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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 IN A "WAR . The imminent danger of war which has suddenly burst on the community has called the attention of some to what would be the position of India during hostilities , with France , and such other powers as mig ht take part with it in assailing the English empire . It now becomes a matter of bitter regret that those measures which were best calculated for the civilisation of India and its defence have been neglected . Had the railway system been carried out ten years ago , as it might have been , it would equally have promoted the general advancement of the country , and enabled us to economise our military resources , and to pour down our troops on any part of the coast or frontier assailed . Had the rivers been properly supplied with steamers , means of internal transport would have been augmented . The state of affairs in this respect is lamentable . The Ganges is insufficiently navigated ; the navigation of the Indus is but in its beginning ; the Biirrampooter and the Grogra have no longer steamers on them ; the upper rivers of the Indus , after being made the subject of experiment , are not worked ; the Nerbuddah and others have yet to undergo the test of experiment . ; The harbours of the coast are . negl e cted , so that , instead of being available for the disembarkation or landing of troops , they remain unserviceable ; and even of the existing harbours , Madras itself , from the refusal of the Government to provide a breakwater , is most inefficient . The army of native revolters is kept up in greater numbers than ever , and no efficient measures are taken to " supply India with a European force , for the present army is threatened with reduction , and the number of local corps is small ; whereas a large reserve might have been constituted in the hills , had ordinary prudence been displayed . Connected with this is the inattention to foster the increase of an English population . This lias slightly increased through the exertions of private enterprise , and the establishment of joint-stock companies ; but it is utterly inadequate for the defence of the country . The safety of India during a war depends partly on maintaining the command of the sea , and tins is dependent on our * alliance with the United States , the only quartei' on which we can rely for support in the general illwill . of France , Russia , Austria , Prussia , Spain , and Portugal , and the alienation of Holland . For the safety of our commerce and our coasts , the co-operation of the other naval power , the United States , is imperative ; and we ought to have an alliance with Holland , the people of which are disposed to regard their kindred to us , if they do but meet with the affection of kinsmen . Unless pur diplomacy is dictated by great national considerations , instead of being made subservient to the petty despots of Germany , wo shall find ourselves greatly harassed in any war wjthFrance and Russia ; as the French possessions in Bourbon or Reunion , Comero , Madagascar , Cochin China , New Caledonia , and Tahiti , which tlxcy have been allowed of late years so much to extend , will become , as of old , nests of privateers and pirates ; . the possessions of Holland , Spain , and Portugal in Java , Sumatra , Borneo , Celebes , the Philippines , Timar , and Macao will bo made to contribute , with Russian cruisers from Asia and America , to ' worxy our merchantmen and plunder the towns of India , Australia , and South Africa . The importance of an alliance with our American brethren cannot bo overrated . They are interested with ourselvos in the trade of Asia , Africa , and Australia , and in maintaining the supremacy of the English race in the North Pacific and Central America , and they can oflTeotually restrain Russian ambition to their west . Now that the United States have touched the Pacific their foreign policy has been materially altered , much mox'o than by their proximity to Europe and thoir Sowing intercourse with it . The States and ussia now jostle each other on the North-West coast , in Hawaii , Japan , and China 5 and the relations of Russia and the States will be far other than they woro , more particularly as a community of
interests has been established with the Canadas , which will be extended to Columbia and Vancouver . Within India it is of paramount importance that public works should be pushed forward , and no financial consideration must be allowed to stand in the way . While time yet remains before the money market is paralysed and commerce interrupted , the main railways should be completed and branches laid down to the hills . Road , harbour , and irrigation works must be carried on with vigour , and everthing be done to increase the internal resources of India , and to mobilise her military force . Above all , encouragement must at once be given to the colonisation of the hills . Let a charter be granted for the . hill districts , assuring Australian land regulations , and English institutions , so that no doubt may remain that the settlers will have the same privileges as in every other colony . The local corps should at once be raised for hill service , as proposed by ' . Sir John I / Ogin , the . men being enlisted for short terms , so that they should become ultimate colonists , and institute an effectual reserve . Our military resources in India are only now beginning to be developed , for we have _ at length obtained a considerable English force , with a regular system of ' hill ! stations and sanitaria , and we have the means of enlisting the hill tribes , so as to be independent of the populations of the plains . The importation of cavalry and artillery horses from the Cape and Australia has been organised . The telegraph system has been laid down , but this is of little good unless the troops themselves can be readily moved about . The establishment of a European artillery is of great importance , but we regret deeply that the measures for reinforcing the artillery have been interfered with on factious views , for the . purpose of obtaining berths for officers attached to local corps . The situation is a serious one ; but if justice be done to our people England can as well maintain India now , against all the world , as she did in the last century and in the beginning of this , although beset with powerful antagonists .
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THE PEDAGOGUE SYSTEM IN INDIA . Amoih'g t he plagues afflicting India in consequence of the mandarin system , is naturally pedagogism ; for , as the writers are the offspring of pedagogism , so have they a deep devotion to its tenets . They are the chosen of examinations , and to them examinations arc as the waters of the Gangesholy . Thus , in connexion with the educational departments , and the educational tests for the public service , many most ridiculous and ' mischievous arrangements havo been made . The natives of India are quiet enough at word-playthey have memory enough for anything—even for learning a dictionary by heart—and the authorities are too apt to foster these propensities—the result being that examinations are a fiction and a delusion . The Colleges of Bombay , which turned out essayists proficient in English literature , have been found guileless of teacliing English , efficiently ; for the public examinations in the civil service at Calcutta the papers are , year after year , stolen beforehand , as soon as set , and generally in the colleges and examination-rooms a l > ody of wordjugglers is gathered together , really destitute of the principles of civilisation and morality , and who arc converted into the real governors of India to become corruptors , extortioners , and torturers , in whatever capacity they ' may bo employed , deceiving their superiors by a Russian varnish of civilisation , and the more effectually oppx'cssing their unhappy countrymen . Thus , in India wo find the benevolence and weakness of the Paraguay Jesuit gentlemen nnd scholars roxidorod still woi'so by the corruption that the Ruesiaxx official class practices and conceals . , . Just now the examination mania is as rife in India as it is in England , and the pedagogue is indeed in his glory . Among other achievements of his are some fate Government examinations in Madras and the Punjaub for candidates for the
public service . The Madras question included the following : — From what did England get its name ? Explain the word Heptarchy ? Of what did the Heptarchy consist ? Under whom , and at what date , did the Heptarchy become a single state ? Mention the leading circumstances that have made Alfred's reign memorable , giving the date at its commencement and its dose ? State what you know about the Witengaemote , the Bretwalda , Adrian ' s Wall , the Tilling , the Danegeld , the Doomsday Book , the Curfew , Peter's Pence ? This was followed up worthily in the Punjab quite lately , by a question said to bear a strong family likeness to the offspring of the Madras examiner . We g ive this , as it is worth bearing in mind : — " Give a sketch of the history of the Anglo-Saxons from the time of Egbert , a . i > . 800 , to the time of William the Conqueror , a . d , 1066 , military and political , explaining particularly the nature of the courts of jurisdiction called Hallinote , Hurtdredmote or Foikmote , Thingmote , and the council of the Witenageniote . " - These are but samples of the whole course of examination , comprehensive in its exactions , and of little practical utility ; for the students are required , in many cases * to give opinions upon matters of hypothesis , and which they can only answer by quoting the opinion of some text book , without any positive knowledge on the subject . What can be the value in India of the memory or imagination of some raw lad upon Anglo-Saxon institutions , the nature of which has not been settled by the most eminent authorities , except to then- own satisfaction , and the bearing of which upon our present institutions is as ill understood . ^ would be idle to examine even an ordinary English , Irish , or Scotch lad on trial by jury , or any institution , of which he had no practical acquaintance , and only book knowledge . Such , however , are the outcropping of defects inherent in the civil service of InVlia , and with which the uncovenanted service is inoculated . It is the misfortune of India that a young man is sent out as a writer or a cadet without any experience of the duties of citizenship , and thus he is always defective in his political education , as compared with the community at home : Hence that want of sympathy too often found between the Indian civilian , the settler , and the home authorities . His political instruction has not been acquired in a free country , but from the natives . As a civilian he id virtually exempt from ordinary jurisdictions , and he is not long enough at the presidency to learn probably the working of the Supreme Court . Blackstone , indeed , has he read , Dut Blackstone will never make a citizen . The English newspapers he may look at , but he soon ceases to foel any interest in home politics or proceedings , except so for as any incident may whet his curiosity ; and the contests between freedom and despotism arc to him as the battles between frogs and-mice . If ho roads them it is with the feeling of a spectator , nnd not with the keen sympathy of the reader at homo , who is an actor . The cadet is trained in citizenship by the rules and regulations , general orders , rcgimental orders , an occasional court martial , and above all , by the mess-room . Hence , with all the sagacity and ability of our statesmen in India , they have been found wanting Jon nil those occasions when . thcy are required to deal with and apply the institutions of a free people ; and although Pnrlianiont may sometimes do harm by interfering with local details , it will do much more good by bringing the statesmanship of England to bear on the governors of India .
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W « intimated a short time ago that the post of Foreign Secretary was vacant bj tho promotion of Mr . Hdroonstone , and that Mr . Boadon was the gentloman who , from official experience m Indian affairs and qualifications , was tho best fitted for tho vucatod position . We have tho pleasure to he tho first journal to announce that Mr , Baadon has been , appointed to tho post of Foreign Secretary ,
India And Indian Progress.
INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS .
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No . 475 , April 30 , 1859 . ] THE LEADER . 569
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 30, 1859, page 569, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2292/page/25/
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