The British Empire - Forgotten Books

T HE BRIT ISH EMPIRE

The experiment must go forward .

We cannot l eave it unfinished if we woul d.

— S ir JOHN SEELEY .

U N IFORM W IT H TH I S VOLUME

Y EST ERDAY AND T O DAY

IN CANADA

H IS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGY LL

CAPE COLONY

RT . HON. JOHN XAV IER MERRIMANOF CAPE COLONY

MO D ERN IND IA

UN IFORM W ITH TH IS VOLUME

Y EST ERDAY AND T O DAY

IN CANADA

H IS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGY LL

CAPE COLONY

RT . HON. JOHN XAVIER MERRIMANOF CAPE COLONY

MO D ERN IND IA

MO D ERN I D IA

SIR J . D . REES,

M .P .

S OMET IME ADD IT IONAL MEMBF‘

R O F' TH E GOVERNOR-G EN ERA L O F IND IA 'S COUNCIL,

AND T RAN S LATO R TO G OVERNMEN T I N PER S I AN , H I NDUSTAN I , TAMI L, ANDTELUGU ; H . 9 . ARAB IC ; RU S S IAN I NT ER PRET E R ; MEMB ER O F TH E

O RDE R O F S T . S T AN IS LA US O F RUS S I A ; FELLOW O F T HE

UN IVE R S IT Y OF' MADRAS ; GOVERNO R O F T HE

UN IVERS ITY CO LLEGE OF WALES

AUT HOR OF T HE MAHOMEDANS ," “

T HE REAL I ND I A,

“T HE DUKE OF CLA RENCE

IN I ND I A,

" “JOURNEY F ROM KAZVEEN T O RAMADAN I N NORT H PERS IA

T OUR S IN IND IA,

"ET C. ET C .

WITH MAP

1 9

45 RATHBONE PLACE1 g l o

[Al l rights reserved]

Printed by BALLAN T Y NE , HANS ON Co .

At the Ba l l an tyne Press Edinbu rgh

DED I CATED

THE ELECTORS OF THE MONTGOMERY

BOROUGHS

N O T E

T HE experimen t must go forward . We can

not leave it unfinished i f we wou ld . I t i s nearlythirty years s ince Profe ssor Seeley spoke thesewords of Empire in h is great series of lectureson the “Expans ion of England .

” What was on lyfelt then in an emotional way by a comparativelysmal l band of enthus iasts has to-day come hometo at least some mil l ions of our people . I n Seeley’sday the Imperial is t was the dreamer ; now he i sthe pract ical and clear—seeing man of affairs . Thereproach that our po l i t i c ians

,our h istorians , sti l l

think of England , not of Greater B ri ta in , as the ircountry has lost much of i ts st ing since thoselectures were read at Cambridge by Seeley .

No man o f i n format io n or imagination real lysuppose s to-day that England could whistle offthe Colon ies and “become aga in , with perfectcomfort to herself, the o ld , sol i tary is land of Q ueenElizabeth’s t ime in a great pool a swan’s nest . ’

That was the strange delusion which arose , as thehistorian pointed out, not through imaginat ion , butthrough the want of it.More every year it becomes the wish

,as i t i s

the duty, of every thinking Brit ish ci tizen to be

x MODERN IND I A

wel l informed , not on ly as to his own part icularland

,but as to the B ritish Empire as a whole .

What can they know of England who onlyEngland know ? i s truer to-day than ever i t hasbeen . The Empire, with i ts tremendous problemso f governmen t, defence , trade , and the handl ingo f the co loured races , i s a theme of as greatand l ive value as any o f the subjects s tud ied atschool and college— the c lass ics , Engl i sh h istoryand geography, sc ience , modern languages , mathematics . We must learn to th ink imperial ly ,

”

o r perish completely as an empire . The subjectcannot any longer be left out o f the scheme ofs tudy at our schools and un iversi t ies ; and it maywel l be a subject of home tra in ing too .

The educated man of the future is sure to beeducated in the glorious subj ects of I nd ia

, Canada ,S outh Afr ica , Australasia ; he wil l be al ive to thetrue mean ing and great import of our posit ionand interests in the Far East

,the Medi terranean ,

the Pacific .

The a im of this series o f books , therefore, i sto give people , young and o ld , at home andthroughout Greater B ritain, a trustworthy , abso

lute ly authent l c description of B ritish interests ,resources , and l i fe all over the Empire . Eachvolume w i l l be written by an acknowledgedauthority on the subject . N o regard wi ll be pai dto party pol i ti cs . The questions of Liberal ism andConse rvat ism do not come within the scope ofthese books it i s on ly a question of Imperial i sm .

NOTE xi

The idea i s to describe the Colony, Briti shpossess ion , or sphere of influe nce i n its natura l ,commercial , and soc ia l features ; and the authorsw i l l give an account of its r i se and growth .

“Yesterday and T o -Day i n Canada , by the Dukeof Argyl l ; Modern I ndia , by S ir J . D . Rees ,M.P . ; and “South Afr ica

,

” by the R ight Ho n .

J ohn Xavier Merriman,of Cape Co lony , w i l l be

the opening books i n the series .

THE EDITORS .

P RE FA C E

TH I S book has been written at the request of

the Publ i shers for their Empire series , and runs

upon l ines suggested by them . I t i s , of course ,impossible

,with in the l imits of one smal l volume

,

to deal in other than a general and comprehens ive

fashion with any of the great problems which arise

in connection with the admin i stration of I ndia .

I have endeavoured to touch upon most of the

important issues , and i f I have done something to

wards counteract ing the exceedingly m isch ievous,

and deplorably unpatriotic , agitation which is

directed against our fel low-countrymen in I ndia ,I shal l be more than s atisfied . I served in our

Eastern Empire for a quarter o f a century, and

s ince retiring as a Brit i sh Res ident,and an

Additional Member of the Governor -General ’s

Council , in 1 900 ,have continued in and out of

Parl iament to serve I ndia to the best of my

abil ity .

J . D . REES .

MONTGOMERY , May 1 9 1 0.

MO D ERN I N D IA

CHAPTER I

PHY S ICAL AS PECTS— POPULAT ION RELIGIONLANGUAGES— ETHNOLOGY— CASTE

T HE I ndian Empire extends from the H imalayan

region of perpetual snow to the burn ing jungles o fMalabar

,from the sandy wastes o f Bal uchis tan

to the tropical regions o f Lower Burma,and

beyond to the hi l ls on the Chinese frontier .I n the north , the m agn ificent range of the

H imalayas , of a width from the centre to the

pla ins of the Ganges of 1 00 miles , and ris ing in

height to feet , in the centre , the Vindhyas ,and along e ither coast-l ine , the Eastern and Western

Ghauts,are the most consp icuous mounta ins

,and

ne ither north,south , east , nor west lacks a great

r iver which carries to the sea the abundant rainfal l

of the monsoons .I nvaders from Central As ia reaching the I ndus

,

which they regarded as a sea, called the countrybeyond that of the H indus or S indus . Hence

MO D ERN I N D IA

CHAPTER I

PHY S ICAL AS PECTS— POPULAT ION RELIG IONLANGUAGES— ETHNOLOGY— CASTE

T HE I ndian Empire extends from the H imalayan

region of perpetual snow to the burn ing jungles o fMalabar

,from the sandy wastes of Baluch istan

to the tropical regions of Lower Burma,and

beyond to the h il ls on the Chinese frontier .I n the north , the magn ificent range of the

H imalayas , of a width from the centre to the

pla ins of the Ganges of 1 00 miles , and ris ing in

height to feet , in the centre , the Vindhyas ,and along either coast-l ine , the Eastern and Western

Ghauts,are the most conspicuous mounta ins

,and

neither north,south , east , nor west lacks a great

r iver which carries to the sea the abundant rainfal l

of the monsoons .I nvaders from Central As ia reaching the I ndus

,

which they regarded as a sea, cal led the country

beyond that of the H indus or S indus . Hence

2 MODERN IND IA

I ndia , by which conven ient , but tota l ly mislead

ing , appe l lat ion we con t inue to describe the great

con tinent conta in ing one-fifth of the inhab itants o f

the globe .

The term as generally used now includes al l the

countries over which the I ndian Government rules,

up to the borders o f Baluch istan , Afghan is tan , China ,Tibet

,and S iam .

Outs ide the true I ndian Pen insula, but in closere lat ions with the I ndian Empire , are parts of

B aluch istan , Afghan i stan— which as a whole comprises square miles , o f which three-quar

ters are moun ta in— Cashmere, the H imalayas , and

Burma .

All the invaders of I ndia have come e ither

through Southern Baluch istan and the del ta of

the I ndus , by way o f Kandahar to S ind , by way of

Ghazn i to the I ndus , or by Kabul to the Punjab .

From the sandy deserts of Baluchis tan north

wards runs the border d istri ct o f the Pathan

H ighlands,

now part of the new N orth-West

Frontier Prov ince , inhabited by w i ld tr ibes which

form a kind of buffer between Afghan i s tan proper

and Brit ish I ndia .

The general impress ion o f I nd ia as a hot

country i s derived from the cl imat i c conditions of

the depression of the Ganges , which extends as

one broad,regular, a l luv ial surface from the delta

of that river to the de l ta of the I ndus, which is

PHY S ICAL ASPECTS 3

1 800 miles , whi le the Ganges is 1 5 50 miles , in

length .

The western port ions of the I ndian Empire

comprise the great deserts o f B al uch istan , S ind ,and Raj putana . From the val ley of the Ganges

to the south the coun try s lopes upwards to Cen tral

I ndia, where at an elevat ion of 2000 feet the cl imate

i s cool and pleasan t in win ter , and bearable in the

hot weathe r . The same may be\sa id o f the Central

Provinces , with the i r sacred river the Narbada .

Further south aga in , the Deccan plateau with i tswide and stony wolds i s

“

more extens ive than the

low-ly ing land on e i ther s ide o f it, which is aga in

the ho t tradit ional I ndia .

The Western Ghauts r ise to an a l t i tude o f

8000 fee t in the Nilgiris , which enjoy sub-tropical

vegetat ion , an abundan t ra infal l , and an al togetheradmirable cl imate , no r are the Ane ima l e i H i l ls

much infer ior in he ight , beauty , and cl imate to the

Nilgiris .

The forests vary wide ly in character , from the

huge trees and impenetrable vegetat ion o f the subH imalayan Tera i , comparat ive ly sparse and stun ted

trees of the cen tral h ighlands , and the den se over

grown j ungles of the west coast , which are impas sable , except a long the tracks made by the on lyengineers o f these w i ld woods , the elephants .The flora o f I ndia i s as var ied as it s cl imate

,

which changes from torr id to arctic , and from the

4 MODERN IND IA

max imum of aridity to the extreme of hum idity . I thas , therefore , vegetat ion of the O r iental , European ,

African,T ibetan , and S iberian types , and some

idea of the variety of flora may be gathered fromthe fact that I ndia contain s spec ies of

fl owering plants and 600 species of ferns , and

botan ists d iv ide the coun try into no fewer than

sixty-four provinces . I lex and eugenias smothered

in orch ids,tal l fl owe ring trees as gay as tul ips ,

tree ferns as high as oaks,palms as thick upon

the ground as grass,teak lofty , strong, gian t

leaved , and fitT o be the mast

On some great ammiral ,”

forests of rhododendrons , counties carpeted w ithsens it ive plants , grass and reeds tal ler than the

tower of the V il lage church , W ide plains coveredwith d reary euphorbia and camel-thorn , endless

swamps of tamarisk , such are a few of the countlessvegetable phenomena.

Most k inds of men and women are found in

I ndia ; most , partly from choice , partly from ne ce s

s ity, are practi cal ly vegetarians ; and food , housing ,and clothing are cheap to a degree impossible of

comparison with the l ike condit ions in Europe ,

Briti sh I ndia comprises and the nat ive

States occupy square miles,while the popu

lat ion of B r itish I nd ia is and of the

nat ive States O f the prov in ces Bengal

6 MODERN IND IA

and refuse to die , so as to suit themselves to theaverage figure s of Europe .

O f males between 30 and 40 on ly one intwelve , and of males between 40 and 60 on ly

one in twenty , i s unmarried . O f females on ly

one—third are cel i bate , and of these three-quarters

are under the age of ten , while in England twoth irds of both sexes are s ingle . Though the i r

rel igions al low,the Mahomedan four wives , and the

H indu a second , in cases where the firs t, spouse isch i ld less , the people o f I nd ia are practi cal ly mono

gamons , there be i ng on ly 1 0 1 1 wives to every 1 000

husbands .O f every thousand o f the populat ion , one male in

1 0, and one female in 1 44 , are l i terate , and of the

great prov inces the order of l i teracy is Burma firs t,Madras second

,Bombay and B engal

,the old un

d iv ided prov ince , thi rd . Cochin and Travancore

occupy a h igher place in respect of education thanany province in I ndia proper .

The registration o f vi tal s tat is tics in I ndia i s

but th irty years o ld . Fever, chicfly ma lar ial , carrieso ff more v ictims than plague , the mortal ity fromwhich is comparat ively trifl ing, the relative figure sbe ing 1 9 to 2 pe r cent . N evertheless , in cons e

quence of the inveterate ignorance of I ndia which

preva i ls in Britain , agi tators succeed in representing

that the populat ion i s be ing carried off wholesale by

p lague,which they boldly ascribe to the starvation

POPULAT I ON 7

of the people by the British Government , the fac t

be ing , as stated elsewhere , that during seasons ofscarci ty, for there i s no more famine pr0pe r, asystem of outdoor rel ie f i s brought in to force

,

which provides more effectually than that of

Britain , that no one shal l d ie of hunger, and in

fact i t i s practical ly the case that no one does .The plague mortal ity in the Punj ab in 1 908 ,

exclud ing native States,i s given in the most recent

returns as against i n 1 907 , so that

this scourge is rapidly d imin ish ing in strength .

The death-rate from plague i n that prov ince in1 908 was , in fact, no more than while that for

smal lpox was per thousand .

O f the peoples of I ndia nearly two-th i rds are

in one sense or another engaged with agricul ture ,

5 2 per cent . being landlords or tenants , 1 2 per

cent. fie ld labourers , and another 9 per cent . moreor less d irectly connected with the land .

About 1 5 per cent . are ma in tained by the pre

paration and supply of mater ial substances , and of

these more than one-third make a l iv ing by prov iding food and dr ink , four mil l ions being occupied inthe prov is ion of an imal food , chiefly fish

,a fact

which will be a rude shock to those who th ink thatal l I ndia i s vege tarian .

Commerce accoun ts for no more than 273; per

cent . of the population .

To such an exten t have members o f castes

8 MODERN IND IA

abandoned their trad it ional occupations that only

1 1 per cent . of the Brahmins of Madras , and 2 2 percent . of the Brahmins of Bombay , fo l low the call ingof priest

,even if that term be given a sufficiently

wide in terpretation to include beggars , students ,and astrologers .S ir Alfred Lyal l , who has done more to develop

in terest in India than any other writer of our day,

described it as the land

Where de ities hover and swarm,

Like the wild bees heard in the tree-tops o r the

gusts o f a gathering sto rm .

I n the Vedas, the earl iest rel igious books of

I ndia , the gods of sky , a ir, fire , and death areworshipped . The trend of thought was panthe ist ic,but the idea o f one supreme be ing none the lesspervaded the ancien t fai th .

After the Vedas came the Brahmanas , while

the priests were elaborat ing a rel igious and philo

soph ic system , which was fairly well developed

by 500 B .C . , and was reformed by the evolution ofB uddhism .

Gautama , subsequently Buddha , grew up in thebel ief that the object of l ife should be to avoid beingborn aga in , and that man

’s act ions in control l ing

h is pass ions determined the conditions o f his future

birth .

When he became Buddha , the en l ightened , he

REL IG ION 9

preached that l ife i s van i ty,rebirth the resul t of

passions and desires , to be e scaped only by rightbel iefs

,righ t resolution s , righ t words , acts , and

thoughts .

Buddhism prescribes a d ifferent way of salvation

from Brahman ism . As D r . H opkins says , Know

ledge i s wisdom to the Brahmins , puri ty of l i fe tothe Buddhists The latter was a negative and

pessimisti c creed , the object of which was release

from the s inful condit ions of mind , which would

produce rebirth .

Such as i t was it coexisted with Brahman i sm

for centuries,and exerc ised upon i t a l iberal is ing

and humane influe nce .

In the days of Asoka , 269—23 2 B .C . , i t becamea state and miss ionary rel igion , and subsequen tly

spread to Ceylon , Burma, S iam ,China , and Japan ,

but decay set in from 7 50 A.D . ,and at present there

are on ly Buddhists in I ndia proper,though

there are upwards of in Burma .

The somewhat s imilar rel igion,J ain ism

,places

the sanctity of an imal l i fe in the forefron t of itstenets to such an extent as to practical ly over

shadow the other articles of the creed . There aresti l l upwards of a mil l ion J a ins in I ndia .

O f the H indu gods , S iva and Vishnu are themore important , Brahma having few worsh ippers .S iva is the destroyer and rebui lder of l i fe Vishnu is

the bright and friendly god , who has V i s i ted earth

I O MODERN IND IA

in a success ion of incarnations,the most popular of

which are Rama and Kri shna.

The Sikhs of the Punjab are mono the ists,

prohibit idolatry , and denounce caste dis tinctions .They all wear long hai r, short drawers , i ron

bangles , and s teel quoi ts,and with them tobacco

is taboo .

O f modern theist ic sects,the Brahmo-Samaj is

a kind of Un i tarian ism,which discards all idol atry ,

but maintain s many of the rel igious pecul iari t iesand character ist ics o f the H indus . The Arya

S amaj , d iffer ing but sl ightly as to creed , has ,in fact , become practically a pol itical association ,closely connected with the unrest which is man ifesti ng itself in a manner most unfriendly to the

B rit ish Governmen t in the Punjab and in UpperI ndia .

Animistic bel iefs form the real re l igl on of the

masses of the people , who worship at shrines, whichare mere vermi l ion -streaked stones in the forest ,while trees and the natural features of the land

scape appear as symbols of ghostly compan ies of

phantoms,which

,dwell ing in rocks , trees , and

rivers , pres ide over cholera, smal lpox , and other

d iseases .

Turn ing to the Mahomedans , who firs t came to

I ndia at the close of the tenth century , the kings

and emperors of th is faith practised conspicuoustolerance un ti l the re ign of Aurangzeb , whose

REL IG ION 1 1

fanaticism precipi tated the break up of the MogulEmpire .

Mahomedan ism i s a thoroughly democratic

creed,and hence the great acces s ion s to its

numbers wh ich have taken place i n Eastern

Bengal,on the Malabar coast

,and in other parts

of I ndia .

The Parsees,important by thei r enterprise

,

wealth,and cul ture , but not by thei r numbers

,

are descendants of emigran ts who left Pers ia whenthat coun try adopted Mahomedan ism ,

and they

number under most of whom belong toBombay .

Christ ians number nearly three mill ions,two

and a hal f m il l ion s of whom are native converts,

of whom , aga in , two-th i rds are found i n Madras ,includ ing the nat ive States of Travancore and

Cochin . I n these States,the most H indu par t o f

I ndia , Christ ian s are incomparably more numerous

in proport ion to the populat ion than they are inany other part of the Empire .

O f the nat ive Christ ians , two—fifths are Roman

Cathol ics , one-n in th belong to the Angl icans , and

one -twelfth to the Baptists , while Lutherans ,Method ists , and Presbyterians together cla im onetenth of the total sum .

There are few J ews,but two very in terest

ing white and black commun i t ies are found atCochin , where the former claim to have settled

I O MODERN I ND I A

i n a success ion of incarnations,the most popular of

which are Rama and Kri shna .

The S ikhs of the Punjab are mono the ists ,prohibit idolatry , and denounce caste distinctions .They all wear long hair, short drawers , i ron

bangles , and s teel quoi ts,and wi th them tobacco

is taboo .

O f modern the i st i c sects,the Brahmo-Samaj is

a kind of Un i tarian ism,which discards al l idol atry,

but maintain s many of the rel igious pecul iari t iesand character ist ics of the H indus . The Arya

S amaj , d iffering but sl ightly as to creed , has ,in fact , become practically a pol itical association ,closely connected with the unrest which is manifesting itself in a manner most unfriendly to the

B rit ish Governmen t in the Punjab and in UpperI ndia .

An imistic bel iefs form the real rel igion of themasses of the people

, who worship at shrines , whichare mere vermi l ion -streaked stones in the forest ,while trees and the natural features of the land

scape appear as symbols of ghostly compan ies ofphantoms

,which

,dwell ing in rocks , trees , and

rivers , pres ide over cholera, smal lpox , and other

d iseases .

Turn ing to the Mahomedans , who firs t came to

I ndia at the close of the tenth century, the kings

and emperors of th is faith pract ised conspicuous

tolerance unti l the re ign of Aurangzeb , whose

1 2 MODERN INDIA

soon after the destruct ion of the temple at J eru

sa lem by Titus . They l ive alongs ide , but never intermarry or associate wi th , thei r black co -rel igion i sts .Their women are quite fair

,and look , i n the ir

surroundings,dazzl ingly white . They ma intain al l

the ceremon ies of J udaism intact,and keep up

a sort of connect ion with J erusalem .

O f the total populat ion o f I ndia ,H indus account for and Mahomedans

for The animists are clas s ified , though

probably a large proportion o f the H indus real ly

come under th is head , as the B uddh ists ,nearly al l i n Burma, while Christians

are S ikhs J ews and

Parsees on ly though of them,i t may well be

said , pondem ndi 5 s non numerana’z

’

.

Among the Christ ians , Roman Cathol ics are

against Angl icans and o ther

Protestants whi le the Syrian Chris tians

of Malabar, most interest ing people , are

The I ndian Government has in recen t years

devoted great attent ion to increas ing its knowledge

of the languages of I ndia,which belong to five

great famil ies of speech— the Aryan , D ravid ian ,

Munda,Mon-Khmer , and Tibeto-Chinese .

The firs t family , when brought in contact with

them , tends to overr ide o r extinguish members of

the other four famil ies , and the Aryans , whether

they came from the steppes of Southern Russia or

LANGUAGE S 1 3

elsewhere,have at any rate played the greatest

part i n the development of the country .

The I ndo European group include the

I ran ian or Pers ian,and the Pushto and Beluch ,

the languages respectively of Afghanistan and

Be luchis tan .

Sanskri t had begun to be spoken in I nd ia as

early as 300 and surv ived a s the sacred

second language, alongside others of the I ndo

Aryan type of more or less common origin .

O f the modern I ndo-Aryan languages , H ind i

or H industan i i s spoken by upwards of 1 00 , and

Bengal i by upwards of 44, mil l ions . The Per

s ian is ed form of H indi i s generally described as

Urdu . M ahratti i s the speech of upwards o f 1 8

mill ions .The H ind i form of H industan i was practically

invented at Fort W i ll iam , was intended for the

use of H indus,and i s derived from Urdu by

el im inating words of Pers ian and Arabic origin

and substituting for them Sanscr i t words or words

derived from Sanscri t .H indi i s generally written in Devanagiri or

Sanscri t characters , while in Urdu the Pers ianletters are employed .

I n the fact that ou t of mil l ion s who speakBengal i , 44} mill ions i nhabi t Bengal , Eastern

Bengal , and A ssam,i s found such justification

as exists for the agitat ion against the div is ion of

1 4 MODERN IND IA

the old province of Bengal i nto two Lieutenan t

Governorships , whereby i t i s of course in no way

prejud iced,but to th is extent advantaged that

two Lieutenant-Governors with the i r staffs aredevoted to the admin istration of the affairs of 80mill ions of B engal i s

,instead of one o fficer of that

rank . The laws admin istered and the character

o f the admin i stration and of the admin i strators ,and for the most part even the personne l of thelatter, are of course unchanged .

O f the Dravidian languages,Tamil spoken by

1 6 , Kanarese by 1 0 ,and Te lugu by 20 mill ions ,

are the ch ief varie ties , but these are o f courseseparate

,and indeed highly developed and scientific

tongues,Tamil in part icular possessing cons ider

able l i terature of high meri t and original i ty

Malayalam , an offshoot o f T amil,i s spoken

by s ix mill ions of dwellers upon the coast ofMalabar .The Munda languages are superlat ively ag

glutinat ive, and are spoken i n Chota Nagpur and

the surround ing country,and in the Cen tral Pro

v inces . However valuable from a linguist ic poin tof v iew, i t w il l pay no one but o fficers stat ioned

among the people , or scholars , to be at the pa insto acqu i re these tongues .The I ndo-Chinese languages include Tibeto

Chinese and Mon Khmer . They are usually

monosyl labic in character, and the peoples who

ETH NOLOGY 1 5

speak them came originally from North -We stChina .

Burmese is the vernacular of upwards of sevenmill ions

,and there are , i t i s calculated , in al l , no

less than 1 45 dist in ct languages spoken in the

I ndian Empire .

The Sanscri t word for caste means colour,and

colour as a general rule,with many and large

exceptions , i s a fair test of caste , l igh t brown ,wheat-co loured

,and bamboo people generally being

of higher caste than those of dark colour . A l l ,however , have black or deep brown , straight andnever fuzzy hai r

,and al l have dark brown eyes

,

such as are usual ly described as black . Next to

colour,probably the nose i s the greatest caste

indicator,those who have th is organ broad or flat

general ly belonging to the lower classes .The chief types of the inhabitan ts are I ndo

A ryan,S cytho

-D rav id ian , H industan i , Bengal i ,Mongolo id

,and D ravid ian . Such do not admit of

very sharp definitio n,but as from time immemorial

immigran ts have crossed from East to West,and

from North to South , represen tat ives of the I ndoAryan type have spread themselves all over I ndia

,

rema in ing always on the top social s tratum .

Authorit ies are much less pos it ive now than

when Max Miil ler wrote about the Aryan race,

and no one real ly knows whence it came,or very

much about it . I t i s, however , pretty well agreed

1 6 MODERN IND IA

that the I ndo-Aryan type is not I ndian in i tsorig in

,and it i s surm ised that i t came from Pers ia

before that country, Afghan istan , and Central Asia

became so dry , desolate , and barren as theynow are .

0

Later,when tribal immigrat ion was succeeded

by the immigrat ion of bands o f warriors,women

no longer accompan ied the invaders , who subse

quent ly , whatever thei r race , whether Greek ,Scythian

,Arab , Afghan , o r Mogul , became ah

sorbed in to the native populat ion .

Thus the I ndo-Aryan type , comparative ly purein the Punjab and Rajputana, becomes mixed with

D ravid ian blood in H industan and Behar,and

a lmost van i shes i n the M ongol stra in in Lower

Bengal , east of wh ich Chinese influence begl ns toassert i tse l f.The word caste originated with the Portuguese

who arrived with Vasco da Gama , and is derived

from a Latin word,casms , s ignifying purity of blood

as Horace says,Populus castus verecundusque .

”

A caste is a co l lection of famil ies or groups

claiming common descent from one ancestor,and

following, or professing to fol low, the same ocen

pation ,and all over I ndia at the present moment

tribes are be ing converted into castes , because of

the greater cons ideration attached to membersh ipo f such guilds .

Castes are d iv ided in to tr ibal , occupational , and

ETH NOLOGY 1 7

sectarian type s,as wel l as into castes formed by

migrat ion,and by change of customs, and ca ste s of

the national type such as the Mahrattas , who played

such an important part in I nd ian h istory just befo re

our supremacy was establ i shed,and who are now

taking an exceed ingly act ive,though not so open ly

acknowledged , att itude of hosti l i ty towards our rule .

That is to say,not the Mahrattas general ly

,but

the lead ing Brahmins,who have settled in the

Mahratta coun try and exerc ise a ve ry conside r

able influence amongst the cult ivators , who are

the bulk of the race or tribe .

The c las s ificatio n of castes presents , as mightbe expected , pecul iar difficul tie s , and the sensible

princ iple was adopted in the Census of 1 90 1 of

clas s ification by socia l precedence as recogn ised bynative publ ic Opin ion .

This system,of course , does not a l low of one

c las sification for the whole of I ndia , which includesmany countr ies in which part icular castes do not

exis t,o r, when they do exist, possess d ifferen t soc ial

values . I n al l parts,however, the Brahmins head

the l i st,and it is thei r influence which inspires the

advanced reform party from which arises the un

rest now man ifested in I nd ia . Aga in , the traditiona l posit ion of the Kshatriyas as second

,and

of the Vai syas or merchants as th ird in rank,i s

generally maintained .

But the different classes of the Sudras are

B

1 8 MODERN IND IA

extremely difficul t to place , the ir posit ion dependingupon the extent to which Brahmins and members

of the upper castes wi l l or will not take water fromthe ir hands .

I n Cochin people of certain castes are held topol lute the i r high-cas te brethren, i f the re lat ionshipbe al lowed , as it i s not in I nd ia, at d istances rangingfrom sixty-four to twenty-four feet .The beef-eat ing pariah is at the bottom of the

l i st of the unclean . But so minute are the grades

that precedence in some cases depends upon whether

the v il lage barber wil l shave,cut toe-na i l s

,and take

part in marriage ceremon ies, o r whether he wil l onlyperform one or more of these functions .I n Burma there is no caste , nor, of course ,

with in the fold of I slam,where in in s ight of God

and Mahomet al l fol lowers of God and Mahometare equal . Nevertheless there are grades o f dis

t l nCtIO Il , in proportion as the Mahomedan i s near tothe Arab, Pers ian , Afghan , or M ogul ; and amongst

the extremely numerous Mahomedans descended

from H indu converts the influence of the original

caste is st i l l very strong .

I t i s suggested by the latest writers on theorigin of the insti tut ion that the priest ly caste

borrowed from the neighbouring coun try of Persiathe trad i tional d ivis ion of mank ind i nto four classes

,

of which they themselves were necessari ly firs t.

The complete admixture of the conquerors from

C H A PT E R I I

WILD L IFE

I ND IA,the Paradise of the big game shooter

,natu

ral ly abounds i n various species of an imal l i fe .

The fauna of the coastal regions of Malabar and

Burma differ in al l respects from the denizens o f

the deserts of Rajputana, S ind , and the Punjab ,and

wide indeed is the range and infin ite the difference

between the homes of the greater carn ivora,the

bison and the elephant , and those of the ibex

and an telope . The l ion , which hardly pretends in

I ndia to be the king of an imal s, i s now a lmost

ext inct,though a few rema in in Kathiawar , but

t igers are st i l l fairly plent i ful , though they have

greatly d im ini shed i n numbers owing to the act ion

of the B rit i sh Government in grant ing indiscrim inate rewards for the i r destruct ion .

Amongst t igers,man-eaters are rare and con

spicuous exceptions , the present mortal i ty on th isscore be ing three or four men in a m ill ion . The

diet of the ordinary t iger cons ists chie fly of thosean imals— deer

,antelope

,and wild p ig— which prey

upon and destroy the crops of the cultivators,

W I LD L I FE

who form about 70 per cen t . of the population , sothat the i r benefactors are the benefactors o f the

greatest number of the i nhabitan ts . Nor is the tigerreal ly i n any respect the enemy of man

,whom , on

the contrary,he shuns wi th extraord inary so l i c itude .

The nat ive sh ikari , or game—kil le r , who l ives upon

the Government rewards,naturally prefers to kil l

the useful and comparat ively common deer—stalkerbefore the rare and dangerous man-eater

,and thus

i t i s that the I ndian admin istration conn ives a t ,

and encourages,the destruction of one of i ts most

useful auxil iaries .I t i s the easiest th ing in the world to fil l an old

gun with slugs and miscellaneous con tents , and to

s it up in a safe place in a tree , over one of the few

ponds at wh ich the greater carn ivora come fromlong d istances to drink during the hot weather.The perpetrator of thi s s imple feat rece ives for

each skin produced at the local authori ty’s o ffice

th irty rupees, or 1 ; 2, upon which he can l ive for a

year . I t i s not suggested,of course , that rewards

should not be given for man-eaters , who are eas i ly

d istinguishable from their harmless brethren . This

may seem a strange statement ; but every tiger i s a

personage and wel l known to the local v i llagers, andthe man-eater, who i s as rare among t igers as the

murderer among men,i s far more eas ily tracked by

the villagers affected by h is depredations than an

assass in i s by the pol ice in Europe .

2 2 MODERN IND IA

O f course the cattle-l i fter costs someth ing forh is keep . Nevertheless , he earns i t many t imesover in what he saves the villagers .There are districts , no doubt, in which tigers

develop espec ially ma levolen t d ispos it ions,and in

the S unde rbunds they cannot be trusted .

Many authorit ies,including Mr. Lydekkar and

Mr. Reginald G i lbert, have expressed opin ions

s imilar to those here enunc iated , and the writer has

several t imes brought the matter before the I nd iaO ffice, and also the H ouse o f Commons , which , however

,of al l audiences , i s most difficult to convince that

stock and conventional ideas about I ndia are in fact,

as such ideas almost always are , utterly erroneous .The nat ives of I ndia habitually class or confoundtigers with leopards and pan thers , which are l es s

notorious and more numerous ; and there are , ofcourse

,other varieties of the cat family , from the

great tiger down to the harm less and necessary

domestic specimen . Amongst other carn ivora are

the hyena, a ghoul ish resurrection ist and eater o fcarrion

,wolves , and dogs of different k inds , i nclud

ing wild dogs , exceptionally intel l igent creatures ,which exhibit extraord inary powers of organ isationfor the pursui t of game , and from a pack of whichhardly any an imal can escape. Then there are the

golden dog , the jackal (cam’

s aureus ), useful as a

s cavenger , but as a serenader the most unpopular

of h is class, foxes o f different k inds, otters, often

W I LD 2 3

captured and used as auxi l iaries by fishe rme n , andbears

,which sometimes inspi re terror , but oftener

laughter .I n spite of the i r s c ie ntific c la s s ifica tio n ,

bearspre fer frui t and sweets

,and never touch butcher

'

s

meat , though fond of a dish of wh i te ants as asavoury. Needless to say , they love honey

,and

s eem able to defy the bees with the same impuni tyas the hil l-man , who wil l plunge his arm deep intothe hole i n the tree conta in ing the comb .

Amongst mammals the monkeys are perhapsthe most numerous , from the hoo lo o k ,

a charm ingr

immigrant , who wil l take a man’s hand in confiding

fash ion i f startled by a dog or other enemy,to

the common bandar (macacus ) , or monkey fo lk of

K ipling’s tales,which almost any sportsman could

supplement with stories of h is own experience .

They are chiefly vegetarian , but l ike cows are notparti cular what they eat, and refuse very l i ttle thatcomes their way . They are ful l of intell igence

,

mimicry,and humour , and wil l repay observation .

Most j ungle lovers hnd them very amus ing company .

No t only are they very human in the ir habits,but

they occupy a most d ist inguished place in I nd ian

mythology in consequence of the h igh posit ion andreputat ion of the monkey chief Hanuman

,who

aided Rama in h is exped it ion to Ceylon for therecovery of his rav ished wife from Ravana

,which

epic can be read with great pleasure and profit

24 MODERN I NDIA

done into admirable Engl ish by M i ss F rederikaMacdonald .

I n the forests ofAssam,Malabar, and e l sewhere ,

the lordly elephant, undisputed king of the j ungle ,st i l l re igns supreme ; but though possessed of giant

strength he never uses i t un less attacked , o r un less

he finds some fore ign o r unfriendly substance l ikemankind twixt the wind and h is nobi l i ty , when , un l ike

other wild an imals, he is very l ike ly to charge down

upon the in truder, who in dense j ungle has very

l ittle chance of escape . Were i t not that the s ightof elephants is most defect ive i t would be almostimposs ible to stalk them

,and in the long reeds and

grass , in which they l ive , a man i s as helpless and as

incapable o f movement as a fly in a spider’s web .

As it i s,there is no sport so dangerous as stalking

elephants , for the biggest of beasts i s almost invis iblei n his brown

,not black, coat , which mel ts imper

ceptibly into the surrounding dried grass , neutralrock, and yel low herbage . I t i s on ly in capt iv ity

that the e lephant i s as black as brush and oi l bottlecan make him .

I ndeed i t i s quite easy for the stalker to stumbleon to the beast’s hindquarters in picking his waythrough the forest , and un less he i s tearing downbranches to eat , bubbl ing , bathing, or bolt ing , nocreature can be more s i lent than the earth-shaker .Moreover, the e lephan t cannot be killed except atvery close quarters ; the ear-hole , where the bone

W I LD L I FE 2 5

i s th in,i s extremely small

,and i t is quite poss ible

to hl l wi th lead the great dome of bone at the top

of h is head without do ing more than giv ingr him aheadache and making him with very good reason ,poor beast, exceed ingly angry .

To segregate a warrantable bull from the herd

is also very difficul t, and while the former is the

object ive of the hunter, he himself i s often the object ive of a susp ic ious cow , who scents danger to her

offspring,and wi l l hunt him down al l day . The tal l

forest t rees,frequen tly runn ing up to a great height

before they throw out any branches,are not negot i

able , a small t ree i s not secure , and the writer ofthese pages has been charged in such an one by

an infuriated cow,and knocked out of i t on to the

ground . The spectacle of a herd of elephants l iv ing

in dense forests , in whose dark recesses they avoid

the heat of the sun , in which they travel by pathsmade by themselves as they move

,i n which they

enj oy the i r favouri te food , with a swamp on ones ide for a bath

,and a grassy hi ll on the other for

pas ture, gives extraord inary pleasure and is one

of the most idyll ic poss ible . I t produces in the

intruder a feel ing that i t i s pos i tively wicked topenetrate, with murderous intent, the deep in

terior of the wood , or to s i t treacherously near theswamp , or on the hil ls ide , in order to destroy the

harmless lev iathan , who asks noth ing but to belet alone .

26 MODERN IND IA

I n a herd,when undisturbed , the cows keep

together wi th the i r calves at heel , the l i ttle onesimitat ing their mothers ’ actions by fil l ing their trunks

with water and spouting fountains over the i r backs ,by wal lowing in the mud

,or playing pull devil pul l

baker with thei r trunks . I t is , however , on ly the

calves who behave in this way , for adul t, middle-aged ,and ol d elephants are conspicuous for thei r grave

and dignified demeanour . Few sportsmen care tokill many o f thi s d istinguished species , or can con

template without m ixed feel ings the ivory tusks

torn from the venerable head .

Lying prostrate on the grass , the big beast

recal l s the l ine of Homer

Kgl 'TO y éya s‘

ueyakwa fl'

.

Once slain he enj oys the same sepulchre as theParsee , and legions of vultures feed upon h is vast

carcase , which none the less takes a long timebefore i t is resolved into i ts primal elements . The

elephant who i s perm itted to d ie a natural death is

d ignified and considerate to the end,and no o ne

can discover the inaccess ible spot he chooses forhis fina l dissolut ion .

The rh inoceros is found in Assam and theNepal Tera i , the tapir in Burma

,and the wild

buffalo cont inues to exist in Bengal,Assam

,

and the wild country on the outskirts o f the

Central Provinces,but to find i t spel ls fever .

28 MODERN IND IA

slow and stupid creature , but uncertain of temper,and suffic ien tly dangerous when roused . Like the

elephant,next after wh ich he is the largest mammal ,

he has wretched sight , and l ike h im he depends ,even more than o ther animals , on h is sense of smel l .

Cases are reported,but not very wel l authent icated

,

of a rh inoceros having vanquished an elephant in ap i tched battle ; but , beast for beast , the latter i s the

master of the pa i r .The bison (éos gamma ) i s in many respects the

most magnificent an imal found in I ndia . Goodspecimens stand sometimes n ineteen hands in height

,

and the i r horns run to a length of three feet,and are

from eighteen to twenty inches round the base .

N o twithstanding their bulky and mass ive bodies ,the i r feet and legs are almost as del icate and beautiful as those o f a deer .Like the t iger , the bison i s the subject of

unceas ing warfare,and un less the Government

takes steps to preserve th is magn ifice nt an imal , i tw ill in no long time become extinct .

The ibex and the wild goat offer the best of

sport , but the latter i s of course a wholly d ifferen tan imal from the true i bex .

There are no less than 1 6 1 7 species of bi rds inI ndia

,and many of them are a great feature of l i fe

in the forests , where the i r gorgeous plumage gl i ttersunder quivering shafts o f sunl ight, while the less

bril l ian t creatures , l ike sparrows, crows , and kites ,

W I LD L I FE 29

a re in constant ev idence in the towns and v i l lages .

Crows are extraord inari ly bo ld , and wil l carry toast

off the table at which a human being i s breakfast ing

if h is atten tion be for a moment d iverted . I t i s

eviden tly for his impudence that the common crow

was given the epithet of spl endem , to wh ich he is

legal ly ent i tled .

Green parrots flash from tree to tree in thewoods

,pigeons and doves coo i n the tree-t0ps ,

and sand-grouse , pea-fowl , j ungle-fowl , partridge ,plover, sn ipe , qua i l , and here and there i n the h i l l

country , woodcock , in different parts of the con

tinent offer good shoot ing . I t i s, however, dangerous

to shoot pea-fowl or pigeon in the neighbourhood

of temples , of which they often are held to besacred appanages .Gulls and tern swarm on the sea—shore and in

the back-waters,pel ican s and cormorants are found

inland , and storm petrel s on waters which are subj ectto terrific cyclones .

The ibis , though less sacred , i s as common in

I ndia as in Egypt , and amongst the specimens of theheron family are whi te egrets and pond herons or

paddy-birds,which l ike many others are persecuted

for their plumage .

The imperial eagle of I ndia i s less warl ikethan i s usual ly supposed

,and never defends its

nest from a robber . I ndeed , smal ler membersof the feathered tribe have much stouter hearts ,

3 0 MODERN IND IA

however much men,whose feet are cha ined to

the earth,may admire the noble bird ,

With its pride and amp le p in ion ,

Sai l ing with supreme domin ionTbrough the az ure deeps o f air.

The keenness of v is ion , however , of the eagle andvul ture cannot be exaggerated , and every sports

man knows how quickly the carcase of a deer, even

when drawn under cover immed iately after i t i ski lled in the open

,becomes the prey of a fl ock of

vultures,of whom not o ne could prev iously be seen

by the human eye in the cloudless expan se of sky

commanded from he ights of many thousand feet

above the leve l of the sea .

The eagle,of course , i s not a carrion feeder, and

holds,l ike the bird in the Russ ian fable

,that a day

on which l ife i s supported by fresh food is worth a

year in which carrion i s consumed .

Vultures are bigger than eagles , and i t i s pretty

certa in that there are no authenti cated in stances ofe ither bird having attacked a grown man .

The spectacle of a flock of vultures consumingthe carcase of a deer , hissing and striking at oneanother w ith their beaks

,and gorging themselves

with the bleeding flesh,i s gruesome in the extreme

,

and one not readi ly forgotten . Eagles,however

,

are not found gathered together where the carcasei s , and , so far as is known to the wri ter of these

W I LD L I FE 3 1

l ines,are never seen in flocks , though he has often

come across them in the h igh I nd ian hi l ls and heard

their sl ight i f sto rmy scream as they sweep by .

The Government of Lord Curzon proh ibi ted the

export of feathers from I nd ia , and efforts are made

to prohibi t the import of feathers into th is coun try,

the resul t o f which wi l l merely be to transfer thetrade from Britain to France and other Con tinental

countries .The proper remedy is to have a close season for

plumage and game-birds in I ndia and other Bri tishpossess ions

,though no doubt the adoption of th i s

remedy is beset w ith certai n difficu l ties , i nto which

it i s unnecessary here to enter .

Teal and water-fowl of various ki nds and duck

and geese are common , but swans , wh ite as wel l asblack

,are rather rare .

The repti les of I ndia are far more destructivethan the W i ld beasts

,s nakes alone ki l l ing more

people than al l the wi ld beasts put together .

They include the python,sluggish , and to

human be ings pract ical ly harmless,the deadly

cobra and the hamadryad,or king of cobras

,a

truly awe - insp iring rept i le,runn ing to upwards

of twelve feet in length,which , however , chiefly

attacks and consumes i ts own k ind,the poisonous

krait , and the Russel l’s v iper , exceed ingly dangerous

because i t is loath to move out of the way of anapproaching wayfarer

,and is apparently qu ite deaf.

3 2 MODERN IND I A

Crocodiles are common and fully deserveSpencer’s epithets of cruel and crafty , though

l iberties may be taken with them at the ex

pe rimente r’

s ri sk . 5 0 l ike the sand are they that

it i s easy to wal k unconsc iously right up to them

as they sun themselves on sandy banks or in

the covert of the reed and fens . They are as

s ilent as they are cruel and crafty , and no onewould think who saw the i r eyes and nose just

v is ible above the stream , that they are capable ofpul l ing into the water and k i ll i ng so bulky a

beast as a rhinoceros . The crocodile’

s teeth are ,indeed

,in the words of Job ,

“terr ible roundabout,

”

but though “his scales are his pride,and one i s

so near to another that no a i r can come between

them ,

” an express bul let wi l l hnd a ready en try,

though the probabi l i ty i s that the reptile wil l be

able to sl ip i nto the adjacent water . H is heart isas hard as a piece o f the nether m i ll stone, andmany a man while bath ing he carries off

,and

many wives and maidens wi th the i r p itchers at

the river fal l v ict ims to his crafty and s ilen ttactics .Turtles and torto ises offer soup and she l ls, the

l izard tr ibe flo urish, and are a harmless and a usefulfly

-eat ing race . Nor are there want ing myriads of

frogs and toads, legions of newts , and at least onekind of salamander .The I ndian seas contai n enough fish to feed

W I LD L l FE 3 3

al l the inhabitan ts of the land , the larger number

of which are in no way debarred by caste s cruples

from thi s d iet . I ndeed,the lower classes have no

object ion to animal food whenever i t offers at

sufficie ntly low prices , and prov ided , except i n

the case of the most degraded , i t i s not beef.Sharks are numerous and fie rce . Saw-fish,

pike,

and sword-fish,sea-horses

,hedgehogs , s tingrays ,

devil-fish,eels , cat-fish, different carps , mahseer ,

the I ndian salmon runn ing to 60 and 80 l bs . , the

h ilsa o f Bengal , an est imable fish which furn ishes

the breakfast tables o f Calcutta, perch , mullet ,bream

,mackerel

,tunny-fish

,and the excel len t

seer,are amongst the better known spec ies found

in fresh and sal t water .

Efforts are being made at present to systemati

cally work steam trawlers,the fish caught by

which would be cured and dispersed al l over thecountry , but they have not yet been crowned with

success .Many books might be written about the insects

of I ndia, common ly called Puch i Gichi , the I ndian

equivalent of bugs and beetles , the protective formand colouring of many of which are of surpass inginterest . I t i s indeed imposs ible to d ist inguish

certa i n butterflie s and other insects from the irsurroundings

,even though they are watched

,when

al ight ing on the substance , the appearance ofwhich they so closely imitate .

3 2 MODERN IND IA

Crocodiles are common and fully deserveSpencer’s epithets of cruel and crafty , though

l iberties may be taken with them at the ex

pe rimente r’

s ri sk . S o l ike the sand are they that

i t i s easy to wal k unconsc iously right up to them

as they sun themselves on sandy banks or in

the covert of the reed and fens . They are as

s i lent as they are crue l and crafty , and no one

would think who saw the i r eyes and nose just

v is ible above the stream , that they are capable ofpul l ing into the water and k il l i ng so bulky a

beast as a rhinoceros . The crocodile’s teeth are ,

indeed , in the words of Job ,

“terrible roundabout,

”

but though “his sca les are his pride,and one i s

so near to another that no ai r can come between

them ,

” an express bul let wi ll find a ready en try,

though the probabi l i ty is that the repti le wil l be

able to sl ip into the adjacent water . H is heart isas hard as a piece of the nether m i ll stone, andmany a man while bath ing he carries off

,and

many wives and maidens wi th the i r p itchers at

the river fal l V i ct ims to his crafty and s ilen ttactics .Turtles and torto ises offer soup and she l ls

,the

l izard tr ibe fl ourish , and are a harmless and a usefulfly

-eat ing race . Nor are there want ing myriads of

frogs and toads, legions of newts , and at least onekind of salamander .The I ndian seas contai n enough fish to feed

34 MODERN IND IA

The relations between fl owe rs and insectsagain make up another fascinating aspect ofj ungle l i fe . Certa i n insects , for instance , wouldd ie had they not figs , i n which to deposit the i reggs and spend their l ives

,and there are other

frui ts no less popular than hgs .

Certain fl owers would fade away and wither

without the particular insect, whose intervent ionin each case is absolutely necessary to in sure theproduction of seeds in sufficient numbers to provide for the cont inued existence of the species they

favour .The forests of Burma and the Malabar coast

are amongst the most luxuriant in the I nd ianEmpire

,and those who frequent them soon learn

to regard the beast inhabitants,great and smal l , as

the legitimate and lawful landlords .

Love of forest l ife soon takes a firm hold ofthose who frequent the green ai s le s , roofed overwith boughs , through whi ch l itt le shafts o f sunl ight penetrate by day , and the moon throws a coolwhite gleam by n ight .

The hil l tribes have a proper awe o f,and

reverence for , the home of the earth spirits ,tusked giants , s i len t cats , the i nv is ible vo icefo lk

,the spectra l hunter, and other ghosts , gobl ins ,

and demons of the forest .Strangers must not expect h i l lmen to take

them right up to big game , unless they have some

W I LD L I FE 3 5

l ocal reputat ion , for the forest dwe l le rs are un

armed,they know better what the danger is

,and

they can always cough by acciden t at the cri t ical

moment , or lead the sportsman astray .

Accord ing to j ungle lore,t igers and crocodi les

are forbidden to kil l human beings , and every timeone of them slays a man i t breaks one of thegreat laws imposed upon the an imal world

,every

member of which knows qui te wel l what it may

and what i t may not do . The deer may eat grass,

the t iger deer , and the crocod i le fish,but no

an imal may wan tonly attack mankind without be ing

branded as an outcast . There is an infin ite store

of legend of this character,a vast fie ld for inquiry

and observation , and the forest o fficer and thesportsman may wel l say

Fo rtunatus et i lle deo s qui novit agrestesPanaque, S ilvanum que senem , nymphasque so rores ,

and what man in such a s ituation has not often

repeated to h imself another l ine from the same“landscape-lover

,lord of language ”

Flumina amem sylvasque .

CHAPTER I I I

GAME PRE SERVAT ION AND FOREST RE S ERVAT ION

THROUGHOUT his service i n I ndia the writer ofthese pages has been interested i n the preservat ionof game

,and when a member of the Governor

General’s Counci l , representing the Madras Government upon that body , he endeavoured to bring

forward a measure for the protect ion of game and

plumage birds . The difficul tie s were , however, held

at that t ime to be insuperable , chiefl y owing to thefact that such an enactmen t would depr ive certaintribes and classes of their only means of l ivel ihood .

Efforts indeed are made to prevent the who lesale

destruct ion of useful and beautiful feathered creatures

by proh ibit ing the sale of game birds as food in can

tonments and mun i c ipal towns , where some suchsteps can by law be taken , but these measures are

no more effectual than the protection afforded to

wild b irds in E ngland in so far as i t depends on

the act ion of County Counc i ls .U n ti l a close season i s provided by law for

game and plumage birds, l i ttle can be done to

remedy an admitted evi l .36

GAM E PRESERVAT I ON 3 7

I t is by no means certain that the admin i strativeprohibit ion of the export of fe a thers from l ndia ,

which dates from Lord Curz o n'

s day , will be main

ta ined ,nor is i t satisfac torily es tabl i shed that such a

measure i s fai r to those who are engaged in what i s

after al l a legit imate trade , and migh t be carried on

without objection,i f the bi rds wi th which i t i s

concerned enjoyed a close time , such as birds of

game enjoy in th is country .

In the native States of Travancore and Coch in ,i n which the wri ter had the honour to be B rit i sh

Res ident,elephants are w isely and e fficien tly pro

tected, as indeed they are in B rit ish I ndia , butprotection i s needed everywhere for the bison , the

wild goat , and indeed fo r game of every de s cription

,as wel l as for the t igers , which are being

rapidly exterminated in some parts of the country,to the detrimen t of the agricul turis ts , to whomthey are such good friends

,as well as to the dis

credi t of the Government, which puts a premium

upon the destruct ion of useful all ies .

Formerly any one who pleased,without any

kind of permiss ion or acknowledgment, shot in the

forests of the nat ive States,and in any forests i n

Bri tish I nd ia,though reserved forests are now

closed to shooting , as wel l as to all unregulatedentry.

I n Kashmi r an e fficient game preservat iondepartment was firs t formed

,and there l i cences

CHAPTER I I I

GAME PRE SERVAT ION AND FOREST RE SERVAT ION

THROUGHOUT his service in I nd ia the writer o f

these pages has been interested in the preservat ion

of game,and when a member o f the Governor

Genera l’s Counci l , representing the Madras Government upon that body , he endeavoured to bring

forward a measure for the protect ion of game and

plumage bird s . The difficul tie s were , however, held

at that t ime to be insuperable , chiefly owing to thefact that such an enactmen t woul d depr ive certain

tribes and classes of their on ly means of l ivel ihood .

Efforts indeed are made to prevent the who lesale

destruct ion of useful and beautiful feathered creatures

by proh ibit ing the sale o f game birds as food in can

tonments and mun i c ipal towns , where some suchsteps can by law be taken , but these measures are

no more effectua l than the protection afforded to

wild b irds in E ngland in so far as i t depends on

the act ion of Coun ty Counc i ls .

U n ti l a close season i s provided by law for

game and plumage birds, l i ttle can be done to

remedy an admitted evi l .36

GAM E PRESERVAT I ON 3 7

I t is by no means certain that the administrativeprohibit ion of the export of feathers from I nd ia ,which dates from Lo rd Curz o n

’

s day , will be main

ta ined ,nor is i t satisfa ctori ly es tabl i shed that such a

measure i s fai r to those who are engaged in what is

after al l a legit imate trade , and might be carried on

without objection,i f the bi rds wi th which i t i s

concerned enjoyed a close t ime,such as birds of

game enjoy in th i s country .

I n the native States of Travancore and Coch in ,

i n which the wri ter had the honour to be B rit i sh

Res ident,elephants are w isely and e fficien tly pro

te cted, as indeed they are in B rit ish I ndia , butprotection is needed everywhere for the bison

,the

wild goat , and indeed for game of every de scription

,as well as for the t igers

,which are being

rapidly exterminated in some parts of the country,

to the detr imen t of the agricul turis ts , to whomthey are such good friends

,as well as to the dis

cred i t of the Government, which puts a prem ium

upon the destruct ion of useful all ies .

Formerly any one who pleased,without any

kind of permiss ion or acknowledgment, shot in the

forests of the nat ive States,and in any forests i n

B ri tish I ndia , though reserved forests are now

closed to shooting , as wel l as to all unregulatedentry .

I n Kashmi r an e fficient game preservation

departmen t was firs t formed,and there l i cences

3 8 MODERN IND IA

have to be taken out,and regulat ions for sportsmen

are annual ly publ ished .

Some local i ties are strictly preserved for theus e of the Maharajah , others as sanctuaries , and

the number of head o f . each kind of game whichsportsmen may shoot i s str i ctly l im ited, as is the

number o f l icense-ho lders permi tted to vis it eachloca l i ty during the year.The o fficer in charge of game preservat ion has

under h im a sufficient and e fficient staff, and therece ipts for l i cences j ust about suffice to cover the

expend iture .

I t was the constant effort of the author to

i ntroduce some such organ ised system of preserva

t ion into certain native States,but no l i ttle diffi

cul ty arises from the fact that European planters

regard the right to shoot everything as a pre

rogat ive of the ir pos it ion , while every hi llman i s

a born poacher . I t does appear, moreover, to be

the case that where State-reserved forests exist,preservation of game can be far more e fficiently

carried on in such areas under Forest Acts thanunder game laws

,which seem as difficu l t of en

forcemen t in I ndia as elsewhere,and are no doubt ,

in parts of the con tinen t at any rate,a novel ,

and therefore an unwelcome,experiment to the

people .

I n a reserved forest the Government has com

p le te powers , and once a forest i s proclaimed as

40 MODERN IND I A

whether B ri ti sh or native,i n which res ides the

sovereign right to the forests and waste lands .

The cult ivators who dwel l with in or around tractsin which big game abounds , benefit by wise andtemperate protection of animals

,whose flesh they

rarely consume,and are no way dependent upon ,

but in pursuit of wh ich rich men v is i t the i r d istricts ,spending money right and left in a manner to themas unprecedented as i t i s grateful . It i s , however,incumben t upon sportsmen to see that paymenti s actual ly made to the proper recipients , and thatfunds disbursed for th is purpose are not appro

priated by some middleman . The army of coo l ies

who follow every camp are sufficiently S Ophis ti

cated to see that they get pa id , but the genuineh il lmen are credulous , t im id , and easi ly defraudedo f the i r dues . Elephan ts are troublesome and de

struct ive , but the cult ivators can exercise the righto f sel f-defence

,or cal l in a sportsman to help b ison

do no harm to l ife or property ; deer and pig can

be kept down with the help of the friendly tiger .M i sunderstanding and misconcept ion are rife

in regard to the habi ts,customs , and lethal qual i

t ies of the wild an imals and repti les in I nd ia .

The fact that upwards of persons are re

ported to die annual ly o f snake-bite i s really a

test imony to the great moderat ion of the snakes ,which abound in a country in which hundreds

of mil l ions wal k about barefooted in the dark.

GAM E PRESERVAT I ON 4 1

Thanatophidia swarm in the thickets o f bambooand croton , i n the bushe s which abut on to the

back-gardens of v i llage huts,in the back-gardens

themselves,under the thatched roo fs , and in holes ,

cracks , and crevices i n the ground . I n somelocal i t ies cobras are encouraged to l ive around the

houses, and are fed with milk ; and where tree and

serpen t worsh ip sti l l l ingers,a good snake-garden ,

with the accompanying idol , i s regarded as an

attract ive feature of a detached res idence . I n and

round such huts and houses , gardens , compounds ,and enclosures

,men , women , and ch i ldren walk

barefooted,and never

,unless i t i s actual ly cornered ,

frightened beyond measure,or real ly hurt

,does the

snake turn to bite . Such members of the tribe as

are dul l of hearing, and are for that reason more

frequen tly trodden on or d isturbed , naturally assert

the privi lege of self-preservation , but all who can ,

get out of the way of human beings . M i stakes

must sometimes happen i n the dark,as the o ccu

pants of the houses l ie s tretched on the fl oor,or

in the verandah,or recl ine on low bedsteads

,whence

the l imbs depend to the floor .The Government of I ndia offered rewards for

the destruct ion of poisonous snakes, with the resul t

that snake-charmers and others bred them in largenumbers , so that the authorit ies practical ly gave

a bounty for the encouragemen t of a new in

dus try, which , however great their anxiety to

42 MODERN INDIA

bring about a d ivers i ty of occupations,they had

no desire to see establ i shed .

For the European , booted and noisy o f tread ,snakes have no terrors , and a sportsman may spendhis l ife in I ndia and never meet any more deadly

specimen than the fresh-water snake wh ich wriggles

harmlessly out of h is way as he splashes through

the shallows in the ri ce-fie lds in search of sn ipe ,and disgorges the half-swal lowed frog in i ts hasteto avoid the in truder .No r, indeed , are nearly al l the deaths a ttri

buted to snake-bite due to that cause,but to

domest ic tragedies , quarrels, and riots , resul tingin an inconvenien t corpse, which ha s in some wayor other to be explained away to the satisfaction

of an intrus ive o fficia l .The h i llmen provide a most interesting study

for the anthropologist and sportsman . I n spi teo f, or perhaps because o f, their s impl ici ty , the ir

express ions are often most in terest ing and original .One such , a head-man , announced the birth of ason , dest ined to be come

‘

a l i ttle axeman and forest

clearer , thus : Last n ight the leaves of the foresttrembled , and the trees cried ,

‘ Now i n the near

future,thousands of us must bow our heads .

’

Some carry on a wasteful hi l l cu lt ivation , cut

ting down the forest,cult ivating for a year or two ,

forsaking the i r clear ings,and repeating annual ly

the same destructive tactics . O thers descend

FOREST RESERVAT I ON 43

prec ipices,armed with torches

,to smoke out the

bees and purlo in the i r honey . A rope is suspended over the giddy crest, and i t does not

speak highly for the tr i bal conception of fraternal

love , that no brother i s al lowed to hold the rope , for

the survivor of a fami ly would inheri t the posses

s ions , includ ing the wife , o f the deceased .

The children of the j ungle are by no means

so unsoph isticated as they appear, and when a

question of boundaries ari ses they have a very

fair idea of the value of their evidence regarding

h itherto unvalued peaks s i tuated in the primeva l

forests . The sportsman i s absolutely dependen t

on the i r guidance , and but for thei r help might

spend the n ight in the forest eaten by leeches ,pe rhaps with in cal l ing distance of h is camp .

There is about them a charming simpl i ci ty,

and though fond of spi ri ts , they wi l l , when incompany , decl ine a second glass , on the groundthat i t makes them drunk . They are s imilarly

conscient ious about c igars,and when a crowd of

he aters are given one apiece , i f by acciden t a

second is offered to an indiv idual who has al ready

rece ived his share, he wil l unrol l the firs t given

from his cloth rather than take another on false

pretences .Elephants are

,as has been al ready stated , pro

te cted , and on ly when proclaimed and proscr ibed

as criminal s by Government may they be ki l led .

44 MODERN IND IA

As a matter o f fact they are very misch ievouscreatures

,and destroy crops and even dwell ings

of the peasan ts whol esale whenever they leave,

as they often do , the recesses of the forest and

march to the margin of cul tivation . Nothing by

law provided prevents the vi llagers from proceed

ing to actual hosti l i t ies by way of retal iat ion whenthe big beasts are found in the act of destroyingtheir property ; but they are not eas i ly caught , as

every one knows who has spen t mon ths , perhaps

in successive years , in endeavouring to find a good

bul l and in segregat ing h im from the herd .

Perm iss ion to shoot elephants is never given inBri tish I ndia

,and rarely in native States

,though

the Brit ish Res ident i s a pr iv i leged ind iv idual , and

can general ly arrange to be the executioner of aproclaimed rogue— that is to say , an elephan t con

demned for hav ing committed murder, o r hav ing

caused great damage to property .

Cons iderable r isks are general ly run i n s talk ing

such intel l igent creatures as elephants , and i t may

be the fate of a sportsman,as i t has been of the

writer,to be fol lowed all day

,and fina l ly to narrowly

escape with h is l i fe .

B ison never do any one any harm , and are far

too shy to approach cultivat ion . They are thereforespecial ly worthy of protect ion .

The pol i cy of offering rewards for the ki l l ing

of w ild beasts may easi ly be carr ied so far as to

FOREST RESERVAT ION 45

i nterfere with the balance of Nature , and just as

owls and other bi rds , which are on the whole far

more be nefic ia l than harmful to game preservation,

are often ruthlessly exterm inated by gamekeepers i n

B rita in,so there i s great danger lest beasts which

serve a useful purpose in Nature’s scheme should

be altogether destroyed in I nd ia to the detrimen t

of the agricul turi st,and to the infin ite lessen ing

of the amen ities of that most del ightfu l of a l l l ives,

a l i fe spent i n the jungle, as a fr iend and not a

foe to its interesting inhabi tan ts .

O f course l ife in the forest i s not al l joy .

There i s,for instance , a large and particularly

venomous hornet which attacks the passer-by with

the ferocity general ly, but , as has been shown

above,unjustly, attr ibuted to the t iger. A bite

from one of these pests will cause the sufferer

all the pa ins of earache , faceache , toothache , head

ache,and neuralgia combined .

Another terror of the jungle i s a harmless

looking plant , under every leaf of which are

mill ions of filam ents of a kind of thistledown,

the st ing of which i s extremely poisonous,and

the presence of wh ich in the throat i s in tensel y

disagreeable .

I t is not at al l improbable that somethingmore might be done to restrain destruct ion ofwi ld beasts , by impos ing an export duty on skins ;but what i s real ly wanted is protect ion for the

46 MODERN IND I A

part icular beast in i tself as a member of an indi

v idua l species . The bison , for instance, shouldbe saved , because of i ts beauty , rarity , and harm

lessness , and also because i t i s kin to the— inI ndia— sacred cow. The s o-cal led ibex, really

South I nd ian goat,was protected i n th is manner

on the Nilgiris , and there seems no particular reason

why such game preservat ion as is there prae

tised should not be extended over other sparse lypopulated portions of the cont inent in which

game is found . The bison i s,to use the language

of the great I nd ian epic , the“Ramayana , the

“very pearl of ruminant creatures,

” and that i t

should be slaughtered,as i t has been

,to be con

verted into that unclean product,leather

,i s enough

to cal l down a j udgmen t upon the heads of the

guilty adm in i st rators of modern I nd ia .

48 MODERN IND I A

through the Red Sea and Egypt,and Vasco da

Gama had doubled the Cape and anchored atCal icut two hundred years before Europeanssettled i n Calcutta .

The Portuguese power , however , fell to pieces ,while the Portuguese and Span i sh Crowns wereun i ted , and the Dutch destroyed the monopoly o f

Portugal , though their own object ive wa s Amboynaand Batavia . The Danes had two ins ign ificant

settlemen ts,even tually sold to England in 1 845 ,

and the French became,i n the m iddle of the eigh

teenth century , our only serious competitors . I n

the middle of the e ighteenth century they tookMadras , which , however , was restored to B ritain bythe Peace of Aix la Chapel le , 1 748 , and then ensued

the real fight for I ndia between Duple ix and , on

our side , Stringer Lawrence and Cl ive . The fame

of the former commander, though he is buried inWestminster Abbey, has been obscured by another

o f the many inaccuracies o f Macaulay , who al together ignores the sen ior o fficer. True

,Clive’s

bril l iant defence of Arcot took place during Law

renee’s absence in E ngland , but the latter returned

to I nd ia in March 1 7 5 2 , and held the ch ief command t i l l the recal l o f Duple ix in 1 7 54 . True

,

Clive was present at Trichinopoly when Lawsurrendered to Lawrence i n J une 1 7 5 2 , but almostimmediately afterwards he was inva l ided to Madras

,

and left for England in November, not return ing

FOUNDAT I ON O F B R IT I S H GOVERNMENT 49

unt i l October 1 7 5 5 , after an absence of thre e

years .I t was during these three years that T richino

poly was invested by the French , when so much

fighting took place under Lawrence ; but Macaulayignores al l th i s and gives the credi t of everything

to Cl ive,who as a fact was no t present at Bahoo r

or at any subsequent contests w ith the French in

Southern I ndia .

The glory of Lord Cl ive i s so great that i t i s i n

no way impaired by rendering due homage to the

merits and services of h is commanding o fficer,

which Cl ive h imself would have been the very

firs t to render .Coote

,too

,the conqueror of Lally, who was

regarded by his own sepoys as almost a demi-god ,should not be forgotten ; but it was , none the less ,Cl ive who ,

j ust a hundred years before the Mut iny,

at the battle of Plassey , had brought Bengal under

the Engl ish yoke . He a lso , by restoring Oudh tothe Mogul

’

s l ieutenan t,and V i rtually independent

,

Viz ier, obtained in return the fis ca l admin i stration

of Bengal , Behar , and Or i ssa , where in the systemo f dual management obta ined from that t ime t i l l

Warren Hast ings abandoned it, and sold to theNawab of Oudh the kingdom , which Cl ive had onlynominal ly , and through the Vizier, restored to theGreat Mogul . This transact ion was perfectlylegit imate , because in the i nterval the Mahrattas

D

5 0 MODERN IND I A

had seized the Mogul Emperor’s person , andHastings properly held that , though the Brit ishmight acknowledge the representative of thedynasty

,i t could not properly recogn ise the robber

Mahratta ch ief who had made himself Mayor of

the Pa lace .

Then ensued a per iod of confusion and anarchy,

during which the Mahratta power wa s d ividedbetween i ts chiefs

,the Peshwa at Poona

,the

Bo ns la Rajah at Nagpur,S indhia at Gwal ior,

H o lkar at I ndore,and the Gaekwar at Baroda .

These , o r at any given t ime one of these , held the

Great Mogul as a pawn and a puppet t i l l,in the

second MahrattaWar, the Bri t ish broke the ir powerand establ ished themselves as protectors o f theEmperor’s person , and of the Empire .

The th ird Mahratta War brought about thedefeat of Ho lkar and the fourth laid low the Peshwa

,

who was deposed and pens ioned at B ithoor, where

he left an adopted s o n , who subsequently becameinfamous under the des ignation of Nana Sah ib

,a

name with which the sed i tious malcontents of I ndiahave lately learn t to conj ure . The time was now

past for the Mahrattas to compete with the Engl ish,

and in 1 780 and 1 790, while we were waging warwith Hyder Al i and h is son T ippo o , they and theN izam co-operated with the Briti sh , and compelledthe latter prince to cede half h is domin ions , which

the al l ies d iv ided amongst themse lves .

FOUNDAT I ON OF B R IT I SH GOVERNM ENT 5 1

Within ten years T ippo o was crushed by LordWellesley

,who had succeeded Cornwal l i s and Shore ,

and Lord Hastings had in turn to wage a difficul t, desu l to ry,

and dis tractingr warfare against the Pindaris ,the fl otsam and jetsam of dismembered l nd ia

Who took to the H i lls o f M i lwa, and the free P indari li fe .

I n the firs t quarter of the n i neteenth century , theBritish

,thei r guardian angel forsaking them

,deter

mined to replace the capable and popular Ameer ofAfghan i stan , Dost Mahomed , by the fugitive ShahShuja , but the Afghans , i n b itter resentment , ki lledour Envoys

,S ir Alexander Burnes and S ir Will iam

Macnaghten , and ann ih ilated the army of occupation

,a disaster whi ch was avenged by General s

Pol lock and Sale in 1 842 .

Before this,i n 1 8 24 to 1 8 26 , the firs t Burmese

War had been fought by Lord Amherst,who added

Assam , Aracan , and Tenasserim to the Company’s

territory , and in 1 842 was waged the firs t, or whatis commonly cal led the opium , war with China , inconsequence of wh ich Hongkong was ceded toGreat Brita in, and Shanghai was opened to Britishtrade . Three years afterwards Lord Hard inge

conducted the firs t S ikh War, at the conclus ionof which the country between the Sutlej and theRavee was annexed , an acquis i t ion to which LordDalhousie , by the Second S ikh and Burmese Wars,shortly added the rest of the Punjab , Oudh Satara,

5 2 MODERN IND IA

J hansi , Nagpur, and a considerable part of what i snow the Province of Burma .

Dalhous ie, great as a conqueror, was also greatas an admin istrator

,and it was he who introduced

cheap postage, constructed roads and canals , andinaugurated

,what has developed into the educa

tional system of the present dayLord Cann ing was constra ined to make war

with Pers ia, took H erat, sometimes cal led the key ofI ndia

,and fought the second Chinese War , fo llow

ing upon which the rights of trade were concededto England , America, and al l E uropean powers .Then was our un i nterrupted career of conquestbroken by the Mut iny, to describe which there isne ither need nor space in these pages .As a result I ndia was transferred to the Crown

,

and Field-Marshal S i r Evelyn Wood,who already

had dist ingu ished himself in those troublous t imes,

writes that the ris ing against us was due in largemeasure to wel l meant but mistaken attempts togovern , i n accordance wi th the systems preva i l i ng

in the U n i ted K ingdom , mill ions of Asiatics , asnumerous as all the peoples of Europe , and of as

many different rel igions .

But while these pages are being printed,the

advanced and disaffected party in I ndia are puttingforth al l the pressure , which capable in triguers canexert

,to induce the Governmen t to proceed further

along the same path , as to taking or refusing which

FOUNDAT ION 0 1 7 BR IT I S H GOVERNM ENT 5 3

the option i s not now open as i t was i n the preMutiny epoch .

S ince the great rebell ion was quelled , we havehad no further d ifficu l ty with the native troops in

I ndia , who have proved themselves , as indeed to agreat extent they d id i n the M utiny, fai thful and

loyal servants of the Br i ti sh Crown . Afghan istan ,on the other hand

,has again and agai n proved

i tsel f to be a storm centre . Lord Lawrence

( 1 864— 1 868 ) acknowledged Sher A l i , son of Dost

Mahomed,as Ameer

,and during the Viceroyal ty

of Lord Lytton ( 1 87 2— 1 876 ) i t was d iscovered thatSher Al i had rece ived an Envoy from Russ ia . As

he refused to entertain a M i ss ion we sent to himin 1 87 8 , war was declared , and he was defeated by

Lord Roberts,who placed h is son Yakub Khan on

the throne .

Within a short t ime the B r it ish Res iden t , S ir

Louis Cavagnari, was assass inated , Yakub Khan

abdicated , and Abdul Rahman , the late Ameer ,was recogn ised by Lord R ipon as sole ruler o fAfghan i stan .

To Lord Ripon , whose efforts to premature lyintroduce local self-governmen t after the B ri tishpattern resul ted in much trouble and friction , succeeded Lord Duffer in ( 1 884 whose Vice

royalty was chiefly remarkable for the th ird Burmese

War, as the resul t of wh ich K ing T hebaw wasdefea ted and deposed , and Upper B urma , the

5 4 MODERN IND IA

latest acquis i tion,but for Chi tral , was annexed to

the Empire .

To Lord Elgin , in whose Viceroyalty occurredthe most serious and widespread tribal fron t ier war

with which we have had to deal , succeeded LordCurzon

,of whose Viceroyal ty perhaps the pol i cy

pursued on the Western and North-Western

Frontier o f I ndia is the most prominen t feature . I t

i s now admitted that there i s l i ttle doubt that thedel imitation of the spheres of Brit ish and Afghan

influence under the D urand Conven tion led the

tribesmen to suspect that the i r independence was

threatened,and so contr ibuted to the almost general

tribal ri s ing , the operations deal ing with which arecommonly known as the Tirah Campa ign .

Our own respons ibi l i t ies were large ly in

creased by the Durand Conven t ion,for when once

in terference with tr ibes beyond our own adm in is

trative frontier i s recogn ised as a respons ib i l i ty,

there i s no definite l imi t to which such respons ibil i ty

may not extend .

The peace and prosperity o f our Empire in Indiaare affected by the act ion of the tribes between

i t and Afghan istan , and also by the act ion o f

Afghan i stan , and of Persia stil l further to the west .I ndeed our sphere of influence extends beyond

Pers ia i tself, well into Turkish Arabia. I t is truethat at th i s t ime the Anglo-Russ ian Conven t ionhad not been concluded , that admirable agreemen t

50 MODERN IND I A

taxation . I t i s in such hal cyon days that legislat ive experiments become possible, and Lord Curz on

’

s

Governmen t passed accord ingly an Act for further

regulat ing the immigrat ion of cool ie labour fromI ndia proper into Assam .

Authorit ies d iffer as to the necess i ty for the

protect ion of such labour, and the cool ies themselves

show the ir appreciation o f the treatment they re

ce ive at the hands of the planters by settl ingwholesale in Assam , greatly to the advantage ofthat backward province . The nat ives of I ndia are

by no means sheep who are eas i ly driven in anydirect ion , they know quite wel l what is good forthem

,and as the planters , to whom the coun try

owes so much , des i re to have free labour in Assam

such as already prevai ls in Ceylon , and have

recently made representations to th is effect,i t is

s incere ly to be hoped that the cool ies from otherparts o f I ndia wi ll be al lowed to emigrate free lyto Assam , and not be protected to the ir own d is

advantage . O f th is there i s always a great danger

whenever machinery exists and wa i ts to be brought

in to use .

Seasons of scarc ity were not want ing l n Lord

Curz on’

s day , and the t reatmen t of the affectedtracts and o f the distressed people was successfulin a very high degree . I ndeed the Famine Prevent ion Code i s now one of the most s cientific and

practical admin i strat ive instruments ever inven ted ,

FOUNDAT ION O F B R IT I S H GOVERNMENT 5 7

and during the last and exceed ingly severe crop

fai lure which occurred in the Upper l ’ro v ince s duringthe Viceroyal ty of Lord M into , only eleven deathscould be directly traced to s tarvation , o r the o ne

th irtieth part o f a man per mil l ion of the population

of I ndia .

I ndeed th is system of outdoor rel ief i s as perfect

in our Eastern Empi re as i t is imperfect in the

Brit ish I sles , where Labour members of Parl iamen tclamour for the same rate of paymen t from the

State , for the unemployed , as i s given underord inary circumstances by pr ivate employers .The I ndian system always fixe s the rel ief rates

at someth ing lower than the ordinary rates of wages ,by which obvious and necessary precaut ion all fear

of mal ingering and of the creation of professionalunemployed

,and al l waste of the tax-payers’money ,

are effectually obv iated .

I t i s unfortunate that the use of the word famine

sti l l conveys the impress ion i n England that the

people are starv ing , whereas the figure s of thoseupon rel ief during times of scarci ty on ly includepersons prevented by the action of the S tate fromexperiencing the natural result of unnaturally h igh

prices fo l lowing upon a success ion of abnormalseasons .

No r, while the active and pers isten t campaign

of malevolen t misrepresentation i n th i s and in otherrespects of the B riti sh Government continues to be

5 8 MODERN INDIA

prosecuted , i s there much prospect that the wonderful admin istrat ive successes of our fe l low-countrymenin I ndia will ever obtain the recogn i t ion they deserve .

I t i s owing to the ra i lways , of course , that theGovernment can deal successful ly wi th the resultsof crop fai lure

,but the above-mentioned crit ics

nevertheless condemn rai lway extens ion because i ti s necessari ly effected by means of Bri tish capital

,

lent , i t must be sa i d , on extremely favourable termsto a country which cannot ra ise the capi tal i tself,and they cry aloud for irr igat ion , ignoring the fact

that acres have been i rrigated at a cost of

z,3 2 , by the B ritish Government , and that a

Special Commiss ion with an eminent engineer at its

head has reported that at the utmost the Government can only i rrigate between three and fourmill ion addit ional acres by an outlay o f e ight or

n ine mill ion sterl ing .

I t would be hope less to ask o f cri ti cs , the

measure o f whose judgment is the extent of the irmalevolence

,that they should remember that unless

a reasonable return can be obtained on moneyinvested

,the expenditure of taxes col lected from

all , cannot be jus tified upon works des igned forthe benefit of the comparat ively few .

I t w il l always be remembered to the credito f Lord Curz on

’

s Governmen t that the promptdespatch of troops to South Africa saved thes i tuation at the outset of what proved , con trary

FOUNDAT ION OF BR IT I S H GOVERNMENT 59

to expectat ion,to be a difficul t

,and on severa l

occas ions almost a d isastrous,campaign .

Lord M i nto, who has been spared external war

fare , has had more trouble from in ternal unrest thanany one of h is predecessors s ince Lord Canning .

He has been s ingularly fortunate i n hav ing at the

I nd ia O ffice i n Lord Morley a Secretary of S tatewho , while anxious to go as far as possible to meet

the legit imate aspirations of a class we ourselves

have created,i s no less determined to deal firm ly

with sed ition , and has more than supported everystep taken or proposed to be taken by the Governmen t of I ndia to enforce the law

,preserve order,

and pun ish crime .

CHAPTER V

ECONOM ICS—TRADE—TAXAT ION— EM IGRAT IONINDUSTR IE S

IT i s the fate o f I ndia to be misrepresen ted in everySphere , whenever she comes wi thin the range ofB rit ish pol i ti cs .

Year after year the Secretary of S tate , always aprominent pol i t i c ian , and sometimes, as at present ,in the very forefront of B ri tish statesmen

,himsel f

presents,and if not in the House of Commons

,but

represen ted , as at the presen t moment , by a capableU nder-Secretary , through him presents , a satis fac

tory account of h is s tewardship , and year after yearthere ensues a debate exh ib i ting in some quarters

the most deplorably ignorant or malevolent m istepresentat ion o f Brit ish I ndian adm in i stration . Allth is i s duly d i scounted at home, but i t does its work

abroad and in I ndia .

Treat ises by Bradlaugh, D igby , Dadabha i

Nao roj i, and historians of the l ike cal ibre, deal

w ith the so -called “drain ” to England , which theMaster of El ibank in August 1 909, on the authority

of Lord M orley, stated to be f , 2 a year, a

sum made up of 75 the average amoun t60

ECONOM ICS 6 1

o f Government , and of private , re

m ittance s .

This total may be compared with theof these wri ters

,and of the other hosti le cri tics of

B ri t ish I nd ian admin istration .

The Government remittance is made up ofinterest on loan payment for storeswhich cannot be produced in I nd ia , and only suchas canno t, are obta i ned from this country , £2 ,

pension and furlough pay to civi l and mil itary o ffice rs,

and miscellaneous ,I t is apparent, after

’

deducting the amount forpens ions and furlough pay , that the bulk of this

s o-called “drain ” represents interest for ra i lwayand other developments absolutely necessary toI ndia

,and

,h itherto at any rate, not provided for

by I ndian capital .As regards the pretended commercial drain of

forty mill ions,the d ifference between other than

Governmen t remittances from India and to I ndiais just while the capital outlay onrai lways alone amounts to 75 26 to whichno doubt another eighty or n inety mil l ions wil l beadded before the stage is reached at which a hal tmay be called .

These authori tat ive figure s for the years 1 904 ,1 905 , and 1 906 should be sufficient to explode theloose and inaccurate statements put forward withthe pol i tical object of proving that England is

6 2 MODERN IND IA

ruining India by lending her money— at extremelyfavourable rates— for the execution of absolutelynecessary works .Charges

,moreover , are made against the

Governmen t that they rackren t rural I ndia. S ir

Wi l l iam Hunter i s m isquoted as a witness to thiseffect , and from a wise and humane minute by thelate Lord Sal isbury, four words only are wrestedfrom the i r context, I ndia must be bled . LordSal isbury

’

s object was to spare the agriculturist asmuch as possible , and such too is eviden tly theobject of Lord MorleyAs to the home charges general ly

,without them

there could , of course , be no B ritish Governmentin I ndia , for they include i nterest on loans andal lowances for Engl ishmen who have spen t the irl ives and health i n the country.

The excess of exports over imports is regardedas another s ign that I ndia is bleeding to death

,not

withstanding the fact that a s imi lar phenomenon i smani fested in some of the most prosperous countriesof modern times , whilst in E ngland approachingruin is foretold because imports exceed exports .The Un i ted States and Argentina, wherein

exports exceed imports by 74 and 1 5 mill ions re

spective ly, are in the very van of contemporaneousprosperity , while Per5 1 a , Turkey, and China , whichshow an excess of imports over exports , are notexactly ideal commercial S tates .

04 MODERN I ND IA

world where labour cannot be inc i ted by agitators

to ask for more , and there are some countries inwhich the process has reached a poin t at wh ichcap ital can no longer be remuneratively employed .

The critics of the I nd ian Governmen t and of the

economic conditions , in the evolut ion of which i t

has at least had a share,offer no al ternat ive system ,

except the further employment of Babus andwhose salaries are to be provided by taxes drawnfrom the industr ious cultivator , who has no l ik ing

for,and no fa i th in , these classes which from t ime

immemorial have regarded h im as mere material

to be squeezed . I t does not even occur to writers ofth i s k ind that the best hope for I ndia l ies in develop

ing her resources,in encouraging new industries

,

such as tea planting , already d is tribut ing vast sums

in comparat ively high wages , cotton and jute mill s ,gold and coal m in l ng.

While the bleeding I nd ia school assert that

I nd ia i s becom ing less prosperous because the

prices of Indian s taples have not risen,the Congress

party cry out because wages have not advanced inequal measure w ith the rise in prices

,which has of

course occurred ; and while they dwell upon that

fact they conceal another , equal ly relevant, that

wages have risen even more than prices .I t i s usual w ith such crit ics to make elaborate

and ent i re ly fanc i ful comparisons of the condit ionof the natives of I ndia with that of the natives of

ECONOM I CS 6 5

European States,whol ly igno ringr the fact that the

standard of comparison for one,should be found in

another,O riental , and not in an European , country .

In fact , i f the average Russ ian has an i ncome ten

times greater than that of the average I nd ian peasant , h is board , lodging , and clothing cost h im more

than ten times as much,so that relatively he i s in

a less sati s factory posi t ion . Again , the fact that

I ndian labour takes toll of al l the by no means exce ss ive profits of British capital ists i s overlooked , nor do

host i le and i l l-informed cri t ics care to remember

Brit ish legislation for the protect ion of tenan ts

from landlords and money-lenders,the extension

of irrigat ion , the establ ishment of agricul tural andco -operat ive cred it , and the industrial eminence of

Bombay , Cawnpore , and other great I ndian ci ties .Nor has any one yet explained why, i f land is

grievously over-assessed by the Government,rent

i s so much higher than the Government assess

ment.

I t is noteworthy that writers who have furn i shed

ammun i t ion for the cr it i cs of Bri tish rule are invariably men with no knowledge of rural l i fe in I ndiaMr. Bradlaugh, a professional athe istical lecturerand pol it i c ian Mr. D igby, a j ournal i st Mr. Nao roj i,a Parsee

, who spent h is l i fe in England , and knewno more of I ndia than a clerk in London .

I t is al so noteworthy that the one civ i l servant ,S ir Will iam Hunter

,whose writ ings can

,even when

E

66 MODERN IND I A

perverted and misquoted,on ly to an extremely

l imited extent,lend colour to the Congress case ,

was a man talented and industrious , but one the

greater part of whose o fficia l l i fe was spent i nEngland . He had , indeed , less experience ofI ndia than almost any member of his service .

Precise definition and accuracy of statement

are not now expected of cri t i cs o f Bri tish I nd ianadmin i s tration , and by them the land revenue i shabitually referred to as taxat ion

,as they con

veniently, but hardly in good fa i th , ignore the fact

that where land is held di rectly from Governmenttaxes include rent, so that land tax in I nd ia shouldbe compared wi th tax plus rent in th is country , an

elementary considerat ion wh ich reduces n ine-tenths

of the ir d iatribes to absolute nonsense .

The transparently fal se statement i s made on al lhands that England has ruined I ndian trade . Nowthat i s true as regards certain particu lar trades

,but

i t i s al so true that she has endowed I ndia withmany new industries more than she has destroyed

,

and has created her very considerable deal ings withforeign nat ions

,for I ndian trade in ante-Bri tish

days was a mere bagatel le compared to what 1 t 1 8

at the presen t t ime .

Nothing can exceed the unscrupulous m isrepre

sentation to which the Governmen t of India i sexposed al ike in regard to i ts commercial and i tsland revenue pol icy . I ts land system , which hosti le

ECONOM I CS 6 7

native cr iti cs condemn,i s no invention of the

Bri tish,but wa s inheri ted from thei r prede ce s sors

in title the Moguls , whose B rahmin min isters invented it , and it has exi s ted under every Government that has ruled I ndia , s o far a s we have

any reco rd of the i r rule , differing i n no whi t i nprinciple , but widely in respect of its i nc idence ,which ha s been enormous ly and progre s s ively re

duced.

For the permanen t settlemen t the B ri tish

Government i s no doubt responsible , but the trans

formation of farmers of the land tax into landlords

paying a fixed proporti on of their as s ets to the

State,which the Bengal i Babus and landlords extol

,

and which they unnecessarily fear the Government

may cancel,i s not a successful experimen t , and at

any rate i t is certain that the Bri ti sh Government

has had to i ntervene to protect the actual cult ivator

from the rapaci ty of landlords of the ir own creat ion .

Yet these very landlords , i n no small degree , prov ide the funds for the agitat ions , wh ich B ri ti shMembers of Parl iament support in the bel ief that

they are taking up the cause of the people o f I nd ia !The fear that th is system may be abandoned ,

and that d irect relat ions between the State and thecult ivator may be renewed in Bengal

,accounts

,

for the most part, for the fact that many of theBengal landlords subscr ibe to the agitat ion engineered by Bengal i Babus and Deccani Brahmins .

6 8 MODERN IND IA

Under the permanent settlement , the exception

ally fertile province o f B engal,though blessed above

other parts of I nd ia wi th means of commun ication

and with a monopoly of the production o f j ute , doesnot by any means possess an exceptional ly pros

perous peasantry . Critics of British rule devote

themselves , therefore , to the temporari ly settledd istricts in which the cult ivator holds d irectly from

the State, and from which provinces very l i ttle i scollected for the i r war-chest . Somehow they shal l

pay,i s the judgmen t o f the agitators .

I n the temporar i ly settled distr icts the land

holders pay revenue to Government , whether theycult ivate themselves or through ren t-paying tenan ts ,and in such cases the Government of Ind ia places a

l imit upon the rent they may demand . Neve rthe le s s

these land-holders , o f the classes , though nat ives

of I ndia,have not been found over ready to co

operate with the State in l imit ing the i r own powersfor the benefit of the i r tenants, of the masses .What the State takes from the landlord as its

share , under the immemorial I ndian system of

d ivided ownersh ip,becomes ways and means to be

expended for the benefit o f the count ry in general,

and there can be no object i n reducing payments,

for the benefit of the landlord , to the detriment ofthe tenant and the masses .

I t i s only another proof what ch ildren the so

cal led “fr iends of India ” in England are,in the

ECONOM ICS 00

hands of the I ndian agi tators , that the latter haveactual ly persuaded the fo rmer that the Government

of I ndia should abandon the ir rights , taxes to which

they are en titled,which are levied from the land

lords and spent on the cul t ivators , the inevi table

resul t of which would be that only the upper classeswould be spared , and the lower class es would be

further taxed to make up the deficiency . What

infinite depth of i rony , of pol i ti ca l ignorance lurks

in the fact that a LabourM.P . l i ke Mr. Keir H ard ie

condemns the Governmen t of I nd ia for exact ing

from the landlord a comparatively large share,and

for l imit ing by law his claim to more than a com

para tive ly small share of the produce of the labours

of the agriculturis t .

I n the temporari ly settled distr i cts in which the

peasan t proprietor pays directly to the S tate,of

which Madras , Bombay , and Burma are the bes t

examples , (21 1 t 8 of the adm in i stration have actually

suggested that rates should be enforced which arevery much higher than those no w lev ied .

I ndeed , those who in th i s count ry are under the

spel l of the subtle-minded and n imble-witted I ndian

agitators l ittle real ise that their mentors are entirely

representat ive of the priv i leged classes , and thatthe money with whi ch they carry on the i r propaganda is found by high-caste landlords and wealthylawyers belonging exclus ively to the aristocracy ofb irth , wealth , or intel lect .

7 0 MODERN IND IA

The landlords,whose case the Labour members

all unconsc iously espouse , would no doubt prefer to

have the ir share of contri bution to the expenses of

the State reduced .

The Master of El ibank lately stated in theHouse of Commons that 50 per cent . i s the general

standard for the rat i o of land revenue to the land

lords’ income from the land in the areas where

landlords exist,and the actual proportion more often

fal ls below than exceeds th is standard , and the

cesses amount to not more than 4 to 6 per cent .

of the landlords’ income . I n calculating the rates

of incidence of the revenue on the gross produce ,the danger of over-valuat ion in the matter of cropout-turn i s guarded against by exclud ing from the

calculation o f crop yield the produce of al l double

or second crops,of al l non-food crops

,such as sugar

cane , cotton , &c .,which are usual ly more valuable

than the staple food-crops,and of the very valuable

garden produce . These safeguards clearly make fora crop valuat ion under rather than over the actual

y ield , so that the percentage levied by the State is less

than would be in ferred from the actual figure s ofinc idence of land revenue on gross produce general ly given by the Government , v iz . from 5 to 1 5 percent . in most parts of I ndia, r is ing in certain whol ly

except ional cases to 20 per cent . , figure s i t mustalways be remembered including the equ ivalent of

Engl ish rent , as wel l as the equivalen t of Engl ish

7 2 MODERN IND I A

contemporary records which throw a fl ood of l ight

on the past in I ndia,and should be read by all

those who accept as trustworthy the fabricatedstatements prepared by pol it i cal agitators for publ ic

consumption .

I t i s a s ingular c ircumstance,i l l ustrat ing the

exigencies o f agitat ion , that Mr. R. C . Dutt should

make the transparently inaccurate statement thatthe soi l was private property in I ndia

,as amongst

all other civ i l i sed nations ,” nor wil l the Social ist

friends in Great B ritain of the agitators in I ndia

al together approve of the dictum that the existence

of private property in land is the ch ief tes t of civi l isation . Then the death-rate i s sa id to have in

creased in our t ime , the fact be ing that no stat istics

exist w ith the help of which comparison can bemade before 1 87 2 , the date o f the firs t Census ,following upon which , in 1 880 , the statist ical depart

ment Wa s created in Calcutta .

N everthe le ss , figure s of monumental absurd ityand transparen t error are so frequently repeated

that at last, from sheer weariness , they gain acurrent value

,and some normal and ideal death

rate is assumed for I ndia, far lower than thatwhich obtained at the same t ime in Westerncountr ies .Any st ick is good enough for a certain purpose

,

and the actions of self-govern ing colon ies wh ich,

be ing independen t, naturally assert the i r right to

ECONOM I CS 7 3

choose their own company , is now being press ed

into the serv ice o f the agitators as a grievance ofgreat force or of great value . The ques ti on of the

emigration of cool ies from I ndia to South Africa ,the Pac ific Coast

,and elsewhere i s no t a particu

larly s erious one from an I ndian po in t o f v iew ,

though it raises an I mperial i ssue of the firs t

magnitude,and

,i n spite o f what agitators may say ,

emigrating I ndians are quite prepared to adopt the

customs of the country to which they go , i f let

alone . The idea of world or of empire ci tizensh ip

has never yet material ised in the I ndian mind,

the not ion of social or pol i t ical equal i ty is unknown

in the country of their orig in , and they attach

l i ttl e value to ga in ing a franch ise , which they have

never possessed . However that may be,fore ign

countr ies and o ur own colon ies w il l have their

way in th is matter, and it i s as impossible , as i t

would be unbecoming,for the Brit ish Govern

ment to attempt to impose upon others free trade

pr inciples in respect o f labour, which , i n fact ,i t never does

,and in this coun try never wil l

,

enforce .

Under the existing system un sk i lled labourersfrom I ndia have been emigrat ing to Natal for em

ployment as agriculturists and as miners , t i l l some

have been absorbed , and are workingunder inden tures

,not only without complaint , but

to their own profit and satisfaction . There is also

7 4 MODERN IND IA

i n Natal a l arge population,which i s cal led free

,

of British I ndians, upwards of in number,

not working under indentures, though many of

them are indentured labourers who have servedthei r time and settled in the country

,or the de

s cendants of such persons . I t i s th is latter class

which is so unpopular in Natal that the Government of the colony has taken strong measures to

preven t an increase in their numbers . The Governmen t of I nd ia resented these measures and

,in

retal iation , decl ined to faci l itate the emigrat ion o f

labourers to the colony t i ll the laws affecting the

free I ndians were modified. I n other South Africancolon ies no system of indentured I ndian labour

obtains , but in all such opposit ion to the immigrat ion of free I ndians i s manifested , and particularly

in the Transvaal,so that the Government of I ndia

decl ined to establ ish a system of indentured emigra

t ion to that colony. The H ome Governmen t, tosome exten t

,and probably as far as i t could , sup

ported the I nd ian Administrat ion in i ts effort to get

better terms for free I nd ian subjects in South Africa

but the fact i s that self-govern ing colon ies wi l l notsubmit to dictat ion in matters v ital ly affecting their

own in terests,that South Africa is as much entitled

to its own way in regard to this problem as isAustral ia, and that any effort to force Asiat i c immi

grants upon white populat ions must necessari ly end

in d efeat if not in disaster.

7 6 MODERN IND IA

I t would be as easy for Members of Parl iamen telected as free traders to j usti fy the ir support ofthe movement in I nd ia for rigorously boycotting al lthe manufactures of the ir consti tuen ts, as for theBrit ish Government , which passes spec ial legis lat ion

to favour trades un ions in this country,to enforce

equal i ty between white,brown

,and black in Afri ca .

The true S vade shi,or home-produce pol i cy , i s that

which the Government of I ndia and the I ndia O ffice

have long practised,and which Lord M orley has

recently extended,strengthened , and confirmed :

There should be a great future for I ndia , for hertexti le industr ies

,for her gold, s i lver , copper, brass ,

i ron,and wood , her pottery and tann ing, dye ing and

leather-work , cane and bamboo , for carv ing and

embroidery,for sugar-refining, tobacco-curing , for

oi l and flour mill s,and for other d iverse occupations .

At present the raw material for many of theseindustries is exported from I ndia to d ifferent coun

tries,whence i t returns in the shape o f manufactured

goods to the place of origin,where in , nevertheless ,

there is no lack of cheap fue l and labour.

Why should I ndia export o i l seed and import

oi l Why does she grow sufficient cotton for herself, export most of it, and yet get back manufactured cotton to the tune of half of al l he rimports ? Why

,one of the greatest sugar producers

in the world , does she import sugar to the value ofmi l l ions sterl ing P

7 8 MODERN IND IA

imagination,hear the sounding of the sea on all

s ides as he performs his da i ly duty .

M in ing has fortunate ly experienced l ittle inter

ference in I ndia ; hence 1 t i s that the Mysore gold

fie lds have produced upwards of th irty mill ion s ofthe precious metal

,and are sti l l pursu ing a vigo

rous and prosperous career . H ere,on the pleasant

uplands of Mysore , without any special laws , and

without the help of any Government inspectors ,a model labour settlement grew up, to the ex

ceeding benefit of the native State in which i t iss i tuated

,and , in on ly a sl ightly less degree, to the

neighbouring Presidency of Madras . The number

ofpersons employed in the mines cons ists approximately of 5 30 Europeans

, 3 30 Euras ians , and

natives, who , with the l r famil ies and de

pendants,make up a total population of about

a large proport ion of whom are providedwith house accommodat ion by the min ing com

panie s , chiefly under the managemen t of Messrs .J ohn Taylor Sons , at nominal rentals . The

scale o f pay is l iberal , free medical treatment isprovided for al l

,and the employees appreciate the

conditions of serv ice in the mines,and are contented

and happy .

At the present t ime operat ions are being conducted by s ix Brit ish compan ies

,whose combined

capi tal i s 75; 1 , valued on the home marketat 75

ECONOM I CS 7 9

The cond itions of an arti san’s l i fe in I ndia are

probably more pleasant than those of a mechan ic inE ngland ; but he produces much less per head ,because the industrial sys tem of I nd ia does not pro

v ide for that d ivi s ion of labour wh ich i s un iversalin Europe . The I nd ian labouring clas ses are not

dependent on the rate of wage s , because each man

works on his own account,and , besides supplying

the labour h imself, also undertakes the ri sks ofproduct ion . I n Europe

,on the other hand

,he i s

generally a h ired man working for an employer .I t would appear, therefore , that not only i n re

gard to land , but i n regard to labour , the natives

of I nd ia,whom the Social i sts describe as downtrodden

and oppressed creatures , more nearly approach the ir

own ideals than they do themselves , though i t may

be a fault in them that they , too , are capital is ts after

their own degree . Nor is i t true , to expose another

fallacy,that the I nd ian peasant i s more indebted

than h is brother i n Europe,for both borrow accord

ing to their capacity and not accord ing to thei r

need .

With the i r,to us , pecul iar industrial organ i sa

tion the peoples in I ndia can , of course, nevercompe te

i

with the inhabitants of countries whereinthe wage-earners work under the d irection of

employers , instead of taking the ri sks of product ion upon the ir own shoulders ; whereas inI nd ia every artisan i s a capital ist whether or no t

8 0 MODERN IND I A

he has capital,and there is great waste for want

of co -operat ion .

H is wants,however, are so small , compared

with those of h is brother in Europe , that h is com

parative ly pal try earn ings suffice for h is modest

needs . Thrifty he is not , and the greatermargin wh ich lower taxes al low him on ly serves

to enhance hi s cred it and increase h is indebtedness . Everything differs from its Europeancounterpart

,and tranquill ity and comfort

,not the

acquisit ion of h igh wages,are the lodestars o f

I ndian l i fe .

One th ing i s certain : the further developmen tof th is vast and varied cont inen t depends chiefly onthe cont inued prov is ion of B riti sh capital , and agi

tators are scaring Brit ish capital away, and keepingI ndian sav ings in the stocking or in the hole in theground . The Government at the present day doesgood work under difficul tie s ; but i t has recentlycreated a Departmen t of Commerce and I ndustry

,

and has done something to help the tea industry andto improve the banking system . Cable rates

,also

,

have been reduced , wages have increased by 50 percent. within a generat ion , and standard s of l iv inghave notably and conspicuously risen . I n some respe cts our Eastern Empire compares favourably withour own island

,for the average profit on i nvestments

in land i s admitted by the Congress journal s to be6 per cent. , a rate which we would gladly see , but

8 2 MODERN I ND I A

nearly 1 09 per cent . of the capital outlay expendedupon the twenty-two mill ions of acres i rr igated .

There were in 1 898 in I ndia 2 25 cotton-mills ,

45 j ute , 6 woo l len , and 9 paper , mil ls , and breweries

producing upwards of 55 mill ions of gal lons a year .

There were in al l 1 922 j oint stock compan ies , theoutput of coal amounted to upwards of eleven mill ions

of tons,and there were over miles of ra i lway

working,the average return on the capital expendi

ture on which was per cent . i n 1 907 , as against

3 75, i n England .

A B il l is now before the Governor-General’

sLegislat ive Council which provides for a reduction

i n the hours of labour in texti le factories , whichsomet imes extended to fifteen hours a day or more ,to a day not exceeding twelve hours

,deal s drasti cal ly

with serious abuses that existed in connection with theemployment of chi ldren , and gives power to LocalGovernments to apply i ts provis ions to other factoriesif necessary . D i rect restr iction on the hours oflabour was recommended by the Committee of 1 906and by a minority report of the subsequent Commiss ion , the majority of which proposed to atta in thesame end by indirect means .

I t is true , of course , that i n the East labour is notorgan ised as i t i s i n B ritain and i s not continuousbut interm ittent and spasmodic ,but it i s calculated thata large number of operatives are l ikely to lose thei remployment by the introduct ion of the shortened

ECONOM ICS 8 3

hours,and the abo l i t ion of sh i fts , which is almost

cer tain to fo l low,see ing that a 1 3Q-hour day is qu i te

the maximum poss ible . This loss of labour has

been roughly estimated at about one-six th , or in

other words,some mil l-workers wil l perhaps

be thrown out of employment. When th is legisla

t ion i s firm ly establ ished there wil l doubtless be a

further extens ion of mill s,the erect ion of wh ich wi ll

tend to absorb a l l superfluous labour , but meanwhile

the poss i bil i ty of th is wholesale d ismissal is th e one

serious practical object ion to the proposed legislat ion .

As a matter of fact i t canno t be said with any truth

that the operat ives have been in any degree over

worked,for the actual hours of labour put in by any

of them on time wage seldom exceeded eleven hours ,though of course the piece-workers put i n as muchwork as they l iked to make money for themselves .

Besides th is fact there were the casual and regularhol idays so freely taken

,that they reduced the

average hours of labour year i n and year out toquite a moderate quant i ty . At the same t ime there

has always been a certain amount of discontent atthe nominal ly long hours during which the mil l

engines worked , and there was always the tempta

t ion for the more avaric ious m il l-owners rather to

exceed moderat ion , i f i t were poss ible , so that it i snot al together unreasonable that the ir ardour andenergy should be restrained by law .

The total value of imports and exports in 1 907—8

,

84 MODERN IND IA

the latter exceed ing the former by about mill ions

sterl ing, was The Un i ted K ingdomi s the chief importer from I ndia

,and next after

the Un ited K ingdom come Germany,the Un i ted

States , China, and France . The ch ief imports in to

I ndia are manufactured yarns and texti le fabrics,manufactured metals , mach inery , ra i lway plant , and

articles of food and drink,while the chief exports are

raw materials, articles o f food and drink,and yarn s

and text i le fabrics wholly o r partially manufactured .

The chief art icles o f Bri t ish produce exported toI nd ia are cotton manufactures

,cotton yarn , i ron

and ironwork and machinery,and the chief cr0ps

raised in the country are rice,wheat

,and other

cereals , cotton and oi l seeds , while smal ler areasare given to val uable products l ike tea

,indigo , and

tobacco .

8 6 MODERN I ND IA

Commander-in-Chief to object to this system , and hedesired to create a department deal ing wi th mil itaryadministrat ion i n every branch , of which the Commander-in-Chief should be the head .

Lord Curzon , however, with the support , i t should

not be forgotten,of the Members of h is Counci l ,

held that in th is event al l m i l itary authori ty would

be concentrated in the hands of the Commander-in

Chief, whereby the supreme contro l of the Civ i lPower over the army would be lost .The S ecretary of S tate, Lord M id leton , wa s

wil l ing to reta in the M i l i tary Member of Counc il,

but in a posit ion in which Lord Curzon thought he

would not be able to tender independent adviceupon mil i tary matters , in which case the GovernorGenera l in Counci l would be left without expert aid

to face the Commander-in-Chief re inforced withlargely increased powers .

Lord Curzon al so thought that the Member for

M i l i tary Supply , as the new occupant of the old

o ffice on the new footing was to be cal led,should be

an o fficer whom the Governmen t considered fit'

tobe the ir general adviser in mil itary matters .I t was hard for the Government of Ind ia to

object to a reform which had been approved by aCommittee of which two ex—Commanders-in-Chief

in I ndia, Lord Roberts and S i r George White , weremembers , but they had no l iki ng for the change ,and des ired to appoint an o fficer of whom the

ARMY 8 7

Cabinet at home did no t approve , for the s implereason that h is past train ing and very d istinguishedserv i ce

,made i t unl ikely that he would be able to

inaugurate the new system with an open mind and

without inconven ient prepossessions . Lord Curzon,

i n short , wanted the new Member to be as mucha s poss ible l ike the o ld Member

,and the H ome

Government wanted to make the change desired byLord Kitchener

,and the upshot was that Lord Curzon

resigned . The whole correspondence was publ ished

for the perusal of the publ i c,but i t appeared from

Lord Curz on’

s speech in the H ou s e of Lords that

i t was not he , but Lord Kitchener who desired

that a step should be taken,which had a deplorable

effect in I ndia, where the Government had hithertobeen regarded as a body of one mind , and the

Viceroy as i ts almost sacrosanct head . And as

Lord Morley in 1 909 abol ished the Member forM il i tary Supply

,Lord K itchener has won al l

along the l ine,with , i t must be confessed , the

general approval of the mil itary elemen t .Lord Morley

,who had taken o ffice in the middle

of th is embittered controversy , throughout endeavoured to safeguard the fundamental pri nciple thatthe Government of I ndia in al l i ts branches

,i nclud

ing the control of the army , was respons ible to theSecretary of State in Council

,and he laid spec ial

emphasis on the fact that the I ndian army was oneof the most difficu l t and del icate problems with

8 8 MODERN IND IA

which the Governmen t had to deal , especial ly at at ime when a body recru i ted from the nat ive popula

t ion could hardly be expected to escape al togetherfrom the influence s ri fe amongst the classes fromwhich its members were drawn . He held that thecreation of the Department of M i l i tary Supply in the

place of the abol ished M i l i tary Department was onlya provis ional and tentat ive arrangement , i n fact,a mere compromise between the views of Lord

K itchener and Lord Curzon , and that i t had been un

successful in attain ing what might safely be assumedto have been the main object in creat ing it, namely,a middle course which both the Viceroy and theCommander-in-Chief could accept . N0 one couldbe a better j udge of the s ituat ion than Lord Morley ,for i t was he who by his tactful and concil iatory

treatmen t had rel ieved a state of prolonged tens ionwhich was gravely affecting the efficiency of thepubl ic service

,and bringing the Governmen t into

someth ing dangerously l ike contempt . Lord M in to ,who followed Lord Curzon as Viceroy , set to workto carry out th is compromise , and succeeding i n

produc ing harmon i ous co -operat ion between all concerned , he rather incl ined to deprecate the reopen ingof the question .

I n deference to th is op in ion , apparen tly somewhat aga inst his own better judgment

,Lord

Morley resolved to let the matter rest for thetime being , but by 1 907 the Government of

00 MODERN IND IA

of the Department (the Commander-in—Chief), andhad free access to the Viceroy . I t certain ly doesseem satisfactori ly establ ished that the Commanderin-Chief has by no means occupied a posit ion of

mil itary autocracy under the new system sincethe in it ial change , and i t may reasonably be hoped

that he will not do so now that the reform is

carried to i ts ul t imate and inev itable conclus ion .

Leaving th i s much vexed and most important

quest ion to cons ider Lord K itchener’s generaladmin is tration , i t may be said that he pursued a wise

pol icy of devolution , and delegated to D iv is ionalCommands many duties which had previously been

central ised in S imla or in Calcutta . True decen

tra lisation does not mean the lessen ing of the con trolat headquarters , but the giving o f more powers of

in it iat ive and direct ion to the general and other

subord inate o ffice rs .

If, as has been calculated , mil i tary chargeshave increased by upwards of two mill ions sterl ing

as a fact an over estimate o f — s ince1 902 , when Lord K itchener assumed command , i t

must be remembered that that large sum , spreadover five years , provided amongst other thingsfor re—arming the arti l lery with qu ick—firing guns ,and the Whole army with the new rifl e , and that

in every progress ive and prosperous State,there

i s yearly more to be protected,and revenues in

crease,and the expenditure i s augmented in l ike

ARMY 9 1

rat io , under every head of account , i nclud ing thatof nat ional in surance The worst enemies o f anyadmin i stration would be those who allowed thi s

insurance to become inadequate . As a fact theamount of the permanent annual i ncrease canno t

yet be accurately determined , but i t i s pretty certain

i t wi l l not exceed three-quarters of a mill ion .

I t is the case,as S i r Charles D i lke lately stated

in Parl iament,that n ine d ivis ions ready equipped

for over-sea exped itions now exist in I ndia , but i t

i s not the case that the I nd ian army is of such

strength that these n ine d iv is ions could be sen t out ofthe country

,and the I ndian Empire , froman internal

point of view,be sti l l adequately defended . Lord

Kitchener , i t i s true , sa i d that a sufficient force

could and would be left to ma in ta i n publ i c securi ty,

by which presumably he meant l i ttle more than that

the Empire could be pol i ced during the absence ofthe ma in army.

Lord K itchener i s entitled to great credit for

the improvements he effected in the transport

system,and when th is al l important subject is

under consideration the previous serv ices in th i s

behal f of General S i r Edwin Col len should not be

overlooked .

I t becomes more and more apparen t that,i f

Great B ri ta in i s to maintain her present place ofpride in the world , a strik ing force , capable of

leaving I ndia for parts of the Empire s i tuated

02 MODERN IND IA

nearer to her shores than to Great Br i ta in,i s

a v ital necessi ty . l ndia mus t be regarded froman I mperial poin t of v i ew , and i t is imposs ibleto exactly demarcate the l ines between herown pecul iar

,and the general imperial

,interests .

I ndia’

s mil itary and naval needs must always be

ident ical w ith those of Great B ritain,and un

friendly crit ics who dwell upon the army expendi

ture conven i ently forget that a navy is provided for

the defence of her thousands of mi les of coast-l ineat the expense of the B rit ish taxpayer. Already

the statutory provision that no force in I ndia shal l

be used beyond the l im its of that country withoutthe leave of Parl iamen t i s unduly hampering the

Governmen t of I ndia in meeting i ts many and great

respons ibi l it ies . For instance , l n the now happilyimprobable event of our be ing at war with Russia ,the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Baltic , or ofRuss ian troops on the shores of the North Sea

,

would be as effective as a reverse experienced onthe Indian front ie r .The part and lot in the Emp l re which I ndia

plays i s so pre-eminently great that it i s hopeless totry to find any analogies between her pos it ion in

respect of mil i tary charges,and that of any of our

colon ies , i n which we ma inta in small garri sons .

I n point of fact, the greater part of the corpusof the B ri tish army at any given t ime IS in I nd ia

,

and the system of supplying her with troops

04 MODERN IND IA

nat ive tro ops have also been greatly enhanced by

the extens ion of free passes , and the grant of

free kit , boots , forage and firewo od, further faci l i t ies

for furlough , and improvements in the pensionrules .

No extra charges , however, are imposed on

I ndian revenues without the closest scrut iny before

a mixed committee , on which those responsible forthe finances of I ndia are strongly represented . I t

i s extremely easy to say that m il itary charges shal l

not increase . I t i s impossible , however , that insurance charges should no t be augmented in proportion to the increase in the value of that which isprotected .

The British troops in I ndia are lent to , andpaid for by, the I ndian Government , from whichal so a capi tat ion charge of £7 . 1 08 . per head forthe expenses of recrui t ing and tra i n ing the recru it

i s lev ied . No doubt th is i s a h igh charge , but i trema ins to be proved that I ndia could do thesame th ing for hersel f at lower cost , and it i s infact improbable that she could find the material

upon which to work .

I n addit ion to the army proper the Governmen t uti l i ses the Imperial Service Corps, a force

of men,kept up by certain nat ive States ,

but spec ial ly dri l led and instructed under B ri ti shsuperv is ion . I n th is way a good deal of the necessarytransport in front ier expeditions i s provided , the

ARMY 95

greates t ass i s t ance being given by the Maharajas

of Cashmere ,Gwalior

,I’a tia la ,

and o thers .

As the Master of El ibank said i n the H ouse

of Commons last sess ion The scheme o f ImperialService tr00ps , i ntroduced in 1 889,

wa s based on

offers made by I ndian Princes to contributetowards the defence of I nd ia ; and was establ i shed

on the principle that the main tenance of thesetroops by I ndian Princes i n their territories should

be voluntary . The voluntary nature of the under

tak ings on which the system is based has always

been recognised .

” The contrary has just been

stated in a misch ievous l i ttle book called I ndia,

”

by Mr. Keir Hard ie , M.P . ,in which it i s sug

gested or impl ied that nat ive prin ces are forced

to keep their tr00ps for the benefit of the B rit ish

in I ndia . Not indeed that there i s in any case,

as the rul ing ch iefs themselves are the firs t toacknowledge

,anyth ing other than complete ident i ty

o f in tere s t

The Presidency armies of B ombay,Bengal

,

and Madras,the original admin i strative div is ions

of what was then the I ndian Empire, firs t began

with the enrolmen t of Sepoys in 1 748 by MajorStringer Lawrence in order to fight the French .

Each army was di s t inct and self-conta ined,and

under leaders l ike Clive the m en soon showedtheir fighting powers .

After the battle of Plassey the Sepoy forces

00 MODERN IND IA

were reorgan ised and increased,and subsequently

to the annexations which followed the th i rdMahratta War

,the three Pres iden tial arm ies

consisted of Brit ish and nat ive

troops,numbers which increased just before the

Mutiny to B ri tish and nat ives,

a dispari ty wh ich looks , and which proved,

dangerous .During the great cr is i s the Punjab Front ier

Force,the Hyderabad Contingen t

,and the

Madras and Bombay armies remained true to us,

and the rebel l ion was chiefly that o f the B engalarmy

,and due, l ike most other agitations i n I nd ia,

to the intrigues of the highest , ablest , and not unnatural ly , most anti-B rit ish , class , the Brahmins .F ield-Marshal S ir Evelyn Wood and General

S i r Edwin Co l len have both recorded the opin ion

that amongst the causes of the Mutiny was theeffort to graft Western ideal s upon Or ien talcustoms , and the fact

s i s one which should notbe forgotten at the presen t day when the

Government at home and i n India i s ins istentlyurged by a smal l party of denat ional ised nat ives

o f I ndia to force further real isations of Western

ideals upon people altogether unfitted, or at anyrate unready , for thei r reception .

That acute and experienced observer , S irJ oseph Fayrer, has po inted out that Lord Dalhousie erred i n th inking that the admin istrat ion

98 MODERN IND I A

not a partisan or a pol i tic ian i s in power at theI ndia O ffice .

After the Mutiny the European army of the

Company came under the contro l of the Crown ,and a Royal Commission adv ised that theEuropeans should be strong

,and that the

native troops should not exceed them by morethan 2 to 1 i n B engal and 3 to 1 in Bombayand Madras . This W i se advice was adopted ,and cont inues to be fol lowed to the present day

,

though the number of Europeans i s somewhat

below the prescr ibed strength .

I n 1 893 an Act was passed whereby the o ffice

of Commander-in-Chief in Madras and Bombay

was abol ished , and the funct ion of mil itary control

was withdrawn from the Governors of those

Pres idencies .I nd ia was subsequently in 1 895 divided into

four Te rrito ria l commands under Lieutenant

Generals —Bengal , Madras , Bombay , and thePunjab . Subsequentl y Burma was practical ly

made a separate command , and the army ofI ndia cons isted in 1 903 of five commands , made

up of Brit i sh and nat ive troops .I n 1 899 the army , thus reorganised , was able todespatch to South Africa the force that savedNatal

,and s ince 1 90 2 Lord K itchener , in addit ion

to the changes above described , has introduced a

new scheme o f mil i tary o rganisatl on , based upon

ARMY 99

recognit ion of the fact that our army'

s ch ief preoccupation is the de fence of the N orth-VVe s tFron tier , and tha t our forces in time of peaceshould be o rgan ised and trained in the same

format ions in which they wil l operate in time o f

war,and be under the same commanders and the

same staffs .The whol e of the forces in I nd ia are now

div ided into two armies , the Northern army andthe Southern a rmy,

‘

the former includ ing the

Peshawar , Rawal P ind i , Lahore , Meerut , and

Lucknow divis ions , and the latter the Q uetta ,Mhow, Poona , and Secunderabad d iv is i ons , with

the troops in Burma .

The present s trength is— Bri ti sh tr00ps , o ffice rs

and men,

nat ive troops,

making atotal of to wh ich may be added

vo lunteers and Imperial Servi ce troops,

whereby a grand total of i s reached,and

the total cost of main tain ing the regular forces is

about a year .Regiments are now under the new scheme

organised on the class company and class

squadron system , and the volunteers , who have

done splend id work in I nd ia in the past, are so

organised that they may be able to repeat thei rrecord should occasion arise in the future .

The subject of mi l itary expend iture is one

upon which many controvers ies have arisen,the

I O O MODERN IND IA

authori ties i n I nd ia frequently object ing to thedebi ts which are made against them at home .

There is a school , of Which S i r Charles D i lkei s the able and chief exponen t , which ho lds that in

consequence of the Anglo-Russ ian Convent ion al ldanger from that quarter has been removed

,and that

our defen s ive preparations m ight safely be relaxed .

On the other hand,i t must be remembered that

h istory affords no ground for the v iew that a nation

lately wors ted in war is unl ikely again to take uparm s .

Rather is there ground for suppos ing tha t undersuch circumstances a h igh-spir i ted people are more

l ikely to endeavour to redress defeat in one,by

success in another , quarter .Nor is there any guarantee that the Convention

and the good understanding w i l l las t , or that Russ ia

or any other country wi l l value our all iance or co

operation unl ess we have a sufficien t backing o f

B rit ish infantry and Bri t ish battleships , and on th is

score the action of the Social is t , i nternat ional i st ,and smal l armament groups in the Brit ish Parl ia

ment induces a not unnatural but an unfortunate

feel ing of doubt on the part of fore ign nations .I t has not yet been reported that the Russ iangarrisons in Turkestan and along the fronti ers of

Persia and Afghanistan have been reduced , and thet ime for us to fo l low sui t, if i t come at all , has

certa inly not yet arr ived .

1 0 2 MODERN I ND IA

machine , thanks to Lord Roberts , S ir G . Chesney ,S ir H enry B rackenbury, S ir G . White

,and S ir E.

Collen , before the days of Lord K itchener , andhe has been fortunate in being in command in fatyears ; but nevertheless i t required great adm in is

trative courage as wel l as great admin istrat iveabi l i ty to carry through what i s generally knownas his red istribution scheme

,which included indeed

the red istr ibut ion of troops,but also the real lotment

o f commands . The original scheme , as described

i n prev ious pages , wa s to organ ise the I ndian army

into n i ne large div is ions over and above garrisonsallotted to d ifferent s tat ions for maintai n ing inter

nal peace . Each div is ion was to be composed inthe same manner in wh ich it would take the fie ldi n war

,and to be commanded by the same o fficers .

Later three l ieutenan t-generals were to commandthree d ivis ions , but the number has s ince been re

duced to two , the commanders o f the Northe rn and

Southern armies . I t wa s original ly proposed toconcentrate the troops at great cen tres in order

that better condi tions of train ing might be ob

tained , and two large stat ions on the North-WestFrontier were to be created for th is purpose . This

part of the scheme , with its resul t ing great expen se ,was pos tponed rather than abandoned

,but the

organisat ion of the whole army on a war bas iswas effected , so that everything is ready in self

contained un i ts wai ting mobi l i sation . The good

ARMY 1 0 3

effects were apparen t during the l i ttl e campaignlas t year again s t the Mohm ands , when the tra ns

port sys tem , elaborated by General S i r Edward

Col len i n 1 898 , and perfected by Lord Ki tchener ,proved i ts e ffic iency down to the last strap and

buckle . Lord Kitchener was fortunate i n beingable to act on the obvious tru ism , which hardly anyone dared enunciate i n England til l qui te recently

,

that an army is an instrument of war , and i s a sham

and pretence i f no t ready to take the fie ld ; and he

was fortunate to be able to act wi thout reference to

Parl iamen t , i n which a large party , or at any rate a

party too large for s afety , appears to th ink , no t

withstanding ocular demonstration to the contrary,that the m il lenn ium has arr ived , and that other

nations wil l leave us in possession of the bestportions of the earth ’s surface , out of respect for

our superior human i ty and the greater purity of

our motives,in which as a fact they profoundly

d isbel ieve .

Among smaller, but yet not small , reforms ac

compl ished by Lord K itchener may be instancedthe establ ishment of a S taff Co l lege at Q uetta .

That Lord K itchener’s work in I nd ia has beenadmirable

,and that it requ ired a man of his strong

wil l and great admin istrat ive abil i ty to carry i tthrough , few wil l be found to deny . He has nowbeen su cceeded by another very able and distin

guished o fficer, with special knowledge of I ndian

1 04 MODERN IND IA

conditions and of native troops . I t rema ins to beseen i f General S ir O

’

Mo ore Creagh wil l accept ini ts ent i rety Lord K itchener’s sys tem

,and wil l work

on the same l ines .

The Anglo-Russ ian Convention has so oftenbeen claimed by the advocates of reduct ion at anypri ce as a reason for di sband ing part of the I ndianarmy , that a short examination of thi s instrument i sneces sary even i n th is l i tt le work .

Before the Engl ish and Russians had concludedthat most useful agreement

,the rival ry of the two

nat ions in the East was one of the main featuresof Asiati c and European pol iti cs .

I n 1 890 Prince E sper Ukhtom sky,who des cr ibed

the present Czar’s Eastern travels , pred icted thatthe Japanese , who seemed “unconscious of thespiri tual affin ity between the Russians and the

Eastern peoples , would soon doff the mask offriendsh ip w ith the Engl ish . I t was Russia onlythat could protect Korea and save China

,and

there were no bounds to be set to Russ ian domin ion

in As ia.

”

Events have marched s ince then,and the advance

of Russ ia in the East has been stayed but if she hasreduced her garrison in Central Asia , which only

two years ago had a peace strength o f anda war strength of men

,completely equ ipped

in all respects,she has not publ ished the fact , and

indeed there i s no reason wha tever for thinking

ARMY 1 0 5

that she has effected any reduc tions . Russia ,i ndeed

,i s as able now as she was before the war

wi th J apan to place on the Afghan Frontie r anarmy only l imi ted by the carrying power of her

lately improved and completed Central Asian

Railway sys tem .

I t i s bel ieved by competent observers that this

l i ne has double the carrying capaci ty of the S iberianRai lway

,which nevertheless maintained an army

o f men in the fie ld at a far greater

distance from the base during the late war.

Mr. David Fraser , a recent and very capable

observer,calculated that th irty-s ix train s a day

could be passed through from Krasnovodsk , on

the Caspian and Orenburg,to the poin t of con

centrat ion,i f the rol l ing-stock were sufficient .

Russ 1 a’s offensive power on the Afghan Fron tier

would be double that which enabled her to meet

the tremendous strain experienced in Manchuria .

She could maintain an army of hal f a mil l ion ofmen on the Afghan Frontier and at Herat

,which

she could take whenever she chose . Y e t there are

those , among them no tably S ir Charles D i lke , whothink the I ndian army could be safely reducedbecause of the Convention . Those who hold thisv iew mus t shut their eyes to the facts of history,conven iently forget the exaltat ion

,with i n recent

t imes , of Prussia to the pract ical hegemony of theCont inent , and refuse to remember that defeat in

1 06 MODERN IND IA

one , never yet prevented a great power from seekingvictory in another , quarter .The integri ty o f Persia is of course a vi tal

question for the Engl ish in I ndia,and in proport ion

as i t i s secured by the arrangement with Russia,so

i s the importance to u s of Afghan i stan , as a front ierfactor, proportionately dimin ished .

No agreement with Russia wil l enable us toreduce the Indian army , which , as the exten t

o f terri tory and numbers of the population tobe guarded have increased

,has no t undergone a

corresponding augmentat ion , and remains , as far as

the European troops are concerned— that al l importan t leaven wi thout which the whole i s of no avai l—a t a lower figure than wa s decided soon after theMutiny to be necessary

,not for purposes of aggre s

s ion or external warfare,but for the safety of the

Engl ish in I nd ia .

There i s one respect i n which we couldstrengthen our fron tier without expenditure of

English or I nd ian money , and that i s by ab

stain ing from irritat ing and insulting speeches

in Parl iamen t regarding the actions of Mahomedan powers . Perhaps now that authority inTurkey has been d iverted from the o ld to theyoung Turks

,there wi ll be les s difficu l ty on

th is score,but counsels of moderation are also

required in the treatment of the s o-cal led Macedon lan question

,and i t i s high t ime that crit i cs

1 0 8 MODERN IND I A

and integrity of Pers ia was worth a sacrifice ,and if

we proceed to occupy wi th claims and concess ionsthe northern shores of the Gulf, l i ttle harm will

have been done , while the Convent ion itself, soonindeed to be put to a severe tes t , has proved equal

to the occas ion , and has already saved Pers ia fromanarchy and dismemberment.

I t is curious that Russia should be attacked,

through the person of the Emperor , by the Demo

crats and Social is ts of England , j u st at a t ime when

the Russian monarch has con ferred Parl iamen taryinst itu t ion s upon his own country , and when his

troops have been the means of al low ing the Nat ion

a l is ts to expel an autocrat ic Shah and to place a boy

puppet on the throne in Persia .

The National ists were at the last gasp in Tabrizwhen Russia and England interfered and forced

the Shah to grant a truce . The breathing time the

National i sts thus gained , and the firmne s s i nfusedinto the i r counci ls , suppl ied them with the very

l i ttle courage and determinat ion necessary for themarch on Teheran , which , thanks ent i rely to theConvention

,they entered wi thout striking a blow .

That the two great powers were neutral canno t

indeed be sa id . They favoured the National is ts ,who but for them had al ready been beaten .

With these occurrences I nd ia i s immediatelyand closely connected

,and Afghanistan now takes

second place . That country is recogn ised by the

ARMY 1 09

Convent ion as outs ide the Rus s ian sphere o f ln

fluence , while with regard to Tibet the Agreemen tmerely co nfirms the pol i cy o f Mr. Balfour

's Govern

men t,which decided to veto the appo i n tmen t o f

a Bri tish Res iden t at Lhassa,to recogn ise the

suzerain ty of China,and to evacuate the Chumbi

vahey .

Thus were the frui ts of Lord Curz on’

s exped itionlost , and though it cannot be said that the Bri ti sh

Government had not some reason for dreadingto incur further respons ibi l i ties north o f the

H imalayas,i t cannot be den ied that we got l i ttle

or noth ing for our pa ins .

CHAPTER V I I

ADM IN I STRAT ION—DECENTRAL I SAT ION ! —LOCALBOARD S— REVENUE

T HE Government of the I nd ian Empire is estab

l ished by the Governmen t of I nd ia Act , 1 8 5 8

(2 1 2 2 Vict . cap . by which al l the territories

under the East I ndia Company were vested in theCrown , to which under the Royal T i tles Act , 1 876

(39 40 Vict . cap . the t itle of Emperor of I ndia

attaches .The administration in England is vested in the

Secre tary of State for I ndia , assisted by a Counci lof not less than ten and not more than fourteen mem

bers,of whom all but one must have resided for ten

years in I ndia, and must not have left I ndia more than

five years prev ious to their appo in tment (Counci l of

I ndia Act , No appropriat ion of the revenuesof I ndia can be made without the concurrence ofa majority of votes of the Counci l at a meeting at

wh ich a quorum of five members must be present .The Secretary of S tate , however , i n questionsaffect ing the re lat ions o f the Government of I nd iawith fore ign powers, in making peace or war, i nmatters of pol icy relating to nat ive States , and

1 1 0

1 1 2 MODERN I ND IA

other of the ordinary members . The GovernorGeneral draws a sa lary of Rs . 250 ,800

the Governors of Madras and Bombay, Rs . 1 20 ,

000

and the Lieutenant-Governors of Benga l,

Eastern Bengal and As sam,the Uni ted Provinces of

Agra and Oudh , the Punjab and B urma , Rs . 1 00,000

while Chief Commiss ioners in charge ofsmall provinces , and charges such as the CentralProvinces , the North -West Frontier Prov ince ,Ajm ere , Baluch istan , and the Andaman I sland s ,draw smal ler salaries .The Governors of Madras and Bombay are ap

pointed by the Crown , the Lieutenan t-Governors

by the Governor-General , subject to the approbat ion

o f the Crown , the Chief Commiss ioners by the

Governor-General , and the Governors and Lieu !

tenant-Governors are ass i sted , l ike the Governor

General , by Legislat ive Councils .All the provinces and all the revenues raised in

I ndia are under the control of the Governmen t ofI ndia, but the degree of admin istrative and financia lindependence enjoyed varies i n d ifferent cases .

The admin istration of B ritish I nd ia,however good

in intention and e fficient in execut ion , IS apt, l ike thatof al l other countries , to run into grooves , even to

lapse into error,and some sort of periodical stock

taking is no less advan tageous i n th is than in otherbusinesses . I t must be obvious that one central

Governmen t, control l ing many local admin i strations

ADM IN I STRAT I ON 1 1 3

and deal ing with many peoples inhabi ting the d if

fe rent regions of a vast continen t , mu s t acquire ad isposition to j udge varying needs by a common

standard,to impose sys tems , amply jus tified i n

some cases,upon others to which their appl ication

i s less desi rable , i n short , to over-central i se the

d irect ion of the vast machine of administration .

I n pursuance , no doubt , of these or of some

such cons iderations,Lord Morley appointed a Roya l

Commiss ion to i nqui re in to the relat ions existing

for financ ia l and adm in istrative purposes betweenthe Supreme and Provincial Governments i n I ndia ,and between the latter and their subord inate autho

ritie s , and to report whether, by mean s of decen

tra l isa tion or otherwise , those relat ions could be

s impl ified and improved .

There was indeed a consensus of Opin ion , Which

Lord M into shared and led , that decentral isation

was essent ial . The Governmen t of India retain

the control at present of fore ign affairs,defence

,

general taxation , currency , debt , tariff, post andtelegraph s , railways , and accounts , while Provinc ial

Governments con trol internal affairs,pol ice

,c iv i l

and criminal j usti ce, prisons , assessment and collection of revenue

,educat ion

,medical and sanitary

arrangeme nts , irrigation , build ings and roads , forests ,and rural and municipal boards

,i n res pect of al l

of which , however , the Government of I ndia to acon s ide rable exten t, and as the Commiss ion thinks ,

H

2 I 4 MODERN IND I A

to an unnecessary and unwise extent , in tervenes .They poin t out that I nd ia i s as b ig as Europe less

Russia , and cannot be adm l n l s te red from head

quarters,and that the importance of strengthen ing

the Provinc ial Governments co incides with that ofeducat ing the people by a knowledge of publ icaffairs , acquired in the i r actual admin istrat ion .

S ir A. T . Arundel , lately a member of theGovernment of I nd ia , writes : I t may at once beadmitted that we have blundered badly in oursystem of educat ion , al low ing almost the en ti restream to be absorbed by l i terary and legal studies

,

to the neglect of science , mechan ics , engineering ,

and medic ine .

Though the men thus educated are but 1 percent . of the population they exercise great infl uencethrough the press

,not only on the educated , but

in a less degree on the uneducated,masses , and

they desire to drive the coach for themselves , andeven at some cost of efficiency , i f i t p rove so , astatesman l ike Lord M orley

,who i s by no means

alone i n th is V iew,thinks they must to some

extent,and under supervis ion of the rul ing race

,be

given a tr ial .This aspect of the case gave spec ial interes t

and importance to the Commiss ion pres ided overby Mr. Hobhouse , Who had lately vacated the

o ffice of Under Secretary o f State for I ndia uponpromotion in the M in i stry .

1 1 4 MODERN IND I A

to an unnecessary and unwise extent , in tervenes .They poin t out that I nd ia i s as big as Europe less

Russia , and cannot be admin istered from head

quarters,and that the importance of strengthen ing

the Provinc ial Governments coincides with that ofeducat ing the people by a knowledge of publ icaffai rs , acquired in the ir actual admin istrat ion .

S ir A. T . Arundel , lately a member of theGovernment of I nd ia , writes : I t may at once beadmitted that we have blundered badly in oursystem of educat ion, al low ing almost the en ti restream to be absorbed by l i terary and legal stud ies

,

to the neglect of science , mechanics , engineer ing ,

and medic ine .

Though the men thus educated are but 1 percent . of the populat ion they exercise great influencethrough the press

,no t only on the educated , but

in a less degree on the uneducated,masses , and

they desire to drive the coach for themselves , and

even at some cost of e fficiency, i f i t prove so , astatesman l ike Lord M orley

,who i s by no means

alone i n th is v iew,thinks they must to some

extent,and under supervis ion of the rul ing race

,be

given a tr ial .This aspect of the case gave special i nteres t

and importance to the Commiss ion pres ided overby Mr. Hobhouse , who had lately vacated theo tfice of Under Secretary o f State for India uponpromotion in the M in i stry.

ADM I N I STRAT I ON ” 5

At present Mad ras and Bombay are ad

min is tered by Governors , ass i sted by Executive

Counci ls , cons is ting , since the Presiden tial Army

system was abo l ished,of two c ivi l servants

,who

,

even if the Governor exerc ised hi s cas t ing vote , are

numerical ly as strong as he i s , and by reason of the

experience o f a l ifetime spent i n the Presidency ,much stronger .Bengal

,Eastern Bengal and Assam

,the Uni ted

Provinces of Agra and Oudh , Burma , and the

Punj ab,are under Lieutenant-Governors

,who rule

without the aid of a Counci l , whi le the Cen tral

Provinces,the North-West Frontier Province

,and

Baluch is tan , as wel l as one or two smaller and

less important admin istrative units , are known a s

Chief Commiss ionerships .

I n the evidence given before the Decentral isation

Commiss ion,many of the non-o ffic ia l witnesses

asked that the Governor in Counci l consti tut ion

should be subst i tuted for the Lieutenant-Governor

constitution,while o fficia l witnesses were for the

most part in favour o f the continuance of the latte rsystem .

Arguments in favour of the Governor in Counci l

arrangement , which appears to the wri ter , who ha sa l i felong acquaintance with it

,to be i ndefensible

on i ts existing footing s ince the abol it ion of thefourth member

,are that i t provides for col lective

del iberat ion and respons ibi l i ty , for the distri bution

1 1 6 MODERN INDIA

of work amongst the members , for con t inui ty ofpo l i cy

,and for avo idance of personal id iosyncras ies ,

and poss ibly autocrati c temperament on the part ofthe head o f the Government . The Commission

was much impressed by the fact that Lieutenant

Governors of great and populous provinces l ike

Bengal and the Uni ted Provinces of Agra and

Oudh were necessari ly overburdened with work ,and favoured the Governor in Counci l const i tution .

I t was accord ingly proposed in the Indian

Counci l Reform B il l which Lord Morley intro

duced in to the House of Lords,to take lega l power

for the Government of I nd ia to effect a changefrom one consti tution to the other

,wherever and

whenever thi s course was considered advisable,

and in the end i t was decided to in troduce into the

Province of Bengal proper the Governor in Council,

or more correctly the Lieutenant -Governor in

Counci l,consti tution , and to provide that whenever

the Government of I ndia w ishes to introduce the

same consti tution into another province , i t shal ldraft a Proclamat ion

,to be la i d on the table of

both H ouses of Parl iament for S ixty days , after

which,unless an Address is presen ted against it,

such Proclamat ion shall have the force of law .

I n al l the larger provinces except Bombay

there is a Board of Revenue , or the equivalent, aF inancial Commiss ioner

,and in all except Madras

there are Commissioners,who represent a half-way

1 1 8 MODERN IND IA

The Commiss ioners d id not hnd much faul t

with the admin istrative position of the Collectors ,Deputy Commissioners

,and J udges , but recorded

their opin ion that o ffice rs who lack any of the

many and special qual it ies requ ired i n the exe cu

t ive head of a D i strict should never,on the mere

ground of sen iori ty , be placed in that pos ition , and

i t should be remembered that many c iv i l servants,

in no way wanting in i nte llect and character, areperfectly fit for the judicial othee , but unsu itable

for the active , bustl ing , over—occupied l i fe of theExecutive

,o r, as he is called in I ndia , the Revenue

o fficer.

The Commiss ion regretted , as every one ac

quainted with I nd ia would , the dis integrat ion of

the vil lage system , which is perhaps the inevitable

accompan iment of Bri t ish rule , and they held that

i n a country of wh ich about 70 per cent . of theinhabitants are v i l lagers , the v illage must be the

foundation of any stable admin i strative edifice . I n

pursuance of this pol i cy they proposed to givev il lage committees certain powers i n petty c iv i land criminal cases

,and in respect of sani tation ,

primary schools,fuel and fodder reserves , markets

and pounds,and they suggested that these com

m ittee s should be financed by ass ignments to themof part of the local land cess .

I n regard to Rural B oards , they al lowed that

they are in an altogether different class,which

,

ADM I N I STRAT ION 1 1 9

as wil l be inferred from what i s said e lsewhereon the subj ect

,i s a somewhat mild description of

the case,D i s tri ct Boards and Mun ic ipal i t ies real ly

be ing kept going by Government o fficia l s , and not

by elected and private members .

The Commission held that such Boards should

contro l the serv ices for main tain ing which they

dis burse the funds,such as roads , education , hos

pita l s , dispensaries , vaccinat ion , markets , ferries ,and pounds .

I n Madras,where local self—governmen t has

succeeded rather better than elsewhere,the D i s

trie t B oards have lev ied a ra i lway cess and have

constructed ra i lways on their own account .

This pol icy, though a proof of energy and

capac i ty on the part of the Boards concerned , i sapt to produce embarrassment un less some co

ordinate con trol is exerc ised to prevent avoidable

competit ion wi th , or dupl i cat ion o f, the serv ices ofthe greater trunk l ines belonging for the most part

to the Government of I ndia .

Local Boards are financed by the levy of acess of one-s ixteenth of a rupee ( 1 d. ) on theannual rent-value of the land , bes ides a Governmen t grant in a id of 25 per cent . of the total ren tcol lected .

The Commiss ion proposes that the Governmen tcontrol over these Boards should become less strict

,

and that they should be al lowed to shape thei r own

1 20 MODERN IND I A

budget,subject to the condi tion that they prov ide

minimum balances .I t i s doubtful whether such a pol i cy wi l l

prove successful , un less, as heretofore , the budget

is real ly prepared and i ts contents sanctioned , if

not in i tiated , by the Local Government o fficia l .

There are upwards of 7 50 mun ic ipal i t ies i nI nd ia

,and in the larger towns the majority of the

members of the municipal bod ies are nat ives elected

by the ratepayers .

I n regard to these bodies the Commiss ion re

commended that they should control the servicesfor which they pay

,and that primary education

should be entrusted to them , secondary and highereducat ion being managed by the Government .

This,l ike many recommendations of the Commis

s ion , i s no doubt of much value , but i t remains to

be seen whether Governmen t wil l ever have thew it to devise, and the courage to introduce , some

system of secondary and higher educat ion other

than that now existing , whereby , at the expense ofthe masses , i t manufactures from out of the classescrowds of future o ffice-holders and otfice-seekers

,

o r of disappointed and disaffected agi tators . I t i sa subject of infin ite difficul ty , upon which onlythose who have the in fal l ibi l i ty of ignorance willpresume to dogmatise .

Perhaps the most important subject w ith whichthe Commissioners had to deal is finance . Under

1 2 2 MODERN IND I A

actually passed upon the many and great ques tions

involved .

I t i s one of the s tock crit ic isms against theBrit ish Governments

,supreme and local , in I ndia,

that they spend the hot weather in the hi l ls , but ,as a matter of fact

,S imla is far better and more

cen tral ly s i tuated than Calcutta . Previous rulersMoguls

,Tartars

,and Persians— governed from the

uplands , and had they rema ined there instead of

settl ing in the pla ins , there is every reason to

be l ieve that their sway would have been moreprolonged . I nhabitants of a cold , invigorating

cl imate,they were able to conquer I ndia , but

as soon as they mingled with the dwellers in

the hot valleys of the great rivers,they became

gradually merged i nto the subject populat ions, than

which they ceased to be more strong and vigorous .

Thus they were absorbed and lost amongst themil l ions they could no longer control , s ince theyno longer d iffered from them in mental and bodilyhab it .

O f al l places for the capital of I ndia Calcutta i s

o ne of the worst , and the steamy and enervatingcl imate

,which has proved so deteriorating to the

nat ives of Bengal , cannot be other than infinite lyprejudicial to the rul ing race from the West . Truethe commerc ial importance of the c i ty cannot beoverrated

,but it is very doubtful whether the able

and independent European merchants who are the

ADM I N I STRATION 1 2 3

l i fe and soul o f the commun i ty are largely affected

by, or inord inately des i rous o f, the presence in thei rmids t for three or four mon ths o f the Governmentof I ndia . The Governmen t of Bengal they have

with them ,and of that body Calcu tta is , and always

must be ,the headquarters . I f the Governmen t of

I nd ia had a double capi tal at Delhi or Agra,as the

case might be ,and S imla

,it would be bes t s i tuated .

The Governments of Madras and Bombay,greatly

to the publ i c advantage , div ide the year between

the i r marit ime capi tals and more cent ral in land

stations . The Lieutenant-Governors of the Punj ab

and the Un i ted Provinces fo l low a s imilar course ,and though Calcutta has , of course, a permanen t and

paramount claim upon the L ieutenan t-Governor of

Bengal,he too has such i nterests in the H imalayan

and sub-H imalayan tracts that not only the bodilyhealth of the members of his staff, but the in

te res ts of h is people in Bengal , would suffer i f theannual move to Darjeel ing were wholly abol ished .

Indeed,under S i r Norman Baker i t is eviden t

that the exodus to the hil ls i s already by way of

being restr icted in exten t , and largely curtai led in

length .

This quest ion i s v i tal in connection with the healthof the army . The bulk of the Brit ish tr00psare i n the uplands of the Punj ab and Baluchistan

,

and,in d iminishing numbers , in the United Provinces ,

Bombay and Madras , and the smallest number of

1 24 MODERN IND IA

all i s i n Bengal . Moreover , the major i ty of thesetroops are s i tuated close to mil itary stat ions in theH imalayas

,where more than half the i r numbers

spend the s ummer ; nor are s ui table h il l s tat ions

wanting in other parts of I nd ia . None perhaps of

o ur so ld iers and civi l ians are more fortunate thanthose who summer in the sweet , half Engl ish air

of the Nilgiris .

No doubt the enemies of B rit ish rule in I ndia

would l ike to see all the white c iv i l servants andsold iers swel tering in the plains t i l l they becameunfit to meet a cris i s when i t arrived ; but thefriends of their own country real ise that ourc iv il ians and our troops can only be kept in heal th

and e fficiency by being as much as poss i ble i n acoo l cl imate in the hot weather , and by reducing the

garrisons in the more unhealthy stat ions to the

smal lest poss ible d imens ions . Were cons istencyexpected of agitators , i t might be pointed out thati f the I nd ian taxpayer i s to have the best return

for h is money, the civ i l ians and sold iers that he

maintain s must be kept where they can best ma intain the i r health and e fficie ncy .

The revenues of I nd ia for 1 908—9 were esti

m ated at and the expend iture atbeing in each case sl ightly higher

than the actua l figure s of 1 907—8 . Land revenue

brings in nearly 75 and the other ch iefheads of rece ipt are op ium

,now fast dimin ish ing

,salt

,

ADMlNIS’

I‘

RAT ION 1 2 5

stamps,exc ise

,custom s

,post and telegraphs , i rri

ga tio n ,and rai lways . The m il i tary expend iture i s

rather more than the land revenue,and is

,of course

,

the chief head 0 1 1 the debi t side ; but there i s no

naval bi l l in add i tion to pay . A large fall ing off in

opium,to sat isfy those who regard it as wicked to

supply China,which also grows the poppy

,wi th

the drug,i s a ser ious matter

,and from the I nd ian

taxpayers ’ po i n t of v iew hard to j usti fy ; while

the sal t revenue progressively decl ines as furtherreduct ions are made in the duty , which has nowcome down to one rupee, or I S . 4d .

, for a maund

of 8 3 l bs .The land revenue

,which is described in Chapter

V . , i s permanen tly settled in most of Bengal , aquarter of Madras , and in parts o f the UnitedProv inces elsewhere i t i s period ical ly fixed .

I n the permanen tly settled tracts the inc idence

of the land revenue i s about two-th irds of a rupee

( 1 0d . ) per acre of cul t ivated land , about one-fifth ofthe rental

,and about one-twenty-fourth of the gross

value of the produce . I n the temporarily settled

tracts i t averages about one and a half rupees (2s . )per acre , i s rather less than half the rental

,and

averages about one-tenth of the gross value ofthe produce .

The total debt of I nd ia i s less than 75 2and is not more than half that of England in pro

portion to the revenue , while most of the amount

1 26 MODERN IND IA

represents money raised at favourable rates forremunerative capital expend i ture .

These figure s ful ly justi fy S ir M i chae l H icks

Beach’s (Lord S t. Aldwyn ) statement , when Chance l l o r of the Exchequer , to the effect that the

finance s of I nd ia are in better condition than those

o f the Un i ted K ingdom .

1 2 8 MODERN IND I A

has to qual ify in law and languages before he isel igible for promotion . I t would be wel l if the

standard of l inguist ic acqu irements could be raised ,for proficie ncy i n that respect is of far greaterimportance than in law

,or indeed in any other

branch of the education of an I ndian civi l ian .

O f the many I ndian th ings misunderstood in

England one is the exten t to which natives of Ind ia

part icipate in the admin i strat ion . S o much is saidabout the ir aspi rat ions to take part in the govern

ment of thei r own country , tha t i t w il l come as a

shock of surprise to many to learn that there areonly 1 200 Engl i shmen engaged in c iv i l govern

ment , and , exclud ing 864 civ il charges held bymembers of the I nd ian Civi l Serv ice , there are

3 700 persons holding pos ts in the j ud ic ial andexecutive services

,of whom no mo re than 1 00 are

Europeans .I ndeed , the well-known agitator , Babu Bepia

Chandra Pal , said , “We,

” that is , the nat ives,

“now govern I ndia,and if the words are added

,

subject to the impartial superv ision of the British,

”

that is a true statemen t of the case . Natives ofI ndia manage most of the bus iness connected with

the col lect ion of land revenue , dispose of the vastmajori ty of magis terial cases

,perform nearly all the

civ i l and judicial work of the Empire,and in some

departments , notably in that of the pol ice , the per

s onne l is almost enti rely I nd ian .

T HE C IV I L SERV I CE 1 29

I t i s,o f course , true that the I nd ian C ivi l Ser

v ice proper,commonly cal led the Covenanted Civ i l

Serv ice,i s a ( orps d

’

é l z’

ie , staffed for the most part

by the govern ing race,and that the emoluments are

therefore pitched 0 1 1 a comparatively high scale ,though by no means too high when the importance

of the funct ions performed is remembered .

The Collector and Magistrate of a D i strict i s i n

everything but the name a Governor , subject to the

control of the Governo r in Counci l or Lieutenant

Governor at headquarters . D istri ct j udges exe r

c ise powers of l ife and death , subject to appeal tothe H igh Court of the Province , and when i t i s

remembered that these o fficers on ly draw a salary

of something less than £2000 a year, that they have

in the interests of the publ i c to reti re when they are

only in early middle age,lest they should deter iorate

by long residence in the tropics , and when i t i s remembered that cl imati c exigencies make i t ne ce ssary for them to ma in ta in an establishment inEurope and a home in I nd ia it cannot fa irly becontended that they are overpa id .

The salary o f natives of I ndia serv ing in the i rown country is on an entirely different foot ing

,

though it i s by no means the content ion or in tent ion of the reformers that smal ler rates should beaccepted by natives o f I nd ia i n the interests of thegeneral taxpayer.

J ust as in Russ ia the peasan t’s pa i r of top—boots,

1 30 MODERN IND IA

l ined with flanne l , for the winter , i s an absolutenecessi ty of l i fe

,and costs no smal l part of what

would keep a family in the tropics for a year,so

the salary drawn by one Brit ish magistrate or j udge

would suffice to keep three or four nat ives of I ndia

occupying the same posi tion .

O f course i t i s true that nat ives make an excel

lent use of the i r salaries , and ma inta in the i r poorrelat ions in a manner which does them infinite

honour,and also mainta in groups of dependants ;

but i t i s not necessary to the State that they shouldbecome bount iful lords in the i r immediate c ircles

,and

i t would be fair enough if they rece ived lower ratesthan English o fficers for performing the l ike funct ions .I t has already been pointed out that , except in

E ngland,there is no country in Europe in which

the j ud ic ial and executive o ffice rs rece ive such h ighsalaries as are given in the superior ranks of the

nat ive Civ i l Service of I ndia .

Appointments made in I ndia , carrying salaries o f

75 1 3 a month and upwards, are reserved for natives

of I ndia, and selected natives are el igible for al lo ffice s formerly reserved for members of the I nd ianCivi l Serv i ce , recru ited at home and entered bycompet it ive examinat ion .

The publ ic service in I ndia i s d iv ided into theI ndian Civil Service , j ust described , and the pro

v incia l or subord inate service recruited in India ;and the members of the provinc ial servi ces enjoyfa l l

1 3 2 MODERN IND IA

at one of the towns wh ich he V i s i ted he drovethrough a triumphal arch bear ing the legend , For

God’

s sake save us from the rule o f our fel low

countrymen .

” This is by no means an unusual

occurrence, and i t should be understood in the sense

above suggested , and not as a wholesale condemna

t ion of the nat ives o f I ndia , or a wholesale eulogy

of the people of th is country .

I n the province of B engal,the ch ief seat o f the

sedi t ious movement aga inst B riti sh rule , and the

source whence misrepresentat ions o f i ts characterchiefl y proceed , though the agitators o f Poona must

never be forgotten , there i s no o ffice which has not

been held,and may not be held again , by a native

of I nd ia , and s ince Lord Morley took over the re ins

at the I ndia O ffice , he has actually appointed a

H indu and a Mahomedan gentleman to be mem

bers of his own Council , and , in concert w ith Lord

M into , has ra i sed a capable Indian barrister to the

legal membersh ip of the Governor-General’s Counc i l ,to s it in the seat of Macaulay .

O f such h igh o ffice s there are few for European or I ndian , but such appointments as these are

merely representative of what o ccurs throughoutthe Empire . There are

,roughly speaking, nearly

Government posts in I nd ia, with salaries of

75 5 a month and upwards , of which the H indus

hold 50 per cent . , the Mahomedans 8 per cent . ;and , i n the tota l ta le of appointments , the number

T HE c 1 v 1 1 . SERV ICE 1 33

held by H indus has increased by 1 79, by Maho

medans 1 29, by Eurasians 1 06 , and by Europeans

36 per cent . s ince 1 86 7 .

To more than half of al l the appoin tments i nI ndia a salary of £ 1 3 , or 200 rupees , a mon th or

less is attached . O f these posts , Europeans ho ldless than 1 0 per cent. O f posts of Rs . 200 and 300

the I ndian element has risen from 5 1 to 60 per

cent . , and of posts from Rs . 300 to 400 ,from 23 to

43 per cent . ; from Rs . 400 to 500 per mon th , from2 1 to 40 per cen t . ; in pos ts from Rs . 500 to 600 ,

from 9 to 2 5 per cent . ; in posts from Rs . 600

to 700 , from 1 5 to 27 per cen t . ; i n pos ts fromRs . 700 to 800, from 5 to 1 3 per cent . I n appo int

ments with pay from Rs . 800 to 1 000 per mon th ,there are 93 natives of I ndia , and in 1 903 , s i n ce

which date there has certain ly been no decrease ,out of 1 3 70 appointments with salar ies of Rs . 1 000

a month and upwards, 7 1 were fil led by

H indus and 2 1 by Mahom edans , giv ing a per

centage of 7 for natives of I ndia .

The fact i s not denied that th is latter class of

appointment at the highest rates of pay is gene

rally fil led by the B ri ti sh C iv i l Service , recru ited in

England amongst men who have passed in to theService, having received , for the most part , a publ i cschool and un ivers ity educat ion . Long may they

continue , i n the interests o f I ndia , to be the control l ing elemen t in i ts Government

,the reputa t ion

1 34 MODERN IND IA

of which is ch iefl y due to their energy , honesty, and

e ffic iency .

The aggregate pay of the total number of posts

has increased s ince 1 867 by 9 1 per cent . , but theaggregate pay drawn by Europeans and Euras ianshas increased by 6 , that of natives of I nd ia by 1 9 1 ,

and of H indus by 204 per cent .

I t i s clear,therefore, that in the proportion of

posts occupied,and in the averages of pay drawn ,

there has been a progress ive in crease in the I ndian ,and a progressive decrease in the European elemen t ,so that there i s no jus tification for the statementsput forward to the effect that the promises o f Q ueen

Victor ia’s proclamation have not been fulfil led .

The Government of I ndia employs 6500 o f our

own fellow-countrymen and natives of I ndia

to rule over in Bri tish I ndia,and to

assist the native princes in rul ing over

I t would be very interesting to have the com

parative figure s of foreign Government s , for theDutch in J ava

,the French in Algeria and Cochin

China , and the Russ ians in Turkestan and in their

other As ian possessions . Unfortunate ly no com

parative figures of th is sort are available , and , dayby day , in the House of Commons , quest ions areasked showing that the quest ioner is comparing

,

and invit ing the House to compare , the figure s ofprogress made in our I ndian Empire with the corresponding figure s for the Brit i sh I sles , and, after

1 3 6 MODERN I NDIA

European j udges,has condemned the conduct of

the pol ice as severely as the j udges of the H ighCourt in Calcutta have done in any of the cases

Which have come before them .

Amongst the many funct ions of the Collector

Magistrate or Deputy Commiss ioner who i s head

of a D i s tri ct , i s the control of the pol i ce . I t i s truethat th is duty is on ly one of many others connected

with the land and land revenue,with forests , publ ic

works , gaols , sanitat ion , education , and D i stri ct and

Mun i c ipal Boards ; but if, as the Congress cri ti csappear to th ink , the nat ive of I ndia i s unfit to be

a pol ice o fficer, how can he be fit to exercise theseman ifold functions

,requiring great phys ical s trength

and endurance , habits o f the utmost corporeal acti

v ity, and good horsemanship, as we l l as the control

o f what is , according to thei r showing, a hopeless ly

and unutterably corrupt pol i ce force .

The head of a D istrict i s ass isted in his man i

fold duties by subo rd inate c iv i l o fficers , a superintendent of pol i ce , a doctor, a forest o ffice r, asurveyor, and various other functionaries . Thereare also sub-D i strict un i ts, managed , as a rule , verysat isfactori ly by nat ive o ffice rs , whose charges may

vary in s ize between three and six hundred squarem iles . Below them aga in are the vi llage o fficers ,

the H ead Man , the Accountant, the Watchman ,

and so on and among the few intell igent cri t i c isms

made by crit ics of the sen timental , Congress , and

THE 0 1 v 1 1 . SERV ICE 1 3 7

advanced I nd ian s choo ls in Parl iamen t are those

which relate to the main tenance,as far as possible

un impai red,of these admirable v i l lage commune s

,

with which our Bri tish system of admin i stration un

fortunately seems necessari ly to come into col l i s ion .

O f al l the material with which the travell ing mem

ber i s inoculated by those who dry-nurse h im , this

i s the only useful as set .

The judic ial admin is tration of an I ndian pro

v ince consists of one‘

H igh Court , the D i stri ct and

Sessions D iv i s ions Courts,the Courts of the D is

tr ie t M agistrate and h is ass istants , and the Courts

of the subordinate magistrates , that is to say ,subord inate as regards powers

,and subject more

completely to appeal,but not subordinate in respect

of the exercise of magisterial powers , wherein they

are as independen t as any magistrate or j udge inI ndia .

There are al so the Civi l Courts of the D i stri ctMoons iffs and the Subord inate J udges , practi cal lyalmost always nat ives of I ndia , and almost invariably o ffice rs of very cons iderable j ud icial ab il i ty .

The writer who , amongst other duties , served in

the Registrar’

s O ffice of a H igh Court , has always

bel ieved that for the performance of these dutiesnatives of I nd ia are unrival led . That is not to say ,however, that the natives , even where they havethe completest co nfidence in their fel low-countrymen on the Bench

,do not prefer

,in fact they

1 3 8 MODERN IND I A

always do prefer , to have their cases j udged byEuropeans , though this does not necessari ly implyany doubt of the honesty of the I ndian judge . I t

impl ies , rather , a ful l consciousness of the exceeding great difficul tie s under which absolute impartia l ity i s maintained in a country in which caste is

al l-powerful , and in which equal i ty is a mere empty

word , explo ited by agitators , but having no existencei n fact .

The law adm in i stered is H indu , founded on the

I nst itutes of Manu , Mahomedan,founded on the

Koran , and customary , far the greatest of thethree

,but somewhat checked in its natura l develop

ment by our practi ce of codificatio n , and by the

s imultaneous in troduction of case-made law . I t

i s wel l to remember that the I ndian conception oflaw is of a personal character , and when the Engl ish

brought thei r personal legal system into the threePres idency towns of Bombay , Madras , and Calcutta ,some curious anomal ies “ resulted , such as , among

other th ings,the utterly incongruous othee of

Sheriff, which surv ives to this day .

No Act of Parl iamen t passed subsequen tly to1 7 26 appl ies , unless expressly stated , to Bri ti shI nd ia . Every Act passed by the Local Government require s the consent of the Governor-General ,and may be d isal lowed by the Sovere ign , and theLegislat ive Counci l of the Governor-General hasno authority to repeal the Army Act , or any

1 40 MODERN I ND IA

who natural ly d isapprove of any measure tending to

i ncrease the power and influence of D i stri ct O ffi cers .But this system was no inven tion of the British .

I t was inherited from our predecessors in t i tle,and

is by no means unpopular with the masses,being in

strict accordance with nat ive theories of government, and not open to cri tic ism from any point of

V iew but that of the advanced countries of WesternEurope , with which i t is snnp ly rid iculous to com

pare I ndia . The D i stri c t Magistrates,as a fact

,

rarely try crim inal cases , but it i s their duty torepress crime

,and no t mere ly to s it down and

wai t for ev idence , often of l ittle value . Again,the

creation of stipend iary magistrates for the d isposal

of criminal cases, now tried by revenue o ffice rs,

would cost large sums of money,and would benefit

no one , except the Babus , who would obtain the new

appointmen ts.Nat ives of Europe and of I ndia are subject to

the same civ i l and criminal j urisd iction,except that

European British subj ects may only be arraigned

before a j udge or a magistrate who is a J ust ice of the

Peace , and they can cla im a j ury , of wh ich not l ess

than half the number are Europeans or Americans .

Those who remember the nearly successfulcharge brought by some Bengal is aga inst a European

, who had been shooting near their v il lage , andrefl ect upon the ease with which a corpse can be

pro duced , furn ished with the necessary wounds ,

TH E C IV I L SERV ICE 1 4 1

and the death laid at the door of a European,who

perhaps was merely defend ing himsel f against

attack,wil l appreciate the necessity for this pre

caut ion in favour of the few white men i n I nd ia .

I ndian v illages , which contain upwards of 70 per

cent . of the population of the cont inent , may be

div ided in to the j o in t or landlord vi l lage , whichprevai ls i n the United Provinces , Cen tral Provinces ,and the Punjab ; and the ryotwari v il lage , which

occurs outs ide Northern I ndia , i n which the

revenue is col lected d irectly from the cultivator ,and in which there i s no joint responsibi l i ty .

Under native rule no system o f representation

ever grew up , and the management of towns andv illages al ike resided

,not in the hands of repre sen

tative s of the people , but in those of the tax

col lector , pol ice o ffice r, and other o fficia l s . The

exotic system of D i s trict Boards and Munic ipal it ies

was greatly developed by Lord R ipon,who ex

tended the elective element in it, and regarded it

as a most valuable method of educating the peoplesof I ndia up to pol i ti cal respons ibil i ty . I t i s not too

much to say that th is system has never becomepopular w ith the people , and that the on ly tax

levied by the Mun i c ipal i t ies that is not absolutelyunpopular is one that we in th is country regard withparticular dis favour

,but which the precedent-lov ing

nat ives of I ndia readi ly accept as the counterpart

o f the obstructive but t ime-honoured transit duty ,

1 42 MODERN IND IA

namely , the octroi . Even i n Madras,where Local

Government has been more successful , there i s agreat deal of make bel ieve about the whole bus iness .I t was the duty of the wri ter at one t ime to ad

min i ster certain Mun i c ipal i ti es and Local Boards ,and at another to review the i r reports in the lumpin the Prov incial Secretariat

,and in spite of the

persistent eulogies which proceed from the party

of reform he can on ly record his Opin ion that thesystem

,as a whole , i s unpopular and un successful ,

though it i s , of course, immensely grateful to thelawyer class, and has been the means whereby they

have con sol idated the i r power, and the i r stepping

stone to the Prov inc ial and S upreme Legislat ive

Council s .

Lord R ipon regarded the e lective system as ameans of pol i ti cal and popular education

,and it

i s no doubt regarded by the reformers as a most

valuable step on the road to those Parl iamentaryinstitutions to the grant of which Lord Morl ey hasplainly stated he does not look forward , an im

portant pronouncement from one who has made

so great a move forward in order to meet theasp irat ions of the advanced party .

These v iews may be regarded as novel and

strange by those who have been in the hab it of

reading the material industriously c irculated in this

country by the Engl ish Branch of the I ndian Con

gress,and th is gives the writer the opportun i ty to

C H A PT E R IX

EDU CAT ION

REFERENCE has already been made to the recom

mendations of the Decen tral isation Commission i nrespect of education , but in no work on I ndia ,however brief and abstract in character, i s i t

possible to give th is great factor in the present

condit ion of the Empire mere pass ing notice .

The battle of the Oriental i sts and the Angl ic istswas fought in the days of Lord Macaulay , who was

held to have settled the quest ion by h is celebratedM inute

,which , however , i s no more conclus ive as an

argument than his history and essays are accurateas to thei r facts .

Ever since that day, however, the Governmen tof I ndia have continuously developed higher educat ion upon Western l ines, unti l at the present t ime

graduates of the U n ivers it ie s are turned out bythousands to enter the publ i c service i f they can

,

and if they cannot , to jo in the ranks of the discontented and the disaffected .

Every attempt to dimin ish the gratuitousand , to a great exten t unnecessarily gratu itous ,

1 44

EDUCAT I ON 1 45

provi sion of h igher instruction , i n order to increasethe provis ion of the more necessary

,more useful

,

and far more innocuous primary education has beenstead ily resisted by the B rahmin and priv i leged

classes , who , thanks to th is system ,have been able

to maintain the posi tion they occupied before our

supremacy,and practical ly to rule the country

,

or to exercise thei r great i n fl uence in rul ing i t

as our agents , i n every department of the publ i c

service .

Pledged as the British Government wisely and

necessari ly is to rel igious neutral i ty,i t abstain s i n

Government-aided inst i tutions from al l rel igious

teaching, which is supposed to be suppl ied by the

parents of pupi ls in the ir homes . Such,however

,

i s not a feature of home l i fe in I ndia , and studentswho are studying Western sc ience and l i terature

are inevitably led to reject the ir own rel igious and

eth ical systems without accepting ours in subs titu

t ion therefor,or the general moral code which has

resul ted from the profess ion for ages of the creed

of Christian ity .

Hence the phenomenon of youths whose hatred

of the Engl ish increases in proport ion to the extentto which they imitate the habits , customs , and modes

of thought of our country , un less in addition to profiting by an almost gratu i tous Western educat ion ,they are also provided , whether or not qua l ified,with an appo intment under the State .

1 40 MODERN IND IA

The same ignorant criti c ism is appl ied to thespread of educat ion in I ndia as to everyth ing e lse

connected with the administrat ion of that country .

I f only one-s ixth of the boys of school-going agewere fol lowing a course of primary instruction at

last Census , instead o f be ing aston i shed that anO riental population should exhib it such sat isfactoryfigure s , comparisons are immediately made with

the number of boys of school-going age in England !

Does any one point out th is obvious fact ? By no

means . The absurdly inappropriate standard seems

to meet with general acceptance .

Lord Curzon at any rate had the courage toappoint the I ndian Un ivers i t ies Commiss ion , which

admitted that the acquirements o f I ndian graduateswere inadequate and superficia l , and that the l i fethey led while undergoing instruct ion was undis

cipl ined and unsatisfactory , words even more app l i

cable to the l ives which Indian students lead who

come over here to complete the ir educat ion .

Aga i n , with a true appreciation of the pos it ion ,Lord Curz on ’

s Government increased the grantsfo r primary schools

,laid down tests for the o fficia l

recogn i t ion of secondary education,and introduced

importan t and real reforms into the tra in ing col legesand industrial schools .

Finding,r that the five I ndian Un ivers it ies con

t rolled the instruct ion given i n about 200 col leges ,Wh ich were practi cal ly under no inspection , and

1 48 MODERN I ND IA

the vernacular languages are utterly sacrificed toEngl ish , the study of wh ich among impecun ious

studen ts seems to provoke an imosity aga inst thenation which speaks that tongue

,on ly equalled

by the intens ity o f the ardour with which i t i spursued .

Education amongst the Mahomedans has madeless progress

,and though techn i cal , industrial , arts,

engineering,medical , agricultural , veterinary , and

normal col leges and schools find a place in the

I nd ian system of publ ic i nstruction , i t may safely be

asserted that i ts ch ief product is the typical Babu,

the grmm lus esum’

em of the I ndian Empire .

Lord Curzon,l ike the Chinese cool ie

,i f the com

parison be permitted for a moment , wa s condemned

m o re

'

be caus e of h is meri ts than h is faults , and

though by no means more unappreciative of

populari ty than other publ ic men,he had the

courage nevertheless to tel l the truth and say thatthe vernacular languages were being neglected forthe pursu it of English on account of the mercan

tile value of the lat ter tongue . N or should i t beforgotten that i t wa s his Governmen t which madeprimary educat ion a charge on the provinc ial

revenues , and supplemented these charges byannual grants , and that it was he who ventured tosay that our higher educat ion tra ined the memoryat the expense of the mind

, who restored the

train ing colleges and endeavoured to make the

EDUCAT ION 1 49

un iversi ties the abodes of learn ing i nstead of the

manufactories of graduates. I f he d id not who l ly

succeed where success was so difficu l t,there i s

at any rate no proof at al l that the reconstructed

Senates have deal t severely w ith the weakercolleges

,and there i s no doubt that they have

done something to bring these very unsati sfactory

insti tut ions into l ine .

The fact is the problem of education i n I nd ia i s

difficul t and complex to an almost inconce ivabledegree . The numbers affected , the d ifferences in

rel igion,race

,creed , languages and customs , re

semble those of a quarter of the globe rather than

of any one count ry,which ignoran t cr i t ics in

England suppose , or pretend to bel ieve, I nd ia

to be . Government employment i s beyond al l

others the goal to which higher education po ints ,and though wan t of reverence and an impatience of

control have man i fested themselves to an alarming

extent amongst the products of our system , i t i s

the fact that this result i s by no means pecul iar toit, but has occurred whenever an ancien t ethical

system has had to give way to new sources ofknowledge and fresh modes of thought . N o doubt

,

however , the exclus ively material character of theinstruction given in I ndian educational inst i tut ionshas increased this unsatisfactory feature to an extentunprecedented in other countries in which rel igionplays a less important part

,and is less essent ial as

1 50 MODERN IND IA

the cement of the whole social system . O f course

something is done to counteract the solvent effectsof our education , and the Government of I ndia has

been at infinite pains in selecting text—books,in

provid ing hostels and making phys ical tra l n l ngcompulsory as far as poss ible upon unwil l ing youths

of sedentary habits . Every Local Governmentimpresses upon those engaged in tui tion the

ne ce s sny for enforc ing d iscipl ine and developingthe moral t raining of their pupils .

N everthe le s s great difficul ty i s experienced inenforc ing discipl ine

,and a s imple i l lustration of th is

i s afforded by the fact that large numbers of the

boys at s chool are married men , and that they andthe i r relations would strongly obj ect to the infl iction

of corporal pun i shmen t, no matter how ser ious the

offence committed .

As to text-books where so many languages

are spoken , unusual difficul ty attaches to provid ingsuitable books

,and so long as an unscrupulous

,

hosti le,and l icen t ious vernacular press ci rculates

freely amongst the ris ing generat ion , there is toomuch ground to fear that moral essays wil l be ofl i ttle or no avai l in counteracting so active andmalevolen t a propagandist movement .

One reform in the educational system criesaloud for adoption

,namely , the systematic refuta

t ion of the calumn ies which are circulated broadcast

concern ing our Government in I ndia . I t is not

1 5 2 MODERN IND I A

the genera l taxpayer in I nd ia should be charged

with the l ion’s share of the cost of making graduate s , see ing that the graduate , when made,wishes to l ive upon , not for, the general taxpayer .Nevertheless the so -cal led “friends of I ndia ” in

Parl iament bl indly back the classes against themasses, and imagine they are working on democrat i c l ines .

U nder the old H indu system , higher educat ion

was practical ly confined to the higher classes , and

there i s no doubt but that, by continuing to gratui

tously provide such higher education , the British

in I ndia have confirmed to the B rahmin , and al l iedhigher castes , that posi t ion of supremacy which

they held prior to our rule as the nominal agents ,but as the real masters , of the turbulent , bold , andsuperstit ious mil itary tribes , who imposed the ir yoke

on d ifferent parts of the continent . Thus wroteS ir J ohn Mal colm, who knew th is subject aboutwhich Macaulay and his school theorised , j ust asthe mill ion who can speak Engl ish pretend at the

presen t day to represent the 299 mill ions whocannot

,while the 299 mill ions ignore the one

mill ion,who ,

nevertheless, i n many quarters appearto be accepted as their representatives .The Government of I ndia has taken certain

steps to exercise control over the students andschoolboys

,and Lord Morley has e laborated a most

useful scheme for the i r protection here in England

EDUCAT ION 1 5 3

from the contamination of I nd ia House , H ighgate ,and the l ike plague-spots

,i n which vis ionary ,

emotional youths of immature minds and defic ie ntknowledge are turned in to assass in s .

O f al l the wants o f I ndian education , de nom inational teach ing is the greatest. Whenever the

people take i ndependen t action , as i n the case of

the Mahomedan Anglo-O riental Col lege of Al ighur,the Central H indu Co l lege at Benares , the Khalsa

College of the S ikhs, and the Arya-Vedic and

I s lamic Colleges of the Punjab,i t w i ll be found

that they always build upon rel ig ious l ines . The

best text-books cannot supply this one crying need,

but i f we arranged that al l students should rece ive

denominat ional teaching in the rel igion of the ir

parents , taught history in comparative fashion as

i t should be taught , and in culcated the true factsabout our own Government

,great s tr ides towards

the atta inment of a more practical and satisfactory.

system would be effected .

We now spend al l our funds devoted to educat ion in gild ing the l i ly, and st i l l fu rther educating

the B rahmins , who are too often hosti le to our

selves, instead of prov id ing a modicum of knowledge for the masses

, who are invariably wellaffected .

Another important reform is to ins is t upon the

acquisi tion by every European executive o ffic ia l

of the chief vernacular languages of his D is trict,

1 54 MODERN IND IA

without which he IS no better than the tool of hissubord inates , and can never properly exerc ise theextensive powers with which he is entrus ted .

I t i s folly to regard the-

graduates as a negl igiblequant ity

,though it may be true , as the S uperin

tendent of Mun i c ipal S chools in Bombay latelysaid

,that they do not command much infl uence

amongst the masses of thei r fel low-countrymen and

do not represen t them . The graduate i s , in fact,a permanent feature in the s ituat ion , and s ince no

one is l ikely to recommend that he should beended , every one should un ite in agreeing that heshould be mended

,and that the pract i ce of turn ing

out half-educated spec imens wholesale at a cost of

75 3 to £6 a head to the general taxpayer should

be definite ly abandoned .

The number of studen ts who matriculated at

the U n iversit ies of Calcutta,Madras

,Bombay , the

Punjab,and Al lahabad in 1 906

—7 was 9 1 7 7 . The

figure has year by year been steadi ly increas ing ,and there were in 1 907 no less thanstudents , male and female , in educat ionalinsti tut ions , of which were publ ic ,aided , and private and unaided . These

figures indicate great educational act iv ity , and ifon ly per cent . of boys and per cent . o f

girls of a school-going age are at school , i t wouldbe interesting to compare these figure s with those

of a ny other part of As ia , and as the Master of

CHAPTER X

PRESENT POL IT I CAL COND IT ION S— SED IT ION— PART IT ION— SVADESH I—SVARAJ— BOY COTT— PRES S

No one who has s tudied even in the most superficia l manner the educat ional system in force i n

I ndia will hesitate to say that that system , interacting with , and react ing upon , the presen t ferment in

the East, Is the chief cause of that condit ion ofaffa i rs which in recent years has become man ifestin the country

,and is commonly called unrest.

I t is not too much to say that students arebrought up on l iterature ful l of destructive crit ici sm

of any form of government founded on authority .

The gods of the East are held up e ither to scorn

or good-humoured contempt , while the gods of the

West are not represen ted as special ly worthy ofreverence or obedience .

Another contr ibutory cause o f a far less im

portant character but st i l l of considerable im

portance i s the want of sufficiently who le-heartedsupport of the pol ice force

,whose , no doubt , many

and great faults,characteri st i c as they are of the

I ndian race to wh ich the members of the force

be long,have been , and are being exaggerated , for

1 56

PRESENT POL IT I CAL COND IT I ONS 1 5 7

the purpose of making a tr ick in the game of dis

affec tion , a trick which the Governmen t i s perhapsrather too will ing to allow to be marked . Theactions

,writ ings

,and speeches of a l i ttle band of

reti red I nd ian civ il servants , and of certain sen ti

mental Radicals,Labour members , and the l i ke

in Parl iament, the activ i ties of Anarch ists andthe i r dupes in and out of E ngland and I nd ia ,the support of certain I ri sh j ournal s

,the effect

of act ive and continued propagand ist efforts inBengal and the Punj ab

,and in the Mahratta

country,the subtle influence of certain hal f

rel igious and hal f-pol it i cal bodies in Bengal and

the U n ited Provinces,the use made of the

admin i strative d iv is ion of the old over - largeprovince of Bengal, the pecun iary support given

by Bengal landlords to the Congress funds underthe m istaken impress ion that they are thereby

in suring the con tinuance of the permanent settlement with which the Governmen t has never

thought of interfering , the debauching o f I nd ianstuden ts in England

,to which Lord M orl ey is

endeavouring to put an end,the presence of sed i

t ious associations at our Univers it ies , the judgment

of the H igh Court of Calcutta in the B lomfieldcase, the erroneous and m isch ievous definition given

i n the same Court of the word sw mj , which , asal l the judges should know

,impl ies independence

,

the defeat of a firs t-class European Power by

1 5 8 MODERN IND IA

J apan , and last, but by no means least, theact ivity of the sedit ious Press and the reluctance of

Government unt i l late ly to prosecute the ed itorsal l these are among the causes of the movement

known as “unrest . ” I t i s a movement which,

though not affect ing the masses,i s s ufficiently

widespread amongst the Engl ish-educated classes

to make i t one of the most formidable difficul tie swith which the Government of I ndia has atpresent, and wil l have in the future , to deal .Merciful ly

,the occas ion finds the man in the

present Secretary of State for I ndia,Lord Morley ,

who , without departing from the pol icy of con

c i l iation,in wh ich direction i ndeed he has made

further advances i n order to meet the legit imate

asp irat ions of the Engl ish-educated upper classes,

has nevertheless deal t firm ly with all breaches ofthe law , and supported the Governmen t of I ndia

i n every step it has taken to thi s end,if, indeed ,

he has not insp ired some of these steps by h isown i n it iat ive and advice . The respect ive shares ,however , o f Secretary of State and Viceroy in

the acts of the Governmen t of I ndia are neverknown outs ide the ir respective o ffice s , and those

withou t these inner circles can only draw con

e l us ions from the personal qual i ties o f the high

o fficers concerned .

The s o-cal led parti t ion of Bengal was merely

an o ppo rtunity of focusing and concentrat ing the

1 60 MODERN IND I A

be clearly understood that all the Svaraj factionwant from England is the Bri tish army , at the

cost of the taxpayer at home,to maintain the

Brahmin and Babu class in authori ty over the

masses , which in fact they now rule with , but

des ire to rule without , the superv is i on of the

Engl ishman .

I t may be argued from a European standpo int

that the most in tel l igen t and highly-educated

classes should rule over the masses , but suchclasses never have so ruled in the E ast unless

they were able to mainta in themse lves in power

by other qual it ies than brains , and the Babu

class notoriously cannot do s o ,neither has it

ever yet been shown that the intel l igent andhighly-educated classes of one national i ty can

cont inue to rule with the aid of fore ign bayonetsover the masses not on ly of their own but of

o ther nations . To draw a European parallel isimpo ss ible ; but could the uppe r classes of

D resden,or say of al l Saxony , have been ma in

ta ined as rulers of Prussia , Bavaria, and other

countries in the German Empire with the he lp

o f bayonets suppl ied by France,supposing that

F rance had conquered Prussia in the war ?

To show how completely anti-British the Svarajand boycott movements are i t will suffice to quote

one passage from the S a flj z'

éam, edited by Kr ishnaKumar M i tra

, who was deported with eight other

PRESENT POL IT I CA L COND IT IONS 1 6 1

agitators from Bengal in December 1 908 . The

passage runs“Oh brothers , we wil l not pollute our hands

by touching Engl ish good s . Let Engl ish goods

ro t i n the warehouse and be eaten by whi te

an ts and rats . ”

The watchword o f these agi tators is “B ande

Ma l am m ,

” the name also of a newspaper,formerly

at any rate,managed or ed ited by Babu Bepin

Chandra Pal , whose voice was lately upl ifted in

London . The words mean Hail Mother , andthough they may now be used to mean HailMotherland

,the l iteral translat ion is s imply H ai l

Mother,

”

that is , Mother Kal i , and they are thus

a d irect appeal to the lowest instincts of H induism

in i ts wors t and most demoral is ing form .

The daughter of the deported Krishna Kumar

M i tra has lately publ ished a l ittle book called The

S ikh ’s S acrifice,of which Babu Surendra Nath

Banerj i wrote i n h is newspaper Tfie B enga l i

This l ittle book reveals the process of nation

bui ld ing through the ordeal of fire and pers ecut ion , and i t should be in the hands of every one

who has h is eyes open to the s ign ificance of theevents which are pass ing around us .

This journal , Tfie B enga l i, has been at least asi nstrumental as any other in inflam ing studen ts inBengal to acts of violence . I t i s wel l describedby T/ze S ta l esman of Cal cutta

,a journal under

1 6 2 MODERN IND I A

European management,and itself a strong adherent

to the reform movement , as one which , profess inghorror of assassination , serves up every day for theconsumpt ion of i ts readers v il ification of the British

o fficia l s , insinuations agains t the act ions of the ad

min istration, and inculcates the notion that , the

Government being a l ien , cannot be expected tounderstand , or sympathise with , the aspirations of

the people .

”

The wish that The S ikh’s S acrifice should be

in the hands of every schoo lboy has been pretty wellreal i sed

,for i t was the text-book of the Anushilan

Samiti,one of those associat ion s to suppress which

the Government of I ndia has taken special powers,

and both of the leaders of which are among the n ine

deportees of December 1 908 .

The record of th is Samiti is one stabbing and

one murder in 1 907 , a robbery with several murders

i n 1 908 , and the murder of an informer’

s brother in

1 909 .

Those who maintain that the agitat ion in Bengalcan be regarded as innocent should see the picturesof Mother Kali

,Kal i Ma, the Ma of Bande Mataram ,

the favourite de i ty of Bengal , more parti cularly

amongs t the H indu revolut ionaries, who i n their

confl ict with the Engl ish demons appeal to Kal i

for some of the mighty strength she displayed indestroying the devi ls of o ld times .The goddess is represented with a body of

1 64 MODERN IND I A

Where are you , oh !mo ther Chamunda, wearing a garland o f

human heads ,Oh 1 mo ther o f terrible fo rm , your afl‘l icted chi ldren call you ,

Devils are oppressing them,Demons have reduced India to

ashes ,Committing te rrible oppression on her. Come, oh Chand i !

to pun i sh Chanda and Munda in a different age .

”

That i s to say,Come to pun ish the Engl ish devils

who now oppress us in the place of those whom for

merly you slew . Another hymn recites the manife s tation of Kal i ’s power at the time of the Mutiny ,and prays that a s im ilar t ime under new leaders may

soon recur. Here are a few stanzas

Half a century ago , al l the ch i ldren o f India once made a

so lemn vow.

Alas . these effo rts went for n o th ing,evi l was brought about,

and the we lfare o f the country was no t ach ieved .

Lakshm 1 Bai from Jhans i (Ran i o f Jhans i ), T antia fromMalwa (T antia Topi ), Nana Sahib S ingh from B ithore (NanaSah ib) ro se roaring to remove the bondage of the Mo the r.

T o-day Rep in Chandra Pal,Surendra Nath Banerj i , and

Ti lak S ingh o f the Mahrattas, have pro claimed that Agit S ingh ismaking arrangements in the Punjaub, and that the re ligious riteso f the mother (Kal i) wi ll be duly perfo rmed th is time . Let As iar ise up now with prowess , ri se Herat and Meerut, why do youno t redden Kal i Ghaut (the temple o f Kal i at Calcutta) w ithblo od and perfo rm the wo rsh ip o f the Mo ther .”

I t i s hardly necessary to say that the namesmentioned are those of the bitterest enem ies of theEngl ish during the Mutiny , and of the leaders of

the an t i-Engl ish agitat ion amongst the Bengal i s

and Mahrattas of to-day .

PRE SENT POLIT ICAL COND IT IONS 1 05

I n other Bengal i newspapers which are contro l led by po l i tical agi tators , who also organ ise the

an ti-partiti on,Svaraj , and Swadeshi movements ,

men whose natura l des i re i t is to concentrate thei r

i nteres ts a t Calcutta , stories have been c irculated to

the effect that the object of the admin istrative re

arrangement of Benga l was the ra is ingr of taxat ion ,

the deportation o f cool ies , and other vain imagin ings ,and throughout the Bar“ Libraries in Bengal c i rculars

were d istributed describing the Engl ish as bloodsuckers , and call ing upon H indus to uni te i n the

name of Kal i .Neverthe le ss , in spite of al l efforts , the boycott

and nat ional volunteer movemen ts have fai led in

Eastern Bengal to do more than produce a feel ing

of unrest,and to undermine d iscipl i ne in the ranks

of the students .Habitual m isrepresentations are made in and

out of Parl iament regarding the atti tude of thepeople of Eastern Bengal . The Mahomedans ,

two-th irds of the whole , as a fact strongly approve

the creation of the new Prov ince, in which they arein the maj ori ty . Nor are they alone

,for the H indu

tenants of the Babu pleaders and landlords rej o iceat the closer superv is ion of their landlord’s proceedings , which wil l result from the levell ing up ofthe administration .

But here again the astute agitators have dupedtheir Engl ish sympath isers into the bel ief that the

1 66 MODERN IND IA

anti -partit ion movemen t i s one of a democrati ccharacter, and that there i s no organ isation havingassassination as at least one of i ts aims . What then

is to be thought of the long l is t of concerted outrages

ending in the murder in London of S ir W. CurzonWyl l ie and D r . La l caca 9 What of the shooting of

Mr. Allen , two attempts on S ir A. Fraser, the

murder of two ladies at Mo z uffe rpo re , the bombfactory at Man ickto l lah, the assass inations of

Narendro Nath G o s sa in the i nformer , o f NundoLal Bannerj ee the detective , and of Asuto sh B iswas

the Publ ic Prosecutor , the bomb outrage on theEastern Bengal Rai lway

,the riots in Bombay and

Rawalp ind i , the bomb despatched in a book toMr. Kingsford the magistrate , and the repeated

attempts on the l ife of Mr. Hume , Publ ic Pro

secutor ? Were al l these occurrences merely

fortu itous and unconnected , wa s there no commonknowledge and des ign ? That at any rate i s not thev iew taken i n England of the long l ist of outrages

wh ich culminated in the murder of Curzon Wyll ie,

and have been followed by the attempt on the

Viceroy,and the assass inat ion of Mr. J ackson .

The circumstances of the last-mentioned crime

prove the existence o f a murder organ i sat ionamong high-caste B rahmins in the Deccan

,to

cope wi th which the Government appl ied to theBombay Presidency the Criminal Law Amendmen tAct, 1 908 , which shortens the trials of pol it ical

1 6 8 MODERN IND IA

of Brita in wou ld be cont inued unt i l a confl ict arose,

when i f a d ictator were needed the Ameer of

Afghan i stan was a capable man, who had lately

paid a V is i t to I ndia !But in England butter would not melt in Babu

Bepin Chandra’s mouth . R ight ly did S ir J ohn

H ewett treat h is counci l to a homily in which he

dryly remarked that to express horror of assassinat ion was not enough

,and that cord ial co -operation

with the Governmen t in suppre s smg sed it ion and

pun i sh ing crime wa s the necess i ty of the day andhour .Mr. Keir Hard ie, lVI .P . , has much resented

accusat ions that he was occupied in encouraging

sedit ion when he vis ited I ndia in 1 907 , and ofcourse i t may be that a l i ttle book he has publ i shedth is year cal led I ndia i s intended to assis t h i sfel low-countrymen in govern ing the Empire of that

name .

Nevertheless i t g ives an account of our rulewhich

,were i t founded on fact

,would just i fy revol t

,

and,i f anyth ing can

,would almost pall iate as sa s s i

nation,the occurrence of which in the heart o f

London has at last compelled publ i c op in ion inthi s country to give a passing thought to the d isloyal agi tation which has long been proceeding inI ndia , almost unnot iced at home .

I t may s uffice here to remark that th i s l i ttlebook , publ ished by the I ndependen t Labour Party ,

PRESENT POLIT I CAL COND ITIONS 1 69

is a compend ium of all the stock , s tale , false , and

o It-refuted cri tic isms of Bri ti sh rule put about by

the enemies o f England amongst the Congressparty

, the sed itious classes i n Bengal , and d i saffected

Mahrattas o f Poona .

The Bri tish Government i s accused of showing

special favour to Mahomedans ,who , left alone , get

on well , i t i s said , with the H indus , of extracting

from the peasan ts 7 5 per cent . of the harvest , which

i s as near as may be just ten t imes the true figure ,

of wringing the las t penny from the cruel ly over

taxed peasants,and keeping them in a condi t ion of

perpetual,hopeless , grinding poverty , in such a

s tate o f absolute dest i tution as i s probably not to be

equal led in any other country in the world .

I t is real ly no excuse for such writi ngs that the

author knows noth ing of the other countries of the

world , and that he is only saying that wh ich hasbeen imparted to him from in terested sources . The

po in t is that the So cial is ts of England offer to joinhands with the revolut ionaries o f I ndia

,and at

the same t ime ex—o ffic ia l s i n Parl iament , of whom

Sir H enry Cotton may be taken as an example,

indulge i n incessant denunciat ion of the BritishI nd ian Government .

S ir H . Cotton publ ished a book in 1 907 de scrib

ing our rule as suited to a slavish and ignoble

population ,” saying that “the principal object of

the I ndian Government should be to apply itself

1 7 0 MODERN INDIA

to the peace fu l re cons truct io n o f an I ndian adm inis

tra tion in its place ,

”

and recommending “the withdrawa l of m il ita ry suppo rt from England , which

wou ld no t be injurio us to Anglo-I ndians , becausethey wou ld in that cas e be cons tra ined in the ir own

inte res ts to adopt a mo re concil iatory demeanour

towa rds the people o f the country” '

S uch wri tings as the se inev i tably fan the flameof sedition , whateve r be the intention o f their authors ,who s imply dance to the tune ca l led by the Congre ssrepre senta t ive s o f the uppe r, a ri s to crati c, and legalc las s e s , who are financed by the landlords , to protee t who se tenants the Bri tish I ndian Governmenthas had to pass repea ted tenancy Acts .

S e l ittle so l ida ri ty is there be tween those whofinance the agi ta to rs , and tho se whom the agi tators

pre tend to repres ent.

In fact, a clas s is growing up which is wholly outo f sympa thy a l ike w i th na tive s of I nd ia and native so f Europe . It is from an Indian journal thatthe fo l lowing; wo rds are quo ted : T he spi ri t of

ratio na l ism and cri ticism evoked by o ccidental lore

has unde rm ined the foundations o f Aryan faith and

re l igion .

T his is the s imple tru th, bu t agi tato rs hnd that

openly e xpre s sed co ntempt fo r the re l igion and

cus tom s o f Ind ia cuts them o ff from the mas se s , and

now the cu rio us spe ctacle pre sents i tse l f o f England

v is iting, cas te-reno une ing te nga l is deno uncing the

1 7 0 MODERN IND I A

to the peaceful reconstruct ion of an I ndian adm inis

tra tion in i ts place ,” and recommending “the with

drawa l of mil i tary support from England,which

would not be injurious to Anglo-I ndians,because

they would in that case be constrained in the ir own

in terests to adopt a more concil iatory demeanour

towards the people of the country ”

Such wri t ings as these inev itably fan the fl ame

of sedit ion , whatever be the intent ion of their authors ,who s imply dance to the tune cal led by the Congressrepresen tat ives of the upper

,ari stocrati c, and legal

classes , who are financed by the landlords , to protee t whose tenants the B ritish I ndian Government

has had to pass repeated tenancy Acts .5 0 l i ttle sol idari ty is there between those who

finance the agitators , and those whom the agitatorspretend to represent .

I n fact, a class is growing up which is wholly outof sympathy al i ke with natives of I ndia and natives

of Europe . I t i s from an I ndian Journal thatthe following words are quoted : “The spir i t ofrat ional ism and cri t ic ism evoked by occ idental lore

has undermined the foundat ions of Aryan faith andrel igion .

This i s the s imple truth , but agitators hnd thatopen ly expressed contempt for the rel igion andcustoms of I ndia cuts them off from the masses , and

now the curiou s spectacle presen ts i tsel f of England

Vi s i t ing, caste-renounc ing Bengal is denouncing the

PRE SENT POL IT ICAL COND IT I ON S 1 7 1

impuri ties of sugar-refin ing and co tton-s izing a s

practised by the Engl i sh for the destruct ion of the

sacred caste of the H indu purcha ser !

I t mus t not for a moment be supposed that the

who l e vernacular press is d isaffected . I ndeed most

of the journals in other than Bengal i and De ccan i

hands,the Parsee and Mahomedan newspapers , for

instance,are dist i nctly loyal , and there are sti l l

many H indu issues of which as much may be said .

The Parsees,as practi cal people , dread the resul ts

of the agitat ion,and wil l have noth ing to do with

the Bengal i,in whom they have no co nfidence , and

for whose bus iness capacity they entertain the pro

foundest contempt .

The Parsee pres s also denounces those Engl ish

newspapers which vil ify the B rit ish i n I ndia,and

wisely dwells upon the infin ite mischief done by

encouraging the impress ion that a Liberal Govern

men t wi l l regard any agitation as an expression of

publ i c feeling,and wil l yield to any demands

,how

ever unreasonable . Lord Morley has done morethan any o ther man to destroy this d isastrousi l lus ion .

The Mahratta press , which is for the most partunder B rahmin management

,i s v io lently ant i

Brit ish , and its contro l lers belong to the same clas sas the d isaffected i n Bengal— namely

,landlords ,

lawyers , money-lenders , pries ts , and clerks in the

Government serv ice. The hosti le Brahmins of

1 7 2 MODERN IND IA

Poona are not Mahrattas , except in the sense that

they l ive l n the Mahratta country,and they repre

sent noth ing but their own caste , the most exclus ive and aris tocrati c in the world , and , i t may be

added , possessed o f marvellous capaci ty for intrigue ,and of such subtle ski ll as has enabled them to per

suade the Democrats and Social i sts of England to

join hands with them against the masses of thei rfellow-countrymen .

I n Madras the agitation fa i led to produce much

impression on press or publ i c,but the press of

Bengal and Poona , and to a less degree that of

Bombay and the Punjab , has been o ne of the chief

factors , and , after educat ion , the ch ief factor , inbringing about the presen t sedi tious movement .

I t is natural to dwel l upon th is aspect of affairsin I ndia , but the loyal support which the Government receives attracts less attent ion . Not only theMahomedans of Eastern Bengal , two-th irds o f the

whole population,but also the H indu tenants , have

made a protest , not agains t the parti tion , but againstthe agitat ion against the partit ion , and against the

boycott , which the agitators endeavour to enforce ,to the great inconven ience of the people .

Repeated resolut ion s condemn ing the ant i-Brit ishagitat ion have been passed at meetings in Bengal

and Oudh,and indiv idual Maharajas and Na

wabs have rebuked individual agitators , I ndian and

Engl ish .

1 7 4 MODERN IND IA

both of whom have made acqua intance with thei nside of the gaol in I nd ia in the last two or three

years .I t i s admitted that the Congres s organisat ion

consists of the Engl ish educated middle classes ,”

and , to make i t national , the zemindars, merchants ,and cultivators would have to be represented in i ts

ranks , as wel l as the Mahomedans , who hold en tirelyaloof.Such as it i s

,however

,i t mus t be regarded as

committed to defiance of the law , s ince i t declared

boycott to be a legitimate weapon , and it is i tsel f

one of the causes and one of the effects of the

agitation .

I t is eas ier to describe the causes of unrest than

to prescribe a remedy , but Parl iament , l n pass ing in1 909 the I ndian Counci ls Act , i ntroduced by Lord

Morley , has taken , on the advice of that statesman ,the best means ava i lable , under present c ircumstances , of deal i ng with so difficul t a s i tuation .

I t must be admitted that i t i s imposs ible toactively engage in educating your subjects to bel ieve that a certa in form of government is good

everywhere , i n fact the only good form of govern

ment , and then to tel l them it i s good everywhereexcept in I ndia , as soon as they ask for i ts appl icat ion in the i r own case .Thi s Act , which wil l be more fully described

e lsewhere , goes quite as far as i s safe in meeting

PRESENT POL IT I CAL COND IT ION S 1 7 5

the legitimate aspirations of the Engl ish-educated

clas ses , and had no t Lord Morley possessed , to an

unprecedented extent,the co nfide nce of both great

parties i n the S tate , i t would not have been possible

to get through both Houses a measure so favourable

to the v iews of the advanced party .

The fact has to be acknowledged that an aris to

crat 1 e basis of government i s natural to the peoples

of I ndia , that the masses ho ld the ir hereditary leaders

in reverence , and that we should spare no pa in s toobtai n the help of these leaders . We should , with

their aid , develop indigenous insti tut ions , as indeed

the Decentral isat ion Commission has recommended ,and as the I ndian Counci l s Act recogn ised ; for thefact is that our legal tribunals act as promoters of

l i t igation,and are a solvent of al l that i s best and

most so l id in the framework of I ndian soc iety .

Happily decentral isat ion is j ust now in the air . I ti s favoured at the I ndia Othee

,and there can hardly

be too much of it, i f appl ied with discretion .

The separation of administrat ive and judic ialfunctions i s merely pressed by agitators because

i t wil l destroy the all-important influence of the

D istrict O fficer, Whose pos ition should be im

proved and not impaired , i f we are to continue torule I nd ia.

The danger of al ienat ing the Mahomedan s,by

yielding too far to the demands of the Brahminsand Babus , must never be forgotten nor the fact

1 70 MODERN IND IA

that Oriental s do not bel ieve in the existence ofpower that i s not exerc ised

,and cannot real ise that

a Government which permits a sedi t ious press topel t i t with mud

,can preven t the unedify ing spec

tacle . I t cannot,however

,be al leged that for the

last three years the Government has not takenact ion in th is behal f

,though probably such had

been rather long delayed,and j ust now an Act

has been passed by the Legislat ive Counc i l o f the

Governor-General prov iding a new summary pro

cess for suppress ing newspapers which encourage

sedit ion,suborn assass inat ion

,and excite hatred

against the Government .Final ly

,the recogn i t ion of loyal ists , even more

than the conci l iat ion of the d isaffected , should be

the care of a Government consist ing of a few , setaloft among mil l ions of al iens . Nowhere in the

world are examples more effective than in such a

setting .

1 7 8 MODERN IND I A

No twiths tanding the agitat ion they have carried

on,Lord Morley and Lord M into’s Government

decided to con tinue a long the path of reform , toenlarge the Legislat ive Counci ls , and to promote

the further extens ion of the employment of I ndiansin the government of the country .

The I ndian Councils Act marks the close of one,

and the open i ng of another epoch , i n which it is

o fficia l ly admitted that the sati sfaction of the legitimate cla ims of the classes at once intell igent andEngl ish-educated , i s not on ly one of the objects , butis probably the most legi t imate object of executiveand legislat ive sol ic itude . The increas ing al ienat ionof these classes has for a long t ime been notorious

,

and as there i s no counter-movement in our favour,

i t i s reasonable to conclude that the masses wi l l i n

t ime be , to some extent at any rate , infected with

the spiri t of opposition to Brit ish rule . What hadto be feared at the t ime when Lord Morley took the

s ituat ion in hand was not another mutiny , but amovement l ikely to culminate in estrangement ofthe peoples of I ndia

,a feature which was whol ly

wanting in the mil itary revol t of 1 8 5 7 , than which ,indeed

,i t would be of an even more serious char

acter .I n pursuance of h is declared policy , Lord Morley

appointed two I ndian gentlemen to s i t upon his own

Counc i l— a bold innovat ion , which has , however, met

with general approval , the gentlemen he selected ,

REFORMS 1 7 9

one a H indu and one a Mahom edan ,being by

common consen t exceptional ly wel l fitted fo r their

exalted office .

True , the Congres s o rators have objected to

them,but one chief object of al l reform in I nd ia

must be to provide that i n future representatives of

other clas ses than their own shal l be included in

suffic ie nt numbers in the administration .

Unde r the system of elect ion i n force prior to

the passing of Lord Morley’

s Act,no one who was

not a nominee of the Congress party had a chanceof s itting in the Councils , though it i s notoriou s

that that party is not represen tative of the manypeoples of I ndia

,but of class and caste interests

,

and that the Mahomedans , Rajputs , S ikhs , and

also the lower-class and lower-caste H indus are

opposed to i ts pol icy , and have no love for

the l awye rs and pol i tic ians , who are i ts leading

exponents .The lower castes and classes see the insinceri ty

of the agitators,and the personal motives which too

often inspire the i r actions . I t does not require a

tra ined crit ic to appreciate the fact that the claimfor representative insti tut ions of the Western patterni s founded upon the ass imilat ion of Western c iv i l isa

t ion , and that the latter cannot be said to havepermeated the I nd ian soc ial system

,while com

pu l so ry widowhood , infant marriage , polygamy , andthe worship , particularly in Bengal , of goddesses ,

1 80 MODERN IND IA

such as the ferocious Kal i , fl our ish , not only without condemnat ion , but with the marked approval

of the upper castes and classes, who set the

fash ions , which those below slav ishly fol low .

I t would be affectation to ignore the fact that i ti s in Bengal, from which the demand for repre se n

tat iy e i nsti tut ions ch iefl y proceed , that the most

l icent ious and degraded forms of H indu supersti t ion

are most practi sed , and in which the stronges t

oppos i t ion wa s offered to the Age of Consent Act

in 1 890 .

The proposal s for reform which , with m odifi

cations , addit ions , and omis s ions , eventual ly becamelaw as the I ndian Counc ils Act

,1 909, o rlgl na l ly in

cluded the establ i shment of adv 1 sory counc i l s ofnotables to a s s 1 s t the provinc ial governments

,and

the en largement of the Legislat ive Counc i ls of

the Governor-General , Governors and Lieutenant

Governors,upon all of which at that t ime the

maintenance o f an o fficia l majority wa s considered

a necessary condit ion , and was assured .

This scheme was referred for cons iderat ionto the Local Governments , mun i c ipal , local , andpubl ic bodies , corporations , and associations , and

to innumerable ind iv iduals whose opin ion was

thought to be of special value,or l ikely to e luc i

date in any way the difficu l t problems involved .

I t was not, as original ly drafted , acceptable to

the leaders of the advanced party, or indeed to the

1 8 2 MODERN I ND IA

of the Viceroy has yet to be proved , but i f theexperiment was to be made the parti cular otheeselected was obviously most suitable, for i ts o ccupant is not placed in a pos i tion of admini strativesuperiority over nat ives of Europe as wel l as nat ivesof I ndia in the publ i c service . Though a mem

ber of the Executive Counc i l and enti tled to vote onal l quest ions

,his own pecul iar functions are rather

of an advisory character , and indeed some of hispredecessors have decl ined to take any part in

the executive work of the Government over and

above giving legal Opin ions on questions referred tothem

,and deal ing with the drafting o f B il ls before

the Counc il .Now the mere draft ing of statutes by native

lawyers of I ndia can be open to no possibleobjection— indeed i t would be hard to hnd menbetter fitted for the work . The danger l ies in the

appoin tment assuming a racial aspect, which Lord

Morley has enti rely repudiated on the altogethers imple and unassai lable ground that the best manavailable has been appointed wi thout regard to h isnational ity

,and noth ing has been done to prej ud ice

the claim of the best man in future , whatever be

his race,creed , o r co lour .

The appointmen t of Mr. S inha, however , is nodoubt a step in the d irect ion of that surrender ofrace priv i lege , which those whose acquaintance wi ththe admin is tration of the Brit ish Empire i s more

REFO RM S 1 8 3

theore tica l than practical wil l on that account

approve . It i s no t by any means for th is reason

that practical men wil l acquiesce in the step taken,

but because i t obviously deprives those who cry

out that thei r race is a badge of i nferiori ty o f the

last vestige of jus tifica tion for such a complain t.There is no promis e that the experiment will berepeated , but one appo intmen t on the Governor

General’s Counci l,i t may safely be inferred

,wil l

in future always be held by a native of I nd ia,and

i t is des irable to the last degree that the gentle

man selected should alternately be H indu andMahomedan , unless the latter rel igion i sts are tobe provided with a ready-made and real grievance

,

greater than that whi ch in the case of the H induhas been removed .

The numbers of the non-o fficia l and elected

members of the Legislative Council s of Bombay,

Madras , Bengal , the Un i ted Provinces , Eastern .

Bengal,and Assam , and the Punjab have been

doubled , that o f Burma has been increased,ful ler

play has been given to the elect ive principle,the

range of which has been enlarged so as to affordrepresentation to the al l-important class of land

owners , and to the not less valuable Engl ish comm ercia l community as wel l as to the profess ionalmiddle classes

,to use the express ion of the

Government of I ndia,which consists ch iefly of

lawyers and of members of the intel l igent classes

1 84 MODERN IND I A

and castes , who are general ly lumped together as

Babus , that being the hono rific t i tle in use among

themselves i n Bengal,i n certain centres of wh ich

they exercise very considerable infl uence .

The Government of I ndia,after making ex

haus ttve 1 nqu 1 r 1 es , decided that representat ion by

class and interests was the on ly practical methodof embodying the e lective principle in the cons titution of the I ndian Legislative Councils . LordMorley

,while agreeing that the system recom

mended by the Government o f I ndia was sui tedto l im ited electorates

,thought that in regard to

minori ties so important as theMahomedan s a system

should be devised somewhat s imilar to that alreadyadopted in regard to D is tri ct Boards and Mun i c i

pal itie s , which do not practise d irect elect ion , but

choose electors , who return a represen tat i ve o f

the group . The Mahomedans , however, protested

that the ir representat ive should be returned on aseparate register, and urged with much force that ,under the collegiate system , persons not repre

sent ing Mahom edan feel ing would have a bette rchance of being returned than men whom theythemselves regarded as truly represen tative .

The expedient of a double register has provedvery successful in the Austrian Empire as a meansof prevent ing nat ional co nfl icts , and separate repre

sentation for the Mahomedans IS obviously the

devi ce most l ikely to prevent the strife and riot

1 8 6 MODERN I ND I A

on the other hand , are not l ikely to forget thatthey were for centuries the rul ing race in I ndia

,

and that they have special claims founded upon

histori cal tradit ion as well as upon presen t ci rcums tance s , claims the val idi ty and force of which

indeed both Lord Morley and Lord M into havefully admitted .

Another respect in which Lord Morley differedfrom the Government of I nd ia was in ins ist ingthat the latter should mainta in an o fficia l maj ori tyupon 1 ts Legislative Council , and not merely take

power to create i t whenever ci rcumstances re

quired such a step to be taken .

These alterat ion s did not meet w ith un iversal

approval, but the writer of these pages, who was forfour years one of the members of the Governor

General’s Counc il for making Laws and Regulat ions , strongly holds that this m odification was

absolutely necessary . I t i s a commonplace argu

men t o f the nat ive press that the Legislat ive i sover and above the Executive Counci l , and in a

sense the con tention is hard to refute .

A question that does arise is whether i t was

wise to adopt the recommendation of the Governmen t of I ndia that the official majority on theprovincial legislat ive councils should be abandoned .

I t i s of course true that the pass ing of a measureof wh ich the Government disapproves in a pro

v incia l legislat ive counci l i s not an irreparable

REFORMS 1 8 7

d isaster , as the Governor can re fuse h is consen tbut the frequent exerci se of th i s veto i s open to

cons iderable objection s , and there are many who

regard with some misgiv ings thi s concess ion , though

it i s by no means a s great a s at firs t s ight appears ,for every provin cial government i s under the contro l

of the Governor-General in Council , upon whose

Counci l the o ffic ia l majority remains un impaired .

Nevertheless , i t wi l l be a bad day for B ri tish pres

tige in I ndia when B il ls are carried i n the counci ls

of prov inces , which are in fact vas t and populous

kingdoms,against the local governments concerned .

The misch ief would not be i rreparable,but to

repai r i t would stra in the machinery and give

much occas ion for thought . The provincial counc il s

may in future , and indeed are very l ike ly to, reject

legislation introduced for the protect ion o f tenantsfrom landlords

,and the Prov inc ial Government wil l

in that case e i ther have to leave the tenants unpro

te cted ,or invoke the legislative aid of the Governor

General ’s Counci l,on which an o fficia l majori ty is

assured,which wil l not prove a popular proceed ing

wi th the friends of representat ive government .The probabi l i ty is that in such a case the tenantswi l l go to the wall , and it is on ly another of manyproofs of the complete manner in which the repre

senta tive s of the classes i n I ndia have hoodwinkedthe representat ives of democracy in the BritishParl iament .

1 8 8 MODERN IND IA

Nor in th is connection should i t be forgo ttenthat the check on the election of extreme Opponents

of B ri ti sh rule which ' existed in the veto of the

Viceroy, Governor , or Lieutenan t-Governor i s re

moved , s ince no co nfirma tio n at thei r hands l s

necessary under the new Counci l s Act . However

regrettable the d isappearance of th is safeguardmay appear , i t must be frankly admitted that i ts

retent ion would have been incons isten t wi th the

whole sp iri t of Lord Morley’s pol i cy , and thathal f-hearted measures were not l ikely to be of

any avail in the pol iti cal conditions which had

arrived . Provis ion is also made on the ReformedLegislat ive Counci ls for the representat ion of occas iona l !minorit ies such as the Christians , S ikhs ,Buddhists, and Parsees , and the facil i ties for debate , for pass ing resolutions and asking questions ,i nclud ing supplementary interrogatories , are ex

tended beyond the l imits contemplated by the

original scheme .

One of the most important reforms was therais ing of the strength of the Execut ive Council sof Madras and Bombay to

'

the maximum of four ,which figure wil l al so be adopted for the Counc ilsof Lieutenant-Governors , when created . Thepresent Presidential Counci l being three strong ,

nothing les s than the addition of one memberenables the Governor with his casting vote to be

master in h is own house , though he has of course

1 90 MODERN IND IA

cannot have th is knowledge , but when providedwith a Counci l of which two members may benatives

,i t i s not improbable that they would prove

somewhat amenable to pressure . At any rate they

would be more ready to take for granted the claimsof prominen t local pol it i c ians to represent general

publ i c Opin ion .

The cost of Counc il lors wil l be very cons iderable,

but wh ile the Babu class wil l get the appointments,

i t has ye t to be proved that the general taxpayer

will get anyth ing more than an i ncrease in taxation ,and there is certainly no proof that he displays any

in terest in th i s matter . N o r should it ever be

forgotten that the popular feel ing to which theGovernment o f I ndia refers , in i ts despatches upon

these reforms , i s the feel ing of the pro fe s swna l

middle or Babu class, which owns the vernacular

press , whereby the boyco tt and svaraj agitat ions are

carried on , and which mans the Congress, but thatthe masses of the people regard the B rit ish o fficia l

as the i r protector against this class,for which they

have l i ttl e love , s ince by i t they are, as they wel l

know,regarded as creatures of an i nferior clay

,

on the lowest rungs of the caste ladder,as hardly

human beings .Great Liberal statesmen , from Mr. Gladstone

to Lord Morley,have declared that Parl iamen tary

representation in the congeries of countries , con

veniently descr ibed as I ndia,i s out of the quest ion .

REFORMS 1 9 1

Any advance , therefore , i n that d irec tion must becare fully watched , and al l progress on these l ines

wil l be closely s crutin ised by those who have firsthand knowledge of the many peoples , who are ,again for the sake of comprehens ive c las s ificatio n

,

but without any ethno logical , geograph ical , soc ial ,l i ngu istic , or s cientifica l ly pol i t ical reasons , nowdescri bed as I nd ians .Lord Morley has certainly to be congratulated

in that he has succeeded i n sati sfying the legi timatedemands of the Mahom edans

,who gained thei r

case by temperate representat ion , an adm irableexample to those who have adopted methods of

v iolence and int im idation .

The firs t elect ions to the I nd ian Counci ls have

provoked a hosti l e manifesto from certain Bengal i

leaders , condemn ing the Regulations framed by theI nd ian Government as an ordinance of exclusion

,

though Babu S urendranath Banerj i had already,

with what might well be considered unnecessary

haste , been special ly exempted from the ruleaga inst the candidature of persons d ismissed from

the Government serv ice , and the condit ion that

local self-govern ing bodies should only be repre

sented by members thereof, had been modified so

as to al low of the candidature of persons who hadserved on local boards and mun icipal it ies for anyperiod or periods amount ing in the aggregate tothree years .

1 92 MODERN IND IA

Compla int was al so made in this man i festo that

the educated commun i ty , to whose efforts the

reforms are there in attr ibuted , were being reducedto an ins ignificant minori ty . By the educatedcommunity i s here mean t the Engl ish-educated

and Engl ish-speaking portion of the population,

and in Congress parlance , nat ives of India , however educated and cul tured , are not coun ted asmembers of thi s class i f they have not been de

nat ional ised in the schools and colleges provided

by the E ngl ish Government . I n short,the Con

gress party claims that the professional middle

classes,a product of our Government educationa l

system , are the educated commun ity.

The latest Labour member travel ler o f course

hastens to accept the theories of h is I ndian guides ,and Mr. Ram say Macdonald , fo l lowmg l n the foot

steps o f Mr . Keir H ard ie , adopts wholesale the

Congress pol i cy . But in poin t of fact even the

Engl ish-educated commun i ty and the Congress

party are not ident ical . I n British I nd ia the

number of persons acquainted W ith E ngl ish, in

cluding schoolboys and students , i s not qu ite amill ion , and adding the Engl ish l i terates of native

S tates i s not more than out of the

inhabitants of I ndia , and the formerfigure i ncludes Europeans , Eurasians, and thenative Christian commun ity , numbering upwards of

for whom,and for Engl ish-speaking

1 94 MODERN IND IA

5 to the U n ivers it ies , while no less than 6 7 areal l otted on the principles for the acceptance ofwhich the Bengal i leaders clamour . For instance

,

trade and industry have 1 6 members,and 5 of

these must necessari ly be I ndians , while the samenumber only is al lotted to the al l-important planting

industry . I ndeed it is not l ikely that much morethan a dozen of the 1 23 hypothecated seats wil l fa l lto members of the govern ing commun i ty . S o l i ttle

jus tification i s there fo r compla ints made of favourshown towards the Mahomedans , that only 1 8 outof 284 seats are al lotted to th i s commun ity, which

comprises no less than 23 per cen t . of the pOpulation o f Bri ti sh I ndia .

That 1 6 seats should be kept for landownersmust be regarded as very moderate representat ionof that interest in a cont inent in which upwardsof 70 per cent . of the people are dependent uponagricul ture . I n short , out o f 1 23 hypothecatedseats not less than 1 00 wil l probably be fil l ed byE ngl ish-educated I ndians, who wil l be el igible ascandidates

,and will almost invariably be e lected

for more than four-fifths of them , nor i s i t l ike ly

to happen that of the remain ing 34 nominated non

o fficia l members a large proport ion will not be men

sat i sfying the Bengal i standards.I t should be very obvious from these figure s

that there is no jus tification for these complaints ,and that the pol i cy of the Governmen t has been

REFORMS 1 95

that of inclus ion,not exclus ion , of classes and

in terests,while no class or interest wil l profit so

largely as the Engl ish-educated community , whichthe B engal i and Deccani leaders claim to represent .I t is devoutly to be desired that no future

Secretary of S tate or Viceroy of I nd ia wi l l fai l toappreciate the fact that Lord Morley, the author

of these reforms,has plain ly stated that the

ult imate executive power wil l not be , and cannot

be abandoned ; and i f the Government , acting on

knowledge which the publ ic d id not possess,was

obl iged to take steps which d id not commendthemse lves to the majority of the Counci ls, theywould neverthe less not hes itate to accept that

respons ibi l i ty .

CHAPTER X I I

SOC IAL L IFE IN IND IA— CASTE-REL IG ION

IF a native of E urope were asked by a stranger,

Who are you he would reply , I am an Engl ish

man,Frenchman , or German , as the case might be .

H is nat ional ity would come firs t to h is l ips . But ifa stranger were to ask a nat ive of I ndia the samequest ion

,he would say , if he could, “ I am a B rah

min,and , i f not, name the caste to which he

belongs . The last th ing that would o ccur to him

would be to say,

“ I am an I ndian . The express ion i s mean ingless , and conveys nothing to themind of a nat ive of any of the different countries in

that great con tinent .

O f course , the general dominat ion o f Bri ta in pro

duces some sen se of sol idari ty in those who havebeen brought up in our school s and col leges , and

have been taught to cons ider national i ty a necessary

concomitant o f a knowledge of Engl ish , which theyassimilate w ith extraord inary ease .

Except in regard to these classes, who are

1 per cent . of the populat ion , caste rema ins thegreat div id ing line , the one essent ial label .

1 96

1 98 MODERN IND IA

reformers,al l drink . The reformers general ly in

Ramtanu’

s day revi led the H indu re l igion , andwould shout in the ears of the orthodox , “We eat

beef. I t subsequently became apparent to agitators

,adepts in intr igue

,that they put themse lves out

of court by th is conduct ; and for the last few yearsnot on ly have they affected respect for the preju

dices,rel igious and social , of the masses , but they

have professed be l ief in the more obscuran tis tforms of H induism , in the most material , mostidolatrous , and , i t may be said , most degradingaspects of a rel igion , which embraces every shadeo f bel ief from monotheism to panthe i sm , and fromabstract philosoph ic reason ing to an im ism anddownright devil worsh ip .

So cial reform meanwhile has receded into thebackground .

There i s a good deal of unfriendly feel ing with

regard to female educat ion . The masses no doubtth ink that it i s l ikely to make women independentand immoral , and they are convinced that customsand insti tut ions which have stood the test of centurie s possess surpass ing meri ts , and who shall saythat there is not at least some sense in such reason

i ng ? I ndeed , many of the agitators , who prate o f

the emancipation of women upon the platform,in

their private fami l ies observe to the letter theanc ient law , and stand firm ly on the old worldways .

SOC IAL m I ND IA 1 99

The dis interment of an anc ien t tes t from the

Shastras in favour o f some reform has no effect

whatever on the average Ind ian , who i s qui te

shrewd enough to know that the devi l sometimesfor h is own purposes quotes Scripture . The fact

is that social legislat ion in I nd ia i s al ready far i n

advance of publ ic opin ion,and the Age o f Consent

Act , for example , has proved a dead-letter .I n fant marriage

,instead of being abandoned , i s

probably on the increase,and the very strongho ld of

th is practice i s a province in the van of the cyclon i c

march of progress,Bengal . I t i s by no means so

certain , as i s contended , that this custom ,which is

the subject of gross exaggeration and m is repre s entation , i s not the best for the countr ies and the

peoples in which i t obtai ns , and it i s quite certain

that the resultant evils have been habitual ly repre

sented as far greater than they real ly are by miss ionarie s

,whose information and impartial i ty are not

always equal to their zeal and s inceri ty .

The H indu system finds a husband for every

woman,and gives every man a wife ; and even in

Bengal , where the figure s are highest , on ly onefifth of the women are widows

,as against one-tenth

in England,while the number of unmarried women

i s enormously larger in England than in Bengal .

The evils brought about by this compulsory cel ibacyare probably by no means less than those produced

by infant marriage and the resul ting more frequent

20 0 MODERN I ND I A

widowhood . Nor is an army of young widows, who

are not al lowed to remarry , any worse off than theproportionately far larger number of young womenwho have never been able

,and are never l ikely to

be able , to marry at a l l in Europe .

I t i s of course true that the high castes are a

comparat ively smal l proportion of the populat ion ;but so surely do the lower castes copy the habits

and customs o f their betters,that a descript ion of

the l i fe and conversat ion of the Brahmins might

fairly be taken as typ ical of that of the upper classesof nat ives in most parts of I nd ia . There i s no giveand take in these matters . The Brahm in is themodel upon which all others , after their l ights , mustendeavour to fash ion themselves .R i tual plays a great part in his l i fe and conversa

t ion . The build ing of his house , for instance , must

be undertaken at an auspicious season , and it must

be bu ilt accord ing to caste rules . I t must have a

blank wal l towards the street to provide for privacy ,and its kitchen must be the best , not the most remoteand ind ifferent, of al l the rooms , for the preparation

and consumption of food are almost rel igious ri tes ,and the kitchen is i n fact a temple , into which noperson below the caste of the owner may enter . A

Brahmin may cook for a man of lower caste , but hew ill only cook food he himself m ight consume , andif the shadow of h is master fel l upon i t he wouldnot eat i t h imsel f.

20 2 MODERN I ND I A

castes usual ly, of a vegetarian character . The

we ight and amount of food consumed i s as a factgreatly in excess of that of the average European .

I t i s always eaten with the right hand off a leaf, andwater— for no H indu should , or a s a rule does , the

Engl i sh-educated excepted , drink alcohol— i s pouredinto the mouth

,so that ne i ther the vessel in which

i t i s contained,nor the l iqu id i tsel f

,touches the l ips .

N o thing contaminates more than labial contact, and

kissing is regarded as a downright d isgust ing praet ice , and never indulged in under any circumstances

by H indus . There is more praying at lamp—l ightingt ime , j ust after the cows come home ; but, of course ,these Observances are very much cut down from the

ideal , and perhaps in the ease of most B rahmins,

the real,standard .

H indus do not go to the temple as we go tochurch

,but worsh ip is duly performed each day at

the shrine by the pries t on duty, j ust as Mass i s saidin the Cathol ic Church

,whether or not any one i s

present . The women pray much less , though the i rprayers are very sens ible and commendable , andher late Majesty Q ueen Victoria showed herselfmuch interested in them , and was at cons iderablepains to secure trustworthy translat ions , some of

which the wri ter had the honour to prepare .

But if the women do not pray much , there isno l imi t to the worship they may bestow 0 1 1 thei rhusbands

,and however l i ttle th is programme may

SOC IAL L IFE IN I ND I A 20 3

suit the s o -cal led emancipated women of WesternEurope

,i t i s one that conduces to much affec tion

and esteem between husband and wife , and wel l

accords with the H indu sacramental conception ofmarriage . Nothing could be more beauti ful than

the H indu ideals of marriage , with which the

theory , and sti l l more the practice in th is behalf of

Western Europe and America , most unfavourably

contrast.I n the lower classes the women work hard

with,and earn nearly as much as , their husbands ,

the ch ildren help ing accord ing to the i r degree ,qu ite smal l creatures making the ir m ite after the i r

powers .There i s much s imple kindly feel ing and chari ty

in the ord inary I ndian peasant’s household . He i s

contented with hi s lot,and so far i s deaf to the

voice of the agitator , who for personal reasons

points out to h im that he ought to be miserableand oppressed .

I n ord inary years his family l ives in tolerable

comfort, bu t when prices rise in time of agricul turalscarcity he has to take to Outdoor— which has beenunwisely described as Famine— Rel ief. The s o

cal led Famine Code i s one of the most pract icaland s cientific instruments ever e laborated by ad

min i strative man , and no one need now die of wantin I ndia , any more than any one need starve athome, while our Engl ish poor law is in operat ion .

204 MODERN IND I A

The lower down the scale the less the obse r

vance of prayers,ri tes , and ceremon ies , t i l l the

an imists do l i ttle more than make obeisance to thesun in the morn ing

,to the lamp at n ight, and bow

before the painted stone strewn with fl owers as theypass i t on thei r way to and from the vi l lage andthe fields .The H indu , prov ided he observes the rules of

his caste,i s pretty free to do what he pleases , with in

certain l im itat ions , and no one of them is boundto bel ieve more than he l ikes of h is own rel igion .

On ly the ph ilosophical ly minded probably troubleabout the d ivis ion into dual ists

, who bel ieve thatthe human wil l and the material world have dis

t inct existences,and the non-dual ists , who bel ieve

that noth ing has any separate existence from theone God . No t one H indu in a thousand troubles

himself about such matters,but most of them wo r

sh ip S iva, or Vishnu, generally in the latter case inone or other of h is manifestations or incarnations .I t i s a s ingular th ing

,and marks abysmal in

capac ity to approach the very thresho ld of knowledge on the part of the Engl ish publ ic , that i tnever real ises that though caste i s the guiding-starof the inhabitants of I ndia

,those who are accepted

in England as authori ties on I nd ian pol it ical andother subjects

,are invariably those who have shaken

off what they cal l its trammels , and eat beef anddrink brandy like Europeans , and , l ike them , by no

206 MODERN IND IA

because in that even t they would,bes ides enjoying

a refreshing stimulant and new luxury , drink water

that had been boiled,a most necessary precaut ion

,

but a hopeless one , to suggest to people who re

gard the e lement as so pure that i t i s incapable ofcontamination , and drink i t w ithout any qualms ,however unfit for human consumption . The

Government , however, has been persever ing in theefforts in i t iated by Lord Curzon to br ing about

th is desirable consummation, and i t rema ins for theslow-moving masses to follow sui t .As at b irth and marriage, so at death , there are

many ceremon ies . The H indu must die on the

ground , and the writer of these pages has seen theex-min i ster of a great nat ive S tate carried from hisbed to l ie bes ide the sacred stream and upon holyMother Earth , which nothing can contaminate ,that he might d ie as a H indu should , and that h ishouse might avoid pollution .

Most H indus burn the i r dead , and some castesthink that the departed spiri t must he stayed withceremon ies lest i t return and j ibber about the

precincts,which in i ts earthly enve lope i t once fre

quented. I n no long time man i s born again to runanother course of mortal l i fe

,unt i l at length

,after

many rebirths, to be endured with pat ience andre s ignat ion , the purified spi ri t qual ifie s for abso rp

t ion into the D iv ine Essence.

Though the natural demeanour of the nat ive of

SOC IAL LI FE I N IND IA 20 7

I ndia i s o ne of the utmost grav i ty , th is proceeds

from his standard of deportment , which i s h igh ,and not from melancholy. There i s no reason to

bel ieve that the H indu home i s sadder than that of

other races,or at al l sad . O n the contrary

,men and

women al ike have a strong taste for s imple pleasures,

and the females love a gossip and indulge in it, foramongst H indus i t i s on ly the upper castes who

,

in parts of the cont inent , have borrowed the Maho

medan custom of seclus ion behind the purdah . I n

a certain sense there i s seclusion of women al l over

the East, for everywhere modesty requires that they

should abstain from conversation with strangers,or

from anything that could poss ibly be construed as a

dere l i ct ion from the very high standards required ofthe H indu wife

,widow , and ma iden .

I t i s a pleasure to quote the late Mr. R. C .

Dutt, who elsewhere would appear to adopt the

theory that the peasan t is ground down by anal ien admin istration

,when he says : “The people

of I ndia d isl ike and disapprove the rapid introduct ion o f modern Western methods . There i s

not on the who le earth a more frugal and contentedpeasantry .

The writer of these pages , though he has eh

deavoured to see what he can of the world , i s not ina position to speak for the whole earth , but he can

confirm the statemen t that the people appear to be ,

as they probably are , tranqui l and contented .

2 0 8 MODERN IND I A

Many and great men might be quoted as witnesses to the merits of H indus

,untouched by

Western educat ion , and the writer of these pagesaccepts al l these test imonies, and would add his

own tr ibute of respect and affect ion for peoplesadmirable in al l relat ions of domest ic l i fe , and

though perhaps eas ily impo sed upon by unscrupu

lous agitators,natural ly less prone to th ink evil of

the ir rulers than any others with which he has anyacquaintance .

What Mr. Crooke , one o f the best l iv ing autho

ritie s , says of the peasant of Northern I nd ia , i sequal ly true of h is brother in the South , andprobably holds good of the I ndian peasant at al l

points of the compass . Mr. Crooke saysH is l i fe is one of ceaseless to il , but i t enforces

industry and temperance,and is compat ible with

a ready cheeriness which finds amusement in the

veriest trifle s .

”

I t would be a great m istake to suppose thatthe wife of the peasant i s nothing but a drudge .

She i s not perhaps worse o ff than her s ister in

s imilar grades in other parts of the world,and the

same thing migh t be said of her husband .

Nor are the women behind the purdah , who areenormously pleased to find themselves there

,and

would never rel inquish this s ign of superiority ,without amusement or occupation . Amongst theMahomedans the rule i s more strict, but in Pers ia ,

2 1 0 MODERN I ND IA

intercourse between nat ives of Europe and nativeso f I ndia, as to which i t has to be dec ided firs t of allwhether it is possible

,and next whether i t is desirable

,

that both should meet upon equal terms . Obviouslyi t i s des i rable that the most friendly relation s shouldexist, but i s i t l ikely that efforts to brl ng about reciprocity of social i ntercourse between peoples

,who

d iffer ent i rely in creed,colour

,and custom , will be

successful ? The sl ightest effort on the part of the

Englishman to penetrate in to the women’s quarters

of the Mahomedan,or even of the H indu , except

upon the Malabar coast , would at once lead to acomplete rupture of fr iendly relat ions . I t i s often

argued that the H indu and Mahom edan are to

blame for ‘ not al lowing rec 1 pro c 1 ty of intercourse in

regard to the females o f their respect ive famil ies,but i t i s difficul t to understand why th is chargeshould be made .

I n the case of a European i t i s h is custom to

introduce h is friends to his wife . He would not be

supposed to have met them in a friendly spiri t i fc ircumstances brought his women into potential contact with them , and wife and daughter held aloof.But there is no such feel ing on the part of theH indu or Mahomedan . He does no t introduceh is friends of his own colour

,creed

,and caste

into h is harem or zenana,and how

,therefore

,could

i t be expected of him that he should introduce menof an al ien race to the annoyance o f h is own women

,

SOC IAL L I FE IN I ND I A 2 1 1

who would thereby be exposed to the con tempt of

the i r own people .

S o far from its being the case that the breakingdown of these barriers would lead to more friendly

intercourse,there i s every reason to bel ieve that the

exact con trary would be the result .

I t i s not on these l ines that the peoples of I ndia

and Europe are to be brought into closer com

mun ion , but by scrupulous respect on the one , fo r

the habits , customs , and prejud ices of the other,s ide .

The chief bar a t present to friendly intercourse

is the incapacity of almost every European to talk

freely with the natives of I ndia in their own languages, and here , at least , cons iderable advance is

possible . O f course conversat ion is easy with theEnglish-educated

,but they are the non-repre s en

tat iy e 1 per cent . of the population . There are

different fie lds i n which the differen t races may

meet on terms of equal i ty , but none i s more con

spicuous than the sphere of sport , where in in all

countries a spi ri t of equal i ty and mutual good

feel ing preva i ls .

Aga in how untenable i s the content ion that therecan be no friendly re lat ions un t i l commensal i ty i s

possible . I t i s , on the contrary, the fact that nothing i s so certai n to produce a rupture as an effort to

make the different races s i t together at meat,or

to d ip their hands together in the dish . Every

2 1 2 MODERN IND IA

European feels this strongly in his own case,and every native of I ndia i s s t il l more under thedominat ion o f the same feel ing . Engl ishmen in

the ir hearts th ink they are the cleanes t feeders inthe world , and often congratulate themselves upon

thei r superiori ty over other European races in th i s

respect . Indians, without the sl ightest shadow ofa doubt , regard all European races , includ ing the

E ngl ish , as unclean feeders . I t may be objected

that th is i s not the atti tude of the Engl ish-educated .

That i s not by any means certain,but in any case

one who has forsaken the gods of h i s fathers i s

hardly an author ity on the feel ings o f those who

regard h im as an outcast . k

Not so long ago in Ind ia , but in what is d ist 1 nctly the past , i rregu lar relat ions existed very

commonly between nat ives of Europe and nat ives

of I ndia,but these have been abandoned since

Engl ish women arrived in the country in sufficient

numbers to prov ide Europeans with wives . Thehopelessness o f any attempt at fusion i s proved by

the results of such mixed marriages as sometimesoccur. These have occasionally turned out sat is

factorily in the case of Mahomedans , but as a ruleexperience tel ls another story with them , and almostuniversal ly with H indus . Those who wish to study

this subject cannot do better than read romancesi n which the relative social pos i tion between nat ivesof Europe and I ndia i s treated with full knowledge

CHAPTER X I I I

NAT IVE STATES— IMPER IAL SERV I CE TROOPSBRIT I SH RES IDENTS

THOUGH the nat ive States o f I ndia extend over anarea of square miles , o r 3 8 per cent . of the

I ndian Empire , and have a populat ion of

out of a total o f the i r importance i sbut dimly recogn i sed in England , or the t that

the rul ing princes are the ch ief personal cto rs in

the Empire .

Babus l ike S urendranath Banerj i and Bepin

Chandra Pal fil l the publ ic eye here , to the ex

e lus ion o f great princes l ike the Ni zam ,the Maharaja

o f Mysore , Maharaja S indhia , the rul ing ch iefs of

Rajputana,the sacrosanct Maharaja of Travancore ,

and many others,from the rulers of States almost

as large as Great Britain , down to the lords ofkingdoms smal ler than Mon te Carlo . I t i s witha shock of surprise that even those who know

someth ing of I ndia real ise that native States

occupy one-th ird of the area, and accoun t for onefifth of the population , of the Empire, and thatone group alone , that o f Rajputana

,exceeds the

s i ze of the Un i ted K ingdom .

NAT IVE STATES 2 1 5

The Emperor of I ndia i s Suzerain of 6 7 5I ndian S tates

,the rulers of wh ich are privi leged

to legislate and admin i ster j ustice,whil e the

King—Emperor's Government reserves the righ t

to make wa r or peace,and to negot iate wi th

foreign powers and o ther nat ive S tates in I ndia,

so that no chief can be described as externallyindependentWith the exception of the protected princes of

Rajputana , and the Malabar S tates of Travancoreand Cochin , most of the others are of comparatively

modern or igin,and date from the time when the

Mogul Emp ire was crumbl ing away, the Mahrattaswere erect ing predatory dominations on i ts ruins ,and the Engl ish were build ing up an Empire of

the i r own .

I t was the pol icy of E ngland to confirm therulers who had just , or had hard ly , consol idatedthemselves in the ir precarious seats , and interest ,as well as personal loyal ty— a force the power and

vital i ty of which i t would be very unwise to under

rate— binds these powerful feudatories to ourselves .

When i t i s said , and with much truth , that theBrit i sh

‘

i n I ndia succeeded the Mahrattas,and no t

the Moguls , the statement must also be qua l ifiedby the importan t prov iso that the Mahratta rulecons isted merely of levying a fourth part of therevenue of al l weaker powers , and that no realadmin istration , even i n the most elemen tary sense ,

2 1 6 MODERN IND I A

was ever attempted by these hardy and predatory

horsemen .

The N izam of Hyderabad , original ly LieutenantGovernor of the South for the Emperor at D elhi ,was practical ly independent at the time of the rise

of the Mahratta power.

Mysore i s an ancient H indu kingdom,restored by

favour of the Br it ish to the H indu fami ly , which hadbeen dispossessed by Hyder Al i and T ippu Sultan .

Travancore and Cochin are old-world H indu

States,which ages ago were very much as they

are now , o r rather as they were un t il quite recently ,before the intrusion of rai lways at the instanceLo fthe paramount power

,and not on the in i t iat ive of

ruler or ruled .

Nepau l i s on a somewhat d ifferent footing from

that of the other native States , and owing to itspos i tion and history enjoys greater independence

,

but its relat ions with fore ign powers are under thecontrol of the Governmen t of I ndia . I ts area and

populat ion are not exactly known,and the Shan

S tates of Burma , the Khasia and Jaintia H il ls ,Man ipur and Bhutan

,are not included in the figure s

of area and populat ion above given .

The doctrine of lapse was abandoned,and the

right of adoption recogn ised,by the British Govern

ment, under c ircumstances in to which i t is needlesshere to enter, but as lately as 1 89 1 i t was laid downin regard to Man ipur that the sovere ign power has

2 1 8 MODERN IND I A

that every nat ive S tate is under obl igat ion to maintain troops to ass ist the Bri t ish I nd ian army . The

case of the Hyderabad contingent i s of a pecul iarcharacter and subject to special treaties

,which were

entered into at a time when the N izam and the

B ri tish were far more nearly on equal terms in I ndiathan i s now the case .

The B ritish cla im to exerc ise , in cases of serious

misgovernment, the right to interfere, or even to

assume the admin istrat ion of nat ive States . I n th isway Mysore was taken over and managed by the

I ndian Government for fifty years , with the re su rt

that i ts admin i strat ion has remained pract ical ly

B ri t ish in type since i ts restoration,on his attain ing

his maj ori ty , to the young Maharaja, who had been

adopted by the pr ince , whose misgovernment led tothe assumption o f con trol by the Briti sh .

S imilarly the late Gaekwar of Baroda was deposed , and other less conspi cuous examples mightbe quoted from Rajput and other States .

The powers of the Governor in Counci l in theterri tory of rul ing chiefs are exercised throughpol it ical o fficers generally known as B rit ish Res i

dents , who are either civ il servants or members ofthe I ndian army in civ i l employ. O f the twoclasses , at any rate in native States in pol i t icalrelations with Provincial Governments , a mil itaryo ffice r of special tra in ing is to be preferred, because the inevitable tendency of c iv i l servants is

NAT IVE STATES 2 1 9

to endeavour to introduce methods of administra

t ion l ike those to wh ich they have themselves

been accustomed .

The same remark appl ies to the Dewans or

Prime M i n i sters of native S tates,who are appo inted

by the rul ing ch ief concerned , but whose appo in t

men t requires the co nfirmation of the B ri t ish I nd ian

Government,and i t i s to be feared that not infre

quently these M i n i sters are appointed on the advice

of the Res ident, rather than upon the in i t iat ive ofthe rul ing chief, which i t i s the declared po l i cy of

the Governmen t of I ndia to respect . Where such

M in isters have previously been employed as ad

m inis trato rs in British terri tory , they take o ffice

with an ineradicable tendency to introduce Briti shstandards . Thus in many case s the precious in

dividual ity of the nat ive S tate , and i ts value as a

standard of comparison with Brit i sh India , i s lost, or

impaired , by the unnecessary and indeed undesirable

interference of M in isters whose duty i t should beto preserve , and not overthrow the native systemthey find in be ing .

Thus , given a Residen t who is a civ i l servantfrom the neighbouring Local Government , and a

M in i ster who is also a servan t of the same Govern

men t, lent for a term of years to the nat ive State , therul ing ch ief, un less he has an exceptional ly maste rful personal i ty

,wil l inev itably find his in itiat ive

impaired and his powers of control compromised .

2 20 MODERN IND IA

I t i s much to be des ired that Residents who areappointed by Local Governments should be stern ly

forbidden to attempt to admin ister native S tatesafter the Br itish fash ion , that M in isters should bechosen from the inhabitants of the State i tsel f,and that they should be left to manage affairsin concert with , and under the supervis ion o f

,the

rul ing ch ief, without interference except in cases of

gross misgovernment .I nstruct ions to th is effect are given by the

Government o f I ndia, and there is clear ev idetfeethat Lord Morley and Lord M into wish to jealously

guard the r ights of rul ing chiefs . N eve rthe le s s , in

some cases,and particularly in respect of native

S tates in pol it ical relat ions wi th Provincial Govern

ments , the sp iri t of these instruct ions by no meansinspires the Res ident and the Local Government .This is the more unfortunate as rul ing princes willnot as a rule complain , and it is easy to understand

the i r reasons for abstent ion .

I t i s not to be supposed from these remarksthat rul ing chiefs are d iscontented . I ndeed thecon trary is the fact, but that is on ly another reason

for the most s crupulous , and even met iculous , recog

n ition of their rights .

Noth ing could be better than their atti tude hasbeen throughout the recent unrest in I ndia . Rul ingchie f

i

after rul ing chief,by means of resolutions

,

meetings , and letters to the Times , has repudiated

2 2 2 MODERN I ND I A

his s choo l s and col leges,that h i s Governmen t did

not incur expend iture on the ir education in order

to train them up as d iscontented and object ionable

members o f soc iety . Possibly such is not theinten tion o f the B rit ish Governmen t .Another prominent prince , the Maharaja of J ey

pur,has just i ssued a regulat ion for prosecuting and

pun i sh ing the preach ing o f sedit ion , and these great

rul ing ch iefs, who are the natural leaders of the

people,are , i t should be understood , at the o o s ite

pole from the pos ition occupied by the rahmin

lawyers, who have organ i sed the unrest , and , with

the ir fr iends , are to profit by the new appointments created under the reforms

,which came into

force i n the beginn ing of 1 9 1 0 .

The agitators continual ly put forward the ex

ample of the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda, who

i s no doubt a very able prince,but one who is far

from represent ing the feel ings of his order , withwhich , i ndeed , in many respects he is ent irely at

variance . N o one wi ll deny that he i s a good

admin i strator and that h is S tate i s wel l governed,

but i t must be remembered that i t i s an exceptionally fert i le tract of country

,that the Maharaja i s

an innovator by temperament,and that

,without in

any way disparaging the condit ion of Baroda , i t

may fa i rly be stated that other States are qu i te as

wel l admin i stered . I ndeed,i f the extent to which

coercive process is used in the col lection of the

NAT IVE STATES 2 2 3

revenue be regarded as a test, as the anti-Bri t ish

party in Parl iamen t o ften con tend , the claims o f

Baroda must go by the board , for i n th is ri ch

terri tory co l lect ion by coerc ive measures i s far

more common than in Briti sh I ndia or in mos t

other nat ive States .One of the reasons

,i t may be conj ectured , for the

abandonment of the original proposal made in conne ction with the refo rms which lately came before

Parl iament,that Advisory Counci ls of Notables

should be created to assist the Government ofIndia

,and to diffuse correct i n formation regarding

its acts and intent ions,i s that rul ing ch iefs could

not be expected to s it w ith pleaders and protess io na l middle-class people such as are now push ing

the ir way to the front as exponen ts , as they cla im ,

of publ ic Opin ion . But the existence of such publ ic

opin ion must be taken on trus t , for the press wh ichgives voi ce to i t i s the press which is under the

thumbs of these gentlemen themselves .The control exercised by the Supreme and Pro

v incia l Governments over native States varies in

degree , but al l are admin i stered by the rul ing ch iefs

through the ir M in isters , with the advice and as5 1 stance of a po l i t i cal agen t appointed by the Government of I ndia , and nearly al l of them pay a tributeto the Government of I nd ia

,which

,however , does

not in turn pay any tribute whatsoever to the HomeGovernment .

2 24 MODERN IND IA

Over and above its functions in connectionwith the native S tates , the Government of I ndia

i s i n pol it ical relat ions wi th Tu rk ish Arabia

at storied Baghdad , where a Brit ish Residentis maintained , with the barren rocks of Aden

and the neighbouring Arab hinterland , with the

grape-bearing furnace of Muscat,with the dreary

islands of Perim and Socotra, with the Persian

Gulf, that quiet in land sea which may some day

perhaps become o ne of the storm centres of the

world,with parts of the kingdom of Pers ia , with

Afghan istan,with S iam , and with the empire of

China,and i ts tr ibutary province of Tibet . There

are also the chiefs who dwell upon both shores o f

the Pers ian Gulf, who are more under the control

o f the B ri ti sh Res ident at B ush ire and the B rit ish

I ndian Steam Navigation Company than under thatof the King of K ings at Teheran , or of the Cal iph

at Constantinople .

I t i s the Bri tish alone who put down slaveryin the Pers ian G ulf, and notwithstanding the, in

th is respect only,unsatisfactory Anglo -Russ ian

Convent ion,i t i s they ch iefl y who carry on trade

and have a l iv ing interest in the shores of thisburn ing inland sea , whereon the travel ler meltsaway as he s its supine under an awning on the

deck,i n a summer temperature which far exceeds

al l I ndian experience .

The Government of I nd ia has a very close interest

2 26 MODERN IND I A

that wh ile the ruler of Afghanistan appears per

verse and unfriendly,he may nevertheless be do ing

his best to fu lfil his engagements with the B rit ish

in c i rcumstances o f no l i ttle difficu l ty. I t i s notevery Afghan ruler who can say of the priests withthe Ameer Abdul Rahman

They trusted in texts, and fo rgot that the choo ser o f

kings is a swo rd ; zThere are twenty now s ilent and stark, for I showed

them the ways o f the Lo rd.

”

Not often do even the barren hil ls and hard con

dition s of l ife in Afghan istan breed such men as the

late Ameer .

Upon the whole,with ins ign ificant except ions,

peace has been preserved on the Afghan frontier

s ince the great Tirah campaign . May i t long

con tinue, and may England never forget the

devoted and e fficient service of the brave sold iers

and able diplomatists who serve her so well sofar from the l imel ight of party pol it ics , so remotefrom the ir demoral is ing m fl uence s .

The nat ive princes of I ndia proper are surelyone o f the most versat ile and attract ive bodies of

men , which the imaginat ion can wel l conceive .

They are for the most part equally at home in

society in I nd ia or Europe ; they are loyal , brave ,tactful , diplomat ic , and wel l read , generally pos

sessed of good judgmen t, and , occupying a secure

NAT I VE STATES 2 2 7

pos it ion themselves,

are ready and anxious torespect the rights o f others .

Whether the peoples of I nd ia are happier innative S tates or in B ri ti sh I nd ia is real ly a much

les s important quest ion than might appear. A

more or less common standard is imposed by thesuzerain ty of the B ri t ish , and i t may be safely

stated that the inhabitants of I nd ia love to see

thei r princes occupying a pos ition , in some sense ,of equal i ty with the representative of the K ing

Emperor .

I t i s also the case that where the I nd ian princes

real ly select the i r own M in i sters from amongst theinhabitants of the i r own States, and obta i n for

them a fai rly free hand,the personal elemen t in

the admin istrat ion i s of a less precise and scien tific

character,and is on that account more acceptable

to a people who , l ov ing l it igation , hate lawyers ,and regard them as the least sui table of al l people

to occupy the seats of the mighty .

CHAPTER\X IVPROGRES S OF THE LAST F IFTY Y EARS

IN the foregoing chapters I have endeavoured to

briefl y descr ibe the phys ical aspects o f I ndia andits various languages and ethnology ; i n the most

cursory fashion to glance at the wild l i fe of the

jungle,a fascinating and inexhaustible subject ; to

l igh tly l imn the foundations of the Bri tish Government ; to touch in pas s ingr upon the economics ofmodern I ndia ; to give a short descriptl on of the

presen t posmon of the I nd ian army , parti cularly

of Lord K itchener’

s reforms , and of the manner of

the admin is tra tion of the Empire of Bri tish I ndia .

The Civ i l Service,by which that admin istration

i s carried on , has cal led for a chapter, and our

system of educat ion , fraught w ith such momentous , and by no means in al l respects sat isfactory ,results , has been presen ted in i ts main features tothe reader . The present pol i t ical condit ions obv i

ous ly demand due notice , and out of that subjectnatural ly arises an account of the reforms whichhave j ust been brought in to be ing , and which cannot but resul t in vast changes in the admin istrat ion

228

1 w MODERN (NINA

w atlnent. the Government has bee n ab le to d irect,and ha s ass iduous ly d i rected . its attention towards

inte rna l progre s s and improvement. In spite o f

unfr iend ly end uns us tainab le cri tic i sms of an al leged

aggre ss ive atti tude on the part of the Engl ish in

Ind ia. the re nd ition of Myso re res to red to nat iverule a large r po pu lation and revenue than be longs

t o al l the new te rritor ies acq uired in the last fifty

It has alre ady bee n state d e lsewhe re that the

emp loyment of Ind ians in the publ ic serv ice has been

immense ly increased dur ing the last ha lf century .

Indeed e leve n natives now occupy sea ts in the fourhighe s t Courts of Justice . and four are judges in the

j ud ic ia l Commiss io ne rs Cou rts . The C iv i l S e rv iceof l ndia from wh ich the supe rio r ofl‘icers o f the

civi l admin is tra tion are drawn—a body of wh ich a

de script ion has been given in Chapter VIII.—co n

s ists o f 1 21 4 membe rs , of whom, owing to ex ige nc ies o f cl imate . under 1 000 are gene ral ly on duty .

Of the h ig he st c lass e s of app ointments . wh ich we retbnuefiy resewed fierwha t used to be ca lled the Co ve

de nte d C ivil Se rv ice of India . recru ited in England

judge sh ips 8 1 1 pos itions o f the highes t impo rtance ,

is chiefly 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 by na tive s of the country .

PROGRESS OF THE LAST F IFTY YEARS 2 3 1

from the C iv il , formerly cal led Covenanted C iv i l ,Serv ice , comprises 2 263 subord inate j udges and

magis trates,of whom 206 7 are natives of I nd ia ,

and no appo intmen t made in I nd ia with a salary of

Rs . 200 a month and upwards , can be fil led

by any other than nat i ves o f that coun try .

Thus wh i le nat ives of E urope are excluded from

a l l posts except those spec ial ly reserved for them,

nat ives o f I nd ia are admitted to a very cons ider

able share o f the h ighest o ffice s formerly reserved

fo r Europeans . I ndeed the former now manage

most o f the revenue and magis ter ial work,and

perform practi ca l ly al l the duties o f the C iv i l

Courts , and they are in rece ipt o f salar ies not

surpassed in any coun try in Europe , except Great

B ri tain .

The acti on taken by Lord M orley and Lord

M into to deal w ith the increasing work devolv ing

upon al l departments o f Governmen t has been

descri bed in Chapter V I I . ; but up to the date o f

the prin t ing o f these pages no orders have been

passed o n the recommendations o f the D e ce n tra l isa

t ion Commiss ion . Neverthele ss,during the las t

few years,the financia l powers o f Local G overn

ments , and the general powers o f munic ipal and

other local bodies,have been largely i ncreased ;

and measures have been taken to enable the

Government to cope wi th the ever-growing burden

o f adm in i s tration without largely adding to the cost .

2 30 MODERN I ND I A

continent,the Government has been able to direct,

and has assiduously directed , i ts atten tion towards

internal progress and improvement . I n spite of

unfriendly and unsustainable cri tic isms of an allegedaggress ive attl tude oh the part of the Engl ish i nI ndia , the rendi t ion of Mysore restored to native

rule a larger populat ion and revenue than belongs

to all the new territor ies acquired in the last fiftyyears .I t has already been stated elsewhere that the

employment of I ndians in the publ ic service has been

immensely increased during the last half century .

I ndeed e leven natives now occupy seats in the four

highest Courts of J usti ce, and four are j udges i n theJ udic ial Comm iss ioners’ Courts . The Civ i l S erviceof I ndia, from which the superior o ffice rs o f the

civ il admin istrat ion are drawn— a body of wh ich a

description has been given in Chapter V I I I .

—cons i sts of 1 244 members , of whom ,

ow ing to exigen

c ies of cl imate,under 1 000 are general ly on duty .

O f the highest classes of appo intments , which were

formerly reserved for what used to be called the Covenanted Civ i l Service of I ndia, recruited in England

by competitive examinat ion, 5 1 appointments , in

cluding 1 7 headships of distri cts , and 26 districtj udgesh ips, all posit ions of the highest importance ,are now open to the Provincial C iv il Service

,which

is chie fly manned by natives of the country .

The Provincial C ivi l Serv ice,as d ist inguished

23 2 MODERN IND IA

As regards legislat ion , i t i s only necessary toquote S ir Henry Ma ine to the effect that B ri t ish

I ndia i s one of the few countries in the worldin which men of moderate intel l igence , who can

read , may learn the law on any point in pract ical

l i fe .

An i l lustrat ion of the nature of the cri tici sm

passed on Brit ish administration i s afforded by the

fact that n ine-tenths of the civ il suits , and more

than three-quarters of the magisterial bus iness,i s

d isposed of by nat ive j udges and magistrates , and

that there are upwards of three thousand honorary

magistrates , nearly al l natives of the country .

All c iv i l suits and important criminal cases are

tr ied by special jud ic ial o fficers unconnected with

the executive admin istration . M i nor cr iminal cases

are tried by o fficers who also exerc ise execut ive

powers,but th is un ion of executive and judic ial

funct ions has always existed in the East,and

besides being of course more economical , i s also

approved by the general op in ion of the masses of

the people . The object ions taken to the exerciseof the join t functions real ly originated in a des ire

to impa ir the posi tion of the head o ffice rs of the

districts,who ,

though they practical ly do not exer

c ise magisterial powers , st il l must possess suchauthority in order that they may occupy that pos i

t ion of influence and importance which is requiredfor, and has from t 1 me immemorial attached in

PROGRESS O F TH E LAST F I FTY YEARS 2 3 3

the Eas t to , the head o f the governmen t o f eachadministrative un it .

Perpetual cri tic ism has o f late been level led

at the Pol ice Department,which is nevertheless

s taffed by natives of I nd ia who are fair representa

tive s of the ir fel low-countrymen,and contains a far

smal ler leaven of European supervisors than any

o ther branch of the publ i c servi ce .

While great prominence has been given byCongre s s crit i cs to the fau l ts of the po l i ce in order

to d iscred i t action taken for the repression of sed i

tion and pol i tical assassination,the heads of various

prov inces have recen tly acknowledged that the

morale and intel l igence of the force have been

cont inuously improved . The system in being inEurope counts on the co-operat ion o f the educatedclasses , but th is i s unfortunately at present en t irelywanting in I ndia . I ndeed , for the last few years ,crimes aris ing out o f sedit ion and pol i t ical agitat ion

have general ly been both organised and committed

by members o f the Engl ish-educated classes,and

more often than not by B rahmins o f h igh social

posi t ion and intell igence . Yet i t was the great

Radical ph ilosopher,John Stuart M i l l , who wrote

“that people must be cons idered unfit for morethan a l imited and qual ified freedom who wil l no t

co -operate freely with the l aw and the publ ic

author ities in the repress ion of evil-doers .

”

Reference has been made in Chapter V . to the

2 34 MODERN IND I A

land revenue system,and i t remains here to observe

that, ow ing to the extens ion of rai lways and irri

gatio n , the pos i tion of the agricultural classes has

greatly improved during the last fifty years , andsales of land for the recovery of revenue have pro

gre ss ive ly and continuously decl ined . Such are now

far more frequent in nat ive S tates l ike Baroda,

whi ch i s frequently put forward by uninformed

critics as an example to B ri tish I ndia .

I ncrease in the assessment , upon which hosti le

comment has been made,i s accompanied by a

greater addit ional increase in cultivat ion . For

instance , in the Punjab , while the land revenuehas r isen by 80 ,

the cul tivated area has been

augmen ted by 1 00,per cent .

I t may seem strange to those who have grown

accustomed to the confident statement that in I nd ia

the population already presses upon the cul t ivable

area to learn that i n some provinces the cult ivablearea has increased in recent years by 1 00 per cent .But , as a fact, I ndia is by no means an over-pOpu

lated country . O f the actual area of British terr i tory—6 1 5 ,3 5 5 acres— less than two-thirds are culti

y ated . Under forest there are acres ,while acres are uncultivable or appro

priated to other uses . There remain

acres which are su itable for cul tivation , and ofthis area acres were actual ly cropped

last year. The rest is d iv ided between fal lows

2 36 MODERN IND IA

as reserved , protected , and unclassed according as

the control of the Department i s more o r l ess com

ple te . Under the last-named head indeed is in

cluded uncultivated land,more resembl ing the Scotch

deer forests than what is common ly s ign ified i nEngland by the word forest . The reserves, how

ever,i n which fire s are prevented , and plan tation

and reproduction are regularly undertaken,already

cover upwards of square miles , bes ides wh ichthere are square m iles of State forests , part

of which wi l l sooner or later be brought with in the

reserved area,and al l of whi ch is worked for the

benefit of the people,and of the publ ic revenue .

Outs ide the reserves , the country folk are able toobtain from the State

,free of charge , timber, fire

wood,and grass

,while ins ide the reserves spec ial

l i cences are required , subj ect , however, to the re

cogn it ion of al l rights formal ly recogni sed at the

time of the first settlement .

A gross revenue of upwards of 5 i srai sed by the sale o f, or by royalties on ,

timberand other produce

,and by the issue of permits

for graz ing,or for the col lect ion and sale of forest

produce,while the nett revenue amounts to upwards

of three-quarters of a mil l ion sterl ing .

The salt tax , against which compla ints are made

more by profess ional agitators than by the people

who pay it, has been levied from time immemorial ,a nd i s in fact the on ly impost col lected from

PROGRESS OF TH E LAST F I FTY YEARS 2 37

natives of I nd ia who ne ither hold land,l itigate ,

drink l iquor,nor smoke opium . I ndeed the annual

inc idence of this tax is no more than 25d. per head

of the population . Sal t, moreover , i s now cheaper

than it has been at any previous period in I ndian

history,the tax having been reduced i n 1 907 to one

rupee or 1 5 . 4d . per maund of 8 2 l bs . , while the

average annual consumption of this necessary ofl i fe is 1 2 l bs . per head , or double what i t was fiftyyears ago .

Customs duties in I ndia are imposed fo r

revenue only,and with no protect ive purpose . I n

1 893 , owing to the heavy loss sustained by Govern

ment in consequence of the fal l i n exchange,i t

became necessary to re-impose the general duty of

5 per cent . on imports, from which cotton piecegoods and yarns were exempted . Three years

later these products were also subjected to a dutyo f 33

1,per cent . , a counterva i l i ng excise being im

posed on s im ilar goods manufactured in the I ndian

mills,i n order to deprive the tax of a protective

character .

I t i s this pos it ion which makes I ndia a counter

in the present con troversy regarding the re spec

t ive merits of Free Trade and Tariff Reform , andit is true that the members of the GovernorGeneral’s Legislat ive Counci l who voted for the

counterva i l ing excise duty,of whom the wri ter was

one,consented thereto because of the necessity of

2 3 8 MODERN INDIA

maintain ing in our greatest foreign possess ion a

genera l adherence to that system of Free Trade

which sti l l obtains,and then obtained unchal lenged

,

in the Un ited Kingdom .

I t is a short way from customs to excise , and

i t i s not a l i ttle strange to read cr it ic isms madein this comparatively hard-drinking country, upon

the increase in the amount o f revenue collectedunder this head in I ndia

,from one of the most

sober population s in the world . Consequen t upon

the improvement i n wages and in the general con

dit ion of the classes which consume in toxicat ing

drinks , they are able to spend much more thanthey spent fifty years ago , and at the same t ime

to pay , as they do , a proportionately far higher

excise duty on what they consume than they for

merly paid . I n fact the greater part of the increase

i n revenue is due to higher taxat ion under this

head , and to the suppress ion of i ll ic i t d is t il leries .

N evertheless i t wil l take many reports such as

that presented upon the l iquor problem in Southern

N igeria to persuade i ntemperate advocates of tem

pe rance that the Brit ish Government d id not

introduce l iquor into I nd ia , and is not l iv ingin a great measure upon gains il l—gotten by i tssale.

I nd irect but valuable evidence of a generaladvance in material prosperity i s afforded by thefact that I nd ia con tains m iles of postal

240 MODERN IND I A

one year’s revenue , taking the annual income atThese are facts which more than

justi fy the statement of Lord S t . Aldwyn , when

Chance l lor o f the Exchequer , that the revenues ofI ndia are in better cond ition and better managedthan those of the United K ingdom . I ndeed to

say th is is to rate far to o high the managemento f our finance s in Great B r ita in

,which is adversely

affected by pol i t ical and party cons iderations , fromwhich I nd ia is happi ly exempt .

O n the I st of Apri l 1 909, no less than

miles o f ra i lway had been opened,which car

r ied during the year passengers and

tons of goods , the rates charged being

as low as 5d. a mile for passengers , and 1 1 1 1 1 1 01 50.

a ton per mile for goods . The rai lway adm l n l s-f

tratio n gives employmen t to persons , of

whom over are nat ives of I ndia , and the

country saves per year, when the

cost of the ra i lway serv ice i s compared with that

of the prev iously existing wretchedly inadequate ,terribly slow

,and appall ingly expens ive methods

of trans it .The last-ment ioned calculation does not

,how

ever, include the benefits afforded by the ra i lwaysin preven t ing famine and improving trade , and in

adding to the strategic strength of the country .

The capital outlay under this head is 75and the nett earn ings in 1 908 were per cent .

PROGRESS OF TH E LAST F I FTY YEARS 24 1

on th is amount,a s against an average of 3} per

cen t . profit on the capital invested in the B rit ish

l ines .I t i s

,o f course

,imposs i ble to compare the

amount of the capital expendi ture on rai lways with

that devoted to i rr igation , because the exten t of

land capable of irrigation at a remunerat ive outlayi s stri ctly l im ited

,while there i s hard ly any l imi t to

the degree to which rai lways may be useful ly constructed . N eve rthe le s s the Government at present

contemplates an expend iture of some 75sterl ing on further irrigat ion works . These are oftwo kinds , canals and tanks , the former of which

are cut off from great rivers,which , having thei r

origin in h igh mountai n ranges,even in time of

drought possess an unfa i l ing supply . Such rivers

have been uti l i sed with most successful results,and

upon the most ex tens ive scale,in the Punjab

,the

United Prov inces , and the Madras Pres idency .

Tank irrigat ion is general ly chicfly dependent

upon the local rainfal l,or upon comparat ively smal l

streams , which run dry in time of drought . I n the

Madras Presidency alone there are no less than

such tanks,most of which

,dat ing from the

t ime of native I ndian rule,have been considerably

improved by the Bri t ish Governmen t . Though

cal led by the commonplace name of tanks , they arein fact beauti ful lakes

,and a most pleasing feature

in the landscape .

242 MODERN IND IA

I n addition to these two methods of irriga

t ion,wells are very extensively used in some

parts of I ndia,and cult ivators can obtain funds

for s inking such upon very favourable terms from

Government.I n the fifty years which have elapsed between

1 8 58 and 1 908 , the va lue o f imports and exports ofmerchand ise have increased from 25 and 1 4 mil l ions

sterl ing respect ively , to 1 1 5 and 86 mill ions ster

l ing that is to say , the volume of trade has more

thani

quintupled, and the external land trade hasmore than doubled , while great cotton spinning ,weaving

,j ute

,and coal industries have been born

,

and have attained a healthy ado lescence .

Cottage industries,of course

,fel l before the

impact of machine-fed competition from Europe ,but new manufactures appeared at the sametime in I ndia , and up til l the present day theyincrease and multiply. S ir Theodore Morison , an

eminen t authori ty , has calculated that in a s ingle

generation the rate of increase has been in cotton

manufactures 400,in j ute 500, and in wool len weav

ing 50 per cent . , while the output of coal has mul tipl ied ninefold

,gold s ixfold

,petroleum thirtyfo ld

,

and manganese seven tyfold . I t was the late Mr.

J ustice Ranade,one o f the I ndian re form party

,

who wrote that the transformation of I ndia from

a purely agricultural to a partly trading and manufacturing country had begun .

244 MODERN IND I A

the time of the Emperor Aurangzeb,

“when bloodfl owed in rivers , and the dead were unburied , when

mill ions d ied of famine ; and fathers”

(probably ashumane and affectionate as they are in the presen tday ) were driven by hunger to sell the ir ch ildren ,but were forced to go without food , finding no oneto buy them .

” These are the words of the con

temporary wri ter,N icola i Manucci, a perusal o f

whose fasc inat ing description of l ife under one of

the greatest of the Great Moguls , throws a fl ood of

l ight upon the vexed quest ion whether there ever

wa s a golden age in I ndia, and whether the inhabi

tan ts were then happier , o r at any rate had more

reasons for being happier, than they are at the

present time .

The average nat ive o f I nd ia of to-day consumes

more sal t,sugar

,tobacco

,and other luxuries than

hi s predecessor of fifty years ago , and he eats

more food,and l ives in a more comfortably fur

n ished habitat ion . House-to-house 1 nqu 1 r1 e s haverevealed these facts , wh ich are on record for al l

who wan t true statements and not inaccurate

cri tic isms .Agai n

,i n the past fifty years I ndia has absorbed

an average of a year of the prec iousmetals , an infall ible proof of improved circumstances .

The profes s ional classes certain ly enj oy better in

comes than they d id , and the same may be sa id

wi thout contradict ion of those employed in the

PROGRESS 0 1? T HE LAST F I FTY YEARS 245

Government service , while the tenant , as a resul t ofour legislative enactments , possesses an increased

share of the profits of agricul ture . The landless orlabouring classes are fewer relatively than they are

in Britain,and the wages of skil led in a large , and

of unski lled labour i n a fai r , measure , have ad

vanced i n a greater ratio than the s imul taneous

r ise in the pr ice of food . Labourers in years oford inari ly good harvests are no t hard pressed ; but

when prices rise they undoubtedly suffer,and but

for the system of famine prevent ion described in

Chapter I V . ,would succumb in large numbers

,as

they did in the good old t imes before th e advent

o f the B ri tish admin is tration,which is as ferti l e in

benefits to the peoples of I ndia as i t i s unwiselypatient of misrepresentat ion at the hands o f sed i

tious agitators,who delude the ignorant masses of

the people .

Such are some,and on ly a few, of the sal ien t

features o f the prodigious improvement effected i nthe condition of the Indian peoples in the short

period of half a century, and surely i t is a classi c

instance of the i rony of h istory that a few denational i sed agitators can inst i l in to the minds ofour people, ever eas ily misled and prone to harsh

crit i cism of the ir own servants in fore ign lands,

doubts as to the benevolent intent ions and trium

phant achievemen ts of the i r fel low-countrymen inI ndia .

246 MODERN IND IA

Lord Morley, in one of h is speeches lately ,published in a l i ttle volume , which i t i s s incerely tobe hoped wil l replace the speeches of B urke as a

class ic in I nd ia,says the presentation of the I ndian

Budget in 1 907 was almost , i f not quite , the firs t

occas ion upon which the Briti sh democracy in al l

i ts full s trength has been brought d irectly face to

face with the difficul tie s of I nd ian government inal l the i r i ntricacy, all the i r perplexity, al l their

subtlety,and above all the i r enormous magn i tude .

He told that Parl iamen t , in which , to a prev iously

unparal le led degree,I ndian affai rs became the play

th ing of irresponsible and il l-informed pol it ic ians,

that for a long time to come , so far indeed as his

imagination could reach , I ndia would be the theatre

of absolute and personal government . No other

form of rule has indeed hitherto succeeded in the

East . Experiments made in Turkey and Pers iaare of too recent date , and have been by no means

completely successful , so that i t i s altogether too

early to say that they are any except ion to thegeneral rule . I ndeed , Lord M into, in h is speech

at the firs t meet ing o f the enlarged Legislat ive

Counc il,sai d

,

“We have aimed at reform and the

enlargement of our Counc ils,not at the creat ion o f

Parl iaments .Lord Morley

,who admits that he was an im

pat ient ideal ist,and that he has even now some

sympathy with that temperament , to possessors of

248 MODERN I ND IA

govern I ndia,and the experience of the last Parl ia

ment,in which a smal l group o f sent imental and

theoret ical pol i t ic ians devoted themselves to oppos

ing the Government of I ndia i n respect of the by

no means too stringent measures i t took for the

repression of sed it ion,affords better proof than has

h itherto offered o f the justification of his case andof h is unfavourable forecast . The fac t i s that de

mo cracy in Brita in has hardly yet found its feet ,and already I ndia i s a plank in the platform of the

Labour Party,which is i tself al l unwittingly the

cat’s-paw of the Congress Party in I ndia . TheBrahmin agitators on the banks of the Ganges ,who regard the masses of their fel low—creatures ashardly human , have joined hands with the delegateso f the Trades U n ions and the Social i s t apostles of

theoret ical equal i ty at Westminster . This was not

foreseen by M i l l , in whose case , however , experi

ence did atta in to someth ing of prophetic strain ,and surely such a phenomenon i s another , and

one of the most s ignificant, o f the i ron ies ofhistory.

The conclus ion at which M i l l arrived,and which

Lord Morley evidently shares, i s that adopted by

almost every person possess ing any practical ac

quaintance with the government of O r ientals byEuropean races . I t i s not a comforting conclusion ,but it may be that s ince the fu lfilment of M i l l

’

s pro

phe cy has been delayed for hal f a century , a sav ingr

PROGRESS o r THE LAST FI FTY YEARS 249

common-sense may be infused in to the representa

tive s of British democracy before our Empire as awhole comes in to col l i s ion with a great and growing

r ival,and before our I ndian Empire i s destroyed by

endeavours to govern i ts multi tud inous mil l ion s after

a fash ion more or less suited to the inhabitants of

these small Atlantic islands .

S igns are not wanting that the ho ld of sent imental al truism and doctrinaire ph ilanthropy upon

the Brit ish electorate is for the time being,at any

rate , much weakened , and the Viceroy , Lord M i n to ,not

,i t may quite safely be assumed

,without the

approval o f Lord Morley , has admitted , j ust as

these pages go to print , that the B ritish adm in is

tration has from a ch ival rous unwill ingness to

interfere in any form with freedom of speech to le

rated too long the d issemination o f revolutionary

l i terature . An Act has now been passed contain

ing more drasti c provis ions than those of LordLytton

’

s Press Act , which was unfortunately re

pealed,s ince which the unbridled l icence of the

vernacular newspapers of B engal and the Deccan,

pass ing al l bounds and secure from all interference,

has brought the admin i strat ion into con tempt . Re

press ive measures passed into law in the last fouryears

,and held in reserve

,are also being brought

into force , and unl ess the hand at the helm falters ,o f which there is no s ign , and of which, happily ,there is no probabi l i ty, the sh ip of State will be

2 50 MODERN IND IA

brought safely into harbour , and the happiness of

the great maj ori ty wi ll not be sacrificed to the vague

ambitions,ignoran t ideal s , and whol ly unjus tified

discontent of a numerical ly ins ign ificant m inor ity ofthe inhabitants of I ndia.

2 50 MODERN IND IA

brought safely into harbour , and the happiness of

the great maj ority wi ll not be sacrificed to the vagueambitions

,ignoran t idea l s , and whol ly unjus tified

discontent of a numerical ly ins ign ifican t m inori ty of

the inhabitants of I ndia.

25 2 INDEX

Baghdad Ra i lway s cheme , 55,225Ba luch i stan , 225Bande Mataram, 1 6 1

—1 63Baroda

,234

Gaekwar o f, 50, 2 1 8Gaekwar o f, put fo rward as

examp le by ag itato rs , 222, 223Bas se in , S he ik o f, 225Batav ia, 48Bears , 23Beas ts , indiscriminate rewards fors laughte r of, 2 1 , 37 , 4 1 , 42 , 44,45Bengal , 1 1 2, I 1 5

army, 95army and mutiny, 96, 97and refo rms , 1 80

Rep in Chandra Pa l , 1 28, 1 6 1 , 1 64,

B i rds , 28- 30proh ib ition o f expo rt o f

feathers , 3 1 , 37pro tection of, 36, 57

B ison , 28 , 37 , 40, 44, 46B l omfie ld case , 1 57Bombay, 243

arm 1 1 95, 96Un iverS 1 ty, 1 54

Bons la , Rajah, 50Boycott, 76, 1 60, 1 65, 1 74B rackenbury, S ir H enry, 1 02B radlaugh, Mr., 60, 65B rahmanas , 8, 9B rahmins , 1 60, 1 7 1 , 1 7 5, 1 7 7 , 1 96,

B rahmo-S amaj , 1 0B ritish Indian S team Nav igationC0 ., 224B ritish re s idents, see under NativeS tates

Buddha,8, 9

Buffa lo , 26, 27Burma, 5 1 , 52, 243Burmese War— I s t

, 5 1 ; 2nd, 5 1

,

3rd, 53Burnes , S 1 1 Alexander, 5 1

Cab le rates, 80Ca lcutta , 1 22

Un ive rs ity of, 1 54Ca l icut

, 48

Cann ing,Lo rd

, 5 1 , 59Cap ita l , B riti sh, in India , 58, 6 1

—82

Cap ita l o f India, 1 22, 1 23Cardwe l l system, 93Cashme re and a rmy

, 95Caste, 1 5—1 9

the great d istinction,1 96,

I 97 1 204Cavagnari, S ir Loui s , 53Census , 1 90 1 , 1 7 ; I S t, 7 2Centra l As ian Ra i lway, 1 05Centra l H indu Co l lege , Benares ,I S3

Che sney, S ir Geo rge , 1 02Ch inese Op iumWar 5 1 , 52

Ch itra l, 53 , 54Chri stian s , 1 1 , 1 2Chumb i Va l ley , 1 09C iv i l S e rvice , o rig in ,

1 27pe rsonne l o f, 1 32,

1 33payment of, 1 29, 1 30, 1 33 ,

I S4necess ity for know ledge o f

ve rnaculars in, 1 28,F53 1 1 54

C l lmate , 2 , 3C l ive

, 48, 49, 95, 1 27

Co ch in , 37 , 2 1 6

game pre servat 1 on m , 37 , 39Coffee industry, 243Co l lecto r mag i strate s , 1 29, 1 36,I 391 1 40

Co l len , S ir Edwm ,1 02

and army transpo rt, 9 1 , 92,1 03

on causes o f mutiny, 96Commensa l ity, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2Comme rce and Industry, D epartment o f, 80Condition o f wo rk ing-clas ses , 79

I NDEX

Co ngre s s , 64and a rmy , 1 0 1and native s in pub l ic se rv ice ,

1 3 5 1 1 36

and s e lf-gove rnment, 1 42sch isms in

,1 7 3 , 1 74

and re fo rms , 1 79, 1 92, 1 93and po l ice , 233and Labour Party, 248

Co o l ie labour, 56 , 63 , 64, 7 2

-76

ac tio n o f Co lon ie s in regardto

, 72—76

Co o te , 49Co rnwa l l is , Lo rd , 1 27Co tto n , S irCreagh

,G ene ra l S ir O ’Mo ore , 1 04

Crimina l Law Amendment Act,

1 66

Cro codi le s , 32 , 3 5Cro oke , Mr.,

208, 229Crows

,29

Curz on , Lord , V ice roya lty o f, 54,

action on N .W . Fron tie r, 55Act regu lating co o l ie im

migration , 56

army, 85—89B i l l p roh ib iting expo rt o f

feathe rs , 3 1 , 37education

,1 46

—1 48

and famine s, 56

and finance, 55

and san itation , 206Curz on Wy l l ie , S ir\V.

,murde r

o f,1 66

, 1 67Cus toms dutie s , 237

Dadabhai Nao roy , 60, 65D alhous ie , Lo rd , 5 1 , 52 , 96 , 97D an ish s e ttlemen ts in India , 48D ecentra l i sation , 1 1 3

—1 1 5, 1 1 71 2 1

Comm 1 5 5 1 on,1 1 4, 1 1 5, 1 44,

I 74 1 I 7 S1 2S I

D epa rtment o f Commerce and

I ndus try, 80

2 5 3

D igby,Mr. W i ll iam

,

D i lke , S ir Cha rle s , and I nd ianarmy, 9 1 ,D is tr ict board s and mun ic ipa

D i s trict un its , 1 1 7 ,D o s t Mohamed

, 5 1 , 53D ra in

,

” 60,6 1

,63

D ubo i s , Abbé , 209, 229D ufi

’

e rin,Lo rd

, 53Dup le ix

, 48

Durand Co nvention, 54

Dutt,Mr. R. C .

, 7 2 , 207

Eagle s,29, 30

Ea ste rn Benga l , 1 1 2Educatio n

,1 1 4

amongs t Mahom edan s , 1 48

a s cause o f un re s t,1 56

contro l o f s tudents , 1 50 , 1 52,1 53 , 1 56

co st o fmak ing gradua te s , 1 54difficul tie s o f, 1 49, 1 50

expenditure on,239

fema le , 1 98h ighe r, 1 44, 1 45 , 1 48, 1 49,

1 52nece s s ity fo r refuting ca lum

n ie s,1 50

—1 52

ne ce s s i ty fo r denominationalteach ing, 1 53, 1 56, 1 70 , 1 7 1

negle ct o f ve rnacu la rs , 1 48numbe rs o f gradua te s , 1 54numbers l i te rate in Engl i sh ,

I 92 1 1 93prima ry

,1 459 1 46

HprOportion o f popu lation re

c e iving, 1 46 1 47 , 1 54, 1 5 5s e condary , 1 47 , 1 48supe rintendent, mun ic ipa l

s cho o l s,on

,1 54

text-books , 1 50E le ctive princ ip le , 1 4 1 , 1 42 , 1 79,

E lephan ts , 24—26, 37 , 40 , 43 , 44E lg in , Lo rd, 54

2 5 4 I NDEX

El ibank , Ma ste r o f, 60, 70, 1 55o n tro ops ma inta ined by

native S tate s, 95

Emigration o f co o l ie labour to

co lon ie s, 74

Ethno logy , 1 5, 1 6Euro peans in I ndia, law regarding, 1 40, 1 4 1

Exc ise duties , 238

F

Facto ry leg i s lation, 77 , 82, 83

Famine , 7 1Commi ss ion , 7 1prevention code , 56—58, 203 ,

245Fayrer, 5 1 1 Jo seph, 96, 97F inan ce s , see under IndiaF ish and fishing, 33F lo ra , 3 : 4 1 34Fo rests , 3 , 34, 1 1 3 , 1 2 1 , 235, 236

revenue s from,236

re se rvation of, 38, 39, 235, 236Fo rt S t. Geo rge

, 47Frase r, Mr. Dav id

,1 05

French in I ndia, 48, 49

in Pe rs ia, 55

G

Game laws , need fo r, 36-40 , 44—46pre se rvation of, 36, 46

l icence s , 37 , 38G ladstone , on representativegove rnmen t, 1 90

Go a t,28

, 37Gokha le , Mr.

,1 7 3

Go lden Age ,” 244Go ve rnmen t o f India Act, 1 1 0G ove rno r-Gene ra l , see IndiaG rey, S ir Edward, 1 07Gwa l io r, 95

H

Ha i leybury Co l lege , 1 27Hardinge , Lord , 5 1

He rat, 52, 1 05

H ewe tt, S ir John ,1 68

H icks-Bea ch, S ir M ichae l , 1 26,24°

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 01 1 , 341 35 1 42 1 43,H i l ls

,Gove rnment vi5 1 t to , 1 22

,

1 23H inte rland o f Gulf and Rus s ia ,

H ippopo tamus,27 , 28

B o lkar o f Indo re , 50Home charge s , 6 1 , 62Hongkong, 5 1Ho rnets , 45Hume

,Mr.

,attempted murde r o f,

1 66

Hunter,S ir W i l l iam, mi squo ted,

62, 65Hyde rabad contingent

, 96, 2 1 8

Hyde r A l i , 50

I bex, 28, 46Ib is

,29 9

Immigration o f coo l ie labour,Actto contro l, 56

Impe ria l S e rv ice Co rps , 94, 95Impo rts and expo rts , 76, 83 , 84

compari son o f, 62, 63, 242

I ndia , area o f, 1—3

area unde r cultivation , 234,235death-rate o f, 5, 7 , 72_

ea rly admin istration unde rJohn Company 1 47 , 48, 247

early 1 nvaders , 1 , 2, 47 , 48finance s o f

, 6 1 , 1 1 1—1

fl o ra : 3a 4F rench in , 48, 49Go ve rnment o f India and

Prov inc ia l Governments, re

spective functions , 1 1 3Governo r-Gene ra l, powers

o f, 1 1 1 , 1 1 2

Gove rno r-Gene ra l’s Counc i l ,

2 5 6 I NDEX

Leg i s lative Counc i ls refo rmed,

1 80—1 84Lhassa

,1 09

Loya lty, 1 72 , 1 7 3 , 220—222

re cogn ition o f, 1 76

Lya lé,S i r A lfred , 8 ; quo ted , 225,

22

Lytton,Lord , 53

M

Macau lay, Lord, 48, 49, 1 44M inute , 1 44

Macdona ld,Mr. Ramsay, 1 92

Macdona ld , M i s s Frede rika , 24MacDone l l

,Lo rd (S irAntony), 7 1

Macedon ian question ,1 06

,1 07

Macnaghten, S ir W i l l iam, 5 1

Madras , 1 42 , 243army o f, 95 1 96Un ive rs ity, 1 54

Mag istrate s , 1 1 7 , 230—232Mahom edans , 1 1 , 1 2, 1 8 , 1 3 1 , 1 32,

Mah ratta wa rs , 50, 96Mahrattas , 1 7 , 49, 50, 1 7 1 , 1 72Ma lco lm

,S i r John , 1 52

Man ipur, 2 1 6Manucci, Nico lai, 244Membe rs of Pa rl iamen t andag itato rs , 67 , 69, 70, 1 3 1 , 1 34,

and Mahom edan powe rs , 1 06M i dle ton , Lord , 86Mi l l

,John S tuart, 233, 247 , 248

M in ing, 7 8M in to

,Lord , 57 , 59, 89, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3,

M ixed marriage s , 2 1 2 , 2 1 3Mogul s , 47 1 491 50Monkeys

,23

Mo ri son , Sir Theodo re , 242M o rley, Lord , 59, 60 , 62, 76

and army,87—89

decentra l i sation, 1 I 3, 1 1 4,23 1

difficul ties of Indian G ov

e rnm ent, 1 46

M o rley , Lord , increase in so ldiers’P3 Y 1 93

,

I nd 1 an Conne l ls Act, 1 1 6 ,1 741 1 7 52 1 78

refo rm s , 1 78 , 1 84, 1 86, 1 88,

1 904 1 9 1 1 1 95rul ing ch iefs , 220s tuden ts , 1 56

Mo unta ins , 1 , 3Mo zufferpo re , 1 66

Mun ic ipa l i tie s, 1 1 9, 1 20, 1 4 1 , 1 42Muscat, 55Mutmy, 52, 53 1 96 1 97Myso re

, 7 8 , 2 1 6, 22 1 , 230

go ld mine s , 7 8Maharaja o f, 2 1 4, 2 1 8

Nana Sah ib, 50Narendo Nath Go s sa l n

,1 66

Nata l and coo l ie labour, 7 3, 74

Native S tate s , 37 , 39, 44, 229area o f

,2 1 4

B ritish re s i dents in ,2 1 8

contro l o f B ritish Gove rnmen t ove r, 223fo re ign re lations o f

,2 1 5 ,

inte rnal admin istration , 2 1 7 ,227loya lty o f

,220-222

numbe r and antiqu ity of, 2 1 5popu lation, 2 1 4, 2 1 6p rese rvation o f indiv idual ity

o f, 2 1 9, 220, 229prince s , characteri stics o f

,

Native troops , 52Native s , furthe r emp loyment o f

,

in pub l ic se rv ice , 64, 1 1 4, 1 28,1 30

and European s emp loyed ,compari son

,230, 23 1

Native s o f I ndia, condition o f,

compared w ith that o f native so f o the r countrie s , 64, 65

I NDEX

N izam , 2 1 2

No rth-We s t Frontie r, 54, 99, 1 05Prov ince , 55 , 1 1 5

Nundo Lal Bane rj i , 1 66

Octro i , 1 42Op ium

,1 24, 1 25, 237

Ore nburg,1 05

Oudh1 491 97 , 1 1 2 , “5

Pa l , Babu B ep in Chandra , 1 28,

Pa rsee s, 1 7 1

Pa rtition , 1 57—1 59, 1 65

Patia la and army, 951 08 , 225

revo lution in , 55, 1 05 , 1 08Pe rs ian Gulf

, 55, 224P e shwa , 50P ig-s tick ing, 37P indar is , 5 1P lague

, 6, 7Plan te rs

, 56, 63 , 243Plas sey , 49, 95Po l ice , 1 35, 1 36, 233

lack of suppo rt o f, 1 56, 1 57 ,233Po l lo ck, Gene ral , 5 1Po ona

,1 32

Population, 4—6

, 2 1 6

Po rtugue se in India, 47 , 48

Po sta l D epartmen t, 239route s , 239

Pre s idency armies , 95, 96Pres s Act

,new,

1 76, 249Lo rd Lytton’

s , 249Pre s s , native , 1 58 , 1 59, 1 65, 1 70

3 2 77 1 22) 21 1 1 1 1 01 72 1 0 7,1 6 1

B enga l i, 1 6 1

S anj z'

bm zz’

,1 60

S ta tem zan , 1 6 1 , 1 62

Pro spe rity, increase in last fiftyyears

,238

2 5 7

Pro tec tio n ofW i ld B i rds Ac t, 3 1 ,36 1

,

37Pub l ic debt

,239

l ’uch i-g ich i , 33Punjab Un ive rs i ty , 1 54

Q

Q ue tta , S ta ff Co l lege , 1 03

Rai lways, 58 , 6 1 , 234, 239

-24 1

Rajputana , 2 1 4, 2 1 5Ram tanu Lah i r i

,l i fe o f, 1 97

Ranade , Mr. Just ice , 1 97R eform s

,1 7 7 , 1 95 ; s ee a l so So c ia l

Re l ig ion s , 9— 1 2

,204, 229 ; see

a l so under Ag i tato rsRep resen tat ive governmen t , 97

—1 94246

unfitne s s of Ind ia fo r, 1 7 7 ,

demand for,1 7 7 , 1 80 , 1 89, 1 90

Mahom edan s and , 1 84—1 86Rep t i les , see S nakesR evenue s

,s ee under India ,

finance s ofRh inoceros

,26- 28

R ichard s,S i r E rl e

,1 8 1

R ipon , Lord , 53 , 1 4 1 , 1 42R i te s and ceremon ies

,200- 206

Roberts , Lo rd , 53 , 86, 1 02Rural boards

,1 1 8, 1 1 9

Ru s s ia, 54, 55, 1 00, 1 04, 1 0 5 , 1 07 ,

1 08

C zar’s trave l s in Eas t,1 04

in Pers ia, 55 , 1 00

,1 06

,1 07 ,

1 08

S

S t. A l dwyn , Lord , 1 26, 240Sale , G ene ral , 5 1Sal i sbury

,Lord

,62

S a l t tax, 236, 237Sav ings banks , 239

2 5 8 I NDEX

Secre tary of S tate’s Counc i l,1 1 0

,

1 32

appo intmen t Ind ian member,1 7 8 , I 79

S ed l tion , 1 32 , s ee a l s o Natl ve P ressencou ragemen t o f, 1 68—1 72

S hah Shuja, 5 1Shanghai

, 5 1

She r A l i, 53S ibe r ian Rai lway

,1 05

S ikh War, 5 1

S ikh’s S acrifice ,” 1 6 1,1 62

S ikh s, 1 0

Simla,1 22

S indh ia of Gwal ior, 50Maharaja, 2 1 4, 22 1

S inha , Mr.

,1 8 1

Snakes, 3 1 , 32 , 40

—42

Governmen t rewards fordestruct ion

, 4 1 , 42

d eath s from snake b i te, 40

-42

Soc ial in tercou rse,2 1 0—2 1 2

Soc ial l ife,

caste th e d iv idingl ine, 1 96, 1 97amongs t B rahmin s , 200—203am ongst lower c lasses , 203 ,

death cerem ome s , 206

H indu sys tem , 1 99, 200

marr iage ceremon ies,1 99, 206

marr iage i deal s, 203use of in toxican t s

,1 97 , 205

So c ial reform,1 97

—1 99South Afr ican War

,Indian t roop s

for, 582 59Afrl ca B 1 1 1 , 7 5

Staff Co l lege at Q uet ta, 1 03S tandard of l i ving

,80, 243 , 245

S urendra Nath Banerj i , 1 6 1 , 1 64,1 9 1

S vadesh i movemen t, 76, 1 59, 1 65Svaraj

,1 57 , 1 59, 1 60 , 1 65

Tabr iz,1 08

Tap i r,26

Tay lor,Me s srs . John , Sons

, 78

Tea-p lan t ing, 56, 63 , 80, 243

W

Warren Has t ings, 49, 5 1We l les ley, Lord, 5 1

Teheran, 1 07 , 1 08

Te legraph o ffice s,239

Tenan ts , legis lat ion fo r p ro tec t iono f, 65, 67 , 1 70, 235, 245

T hebaw,King

, 53T ibet

,1 07 , 1 09

T igers)20

)2 1 ) 3 5, 37 ; 40

indiscr iminate rewards fo rs l ay ing, 2 1 , 37

T i lak S ingh,1 64, 1 73

T ippoo Su l tan , 50T i rah campaign , 54Todas of N i lg ir is

,27

Trade of I ndia, 66, see a l so Indus tries

Tran sport of army, 9 1 92

Tran svaal and coo l ie labour, 74,

7 5, 76Travancore

,game pre servatl on

In ; 37 : 39Maharaja of

,2 1 4, 2 1 5

Turkes tan , Rus s ia in ,1 00

Turkey,1 06

Turk ish Arab ia, 54

Turt les and torto i ses, 32

U

Unres t, con tr ibutory cause s to,1 56remedies

,1 74

—1 76

Upper Burma, 53U tom sky, P r ince E spe r, 1 04

V

Vasco da Gama , 48Vedas

,8

Vernaculars , see LanguagesV iceroy and Secre tary of S ta te ,respect ive par t s in Governmen t

,

1 58Vul tures

, 30, 3 1