• THE ItOitA.], OF THE INDIGO DIFFICULTY.
d,:41.§.9ge—gle inveterate antagonisiu between the Civil Tat, mertkIndian difficulty is unhappily only a new form serva.n the interloper. Throughout the history of British India, from the moment when our earliest settlements were planted on the coast until the present hour, we meet with this pestitnial quarrel. No man, not a Civil servant, writes a book cuilInclia, without telling you that the Upper Ten of the Civil Service look upon every other form of white humanity in India as an inferior Caste. The " Pekins," as our neighbours irreverently call their civilians, carry it eoen over the Military men. Cove- Tainted look down, if they leek at all, -upon uncovenanted, and both regard the planter and the merchant with eyesof toleration perhaps, but not with eyes of favour. During the mutiny' these ninlarally feelings were partially .destroyed. Planters and White zemimlars _valiantly held their own and kept peace around thew and the Balms of the volunteer cavalry were found to strike home as well as the sabres of the regulars. All Eu- ropeans in India- felt a common brotherhood in those days ; but the rebellion is no sooner knocked on the head than ties brother in danger becomes the Pekin in office. We do not mean to say that there are no splendid exceptions among the Gistil-Berilee. The really great and able men are not the victinas of-this email jealousy and. over-strained sense of importance. But it isto come to any other conclusion than that the bulk of. the. Civil Service have -the traditional habit of despising all be- yond the official circle. And the reason is plain. The Civil Ser- v.;ne haS monopolized power and consideration for three quarters Of a century. They have all the habits of a close corporation. trnotEcial Englishmen: cowing among them .brought with them the ideas of the old country, and disturbed the official calm. A Plouter in a rural district, &lawyer or merchant in a town was not segreat a men as a Magistrate or a Commissioner, but he was a greet men by virtue of his race, a free man by virtue of his birth' and education, and he not only attracted to himself some Of the consideration paid to the greater man, but he had an awk- ward habit of saying and doing What he pleased. The independent Eiuropeansiii India, though many of them are rough and uncouth, form It body of critics, and critics are universally detested hymen Who have absolute, or quasi absolute power. In proportion as the Frondeura beeome numeroue, they beeonie still more obnoxious, as well as more powerful, and the old quarrel when it breaks out assumes the serious aspect of a regular polities' conflict. This is now. the case between the indigo planters and the Civil Service, and between...the two in comes the missionary, not to make peace but to envenom the dispute. , The native cultivator furnishes the casus-belli. He naturally finds friends among the civil servants, because he furniShesagrievanee against the planters, mid friends saneng the missionaries, not from love of the civil servants, but from a zealous, and sometimes over-zealous desire to protect the weak against the strong. Had -there been a proper and cordial feeling between -the planters and the Civil Service, the indigo iliffi- miltjt would never have arisen to a point which threatens to sub- merge alike the ryot and the planter. No doubt the immediate origin of the conflict lies in the radical evils of the system. The practice of making advances to the cul- tivators must and does prove unhealthy in the long run. The ryot who has taken and probably spent the money, and desires to evade fulfilment of the contract, inevitably -regards his creditor as an enemy. Hence a state of mutual irritation, liable to lead to vio- lence -on the part of the creditors. This normal condition was aggravated by the civil servants who took sides against their local ravali the planters, and induced the ryots to believe that they ceold.fulfil their contracts at discretion. Native corruption came in to increase the censequences of native dishonesty and igno- rance, and the: ryots have not only refused to sow but have at- tempted to destroy factories, and have once broken out into a mild form of insurrection.' This, conduct of the Government of India has net been marked by firmness in, this matter, for although they passed -a law giving the planters summary jurisdiction, that law hes
not been enforced, and it is said that Mr. J. P. Grant, Lieu- tenant-Governor of Beogal, went the length of privately re- commending the local magistrates not to enforce it. The charges against the planters, charges of violent and tyrannical
conduct towards the ryots, have been ii:vestigated by a Commis- sion '., but, although the Commissioner's exenerate the planters, as a body, fromthe accusations made against them, and, although they admit the importance Of indifoing 1.31tiropeans to settle in India,—a valuable admission,--they' de not suggest remedies which are at all likely to meet and eradicate the evils. •
The proper point of view from which- to regard the questiois is that of the colonization of India by Europeans. They have skill, enterprise, capital ; the natives hstve land and labour. They form an_ aristocratic class, which eughti to Contribute to the solidity of our dominion. It is alike for the interest of the Indian Government and the Natives that the settlement of an independ- ent European yeomanry in India should be as extensive as is compatible with the conditions of climate and the possibilities-of
production. While the Government rigorously sees that the Natives are not oppressed, they ought to endow the planters with the powers of azi aristocracy, doing swift justice on them whenever those powers are abused. The Indigo Commissioners have 'happily described the position of this class--. "In a political aspect, tbe presence ota body of Europeans scattered over various portions of the interior of the conntry,is .highly valuable. In troublous or disturbed times„it is to them that Government would partly look for assistance in the repression of anarchy, the maintenance of order, and the counteraction of disaffection. In more quiet tinies, the residence of
an EnglishMan is a sort of guarantee that violent abuses shall not long re-
main undetected. If - thorn is an oppressive law-or a barbarous and anti-, gusted custom, he is probably the Matto fts3lits„pressure and to be, urgent
for its abolition. If a public functionarfis corrupt, idle, or incapable, he
will pray to have him removed. • Though his complaints be semetimes un- reasonable, or be tendered in no measured language, the Englishman acts as the representative Of public opinion, and we feel that the administration of justice could not well dispense witilhis-determine.d and vigorous expostu- lations." ' .1 .
. It is in the power of the Gove.rnnient-tesive facilities for the increase in the number Of thesavaluablasettlers. They can en-
deavour to bring about something Ice harmony between the planter class and the civil servants ; they can, enact just laws re- gulating the business intercourse between the Natives and their employers ; and they can give the employers the possession of judicial powers, which some of them have taken and exercised greatly to the contentment and welfare of the people. The Euro- pean colonist in India must take the position of a chief, and the
nearer he can approatth to the application of oriental principles, guided-by a just and enlightened conscience, the stronger will be
his hold of the people, and the better will it be for all parties. But, first and foremost, this old jealousy and radical rivalry between civil servant and planter, the relic of the hostility of the Company to the interloper, must be effectually got rid of ; and next the European in India, although amenable to law, must be regarded as an aristocrat and leader of the people, if he is to succeed in
bringing jungles under cultivation, maintaining order, and pro- ducing contentment in the place of disaffection. For the present, we trust that the Government has adopted strong measures, and, has appointed, as suggested by Mr. Temple, who comes from the sound school of Punjaub statesmen, commissioners with powers to settle disputes, do justice, and save the indigo districts from the ruin with which they are threatened.
Previous page
