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ABOLITION OF SUTTEES.

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pliance with the strongly expressed opinion of many pious and enlightened persons at home, at length authorized Lord William Bentinck to issue an order for its discontinuance. The appearance of this document produced a very strong sensation in India, and strikingly displayed the different views of the two classes into which its population is now divided. An address was presented from a body of Hindoos, respectable by their numbers, and still more by their wealth and intelligence, highly applauding the measure, and declaring that the practice thereby prohibited formed no essential part of their system. But a number of individuals at Calcutta, earnestly devoted to the ancient system, have formed themselves into a society, called the Dharma Subha, for the purpose of procuring the restoration of this sacred rite, which they say has been continued for millions of years under the successive eras of the satya, treta, dwapar, and cali yugs. They have organized themselves on the model of the religious societies in England, with a president, secretary, subscription-papers, and corresponding branches; and, having called upon every holy Hindoo to contribute his mite to the pious work, have raised considerable sums to promote the objects of the institution, while they have renounced all social intercourse with those of their countrymen who follow an opposite course. The other party, however, who are called the Brama Subha, considering the Shastras in their favour, treat these violent proceedings with indifference, and continue steadily to support the humane views of the British government.

Another arrangement with regard to the native religion has been reasonably called in question. With whatever pain the worship paid in the idol temples may be viewed, government, on the principles of toleration, are bound to leave it unmolested. But they go further; they levy a tax from each pilgrim, and receive the offerings presented on the altar. Out of these they keep the temple in repair, and also pay salaries to the requisite number of officiating priests and Bramins: the balance, it appears, goes into their own exchequer. Mr. Poynder, in a speech at the India House, charged the company with having in seventeen years drawn a million sterling from the four principal temples of Juggernaut, Allahabad, Gaya, and Tripetty. Dr. Short, on the other hand, maintains that the raising of this tax is

a measure which will ultimately prove hostile to idolatry; while Mr. Poynder rejoins, that were it not for the sanction thus afforded by the company, and the excellent order in which the temples are kept, there would be a rapid decline of the whole system. Considerable doubt hangs on this question; but we cannot hesitate to express our opinion, that the directors ought to keep themselves pure from every transaction of this nature, and to throw the idol temples altogether into the hands of their blinded votaries.

CHAPTER X.

Industry and Commerce of India.

Prevalent Ideas of Indian Wealth-In a great degree fallacious-State of Agriculture-Poverty of the Cultivator-Rice-Cotton-OpiumSilk-Sugar-Tobacco-Indigo-Pepper-Manufactures of CottonSilk-Working in Gold, &c.- Decline of Manufactures-CommerceCommodities-Mode of conducting the Trade-The Company-Effects of Free Trade-Tables of Exports and Imports.

EXTRAVAGANT ideas respecting the wealth of India and its people long prevailed in the Western World. The pomp which surrounded its sovereigns, the precious commodities furnished by its commerce, gave the idea of a country in which the most profuse abundance reigned. A more extensive acquaintance has proved this impression to be extremely fallacious; the opulence being confined to the princes and high officers, or to a few merchants and moneyed men in the great cities. The labouring class, by whom the splendid wares are produced, are sunk in the deepest poverty. An intelligent writer, in the Friend of India, believes that the rent generally paid by the ryot in the rich province of Bengal does not amount to 40 rupees annually. Sir Thomas Munro states the same sum as the average payment of that district in the Carnatic which he minutely surveyed, and is of opinion that there was not a single cultivator worth 500l. As the rent in India exceeds a third of the gross produce, a farm can yield only a very small income; which, however, enables the tenants to keep

AGRICULTURE-RYOTS.

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over their heads a house that can be built in three days, of mud, straw, and leaves, to eat daily a few handfuls of rice, and to wrap themselves in a coarse cotton robe. Their situation may be considered as rarking below that of the Irish peasantry. The implements of agriculture also are of the most imperfect form. The name of plough can scarcely be applied to the instrument which is used for stirring the soil. It has neither coulter nor mould-board; the handle communicates little power of directing it; and the share does not penetrate the ground beyond three inches. The business of the harrow is performed by an instrument like a ladder, on which the husbandman stands, while rough bushes attached to it assist in covering the seed. The rotation of crops is a principle unknown in India; every thing possible is drawn from the ground till it is completely exhausted, when it must be recruited, not by a regular fallow, but by being left for some time unoccupied. Manure is scarcely at all employed; indeed that of the cow being accounted holy, and largely applied to sacred purposes, is far too valuable to be spread upon land. There are, however, as is observed by Professor Jameson, some soils in India so very fertile that they continue to bear crops without intermission. The wealth of the farmer consists almost wholly in his bullocks; and according to the number he can rear or purchase is the extent of ground which he cultivates. The only means of fertility on which art or toil is employed to any great extent is irrigation, which, indeed, in a tropical climate, is of all others the most essential. In addition to the supply furnished by the great rivers, princes and wealthy individuals, influenced by public spirit, form tanks, ponds, or reservoirs, for the general advantage; and wooden troughs or buckets are employed in raising the water into channels, by which it is conveyed over the adjoining fields. The periodical rains constitute the chief source of production in India, and their partial or total failure occasions the most desolating famines. During the dreadful one which afflicted Bengal in 1770, several millions of the natives are supposed to have perished.

The situation of the Hindoo ryot is still further depressed by the load of debt with which he is usually burdened. Even his slender means are found to tempt the avidity of the muhajuns or money-lenders, who enrich themselves by

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charging an interest of 36 per cent. on a number of small loans. Nay, it is said, in eight cases out of ten, at the beginning of the season, both the seed and his own subsistence are advanced to him till the period of harvest; consequently, when the crop is reaped, it does not belong to the cultivator, but is seized by these usurers, whose exactions, with those of the zemindar, would soon crush him altogether, were it not necessary for their own interest to stop short of his entire ruin.

It has been already observed, that the penury of the agricultural classes is less conspicuous in Guzerat, which both Mr. Forbes and Mr. Elphinstone describe as the most flourishing province of India. It seems to owe this advantage to its great fertility, joined to its retired and insular situation, which preserved it both from a thorough subjection to Mogul despotism, and from the ravages of the Mahratta invaders.

Rice is in India the staff of life, being used to a greater extent than any grain in Europe. It is, in fact, the food of the highest and the lowest, the principal harvest of every climate. Its production, generally speaking, is only limited by the means of irrigation, which is essential to its growth. The ground is prepared in March and April; the seed is sown in May and reaped in August. If circum stances are favourable there are other harvests, one between July and November, another between January and April. These also sometimes consist of rice; but more commonly of other grain, pulse, or cotton. In Guzerat some species

of holcus are raised to a considerable extent.

Cotton, as constituting the material of the principal manufacture in India, ranks next in importance to its staple grain. Yet its quality, by no means corresponding to its great importance, is decidedly inferior to that of North America and Brazil. It is described as a different species from the produce of the United States; being an annual plant, while the other endures for ten or twelve years. The English dealers undervalue it as short-stapled and dirty; for which reason they use it only in "very low cloth," or to mix in small portions with that of a better description. It usually brings about two-thirds of the price of ordinary, and one-third of the best American cotton. An ardent desire to improve this valuable shrub seems now to be gener

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ally entertained, and neither the climate nor soil presents any obstacles to its being carried to the highest perfection.

Opium, the use of which, both as a luxury and a medi cine, has become very extensive, is produced almost exclusively in the central provinces of India, and forms one of the most important articles of its commerce. It is culti vated largely in the provinces of Bahar and Benares, where government monopolizes the trade in it; purchasing the crop before it is raised from the necessitous ryots at the price of one rupee and a half per pound, to be resold at a great advance. The opium of Malwa, however, is of a superior quality, and the company had made great exertions to procure the whole of it by treaty with the native powers, and to prevent any part from reaching the western ports by the way of Rajpootana. By much the largest proportion now comes from this province. Between 1821 and 1827, the opium exported to China from Patna and Benares had fallen from 2910 to 2723 chests; while that from Malwa had risen from 1718 to 5630 chests. In 1830 the company renounced the practice of purchasing opium in Malwa, and agreed, on a certain consideration, to grant passes to individuals, who might procure and convey it to Bombay.

Silk is another valuable article in the Indian trade. It is produced largely in Bengal,—to a much smaller extent in the upper provinces, and scarcely at all in the Deccan. This rich material, originally confined to the East, has been introduced into Europe, and so much improved that the Italian silk is now decidedly superior to the Chinese; while that of India, which is comparatively weak and wants staple, is less valued than either. Respecting the possibility of improving it, opinions greatly differ. Mr. Ramsay attributes its defects to the heat of the climate, and therefore conceives that they cannot be obviated. Worms have been imported from Italy, but have gradually degenerated. Mr. Stephen Wilson, on the contrary, is of opinion that the inferiority is principally owing to less skilful management, and that the process, being carried on under cover, cannot be materially affected by the state of the atmosphere. Much is owing, he thinks, to the great superiority of the Italian cocoons. There are four harvests of silk, of which the two principal are in November and January. The employ

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