Tempo:
CHAP. IX
WAR WITH THE ENGLISH
298
wished-for destruction. The princes of India can no longer acquire fame or territory by preying upon one another. Under the exact sway of their new paramount, they must divest themselves of ambition and of all the violent passions of their nature, and they must try to remain kings without exercising the most loved of the functions of rulers. The Indians, indeed, will themselves politely liken England and her dependent sovereigns to the benignant moon accompanied by hosts of rejoicing stars in hei nightly progress, rather than to the fierce sun which rides the heavens in solitude scarcely visible amidst intolerable brightness; but men covet power as well as ease, and crave distinction as well as wealth; and thus it is with those who endeavour to jest with adversity. England has immediately to make her attendant princes feel, that while resistance is vain, they are themselves honoured, and hold a substantive position in the economy of the imperial government, instead of being merely tolerated as bad rulers or regarded with contempt and aversion as half-barbarous men. Her rule has hitherto mainly tended to the benefit of the trading community; men of family name find no place in the society of their masters, and no employment in the service of the state; and while the peasants have been freed from occasional rainous exaction, and from more rare personal torture, they are oppressed and impoverished by a well-meant but cumbrous and inefficient law,^ and by an excessive and partial taxation, which looks almost wholly to the land for the necessary revenue The husbandman is sullen and of a government.indifferent,-^ the gentleman nurses his wrath in secrecy, [1 I have removed a footnote here inserted by the author The note is quite untrue elaboration of this statement. under modern conditions and has ceased to have any practical The views of both the author and of Sleeman, whom value. he quotes (Ramhles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Oxford Edition, p. 544), are typical of a point of view which has now happily passed away. ED.]
in
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-
See Appendix XVI.
' Lieut.-Col. Sleeman considers (Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, p. 432) that neither have the English gained, nor did other rulers possess, the goodwill of the peasantry and landholders of the country. In considering the position of the English, or of any ruling power, in Inida, it should always be borne in mind that no bodies of peasantry, excepting perhaps the Sikhs and, in a lesser degree, the Rajputs of the west, and no classes of men, excepting perhaps the Muhammadans and, in a lesser degree, the Brahmans, take any interest in the government of their country, or have collectively any wish to be dominant. The
1845-6.
WAR WITH THE ENGLISH
298
wished-for destruction. The princes of India can no longer acquire fame or territory by preying upon one another. Under the exact sway of their new paramount, they must divest themselves of ambition and of all the violent passions of their nature, and they must try to remain kings without exercising the most loved of the functions of rulers. The Indians, indeed, will themselves politely liken England and her dependent sovereigns to the benignant moon accompanied by hosts of rejoicing stars in hei nightly progress, rather than to the fierce sun which rides the heavens in solitude scarcely visible amidst intolerable brightness; but men covet power as well as ease, and crave distinction as well as wealth; and thus it is with those who endeavour to jest with adversity. England has immediately to make her attendant princes feel, that while resistance is vain, they are themselves honoured, and hold a substantive position in the economy of the imperial government, instead of being merely tolerated as bad rulers or regarded with contempt and aversion as half-barbarous men. Her rule has hitherto mainly tended to the benefit of the trading community; men of family name find no place in the society of their masters, and no employment in the service of the state; and while the peasants have been freed from occasional rainous exaction, and from more rare personal torture, they are oppressed and impoverished by a well-meant but cumbrous and inefficient law,^ and by an excessive and partial taxation, which looks almost wholly to the land for the necessary revenue The husbandman is sullen and of a government.indifferent,-^ the gentleman nurses his wrath in secrecy, [1 I have removed a footnote here inserted by the author The note is quite untrue elaboration of this statement. under modern conditions and has ceased to have any practical The views of both the author and of Sleeman, whom value. he quotes (Ramhles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Oxford Edition, p. 544), are typical of a point of view which has now happily passed away. ED.]
in
—
-
See Appendix XVI.
' Lieut.-Col. Sleeman considers (Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, p. 432) that neither have the English gained, nor did other rulers possess, the goodwill of the peasantry and landholders of the country. In considering the position of the English, or of any ruling power, in Inida, it should always be borne in mind that no bodies of peasantry, excepting perhaps the Sikhs and, in a lesser degree, the Rajputs of the west, and no classes of men, excepting perhaps the Muhammadans and, in a lesser degree, the Brahmans, take any interest in the government of their country, or have collectively any wish to be dominant. The
1845-6.
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