BOOKS.

MARSHMAN'S HISTORY OF INDIA.*

Tim University of Calcutta deserves the thanks of the public, both there and at home, for having asked Mr. Marshman to write a history of India ; and we rejoice that he has been induced to publish an edition in this country, " for those who are in search of a brief and compendious narrative of the progress of the British Empire in India." It is a matter for general congratulation when a book is written by the one man of all others who can do it best, and we believe we are not saying too much when we say this of the present work and its author. It may be worth while to explain why. Mr. Marshman was for nearly half a century, we believe, the proprietor and editor of an Indian weekly newspaper, which in any country in the world would have held a high place, but which in India obtained a degree of power and influence altogether exceptional and remark- able. The character of this journal and of its proprietor was such that, during its whole career, men of all classes, from the Viceroy to the planter, were glad to place their cause in Mr. Marshman's hands, knowing that, if anywhere, they would find an able and an impartial verdict in the columns of the Friend of India. This caused Mr. Marshman to be for the larger part of the present century the recipient of a vast amount of informa- tion from all sources, such as probably no other one individual could possibly have had access to. And not only had he thus con- stant personal intercourse with the great actors in modern Indian history, but he had an almost equally valuable inheritance of great memories from his father, Dr. Marshman, one of the famous mis- sionary triumvirate of Serampore. In addition to the advantages derived from such opportunities of access to information of this most valuable kind, he had others, as translator for many years of all Acts of legislation, and as the proprietor of a great manufacturing enterprize, which brought him into daily contact with all classes of the native community. Nor must we omit mention of the advantage he derives from the possession of a singularly accurate and retentive memory, of which the present writer recollects a striking instance, having on one occasion heard Mr. Marshman set right an Indian colonel as to the details of a great battle in which the latter took a prominent part, but at which we need hardly say the former was not present. His valuable gifts as a writer in the field of Anglo-Indian history are already favourably known to the public by his biographies of Havelock and of Carey, Ward, and Marshman.

With such qualifications Mr. Marshman might well have un- dertaken to write a more ambitious work than the present, but hardly a more useful one. Competition-wallahs and Calcutta students are not the only persons to whom this work will be valuable. A clearly arranged and compendious history of India from Manor) to Dalhousie has long been wanted by those who have not time or inclination for a perusal of a succes- sion of works like those of Elphinstone and Mill. Indeed, we doubt whether there will ever be many persons but the unhappy youths in training for examinations, who would care to follow in much detail the events of those weary six centuries of blood- shedding with which India was afflicted, from the invasion of Mahrimud of Ghuzni, in 1001, to the birth of the East India Company in 1599. We would not deny, —indeed, we would insist on,—the great importance of a study of this as well as of other periods to all whose duties call them to our Eastern Empire, • The History of India, from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhouries Administration. .Dy John Clark Marshman. Vols. I. and IL London : Longman, Green, Reader, and Dyer. 1867.

and to all who would rightly understand modern Indian politics. We only say that without some object of this kind, a perusal of the history of these six centuries leaves upon the mind something of the impression produced upon us in our youth by the contemplation of drops of water magnified by the oxy- hydrogen microscope at the Polytechnic, — an endless suc- cession of monstrous forms, skirmishing, attacking, retreat- ing, and devouring each other over the whole field of space. Throughout, there is no trace of national life or of political pro- gress; there is no " cumulative " force, no gradual harvest of the fruits of knowledge, no establishment of principles, no steady growth in national wealth, peace, or prosperity. Whenever there was an interval of peace and security, it was but the result of the accident which placed an exceptional ruler on the throne. We have in such history but a tedious monotony of conquests, in- trigues, and massacres, one dynasty or ruler undoing what had been settled by another. The history is that of a succession of invasions of the hardy races beyond the great mountain wall on the North-West, as each dynasty became in turn emasculated by the debauchery to which it gave itself up so soon as there was no more fighting to be done. Affghans, Turkis, Tartars, Persians, all in turn succumbed to the sensuality which was the resource of those who successively occupied the Delhi throne. If every now and then a monarch like Akbar was enlightened enough to intro- duce a good system of administration, or to make roads, tanks, and aqueducts for the people, there was no permanent force in society or institutions to secure those advantages under his suc- cessors. The fact is, as Kingsley has said truly enough, the essen- tial conditions of the " invariable progress " in history, assumed by some modern writers, are altogether wanting, where no un- varying standard of right is conceived or recognized by the rulers. In the worst periods of the Middle Ages in Europe, there was some idea of such a standard becoming ever more distinct and powerful for good as time went on. National decay, alike in China and India, came from moral rottenness,—the absence of all national recognition of the claims of justice and right.

Any man who labours under the popular fallacy that it was English intrigue and lust of empire that caused the general anarchy and break-up of native governments should turn to a history like this, and learn what Mohammedan rule really was in India. He will see how intolerable the condition of things had become long before British troops appeared on the scene. Mah- rattas, Rajpoots, Jilts, Rohillas, and other races to whom anarchy and plunder were a law of existence devoured the peninsula like wild beasts. In 1720 the empire was rapidly decaying. After Aurungzebe's reign the Emperors were set up by the Seiuda like their Roman predecessors by the legionaries, until at last Nadir Shah's invasion brought about the complete destruction of the empire and universal anarchy.

No conclusion is more satisfactorily established than that British conquest and political dominion were forced upon the East India Company by the native powers. The persistent idea of "the Leadenhall Cheesemongers," as Lord Wellesley called them, was to the last to avoid all "entanglements," all political duties,—to adopt to the utmost the modern principle of "non-intervention." They were always calling upon the Governor-General to main- tain " the balance of power" among the native States, but, as Mr. Marshman well says,— "There never had, in fact, been, and considering the policy of the native Courts there never could be, anything like a real balance of power in India. With the Princes of India rapine and conquest had been from time immemorial the only avowed principle of action. War was considered the chief source of glory ; it was sanctioned by the ordinances of religion, both Hindoo and Mohammedan ; it was prosecuted without any pretext or semblance of justice, and restrained only by the power of resistance."

The power of circumstances or of " destiny " was too strong for the Court of Directors. Every Governor-General went out to India full of indignation at the rapacious policy of his predecessor, only to become, perforce, rapacious too. The native powers always sought our aid against one another. Every act of moderation on our part, as the writer of this work shows so clearly, was attributed to fear and weakness, and was the signal for instant outrage and attack upon our settlements. Concession always led to war ; a determined and almost hostile bearing was the sole security for peace. Every Governor-General who left England went to main- tain peace, and was forced to draw the sword the instant he had landed. But to this day, people who know India only at second hand continue to maintain that our wars in India were caused by the lust of dominion alone, and the unprincipled preying of the strong upon the weak.

' his wonderful story of 150 years of unwilling conquest, of the splendid struggle with our French rivals, of our hairbreadth escapes from utter annihilation, of our marvellous success alter- nating with frightful disaster, of heroic genius and courage at one moment, of humiliating corruption and folly at another, enhanced by the charms of distance and barbaric splendour, presents indeed a picture which can never cease to have a marvellous fascination for English readers, whether young or old. And for the young, we know nothing more calculated to inspire with the ambition of glorious service, of devotion to public duty, and of a noble patriotism. Admirably spirited and graphic as are Mr.. Marshman's descriptions of our campaigns,—as, for example, his account of Sir Eyre Coote's campaign against Hyder, and Tippoo's defeat by Sir David Baird, and his representations of the intrigues and conspiracies of the native Courts,—it is his account of the civil and political history of British India which makes his work more especially valuable. The gradual growth of the factory into a kingdom, the development of the administration of a count- ing-house to that of an empire, the conversion of clerks into generals and legislators, all this wonderful history, together with that of the great contests between Parliament and Directors, is narrated with the greatest accuracy and knowledge, and in a style so simple, clear, and unaffected, as to make the book as attractive as it is valuable.

Towards the close of the first volume, we have an admirable sketch of the rival Bills which Fox and Pitt introduced, when the time arrived, in 1780, for reviewing the exclusive privileges of the Company. Even at that distant period, Fox proposed the transfer of all the powers of Government to a Board, which should be nominated by the Crown, believing that it was his mission " to rescue the greatest number of the human race that ever were so grievously oppressed from the greatest tyranny that ever was. exercised." His Bill passed the House of Commons, in spite of the Company's bribes, by a vote of two to one ; but the King, afraid of the immense patronage, worth two millions a year, which it would give to Mr. Fox, induced the Lords to throw it out, by sending word that he should consider any one who voted for it as no friend of his. However, Mr. Pitt's Bill, which fol- lowed Fox's, and was carried, had the same object in view, and established the Board of Control, while it left the Directors their patronage. But it took three-quarters of a century to transfer the entire administration of India to the Crown, as well as to bring about the amalgamation of the Royal Army with that of the Company, proposed by Dundas. Such is the tentative character of English policy, such the horror of sacrificing practical advan- tages to any theory, however perfect,—the determination to accept a new principle only when the old one has utterly broken down. On another point, also, the Whig statesman was in advance of his Tory antagonist when he proposed that it should be unlawful for any servant of the Company to be engaged in money transac- tions with native Princes. Fortunately we had not to wait so long for the adoption of this principle, though long enough to cost• the country the sum of three millions and a half, in paying off loans which the Nabob of Arcot had borrowed from English officers.. These latter were not ashamed to make fortunes by lending money to this native prince at enormous rates of interest, which they knew the Nabob never could or would pay, in the expecta- tion that their country would make good the profits of their speculation.

Perhaps the most valuable portions of this work are those which relate to the revenue and judicial administration of India, and under this head, we would especially direct attention to the chapters which treat of the reforms introduced by Lord Corn- wallis in 1793, and of the results of the Permanent Settlement, when reviewed after twenty years' operation, in 1813. In a few sentences any reader may obtain a clear idea of the Indian Revenue system, and of its effects upon the condition of the people. Not only for the light they throw upon Indian questions, but for their general value as a contribution to the study of political economy, should these chapters on the land-tax of India be studied.

Every one, we suppose, knows that a certain proportion of the produce of the land was always the right of the Sovereign, and that in assessing this tax the cultivators were treated as the owners. Mr. Marshman clearly explains how the office of collect- ing the tax gradually became hereditary, for the convenience of continuing the agency in the family which had the settlement or assessment records, and knew the value of the different lands, &c. This led to the collector becoming responsible for the tax to the Government, and to his being, therefore, permitted to keep a mili- tary force, so that at last he became the chief of the district, land- lord or Zemindar, with police and judicial powers. The English broke up this hereditary system of collection and introduced the

mischievous practice of " farming " the tax to whoever would bid highest for it, which naturally ruined both the people and the zemindars, so that Lord Cornwallis found the whole country going rapidly to decay. This led to the famous " perpetual settlement " of 1793, which recognized proprietary rights neither in the Sovereign nor the cultivator, but in the zemindars, who were thus converted into a powerful body of landholders. The amount of land-tax payable by them was fixed for ever, the assess- ment being made on such portion of their lands as was then under cultivation (less than two-thirds of the actual area). "No margin was allowed for the inevitable increase of expenditure in the defence of the country, and in the development of civilized institutions ;" and, we may add, this settlement has always been quoted ever since as a reason not only against any increase in the land-tax, but against any tax whatever. When the late Mr. James Wilson therefore introduced an income-tax a few years since, these most fortunate and wealthy landowners cried out against the measure as a scandalous breach of faith.

"Under the genial influence of this territorial charter, which for the first time created indefeasible rights and interests in the soil, popula- tion has increased, cultivation has been extended, and a gradual im- provement has become visible in the habits and comfort of the people ; and the revenue of the provinces of Bengal and Behar has increased to fourteen crores of rupees (14,000,0001.) a year, of which only four crores are derived from the lands."

We are not so sure about the improvement in the habits and comfort of the people, for the ancient proprietary rights of the cultivators were shamefully neglected in this arrangement. They had always been the owners of the soil, subject only to the pay- ment of a fixed share of the produce to the State. So defective was the provision made by the British Government for the main- tenance of these rights, that practically the great mass of the cultivators became mere tenants-at-will, at the mercy of the worst, because the most ignorant and powerful, landlords that the world ever saw. Many have been the attempts to remedy the unparalleled injustice thus inflicted on the tenant proprietors of Lower Bengal ; and deplorable have been its results, but it was only in 1859 that an Act was passed having for its object the effective remedy of these evils. The rights it sought to establish have since been contested in the famous " Rent Case," which came before the Chief Court at Calcutta two years since, and is now, we believe, before the Privy Council of England.

If our revenue administration was thus disastrous to the mass of the people, no less so were our arrangements for civil and criminal justice. Not only were the judicial procedure and laws cumbrous and utterly unsuited to the genius, history, and habits of the people, but we made the fatal mistake of trying to carry on the administration without a resort to responsible native officers.

"Under all former conquerors, civil and military offices, with few exceptions, were open to the natives of the country, who might aspire, with confidante, to the post of minister and to the command of armies. But under the impolitic system established in 1793, the prospects of legitimate and honourable ambition were altogether closed against the natives of the country. If the peculiar nature of British rule rendered it necessary to retain all political and military power in the hands of Europeans, this was no reason for denying the natives every opportunity of rising to distinction in the judicial departments, for which they were eminently qualified by their industrious habits and their natural sobriety, not less than by the knowledge they possessed of the language and character of their fellow-countrymen."

The result was to make every able and ambitious man hate our rule, and to place justice in the hands of the irresponsible and ill paid underlings of the Courts, without whom English magistrates and judges were, from their ignorance of the people and their lan- guage, perfectly helpless. It is obvious that civil officers in such -a position must have been totally dependent on their native sub- ordinates for information of every kind, and that these latter would give them only such advice and information as the suitors paid them to give.

We have learned better since, and have raised up an educated class of native employes, to whom by degrees we have given an increasing share of the administration. In proportion as we have trusted them and paid them properly, and made their appointment to the public service the reward of university dis- tinction, we have found them as trustworthy as their local knowledge has made them efficient. But the whole history of our proceedings in the past, shows how little good intentions and honest purposes suffice to enable the men of one race to rule over and dis- pense justice to those of another race, so different in character, history, and language. Under such disadvantages, perhaps the most corrupt and barbarous native government would work less misery among the people than the best possible government of foreigners. As our revenue settlement of 1793 most seriously affected the material prosperity of the agricultural classes, so we believe that our Courts, civil and criminal, were for a very long period a fertile source of moral injury, in the corruption, in- security, and injustice which they occasioned. It is some satis- faction to know that during the last few years great progress has been made alike in revenue and in civil and criminal adminis- tration, and we attribute this more to-the greater extent to which we have associated the natives of the country with us in that admi- nistration, than to any other cause whatever.

We shall look forward with much interest to the appearance of Mr. Marshman's third volume, which, dealing with a period still nearer to our own day, will be even more valuable than these volumes, from the special knowledge and opportunities that the author possesses, in addition to those other gifts of rare impar- tiality, scrupulous accuracy, and clear sound sense which so eminently distinguish all his writings.