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November 24, 1855.] THE 1|ADER l.jg!
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INDIA—THE SUBSIDIARY STATES. Notwithstan...
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REFORMATORIES AND DEFORMATORIES. Dn. Boo...
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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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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Affairs At Manchester. The Present Aspec...
up to a Standard List , and now you . are combining to force us down to one . " Cannot this question be fairly settled in a friendly and temperate discussion between the master and . the more intelligent of the spinners ? Both now appear to be in a reasonable frame of mind ; it is impossible to say how long that state of things may continue . Starvation makes men desperate , and a few weeks' pinching will place these 3 , 500 men far beyond the possibility of calm ratiocination .
November 24, 1855.] The 1|Ader L.Jg!
November 24 , 1855 . ] THE 1 | ADER l . jg !
India—The Subsidiary States. Notwithstan...
INDIA—THE SUBSIDIARY STATES . Notwithstanding the all-absorbing interest of the events which now so rapidly succeed each other in Europe , the public mind can yefc find time and leisure for the affairs of the British Empire in the East . The intelligence that has periodically reached us for some time past from that fabled quarter of the globe , demands , in truth , the most serious and careful consideration . After a comparatively long period of internal peace and tranquillity throughout those vast dominions , we have been suddenly startled by the announcement of a formidable insurrection in the most ancient of our Asiatic
possessions . These evil tidings have been accompanied by rumours of religious disturbances in Oude , that " perpetual seat of trouble and disquiet . " Although there maybe nothing in all this to create any appreliension for the ultimate safety of our Indian empire , the question naturally arises , in the first place , how such outbreaks can occur under a Government that disposes of a military force scarcely inferior to that of France ; and , in the second , what means can be adopted for preventing the repetition of scenes which in list inevitably impair the prestige of British power and sagacity ,
while they immediately destroy the sentiment of security necessary to commercial prosperity . A common but utterly erroneous idea prevails in this country that India is entirely subject to British rule , from the mountains to the double sea . Certainly , few persons are aware that the superficial extent of the independent states exceeds that of the British territories , properly so called . In round numbers , these states contain an area of 690 , 000 square miles , Avith a population of fifty-three millions of inhabitants , and a revenue eqvial to thirteen mil lions sterliner . And when it is considered that .,
while some native potentates lord it over a mud fortress , with barely one square mile of adjacent lands , others rule over kingdoms exceeding in importance many a German principality , it may be readily conceived that such a disruption of the integrity of the British empire must be fraught with inconveniences of no ordinary magnitude . Nor does it even happen that these slates enn lay claim to the privileges of antiquity or the rights of nationality . For the most part , they arc the " more creatures of our peculiar policy , " and have been raised up at different times , to answer some particular and temporary object . The present result of past expediency is uu annual drain on our revenues to the amount of one
and a half million sterling , together with the constant expectation of such disturbance's : is those which now agitato the frontiers of Bengal , the heart of Oude , and the territories ol the Nizam . On the snino fatal principle- of mortgaging tho future fur the sake of tlie present , former Governors siml diplomatists have burdened the Supreme ( jovernmenl with the task of defending and superintending the mighty empiro of Hindustan , in considorution of one moiety of tho nniiuul revenue . The total amount paid by tho subsidiary . states for tho maintenance of a contingent force , olliccred by Europeans , is less than hull" a million , in return for winch they are guaranteed against
foreign invasion , and secured the full enjoyment of their peculiar laws , customs , and usages . Thus possessing power and wealth without responsibility , it is not surprising that these semi-barbarous princes should abuse the one and squander the other . , Within their own territories they exercise uncontrolled dominion , and the only measure to their oppression is the utter exhaustion of their wretched country and people . Every potentate , however insignificant , keeps up the pretence of an armed force , not indeed to oppose foreign enemies—that is our task—but as the means
of overawing his own subjects , and compelling them to submit to his most arbitrary exactions . At the most important Courts there is'usually , indeed , an English Resident , or Governor-General ' s Agent , whose moral influence sometimes avails to preserve a semblance of decency and humanity . These officers , moreover , consider themselves entitled to interfere directly with the choice of ministers , and thus the " independent" prince is not unfrequently obliged to appoint a Wuzeer in whom he reposes no confidence , and who , on his part , is morn concerned to maintain himself in the
favoxir of the Resident than of his own sovereign . In most instances the latter abandons himself to the most shameful and sensual practices , and only demands of his Minister the means of gratifying his morbid appetites . This officer , aware of the precarious tenure of his position , is principally anxious to amass riches , and to make to himself friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness . Everything is venal , and the only offence which cannot be forgiven is utter destitution . The Resident soon becomes disgusted with the atmosphere of deceit , falsehood , impurity , and oppression in which he
lives and struggles , and , in a vain effort to disperse what is noxious and foul , has recourse to a harshness and severity that alienate the natives Avith whom he is brought into contact . It is a hopeless delusion to expect any good results from the mere moral supervision of the most upright agent of a foreign power , and the British Government has been continually occupied and distracted by the squabbles that naturally arise out of such a false position . And sometimes , too , it will happen , as in the case of Sir David Ochterlony at Bhurtporc , that the injudicious meddling of a Resident in some measure drives the nominal ruler to
commit acts offensive to his jealous protectors , and which at last involve him in fatal hostilities . Perhaps the most striking instance of native misrule is furnished in the unhappy kingdom of Oude , than which no region is more blessed by nature with the gifts that should make a people prosperous and contented . The soil is exceedingly fertile , and supports nearly all th < : productions indigenous to tropical climates . The people ulso arc a fine manly race , fond of war aikl adventure , and capable of all martini and barbarous virtues . But the exactions of the farmers of the public revenue , tlieinselvos fleeced by those in power over them , have ; land out of cultivation
thrown large tracts of and depopulated whole villages . An army of nearly y (> , () 00 men , in which every grarlo is valued at a money price , according <<> the facility afforded for peculation , is solely employed in colled ing revenue and doing battle with refractory landowner * . No man thinks of paying Ins taxes until he has been worsted in fight , and as the country bristles with fortalices , seldom a week pusses without tho roar of artillery being heard in civil contest . All this has been going on for years under the very eyes of able and energetic Residents , whose remonstrances have passed unheeded , though tho treaty of 1837 expressly stipulated that unless tho king governed his people with
justice and moderation , his , territories shoujcl be forfeited to the British Government : It has of tentimes been asked why this treaty has ng % been acted upon , but had such been the cage a general outcry would have been raised jn this country against the insatiable ambition of the East India Company . The voluble philanthropists of Exeter Hall , who despise facts awl
sacrifice everything to effect , would have lifted up their voice , their eyes and hands , and called down the wrath of Heaven upon such audacious spoliation . It was better in their purblind vision that men should be tortured and robbed and put to death , that rich , lands should run to waste , that "beasts of prey should prowl where flocks and herds were lately grazing , and that entire communities should be blotted
from the face of the earth . This is the state to which Oude has been reduced through a false and cowardly forbearance . This , in a scarcely minor degree , is the condition of the Nizam ' s territory , and indeed of almost every subsidiary or protected state in India . And yet we still hesitate to come forward in defence of oppressed peoples . We still countenance the iniquity and injustice of monsters , who , but for our support , would long ere this have beencalled to a terrible account by their outraged and indignant subjects . This is the system we uphold—because it is the system ; and yet we complacently talk of the blessings of British power and influence hi India . Lord Dalhousie commenced his
Viceroyalty by the annexation of the Punjaub ; he has illustrated his reign by the annexation of Pegu ; let him now add a crowning glory by the annexation of Oude , and he . will have merited the gratitude of millions of human beings now groaning under the foulest of oriental despotisms . For hissuccessor must be reserved the completion of the noble work , by the gradual absorption of all these miserable independencies into the bosom of the British Empire . The age of conquest in the East is avcII nigh over . It is time that the age of consolidation should commence . On this depends the duration of our poAver , and it i . s alike demanded by our own interests and the voice of humanity .
Reformatories And Deformatories. Dn. Boo...
REFORMATORIES AND DEFORMATORIES . Dn . Booth lias stolen a march npon the reformatory philanthropists . To the members and visitors of tlie Wamlsworth Literary and Scientific Institution he has disclosed the fact that school education exercises rejilly a partial influence over the human mind ; and he has revived the old dogma that men derive their real spirit and power for life from tlie mother . He applies , in fact , to mankind at largo , that which lias been observed of geniuses , and
places the whole population in the same relation to its maternity that Alfred stands in to Ethelburga . Now , taking this view of the million-Alfred , Dr . Booth looks to his home in order to ascertain Avliat , is the condition of the maternal professorship , and he finds it painfully deficient . The wife is incompetent to make a comfortable home for her husband , or an instructive mother for her child ' . She
could dress herself showily while young , but can only compass a slatternly exhibition in middle life ; alienates hor husband to the public-house ; forms for the child a school of discord and disorder at home ; and so . sends forth tho recruit for " the dangerous c'nsHcs . The Sunday school can do eonijxiralivcly ' little g () O ( l _ a conclusion which Dr . \*»™ « " < " «*" in a manner that must h , rtnk . nj o , the upper classes . He h « * < h * : » vor «\ Hi . t fcton , JlVrrow Wost . niii . HKT , < 1 o compnra lively little , hlnn N « , twiM . » f ... Kli » . ff tin , enormities am . l V < 1 ,,. voiitl . fiil ambiti" .. in trained at the "XJK '' - < = '' - .. •• ™» "t «""»»» .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 24, 1855, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24111855/page/15/
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