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PEOPOSAL

FOR

AN INDIAN POLICY

UNDER

» » « • • I •

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i • • • •

THE NEW EEEOEM PARLIAMENT.

Bead at a Meeting of the East India Association, FehmM y Ibt, 1868.

THE

DEVELOPMENl!:;,

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1 1 1 >

••*( *!•••

THE DORMANT AVB^XiHte:

OF THE

• • •
« > • • *

iriltah ^okwm and Joqisw |o8ae»»|0ns.

Bead at the Social Scietice Congress, Birmiyigham, October 6th, 1868.

THOMAS BRIGGS.

LONDON: 1868.

• »

•• ••

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Losnos :

•••. *• Tr.firKED BY W. W. HEAD, VICTOBIA PBESS, 83A, FAKniNGCON STREET, E.C

• • ••

• • • • •

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I • ••

PROPOSAL

FOR

AN INDIAN POLICY

UNDEB

THE NEW REFORM PARLIAMENT.

The development of the agricultural resources of India is a subject of
vital importance, and the way how to do it opens up so wide a
field for controversy, that it is with the utmost diiFidence that J.
am here to-night to bring the question before you.

In considering this subject, I propose to bring to your notice : —
1st. The woste land rules, as passed by Lord Canning in India
during the short tenure of office of Lord Stanley, when he was
Indian Secretary under Lord Derby, about 1858-9.

2nd. The veto of those rules on arrival hero by Sir Charles

Wood.

3rd. What would have been the probable result had these rules
been allowed to pass with the hearty concurrence of the Government
then in power.

1st. Waste Land -.—After the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the East
India Company was extinguished as a governing body, and the
government of India was vested in the Crown of England, not
long after Lord Stanley was appointed Indian Secretary.

He dispatched a code of rules to Lord Canning, who was then
Governor-General of India, for the guidance of the Indian Council
in its dealings with the Government Waste Lands. Quoting from
memory, the following was the substance of these rules : —

That all waste land throughout India shall be surveyed and
marked out into blocks of suitable farms, not exceeding 3,000 acres
each, subdivided into blocks of 40 acres each, and that each lot shall
bo offered to the public, the uncleared 5.9. per acre, and the cleared
at 105. per acre, in fee simple.

The policy laid down in this dispatch was felt to be so new, and
of such vast consequences, that the Governor-General postponed its
consideration until his return from his usual tour through the country,
when he hoped to have gathered sufficient data to enable him to
judge from personal observation of its probable effects.

Oil his roturn to Calcutta ho cxplaindl to tlio Council that from
personal observation ho could recommend the nioasure as a sound one,
whereupon it was passed and sent to England for confirmation. Cn
its arrival in England, however, there had been a change of Govern-
ment, and a new Indian Secretary ; Sir Charles Wood was now in
power, who, from motives best known to himself, put a veto upon it,
and in its place introduced a measure to the following effect, namely,
that no survey should take place until an intending purchaser made
a selection, defining the boundaries by certain land-marks, and deposit-
ing a sum of money in the Treasury to cover the cost of survey, after
which the plot in question should be surveyed, during which process
the said plot should be advertised for sale by public auction.

Now, it is needless to say that this measure was practically a
prohibition of the sale and development of the waste land of India,
for who would be inclined to trust themselves to the safe keeping
of the cobra and tiger during their sojourn in the jungle for the
purpose of the selection of a plot of ground in order to embark their
capital and enterprise, when after such pains and expense another
person, who had not troubled himself about the matter further than
to watch the day of sale advertised in the papers, might come in and
overbid them ?

It is enough to place these two proposals side by side in order to
see which of the two would be the most likely to promote the
material development of Indian agriculture, and the material pros-
perity of our Indian Empire.

2nd. But in the second place let us glance at the state of affairs
which might have induced Sir Charles Wood to approve and urge
forward the adoption of these rules as a measure of relief as well as
Bound policy.

We all know about the periodical famines in India, how each sweeps
from the land by starvation from three-quarters to a million-and-a-
half of our thrifty fellow-subjects.

We are also very forcibly made aware of several other facts much
nearer home. The want of employment in our dockyards, the
unprecedented increase of pauperism and crime, the dearness of the
prime necessaries of life, and the consequent distress of those who
possess a moderate fixed income. The empty factories, with their
machinery rusting away, to be counted by scores, and the dilapidated
empty cottages counted by thousands in our manufacturing districts,
which before the cotton famine used to absorb and find honest and
profitable employment for our surplus agricultural population.

Another matter claiming attention is the present defective land
system in India, under which the Government let their lands of many
miles area to one or more Zemindars for a given sum, which is the
largest they can squeeze out of them. They in their turn sub-let
into smaller portions, which is again and again divided to other
parties, until it reaches, after five or six removes, the ryot, who is
the only cultivator of the soil. The object of each party, from the
Government to the ryot, is to get as much out of each bargain as they

sysi

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has

cpn for the time being. Tlioro is lionco no improvement in the soil,
nc r any in the nietliod of cultivating it.

Again, another fact whicli shows the tendency of the present
system, an eye-witness, who has just returned from a tour through
India states that he has seen field after field with the cotton crop
rotting on the ground for want of picking and housing. Ho was told
that the ryot dare not touch it until the collector had been to fix the
amount to be paid over to the Government before he could dispose of
the produce.

Again, the money-lenders — in consequence of not owning the land,
the ryot cannot offer bettor security than the crop he is about to raise,
the natural result is that he is charged from 30 to 50 per cent.
interest.

3rd. What might have been the probable result had these rules
been allowed to pass with the hearty concurrence of the Government
then in power. This is illustrated in a remarkable degree by what
has been done by two Englishmen, to whom the lands of Keer Singh
were granted after mutiny. The same authority quoted above says
the estate, with the exception of a small portion near Jugdispore,
was one vast jungle of forty square miles, and to ordinary men the
gift would have proved of little value. First of all they built on
a piece of rising ground near the station of Bnhra a splendid house,
which is described as "a castellated mansion on the left, as we
approach Buhra." They next set about clearing the land, and this
has been so rapidly done that now there is not more than one-sixth
remaining in jungle. Roads are constructed through it at right angles
of a mile, forming squares which are subdivided by smaller roads at
the half-miles, footpaths at the quarter-miles, and stone marks on
marches at the eights, sixteenths, and thirty-seconds. A large
quantity of drainage has been completed, and irrigation works are
now being pushed on rapidly. At Jugdispore, which is eight miles
from the house, there is an indigo factory at full work. We were
surprised at the number of people moving about on the roads ; this
feeling, however, ceased when we were informed that there are now
fifty villages on the estate with a population of not less than 10,000
souls. Their chief difficulty just now is to survey and let off the
land to meet the applications for it. The farms vary in size from
one to fifty acres, and leases are granted for three, five, and seven
years at rents equal to about an eighth of the produce of the second
year's cultivation. The consequence of this is that all the villagers
are thriving and industrious.

Let us now review by way of illustration a few extracts in order
to show how Lord Stanley's liberal land-policy has benefited those
parts where it has had a fair trial. An Indian correspondent writes
(see Times of 12th June, 1863): — "You would not fail to observe
that the Indian Chancellor of the Exchequer in his statement of
policy, emphatically dwelt on the substitution of private capital and
enterprise for wasteful Government agency in the construction of
public works." .. . . *' A gentleman who has just returned from

a visit to Oacliar says, tho wholo valley is now owned by English
settlor.s under Lord Canning's Waste Land Rules. Savage Kookees,
who used to cut each other's throats and those of our subjects, aro
now thriving labourers in neat cottages. A valley destitute of popu-
lation and worthless to the State before tho mutiny, now yields a
good revenue besides the piu'chase-monoy of tho land, and is as smiling
as an English county."

Now this district is tho one where, during tho transmission of
Lord Canning's rules to tliis country for ratification, the policy was in
operation, and somewhere about 1 00,000 acres were actually purchased
and occupied under it, before news came from England of the veto.

Again, to show what the country is capal)le of, provided irrigation
and means of transit wore developed to their proper extent. A
writer in the Times, W. B., in 1864, speaking from personal
observation on the spot, says : —

" I know of no reason why (except] the want of irrigation) that
country should not produce cotton as good as the Egyptian. Scinde,
which is as much like Egypt as one florin is like another, has by
means of Well irrigation and European skill produced cotton equal in
quality, according to the report of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce,
to anything produced in Egypt ; and there is enough waste land,
waste labour, and waste water in tho countries drained by the Indus
to produce several millions of bales. As to the quantity of waste land,
the following figures are from official sources : —

Punjaub ...
Scinde

Total area ia acres.
,.. 47,002,400
,.. 40,703,300

CuUWated .

14,470,185

1,672,229

*' Of the population of these countries the following are the last
official returns : —

Punjaub and Native States connected with it, tho former by

Census of 1855-185G

Native States ...

OClIiU.w ••• «•• •*• ■•« «•• ••• ••.

14,7GG,825
7,154,538
2,500,000

24,421,363

" Of the great amount of waste labour in this population, some idea
may be formed from the fact that the total exports from the Indus for
the year ending April, 1863, amounted to 3,287,594/. only, or some-
thing less than 35. per head of population, one-half of which was
entirely due to the high price of cotton.

"The quantity of water running to waste is 51,500 cubic feet per
second when the river is at the lowest, which quantity if it were never
greater would be equal to the irrigation of 9,270,000 acres throughout
the year.

" As to the cost of irrigated cotton, I stated in a former letter that
Scinde might be irrigated by means of high-level canals, at a capital

I by English
ago Kookees,

fiubjoctg, aro
tiite of popu-
now yiolds a

is as smiling

ismission of
policy was in
I ly purchased
the veto,
3d irrigation
extent. A
m personal

nation) that
an. Scinde,
her, has by
ton equal in
f Commerce,
waste land,
>y the Indus
' waste land.

ire the last

(5fi,825
54,538
)0,000

J1,3G3

some idea

Indus for

, or some-

ivhich was

c feet per
vere never
iroughout

etter that
a capital

cost of 3/. lOs. per acre. This is the estimate formed from ample
data by one of our first hydraulic engineers.

"A charge of 25s. jier acre for the water would give the canal
owners 37^ per cent. net. At this charge for water the cost of good
cotton would bo as under : —

Land tax por ncre

Water rate ... ...

Labour and Beod

Total ... ,,,

'« Produce 400 lbs., or a fraction over IJf/. por lb.

1
1

s,
8
5
5

(l.
7

£2 18 7

" W. B."

Here wo have on the banks of a river, equal to the Mississippi in
America, 87,000,000 of acres of productive soil, out of which only
16,000,000 of acres are under cultivation, all the rest being in a
state of nature, although there are 24,000,000 of people ready and
willing to till the soil.

Now let us see what the State loses by keeping the lands in this
unproductive condition. Taking round numbers : —

There are in the two districts upwards of
Deduct acres already in tho people's hands

This leaves in a state of naturo ...

To avoid exaggeration deduct for mountain, rock, sheep,
and cattle-runs, forests, rivers, public works, towns,
villages, religious and educational establishments, and
generally say

This leaves ...

Acres.
87,000,000
10,000,000

71,000,000

17,000,000
54,000,000

of cultivatible land to be dealt with as so much property vested in the
hands of the Government in trust fc the benefit of tho Common-
wealth ; and which might be put by wise and liberal measures into
tho hands of thrifty agriculturalist^, in portions averaging 160 acres to
each family of five persons.*

Fifty-four millions divided by IGO gives 337,500 farms of IGO acres,
each occupied by five persons; this gives a population of 1,687,500.
It is a moderate estimate to take five acres as the area to be brought
under cultivation in each farm every year, divided thus : — T wo acres
for bread-stuffs (this comprises all articles of food for both man and
beast except animal food), and three acres for cotton or any other

* I would here remark that the Homestead Law of the United States of
America gives all settlers 160 acres free from any payment, on condition of
settling a certain distance from town or village, and clearing and cultivating 10
per cent, of it in five years ; hence I take IGO acres as the basis of division into
farms. Another remarkable fact with regard to Canada : since they became a
Federation, their statesmen have gathered moral courage enough to copy tho
Homestead Law of tho United States, and have passed an Act granting 100 acres
on similar terms, except that 15 per cent, must be cleared in five years before
they can claim their title-deeds.

fibre that may pay best for tlio time being. Assuming it to bo
three acres of cotton irrigated, giving an aggregate of 1,012,500 acres,
equal to about a million bales of cotton, that would bo added annually
to the quantity at present under cultivation, and this would be
worth at least 6d. per lb., or 10/. per bale of 400 lbs. This would
give an increase in the total value of cotton for exportation of
10,000,000/. per annum. Being irrigated cotton, it is of good quality ;
and though American cotton, even before the war, was never worth
less than this price in Liverpool, there would still bo a largo margin
for profit, after considerable reduction, as the cost, on the spot, is only
l^d. per lb. (or a fraction over.) Thus ono article of produce would
add to the State no less than ten millions of wealth per annum, saying
nothing of the jute, hemp, Hrx, stigars, coffee, rice, linseed, tobacco,
wine, indigo, fruits, and all othe^ products whoso natural demon t is a
tropical sun, all of which would be acceptable to Europeans, who
would, under a system of free-trade, bo glad to exchange their native
products. This would give about 30/. profit over and above the
means of living, as the two acres devoted to bread-stuffs would bo
ample to keep the family and provide seed for tho following year.

Thirty pounds each family of five would give 6/. per head for one
year's operations, and that the first year. India contains 200,000,000
of British subjects, which, multiplied by six, is 1,200,000,000/. Now,
in consideration of the repeal of all other taxes and the gift of these
160 acres, it would surely not be too much to expect these people to
pay by way of taxes 5 per cent, income-tax out of this wealth, the
greater part of M'hich would be raised from what before was nothing
at all ; that would be a revenue of 60,000,000/., which is about
15,000,000/. more than the present revenue.*

It might be objected that the 200,000,000 cannot all be agricul-
turalists. Granted ; but it is fair to assume that the average income
from other pursuits would be equal to that of the agricultural
labourer.

The collateral issues that would arise are numerous and powerful
for good. For instance, if this policy were adopted with respect to
the valley of the Indus, it would without doubt attract the enter-
prising agricultural and trading portion of the hill-tribes of
Affghanistan to till the soil in our valleys, as the same policy attracts
Britons for the same end to the United States. f It would thereby
strengthen the position of the Government on the North-western
frontier ; having secured the affections and alliance of these hardy and
enterprising dwellers in the hills, we could safely defy the hostile and
aggressive approaches of any enemy from that quarter. " It i^
painful to observe the utter indifference of the British public towards
Indian matters ; '' but " I hope the day is not distant when the

* These figures are put in to illustrate the virtue of an income and property
over land and all other indirect taxes.

t It is estimated from offic ial statistics that since 1790, including their natural
increase, no less than 21.000,000 Britons have settled down in the United States,
out of the present population of 35,000,000.

Till

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in

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Parliament, press, and people of this country will do their duty
towards India."

Why should not 200,000,000 of our fellow-subjects, who form an
integral part of tho British empire, have their interests fairly repre-
sented in the Imperial Parliament ?

This question is one of free-trade, that is, free-trade in tho lands of
India, especially tho waste lands, and as such is of far vaster impor-
tance than the question of free-trade in corn ; and if it over succeeds
in bringing the press, people, and Parliament to take an interest in it,
it will be by tho same means that were adopted then by the Free
Trade League, viz. : — by meetings, agitating, and lecturing throughout
the country, and pointing out plainly how it touches tho pockets of
all classes of society.

The Society, to promote this agitation, must exist but for one object ;
let it regard that, as at present paramount to all others, and let its
motto be " Free-trade knows no political party." Now I believe our
Association comes as near to this principle as any, judging from the
rules and the inaugural address of our noble Chairman.

In conclusion, let us suppose that Lord Canning's Rules had been
passed, and that the people had continued to act upon them in tho
same spirit as they began. What might at this moment have been
the state of affairs, both in India and at home, upon a fair, moderate,
and reasonable consideration of all tho circumstances ? We should, at
any rate, have had vast tracts of country under profitable cultivation
which are now lying waste ; we should have had all the working
classes among our Indian fellow-subjects profitably employed ; we
should have had plenty of inducements giving a mighty impetus to
the operations of capitalists in making canals and railways, which
would give large dividends through the immense traffic which would
thus have been created. We may even go farther, and say that under
judicious management the cultivation of these lands would have taken
the special form of cotton-growing, and that India might have filled
up the vacuum in the agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing
interests left by the destruction of the Southern States of America.

But if these be some of tho immediate advantages which India
would have derived from the adoption of such a policy, the benefits to
England are not less noteworthy. Besides the consciousness that we
had fairly dore our duty by India, we should have had the unspeak-
able satisfaction of knowing that we had raised up in our own borders
a cotton-field large enough to supply the whole woi'ld. Five millions
of bales of cotton grown in one district in India, ginned, packed, carried
to the seashore, shipped to England and all parts of the world to bo
spun, woven, re-shipped and carried back to the utmost bounds of the
earth, — what myriads of busy hands, what manifold interests of human
life, moral, social, and religious, are ultimately bound up in these 1
And is it not an object worthy the most strenuous endeavours of such
an Association as this ? and ought we not to strain every nerve by
every means in our power, both singly and collectively, to bring about
a consummation so devoutly to be wished ?

DISCUSSION.

Colonel French in the Chair.

Mr. Nkale Porteu said that the Association in his opinion were acting more
usefully in discussing such subjects as tho present than by discussing subjects
belonging to tho region of higli politics and statesmanship. With respect to tho
emigration of European-* to India, ho thought that such emigration would never
take place to any large extent on account of the climate, our colonies affording a
more sirable field for the energies of Englishmen as colonists. With regard to
attracting to the cultivation of the waste land of the Punjaub and Scinde, tho
border and mountain tribct;, he contended that the Government could not do
more in tho way of giving a fair field for any one who chose to cultivate the soil
than it already did by the good government and by the fair and moderate assess-
ment which at present listed. He found that the Imperial revenue, including
land-tax or rents, raised in British India did not exceed Gs. per head, and in the
Punjaub it did not exceed 4s. In the general scope of Mr. Briggs's object he
readily sympathised, as he did in anything that could bo written or said tending
to increase the happiness of our Indian follow-subjects, for whom all Englishmen
of any education and enlightenment hj^.d the greatest regard, and whose welfare
they had thoroughly at heart.

Mr. Sloan thought that Mr. Briggs should have gone farther, and proposed
that some action should bo taken on the coiu'se pursued by Sir Charles Wood
with reference to the steps taken by Lord Stanley. When the waste land rules
first came out to India, every one hailed them as the greatest boon that could be
conferred upon the country, and almost every individual, whether in the Govern-
ment service or engaged in trade, looked forward to investing his savings in land-
Englishmen in India, from the difficulty of acquiring anything like a landed
e'tate, never thought of looking vipou that country as a permanent residence, and
the money that would have been expended in India, if they had had opportunity
afforded them of beneficially investing their savings in India in land, was brought
to England. Lord Canning framed a set of rules, which were afterwards set
aside by Sir Charles Wood, and great indignation existed in India at the time
when Sir Charles Wood's dispatch came out. Many individuals who were pre-
pared to purchase land, and who had gone to all tho expense ol preliminary
surveys and so on, found that the lands were to be put up to auction, and indi-
viduals who had undergone no expense whatever wore allowed to bid over the
heads of those who had gone to great expense in making the selection. This
policy discouraged people from purchasing land. In Madras, for miles and miles
togethf.r, he had travelled through a country of rich virgin loam, which would
yield the highest return if the soil were cultivated ; but no inducement was held
out to capitalists to enter upon its cultivation. He presumed the gentleman who
had last spoken was connected with tho revenue system of India, and would know
sonifcthing of the policy which had been pursued by tho East India Company.

Mr. Neale Porter exjilained that he was not in "^ny way, nor had he ever been,
connected with the public service in India ; that on this particular question of
Lord Canning's decree, he wrote an article in 18G3 in the " Bombay Saturday
Review," strongly condemning the revocation of that decree by Sir Charles
Wood ; and on a recent occasion ho had expressed himself with some emphasis
in favour of Lord Canning's view of the matter.

Mr. Sloan, in continuation of his remarks, said that previous to 1832 the East
India Company's regulations prevented any European acquiring any land in
India ; but by an Act of Parliament in 1832, lands wore thrown open to tho
cultivation of Europeans. Tho revenue system continuing in a very bad state,
attempts were made to ameliorate the condition of the ryot, the result of which
was that tho ryot was now in a position to acquire property to the extent of his
cultivation, and even to purchase land. With respect to the climate being a bar
to the oultiyation of the land by Europeans, the ryot cultivated his land in the

ing more
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ot to tho
uld never
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3 the soil
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Qd hi tho
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iglishmen
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proposed
ies Wood
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a landed
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ich would
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r Charles

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y land in
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of which
snt of his
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nd in the

cool of tho morning till about 9 or 10 o'clock, not resuming it till after 3 o'clock,
and ho contended that if Europeans did tho same, no diiliculty would bo found
oven in Madras, which was perhaps tho hottest of tho throe Presidencies. Had
Europeans been encouraged to become settlors in India tho Indian mutiny would
never have assumed tho magnitude it did. When Lord Stanley's Waste Land
Rules came out to India an association was formed, called the East India Associa-
tion, for tho purpose of endeavouring to obtain land upon which natives might
settle ; i^ut whilo the matter was being considered, this objectionable dispatch
of Sir Charles Wood came out. Ho proposed that some action should bo taken
by the Association, for tho purpose of obtaining some modification of tho Wasco
Land Rules applicable to India, so that there should bo no necessity for tho land
to be put to auction.

Mr. Briggs, in reply, remarked that if it was true that the climate was an
obstacle to tho cultivation of the land in India by Europeans, there was tho moro
reason why tho Government should not interpose another obstacle by the way
in wliich they dealt with the land. Ho considered that the Government, holding
the land as the solo land-owners of tho country, was- tho very bane of tho country,
and was an injustice to tho commonwealth on economical grounds. IIo would bo
ready to contract to give tho Government 00,000,000/. instead of the 45,000,000/.
which they now got as revenue, and he would only charge 5 per cent, ujion the
produce of the soil, the only tax which ho would impose upon tho people of India
being the income and property tax. If people had 100 acres given them for
nothing, or for 5s. an acre, they could easily pay 5 per cent, taxes to the Govern-
ment instead of having to pay a half, or a third, or a fourth of the produce of tho
soil as it came off tho land. He was of opinion that this question, relating as it
did to the moans of providing the natives with food, was of even moro impor-
tance than the question of education. Various proposals had been made for tho
improvement of the welfare of tho people of India, and for the development of
the resources of the countiy ; but tho great question in all such proposals was
from what source wore the moans to be provided. He thought that by giving
away lands to those who would cult'vate them, tho means would bo forthcoming
for carrying out those proposals.

The Chairman sakl, though he was a military man, he had been almost all his
life in the Civil Service, and had taken a gi-oat interest in the question of allowing
the ryot to redeem his rent- charge. When that desirable state of things was
brought about, ho thought with Mr. Sriggs that means would be foimd of carrying
on a vast improvement in India, He took far loss interest in tho question of
encouraging Europeans to settle in India than in tho (juestion of encouraging
the natives to become proprietors of the soil. Still he would bo glad to see
Eui-opeans settle in the country, if they found that the climate would enable them
to carry on agricultural operations, as to wliich ho had his doubts. An Engish-
nian with plenty of money might no doubt grow indigo, or plant countless acres
of mulberry trees and raise silk ; but after all an Englishman was an exotic in
India, who sent his children homo to be educated, and who was always looking
forward to leaving the country, taking with him the money he had earned there.
As had been remarked by Mr. Briggs, this country was painfully indifferent to
all questions relating to India. Now that Lord Stanley was in power, it would
bo open to him to reintroduce what Sir Charles Wood revoked. He thought that
wasto land ought to bo put up to auction and sold to tho highest bidder. If a man
fixed his eye upon a plot of ground and made a tender to tho Government, tho
Government might very fairly say, " We will not sell this to you in a hole-and-
corner fashion ; we will not deprive the revenues of the amount which might be
paid by another in excess of the sum which you are prepared to give." Ho hoped
that the subject would bo resumed on a future occasion, for it was a most impor-
tant one as regarded tho stability of our rule. Ho would bo much more disposed
to rely upon natives holding their cowl from the British Government, than upon
the few Europeans who might bo hap-hazard scattered hci'o and there.

A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Briggs for his paper.

A vote of thanks was also passed to tho Chairman.

THE DEVELOPMENT

THE DORMANT WEALTH OF THE BRITISH

COLONIES AND FOREIGN POSSESSIONS.

as I
sts
eai

In tlie few observations I am about to make, I purposely avoid details
and figures, and content myself with stating a few facts, and abstract
propositions and fundamental principles, with the view to provoke the
discussion of the question, upon which, as I conceive, hang all other
questions of the day — viz.. Shall the people eat the bread of honest
industry, or that of pauperism and charity ?

According to the laws of our Great Creator — I say it with awe and
reverence — " If a man will not work, neither shall he eat."

Let us take a rapid glance a' our present social condition. Amidst
unbounded wealth and luxury, we behold pauperism, crime, vagrancy,
destitution, and death to a fearful extent. It has been asserted that
during the space of one year nearly one-third of the population of
London was recently on the books receiving pauper medical aid.

To the point. Now, can the authorities in power for the time being
(whoever they may be) conscientiously say to the able-bodied applicant
for pauper relief : —

I. You are able to work, and there is plenty of employment in
the country, and a fair day's wage for a fair day's work to be had
anywhere, and the laws of God and this realm say, that if a man will
not work neither shall he eat. This law it is my duty to administer,
and I am bound therefore to refuse you relief.

The authorities can do nothing of the kind ; they are powerless
for the just and right administration of the law. And why ?
Because there are other laws in existence not in harmony with
this fundamental law — laws passed for the regulation of our fiscal
system, which interfere with the natural laws of supply and demand,
and which tend to limit the field of operation, and cramp the energies
of private enterprise in those parts of the British empire where the
raw material for feeding and employing the people is, or might be,
produced.

Thus, whilst the number of mouths and hands are increasing at a

rapid rate, the number of acres cultivated and the amount per acre
produced do not increase in proportion.

India, which is destined to be the garden of the world, the cradle
of the cotton plant, has been for years the home of 150,000,000 of
thrifty British subjects.

The hidden resources of this fine country are allowed to lie dor-
mant at the fearful cost of several millions of its inhabitants dying for
want of the common necessaries of life.

And why ? Because the policy of the Government may be described
as a dog-in-the-manger policy, which practically holds the lands in a
state of nature, and will not alienate the soil to God's people, that the
earth may bring forth her increase. Irrigation is so necessary for
the soil and climate of India, that without it the crops are always
precarious and stinted, but with it the increase is practically un-
limited ; for instance, the properly irrigated cotton crops will yield
4001bs. to the acre of good cotton. Whereas the same crop not
irrigated only yields aboiit an average of 501bs. to the acre, and
this is invariably inferior cotton.

Time and space will not admit of my going into details here, but
I would refer those who wish for further information to an able paper
read by General Sir Arthur Cotton, at the Indian Association, 55,
Parliament Street, Westminster, which is to be found in their Journal,
No. 1, published in March, 1868. It is headed, " The Opening of the
Godavery Eiver."

I am convinced that the only escape out of the difficulty is, a
reversal of the Government policy, in regard to the disposal of the
waste lands, and also that of constructing public works. So long as
Government interferes in the operations of industry, whether it bo
agriculture, commerce, or manufacture, save to protect life and pro-
perty, and administer justice, so long will private enterprise keep
aloof as a rule.

Again, our colonial policy has been, from the beginning, one vast
system of wrong, and chaos is the result. In these, as in India, the
spirit of trades' unionism and monopoly has been allowed to ramify
throughout the whole body politic, which tends to stunt their growth
and make them puny ricketty children for all time to come. This,
again, is a problem connected with the land policy.

For the sake of brevity, I will lay before you as an illustration, first,
the waste land policy of the United States ; second, the waste land
policy of the British colonies, and leave you to judge between the
two.

First, in the United States, all new territories are ordered to bo
surveyed and marked out in what are called blocks of 640 acres,
subdivided down to 40-acre blocks, the odd 40 acres to belong to
religious or educational institutions. All town allotments are offered
(according to Act) at 1^ dollars per acre. All other allotments or
blocks fall under what is termed the homestead law ; viz., selection
on the principle of first come first served. Every family settling down
is entitled by law to four of these 40 acre blocks, or 160 acres, as a

free gnant, on the sole condition that thoy clear and cultivate 10 per
cent, in five years.

Second. Now contrast the above with our colonial policy, which
•was until very recently "one uniform price of £1 per acre."

Now, under such circumstances, can any thinking man wonder that
the United States are attracting all our best operatives, especially such
as take capital and enterprise with them. Can it be wondered at that
three-fourths of those who go to settle down in Canada should drift
away, as it were by natural process, into the United States ? Can wo '
wonder that the mother country should be necessitated to tax her-
self to the tnno cf fro millions a year for the protection of her colonies
(more than £1 per head of their population) ; whilst ship after ship,
laden with our best men, is landed on the shores of the United States,
to build their cities, cultivate their waste land, make their railways, &c.,
&c. Can it bo wondered at that we should have Ireland in a state of
chronic discontent and rebellion when her people can point to the home-
stead law of the United States and say, '* There is a home, a perpetual
field of employment for our children, which Great Britain cannot or
■will not provide, either on her own shores or that of her colonies? "

Can it be wondered at that our agricultural operatives should " fi'c-
quently spend their lives in pauperism," and end their days in work-
houses ? Can we wonder that our dockyards are empty, and our
ship-building works reduced to ruin ? Can we wonder at having
financial crises fraught with evils such as the present one, the magni-
tude of wliich the world's history furnishes no parallel ?

It might reasonably be asked. Why cavil about where the emigrants
go to so long as they are well provided for when they reach their des-
tination, and so long as the United States are friendly towards us and
peaceably inclined ?

My answer to that is, first — That the United States are not at
peace with us even now, and never will be at peace with us, herself,
or any other nation, so long as she maintains a system of protective
tariffs, or import and excise duties ; and on this point the same may be
said of our colonies, not that they are at actual physical war, but that
the system of taxation, which they and we uphold, bears within it
the germs of war, which sooner or later must break out in either
civil commotion or foreign war.

I am convinced that if our Government had established the present
homestead law of the United States when first we occupied that
country as a British colony, and carried it out in good faith, we should
never have had that war which lost us that fine country.

Second, Because the Governiueait of the United States, in recog-
nising the value of labour in the aggregate, has admitted in so many
words, "that every labourer who comes from Europe and settles down
with them adds to the wealth of the State £1,000 each. Now, con-
sidering that the United States got from us 600,000 labourers during
the four years' civil war, it follows that they abstracted an amount of
wealth from this country and her colonies which was equal to
£600,000,000, and which may be said to have been added to theiv

fce 10 per

!)', which

ider that
ally such
1 at that
luld drift
Can wo
tax her-
• colonics
[tor ship,
d States,
.'ays, &c.,
. state of
10 home-
)erpetual
mnot or
ies?"
id ''fre-
in work-
and our
; having
3 magni-

own. This calcuhation is based upon the principle that, taking men in
the aggregate, they produce by their labour thrice as much as thev
consume of the material wealth of the State.

_ In England, the celebrated Dr. Farr only calculates £200 for each
individual, on an average, of the agricultural operatives, as thci- value
to the (State.

And why this disparagement to the British labourer at liomo, seeing
tiiat he IS worth to the United States £1,000 ?

Simply because, first, wo have the alienation of the waste lands in
our colonies and foreign possessions based upon monopoly, . which
Impedes their development. Second, because we have not free trade
m labour. And, thirdly, because we have not entire free trade in the
produce of the soil and all the good things God has given to man
upon earth. ^

migrants
beir des-
s us and

not at
herself,
'otective
may be
rat that
ithin it
1 either

present

ed that

should

recog-
many
s down
w, con-
during
ount of
ual to
) their