Hindustan has from the earliest ages been celebrated as one of the most highly favoured countries on the globe, and as abounding in the choicest productions both of nature and art. In ancient times, this distant region was very imperfectly known to the Greeks and other nations of the West; but they imported its most valuable produce, its diamonds, its aromatics, its silks, and its costly manufactures. The country which abounded in those expensive luxuries was naturally reputed to be the seat of immense riches, and every romantic tale of its felicity and glory was readily believed. In the middle ages, an extensive commerce with India was still maintained through the ports of Egypt and the Red Sea; and its precious produce, imported into Europe by the merchants of Venice, confirmed the popular opinion of its high refinement and its vast wealth. After the discovery of a passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, the same ideas still prevailed; and the maritime states of Europe contended with their fleets and armies for the dominion of the Asiatic seas, and for the commerce of the country. The Portuguese, and afterwards the Dutch, made important conquests, and carried on an extensive trade. In later times, Great Britain and France appeared on the field as competitors for the prize of Indian commerce and dominion, and were allowed to establish factories on the coasts for the reception and the store of goods. These were gradually converted into military posts, defended by soldiers and cannon; and in due time those two powers were ranged on opposite sides in all the wars and politics of India. This contest terminated in the triumph of the British arms. France lost her pre-eminence on the continent of India; and her great rival, enlarging her power on every side, gradually rose to greatness and dominion, and now rules with undisputed sway from the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin. This vast extension of the British power in the East has opened the way into the interior of India. It has tended greatly to enlarge our knowledge of this distant region; and if more accurate inquiry has reduced the marvellous tales of its glory and greatness within the bounds of sobriety and truth, Hindustan, the seat of industry, of commerce, and of the arts, when Europe was sunk in barbarism, the scene of many eventful revolutions, from the Mahommedan invasion till its conquest by the armies of Britain, and inhabited by a people of peculiar manners, laws, institutions, and religion, still presents a wide field for interesting inquiry and speculation.
In the following account of this interesting country, we propose to describe, I. Its geography and natural features; its produce, its animals, its manufactures and commerce; the numerous races by which it is inhabited, with their manners, religion, and policy; and the wars and political revolutions which have terminated in establishing the sway of Great Britain over nearly the whole continent of India. II. The transactions and internal policy of the East India Company, with the various reforms introduced into the revenue, judicial, and police departments, will afford ample materials for a separate discussion and inquiry. And, III. A brief account will be given of the constitution, commercial privileges, and pecuniary transactions of the Company, originally merchants, now the sovereigns of a vast empire.
I. The ancient geographers had no precise ideas of the extent of Hindustan or India, terms which we mean to use synonymously in the following article; and they accordingly extended its frontier westward as far as Persia, and eastward to China. In after ages its limits often fluctuated with the events of war, and served only to mark out the course of conquest, with little or no attention to geographical accuracy. Yet in no part of the earth has nature pointed out, in the great features of the country, more distinct and magnificent boundaries. On the north it is separated from the elevated table-land of Thibet by the precipitous wall of the Himalaya Mountains, the highest land of the Asiatic continent; on the west the Indus divides it in its course to the sea from Afghanistan; while the great river Brahmapootra may be said to constitute its eastern boundary, or, more accurately perhaps, that range of hills and forests that skirt the Bengal districts of Chittagong and Tipperah, and stretch southward to the point where the Brahmapootra, after having long flowed in a westerly course, makes a sudden sweep to the south. The Indus and the Ganges discharge themselves into the ocean on the western and eastern coasts of Hindustan, in about 24° and 25° north latitude; and to the south the country is contracted into an irregular triangle, projecting into the Indian Ocean to within eight degrees of the equator, or about 1000 miles, and on all sides enclosed by the sea. The extensive region situated within these limits is nearly comprehended between the 8th and 35th degrees of north latitude, and between the longitudes of 68° and 91° east; and its length from the northern barrier of the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin is about 1900 miles, whilst in breadth it may be estimated at 1500 miles, though, owing to the irregularity of its figure, it does not exceed 1,280,000 English square miles.
Hindustan is of an extremely diversified aspect, and Natural comprehends within its bounds all the varieties of climate, features of soil, and of natural scenery, from the bare and naked rock, and lofty mountain buried under eternal snows, to the low and fertile plain, scorched by the tropical sun, and the seat of luxuriant vegetation. This diversity in the aspect of the country has given rise to the following territorial divisions, namely,
1. Northern Hindustan, which comprehends the Himalaya Mountains on the north, with their lower ranges of hills, extending southward to the great plain of the Ganges; and which includes Cashmere on the west, and the country of Bootan on the east.
2. Hindustan Proper, which extends southward as far as the Nerbuddah river, where the Deccan commences, and which includes the following provinces, namely, Bengal, Bahar, Allahabad, Oude, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Cashmere, Ajmeer, Moulton, Cutch, Gujarat, and Malwah.
3. The Deccan, bounded on the north by the Nerbuddah river, and on the south by the rivers Krishna and Toombudra, comprehends the provinces of Gundwana, Orissa, the Northern Circars, Khandesh, Berar, Beeder, Hyderabad, Aurungabad, and Bejapoor.
4. India south of the Krishna river, comprehending the provinces of Canara, Malabar, Cochin, Travancore, Balaghat Ceded Districts, Mysore, Coimbatore, Salem and the Barramahal, and the Carnatic.
1. The alpine region of Hindustan, which forms its northern barrier, is a narrow strip of land not exceeding 150 miles in breadth. It is here that the land of Asia attains to its height; and the country is composed of a succession of vast mountains rising far above the level of perpetual snow. These frozen deserts consist in many places of rugged and bare rocks, shooting aloft into the sky, and divided by deep ravines, very steep, and often ending in dark chasms, which are sometimes wooded, but as often bare rocks several hundred feet in height, with little more space between them than has been worn by the violence Here is concentrated all that is sublime in the scenery or phenomena of nature. On every side are to be seen snowy summits of stupendous height, and of every form; the conical volcanic peak; the mountain regularly rounded, or broken into rugged and frightful precipices, rising upwards to a tremendous height, or descending with a frightful declivity into deep hollows, and all covered with snow. This mountainous and frozen region is the scene of the destructive avalanche, when the accumulated snows of successive winters are precipitated from the mountains into the plains below, burying everything in their progress; or when the action of the intense cold upon the solid rock rends it from its base, and sends it bounding down the steep, producing the most fearful ruin of everything beneath. Mr Moorcroft, who in the year 1816 penetrated across the Himalaya ridge, mentions the tremendous crash from the fall of a rock, which he heard at a great distance. The slope of a hill he also saw broken from top to bottom. "In its fall," he observes, "it has overwhelmed large trees, of which some have been hurled into the river, others lay across its bed half buried in rubbish, and others, thrown down, were seen hanging by their roots with their heads towards the base of the mountain." The southern face of the Himalaya Mountains is much more steep than the northern descent into the table-land of Thibet, and it is in proportion difficult and dangerous. There is nothing like a road in these mountainous districts. The traveller has to scale the most terrific heights, by a path so narrow as not to admit two abreast, which winds along the mountain, and often along bare and perpendicular precipices, by a narrow and irregular flight of steps, or by natural irregularities in the face of the polished marble rock, and sometimes by a projecting ledge not more than a foot broad, whilst a declivity of 600 or 700 feet in depth opens on the outer side. These steps, at certain projecting points, where the rock is perpendicular, wind in lines of zigzag not more than ten or twelve feet in length, at angles so sharp that, in a length of twenty-four feet, the actual height gained is not more than ten feet, and they are often placed at most inconvenient distances, which greatly increases the danger and the difficulty of access, except to those hardy mountaineers who have been trained from their infancy to agility and steadiness in such tremendous paths. Mr Moorcroft himself had on one occasion a narrow escape. "My left foot," he says, "having slipped off one of these irregularities, I lay for a few seconds upon the poise; but a snatch at a clump of grass, which on being seized did not give way, and a sudden spring, brought me to a comparatively safe spot, with the loss of some skin from my knees and elbows, and some rents in my trousers and sleeves." His Hindu attendants encountered the same perils, and one of them had very nearly fallen down the precipice. On missing his footing, he mentions that "he shrieked violently, and sunk down almost senseless upon a point of stone, with one leg hanging over the abyss, calling out that he was lost." Another of the bearers was so alarmed that he was incapable of proceeding until he was secured by a turban tied round his waist, and held by one of his companions. In some places the rock was found to project to the edge of the river, and it was turned by rude staircases made of wood and stone, or the path lay over immense stones and rocks, piled up in dangerous disorder, where it was very difficult to secure a footing; whilst in other places the party had to aid their ascent by laying hold of shrubs, roots of trees, clumps of grass, and clods of earth, or by creeping on both hands and knees to prevent slipping down. Yet the heavily loaded native carriers, each carrying a weight of 60 pounds, are seen descending these difficult passes with apparent ease and unconcern.
Lieutenant Webb, who in 1808, along with Captains Raper and Hearsay, was sent to explore the sources of the Ganges, experienced the same dangers as Mr Moorcroft, and was finally compelled to desist from his hazardous journey when he had reached within six or seven days' journey of Gangoutri. The country here assumes a savage wildness, and, except in the passes or beds of the rivers, is totally impervious; and these rivers, in approaching their sources, from rapid and turbulent streams flowing over a rocky channel, become furious torrents, dashing from one huge block of stone to another, along which the traveller, climbing over rocks, or picking his dangerous way along the path of precipices, as already described, is at last met by masses of mighty ruins, which entirely check his further progress. More recently these wild regions have been explored by that enterprising traveller Dr Gerard, who crossed the great Himalaya pass, and penetrated into the plateau of Tartary. The abstract of his tour, given in the Asiatic Journal, is replete with valuable information, and confirms all the previous accounts of travellers respecting the nature of the country, rude and inaccessible, and exhibiting, on a scale of grandeur hardly to be conceived, all the great phenomena of nature.
The Himalaya Mountains contain the sources of the great rivers which flow through the burning plains of Hindustan. The deep valleys between the mountains are the channels through which the waters flow from the higher grounds; and, by the melting of the snow, those streams, suddenly swoln into torrents, and rushing down the declivity, work out a deep and narrow channel amongst the rocks, where, imprisoned as it were between steep and perpendicular banks, they roar and foam amidst precipices, or in dark and unfathomable glens, exhibiting, in the conflict of their troubled waters, all the great phenomena which belong to rivers, namely, the cataract, the rapid, the boiling eddy, and the dangerous whirlpool, and only subside into smoothness when they break out and spread over the plains. Huge rocks were seen by Dr Gerard whirled along with frightful velocity; nothing visible but an entire sheet of foam and spray, thrown up and showered upon the surrounding rocks with loud concussion, and re-echoed from bank to bank with the noise of the loudest thunder. Across these streams are thrown rude bridges made of ropes or of wood, the usual expedient by which rivers are crossed in all mountain countries. Where the breadth of the river is small, the passage is effected by one or two fir spars laid across from rock to rock; but where the space is wider, a bridge of ropes is constructed, on the principle of the chain bridge. In attempting the passage by one of these rude bridges, a carrier who accompanied Fraser in his journey to the sources of the Ganges unfortunately lost his footing and fell into the water. He was instantly swept down the stream to its junction with the Bhagiruttee, about fifty yards, "when his head," says the traveller, "appeared for a moment, and his load floating beside him; but the foaming current of the Bhagiruttee, here tumbling over large rocks with a mighty roar, seized him and hurried him along with its tremendous torrent."
The height of the great Himalaya range has been fixed by accurate measurements at between 26,000 and 27,000 feet above the level of the sea. According to the accounts of all travellers, these mountains present from the plains below one of the sublimest aspects in nature, and they are at a loss for words to express the admiration and awe with which they are first beheld. Bishop Heber
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1 See Moorcroft's Journal, Asiatic Researcher, vol. xlii. p. 326. 2 Fraser, Journal of a Tour through part of the Snowy Range of the Himalaya Mountains. mentions that the nearest range rises into a dignity and grandeur which he was not prepared for, divided as it is into successive ridges, in all the wildest and most romantic forms of ravine, forest, crag, and precipice. In his further progress he found "one range of mountains after another quite as rugged, and, generally speaking, more bare than those which we had left, till the horizon was terminated by a vast range of ice and snow, extending its battalions of white shining spears from east to west, as far as the eye could follow it; the principal points rising like towers in the glittering rampart, but all connected by a chain of humbler glaciers." Captain Raper, who accompanied Lieutenant Webb in his survey of the Ganges, viewed the Himalaya ridge from a summit about 4000 feet above the lower plain. "From the edge of the scarp," he observes, "the eye extended over seven or eight distinct chains of hills, one rising above the other, till the view was terminated by the Himalaya or Snowy Mountains. It is necessary for a person to place himself in our situation before he can form a just conception of the scene. The depth of the valley below, the progressive elevation of the intermediate hills, and the majestic splendour of the cloud-capt Himalaya, formed so grand a picture, that the mind was impressed with a sensation of dread rather than of pleasure."1
"The stupendous height of those mountains," says Elphinstone, "the magnificence and variety of their lofty summits; the various nations by whom they are seen, and who seem to be brought together by this common object; and the awful and undisturbed solitude which reigns amidst their eternal snows, fill the mind with admiration and astonishment that no language can express."2
Northern Hindustan varies in its climate and in its aspect with the height of the ground. The lower ranges of mountains, though they scarcely reach the level of perpetual snow, still retain the sublime features of alpine scenery; namely, the rugged and bare mountain, the craggy rock, white, gray, red, or brown, springing up in fantastic forms above the general mass; and the deep and suddenly descending chasm, with the foul torrent foaming over its rocky bed. The luxuriant foliage is wanting which embellishes the lower hills; the rich and smiling valley is not so often seen; whilst the forests of dark brown fir fringing the mountains and the hollows impart a sombre and unvarying appearance to the scene. At a lower level the country improves; and though it still exhibits the mountain and the precipice, the intervening valley is clothed with verdure, and the lower hills with the most magnificent forests of large and lofty trees, the open country with roses, jasmines, and other lovely or odoriferous shrubs, and with the most luxuriant alpine plants.3 The valleys through which flow the head waters of the Indus and the Ganges, namely, the Sutlej, the Pabur, the Jumna, the Bhagiruttee, the Alkamanda, with their tributaries, exhibit all the varied and sublime scenery of this romantic country. The valley of the Sutlej is hemmed in by brown and barren mountains, steep and rocky, without the grandeur of lofty precipices or fringing wood. The hollows through which it receives its tributary streams are dark chasms, without cultivation; the heights crowned with forts, but without any neat villages surrounded with trees to relieve the adjacent desert. The banks of the Jumna, on the other hand, though rocky and wild, are wooded and green, and the sloping faces of the hills fertile and well cultivated; and even at its source, the country, however wild and picturesque, is still not nearly so dreary as the valley of the Bhagiruttee. The features of the landscape are here lofty, rugged, and inaccessible, Hindustan with less of the beautiful than of the sublime and terrible.
A pleasing contrast to this wild scenery is presented by the smiling valley through which the Pabur meanders, chequered as it is with pasture and crops, and the banks and the hills clothed with cultivation, villages, and wood. Such is the usual aspect of the lower valley of Northern Hindustan, the height of which is for the most part from 3000 to 6000 feet above the plains. The difference between the northern and southern exposures of this mountainous country is remarkable, not only in the formation and structure of the hills and rocks, but in the vegetation. The country on its southern face is of a brown and dusky colour; the grass short and parched; the hills rough and lumpy, with rocks standing through the ground; the lower parts bare of wood; and above, the Weymouth pine, with a few stunted larches sprinkled amongst the rocks; whilst the higher parts are spread over with oak, holly, and alder, their leaves of brownish green, harmonising with the burned appearance of the hills, and giving a sombre hue to the whole scene. On the northern exposure a rich colour of dark green is diffused over the whole landscape; the rocky sides of the glens are bolder and grander; and they are clothed with noble forests of larch, silver, and spruce firs, which shroud from the view the highest and steppiest cliffs. "All," says Fraser, "was rich and dark; and here and there a glade opened, or a high slope extended from the base of the rock, or projected between two streams, of a bright beautiful green, shining through the sombre forest." This difference between the northern and southern exposures is strongly marked all over the hills.4
That strip of flat country, about twenty miles in breadth, which lies at the base of the great Himalaya range, dividing it from the plain of the Ganges, is called Terrae or Terreanna. It is covered with thick forests and low swamps, and, though fertile, is so unhealthy that it is little cultivated. Bishop Heber graphically describes it as a long, black, level line, extending at the foot of the lowest hills, "so black and level," he adds, "that it might seem to have been drawn with ink and a ruler." This flat does not extend farther north-west than through a portion of Rohilcund, where the healthy cultivated country reaches to the foot of the hills, which rise abruptly from the sandy flat beneath. These low hills are watered by streams from the higher mountains, that rise to the level of 1500 or 5000 feet, from which this lower range is frequently separated by fine valleys of some length, which are called doon by the natives, answering to the Scottish name of strath. The hills which rise beyond this lower range to the height of about 5000 to 7000 feet, are lofty and majestic, and broken into numerous ridges, divided by deep shaggy dells. This appearance Fraser ascribes to the quality of the rock of which they are composed, which consists of a strongly indurated clay, with a mixture of siliceous matter, forming a rock exceedingly hard, though easily destructible by exposure to the air, and splitting into variously-sized fragments, leaving hard marbly masses staring through the scanty soil. It may be finally remarked of this singular and interesting country, that though it appears from the plains to be divided into distinct ranges or terraces, it is really a vast collection of mountains heaped in masses one above another, without any order or plan that can be discovered, until the height of land is reached at the great Himalaya ridge, which extends from beyond the sources of the Indus in a continuous chain far into China.
The great plain of Hindustan presents an entirely dif-
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1 See Raper's Narrative of a Survey of the Sources of the Ganges, Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 469. 2 Elphinstone's Journey to the Kingdom of Cambul, p. 95. 3 Fraser's Journal, p. 141. 4 Ibid. p. 142. The cold and bracing air of the upper country is there exchanged for burning heat; the mountain torrents no longer rage, except when they are in flood, but roll their streams lazily over the plains. That large tract which is contained between the Indus and the Brahmapootra, and which extends east and west from 1200 to 1400 miles, and about 300 or 400 miles from north to south, is, with few exceptions, a level country, consisting chiefly of the great plain of the Ganges, rich and fertile, and clothed with the most luxuriant vegetation, in which the spreading palm, with groves of mango and other trees of the most luxuriant foliage, and gardens, are intermixed with cultivated fields. The noble river which intersects this extensive plain determines the aspect and character of the country. Its swelling stream, as it approaches the sea in the provinces of Bahar and Bengal, is very broad and deep, and waters so completely the whole country, that in the driest season there is scarcely any part more than twenty miles distant from some river; and by means of lakes, rivulets, and water courses, boats may approach the peasant's door. During the annual inundation, a large tract of cultivated country is submerged to a great depth; and the lower part of the Delta, named the Sundarbunds, is chequered by a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, expanding to a breadth of two hundred miles; the actual inundation reaching a breadth of one hundred miles, in which trees and villages are seen like islands appearing above the water. Higher up the stream the inundation is diminished in extent; and in the province of Bahar the river is not above a mile broad, the country being flat and fertile, though not so abundant in trees as the rich plains of Bengal. Towards the west, the plain watered by the Ganges and its tributary streams yields in abundance all the productions of the tropics; especially the Doomb, or the tract that lies between the Jumna and the Ganges, the provinces of Allahabad and Agra, and in general all the alluvial tracts near the rivers. At a distance from these, irrigation is resorted to by the cultivators, and deep wells are dug. The plain is diversified by ranges of hills, with abrupt peaks occasionally shooting up, and crowned with forts, in which, during the decay of the Mogul empire, the rebellious or robber chiefs sought to secure a precarious independence. The plain of Hindustan is generally fertile when water can be obtained; and, as it approaches the mountains, in the northern provinces of Oude and Delhi, and is watered by the numerous streams flowing towards the Ganges, it is flat, fertile, and rich, except towards the western borders of Delhi, on the verge of the great desert, where sterile tracts occur, without cultivation or inhabitants. Towards the south-western portion of the plain, near the Nerbuddah, in the province of Malwah, the country is of greater elevation, but has a regular descent from the Vindhyas Mountains, which extend along the north side of the river, as is pointed out by the course of the numerous streams that still flow northward into the Ganges. But the aspect of the country changes as it recedes from this great stream; the overflowing river no longer spreads over the plain, and forms a navigable water-course; it is now merely a mountain torrent, of no depth to float down the produce of the country. Westward, in approaching the Indian Ocean, wild tracts occur, hilly and rocky, and overgrown with jungles, the haunts of wild beasts and of robbers; and, still further west, the province of Cutch is a cold, sterile waste, half covered with a salt morass called the Rann. In the interior of Hindustan, large and fertile tracts have been laid waste by misrule, or the devastations of war; these are overrun with a rank vegetation, which quickly springs up under the quickening influence of a tropical sun; and which, consisting of tall trees with spreading branches, interwoven into an impenetrable fence with brushwood, and with innumerable shrubs and creeping plants clinging round the Hindustan trees, and lacing them firmly together, forms thick jungles, affording abundant cover to the wild animals of the country, and to gangs of banditti, who are even more ferocious than the beasts of the field.
Hindustan, as well as almost all other tropical countries, would soon be changed, by the great heat, into deserts of sand, like a large portion of Africa, if it were not refreshed by the periodical rains and the overflow of the rivers. In the plain of Hindustan, towards the west, occurs a tract of this description, which, having neither rains nor refreshing streams, still remains an arid sand. This great desert reaches northward as far as the Chinsah, one of the five tributary rivers of the Indus, and to the south as far as the salt lakes of Cutch, which communicate with the Gulf of Cutch in the Indian Ocean. It extends about five hundred miles from north to south, and is about four hundred miles in breadth, encroaching eastward on the cultivated parts of the Delhi and Agra provinces, and westward on the country fertilized by the Indus. Mr Elphinstone, in his journey to Afghanistan, travelled across this waste, which he describes as consisting mostly of hillocks of loose and deep sand, from twenty to a hundred feet in height, which in summer are blown aloft in clouds by the wind, and threaten to overwhelm the traveller. Here a miserable village is sometimes seen, which is merely a few round straw huts, with low walls and conical roofs, like little stacks of corn, surrounded by hedges of dry thorny branches stuck in the sand. A few fields, watered by the dews and the rains, surround these abodes of misery, and yield crops of the poorest kinds of pulse, and coarse grain. Water is scarce, and is only obtained from wells often three hundred feet deep, with a diameter of only three feet, and all lined with masonry. One was seen by Mr Elphinstone of the enormous depth of 845 feet, with such a scanty supply of unwholesome brackish water, that the whole was drawn out, by two bullocks turning the water wheel, in a single night. In this sandy desert springs up in profusion the most juicy of all fruits, the water-melon. From about the western frontier of Ajmeer, at Shekawuttty, to Baha-wulpoor, the distance is 280 miles, of which the western portion, for 100 miles, is wholly destitute of inhabitants, water, and vegetation. In the Punjab, the abundance of water corrects the sterility of the soil; and in the country watered by the five well-known rivers which flow into the Indus, cultivation, with waving grass and trees, marks the termination of the desert. In the north-western extremity of Hindustan, high up the Indus, and embosomed amongst lofty mountains, is situated the Valley of Cashmere, celebrated in oriental tales for its romantic beauty. Here the eastern princes, in the days of their prosperity, were wont to retire, and to seek in those sequestered scenes of natural beauty a brief oblivion of their daily cares.
The country to the south of Nerbuddah, namely, the Deccan, extending north-west and south-east 800 miles, comprehends the whole breadth of Hindustan, between the Nerbuddah on the north and the Krishna or Kistnah river on the south. The western range of the Ghaut Mountains, rising up with the steepness of a wall from the shore of the Indian Ocean, runs along the coast southward from the river Taptee, as far as Cape Comorin, and forms the highest land, only about seventy, or in some places forty miles, from the western shore; whilst on the opposite side the distance eastward to the coast is from three to six or seven hundred miles. Owing to this conformation of the ground, all the rivers of any size or length of course, such as the Godavary and the Krishna, which water the Deccan, and the Conjeeveram and the Cavery, which belong to Southern India, roll down the eastern declivity of the Ghauts, there being no space on the western declivity for the formation of any other than a mountain stream. These mountains also diverge in ridges across the country of the Deccan, which on the eastern coast is low, flat, and sandy, with the exception, however, of the tract between the Godavary and Kistna or Krishna rivers, 150 miles in length, along the sea shore, and forty miles broad, composed of rich vegetable mould, such as is usually found at the mouths of rivers, and remarkably fertile. In the interior, the country, especially towards the north, is wild, woody, mountainous, and overrun with thick jungle; in some parts, as in the province of Gundwana, it is a primeval wilderness, inhabited by barbarous tribes, who owe their safety to their poverty. Towards the south and the west, in the provinces of Hyderabad, Beder, and Berar, the ground rises into a table-land, which declines towards the north in the province of Khandesh; and it is hilly, though not mountainous, well watered, and in many parts fertile; but towards the south, large tracts have been desolated by war and robbery; and ruined towns, and wasted fields overgrown with jungle, still remain, the sad memorials of those calamities. The western provinces of Aurungabad and Bejaapoor extend towards the Indian Ocean, and include the Western Ghauts, which rise to the height of about three thousand feet above the level of the sea. They abound in all the interesting aspects of mountain scenery, and are studded with fortresses and natural strongholds. The eastern declivity stretches out into a table-land, with plains well watered and productive; whilst the intervening strip of land, from the mountains to the sea, is in general flat and sandy, but improves as it approaches the mountains, which are fringed with noble forests of teak and other valuable trees. Numerous mountain streams, but no rivers of magnitude, make their way to the sea from the Western Ghauts; and there are few coasts so much broken into small bays and harbours, with so straight a general outline.
To the south of the Kistna river, the country forms a triangle, of which this river is the base, and the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar the sides. Its extent from the Kistna to Cape Comorin, which is the point of the triangle, is 600 miles; and its breadth in the widest point is about 550. It may be shortly described as a table-land 3000 feet in height, containing the central provinces of Balaghat, Mysore, and Coimbatore, and enclosed on each side by the Western and Eastern Ghauts, from which the country descends on both sides to the sea; on the east to the Bay of Bengal, and on the west to the Indian Ocean, forming the two provinces of the Carnatic and of Malabar; the latter a narrow strip of low country, extending 200 miles along the coast, much broken, and interspersed with back-water runs and extensive ravines, shaded with forest and jungle, and filled with population; the former also a long narrow tract, stretching 570 miles along the shore, and nowhere more than 120 miles in breadth, and commonly not more than seventy-five. The Eastern Ghauts extend from the Cavery to the Kistna. They are not so high as the western range; and naked, sun-burnt, and rocky peaks are more commonly seen amongst them. The table-land in the centre descends both towards the north and south, its elevation in the southern province of Coimbatore not exceeding 900 feet. It is extremely diversified with woods, waste, and jungles; and cultivation is here, as in other parts of India, carried on by means of large tanks containing a supply of water for the irrigation of the land. In descending from the hills into the southern plains of Travancore, which extend to the Indian Ocean, the country presents a varied prospect of hill and dale, and winding streams which clothe the valleys in perennial green; and the grandeur of the scene is heightened by the lofty forests which cover the mountains, producing pepper, casia, frankincense, and other aromatic gums.
The following are the chief rivers of Hindustan, with the length of their respective courses to the sea:—Indus, 1700; Brahmapootra, 1650; Ganges, 1500; Jumna (to Hindustan, its junction with the Ganges 780), 1500; Sutlej (to the Indus 900), 1490; Ghulum (to the Indus 750), 1250; Gunduck (to the Ganges 450), 980. In the Deccan and south of India, the Godavary, 850; Kistna, 700; Nerbuddah, 700; Mahanuddy, 550; Tuptee, 460; Cavery, 400. There are few coasts of such extent, so destitute of islands and harbours as that of Hindustan. With the exception of emerged sea banks and mere rocks, Ceylon is the only island near its shores; and on the eastern coast, Masulipatam, which admits vessels of 300 tons burden, is the only harbour for large vessels between Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon, and the Ganges, which is free from a raging surf. To this inconvenience Madras, though an important British settlement, is peculiarly liable. On the western coast, the only harbour capable of admitting large vessels is Bombay; Mangalore admits no vessels drawing more than ten feet, and this only at the height of the tide.
Hindustan comprehends within its bounds the opposite extremes of heat and cold. The plains are burnt up with intense heat; whilst winter, with every intermediate variety of temperature, prevails in the mountains. Philosophers have in vain endeavoured to fix the point of perpetual congelation under different degrees of latitude. They have indeed framed a graduated scale of the respective heights at which, according to calculation, this point should begin at corresponding distances from the equator. But theory is here at variance with actual observation. The climate of mountainous tracts depends so much on localities and the particular course of the winds, as to baffie all general speculation. Hence in the Himalaya Mountains harvests of grain are found, where, according to hypothesis, the ground should be buried under deep snow, and trees are seen to flourish in the regions of perpetual winter. Captain Webb, in ascending the Himalaya range, saw around him, at the height of 11,630 feet above the level of Calcutta, rich forests of oak, pine, and rhododendron, the ground covered with vegetation as high as the knee, strawberry beds in full flower, and currant bushes in blossom; and in 1818, at the Niti Pass, 16,814 feet in height, philosophy was again at fault, as the ground was clear of snow, though above the line of perpetual congelation, and many quadrupeds were feeding on the grassy banks of the Sutlej. It was remarked by Dr Gerard that vegetation attained a higher level on the northern than on the southern face of the Himalaya ridge, where the extreme height of cultivation is 10,000 feet; the limit of the forest 11,800 feet, and 12,000 feet that of bushes. On the northern side cultivation rises to the height of 11,400 feet; in other places to 13,600 feet; birch trees to 14,000 feet; and tamarisk bushes, which form excellent fuel, to the height of about 17,000 feet. In Northern Hindustan, great and sudden changes of temperature occur, which is the cause of pulmonary affections. During summer, the thermometer, which is often in the morning at 32° or under it, rises to 70°, 75°, and 80° upwards during the day; the winters are, however, uniformly severe. In this also, as in other hilly countries, the traveller may be fainting to-day under a tropical sun, and shivering to-morrow amidst the rigour of perpetual snows. From the banks of the Sutlej, where the thermometer frequently stands at 100° and 108°, three days climbing will carry him into the regions of winter.
In the plains of Hindustan, the heat during the greater part of the year is unintermitting and intense; except where it is modified by the ranges of mountains, or the table-lands towards the west. The seasons here are commonly divided into the hot, cold, and rainy. The spring and the dry season throughout the valley of the Ganges last about four months, the heat gradually increasing with the season, until, in May and June, the thermometer rises to 100°, and frequently in the interior to 108° and 110°. Hindustan when it is almost intolerable even to the natives, and still more so to Europeans, who resort to various modes of alleviation, such as the curious tatty, which is a frame of wood, interwoven with twigs, between which is distributed a layer of a particular kind of sweet-scented grass. This being hung before an open window, in the quarter of the prevailing wind, and constantly moistened on the outside by a water-carrier, diffuses a refreshing coolness. Bishop Heber, however, thought it more effectual to shut out the external air, by which, and by agitating the air within by punkahs, a slight frame of wood, covered with silk or with canvass, and suspended from the ceiling, and swung backwards and forwards by servants, he reduced the temperature to 85° within doors, although it was at 100° without. Thus imprisoned, he complains that in going to an open window or door, "it is literally like approaching the mouth of a blast-furnace." This raging heat is modified by occasional thunder storms from the north-west, termed north-westers, which, however terrific, refresh the air and the ground, and give new freshness and luxuriance to the grass, and to the shrubs and trees. Milder showers also occur, which refresh the atmosphere.
In the western provinces of Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, &c., a parching wind very frequently blows from the west during the hot season, and, during the night, is succeeded by a cool breeze from the opposite quarter, sometimes for days and weeks by easterly gales; and as these parching winds prevail, refreshing breezes and cooling showers of rain and hail are more rare. Those remarkable winds, the monsoons, which blow half the year from the south-west and the other half from the north-east, exercise a powerful influence on the climate and seasons of Hindustan. The periodical rains are ushered in by the south-west monsoon, which commences about the beginning of June in the south of India, and somewhat later towards the north. Mr Elphinstone, in his account of his journey to Afghanistan, gives a just and forcible description of the phenomena which accompany the change of the seasons in those eastern countries. "The approach of the monsoon," he observes, "is announced by vast masses of clouds that rise from the Indian Ocean, and advance towards the north-east, gathering and thickening as they approach the land. After some days, the sky assumes a threatening appearance in the evening, and the monsoon in general sets in during the night. It is attended by such a thunder storm as can scarcely be imagined by those who have only seen that phenomenon in a temperate climate. It generally begins with violent blasts of wind, which are succeeded by floods of rain. For some hours lightning is seen almost without intermission; sometimes it only illuminates the sky, and shows the clouds near the horizon; at others it discovers the distant hills, and again leaves all in darkness, when in an instant it re-appears in vivid and successive flashes, and exhibits the nearest objects in all the brightness of day. During all this time the distant thunder never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by some nearer peal, which bursts on the ear with such a sudden and tremendous crash, as can hardly fail to strike the most insensible with awe. At length the thunder ceases, and nothing is heard but the continued pouring of the rain and the rushing of the rising streams. The next day presents a gloomy spectacle; the rain still descends in torrents, and scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields; the rivers are swollen and discoloured, and sweep down along with them the hedges, the huts, and the remains of the cultivation, which was carried on, during the dry season, in their beds." After some days the sky clears, and discloses the face of nature changed as if by enchantment. The fields, formerly parched, are now covered with luxuriant verdure; the clear and burning sky is varied and embellished with clouds; the rivers are full and tranquil; the dust which loaded the atmosphere, and which made the sun appear dull and discoloured, has now disappeared; and the parching wind, like the blast from a furnace, and the still more sultry calms, have been succeeded by a pure and delicious air. Intermittent rains now fall for about a month, when they come on again with great violence, and in July are at their height. During the third month they rather diminish, but are still heavy; and in September, and at the end of the month, they depart amidst thunders and tempests as they came. About eighty inches of rain fall in Bengal during the rainy season.
The dense masses of clouds which arise on the Indian Ocean are carried forward by the south-west monsoon over the plains of Hindustan, as far as the Himalaya Mountains. On the coasts they descend in deluges of rain, which diminish as they recede from the sea, unless where the vapours are intercepted by high mountains, when they pour down in torrents of rain on the plains beneath. But in Southern India, the south-west monsoon is intercepted by the double chain of the Western and Eastern Ghauts, by which the mass of clouds being as it were cut in twain, is carried forward on the north and the south sides of this mountain wall, going clear of a considerable tract to leeward of the Eastern Ghauts, namely, the coast of Coromandel, which is thus free from the periodical rains which fall in all other places of Hindustan. The western range of the Ghauts, though it checks, does not altogether impede the passage of the clouds; and we find accordingly, that in the table-land of Mysore and the neighbouring countries, the south-west monsoon brings on the rains, though they are not so violent nor of such long continuance as in Bengal, and on the western shores of India. But those light and elevated clouds which pass the Western Ghauts, being stopped in their progress by the eastern chain, or descending in rain on the intermediate table-land, never reach the Coromandel coast; and here, accordingly, on the eastern side of the mountains, the dry season prevails, when it rains on the table-land of Mysore to the west, and still more heavily on the Malabar shore. On the other hand, it is the north-east monsoon which, in the Bay of Bengal, sets in about the middle of October, with thunder and lightning and violent hurricanes, that ushers in the rains on the Coromandel coast, which continue to the middle of December, and sometimes to the 1st of January, whilst at this period southerly gales and fair weather prevail on the opposite coast of the Indian peninsula. It was formerly supposed that the Ghauts, interrupting the progress of the south-west monsoon, occasioned a diversity of seasons through a great part of India. But it is only that limited track of country to the leeward of the Eastern Ghauts that is free from the influence of the south-west monsoon, which accordingly brings on the rainy season at the mouth of the Godavery, immediately to the north. Major Renell suggests that those clouds may be blown by the south-west monsoon from Cape Comorin; though he afterwards adds that this is not his opinion, because the cape bears south-west from the mouth of the Godavery, and the reigning winds are much more westerly. But the true reason seems to be, that the eastern chain of the Ghauts does not extend so far north; hence they afford no shelter to the country at the mouth of the Godavery, which thus lies in the direct course of the south-west monsoon. To the north of the Ghaut Mountains, in the parallel of Surat, the south-west... monsoon, meeting with no interruption, carries its supplies of moisture over the whole face of the country. The periodical rains accordingly extend over the great plain of the Ganges. They commence on the coast of Malabar in May, farther north in June, where they are not so violent; at Delhi they do not come on till the end of June; and a much smaller quantity of rain falls than at Bombay or Calcutta. Near the sea the clouds are still in a deep mass, and descend in deluges of rain; but they are exhausted as they go; the rains become weaker and weaker, and are at last diminished to a few transient showers in the south of the Punjab. On the sea-shore the south-west monsoon extends into Beloochistan, and thence into Makran, the easternmost province of Persia, where the clouds being arrested by mountains, descend in heavy rains. They pass with little obstruction over the countries of Lower Sind; but being intercepted by the mountains of Upper Sind, they occasion the principal rains of the year.
The eastern provinces of Hindustan, including Bengal and the mountainous countries of Bootan, Nepaul, and the other contiguous provinces, are not dependent on the rains that come across the country from the Indian Ocean, which would be very scanty at so great a distance from the sea. Of the mass of clouds driven before the south-west monsoon, that portion which passes Cape Comorin on the south is carried north-eastward across the Bay of Bengal, until, meeting with the mountains that join the Himalaya from the south, of which they are indeed a continuation, they follow their direction, and are thus diverted from a north-easterly into a north-westerly course; and it is from this quarter accordingly, namely, from the south-east, that Bengal and the adjoining provinces receive the rains fresh and abundant from the ocean. Part of these clouds make their way over the first hills, and bring on the rains in Nepaul and Thibet; and part passing to the north-west, water the plains of Bengal, the southern face of the Himalaya Mountains, the countries which lie to the north of the Ganges, the northern parts of the Punjab, and, in their progress to the north-west, the southern declivity of the Cashmere Hills, and the plains beneath, though they scarcely make their way over these hills into the Valley of Cashmere. They continue their progress westward to Afghanistan, where they gradually become weaker, and only produce occasional showers. The cold season, which succeeds the rains, lasts from November to the middle of February; and during all this period the air is clear, and the thermometer is from 65° to 84°. In Southern India the heat is greater than in Bengal. In the Carnatic the thermometer ranges from 100° to 106°, and the cold season is of very short duration. On the table-land above the Ghaut Mountains, as at Coimbatore, among the hills, the temperature in the cold season is from 31° to 59°; in summer 64°, 65°, and 75°, or even higher. On the table-land in which Bangalore is situated, the thermometer seldom rises above 82°, or falls below 56°.
Hindustan comprehends all the known varieties of the vegetable tribes. The mountainous tracts of Northern Hindustan produce all the alpine plants, and the various species of European grain, fruits, and flowers. Deep woods cover those lower ranges of mountains, in which are found the pine tree of various species, "the tallest, straightest, and most magnificent," says Fraser, he ever beheld; the larch, the silver, and the spruce fir, from the bark and twigs of which resin exudes in abundance; the yew tree; several species of oak, holly, alder, sycamore, birch, with mulberry and chestnut trees. Here is also found the mimosa tree, from which is made the catechu or Indian rubber; the resinous part of this fir, cut into slips, answers the common uses of the lamp. These noble forests extend over Hindustan immense tracts, and would afford inexhaustible supplies of timber, if they could be transported to the proper market. Fruits in great variety are also produced in this elevated region, such as apricots, peaches, and grapes, apples, pears, currants, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries; roots, such as turnips, carrots, garlic, onions; flowers and plants, as roses, both red and white, lilies of the valley, jasmines, butter-cups, yellow, blue, and white cowslips, sweet brier, with numerous other beautiful and fragrant plants. The valleys exhibit, according to their altitude and temperature, the productions of Europe or of the tropical countries. At the height of 6000 feet appear the oak and the pine; at that of 3000 feet rattans and bamboos of enormous dimensions; in some parts the pine-apple, the orange, the sugar-cane, grow to maturity; in others, barley, millet, and similar grains are produced. The lower part of these hills is the seat of the saul forests. The lower valleys yield rice sown broad-cast, maize, wheat, barley, pulse of various kinds, sugar-cane, cotton, Indian madder, a large species of cardamum, besides other productions. The pastoral tribes of Northern Hindustan feed considerable flocks on the lower hills and valleys; in summer they climb the alpine country, and browse on the herbage adjacent to the region of perpetual frost.
The vegetable produce of the plains in Hindustan, and of the southern provinces, is the same as in all tropical countries. The soil, where it is copiously watered, is fertile; and if the country were one unvaried level, the copious rains would afford a sufficient supply for every spot. But, from the inequalities of the surface, the lower parts are frequently overflowed, whilst, in the higher grounds, vegetation is burnt up. To secure a more equal distribution of water, various contrivances are resorted to. It is retained in extensive plains by means of dams, or in reservoirs constructed of stone, or in ponds and water-courses, whence it is distributed over the land. But these beneficial works, so essential to agriculture, are in a dilapidated state. Their construction conferring a reputation for piety, they have been uselessly multiplied; and not being duly repaired, they are soon filled with aquatic plants, putrid water, bad smells, and pernicious exhalations. One of these tanks, seen by Dr Buchanan, is stated to be eight miles long and three broad. "I never viewed a public work," he observes, "with more satisfaction, a work which supplies a great body of people with every comfort which their moral situation will permit them to enjoy." The Hindu, though he is a most industrious, is not a skilful cultivator; his implements are of a very rude kind; and even if he had the skill, he has not the capital necessary for an improved system of husbandry. The ploughing in Hindustan is quite different from anything seen in this country. The plough has no contrivance for turning up the earth, nor has the share sufficient depth to stir a new soil. Several ploughs in succession deepen the furrows, or rather scratch the surface. The branch of a tree, or some other equally rude substitute for a harrow, is then employed to pulverise the soil, and prepare it for the seed. The plough is drawn by oxen, and in Southern India by buffaloes. The field, after it is sown, must be protected for several days by a person exalted on a bamboo stage, against the depredations of numerous flocks of birds, and still longer in woody districts, from the havoc of wild elephants, buffaloes, and other animals. The harvest is reaped by the sickle, the scythe being unknown. There is no occasion for stacking rice, which is completely preserved by the husk. The grain, after it is winnowed, is stored in jars of unbaked
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1 Elphinstone's Account of the Kingdom of Candul, p. 130. 2 Fraser's Journal of a Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, p. 139. 3 See Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, vol. i. p. 16. Hindustan, earth; or in baskets made of large twigs. In Benares and the western provinces, and also in the south of India, it is stored in subterraneous granaries; but in the damp climate of Bengal it is hoarded above ground. The rotation of crops, so essential to the husbandry of Europe, is not known in Bengal; nor are the articles for cultivation ever selected with any view to restore the exhausted powers of the soil. The land is never properly manured. The Hindus, from their limited use of animal food, are no extensive breeders of stock. The labouring cattle are either pastured on small commons, or fed at home on cut grass; and those for the dairy graze in numerous herds in the forests or on the downs. The dung is accounted holy by the superstitious Hindus, and is either converted to religious uses, or into fuel, and sold. In Bengal no manure is used; and, in the southern provinces, only a small quantity of ashes and dried vegetables. Oil-cake is sometimes employed as a manure for the sugar-cane. The ryot or husbandman is generally poor, deriving only a bare subsistence from his labour; the greater part of the produce of the land being taken for the government tax. Under the extortions of the eastern governments, whether native or British, a thriving farmer could hardly exist.
Rice is the great staple of agriculture throughout Hindustan, in the plain of the Ganges as well as in Southern India. It is sown at the approach of the rains, and it is gathered during the rainy season, about the end of August; the last crop is sown during the same season, and is gathered in the beginning of December. It is esteemed the best, not being equally liable with the other to decay. The diversity of soil and climate, and the several seasons of cultivation, have given rise to infinite varieties in this species of grain. When the rains fail throughout Hindustan, which occasionally happens, the rice crops are apt to be deficient to a degree altogether unknown in the well-regulated agriculture of Europe, where the severest scarcity hardly ever raises the price of corn more than three times its usual rate. But the famines of Hindustan leave thousands without subsistence, and fill the land with scenes of misery and death. In the great famine of 1769, it was estimated that three millions of the people perished; the air was so infected by the noxious effluvia of dead bodies, that it was scarcely possible to stir abroad without perceiving it, and without hearing also the frantic cries of the victims of famine, who were seen in every stage of suffering and death; whole families expired, and villages were desolated; and when the new crop came forward in August, it had no owners. Bengal has been less liable to famines since this period, but they very frequently occur in other parts of India. Rice thrives well in the inundated track of the Ganges; and in Southern Hindustan, especially on the low lands of the sea-coast, higher up the Ganges, wheat and barley are more generally cultivated, also in the high grounds and elevated table-lands of Southern India. Other kinds of grain are cultivated, such as Indian corn; and great varieties of pulse and coarse grains, such as peas, beans, chiches, gram, vetches, and raggy, which is the most important crop raised in the dry field, and in some parts of Southern India is the subsistence of all classes, in others of the poorer classes. These are important articles of cultivation, as they have each their particular season, and thrive even on poor soils. Maize is the general produce of poor soils in hilly countries, and is commonly cultivated in the more western provinces. Millet and other grains are also cultivated, and vegetating rapidly, and in every season, they fill up profitably for the farmer the short intervals between the other modes of cultivation in Lower Hindustan. Sugar is everywhere cultivated, and at less expense, by the Hindu cultivator, though sometimes a slave, than by the slaves of the West Indies; and it is on this account burdened in Britain with a heavier import duty than the expensive sugar of the West Indies, by which means, under the baneful influence of monopoly, we favour one colony by crushing another. Though formerly unknown in Europe, sugar has been produced in India from the remotest times, and was thence transplanted into Arabia, whence it has been introduced into Europe, Africa, the West Indies, and America. It grows luxuriantly throughout all the valley of the Ganges and in the plains of Southern India, and could be produced, with the help of European skill and capital, to meet any demand. It thrives more especially in Bahar and Benares, and in particular districts of Bengal. Opium is the peculiar and staple produce of the province of Bahar, and is also extensively cultivated in Malwah, and in other parts of Hindustan. It is a precarious crop, producing alternately high profits and heavy losses. The liquor extracted from the poppy is collected as it exudes, and is then placed in pots, where it is dried and formed into lumps, in which process it loses from one tenth to one eighth of its weight. The opium produced in Bahar and Bengal being monopolized by the East India Company, and bought at a fixed price, is a contraband article of trade, and its cultivation is confined to certain districts. But it is nevertheless clandestinely imported into Bengal, and sold in considerable quantities. In Malwah a treaty was entered into with the different rulers and chiefs, by which the monopoly was extended to that country, and all that was produced delivered to the Company, at the rate of three rupees a seer, which is two pounds. But so great was the discontent excited by this extension of the monopoly, that, at the desire of the chiefs, the treaties were rescinded in 1819-1820; and the trade in opium, and its cultivation, is now free in that province, and everywhere throughout India, except in the Company's dominions, which renders it impossible to maintain a strict monopoly, more especially as the opium of Malwah, having of late years been greatly improved in quality, and rivalling, and even surpassing, the best opium produced in Bahar, is brought into competition with the Company's opium in all the foreign markets, and especially in China. Cotton plant has from time immemorial been one of the staple products of Hindustan, and is indigenous from Ceylon in the south, to the Himalaya Mountains. It is cultivated extensively throughout Bengal, and in the interior provinces on the banks of the Jumna; also in the Deccan, and in Southern India, whence it is imported into Bengal, and into Mirzapoor, in the district of Benares, where it is manufactured. Flax and hemp are also cultivated in several districts both in the north and in the south of India. Silk was long the exclusive product of India and China. Silk worms are now reared principally in the district of Burdwan, and in the vicinity of the Bhagirati and in the Ganges, and for about 100 miles down their streams. Four crops of mulberry leaves are obtained in the year, the last in December. A considerable quantity of silk, of a coarse kind, is obtained from wild silk worms, which do not feed on the mulberry, and are found in the forests of Silhet, Assam, and the Decan. Indigo was originally a product of India; and the plant was afterwards carried to South America, whence Europe was for a long time supplied with this dye. The manufacture on which the quality of the indigo depends was very unskilfully conducted until the year 1783. Since this period it has been so much improved by the skill and capital of Europeans that it is now a staple article of commerce,
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1 See Appendix to the Report on the East India Company's affairs, p. 15, Par. 59, House of Commons Papers, 1831. Minutes of Evidence before Lords' Committee, 26th February 1830. and in Bengal the annual produce amounts to about nine millions of pounds. Indigo is produced generally throughout the plain of the Ganges, and in Southern India, but chiefly in Bengal. Tobacco, formerly unknown in India, and introduced from America probably about the beginning of the seventeenth century, is now extensively cultivated in every part, chiefly however in the northern provinces, and more rarely in the south. The tobacco grown in the Mahatta territories is most esteemed; particularly that which is produced near Bilsea, a town in Malvah, Bengal does not yield good tobacco; but the Company's territories in Guzerat, being principally of a rich black soil, are considered as peculiarly suitable to its cultivation.
The Hindus having been already in the habit of inhaling the smoke of hemp leaves, and other intoxicating drugs, readily adopted tobacco as a more agreeable substitute, and it soon came into general use. Their recent knowledge of it appears from their having no name for it which is not a corruption of some European term. Pepper, though of inferior consequence, is a valuable product of Southern India, especially of Malabar. It is produced from a species of vine which is made to twine round the jack tree. It bears fruit about the third or fourth year, amounting to from three to seven pounds weight, and yields two crops in the year. The areca nut and betel leaf, universally chewed by the natives, thrive in the low grounds, where water is abundant; and cardamoms, a spice in great repute. The universal and vast consumption of vegetable oils in Hindustan, for food or unguents, or for the lamp, is supplied by the extensive cultivation of mustard seed, linseed, sesamum, palma christi, besides what is procured from the cocoa nut. The first ripen in the cold season, the sesamum during the rains, or soon afterwards.
The forests in the low plains of Hindustan, of Southern India, and those which cover the western range of the Ghauts, and more sparingly the Eastern Ghauts, abound in the most valuable trees, applicable to many important uses. The extensive woods in Southern India supply the teak tree, valuable for ship-building; and in Malabar, these forests are the private property of the Nairs, by whom they are often sold or mortgaged to the dealers. Sandalwood, too, and bamboo trees abound; the last of which yields a medicine much used by the native doctors, and which sells for its weight in silver. There are many species of the palm tree, with its luxuriant and spreading leaves, of which the produce is extremely useful. The cocoanut tree is in some provinces an important article of culture. The kernel is used for food by the richer natives, either in its raw state, or dressed after various fashions; and it yields by far the finest oil in India, if the nut be fresh and the oil quickly used. Extensive tracts, many miles in length, are planted with the cocoanut and betel-nut palms. Many other species of timber are found in the deep recesses of the woods, of which Dr. Buchanam, in his account of Mysore, gives a particular description, with the botanical names of the different trees, and to his work we refer; observing generally, that the woods consist of every description of timber, black, heavy, and strong, and adapted for the beams and posts of houses; other kinds are white, hard, and durable, and adapted to all the purposes for which strong materials are required; some are beautifully grained, and take a fine polish, and are well suited for furniture, or exude resins and gums of a sweet scent, that are used in temples for incense; the wood of some kindles readily into a clear light, and is used for torches. Other kinds of wood are employed for dyeing. The sandalwood is valuable for its perfume, and for the essential oil Hindustan, which it yields. It requires a strong soil, and it is twelve years before it attains the proper size for being cut. The billets of wood are prepared by being buried in the dry ground for two months, when the ants eat up all the outer wood, leaving the heart, which is the sandal. The deeper the colour the higher the perfume. The whole sandalwood of Hindustan is now in possession of the rajah of Mysore, who succeeded to a small portion of Tippoo's dominions, and of the British government.
The climate of Hindustan, owing to the long and heavy rains of summer, is not so favourable for many kinds of fruit which are not ripened by the previous heat of the spring. Orchards of mango trees diversify the plains of Bengal, and are common all over Hindustan; the palmyra and the date tree abound everywhere, and especially in Behar. The former thrives remarkably well in dry barren spots, and is prized for the tari or wine which it yields. The bassia, which yields an intoxicating spirit, also suits the poorest soils, and abounds in the hilly districts, where the oil expressed from its seeds is a common substitute for butter. The other fruits are the plantain, the lime, the sweet and bitter orange, the guava, the pomegranate, the jack, the tamarind, &c. Under the shade of lofty flower and fruit-bearing trees, and the luxuriant bamboo, and the rank weeds which shoot up along with them, the natives, from shyness, bury their cottages, and especially their females, from the view of strangers; and the damp vapour from the confined air, the loathsome and pernicious animals which harbour among the trees and weeds, and the filthy habits of the natives, are generally sufficient to repel Europeans from their habitations. The Hindus cultivate in their kitchen gardens a variety of esculent vegetables and roots. But, of the European vegetables, the potato alone is suited to the climate, and is of as good quality as that which is produced in England. Asparagus, cauliflower, radish, onions, and other esculent plants, are raised; but they are comparatively tasteless.
Hindustan, from the great extent and inequality of its Animals surface, its stupendous and snow-clad mountains, and its vast and wooded plains lying under a burning sun, comprehends all the most interesting forms of animal life; more especially those animals of the tropical regions remarkable for ferocity or size, which have been the subjects of scientific research as well as of popular curiosity in all ages, and which find ample cover in the deep woods and jungle-covered wastes of those tracts of the country which have been desolated by tyranny or war. A minute or systematic inquiry into so important a branch of natural history cannot within our limits be attempted. All that we can propose is a brief and popular sketch of the principal animals which give to the zoology of India its distinct and brilliant character. The elephant, which holds a conspicuous place in the animal creation, is seen in all parts of Hindustan, and ranges wild in its deep forests and jungles. This animal, from its size and strength, was employed in the ancient wars, and the prodigious momentum of its charge often turned the tide of battle. The richly caparisoned elephant is still used to swell the gorgeous parade of the Asiatic courts, and is at the same time, from its patience and docility, the humblest of domestic drudges. An elephant is about thirty-five inches high when newly born, and does not attain its full growth of ten or ten and a half feet, or twelve feet when the head is set up, until the age of twenty or thirty years. In length he is about fifteen or sixteen feet. The rhinoceros is between five and six feet
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1 See Letter of the Secretary to the Court of Directors, to the Secretary of the India Board, 5th September 1826. 2 See Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, vol. i. p. 25. 3 See Hamilton's Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindustan, vol. i. p. 26. Hindustan high, in length eight feet, the whole body covered with a thick and nearly bare skin, in irregular folds, and the head, at least of the Indian species, armed with a single horn. The rhinoceros is strong and active, of peaceable habits; but when he is hunted he turns on his pursuers and resists fiercely. The Bactrian camel with two humps, so useful in traversing the sandy wastes of the torrid zone, and the dromedary with a single hump, formed more lightly for speed, are natives of Hindustan. The deer is found in all its varieties, from the large and powerful mountain stag, with its well-compacted form, to those lighter forms of the antelope species which sport so gracefully in the woods and in the burning plains. The musk-deer, so named from the perfume contained in a small bag situated in the lower region of the abdomen of the male, is a solitary dweller in the mountain tracts of Hindustan and of Central Asia, amidst ice and snows; it is shy and timid, and seldom approaches the lower region of the pine forests. This animal has no horns; the horned tribe are, however, numerous. The Nepaul stag has a short tail, short horns, and two small antlers at the base. Deer of a large size abound in Bengal, and also in Southern India, in the forests of the Ghaut Mountains. One species, with branching horns, attains to the size of a horse. The black deer of Bengal is about fifteen or sixteen hands high; it is a bold, fierce, and powerful animal; dark brown in the upper parts of the body, and in winter of a shining black; whitish in the belly, with a ring of white round the nostrils and mouth. The spotted deer, with large antlers, ranges all over India, and abounds in the forests of Bengal, and along the banks of the Ganges. The hog-deer is known in Bengal and in the northern parts of India; and the roe-buck in the hilly districts, and still more among the Ghaut Mountains in the south. There are, besides, numerous other varieties of the deer species. Hindustan contains several species of the antelope; one about twenty inches in height, and nearly three feet in length, with four horns, haunts the western forests and hilly tracts in the valley of the Ganges. The white antelope, between three and four feet in height, and of surpassing swiftness, ranges along the banks of the Ganges and the Indus, and over the intervening deserts; and another species, with one horn, and an abundant covering of wool, is a native of the mountain and icy regions of the Himalaya. Of the feline tribe, the lion claims the first place. He is considered as the lord of the brute creation; and his whole appearance, the flowing and shaggy mane, the ample forehead, the kindling eye, and the muscular strength and compactness of the whole frame, so powerfully armed by nature for the purposes of destruction, concur to give an idea of majesty and power, which is further strengthened by the boldness and courage with which, instead of seeking a dastardly retreat in the forest or the jungle, he rushes forth to confront his enemies in the open plain, where he is generally shot by the hunters. But, in the event of his being only wounded, he is extremely formidable, from his vast strength and fierceness, and the immense weight of his body, especially towards the head, and the power of his tremendous claws. The lion is not nearly so common in Asia as in Africa, and is only found in the northern provinces of Hindustan. The tiger is the more common animal of India, abounding in all the forests and jungles, from the mouth of the Ganges to the Himalaya Mountains. He is not quite equal in strength to the lion, though superior in activity; and his undulating movements have more of ease, grace, and bounding elasticity; whilst his bright-yellow, tawny-coloured skin, variegated with dark stripes, shaded with white in the under parts, completes this beautiful specimen of the animal creation.
Since the British have acquired possession of India, they have so eagerly pursued the sport of tiger-hunting, that the animal has been driven from the inhabited parts of the country into the vast jungles which line the great rivers, and which may be considered as the game preserves of Hindustan. The leopard and the panther are found in the woods; the former animal in such numbers, that during the marches of the British troops in 1803, amongst the deep forests at Cuttack, in the province of Orissa, many of the sentinels were carried off by them in the night. The bear abounds in all the wooded mountains; also wolves, which at Cawnpore, where there is a British encampment, are so numerous that they frequently dash into some corner of the camp, and carry off children under five years of age, who happen to be straggling amongst the huts. The other wild animals are hyenas, jackals, foxes, hares, porcupines, hedgehogs, monkeys in great variety, and prodigiously multiplied by the superstitious Hindus, who consider them as sacred animals, to the great annoyance of Europeans. The wild boar, which inhabits the woods and jungles of India, is a fierce animal, and very destructive to the corn fields and sugar plantations. It affords excellent though sometimes dangerous sport to the hunter, when it turns on its pursuers. The wild dog of the Himalaya Mountains is a remarkable animal, in form and for resembling a fox, though stronger and larger. Bishop Heber saw one of these animals which had been taken, and was exceedingly wild and fierce. They hunt in packs, give tongue like dogs, and have a very fine scent; and they are said to attack and, by dint of numbers, to destroy the tiger. They are highly valued in these countries. Dr Gerard observed a pack of these wild dogs stealing along a gulley quite red.
The buffalo, both wild and tame, is a native of India. There are different species, one of which (the Bos Arnee) is noted for its gigantic dimensions, its great strength, and its horns, which are nearly six feet in length, by the aid of which it is a match for and frequently repels the fiercest tiger. Dr Buchanan, however, insists that this is merely the common buffalo in its wild state. The yak, or ox of Tartary, particularly described by Turner in his account of his embassy to Thibet, is numerous among the Himalaya Mountains, where they browse in herds, amidst ice and snow; and constitute, next to corn, the wealth of the inhabitants. It has a downcast, heavy look, and is fierce and of a suspicious temper. The Cashmere goat has been long celebrated
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1 Heber's Journey, ii. 170. 2 "The lion," says Bishop Heber, "which was long supposed to be unknown in India, is now ascertained to exist in considerable numbers in the districts of Saharanpoor and Loodianah. Lions have also been killed on this side of the Ganges, in the northern parts of Rohilkund, in the neighbourhood of Moradabad and Rampoor, as large, it is said, as the average of those in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope. Both lions, where they are found, and tigers, are very troublesome to the people of the villages near the forest, who, having no elephants, have no very effectual means of attacking them with safety. The peasantry here (in the province of Delhi) are in a peculiarity to allow themselves to be devoured without resistance, like the Bengalese; and it often happens, that when a tiger has established himself near a village, the whole population turn out with their matchlocks, swords, and shields, to attack him. Fighting on foot, and compelled to drive him from his castle by entering and beating the jungle, one or two generally lose their lives; but the tiger seldom escapes." Heber mentions, that he derived his information from Mr Boulderson, who was a keen sportsman, and had long been in India, and who said that he had seen some skins of tigers which " bore the strongest marks of having been fought with, if the expression may be used, hand to hand, and were in fact slashed all over with cuts of the tulwar or short scimitar." (Heber's Journey, vol. ii. p. 149.) 3 Fraser's Journal of a Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, p. 176. 4 Journey through Mysore, vol. ii. p. 116. 5 Fraser's Journal of a Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, p. 263. for the soft silky nature of the wool found at the root of its long hair, which is manufactured into shawls. The other animals in the alpine regions of Hindustan are also provided with a similar covering of soft wool. "The cow," says Moorcroft in his Journal, "has a material of the same kind, not much inferior in warmth and softness; the hare has her fur of peculiar length and thickness; and even the dog has a coat of fur added to his usual covering of hair." The goat bred in Southern India, called the maycay or long-legged goat, mentioned by Dr. Buchanan, is also of quite a different breed from the common goat. There are other breeds remarkable for long and curiously-twisted horns. The native horse of India is a small, ill-shaped, vicious pony, the finest horses being imported from the countries to the west of Hindustan. But wild horses are seen in herds in the northern mountains. The sandy desert in the west of Hindustan is the haunt of the wild ass; as he is described in Scripture, "his house the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling." This animal is found in herds of sixty or seventy on the banks of the Rurn, the great salt morass or lake of Cutch, where it browses on the brackish and stunted vegetation of the desert. When caught, as it sometimes is by the natives in pits, it is fierce, untameable, and bites and kicks in the most ferocious manner. Its form is that of the mule rather than of the ass; its body is of an ash colour, changing to a dirty white under the belly. It is larger than the tame ass, stronger and more active, remarkable for shyness, and still more for speed, throwing out, at a shuffling trot peculiar to itself, the fleetest horses in the pursuit. In Southern India, the ass, of which there are several varieties as to colour, is very commonly tamed for domestic purposes; some are of a black hue; and there is a species of milk-white ass, though it is rare. The rat tribe abound in Hindustan; and one species is of enormous size, the tail above a foot long, and very mischievous, burrowing to a great depth in the ground, making its way under the foundations of stores and granaries, and perforating the mud or unburnt brick walls of the native cottages.
The ornithology of India, though it is not considered as so rich in specimens of gorgeous and variegated plumage as that of other tropical regions, still contains many splendid and curious varieties of the feathered race, as well as those that are clothed in nature's gayest attire, far surpassing the richest dyes of art, as of that other class, the birds of prey, distinguished by strength, size, and fierceness. The parrot tribe are the most remarkable for beauty. So various are the species, that we cannot even enumerate them, and must refer for details to the scientific works on the subject. Of the birds of prey, the eagle or the condor, which haunts the inaccessible crags of the great Himalaya range, is the most remarkable; Bishop Heber mentions that one of these animals was shot at Dega by Lieutenant Fisher, with whom he conversed; and, from the bareness of its neck, resembling that of the vulture, the form of its beak, which is longer and less hooked than the eagle's, and from its extraordinary size, he judged it to be the condor. It measured between the extended wings thirteen feet; its talons were eight inches in length; its colour was a deep black. According to Heber, children are sometimes carried away by this animal from the streets of Almorah. Eagles, of which there are three different sizes, are numerous, and do great injury to the flocks of the shepherds in the mountainous districts. There are various kinds of vultures, and also of the falcon tribe. There is the gentle falcon; the goshawk, a large grey short-winged bird; the shikra, which is taught to soar over the falconer's head, and strike the quarry as it rises; the chirk, which strikes Hindustan, the antelope, fastening on its head, and retarding its course till the hounds come up; with various other species. Numerous other birds are common in India, such as herons, cranes; the gigantic stork, well known for clearing the country of snakes and other reptiles, and the populous cities of offal; the peacock, which is found wild in the forests in all its various and brilliant hues; the black-backed goose, measuring nearly three feet in length; besides other kinds, which migrate with the seasons, and are very destructive to the corn; swans, partridges, quails, gulls, plovers, wild ducks, and the other common domestic fowls.
The serpent brood in India is numerous; they swarm in all the gardens, and intrude into the dwellings of the inhabitants. Some are comparatively harmless, but the bite of others is speedily fatal. The cobra di capello, the name given to it by the Portuguese, from the appearance of a hood which it produces from the expanded skin about the neck, is the most dreaded. It is not above three or four feet long, and about an inch and a quarter thick, with a small head, covered on the fore part with large smooth scales; it is of a pale-brown colour above, and the belly is of a bluish white tinged with pale brown or yellow. It is more frequently the assailant than any other, though the bite of these also is equally dangerous, and often fatal. The Russellian snake, about four feet in length, is of a pale-yellowish brown, beautifully variegated with large oval spots of deep brown, with a white edging. Its bite is extremely fatal. The whip snake is a remarkably malignant species; it darts from the thick foliage of the trees, at the cattle below, most commonly at their eyes, and inflicts wounds of which they quickly expire, often in great pain. Itinerant showmen carry about these serpents, and cause them to assume a dancing motion for the amusement of the spectators. They also give out that they render them harmless by the use of charms, though it is known that it is by extracting the venomous fangs. But, judging from the frequent accidents which occur, they often dispense with this precaution. The snake-catching fakirs pretend to bear a charmed life; and it is related, that one of these impostors being invited by a shopkeeper to catch a snake which had been seen in an inner apartment, was stung in the hip bone, and for shame would not discover the injury he had received, and went home endeavouring to counteract the poison, but in vain. He died; and such is the blind confidence of the natives in these impostors, that they believed he would revive into life, until the body became putrid. Physicians differ respecting the mode in which the poison of serpents acts upon the human frame. The symptoms also vary, the patient being sometimes seized with torpor and insensibility, or falling into feverish heat and convulsions; the breathing laborious; the skin cold and clammy, with a livid countenance and a feeble pulse. The mode of treatment by the British physicians in India is to bind up the limb above the wound; along with this to apply strong stimulants, as ammonia, hartshorn, eau de luce, and the like; and, above all, to give the strongest narcotics, such as laudanum and brandy. By this judicious treatment many patients have been brought back from the jaws of death. There are several water-snakes in India, the bite of which is venomous; and scorpions are common.
The rivers of Hindustan, and the surrounding seas, fishes, abound in a great variety of fishes and amphibious animals, such as alligators, porpoises, and small turtle of inferior quality. The voracious shark infests the mouths of the rivers, as well as the sea-coast, and grows to an enormous size. One that was caught in the Ganges measured in... Hindustan.
The dolphin of the Ganges is about seven feet long, and abounds chiefly in the delta of the river. It pursues its prey with great velocity, though at other times its motions are slow and heavy. The Ganges and its numerous branches, and all the tanks, swarm with fish; during the wet months they may be scooped up with a hand-net in every field; and, next to rice and plantains, they form the main food of the poorest classes. The bickly or cockup is an excellent fish; as is also the sable fish, which is uncommonly rich. But the best and highest-flavoured fish is the mango, a favourite delicacy at all the European tables, especially during the two months when it is in roe. Mullet abound in all the rivers, and are often killed with small shot as they swim against the stream. The Indian eel, of a pale-brown colour, with spots of a somewhat deeper hue, is said to possess a certain degree of electrical power. The remora, about seven feet in length, is remarkable for its singular habits. It is used by the fishermen for catching turtle. A long cord being inserted through a ring fastened to the tail of the fish, it is carried to sea in a vessel filled with salt water, and is let out into the water near the turtle, when it immediately fastens itself on its breast so firmly that both are drawn out together. There are many other kinds of fish, some of a delicate flavour, others noted for the various colours of their shining scales. The voracious dolphin, and the flying fish, its food, abound in the Indian Seas. The pomfret is much esteemed as a delicacy; also the robal, and several others of the same nature. The bumbalo, when dried, is an article of commerce, and is much prized for its nutritious qualities; as is also another fish, the urahli, found in the interior lakes. There are many other kinds of fish which we cannot attempt even to enumerate. The natives are dexterous fishers. They enclose the fish with nets into a narrow space, when they catch them with their hands or teeth. Bishop Heber, in his excellent Journal, gives a lively account of the fishing of a pool or lake which was nearly dried up owing to the want of rain. The fish were driven into a shallow part of the lake, when four Bheels from the mountains, with bows and arrows, made in a few hours such havoc among them, that they were procured in the greatest abundance. "They singled out the largest," says Bishop Heber, "and struck them with as much certainty as if they had been sheep in a fold. The arrows intended for striking the fish were so contrived that the iron head slipped off the shaft when the fish was struck, but remained connected with it by a long line, like a harpoon, and afloat on the water, which not only contributed to weary out the animal, but to show which way he fled, and to facilitate his capture."
Oysters are procured from the coast of Chittagong; not so large, but fully as well flavoured, as those of Europe.
The insect tribes in India may be truly said to be innumerable; nor has any thing like a complete classification been given of them, in the most scientific treatises. The heat and the rains give incredible activity to innumerable noxious or troublesome insects, and to others of a more showy class, whose large wings surpass in brilliancy the most splendid colours of art. Singing musquitoes are innumerable; and moths and ants of the most destructive kind, as well as others still more noxious and disagreeable. Amongst those which are useful is the silk worm; the insect which produces the vermilion dye, the cochineal, a South American species; and that which produces lac, which is imported into Europe and used for varnish, and more recently for cochineal. Clouds of locusts are occasionally seen, which leave no trace of green behind them, and give the country over which they pass the appearance of a desert.
Dr. Buchanan saw a mass of these insects in his journey from Madras to the Mysore territory, about three miles in length, like a long narrow red cloud near the horizon, and making a noise somewhat resembling that of a cataract. Their size was about that of a man's finger, and their colour reddish. They did no damage at that time to the smallest vegetable; but at other times they eat up every green thing.
From the wild and inaccessible nature of the country, mineral in many parts of Hindustan, its metallic products are but imperfectly known. It is found to produce all the metallic ores, as well as diamonds and precious stones, and other mineral substances. Gold is generally found in the sands of the mountain streams, and is extracted by washing. The head streams of the Ganges bring along with them particles of gold, which in Rohilcund are collected by a particular caste of people. It is found in various parts of Mysore, particularly nine miles east of Boedictotta, where the country is impregnated with it; also in the Nielgherry Mountains, and in great quantities in that tract of country that lies west, and in the adjoining Koondamad and Ghaut Mountains. This whole tract, including the mountains, and comprising a space of 2000 miles, contains gold. Unrefined gold is regularly exchanged by many of the mountain tribes of the north for the produce of the plains. It is estimated that about 1000 men are continually employed in collecting this precious metal. Copper is produced in the province of Delhi, which the natives collect either on the surface or with very slight excavations; also in the Rajpoot principality of Jeypoor in the province of Ajmeer, and in other parts of the same province, there are copper mines, and in the Carnatic, about forty miles north-east from Cuddapah. The metal is found in layers about two inches, and occasionally two feet thick; they are coated with ochre, and are in general flat, as if they had undergone compression. The ore exists in nearly a metallic state, without any admixture of sulphur, arsenic, or any other substance that requires separation. The best ores yield fifty, and the worst six per cent. of pure metal. The granitic mountains of Nepal and Northern Hindustan contain much iron, lead, and copper, with a little gold in the river courses. The copper mines are quite superficial, the ore being dug from trenches entirely open above, so that the work is laid aside in the rainy season. Iron ore is found in many parts of Hindustan. There are mines of iron in Lahore and in Ajmeer. In Orissa many of the natives are iron smelters, and most of the iron sent from Balasore to Calcutta is produced in this district. In Bejapoor the working of iron furnishes employment to many of the inhabitants, who extract it by a very rude process. The Mysore country abounds in iron, and forges are erected, by which it is extracted from the black sand, which is found during the rainy season in the Cavery or its tributary streams, and partly from ores. At the iron works near Chinarayana Durga the ore yields about forty-seven per cent. of malleable iron, though, as usual, it is very impure. The smelting houses are so small and mean that they are put up in a day. There are also forges for manufacturing steel, which are minutely described by Dr. Buchanan in his account of the Mysore country. In Coimbatore and in Malabar the iron mines give employment to a considerable number of persons. The process and machinery for extracting the iron are very imperfect. Iron mines were formerly worked in the district of Boglipoor, but they have been long neglected. Rich iron ores are abundant in Cutch. The ore is gathered in baskets from the surface of the earth, and yields... twenty-two per cent. of iron; and the steel which is made from this ore is the finest in the world. Lead is produced in various parts; also antimony, plumbago, sulphur, alum; and there are inexhaustible supplies of coal, though the mines are not worked with any effect. Coal is raised in Burdwan in considerable quantities and of a fine quality. Saltpetre is produced in Bengal and Bihar, though its manufacture does not go beyond the eastern limits of the latter province. It might, however, be attempted with success in Bengal, where the tendency of the soil to its production is very great; and there might be manufactories of salt in almost every part of the country, but they are restricted by the Company's monopoly. In the Mysore plains the wells are salt, and the ground is frequently covered with a saline efflorescence. A range of hills, extending from the Indus to the Hydaspes, yields the famous rock-salt of Lahore, of which they are almost entirely composed. Many quarries are found in the hilly districts, which produce fine stone, that is cut by the inhabitants into pillars, flags, statues, and used for other ornamental purposes. Dr Buchanan saw several fine-grained specimens of granite, also a black stone used in the construction of Hyder's monument, and a beautiful green stone which takes on a marble polish. The hills of Guzerat contain marbles exhibiting many colours and qualities; and marbles are seen in the various tombs and monuments of ancient art still remaining in the country, finely ground and of different colours, white and yellow with red veins, and green clouded with yellow and black, of which the quarries have never been discovered.
Diamonds are no longer found in the celebrated mines of Golconda, but they are still gathered in the bed of the Krishna, and in the province of Gundwana. Near the confluence of the Hebe and the Mahanuddy, thirteen miles beyond the town of Sumbhulpoor, after the rains, the natives find diamonds in the red earth washed down from the mountains. The matrix containing them is a clay which has a red appearance like burnt bricks. There are diamond mines in the south of India, about seven miles north-east of Cuddapah, on both banks of the Pennar river. These mines have been worked for several hundred years, and occasionally yield large diamonds, which are either found in the alluvial soil, or are recognised by their sparkling among the gravel after it is washed and spread out, or in rocks of the latest formation. The grounds are leased by the collector of taxes to private speculators, at a moderate rent. In Allahabad also, the table-land which surrounds Pannah, wherever the ground is of a gravelly nature, produces diamonds. The soil is from two to eight cubits deep, and diamonds are found intermixed with small pebbles, though not adhering to them. A very few diamonds in the course of a year repay the labours of the workmen. The diamonds found are mostly under the value of 500 rupees, or L30, though some reach the value of from 500 to 1000 rupees. They are weighed and sold to the merchants residing at Pannah, and are by them carried to all parts of the country. The workmen are allowed three fourths, two thirds, or a half of the diamonds they find, according to their size, and any man is at liberty to dig. The number of workmen amount to 1000, who appear to be wretchedly poor. The diamond grounds are strictly guarded against the contraband trader, and the least delinquency draws down the prompt and barbarous vengeance of the rajah. These are supposed to be the diamond mines mentioned by Ptolemy. Their annual produce was estimated, in the reign of Achar, at eight lacs of rupees. In 1750 it had fallen off to one half; and being now comparatively insignificant, it has been given up by the British to the native chiefs.
The other varieties of precious stones found in India are Hindustan, the ruby from the table-land of Mysore, the beryl, the topaz, the chrysolite, garnet, cat's eye, &c. There are corneil mines in the province of Guzerat, in the wildest parts of the jungle. They consist of numerous shafts worked down perpendicularly, about four feet wide, and several of them to the depth of fifty feet. Some of them extend at the bottom in a horizontal direction, though not to any distance; the heavy rains cause the banks to fall in, so that new openings are always made at the end of the rainy season. The nodules weigh from a few ounces to two or even three pounds, and lie close to each other in abundance, not in distinct strata, but scattered about. They are of various colours when they are found, of a blackish olive, like common dark flints; others of a lighter hue, with a slight milky tinge; though it is quite uncertain what appearance they will assume after the process of turning. They are carried to Cambay, where they are cut, polished, and formed into the fine ornaments for which that city is so highly celebrated. Beautiful jaspers and agates are also found in this district, and in other parts of India.
In every country the nature and quality of the manufactures must depend on the condition of the consumers, and amongst the despotic states of Asia these naturally consist of two classes; 1st, of the great and powerful, in whose hands the property of the country is accumulated, and who are comparatively few; and, 2ndly, of the body or mass of the people, oppressed by extortion, and sunk in poverty. Such, accordingly, has been from time immemorial the state of Hindustan; and its manufactures, which are necessarily adapted to the use of these two classes, have always consisted of exquisitely fine fabrics of cotton, for the use of the imperial court, or of the rajahs and princes of the country, or of coarse stuffs for the common people; and to such perfection have they attained, that the modern art of Europe, with all the aid of its wonderful machinery, has never yet rivalled in beauty the products of the Indian loom. Yet the Hindu workman has no advantage from capital, from machinery, or from the division of labour; he prepares the raw material with his own skilful hand, in all the various stages of its manufacture; his loom and all his implements are of the rudest construction; and yet, by patience, perseverance, and unusual skill, he produces an article which is prized all over the world for its inimitable richness and beauty, as well as for its durability. The native artisan distinguishes at once these fine fabrics from all counterfeits, by the eye, the touch, and the smell. In the district of Dacca are chiefly fabricated plain muslins, variously denominated, according to the closeness or fineness of the texture; also flowered, striped, or chequered muslins, denominated from their patterns; and the thinnest sort of muslins, for the manufacture of which the province is much celebrated, as is Coromandel in Southern India for its calicoes and other piece-goods, of the most brilliant and durable colours. Other kinds more closely woven are fabricated in the western parts of Bengal; and another sort of a more rigid texture in every district. Coarse muslins, in the shape of turbans, handkerchiefs, &c. are made in all parts of Hindustan; and in its northern provinces plain and flowered muslins, but of inferior quality to the beautiful fabrics of Dacca. In Moulton are manufactured silks which possess a strength of texture and brilliancy of hue that have secured for them a preference in the Indian market. They are woven into shawls and scarfs, which are in great demand, and which the Indian manufacturer in other parts has never been able to rival, either in colour or durability. Carpets are also manufactured in
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1 See the observations of Lieutenant Barnes, on the commercial relations of the Punjab. 2 See Hamilton, vol. ii. p. 20. Hindustan—this province, though they do not equal those of Persia. Various articles of calico are made, which still retain their Indian denominations, as khassahs, which are manufactured north and east of the Ganges; cloths of nearly the same quality are made near Tanda in Oude. Near Lucknepoor, on the western frontier of Benares, in the neighbourhood of Allahabad, and also in the province of Bahar, battees are manufactured; saunas in Orissa, and in the district of Midnapore; and a similar cloth under the same denomination in the eastern parts of the province of Benares; woven silk and taffetas, both plain and flowered, in the neighbourhood of Moorshedabad; tissues, brocades, and ornamented gauzes, at Benares; plain gauzes for domestic use in the west and south of Bengal; and at Moulda, Boglipoor, and at several towns in the district of Burdwan, mixed goods of silk and cotton. Sackcloth is manufactured from packthread in many places, especially in the northern provinces, for the clothing of the mountaineers. Cotton is made into canvass in the neighbourhood of Chittagong, Patna, and other places; and blankets everywhere for common use. A coarse cotton cloth dyed red with cheap materials is very generally used, and is chiefly manufactured in the country between the Jamuna and the Ganges. Fine and coarse calicoes are dyed with permanent and fugitive colours for common use in the province of Benares, the city of Patna, and the neighbourhood of Calcutta. This art appears to have had its origin in India, and to have been there perfected to a degree never surpassed by Europeans. Dimities of various kinds, and damask linen, are made at Dacca, Patna, Tanda, and various other places. In Mysore, near Bangalore, silk is manufactured into different articles of dress; into strong cloths, which men, women, or boys, wrap round them, and into turban pieces. These cloths are of a rich fabric, variously figured, and the pattern, if ordered, is elegantly wrought in gold thread. Turbans are made of cotton and silk. Thin white muslins with silk borders ornamented with gold and silver, and plain green muslins with silk borders, are manufactured for female dresses; also striped and chequered muslins; cloth like the khassahs of Bengal, for wrapping round the shoulders of men, sometimes with striped or silver borders. Handkerchiefs with red borders, a coarse thick white cotton cloth with red borders, and turbans ornamented with silver and gold thread at the ends, are also made in this district; and the dyeing of cotton cloth, cotton thread, and silk, is carried on by a set of people who act as tailors, cloth-printers, and dyers. Tanneries are established, and manufactories of oil. At Chinaspatam there are manufactories of glass, of green and of glass rings, universally worn as bracelets by the women of the Deccan. Steel wire is also made here for the strings of musical instruments. At Vizigapatam, in the Northern Circars, the inhabitants are very expert in carving curious little boxes of ivory and bone. Throughout Southern India manufactories of cotton and silk are generally established. In the Northern Circars the principal part of the East India Company's investment of piece goods was formerly provided. This country, extending about 500 miles along the coast of Coromandel, from the river Kistnah to the borders of Cuttack, has from very early times been the seat of an important and extensive manufacture of cotton piece-goods, of which the description of calicoes known as Madras long cloths and salemores are the chief, and, with Masulipatam dyed handkerchiefs, and other kinds of goods for the African and West India trade, have, until lately, been in great demand. Masulipatam goods have, however, for some years been entirely superseded by the manufactures of Manchester and Glasgow; and in all appearance the Northern Circars will at no distant period of time be deprived of the manufactures of white calicoes also. A great change has indeed been brought about in the manufactures of India by the introduction of British goods, which, in many branches, have supplanted those of the country; the poor Hindu, notwithstanding the low rate at which he works, is thus undersold in his own market by the manufacturers of Manchester and Glasgow; and this competition of British goods nearly ruined the native manufacturers of India, deprived the workmen of employment, and reduced them to great distress; so that the directors remark concerning the Indian trade, that "it exhibits the picture of a commercial revolution, productive of much present suffering to numerous classes in India, and hardly to be paralleled in the history of commerce."
Hindustan, from its great extent, and the diversity of its soil and climate, supplies the materials of an extensive commerce. Its internal trade is great, while its rare and precious products are exported to the remotest regions of the world. An extensive commerce takes place between Bengal and the other maritime districts, and the western provinces of Hindustan, consisting in the exportation of grain from the corn districts, in exchange for salt, a great staple, for betel nut, sugar, raw silk, silk and piece goods. From the provinces of Central India are imported into Bengal opium, the great staple of Bahar and Malwah, saltpetre, indigo, cotton, cotton cloths, &c.; and from Allahabad diamonds, in return for which salt is received, and European goods, from the maritime parts of Bengal. The holy city of Benares is a great mart of trade, in which are exchanged the shawls of the north for the diamonds of the south, and for the muslins of Dacca and the eastern provinces; and it has, besides, very considerable silk, cotton, and fine woollen manufactures of its own, the produce of which is exchanged for other commodities. Through the northern provinces of Delhi and Lahore a great trade is carried on between the hill countries and the plains. The inconsiderable town of Hardwar or Haridwara, being a celebrated place of Hindu pilgrimage, is a great commercial emporium, to which multitudes resort for the purposes of trade, as well as from piety. This great annual concourse takes place in the spring, when the produce of the northern and western countries is exchanged for the manufactures of the lower provinces. The principal articles brought here for sale from Cabul, Candahar, Moulitan, and the Punjab, are horses, mules, camels; some of these from Balk, Bohkara, and the countries on the northern side of the Hindu Coosh Mountains; a particular species of tobacco, antimony, assafetida, dried fruits, such as apricots, figs, prunes, raisins, almonds, pistachio nuts, and pomegranates; from Cashmere and Amritsar, shawls, dootas, and pattos; spotted turbans, looking-glasses, toys, with various manufactures in brass and ivory from Jeypoor; shields from Rohilcund, Lucknow, and Silhet; bows and arrows from Moulitan and the Doab; rock-salt from Lahore; battees and piece-goods from Rahn, a large city in the Punjab. The country of Marwar also supplies many camels, and a species of flannel called loo. In exchange are brought from the British provinces Kharwa muslins, mushroo or sarsnet, woollen cloths, the coarsest of which only find a market. In this fair Dutch and Venetian coins are current; and some toys of European manufacture were seen.
1 Buchanan's Journey through Mysore, vol. i. 209, 229. 2 See Copy of a Letter from the Secretary to the Court of Directors, to the Secretary of the India Board, dated East India House, 6th September 1822. exposed to sale by Mr Webb. The northern merchants by whom it is frequented assemble at Amritsr in caravans about the end of February, and pursue their route through the Sikk country, molested by freebooters, who frequently carry off stragglers. Still farther to the north and west the province of Lahore and Moultan export to the countries to the west of the Indus, sugar, rice, indigo, wheat, and white cotton cloths, hides, &c. The imports are swords, horses, fruit, lead, and spices; and into all these countries European goods are imported from the lower provinces. The southern provinces export to Bengal pepper, betel nut, sandal wood, and cardamoms, teak timber, &c.; whilst they receive in return salt and rice, cotton cloths, and articles of European manufacture.
A very considerable coasting trade is carried on between the different parts of Hindustan. Bengal exports to Madras and the coast of Coromandel grains of different descriptions, sugar, saltpetre, molasses, ginger, long pepper, oil, silk wrought and unwrought, muslins, spirits, and provisions. The returns are salt, red wood, fine long cloth, izares, and chintzes. From the Malabar coast the imports are sandal wood, coir rope, pepper, cardamoms; and the returns are generally in the annual supplies which Bombay receives from Bengal. From Bombay are brought teak timber, elephants' teeth, lac, &c.
From the reputed wealth and precious produce of India, foreign nations were always desirous to participate in its trade. Prior to Alexander's expedition to the East it was scarcely known to the Greeks, nor is it certain that they had ever seen its productions. But we know that these were brought to Rome, especially silk, which so allure the vanity of the Roman ladies that it sold for its weight in gold. Other valuable commodities of India, such as calicoes, muslins, aromatics, ivory, diamonds, pearls, and other gems, precious aromatics, the pepper of Malabar, turtle shell, &c. and some dry sugar and indigo, were also imported into Alexandria, the chief emporium of eastern commerce, and were naturally attracted to the great metropolis of the ancient world. This trade was carried on from Myos Hormos, the chief port on the Red Sea, whence, after the conquest of Egypt by the Romans, the annual fleets, sometimes of 120 vessels, set sail, and, under the propitious influence of the south-west monsoon, boldly stretched across the Indian Ocean for the western coast of Hindustan, which they reached in about forty days; and afterwards extended their voyage round Cape Comorin to the coast of Coromandel and the mouths of the Ganges. The high price received for these eastern luxuries in Rome encouraged the merchants to provide larger vessels, and a band of archers to defend them against the pirates, who then, and until very lately that they were extinguished by British ships of war, infested the western shores of India. The commodities of the East being landed at Myos Hormos, were carried on canals to Coptos, the seat of a flourishing trade, and thence by sea to the Nile, whence they reached Alexandria by water carriage, and were re-shipped to the different ports on the Mediterranean. The produce of India was also brought to Europe by other routes, namely, by the way of Palmyra, then a flourishing city, and thence to Rome and other western countries, through the ports of Syria; or across the Himalaya Mountains to the Oxus, thence to the Caspian, and afterwards to the Black Sea, and finally to its ulterior markets in Europe. But though there was a demand in Europe for the produce of India, there was no demand in India for the produce of Europe; and bullion was the only article that could be sent out in exchange. The annual drain of gold from Rome and its provinces, for Indian goods, was estimated by Pliny at 500 sestertia, equal to about L400,000. In the convulsions Hindustan, which followed the decline of the Roman empire, the trade of the East was successively engrossed by the Persians and Arabians. The latter in the year 636 built the city of Basora, which soon grew into a great commercial mart; and to this place, and to Ormus, long celebrated for its vast riches and its trade, the spiceries and merchandise of India were brought, and distributed through the various ports of the Mediterranean. After the expulsion of the crusaders from Syria and Egypt, Alexandria again became the chief entrepot of eastern produce, whence it was carried to Italy by the Venetians and others, and distributed throughout Europe. But the discovery of a passage to India in 1495 by the Cape of Good Hope changed the course of this trade, which now entirely left the Italians, and was engrossed by the Portuguese for nearly a century without any molestation from European rivals. At length the Dutch and the English became their competitors, and established joint-stock companies, with the exclusive privilege of the eastern trade. But their anticipations of profit were not realised. The great distance of Europe from India, and the want of an equivalent for its produce, precluded any extensive intercourse; the trade accordingly bore a very small proportion to the trade of the country; and being besides cramped by monopolies, it never attained its natural growth. In 1773 the average exports of Britain to India amounted to about L489,000 a year; in 1793, on a like average, to about a million a year; and it does not appear that a greater trade was carried on with India from any other part of Europe. The commerce of nations is limited to the surplus produce which they can mutually exchange; and, from the great distance between India and Europe, this surplus produce was long confined to those few articles which, containing a great value in small bulk, could bear the expense of a long voyage. The demand was also altogether on the side of Europe, and its trade with India consisted merely in the purchase, with bullion, of a small quantity of precious articles for the consumption of the rich. The progressive improvement of industry in Europe, together with the partial opening of the trade to India in 1793, and still more in 1814, has occasioned not only a greater exportation of British goods, but a change also in the nature of the trade. It is not so much the produce of the labour, as of the climate and soil of India, which no ingenuity can supply, that is in demand in Britain; and, accordingly whilst the import of Indian manufactures has fallen off, that of the raw material, and many varieties of vegetable produce, has increased. Thus the importation of cotton piece-goods, namely, white calicoes and muslins, which amounted in 1814 to 1,266,608 pieces, had decreased in 1832 to 407,506 pieces; whilst within the same period the importation of cotton wool had increased from 2,850,318 lbs. to 35,219,504 lbs., and the exportation of cotton manufactures from 811,003 to 57,183,599 yards. Even the fine muslins of Dacca are in less demand since the introduction of British goods. Thus, in the progress of the trade between India and Europe, the former country, notwithstanding its boasted wealth and superior industry, has taken the lowest place, exporting her rude produce for the manufactures of the richer country, which is the nature of the trade carried on between Britain and America, and the countries in the north of Europe, and is a sure index to the respective progress of the two countries in wealth and improvement. Those countries which cannot manufacture their own rude produce send it to Britain, which abounds in capital, and still more in art and industry; and both countries are benefited, the poorer country exchanging its surplus produce for a supply of manufactures of which it is in want, and the richer country the produce of its over-
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1 See Report of Lords' Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, Evidence of W. Chaplin, Esq. p. 179. Hindustan flowing capital, for a supply of the raw material, which its own soil does not afford. This is now the relative condition of Great Britain and India. The former having outstripped the latter country in industry and wealth, sends out a supply of cheaper goods than the native workman can furnish; and so prodigious have been the improvements in machinery, that the raw material of cotton is imported from India, and being manufactured in Britain, is re-exported and sold at a cheaper rate than it can be made at home, though loaded with the expense of a double voyage across half the globe; and thus it has become an important staple in the trade of Great Britain with the East. A notion was long and successfully propagated by the advocates of the monopoly, that the Hindus, from their poverty and their simple habits, would never become extensive consumers of European goods, and that the demand was amply supplied by the exports of the East India Company. Evidence to this effect was given before the committee of the House of Commons in 1810, by Sir Thomas Munro, and other eminent servants of the Company. But such statements have been completely refuted by the rapidly increasing exportation of British goods to India since the partial opening of the trade in 1814. This will appear from the following table.
### Value of Exports from Great Britain to Hindustan
| Years | By the East India Company | Private Trade | Total Exports | |-------|--------------------------|---------------|--------------| | 1814 | 826,558 | 1,048,132 | 1,874,690 | | 1815 | 998,248 | 1,569,513 | 2,565,761 | | 1816 | 633,546 | 1,955,909 | 2,589,455 | | 1817 | 688,382 | 2,750,333 | 3,388,715 | | 1818 | 553,385 | 3,018,779 | 3,572,164 | | 1819 | 760,508 | 1,586,575 | 2,347,083 | | 1820 | 971,096 | 2,066,815 | 3,037,911 | | 1821 | 887,619 | 2,656,776 | 3,544,395 | | 1822 | 606,089 | 2,838,354 | 3,444,443 | | 1823 | 458,550 | 2,957,705 | 3,416,255 | | 1824 | 654,783 | 2,841,795 | 3,496,578 | | 1825 | 598,553 | 2,574,660 | 3,173,213 | | 1826 | 990,964 | 2,480,588 | 3,471,552 | | 1827 | 805,610 | 3,830,580 | 4,636,190 | | 1828 | 488,601 | 3,979,072 | 4,467,673 | | 1829 | 434,586 | 3,665,678 | 4,100,264 | | 1830 | 195,394 | 3,891,917 | 4,087,311 | | 1831 | 146,480 | 3,488,571 | 3,635,051 | | 1832 | 149,193 | 3,601,093 | 3,750,286 |
The goods exported, as they are enumerated by Mr Rickards in his valuable work on India, consist of all the staple manufactures of Britain. "Woollens and cottons," he mentions, "of every variety and value; manufactured silks; hardware of all descriptions; iron, copper, lead, tin, and spelter, in large quantities; marine and military stores; machinery for various uses; glass ware of the metal specimens, down to articles of the commonest use; china ware or porcelain, the same; jewellery of all sorts; gold and silver plate and ornaments; clocks, watches, furniture, carriages, harness, haberdashery, hosiery, stationery, books; in short, every article of luxury, comfort, or convenience, which British industry can produce." According also to all the most correct observers of Indian manners, the taste for European fashions, luxuries, and comforts is rapidly extending among the Hindus. Bishop Heber, in his interesting journal of a tour through India, strongly confirms this fact. "The wealthy natives," he observes, "now all affect to have their houses decorated with Corinthian pillars, and filled with English furniture; they drive the best horses and the most dashing carriages in Calcutta. Many of them speak English fluently, and are tolerably read in English literature; and the children of one of our friends I saw one day dressed in jackets and trousers, with round hats, shoes, and stockings." At Benares he found "English hardware, swords, shields, and spears, from Lucknow and Moughly; and these European luxuries and elegancies, which are daily becoming more popular in India, circulate from hence through Bundelcund, Gorrruckpoor, Nepaul, and other tracks which are removed from the main artery of the Ganges." At Nusseerabad, in the province of Berar, the same traveller mentions that "English cotton cloths, both white and printed, are to be met with commonly in wear among the people of the country, and may, I learned to my surprise, be bought best and cheapest, as well as all kinds of hardware, crockery, writing desks, &c., at Pallee, a large town and celebrated mart in Marwar, on the edge of the desert, several days' journey west of Joudpoor, where, till very lately, no European was ever known to have penetrated." In short, it appears that British and other European manufactures, from their quality and cheapness, are everywhere in demand. They penetrate into the remotest districts of Asia; and now that the termination of the East India Company's monopoly, which took place in 1834, has laid open Hindustan to the capital and enterprise of Britain, experience proves that an equal demand for them may be anticipated in that country. We subjoin the following tables, containing a view of the trade between Great Britain and Hindustan, and a list of the principal articles exchanged between the two countries, abridged from the parliamentary accounts.
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1 Rickards' India, or facts submitted to illustrate the character and condition of the native inhabitants, vol. i. p. 75. 2 Heber's Journal, vol. iii. p. 252. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 381. 4 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 448. | Articles | East India Company | Private Trade | Total | East India Company | Private Trade | Total | East India Company | Private Trade | Total | |----------|-------------------|---------------|-------|-------------------|---------------|-------|-------------------|---------------|-------| | Borrax, lbs. | 179,642 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Camphire unrefined, lbs. | 273,682 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Canes, viz. rattans, not ground, number | 2,414,562 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Coffee, lbs. | 7,025,799 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Cotton piece-goods; namely, white calicoes and muslins, pieces | 171,923 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Dried cotton, pieces | 47,588 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Nainkain cloths, pieces | 292,563 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Cardamums, lbs. | 573,581 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Cinnamon and cassia, lbs. | 1,397,710 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Cloves, lbs. | 3,198 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Cotton wool, lbs. | 11,892,556 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Elephants' teeth, cwt. | 1,602 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Lace tips, shell lac, seed lac, stick lac, lbs. | 1,172,490 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Nutmegs, lbs. | 45,059 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Raw silk, lbs. | 715,968 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Silk manufactures, buntanotes, romals, and silk linemakerschiefs, pieces | 1,090,963 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Pepper of all sorts, lbs. | 63,524 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Indigo, lbs. | 2,154,341 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Mace, lbs. | 12,962 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Rice, not in the husks, cwt. | 155,487 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Saffron, cwt. | 44,928 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Sugar unrefined, cwt. | 118,358 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Tint, cwt. | 1,807,764 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | | Other articles, such as aloes, assafoetida, ginger, gum, hemp, nutmegs, castor oil, mace, madder-root, musk, rhubarb, soap, vermillion, &c., making the total | L. 1,583,566 | L. 4,085,505 | L. 5,679,071 | L. 1,434,372 | L. 1,434,372 | L. 4,295,488 | L. 5,729,810 | L. 1,107,787 | L. 6,837,008 |
*The account of the sugar imported by the private traders includes, in 1830, 486,836 cts.; in 1831, 616,977 cts.; and in 1832, 827,904 cts. from Mauritius.* ### Account of the Quantities and Declared Value of the Principal Articles exported from Great Britain to all Places eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, except China, in the years 1830, 1831, and 1832; ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 25th June 1833.
| Articles | Declared Value | Private Trade | By the East India Company | Total | |----------|---------------|--------------|---------------------------|-------| | Apothecary wares | L.9,642 | L.10,588 | L.112,751 | L.123,393 | | Apparel | 288,294 | 4,352 | 292,646 | 297,000 | | Beer and ale | 71,364 | | | | | Copper, unwrought in bricks and pipes | 290,050 | 200,050 | 204,936 | 204,936 | | Cotton manufactures | 1,009,105 | | | | | British calicoes white and plain | 536,111 | | | | | Ditto, printed, check ed, stained, or dyed | 185,940 | | | | | Ditto, printed, check ed, stained, or dyed | 7,562 | | | | | Muslins, white and plain | 21,834 | | | | | Hosiery and small | 1,760,552 | | | | | Aggregate value of British cotton manufactures exported | 1,760,552 | | | | | Cotton twist and yarn | 324,655 | | | | | Earthen ware | 20,501 | | | | | Iron, bar and bolt | 87,314 | | | | | Plate, jewellery, and watches | 44,370 | | | | | Whales | 105,404 | | | | | British woollen manufactures exported to India, aggregate value | 270,406 | | | | | Total value, including articles not enumerated | L.3,891,917 | L.149,304 | L.4,078,311 | L.4,227,615 |
Besides the articles here enumerated, Great Britain exports other varieties of European goods, such as books, carriages, guns, pistols, haberdashery, hardware, &c., &c., &c.
1. When the declared value of the article exported by the East India Company amounts only to L.300 or L.400, or less than that sum, as in the case of cotton manufacture, &c., it is not particularly specified. The pernicious effects of monopoly are illustrated by the whole history of the Indian trade. It appears, from the account of the exports and imports, how the commerce of the two countries expanded, as with an elastic bound, when this dead weight was partially removed in 1810. The wall of separation has now been entirely thrown down. By the late great and enlightened measure of Mr Grant, a free trade is established to India, and a free intercourse with the natives; and from this liberal policy we may anticipate a still greater extension of the trade. But there are other barriers yet to be removed. Although British goods may be introduced into the markets of India, certain staple articles of that country are excluded from Britain by heavy and unequal duties; and this for the purpose of favouring the trade of the West Indies. Thus sugar, which might be cultivated to any extent in India, pays a duty of thirty-two shillings per cwt. in place of twenty-four shillings, the duty levied on West India sugar; and this, with the heavier charge of freight and insurance, is a serious bar to its importation into Britain. Accordingly, while only 700,000 cwt. of sugar are annually imported from India, the annual importation of the West Indies amounts to between 4,700,000 and 4,800,000 cwt.
In like manner, coffee, which has only been of late cultivated in India, though it might be produced to any extent, pays a duty of ninepence per pound, in place of sixpence, the duty on West India coffee; and the tobacco of India pays threepence more of duty, namely, three shillings per pound, on being imported into Great Britain, than the tobacco of Mauritius, or of any other British colony. No reason can be assigned for this unjust distinction. The mother country ought to dispense equal justice to all. If the West Indian colonies have been of late depressed by the low price of sugar, the native manufactures of India have been nearly ruined by the competition of British goods, and justice as well as policy imperiously demands for the produce of Hindustan a free access to the markets of this country.
The following tables contain a general view, 1st, of the extent and value of the trade of India to all parts of the world; and, 2dly, of the extent of its trade to the different countries of Europe and Asia, with the exception of that to China, of which a more detailed account will be given.
### Imports and Exports of Hindustan to and from all Parts of the World
#### Imports
| | Private Trade. Rupees | Company's Trade. Rupees | Total Rupees | |----------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|--------------| | **BENGAL** | | | | | Merchandise | 3,00,40,816 | 1,51,916 | 3,01,92,732 | | Treasure | 51,68,390 | 17,33,984 | 69,02,374 | | **Total** | 3,52,09,206 | 18,85,900 | 3,70,95,106 | | **MADRAS** | | | | | Merchandise | 93,91,228 | 4,18,117 | 98,09,345 | | Treasure | 36,28,467 | | 36,28,467 | | **Total** | 1,30,19,695 | 4,18,117 | 1,34,37,812 | | **BOMBAY** | | | | | Merchandise | 2,50,55,237 | | 2,50,55,237 | | Treasure | 1,20,04,989 | | 1,20,04,989 | | Horses | 5,01,800 | | 5,01,800 | | **Total** | 3,75,62,026 | | 3,75,62,026 | | **Total Imports** | 8,57,90,927 | 23,04,017 | 8,80,94,944 |
#### Exports
| | Private Trade. Rupees | Company's Trade. Rupees | Total Rupees | |----------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|--------------| | **BENGAL** | | | | | Merchandise | 3,39,10,365 | 1,63,71,594 | 5,02,81,959 | | Treasure | 14,63,193 | 3,00,000 | 17,63,193 | | **Total** | 3,53,73,558 | 1,66,71,594 | 5,20,45,152 | | **MADRAS** | | | | | Merchandise | 1,40,64,835 | 22,62,868 | 1,63,27,703 | | Treasure | 10,12,726 | 44,66,376 | 54,79,102 | | **Total** | 1,50,77,561 | 67,29,244 | 2,18,06,805 | | **BOMBAY** | | | | | Merchandise | 2,89,64,478 | | 2,89,64,478 | | Treasure | 20,40,178 | | 20,40,178 | | Horses | 4,47,200 | | 4,47,200 | | **Total** | 3,14,51,856 | | 3,14,51,856 | | **Total Exports** | 8,19,02,975 | 2,34,00,888 | 10,53,03,813 |
L. = L.1,511,753 L.4,633,238 L.4,225,727 L.10,370,718 L.5,204,515 L.2,453,265 L.3,538,333 L.11,186,113 ### Imports
| | Merchandise | Bullion | Total | |----------------|-------------|---------|---------| | Great Britain | L.3,614,138 | L.1,310 | L.3,615,448 | | North America | 146,696 | 95,382 | 242,078 | | South America, Brazil | 60,680 | 10,440 | 71,120 | | Lisbon | 4,180 | ... | 4,180 | | France | 138,289 | 990 | 139,169 | | Sweden | 17,229 | ... | 17,229 | | Hamburg | 2,968 | ... | 2,968 |
Total: L.3,984,180 L.108,122 L.4,090,882
### Exports
| | Merchandise | Bullion | Total | |----------------|-------------|---------|---------| | Great Britain | L.3,545,100 | L.570,571 | L.4,115,671 | | North America | 1,348,907 | 37,764 | 1,386,671 | | South America, Brazil | 6,744 | ... | ... | | Lisbon | ... | ... | ... | | France | 319,421 | 337 | ... | | Sweden | 11,962 | ... | ... | | Hamburg | ... | ... | ... |
Total: L.5,232,134 L.608,672 L.5,502,342
### All India
| | Merchandise | Bullion | Total | |----------------|-------------|---------|---------| | Eastern Isles | L.45,403 | L.39,624 | L.850,277 | | Arabia, Persian Gulf, New South Wales, &c. | 45,527 | 263,237 | 308,764 | | Total | L.90,930 | L.659,261 | L.393,791 |
Trade carried on with China by Private Ships.
| Articles | Value in Dollars | |---------------------------|-----------------| | Cotton | 1,086,480 | | Privilege trade in Company's ships | 781,863 | | Metals | 194,806 | | Privilege trade | 148,318 | | Quicksilver | 343,124 | | Pepper and spices | 12,460 | | Rattans | 74,284 | | Betel nuts | 11,690 | | Putchuck, a dye for nankeen | 18,849 | | Stock-fish | 2,808 | | Drugs | 10,075 | | Saltpetre | 14,444 | | Sandal wood | 5,257 | | Woollens | 2,123,730 | | Privilege trade | 174,546 | | Cotton goods | 132,883 | | Privilege trade | 84,997 | | Cotton yarn | 146,886 | | Privilege trade | 9,156 | | Diamonds, pearls, carnelians | 156,042 | | Watches and clocks | 3,000 | | Sundries | 11,786 | | Privilege trade | 6,543 | | Sharks' fins and maws | 42,730 | | Elephants' teeth | 49,273 | | Rice | 5,125,531 |
Add Company and privilege trade: 15,808,405
Total: 20,933,936 An accurate census of the population is still a desideratum in the statistics of Hindustan. Partial estimates have indeed been made in different districts, by the industry of British judges and magistrates; but these do not agree with subsequent and more accurate inquiries. In 1801, returns were made at the desire of the supreme government, of the population of several districts in Bengal, by the magistrates and collectors, which are generally believed greatly to understate the population. In 1808, Dr Buchanan, by the direction of government, framed, from the most careful inquiries, an accurate census of certain districts of Bengal, which created astonishment, as his estimate was more than three times that of the collector, and more than double that of the magistrate. It was confirmed, however, by the careful investigations of Mr Bayley in 1814, and is now generally relied on for its accuracy. An estimate has been published by authority, of the number of the villages and houses in Lower Bengal; from which, reckoning five inmates to a house, the population has been computed at 37,238,265 souls. Other computations, made on different data, produce nearly the same result. From an accurate survey of one district, the inhabitants on each square mile were found to amount to 2008; and this principle of computation being generally applied to Bengal, will give a population of 33,590,770. But it is only in particular provinces that there is even this approximation to accuracy. In the remote districts and provinces we have no data for a confident estimate; and there is no general census of Hindustan which rests on any higher authority than plausible conjecture, and which may not be erroneous by many millions.
We subjoin the following population table, which seems to be as accurate as any that has yet been constructed.
| Articles | Value in Dollars | |---------------------------|-----------------| | Tea | 8,542,343 | | Raw silk | 449,328 | | Nankeen | 844 | | Sugar and sugarcandy | 1,233 | | Drugs | 4,254 | | Silk piece-goods | 26,400 | | Block-tin | 12,096 | | Mother-of-pearl shells | 12,529 | | Tortoise-shell | 5,767 | | Mats | 3,829 | | Bamboos | 5,846 | | **Total** | **9,179,170** | | Bullion | 1,902,082 | | **Total** | **11,081,252** |
| Articles | Value in Dollars | |---------------------------|-----------------| | Tutenague | 19,200 | | Raw silk | 2,203,360 | | Nankeen | 160,941 | | Sugar and sugarcandy | 569,349 | | Tea | 212,783 | | Cassia and cassia buds | 57,040 | | Drugs | 153,303 | | Silk piece-goods | 221,461 | | Tortoise-shell | 13,250 | | Mother-of-pearl | 25,466 | | False pearls | 48,094 | | China-ware | 43,179 | | Writing paper, toys, &c. | 83,940 | | South American copper | 96,810 | | Cotton goods | 14,250 | | Cotton yarn | 73,536 | | **Total** | **6,123,166** | | Add Company and privilege trade | **11,081,252** |
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1 Notwithstanding the ravages committed by incessant wars and revolutions, as well as by famine and pestilence, their usual concomitants, India has, from the earliest times, been a densely-peopled country. In different states of society, the law of the increase of mankind will vary according to their relative circumstances and position, and the same or nearly the same principle will be found to apply to those classes who are placed at the opposite extremes of the scale. Amongst a people who are possessed of affluence, or the means of commanding the necessaries and comforts of life, the exercise of moral restraint is unnecessary; amongst those who are reduced to a mere physical subsistence, without the possibility, and consequently without the desire, of improving their condition, it will be disregarded; and hence the same results will follow from causes in their own nature diametrically opposite. But in India the great mass of the population have for ages been placed in a situation which excludes all idea of improvement; and religion has lent its powerful aid to obstruct the operation of those natural causes which, in other countries, have served to ameliorate the condition of the people. Confined to the use of vegetable food, inhabiting a country the nature of whose climate renders the greatest simplicity of attire and of household accommodation sufficient for all purposes absolutely necessary to mere existence, and prevented by the law of caste from ever passing beyond the condition in which the accident of birth may have placed them, the natives of India, habituated to a minimum of the simplest fare, or what in other countries would be considered as a famine allowance, have, in spite of all the grinding exactions of despotism, and the devastations of war, conquest, and anarchy, continued to increase and multiply, and, at every period of their history, the population has been found to press harder than in any other part of the world upon the means of subsistence. Amongst a people so circumstanced, with a religion which tends at once to inflame the animal passions, and to debase the understanding, it would therefore be vain to expect that those moral considerations which operate as a restraint amongst other communities of mankind, should have any effect whatever in controlling the impulses of nature, or checking that tendency to excess, which has originated the most difficult problems connected with the science of government. Of all productions, that of human beings is the least susceptible of regulation; and as it is frequently found to advance most steadily in countries where poverty and misery have reached the extreme point of depression, and become almost universal, the only checks which can prove even temporarily effective, are those great and wide-spreading desolations to which we have alluded, combined with that permanent disregard of life which is found to prevail wherever mankind generally are reduced to the condition of the Hindustan, and which, amongst the latter, is fostered by the barbarous rites of a cruel and sanguinary superstition. But it may be permitted to hope, that the present day has seen, it will not always be, what it now is; that the extension of commerce, under the protection of a vigorous and impartial government, will awaken new ideas in the minds of the people; that security to person and property will give a strong stimulus to industry; that the habitual contact with a higher and more rational form of civilization will serve to mitigate their prejudices, and, in time, to destroy the influence of a debasing superstition; and that, in proportion as their wants are multiplied, their efforts to ameliorate their condition will be increased. ### Relative Area and Population of the Modern States of Hindustan for A.D. 1820.
| British Square Miles | Population | |----------------------|------------| | Bengal, Bahar, and Benares | 162,000 | 39,000,000 | | Additions in Hindustan since A.D. 1765 | 148,000 | 18,000,000 | | Gurwal, Kumaon, and the track between the Sutledge and Jumna | 18,000 | 500,000 | | Under the Bengal presidency | 328,000 | 57,500,000 | | Under the Madras presidency | 154,000 | 15,000,000 | | Under the Bombay presidency | 11,000 | 2,500,000 | | Territories in the Deccan, &c. acquired since 1815, and not yet attached to any presidency | 60,000 | 8,000,000 | | **Total under the British government** | **553,000** | **83,000,000** |
#### British Allies and Tributaries.
| | | |---|---| | The Nizam | 96,000 | 10,000,000 | | The Nagpoor rajah | 70,000 | 3,000,000 | | The king of Oude | 20,000 | 3,000,000 | | The Guicowar | 18,000 | 2,000,000 | | Kotah 6500, Boondee 2500, Bopaul 5000 | 14,000 | 1,500,000 | | The Mysore rajah | 27,000 | 3,000,000 | | The Satarah rajah | 14,000 | 1,500,000 | | Travancore 6000, Cochin 2000 | 8,000 | 1,000,000 | | Under the rajahs of Joudpoor, Jeypoor, Odeypoor, Bicanere, Jesselmere, and other Rajpoot chiefs; Holear, Ameer Khan, the Row of Cutch, and innumerable other petty native chiefs; Sikhs, Gonds, Bheels, Coolies, and Catties, all comprehended within the line of British protection | 283,000 | 15,000,000 | | **Total British and their allies** | **1,103,000** | **123,000,000** |
#### Independent States.
| | | |---|---| | The Nepaul rajah | 53,000 | 2,000,000 | | The Lahore rajah (Runject Singh) | 50,000 | 3,000,000 | | The Amers of Scinde | 24,000 | 1,000,000 | | The dominions of Scindia | 40,000 | 4,000,000 | | The Cabul sovereign | 10,000 | 1,000,000 | | **Grand total of Hindustan** | **1,280,000** | **134,000,000** |
Other calculations, on data sufficiently plausible, swell the population under the dominion of the British, including the allied and protected states, to 200,000,000. There is of course considerable uncertainty in all these accounts.
A country of such vast extent, under one common appellation, and subdivided by many impassable tracts of mountain and jungle, comprises, as may readily be imagined, numerous races, differing in their origin, in their physical aspect and frame, in their manners, customs, in their respective advances in civilization and pursuits, as well as in their modes of faith and language; and accordingly Bishop Heber, who excels all other writers in the delineation of Indian manners, observes, that "it is a great mistake to suppose that all India is peopled by a single race, or that there is not as great a disparity between the inhabitants of Guzerat, Bengal, the Doab, and the Deccan, both in language, manners, and physiognomy, as between any four nations of Europe;" and in another passage he says, "the inhabitants of the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and of the Deccan, are as different from the nations I have seen, and from each other, as the French and Portuguese from the Greeks, Germans, and Poles." A minute account of the various races and castes, with the still more various subdivisions into which the inhabitants of Hindustan are distinguished, would fill a volume, and would besides be exceedingly tedious. A general description, however, of the most remarkable tribes which compose the mixed population of this extensive country, forms an essential part of its history. The great division of the people is into Hindus and Mahomedans, in the proportion of about seven to one. And these two great classes are distinguished not more by their religion than by their peculiar disposition and character. The Hindu is careful, penurious, and abstemious in his habits; timid, obsequious, and fawning in his manners; chiefly attaining his ends by deceit and cunning, the usual resource of weakness; whilst the Mussulman still retains the haughty and irascible character of a conqueror, and his hostility to the English, which he is at no pains to conceal, like the Hindu, by an obsequious demeanour. He is withal prodigal, luxurious, fond of ease and pleasure, and dissolute to excess in his morals; more courageous and martial, however, with more energy of purpose and elevation of sentiment, and more cultivated, than the Hindu of Bengal. In the population of Bengal these two races may easily be distinguished from each other; and amongst the Mahomedans, the Mogul, the Afghan, and their immediate descendants, may be known amongst the native Mussulmans. The features of the Ben-
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1 Heber's Journal, vol. iii. p. 349. galee distinguish him from the other inhabitants of Hindustan. He is stigmatised as of a cowardly disposition, and, from whatever cause, is not esteemed throughout the country. With these two principal classes are intermingled, in very small proportions, British, Armenians, a peaceable race, and highly honourable in their dealings, Portuguese, and other Christians. The Parsees are numerous in the island of Bombay, where they amount to 10,738; they are descendants of the Guebres or fire-worshippers, are a fine race, being generally engaged in traffic, and distinguished in their dealings by the highest integrity and intelligence. The Jews are numerous in India, and many are to be found in the Bombay army, where they have often behaved bravely. The Asiatic Jews are distinguished by a large Roman nose. The Mahrattas, a powerful tribe, have been long distinguished in the wars and politics of India. They are chiefly found in the Deccan, which contains about 3,285,985 inhabitants, of whom they compose about three fifths. They were originally a pastoral and warlike people from the mountains of Berar, who with a host of cavalry invaded and desolated the adjacent provinces with fire and sword, and at length acquired an extensive empire. Minute shades of difference prevail amongst them, but no distinctions of caste; every Mahratta eating with his neighbour, unless, which often happens, he be expelled from his caste. They are not a military caste, as appears from the names of farmer, shepherd, and cowherd, by which their principal tribes are known; and also from their exterior, which marks an origin different from that of the military Rajpoot. They are of a diminutive size, generally badly made, and of a mean look and rapacious disposition; whilst the Rajpoot has both personal grace and dignity. The memorable battle of Paniput, fought in 1761, gave a blow to the Mahratta power, from which it never recovered; and the confederacy was entirely dissolved in 1817, when the peshwa, the great feudal chief of the empire, surrendered to the British, and was by them confined as a state prisoner. The nation derives its name from Maharat, a province of the Deccan; though it is the opinion of some that the Mahrattas migrated from Persia about 1200 years ago. The Mahratta language is widely spread over India. It is remarkable, that in proceeding northward into Northern and Central India, and into the Rajpoot states, the people far excel in strength and stature the feeble Hindu of the southern provinces, being fully equal in their bodily frame to Europeans.
They despise," says Bishop Heber, "rice and rice eaters, feeding on wheat and barley bread, exhibiting in their appearance, conversation, and habits of life, a grave, proud, and decidedly a martial character, accustomed universally to the use of arms and athletic exercises from their cradles, and preferring very greatly military service to any other means of livelihood." The character of the Rajpoots, the Sikhs, and the Jauts, fully answers to this animated description of a warlike race. The tribe of Jauts or Jats was little known in India till about the year 1700, when they migrated from the banks of the Indus, and became industrious cultivators in the Doab, or the country between the Ganges and the Jumna. During the civil wars which ensued on the death of Aurungzebe, they acquired a large extent of territory, in which they built forts, and accumulated wealth. They were noted plunderers; and it was out of the spoil taken from Aurungzebe's army in its retreat from the Deccan that the fortress of Bhurtpore was erected, in the gallant defence of which against the British they fully sustained the character of brave soldiers. Their claim to the distinction of a military caste has, however, been disputed; and it is said, that though success has emboldened them to assume that honourable title (khetri), they were originally Hindustan, a low tribe of sudras or labourers. They also affix to their name singh, a lion, which probably belongs only to the Rajpoots. The Jauts are said by Bishop Heber to be the finest people in bodily advantages and in martial spirit which he had seen in India, and their country one of the most fertile and best cultivated. They have a high character for valour throughout Hindustan; insomuch, adds the writer above quoted, "that when I was passing through Malwali, 'gallantee shows,' like those carried about by the Savoyards, were exhibited at the fairs and in the towns of that wild district, which displayed, amongst other patriotic and popular scenes, the red coats driven back in dismay from the ramparts, and the victorious Jauts pursuing them sabre in hand."
The lower classes of Jauts found in the barren tracts of Ajmere, and in Northern India, are however differently described, being of small stature, ill-looking, and black in complexion, and their condition that of squalid poverty. The Sikhs were originally a religious sect, of which the founder, Nanak, was born A.D. 1419, in the province of Lahore; and the word Seik, properly Sikh or Silksa, in the old Sanscrit, signifies a disciple or devoted follower. He left two sons, from whom are descended 1400 families, called Shahzadehs, who live at Dera, in the Punjab, highly respected. His successors were spiritual chiefs, until the year 1675, when Guroor Govind, a warrior, succeeded. He converted the Sikhs from religious sects into ferocious soldiers; he changed their name from Silkh to Singh, signifying a lion, the title claimed and highly prized by the Rajpoots; and enjoined his followers to cut off their hair, or to shave their beards. The tribe consider this chief to be the founder of their political independence, and Nanak of their religion. The Sikhs acquired power during the convulsions that followed the death of Aurungzebe, and after the invasion of Nadir Shah. They were severely checked by the Mahommadians, and were nearly exterminated by the victorious Afghans after the battle of Paniput in 1761. But their valour still triumphed in the struggle, until they acquired and consolidated their present possessions under Runjeet Singh, who has reduced under his own powerful sway all the petty principalities in the country. The eagle eye, Roman nose, and flowing beard, of the Sikh cavaliers, give them a noble appearance; and in horsemanship they are not excelled by any other nation either of Europe or Asia. Colonel Todd, in his great work on Rajasthan, describes the appearance of the Rajpoot cultivators in the valley of Odeypoor, who came to meet him in a body, "as being so striking as to draw forth the spontaneous exclamation from his friend, 'what noble looking fellows!'" "Their tall and robust figures," he adds, "sharp aquiline features, and flowing beards, with a native dignity of demeanour, though, excepting their chiefs, who wore turbans and scarfs, they were in their usual labouring dresses, immense loose breeches, and turbans, compelled admiration and respect." Their cast of countenance is Hindu, somewhat altered by their long beards; they are active, and more robust than the Mahrattas, owing to better living and a healthier climate; and rival in courage the most renowned tribes of India. They evince in battle the most determined contempt of personal danger, and are easily roused to desperation by prejudice or religion; they act as infantry in foreign armies, and as cavalry at home. Their address is bold and somewhat rough; they speak invariably in a loud bawling tone of voice; and are dissolute in their habits, indulging so freely in spirituous liquors, which their religion allows, though tobacco is prohibited, and in opium and bang, an intoxicating drug, that a Sikh sol-
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1 Indian Recreations, vol. i. p. 20. Hamilton's Description of Hindustan, vol. ii. p. 493. 2 Heber's Journal, vol. iii. p. 369. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, vol. i. Personal Narrative, p. 667. Hindustan.
The Sikhs are allowed to eat the flesh of all animals except the cow. They are strict in their religious observances; and converts, whether Hindu or Mahommedan, must give up all customs which infringe the tenets of Nanak, or the military institutes of Guoroo Govind. The military class highly relish the flesh of the jungle hog, of which they compel Mahommedan converts to partake, and also to abstain from circumcision. The Sikh merchant or cultivator, if he be a Singh, is still a soldier in his habits, as he wears arms, and is well trained from his infancy to the use of them. The original followers of Nanak, the Kalasa Sikhs, differ widely from the warrior tribe. They are as pliant, versatile, and insinuating in their manners as the lower class of Hindus, whom they so much resemble in their dress and appearance as not to be readily distinguished. The descendants of Nanak are a mild, inoffensive race; and the other religious tribes retain their peculiar manners.
The Rajpoots inhabit the Rajpoot states of Mewar or Odeypoor, Marwar or Joudpoor, Bicanere and Kishenagur, Kotah, Boondi, Amber or Jeepoor, Jesselmere, and the Indian desert to the valley of the Indus. They are the children of the sun and the moon; and, in memory of their great ancestor the radiant Surya, or Apollo, many of them wear badges of gilt metal round their necks with the image of a sun and moon on horseback. The lineage of both the solar (Soorya) and lunar (Indu) tribes is given by Colonel Todd, on the authority of the Puranas (sacred books), a copy of which, obtained from the library of the Rana of Odeypoor, he carefully consulted, in the presence of a body of learned pundits. This work contains the valuable results of his learned researches into the antiquities and history of the Rajpoot tribes, which were conducted with all the patience and perseverance that an enthusiastic devotion to the subject can alone inspire; and being guided by philosophy, and the most profound knowledge of oriental literature, have thrown great light on the history and character of the ancient inhabitants of Rajputana. Vyasu, the Hindu historian, gives fifty-seven princes of the solar line from Meno to Rama; and fifty-eight from the same period of the lunar race, from Buddha, its founder, to Krishna. The establishment of these two grand races in India is fixed by Colonel Todd at about 2256 years before the Christian era. From Rama all the tribes termed Sooryavanshi or Race of the Sun, claim their descent, namely, the present princes of Mewar, Jeepoor, Marwar, Bicanere, and their numerous clans; whilst from those of Buddha and Krishna the families of Jesselmere and Cutch, extending over the Indian desert, from the Sutledge to the ocean, deduce their pedigrees. Colonel Todd draws a parallel between them and the ancient Scandinavians and Scythians; and the striking resemblance that appears in the manners, customs, and religious opinions of the two nations, he insists strongly suggests the idea of a common origin. These ancient tribes were devoted to the god of war; and the Rajpoot, he observes, "delights in blood; his offerings to the god of battles are sanguinary, blood and wine. The cup of libation is the human skull. He loves them because they are emblematic of the deity he worships; and he is taught to believe that Hor loves them, who in war is represented with the skull to drink the foeman's blood, and in peace is the patron of wine and women. With Parbutti on his knee, his eyes rolling from the juice of the p'foot and opium, such is this Bacchanalian divinity of war." "Is this Hinduism?" he adds, "acquired in the burning plains of India? Is it not rather a perfect picture of the Scandinavian heroes?" This hypothesis of a common origin Colonel Todd further supports from the Rajpoots slaying the buffalo, hunting the boar and the deer, shooting ducks and wild fowl; from their ancient use of the war-chariot, as appears from the inscriptions and engravings on their monuments; from the order of the birds common amongst them; from their passion for gaming and intoxicating liquors; from their sensual and slothful habits; from their funeral ceremonies, particularly from their immolation of females; and from other peculiarities of manners and customs common to these ancient tribes. The Rajpoots claiming so splendid a descent are distinguished above all other tribes by rank and pride of birth, and high aristocratic feeling; and hence has arisen the barbarous custom among the chiefs of putting to death their female children as soon as they are born, lest they should contract any base alliance. Others say that this custom is occasioned by the practice amongst the Rajpoot princes of providing splendid dowries for their daughters, by which they are frequently impoverished, and to avoid which they murder them in infancy. Colonel Todd, the depth of whose researches into the ancient literature of the Hindus appears in his accurate and lively delineation of the national character and manners of the Rajpoots, ascribes to their chiefs a more ancient and chivalrous descent than many of the royal houses of Europe. "From the most remote periods," he observes, "we can trace nothing ignoble, nor any vestige of vassal origin. Reduced in power, circumscribed in territory, compelled to yield much of their splendour and many of the dignities of birth, they have not abandoned an iota of the pride and high bearing arising from a knowledge of their illustrious and regal descent. The poorest Rajpoot of this day," he adds, "retains all the pride of ancestry, often his sole inheritance; he scorns to hold the plough, or to use his lance but on horseback. In these aristocratic ideas he is supported by his reception among his superiors, and the respect paid to him by his inferiors." These honours and gradations of rank are supported by peculiar privileges, each of the superior orders being entitled to a banner, to kettle-drums, preceded by heralds, and silver maces, with peculiar gifts and personal honours in commemoration of some exploit of their ancestors. Armorial bearings are used by the martial Rajpoots; a golden sun on a crimson field adorns the great banner of Mewar; those of the chiefs bear a dagger, whilst others display a fine coloured flag; and the lion rampant in an argent field was the warlike emblem of the now extinct state of Chunderi. The Rajpoots are divided into thirty-six royal races, described by Colonel Todd; to each is attached a bard, who is acquainted with all the peculiarities, religious tenets, and ancient history of the tribe. These are subdivided into an infinite variety of lesser clans, each more or less honourable as they can trace their pure descent from the original and illustrious founders of their race. The character of the Rajpoots, as given by Bishop Heber on the authority of Captain Macdonald, the political resident of the Company in that district, is far from favourable. "The people," he observes, "who are generally oppressed, and have been, till very lately, engaged in incessant war, have the vices of slaves added to those of robbers, with no more regard to truth than the natives of our own provinces, exceeding them in drunkenness, fondness for opium, and sensuality, whilst they have a blood-thirstiness from which the great mass of the Hindus are very far removed. Their courage, however, and the gallant efforts they made to defend their territories against the Mahrattas, deserve high praise." They are extremely attached to their respective chiefs, to whom they yield a feudal obedience. The lands are let at low rents, on the condition of military service, every village furnishing its contingent of horsemen on the shortest notice. One of the chiefs who visited the above
1 See Annals and Antiquities of Rajputhan, by Lieutenant-Colonel Todd, p. 63. 2 Ibid. p. 138. luxuries. The Gonds bear a striking resemblance to the Hindustan African negro. The Grassias are another race of plunderers who are numerous in Gujerat, the most western province of India. They have or pretend to have ancient claims on the land, many portions of which were either surrendered to them by the proprietors for the secure possession of the remainder; or they received an annual payment in money (toda) in full of all demands, as black-mail was paid in Scotland to the Highland robbers during the disorders of the feudal times. The Grassias seldom levied these claims in person; but, assuming the character of chieftains, they rallied around them a band of adventurers, who levied their grassia claim, and who, under this authority, plundered and laid waste the country. These Grassias are of no sect or caste; they include Hindus and Mahomedans indiscriminately. But, of all these predatory races in Hindustan, the Coolies, who haunt the shores of the great salt marsh called the Runn, near the Gulf of Cutch, are the most untameable. They resist every approach to civilization, and pride themselves upon their mean and filthy dress. The tribes of thieves which are found in India, under the various designations of Grassias, Catties, Bhatties, or wandering outlaws who worship the sun and moon, Coolies, Bheels or Mevassies, Meenas, Buddicks, Cozaiks, and the like, generally wander along the rugged banks of rivers, or among inaccessible mountains. The Bhats are a singular race, who are most numerous in Gujerat. Some are cultivators, others beggars and itinerant bards or traders; whilst a few are contractors for the payment of the public revenue, receiving a small per centage on the amount, or guarantee the observance of private agreements and awards. The Cherons are a sect of Hindus nearly resembling the Bhats in their manners and customs. They are carriers of heavy goods, such as grain and other articles, in which they are also dealers, and possess large droves of cattle for carriage. They are likewise engaged to protect travellers in the wild parts of the country, and take an oath to die by their own hands in the event of those who are under their protection being plundered; and the superstitious thieves of Hindustan are always overawed by this threat of the Cherons, whom they hold in great veneration. The population of Hindustan contains other tribes or sects, too numerous and diversified to be described in detail, and differing, if not in language, at least in dialect, and in their manners, customs, and occupations. The Phasingars in the south of India, and the Thugs, are professional murderers; the latter are composed of men of all castes, even Brahmans, who, when murders are committed, are frequently the chief directors in the scene. Their practice is to decoy the traveller into the midst of their band, and then, drowning his cries by the noise of pretended revelry, to strangle him by suddenly throwing a noose round his neck, after which the body is cast into a grave previously dug for it. Another tribe, the Gwarriahs, who live by stealing women and children, are fast disappearing under the strict rule of the British. The Brinjarrees and Loodanahs, or carriers of grain, are a singular wandering race, who dwell in tents, and have no home; passing their whole time in transporting grain from one part of the country to another. They move about in large bodies with their wives, children, dogs, and loaded bullocks; and carry arms, with which they stoutly defend themselves against petty thieves. In war they are allowed to pass and repass quietly as neutrals between hostile armies, and to sell supplies of grain to either party. It was from the Brinjarrees that Lord Cornwallis received all the supplies for his army when he advanced against the capital of Mysore in 1799. The Oorians, a singular race, who inhabit Orissa, are dis-
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1 *Annals of Rajast'han*, vol. i. chap. 3.
2 For a more full account of some of these tribes, see the article on Gujerat, a province in which they abound. Hindustan, distinguished by their feminine appearance, so that they are often mistaken for women. They are timid, dissolute in their manners, and more practised in low cunning than any other people in the East, though they are said to be honest and industrious. The pastoral tribes, the Todawars or Toderics, and the Koties, inhabit the table-land of Mysore; the first a manly race in features, and of a proud and independent character, strongly resembling the ancient Romans; the second more diminutive, with darker complexions, and less expressive features. They are considered as the aborigines of these highlands. The Toderics are herdsmen, wandering from pasture to pasture, and they and the Koties always go bare-footed and bare-headed. The Nairs in Malabar form a singular caste, from their peculiar manners and customs. Pretending to be soldiers by birth, they disdain all industry; and are often seen parading up and down fully armed, each man with a firelock, and with at least one if not two sabres, which they more frequently use in secret assassination than in open war. Amongst the Nairs marriage is a mere form, and both sexes indulge in a promiscuous intercourse. The women are married before they are ten years of age; but the husband never cohabits with his wife. He allows her a suitable maintenance, whilst she lives with her brothers, and cohabits indiscriminately with any person of an equal or higher rank. Owing to this irregular intercourse, no Nair knows his own father; and every man considers his sister's children as his heirs. The Nestorian Christians are numerous in the south of India, and are a peaceful and industrious race. The Roman Catholics, the descendants of the Portuguese and French, or converts to their faith, amount to 600,000, and are sunk in idolatry not much superior to that of the Hindus.
The foreign races in India are the mercenary Arabs, who are brave soldiers, ready to fight on any side for good pay; and the Chinese, who are fast increasing in Calcutta, and engross, by their skill as artisans, the principal business in the city. Another race has sprung up in India since the country was occupied by the British, who are known by the various names of Europeans, Anglo-Indians, Indo-Britons, half-castes, and the like, but who have now assumed the appellation of East Indians. They are the descendants of Europeans, either British or others, by native mothers, legitimate and illegitimate. They are estimated to amount, in the province of Bengal, to about 20,000, including men, women, and children. Nearly two thirds of this number reside in Calcutta, and there are about 10,000 more in the presidencies of Madras and Bombay. They speak the English language, and follow all the European habits, and the Protestant religion. But as they are an intermediate caste between Hindu and Mahommedian, they are not subject to, nor are protected by, the English law, and may, like the natives, be arrested by any of the courts, fined, imprisoned, and corporally punished at the discretion of the judge, without the intervention of a jury; though, in point of fact, no such severities are ever practised, being prevented alike by the force of public opinion, by the sentiments and feelings of the British rulers of India, and also by the respectable conduct of this mixed caste. They have been, since the year 1791, excluded by express enactments from the civil and military service of the Company, and are only eligible to subordinate situations in public offices; though of late years this exclusion was only applied in its rigour to the immediate descendants of European and Indian parents, all others being eligible to civil and military offices. Prior to 1791, the East Indians were freely admitted into the army, and several of them attained to the rank of generals and colonels, and commanded large bodies of troops with efficiency and success. Notwithstanding the restrictive law, there are still examples of their admission into the Company's service. Those who are not engaged in the public service follow other professions. Some have acquired high reputation and large fortunes by medical practice. Others are employed as planters, schoolmasters, architects, printers, carvers and gilders, or engaged in commerce. Mr Grant's measure, passed in 1833, for regulating the Company's affairs, abolishes these unjust and illiberal distinctions, and renders every class, of whatever caste or religion, eligible to all offices civil and military.
Such are some of the principal tribes who inhabit the low country of Central and Northern India, "whilst the mountains and woods, wherever they occur, show specimens of a race entirely different from all these, and in a state of society scarcely elevated above the savages of New Holland or New Zealand." It is finely observed by Sir John Malcolm in his history of Persia, that, in the conquest of a country, the rocks and the mountains often afford a last asylum to the brave and the free; and accordingly, many of the native tribes in Hindustan, flying from the destroying sword, have thus maintained for ages a savage independence, and all the distinct traces of an original race. The elevated tract which Bengal includes towards its western frontier, reaching from Rajmahal to Burdwan, is inhabited by several tribes of mountaineers, who are probably the aborigines of the country; and, from their features, language, civilization, and religion, are obviously of a different stock from those in the plains. Amongst the Paharrees, who inhabit this tract, the Hindu institution of castes is unknown; the Hindu deities are equally so; and they have no idols, being nearly in the condition of savages. They subsist by the chase, their arms are bows and arrows, and they are nearly naked. They formerly waged incessant war with the cultivators of the plains, whom they robbed and murdered, and were in their turn hunted by the Mahommedan zeeminds like wild beasts. Having been kindly treated and conciliated by the British, they are so far reclaimed from their wild habits, that a battalion of sepoys has been raised from amongst them. The peculiar features of the rude tribes in the eastern hills of Bengal, and the adjacent plains, equally indicate a distinct origin. The Kookies, who live in the mountains to the north-east of the Chittagong district, have all the peculiar features of a Tartar countenance; the flat nose, the small eyes, and the broad round face. They are stout and muscular, though not tall; and they are hunters and warriors, armed with bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They live in the most inaccessible hills, in a state of constant warfare, and, like all savages, are cruel and vindictive.
The inhabitants of Hindustan rank much lower in the scale of civilization than the nations of Europe. They are far behind them in literature, science, and the arts, and in all the civil institutions of society; and their religion is that of a rude people, consisting in an endless detail of troublesome ceremonies, which are deeply interwoven with the whole system of life. The reason of man, in contemplating the wonders of creation, is directed by the light of nature to one great first cause, and in the structure of the universe are clearly seen the divine attributes of goodness, wisdom, and almighty power. Accordingly, Brahms, or God, is declared, in many passages of the Vedas or sacred writings of the Hindus, to be the almighty, infinite, eternal, self-existent being, who sees all things, and is everywhere present; the creator and lord of the universe, its
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1 Buchanan's Journey from Madras, vol. ii. p. 412. 2 Minutes of Evidence before Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, on a Petition of certain Christian Inhabitants of Calcutta, &c. presented to the House of Commons on the 4th May last; 21st June 1831. preserver and its destroyer, who can neither be described nor adequately conceived by the limited faculties of man. But with these elementary conceptions of the divine majesty other grosser ideas are combined, and a system of polytheism, accompanied by the most extravagant and obscene fables, and all the disgusting, cruel, and blood-thirsty rites of an abominable idolatry. Whilst Brahm, the Supreme Being, is supposed to remain in holy obscurity, he has distributed respectively to three other deities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, the power of creating, preserving, and destroying the world. But it does not appear that these deities are strictly confined to their separate functions; Vishnu, the preserver, frequently employing himself in acts of destruction; and Siva, on the other hand, in acts of beneficence. In short, the Hindu creed presents no clear nor determinate ideas. All is vague, inaccurate, and confused. Brahma, the creator, is represented as a golden-coloured figure, with four heads and four arms. Vishnu, the preserver, is represented of a black or blue colour, with four arms, and a club to punish the wicked. The emblems under which he is represented refer to his vindictive character. He has three eyes, to denote the three divisions of time past, present, and future. A crescent in his forehead refers to the measuring of time by the lunar revolutions, as a serpent denotes it by years; and the necklace of skulls which he wears, the extinction of mankind in successive generations. The great ends of his providence are brought about by various incarnations of the Hindu deity. Of these visible appearances, denominated avatars in the Hindu mythology, there are ten, of which nine have already taken place; and although the Hindu account of what took place at these times is a tissue of absurdity, extravagance, and indecency, yet we may trace, under a mass of fable, the Scripture account of the deluge, with various other points of the Christian theology. But the history of the creation from a seed deposited in the waters, which became an egg, from which Brahma the creator was born, is in the highest degree absurd and profane. At the tenth avatar, which is yet to come, Vishnu, as is foretold, will appear on a white horse, with a scimitar blazing like a comet, for the everlasting punishment of the wicked who shall then be on the earth. Each earthly incarnation of the divinity gives rise to a new deity; and there are, besides, innumerable other minor deities, amounting, it is said, to 330 millions. All the great elements of nature are deified by the extravagant superstition of the Hindus; also the firmament of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; every river, fountain, and stream, is either a deity in itself or has a divinity presiding over it, nothing being done without some supernatural agency; and there are, besides, innumerable myriads of demigods, to whose honour idols are erected and worshipped by all classes with much apparent devotion. Stocks and stones, or a lump of clay smeared over with a little red paint, are converted into a god, and reverenced, by the ignorant Hindu. Any figure, either of brute or man, or any monstrous combination of both, with a multiplicity of heads and hands, mark a Brahminical place of worship. In the lapse of ages, great changes have been introduced into the religious practices of the Hindus; and sectaries have arisen amongst them, each with peculiar objects of adoration and modes of worship. Five great sects worship exclusively a single deity; one recognises the five divinities that are respectively reverenced by the other sects, but they select one object for daily adoration, whilst they perform only occasional rites to the other deities. The Vedas, or the Hindu Scriptures, were revealed before the appearance of Buddha, the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, which is supposed to have taken place in the year 1014 before the Christian era. He appears to have borrowed his theology from the system of Capila, in which the unlawfulness of killing animals is inculcated as an essential point. But the overthrow of the Buddhists did not revive the religious Hindustan system inculcated in the Vedas. The doctrines taught in these sacred books are now mostly obsolete, and in their stead new forms and ceremonies have been instituted, and new orders of devotees. In particular the goddess Kali, the consort of Siva, who delights in blood, has been propitiated by the sacrifice of animals; and the worship of Rama and Krishna, incarnations of Vishnu, and of Siva the destroyer, appears to have been introduced since the persecution of the Buddhists and Jains.
The worshippers of Buddha, though they believe in the incarnation of Vishnu, are regarded as heretical by the Hindus, and have been compelled, by persecution, to fly to other countries. They have now propagated their faith over the greater part of Eastern India, in China, and as far as Japan; also in Thibet and Ceylon. The Jains are another sect of Hindus, who acknowledge only as subordinate deities some, if not all, of the gods of the Brahmins, and the prevailing sects; and assign the highest place to certain deified saints, who, according to their creed, have risen to the dignity of superior gods. They neither address prayers nor perform sacrifices to the sun or the fire; and they reject the authority of the Vedas, as do also the Buddhists. The presence of umbrella-covered pyramids, or semi-globes, and of plain human figures sitting cross-legged, or standing in an attitude of contemplation, point out the temple or excavation of a Buddhist. The twenty-four saintly figures, without the pyramid, indicate a Jain temple.
The sacred books of the Hindus, though they inculcate generally all the moral duties of justice, mercy, and benevolence, yet seem, like every other system of false religion, to give the first place to the ceremonial law; and accordingly the devotion of the Hindus consists in mere outward observances, and is not inconsistent with the most scandalous crimes. Under the Christian system, there can be no piety to God without benevolence to man. But the troublesome ceremonies of the Hindu religion encroach, not only on all moral duties, but on the whole business of life; and confer such a stock of atoning merit that they seem to supersede the weightier matters of the law. The observances which are imposed upon a Brahmin commence when he rises in the morning, and consist in divers ablutions and prayers, in the worship of the rising sun, in the inaudible recitation of the gayatri, or the holiest text of the Vedas, in holy meditation, and in other ceremonies. He has then to perform the five sacraments, which consist in teaching and studying the scriptures, which is the sacrament of the Veda; in offering cakes and water, which is the sacrament of the manes; in an oblation of fire, the sacrament of the deities; in giving rice and other food to living creatures, which is the sacrament of spirits; and in receiving guests with honour, which is the sacrament of men. The whole day would not suffice for the punctual performance of these ceremonies; and they are of necessity abridged, to give time for the proper business of life. In almost all the religious traditions of the world we find traces of the Scripture revelation, however corrupted; and the Hindu system seems to have borrowed, and to have greatly extended, the typical impurities of the Mosaic law. The rules on this subject, pointing out the causes of defilement, and the modes of purification, are numerous, many of them to the last degree absurd and troublesome. The death or the birth of a child renders all the kindred unclean. Any one who touches a dead body, a new-born child, an outcast, &c., is unclean; or a Brahmin who has touched a human bone. The natural functions of the body give occasion to many minute and disgusting regulations; and the modes of purification are equally strange and ridiculous. Of these, bathing is the most rational; the other modes are by stroking a cow, looking at the sun, or having the mouth sprinkled with water. He who is bitten by any animal frequenting Hindustan, a town, or by a mare, a camel, or a bear, is unclean; and he is purified by stopping his breath during one inaudible repetition of the gayatri. Inanimate substances may also be unclean, and the various modes of purifying them rival in absurdity the other extravagances of the Hindu code of religious observances.
The expiation of sin by voluntary penance is another favourite doctrine of the Brahmans, by which they contrive to awe superstitious minds into subjection; and in their estimate of offences, with a view to suitable penances, they subvert all moral distinctions. "Acts naturally indifferent," says the author of Indian Recreations, "are put on the same footing with immoralities; eating certain articles of food, drinking certain liquors, or touching certain objects, are declared forfeitures, and are expiated by penance as immoral conduct. Forgetting texts of scripture is classed with perjury; eating things forbidden, with killing a friend; incest and adultery are compared to slaying a bull or a cow; drinking forbidden liquor, to killing a Brahmin. In several instances, actions highly meritorious according to our notions, are put on the same footing with a conduct implying great infamy. Working in mines of any sort, engaging in dykes, bridges, or other great mechanical works, is classed with subsisting by the lascivious of a wife, and preparing charms to destroy the innocent." To these artificial offences, penances are either affixed by the Brahmans, or are voluntarily undertaken by their pious votaries; and these generally consist in fasts, mortifications, watchings, and other bodily privations. "If a Brahmin," says Menu, "have killed a man of the sacerdotal class without malice, he must make a hut in a forest, and dwell in it twelve whole years, subsisting on alms, for the purification of his soul. If the slayer be a king, he may perform sacrifices, with presents of great value; if a person of wealth has committed this offence, he may give all his property to some Brahmin learned in the Veda." In some cases the penances consist in eating what is filthy and disgusting. If a Brahmin kill by design a cat, or an ichneumon, the bird chisha, or a frog, a dog, a lizard, an owl, or a crow, he must perform the ordinary penance required for the death of a Sudra, one of the lowest caste, who are thus no more valued than a cat or a frog. A particular class of devotees, namely, the Fakirs, signalize their piety by enduring the severest tortures, and with a constancy worthy of a better cause. Bishop Heber describes, with his usual force, the appearance of these eastern monks as he entered the holy city of Benares. "Fakirs' houses," he observes, "as they are called, occur at every turn, adorned with idols, and sending forth an unceasing tinkling and strumming of vias, byyals, and other discordant instruments; while religious mendicants of every Hindoo sect, offering every conceivable deformity which chalk, cow-dung, disease, matted locks, distorted limbs, and disgusting and hideous attitudes of penance, can show, literally line the principal streets on both sides. Here," he adds, "I saw repeated instances of that penance of which I heard much in Europe, of men with their legs and arms voluntarily distorted by keeping them in one position, and their hands clenched till the nails grew out at the backs. Their pitiful exclamations as we passed, 'Agha Sahib, Topes Sahib,' the usual names in Hindustan for an European, 'khana ke wate kooch cheez do,' give me something to eat, soon drew from me the few pence I had; but it was a drop of water in the ocean; and the importunities of the rest, as we advanced into the city, were almost drowned in the hubbub which surrounded us."
The tortures which these fanatics endure exceed all belief. A penitent who went through the ceremony of sitting between five fires, is described by Fraser, who witnessed the penance at a public festival. Being seated on a quadrangular stage, after the sun began to have considerable power, he stood on one leg gazing steadfastly at its scorching beams, whilst fires large enough, says the traveller, to roast an ox were burning around him, the penitent counting his beads, and occasionally adding fuel to the flames. He stood upright on his head in the midst of these fires for three hours; and then seating himself with his legs across, he remained till the end of the day exposed to the scorching heat of both the sun and the fires. Other cruel and bloody rites are contrived by those devotees, the worshippers of Siva or his consort the goddess Kali. At one of the festivals in honour of this goddess, Bishop Heber, who was present, relates, that one of these self-tormentors had hooks thrust through the muscles of his sides, which he endured without shrinking, and a broad bandage being fastened round his waist to prevent the hooks from being torn through the flesh by the weight of his body, he was fastened to a long pole, and, by means of another pole fixed in the ground, he was swung aloft and whirled round in the air; on a motion being made to take him down, he made signs for them to proceed, a mark of constancy received with shouts of applause by the ignorant multitude. Other devotees were seen going about with small spears thrust through their tongues and arms, or with hot irons pressed against their sides. Bishop Heber saw another of these penitents who was actually half roasting himself by a fire which he had kindled in a hole dug in the ground; another was seen hopping on one foot, having made a vow never to use the other, which was now contracted and shrunk up; and a third had held his hands above his head so long that he had lost the power of bringing them down to his sides. Some are seen buried up to the neck in the ground, or even deeper, with only a small hole for breathing. Some lie on beds of iron spikes, or tear their flesh with whips, or chain themselves for life to the foot of a tree, or remain in a standing posture for years, till their legs swell, and break out into ulcers, and become at last too weak to support them; others exhaust their bodily strength with long fasting, or gaze on the blazing sun, till their eyesight is extinguished. These devotees subsist entirely by charity; and Dr Buchanan mentions a class of them in the south of India, who wander about with bells tied to their legs and arms, in order to give notice of their presence as they approach the villages. They are always naked, and filthy in the extreme, being covered with cow-dung and chalk; and for the tortures which they endure in public they indemnify themselves in private by the utmost license of sensual indulgence. Amongst other observances, the Hindus have always been much given to religious pilgrimages; and their holy places have been generally established near the sea, the sources and junctions of rivers, which are held in peculiar veneration, the tops of remarkable hills, hot springs, caves, waterfalls, or any other place of difficult or dangerous access. A pilgrimage to Gangoutri, near the sources of the Ganges, is accounted the great achievement of Hindu piety. To the waters of this river the superstitious Hindu ascribes peculiar sanctity, and devoutly worships it throughout its whole course. But there are particular spots more sacred than others; and so great is the resort of pilgrims, and such their ardour to wash in the sacred stream, that numbers, in the crush and tumult, are hurried into the water and drowned, or trodden to death in the crowd.
It is not doubted that, at a period not very remote, the bloody deities of the Hindus were propitiated with human sacrifices, and some of the rites still in use amongst them... confirm this suspicion. The Brahmins, in resisting any demand which they conceive to be oppressive, resort to a contrivance, in which a human victim is really sacrificed. They erect a circular pile of wood, on the top of which they place a cow or an old woman; and if the demand is insisted on, they set fire to the pile, and consume the sacrifice, which is supposed to entail on the oppressor the deepest guilt.
Bishop Heber gives, in his narrative, an example of the sacrifice of an old woman, who, in a quarrel which her husband had with his neighbour respecting some land, was thrust into a Mahboult's hut, and there burned, in order that her spirit might haunt the spot, and entail a curse upon the soil. Children were also formerly sacrificed, by throwing them to the sacred sharks of the Ganges, till the practice was forbidden by the British government; and a voluntary sacrifice of themselves by individuals, in honour of the gods, is still reckoned meritorious. At the festival of Juggernaut, the idol is placed on a ponderous machine or chariot, and dragged forward by a crowd of devotees and priests, when numbers of the people, even fathers and mothers, with their children in their arms, throwing themselves in the way of the chariot, and being crushed to death under its ponderous wheels, amidst the fanatical cries of the multitude, are supposed to be conveyed immediately to heaven. Numerous victims of both sexes drown themselves annually at the junction of the sacred streams; many strike off their own heads as a sacrifice to the Ganges, whilst others expiate their sins by casting themselves into the avenging flames. This act of devotion is accompanied by atrocities that are truly shocking; the devotee previously laying open his bowels with the stroke of a sabre, tearing out his liver and giving it to a bystander, conversing all the time with apparent indifference. Many other enormities are practised at the festivals in honour of their gods, which it would be endless and disgusting to detail. The custom of a widow burning herself on the funeral pile of her husband is a noted rite of the Hindu religion, by which she is supposed to expiate all her husband's crimes, however great, and to secure for herself the joys of paradise. It is most frequent in Bengal and near Benares, and is much encouraged by the Brahmins. The Hindus in this, as in many other instances, evince a singular indifference about their own lives; which also appears in the frequent instances of suicide amongst them. "Men," says Heber, "and still more women, throw themselves down wells, or drink poison, for apparently the slightest reasons, generally out of some quarrel, and in order that their blood may be at their enemy's door." Obscenities mingle with these bloody rites, and the most indecent figures are portrayed on the chariots used at the temples, many of them large and richly carved. "These," says Dr Buchanan, "representing the amours of the god Krishna, are the most indecent that I have ever seen."
Equally indecent representations are carved on the sacred cars fixed at the temples, in which the musicians and dancing girls are all prostitutes to the Brahmins, and turned out to starve when they grow old, unless they have a handsome daughter to support them from the wages of iniquity. The state of morals among the Hindus is such as might be expected from a religion so impure, and from the gross emblems which are used on sacred occasions; their writings and their conversation are shocking to European ears; and even the Hindu women hear without a blush and join in language the most gross and disgusting. They are sensual in all their ideas, and pursue the intercourse of the sexes with little more discrimination than the brute creation. Fidelity to marriage vows is scarcely known amongst them, at least amongst the men.
A superstitious tenderness for the brute creation is a Hindustan peculiar tenet of the Hindu creed, which prohibits the use of animal food excepting at the great festivals, when the sacrifices of beasts propitiate the bloody deities, and serve the natives for a feast. But the same abstinence from animal food is not general throughout Hindustan. In the north of India it has already been mentioned that it is freely used by the inhabitants; and, according to Dr Buchanan, there are castes in the south of India who eat sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, and fish, though there are others who religiously abstain from these, and from all spirituous liquors. Several animals, as the cow and the monkey, are objects of veneration. Bishop Heber, so often quoted, mentions, that on entering the holy city of Benares, "the sacred bulls devoted to Siva, of every age, tame and familiar as mastiffs, walk lazily up and down the narrow streets, or are seen lying across them, and hardly to be kicked up; any blows, indeed, given them must be of the gentlest kind, or woe be to the profane wretch who braves the prejudices of a fanatic population, in order to make way for the tonjon. Monkies, sacred to Hunimauna, the divine ape, who conquered Ceylon for Rama, are, in some parts of the town, equally numerous, clinging to all the roofs and little projections of the temples, putting their importunate heads and hands into every fruiterer's or confectioner's shop, and snatching the food from the children at their meals." To such a length is this superstition carried, that they have established an hospital for sick and infirm beasts, and for fleas, lice, and insects, though it does not appear, as reported by some travellers, that they feed these loathsome creatures on the flesh of beggars' hired to lodge in the hospital for that purpose. An hospital for animals is to be seen at Broach in Gujarat, which has considerable endowments in land, and in which are monkies, peacocks, horses, dogs, cats, and little boxes filled with fleas and lice. This hospital was described to Bishop Heber by the British commercial agent resident at Broach. The funds, however, are said to be alienated by the avaricious Brahmins, and the animals allowed to starve. With all this veneration for animals, they are nowhere more cruelly treated. They are overworked and abused in a manner shocking to a European. "They treat their draft horses," says Bishop Heber, "with a degree of barbarous severity which would turn an English hackney coachman sick;" nor do they show any greater sympathy for human beings, who are allowed to perish before their eyes from hunger or disease. Leper, according to their base and irrational superstition, are treated as objects of the divine wrath; they are cruelly neglected, and regarded with abhorrence rather than with sympathy.
The transmigration of souls is another favourite tenet of the Brahmin superstition. The souls of good men migrate in the next world into hermits, religious mendicants, Brahmins, demi-gods, genii, or other celebrated intelligences; and the best ascend to the condition of Brahma with four faces. The next gradation allotted to souls filled with passion is into men and not into deities, into cudgel players, boxers, wrestlers, actors, or those of a higher class into the bodies of kings, and the highest become genii, attendants on the superior gods; whilst souls filled with darkness are degraded into the lower animals, such as worms, reptiles, cattle, &c. or into elephants, horses, Sudras (the lowest caste), or into the still more degraded class of men of no caste, or into lions, tigers, &c.; to the highest are allotted the forms of dancers, singers, &c. birds, giants, blood-thirsty savages. Particu-
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1 Tennant, vol. ii. p. 259. 2 Mill's History of British India, vol. i. p. 358. 3 Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, vol. ii. p. 237. 4 Journey from Madras, &c. vol. i. p. 262. 5 Ibid. vol. i. p. 248. 6 Heber's Narrative, &c. vol. i. p. 373. Hindustan. lar migrations are assigned as the punishment of certain enormities; but it is useless to pursue the system further into its absurd and disgusting details.
Manners. The religion of Hindustan is so closely interwoven with its customs, manners, and laws, that they can scarcely be described separately. The division of a Hindu community into castes is an institution, not of policy, but of religion, which embraces the whole detail and intercourse of life. There are four original or pure castes, namely, 1st, the Brahmans, or priests; 2d, the Cshatriyas, or military caste; 3d, the Vaisyas, or husbandmen; and, 4th, the Sudras, or labourers. Of these the Brahmans are declared to hold the first rank, and to be the lords of all the other classes. A want of due reverence to them, especially by the lowest or the Sudra class, is accounted one of the most atrocious crimes. The laws and manners equally concur to maintain the honour, and all the substantial privileges, of this sacred order. They are exempted from taxation, and from the sanguinary laws which affect the other classes. Neither the life nor property of a Brahmin can be touched, even though he commit the most atrocious crimes; and the whole scope of the Hindu religion is to heap gifts and wealth upon them. "Every offence," says Orme, "is capable of being expiated by largesses to the Brahmans, prescribed by themselves, according to their own measures of avarice and sensuality." The duties of the Brahmans are to meditate on divine things, to read the Vedas, to instruct the young Brahmans, and to perform sacrifices and other religious acts. The Cshatriyas, or the military rank, is next in order to that of the Brahmans. Their duty is to bear arms in defence of the state, and they rank as high above the lower orders as the Brahmans do above them. The Vaisyas, the third caste of Hindus, tend cattle, or engage in trade and agriculture. They rank only above the Sudras, from whom, however, they receive the same deference and submission which they give to the higher castes. To the Sudra, or the lowest class, are allotted all the meanest and most servile duties; they are regarded with abhorrence by the other tribes, to whom religion prescribes their most abject submission, as well as every other species of degradation. They are in a manner excluded from the privileges of the social state. They pay a higher rate of interest for money than any of the other classes, they are more cruelly punished for crimes committed against them, whilst an injury to a degraded Sudra is a light and venial offence. They are held to be in a state of slavery, they cannot possess property, and at any time a Brahmin may seize the goods of his Sudra slave. So degraded are they, that under this gloomy, unsocial superstition, a Brahmin cannot lawfully read the Veda in presence of any of them, nor give them spiritual counsel or instruction, under pain of sinking with them into hell. To each of these classes, into which society is divided, are assigned, under the severest penalties, particular and hereditary employments. But the rigid severity of this law is softened by the following exceptions. A Brahmin who cannot find employment in his own spiritual line, may descend to the exercise of military duties, or to tillage and attendance on cattle, or to traffic, only avoiding certain commodities. In like manner, a Cshatriya in distress may have recourse to all inferior employments, though not to the higher duties of the Brahmans. The practice of medicine and other learned professions, of painting and other arts, common labour, menial service, begging, or serving, may be resorted to upon the plea of necessity. A Vaisya may descend to the servile work of a Sudra; and a Sudra may subsist by handicrafts, as joinery, masonry, painting, and writing, by which he may serve the higher classes; or by trade or husbandry. The loss of caste is one of the most serious calamities which can befall a Hindu, and may in fact be compared to the spiritual anathemas of the Catholic church during the dark ages of Europe. If the loss of caste were the penalty of immorality, the fear of it would impose a salutary restraint. But this is far from being the case. The most abandoned Brahmin retains his rank, notwithstanding his crimes; but he will entirely forfeit it and lose all countenance in society by touching impure food, or by some such petty delinquency. To sit down at a meal with one of an inferior caste, would be deemed a monstrous pollution; and a naked Hindu would think himself defiled by the presence of the first monarch of Europe at any of his meals. "While dinner is preparing," says Tennant, "and during eating, a small circle is drawn round the company, which an European, if he pass, infallibly defiles the meal; it is thrown to the dogs, and other victuals provided, though a single one be all the treasure of the family."
Such may be considered as in theory the structure of a Hindu community. But since, in the progress of society, this strict division into classes with distinct employments could not long be maintained, we accordingly find that, by illicit connexions, the pure races are intermixed, and children born who, being of no caste, are therefore impure, and objects of execration to all the other tribes. This impure race, denominated the Burren Sunker, and classified into distinct tribes, have become artisans and handicraftsmen of every description. From the intermixture of these various races innumerable mixed tribes have sprung, and the pure blood of the four original tribes is scarcely to be found; so that Mr Rickards, in his accurate account of Indian manners, says, "I have never met with a person who could prove himself a genuine Cshatriya, Vaisya, or Sudra; whilst of those who pretend to be of pure descent, Brahmans and other respectable and intelligent Hindus have assured me that they have no right to the distinction; that the genuine tribes above named are extinct, and their descendants in this generation all of mixed blood. If, however, any do now exist, they must be too thinly scattered to affect the general interests of society by their privileges or numbers. "A real Cshatriya prince," he adds, "is not to be found in these days; all the greater princes of India, excepting the peshwas, a Brahmin, are base-born." Nor, amidst this confusion of ranks, has it been possible to adhere to the strict allotment of certain employments to particular castes. The Brahmans doubt still form a distinct order; their privileges are willingly conceded to them by the superstitious multitude, and the inferior castes have never encroached on their holy functions. But those of the other castes have been confounded. War has not been the exclusive employment of the Cshatriya caste; for the Indian armies are recruited from all denominations and castes. Nor have the Vaisya and the Sudra castes been more successful in the monopoly of their employments; seeing that all the various castes follow their allotted duties, and fill every branch of agriculture, commerce, handicraft, and menial service. But the institution of castes, though it has not been strictly acted upon, being at variance with the fixed order of human society, has nevertheless deeply affected the aspect and structure of the Hindu communities; and whilst it exalts the order of priests, it degrades the lower classes.
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1 Orme On the Government and People of Hindustan, p. 433. 2 India, or Facts submitted to illustrate the Character and Condition of the Native Inhabitants, &c. By R. Rickards, Esq. vol. i. p. 29. 3 Ibid. p. 30. 4 See Indian Recreations, vol. i. p. 121. to the level of the brutes. It is the source of cruel and anti-social prejudices, entirely opposite to those Christian feelings of benevolence by which man is bound to his fellow men; and by which the different orders of society, instead of being harshly separated, are softened and blended, as in the communities of Europe, into one harmonious whole.
Besides these degraded castes, whose condition is little better than that of slaves, numbers of unfortunate persons are reduced to actual slavery throughout India, especially in the southern provinces, and in the Mahratta states. In Mysore, Coorg, Cochin, and Travancore, slavery prevails. All the jaghireddars, zemindars, principal Brahmins, and talookdars employ domestic slaves in their establishment; and in every Mahratta household of consequence they are considered as indispensable. They are also employed in the labours of the field, in the cultivation of rice, and are in the lowest state of degradation, ill-fed and worse clothed, and most wretched in their appearance. They are often extremely ill treated, and may be flogged at the discretion of the master, imprisoned, or put in the stocks; and there is hardly a criminal calendar which does not contain cases of wounding or even murdering slaves. Many are born slaves; some are kidnapped by men-stealers of a particular class, or are made prisoners in battle; others are sold into slavery in times of famine by their parents. Numbers are imported from the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the coasts of Africa; some bind themselves for a time, or for life, in discharge of a debt. The population of Canara, amounting to 600,000, and in 1827 to a million, according to the estimate of Mr Harris, the principal collector, included 80,000 slaves. In Malabar there were, in 1806, 96,386 slaves in a population of 700,000, and out of 1,003,466 in 1827, 20,000 were prisoners of war or their descendants. In the report of the commissioners of Bengal and Bombay, of which Mr Jonathan Duncan was president, it is stated, that on the first settlement of Malabar in 1793, the degraded castes were in a state of villainage, and attached to the soil. It was the practice of the British to sell these slaves off the estate in default of the public dues, and in many cases to separate parents from children, wives from husbands, and thus to rend asunder the ties of kindred. The sale of slaves in the southern Mahratta states has been prohibited by a regulation of Hindustan, the governor-general and council; and in 1819 the practice of selling slaves for arrears of rent was ordered to be discontinued by the board of revenue. Children are sometimes kidnapped and sold for slaves; and the superintendent of police at Madras says, "I succeeded in 1818 in restoring several such children to their parents amongst the lowest and poorest of the Hindus; and their anxiety to recover infants whom they in all probability found it very difficult to support, would have done honour to the highest classes of European society."
The Hindus are by no means a moral people. Notwithstanding the gentleness and feminine softness of their manners and address, they frequently commit the most revolting acts of cruelty. The practice of murdering children for the sake of the silver ornaments in which, by the vanity of their parents, they are attired, is common among them; and the gang-robbers of India are noted for the horrible tortures which they inflict on their unhappy victims, in their eager search after their hidden treasures. "Pestilence, or beasts of prey," says Dr Buchanan, "are gentle in comparison of Hindu robbers." According to the observation of Orme, the politics of Hindustan would afford in a century more frequent examples of sanguinary cruelty than the whole history of Europe since the reign of Charlemagne. "How many princes?" observes this writer, "have been stabbed in full durbar" (in open court). "How many have been poisoned in their beds. Chiefs of armies circumvented and cut off at conferences in the field. Favourite courtiers strangled, without previous notice of their crime, or while they thought themselves on the eve of destroying their masters." Murders amongst the Hindus, even by poison, excite no feeling of deep abhorrence, as among the nations of Europe; and the cold-blooded villany of the Hindu is often remarkable. Mr Holwell mentions, that when he sat as judge at Calcutta, he had heard it stated in defence of the most atrocious murders, that it was the Cali age, when men were destined to be wicked. The Hindus, like all the other Asiatics, are great masters of dissimulation; they are cunning and treacherous, addicted to falsehood to a degree that can scarcely be conceived by a more refined and moral people. Perjury in courts of justice is universal, amongst high as well as low, and amongst both the Hindus and Mussulmans, without
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1 See Papers relative to slavery in India; Return to the House of Commons, 6th March 1834; Evidence of Joseph Fenn, nine years a missionary in Travancore; Answers to Questions on Slavery, circulated by the Commissioners for the affairs of India; Evidence of T.H. Baber, Esq., thirty-two years resident in India; of the Honourable J. Harris, principal collector in Canara; and of Mr Warden, collector in Malabar. The evidence of T. H. Baber discloses a regular and shameful traffic in slaves, carried on by Mr Brown, a servant of the Company, and under the authority of the Bombay government. "How or whence," he observes, "this oppressive and cruel practice, not only of selling slaves off the estate where born and bred, but actually of separating husbands and wives, parents and children, and thus severing all the nearest and dearest associations and ties of our common nature, originated, it would be difficult to say; but I have no doubt, and never had in my own mind, that it has derived support if not its origin, from the impolitic measure in 1798, of giving authority to the late Mr Murdoch Brown, while overseer of the Company's plantations in Malabar, from the difficulties he experienced, even with the assistance of the tehsildar (the head native magistrate) and his peons (armed persons with badges of office), to procure workmen, and of the price of labour being more than he was authorized to give, to purchase indiscriminately as many slaves as he might require to enable him to carry the works of that plantation; and of actually issuing orders to the European, as well as to the native local authorities, to assist him, and even to restore slaves who had run away and returned to their homes (without any orders to inquire the reason of their absconding), and who, as has been actually ascertained from the surviving slaves themselves, had been actually kidnapped by the doraspa (head police officer), and sent up to North India, by Mr Brown, which person had continued up to 1811, or for a period of twelve years, under this alleged authority, granted by the Bombay government, to import slaves and free-born children from Travancore, when, by the merest accident, this nefarious trade came to my knowledge, and which, after a considerable opposition on the part of the provincial court of circuits, I succeeded in putting an end to, after having restored to liberty and their country 123 persons who had been stolen, of whom 71 were actually found in Mr Brown's possession." Mr Brown's agent, Assem Ally, acknowledged, that during the time he was at Alleppey, at Travancore, in 1810, no less than 400 children had been transported to Malabar. The advocate-general's report alludes to "Mr Baber's perseverance in restoring the kidnapped children, in spite of very extraordinary opposition," and to the "extraordinary support Mr Brown appears to have received in these dealings in stolen children." (Fol. 768.) The still more objectionable practice of realizing the public dues by the seizure and sale of slaves off the land, must have confirmed proprietors in their idea of accounting the slaves their property. Mr Vaughan, collector, Malabar, in a letter dated 20th of July 1819, argues in favour of this inhuman practice, saying, "that the partial measure of declaring them not liable to be sold for arrears of revenue, will be a drop in the ocean; though, why government should give up the right every proprietor enjoys, is a question worthy of consideration." Part 3, 4, 5, &c.
Highest class slaves sold for 250 gold fanamas, L.6. 5s.; average price, L.3. 6s.
2 Orme's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 340.
3 Mill, vol. i. p. 407. Hindustan, the least remorse or shame. The Europeans in the office of judges in India complain of being perplexed by a host of perjurers on each side, swearing in the teeth of one another. They are acute dissemblers in all affairs of interest, and are the sharpest buyers and sellers in the world, maintaining through all their bargains a degree of calmness which no art can penetrate. A want of sympathy with the sufferings of his fellow-creatures is another trait of the Hindu character, and a sure index to the low state of refinement amongst them. They treat their sick and dying with indifference, and in many cases with shocking inhumanity. The sick whose life is despaired of are carried to the banks of the Ganges, and their mouth, nose, and ears are closely stopped up with mud; water is then poured upon them from large vessels, and thus, amidst the agonies of disease and of suffocation, life terminates. The corpse is then burned, if the survivors can pay the expense, and the relatives retire with every appearance of insensibility. The effeminacy of their persons, and their timidity, prevent them from fighting or boxing in their quarrels. But this forbearance seems to proceed from no want of malignity or passion, as, in the event of any misunderstanding between two persons meeting accidentally in the street, they upbraid each other with the foulest epithets, accompanied by the utmost violence of gesticulation.
Mr Rickards, in his valuable work upon India, seems to imagine that European writers have exaggerated the vices of the Hindus, and he exhibits them in a more favourable light. "Having lived," he observes, "twenty-three years in India, and passed much of that time in intimate intercourse with various natives, I have a different opinion of their character to that given in several printed works. I have constantly seen, in their acts and conduct, the practice of the most amiable virtues. I have experienced from many the most grateful attachment. I believe them capable of all the qualities that adorn the human mind; and though I allow many of their imputed faults (where is the individual or nation without them?) I must still ascribe these faults more to the despots under whom they have so long groaned, and which unhappily we have but slenderly alleviated, than to natural depravity of disposition, or to any institutions peculiar to themselves." No writer ascribes to the Hindus any greater natural depravity than other nations. But certainly their peculiar religion, its indecent and bloody rites, and the laws and usages founded on it, more especially the institution of castes, tend to extinguish in the breast all humane, enlightened, or moral feelings; and though, even amongst the Hindus, exceptions may be found, and the occasional practice of amiable virtues, yet the crimes which are proved to be committed openly and without shame or remorse sufficiently attest the want of morality, intelligence, and every humane and social feeling amongst them, and seem to place them in this respect entirely on a level with the other Asiatic nations. Ignorance is the parent of cruelty and vice, and with the progress of knowledge and of civil institutions certain crimes entirely disappear; and hence their existence amongst the Hindus bespeaks not so much any innate or peculiar depravity, as a low state of civilization, and a state of thraldom to a base superstition and to the dominion of priests, under which the social virtues are blighted in the bud, and selfishness and vice spring up in the congenial soil.
In every nation the condition of the female sex affords a sure index to the state of manners and the progress of civilization. Amongst savages, women are ill treated because they are weak and helpless, and there is no moral restraint on the tyranny of the men. In Hindustan, as over all the East, where polygamy prevails, they are a degraded caste, shut up in the harem or the seraglio, and not, as in Europe, the seat of a purer faith and more refined system of manners, the friends, the advisers, and equal companions, of their husbands. And both the laws and manners of the East lead to this unhappy effect. Whilst marriage is enjoined as a religious duty, not to be neglected except for the higher duty of becoming a devotee, the character of women is described in the Hindu books of law as stained with almost every vice. Pride, anger, envy, violence, deceit, falsehood, immoderate desires, infidelity to their husbands, and idleness, are pointed out as their ruling passions; and the treatment they meet with corresponds with those ideas. They are wholly uneducated, excluded from the sacred books, and from all knowledge of expiatory texts, and from any share in the paternal property; and they are held unworthy to eat with their husbands. They are the slaves of their domestic tyrants, and often receive the most barbarous treatment, being beaten and otherwise ill used; but they are not allowed to leave them, whilst the husband, on the other hand, may divorce his wife upon any plausible pretence. Such is the condition of women by the laws of Hindustan, which, we have no reason to believe, are softened in domestic life. Certain it is, that women, as long as they are uneducated, will be in a degraded state. It is only when they cultivate their minds that they can mix with advantage in society, and that, respecting themselves, and respected by others, they can acquire that ascendency to which they are entitled, and give, by the delicacy of their manners, that tone and polish to society which it cannot receive from the other sex.
The ceremonial of marriage is conducted amongst the Hindus with great solemnity and expense. The parties, who are of equal rank, and any other alliance would be accounted infamous, are betrothed during their infancy by their parents, but on a full consideration of their respective rank, skilful genealogists being consulted previously on this important point. These preliminaries being settled, the transaction terminates with an elegant feast; and when the wife comes of age she is conducted to her husband's home, with all due ceremony, and a concluding entertainment; another set of observances take place when she becomes pregnant, when she passes her seventh month, and when she is safely delivered. These festivals amongst the rich are extremely expensive.
The Hindus are ignorant and illiterate. The children of the poor seem to be mostly uneducated. Those in a higher station are taught by the Brahmans to read and write, and to cast accounts, the calculations being performed by pebbles or small shells. The pupil first begins to write upon the sand with his finger, and he afterwards uses palm leaves. After being thus initiated in the rudiments of literature, he enters on the course of his professional study, in which he has no choice, every one following the profession of his father. A student is instructed chiefly in the Vedas, and in the ceremonial of his religion; and his course of discipline in the three Vedas may be continued for thirty-six years, in the house of his preceptor, or for a half or quarter of that time, until he comprehend them. To the state of the student succeeds that of the married man or the housekeeper, when the youth begins to sustain his part in the business of life. He may, however, continue his whole life a pupil, waiting upon and serving his preceptor the Brahmin until his death. By this devotion to him he acquires a title to the highest rewards of religion. Of the common people, a few individuals only are taught to read or write. The great
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1 Orme On the Government and People of Indostan, p. 431. 2 Tennant, Indian Recreations. 3 Rickards' India, p. 3. body of the people remain in ignorance. They can explain nothing of their own religious system, nor of the ceremonies which they attend. This gross and universal ignorance, whilst it is the parent of crime, exposes the Hindus to all the artifices of priestcraft, and of every quack who pretends to skill in any art or science whatever. The unbounded influence of the priests is highly inexpedient, and has in some instances been found dangerous to the public peace. On one memorable occasion, as related by Bishop Heber, this influence became a political engine, which was wielded with great effect, to the alarm of the local government. Among other superstitions of the Hindus, it is well known that they inflict evils on themselves or others, even to the sacrifice of their lives, under the idea that they will be avenged on their enemies. One of these practices is to sit "dhurna," or mourning, in a fixed posture, without food, and exposed to the weather, until the person against whom the religious rite is directed agrees to give redress. It is firmly believed, that if the person dies in this mourning state, his avenging spirit will ever afterwards haunt and torment him whose obstinacy may have occasioned his death. The Hindus resort to this practice in order to enforce payment of a debt, or forgiveness of one; and it is a notion amongst them, that whilst an aggrieved person sits at their door "dhurna," they can neither eat nor undertake any business. Brahmins are even sometimes hired to sit dhurna, and their sacred character is supposed to give a peculiar awe to the ceremony. It was in opposition to an unpopular and heavy tax on houses in the city of Benares, against which they had in vain remonstrated, that the whole population, far and near, resolved to sit "dhurna" till it was repealed. On this occasion the leading Brahmins took their measures with surprising concert and unanimity. Handbills were circulated explaining the causes and necessity of the measures, calling on all lovers of their country and national creed to join in it, and commanding, under many bitter curses, every person who received it to forward it to his next neighbour. Accordingly," adds Bishop Heber, "it flew over the country like the fiery cross in the Lady of the Lake; and, three days after it was issued, and before government was in the least apprised of the plan, above 300,000 persons, as it is said, deserted their houses, shut up their shops, suspended the labour of their farms, forbore to light fires or dress victuals, many of them even to eat, and sat down with folded arms and drooping heads, like so many sheep, on the plain which surrounds Benares." There was every reason to dread some violent issue to such an extraordinary transaction. The local government, exceedingly perplexed by so strange and vast an assemblage, acted with consummate prudence; and this motley multitude being let alone, gradually dispersed. The rulers of India, thus admonished, were fain to repeal the obnoxious tax. The ignorance of the great body of the Hindus exposes them to impositions of every description. In the medical art, charms, incantations, exorcisms, and the shallowest tricks, are substituted for professional skill; and other impostors, generally Brahmins, practise astrology, and cheat them out of their money by pretended prophecies, from the aspect of the skies. The belief of sorcery and witchcraft is universally prevalent amongst them, and leads, as it formerly did in our own country, to cruel enormities. Persons suspected of witchcraft are the objects of fear and hatred; and their neighbours often assume the right of trying them for this crime, by charms and incantations, such as planting a branch of the saul tree in water, with the name of the suspected person, and if it wither within a certain time, the accused is condemned to death as a witch.
The Hindu is distinguished by the slenderness and delicacy of his corporal frame, which is partly the cause of his peculiar timidity. His make, his physiognomy, and his Hindustan small degree of muscular strength, convey a remarkable idea of effeminacy, especially when contrasted with the robust stature of a European who is making the observation. "The sailor," says Orme, "no sooner lands on the coast, than nature dictates to him the full result of this comparison. He brandishes his stick in sport, and puts fifty Indians to flight in a moment." The Indian, however, greatly surpasses the European in the sensibility of his touch, and in the flexibility of his limbs; and hence, with tools which would scarcely enable the clumsy fingers of the one to make a piece of canvass, he weaves the finest cambrics; and in all feats and contortions of the body, in the art of tumbling, and in juggling tricks, the Hindus excel all other nations. They are also patient of bodily fatigue, and in running or marching will distance more robust competitors. An Indian messenger will travel on foot fifty miles a day for twenty or thirty days without intermission. They are withal remarkable for bodily inertness, and the love of repose. "It is more happy," they say, "to be seated than to walk; it is more happy to sleep than to be awake; but the happiest of all is death." Their amusements are accordingly all of the sedentary kind. A game which resembles chess and draughts, though without either the variety or interest of the former, is one of their favourite amusements; and, like all rude nations, they are passionately fond of gaming, though it is contrary to the Gentoo code; also of feats of agility and legerdemain; and a juggler who erects a stage in any part of the East is sure to draw a crowd of spectators. Buffoonery, story-telling, music, consisting of simple melodies, and dancing, which they enjoy as spectators, complete the catalogue of Hindu amusements. Their extreme fondness for hunting forms an exception to their general indolence; all the different races in India, Europeans, Moguls, and Hindus, shaking off their natural supineness, are seen to concur in the ardour of the chase. Hawking is also keenly pursued by natives of distinction. Besides falconers, fowlers, and game-keepers, Hindus of rank employ persons to ensnare wild animals; and the contrivances they resort to are not less ingenious than successful.
Many have given credit to the Hindus for cleanly habits, from their frequent ablutions; but the reverse is the case. A taste for cleanliness is a proof of refinement; it is a sure mark of a highly civilized people; and accordingly it is not to be found in any part of Asia. Almost all the Asiatic cities are distinguished by narrow streets, into which, as there are no police regulations, all sorts of filth are indiscriminately thrown. The Hindus form no exception to this general censure. In all the great towns the streets are filthy. Nor are the Hindus more cleanly in their persons. Their linen, being dyed, is seldom washed; and, like the Chinese, they frequently allow their robes to drop off with filth before they think of changing them.
A simple and despotie monarchy is the only form of Government which was established under the native princes of Hindustan; and it was a despotism in the true Asiatic sense of the word, under which neither laws nor manners restrained the excesses of absolute power. In the most despotic states of Europe, the authority of the monarch is controlled by the influence of manners, and life and property are perfectly secure. But this was far from being the case in India; the sovereign was supreme arbiter of the lives and properties of all his subjects. Nor was this power allowed to lie dormant; it was frequently enforced in cruel and arbitrary acts; and the annals of India are accordingly stained with the most revolting outrages of abused power. Wealth presented too tempting a prize to lawless violence; and its possessor, if he neglected to make large and seasonable presents, was sure to be accused of some pretended crime, thrown into a dungeon, and plundered. "Instead of giving him poison," says Orme, in his just estimate of the people and government of Hindustan, "which would not answer the end proposed, as his treasures are buried, he is beset with spies, who watch his minutest actions, and probably propose to him a commerce with the enemies of the province. If he avoid these snares, a profitable post in the government is proposed to him, which, if he accepts, his ruin is at hand, as the slightest of the villanies practised in every branch of it affords grounds for making him a public criminal. Should he have escaped this too, it remains that some more glaring and desperate measure of iniquitous justice hurry him to destruction." Mr Orme then proceeds to mention the case of a wealthy banking-house, the partners of which were personally known to him, who, having dexterously avoided all the snares laid for their property and life, were at length involved in an accusation by the accident of one of the dead bodies which are continually floating on the Ganges being thrown ashore under the walls of their house, on which it was surrounded by the officers of the civil magistrate, who dragged them to prison as the murderers of a son of Mahomed, and having ordered them to be severely scourged, extorted from them as the price of their liberty, a present of 50,000 rupees. Another wealthy individual was forced to give in one present, to the nabob of Bengal, a sum equal to three hundred thousand pounds sterling. Bishop Heber relates of the Rannee, or princess of Jeepoor, that she murdered a female attendant, a woman of character, and possessed of considerable wealth, who was believed, until that time, to stand high in her mistress's confidence. Eight other women of the Zenana believed themselves marked out for destruction. Another princess, who possessed a jaghira or landed estate near Meerut, frequently ordered the ears or noses of her attendants to be cut off for slight offences; and one of her dancing girls was imprisoned under ground, and starved to death, she herself keeping watch until she heard the last faint moans of her expiring victim. Such enormities present a dreadful picture of Indian despotism, and fully bear out Mr Orme in his contrast between the manners of Europe under the influence of Christianity, and those of Hindustan, under which poisonings, treachery, and assassinations, are daily committed by the votaries of ambition, as are rapines, cruelty, and extortions, by the ministers of justice.
From the great extent of the Mogul empire, the influence of the supreme power was but feebly felt in its distant parts, and the kingdom was accordingly divided into distinct provinces, in which deputies or viceroys, called nabobs, ruled with delegated power. Those provinces were again subdivided into districts, which were committed to the subordinate administration of rajahs. These districts might consist of one town and its territory, or of a thousand towns; and hence the Hindu system of provincial government comprehended different degrees of princely dignity and dominion, according to the extent and value of the lands that were assigned. But all these various rulers, though each was amenable to the one above him, exercised supreme and despotic sway within their own districts. There was also a particular rank of princes called subahs, who ruled in the extremities of the kingdom, in which the rigour of the supreme authority was weakened by distance, with higher rank and greater powers than the rajahs. The Deccan was under the administration of a subah, as was also the extensive and distant province of Bengal. The absolute power of the Great Mogul descended without any loss of vigour to all its inferior delegates; and in this manner the whole of the country groaned under the dominion of numerous tyrants. From this extensive delegation of the superior power, it happened, that on the decay of the Mogul empire, the provincial rulers gradually acquired independence, and, in their warfare with each other for dominion, filled the country with rapine and bloodshed. "Hindustan," says Major Rennell, "even under the Moguls, may be considered as a collection of tributary kingdoms, each accustomed to look no farther than its own particular viceroy, and of course ever in a state to rebel, when the imbecility of the emperor, and the ambition of the viceroy, formed a favourable conjuncture;" and accordingly he observes that "rebellions, massacres, and barbarous conquests, make up the history of this fair country, which, to an ordinary observer, seems destined to be the paradise of the world." And to the same purpose Orme remarks: "If the subjects of a despotic power are everywhere miserable, the miseries of the people of Hindustan are multiplied by the incapacity of the power to control the vast extent of its dominion; and thus," he adds, "the contumacy of vicegerents resisting their sovereigns, or battling among themselves, is continually productive of such scenes of bloodshed, and of such deplorable devastations, as no other nation in the universe is subject to."
In the Mogul sovereign was vested the whole administration of the state, the executive as well as the legislative and judicial powers. In his executive duties the law assigned him a council of state, the functions of which generally devolved on some favourite minister. His legislative duties were simple, seeing that religion was the law, and that the sacred ordinances constituted the judicial code, which it would be impiety to alter. The Brahmins being the sole interpreters of the holy books, acted as assessors to the nabob or rajah, or his delegates in the judicial office. The mode of administering justice had an appearance of openness and fairness, and the forms of the court were extremely simple. The seat of justice was exposed in a large area, capable of containing the multitude; and here justice was administered by the dunn or judge, in the absence of the nabob; the plaintiff having attracted attention by his importunate clamours, was ordered to be silent, and to advance before the judge, to whom, after having prostrated himself, he told his story in the plainest manner. He visited the judge in private, gave the jar of oil, and his adversary bestowed the hog, which broke it; the friends who had influence interceded, but it was the largest bribe that ultimately gained the cause. The forms of justice were no doubt preserved; witnesses were heard, but browbeaten, and removed if their evidence did not please the judge. "Proofs of writing," says Orme, "are produced; but deemed forgeries and rejected, until the way is cleared for a decision, which becomes totally or partially favourable, in proportion to the methods which have been used to render it such; but still with some attention to the consequences of a judgment which would be of too flagrant iniquity not to produce universal detestation and resentment." In Hindustan, accordingly, the judicial tribunals afforded no refuge to the oppressed; they were rather instruments of tyranny, by which the unhappy people were plundered under the forms of law. Avarice is the reigning vice of Hindustan, and power is used by all public functionaries.
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1 Orme On the Government and People of Indostan, p. 450. 2 Heber, vol. ii. p. 278, 279. 3 Rennell, Memoir of a Map of Hindustan, p. xlix. 4 Orme On the Government and People of Indostan, p. 369. The laws of the Hindus which apply to property, and Hindu which regulate sales or purchases, loans, transfers, and laws deposits of goods, though they are founded on the principles of justice, are frequently rude, loosely expressed, and such as, along with a corrupt judiciary, must leave every thing to the discretion of the judge. The law fixes the price of commodities, regulates the interest on money, and on the loan of goods, such as grain, fruit, &c.; and, by a peculiar injustice, imposes a greater interest on the servile castes than on the Brahmans and soldiers. The modes of enforcing debts are the same as in all other countries. The creditor may seize upon the property or person of his debtor, whom he may beat or otherwise maltreat, and, if he be of an inferior caste, compel to labour for his profit. He may even confine his wife or children. Another mode of enforcing payment is by sitting dhurna, a ceremony already explained. The laws of inheritance form an important branch of the Hindu code, though it is justly remarked, that "the slavery to which the rights of parent and husband subject the female, abolishes at once all suits of dowries, divorces, jointures, and settlements." On the death of the father, his property is divided amongst his children, who frequently live together, with the elder brother as their head. If they separate, the eldest receives one twentieth more than the others. Science and good conduct are mentioned as grounds of preference, as vice of exclusion; and thus is laid the foundation of endless disputes. In some cases the gross and cruel superstition of the Hindus subverts the principles of justice; the blind, the deaf, the dumb, or those affected with leprosy, or any other incurable disease, being deprived of their share in the paternal inheritance. Children of different castes inherit according to the rank of the mother, and those of concubines receive only half the share of legitimate children. All property in Hindustan is regulated by law, the Hindus having no idea of devising by rule; nor are any members of the family at liberty to alienate, except in certain particular cases, any part of the common stock.
The criminal code of the Hindus is distinguished, like that of all rude nations, by severity; and also by caprice and partiality. The offences of the low-born tribes against the higher receive a full measure of vengeance, whilst the latter are but slightly punished for the injuries which they inflict on their inferiors. It is enacted, that if a Sudra strike a Brahmin with hand or foot, the offending member shall be cut off; if he insult him with his tongue, it shall be slit, or a red-hot iron shall be thrust into his mouth. Murder is punished with death, theft with fine, and the more heinous cases with various degrees of mutilation, with impaling, burning alive, and crucifixion. The multifarious cases of offence which are detailed in the Hindu code, such as throwing ordure, or the refuse of victuals, on another, spitting upon him, &c., are many of them insignificant, and scarcely merit the minute enumeration which is given. The illicit intercourse of the sexes is a complicated subject, into the details of which it is unnecessary to enter. It seems principally directed against the want of chastity in women, which is punished
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1 See Fifth Report of Committee of the House of Commons, 1819, p. 63. 2 India, or Facts submitted to demonstrate the Character and Condition of the Native Inhabitants, by R. Rickards, Esq. p. 255. 3 Orme On the Government and People of Indostan. Hindustan as the most shocking of crimes, by burning on a heated plate of iron; or against the lower tribes, in whom adultery with a Brahmin woman is considered as the climax of human depravity, scarcely to be avenged by any punishment, however dreadful. On the other hand, crimes committed by the higher classes against the lower are very slightly punished; the scale of punishment being in all cases graduated in an inverse ratio to the rank of the offenders.
In architecture, in the fine arts, in painting and music, the Hindus are greatly inferior to the Europeans. The pagodas, the tombs, and other structures, the only remaining specimens of their architecture, are, according to some, more remarkable for the magnitude of their dimensions than for their just proportions or fine taste. "The columns and pillars," says Tennant, "which adorn their immense pagodas, are destitute of any fixed proportions; and the edifices themselves are subjected to no rules of architecture." He afterwards adds, that the celebrated mausoleum at Agra has little to boast of either in simplicity or elegance of design. "The immensity of its size, its costly ornaments, and the minute exactness of its decorations in particular parts, are worthy of notice; but they afford much stronger proofs of the wealth and magnificence of Shah Jehan, than the correctness of its taste." The tombs and religious edifices of Hindustan are, on the other hand, highly commended by Bishop Heber for delicacy, beauty, and taste. The mausoleum at Agra he celebrates as the most splendid building, in its way, that he had seen in India.1 Humayun's tomb at Delhi he also praises as a noble building of granite, inlaid with marble, and in a very chaste and simple style of Gothic architecture; and of the imanbara or cathedral at Lucknow he remarks, "The whole is in a very noble style of eastern Gothic, and, when taken in conjunction with the Roumi Durwazu which adjoins it, I have never seen an architectural view which pleased me more, from its richness and variety, as well as the proportions and general good taste of its principal features."2 There seems no doubt, from the splendid structures that are still found in different parts of Hindustan, that architecture and the kindred arts had flourished amongst the Hindus of a remoter age; though it is mentioned by Colonel Todd, that very few good specimens of the art have been executed within the last 700 years. His description, however, of the splendid Jain temples at Ajmer and other parts, some of them erected long prior to the Christian era, and distinguished alike by chasteness and beauty of design, and by rich and exquisite finishing, must convince the most incredulous, that in these remote times the arts had made great progress in Hindustan. These structures are not merely monuments of labour, but of taste; they evince the perfection of art; and in symmetry, beauty of proportion, unity of design, and splendid ornament, they rival the noblest productions of classical Europe. The history of the people who have raised these structures presents a wide field for antiquarian research, on which Colonel Todd has entered with the brilliant promise of interesting results; and to his learned inquiries and eloquent and poetical descriptions we refer for a further account of those ancient monuments of Hindu art.3
Of the Hindu paintings the chief merit is brilliancy of colour, rather than taste in the design or liveliness of expression. They imitate most exactly, and are excellent draughtsmen; and they draw specimens of natural history with much neatness and accuracy. "The laborious exactness with which they imitate every feather of a bird," says Tennant, "or the smallest fibre on the leaf of a plant, renders them valuable assistants in this department; but farther than this they cannot advance one step. If your bird is to be placed on a rock or upon the branch of a tree, the draughtsman is at a stand; the object is not before him, and he can supply nothing."4 Since this period, however, the Hindus have made great advances in the art of painting; and some of their portraits display taste and expression that would not discredit European artists.
The music of the Hindus is rude and inharmonious. They have numerous instruments, but those are preferred which make most noise; the beating of the great drum is reckoned an emblem of sovereign power.
The literature of the Hindus has been generally rated very low by European writers, and has been represented as consisting in long desultory poems, inflated and extravagant in their style, containing, under the idea of a history, a tissue of absurd fables, interspersed with passages or episodes that are tender and passionate, and possess all the sweetness of pastoral poetry. They are said to be totally destitute of historical annals, and their geography is a mass of errors. Nor has their astronomy those claims to antiquity which were at first allowed. Accurate inquiry has proved this science to be in its infancy amongst them.5 The want of historical records by the Hindus is strongly denied by Colonel Todd, who has himself composed a history of the Rajpoots from native works, which he found in the libraries of their princes, and he asserts that in those depositories of Hindu literature many more works exist, which would reward the researches of the learned. "The works of the native bards," he observes, "afford many valuable data in facts, incidents, religious opinions, and traits of manners."6 In the heroic history of Pirthi-raj, by Chund, he adds, "there occur many geographical as well as historical details, in the description of his sovereign's wars, of which the bard was an eye-witness, having been his friend, his herald, his ambassador, and finally discharging the melancholy office of accuser to his death, that he might save him from dishonour." The Brahminical accounts of the endowments of temples, of their dilapidation and repairs, supply historical and chronological details; also the legends respecting places of pilgrimage and religious resort. Much historical information lies hid in the controversial records of the Jains; and, says Colonel Todd, "those different records, works of mixed historical and geographical character, which I know to exist, rasads or poetical legends of princes, which are common, local puranas, religious comments and traditionary couplets, with authorities of less dubious character, namely, inscriptions cut on rocks, coins, copperplate grants, containing charters of immunities, and expressing many singular features of civil government,
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1 Heber, vol. ii. p. 65. 2 Annals of Rajast'han, vol. i. chap. xxxv. p. 670; chap. xxx. p. 779. 3 Tennant, vol. i. p. 290. 4 For more full details on this subject, the reader is referred to Mill's History of British India, vol. ii. p. 85, et seqq. The Punjab, or the tract watered by the Indus, and its Hindustan five tributary rivers, was all that was subjected to the regular government of the Mahommedans. The rajpoots of Ajmere defended their rugged mountains and close valleys with obstinate valour. The Ghiznian empire was in the year 1158 divided into two; the western portion being seized on by the family of the Gaurides (so denominated from Gaur or Ghir, a province or city lying beyond the Indian Caucasus), while the countries on the Indus were possessed by Chusero or Cusroo, who fixed the seat of his empire at Lahore. The Mahommedans now extended their conquests eastward; and Mahommed Gori, in 1194, took the city of Benares, which he abandoned to pillage. He carried his arms to the south of the river Jumna, and took the fortress of Gualior; he also reduced the eastern frontier of Ajmere. He was succeeded in 1205 by Cuttub, who fixed his capital at Delhi, and founded in Hindustan the dynasty of the Patans or the Afgans, who inhabited the mountainous tract situated between India and Persia. The Emperor Altumsh succeeded him in 1210, and extended his conquests over Bengal. In his reign the renowned Ghenghiz Khan subdued the western empire of Ghizni; and the Moguls, or the Monguls, his successors, about the year 1242, made frequent irruptions into the north-western provinces of Hindustan. The country was in the mean time a scene of intestine commotion, from the contests of rebellious chiefs aspiring to supreme authority, and from the irruptions of the predatory hill tribes into the plains below. In 1265, about 100,000 of these plunderers were put to the sword, and a line of forts constructed along the foot of the hills. In the mean time, the Patan monarchs of Delhi were prosecuting their conquests eastward, and the Moguls were making incursions into the western provinces; and a considerable number of them under Ferose II. were at length permitted to settle in the country in the year 1292. In 1293 this emperor invaded the Deccan, or the country lying to the south of the Nerbudah and the Cuttuck rivers. He was deposed and murdered by Alla, the governor of Gurrah, who advised the expedition, and who extended his conquests in the Deccan. Cafoor, one of his generals, penetrated into the Carnatic, or the peninsula lying to the south of the Kista river, in 1310. Rebellions breaking out in Tellingana, a principality in the Deccan, it was again subjugated in 1322 and in 1326, in which year Alla died, and the Carnatic was ravaged from sea to sea. Under a succeeding emperor, Mahommed III., the Mahommedans were driven from the Deccan and Bengal, and lost much territory in Gujerat and the Punjab. Ferose III., who succeeded, was more intent on domestic improvement, and in constructing canals, than on foreign conquest. He died in 1388, and Mahommed III. succeeded, during whose minority great confusion ensued; and in 1398 the country was invaded by Tamerlane, who advanced to Delhi, which submitted without a struggle, and was abandoned to the fury of the soldiery, who continued for several days to massacre the defenceless inhabitants. The military irruption of Tamerlane into Hindustan was more for the sake of plunder than of conquest, though it added to the existing anarchy of the country. In 1413 Mahommed died, and with him ended the Patan dynasty, founded by Cuttub in 1205. A period of great confusion followed, and numerous competitors contended for dominion. This state of anarchy, which came to a height under Ibrahim II. in 1516, paved the way for the conquest of Hindustan by Sultan Baber, a descendant of Tamerlane and of Ghenghiz Khan, who reigned over a kingdom composed generally of the provinces situated between the Indus and Sarmecand. Being dispossessed of the northern portion of his dominions by the Usbecks, he invaded India, and in 1525 defeated the emperor of Delhi, and conquered the north-eastern provinces of India. He was succeeded, after Hindustan, a reign of five years, by his son Humaioon, who was driven from his throne by the rebellion of Sheer Khan, whose successful usurpation was succeeded by such a period of disorder, five sovereigns having appeared on the throne in the course of nine years, that Humaioon was recalled in 1554, and died the following year, leaving his son, the celebrated Acbar, only fourteen years of age, the heir to the throne. His was a long and glorious reign of fifty-one years, in which the revolted provinces were reduced from Ajmere to Bengal, and consolidated into one empire by the unlimited toleration of the Hindus and all others, and generally by a just and wise policy. In 1585 and the subsequent years he invaded the Deccan, which, by the dissolution of the Bahmenee empire, was divided among the sovereigns of Bejaapoor, Ahmednagur, and Golconda, whilst another army was reducing the country of Cashmere in an opposite direction. At the time of Acbar's death in 1605, he had possession of the western part of Berar, Candesh, Telhynna, a division of Golconda, and the northern part of Ahmednagur, the capital of which was taken in 1601, after a long and bloody siege, and an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the place by the confederated princes of the Deccan. Acbar died in 1605, at which time his empire was divided into fifteen viceroyalties, called subas; namely, Allahabad, Agra, Oude, Ajmere, Gujerat, Bahar, Bengal, Delhi, Cabul, Lahore, Moutan, Malwa, Berar, Candesh, and Ahmednagur. He was succeeded by his son Selim, under the title of Jehanguire. It was in his reign, in 1615, that Sir Thomas Roe, the first English ambassador, was sent to the Mogul emperor of Hindustan; and the Portuguese had by this time acquired considerable settlements in Bengal and Gujerat. Shah Jehan, who disturbed his father's reign by constant rebellions, succeeded to the throne in 1627, and pursued his conquests in the Deccan with renewed vigour, filling the country with plunder and devastation. It was in this reign, in the year 1633, that the first serious quarrel took place between the Portuguese and the Moguls, when the former were expelled from Hooghly in the Ganges. In 1658 the country was again distracted by the civil wars of the emperor and his sons, and of the sons amongst themselves contending for dominion. Shah Jehan died on the 21st of January 1666, after being seven years confined in the castle of Agra. The Mogul empire at his death extended from Cabul to the Nerbuddah, westward of this river to the Indus, and eastward it comprehended Bengal and Orissa; and to the south the Moguls had reduced a large tract of country bounded by Berar on the east, westward by the hills towards Concan, and by the dominions of Golconda and Viziapore to the south. These convulsions, by which India was at this time distracted, ended in the elevation to the throne of the reowned Aurungzebe, the youngest son of Shah Jehan, whom he had deposed; he had also murdered or expelled his three brothers. In 1660, Aurungzebe, who took the title of Allungere, or Conqueror of the World, was firmly seated on the throne; and from that period until the year 1678, Hindustan enjoyed more profound peace than it had ever before known. In the mean time Aurungzebe invaded the Deccan, which during the latter part of his reign was, with the exception of a few mountainous tracts, subdued by his victorious arms, and rendered tributary to the ruler of Delhi. He was afterwards engaged, in 1678, in quelling the rebellion of the Patans beyond the Indus, and the Rajpoot tribes, by whom he was hemmed in amongst the mountains, and narrowly escaped. He again invaded the country in 1681, and took and destroyed Chititore, the capital, and all the objects of Hindu worship found there. The obstinate resistance of these gallant mountaineers at last extorted peace from the mighty monarch of the Mogul empire.
But Aurungzebe had now to contend with another enemy for the dominion of India. In the south the Mahraata power was fast rising into importance. Sevajee, the founder of this new state, was a military chief, the illegitimate son of the rana of Odeypoor, the chief of the Rajpoot princes. In his youth he resided at Poonah, on a zeminary estate obtained by his father. Here he collected around him a numerous banditti, and plundered the country. The number of his followers gradually increasing, he extended his ravages still farther into the dominions of Viziapore, and acquired an immense booty, which enabled him to increase his force, and openly to resist the troops of Aurungzebe which were sent against him. He expired in his fortress of Raynee, of an inflammation in the chest, at the age of fifty-two, on the 5th of April 1682. His whole reign was one continued scene of war and political intrigue, in which he displayed the talents of a consummate general and an able and crafty statesman. "He met," says Orme, "every emergency of peril, however sudden and extreme, with instant discernment and unshaken fortitude; the ablest of his officers acquiesced in the eminent superiority of his genius, and the boast of the soldier was to have seen Sevajee charging sword in hand." At his death, his empire, with the exception of the small territory of Goa on the south, Bombay, Salsette, and an inconsiderable tract on the north, comprised a tract of country about 400 miles in length and 120 in breadth. He was besides in possession at one time, towards the Eastern Sea, of half the Carnatic. By his own talents he had thus acquired a permanent sovereignty, "established," says Orme, "on a communion of manners, customs, observances, language, and religion, united in common defence against the tyranny of foreign conquerors, from whom they had recovered the land of their own inheritance." Sevajee was succeeded by his son Sambajee, who was afterwards betrayed into the hands of Aurungzebe, and barbarously put to death. Aurungzebe died in 1707, in the nineteenth, or, according to some, the ninety-fourth year of his age, at Ahmednagur, in the Deccan, in the subjugation of which he had been engaged from the year 1678 until his death. He was for the most part engaged in the field during the last fifteen years of his life. Whilst he was absent in the Deccan, the peace of the empire was disturbed by insurrections of the Rajpoots in Upper India, and of the Jauts, now for the first time known in any other character than that of banditti. Under his reign the Mogul empire attained to its height. His dominions extended from the tenth to the thirty-fifth degree of latitude, with nearly as many degrees of longitude; and his annual revenue was equal to thirty-two millions sterling.
After the death of Aurungzebe, the sovereignty of the Mogul empire was disputed by his four sons, Munzum, Azem, and Kaum Buksh, who severally contended with their elder brother, and Acbar, who thirty years before had been engaged in rebellion, and fled to Persia. Munzum and Azem met in the field with armies of 300,000 men on each side, when the latter was defeated and slain, and Munzum ascended the throne under the title of Bahader Shah. He reigned five years, and the empire had been so distracted by civil wars and anarchy, that it required all his exertions to restore order. He was soon after his accession called into the Deccan by a rebellion of his brother Kaum Buksh, which was quelled by his death. He now turned his arms against the Rajpoots and the Sikhs, who for the first time appeared in arms in the province of Lahore. These insurgents he reduced after much trouble and delay; and he took up his residence at Lahore, where he died in 1712, after a short illness, having never during his reign visited
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1 Rennell, p. lix. 2 Rennell, Memoir of a Map of Hindustan, p. 62. Hindustan, either Agra, or Delhi his capital. He left four sons, who immediately commenced a contest for the throne. Azem Ooshawn, who took possession of the treasures, was killed in a battle with his other brothers. Jehan Shah, the youngest, next lost his life in a battle with Jamshid Shah, who was the eldest, and who successfully disputed the possession of the throne with the remaining brother. At the end of nine months, however, he was dethroned by Ferokserc, a son of Azem Ooshawn, and great grandson of Aurungzebe, who was elevated to the throne by the influence of two brothers, Abdoola Khan and Hussain Khan, Seids by birth, or descendants of the prophet, whose talents had raised them to reputation and power. It was in this reign that the English East India Company obtained their famous firman or grant, by which they were exempted from all custom duties on the export and import of their goods. This was considered as the commercial charter of the Company as long as they required protection for their trade.
In 1717 Ferokserc was deposed and blinded by the two Seids, Hussain and Abdoola, to whom he owed his elevation to the throne. In his place they chose Ruffah-ul-Dowlat, a son of Bahader Shah; and in less than a year deposed and put him to death. His brother, who by their means was also made king, met with the same treatment; so that in the course of eleven years from the death of Aurungzebe, four princes of his line had ascended the throne, whilst six others had met the usual fate of unsuccessful aspirants to that dignity. Mahommed Shah, the grandson of Bahader Shah, was placed on the throne by the Seids in 1718, from whose influence he contrived at length to free himself, though not without a rebellion and a battle, in which they were both slain. In the mean time Mahommed Shah was deficient in the vigour which his difficult situation required, and the provincial governors at a distance began to show symptoms of independence. Nizam-ul-Muluck, the viceroy of the Deccan, was the most formidable of those pretenders to sovereignty. He had reduced the province of Gujerat and Malwah; and having paid a visit to the imperial court, and observed the dissolute administration of affairs, he quitted the capital in disgust, under pretence of a hunting excursion, for his government of the Deccan. He was deprived of the administration of Gujerat and Malwah, the two provinces which he had acquired. In revenge he encouraged the rulers of these provinces to resist the imperial authority; whilst at his instigation also the Mahrattas invaded the country, and after a severe struggle succeeded, about the year 1732, in completely reducing this long-disputed territory.
But a more dreadful calamity was now impending over the distracted empire. The sceptre of Persia had been long swayed by a feeble race of monarchs, and the country became an easy prey to the hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, who in 1722 laid siege to Ispahan, when the feeble Hussain Shah surrendered the crown to the invader. He had a son Thomas, however, who escaped from the general massacre which ensued, and who was joined by many partisans, amongst others by Nadir, the son of a shepherd of Khorassan, who, with his band of followers, soon distinguished himself as a brave and active supporter of the fallen prince. In 1729 he retook Ispahan, and finally, by his talents, raised himself to the throne of Persia in 1736, having put out the eyes of the unfortunate son of the late monarch. Being afterwards engaged in an expedition against the Afghans, he advanced to the frontier of Hindustan, but without any ulterior views of hostility, when a messenger and his escort, whom he had despatched to the emperor at Delhi, were murdered at Jellalabad by the inhabitants; an outrage which being approved by Mahommed Shah, Nadir prepared for revenge. He gave up the offending city to be pillaged by his soldiers; and advancing to Delhi, was met by the imperial troops, who were totally defeated. The views of the conqueror, however, were not hostile, and two crores of rupees would have purchased his retreat from Hindustan. But this amicable arrangement was frustrated by a dispute between Saadut Khan, subahdar of Oude, and the nizam of the Deccan, for the vacant office of Amur-ul-Omrah, formerly paymaster of the forces. Saadut Khan, the disappointed candidate, persuaded Nadir Shah that the proffered sum was no adequate ransom for Hindustan; on which Nadir advanced to the capital, which opened its gates to receive him; and for two days thereafter the Persian troops observed the most exact discipline. But in the course of the night a rumour was spread that Nadir was killed, on which the inhabitants rose against their invaders, and massacred many of them. Nadir took severe and immediate revenge. He dispersed his irritated soldiers throughout every quarter of the city, with orders to spare neither age nor sex; and in this indiscriminate slaughter 100,000 persons are said to have perished, whilst the city was set on fire in several places. The imperial treasure was plundered; plate, jewels, and specie, were carried off to the incredible amount of thirty-two millions sterling. Rich bankers and others were forced by torture to disclose their hidden wealth, and a heavy contribution of thirty millions was imposed on the city by the relentless conqueror. Nadir Shah departed from Delhi, of which he had held possession thirty-seven days, in the year 1739; and the nizam still retained possession of the whole power of the empire, which he sacrificed to his own views in the Deccan, where he established an independent kingdom. Nadir Shah died in 1747. In the subsequent confusion, the eastern provinces of Persia, and those bordering on India, were formed by Abdalli, one of his generals, into an independent state, which comprised the ancient empire of Ghizni, and was known under the name of the kingdom of the Abdalli. Mahommed Shah died the same year, after a reign of twenty-nine years. Every day disclosed the growing weakness of the empire, and strong symptoms of its early and entire dissolution. In 1738 Bengal became independent under Aliverdy Khan, and it was soon afterwards invaded by a numerous army of Mahommed Shah, Nadir Shah, and the Mogul emperors from Poonah and Berar. About the same time the Rohillas, a tribe from the mountains which separate India from Persia, erected an independent state on the Ganges, within eighty miles of Delhi. Mahommed Shah was succeeded by his son Ahmed Shah, and in the reign of the latter the Mogul empire was finally dismembered. A small territory around Delhi was all that remained to the house of Timur, and it was the scene of devastation, massacres, and famine. The last imperial army that ever assembled was defeated in 1749 by the Rohillas. The Jauts founded a state in the province of Agra; the nizam and Aliverdy ruled in Bengal and the Deccan; Oude and Allahabad were each seized by independent chiefs; Malwah was divided between the Poonah Mahrattas and several native princes and zamindars. Ajmere reverted to its ancient lords, the Rajpoot princes. The Mahrattas, who now contended for the dominion of India, possessed, in addition to their share of Malwah, the greatest part of Gujerat, Berar, and Orissa, besides their ancient domains in the Deccan. "The whole country of Hindustan proper," Major Rennell remarks, "was in commotion from one extreme to another, each party fearing the machinations or attacks of the other; so that all regular government was at an end, and villany was practised in every form. Perhaps in the annals of the world it has seldom happened that the bonds of government were so suddenly dissolved, over a portion of country containing at least sixty millions of inhabitants."
Rennell's Memoir of Hindustan, p. lxx. In 1753 the Emperor Ahmed Shah was deposed by Gazi, the son of Gazi o'Dien, vizir to Mahommed Shah, who placed on the throne Allumguire II., grandson of Bahader Shah, and invested himself with the office of vizir. His perfidious conduct to the family of the viceroy of the provinces of Moulton and Lahore, under Abdalli, the king of the Afghans, involved the emperor in a quarrel with that powerful prince, who advanced from Candahar to Lahore, and thence to Delhi, the gates of which were opened by the feeble emperor, and the defenceless city abandoned for weeks to a licentious soldiery. After the retreat of the Abdallis, the vizir advanced with an army to Delhi, which he entered after a siege of forty-five days. The Mogul emperor was now reduced to the most abject state of dependence, and was at last assassinated by order of the vizir, who was irritated by his correspondence with the Afghan monarch Abdalli Shah, the Rohillas, and the nabob of Oude, with whom he himself was at war. His son took the title of Shah Aulum; he escaped from Delhi when it was besieged by the vizir, and, after a series of misfortunes, at last surrendered to the British, who gave him an asylum, and a pension for his support; and with him, the last of the Mogul sovereigns who enjoyed independent power, closes for ever the glory of this renowned empire.
In the mean time, amidst anarchy and desolation, the Mahrattas were daily increasing in power; they were engaged in every scene of politics and warfare, from Gujerat to Bengal, and from Lahore to the Carnatic; they possessed extensive sway and vast armies; and their ambition was now to reconstruct a new Hindu empire out of the decayed fragments of the Mogul power. The rising influence of the Afghans under the rigorous sway of Abdalli was the only obstacle to this patriotic or ambitious scheme; and the Mahrattas, in the progress of their conquests northward, encountered for the first time their great rival for the dominion of India. Ahmed Abdalli, king of the Afghans, was taken prisoner when very young by Nadir Shah; he was first his slave, afterwards his mace-bearer, and at his death, having collected a body of troops and other adventurers, he proceeded to his own country, and proclaimed himself king of the Afghans, with the title of Doordowran, or pearl of the age, which was corrupted into that of Doorance, and became the name of one of the Afghan tribes. Ahmed had extended his dominion over the frontier provinces of Moulton and Lahore, which, in retiring from India, he had left under the administration of his son. These provinces were first invaded by the Sikhs, and afterwards by the Mahratta generals, who advanced to Lahore and expelled the Abdalli prince, and afterwards extended their conquests to the Indus. Ahmed Shah, roused by the loss of his provinces and the dishonour of his arms, collected his troops, and encountered the Mahratta army, amounting to 80,000 veteran cavalry, which was almost entirely destroyed, and the general Duttah Sindia slain. The news of this defeat spread alarm amongst the Mahrattas, and roused them to the greatest exertions. A vast army, consisting of 140,000 horse, besides a numerous train of camp followers, commanded by the most renowned chiefs, took the field, and being unable to cross the Jumna, still swollen by the rains, proceeded to plunder Delhi, the capital. Ahmed Shah, with 150,000 well-disciplined troops, now advanced, and, in his impatience to meet the enemy, plunged with his whole army into the foaming waves of the Jumna, which he crossed in safety. The Mahrattas, struck by this daring exploit, retired to the plain of Paniput, and the armies continued in sight of each other from the 26th October to the 27th January 1761, during which interval several bloody skirmishes took place. On this latter day was fought the battle of Paniput, one of the most decisive and sanguinary recorded in history. The Mahrattas were overthrown with a dreadful carnage. The general, Bhaow, the nephew of the peshwa, the chief of the Mahratta nation, was killed early in the action; most of the other chiefs were slain, and those of the soldiers who escaped from the slaughter of the field were massacred by the irritated peasantry, in revenge for the depredations of the Mahratta cavalry. And of the mighty host engaged in this fatal conflict, only a small remnant, with three generals, returned to the Deccan. This great battle gave an irreparable blow to the Mahratta power, which from this time sensibly declined, and the victorious Abdalli sought no other fruit of his victory. He returned to his capital after remaining a few months at Delhi, having recognised the son of Aulnger as emperor, under the title of Shah Aulum the Second.
A new scene was now about to open in India. The Europeans, who as traders had long maintained establishments on the coasts, began to assume an entirely different character; to contend with each other in the field, for dominion, and to mingle in all the wars and politics of the interior. It was necessary, for carrying on the domestic trade of India, and more especially in providing goods for the supply of Europe, that a body of experienced servants should reside on the spot, in order to collect and to purchase commodities for exportation; an employment which, owing to the poverty and abject state of the natives, and their peculiar customs, involved duties of the most minute and laborious detail. During the decline of the Mogul government, the tranquillity of India was frequently shaken by the contentions of rival chiefs; and the slight security afforded, even in the best times, to commerce, became in this manner more imperfect. For the reception of the goods which it was necessary to collect and store up, that cargoes might always be in readiness for the Company's ships, warehouses were built, which, with the counting-houses, and other apartments for the agents and business of the place, constituted the factories of the Company. These factories contained a valuable store of property, which, in the disordered state of India, it became necessary to secure from the rapacity both of governments and of individuals. They were therefore strongly built and fortified; their inmates were armed and disciplined; and, for better security, regular troops were occasionally maintained in those mercantile garrisons. In these defensive arrangements of the Company we may discern the rudiments of their future empire.
The territorial acquisitions of the European companies were, however, still inconsiderable. The English East India Company had in 1698 been permitted to purchase the zemindaryship of the three towns of Sootanuttly, Calcutta, and Govindpore, with their districts, to which was afterwards added a district extending ten miles from Calcutta, on each side of the river Hooghly, containing thirty-seven towns. On the Coromandel coast the English possessed Madras, with a small adjoining territory five miles along the shore, also Fort St David, in 11. 40. north latitude, with other places, such as Vizigapatam and Balasore; and on the west coast their principal settlement was the island of Bombay. Factories were also established at Surat, Tellicherry, and several other places. The business of the Company was managed by the three independent presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. The presidency consisted of a governor and council of nine, twelve, or any greater number of members, as might seem expedient, in a majority of whom all power was vested. The members of the council were not excluded from other more lucrative offices, which were, in general, shared amongst them. These offices were chiefly in the gift of the president, and, by means of his influence, the council were, in a great degree, placed under his control. The governor and council exercised the most ample powers over the servants of the Company; and with regard to all others, they could seize and imprison them, and afterwards send them to England. The powers of martial law were bestowed on them at an early period, for maintaining the discipline of the troops under their orders; and, in 1661, a charter of Charles II. gave them the power of administering civil and criminal justice according to the laws of England.
Pondicherry, with a small appendage of territory, was the principal seat of the French power on the continent of India. It had under its authority three factories, one at Mahé, on the Malabar coast, not far south from Telliercherry; one at Rarical, on the Coromandel coast; and one at Chandernagore, on the river Hooghly, in Bengal. The form of government was the same in the French as in the English settlements.
In 1744 France and England, from being auxiliaries, became principals in the war which was then raging in Europe, and the flame soon communicated to their distant colonies. In India the two rival powers were quickly involved in hostilities, which, however, were followed by no important result; and the English settlement of Madras, which had been taken by the French king, was restored at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was soon after this that the French and English, in supporting the contending claims of the native princes, again came into collision. At the respective settlements of the two Companies, the number of troops assembled during the previous war was greater than was necessary for defence, and the servants of the Companies, with such means at their disposal, now began to meditate schemes of conquest. The intricacies of Indian politics, and the family connexions of the different claimants who contended for power and dominion, need not be described in detail, as it would neither be instructive nor acceptable to the general reader. A brief sketch is all that will be necessary to explain the nature of those transactions which so deeply affected the future condition of India, and the relations of the parties engaged in them.
When Nizam-ul-Mulk was appointed ruler of the Deccan, with the title of subahdar, by the Emperor Aurungzebe, a chief named Sadatullah was nabob of the Carnatic. At his death, his son Doost Ali succeeded him as nabob, which proved displeasing to the nizam, who claimed the right, as delegate of the emperor, to appoint the viceroy of the Carnatic. He accordingly chose, first his general Cojah Abdulla, and afterwards Anwar ad Dian Khan, known to the English as Anoverdy Khan, to be governor of the Carnatic in 1745. It was between these two families that the contest now began for the government of the Carnatic; Chunda Saheb, a distant relative of the family of Sadatullah, being supported by the French under their aspiring and ambitious governor Dupleix. The death of Nizam-ul-Mulk, in 1748, at the extreme age of 104, occasioned another dispute in the succession to the government of the Deccan, between Nazir Jung, his son, who was supported by the English, and Mirzapha Jung, his grandson by a daughter, who was aided by Chunda Saheb and the French. The latter in 1749, with 40,000 native troops, 400 French, 100 Caffres, and 1800 Sepoys, advanced against Anwar ad Dian. His camp was gallantly stormed by the French troops, he himself was slain, at the age of 107, his eldest son was taken prisoner, and his second son, Mahommad Ali, with the wreck of his army, escaped to Trichinopoly. Nazir Jung, hearing that the nabob of the Carnatic was defeated, collected an army, and summoned Mahommad Ali from Trichinopoly to his aid. He also requested assistance from the English, who sent Major Laurence from Fort St David with 600 Europeans to join his army. When the armies approached each other, D'Auteuil the French commander, being deserted by some of his officers, suddenly retreated to Pondicherry, leaving to their fate Mirzapha Jung, who surrendered to his uncle, and was immediately put in irons, and Chunda Hindustan Saheb, who followed with his troops to Pondicherry.
But the enterprising Dupleix made new exertions, and having again taken the field, he attacked the camp of Nazir Jung, his former ally, who in the confusion was shot through the heart. Mirzapha Jung being now freed from imprisonment, assumed the authority of subahdar. He was afterwards shot dead with an arrow in an action with the rebellious Patan chiefs, and, by the influence of M. Bussy, who commanded the French troops, Salabut Jung, the eldest surviving son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, was raised to the government. After some unsuccessful operations, the English, with their allies, were compelled to take shelter under the walls of Trichinopoly, which was now besieged, though with little effect, by the enemy.
In this indecisive state of affairs at Trichinopoly, it was suggested by Captain Clive, who had already distinguished himself by desperate bravery and great military skill, that it would be advantageous to carry the war into the enemy's country; and being intrusted with the execution of his own bold designs, he began an attack on Arcot, the capital of Chunda Saheb. He had under him 210 Europeans and 500 Sepoys; and so secret and sudden were his motions, that he was master of the enemy's capital ere they were apprised of his march. Here he was soon invested, in the fort which defends the town, by a numerous army, and several practicable breaches being made, an assault took place, which was repulsed with loss; the assailants were finally compelled to raise the siege, and being pursued by Clive, were attacked and totally defeated on the plain of Arani, on the 3rd of December 1751.
The forts of Tinnery, Conjeeveram, and Arani, immediately surrendered to Clive, who returned in triumph to Fort St David. He was soon recalled by the operations of the enemy, who were encouraged by his absence again to take the field. With a very inferior force he adventured on a battle, and by the well-concerted manoeuvre of sending round a detachment to fall upon the rear of the enemy, whilst the English charged with the bayonet in front, he obtained a decisive victory, and the hostile army was saved from total ruin only by the darkness of the night.
On his return to Fort St David, Clive was superseded in his command by Major Laurence, who detached him with 400 Europeans, a few Mahratta soldiers, and a body of Sepoys, to cut off the enemy's retreat to Pondicherry, in which he was, as usual, completely successful, having made the French commander M. d'Auteuil prisoner, with all his troops. The enemy were now greatly distressed for want of provisions; and Chunda Saheb, deserted by his troops, surrendered to the king of Tanjore, an ally of the English, by whom he was beheaded, in order to prevent all disputes with the Mysorean and Mahratta chiefs about the custody of his person. After the flight of Chunda Saheb, his army was attacked and routed by Major Laurence; and the island of Syringham, where his troops were encamped, was taken, with about 1000 French soldiers, under the command of Mr Law, the son of Law the author of the Mississippi scheme. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, Dupleix was not discouraged. The English resolved to commence the siege of Gingee, which was garrisoned by the French. In this operation they failed. But the French were afterwards defeated in an action near Bahoor, two miles from Fort St David; and the two forts of Coveling and Chingleputre were reduced by Captain Clive.
Early in January 1753 the two armies again took the field. The French force consisted of 500 European infantry, sixty horse, 2000 Sepoys, and 4000 Mahrattas, commanded by Morari Row. The English had 700 European infantry, 2000 Sepoys, and 1500 horse belonging to the nabob. The two armies, avoiding a general action, watch- ed each other's movements, when General Laurence was apprised that Captain Dalton, the commandant of Trichinopoly, had only provisions to serve him three weeks. He immediately marched with all his forces to his relief, and being followed by the French, this place became the object of an active contest, from May 1753 till October 1754. We have already stated that the two main points of dispute between the French and English were, first, the succession to the government of the Deccan; and, secondly, to that of the Carnatic; the English, in the first of the disputes, supporting the claims of Nazir Jung, the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, against Mirzapha Jung, the grandson of the nizam, who was supported by the French. After the death of Nazir Jung, who was killed in the attack of the French upon his camp, Mirzapha Jung succeeded to the subahdarship of the Deccan. He was killed in battle, as already related, by an arrow, when, through the influence of the French commander, M. Bussy, Salabut Jung, the eldest surviving son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, was raised to the vacant throne. But on the death of Nazir Jung, his eldest son Ghazee ad Dien solicited and received from the Mogul the appointment of subahdar of the Deccan; and he appeared at Aurungabad in October 1752, to support his title, at the head of 150,000 troops. The Mahrattas at the same time supported him, and entered the province of Golconda with 100,000 horse. The French general Bussy and Salabut Jung now took the field to meet these armies, with very unequal numbers, when Ghazee ad Dien Khan suddenly died. The Mahratta generals continued the war, but in every encounter they were repulsed with such fearful loss by the French, that they agreed to conclude a peace on the cession of certain frontier districts, to which Salabut Jung willingly agreed.
In the other point in dispute, namely, the government of the Carnatic, the English espoused the cause of Mahomed Ali, the second son of Anwar ad Dien, who was appointed nabob by Nizam-ul-Mulk; and the French supported Chunda Saheb, the heir of the first deputy Sadatullah, appointed also by Nizam-ul-Mulk. On his death they claimed the right of appointment for Salabut Jung, the subahdar, and who, owing his throne to their powerful support, had become a passive tool in their hands. From him M. Bussy had obtained the cession of the four important provinces of Mustaphanagar, Elore, Rajamundry, and Chicaseole, called the Northern Circars. It was in these circumstances that a suspension of arms was agreed upon in October 1754; and on the 26th of December following a provisional treaty was signed at Pondicherry, by which both parties agreed to abstain from interfering in the internal affairs of the country, and to establish their territorial acquisitions on a principle of equality. These terms were entirely in favour of the English, as they left Mahommmed Ali nabob of the Carnatic, and obliged the French also to the cession of the four Circars which they had obtained from Salabut Jung. But this treaty was in truth a dead letter; and the moment it was concluded the English, in virtue of their alliance with the nabob, proceeded to reduce to obedience, and to collect the revenues of the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly. Here, however, they encountered the Colleries, a fierce tribe inhabiting the hilly districts, who obstinately contested every inch of ground; so that they got abundance of hard blows, and little money, scarcely enough indeed to pay the expense of this plundering adventure. The English, when they made their first conquests in India, having conceived vast ideas of its wealth, set no bounds to their rapacity; they were eager to revel in the spoil of the country, and it was only stubborn facts and repeated disappointments that at last dispelled their dreams of avarice. The French, after remonstrating in vain against this conduct of the English, proceeded to follow their example, by reducing to obedience and plundering the petty chiefs of the country.
Whilst the two contending armies were maintaining this predatory warfare, the active and enterprising Bussy was in another quarter securing the ascendancy of the French; and, whether in the cabinet or in the field, he still signified his talents as a warrior and a statesman. Salabut Jung, influenced by his courtiers, had induced the French troops to quit his territories, which order Bussy speedily obeyed, and commenced his march. Finding that he was betrayed, and his progress intercepted by hostile chiefs, he skilfully selected a strong position, which he defended till succours arrived from Pondicherry; when the fickle prince again solicited his alliance, and he was restored to still higher influence than before. Salabut Jung, when he had resolved to dismiss the French troops, had applied to the presidency of Madras for a force to supply their place; and this opportunity of extending their influence would have been eagerly embraced by the English, but their power was now threatened in another quarter, by new and unexpected dangers. Bengal now became the great scene of Indian warfare, in which were concentrated all the resources of the English, from every part of their territories. This extensive province, with Orissa and the province of Allahabad and Berar, was governed, towards the latter end of Aurungzebe's reign, by his grandson Azeem Ooshaun, second son of Shah Aulum, who succeeded to the throne. Jaffier Khan was appointed his deputy; and, as frequently happened during the decline of the Mogul empire, from a deputy he became an independent sovereign. Sujah Khan, who was married to the daughter of Jaffier Khan, was appointed his deputy in the government of Orissa. In this elevated station, a distant relative, Mirza Mahommmed, who had once been in the service of Azeem Shah, the second son of Aurungzebe, and had since fallen into poverty, resorted to his court for employment, and he was kindly received. He was followed by his two sons Hadgee Ahmed and Mirza Mahommmed Ali, who both obtained employment; and, by their respective talents for business and war, they soon acquired favour and influence in the court of Sujah Khan. Jaffier Khan died in 1725, and was succeeded by Sujah Khan, who supplanted Sereffraz Khan, the destined heir. In 1739 he added to his dominions the province of Bahar, and intrusted its administration to Mirza Mahommmed Ali, under the title of Aliverdy Khan. In 1739 Sujah Khan died, and was succeeded by his son Sereffraz Khan, who hated Aliverdy Khan and his brother, and took no pains to conceal it. Aliverdy in the mean time obtaining from the imperial court his nomination to the government of Bengal, collected his troops, and having defeated Sereffraz in a battle in which he was slain, he reduced the country to subjection, and governed it with a regard to justice and humanity very unusual in the East. His reign was, however, one continued scene of commotion, from the irruptions of the Mahrattas, who, though they were often vigorously repelled by Aliverdy and his troops, always returned with new vigour to the invasion of the country. Aliverdy died on the 9th of April 1756, at the age of eighty, and was succeeded by his nephew Suraja Dowla, who had all the vices of a regularly educated prince. His first act was to plunder the sister of Aliverdy Khan, who was reputed to possess great wealth; he gave orders to seize the treasurers of her family, one of whom, however, contrived to escape, and found an asylum in Calcutta. Incensed by the protection given to this fugitive, and jealous besides of the designs and growing power of the Europeans, he took the field on the 30th of May 1756, with an army of 40,000 foot, 30,000 horse, and 400 elephants. The factory at Cossimbazar was seized, and its chief, Mr Watts, and his surgeon, who accompanied him, were retained prisoners. Calcutta was in- It was feebly defended, and at last a retreat was resolved upon, which was executed so precipitately that numbers were left behind in the fort by the ships and boats. In this trying situation Mr Holwell was chosen commander, who, seeing no chance of a successful defence, proposed a capitulation in a letter which he threw over the ramparts. In the mean time the troops having gained access to the liquor, were so intoxicated as to be incapable of defence, and the enemy entered the fort without resistance. The subahdar appears on this occasion not to have intended any inhumanity to the garrison; and when Mr Holwell was brought into his presence with his hands tied, he ordered them to be loosed, and pledged his honour as a soldier to him and his companions that not a hair of their heads should be touched. But, notwithstanding these assurances, the tragic scene which ensued has no parallel in the annals of human misery. When night approached, it became necessary to secure the prisoners in some place of confinement; and for this purpose the common prison of the garrison was chosen, which was about eighteen feet square, with only two small windows barred with iron. Into this small apartment the garrison, 146 in number, were compelled to enter, by threats of being instantly cut down if they resisted. Their sufferings from want of air were dreadful, and bribes were offered to the guard to obtain a room for them in which they could breathe. But none dared to awake the sleeping tyrant whose prisoners they were; and, after a night of inexplicable horror, only twenty-three out of 146 were found alive in the morning. The presidency of Madras being apprized of these disasters, determined on sending Colonel Clive, who had now returned to India, to Bengal, with as large a force as could be collected; and an armament accordingly sailed from the roads of Madras on the 16th of October, consisting of five king's ships under Admiral Watson, besides transports having on board 900 European troops and 1500 Sepoys. Having arrived in the Ganges on the 20th of December 1756, they found the fugitives at Fulta, a town at some distance from Calcutta, down the river. The first operation was against a fort; and Clive, lying in ambush to intercept the garrison, was himself surprised by the troops of Suraja Dowlah, and, after a conflict long doubtful, extricated himself from the dangers that surrounded him, by that admirable presence of mind which never deserted him in the hour of danger. On the 2d of January 1757, the armament arrived at Calcutta, which surrendered after a cannonade of two hours. Almost the whole property of the Company was recovered, having been preserved for the subahdar; but the houses of individuals were all plundered. On the 10th of January, the city of Hooghly, about twenty-three miles higher up the river, was attacked, and a breach being made, and an assault begun, the garrison sought safety in flight. In the mean time, intelligence was received from Europe of the commencement of hostilities between France and England, which placed in a very critical situation the Company's settlements in Bengal. The English were already engaged in a war with a powerful prince, who had a formidable army in the field; and a coalition with the French, who could muster 300 European troops, with a train of artillery, would have overwhelmed their infant power. Happily for them, the French were desirous of a neutrality, and refused the alliance of Suraja Dowlah, who advanced with his whole army and surrounded Calcutta. The perils which now environed the English roused the daring spirit of Clive, and he resolved to surprise the enemy's camp before daylight. But this bold enterprise failed in the execution; the troops suffered severely, and a thick mist augmented the causes of confusion; still the boldness of the design produced the desired effect, by alarming the subahdar, and inclining him to peace. He accordingly concluded a treaty with the English, by which he agreed to restore to the Hindustan Company their factories, and all their former privileges; to make compensation for the losses they had suffered, and to permit them to fortify Calcutta. The danger which now threatened the Company being averted, the active mind of Clive was directed to other objects; and as war was now declared between France and England, he resolved, in return for the neutrality observed by the French when the English were involved in hostilities with the nabob, to attack their settlement at Chandernagur. This scheme was opposed by the nabob, and was disapproved by the council and Admiral Watson. Reinforcements, however, arriving, the attack was resolved on, and the English force advanced. The French defended themselves with gallantry; and the nabob, alarmed, began to put his army in motion. But the fort was in the mean time reduced by the irresistible fire of the ships. The nabob viewed these proceedings with secret alarm and resentment, and refused to give up the other French factories and subjects in his dominions. He even afforded protection to the fugitives from Chandernagur, and evinced his decided hostility to the English, until he received intelligence of the progress of the Afghans in the north, where he became extremely desirous of peace. But the English were now dazzled with other schemes, and Clive strongly insisted on the rooted disaffection of the nabob to the English, and on the necessity of dethroning him, and of elevating Meer Jaffier, who had married the sister of Aliverdy Khan, to the throne in his stead. It is unnecessary to dwell particularly on the dark intrigues by which this scheme was carried into effect. It was concerted that, for the destruction of Suraja Dowlah, the English should take the field; and that Meer Jaffier, who still had a considerable force under his command, should join them at Cutwa. The English, having arrived at Cutwa, found not their expected ally Meer Jaffier; only an intimation from him that he could not join them before the day of battle, but that during the action he would desert the nabob and join his enemies. This intelligence damped the ardour of the English, and it was deemed hazardous to advance further, and to risk a battle, when, "if defeat ensued, no one would return to tell it." But caution at length gave way to bolder counsels; the army crossed the river a little past midnight, at Plassy. Here also was entrenched the army of the subahdar, consisting of 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse, and fifty pieces of cannon. The English force consisted of about 1000 Europeans and 2100 Sepoys. During the battle, which took place on the 23d of June 1757, Meer Jaffier was observed moving off with his troops. Clive, now assured of his intentions, ordered an attack; the subahdar's army was dispersed, and he himself fled from the field with only 2000 attendants. Arriving at his palace, he found no friend on whom he could rely; and disguising himself as a fakir, he escaped, with a favourite concubine and a single eunuch, intending to make his way to the French. But he was discovered at Raje Muhl, dragged back to Moorshedabad, and placed under the custody of Meer Jaffier's son, who gave orders for his assassination. On the 25th of June, Clive arrived with his victorious army at Moorshedabad. Meer Jaffier took possession of the capital, and on the 29th was installed into his high office, in the presence of the rajas and grandees of the court. Enormous sums were exacted from Meer Jaffier as the price of his elevation; for the Company 10,000,000 rupees, as a compensation for losses; 5,000,000 rupees to the English inhabitants, 2,000,000 to the Indians, and 700,000 to the Armenians; for the squadron 2,500,000; an equal sum for the army; and for the members of the council, which they actually received, namely, for Mr Drake the governor, and Colonel Clive, 280,000 rupees each; and Mr Becker, Mr Watts, and Major Kilpatrick, 240,000 each; the whole amounting to The English, deluded by their avarice, still cherished their extravagant ideas of Indian wealth; nor would they listen to the ungrateful truth. But it was now found that there were no funds in the Indian treasury to satisfy their inordinate demands. They were in the end obliged to be contented with one half the stipulated sum, which, after many difficulties, was paid in specie and in jewels, with the exception of 584,905 rupees.
The Company's servants, whilst their force was so actively engaged in Bengal, were anxious to remain quiet in the Carnatic. In endeavouring to collect the land-rents of the nabob Mahammed Ali, they, however, undertook the reduction of Madura and Tinnevelly; but with no great success, Captain Calliaud being repulsed in an assault on the fort of Dindigul, and another division of the English force at Nelore. The French now resolved to take advantage of the division of the enemy's force, and to strike a decisive blow; and having collected every soldier that could be spared from garrison duty, they suddenly with their whole force invested the fortress of Trichinopoly. On the 14th of May 1757, Captain Calliaud being apprized of their design whilst he was besieging Madura, instantly began his march for the relief of this important place. It was surrounded by an army five times as numerous as his own force, and every avenue to it was strongly guarded. But the English commander, well acquainted with the localities, took his route through a large plain consisting of rice fields covered with water, which was deemed impassable by the French, and therefore left unguarded; and thus he entered the fort. The French general, disconcerted by this successful stroke, drew off his forces and returned to Pondicherry. Having thus secured Trichinopoly, Colonel Calliaud resumed the siege of Madura, and being repulsed, with heavy loss, in an attempt to storm, he turned the siege into a blockade. He was at last received into the town on payment of 170,000 rupees. In the mean time Bussy was eminently successful in all his operations within the Circars; he reduced the fortress of Vizigamattan held by the English; and, after some uncertainty in the unstable councils of Salabut Jung, he finally established an entire ascendency over that prince and throughout the Deccan.
On the commencement of the war between France and England in 1756, the French ministry resolved to send a formidable armament to India; and the Count de Lally, an Irishman, who had left his country with James II., and who had distinguished himself in the battle of Fontenoy, was appointed commander-in-chief of all the French forces in India. Count Lally, with his armament, arrived on the coast of Coromandel on the 25th of April 1757. The English Admiral Pococke had been previously joined by a squadron of five ships of war, and an engagement took place between the two fleets, which terminated to the advantage of the English. Another action took place after the ships were refitted, with the same result. But neither was decisive; and, notwithstanding these successes at sea, the French had a preponderating force on shore, which consisted of 2500 Europeans, and the same number of Sepoys. With this force they commenced, on the 17th of May 1758, the siege of Fort St David. The place capitulated on the 1st of June, and its fortifications were razed. Devicottah surrendered on the 7th of June, and the English now fully expected that Lally would next lay siege to Madras. But the want of money embarrassed all his operations; and in order to relieve his necessities, he undertook the siege of Tanjore. A breach was effected, and preparations made for an assault, when the arrival of the English fleet, after another engagement with the French before Carical, whence the besieging army derived all its supplies, determined Lally to raise the siege; and, after a disastrous retreat, his shattered force arrived on the 28th at Carical. The hostile fleets again encountered on the 2d of August, and after an hour's fighting the French bore away, and were soon beyond the reach of shot. Lally, to relieve his pecuniary wants, which were only augmented by the unsuccessful siege of Tanjore, now prepared for an expedition against Arcot. This place capitulated on the 4th of October, and the French force proceeded forthwith to Chingleput, about forty-five miles south-west of Madras. But the English, aware of its importance, reinforced the garrison, and Lally did not attempt its reduction. His situation was beset with difficulties, from the total want of money and all necessary supplies; and in order to retrieve his affairs, he resolved on the bold enterprise of laying siege to Madras. His force consisted of 2700 European troops, and 4000 Indians. In this attempt he signal failed, with great loss, after continuing the siege from the 16th of December till the middle of February 1759; and this disaster greatly contributed to depress his spirits, and to abate his vain confidence in his own schemes. The French army retreated in the direction of Conjeveram, whither they were followed by the English. Here the two armies manoeuvred for some time in sight of each other, when the English marched upon Wandewash, and afterwards on Conjeveram, which they took by assault. On the 28th of May 1759 both armies went into cantonments.
In the end of September the campaign was resumed with spirit by the English, who laid siege to Wandewash, but were repulsed in all their attempts to carry it by storm. But it was attacked and taken on the 29th of October, as was also Caranjoly on the 10th of December. Bussy had been recalled from the Carnatic, where he had exerted himself so advantageously for the French cause, and he joined the army the day after the repulse of the English. Lally had resolved to divide his force; with one part to collect the rents of the southern, with the other to protect what belonged to the French in the northern districts. He contrived by skilful manoeuvring to amuse the English, and in the mean time he surprised and took Conjeveram, and thence proceeded to the attack of Wandewash. The English army under Colonel Coote now approached, consisting of 1900 Europeans, 2100 Sepoys, 1250 black horse, and twenty-six field-pieces; and the French general determined to try the issue of a general battle. The French, including 300 marines and sailors, consisted of 2250 Europeans, and 1500 Sepoys. The battle commenced on the 22d of January 1760, at eleven o'clock, and terminated in the total defeat of the French, who lost nearly all their cannon. Lally retreated to Chittapet, about twenty-eight miles from the field of battle, and afterwards to Gingee and Valdore. The victorious general resolved on the reduction of Arcot, and having previously taken Chittapet, he arrived before that fortress upon the 1st of February, and upon the 9th the garrison capitulated. The affairs of the French now rapidly declined. The English had acquired a decided superiority in the field, and fortress after fortress fell into their hands; Timery on the 1st of February, Devicottah about the same time, and Triacolee on the 29th. To complete this train of misfortunes, Admiral Cornish arrived at Madras with six men of war; and there being no longer a hostile fleet in the Indian Seas, he readily agreed to co-operate with the land forces. The consequence was, the reduction of Carical on the 5th of April, of Valdore on the 15th, of Chittambaram on the 20th, and about the same time of Cuddalore; and on the 1st of May the whole French force was shut up in Pondicherry, which was their last remaining hope in India, whilst the English forces encamped within four miles of the town. It was in the beginning of September that the English laid formal siege to this place. The batteries were opened about the beginning of December, and it capitulated on the 15th of January 1765; and thus terminated for ever the power of France in this quarter of the world. Whilst the English were thus establishing their ascendency in the south of India, and also in Bengal, Meer Jaffier, the new nabob, was wholly unable to answer the exorbitant demands of the Company's servants, who, still deluded with the idea of eastern riches, refused to abate one iota of their demands. His situation thus became extremely difficult. His treasury was exhausted, his people impoverished, he had no funds for the expenses of government, and still less for the demands of his rapacious allies. He was compelled to extort money from his ruined subjects by cruelty and terror. He himself, and his son Meeraus, soon fell into universal odium and contempt, from their merciless exactions, and the weakness, negligence, and disorder of their administration. The troops mutinied for want of pay, the rajas and nobles were discontented, and rebellions multiplied throughout his dominions. The nabobs of Oude and Allahabad entered into a dangerous confederacy with the eldest son of the Emperor Aurungzebe II. for supporting his claim to the imperial throne, and to the subordinate provinces of the Mogul empire; and their combined forces advanced to the invasion of Bengal. But European troops, though few in number, and European counsels, proved an overmatch for the ill-organized masses of Indian cavalry; they were accordingly defeated in every encounter, and Meer Jaffier secured in the undisputed possession of the throne. Lord Clive, who bore so conspicuous a part in these transactions, resigned the government in February 1760; and by his influence Mr Vansittart was raised to be president or governor of the council, consisting of from nine to twelve persons, by a majority of whom the affairs of the Company were now administered. The English, by their prompt and decisive measures, had defended the nabob against foreign aggression; and he had now to defend himself against their own domestic treason, which proved to be the more serious danger. In raising him to the sovereignty they were actuated by purely interested views; and being disappointed, they entered into schemes for dethroning him, and for again selling the throne to the highest bidder. Meer Cossim, married to his daughter, was the person now pitched upon to supply his place. The conditions were, that he should assign to the Company the revenues of the three districts of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong; that he should pay the balance due by Jaffier; and besides, make a present of five lacs of rupees for the war in the Carnatic. Mr Vansittart now proceeded, with a body of troops under Colonel Calcutt, to persuade, or rather to compel, the nabob to abdicate the sovereignty. At day-break his palace was surrounded with troops, and a letter was sent to him explaining the views of the English, which filled him with rage. He treated with disdain the assurances of safety for his person, and that a reform in his government under his son-in-law as his deputy was all that was proposed; and he finally preferred, rather than sway a barren sceptre, to retire to Calcutta under the protection of the English. Against the deposition of Meer Jaffier several members of the council protested, and this spirit of opposition for a considerable time distracted the English councils. The party who had elevated Meer Cossim highly commended his whole administration, which their opponents were equally solicitous to criticise and to condemn. Meer Cossim was a person of quite a different stamp from his weak and indolent predecessor. By the assistance of his new allies he cleared his dominions of all invaders, and strengthened his frontiers; he reduced the rajas or independent Indian chiefs, who had rebelled against Jaffier, obliging them to pay the usual tribute, by which means he repaired his finances; he introduced order and economy into his whole administration, and by regular pay secured the discipline and fidelity of his troops. But his conduct was viewed in a sinister light by the members of the council who opposed his elevation; and four of them being dismissed by the directors at home for insubordination to their authority, this faction became the majority; and the most violent amongst them, Mr Ellis, was sent to superintend the factory at Patna, the residence of the nabob, where his whole conduct was one continued insult and defiance of his authority. He made no scruple of seizing and punishing the officers of the nabob, who acted under his express sanction; sometimes throwing them into prison, or sending them in chains to Calcutta, to be there punished at the discretion of the council. To these were added other and more extensive injuries; and at length the usurpations and tyranny of the English were carried to such a height, that the authority of the government either became a mere name, or an instrument of violence and extortion in the hands of the Company's servants. The causes of these disorders, which led to a new and important revolution in the political condition of India, we shall now briefly explain.
In India the transit of goods from one place to another was, under the native governments, subjected to a tax; and upon all the roads and navigable rivers toll-houses were erected, where this tax was paid. These toll-houses were multiplied, to the great inconvenience and oppression of the internal trade; and as the duties varied in different places, there was here a wide field for abuse, and the traders were frequently oppressed by the arbitrary extortions of the collectors. The East India Company had, at an early period, procured a firman, which exempted from all internal duties, both the goods which they imported from Europe, as they passed into the interior, and those which they purchased in the interior in their passage to the sea. They were, in fact, protected by a certificate signed by the president or chiefs of the factories, called a dustack, and shown at the toll-houses or chokes through which they passed. The servants frequently endeavoured to abuse the Company's privilege, by claiming an immunity from taxation for all their own goods, which they had neither imported nor were to export, but which, for the internal supply of the country, they were transporting from one place to another. The subahdars of Bengal, whilst they retained their power, restrained the Company's privilege within its appointed limits, and steadily refused to exempt the trade of its servants from duties to which all others were subject. But when, by the elevation of Meer Jaffier to the throne, the English acquired the undisputed ascendancy, they broke through all the equitable restraints imposed upon them; in every district, in every market and village, they dealt in rice, the common food of the people, paddy, betel-nut, oil, fish, straw, bamboos, &c., and, without scruple, used the Company's passport to screen these articles from internal duties; and so dreaded was the English name, that the toll-house keepers no longer exacted the public dues on the transit of their goods through the country. In some cases where the demand was made and the goods stopped, the toll-keeper was arrested by a party of Sepoys, and carried prisoner to the nearest factories; and he was frequently exposed to even greater severities, being tied up and lashed. The confusion into which the country was thrown by the injustice, the violence, and the cruelty, of those rapacious intruders, can scarcely be imagined. The native merchant, still burdened with the heavy duties, which were rigorously levied on him, was undersold in every market; and the Company's servants in a short time engrossed the whole commerce of the country. The unhappy natives were subjected to various other oppressions. It was a common practice of the Company's servants to defraud them both in purchase and in sale; to force goods from them at a lower, and to compel them to buy their own at a higher rate than the market price. Nor did the ordinary tribunals afford any protection against their injustice; a band of foreign adventurers, to call Hindustan, them by no harsher name, had usurped the sovereign power, which they rendered wholly subservient to their own schemes of enriching themselves at the expense of the country.
Meer Cossim, the ruler who had been set up by the Company, was extremely displeased with the conduct of their servants, and he represented in the strongest terms to the president and council the enormities to which the private trade had given rise. But the majority of the council were too deeply interested in these enormities to be moved by this just appeal of the sovereign in behalf of his oppressed people. They all participated more or less in the profits of the private trade, and they had no disposition to part with or to restrict this lucrative abuse. They even refused to pay nine per cent. of transit duties upon their goods, though this rate was far inferior to that paid by the native traders; and all that they would agree to was, out of their own liberality and free choice to pay a duty of two and a half per cent. on salt alone. The nabob, when he heard of the proceedings in council, and of the injurious treatment of his officers for duly executing his orders, was naturally filled with indignation; and he came to the resolution of abolishing all internal duties. There could not possibly have been a more moderate or equitable measure. It gave freedom and equality to all parties; it threw down at once all the restraints to fair and open competition, and gave to the Company's servants the unlimited freedom of trade. This just and liberal policy, however, was far from corresponding with their views, and it excited amongst them the most violent clamours. They were discontented at losing so far an opportunity of amassing enormous wealth. Their conduct, as Mr Mill justly observes, furnishes one of "the most remarkable instances on record, of the power of interest to extinguish all sense of justice, and even of shame." They first insisted on an exemption for themselves from all internal duties, now they cried out in the rage of disappointed avarice against the extension of the same privileges to the inhabitants; and thus they reversed all the usual maxims of fair policy, in seeking immunities for foreigners which were refused to natives.
The conduct of Meer Cossim, in claiming justice for his oppressed subjects, was highly displeasing to the majority of the council. The exaction of legal dues upon English goods was represented as a violation of the Company's rights, and as evidence of a design to expel them from the country; and, for this new species of treason against the offended majesty of usurped power, it was resolved to depose him, and to replace Meer Jaffier on the throne, as nominal ruler of Bengal, on the well-understood condition of subservience to their views. A treaty was concluded, confirming the immunity which they claimed from all internal duties, with the exception only of two and a half per cent. on the article of salt, whilst those duties were re-imposed on the goods of all other merchants. Large presents were bargained for, and other payments to a great amount, as compensation for losses alleged to have been sustained by the Company's servants, in the course of their illicit interference in the domestic trade. These sums, which at first were estimated at ten, but soon afterwards mounted up to fifty-three lacs of rupees, equal to about L625,000, were rigidly exacted, whilst large payments to the Company were still undischarged, and the public finances were sinking under the burden of an expensive war, great sums having been borrowed by the Company from its servants, at an interest of eight per cent., and, with all these aids, supplies were wanting both for the war and for the investment, the Company's ships frequently returning, in consequence, half loaded to Europe. Meer Cossim, on his side, saw plainly that matters were fast approaching to the extremity of war, and he made preparations for the contest. He transferred his capital from Muxadabad, as being too near Calcutta, and under the inspection of the English, to Mongheer, a place 200 miles farther up the Ganges, which he fortified in the best and most expeditious manner. He introduced European discipline among the troops, and he recruited his ranks with all the Armenian, Persian, Tartar, and other soldiers of fortune whom he could collect, and especially with such wandering Europeans or Sepoys as had borne arms in the English service. He substituted European muskets for matchlocks, and formed a train of artillery.
Hostilities commenced sooner than was expected, with the surprise and capture of Patna by Mr Ellis; a violent and rash measure, disapproved by several members of the council. The nabob immediately gave orders to stop several boats laden with arms that had been seized, and released on the representation of the English. Resistance was made, and in the course of the struggle which ensued, Mr Amyatt, a member of the council, and several other Englishmen, were slain. The contending armies now hastened to take the field; and Meer Cossim was overwhelmed by one unbroken series of disasters, which terminated in his dethronement and flight. A division of his army, which had advanced for the protection of Moorshedabad, was totally defeated on the 19th of July, by the English army, which consisted of 650 Europeans, 1200 Sepoys, two troops of native cavalry, and was afterwards joined by a battalion of Sepoys and a hundred Europeans. In advancing to the capital, Major Adam found the enemy strongly posted, with intrenchments fifteen feet high, defended by a numerous artillery. These were stormed, and the city of Moorshedabad was entered by the conquerors. The English, pushing forward, encountered the Indian army on the 2d of August 1783, consisting of 20,000 horse and 8000 foot, in the plain of Gheriah, near Sootie. They resembled European troops in clothing and accoutrements, and in their division into brigades; and the battle that ensued was obstinately contested for four hours. But the discipline and steadiness of the European troops finally triumphed, and the enemy fled, leaving all their cannon behind them. From this time the English were no longer opposed on equal terms in the field. It was only in strong positions and intrenchments that the enemy made a stand. A strong intrenchment at Oodwa was carried on the 5th of September, after it had detained the English for nearly a month; and Mongheer, the last stronghold of Meer Cossim, capitulated, on which he fled into the dominions of the nabob of Oude, and afterwards into the Rohilla country. Irritated by his misfortunes, the nabob wreaked his vengeance on the unhappy English prisoners who were in his power. He had formerly put to death several Hindus of rank who were thrown into prison on account of their wealth; and he now gave an order for the execution of about two hundred English, who had been taken at Patna; amongst others, of Mr Ellis, who had formerly tyrannized over and insulted him, and Mr Lushington, also high in the Company's service. They were invited to an entertainment, and, according to the odious maxims of eastern treachery, were barbarously murdered. A German of the name of Sumroo was the chief agent in this scene of cruelty. Dr Fullarton, who had gained favour
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1 See Ninth Report of the House of Commons on India Affairs; also a Letter of Meer Cossim, dated Backergunge, May 25, 1762, which states that the inhabitants who refused to sell to the Company's servants were flogged or confined. Meer Cossim was received in the most friendly manner by Sujah Dowlah, the nabob of Oude, who was far from being well disposed to the English. He considered them as rapacious usurpers, the natural enemies, as they fatally proved to be, of Indian independence, and who, under pretence of commerce, aspired to the dominion of the country. In reply to a letter from the English, threatening, that if he assisted the nabob of Bengal, they would carry the war into his own country, he remonstrated with them on their ambitious views, and on account of the disturbances which they had created in the country; and he added, "to what can all these wrong proceedings be attributed, but to an absolute disregard of the court (of Delhi), and to a wicked design of seizing the country to yourselves." If these disturbances," he continues, "have arisen from your own improper devices, deviate from such behaviour in future; interfere not in the affairs of government; withdraw your people from every part; and send them to their own country; carry on the Company's trade as formerly, and confine yourself to your own commercial affairs." To these reasonable remonstrances, which were repeated in another letter to Major Carnac, the president and council were so far from listening, that they determined upon commencing an immediate and offensive war against him.
Major, afterwards Sir Hector Munro, who had arrived from Bombay with a reinforcement, was appointed to the command. His first care was to repress the mutinous spirit which had of late prevailed among the troops, and this he effected by the severe measure of blowing away twenty-four of the ringleaders from the mouths of cannon. He then advanced, with a force of 6215 Sepoys and 856 Europeans, towards the Saone, where the enemy, to the number of 40,000, with a train of artillery, were entrenched in front of the village and fort of Buxar. On the 23d of October 1764, a battle took place, in which the Indian army was completely overthrown, with the loss of about 2000 men. On the side of the British eighty-seven Europeans and 712 Sepoys were either killed or wounded. Major Munro followed up his success, though in two attempts to storm the fortress of Chanda he was repulsed with loss, and it was only through the mutiny of the garrison that it was at length taken by Sir R. Fletcher, who had succeeded to the command. Lucknow, the capital of Oude, was also occupied by the battalions of Sepoys; the fortress of Chunar was attempted, though without success, and that of Allahabad surrendered. Sujah Dowlah was abandoned in his reverses by his ally the Mogul, who concluded a treaty with the English. But he did not yet despair of his fortunes; and having received the aid of a Mahratta force, the combined armies encountered the English on the 3d of May 1765, when they were defeated; and Major Carnac, again attacking them at a place called Calpi, they were overthrown, and driven with precipitation across the Jumna. The vizir, Sujah Dowlah, seeing no hope of retrieving his affairs, resolved to trust entirely to the generosity of the English; and on the 19th of May he surrendered to Major, now General Carnac. The final settlement of terms was reserved for Lord Clive, who had arrived in Bengal, with full powers from the directors, as governor, to regulate all their complicated concerns, whether of sovereignty or of trade. It was agreed that, with the exception of Allahabad and Corah, he should still retain his dominions, which he was judged more capable of defending than the Mogul emperor, to whom they had been promised. For this concession the vizir agreed to pay fifty lacs of rupees as the expenses of the war; but he remonstrated so earnestly against the establishment of factories in his dominions, or any permission to trade free of duties, as the certain cause of Hindustan trouble, that all such propositions were abandoned. He agreed not to molest Bulwunt Sing, who held the zemindaries of Benares and Gauzeepore, and who had assisted the English in the late contest, and never to afford an asylum to Meer Cossim, or the German soldier Sumroo. With regard to the Mogul emperor, he was told, that of the thirty lacs of annual tribute due to him from the subahs of Bengal, not a rupee would ever be paid; that twenty-six lacs of rupees, which had been assigned him as the revenue of these provinces, would be continued; and that he should receive possession of Corah and Allahabad. In return, the Company received the imperial firman, dated the 12th of August 1765, granting the duannee, or the right of collecting the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, in which is implied, according to the laws and constitution of the Mogul empire, the right of sovereignty; and thus was this body of merchants constituted in form, as well as in substance, the rulers of a vast empire.
To this issue affairs had been evidently tending for Maladmi some time past. Meer Jaffier, worn out with anxiety and indisposition, died in the beginning of the year; and Jaffier, his son, was chosen his successor by the Company's servants. From each successive sovereign it was the custom of the electors to exact not only a large donation, but also an extension of power and privileges, so that the native ruler was at length left in possession of little more than a nominal authority. It was now resolved by the English that they should take upon themselves the whole charge of defending the country, and that they would only allow the nabob a few troops for the sake of parade, or for other necessary purposes; whilst, in regard to the civil government, he was to choose a deputy, with the advice of the governor and council, on whom the whole internal administration of the country should be devolved. So completely had the government fallen under the control of the English, that the accountants of the revenue could not be appointed without their approbation. In the mean time the directors were distracted by the contradictory reports of their affairs which they received from India; and it was because they were alarmed by the expensive wars so readily undertaken by their servants, by their rapacious proceedings in regard to the private trade, and by the general embarrassment of their affairs, that they had resolved to appoint Lord Clive to the supreme government of Bengal, conferring on him and a select committee of four, full authority to act and determine all matters, without any dependence on the council; of which authority they were not slow to avail themselves upon all occasions. They also sent along with him a strong representation against the rapacity and tyranny of their servants. In a letter to the governor and council they observe, "Your deliberations on the inland trade have laid open to us a scene of the most cruel oppression." "The poor of the country," they continue, "who used always to deal in salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, are now deprived of their daily bread by the trade of the Europeans, whereby no kind of advantage accrues to the Company, and the government's revenues are greatly injured." The directors accordingly issued the most peremptory instructions for the prohibition of the inland trade of salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, or rather of the monopoly held by the Company's servants, by which the country was so cruelly oppressed. The practice of receiving presents from the native rulers and princes, which had been carried to a great extent, was also prohibited. At a general meeting of proprietors, however, it was urged, in opposition to those wise and salutary restrictions, that the servants of the Company in India ought not to be deprived of such precious advantages, which enabled them to revisit their native country with independent fortunes." Hindustan. This reasoning convinced the majority of the proprietors, and a recommendation was moved in consequence to the directors, to re-consider their resolution in regard to the private trade. The governor and council were therefore instructed, after consulting with the nabob, to form a "proper and equitable plan for carrying on the inland trade." (Mill's British India, vol. ii. p. 217.) In other words, they were to contrive how they could oppress the country, and yet adhere to the rules of equity. This transaction places in a very strong light the corrupt nature of the Company's government. It was admitted on all hands that it was by extortion and rapine, that is, by compelling the oppressed inhabitants both to purchase and sell at prices fixed by the Company's servants, that such profits were gained, and that they were enabled to return to Europe with enormous accumulations of ill-gotten wealth. It was, indeed, as we have just seen, acknowledged by the directors, that the poor of the country were deprived of their daily bread by the trade of their European servants, who monopolized every profitable channel of business; yet, with these facts before them, we find the sovereigns of India delivering over their oppressed subjects to the rapacity of their servants, for the avowed purpose of enriching them with the spoils of the country.
Lord Clive assumed the supreme power in India in May 1765. At this period the servants of the Company, in defiance of the peremptory orders of the directors, still persisted in all the ruinous practices connected with the inland trade; and instead of abolishing these, and thus remedying some of those abuses of which he so violently complained, Lord Clive entered into a partnership for the monopoly of salt, of which large quantities were accordingly purchased, and sold for a profit of forty-five per cent., which was divided amongst three of his own dependents, his secretary, surgeon, and another friend, for whom he wished, as he expresses it, to realize a fortune. The plan of a more extensive monopoly, including salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, the chief articles of consumption in the country, was afterwards devised to be carried on exclusively for the benefit of the superior servants of the Company, amongst whom the profit, after setting apart L.100,000 per annum to the Company, was to be divided according to their rank in the service. At the time this corrupt scheme of monopoly was established, the select committee were in possession of peremptory orders from the directors for its abolition; but these orders, under various pretences, they delayed to carry into execution till September 1768.
Although the ascendency of the English had for some years been thoroughly established in Bengal, and although they were formally invested in 1765 with the sovereignty of the country, its affairs were still administered in the name of the native prince, and according to the forms and policy of the ancient constitution. Justice was still dispensed by the native courts, and by the nabob's officers; the revenues still flowed through the same channels into the public exchequer; and all transactions with foreign powers were carried on under the same authority as formerly. But such was the increasing power of the English, that the government, as far as regarded the protection of the people, was dissolved. Neither the nabob nor his officers dared to offer any opposition to their sovereign will; and the tribunals of justice, far from being a protection to the oppressed, became subservient to the rapacity of the Gomastahs, or Indian agents, employed by the Company's servants, and were converted by them into most efficacious instruments for plundering the people, and for punishing the wretched victims of their oppression if they dared to complain, and if they did not patiently submit to be fleeced and trampled upon by their foreign masters. The native tribunals had no power to afford protection, whilst the English had no legal authority beyond the presidency, either over the natives or over their own subjects; and hence the inhabitants lay entirely at the mercy of the Company's servants. Nor need we wonder that, during this period of anarchy and disorder abroad, the embarrassments of the Company's affairs continued to increase, even during the peaceable administration of Mr Verdst, who succeeded Lord Clive as governor when he left Bengal in February 1767. The Indian revenues were indeed large, but they were plundered by their servants. Lord Clive and the first adventurers were enriched by the presents or bribes of the native rulers. These they were now prohibited from accepting. "It was expedient for them," says Clive, "to find out some other channel, the channel of the civil and military changes. Every man now who is permitted to make a bill makes a fortune." In lieu of the enormous gains which accrued from the monopoly of salt and of other articles, the trade which the directors, early in 1768, sent peremptory orders to lay open, and also of one eighth per cent. of the revenues given to the governor, as a compensation for his share of the salt monopoly, the Company granted a commission of two and a half per cent. on the revenues. This sum was to be divided into a hundred shares, and to be distributed amongst the civil functionaries of the Company, and the military officers, according to their rank.
Whilst the local rulers of India were thus enriching themselves, their masters were reduced to great pecuniary distress. But, in the midst of all their embarrassments, the most flattering accounts of their affairs were circulated in Europe; and the directors and proprietors lent a willing ear to these golden promises, of which their servants were always liberal. The splendid acquisition which the Company had made of the territorial revenues of Bengal, the political events in which they had been involved, and the immense fortunes with which a few individuals had returned to Europe, confirmed the general delusion, and inflamed the impatience of the proprietors of East India stock to participate in the inexhaustible treasures of their new dominions. In pursuance of these views, the dividend on their stock was raised from six to ten per cent.; and India stock rose to 263 per cent. A higher dividend was called for, and it was in vain that the directors represented the heavy debts of the Company, and the general embarrassment of their affairs. The proprietors refused to listen to such disagreeable representations, and at a general court they voted a dividend of twelve and a half per cent. for the year 1767. The attention of government being now directed to the Company's affairs, this vote was rescinded by act of parliament, and the dividend limited to ten per cent.
In the mean time, every day's experience was refuting the fallacious expectations of annual treasures from India. So far from possessing any surplus revenue, the servants were involved in debt for the current expenses of their government; they drew largely on the directors, but they remitted little; and the whole of this complicated scheme of trade and sovereignty laboured in consequence under such pecuniary difficulties, that the directors, to avert a public bankruptcy, were compelled to apply to the bank for a loan of L.400,000, and afterwards of L.300,000. In consequence of this state of things, so different from the pleasing fancies of unbounded wealth, with which the proprietors of the Company and the country at large had been amused, great discontent and a violent clamour was raised against the Company's servants in India, who by their profusion or corruption had failed to realize those golden dreams. The situation of the Company was at length brought under the consideration of parliament by the minister, who introduced two acts for the regulation of their affairs. The first of these was intended to relieve the pecuniary embarrassments of the Company, and provided that the sum lent to them, and that the stipulated annual payment of L400,000 from the territorial revenue should not be required till the discharge of this debt; the dividend not to exceed six per cent. till the discharge should be accomplished, and not to exceed seven per cent. till the bond debt should be reduced to L1,500,000. Other clauses related to the appropriation of the surplus revenue, which was always fondly hoped for, but never received. The other act, which was heavily complained of as an infringement of the Company's rights of sovereignty, as the first was said to be an invasion of their rights of property, raised the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors from L500 to L1,000; gave two votes to every proprietor possessed of L3,000; three votes to those possessed of L6,000; and four votes to those possessed of L10,000; and only six directors, instead of twenty-four, the whole number, were to be annually elected; and the administration of the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa was to be vested in a governor-general with an annual salary of L25,000, and four councillors with a salary of L8,000 each. The other presidencies were rendered subordinate to that of Bengal; and a supreme court of judicature was established at Calcutta, consisting of a chief-justice with L8,000 a year, and three other judges with L6,000 a year, appointed by the crown. The first governor-general and councillors were to be appointed by the king; and all the political correspondence of the Company with India was to be laid before the ministry. These acts received the royal assent on the 21st of June and 1st of July 1773. Under this act Mr Hastings was appointed governor-general, with General Clavering, Colonel Monson, Mr Barwell, and Mr Francis, members of council.
It will now be proper to revert to the affairs of the Carnatic. After the departure of Bussy from that province, and the decline of the French influence, Nizam Ali resumed his power, which he employed in dethroning and imprisoning, and afterwards murdering, his feeble brother Salabut Jung, the subahdar of the Deccan. The English having received from Shah Aulum, the Mogul emperor, a grant of the Northern Circars, a tract extending 470 miles along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and uniting the English possessions in the Carnatic with their province of Orissa, proceeded to occupy it with a military force. On this Nizam Ali, or the Nizam as he is called by the English, made an irruption into the Carnatic, and greatly alarmed the presidency of Madras. After some operations of little moment, a treaty was concluded, by which the English agreed to pay a rent for the disputed territory, and to give him such military aid as he should require in the affairs of his government. The first operation in which this force was to be engaged was the reduction of the fortress of Bangalore, belonging to Hyder Ali, the sovereign of Mysore; and thus were the English brought into collision with that powerful chief. He was one of those bold spirits who rise to eminence in times of civil confusion. From a common foot soldier, or peon, employed in the collection of taxes, he rose to high command, to wealth and dominion, and finally to the rank of sovereign prince. The nizam, who had joined with the English against Hyder, soon became his ally, and their united forces made incursions into the Carnatic. Several battles were fought to the disadvantage of Hyder, but these were of little advantage to the English, owing to his superiority in cavalry, with which he laid waste the country to the very gates of Madras, and struck terror into the president and council. The nizam, however, wearied of the war, quitted the alliance of Hyder, which so elevated the confidence of the Madras presidency that they resolved on the invasion of Mysore. But Hyder anticipated their designs, and having by his masterly tactics artfully drawn the English army to Hindustan, a distance from Madras, he suddenly appeared at the head of 6000 cavalry before that city, having marched 120 miles in three days, and so alarmed the presidency, that a treaty, offensive and defensive, was concluded in April 1769, by which it was also agreed that all conquests should be mutually restored.
At this time the Mahrattas, humbled for a time by the defeat of Paniput, now began to renew their incursions into the northern provinces, and greatly to the alarm of the Rohillas, subahdar of Oude, who dreaded any confederacy between them and the Rohilla chiefs or Afghans, a hardy race from the north, who having frequently aided the imperial armies, were rewarded with lands in the fertile district between the Ganges and the mountains, and to the west of the Oude territories. One of their chiefs, Nujeeb ad Dowlah, had been chosen by Abdullee Shah, on his departure from Delhi, after the battle of Paniput, as the imperial deputy. He had ruled the country with singular prudence and success, and had transmitted the government to his son, Zabita Khan, against whom a coalition was now formed by the Mahrattas and the fallen emperor Shah Aulum, anxious to regain his former power. By their assistance the emperor, in the year 1771, entered his capital of Delhi, with all the pomp of imperial dignity. Zabita Khan, unable to withstand their united attack, fled across the Ganges, leaving his fertile and flourishing territories to the devastations of the Mahrattas, to whom they afforded a rich booty. The Rohillas, alarmed by this aggression, proposed to form an alliance with the subahdar of Oude, who on his side was equally dismayed; and through the intervention of the English a treaty was accordingly concluded, offensive and defensive, by which the Rohillas engaged to pay annually to the subahdar forty lacs of rupees if he would expel the Mahrattas from their territories. He made no effort, however, to perform this service; and the Mahrattas, after retiring across the Ganges during the rains, soon returned to ravage the country, and actually extorted a sum of money from Hafiz Rhamet, chief of the Rohillas, as the price of their retreat. In 1772 they besieged the emperor, who had become weary of their alliance, in Delhi; and having entered the city, they extorted from him a grant of the two provinces of Corah and Allahabad, which he held by virtue of a treaty with the English. The subahdar was now really alarmed, and wrote the most pressing letters to the English for aid. A detachment was accordingly sent under Sir R. Barker, to assist in the defence of his territories, when the Mahrattas were recalled to their own country about the end of May 1773. The subahdar, freed from danger, now became ambitious in his turn, and was intent, either by force or fraud, upon gaining possession of the Rohilla country. With this view, in a meeting with Mr Hastings in October 1773, it was agreed that the English troops should assist in the conquest and extermination of the Rohillas, and that forty lacs of rupees should be paid for this service. In fulfillment of this iniquitous compact, the united forces, the British under Colonel Champion, entered the Rohilla territories in 1774, and on the 23d of April a battle was fought, in which the unfortunate Rohillas, after an obstinate defence, were defeated, and their gallant chief Hafiz Rhamet, slain while rallying his troops; the subahdar and his army, in the mean time, behaving with shameful pusillanimity. The whole country now lay at his mercy, and he proceeded to execute his diabolical purpose, which, as he had expressly informed the English, was the extermination of the Rohillas. Never, probably, says Mr Mill, were the rights of conquest more savagely abused; man, woman, and child were given up to the destroying sword, and the country was reduced to a desert. At length it was
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1 History of British India, vol. iii. p. 599. Hindustan agreed that Fyzoola Khan, the remaining chief of the Rohilcund hills, should surrender one half of all his effects to the subahdar or the vizir, and should receive in Rohilcund a jaghire of fourteen lacs and 75,000 rupees. With regard to the Mogul emperor, the twenty-six lacs of rupees hitherto paid to him as his share of the revenues of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, were withdrawn, because he had accepted the aid of the Mahratta in his late attempt to regain the throne of his ancestors. He was also deprived of the provinces of Corah and Allahabad, granted to him in terms of a former treaty with the Company.
On the west coast of India, the presidency of Madras was at this period involved in disputes, which ended in a war with the Mahratta states; and, with a view to the subsequent history of India, it may be necessary here to give a brief account of these disputes, and of the different Mahratta powers who had now risen to political importance in India. In the Mahratta government, as originally constituted, the sovereign or rajah was assisted by a council of eight Brahmins, the chief of whom bore the title of peshwa; and in course of time this principal minister of state, on whom devolved the duties of government, usurped all the real power, and the sovereign became a mere pageant in his hands. In the reign of the rajah Sahoo, the third in succession from the brave and politic Sevaje, the founder of the Mahratta power, this revolution had been insensibly brought about. He was a weak prince, devoted, as most princes are, to ease and pleasure, and leaving to Kishwanath Balagee the chief powers of the state. He assumed the name of Row Pundit, or chief of the Pundits, or learned Brahmins, and was invested by the rajah with a sirpah or robe of office, with which ceremony the peshwa have ever since been installed into their sovereign dignity. Custom or policy had so completely sanctioned the usurpation of supreme power by the peshwa, that Kishwanath had quietly transmitted his dignity and influence to his son Bajorow, who confined the rajah as a sort of state prisoner to Satanah, whilst he himself resided at Poonah, the future capital of the Mahratta states. Bow, the son of Bajorow, being slain at the battle of Panipat, the office of peshwa descended to his nephew, who had two sons, Madhow Row and Narrain Row, the eldest of whom, Madhow Row, a minor, succeeded to his father's dignity at his death, and the guardianship of the peshwa now devolved on Ragonaut Row, more commonly known under the name of Ragoba. The council of state, consisting of the Brahmins, now made an effort to regain their lost influence; and intriguing with the mother of the peshwa, they succeeded in sowing division between the nephew and the uncle, and finally in stripping him of his power. Madhow died at an early age in 1772, and appointed Ragoba to be the guardian of his brother Narrain Row. But he was by the same influence again stripped of his power; and dissensions having arisen amongst the council of Brahmins, or Mutsetdies as they are also called, a conspiracy was formed, which ended in the murder of the young prince, when Ragoba was again acknowledged peshwa. But he was still thwarted by the ministerial factions of the Brahmins, and the consequence was a civil war, which was carried on with various fortune, but terminated at length in the flight of Ragoba from his dominions. The presidency of Bombay had been extremely anxious to procure the cession of the island and peninsula of Salsette and Bassein, as adding much to the security and value of Bombay. But all their efforts were in vain. Ragoba uniformly refused to give them up on any terms. He had now retreated to Surat; and in the low state of his fortunes the negotiation was renewed. In the mean time the presidency were informed by their resident at Goa that the Portuguese were making preparations for the recapture of their former possessions, especially of Salsette and Bassein. No longer hesitating, they sent a force from Bombay, which carried by assault the principal fort in Salsette on the 28th of September 1774, and afterwards took possession of the island; in March 1775 they concluded a treaty with Ragoba for the surrender of these places, with other advantages; and in return they sent a body of troops under Colonel Keating, which joined his army in April, about fifty coss from Cambay; and this combined force, amounting to 25,000 men, now advanced for the purpose of penetrating to Poonah before the commencement of the rains. The enterprise failed for the present, but the armies were quartered in convenient positions; and having concluded a favourable treaty with the rajah of Gujerat, who had agreed, amongst other conditions, to advance the sum of twenty-six lacs of rupees, they prepared, with a friendly country in their rear, and greatly increased resources, to advance to Poonah the next campaign. But all these promising schemes were now frustrated by the interference of the Bengal council, which had been invested with supreme authority over the other settlements in India; and the alliance formed by the presidency of Bombay with Ragoba, the peshwa, and indeed all the other proceedings, were severely condemned by the governor-general and his council. The council at Madras were ordered peremptorily to retrace their steps, to withdraw their troops from those of Ragoba, and to give him no further aid; and they themselves proceeded to treat, by means of their own agent, Colonel Upton, with the opposite faction of the Brahmin ministers. A long and perplexed negotiation now ensued, which had nearly ended in war, when a treaty, that of Poorunder, was signed on the 3rd of June 1776, by which the Mahratta ministers agreed to surrender Salsette, and the English Bassein; and the unfortunate Ragoba finally retired to Surat with only two hundred attendants.
The Mahratta power, which was spread far and wide in India, was now weakened by the same divisions which had occasioned the downfall of the Mogul empire. All indeed acknowledged their allegiance to the peshwa, the representative of Sevaje, their founder, and the nominal head of the whole confederacy. But there was no unity in the component parts of their wide-extended empire. They no longer obeyed one common impulse. The military chiefs to whom were confided the more distant provinces threw off the yoke of sovereign authority, as it was gradually relaxed; and thus, from the extension of the Mahratta power, arose various independent potentates, who, though united by a common tie, yet waged war with each other, or with the peshwa, their head, on any provocation or prospect of advantage. The most important of these independent states was, 1st, that of the Bhonslas, which included the extensive province of Berar, together with Cuttack, a part of Orissa; 2d, the province of Gujerat, broken off from the Mogul empire by Pillagee Guicowar, or the herdsmen; 3d, the independent chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, whose names figure in the future annals of India, and who ruled over extensive territories in Malwah and in the regions bordering on the territories of Berar and Oude. Other inferior chiefs, offsets from the main stock, possessed smaller portions of territory in different parts; and the internal relations of Hindustan were thus more than usually complicated, and presented a wide field for politics and intrigue.
The presidency of Madras, as well as the other two presidencies of Bengal and Bombay, were now deeply involved in the disputes of the native powers. The nabob of the Carnatic, Mahommued Ali, was incapable of ruling or of defending his country against the Mahrattas or Hyder Ali, and he relied entirely upon the English for protection and for the collection of his revenues. The disorder of his finances, already great, was much increased by the extortions of his allies, who were insatiable in their thirst of gold; and funds failing, as in Bengal, to supply their exorbitant demands, they anxiously sought The kingdom of Tanjore, by the prudence of its sovereign, had enjoyed peace amidst the wars and desolations of surrounding countries; his powerful neighbours, supposing that he had amassed great wealth, mastered up against him a world of complaints, of which he readily showed the futility; and when he saw that his ruin was resolved on, that he was to be stripped of his dominions, and that he and his family were to be put to death or imprisoned for life, he pleaded for mercy with the most affecting earnestness; but avarice had extinguished every softer feeling in the breasts of his oppressors. The troops were ordered to advance; the rajah agreed to terms which he could not fulfil; and failing to pay within the exact time which the contribution imposed upon him, though he made the fairest offers, Tanjore, his capital, was taken by assault, and he and his family were delivered into the power of the nabob. This act of oppression, encouraged at first by the directors, was afterwards disapproved by a court of proprietors; and Lord Pigot was sent out as governor of the presidency, to restore the rajah, and to enforce economy and reform. The corrupt and dishonourable practices of the Company's servants were nowhere carried to a greater length than at Madras. They were in the habit of lending, or pretending to lend, money, to the nabob, at an exorbitant interest, and to receive in security assignments on the land. Paul Benfield, with a salary of some hundred pounds a year, had assignments on the lands of Tanjore to the amount of L234,000; and Sir Thomas Rumbold, with a salary of L20,000 a year, remitted to Europe the first year he was in office L45,000, and in the two subsequent years a further sum of L119,000, alleging that he had property to this amount in India before he left Europe. The lands belonging to the Company were let at an under rate to the renters, and large bribes received in return; and it was by such unworthy means that the servants of the Company so quickly acquired their enormous fortunes. Lord Pigot, in carrying into effect the views of the directors, by restoring the rajah of Tanjore, and opposing the existing abuses, was resisted by a faction. He was at last put under arrest by the members of his own council, and died after a confinement of about eight months. The authors of this violence were afterwards tried in England, and condemned to pay a paltry fine of L1000, which was no adequate punishment for such an offence; and, to men of their fortunes, no punishment at all.
The growing ascendancy of the English naturally excited the hostility of the native powers; and Hyder Ali, irritated by their increasing influence, and by their breach of the treaty of 1769, in refusing the aid which he demanded, was now preparing to assail them with the whole weight of his power. He accordingly made peace with the Marattas, who formed, with the Nizam Ali and Hyder, a coalition for the expulsion of the English from India. In the year 1778, war having commenced in Europe between France and England, the presidency of Madras besieged and took Pondicherry, and Mahé, a small fort, the only remaining possession of the French on the coast of Malabar, and ranked by Hyder amongst his dependencies. Irritated by this new offence, he assembled his army, and having seized and guarded the passes of the Eastern Ghauts, through which alone the Carnatic would be invaded from Mysore, he suddenly poured down on the country below with a mighty host of 100,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, besides the European troops of Colonel Lally, of undoubted bravery and experience in war. Every thing gave way before this overwhelming flood of invasion; and the cavalry inundating the open plains, the inhabitants fled from their homes to the woods or the mountains, whilst the unsubdued invader laid waste the country with fire and sword for many miles round Madras, and even threatened the city itself. The council were confounded by the intelligence Hindustan of this sudden calamity. They were apprized on the 21st of July that Hyder had come through the pass, that he had next day plundered Porto Novo on the coast, and Conjeeveram, not fifty miles from the capital. Each succeeding day brought its tale of calamity, and on the 10th of August Madras was alarmed by the approach of the enemy's horse, and the inhabitants of the open town began to take flight. The governor and council were very indifferently provided for the fearful struggle in which they were engaged. They were destitute both of money and provisions; their small force was scattered throughout the country; and, lastly, their councils were distracted by the dissensions of the civil and military authorities. Immediate action, however, was necessary, in order to avert impending ruin. The scattered troops were therefore directed to assemble at St Thomas' Mount, for the defence of the capital. Colonel Brathwaite's detachment from Pondicherry having joined the main body on the 18th of August, an express was sent to Colonel Baillie at Gummerepanda, about twenty-eight miles from Madras, directing him to repair to Conjeeveram, whither the main army now advanced under Sir Hector Munro, consisting of 1500 Europeans and 4200 Sepoys, with a train of artillery, and arrived after a distressing march of four days, during which two hundred men belonging to the seventy-third regiment were left lying on the road. They found the town of Conjeeveram in flames, large bodies of the enemy's cavalry advancing on both flanks, and no appearance of Colonel Baillie's detachment, which had been impeded in its march for a day by a small torrent swollen with the rains. Hyder Ali having learned from his spies the movements of the English army, abandoned the siege of Arcot, in which he was engaged, and, upon the 3d of September, the day on which Baillie's detachment crossed the river in its advance to the main body, he encamped at five miles distance in front of the English army, near Conjeeveram; thus interposing between Colonel Baillie's detachment and the English forces; and he sent his son Tippoo with 30,000 cavalry, the flower of his army, and 8000 foot, with twelve pieces of cannon, to cut off the troops under Colonel Baillie, who had now arrived at a small village about fifteen miles distant from Sir Hector Munro's army, the movements of which he himself watched in the neighbourhood of Conjeeveram. The troops under Colonel Baillie gallantly repulsed the repeated charges of Tippoo's numerous cavalry; and being now joined by a detachment under Sir R. Fletcher, sent to their aid by General Munro, they resisted long and bravely all the attacks of the overwhelming force by which they were surrounded; they even at times became the assailants; and an attack by five companies of Sepoys on the enemy's guns, which had begun to do great execution, spread amongst them such terror and confusion, that a seasonable and bold assault of their camp would, it is thought, have completed their route. The English commander maintained the same position till next morning, for which he has been much blamed; and when, at five o'clock, he began the day's march, he was assailed by the whole army of Hyder, who had left his ground without shifting his tents, to conceal his design. Colonel Baillie, with his handful of men, still maintained his ground in spite of the enemy's superior fire and the fury of his closer attacks, when, by an accident, the blowing up of two tumbrels, the English line was not only disordered, but the ammunition was destroyed, and the guns disabled. But though their fire was now silenced, they maintained a gallant resistance till three o'clock in the morning, when the commander, Baillie, despairing of relief, sent a flag of truce to the enemy; and the men having laid down their arms on receiving a promise of quarter, Hyder's troops rushed on them with savage fury; and, but for the humane inter- Hindustan, position of the French officers, would have massacred all who survived. After this disaster, Sir Hector Munro retreated to Madras, whilst Hyder returned to the siege of Arcot, which was taken by storm on the 31st of October, with an immense quantity of ammunition and military stores.
On the intelligence of Colonel Baillie's disaster, the supreme council of Bengal requested Sir Eyre Coote to take the command of the army in the Carnatic; and on the 17th of June 1781, the English force, consisting of 7000 men and 1700 Europeans, marched from the encampment at Mount St Thomas. Hyder now changed his plan of operations, and detached different divisions of his force against the strong places of the Carnatic. But he was so overawed by the arrival of a new commander with reinforcements, that he abandoned the siege of Wandewash, and of every place which he had invested, and retired without even disputing the passage of the Palaar. The English took the opportunity of this short respite to secure possession of Pondicherry, and to disarm the inhabitants, who had revolted. Hyder having received large reinforcements, resumed the offensive; and as the plan of the English was to march southward to protect the district of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, he resolved to oppose their advance to Cuddalore. A battle was fought on the 1st of July 1781, in which Hyder was driven from his strong position with great slaughter. On the 27th of August, another battle was fought on the ground where Colonel Baillie's disaster had occurred, when he was again defeated, after an obstinate action, in which the English suffered severely; and, some weeks afterwards, he experienced a third defeat, with greater loss than before. Far from being discouraged, this warlike prince proceeded to lay siege to Vellore, eighty-eight miles south-west from Madras. Sir Eyre Coote, though he had placed his army in cantonments, advanced to its relief, and forced his way through a strong pass guarded by the enemy's force. Returning by the same pass, he was again attacked at a disadvantage with the utmost vigour; but Hyder's cavalry suffered so severely from the English artillery that he retired with loss, while Sir Eyre Coote returned to his cantonments near Madras. Whilst the war was thus carried on with doubtful success in the eastern districts of the Carnatic, hostilities now commenced on the opposite coast of Malabar. The English detachment, by which the French settlement of Mahé was captured in 1779, had since that period occupied the fortress of Tellerry, when it was besieged by a superior force of Hyder's tributaries. Major Abingdon, the commander, having received a reinforcement from Bombay on the night of the 7th January 1782, assaulted the enemy's lines, and threw their whole army into confusion; and he soon afterwards gained possession of Calicut. Here he was joined by Colonel Humberston Mackenzie with a thousand Europeans, and offensive operations were undertaken with vigour and success, when the army returned in May, as the rainy season approached, to its cantonments at Patacalab, in Calicut. Operations were resumed in September with the reduction of a strong fort, and the army had arrived at Palacacherry, when, being surprised in a narrow defile, the whole baggage and ammunition was captured. A retreat to the coast was the only alternative now left to the English, in the course of which they were attacked from every thicket, both on their flank and rear, and harassed in their march, by 20,000 horse under Tippoo. Arrived at the town of Paniany, on the Malabar shore, their lines were assaulted by the enemy's force in four columns, including Lally's corps, when the forty-second regiment advancing to the charge, repelled the enemy. Tippoo now hearing of his father's death, immediately departed to take the necessary measures for securing his succession to the throne.
In the south of the Carnatic a French fleet landed 2000 men at Porto Novo early in 1782; and Tippoo having arrived with a large detachment from Hyder's army, by a brilliant and successful movement surrounded Colonel Brathwaite's force, consisting of a hundred Europeans, five hundred Sepoys, and three hundred horse, encamped upon the Coleroon, before there was the smallest suspicion of his march. Forming a hollow square, this little band held out for twenty-six hours, and repulsed every attack, until, exhausted with incessant conflict, they were at last broken by a charge of the French under Lally, and would have been all massacred as formerly, but for his vigorous and humane interference. Hyder was now enabled, by the succours he had received from France, to invest Cuddalore, which quickly surrendered, when he determined to undertake the siege of Wandewash. Its importance brought the army of Sir Eyre Coote to its relief; when Hyder still declined the hazards of a battle. The English general then proceeded to the attack of Arnee, the great depository of the enemy's warlike stores and necessaries. But Hyder outstripping the slow movements of the English force, hung upon their march; and, whilst they were galled by the attacks of his cavalry, he dexterously detached a division of his army, which carried off all his treasure from Arnee, and reinforced the garrison. In the retreat to Madras, after these operations, a regiment of European cavalry, drawn into an ambuscade by the skilful tactics of the enemy, was either killed or made prisoners. Whilst the English army was cantoned in Madras, Hyder, ever active and enterprising, was concerting with the French admiral an attack on Negapatnam, a settlement of the Dutch, which had been conquered by the English at the commencement of the Dutch war in 1780. But the French fleet having been brought to an action by the English, was prevented from co-operating in this well-planned enterprise. On the return of the army to Madras, Lord Macartney, who had arrived as governor in December 1781, now concerted a plan for the recovery of Cuddalore. But the admiral steadily refused co-operation in this, or apparently in any other operations of the land forces. On the 15th of October, one of the most dreadful tempests ever known occurred at Madras; the shore was in a short time strewn with the wreck of a hundred trading vessels, and famine raged in the city, multitudes daily perishing for want. The enemy had fortunately no information of the helpless and starving condition of the place, and considerable supplies of provisions were received from Bengal and the Circars.
Hyder Ali died in December 1782, at the age of eighty years; and this event produced a great and favourable change of affairs. The Mahratta war, undertaken in favour of the claims of Ragoba to the dignity of the peshwa, which had continued since 1778, was now also concluded by a peace. The capitulation by which a British force that had invaded the Mahratta country surrendered, having been violated, the Mahrattas joined the confederacy against the English. But by the great successes of General Goddard, who, in the course of three months, from January 1780, had reduced the province of Gujerat, and completely defeated Scindia, the Mahratta general, they were now detached from the alliance of Hyder, the great enemy of the English.
Tippoo, after he joined his army in the Carnatic, undertook no operation of consequence, and he was recalled to the defence of his own territories, which were assaulted by the enterprising movements of the English armies, both from the west and from the south. About the beginning of January 1783, a force concentrated at Merjee, on the western coast of India, about 300 miles north of Paniany, under General Mathews, after storming the forts of Onore, Aranpore, and Mangalore, on the sea coast, with the slaughter of every man taken in arms, stan-laid siege to Bednore, a rich capital of one of the Mysore provinces, which soon surrendered. A vast treasure, amounting to L800,000 in pagodas, besides jewels, was found in this place, which immediately occasioned disputes, in consequence of the general refusing to divide the booty among the captors. He was on this account superseded by the presidency, and the command given to Colonel Macleod. But the hope of spoil appears to have corrupted the virtue of the army, which was dispersed in plundering detachments over the country, when Tipoo suddenly took possession of Bednore, making prisoners of the English garrison, which capitulated, with General Mathews, and sending all of them in irons to the strong fortresses of Mysore. Mangalore was next besieged, and taken after a gallant resistance, on the 23rd of January 1784. In the mean time Colonel Fullarton, who commanded a force in the Southern Carnatic, having reduced to order the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, and taken, in April, May, and June, the forts of Caroor, Dindigul, and Daraporam, advanced to the strong fortress of Palacatcherry, which surrendered after a short siege. Coimboree was taken possession of in November, and every preparation was made for advancing to Seringapatam, and terminating the war by the capture of the enemy's capital, when a treaty was signed on the 11th of March 1784, upon the general basis of a mutual restitution of all conquests.
The state of affairs in Bengal under the administration of Mr Hastings now claims our attention, and we shall endeavour briefly to describe the leading transactions of that memorable period. The new council, to whose care was committed the administration of India, and of which Mr Hastings was president, commenced its deliberations in October 1774, with an inauspicious appearance of mutual coldness and jealousy, which quickly broke out into open dissension. The Rohilla war was the first subject of deliberation, and it unhappily afforded too good grounds for doubt and for inquiry. Other subjects succeeded, equally difficult to handle without offence, as they involved the governor in a suspicion of corruption in the business of the revenue. The rannee of Burdwan, a widow who enjoyed an extensive district, accused her agent the duan of corruption, and the English resident of being bribed to support or to connive at his iniquities. In the accounts that were presented to the council, a sum of 15,000 rupees was charged to Mr Hastings, and 4500 to his native secretary. Another accusation of the same nature was preferred by one of the natives, namely, that the phouzdar of Hooghly, out of the salary of 72,000 rupees which he received from the Company, returned 36,000 to Mr Hastings, and 4000 to the native secretary; and Mr Grant, accountant of the provincial council of Moorshedabad, produced a set of accounts, from which it appeared that Munny Begum, a concubine of the late Meer Jaffer, who had been appointed to the guardianship of the nabob by Mr Hastings, had received 967,693 rupees more than she had accounted for; and when pressed on this subject, she told that she had given 150,000 rupees to Mr Hastings for entertainment money, which was at the rate of L73,000 per annum, and the like sum to Mr Middleton, the agent of Mr Hastings. A still more serious charge was brought forward by the rajah Nundcomar, who had been the agent of Mr Hastings in the prosecution of Mahammed Reza Khan, daim or manager of the revenues of Bengal, whose embezzlements, as well as those of Shitabray, he now accused the governor-general of overlooking; and further exhibited the particulars of a sum of 354,105 rupees, which he affirmed that he had accepted for the appointment of Munny and Goondass to their respective dignities and powers. In answer to these accusations, Mr Hastings chiefly pleaded his dignity as governor-general. He resented them as personal insults; and when it was proposed to inquire into them by the other members of the board, he lost all calmness, and accused them of a design to supersede him in his office. "I declare," he said, "that I will not suffer Nundcomar to appear before the board as my accuser. I know what belongs to the dignity and character of the first member of this administration. I will not sit at this board as a criminal." After this he dissolved the council, in virtue of a power which he assumed as president. The majority declared the dissolution void, and continued the inquiry, when Nundcomar declared the particular sums which he himself had paid to the governor-general, gave in the names of several persons who were privy to those transactions, and presented a letter from Munny Begum, which, on examination of the seal, was found to be authentic, mentioning a gift of two lacs (L20,000) given to the governor by herself. The governor being called upon to refund, refused to acknowledge the authority of the council, and returned no answer. At this critical stage of the proceedings, a prosecution was instituted against Nundcomar, at the instance of the governor-general and his supporters in the council, which, after some ineffectual proceedings, was dropt. But a few days afterwards, Nundcomar, at the suit of a native, was arrested on a charge of forgery; tried before the supreme court by Sir Elijah Impey and a jury of Englishmen, though it was far from clear that the court had any jurisdiction over him, being a native of Hindustan; convicted on doubtful and contradictory evidence; and finally executed, amidst the tears and loud lamentations, and even shrieks of horror, of a vast assemblage of his countrymen. This transaction, viewed in all its bearings, leaves a stain on the character of Hastings, from which it has never been relieved by the zealous testimonials of his friends. In reviewing the whole evidence and circumstances of the case, we cannot well doubt, that if Nundcomar had not accused Mr Hastings, he would never have been arrested; that his real crime, therefore, was the charge which he had brought against Mr Hastings, and not the alleged forgery; and hence that he was tried and executed because he was a witness whose testimony it was more easy to put out of the way than to confute. If this be a just inference, Mr Hastings must be considered as guilty of murder, committed under the forms of law. This, we fear, is the character which must be fixed upon him by the impartial verdict of history; and his political merits, however magnified by his admirers, cannot be accepted for a moment as any palliation of his moral guilt.
In adverting, as we shall now do, to the transactions of the governor-general with the independent or tributary states of India, it may be observed, that when he assumed the government of Bengal, the Company still laboured under great pecuniary difficulties. Disorder and waste pervaded every department of the administration; the Company's servants were intent, as we have seen, on enriching themselves rather than their masters; and the consequence was a constant want of funds for the public service. The arduous duty of providing these now devolved upon the governor-general; and the necessities of the state, if they do not justify, afford at least a key to some of those dark, and, we must add, atrocious transactions, which distinguished his administration. Bengal
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1 Nine lacs sixty-seven thousand six hundred and ninety-three rupees. A lac of rupees is 100,000, and a crore is 100 lacs, or ten millions. We have adopted the English mode of notation, as more familiar to the reader. Hindustan had been exposed to such heavy exactions that the country was exhausted; and Mr Hastings, instead of adopting economy, and improving the revenue at home, sought relief in the plunder of foreign princes, who were now laid under contribution to the necessities of the state. The rajah Cheyt Sing, who ruled at Benares, was the son of Bulwunt Sing, who had sided with the English in the war with Sujah Dowlah, subahdar of Oude, and who had been confirmed in his inheritance by the British for a fixed tribute, which was paid with an exactness not very usual in India. Mr Hastings proposed in 1778 to increase this contribution; and because the rajah pleaded poverty, and required time, he became offended, replied to him in harsh and imperious terms, refused to allow time for raising the money, and threatened military execution in case of delay. These exactions were renewed from year to year, and increased, the rajah remonstrating in the most humble terms, and being treated on account of his remonstrances as a delinquent whom it was necessary to punish. "I was resolved," says Mr Hastings, "to draw from his guilt the means of relieving the Company's distresses." This was truly his object, and he accordingly found out guilt in the whole conduct of the rajah, though it was meek and humble, such as the weak naturally assume when they are in the power of the strong. At last Mr Hastings proceeded to Benares, and, notwithstanding the supplications of the rajah, craving forgiveness if he had offended, on the ground of his youth and inexperience, he ordered him under arrest; a tumult arose between the Sepoys and the inhabitants, in which the former were all put to the sword; the rajah fled; war commenced, which ended in his discomfiture, and he was dethroned. His mother, the wife of Bulwunt Sing, the faithful ally of the British, took refuge in the fort of Bidgegor; she surrendered her treasure on condition of being allowed protection for herself and female attendants. But the articles were shamefully violated; and she and her followers were plundered of their effects, and their persons subjected to the rude examination of the licentious soldiery and the followers of the camp. In a letter, Mr Hastings says, "I think that every demand she has made to you, except that of safety and respect for her person, is unreasonable." He afterwards adds, "I apprehend she will contrive to defraud the captors of a considerable part of the booty, by being suffered to retire without examination. But this is your consideration, not mine. I should be sorry that your officers and soldiers lost any part of the reward to which they are so well entitled." The ideas implied in this hint not to suffer these illustrious females to pass without examination cannot be mistaken; it is sufficient to sanction the grossest outrages; and it appears, indeed, that those to whom it was addressed were not slow to profit by the instructions given them.
The treasures of Cheyt Sing and his widowed mother fell so far short of the expectations of Mr Hastings, that they did not even pay the expense of quelling the revolt which he had occasioned; and hence this transaction, impolitic as well as unjust, increased the embarrassments of the Company. The governor-general was therefore compelled to look elsewhere for treasures that might be profitable to the state, and he fixed his eye on the two princesses of Oude, known by the name of the Begums, the one the mother of Sujah Dowlah, the late nabob, eighty years of age, and the other his widow, and mother of the reigning nabob, who were possessed of treasures to a great amount, and of jag-hiaries or estates, from which they maintained their own state and dignity, and the numerous families of the preceding nabobs, with a suitable train of attendants. The nabob of Oude, Sujah Dowlah, had long been unable to pay the contributions imposed on him by the English; he was in arrear to the amount of £1,400,000, and Mr Hastings now entered into a negotiation with him for the seizure, or resumption, to use the official phrase, of the jaghires or estates which belonged to the Begums, for the purpose of enabling him to pay up this arrear. It is unnecessary to dwell on the proceedings by which a son was persuaded or compelled to aid in the spoliation of his mother and grandmother. Suffice it to observe, that Mr Middleton, the agent of Mr Hastings, in order to extort the surrender of the treasure from the princesses, ordered the zenana, the dwelling of the princesses at Fyzabad, with their numerous families, to be blockaded by troops; and these measures failing to obtain the treasures, the eunuchs Jawar Ali Khan and Behar Ali Khan, the confidential servants of the princesses, were imprisoned and put in irons, and were kept from all food, and exposed to secret tortures. These dreadful measures so wrought upon the feelings of the princesses, that the elder Begum surrendered the treasure to the amount of the nabob's bond given to the Company in 1779-1780. But another balance still remained, and new severities were applied to the ministers of the princesses, which drew from them an engagement to complete the demanded sum; but they were still tortured; and though the princesses now delivered their whole effects, even to their table utensils, and had paid upwards of £50,000 before the 23d of February 1782, and the resident himself reported "that no proof had been obtained of their having more," yet the prisoners were not released, as they earnestly entreated. On the contrary, they were threatened with greater severities to enforce a payment of £25,000, according to their account, and of £50,000, according to the resident, still due on the extorted bond; and though they had now lain two months in irons, were sickly, and the officer who guarded them wrote to the resident Middleton, craving that their irons might be taken off, and that they might be allowed to walk in the garden, the nature of his orders allowed no mitigation of their sufferings; they were even threatened a few days after, on the 1st of June, with being removed, and were actually removed to Lucknow, where they were tortured in secret, of which the letter addressed by the assistant resident to the commanding officer of the English guard affords the odious evidence. The cruelties to which the women and children of the zenana, composing the household of the late rajahs, were exposed, are truly shocking to humanity. They were distressed for want of food to that degree that they uttered the most pitiable cries, and were even driven to the extremity of appearing publicly before the Sepoys, an exposure dreaded more than death by Hindu females of rank; and these barbarities were executed under the orders of Englishmen, a disgrace to the name, and by English officers, unwilling agents, we may well believe, in such cruelties, and whose letters describe the extreme sufferings of these helpless females. In the letter of the commanding officer, it is said, "they are in a starving condition, having sold all their clothes and necessaries, and now have not wherewithal to support nature." "Last night the women of the zenana assembled on the tops of the buildings, crying in the most
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1 We subjoin the two letters. The first, dated January 1782, is addressed by the resident to the officer guarding the eunuchs: "Sir,—When this note is delivered to you, I have to desire that you order the two prisoners to be put in irons, keeping them from all food, &c. agreeable to my instructions of yesterday. (Signed) Nath. Middleton." Letter of the assistant resident to the commanding officer of the English guard: "Sir,—The nabob having determined to inflict corporal punishment upon the prisoners under your guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they shall come, may have free access to the prisoners, and be permitted to do with them as they shall see proper." Hindustan.
office; cruelty, the secret torture by his agents of innocent Hindustani individuals, by means of famine, stripes, and imprisonment; violence threatened to females by the same agents as the means of extortion, he chiding them all the while for delay; his bargain for the extermination of the Rohillas by fire and sword; and the provinces of Oude and Benares reduced, under his unhappy rule, from contentment and prosperity to desolation; we can scarcely admit the palliations suggested by the candour of the historian. Mr Hastings was impeached, on his return to Europe, before the House of Peers, of high crimes and misdemeanours, of which he was declared innocent by a great majority of his judges. But there were various circumstances which detracted from the value and authority of this acquittal. The House of Lords, from its constitution and character, is unfit to act as a judicial tribunal. It is a political assembly, consisting of the two opposite parties, the one against, and the other in favour of the ruling power; it is thus exposed to the corrupting influence of politics, and is generally ruled, even in its judicial capacity, by the minister of the day, of which, in our more recent history, we have had ample proofs. It wants impartiality, therefore, that essential attribute of a court of justice; and there were, besides, in the present case other sources of delusion. The hope of sharing in the wealth of India had now shed its baneful influence over the land; that hope swayed all the higher classes, including the peers, who lent an unwilling ear to the charges; and this, joined to the reputed favour of King George III. for the accused, rendered the prosecution unpopular. The value of the acquittal was also lessened by the mode of conducting the defence. Mr Hastings was far from courting inquiry; on the contrary, he availed himself of all the legal subtleties of a technical defence. He constantly objected to evidence, and to the production of papers. He acted wisely, if he was guilty, in screening his conduct under legal pleas; but not so if he was innocent, because by resisting inquiry he hindered his innocence from being made clear, to the confusion of his enemies.
The mal-administration of India had now become a standing topic of declamation at home, in which all parties in parliament eagerly joined; and as the privileges of the Company were to expire after the 25th of March 1780, some new arrangement became necessary for the future government of India. Negotiations for this purpose had been begun between the ministers and the directors; and an act was at length passed in 1781, which, besides regulating the dividend, and other financial matters, more fully detailed in the account given at the conclusion of this article, of the commercial transactions of the Company, ordained that the directors should communicate to the ministers all despatches sent to India with respect to revenues, and to civil and military affairs. In 1783 Mr Fox brought forward his celebrated measure for regulating the commercial concerns of the Company at home, and for the better government of their territories abroad. He proposed to supersede the two existing courts of proprietors and directors, by vesting the whole administration of the territories, revenues, and commerce of India, in seven commissioners, to be chosen by parliament; these to have the power of appointing and of dismissing all persons in the service of the Company; nine assistant directors, being proprietors of India stock to the amount of L.2000, to be named by the legislature, and to assist
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See Hastings' Trial. Letters of Captain Leonard Jaques, of 6th and 7th March 1782; also letter of Major Gilpin, dated 30th October 1782. At last the unhappy females became desperate from want, and resolved to break into the market-place; and with this view "they arranged themselves in the following order; the children in the front, behind them the ladies of the seraglio, and behind them again their attendants." They were, however, opposed in their intentions by the Sepoys. On the following day their clamours were more violent than usual. It was resolved to drive them back by force. "The Sepoys," it is added, "consequently assembled, and each one being provided with a bludgeon, they drove them by dint of beating into the zenana." (Letter to the Resident at Lucknow.) Hindustan—in the details of commerce, and to be under the authority of the superior board. This was the substance of Mr Fox's bill, by which the government of India was transferred from the directors and proprietors to these seven parliamentary commissioners. There were, however, numerous other provisions for securing the punishment of Indian delinquents, for ensuring publicity; and all the serious abuses which had been committed by the servants of the Company were specially enumerated and forbidden. Monopolies were abolished, the land-tax was to be fixed, and it was provided that the zemindars should be reinstated in their dignities and lands.
In 1784 Mr Pitt introduced a new bill for the better administration of Indian affairs, the chief distinction of which from the other was the institution of a board of control, or of six commissioners, to be chosen, not by parliament, but by the king, who were not to supersede the court of directors, but only to "check, superintend, and control" all the acts and concerns which in anywise relate to the civil or military government or revenues of the Company's dominions; and with this view all letters and orders were to be submitted, before being sent out to India, to the inspection of the board, who might alter and amend these as they should deem expedient; and all communications from India were in like manner to be submitted to its inspection, and this board might even transmit orders to India without being submitted to the directors. The power of the court of proprietors was greatly diminished; a secret committee of directors was appointed; a provision was made for enforcing the disclosure by individuals of the fortunes brought home by them from India; and a new tribunal was erected for the trial of offences committed in that country. The nomination of the commander-in-chief was vested exclusively in the king; that of governor-general, presidents, and members of all the councils, in the directors, subject to the approbation of the king; which clause, rendering the approbation of the king necessary, was afterwards repealed, but he was still allowed the power of recall. The servants in India were forbidden to engage in war, to receive presents, or to disobey orders transmitted by the board; and provision was made for the restoration to the zemindars of the lands from which they had been ejected. In the year 1786 no less than three acts were passed for the amendment of this act, by one of which power was given to the governor-general to act without and even against the consent of this council; by another the military was subjected to the civil power; and by a third act, the most efficient clause of Mr Pitt's bill was repealed, which ordained every public functionary of the Company, on his return to Europe, to make a full disclosure on oath of the property he possessed. This was considered as too severe a test for the Company's servants, though it could not have affected those who acted honestly. It is the guilty only who suffer by inquiries of this nature.
Mr Pitt's bill defined rather loosely the respective powers of the board of control and the directors; and the consequence was, that they speedily came into collision. The first question which came under their joint consideration, was the settlement of the nabob of Arcot's debts. These debts were owing to the Company's servants, and it was not very clear that any equivalent had been given for them. Paul Benfield, a principal creditor, who, as we have already mentioned, acted as a junior clerk of the Company, with a salary of some hundreds a year, advanced a claim, which, with interest, amounted to L592,000. Such transactions, therefore, were of so very doubtful a character, that they presented a prima facie case for inquiry; and Mr Pitt's bill accordingly provided that the court of directors "should take into consideration the origin and justice of such demands." But how great was their surprise when the board of control ordered that these debts, some of them contracted in 1767, should be paid without inquiry, and with the addition of interest at the rate of twelve per cent. The directors remonstrated against this proceeding, but in vain. The board ordered the debts to be paid immediately, though, in a similar case in 1805, the commissioners appointed to inquire into the more modern debts of the nabob of Arcot, out of claims to the amount of L20,390,570, allowed only L1,346,795. These facts too clearly point to the parliamentary influence of the East India interest as the true spring of this corrupt transaction; and the same interest also prevailed in subverting the plan which Lord Macartney had adopted for the management of the Carnatic revenues, and in restoring the administration of the nabob, which was a system of misrule that impoverished the country exactly as it tended to enrich the Company's servants. This, and other differences which arose, induced the directors to question the powers of the board of control; and a declaratory act was in consequence brought forward by Mr Pitt explaining these powers, according to the interpretation, not of the directors, but of the ministers. This act vests the real power in the board of control, though in practice a large share both of power and patronage has been still left to the directors.
Lord Cornwallis assumed the government of India in September 1786. He had ample instructions both from Tipu Sultan and the court of directors and the board of control; and he carried into effect several very important reforms, both in the management of the revenue and in the administration of justice, whilst in his arduous contests with Tippoo he fully maintained the honour of the British arms. To the native and dependent powers his conduct was moderate and just; and one of his first cares was to relieve the nabob of Oude from the extortions of the former government, by which the country was impoverished, and in many places deserted and desolate. The wretched condition of the people is described in strong terms by Lord Cornwallis; and he now reduced the annual payment of the nabob from eighty-four lacs, equal to L940,000, to fifty lacs, and left in his hands the internal government of his country. But the mind of the governor-general was soon engrossed by other and more momentous concerns—Tippoo, who naturally viewed with jealousy the growing ascendency of the British, began to take hostile measures. He descended from the Ghauts with a large military force, and spread alarm along the whole western coast. At length, throwing off all disguise, he commenced an attack on the rajah of Travancore, an ally of the British, and invaded his dominions. Lord Cornwallis now prepared for war. He formed a league with the Mahrattas and the nizam, who agreed to aid with a military force in the approaching contest. The plan of the campaign was, that a division of the British under General Meadows should penetrate through the province of Coimbetore into the heart of the Mysore country, whilst General Abercromby should reduce the territory of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar, and Colonel Kelly remain to protect the Carnatic from the ravages of the enemy. The division of General Meadows marched from the plain of Trichinopoly on the 15th of June 1790, and all the fortresses in the line of its march, namely, Caroor, Daraporam, Errood, Coimbetore, Sattimungul, Dindigul, and Palacatcherry, were necessarily occupied, by which the army was divided into three bodies, one at Coimbetore, another at Sattimungul, sixty miles distant, and a third at Palacatcherry, about thirty miles in the rear. In this situation, Colonel Floyd at Sattimungul, was attacked and forced to retreat with loss, and with great difficulty effected a junction with General Meadows. The sultan now resolved to attack, and, if possible, surprise the English chain of posts. He Hindustan retook Errood; approached Coimbatore, which had been previously reinforced; and afterwards turned to Daraparam, which capitulated. Colonel Maxwell with his corps being ordered to invade Barramahal, the sultan, leaving part of his army to watch General Meadows, hastened to attack, and, if possible, to cut off this detachment. The British, and a regiment of cavalry, inveigled in a defile, were driven back with great loss. But the able dispositions of Colonel Maxwell frustrated any further attempts on the part of Tippoo; and he soon afterwards effected his junction with General Meadows. The sultan having thus succeeded in defeating the original plan for the invasion of Mysore by a rapid march into the Carnatic, arrived before the English depot of Trichinopoly, whither he was followed by General Meadows, and afterwards to Trincomalee; and thus ended this indecisive campaign. The Malabar country was in the course of three weeks completely reduced under the British power by the force under General Abercromby.
Lord Cornwallis now resolved to assume the command of the army, and, advancing to the Ghaut Mountains in the direction of Velore, to lay siege to Bangalore, and thence to proceed against Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore. Early in February 1791 he was on his march to Velore; and on the 5th of March the English army sat down before Bangalore, which on the 21st was carried by assault; an event which, fixing the seat of war in the enemy's territory, proved decisive of its success. On the 28th Lord Cornwallis began his march from Bangalore, in the course of which he was joined by the nizam's force, amounting to 10,000 cavalry, which were found to be of little service. On the 13th of May the British army reached Anika, about nine miles from Seringapatam, destitute both of provisions and of draught cattle. It was the intention of Lord Cornwallis that General Abercromby, ascending through the passes of the Ghauts from Malabar with the Bombay army, and the Mahratta force under Purseram Bhow, should penetrate into the centre of the sultan's dominions, and co-operate with the main army in the attack of the capital. Of the movements of this force Lord Cornwallis had received no intelligence; and having defeated Tippoo's army in the vicinity of Seringapatam, he now resolved, as the Cavery was too large to be crossed in safety, to ascend to a ford at Cansambaddy, eight miles above Seringapatam. In this march the troops were exposed to unexampled hardships; to disease, from scarcity of food, and of the means of conveyance owing to the complete failure of the draught cattle; and all their calamities were aggravated by the small-pox, which raged in the camp. It was now apparent that the army could only be saved by a timely retreat, and by the sacrifice of the battering train and all the heavy equipments. On the 21st of May, accordingly, the retreat was begun; and immediate orders were sent to General Abercromby to follow the same course, which occasioned a similar destruction of the battering train and other heavy equipments. So great was the destruction, that the ground on which the army of Lord Cornwallis had encamped at Cansambaddy was covered to an extent of several miles with the carcasses of the cattle and horses; and the last sight of the gun-carriages, carts, and stores of the battering train, left in flames, was the melancholy spectacle which the troops beheld, as they passed along, quitting this deadly camp.
Fortunately for the British army, it was met, before the end of the first day's march, by the allied force of the Mahrattas, under Purseram Bhow and Hurry Punt. Every despatch sent to these chiefs had been intercepted by the vigilance of the enemy, and they were astonished when they learned the disasters which had been occasioned by their delay. Their arrival, which convinced their sincerity in the cause, produced general satisfaction in the Hindustan-British camp, and a conviction, that the ruin of the sultan, though delayed, was now certain and inevitable. Tippoo, Treaty overawed by this formidable confederacy, made overtures with Tip to Lord Cornwallis for the conclusion of a peace; but that no nobleman would listen to no terms of accommodation in which his allies were not included, and which were not preceded by the release of all the prisoners that had been detained during the present and former wars. The arrival of the Mahratta troops, amounting to 32,000 cavalry, however fortunate it might be deemed at the critical moment in which it happened, brought little additional effective strength to the allied army. Their battalions were unwieldy, irregular, and ill disciplined; their force had declined as much as Tippoo's had advanced in improvement; and they were at present far inferior to those troops who, under Madha Row, had defeated Hyder Ali in 1772.
The combined armies amounted to about 80,000 men; and if to these be added four times the number of camp followers, brinjaries or grain carriers, and the carriage department, the number of strangers to be subsisted in the Mysore alone could not be much less than half a million. That no distrust, jealousy, or counteraction, should have disturbed the combined operations of such an immense multitude, must be ascribed to the unexampled moderation and the vigilant conduct of the commander-in-chief. Such a vast army had never taken the field in India in the British cause; yet no murmurs, nor even the slightest appearance of distrust, were ever manifested by the allies towards the British commander. They submitted with implicit confidence, not only to his arrangements in carrying on the war, but, which was little to be expected among allies so much alive to their particular interests, they acquiesced in his distribution of the conquered territories, with a deference which evinced the most perfect confidence in his liberality and justice. With these coadjutors, Lord Cornwallis set out in the month of June towards Bangalore. He determined on a new and circuitous route northward by Naggemungulum; and in order to facilitate the communication between the Mysore and the Carnatic, from which the supplies were chiefly to be drawn, the various hill forts which command the different passes were to be reduced. Amongst these forts, remarkable for natural strength, Oossoor, Rayacottahud, and Nundydroog, were assaulted and taken. There remained Kistnaghyery, Savendroog, and Ootradroog, on the first of which an unsuccessful attack was made. Savendroog consists of a vast mountainous rock, which rises above half a mile in perpendicular height above its own base, which covers a space of eight or ten miles in circumference. This rock is surrounded by walls on every side, and defended by cross barriers wherever it was deemed accessible. Towards the upper part, the immense pile is almost precipitous, and has the further advantage of being divided on the top into two hills, which have each their defences, and are capable of being maintained independently of the garrison in the lower works. To the siege of this tremendous fortress, Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart, commanding the right wing of the main army, was appointed. The attempt commenced on the 10th of December. In three days a practicable breach was effected, and both hills were stormed, with only one private soldier wounded. Colonel Stewart's detachment marched in two days against Ootradroog, another fortress strengthened by five different walls, and so steep as to prove tenable by a handful of men against the largest army. After the refusal of a summons to surrender, the lower fort was escaladed with such rapidity, that the kiladar requested a parley. But on some appearance of treachery in the upper fort, the assault was ordered; some of the gates were instantly broken, others were es- Hindustan caladed, till five or six different walls on the face of the steep rock were passed, when the troops gained the summit, and put the garrison to the sword. The assault of these fortresses, which had hitherto been deemed impregnable, made so serious an impression on the enemy, that in none of the hill forts, however inaccessible, did they afterwards make any attempt to resist the British troops. Hence the strong mountainous country between Bangalore and Seringapatam, which, studded with forts, had so much checked all communication, now afforded security to the convoys. These henceforth reached the army without opposition; and the supplies of warlike stores of every description were as completely re-established as they had been at the beginning of the last campaign.
To prevent any future scarcity of the great article of grain, the commander-in-chief encouraged the native binnaries, a class of men of whom we have already given some account. They form a peculiar caste, who are traders in grain, and whose utility is so universally acknowledged that they are regarded as neutral in war, and are not hindered by either of the belligerents from carrying supplies of grain to the other. By constantly affording regular payment and a good price to these native merchants, they supplied the camp to an extent far exceeding what could ever be furnished by the most extensive carriage establishment. With such ample supplies, preparations were made for the commencement of the campaign. The Bombay troops, destined again to act from the same quarter as last season, marched from Cananore, and arrived at the foot of Poodicherrim Ghaut in the month of December. Several weeks of hard labour were necessary to drag the artillery through woods extending nearly sixty miles, and over mountains of immense height, when this force, consisting of 8400, with all their baggage and artillery, and a supply of rice for forty days, penetrated with safety into the Mysore frontier, which they reached on the 23rd of January 1792. To facilitate the return of the army, batteries were constructed to defend the pass; a precaution which, if the sultan had not overlooked, he would have suffered no invasion on this quarter of his dominions.
The Mahratta forces, after taking the important post of Simoga, which, however, was soon retaken by one of Tippoo's generals, and defeating Reza Saib and nearly 10,000 of the sultan's cavalry, effected their junction with the Bombay army, though somewhat later than the appointed season. The main army under Lord Cornwallis, being joined at Ootradroog by the battering train under Colonel Duff, and the last convoys under Colonel Floyd, and also by the army of the nizam, was at last fully prepared to resume its enterprises against the sultan, who, in imitation of his father when formerly attacked in 1767, had encamped with the whole of his force in a strong position under the walls of his capital. On the 1st of February the allied armies marched from Hooleadroog, the last hill fort of which they had taken possession, lying at the distance of only forty miles from Seringapatam. The last march, of the 5th of February, stretched across a range of barren hills lying six miles north-east of Seringapatam. From these heights a view of the whole city was presented to the army, and the encampment of the sultan under its walls. Every circumstance was eagerly viewed by our troops; and, from the sultan's position, it was evident that he meant to defend the place in person, and to make it the grand concluding scene of the war. The camp of the allies was pitched on the north side of the island. The British formed the front line, and extended along both sides of the Lockany, a small river which at this place flows into the Cavery. The reserve was placed a mile in the rear, to afford space for the baggage and stores; and the nizam and Mahrattas were stationed still farther in the rear, to prevent interference with the British camp.
Opposite to Seringapatam, on both sides of the river, a large space was enclosed by a bound hedge, which marks the limits of the capital, and afforded a refuge to the peasants during the incursions of cavalry. Tippoo's front line, or fortified camp, lay immediately behind this hedge, where it was defended by heavy cannon in the redoubts, and by a large field train advantageously placed. In this line there were a hundred pieces of artillery, and in the fort and island which formed his second line there were above thrice that number. The redoubts on his left were intrusted to two of his best officers, and a corps of Europeans commanded by Monsieur Vigie; Sheik Ansar, a general of established reputation, was stationed on the right, and the Carighaut Hill; whilst Tippoo himself commanded the centre, having his tent pitched in the sultan's redoubt. The fort and island, where there was the greatest number of guns, were intrusted to Syed Saib and other commanders. The whole army of the sultan thus stationed consisted of about 50,000 men.
The whole attention of Tippoo, on finding that he could not keep the field, was directed to the fortifying of this camp, and the strengthening of his defences in the fort and island, under the idea that the want of supplies, or the approach of the monsoon, would again force his enemies to abandon their enterprise, as they had been compelled to do on former occasions. In these circumstances, Lord Cornwallis resolved on the bold enterprise of a night attack on the enemy's fortified camp. Accordingly, on the evening of the 6th of February 1792, just after the troops had left the parade, orders were issued for an attack at seven o'clock, of the enemy's camp and lines, in three divisions. The British camp was left to be defended by the artillery and cavalry; whilst the assailants, who were instantly furnished with guides and scaling ladders, marched in perfect confidence that muskets alone, for they were unprovided with artillery, would prove the finest instruments for opening their way into the enemy's camp. The allies of the British, to whom this design was not communicated till after the columns had marched, were struck with surprise and consternation on learning that Lord Cornwallis, like a common soldier, was personally to lead the attack on the enemy's fortified camp. They not only deemed his success impossible, but they dreaded that the ruin of the allied army would be involved in the attempt.
The three columns into which the assailants had been divided marched with equal intrepidity to execute the different objects which had been allotted them. Many obstacles intervened; various conflicts ensued in different quarters of the enemy's camp; each party was uncertain of the fate of the rest, and each individual of his associates. The return of day at last removed their fears and uncertainty, by disclosing the complete success which had crowned their exertions throughout the whole line of attack. The enemy having lost all their positions on the north side of the river, where the siege was to commence, and almost the whole of the island, every material object of the assault was secured. On the side of the British, the loss, though considerable, amounting to 536 men, was small in proportion to the importance of the victory and the disasters of the enemy, of whom it afterwards appeared that 4000 had been slain in the various conflicts during this night of enterprise, danger, and death, besides a much greater loss which was suffered by desertion.
The British army, now in possession of the island and town of Seringapatam, and flushed with the pride of victory, immediately began to make the necessary preparations for the siege of the fortress or citadel. The mosques industan, and religious buildings on this enchanting island, watered by the Cavery, and the seat of perpetual verdure, were converted into hospitals for the wounded and sick; and the trees, now for the first time assailed by the axe, furnished materials for fascines and gabions for the approaching siege. The sultan was now seriously alarmed; and after vain efforts to retard the siege by a distant cannonade, which occasioned little injury, he at last began to meditate seriously on the necessity of a peace. In order to smooth the way for his overtures, he previously liberated two British officers, who had been detained contrary to capitulation in Coimbatore. These officers, who had not been treated with his usual rigour, he loaded with presents, and made the bearers of a letter to Lord Cornwallis, suing for peace. He at the same time had recourse to another daring expedient, which might have been attended with fatal consequences. He despatched a small party of horsemen in the night to surprise the tent of Lord Cornwallis, and to put him to death. The party were detected by their eager inquiries after the commander's tent; and being fired upon, effected their retreat. The Bombay army, which was at this time approaching, effected its junction with the main army on the 16th; and on the second night after this event the trenches were opened, and a parallel formed within eight hundred yards of the north face of the fort. General Abercromby, stationed on the southern quarter with a strong detachment, was ordered to cannonade it from the heights. This attack being directed against the weakest part of the fort, occasioned the greatest alarm. Tippoo himself, therefore, at the head of his troops, marched to dislodge the general. Being supported by the guns of the fort, he maintained the action for the whole day; but towards evening he was forced to retreat. This desperate effort was the last that Tippoo made for his defence. His affairs hastened to a crisis; cabals were formed by the chiefs, and his troops deserted in multitudes during the night. He saw his capital blockaded on every side by a powerful army, plentifully supplied with provisions, which must infallibly reduce his troops by famine, should they even prove successful in repelling its assaults; even his last hopes of relief from the monsoon, and the swelling of the river, were thus finally cut off.
On the 23rd of February, therefore, the preliminaries of peace were signed by Tippoo, amidst the conflicting emotions of pride, resentment, and fear; and orders were issued to the troops on both sides to cease from further hostilities; a stipulation of which the dread of an immediate assault alone enforced the observance.
By the terms of this treaty, Tippoo was compelled to pay, as an indemnification for the expenses of the war, three crores and thirty lacs of rupees, at two instalments, the first to be advanced immediately, and the second at the end of four months. Other articles of this instrument provided further, that all the prisoners taken from the allied powers, from the time of Hyder Ali, should be unconditionally restored; that no less than one half of his territories should be ceded to the allies, and that two of Tippoo Sultan's three eldest sons should be given as hostages for the due performance of the treaty.
About noonday on the 26th, the young princes, the one eight, and the other ten years of age, mounted on their elephants richly caparisoned, and attended with a splendid retinue, left the fort, the walls and ramparts of which were crowded with spectators. Amidst the vast multitudes whom curiosity or affection had drawn out to witness this scene, Tippoo himself was beheld standing above a high gateway, through which, as they passed, the princes were saluted by the guns of the fort; a compliment which they again received as they approached the British camp. They were seated in silver howdahs, attended by their father's minister and a numerous retinue. The procession which they thus formed was equally grand and interesting. It was led by several camel hircarras and standard-bearers, carrying green flags suspended from rockets, followed by one hundred pikemen, with spears inlaid with silver. Their guard of two hundred Sepoys, and a party of horse, brought up the rear.
Lord Cornwallis, attended by his staff, and the principal officers of his army, and a battalion of Sepoys, received them at the door of his tent, and embraced them with a cordiality and tenderness that resembled parental affection. The manners, dress, and appearance of the young princes themselves, formed an interesting spectacle to their European hosts. They were clothed in red turbans and long white muslin gowns, everywhere sparkling with emeralds, rubies, and pearls. Thus attired, the young princes, immediately after their reception, were seated on each side of Lord Cornwallis, when Gulam Ali, the head vakeel of Tippoo, thus addressed the British general:
"These children were this morning the sons of the sultan my master; their situation is now changed; they must look up to your lordship as their father." The scene now became most interesting; the faces of the children brightened up; and not only their attendants, but all the spectators, were delighted to observe, that any fears they might have harboured were removed, and that they would soon be reconciled to their change of situation. After being regaled, in the eastern manner, with ottar of roses and betel-nut, the princes were presented each with a gold watch from Lord Cornwallis, a gift from which they seemed to receive great delight. Lord Cornwallis next day visited them in their tents; and each of them made him a present of a Persian sword, and he made them a present of some elegant fire-arms in return.
Some difficulty occurred in adjusting the terms of a definitive treaty. When the territory of the Coorga raja, in particular, was required, the demand seemed unexpected both by the sultan and his ministers, and was at first received with astonishment and disdain. This raja was considered as a chief cause of the war, and Tippoo, therefore, wished to crush him. Lord Cornwallis seemed equally resolute in his defence; for he again manned the works, and threatened to recommence the attack. Happily, his stock of provisions was ample; and although upwards of 400,000 strangers and half a million of cattle were daily to be fed, the supply was sufficient for the whole; whilst one million sterling of the fine imposed on Tippoo had already been paid. The firm determination of the commander-in-chief, aided by these circumstances, which were not unknown to the sultan, damped his resolution. His resentment cooled, and he finally acceded to the terms agreed upon, and copies of the treaty were delivered to the confederated powers.
From the conclusion of this treaty, dictated to Tippoo Nabob of by an English army at the gates of his capital, no great event occurs in the history of India till the renewal of the war in 1798, during the administration of Lord Mornington. The affairs of the nabob of Oude, and his dominions, were both hastening to ruin under his own mismanagement and that of the English; and, with a full knowledge of this, his sway was now extended over the district of Rampore in the Rohilla country, granted to Fyzoolah Khan, the Rohilla chief, who survived the ruin of his nation, and who died at an advanced age in 1794, leaving the territory of which he was ruler in a high state of cul-
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1 For the substance of this account, see Major-general Dirom's narrative of this campaign. On the pretence of the usurpation of the reigning prince, who had made his way to the throne by the murder of his brother, the British troops made war on the Rohillas, and defeated them. The treasures of the late chief, amounting to 332,000 gold mohurs (£607,000), were given to the vizir or ruler of Oude, who returned twelve lacs of rupees (£127,000) to the British army; ten lacs of revenue were assigned for the support of the lawful prince, now dethroned; and the unhappy country was handed over to be pillaged and destroyed by the vizir and his English allies. He soon afterwards died, and was succeeded by Mirza Ali or Vizir Ali, who was set aside by the English on the reputed spuriousness of his birth, and Saadat Ali, the eldest surviving son of Sujah Dowlah, was placed on the throne. The annual subsidy to the English was at the same time raised to seventy-six lacs of rupees.
The Nabob Mahommmed Ali, the first ally of the English, died in 1795, at the age of seventy-eight, and was succeeded by Qasid-ul-Omrah, his eldest son. Lord Hothart, governor of Madras, now determined to interfere with a strong hand in the affairs of the Carnatic, and, if possible, to rescue the country from the merciless exactions to which it had been exposed. These evils he describes to arise from the numerous loans of the English to the nabob. "Some of the principal houses of business in Madras," he observes, "or even some of the Company's servants, enter into an agreement with the nabob for the payment of sums which may have become due to the Company's treasury. They receive a mortgage upon a portion of the territory. To render this availing, they stipulate for the appointment of the manager of the territory. It is also requisite to establish an understanding with the military commanding officer of the district. And then the chain of power is complete. Then the unhappy ryots (husbandmen) are delivered over to the uncontrolled operations of men who have an interest in nothing but exacting the greatest sums in the shortest time; of men hardened by practice, and with consciences lulled to rest by the delusive opiate of interest upon interest."
Lord Hothart prepared to remove these evils by assuming the management of the nabob's revenues, and, in short, the internal government of the country. But these arrangements being opposed by the supreme government, were not at this time carried into effect.
The British had now acquired an undisputed ascendency in India. The other ruling powers were the Mahattas, under the Peshwa and Scindia; the nizam of the Deccan, an ally and dependent of the British; and Tippoo, so greatly humbled and weakened by the late war as to be no longer formidable. Each of these powers was jealous of the others, though the balance of power was chiefly endangered by the ascendency of the British. The nizam, after the conclusion of the war with Tippoo, was extremely desirous of forming an alliance with the English as a defence against the encroachments of the Mahattas, who, he was well informed, were planning an incursion into his dominions, for the purpose of levying the contribution of the chout, amounting to one fourth of the land revenues, to which they laid claim, on condition of guaranteeing the remainder. The English, though bound to the nizam by a treaty offensive and defensive, refused to join in any alliance against the Mahattas, who, under the command of Dowlut Row Scindia, Mahadjee Scindia being lately dead, now invaded the nizam's territories, and having defeated his army and shut him in one of his fortresses, dictated a treaty of peace to him, by which he ceded a country yielding thirty-five lacs of revenue, paid them a large sum, and gave up his minister as an hostage for the performance of these conditions.
Lord Mornington arrived in Calcutta as governor-general in May 1798, and he had scarcely been a month in India when he ordered "an immediate attack" on Tippoo Sultan, not upon any tangible ground of offence, for it was not asserted that he had violated a single article of the last treaty, but upon vague accusations of alleged hostility and correspondence with the French, against whom the new governor-general had so thoroughly imbibed the prejudices of the day, that the mere suspicion of such a connection seemed sufficient to justify an "immediate attack." Tippoo, once his once formidable but now humbled power, Tippoo, as the event too fatally for himself proved, was unprepared for war. Stripped of half his dominions and revenues by the last treaty, he had not the means of maintaining war; whilst the power of his rivals was formidably increased, and their numerous and well-appointed armies, and extended dominions, justly excited the dread and the jealousy of the native powers, and probably of Tippoo amongst others. But the humbled king of Mysore was no longer himself an object of jealousy and dread; the last treaty was dictated by a victorious army at the gates of his capital; its terms, from his unprovoked aggression of the British allies, were necessarily severe, and no circumstance had since occurred to justify the British in exacting additional securities from the fallen prince. That he was the enemy, the natural enemy, to use a common and much abused phrase, of the foreigners who now trampled on the independence of India, no one can doubt. They were his rivals in the great contest for the dominion of the country; they were the gainers, he the loser, in this game of ambition; and who can doubt, that in such a situation he should feel the stings of disappointed pride, and that he should hate the English, as it was clear that they hated him, from their continual and unmeasured abuse of him? But whatever might have been the feeling of Tippoo towards the British, certainly no hostile act was proved against him, nor anything beyond vague surmise. The governor-general, finding he could make no immediate attack on the sultan, secretly proceeded with his military preparations, and as these advanced, his surmises were converted into certainty, and he rose in his demands. His views were at first limited to the establishment of an English resident at Serinapatanam, and to the dismission and perpetual exclusion of all the French from his armies and dominions. He now insisted, in order to prevent all communication by the sea-coast with the French, on the cession of the maritime province of Canara, and the payment of a considerable sum of money by Tippoo to defray the expense of the military preparations for his own destruction. In answer to these arrogant demands for additional securities, Tippoo referred to the existing treaty between the parties, and expressed the greatest surprise at the measures of precaution and self-defence adopted by the Company. The governor-general construed this reply into a new proof of hostility, and accused him of prevarication, falsehood, and criminal evasion; and Tippoo, alarmed, as he well might be, by the great military preparations of his known enemies, despatched two natives along with a French officer on a mission to the executive directory of France. The governor-general now resolved to commence the war, and to raise his terms; to exact as the price of peace the cession of one fourth, and, if any decisive military advantage should be obtained, one half, of Tippoo's whole dominions, and the payment, in addition, of two crores or twenty millions of seca rupees, equal to £2,250,000. Three armies were now assembled for the invasion of Mysore, namely, the army of General Harris at Velore, which was to advance from the east; the army of General Stuart at Cannanore, on the western coast; and a force under Colonels Read and Brown in the southern districts of the Carnatic. On the 9th of March the army made its first united movement, and in the course of its advance experienced no serious resistance. The greatest obstacle to its progress arose from the want of provisions, and an adequate supply of carriages. All these difficulties were, however, overcome; and on the 5th of April the united army took up its position for the siege of the capital, exactly one month after it had crossed the frontier. Tippoo made a last and vain appeal to his enemies. But the governor-general was now resolved on the conquest of the country. His views expanded with the success of his arms; and towards the end of April he declared his opinion, that "it would be prudent and justifiable entirely to overthrow the power of Tippoo;" and "that the power and resources of Tippoo Sultan should be reduced to the lowest possible state, and even utterly destroyed, if the events of the war should furnish the opportunity." On the 3d of May a practicable breach was made, and next day the assault took place, which, notwithstanding an obstinate defence, was successful at every point. The assailants, carrying everything before them by the impetuosity of their attack, met over the eastern gateway; and the palace, in which were the family of the sultan and a body of his most faithful adherents, was the only place within the fort that still held out. From motives of humanity, the English were extremely averse to expose its inmates to the horror of an assault; and they at length succeeded in effecting its peaceable surrender. Major Allan, who was admitted to the apartments of the young princes, endeavoured, by every expression of tenderness, to soothe the agitation of their minds. They were conducted to the presence of General Baird, who assured them, in the kindest manner, of protection from violence and insult; and gave them in charge to two officers, to be conducted to the head-quarters of the general. The sultan lost his life in the defence of his capital, and his body was found amidst heaps of slain. He had been repeatedly wounded in the course of the conflict; and his attendants having placed him in his palanquin, he was observed by the English soldiers who first entered. One of them, in attempting to pull off his sword-belt, which was very rich, received a wound from the sultan, who still held his sabre in his hand; on which, putting his musket to his shoulder, he fired, and the sultan, receiving the ball in his temple, expired.
The kingdom of Mysore, which was now in possession of the English, was partitioned amongst the allied powers. The English and the nizam received equal portions of the conquered territory, and a smaller portion was reserved for the Mahrattas. The possessions of the sultan on the Malabar coast, the district of Coimbatore and Darampore, the whole country which lay between the Company's territory on the eastern and western coasts, the passes of the Ghauts, the district of Weynaad, and the city and island of Seringapatam, were surrendered to the British, who now occupied the country from sea to sea. A territory of equal revenue was ceded to Nizam Ali, in the districts of Gooty, Gurumconadh, and the tract of country which lies along the line of the great forts of Chittledroog, Sera, Nundydroog, and Colar, with the exception of the forts. The territory ceded to the Mahrattas, from one half to two thirds of the other portions, was to include Harpoonelly, Soonda above the Ghauts, Anagoody, and some other districts; also the territory, though not the fortresses, of Chittledroog and Bednore. The remaining portion of the sultan's territories was erected into a separate state, over which was placed a descendant of the ancient rajahs, who had been retained in confinement by Tippoo and his father; with such provisions, however, as really vested the whole powers of the new state, both civil and military, in the hands of the English. The treasures of Tippoo, amounting to sixteen lacs of pagodas (£640,000), and his jewels, valued at £360,000, were divided amongst the troops. The fortress of Velore was commodiously fitted up for the future residence of the royal family, to whom, and to all Tippoo's confidential servants, such pensions were assigned, that they were no less surprised than gratified by the liberality of the conquerors.
The transactions of the East India Company's servants with the native princes of India consisted in continual encroachments, until at length they engrossed both the civil and military powers of the state, and reduced the sovereign to a mere pageant. The first step was the subsidiary alliance, by which they placed a resident at the court of the native prince, with a body of British troops for the defence of his dominions. Thus they acquired the power of the sword, and might at any time also usurp from the native ruler the civil administration of the country. Under this system of progressive ascendancy, the native princes were seen in every stage of degradation. A treaty had been recently concluded with the nizam, by which he agreed to dismiss a force under French officers, which he had hitherto maintained, and to receive and to pay a British force in its stead, whose aid, it is certain, was absolutely necessary for the defence of his dominions. This was therefore the commencement of British ascendancy in that country. In Oude the military power had long been vested in the Company; and the country was languishing, and in some parts reduced to desolation, by the mal-administration of the nabob, and the still increasing extortions of his English allies. The disorder of the finances, and the oppression and complaints of the people, always afforded a pretext for interference; and though the affairs of Oude, as the directors supposed, had been permanently settled by a definitive treaty which Sir J. Shore concluded at Lucknow in 1798, by which they expressed their satisfaction that not merely an immediate payment of twelve lacs of rupees had been secured, but an annual increase of upwards of twenty lacs, yet it was now resolved by the Marquis Wellesley to overturn all these arrangements, and to take from the nabob the whole civil and military power of the country in form, as had already been done in substance. The governor-general, that he might save appearances, and avoid any recourse to actual force, was desirous to obtain from the nabob an abdication of his sovereignty. But he manifested the strongest aversion to relinquish his dignity and power. He reasoned, he remonstrated, he entreated in the most humble terms; and though he was in the power of the British, he refused, in defiance even of threats, to commit such an act of flagrant dishonour as to sign away the inheritance of his fathers. The governor-general was highly incensed at this display of dignity by the fallen prince, which somewhat disconcerted his plans, and the nabob was alternately cajoled and threatened. He still remained firm, and repelled every proposition for the voluntary resignation of his dignity. At last a middle course was adopted. The annual contribution imposed on Oude by the treaty of Sir John Shore was seventy-six lacs, the additional expense of the troops which he was now to maintain was 5,412,929, together 13,012,929 rupees, equal to £1,463,953 sterling. It was now agreed that he should cede in perpetuity to the English, a territory yielding revenue to this amount, which was not much less than two thirds of his dominions, and that he should still continue the nominal sovereign of his remaining possessions. A treaty to this effect was accordingly concluded. In this transaction we may trace throughout, the two parties, in their distinct characters of the oppressor and the oppressed; on the one side fear, supplication, humility, grief of heart; on the other coldness, cruelty, haughtiness, all the harsh features and austere policy of absolute power; and we have given this brief sketch as an illustration at once of the decided ascendancy of the British in India, and of their policy in using or abusing that ascendancy for the overthrow of the native powers. By the same authority, the nabob of Hindustan. Surat, the nabob of Arcot, against whom a lucky discovery was made of a criminal correspondence with Tipoo, and the rajah of Tanjore, were all dethroned, and pensions assigned them for their support. The badness of the government was still urged as a reason for these measures; and if this was the motive, and the increased happiness of the people the consequence, they merit praise instead of blame. Yet some suspicion must attach to the motives of those who, after the death of Fyzoolah Khan, could transfer the flourishing country of the Rohillas from the mild sway of its lawful rulers to the misrule and oppression of the nabob of Oude. A bad was here substituted for a good government, and a happy people delivered over to merciless extortion. Besides, if good government was the object, how greatly would it have been promoted by a remission of the heavy contributions levied by the English? But these were still increased; and it was the amount of these exactions, as well as the mode of raising them, which oppressed the country.
The Mahratta powers, namely, the peshwa, the nominal head of the confederacy, whose capital was Poonah, the rajah of Berar, Holkar, and Scindia, now remained the only rivals of the English for the dominion of India; and it was the policy of the Marquis Wellesley, as he himself explains at large in his correspondence with the residents in India and the directors at home, to form subsidiary alliances with them, on the same terms as with the other states of India; namely, that a British force should be permanently stationed within their dominions, and that they should assign a sufficient quantity of land for its maintenance and pay. The effect of this alliance, as indeed its object, as stated by the marquis, was to secure the dependence of the different states of India on the British power. "The measure of subsidizing a British force, even under the limitations which the pasha has annexed to that proposal (namely, its being stationed without the limits of his dominions), must immediately place him in some degree in a state of dependence on the British power." This effect was very plainly seen by the Mahratta princes, as well as by the governor-general; and accordingly, though the arrangement was very zealously pressed upon the peshwa, as well as on Scindia, it was steadily rejected by both, until the former was reduced by necessity to accept the alliance of the British on their own terms. This necessity was brought about by contentions amongst the Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, for political ascendancy in the court of Poonah. Mahadjee Scindia, who was the founder of the family, was the son of Ramojee Scindia, whose humble employment at the court of Poonah was to carry the peshwa's slippers, but who afterwards rose to eminent rank, and was known as an enterprising soldier. Mahadjee was also a soldier, and was present in the fatal battle of Paniput, from which he narrowly escaped with a severe wound in his knee by a battle-axe. He afterwards acquired land and troops, and rose, as the power of the peshwa declined, to the rank of an independent chief. He died at Poonah in 1794, leaving to his grand-nephew, Dowlat Row Scindia, only thirteen years of age, vast possessions and a well-disciplined army. Mulhar Row, the founder of the Holkar family, was born about the year 1693. He was at first a keeper of sheep, afterwards a commander of horse in the service of the peshwa, and at last one of the great military leaders of the Mahratta confederacy. He died in 1766, at the age of seventy-six years, with the character of a plain and generous soldier. Mulhar Row Holkar had only one son, Kundee Row, who was slain, some years before the battle of Paniput, at the siege of Kumbhore. This prince had married the renowned Ahalya Baece, by whom he had one Hindoo son and one daughter, both of whom died, the daughter on the funeral pile of her deceased husband. Ahalya Baece succeeded to the sovereignty, and assumed as the commander of her army, and her minister for those duties which a female could not perform, Tukajee Holkar, the chief of the tribe, though not related to Mulhar Row. The administration of Ahalya Baece, who is celebrated by Sir John Malcolm as a shining example of great qualities and amiable virtues, was fraught with blessings to her subjects, the country enjoying under her rule more than thirty years of prosperity and peace. Tukajee Holkar, who reigned till the year 1797, left four sons, Cashoe Rao, Mulhar Rao, Ethojejee Holkar, and Jeswunt Rao Holkar. The succession was disputed by the two elder brothers, who repaired to Poonah for the decision of the peshwa. The influence of Scindia was at this time paramount at Poonah; and having made his terms with Cashoe Rao, he surprised and murdered Mulhar Rao, with all his attendants, at Poonah, in September 1797. The wife of Mulhar Rao left a posthumous child, Khunde Rao, of whose person Scindia got possession, and retaining Cashoe Rao in a state of dependence, proposed to govern the dominions of Holkar in his name. The two brothers, Ethojejee and Jeswunt Rao, who were at Poonah at the time of the murder, made their escape, the first to Kolapoor, where he was taken, sent to Poonah, and executed; the latter to Nagpoor, where he was arrested and thrown into confinement. Having made his escape, he fled to Meysser on the Nerbuddah. Here he collected a band of adventurers, and in October 1801 was enabled to fight a battle with Scindia, in which he was defeated with the loss of his baggage and artillery. Before the middle of 1802 Holkar had assembled a new and well-disciplined army. He insisted on the release of the posthumous child Khunde Rao, the head, as he proclaimed him, of the house of Holkar; and to enforce his demand, he advanced with his troops from Malwah towards Poonah. Scindia collected his army, and on the 25th of October a battle was fought, in which Holkar obtained a decisive victory.
It was during these transactions that the governor-general deemed the occasion favourable for drawing the Mahratta chiefs into a subsidiary alliance with the British; and it was proposed to Scindia that he should receive a British force into his dominions, that he should cede to the Company a territory sufficient to maintain this force, and that he should admit the arbitration of the British in all disputes with the nizam and with the other states of Hindustan; and the governor-general explains, that if he consent to receive a British force within his dominions, "the arbitration of the British government will necessarily be admitted to an extent proportioned to the ascendancy which that government will obtain over Scindia under the proposed engagements, and to the power which it will possess of controlling his designs." Was this system, we may ask, of general alliance and subjection to the British, now proposed by the governor-general, a scheme of benevolence for establishing universal peace throughout India, or one of ambition? War is no doubt the great scourge of humanity; and if it could be superseded by the peaceable arbitration of neutral powers, a great blessing would be conferred on mankind. But it is vain to suppose that the potentates of the earth will voluntarily submit to the curb of reason; and vain was it therefore for the governor-general to endeavour, by persuasion or address, to draw the powers of India into an alliance which would reduce them from the rank of independent princes.
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1 Memoir of Central India, by Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. chap. v. That the entire ascendency of the Company's government in India would, in preventing intestine war, have been, as it has since proved, highly beneficial to India, no one could doubt; though, before we can ascribe to the governor-general these benevolent views, we must be convinced that the peace of India was the end, and the ascendency of the British only the means. But, whatever may have been his motives, it is clear that the end, namely, the supremacy of the British, was to be gained, not by peaceable means, but by the sword; that the immediate tendency of his policy was war;—and, in point of fact, it is by war that all India, happily we sincerely believe for the people, has been at length brought under the control of one ruling power, and that universal peace now reigns over that vast continent. It was not yet time, however, for this desirable consummation; and the Mahratta chiefs, as might have been supposed, received with decided aversion the propositions of the governor-general, which amounted to nothing less than a renunciation of independent power. In the defeat of Scindia, however, by Holkar, and the advance of this latter chief to Poonah, the peshwa saw the overthrow of his power; and he quitted his capital, leaving in the hands of the British resident a preliminary engagement, by which he agreed to receive into his territories six battalions of troops, with their proportion of artillery, and to cede a territory for their support either in Gujarat or the Carnatic, yielding twenty-five lacs of rupees.
This treaty, in which it was further agreed that the peshwa should, by the aid of the British, be restored to his dominions and to his sovereign authority, was formally signed at Bassein on the 31st of December 1802; and immediately Sir Arthur Wellesley, on a report that Poonah was in danger of being burned, advanced on that city by a rapid and unexpected march, with a body of cavalry. At the approach of the British, Holkar's disorderly bands fled with precipitation, and soon abandoned the territory of Poonah; and the deposed prince returned in triumph to his capital, amid the acclamations of the people. The treaty of Bassein, and the entire ascendency of the British at the court of Poonah, excited the jealousy of the other powers; and Scindia and the rajah of Berar now entered into a confederacy for repressing this desire of encroachment on the native states. But their motions were narrowly watched by the British; and their armies having taken hostile positions, from which they refused to withdraw, the British were induced to take the field. A vast force was collected. An army under General Lake assembled on the north-western frontier of Oude, which on the 7th of August marched from Cawnpore, and crossing Scindia's frontier on the 28th, took by assault the fort of Allyghur, and on the 9th of September totally defeated, about six miles from Delhi, the Mahratta force, formerly under Perron, a French officer, and still commanded by one of his countrymen, with the loss of all the artillery and baggage. General Lake entered Delhi, evading the enemy on the 14th; and paid his respects to the Great Mogul Shah Aulum, afflicted with age, infirmities, and poverty, in all respects a touching spectacle of fallen dignity. On the 4th he reached Agra, which was taken by assault after a severe contest; and on the 31st defeated, in the well-fought battle of Laswarce, the remaining force of Scindia; and thus in the course of three months overran all his territories in the region of the Jumna. Nor was General Wellesley, who now gave an early promise of that genius for war which was afterwards more fully displayed in the arduous conflicts of Europe, less successful in the south. His first operation was the assault and capture of the strong fortress of Ahmednuggur on the 12th of August; after which, being apprised that the combined armies of Scindia and the rajah of Berar meditated a march on Hydrabad, he concerted with Colonel Stephenson, who commanded a separate corps, a joint attack on the 24th. In the mean time, apprehensive that the enemy meditated a retreat, he attacked with his own division alone the combined Mahratta armies, encamped on the Kaitra river, near the village of Assye, and obtained the victory after a sanguinary conflict, in which, out of 4500 men, the British lost 428 killed and 1138 wounded, and were entirely disabled from pursuing the enemy. Colonel Stephenson, who joined on the 24th, was sent on this duty, and was also instructed to attack Boorhapore and Asseerghur, of which, and of all Scindia's territories in the Deccan, he took possession. The British arms were now turned against the rajah of Berar; his army was entirely defeated on the plains of Argun on the 29th of November. Colonel Stephenson, advancing to Ellichpoor on the 5th of December, laid siege to the strong mountain fortress of Gawilghur, near the source of the Taptee, which was carried by assault. The British were equally successful in every other quarter. The country of Bundelcund was speedily reduced; a force from Bombay attacked Scindia's possessions in Gujarat; and a division of the Madras army the maritime province of Cuttack. The Mahratta chiefs now bethought of peace as their only refuge from impending ruin. A treaty was accordingly concluded with the rajah of Berar, by which he ceded to the Company the province of Cuttack, with the port of Balasore, to their ally the nizam, the country lying between his own frontier and the river Wurdah to the eastward, and between his own frontier and the hills, in which are situated the forts of Gawilghur and Nermulla to the northward. By the treaty concluded with Scindia, he ceded in full sovereignty the country between the Jumna and the Ganges, to the northward of the territories belonging to the rajahs of Jeepoor, Joudpoor, and Gohud, the fort and territories of Barooch, of Ahmednuggur, and all the possessions which he held on the south side of the Ajuntee Hills to the Godavary river. Provision was made for the independence of all those minor states in the region of the Jumna which had joined the English in the late war. Of these cessions, it was agreed that the territory situated to the westward of the Wurdah, and to the southward of the hills on which were the forts of Gawilghur and Nermulla, together with the territory between the Ajuntee Hills, should be given to the nizam; that the fortress of Ahmednuggur and its territory should belong to the peshwa, and that the English should have the remaining portion. The minor princes near the Jumna, namely, the rajahs of Bhurtapore, Joudpoor, Jeepoor, Macherry, and Bondi, the raihah of Gohud, and Ambajee Rao English, now became dependents on the British, by whom they were guaranteed in the possession of their dominions, they defraying any charge which might be incurred. Scindia, now weakened by the loss of territory, was really anxious to secure a subsidiary alliance with the English for the security of his remaining dominions against the designs of Holkar. It was agreed that six thousand infantry, with the usual complement of artillery, should be allotted for his defence; that they should be maintained by the English from the revenues of the ceded territories; and that they should be stationed near the frontier, but not within his dominions. It was further agreed, as formerly in the treaty of Bassein, that the British should not in any case interfere between him and his subjects, but that the subsidiary force, if required, should aid in suppressing rebellion and internal disturbances; a condition of doubtful policy, since it evidently implies that the British were to stand still, the quiet spectators of any cruelties the Mahratta chief might inflict upon his subjects; but, the moment they took up arms in their defence, they were to aid in crushing them, as disturbers of the public peace. The short period of tranquillity that succeeded the peace with Scindia was speedily interrupted by Holkar, who, though he kept aloof from the confederacy of his countrymen, with an indifference which seemed to argue at once a deficiency of patriotism and a want of sound policy, was, nevertheless, alarmed by the success of the British arms, and his whole conduct evinced his determination to try the fortune of war. His power and resources had gradually been increased, like that of the other chiefs, by the introduction of European officers into his army, and by an improved system of discipline, which he had established. He was, besides, protected by the nature of his country, which is very mountainous, and, during the rains, impassable from jungles and marshes. His skill in maintaining the predatory warfare, so congenial to a Mahratta army, was far superior to that of the other chiefs, whose ruin had so fully taught him the danger of any regular engagement with European troops. Thus, although his territories were invaded on all sides by detachments of the Company's forces, he constantly eluded their attacks; and, by the singular rapidity of his movements, he was enabled suddenly to assemble almost his whole force, and overpower whatever detachments he might find at a distance from support. In this situation, the troops under Colonel Monson were surprised. This officer, in concert with Colonel Murray, who invaded Holkar's dominions from Gujerat, and captured Indore, the capital, without much opposition, had advanced fifty miles beyond the Mokundra Pass, towards the Chumbul, when, alarmed by the fear of his supplies running short, he resolved to retreat. Being betrayed by his guides, and deserted by part of his troops, he was attacked by a superior force under Holkar himself, before which he was forced to retreat towards Agra, through a country impassable from the rains, and destitute of provisions. After several disastrous conflicts, during a retreat of seven weeks, which degenerated into a flight, the greater part of his guns, and the whole of the baggage and military stores, were lost. A few only of the troops reached Agra at midnight, in a state of extreme distress; the greater part had been overtaken in their flight, and were either massacred, or cruelly mutilated, by their ferocious pursuers.
Colonel Willot of the Bengal artillery was almost equally unsuccessful in an attack which he had planned against a strong post in the interior: he failed in the attempt, and soon after died of the wounds he had received. It was in Bundelcund, and the country of the Rohillas, that Holkar received the most considerable checks, which produced a reverse in his fortunes. From both those territories he was completely driven by Lieutenant-colonel Fawcet and General Smith. On the escape of Colonel Monson to Agra, Holkar advanced with his whole army to Muttra, whither he was followed by General Lake, who arrived at Muttra on the 1st of October 1804; Holkar retiring as he advanced. Here he put in practice a stratagem, which had nearly gained for him great advantages. Leaving his cavalry to engage the attention of the British general, he proceeded with his infantry in secret and by forced marches, and on the 8th he appeared before Delhi, on which he opened a heavy cannonade. Next day he erected breaching batteries, and made a determined assault. But this and a subsequent attack was repelled with such determined gallantry by the small garrison under Colonels Ochterlony and Burn, that he desisted from all further attempts, and departed during the night with his whole force.
Parties of his cavalry had been repeatedly defeated by Lord Lake; but the rapidity of their movements as often saved them from destruction, and it was not till the decisive battle of Deeg, on the 13th of November, that the main strength of this enterprising chief was completely broken. At this place his army trusting to the great strength of its position, behind successive ranges of batteries, was induced to hazard a general action. From these different batteries, which extended to the depth of two miles, they were successively driven by the gallant General Frazer, who had the credit of forcing a post which had been deemed impregnable, and which at this period was defended by twenty-four battalions of infantry and 150 pieces of cannon. In this brilliant achievement the general received a wound in the leg, of which he afterwards died, and was carried off the field. The completion of the victory thus fell to Colonel Monson, who now saw complete vengeance inflicted for his past disasters, and for the unexampled cruelty of his enemy, 2000 of whom were killed, either in the battle or during the retreat. An immense number was wounded, and amongst these many considerable chiefs; whilst eighty-seven pieces of cannon fell into his hands, which partly consisted of the same guns which he had himself lost during his disastrous retreat to Agra. The important fortress of Deeg was besieged and taken at night, by assault, on the 23rd of December.
Had Holkar confined merely to his effective force in the field, his cause might have now been regarded as desperate. His boldness, however, and his unexampled success, had gained him the support of several of the native princes. Among these he had seduced the rajah of Bhurtpore, an ally of the British, and the chief of the celebrated caste of the Jauts, the most warlike tribe in upper India. General Lake was therefore obliged to concentrate his army, and to employ it in the reduction of Bhurtpore, a fortress which experience has proved to have been the strongest and most impregnable in the whole peninsula. Whilst thus employed, the dispersed troops of Holkar had time to rendezvous in distant quarters, and were successful in cutting off his supplies of provisions, and in plundering the surrounding districts, by that predatory mode of warfare for which the Mahrattas have always been celebrated. Scindia, also, who had been engaged in continual disputes with the British respecting the treaty which had been concluded, now openly showed his hostile dispositions by invading the territories of the British allies, by attacking and plundering the camp of the British resident, and by his ill-concealed correspondence with Holkar, whom he now openly joined.
The reduction of Bhurtpore, defended by the indefatigable efforts of Holkar, by his intrepid garrison, and its own natural strength, proved the most arduous enterprise which the British troops had ever undertaken in Asia. The success of the besieged in repelling four different assaults animated them with fresh courage and intrepidity. The rajah and his whole tribe were united by the ties of blood, as well as of civil authority. They laid claim to a high caste among the natives, which they knew must be forfeited for ever by unconditional submission. Unfortunately these were the only terms which General Lake, in the peremptory instructions which were given for its reduction, was permitted to accept. The rajah, therefore, having collected in the fort his women, his children, and his treasures, resolved to bury them all with himself under its ruins, rather than submit to terms which were deemed as disgraceful to his religion and his rank, as they were mortifying to his feelings as a soldier. Compelled by the orders of his superior, and undaunted by all the past disasters which the troops had already suffered, General Lake resolved to hazard another attempt, which was equally unsuccessful with all the others. In the official account given of this last attack, it is said, "the bastion, which was the point of attack, was extremely steep, the resistance opposed to them was vigorous, and as our men could only mount by small parties at a time, the advantages were very great on the side of the enemy." Discharges of grape, logs of wood, and pots filled with combustible materials, immediately knocked down those who were ascending; and the whole party, after having engaged in an obstinate contest The loss of the British army in this last assault, and that of the 20th, amounted to 300 killed, and 1564 wounded; its whole loss, during the different attacks, amounted to upwards of 3000 of the bravest of our troops, whilst the unconditional surrender of the place, though the ultimate object of all these perilous attempts, was never attained. The rajah, however, again proposed the terms he had formerly offered, and consented to pay three lacs of rupees to the army, and the expenses of the war. Hostages were given for the regular discharge of these sums, at different instalments. Thus the last prince in India who resisted the British arms was found to have made the most glorious defence of his independence, and to have secured for himself the most honourable terms. Holkar, unable any longer to face the British troops, was reduced to the condition of a fugitive; and flying from place to place, often beaten, and at last deserted by almost the whole of his troops, was obliged to escape with a retinue so scanty as was hardly sufficient for the protection of his person.
The directors of the Company in Europe, though they were dazzled for a time by the splendid successes of the British arms, were at length startled by the warlike policy and prodigal expenditure of the Wellesley administration; and, with a view to retrieve their embarrassed affairs, the Marquis Cornwallis was sent out as governor-general to Calcutta, where he arrived on the 30th of July 1805. He entirely disapproved of the system of subsidiary alliances adopted by his predecessor, by which the British were entangled in the labyrinth of Indian politics. He censured in strong terms the treaty of Bassein, which reduced the British, as he states, to "the alternative of mixing in all the disorders and contentions incident to the loose and inefficient constitution of the peshwa's administration, or of suffering the government and dominion of his highness to be completely overthrown by the unrestrained effects of general anarchy and rebellion. Under such circumstances," he adds, "the alliance with the peshwa, far from being productive of any advantage to the Company, must involve us in inextricable difficulty, and become an intolerable burden to us." In pursuance of these views, he resolved, as soon as Scindia should release the British residency, to conclude a treaty with him, and to restore to him Gualior and Gohund, the points in dispute. At this critical period Lord Cornwallis, languishing under age and infirmities, expired. But his successor, Sir George Barlow, entered entirely into his views. A treaty was concluded with Scindia on the terms proposed; the British agreed to renounce all interference, by treaties or otherwise, with the rajas of Odeypoor, Joudpoor, Kotah, and other chiefs, the tributaries of Scindia, in Malwah and Mewar. A treaty was concluded with Holkar, on the 24th of December 1805, by which all his former territories were restored to him, both on the north and on the south of the Chumbul. According to his system, Lord Cornwallis dissolved all the alliances which had been formed with the petty princes of India, several of whom had aided the British in the late contest. Lord Lake earnestly remonstrated in vain against this abandonment of the British allies, several of whom were now left, contrary to the faith of protecting treaties, to the vengeance of the Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia.
From the year 1805, when a general peace was established by Lord Cornwallis, to the year 1813, when Marquis Hastings assumed the government, the political relations of the Company with the native powers had undergone little alteration. The tranquillity which prevailed was, however, more apparent than real; and it was naturally to be supposed, indeed, that the widely extending domination of a foreign power would excite the jealousy of the native princes of India. Such of them, accordingly, as retained any sense of national honour were naturally hostile Hindustan, to the British, and were well disposed to unite against them as the common enemies of Indian independence. In 1814 the war with the Nepalese commenced, and in the outset the reverses sustained by the British in their attempts to penetrate into the hill country strongly excited the hopes of the native princes. In the following year, the valour and military talents of Sir D. Ochterlony brought that war to a brilliant close; and the bravery and discipline displayed by the troops in the course of the campaign renewed among the Indian princes the former impression of their invincible superiority. Whatever might be their ulterior views, therefore, they were compelled for the present to temporize, and to soothe their conquerors by an outward show of humility and peace.
A more favourable opportunity, as they conceived, soon occurred for successful resistance to the British power of the Pindarees. From the constant wars and commotions in which India had from time immemorial been involved, it happened that a great proportion of the native population were trained to habits of disorder and military license. At the general settlement concluded in 1805, it was naturally supposed that those bands of adventurers, having no longer any scope for their predatory enterprises, would betake themselves to pacific pursuits, and would thus be gradually dissolved among the mass of the people. It happened otherwise. Those hordes of freebooters, known under the general denomination of Pindarees, improved both in strength and union, and Scindia and Holkar, in whose neighbourhood they were settled, if they did not openly abet them, made no active efforts for their suppression. The nature of their force may be shortly described. It consists of a species of light cavalry, which was formerly attached to the native armies, in the same manner and for the same purpose as the Cossacks are to the armies of Russia. Their horses were trained to long marches and hard fare, it being their object to plunder the country, and to elude pursuit by the celerity of their movements. They were generally armed with a bamboo spear, from twelve to eighteen feet long; every fifteenth man carried a matchlock; about four hundred out of every thousand were well mounted; of the remaining six hundred, four hundred were indifferently mounted, and the rest were slaves, attendants, and camp-followers, mounted on wild ponies, and keeping up with the corps as they best could. About the year 1814, these predatory bands comprised about 40,000 horse, who followed plunder as their mode of subsistence, and were indeed a most formidable species of gang-robbers; but, like other robbers and murderers on a great scale, they assumed all the form and pomp of military array. The strength and numbers of this disorderly mass were daily increasing by deserters from Holkar's irregular bands, and from the loose cavalry establishments of Scindia and others, where they were retained by no tie but that of present advantage, and where their pay was always in arrear. The central situation of the Pindarees, at an equal distance from the three presidencies, rendered their hostility still more formidable; and enforced on the British the necessity of maintaining an extensive line of defence, which was always penetrated by those flying hordes, and the territories of our allies exposed, in consequence, to annual devastations. In 1808-1809, and in 1812, they carried their incursions into the British territories, and returned loaded with spoil. The fame of these successful exploits recruited their bands, and enabled them to extend their ravages. In October 1815, a force of 8000 Pindarees crossed the Nerubuddah in a north-west direction, and dividing into two parties, they penetrated to the Kistnah, though they were watched, and one party was surprised by a body of infantry and cavalry, which did them, however, little damage. They were only deterred from cross- Hindustan, ing into the Madras presidency by the swollen state of the river, along the fertile and populous banks of which they took their course, plundering as they went along, and committing every kind of enormity. In their return along the line of the Godavary and the Wurda, they passed the British positions, making good their retreat with an immense booty, and with utter impunity. A second expedition was soon planned, which, crossing the Nerbuddah, appeared on the western frontier of the district of Masulipatam, under the Madras presidency, on the 10th of March 1816. Next day they made a march of thirty-eight miles southward, plundering ninety-two villages, with every circumstance of unheard-of cruelty; and on the 12th they marched thirty-eight miles, plundering fifty-four villages. By the 17th May they had nearly all recrossed the Nerbuddah, loaded with spoil, and with scarcely any loss. During the twelve days that they had remained within the Company's territories, it was ascertained that 182 persons had been put to a cruel death, 505 were found severely wounded, and 3603 had been put to different kinds of torture.
It now became necessary to adopt efficient means for protecting the country against these destructive visitations. For this purpose a defensive line of posts was extended along the Nerbuddah, and across the country for about 150 miles. This was, as usual, soon penetrated by the activity of the enemy, and various expeditions advanced southward for the purpose of plunder. By the singular activity of the different corps, and by a train also of fortunate accidents, almost all of these expeditions were intercepted, broken, and discomfited, so that very few of the plunderers made good their retreat. It was resolved, however, in the year 1817, to commence offensive operations; to attack the enemy in their native haunts, and either to exterminate them, or to drive them from the advantageous position which they occupied, in the very centre of India. The season of inaction was accordingly spent in making preparations for a great military effort; and, by the end of the rainy season of 1817, a numerous and well-appointed army was ready for the field. The plan of the campaign was, that the armies of the different presidencies should advance northward, and gradually converging to a common centre, hem in, on every side, the devoted territory of the freebooters.
But whilst this plan was in progress, it was interrupted, and part of the troops engaged in executing it were suddenly recalled, by the unexpected hostility of the native powers. Bajee Rao, the peshwa or prince of Poonah, who had long been impatient of the British yoke, availed himself of this opportunity to make a fresh attempt to recover his independence. With a view of more vigorously prosecuting the war against the Pindarees, all the troops had moved northward, with the exception of a brigade which had been left at Poonah; and it was to overpower this small body of troops that the peshwa's first efforts were directed. They were completely unsuccessful; he was repulsed at all points by the steadiness of the Company's troops. This action took place on the 5th of November. On the 13th, the British were joined by General Smith's division, which had advanced on the Godavary, on an understanding, that if he did not hear daily from the resident at Poonah, he should countermarch to that place. It was resolved to attack the enemy's camp next day; but it was found deserted. General Smith immediately commenced an unremitting pursuit of the peshwa, who was hunted from place to place by the different corps of the British army, until he at length deemed it prudent to surrender. He was deposed from his throne; a residence in a particular city was fixed upon for him; and a pension of about £100,000 per annum assigned him for his support. His dominions were of course taken under the administration of the British.
The rajah of Nagpoor, Appa Saheb, who was held in War with the Pindarees.
War with the Peshwa.
Narrative of the Political and Military Transactions of British India under the Administration of the Marquis of Hastings. By Henry T. Prinsep, chap. i. and v. The main object of the war, which was the destruction of the Pindarees, was not, in any material degree, impeded by these incidental contests. According to the plan proposed, the different divisions of the grand army proceeded northward, converging as they advanced; for the purpose of surrounding the haunts of these freebooters, and preventing their escape. They were driven out of the province of Malwa, retiring as the British advanced; but were at length so effectually hemmed in, that in attempting to retreat they were intercepted at all points, and the greater part of them destroyed. The remainder were so humbled by fatigue and misery, that they were glad to submit upon any terms; and at length the three principal leaders surrendered on condition that their lives should be spared.
All open resistance being thus successfully put down, the more important task still remained of quieting and conciliating the country, overrun by lawless hordes of troops or banditti. The history of Hindustan is, from its earliest period, one unvarying scene of intestine violence, of war, rapine, rebellion, and bloodshed. For twenty years prior to the Pindaree war, these disorders had been increasing; and to still this intestine storm, to overawe the turbulent, and to settle on a permanent and equitable basis the conflicting claims to dignity, power, and property, which had arisen in a long period of trouble, when might was the test of right, was a task that required unusual prudence, firmness, and patience. This difficult and all-important duty now devolved on Sir John Malcolm, who to his glory as a warrior now added the still greater glory of a legislator and a statesman. Whilst he distributed his troops in such positions throughout the disturbed districts, as entirely to overawe the fiercer mercenaries and turbulent Arab soldiers, he conciliated the peaceable inhabitants by mildness, moderation, and justice. To all ranks, to the head of a village as well as to the sovereign of a kingdom, to the leader of a gang of robbers as well as to the commander of an army, he explained that his sole object was to establish the peace of the country. By kindness and conciliation he succeeded in reclaiming the Grassia, Rajpoor, and Bheel freebooters, and the discharged Patan mercenaries, accustomed to prey on the country. Persecuted and oppressed as outcasts and robbers, they were won by the generous confidence of Sir John Malcolm, who offered them pay in the British service, and employed the most notorious of the Bheels to guard his person and treasure, in which they proved invariably faithful. Thus the disorderly bands amongst the Pindarees and Patan soldiery, for many years the disturbers of India, were gradually converted into its industrious cultivators; and a great and happy change was effected in the habits of the people and in the aspect of the country. The several princes and rajas of Central India were enriched by increased revenues and diminished expense. The troops maintained by Scindia were reduced from 39,000 to 22,000; and those maintained by the rebellious chiefs and tributaries, always ruinous to the country, were disbanded. His revenues were increased twenty-five per cent., and the expenses of collection reduced fifteen per cent. The revenues of Holkar were increased from four lacs in 1817, to sixteen lacs in 1819-1820. The condition of all the other inferior rulers and feudatories was improved in the same degree. "In 1817," says Sir John Malcom, in his admirable work on Central India, "there was not one district belonging to Scindia that was not more or less disturbed; in 1821 there existed not one enemy to the public peace." Colonel Todd, the political agent of the British in the Rajpoot states, and who was present at the great pacification of 1818, describes, with his usual force, the desolate state of the country. From Jehajipoor westward to Komulmer, a space of 140 miles, he mentions that "all was desolate; even the traces of the footsteps of men were effaced. The babool (mimosa Arabea) and gigantic reed, which harboured the boar and the tiger, grew upon the highways; and every rising ground displayed a mass of ruin. Bhilwara, the commercial entrepot of Rajpootana, which ten years before contained 6000 families, showed not a vestige of existence. All was silent in her streets; no living thing was seen, except a solitary dog, that fled in dismay from his lurking place in the temple, scared at the unaccustomed sight of man." Odeypoor, the capital of Mewar, which formerly contained 50,000 houses, had not above 3000 occupied; the rest were in ruins, the rafters being taken for firewood. Money was scarce, and the prince was obliged to borrow at the rate of thirty-six per cent. In the tracks near the Vindhya range and the Nerbuddah, where the Pindarees, Gonds, and Bheels had their homes, hundreds of villages were to be seen deserted and roofless. Of 3701 government villages which belonged to Holkar, only 2038 were inhabited in 1817. In 1818, 269 villages were restored; in 1819, 343; and in 1820, 508. These villages exhibit a lively portrait of an Indian community; and it is remarkable, that on the proclamation by the British of protection and peace throughout India, these communities instantly revived in their original structure, with reviving all their native functionaries, who re-assembled at once prosperity, from the different countries into which they had been scattered by the wars and revolutions of the last twenty years. Well may Colonel Todd exult with a generous enthusiasm on the revival of this oppressed country from desolation and misery. The commercial mart of Bhilwara rapidly rose from ruin, and in a few months contained 1200 houses. "Bales of goods, the produce of the most distant lands, were piled up in the streets lately overgrown with grass; and a weekly fair was established for home manufactures. The most enthusiastic proofs were afforded, that neither oppression from without, nor tyranny from within, could expel the feeling for the basota, the land of their fathers. Even now, though time has chastened the impressions, we should fear to pen but a tylte of the proofs of the devotion of the husbandmen of Mewar to the solum natale. It would be deemed romance by those who never contemplated humanity in its reflux from misery and despair, to the 'sweet influences' of hope; he alone who had witnessed the day of trouble, and beheld the progress of desolation, the standing corn grazed by Mahratta horse, the rifled towns devoted to flames, the cattle driven to the camp, and the chief men seized as hostages for money never to be realized, could appreciate their deliverance. To be permitted to see these evils banished; to behold the survivors of oppression congregated from the most distant provinces, many of them strangers to each other, and the aged and the helpless waiting the lucky day to take possession of their ruined abodes, was a sight which memory will not part with." After mentioning that on a lucky day three hundred husbandmen, preceded by music and banners, marched into Kupasun, to take possession of their properties, and that above three hundred towns and villages were simultaneously re-inhabited, he adds, in a strain of just exultation, "Well might the superstitious fancy that miracles are abroad; for even to those who beheld the work in progression, it had a magical result; to see the Hindustan waste covered with habitations, and the verdant corn growing on the fields, where lately they had roused the boar from his retreat. It was a day of pride for Britain. By such exertions of her power in these distant lands, her sway is hallowed; by Britain alone can this fair picture be defaced; the tranquillity and independence she has conferred, by her alone may be disturbed."
After the contest was brought to a close, the country was still overspread with disorderly bands of Arabs, Me-kraines (from Meckran in Persia), Mewassies, and Patans; and the general result of the arrangements now adopted was the expulsion of these disturbers of the country, and the restoration of the just rights and dignities of Scindia and Holkar, as well as of a crowd of petty feudatories and renters, who were before the prey of freebooters. The same system was extended to the Rajpoot states to the north-west of Malwan and the Chumbul river. The petty rajahs who occupied this country were continually at war; and the country was besides laid waste by the predatory bands of Ameer Khan, Holkar, and Scindia, who, on pretence of espousing the quarrels, invaded and plundered the territories of the different chiefs. These evils had risen to such a height, that they were all desirous of being admitted into a federal union with the British government, offering in some cases half their dominions for protection. In 1818 they were admitted into this union, of which the British are at the head. They agreed, in the event of any future differences amongst them, instead of appealing to arms, to submit their differences to the arbitration of the British government. In this manner their country, freed from the scourge of internal war, has progressively improved. The military adventurers who fled before the victorious armies of Britain, were reduced to submission by the wise and clementary measures of Sir D. Ochterlony, combined with skilful military movements. The Patan battalions, with about 3000 horse, were taken into the British service, the officers being dismissed with pensions. These measures have been followed by the happiest effects. The wretched peasantry have emerged from their hills and fastnesses, the usual refuges of the oppressed, and have occupied their deserted villages; the ploughshare is again at work on a soil undisturbed for years, except by the hoofs of predatory horse; and although the fierce habits of war may occasionally recur, yet the foundation of improvement is laid. The daring robber, moulded by time and the force of circumstances, will gradually exchange his wild and disorderly habits for those of the peaceful cultivator, and commerce and industry succeed to scenes of desolation and war.
A wise and beneficent policy on the part of the British would realize all those happy prospects. But Colonel Todd seems to doubt whether this line of policy will be adopted. He censures in strong terms the treaties which have already been concluded with the Rajpoot princes, by which they are laid under a heavy annual contribution, and their territories, to use Colonel Munro's expression, converted into rack-rent estates for the British. The rana of Odeypoor is bound to pay one half of his revenues for five years, and three eighths in perpetuity; which condition not only imposes a heavy burden on the cultivator, but lays the foundation for British interference in all the concerns of the tributary state, and for endless disputes in consequence, and finally, for the subjugation of the country. After observing that the dread of being incorporated with our empire prevails amongst this proud people, Colonel Todd observes, "With our present system of alliances, so pregnant with evil from their origin, this fatal consequence, far from desired by the legislative authorities at home, must inevitably ensue. If the wit of man had been taxed to devise a series of treaties with a view to an ultimate rupture, these would be entitled to applause as specimens of diplomacy. There is a perpetual variation between the spirit and the letter of every treaty; and while the internal independence of each state is the ground-work, it is frittered away and nullified by successive stipulations; and these positive and negative qualities continue mutually repelling each other, until it is apparent that independence cannot exist under such conditions. Where discipline is lax, as with these feudal associations, and where each subordinate vassal is master of his own retainers, the article of military contingents alone would prove a source of contention. By leading to interference with each individual chieftain, it would render such aid worse than useless. But this is a minor consideration to the tributary and pecuniary stipulation, which, unsettled and undetermined, leaves a door open to a system of espionage into the system of their revenue accounts; a system not only disgusting, but contrary to treaty, which leaves internal administration sacred. These openings to dispute, and the general laxity of their government, coming in contact with our regular system, present dangerous handles for ambition; and who so blind as not to know that ambition to be distinguished must influence every vice-regent in the East; while deeds in arms, and acquisitions of territory, outweigh the meek eclat of civil virtue, the periodical visitations to their kingdoms will ever be like the comet's, 'Foreboding changes to princes.'" The rapid progress of the British dominion in the East too fatally confirms the truth and wisdom of these admirable remarks.
The country of Lahore, or the Punjab, as far as the Indus, is occupied by the rajah Runjeet Singh, who, in the year 1805, when Lord Lake had an interview with him, seemed to be one amongst many petty chiefs. But between this and 1812 he had subdued the whole country, and was proceeding to extend his power over all the petty chiefs as far as the Jumna, when he was opposed in 1808 by a strong military detachment of British troops stationed at Ludiana. A treaty was concluded in 1809, by which it was mutually agreed that the rajah should not encroach on the territory to the north of the Sutledge, nor the British on the territory to the south of that river.
The peace of India has since been interrupted by the Burmese war, and by the siege of Bhurtapore. The rajah, confident in the strength of his fortress, committed several enormities in his government, such as the seizure of the infant rajah, and the murder of his uncle and followers; and he even treated the remonstrances of Lord Amherst with indifference or contempt. In these circumstances, the reduction of this formidable stronghold was essential to the glory of the British arms, on which former failures had left a stain. The siege was accordingly commenced with 25,000 efficient troops; and as no impression could be made by cannon on walls of clay sixty feet in thickness, they were thrown down by the explosion of a mine. The assault took place next day, the 17th January 1826, which was completely successful, with the loss of 163 killed, and 466 wounded. The principal works of the fortress have since been demolished.
The British rulers of India and the Burmese monarch were long been involved in mutual disputes, and these were brought to an issue in 1822, by a claim set up by the sovereign of the Burmese to the petty isle of Shapuree, in the province of Bengal, on the Chittagong frontier, and The wars and commotions of India have thus at length come to a close, and Great Britain remains the sole ruler of that vast empire. The native princes, rajas, and petty feudatories of the country, hold their several dignities and stations in the great political system of which they form a part, under the guarantee of her sovereign authority. The nature of the subsidiary alliances of the British with the Indian states has been already described, namely, the furnishing a force, which is stationed in the dependent state for its protection, and the latter a territory equivalent to its maintenance, and further submitting, in its foreign relations and differences with other states, to the arbitration of the British government, though free from all control in its internal concerns. The powers with whom subsidiary alliances have been formed are the nizam or subahdar of the Deccan; the nabob of Oude; the Gujowar, whose dominions are in the province of Gujerat; Holkar, who has been deprived of all his dominions south of the Nerbudda; the rajah of Nagpoor, reduced, since 1817, to insignificance; the rajas of Cutch, of Mysore, of Travancore, and of Cochin. The protected states are so far reduced to dependence that they agree to maintain no correspondence with foreign powers of a political tendency without the privilege or consent of the British government, and not to go to war, but to submit all their differences with other states to the arbitration of the British. They are independent in their internal concerns, and have not, like the others, a British force stationed within their territories. They are bound to furnish a contingent of troops when required, which in the field act in subordination to the British commanders. These states are, 1st, in the north-west, Sircim and the Sikh and Hill states, on the left bank of the Sutledge; 2d, Rajpoot states; Bicanere, Jesselmere, Jeeepoor, Joudpoor, Odeypoor, Koialh, Boondi, Serowey, Kishengurh, Dowleach and Pertauburguh, Doorapoo, Banswarra; 3d, Jaut and other states on the right bank of the Jumna; Bhurtpore, Ulwar or Macberry, Kerrowlee; 4th, Boondelah states; Sumpturh, Jhansi, Jaloun, Oorecha or Tehree, Dutteah, Rewalh; 5th, States in Malwah; Bopaul, Dhar, Dewas, Rutlaum, Silans, Nursinghur, Amgherra, &c.; 6th, States in Gujerat; Pallumpoore, Rabadumpore, Rajpepla, Loonawara, Soonth, the states in the Myhee Caunta, the Kattrywar states; 7th, States on the Malabar coast (chiefly Mahratta); Sattarah, Sawunt Warree, Colapore, Collabha; 8th, Burmese frontier; Cachar, Jyntya. States not under British protection; Scindia, the rajah of Dholapore, Barree and Rajakera (formerly rana of Gohud), Runjeet Singh of Lahore, the ameers of Scind, and the rajah of Nepaul. Scindia, though not formally a protected or dependent state, is substantially under the control of the British, who now settle with many of his tributaries, collecting his revenue, and paying it over to him; so that they have secured their ascendancy in all the western and southern districts of his dominions, which, in the event of a war, they might employ against him for his destruction. Of this, according to Sir John Malcolm, he is so sensible, that he has abandoned all idea, of ever again opposing the British government.
The rise of the British power, from small beginnings into so vast an empire, is one of those surprising revolutions in human affairs which gives to history the air of a ro-Hindustan-mance. The managers of a trading company in London are now the lords of a kingdom ten times the size of England, and containing a hundred millions of inhabitants; they engage in war and make peace; they rule over kings and princes, dethroning some and setting up others in their stead; and in their counting-house in Leadenhall Street they regulate, not the chances of profit and loss, but the concerns of a vast empire. Yet the causes of this great revolution are simple and obvious. The extensive dominion acquired by the British in India is the consequence of long-continued military success; it is the fruit of victory in many a well-fought field, the triumph of European discipline and science over the rude valour of the hasty levies and imperfectly trained militia of the East. In the course of this long contest the British had frequently to contend with few against many, and their empire sometimes tottered on the verge of ruin, as in the invasion of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali. But the steadiness of the European infantry still repelled the irregular charges of the Mahratta horse, and triumphed in the end; and to this powerful instrument, namely, a well-disciplined military force, wielded by skilful hands, the British are indebted for the conquest of Hindustan. The extension of their empire in India was always discomfited by the Directors at home, who issued their repeated and peremptory commands on the subject. Yet it might have been easily foreseen, that, the foundation once laid, the superstructure would naturally arise; that having made the first step, the British would not readily stop short in their course. The frailty of man has never been able to resist the allurements of ambition; the dazzling prize of extensive dominion has in all ages been pursued through the paths of blood; and it was scarcely to be imagined that the Company's servants in India would resist its temptations, more especially as there were many circumstances which gave a plausible colour to their ambitious views. The native powers, alarmed by the territorial acquisitions of the British, naturally combined against them as the common enemies of Indian independence. The British, on the other hand, convinced of their strength, and of the hatred and jealousy which they had excited throughout India, and easily yielding to the least surmise of hostile coalitions, often took up arms to avert distant and doubtful dangers; and victory being still the result of each new struggle, they assured their safety by the ruin of their enemies, and by the extension of their power. Thus the hostile designs of Tippoo rested upon mere suspicion, and he was overthrown when he was no longer formidable, and when he was thought to be an easy prey; and thus have all the independent states of Hindustan been successively crushed by their great rival, and war only ceased when no enemy remained to be conquered. Peace now reigns throughout the wide precincts of Hindustan,—of itself an unspeakable blessing, especially in India, so long the scene of ruthless war, massacres, and devastation; and this is no doubt the consequence of British ascendency. Happy, if, along with this blessing, we diffuse among the ignorant, superstitious natives, the arts, the knowledge, the improvements, and the enlightened morality, of Europe.
It will now be proper to give a brief account of the domestic policy of the Company as sovereigns of India, especially in those important departments in the civil administration of every country, namely, the revenue, the judicial establishments, and the police.
Under the Mogul government, the public revenue was chiefly derived from a general land-tax, and the regular payment of this tax was the tenure by which property was held. Hindustan was held throughout the empire. The lands were possessed by different descriptions of owners or occupiers, under the titles chiefly of zemindars or polygars, the military chieftains of the Carnatic, talookdars, ryots, maliks, meerassadars, nair mulguenies, bhoomias, &c. When Hindustan was brought under the sway of the British, they were necessarily ignorant of the manners and usages of the people, and of the peculiar structure of a Hindu community; and hence the nature of the tenures under which land was held, and of the different descriptions of land owners and occupiers, has been a standing subject of controversy amongst the Company's servants, some insisting that under the Mogul despotism, as over all the East, the sovereign is the sole proprietor of the lands within his dominions; that no private right of property has ever been recognised in any of the great monarchies of Asia; and that all grants of land are resumable at the pleasure of the prince.
According to this theory, the zemindar is considered merely as a species of steward or factor, appointed by the government, to collect and superintend the land revenues; and after reserving a suitable portion for his own maintenance, to remit the surplus to the imperial treasury. The rights of the talookdars, an inferior description of holders, and the ryots, and other occupiers of land, were still more imperfectly understood by the English when they acquired the dominion of Bengal; but, under the idea of the sovereign's indefeasible right in the soil, they naturally considered them as tenants at will, to be dealt with like other tenants in the same situation, at the pleasure of the proprietor. This hypothesis of the sovereign's proprietary right was eagerly adopted by the English, and has been boldly followed up in practice. It has, as might have been expected, led to extensive confiscations of land, to great changes in the state of property, and to much distress and confusion, as will be afterwards narrated; and it will be proper, therefore, briefly to inquire how far this claim accords with any legal right, and still more with any principle of enlightened policy.
In a government purely arbitrary, where every man holds life and liberty at the mercy of the sovereign, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between the exercise of legal rights and the outrages of abused power. That the despotic rulers of the East might take possession of the land, or of any other description of property belonging to their subjects, and that this was their practice, can hardly be questioned. But might does not constitute right; nor by such acts of tyranny can they become lords of the soil in any legal sense, any more than of the lives and liberties of their subjects, because they often massacre and torture them at their pleasure. The law of conquest, which is the law of the strongest, gave to the Mahommadians possession of India, which they desolated with fire and sword, and took possession of the lands and properties of the inhabitants, who, according to their approved practice, might have been all put to the sword, as the redemption price of their blood. This was the only title which the Mogul emperor could have had to the lands within his dominions, namely, that he had seized upon them by force; and in countries long subject to Mahommadian rule, or to the Mahrattas and other domestic tyrants, all the ancient rights of the proprietors have accordingly been obliterated. But these acts of tyranny and spoliation can never be construed into legal precedents, nor can they ever confer any title; and it seems a gross abuse of words to call that a right which is merely a deed of violence.
The monarch or the emperor was no doubt styled, in the true strain of oriental flattery, the sole proprietor of the soil, and the lord of the universe; and this he may have been originally, in the same manner as the monarchs of Europe were under the feudal system. According to the feudal law, they were the supreme lords of all the conquered territories, which they granted as fiefs to their vassals, on condition of military service; and from the monarch a subordinate chain of vassalage extended downward to the lowest tenant. These lands were at first granted for a year, but afterwards for life; at length they became hereditary, and descended to the son, or to more distant relations; and thus they finally became a permanent property. But the form of the original tenure is still maintained. They still hold of the sovereign, to whom, at the death of each heir, a formal surrender is made of the property, and a new charter is granted as a matter of course. But this right of the crown, by which in former times the property was actually resumed at the death of the proprietor, has now become a mere legal fiction, an evidence only of the original tenure by which the property was held; and we may easily imagine the disorder and injustice that would be introduced into any European country by a conqueror, who, guided by feudal forms, in opposition to immemorial usage and fixed law, was to resume all property holding of the crown, or of any other superior. In like manner, in Hindustan, though the sovereign was styled the proprietor of all the lands within his dominions, and in legal theory might be so, it would be rash to infer from this the actual extinction of all proprietary rights. Under the Mogul government a heavy tax was, no doubt, laid on the land, which was the main source of the public revenue. But individual rights of property might nevertheless exist; and their non-existence has certainly never been satisfactorily proved; so far from it, that the advocates of the sovereign proprietary right seem to have nothing to oppose to immemorial usage, and to the principles of justice, but legal forms and the acts of despotic power.
But the abstract question of right here merges into the higher question of policy. It would be the interest of a sovereign, even if he were proprietor of the soil, to commute his rights for a moderate and fixed assessment, which in the end would bring in the greatest amount of revenue. A land tax which leaves a bare maintenance to the cultivator discourages agriculture, population, and the growth of capital; it is indeed an interdict on all improvement. Its produce cannot be increased except by the most ruinous extortions, though it will necessarily decrease with the desolation of the land, which it tends to promote. No country can be improved and cultivated where the rights of property are loaded by a public tax. Would the wastes of America, we may ask, be so quickly converted into fruitful fields, if the government were to come in for the largest share of the produce, if the owner were placed under the strict surveillance of the excise, and obliged to account for every
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1 See Colonel Todd On the Feudal System in Rajast'han, vol. i. chap. i. p. 167. See also Fifth Report, p. 822-23. Extracts from Mr Thackeray's Report, dated 4th August 1807.
2 The masterly reports of the Company's collectors in Southern India all concur in stating the hereditary rights of individuals in the land to be clear and unquestioned from the most remote ages. "In tracing their (the Hindus') past situation," says one of the collectors, "it is not to be discovered, that during the revolutions of many ages, from the reign of their first princes, until the final downfall of the Hindu authority, any questions ever existed, in any stage of Hindu history, as to the right of the people to the lands of the country, excepting villages or lands totally waste, and that had escheated to government. On the contrary, they appear to have been transmitted to them, from the most remote era, down to the present time, without interruption; these rights are supported by usages, which could never have prevailed, but for their universal acknowledgment; and, in the repositories of their history and their laws, we find the right of the people to property in lands repeatedly acknowledged and preserved." (Extract from Report of Collector of Southern Polygar Peshcush, 29th December 1809, Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 828.)
In Europe the church tithes have been justly complained of as a great obstruction to improvement. But a tax such as we have described, which, however it varied in its amount from a fourth, a third, or half the gross produce of the soil, generally left only a bare maintenance to the cultivators, is far more pernicious in its operation; and it is indeed owing to its pressure that so large a portion of Hindustan still remains a primitive wilderness. Mr L. Place, to whom was committed, in 1790, the settlement of the Jaghire, a tract of country in the Carnatic that had been ruined by the invasion of Hyder Ali, after mentioning the desolation of the country, and that the inhabitants would not cultivate any fields except under a secure tenure, adds, that "by granting them lands to them and their heirs for ever, so long as they continued in obedience to the circar (government), and paid all just dues, he was enabled to convert the most stubborn soil and thickest jungle into fertile villages."
It was extremely natural for those who had succeeded to the rights of the sovereign to exaggerate the extent of these rights, and to believe in the convenient doctrine of his proprietary title to the land. But although many ancient rights were unquestionably trampled down and forever lost in the violence of the Mahomedan conquest, yet recent investigations have discovered, amidst the ruins of Hindu institutions, many relics of ancient manners, and the clearest titles of individual proprietors to the possession of the soil. In carrying into effect the permanent settlement by Lord Cornwallis of the land revenues in Bengal, the collectors were embarrassed by the claims of the petty talookdars, who insisted on a hereditary right of property in the soil; and the maliks, who with vehemence urged the same claims, and affirmed that the zemindars and talookdars had no deeds to show that could deprive them of their just rights. They claimed the land as their paternal inheritance, and refused to settle for the public revenue on any other terms than as proprietors. The collector was deeply impressed with the justice of their claims; and Mr Rickards, in his masterly work on Indian finance, affirms that the maliks were really proprietors, stripped of their rights by the usurpations and exactions of the zemindars and their amils or collectors. In the district of Dacca, the private rights of property were found to exist in their full force; even the unproductive jungle and waste around the town was claimed by individuals, "who," says the collector, "though they receive no profit from it, and are too indolent themselves to make it productive of any, will not suffer others to bring it into a state of cultivation without Hindustan some recompense; and so very tenacious are they of it, that even in the suburbs of the city, which for three or four miles is almost an impenetrable jungle, infested by wild ferocious animals, a man cutting down a single tree will be sued by the proprietor for damages." A clearer idea cannot possibly be conveyed of the rights of property, and of the solid foundation on which they rest in Bengal, as in all other countries. The accurate researches of Colonel Todd, who drew his information not merely from written records and deeds, but from the more durable tablets of stone found amidst the ruins of the fallen pile, have laid open the ancient tenures and institutions of Northern India; and in his lively delineation of those ancient manners we recognise all the peculiar features of the feudal system. There were in Rajasthan or Rajpootana two classes of landholders, the one the Grasya-tha-cour or lord, the other the blooomia; the first holding land by a grant from the prince on the condition of military service, "renewable," says Colonel Todd, "at every lapse, when all the ceremonies of resumption, the fine of relief, and the investiture, take place;" the other an allodial proprietor, who holds prescriptive possession, who succeeds to his inheritance without any fine, though he pays a small annual quit-rent, and may be called upon for military service in the district where he resides, which is chiefly composed of the rocks and wilds that afford a refuge from oppression, and where the blooomias, being numerous, form a species of local militia.
In the southern countries of India, in Tanjore, Tinnevelly, Canara, Malabar, &c., where the Mahomedan rule property in the South had only been temporary or partial, the rights of property were not extinguished; they were indeed encroached upon, and were, as Mr Rickards observes, "in progress of actual extinction, and approached nearer and nearer to this term in proportion to the duration of Mussulman tyranny." The tyranny and exactions of Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo had nearly extinguished all proprietary rights in Mysore and in Malabar; and most of the Hindu landholders were compelled to seek refuge in Travancore. "I was," says Mr Rickards, "personally acquainted with some who, from the same causes, deserted their estates, and retired for safety into Coimbatore." But those rights were not obliterated, and the investigations of the British functionaries, skilled in the native languages and manners, brought to light in these countries the ancient condition of property, and the clearest titles of individual proprietors. The notion of the sovereign's proprietary right to the whole
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1 See Fifth Report, p. 493, Copy of a Letter from the Collector of Shahabad to the Board of Revenue, dated 29th September 1789. Rickards, vol. i. chap. i. sect. iv. p. 368. Mal, says Rickards, is an Arabic word, denoting wealth, property, revenue, rent, particularly that arising from land; and Malik means master, lord, proprietor, owner of such rent.
2 Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 495. Letter from the Chief of Dacca to the Board of Revenue, dated 23rd July 1786. It was proposed that the government should clear away this jungle, and cultivate the land. But this "laudable plan," says Mr Day, chief of Dacca, cannot therefore be carried into effect, "without creating great dissatisfaction," as every seizure of private property necessarily does; yet he observes, that the "prejudice (i.e. the robbery) of a few individuals, should be no impediment to the adoption of a plan which has for its object the benefit of the community at large."
3 The term blooomia is, according to Colonel Todd, a most expressive and comprehensive name, importing absolute identity with the soil; (the meaning land.) (Todd, vol. i. p. 168)
4 Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, by Lieutenant-Colonel James Todd, vol. i. p. 164.
5 Vol. i. p. 263.
6 See Fifth Report of Select Committee, p. 714; Report of Mr Place respecting the land tenures in the Jaghire; Report of Mr Hodges on the revenues of Tinnevelly, Fifth Report, p. 532; Report on Revenues of Dinigul, p. 978. Mr Place at first agreed to the favourite theory, that the sovereign was lord of the soil, and that the occupants of land in India were mere tenants at will. But on further inquiry, he was convinced that the mercuradars were hereditary proprietors. Report of Collector of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, 28th September 1805: "Immemorial usage," he observes, "has established, both in Tanjore and Trichinopoly, that the occupants, whether distinguished by the names of mercuradars or mahajamahs, have the right of selling, bestowing, devising, or bequeathing their lands in the manner which to them is most agreeable." "It is fortunate that, at the moment when we are consulting on the means of establishing the property and welfare of the numerous people of these provinces, we find the lands of the country in the hands of men who feel and understand the full rights and advantages of possession; who have enjoyed them, in a degree more or less secure, before the British name was known in India; and who, in consequence of them, have rendered populous and fertile the extensive provinces of Tanjore and Trichinopoly. The class of proprietors to whom I allude are not to be considered as the actual cultivators of the soil; the far greater mass of them till their lands by means of hired labourers, or by a class of people termed pullers, who are of the lowest, and who may be considered as the slaves of the soil. The landed property of these provinces is divided and subdivided in every possible degree. There are proprietors of 4000 acres, of 400 acres, of forty acres, and of one acre." produce of the land was interwoven with the Mogul system of finance, and the East India Company had always acted on the same maxim. Accordingly, Mr Place and others, when they entered on the management of the Jaggire, Canara, Malabar, &c., were prepossessed with the same ideas, and gave the most liberal interpretation to the Company's proprietary rights, considering the occupants and cultivators of the land as mere tenants at will. But they were soon undeceived by glaring facts. They found that the possessors of the land had the right of selling, bestowing, devising, or bequeathing their lands, in whatever manner they might deem expedient; that the lands, whether they belonged to villages, and were cultivated in shares by their common labour, or to individuals, were their absolute property, of which they could only be deprived by an act of violence. This proprietary right was termed *meerass*, a Persian or Arabic term for land; and the proprietor a *meerassadar*. "Whatever may have been the origin of these rights," says the Fifth Report (p. 105), "they are regarded by the people as hereditary rights," and were, according to the Hindus, far more ancient than the Moorish conquest. Estates were found to consist of from 4000 to one acre of land; and where they were large, or were divided amongst a numerous proprietary, they were tilled by *parakudis* or *pyacaris*, who were paid for their labour, and who possessed hereditary rights of occupancy as cultivators. Common labourers were also occasionally hired; and slaves are numerous all over the country, attached to the soil, and in a state of villeinage, as were formerly the cultivators in Europe. In Canara, the same rights of property exist in the land; and the proprietors are known under the appellation of *nair mul guenies*, who, like the meerassadars, have tenants in perpetuity, or *shud mul guenies*; and tenants at will, or *chalie guenies*. Of these tillers it is observed in the Fifth Report of the Select Committee on the affairs of the East India Company, that "the lands in general appear to have constituted a clear private property, more ancient, and probably more perfect, than that of England. The tenure, as well as the transfer, of this property, by descent, sale, gift, and mortgage, is fortified by a series of regular deeds, equally varied and curious, and which bear a very strong resemblance in both parts of the country. The proprietary right is either vested in individuals, or in copartnerships of persons, each of whom possesses an unalienable interest in the estate, proportioned to the share of the property of which he has become possessed."
There is another class of landholders in Malabar, denominated *jelmkars*, or *jeemkars*, who possess allodial rights, acknowledging no superior, and who were exempt from the government-tax. When Hyder conquered the country, his first act was to declare half the produce of the soil to belong to the sovereign; and it was in this manner that in Hindustan all private rights were trampled upon and gradually obliterated. But these exactions of tyranny are not to be confounded with the legal claims of the state. Mr Hodgson, in his report on the revenues of Coimbatore, justly observes, that whatever abuses took place under the Hindu or Mahommedan princes, "what was fair assessment, and what was exaction, was well known to the party governing and those governed." From all this concurring evidence, it is clear that the sovereign's proprietary right in the soil was in Hindustan, as in Europe, more nominal than real; that prior to the Mahommedan conquest the land was divided amongst individual proprietors, and that the bloo-mia of Rajpootana, the malik of Bengal, the meerassadar of Southern India, the nair mul guenies of Canara, and the jelmkars of Malabar, were all hereditary landholders, with legal rights, of which they could only be dispossessed by the violence of despotic power.
The Mahommedan conquest subverted most of the ancient rights and titles of the Hindu landholders, and introduced into Bengal the title of zemindar or landholder, from the Persian word *zemia*, land; respecting whose rights and duties so wide a difference of opinion has prevailed. Without entering further into this controversy, which, as respects the zemindar, is more a speculative than a practical question, it may be observed, that the zemindars had lived for centuries in great splendour on the produce of their lands, which had quietly descended under the existing tenure through successive generations; that they had the power to sell, to alienate, or to mortgage; and that as long as they paid the annual tribute to government, they enjoyed secure possession of their lands. Under a despotic government arbitrary ejectments might no doubt occur; but these were rare, and they were universally regarded, both in law and in usage, as the illegal outrages of abused power. It is admitted on all hands that these rights belonged to the zemindars; and the only point that still remains in dispute, and it does not appear very material, seems to be, whether, according to the theory of the Mogul constitution, the receipt of the land-tax by the sovereign, or of his allotted share of the produce by the zemindar, entitled the one or the other to the character of proprietor of the land.
The zemindars, being bound to the state for the revenue, were necessarily invested with the power of collecting the land-tax from the subordinate landholders and tenants. They united, in this manner, legal authority with the possession of property, whilst, as judges and magistrates, they administered both civil and criminal justice, and were held responsible for all crimes committed within their respective boundaries. These powers they frequently abused, and oppressed the inferior landholders, the talookdars and the ryots, the hereditary cultivators, or, as others consider them, the proprietors of the land, by the most cruel exactions. It was to the principal landholders that government looked for the discharge of its demands, whilst the inferior occupants and tenants were bound each to his immediate superior for their several proportions of the stipulated tax.
There were various other tenures by which lands were held in Bengal, namely, the Jaggire, Altungha, Muddud, Mash Ayma, and others. The first were grants of land on the condition of military service, or for the support of garrisons or any other public establishment, especially of a military nature. This would appear also to have been the conditions of the zemindary tenure, as Mr Rickards states that the zemindars of Bengal are expressly mentioned in the
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1 This term of *meerass* was introduced by the Mahomedans. "Swastrium," says Mr Hodgson, "is the Sanscrit word, and is generally used by the Brahmans; and *canasthy* by those Shudras (cultivating castes) who may not have adopted the general term *meerass*." (See Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 832, Extract from Hodgson's Report on the Revenues of Tinnevelly, 24th September 1807.) Caniachikka is a successor or proprietor, and fully answers to jelmkar. (See p. 833, Fifth Report, Mr Hodgson on the Revenues of Dindigul, 23rd March 1808.)
2 *Jelmkar* or *jeemkar* means an allodial proprietor; the term *jeem* meaning properly allodial right.
3 Fifth Report, p. 332. "Neither the Hindu nor Mussulman government appear (supposing their right in the soil as proprietors to be indisputable, and proprietary right to be a right to demand what the proprietor pleases for his land) ever to have exercised the right. What was fair assessment, and what was exaction, was well known to the party governing and those governed. It is true, where, as under Tipppo Sultan's reign, exaction had no limit, landed property could have no value; but where fraud could not counteract oppression, a hope of change for the better, or inability to resist, produced submission, till the load became too heavy to bear, and emigration the only source of relief." Ayeen Akberry as furnishing their several contingents of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. The Altumgha grant, according to the terms of it, was in perpetuity. The other grants were for the support of learned men, or religious establishments. Many of the public functionaries of the Company denied the validity of these grants; they estimated the average loss, as it was called, as if there could be any loss where there never was any right, on these grants in Bengal and the ceded provinces at two and a half millions sterling, and contended that they were resumable, and were often actually resumed, at the pleasure of the prince. Colonel Todd, however, mentions, that in Rajpootana this right of resumption had fallen into disuse. "The right to resume," he observes, "may be presumed to exist; while the non-practice of it, the formalities of renewal being gone through, may be said to render the right a dead letter;" and, quoting a passage relative to the fiefs in Europe, that they were first moveable or resumable at pleasure, then perpetual or for life, and finally hereditary, he adds, "this is the precise gradation of fiefs in Mewar, a division of Rajpootana. There is reason to believe that these grants were in a progress to permanency all over India." But all permanent property in land was disconcerned by the policy of the British in India, who were perpetually picking holes in the tenures by which it was held, even where the deed of grant expresses in the plainest terms that it is perpetual, "from generation to generation."
The country of Hindustan is divided into villages or districts, each comprising some hundreds or thousands of acres of arable and waste land. Every village is a separate community or township, and has its own establishment of public officers and tradesmen. These consisted of the potal, or head inhabitant, whose business it was to superintend the affairs of the village, to settle disputes amongst the inhabitants, to attend to the police, and to the collection of the public tax; the carman, to whom it belonged to keep an account of the cultivation and produce of the land, to register the proprietors of the village, and to attest all deeds of sale, transfer, or assignment; the boundary-woman, who preserves the limits of the village, or gives evidence of them in case of dispute; the priest, the schoolmaster, the astrologer; the smith, the carpenter, the potter, the washerman, the barber, the cowkeeper, the doctor, the dancing-girl, the musician, the poet, who were each rewarded for their labours out of the produce of the village lands. The amount of their shares on the gross produce is estimated at five and a half per cent. The collectors were allowed ten per cent., and the remaining proportion of the crop was divided between the sovereign and the cultivator, in the proportion of ten elevenths to the former, and one eleventh to the latter. "Under this simple form of municipal government," says the Fifth Report, "the inhabitants of the country have lived from time immemorial. The boundaries of the villages have been but seldom altered; and though the villages themselves have been sometimes injured, and even desolated, by war, famine, and disease, the same name, the same limits, the same interests, and even the same families, have continued for ages. The inhabitants give themselves no trouble about the breaking up and division of kingdoms; while the village remains entire, they care not to what power it is transferred, or to what sovereign it devolves; its internal economy remains unchanged; the potal is still the head inhabitant, and still acts as the petty judge and magistrate, and collector or renter of the village." So deeply attached are the Hindus to their native villages and local manners, that, however they may be scattered by the desolation of war, their affections still centre in one common and cherished spot; insomuch that, in 1817, as is mentioned by Sir John Malcolm, and has already been noticed, when peace was re-established in Central India, by the expulsion of the Pindarees and other freebooters, who laid waste the country, the inhabitants and officers of the villages re-assembled from every quarter, and the resurrection of these communities into life and action seemed to have been the work of an instant.
The land-tax of the village is collected by the potal, assisted by a train of petty officers or under collectors, the patwarries, the peons, the pykes, and others, whose salaries form a deduction from the gross rent. The potal pays his collections to the zemindar, from whom they were received, under the Mogul government, by a higher officer, and finally remitted to the imperial treasury. The accounts of the carman, or the canongoes, were also transmitted through various gradations of accountants, who superintended and checked the collection and receipt of the public revenue. In the year 1573, during the reign of Akbar, when the Mohammmedans had completed the conquest of Hindustan, Rajah Torrel Mull, minister of finance to the emperor, from the accounts furnished by the canongoes and collectors of the revenue paid by the ryots, formed a general rent-roll for all the country, as well as a scheme of division, fixing the separate proportions of districts and villages. The revenue thus settled, and usually called tumar jumma (rent), or standard assessment, is estimated by Sir John Shore at
| Rupees | L. | |--------|----| | 10,693,152 | 1,202,979 |
In 1722, being a period of 149 years, it was increased, under Jaffer Khan, by means of Abwabs, which are arbitrary taxes added to the original or standard assessment, to
| Rupees | L. | |--------|----| | 13,115,907 | 1,475,537 |
In 1728, by the additional taxes of Sujah Khan
| Rupees | L. | |--------|----| | 16,418,513 | 1,847,082 |
Colonel Munro, a great authority on all Indian questions, in a paper of remarks on a decision of the chief justice of Madras respecting a jaghire estate that was resumed by the Company, argues, from the arbitrary practices of Indian princes in taking away these rights, that no such rights exist, although they are defined in the clearest terms. "The grant," he observes, "is in the usual form, to be enjoyed by him and his descendants, for ever, from generation to generation." He is authorized to divide it among his descendants; and the local officers are required to consider the perwanah as a most positive peremptory mandate, and not to require a fresh summons every year. The terms employed in such documents, "for ever," "from generation to generation," or, in Hindu grants, "while the sun and moon endure," are mere forms of expression, and are never supposed, either by the donor or the receiver, to convey the durability, which they imply, or any beyond the will of the sovereign. "The injunction with which they usually conclude—Let them not require a fresh summons every year—indicates plainly enough the opinion that such grants were not secure from revocation." (Consultation, 15th March 1822.) The landed proprietors would be in a more firm position, if it were impossible to frame in words a clearer legal title; and the doubt is, whether the subversion of such a title, however common amongst the despotic princes of Hindustan, ought not to be regarded as a tyrannical act rather than a legal precedent. No landed proprietor would, with such a title, surrender his estate, except to the power of the strongest. Custom may have rendered such acts familiar to the prostrate people of Hindustan; but if words like these are to be held as mere official forms, it is clear that no legal title to property can exist in India. Sir Thomas Munro mentions several examples of land held under common jaghire grants descending through several generations. He still insists, however, that, by the invariable custom of the country, they are resumable at the pleasure of the prince, though it seems extremely doubtful how far the practice of a despotic government in resuming lands can be received as a precedent against such a clear legal title. In 1755, by Ali-verdy Khan, to...........18,644,067 L.2,097,550 In 1762-3, by Cossim Ali...............25,624,223 2,882,724 In 1763-4..............17,704,766 1,991,785
The arbitrary taxes termed Abwabs, added to the original standard assessment, consisted of duties on the transit of goods through the different chokies or toll-bars of the country, of taxes on cattle and stock of every description; of a capitulation tax; of a tax on shops, manufactures, or stock in trade; and of fines and other arbitrary exactions; and, in proportion to the demands made on the zemindar, he was empowered to augment the contribution of his tenants. The standard revenue of Torrel Mull, amounting to L.1,202,979, appears to have been all that the country could bear; for, inconsiderable as was the augmented revenue of Jafler Khan, it was only obtained by the most cruel tortures inflicted on the zemindars, many of whom he confined in pits filled with ordure, which he termed in derision Bykant, or Hindu Paradise. In the reign of Moer Cossim, who was set up by the English, to whom he promised large sums as the price of his elevation, these oppressions were carried to a still greater height. The policy was to ascertain, by exact money, the produce of the land; and the whole surplus, after allowing a bare maintenance to the cultivator, was swept into the treasury.
Although the ascendency of the English had for some years been thoroughly established in Bengal, and although they were formally invested in 1765 with the sovereignty of the country, its affairs were still administered in the name of the native prince, and according to the forms and policy of the ancient constitution. Justice was still dispensed by the native courts, and by the nabob's officers; the revenues still flowed through the same channels into the public exchequer; and all transactions with foreign powers were carried on under the same authority as formerly. But such was the increasing power of the English, that the government, as far as regarded the protection of the people, was dissolved. Neither the nabob nor his officers dared to offer any opposition to their sovereign will; and the tribunals of justice, so far from being a refuge to the oppressed, became subservient to the rapacity of the gomastahs, or Indian agents, employed by the Company's servants, and were converted by them into most efficacious instruments for oppressing and plundering the people.
The directors had been long dissatisfied with the proceedings of their servants, and with the produce of the land revenues, which had fallen far short of their expectations, and they now resolved to put an end to the double administration of the nabob and the Company; and, dispensing with the empty name of the former, to take upon themselves, ostensibly as well as really, the entire care and management of the land revenues. The dewanny of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, or the office of collector of the public revenues, which in the East implies the right of sovereignty, was conferred in perpetuity on the East India Company by a grant from the Mogul Shah Alum, dated the 12th of August 1765. The assessment imposed on the country by Cossim Ali is stated by Sir John Shore to have been mere "pillage and rack-rent;" and it was an assessment on paper, as, out of the sum of L.2,882,724, there remained a balance undischarged of L.1,987,054, notwithstanding the cruelty with which the collection had been enforced. It was found necessary to reduce the assessment, in 1763-64, to L.1,991,785, out of which the sum realised was only L.857,070. In 1765-66, the first year of the Company's administration, the assessment was L.6,029,011 rupees, equal to L.1,803,263, of which 14,704,875 rupees (equal to L.1,803,263) were actually collected. In 1765 the assessment imposed amounted to L.1,692,237, and in 1766 and 1767 it amounted to L.1,713,677, from which deductions were afterwards made, as it was found impossible to collect it. Yet the sum actually realised was greater than ever was extorted from the country by all the cruelties of Jafler Khan. But the methods by which it was collected were most ruinous. The landholders, failing almost universally in their engagements, were left to the mercy of the revenue-officers, by whom they were grievously oppressed. In many parts, the villages were deserted by the cultivators, and the land was left desolate. All these evils were still farther aggravated by a grievous famine which prevailed in Bengal in the year 1770, by which it is computed that about one third of the inhabitants perished. But, in the midst of all this misery, the revenue was still violently kept up to its former standard. The deficiencies occasioned by the famine were re-assessed on those who survived this calamity; and so strictly were they levied, that the land revenue for that year exhibited an increase above that of the year preceding. The ruinous effects of this heavy exaction are stated at length in the different letters from the governor-general to the directors. In a letter, dated the 3d of November 1772, he observes, "It was naturally to be expected that the diminution of the revenue should have kept an equal pace with the other consequences of so great a calamity; that it did not, was owing to its being violently kept up to its former standard." He then describes the method by which this was accomplished, which was by "an assessment upon the actual inhabitants of every inferior division of the lands, to make up for the loss sustained in the rents of their neighbours, who are either dead or have fled the country." "The tax," he continues, "not being levied by any fixed rate or standard, fell heaviest on the wretched survivors of those villages which had suffered the greatest depopulation, and were of course the most entitled to the lenity of government. It had also this additional evil attending it, in common with every other variation from the regular practice, that it afforded an opportunity to the farmers, or shiedars, to levy other contributions off the people under colour of it, and even to increase this to whatever magnitude they pleased, since they were in course the judges of the loss sustained, and of the proportion which the inhabitants were to pay to replace it." To the same effect, Mr Middleton, one of the superintendents of the public revenue, observes, "When a very considerable portion, supposed even a third of the whole inhabitants, had perished, the remaining two thirds were obliged to pay for the lands now left without cultivators. The country has languished ever since, and the evil continues enhancing every day. The first remedy, without the adoption of which all other measures will be fruitless, is an universal remission of some considerable portion of the revenue throughout the provinces. Such remission should have been made immediately on the famine. Its not taking place then has made it more and more necessary every day; and the longer it is delayed, the more ruinous the consequences must be to this country and its revenue."
To correct these evils, supervisors, chosen from the Company's servants, were in 1769 stationed in different parts of the country, to superintend the native officers in the collection of the revenue and in the administration of justice; and two councils were appointed over the super-
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1 See Sir John Shore's Minute, Fifth Report, p. 176. These supervisors were instructed to procure information respecting the amount of the land revenues, the manner of collecting them, the amount of the cesses or arbitrary taxes, the origin and progress of those modern exactions, and also to inquire concerning the regulations of commerce and the administration of justice. The reports made by these supervisors concurred with all the other evidence received as to the wretched and oppressed state of the natives. "The nazims," they observed, "exact what they could from the zamindars and great farmers of the revenue, whom they left at liberty to plunder all below; reserving to themselves the prerogative of plundering them in their turn, when they were supposed to have enriched themselves with the spoils of the country."
It was now resolved to make a settlement of the land revenues for five years commencing from the year 1772. For this purpose, a committee of the board, consisting of the president and five members, named the "Committee of Circuit," was appointed, who were to make a journey through the country, and were empowered to receive proposals for a new lease of the lands, first from their ancient possessors, and if their offers were deemed unsatisfactory, they were to be let by public auction to the highest bidder. These persons proceeded in their circuit through the country, publicly advertising and letting in farm, for the highest rent that could be obtained, the estates of such as hesitated to contract for the assessment proposed.
A great proportion of the landed property throughout Bengal was thus exposed to auction; and, in the general sale, the former owners and the great nobility of the country were outbidded by adventurers, to whom property was acceptable on any terms; and were generally possessed of their lands, from the surplus produce of which a provision was assigned them by the indulgence of the revenue committee.
The supervisors who had been stationed in the different districts were invested with the necessary powers for the collection of the revenue, and were henceforth denominated collectors. A native officer was to be joined with them under the title of duan, to confirm and to check accounts, and to assist in all those multifarious details which were intelligible only to a native. Various regulations were adopted to check the exertions of the collectors; but the governor and council express their regret that it was not in their power wholly to remedy this evil. Under the Mogul government, the duty of collecting the revenues and of administering justice was united, as formerly mentioned, in the person of the zamindars. The new scheme for the management of the revenues subverted this ancient order of things. The zamindar was superseded both as collector and as judge, and his place was supplied by two courts, the one for civil, called the Dewanny Court, the other, called the Fonjdarry Court, for criminal proceedings, established in each district. In the criminal court the new collector of taxes was to act as president, to be assisted by two Mahomedan officers, the cauzee and the muftee, and by two Mohlavies, as interpreters of the law. The civil court consisted, in like manner, of the collector as president, assisted by the duan and other officers of the native court. Two supreme courts were, at the same time, established at Calcutta, for the review of the inferior courts, the one for civil cases, being called Dewanny Sudder Adawlut, and the other the chief court of criminal justice, or Nizamut Sudder Adawlut. To one of these all capital cases were reported, and were ultimately referred to the governor and council, who, finding the labour too great, restored, in 1774, this branch of administration to the nominal nabob, and carried back the court to Moorshedabad. It appeared that, for a long period before this, the administration of criminal justice was wholly at a stand. In the new arrangements all disputes about property not exceeding ten rupees in value were referred to the head man of the district to which the parties belonged.
In considering those regulations, the question naturally occurs, how these supervisors, who were now to act in the double capacity of collector and judge, became qualified for the discharge of such important functions. In all other countries, it is only by a previous course of laborious preparation that any one is qualified for the office of a judge; and to appoint an unqualified person would be reckoned both dangerous and absurd. But how much more dangerous and absurd was it to appoint un instructed persons to act as judges in a foreign land, with whose language they are but imperfectly acquainted, and of whose laws, manners, and customs, they are thoroughly ignorant? If, among a comparatively rude people, the mode of proceeding be loose and arbitrary; if there be no books of written law, or of precedents to govern judicial decisions, which must consequently depend on the imperfect lights and analogies afforded by manners, religion, or customs, the incapacity of a foreigner for the discharge of such nice duties becomes even more glaring. By disposing of the administration of justice in this manner, it was clear that the judicial duties would either be neglected, or that they would still be performed as before, and with no increased chance of amendment by native officers. This new arrangement was, therefore, like many others, a useless innovation on the established practice of the country. There is another weighty objection to the union in one person of the duties of collector and judge, namely, that it was in the collection of the duties that the greatest oppression had been committed; the powers of the collectors being frequently perverted to the most iniquitous ends. Under this new project, those who sought redress from the courts of justice met with their oppressor in the capacity of judge. He judged in his own case, and of complaints brought against his own conduct. Justice was in this manner an empty name, unless it was supposed that the judge would pronounce himself an oppressor.
Under the five years' lease on which the land revenues had been farmed in 1772, the country was grievously overtaxed. The revenues fell into a heavy arrear the very first year, and the lands were let on a progressive rent. To collect the outstanding balances, and to force up the revenue to its standard, a host of extortioners was, under the name of amuls, or collectors, let loose upon the afflicted country. But the rents contracted for by the farmers of the revenue were greater than they could pay, and, notwithstanding all their efforts, the arrears continued to increase. On the five years' lease, they amounted to a sum equal in value to L1,454,277, which was judged to be wholly irrecoverable; while, during the same period, the sums remitted, even under the rigorous management of public farmers, amounted to L1,396,451. Nor was this the only evil arising from the mal-administration of the Company's servants. The zamindars, who are admitted on all hands, even by those who advocate the sovereign's right to the possession of the soil, to have lived in splendour on their hereditary possessions; in all cases to have possessed the powers of magistracy within their district, and, where the territory was large, to have exercised a species of sovereignty; were either despoiled of their estates, or, where they were induced, by a hereditary attachment to their possessions, to engage for the rent proposed, they were overwhelmed with taxes which they could not pay, and were thus involved in poverty and ruin. Where the zamindar was himself the farmer of the revenue, he exercised the same extortion on his inferiors, which was applied to himself; where a money-jobber, having no interest whatever in the property of the ten- Hindustan-ants, was the farmer, there was no limit to his extortion and cruelty.
The defects in this system for the administration of the land revenues soon began to disclose themselves; and the rulers of India, whose government was one continued innovation, immediately resolved to make another considerable change in the state machinery which they had just set in motion. They abolished the superintendence of the collectors; and the country, with the exception of Chittagong and Tipperah, being formed into six grand divisions, viz. Calcutta, Burdwan, Moorsbedabad, Dinazepore, Dacca, and Patna, a council was appointed for each of the last five, consisting of a chief and four senior servants, to whom were transferred the powers and duties of the collectors. They were to preside in the courts of justice, and to superintend the collections; and, in subordinate districts, they delegated their powers to naibs or umuls, who were natives, and who were appointed, like their superiors, to collect and to judge in all cases under the value of 1000 rupees. The empty privilege of appeal was, as formerly, reserved to the unsuccessful suitor in the provincial courts; and, to superintend the whole collections of the country, a grand revenue-office was established at the presidency. The district of Calcutta was placed under the peculiar superintendence of a committee of revenue, consisting of two members of the council and three inferior servants. These regulations, which were declared to be temporary, and only preparatory to something more permanent, failed as usual in all their important objects. The defective administration of justice amongst the natives was admitted and complained of by all parties, and the peace of the country was in consequence disturbed by the general prevalence of robbery and other enormous crimes. The truth is, that the new arrangements had subverted the ancient institutions and local manners of the country, and had thus left a void in its internal economy which the government was in vain endeavouring to fill up.
The lease of the lands expired in 1777; and, after various suggestions and consultations, it was resolved that the rent should be regulated by the average collections of the three preceding years, and that the lands should be let, not by auction, but by an agreement with their ancient possessors in preference to other competitors. The liberal views of Mr Francis, who proposed that, in lieu of the monopoly of salt and opium, a moderate duty should be imposed on those articles, and that a long series of oppression should thus be terminated, by giving freedom to trade, were rejected by the governor-general. In pursuance of the plan proposed, the lands were let from year to year until the necessary arrangements could be completed for the system which was now to be adopted of a permanent land-tax.
The attention of the British parliament had frequently been directed to the state of our Indian possessions, and to the transactions of the resident government; and, in 1784, a new system, of which we have already given an account, was established in Britain for the control of the local administration, under which Lord Cornwallis, who was chosen governor-general, was specially directed by the act of parliament, as well as by instructions from the directors and the board of control, "to inquire into the alleged grievances of the landholders, and, if founded in truth, to afford them redress; and to establish permanent rules for the settlement and collection of the land revenue, and for the administration of justice, founded on the ancient laws and local usages of the country."
Lord Cornwallis, on his arrival in India, did not deem matters fully ripe for the execution of the proposed plan, namely, the permanent settlement of the land revenue. On this important subject he found that the most intelligent of the Company's servants differed widely in opinion. Neither the nature of the land tenure, nor the rights of the different orders of people who shared amongst them the produce of the soil, were well understood. All that was distinctly known was the amount of the revenue; but whether it was too high or too low was still a disputed point amongst the English in India, although the country was visibly declining under the weight of assessment. In such diversity of opinion, the governor-general, anxious to proceed with caution, delayed for a little the plan of a permanent settlement. He let the lands, in the mean time, from year to year, through the agency of the district collectors; and information on which to found a more durable arrangement was diligently sought from every source.
In 1799, Lord Cornwallis had resolved on the permanent settlement of the land revenues. This he conceived to be essential to the relief of the country, the condition of which he described to be wretched in the extreme. "I am sorry," he observes, "to be obliged to say, that agriculture and internal commerce have for many years been gradually declining; and that at present, excepting the class of shroffs and banyans (bankers and merchants), who reside almost entirely in towns, the inhabitants of these provinces are advancing hastily to a general state of poverty and wretchedness. In this description I must even include every zemindar in the Company's territories, which, though it may have been partly occasioned by their own indolence and extravagance, I am afraid must also be in a great measure attributed to the effects of our former system of management." "I may safely assert," adds he, "that one third of the Company's territory in Hindustan is now a jungle, inhabited only by wild beasts." In pursuance of his plan, Lord Cornwallis entered into a permanent settlement of the land revenues for ten years, which was afterwards declared unalterable; and the zemindars of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, were formally constituted legal and perpetual proprietors of their respective estates, on the payment of a fixed rent to the state. The ten years, or, as it is called, the decennial settlement, was completed in every district in 1793.
In regard to this measure, there cannot be a doubt, that in abolishing a land-tax, increasing at the discretion of the government with the produce of the land, Lord Cornwallis acted upon a just principle. But the advantage of a permanent tax depends on its amount. If it be a moderate tax, its permanency is an advantage; but not so if, as in this case, it was exorbitant, higher than the land could bear, and inconsistent with the progress of cultivation. The legislators of India had not yet acquired the necessary knowledge of the country for such a measure. They had no data on which they could, with any certainty, adjust the tax to the capacity of the soil; and, after long discussions, it was at length fixed at the average amount of the collections for the last three years. In the division of the produce, accordingly, two fifths were, as before, allotted to the ryots, after deducting the expense of collections; of the remaining three fifths, constituting the rent of the estate, ten sevenths were taken as the government share, and one seventh left to the zemindar. If we suppose, therefore, an estate of which the gross produce is L1000 a year, the respective shares of the three claimants will be, L400 for the ryots, L540 for the government, and the remaining L60 for the zemindar. In scarcely any instance, however, were these proportions practically enforced. But the tax was exorbitant. During the three preceding years, the average collections of which had furnished the standard of the assessment, it had been a general complaint that the country was overtaxed; and to this cause was ascribed its misery and decline. From this high standard of taxation no systematical reduction has ever been made. Arrears, which had been long accumulating, and which could not be recovered, had indeed been remitted; but every method of extortion had been practised, in order to realize as large a revenue as Hindustan; and the country was now charged with a permanent assessment, founded on the actual revenue of those years, which was exorbitant, and greater than the land could bear; and this radical defect, even if there had been no other, would have ensured the failure of the plan. The zemindar, who was bound, in the first instance, for the public tax, depended, for the means of discharging it, on the produce of his rents; and the state, by imposing an immoderate tax on him, laid him under the necessity of plundering all below him.
There was another defect in the decennial settlement, that it provided no security for the under-tenants and ryots in the hereditary privileges which they claimed in the soil. As they varied in different places, and depended on different rules, the subject appeared to involve details too intricate for European management; and the important task of settling with the ryots was, therefore, devolved upon the zemindars, with a mere general recommendation to be guided by the custom of the place, and to give the ryot a written copy of his lease. According to this plan, it was the great proprietors only who had any permanent interest in the lands, while the inferior proprietors and tenantry were at the mercy of the principal landholders, who might exact from them whatever they pleased. The under-tenants and cultivators, in this ill-defined state of their rights, had no interest whatever in the improvement of the soil, being well assured that they would in no case be left more than a bare maintenance; and this was one among the other errors of the settlement, that it was made entirely with the zemindars, who were notoriously ignorant, oppressive, and corrupt. Mahiks and other inferior landholders were crushed, and the just titles of the talookdars and ryots were extinguished; they were placed in the power of the zemindars, on whom alone the government relied for the improvement of the country; though no country was ever yet improved by its great lords, who are generally inactive, wasteful, and improvident. The putwary or hereditary officer of the village was now made a servant of the zemindar; and the office of canongoe, the hereditary village accountant, was abolished, and his land resumed, that is, seized by the government. Though humanely intended, therefore, the plan was calculated to entail ruin upon the higher classes of landholders, by the tax which it imposed on them; while by necessitating them, and at the same time giving them the power, to oppress all below them, in order to satisfy the exorbitant demands of the state, it necessarily had the effect of extending this ruin downwards to the lowest tenant. Its effects have entirely corresponded to this view of its principle.
It soon appeared, that, in order to realize the revenue, it would be necessary to sell the lands; and this evil once begun, continued to increase. The revenue was not punctually paid, and, for the recovery of outstanding balances, lands to a great amount were at stated times exposed to auction. In the year 1796–97, the lands advertised for sale bore a rent of 2,870,061 sicca rupees (£332,927), and those actually sold yielded an annual rent of 1,418,756 rupees (£164,576). In 1797–98, the quantity of lands sold bore a rent of 2,274,076 rupees (£255,833), and it is observed in the Fifth Report, p. 56, that "among the defaulters were some of the oldest and most respectable families of the country;" "the dismemberment of whose estates," continues the Report, "at the end of each succeeding year, threatened them with poverty and ruin, and, in some instances, presented difficulties to the revenue officers in their endeavours to preserve undiminished the amount of the public assessment."
In order to check those evils, several alterations were made from time to time by Lord Cornwallis. But they appear to have been unavailing; and, in the year 1802, in a report from one of the collectors, we have the following melancholy picture of the state of the country:—"All the zemindars," it is observed, "with whom I ever had any communication, in this and in other districts, have but one sentiment respecting the rules at present in force for the collection of the public revenue. They all say that such a harsh and oppressive system was never before resorted to in this country; that the custom of imprisoning landholders for arrears of revenue was, in comparison, mild and indulgent to them; that though it was no doubt the intention of government to confer an important benefit on them, by abolishing this custom, it has been found by melancholy experience, that the system of sales and attachments, which has been substituted for it, has, in the course of a very few years, reduced most of the great zemindars in Bengal to distress and beggary, and produced a greater change in the landed property than has perhaps ever happened, in the same space of time, in any age or country, by the mere effect of internal regulations." In another part of the same document, the collector, after commenting on a regulation then recently introduced, observes, "Before this period (1799), complaints of the inefficiency of the regulations were very general among the zemindars, or the proprietors of large estates; and it required little discernment to see that they had not the same powers over their tenants which government exercised over them. It was notorious that many of them had large arrears of rent due to them which they were utterly unable to recover, while government were selling their lands for arrears of assessment." The collector adds, "Farmers and intermediate tenants were, till lately, able to withhold their rents with impunity, and to set the authority of their landlords at defiance. Landholders had no direct control over them; they could not proceed against them, except through the courts of justice; and the ends of substantial justice were defeated, by delays and costs of suit." To the same purpose Sir Henry Strachey observes, "That the men of opulence are now all men of yesterday; that the greatest men formerly were the Mussulman rulers, whose places we have now taken, and the Hindu zemindars. These two classes are now ruined and destroyed."
It was the intention of Lord Cornwallis to include in the Waste permanent settlement of the land-tax in Bengal, all the waste lands, which were fertile and extensive, and which, yielding, when improved, a valuable produce, would enable the zemindar to pay the exorbitant tax upon the cultivated parts. The Europeans at this time did not know the fertility and the vast extent of those lands; and when it was discovered that the zemindars were enriching themselves by the cultivation of their untaxed wastes, it seems, as Mr Rickards observes, to have excited a notion amongst the British that they had got too good a bargain; and an error of this nature, on the side of liberality, was so monstrous an anomaly in the Company's policy, as behoved to be corrected with all due speed. Accordingly, doubts were suggested respecting the right of the zemindars to these waste lands, though they all laid claim to them as part of their assessed estates, and though it does not appear how the mere fact of their non-cultivation should invalidate or in any degree affect the title to the land.
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1 Fifth Report, printed in 1812, p. 60. 2 See Answers to the Interrogatories of Government, dated 30th Jan. 1802. 3 Mr Hodgson, in his Report on the Revenues of Tinnevelly, observes, "If the merassadars (proprietors) should be unable or unwilling to procure pyccaries (cultivators) to cultivate that part of the merassae (estate) which is waste, and the circar (government), or vol. xi. Hindustan. Inquiries were from time to time made, and in 1815 commissioners were appointed, apparently with no other view than to find a flaw in the titles of the zemindars, and to resume or to seize upon these waste lands, the cultivation of which was so great a source of wealth. Thus it appears that it was no more safe to grow rich under the rule of the British in India, than under any of the native despotic states; and the too luxuriant prosperity of the thriving zemindars was accordingly pruned by the tax-gatherer's rapacious hand. It was suggested by one of those commissioners in 1817, whose inquiries, the further they were pursued, involved him in greater difficulties, that all the waste lands should, without more ado, be declared the property of government, leaving to the zemindar the tardy and uncertain remedy of proving his title to the satisfaction of those who were despoiling him of his property. The greatest difficulties were everywhere experienced in carrying this scheme of spoliation into effect. In Bihar and Benares the commissioner declared the unassessed lands to be everywhere claimed as a portion of the zemindary estate. It is clear that the permanent settlement of the land-tax in 1793 was intended by Lord Cornwallis as a full discharge of all the public dues. It was a solemn deed, by which all doubtful and conflicting claims were for ever set at rest; and to open up this settlement at the distance of twenty years, and to harass the landholders with new and undefined demands, was a breach of faith, a cruel mockery of private rights, calculated to inflict a deep wound on the prosperity of the country. Such vexatious inquiries, conducted by those who had an interest in the confiscation of the lands, terminated as might have been expected. Those which were exempted from taxation by the permanent settlement of 1793 were now resumed and assessed; and the zemindar had his remedy in a suit against the government before the British revenue courts, which generally gave judgment against him. It is mentioned in evidence before the Lords' Committee, that the proprietor of a great estate in the Sunderbunds, who had brought into cultivation an extensive waste, was called upon, notwithstanding the permanent settlement of his land-tax, to pay an additional tax on the produce of this land. He disputed the claim; but being cast in a suit before the revenue courts, he was subjected to a ryotwar settlement, and compelled to pay fifty times more than the original rent. Thus the tax was not only exorbitant, but provision was made for continuing it at a rack-rent, so that there was no prospect of relief under any circumstances to the oppressed country; and thus we find extortion to be still the true feature of the Company's government. It is this grinding system of taxation, this continual desire for an improving revenue, the standard by which the zeal of the Company's servants is judged of, and promotion regulated, that defeats all the blessings that might otherwise flow from European rule; that spreads pauperism far and wide, and is the standing source of misery throughout the country.
The ruin of the zemindars was partly occasioned by another cause, namely, the want of any effectual method of enforcing their claims against the small tenants. The public officer was empowered to proceed against defaulters by a summary process, and to attach and sell, by public auction, the zemindar's land for the discharge of arrears; whilst against the under-tenants the zemindar had to seek redress by an ordinary suit at law, which was both tedious and expensive. To heighten this evil, the courts of justice were overloaded with a long arrear of undecided causes, so that no decision could be expected before the lapse of years. There were in the district of Burdwan above thirty thousand undecided suits; and no decision could be expected within the ordinary duration of human life. The zemindar, in this manner, whilst he was compelled to pay, by the prompt and efficient process of government, was left to seek redress from his tenants through a labyrinth of endless litigation; and the knowledge of this impediment to justice gave great encouragement to the tenants to refuse payment of their rents. The ruin of the zemindar, therefore, was the inevitable consequence of this summary process to which he was exposed, while he could have no similar recourse on his tenants; and these regulations were universally complained of, and on the justest grounds. In an address from one of the collectors to the board of revenue, in behalf of the zemindar of Burdwan, who had in vain applied for redress to the civil courts, it is observed that he (the zemindar) begs leave to submit to your consideration, whether or not it can be possible for him to discharge his engagements to government with that punctuality which the regulations require, unless he be armed with powers as prompt to enforce payment from his renters, as government had been pleased to authorize the use of in regard to its claims on him; and he seems to think it must have proceeded from an oversight, rather than from any just and avowed principle, that there should have been established two modes of judicial process under the same government; the one summary and efficient for the satisfaction of its own claims, the other tardy and uncertain in regard to the satisfaction of claims due to its subjects; more especially in a case like the present, where ability to discharge the one demand necessarily depends on the other demand being previously realized."
The system which impoverished the zemindars proved equally ruinous to the ryots. It was the practice of the zemindar to contract for a certain rent with a land farmer, who subdivided the land into smaller portions, and let it to a variety of inferior tenants. To this head farmer it appears that a written agreement was given, according to the regulations; but the under-tenants were left, without any security, to the mercy of their superiors. It is well known, and admitted by the servants of the Company, that the ryot, even when he receives written agreements from the zemindar, is liable to indirect oppressions which no law can remedy; and though, owing to the expense and delay in the administration of justice, he could retaliate on the zemindar, by refusing payment of his rents, this privilege could be of little advantage to him, whilst it tended still farther to widen the breach between the landlord and the tenant, and to add to the hatred, strife, and violent distraction of interests by which the community was now, as it were, torn in pieces. To remedy the grievances which the zemindars suffered from the evasion of payment by their tenants, it was enacted in 1799, that they might have recourse to the same summary process against defaulters, as was used by the government against themselves. They were empowered to seize the property of their tenants for arrears, previous to any legal judgment, or any proof of the justice of their claim. This regulation gave to the zemindars the power of unbounded oppression, against which the ryot had no redress, as he was effectually shut out of the courts of justice by the
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1 See Minutes of Evidence before Lords' Committee, 26th February 1830, Evidence of Mr Mangles, p. 49. It was undoubtedly just that the zemindar should have the same efficient process for enforcing payment as was used against himself; but such was the unhappy condition of India, under the unskilful management of strangers, that every plan of reform seemed only to increase the general disorder. Her rulers wanted intelligence for the delicate task of domestic legislation; their schemes were crude and inapplicable, nor could they ever mould the various and jarring interests of the Indian community into any consistent scheme of civil order; so that, though they were continually patching their imperfect work, it still bore the same incongruous character, and the cure of one evil was constantly followed by an irruption of other and worse evils from some other quarter.
The state of society which prevailed in Hindustan arose from the mixed operation of a peculiar system of laws, customs, manners, religion, and policy; and such an artificial structure required to be nicely and skilfully handled, instead of which it was lacerated in all its delicate parts by the rude hand of foreign interference. The English were ignorant even of the language of the people whom they had brought under their sway, and whom they now attempted to govern; and though they might know generally that the public revenues were derived from an impost on land, they were entirely inexperienced in the usages of the country, and in the financial details of the Mogul government. With what effect, therefore, could they interfere in such complicated details? how could they decide between the claims of justice and of fraud? how could they judge of cases connected with the peculiar usages of the country, and with all those minutiae of local manners with which no foreigners can ever become thoroughly acquainted? The Company's servants, involved in such a labyrinth of complex concerns, possessed no clue to guide them to any equitable issue. Supposing their views to have been honest, they wanted intelligence to give them effect; and although they could enforce submission to their decrees, the country, under their usurped and ill-directed authority, presented one vast scene of anarchy and oppression. The directors in Europe readily ascribed all these evils to the misconduct and rapacity of their servants, which they heavily censured; and, in their correspondence with India, they express the most just, humane, and enlightened sentiments, and a sincere desire to promote the happiness of their subjects. But if they had only said to their servants "lower the assessment," these three words would have been of more avail than volumes of fine sentiment. The truth is, that extortion has all along been the vice of the Company's government. The eastern maxim of the sovereign's proprietary right to the soil was too readily adopted into their European creed, and was the ground and the excuse of immoderate assessment. The new sovereigns of India could never relinquish the idea of profit, and the wealth of India was now expected to swell the balance-sheet. The land and labour of the country were to be laid under contribution for the benefit of the mercantile proprietors in Europe. The glory of a sovereign consists in the felicity of grateful millions, and this is the only true and legitimate end of all government. But the East India Company were intent on profit, on enriching themselves at the expense of their subjects; and the duty of the servants to their masters consisted in sending home a large investment. They were to possess themselves of as large a quantity as possible of the produce of the country, giving nothing in return, and to send it to Europe to be shared amongst the proprietors; and it was, accordingly, the boast Hindustan of successive administrations how well they had succeeded in this matter; not how happy they had made their subjects, but how much of their property they had taken from them and sent to Europe.
The institutions of Lord Cornwallis, for the administration of civil and criminal justice, appear to have been equally unsuccessful with his finance measures; and it soon appeared, as has already been stated, that the new courts of judicature had more business than they could manage, and such an arrear of undecided cases accumulated that the course of justice was nearly stopped. In this dilemma, the costs of suit were raised for the purpose of discouraging litigation; and this expedient being found ineffectual, they were raised a second time. To place justice out of the reach of the poorer and more numerous class, by laying a heavy tax on it, was indeed an easy and effectual method of discouraging litigation. It was, in fact, a denial of justice, a direct refusal to hear the complaints of the poor, who might, therefore, be harassed for ever after with impunity. Notwithstanding this discouragement, however, the evil went on increasing, and at last amounted to an almost total dissolution of civil order. As no decision was to be procured before the regularly-constituted tribunals, every man began to arm himself in his own quarrel, and the country thus became the scene of bloody affrays between armed individuals, unhappily left without any other resource for the decision of their differences. In some of those conflicts 4000 or 5000 persons were arrayed on each side, and many lives were lost. In a letter of the court of directors, dated October 1814, it is observed, "As to affrays respecting the possession and boundaries of lands and rents, this has been long a serious evil, and must, we conceive, have existed in a greater or less degree in every part of the country." "These affrays," continue the directors, "which often lead to homicides and woundings, have been very naturally ascribed by several of the judges to the difficulty of obtaining judicial redress." In the district of Tirhoot, where the public peace had been frequently disturbed by those private feuds, the judge for the division of Patna observes, that they chiefly "arose from the accumulated arrears of suits," and "that the parties finding a delay in obtaining redress, had resorted to force." Mr Melville, also a judge in the division of Dacca, expresses himself to the same purpose. "With respect to affrays," he observes, "attended with homicides and wounding; it is known that those disorders arose from attempts to retain by force possession of lands, or rents of lands, to which the different parties alleged separate claims." The same person afterwards states, that "in Chittagong, they (meaning these quarrels) had not only been frequent, but violent; that the police authority had been often resisted, and in one instance overpowered; that it would be wrong to disguise the length of time a claimant must wait, with the sacrifices he must make, before the decision of a civil court can be obtained."
We shall now briefly advert to the system of penal judicature and police established by Lord Cornwallis; the object, in this case, being to give security to the people by the suppression of crimes. With reference to this object, however, the scheme has notoriously failed. Since the year 1793, India has become a prey to disorders of every sort, and to the worst of crimes. The crime of robbery, accompanied with murder, rose to a most alarming height, and was prosecuted with a degree of union, perseverance, and cruelty, inconceivable to those who live in the civiliz-
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1 All the collectors invariably bear testimony to the oppressions of the zemindars after the passing of the regulation of 1799. 2 See Papers relating to the Police and Administration of Justice in Bengal, from 1810 to the present time. Printed by order of the House of Commons, 1819, p. 21. 3 Ibid. p. 22. Hindustan,ed communities of Europe. Robbery is a regular profession, which is handed down from father to son; and the decoits, or gang-robbers, are formed, as the title implies, into powerful confederacies, and make their irruptions on the peaceful country with a force which it is vain to resist. They are described by Mr Hastings as "a race of outlaws, who live from father to son in a state of warfare against society, plundering and burning villages, and murdering the inhabitants." In the year 1772, the robbers are mentioned by the committee of circuit, and stated to be "not like robbers in England, individuals driven to such courses by sudden want; they are robbers by profession, and even by birth; they are formed into regular communities, and their families subsist by the spoils which they bring home to them."
All the reports of the judges employed in the administration of criminal justice concur in representing the deplorable prevalence of the atrocious crimes of gang-robbery and murder. Sir Henry Strachey, writing on this subject in 1802, observes, that the crime of decoity (that is, robbery by gangs) has increased greatly since the British administration of justice. Another judge, writing on the same subject in 1808, observes, "That decoity (gang-robbery) is very prevalent in Rajeshahye has been often stated. But if its vast extent were known; if the scenes of horror, the murders, the burnings, the excessive cruelties, which are continually perpetrated here, were properly represented to government, I am confident that some measures would be adopted to remedy the evil. Certainly there is not an individual belonging to the government who does not anxiously wish to save the people from robbery and massacre?" (Mill, vol. iii. p. 311.) He afterwards adds, that such is the state of things which prevails all over Bengal; and as to his own particular district, he expresses his persuasion that no civilized country ever had so bad a police. To the same purpose Mr Dowdeswell, the secretary to the government in 1809, observes, in a report which he drew up on the general state of Bengal, "Were I to enumerate only a thousandth part of the atrocities of the decoits, and of the consequent sufferings of the people, and were I to soften that recital in every mode which language would permit, I should still despair of obtaining credit, solely on my own authority, for the accuracy of the narrative." "Robbery, rape, and even murder itself," continues he, "are not the worst figures in this horrid and disgusting picture. An expedient of common occurrence with the decoits, merely to induce a confession of property, supposed to be concealed, is to burn the proprietor with straw or torches, until he discloses the property, or perishes in the flames. And when they are actuated by a spirit of revenge against individuals, worse cruelties, if worse can be, are perpetrated by these remorseless criminals. If the information obtained is not extremely erroneous, the offender, hereafter noticed, himself committed fifteen murders in nineteen days; and volumes might be filled with the atrocities of the decoits, every line of which would make the blood run cold with horror." (Fifth Report, p. 603.)
It would far exceed our limits to trace in detail the cause of those evils which necessarily arose out of the very nature of the government now established. The truth is, the British were never qualified to act as legislators in India. They were too ignorant of the habits, manners, and character of the people, to meddle with their institutions, on which, however, they were continually innovating. By altering the old mode of settling the land revenues, they compromised the rights of the different classes of landholders and occupiers. Strife and contention immediately ensued, litigation burst upon society like a flood, the civil courts were overwhelmed with suits which they could not decide, and the people, desperate from a denial of justice, were involved in furious Hindustan affairs, with each other in prosecution of their rights, or being driven from their lands, they had recourse to robbery for a subsistence. Business was thus, from various sources, accumulated in the criminal courts, which being encumbered with the delay, the expense, and all the tedious formalities of the English practice, proceeded with their decisions at much too slow a pace for the wants of the country; and the evil in this manner daily increased.
The mischief of this delay was twofold: 1st, It allowed criminals, during the long interval between their apprehension and trial, to prepare the certain means of their escape, by the suborning of false witnesses, who, in the gross dissolution of morals in Hindustan, were always to be readily procured, and in any number; and, 2dly, It entailed a grievous hardship on the innocent, great numbers of whom were crowded into jails with the worst of felons, there to wait until the tardy hand of justice should bring them relief.
The inefficient state into which the police had fallen, Defect was also one cause of the general prevalence of crimes. By the ancient institutions of the Mogul government, ample means were provided for the preservation of the public peace. In every village a permanent body of guards and watchmen was maintained, whose business it was to assist in all the subordinate details both of the revenue and police, to convey the rents of the ryot to the district collector, to watch those ryots who were in arrear, to guard their crops from depredation, to act as guides and protectors to travellers, to collect information of any offences committed, and to report the arrival in the villages of suspicious persons. For these various services they had grants of land rent-free, or on very easy terms. Besides this standing force of guards and village watchmen, the zemindar, who was at the head of the police, and was held responsible for all crimes committed within his boundaries, had under his orders a large body of pykies, or armed constables, whom he could call out in aid of the police service, either for the apprehension of offenders, or to prevent breaches of the peace. These establishments, though they had fallen into a state of decay at the time of the permanent settlement in 1793, and though they were frequently perverted from their original purposes, yet existed in all parts of the country, and the police force was found to be in great efficiency and strength.
The zeminary of Burdwan, a tract of country seventy-three miles long by forty-five broad, which was in the highest state of cultivation, and well stocked with inhabitants, maintained a body of 2400 village watchmen, who were distributed under their respective chiefs amongst the different villages, for the double purpose of protecting the inhabitants and of procuring information; besides 19,000 pykies, or armed constables, who were liable to be called out, under the orders of the zemindar, in aid of the police. Instead of improving upon those ancient establishments which had taken root in the country, which were interwoven with the frame and texture of Indian society, and which were, generally speaking, efficient, though frequently perverted from their original purposes, Lord Cornwallis demolished the whole structure. According to his new scheme of police, the zeminary constables were disbanded, and their lands, which were allowed them in lieu of pay, were resumed, that is, were seized by government. The country was divided into districts of twenty miles square, over which a native police officer or darogah was placed, with fifteen or twenty armed men under his orders; he was assisted also by the village watchmen, and such of the zeminary constables as were still retained in the public service. It was soon found, however, that the new police officers could not effectually call out this array in aid of the civil power. They wanted the personal con- The directors, in whose letter of the 28th of October 1814 this passage appears, confirm the truth of the statement by the following brief observation: "That this representation of the late governor-general is not too highly coloured, would appear from the minute of Mr Lumsden, and the reports of Mr Secretary Dowdeswell, forming also part of the proceedings in regard to Mr Ernst."
The new scheme of employing spies, however useful in some cases, was in other respects highly detrimental to the peace of the community. Those spies, and more especially their superintendents (girdwars), became, in many cases, the pests of society. They took advantage of the power which they possessed of apprehending suspected persons, to extort money from them; and frequently, under threats of immediate apprehension, they laid under contribution all classes indiscriminately. It is stated, in a letter of the directors, dated October 1814, on the authority of Mr Dick, a circuit judge, that "whole villages are put under contribution, or subjected to the rapacity and spiteful machinations of the vilest members of society." In some cases the innocent were brought to trial, and convicted, on suborned evidence, procured by these wretches.
Amongst the other causes of these evils may be enumerated the incapacity of Europeans to officiate as judges in a society so peculiarly constituted as that of India. This is a fact which is deeply regretted by all the most experienced servants of the Company, from Sir John Shore downwards. Europeans are sent out to India with the sole view of amassing a fortune. They have no interest in the country from which they draw such important benefits; they know nothing of its habits and manners, never mixing with the natives in their ordinary business or amusements, and never attaining to more than a theoretical knowledge of their characters; yet they soon begin to officiate as judges, but how miserably ill appointed for such an office their own experience quickly teaches them. They soon find the difficulty of appreciating or understanding even the most ordinary transactions of a society, with the rules and principles of which they are entirely unacquainted. What is intelligible by intuition to a native, is a mystery to them; and it is easy to conceive how these difficulties must be accumulated on them in any case involving a long train of circumstantial or contradictory evidence. It is not, as every one knows, on the mere naked testimony of a witness, that a judge entirely relies; it is the tone, the manner, the living evidence of expression and character, which impresses upon testimony the stamp of truth, which carries conviction to the mind, and saves a judge from the miserable dilemma of being blown about by every wind of opposite evidence. These discriminations are, however, far too nice for a European judge in an Indian court, and he frequently knows not what to believe. He cannot, by any judicious cross-examination, extort the truth from contradictory witnesses. In any train of questions involving the peculiar usages of the country, his stock of knowledge is soon exhausted. A story which hangs together in all its main circumstances, may yet be inconsistent in some of its minute and delicate points. But a European can never detect inconsistencies which are wrapt up in the veil of local manners, and hence he lies at the mercy of every perjured witness who chooses to practise upon his ignorance. The truth of this statement is illustrated and confirmed by the concurring reports of many of those who have acted in this trying situation. Sir Henry Strachey, whose reports to the supreme government abound
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1 See Papers relating to the Police and to the Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice in Bengal, Fort George, &c., from 1810 to the present time. Printed in 1819, p. 24. 2 Papers printed by order of the House of Commons, 1819. Hindustan in most just, enlightened, and comprehensive views of Indian society and manners, observes, that "nothing is more common, even after a minute and laborious examination of evidence on both sides, than for the judge to be left in utter doubt respecting the points at issue. This proceeds chiefly from our very imperfect connection with the natives, and our scanty knowledge, after all our study, of their manners, customs, and languages. Within these few years, too, the natives have attained a sort of legal knowledge, as it is called; that is to say, a skill in the arts of collusion, intrigue, perjury, and subornation, which enables them to perplex and baffle us with infinite facility." "We perhaps judge too much by rule; we imagine things to be incredible because they have not before fallen within our experience. We make not sufficient allowance for the loose, vague, and inaccurate mode in which the natives tell a story; for their not comprehending us, and our not comprehending them. We hurry, terrify, and confound them with our eagerness and impatience." "We cannot," adds the same discriminating observer, "study the genius of the people in its own sphere of action. We know little of their domestic life, their knowledge, conversation, amusements, their trades and castes, or any of those national and individual characteristics which are essential to a complete knowledge of them. Every day affords us examples of something new and surprising; and we have no principle to guide us in the investigation of facts, except an extreme diffidence of our opinion, a consciousness of inability to judge of what is probable or improbable." "The evil I complain of is extensive, and, I fear, irreparable. The difficulty we experience in discerning truth and falsehood among the natives, may be ascribed, I think, chiefly to our want of connection and intercourse with them; to the peculiarity of their manners and habits, their excessive ignorance of our characters, and our almost equal ignorance of theirs."
The following passage, from the same document, gives a striking view of the inefficiency of European judges: "The evidence on every trial convinces us, that innumerable robberies and murders, that atrocities of the worst conceivable kind, are committed, and that very often the perpetrators are before us; yet do we find ourselves, from causes of the nature above described, constrained to let them loose again to prey on society, or, at the utmost, to direct that they be discharged, on giving security for their good behaviour." "The judge of circuit is from day to day engaged in trying large gangs for robbery and murder, and letting them go; and the country continues to be overrun with them, to a degree truly deplorable."
The directors of the Company in Europe, as soon as they were informed of these vices and disorders in their Indian government, displayed the most praiseworthy zeal in their endeavours to remove them. Far from blaming the freedom with which they were exposed, or seeking, by palliations, to evade the truth, they listened to the representations of their servants; and, in many cases, followed their judicious and enlightened suggestions. One of their first cares was to re-establish the vigour and efficiency of the police. It was soon found that the system established in 1793, not being connected in any degree with the institutions or local manners of the country, was ill adapted to its end; and that the subversion of the ancient establishments, on the ruin of which it was founded, had been attended with the worst effects, and had paved the way for all the disorders and evils with which the country had been afflicted. Hence it has been the policy of the government to restore the ancient institutions of the country, and to revive for the public service the ancient array of village watchmen and zeminary constables, formerly disbanded. In many cases their efforts have been attended with success. A new energy has been infused into the police; and this, joined to the activity of the local magistrates, has had the effect of greatly diminishing the crime of gang-robbery, as well as other crimes. This fact is placed beyond a doubt by the records of criminal justice, from which it appears, that in Bengal the atrocities which formerly spread terror throughout the peaceful country, have been greatly diminished in number by the vigilance of the police and the great exertions of the local magistracy.
Number of Persons sentenced to Death by the Court of Decrees Nizamut Adalolut (chief Criminal Court) of Bengal.
| Period | Number of Sentences | |-------------------------|--------------------| | From 1816 to 1821 | 480 | | From 1822 to 1827 | 865 | | Decrease | 124 |
Sentence to Transportation or Imprisonment for Life.
| Period | Number of Sentences | |-------------------------|--------------------| | From 1816 to 1821 | 1758 | | From 1822 to 1827 | 880 | | Decrease | 878 |
Number of Persons tried before the Circuit Courts of Bengal.
| Period | Number of Sentences | |-------------------------|--------------------| | From 1816 to 1818, three years, Burglary | 2853 | | From 1825 to 1827, do. | 1036 | | Decrease | 1917 | | From 1816 to 1818, three years, Cattle stealing | 203 | | From 1825 to 1827, do. | 31 | | Decrease | 172 | | From 1816 to 1818, three years, Larceny | 1516 | | From 1825 to 1827, do. | 223 | | Decrease | 1293 |
In the Lower and Western Provinces of Bengal.
| Crime | No. Sentenced | Decrease | |----------------|---------------|----------| | Arson | 154 | 31 | | Burglary | 2,433 | 1,995 | | Frauds | 6,161 | 3,302 | | Larceny | 8,301 | 7,927 | | Plundering | 768 | 97 | | Total | 17,817 | 13,352 | | Decrease | 4,465 |
In the western and lower provinces the number of murders without depredation were,
| Year | Western Provinces | Lower Provinces | |------------------|-------------------|-----------------| | In 1818 and 1820 | 496 | 319 | | In 1827 and 1828 | 255 | 194 | | Decrease | 241 | 125 |
Number of Depredations accompanied by Torture and Wounding.
| Year | Western Provinces | Lower Provinces | |------------------|-------------------|-----------------| | In 1818 and 1820 | 1,000 | 545 | | In 1827 and 1828 | 512 | 221 | | Decrease | 488 | 324 |
1 Answers to Interrogatories of Government, 30th January 1802, Fifth Report. In 1807, gang-robberies amounted to 1481 In 1824, to........................................... 234
Decrease...1247
In 1807, wilful murders amounted to...406 In 1824, to........................................... 30
Decrease...376
In Kishnagur, formerly notorious for gang-robberies, they decreased from 329 in 1808, to 10, their amount in 1824.
These records present a satisfactory view of the decrease of crime under the British rule in India; and it is ascribed, not to any improvement in the morals of the people, but to the great efforts of the magistracy, and to the increased efficiency of an improved police, in which the native officers are remarkably active.
The judicial establishments of Bengal consist of,
1st, A high court of appeal, termed the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut; and the Nizamut Adawlut, or the chief civil and criminal court, which sits in Calcutta. A chief judge presides, with a salary of L5,000 a year, assisted by three puisne judges with L5,000 each. This court has power to revise the sentences of the inferior courts, and to mitigate them if excessively severe; to suspend provincial judges; and to receive appeals from the inferior courts. Its construction of the regulations or edicts issued by the governor-general is final.
2d, There are six provincial courts of appeal in Bengal, with a chief and puisne judge in each, for the trial of civil cases, in which the matter in dispute exceeds 10,000 rupees in value. They may try suits not exceeding 5000 rupees, if the plaintiff desire their decision. In the case of appeals their decision is final, except in special cases.
3d, There are twenty commissioners of circuit in Bengal, who combine revenue with judicial functions. They are criminal judges, who hold sessions of jail delivery at least twice in each year, who have also the direction and control of the magistrates, revenue officers, and police. They have each a salary of L4,000 a year.
4th, The city and zillah or district courts amount to forty-nine in Bengal. They have a judge, magistrate, and registrar, or, where the business is not extensive, a judge and magistrate, or a magistrate and registrar. These courts take cognizance of affrays, thefts, burglaries, &c., try original suits to the value of 20,000 rupees, decide appeals from registrars in cases not exceeding 500 rupees in value, and from sudder aumeems (native judges) and moonsifa. By a regulation of the governor in 1832, three zillah judges may be invested by the governor-general with power to hold sessions and jail delivery. From the zillah courts an appeal lies to the provincial courts; and, by a regulation in council, it was declared competent for the governor-general to establish in any part of the presidency a native court, to be superintended by a native judge; and also, by a regulation passed on the 11th of September 1821, he was empowered to authorize any judge of circuit to assemble native juries in criminal cases. Many distinguished persons in the service of the Company, and thoroughly acquainted with the Hindu character, have long recommended the employment of natives in the administration of civil and criminal justice. Native courts of justice have accordingly been constituted, and it would appear that they had satisfactorily executed their duties; for we find, in consequence of the heavy accumulation of suits in the zillah and city courts, Hindustan, a regulation of the governor-general, dated the 27th of December 1827, extending their powers to suits in which British subjects are engaged, to the amount of 1000 rupees, which were formerly excepted from their jurisdiction. In 1832 an extensive establishment of zillah and city courts was begun. A regulation passed in that year by the supreme council of Bengal ordains, that such of the natives, of whatever caste or religion, as are found qualified, by their attainments and good character, are to be employed in the zillah (district) and city courts, as civil and criminal judges, with liberal salaries, and, more recently, as assessors on the bench, along with European judges.
A similar plan of judicature is in force at Madras and Bombay. At Madras Colonel Munro, when he was governor, was extremely anxious for the introduction of the trial by punctayet, or native juries; and a regulation, dated the 31st of August 1827, was issued for allowing native juries to be assembled in criminal cases. The office of a native judge was also constituted for the trial of criminal cases, by a regulation issued the 31st of August 1827. By the governor and council of Bombay a regulation was issued in 1830, extending the jurisdictions of native courts to all original suits, of whatever amount.
At each presidency there is a supreme or king's court, with a chief judge and two puisne judges, a master in equity, registrar, an established number of attorneys and barristers, at the discretion of the judges; and at Calcutta a Hindu and Mahommmedan law officer is attached to the court. The jurisdiction of this court extends over the presidency, with certain exceptions not well defined; and in certain cases a jurisdiction is claimed beyond the presidency, though it has been doubted whether such claims rest on any sure foundation of law. There are at Calcutta and Bombay courts of requests for the recovery of small debts, the recorders of which are Europeans.
The zemindary settlement was extended to Benares in Tenures. 1795. It was introduced into the ceded territories of Oude in 1801 and 1803. The country was divided into seven districts, with a judge and magistrate and collector in each; and a court of appeal and circuit, with a suitable establishment of officers, fixed at the town of Bareilly. The lands were let at first for three years on increasing annual rents, by which the tax was raised from its amount in 1801, of 13,523,474 sicca rupees (L1,600,000), to 19,161,486 rupees, being an increase on the existing tax of more than 40 per cent, and a foretaste to the oppressed peasantry of the blessings they were to derive from British rule. In 1805 it was proposed to extend the permanent zemindary settlement to the provinces acquired from Scindia and the raja of Berar, being the Doab, and a tract on the right bank of the Jumna, the province of Cuttack, and of Bundelcund on the right bank of the Jumna above Allahabad. Objections, however, having been made to this measure, the lands have been let since 1810 to the zemindars, on leases of five years; and the assessments have as usual been enormously increased, from 19,426,787 rupees (L2,286,457), the amount in 1807, to 31,427,494 (L3,666,540) in 1818-1819. But here, as in all other cases, the revenue has been improved at the expense of the country; and accordingly we find Lord Moira regretting the sale of lands in these provinces for outstanding balances, and the evasion of the copartnery rights by which these estates were held, at "the expense," he adds, "of the well-being and peace of the district, which it invariably disturbs."
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1 It is remarkable that these enlightened regulations of Colonel Munro, for improving the condition of the natives, were disapproved of by two out of the three judges of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, and by ten out of the twelve judges of the courts of circuit; by several of the other members of the council at Madras, namely, Sir G. T. Walker, who alleged, and with some appearance of reason, the corrupt morals of the natives. This was, however, a difficulty to be overcome.
2 Rickards' India, vol. i. p. 399. The ancient territories attached to the presidency of Madras contained two descriptions of land-tenures, namely, the lands occupied by the zemindars or polygars, and the Havelly lands under the immediate management of the government. In letting these lands, it was the practice either to receive from each cultivator his tax in kind, in which case it was necessary to maintain a large establishment of revenue officers, or to let the lands to a revenue farmer, on whom extensive powers were necessarily conferred, and consequently ample means of oppression. Another mode of settlement was with the head inhabitants of the villages, who contracted for the public tax, which they collected from the ryots. The ancient possessions attached to the presidency of Madras were, the Jaghire, which had been desolated by the invasion of Hyder Ali in 1780, and the Northern Circars. The revenues of the Jaghire had been collected by village settlements from 1789 to 1802–3, when it was divided into sixty-one estates of from 2000 to 5000 pagodas of annual rent, and sold to the highest bidder. The permanent settlement was introduced into the Northern Circars in 1802 and 1803. The assessment in some of the zemindaries exceeded a lac, or 100,000 pagodas, though it did not include the sayer duties, which consisted of imposts on houses, implements of agriculture or trade, on merchants, artificers, &c. This assessment was not framed on any accurate knowledge of the resources of the country, but any error that was made was on the side of excess. It was the poor peasantry who suffered for the ignorance of the collectors, who were determined not to underrate the lands.
Quidquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.
The Jaghire, in 1784, had not recovered from the devastation of Hyder's invasion; it still remained a monument of the miseries of war; and to all these calamities was now superadded, Mr Rickards justly observes, "a revenue administration, the basis of which was the exaction of a land-tax from the wretched remaining inhabitants, equal to one half the gross produce of the soil."
The modern possessions of the Madras presidency are by far the most extensive, and comprise the Carnatic and Mysore; the whole peninsula of India, in short, south of the Toombudra and Kistnah rivers. Most of these lands, except such as are held by the polygars or zemindars of Southern India, had been farmed out in extensive tracts by the native rulers to individuals, by whom they were sublet to the head men of the villages, who collected the tax from the cultivators. This mode of farming the revenues was after some time given up for the village or mouzoucar settlement, according to which the intermediate agency of the renter or farmer was superseded by that of the government collector, who contracted for the whole assessment with the head man of the village. This plan of village settlements was again abandoned for the ryotwar or the kulicar settlement, which only differed from the village settlement in this, that it substituted the government collector for the head man of the village, and thus abolished all intermediate agency between him and the ryot. In the village settlement, the great farmer or revenue speculator was superseded in his agency by the potali or head man of the village; in the ryotwar settlement, the potali or head man of the village was superseded by the government collector, who undertook the duty of settling individually with each ryot for his rent. With this view an exact scrutiny was instituted into the whole produce of the country. Every field was surveyed, measured, and re-measured; its name was entered in the register, and where it had no name it received one; red land was to be distinguished from black land; trees, rivers, wells, forts, open villages, were to be all specified; the inhabitants to be enumerated; their cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, &c., in short, every thing taxable, was to be brought to account in the ryotwar survey. The assessors followed in the train of the surveyors, and a host of revenue officers was spread over the harassed country. The object of this severe scrutiny into the produce of the land, was to ascertain the highest assessment which it could possibly bear. It was not to lighten the burdens of the poor ryot that his means were so rigidly inquired into, but to find out how much he could pay without being utterly ruined. "The survey valuation," it is observed in the Fifth Report of the Select Committee (p. 120), "regulated on the principles which have been described, rather constituted the maximum of assessment, than the absolute demand upon the cultivator for that assessment." This maximum of assessment is what is also called the standard rent, or jumma. "Alterations in the assessment," says the Report, "were also occasioned by the gradual increase made to it, as the circumstances of the cultivators and the state of agriculture improved, in order to raise it to what was considered the standard rent." Thus it was obviously a scheme for racking the country. From the survey a maximum or standard assessment was calculated, that is, the highest assessment which the country could possibly bear; and this, though not immediately taken from the ryot, was the standard to which it was understood that his assessment would be ultimately raised as his circumstances improved. It was the reward that awaited his successful cultivation of the land; and in this case he had little encouragement to sow, when another was to reap. "Under this mode of adjusting the rents of a village," it is said in the Fifth Report, "the ryot knew before he set his oxen to the plough, and dropped his seed into the ground, what was the utmost limit of rent that he could be called upon to pay; and that the advantage of additional labour upon his field would be all his own, as well as the advantage of additional produce in an abundant season. He also knew that in an unfavourable season an abatement would be made in his favour if his diminished means rendered him unable to satisfy it. He further knew, that if the potali required him to pay more than the sum at which his rent was finally fixed by the collector, he had only to prefer his complaint." (P. 121.) When the standard rent, as it is called, was greater than the ryot could pay, being calculated not on the produce, but on the producing capacity of the soil, of what advantage was it to him that it could not be raised higher? He did not, as is here stated, know either that the advantage of additional labour upon his field, or that the additional produce in an abundant season, would be all his own, as the assessment was raised with his improving circumstances; and the ex-
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1 See Instructions to Surveyors, by Colonel Munro, the great patron of the ryotwar settlement, Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 787. 2 William Chaplin, Esq. who was employed as registrar under Sir T. Munro in the Ceded Districts, after mentioning that a survey, classification, and assessment was undertaken by Sir T. Munro in the year 1801, and completed in 1806-7, gives the following conclusive evidence respecting the nature of the assessment: "Was the assessment fixed the highest assessment which it was thought fit in any case to exact for the land? Yes. It was a maximum assessment, which was never expected to be wholly raised; it was a maximum assessment, beyond which no collection was ever to be made afterwards; it was an assessment, the total of which was avowedly too high at the time to be realized, without occasional and partial remissions; and it was recommended afterwards to be reduced. Was any abatement made? No abatement was at that time made. A discretionary abatement was every year made by the collector, whenever there was a partial failure of the crops, from drought, or from the poverty of the inhabitants. Still the sum demanded was the maximum assessment? The sum demanded was the maximum." (See Minutes of Evidence before the Lords' Committee, 30th March 1830, p. 176.) cesses of domestic industry, and casting as it were its evil eye on every species of increasing wealth. This rigid scrutiny, not so much into the actual resources, as into the productive capacity of the soil, was with a view to a permanent settlement of the land-tax; and this permanent settlement was prospective, as the tax was to keep pace with the improvement of the country.
The ryotwar settlement was substituted for the village settlement in the southern parts of the peninsula, in Salem and Kistnaugery, amongst the Carnatic polygars or military chieftains of the country, and in Ramanad and Dindigul; and in 1802 and 1804 the permanent settlement with the zemindars or polygars was introduced, the land being divided into estates, and sold to individuals under the burden of the standard rent, to which the actual rent had not yet risen. The country had previously been the scene of great confusion, from the rebellion of the polygars; the land-rent had risen 117 per cent., from 168,305 to 344,692 pagodas; and the standard rent, now fixed, was, as usual, higher than the country could bear. The estates of the landholders were accordingly brought to sale for arrears of rent, and the lands which had been purchased were mostly resumed by the government. The province of Dindigul is in particular described by Sir Thomas Munro himself, as being in 1821 in a state of deplorable disorder and oppression from high taxes. A keen but very useless controversy has been maintained amongst the Company's servants regarding the respective merits of the zeminary, the village, or ryotwar settlements. But it is not the mode of levying the tax, but the amount, which is the grievance, and the standing source of misery all over India. The permanent settlement having been discontinued in 1804 by order of the directors, was not extended to the other territories under the presidency of Madras.
In the country known under the name of the Ceded Districts, being ceded to the Company by the nizam in 1792, extending south-east from the Toombudra river as far as the Eastern Ghauts, equal in extent to Scotland, and containing about two millions of inhabitants, the ryotwar settlement was introduced by Colonel Munro in 1800, and continued till 1807–8. During this period the land revenues were raised from 1,006,593 pagodas (£402,637), to 1,517,272 (£606,909); and in 1808–9 they amounted to 1,802,570 (£721,038), of which the sum of 1,669,908 pagodas (£667,963) consisted of land revenue. The ryotwar was superseded by the village settlement, which comprised three years from 1809, after which, in 1811–12, commenced a decennial settlement of the Ceded Districts. The country was oppressed by this heavy assessment; and under the village settlement the head men of the villages (potaits) declined to contract for the rent. Speculating renters were accordingly introduced, whose severe exactions increased the general distress, and numbers of the ryots emigrated to Mysore. In 1817 it was determined again to try the annual ryotwar settlements, when the decennial village settlements would expire in 1820–21; and Sir Thomas Munro, now governor of Madras, prepared to carry into effect the views of the directors. Many humane and excellent regulations were passed to prevent the oppression of the ryots; and the benevolent intentions of the court of directors may be traced in their va-
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1 Colonel Munro himself states this to be the rule of settling; actual loss in every year, it would not follow that it ought to be remitted; for the same cultivators who have lost this year may have gained the last; and as no extra assessment was laid upon their profit, no remission can now fairly be claimed for their loss. Whatever may have been the crop, should it have been even less than the seed, they should always be made to pay the full rent, if they can, because good and bad seasons being supposed to be equal in the long run, the loss is merely temporary, and the making of it good is only applying to the deficiency of a year of scarcity, the funds which have arisen from one of abundance." (See Extracts of Proceedings of the Board of Revenue at Fort St George, 19th May 1803, Fifth Report, p. 748, 749.)
2 Rickards' India, vol. i. p. 482.
3 See Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 942, Extract from the Report of the Principal Collector of the Ceded Districts, 15th August 1807, VOL. XI. Hindustan.
But still the only mode of relieving the country was to lessen the amount of tax, and without this, no regulations, however wise, will ensure the prosperity of the subject.
In the southern division of Arcot the ryotwar system was introduced in 1805-6, by Mr Ravenshaw, who gives a melancholy picture of the state of the country. "The miserable appearance of the villages," he observes, "a great portion of the inhabited houses of which are without roofs; and of the inhabitants, a great number of whom are clothed in the garb of extreme misery; must touch the heart of one who has any spark of sensibility for his fellow creatures." From this state of extreme depression the country gradually revived, and the revenue improved under the judicious management and moderate assessment, of which the collector was a strenuous advocate.
On the western coast of India, the provinces of Malabar, Canara, Coimbatore, &c., were subjected to the rigorous survey of the ryotwar settlement. In Malabar, the collectors under the Bombay government, on the notion of the sovereign's proprietary right to the lands, claimed fifty per cent. on the gross produce, which it was impossible to realise, though the clearest rights of property were trampled under foot, and the prejudices of the country deeply wounded, by the sale of lands, the consequence of overassessment, and by the ruin of the ancient aristocracy. A rebellion was the consequence, which was rigorously and with all due severity put down, and the province transferred to the Madras government, whose collector, we are told, in 1801-2, effected a sudden rise of about fifty per cent. in the land revenue, by adopting rates of assessment inconsistent with long-established local usage, and from which it was soon after found expedient to recede. The lands were over-assessed; in many cases, after they were sold, the proprietors were thrown into prison, and there kept for years, by the severity of the collector. A ryotwar survey of the province was undertaken by the principal collector, who, being obliged to leave the province, its revenues were successfully administered by the new collector Mr Warden, by whose judicious advice a fresh survey was averted for a time, as inconsistent with the customs of the country, and the existing state of property. In 1833, against the earnest remonstrances of the inhabitants, a strict ryotwar survey was begun, of the most inquisitorial nature, not only into the produce of Hindustan, but into the profits and all the implements of trade and manufactures. The absurdity and injustice of this assessment, and the hardship which the people suffered from the monopolies on timber, tobacco, salt, &c., appear, from the evidence given in 1830 before the Lords' Committee on the affairs of India, to have been very great. By the timber monopoly, which was the source of great complaints, the price was raised so as to stop ship-building. In many parts the timber on an estate constituted its chief value; and the government monopoly therefore amounted to an extinction of the rights of property, and was the cause of unspeakable discontent and distress. A conservator of the public forests was appointed; and as the distinction between public and private property was often doubtful, the proprietors and occupiers of land were prevented from cutting down wood even for the most necessary purposes, under pretence that it belonged to the Company, though by his orders all the wood on their estates might and often was cut down. This monopoly was abolished in 1823 by the advice of Sir Thomas Munro, who, though he administered a bad system, acted on this as on other occasions with the most enlightened humanity. The monopoly of salt was equally grievous to the inhabitants, and occasioned dreadful complaints. The landholders depended in many cases on the manufacture of salt for paying the rents of their lands. They were accordingly ruined by the suppression of the salt pans in Malabar, the compensation given them being very inadequate; and it was besides estimated that 6438 persons were thrown out of employment. Tobacco, almost a necessary of life in the moist climate of Malabar, where the fall of rain is 140 inches, three times more than in the adjoining province of Coimbatore, or on any part of the Coromandel coast, was raised 800 per cent. by the monopoly. One of the collectors, Mr Baber, made strong representations against these enormous abuses, by the continuance of which he was afraid that the people would be driven into rebellion. Tobacco was in consequence smuggled into the country from Coimbatore by gangs of contraband traders, of bad character, and ripe for any villany. The revenue was raised from 217,619 pagodas, its amount in 1800-1, to 638,488.
The province of Canara was committed to the manage-
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1 See Lords' Committee, Evidence of T. H. Baber, Esq. Have there been any sales of land for arrears of revenue? Very considerable. So much so, that almost an entire revolution has taken place in property within the last thirty years. When a tenant of a small estate failed to pay, did the collector immediately sell that portion of his estate? No. In the first instance his person was liable, then his moveable property; every article of every description, every thing which could be laid hold of, was seized and sold; and that failing, then the land; even slaves have been sold, the same as cattle. 31st March 1830.
2 Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 798, Extract from the General Report of Revenue at Fort St George, 5th October 1808, on Malabar revenues.
3 See Evidence of T. H. Baber, p. 206.
4 The cruelty of this monopoly, and the misery and vexation which it occasioned to the inhabitants, are forcibly described by Sir Thomas Munro in a minute which he drew up on the situation of the ryot when he had the complete control over his wood of every kind, he observes, "But what is his situation now? He cannot cut down or sell a bit of wood on his own property, for the most innocent purposes; he cannot even remove the young saplings which spring up from the soil scattered by the wind, though they are injurious. Though he could himself cut down his own trees, he cannot even cut these down at pleasure, both on his hills and in his fields and gardens, and makes him pay duty on the wood, and he not only levies duties, but confiscates property. A monopoly, or even any restriction, on the cutting of wood, is, in Malabar, vexatious and oppressive in the highest degree. Wood is wanted in large quantities for every purpose, for boats, houses, barns, and granaries. In a country where the fall of rain during the five monsoon months is from a hundred to a hundred and sixty inches, and sometimes nearly fifty inches in one month, it is almost impossible to make any building water-proof. The houses of all the more substantial ryots (cultivators) have a double roof, or two stories; in the lower the family resides; the upper serves as a lumber-room, but its chief use is to defend the lower, and carry off the water. The barns and granaries are necessarily constructed in a still more substantial manner, because a great part of the grain is reaped in the rainy season, during short intervals of sunshine, and, in order to be dried instantly, carried into the barns, which are made large for that purpose. The principal public buildings were formerly covered with copper, as the only means of completely excluding the water. The copper was stripped off and coined into money by Tipoo Sultan; but we go beyond him; he only deprived them of copper, but we of their roofs, or, what is the same thing, we prevent them, by our restrictions, from replacing them. These harsh measures have had their natural result; clamour and confirmed aversion and discontent, if not open resistance."
5 See Evidence before Committee of Lords, by T. H. Baber, Esq. p. 214. April 1830. Commissioner Graeme, in his letter to the board of revenue, 31st August 1830, mentions other frauds connected with the salt monopoly. He says that the government, on purchasing salt, are in the habit of pressing it down with hands and feet in the wooden measure; but when they sold it, of filling it up as light as could be, which made a difference of 20 per cent.; and other differences of measurement made an additional 20 per cent. See also Rickards, himself a principal collector in the province at the time, vol. i. sect. xvi. p. 542, et seqq. The statement of Colonel Munro, who, by his vigilant administration, restored tranquillity in the country. Yet Colonel Munro, with all his great qualities, was a strict assessor; and the rent imposed upon this district must have been high, as though he mentions that he disapproved of the numerous additions made to the ancient land-rent by Hyder and Tipoo, and says, "had such an assessment as that introduced by Hyder and Tipoo existed in ancient times, Canara would long ago have been converted into a desert," yet he adds, "I did not think myself at liberty to depart widely from the system which I found established, as it is the same as that which exists in all the provinces which the Company have acquired in the last and former wars. I have made no other reduction in the assessment of Tipoo Sultan than such as was absolutely necessary in order to ensure the collection of the rest." I considered myself merely as a collector, who was to investigate and report upon the state of the country, but who was to leave it to the board to decide as to the expediency of lowering the assessment. The zemindary settlement has never been extended to any portion of the territories under the Bombay presidency, nor to the districts ceded on the Nerbuddah and by the rajah of Berar in 1826; the greater part of these territories being all assessed by villages.
The other sources of the East India Company's revenue are the monopolies of salt and opium, custom duties both by sea and land; though the latter, from the obstructions which they occasion to trade, are in the way of being abolished; a stamp duty on conveyances, contracts, leases, policies of insurance, and deeds of every description; also on judicial proceedings. The mint, in which a seigniorage of two per cent. is charged on the coinage, and the post-office, yield an inconsiderable revenue. Of these various modes of taxation, the monopolies of salt and opium are the most objectionable. The opium monopoly was formerly a source of fraud and oppression, the cultivator being compelled to raise this article on pain of losing his land, and, in the event of a deficient produce, though occasioned by adverse seasons, being liable to punishment unless he made up the quantity, which he could only do by buying at a higher price than he expected to receive. Other frauds were practised by the collector or his agents, such as making pecuniary advances to the ryots in a light currency, and in using light weights in the weighing of the produce. These frauds were inquired into and checked by the humanity of Lord Cornwallis in 1785. Treaties, as has been already mentioned, were entered into with the native princes for extending the opium monopoly to their territories. But these treaties, at the request of the princes, to whose subjects they were a continual source of vexation, were relinquished; and the trade in opium being now free, except in the Company's territories, the monopoly can scarcely be so profitable, owing to the reduction of price in the China market, from the competition of opium from Malwah and other provinces. The profits of the opium monopoly amounted in 1828-29 to L1,930,891.
The monopoly of salt, which is so necessary to give a relish to the insipid food of the poor Hindu, is a still more pernicious device for raising money, and was formerly the source of great oppression; the molungees or salt-workers in Bengal being one half of them (the Adjura molungees) held under a species of bondage, and compelled to work at half the rate of wages received by the Tickle molungees, who worked by free compact. This injustice was also inquired into and redressed by Marquis Cornwallis. Still the restraint under which such a monopoly lays the industry of the country, and the high price to which it raises a necessary of life, is a serious oppression, more especially as a revenue of equal amount might to a certainty be raised by a tax on the article with a free trade. The following table contains the latest account of Indian taxation:
**Direct Taxation**
| Description | Amount | |--------------------------------------------------|------------| | Land-revenue | L.12,895,366 | | Farms, licenses, and tax on professions | 152,780 | | Sayar and Akbaran | 861,196 | | Territories on Neruddah | 457,923 | | Burmese cessions | 117,326 | | Mysore and other subsidies | 392,355 | | Ava, Bhurtapore, &c. | 491,249 | | Marine receipts | 77,787 | | **Total** | **L.15,445,982** |
**Indirect Taxation**
| Description | Amount | |--------------------------------------------------|------------| | Salt sale, and licenses | L.2,700,147 | | Customs (sea and land) | 1,869,634 | | Opium | 1,930,891 | | Post-office | 135,617 | | Tobacco | 85,128 | | Mint receipts | 19,414 | | Stamps | 368,431 | | Judicial | 126,464 | | **Total** | **L.7,235,726** |
It will now be proper briefly to revert to the mercantile character of the East India Company; to give some account of its cash transactions and its commercial privileges, together with the general result, as it appears in the present state of its affairs.
The capital stock of the Company was originally L.2,000,000, and by successive enactments was increased as follows:
| Year | Amount | |------|------------| | 1708 | L.2,000,000 | | 1786 | 800,000 | | 1789 | 1,000,000 | | 1794 | 1,000,000 |
**L.5,000,000**
Part of this capital was subscribed at a rate greatly exceeding the nominal amount. In 1794 there was paid for one million of stock the sum of L.2,027,295; and the whole amount paid into the Company's treasury for capital stock amounts to L.7,780,000.
As long as the attention of the Company was confined merely to trade, the annual dividend, which, from the year 1708 to 1766, varied from five to ten per cent, may be taken as a tolerably fair criterion of the profit gained. The acquisition in 1765 of the sovereignty and revenues of Bengal gave rise amongst the proprietors to the most extravagant anticipations of wealth, and, on the faith of these, the dividend, as already mentioned, was raised to ten, and afterwards to twelve per cent. But these expectations proved fallacious, and it was, in 1773, lowered to six per cent. It was afterwards raised to eight, and in 1793 to ten and a half per cent. Ever since the acquisition of the sovereignty of Bengal, it was not so much from trade as from revenue that the Company's profits were expected to arise. It was by the remittance of a large sur-
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1 See Evidence of T. H. Baber before Lords' Committee, p. 212. 2 Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 303; Extracts from the Report of the Principal Collector of Cannan. 3 Revenue Consultation, 1789, Answers of the Collectors in the opium districts to the Queries of the Board of Revenue, 1788. 4 See Appendix to the Second Report of the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, p. 169. Hindustan, plus revenue from India that the proprietors hoped to be enriched. These hopes, however, have not been fulfilled. A large and increasing revenue has indeed been collected, but it has been invariably followed by an increase of charge and of debt. The constant increase of the charge is a standing subject of complaint in the correspondence of the directors with their servants in India, whom they frequently accuse of the grossest profusion and corruption, reproaching them with the enormous expense of their establishment, and urging them, in the most earnest manner, to retrenchment and economy; whilst the servants, on the other hand, always hold out the fairest promises of their future management, and flattering statements of revenue, to be regularly overturned by the increasing charges of the succeeding year.
When Lord Clive was sent out to India in 1765, it was for the purpose of securing the Company's revenue from the profusion and mismanagement of corrupt servants, against whom the clamour in this country was loud and general. No amendment, however, took place, and the directors continued their complaints. During the ten years administration of Mr Hastings, which commenced in 1772 and ended in 1783, the Company were deeply involved in the wars and politics of India, the effect of which, on the finances, appears to have been to increase both the revenue and the charge, and in the same proportion to accumulate debt. In 1772 the revenues of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa amounted to £2,373,650, and the charges to £1,705,279; producing a surplus of £668,371. The India debt amounted to £1,850,166. In 1785 the revenues of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, including the new revenue of Benares, amounted to £5,315,197, and the charges to £4,312,519; thus producing a surplus of £1,002,678; to counterbalance which, however, the debt in India was increased to £10,464,955. With the management of their affairs in India the directors seem never to have been satisfied; for we find them about this period complaining that certain late revenue regulations were made, "rather with a view of creating lucrative posts for a certain description of men, than with any design either of increasing the revenue or of promoting commerce." In the same strain we find them complaining, in a letter to Lord Cornwallis, of a disposition in their servants to "innovation and experiment, without urgent necessity or apparent cause, new institutions, and almost instant deviations from them, multiplication of offices, and increase of salaries." These, they continue, "are always introduced with flattering schemes of increase to the revenue and diminution of expense, which has hardly, in any instance, been realized by the event." In consequence of this constant increase of expense, though the Company's revenues were increased, the surplus revenue was diminished. In the same letter the directors state that it was one million less than in the year 1766, when the Bengal revenues were acquired.
In 1793 the revenues amounted to £8,225,628, and the expense to £7,007,050, thus yielding a surplus of £1,218,578; and the debt was reduced to £7,971,665. This state of the Company's affairs became the subject of the most extravagant declamations both in parliament and elsewhere. The old delusion of Indian wealth, nearly as absurd as the South Sea bubble, was successfully revived; annual remittances of treasure were anxiously expected and confidently promised; and the expected surplus was most gravely appropriated by acts of parliament to its appointed ends. Mr Dundas was the principal actor in this solemn farce, in which, being probably credulous himself, he imposed on the credulity of others, boasting that India would be a vast source of wealth to the Company, and to the nation. But these predictions were soon falsified by the event. The surplus of Indian revenue, for the appropriation of which so many wise provisions were passed, soon vanished, and in 1797 a deficiency appeared, which continued till 1810. The revenues had, in the mean time, increased from £8,225,628, their amount in 1797, to about 15½ millions sterling; but, instead of any surplus being remitted from India to Europe, there appears a balance against India, from 1797 to 1807, to the amount of £1,629,701; whilst, during this period, there was sent from England to India, more than was received, a sum of £5,691,689. This was the sum, therefore, which England lost during those ten years by its connection with India. From another account also, it appears that, from 1793 to 1816, England remitted of cash to India £8,824,067 more than was received. (See East India Annual Accounts laid before Parliament, p. 19.) In 1811 the revenues began again to exceed the charges, and in the three following years there was a large surplus of nearly three millions sterling in each year. In 1816, 1817, and 1818, this surplus continued to be above two millions annually; and it is stated by Mr Prinsep, in his narrative of the last Indian war, that there was actually accumulated in the different treasuries of the Company, bullion to the amount of eight millions sterling. Here, then, was an opportunity of making a large remittance to the directors in Europe. But of this large accumulation of treasure they received not one shilling. The Indian government was involved in a series of new wars, in the carrying on of which not only was all this wealth expended, but an additional sum of about four and a half millions sterling was borrowed; so that the Indian debt, which in 1814 amounted to about twenty-nine millions sterling, was raised to nearly £34,775,792, its amount in April 1818. Mr Prinsep, however, in his interesting account of the administration of Marquis Hastings, still confidently held out the hope of a surplus revenue; and he founded his expectations, 1st, on a reduction of expense in consequence of the peace recently concluded; and, 2ndly, on a great increase of revenue from the late extension of the Company's territories. But so far from any surplus of revenue being realized, we find the whole produce of the taxes collected throughout the extensive dominions of the Company, amounting to £22,019,310, regularly swallowed up in the increasing charge; so that, on the seventeen years ending 1830-1831, the annual deficit amounts to £18,994,036, as will appear from the following table:
| Year | Surplus | Deficit | |------|---------|---------| | 1814-15 | £1,342,273 | £1,391,865 | | 1815-16 | £276,893 | £1,402,472 | | 1816-17 | £955,451 | £1,390,359 | | 1817-18 | £487,489 | £1,347,052 | | 1818-19 | £427,766 | £1,446,001 | | 1819-20 | £80,333 | £1,544,057 | | 1820-21 | £1,649,798 | £1,414,210 | | 1821-22 | £2,057,051 | £1,507,773 | | 1822-23 | £3,067,969 | £1,626,153 | | 1823-24 | £426,367 | £1,283,977 | | 1824-25 | £1,445,487 | £1,651,977 | | 1825-26 | £3,039,025 | £1,477,282 | | 1826-27 | £71,393 | £2,428,394 | | 1827-28 | £1,190,875 | £1,069,141 | | 1828-29 | £1,022,150 | £967,405 | | 1829-30 | £1,138,238 | £1,749,740 | | 1830-31 | £1,799,633 | £1,473,365 |
Total deficit: £18,994,036 ### Revenues and Indian Charges (independently of the Home Expenses) of each Presidency, with the Deficit or Surplus in each Year, from 1814–15 to 1892.
| Year | Bengal Revenue | Bengal Charge | Madras Revenue | Madras Charge | Surplus | Deficit | |------|----------------|---------------|----------------|---------------|---------|---------| | 1814 | £11,297,498 | £8,676,581 | £5,822,164 | £5,189,412 | £132,752 | £897,060 | | 1815 | £11,415,799 | £9,487,638 | £11,928,161 | £5,105,107 | £6,823,054 | £1,717,144 | | 1816 | £11,967,259 | £9,793,974 | £2,147,926 | £5,390,229 | £1,757,697 | £872,046 | | 1817 | £11,769,559 | £10,831,822 | £1,977,730 | £5,881,307 | £1,096,423 | £895,592 | | 1818 | £12,398,475 | £10,677,015 | £1,722,460 | £5,361,432 | £1,365,527 | £1,392,820 | | 1819 | £12,294,290 | £10,896,734 | £1,397,186 | £5,407,005 | £829,141 | £1,720,457 | | 1820 | £13,518,498 | £10,688,493 | £2,830,329 | £5,403,606 | £570,406 | £418,409 | | 1821 | £13,591,291 | £10,639,409 | £3,004,882 | £5,657,028 | £50,132 | £2,888,092 | | 1822 | £14,169,691 | £10,317,196 | £3,852,435 | £5,685,209 | £522,902 | £3,372,447 | | 1823 | £12,950,308 | £10,912,710 | £2,037,388 | £5,498,764 | £528,607 | £900,092 | | 1824 | £13,484,740 | £12,629,179 | £854,561 | £5,460,742 | £789,333 | £6,389,856 | | 1825 | £14,212,282 | £13,793,499 | Nonest | £5,714,915 | £0,056,957 | £348,591 | | 1826 | £14,767,288 | £13,405,152 | £1,392,086 | £5,981,681 | £533,422 | £342,032 | | 1827 | £14,944,718 | £13,488,879 | £1,457,834 | £5,347,888 | £347,589 | £840,289 | | 1828 | £14,785,680 | £12,043,607 | £2,742,083 | £5,575,049 | £618,817 | £186,447 | | 1829 | £15,925,820 | £11,286,296 | £4,639,524 | £5,408,966 | £525,558 | £2,981,892 | | 1830 | £14,119,014 | £11,111,107 | £2,948,747 | £5,338,290 | £525,440 | £46,979 | | 1831 | £14,884,116 | £11,912,196 | £2,971,920 | £5,444,126 | £498,971 | £540,165 | | 1832 | £2881 | | | | | |
*Deficit of £632,217.*
*The year embracing 1832–33 not made up.* The commercial monopoly of the East India Company was granted by William III. in the year 1698, and it was confirmed by 9 and 10 William III. c. 44. The legislative enactments regarding the territorial possessions of the Company commenced in 1767. In that year it was agreed that, in consideration of an annual payment of L.400,000, the territorial possessions should remain in possession of the Company for two years, and afterwards for five years from the 1st of February 1769. There was paid to the public, under these two acts, from 1768 to 1775, the sum of L.2,169,398. In 1773 the affairs of the Company were much embarrassed, and they presented a petition to parliament soliciting a loan for four years, and a sum of L.1,400,000 was accordingly lent; and at this time parliament first assumed the regulation of the Company's affairs. The dividend was restricted to six per cent. till this loan should be repaid, and afterwards to seven per cent. It was enacted that the directors should be elected for four years, six of them, being a fourth part, to vacate their office annually by rotation; the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors to be raised from L.500 to L.1000. A new court of judicature was at the same time established at Calcutta, consisting of a chief justice and three principal judges, appointed by the crown; and a superiority was given to Bengal over the other presidencies; an appropriation was made of the revenues and profits of the Company, and they were required to make half yearly statements of their debts, and of the profit and loss incurred on their trade and revenues. The loan of L.1,400,000 having been discharged, two other acts were passed, by which the territory was continued to the Company for one year. In 1781 an act was passed continuing the territorial revenues and privileges of the Company till the 1st of March 1791, and then to be taken away only on a three years' notice; providing also that the Company should pay annually L.400,000 to the public, besides three fourths of any surplus revenue that might accrue. Under this act the Company paid to the public L.400,000 in satisfaction of all claims up to the 1st March 1781. But of the annual sum of L.400,000 which was afterwards to be paid, the public received only L.300,000; and in 1783 the Company were allowed to borrow L.800,000, and out of this borrowed money to pay a dividend of eight per cent. By the act of 33 Geo. III. c. 52, passed in 1793, the British territories in India, together with the exclusive trade, were continued to the Company for twenty years; and the Company agreed to pay L.500,000 annually, unless prevented by war expenditure. But only two payments were made, of L.250,000 each, under this act, in 1793 and 1794. In 1814 the charter of the Company was renewed for twenty years; the trade to India opened under certain limitations, with the exception of the trade to China, the monopoly of which, with all the territorial revenues, was continued till 20th of April 1834. In 1833 a new act was brought forward by Mr Grant, for the future administration of the vast dominions of Hindustan, and for the general regulation of their affairs. By this act the commercial privileges of the East India Company were abolished, and the trade to India and to China was thrown open to all British subjects. The government of India was still vested in the directors of the company, in conjunction with the board of control, according to the provisions of Mr Pitt's bill. It was declared lawful for all British subjects to settle in any part of the East India Company's dominions throughout India without any license, merely making known to the chief officer of the customs their names, places of destination, and their business; to hold lands for a term of sixty years, and in perpetuity by a grant from the governor-general; and all classes in Hindustan, of whatever religion, colour, caste, or country, are declared equally eligible to all public offices. The value of the Company's stock is guaranteed to the proprietors at the rate of L.100 for every L.5. 5s. of annual dividend. For this purpose a fund of two millions is set apart, to accumulate at compound interest, until it amount to twelve millions, the price of six millions of stock at ten per cent., and the dividend is in the mean time to be paid out of the territorial revenues. The whole capital of the East India Company, amounting to L.7,780,900, having been in this manner lost, the inhabitants of Hindustan are taxed to make up the loss. For more than forty years a dividend of ten and a half per cent. has been paid upon East India stock, though in the course of this long period not a shilling of profit has ever been made. So far from it, the Company's affairs have been every day sinking deeper into embarrassment, and a pretended dividend has been paid with borrowed money, by which the original value of the stock has been nearly doubled in the market, and at this high value it is to be redeemed at the expense of the Hindus, who, though they had no share in the profits, are thus brought in to bear the loss. It may be doubted, however, whether any other arrangement would have been practicable. The error was in allowing so large a dividend to be paid with borrowed money; and this evil having gone so far, and many proprietors having purchased stock on the faith of the existing dividend, it would have been a bold measure to have at once annihilated the value of the stock to the amount of twelve millions. The reform of judicial proceedings, and the compilation of a uniform code of laws for Hindus and Mahommedans as well as European subjects, a great and important undertaking, forms part of this comprehensive and enlightened plan for the government of India. Owing to the recent extension of the British empire towards the north, it has been found expedient, for the more efficient administration of these distant territories, to erect a fourth presidency and council at Agra, with the same powers as the other presidencies, and subject also to the supreme authority of the president and council of Bengal.
The following is the latest statement of the Company's affairs:
| Territorial and Political Debts Abroad. | |----------------------------------------| | Total debts in India bearing interest... | L.41,204,416 | | Debts in India not bearing interest.... | 11,496,162 | | Total territorial debts abroad, 1st May 1831 | L.52,700,578 | | Territorial and political debts at home | 8,497,204 | | Commercial debts abroad, 1st May 1832 | L.61,197,782 | | At home | L.719,499 | | Commercial bonded debt bearing interest | L.1,208,995 | | Not bearing interest | L.3,542,854 |
On this clause Colonel Munro justly observes, "This is converting India into a rack-rent estate for England." Territorial and Political Credits Abroad.
Consisting of cash and bills receivable, &c. at Bengal, Fort George, and Bombay...........L9,018,281 Stores in the several departments, 1st May 1831......................................................7,098,683 Debts, including arrears revenue..................................................................................9,268,484 Amount of securities purchased by commission for reduction of Indian debt...............2,783,624 Bills of exchange........................................................................................................L522,139 From which is deducted on various accounts.............................................................519,617
2,522
L28,171,594
Exports of military stores, cargoes, bills of exchange drawn on government; bullion, dead stock, buildings in India L400,000, buildings of colleges at Halesbury, &c....................1,407,929
L29,579,523
Commercial Credits Abroad.
Cash, goods, merchandise at the several presidencies, Cape of Good Hope, China, Canada, Halifax, and debts..............................................................................L1,416,246
At Home.
Value of goods, cargoes, ships, East India House, warehouses, debt due from public cash........................................................................................................20,230,903
21,647,149
Balance deficient........................................................................................................L15,442,458
The East India Company consists, according to the latest calculation, of 3579 proprietors, who meet in a general court and vote. A proprietor of the Company's stock, provided it has been in his possession for twelve months, to the amount of L1,000, has one vote; of L3,000, two; of L6,000, three; and of L10,000, four votes; 396 proprietors hold stock under L500, and are not qualified to vote. The total number of voters is estimated at 2600. The proprietors meet every quarter. Their powers were limited to the election of directors, to the framing of bye-laws, and to the control of salaries or pensions exceeding L200 a year, or gratuities exceeding L600. In the court of directors and the board of control is vested the sovereignty of India; they regulate by their supreme authority the policy of the resident government, and the court of proprietors has no power to interfere with their orders.
India is divided into the four presidencies of Bengal, Madras, Bombay, and Agra. The presidency of Bengal is the head of the government, and the president is styled the governor-general. He exercises the executive and legislative powers within his presidency; the regulations which he issues having the force of laws, though subject to the revision of the directors and the board of control at home. Formerly these ordinances were not valid until they were publicly exposed for fourteen days, then registered by the king's supreme court, and afterwards subjected to a further ordeal at home. By the new charter of 1833 these restraints on the powers of the governor-general have been removed, and by his authority in council he can even make laws for the regulation of the supreme courts. The business of the executive is divided among five boards; 1st, that of revenue; 2d, that of customs, salt, opium; 3d, that of trade; 4th, the military; and, 5th, the medical board. There are three boards at Madras, namely, the first and the two last, and one at Bombay. These boards make suggestions, or present drafts of regulations in their respective departments; and all their minutes are laid before the government monthly, and transmitted home for the consideration of the directors and the board of control. The council of the governor-general consists of five members, three of whom are taken from the servants of the Company of three years standing, but the fourth not from the Company's servants; and all are appointed by the directors, subject to the approbation of the king. The commander-in-chief forms the fifth member. In all state questions the governor-general may act without or even against the advice of his council, on his own responsibility. In virtue of his commission as captain-general, he may head the military operations in any part of India. The chiefs of the other presidencies possess the same authority within their respective districts, but may be controlled in all matters of general policy by the governor-general, who has the power of declaring war and of making peace, and of entering into treaties with foreign states; and who may suspend the governors of the other presidencies, proceed thither, and, assuming the supreme authority, sit as president in their councils.
Each presidency has its separate army, commander-in-chief, and military establishment. But the commander-in-chief of the supreme government has a general authority over the military force in the other presidencies. The total armed force in British India is above 200,000. This force consists, 1st, of the king's infantry and cavalry; 2d, of the East India Company's European engineers, artillery, and infantry; and, 3d, of the Company's native artillery, cavalry, and infantry. The European troops in India amount, according to the latest accounts, to 30,864; the native troops to 181,517, highly distinguished by their valour, good conduct, and discipline. The complement of European officers to each regiment is, one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, five captains, eight lieutenants, and four cornets or ensigns. Of native officers there is a subahdar and jevadar to each company. But no native can ever attain a rank equal to the youngest European ensign. The number of European officers in India was, by a late return, 5531. The expense of the Anglo-Indian army, at each of the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, in 1830, was, respectively, L4,329,537, L3,216,275, L1,849,510. The Indian marine is considerable, consisting of one frigate, with ten or twelve smaller vessels, and two armed steamers. The British ecclesiastical establishment in India consists of seventy-six European chaplains, who are under the charge of a diocesan at Calcutta, with L5000 a year, and three archdeacons at each of the presidencies, with a salary of L2000 a year. By the new charter of 1833 a bishop is to be stationed at each presidency, with a salary of L2400. There are also Scottish Presbyterian churches at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.
From the preceding view which we have given of the Conclusive administration of India, it will be seen that the inhabitants have suffered many serious evils from a foreign yoke; and that the land-tax levied by the East India Com- Hindustan-pany is the standing obstacle to improvement. It is this tax which retards the progress of cultivation, and consequently of population and capital; and is the cause of large tracts of wilderness being still found in a country naturally fertile. All the different collectors in India, and amongst others Colonel Munro, are of opinion that, but for this obstacle, population would increase even faster in Hindustan than in America. Those provinces of India, however, such as Bengal, which have been long under the sway of the British, now exhibit, notwithstanding the high assessment, sensible marks of improvement. The ancient order of landholders, the zemindars, as well as the inferior tenants or occupants, have many of them no doubt been crushed under the pressure of taxation, and have mostly disappeared; but in their place, under the protecting influence of the British government, a middle order has arisen, who have acquired wealth by industry. In the great towns commerce has flourished; large capitals have accumulated, and in many cases have been employed in purchasing the forfeited lands of the zemindars. A new race of proprietors has thus arisen, more enterprising and industrious than the great lords to whom they have succeeded; and by their industry and exertions the land has been improved, and cultivation slowly extended over the jungles and wastes of the lower provinces. With the progress of commerce and of wealth, rice, the great staple of the farmer, has risen in price, and at the same time the wages of labour; a sure criterion of the improving condition of the people. In the interior of Bengal and the upper provinces, the towns are improving both in size and in appearance; and the equal protection extended to all classes by the British rulers has diffused throughout India a sense of security never before experienced under the despotic rulers of former times, and far less amidst the massacres, the pillage, and the intestine disorders, which from time immemorial have afflicted India, and more especially during the last twenty years preceding the Pindaree war. These evil days have passed away; India is now freed from the scourge of internal war, by the decided ascendency of the one great ruling power; and peace, which now reigns over all Hindustan, is of itself so great a blessing, as to compensate in some degree the evils of foreign rule. The European sovereigns of India have committed great errors, first, in discouraging the colonization of the country by Europeans, and, secondly, in the rigorous exclusion of the natives from every place of power, honour, or emolument. In their jealousy of colonization, the East India Company have evinced all that narrow spirit of monopoly by which they would hold possession of the country by any means, however exceptionable. The hereditary aristocracy of India having been ruined by the rigid exactions of the government, the want of their natural influence has been severely felt in all the details of domestic policy. The business of the revenue, the magistracy, and police, fell, as has been shown, into almost irreparable disorder; and these evils were, by all the most experienced servants of the Company, and by the directors at home, ascribed to the degradation and ruin of the ancient gentry and landholders, who had great authority and respect among the people, and who were universally looked up to as the guardians of civil order. On this subject, Mr Stuart, judge in the Benares division, in a report to government, reasons with great force and clearness, and observes, that the extinction of the aristocracy "may be traced throughout the country as one principal source of the disorders which prevail." (Fifth Report, p. 574.) These disorders would have been most effectually remedied by a body of Europeans naturalized in the country, who would have filled up the void in society occasioned by the ruin of the zemindars, and would have diffused amongst the natives the arts, sciences, the literature, and enlightened morality of Europe; they would have improved the general aspect and condition of Hindu society; and their descendants, familiar with the laws, character, manners, and language of the natives, would have been qualified to act as the rulers and legislators of the country. Owing to the exclusive policy which has been followed, the government of India has been composed of a small body of foreigners, who engross from their rightful owners every part of honour or profit. The standing policy of the Company has been to exclude the natives from every fair object of ambition. Their rise in the army was limited to the command of a platoon of Sepoys; in the civil service to some petty office, alike insignificant in its functions and its pay. A proscription so universal was calculated to produce the most unfavourable effects on the national character. By narrowing the sphere of ambition, we diminish the incentives to active exertion, we take away from mankind the motives which prompt them to cultivate their faculties, we weaken the animating principle of all improvement, we relax the moral tone of society, and thus pave the way for the progress of vice and disorder. All accounts accordingly agree that the state of morals in Hindustan has not been improved under the rule of the English. "The decline of morality," says Lord Maitra, in his judicial minute, dated the 2d of October 1813, "is stated to be a subject of reproach against us by all the natives whose birth or education have inspired with concern for the good order or well-being of society." Mr Stuart, whose reports on the state of India abound in the most masterly views of the state of property and manners, expresses this opinion in the strongest terms: "As we proceed," he observes, "these provinces will soon present the singular spectacle of a great empire, the government of which rigidly excludes its subjects from every object of fair ambition, which, in the pursuit, could stimulate men to cultivate their faculties, or, in the possession, enlarge their understandings and elevate their minds." "My speculations," he adds, "may have perhaps misled me, but I am persuaded that very unfavourable effects from these causes may already be traced in the habits of our native subjects; and their long continuance must, I think, infallibly end in reducing the whole population to one ignorant, grovelling, litigious, and profligate herd." Colonel Munro, one of the most distinguished officers in the Company's service, decidedly censures the illiberal policy of exclusion; and describes the natives as more patient and laborious than Europeans, as better accountants, as more efficient men of business; and he expresses his surprise that "men of respectable talents should recommend the abolition of Indian and the substitution of European agency to the greatest possible extent. With our limited number of servants," he observes, "we could not do the work of natives, with ten times the number we could only do it ten times worse." The just and liberal views of Colonel Munro and others have been approved of; and the natives have been for some years admissible to civil offices, and to act as civil and criminal judges; and this tardy justice to the natives may be expected to produce the best effects. They are now summoned to sit in the punctayets (native juries), to try in some places criminal, in others both civil and criminal questions. And this enlightened policy has been still further confirmed by the great and memorable measure introduced into parliament by Mr Grant in 1833, for abolishing the commercial privileges, and regulating other complicated concerns, of the East India Company. The free admission of the natives, of whatever religion or caste, to all offi-
---
See Copies of several Minutes of Council at the presidencies of Madras, by Sir T. Munro, Mr Gurney, Mr Lushington. Judicial Consultation, 3d July 1827. Hindustan.
and of British settlers into any part of India, there to acquire property or land, or to carry on any trade or profession, is calculated to promote the lasting advantage of India, establishing as it does the principles of freedom, not upon the mere arbitrary regulation of the supreme council, which may be recalled, but on the solid authority of a British act of parliament, which no inferior power can disannul.
Under this liberal and comprehensive law, the Magna Charta of Indian freedom, the British merchant may transfer his capital, and his superior intelligence and industry, to the most remote parts of Hindustan; he may engage in trade, in manufactures, or in agriculture; and this free intercourse of India with Britain must in time produce important effects on the character and manners of the people. Hindustan appears, indeed, to be on the eve of a great moral revolution. The spirit of improvement has long slumbered amongst that singular people; and the division of the people into castes, and those superstitions to which they are attached with a blind devotion, are unfavourable to its progress. But the influence of European manners now begins to be seen; and, considering that the Hindus are a conquered people, long bowed under a foreign yoke; that, on the other hand, power, dominion, honour, and promotion, belong to the British; it is no wonder that the prostrate and servile Hindu should be induced gradually to forsake the manners and superstitions, and even the language, of his forefathers, for the enlightened views and purer faith of his victorious preceptors. This great and signal revolution is already begun. The manners, the customs, the language of Britain, are beginning to take root in India. They have been adopted by many natives of distinction, by zemindars, as well as by the rajas and princes of the country; and from their example they are spreading amongst the other classes. Hindu children of both sexes crowd the British seminaries established at Calcutta; the rising generation resort to the colleges, and are instructed in English literature and science; they frequent the medical and surgical schools; and there is a growing disposition to adopt the free and liberal manners, and all the other improvements, of modern Europe. This moral change, which is already begun, will soon, by the free influx of Europeans, reach the remotest parts of Hindustan. Capital will be introduced, agriculture will be promoted, and improved modes of labour will be adopted. And all these changes will be brought about, not by any violent subversion of existing institutions, but gradually, through the quiet influence of moral causes.
Amongst other sources of improvement in Hindustan, may be reckoned the laudable zeal of the government for the instruction of the people, by the institution of colleges and schools throughout the country, in which are taught all the different branches of literature and science. It was stipulated by the charter in 1814, that a sum of L10,000 should be annually applied to the purposes of education; which sum has been augmented by the liberality of the government to L21,894, to L66,563, and to L44,330, its amount in 1830. In the Mahommedan College at Calcutta, the pupils are instructed in natural philosophy, Hindustan theology, law, astronomy, mathematics, geometry, arithmetic, logic, rhetoric, oratory, grammar, in medicine and surgery, and in the English and Arabic languages. There is also a college for the cultivation of Sanscrit and Hindu literature; besides the Anglo-Indian college for instruction in the English languages. Colleges have been established at Delhi and Agra, and primary and elementary schools are dispersed over the whole country. In many cases, the native schools, generally ill conducted, have been improved under the superintendence of the British. In the presidencies of Bombay and Madras numerous schools have been established for the instruction of the natives in all the elementary branches of education; in geography, in mathematics, and in the English language, the knowledge of which is gradually extending amongst the Hindus. And with these institutions for the education of the people is now combined that mighty engine the press, which, though opposed in its first efforts, and rigorously persecuted, has in India, as in all other countries, finally broken down all the restraints of despotism, and achieved its own freedom. It is not above twenty years since one newspaper only was published in Calcutta. In 1833 eight daily newspapers, political and commercial, issued from the Calcutta press; two three times a week, one twice a week, and seven weekly newspapers, some political, others commercial; besides fourteen newspapers in Bengalee or Persian, and monthly, quarterly, and annual publications. At Bombay and Madras political intelligence is dispersed in various journals, some in English, others in the native languages; and throughout the provinces English newspapers are established; whilst at the different courts, at Delhi and at Meerut, the journals are numerous and daily increasing. To those various sources of improvement may be added the missionary labours, which are ardently pursued all over India; in the establishment of schools, in the sending out of preachers, and in the printing and dispersing of the sacred volume and other works in the native languages, on which large sums of money have been expended. Such are the various institutions which are in progress for the civilization of Hindustan, and which are destined ere long to produce important results, not only in that country, but throughout the whole extent of Asia. But those great moral changes which affect the condition of society are in their nature slow and gradual; they cannot be hastened forward, more especially amongst such a people as the Hindus, whose minds are enthralled by the force of their peculiar habits and religion, by immemorial usages, and by the deep-rooted prejudices of ignorance. We cannot expect that long-established habits will be suddenly relinquished, or that fixed impressions will at once yield to the voice of truth. But Great Britain has at last, and in earnest, undertaken the task of instructing her Indian subjects; the foundation is laid; the work of improvement is begun; the seeds of knowledge have been widely dispersed over the congenial soil, and they will assuredly spring up, and in due season yield the desired increase.