particular province happened to be for the time being; if he was economical, well and good; if he was parsimonious he might starve all works of utility; if extravagant, all that he had to do was to frame an estimate far in excess of what he really expected to get-in imitation of a person suing for damages in a court of law.* Under such a system it was in vain to look for economy or efficiency. As General R. Strachey admirably puts it: "The distribution of the public income degenerates into something like a scramble, in which the most violent has the advantage. As local economy

leads to no local advantage, the stimulus to avoid waste is reduced to a minimum. So as no local growth of the income leads to an increase of the local means of improvement, the interest in developing the public revenues is also brought down to the lowest level." + By Lord Mayo's new scheme a fixed sum was allotted to each province (in accordance with its resources and necessities). The central government was thus relieved of over-work; whilst a healthy stimulus was imparted to the local governments, and a bracing rivalry was set up among them. They had now a motif to be economical. Since then the power of levying local cesses and rates—— subject to the sanction of the Governor-General

*As an instance of the constant altercation and wrangling between the Local aud Supreme Governments, the correspondence between Sir Bartle Frere and the Public Works Department may be cited.

"I find it rather difficult to get on with Frere, though I am most anxious to do so. He is bent on independence without its responsibility. He insists on spending not only his own revenues, but ours also."-LAWRENCE to Willoughby: "Life of Lord Lawrence," vol. ii.,

p. 438.

+ Hunter's "Mayo," vol. ii., p. 64. "The Finances and Public Works of India," by Sir John Strachey, and his brother, General Strachey, chap. ix.

in Council-has also been extended. The start that has been made in the path of municipal government under successive administrations is only a logical sequence of the great measure with which the name of Lord Mayo will be ever coupled.

policy of Lord

Mayo.

Lord Mayo was also singularly fortunate as regards his external policy.* The Ameer of External Afghanistan was secured as a staunch friend, not by an attempt at "burglarious seizure" of his territories, or by a lavish showering of cheap Indian gold, but on that basis on which alone friendship (as between two rulers) is possiblerespect of each other's rights and recognition of each other's duties. †

It has been our duty to study the Indian careers of all the Governors-General, but none has given us such unmixed satisfaction (unless we except Lord William Bentinck's) as that of Remarks Lord Mayo. Of Lord Lawrence's experience of admini Indian affairs it is unnecessary to speak; but trattor we have no hesitation in affirming that he has Mayo.

* Would that "a later generation" had not been "seized with the infatuation" to which we have referred above! (See page 29.)

"And it is because I believe that frank relations with our neighbours, and constant AMICABLE communication with them, are the best securities against being one day or other forced into interference, that I have succeeded in teaching some, and will before long show to all, that England's desire is that they should be STRONG and INDEPENDENT."-LORD MAYO to one of Her Majesty's Ministers.

What an egregious blunder it was to have shattered "strong and independent" Afghanistan.

"Our influence," he says in another letter, "has been considerably strengthened, both in our territories and also in the States of Central Asia, by the Amballa meeting; and if we can only persuade people that our policy is non-intervention and peace, that England is at this moment the only non-aggressive Power in Asia, we should stand on a pinnacle of power that we have never enjoyed before."-HUNTER'S "Mayo," p. 271.

The above words, if acted upon, would have saved unhappy India £15,000,000, and still more precious lives, not to speak of sundry other complications and entanglements.

E

of Lord

been quite out-distanced by his illustrious successor. Almost all the predecessors of Lord Mayo had exceptional opportunities of studying Indian questions beforehand. Lord Mayo was quite a novice in his task. Indeed, those who were responsible for his appointment had to face a storm of indignation. "I did not accept this great office without long and anxious consideration. I bear no resentment, and only

pray that I may be enabled ere long to show my abusers that they were wrong." Here is foreshadowed his entire policy, and with what decided success he carried it out is now a matter of history. Nor must we forget that it was not given him to serve his full time. In these days India has every reason to mourn the loss of her beneficent ruler, who made her interests his sole care, her good his only study. If any one has in every respect conscientiously attempted to fulfil in India the threefold mission of Peace, Reform, and Retrenchment (which, curiously enough, is now claimed to be the shibboleth of a particular party), it is the Earl of Mayo, Fourth Viceroy of India.

We must conclude this portion of our subject here; partly because successive Viceroys have followed more or less closely in the footsteps of Lord Mayo, and partly because we do not think it fair to pronounce any decided opinion on the actions of our contemporaries.

PART SECOND.

CHAPTER I.

THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECT OF INDIA.

"Danger for danger, he (Lord Canning) would prefer a reduced army."

"Light taxation is the panacea for foreign rule in India."-LORD LAWRENCE.

" A feeling of discontent and dissatisfaction exists among every class, both European and native, on account of the constant increase of taxation which has for years been going on. My belief is that the continuance of that feeling is a political danger, the magnitude of which cannot be over-estimated."-LORD MAYO.

"La facilité avec laquelle le gouvernment anglais met à la charge du budget de l'Inde une partie de toutes les guerres, sous les prétexte que la sécurité de l'empire y est engagée donne encore à la presse indigène de fréquentes occasions de faire ressortir l'égoisme et l'injustice de la domination Britannique.”—“REVUE DES DEUX MONDES, 15th June 1885.

66

REVIEW OF THE FINANCIAL CONDITION OF INDIA BEFORE AND AFTER THE MUTINY."

THERM

HE practice of putting the gross instead of the net revenue in the Budget is highly reprehensible. The British public, who, as a rule, are uninitiated into the mysteries of Indian finances, are taken unawares. The loan which the Secretary of State for India raises, for what are by an abuse of terms called "reproductive' public works, goes to swell the Budget; this, as well as the cost of collecting each of the items of

Inelastic

nature of the revenue

*

revenue, being deducted from the gross amount, the net available revenue would shrink to less than two-thirds of what figures in the Budget. (The present year's Budget is exceptionally unwieldy on account of the attitude of Russia, and as such we leave it out of account). The land revenue has been almost stationary for the last twenty years. In Bengal, where there is permaof India. nent settlement, it is of course incapable of further increase ;† even in other parts of India the landtax (it is simply a matter of choice whether we call the yield from land "tax" or "rent") cannot be further enhanced without causing a serious strain on the cultivator. For the income from the opium monopoly we have no doubt to be thankful to the Chinese. Even here we must be prepared some day or other for serious disturbances, not from the Anti-Opium League agitation,

*Again, the Postal and Telegraphic Departments of India, which in this country contribute to the revenue, are still non-paying.

The late Mr Fawcett, deducting these several heads enumerated above, puts the net revenue at between 37 and 40 millions.-"NINETEENTH CENTURY," 1879.

Roughly speaking, the various sources which make up the total stand as follows:Millions sterling, per annum.

The gross revenue from opium is £9,000,000. We take the above figures from Sir R. Temple's "India in 1880." The salt revenue is given there as £7,000,000, but since then a slight reduction has been made.

Fawcett, as a follower of Mill, is unsparing in his denunciations of the Permanent Settlement and the Zemindary System, no doubt on the ground that a privileged class are made participators of the "unearned increment." We shall discuss this question in the next page. Fawcett, however ("Manual," page 285), controverts Mill's favourite doctrine.