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    -r%Y i*/-» v***K /f^mmrtH^rtl ffltXtfintllt am (fi/nmmernnL 0

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    Untitled Article

    OUR INDIAN POLICY . India has become lateljfor evil , butto a muchgreater extent for good , the subject of discussion at home . The purposes of political parties have been , served by the use that has been made of the history of current events , the past government , and the proposed constitution of the country . With these discussions every paper at home and in India has been filled , and will long be occupied . The longer the agitation is kept up the better will it be for India , which will be better known , its wants more

    understood , and those wants more immediately supplied ; for , after all , what India has most stood in need ot has been that its condition and resources should be —we dare not say understood , for we are speaking of a country of a million of square miles ana a population of two hundred JiiiUion inhabitantsbetter known in England , for while there we have abundant resources , here we have the workshop of the world , whence the instruments of civilization have been sent forth to reclaim the wilderness and to raise the lower races in the scale of

    political and social enjoyment ; nay , we might go further , and speak of our mission as affecting those nations highest in the commonwealth of nations . Could we once bring ourselves to the same degree 6 f familiarity with these countries in -the East , to which we are bound by the tie of empire , we might at least da . for them -what we have done for South America , if not as much as we have done for the northern dominions of the Western World , but in India everything has to be done . The mission of political discussion has "sufficient

    labourers , but the period has not yet arrived for the press at large to take that interest in the industrial condition of the Bast which is requisite for the full development of its resources . There may be a casual campaign on the cotton question , but there is subject after subject of interest and importance which receives no attention at home . The Indian press , however , occupied with local politics and personal feuds , has assumed a mission of the nighest moment , and has been the instrument lor stirring up and directing information on economical and industrial subjects , which , unfortunately ,

    selaom passes oeyona tne borders ot India , sometimes not beyond the Presidency bounds ; for India , if one at the distance , is many within . Bengal may occupy itself with "tea , but Madras cares more for coffee and Bombay for tea . The East may claim the opening of . Mangalore and Diamond Harbour , but cares not for the efforts of Kurrachee , -while Bombay looks with a jealous eye on a western rival . If there be a community of feeling on many subjects , there are differences when interests come to be affected ; the same jealousies , in fact , as among the United States , or our own Australian colonies ,

    where the cotton states of the south have interests adverse from the manufacturing states of the north , and where the stream of emigration is greedily contended for by rival claimants . If we are to do real good to India we must go a step beyond political institutions and political propagandism , for the people are as yet unfit for selfgovernment , and the direction of the country must remain in the hands of men of higher education and higher associations . Our first step , indeed ,

    toyrante the political advancement of India is to raise its population from a condition of social depression . Political oppression has been , by means of our Government , it not finally abolished , for that must be a work of time , at any rate subdued ; but effectually to raise the people to a higher political and moral condition , we must provide for them greater material enjoyments , more food , more clothing , better dwellings , greater facilities for seeking employment , better menus of raising and distributing the produce of the soil ; but , above all , a better administration of justice .

    These are after all the main questions for India , and these must bo discussed here , because hero is a public intelligent enough to debate and to act , and having the capital and the means to carry into effect those measures which arc shown to bo essential for improvement or relief . There must bo applied to Lnaia , on a largo scale , those qualities ¦ which , exercised by a few civilians And uncovenantcd servants , have rescued India from oppression and degradation ,

    and laid the foundation , of improvements which it is the task of tliis generation to accomplish . The moment , too / is favourable , and if Lord Stanley profits by his own exceptional position , and by the exceptional position othis department , he may do more good for India than has been done by any partisan . Acknowledged to possess great abilities , having the vantage ground of birth in the people of political empire , allied to the public by the possession and advocacy of liberal principles , welcome to the Conservatives from the lustre of his talents , placed in one of the

    highest offices which the modern world can afford to individual ambition , the lot of Lord Stanley is a happy one if he carries out the administratiou entrusted to him with firmness and on high principles . If , however , he allows himself to become the puppet of the Praetorian cohort , he is lost , for there are men in the offices , and in Parliament , who have left India so long-, that they Only imagine they knowsomething ahout it , and do not know how much it is altered ; men , who liberal in India , governing their provinces with the most enlightened zeal , carrying home with them the affections of a grateful population , having accomplished a career which , begun with literary aspirations , has been crowned with political success , find themselves in England

    tne opponents of progress , because they have wedded themselves to a system in which , as they have cLisplayed virtues , they will now allow no vices to exist , and who become the adherents of a clique , when they might advance the cause of empire . The Indian , civilian is ever ready to appeal to public opinion at horne for aid to carry out measures for the amelioration of those entrusted to his charge ; he asks for railways , roads , canals , mining companies , and emigrants ; but when he gets here he looks with jealousy onevery one who dares to express an opinion respecting India , and if forced to accept some enterprise ; which it may be his own evidence and his own official reports have helped to build up , he clogs it with restrictions .

    Lord Stanley has therefore a double task : first , to guard himself against the narrow prejudices of a caste , and jealousies of various kinds ; next , so to direct the intelligence , the zeal , the public spirit of these very Indians for the welfare of India , to create for them a better field of exercise in advancing the interests of India , than in obstructing them by active or tacit hostility . By so doing he will build up among the community at large an enlightened public feeling , which will strengthen his own administration aud secure the successful prosecution of his measures .

    So > this is the time to provide for the future of India , whea we are contending for its present empire . If there is one thing the revolt has taught us , it is tliat railways , telegraphs , and steamboats are invaluable as political instruments , that our Kill retreats are places for repose for our invalids , of schooling for our recruits , of safety for our women and children , of retreat for our refugees , of garrison for our frontiers . We want , therefore ,, at once , and we are increasing them , more railways , more miles of telegraph , more steamers by sea and river , more hill stations , and sanatoria . Thus the same course of policy which is requisite for oui > defence is that which permanently contributes to the progress of India . In these troubles the small number of settlers has been found

    invaluable for the defence of our stations and districts as magistrates and as assistants of Government . Common sense shows that to increase the number of emigrants and to obtain a settled English population in the hills is to become for India the best safeguard , and is the most efficient measure for promoting its intellectual and social advances . The present time is a propitious time , because the wants of India arc great ; aud during the late time of trouble and revolt the industrial history of India has not been without progress . The railways have been opened and extended in Madras , Bombay , Baroda , and Bengal , the telegraph has been further

    laid , Assam , Darjeeling , Kumaen , the DUoon , and Kangra have somewhat increased their production of tea , new sanatoria have been established , and the settlement of Darjeeling has increased in population . The period is indeed in all respects prop itious for promoting ; Indian progress , and we take up the cause with confidence . At no time have so many valuable works and essays been produced on railways , canals , irrigation , colonization , steam transport , cotton , coal , and iron ; and at this moment one committee of the House of Commons , obtained by Mr . Ewart , is sittiug to obtain evidence on the

    promotion of English settlement iu India , and another enterp rise ! ^ * " meaU 3 * ^ ^ SSS The field we have to labour in is a vast one but we shall enlist many co-operators , and we do 25 fear of being heard by ^ Indian acp ^ tment and public here ^ and by the governors , the administrator and the European public of India itself . It is because the wants of India are great that advocates will be welcomed ; it is because the remedies S simple aud practicable that such advocates will be listened to , though it maybe a work of time to influence opinion and secure assent . In carrying out this ask we have no party purpOses to ££ * nCl

    KTk • T i ffratiC >> and wc trust that great principles may be vindicated on public grounds without descending to individualhostAities One fear we have , and that is , that the 6 pace at our disposal will not allow us at once to embrace all the subjects which the advocates of Indian progress would urge upon us , but if we postpone any , it is from no disregard of their importance and we trust that our friends will not accuse us of negligence for so doinsr . The railway n . ~ cH ~~ negligence for so doing . The railway question

    , alone demands considerable discussion , and the constant record of information ; the great measure of extending English settlement in India has advocates who urge it as having primary aud imperative claims , and our readers will soon find that friends , favourers , and opponents of canals and irrigation , and of the modes proposed for accomplishing them , together with every Indian subject , and there are many , have zealous champions to contend for it .

    llie economic products of India naturall y call for attention , because their development has been greatly promoted by English enterprise , and that the scope for extending them is enormous . Cotton has now for years occupied the time of the Government in India and of public men at home , and it is , undoubtedly , a foremost topic ; Closely connected with it is the consideration of the means of transport , the land tenures , and the system of legal administration affecting Englisl citizens . "Wool , silk

    tea , opium , lac dye , linseed , oil seeds , hemp , jute , fibres for woven fabrics and for paper , coal , iron , copper , salt , and mineral oils , are all subjects which require a chronicle of their advancement , and au organ for appealing to those interests by which their prosperity is affected . The trade with China , that with Thibet and Central Asia , all involve important considerations , and their discussion has a close bearing on the interests of India .

    In all this wide range of industrial and economical subjects the occasion necessarily presents itself for considering the moral welfare of India , and -without due regard to this , its material progress cannot be successfully promoted . We go further than this , aud we . say , that with the advancement of India the prosperity of England is closely bound up , and as in England the duty lies of improving the condition of the native , so , too , the share of England in the reward of this labour is one fairly earned and to bo honourably enjoyed .

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    THE INDUS . * Mr . W . P . Andrew , amii multifarious schemes connected with India , in which he has occasionally competed with other public men for the possession of various districts , has managed to secure for his own domain the Funjaub and Scinde , and has acquired thereby the means of greatly advancing tlie interests of those parts of our territory . Even those , who do not commit themselves to the details of his undertaking , and differ from him as to his

    course of policy , must admit that by the institution of the Scmde and Puujauh Railway and of the Indus Flotilla Companies he has much contributed to the advancement of the provinces . He has been a steady advocate of Kurrachee as the port of outlet for the north-west and of communication with the west , and he has kept the whole subject so well before the public in England and India that lie has powerfully assisted the noble efforts of the great men who nave administered the Governments of the north-west . The book just issued is a systematic review of the present state of tho enterprises to which -we have referred , and treats of the influence they may be made to oxert in the development of the re-

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    IND I A .

    -R%Y I*/-» V***K /F^Mmrth^Rtl Ffltxtfintllt Am (Fi/Nmmernnl 0

    Mmaniilt nnt ( tennmtitl .

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    720 JHE 1 UBEB , _[ No . 435 , Jttlt 24 , 1858

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    * The Indus anil its Provinces , their Political and Commercial Importance Considered in Connexion with In *' proved Means of Communication . By "W . 1 * . Andrew . W . II . Alien and Co .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1858, page 720, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2252/page/24/