Hawke's Bay Herald. MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1888. BRITISH INDIA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7957, 23 January 1888, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1888. BRITISH INDIA.

There are probably n.qt very many oeraons oiitsirie the circle of those eorr , * '*ith the government n[ India, or cernen .. " • -.r otherwise iv imiare commercially ... '••»« a t ruo nute rcl.itioim with it, who u». "■ conception of the magnitude of Englana .- , intorwts in tliiit [lortion of the J3riti»!i I Empire, or the important part which Imlin I plays in shuping Engkud's foreign policy. I Thest two points have recently been ably I

elucidated in a series of articles published in the London Times under the beading of " The India of the Queen." The contributions are anonymous, but the writer is spoken of in the leading column of Tlie Times as one " whose experience and positiou entitle him to speak with authority." Taking the point as to the change in England's foreign policy first, the writer in The Times observes that the vast expansion of England's Indian possessions has compelled her to adopt latterly a policy in accord with her new. interests. " In" th» early part of Queen Victoria's reign," he says, " the foreign policy of England was a policy of European responsibilities imposed by the Treaty of Vienna nnd bequeathed by Waterloo. During the fatter part of the reign the foreign interests of England have been Asiatic interests, aimii- 1 nated by the requirements ot an Asiatic frontier and iiv the necessity of a nafe path to India." The Suez. Canal ia now a move powerful factor in England's attitude to the Great Powers than would be a dozen Spauish marriages. The occupation of Egypt has ousted from public view the intezrity_ of the Ottoman Empire. The neutralisation of Afghanistan hus taken the place of the neutralisation of the Black Sea." The writer thpu sketches the series of events that have led Rtep by step to the increase of England s Indi;tn possessions, which during Her M.ije^ty's reign have more than, dniib'i'il, dwelling .with evident j>Un-U'r upuu the beneficent changes thnt have been wrought iv the condition of tbo people. In glancing at souie of the cunngu.i tlmfc have been • effected lie remarks : •■ Daring tho first ye;ir< of Queen Victoria* reign the luxurious Maboiuedan 1 tiiurl in" Ouiie, v Sodom of profligacy and misrule, oppressed the northern valley of the Ganges. The religious and military confederation of the Sifchi» ruled the Punjaub lipyoiid our furthest frontier on the north-west. A warlike aristocracy held Scinde in the extreme west. The powerful Mahratta State of Nagpore occupied the heart of fndia. Oude ia now a British province, the Pujaub is now a British proviuee, Scinde is a BritUh province, Nagpore is a British province. ' These acquisitions have doubtless brought with them heavy responsibilities, the proper discharge of which are among the problems involved in the government of | India. On the one hand there is an immense mass of peoplo still face to face with the primitive struggle for existence, md on the other there is a " small but able and oratorical clasA, keenly alive to the hard lot of the great body of their countrymen, well aware of the palliatives which representative, institutions in England have applied to social Buffering, and eager to be allowed to make trial of similar institutions themselves." With regard to tho indigent class all that is possible for a Government to do is being done so tbat the teeming thousands may find means of livelihood, and that the efforts made have borne fruit is shown in the fact that India is now " a wholesale exporter to the extent of about 90 millions sterling, a cotton spinner, and a cheap grain merchant on nn enormous scale, supplying piece goods to the Asiatic market. Mid food to the English laborer, in keen competition with the Norfolk wheat grower and the Lancashire mil! hand.". Tlie other class, the educated natives, are naturally enough auxious to have a shnte in the government of their country, but it is not an cosy matter to meet their aspirations. Havinu noticed the working of representative legislatures in Europe they desire to have them estiblished in India, and do not seem deposed to make allowance for the difforctico in the circumstances. However, something will shortly be done to satisfy their claims to a larger share in the admiuistration of the affairs of" their conntry than they at present posje.su, a commission having been appointed to inquire how such an arrangement can be effected with due regard to the interests of the natives themsolves as well as those of Great Britain. On this point the writer in The Times says : — " It is evident that constitutional checks well suited to a country like EngIdiid, homogeneous as to its people nnd trained by 800 years of corporate action in peace and iv war, might be dangerous for a congeries of long hostile race* who, within the past century, aud without any "flort of their own, have been brought together under a central Government. It

i>- also evident th.it tl»p central rulers, in considering the claims of any one class uowever intelligent and patriotic, mum Assure themselves that the vigor of tin

administration will not be impaired for the whole people. As long us the British nati m uuurnntees, by its arms and diplomacy, the Indian races from external enemies, and as long aa it stands responsible for the internal peace nnd good government of the countiy, so long must it adopt the means which seem to it best suited to these ei>ds. But if it is to continue to rule ia the spirit in which it has hitherto ruled, it must reconcile those means with the aspirations which its own example of constitutional government has created, and which its fearless B.ystom of Indian Public Instruction has deliberately encouraged, among the educated classes ia India."