THE COLONIZATION AND SETTLEMENT OF INDIA.
The Report of the Select Committee on this subject just issued amounts to little more than a resume of the opinions of the witnesses examined. These generally state, that "wherever Europeans have settled a marked im- provement in the country has followed," and the various products of the i land have been developed. Another good effect of settlement is its tendency to promote the maintenance of order. A large extension of the number of settlers over India would be a considerable guarantee against any future in- surrection and tend to lessen the necessity for maintaining an expensive army. The dangerous effects of the climate of India have been (it is said) greatly exaggerated. The planters from Bengal are a " healthy and hardy race of men." Such as appeared before the committee looked like bluff British farmers rather than transmarine cultivators in quasi-tropical lati- tudes. The hill districts of India appear peculiarly fitted for the reception of English settlers.
So far as the Committee have inquired, climates favourable to European health may be found at a due elevation on the Himalayas, on the Neil- gherries, and on other hill ranges yet incompletely explored, especially in the south of India. At about 4000 feet above the sea level the Himalayas offer an European climate. On the eastward portion, indeed, of that ex- tensive range the prevalence of rain may be frequently a serious objection, though not so formidable as is generally supposed. Further to the west- ward the rainfall sensibly diminishes. It has been suggested that asylums, like those originated by the lamented Sir Henry Lawrence, might be ad- vantageously formed on the hills, where, in a climate like that of our own country, the children of soldiers and of other persons might be trained with a special view to the practical improvement of India and to the acquisition of a knowledge of the people and the country. Mechanics and practical agriculturists are greatly wanted in India. The planters state that young men acquainted with the native languages are much required for their establishments. Thus educated, they might also be employed, as commer- cial travellers are in this country, for extending the commerce and manu- factures of Great Britain and of Europe in the East. Few objects of con- templation can be more interesting than the formation and progress of these establishments on the hills. The rapid rise of the settlement at Darjeeling, in Sikkim, about 300 miles north of Calcutta, is described in the inte- resting evidence of Dr. Hooker. It appears that the population (4000 or i
5000 in 1848) doubled itself in the course of two years. The natives of Bhotan, Thibet, and Nepaul flocked to be employed by the Europeans. Other favourable evidence is not wanting. The coffee grown on the slopes of the Neilgherries is stated by Colonel Onslow to be among the best in the London market, and the resources of Mysore are not generally known. "Of all countries," says Colonel Onslow, "it is the most favourable for settlement." Another favourable position for settlers exists in or near the tea-growing countries of Assam and Cachar, where the climate is a "delightful and beautiful one" (on the Cossya hills, 5000 feet in height). One want in the hill regions is that of good roads, and it would seem to be important that settlers, zemindars, and natives should be led to interest themselves in the state of these communications from place to place. The committee regret to find transit duties retained in some of the native States. Works of irrigation, so necessary, should be combined with navigable canals, water being in India the most suitable medium of traffic. As regards the produce of the soil, it is shown that there are great openings to settlerf in the mild. vation of cotton, wheat, tea, hemp, flax, coal, and iron. Wheat may be grown more cheaply in India than in America, according to Dr. Moore and General Tremenheere, and the Punjab is often "one vast expanse of corn." The same may, perhaps, be the case hereafter with respect to cotton. There is reason to hope that the tea of the Himalayas will beat the Chinese out of the markets of Central Asia. The -witnesses think that the English in India may drive a good trade with Central Asia. It is gratifying to find that the Messrs. Schlagiutweit (re- cent travellers in Central Asia) confirm the remark of Moorcroft, that "it is at our option whether Central Asia shall be supplied with goods from Russia or from England." Mr. Atkinson considers that our cottons and our hardware would claim a preference over those of other countries. Our broadcloths appear to have been once a successful article of trade, and to be still highly valued in Thibet. For such a climate our woollens would seem to be particularly suitable. But from Thibet we are excluded by the Chinese. It were to be desired that this and other parts of Central Asia where Chinese authority prevails should be opened by a commercial treaty. The articles of interchange with these Trans-Himalayan countries are mentioned in the evidence of Dr. Hooker. "Immense quantities of wool," says Sir J. Lawrence, " come from the conterminous countries, Affghanistan and Beelochistan, into the Punjab, and I suppose it is tenfold what it used to be." It appears that there is a great abundance of gold in Thibet. All these Central Asiatic nations are now supplied with tea, which they most extensively use well known under the name of "brick tea," from China. Their distance from that country is immense. As the cultivation of tlis tea, plant extends along the line a the Himalayas, we may justly en- tertain the hope that it may a some future titre sucoessfully compete with the .tea of China in the markets of Central .Aeia.
Umritsir, and Sliikargore (especially the first), offer great in- duements to British capita and enterprise. The. committee report that a well-conducted and efficient body of police is much wanted in Bengal. They urge the necessity of introducing uniformity in the administration of justice by framing a code to embrace the civil rights of men of all races and creeds, under the same rules, with due reservation of their customs and respect to their religions. A legal title to land should also be attainable by a scheme of registration. An uniform law of contract is deemed very desirable for the protection of settlers. The present settlers entertain a strong opinion in favour of the use of the English language in courts of law ; and on the au- thority of many witnesses judicial training is wanting in the body of CM- Hans.
The greatest horror is felt by settlers at the idea of extending the power of natives to try Europeans in criminal cases, and the "Black Act,',' so called, has caused great alarm. The Affray and Recognizance Bills are also a bar to free settlement. In civil cases the native judges appear to he un- objectionable. The resumption of free lands by the Government of India is condemned, as tending to shake the very foundations of property.
During the investigations of the committee the Government appears to
have partly, if not entirely, conceded two points of great interest to British settlers—the right to acquire land in fee simple, and the power of redeeming the land-tax in Bengal. "If," say the witnesses, "you will grant Euro- peans waste land in perpetuity in India, India will prosper, like Java and Ceylon." There are, no doubt, many parts of India (described or alluded to in the evidence) where waste lands, in habitable and healthy situations, could be thus granted by the Government; as in Assam, the neighbourhood of the Neilgherries, Kumaen, Gurwhal, and other districts. Some of the civil servants of the Government, as well as settlers, are favourable to such a policy. It has been suggested that it might also be expedient to allow to purchasers of the fee simple of land the power of paying their purchase money by instalments. Fora similar reason the committee have, from the first, looked favourably on the concession of a power of redeeming the land- tax ; in favour of this concession (which applies especially to Bengal) there are many witnesses.
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There is one very important point on which the witnesses appear to con- cur ; that is, the introduction of non-official Europeans and natives into the Legislative Council of. India. The example of Ceylon is quoted to show the good effects of this reform. It is stated that one of the defects of the Legislative Council is a want of local knowledge. Such knowledge the re- form suggested would supply. It appears to the committee that there is wanting in India less of central and more of local government. It is stated by Major Wingate, that " the administration in Bombay is paralyzed by the centralization of supreme authority in Bengal." Roads may be wanted in Bombay, but the want of roads in Bombay cannot be equally), appreciated in Bengal. On, the other hand, it is stated that to the officers of the other Presidencies Bengal itself is " nothing less than a foreign country."
The system of " forced labour" under the coercive power of Govern- ment, as prevalent in many parts of India, is condemned as objectionable and injurious. A. convertible paper currency, or " Government paper," is much demanded. Just before the rebellion it was the practice to convey a lac of rupees guarded by a hundred soldiers! The report thus concludes ;—
" Your committee welcome with satisfaction the account given by many witnesses of the improved state of feeling between the settlers and the na- tives. It is clear that, for governing a country like India, important as may be laws and institutions, much must also depend on the silent but certain influence of manners. It is painful to read the following statement made by a most competent witness—that the natives have not been so kindly treated by Europeans as they ought to have been. I know that they feel it deeply. When they are treated with respect, and honestly dealt with, Europeans may acquire great influence over them.' It is also painful to find it averred that drunkenness is a great obstacle to the settlement of Europeans of the poorer class in India.' Let those who unexceptionally condemn the native character reflect that it is the growth of ages of mkt-. government, and that there are many instances of the just and temperate European winning the confidence and attachment of the natives. An in- stance of the great ascendancy which good conduct and good management may acquire is to be seen in the success of Mr. Fischer, whose influence is stated to be widely and beneficially felt in the province of Salem. It is mentioned by Mr. Saunders, that during the recent mutiny the respectable natives protected his property during his absence ; that the neighbouring zemindars worked his plantations and restored to him the profits after the mutiny was over. While, therefore, your committee have felt anxious to embody in their report such general and practical information as relates to European settlement in India, they desire to express their hopes that indi- vidual cooperation may not be wanting to promote it. Every. Englishman should go to India with a deep sense of his responsibility, not only to those whom he is.about to govern or among whom he is about to reside, but to his own country, whose character for firmness, justice, and forbearance he is bound constantly, zealously, and by personal example, to maintain.
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