It is true that the Indian idea of charity is often very different from ours, and it is affected so strongly by caste considerations that it sometimes seems to us to pass into cruelty. But there is hardly any class that is not, according to its means and according to its own ideas, kind-hearted and benevolent. Nothing is more remarkable in times of scarcity than native charity, although it is often too indiscriminate to be wise. The people generally are extremely industrious. Although uneducated and superstitious to a degree un¬ known in the most ignorant countries of Europe, the agricultural classes are certainly not inferior in intelligence to the peasants of our own country. All classes are polite but not servile in their manners; it would be impossible to surpass the finished courtesy of a Mohammedan gentleman. I must leave this part of my subject. I spent in Northern India the best and most interesting portion of my life. It is impossible to live among its people without feeling for them a deep regard, and, assuming that our dominion does not perish before the proper time has come, I cannot doubt that their future will be fortunate. I have been describing a peaceful, contented, and well- disposed society, deserving in a high degree the respect and affection of its rulers, but it must not be forgotten that we shall have a very incomplete idea of India if we look only at what we see upon the surface. The more we learn about India the more we become alive to the fact that we are, to use Sir James Stephen’s expression, the representatives of a belligerent civilisation, which has to wage constant warfare against strange barbarisms, horrid 1 ‘ Introduction to the Oudli Gazeteer,' by Mr W. C. Bennet, C.S., p. 28. CRUEL CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 3° 9 customs, and cruel superstitions, ancient survivals, ready at any moment to start into activity. The material progress of India, and the changes in the system of British administration during the last fifty years, have been extraordinarily great, but the vast mass of the population remains (in the words of Sir Henry Maine) “an energetic expression of the Past, hardly affected by its contact with the Western world.” If we look at the criminal statistics of the North-Western Provinces, which are as carefully collected as in any coun¬ try of Europe, it will appear that there is less crime than in England, and that the people are astonishingly peaceable and honest. The conclusion will be true; but if we inquire more deeply we shall find strange facts that these statistics do not show. It will be found, for instance, that in the North-Western Provinces, only a few years ago, there were more than 200,000 people belonging, not to barbarous tribes like the Pathans on the Afghan frontier, 1 nor to the outcasts and scum of the community, but to classes of honourable and comparatively civilised men, living under the restraint of special penal laws, because from time imme¬ morial they have killed their female children. Among all the races of India there is none more noble than the Rajput ; and among the Rfijputs the first rank belongs to the Chauhans—the sangre azul , as they have been called, of Indian chivalry. No men in India are so proud of their lineage, and they trace their descent, not from mortal ancestors, but from the sacred fire called forth on the summit of Mount Abu, by one of the sages of the Vedas, to destroy the demons who were persecuting the Brahmans and depriving the gods of their sacrifices. These people are numerous in the North-Western Provinces. In the 1 The following is extracted from an official report of 1887 :—“ According to the Pathan code of honour, murder under certain conditions is not a crime but an obligation. Two thousand murderers are believed to be at large in the Peshawar district.” In this case also a special law has been put in force. 3 io AN INDIAN PROVINCE. district of Mainpuri there are 30,000 of them, and not many years ago it was discovered that among them there was not a single girl. Every daughter that was born was killed. The higher the rank of the family the more constant and systematic was the crime. “ There is at Mainpuri,” wrote Mr Raikes, the magistrate of the district in 1850, “an old fortress which looks far over the valley of the Eesun River. This has been for centuries the stronghold of the Raja of the Mainpuri Chauhans, whose ancient blood represents the creme de la creme of Rajput aristocracy. Here, when a son, a nephew, a grandson, was born to the reign¬ ing chief, the event was announced to the neighbouring city by the loud discharge of wall-pieces and matchlocks ; but centuries had passed away and no infant daughter had been known to smile within these walls.” 1 This is not rhetoric but the statement of a fact. In 1856 special inquiries were instituted. It was found that this practice of infanticide, although especially prevalent among the Rajputs, was by no means confined to them, and it was common not only in the North-Western Provinces but in Oudh, the Punjab, and in parts of the Bombay presidency. Numbers of villages were visited where there was not a single girl, and where there had never been one within the memory of man. Of one large Rajput community on the borders of Oudh it was officially reported that “not only are there no girls to be found now, but there never have been any, nor has such an event as the marriage of a daughter taken place for more than two hundred years.” In 1869 another investigation showed that there was little change for the better. This was the sort of report:—In seven villages, 104 boys, and 1 girl ; in twenty-three villages, 284 boys and 23 girls ; in other villages, the marriage of a girl an entirely unknown ceremony ; and so on. There is an interesting account of the marriage customs 1 ‘ Notes on the North-Western Provinces of India,’ 1852. FEMALE INFANTICIDE. 3 11 of the Rajputs in Sir Alfred Lyall’s ‘Asiatic Studies.’ A Rajput cannot marry a woman who does not belong to a Rajput family, but at the same time he cannot marry one of his own class. “ The custom makes marriage difficult by narrowing the field of selection ; for neither can a man go very far among strange tribes to seek his wife, nor a father to seek a husband for his daughter ; so that a poor man often does not marry at all, while a rich man of high birth is besieged with applications for his hand, in order that the stigma of an unmarried daughter may at least be formally removed.” 1 Thus, while an unmarried daughter is looked upon in India as hopelessly disgraced—and this is true of almost all classes and not of Rfijputs only—a son-in-law cannot always be found unless the father of the girl is prepared to pay highly, and the marriage of a daughter may mean the ruin of a family. Rather than incur this danger, the Rajput prefers that his daughter should perish. But a far more powerful reason is immemorial custom, which Manu de¬ clares to be “ transcendent law and the root of all piety.” These people have gone on killing their children generation after generation because their forefathers did so before them, not only without a thought that there is anything criminal in the practice, but with the conviction that it is right. For many years past measures have been taken in the North-Western Provinces for the prevention of this crime. For a long time, in the days when our civilisation was less belligerent than it has since become, it was thought that the best hope of success lay in the removal of the causes which appeared to lead to its commission, and especially in the prevention of extravagant expenditure on marriages; but although these benevolent efforts were undoubtedly useful, their practical results were not great, and it gradu¬ ally became clear that it was only by a stringent and 1 ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ p. 220, 312 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. organised system of coercion that these practices would ever be eradicated. In 1870 an Act of the Legislature was passed which enabled the Government to deal with the subject. A system of registration of births and deaths among the suspected classes was established, with con¬ stant inspection and enumeration of children ; special police-officers were entertained at the cost of the guilty communities, and no efforts were spared to convince them that the Government had firmly resolved that it would put down these practices, and would treat the people who followed them as murderers. Although the time may be distant when preventive measures will cease to be alto¬ gether necessary, much progress has been made, and there are now thousands of girls where formerly there were none. In 1874 the population living under special regula¬ tions numbered 359,000; in 1887, in twenty-eight districts, it was more than 200,000 ; in 1891, the number of pro¬ claimed districts had fallen to eighteen, and the population under supervision to 62,000. In the Mainpuri district, where, as I have said, there was, not many years ago, hardly a single Chauhan girl, nearly half of the Chauhan children at the present time are girls ; and it is hoped that in nearly all the villages the practice has been abandoned. In an official statement made by the Government of the North-Western Provinces in 1887, it is said that in those districts in which the Rajput clans are scattered and greatly mixed with other classes of the population, and where the support of clan feeling and clan custom is comparatively weak, there is reason to think that infanticide has almost ceased. In other districts where the Rajputs are found in large and homogeneous communities, the suppression of the crime is much more difficult. There can be no doubt that if vigilance were relaxed the custom would before long become as prevalent as ever. It would be a mistake to suppose that the British Government receives, in the performance of duties of this PROFESSIONAL CRIMINAL CLASSES. 313 kind, help or sympathy from other classes of Hindus who have never practised such crimes. Interference with ancient custom is an abomination to a Hindu, whether it be his own custom or not. Another illustration may be given of the strange con¬ ditions that still exist in India, and of the difficulties with which we have to contend. Much of the crime that is committed is carried on by tribes of criminals as their regular and legitimate occupation, not only with no thought of criminality, but in the belief that in following the custom of their forefathers they are acting in the only way that is right. I will not repeat the well-known story of the Thugs, the professional murderers who practised their trade over a great part of India. They have been extirpated by the British Government. Another class of murderers, poisoners by profession, still exists in our own provinces, but in greatly diminished numbers. We have not altogether succeeded in stamping out the professional Dacoits, asso¬ ciated for the purposes of violent gang-robbery; but it is in the Native States that they now almost exclusively have their head-quarters, from which they carry on their marauding expeditions. Other criminal organisations, with which it is still more difficult to deal, abound to this day. The following quotation from an official report will show what these professional criminals are. They have no resemblance to the habitual criminals of Europe. “ We all know that trades go by castes in India ; a family of carpenters will be a family of carpenters a century or five cen¬ turies hence, if they last so long ; so with grain-dealers, black¬ smiths, leather-makers, and every known trade. A carpenter cannot drop his tools and become a dealer in grain or anything else. If we keep this in mind when we speak of ‘ professional criminals,’ we shall realise what the term really means. It means that the members of a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial are themselves destined by the usages of caste to commit crime, and their descendants will be offenders against 314 AN INDIAN PROVINCE. the law until the whole tribe is exterminated or accounted for in the manner of the Thugs. Therefore, when a man tells you he is a Badhak, or a Kanjar, or a Sonoria, he tells you, what few Europeans ever thoroughly realise, that he is an offender against the law, has been so from the beginning, and will be so to the end; that reform is impossible, for it is his trade, his caste—I may almost say his religion—to commit crime.” Here is the account of one of these tribes called Barwars. Their head-quarters are in the district of Gonda, in Oudh, where they inhabit forty-eight villages, and number a thousand families. They have little to do with agricul¬ ture ; they live quietly and honestly at their homes for some months of every year, and the rest of their time is spent in wandering, in small gangs, over distant parts of the country, plundering everything they can find. But they may not steal cattle ; they may despoil the temples of the gods ; they may rob even the goddess Debi, one of the special objects of their worship. The only sacred places that they may not touch are the temple of Jagandth in Orissa, and the shrine of a certain Mohammedan martyr. They have a regular organisation, under duly chosen chiefs ; every child goes through a form of religious initia¬ tion on the twelfth day of his life; if a man of the tribe gives up his thieving profession he is excommunicated and disgraced. The time for starting on their predatory expeditions is settled by the astrologers, and the plunder brought home is divided according to fixed rules, after 3f per cent, has been set aside, to be distributed in certain proportions among their gods. Each family has in its house an altar, dedicated to the special tutelary god of the tribe, Panch Puria, a god not recognised by other classes ; on a certain day in August a fowl must be sacrificed on the altar, and thin cakes of bread must be baked, and these offerings have then to be given to a Mohammedan fakeer, who goes from house to house beating a kettledrum. These Barwars are by no means one of the most im- PREDATORY TRIBES HOW DEALT WITH. 315 portant of the criminal tribes. Some are devoted to cattle¬ stealing, others are dangerous robbers. In Gurgaon, one of the frontier districts of the Punjab, the official reports tell us of a large isolated British village, surrounded by Native territory, inhabited almost exclusively by some 2000 people of the Mina tribe. Their sole occupation is, and always has been, plunder in the Native States, and in distant parts of British India ; they give no trouble at home, and, judging from criminal statistics, it would be supposed that they were an honest community. They live amid abundance, in substantial houses, with numerous cattle, fine clothes and jewels, and fleet camels to carry off their plunder ; and, it is added, “there is no end to their charity.” In the North-Western Provinces alone there are said to be twenty-nine different tribes who, without any notion of criminality, have from time immemorial made crime their sole serious occupation ; and they are probably not less numerous in other parts of India where less is known about them. There is a special law for dealing with these classes. Registers are kept showing all the members of the tribes ; they can be compelled to live within certain local limits, and prevented from leaving those limits without permission, and they may be arrested if they are found beyond them. In some cases, the measures taken have been more or less successful, but the difficulties are great, and a long time must elapse before we see the end of the criminal tribes. In 1890, the Government of India declared that more stringent regulations for their control had become neces¬ sary, and that it was clearly established that improved communications, railways, and telegraphs had greatly facilitated the operations of the classes who are in the habit of leaving their homes to commit crime at a distance and returning with their plunder. CHAPTER XXII. BENGAL. Exceptional character of Bengal and its people—The Bengal Lieutenant- Governorship—Natural features, area, and population of Bengal Proper —Products—Scenery—Climate—Cities—Art—Hindus and Mohamme¬ dans—Lord Macaulay’s description of the Bengalis—Their effeminacy— The Mohammedan peasantry—The Permanent Settlement—Zemindars and ryots—The consequences of the Permanent Settlement—Loss of public revenue—Confiscation of the rights of the peasantry—Weakness of the Government—Absence of records of agricultural rights—Former con¬ stitution of the Bengal Government—Its inefficiency—A separate Govern¬ ment constituted—Improvements in the administration—Difficulty of problems to be solved—Great increase in rentals of the Zemindars and loss by the ryots—Maintenance of conditions of the Permanent Settle¬ ment—Claims of the Zemindars for exemption from taxation—The proper remedies for existing evils—Rates on the land—Changes in the Bengal Rent Law—Condition of the people in Behar—The Tenancy Act— Cadastral Surveys—Effects of English education. I NOW propose to give a few sketches of another great British Province, Bengal. I am the more desirous of doing this because Englishmen are frequently under the impres¬ sion that Bengal and Bengalis are types of India and its people, the truth being that there is no province which is in all respects so exceptional, and no people so curiously distinct. But these sketches must be very brief, and many important matters must remain unnoticed. I have explained the various significations which the name Bengal has had at different times. It now usually means the country included within the Bengal Lieutenant- Governorship, but this again includes four provinces— Bengal Proper, comprising the tracts between the Ganges and Brahmaputra and the deltas of those rivers ; Behar, on 316 BENGAL PROPER. 3*7 the north-west of Bengal Proper, adjoining the North- Western Provinces, to which in its physical character a great part of it is very similar ; Chutia Nagpur, a wild and hilly country between Bengal Proper and Central India ; and Orissa, south-west from Calcutta, the country of the river Mahanadi, with the sea on its eastern side. A description of any one of these provinces would be wholly inapplicable to the rest. Their physical conditions, the character of the population, and their languages are all different. Including the subordinate Native States, the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal covers an area of 187,300 square miles; it is almost as large as France, and contains 74,700,000 people. As Sir William Hunter has observed, “ its elements exhibit every stage of human en¬ lightenment and superstition, from the sceptical educated classes, represented by the Hindu gentleman who dis¬ tinguishes himself at a London Inn of Court, to the hill chieftain, who a few years ago sacrificed an idiot on the top of a mountain to obtain a favourable decision in a Privy Council appeal.” 1 Although I shall have to make some re¬ ferences to Behar, it is almost solely of Bengal Proper that I now propose to speak. It is the largest and most populous and richest of the provinces that make up the Lieutenant- Governorship. It has an area of 79,000 square miles, and a population of more than 40,000,000. Bengal Proper is everywhere intersected by the channels and tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra. The Ganges at one time reached the sea through the channel of the Bhagirathi, which in the lower part of its course is known as the Hugli, on which Calcutta is situated. The Brahmaputra flowed formerly far to the eastward in a separate stream, but in the earlier part of the present century it changed its course, and rolling westward joined the Ganges about two hundred miles from the sea. Their mingled waters now flow together to the Bay of Bengal through 11 Imperial Gazetteer of India,’ Art. “ India.” BENGAL. 318 countless large and small channels. Sir William Hunter has given a graphic description of this part of the province :— “ The delta of the Ganges,” he says, “ and with it the delta of the Brahmaputra is indistinguishably mixed up, where it borders on the sea, becomes a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, running through the dense forests of the Sundarbans, and exhibiting during the annual inundations the appearance of an immense sea. Higher up, the rice-fields, to the extent of thousands of square miles, are submerged. The scene presents to a European eye a panorama of singular novelty and interest—the crops covered with water ; the ears of grain floating on the surface ; the stupendous embank¬ ments, which restrain, without altogether preventing, the excesses of the inundations; and peasants in all quarters going out to their daily work with their cattle in canoes or on rafts. The navigable streams which fall into or diverge from the Ganges intersect the country in every direction, and afford abundant facilities for internal communication. In many parts boats can approach, by means of lakes, rivulets, and water-courses, to the door of almost every cottage. The lower region of the Ganges is the richest and most productive portion of Bengal, and abounds in valuable produce.” The rivers in Lower Bengal render, to a great extent, the services which are rendered in other countries by the roads. In many parts of the province a well-to-do man keeps his boat as elsewhere he would keep his cart. Rail¬ ways have penetrated into some of the districts. It is diffi¬ cult for them to contend with the cheap water-carriage, and they will not diminish the usefulness of the rivers or materially lessen the traffic which they carry. The great marts and entrepots of internal commerce are situated at convenient places on the chief rivers, and the agricultural produce of the country is carried off in all directions by the navigable channels. The list of the useful products of Bengal would be a long one. Almost everything is provided in abundance that a people in a tropical climate requires. Rice, jute, timber, bamboos, indigo, opium, oilseeds, and SCENERY AND CLIMATE. 3 19 tea are the principal articles which come into the export trade from Calcutta, but tea is only cultivated on the moun¬ tainous borders of the province, and not in Bengal Proper, and the opium comes from Behar and the North-Western Provinces. The great agricultural staple, more important than any other, is rice, which constitutes the chief food of the people. Although the endless stretches of the rice-fields are monotonous, few flat countries can be more beautiful than parts of Bengal. A constant succession of admirable pic¬ tures is afforded by the reaches of the rivers, busy with traffic; the boats with their great sails ; the clumps of feathery bamboos, the climbing canes and cocoanuts, “ the pillared shade ” of the sacred figs, the tamarinds and mangoes, fall rushes and plantains ; the villages, with tanks green with weeds and water-lilies; neat cottages covered with creeping gourds and cucumbers and melons ; the emerald greenness of the grass—these, and a thousand picturesque details, and the colouring of its hot and steamy atmosphere, make Bengal one of the most beautiful countries of India. Nor is it so disagreeable for English¬ men to live in as might be supposed. Although it has not the advantage of the pleasantly cold winter of Northern India, the heat of the summer is tempered by the greater prevalence of cloud and rain, and by the nearness of the sea. Heat like that of June at Agra or Lahore js un¬ known, and for three or four months in the winter the climate is very agreeable. The rainfall in Lower Bengal has seldom failed; excellent crops are almost always secured, and the whole of this portion of the province is as nearly as possible free from the danger of famine. Although there is hardly any part of India where trade is so active, there are few cities and important towns. With the exception of Calcutta, 1 which, with its immediate 1 There has been much difference of opinion as to whether Calcutta or Bombay ought to take the first place among Indian cities. Mr Baines, the 320 BENGAL. suburbs, contained in 1891, 879,000 people, and which is in population the second city in the British Empire, there are few towns in Bengal which, according to a European standard, can be called large. Patna, with 165,000 people, and Dacca, with 82,000, are the largest. Almost the whole population is rural. Near Calcutta many factories, chiefly of jute and cotton, have been established, but away from the capital, there are scarcely any manufactures, except of common cloth and other articles which can be made by the ordinary village artisans. Bengal has never, within historical times, been distinguished, as other Indian coun¬ tries have been, for excellence in art, and its population is, for the most part, devoid of that admirable sense of colour which prevails in many parts of India. The difference in the appearance of the crowds that throng the streets of Bombay and Calcutta is remarkable, the former clad in bright and variously coloured garments, the latter in an Census Commissioner for India, in his General Report on the Census of 1891, gives as the population of Bombay, 821,764, and as that of Calcutta, 741,144, and he writes as follows :—“As regards the claim to be the first city in India in population, it must be considered that Bombay is under one municipal body, and contained within well-defined boundaries, and has no suburbs on the island itself, which means none within twelve or fourteen miles. On the other hand, the extension of Calcutta is like that of London, laterally ; so that whilst the nucleus of the metropolis is much as it was ten years ago, the outskirts are growing into suburbs in all directions. There is again the large town of Hourah (with 116,606 inhabitants), across the Hugli, which, though in another district and under separate municipal government, is as much a part of the city as Southwark is of London. Taking all these straggling units together, the metropolitan population rises to 961,670, under no less than six municipal bodies, with three different Presidents. Irrespective, therefore, of the outskirts, Calcutta must be content with the second place, both in popula¬ tion and in homogeneity of administration.” Mr O’Donnell, the Superin¬ tendent of Census operations in Bengal, on the other hand, writes as follows :— “ Calcutta, as befits its metropolitan position, is the largest city in the empire, with a population, including its immediate suburbs, of 879,154 souls, Bombay, with 821,764, being a close second.” I think that an impartial judgment must be in favour of Calcutta, for there is no apparent reason why the rule followed in regard to London and other great European cities should not be followed in India also. THE PEOPLE AND LANGUAGE. 321 almost uniform garb of dirty white. The native portion of Calcutta, although full of wealth, can hardly be sur¬ passed in mean ugliness; people who are comparatively rich are often content to live in hovels ; and among the zemindars and rajas of Bengal, with incomes which even in England would be thought immense, there is hardly one who lives in a house which in its architecture and decoration is not detestable. In this respect the modern native city of Bombay is a striking contrast to that of Calcutta. The western and eastern capitals of India have grown up under not very dissimilar circumstances, but while the latter in its native quarter is little better than a collection of huts, the former can show streets which are sometimes strikingly picturesque. The admirable Indian styles of architecture which are living arts in other pro¬ vinces are seldom represented in Bengal. Throughout nearly the whole of Bengal Proper the language of the people is Bengali, but with much varia¬ tion from place to place. “ Bengal,” Mr Baines writes, “is the province of all others in which there is the widest gap between the small literary castes and the masses of the people. The vernacular has been split into two sections ; first, the tongue of the people at large, which changes every few miles; secondly, the literary dialect, known only through the press, and not intelligible to those who do not also know Sanskrit. The latter form is the product of what may be called the revival of learning in Eastern India, consequent upon the settlement of the British on the Hugh. The vernacular was then found rude and meagre, owing to the absence of scholarship and the general neglect of the country during the Moghal rule. Instead of strengthening the existing web from the same material, every effort was made in Calcutta, then the only sect of instruction, to embroider upon the feeble old frame a grotesque and elaborate pattern in Sanskrit, and to pilfer from that tongue whatever in the way of x BENGAL. vocabulary and construction the learned considered neces¬ sary to satisfy the increasing demands of modern inter¬ course.” 1 The result is that books published in Bengali are, for the most part, quite unintelligible to the people at large. I have already referred to the great progress of the Mohammedan religion in Bengal. 2 In 1891, in Bengal Proper, the Mohammedans were more numerous than the Hindus, the former numbering 19,582,000, and the latter 18,069,000. In some of the Eastern districts the Moham¬ medans constitute three-fourths of the whole population. Although often fanatical in their religion, they are gener¬ ally totally ignorant of its history and abstruser tenets, and the chief effect of their conversion has been to give them a more independent bearing and character than the Hindus of the classes to which they belong. The religion of multitudes of them is so interfused with local super¬ stitions that it might almost be classed among the varieties of Hinduism. Changes, however, have been in progress in this respect during the last half century, and there has been a tendency among the Mohammedans of Bengal towards the purification of their faith from Animistic superstitions and from Brahmanical influence. The great mass of the Musalman population is agricultural, but, even where it is most numerous, wealth and property in land are chiefly in the hands of the Hindus. If we look merely to numbers, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal is, as Sir William Hunter says, “as great a Musalman power as the Sultan of Turkey himself,” but in our political speculations we need not alarm ourselves about the millions of Moham¬ medans in Bengal. The educated Mohammedans deserve to be named with respect. They are not very numerous or wealthy, and cluster chiefly about Calcutta, Dacca, and Patna. 1 ‘ General Report on the Census of India,’ 1891, p. 143. 5 P. 242. EFFEMINACY OF BENGALIS. 323 I shall not attempt to give any detailed account of the people or of the administration. I can only point out a few of the more remarkable facts. Many years ago Lord Macaulay gave a description of the Natives of Bengal. There is good reason, as I have already said, for calling in question the accuracy of some of his historical pictures, based on fallacious records, which have taught to thousands of Englishmen almost all that they know about India; but when Lord Macaulay wrote his character of the Bengalis he was describing, from personal knowledge and observation, a people among whom he had himself lived. Its accuracy has hardly been denied by the Bengalis themselves, and will be disputed by no Englishman. “ The men,” he writes, “ by whom this rich tract was peopled, enervated by a soft climate and accustomed to peaceful employ¬ ments, bore the same relation to other Asiatics which the Asiatics generally bear to the bold and energetic children of Europe. The Castilians have a proverb that in Valencia the earth is water and the men women ; and this description is at least equally applicable to the vast plain of the Lower Ganges. Whatever the Bengalee does he does languidly. His favourite pursuits are sedentary. He shrinks from bodily exertion ; and, though voluble in dispute, and singularly pertinacious in the war of chicane, he seldom engages in a personal conflict, and scarcely ever enlists as a soldier. There never, perhaps, existed a people so thoroughly fitted by habit for a foreign yoke.” 1 In another passage Lord Macaulay has passed upon the Bengalis a similar judgment. I will quote a portion of it:— “ The physical organisation of the Bengalee is feeble even to effeminacy. He lives in a constant vapour-bath. His pursuits are sedentary, his limbs delicate, his movements languid. During many ages he has been trampled upon by men of bolder and more hardy breeds. . . . His mind bears a singular analogy 1 ‘Macaulay’s Essays.’ “ Lord Clive. 324 BENGAL. to his body. It is weak even to helplessness for purposes of manly resistance; but its suppleness and tact move the children of sterner climates to admiration not unmingled with contempt. . . . Nor does he lack a certain kind of courage which is often wanting to his masters. To inevitable evils he is sometimes found to oppose a passive fortitude, such as the Stoics attributed to their ideal sage. An European warrior who rushes on a battery of cannon with a loud hurrah will sometimes shriek under the surgeon’s knife, and fall into an agony of despair at the sentence of death. But the Bengalee, who would see his country overrun, his house laid in ashes, his children murdered or dishonoured, without having the spirit to strike one blow, has yet been known to endure torture with the firmness of Mucius, and to mount the scaffold with the steady step and even pulse of Algernon Sidney.” 1 Lord Macaulay would have been the first to declare that we might find Bengalis of a different stamp. Courage is no more an invariable virtue among the hardiest races of Europe than cowardice an invariable infirmity among the population of Bengal. There have been many changes since Lord Macaulay wrote, but the general character of the people throughout a great part of the province remains as he represented it. It cannot, how¬ ever, be applied to the northern and eastern districts, where the majority of the population is Mohammedan. The Mohammedan peasantry of the eastern portion of the province are men of far robuster character than the Bengalis of the western districts, and it was among them that the sepoys who fought under Clive at Plassey were chiefly recruited. It has often been said, and it is probably true, that Bengal is the only country in the world where you can find a great population among whom personal cowardice is looked upon as in no way disgraceful. This is no invention of their enemies ; the Bengalis have themselves no shame or scruple in declaring it to be a fact. 1 ‘Macaulay’s Essays.’ “Warren Hastings.” INCAPACITY FOR POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. 325 Even in the western parts of Bengal Proper and in Calcutta there can, however, be little doubt that English education, which has taken so deep a root, is encouraging the growth of manliness among other virtues, and is producing effects which are not limited to the young men trained in our colleges. The writers in the popular vernacular newspapers have begun to speak of patriotism and courage as qualities which should be presupposed to be present in characters worthy of any respect. Even the academic admiration of such things is a mark of progress. The people generally are acute and intelligent, patient and industrious, and when they get more know¬ ledge they may become more self-reliant and less helpless against wrong. Leaving speculations on possible changes that may come to pass if our dominion should last sufficiently long, and looking to present facts, it is difficult to conceive for such a people as that of Bengal any independent political future. In all the Native armies of India there is not a Bengali soldier ; it would be impossible to induce Ben¬ galis to enlist, and equally impossible that the recruiting officers should accept them. Even the Darwan or door¬ keeper, who guards the entrance to a well-to-do Bengali’s house, is invariably a man of the more vigorous races of one of the northern provinces ; no Bengali would credit a countryman of his own with possession of sufficient courage to keep out a bold intruder. But for the presence of our power, Bengal would inevitably and immediately become the prey of the hardier races of other Indian countries. The condition of the people of Bengal has been profoundly affected by action taken nearly a century ago by the British Government. In 1793 the so-called Permanent Settlement of the Land Revenue was intro¬ duced. Wc found in Bengal, when we succeeded to the Government, a class of middle-men, called Zemindars, BENGAL. 326 who collected the land revenue and the taxes, and we con¬ tinued to employ them. As a matter of custom and expediency, but not of right, the office of zemindar was generally hereditary. In a few cases, especially in Behar and Chutia Nagpur, the zemindars were the heads of large clans, or the descendants of conquering families, but even then they had never been in any sense recognised as the owners of the land. It was supposed, however, by Lord Cornwallis and the English rulers of the time, that it would be an excellent thing for Bengal to have a class of landlords something like those of England ; the zemindars were the only people that seemed available for the purpose, and they were declared to be the proprietors of the land. It was by no means intended that injustice should thus be done to others. Nor, when the Settlement was made, did it appear that any great boon had been conferred upon the zemindars, for the Government demand was assessed on what we should now consider the extravagant basis that 90 per cent, of the rental be¬ longed properly to the State. Excepting the State, there was only one great class, that of the ryots or actual cultivators, which, according to immemorial custom, could be held to possess permanent rights in the land. The existence of those rights was recognised, and, as it was supposed, guarded by the law. It was provided that “ the Governor-General in Council will, whenever he may deem it proper, enact such regula¬ tions as he may think necessary for the protection of the dependent talookdars, ryots, and other cultivators of the soil.” There has been much dispute as to the exact nature of the rights given to the zemindars, but every one agrees that it was not the intention of the authors of the Perman¬ ent Settlement to confiscate anything which, according to the customs of the country, had belonged to the cultivators. The right of property given to the zemindars was a por¬ tion of those rights which had always been exercised by THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 327 the State, and of which the State was at liberty to dis¬ pose ; it was not intended that they should receive any¬ thing else. The land revenue, representing the share of the produce or rental to which the State was entitled, was fixed in perpetuity. The ryots were to continue to hold their lands permanently at the “ rates established in the purgunnah ; ” when the amount of these rates was disputed it was to be settled by the courts ; so long as rents at those rates were paid, the ryot could not be evicted. The inten¬ tion of the Permanent Settlement was not only to fix for ever the land revenue of the zemindars, but, at the same time, to secure to the ryot fixity of tenure and fixity of rent. There was in those days a great area of waste land, and to the profit derived from its reclamation the zemindars were entitled, but unfortunately, the rights which it had been intended to secure for the ryots, were only secured upon paper, and have been grievously disregarded. If the intentions with which the Permanent Settlement was made had been carried out, the result would, at any rate, have been beneficial to the ryots of Bengal, whatever might have been the effect on the interests of the State. I described in a former chapter 1 the nature of the right which the ruling power has always exercised in India, of reserving for its own purposes a portion of the rent of the land. It was a right which had been exercised in Bengal from time immemorial. This resource, which would have gone on growing with the increasing prosperity of the country, has been thrown away in Bengal. The conse¬ quences at the present time are these:—Even if it be assumed that the share of the rent which the State can wisely take is smaller than the share which any Govern¬ ment, Native or English, has ever taken or proposed to take in India, the amount now received by the State from the land in Bengal must be held to fall short of what it might be by a sum that can hardly be less than Rx.5,000,000 1 Chapter IX. BENGAL. 328 a year ; this is a moderate computation ; probably the loss is much more. This is given away in return for no service to the State or to the public ; the zemindars are merely the receivers of rent; with rare exceptions they take little part in the improvement of the land, and, until not many years ago, they bore virtually no share of the public burdens. The result of these proceedings of the last century, to the maintenance of which the faith of the British Government has been pledged, is that the poorer classes in poorer provinces have to make good to the State the millions which have been given away in Bengal. More serious evils have followed in the train of the Permanent Settlement. The crowning misfortune has been the destruction or non-recognition of those rights of the masses of the agricultural population which the authors of the Settlement undoubtedly intended to preserve. “ The original intention of the framers of the Permanent Settlement [I am quoting from Sir George Campbell] was to record all rights. The Canoongoes (District Registrars) and Putwarees (Village Accountants) were to register all holdings, all transfers, all rent-rolls, and all receipts and payments; and every five years there was to be filed in the public offices a complete register of all land tenures. But the task was a difficult one ; there was delay in carrying it out. English ideas of the rights of a landlord, and of the advantage of non-interference, began more and more to prevail in Bengal. The executive more and more abrogated the functions of recording rights and protecting the inferior holders, and left everything to the judicial tribunals. The putwarees fell into disuse or became the mere servants of the zemindars ; the canoongoes were abolished. No record of the rights of the ryots and inferior holders was ever made, and even the quinquennial register of superior rights, which was main¬ tained for a time, fell into disuse. When a regular police was established, the zemindars were in practice freed from any effec¬ tive responsibility for the suppression of crime, or other admini¬ strative functions. They became in every sense mere rent- receivers.” 1 1 1 System of Land Tenures in Various Countries,’ published by the Cobden Club, p. 176. CONSEQUENCES OF PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. 329 The consequences of the Permanent Settlement did not become immediately prominent. At the beginning of this century the population was far smaller, there was much waste land to be occupied, and there was little disposition or power on the part of the zemindars to disregard the old customary terms on which the land was held. But, as time went on, and population and wealth increased, as cultivators were more readily found, and custom began to give way to competition, the position of the ryots became worse and that of the zemindars became stronger. Other circumstances helped the process of confiscation of the rights of the peasantry. For more than half a century after the Permanent Settlement was made, the executive Government in Bengal was extremely weak. The English principle that in the ordinary affairs of life the less the State interferes with individual action the better, and that for the protection of private rights little more is required than the maintenance of order, with good courts of justice accessible to all, is admirable when applied to the govern¬ ment of Englishmen, but it is unsuitable to India, and there could be no people to which it was less applicable than the people of Bengal. This principle of non-inter¬ ference was carried out to an extent unknown in any other part of India. Nothing would have so much helped the people of Bengal in social and political progress as the just and active and masterful administration of English¬ men, resolute that the rights of the weak should be respected, determined to satisfy themselves by personal knowledge that this was done, and possessing power to interfere effectively on behalf of those who could not protect themselves. A system of administration which left it to the courts of justice to remedy any oppression of which the sufferer might complain, or which he might be able to prove, practically resulted in providing no remedy at all. I showed in a former chapter 1 that in other provinces of 1 Chapter XVIII. BENGAL. 330 India an elaborate machinery has been spread over the whole country, extending its ramifications into every village, for the purpose of maintaining an accurate record of the rights and liabilities of all classes of the agricultural population. In Bengal nothing of the sort exists. There has been, until lately, in Behar, no cadastral survey and no record of agricultural rights. Under the arrangements of the Permanent Settlement, the Government has no anxiety about the collection of its land revenue. The whole re¬ sponsibility for punctual payment falls upon the zemindar. If he does not pay at the district treasury on the appointed date, no questions are asked ; there may or may not have been causes which make immediate payment difficult; these are matters with which the Government does not concern itself; it is enough that the revenue is due; the estate is put up to public auction, and the demand of the State is the first claim on the proceeds of the sale. In consequence of this system, the executive Government, so far as the collection of the land revenue is concerned, has little to do in the interior of a Bengal district, and finan¬ cially there is little direct reason for interference with any interests in the land. There were other causes for the weakness of govern¬ ment in Bengal. This being the province in which British authority was first established on that side of India, and from which our chief conquests were gradually made, the Government of Bengal was for a long time the Supreme Government in British India. Until 1833, the Governor- General was called the Governor-General of Fort William in Bengal, not the Governor-General of India, and it was not until 1853 that he was relieved from the duty of governing Bengal. While the empire was being constantly extended, he could spend comparatively little time in Calcutta. When he was there, he was by law Governor, but it was impossible for him to attend personally to the details of Bengal administration. When he was absent WEAKNESS OF BENGAL GOVERNMENT. from Calcutta, the senior member of Council for the time being became Deputy Governor. Thus there was a frequent change of rulers, and no one man was long responsible for the good government of the province. At last, the contrast between the condition of Bengal and that of other parts of India became too obvious to be neglected. This was especially seen when Bengal was compared with the neighbouring province on the north, which in 1835 had been placed under a separate Govern¬ ment. When the North-Western Provinces, under their admirable Lieutenant-Governor, Mr Thomason, were be¬ coming a model of good and vigorous administration, Bengal was the most backward of the great provinces of the empire. There were almost no roads or bridges or schools, and there was no proper protection to life and property. The police was worthless, and robberies and violent crimes by gangs of armed men, which were un¬ heard of in other provinces, were common not far from Calcutta. By the Act of 1853 a separate provincial Government was constituted for Bengal, and a Lieutenant-Governor was appointed. From that time a great change began, and constant improvement has been going on ever since. The courts have been purified, the police has been organised, crimes of violence have almost ceased, public works have been constructed, education has made great progress, and, although still weak when judged by the standard of other provinces, the executive administration has become stronger. Not the least beneficial of these changes were the measures which soon began to be adopted, but of which we have not seen the end, for the protection of the rights of the agricultural population. The difficulty of the problems to be solved in Bengal has been great. In 1793 the rental left to the zemindars under the Permanent Settlement, after payment of the land revenue, is supposed not to have exceeded .£400,000; BENGAL. according to some estimates it was less. If the original intentions of the Government had been carried out, it was to the ryots that the greater portion of any future increase in the annual value of the land would have belonged, in those parts at least of the province which were at that time well cultivated. It is not possible to state with confidence the present gross annual rental of the landlords. Accord¬ ing to an official valuation admitted to be imperfect, it was called, in 1891-92, Rx. 14,800,000. It has been estimated at Rx. 17,000,000, and is probably more. However this may be, it may be safely assumed that after deducting the land revenue, which is now about Rx.3,800,000, 1 the net rental is thirty or forty times larger at the present time than it was a century ago. In some parts of Bengal the increase has been far greater, and this has mainly resulted from the destruction of the rights of the peasantry. Hardly any of it has been due to the legitimate action of the zemindars. That part of it that has not been due to worse causes has been due to the increase of population, to the industry of the ryots, and to the expenditure of the State, an expenditure defrayed, in great measure, from the taxation of poorer provinces. If ever there was an “ unearned increment ” it is this. It must not, however, be supposed that the land of Bengal now belongs to a very small and wealthy class of proprietors. Although some of the estates of the zemindars are great tracts of country, yielding immense incomes to their owners, a constant process of subdivision has been going on. In 1883 there were 110,456 estates on the revenue-roll of Bengal and Behar, and about 88 per cent, of these had an area of less than 500 acres. 1 The demand on account of land revenue from the permanently settled estates, which constitute about 93 per cent, of the whole number of estates in Bengal is Rx. 3,230,000. The remaining 7 per cent, have been temporarily assessed since the Permanent Settlement, and the revenue paid by them, in¬ cluding estates held directly by the Government, is about Rx. 590,000. The total land revenue of Bengal is about Rx. 3,820,000. RECENT TAXATION NO BREACH OF FAITH. 333 We cannot now restore to the State the large revenue which has been sacrificed ; we cannot replace the ryots in the enjoyment of the property of which they have been deprived, and give to them again the rates of rent which have been so enormously increased, but we can at least secure to them protection for the rights they still retain, and prevent the further illegal enhancement of their payments. I am far from suggesting that pledges given at the time of the Permanent Settlement should be set aside, or that the zemindars should be deprived of privileges which, however they may have been acquired, have been enjoyed through a long course of years. So far, however, as it is now possible without breach of engagements which we are bound to maintain, to remedy evils such as these I have been describing, it is our obvious duty to do so. The zemindars have repeatedly put forward the claim that in consequence of the stipulations of the Permanent Settlement they are entitled to exemption for ever from all taxation upon profits derived from the land. In 1859, when an income tax was first imposed on every kind of property throughout India, they protested that the conditions of the Settlement were violated, and that the Government had been guilty of a breach of faith. In 1871, and again in 1877, they demanded, on similar grounds, exemption from liability to rates imposed on land and other immovable property for local and provincial roads and public works, for sanitation, education, and other local objects. These claims have always been rejected, and the time has passed in which there was danger that any British Government would listen to the pretension that it was the design of the framers of the Permanent Settlement that no taxation should ever fall upon profits drawn from the land. The intention of that Settlement was simply to fix permanently the share of the produce or rental to which the State, in its capacity of superior landlord, intended to limit its 334 BENGAL. demand. No questions of taxation were touched or involved. In the words of Sir James Stephen, the Per¬ manent Settlement “ reduced to a certainty one particular charge on the land, which had previously been of variable amount, and so freed the landholders from uncertainty which had previously hung over them in respect of it. . . . Since the Permanent Settlement the proprietary right of the zemindars has been undoubted, and the line between their property and that of the State has been clearly defined, and is no longer subject to increase ‘ in consequence [to use the words of the Permanent Settlement itself] of the improvement of their respective estates.’” 1 As Sir James Stephen goes on to say, to affirm, that because this has been done, the land has been freed from that liability to taxation which is the common liability of all property in all countries, is a confusion of thought against which it is superfluous to argue. The rates levied under the Acts passed in 1871 and 1877, and consolidated by Bengal Act IX. of 1880, yielded in 1891-92 about Rx.797,000. By these rates, and by the previous imposition of the income tax, the principle that profits derived from the land are liable to taxation both for local and imperial purposes was affirmed. The first serious effort for the improvement of the rent- law of Bengal was made in 1859, when an act dealing with the subject was passed. Its chief object was to place restric¬ tions on the landlord’s powers of enhancement, distraint, and eviction, and to declare the conditions under which occu¬ pancy rights accrued to the ryots. It was described by Lord Canning as “a real and earnest attempt to improve the position of the ryots of Bengal, and to open to them a prospect of freedom and independence which they have not hitherto enjoyed, by clearly defining their rights, and by placing restrictions on the power of the zemindars such as ought long ago to have been provided.” The intentions 1 Speech in the Legislative Council, April 6, 1871. CONDITION OF BEHAR. 335 of the Legislature were excellent, but the Act proved imperfect and insufficient, and in some respects made matters worse than they were before. As time went on the difficulties increased. In Eastern Bengal the state of affairs became highly unsatisfactory; combinations of ryots to refuse the payment of any rent occurred, and violent collisions took place between them and the zemindars, aggravated by the fact that the former were mostly Mohammedans and the latter Hindus. In 1876 it became necessary to legislate for the prevention of agrarian disputes. In Behar the case was more serious. This great province of Bengal has an area of 36,000 square miles, and a popula¬ tion of more than twenty-one millions. There is hardly any part of British India possessing greater natural advantages of soil and climate, and no part where the condition of the agricultural population is more precarious, or the margin of subsistence smaller. This was a cause of much anxiety to Lord Lawrence, and he stated his belief that legislation would become necessary for the protection of the ryot, “ and make him what he is now only in name, a free man.” In 1878, Sir Ashley Eden, then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, described the ryots of Behar as “ poor, helpless, discontented men, bound down to a state of extreme de¬ pression and misery, tenants of the richest province in Bengal, yet the poorest and most wretched class we find in the country. . . . The loose system of zemindari ac¬ counts, the entire absence of leases and counterparts, the universal prevalence of illegal distraint, the practice of amalgamating holdings so as to destroy evidence of con¬ tinuous occupation, are evils which necessarily prevent any possible development of agricultural prosperity among the tenant class, and place them entirely at the mercy of their landlords.” The Indian Famine Commissioners, not long afterwards, pressed the same subject on the attention of the Government. 336 BENGAL. “ Where,” they said, “ as in Behar, the relations of landlord and tenant are those of a high-handed proprietary body on the one hand, habitually disregarding the law, and on the other a tenantry, ignorant, very helpless, and sunk in the most abject poverty, the onus of bringing complaints ought not to be laid on the tenants, and the first and most important duty of the Bengal Government and of the officials would seem to be to guard zealously against infringements of the law by the rich, and to put them down as if they were offences against the public peace.” “ It was proved,” writes Mr Finucane, the head of the Agricultural Department in Bengal, “ by indisputable evidence, that the rents of ryots in Behar have during the past fifty years been illegally and arbitrarily enhanced out of all proportion to what the landlords were under the law entitled to demand, and to what the tenants were legally liable to pay. Though the rent law gave the ryot certain rights, he was so helpless or so ignorant that he was unable to assert these rights out of court, or to go into court to enforce them.” I will make a few more extracts from official reports regarding the condition of the people in parts of Behar. “ The gross rental of permanently settled estates being at the lowest estimate five times the amount payable by landholders as Government revenue, there can, as a matter of course, be no difficulty in realising that revenue under the sunset law. But there are certain tracts in which, though the permanently settled land revenue may be realised, yet the sums realised by the Government have had again to be expended, many fold increased, on charitable relief which became necessary in order to prevent mortality by starvation. Such pre-eminemtly is the province of Behar, and specially the three northern districts of Darbhanga, Mozaffarpur, and Saran. Within a period of seventeen years there have been five in which a portion of the people of this part of the province have died of starvation. The whole conditions of agricultural industry are such as to render it precarious. It is impossible for the people to fall back in one year of partial failure of crops on the accumulated reserves of a previous year, whether of grain, property, money, or credit. Thus, in the one district of Darbhanga, which is taken as being the worst of all in these respects—a district which is one of the most fertile, best cultivated, and highly favoured by nature in all India—it was RENTS HABITUALLY ENHANCED ILLEGALLY. 337 necessary for the Government to expend in one year, on one famine in 1874, by way of charitable relief, no less than ^370,000 in cash, and 118,000 tons of grain, valued in Burma at ^9 per ton. If to this be added the cost of transport, and cost of famine establishment, it will not be too much to put down the net cost of famine to Government in this single district at ^1,500,000, the Government revenue being less than ^50,000 per annum. The famine expenditure in this district, in one year, was more than thirty times the amount of the Government revenue, and far more than its capitalised value. ... Yet the rental of the dis¬ trict was no less than twelve times the amount of the Govern¬ ment revenue. It is not alone on famine relief that enormous sums have been expended in this part of the country. There has been also a great outlay on State railways, which, though they may facilitate the importation of grain in times of dis¬ tress, can in ordinary times be of little benefit to the mass of the peasantry; for it is evident that so long as landlords are permitted to take advantage of the local competition for land in order to enhance rents illegally, it is they, and they only, who appropriate the profits resulting from that rise in prices which attends the opening up of means of communication. Besides ^200,000 expended on a temporary famine railway to Darb- hanga in 1874, there has been an expenditure on the Tirhut State railway of ^1,300,000 within the past ten years.” 1 Some of the zemindars of Behar are among the richest men in India. The estates of the Raja of Darbhanga, in the district just mentioned, have an area of 2400 square miles, a population of more than 750,000, and a rental ex¬ ceeding Rx.200,000 a year. The increase in the net rental of the zemindars of North Behar in the last three genera¬ tions has been immense. At the time of the Perma¬ nent Settlement it was about Rx.30,000, and it is now about Rx.2,500,000, or eighty times greater. 2 If the inten¬ tions of the framers of the Settlement had been carried out, the larger part of this vast sum would have been in the possession of the unfortunate peasants, whose rights have been swept away. 1 ‘ Report of the Agricultural Department in Bengal for 1886.’ 2 ‘ Minute by Sir Anthony MacDonnell, Officiating Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 21st September 1893.’ BENGAL. Happily, the condition of the agricultural population in the greater part of Bengal is much better than in Behar ; the necessity for their protection has been urgent, but they have not been reduced to a condition such as that common in Behar; climatic conditions are such that the productive powers of the land are not precarious, and they live, as a rule, in reasonable comfort. The discussion of the measures required for placing the law of landlord and tenant throughout Bengal on a better footing continued for many years. In 1885 the “ Bengal Tenancy Act ” was passed by the Governor-General in Council. I will not attempt to describe all its provisions, but its value cannot be doubted. It is an attempt to give protection to the ryots without interfering with the rights of landlords. It defines the position of the various classes of landlords and tenants, the incidents of the various tenures, the conditions under which rights of occupancy in the land are acquired and maintained, the manner in which rents are to be regulated, enhanced, and reduced, the circumstances under which evictions may take place ; it imposes penalties for illegal exactions, lays down rules regarding compensation for improvements, gives power to the Government to order surveys and the preparation of records of rights, and deals with a multitude of other matters of importance. The passing of this Act was an excellent measure, but more is required. I have shown that in other parts of British India there has been a survey of every field, and that a permanent record is maintained of all rights and interests in the land. This, in other provinces, is the basis of our system of administration. Without such basis, in a country where nearly the whole population is agricultural, neither the executive authorities nor the courts of justice have the means of obtaining the knowledge essential to the protection of the most important interests of the people. In land disputes the first essential is to know accurately CADASTRAL SURVEY COMMENCED. 339 where the land is situated, and its area ; in all questions of transfer, or sale, or rent, or tenure, this knowledge is re¬ quired, and there are now no means of supplying it. In Bengal there are virtually no surveys, no maps, no records of rights ; there is universal ignorance of almost all facts connected with the greatest industry of the country, which it is the most necessary to know. The first steps, however, have been taken to wipe away this disgrace. A cadastral or field survey was begun in 1892 in the province of Behar, accompanied by a record of all exist- ing rights in land, and this is being carried out under the provisions of the Bengal Tenancy Act. The Government contributes towards the cost, but the greater portion of it is apportioned between the zemindars and ryots, who directly benefit by the survey. This measure has met with much opposition from the zemindars. The traditions of adminis¬ tration in Bengal, to which I have referred, have not accus¬ tomed them to such an interference on the part of the Government, although this is no more than has been done in every other province of British India, and they not un¬ naturally dislike the payment of the cost. In other pro¬ vinces the expenditure on cadastral surveys is defrayed from the Imperial treasury, but they are accompanied by a re-settlement of the land revenue, and, in almost all cases, the result is an enhancement of its amount. In Bengal, the settlement being permanent, the State receives no such advantage, and it would be unreasonable to call on the general Indian tax-payer to provide the means of meeting an expenditure the objects and benefits of which are purely local. It may be confidently expected that the zemindars will in time fully appreciate the great advantages which an accurate record brings to them, and that the extension of the survey to other parts of Bengal will be called for. Every measure of political importance is discussed by the organs of the educated classes. Not long ago there could be no doubt as to what would be the reception of any 340 BENGAL. measure that seemed to threaten the interest of the zemin¬ dars. No taxation affecting them could be imposed with¬ out the cry being raised that the solemn pledges of the Permanent Settlement were being violated by an un¬ scrupulous Government. Every measure which has had for its object the more just distribution of the public burdens has, as a rule, met with nothing but opposition. We were told that to reduce the salt tax was folly; let it be increased if the Government wants more money. The abolition of customs duties on cotton goods was solely prompted by the desire to benefit the manufacturers of Manchester, and by the base political purpose of gaining votes in Lancashire. Educated Bengalis were not to be deceived by the profession that we desired to give to the people of India cheaper salt and cheaper clothing It is, I fear, impossible to deny that English education in Bengal has hitherto given frequent aid to the perpetration of injustice and to the prevention of reform. CHAPTER XXIII. THE ARMY IN INDIA. The advance of Russia—Consequent changes in our position—The armies of India before 1857—The Mutinies—The reorganisation of the Native Army —Its present constitution—Its fighting qualities—The Bengal Army—The Staff Corps — The Police—Increase of the army in 1885 — Present strength—The British troops—Improvement in their health—Hill stations —Frontier and Port defences—Volunteer corps—Changes in 1893 in con¬ stitution of Army—Existing commands—Armies of the Native States— Special contingents for Imperial service. The ultimate basis of our Indian dominion is obviously our military power, and this is a subject which cannot be passed over without notice. There are, however, matters connected with it which, although they possess the utmost gravity, I do not propose to discuss. Among these stand out prominently the great questions connected with the advance of Russia towards the frontiers of India, and our relations with Afghanistan. If I say nothing on these subjects, it must not be supposed that I fail to recognise their importance. The proximity of a great European power has profoundly altered our position in India, nor is it only our military position that has been affected. The change is felt throughout India both in our own dominions and in the Native states. It has thrown into the minds of men uncertainties and hopes and fears regarding the future; it has seriously disturbed the finances, it has re¬ tarded the progress of works essential to the prosperity of the country, and has checked improvement in the adminis¬ tration. No Englishman can doubt that it is in our power to render India invulnerable, but statesmen and soldiers will do well never to forget that nothing can save us, 341 342 THE ARMY IN INDIA. sooner or later, from attack, except the certainty on the part of those who may desire to assail us that every hostile attempt must end in disastrous failure. The condition among all others essential to our success will be one on which I cannot dilate. Absolute supremacy at sea gave to us our empire in India, and without it the maintenance of that empire will be impossible. In the earlier times of the East India Company, a military force grew up in each of the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. Three distinct armies came into existence, and until not long ago they still remained. The principal extensions of territory having occurred, since the beginning of the nineteenth century, in the presidency of Bengal, the army of Bengal became the most important of the three ; in 1856, the year before the mutinies, it was more numerous than the other two armies together. In that year the British forces in India consisted of 39,000 Europeans and 21-5,000 Natives, besides several contingents, as they were called, maintained for the pro¬ tection of Native States, and at their expense. The Native army of Bengal, consisting in 1856 of seventy-four regiments of infantry, with ten regiments of regular and eighteen of irregular cavalry, was mainly recruited, especially for the infantry, from the Brahmans and Rajputs of Oudh, and in a lesser degree from the North-Western Provinces. A part of the Bombay army and of the contingents was supplied from the same classes. The army of Madras was recruited from its own presi¬ dency. Besides the regular army, and various local corps, there was a strong force of so-called Irregular cavalry and infantry, the most important part of which was raised in the Punjab from Sikhs, Pathdns, and other warlike races. This body of troops, known as the Punjab Frontier Force, guarded the northern frontier, and was under the orders of the Provincial Government. The greater part of the artillery in India was manned by Native soldiers. THE MUTINIES OF 1857 . 343 About one-third of the European infantry, and all the European artillery were local troops, raised by the East India Company for permanent service in India. They numbered about 14,000 men. In 1857 almost the whole of the Bengal Native army, a part of that of Bombay, and the contingents in Northern India, mutinied. The Madras army remained faithful. The Punjab PYontier force was not only faithful, but rendered admirable service in the suppression of the revolt. Before peace was restored the old Bengal army had ceased to exist. The Government was transferred to the Crown, and the whole military organisation was altered. The local European army was abolished. The artillery, which had been chiefly Native, became almost wholly British. The place of the local European infantry was supplied by British regiments of the line. The total strength of European troops was largely increased, while that of the Native army was largely diminished. Three distinct armies—those of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay— were still maintained. After the new arrangements had been completed, the army in India consisted of about 62,000 British, and 135,000 Native troops. I quote from the Report of the Indian Army Com¬ mission of 1879 the foliowing summary of the changes made after the mutinies ; but, as I shall show, it became necessary in 1885, in consequence of the advance of Russia towards the north-western frontier, to increase the numbers both of British and Native troops :— “ On the reorganisation of the army, after the mutiny was quelled, it was decided that the proportion of Native and European troops in India should never greatly exceed two to one, and that the field and other artillery should be exclusively, or almost exclusively, manned by Europeans. . . . All the fortresses in the country are now served by British artillery. All the heavy batteries and all the batteries of field artillery are manned by 344 THE ARMY IN INDIA. Europeans. The lessons taught by the mutiny have thus led to the maintenance of the two great principles of retaining in the country an irresistible force of British troops, and of keeping the artillery in the hands of Europeans. “ Our position in the country has very materially changed, and a force of 62,000 European soldiers represents a power far in excess of that which it represented in 1857. In those days the British troops were scattered in small forces throughout the country, and it was a matter of great difficulty, delay, and expense to concentrate even a small British force on any one spot in India. When the mutiny broke out we had hardly 400 miles of railway complete in the country, while at the present moment we have 8312 miles of railway open. 1 “ All our great cantonments, all our fortresses and arsenals, save one, are now connected with each other, and with the sea¬ board, by railway. The strength of our European troops for action at any point, within or without the borders of British India, has thus been enormously increased. For example, whereas in 1857 a regiment took three or four months to march from the seaboard to Lahore, it can now move from Calcutta to Lahore in a week. Reinforcements from England, which then occupied three months on a voyage round the Cape, now land in Bombay within thirty days of leaving England. Again, the power of British troops has been indefinitely increased by their arma¬ ment with breech-loading rifles, and by the substitution of riiied field-pieces of higher power for the smooth-bore six-pounder, nine-pounder, and mountain guns of the mutiny era. In any contest within the borders, or on the frontiers of India, these improved armaments would tell heavily ; for the troops of Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal, Gwalior, Hyderabad, and the Cis- Sutlej States, are for the most part still armed with smooth-bore muzzle-loading weapons.” Before the mutinies of 1857, the infantry of the Bengal army was, as I have already said, mainly recruited from the Brahmans and Rajputs of Oudh and the North- Western Provinces. Although men of fine physique, they' were not remarkable for fighting efficiency, and the former 1 In 1893, more than 20,000 miles of railway were open or under construc¬ tion. SYSTEM OF RECRUITING NATIVE ARMY. 345 reputation of the Native army of Bengal was certainly exaggerated. Most of its triumphs were mainly due to the British troops who were associated with it. The ruinous consequences of drawing the larger proportion of our soldiers from a single class, under the influence of the same feelings and interests, and holding more than any other people in India the strictest prejudices of caste, were shown by the events of 1857. The old system no longer exists; I quote from the Report of the Indian Army Commission a description of that which took its place:— “ The systems of recruiting for the several armies are diverse. Regiments of the Madras and Bombay armies draw their recruits from many tribes and castes over the several recruiting grounds of those presidencies, and the Bombay regiments have an admixture of Sikhs and Hindustanis from Northern India in their ranks. These armies are thus composed of what are called ‘ mixed recruits ’—that is to say, of corps in which men of different races, several religions, and many provinces are thrown together into the same company or troop. In the Bengal and Punjab armies the majority of corps are what are called ‘ class- company regiments ’—that is to say, the regiments draw recruits from three or more different races and recruiting grounds, but the men of each class or race are kept apart in separate com¬ panies. Thus, an infantry regiment may have two companies of Sikhs, two companies of Hindustani Brahmans and Rajputs, two companies of Punjabi Mohammedans, one company of Trans- Indus Pathans, and one company of Uogras from the Kangra or Jamu hills ; such a regiment would be a class-company regiment; the native officers of each company would ordinarily belong to the race, tribe, or sect from which the company was recruited. In the Northern army are a limited number of ‘class regiments,’ which are composed of men belonging to one caste or tribe. Such, for instance, are the Gurkha corps, recruited entirely from the hardy short-statured highlanders of the Nepal hills, the Pioneer regiments, which consist exclusively of men of the Muzbi tribe, who in the early days of Sikh rule were despised outcasts, whose noblest calling was thieving, but who are now among the flower of the Northern army.” 346 THE ARMY IN INDIA. Thus, what has been called “ the policy of water-tight compartments ” was applied throughout the Indian army. The object aimed at has been to prevent the growth of any dangerous identity of feeling from community of race, religion, caste, or local sympathies. The Native army is recruited by voluntary enlistment. The infantry are clothed, armed, and equipped by the State, but the men provide their own food, and, with some assistance, they themselves, according to the old custom of the country, build the lines in which they live. On foreign service beyond sea, or in campaigns beyond the frontiers of India, they receive rations from the Commissariat. Except in the Madras command, where the Native cavalry are in these respects on the same footing as the infantry, this branch of the service is organised on what is called the Silladar system. The men provide their own uniform, their arms, excepting breech-loading carbines, their equip¬ ment, and their horses ; they feed themselves and their horses, build their own lines, and provide their own camp equipage and carriage on the line of march. Their pay is fixed at a rate which enables them to meet all these charges. Considering the great variety of the sources from which the Native army is recruited, there is much variety in its military qualities, and all recent measures have been designed with the object of enabling the Government of India to place rapidly in the field the largest possible number of troops composed of the best fighting material. It would be difficult to find in any country finer soldiers than Sikhs, Pathans, and Gurkhas, and in a case of neces¬ sity there would be no difficulty in making at short notice a large addition to their numbers. There can be no doubt that a large portion of our Native army is now equal to the troops of any European State, and fit to take its place in the field by the side of British soldiers. The most efficient section of the Native army is un- COMPOSITION OF NATIVE ARMY. 347 doubtedly that of the North, stationed in the Punjab and on the North-Western frontier, and consisting entirely of men belonging to the most vigorous and martial races of India. Among its other excellent elements it comprises more than 12,000 Gurkhas, soldiers whose fighting qualities can hardly be surpassed. The Punjab Frontier Force, a most efficient body, formed until some years ago a virtu¬ ally distinct army under the Government of the Punjab, and although it has since been brought, like the rest of the army, under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, it retains its separate organisation. Although the old name of the “ Bengal Army ” has been partially retained, it had, as already noticed, long become somewhat of a misnomer, for there was not a single native of Bengal in its ranks, and only a small part of it was ever stationed in Bengal. In Bengal Proper there are a few thousand men at places on the railway connecting Calcutta with Northern India, and near the frontier of Nepal and other Hill States, and there are usually four or five thousand men in Calcutta and its neighbourhood. In the rest of the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal, with its population of 75,000,000, there are hardly any troops. Sir William Hunter is well within the mark when he says that “ probably 40,000,000 of people go through life without once seeing the gleam of a bayonet or the face of a soldier.” The British Officers of the Native army are taken from the Indian Staff Corps. A Staff Corps for each of the three armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay was estab¬ lished in 1861, when the Native army was reorganised. The officers of the Corps were, in the first instance, trans¬ ferred from the East India Company’s Army, and subse¬ quently they were drawn from British regiments of the line or artillery. In 1891 the three Staff Corps were amalgamated into a single body, and the Indian Staff Corps now includes about 2400 officers. The corps is 343 THE ARMY IN INDIA. recruited by the appointment of candidates from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After a year’s duty with a British regiment in India, and another year’s duty with a Native regiment, and after passing examina¬ tions in the Native languages and in professional subjects, an officer is admitted into the Staff Corps. He is then eligible for staff employment or command in any part of India. In respect of regimental appointments, an officer will ordinarily remain with the territorial branch of the army to which he is first posted, but he may be transferred by exchange to a regiment belonging to an¬ other command. The officers of the Staff Corps are employed not only in the Native army and in military appointments on the staff, but also in a large number of civil posts. They hold the majority of appointments in the political department, and many administrative and judicial offices in non-regulation provinces. Before 1857 duties were often performed by the Native army which were really duties of police, and the great reduction, amounting to more than 90,000 men, made in the numbers of the army after the suppression of the mutinies, was followed by a complete reorganisation of the police throughout India. The number of men avail¬ able for military duty was, therefore, not diminished to the extent that the figures seem to show. Exclusive of the village police, of whom there are some 700,000, the regular police force in India consists of about 150,000 officers and men, of whom about 60,000 have firearms, and are more or less drilled. There is no part of British India in which the people habitually carry arms, or commonly possess them, and the occasions are rare, not, on an average, more than two or three in each year, on which, usually in consequence of religious disputes between Hindus and Mohammedans, or between other sects, it is necessary to call out troops to assist the civil power in maintaining order. Considering that the population of STRENGTH OF THE INDIAN ARMY. 349 British India exceeds that of the five great powers of Europe together, this furnishes an illustration of the quiet character of the people. In 1885 the altered position of Russia on the frontiers of Affghanistan, and the apprehension of war, rendered it necessary to reconsider the whole question of our military position. The result was a determination to increase both the European and Native army. The British force received an addition, in cavalry, artillery, and infantry, of about 11,000 officers and men, while the number of the Native troops was increased by 19,000. Five new battalions of Gurkhas were added to the infantry. Altogether the army in India was increased by about 30,000 men. In 1892 the total strength was nearly 230,000 men of all arms, of whom rather more than 73,000 were British. This is exclusive of the active Reserve, in process of formation, consisting of men who have served with the colours in the Native army from five to twelve years. There are now about 13,000 men in the Reserve, but it may ultimately attain much larger proportions. Apart from the addition to its numbers, the efficiency of the British troops in India has been greatly increased by other causes. Among all the changes that have occurred since the transfer of the Government to the Crown, there is not one over which we have better reason to rejoice than the improvement in the health of our soldiers. The Royal Commission, which inquired in 1859 into the sanitary con¬ dition of the army, reported that the average death-rate among the British troops in India, for the forty years end¬ ing with 1856, had been 69 per thousand. This was six times as high as the rate among Englishmen of the same ages at home. The Commission expressed the hope that the death-rate might be reduced by measures of sanitary improvement to 20 per thousand, or even lower. This hope has been more than fulfilled. In the ten years ending with 1879 the death rate was 19 per thousand, and in the 350 THE ARMY IN INDIA. eight years ending with 1892 the average was less than 15 per thousand. 1 No efforts have been spared to improve in every way the position of the British soldiers in India. They now live in barracks which, in comfort and in all sanitary conditions, excepting those conditions of climate over which we have no control, probably surpass any that can be found in any other country. Every regiment, battery, and depot has its regimental institute, a sort of soldiers’ club, with refreshment department, library, reading and recreation rooms, a temperance association room, and a theatre. The issue of spirits has been diminished, and is discouraged, while every encouragement is given to useful employment and occupation for the men. Cantonments for 25 per cent, of the whole force have been provided at stations in the Himalaya or other mountains. The education of soldiers’ children is provided for partly in regimental schools and partly in the Lawrence Asylums in the hills, excellent institutions, originally founded by the liberality of Sir Henry Lawrence, and now largely assisted by the Government. Since 1858 more than £35,000,000 have been spent in India on barracks, hospitals, and works designed for the benefit of the soldiers. Other measures have greatly added to our military strength in India. All points on the north-western frontier at which attack seems possible are now guarded by strongly fortified positions, and connected with the railway system of India ; the principal ports have been fortified, and the defence of the harbours is secured by a flotilla of turret-ships, torpedo gunboats, and torpedo boats. Another very important measure has been the formation of Volunteer corps. There are already in India 27,000 Volunteers, nearly all British, effective and well-armed. 1 It must be admitted that this comparison is not altogether accurate, because the figures given by the Royal Commission included all the deaths that had occurred in the numerous campaigns of the previous forty years. Making, however, allowance for this, the rate of mortality was extremely high. RECENT CHANGES IN ORGANISATION. 35 r The defensive value of this force can hardly be over-stated. If it had existed in 1857, many of the catastrophes of that time would undoubtedly have been prevented. Supreme authority over the army in India has long been vested by law 1 in the Governor-General in Council. The Military Member of Council has charge of the Military Department, which corresponds to the War Office in Eng¬ land. Subject to the administrative control of the Governor- General in Council, the chief executive officer of the army is the Commander-in-Chief in India. Until 1893 he held special command of the troops in the Bengal Presidency, and he exercised a general control over the armies of Madras and Bombay, each of which had its local Commander-in- Chief. The Governments of those Presidencies possessed, until the same time, certain administrative powers. Although the ultimate military authority rested with the Governor-General in Council and Commander-in-Chief in India, this system of divided control led to much incon¬ venience, especially in time of war, and it became clear that it must be altered, and that the armies of Madras and Bombay must no longer remain in the exceptional position of being partially subject to the control of the Provincial Governments and Commanders-in-Chief. The necessary change could not be made without the authority of Par¬ liament, and it was not until the close of 1893 that this was obtained. The delay did not prevent the completion of many other reforms of military administration, and be¬ fore 1893 all the Army Departments, except the Medical, had been brought directly under the orders of the Supreme Government. The Act of 1893 abolished the offices of the Provincial Commanders-in-Chief; it provided that the powers which had been exercised by them should be transferred to such officer as the Commander-in-Chief in India, with the approval of the Governor-General in Council, might appoint; that 1 3 and 4 Will. IV., c. 85. 352 THE ARMY IN INDIA. the powers of the Commander-in-Chief in India should ex¬ tend to the whole of India ; that all the powers of military- control which had been vested in the Governments of Madras and Bombay should cease, and be exercised by the Gover¬ nor-General in Council ; and that the officers commanding the troops in those Presidencies should no longer be mem¬ bers of the Provincial Councils. The precise manner in which these changes shall be carried into effect is not yet settled, but their general scope will probably be as follows :— There would be four great commands, each under a Lieutenant-General, the whole being under the direct com¬ mand of the Commander-in-Chief in India. The Punjab Command would include the whole of the Punjab, with the Punjab Frontier Force, which would retain its organisa¬ tion as a separate body. The Bengal and North-West Command would include the territories under the Civil Governments of Bengal, Assam, the North-Western Pro¬ vinces and Oudh. The Madras Command would include the whole of the Madras Presidency, with Burma and other territories formerly garrisoned by the Madras Army. The Bombay Command would include the Bombay Presidency, Baluchistan and parts of Rajputana and Central India. The Commander-in-Chief in India, who formerly, in addition to his general powers of control, commanded the army of Bengal, would relinquish the direct command of any particular part of the army. I have not yet referred to the armies of the Native States. They look formidable on paper, for they are said to number altogether about 380,000 men, of whom 69,000 are cavalry and 11,000 artillery, with some 4000 guns. These figures are very deceptive. A small portion only of these so-called armies has any military organisation. They consist for the most part of men who can hardly be called soldiers. The majority of them are maintained for pur¬ poses of display, without the least idea that they can ever ARMIES OF NATIVE STATES. 353 be used for fighting. The so-called army includes multi¬ tudes of the armed retainers of the chiefs and nobles, and nearly the whole of the men whom we should class as police. There are only two cases in which it seems, at the present time, possible that the armies of the Native States might become causes of anxiety to our Government. The first is the army of Gwalior. Among all the armies of the Native States this is the most completely organised. It consists of about 11,000 men, of whom about 6000 are cavalry, all fairly drilled and disciplined, with several fully equipped batteries of artillery. It has often been said that this force is really stronger than it appears to be, and that a system, similar to that adopted in Europe, was intro¬ duced by the late ruler, by which a strong reserve was formed by passing rapidly a large proportion of the popu¬ lation through the army. There is no foundation for such statements. A very small part of the Gwalior troops con¬ sists of men recruited in that country. The great majority of them come from our territories, and chiefly from the classes which before the mutinies of 1857 supplied the bulk of our Bengal army. The Government of Sindhia is, as I shall show, that of a foreign Marfitha dynasty ; the people are unwarlike and disinclined for military service. The strength of the forces which may be maintained is regulated by treaty with the British Government. The largest of the armies of the Native States is that of the Nizam of Hyderabad, also a foreigner in the country belonging to him. It is so heterogeneous a body that it is difficult to state its numbers, but that part of it which may with some reason be called an army consists of about 45,000 men. “ Many of these (I am quoting from the Report of the Indian Army Commission) are foreign mer¬ cenaries from remote parts of India, and from the Afghan highlands beyond our northern frontier, who take service under the Nizam and his chiefs ; they engage in faction fights and raids within his territory, and have recently z 354 THE ARMY IN INDIA. shown themselves ready to join any discontented men who may be willing to pay them for raiding into British dis¬ tricts.” A considerable part of the Nizam’s army has been reorganised and improved. The Indian Army Commis¬ sion has pointed out in strong language the evils arising from the maintenance of these riotous mercenaries. While they perform no useful service to the Nizam, it is necessary to watch and overawe them, and the necessity is imposed on our treasury of always keeping a large force of British and Native troops at Hyderabad. A Native force, called the Hyderabad Contingent, consisting of more than 7000 men of all arms, under the command of British officers, is also maintained by our Government at Hyderabad. The charges for the Contingent are met from the revenues of the Berar districts, which were assigned to us for the purpose in 1853 by treaty with the Nizam. Armies such as those of Sindhia and the Nizam, and especially the latter, might undoubtedly, under circum¬ stances not difficult to conceive, become sources of anxiety. Being mainly composed of foreign mercenaries, their fidelity to their chiefs, themselves of foreign origin, cannot always be trusted. This was shown in 1857, when the troops of Sindhia, who was himself loyal, mutinied and joined in the revolt of the Bengal army. This is a difficult subject, and it has not hitherto been dealt with satisfactorily. The troops of the Rajputana States consist, on paper, of more than 100,000 men, with 1400 guns, but these figures have no military significance. The men are not, for the most part, soldiers in the service of the State, but the members of a military class. None of the guns are equipped for service. There is no doubt of the loyalty of the Rajput chiefs or of their followers. The troops of the Sikh States deserve mention. “ They are composed (the Indian Army Commission tells us) of good material; they are well officered, and have on occa¬ sions done excellent service for the British Crown. They CONTINGENTS FOR IMPERIAL SERVICE. 355 are devoted to their chiefs, who are conspicuously loyal, and bound to the British Government by mutual goodwill and good offices, which have extended over many years.” The troops of the Native States possess, as a rule, no arms of precision ; they have no breech-loading rifles, no rifled ordnance, and very little organised artillery. With the exceptions previously indicated, they are, for the most part, as Sir Lepel Griffin says, “ an undrilled, wretchedly armed rabble, and two or three of our regiments, with a battery of horse artillery, would disperse 50,000 of them.” They are not armies in the ordinary sense of the term. One important addition has to be made to the foregoing observations. During the Viceroyalty of Lord Dufferin arrangements were made with several of the Native States, possessing specially good fighting material, for maintaining a number of selected troops in such a condition of efficiency in arms, equipment, drill, and organisation, as shall make them fit to take the field side by side with British soldiers. Other States have engaged to furnish transport corps, which will be certainly useful in time of war. The total number of these special contingents is now about 20,000 men. Both officers and men are, for the most part, Natives of the States to which they belong, but British officers are ap¬ pointed to inspect them, and to advise in regard to their training and equipment. The Kashmir Imperial Service troops have already seen active service in the operations for the reduction of the mountain principalities of Hunza and Nagar, and they behaved with conspicuous gallantry. CHAPTER XXIV. THE NATIVE STATES. Area, population, and revenue of Native States—Meaning of the term Native States—Prevalent mistakes — Native States not nationalities — Native princes often foreigners—The English have destroyed no ancient dynasties —Different classes of Native States—Mohammedan and Maratha States —Their foreign character—Ancient dynasties preserved by the British— Mysore—Travancore—The States of Rajputana and the Punjab—The Governments of Native States—The personal despots—The tribal chiefs— Antiquity of Indian families—The supremacy of the British Government ■—Our relations with Native States—The doctrine of lapse—Right of adoption—Assumption by the Queen of title of “Empress of India”— Sir Henry Lawrence on Native States and British Residents—The char¬ acter of Native rulers—Frequent necessity for British intervention—The annexation of Oudh—Condition of Oudh before annexation—Baroda— Deposition of the Gaikwar—Gwalior and Indore—The States of Central India—Kashmir—Sir Lepel Griffin on misrule in Native States—Desire of the British Government to maintain the Native States—Their misrule their sole danger—The conditions essential to their preservation—The restoration of Mysore to Native rule — Terms on which the transfer was made—The results—The necessity of more general application of similar principles. The Native States of India cover an area of nearly 600,000 square miles, and contain a population of about 66,000,000. Their total revenues are estimated at nearly Rx.20,000,000. Counting them all, there are more than 600 of them, but the great majority are so insignificant in extent, and their rulers have so little authority, that they do not de¬ serve the name of States. The largest, that of the Nizam of Hyderabad, has an area of 83,000 square miles, and a population of 11,500,000; Gwalior, 29,000 square miles, and a population of 3,000,000 ; Mysore, 28,000 square 356 PRINCIPAL NATIVE STATES. 357 miles, and 5,000,000. Several others have between 1,000,000 and 3,000,000 people. 1 Excepting the Himalayan State of Nepal, which since 1815 has been enabled by its geographical position to main¬ tain a constant attitude of complete but friendly isolation, no Native State within the limits of India has any real in¬ dependence ; but, subject to this general fact, their rulers have every degree of power and importance, from the petty chief with little or no political authority, to princes with large revenues and considerable armies, with whose internal administration, under ordinary circumstances, we hardly interfere. I am obliged to use the term “ Native State,” but this expression only signifies a State not directly administered by Englishmen. We might with as much propriety apply the term “ Foreign States ” to some of the principal Native States of India, for their rulers are as much 1 The following list shows the area, population, and approximate revenue of the principal Native States :— Square miles. Population. Approximate Revenue. Religion of ruler. Hyderabad. (The Nizam) . 82,700 11.540,000 Rx.4,960,000 Mohammedan Bhopal 6,900 955,000 400,000 >> Bahawalpur. 17,300 649,000 160,000 > » Gwalior. (Sind- hia) 29, OOO 3,070,000 1,390,000 Hindu Indore. (Holkar) 8,400 1,090,000 580,000 > > Baroda. (Gaik- war) 8,200 2,415,000 1,532,000 > > Mysore 27,900 4 , 944,000 1,475,ooo } > Travancore . 6,700 2,558,000 785,000 5 > Jaipur. 14,500 2,800,000 655,000 > > Jodhpur 37,000 2,520,000 429,000 » » Udaipur 12,700 1,697,000 248,000 > > Bikanir 22,300 831,000 201,000 Rewah 10,000 1,300,000 558,000 133,000 Kutch . 6,500 179,000 » » Patiala 5,400 1,584,000 364,000 Sikh Kashmir 80,900 2,540,000 482,000 Hindu 358 THE NATIVE STATES. foreigners to the people that they govern as we are our¬ selves. The term “Native States” is apt to convey the idea that they are Indian nationalities existing in the midst of our great foreign dominion. This, indeed, is the popular English belief. It is assumed that in our con¬ quest of India we imposed our rule on peoples that had previously been governed by princes of their own race, that we took the place of ancient native dynasties which we destroyed, and that, having kept for ourselves the more valuable provinces, we have, for one reason or another, allowed some portions of India to retain their Native governments. No suppositions could be more contrary to fact. When, after the death of Aurangzfb in 1707, the Moghal Empire was breaking up, a scramble ensued for the fragments, and this lasted through the greater part of the eighteenth, and the earlier part of the nineteenth cen¬ turies. The chief competitors during the struggle were the Mardthas, the Mohammedan powers of Southern India, and the English. The larger share of the gain fell to the English, but our competitors had no better titles than our own. All alike were foreigners in the countries for which they were contending. Those who desire to learn the truth on this subject should read Sir Alfred Lyall’s ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ to which I have so often referred, and Professor Seeley’s ‘ Ex¬ pansion of England.’ “ One of the popular notions in England and Europe (I am quoting from Sir Alfred Lyall) regarding the establishment of the English empire in India, is that our conquests absorbed nationalities, displaced long-seated dynasties, and levelled ancient nobilities. These are some of the self-accusations by which the average home-keeping Englishman justifies to himself the indulgence of sitting down and casting dust on his head when¬ ever he looks back upon the exploits of his countrymen in India —an attitude which is observed by foreigners with suspicion or impatience according to their insight into English character. Yet it would be easy to prove that one important reason THEIR POLITICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 359 why the English so rapidly conquered India was this, that the countries which fell into our hands had no nationalities, no long-seated ruling dynasties or ancient aristocracies, that they had, in fact, no solid or permanent organisation of the kind, but were, politically, treasure trove, at the disposal of the first who, having found, could keep. The best proof that in these countries the English destroyed no organised political institutions is the historical fact that in the countries which they annexed none such had been left for them to destroy. On the other hand where indigenous political institutions of long standing still exist, it is the English who have saved them from destruction.” 1 The principal Native States of India may be roughly divided into two classes. The first comprises the States possessing the largest measure of sovereignty, and the most important of these are the Mohammedan and Mardtha States which survived the struggles of the close of the i last and the beginning of the present century. Their rulers are in all cases foreigners. None of these States are much older than our own dominion ; the principal officials are usually as foreign as the chiefs ; the armed force mainly consists of foreign mercenaries ; and there is no closer sympathy between the people and their rulers than that which exists in the British territories. I have repeatedly pointed out how misleading are such terms as “ Natives of India,” “ People of India,” and other general expressions ; and this warning is especially necessary in regard to the “ Native States.” It can never be assumed that because the chief of a Native State is a so-called “ Native of India ” he has rights differing in kind from our own. If a question arises whether our own administration or that of a Native ruler is to be preferred, Englishmen usually suppose that the choice must lie between giving to the people the foreign government of the English or the national government of their own countrymen. For instance, 1 ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ p. 181. THE NATIVE STATES. 360 there was much discussion some time ago whether we ought to restore to the Nizam the districts of Berdr which had been assigned to us, and which have been for many years under British administration. Few had any suspicion of the fact that the Mohammedan Govern¬ ment of Hyderabad would be as foreign as our own to the people of Berar, who are Hindus having nothing in common with their former rulers. The Nizam holds the first place among the Native princes of India. The founder of the ruling family was one of Aurangzfb’s viceroys ; in 1724 he was virtually independent. Nearly the whole population is Hindu, but Hindus have no share in the administration ; every¬ thing is in the hands of Mohammedan foreigners. The army chiefly consists of foreign mercenaries. There is no part of India in which the people have less sympathy with their rulers, men of other countries and of another faith. Frequent interference by the British Government has been necessary ; the misfortune is that it has not been more complete and efficacious. Excepting sometimes for a short period, no Government in India has been more shamelessly corrupt than that of the Nizam. The Hydera¬ bad State is the chief surviving relic of Mohammedan supremacy in India. With the not very important ex¬ ceptions of Bhopal and Bahawalpur, the other States under Mohammedan rulers, about twenty in number, are politically insignificant. The population of the so- called Mohammedan States is altogether about 14,000,000, but of this number at least 12,000,000 are Hindus. Even in Hyderabad, where the Mohammedans have been in power for centuries, they form less than a tenth part of the population. A very small proportion of the 57,000,000 Mohammedans of India live under rulers of their own faith ; by far the greater number of them are our own subjects. The principal remnants of the Marfitha power are the REMAINS OF ANCIENT DYNASTIES. 36 I three States of Gwalior, Indore, and Baroda, and of these Gwalior is the most important. They all came into existence about the middle of the last century. Their chiefs are entirely foreign to the people. In the words of Sir Lepel Griffin, they are “ the representatives of the predatory hordes which, until crushed by British arms, turned the fertile plains of Central India into a wilderness. These Maratha dynasties have nothing in common with the people they govern. Their race is different and their language is not understood.” The population of the three Maratha States is about 6,500,000 ; but, except the rulers and their followers, there are no Marathas. Among the Native States of which I have been speaking, there is not one the Government of which can be said to have a more legitimate or national origin than that of the British Government itself in its Indian dominions. I come now to the second of the classes into which the Native States of India may be divided. Judged by their area and population and political importance, these States are inferior to those of the former class, but they are more numerous and far more interesting. They are the only parts of India where ancient political institutions and ancient dynasties still survive, and their preservation is entirely due to the British Government. The principal States of this class are those of Rajputana ; and there are many others in Central India, in Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand, and in the Bombay Presidency. In his ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ Sir Alfred Lyall has described the States of Rajputana, the most in¬ teresting of the whole. They were saved by the British Government from destruction by the Marathas. They are twenty in number, with an area of some 150,000 square miles and a population of more than 12,000,000. The con¬ stitution of these States is very different from that of the Mohammedan and Maratha States. In the latter, the ruler, in theory at least, and subject to his responsibilities to the British Government, exercises absolute personal power. THE NATIVE STATES. 362 For instance (I am quoting from Sir Alfred Lyall), Sindhia, the head of the Maratha State of Gwalior, “ is the repre¬ sentative of the single family of a successful captain of armies who annexed in the last century all the territory he could lay hands on, and whose son finally encamped so long in one place that his camp grew into his capital some sixty years ago. . . . He is a despot of the ordi¬ nary Asiatic species, ruling absolutely the lands which his ancestor seized by the power of a mercenary army.” 1 In States like those of Rajputana, on the other hand, where ancient institutions have been preserved, the con¬ stitution of the governing authority is very different. The chief is the hereditary head of a military clan the members of which have been for centuries lords of the soil. He and the minor chiefs and nobles are supposed to be descended from a common ancestor ; he is primus inter pares , and while all the branches of the original stock are ready to join their chief in time of danger, his actual power over them is, under ordinary circumstances, very greatly limited. Owing to the custom of adoption, through which no Hindu family need become extinct from failure of heirs, some of the ruling families of Rajputana go back to an unknown antiquity. In the States of Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaipur, there seems no reason to doubt that the families to which the present chiefs belong have ruled in the same territories for more than a thousand years. In States of this kind there is often a strong feeling of attachment on the part of the people towards their chief. There are other States of a different character which have nothing in common with those which I have last mentioned, except that they owe their present existence to the British Government. The largest of these is the Frontier State of Kashmir, with an area of 81,000 square miles, and a population of 2,500,000. It was given by Lord Hardinge to Ghulab Singh in 1846, after the first 1 ‘ Asiatic Studies,’ p. 196. STATES OF MINOR IMPORTANCE. 363 Sikh war. The treaty under which the grant was made declares the supremacy of the British Government, and a nominal tribute is paid every year by the Maharaja. There is perhaps no state in India in which the adminis¬ tration has been more infamously corrupt and oppressive, and, as I shall again have occasion to notice, the inter¬ ference of our Government at last became unavoidable. Mysore, in Southern India, has an area of 28,000 square miles and a population of nearly 5,000,000. Its Hindu rajas contrived to maintain more or less independence until the middle of the last century, when Hyder Ali took possession of their country. It remained in his hands and in those of his successor, Tippoo Sultan, until the capture of Seringapatam by the English in 1799. Mysore was then restored by Lord Wellesley to the old Hindu dynasty. In consequence of gross oppression and misgovernment, it became necessary in 1830 to place British officers in charge of the administration. The Raja died in 1867, leaving an adopted son, and the British Government announced its intention of restoring the Government to the heir when he reached his majority. This promise was carried out in 1881 in a manner which I shall presently notice. The ancient Hindu State of Travancore, at the southern extremity of India, was rescued from Tippoo by the British, and still remains in the possession of its rajas. The principal Native States of the Punjab also owe their continued existence to English protection. With¬ out it they would have been utterly swept away by Ranjit Singh. There are altogether thirty-six of these States, with a population of more than 4,000,000. They have always been conspicuously loyal, and their admini¬ stration is good. The supreme authority of the British Government has become a fact which no Native State in India thinks for a moment of disputing. These States are often 364 THE NATIVE STATES. called “ feudatory,” but there is no analogy between their relations with the British Government and the incidents of ancient feudal tenure. The expression has come into use, as Sir Charles Aitchison says, “ merely from want of a better or more convenient term to denote the sub¬ ordination of territorial sovereignties to a common superior, combined with the obligation to discharge certain duties and render certain services to that superior.” In the case of the more important States, our supremacy was long ago recognised, more or less completely, by treaty; in the case of the smaller States, whether expressed and formally recorded or not, it has become one of the obvious conditions of their existence. Some of the States, so far as their internal administration is concerned, are sub¬ stantially independent, unless their government becomes so scandalously bad and oppressive that intervention is forced upon us ; in other States the authority of the chiefs is more strictly limited ; in many of the smaller States it hardly exists in any independent form. But whether the State be great or small, there are certain rights which the paramount power always asserts. No Native State can have any political communication with any other Native State, or with any Foreign power, without the consent of the British Government; no Native State can maintain more troops or military establishments than are required for the purposes of internal administration, for the support of the reasonable dignity of the chief, or except in accordance with its recognised obligations towards the British Govern¬ ment; there is no Native State in which civil war would be permitted, or in which, in case of gross and systematic injustice and tyranny, the British Government would not interfere for the protection of the people. This last right is the necessary consequence of our absolute power, and it has been repeatedly exercised. There is no Native chief who might not be tried and punished for a crime of special atrocity by a tribunal constituted by the British Govern- LIMITS TO CUSTOM OF ADOPTION. 36.5 ment. It will be understood from all this that rules of international law which govern the relations between inde¬ pendent States cannot apply to the relations between the British Government and the Native States of India. There is no dynasty in India which would not, without the custom of adoption, long ago have become extinct. It may almost be said that it is the rule, as much as the ex¬ ception, that a Native prince has no direct heirs. I need not dwell on the significance of this fact. Whether an adopted son had the same right as a natural heir to succeed to the government of a State without the sanction of this paramount power was a question in regard to which there had been no uniform custom or practice before the time of Lord Dalhousie. He laid down the broad principle that while we were “ bound in duty as well as in policy to act on every such occasion with the purest integrity and in the most scrupulous observance of good faith,” it was right that “ on all occasions where heirs natural shall fail, the territory should be made to lapse, and adoption should not be permitted, excepting in those cases in which some strong political reason may render it expedient to depart from this general rule.” He recorded his “ strong and deliberate opinion that, in the exercise of a wise and sound policy, the British Government is bound not to put aside or to neglect such rightful opportunities of acquiring territory or revenue as may from time to time present themselves.” These views were not based on any lust of dominion, but on the sincere belief that it was our obvious duty to extend to the people of all parts of India, when it became possible to do so, the benefits of our Govern¬ ment. This “ doctrine of lapse ” was carried into practical effect by Lord Dalhousie in several cases. The most im¬ portant was that of NAgpur, a State with an area of 80,000 square miles and several millions of people. The Raja had died without an heir, and the State was declared to have lapsed to the British Government. If the policy of THE NATIVE STATES. 366 Lord Dalhousie had continued to be followed, the extinc¬ tion of nearly all the Native States of India would have been a question of time only, but it was completely abandoned by his successor. The mutinies of 1857 showed conclusively that the Native States are a source to us, not of weakness, but of strength. In the words of Lord Canning—“ These patches of Native Government served as a breakwater to the storm which would otherwise have swept over us in one great wave.” With hardly an exception, they remained faithful in circumstances of the severest trial and difficulty. Before Lord Canning left India a sauad was issued to each of the principal Hindu chiefs, assuring him, in the name of the Queen, that, on failure of natural heirs, the British Govern¬ ment would recognise any adoption of a successor made by himself or by any future chief of the State, in accordance with Hindu law or the customs of his race. The Moham¬ medan chiefs received assurances that every form of suc¬ cession allowed by Mohammedan law to be legitimate would be recognised by our Government. From the principle thus laid down there has been no departure. In default of regular adoption, the British Government exer¬ cises the undisputed right of selecting the successor whom it may think most fit. In case of a minority, it invariably asserts a right of interference, limited only by its own sense of what is proper. The supremacy of the British Government over all the Native States in India was declared in 1877, in a more emphatic form than it had received before, by the assump¬ tion by the Queen of the title of Kaisar-i-Hind, Empress of India., No such gathering of chiefs and princes has taken place in historical times as that seen at Delhi in January 1877, when the rulers of all the principal States of India made to Lord Lytton the formal acknowledgment of their dependence. The time has long passed in which it was necessary to defend the policy of the measure which thus CHECKS ON MISGOVERNMENT. 367 asserted the paramount sovereignty of the British Crown over the whole of India. No Indian statesman doubts its wisdom or the practical importance of its political results. Many years ago Sir Henry Lawrence, speaking from long personal experience, declared that if ever there was a device for ensuring maladministration, it was that of a Native ruler backed up by British bayonets, and directed by an English Resident, and I am afraid this is sometimes not far from the truth at the present time. I have always thought that no part of our Indian administration has been so often unsuccessful as the management of our relations with the Native States. If a Native chief be vicious or incompetent, no advice or warning will make his government good. It may save him from the fate he deserves, but it will not give adequate pro¬ tection to his subjects. In former times, there was always hanging over the chief the fear that the British Govern¬ ment might not be slow in seizing opportunities of extend¬ ing its dominions, and that any grave misconduct might be followed by the summary annexation of his State. That fear has passed away. He knows that, unless his adminis¬ tration arrives at a point of insufferable badness, he runs no risk of deposition, and that he will have ample notice before active measures of interference are taken. Thus our anxiety to preserve the Native States has sometimes tended to diminish the checks on their misgovernment. The character and capacity of the chief are accidents. It not unfrequently happens, especially in the smaller States, that Native princes or their ministers make great and successful efforts to improve their administration and to govern on the principles, although not necessarily by the methods, which we ourselves approve. There are not many positions in which a man has larger powers for good than that of the enlightened ruler of a Native State. He is protected by the British Government from all anxiety outside his own territory. He requires no 368 THE NATIVE STATES. armed force except for the maintenance of order among his own people. He has at his disposal considerable resources. His State shares, as a rule, without any charges being im¬ posed on it, the benefits derived from the railways and other public works constructed by our Government. He has no difficulties such as those that beset on all sides our own administration. Wise and upright chiefs, followed by worthy successors, could, we may fancy, bring their States into a condition of almost utopian prosperity and happi¬ ness. But, if the opportunities of success are great, so are the temptations which lead an Indian prince to failure and dishonour, and unrestricted personal power is doomed in India to the same ultimate fate which has attended it else¬ where. Not unfrequently we find Native chiefs who de¬ serve and obtain the respect and affection of their people, but it is seldom possible to be hopeful of the future. The chances are that the progress made by worthy rulers will be swept away by the vice and caprice of their successors. If we examine the history of the principal Native States during the last thirty or forty years, we hardly find a single case in which the record is one of uninterrupted tranquillity and fairly good administration. From time to time there is a just and benevolent chief, but sooner or later comes almost always the same story. There is a point at which our in¬ terference becomes unavoidable, and there is scarcely a Native State in which we have not been forced to interfere for the protection of the people against their ruler. It has often been necessary to assume temporarily the government of the State ; in more than one case the chief has been deposed because he has been guilty of atrocious crimes. It is owing to our interference before misrule has become altogether insufferable that many of the Native States owe their continued existence. If they had been left to them¬ selves their extinction would have become inevitable. I have said that interference becomes unavoidable. I will give one or two instances to show the condition into INTERVENTION IN OUDH. 369 which a Native State may fall before the British Govern¬ ment actively intervenes. I will take as one instance the circumstances which led to the annexation of Oudh. It is now an old story, for the Native Government ceased to exist in 1856, but it is by no means out of date. There are at the present time States in India in which, but for the cer¬ tainty of our interference, matters might soon be little better than they were in Oudh in 1856. I wish to refer to this story for another reason. We still sometimes hear the an¬ nexation of Oudh quoted as one of the iniquitous proceed¬ ings of the British Government, and as an illustration of its lust of dominion. General Sleeman, the representative of our Government in Oudh, gave from personal observation a description of the country at that time, and its accuracy has never been called in question. I will give some account, often in his own words, of his report. Oudh is naturally one of the richest countries in India, as large as Holland and Belgium together, with a popula¬ tion at the present time of more than 12,000,000. Govern¬ ment in Oudh, deserving the name, there was none. The King did not pretend to concern himself with any public business. His ambition was limited to that of being re¬ puted the best drum-beater, dancer, and poet of the day. Sometimes he might be seen going in procession through the streets of Lucknow, beating the drum tied round his neck. Singers, fiddlers, poets, eunuchs, and women were his only associates. The Prime Minister, “ a consummate knave,” after keeping an enormous share for himself and his creatures, distributed the revenues and patronage of the country. The fiddlers controlled the administration of civil justice; that of criminal justice was made over to the eunuchs ; each of the King’s favourites had authority over some court or office through which he might make a fortune for himself. The minister kept the land revenue, and “ employed none but knaves of the very worst kind in 3 /o TIIE NATIVE STATES. all branches of the administration.” Every office was sold; commands in the army were put up to auction every season, or oftener, and the purchase money was divided among the minister, the singers, the fiddlers, and the eunuchs. The principal singer had two regiments at his disposal. The minister was as inaccessible as the King himself. Petitions and reports were usually made over by him, if he gave any orders at all, to the commander-in-chief, who was an infant, to the King’s chamberlain, or footman, or coachman, chief fiddler, eunuch, barber, or any person uppermost in his thoughts at the time. Courts of justice were unknown, except as affording means of extortion to the judges. The charge of the so-called police throughout the country was sold to the highest bidders. There was only one road that deserved the name in Oudh, made for the benefit of English travellers from Lucknow to Cawnpore, a distance of about forty miles. The atrocities that went on throughout the country would pass belief, if the evidence of the truth were less complete. I will give a few illustrations, taken from General Sleeman’s narrative. The districts of Bahraich and Gonda have an area of more than 5000 square miles, and they now contain more than 2,000,000 inhabitants. Shortly before General Sleeman’s visit, a man called Raghubar Singh was their local Governor, with large bodies of the King’s troops and of his own armed retainers at his disposal. In two years his extortions and crimes had reached such a point, that these districts, which had once been in a flourishing con¬ dition, and noted for their fertility, had become for the most part uncultivated. The English officer deputed by the Resident to inquire into the facts, reported that “ villages completely deserted in the midst of lands devoid of all tillage everywhere meet the eye ; and from Fyzabad to Bahraich he passed through these districts, a distance of eighty miles, over plains which had been fertile and well OUDH BEFORE ANNEXATION. 371 cultivated till Raghubar Singh got charge, but now lay entirely waste, a scene for two years of great misery, end¬ ing in desolation.” The Raja of Bondi was one of the principal landholders in this part of Oudh ; his estates contained some three hundred villages. He objected to the extortionate de¬ mands of Raghubar Singh, and this was the consequence. Parties of soldiers were sent out to plunder and seize all the respectable residents they could find. They sacked the town of Bondi, pulled down the houses of the Raja, and those of his relations and dependents ; and, after looting all the towns and villages in the neighbourhood, they brought in 1000 captives of both sexes and all ages, who were subjected to every sort of outrage till they paid the ransom demanded. The Raja escaped, but his agents and tenants were horribly tortured. Soon afterwards, detachments of soldiers were again sent out to plunder ; 1500 men and 500 women and children were brought in as prisoners, with 80,000 animals. All were driven off pell- mell through the rain for three days. The women were driven on by the troops with the butt-ends of their muskets; many of the children were trodden to death. The prisoners were tied up and flogged and tortured, red- hot ramrods thrust into their flesh, their tongues pulled out with hot pincers. Many perished from torture and starvation. The women and children were all stripped of their clothing. For two months these atrocities continued. Similar horrors went on in other parts of Bahraich, and a few years ago the English officer in charge of that district reported that its present comparatively small population was in a great measure due to the atrocities of Raghubar Singh. General Sleeman tells us that no single person concerned in these crimes was ever punished. There were then in Oudh 250 forts in the possession of the great landholders, with 100,000 men, maintained to fight among themselves, or against the Government. 372 THE NATIVE STATES. General Sleeman’s two volumes are filled with descrip¬ tions of the enormities that were going on, almost under his own eyes, of open war, of villages attacked and plun¬ dered, of horrible murders and outrages. “ Every day,” he writes, “ I have scores of petitions delivered to me by persons who have been plundered of all they possessed, had their dearest relations murdered or tortured to death, and their habitations burnt to the ground by gangs of ruffians, under landlords of high birth and pretensions, whom they had never wronged or offended. In these attacks neither age, nor sex, nor condition are spared.” In General Sleeman's narrative I have found hardly anything to relieve the uniformity of his terrible story except this “ In the most crowded streets of Lucknow, Europeans are received with deference, courtesy, and kindness. The people of the country respect the British Government, its officers, and Europeans generally. Though the Resident has not been able to secure any very substantial or permanent reform in the administration, still he has often interposed with effect, in individual cases, to relieve suffering and secure redress for grievous wrongs. ' The people of the country see that he never interposes except for such purposes, and their only regret is that he interposes so seldom, and that his efforts when he does so should be so often frustrated or disregarded. In the remotest village or jungle in Oudh, as in the most crowded streets of the capital, a European gentleman is sure to be treated with affec¬ tionate respect, and the humblest European is as sure to receive protection and kindness, unless he forfeits all claim to it by his misconduct.” For many years one Governor-General after another had gone on protesting against the atrocities of which some illustrations have been given. At last came “the . great Proconsul ” Dalhousie. He knew that since the British Government, without moving a soldier or spending a rupee, had absolute power to put an immediate end to these abominations, it was on the British Government that CHIEF OF BARODA DEPOSED. 37 3 the responsibility really rested for suffering them to con¬ tinue. There was only one complete remedy, and Lord Dalhousie applied it by declaring the whole of Oudh to be British territory. I find one defect only in his most wise and righteous action ; he was too merciful to the miserable King and to the demons who had been destroying one of the most populous and fertile countries of India. There could be no greater contrast than that presented by Oudh under Native and under British Government ; it is now as peaceful as any part of England ; life and property are as safe, and justice is as honestly administered. This Oudh story is now an old one, but stories not much better can be told of a much later date. Baroda is the principal Native State of Western India. It covers 8200 square miles, and has a population of 2,400,000. Its ruler, the Gaikwar, claims precedence over all the Native chiefs of India. In 1863, Malhar Rao was imprisoned on a charge of having attempted the life of the Gaikwar, his brother; at the end of 1870, on his brother’s death, he was released, and he assumed the government of the State. Before long his proceedings had become so scandalous that the British Government was compelled to make a formal inquiry into his administration. It was shown that general discontent prevailed through his dominions ; in one district there was open rebellion; public offices were sold to the highest bidder; extortionate payment of demands of revenue was compelled by torture ; respectable women were seized in open day in the streets of Baroda by the Gaikwfir’s servants, and taken to the palace to be converted into household slaves or worse ; the condition of the agricultural classes was desperate ; and the whole administration was infamous. The Prime Minister was forcibly poisoned in prison, and it was hardly possible to doubt that this was done under the direct orders of the Gaikwar. It was proved that, for an act by which he had been personally offended, the Gaikwar 374 THE NATIVE STATES. had caused one of his servants, without any trial, to be tortured to death. In 1874 he was informed by the Government of India, Lord Northbrook being Viceroy at the time, that, if immediate and satisfactory reforms were not carried out in the administration of the State, his deposition would follow. He showed no inclination to alter his conduct. Soon afterwards an attempt was made to poison the British Resident at his court, and there was every reason to believe that the Gaikwar had personally instigated the crime. A commission, of which the Chief Justice of Bengal was president, and of which the rulers of two of the principal Native States were members, was appointed for his trial. The Native chiefs pronounced that the charges were not proved, but the Chief Justice and the English members found that he was guilty, and there was not the least doubt that they were right. As the judgment was not unanimous, the Gaikwar escaped the extreme penalty that he deserved, and which, if he had been formally convicted, he would probably have suffered. He was deposed, and a member of another branch of the Gaikwar’s house was selected by the British Govern¬ ment as his successor. When the rule of Malhar Rao ended, it was found that out of an expenditure in his last year of Rx. 1,700,000, which was greatly in excess of the revenue, he had squandered Rx.700,000 in gifts to favourites and on his personal pleasures, and Rx.200 remained in the public treasury. The two important Maratha States of Gwalior and Indore, ruled respectively by Sindhia and Holkar, have together an area of 37,000 square miles, and a population of more than 4,000,000. I make the following quotations from an official report for 1885 by Sir Lepel Griffin, Agent to the Governor-General in Central India:— “ The largest states in this agency, Gwalior and Indore, are those in which the rulers spend the least on adminis- CONDITION OF GWALIOR AND INDORE. 375 tration, and most neglect all those requirements which we specially associate with progress and civilisation. . . . Those districts that are under the direct control of Sindhia’s officials give little cause for trouble or complaint to the Government, although the administration is lax and apathetic. Those, how¬ ever, which are given in jagi'r to his great courtiers are constant sources of anxiety. Neglected by the grantees, who reside at the capital, they are made over to rack-renting agents, who support their authority by Afghan and Mekrani mercenaries, who are the scourge of the country-side. Damodar Panth, the agent of one of the principal nobles of the Maharaja, has long been notorious for his open encouragement and support of crime in his master’s jagi'r. Having sufficient proof of his complicity in numerous cases of dacoity and robbery, I have, with the full consent of the Maharaja, caused his arrest, and he is now being tried on these serious charges, while the bands of dacoits, which had been allowed with impunity to plunder that part of Malwa, are being broken up. . . . During 1883-84 the oppression exercised in Indore city called for the severest condemnation on the part of the Government of India, and the senior Prince Shivaji Rao Holkar was specially censured and removed from all concern with public business. I have had during the past year to remonstrate with the Durbar on many occasions and in strong terms against action which appeared to me to have been taken against individuals unjustly, and in defiance of the commonest principles of justice and equity. . . . The judicial administration of Indore must be held to be deteriorating and not improving. The reforms instituted by Sir Madhava Rao are being gradually abandoned from motives of false economy. ... If I am unable to say much that is good of the two great Mahratta States included in Central India, this is no matter for surprise. In the Rajput States which abound in Central India, and which are rather oligarchical than autocratic, there is on the part of the chiefs a far more kindly and unselfish attitude towards the brotherhood and the people generally than in a Mahratta State, the despotic egoism of which is fatal to all progress and civilisation. The ruler considers the soil of the State as his own ; the people are his slaves ; the entire revenue is his private pocket-money, to hoard, lavish, or waste, without any right of remonstrance or complaint on the part of his subjects. The disease of 376 THE NATIVE STATES. such governments is chronic and intolerable. It is impossible that they can be other than evil, and it is a false and foolish policy to use towards them the language of false compliment, and to pretend that they are other than irretrievably bad, until a higher civilisation and the example of the British Govern¬ ment shall have demonstrated that the rights of princes have no existence apart from the rights of the people.” In 1884, the condition of Bhopal, a State with nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, became such that it was necessary for the Government of India to remove the husband of the reigning princess from power, and to appoint an English minister to carry on the administration. The land revenue had been arbitrarily raised from Rx.170,000 to Rx.410,000 ; the payment of more than Rx.[,000,000 was demanded in a lump sum from the people; justice became a mere engine of corruption and oppression ; districts were ruined and depopulated ; the police were no better than dacoits who shared their plunder with men in high places. Although, through the efforts of the English minister, all this has been reformed, we are told that many years must elapse before the people of Bhopal can recover from the ruin which they suffered. In 1887, the Chief of a small Native State was removed from power under circumstances too abominable to be described. 1 1 This book was being revised for the press when Mr Tupper’s valuable work, ‘ Our Indian Protectorate,’ was published. It should be studied by all who desire to understand the relations between the British Government and its Indian Feudatories. Mr Tupper, while he” fully acknowledges that many Native States are well administered, gives some terrible illustrations “ to show that the battle with cruelty, superstition, callous indifference to the security of the weaker and poorer classes, avarice, corruption, disorder in all public affairs, and open brigandage is by no means over even at the present day.” I will quote one passage only from Mr Tupper’s work. “ We are not far yet from the confusions of the last century, and deep in existing societies lie predatory instincts which, in the absence of strong control, might soon fill whole pro¬ vinces with pillage and alarm. In a State where there was a good deal of corruption, and the torture of prisoners was not unknown, a colony settled not long ago, consisting of the descendants of Thugs. In 18S8 there were in three MISGOVERNMENT IN CENTRAL INDIA. 377 There is no one who can speak with greater experience of Native States than Sir Lepel Griffin. This is his account of the way in which the principal States of Central India are governed :— “ The peasants are little better than serfs. The importation of foreign slaves is prevented by the vigilance of the British authorities alone. Torture is a recognised part of judicial and police procedure. . . . Only a few months ago I was compelled to refuse to return the visit of a ruling chief who was openly accused of squeezing the juice of chillies into the eyes of recus¬ ant witnesses. He was an old gentleman of the most soft and courteous manners, and the idea that chillies could be objected to as a means of judicial investigation did not appear to have occurred to him. . . . Administration of justice has virtually no existence ; a bribe procures the acquittal, or escape, or release of a criminal. Every offence can usually be compounded for money. Numerous boundary disputes between Native States come before me, and the consideration which governs every case is that both States have, as a matter of course, supported a wil¬ fully exaggerated claim by perjured witnesses and forged docu¬ ments. One of the first chiefs in India punishes and ruins the headman or cultivator of a village who may give truthful evidence villages 800 of these people all told. They had no occupation except theft, robbery, and the disposal of stolen goods. Skilled in disguises, the men travelled about by rail to great distances, to the Deccan, to Ajmere, to the North-West Provinces, to Bengal, to Bombay, bringing back plunder to their homes. They were on good terms with the local police, subordinate officials, and lessees, to whom, it is said, they paid a regular percentage of their ill- gotten gains. The ruler of the State ordered the colony to be broken up, and the local ndzim passed on the order to his subordinates. To these orders not the least attention was paid. ... In a circle of three States not less than 400 miles from the villages of these Thugs, a formidable band of robbers was lately making depredations. In the four years ending February 1889, twenty-two villages had been plundered by daring gangs, forty-seven murders committed, fifty-one persons wounded, and about two hundred hostages carried off, of whom many were ransomed at enormous gains to the brigands. In another State, in 1885 and 1886, seven or eight bands of dacoits, each fifty to one hundred strong, mostly carrying firearms, had reduced a tract of country some 120 miles long to a state of terror ; in the villages all valuables were hidden, and if the dacoits failed to discover the property they expected, the greatest barbarities were practised.” 3/8 THE NATIVE STATES. contrary to any boundary claim the State has chosen unjustly to advance. . . . The actual demand of the Government per head of the population is double, treble, or quadruple what it is in British India.” 1 Speaking of Kashmir with personal knowledge, Sir Lepel Griffin said in 1883 that “nothing escapes taxation, and bare life is all that the State leaves to the cultivator whose position is harder and as hopeless as that of a slave.” The shameful maladministration of this State was too long tolerated, but at last, in 1889, the patience of the British Government was exhausted. The Mdharaja was for a time deprived of all authority, and although he was subse¬ quently allowed to resume his position as head of the State it was under new conditions, the administration being carried on by a Council of State, acting under the advice of the British Resident. Great reforms in every branch of the administration have been made, or are in progress, and it may be hoped that we shall not again hear of the gross oppression from which the people of this beautiful country have so long suffered. Sir Lepel Griffin’s general conclusion is that although there are many honourable exceptions, the Native States of India are “ a wilderness of oppression and misrule.” I asked an officer who is intimately acquainted with almost every important State in India, and who can speak with exceptional authority, to give me his opinion on this subject. He replied that he thought Sir Lepel Griffin’s remarks very accurate, and his language moderate and fair. For several years I was myself a member of the Govern¬ ment of India ; I wish I could say that my own conclusions were different. I am far from wishing it to be supposed that the misgovernment of Native States is universal, or that it often reaches such an extreme as in the instances that have been given. There are many States in which there is now little reason for complaint, and in which the 1 Fortnightly Review , October 1883. MISRULE THEIR SOLE DANGER. 379 only serious cause for anxiety is the doubt of what may happen in the future, if power should fall into the hands of worthless rulers.” The British Government has for many years past ceased to desire further extensions of territory in India, and it is difficult to imagine circumstances under which the annexa¬ tion of a Native State would now be considered expedient. The complete recognition of the right of adoption and the experience of the last quarter of a century have in this respect removed from the minds of the Native Princes all suspicion of the policy of our Government. I believe that we may, as a rule, confidently rely on the fidelity of the Native Chiefs of India, but it is well not to deceive our¬ selves. Some of them are loyal, not because they love us, but because they know that we are strong, and that loyalty is the only policy which in their own interests is wise. We cannot reasonably expect more. If a time should come when they cease to believe in the permanence of our power, then they will inevitably cease to be loyal. There is only one apparent cause by which the long- continued political existence of the Native States of India can now be imperilled. We need not desire their govern¬ ment to be like ours, but as our own administration im¬ proves, and everything in India becomes increasingly open to public criticism and inquiry, the more impossible will it be for us to tolerate gross oppression and misgovernment in Native States. The problems to be solved are difficult, especially in those States, the most interesting in India, and the most worthy of preservation, where old political institutions still survive. Where the ruler is a petty despot, with few or no checks on his power, the principles on which we ought to act are easier to define. No real progress in such States is possible while their governments remain purely personal, and while the authority of the paramount power THE NATIVE STATES. is exercised on no fixed system, but spasmodically, by special acts of intervention as necessity arises. The first serious attempt to regulate in a definite and permanent shape the relations of the Imperial Government towards some at least of the Native States of India was made by Lord Lytton when he was Viceroy. In 1830 the administration of Mysore had fallen into a miserable con¬ dition. Offices were sold to the highest bidder, the people were oppressed and impoverished, and at last broke into revolt. Lord William Bentinck, who was then Governor- General, ordered, as the only sufficient remedy, the transfer of the entire administration into the hands of British officers. Mysore was fortunate in finding in Sir Mark Cubbon an admirable Governor. “ The history of the province under his rule (I quote from an official report) is the history of a people made happy by release from serfdom, and of a ruined state restored to financial prosperity.” In 1868 the deposed Raja died, and the British Govern¬ ment resolved that when his adopted son, who was then only six years old, attained his majority, the Government of the State should be entrusted to him. In 1879 it became necessary to settle the manner in which this resolution should be carried out ; it was clear that more than 4,000,000 people, who had been under our Government for fifty years, could not be made over like sheep, and the following conditions were laid down :— 1st. A clear distinction must be drawn and permanently maintained between the private fortune of the Chief and the public revenues of the State ; a civil list of fixed amount must be assigned to the Chief, and the rest of the revenues must remain available for public purposes only, through appropriation by constituted authorities. 2nd. There must be permanent security for the observ¬ ance of established laws, rights, and usages, and the laws must only be altered by suitable legislative machinery. 3rd. Provision must be made for the judicial inde- RESTORATION OF MYSORE. 381 pendence of the civil and criminal courts, and justice must be dispensed by regularly constituted tribunals. 4th. The assessment and collection of the revenues must be made under fixed rules ; all rights in the land must be defined and maintained, and no fresh taxation imposed except in accordance with law. Under the principles thus laid down, the administration was made over, in 1881, to the Native Chief. His civil list was fixed at £130,000 a year, and he cannot appro¬ priate more than that sum for his personal expenditure. The revenue of the State is about £1,000,000. The administration is carried on by the Maharaja with the assistance of a Council. It consists of three members, with a Diwan, or chief minister ; he is the head of all departments, and he conducts the executive admini¬ stration. The Diwan and the Councillors are all Natives. When the Government was transferred it was provided that all laws then in force should be maintained until altered by competent authority; new laws can only be made under a regular system of procedure, and they require the sanction of the Governor-General in Council. The objects with which this system was initiated were summed up as follows by the Government of India :— “ The experiment of placing the Maharaja of Mysore at the head of a constitutional government—that is, a government conducted upon fixed and fundamental principles—makes a new departure in the policy of the Imperial Government towards the Native States of India. To determine the proper method of dealing with these States, and of discharging the responsi¬ bilities which they entail upon the paramount power, has always been, and still is, a problem of great difficulty; for the improve¬ ment of their condition, and their gradual assimilation to the general system and standard of the Imperial Government, is almost essential to their preservation. . . . The Supreme Govern¬ ment has been obliged of late years to interpose frequently in the affairs of Native States. The incapacity or grave misconduct of a ruler has produced complications which have demanded THE NATIVE STATES. 382 immediate and stringent remedies, or the interval of a long minority has made it necessary to superintend more closely a State’s management. . . . The policy now framed proceeds upon the broad principle that in order to guard against chronic misrule in a Native State, and to obviate the necessity for frequent and arbitrary interposition by the Supreme Government to remedy the consequences of such misrule, it is expedient to avail ourselves of every opportunity of placing some reasonable limitations upon the personal power of the ruler, or of the minister to whom the administration may be entrusted. The limitations thus imposed must be brought on public record, in order to place them beyond question or controversy, and in certain cases the general power of supervision to be exercised by the Supreme Government may need to be strengthened and extended. These principles may form the groundwork of a settled policy which will guide the Government of India in the general discharge of its responsibilities towards Feudatory States. A new and valuable precedent will have been established, and this, with the experience which will have been gained in Mysore, may enable us in future to deal systematically with similar ques¬ tions of reorganisation or reform. The contrast presented by the steady growth of orderly civilisation in British India, and the increased publicity that is now given to the internal condition of our Feudatory States, are likely to render more and more im¬ perative the duty of interference in restraint of serious mismanage¬ ment. We may thus hope gradually to raise the general standard of administration in Native States, and to make some progress toward the important political object of consolidating their in¬ stitutions upon an improved and stable foundation. 1 The system thus introduced into Mysore appears to be working in a highly efficient and satisfactory manner. While it places reasonable checks on the arbitrary power of the ruler, his proper authority is maintained, the admin¬ istration is entirely in Native hands, and there is little of that interference by the British authorities which in other States often becomes unavoidable, but which is nevertheless incompatible with good government. Plans more or less 1 Despatch from Government of India to Secretary of State, May 22, 1879. Parliamentary Return, Mysore 1881. SUCCESS OF NEW ADMINISTRATION. 383 similar to those introduced into Mysore, but of a less ela¬ borate kind, have been adopted with success in some other cases, and it is to be hoped that the time may come when the principles on which these measures have been based may be generally applied in the Native States of India. I have already given some account of the armies of the Native States and of the arrangements under which some of them furnish contingents for Imperial Service. 1 1 Chapter XXIII. CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION. Cruel customs not discouraged by educated Hindus—Neglect of social questions —Reasons for avoiding their discussion—The employment of Natives in the public service—Political hypocrisy—The duty of maintaining our dominion —Offices to be retained by Englishmen—Natives of India often as much foreigners as Englishmen in provinces other than their own—The manlier races cannot be ruled by the feebler—Sir Syad Ahmad Khan on Moham¬ medans and Hindus—The results of British Government—The popularity of our Government—Lord Lawrence’s opinion—Reasons why our Govern¬ ment cannot be popular—The dangers to which our dominion is ex¬ posed—The principles on which our Government must be conducted. There is no province in India without customs which we think must be repugnant to all civilised men, but which are almost universally respected because they are believed to have been divinely ordained, or to have come down from a remote antiquity. There is hardly a province in which horrid and cruel practices would not instantly spring into vigorous life if our watchfulness were relaxed. The prohibition of the burning of widows was, and is still, utterly disapproved of by all but a small minority of Hindus. I doubt whether the majority even of the most highly edu¬ cated classes approve of it. I gave in a previous chapter an account of the wholesale murder of female children, which, in parts of India, has gone on for centuries, a custom against which the Hindu, however enlightened, hardly ever raises his voice, and which, with all our efforts, we have not yet succeeded in eradicating. But for us, even in the provinces where education has made its greatest progress, Kfili would still claim her human victims. Not many years ago, in a time of drought, near a railway station twenty-five miles 3 8 4 CRUEL CUSTOMS. 385 from Calcutta, a human head was found before her idol, decked with flowers ; and in another temple in Bengal a boy was savagely murdered and offered to the goddess. While this book was passing through the press, a ghastly story came from the Central Provinces of the sacrifice of a young man to the local gods, in obedience to a widely prevalent belief and ancient practice that this is a sure means of obtaining a plentiful harvest. Horrors such as these receive no general condemnation in India, nor does the determination of our Government that they shall be suppressed gain for us any approval even from the edu¬ cated classes. There are in India many questions of another order which are far more difficult to solve, because we cannot deal with them by the strong hand of the law. I will mention one only as an illustration, the custom of child marriage. It would be difficult to imagine anything more abominable than its frequent consequences, by which mul¬ titudes of girls of ten or twelve or less are given over to outrage, or, if they belong to the higher classes of Hindus, are doomed to lives of miserable and degraded widowhood. Some of the most holy Brahmans of Bengal make a living by being husbands. A child of five or six is given as per¬ haps the fortieth or fiftieth wife of some old man ; some¬ times two sisters are given to the same man, and sometimes to one who has not long to live. 1 Though it may be certain that the girl must soon be a widow, even this is considered preferable to allowing her to remain unmarried. Everyone has heard of the wretched fate which widowhood in India involves, at least among the upper classes, with whom the practice of re-marriage does not prevail. What could be more valuable and interesting than to learn the opinions and receive the advice of highly edu- 1 Mr O’Donnell, in his Report on the Census of Bengal, 1891, states that this abominable practice, known as Kulinism, now exists only to a very limited extent, and that it is strongly condemned by public opinioD. CONCLUSION. 386 cated Natives of India on such subjects as these, and to know that they were striving, by the example of their own lives, to teach their less instructed countrymen to abandon these abominations ? What greater encouragement could be given to those who desire to see educated Natives ad¬ mitted to a larger share in the administration than the cer¬ tainty that they were anxious to help us towards ampler knowledge of the wants and feelings of the people, and to make us better able to deal with problems that now seem too hard to solve ? Unhappily, in regard to these great social questions the Government seldom receives advice or assistance. Some leaders of Native opinion may, it is true, generally be found to support the Government when it insists on carry¬ ing out a reform which it has initiated, but it would be hardly possible to give an instance in which an influential Native of the country has himself taken the lead in propos¬ ing a measure of social improvement. It is not difficult to understand why these questions are avoided. Some of these Native gentlemen are silent because they dare not, by speaking of them, bring them¬ selves into collision with the cherished beliefs and prejudices of their countrymen ; others, and I have no doubt the majority, are silent because in regard to these matters they are at heart as intensely conservative as the mass of the population, and have no desire for changes in social and religious usages which have come down from a venerable antiquity. It is, on the other hand, safe to indulge in the political common-places which they have learned in our schools and colleges. They obtain in this way the applause of Englishmen who know nothing of the facts and of the difficulties with which the true friends of Indian progress have to deal, who see nothing good in any political institu¬ tions except those of their own particular type, and assume that certain abstract principles are always applicable to all sorts and conditions of men. 1 1 I make the following quotation from the Report of Mr Baines on the Cen- EMPLOYMENT OF NATIVES. 387 I said in a previous chapter that I should return to the subject of the admission of Natives of India to the more important public offices. I showed that the number of Englishmen employed in the Civil Service is extraordi¬ narily small, that the greater part of the civil adminis¬ tration is already in Native hands, and that the Native Civil Service performs its duties, as a whole, with high efficiency. 1 Subject to certain conditions, the true principle on which we ought to treat this question of the employment of Natives in posts of importance was laid down in the Act of Parliament passed in 1870 to which I have already referred. That principle is that almost all offices in India shall be open to Natives, but to those only “ of proved merit and ability.” In the case of Englishmen, whether in India or at home, it has been found that, considering the dangers which attend the distribution of valuable patronage, appointments to offices in the higher branches of the public service may with advantage ordinarily be filled by those who, in com¬ petitive examinations in their boyhood, are successful in satisfying certain literary and other tests. Although this sus of 1891 :—“A serious development of the Bralimanic system is indicated by some of the superintendents in their census reports, and that is the strong tendency, in the present day of peace and plenty, to manifest their prosperity, firstly, by prohibiting the marriage of widows, and then by insisting upon carrying out strictly the Brahmanic injunction, and save themselves from the place to which the law-maker consigns them, by getting all their girls married before they have reached womanhood. Many cases have occurred within re¬ cent years to show that any movement among the literate classes in the direction of the abrogation of these two precepts is but mouth deep, whilst their heart is with the observance of them to the utmost. Longum iter per precepta ; breve et ejjicace perexempla, but when opportunities occur for carrying into practice amongst themselves or their families some of the reforms they have been so strenuously endeavouring to impose upon others, it is remarkable to note what an amount of filial piety and of deference to the feelings of those to whom their respect is due comes into play, to prevent them from becoming martyrs to their principles.” 1 Chapter VI. 3 88 CONCLUSION. system has, on the whole, worked well with Englishmen, every one admits that even with them it is open to objec¬ tions and drawbacks, and to think of applying it to the Natives of India is nothing less than absurd. Not the least important part of the competitive examination of the young Englishman was passed for him by his forefathers, who, as we have a right to assume, have transmitted to him not only their physical courage, but the powers of independent judgment, the decision of character, the habits of thought, and generally those qualities that are necessary for the government of men, and which have given us our empire. The stock-in-trade with which Englishmen start in life is not that of Bengalis; but I must not say this of Englishmen only, for it is also, in a great measure, true of the more vigorous races of India, although their time has not come for competitive examinations. Few would go further than I would go in opening the public service in India to Natives “ of proved merit and ability,” but it is well to avoid “ political hypocrisy.” “ Is there,” Lord Salisbury asked, “ any man who will have the hardihood to tell me that it is within the range of possi¬ bility that a man in India should be appointed Lieutenant- Governor of a province, or Chief Commissioner, or Com- mander-in-Chief of the Army, or Viceroy, without any regard whatever to his race ? ” Some will answer even this question in the affirmative. There will always be people ready to accept with composure any political folly, provided that it involves some triumph of sentiment over sense, and some appearance of national humiliation. When we say that we cannot always ignore differences of race, this is only another way of saying that the English in India are a handful of foreigners responsible for the government of nearly 300 millions of people. I have said that we are not foreigners in India in the sense in which we are foreigners in Paris, and that the people of one Indian province are often as much foreigners to the people of EMPLOYMENT OF NATIVES. 389 another province as we are ourselves ; still, we are foreigners, and although I suppose that no foreign government was ever accepted with less repugnance than that with which the British Government is accepted in India, the fact remains that there never was a country, and never will be, in which the government of foreigners is really popular. It will be the beginning of the end of our empire when we forget this elementary fact, and entrust the greater executive powers to the hands of Natives, on the assumption that they will always be faithful and strong supporters of our government. In this there is nothing offensive or disparaging to the Natives of India. It simply means that we are foreigners, and that, not only in our own interests, but because it is our highest duty towards India itself, we intend to maintain our dominion. We cannot foresee the time in which the cessation of our rule would not be the signal for universal anarchy and ruin, and it is clear that the only hope for India is the long con¬ tinuance of the benevolent but strong government of Englishmen. Let us give to the Natives the largest possible share in the administration. In some branches of the service there is almost no limit to the share of public employment which they may properly receive. This is especially true of the Bench, for the performance of the judicial duties of which Natives have shown them¬ selves eminently qualified, and in which the higher offices are equal in importance and dignity and emolument to almost any of the great offices of the State. Even on the Bench, however, there are important administrative duties for which some degree of English supervision is necessary, nor would it be politically wise to place this great depart¬ ment of the Government altogether in Native hands. Prejudices of race may be regretted, but they cannot be ignored, and it would be a dangerous experiment to give to Native judges too wide a power of control over English magistrates. Subject to some limitations, I would grudge 390 CONCLUSION. to the Natives few judicial offices. But let there be no hypocrisy about our intention to keep in the hands of our own people those executive posts—and there are not very many of them—on which, and on our political and military power, our actual hold of the country depends. Our Governors of provinces, the chief officers of our army, our magistrates of districts and their principal executive sub¬ ordinates ought to be Englishmen under all circumstances that we can now foresee, and in all departments of essential importance there should be selected Englishmen to main¬ tain a standard of high efficiency. It is not only in regard to the employment in India of our own countrymen that we ought never to forget differ¬ ences of race. It is quite as essential to remember them in connection with the employment of Natives. I have repeatedly insisted on the fact that, strictly speaking, there is really no such country as India. I must repeat that such terms as “People of India” and “ Natives of India” are meaningless in the sense in which they are frequently used. The term “ Natives of India ” applied generally to Brahmans from Bengal, Parsis from Bombay, Sikhs from Lahore, Gurkhas from Nepal, and to Gonds from the Central Provinces, has no more meaning than the term “Natives of Europe” applied generally to Englishmen, Poles, Spaniards, and Turks. As I have said before, no countries and no peoples in Europe differ from each other so profoundly as countries and peoples differ in India. No good administration or permanent political security is possible unless facts of this kind are re¬ membered. It ought never to be forgotten that it can never be assumed that because a man is a “ Native of India” he has any natural claim, different in kind from that of an Englishman, to be employed in the public service in every part of India. Often, indeed, you may go much further. I used no terms of exaggeration when I said that a Native of Calcutta is more of a foreigner to the EMPLOYMENT OE NATIVES. 391 hardy races on the frontiers of Northern India than an Englishman can be. To suppose that the manlier races of India could ever be governed through the feebler foreigners of another Indian country, however intellect¬ ually acute those foreigners may be—that Sikhs and Pathans, for instance, should submit to be ruled by Bengalis—is to suppose an absurdity. To ignore this order of facts is made especially dangerous by the posi¬ tion which the Mohammedans hold in India. The Moham¬ medan often remembers with pride that his ancestors belonged to the ruling race, and he accepts with natural regret, but with no humiliation, the government of Eng¬ lishmen. Although he may not love them, he admits that they must be respected. But the thought of being governed by a Hindu foreigner from Bengal fills him with indignation and contempt. I have more than once referred to the proposal that competitive examinations for the Covenanted Civil Ser¬ vice should be held in India as well as in England. It cannot too often be repeated that the adoption of such a plan could in no way tend to make our government more popular or to render it, in public estimation, less than at present a government of foreigners. It would transfer a certain number of important offices now held by Englishmen to men drawn from a very small class of Hindus who have alone received the sort of education which would enable them to pass the necessary examina¬ tions, who, although we choose to call them “Natives of India,” would be to at least 150 millions of the Indian populations hardly less foreigners than we are ourselves. One of the inevitable consequences would be the anger and discontent of the more intelligent of our Mohammedan subjects. I remember a conversation which I once had with a Native of Northern India, a man of great sagacity, whose position, wealth, and influence made him one of the 392 CONCLUSION. most important personages in his province. Referring to this subject of holding competitive examinations for the Civil Service in India, “ I am afraid,” I said, “ that for a long time to come there would be no candidates from these provinces ; it is only in Bengal that young men could be found who would have any chance of success in such an examination as that required. The result would be that you would some day have a Bengali as your chief district officer.” I shall not forget the scorn with which he drew himself up and replied to me, “ And does anyone think that we, the men of this country, would stand that ? Do you suppose that you could govern us with Bengalis ? Never ! ” This book was almost ready for the press 1 when the reports reached England of some remarkable speeches made by Sir Syad Ahmad Khan at two great meetings of Mohammedans in Northern India. I referred in a previous chapter to Sir Syad Ahmad Khan, and to the work to which his life has been devoted. 2 I mention these speeches because they illustrate, with greater authority than that of any Englishman, the practical importance of the fact on which I have repeatedly insisted, with which I began this book, and with which I wish to end it, that the most essential of all things to be learnt about India is that it is a continent filled with the most diverse elements, that it is the strong hand of England alone which maintains peace among them, and that, if our vigilance were relaxed, anarchy and bloodshed would spread themselves over the land. The special aim of Sir Syad Ahmad Khan was to protest on be¬ half of his Mohammedan fellow-countrymen against the notion that they—“ men of the blood of those who made not only Arabia but Asia and Europe to tremble”—could be treated as belonging to the same nation as the Hindus, and to express his contempt for the political nostrums 1 First Edition, 1888 2 Chapter XVI. EMPLOYMENT OF NATIVES. 393 which it is often proposed to apply throughout India. If these were adopted, the result, he said, would be that “ there would be no part of the country in which we should see at the tables of justice and authority any faces except those of Bengalis. I am delighted to see the Bengalis making progress, but what would be the result on the public administration ? Do you think that the Rajput and the fiery Pathan would remain in peace under Bengalis ? ” “ . . . Suppose that all the English were to leave India, who would be rulers of India? Is it possible that under those cir¬ cumstances Mohammedans and Hindus could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power ? Most certainly not. It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other and thrust it down. You must remember that although the number of Mohammedans is less than that of the Hindus, and although they contain far fewer people who have received a high English education, yet they must not be thought insignificant or weak. Probably they would be by themselves enough to maintain their own position. But suppose they were not. Then our Musal- man brothers, the Pathans, would come out as a swarn of locusts from their mountain valleys—like a swarm of locusts would they come—and make rivers of blood to flow from their frontier on the north to the extreme end of Bengal. This thing—who after the departure of the English would be conquerors—would rest on the will of God. But until one nation had conquered the other and made it obedient, peace could not reign in the land. This conclusion is based on proofs so absolute that no one can deny it. . . . Be not unjust to the British Government, to whom God has given the rule of India. And look honestly, and see what is necessary for it to do to maintain its empire and its hold on the country. You can appreciate these matters; but they cannot who have never held a country in their hands nor won a victory. Oh ! my brother Musalmans ! I again remind you that you have ruled nations, and have for centuries held different countries in your grasp. For seven hundred years in India you have had Imperial sway. You know what it is to rule. Be not unjust to that nation which is ruling over you. And think also on this, how upright is her rule. Of such benevolence as the English 394 CONCLUSION. Government shows to the foreign nations under her there is no example in the history of the world.” These are illustrations of the opinions of a man uni¬ versally honoured, who is entitled to speak on behalf of all that is best and enlightened among the Mohammedans of Northern India. Nor must it be supposed that these views are prompted by the prejudices of race or religion. No man could have shown more conspicuously than Sir Syad Ahmad Khan his freedom from such influences, or have given by the conduct of his life stronger practical proof of his respect and regard for his Hindu fellow-subjects. He has merely stated what he and his Mohammedan brothers know to be the truth. “ It is better,” says Machiavelli, “ to follow the real truth of things than an imaginary view of them. For many republics and princedoms have been imagined which were never seen or known to exist in reality.” If intelligent men in England would make themselves acquainted with “ the real truth of things,” they would understand how purely imaginary is that “ Indian nation ” and that “ People of India ” of which we hear so much. I must now bring this work to a close. I have endeavoured to give some general idea of what India is and of the results which she has obtained from the establishment of our power. No reasonable man can doubt the answer that we must give to the question whether the 290,000,000 of people inhabiting the numerous countries of India have benefited by our government. The first great and obvious fact, overshadowing all other facts in significance, is this, that in place of a condition of society given up, as it was immediately before our time, to anarchy and to the liability to every con¬ ceivable form of violence and oppression, you have now absolute peace. Let not this unspeakable blessing of the Pax Britannica be forgotten. There are not many European countries where protection to life and property' RESULTS OF OUR GOVERNMENT. 395 is so complete. Excepting England and her colonies, and the United States of America, there is hardly a country in the world where there is so little needless interference on the part of the Government with personal liberty, or such freedom in the public expression of opinion in matters of politics and religion. Except when not unfrequently the fanaticism and intolerance of rival sects of Mohammedans and Hindus burst into violent conflict, and show what would instantly follow if the strong hand of our Government were withdrawn, unbroken tranquillity prevails. Justice is administered under laws of unequalled excellence and simplicity. There is no country possessing a civilised administration where taxation is so light or commerce is more free. Mr J. S. Mill declared his belief that the British Government in India was “not only one of the purest in intention, but one of the most beneficent in act, ever known among mankind.” I do not doubt that this is still truer now. Whether all this makes our Government really popular is another question. When Lord Lawrence was Viceroy, in 1867, many of the most experienced officers in India were invited to give their opinion whether our Government was more generally popular than that in the Native States. As might have been anticipated, nearly all the answers were affirma¬ tive, but I shall only refer to that of Lord Lawrence himself. His conclusion was given in these words : “The masses of the people are incontestably more prosperous, and —sua si bona norint —far more happy in British terri¬ tory than they are under Native rulers.” No Englishman knew India better than Lord Lawrence. That the people had been made more prosperous by our administration was, in his opinion, beyond controversy, but when it came to the question of their happiness and of our popu¬ larity, well—yes ; at any rate they ought to be more happy. The proviso is significant, sua si bona norint. 396 CONCLUSION. The truth is that, in a country in the condition of India, the more actively enlightened our Government becomes, the less likely it is to be popular. Our Govern¬ ment is highly respected ; the confidence of the people in our justice is unlimited. That accomplished traveller, Baron von Htibner, says in his excellent book, ‘ Through the British Empire,’ that if proof were needed to show how deeply rooted among the people is this trust in English justice, he would quote the fact that throughout India the Native prefers, in civil and still more in criminal cases, to go before an English judge. “ I think,” he says, “ it would be impossible to render a more flattering testimony to British rule.” The duty was once imposed upon me of transferring a number of villages which had long been included in a British district to one of the best governed of the Native States. I shall not forget the loud and universal protests of the people against the cruel injustice with which they considered they were being treated. Everyone who has had experience of similar cases tells the same story. Nevertheless, I cannot say that our Government is loved ; it is too good for that. The sympathies between the people and their English rulers can hardly be anything but imperfect. The system of caste and the differences in all our habits make social intimacy difficult. Instances of insolence and brutality on the part of Englishmen undoubtedly sometimes occur, but the assertions that they are frequent are altogether false. At the same time it is true that the ordinary Englishman is too rough and vigorous and straightforward to be a very agreeable person to the majority of the Natives of India. These, however, are not reasons which seriously affect the popularity of our Government. I repeat that because it is good it can hardly be popular. I never heard of a great measure of improvement that was popular in India, even among the classes that have DANGERS TO OUR DOMINION. 397 received the largest share of education. The people are intensely conservative and intensely ignorant, wedded, to an extent difficult for Europeans to understand, to every ancient custom, and between their customs and religion no line of distinction can be drawn. We often deceive ourselves in regard to the changes that are taking place. We believe that our Western knowledge, our railways, and our telegraphs must be breaking up the whole fabric of Hinduism, but these things have touched only the merest fringe of the ideas and beliefs of the population of India. The vast masses of the people remain in a different world from ours. They hate everything new, they especially hate almost everything that we look upon as progress, and they live, for the most part, in blind ignorance of the aims and ideas of their rulers. Among all the dangers to which our dominion in India is exposed, this ignorance is the greatest. So long as it continues, no one can say what belief or suspicion or unreasoning panic may not spread like wildfire through the country, or what may be its consequences. No one now doubts that the mutiny of the Bengal army, whatever it may subsequently have become, had its real and sole origin in a panic of this kind, in the general and honest belief of the soldiers that our Government intended to destroy their caste, which involved everything that was most valuable to them in this world and in the next. It is as true now as it was in 1857 that we are liable at all times to such dangers as this. Nothing is too foolish or too extravagant for almost universal acceptance. This ought never to be forgotten. Ominous signs from time to time appear which ought to remind us how easily in India a terrible conflagration may be lighted up. There is no limit to the liability of such a population to be influenced by the assurances or suggestions of religious fanatics and political agitators, or to be disturbed by 39§ CONCLUSION. interference with its prejudices and beliefs, or with the methods of Government to which it has been accus¬ tomed. It would thus be an error to suppose that the British Government is administered in a manner that altogether commends itself to the majority of the Indian population. This we cannot help. Considerations of political prudence compel us to tolerate much that we should wish to alter, but, subject to this essential condition, our duty is plain. It is to govern India with unflinching determination on the principles which our superior knowledge tells us are right, although they may often be unpopular. I will quote Sir James Stephen’s summary of the principles which would be really popular in India, and of those which we enforce, and with it I may fitly close this book :— “ The English in India are the representatives of a belligerent civilisation. The phrase is epigrammatic, but it is strictly true. The English in India are the representatives of peace compelled by force. The Mohammedans would like to tyrannise over Hindus in particular, and in general to propose to everyone the alternative between the Koran, the tribute, and the sword. The Hindus would like to rule—over Hindus at least— according to the principles of the Brahmanical religion. They would like to be able to condemn to social infamy everyone who, being born a Hindu, did not observe their rites. They would like to see suttee practised, to prevent the remarriage of widows who were not burnt, to do away with the laws which prevent a change of religion from producing civil disabilities, to prevent a low-caste man from trying or even testifying against a Brahman; and Mohammedans, and Hindus, and Sikhs would all alike wish to settle their old accounts and see who is master. The belligerent civilisation of which I spoke consists in the suppression by force of all these pre¬ tensions, and in compelling by force all sorts and conditions of men in British India to tolerate each other. Should the British Government abdicate its functions, it would soon turn PRINCIPLES OF OUR GOVERNMENT. 399 order into chaos. No country in the world is more orderly, more quiet, or more peaceful than British India as it is ; but if the vigour of the Government should ever be relaxed, if it should lose its essential unity of purpose, and fall into hands either weak or unfaithful, chaos would come again like a flood.” I N D E X. Aboriginal tribes, 223 Act XI. of 1836 (the “ Black Act ”). 87, S8 -III. of 1884, agitation in con¬ nection with, 154-iSS Acts for the government of India, 30-38 “ Acts” distinguished from “ Regula¬ tions,” 72 Adoption, custom of, 362, 365 Afghan dynasties, architectural monu¬ ments of, 253 Agra, 31, 250 Agricultural department, 272, 2S0-2S1 -population, its advance in wealth, 300-304 -of North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 272, 300-305 Agriculture in India, 261 -in the North-Western Provinces, 254-262 - superstitions connected with, 227- 232 Aitchison, Sir Charles, on the re¬ lations of Native States with the British Government, 364 Ajmir, Mayo College at, 209 Akbar, irrigation works made by, 172 --- system of land revenue under, 103, 104, 276 Aligarh, Sir Syad Ahmad Khan’s College at, 207-209 Allahabad, 296 -university of, 293 Animism, 224 Architecture in Northern India, 253- 254 Argyll, Duke of, on Salt tax, 13S Armies of Native States, 352-355 Army, 340-355 -before the Mutiny, 342-343 -increase of in 1885, 349 - Native military qualities of, 346 - constitution of, 351-352 - reorganisation of, after the Mutiny, 343 Army, sanitary condition of, 349-350 -Staff Corps, 347-34S -system of recruitment, 345-347 Armies of Native States, 352-355 Art in Bengal, 320 --- North-Western Provinces, 253- 254 -schools of, 211 Aryan and non Aryan races, 221-222 Aurangzib, revenues of, 105-107 Baber, the Emperor, on Northern India, 251 Baden-Powell, Mr, quoted, 265, note, 267 Bahraich, atrocities of Raghubar Singh in, 370 Baines, Mr, quoted, 198, 199, 220, 224, 245, 319, 321, 387 Baring, Sir Evelyn, advises abolition of import duties, 107 Baroda, area and population of, 373 -misgovernment and deposition of Malhar Rao, 373-374 Barwars, their customs, 314 Batten, Mr, on opium, 108-130 Beanies, Mr, quoted, 239 fiehar, 335 -condition of its people, 335-339 Benett, Mr, on honesty of the people of Northern India, 307 -on reverence for Brahmans, 233 Bengal, 316-340 -army, 30, 55-57, 59, 61, 63 -cadastral surveys in, 338-339 -- character of its people, 323- 325 -diversities of, 317 -effects of English education in, 340 - former weakness of its govern¬ ment, 329-330 -government of, 331 - Hindus and Mohammedans in, 242, 322, 324, 325 -- land revenue in, 332 C 402 TNDEX. Bengal, Lieutenant-Governorship, its area and population, 317 - manufactures of, 320 -natural features of, 317-319 -permanent settlement in, 325- 34 ° -Presidency of, explanation of term, 9, 29 -products of, 318 -Tenancy Act of 1885, the, 338 -zemindars and ryots in, 325-340 Bengalis, Lord Macaulay on their character, 323 -not capable of ruling the manlier races, 325 Bentinck, Lord William, policy of his government regarding education, 190 -transfers Mysore to British rule, 38° Berar, assignment of, to British Go¬ vernment, 360 Bernier, his estimate of land revenue under Aurangzeb, 105 Bhopal, misgovernment in, 376 Bills, Secretary of State’s, 159 Blanford, Mr, on Indian Meteor¬ ology, 13. 17 Bombay, assessment of land revenue in, 265 -Government of, 36 -increase in wealth of agricultural population of, 303, 304 Books and newspapers, 218, 219 Brahmans and Brahmanism, 226, 232- 234 --- numbers of, 233 Brahmaputra, 317 Bright, Mr, on decentralisation of the Government in India, 46, 47 -—- on public works under East India Company, 169 Buck, Sir Edward, his reforms in the system of settlements, 274 -on the agricultural system, 267 -on land revenue under Akbar, 104 note Buckle, Mr, referred to, 255 Buddhism, 223, 243. Burke, his description of the Rohillas, 218 Burma, n, 37 Cadastral Surveys, 269 -in Behar, 339 Calcutta, 319 Campbell, Sir George, on destruction of rights of the Bengal peasantry, 328 Canals, see Irrigation, 177 Canning, Lord, his confiscation of land in Oudh, 277 —— his orders as to subordinate rights in Oudh, 278 -on Bengal Rent Act of 1859, 334 -reforms in procedure of Govern¬ ment effected by, 43 Careri on revenues of Aurangzeb, 107 note Caste among Mohammedans, 235 -divisions and subdivisions of, 232-234 -number of different castes, 233 -not confined to Hindus, 234 Catrou, his “ Histoire generale de l’Empire du Mogol,” referred to, 105, 107 note Cautley, discovery of fossil remains by, 173 Central and Southern India, irrigation in, 175, 176 Chefoo Convention, the, 119 Cherra Punji, rainfall of, 12 Chesney, Sir G., on Indian roads under the East India Company, 169 Chief Commissioners of Assam, Burma, and Central Provinces, 38 Child marriage, custom of, 385 China, see Opium Christians, number of, 223, 243-245 Civil Procedure Code, 85 Civil Service, 56-71 -Bengal, 29 -covenanted, 56 note —— covenanted, number of its mem¬ bers, 58 -measures taken for the admission of Natives to, 58-70 -Native, 63-70 -of India, 62 -Dresent system of appointment to, 58 -“uncovenanted, meaning of term, 63 Climate of Bengal, 331, 332 -of India, 12-17 -- of the North-Western Provinces, 256-259 -periodical rains, 11-17, 257 Code of Civil Procedure, 85 -- Criminal Procedure, 76, 79, 84 INDEX. 403 Code, Penal, 75-77 Codification of civil law, 85, 86 -criminal law, 76-84 Collector, the, 283-288 -Mr Thomason on, 285 College, Mayo, 209 - Sir Syad Ahmad Khan’s at Aligarh, 207-209 Colleges, see Education Colvin, Mr John, 170 -Sir Auckland, on the results of abolition of customs duties, 150 Commander-in-Chief in India. 351,352 Commerce, see Trade Commission, Public Service, 61, 62 Commissioners of Divisions, 295 Competitive examination, system of, inapplicable to appointment of Na¬ tives in public service, 67, 387-394 Cooper’s Hill, Royal Indian Engineer¬ ing College, 70 Cornwallis, Lord, 72 -and the Bengal zemindars, 326 -demands power to overrule his Council, 30 Cotton duties, 144-154 Council, Legislative, 33-39 -of the North-Western Provinces, 297, 298 -of Governor-General, mode of transacting business, 39-48 -its constitution, 31-48 -separation of departments in, 43 . 44 -of India, 49-55 Courts, Civil, constitution of, 87 -defects of, 89 -Criminal, their constitution and powers, 79-81 -High, 78 -Sudder, 78 - Supreme, 77 -under East India Company 72, 73 Crime in Northern India, 308-315 Criminal Procedure Code, 79 - — tribes, 313-315 Cubbon, Sir Mark, his administration in Mysore, 380 Cunningham, Sir II. S., on the condi¬ tion of the laws under East India Company, 73 - on irrigation, 175 - on land revenue, 102 Currency, the, 160-164 Customs duties, 144-154 Customs duties, abolition of import duties in 1882, 150 --resolutions of House of Com¬ mons concerning cotton goods, 145, 148 -Sir Auckland Colvin on effects of abolition of import duties, 150 -- line, Inland, its abolition, 135 -restoration of import duties, 154 Dali-iousie, Lord, his annexation of Oudh, 372, 373 -the “ doctrine of Lapse,” 365 -his policy in regard to public works, 170 Darbhanga, estates of Raja of, 337 -famine of 1874 in, 336-337 Debt, the Public, 179-186 Decentralisation of financial adminis¬ tration, 46-48, 92-95 Delhi, 250, 353 --- proclamation of the Queen as Empress of India at, 366 District, the unit of administration, 282, 298 -Superintendent of Police, 289 ——■ Magistrate and Collector, 283- 288 Divisions, in Northern India, group¬ ing of districts into, 295 Dravidian races, 222 Dufferin, Countess of, her Association, 198 East India Company, Army of, 342 -administration of, 28 --Government transferred from, to the Crown, 31, 49 Eden, Sir Ashley, on the ryots of Behar, 335 Educated classes, their attitude to¬ wards cruel customs and practices, 384-386 Education, 187-220 -advocates of Oriental and English study, 180-190 -collegiate instruction, 200-201 -dangers of the prevailing ignor¬ ance, 397 — department of, 70, 192 -disregard of Oriental literature, 188-190 -Elphinstone on, 189 -English, its effect on Native character, 213-220 404 INDEX. Education, female, 166-197 -Lord Macaulay on, 188-190 -medical and Lady Dufferin’s Association, 198, 210 -neglect of Indian subjects in Go¬ vernment colleges, 214 -- of Mohammedans, 203 20S -primary, 191, 193->94 -in North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 292-293 -scientific, need and neglect of, 213-214 -secondary, 211 -Sir Syad Ahmad Khan and his college, 205-207 --small number of educated men, 212-213 -progress of, 194, 195-199 -special colleges for native chiefs, 209-210 -study of English language and literature, 190-191, 201, 213-220 -system laid down by Lord Hali¬ fax, 191 -technical, 210-211 -universities, 200 -work undertaken by missionaries, 203 Elliot, Sir Henry, his “Races of the North-Western Provinces,” 211 note Elliott, Sir Charles, 1S5 Elphinstone, Mountstuart, on educa¬ tion, 189 -on land revenue under Native Governments, 103 Emigration, 305 Empress, assumption by Queen of title of, 366 Engineers, ill-success of Natives as, 2I 4 European British subjects, civil juris¬ diction over, 87-88 -criminal jurisdiction over, 81-84 Exchange, loss by, 160, 164 Excise, revenue from, 139-141 - misrepresentations concerning, 139 Exports, duty on rice, 153 -their excess over imports, 157 Falconer, discovery of fossil re¬ mains by, 173 Famine Commission, Indian, 174, 185 -on Behar, 336 Famine, expenditure on relief of, 183 -financial insurance against, 183- -works for protection against, 166- „ 167 Famines, liability of India to, 166, 183, 185-186 Fatehpur Sikri, 253 Fawcett, Mr, on land revenue, 100- 101 Fergusson, Mr, on the Taj Mahal, 2 53 Financial administration, 90-95 -decentralisation of, 92-95 -evils of centralised system, 91 -reforms in, after the mutinies, 90 Finucane, Mr, on zemindars and ryots in Behar, 336 Firoz Toghlak, canal made by, 172 Food of the people, 255-256 Forests, department of, 70, 131 Free trade, 145-154 -the completeness of its adoption in India, 152-153 -its abandonment in 1894, 154 Frontier, North-Western, defence ol, 350 Ganges, the sources of, 21-23 -its inundations, 318 Ganges Canal, the, 173-174 Gangotri, 21 Gaols, 290 Garhwal, 24-27 Geography of India, 8-17 Ghats, their effect on south-west monsoon current, 14 Gogra river, the, 22 Gold, changes in relative value of, and of silver, 161 -imports of, into India, 157 Government of India, constitution of, 28, 48 -decentralisation of, 46-48 -financial powers, 50 -nature of control exercised over, by Home Government, 52-55 -principles on w'hich it must be administered, 398 -popularity of British, 395-396 Governor-General, power to overrule his Council, 30, 39, 44-45 -- of India in Council, 31-36. -power to appoint President of Council, 32 INDEX. 405 Governor-General, powers of while absent from Council, 32 - his authority over the army, 351 Grant Duff, SirM.E., on inland cus¬ toms line, 135 -on small number of educated men in Madras, 213 Griffin, .Sir Lepel, on maladministration in Native States, 378 -on the States of Central India, 361, 377 -on the Civil Courts, 89 -on the armies of Native States, 355 Gurkhas, 346 Gwalior, area and population of, 374 -maladministration in, 374-375 Hafiz Rahmat, 217 Halifax, Lord, system of education laid down by, 191 Ilarmand, M, quoted, 56, 96, 215 Hastings, Warren, founds the first college in Bengal, 1S6 -misstatements regarding, 193, 217-218 Ilerschell, Lord, his committee, 163 High Courts, their constitution and powers, 77-80 Himalaya, 1S-27 -British territory and Native States in, 23-24 - geography of, 19-24 -hill stations in, 45, 296, 350 -its effect on south-west monsoon current, 15, 20 -its influence on India, 18 - Kumaon, 24-27 -meaning of name, 18 Hindu Law, 85 - - - no definition of the term possible, 225 Hinduism, 223-234 -slightly affected by Western civili¬ sation, 397 Hindus and Mohammedans, 392-393 Hindustan, meaning of name, 2 Home Government, 50-55 - charges, 157-160 Hospitals, 210, 291 Iliibner, Baron von, on British rule in India, 396 Hunter, Sir William, on revenues of Aurangzeb, 107 note — on the district officer, 2S3 - on the Ganges delta, 318 Hunter, Sir William, on Yindhia and Satpura ranges, 10 - quoted, 283-284 Hyderabad, area and population of, 357. 360 - Contingent, the, 354 ImtETSON, Mr, on Brahmanism, 226 -on superstitions, 228-232 -on the Mohammedans of the Eastern Punjab, 236-237 —— on caste, 234 Ignorance, native, dangers of, 397 Imports, see Trade Income tax, 141-142 India, absence of unity in, 5, 390-391 - area and population of, 8, 11 - benefits of British rule to, 394 -British, extent and population of, 11 — climates of, 11-17 -conquest of, 15 - countries and nations of, none in European sense, 4-5 -danger of generalisations regard¬ ing. 3 -- English ignorance in regard to, 1 -2 -—— geography of, 8-17 - Government of, changes in, since 1773, 2 8-48 -i difference between countries of, 2-4, 390 - great rivers of, 21-22 -growth of single nationality in, impossible, 7, 391 -Home Government of, 49-55 -Native States of, 356-383 - not a country but a continent, 2 - people of, a misnomer, 5 - popularity of the British Govern¬ ment in, 395 Indian Councils Act, 31-33 -- Empire, its extension since 1840, 97 - Famine Commission on zemin¬ dars and ryots in Behar, 335-336 -Law Commissions, in 1833, 1S53, and 1861, 75-76 - Fublic Service Commission, 1886- 87, 61, 67 Indore, its area and population, 357 -maladministration in, 374-375 Infanticide, 309-312 Interest on Public debt, 135-138 Irrigation, 171-177, 266 406 INDEX. Irrigation, expenditure on, 177 -under Moghal empire, 172 -works, policy of borrowing for, 178 Jains, 245 Jaipur, antiquity of its ruling family, 362 -- area and population of, 357 Jodhpur, antiquity of its ruling family, 362 -area and population of, 357 Jones, Sir William, 190 Judges, 7S-S0 -Native, 65, 88, 89 Judicial system, civil, its defects, 89 •-in Regulation and Non-Regula¬ tion provinces, 74 Jumna, canals from, 174 Kaisar-i-Hind, assumption by Queen of title of, 366 Kashmir, 23, 362 -maladministration of, 37S Kutb, minaret of the, 253 Kumaon and Garhwal, 24-27 Lahore, university of, 200 Land, amount of uncultivated, 305 -increase in value of, 303 --rates on, 107 -revenue, 100-107, 263-276 -in Bengal, 332 ■-incidence of, under Native and British Governments, 102-104, 269 -- increase of, in last fifty years, 102 -settlements of, 264-276 -survey for purposes of settle¬ ment of, 269, 276 -tenures of, 263-268 Languages, 222, 249 Lawrence, Lord, adoption of policy of borrowing for irrigation works, 178 -his measures for protection of small proprietors and tenants in Oudh,279 -—— makes Simla the summer head¬ quarters of Government, 45 -on the popularity of British rule, 395 -on the ryots of Behar, 335 -reform of procedure in Council, by, 45 . -Sir Henry, on Native States and British Residents, 367 Laws, the, and their administration, 72-89 -- condition of, under East India Company, 73 -the Code of Civil Procedure, 158 -Criminal Procedure, 79-81 -the Penal Code, 75-77 -the Succession Act, 85 Lieutenant - Governors of Bengal, North-Western Provinces, and Pun¬ jab, 297 Local boards, self-government, 294 Lyall, Sir Alfred, his “Asiatic Studies,” 4, 207 -description of the States of Raj- putana, 361 -on distribution of populations in India, 4-5 -on the Hindu religion, 225, 226, 227 -on marriage customs of the Raj¬ puts, 311 - on Native States, 358 Lytton, Lord, abolition of inland customs line under, 136 -- at the Aligarh College, 208 -at Delhi Assemblage, 366 -development of decentralisation under, 92 -his policy of free trade, 145-150 -regarding the Native States, 380-383 -measures of his government for insurance against famine, 183-185 -overrules his Council, 140 -rules for the appointment of Natives to Civil Service laid down by, 61 Macaulay, Lord, and the “ Black Act,” 87-88 —— his description of the Bengalis, 323 -his essay on Warren Hastings, 217-218 -- on roads, 166, 168 -on education and Oriental and European study, 188- 190 -preparation of the Penal Code, 75 -success of his Penal Code, 75*77 -on Supreme Courts, 88 Machiavelli, 394 Madras assessment of land revenue in, 265 INDEX. 407 Madras, Government of, 32, 34, 36 Magistrates and Collectors, 283-288 - joint, 288 Maine, Sir Henry, on the aspect of Northern India, 250 -caste in India, 232 - effects of study of English litera¬ ture, 218 -English ignorance regarding India, 1 -on the system of transacting business by the Government of India, 42 -financial decentralisation, 47 ■-- on Indian codes, 76 -- on Mr Buckle’s generalisations, 255 —— on native thought and the need of scientific teaching, 214 - on reports of settlement officers, 275 - on small number of educated men in India, 213 - on Sir James Stephens “ Nun- comar,” 217 Mainpuri, infanticide in, 310 Malhar Rao, his deposition, 373-374 Manu, his description of the four great castes, 232 Manucci, his account of land revenue under Aurangzib, 105-107 Maratha States, 361 Marriages, customs of Rajputs, 309- 3 12 Mayo College at Ajmir, 209 Mayo, Lord, Government of, acquires right of manufacturing salt at Samb- har lake, 135 - his encouragement of agricul¬ tural improvement, 280 --- his policy of decentralisation, 48 Medicine, colleges for study of, 214 - success of natives of India in, 214 Meteorology, Indian, 12-17 Military, see Army Mill, Mr J. S., on the British Govern¬ ment in India, 395 - on duties of Governments, 165- 166 -on Home Government, 52 - on Indian Government, 39-41 -on land revenue, 101 ' Mill, James, inaccuracy and bad faith of his “ History of India,” 217 Mints closed to coinage of silver, 164 Millets, the chief food of the people, 2 5 6 - Missionaries, their educational work, 197-203 Moghal emperors, architectural monu¬ ments of, 253 - tolerance of, in matters of religion, 238 Moghal Empire, irrigation works of, 172 -revenues of, 105-107 Mohammedan States, 359-360 Mohammedanism in India, 235-243 -extent of its progress in India generally, 236 Mohammedans, animosity of, towards Hindus, 241-242 —— claiming foreign descent, 23S-239 -their dislike of existing system of education, 203-208 -feelings regarding the Bengalis, 391-394 -in Bengal, the, 242, 322, 324 -majority not very different from Hindus, 236 -orthodox, 238 -the better classes, a source of strength to British rule, 241 Monsoons, 12-17, 2 30, 231 Municipalities, 294-295 Mutinies of 1857, conduct of Native States during the, 366 -real origin of, 397 Mysore, area and population, 363 - restoration of, to native rule, 3S0-383 Naini tal, 24, 296 Native chiefs, character of, 267-368 - education of, 209 - loyalty of, - Governments, land revenue under, 103-105 -officials, improvement in moral standard among, 65 -- officials, salaries of, 66 and note -States, 356-383 -area, population, and revenues of, 11, 356-357 -armies of, 352-355 | -Baroda, 373, 374 1 -Central India, 377 408 INDEX. Native States, conditions essential to their preservation, 379 -conduct of, during the mutinies, 366 -custom of adoption in, 362-365 -desire of the British Govern¬ ment to maintain the, 365-366, 379 -different classes of, 359 -Hyderabad, 360 -Kashmir, 362, 378 -- Lord Lawrence on, 395 -Maratha, 361, 374 -their rulers often foreigners, 5, 359 . -misgovernment in, 368, 37R -mistaken ideas concerning, 358 -Mohammedan, 360 -Mysore, 363, 380-383 -Nepal, 23 -not nationalities, 358 - Oudh, annexation of, 369-372 -assessment of land revenue in, 103 -of Punjab, 363 -of Rajputana, 361-362 -our relations with, 364-368 -policy of British Government towards, 365-366 -rule of, compared with the British, 395-396 -Travancore, 363 -tributes from, 131 Natives, employment of, in the public service, 58-70, 387-394 -aversion of, to change and pro¬ gress, 396-397 “ Natives of India,” misuse of the term, 359, 390 -true principles regarding their employment in public service, 387- 392 Nepal, 357 Newspapers, character of, 219-220 Nizam of Hyderabad, the, 360 “ Non-Regulation ” Provinces, the ad¬ ministration in, 74 Northbrook, Lord, his deposition of the Gaikwar of Baroda, 374 ■-policy of, for the relief of famine, 185 -reduction of inland customs line under, 136 North-Western Provinces and Oudh, 247-3I5 North-Western Provinces and Oudh, agricultural department in the, 272 -agriculture in the, 256-262 -architecture and art of, 253-254 -aspect of the country, 251 -assessment of land revenue in the, 265-276 -~ cities of, 252 -climate of, 254, 257 -crime in the, 309-315 -district officers in the, 283-2SS -- education in, 292, 293 -Government of, 38, 296-298 -High Court of, its constitution, 299 -in pre-historic times, 250 ■ -irrigation in, 173-174 -language of the people, 249 -Legislative Council of, 297-298 ■ -Lieutenant-Governor appointed for, 250 -system of settlement in, 265-276 -situation, area, and population of, 248, 293 -tenure of land in the, 265-26S -municipalities in, 294 -districts in, 283 Occupancy, right of, 267-268 -in Oudh, 279 Octroi duties, 294 O’Donnell, Mr, quoted, 242 Opium, Mr Batten on, 108-130 -in China, hi, 113, 117-123, 129 -- in India, 128, 129 -cultivation of, in India, 114-116 -customs duty on, exported from Native States, 115 -effects of consumption of, 121- 130 --Indian, duties levied by China upon, 119 -revenue, 98, 108 -State monopoly of production in British India, 110, 113 -trade, views of Chinese Govern¬ ment regarding, 118-120 Ordinances, power of Governor- General to make, 36 Oudh, population of, 248 -amalgamation of, with the North- Western Provinces, 248 -annexation of, 369-373 -confiscation of land in, after the mutinies, 277 INDEX. 409 Oudh, rights of village proprietors and cultivators in, 278, 279 -improved condition of its people, 280 -talukdars in, 276-279 Parliament, dangers of interference, b y. 53-54 Parsis, 246 Peacock, Sir Barnes, his revision of the Penal Code, 75 Penal Code, 75-77 Permanent Settlement, the, 273, 325- 339 - destruction of rights of the peasantry in consequence of, 328- 329 -intention of its authors, 326-327 — loss of revenue in consequence of, 327 ■- Sir James Stephen on, 334 Police Department, 70, 290 -District Superintendent of, 289 -Sir James Stephen on, 290 -under Native Governments, 289- 290 -village, 289 Population, density and increase of, 304-306 -density of, in Bengal and North- Western Provinces and Oudh, 248- 249 Post Office, 131-132 Presidencies, division of India into, superseded by that into provinces, 9 Presidency, meaning of term, 9 President in Council of Governor- General, 32, 41-42 Provincial rates, 107 -services, 62, 69 Public debt, 178-186 -increase of, owing to mutinies, 179 Public Service, employment of Natives in the, 63-70, 387-392 Public works, 166-178 - department of, 70, 170 -guaranteed and assisted com¬ panies, 177 - necessity of, as protection against famine, 166 - policy of borrowing for, 177-182 - debt, 180-186 Punjab, its Government, 38 -Mohammedans, of, 235-237 Punjab, Frontier force, 347 -irrigation works in, 174-175 Raikes, Mr, on infanticide in Main- puri, 310 Railways, 170-171, 177 -expenditure on, 177 -policy of borrowing for, 178, 180- 182 Rainfall at Cherra Punji, 12 -at Poona, 15 -in Sind, and in Bengal, 12 Rains, periodical, 12-17, 256-258 -consequence of their failure, 257- 258 Rajputana, antiquity of ruling families in, 362 -States of, 361-362 Rajputs, infanticide among the, 309- 312 -marriage customs of the, 311 Record of rights in land, 271-274 -none in Bengal, 330 Registration, 143 “Regulation’’and “Non-Regulation ” Provinces, 74 Regulations of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, 72 Religions in India, 223-246 - Hindu, 225 -in Bengal, 242, 322 -Mohammedan, 235-243 Rental of the Bengal zemindars, 332 Reports of Settlement officers, 275 Revenues, assessed taxes, 141-142 -customs, 144-154 -excise, 139-141 -forest, 70, 131 -gross annual, their amount, 96-99 -growth of, 96-97 -imperial and provincial, 93-94 -land, 101-107 -of Moghal empire, 105-109 -net, of British India, 99 -opium, 108-130 -post office, 131-132 -provincial rates, 107 -registration, 143 -salt, 133-138 -stamps, 138 -telegraph, 132 -tributes from Native States, 131 Rewah, 357 Rice in Bengal, 319 -export duty on, 153 2 D 4io INDEX. Rice not generally consumed through¬ out India, 254-256 Ripon, Lord, abolution of cotton duties under, 150 -equalisation of salt duties com¬ pleted under, 136 Roads, former condition of, 167-168 Rohilla war, mis-statements by Mill and Macaulay concerning the, 217- 218 Rupees, conversion into pounds, 93, 94, note Russia, her advance towards India, 34 L 349 Ryot, meaning of term, 264 Ryots in Behar, 335-339 -in Bengal, see Bengal Ryotwari tenure, 264 Salaries of native officials, 66 and note Salisbury, Lord, on abolition of cotton duties, 145 -on employment of Natives in the public service, 388 Salt, sources of supply of, 134-135 -duties, 133-138 Sanitation, 291 Schools. See Education -North - Western Provinces and Oudh, 292-293 Science, its study needed but neg¬ lected, 213-214 Secretary of State for India, 50-55 -bills on India drawn by, 159 Seeley, Professor, his “ Expansion of England,” 4, 358 Settlement officer, the, his functions, 271 -officers, their reports, 275 Settlements of land revenue, 264-280 -in Oudh, 276-280 -the Permanent Settlement, 273, 325-339 -present system of, in North- Western Provinces, 265-276 -systems of assessment in Madras and Bombay, 264-265 -in Northern India, its origin, development, and extent, 269 Shah Jehan, irrigation works made by, 72 Sikhs, 223, 245 -consumption of opium by, 129 Silver, fluctuations in gold value and serious consequences of, 161-164 Silver imports of, into India, 157 Simla, annual migration of Govern¬ ment to, 45 Sind, irrigation works in, 176 -rainfall of, 12, 15 Sirhind Canal, 175 Sleeman, General, his account of Oudh before the annexation, 369- . 372 . Son, river, canal from, 174 Staff Corps, 347-348 Stamp duties, 89 -revenue, 138-139 Stephen, Sir James, his “ Nuncomar and Impey,” referred to, 217 -on Code of Criminal Procedure,, 79 -on James Mill, 217 -on Native and British rule, 398 -on the Penal Code, 75-77 -- Permanent Settlement, 334 -police, 290 Strachey, General, on evils of central¬ ised financial system, 92 -President of famine com¬ mission, 185 -proposals of, for decentralisation, 92 -scheme of, for borrowing for public works, 178 -on the Himalaya, 18 -on the Indo-Gangetic plain, 8 -Sir John, on free trade for India, 145-147 -and General, their “Finances and Public Works of India ” quoted, 149 - 15 ° Sudder Diwani Adalat, 78 -Nizamat Adalat, 78 Suez Canal, trade through, 155 Superstitions, illustrations of, 228-232 Supreme Courts, 77 Surveys, absence of, in Bengal, 338- 339 . , -trigonometrical, topographical, and revenue, 241-242 Sutlej, canal from, 174 Syad Ahmad Khan, Sir, and the Mohammedans, 392-394 -college founded by, 207-209 Tahsii.dars, their duties and import¬ ance, 286-287 Taj Mahal, its beauty, 253 Talukdars, of Oudh, 276-279 INDEX. 411 Taxation, amount of revenue derived from, 97-98, 132 - native compared with English, 98 Tea, 152, 262 Telegraph, 70, 132 Tenants, classes of, 267-269 Thomas, Mr Edward, on revenues of Aurangzib, 105-106 Thomason, Mr James, his measures in regard to education, 191 - on land revenue under Native governments, 103 -on the collector in the North- Western Provinces, 285-286 -settlement officer, 271 - the construction of roads and bridges in North-Western Provinces under, 166 Thornton, Mr T. H., on Indian peasants, 302 Thugs, their extirpation, 313 Trade, foreign, conditions under which carried on, 155-160 - its great expansion, 115 - free, in India. 145-154 Travancore, 357-362 Tribes, criminal, 313-31 5 Tupper, Mr, quoted, 376 note Udaipur, 357, 362 Universities, 293 Urdu, 250 Vaccination, 291 Village records, 271-274 -system of assessment of land in Northern India, 265-267 Vindhia and Satpura ranges, 10 Voelcker, Dr, quoted, 261 Volunteer force, 350 Widows, Hindu, 385 --- burning of, 384 Wilson, Mr James, financial reforms instituted by, 91 -income tax imposed under advice of, 141 Women, education of, 196-197 -Lady Dufferin’s Association for medical aid for, 168 Wood, Sir Charles. See Lord Halifax Zemindars. See Bengal. TUKNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.