women are generally faithful wives and devoted mothers, and have great influence with their families, but they are grossly ignorant; and to their ignorance, bigotry, and subjection to the Brahmans, the maintenance of superstition and idolatry, which would otherwise rapidly lose ground among the men, is, I suspect, mainly due. Disposition and Attitude of the Natives towards us In the first place, how are they disposed to us personally? I am sorry to say that my travels in India have revealed to me that between the ruler and the ruled in India there is a great gulf fixed, which, since the Mutiny, has widened and is becoming more and more difficult to be bridged over. The very arrangement of every large town bears witness to the truth of this statement, the European residences being collected in a quarter of their own quite distinct from the native town. Another significant fact is that on railways Europeans and natives are never seen together in the same carriages. The causes which lead to this separation are mostly patent, but a remedy is not easily applied. First, there is what is called the race feeling, by which is meant the natural antipathy between races of different coloured skins -a feeling which, however manifestly unreasonable, is difficult to overcome. Then there is the caste feeling, which we have quite as strongly in our own way as Indians. With us, however, it is of a different kind. It is not part of our religion. In the case of the Hindus the principal result of caste, in relation to us Europeans, is that although they may be of the same rank as ourselves they will not consent to eat with us, or to drink water touched by us or our servants. We, on the other hand, are accustomed to regard dining together as essential to social intercourse, and are apt to resent their declining to sit at meat with us, as if we were personally insulted. But we ought to bear in mind that eating and drinking is, with a Hindu, bound up with his religion, or rather with its system of purificatory rites; and that the killing of animals (especially oxen) for food is regarded as an impious act, so that the absence of Hindus from our tables ought not to offend us more than their absence from our churches. Then there is the feeling naturally springing up between governors and governed. A commanding tone of voice may often be necessary for the maintenance of authority, but I fear we rulers are sometimes unnecessarily imperious. We are naturally conscious of our superiority, but need our bearing towards those we are ruling make them feel their inferior position too keenly? An advanced native, of independent character, once complained to me that most Englishmen appeared to him to walk about the world with an air as if God Almighty intended the whole universe to be English. He had probably been thrown with young civilians recently imported from England. Few others would think of lording it over their Indian brethren in any offensive manner. action in this respect has set in all over India. I could enumerate many cases in which the mild Hindu is not a whit milder in manner than those who are set over him. A re Then there are other feelings springing from early training, habits, and association. It is difficult for a European, who has never been in the East, to estimate the difference in ideas and ways of thinking arising from this source. Not only is there a different standard of taste as shown in dress, music, &c., but even to a certain extent of right and wrong. For instance, if a Hindu thinks it wrong to kill animals for food, much more does he object to destroying life of any kind for sport. Again, an Asiatic, whether Hindu or Musalman, thinks it highly improper for women to mix familiarly with men who are not relations, much more to dance with them. Then there are differences in nearly every common custom. For example, N a Hindu shows respect by covering his head when a European uncovers it. In a few cases assimilation of habits has been effected, but when this has occurred the Indian has become more Europeanized than the European has become Indianized. It would be foolish to expect these differences to cease. What is really to be regretted is the estrangement they produce. And now, in the last place, what is the attitude of the natives of India towards our Government? The most intelligent are quite ready to admit that they enjoy greater benefits under our rule than they would under any other; and the wiser, who know that universal disorder would follow its cessation, even pray for its continuance; but the mass of unthinking people would rather be badly governed by their own chiefs than well governed by us. In the native states they will acquiesce in exactions which in our territories would be regarded as intolerable. Of course nothing will conciliate those who are determined to dislike us. But even the wiser, who value our rule, consider that they have certain grievances. Why—I have often been asked-are we treated as if in mental capacity and moral tone we were all inferior to Europeans? Why are we never allowed to rise to the highest executive appointments? Why are those of us who compete for the Civil Service forced to go to England for examination? Supposing we are not yet fit for representative government, why are we not allowed deliberative assemblies, like the Houses of Convocation in the English Church, that our opinions may be made known before fresh laws are enacted? Why cannot justice be administered more cheaply and directly, and with fewer delays? Why does the Government spend so much of the revenues on public works and give us no new serais and tanks? These are a few of the complaints I have heard. Perhaps some of them are not real, and others are in course of redress. I believe our Government admits that when natives can show themselves mentally and morally fit for the highest administrative offices they must be allowed to fill them1. We are certainly doing our best to redress political grievances. Let us also endeavour to do more than we have hitherto done towards bridging over the social chasm that at present separates the two races and complicates the difficulties of our position in India. Our great English Universities may contribute something towards this important object, if they will make facilities for the reception of young Indians and for their intercourse with young Englishmen. I believe that the young men of England and India may learn useful lessons from each other, and yet preserve their separate nationalities. We must of course be conscious of our own superiority in religion, morality, and general culture; but let us give our Indian fellow-subjects credit for such excellencies as they possess, and condescend to admit that good may accrue from some interchange of ideas and mutual attrition between the two races. Assuredly a better feeling between them must result from consciousness of reciprocal benefits bestowed. One thing at least is certain, that India is given to us to conciliate as well as to elevate, even if she offers us nothing to imitate. In my opinion the great problem that before all others presses for solution in relation to our Eastern Empire is, how can the rulers and the ruled be drawn closer together? How can more sympathy and cordial feeling be promoted between them? 1 By 33 Vict. cap. 3, sec. 6, it is no longer necessary for Indians to come to England that they may be eligible for civil appointments. The local governments can nominate a certain proportion (one fifth of the number of Europeans) every year, and the number of civilians selected in England is then diminished in a corresponding degree. The native candidates selected in India are not allowed to be more than twenty-five years of age, except in cases of special ability, and they are obliged to serve on probation for two years. The great difficulty is the adjustment of salaries. How can those of Europeans, working as exiles from their country and homes in a hot climate not always suited to their constitutions, be estimated on the same scale as those of natives? GENERAL IMPRESSIONS AND NOTES AFTER TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN INDIA. SOUTHERN India may be regarded as embracing all India below the twenty-second parallel of latitude-that is to say, speaking roughly, all within the northern tropical line. It will, therefore, include that part of the Bombay Presidency south of the Narbada, of which Bombay and Poona are the capitals; that portion of the Central Provinces, of which Nagpur is the chief town; Orissa; the Nizam's territory, of which Hyderabad is the capital; Mysor, and the whole Madras Presidency, with Travankor as far as Cape Comorin. To these may be added the island of Ceylon, the south point of which is within six degrees of the Equator. Climate of Southern India. I described my experience of a winter in the Northern parts of India as delightful, and now a winter passed in the South has not changed my opinion as to the superiority of the Indian climate to our own for at least five months in the year. Indeed, I am satisfied that to those who can retire to the Hills for a time in the hot and rainy seasons, residence in India all the year round is attended with as little risk to health as residence in England. But India is like a continent which offers every variety of sanitary condition, and it must not be forgotten that the whole of Southern India is within the Tropics. It has |