'P-'P'
vo
(^
.1K-
CA^'
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
•>y- _
http://www.archive.org/details/brahminspariahsaOOIondrich
BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
AN APPEAL
BY THE
Jn%0 Paimfattovs of g^npl
TO THE
BRITISH GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT, AND PEOPLE,
FOE
PROTECTION
AGAINST THE
LIEUT.-GOVERNOR OF BENGAL;
SETTING FORTH THE PROCEEDINGS BY WHICH THIS HIGH OFFICER
HAS INTERFERED WITH THE FREE COURSE OF JUSTICE, HAS
DESTROYED CAPITAL AND TRADE OF BRITISH SETTLERS IN
INDIA, AND HAS CREATED THE PRESENT DISASTROUS CON-
DITION OF INCENDIARISM AND INSURRECTION NOW SPREADING
IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS OF BENGAL.
" Every office in the country is held by men pledged to oppose the settlement of
Europeans in the country, and they are able to make their own statements." — Letter
from " The Times Calcutta Correspondent," dated from Calcutta, 8th December,
1860, and published in the Times of 14th January, 1861.
LONDON:
JAMES RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY, W,
1861.
BRAHMmS AND PARIAHS.
CHAPTER I.
A CONTRAST.
Two of the principal staples which India produces for
exportation are opium and indigo.
In one respect^ and in one respect only^ opium and
indig-o resemble each other. They are both cultivated by
^^ a system of advances^ which presents some features
absolutely identical."*
In all other respects these veg-etable products can only
be compared to be contrasted.
Opium is a drug* which is g'rown for traffic with China,
and is that '' foreig-n medicine" which now passes throug-h
the Chinese custom houses at a settled duty ] indig-o is a
harmless dye^ which is very welcome at Manchester, and
exercises only beneficial effects upon our relations with
the rest of the world. Opium is the result of ^^ a system
of poppy cultivation under a Government monopoly ."f
Indigo is produced by independent '^ British settlers, in
whose future increase lies the only permanent prosperity
of British India.";]: Opium is produced under a coercive
* Report of Indigo Commission of 1860, par. 14.
t Idem.
% Opinions of Lord William Bentinck and Lord Metcalfe, quoted and
adopted in the Report of the Colonization Committee, 1859.
A 2
4 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
system which is of such an unrelaxiiig" character that the
remuneration to the Ryot has in a quarter of a century
scarcely varied, while the remuneration for indig'o has
kept pace with the increased value of labour^ which it has
itself tended to create^ and is now three times the amount
which it was thirty-five years ago.* Indigo has cleared
the jungle and turned the wilderness into corn-fields^ and
the lair of the wild beast into villages ', while opium
has only covered rich arable lands with poppies, and
fixed a system of forced labour akin to slavery upon the
people.
In other respects the contrast is still more remarkable.
Opium has always been the object of the most tender care
to the Government, while the manufacture of indigo has
always been a thing to be discouraged, and, if possible,
destroyed.! The system by which opium has been pro-
duced has always been veiled from the pubhc eye and
excluded fi'om all public inquiries , while the S3^stem by
which indigo is produced has alwa3^s been made to bear
the onus of every passing disturbance, and has been, as
State Papers now prove, industriously calumniated by the
agents of the governing Company .J The obligation of the
Ryots to cultivate opium has been enforced by remedies
so summary and by punishments so stringent, that neglect
or opposition is almost unheard of; while the contracts to
cultivate indigo have been denuded of all practical legal
remedy, and the planter has been, in this respect, a mere
outlaw, left to right himself or to suffer wrong, watched
* In 1 825 tbe Ryot received a rupee for twelve bundles of indigo
plants, then it rose to a rupee for ten bundles, then to eight and to six.
It is now at four bundles the rupee ; and as the price of labour in-
creases, the price of the plant will still further rise.
t Evidence of Mr. C. Hollings, Indigo Commissioner, 1860. Evi-
dence.
X Report of Indigo Commission, 1860.
OPIUM AND INDIGO COMPARED. 5
by a police which, as the late Lieutenant-Governor of
Beng-al complains,* are the most corrupt body of officials
which the world has ever seen, and at tho mercy of
the Beng'al secretariat, whose policy has ever been
to harass and oppress those who, in the lan^ag'e of the
covenanted servants of the Company,, were " interlopers'^
in India. t
Opium is popular in the public offices of Calcutta ; and
to any sug-g-estion of the grinding- slavery it fastens upon
the Eyot, the present Lieut.-Governor of Beng-al would
doubtless reply by some phrase of contempt, such as
those he has recently addressed to the indig-o planters, or
by some bold flig-ht of the imagination, such as those
which make up the last Minute he has published. In-
digo, on the other hand, after fifty years struggle against
the officers of the Civil Service when in its plenitude of
power, seems to be at last upon the verge of extinction.
In the present Lieut.-Governor of Bengal, the Honour-
able John Peter Grant, it has found an enemy who
unites those qualities in his public functions which are
necessary to destroy the constant object of the hostility
of the Secretariat of Beno^al. At this man's will, and
as would appear to us, for no other object than to satisfy
the instincts of a traditional hatred,^ eight miUions of
* Sir F. Halliday's Minute on the Police.
•f See Minute upon the Complaint of the Bengal Indigo Planters*
Association passim.
X '• 2692. Mr. Campbell.] What may be the annual value of the
indigo produced in India? — The value of the indigo produced in Bengal
and the Upper Provinces may be from 5^2,000,000 to ^3,000,000 per
annum, varying with the extent of the crops and the market price of
the article.
*' 2693. Is that all produced by English capital and skill, and enter-
prise 1 Nineteen-twentieths of it is produced by British capital and skill.
"2694. You have stated that the annual value of indigo produced is
from ^62,000,000 to ^3,000,000 : what may be the value of the proper-
6 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
British capital are to be destroyed 5 an annual trade of
£2^000^000 is to cease out of India ^ a population of at
least a million native labourers are to be cast out of em-
ploy 3 * and the whole class of planters^ who are now re-
claiming* the wilderness^ civilizing- the people^ curing- the
sick; reheving the starving-^ upholding" the fallings, and
accustoming* the suspicious native to associate all these
blessing-s with employment under an European — all this
class is to be ruined and driven forth^ while Mr. J. P^
Grant; like a Eussian g-eneral superintending the depor-
tation of Tartars fi-om the Crimea, affects to weep over
the ruins and to deplore the necessity.
This is, in a few words, the complaint which the plant-
ers of Bengal make to their countrymen in Eng*land.
The present Lieut.-Governor of Bengal has sent forth
the word for their annihilation. In a country where
capital is so scarce that every payment must always be
made beforehand —in a country where Government is a
despotism, and the native looks upon the ruler for the
moment as supreme and irresistible, — the Lieut.-Governor
has caused the people to understand, that in all matters
connected with the g-rowth of indig*o he will abide by the
Ryots, and will hold them harmless ag*ainst the planter ;
ties producing this indigo, and do they belong entirely to English capi-
talists?— The value of the properties, including the putnees, talooks,
and zemindaries throughout India, may be from 367,000,000 to
^8,000,000, varying with the value of money and price of indigo, and
entirely held by English settlers and capitalists.
"2695. Has this capital and property been acquired by men who have
gone to India with nothing but that capital which a European carries
everywhere, namely, perseverance, industry, and skill ? — ^Yes. — Evidence
of Mr. J, P. Wise^ Colonization Committee,2nd Beport^ p. 41.
* In the ploughing season of 1859, before the interference of the
present Lieut.-Governor, the indigo factories of R. Watson and Co. had
17,000 ploughs at work, and upwards of 100,000 men engaged in the
cultivation and manufactures incident to their concerns. This is the
return of one firm alone.
MR. grant's hostility TO BRITISH SETTLERS. 7
that when his own mag'istrates shall decide in favour
of the planter^ he will set aside their decisions y and that
even Acts of Council shall be to him no impediment to
the pursuit of his own policy^ for that he will cause his
mag'istrates to give them what interpretation he may
please. In a country where there is no law to compel
the observance of a multitude of small indig-o contracts ',
where the native courts are costly^ dilatory^ and corrupt,
and the police are admitted^ even by their employers, to
be an organized g'ang* of extortioners ; where the planter
can rely only upon his moral influence for obtaining- his
own, and the subtle Hindoo and more crafty Mussulman
who have pocketed the price of their labour, are eag-er to
seize any excuse for avoiding" their oblig-ations ; — in such
a country, and in such a condition of circumstances as
these, the Lieut.-Governor causes, or wilfully suffers the
belief to g-o forth, that Government is desirous that the
cultivation of indig-o shall cease.* When the natural
result happens, and his victims complain, Mr. Grant re-
plies with sneers and by insolent reference to the publicly
disproved slanders which were cast upon a former g*ene-
* In dealing with their own opium ryots, the Government has been
very careful to avoid the course which they have adopted with the in-
digo ryots. So far from exciting them by proclamations, they have ever
sedulously refrained from any enquiry as to their grievances. When
the opium ryots murmured and almost rebelled, Mr. Farquharson did
not issue Commissions or indite Perwannahs. He reported : " I am
averse to call for general information from the Districts without abso-
lute necessity. There is no keeping such calls secret, and their spread
always does harm in exciting hope or encouraging vain expectation.
There can be no doubt in the mind of any one of the fact my simple
statement conveys, every sort of country produce being now nearly
double what it was three years ago, and labour proportionately high."
A very trifling increase was given, and the rising storm was hushed.
This was how the discontents of the opium ryots were met. We
shall see, presently, how Mr. Grant interfered, not to quench, but
to fan into flame a similar smouldering discontent among the indigo
ryots.
8 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
ration of planters ; and when he is charg'ed with absolute
ignorance of the industry with which he is mischievously
meddling-, he replies that he knows the subject well, and
that his knowledge is derived from having, twenty-Jive
years ago, digested a series of ex parte charges made by
the civilians against the planters.*
This great pubHc officer has produced an effi^ct which
cannot be comprehended in England. If an Enghsh
minister could be found so insane as to declare that
debtors had much to complain of in the obduracy of their
creditors, and that the law ought not to give facilities to
make labourers complete contracts for which they have
received the stipulated remuneration, such a declaration
would cause a very modified mischief. The minister
would disappear before the indignation of the public, and
the debtors and repudiating labourers would soon come
to learn that the law is stronger than the word of the
minister. But in India there are no courts that can meet
these cases in the Mofussil, and Mr. Grant has laboured
that there shall be none. Mr. Grant's hint was taken
all over the country. The Eyots firmly believe that Go-
verment is averse to indigo cultivation, and will support
them in the repudiation of their contracts. An extensive
jaquerie has been the consequence. The Ryots arose
tumultuously, and not only refused to sow indigo, but,
* See Minute upon the Complaint of the Indigo Planters' Associa-
tion, par. 14. Mr. Grant says — " I remember saying that I had never
had any experience in an indigo district ; and I have no doubt that I
disclaimed all knowledge on the subject of indigo from personal obser-
vation. But I am sure that I did not say that I had no knowledge on
the subject derived from others. I knew perfectly well native opinion
on the subject ; and I had had a peculiar opportunity of becoming
more fully acquainted than most public servants with the common
abuses in connexion with indigo, in all districts, so far back as in 1835,
when I was employed in digesting a mass of reports from every indigo
district in Bengal."
THE CHARGE STATED. 9
persuaded that they had the Government at their back^
attacked the planters. It has always been found easy to
arouse debtors against creditors^ whether at Eome^ w^here
the plebeians were alwa3^s ready to wipe off their scores
with the patricians ; or in England^ where not much
rhetoric was necessary to persuade an assault upon the
Jews ', or at Hobra^ where the Mahometan Ryots felt no
great distaste to attack the house of the one European
who lived among* them^ to cancel their obhgations to
him^ and to plunder his property. Alarmed at the
rising against Europeans which this Lieut.-Governor
had produced^ the Government sent soldiers into the
districts^ which, even during the mutinies^ had remained
in unbroken tranquillity^ and the Legislative Council
of India passed a law to give^ for six months^ a summary
remedy in case of breaches of contract. The Lieut.-
Governor again interfered to prevent the action of this
law. He appointed magistrates to carry it out who
were of his own bias 3 and when even these magistrates,
in the presence of the danger^ and impressed by the cir-
cumstances which surrounded them, passed sentences
upon the ringleaders of this social revolution, he inter-
fered with the course of justice, revoked the sentences of
his own magistrates, and released the convicted offenders.
Prompt ruin has followed this conduct. Thus protected,
of course the Ryots will not sow, and they will not per-
mit others to sow, and they will destroy all that has been
sown. They have been taught their power of resistance.
They have learned from Mr. Grant how to repudiate
their contracts to sow indigo. That they should have
stopped here would have been contrary to human nature,
or, at least, such natures as we are dealing with. They
are now acquiring of themselves the knowledge of the
10 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
difficulty of recovering rents. The last news is^ that they
are refusing" to pay rents to the factory holders even for
the rice lands they hold under them. And this wise act
of throwing" all the rural districts of Beng-al into confu-
sion is taken by the Government at a time when we are
introducing- new taxes, and when the Government offi-
cials are making* overtures to the country g-entlemen of
India, to the indig-o planters dweUing* in the Mofussil, to
aid them — for without their aid it can never be done — in
the assessment of the income tax. Meanwhile Mr. J.
P. Grant looks on with a pleasant chuckle, g'ently impels
the whole class of ^^ interlopers'^ towards the inevitable
precipice, sees with the eye of hope the re-installation of
his class in its old exclusiveness of power and supremacy,
and pharisaically deplores the necessity of destroying- so
beneficial a body of traders.
This is the charge which, before the people of Eug-land,
we bring- ag-ainst the Honourable John Peter Grant,
and which we ask the Ministry, the Houses of Parlia-
ment, and the Country, to entertain and inquire into.
We are now to prove these allegations.
It will be necessary, for this purpose, to inform the
public mind upon many matters with which it is not fa-
miliar, and to make our countrymen feel, if possible, some
touch of the social atmosphere of our Eastern empire.
To pile tog-ether mere facts and figures without arrange-
ment or illustration, would only be to produce a state-
ment of intolerable tediousness, which few would read,
and by which no one, who does not already know India,
could be instructed. We will attempt, by dividing our
subject into headings, to lead the reader more easily up,
step by step, to the height from which he may overlook
the whole iniquity.
11
CHAPTER II.
THE COVEN ANTED SEKVANT AND THE ^^ INTERLOPER.''
It is very difficult for any Englishman to quite realize
to himself what a covenanted servant was^ and; indeed^
still iS; in India. We insist upon taking our notion of
these men from what we see of them in this country.
We adopt the nabob in " Gilbert Gurney/' with his in-
dolence and ductility^ and his pet rattlesnakes, as a type
of the class ; or we fix in our memory some club bore,
whose irritable temper and imperious manner to the ser-
vants make the room which he chooses to infest unin-
habitable to the quiet members of the club. Or we
imagine a testy old gentleman wrapped up in flannel^ in
a house in Baker Street^ and scolding a trembling but
expectant half-score of nephews . and nieces. But with
notions like these in our heads we shall never arrive at
an understanding of this indigo question. It has^ we
believe^ happened that a retired civilian was rather cut
among his English acquaintances because he had boasted
proudly that he had been ^^ a collector " in the East.
His ignorant friends imagined, that instead of having
been a despotic and practically irresponsible sovereign
over a country larger than England, he had gone about
with a book and an ink-bottle collecting dues from door
to door. We must, however, have a better idea than
this of the ^^ pucka civilian " before we can have the least
inkling of any Eastern question. The worn and decrepit
12 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
invalid whom we see about London is no more like the
Civil servant of the East^ in his pride and in his power,
than is the lion of the forests of the Atlas, reposing in
his strength, or crushing in his spring, like the harmless,
and rather mangy beast who does duty as the type of
his race in an English menagerie. In the earty days of
the Indian empire our civilian went out from England a
mere boy, and he found himself at once a member of a
dominant and privileged class. The millions of Hin-
dustan all bowed themselves to the dust before him. He
was taught — and how soon is such a lesson learnt — to
consider himself a superior being to those around him.
As the common phrase in India runs, he was one of the
heaven-born :* as a recent official report expresses it^ he
was one of ^^ the nobility of India.'' After a few years
of subordinate office, with a salary greater than that of
grey-headed barristers in judicial positions at home, he
became, in some far-away province, the pro-consul of the
great sovereign Company. He had no knowledge of
law, either in its principles or its practice, yet he sat in
judgement on ten millions of mankind, and Indian princes
were his suitors. He knew little, if any thing, of the
principles of finance, yet he administered the finances as
well as the judicial functions of his province. He was
ignorant of the habits and customs of the people, and he
had a bare smattering of their language, yet his fiat was
practically without appeal in all cases, from a contest
between two farmers to the confiscation of the possessions
of an ancient line of princes. He was irresponsible. No
* This term should have been *' heaven-taught," for, as we learn from
old letters, it was adapted in sneering allusion to the facility with which
civilians passed from the functions of clerks to those of judges, governors,
legislators, and financiers, without any special education for any of these
duties. The system, however, is now in a transition state.
THE PUCKA CIVILIAN. 13
crime^ however great^ could ever be proved ag'ainst him.
In the history of the Company there is scarcely an in-
stance of a ^^ senior merchant^" or a ^^ collector/' having-
been publicly or privately dismissed the service. If he
failed to make satisfactory financial returns he was re-
moved to a less lucrative province^ but this was the only
crime known to the Company. If he provoked an ex-
pensive insurrection he was censured ; but mere acts of
despotism followed by no pecuniary loss to the Company
had no g-uilt in their eyes. The press was g'ag'g'ed j there
was no European public opinion , the echoes of g-reat
atrocities waxed faint^ as they came across the ocean
and vag-uely fell upon the ears of Eng-hshmen at home :
he was a great despot for g-ood or for bad as the case
mig-ht happen. There was a g-eneral notion here that
the returned " nabob's " life had been a series of crimes
and horrors, but no one ever knew any particulars. Lord
Clive^ whose most conspicuous civil quality was the dis-
g-ust with which he looked upon the corruption by which
he was surrounded, was called " the wdcked Lord Clive /'
other less famous old Indians also had their evil reputa-
tions y but the mere " senior merchant " or ^^ collector "
was safe in his insig-nificance when he had reached this
country— a Yerres of this degTee was too obscure to call
forth a Cicero.
To tell how this power w^as abused is unnecessary.
As a rule, such absolute power never yet was obtained
without being" abused. Exceptions there doubtless were
of honourable men, w^ho, so far as their imperfect infor-
mation enabled them to do so, used their tremendous
power only to do what they believed to be justice. India
is even now filled -with traditions of enormities which,
seen through the medium of great distance, are remem-
14 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
bered only in a ludicrous sense^ the wickedness being"
sunk in the absurdity. Those " nabobs" were but too
often extortionate g-overnors and corrupt judges. They
shook the pagoda tree as violently as they could^ and
they made haste to become rich and to quit the country.
But they were '^ the nobility of India.'^ The natives^
from the Nawab to the Coolie^ w^ere in the language of
those days ^^ niggers :" the king-'s army^ and even the
king-'s judges^ were an inferior class to themselves '* but
the few straggling settlers who had found their way from
England without being- decorated with the Company^s
covenant were very far beneath the '^ niggers." They
were Pariahs^ the lowest of the low.
Why do we go back to those days anterior to 1814?
Not. certainly^ to fasten the crimes of those early tyrants
upon the civilians of the present day. We would not
disgrace ourselves or our cause by following the example
of our Lieut.-Governor, who in his apolog-y, insinuates
what he dares not assert^ by taunting the planters in a
sneering way with the disturbances which sometimes
happened in a former generation, but which, as his own
Commissioners have shewn, have very long since been
obsolete.! Nor do we seek to cast any suspicion upon
* It is only within a few weeks that the Judges of the Supreme
Court have been obliged to protest in their places against the insolent
and contemptuous terms applied to them by Mr. Eden before the Indigo
Commission.
t " There are," says Mr. Grant in his Minute, '' no affrays, no forci-
ble entries, and unlawful carrying off of crops and cattle, no ploughing
up of other men's lands, no destruction of trees and houses, no unlaw-
ful flogging and confinement in godowns, now reported. Even the
oifence of kidnapping Ryots seems almost arrested."
Now let us contrast this with the report of Mr. Grant's own Secre-
tary, who, looking back for thirty years to recapitulate all the rural
crimes that have happened among 20,000,000 of people, drew that
** Report of the Indigo Commission" which has just reached England.
MR. grant's pleasant WIT. 15
the Civil service^ as a body, that they are actuated by
any sordid views^ or by any worse motives than those of
Mr. Seton Karr and a Missionary, and another Civil servant, and a
native, thus report upon these calumnies (pars. 85 to 88) : —
** Of actual destruction of human life, comparatively few cases of late
years have been brought to our knowledge, as proved ; and we have no
wish to lay great stress on a list of forty -nine serious cases which are
shewn to have occurred over a period of thirty years in different parts of
the country, because violent affrays, ending in homicide or wounding,
,are, we are happy to say, of not nearly such frequent occurrence as
they used to be; and affrays are not 'peculiar to indigo planting.
They occur equally where the plant is not grown.
" From the returns supplied by the magistrates of some of the most
important districts for the last five years, some of which are entirely
blank, it is quite clear that investigations into those fights between the
adherents of Zemindar [not Ryot] and planter^ which used to carry
desolation, terror, and demoralization into a dozen villages at a time, no
longer disfigure our criminal annals to the extent they used to do. Even
in Nuddea, as will be seen from the return, the cases were few in the
years preceding 1859 and 1860." [When Mr. Grant's proclamations
began to excite the populace.] " Some of this good result is, no doubt,
due to the working of Act IV. of 1840, for giving summary possession
of lands ; to the law for the exaction of recognizances and security
against apprehended breaches of the peace, namely Act V. of 1848;
and to the establishment of subdivisions with convenient circles of
jurisdiction. A good deal is owing also to the acquisition by planters
of rights in lands, and to the peace and quiet which usually follow such
acquisition, as far as affrays and fights are concerned ; but something
also is due to the better skill and management of factories generally,
and, we doubt not, to the good sense and good feeling of the most
influential planters.
" Affrays carried out with premeditation, on a large scale, by means
of hired clubmen, we are thus happy to pronounce rare in some dis-
tricts, and in others unknown.
** Then, as to the burning of bazaars and houses, we have a clear
admission from a gentleman whose character entitles him to great respect
(A. 670), that he * has known of such acts j' but no well-proved instance
of this sort has been brought to our notice in any oral evidence. In one
or two instances mentioned to us, when a fire took place, it was a matter
of doubt whether its origin was not accidental ; and we cannot, there-
fore, but acquit the planters, as a body, of any practice of the sort,
though we do not mean to say that cases of arson do not occur in Lower
Bengal, in consequence of indigo disputes. A crime of this kind
would, from its very openness, attract attention, and should be sus-
ceptible of the clearest proof."
After finding that only one case of " knocking down houses'.' had
16 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
prejudice^ and class-arrogance; but we are trying* to
make the Englisli public understand the traditional anta-
g-onism of the Civil Service to all European settlers, and
we must; for that purpose, refer to the Civil servant as
he was when the Company was absolute.
It is easy to comprehend how a despot of this kind,
whether using- his power for g-ood or for ill, would detest
the appearance of an European in his king-dom. In
effect, nothing" was more dreaded, either b}'' civiHan or
by the Company. The records of early days have now
been published, and they are full of the anxiety of the
Civil Service to keep European eyes and ears far away
from them. In 1775, Mr. Francis declared, in a formal
Minute, ^' that Europeans in Beng-al, beyond the num-
ber the services of Government required, are an useless
weig-ht and embarrassment to the Government, and an
injury to the country, and that they are people to whom
no encourag-ement should be g^iven.'' In 1792 the Com-
pany assured Lord Cornwalhs that the licenses to g'o to
India should ^^ not exceed five or six, or, at the utmost,
ten" every year. In 1818, '^John Jebb and James
Pattison, Esquires,'^ on the part of the Company, made
an elaborate remonstrance to Mr. Canning' against the
been brought forward, and that that had been taken into court, and the
sentence of the magistrate reversed in the Sudder in favour of the
planters, the report proceeds —
" As to outrages on women, which, more than any other act, might
offend the prejudice and arouse the vindictiveness of a people notoriously
sensitive as to the honour of their families, we are happy to declare that
our most rigid inquiries could bring to light only one case of the kind.
And when we came to examine into its foundation, so seriously affecting
the character of one planter, and, through him, the body of the plant-
ers in a whole district, or as affording any clue to the excitement of the
past season, we discovered that there were very reasonable grounds for
supposing that no outrage on the person of the woman had ever taken
place.'*
THE civilian's TERROR OF ^^INTERLOPERS." 17
grant by the Government of licenses to go to India^ and,
among* other grievances arising from these licenses, these
gentlemen complain that '^ among the British residents
in India, there is a strong disposition to assert what they
conceive to he their constitutional and indefeasible rights,
a general leaning towards each other, and a common
jealousy of the authority of Government."
Strange to say, this remonstrance was lost upon Mr.
Canning, who answered that Parliament, when it gave
the Board of Control power to grant these licenses,
^^ was led to apprehend the existence in the Court of Di-
rectors of a disposition in respect of the granting of these
permissions the very reverse of facility and profusion."
It was in vain that men of statesmanlike minds at-
tempted to overcome the small trading views of the
Company, and to overrule the objections of the distant
proconsuls ; in vain that Sir Charles Metcalfe, in 1829,
minuted that ^' he had long lamented that our country-
men in India were excluded from the possession of land
and other ordinary rights of peaceable subjects ;"* and
further that "he was convinced that our possession of
India must always be precarious unless we take root by
having an influential portion of the population attached
to our Government by common interests and sympathies."
It was in vain, also, that Lord William Bentinck, in a
Minute of three months' later date, said, "The sentiments
expressed by Sir Charles Metcalfe have my entire con-
currence."! The Company continued to oppose all coloni-
* To see this terror of *' interlopers " fully pourtrayed, the reader
should refer to a volume published by Messrs. Thacker, Spink, and Co.,
of Calcutta (1854), under the title' of ** Papers relating to the Settle-
ment of Europeans in India," where all the correspondence cited above
is set forth.
t " Papers relating to Settlement of Europeans in India," p. 39. We
cannot afford to omit the testimony of this great Governor-General to
B
18 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
zation in India^ using* this word ^^ colonization" as a pre-
posterous fig-ment^ as they did indeed to the last^ and as
the usefulness of the planters, even in that early day, and to their general
innocence of the charges calunmiously brought against them by the
Company audits servants. It occurs in the same Minute quoted above.
Lord William Bentinck says —
**It has been supposed that many of the indigo planters, resident in
the interior, have misconducted themselves, acting oppressively towards
the natives, and with violence and outrage towards each other. Had
the case been so, I must still have thought it just to make large allow-
ances for the peculiar position in which they stood. They have been
denied p'ermission to hold lands in their own names. They have been
driven to evasion, which has rendered it difficult for them to establish
their just claims by legal means, as they have had to procure the plant
required by them through a system of advances, which, in all branches
of trade, is known to occasion much embarrassment, and to lead to much
fraud. They have possessed no sufficient means of preventing the
encroachment of rival establishments, still less of recovering their dues
from needy and improvident Ryots. Further, we must not forget that
the restrictions imposed upon the resort of Europeans to this country
have operated to compel the houses of business often to employ persons
in the management of their concerns in the interior whom they would
not have employed if they had had a wider scope of choice. It would
not be wonderful if abuses should be found to have prevailed under such
circumstances, or if the weakness of the law should have sometimes led
to violence in the assertion of real or supposed rights. But under all the
above circumstances of disadvantages, the result of my inquiries is, a
firm persuasion (contrary to the conclusions I had previously been dis-
posed to draw) that the 'occasional misconduct of the planters is as
nothing when contrasted with the sum of good they have diffused around
them. In this, as in other cases, the exceptions have so attracted atten-
tion, as to be mistaken for a fair index of the general course of things.
Breaches of the peace being necessarily brought to public notice, the
individual instances of misconduct appear under the most aggravated
colours ; but the numerous nameless acts, by which the prudent and
orderly, while quietly pursuing their own interests, have contributed 'to
the national wealth, and to the comfort of those around them, are
unnoticed or unknown. I am assured that much of the agricultural
improvement which many of our districts exhibit, may be directly
traced to the indigo planters therein settled ; and that, as a general truth,
it may be stated (with the exceptions which in all general truths
require to be made), that every factory is, in its degree, the centre of a
circle of improvement, raising the persons employed in it and the
inhabitants of the immediate vicinity, above the general level. The
benefit in the individual cases may not be considerable, but it seems to
be sufficient to shew what might be hoped from a more liberal and en-
lightened system."
THE INTEELOPER. 19
tlie Civil Service does now. As to the Civil servants, no
English squire ever looked with more disg-ust upon a
notorious poacher walking- through the preserves, his
audacity legfalized by a footpath, than did a ^^ Civil ser-
vant" upon an " uncovenanted European" coming into
the Mofussil protected by his license. He was a new
power. Not very formidable, indeed, was this poor in-
terloper to the great aggregate mammon-worshipper, or
to the despotic master of the surrounding population.
In those early days he was only there by sufferance of
the Government at Calcutta, for he could not go eleven
miles from Calcutta for pleasure or business without a
passport ; his license might at any time be withdrawn,
and himself deported to England, because he had '^ in-
curred the displeasure of the Government," without
further reason assigned. While dwelling in the Mofussil
he was obliged to bribe the police annually to give him a
character, and his only security was to keep as quiet as
possible. But still he was to the ^^ Civilian" a symbol of
freedom, of criticism, and even of publicity. He always
suspected in him " a strong disposition to assert what he
must conceive to be his constitutional and indefeasible
rights," and, even worse still, to tell the princes and pea-
sants around of their rights. As time grew on, our
civilian found himself under the eye of a man not so
easily removable as before, who, when he was corrupt,
could penetrate the corruption of his acts, and who, al-
though he was certain not to be believed at Calcutta,
would make a noise about them. Later still, when prac-
tically the planter could no longer be deported in a Com-
pany's ship, the " interloper'' was found teHing' the
natives that it was no part of their duty to find the col-
lector gratis with bearers and refreshments when he
B 2
20 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
passed through their villages^ like a monarch on a pro-
gress ; and the Ryots round the indigt) factory were even
encouraged to tell the mighty lord that he must pay for
his supplies hke a common mortal. Mr. Dalrymple, a
partner in, and for many years manager of, Messrs.
Watson and Co.'s factories, recollects the firet instance of
this refiisal.
It has happened in those more modern days, that a few
years after jsome outrageously imjust sentence in a dis-
pute between a planter and a neighbom-ing Zemindar, the
planter came into the management of the Zemindar's
proj>erty , acting for his heirs, and found among his papers
a bond for a very large sum of money, given b\* the very
judge who had delivered the iniquitous sentence. Both
Zemindar and judge are dead^ but the bond and the
planter are still in existence.
This was the position of the civilian and the interloper
in the Mofhssil — a traditional state of antagonism. Thus
it has been^ broken, of course, by individual exceptioiis,
to the present day. Even tliat eminent ^^ pucka civilian,**
Mr. Hawkins, who has rim the whole course of Indian
offices, and has been magistrate, judge, collector, session-
judge, commissioner of excise and revenue, and lastl}^ a
Judge of the Sudder Dewann3" Adawlut — even tliat emi-
nent covenanted servant, in his evidence before the ^* Co-
lonization of India Committee, 1858/' acknowledges and
regrets the estrangement of the settlers and the Com-
pany's officers, and attempts to account in a mild official
way for the fidse opinions whicli each class has of the
other. '^ I beheve," he says, ^* that the indigo planters
and the Civil servants do take a view of each other, which
18 perhaps forced upon them from the positions which they
occupy, which is very unfortunate. The indigo plants
MR. HAWKINS' CONDESCENSION TO INTERLOPERS. 21
very often lives at a distance from the station^ and is never
heard of except he appears in court for doing* something-
contrary to law ; and the judg-e g-ets the idea that every
indig'o planter is an obstreperous g-entleman. The indig^o
planter hears of the judg-e, not as the judg-e actually is,
but as his a g-ent reports him to the indig-o planter, and he
very often imposes upon both ; he imposes upon the in-
dig-o planter, and g-ives as his reason for the dismissal of a
case in court that the judg'e had acted unjustly, or that
the judg-e did so and so, or that he wanted so and so 3
they are both represented to each other in false lig-hts.
But this kind of thing* is forced upon us by the diflBculties
of our position.'^
Mr. Hawkins denies that the Company's officers have
any prejudice ag-ainst this " obstreperous g-entleman,'' and
he is so condescending' as to admit, in opposition to what
Calcutta believes to be the declaimed opinion of Mr. J. P.
Grant, that " he has known a number of indigo planters
who are perfect g-entlemen, fit associates for anybody .''
He says, also, that of the grievances of the planters,
^* the chief is the police system, and the system of judicial
administration,* to which the settlers say they object.'^
* " 2654. Have you individually suffered from the consequences of
administration such as you have described? — I have seriously suffered;
and by way of illustrating the working of the system, I may proceed to
narrate a few instances. In the year 1833-4 the estate of Buldakal, in
the Tipperah district, was put up for sale for arrears of revenue. I
became the purchaser, and deposited the amount required by the law in
bank notes and Company's paper, pending the commissioner of re-
venue's approval of the sale ; and on that officer's doing so, I paid into
the Treasury of Commillah the whole amount, 1,15,000 rupees, and
received the collector's order to take possession of the estate. I may
observe, at that time the law permitting Europeans to hold lands in India
had not been promulgated, but it had passed all the preliminary stages,
so I was obliged to get the permission of Government in anticipation
to hold the estate : this was immediately granted by Sir Charles Met-
calfe, then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. The ex-Zemindar appealed
22 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
That is to say, the judg-e's poHce persecute him^ and ex-
tort from him^ and his court affords him no remedy ; yet
the judg-e is not the enemy of the planter ! The feeling*
of the Civil Service of India^ with reg"ard to the settler^
is apparent in this^ that an eminent civilian^ one of the
hest and most liberal-minded of his class^ speaks of it as
no special discourag-ement to British settlers, that they
should live under the pest of a set of protected native ex-
tortionerS; and that they should be practically outlawed in
to the Board of Revenue against the sale, and the Board had the power
to reverse it upon any legal grounds : the petition was sent by the Board
back to the commissioner for his opinion, and that commissioner was
not the same who had previously upheld the sale, but the collector of
Chittagong, temporarily put in charge of the commissioner's office, and
he recommended the reversal of the sale, upon grounds utterly un-
founded, and in contravention of the law. First, he said the estate had
been sold without making it known that the subordinate tenures had
lapsed : this was not required, as the Permanent Settlement Laws of
1 793 declare this ; and every tenant knows it, and one instance of such a
notice before a sale could not be shewn. Secondly, because the petition
stated the estate had been sold at or towards sunset : this was purely
false, as the sale took place in open cutcherry, about 12 o'clock.
Thirdly, that the collector was a relative of mine, and had favoured me
by accepting Company's paper as security for my bid : this, again, was
incorrect ; but the acting commissioner did not give himself the trouble
of duly inquiring. His thoughts turned upon benefiting the Govern-
ment, for he reported that it would be fair to the under tenants to give
greater publicity : and that, as the estate was a very valuable one, he
would, in recommending the reversal of this sale, advise the purchase of
it on behalf of Government at the next sale. The Board adopted the
recommendation, and illegally dispossessed me of a valuable property,
and purchased it on the next sale-day, and that estate is now held by
Government.
'* 265.5. Sir JErsJcine 'Perry.'] What did they purchase it at ? — Merely
the difference of the increased revenue up to the date of sale.
** 2656. Chairman.'] Have you suffered in any other case besides that
which you have mentioned ? — I have suffered, in connexion with other
matters in several ways. * * * Europeans of education and cha-
racter have not been encouraged to take the appointments of deputy ma-
gistrates ; natives of family, and fortune, and respectabihty, have not
been selected, but worn-out darogahs, of doubtful reputation, and others
physically unfit, have been chosen for these most important situations."
— Evidence of Mr. M'Nair.
AN INTERLOPER IN THE HANDS OF THE POLICE. 23
all civil cases. Mr. Hawkins cannot help dropping- into
the track of thoug-ht in which his ideas have flowed all his
h'fe. He is too wise to say^ '' The network of corruption
is g-ood enoug-h for the nig-g-er^ and what is g'ood enoug-h
for the nig-g-er is g-ood enoug-h for these settlers ," and
perhaps he does not acknowledg-e to himself that he
thinks so^ but this peeps out as the active spirit of his evi-
dence.
One authenticated anecdote is better than a thousand
g-eneral propositions, but unfortunately we cannot expand
our proofs, as the Colonization Committee has done^ into
four folio volumes. We must ag-ain throw into a foot-
note Mr. Dalrymple's account of his dealing's with the
police and with a district magistrate.'^
* Mr. J. R. Dalrymple is asked by the Committee —
" 3194. On what grounds, from your experience, do you complain of
the state of the police at present ? — They are extortionate ; they are
corrupt in every sense of the word ; they extort from all classes, and get
up false cases ; they instigate quarrels ; they instigate both the lower
orders, over whom they have great power, and also the Zemindars, to
quarrel, and principally with Europeans.
" 3193. Have you had personal experience of that extortion and cor-
ruption ? — I have.
"3196. Could you briefly and clearly give us a specimen of such cor-
ruption and extortion which you yourself have undergone ? — Yes, in the
case of a darogah : he applied to me for allowance, which he said he had
been in the habit of receiving from the former proprietor of a concern that
we had just purchased. It was on our taking possession the man came
to me for money. I refused to give it him, and he was dissatisfied.
Shortly afterwards he left the district ; but before the manufacturing
season commenced, the most particular time of the whole year for an
indigo planter, when the river is rising, he was re-appointed to the
station. He again applied for the money, and I still refused : we had
only worked a ^qw days when he shut the factories, by preventing the
people from working. He came to me in the evening and asked for his
money again, and after much consideration, and seeing that the concerns
were stopped through his opposition, I gave him a certain sum of money,
the sum of ^660. We got on very well till the manufactur'ng was about
closing again, when he demanded the balance of what he said was due to
him, and I again positively refused ; he completely shut the factories, and
24 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
Hearing" such cases as these, well might a Committee
of the House of Commons wonder at the continued sur-
we did not work another day after that : the plant went all under water,
and I had only recourse to a magistrate^ 54 miles distant. I went to the
magistrate, and he happened to be from home: he was out in the dis-
trict. It was ten days before I had a hearing. After hearing me, he
called for the darogah. The darogah came to the station, accompanied by
the working people and small cultivators, and presented a petition as
from them against me, accusing me of murder, arson, rape, and every
offence that could be committed, and the magistrate took up the case ;
but, on allowing me to cross-examine them, they got confused, and said
they did not even know what was in the body of their petition, and they
acknowledged that the petition had been written by one of the lower
officers of the thannah. For 18 months my case against the darogah
for extortion was undecided, and I had several trips to Kishnagur,
heing called in by the magistrate, and no hearing was given, and the
magistrate was shortly after removed ; and a new magistrate came, and
he called up the case, and decided it, without giving me any notice or
calling for any of the witnesses. He exculpated the darogah., re-
appointed him to another station, and recommended the Government that
I should he severely punished for having acknowledged bribing the da-
rogah. We lost a very large sum from not being able to work off the
plant.
"3197. Was it the original sum of £60 which you gave the darogah,
to which the magistrate referred? — Yes; that was the money I gave
him to allow the workmen to come to the factories : we lost many
thousand rupees besides that, in being unable to work off the plant.
"3198. How was the darogah exculpated?— Merely that the magis-
trate disbelieved the statement, and said that I should not have bribed
a policeman.
"3199. On what ground did the magistrate find you guilty of bribing
the darogah? — On my own acknowledgment that I had given him the
£60. I made a statement of the whole of the facts as they took place.
" 3200. Supposing you had not given the ^660, what loss would you
probably have incurred ? — We lost about 3^2000 eventually.
"3201. What would have been the loss if you had not paid that £60 ?
—About 3^6000.
" 3202. Mr. TV, Vansittart.'] In fact you bribed the darogah exactly
one year's salary : they get 50 rupees a month ?— No, they got 30 rupees
at that time.
" 3203. Then you gave him two years' salary ? — It may be : I know
that he was in the habit of receiving 150 rupees a month from the fac-
tories before we purchased them.
"3204. Chairman.'] In what year did this happen? — It is some
twenty years ago ; but it is a common thing to this day.
" 3205. Do you give this case as a solitary instance, or as a general
FINDING OF HOUSE OF COMMONS' COMMITTEE. 25
vival of any British capital and industry against such
odds.
'' Nothing-/' say the Committee in their Report^ ^' more
'' strong-ly impresses an inquirer into the foundation and
*^ progress of our Indian Empire than the contrast which^
^^ as regards British residence^ it presents to our other
'* dependencies. While free settlement^ as in the neigh-
*^ houring island of Ceylon^ has formed the basis of our
^^ colonial system^ and the cause of its prosperity^ the
^^ exclusion of free settlers has marked the origin and the
'' progress of our Indian Government. Statesmen, indeed,
^^ like Lord WiUiam Bentinckand Lord Metcalfe, saw, in
^^ the future increase of British settlers, the only per-
'' manent prosperity of British India ; and English, and
^^ even Indian opinion, has gradually followed in the track
^^ of those more observant and profounder minds. Even
^^ now, although the principle of free settlement has been
^^ recognised by British legislation, traces of the old ex-
'^ elusive system are said to linger still. Though they may
^' he removed in fact^ they are stated to exist in feeling,
'' Thus we are told by a very competent witness, that a
^^ ^ cold shade is thrown over European adventurers in
^^ India ;' and by another, that a feeling of ^ dislike to
*^ settlers' exists among- civiHans ; that the civilians, as
^^ distinguished from the settlers, are ^ too much of a
^^ caste J and that the covenanted service is, ' as it were,
'' the nobiHty of India.' "
Such have been the British Brahmins of India and the
specimen of what may occur to a gentleman situated as you have been,
in the part of Bengal with which you are familiar ?— I have known
many such cases.
" 3206. — Up to the present time? — Up to the present time.
"3207. In the long time you have been in the country have you
marked any improvement in the state of the police ? — No, not generally.
26 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
British Pariahs of India, as, after long* inquiry, their
conditions have been developed by the impartial judgment
of a Committee of Eng*lish gentlemen.
The unceasing' effort of the white Brahmin has been to
exterminate the white Pariah. In the last century he
shut him out from India altogether. When he could no
longer keep the door entirely closed against him, he still
openly avowed his dislike of him, and placed every im-
pediment to his winning his way into the Mofussil.* When
he had made good his position in the Mofussil, the Brah-
min ignored him as much as possible, refused him all legal
remedies, and surrounded him with Brahmin myrmidons,
in the shape of a hungry police, and with native assistant-
magistrates, who were, for the most part, promoted
policemen. When even these strong measures would not
kill this tenacious caste, the white Brahmins proposed to
make the existence in India of the objects of their dislike
impossible, by subjecting their lives and property to
native judges and native juries — they themselves, the white
Brahmins, being specially exempted from any such juris-
diction. More recently still, the white Brahmins have pro-
posed to disarm these white Pariahs, and to leave them
alone in the wilds of India, without means of defence
against any wandering band of robbers, and a temptation
to the cupidity of the surrounding natives. When foiled
in these malevolent and, indeed, remembering the isolated
position of the European, horrible attempts, the white
Brahmin caste has at length found an effective instru-
ment for its purpose. The present high-priest of the Civil
* ** It appears even now to be doubted by legal authorities whether
Europeans can enter, without a license, those parts of India which have
been acquired within the present century. Your Committee recommend
the removal of this doubt by legislative enactment." (Report of Coloni-
zation Committee, 1859.)
THE RESULTS. 27
Service Jug-g-emaut has revived ag-ainst the white Pariah
the old calumnies which were invented and refuted in
years past. He has^ whether in ignorance or in preju-
dice^ abused the influence of hig'h oiEcial station to ruin
the only real Eng-lish interest g-rown to adult streng-th in
the plains of Bengal. He has attempted, vainly, as we
believe, to poison the minds of the European public against
their countrymen. He has succeeded in making the
natives discontented, dishonest, and insurgent. He has
detorted the streams of justice, and brought Government
pressure to bear upon the judgment-seat. He has threat-
ened, dismissed, and promoted magistrates according as
they gave him satisfaction by their judgments. He has
set his favourites to the work of meddling with the busi-
ness of the planter, with strong instances before them of
promotion given for zeal in similar employment. And
while enforcing, with most stringent energy, the special
laws which give summary remedies against the Ryot who
may refuse to cultivate opium or salt for his masters, he
has by his proclamations excited the indigo Ryot to rise
against his planter creditor, to ruin his trade, and to
destroy the security of his person.
How Mr. John Peter Grant has done this we shall
proceed to tell in the following pages.
28
CHAPTER III.
THE INDIGO PLANTER.
As a g-enei'al proposition there are no roads in India.
It was the pohcy of the Civil Service^ and of the masters
of the Civil Service^ to keep the land as impenetrable as
possible, except to the gatherer of revenue.*
The traveller who, upon elephant-back or horse-back,
or carried by bearers, shall travel over the broad flats and
wide-spread rice-fields of Beng-al, will, from time to time,
light upon a comfortable European built house, situated
in a pleasant park or a carefully cultivated flower gar-
den. All around it are swarthy villages, half hidden by
their invariable belt of trees. There are Mussulmans and
* The Colonization Committee, 1859, in their Report, say — " It has
been truly said by one of the earliest witnesses examined, that one of
the first wants of a settler is facility of access to the interior of the
country. The Indian Government, however, held the country the
greater part of a century before a main line of road was commenced
even through the most populous parts of India. This is a neglect which
even those witnesses who have been connected with the Government of
India acknowledge and deplore. It was justly considered one of the
principal causes of the want of a due supply of cotton from India by
the Committee on Cotton Cultivation, presided over by Mr. Bright in
1848. The Grand Trunk Road was not begun before the days of Lord
William Bentinck in 1836. It is stated that Mr. HaUiday'had com-
plained in a Minute to Government of the wretched state of the roads
near the seat of government itself. One witness asserts, that at a dis-
tance of forty miles from Calcutta there are no roads practicable for
carts. It is stated by another witness recently there, that even now a
road from Calcutta to Jessore is only just being made. * Between Cal-
cutta and Dacca,' says Mr. Underbill, * the bridges are broken down,
and the road is in perfect disrepair.' This was so late as the year
1854." We may add, that it is the same at this day.
THE FACTORY AS IT IS. 29
Hindoos lying" about languidly in the shade, and a few
children driving* bullocks over the plain, or passing* to
and fro up to the European house. If it be early spring,
when the rice is not growing, there is no labour going
on ;* perhaps a couple of Hindoos may be repairing a
broken cart, but, generally speaking, the male population
will be squat inside their mud and bamboo huts, or re-
cumbent under the shadow of the trees, and you may
advance unimpeded towards the house. That villa is the
metropolis of the encircling villages. It is not like the
abode of a Hill Rajah or even of a Bengal Zemindar, a
half-fortified building with armed retainers about it : it
is an open Eastern house, with its verandahs and broad
windows, and unclosed doors, something much more un-
protected than an English villa. As you approach it,
you will probably see European children playing on the
greensward, or riding on horses led by syces, watched by
their mother from the verandah, and accompanied by
native nurses.f There is a crowd issuing from the cut-
* The Ryot never works more than three hours a day upon an aver-
age, and generally in the cool of the morning. The weeding of the
indigo is chiefly done by the women and children, for it is done at a
time when there is no other labour for them.
t Mr. Seton Karr corroborates our statement in his earlier writings.
He says, in an article in the Calcutta Review, whereof he is the putative
parent : —
" We leave it to such as have seen the ins and outs of the Mofussil to
descant on the style of life led by a planter at the head of a large con-
cern, with rights long established, and therefore secure, his generous
hospitality, his frank and open deportment, his ready reception of the
European traveller, his kindness to those Ryots who ask his aid or
advice. But there is one feature in his present Hfe on which we dwell
with pecuhar pleasure, and which we cannot pass over now. Isolated
from his fellow-men, and surrounded by those of different colour and
creed, the Indian of the *' old school," the Indian so easily satirized in
by-gone novels and short-lived farces, was seldom without one of those
wretched incumbrances which here and there still usurp the place of
the wife. The practice once so common even in Calcutta and other
30 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
cherry, where the master of the house is sitting* in a self-
established court of arbitration, and later in the evening'
you may see a larg-er crowd of Bonooa women, to whom
the European lady is giving- advice and medicine, and
tendino;' the multiform maladies of their children. It is
an Eastern patriarchal scene ; but you are convinced, as
you look upon it, how utterly impossible it must be for
that European to live thus alone — one sing-le Eng-lish
family among* thousands of Asiatics — if he had not ac-
quired a moral influence over the natives, and if his pre-
sence were not felt to be a benefit to the population.*
That any man should commit violence and rapine, and
should live thus open and unprotected, with his domestic
ties about him, is a self-evident absurdity which no man
who has ever been in India can honestly assert, or can
otherwise than dishonestly insinuate.
The sustenance of this house, and of all the comforts
large stations naturally ceased there, as soon as unmarried ladies began
to "come out" from England, but lingered more tenaciously in out-
districts and isolated factories. Its traces are now fainter and fainter ;
and the planter's home is often adorned by the presence of the pure
English wife, and the amiable English daughter, with feelings and tastes
as genuine as those of residents in the country at home, and wanting
only in the bright glow of English health to make the parallel com-
plete."— Calcutta Beview, vol. ii. p. 217.
* Mr. Walters, the magistrate of the city of Dacca, who has dwelt
with especial severity upon a few instances of bad men in troubled times,
some of which will always be found, in any body of men, in his
return to the Governor-General's Circular of the 29th December,
1829, says—
"That some of the planters are held in much estimation by the
natives ; that they are constantly called upon to arbitrate disputes be-
tween relatives or neighbours ; that they are the frequent dispensers of
medicine to the sick, of advice to those in difficulty, of pecuniary aid to
those in need, on the occasion of family events, which would otherwise
involve them for life with native money-lenders ; and that their never-
faihng acquiescence in the wants and wishes of their poor neighbours
has thus tended, in some measure, to exalt the British name and charac-
ter, I can vouch from my own knowledge of the fact."
THE FACTORY AS IT WAS. 31
that surround it^ depend upon the vats and drying-house
which lie contiguously to it^ like the barns and beast-
houses of an English homestead.*
How did all this arise in such an out of the world
spot?
It is all the work of one of that despised and hated
pariah class of British settlers— that class which all the
statesmen of India and of England seek to increase^ and
which the present Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal is
now destroy ing.f
It is now many years since the present proprietor of
* We are careful to advance nothing in this statement which cannot
be proved by living testimony, or by state documents.
The Colonization Committee, 1 859, in their Report, say —
" It is stated by witnesses generally, that ' wherever Europeans have
settled, a marked improvement in the country has followed ;' the various
products of the land have been developed. Settlers have taken the lead
in introducing steam navigation, and in discovering its indispensable
auxiliaries, coal and iron ; in the extension of roads, and in generally
lowering the cost of production.
" It is justly observed by Mr. Marsham, that from their intercourse
with the people, settlers must naturally ' know more what is passing in
their minds' than the agents of the Government ; the position of the
settlers rendering them vigilant and interested observers of the tendency
of native opinion.
'* Where they reside, the rate of interest, often exorbitantly high, be-
comes reduced. The circulation of ready money is extended, and a
steady rise takes place in the rate of wages.
" 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 insurrection,
and would tend to lessen the necessity for maintaining our expensive
army."
t When we speak of the hostility of the Civil Service, we mean, of
course, that spirit of hostility which actuates the body, and which is
manifested conspicuously and disastrously in the acts of the fanatics of
the class. We shall see hereafter that many individuals of the caste do
not resist the evidence of their senses ; and, under Lieut.-Governors
other than Mr. Grant, have dared to tell the truth. There is as much
difference between civilians like Mr. Hawkins or Sir F. Halliday and
Mr. J. P. Grant, as there is between an ordinary Brahmin and a Nana
Sahib.
32 BRAHMINS AND PABIAHS.
this house and factory, or his predecessor, came alone
into this district, to employ his energ-y and his capital in
the manufacture of indigo. He was not allowed to buy
or lease land when he came there. There was a native
Zemindar, or feudal land-owner, who held over the land
and the llyots the same sort of power of indefinite exac-
tion which our old feudal lords held over their villeins.
There was also a judg-e, who was perhaps, in those days
of corruption, in the Zemindar's pay. The new settler
wanted to buy indig'o — that is to have an immediate
necessity for a perishable article. In a hundred days the
crop of indig'o is g-rown, and cut, and manufactured.
When once ripe, it must be cut ; when once cut, it must
be carried straight to the vats. It will not keep, — " Le
vin est tire il faut le boire."
How was he to get the natives to procure him the
vegetable he had come so far and spent so much to obtain
in order to manufacture into dye ? He soon found that
the whole system of the country was to pay before-
hand. The little farmers (Ryots) were, in effect, paupers.
They had no capital. They could not afford to buy the
seed, nor to subsist till the indigo would grow. All their
rice crops were mortgaged over and over again to the
native money-lender, who had made them advances at
from 60 to 100 per cent, interest upon them.
This is the case all over India. Industry insists upon
mortgaging' itself to capital. Every artificer works upon
advances, and these advances, when made by the native
usurers, is never at less than 60 per cent.
Our new settler bowed to the custom of the country,
called his neighbours together, and offered them advances
^^ without interest J ' to give him indigo next season at a
stipulated price. The money was taken eagerly. It
THE FACTORY AS IT WAS. 33
was also necessary to supply seed^ and the seed was
added at a nominal cliarg-e. Perhaps the Ryot was
honesty and sowed, perhaps he did not , but we will as-
sume that he did.
At the proper season the vats were ready^ and the
indig^o was ripe for cutting*. But now heg^an the planter's
difficulty, When he went to cut and carry his indig'o
there were other claimants on the g-round. 1'he Zemin-
dar wished to claim it for some feudal service, or under
some pretence of landlord's dues. Perhaps the cunning*
Ryot — a very common occurrence — had taken advances
and seed for the same piece of land Irom some other
planter in the neig-hbourhood. What was to be done ?
There was law to be had. The planter mig^ht sue the
Zemindar before the Zemindar's debtor^ the judg-e^ or he
mig'ht sue the Ryot, and g-ive occasion to some civilian
to insult him, and to his police to victimize him. If he
fell in with an independent and impartial judg*e he might
even ^et a judg-ment in his favour. In the ^^ Robert
Watson and Co.'s Factories'' there are, at this moment,
8G,000 contracts for indig'o, upon which advances have
been made, the bulk of which vary from ten to twenty
rupees. A pretty mass for the leng-thy and technical opera-
tion of the old Company's courts, and a pretty harvest in
the shape of stamp duties ! Of course, recourse to law to
recover advances, or enforce contracts, was never seri-
ously thoug-ht of. But he had 20,000 of these contracts,
and perhaps at least 5000 disputed cases. Even if he
g-ot a judgment it would be after fifteen months litig-a-
tion, and in twenty-four hours the article in dispute would
be perished. What did he do ? He did what men at all
times have done when the law afforded them no protec*
c
34 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
tion. He seized his right with a strong* arm.* The
planter and the Zemindar fought it out over the indigo
patch. In those days there were men, called bludgeon
men (lattials)^ maintained by the Zemindars to fight their
quarrels. It was a profession which the planter found
established, and again he fell into the habit of the coun-
try.
This is the plain truth concerning a scandal of other
days, which existed about the same time as corruption
existed in the Civil Service. A planter would now be
ashamed to speak of general corruption in connection
with the Civil Service, but Mr. Grant, with that exqui-
site taste for which he is so remarkable, does not fail to
draw a sneer against the planters from those old lattial
stories in his last Minute.
But if it were, even at the present day, as rife as it has
been proved to be unknown — as rife as corruption and
extortion at this moment confessedly are among the Go-
vernment Police — whose fault would it be ? Whose but
that of the Government, which, by renouncing- the first
duties of government, that of protecting property, had
remitted their Mofussil subjects to their natural rights ?
Be it remembered, however, that with all these dis-
putes the Ryot had nothing whatever to do. The fight
* The natives have two well known phrases for " doing oneself right
by the strong arm" and '* doing wrong by the strong arm," It is im-
possible to eradicate from the mind of the Bengali that the first is his
indefeasible right, and we must always take this into consideration when
we are judging of any rural conflict in India. All this is very graphi-
cally told by Mr. Seton Karr, in the article in the " Calcutta Review"
for 1847, already cited; and wherein the young civiHan's prejudices
against the civil outlaw seem to contend against the young Englishman's
sympathy with his own energetic and enterprising countryman. But
Mr. ISeton Karr had not then fallen into the jog-trot of office. In those
days he had not learned to look for truth only through the refracting
medium of the Civil Service.
THE FACTORY AS IT WAS. 35
was between Zemindars— native lords of manors— and
Planters. The Eyot had his advances and his price, and
gTew his indig'o : the contest was, who should have the
plant when g-rown.
The Ryot had his grievances no doubt, as all people
have their g-rievances under a bad Government. Just as
the judge had and has, as he himself will be the first to
confess and deplore— a corrupt set of officers (Omlah),
who took bribes, and did with the ig-norant judge as they
fisted y just as the pofice exacted black mail from native
cultivators and European settlers alike 3 so the planter
had his servants who cheated the Ryot, or cheated the
planter, according to the capacity or willingness of the
Ryot to make it worth their while to do so. But this is,
and has been, the normal condition of India under the
Company's system, and there is nothing exceptional in
the matter.
It was under these discouragements that the factory
we have been examining rose ; when the factor was the
competitor of the Zemindar, the victim of the civilian,
and a pre}^ to the police. But time passed on, and, by
the aid of the interference of the English nation, he
was at last empowered to lease the rights of the Zemin-
dar, to purchase and to hold land, to have legal rights,
to buy the Zemindar out, to take leases of manors, to
stand in the Zemindar's place. From that moment he
became a more dangerous victim and a more difficult
prey.
To understand this change, we must shortly recapitu-
late a few general facts.
The East India Company had the exclusive monopoly
of the trade with India until 1814, notwithstanding
many efforts to open the trade previous to tliat year.
c 2
36 BRAHMINS AND PARIAHS.
The people of England were^ in the ig-norance which then
prevailed^ strangely persuaded by the Company^ that if
the trade to India were thrown open the price of goods
in India would be so much enhanced by the competition
of different traders^ and their price in England would be
so much diminished^ that the freedom of the trade would
end in the ruin of all who might adventure in it.
The rule of the Company was never very satisfactory
to the British nation. Lord Oornwallis said, in 1789^
that one-third of the Company's territory was a jungle
for wild beasts. It was owing to this dissatisfaction that
Mr. Fox brought forward his celebrated India Bill,
which was lost. This failure was followed by the Bill of
Mr. Pitt, which was carried, creating the Board of Con-
trol, but continuing the superintendence of all commer-
cial matters^ as formerly, in the hands of the Directors.
The Company's Charter w^as prolonged until 1st March,
1814.
In Mr. Pitt's Act a kind of opening of the trade was
made for private individuals, or '' free merchants,'' who
were allowed to export and import certain goods in the
Compaiififs ships, for carryings on which the Company
were bound to provide ^3000 tons annually, at a fixed
scale per ton.
Few availed themselves of the privileg^e, exposed as
they were to the ruinous competition of the Company,
whose great object ever was— as we have already seen in
their official correspondence — to keep the ^^ interloper"
out of India.
The Company's enemies did not increase to any extent.
In 1807-8 the private imports into India, by private
hands, were only £300,000.
The people of England at last moved with some
THE EMANCIPATION. 37
vig'our^ previous to the expiry of tlie Charter in 1814^ to
put an end to the trade monopoly ; and they succeeded
as reg-arded the trade with India^ but the monopoly was
continued as reg-arded the trade with China.
The chief conditions of the opening- of the trade to
India were that private individuals should confine them-
selves to the Presidencies of Calcutta^ Madras^ and Bom-
}my, and Penang-, in vessels of a certain tonnag-e^ and
that they were to be excluded from the ordinary trade^
and the trade with China.
Thus emancipated^ the private traders were not long-
in g-aining' the ascendancy : they^ in a very few years^
trebled the trade which the East India Company declared
could not be extended^ although^ both in exports and
imports, they were constantly subjected to heavy losses
from the fitful competition and commercial speculations
of the Company, who had Residents in all the principal
towns, with a large staiF of servants intended for coercive
measures^ when any interloper's interest clashed wdth the
operations of the Company. Lord Wellesley then wrote
^^ that the intimation of a wish from the Company's Re-
sident is always received as a command by the native
manufacturers and producers.^' And this holds- true in
India to this very day j and in such a case the unfortu-
nate interloper must still g-o to the wall. It is now only
on questions of official jealous}^, or in the acquisition of
land, that these parties can clash, for the Government is
no long-er a trader, and except in the unpopular, we may
say hated, monopolies of opium and salt, it is no long-er
a manufacturer.
The capricious deahngs of the old Company in com-
mercial matters, after it had become exposed to competi-
tion, shewed heavy losses. When the Charter came to
38 BRAH3IINS AND PARIAHS.
be renewed^ in 1833^ Parliament had therefore no hesi-
tation in depriving- the Company of its commercial cha-
racter altog-ether^ and in confining- its g-overnment^ for
the future, to the territorial and political management of
the country.
The new Charter extended to 1854, and, under it, any
natural-born subject of Eng-land was entitled to proceed
by sea to an}^ port or place within the limit of the Com-
pany's Charter, having* a custom-house establishment,
and to reside thereat, or pass throug-h any part of the
Company's territories, to reside thereat.
Thus was the interloper g-radually, and to a certain
extent, emancipated.
We have already abundantly shewn that the Civil
Service have as a body never ceased to throw every im-
pediment in the way of settlers in the country. They
latterly had not the same power of interference and an-
noyance to the interlopers who carried on commercial
pursuits in the towns, but they had, and have, this power
in the case of all Europeans who settle in the interior for
the purpose of indig'o planting-. Indig-o was the only
ag-ricultural produce in which European capital was em-
barked anterior to 1834, when the monopoly of the Com-
pany ceased, and when their silk filatures were sold, and
their factories put up for sale.
In all these downward steps of the East India Com-
pany the British settler bore his part ; ever crying aloud
in England against the cruelty, rapacity , and oppression
of the Company's rule ; helping* the agitators in Eng-land,
and verif^^ing- the notion of Mr. Hawkins and the Civil
Service generally, that the Planter was " an obstreperous
gentleman."
The European settlers were not satisfied with a mere
THE ENEMY OF KING COMI^ANY. 39
theoretical victory. Day by day they became more ac-
tive^ more successful^ and more hateful. They g*ained
strength and independence as they increased at the Pre-
sidency towns and in the interior^ and they necessarily
became more obnoxious to the Civil Service^ who found
that the objects of their previous contempt had been the
destroyers of their undivided supremacy. The ^^ inter-
lopers " were the first to move for the abolition of the
Company in 1857^ when the mutiny broke out. It was
the interlopers who made so notorious in Eng-land the
incompetency of the administration of the Company.
The part taken by the indigo planters^ and the other in-
terlopers, in the agitation which resulted in the abolition
of the Company^ is still remembered. It certainly never
will be forg'iven by the old Directors of the defunct Com-
pany^ or by the Civil Service^ who^ since then, have
looked upon their exclusive privileges as doomed^ and
their dynasty as passing away. The bitter feud between
them and the interloper is now_, when public opinion runs
against public castes, carefully disguised in words ; and
we gladly acknowledge that there are numeroias instances
of large minded men in that service who have overcome
all their class prejudices and have opened their eyes to
see the true interests of the country in which their lot
has been thrown. But the old feud is burnt in upon the
souls of fanatical civilians, such as Mr. Grant, and has
become a yearning for a great revenge.
Such has been the progress of the owner of the house
which we some pages back attempted to picture to the
Enghsh reader. Thirty or forty years ago, when he first
set foot in the country, he was nothing more than a Civil
outlaw, setiking a spot whereon to fix an almost ilHcit
manufacture. He bought a potta of 100 beegahs (33
40 THE PLANTER.
acres)^ and built a factory, with vats^ godowns, and ma-
chinery. But he could not buy it or hold it in his own
name : he was an uncovenanted Eng-lishman^ and there-
fore clviliter ex lex. It was bought in the name of his
native ag-ent. The world was all ag-ainst him : the Eyot
was his only friend. How different is his position now !
Alhed with the Ryot^ the European outlaw has been
victorious. He has established his factory^ he has boug-ht
out the Zemindar^ he has become a rival in consequence
and in influence to the Civil servant. By his own energ-y
and perseverance^ and by the support of the people of
Eno'land, he has done this.
But the Indig'o planter is become more than a planter.
He is become a g-reat landowner and a g-reat reclaimer
of the wastes. In 1829 there was a vehement contest
between Lord William Bentinck and Sir C. Metcalfe,
and the Directors of the Company, upon the question
whether the planter should be allowed to hold land. We
should much like to quote those state papers, but unhap-
pily this, like all other Indian subjectSj is too vast for the
patience of the English public. The arg-uments used by
the statesmen, and the querulous, and sometimes insolent
replies of the Directors, are all extant in the volume to
which we have already so often referred. It ended, how-
ever, in public opinion at home coming- in to aid the
Governor-General; and the planter was, in 1833, per-
mitted to take the lands in his own name.
From that time forward the planter chang-ed his cha-
racter altog-ether. He was no long-er only a planter : he
was the lord of the manor, the landowner of the district.
He either held direct from the Government, or rented
of the native lord, the Zemindar, all his rents and feudal
lights. In the latter case he paid the Zemindar much
HE GREW IN SPITE OF KING COMPANY. 41
more than the current value^ and he never enforced, or
even asked for, those httle feudal exactions upon mar-
riag-es, births, deaths, and changes of occupancy, and
other items, which amounted to a considerable sum in an
aggregate of several thousand holding's.* He made his
* Again we cite the testimony of Mr. Seton Karr, when he had not
to draw a damnatory Indigo Report. He then wrote, when indigo
abuses were only just dying out : —
*' Nowhere has the contrast between European energy and Asiatic
torpor been so signally displayed. Year after year the Zemindar, fol-
lowing obsequiously in the path of his ancestors, had seen the same
patch of jungle growing up, which at best could only furnish materials
for mats, or a cottage thatch. In some cases he had looked on where
Nature had even advanced and cultivation receded from her empire ; but
when the native gazed in apathy, the new settler began to clear away.
We could mention numerous instances where the rule of the planter has
been attended with the extension of agriculture, and consequent benefit
to the Ryot ; but one example will suffice, as it illustrates most clearly
the difference between the Oriental and British character. A ravine, or
rather the bend of a river, had in process of time been filled up by a
yearly alluvial deposit, and as new and fertile land was immediately
claimed by two old belligerents. After the usual amount of disputes
the quarrel was terminated by the authorities : a boundary line was
drawn exactly down the middle of the old bed of the river, and an equal
half thus secured to both. But now came the difference in the use made
of the acquisition. The Zemindar had been as anxious in the pursuit
of his object as the most ardent European : he had contested every
point, and given up nothing, even to the last. But he had no intention
of deriving benefit himself, or allowing others to derive any from what
it had cost him so much to gain. Months and months the land lay
fallow, and the increasing jungle sprung up. But the planter, in the
course of two years, had nearly the whole in cultivation, and when we
last visited the place it was already sprouting with the promise of an
excellent crop. It seemed as if the boundary-line drawn by the Deputy-
Collector had realized the old story of the knife, which on one side was
impregnated with poison and withered all it touched, on the other be-
stowed healing juices and the vigorous sap of life."— Calcutta Review,
vol. vii. p. 27.
" The leaseholder, or the *putnidar' forbears to put in force the
power derived by him to measure and assess the lands of the Ryots to
the full amount legally permissible ; ;.iid he also never calls on the Ryots
for those various payments which some of the native Zemindars, on some
one pretext or other, constantly demand from the tenants on births,
marriages, religious festivals, and similar events, or on pressing necessi*
ties. Mr. J. P. Wise asserted his belief that he could double the i'ent
42 THE PLANTER.
profit^ however^ by clearing* the jung-le, and bring-ing*
whole plains of wilderness into cultivation. A certain
portion^ perhaps one-twentieth of the whole^ he kept for
indig'o cultivation^ or let upon that condition ; the rest he
let to the natives upon moderate rents. In all proba-
bility the factory town which we have described was^
twenty-five years ag*o, upon the edg-e of a wild-beast
covert. It is a matter of universal notoriety among* the
dwellers in the present district of Nuddea or Kishnag*-
hur, that^ twenty-five years ag-o, one -third of that g-reat
indig'o district was jung-le. The chief factory-house in
another district is even now called by a name which
indicates the abundance of wild beasts in the neighbour-
hood^ being' formed from the Beng-ali word ^^ to hunt."*
The planter is now just in the position of a lessee of
church lands in Eng-land^ except that the Zemindar is
very g^enerally engag-ed in intrig'uing among* the Il3^ots^
and using" his hereditary influence among- them to thwart
his European lessor^ g-enerally with one object— to extort
a bribe. He is often successful^ for he knows very well
that indig-o is the planter's weak pointy and that there are
a hundred days in every year when the planter is at every
one's mercy y when Lieutenant-Governor^ Zemindar^ Civil
servant, and policeman, must all be propitiated in their
own diflerent ways ; and when a cessation of labour for
twenty-four hours is ruin.
We have already quoted the opinion of Lord William
Bentinck^ after inquiry made, as to the manner in which
of his Ryots ; and Mr. Forlong said that he allowed the Ryots to sit at
as easy a rate as possible. Mr. Larmour, in Mulnath alone, has released
17,000 beegahs of land, held rent free, on the production by the holder
of certain papers, called the toidad, endorsed by the collector of reve-
nue.'*— Report of the Indiyo Committeey 1860, par 17.
* This factory is in Rajshahye, and called " Shikarpore."
WHAT GOOD THE PLANTER DID. 43
the planter^ even in his day, used the influence his posi-
tion g'ave him. We have also quoted the unwilling- testi-
mony of Mr. Walters^ the magistrate of Dacca^ to the
fact that the planters are held in much estimation by the
natives^ are called upon to arbitrate disputes^ are dispen-
sers of medicine to the sick^ are advisers of those in diffi-
culty^ advance money to those in need on the occasion of
family events which would otherwise involve them for life
with native money-lenders^ and are constantly attending
to the wants and wishes of their poor neighbours. The
same facts are gTudgingly admitted even by this Indigo
Commission. In fact^ every inquiry made^ by either friend
or enemy^ has eventuated in the same admission^ that the
planter in his district performs the same offices in his
neighbourhood that an English landed proprietor does
upon his estate. ^^No thanks to him," say men like Mr.
J. P. Grant. ^^ It is to his interest to do so : if he did
not^ he would not get his indigo." This is true : the law
gives him no protection. W hat would an English land-
lord or contractor think if he was told that the law was
open to him for breaches of contract, and found that this
" law" consisted of a right to file 36,000 Bills in Chancery
against 36,000 cottagers who had been incited by the
executive authorities of the country to violate their con-
tracts and to strike work ? It is true, as the white Brah-
min caste insists, that benevolence is the planter's interest.
But how complete an answer is this to all other general
charges ? and what can savour more of the age of gold in
these degenerate days than that a trade should flourish
upon moral influence alone, and that it should be made a
charge against the trader that he works up this moral
influence by means of acts of benevolence ?
We should like to see Mr. J. P. Grant left to ^^ moral
44 WHY THE PLANTER DID GOOD.
influence" to manufacture his opium^ or to work his
salt monopoly. We would look indulgently upon his
doing- so b}^ any acts of benevolence which his policy mig-ht
dictate.
And yet Mr. Grant^ as a man of the world^ wonders
that while the majority of the planter class act thus, there
sometimes occurs the exception of a foolish planter, who,
in the absence of law, will right himself by force, rather
than by what was, before Mr. Grant came upon the scene,
the far more effectual and more common means of acts of
g-ood neig-hbourship !
Before we proceed to notice the business arrang-ements
between the planters and the Ryots, it will be well to
say a few words upon the value and quantity of the indig-o
produced in India.
45
CHAPTER IV.
THE INDIGO PRODUCE OF INDIA.
Let us now contemplate for a moment the quantity and
value of the produce which factories like those we have
been examining- turn out annually.
Indig'o planting" in Beng-al is an old child of the Com-
pany. Before the renewal of the Charter, in 1834, the
private adventurer^ in his eag-erness to take shelter in the
shadow of some potent civilian^ associated himself with
some fortunate mortal who was covenanted to the Com-
pany. The civilian lent money to the planter, either at
interest or on condition of his having- a certain share in
the profits. At one time civilians openly carried on fac-
tories in their own names. Being* the official of the dis-
trict they carried every thing- their own way with the
Ryots.
This explains why the production of indig'o in Beng-al
has so greatly varied from time to time. The capricious
operations of the Company when they came into the Cal-
cutta market as buyers in competition with private traders
ran up prices so hig-h on several occasions, that^the planters
were induced to extend their cultivation^ forg-etting- that
the article was one of limited demand or consumption^ and
that, when the supply exceeded what is called the effec-
tual demand^ lower prices must be the consequence^ accord-
ing- to the laws of trade.
The production of indigo in Beng-al (including- Tirhoot
and the North-West indig'o districts)^ in 1819, 1820, and
46 THE INDIGO PRODUCE OF INDIA.
1822^ was on an averag-e about 70,000 maunds (of 72 lbs.),
and in 1826 the production rose to 144,000 maunds,
which was the largest crop during^ the period of the ex-
istence of the Company's commercial monopoly. In the
following" year, 1827, the crop in Beng^al was only 90,000
maunds. The larg-est crops of indig-o ever known were
in 1843 and 1844, when Bengal produced 165,000, and
172,050 maunds. In 1846 the crop was 90,000 maunds,
and for the last five years the average crop may be taken
at 105,000 maunds.
Madras, which in former 3^ears produced little or no
indigo, has been exporting largely of the dye of late years,
its annual exports being now, on an average of the last
five years, say 28,000 maunds.
Taking the average exports
From Bengal at . . . 105,000 maunds.
And from Madras . . 28,000 „
The total exports were . 133,000 „
They send a few maunds of coarse indigo from Bombay
not worth takinof into calculation.
So much for quantity. Now for value.
The prices of indigo have been very fluctuating* in the
markets of India and Europe. Not many years ago fine
Bengal indigo sold as low as 140 and 150 rupees per
maund, the same quality of indigo which has been selHng
in Calcutta, for the last two or three years, at 220 to 240
rupees per maund ; and this year fine Bengal indigo may
realize about the former figure. There are many circum-
stances to affect prices up or down ; the quantity produced
yearly ; the consumption and stock in the markets to
which the article is exported ; and the condition of trade
VALUE OF THE BLOCK. 47
and the money market^ as well as the aspect from time to
time of European politics.
The price in Eng-land in 18^6 was 12s, and in 1827
13i^ per pound for fine Beng-al indig'o.
In 1846 it fell to 5^ 6d, and in 1848 and 1849 was
5s 9d per pound.
Since 1852 prices have g-radually risen. In 1858 fine
indigo fetched as hig-h as ds 6d per pound. But the
same quality may now be had at 7^ 6^ to 85 per pound.
The value of the block of the indigo concerns in Ben-
gal; or the price at which the}^ stand in the books of the
planters or proprietors^ is estimated^ as we have already
seen^ at seven or eight millions sterling.
The annual outlay for the cultivation of indigo in Ben-
gal varies from one-and-half to two millions^ all ofwJdch
is circulated in the indigo districts.
In the Indigo Commission Report it is stated that the
value of the block belonging to Messrs. I. and R. AVat-
son and the Bengal Indigo Company is £500^000^ or
half-a-million sterling.
In further proof of the value of this manufacture to
the district where it exists^ we find it stated^ in the same
Report^ that in one district the money annually expended
on indigo cultivation is £60^000, in excess of the total
land rent which the same district yields annually to Go-
vernment : and this^ let it be remembered^ is only one of
the articles produced from the soil^ from an area^ as the
Report states^ not exceeding one-sixteenth to one-twentieth
of the average cultivation of every Ryot in the district;
the rest of his land^ to the extent of fifteen-sixteenths or
nineteen- twentieths^ being under other crops^ and he has
the use of the indigo lands^ unless he keeps them for in-
digo-seed^ after the plant is cut in June and July.
48
CHAPTER V.
THE PLAIsTER AND THE RYOTS.
Within two years of the present date^ nothing- in India
was so comfortable as the relations between an indig-o-
planter and his Eyots. In India^ where nothing* is true
and every thing- is in dispute^ it is wonderful how this fact
stands out conspicuous in the midst of every inquiry^ and
emerg-es from every report. AVe do not mean to say that
this course of true love was without am^ ripple. Just as
ever}^ native, and even every Civil servant^ has for many
years been complaining- that the Company's judg-e is sur-
rounded by an ^^ omlah/' or set of subordinate ofBcers^
who cheat and extort and environ the most well-inten-
tioned civilian with an impenetrable fortification of cor-
rupt underling-s — making- the judicature of India one
atmosphere of perjury and bribery — so the planter is
oblio-ed to have his " omlah," who make the most of their
opportunities. Just as the ^' omlah" of the Government
collectors in the Presidency of Madras have been proved
to have committed acts of torture, so the native collectors
of the planter may sometimes have been g'uilty^ not of
any such acts as these- God forbid ! — but of acts of fraud
and violence to obtain what was their master's rig'ht. The
planter cannot pretend to be free from a vice of Indian
society from which the Governor-General himself can
claim no immunity. The native servants of the factory
will take bribes. They will for a bribe measure out land
for indig-o which is useless for that or for any other pur-
THE PROCESS OF TAKING PLANTER'S MONEY. 49
pose^ and they will, in reveng-e for not receiving* a bribe,
measure out the land most disadvantag-eous to the Ryot
to part with, and most disadvantag-eous to the planter to
receive. The}^ will for a bribe put the measuring'-cord
round the expanded heads of the Indig'o bundles, or, in
reveng-e for not receiving- a bribe, round the waists of the
bundles. They will, when it is possible, note down some
of the bundles of the man who has not bribed them to the
score of another man who has. They will favour all sorts
of tricks ag-ainst their employer, or they will invent frauds
which do not exist. The planter is an energ-etic, active
man, aware of all these dangers, and always on the watch
for them, and he has usually an European assistant as
watchful as himself: 3^et they will occur, — not constantly
and habitually as they do in the Court of the trusting- and
uninformed civilian, but they will sometimes occur.
Allowing-, however, as men of common sense will al-
ways allow, for the surrounding- circumstances, the rela-
tion between the planter and the Ryots was the most
satisfactory of any relation between Europeans and
natives in India.
After the close of the manufacturing- season the
planter's object is to make sure of his indig'o. He
is surrounded by swarms of httle farmers with their
small ^^jummas''— a sort of copyholds or customary free-
holds—of from five to fifty acres, who have come to
settle accounts and to take fresh advances for the ensuing-
season. Thousands are ready to take the money. Perhaps,
as the report of Mr. Granf s secretary, sitting- as presi-
dent of the Indig'o Commissioners, 1 860, admits, " it is a
season of the year when the Ryot is in want of money
for rent and for the annual festival of Doorg-a. Advances
are in some instances willnig-ly and even g-reedily accepted.
D
50 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
Some men are in debt 3 others want to spend money^
and all like money without interest.'^* Some^ also^ are
doubtless in debt to the factory. It is a debt they never
intend to pay ; but it will happen in Tndia^ as in other
places^ that a debt occasions a certain state of oblig-ation^
and^ as the planter is well aware that it is useless to ask
for his debt^ and equally useless to expect his indig-o
without advancing" the usual money and seed^ the debtor
ag"rees for a certain quantity of indig*©^ and g*oes and en-
joys himself at his Doorg-a feast 3 f acting- pretty much,
as Macaulay says the second Pitt acted when, being- in
debt to his coachmaker, he ordered another carriag-e.
How much better it would be if there were no feast
of Doorg-a, and if the Eyots wanted no advances, and if
the Byots would gTow the indig-o, and then at the proper
time offer it to the competing- planters. So say certain
intensely wise men, simpletons of the first order, who are
half inclined to think with Alfonso the Wise — that con-
ceited blasphemer, who remarked that it was rather a
pity he had not been present at the creation j for that he
mig-ht have g-iven a hint or two which would have pre-
vented many incong-ruities. Mr. Grant is also quite of
opinion that the ~Ryot and the planter are very wrong-,
and that the Eyot oug-ht to g-row and sell, and g-et the
full market price for his produce. J Among- the barren
* Report, par. 57.
f *' On all domestic occurrences, births, deaths and marriages, a native
is put to a great expense, and cannot get on without the aid of a banker
— and this from the Rajah to the lowest peasant. And they prefer
dealing with the indigo manufacturer, who charges no interest, to any
other person."
X " If the planter had paid, in cash, such a price for indigo-plant as
would have made it more profitable to the Ryot to grow that crop than
any other, abstaii)ing also from all molestation of the Ryot by himself,
or his servants, no one pretends that the planter would not have got,
year after year, as much indigo-plant as he could pay for." — 3fr. Orant^s
Minute upon the Indigo Planter's petition aqainst him.
AFTER THE MONEY IS TAKEN AND SPENT. 51
platitudes with which Mr. Grant's Minute abounds^ this
is conspicuous. It is hke a sug-g-estion that the moon
should be lit up all the month throug-h. It is the most
inane of truisms. Of course we all think this. Nothino*
would delig-ht us more than a full supply of indig-o-plant
ready when we want it^ at the market-price. Undoubt-
edly it would be much better if the Ryots would g-row
their indig-o and never run in debt^ and if Mr. Pitt had
paid his coachbuilder's bill^ and had not ordered a car-
riag-e he did not want. But unfortunately both the In-
dian farmer and the British minister had habits of per-
sonal expenditure which had not the character of fore-
thoug-ht. Mr. Pitt had no money to pay his coachmaker,
and Bonomallee Mundle has no money to pay his rent
and provide indig-o-seed. Instead of g-etting- as much
indig'o-plant as he could pay for^ the planter w^ould not
by any such means, g-et a sing-le bundle. He mig-ht
as well g-o into a bazaar at Kishnag'hur for a choice of
g-olden statues. No one knows this better than Mr.
Grant. He knows that the men whom he insists upon
calling" '^ capitalists'^ have not a copper pice to call their
own. He knows, also, that in India nothing* is ever done
without "advances;'' that if he wants a Government
work done, he must pay by advances ; that if he wants
a cart mended, he must pay by advances 5 and that when
he wants poppies g-rown for opium, he invariably pays
by advances. In attempting- to poison the ministerial
mind at home ag-ainst the Indig-o system, he knows very
well that he is calumniating* a system which he himself
is using- in an agg-ravated form every day of his life. In
talking- about " paying* in cash such a price for indig-o-
plant,'' he is using* a disingenuous artifice, and taking* ad-
D 2
52 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
vantag-e of the presumed ig-norance in England of Indian
habits.
The contracts are made^ and the advances are paid
over.
The advance varies from two to three rupees a beegah.
The crop ought to he^ if the land be good and the culture
careful^ from fifteen to twent3^-five (say twenty as an
average) bundles per beegah.
The payment at present varies from a rupee for four
bundles to a rupee for six bundles.
The advance covers nearly all the expected profit of the
Ryot except the cold-weather crop of linseed or mustard,
which he grows for himself after the indigo is cut.
The weeding^ when the land is kept clear^ as it is in
Kishnaghur or Jessore^ is nearly nominal ', and the seed
obtainable from the second cuttings far more than com-
pensates for the labour of weeding.
Indigo is a crop of the easiest possible cultivation^ so
far as mere labour is concerned ; but it requires the
greatest tenderness of supervision^ and the occasional
glance of the European eye.
When the Ryot has spent his advance in paying the
Zemindar his rent^ or in celebrating his Poojah, it is very
likely that he will have no money-balance to receive out
of his indigo crop. It is possible^ that if he has cultivated
his land badly^ or sold half his seed^ or baked his seed
before sowing it^ in order to sow a crop of his own upon
the landj and throw the blame on the planter's seed — it is
possible in many of these cases that the balance may be
against him ; but as there is no instance of any R^'^ot ever
paying up, or ever being sued for any such balance^ this
will not much affect his happiness^ except so far as it may
AFTER THE MOxNEY IS TAKEN AND SPENT. 53
affect his receipts in a g^ood year.* The worst of the
matter is^ as Mr. Grant has so sagaciously discovered,
that he cannot g-o to market with the indig-o, for that he
has already sold it and spent the money.
In fact, the Ryot cannot in ordinary seasons, " eat his
cake and have it too.^^ This is what, either as a pretence
* Mr. Larmour, the manager of some of the most extensive and
valuable mdigo properties in Bengal, in his evidence before " the Indigo
Committee, 18G0," describes the result to the Ryots in a good year: —
" Mr. Sale.'] Q. Are we to understand that the Ryot is in debt to the
factory, and to the native banker who makes advances on the rice crop,
and frequently under the supervision of both parties at the same time?
" A. Many Ryots are indebted both to the manhajun and the factory.
*' Q. Is it not frequently the case that the Ryot is bound to deliver
his surplus crop to the mahnjun at fixed price under the market rate?
*' It is the custom for the Kyot to dehver all his rice crop to the maha-
jun, who generally fixes his own price upon it, deducting fifty per cent,
for the advance made. That is, if he has advanced one maund to the
Ryot, he receives in return for that one, one maund and a half.
^' The Baboo.] Q. You have stated that, after passing of Act XI.
[the Temporary Summary Remedies Act, passed for six months, and
now expired], Ryots, who never held advances before, came forward and
received their advances willingly ; can you state what number of Ryots
have thus wiUingly taken advances, and to cultivate what quantity of
lands ?
•' A. About eight or ten Ryots — I don't exactly recollect the number
— offered to cultivate ten beegahs of land at an advance of two rupees
per beegah.
'* Q. Is the cultivation of indigo profitable or otherwise to the Ryots ?
" A. That depends entirely upon the season. In the last season, at
the Mulnauth factory the average return per beegah was 14 bundles
per beegah. Upwards of 100 Ryots cut more than 20 bundles per
beegah ; 237 Ryots cleared off their advances and debt to the factory,
and received fazil, or excess payments. The return of 20 bundles
per beegah pays a Ryot well, apart from tlie indigo-seed which he also
gets from the stumps. [Mr. Larmour here filed a paper in Enghsh,
referring to the books in original, which he also filed.]
" The Baboo.] Q. What number of indigo Ryots is there in the Mul-
nauth factory ?
'* A. One thousand three hundred and seventy-eight.
*'Q. You have stated that out of 13/8 Ryots, 237 had cleared their
advances ; could you state how the accounts of the remaining Ryots
stand ?
" A. For the last eight years in Kishnaghur the indigo cultivation has
54 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
for an ulterior pui'pose, or as an honest craze^ people like
Mr. Grant^ and Mr. Potter of the London Trades'
Unions^ are always crying- for. It is for want of in-
struction probabl}^ 3 but it is very expensive to keep
Indian Governors and London working--men so ignorant.
The indig-o part of the Byot's farm is the part which
yields him his Httle ready money. He g^ets this without
interest. Don% however^ let it be supposed that the rice
is g-rown out of the Ryot's own " cajntal.'^ He gets
advances also upon his rice before he puts a plough into
the ground ; but he gets these from the native money-
lender at from 50 to 100 per cent., and he knows very
well that if he does not keep time with this unrelenting
creditor^ he will be sold up without mercy. As to the
planter, all that he has to fear is a certain sort of unde-
fined oblig^ation to sow some indigo for him next year^
whether he may like it or not. It is not wonderful, there-
fore, that the Eyot should slip into arrears with his
easiest creditor, and that the books of every factor}^ should
shew thousands of columns of arrears, which Mr. Grant
taunts the planters with being, together with their vats,
their only capital.
been very disastrous. The remainder of the Ryots did not clear off the
balances and debt in full, and consquently had no excess to receive.
" Q. Have these 237 Ryots entered into fresh engagements this year ?
"A. Every Ryot in the Mulnauth concern, amounting to ll,0(iO,
entered into new engagements, and fulfilled them.
" Jfr. Fergussoti] Q. Have you had occasion to sue any single Ryot
in the Mulnauth concern for breach of contract ?
**A. In no single instance.
" Q. Have the Ryots in the Baraset concern renewed their engage-
ments, and sown indigo as usual, or had you to sue them there ?
"A. The Ryots in the Baraset concern have this year engaged and
sown their indigo to the extent of .5000 beegahs, half the former cultiva-
tion of the concern. Last year the concern was closed. I have had no
occasion to carry out any case against the Ryots of that concern under
the new Act."
BENEFITS IMPLY OBLIGATIONS. 55
Let us hasten to say —for presently Mr, Grant will
very likely affirm that we are seeking* power to sell up every
one of these Ryots — that we are not asking* for any sum-
mary remedy as to these arrears. The worst thing an
indig-o planter could do for his own interest would be to
ruin a Eyot. All we are asking* is^ for lawful protection
ag'ainst fraud^ as when a Ryot takes advances from more
than one planter, or takes the planter's money and seed^
and does not sow the land.
Let us admit, also, that if a Ryot were, as Mr. Grant,
with that tremendous assurance of his, avers him to be,
a capitalist, he very possibly mig-ht not just now sow
indigo. There are a great many things which a man does,
and which he would not do if he could live without doing
them. Mr. Grant's punkawallah would not pull his
punkah all the hot night through, if impecuniosity did
not compel him to do it. These things are not confined to
India. The same necessity is felt in England. John
Barle3^corn the publican has just got into possession of a
very handsome public-house. It required more capital
than John Barleycorn had at his banker's, and the owners
of the new house were Messrs. Double-ex the brewers.
So John Barleycorn took '^ advances" from Messrs,
Double-ex, and gives them a bond for repayment. Now
when John Barleycorn begins to sell his beer he finds that
he could drive a more profitable trade if he could have his
beer from Messrs. Treble-ex rather than from Messrs.
Double-ex. But then there is his bond and his '^ arrears."
He knows very well that if one of the Messrs. Treble-ex^s
drays were seen at his door, the Double- exes would call
in their advances, and, when his bond was produced in an
EngHsh court of law. Lord Palmerston or Sir G. Lewis
would not come down to Westminster Hall and tell the
66 THE PLANTER AKD THE RYOTS.
judg-es how hard it is that the Double- exes should insist
upon Barleycorn dealing* with those who had advanced him
wherewith to g-o into business ; nor would the chief com-
missioner of police volunteer his advice to publicans to
buy their beer just where they pleased. The recalcitrant
Barleycorn would infallibly be sold up^ and every one
would say it served him rig-ht for his bad faith and his in-
gratitude.
So with the bakers and the millers^ and so with the
merchants and the bill-discounters^ and so with every
class of debtors and creditors all over the world ; but
especially and above all^ so with Mr. Grant's popp3-
g-rowing^ Ryots, who could sell their opium for just 600
per cent, more to other people than the price at which
Mr. Grant compels them to sell it to him.
But why does the Eyot rather reluctantly eng-ag-e him-
self to sow one-twentieth part of his land with indig'o ?
For very varied reasons. There is a prejudice ag-ainst
the Double- ex beer, and there is a prejudice ag-ainst indig-o.
It was said of Coleridg'e, that whenever an act assumed
the form of a duty, it became impossible for him to per-
form it : so of a Hindoo or a Mussulman it may be said,
that whenever an act assumes the form of an oblig-ation^
he hates it ; but if it assume the form of an oblig-ation,
the price of which has already been received, he abhors
it. In trying- to break his ag-reements he has g-ot into
many scrapes, and has fallen into many arrears j but
having- still been unable to learn that honesty is the best
policy, he hates an oblig*ation which he knows he shall
be tem|)ted— havhig- spent the advance— to avoid, and
which he knows also he will be held to, in default of law,
by some means or other to perform. He would like to
have all the benefits of the neig'hbouring^ factory, and
THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS. ^J
avoid any return. He would like the medicine^ the free
loans^ the protection^ the help when his rice crops fail^
and the advances , but when he has secured all this^ he
Avould rather not ^row the indig-o ;^ especially if some
Missionary or magistrate^ still more if the Sircar [Go-
* These circumstances are stated in the Report on " The Conduct of
Europeans in India," (p. 161), compiled from returns from the Civil
servants in the Mofassil, supplied in answer to Lord William Bentinck's
circular. The Report was made for the use of the Board of Control.
•* The Ryot receives advances for the cultivation of indigo, and either
neglects to plough his land, or, when he has ploughed it, refuses to sow
it at the proper season with indigo : and perhaps sows instead, rice,
barley, sugar, or some other crop, for his own use.
•' Sometimes the seed received from the planter is parched before it is
sown, to destroy its germinative power, and after sufficient time has been
allowed to elapse for the growth of good seed, the land is resown by the
Ryot with some other crop, and the failure of the indigo is attributed to
the badness of the seed furnished by the planter. At other times the
indigo seed is ploughed up by the Ryot, or the seed of other crops sown
with or upon it.
'• Advances are received in respect of land to which the Ryot has no
title, or of which he is but a joint tenant. Land to which the title is
doubtful is frequently offered to the planter with a view of interesting
him in supporting the claim of the party from whom he obtained the
land. And advances are constantly received from two planters for the
same crop : in which case, when the indigo is fit to be cut a dispute
arises between them respecting their respective rights to the crop.
" The Zemindars, and sometimes the native officers of the court, with
a view to extract bribes from the planter, employ their influence with
the Ryots, to induce them to combine and refuse to cultivate the land
for which they have received advances. For this purpose, bonds not to
cultivate indigo are frequently taken ly the Zemindar from the Byots.
In other cases they erect factories, and compel the Ryots to receive ad-
vances from them, though already under agreement to cultivate the same
land for other planters. Here, as before, the object in view frequently
is to obtain money from the planters, and not to manufacture indigo.
" Sometimes they lease villages to the factories, and refuse, after they
have received the advance agreed lijion, to deliver them up. In other
cases, though they deliver them up the villages, they instigate the Ryots
to stop the planter's ploughs when he proceeds to till the land, and some-
times they collect large bodies of men together, to prevent the planter
from cultivating even that land which he has obtained from other
parties.
" In one case a Zemindar and a planter seem to have raised a com-
58 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
vernment] itself, should sug-g-est to him that he need not
complete his contract unless he likes^ and should remind
him that there is no law to make him.
The land applicable to indig'o is that which is least
valuable for rice cultivation. More than one-half of the
indig-o crop in Lower Beng-al is sown upon new alluvial
formed lands, or churS; on the banks of the larg-e rivers
or beds of old rivers which are unfit for rice or an}^ other
crop. Moreover^ indigo is a fertilizing- and not an ex-
hausting- crop. What is the best land for rice ? The
Eyot will tell 3^ou '' The rich strong- black loam." Nine-
bination of 7000 men, who agreed not to sow indigo themselves, and to
prevent other Ryots from sowing it, for a certain British factory.
" When the season arrives for ploughing the land, the Ryots who have
agreed to cultivate indigo for the factory neglect to plough, or the
planter finds a body of men assembled to prevent him from ploughing
that of which he has obtained leave for home cultivation. Sometimes
the land, instead of being retained for indigo, is sown with rice or other
crops for the Ryot's own use; still more frequently the land is properly
prepared by the Ryots, but when the rains commence and the seed
should be sown, some or all of the Ryots refuse or neglect to sow. ' The
sowing of indigo admits of no delay : when the land is prepared for the
reception of the seed, no time must be lost. Delay, that in all cases is
dangerous, in this is ruinous : either the lands must be sown at once, or
not at all.' The planter has made advances, not only to the owners or
occupiers of the land, but frequently to the labourers whom he had
expected to employ during the season of manufacture. His factory,
with its establishment, have been kept up at great expense ; the law does
not even profess to afford him assistance, except to recover his advances,
and even these he can never hope to obtain, in consequence of the
poverty of the Ryots. During the delay necessary to procure the assist-
ance of the Court, the season would pass away, and leave the planter
perhaps wholly ruined. *****
" Of Allyghur, the Commissioner of the Moradabad division says,
' So far as my experience goes, and it is founded on a residence of six
years, in a district (Allyghur) filled with indigo planters, I have found
the lower classes of the natives better clothed, richer, and more indus-
trious in the neighbourhood of the factories than those at a distance ;
and at the same time I cannot bring to my recollection a single instance
of a native having suffered cruelty or oppression from an indigo planter
or his servants.* "
THE PLANTEB AND THE RYOTS. 59
tenths of this is bheel land^ which is land on which in-
dig'o is never sown. The planter aims at having- a pro-
portion of various descriptions of soil^ so that; whatever
may be the weather^ he may make an averag-e^ and have
a chance of a g-ood crop. It is not^ therefore^ from any
fear of losing* his best rice land that the Ryot can object
to sow indig-o.
Indig-o iS; no doubt^ like opium^ a precarious crop ;
and one or two bad seasons may disg-ust a whole country
side. But the same accidents happen to rice * Do we
not in Eng-land hear every now and then of failures of
the rice crops^ and wide-spread famine in Beng-al ? How
often is the rice entirely ruined by inundation ? and how
often has it happened that the "aous" rice^ or that
g-rown on hig-h land — the only land on which indig-o and
rice will both grow— is a failure ? We have known Ryots
for several consecutive years^ realize less than a rupee
and a-half from their aous paddy. In those years of
famine the little indig*o patch is the plant which saves
the poor Ryot^ and the factory is his only friend f
This fact is forcibly confessed in that article in the
Calcutta Review for January, 1847, from which we have
before quoted.
^' We will contrast/' says the writer, '' the condition of
* The Ryots frequently lose their rice crop from long drought, too
much rain, or an early and sudden inundation ; when they are obliged
to sell their cattle, or ask assistance from the planters.
t Whenever a Jumma or small holding of land becomes vacant in any
of the villages, there are numerous petitions from new Ryots for the
lands, — who invariably agree to sow a certain extent of land with indigo
— upon condition of getting that Juinma.
Also, when a property is bought by a planter with the power of
measuring and re-assessing the lands, — in arranging a moderate assess-
ment with the E-yots, they agree to sow a certain extent of the lands
with indigo,— as the planter rehnquishes his fair profit from the property,
for the consideration of the indigo cultivation.
60 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
'^ a Ryot who sows both indig-o and rice with that of one
^^ who confines himself solely to the latter. When the
'^ rains fall too rapidly, and the rice crop is literally
'^ drowned^ nothing* can be more pitiable than the state of
^^ the cultivator of rice alone. His daily bread is g'one,
^^ and he must sell his bullocks^ and steal, starve^ or earn
^^ a precanous subsistence by taking* service, or by handi-
'' craft. He is deeply in debt to the mahajun, or money-
^^ lender^ and this worth}^ invariably commences to exact
" his dues, by laying* hold of his oxen and his cows. But
^' suppose the Hyot^ out of eig*ht beeg-ahs to have g*iven
^^ up two to indig-o. His rice crop is g'one, and the indig*o
^^ produce is only middhng", but still the ver}'^ dependence
^^ on the factory is a relief. The very thing- which in a
^^ g*ood season^ and in his old independent state, was his
'' g-reat curse, in the evil day becomes almost a blessing*.
'^ He may borrow, too, from the planter^ and the latter
'^ will lend from feeling's in which interest certainly has a
^^ larg*e share, but from which benevolence and honesty of
^^ purpose is not wholly excluded. Althoug-h it may be
^^ arg'ued that to lend to the Ryots only secures the
^^ planter's hold over him, that in a few rupees given in
^^ the time of want is an earnest of his sowino- two or
^^ more additional beeg*ahs in March or April ', yet we
^^ would willing*ly believe that there are men whose con-
" duct in such instances is regulated by the compassion^
^^ the sincerity, and the kindness of Christians."
What consequence i^ hat the man's motives may be ?~-
he saves these people from starving*. Of course a planter,
as well as a Lieutenant-Governor, or a Lieutenant-Go-
vernor's secretary, has his natural feeling-s when his fel-
low-creatures are dying* about him ^ but we venture to
hope that, in addition to ^^ the compassion, the sincerity,
INDIGO AND RICE. 61
and the kindness of a Christian/' he finds his own mer-
cantile return in what he does. If he does^ he can repeat
the acts^ and can do them upon a larg-e scale; if he does
not^ no motives can enable him to bear up long* against
the loss^ or to repeat that loss as the occasions recur.
This is a hypocritical whine borrowed from the planters'
bitter foes. When, to avoid public execration, they who
never move a finger to help the native in his dire dis-
tresses, and to whom in their chairs of office the salt Eyot
in his agony looks in vain for " the compassion, the sin-
cerity^ and the kindness of the Christian/' are oblig-ed to
admire the planters' acts : they indemnify themselves by
depreciating" his motives. But^ granting the worst that
can be said, what must be the value to the rural districts
of India of a class of men whose " interested" motives are
admitted by their enemies to produce these results ?
All crops are uncertain in a tropical country, where
vegetation depends on rains and rivers : but it is not
because indigo sometimes fails that the Hyot prefers rice.
Nor is it because rice has been more remunerative. Let
us examine this matter. We are speaking now^ be it
remembered^ of the state of things two years ago.
Indigo is sown with little trouble, and weeded for less :
Avhen ripe, it is cut and brought to the factory^ sometimes
by the Ryot, and sometimes by the factory. The same
piece of land will require double the attention if cultivated
for padd}^ In the rice cultivation weeding is laborious
and expensive ; nor is the expense over with the reaping :
the paddy must be threshed, and in many cases, when
ready for market, it has to be made over to the mahajun
at the rate of one and a-half to one and three-quarter
maunds for every maund advanced a few months pre-
viously. It must be remembered^ also, that fresh good
60
THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
rice is returned, probably^ for musty stuff that has been
rotting" in the goIaJi. There are few planters who have
not had paddy, Hterally black, broug-ht to them by the
Eyots, and their interference sought to secure the boon of
being allowed to return only one and a quarter maund of
g-ood, for each maund of bad paddy received four months
before, the price of good grain at both periods being about
the same. Take a piece of land with the cold weather
crop just off it, and the expenses for growing both paddy
and indigo fairly set down, are about as follows : —
Expenses of Aous
Paddy.
Experoses of Indigo.
Ploughing .
Harrowing .
Beeda ditto.
. Rs. 1 8
.,,02
,, 0 2
Ploughing.
Weeding .
Cutting^ .
. Rs.
1
0
0
0
6
6
Weeding .
Cutting* .
Threshing, &c. .
„ 1 4
„ 0 12
» 0 4
Carriage^ .
Seed
Rentll
0
0
1
6
4
0
Seedf.
Rent .
„ 0 12
„ 1 0
Total „
3
0
Total
5 12
Let US suppose a full crop of both, say six rupees worth
of paddy, and reckoning twenty bundles of indigo at
four per rupee, five rupees for the indigo : the former
thus leaves a balance of four annas ] the latter, of two
rupees. The account will stand thus : --
* We reckon the money value of the sheaves allowed to the reapers.
■j- Seed for rice — 15 seers per biggah is sown ; but the Ryot pays for
double to the Mahajun.
X In Watson's and some other concerns "cutting" is paid by the
factory.
§ In some factories — indeed, in most — the carriage is paid by the
planter.
II Rents. —On the banks of the Ganges, the rent of a beegah of land
is only 6 to 8 annas for tvjo crops ; for indigo, 4 annas.
INDIGO AND RICE. 63
Aous Taddy.
Value of crop . . Rs. 6 0
Cost of production . ,, 5 12
Profit „ 0 4
Indigo.
Value of crop . . Rs. 5 0
Cost of production .,,30
Profit „ 2 0
We refer here to ^' aous ^' paddy^ viz. that sown on hig-h
land suitable to indigo. The " ammon '^ is far more pro-
fitable, and is sown in hheels^ &c., where indig-o cannot
gTOW.
The contract* which is sig-ned, or otherwise authenti-
cated on the advance being* made, is of the simplest kind.
It is either for two or five years. It provides penalties
in case of non-fulfilment, and in most cases sets out the
boundaries of the land on which the indig'o shall be g-rown.
The contract is entered in the factory books, and below
the entry is jotted the Ryot's account for every year —
cash paid and plant delivered ; the seed being- charg-ed
at an unvarying* sum, which is seldom more than one-
* Mr. Fresident.l Q. For what period of years is your contract ?
A. The contracts are generally for three years, but are renewed every
year on a fresh stamp.
Mr. Temple.'] Q. Are these contracts duly filled in at the time the
engagements are entered into ?
A. No. The contracts are not filled up on the day the engagement
is made, in the instance of every Ryot. The advances of a factory are
generally made in two or three days : it would be an impossibility to
write up these contracts within that time, and it is only with the engage-
ment of the head Ryots that the contracts are filled up.
Q. But then do the contracts of the subordinate or smaller Ryots
remain unwritten ?
A. Yes, they generally do ; very few are able to write, and it is con-
sidered a mere matter of form. JV^o person has ever dreamt of taking a
Ryot into court to recover his balance.
Q. Do the stamp papers for these contracts remain in the factory ?
A. It has been an infatuation that the planters laboured under, that
redress could be had against a Ryot in a civil court, and they have kept
up appearances by renewing their engagements with the Ryots on stamp
paper. — Mr. Larmour's Evidence before the Indigo Commissioners^
1860.
64 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
fourth of the current price. It is true that the account
is often embarrassed with the amount of loans advanced
in times of dire necessity, to pay the pressing- Zemindar's
rent, or to purchase bullocks to work their rice lands, or
to recover their bullocks when they have been seized.
These are the large items which bring* the E,yot into
debt with the factory ; and the planter has lent the
money, not entirely out of Christian kindness it must be
admitted, but to prevent the man being- ruined by re-
course to the native money-lender, and thus rendered
unable to perform his indig-o contracts. Imag-ine then
the consequence of removing* out of the rural districts of
Beng*al (where capital is so scarce, and even a rupee is
so larg*e a sum), an annual two millions of money thus
employed ! Yet this is what Mr. Grant is now calmly
contemplating* as the result of his ag-itation ! What shall
we say of the intellect or of the honesty of purpose of a
man who can premeditate such an act as this, and ask
the Eng-lish Government to believe that his object is the
advantage of the natives !
We must follow out the relations of the planter and
Ryot to the vat ; and this harvest home has been so very
well described in an article in the Calcutta Review for
March 1858, that we cannot do so well as to borrow the
writer's language, even at the expense of reiterating* some
things we have before said. When the indigo is ripe for
cutting, it is cut and carried, sometimes by the Ryot,
generally by the planter's servants. In the former case
" the Ryot brings his plant to the factory 3 the mohurrir^
'^ or rather the mohurrirs, for it is the general custom to
" have two, write down the number of sheaves as counted
^^ before the Ryot — the number which go to the bundle,
^^ and the number of bundles. If the Ryot is not satis-
HARVEST HOME. 65
^^ fied with the mohurrir's estimate, the sheaves are mea-
^^ sured with the chain. The name of the Ryot to whom
'^ the plant helong-s^ and the name of the boat-manjee^ or
^' hackery man who broug-ht it to the factor}^, are Hkewise
'' written. Each Eyot has the date and number of bun-
^^ dies entered on a separate paper^ which he retains :
^^ this is called a haat chitty. The haat chitty is brought
'^ whenever its owner brings plant^ and the entries are
^^ duly made day by day, ag^reeing*^ of course^ with those
^^ in the amddnni, the book in which all the plant is en-
^^ tered^ and which is written in dupHcate. When the
'^ measurement of the plant is finished, one book is taken
^^ to the superintendent^ or^ if there is none at the factory,
^' it is sent to that at which he resides, and the other
'' remains in the sherishta. Any one who has seen the
^^ confusion in a neel cola when two or three hundred
'' Ryots are delivering' plant, will allow that the mohurrir
^' cannot conveniently make false entries at that time.
^' The haat chitty ^ and the amddnni are checks one on
'^ the other ; the duplicate amddnni is a check on both ]
" for the Ryot is quite as willing* to connive with the
" mohurrir to cheat the planter, as the mohurrir may be
^^ to cheat either one or the other. When the manufac-
^^ turing* is finished, the entries are written in a book,
^' which is to the amddnni what the ledger is to the daily
^^ cash-book. There is a page for each Ryot, which
^^ shews the dates on which he brought plant, and the
^^ quantity. This being done, the Ryots are called in
'^ to settle their accounts, and v/hich, haat chitties in
^' hand, they do. This is the plan pursued, and it ap-
^^ pears one calculated to protect the Ryot far more than
^^ the planter.''
Every thing seems here to be done to give the culti-
66 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS,
vator his due. Of course the natives will cheat, and
bribe, and quarrel, and bring* false accusations ag-ainst
each other. Man}^ judges have reported it as a g-eneral
proposition, that all accusations made by the police are
inventions, with no other end than extortion. The planter
cannot say much more for his native servants than that
they are better looked after than the police, and are not
so shamelessly corrupt as the judg-es' omlah. We are
not claiming for the planter that he is a beneficent deity :
we only assert of him that he is an honest man, doing*
his best in a corrupt state of society, and doing better
than the Government does.
What we have to add to this statement of the relations
of the planters and the Ryots will be by way of admis-
sions, and we will make them as frankly and unreservedly
as if we were stating- the strongest facts in favour of the
cause for which we are seeking a hearing.
Among the institutions which the British settler found
in force in the interior were many jurisdictions analogous
to those feudal rights once common in Europe.* The
Zemindar was the lord of the manor. He had the power
to summon his tenants to his courts, just as our lords of
the manor had the power to summon their copyhold or
freehold tenants to their manor courts to perform suit and
service.! He had armed retainers, whom he employed to
* In an article in the Calcutta Review for June 1847, Mr. Setou
Karr, who drew up the Indigo Report, 1860, but had not then the
influence of Mr. Grant so strong upon him, says —
" To the Zemindars is due the invention of the Ifittial system. We
" can affirm with the fullest confidence that it was not the device of the
" planter ; that, left to himself, and with the prospect of fair dealing
" and speedy justice, he would not thus have taken up arms in broad
" daylight."
t This has been taken away by special act of the Legislature, directed
against the ''interlopers," but most grievously felt by the Zemindars,
OLD DAYS. 67
^ard him fi'om robbers^ and to serve him in his quarrels^
or, under the name of lattials, or stick-men, to punish his
Ryots. All these privileg-es he used ag*ainst the settler,
to make his Ryots refuse to gTow indig'o or to make them
grow it, according as the settler propitiated him or set
him at defiance. He also used his lattials to destroy or
cut the patches of indigo for which the settler had ad-
vanced money. Of course the settler was not long in
following- this custom. He also hired a set of lattials for
his own protection, and to neutralize the lattials of the
bludgeon-men, and in trials of stick-play the Europeans
soon got the better. In Kishnaghur and in all the
indigo districts all this is quite gone out of fashion since
the planters have leased the Zemindars' feudal rights.
Even thirteen years ago Mr. Seton Karr referred to it
as ^^ A Tale of the Past." At the present moment he
and Mr. Grant, in the " Minute" and in the " Report,"
only insinuate the descent of these historic irregularities.
They talk of lattials in Jessore just as a demag-ogue in-
veighing against monarchy might talk of ship-money in
Buckinghamshire.
So, also, the planter holding manors (or Zemindaries),
by ^^ putnee" or permanent lease had succeeded to the
reputed right of summoning the R3^ot to pay his rent,
and make up his indigo account 3 and it must be admitted
that, whether the planter has or has not the lease of the
manor, he had at one time come to usurp this right, and
to summon the Ryots to the house to make up his ac-
counts.
This is what Mr. Grant calls '^ kidnapping." It is an
whom it has crippled in their power of collecting their (and the Govern-
ment's) rents. Government, however, retains its powers of selling and
buying in, the whole Zemindary upon an instant's delay.
E 2
08 THE PLANTER AND THE BYOTS.
old Native practice. It is just as if an Eiig-lish land-
owner sent out and made his farmers come to his audit,
with this exception^ that an Eng-lish farmer neither re-
quires or would submit to any such compulsion^ and the
Beno-ali is used to it from time immemorial. But let us
suppose that there was in Eng-land no remedy by distress^
no County Court^ no Civil Assizes^ no other remedy
but a Chancery suit to recover the rent or arrears of
a thousand small tenants — in fact no law at all — should
we not^ think you^ have lattials and ^^ kidnapping" in
Eng-land ?
These " kidnapping's/^ when rare instances do occur,
are a disgrace^ not to the planters, but to Mr. Grant and
his class. Is it not monstrous^ under a civiHzed Govern-
ment^ that a vast industry and a g-reat class of capitalists
should be so outlawed that they should be driven^ in ex-
treme cases, to do for themselves what the Government
of the country ought to do for them ? Is it not a scandal
that the planter has not the facility which the meanest
Eng-lish ^' tallyman'' has^ that of summoning- his debtor
before an honest unsuspected rural judg^e, and making-
him make up his accounts^ or perform his contract 1 If
it was not for the fact that a planter is one white man
dwelling among 200,000 natives, the wonder would be^
not that now and then, a planter, under the sting of
some aggravating fraud, is found to right himself, but
that the law of the Mofussil is not habitually a rule of
violence. Such a system could only have been delibe-
rately invented in order to produce violence, and to com-
pass the traditional pohcy of the East- India Company
and their ^^ pucka civiHans.'' Mr. Grant, when he manu-
factures his sneers out of stories a quarter of a century
old, and recollects what short work he makes with his
^^ kidnappings/* 69
own salt and opium Eyots^ must wonder in his secret
soul how the planters could have withstood the pressure
he and his friends have put upon them for years
long- past.
However^ to account for an evil is not to justify it.
There is no country where any violence is so much to be
deprecated as in India^ for the execution must be dele-
g-ated to natives^ who will be certain to conduct it in the
worst manner. With a trustworthy police^ independent
judg-es^ and a simple law, nothing* of the sort ever would
occur. Such cases are, indeed, exceeding-ly rare. Mr.
Grant is oblig-ed to recur to his imag-ination, or his Indian
traditions, Avhen he wants a modern instance. But if the
number were a thousand times g-reater^ the remedy is ia
the hands of Mr. Grant. He has only to estabhsh effi-
cient small- contract Courts in India, and to allow justice
to take her course unterrified and unchecked, and the
Ryot would have immediate remedy ag-ainst the planter,
and the planter ag-ainst the Ryot. There is not the
least reason why, if public disturbers, like this Lieutenant-
Governor of Bengal, were kept from intermeddhng*, or
were never trusted with public stations, and if the bless-
ing- of cheap and speedy justice were distributed in India,
as it is in Eng-land, — there is no reason, we say, why an
indig-o plantation should not be as happy and peaceful as
a model English parish, with a resident landlord and an
attentive clerg-yman.*
* Of course this assertion supposes that the peace of the country is
kept, and equal protection is given by Government to all classes. We
are not pretending that the antagonism of race will lie dormant in the
case of indigo, or cotton, or tea, or silk, any more than in the case of
Zillah Judges.
. How long would the civilians be safe in the Mofussil if some superior
power could say to the Zemindars and Ryots — " don't obey the autho-
rities, we will protect you ?" How long would the Missionaries
70 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
Such have been^ in times immediately antecedent to the
accession of the present Lieutenant-Governor of Beng'al^
the deahng's betv/een the capitahst and the native labourer
in Beng-al. When the mutinies broke out^ the g'ood re-
lations of the Ryots and indig'o planters were very mani-
fest. One of the conspicuous facts of the g-reat mutiny
was the defence by Mr. Venables^ the indigo planter^ of
the district of Azimg-hur^ after the Civil servants had all
run away.* It was the g'ood understanding- kept up by
the indig-o planters with the natives at Baraset which
enabled Mr. Eden to hold his ground there^ giving him
intelligence of a conspiracy to murder him^ and enabling
him later to indulge in the luxury of an exemplary in-
gratitude^ by exciting a social jaquerie among the indigo
planters' debtors. It is a fact worth a thousand of Mr.
Grant's inuendoes^ or his Secretary, Mr. Seton Karr's^
astute insinuations^ that during the time when the Com-
pany's native judges were trying and sentencing Queen^s
officers and Company's servants^ no indigo planter was
remain in India if they were not backed and protected by Bri-
tish bayonets ? The planters being now deserted by those who
hold the bayonets at their command, are, as a matter of course, thrown
into the power of a hostile race, who hate civilian, missionary, and
planter in an equal degree, or perhaps the missionary the most and the
planter the least. The mutiny gives conclusive evidence of the hatred
borne by natives to all Europeans or indeed Christians — surely it is a
very suicidal policy for one set of Enghshmen to ruin another in a
foreign country, and even the thinking portion of the natives must
laugh at the house divided against itself, and be full of hope that their
time is coming to gain the ascendancy, when they see Mr. Grant at his
work.
* Very few of the Tirhoot planters did leave the district, and very
few were even warned to leave.
"When the Tirhoot planters were warned by the civilians to leave the
district, they made over their factories to their native head-men, and on
their return, they found the work had gone on steadily during their
absence. This is another fact to shew the relation between planter and
Byot, when the civilians do not interfere.
THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS. 71
murdered^ or even harmed. This fact has sunk deep into
the minds of the British people, and even into the minds of
the present generation of Civil servants. The fact realized
all that Metcalfe and Bentinck had foretold, and there
are now plenty of civilians to admit, even in their official
reports, that if British settlers had been encourag-ed in
India there would have been no rebellion.* Every thing-
is subdued to the new reign of common sense^ and the
postponement of class jealousies to the imperial good^
prceter atrocem animum Catonis. Grant, and his little
surrounding of Civil lattials, are as they ever were ; or
even as J. Jebb and J. Pattison were, when expostulating
with George Canning against allowing Englishmen to go
to India.
So much for the normal relation of the planter and the
Ryots.
* Wherever there were British settlers in any number, viz. : Sarun,
Cbamparun, Tirhoot, and Lower Bengal, there was no rebellion.
7^
CHAPTER VI.
THE RELATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT TO THEIR RYOTS.
, A FEW words as to opium. Mr. Grant forces us to
allude to it^ in order to demonstrate that his conduct to
us is not an honest error^ or a delusion that he is bene-
fiting- the Eyot when he ruins his employers. The most
suspicious reader of this address will scarcely believe in
any pretences to philanthropic motives which Mr. Grant
may put forth, when he sees the character of the opium
labour which Mr. Grant in his official capacity enforces^
and compares it with that which Mr. Grant has inter-
fered to destroy.
We do not labour the subject, because we are quite
sensible to the fact^ that if indig-o could be proved to be
a pernicious cultivation^ we should not justify its culture
by proving" that opium is iiiore pernicious.
But we are charging* conduct against Mr. Grant and
those immediate subordinates whose acts he controls and
rewards, which^ in our judgment, possibly prejudiced in
such a matter, can only be explained by a deliberate in-
tention to ruin every independent British interest in
India, and to consummate the old traditionary policy of
extruding all interlopers from India.
We mention this word opium, then, not to justify the
culture of indigo, for no one dreams that a harmless dye,
employing labour, clearing the jungle, and spreading an-
nually miUions of capital over the rural districts of Ben-
h
THE OPIUM RYOTS. 73
gill, needs any justification ; but in order to shew the
impossibility that a man can be honest when he pretends
that he can see " forced labour" in the indigo factory,
while he is himself the controller and director of the Go-
vernment opium works. To the man who, with the
beam in his own eye, soug-ht to pluck out the mote in his
brother's eye, the apostrophe was, " Thou hypocrite !''
A few words, therefore, about opium.
In the first place, no person within the Beng-al terri-
tories is allowed to grow the poppy, except on Govern-
ment account.
Annual eng-agements are entered into by the cultiva-
tors, under a system of pecuniary advances to sow a
certain quantity of land with the poppy ; and the whole
produce, in the form of opium, is delivered to the Govern-
ment at a fixed rate.
Opium requires the richest land. No crop in India
requires so much care and labour as the cultivation of the
poppy. The g-round has to be ploug-hed six or eight
times, harrowed, well-manured, and watered. It was
(Colebrooke in his Husbandry of Bengal states) an un-
profitable crop for the Ryots, who were, however, tempted
to engage in it ^^ only in consequence of the advances
made by the Government agents." The poppy is a de-
licate plant, peculiarly Hable to injury from insects^ wind,
hail, or unseasonable rain. ^^ The produce'' (Colebrooke
says) ^^ runs in extremes : while one cultivator is disap-
^^ pointed, another reaps immense gain : one season does
^^ not pay the labour of culture — another, peculiarly for-
^^ tunate, enriches all the cultivators."
The contracts for the cultivation are entered into with
the Ryots in August or September, when the Ryots re-
ceive their advance from the Government of four rupees
74 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS.
per beeg-ah. The sowing's commence in November. The
crop is collected in March or April^ when the account
with the Ryot is finally settled^ on each man's produce
being" delivered and weig-hed.
The fixed price g-iven to the Ryot is 3^ Gd, or 1 rupee
12 annas for every pound of manufactured opium deli-
vered to the Government ag-ent : at least^ the above was,
for many years, the fixed price 3 but a year ago the cul-
tivation fell off so much, that Government had to make
an advance to the Ryot of a few half-pence per pound on
the fixed rate.
When opium sells at 900 rupees per chest, it gives the
Government equal to . . . lis Od per pound.
Deduct from this paid to the Ryot, Ss 6d
Leaving" for the Government . 75 6d per pound.
But for some time past opium has been selling* at
nearer 1800 rupees per chest, or double the above price,
which gives to the Government, say 22s Od per pound.
Deduct from this paid to the Ryot, 3^ 6d
Leaving" for the Government, 186^ 6d per pound,
or 600 per cent^ upon the cost price of the opium.
No interest or commission is charg-ed on the advances
made to the Ryots. The account of one season must be
settled before the commencement of the next, and no out-
standing" balance is allowed to stand over.
If the cultivator neglect to bring sufiicient produce to
cover his advance, the balance is at once recovered by
legal meanSy by a summary process applicable to opium
cases alone.
As to the manner in which the opium Ryots are com-
pelled to accept the advances, we may cite, for the public.
THE OPIUM KYOTS. 75
opinion on the subject^ the official letter of Mr. Farqu-
harson^ the opium ag'ent of Behar. He reports that^
"^ 23. The newspapers were at one time full of stories
of the compulsory and oppressive nature of the opium
cultivation. Gentlemen travelling" dak heard from their
bearers stories of money being' thrown^ as opium advances^
into E,3^ots' houses^ and the Ryots thereby bound to cul-
tivate countless fields of poppy at a ruinous loss to them-
selves^ and that on refusal or remonstrance^ they were
seized and carried off to the opium cutcherries^ and con-
fined and beaten till their recusance was overcome."
Of course Mr. Farquharson insists that the travellers
had been '' imposed upon/' and Mr. Grant doubtless is
incredulous as to these stories. Yet there are many very
credible Europeans who can prove the facts just as the
newspapers stated them. Mr. Grant seems to have read
and believed these statements^ substituting '^ indig-o " for
'' opium."
Mr. Farquharson applied to the Eev. L. F. Kalberer
to corroborate his report as to his view that the opium
Ryots are not^ as stated, g-round to the earth by fiscal
oppression and by countless hosts of Government spies,
^he reverend gentleman answered the appeal^ but rather
faintly^ and from his favourable testimony we are able to
extract the following rather damnatory points in the
evidence of a witness called to exculpate. He says — we
take the admissions and omit the reverend gentleman's
exculpatory evidence — •
'^ There may be spies in the Abkaree Department in
large towns. I have heard of such a things but am not
certain of the facts^ that the Ryots should not smuggle it ]
if there are^ notwithstanding it is smuggled, which enables
the poorer class to eat it.
76 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS,
'^ I may here be allowed to subjoin some common con-
versations which we often had with the Eyots^ as they
often have sat with us for hours^ and naturally religious
conversations are first^ but others are also introduced^ for
instance : —
f^ Why do you sow opium ? — Because it enables me
to pay my land rent and do other business with the
money as wa g'et advance^ which is very convenient.
'^ Do you sow it willingly ? — Because the Government
wishes us to do so.
" Are you compelled to sow it? — Yes.
^^ By whom?— B}^ the Zemindar^ and sometimes by
the ZiUahdar»
" Why ? — He gets his land rent easily, and is profit-
able to him.
^^ But can you not give it up when you like ? — Yes,
but I do not like to give it up, because the advances are
very convenient, and we have not to pay interest of that
money.
" Are you compelled to sow opium ? — Yes.
Others again —
" If you were not, would 3^ou not sow ? — No.
^^ Last February we were at Gya, one of our cartmen^s
brother became our watchman 3 often these men praised
their Zemindar very much for his kindness and care of
his Eyots, — a very rare thing. Some years ago he or-
dered all his Eyots of about twenty villages to cease
opium cultivation ; they obeyed his order .'^
Such is the evidence obtained by an oj)ium agent seek-
ing for testimony in favour of his masters. Is it not
even stronger than any evidence that Mr. Grant has
been able to obtain by a Commission seeking evidence
against the indigo planter ? Mr. Grant's own evidence
SALT. 77
in favour of his opium is more damnatory to himself
than his hostile and thoroug-hly contradicted evidence
against indig-o is inimical to the system of indig-o cultiva-
tion. Yet he professes to proclaim the country ag*ainst
the indig-o manufacturer in the interest of the native?
We ask ag-ain, is it possible that this can be an honest
delusion ?
While we are upon this matter of forced purchase by
Government under a system of summary punishments, we
oug^ht also to say something* upon
SALT.
In Beng-al the manufacture of salt is carried on^ on
account of the Government by the system of pecuniary
advances ; the parties advanced to being* bound to deliver^
at a fixed price^ all the salt manufactured. The salt in
Beng-al is obtained by boiling- the sea-water. The manu-
facturers are called Molung-ees : about 100,000 of them
are eng-ag-ed on the Sunderbunds near Calcutta.
The averag-e cost of production is 80 rujjees per 100
maunds; or something- under one farthing- per pound^
while the Government sells it at an ^verag-e of one penny
per pound.
The native salt ag-ents were accused of being- great
oppressors of the Molung-ees^ who were cheated in the
weig-ht delivered : and being- reported to be short of the de-
livery contracted for^ the native ag-ent made the conceal-
ment of this a farther g-round of extortion. The native
agent next makes use of the unfortunate Molung-ee as the
medium of seUing- the concealed salt to the smug-g-lers.
Interest was charged to him upon the advance. Once
78 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS^
on the wrong- side, lie seldom got ag-ain on the right one :
he hecame a bondsman for life when once indebted ; and
^very Molung-ee so situated was made to believe that his
children's children were bound for his debt to the Govern-
ment. The native agents were responsible for keeping"
a sharp look out upon these Molungees ; but many of
them managed, notwithstanding, to make their escape^
indebted to the Government. The custom was for the
native agent to screen himself by reporting to Govern-
ment that all those who ran away had been carried
off by tigers.
There is not quite the same oppression now, the native
agents being better looked after ; but, notwithstanding
this the Molungees, or salt manufacturers^ are looked upon
as the poorest class of labourers in all Bengal, much
worse off than the Eyots under the most tyrannical
indig'o planter of those old times when the Company
managed to keep all out of the Mofussil but the most
reckless adventurers who had fled from shipboard.
Of late years opium figures at about five millions, and
salt at about two millions sterling, in the revenue of the
Indian Government.
This matter of the Government Ryot and the planters'
Ryot has recently been very well treated by the Calcutta
Englishman J in dealing with the Indigo Report^ 1860.
This newspaper says —
" One of the charges brought against the planters is
their neglect of observing the change taking place around
them, the rise in value of all produce, whilst they did not
pay the Ryots for the produce in proportion. The Indigo
Commission report on this subject, and state it as a pri-
mary cause of the dislike of the Ryot to the cultivation.
ACCOUNTING FOR SALT RYOTS. 79
We looked into the papers before us for any recognition
on the part of the Government of these same sig-ns of the
times^ and to discover if they had done justice to their
Ryots by giving- them an advance in proportion to the
rise in price of produce. We know that Government
very tardily raised the price of opium to the Ryots in
Tirhoot^ but we wished more particularly to see what had
been done in the same country where the indigo Ryots
had revolted against the low rates paid them by the
planters. The Government then have not raised the rates
paid to their Molungees, or salt Hyots^ one fraction he-
yond what they paid Jive years ago — rise in price of rice
notwithstanding. The value of land has risen^ of labour
has risen^ and of indigo plant has risen_, but no rise has
taken place to the Molungee/'
^^ At Hidgelle the amount paid by Government to the
Molungee in 1850 was six annas [ninepence] per maund
(of eighty-four Ibs.)^ and the same rate continues up to
1860^ seven annas being* paid to one division and six an-
nas in the other. At Tumlook we have the same thing :
in 1850 the price paid is seven annas^ and from 1857 a
small rise by quarters of an anna yearl}^ up to 1860^ when
the price remained at eight annas per maund. If we are
to consider this as an advance of price of about fourteen
per cent._, still it is nothing to the advance the planters
have made in the same period of time. There is nothing
more clearly shews the injustice of the Bengal Govern-
ment to the planters than the statements here given of
their conduct towards their own Ryots. A perwanna
issued in the salt districts^ stating that the Molungees
were not bound to manufacture salt unless they pleased,
and that they could only be prosecuted in the Civil
1
■i
80 THE PLANTER AND THE RYOTS. \
Courts^ would raise a disturbance quite equal to that ;
which has occurred in Beng-al^ if not greater.'^* j
i
* To avoid this disagreeable comparison, and, let us hope, in order to \
save these poor creatures from actual starvation, after which they could i
produce no salt, Mr. Grant, it is said, is now about to raise the rates of ;
the salt Ryots. We would even " willingly believe" that the Lieutenant- '
Governor had been influenced " by the compassion, the sincerity, and the
kindness of a Christian," if he had not expended his Christian virtue !
upon exciting idleness among the indigo Ryots, while his own salt Ryots I
were starving. ]
81
CHAPTER VII.
THE HONBLE. MR. MAGISTRATE EDEN EXCITES A STRIKE.
In 1859, after the extinction of the rebellion, and per-
haps owing- to the Eng-lish capital therein expended^ there
was a g'eneral rise throug*hout Beng'al of the prices of
labour and rice.
What happens in England when corn g'oes down to a
very low rate ? All the small leaseholders g-et suddenly
dissatisfied. It is no long-er the little, normal matters of
dispute, such as letting- the g-ates and homesteads g-et out
of repair, selling- off hay, and bring-ing- on no manure,
growing" more than the two reg-ular successive straw
crops. The Eng-lish landowner has his little reg-ular diffi-
culties of this sort, just like the Indian planter in his quiet
times. But when corn g-ets very low, the discontents of
these httle farmers of arable farms g*et serious. They
talk, perhaps wdthout much meaning-, of throwing- up their
leases j and they sometimes let the rent run in arrear.
Above all, they cast a covetous eye upon the meadow-
land and the pasture-land down by the river, when they
mark the contrast between the hig-h price of meat and
the low price of corn.
This was just the case with the Ryots in 1859. There
had been, as Mr. Larmour shewed the Calcutta Commis-
sion the other day, several years of disastrous failure in
the indig-o crops, while the rice crops had been thriving- •
and the Ryots had got into arrears with the planter, and
82 MB. EDEN EXCITES A STRIKE.
did not like the crop they were under contract to culti-
vate. It was a critical condition of affairs, and especi-
ally under a Government which has no available law of
contracts.
In the ordinary course of thing's, however^ the difficulty
must have soon blown over. There would have been a
great deal of talk^ and^ after some delay^ the planters
would have seen^ as they have seen upon five former occa-
sions^ that some concession must be made : and it would
have been made. Our Eng-hsh plan in such case is to
return a per centag-e for one year. That would not do in
India^ where all is paid in advance^ even to the chickens
which aire to come when the sitting- hen has hatched
them^* and where nothing- that is once given can be taken
back. The planter would have advanced the price a little ;
he would have ag'reed to carr}^ the plant to the factory :
one or two averag-e seasons would have broug-ht the Ryots
up even with the factory^ as we have already seen hap-
pened to Mr. Larmour's Ryots^ and matters would have
jog-g-ed on ag-ain in their usual way.
" My Ryots/' (said Mr. Larmour^) ^^ have always
^^ worked with me freely and cheerfully^ and unless^ when
f^ misled or instig*ated ag-ainst me^ as in the present sea-
" son^ they have alwa3^s been g-lad to meet me when I
^^ visited their villag-es, and to point out with pride their
^^ indig-o cultivation."
Unhappily^ however^ there was at Baraset one of those
very energetic civilians in whose e^^es the planter, but
especially the planter's cutcherry, is an abomination. The
planter, in his arbitration court, has more than all the crimes
laid to his charge which Shy lock alleged against Antonio.
* Mr. Larmour's Evidence before Indigo Commission, ISCO.
MR. EDEN EXCITES A STRIKE. 83
.Not only does he lend money without usury^ but he does
justice between the llyots in their own quarrels^ without
taking fees or consuming starnjis, and by his illeg-al and
voluntary court of arbitration^ he diminishes the import-
ance and the supremacy of such civilians as Mr. Eden.
Now was the time, to send a shot rig-ht between wind and
water into the whole class of such interlopers.
Mr. Eden at once took advantag-e of this happy oppor-
tunity^ and^ as magistrate of Baraset^ he^ on the 17th
Aug-ust^ 1859. wrote a letter to his native deputy-mag'is-
trate^ '^ for his information and g"uidance.^^ He called to
his attention that "the ll^^ot is at liberty to sow any crop
he likes/' and that " where contracts or promises may
be admitted^ there may still be many irresistible pleas
to avoid the consequences the planters insist upon."
Imagine the effect of a mag^istrate volunteering this
false and dishonest counsel to an excited and discontented
population^ already trying* to force the planters out of
their contracts. Was any more execrable advice ever
g-iven ? Will the reader of these pag-es believe that a
magistrate, a Christian man^ and English g-entleman^
could publicly inform a population of pag'ans that al-
thoug'h their contracts or promises mig'ht be undeniable^
yet they were not bound by their promise or contract,
but were at liberty to sow any crop they liked ? We
laug'h to scorn Mr. Eden's subterfug-e, as to whether the
contracts had or had not a clause of rig-ht of entry. This
was what he intended the Eyots to understand, what he
knew the R3^ots would understand, and what the Eyots
did understand— namely, that the Government wished the
indigo contracts to be thrown up and the indigo manu-
facture abohshed.
The native deputy-magistrate naturally turned this
f2
84 GOVERIS'MENT PROCLAMATION AGAINST INDIGO.
letter into a proclamation^ and posted it all over the dis-
trict of Baraset.*
We should seek in vain for any parallel case in this
country. If some frenzy had seized the British farmers
* This is the letter:—
" To Baboo Hemchunder Kur,
" Depy. Magistrate Kalarooah Sub-Division,
*' Sir, — As the cultivation of indigo is carried on to a considerable
extent in your sub-division, I beg to forward you, for your information
and guidance, extracts from a letter. No. 4516, dated 21st July 1859,
from the Secretary to the Government of Bengal to the Commissioner
of the Nuddea Division.
" You will perceive that the course laid down for the police in indigo
disputes is to protect the Ryot in the possession of his lands, on which
he is at liberty to sow any crop he likes, without any interference on the
part of the planter or any one else. The planter is not at liberty, under
pretext of the Ryot having promised to sow indigo for him, to enter
forcibly upon the land of the Ryot. Such promises can only be produced
against the Ryot in the Civil Court, and the magisterial authority have
nothing to do with them, for there must be two parties to a promise, and
it is possible that the Ryots, whose promises or contracts are admitted,
may still have many irresistible pleas to avoid the consequence the
planter insists upon."
This is the proclamation :—
'* Translation.
" To the Darogah of Thannah Kalarooah. Take notice. — A letter
from the Magistrate of Baraset, dated the 17th August, 1859, having
been received, accompanied by an extract from an English letter from
the Secretary to the Government of Bengal, to the address of the Com-
missioner of the Nuddea Division, dated 21st July, 1859, No. 4516, to
the following purport, that in cases of disputes relating to indigo Ryots
they shall retain possession of their own lands, and shall sow in them
what crops they please, and the pohee will be careful that no indigo
planter nor any one else be able to interfere in the matter, and indigo
planters shall not be able forcibly to cause indigo to be sown on the
lands of those Ryots on the ground that the Ryots consented to the
sowing, &c., of indigo. If Ryots have so consented, the indigo planter
may bring an action against them in the Civil Court. The Criminal
Court has no concern in these matters, because, notwithstanding such
contractSy or such consent withheld or given. Ryots may urge unan-
swerable excuses against the sowing of indigo. A copy of perwannah
is therefore issued, and you are requested in future to act accordingly. —
Dated 20th August, 1859.''
THE EYOTS SEIZE MR. EDEN'S MEANING. 85
to grow no more straw crops until protection had been
restored, and a Conservative ministry — we beg* pardon of
that gTeat party for so injurious a supposition — were to
issue a proclamation^ setting* forth that the farmers would
be protected by the whole force of the police in carrying"
out their project^ and reminding the mag-istrates that there
Avas no remedy to make them sow except a suit in Chan-
cery for specific performance of their ag-reements, which
of course was, as ag-ainst thousands of faprmers, inopera-
tive ; — if such a proclamation as this had been put forth,
at a moment when the people were excited by causes
arising" from the fluctuation of prices, might it not even
in Eng'land have produced a very frig^htful disaster ? and
can there be any doubt that when the nation returned to
its senses the madmen who had so misused their power
would be impeached ? But even this violent supposition
can g-ive no idea of the consequences of such a document
as we have just set forth, disseminated in a country ac-
customed to despotic institutions: among* a race habituated
to look up to the Government as the irresistible and un-
appeasable tyrant before whom even the white settlers are
but dust, and at whose breath licenses are recalled,
planters disappear fi*om their places, and districts of re-
claimed jungie go back to bulrushes. The subtle Asiatic
mind is always ready to jump at a meaning- beyond what
is expressed in the rough lang-uag'e of the crass Western,
But if the Beng-ali had scanned it never so closely, what
could he have made out of this proclamation, except that
the '^ Sircar" had determined to turn the Europeans out
of the Mofussil, and were desirous that no more indig-o
should be sown ? Hedg*e it around with what nice dis-
tinctions you may, if you come down to an excited class
of cultivators under agreements to sow, and volunteer to
86 MR. EDEN EXCITES A STRIKE.
them a promise that they shall sow what they like^ and
that^ as to their ag-reements, they can only be enforced in
the Civil Courts^ and that many irresistible pleas ma}^ set
them aside even when admitted — what can a native under-
stand from this, except that you w4sh to put an end to
indig'o J and that he is not only emancipated from his
ag'reementS; but that it will offend the Government, and do
no ^ood to any one, even if he should carr}^ them out.^'
* Mr. Larmour's evidence upon this subject is as follows ; —
Mr. Sefon Karr.'] Q. You are aware that a dishke to the cultivation
of indigo has been generally manifested in some districts this spring, and
that in some concerns the Ryots distinctly refuse to sow in spite of per-
suasion, and with the consequences of the summary law (passed for six
months, and now expired) before them : will you give the Commission
your opinion as to the causes of this dislike and mutiny?
A. The present spirit of the Ryots, especially in the district of Kish-
naghur, has been caused, in the first instance, by a perwannah issued by
the Magistrate of Baraset, telling the Ryots of that concern that they
were at liberty to sow indigo or not, and if the planter attempted to
enforce it, he must have recourse to the Civil Court. The effect of such
perwannah could only have been construed into the meaning that it was
the Magistrate's wish that the Ryots should not sow indigo, and the
effect of this perwannah was that the Ryots not only refused to sow
indigo, but they did not pay their rents. This perwannah was again
followed up by the Magistrate of Baraset sending extracts of a letter
from the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal to Mr. Grote, Commissioner
of the Nuddea division, which extracts were translated into Bengali, and
a perwannah sent round to the thannahs of the suh-division of Kullarooa,
telling the Ryots again that they were at liberty to sow indigo, or not,
as it suited them. These pe^^wannahs had the ejfect of rousing all the
Myois throughout the Kishnaghur district y and inducing them to attempt
to break their engagements. These per wannahs were followed up by a
letter from the Secretary to Government of Bengal to the Commissioner
of the Nuddea division, finding fault with the conduct of the Magistrate
and Deputy Magistrate of Nuddea, in cases in which indigo planters
were concerned, and which led the natives generally to believe that the
Jjieutenant- Governor of Bengal was strongly prejudiced against indigo
and indigo planting. The Ryots, labouring under the belief that they
would receive the support of Government in not fulfilling their engage-
ments, beame very daring, and attacked and maltreated Europeans
when riding about the country. A petition was presented through the
Commissioner of Nuddea by myself, dated 4th February last, begging
for the immediate interference of Government to counteract the irapres-
MR. GRANT ADOPTS MR. EDEN. 87
Tell any class of men that they may pay their debts or
not as they please^ and what would be the consequence ?
Is it possible that we have to arg'ue this before an im-
partial public^ and that firebrands who have^ for wanton-
ness^ or vanity^ or esprit de corps, put such tremendous
interests at peril^ should be retained in posts of authority
by a rational people ? At the cost of how many millions
do the people of Engiand think they keep this Mr. Eden
in office ? How many rebellions^ and the loss of how
many millions of trade^ shall we cheerfully underg-o for
the pleasure of having Mr. J. P. Grant's favorite in power
in Beng'al?
No sooner had these perwannahs issued^ than^ g-radually
and surely, the word passed through the plains, that^ in the
words of Mr. Larmour^ ^^ Government was determined to
crush all European interest in the country." The conse-
quences were not doubtful. It is not only the Bengali
who will kick the falling. The natives laughed at their
arrears^ as they were much in the habit of doings but they
also laughed at their agreements for the coming season.
The feeling began to grow. Europeans^ as they rode
about^ were insulted, and a little more delay^ and Mr.
Eden's proclamation would be followed out by a murder
or two. A petition to the Government met with no at-
tention whatever. There was a jaquerie rising. Mr.
Eden had gaily raised it^ but Government probably never
opened the despatches which announced it. It was a very
light matter for Mr. Eden— a mere rustic rising, quite
harmless to Mr. Eden^ with his fortified gaol and his
sion that the Ryots had received from the reports that had been circu-
lated, and the perwannahs that had been issued. iVb notice whatever
was taken of mi/ representation, and when a notification was issued to
disabuse the Ryots' minds, it came too late, and had no good effect."
^
88 ME. eden's jaquerie. j
J
armed guard ; but very unpleasant to planters dwell-
ing alone in open houses^ and with a population about ;
them impressed with the belief that Government wanted to |
g-et rid of the interlopers once for all^ and that their fac- !
tories might be had for the sacking. More wonderful ]
even than the safety of the planters during the mutinies \
is the fact that the Kyots resisted this temptation as |
they did. \
This is the sort of excitable people^ ready to believe that
even a dog in high office must be inspired, whom Mr. j
Eden, at a critical moment, let loose upon the indigo :
planters of Bengal. That nothing should be wanting to |
keep up the behef of the people, fast and furious came j
missives to the same purpose. There were letters from the I
Secretary of Government, in the Eden vein. The storm i
was beginning to howl. Magistrates and Civil servants 1
in the neighbourhood, men who knew the districts and the j
magnitude of the impending peril, were censured, or re- |
moved, because they dared to report against Mr. Eden's j
proceedings. Sir F. Halliday had, unhappily, at that '
moment been succeeded by Mr. J. P. Grant, as Lieute-
nant-Governor of Bengal. :
Mr. Eden's perwannahs were issued on the 20th of ]
August 1859, and had been immediately made the object i
of loud remonstrance. ,
The Commissioner, Mr. Grote, an officer of great ex-
perience and judgment, saw at once the danger of these j
proclamations ; and being Mr. Eden's immediate superior, ■
he condemned his conduct and reversed his decisions. j
Mr. Eden appealed to the Lieutenant-Governor of ;
Bengal.
The Lieutenant-Governor took time enough for deli-
beration, and on the 7th April, 1860, Mr. J. P. Grant ]
MR. GRANT VOLUNTEERS AN " OPINION." 89
condescended to say that he was of opinion that Mr.
Eden had g'iven a satisfactory explanation.
A few days previous to this last date, Mr. Grant,
jealous of the laurels of his subordinate, had published,
as a Government document, a letter from himself to Mr.
Sconce, containing- this sentence : —
'^ I am myself of opinion that the indigo cultivators"
(meaning" the Eyots) '^ have and long* have had g-reat and
increasing* g-round of just complaint against the whole
system of indigo cultivation."
The planters have nothing to do with Mr. Grant^s opi-
nion. But whatever may be a man's prejudices, whether
he be opium manufacturer or not, no honest man could
read the papers in Mr. Grant's own office, or even the
small part we have quoted, nor could he even hold his ears
open to notorious facts, and say, whatever may be " the
grounds of complaint against the whole system of indigo
cultivation," that those ^^ grounds of complaint" are now
" upon the increase." Every man, however, has a right
to his opinion, sensate, or insensate. What we denounce
as an atrocious act, tending directly to confusion and
bloodshed, is the publication of this '^ opinion," without in-
quiry and without jurisdiction, at such a moment as this,
when the whole trade, and the capital of that trade, and
perhaps, also, the lives of the British settlers, and the
peace of the country, hung upon a thread.
What, we ask the people of England, who will certainly
have to pay for all wars which their officials may wan-
tonly provoke — what could be the object of a man who,
with his salt Byots starving on one side of him, and his
opium Byots driven to their forced labour on the other
side, turns to the indigo Ryots, with whom he has no
official connexion whatever, and advises them to oppose
^0 MR. GHANT EMULATES MR. EBEN.
^^ the whole system of indig-o culture ?" Can we assign
it to any other motive than a desig'n to extirpate the in-
dig-o planter from India ?
The planters then went up to the Leg-islative Council^
and stated the urg-ency of the dang-er ; and the Council
recognised that urg-ency. The planters asked a very
simple boon. They only desired a temporary measure
g-iving* a summary remedy to enforce existing- indigo con-
tracts. It was not wanted to put Ryots in prison^ and
it was to a very slight deg-ree put in force j but it was
wanted as an authentic declaration of the Government of
the country against those two g-reat official agitators^ Mr.
Eden and Mr. Grant. It was wanted as a counter pro-
clamation to the perwannahs of Baraset. It was wanted
as a disavowal of Mr. Grant's proscription of the indig-o-
culture^ and of the Hon. Ashley Eden's ^^ satisfactorily
explained'' perwannahs.
For the poison was brewing, and from that time to
this it has gone on spreading and infecting the whole
population of Bengal. Almost every day since his first
sweeping denunciation of the indigo manufacture, Mr.
Grant has been able to publish some new manifestation
of discontent and disorder in the Mofussil. The strange
thing is, that the man actually seems to think that these
crimes, which are as much his own as if he committed
them with his own hands, are rather feathers in his cap.
He has nursed up a rebellion, and he is now twitting the
planters with the dangers they run, after he has hallooed
the natives upon them. It is quite true that, under the
presumed protection of Mr. Grant, the Ryots will not
work out their advances, and are looting the factories,
and ill-treating the planters ; in some instances threaten-
ing their lives, and very generally refusing to pay to Mr.
MR. grant's triumphs. &1
Grant's enemies even their rent.* The last phase of
Mr. Grant's jaquerie is that the Eyots have got to the
point of refusing" to pay rents to native Zemindars as
well as planters.
This is a pleasant spirit to have conjured up just as
* See the official Report of Mr. Reid, the Commissioner for Rajshahye
division. It must sound to Mr. Grant like a song of victory.
" It is to the next sowing season, now imminent, that the most earn-
est attention of the authorities must now he directed. The Ryots of
most of the concerns in Pubna have expressed their determination not
to sow any more indigo, and where the planter is also Zemindar, they
have now proceeded, m some paj'ts, to attempt to avoid the punctual
payment of their rents by offering to deposit them with the collector.
Their avoived reason is to avoid having to pay unauthorised cesses, but
the real reason, I believe, is, that they may be enabled to break off all
connection whatsoever with the factory.
" The magistrate reports that there is a very strong combination
amongst the Ryots to break off their connection with indigo, and that
one Mohesli Chunder Bundopodhya, an inhabitant of the Nuddea dis-
trict, is the prime mover in it. The Ryots are much excited, and,
although perhaps not intentionally seeking to break the peace, a breach
of it may, I concur with the magistrate in thinking, b^ brought about
at any moment by an accidental collision. Every endeavour must be
made to prevent this occurring, and measures have been taken to bind
down Mohesh Chunder Bundopodhya who, there seems strong grounds
to suppose, will incite a rupture.
" Mr. Hampton, of Salgamodia, has already been hound down (///)
together with his factory Naib. Mr. Hampton is the manager of Mr.
Kenny's factories, the excitement in which is far greater than elsewhere.
He assured me that it was his intention to abstain most carefully from
doing any thing which might lead to a rupture. He expressed a fear,
at the same time that, not only would the factories he closed, hut also
that he would he unable to collect his rents, and that his estates would
he hrought to the hammerJ**
The consummation of this last expectation would make Mr. Grant's
work very complete. If Mr. Grant can stop the payment of rents, the
game is his own. If the planter caimot gather his rents he cannot pay
the Government, and there is no difficulty of civil forms about their
remedies. They sell the whole property at once for what it will fetch :
the old plan was to sell it at about one-hundredth part of its value, and
buy it up for the Company. Mr. Grant may intend to use this tradi-
tional device, and to sell up the planters, as his predecessors sold up
the old princes of India.
92 MR. gbant's triumphs.
the Government is ^oing into these districts to collect
Income Tax !
Yet the Lieut.- Governor actually luxuriates in this.
Here is a letter just published by the Government in
Calcutta. It is a picture of the interior. The Lieut. -
Governor here shews us how the Bengali pranks, when
Mr. Grant has relieved him from all his obligations and
all his duties. The letter is from Mr. E. Hoberts, of
Commercolly, to the assistant magistrate of that station.
It details the experience of an exceedingly respectable
planter during these disturbances ', but the odd thing is
that Mr. Grant should publish it.
^^ In the month of July last/' says Mr. Hoberts, ^' an
influential Jotedar of Mirzapore village, named Harran
Joadar, forcibly took away some ^ paddy' belonging to
one Baramdy Sheik of Durrumparah, who complained
to me. I advised him to institute a case against Joadar
in the Fouzdarree Court at Commercolly, which he did.
I gave the man what assistance I could, and desired my
Mooktear to look after his rights in Court. After the
complaint was lodged, Harratf Joadar came to me at
Benepore, and requested me to force Baramdy to ^ rajee-
nama' the case. I refused, and the next day the work
of Benepore factory was very nearly stopped by the in-
fluence of Harran, who induced the Eyots not to cut
indigo. Seeing this, and rather than that Messrs. Wm.
Moran and Company should lose their fine crop of in-
digo, I so far yielded to the wishes of Joadar, that I
withdrew my support from Baramdy. Very soon after-
wards, the latter was intimidated by the former into
withdrawing the suit.
^^ Seeing' the success of Harran Joadar, one Habiz-
ooUah Kazee of Kachakole village, who had long had his
i
PRESENT STATE OF THE MOFUSSIL. 93
eye on a jumma belong-ing to one OofatooUah^ requested
me to take it forcibly from its rightful owner^ and to g-ive
it to him (Habizoollah). I refused, and again my Bene-
pore factory was on the point of being closed by the
machinations of Harran Joadar and Habizoollah. My
fair and liberal dealings, however, with the Ryots, and
the exertions of some of my head servants, kept the
Ryots to their engagements for some time longer, until
three men from Arzool village, Petumber Ghose, Obatah
Hazra, and Sreeram Ghose, appeared on the scene.
These men were at enmity with me because I had gained
an important cause against them in the Civil Court.
They had brought a false claim against this concern for
some valuable property, which case Mr. Seton Karr dis-
missed. To revenge themselves upon me, or to force me
to abandon some of the property they claimed, they took
advantage of the insurrection in Kishnaghur, which was
inflaming men's minds everywhere, and put themselves
at the head of a combination against me. They made
common cause with Harran Joadar, Denoo Kazee, and
others (whom I can mention if necessary), collected many
hundred of Ryots together, and harangued them on the
subject of the indigo disturbances. I need not mention
the particulars of all the arguments they used, but their
talk, their persuasions, and their threats, were listened
to, and the Ryots were on the point of revolt, when the
seizure of two of the ringleaders for the present stopped
further mischief.
^^ The bad seed, however, had been sown, and the
i'iends of the three ringleaders were not idle. Plots
were being planned 3 and, almost immediately after Pe-
tumber and Sreeram Ghose were released from Commer-
£olly on security, the country became in a blaze. On
94 MI?, grant's triumphs.
the 3rd or 4th instant I was prevented from cuttmg- my
indig'o in the villag*es where the Ghoses had influence.
My indig-o servants were driven from their work, or kept
in durance. My rent cutcherry was looted, my servants
staying in the cutcherry were also hound and carried qff^
and for the 'present I am completely out of possession of
my talook property,
^' As I have fortunately g*ot throug-h my manufac-
turing* without much loss, I should be content to let
matters take their course^ and allow them to come round
in their own g-ood time^ for personally I am not now
much concerned in what the people in their madness are
doing". If they do not sow indig-o^ I have no wish that
they do so 3 and as for their not paying* me their rents,
I am willing' to trust to what the law can do for me.
But I do not think it consistent with my duties as a
member of society, as an Eng-lish subject, to be silent
under circumstances which my Mofussil experience and
my local knowledg*e tell me may lead to g-reat disasters.
The disaffection is spreading- fast. Many Ryots came
to me this morning-, saying-, that last nig-ht agents of
Petumber Ghose and Sreeram Ghose had been persuad-
ing- them and threatening- them to join in the conspiracy.
" That I have above represented the true state of
affairs I g-ive you my word as a g-entleman. I have
considered it my duty to do so ; and if you think my
communications are worth receiving-, I will continue to
inform you of what may come under my notice."
Even Mr. Grant will not say, because he cannot say
without immediate contradiction, that Mr. Eoberts had
by tyrannical treatment given any pretence for these
kidnapping-s, and looting's, and combinations. In this
letter, which Mr. Grant has published as an official
PRESENT STATE OF THE MOFUSSIL. 95
paper^ to shew the planters what he has been able to
accomplish for their ruin^ Mr. Roberts beg-s Mr. Harris,
the assistant- mag'istrate, to inquire and report upon the
truth of the statement he makes. He says —
" Before informing* the higher authorities of certain
facts that have come to my notice, I wish to mention
some of them to you, that you may make inquiries as
to the truth of them, and report upon them should you
think it necessary to do so. In addition to what I may
state, I will most g'ladly answer any questions that may
be put to me by you.
" When I took charge of these concerns in October
last, I was most particular in ascertaining" personally
from the Ryots whether they had any causes of com-
plaint. What grievances they had, or pretended to have,
I redressed fully. I settled their rent complaints to
their satisfaction, paid them higher rates for their ploughs
when they used them for my Neezabad cultivation, in-
creased considerably the price for their indigo plant, for
the cutting', boating, and carting of their indigo, and, in
short, left them no grounds whatever to be dissatisfied
with their business connection with this concern. They
were well satisfied, and worked cheerfully and readily at
every thing' connected with their indigo operations. I
dwell particularly upon this part of my letter, and heg
your attention to it. It is a most important point to be
considered, for until the cause of the present state of the
country be known and acknowledged, the true remedy
cannot be applied. That the cause, in this concern, does
not arise from dislike to indigo I have above asserted,
and an important proof of the truth of my assertion is,
that from October to within the last few days no com-
plaint was ever made against me or my servants by any
96 MR. grant's triumphs.
indigo Eyot. When it is considered how close my lands
are to Magoorah^ Commercolly^ Khoksa^ &c._, and that
no complaints were made^ I hold that this circumstance
itself is a prima facie proof that the Ryots had nothing*
to complain of. It is well known^ that for the last twelve
years this concern has had no power to force cultivation^
and that indigo w^as sown solely upon the good-will of
the Eyots. The concern had no power to prevent Ryots
from complainings and still with sub-divisions^ and stations
within hail of my villages^ the records of the Courts shew
nothing against me. The enmity now suddenly dis-
played against this concern is^ therefore^ altogether with-
out cause."
Such is the state immediately brought about by Mr.
J. P. Grant in a peaceful province^ after only a few
months misgovernment.
97
CHAPTER VIII.
ME. GRANT THREATENS AND DEPRIVES THE
MAGISTRATES.
We have seen that Mr. Grant had now brought the
indig-o districts to the verge of a rebellion against all laws
of property of every description^ and that the Supreme
Council had been compelled to interfere by a temporary
Act.
This Act provided that Ryots^ who had received advances
upon their agreements to cultivate indigo during the cur-
rent season of I860, should fulfil those agreements : that a
Ryot not fulfilling his agreement should forfeit five times
the amount advanced and five times the value of the
seed ; and that Ryots preventing others by force or inti-
midation from sowing indigo, or destro3ang the crop,
should be punished by fine and imprisonment.
There was every reason to —what shall we say ? hope
or fear ? — that this Act w^ould restore order, and undo all
that had been done. The Ryots were returning to the
conclusion that the Government were not so much in
earnest in the enterprise of driving away the planters ;
and that the arrears due to the factories for advances and
loans to pay rent and buy bullocks were not to be wiped
oiF. There was a doubt whether Mr. Grant and Mr.
Eden, in their cave of Abdullah, would be found a safe
refuge for every fraudulent debtor after all. The Ryots
began to return to the interrupted negociations for a new
arrangement of prices. They said, " If the Government
does not wish us not to sow of course we must sow." Grum-
G
98 THE CHOICE OF THE MAGISTRATES.
Wing" at the Government for deceiving* them b}^ a false pro-
mise of the division among* them of the eig'ht milHons of
indig-o propert}^^ they were preparing to sow their indig-o
lands as usual.
Mr. Grant was for a moment checkmated. The " (jens
inimica mlM^ seemed to be safe ; and for a moment he did
not see the way to conjure up a new storm. He soon,
however, recovered his presence of mind, and he violently
restored the former confusion, by abrog-ating* the law and
intimidating" or removing* the magistrates. We cannot
dive into Mr. Grant's mind ; we can only judge the
motives of men by their acts ; and his acts were those
of a man whose projects had been baffled, and whose
victims were escaping. Our difficulty is, that the English
public will find it almost impossible to believe, that in the
present age any head of a department could do ^^ hat Mr.
Grant now did, or that even an Indian officer could dare
to interfere with the Act of Council, and with the course
of justice. We do not complain that in choosing the ma-
gistrates who were to perform the judicial functions under
the Act, Mr. Grant chose men of his own way of think-
ing, so far as he could find them. But having chosen
the magistrates, we had a right to expect that he should
content himself by sending them out with the Act in their
hands to do their duty. Instead of this he sent them
forth with a special instruction and a very ominous threat.
His instruction is a warning not to put the Act in force.
He recounts to them the hardships which they have power
to inflict upon the Kyot in that they can now decree
^^ specific performance" of the contract ; and he specially
directs them to administer the Act upon ^^ equitable
principles.^' Mr. Grant's own inconceivable ignorance of
the rudiments of any civilized judicature appears incon-
testably from this. He calls the duties of these officials
THE THREAT. 99
— which were to punish statutable offence by fine or im-
prisonment—" the trial of equity suits/^*
Imag-ine a young- g-entleman of the Civil Service told
to administer an Act of Parliament upon equitable prin-
ciples ! With average intellig-ence and honesty of inten-
tion^ which they nearly all shewed themselves to possess,
these young* men mig-ht have seized the plain meaning*
of a plain Act of legislature ; but how were they, or how
could Mr. Grant read this Act by the application of
those " principles of equity," which still puzzle the sages
of Westminster Hall ? And what on earth have the
'' principles of equity'^ to do with a plain enactment, which
says that a man who has had his wages shall do his work,
and that if one man prevents his comrade from doing his
work he shall be punished for his interference 1
Of course Mr. Grant meant by " principles of equity,"
his own known desires ) and lest the magistracy should
be slow to comprehend, he added this threat if " These
^^ powers and the opportunity of acting upon them must not
^^ he retained for a day in the hands of any officer who may
'^ shew himself not competent to exercise them in such a man-
" ner as to do full and ample justice to all par ties J^ Every
magistrate could guess what this meant, and no one was in
ignorance of what Mr. Grant meant when he talked of
* See par. 23 of Mr. Grant's Minute, in answer to the Planters*
Petition against him.
f The planters, in their Petition, allude to this as a threat, and Mr.
Grant, in his reply, says — "This is a misrepresentation." It is not
usual in political controversy thus curtly to give the lie. Since the Civil
Service are, according to the Report of the House of Commons Coloni-
zation Committee, " the nobility of India," we might suggest to Mr.
Grant that — noblesse ohlige. There is nothing for it but to return the
contradiction and submit the proof. We have now quoted the passage
of his letter, and we shall shew how severely the "threat" was ful-
filled. AVe ask the English public to judge who has been guilty of
" misrepresentation," — this rather unmannerly minister or his remoU'
strating victims.
g2
100 MR. GRANT ISSUES A PATTERN DECISION.
^^ substantial justice/' as disting-uished from leg'al justice,
between a Eyot and a planter.
But lest there should still be any chance of this Act
being- allowed to be put in force^ Mr. Grant, finding* that
the Act allowed no appeal in these cases^ supplied one of
his own authority. He sa3^s^ in par. 6 of his circular
letter—" As the legislature allows no appeal from the de-
cisions of officers vested with powers under this Act^ it
becomes doubly incumbent on commissioners to keep them-
selves constantly informed of the manner in which these
officers discharg-e the very difficult responsible duty now
imposed upon them^ and of the principles hy which they
are guided in their decisions J'
This was tolerably strong*. It was a violent and illegal
subordination of the judicial officers of the country to the
revenue officer of the district. But even this would not
do. Most of the officers read the Act in its natural sense,
and put it in force against ringleaders and intimidators.
Mr. Grant now had to go a step further. He came out
with a new law of evidence. Mr. Herschel^ one of the
officers, had, he found, been admitting the planters'
books and the oath of a native servant of the factory
as evidence of receipt of the advances. Probably
Mr. Herschel had somehow become acquainted with
the fact that this is the every-day proof of a debt
in the English Courts. Mr. Grant, in a letter from
the Secretary of Government to the Commissioner of
Nuddea^ reprimands him roundly^ and Mr. Herschel is so
amenable to this advice^ that he soon afterwards gives a
decision entirely in accordance with all Mr. Grant's views.
Mr. Grant is so pleased with it^ that he has it printed and
sejit round the district for imitation. It was against
all law and against all justice. Introduced into Eng-
land^ it would upset society. It was founded upon the
SHUFFLING THE JUDICIAL OFFICERS. 101
wholesale rejection or disbelief of the books and docu-
ments kept according" to the common practice of all indig-o
factories, and, indeed, of all traders of every class.
The Lieutenant-Governor now proceeded to fulfil his
threat not to trust the administration of this Act for a day
in the hands of any man who did not decide according" to,
not to what is law, but to what is, according" to Mr.
Grant's views, substantial justice between a Ryot and a
planter. He promoted Mr. Herschel over the heads of
his seniors ', he removed men who opened their ears to
evidence on the planters' side 3 he confirmed every one
who with a tolerably certain consistency decided one way,
and ag-ainst a planter ; and he moved all the oldest civi-
lians out of the country.
Having- thus ordered their six months Indig-o Con-
tracts* Act to be read by the li^ht of the principles of
equity — whether as derived from the Institutes of Justi-
nian, or from the Equity Text-books, Mr. Grant does not
say — and having" dismissed or removed those officers who
did not answer the whip ; having*, farther, made a g-reat
alteration in the law of evidence, by discountenancing" the
only evidence of his credits which the planter could be
expected to possess ; Mr. Grant now took occasion to ^ive
a signal triumph to the Ryots, who had been seduced by
his proclamations ; for, reversing" the judg"ments of the
mag'istrates, he let the convicted offenders off their fines
and out of prison.
Now, to a certain extent this was unjustly honourable.
Having incited these people to break their contracts, it
was a matter of personal honour with Mr. Grant, so long"
as he was allowed to retain power, to abuse it to protect
these people from the consequences of acting upon his
advice, and that of his co-operating underlings. But he
carried this too far : there was no need to extend this
102 MR. grant's interpretation
entire impunity to cases where the offence was intimidat-
ing" other Eyots who wished to sow^ or ploughing up land
which they had sown.
Mr. Grant had now contrived to extract from this Act^
intended by the Supreme Council for the preservation of
the planters^ means to accelerate their ruin. The Council
had granted special powers of enforcing the contracts of
one season. Mr. Grant had contrived^ by tampering with
the course of justice, to render it nearly impotent for that
purpose^ and had also contrived to give the natives the
notion that this Act abrogated all agreements so far as
they extended beyond the current year. "What was in-
tended as a boon^ became^ in Mr. Grant's hands, a scourge.
What was intended to neutralize the effect of Mr. Eden's
perwannahs^ became^ under Mr. Grant's explanations^ an
absolute ratification of them^ so far as all the contracts
for three years are concerned. " It must be stated/' says
Mr. Grant^ " that it is the desire of the Government that
those Ryots who have received cash advances* upon their
agreement to cultivate indigo during the current season
shall honestly fulfil that agreement." A tolerably obvious
suggestion to the Bengali mind that it was the desire of the
Government that the Eyot should not ^^ honestly fulfil his
agreement" beyond the current season ^ althoug'h for this
sug'gestion Mr. Grant had no more authority from the
Supreme Council than he would have had to desire one of
* The Act was one for the summary fulfilment of contracts. The
insertion of the words "cash advances'* was most unjustifiable and
injurious. It was meant, and the Act was worked according to such
meaning, that unless a Ryot had actually touched "cash*' during the
current season, he was not liable under the law. A Ryot, and this is a
very common case, may have received five times the amount of his
usual advance the previous year by way of loan for a marriage, or for
purchase of cattle, the sum being carried to account, to be liquidated
in three or four years. Not having taken ** cash" this year, he was
free of his contract !
OF THE CONTRACTS ACT. 103
Ameer Mullick's g'ang' of dacoits to steal Mr. Larmour's
watch.*
The planters now saw ruin staring- them in the face.
The Englishman who had been placed in supreme power
over Beng-al^ to protect all classes^ had outlawed his coun-
trymen^ and had excited the natives ag'ainst them. The
planters saw that it was in vain to expostulate with this
man. His tender mercies were cruelties. Never^ at their
prayer^ did he profess to move in their favour^ or to put out
a proclamation with the pretended object of calming* ex-
citementj but by some strange fatality it was found to
have a directly opposite effect. The planters now pre-
sented a petition ag'ainst Mr. Grant.
The petitioners in that sober and measured languag-e^
which contrasts conspicuously with the vag-ue accusations,
and the contemptuous contradictions of Mr. Grant^ state
the circumstances out of which these unhappy dissensions
arose ', call attention to the admitted ig-norance of Mr.
Grant upon the subject of indigo culture ;t complain of
the acts of Mr. Eden ; but especially appeal against the
despotic acts — nay, worse than despotic acts^ for even a
despot has generally an instinct in favour of the purity of
justice^ when he himself is not a party —by which Mr.
* The planters, in their petition against Mr. Grrant, make it one of
their complaints, '* that in several districts contracts have been entered
into for three years and upwards, and in the absence of any legislative
enactment to the contrary, such contracts are in every way binding, and.
many planters have made their calculations for the several seasons on
the knowledge of these contracts ; but His Honour, without taking this
fact into consideration, or indeed considering for one instant the serioua
effect on all cultivators of indigo of sach a proceeding, lately published
a proclamation, the immediate effect of which was to cause the Ryots in
many districts, who were previously perfectly quiet, and especially in
Messrs. Watson and Co.'s factories, to combine against their em-
ployers."
t Mr. Grant having once fairly admitted " that he had never had any
experience in the indigo districts, and that he was very ignorant on the
subject," has since desired to recall this inconvenient, although most
true admission.
104 planters' petition against MR. GRANT
Grant turned aside the operation of the " Indigo Con-
tracts Act/'
Perhaps it will be better that the reader should have
before him the lang-uage of the petition in this important
matter. It complains —
" That, considering the powers which His Honour has, as to the re-
moval of magistrates, it was, as your Petitioners submit, uncalled for —
unless the Honourable Lieutenant-Governor could not trust the ma-
gisterial officers of the district — to hold out, as he did in the letter
No. 1, a threat of removal if any magistrate interpreted the Act contrary
to His Honour's views.
" That the Lieutenant-Governor, in laying down rules for the inter-
pretation of the Act, exceeded, as your Petitioners submit, his powers,
and trespassed upon the province of the Legislative Council, and of the
Judicial Officers of the Government, because, where a question as to the
meaning of an Act arose ; a judicial tribunal, where both sides could be
heard, was the proper forum to interpret it.
*' That your Petitioners beg to draw to the earnest consideration of
your Excellency in Council, that the Lieutenant-Q-overnor has, since that
Act was passed, interfered with the working of it in such a way as to
make it wholly useless for the purpose which the Legislative Council
had in view ; and your Petitioners have only to refer to the records of the
Government of Bengal containing the papers relative to indigo planting,
which are published by authority, to shew that His Honour had exer-
cised an improper and most indiscreet interference with sentences passed
by the magistrates.
*' That soon after the passing of the Act, a Mooktear was tried by
Mr. Betts for instigating Ryots to break their engagements, and a
number of Ryots were sentenced for ploughing up indigo that had been
sown.
" That both of these offences had become very common, and it was
necessary, for the sake of example, to put them down at once ; but
notwithstanding this, and the express provision by the Legislative
Council that there should be no appeal, the Lieutenant-Governor, on the
1 9th April, 1860, ordered the Commissioner to review these proceedings^
as appears by the letter hereto annexed, and marked No. 3.
" That hy adopting such a course, the prosecutors had not even the
chancdy which, if there had been an appeal, they would have had, of
shewing that the convictions were proper ; and the Lieutenant-Governor
soon afterwards ordered the release of the Mooktear and the Ryots,
which did more harm than your Excellency can imagine,
*' That, in order to shew what the wish of His Honour was, this pro-
ceeding has been followed up by his directing the release of many other
Ryots imprisoned duly according to law, and the removal from the
indigo districts of the magistrates, Messrs. Betts, Mackenzie, M'Nielly
and Taylor, and the substitution for them, in cases coming under the
new Act, of some of the Principal Sudder Ameens of other districts.
FOR RELEASING DEVASTATORS. 105
*' That the effect of His Honour's interference has, amongst other
things, been to create an impression, not only in the minds of the ma-
gistrates, hut also of the planters and ByotSy that any decisions in
favour of the planters would meet with the disapproval of the Govern-
ment of Bengal ; and your Petitioners would beg leave to draw the
attention of your Excellency in Council to the evidence, amongst others,
of Mr. Furlong and Mr. Taylor, given before the Indigo Commissioners
(the evidence on oath of men of the most unimpeachable character), to
shew the effect of these acts of His Honour, and the absurdity of con-
tinuing to institute suits under the new Act.
" That in a recent case, in which a decision has been given by Mr.
Herschel, magistrate of Kishnaghur, which your Petitioners consider to
be entirely contrary to the evidence, and most unjust to the planter
concerned. His Honour has, upon a special report of the case to him,
ordered copies of it to be distributed among the officials before whom
cases under Act XI. of 1860 are tried, with an intimation that Mr.
Herschel's decision is to be taken as a rule to guide them in all similar
cases. This your Petitioners look upon as a most unusual and unau-
thorized interference with the ordinary course of law, and the proper
independence of the judicial authorities, and especially unfair and in-
jurious to your Petitioners, inasmuch as the evidence produced was
chiefly that of books and documents, kept according to the common
practice of all indigo factories, which are thereby, and in this particular
case, unjustly condemned wholesale, as not to be received as good
evidence of claims against Ryots ; and, being the only corroborative
evidence planters have to produce, such claims are practically rendered
impossible of proof.
*' That your Petitioners beg to draw particular attention to the evi-
dence of Mr. Taylor, a man of the highest honour and reputation, given
before the Commissioners, by which it appears, that while the decision
of cases under Act XI. was left to the gentlemen acting as magistrates in
the district, every case was decided in his favour, every case which has,
since their removal, been brought by him before the Principal Sudder
Ameen, although supported by the same class of evidence as in the
previous cases, has been dismissed; a fact that, as your Petitioners
submit, shews the effect of the interference which they now complaia of."
After making" these very precise charges the planters
prayed very modestly —
^^ Your Petitioners^ therefore^ humbly pray^ your Ex-
^^ cellency in Council to take into consideration this Peti-
^^ tion^ and to pass such orders as may oblige His Honour
'^ the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal to refrain from
" pursuing a course of conduct which cannot but be
" ruinous to the indigo planters in Bengal^ and to point
'' out to His Honour the impropriety of interfering with
106 MORE OF MR. GRANT'S PLEASANT WIT.
^^ the due course of the administration of the law by the
^^ reg'ularly appointed judicial officers, as laid down by
" the Legislative Council of India, and which interference
^^ is, as your Petitioners submit, both illeg-al and uncon-
^^ stitutional, and especially indiscreet in the case of a
^^ dispute between capital and labour ; and that your Ex-
" cellency may pass such further orders as may^ under
^^ the above circumstances^ seem proper."
Such are the accusations not only made, but substan-
tiated against this hig-h officer. To bring- them home to
an Eng-lish mind we must imag-ine that any Home Se-
cretary for the time being-, had first wantonly interfered in
a question of prices between some classes of employers
and employed ; that he had excited the labourers to leave
their jobs unperformed ; that when the Parliament had
passed a new law to meet the junctm^e, the Home Secre-
tary had chosen special mag-istrates to work the law, had
threatened them with dismissal if they did not interpret
it according- to his notorious partiality -, that he had cir-
culated a form of decision among- them 3 that he had pro-
moted those who obeyed his commands as to how they
should decide 3 and that he had suspended and removed
others who had conscientiously disobeyed him. This is
what Mr. Grant has done in Beng-al. Thus far he ad-
mits the facts. He does not dispute them. All he does
is vindictively to abuse the men whom he dismissed.
However, this petition drew from Mr. Grant a Minute
of seventeen folio pages.
The reader who has any recollection of the letters which
we have copied from Mr. Grant's own government papers,
and which have described the repudiation of contracts,
the looting of factories, and the refusal of rents, may be
able to measure the robustness of Mr. Grant's confidence
in the credulity of the English public when he finds that
MR. grant's apology. 107
Mr. Grant's reply to the charge, that he has thrown the
indig-o districts into confusion, is a bold assertion that
" those districts are not in confusion.'' He adds — ^^ the
indig-o districts^ and Kishnaghur especially^ in every
g-eneral sense are perfectly tranquil." The '' particular'^
sense^ we presume^ is the planters' sense. Or is it soli-
tiidinemfacit, i^^t^cem appellat? Is it the tranquillity of
which Mr. E-oberts has spoken ? To such audacity as
this the decencies of lang-uag-e offer no form of reply.
All it is possible to say is, that it is publicly and notoriously
not true. " A timely display of force/' he says, " saved
the indig-o factories.'' It seems, then, according- to his
own shewing-, to be the '^ tranquillity" which depends upon
the presence of an armed force " saving-" the Europeans
from murder and pillag-e. So far from seeing- any thing*
to regret in this, it is just what Mr. Grant intimates
satisfies all his wishes. There may be a necessity for '^ a
timely display of force/' but let the planters be reassured.
Mr. Grant tells them with a pleasant sarcasm, the bur-
nished point of which they can admire while they are
listening- for the shouts of the insurg-ent Eyots, that,
^^practically the life, property, rig-hts, and personal
liberty, even of the humblest cultivator, were never before
more secure than they now are in those districts." We
do not know whether the fact detracts at all from the
cleverness of this serio-comic assurance, but it is remark-
able that precisely the same words mig-ht have been ad-
dressed by Nana Sahib, and with perfect truth, to the
victims at Cawnpore.
The reader will see, that when these poor planters come
to the Government with ruined prospects, with their in-
dig-o plantations trampled out, with their credits — which
Mr. Grant says are, with their vats, all their capital—
108 MR. GRANT TWITS THE PLANTERS WITH MURDER.
confiscated, some with their factories ^^ looted/' and all
with their lives in jeopardy, they find Mr. Grant in a fine
taunting- mood, and in most exuberant spirits. He con-
g-ratulates them that ^^ since the abduction of Seetal
Turufdar— whose death under circumstances which ap-
pear to make the whole affair amount to murder — he had
not heard of a single case of lawless violence in Nuddea.''
Of course he did not mean to say that he intended to take
trials for murder out of the reg-ular judg-es' hands, and to
find upon the spot that Seetal Turufdar (of whom no
planter knew any more than he did of the abduction of
young* Mortara and the murder of the child at Boad)
was abducted, and was wifully murdered, and that he
then and there found all the planters guilty of the crime.
He did not mean this, but he wanted to say something
smart, and to throw a stone at those insolent planters
who had presumed to bring their plebeian charges against
his high mightiness. If he had not been a civihan and
his accusers had been, he would probably have referred
to some notorious case of dirty venality in some dead-and-
gone member of the Civil service ; but as it is, he men-
tions the name of a murdered native, and suggests that,
as they were planters, of course they must know some-
thing about it ; just as, when a little Christian boy was
missed about passover time, all the Christians used to in-
sist that the Jews knew all about it, and had undoubtedly
taken him away to sacrifice him.
After this specimen of what we cannot refrain from
calling ill breeding, Mr. Grant slips naturally into a
string of unmitigated — what shall we call them ? — they
are not truths— for thousands of respectable men on their
oaths will disprove every proposition as it comes out.
We must fall back upon Mr. Grant's admitted ignorance,
MR. grant's apol6gy. 109
and call them —mistakes. He says — ^^ Even in matters
relating- to the present commercial disag-reement^ law and
justice prevail." We have shewn pretty conclusively
how conspicuously untrue this is, Ag-ain^ ^^ The persons
and property of planters are everywhere inviolate.'^
What! are a man^s credits no part of his property?
Are the reports of the Civil servants who describe the
withholding" of rents not worthy of belief^ even when Mr.
Grant himself publishes them ? Has he not himself told
us that the factories were only saved by a timely display
of force ? But see how trenchantly Mr. Grant wades
throug-h the standing" facts. He does not hesitate to say^
^^ Whilst on the one hand planters do not carry off^ by
unlawful force^ indig"o plant in the lawful possession of
other people j on the other hand^ if they advanced a
single copper pice for any indigo plant^ to which they
have a claim under a contract^ but of which they have a
diflSculty in obtaining" delivery^ they have now the means
of establishing" the fact^ and obtaining" possession leg"ally,
in three or four days." After what we have shewn, the
curious reader must smile as he recog-nises this careful
string of prevarications. No one knows better than Mr.
Grant that this phrase " lawful possession of other people'^
means only a robbery under Mr. Grant's protection.
True, the planter cannot get possession of the indigo
which he has bought, because Mr. Grant will not allow
the magistrates to do justice, and carry out the law.
Mr. Grant insults the planter by shewing him his indigo
in his debtors' hands ; and tantalizes him by telhng him
that this is become '^ lawful possession." The next, how-
ever, is still stronger : — ^^ Where no contracts and ad-
vances are established, we have reports of planters and
their European assistants going about themselves amongst
110 MR. grant's apology.
the Ryots^ and actually paying for the plant^ to the
owner's content, in cash on the field." Now we ask Mr.
Grant upon his honour— not whether he has such reports,
for he may, as we well know, have any reports he pleases
to order, but — will he say that he believes there is in all
Bengal a piece of indigo ready for cutting- upon which
no advances have been paid to the Eyot ? He does not
believe it. He knows that such a thing is unheard of
and impossible. If it be a fact that planters have been
this season buying ready-grown indigo, the only possible
inference is this — that under Mr. Grant's protection, the
Ryot is selling to strangers the indigo which he has
raised at the cost of the planter ; while those to whom it
morally, and even legally belongs, look on without re-
medy.
This is not a defence. It is a triumphant avowal of
the oppression he has been practising, and the ruin he
has been inflicting. It is a song of triumph, a war-whoop
over his victims. It seems to say, '^ What have you got
from the Supreme Council ?" " Make the most of your
Act.'' ^^ Establish your advances if you can.'' There is
a taunting sneer in this answer which may pass unde-
tected by our home Ministers and our home pubHc, but
which is well understood in India. Possibly, during
those six months in which the ^^ Indigo Contracts Act"
was in force, any planter who could '^ establish" an ad-
vance might obtain his indigo. But it must have been
estabhshed in face of the power of Mr. Grant. Well
may Mr. Grant chuckle over the difficulty of such an
achievement. Small chance was there of a planter '' esta-
blishing" his title to 13,000 plots of indigo against the
opposition of a Lieutenant-Governor, who interfered with
the course of justice, ordered the judges to disregard
WHAT IT AMOUNTS TO. Ill
the evidence of the planters' hooks, removed some judges
when they decided in favour of the planters, and so tho-
roughly frightened the others, that at last every judge
felt that it was equivalent to dismissal, to allow himself
to be convinced by any evidence that a planter had made
an advance. Small hope was there in continuing to
manufacture indigo in face of an absolute Governor,
who let Ryots convicted of making depredations upon a
planter, out of prison, but fiercely pounced upon every
planter's servant who attempted to defend his master's
property. Small chance was there of prevaihng against
a Governor whose examples were pardons for crimes
against morality and order, and severe punishments for
every act which was a moral right, but a legal wrong.
Mr. Grant may well tauntingly congratulate the planters
with the doubtful advantage of the Summary Act while
he was by ; but it required a degree of hatred, which, in
its triumph had cast away all prudence, to glory in the
fact that by means of his interference with the course of
justice, the Ryot was enabled to carry away his plunder
under the eye of the planter, and to sell it in public
market.
This is the whole gist of Mr. Grant's answer to spe-
cific charges. He does not attempt to deny that he dis-
missed the magistrates, or issued the pattern decision, or re-
versed the sentences, or set the Commissioners to overlook
the magistrates. He assumes that the elder and more expe-
rienced magistrates, whom he recalled or suspended, were
deciding erroneously, and that the decision of Mr. Her-
schel, a very young officer,* who, after a strong hint from
* These youthful appointments have their advantages and their disad-
vantages. Under a fair Governor they work well ; but under a tyrannical
and unjust Governor; youth more easily takes the mould of the superior.
112 MR. grant's APOLOGY.
Mr. Grant^ disbelieved the planters' books^ was a model
decision^ and deserved to be circulated for imitation. He
denies^ with an effrontery which makes us wonder whe-
ther Mr. Grant applies his notions of '^ equitable princi-
ples'' of interpretation^ to morals as well as to law^ that
he " ever so much as expressed an opinion regarding* the
interpretation of the Act/' or he " ever in any single
instance interpreted the Act.''* He justifies the removal
Mr. MacNair, in his evidence before the Colonization Committee, 1858,
seems to be influenced by what he had recently seen.
"2000. Chairman.'] Will you proceed with your statement? — The
exclusive system of the Civil Service is also very objectionable. Of late
years so many of the more experienced and able gentlemen of that
service have been taken away for new and advanced employment, and
been absent from the country, that a great many mere youths, a few
months from college, with little knowledge of the language, and with no
experience or business habits, are placed in charge of large districts. It
cannot be expected that they could have any control over their court
servants or over the police, consequently the business is entirely in the
hands of the native omlah, who soon know their power, and use it for
their own advantage. I have known court omlahs with the small
salary often to twelve rupees per month, accumulating large sums in a
few years, and purchasing landed property, and building pukka houses.
There are no doubt many very able men in the service, who take an in-
terest in their work, and give general satisfaction. The most able men
are generally made collectors, as I suppose Government think it most
important to collect the revenues. The inexperienced youths are made
magistrates ; and the higher judicial appointments are filled by people
whose energies are expended, and who are anxious to take the earliest
opportunity of retiring from the service, which they can do upon a hand-
some pension, after an actual service of twenty-two years. If these
appointments were open to competition in India, many well-qualified
people would be found able to fill them ; and it would also be a great
inducement for English settlers to qualify themselves for those appoint-
ments where they would get advancement from their own merits and
exertions. At present the uncovenanted deputy-magistrates and deputy-
collectors of experience and long-standing get about the same allowance
as the young civilians get when they receive their appointments. I
think it would be very advantageous to put the covenanted and unco-
venanted services upon the same footing as it is in this country, and open
the Civil Service entirely." — Evidence of Mr. G. MacJVair, Coloniza-
tion Committee , 1858.
* Mr. Grant should have a longer memory. In par. 7 of his Circular
he says, *' But it must also be explained that the order extends 07ily to
STEANiRE DENIALS. 113
of Mr. BettS; because he had^ in favour of a planter^ given
effect to a contract which bore a date earlier than that on
which the stamp was sold. In the vivid imagination of Mr.
Grant; a mere clerical error becomes a g-rave charg-e of for-
g-ery against a planter ; in the mind of Mr. Grant the fault
of not sharing this extravagant error is a sufficient cause
for removing a judge.* Mr. Grant admits (par. 36)^ that
tlie current season ; and it is the intention of Government, before the
period of taking advances for next season arrives to," &c. &c. Now
this is not only an interpretation, but it is a very false and a very fatal
interpretation. It induced the Ryots erroneously to believe that the Act
annulled all contracts beyond the current season ; and it is an interpreta-
tion which is at this moment paralyzing the trade of the indigo manu-
facturer.
* The planters were naturally very much incensed at a charge of
forgery publicly brought by a Lieut. -Governor, without even a shadow
of reason, and in order to defend his own misconduct, against one of
their body. The story of this caluminous assertion is so extraordinary
that we refrain from stating it ourselves, and prefer to quote the ac-
count of it given by the Times' Calcutta Correspondent, in the Times of
the 22nd November, 1860 : —
"Calcutta, Oct. 18th.
" I enclose herewith the reply given by the Indigo Planters' Associa-
tion to the charges brought against the entire body of planters by Mr.
Grant, to which I have before referred. I cannot send at the same
time the documents alluded to in this reply, because they have all been
sent up to the Governor-General. I am able, nevertheless, to assure
you that they fully and entirely bear out every allegation contained in
this document. The two points which, in his famous Minute, he
urged most strongly against the planters were, — first, their enhsting
the younger magistrates on their behalf, and so acting upon them as to
induce them to give decisions in their favour, and even in one instance
to sentence the legal adviser of the ryots to imprisonment merely for
doing his duty towards his clients ; secondly, their obtaining decrees
by means of forged agreements, illustrating his argument by citing a
case in which a decree was given on a written agreement purporting to
have been made in 1856, though executed on stamped paper which,
on investigation, was proved to have been sold in 1859. On these two
charges, which Mr. Grant treated as cases fully proved, requiring
no further examination, he rang the changes until, to his own satisfac-
tion, he proved the planters guilty of every description of oppression.
It now appears that both these charges were utterly false. This is no
mere assertion on my part ; it is proved by the strongest evidence ; in
the first case, by the records of the Court in which the case was tried ;
H
114 STRANGE DENIALS.
before his interference the Civil Mag-istrates usually
found that the planters adduced sufficient proof of their
having" made advances^ whereas since that time "the
same sort of claims have been^ for the most part^ rejected
upon the question of fact f and he thus grants the truth
of the planters' complaint^ that under the carefully packed
staff of mag-istrates which Mr. Grant at last placed in
office/Hhe absurdity of continuing* to institute suits under
the new Act/' becomes altog-ether manifest.
Surely this is enough. We should be quite satisfied
to rest the case upon the admissions contained in Mr.
Grant's apolog-y. Of course it is open to any one who
interferes with the course of justice to alleg-e that he did
so from a g-ood motive. All the creatures of the Stuart
king's could say as much. Mr. Grant really seems in-
capable of understanding' that it is a crime to defeat the
free course of justice. He seems to think^ that if he can
induce people to believe that his motives were g-ood^ the
charg-e of tampering with the administration of the law
is answered. He has not even got so far into the rudi-
ments of natural justice as to know, that the Governor
in the second, by the agreement itself, which is a true hond fide docu-
ment, and which has been sent up to the Governor-General for his
inspection. The letter was only submitted to-day to the Government
and therefore I can give you no idea as to the reception it will meet
with. This, however, is certain — that people oat of doors entertain a
strong hope that Lord Canning's eyes will be opened to the real merits
of the ''system" which has been put in practice against the planters.
I may add, with reference to this case, that it was with the greatest
difficulty that the planters could obtain sight of the document which
Mr. Grant asserted to have been forged, but which has since proved to
be genuine. For nearly three weeks the secretary of the Planters'
Association exerted himself to procure it, and it was only when the
authorities were driven either to give it or refuse it absolutely, that the
request was complied with. The cases I have referred to present by
no means exaggerated instances of the system which has been employed
during the current year to drive the planter out of the country."
SHIFTY TRICKS. 115
who tampers with the judg'ment-seat becomes at once the
greatest criminal in the court he violates. What Lieut.-
Governor Grant's object was^ we cannot conclude^ except
from the results he has obtained. He has g-one nig-h to
destroy one of the most important industries which it was
his sworn duty to protect.
Still less is it necessary to follow Mr. Grant into topics
extraneous to the deliberate charge we have made against
him, or to rectify his mis-statements when he has re-
course to the stale and threadbare device of varying this
charge, while he pretends to repeat it.* Nor need we
discuss with Mr. Grant those two ^^ opinions amongst
* We charge him with publishing to the Ryots a false and most
mischievous account of the Summary Act of 1 860, and he thus mis-states
the charge: —
" It it is meant that the Executive Government, whilst leaving to the
Legislature the outward show and pretence of fair intention, should have
quietly allowed the law to be understood in the Mofussil, and acted
upon, as though it had been a law to force Ryots, being Her Majesty's
free subjects, to cultivate indigo, whether they wished to do so or not, at
prices fixed by the purchaser, though they might be under no obligation
to do so, and though they might never have received a farthing of con-
sideration— such an Act, in short, as no Legislature would have dared to
put into plain words — His Excellency in Council will not expect me to
notice the complaint." — Minute^ par. 19.
Again. — We accuse him of y:iterferingwiththe course of justice, threaten-
ing and removing officers of justice who do not carry out his partial
views, and circulating pattern decisions, which are contrary both to law
and to natural justice. The innocent man rephes in this fashion : —
** I have always thought, and I continue to think, the law will be self-
acting and complete in the natural course of things, under a legitimate,
vigorous, and truly impartial magisterial action ; which, leaving disputes
in Civil cases to be settled by the constituted Civil tribunals, abstaining
from all support of either party not warranted by the law, and, founding
itself wholly on the law, will give that equal protection from unlawful vio-
lence to both parties, in practice, which the law, in theory, has always
intended. I accept all responsibilities for holding this opinion, and
for acting upon it, so far as the occasion required, whenever the neces-
sity of so doing has been forced by circumstances upon me," — Minute,
par. 15 and 16. Alas! as Madame Parnelle says of Tartufa — "La
vertu dans le monde est toujours poursuivie."
h2
116 ME. grant's apology.
disinterested persons^ whether any special law against
the Ryots was justifiable under the circumstances or
not.'' His duty was^ not to balance opinions whether
the law was ^^ justifiable^" but to obey it^ just as it was ;
not to send out judges to decide as he mig-ht wish^ but to
send out judg'es to decide. We dechne to enter upon
any such extraneous topics. If we go beyond facts ca-
pable of proof, we g'et into floods of feeble rhetoric, point-
less sarcasm^ and spiteful retorts^ which seem to aim at
bitterness^ but achieve only an unmannerly incivility.
We have no taste for a contest of this kind. What we
very deeply feel^ however^ while reading- this apolog-y^ is,
that Mr, Grant does not seem to be capable of that im-
partial habit of mind which would enable him to compre-
hend that even planters may have rig-hts ; and what we
are sometimes compelled to doubt is^ whether upon this
subject Mr. Grant^ when under the influence of his pre-
judices^ has sufficient clearness of intellect even to under-
stand the tendency of an arg'ument.*
* Thus, when we had proved that Mr. Grant suspended or removed
the officers who shewed an incHnation to hold the scales even, and that he
had refused to remove a gentleman who was ignoring all the " paper
evidence " of the planters, Mr. Grant answers us with the following in-
coherent absurdity: —
•' It will not be contended that unqualified officers should be removed
when the complaint comes from one side, but should not be removed
when it comes from the other side. Yet unless this principle be con-
tended for, the complaint by the Association of the removal of Mr. Belts
is as little to be justified as their complaint of the removal of the three
other gentlemen named, who have not been removed." — Minute, par. 33.
117
CHAPTER IX.
THE INDIGO COMMISSION OF I860, AND ITS TWIN
REPORT.
While the indigo districts had been thus coaxed into
a state of general repudiation of their debts and contracts ;
while the Summary Act of the Supreme Council was being
thus detorted by the Lieut. -Governor of Bengal^ and while
the Ryots were complaining of the treachery of Govern-
ment in first exciting them to repudiate, and then pass-
ing an Act to compel them to perform, Mr. Grant at-
tempted to keep up the courage of the Ryots and calm
the outcries of the planters, by promising a commission of
inquiry which should set all things to rights.
He kept his promise in this wise : —
He constituted a commission of ^ve members — two
civilians, a Missionary, a native employed in an inferior
office under Government, and a merchant.
The composition of this body shews at once what Mr.
Grant's intention was in creating it. There could be no
reason why the Missionary body should have a seat at
this board, except that one or two German missionaries
have, unhappily, upon several occasions, lent their aid to
give currency to the thrice-refuted calumnies invented
against the planters.* There could be no good reason
* There is a very false notion abroad that the Missionary body have
testified against the planters. Nothing can be more unfounded. The
testimony of all the English Missionaries is uniformly in consonance
118 THE INDIGO COMMISSION OF 1860.
why a native of high standing* and intellig*ence should not
be chosen^ except that he mig'ht happen to share the sen-
with that of the Governors General, magistrates and natives we have
already cited. Some German Missionaries have indeed upon one occa-
sion committed themselves to some monstrous statements, but those
who know India will understand what they mean. We will subjoin a
few extracts from the statements of the Missionary body upon this
subject.
Let us take first the evidence of Mr. Underbill, the Secretary of the
Baptist Missionary Society, who had been on special mission in India.
In his examination before the Colonization Committee, 1859, this gen-
tleman states : —
*'477H. Mr. Kinnaird.l "What bearing might the increase of Euro-
pean landholders have upon the welfare of the Ryots ? — On the whole,
I have no doubt that it would be highly beneficial ; it appears to me
that the tendency of all European occupation is to improve both the
productions of the land and the condition of those who labour upon
the land ; one might be sure that this is the case, from the general con-
tentment of the servants of the different English Zemindars."
And again : —
'M771. Mr. Kinnaird.'] Has there not been much controversy be-
tween the indigo planters and the Missionaries, arising out of these cir-
cumstances ? — There was a great deal just previously to my leaving for
England, arising from the statement of a German Missionary in Kish-
naghur, that the indigo planting system was a system of great oppres-
sion and extortion on the Ryot ; but the conclusion to which I came,
after a great deal of thought and conversation with parties interested in
the matter, was what I have already stated, that almost universally
those oppressions and extortions originate in the state of the country, in
the state of the administration of the law, in the character of the
police, and in difiiculties which the indigo planter might well plead in
bar of any condemnation that might be brought upon conduct that
otherwise we must very strongly condemn."
Once more, this gentleman, who may be taken to represent the whole
Baptist body upon this matter, says : —
" 4709. Will you generally state the results of your observation on
the residence of Europeans in the country ? — There can be no doubt
whatever that the residence of Europeans in the interior is highly bene-
ficial in a material sense by the introduction of new products and new
modes of producing articles of commerce ; a great improvement is
already seen in the rise of wages through almost the whole of those
parts of Bengal where Europeans reside. Then you may see the in-
fluence of Europeans always when you come within a few miles of the
places where they dwell ; the country is better cultivated, the roads are
in better order, and the aspect of the land itself bears the impress of
European skill and European capital having been expended upon it, so
THE INDIGO COMMISSION OF 1860. 119
timents of such men as Dvvarkanauth Tagore and Eam-
mohun Roy.* That there should be one merchant was a
that you can very readily tell whether you are approaching any settle-
ment, or factory, or farm inhabited by Europeans. Then, in a social
sense, I think also the presence of Europeans is highly beneficial. In
former days many Europeans lived very improper lives in India : that
day is gone by ; I am very glad to say that that has almost entirely
ceased, and that the Europeans now living in the Mofussil are not ad-
dicted to the immoral habits which were very common 30, 40, or 50
years ago. Then, I think also that the influence of Europeans is ex-
ceedingly beneficial, from the diffusion of the ideas of truth and justice
which they invariably maintain ; whatever a European may be in other
respects, his word is always taken by natives, and, with very rare ex-
ceptions, they always confide in a European's judgment, and upon his
general equity they constantly rely ; they seem to think that a Euro-
pean will always do them justice if he can, if his own special and pecu-
liar interests do not clash with what the native may seem to think
just."
We would refer also to the letter from Dr. Duff, that eminent Pres-
byterian divine, which has been printed in the Appendix to the Indigo
Report, 1860.
Mr. Marshman stated to the Colonization Committee : —
" 9586. I have known, as I have mentioned to the Committee, indigo
planters who were regarded as the fathers of the Ryots around them ;
men like Mr. Furlong, and half a dozen other gentlemen I could name,
who spared no expense and no labour in order to benefit the Ryots
around them."
It would be easy to multiply proof of what we have advanced, and it
would also be easy to adduce passages wherein Missionaries have de-
plored the bad state of the law which leads to occasional disputes, and
sometimes to violent quarrels ; but upon the whole, the English Mis-
sionaries are very truthful and impartial in their account of the indigo
manufacturer, not of course as perfect creatures, but as upon the whole
a great blessing to India. With the Germans we desire to have no
connection, either amicable or hostile, and we must be allowed to pass
their absurd misstatements without notice.
* In page 176 of the papers relating to the conduct of Europeans in
India, the opinions of these two eminent natives are thus recorded : —
" Dwarkanauth Tagore said — ' With reference to the subject more
immediately before the meeting, I beg to state that I have several
Zemindaries in various districts, and that I have found that the cultiva-
tion of indigo, and the residence of Europeans, have considerably bene-
fited the community at large ; the Zemindars becoming wealthy and
prosperous ; the Ryots materially improved in their condition, and
possessing many mure comforts than the generality of my countrymen
where indigo cultivation and manufacture are not carried o«; the value
120 THE MEMBEKS OF THE COMMISSION.
matter of course. Perhaps we are not unreasonable in
thinking- that there might have been also one practical
indig-o planter. We do not dispute either the propriety
of having' two civilians on the commission^ nor could a
more intellig-ent or uprig-ht civilian have been found than
Mr. Temple^ who was Secretary to Mr. Wilson^ and was
chosen and trusted by that shrewd and careful minister,
as the most liberal and widely-informed member of that
body.
We cannot; however^ pass over the appointment of Mr.
of land in the vicinity to be considerably enhanced, and cultivation
rapidly progressing. I do not make these statements merely from
hearsay, hut from 'personal observation and experience^ as I have visited
the places referred to repeatedly y and, in consequence, am well acquainted
with the character and manners of the indigo planters. There may be a
few exceptions, as regards the general conduct of indigo planters, but
they are extremely limited, and, comparatively speaking, of the most
trifling importance. I may be permitted to mention an instance in
support of this statement. Some years ago, when indigo was not so
generally manufactured, one of my estates, where there was no cultiva-
tion of indigo, did not yield a sufficient income to pay the Government
assessment : but within a few years, by the introduction of indigo, there
is now not a beegah on the estate untilled, and it gives me a handsome
profit. Several of my relations and friends, whose affairs I am well
acquainted with, have in like manner improved their property, and are
receiving a large income from their estates."
*' Rammohun Roy used the following language : — * From personal
experience I am impressed with the conviction, that the greater our
intercourse with European gentlemen, the greater will be our improve-
ment in literary, social, and political aff'airs ; a fact which can be easily
proved, by comparing the condition of those of my countrymen who
have enjoyed this advantage, with that of those who unfortunately have
not that opportunity ; and a fact which I could, to the best of my belief,
declare on solemn oath before any assembly. I fully agree with Dwar-
kanauth Tagore in the purport of the resolution just read. As to the
indigo planters, I beg to observe, that I have travelled throucjh several
districts in Bengal and Behar, and I found the natives residing in the
neighbourhood of indigo plantations evidently better clothed and better
conditioned than those who lived at a distance from such stations. There
may be some partial injury done by the indigo planters; but on the
whole, they have performed more good to the generality of the natives of
this country than any other class of Europeans ^ whether in or out of the
SERVICE."
THE INDIGO COMMISSION OF 1860. 121
Seton Karr. This g-entleman was known to be a partisan.
From the year 1847^ when he wrote a rather clever article
upon indigo in the Calcutta Review ^ he had gradually
risen under the patronage of Mr. Grant^ and had strength-
ened into a famous planter-hater. He was now^ of
course, a satellite of Mr. Grant. Further than this, while
he was 3^et sitting as President of the Commission, and
while the Eeport was yet undra^vn, Mr. Seton Karr was
appointed Secretary to Mr. Grant. As President of the
Commission his animus appears in every examination ; he
drew the Eepoi*t, which incorrectly assumes the character
of the Report of the Commission ] and, even after it was
signed, he made several offensive additions to it.
We submit that this appointment of Mr. Seton Karr,
under these circumstances, and at this crisis, was a viola-
tion even of the decencies of official hypocrisy. It was
no more in fact than Mr. Grant had done before in work-
ing, or rather in destroying, the Summary Act. But
still it was a contempt of appearances. Mr. Grant is not
in a position to ask us to assume, as a matter of course,
that he and his Secretary are heroes of superhuman
virtue, and that the ordinary objects of official life can be
dangled before their eyes without any effect.
The result was very much what might have been anti-
cipated : Mr. Seton Karr, the Missionary,* and the
* Of course Mr. Seton Karr's Report is a series of compromises. Mr,
Sale, we will hope, insisted upon one line, out of the forty-eight folio
pages, in mention of the opium cultivation as having features identical
with the indigo cultivation ; he also obtained a paragraph absolving the
Missionaries in which, as we have already stated, we heartily concur, so
far as the English as contradistinguished from the German Missionaries
are intended. But we should very much like to have some competent
investigation into the conduct of the foreigners. In Mr. Furlong's evi-
dence before the Commission, the following passage occurs : '* Mr.
Bomwetsch, of Santipore, has openly preached a crusade against indigo
122 DIVISION AMONG THE MEMBERS.
Baboo^ agreed to a report ; Mr. Temple sig'ned the report
with a protest ag-ainst all the really important parts of
it 3* Mr. Ferg-uson protested ag-ainst the whole report ;t
and Mr. Temple and Mr. Ferg^usson joined in a report of
fifty-three parag^raphs.
This latter report^ being* the report of Mr. Wilson's
Secretary and of the experienced merchant^ mast be con-
sidered the report emanating* from the brains of the com-
mission.
The report of the Lieut.-Governor's Secretary, of the
concurring" Baboo and of the Eev. Mr. Sale may be read
as Mr. Grant's last manifesto ag-ainst the planters.
It may be thoug-ht proper, however, that we should
make a few observations upon the Lieut.-Governor's
report.
To pursue it through its 190 paragraphs, and to cor-
planting and planters, and fomented a bad feeling on the part of the
Ryots towards the planters in every way in his power. I am aware that
Mr. Bomwetsch has denied having done so, but that gentleman's memory
must be rather treacherous." But Mr. Seton Karr, however, has managed
to make Mr. Sale's absolving paragraph, as damnatory as a Scotch verdict
of " not proven" to the whole body. He says —
" 130. In our opinion it is extremely unreasonable to attribute the
sudden failure of an unsound system, which had grown up silently for
years, to the officials or Missionaries who told the people^ that they
were free agents. If it could be said with truth that greased cartridges
were only the proximate cause of a rebellion which had been silently
gathering for years, it may be said with even more truth that loritten or
spoken words, widely circulated, and only pointing out to the JRyotwhat
was perfectly correct in all essentials, namely, that it was optional with
them to take advances or to refuse them —to sow indigo or not to sow it —
were only the proximate cause of the extensive refusal to cultivate during
this season."
* Paragraphs 69 and 70. These paragraphs are the portions which
contain the summary of the relations between the planters and the
Ryots.
t "I further dissent from the language and tone of the Report, even
as to those points the truth of which I do not dispute, for the reason that
the language and tone tend to give a colouring and to lead to conclusions
not proved from the facts."
123
Tect its errors by proofs^ would^ of course, be impractic-
able ; not on account of the difficulty of the writing-^ but
on account of the g-rievous severity of the reading*. We
must content ourselves with skipping- from blunder to
blunder with cursory comment^ with cropping* off an occa-
sional tall audacity^ and with pointing*^ from time to time,
to some salient manifestation of ignorance.
The first point which strikes a reader accustomed to
such documents is the contrast which this paper presents
to others that have proceeded from similar quarters not
later than five years ag-o. If a civilian planter-hater,
with a Governor behind him^ preferment in front^ and a
Baboo in his company^ had^ five years ag*o^ undertaken
to concoct an arraig-nment ag"ainst the British settlers in
the Mofussil^ we should unquestionably have had a full
repetition of all the calumnies which have been disproved
and reproduced any time these last thirty years ; which
Governor-Generals and the most eminent natives have
always denounced as slanders^ after strict official and
personal inquiry^ but which have always reappeared with
an infamous immortality from some German Missionary,
or from some discontented policeman, or from some effete
and querulous civilian^ or from some boy - magistrate
shaping- his reports in such form as may make them
acceptable in high quarters. Publicity^ however, may
we hope also, Christian principle ? have literally forced
Mr. Grant^s commissioners to withdraw from this old
ground, and to content themselves with putting real facts
in the most obnoxious point of view, " giving a colour-
ing," as one of the protesting commissioners says, " by
language and tone, and leading to conclusions not proved
by the facts."
All this was not for want of careful inquiry. The
1S4 THE PEESIDENT's REPORT.
commissioners went back for thirty years. Every one
who had a story to tell^ or who even could say he had
heard of such stories, was entreated to come forward.
The Missionary and the Baboo were doubtless astonished
to find that there was not even a vestige of foundation
to be discovered for those charg-es of murder, rape^ and
arson^ which other members of their classes have been
so g'libly repeating" for the last fifty years^ and which
have passed rapidly, not only over India, but also over
Eng-land, to use the words of this report, " in written or
spoken words widely circulated.''
After a thirty years' search after these ^^ rapes/' the
commission is oblig-ed to report — for the evidence was
taken in public — as follows : —
" As to the outrag-es on women, which, more than any
other act, mig-ht offend the prejudice and arouse the vin-
dictiveness of a people notoriously sensitive as to the
honour of their families, we are happy to declare that
our most rig-id inquiries could bring" to lig-ht only one
case of the kind. And when we came to examine into
its foundation, as seriously affecting- the character of one
planter, and, throug-h him, the body of planters in a
whole district, or as affording any clue to the excitement
of the past season, we discovered that there were reason-
able g-rounds for supposing-, that no outrag-e on the per-
son of the woman had ever taken place.'^
This is a curious parag-raph. That outrag-es on women
should offend the prejudice (!) of the natives is an odd
way of speaking- of such a crime. But that the com-
mission's '^ most rigid inquiries could bring to light only
x>ne case of the hind " (in thirty years), in which one case
'^ no outrage on the 'person of the woman had ever taken
place " is certainly an example of ing-enuity in making*
BELUCTANT ADMISSIONS. 125
put a case of rape which could scarcely be rivalled by a
prosecuting counsel in Ireland when Ireland enjoyed her
own ancient pre-eminence in this class of accusations.
Of deaths arising' from affrays there were proved to be
forty-nine in thirty years, or three in two years, in a
population of 20,000,000, these not being confined to
indigo, but spreading over all causes of dispute in the
Mofiissil, and no planter ever having* been implicated in
any one of them.
As to '^ knocking down houses," the commission had
been told by gentlemen that they " had seen places where
houses had been," but '' unless they could fathom the
origin of all desertions, they could not take upon them-
selves to pronounce that houses had been wantonly
knocked down by the planters." We recommend the
President and his two assenting- commissioners to take a
tour in England and Wales, and make the same remark
upon Caernarvon Castle, or the mound of Old Sarum, or
the deserted old farm-houses in the fens, whence the far-
mers have moved up to the wolds, or upon those houses
at the corner of Stamford Street, Blackfriars, or upon
any deserted mud cottages (for such are the ^^ home-
steads " here spoken of), which they may see in their
tour.*
* Here is a history of the principal case relied upon by the President,
and the Missionary, and the Baboo. In occurs in the evidence of Mr.
Larmour : —
Mr. Fergusson.'] Q. Ameer MuUick, of Khanpore, was examined by
this commission on the 2nd June. Have you read his evidence of your
people having knocked down and plundered his house, and do you wish
to give any explanation thereof?
A. Shortly after assuming the management of the Katgarrah concern,
numerous petitions were presented to me at Mulnauth, from the Ryots
of Barrakapore village, complaining to the effect that Ameer MuUick
had collected a number of dacoits [thieves] and settled them adjoining
his own house. Two of these petitions appeared to be exceedingly
126 RELUCTANT ADMISSIONS.
We wonder whether^ if a commission of indig-o planters^^
and tea planters^ and cotton growers^ and silk filature
owners^ had been appointed to inquire into the conduct
of the Civil Service and the condition of the salt Eyots^
"the poorest labourers in all Beng-al/' and the opium
Eyots^ they could have conscientiously reported such a
total absence of crime as this commission has been com-
pelled to confess^ and what they would have said about
the salt Eyots "accounted for as carried off by tig-ers.'*
truthful, and stated that Ameer Mullick*s gang had hitherto committed
robberies at a distance, but of late they robbed the houses of the Ryots
in Barrakapore : these petitions were forwarded by me to the magistrate
of Nuddea, with the request that he would institute an inquiry into
what was stated in these petitions. He ordered the police to make a
local investigation, and at the time they went to Barrakapore to carry
out this investigation, a robbery had been committed at Kotechandpore,
in Zillah Jessore, the police of Jessore tracing the property to Barraka-
pore, where twelve of the gang were seized : four of them were convicted
and sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the late Judge of Jessore,
now JPresident of the present commission. From the time of the
seizure of this gang, Ameer MuUick absconded from Barrakapore, and
did not return there again, except on the sly. My people had nothing
to do whatever with the destruction of his house : it being left uninha-
bited, it very soon went to wreck and ruin, and I believe there was not
a Ryot in the village, owing to what they had suffered from him and
his gang, but were glad to pull at the straw and bamboos belonging to
his house.
Mr. Seton KarrJ] Q. Was any report made to the magistrate, the
commissioner, or other authority, to the effect that one of the sons
of Ameer MuUick harboured these criminals, though evidence was not
forthcoming against him ?
A. I remember the fact of Jalla Mullick, son of Ameer Mullick, being
an outlaw, and the police after him for several months after the robbery
at Kotechandpore.
Mr. Sale.'] Q. What are we to understand by Jalla Mullick being an
outlaw ?
A. That the police of Jessore and Kishnaghur were in search of him
all over the country.
Q. You spoke of the Ryots as wishinajto have a pull at the bamboos
of Ameer Mullick' s house ; did he not live in a pukka house ?
A. No ; the house in which he resided I have always understood to
be a cutcha [mud] house, having two small pukka [brick] rooms on
each side of the entrance to his compound.
MR. SETON KARR'S REPORT. 127
Quite sure we are^ that if they could have done this truly
they would not have done it so gTudging-ly. Alas ! they
would have had evidence of a very different character to
record to that which we here find, gathered ahke
from the " nobility" and from the refuse of India^ and^
in many instances, unfairly epitomized.
Mr. Seton Karr would seem to be labouring* under an
impression, that, in point of fact, his report must be a
failure, and that it could not but be a g-reat disappoint-
ment to Mr. Grant to find that, after calling- him forth
to curse his enemies, behold, he was g-oing* very near to
bless them. However, we shall see presently, that al-
though his premises failed him, this accident made no
great difference in his conclusions.
Take the instance of paragraph 81, where Mr. Seton
Karr quietly assumes a proposition contradicted by the
evidence before him,* and draws a conclusion which is
* Mr. Larmour had been asked whether indigo was a remunerative
crop. Mr. Larmour produced his books, and gave the following
answer : —
A. That depends entirely on the season. In the last season, at tho
Mulnauth factory, the average return per beegah paid to the E-yots
was 14 bundles per beegah. Upwards of 100 Ryots cut more than 20
bundles per beegah; 237 Ryots cleared off their advances and debt to
the factory, and received /a^^iZ, or excess-payments. The return of 20
bundles per beegah pays a Ryot well, apart from the indigo seed which
he also gets from the stumps. [Mr. Larmour here filed a paper in
EngUsh, referring to the books in original, which he also filed.]
Even in their own report they say — " It is urged that it has still been
found comparatively easy to satisfy the Ryot, and to keep him con-
tented and faithful to his engagements, by the giant of what have been
termed collateral advantages ; and that even with the above disad-
vantages several Ryots, working honestly and faithfully, have cleared
their advances, and received large payments in excess. This last aver-
ment is quite truer Do the Commissioners then mean to confine their
sympathy and protection to those Ryots who do not " work honestly
and faithfully," and therefore do not make a profit. It is but too
manifest that they do, but it would have been more manly to have
stated the f^ct.
128 MR. SETON KARR'S REPORT
in the teeth of the testimony of a cloud of witnesses.
Civilians and planters, and the two most eminent natives
of modern days, are for once consistent in flat contradic-
tion to Mr. Seton Karr. The evidence of the natives
upon this question was derived from personal experience^
and was quoted by us a few pag-es back, and the matter
is the g-ist of the matter upon which Mr. Seton Karr
had passed so many days, and had taken so much evi-
dence. Here is the paragraph : —
^^ Conflicting- statements have been made as to whether
^^ there is or there is not a perceptible difference in the
" condition of the Ryots who g-row indig-o, compared
" with those who do not g-row it. Seeing" that it is not
^^ to be contravened that the majority of Hyots derive no
^' projitj hut a loss, from indig-o, and that many Ryots
^^ in the g-reater part of Hoog-hly and Baraset^ as well as
^^ those on Mr. MorelFs estate in Backerg-ung-e and in
^' other parts of that district, have grown rich and
^^ wealthy, without this kind of cultivation, we do not
^' discover any particular difference to he perceptible in
'\favour of Ryots who are cultivators of indigo. ^^
This is as if Mr. Seton Karr had said, " Brewing* can-
not be a profitable trade ; because the late Mr. Roths-
child made a larg-e fortune, and he was never known to
brew a butt of beer in his life.''
But who will the people of England beheve ? Ram-
mohun Roy and Dwarkanauth Tagore, and the magis-
trate of Dacca, and the Governor-General, Lord William
Bentinck, and Sir Charles Metcalfe, whose testimony we
have already cited^* and the commissioner of Morabadad
(Mr. Boldero), who says,t '^ So far as my experience
* Ante p. 18.
t "Conduct of Europeans in India," p. 181.
CONTRADiaTED BY EVIDENCE. 129
goes, and it is founded on a residence of six years in a
district filled with indig'o planters^ I have found the
lower classes of the natives better clothed^ richer^ and
more industrious^ in the neighbourhood of the factories^
than those at a distance from them f and Mr. Mills^ the
magistrate of Pubnah^ who says^ " It must be observed^
that the condition of the Eyots has been greatly improved
since the introduction of indigo in the Mofussil ;'" and
the witnesses who gave evidence to the same effect before
the Committee of the House of Lords which sat on the
affairs of the East India Company in 1830 3 and Mr.
Harris^ who had been an indigo planter in India^ and
who stated that " their (the Eyots') better condition in
the districts where indigo was chiefly cultivated, enabled
them to keep a greater number of bullocks for their
ploughs, and the ground was better cultivated as they
improved in means f will the people of England believe,
we ask, this body of unbiassed testimony, or will they
believe Mr. Grant's Secretary, reporting in contradiction
to the evidence before him ?
But let us proceed to other accusations. The President
of this commission says —
^^ Another inequality is this : the planter, on a fair cal-
^^ culation, looks to a return of two seers of dye from ten
"bundles of plant, which is the fair average of one
" beegah. Two seers would sell for ten rupees, when in-
" digo is selling at 200 rupees a maund. But the return
" from the same ten bundles to the Eyot could not be
" more than two rupees and eight annas, at four bundles
" the rupee.
"Thus the planter would look f^ derive from the contract
" about four times the profit which could ever fall to the
" Eyot."
I
130 MR. SETON KARIi'S REPORT.
What does any commercial man think of a trade being*
subjected to the intermeddling- of such people as these ?
The data assumed are false in fact^ as the evidence before
them shewed, for nothing is more variable than the yield
of dye from the same bulk of plant. But if they were
true, as they are false, what shall we say of a commission
which makes calculations based upon the assumption that
the raw material and the manufactured article are the same
profit-bearing* article ? What would the Liverpool cotton
merchant and the Manchester manufacturer say if the
Board of Trade were to send down some wiseacre to them,
who should attempt to convince the Liverpool merchant
that he was an ill-used man, because he was selHng- cotton
for sixpence a pound, which the Manchester manufacturer
sold for twenty shillings a pound, or 4000 per cent.
^' profit,'^ when worked up into book-muslins ? What
would the Manchester manufacturer say if this g*reat po-
litical economist should attempt to convince him that he
was a scoundrel for not allowing* more of the cost of the
manufactured article to the seller of the raw material ?
What would they do?— they would unite to shut up
such a brainless meddler in some neig-hbouring* lunatic
asylum.
This really would seem to be penned by the same hand
which insists that the planter has no capital but his vats
and his credits, and that the Byot who sows with another
man's seed, who is paid beforehand for his labour, and
who has bought his bullocks with the factory mone}^, is
the capitalist who in ^' capitar' exceeds all others in the
Mofussil.*
* " I must notice another misdescription in the memorial. The
commercial dispute in question is designated a dispute between capital
and labour." — Mr. Grant's Minute, Poor Mr. Grant actually does
not know that when the terms " capital and labour " are thus used.
MR. grant's ignorance OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 131
Surely^ after this exhibition of crass and insensate ig--
norance^ no one would follow us in any further examina-
tion of Mr. Seton Karr's notions of prices and profits.
The Ryot sells leaves and the indigo factor sells indig-o.
If he would apply his measure of profits to the opium
Ryot^ who yields ready- manufactured opium^ and not
poppieS; at Ss 6d a pound^ which Mr. Grant sells ag-ain
at 20^ a pound^ or to the salt Ryot^ who yields ready-
manufactured salt at seven annas^ or tenpence halfpenny
a maundy of 84 pounds^ which Government sells ag-ain at
three rupees twelve annas^ or 7^ (jd per maundy there
might be something* practical in his deductions.
Let us go at once^ then^ to the " recommendations" of
these three gentlemen.
First, let us put aside a string of recommendations,
either unnecessary or worthless, addressed to the planters ;
for althoug'h no class is more attentive to good counsel
from friendly and well-informed men, the planters do not
hope to obtain such counsel from the numerical majority
of this commission. The paragraphs which are offered
^^ by way of suggestion and advice" from men who are
the mere nominees of those who have been the authors of
our ruin, and who are bitter enemies, we reject as an im-
pertinence.
The suofo-estions of the President of this commission
are : —
1st. That the position of honorary magistrate should
never be conferred upon an indigo planter.
The indigo planters never desired this position. It
people of any information on such subjects take for granted that labour
has its necessarily adhering qualities of capital, and is thus far, as much
capital as money itself. Capital is nothing but hoarded labour. We
have not space here to teach Mr. Grant the distinctions between fixed
and floating capital.
i2
i^S MR. SETON KABR'S REPORT RECOMMENDS
was forced upon them by the Government, then in its
ag-onj; and will be attempted to be forced upon them
again when the income tax comes to be levied. What
the planters have complained of was the insulting* man-
ner in which these commissions were all withdrawn, with-
out one case of misconduct proved, and with the deg-ra-
dation thus inflicted in the eyes of the Eyots. The
planter had more power in his own court of arbitration,
deciding" the disputes of his neig-hbours, and freely obe} ed
by them, than he had by reason of any mag'isterial au-
thority.
2dly. The President recommends that sub-divisions
should be still more multiplied, vouching* the g-ood effect
of this measure in Baraset under Mr. Eden !
Let us here interject a few lines about this Mr. Eden.
It is not given to us to commence our task with —
" Musa mihi causas memora/'
but it is necessary in order to set our case before the
public that we should state the fact that the whole of
this state of confusion in the social and commercial rela-
tions of Beng-al began in the first instance with acts of
unprovoked hostility by the Honourable Ashley Eden ;
who had been at an earlier period of his career upon
excellent terms with the planters within his district.
If any of our readers would desire to see a specimen
of the spirit which actuates this g-entleman, we submit
to him some extracts from Mr. Eden's evidence g-iven
before the Commissioners and which we have printed in
the Appendix to this pamphlet. When we read the
savag'e-like disappointment that he could not try in a
Native Court the European, who, with the sympathy of
the b3^standers, was acquitted by the Supreme Court of
TO PERPETUATE INTRICATE^ EXPENSIVE SUITS. 133
Calcutta^ we think of this man's history and we think of
the probabihty of his yet having* a white man's fate in
his hands, and we literally shudder. To the reader of
Mr. Eden's evidence we beg- to explain, that when Mr.
Eden says '^ If the Native Courts are g-ood enoug-h for
Natives, they are g-ood enough for Europeans," he by
no means means that they are good enough for Mr. Eden.
If this were proposed, he would soon find out that a Native
Court mig-ht be an impartial Court as towards natives,
but a very fatal Court as towards Europeans, whether
planter or civilian.
3dly. It is recommended that the police should receive
hig-her wages ; the evidence being* that the higher their
wages, the greater men they are, and the greater bribes
they expect. But as the Commissioners complacently
say, '' A reform of corruption so long* discussed and so
fully laid bare must be — '' What? Immediate? — No!
Earnestly and promptly accomplished ? — No ! " Must
be — a work of time /"
4thly. With reference to a g-reat g-round of complaint
brought by '' large and influential Zemindars,'' of an Act
which withdraws from them the power of compelling- the
attendance of their tenants for the adjustment of their rents,
or for any other purpose,* the Commissioners recommend,
not that the right should be restored, but that '' the work-
ing of the Act" — that is, the working* of the absence of
a right — " should be very carefully watched !"
5thly. The Commissioners see no use in any Special
Indigo Commissioner to act as moderator between plan-
ters and Ryots.
Mr. Temple places great stress upon the necessity of
* This is what the Commissioners call " kidnapping '* when the old
feudal right was exercised by British leaseholders of manors.
134 SPECIMENS OF THE CIVILIANS' COUETS.
such an officer ; and so should we if the nomination were
not in the hands of such a man as Mr. J. P. Grant. As
his instrument^ a special commissioner would be a curse
both to planter and to Eyot.
6thly. The Commissioners are of opinion that the in-
terests of the planter do not imperatively demand any
special protection. That is to say^ that the planter has
no rig-ht to ask for a summary process for enforcing* his
contracts^ or recovering- his crops^ which are g-rown with
his money.
This is throwing- away the loosely-worn mask. At last
we have found a little knot of people^ numbering- among-
them the Secretary to the Government of Beng-al^ who set
their faces avowedly ag-ainst cheap and summary justice^
and advise the maintenance of long-; expensive and ruinous
suits. Mr. Grant has since indorsed this recommendation
of his Secretary^ and has referred the indig-o manufac-
turers to the ordinary Civil Courts.
The Eng-lish reader can have no adequate idea what a
reference to the Civil Courts of India means. It sounds
like an oiFer of justice on this side of the world 3 it carries
the full smart of a mocking- insult on the other side.
When Mr. Seton Karr and Mr. John Peter Grant tell
the indig-o manufacturers that they have no right to cheap
and speedy justice, and that the Civil Courts are g'ood
enough for them^ as they are for other people^ we must
ask the Eng-lish public to listen for a few seconds to testi-
mony of what the Civil Courts in India really are, —
Some time ag-o attention in England was awakened in
a spasmodic manner to the grotesque iniquity of the In-
dian judicial system — a natural result of a system formed
by lawmakers and judges without legal education^ and
making laws and precedents by rule of thumb. Mr.
SPECIMENS OF THE CIVILIANS' COURTS, 135
Campbell for the north^ and Mr. Norton for the south of
India^ laid bare the mystery ; and it was so funny that
the mirth of the public stifled its indignation. As Mr.
Seton Karr says that '' the corruption of the police has
been so long- discussed and so fully laid bare that its re-
form must be a work of time/^ so he and Mr. Grant pro-
bably think that the abuses of the Civil Courts have now
been proved to be so intolerable^ that it is in every way
desirable that the Ryots and the planters should bear
them. That^ at any rate^ has been their declared inten-
tion, although that intention seems now likely to be
baulked. Be it remembered, however, that it is under
these men's heels our fortunes are now crunching* • and
the mere fact that we have hopes of being- saved from
some of the tender mercies they had in store for us, by no
means diminishes the urg-ency of our cry to be delivered
altogether from their power.
The Civil Courts, to which Mr. Grant insists that the
most trifling indigo causes ought to be confined, afford a
perpetuity of litigation ', and, until Mr. Grant established
a rule by which the judgments range all on one side, they
provided also the greatest possible uncertainty of event,
from the technicalities of the procedure.
For a question of 40s there may be in Bengal five
appeals, and perhaps five times five trials.
This will not be believed, and we must really ask the
indulgence of a hearing for two or three actual cases, as
cited by Mr. Norton from the authorised Eeports.
Mr. Norton cites his cases for the purpose, among
other objects, of attacking the competency of the civilians
to act as judges. Such is not our purpose. We cite
them to shew that judges are not removed in India
merely on account of judicial incompetency. We would
336 SPECIMENS OF THE CIVILIANS* COURTS.
rather take our chance of such judges as may fall to our
lot^ than have the very worst weeded out for our use^ and
instructed to decide against us. Mr. Norton says —
^^ I proceed at once to the Eeports, premising only that
since their publication these disclosures have frequently
become the topic of conversation and wonder among re-
flecting men^ who are scarcely to be put aside by the re-
mark which usually greets any one who ventures to bring
sn more than ordinarily atrocious judgment to the notice
of any of the ' Service ' — ^ Oh^ but that judge is mad !'
or ^He is an idiot !' or ^ He drinks !' although politeness
forbids one to put the question which naturally suggests
itself^ ' Why is such a man permitted to remain on the
Bench ?'^^
^'47 of 1851, vol. 3, p. 135.~Case No. 47 of 1851.
An appeal from the decision of Mr. _,* C. Judge of
Guntoor (formerly Judge of the Sudder). This was a
suit for the recovery of a piece of ground of the value of
40 rupees (£4.) It was tried over three times \ and at
the date of the Eeport was sent back by the Sudder for a
fourth trial, from which it is to be remembered there might
possibly be a further appeal. The Courts below had
omitted to record points (in accordance with the Regula-
tion) for the parties to prove; and both the District
MoonsifF and the Civil Judge had neglected to notice the
plea urged hy the Defendants that they had been in pos-
session for 40 years"
'' No. 56 of 1851, vol. 8, p. 155.--No. 56 of 1851
IS
* Mr. Norton gives the names. We omit them to avoid gi?ing pain
to any of the gentlemen whose decisions are cited.
SPECIMENS OF THE CIVILIANS' COURTS. 137
amusing'. It is an appeal from a decision of Mr. ^
C. Judg-e of Salem,
"The Plaintiff sued for 125 rupees, money advanced to Defendant
under a contract for the supply of oil. Defendant pleaded that he had
been always ready and willing to fulfil his contract, but had been pre-
vented by the Plaintiff.
**The Moonsiff who originally tried the case disbelieved the Plaintiff's
evidence, and gave the Defendant a verdict.
"The Plaintiff appealed to the C. Judge, who reversed the Moonsiff's
decree.
" The Defendant appealed to the Sudder, who remanded the suit ;
making the following observations : — * The Court of Sudder Adawlut
* observe that the C. Judge has evidently mistaken the object for which
* the suit was brought. It was instituted for the recovery of 125 rupees,
* advanced by the Plaintiff to the Defendant ; and not, as would seem to
* be the impression of the C. Judge, for a quantity of oil !*
" No. 4 of 1847, p. 36, vol. 1, is a short but instruc-
tive case.
" The suit was originally brought for a piece of ground of the value
of 15 rupees {£\. \()s) and a houseof the valueof 40 rupees (364.), and
for an * injunction to have a wall built.' This case was tvitdi five
times; and the Sudder, * as at present constituted,' over-ruled their
predecessors."
*^No. 25 of 1847, p. 46, vol. 1. -This was a Special
Appeal from the decision of Mr. (afterwards a Judg-e
of the Sudder Court).
" It was tried six times, although the Court of Sudder are at last
* clearly of opinion that this suit is harred hy the Statute of Limita-
tions: ! I !
'^ And the case is further instructive because the lower
Courts g-ave a verdict for the plaintiff, who sued as heir
against a personal representative, without enquiring
whether he was heir^ or if defendant had possessed himself
of assets!! !
" No. 2 of 1849, p. 105, vol. 1.— This is a shocking-
case. It is from the decision of Mr. , Actg-. Asst.
Judg-e of the Adawlut Court of Malabar. The amount
138 SPECIMENS OF THE CIVILIANS' COURTS.
in dispute was small: the amount of litig^ation frightful.
It appears to have extended over a period from 1825 to
1849. It was tried over Jive times ^ besides a considerable
amount of petitioning- ; and after all it turns out to be
barred by the Statute of Limitations.
"^ No. 20 of 1848, p. 119, vol. 1.— This is a Special Ap-
peal from a decision of Mr. , C. Judge of Rajah-
mundry.
*' Plaintiff's estate had been put up and sold by the Government for
arrears of Kist ; a proceeding which, according to the law, satisfies the
Government claim. And the Proprietor is expressly empowered, by
Sec. 18 of Reg. 28 of 1802, in such an event to sue his tenants for any
arrears of rent due by them. The Plaintiff brought his action to recover
the sum of Rupees 45-12-10 (£4. 10*) the amount of rent due to him
by the Defendant, his tenant. The Sub-Judge gave him a verdict,
which the Civil Judge reversed on appeal. The Plaintiff thereupon
appealed to the Sudder, who naturally reversed the decree of the Civil
Judge."
'' Special Appeal Petition^ No. 19 of 1850; p. 6, vol. 2.
— This was a suit for the recovery of rent. Defendant
pleaded that he had not occupied the premises. Both
the lower Courts adjudged him to pay the rent without
deciding that issue or taking any evidence upon it. The
Sudder remands it for a third triaV^
" No. 13 of 1849; vol. 2, p. 78.— This is a Special
Appeal from a decision of Mr. ; C. Judge of Tri-
chinopoly.
** It was brought for the recovery of a piece of ground of the value
of 3 Rupees (6s). It has been tried three times, and remanded for a
fourth trial. The Defendants had been in * undisturbed possession of
* the land for a lengthened period.' The Plaintiff proved his purchase
from a third party ; but the ' title of that party to the land not being
* satisfactorily established,' the C. Judge reversed the decree of the
Sudder Ameen in Plaintiff's favour ; but the investigation was carried
on in such a way that the Sudder declared it * impossible from the
SPECIMENS OF THE CIVILtANS^ COURTS. 139
* evidence before them to arrive at any just or satisfactory conclusion as
' to which party the land under litigation rightfully belongs/
" So here are four trials about a piece of land of the
value of six shilling's."
" No. 88 of 1850, vol. 2, p. 89.— A Special Appeal
against the decision of Mr. _, C. Judg-e of Cud-
dapah.
" This is a case for the recovery of Rupees 12-10 damages, in conse-
quence of an interference of Defendants with the exercise of certain
privileges of Plaintiff's deceased father. The case has occupied from
1845 to 1850. It has been already tried three times, and is now to
begin again."
" No. 63 of 1848; vol. 2, p. 94.— This is a Special
Appeal from a decision of Mr. , Acting* C. Judg-e
of Trichinopoly. When this suit was instituted does not
appear, further than that it was before 1842. It was a
simple question of fact. It has been tried eight times"
Bad enough that such stupidity as is here recorded
should remain upon the judgment-seat^ but these
faults do not incur deprivation of authority. Judicial
officers may commit these blunders and remain. It is
only if they dare to put in force an Act of Council^
or abide by the laws of evidence^ or do right between
man and man in a way which Mr. Grant dislikes^ that
they become obnoxious to the absolute power of removal
exercised by the Governor. We agree with Mr. Norton
that the judges of whom he complains are not desirable
upon the bench ) for ignorance works injustice as well as
subserviency or partiality ; but we should be sorry to see
even these judges removed by a secret and irresponsible
mandate, without public accusation^ or public inquiry^ or
140 MR. SETON KARll's REPORT.
a possibility of public explanation or defence^ as the judi-
cial officers in the Mofussil were by Mr. Grant.
The direct object of our quotations^ however^ was to
sheW; not the ignorance of the civilian judg^es^ but the
sort of Courts to which Mr. Grant and Mr. Seton Karr
solemnly decided that all indig-o cases should be con-
fined. The reader will have observed that nearly all these
cases, for trifling- sums_, have been tried from three to eight
times; and, moreover, that they had been in litigation for
many years.*
The facts we have proved are so monstrous, that we
cannot still help fearing, that, although they are so noto-
rious in India, conceded by every one there, and resting-
upon the published records of the Courts, the English
public will think we are overstating our case, and say
that such things cannot be. All we can say is, here are
our proofs — the authorised Eeports of the Courts them-
selves. Now these are the Courts to which Mr. Grant
and his Secretary, when the question was brought before
them for an expression of opinion, deliberately determined
that the jurisdiction over contracts for growing indigo
ought to be confined. We ask, is it not more cruel to
leave such a man in powe over us, even than to leave
upon the bench the blundering judges who make the
Courts of India a farce ?
We confine our statement to our own indigo contracts
because indigo is our business, and because the number
* It will be answered that some reform in the procedure has recently
taken place. The answer is ridiculous. The reform is like the reform
in Chancery ; a good thing as far as it goes, but that is all. You may
still have five appeals, and a dozen trials, and twenty years of litigation
about a beegah of indigo stalks.
MR. SETON KARR S REPORT.
141
of our contracts is so gTeat ; and also because the know-
ledg-e that the Civil Courts afford no practical remedy
increases our risks^ and renders it impossible to give the
cultivator so much for his produce, as we could give him
if we were buying* a security instead of a hope. But
the argument is not less strong in favour of a summary
law of contract for all classes^ natives as well as Eng-
lish.*
Evidence is scattered about in reams^ proving to all
* It is to such courts that at this moment, when indigo contracts and
rents are aUke repudiated, planters and Zemindars are referred by Mr.
Grant. In the district of Kishnagur, with 1,500,000 inhabitants, there
are upwards of 100,000 parties holding indigo contracts, and about
300,000 who pay, or should pay, rent. Deducting holidays, there are
not 200 working days of six hours in the year. Suppose every case to
occupy two hours, though frequently one takes as many days, GOO years
would be required to hear the complaints, and three times that time to
decide the appeals. Then the expense of suing on a contract to recover
10 to 16 rupees would be about as under : —
Stamp for Mooktearnamah
„ for petition with affixes, if short, say
if long, 3r. to 5r.
„ for tendering witnesses, say four at 8 annas
„ for reply to defendant's pleas .
„ for peons fees for giving notice to defendant
Cost of summoning witnesses, at 1 2 annas .
Vakeels' fees •
Mohurrir for writing, etc
To this add :—
Expense of sending a servant to the Court to
produce books, say .....
Diet money to witnesses, at 1 rupee
Sundry expenses for sending to station during
3 or 4 months, while suit is pending .
Court Mohurrir, for writing evidence, say
8 annas each witness ...
Rs.
A.
Pie.
0
8
0
•
2
0
0
3
2
0
0
2
0
0
it
J
4
0
,
3
0
0
,
2
0
0
•
1
0
0
13
12
0
.S.
A.
Pie
2
8
0
4
0
0
2 0 0
2 0 0
— 10 8 0
Rs. 24 4 0
142 MR. SETON KARR'S REPORT.
who can hear that the practical denial of legal redress
raises the rate of interest in the Mofussil* to more than
£100, per cent, per annum among* those native dealers
with w^hom every native deals ; that even this rate will
not cover the risk ; and that the want of capital conse-
quent upon insecurity keeps the farmer poor and wretched.
All this has been proved ; for it seems this self-evident
necessary law of political economy required to he proved
before this Commission. But all in vain. Mr. Seton
Karr^ representing the Lieutenant-Governor's classical
animosity to the British settler ; the Baboo^ representing*
the short-sighted love of shirks and evasions of the class
* See the evidence of Mr. MacNair before the Colonization Com-
mittee, 1858, upon this point.
** 2001. Mr. Willoughhy.'] Do you mean the advance of funds? —
Yes, to native cultivators. In India, where the system of advance pre-
vails to such an extent, where the native cultivators are generally so
poor, they cannot provide seed for their lands, or engage to deliver any
produce, without previously obtaining a considerable advance, generally
equal to the value of- the produce, a good law of contract is much re-
quired for all classes, JEnglish and natives. Government found it
necessary to have stringent laws of contract for their own opium ad-
vances; and if they would extend that law to all parties, Europeans and
natives, it would save a great deal of litigation and cases of affrays. The
present law of complaining before the Civil Courts is so expensive and
tedious, it is, in fact, an encouragement to ill-disposed people to break
their contracts ; it is a very common thing for small natives who save
or have a little money, to lend it or make advances to natives upon
their crops ; most of tJiem are ruined from not heing able to recover
their advances, which is the sole cause why so very exorbitant rates are
taken by native dealers. These high rates bear hard upon the poor
cultivators, and is the principal cause of their poverty. It seems to be
a popular proposition of Government to put all their subjects upon the
same footing, and under the same laws ; but they claim to heep their
own servants of every grade ^ from the highest to the lowest, exempt
from these laws, and also have different laws of contract for their own
opium and salt advances.'" "What would Mr. Karr and Mr. Grant say
if it were proposed to take away their summary jurisdiction over the
Government salt and opium Ryots ? They would say, and would say
truly, that it was a proposition to destroy an annual seven millions of
public revenue. _
THE RECOMMENDATIONS. 143
of Ryots ', and the Missionary, representing- we know
not what, determine that there shall be no cheap and
speedy law of contracts in India, lest the planters should
g-et justice, and that all India shall have long* expensive
suits, lest the British settler should grow up to over-
shadow the civilian.
Mr. Temple must have laughed much at his colleagues'
notions of capital and labour, and at their ideas of the
mode of judging* the profit upon manufactured articles,
by g'etting- at the price of the raw material, and also at
their imperviousness to the fact that the interest of money
bears some relation to the security of the loan ^ but he
must have laughed still more heartily at the clumsy notion
of ruining' a gTeat interest b}^ drowning* them in law costs.
Mr. Temple knows, that if the planters were so reckless
and so wicked as to do against others what is done ag-ainst
them, they might, at the last desperate moment, clog* all
the courts of Beng-al, and spread all over the land the
devastation of that infamous law which is, and ever has
been, the admitted reproach and opprobrium of our rule
in India.
We were at first struck with wonder that there should
be three men in India who could sig-n such a document
as this y but we understand it all when we recog-nise in the
last parag-raphs polite recapitulations of Mr. Grant's own
phrases, fresh from his Minute, and we remember that
Mr. Seton Karr drew the Report, and that in all pro-
bability the Baboo and the Missionary knew little of the
technicalities of this question, and cared not to dispute
with a judge upon the efficiency of his own courts.
This is all. This is all which Mr. Karr and his two
144 REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
coadjutors recommend. No injunctions ag-ainst perwan-
nahs. No recommendations to Governors not to inter-
meddle between buyers and sellers. No disapproval of
proclamations to cultivators absolving* them from their
contracts. No sug-g-estion to State officers to let com-
merce and trade alone. They recommend only more
magistrates^ whom Mr. Grant shall appoint and remove 5
more pay to Mr. Grant's corrupt police 5 and more suits^
which shall be interminable^ or over which Mr. Grant
shall have absolute dominion. Is not this a Report worthy
of the wisdom and the impartiality of the source whence
it proceeds !
Let us now turn for a moment to the separate Report
made by Mr. Temple and Mr. Ferg-usson.
We cannot of course^ expect from Mr. Temple^ all civi-
lian as he is^ more than that his class instincts should be
controlled by his g-eneral g-ood sense and by his hig-her
intelliofence. We must not seek from him admissions of
that traditionary jealousy which the Civil Service have
always entertained for a class of whom Dwarkanauth
Tag'ore could publicly say, that they were more valuable
to India than the Civil Service. No civilian would just
now admit this. We must be content to mark the hostile
instincts of the Civil Service in the public records of their
offices, in the acts of their Government, in the whole con-
stitution of Indian society, in the public crimes whereof
we now impeach Mr. J. P. Grant, and in the ruin of
^^ the mainstay and chief hope of stability of British
power in the East." We must not expect Mr. Temple to
tell us, that while the British House of Commons have
been sitting' in anxious dehberation to devise means of
REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON. 145
scattering" over the rural districts of India^ Europeans,
whose skilly energy^ and capital, may brace tog-ether in
industrious force that relaxed and feeble population,* the
fanatical members of the Civil Service have been endea-
vouring* to accomplish an exactly opposite task. Just as
Mr. Temple is more clever and more keen than his col-
leagues, so is he more skilful to avoid placing* the weak-
nesses of his caste in a conspicuous light.
The way at this moment to quiet India is to bring a
great criminal to justice. Shocking as it ma}^ be to the
notions of civilians, who think it little less than impiety
to lay a hand upon a member of the White Brahmin caste,
there is no other remedy even for state crimes but punish-
ment. In England, if a Minister had interfered with the
course of justice as Mr. J. P. Grant has done, dismissing
magistrates according* to his will, and with the avowed in-
tention of obtaining a certain class of decisions ; circulat-
ing pattern decisions to magistrates whose bread hung
upon his breath, that Minister would have been punished.
There is no other real remedy for the ruin which is now
rising in India. For the crimes of stirring up debtors
against their creditors, and of violently detorting the
course of justice, are not crimes whose consequences can
be neutralized by a mere law. You cannot prevent rob-
beries or murders by enacting that henceforth there shall
be no robberies and no murders — they are crimes which
must be put down by punishment. It is not to be endured,
that in a country where all men are supposed to have equal
rights, a Minister should do these things, and should then
* '* The Ryot works three hours a day upon an average." — Mr.
Larmour's Evidence.
146 REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
point to the disruption of that social order which it was
his duty to maintain^ and to say, '^ I thought it right to
do this.*' The only remedy for such crimes is inquiry,
impeachment, and punishment.
Nothing of this shall we find in Mr. Temple's Report.
Mr. Temple thinks that the corruption of the police is '' at
the root of the matter." This is to a certain extent true :
but now the police are not 07ily corrupt. They know now
which side they may safely abuse. The police take their
tone from their masters. When the Lieutenant-Governor
stamps his bias so unquestionably upon the judge, there
can be little surprise that it should be seen in operation a
stage lower down. It has been deposed by Mr. Dalrym-
ple, that bodies of police do vary according to the char-
acter of the magistrate, and that there are actually some
active magistrates who have brought their police to such
perfection, that it is scarcely possible to bribe them. If a
judge may coerce his constabulary to honesty, or at least
to caution, how prompt will they be to lend their assistance
against any class he ma}^ be thought to dislike.
Nevertheless, as a general proposition, it is true that
the corruption of the Government police is a great diffi-
culty— a difficulty to which, when are superadded, the
whole power of the Government exerted to produce a
strike, a despotic minister shuffling the judges and opening-
the gaols, and the total negation of all civil remedy for
the enforcement of contracts, the contest becomes hopeless
indeed.
Mr. Temple does not, however, leave us with a barren
recommendation to change the nature of our own native
servants and of the Government pohce. He stands by
MR. temple's answer TO MR. SETON KARR. 147
his order as he can ; but he slips away from the side of
Mr. Seton Karr when that g-entleman adopts too literally
the notion of Mr. Grant, his principal, proposing- to try
the property in bundles of indigo plant by ^^ equity suits."
Mr. Temple reports, as we have already said^ in favour
of a Summary Process Act.*
* It is important that the reader should have before him the principal
arguments with which Mr. Temple and Mr. Fergusson combat the
proposition of Mr. Seton Karr to leave the planters remediless to their
fate: —
*' The precarious nature of the crop in Lower Bengal, the critical emer-
gencies which arise in the cultivation of indigo, have been shewn in the
Report. Similar emergencies may arise even in the manufacture. Thus
it is possible, and does actually happen, that the planter is involved in
sudden difBculties through no fault of his own. His Ryots may have
taken advances, and then refuse to sow; or they may delay to sow within
a few hours, during which alone the sowing for a season's crop will be
possible. There is hardly any other product, the culture of which is
liable to such a crisis as this. Then in the midst of the manufacturing
season the hired labourer may absent himself, or, contrary to agreement,
strike for higher wages. The Ryot (especially if as suggested he received
a considerable payment, whether a crop is cut or not) may refuse to
exert himself in the case of inundation or destructive accidents. Now it
appears to us that wherever the conduct of any business is from its nature
critical; wherever breach of contract would, if not immediateli/ redressed,
cause irre'parable loss or inconvenience to the opposite party ; the policy
of the law has been to render such breach of contract liable^ criminal
penalties. Such has been the principle followed in the case of domestic
servants, of workmen, of railway labourers, and, as we understand, in the
case of coffee planters ; and recently this appears to have been the
principle which guided the Legislature in passing the Snmmary and
Temporary Act for indigo cultivation during the season of 1860. If
the principle has been correctly described above, then we submit that it
applies in the cultivation and manufacture of indigo cultivation as much
as to any case whatever. Indeed, we believe that in none of the cases
in which the principle has been sanctioned, is the business more critical,
or the inconvenience more immediate, or the loss more difficult of repa-
ration, than in the case of indigo cultivation.
" We would therefore recommend that the Act of XI. of i860, render-
ing breaches of contract to cultivate indigo criminally punishable by the
magistrate, might be made permanent, with certain modifications. And
we viTould extend it to breaches of contract to manufacture indigo, so
that a Ryot who has engaged to cultivate, or a labourer who has
K 2
148 REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
Mr. Temple also recommends a reg'istration of indig-o
contracts. This would be a very convenient course^ if
the planters could have any confidence in the g-overnors
engaged to manufacture, may be by law compelled summarily to fulfil
his engagement.
" It may be asked why should such criminal penalties be enacted to
enforce contracts to cultivate indigo, -when there is no such law for con-
tracts to cultivate any other crop. To this we would reply, that, in the
first place, with no other crop is the culture affected by such emergencies
as with indigo. Rice or jute, or other products, do not, like indigo, need
to be sown on the instant, after a particular shower. Such products are
sown in the rainy season, and the sowings may be completed to-day, or
to-morrow, or the next day, or the day after that. But with indigo the
sowing must be completed within a few hours, or it may prove a failure.
So it often happens with it in cutting. Much of the plant is grown on
the river side. Frequently the river may be rising just as the plant is
being cut. If there be the least delay, the crop may be damaged or de-
stroyed by inundation.
*' In the next place, with indigo the cultivation has to be arranged
for, and the manufacture to be managed by the same capitalists. This
is not the case with other produce generally. With an article like rice,
the village banker may advance some money to the Ryot on the security
of the crop, and the lender may take a part of the crop in payment ; but
beyond the repayment of the loan he has no interest in the crop. If the
Ryot fail to sow or to raise a crop, the banker will nevertheless sue the
Ryot and recover his own vvith interest. But the indigo planter advances
cash, not to trade in money and the interest thereof, but to ensure the
dehvery of a certain quantity of plant. It is in the plant that the planters'
hopes centre. It is for this that he invests capital in building factories
and maintains expensive establishments. If therefore, there be a failure
of the plant, the planter loses not only the sums he has advanced (which
may be of comparatively lesser consequence), but the season's profit, for
the sake of which so much capital has been sunk, so much current
expense incurred. If such a loss occur, it will be of httle use to the
planter to sue the Ryot for the recovery of advances. Such recovery
would not cover more than a fraction of the damage sustained. It is
evident, therefore, that the liabilities incurred by the indigo planter, and
the stake held by him in the culture are not to be compared with the
limited risk run by those who lend money to cultivators of land. We
therefore confidently submit, that in this very respect the production of
indigo is, in the nature of things, widely different from the case of any
other product in Lower Bengal.
" Further, it may be said, if a law of this nature be enacted for indigo
contracts, it may be equally required for silk contracts, and perhaps
other similar contracts. Doubtless this is true. And if the just pro-
tection of the silk interest, or other interest similarly circumstanced with
REGISTRATION OF INDIGO CONTRACTS. 149
placed over them. But when discussing' this very subject^
Mr. Seton Karr insisted that the only plan consistent
with the dignity of the service would be^ that the planter
indigo, should require a special contract law, such lawful assistance
might, we think, with good policy, be conceded.
" Lastly, although the practice of advances by indigo planters to
Ryots is not a desirable one, and might with advantage be discontinued,
still we apprehend that as, hy the custom of the country, nothing can be
done without cash advances, these will have to be continued. Then, if
the planters should (as we hope they will) consent to grant the amount
of advances to the Ryot absolutely, whether the crop yield that value or
not, whereby the risk now borne by the Ryot will be transferred to the
planter ; then we observe that an ill-disposed Ryot will have a certain
degree of temptation to neglect his cultivation, being assured beforehand
of a fixed payment. Now this inevitable disadvantage, in a scheme that
is otherwise excellent, will be removed by a special law such as we re-
commend. If a Ryot shall try to abuse the advantage conceded to him,
the planter will have a real means of redress. And the consciousness of
this would, we believe, render planters more ready to make to the Ryot
those concessions which are so desirable.
" For all these reasons we recommend that a law like that of xAct XI.
of 1860, be enacted for indigo contracts. We anticipate, that, under
the better system which must now be introduced, such a law will seldom
have to be actually enforced, and that numerous cases like those which
occurred in Kishnaghur district and which were much to be regretted,
would not occur in future. The moral effect of such an enactment would
suffice, in ordinary times, to induce Byots to fulfil their engagements,
and would give confidence to the planting interest, at a time when severe
sacrifices are demanded of it.
•' When a similar law was enacted in 1835, it did, we believe, work
well, and was approved by the Government of the time. It was after-
wards repealed, because it was thought to operate prejudicially to the
Ryot. But with the improvements which we hope to see effected, the
Ryot will be in a good and independent position ; and there will be no
fear of the law pressing more hardly upon him that it does upon do-
mestic servants, artificers and labourers.
** But if a law on the principle of Act XI. of 1860 be enacted, we do
not think that the taking of a cash advance, which is, by the present
law, the test of a contract having been made, would suit as a primary
condition in a permanent law. Such a provision would tend to rencler
permanent the vicious system of advances which now pervades every
description of work, and every kind of transaction, whether it be the
Government manufacture of opium and salt, the making of indigo, and
indeed, every thing else. The condition should be a regular contract to
cultivate, or a contract to manufacture. And measures should be taken
to ensure the\contract being regular and hondfide^ — Meport.
ISO REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
and all his Ryots should journey off to the mag-istrate at
a distance. Of course^ as was explained to him, not a
Ryot would g-o^ and there would be no valid contracts.
Or^ probably, if the planter were to be earnest in at-
tempting- to entice his Ryots to g'o and have his contract
registered, he would be charged by Mr. Grant with '^ kid-
napping-^' them.
Mr. Temple also deals with another matter, which,
seeing" that Mr. Grant has so expounded the Act as to
convey to the Ryots the impression that all their contracts
are void, may well occasion some future trouble.
After stating- his views as to reg-istered contracts
thus—
^^ We would then make the breach of a registered con-
" tract to cultivate indigo punishable by a ma^strate, but
" not any other contract except a registered one. It would
^^ be very desirable to make the terms of such contracts
'^ explicit, so as to include the whole process of cultivating-,
" from the ploug-hing- to the cutting- and delivery at the
^^ factory. We do not think that reg'istration of ag-ree-
^^ ments on the part of coolies to manufacture indig-o
^^ would be necessary. We would, however, have breaches
^^ of such ag-reements punished by a mag-istrate, in the
" same manner as breaches of contract on the part of
'^ workmen or domestic servants."
Mr. Temple adds —
^^ While recommending- a law prescribing- criminal pe-
^^ nalties for the breach of registered contracts to culti-
^^ vate indig-o ; and while also admitting- the great improve-
" ment made in the ordinary Civil procedure ] we antici-
" pate that there will probably arise cases, or classes of
MR. temple's recommendations. 151
^' caseS; for which some special measures will be desirable.
" There are, we believe^ in many indig"o concerns, con-
" tracts made by Ryots previously to the present year,
'' to cultivate indig'o for various periods or terms of years
" not 3^et expired. Such contracts will probably be found
^^ to have been made by the Ryots according* to the un-
'' derstanding", at the time existing-, of the relations be-
" tween the planter and the Ryot. In the present state
^^ of feeling- among- the people, it appears not impossible
^^ that some of these contracts mig-ht be disputed or repu-
'^ diated by the Ryot. Without attempting to form any
^^ opinion on the validity or otherwise of such contracts, a
" matter which must depend upon the merit of cases, we
^' still think that the occurrence of such disputes should
'' be watched. If in any district a considerable number
^^ of these contracts should be disputed, it would be very
'^ desirable to depute some competent and selected officers
'^ to try promptly on the spot any suits that mig-ht be
^^broug'ht, and to carry out their decisions with effect.
" The course to be pursued, however, should be well con-
'^ sidered, because the settlement of one case at the out-
^^ set mig-ht g-overn the decision of a g-reat number of
'^ other cases."
Here comes the g-reat kidnapping- question —
^* Act X. of 1859, which abolishes the power previously
" vested in a landlord of summoning- his tenant for the
^^ payment of rent, has been much complained of by
^^ planters, as interfering with their manorial influence
*^ over the Ryot ) and evidence on the point has been ten-
*^ dered. We admit the importance in many ways of pre-
^' serving the influence of the landlord over his tenantry,
152 REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
" but we must trust that whether they have the power of
" summoning- vested in the law, or not, the landowners
" still exercise great influence. We do not wish to elevate
^' the peasant at the expense of the upper class, but the
^^ peasant is entitled to a certain deg-ree of protection.
"And many experienced men think that the additional
" protection afforded by the new law was really needed in
" Beng-al. We do not see, moreover, how this law affects
" the planters more than other landlords, and on the whole
" we refrain from offering- any recommendation on this
" head. We have done enoug-h in drawing- attention to
" the subject, and we hesitate, as at present informed, to
" do more.
"But now that indig-o planters have become larg-e
" landed proprietors, and indeed form a very important
'^ section in the landholding- community, it is evident that
" the indig'o interest has become bound up in the tenure of
" land."
Now arises the question of rent. The Report of Mr.
Temple and Mr. Ferg-usson continues —
" As the planters have, in common with other land-
" lords, been deprived of the power of summoning- Rj^ots,
" we would venture to draw the attention of Government
" to the speedy recovery of rents. If power be taken
" from the landlord, it is the more necessary that the law
" should afford prompt redress. We know that attention
" was g-iven to this point in the framing' of Act XI. of
" 1860. And we trust that adequate machinery may be
" available for ensuring- the expeditious recovery of rent,
" as the matter deeply affects the settlement of European
" capitalists in the interior.''
CONCESSIONS PROPOSED BY PLANTERS, 153
Mr. Temple also g-ives advice to the planters^ and we
are sure it will be received in an amicable spirit. Mr.
Temple's very judicious advice is to raise the price of the
indig-o plant to the Ryot. The only objection we have to
offer to this recommendation is^ that it was not necessary
when it was available, for that we were just attempting*
to ag-ree upon the terms ^ and that it is now rendered
impracticable or unavailing* by Mr. Grant's interference.
Just previous to Mr. Eden's perwannahs, when the
Government took upon themselves to spong*e out all the
oblig'ations of the Ryots to the planters, every indig-o
factor had become persuaded that the time had arrived
when, in some way, the price of the indigo plant must be
raised. Rice had risen y labour had risen (nearly cent
per cent in a few years) 5 the Government salt Ryots —
poor wretches I — were literally starving* ; the opium
Ryots were working* for the prices they received when
rice was one-half the present ruling* prices. There was
discontent everywhere. The indig-o planters were a little
a-head of other employers of labour, for they had doubled
their wag-es and trebled their prices within thirty years,
which was more than twice as much as the Government
had done for its Ryots. But Government had their forced
labour, and their summary laws, and the planters had no
forced labour and no laws at all. The only question was,
what concession should be made, and how it should be
made ? This was what was then ag-itating* the Mofussil.
The parties were cautiously scanning* each other, as is the
wont of barg-ain-making. This was the intention of one
of the foremost, and as Mr. Temple rightly calls him,
^^ one of the most eminent and experienced among* the
154 REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
body of planters^ Mr. James Forlong-." We take the
passage from Messrs. Temple and Ferg-usson's Re-
port : —
'^ My own intention is to make a contract with the
'^ ByotS; of as simple a character as possible^ to give each
" man a cash advance of two rupees a beegah^ which^ as
'^ he would have it for twelve months without interest^
" would be equal; at the lowest^ to three rupees a beeg-ah ;
^^ that the above two rupees should be g-iven to the Kyot,
'* on condition of his cultivating-^ irrespective of all risk to
'^ himself connected with the crop ; that whether there is
" a crop; or no crop at all^ no portion of this money should
^^ be charg'ed to him in any future account^ thereby se-
'^ curing under any circumstances to the Eyot a reason-
^^ able remuneration for his labour^ and for the rent of his
^^ land. *Eight bundles per beegah would pa}^ off the
" first advance^ and a Byot^ with ordinary luck and
^^ industry^ might very easily secure a crop of double the
^^ amount. I would also abolish the charges for stamp^
^^ for carriage^ for seed 3 throwing- really the risk of the
" crop upon the factory^ and leaving a hope of a very
^^ liberal return to the cultivator."
Different factories were differently circumstanced.
Many were already giving a rupee for four bundles.
There were various arrangements as to carrying the
plant. All these matters required much bargaining and
adaptation to the desires of the Eyots. But all was
coming to a compromise \ and as the Ryots could prac-
tically hold out; and the planters could not; things would
* Note in Report. — This is at the rate of one rupee per four
bundles, which, at the present rate of price, is a fair price.
. PROPOSAL OF PLANTERS TO MR. GRANT. 155
have rig-hted themselves^ as all such matters of bargain
do rig'ht themselves.
Then it was that Mr. Grant was^ unhappily^ appointed
to succeed Sir F. Halliday as Lieut. -Governor of Ben-
g"al ; and in a few hours it was believed that he united
the two most disastrous crazes that a man in office can
have in his head^ and he brought them to bear upon this
delicate conjuncture. His acts have justified all men in
concluding" that he considers it his duty to vindicate the
supremacy of the Civil Service by crushing* any class
that should rise in stature to it^ and that it is the duty of
a Government to make the barg-ains between its subjects.
Hence these proclamations^ these encourag-ements^ to the
Eyots not to sow— for it would be mere prevarication,
when you had told a prepaid hoveller that he need not
sow, to aver that you did not exhort him not to sow — '
and hence those memorable interferences with the course
of British justice.
How could concessions be made in the face of such
acts as these ? There was the Lieut.-Governor, leading*
in a new Saturnian Ag-e, conxing* to the rescue. How
could the planter expect the Eyot to listen to easy me^
thods of working out advances, when Mr. Grant and Mr.
Eden told him he need not work at all — for to sow means
to work, so far as the planter is concerned — and where
every concession made would only be thoug'ht a sacrifice
to palliate the ire of Mr. Grant ?
When he had done this, Mr. Grant looked on com-
placently, and wrote home to say — He knew it must
come. If he had told the Home Government the truth,
he would have said— He was determined to do it. He
156 REPORT OF MR. TEMPLE AND MR. FERGUSSON.
did it wilfully^ and by the boldest means. He^ never
having" any rig'ht to interfere in any way in the matter^
now taunts us with not having* made concessions^ when
he interrupted us in the process^ and rendered them im-
possible.
Even he himself is now driven to promise some con-
cessions to his wretched salt B-yots^ but they are not yet
made. Those people are now literally starving-. Suppose
we had sent emissaries among- them. It would have been
easy to raise those poor hungry creatures^ lang^uishing- in
their forced labour. But Mr. Grant has only to decide^
and he still deliberates : we had free men to deal with^
and we had to barg-ain. But he takes his time while these
men starve, and he rushes down to crush us because we
were in a momentary difficulty^ and it was a chance
to ruin an independent class of Enghshmen.
This is the reply which we make to Mr. Temple when
he exhorts us to make concessions^ and to advance our
offers with the increase of prices of food and labour. We
are not^ and never have been^ such fools as not to know
that this must be done. Mr. Temple must not measure
the knowledge of commercial men in such matters by the
state of thick darkness which he and Mr. Ferg-usson
found at the Board of the Indig-o Commission ; or by
the state of mind of that eminent official^ who writes mi-
nutes on capital and labour which would astonish Adam
Smithy and who thinks it the duty of a Government to
fix^ with popular proclamations^ and with a phantasma-
goria of ever-changing- magistrates, the price of indigo
leaves. But we must make these advances and these
concessions in our own way, and in our Ryots' way, as
PROPOSAL OF PLANTERS TO MR. GRANT. 157
we can aiFord, and as they will find them advantag-eous.
We cannot nail an indig-o broker by the ears till he buys
our indig'o in the Manchester market at a stated price^
nor an indig'o Ryot by the ears till he has broug-ht us his
twenty bundles per beeg-ah in the Mofussil. The hazards
of the indig'o manufacturer are very g-reat ; even as g*reat
as the manufacture is beneficial to the country and the
people of India. No capitalist runs these hazards^ with-
out the hope of his profits being" larg-er than if his money
were embarked in what is considered a perfectly secure
investment. But^ looking* to the past^ there have been
but few fortunes made by indig'o^ and the balances on
the books of the g-reat houses that failed between 1830
and 1832^ and again in 1847^ tell a very different tale
to there having- been any thing- like inordinate profits
among- the indig-o planters. With reduced expenditure
and a g-reater economy^ of late years^ the concerns in
those districts where they have had favourable weather,
have been doing- well. In other districts the planter has
had to contend with the usual dang-ers— too much or too
little rain ; too much or too little sun ; storms, caterpil-
lars, locusts, and white ants ; and, finally, the greatest
white ant of all, the Government, personified in Mr. J.
P. Grant.
Yet the Government cannot complain that the planters
were not ductile and humble. When it appeared certain
that Mr. J. P. Grant would not allow the planters to
conduct their own business ', when Mr. Grant had practi-
cally outlawed them, and had shut the labour-market
ag-ainst them, and had appointed a commission to ascer-
tain upon what terms they should be allowed to trade ;
158 TERMS SUBMITTED TO MR. GRANT.
when the commission had split into two sections^ and the
majority had been dehvered of a Report^ which^ for par-
tiahty^ ig-norance^ and absurdity^ is the pattern State-
paper of India^ deserving- only to be docketted with Mr.
Grant's Minute, Mr. Eden's perwannahs, and Mr. Hers-
chel's pattern decision : when all this had been accom-
plished, and the indigo lands lay all unsown, and the fac-
tories closed, the planters recognised the position which
Mr. Grant had assumed as the despotic licenser of trade,
and wrote him a proposal, under which they hoped that
this Government trades-union would stop the strike, and
allow the eight millions of dead capital to operate, and
the two millions of trade returns annually to circulate in
the Mofussil. Here is the letter —
'^ TO THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL.
'^ Sir, — I am directed by the Central Committee of the
Indigo Planters' Association to submit to you, for the
information of His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor of
Bengal, the following* suggestions as to changes in the
system of Eyottee indigo cultivation which the Commit-
tee have, as regards planters, recommended for general
adoption in Lower Bengal.
" That the contract be in the simplest form practicable,
signed by both parties stipulating in the case of the
Eyottee cultivation, on the one side for the cultivation of
a certain quantity of land, and on the other side, for pay-
ment of the plant at a certain price.
^^ Contracts for labour, carts, boats, &c. &c., to be in
similar simple forms.
'^ That on signing the contract an advance be made in
TERMS SUBMITTED TO MR. GRANT. 159
cash of a certain sum per beeg'ah, out of which say eig-ht
annas per beeg*ah shall be a separate and specific payment
for the use and occupation of the land ; the size of the
beeg-ah to be specified in the contract.
" That the factory shall bear all the expense of provid-
ing^ seed^ stamps, and carriage^ for which the planter
shall pay separately^ leaving* to the Eyot only the plough-
ing-, sowing*, weeding*^ and cutting*.
'' That the planter shall pay to the Ryot for the plant a
price to be specified in the contract, and which the Com-
mittee believe, will, for the ensuing* season, in almost all
cases, except chur lands^ be at the rate of four bundles per
rupee in Lower Bengal.
" That should the number of bundles realized from the
beegah be insufficient to cover the advance made^ then
the loss shall be borne equally by the planter and the
Eyot.
'^ That all accounts with the Ryots shall be settled an-
nually^ as soon as practicable after the close of the manu-
facture, and that whatever fazil^ or balance may be due
to the Ryot shall be paid to him in cash.
^^ That in the event of the Ryot artfully or fraudulently
evading* the contract fairly entered into, or neg*lecting the
cultivation, he shall be punishable, as provided by Act XI.
of 18G0, or as provided by Sections 2 and 3 of Act V. of
I83O3 or by a penalty of five times the amount advanced
to be summarily recovered.
'^ I have to remark, in the first place, that the price to
be paid for the bundle of plant must be left for individual
adjustment. One rule and one price could not hold g-ood,
or be fair in the case of plant, the produce of the churs of
160 TERMS SUBMITTED TO MR. GRANT.
the rivers^ cultivated with little or no trouble^ and scarcely
requiring- weeding*^ and in the case of plant grown on rich
and heavy hig-h lands ; but it is evident that a fair price,
remunerating- to the Ryot^ must be g-iven, or he will not
undertake the cultivation.
'^ Secondly — To clause 5 it will, no doubt, be objected,
that the new system still involves the chance of balance
accumulating- ag-ainst the Ryot. The Committee will
reg-ret much if this should be the result, but they feel that,
unless some responsibility attaches to the Ryot, he will
not perform his eng-ag*ement or cultivate properly.
" If the Ryot was certain of enjoying- his advance with-
out interest, whether there be a crop or not, the planters
think the consequences will be that there will be no crop.
" In the manufacture of salt, in the cultivation of opium,
and of all other crops, the risk remains with the Ryots •
but in consideration of the precarious nature of the indig-o
crop in Lower Beng-al, the Committee recommends that
only half the risk, as reg-ards liability for cash advanced
for cultivation, should be borne by the Ryot.
^' The Committee trust that, in the case of contracts
fairly and freely entered into on these or similar terms, the
indig-o planters will have the protection of a law similar
to Act XI. of 1860, or to the rescinded clauses of Act V.
of 1830, so that they may not suffer ruinous loss from the
violation of engag-ements as to indig-o plant, which would
certainly be the case if they were referred to a Civil suit
for redress.
'^ I have the honour to be, Sir,
^^ Your most obedient servant,
(Sig-ned) " W. F. Fergusson,
" Secretary y
MR. GRAN'/S VICTORY. 161
In this position Mr. Grant hasg-ained his point. Whether
he accept or refuse the tender of the Planters' Association,
he has succeeded insubjug-ating* the whole class to the Civil
Service, even to the making* them take from the Civil Ser-
vice the prices at which they shall deal, and the terms on
which they shall buy produce. He has reduced it now
to this, that independent British commerce must dwindle
away, or the Civil Service of India must be reduced to a
level with other classes of g'entlemen in India. As it now
exists the Civil Service is an anachronism ', it is hostile to
all the principles of free commerce ; it is tyrannical , a
meddler with the course of justice and with the private
dealings of men ; a despot doing* despotism upon old-world
fancies of reg-ulating* prices and keeping* up exclusive
castes. Either that foohsh Service, which will not learn,
must g*o ; or British capital must fly, and India must g*o
back to what it was in the time of Lord Cornwallis, when,
as that Governor-General declared, one-third of the
Company's territories were jung-le.
162
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION.
It is not a satisfactor}^ success to have proved that we
are smking* to ruin. Nor is it g-reat reason for joy to have
shewn that this position has been, as we believe, wantonly
broug-ht about by a man who seems to combine in himself
every mischievous quality which a man in power can have^
and yet who still is in power.
We have had to develop in these pages the ancient
traditionary policy of the East India Company and its
servants to keep all independent British capitahsts out of
India ', and, when they could no long*er keep them out,
to discourag-e them as much as possible. We have had
to tell how, when they strug-g-led in, bring-ing* blessing's
with them, the Civil Service have uniformly used the
power which every despotic Government has over an
Asiatic people, to make these British settlers not only
landless outlaws, but outlaws whom the natives were ex-
cited to defraud. We have been obliged also to recount
how, when in early times they raised their hand to defend
those interests which the law left undefended, they were
misrepresented and calumniated in England as despera-
does and lawless ruffians.
We have, further, had to trace how, when by their
energy and perseverance, and by aid of the sympathy of
CONCLUSION. 103
their countrymen at home^ they emerged^ to a partial de-
gree, from this state of outlawry, and created little circles
of civilization around them, they were still pursued by
constant calumnies, and were always being* made the ob-
jects of accusations, which successive Governors-General
have carefully investigated, and have uniformly dismissed
as groundless
We have proved, also, from a concurrence of the most
opposite testimon}", that the planters, as a body, have al-
w^ays been kind in their treatment and faithful in their
dealings with the natives; that they have made the barren
wilderness to smile ; that they have made the season of
famine tolerable ; that they have been the only refuge to
the small cultivators in their frequent moments of dis-
tress ; that they have been money-lenders without inte-
rest, physicians without recompence, arbitrators without
fees, forbearing landlords, and indulgent creditors. We
have proved these facts by the unwilling- admissions of
magistrates, judges, collectors, and Zemindars ; and have
sealed their authenticity by the authority of the greatest
statesmen whom India has ever received at the hands of
England. We have explained that all this has so hap-
pened, not because Indigo manufacturers are better than
other Englishmen, but because they have seen their true
interest in working their w^a}^ by kindness ; and have been
compelled, by the conditions of their isolated position
among an improvident, necessitous, and ignorant multi-
tude, to exercise to their advantage their superior provi-
dence, and their better knowledge of the charities of life,
and the resources of science. We have she^vn that the
natural and the actual result has been, that where indigo
L 2
164 CONCLUSION.
is cultivated the Ryot is better fed^ better clothed^ and
better cared for than where indig^o is unknown ; and we
have called forth those two natives^ who are almost the
only natives known to the Western world at once for
their wealthy their charity^ their patriotism^ and their
philosophy^ who have proclaimed it as the result of all
their life-long- experience that these British settlers have
done more to benefit India and the Hindoo than any
other class of men^ whether in or out of the Service.
Ag*ainst this picture we have been oblig-ed to set that
of the persecutors^ who at Calcutta have had the power of
making" laws^ and who have always seen in this indepen-
dent class of country g-entlemen enemies to the monopo-
lies which they cherished^ the abuses which they desired
to hide^ and the supremacy which they very naturally
valued. We have shewn that when the British settlers
made known to the people of England the character of
the Company's dealing's with the princes of India^ the
Company retaliated with fabled accusations against the
planters in the Mofussil ; that when the British settlers
exposed the national losses sustained by the Company's
commercial monopolies^ the Company retaliated b}^ refus-
ing- to allow the planters to hold land; that when the
planters persuaded their countrymen ag-ainst renewing*
the Compan3^'s charter^ the Company's officers retaliated
hy withdrawing the remedies which they had in 1830 en-
joyed hy the law for the enforcement of their indigo con-
tracts— and which they re-enacted with more string-ent
clauses for their own protection against the opium R3'ots
a few 3 ears afterwards ] and that when the British
settlers attempted to shew the English pubhc how much
CONCLUSION. 165
the evil org-anization of the Civil Service had to do with
the mutinies, the Civil Service once more retorted by ob-
taining- the withdrawal of that power of caUing- up their
tenants and cultivators to attend their audits^ which all
Zemindars, both British and native, had previously en-
joyed.
We have shewn, also, how one step further down had
placed the two classes in still strong-er antag-onism ', how
the British settlers made known in Eng-land the g-reat
evil of the old Indian cozenag^e j and how they pressed
upon public opinion at home the propriety of breaking- up
the ^^ Nobility of India,'' and opening* it to the competi-
tion of the whole youth of Britain and Ireland. "We
have quoted the evidence that has been g-iven before Com-
mittees 3 and we have confessed in the production of that
evidence, which was but a small part of what was really
done, abundant provocation to arouse the ang-er of the
remnant of the old unreformed Civil Service.
Lastly, we have narrated by what arts the present re*
presentative in Beng-al of that Service has aveng-ed his
caste and himself. That he should hate us, we do not
wonder , that he should ruin us, if he could lawfully, per-
haps we have no g*reat rig-ht to complain. He has been
nurtured in traditions which are the direct contradictories
of the policy of the British Parliament and of the inter-
ests of the British people. It is his to keep India for the
Civil Service, as his predecessors have in former days
done : it is our interest and your interest, and it is the
declared desire of Parliament, to open India to all
colours and to all classes. We and you, and Mr. J. P.
Grant, cannot but be enemies ', and Mr. Grant cannot
106 CONCLUSION.
but see evil in all you do and in all we achieve. We have
never reproached him with liis hostility.
The accusation which we have made^ and in support of
which we have offered^ as we submit^ proof enoug-h to
urg-e you to inquiry^ is not that he has struck at us^ but
that he has struck us foully. We say that he has used
his ojSicial power unfairly to our destruction. We say
that he has used the influence intrusted to him, in order
to preserve peace and g-oodwill among- all classes in Ben-
g-al, to the end of arousing* the populace ag'ainst our
houses, our property, and our trade. We say that he
has abused a mere administrative power, intrusted to him
for routine purposes, to the end of influencing- the deci-
sions of judicial officers and violating- the independence of
judicial action. We say that he has arrested industry,
banished capital, shut up trade, aroused evil passions, ex-
cited the populace, and threatened the mag-istrates ; and
that he has assumed, to evil ends, an absolute dominion
alike over the commercial dealing's of his subjects and
over the decisions of their disputes.
All this we have proved with, at least, sufficient cer-
tainty to justify his suspension from functions which he
has so perilously abused. We are not execrating", we
are impeaching-. We are not pelting- a man with epi-
thets, we are building* up round him a prison of facts. If
he shall be able, before a fairly-named Committee of the
House of Commons, or such other court of inquiry as
the country may approve, to shew that he was justified
in destroying- our commerce and violating- our rig'ht to
justice, we shall have nothing- left but to succumb ; and
shall have only the miserable satisfaction of knowing- that
CONCLUSION. 167
Eng-land is prepared to lose ten millions of capital and
two annual millions of trade^ rather than set the precedent
of dismissing- a man who has played the tyrant madly in
a hig-h office.
But this will not be all. It is ours to-day, for ours is
the only larg-e independent interest in India , but it will
be the silk manufacturer's to-morrow ; it will be the tea
manufacturer's should he grow to be a rival ; it will be
the cotton and the flax g-row^rs if they cannot be shut
out by lack of roads and if railways should eventually
give them a possibility of holding' their own.* Ag-ainst
such men as Governor Grant and the myrmidons whom
he has at his back, and against the unscrupulous manner
in which he uses his power, no industry can stand,t and
no capital can Hve.
* The cotton grower, the flax grower, and the indigo grower are one
in interest in India. By advances all must work ; and all must be at
the mercy of any Governor who may choose to dislike their system or
find fault with their prices, or hate themselves, and who may work out
his will by informing the prepaid cultivator that Government does not
desire them to fulfil their contracts.
f Read how this Lieut.-Governor is still, at this moment, going on.
"We take this story from a recent letter from the Calcutta correspondent
of The Times:—
" The special Act passed six months ago for the speedy settlement of
disputes between the planter and the Ryot has expired, and the former
is now literally at the mercy of the latter. The cultivators of the soil,
encouraged by their past victory, by the declared inaction of Govern-
ment, and by the prospect, too, of being able to avoid the payment of
rent, have refused very generally either to take advances or to perform
their contracts ; in some cases they have even sown the planter's own
land with their own seed, and, although not proceeding to actual vio-
lence, they have placed an embargo on supplies of fowls, ducks, and
other necessaries of life which the planters were in the habit of receiv-
ing from the villages, and have even in some districts compelled their
native servants to leave them. The attitude of the planters has been,
meanwhile, in the highest degree praiseworthy ; they have been guilty
of no infraction of the law ; they have witnessed their lands ploughed
up and their supplies of fresh provisions cut off without a murmur j
168 CONCLUSION.
Than our present position nothing- can he worse. Our
factories are closed. We ourselves are^ some of us^ with
a whimsical parody of justice^ bound over to keep the
peace^ because the Byots^ instigated by Mr. Grant's pro-
clamations^ are threatening- to attack our houses. Men
they see ruin staring them in the face, and they can do no more than
sit in their factories and be still. Their property is gradually melting
before their eyes, and, hard-headed, hard-working moneyed men as they
are, they are forced to submit. It is in vain that they have appealed
for redress. The Government of India and the Government of Bengal
have both decided that matters must be left as they are. In spite of
advice to the contrary from the planters, who are of opinion that Mr.
Grant's proclamations are always misunderstood by the Ryots, a pro-
clamation to this effect has been issued. It purports, indeed, to warn
the Ryots, that unless they perform their contracts they will render
themselves liable to civil suits in the Civil Courts. To those who are
acquainted with the delay and expense attendant upon these suits the
warning seems little more than a mockery. In that light the Ryots
have regarded it ; they have not sown, and they have refused to perform
their contracts. The case of the indigo planters was never so desperate
as now ; and when it is considered that all they demand is the estab-
lishment of district courts, with summary powers, to prevent the Ryots
evading their obligations, and the absence of interference on the part of
the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, it would seem that to leave them
entirely unprotected is to sacrifice them designedly.
'* Whatever may be the intentions or secret wishes of the Lieutenant-
Governor of Bengal with respect to the planters, and to non-official
Europeans generally, the measures he carries out are not calculated to
impress them with an idea that he is in favour of their settlement in the
country. With respect to this question of indigo, the civil officer luJio so
ally administered the affairs of the Jessore district (Mr. E.W. Molony)
received certainly no reward for his zeal. The gentleman^ on the con-
trary^ who originally fomented the disturbances, and the civil officer who
mismanaged everything inKishnagur, have heen promoted over the heads
of several seniors. Again, within the last few days a gentleman — Mr.
Spooner— has arrived for the purpose of representing the Presidencies
of Madras and Bombay in a Committee set on foot by the late Mr.
Wilson, and the object of which is the examination and possible revision
of the ad valorem duties on imports. To form the Committee the
Chamber of Commerce appointed its President, Mr. Bullen ; and the
Lieutenant-Governor, in his turn, appointed Mr. Eden, a young civi-
lian, known for his unrelenting hostility to the mercantile community ,
to be the third member of a Committee in which the interests of that
community were so largely concerned."
CONCLUSION. 169
whose whole stock of ploug-hs and bullocks are houg-ht
with our money, laug-h us to scorn if we ask them to sow
indig'o for us in liquidation of some portion of the free
loans they are now enjoying. Meanwhile^ Mr. Grant
appoints Mr. Eden to place after place of honour and
profit^ just as old tyrants piled honours on their favour-
ites to insult their people ; and that no doubt may exist
as to his intentions^ he exalts the boys^ whose decisions
please him^ over the heads of their seniors^ and passes
over with marked neg-lect the sober men who were not
zealous enoug-h to lig*ht the flame of social war throug-h
the districts where his enemies dwelt.
Surely this is a case for the interference of the British
people and the British Parliament. Our prayer is not
for money, or for soldiers, or for protective duties. We
ask only for that protection of law which you yourselves
enjoy, and which it is the first duty of Government to g'ive.
We ask not to be helped^ but to be let alone, even as you
are let alone in your business affairs. We ask to be re-
lieved from the oppression of an ig-norant and mischievous
despot, who is ruining the finest country of the earth, who
is even now rendering" it necessary to take military oc-
cupation of the rural districts of Beng-al^ and who, if he
remain your Minister, will soon bring" matters to such a
pass that you will have to make your choice between
abandoning" the country and holding it at the point of the
bayonet.
APPENDIX.
I. — Extracts of Letters from Merchants, Planters, and others, in
Bengal, respecting the present condition of the Indigo Trade
and Manufacture.
II.— Extracts from the Honourable Ashley Eden's Evidence before the
Indigo Committee, 1860.
III. — The Petition of the Indigo Planters Association to Lord Canning
against Mr. Grant.
IV.— Reply of the Indigo Planters Association to Mr. Grant.
V. — Latest accounts contained in the Calcutta Newspapers.
APPENDICES.
Extracts of Letters from Merchants and Indigo Manu-
facturers IN Bengal, respecting the present condition
OF THE Indigo Trade and Manufacture.
From Messrs. Jardine,, Skinner, and Co., of Calcutta.
Bated Calcutta, ^th October, I860.
We regret to have to report more unfavourably than ever
of the state of our northern Indigo concerns. The Ryots are
becoming daily more bold and defiant, and openly assert their
determination to put a stop to the cultivation both Ryotty and
Neiz. They have latterly and very generally taken possession
of our Neiz Jhote lands — some of which we hold on sub-lease
from themselves, and some direct from Government and Zemin-
dars— and have sown them down with their own crops. We
are referred for redress to Act 4 of 1840, under which a
magistrate is authorized to keep in possession the party he may
find to be in possession at the time of investigation ; in some
instances the magistrates have decreed the lands to us ; but in
others, they refuse to decide on the rights of the matter in
dispute, and refer us to the Civil Courts. Our assistants are
refused supplies; our head native servants threatened and
insulted to such an extent that many have resigned, and our
ploughmen and coolies so intimidated, that they refuse to work
any longer for us. Large bodies of men on two occasions
surrounded two of the factories during the night, but retired
after making a great noise on seeing our people prepared for
them; under such circumstances, we see no hope of any
October sowings on the part of Ihe Ryots, nor can we look
for any in spring either, unless the Government, either
here or at home, take prompt and energetic measures to break
up the present illegal combination. Of Neiz sowings even,
we must fall very much short of what we would, under other
circumstances, have got in, and there is, moreover, danger of
the Ryots breaking up our lands so sown, and sowing them
down with their own crops. We wholly and entirely attribute
174 APPENDIX I.
the present state of affairs to the course pursued by the Bengal
Government. The Ryots are firmly convinced that it is the
wish of Government that Indigo cultivation should be put a
stop to, and that they wiU be supported in their illegal pro-
ceedings so long as they do not proceed to open violence.
Where a Kyot alleges trespass against a Planter, the magistrates
are enjoined to support the Ryot ; but where a Planter brings
a like charge against a Ryot, he, in his turn, is referred to the
Civil Court. In our own case, all our Ryots are under con-
tract for a term of five years, of which, with the great majority,
three and four have still to run; and yet the Lieutenant-
Governor, in a proclamation issued some months ago, distinctly
told all Ryots connected with Indigo, that after this year
(30th September last) they would be at liberty to sow and take
advances or not, as they chose. Until this notification
became known, all our concerns were quite quiet, and work
progressing as usual; but since then, they have gradually
become disorganized, till, at the present moment, they are in as
bad a state as any of those in Kishnughur and Jessore. It is
now known that Government will not enact any special law
of contract, or take any action on the report of the Indigo
Commissioners, except by introducing small Cause Courts into
the Mofussil ; but as they propose establishing them for the
present only in the large towns, they will practically be of no
service in the present crisis. We have addressed Government
several times, pointing out the hardships we are suffering under;
but as yet have got no redress. We intend to send you copies of
these papers by an early opportunity, and would impress on
you that unless measures of relief are devised by the Home
Government, and the Bengal Government be strictly enjoined
to carry them out fully and speedily, the cultivation of Indigo
must, in a very great measure, cease, — entailing ruin to many,
and serious loss and depreciation of property to all, planters.
From Messrs. Jardine, Skinner, and Co., of Calcutta.
Dated Sth November, 1860.
We regret that we cannot report any improvement in the
state of things.
There is not yet any improvement in the Indigo districts,
and even where partial sowings have been made, a great pro-
portion will be destroyed by cattle, or will fail in consequence
of inefiicient cultivation and want of weeding, defects which,
in the absence of labour, it is impossible to supply.
APPENDIX I. 175
2Srd November, 1860.
Little or no further progress has been made in the sowings;
in fact, it is now too late in the season to continue them. In
the Bansbarreah quarter, where the Ryots have hitherto kept
pretty quiet, they have suddenly become very bold and tur-
bulent, instigated, we believe, by two Zemindars. The
Gomastah was attacked in open day close to the factory, and
severely maltreated. The magistrate and military police were
speedily on the spot.
Had the authorities generally shewn equal promptitude at
an earlier period, we would not now have to regret the state of
anarchy to which the Indigo districts have been brought. The
Zemindars were also summoned to appear, but, we hear, have
absconded from the district. Since then two of our factory
bungalows have been burned down. Government has offered a
reward of 1,000 rupees for discovery of the incendiaries, but as
yet without success.
Srd December, 1860.
The incendiaries who burned down our two bungalows have
not yet been discovered.
From Edward Prestwich, Esq., a Merchant in Calcutta, and
Joint Proprietor in some of the most extensive Indigo Pro-
perties in Bengal, dated Calcutta, 2Srd November, 1860.
I AM sorry I am unable to report any improvement in
Indigo prospects. My tour this year was to the following
places, Burdwan, Rajmahal, Jungypore, Calleegunge, Banleah,
Ackrigunge, Berhampore, Patkabarree, Khalbolia, and also
Neeschindipore. The opinion of the leading planters appears
to be that the present movement is not simply one of the Indigo
Ryot against the planter, but of the native against the European,
and this view is confirmed by the fact that the combination is
not confined to Ryots who have contracted to sow Indigo, but
includes the natives generally, the head men of the villages
being the leaders. I will describe to you the state of the Pat-
kabarree concern. The Ryots there have never complained until
the present year. There are, in round numbers, 7,000 Biggahs
Neezabad, and 8,000 Biggahs Ryottee, with 2,200 Ryots who
sow Indigo. This year, half that number cleared off their
balances, and have rupees 10,000 to receive from the factory as
fazil. The rent they have to pay is from 10 annas to 1 rupee
per biggah. They sow two crops upon the ground, at one and
the same time, so that one cultivation does for the two crops
and no weeding is required ; both crops are sown in October ;
one crop say of wheat, oats, hay, or the like, matures first in the
176 APPEBTDIX I.
spring, and is then garnered in. The Indigo then shoots a-head,
and in its turn is cut and manufactured. Conjointly these are
the best and most profitable crops to the Ryot that he can sow.
This year, not one Ryot will sow Indigo, and the whole of our
own Neezabad land consisting of 7,000 Beegahs has, with a few
exceptions, been taken possession of by the Ryots, and sown
down in Kullye, Our servants are intimidated by the Kyots, and
leave us. Our lands we may recover under Act IV, but our
October sowings are lost. The season for sowing is past, and
we must take our chance in the spring.* When I was there,
I required bearers to carry me on in my palkee. I sent for
them and their reply was, that had I been a respectable native
they would carry me willingly ; but being a belatee sahib (or
English gentleman) they would see me far enough. Shortly
before my arrival, the out-buildings were -fired during the night
and some were burned down. The manager was aroused from his
bed ; he could get no assistance from the neighbouring villagers,
who are, indeed, upon good grounds, supposed to be the incendia-
ries, and had not the wind lulled, our seed golahs, full of seed,
and the factory houses would also have gone. As it was, flakes
of fire fell on the cutcha roofs of the former, and the cutcha
verandah of the latter, and they were with difficulty extinguished.
The next morning, a messenger with a note was dispatched by
the manager to the magistrate. The villagers, guessing his
errand, knocked the messenger off his horse; but the police,
fearful for themselves, rescued him. A counter-charge, how-
ever, of the murder of two of the police who are both alive and
well, has been brought against him. These men were present
before the magistrate when the charge was made, and were
seen by him. Our man has, nevertheless, been bound down to
appear when called for, in a sum of rupees 500 ; but whether
to answer the charge of murder, or to prosecute for the assault,
1 do not know. One of the assistants of the concern has been
twice assaulted this year, once severely. He identified his
assailants upon oath before the magistrate ; but they were dis-
charged because he could get no witnesses. No witnesses are
procurable. The willing, if there are any such, are afraid to
appear, and the unwilling won^t. The assistant, appeared to
think that his life was not safe, or that the risk of such assaults
was not included in his salary of rupees 200 per month, or that
he ought to have received some protection from the magistrate,
and the offenders punished. At all events, he did not like it,
* Kullye being a crop, not requiring cultivation, lands sown with it,
become as hard as iron, and on them a spring crop of Indigo cannot be
grown.
APPENDIX I. 177
and sent in his resignation. I may add, that he was riding
alone along the road, when the assault was committed. These
things I heard from the manager, and have no reason to doubt
his words.
It is on the subject of rents that the managers are so uneasy :
they say, that they believe the combination will extend, as it is
now extending, to a refusal to pay rents, and when it comes to
that, it will be utterly useless for the planter to contend against
it. In such a case, to [attempt to collect our rents through the
Courts would be utterly impracticable, and for Government then
to refer us to our legal remedy would be simply another insult
and mockery, added to the many they have already heaped upon
us. With a Government supposed, and a police known, to be
against the individual planter, surrounded as he is by hundreds
of thousands of hostile, non-paying Ryots, with magistrates luke-
warm in our favour, to say the least of it, and insufficient even
now for a tithe of the work they have to do, what will be the
result when their work becomes ten thousand fold? When,
however, things come to that pass. Government will be at a dead
lock, and will have to do something in self defence. What
the planter requires from Government is not much. He says,
that the whole of the people and the police believe that the
Government is against us ; and in this opinion he is confirmed by
almost all of the best and most intelligent persons with whom I
have spoken on the subject. If the Government will cause the
people and the police to understand that such is not the case,
the aspect of affairs would be changed in a day. Let Mr. Grant
instruct the magistrates and officials simply to explain this
clearly and intelligibly (and it would be very easy to do this),
and our difficulties would be at an end.
From an extensive Planter in Kishnaghur,
BatidUh November, 1860.
Government has steadily persevered in the determination to
root us all out of the Mofussil. Many thought that Mr. Grant's
malice would have been gorged with the total ruin of our Indigo
interests; he has also ruined our Zemindarree. The Ryots
finding they got every support in sowing down our Neezabad
with '' kuUye," refused to pay rents, and many Putnees have
not collected a pice for 1267 (a.d. 1860—1861). Our instal-
ments with the Zemindars are payable monthly ; we have had
to pay up as usual, and must do so as long as we have a rag to
our backs. I have tried to recover through Court. I com-
M
178 APPENDIX I.
plained in January, got a decree on 28tli May, and tlie case is
now under appeal, and likely to stick there until next January.
In another instance, after six months I got a decree for rents.
The officers of the Court went with my Gomastah to attach the
property ; the Ryots turned out, and nearly killed a couple of
the Court people, and severely maltreated the others. After
another four months' litigation the Ryots were sentenced to
four months' imprisonment, and I am as near getting my rents
as I was a year ago. These two instances are in properties in
which we have no Indigo. Mr. Grant now tells me to go to
Court if the Ryots refuse to pay rents. After the above
experience am I likely to do so ? There is no course left us but
to sell the Putnees for what they wiU fetch, and wash our hands of
all landed interest in the country. We cannot go on paying
rents if we cannot coUect them'; and the Government will take
good care we never get any law that wiU enable us to get in
our rents monthly, as we have to pay them. With the present
feelings of the Ryots, no terms will induce them to sow Indigo.
Unless you were on the spot, you could never believe that a
people could be so changed in one short year. It has become
altogether a matter of race. The Ryots are just as bitter
against the officers of the railway as against the planter. The
Rrahmins keep up the excitement, and have been the leaders on
aU occasions. They really believe we must all leave India.
The combination is general, and effectually carried out, — the
policy being passive resistance. The Salgurmoodiah concern has
stopped all Indigo cultivation ; and, indeed, it is folly to have
sowings, for the Ryots will destroy the crop with cattle. Not a
witness, nor, in fact, a servant, can be had, and every officer of
Government looks upon it as much as his appointment is worth
to give an order in favour of a planter. There will be no
October crop, for the few concerns that may sow a portion wiU
be as bad as the rest before March. I see no prospect of
coming to an arrangement with the Ryots. It is impossible
that the withdrawal of 7 lakhs of rupees (70,000/.) from our
concerns in one year can be done without affecting the country
generally. I am merely carrying on the Copannee to keep the
Boonahs (private labourers) together, and doing my best to get
in the rents quietly. The disaffection has extended to Purneah,
where, I hear, Forbes's Ryots refuse to sow. Tirhoot and
Behar, inclusive of the opium, will be the next move, and as
the income tax has not yet come into operation, the Govern-
ment cannot realize the extent of their difficulties. They have
stood hitherto like the Missionaries — men who gave, and asked
for no return. They have now to acquire a knowledge of
APPENDIX I. 179
Bengalee character by asking for payment of a tax, without ever
having given an advance, and in the mean time they have
destroyed the entire European influence and interest which
would have been a back stay in their hour of need. Every
rupee I had earned I have in these properties. I felt confident
that, with our great landed interest and the liberal manner in
which these concerns were carried on, nothing but prosperity
could attend us. Who could ever have foreseen that the
Government would set to work, in the most inveterate manner,
to destroy all our capital, and drive us, after years of toil, to
leave the district ? With every Ryot's heart turned against us,
what can we do ? How is it possible to escape loss, and, if we
hang on, total ruin ? It might be a difi'erent matter if we had
to deal with 50 or 100 tenants ; and people at home argue as if
our business were confined to a small estate, instead of thinking
how helpless a man must become with not only the 23,000 Ryots,
with whom he has engagements turning upon him, but when
the millions who surround him detest him because he has a
white skin. It is our enormous extent of country and dealings,
which people who have never been in India cannot grasp.
I only trust all will join heart and soul to try and save us
something out of the wreck. If Mr. J. P. Grant is allowed to
remain in power, we are without hope.
I have given you a long letter, and wish I could have given
you better news.
From the same Planter. .
Dated Qth December j 1860.
The Ryots find the combination answers admirably. They
are all now in clover, paying no rents, and having the know-
ledge that through the Civil Court we can no more recover
rents from thousands of people than we can recover our Indigo
balances. We are virtually without redress. We are now as
helpless as to rents as we were as to Indigo. The Ryots refer
us to the Court. You thought Government would interfere
and save us : but no, — we, as Putneedars, must first be driven
out. The Zemindars will then have to collect directly from the
Ryots, and unless they can do so without difficulty, the Govern-
ment rents will remain unpaid. Therif but not till theriy will
the Government support the landholder, and by that time we
shall have disappeared. Experience tells too truly also that
rents once in arrear can never be recovered from the Ryot ; he
is the most improvident being on the face of the earth; and
M 2
180 APPENDIX I.
like all men of the East, lie invariably lives beyond his income,
and is never clear of the Mahajun's books. These latter
worthies are now reaping the fruits of their instigating the
Ryots not to sow Indigo, and the Moonsiff^s courts are com-
pletely glutted with plaints. Owing to the threats of the
combination ringleaders in this immediate neighbourhood, many
of our Tuhsildars (rent collectors) have not returned since the
Poojah (native holidays), and I find it impossible to replace
them, no man consenting to become an outcaste for the sake of
employment. The non-payment of rents is not a criminal
offence, and the instigators cannot, therefore, be touched.
I hear that the railway engineers have represented to Government
that they find there is a complete combination against the
European; no amount of pay will induce the Joyrampoor
fellows to work on the line, and where men have been brought
from Santipoor (thirty miles off,) to make bricks, these
Joyrampoor scoundrels have intimidated the strangers, who are
daily running away. The unfortunate contractors are in the
position we were during the manufacturing. The work must
be done, and these fellows can make their own terms. As it is,
the contractors are just paying 150 to 200 per cent, above what
is fair and right ; not owing to competition, but to the unfor-
tunate state of the country, which is without a Government, —
which knows not law or justice. The Brahmins look upon its
as the despised of the Company Bahadoor, and we are bullied
by great and small. The income tax appears to halt, which is a
pity. The Government will discover the character of the
people when they come to seek something from them; the
passive resistance so ably carried out regarding rents will com-
pletely floor Government at every step. You will see by
R. Thomas and Co.'s Circular, of 3rd December, a very truthful
representation of the writer^ s, and, in fact, every one's, difficul-
ties. The Byots who are well disposed towards us have no
support or protection, and are ruined and disgraced as is
therein described.
From Messrs. Thomas and Co's., Price Current and Indigo
Report, printed in the Calcutta Correspondence of " The
Times,'' of 7th January, 1861.
Our market having opened we beg to hand you particulars
of the transactions that have already taken place. Only one
public sale has been held as yet, at which prices ranged for the
fine lots from July rates to 2d, advance, and for the middling
and common sorts July rates to 2d. discount.
APPENDIX I. 181
Private Sales. — W. G. and Co., Pundoul, Tirhoot, 2,000
maunds, at 187r. 8a.; Moran, Mooteearree, &c., Tirhoot 1,500
maunds, at 197r. 8a. ; Moran, Mooteearree, &c._, Tirhoot, 300
maunds, at 200r. ; K. E. J. W., Bansbareah, Kishnaghur, 83
chests, at 202r. 8a.
Public Sales. — A. and J. L., Rampoorali, Moorshedabad,
20 chests, at 198r. 10a. ; H. and Co., L., Loknathpore, Kish-
naghur, 21 chests, at 200r. la. ; H. and Co., L. B., Khalispore,
Kishnaghur, 42 chests, at 170r. 7a. ; I. C, J. E., Connoynutsal,
Burdwan, 25 chests, at 162r. ; H. S. and Co., B., Beezoolee,
Jessore, 50 chests, at 205r. 6a. ; H. S. and Co., G., Goldar,
Jessore, 11 chests at 206r. 13a. ; J., H. M., J., Jingurgatcha,
Jessore, 21 chests, at 212r. 15a.
In our circular of the 8th of September we alluded to the
delay in giving the report of the Indigo Commission to the
public ; a similar delay has now taken place on the part of the
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal in making his report upon it
known to the public. The document has now been in his
Honour's hands for three months, and when it is remembered
how urgently he pressed on the sitting of the Commission, and
hurried the members of it for their report, we think that those
concerned in the great interest in jeopardy have further just
ground of complaint against Mr. Grant, for this neglect of the
report.
The extension of the conspiracy and combination against
Indigo cultivation in the Furreedpore District has been marked
by events in one concern of which we give the narrative, as
well illustrating the position in which planters are placed. In
the Cossimpore concern the whole sowings, cultivation and
manufacture of the past season were completed without any
sign of objection on the part of the Ryots; when the work was
over they all came to the factory as usual, settled their accounts,
expressed themselves as perfectly contented, and gladly took
advances for the new season, signing agreements on stamp
paper in the most stringent form, rendering themselves liable
to penalties of 10 rupees per Beegah for non-fulfilment of their
contracts. At first the ploughing and sowing went on as usual,
and all was perfectly quiet in the concern j but suddenly
without any apparent cause, the Ryots all discontinued the
cultivation, and went to the magistrate in the usual way with
petitions against the factory. This official acted with the
greatest fairness and consideration, pointed out to the people
that the fact of their having taken advances and signed contracts
was of too recent date and too fully capable of proof for denial.
182 APPENDIX I.
and that if they persisted in refusing to sow^ decrees must be
given against them_, and ruin overtake them. He also read to
them the Proclamation, stating that it was not true that
Government wished the cultivation of indigo to cease. All,
however, proved of no avail ; the people were evidently under
some evil influence, and only replied they had been told that
they must petition against sowing Indigo.
Mr. Grant has remarked, as mentioned by us in our circular
of the 8th of October, that the capacity for organization and
combined action shown by the people is a subject worthy of
much consideration ; surely, also, the fact of some evil influence
being at work, sufficiently powerful to over-ride that of the
Government, as expressed by the Proclamation, deserves the
most serious consideration, and the most strenuous exertions of
the Government to suppress. We can confidently assert that
twelve months ago no such antagonistic power existed, and that
the word of a magistrate would have been implicitly accepted
by the people on any subject even without the suppoit of a
Proclamation of Government. The moral influence exercised
by the authorities over the people is entirely broken down, and
it has become their regular custom, whenever cases are given
against them by the magistrates, in favour of Indigo Planters,
to come to Calcutta with petitions to the Lieutenant-
Governor, whom they state to be their friend, and certain to
reverse the decisions unfavourable to them.
We feel that it must be so difficult for people in England to
realize to themselves the position into which property has been
brought in Lower Bengal by Mr. Grant's system of Govern-
ment that we annex to this the copy of a letter from one of our
largest planters and most valued constituents, for the absolute
truth of every word in which, we give our fullest assurance.
The writer of the letter, we beg it to be understood, is in pre-
cisely the same relative position as any gentleman residing in
the midst of his own landed property in England, and there is
nothing whatever in the tenure of his estates, or his claims
upon his tenantry for rent, to which such a state of things as
he describes can be attributed; the same might as easily occur
in Yorkshire did the same absence of effective laws exist there
as in Bengal, and the same determination on the part of
Government not to protect the landowner against the encroach-
ments of his tenantry.
The refusal of the Ryots to pay rents to planters continues
as general and determined as ever. In some parts of the
country, deputy collectors have been sent into many villages
APPENDIX I. 183
to decide cases under Act X on the spot^ as without the
adoption of this plan the work of the Courts would be simply
impossible.
The recovery of their neej lands by the planters under Act
IV is slowly progressing, but in many instances decrees are of
of little use, as the authorities will not give sufficient force of
police to carry them out when the Ryots resist the ordinary
establishments, which they have frequently done ; and in nearly
every case the recovery of these lands has been too late in the
season, and when the Kjdai crops sown by the Ryots had got
too strong a hold on the soil for the planters' October indigo
sowings to be carried out.
We must again beg our readers to endeavour to bring home
to themselves this state of things, by imagining the whole rural
population of Essex to have taken possession of the fields,
driven the servants of the owners and landlords from them, and
sown them down with crops of their own choosing, there being
no redress to be got by application to the authorities beyond
a reference to the Civil Courts — a tedious and expensive process,
generally attended with success at a period too late for the
proper agricultural operations of the year. This would be called
a parody on Government in England, but it is what the English
capitalist has to submit to, who has brought his funds for
investment in Bengal.
" Pubna, Nov. 7.
" I AM sorry to have to inform 'you that the state of affairs
here and the combination against the concern is as bad as ever,
if not worse. There are some six individual heads of this
combination; they have divided the concern between them,
each collecting money from the Ryots of his division to enable
him to carry on the war against my interest. They fine and
maltreat any person who dares to enter any of my factories,
and any Ryot who may come to see me is punished to the
utmost extent. They have got large sums of money in this
way, and, of course, the longer the quarrel lasts the better for
them ; so that I see no chance of a speedy termination to it.
The heads of the combination have regular establishments
of Hattials,' who in open day go from village to village to
punish any Ryot who may act contrary to orders. The poor
they coerce with blows and by fines, and the more respectable
portion of the people by preventing their getting food from the
bazaars, not allowing a barber to approach their houses, insult-
ing their women at the ghauts, beating their servants, &c. ; so
that all classes are compelled to act according to their orders
and wishes, and we are helpless. No servant of mine dare go
184 APPENDIX I.
into any of my villages, talook, or izarah. No man will under-
take the office of Tussildar. Trees are cut down by order of
the heads of the combination, and sold to whoever will purchase
them. New Kyots come in and put up houses on my lands
wherever they please, and, instead of applying to me for leave to
do so, they give ' nuzzurs ' to the heads of the combination, and
act according to their orders.
" On the 13tli ult. some servants of mine gave evidence in
an Act IV case before the magistrate at Koostiah. Their
evidence was given about 3 p. m. ; at 5 p. m., or two hours
afterwards, their houses, eight m.iles distant from Koostiah,
were plundered of everything they contained. The deputy
magistrate went to their houses next day, and saw that they
had been plundered, and got evidence to that effect. Whether
the parties guilty of such an outrage will be punished or not
remains to be seen.
" On the 4th inst. a Ryot complained to the magistrate
that one of the heads of the combination had fined him 25
rupees; that the man in question, with a number of Hattials,'
surrounded his house and compelled him to pay the fine. On
the following night the same party surrounded his house, broke
into it, and took away his wife, his daughter, and his mother-
in-law, himself escaping by mere chance. The magistrate
investigated the matter yesterday, and the charge was proved.
" The great object of the Ryots just now appears to be that
of preventing any of my old servants working for me, so that
it is with great difficulty I can retain any of my office servants.
I have got but three or four of them, all the rest having been
compelled to leave. Three days ago, one of my most useful
writers was obliged to leave, as the Ryots kept permanent guard
over his house, so that his family were denied egress or ingress
until he appeared and paid a fine for daring to work for me. No
person who had not actually witnessed it could imagine the
state of aff'airs in this neighbourhood. The authorities know
all about it, but they are helpless, as, if crime is brought to
their notice, the necessary evidence cannot be had — no man
dare give it, even although he wished to. As to the native
police they have an ample harvest time of it; the sums of
money they are getting are almost incredible ; their demands
such as were never before heard of, even in Bengal: and I
have no hesitation in saying that they extort more money in
one month now-a-days, than they did during the whole of the ten
years from 1850 to 1859 inclusive.
The amount due this concern by the Ryots on account
of rents for the current year is upwards of 65,000 rupees. Of
APPENDIX I. 185
course, tlie whole of tliis may be collected through the Courts, but
every suit instituted against a Ryot will but increase the ill-
feeling between the tenantry and the concern, as paying rents
with costs will fall heavily upon them.
" I have done and said all I possibly could to bring about
an amicable arrangement. I have told every person, even some
of the leaders of the combination, in presence of Mr. Bainbridge,
that 1 don't want to sow Indigo just now, nor until the Ryots
are willing to do so of their own accord, and that I merely
want my rent; but it is not a mere Indigo quarrel just now — it
is one of native against European; and the question is, whether
we cannot be compelled to leave our factories altogether or not.
My Ryots state openly that they will not pay rents, neither
will they do work of any kind for a sahib, and that such will
be the rule throughout the district in a short time.
'' I daily receive petitions from Ryots who are unable to
contend with their more powerful neighbours. The poor man's
lands are forcibly taken possession of, and his crops cut and
taken away. I am powerless and cannot help them, neither
can the authorities, as they won't act in accordance with the
laws ; and who will bear witness to the fact ? So hundreds of
the poorer Ryots are being ruined. This state of affairs cannot
last very long. Plunder, dacoity, and crime of every kind will
become rife throughout the country ; the idle and the wicked
see that they can act as they please with impunity. They have
done so for some months past, and as the year advances, and
the necessaries of life become dearer, the district will become
more and more disorganized, and the end will be that Govern-
ment will have to resort to the strong hand sooner or later."
From the Calcutta Correspondent of the Times. Printed in the
Times of \Mh January, 1861.
I MUST allude for a few moments to that vexata question
Indigo. On this point I can give you the opinion of a gentle-
man who is universally admitted to be the most practical
civilian and the best administrator in Bengal — Mr. Yule, Com-
missioner of Bhagulpore. Mr. Yule has lately been engaged
in investigating the circumstances under which in the month
of May last the Ryots attacked the factory of Beniagram. Of
this attack I gave a particular account at the time, and I
stated that but for the noble defence of the agent, Mr. Lyon,
the most disastrous results would have ensued. I referred also
to *the fact that, previously to the attack, not only had no
assistance been rendered to Mr. Lyon by the magistrate of the
186 APPENDIX I.
district, but that functionary had warned him that he would
hold him (Mr. Lyon) responsible for any disturbances that
might ensue. When the factory was attacked the anti-Indigo
faction loudly asserted that Mr. Lyon was an oppressor, and
that the attack was a natural consequence of his misdeeds. It
was useless to attempt to controvert this statement; every
office in the country was held by men pledged to oppose the
settlement of Europeans in the country, and they were able to
make their own statements. Now, however, the question may
be alluded to ; it has been examined into by Mr. Yule, a
civilian, one of their own order, and this is what he says : —
" The reports show how the Ryots, at first amenable to
remonstrances from the police, gradually learned to disregard
them till they attacked Beniagram in open daylight, and in
defiance of a considerable police force present on the spot.
The Ryots appeared to have said all along that what they wanted
was a Hakim to inquire into their grievances, and the prisoners
in this case plainly told me that they never would have been
in the scrape they were, had a Hakim been at hand. I say the
same, and this belief renders the duty of passing sentence, at
all times a painful one, infinitely more so in this case than
usual. In conclusion, I must observe that Mr. Lyon by his
determined defence saved not only his own life and property,
but, had the attack on Beniagram been successful, every planter
and factory in this subdivision and Maldah would, I verily
believe, have been attacked, and there is no saying how far the
outbreak might have spread. Mr. Lyon had quelled the spirit
of destruction before almost it was known to be abroad.''
He further acquits Mr. Lyon of oppression, and aUudes
pointedly to the weak spot in our rule — to the real causes of all
the Indigo disturbances. These are, according to Mr. Yule,
inefficient magistrates, an utterly useless police, and the want
of summary courts of justice. These are the remedies he would
propose, and, by a coincidence not curious but striking, these
are the remedies which the planters have proposed, but which
the Lieutenant-Governor will not have. I must, however, do
Mr. Grant the justice to state, that since the pubHcation in this
country of English opinion on the subject of Indigo the tone
of his letters has softened down. Within the last fortnight
two factories, belonging to Messrs. Watson, have been burnt
down, and rewards have been offered for the discovery and
apprehension of rhe offenders. Magistrates, also, have been
directed to bestir themselves, and put a stop to the crimes
which disgrace the districts. This spasmodic movement would
appear to be somewhat late in the day. An annual expendi-
APPENDIX II. 187
ture of more than half a million sterling has been lost to the
Ryots, and these, prompted by men behind the scenes, are
endeavouring to make combinations for the avowed object of
living at their ease without the obligation of industry and toil.
II.
Extracts from the Honourable Ashley Eden's Evidence before
the Indigo Commissionj 1860.
3578. Mr. FergussonJ] In the forty-nine cases (of affrays)
which you ferretted out, as having occurred during the last
thirty years, is it not the case that in more than half of them,
Europeans have not been accused, or, if accused, have been
acquitted ? — There are scarcely any one of these cases, in which
the European or Principal Manager of the concern has ever
been put upon his trial, although in many of them, the Judges
trying the cases have expressed strong opinions that such Euro-
peans were themselves implicated in them ; and it is to this
importunity and freedom from responsibility that I attribute
the constant recurrence of these violent outrages.
3579. In such instances as you have mentioned, was it not
a gross dereliction of duty on the part of the Government not
to prosecute the Europeans ? — There certainly was a failure of
justice which, in my opinion, may, to a certain extent, be
attributed to the strong bias, which the Governor and many
of the officers of Government have always displayed in favour
of those engaged in this particular cultivation ; this may also
partly have arisen from the difficulty which exists under the
present law of obtaining a conviction against Europeans, as, for
instance, in the case in which a planter, named Dick, alias
Richard Aimes, was murdered by a European planter named
Jones, a French planter named Pierre Alter, and some native
servants, in which the Frenchman and the natives being
amenable to the Courts of the country, were imprisoned for
life; whilst Young, the European British subject, not being
subject to the jurisdiction of the local Court, was tried in Her
Majesty's Supreme Court in Calcutta, and was acquitted on
precisely the same evidence as was brought against the foreigners
and natives who were convicted in the district Court: the
sentence being upheld by the Nizamut Adawlut.
188 APPENDIX ir.
3580. Then you consider tliat in that case justice was
obtained in the Mofussil Courts and denied in the Supreme
Court ? — I consider that the Judges of the Court of the Nizamut
Adawlut are fully as competent to come to a decision on the
evidence before them, as a Calcutta petty Jury. I shall, there-
fore, consider that, in this instance, a failure of justice occurred
in the Supreme Court.
3581. If I tell you, that I was in the Supreme Court during
the whole of that trial, and with a strong feeling against the
prisoner, and that /, and most other gentlemen in Calcutta^ con-
sidered it impossible to find him guilty on the evidence^ would it
alter your opinion in any manner ? — JVO, as with those facts
before them, and commenting on those facts, the Sudder Court
subsequently convicted the remainder of that party as accessories
to the murder on that evidence; the previous acquittal in the
Supreme Court, and the distrust throion upon the evidence having
been urged by the defendants Counsel, and over-ruled. Moreover^
if the murder icas not committed, where is Dick alias Richard
Aimes, who has never appeared since.
3606. Mr. Fergusson.] In the present state of the Mofussil
Courts and with the present Judges who preside in them, would
you like to see any European friend tried in them ? — / think that
if the Courts are good enough for the natives, they are good enough
for Europeans. If they are not good enough for natives, they are
not fit to have any jurisdiction at all over any one. As far as I
am myself concerned, I would sooner be tried, if innocent, in the
local Sessions Courts, with an appeal to the Nizamut, than in the
Supreme Court. If guilty, I would prefer the Supreme Court
and a Calcutta jury,
3664. Mr. Fergusson,'] Then you do not think that the
residence of European gentlemen in the interior has improved
either the physical or moral condition of the people ? — Although
I have no doubt, that there are many individuals who have done
great good and rendered assistance to the authorities, yet, as a
general rule, I do not think the residence of Indigo Planters has
improved to any great extent the physical or moral condition of
the people.^ I believe there are to be found more bad characters
settled around Indigo Factories, than in distant villages in
which an European has never been seen. My remarks do not
apply either to silk manufacturers, or rum distillers, or Sunder-
bund settlers ; of the latter of whom I had a great many in my
* Here Mr. Eden, the Bengal civilian, differs from the Statesmen Lord
William Bentinck and Sir Charles Metcalfe, whose opinions are cited at
page 18.
APPENDIX III. 189
district ; but against "whom I never had a single complaint. I
allude only to the Indigo Planters, who, as a rule, live in con-
stant antagonism with the people around them ; a state of
things which cannot conduce to the peace of the country.
III.
Petition of the Indigo Planters' Association to Lord
Canning against the Honourable J. P. Grant.
To the Right Honourable his Excellency the
Viceroy and Governor- General of India
in Council.
The humble Petition of the Bengal
Indigo Planters' Association.
Respectfully Sheweth,
That your Petitioners' Association is composed principally
of persons engaged in the cultivation of Indigo in the Lower
Provinces of Bengal, a cultivation which has been by one
Right Honourable Member of the Council remarked upon as
one of the few in India attracting British capital to native
labour, and one which the Government would above aU others
wish to encourage.
That although your petitioners are convinced of this desire
on the part of the Government of India, the present Governor
of Bengal, the Honourable John Peter Grant, has since his
appointment to his present office unfortunately acted in such a
way as to throw nearly the whole of the Indigo districts, and
especially Kishnaghur, into confusion, and unless something be
done to remedy the present system of misrule, many Indigo
Planters must be irretrievably ruined, while the inevitable
result of the withdrawal of British capital from the districts is a
matter of no small importance.
That your Excellency in Council may probably be, in con-
sequence of your Excellency's duties having made it necessary
for you to proceed up the country at the time in question, not
minutely acquainted with the origin of the disturbances which
have for some months been existing in Kishnaghur and the
adjacent districts, and which have already put Government to
so much expense.
That the origin of those disturbances undoubtedly was the
conduct of the Honourable Mr. Eden^ then magistrate of
190 APPENDIX III.
Baraset, in allowing the Ryots of the Baraset district to become
aware that his feeling was against the Indigo Planters^ where-
upon the manager of the Bengal Indigo Company complained
to the then Governor of Bengal now Sir Frederick Halliday,
but that gentleman having retired from office, the matter was
finally investigated by the Honourable John Peter Grant, who
supported Mr. Eden.
That on the 17th August, 1859, the Honourable Mr. Eden
wrote to the deputy magistrate of Kallaroah a letter, which
your Excellency in Council will at once see was intended to
point out the advisability of Byots objecting to cultivate.
From
The Honourable A. EDEN,
Magistrate at Baraset,
To
Baboo HEMCHUNDER KUR,
Deputy Magistrate, Kalaroah Sub-Division,
Sir,
As the cultivation of Indigo is carried on to a considerable
extent in your sub-division, I beg to forward for your infor-
mation and guidance extracts from a letter No. 4516, dated
21st July, 1859, from the Secretary to the Government of
Bengal to the Commissioner of the Nuddea Division.
You will perceive that the course laid down for the police in
Indigo disputes, is to protect the Ryot in the possession of his
lands, on which he is at liberty to sow any crop he likes,
without any interference on the part of the Planter or any one
else. The Planter is not at liberty, under pretext of the Ryots
having promised to sow Indigo for him, to enter forcibly upon
the land of the Ryot. Such promises can only be produced
against the Ryot in the Civil Court, and the magisterial autho-
rities have nothing to do with them, for there must be two
parties to a promise ; and it is possible that the Ryots, whose
promises or contracts are admitted, may still have many irre-
sistible pleas to avoid the consequence the Planter insists upon.
That on the 20th August, 1 859, the said Hemchunder Kur
published in the district the following unfortunate and iU-
judged proclamation : —
Translation,
" To the Darogah of Thannah Kalarooah. Take notice. —
A letter from the Magistrate of Baraset, dated the 17th
August, 1859, having been received, accompanied by an extract
APPEKDIX III. 191
from an English letter from the Secretary to the Government
of Bengal, to the address of the Commissioner of the Nuddea
Division, dated 21st July, 1859, No. 4516, to the following
purport, that in cases of disputes relating to Indigo Ryots they
shall retain possession of their own lands, and shall sow on
them what crops they please, and the police will be careful that
no Indigo Planter nor any one else be able to interfere in the
matter, and Indigo Planters shall not be able forcibly to cause
Indigo to be sown on the lands of those Ryots on the ground
that the Ryots consented to the sowing, &c., of Indigo. If
Ryots have so consented, the Indigo Planter may bring an
action against them in the Civil Court. The Criminal Court
has no concern in these matters, because, notwithstanding such
contracts, or such consent withheld or given. Ryots may urge
unaswerable excuses against the sowing of Indigo. A copy of
Perwannah is therefore issued, and you are requested in future
to act accordingly. — Dated 20th August, 1859.''
That the consequence of this was that the Ryots in that
and the surrounding districts immediately believed that Govern-
ment wished to put a stop to Indigo planting, and on the 14th
October, 1859, the manager of the Jingergatcha Indigo concern
brought to the Commissioner's notice the dangerous effects of
such a proclamation, and after an investigation, the Commis-
sioner, Mr. Grote, as well as Messrs. Reid and Drummond, who
were all men who thoroughly understood the Indigo districts
and the people, unanimously condemned the indiscretion of the
magistrate and deputy magistrate, although the Honourable
Mr. Grant, on the 7th April, 1860, wrote a letter in which he
stated that he considered that Mr. Eden had given a satisfac-
tory explanation.
That although that might appear so to his Honour, the con-
sequences in the meantime were serious in the extreme to the
Planters ; and about the beginning of February, on the return
of the Honourable Mr. Grant from a tour through the Indigo
districts, a report spread rapidly throughout the whole of the
villages that the Government were opposed to the cultivation of
Indigo.
That your petitioners believe that this was caused by the
Lieutenant-Governor allowing himself to form and openly
express an opinion hostile to the system of Indigo planting,
although at a subsequent interview which a deputation of your
petitioners' Association had with his Honour, he stated plainly
that he had never had any experience in the Indigo districts,
and that he was very ignorant on the subject; and in order to
show that your petitioners' belief on that subject is not
192 APPENDIX III.
unfounded^ they would beg your Excellency's attention to tlie
following extract from a letter from Mr. Grant to Mr. Sconce,
dated 23rd March, I860, written ten days after the interview
with the deputation, and published by the authority of the
Government of Bengal, which is as follows :
" I am myself of opinion that the Indigo cultivators "
(meaning the Ryots) — "have and long have had great and in-
creasing ground of just complaint against the whole system of
Indigo cultivation."
That the occasion of the writing of that letter was the
earnest entreaty of the Planters that His Honor should request
Mr. Sconce to bring into the Legislative Council a bill to com-
pel Ryots to complete their engagements, a measure which was
absolutely necessary, as from the rapid spread of the disaffection
amongst the Ryots many Planters saw ruin staring them in the
face, while the districts were becoming so disturbed that neither
life nor property were safe.
That the Legislative Council at once saw the necessity of
speedy action, and the Act XI of 1860 was passed and received
your Excellency's assent.
That your petitioners believe that if the local authorities had
been permitted to carry out the provisions of this Act without
interference on the part of His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor,
none of the difficulties with which the Planters have to contend
would now exist, while instead of having a prospect before them
of utter ruin to many factories next season, matters would have
gone on to the mutual advantage of the capitalist and labourer
— all differences between them being settled like every other
commercial arrangement upon the simple question of price.
That immediately upon the Act being passed. His Honor
published on the 4th April, 1860, a letter of instructions which
is hereto annexed and marked No. 1, which refers to a previous
letter published by His Honor, and which is hereto annexed
and marked No. 2, and your petitioners humbly submit to your
Excellency in Council that at a time when the Ryots were all
under the belief that the Lieutenant-Governor was opposed to
the system of Indigo planting, it would have been more proper
to leave the magisterial officers to exercise their own discretion
as to the mode of acquainting the Ryots with the terms of the
Act, instead of directing the magistrates to communicate to
them the desire of Government, or pointing out to them as in
the 7th paragraph of the letter marked No. 2, that the Act was
only to apply to the current season, thereby keeping alive in
the minds of the Ryots a feeling of excitement that a discreet
magistrate if left to himself would have known how to avoid.
APPENDIX III. 193
Tliat considering the powers which His Honour has as to the
removal of magistrates, it was as your petitioners submit un-
called for — unless the Honourable Lieutenant-Governor could^not
trust the magisterial officers of the district — to hold out as he
did in the letter No. 1 a threat of removal if any magistrate
interpreted the Act contrary to His Honour's views.
That the Lieutenant-Governor in laying down rules for the
interpretation of the Act exceeded, as your petitioners submit,
his powers and trespassed upon the province of the Legislative
Council and of the judicial officers of the Government, because
where a question as to the meaning of an Act arose, a judicial
tribunal where both sides could be heard, was the proper forum
to interpret it.
That your petitioners beg to draw to the earnest considera-
tion of your Excellency in Council that the Lieutenant-Governor
has since that Act was passed, interfered with the working of it
in such a way as to make it wholly useless for the purpose which
the Legislative Council had in view, and your petitioners have
only to refer to the records of the Government of Bengal con-
taining the papers relative to Indigo planting whicli are pub-
lished by authority, to shew that His Honour has exercised an
improper and most indiscreet interference with sentences passed
by the magistrates.
That soon after the passing of the Act a Mooktear was tried
by Mr. Betts for instigating Kyots to break their engagements,
and a number of Ryots were sentenced for ploughing up Indigo
that had been sown.
That both of these offences had become very common, and
it was necessary for the sake of example to put them down at
once; but notwithstanding this and the express provision by
the Legislative Council that there should be no appeal, the
Lieutenant-Governor, on the 19th April, 1860, ordered the
Commissioner to review these proceedings as appears by the
letter hereto annexed and marked No. 3.
That by adopting such a course the prosecutors had not even
the chance which, if there had been an appeal, they would have
had, of showing that the convictions were proper, and the Lieu-
tenant-Governor soon afterwards ordered the release of the
Mooktear and the Ryots, which did more harm than your
Excellency can imagine.
That in order to show what the wish of His Honour was, this
proceeding has been followed up by his directing the release of
many other Ryots imprisoned duly according to law, and the
removal from the Indigo districts of the Magistrates, Messrs.
Betts, Mackenzie, Macniell and Taylor, and the substitution for
194 APPENDIX III.
them, in cases coming under the new Act^ of some of the Prin-
cipal S udder Ameens of other districts.
That the effect of His Honour's interference has, amongst
other things, been to create an impression not only in the
minds of the magistrates but also of the Planters and Ryots,
that any decisions in favour of the Planters would meet with
the disapproval of the Government of Bengal, and your peti-
tioners would beg leave to draw the attention of your Excellency
in Council to the evidence amongst others of Mr. Forlong and
Mr. Taylor, given before the Indigo Commissioners (the evi-
dence on oath of men of the most unimpeachable character) to
shew the effect of these acts of His Honour and the absurdity of
continuing to institute suits under the new Act.
That in a recent case in which a decision has been given by
Mr. Herschell, magistrate of Kishnaghur, which your peti-
tioners consider to be entirely contrary to the evidence, and
most unjust to the Planter concerned. His Honoar has, upon a
special report of the case to him, ordered copies of it to be dis-
tributed among the officials before whom cases under Act XI,
1860, are tried, with an intimation that Mr. HerschelFs decision
is to be taken as a rule to guide them in all similar cases. This
your petitioners look upon as a most unusual and unauthorized
interference with the ordinary course of law, and the proper
independence of the judicial authorities, and especially unfair
and injurious to your petitioners, inasmuch as the evidence
produced was chiefly that of books and documents, kept accord-
ing to the common practice of all Indigo factories, which are
thereby and in this particular case unjustly condemned whole-
sale as not to be received as good evidence of claims against
Ryots, and being the only corroborative evidence Planters have
to produce, such claims are practically rendered impossible of
proof.
That your petitioners beg to draw particular attention to
the evidence of Mr. Taylor, a man of the highest honour and
reputation, (given before the Commissioners,) by which it
appears that while the decision of cases under Act XI, was left
to the gentlemen acting as magistrates in the district, every
case was decided in his favour, but every case which has since
their removal been brought by him before the principal S udder
Ameen, although supported by the same class of evidence as in
the previous cases, has been dismissed, — a fact that as your
petitioners submit shews the effect of the interference which
they now complain of.
Thatiu several districts contracts have been entered into for
three years and upwards, and in the absence of any Legislative
APPENDIX III. 196
enactment to the contrary, such contracts are in every way
binding, and many Planters have made their calculations for the
several seasons on the knowledge of these contracts ; but His
Honour, without taking this consideration, or indeed considering
for one instant the serious effect on all cultivators of Indigo of
such a proceeding, lately published^a proclamation, the immediate
effect of which was, to cause the Ryots in many districts, who
were previously perfectly quiet, and especially in Messrs. Watson
and Co/s factories, to combine against their employers.
That the proclamation is as follows ; —
Istahar by the order of the Honourable the Lieutenant-Governor,
The following Istahar is issued for the information of those
Ryots who have been put in prison on account of claims against
them for non-fulfilment of their contracts for sowing indigo or
having taking advances for the current season, and those against
whom claims are now pending, as also those who are in any way
connected with Indigo.
The Act XI of 1860, respecting Indigo, which is now in force
will only remain so for a short time. Commissioners will be
appointed before the commencement of next season for sowing
Indigo to enquire into the cause of complaint by the Ryots in
respect of the cultivation of Indigo, and on their report to
Government, such rules will be laid down as will benefit all
parties, and will undoubtedly show no partiality to any one.
On the expiration of the present season it will be optional for
the Ryots to receive advances and to enter into contracts for
sowing Indigo. That is to say, that as for those who have been
imprisoned for not sowing Indigo this season in terms of their
contract on proved claims, it will rest with them to receive or
not receive advances to sow Indigo in future, although for this
season they are required in terms of their contract to sow
Indigo.
Kevenue Commissioner's Office. \
Nuddea Division, )
That if there were any doubt in the mind of your Excellency
in Council as to the views of His Honour on the subject of the
Indigo disputes and his interference with and implied disapproval
of the Act of the Legislative Council, this proclamation would,
as your petitioners believe, remove it, and the effect of it upon
the contracts not yet completed will be irretrievably injurious.
That in consequence of this constant interference of His
Honour, the people of Lower Bengal are losing all respect for
N 2
196 APPENDIX III.
the officers of Government, and tlie minds of tlie people in the
Indigo districts are kept in a state of greater excitement and
uncertainty than they were before Act XI of 1860 was passed.
The districts of Jessore and Pubna, hitherto comparatively quiet^
are becoming seriously disturbed, and in them as well as in
Kishnaghur, the greatest difficulty is experienced by Planters in
inducing the Ryots to cut the fine crop of Indigo plant now ripe
for manufacture, and which will give a handsome return to both
Planters and Ryots, unless allowed to perish by the misguided
folly of the people.
That although in the course of the evidence taken under the
Commission appointed to enquire into the state of the cultivation
of Indigo, and which Commission was appointed at the earnest
request of your petitioners, a mass of evidence in support of the
allegations that the Ryots are opposed to the cultivation of
Indigo, and that it is anything but advantageous to the people
to have it cultivated has been given, your petitioners refer with
confidence to the evidence of the Planters themselves, and more
particularly to the plain, visible and undeniable fact that where-
ever Indigo factories are situated in Bengal, there the people
are richer, the country more highly cultivated, and the province
in a more advanced and prosperous state that in any district
where factories do not exist ; and your petitioners point with
pride to the fact, that within but a few years, miles and miles
of country which were covered with the rankest jungle, are now
highly cultivated and productive lands.
That your petitioners believe that if your Excellency in
Council is desirous of retaining English capital in Bengal, it is
absolutely necessary to adopt some measures to prevent his
Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, from interfering
as he now does, behind the backs of persons interested, in
cases pending or decided, with the due administration of the
law, and to direct his Honour to leave to the Legislature and the
regularly appointed tribunals of the country, the promulgation
and administration of the law.
Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Excel-
lency in Council to take into consideration this
petition, and to pass such orders as may oblige
his Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal,
to refrain from pursuing a course of conduct
which cannot but be ruinous to the Indigo
Planters in Bengal, and to point out to his
Honour the impropriety of interfering with the
due course of the administration of the law by the
APPENDIX IV. 197
regularly appointed judicial officers as laid down
by the Legislative Council of India, and which
interference is, as your petitioners submit, both
illegal and unconstitutional, and especially indis-
creet in the case of a dispute between capital and
labour, and that your Excellency may pass such
further orders as may under the above circum-
stances seem proper.
Dated 26th July, 1860.
IV.
Reply of the Indigo Planters^ Association to Mr. Grant.
" Calcutta, Oct. 13.
" The Committee of the Indigo Planters' Association
having at last received from the Commissioner of Nuddea
information which they requested from him on the 7th ult.,
they proceed to submit to his Excellency the Governor- General
of India in Council the following remarks on the Minute of
the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal dated the 17th of August,
which was communicated to the Association with your letter
of August 31.
'' Although his Excellency has expressed himself satisfied
with Mr. Grants explanations except on one point, the Com-
mittee respectfully beg to observe that Mr. Grant's Minute is
not accompanied by any particulars of the cases to which he
refers, by which his Excellency's judgment might be guided ;
and they, therefore, beg to submit the fullest details which they
have been able to obtain in explanation. In commenting upon
his Honour's Minute, the Committee are desirous of avoiding
as much as possible anything like entering into a controversy
with the Lieutenant-Governor ; still they cannot but express
their regret, that the tone of his Honour's Minute is such as
to show how deeply his feelings are affected against the system
of Indigo planting generally, and the persons who are engaged
in that cultivation.
" In support of this position the Committee content them-
selves by simply referring his Excellency to the style, as well
as the matter, of one paragraph only — namely, the 5tli, which
assumes as a granted fact that planters have been in the habit
of committing every description of crime and oppression.
198 APPENDIX IV.
''The Committee do not wish either to enter into an argu-
ment as to the correctness of the Lieutenant-Governor's views
of the position of the Eyot as a capitalist^ as they believe that
such a theory is one wholly new^ and one particularly opposed
to the general idea of what constitutes a Eyot in Bengal ; but
they must not be considered as in any way agreeing in the
view his Honour takes of this subject, or assenting to his
discovery, that the Ryot is a capitalist as distinguished from a
labourer.
" The Committee would, however, draw particular attention
to one part of the Minute, where the Lieutenant-Governor is
obliged to confess that the gentlemen he employed in the
judicial offices in the disturbed districts were unfit for the
common duties of their stations, and the Committee think that
such a confession from such authority must necessarily draw
the attention of the Executive Government to the necessity of
establishing such a system as will give the people a more
efficient class of judicial officers ; and the Committee would beg
attention to this part of his Honour's Minute as supporting the
truth of what has long been put forward by the planters as
their most serious grievance — viz., the inefficient state of the
Mofussil Courts. His Excellency will have an opportunity in
a later part of this letter of judging of the fitness for the
judicial bench of one of them (Mr. J. S. Bell), who is con-
sidered by his Honour as so much superior to the covenanted
magistrates whom be superseded in their duties.
" The Committee consider it as hardly worth while referring
to the earnest manner in which the Lieutenant-Governor
argues as to there being no ' confusion' in the districts ; they
can only say that a publication of the Lieutenant-Governor's,
dated the 17th of September, has led them to believe that the
word ' confusion' was not strong enough to express the state of
the district ; and they believe that the mere fact of a vast
military force being employed in that part of the country,
where troops have not been stationed since it came under the
British rule, proves ' confusion j' and they cannot but express
their surprise that, at a time when all residents of these districts
knew that affairs were daily becoming worse, his Honour
should, as he does in the last paragraph of his Minute, refer to
the crisis having passed over so peacefully, and with so little
injury to the great interest at stake. The Committee can only
say that the great interest of the European settler is for the
present entirely ruined, and they see but little prospect of
European capital being again embarked in the districts of
Lower Bengal.
APPENDIX IV. 199
'^ But, leaving the general tenor of the Minute, the Com-
mittee would beg his Excellency's attention to the prominent
cases brought forward by the Lieutenant-Governor, on which
he lays much stress ; and when the Committee show that his
Honour has taken statements for granted without fully
investigating the cases on which he relies, to found most
severe remarks and attacks, not only on the planters, but on
his own judicial officers, the Committee believe that his
Excellency will attach much less weight to the Minute in
question than at first sight would appear to be due to it.
^' In the 28th paragragh of the Minute the Lieutenant-
Governor refers to the case of the Mooktear who was, as stated
in the planter's petition, sentenced by ISir. Betts to imprison-
ment and a fine for instigating Ryots not to sow.
It would naturally be supposed from the comments upon
this case that the man in question, Teetaram Chuckerbutty,
was a Mooktear acting as such on behalf of Ryots, and that he
was sentenced for exercising his lawful avocations as a Mooktear ;
and his Honour, on this assumption, would make out that the
sentence in question deprived the Ryots of legal assistance, and
that it was intended to give an advantage to the planters.
The Committee have, however, ascertained that the man,
though entitled, perhaps, to call himself a Mooktear, was, in fact,
but an Omedwar (one seeking employment) ; that he had never
appeared before Mr. Betts as Mooktear ; that he was not
employed in any way by any Ryot on that occasion ; that a few
days previously he had waited on Mr. Forlong, begging for
employment in any capacity ; and that on the day in question
he was hanging about Mr. Betts's tent, looking out for the chance
of anything that might occur, holding no Mooktearnama ; and,
in fact, the Ryots whose cases were before Mr. Betts never con-
sulted him, or referred to him as their legal adviser.
" Mr. Betts had for more than two hours been patiently
explaining to the Ryots their position and liabilities, pointing
out to them that the law distinctly laid it down that if they did
not complete their contracts they would be subject to imprison-
ment, and perhaps be cast in damages, and he begged them to
retire and think over the matter.
" To the former alternative the Ryots were inclined to
agree, and they retired to some neighbouring trees to consult.
The man Teetaram Chuckerbutty went to them then for the
first time, and, joining in their conversation, advised them to
resist sowing, and not to mind the consequences. Information
of this was brought to Mr. Betts, who at once had him brought
into court, heard the evidence, and, finding that he was not
200 APPENDIX IV
acting as Mooktear for any of the parties, convicted him of
instigating, with evil design_, the Ryots not to sow.
" The Committee admit that the sentence might not per-
haps have been strictly legal within the words of the section
of the Act as amended and passed,, but the mere fact of an
error as to the interpretation of the wording of the Act has a
very different effect from that which the Lieutenant-Governor
attributes to this decision, which he erroneously regards as
a gross interference with the liberty of the legal agent of the
Ryots.
" His Honour is wholly misinformed as to the Ryots in
that quarter not being able to obtain the services of legal
agents to defend their cases, and it is wholly incorrect to state
' that the prosecutors for several days had it all their own way; '
so far from this being the case, on the very same day, a com-
plaint having been lodged against one really acting as a
Mooktear before Mr. Betts, it was at once dismissed by him,
on the ground that he could not interfere with the advice that
any legal agent deemed it riglit to give to his client, and
Mr. Betts distinctly pointed out to the complainants that the
position of this man was wholly different from that of Teetaram
Chuckerbutty.
^' The Committee unhesitatingly refer to the records of the
Court in proof of their assertion that no Mooktear was deterred
from representing Ryots in consequence of Mr. Betts's decision,
and they are quite at a loss to understand upon whose repre-
sentation the Lieutenant-Governor has been led into so grave
an error; and his Excellency will see how serious a matter this
is when he observes the frequent and bitter allusions to it in
the Minute.
'^ The other case on which his Honour comments, as
showing not only misconduct on the part of Mr. Betts, but,
what is of far more importance to the Committee, as supporting
the grave charges of forgery and perjury against a planter, or,
at any rate, against their subordinates is that mentioned in
paragraph 32, which he says accidentally came to his knowledge,
as one in which Mr. Betts gave a planter a decree against a
Ryot on a written agreement, purporting to have been made in
1856, though executed on stamped paper which on inspection
proved to have been sold in 1859.
" On investigation this charge proves to be utterly untrue.
'^ The Koboolyat or agreement in question, of which a copy
and translation is herewith sent, recites that the Ryot (Hishab-
dee Shaik Mundle) who was complained against, was indebted
to the factory at the close of the season 1859, to the extent of
APPENDIX IV. 201
3r. 3a. 6p. ; that he had received a farther advance of 12r.
ia cash in consideration of his engaging to cultivate seven
beegahs with Indigo in 1860, and in the four following years
terminating in 1864, the correctness of the account showing the
balance of 3r. 3a. 6p., and the payment of the advance of
12r. in cash, was sworn to by the manager of the factory,
Mr. Taylor, and proved by Mr. Betts's inspection of the books,
and on that evidence Mr. Betts gave the decree against the
Ryot on the 18th of April, 1860, and the Committee would
draw particular attention to the different years mentioned
in that document as those over which the contract was to
extend.
'' On the 27th of July, 1860, Mr. Principal Sudder Ameen
Bell, who is above referred to, as being considered superior to
the other magistrates, on hearing another case, delivered the
judgment, of which a copy is herewith sent, and to which we
beg his Excellency's particular attention, as his Excellency will
perceive in that judgment he did refer to the Koboolyat filed in
the former case, which is above referred to, and apparently
without having made any further inquiries, and certainly
without having read the document which, in fact, was not in
evidence before him, he gratuitously pronounced the same to
be a spurious exhibit, in as much as it is dated at the foot, in
figures, December, 1856, when the stamp was sold in November,
1859.
" The Committee beg his Excellency's attention to the
Koboolyat, which requires only the slightest glance to show
that the date of the English year 1856 is only a mistake and
clerical error of the Bengalee writer, and that it was a Koboo-
lyat for season 1860 to 1864 inclusive, and that the whole text
and wording of the agreement unquestionably prove this to be the
case. When an error was made in one of Mr. HerscheFs
Purwannahs, that of the 19th of April, which caused the
planters' losses, that can only be estimated by tens of thousands
of pounds, and Mr. Herschel put forward, as his defence, that
it was a clerical mistake, and that it was by accident that the
obnoxious copy happened to go to the only place where it was
likely to do harm, the planters did not refuse to accept the
explanation, however opposed to probability.
*' It would seem, however, that no such feelings of fairness
are to be evinced by the authorities towards planters, and that
no opportunity is to be omitted to misrepresent and malign
them, and this is particularly the case in the present instance,
where the record could have at once been called for ana
inspected, and which in fairness ought to have been done.
202 APPENDIX IT,
^^ The Committee can only hope that neither Mr. Bell himself,
whom the Lieutenant-Governor designates as the experienced
Civil Judge : Mr. Herschel, the magistrate, who eagerly seized
on the casCj and sent it up ; Mr. Lushington the Commissioner
who reported it to the Lieutenant-Governor; nor Mr. Grant
himself ever looked at the document before basing on it the
grave charges that are contained in the Minute. Five minutes^
inspection would have prevented a most unjust accusation being
put forward in an official document, and much of that official
document would then have been unwritten.
"In para. 357, his Honour, on whom this case seems to
have made much impression, again introduces the Koboolyat
as the foundation of a sarcasm, and a slander on the whole
body of planters, in the following words : —
'•'It must doubtless have been agreeable to planters when
their suits were tried on such a fashion, that decrees were
obtainable on agreements purporting to be four years old,
though written on stamps which were in the vendors' shops
one year ago.^
"The Committee respectfully, but most earnestly, beg to
submit to his Excellency that such language is as unworthy
of a man holding Mr. Grant's high official position as it has
now been proved to be unfounded and unjust ; and should his
Excellency (as they cannot but believe he will), view the matter
in the same light as they do, they appeal to his high sense of
honour and fairness to point out to the Lieutenant-Governor
the propriety of withdrawing the charge as publicly as it has
been made.
" In the 37th para., his Honour replies to the complaint
that was made, of his influencing the minds of judicial officers
by circulating to all in the districts copy of a decision of
Mr. Herschel, and of a letter from Mr. Lushington on the
subject of a charge against the servants of a factory, respecting
which Mr. Herschel had at that time made a preliminary
inquiry.
"The communications referred to are annexed, and the
Committee appeal to his Lordship in Council to say if they
are not of a nature to prejudice all magistrates against planters.
" The Committee have carefully gone into the case referred
to, which was sent up for trial to the judge, whose decision
was adverse,to the servants of the factory ; but the Committee
do not hesitate to declare their belief that the decision is
incorrect; that it was biassed by the proceedings of the
Lieutenant-Governor ; that it will be reversed on appeal ; and
if Government will publish Mr. Lushington's communications.
APPENDIX IV. 203
tlie proprietors of tlie concern are prepared to prosecute for a
libel, with the object of proving that the allegations ara
unfounded and untrue.
"Beyond defending the body they represent from the
grave and sweeping charges brought against them by the
Lieutenant-Govomor, the Committee do not desire to contest,
or to enter into a controversy on individual cases, but they
feel it their duty to protest on constitutional grounds against
the interference of the Lieutenant-Governor, which has
unquestionably been exercised to such an extent as to impair,
if not to destroy, judicial independence within the districts
under his control. His Excellency will find, on inquiry, that
upon the abolition of the office of Superintendent of Police, an
officer who, from his position, could not be classed with that
of the Lieutenant-Governor, or be considered as having any
such influence as that of the head of the Government, the
supervising control over the proceedings of magistrates, pending
or disposed of, rests in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor
of Bengal ; and the Committee respectfully submit that such
a power exercised as it is by Mr. Grant, who is superior to the
whole Judicial Bench of Bengal, and who has complete power
over the members of that body, is one that is dangerous to the
true interests of justice, and one that ought not to exist, more
especially so when the uncovenanted officers of that body are
completely under the control and hold their offices subject to
the pleasure of the Lieutenant-Governor alone.
" In thus replying to his Honour's minute, the Committee
have avoided as much as possible acting otherwise than in a
calm spirit ; but although they feel that they are contending
with one whose position makes it impolitic on their part to
enter into controversy with him, they cannot consistently with
their duty, or feeling as English gentlemen, representing a
large European Association, composed of many men who have
not only invested their all in this country, but have done so in
the belief that they would be protected by the leading principles
of an European Government, allow such serious charges as these
brought by his Honour to pass unremarked upon, and without
protesting against the injustice and impropriety of them as
they now do ; and, believing that a different line of conduct on
the part of the Government of Bengal would have led to a very
different result to that which now exists, they submit these
remarks to his Excellency, trusting that this matter is one of
sufficient importance to attract to its careful consideration his
Excellency's earnest attention.^'
201 APPENDIX Y.
Latest accounts contained in the " Friend of India^ the '' Bengal
Hurkaru/' and the " Calcutta Englishman,'^
{From the " Friend of India y^ November 29.)
Government by Abstract Principles. — Logical
government, like logical theology, is a dangerous mistake in
practical life. Admirable as systems, both fail when applied
to men with more passion than intellect, whose habits are the
result of centuries of growth, whose beliefs are narrow and one-
sided, whose rights stretch far back beyond the widest statute
of limitation, whose prejudices must be allowed to perish as
slowly as they have been permitted to grow. The doctrine of
predestination may be logically true, but the consciousness of
man tells him that his will is free. The abominations of
slavery may be most patent, but the well-being of society
demanded a gradual emancipation of the slave, and the indem-
nification of his master. The evils of the system of Indigo
cultivation which the East India Company created may be
great, and the logical course is certainly to put an end to them
at once and for ever. But the good of the cultivator, the
rights of the Planter, the general quiet of the country, and the
claims of commerce, all demand that the evils be removed by a
reformation which will improve the system or render a better
possible, not by a revolution which will destroy it and sow the
seeds of a jacquerie.
What Government by abstract principles has done for
Lower Bengal may be seen in the present state of the four
rich districts of Jessore, Nuddea, Pubna, and Furredpore. We
have been at the pains to make out a list of all the Indigo
" Concerns " which have this year been suddenly and violently
ruined. An unwillingness to disclose the private affairs of
individual Planters prevents us from giving the names in
detail, but the results of the list now before us are in the gross
sufficiently startling. They agree in all main points with
those given by the Indigo Commission in their Eeport. On
1st October, 1859, there were in these four districts 27 Con-
cerns, each consisting of a large number of factories, valued in
the gross at £1,244,000, or about a million and a quarter
sterling. Of this there is no doubt, as several of them are
mortgaged to within a narrow margin of the values assigned.
Their yearly outlay, of which the greater portion was spent in
the agricultural districts, was .£400,000, or nearly half a million
sterling. For the past eight years the books of the Calcutta
APPENDIX Y. 205
Indigo brokers show that these 27 Concerns have manufactured
25,165 maunds of the finest Indigo, which has been sold at the
average price of Ks. 210 the 82 lbs. In London the average
cost has been Rs. 4 a pound. Up to this moment there is no
prospect of these factories turning out one pound of Indigo
next season. If put up in the market the property would not
realize any price whatever. The proprietors are ruined, and
at least 30 lakhs which they have hitherto put in circulation
among the Ryots every year are withdrawn. Admitting that
the Planter ought to have met by anticipating the storm,
admitting that the whole difficulty is one of price, and that in
a few months the exasperation of the peasant will cease if he is
attracted to grow the plant by being paid a fair value, what
are we to say of the policy which has so worked as at once and
violently to cause this ruin, and whose only panacea for the evil
is — more Moonsiffs ?
Mr. Grant has shown a laudable zeal in answering the
attacks of the Indigo Planters, in meeting sarcasm by sarcasm,
charge by counter- charge, complaints by sneers. His answer
to the last defence of the Planters on the subject of the forged
contract was sent in to Government a week ago. But as yet
ill-judged proclamations, fruitful in adding fuel to the discon-
tent which pervades Lower Bengal, are the only result of the
Report of the Indigo Commission. In vain has the Govern-
ment of India called on him for his Minute on that Report.
In vain has a Bill been hurried through the Legislative CouncU
to allow the local governments to establish Small Cause Courts
in the disturbed districts. In vain has the Supreme Council
voted money for their establishment. Mr. Grant does not
approve of Small Cause Courts. He believes only in Moonsiffs
with a regular gradation of appeal up to the Sudder and the
Privy Council. The only excitement we give to the Bengali
is litigation, and he does not wish to deprive him of that
luxury. He cannot allow the establishment of courts in the
Indigo districts with so large a jurisdiction as to Rs. 500, from
which there is no appeal, with which he therefore cannot inter-
fere. But as the Act has been passed he must do something.
And so he resolves to establish four Small Cause Courts, in the
suburbs of Calcutta, in Akyab, Dacca, and Moorshedabad.
He has recommended two grades of judges, on Rs. 700 and
Rs. 1,000 a month. As to the Indigo districts where the
courts are really wanted at once he thus calculates. In the
districts of Jessore and Nuddea there are 19 Moonsiffs. Each
court must have a jurisdiction not larger than that of two
Moonsiffs. This would give 10 Small Cause Courts to the two
206 APPENDIX V.
districts, and where are judges or money for them to be found?
Instead of this he proposes to direct the Moonsiffs to arrange
their cases so that they shall devote three days a week to all
bond, debt, and minor suits, and three days to those of greater
duration and importance. The Appellate Courts are to do the
same, and this is Mr. Grant's reform in the Indigo districts.
A reform on the present system it is, but as ineffectual for the
object in view as a drop of water to extinguish Vesuvius.
The Planters want Small Cause Courts, the Supreme Govern-
ment have ordered them, the public are convinced of their
utility. Let Mr. Grant for once throw over his abstract prin-
ciples, and give them what they want. One judge like Mr,
Montriou in Jessore, and another in Kishnaghur, will give all
classes the chief, speedy, and effectual justice for which they
vainly cry.
{^^ Bengal Hurkarur 8th December, 1860.)
Indigo Cultivation. — We publish under the head of
Official Papers a correspondence which point? out how wholly
the Government, the magistrates, and the police are answer-
able for the worst of the riots that have taken place with regard
to Indigo cultivation. It is only after a lapse of time that
Planters can prove how false are the accusations of their
calumniators, among whom the chief is the head of the Govern-
ment, Mr. John Peter Grant. It was only after some among
them had been held up to the scorn of the world by that
gentleman as habitual forgers for about two months, that they
were enabled to prove that the charge was as false as malicious.
Mr. Grant also, in a note to one of his minutes, accused Mr.
Hampton of the Pubna district as guilty of a grave outrage of
which he has now been fully acquitted and the crime saddled
upon the police. Messrs. Eden and Herschel in their evidence
before the Indigo Commission both accused the Messrs. Lyon
of being oppressive planters. Mr. Herschel told us that he
was not *^ surprised at the attack upon Benlagram, as the
concern of which that factory forms a part, both on the Moor-
shedabad and Malda side of the river, has for many years past,
been the scene of the gravest outbreaks on the part of the
Ryots that he has seen in any district." Mr. Eden says that
the Aurungabad sub-division was established on account of the
oppression to which the people were subjected by the servants
of the Messrs. Lyon's factories. In opposition to the testimony
of these precocious young gentlemen we have the following
APPENDIX V. 207
testimony of the magistrate who was deputed to investigate all
the charges which the Messrs. Lyon's Ryots could bring
against them, after they had been exasperated to the utmost by
the result of the battle of Beniagram and while they were
acting under the influence of a Dhurmoghut or religious con-
spiracy against them : —
"In conclusion 1 beg to state that no serious charges of any
kind were brought before me against Mr. Lyon, by any of the
accused concerned in the attack on the Beniagram Factory,
neither am I aware that Mr. Lyon has in any way, personally
maltreated his Ryots. Petty cases of exactions and ill treat-
ment on the part of his factory subordinates were at times
brought to his notice, and instead of at once taking up such
himself, or referring complaints to our Courts, he would make
them over to his Sudder Office Amlah, by whom some cases
were sometimes hushed up, or misrepresented to Mr Lyon and
redress not always given the aggrieved parties. None of these
however were of so serious a nature as would have given rise
to feelings which would have produced the occurrence that has
been the subject of this enquiry. Since the institution of
Act XI, of 1860, Mr. Lyon has brought before me but seven
cases of breach of Contract, all of which have been com-
promised, the Ryots agreeing to fulfil their engagements, which
would speak strongly in favor of the feelings existing between
that Planter and his Ryots."
Mr. Yule, in the papers we publish, gives a very clear
account of the cause of the outrage committed against Mr.
Lyon. The Ryots in one factory of a neighbouring concern
had been much oppressed by a Gomastah, and had not got
redress from the manager, nor from the magistrate or police.
The deputy magistrate from Moorshedabad took no notice of
their complaints and gave them no redress. They were
irritated and encouraged to violence by his proceedings. "The
oppressions they complained of were not enquired into, and the
violence the result of these oppressions was unpunished : —
"The excitement spread among the Ryots of other Indigo con
cerns. They entered into a Dhurmgut or combination under
religious sanction not to cultivate Indigo. They raised contribu-
tions to defray the costs which might be incurred by their refusal
to cultivate. They established signals by the beating of drums
to enable themselves to assemble quickly at any given spot.
Darogahs, Jemadars and Burkundazes were sent to the Than-
nah where this was going on, but they were helpless. Large
assemblies of Ryots took place at night on the drum signal
being given, and sometimes even in the day time large bodies of
208 APPENDIX V.
men would assemble •ond proceed to this or that village on pre-
tence of defending it from an attack by the factory. The
police, however, reported constantly and in strong and urgent
terms the state of affairs, plainly stating in a report of the
11th March, that a serious affray with murder would occur.
Had any enquiry been instituted even then by a competent
officer, matters would have been settled, but there was no
officer in the sub* division, and no enquiry was made. More
police were ordered out, but from the 14th March none of the
police reports appear to have been noticed until the 26th idem.
The Ryots got worse and worse, the infection spread to the vil-
lages of Mr. Lyon's Beniagram factory above five miles from
Ancoro, on the 1 9th drums were then heard by night answering
each other from the villages all round."
After this followed the attack upon Mr. Lyon's factory from
which he was so providentially saved. Mr. Yule has con-
demned the Kyots to imprisonment, but he thus speaks of
them : —
" Those unfortunate wretches whom I have just convicted
and sentenced, those who were killed and wounded, many who
have fled the country were led into the guilt for which they
have suffered by the conduct of the deputy magistrate sent to
enquire into the Ancora case, by the subsequent absence of an
officer from the sub- division, and by the neglect with which
the police reports were treated."
The cause of the outrage was not the Planter's oppression
but the conduct of the deputy magistrate, who was perhaps
as good a man as either Mr. Herschell or Mr. Eden, and who
if examined before a Commission, would have probably given
evidence against the character of the Messrs. Lyon, because
their factories " had been the scene of the gravest outbreaks
on the part of the Ryots that he had seen in any district."
That Mr. Herschell's own conduct was the cause of the out-
breaks he witnessed is very probable from the fact, that while
he was in that district hs was severely rebuked by the Judge
for passing most unjust orders in consequence of his ignorance
of the vernacular, aU of which was most fully set forth in the
columns of the Dacca News some two or three years ago.
In conclusion, we shall quote what Mr. Yule says with
regard to the cause of the poor Ryots having been betrayed
into such an outrage against the law, and his opinion with
regard to Mr. Lyon's gallant conduct and its result : —
"The reports show how the Ryots, at first amenable to
remonstrances from the police, gradually learnt to disregard
them till they attacked Beniagram in open daylight, and in
APPENDIX V. 209
defiance of a considerable police force present on the spot.
The Ryots appeared to have said all along that what they
wanted was a Hakim to enquire into their grievances, and the
prisoners in this case plainly told me that they never would
have been in the scrape they were, had a Hakim been at hand.
I say the same, and this belief renders the duty of passing
sentence, at all times a painful one, infinitely more so in this
case than usual.
" In conclusion, I must observe that Mr. Lyon by his deter-
mined defence saved not only his own life and property, but
had the attack on Beniagram been successful, every Planter
and factory in this sub-division and Maldah would, I verily
believe, have been attacked, and there is no saying how far the
outbreak might have spread. Mr. Lyon had quelled the spirit
of destruction before almost it was known to be abroad."
We trust that Mr. Grant will now acknowledge that his
magistrates and police, and Government are not all faultless,
and that the country may owe something even to a despised
Planter. — Ibid., December 7.
(From the '' Calcutta Englishman " of the 8th December, 1860).
The secret of the long- continued neglect of Government
securities with increasing bank balances, and money lying every-
where idle, is to be found in petitions such as that given below,
presented this morning to the Legislative Council from all the
leading mercantile men, and many native capitalists. It is to
be found also in the universal remonstrance against the Govern-
mental support of Mr. Grant and his policy, despite their own
recognition of the difl&culties every day accumulating around the
position to which his determined enmity to Mofussil interlopers
upon the Civil Service district autocracies has brought them.
The resistance to the Planter, and repudiation of every contract
with him, in which Mr. Grant has tutored and supported the
Ryot, has developed itself into the destruction of interloping
property, and resistance to rent-paying as well as contracts,
and that in districts where no complaint has ever lain against
the Anglo-Indian residents, who bid fair to be involved in the
common ruin which is completing the long-foreseen result of
Mr. Grant's ^^ success." All the circulars that the victorious
Bengal Government can write will be of no avail with the
Ryots who see that he is still in power. They continue to
read or listen to his circulars and proclamations only in the
sense in which he first taught them to interpret them, and they
o
210 APPENDIX V.
treat as lies and cunning snares anything which implies that
any change of sentiment or policy can weaken the intente
cordiale which unites the " small capitalists " of Bengal and
their great patron in their common enmity to the Planter.
The weight of the English press has made itself felt most
terribly in the ranks of the old aristocracy, who begin to think
that there may be something in what every non-official in
India has been telling them all along, when they see those
sentiments, even more strongly expressed, and the self-same
arguments carried to even harsher conclusions by the whole
leading press of England. We told our friends and readers in
England long before, what would be the drift and the worth of
the report of the Indigo Commission ; we told them long ago
that the resistance of the Ryots would not long be confined to
Indigo Contracts, and we tell them now what the Government
know, but would fain discredit, that the policy of the Bengal
Government has brought Bengal to that point at which any
accident at any hour, may rouse large districts from their
condition of passive resistance to payments, into an active
jacquerie only to be put down, by force of arms, at which the
very loudest in protest would be the men whose folly brought
about the mischief. Meanwhile, Mr. Grant has the satisfaction
of seeing the men who, on his assuming his lieutenancy, were
men of wealth, improving whole districts and openinsj up the
path of civilization, now seeking employment in which their
energies may make fresh fortunes, not, we may hope to be at
the mercy of such Governments as that of Bengal under Mr.
Grant,
■/
"^ ^oyoy
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