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Mo. 4Q7. Oct. 1,1859.] THE LEADEB. 1108
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INDIA, AND INDIAN PROGRESS. ^ffc
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THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS. There is one ho...
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"HEDGING" REWARDED. Amongst tho characte...
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LATEST INDIAN INTELLIGENCE. Tub Calcutta...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mo. 4q7. Oct. 1,1859.] The Leadeb. 1108
Mo . 4 Q 7 . Oct . 1 , 1859 . ] THE LEADEB . 1108
India, And Indian Progress. ^Ffc
INDIA , AND INDIAN PROGRESS . ^ ffc
The Day Of Small Things. There Is One Ho...
THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS . There is one hope which seems among Anglo-Indians to survive all facts . It is impossible , it is thought , that the apparent condition of affairs can be real , that a government composed of Englishmen , however hampered by circumstances , can be so helpless , so devoid of ability as is represented . Those who entertain this soothing belief know little of past history or existing fact . There are times in the history of every nation when mental power seems to collapse , when small men creep to the top > when all broad plans are pronounced wild , when baby innovations and petty reforms occupy the little energy remaining . There is a " universal deadness in the public mind . " Such a condition of affairs
existed in England from 1730 to 1750 , in France , despite the activity of thought , for the first fifteen years of Louis XVI ., and in the petty States of Germany at the present hour . It is dominant in India now . A recent traveller in the North-West tells us that nothing strikes him like the marvellous decline in public spirit , the utter apathy of all classes except as to salary . Commissioners hear of improvements with a shrug . It would take two years to obtain a common official sanction . Magistrates smile resignedly at crime . Between Imperial legislation and the regulations the commandments are suspended . Officers will scarcely discuss reorganisation . What is the use . when if a reform even comes it will be sent back , like the medical warrant ,
for reconsideration . The welling out of money never ceases . The local authorities will not stop it . If they suggest retrenchments they are told " not to raise questions of general policy . " If they warit economy , or offer to dispense with levies , ot sowars , or any " of the tribe of quasi-military locusts who are eating up all the land , they are considered theorists . They , therefore , as the alternative , sit * repeat Talleyrand ' s axiom about zeal , and confine energy to the expectation of a change . All the while the routine of life goes on . Nobody can get an answer about reorganization , but an order selecting some forty officers to go home with the Europeans is signed with marvellous rapidity . No fixedbut week week
soldier can get his status , by native officers are rewarded with badges , decorations , prizes , all demanding minute official study . There is no broad plan of economy , but in Bombay Lord Elphinstone finds the energy to order all waste envelopes to be pulped and sold . In Bengal the Government of India inquires if it bo not possible for the University Examiners , who sit for entire dayB , to dispense with tiffin , in the state of the finances . In Madras Sir Charles Trevelyan writes a minute on the cost of sacramental bread and wine , and reports that an allowance of Its . 2 a month ought to be amply sufficient , as port at Rs . 25 a dozen is quite good enough . A ranting congregation , preached to from a tub and collected in a barn , would disdain the meannesses jto which the
intellectual red-tapist can descend . The condition of the North-West urgently demands legislative reforms . They cannot bo obtained , but a trumpery bill about native holidays can be passed at once . A reform in the Legislature is impossible , but a report on tho Standing Orders , meaning nothing , can be prepared with marvellous promptitude and ease . It is the day of small things . Strong men are hunting gnats . Wise men are trying plans for killing fleas scientifically after they are caught . Tho mass arc sitting open-mouthed , oxpectinp ? , but with no hope , criticising , but with no energy , the action of rulers as torpid as themselves . Only tho State car does not stop , and that is because it is rolling down an inclined plane . —Friend of India .
"Hedging" Rewarded. Amongst Tho Characte...
" HEDGING" REWARDED . Amongst tho characters of notoriety during tho rebellion was a Mahomedan deputy-collector of Agra , named Mahomed Mobeen . Tho outcry against him was very general , and it was supposed by a multitude of persons resident on tho spot that he , having acted with sufficient duplicity to blind tho oyes of tho civilians to whom ho was immediately subject , was not only at heart a rebel , but an active partisan of our enemies both at Agra and in Rohilound . Tho military authorities were clear as to tho man ' s guilt , and there is every reason to believe would have liangod him forthwith , but that a powerful act of civilians got him safo Into their hands , held a mild Investigation of their own , and pronounced him innocont . Still ho was not sot entirely woo , but his patrons secured for him tho handsome aubslstence allowance of Rs , 250 per mensem ,
and kept him under nominal surveillance . Numbers of the Christian community , notwithstanding , believed in the guilt of Mobeen , and one allegation made against him was everywhere received as undeniably true , which was , that he justified the murder of our women and children at other stations , of which accounts were constantly reaching Agra , by quoting a couplet from Sadi , to the effect that when you kill the snake you should also destroy its brood if you wish to be safe . Even some civilians , not , however , included in the number of the patrons of Mobeen / charged him with distinct acts of disloyalty . We believe we are justified in naming Mr . Raikes and Mr . Wylly , and probably also Mr . Vansittart , as amongst those of the Covenanted that he
Service , who 'throughout maintained was guilty , and even penned charges against him . But the secret trial disappointed all expectations , and people could only wonder in what way the acquittal had been brought about . They had further to wonder that an innocent and injured individual , who enjoyed such distinguished patronage , and who was even considered meritorious in active loyalty , should not be openly declared to have been acquitted , set free and restored to his post of deputy-collector of the Agra districts He remained , indeed , under a cloud for months and months , until the whole of this part of the country was restored to thorough order , until the proclamation had issued of the Queen ' s assumption of the Government of India , and until the declaration of the tranquillisation of Oude had announced the final destruction of organised opposition , without his friends finding fit opportunity to bring him
forth to the light as that loyal servant of the State whom they would delight to honour . For all his good deeds in the middle of 1857 no reward other than the secret allowance of Rs . 250 per mensem is bestowed on him till the middle of 1859 . Bub at length some measure of justice is done to him—not the full measure , or a very different final order would have been issued for execution—for the Government , in a quiet way , altogether suited to the prudent , unobtrusive character of the vindicating trial , have now ( or rather as far back as May last ) reviewed the proceedings , not only to confirm the acquittal on five distinct charges of rebellion , but to discover that justice ( to quote the words of the Lieut .-Govemor , —" that justiceto this native gentleman will , in his opinion , be satisfied by reinstating him in his post and allowances from the date of the issue of this despatch . "
So far we have no fault whatever to find with his honour ' s view of the case , as it was placed on record before him ; and whether such notoriety was given to the preparation for trial , and such proceedings were taken to collect evidence as would have ensured a real ascertainment of facts , it is not our present purpose to discuss ; but we must protest against the wrong done to " this native gentleman " by a further order which the Government has seen fit to pass . That second order directs that " Mahomed Mobeen , deputy collector of Agra , be employed in some station away from his home , and not at Agra . ' should Mahomed
Why ! this condition ? Why Mobeen be shut out from further distinction in the place in which his good conduct was so conspicuous ?—why should it be left for the world to suppose that some degree of distrust does still attach to him—why should not injured innocence be placed where its vindication would be most triumphantly displayed—why should the authorities act as if they were themselves afraid to court public opinion on the case ? This treatment is obviously unjustifiable towards a map . who is declared by the highest authority to have rendered , ( during the rebellion ) " really useful services to . the State , " and whoso influence ( among tho rebels ') caused , the Gwalior contingent to refrain from murdering their officers and to escort some of them safely into Agra , "
aud who also " saved Christians and their families . " Wo call upon Mr , Readc and all the members of tho Committee of Investigation , and upon the Lieut .-Governor who has confirmed the verdict . of that committee , to repent of tho gross injustice ihoy have done this most loyal Mahomedan gentleman , this most faithful subject and servant of hor most gracious Majesty , and to reward him commensurately with his deserts . Let him have ample encouragement to act again the part he acted before —when tho next and approaching opportunity offers . A jagheer , a title , and restoration to his post at Agra , with charge of tho district treasury , which will glvo him free access to the fort daily , are tho smallest benefits that ought to bo conferred upon him !—Delhi Gazette .
Latest Indian Intelligence. Tub Calcutta...
LATEST INDIAN INTELLIGENCE . Tub Calcutta mail of August 22 nd has arrivod \ tho journals are chiefly occupied with remarks upon tho Chinese news . The unexpected intelligence of tho British disaster at tho mouth of tho Folho , and tho nrospeot which it renders certain of a tiara
China war on a much greater scale than its predecessors , has given a new colour to the difficulty caused by the discharge of so many of the local European force . The moment that the news reached Calcutta , the universal feeling of the press and the public was , that the discharged men should at once be offered doable bounty to volunteer for a campaign in China , and that a large force of Sikhs should also be sent . It was felt that not only had India an opportunity of repay ing to the China force the debt she owes it for its services in 1857-5 S , but immediate and the other
that two difficulties , the one anticipated , would thus be lessened or removed . Were the Europeans wlio have taken their discharge employed in this service a large body of trained and acclimated soldiers could within one or two months be thrown upon the coast of China in the very transports engaged to carry them to England . They would retrieve their character as loyal and disciplined men , and the Governor-General , as well as the home government , would be able to recede with safety from a position taken up too hastily .
The following is from Cawripore , dated the 9 th August : — " The discharged men are beginning to leave here for Calcutta . ; about sixty artillerymen went down yesterday , and the cavalry are to go down about the 15 th . About 550 men of the 1 st Cavalry are going , only 150 having elected to remain . Many of the men have learnt to ride very well . Two captains and four subalterns of the 1 st Cavalry are going home with their men . The cold season of of that of 1857 with
1859 will be the exact reverse regard to the movement of troops . In 1857 the European troops ' were being pushed up country as fast as dawk garrees , " vans , and bullock train wagons could convey them . This year they are being moved down country in about equal numbers , and as rapidly . Truly India is of all . countries the one in which it is most impossible to reckon upon what a day may bring forthu . The Government are quite right to move the men down wMle the rivers are high . The
saving will be immense by their going during the rains . By October next it is expected that Oude will be totally disarmed . Not ; a fort will remain , amid its jungles , save forty-four retained for ' public purposes . So thoroughly has the work been carried out that a percentage of 19 ^ arms for adults capable of bearing them in Oude has been taken or" surrendered . In Delhi the percentage was little above 8 for the 23 millions of population . Besides the arms taken from villages by the various military columns wliich passed through the country in the course of the campaignthe now military police , which has proved
, itself most effective , has taken about a million and a half arms of all kinds . About 1 , 100 Sepoys and 5 , 618 leave men have surrendered . The Legislative Council have extendedlhe time for the operation of the Disarming Act , and that relating to foreigners resident in India , both of which were on the point of expiry , for a longer period . Tho former will probably be made permanent , when it is re-considered at the end of the year . Until the wholo of India is effectually disarmed , and the use of fire-urnis especially is forgotten , our power will be threatened , and the civilisation we introduce insecure . 13 ut with a Government such as tlie present this is too much
to hopo for . A largo native army has sprung up more dangerous than the one it has superseded ; side by side with it is a large body of '^ police , military and otherwise ; the discipline is if possibio worse , and the expense greater than before ; a corresponding European force is required to watch tho native ; the courts are not reformed ; tho regulations are again imposed in the north-west ; officials have lost heart , and we are not drifting but being driven to tho second mutiny by tlip man who was -unequal to the . flrst , and who sa uandors tho grandest opportunities for the ro-construction of an empire that history records . , bodies of bols in motion
There aro still scattered rc- . Thev aro cut up wherever they are found , but this is verv difficult . They aro wary and active , have good information of our movements , and arc . sup-Sorted by our very good frionds , tho Nopaulese , and [ ess openly by other natives . There aro hero and there evidoucos of tho action of tho diaaflected , principally Mahomodans . but nothing which can excite any apprehension under reasonable ; government It ie again asserted , that Nairn Sahib has been endeavouring to treat on tho ground of some territory being given up to him . If true , this is characteristic of tho native charaetor , and ot tho utter inability of our present ruler to uouiprohcnd
or to copo with it . ^ a , .. ,, At a meeting of tho shareholders of tho North Western Bank of India , lield an tho 29 th July , some shareholders holding numerous proxies forced tho directors reluctantly , and against tho wishes of those prosont , to go into the Court for tho aOUlrs of tlio bank to bo wound up by Uw official auslguoo . TUB TIUMB OF INDIA . In spito of administrative and flnanclul imbecility .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 1, 1859, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01101859/page/11/
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