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312 THE LEADEB, [No. 467, March 5, 1859.
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INDIA ' -AND- INDIAN PROGRESS
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PUBLIC WORKS IN INDIA. AiTHODGHwe have s...
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NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS. TUB Indian"com...
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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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312 The Leadeb, [No. 467, March 5, 1859.
312 THE LEADEB , [ No . 467 , March 5 , 1859 .
India ' -And- Indian Progress
INDIA ' -AND- INDIAN PROGRESS
Public Works In India. Aithodghwe Have S...
PUBLIC WORKS IN INDIA . AiTHODGHwe have spoken with satisfaction of iord Stanley ' 3 statement , it has not been from personal gratification , but af ter fair , impartial consideration of the measures proposed by him , and-vrith full reservation of many points in which ¦ we have disagreed from him . It will however be seen that the policy advocated , almost singly , by the Leader , agrees in the main with that now announced by the President of the Council , and which is in course of being cari-iedout in India . At Indian
the time we took tip the cause of progress , not only had it no exponent , but then , as now , the organs of the Indian officials were opposed to it ; and although their party is a failing one they still maintain their opinions . The Saturday Review , the organ of a strong body in the India House , has lately taken a very moderate course , and shows signs of adhering to Lord Stanley ; but in a new periodical ^ called theUniversalReview , the standard of opposition is again raised . True' it is , the party no longer governs India , and has lost the power of initiating measures , but it still possesses that of and it to do all it to impede
obstruction , means - can the progress of the new administration . . The fate of the East India Company is beyond redemption , but the old policy of narrow monopoly is nursed , and its partisans " view with bitter and envious feeling the development of the new system which they had vai nly hoped would have been nothing more than a fresh edition of the stereotype forms . _ Thus they look with pain on the comparison which cannot fail to be instituted between the results of the two systems , and they earnestly endeavour to dwarf and warp the new to the dimensions of the old
one , . : The present , therefore , is a period when any ¦ well-meaning Government deserves support , for the efforts of the opposing party are strong . . It is this party which arrogates to itself whatever of glory beltings to the administration of India , while that is really due to a few men , who either were never members of the mandarin hierarchy , or who had emancipated themselves from its shackles . What was there in common between the heaven born
oiid Wellesley , Wellington , Cprnwallis , Munro ; Beritinck , Napier , arid Dalhousie ? and how little claim has it to demand the enumeration of Clive , Warren Hastings , Qutram , the Lawrences , or Trevelyan , among its members ? Among , the greatest administrators in India we find the despised soldiers of the Company ' s service , some non-Indians of the Queen ' s service , some belonging to the still lower rank of the medical profession , some belonging to the quasi pariahs of the uncovenanted , some to the class styled " interlopers , " The real Indiana have all the best berths—but have they all the best
clerks . Who are the men now governing our frontier , from Cachar right round to the Punjab , under the name of commissioners or superintendents , but the non-elect ? There are some nice staff appointments ~ -there are some nice jobs in the Indian armies , but there is not a man ot energy and ability in its ranks who does not know that the resources of India are cramped for want of the mental and moral means of promoting their development . Hence military and medical officers have been found demanding and supporting railways , works of irrigation , canals , tea and coffee plantations , steamboats , and mines ; pointing out the countries available for settlement , and tirgmg upon the Home and Indian Governments p lan after plan for the regeneration of India .
To attain this development of India , whether for military or civil purposes , public works must be carried out and the means of transport provided . Whether it be a bale of cotton or a battalion of infantry , the work to be performed is the same . The mandarins have kept India -without roads , because they found it without roads , and profess that roads are unnecessary in a level coontry in the dry season , and incapable of being rendered useful in the rainy season . Thus a bale of cotton , which is cheaply grown , and of which the sale price at Manchester is high , cannot profitably be raised ^ because the cost of transport
from India to England is so enormous ; yet a halfpenny a pound is a handsome sea-freight , and another halfpenny would pay for a thousand miles of land carriage ; while it costs more in India to carry a bale of cotton a hundred iniles than it does in the United States to carry it a thousand . When the revolt broke out , thenieans of . transport from Calcutta to the north-west were not equal to those of Epg-land in the wars of the Roses . There was only one road in India , and bullock trains , as used in Spain , afforded the main transport , officers being posted on in . small squads . The thousand miles of
railway which ought to have been opened would , in fbur-and-twenty hours , have placed troops , guns , and equipage in the heart of India . The energies of an English regiment ar e now dissipated in wasteful inarches , with an arnvy of camp followers— -moving with less expedition than Edward I . in his border wars . In another country the improvement of the roads would bo the first remedy ;; but in India railways are the best resource , because they facilitate the making of roads . The population of India is vast , but the supply of effective labour is limited in many districts \ and there are at this time vast regions suffering from the wont of labourers , notwithstanding the advance
m -wages . How can this be otherwise ? Ten miles a clay is a high rate for the movement of a coolie , fbr though he may descend winding streams with ease , in a boat , he cannot ascend them with rapidity , fbr there are no towing paths ; and in transporting labourers a thousand miles ( which is considered "but a short distance in India ) , three or four months ^ vill be consumed . Thus the resources of the country are" wasted ,, the populous districts suffer from want of encouragement and . from the low rate of remuneration for labour ,- as Ireland formerly did . The thinly-peopled districts are insufficiently svpf ) li ed with laborers , arid a large portion of the popur ation is rendered profitless while on the way to employ went , Look , to 6 , at the condition of a large part
ot the agricultural population , employed in sowing or harvesting part of the year , and , for the remainder wandering about the country with their beasts of burthen as bx'injarries . When a large part of the population i ^ employed in carrying , a country is commonly in a low condition , for production is diminished , and the fruits of tliesoil , and-labour of the men and animals are spent on the operations of transport . Thus , neither is the carrying well di > no , nor is husbandry well tended , It is not an economy of thq moans of production which b effected by employing the spare time of mon and animals m transport , but a positive discouragement ofindust , ry . Many , a time is the brinfaray detained by weather abroad , and his boasts are dying , on the road , when ho ought to be at home
attending to the cultivation of the soil . Economy is however effected , when , as in England or in the Netherlands , the spare time of the husbandman ' s men , beasts , and wagons is employed in furnishing local transport , and produces food for the carrier !* . If India is to be well governed she must have railways . Troops should be able to reach every part of the country by one forced inarch at the end of a railway journey , and though one day ' s forced march can be made , be it remembered that two become difficult , and three impossible , for the speed is alread
y slackened , and the best part of the regiment left behind . With railways penetrating the country there would be no post out of reach of the lull garrisons , arid the native police , well administered by English officers and Serjeants , could hold good on any occasion till the arrival of a hill detachment . With railways the poliee will be kept well inspected and efficient . With railways the officers administering the government will reach every part of the country , and bring a constant inspection to view its condition ; whereas now there is no governor who can know fairly the state of the whole of his province .
To supply these requisites , what are called the orrand trunk lines of railway are utterly inadequate . In Bengal they are . not enough when helped by the increased supply of steamers on the river arid the transport on the Great Trunk road ; but in the IDekkan , where such aids do not exist and railways would afibrd the most efficient inearis of transport , the railways inust be carried out to English or American extent , and at the earliest possible date , before adequate accommodation can be obtained . In England a railway is ballasted from a district
200 iniles west , coaled , from 250 miles north , its rails brought from 450 iniles north-west ^ and its engines made 250 miles north-west ; the stone comes from 500 miles riorth ^ and th e sleepers , if not sea-borne , are brought as far . In India , more particularly in Bengal , materials have to be carried as far , and from want of the means of transport , railway works are now delayed . The site of the railway may afford neither stone , lime , nor fuel ; sand is brought from forests hundreds of miles away , and
stone cannot be used , for it is beyond transport . At this time the forests of the Himalayas and Terai are being , cut by English contractors , to afford timber for the distant railways . The labourers have to be collected and trained , and , as new works arise , they must be removed to the scene of employment . Thus railways enable railways to be made , as they assist the construction of other public works , and they are , in this day , the first instruments of industrial progress , to say nothing
more . . The Indian Government must give guarantees for a time , because it has let slip the golden occasion for doing without guarantees ; l > ut under liberal and judicious management , substitutes for imperial guarantees may be provided . The cities of India should be allowed to guarantee pubic works , as those of France and Canada and also ; the Irish baronies have been permitted to do . |» ey should be allowed to subscribe shares ami debentures . 'The Government of India should make
advances of loans , as the Government did ot exchequer Bill . loans to Ireland , to encourago enterprise there . Wherever a railway passes " ' "S waste land , U should receive a grant of the n tornato sections , on the American system , and where it passes through zemindary or other aettlcd iwh it should be allowed to toko a portion of tiio increased value of the land created by tlio railwftj . The small import duties on railway materials Bhouiu bo abolished , every burthen bo rem oved , and every encouragement bo afforded , and in a few yearn no guarantee from the general Governmen t wouia w required .
men ? Certainly not ; and at this moment , in the real government of India , they have but a small share , and in the future they will have less , for they will sink to the rank of Treasury clerks , while the governors of India , instead of being token from the caste of the heaven-born sons of Scotch directors , will be selected from the great men of the empire , or from those who will be raised to that supremacy , ' ¦ The temptation is very great to some of the old military to join the ranks of the privileged , and claim : the mysterious right of being exclusive authorities upon India ; but the old prejudice of the itiandarin class exercises its fatal influence , and many a soldier bethinks himself of the time ho
spent in the cold shade—how his fellows , with the rank of lieutenants or majors , are governing king-( doms and principalities , recognised with scant courtesy as officials of the Government of India—™ liable to be stripped qf their authority , superseded by civil servants , and sent back to servo as subalterns ( as poor Hodson was ) , or , if more fortunate , to come home like Edwards , to bo dipped in the waters of popularity , and rendered invulnerable against presidency cliques . Look at the career of Qutram 5 look at Havolook , with the reputation of a _ . general , fbr years left without scope for his abihtoes , while the progress of India is cramped because a few civilians draw immense salaries , and do pot object to performing the duties of mere
Notes On Indian Progress. Tub Indian"Com...
NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS . TUB Indian " community have seen , wltli sflt'isfnauoijr . that the direction of our diplomatic relations w » wj 1 ' erala has been placed in the department of J « on * Stanley . It was time somot / Ujng w < w dol . l 'S Persia has been long neglected , and French nnu Russian intrigue have Hal full scope . TUo * i ° nc u
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 5, 1859, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05031859/page/24/
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