All the news of the Bengal famine this week is
despondent, the reports suggesting that some of the poorer classes are already- pinched, as there have been grain riots. All our letters confirm our belief that the scarcity will go much farther South than the- Indian Government believes,—will include, for example, Burdwan and Hooghly, and thus greatly increase the area of its responsibili- ties. No rain has fallen, though clouds are reported, and the time- for the spring sowings has nearly passed away. We regret to. perceive also that Sir G. Campbell, who thoroughly knows Bengal, and whose forte is energy, adheres to his intention of quitting India in April, in the very midst of the calamity. His. successor will be Sir R. Temple, an experienced administrator, a brilliant writer, and possessed of an overplus of "g3," but notoriously an optimist, by temperament as well as policy. A change of administrators at such a time will be a direct evil, as. all officials concerned will be thinking, not. of Sir G. Campbell's opinion, but of Sir R. Temple's. Sir G. Campbell should stay, even if he thereby loses an election, which he certainly will lose- by coining away.
Previous page
