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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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notices ; to correspondents . Several communications unavoidably stand over . Itis impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we re _ ceive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a pres of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from rea " sons quite independent of the merits of the communication . 3 NTo notice can bo taken of anonymous correspondence . Whateveris intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of Ms good faith . IVo cannot undertake to return rejected commu mications .
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IMPERIAL GO VEEN . MENT IN IN DIA . The infinitely varied judgments elicited by the Sepoy mutiny have brought out one distinct result : — -that public opinion insists upon the Govermneiit of India being conducted for the future \ ipon Euglish— -or Christianprinciples . Lord Shjuetesbtjuy gave a clear and pointed expression to this view "when he said tliafc we must explicitly declare ourselves a ' Christian Power , while scrupulously abstaining from ' even , the-slightest interference with the native religions . The missionary must be free to preach , but the Hindoo and the Mahomed ' an must be free to reject his doctrine and exercise their own modes of worship . It is no longer to be tolerated that British soldiers or officials should take part iii Pagan processions , or that acts amounting to criminality should be condoned simply because they plead a sacred oi-igin . If we are to remain masters of India , we must prove our master } 7 " , and never shrink from its unmistakable assertion . In the East , however , the maxims of our jurisprudence cannot be made universally applicable without infringing upon very ancient , if not holy prejudices and customs . It becomes , then , a question , how far tlie English law should be enforced in a region where offences against humanity and decency claim the sanction of divinities , priests , and prophets . We hold that there is but one rule to apply : —whatever licenses an injury to life , or ' property , or public manners , must succumb to the superior polity of a supreme race . All sacrifices in the nature of Suttee arc murders ; inf anticido is murder ; the oblation of virgin "blood to Kali is murder ; Thuggee is felony ; torture ia felony ; the prerogative of death-punishment belongs exclusively to the sovereign authority , and any lord of an Indian castle inflicting it is an assassin . These are points which we cannot abandon without abandoning our national character and our only moral title to tho dominion we have acquired . From this timo forth , tho British Indian Government should bo so fortified and assured of its ascendancy that it may be enabled to subordinate every habit , tradition , code , and creed within its territories to the operation of one consistent and inflexible principle . It is as well that no misunderstanding on tho subject should continue to exist . At tho same time , no one is qualified to discuss tho question who does not allow that tho work is difficult of nchicvoment , and that what has already been eilectod is most meritorious and surprising . The tenacity of Asiatics in insuperable , except to the most pationt of reformers , and it must ho borno in
mind that the deformed fragments of a ^ illanous judicial system were inherited by the English from , the Brahmins and the Moguls . It was not until 1791 that the Governor-General expunged from the practice of the Court the penalty of mutilation , ordaining varying terms of transportation as equivalent for the loss of one limb or two . But what did Waeeen Hastings accomplish when , in a fit of . furious-justice , he authorized the immediate execution of every individual whatever convicted of being associated in the most distant manner with the dacoits ofthe interior ? It was not Dhaco wlio could have regenerated India . So late as 1830 the Government was compelled to issue a circular to the magistrates of the Bengal Presidency ordering them not to hamstring convicts before execution . Even in 1851 it was found necessary , in the J ^ orth-Western Provinces , to prohibit the clipping and shaving the saered locks of Sikh prisoners . A . ferocious criminal law , however , was not a European importation , but the ancient curse of a people indifferent to human life . We say it is a work of labour and patience to eradicate these practices . The [ Rajpoot boast used to be that England , with all her power , dared not interfere with the disposal of his infant children ; yet it is not courage but dexterity that is required . Our courts at home find infanticide one of the most difficult crimes to repress and the most painful to punish . In the East , however , it is an art . The new-born infant imbibes opium that has been applied to its moth er ' s nipple ; the fumes of the drug are introduced into its mouth . Or else , with a species of diabolical ingenuity , the babe is suffocated before it has drawn a second breath , and detection becomes all but impossible . The' [ Rajpoots , aremore proficient in this respect even than the Chinese . ]\ T o Cornelian law could at once obliterate this disgrace to their nation . Nevertheless , what has been done with infanticide has demonstrated the efficacy of European influence steadily pressed upon the natives . Many a Hindoo who despises the law respects the magistrate ; he ' may be governed by a man if not by a code . This remark originated with Mr . Hajkes , of Mynpoorie , who gave it a practical illustration by the admirable results he worked out among the Chohaus of his district . In 18-43 , there was not a single female infant alive within his jurisdiction ; in 1850 there were fourteen hundred ; The English have but to exert their power wisely to complete the moral as well as the material subjection of India . They enfeeble themselves when they attempt to conciliate barbarous and insolent fanaticism . The Brahmin , under tho compulsion of hunger—as in 1 S 38—eata the leavings of the degraded Dhom ; ho will not sacrifice himself to his caste ; his caste , then , must not be allowed to mako : i sacrifice ofthe country . A colossal task lies before the British Government in the reorganization of tho Indian revenue . This topic wo hear dilated Upon with superficial facility by those whose Asiatic Eeseai'ches date , perhaps , from the April of tho present year . Not many days ago a speaker at a largo public meeting extorted the cheers of his audienco by expatiating upon the imbecility of tho English in India , who had 'broken up tho magnificent revenue system of the Emperor AiviiA . it . ' This was a very lino opportunity , and the well-informed lecturer made tho most of it . None of his hearers could correct him , and he passed on iu maiden declamation fancy free . This A K . « A . ii allusion appears a favourite ; but it goes for nothing . It was not tho [ English hui ; tho Mahrattas who broke up the arrangements of ATcnA . it-, and oven brforo they arrived tho Moguls had reduced it to
inefficiency and corruption , so that by the time our authority succeeded to that of the Indian dynasties , the land was in the clutches of those zemindars and talookdars from whose devastating- cupidity it has never yet been entirely redeemed . No doubt mucli may be effected in the way of reform , and it will be one great duty of public opinion to require it ; but we must not forget that in the delicacy of his consideration for native rights , Lord CoENWAiiLis enhanced the evil , and left a settlement , with the results of which his successors liave had to struggle to this day . "We cannot feel our power to be indeed imperial before we dare undertake to raise the village population from its degeneracy . But the reform is one we owe to India . Better than Calcutta baboos aping European vices , and swallowing champagne , would be a race of intelligent and prosperous ryots . To elevate the agricultural class , however , we have to force India through a series of developments similar to those which have advanced us from feudalism to free labour and independent citizenship . "We may build churches ; we may establish schools ; we may give a voice and an echo to Christianity in India . These are among our imperial rights . We cannot coerce the people , or persecute their priesthoods , or defile their temples . The policy of perfect liberty and equality is the best preparation for earnest and intelligent missionary enterprise ; but , imposing no restrictions on the native religions , " \ ve should impose none on our own . The Imperial Government of India , however , can never be erected upon a durable basis until railroads and canals create a system , of easy communication through all parts of the country , or until colonization is encouraged . We are aware that the East India Company has been misrepresented in this respect , as in many others ; Its police is far from being so corrupt or so inadequate as the public are someti mes told ; it is far better , at all events , than the much-praised system of Shah Jjbhan " , whose kotwals allowed Bjebnier to be repeatedly robbed in the streets of the capital . The north-western roads , for example , are , in time of peace , as safe as those of England . As for means of trafficj we have already alluded to the unrivalled Q-anges Canal ; we may point also to the Grand Trunk [ Road , along -which an army is' marching . from the sea to Delhi . In Upper India , without binding soil or granite , an unrivalled highway has been constructed of elaborated limestone , affording a magnificent metalled surface , and , except at one point , free from toll . The fair inference is that the British Government , when tranquillity ha 3 been restored , must undertake , rapidly to carry on the work , suppressing all bigoted opposition , and demonstrating ita own unquestionable supremacy ; while , on the other hand , it has a right to ask that our popular panoramas of India should bo fairly coloured .
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REFORM IN A DA 11 K CORNER . There is a new Reform Bill . It was passed , not by the Houses of Parliament , but on Friday night at the Guildhall Ooffee-house . Tho clauses , probably , would be popular , but what on . earth is tho use of these dark conferences ? Is organization in future to be a myster 3 r , and the lie former a Young ; Freemason ? Wo do beg the earnest [ Liberals not to bring suspicion upon themselves by retreating into corners and conning over a political prospectus . What weight is eai'riod by <\ private and confidential deliberation ( which practically is never confidential or private ) whoa tho ronl thing to bo done is to produce a gvonb popular movement ? The nation ia not a pupp H ; to bo pulled by wires manipulated m ' Wood-street or Grcshamslrect . There aro two courses practicable ,.
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w There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world isbythevery law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dk . Aekoii ?
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tili SATU 11 DAY , NOVEMBEB 7 , 1857 .
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INTO . 398 , ISTovEMBEit % 1857 . 1 TH 1 IiElDfE . 1067
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 7, 1857, page 1067, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2216/page/11/
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