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INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS.
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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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India And Indian Progress.
INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS .
COLONISATION IN MADRAS . Wh ^ ee some at Lom e have been hesitating about Hie practicability of colonisation , many in India have st renuously exerted themselves for its advancement . Among these advocates is Major ., G . T . Haly , of the Madras army , who has been a long resident in India , and for some time a supporter of colonisation . Of two-and-thirty years passed in
India , the last twelve were spent amongst the . wild and uncivilised people of the hill tracts of Orissa , and of later time with the fanatic Moplahs or the Nairs . Major Haly raised and commanded the Malabar Police Corps , in which he had recruits of all classes , and he kept up in it at his own expense a school , which was attended by Christians , Namburries , Moplahs , Nairs , Tiers , tlindoos , and Mussulmans , and persons of all castes .
The Major bears unequivocal testimony in favour of English settlement in the mountain regions of Southern India . The climate of many of these districts is well adapted , to the constitution of Europeans . The land on the hills being very rich , coiFee , tea , European grain , potatoes , European vegetables and fruit , and the mulberry , can be grown , and the climate is suitable to the silk-worm . He attests to the important advantages which would accrue to English rule in India by the introduction and permanent establishment of a population on whose attached loyalty dependence can be placed , and he calls on the Indian Council to inaugurate their Government by paying some attention to this hitherto neglected question .
The simple question , says Major Haly , is _ as to the best and most economical mode of keeping up in India a sufficient number of ¦ whites ,... as well by example to create the spirit of improvement as to check the inherent rebellious spirit of the natives of India . He affirms , as a functionary of police , that not a year passes without numerous commotions of more or less magnitude occurring throughout the . length and breadth of the land . s He points to the disorganised state of the native army as one great cause of this evil . Through the small number of English officials the work of government has been carried , out by native functionaries , many of them bigoted Brahmins , among whom the mamool , or custom , prevails
of imposition , extortion , and torture ; he therefore calls lor more English functionaries . We find in the memorandum of Major Haly a very apt saying ; it is , that , the English soldier ,, besides being the most expensive , is also the most unprofitable means of keeping up the required material , while , on the contrary , colonisation by emigration will , at the same time that it secures the required bulwark , introduce a practical , scientific , and superior working class , and in no country in the world is this so much required as in India , . which , having been subjected to the competition of civilisation , is at this moment retrograding from the destruction of home-made proebsses .
The climates suitable in Madras include the districts of Mysore , the Shevaroy , Pulney , and Neilgherry hills . Tne latter is the seat of a wellknown sanitarium only eighty miles from thp western coast , and to which a railway is in progress . On it are the military establishment of Jaokattalla and the oi y il one of Ootakamund . lie rofers to the coffee cultivation now extending in the neighbourhood , and appeals to the ovidonco of that eminent administrator , Captain Ochterlony , who has exerted himself so much tor the advancement of the Neilghorry colony , as to which ho was a witness before Mr . Ewart ' s committee last ; year . The adioinincr ranee of the Koondahs Major
Haly rccommonds , anu speaks well of the Shcyaroys , but tho Pulnovs still romain waste . These districts are near , could support each other , and lio clpso to the southern branoh of tho Madras llailway . Tho Major mnkoa some useful remarks onWyuaad . This country is only 2800 foot high , and when first ocoupiod beoamo notod for its deadly jungle fever , but haying boon oloared is now covorcd with coiTee plantations , and is tho vosidonco of tho ooflbo planters with their families , enjoying 1 ejtoollont Health . Mysore andCoorg ho nainos for their healthiness , it \? i ° ' * VQ * ov ooff 00 ftn < * sugar , auc * su-i * -o < i for English occupation . Bangalore , in , Mysore , ts tho
largest English station of the Madras Presidency , and known as one of the healthiest garrisons out of England . He recommends that emigrants should arrive at their destinations early in November , at the beginning of the cold season , and should be encouraged by free passages , grants of land , and other inducements , and he feels assured that any well-deserving man will do well in the cultivation of the products already referred to , besides other pursuits in connexion with the European community . Major Haly recommends , as steps towards a beginning , the concession of grants of land to officers , pensioners , and invalid soldiers willing to settle . The young and weak recruits , of whom a third drop off yearly , he would form into a militia in the hills , and so make them available . He says it is a lamentable fact that no attempt iias been made by the Government to develop the manifold resources of our Indian empire , but , on the contrary , a mistaken and blind policy lias existed of discouraging English settler's . He regrets , too , that these mountain ranges are so little known and appreciated as stations for troops , but this he is willing to attribute to the deadening effect of mamool—custom—t \ ie millstone of Indian improvement , equally crushing with " caste . " Thus , English recruits are taken to India , employed iu the plains , fall sick , are kept in the hospital to the last moment , shipped off to England at an enormous expense to the state , and thrown on their families , or parishes , with broken constitutions , to become a burden , while , with timely change to the hills , and care bit- ¦ arrival there , they , might have recovered , and returned to their duty as able-bodied , acclimatised soldiers , or remained in the hills as useful ar \ d comfortable settlers . We hope Major Haly will be found recorded as a witness before ; . Mr ; Ewart ' s committee in the session about to _ open .
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NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS , Sib Johh Lawrence has been on n visit to the Jumraoo Rajah , we hope to make arrangements with him for tho syrronder of Kashnieor , giving him some other district instead , which will suit Jus purposes us well , while wo want Kaslunecr again for sanitary and colonising purposes . Tho conduct of tho Jumnioo Rajah has boon far from satisfactory . At Jummoo there aro , it seems , two hundred shops for tho manufacture of fire-arme , and tho two brass guns that flrod a salute wore now . Two now reginionts of cavalry had boon raised , in , the ranks of which many Sepoy adherents wore soon . As ft spocimen of the old leavon which still affects some departments , and counteracts the efforts made for tho improvement of India , . we refer to n case mentioned by the Englishman , nnfl which woll deserves the inquiry of Lord Stanley and Sir Proby Cftutloy , for it is a direct impediment to English settlement in India . It ie that Mr . J . Naylor , ft
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THE ISTHMUS OF KEAW . It is very natural that persons who have considered the Malayan Peninsula should feel a desire that the route round it should be shortened by transit across the isthmus . At an early period the isthmus route by Corinth was a main one with the Greeks . In later times the Isthmus of Panama was traversed by the Spaniards , as it is now by the new dominators of America , arid again traffic to India has been increased by working across the Isthmus of Suez . Thus the long neck of-the ' Isthmus of Kraw , on the Malayan Peninsula has been the end of many a project . Mr . Crauford and others have promoted this subject , but it attracted little attention till renewed by Sir John Bowring . . The Malay Peninsula stretches so far south that it is estimated a passage across its neck would abridge the voyage between Calcutta and China by no less than 1175 miles , or between three and four days . The saving upon the route from England to China is likewise considerable . There is no advantage for the voyage to Batavia , Penang , Singapore , or Labuan , but for other countries of present or growing importance the now communication is most important . The first of these is Siam , a country with which tho intercourse from India is now considerable , and will become greater . On the voyage from Calcutta , Madras , Mouhnoin , or Rangoon to Siam , the whole Malayan Peninsula intervenes . Although the voyage is but short in fact , the voyage from either of those ports to tho Gulf of Siam is doubled with tho difficulty for sailing vessels of ft tortuous navigation . If the proposed communication across the isthmus be established , then Calcutta can communicate by steam with Siam in three or four days , a rapidity of intercourse which must lead to a great development of resources , increasing tho trade of Calcutta and our own political and commercial influence in Siam , which is now promised a neighbour—a French army in Cochin China . To Singapore the isthmus ro \ ito will bo rather more accessible , and Labuan and Sarawak will bo brought nearer to Calcutta . There is « quicker coromunioation effected with tho Philippines , and , what is of more importance , with tho proposed French settlements in Cochin China , which require to be olosely watched . Hong-Kong has now become of more consideration , not only as our reserve in China , but as tho station for the fleet to watch our interests there ,
and the movements of the Fjrench fleet in Cochin China , and the Spanish steam squadron in the Manillas , which some day will be put at the service of the French admiral by a : French faction or tool in power at Madrid . For the great commerce we carry on with . China whether direct from England or from Bombay , Madras , Calcutta , or Moulmein , the superiority of the proposed route is decisive . It likewise gives the same facilities for the correspondence with Japan , which is justly looked to as a new arena for commercial activity .
Kraw is at the present time , on its western side , in English territory , and with its eastern under the government of Siam , the king of which country is favourable to the undertaking , by which it is proposed , if found practicable , to carry out a ship canal . The prospect of effecting this at present depends partly on statements of Mr . Thomas Forrest , master of a merchantman , who was informed by the Siamese Governor of Kraw that on the western side , or the side on the Bar of Bengal , there is a navigable river from six hours twelve
which there is a portage of only , or miles to another river , which without falls or rapids runs through a well-inhabited country , abounding in rice and cattle , into the Bay of Siam on the eastern side . Sir John Bowring , however , during his mission to Siam , with his accustomed activity , turned his attention to this subject , and wrote that he was informed the direct passage across the isthmus is about fifty miles , and , if the information he received were correct , a few miles of canal were alone required to unite the navigable river communications , which now
exist . :. Sir John Bowring has , consequently , strongly recommended in his work on Siam attention to the passage of this isthnius as a means _ of saving time , which in sailing vessels may often be estimated not by davs but by weeks . ¦'¦' ¦** '¦¦' These recommendations of Sir John Bowring attracted the notice of Mr . Henry Wise , who has taken up the project . Mr . "Wise is acquainted with the eastern seas , having been in the East India Company ? s service as chief officer in one of their John
merchant ships , and been engaged by Mr . Melville in the publication of a work on the application of auxiliary steam power for shortening the voyage to India . On Sir James Brooke engaging in that noble enterprise for the colonisation of Borneo , he employed Mr . Wise in the Eastern Archipelago Couipan }' , and it was while , connected with this undertaking that Mr . Wise became acquainted with Mr . Forrest . Mr . Wise has now taken up the proposition of Sir John Bo wring , . and has published some correspondence on the subject .
Through Sir John Bowring ' s influence the favourable opinion of the King of Siam has been obtained , and the English Government haye given directions for a survey to be made of the isthmus , which has , however , been delayed by the illness of Sir Robert Scbomburgk , the well-known traveller , who is now consul in Siam- This survey is of great importance , because it will inform us whether practicable harbours can be obtained on either side , of tho
geographical conditions of the isthmus , and more particularly of its climate . It is by no means certain that a canal can be carried through , but so far as atenm navigation is concerned , great advantages will be obtained if a railway route can be established , like that across the Isthmus of Panama . Mr . Wise estimates that the saving to the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Company will be above forty thousand miles a year , which , at U per mile , would speedily pay for a railway and yield a large return .
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No . 463 , Febrjiabi ^ 1859 . 1 THE LEAJ Efi . . .... . ¦ ¦¦ ¦ . ¦' .- . . ' ¦ 185 1 " ~ ' ¦ — —— - . . — ¦ ¦ - ¦— ¦ _ . . —zz . . — - —^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 5, 1859, page 185, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2280/page/25/
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