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    1423 THE IiEADER. [No. 457, December 24,...

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    INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS

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    THE "IiEADER" AND EMIGRATION. In advocat...

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    1423 The Iieader. [No. 457, December 24,...

    1423 THE IiEADER . [ No . 457 , December 24 , 185 S .

    India And Indian Progress

    INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS .

    The "Iieader" And Emigration. In Advocat...

    THE " IiEADER" AND EMIGRATION . In advocating any tiling , however new or true , or however old and well established , which , does not come-within individual experience , progress must be interfered with by misconception , aud success be retarded by misrepresentation . Although a proposition may contain within itself such elements that its absolute truth maybe established therefrom , it is the way of the world not so to deal with it , but to seek without its terms , and to obtain a fanciful solution , which may suit the prejudices or prepossessions of persons or classes . To contend \ vithv these perverse influences seems , however , to be the fate of all undertakings , and as the public

    mind by the discussion gets a safer hold of the facts , and a deeper interest is thereby begotten , we most be content to submit to the effect , and , perhaps , ought to be well pleased with it . We have now brought the condition of Indian progress into an appreciable shape , and by directing attention to practical measures , instead of to political , sectional , and personal squabbles , we believe we have g iven a new direction to public opinion regarding India . India has been too much known to us as a skirmishing ' .-ground for cabinets , directors , and governors-general ; while her vast material interests have only received a partial representation , and it has been our endeavour to show how vast these

    interests are . In s 6 doing we have more perseveringly than the rest of the press taken up the question of English settlement in India , anxious that such an important measure should not slumber from the time of the adjournment of the Parliamentary Committee of last session until the period of its reappointment in next spring . The result has been that , having been foremost in the task , we have been assailed for the part we have taken as fomenting a course of agitation dangerous to India and dangerous to the home community , more mischievous even , we are told ,

    than greased cartridges , to such a degree of irritation have the sentiments of our opponents reached . To some of the so-called authorities on India , to write against the emigration or colonisation mania appears a chief duty to society ; and every movement of the Government , ° f Parliament , of the press , or the public on this head , is angrily received and bitterly inveighed against . The opposition comes almost uniformly from Indians , many of them old authorities in clubs , who have been so long away from India that they do not know what it is now . Some come front Indians in India itself :

    but , nevertheless , the subject has made the greater advance , because , day after day , opponents are overcome and even brought to be zealous converts . The most obstinate antagonists have been a few officials at home and in India , who , with the traditional abhorrence of . interlopers , fear that the sacred prerogatives of their caste are in danger from an influx of their countrymen . One reason why such opponent * pf English settlement make no way is—beyond the circumstance that they are contending against facts and the truth- —that the Government aud administration of India , so far from being actuated by

    such jealous views , are most earnestly desirous of fostering English enterprise throughout India . It is most interesting to view the progress of this question . The notion is old enough , we may say aa old as the hills , a favourite one with every Governor-General from Bentinck to Canning , and which each has taken some step to realise , out it had to work its way for years slowly and partially , for the publications of Julius JelFreys and Ranald Martin , directed to medical and climatic topics , did not succeed in enforcing the conviction of a general Solicy . At length , jusc before the revolt , was proucea the boot on Colonisation , Itailways . and

    Defence in our Indian Umpire , by Mr . Hyde Clarke , In which the whole question of occupying the hills with a military and civil European population was propounded . This produced but little effect till the revolt wa » at its height , and the faithlessness of © our native army was evident , when several leading members of the Legislature among the friends and connexions of the author took the same view of the question , and at his request it was brought before ParKament , So tender wan the ground then , that the first motion was shaped to open the question by asking for the papers and reports , Even this

    proposition was met by the ill-will of the then Board of Control ana of the East India Company , and the motion was postponed , evei-y effort being made in the mean while to gain political strength , and with such , success that it was determined to apply for a committee of inquiry , although the Board of Control , by that time willing to concede the papers , threatened to bring' the whole weight of the Government and the Company to resist the motion . The motion was in the hands of Mr . W . Ewart , the member for Dumfries , who beiru * strongly sup-Eorte d by members from all sides of the House , and y a large body connected with the Manchester

    cotton interest , who perceived the value of the measure , pressed it forward with the determination of sustaining , a , defeat that session rather than yield , with the certainty of arousing Indian interests by giving them the hope of attention , and with the fair prospect of a respectable minority in contesting with the Government that session , and of a majority on a second attempt . His short speech made a very powerful impression , and bciug supported by Mr . D . Seymour and several others , the vote for a committee was carried without a division , although the locum tenens of the Board of Control told the supporters of the motion that if they got the papers

    he Avas willing to concede them , they would be the fallacy of their ideas . Colonel Sykes , the great authority on India , said that the Indian Government had attended to it , and had obtained reports from every part of India , which , when printed , would show English settlement was not feasible ; and the Chairman of the East India Company , in supporting these views , affirmed there was no laud available in the Indian hills , and that a field one hundred feet square could not be found for the growth of any crop . They gafc way , however , with a very- bad nr . vn s * a n » ir 1 f Kn nAi ¥ in- > i f + r > A riskiVtrw * k < r \ r \ s * ti nf o / l in !> trPW ana tue committee being appointeain a ver

    grace , , y few days under the direction of the chairman , Mr . Ewart , and other active members , the proceedings assumed such importance that they were protracted to the close of the session , and being reported from time k > time to the House , with the printed evidence , are recommended to be continued in the next sitting . In consequence of this , committee , the Earl of Albeinarlc , who had taken up the measure in the House of Lords , gave notice that he should postpone the discussion there until the evidence had been carried further .

    The evidence at first was directed to the climate and general resources of the hill districts , and then chiefly to the political , administrative , and social obstacles which have hitherto impeded the progress of the English settler . This testimony was from various quarters , from Government officials round to the Indigo Planters ' Association , but the errors of the administration were laid bare in such a way that the mere publication has ensured the adoption by the Government of efficient measures for their remedy . The chief points discussed were the land tenures , the state of the law , the state of the police , and the use of the English language . In the

    next session it will be necessary to complete these subjects , including t ) xe application of English typo , and to consider the lull districts in detail , and the commerce through them to Tartary , Thibet , and China . The committee will have before them not only the witnesses whom they could not examine last session , but many others , and some having special missions from India to represent particular interests . Whether the committee agree upon any report or not , is a matter of very little moment , for the publication of the evidence is quite sufficient to make tho requisite impression on the Governments of India and the public In tho last

    session it would have been quite impossible to have obtained any favourable report from the committee , or indeed any report at all , as there was an antagonistic feeling on the part of tho East India Company ' s representatives , who considered tho character of their administrators at stake , and they were abetted by tho representatives pf the Board of Control . This state of affairs is . however , materially altered by the carriage of the India Bill , the abolition of tho Company , and the constitution of a now Gounoil for India , with Lord Stanloy at the head ¦ of it . There is no lohgor any opportunity , therefore , of making out a case for the Company , or of resisting improvement , for tho present administrators of India have shown themselves alive to tho

    interests of the country , and have taken steps for carrying out the required policy . They hare al ready recognised the principle of a European armv aud of hill stations , of extending the railways and giving communication to the hills , and of favouring works of irrigation and of land improvement wtif a general disposition to foster English enterprise in India . - It will be quite out of the question for . Mr Ewart to bring forward any bill hi the ensuingsession of Parliament ., and it is very likely thatte will have no opportunity of bringing in anv

    creaimcasure , as he . originally contemplated , with a viewto yearly agitation , his functions being reduced tobringing in such subsidiary bills as will give completeness to the Government measures , and carry out iii detail the whole scheme of policy as established by the committee . Indeed the whole course o £ operation has been that of the slow but certain influence of public opinion , which , under a Parliamentary Government , is communicated to the administrators

    before even the action of the Legislature can be obtained , which affects all that is administrative , all that here is below the Law , ami that which in continental countries is beyond the law . The evidence was , as it , appeared by instalments , eagerl y read in India , and produced not merely a deep impression , but has raised hopes and stimulated the spirit of enterprise and improvement . We are already able to record how every mail bears evidence of the exploration of districts , the extension of plantations , and the commencement or advancement of hill towns , and the Settlers look forward with interest to the next session of

    Parliament , when thev hope that their ease will be further stated , andfurther guarantees obtained for their encouragement . Ofliccrs of the Government , too , arc looking with anxiety . to know what measure of support they can obtain for the extension of settlement or the advancement of the condition of the local population by the help of the English cooperation . , .,, Under such circumstances we can bear witlt calmness the invectives of our antagonists , the more particularly as we know from their own statements they have evidence to give in favour c-t the cause , and that the opposition has advanced a stage nearer to our conclusions . At first , the key of the Saturday lieciew , and the other opponents of English settlement , was taken from the great Iud . aa authorities , and we were told that the bilb codd not feed a population . Simla and Nynee Tal and Mahabuleshwar , were selected by then as typeof countries , which include some of the ftnest coUccand tea regions in the world and not only embrace Ithe granit ? steeps of the Himalayan wall but eiWe rnncr-bordcriug valleys and prolific mountam sides , and in tfic south tablelands of great extent As there is no mistake that the . lull and tabc-land :. ^ ., « , ! . „ ., „ ,. » c , Miiv » r . s . and civc them tortli , tins

    in e of object , on was surrendered , and then we beffan to hear very often about the failure of the Sri Dhoon colony , and of ' military eolomes , and the renorts on military colonisation ; but is » evidenfihat , aUhough t ( fo Debt * ™™ « P £ ^ failed , as such experiments have failed m Canada New Zealand , and t'ho Cape , and will fu 1 ngg settlement Has taken a strong hold o J'ldlft' f ^ favourite assertion now is that the advocates oi w cause we represent propose to ™* * $ Z $ h cultural labourers out to . India , and ou W * prove , to their own sat sfacLion , and uo toou ^ For we want no such proof , that au ^{^{ JStee at native rates of wages must starve , u "JJJJ ^ it is a blunder to talk of « f » ^ " ^ gllr agricultural labourers . Upon thu taxt , WF page , and column after colunni , 1 ms bcciMvm , wluch tho Indian press take httlo t oubie io futo , and for t , hia very good reason that , Jo we know , it is not proposed to wmi ou ^ b agricultural labourers to compete with U iu * f r , J ) , llwart , Sir Krskino Perry , Mr . Soy mo u , M > - fc Smith , Mr . Campbell , made no . « moh spcoci , is not put forward . in the ovidpiiocs I I * J * M . found la the books of Mr . Martiu , Mr . JoflW > Olnrko , or Mr . West ; and it w ^^ gJPgtUoof tho Association for Promoting 1 fe » b . * jnent in India , nor of tho Cotton Su ng abb tioh . It is an assumption purely pttt n ^ bUfly in It is onmsInff to-lliMl-wntora wfio are *> mwj

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1858, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121858/page/22/