CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT. BY ROBERT THORP.
a
DUDICATED
(WATHOUT PRRMISSTON)
ro
HER MAJESTY: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
Galata | PUBLISHED BY WYMAN BRoS, HAR STRIMED,
186,
K AL. LEWIs, CAICULTS OPNTRAL PRESS COMPANY, LEMEERD, 3, couUxcIn uoUsH SiREE,
INDEX,
CHAPTER I.
Tnbvoduotory Remarks we ak “Lar: ¥ Brodueo Taxation Systom, on
CHAPTER It “Sho Shawl Syatome er 5 ‘ee tne
CHAPTER MIL
Mransport of Supplios for Troops ae
OHAPTER Iv.
~Misvollancous,
“CHAPTER V,
Motul and -Politiot Roasdus for the Porinanont Appoinéimont of a Rosidont and. Assistants to control and direot tho
avtion of the Jamoo Gavernmont s+
» Conclusion “in oe fas
PAU, 1 a
3h
37
61
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
meee. Gm --
CHAPTER L INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Ow1ne to thab peculiar arrangemont belaween the Govern. ment of India and the Jamoo Government, by which Englishmen ave excluded from tho dominions of tho lutter daring tho winter months, and also to the well-grounded fear of the Maharajah’s subjects to speak of the oppressive system under: which they live, I feck confident that most of tho following information, which I have, nob without diManlty, collected, will be now, alile to those who have travelled in Cashmere, and to those whoso knowledge of the country and its government is only derived from newspapers and tho dalk of society.
Tam therefore inclined to believe that the communications T havexto make regarding a country for whose welfare (ag I shall endeavour to shew) we are responsible, will be of interest, first, to those who wish that the Government they serve, ot live under, shauld act with less tegard to the expedi- eney of the momont than in such manner as shull procure
2 CASHVERD MISGOVERNVEN'T.
for it the character of a high-minded, an unselfish, and a
just power,
Second, to those who can feel pity for the undeserved sufferings of men, and disgust and indignation at the spectacle of a people whose characteristics (both intellectual and moral) give evidence of former greatness, trampled upon by a yace in every way inforior to themselves, nnd stendily ° deteriorating under the influence of an oppressive despotism which bars the way to all improvement, whether social, intellectual, or religious,
Third, to those who, from their position, share in the responsibility which, in my opinion, attaches to the Govern- ment of India regarding the people whom it sold into the slavery of Gulab Singh,
Without farther promise or apology, I shall therefore begin by laying before the reader a detailed account of the
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMEN'T, :
LAND PRODUCE TAXATION SYSTEM IN CASHMERE,
Of almost everything produced by the soil, Government takes a large proportion, and the numerous officials who ave employed in collecting it aro paid by an award of so much grain from tho share of the zemindars,
The following isa list of the different officials who aro concerned in the collection and division of the land produce, and in the general government of the country outside the city of Srinagur, which is under the Governor of Cashmore and the Chief Magistrate.
The principal of these is
'
The Tehsildar,—1Wo has under him from two to five porgun- naha; he exercises a auparvision over tho accounts of the * kardars” within his district ; ho has powers of punishment up toa fortnigh(’s imprigonmont and ten rupeos fino; all com- plaints, disputes, and offences oceurring within his Lehsil are referred to him; he hag from 200 to 400 sepoya under him, and is responsible only to tho Dihwan or Governor of Cashmore, who resides in the city,
The Thanedar—Is the ohiel officer over each pergunnah ; he has slightor powers of punishment, and from 40 to 60 sepoys undor him, His chief duties aro to make inspections through. out his pergunnah, and to make reports coucorning tho erops and general matters to his tehyildar.
4, CASIIMERE MISGOVERNMENT,
Lhe Kardar—Is the chiof of tho officials who are petsonally concerned in the collection of the land produce, Ilo has under him a certain number of villages, of whose crops he has to keep a strict account, and to each of which he goes in person at the dime when the different crops ripen, in order to snperintend the different distribution of cach, Ie reports to his thanedar, and causes the Government shares of the ereps to be despatched 10 tho city, or elsowhore, according to tho orders he may receive. In lieu of some of the inferior kinds of grain, the Government will oceasionally take an equivalent in money from the kardar, The zomindars do not, however, benefit by this arrangement, since in thesé eases tho kardar inkes from them the full amount of produce, and sells the amount, for which the Government have taken money, to his own advantage ; and since this arrangement is greatly preferred by the kardars, thore must be a large demand for these graing among the people: since, in order to make their own profits, they ave, of course, obliged to sell them at a higher rate than the very high prices demanded by Government, a scale of which I shall give in tho sequel.
Over each village there is a
Mokuddum—Whose duty is to report any irrogularitias ov thefts, to collect coolics and carriage for Governmont or othors, and to keop an account of the orops of his village, in conjunc tion with another official called the
Putwaree—Whose special duty is to keep a separate account with each house of the zemindars of his village of the different crops belonging 10 it. To each village there is & patwaree 3 he is paid by the zomindars, and is a necessary
CASHMERE MISCOVERNMENT. 5
expense entailed on the zomindars by tho mode of collect ing their tax. Ie is usually 2 pundit (¢).
The Shugdur.—There ave from one to four “ shugdurs” in each village, according to its size. ‘Their dutics aro to watch the crops while in the ground, and the Governmont shares of the same, after thoy have been set aside and aro waiting their removal to the Government store-houses, It is anid to bo a common instance of oppression for the shugdur to extort money from a zemindar by threatening lo accuse him of stealing the Government grain, in which conse, rather than court an’ investigation whose justice he has every reason to doubt, the zemindar is fain to purchase tho sileneo of his oppressor ageording to ability, ‘The shugdur is also paid by the zemindars, and is supplied by them with russud (4) gratis, .
The Surgowl—Is the official who is ovor the shugdura, There is one surgowl to about every ton villages ; his dulios avo to inspoot the shugdurs and to report to his kardar, It ly said that he commonly oxtorls money from the shugdurs, in the same way as wo have seon that tho shugdurs rotatinte on the zemindar ; nono of thoso who aro thus opprossed over seem to conlemplate such a stop as that of complaining to tho thenedar of their pergunnah, or the tohsildar of tho digtriat,— a curious proof of tho estimation in which tho justica of those officials, one of whose nominal duties is to reoaivo complaints, isheld. They are of courso Ilindoos,
(a) Ibis, L suppose, known that tho zomindavs of Onshmero aro Musalmon, as mo also tho inhabitants of tho cities, with the exception of a fow pundila and othor ofllvials of Govornmont, -
(3) Russud moans daly submstonco, including fuck. In tho larger villnges the shugdur is usually a pundit, 2
6 CASUMERE MISGOVERNMENT,
The surgowl is frequontly a pundit, and is paid by the zemindars, as is also the
Tarougdar—Whose duty is to weigh the grain when the Government portion is taken from the zemindars, He is always in attendance upon the kardar.
The Hurkava—tis a police constable. There is ono hurkava’s house to about every twenty villages, all the malo mombora of his family being also hurkaras. He receives reports from, and gives direotions to, the
Doom, ov policeman, of which there is one to every village, the inhabitants of which are obliged to supply him with russud,
Such is the small official family which the Cashmero zemindar -has to support, the greator part of whom are rendered necessary by the complicated system which a collec- tion of land produce entails, According to the custom of ghe country, the land owned by any one house is common (a) 3 the patwaree of the village has therefore to’ keep an account of the amount of grain produced by each different kind of crop belonging to each separate house, and to caloulate the amount due to Government according te the scalo which I shall now proceed to give,
There aro two kinds of crops in Cashmore, as in Hindustan, called the rubbia and the khareefa.
The first of these consists of those which ripen ‘about July, and the second of those whose harvest time is aboub 24 monthslater. Ofthe khareefa, all the crops except the rico
en!
(a) There are usually from to lo five families ine house connected by
mitriage,
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT, t
ave second crops, é.¢., are produced from land which has already yielded a crop. The riee ground alone produces nothing but rice; it ig sown in May and reaped in Septembor. Tho Government scale of weights usod in collecting their pro- portion of grain is as follows :—
6 soerg = 1 irik 16 trdks = 1 kharwah but in selling the grain aflerwards to the people the scale is 6 seers = 1 trdk 15 traks = 1 kharwah,
The extra trak thus gained by the Government in ench khavwah is in order to liquidate the expenso of carrying the grain from the villages to the city, which, cousidoring the ensy rate at which carvinge is paid for by tho Government, itt must amply do!
.
The amount taken by the Government and the Govorn- ment officials upon the rubbia and khaveefa crops is as follows :—
Ont of every 82 tril of ench grain of tho rubbia orop, the following amounts are inkon from the zomindars:-—
Trica, | Soovs.
Government share... on or “0 20 0
The surgowl fe : ai 0 By The shugdar or me on on 0 ° The tarougdar pik Seed ave an 0 Fi The hurkara fi wa ane BY 9 1 The patwares ee os ve ae 0 ih Servants of the kardar ave sia ae 0 {
Total taken in kind out of ovory 32 triks of each grain of the rubbia erop an we 20 | at
8 CASUMLRE MINGOVERNAINT,
The rabbia crop consists of the undermentioned grains, and the sums annexed to each are a money tax levied on every 82trdk of each grain of the rubbia crop, ix addition to the tax in kind which I have just detailed :—
A Chilkee annas=about } Company’s anna,
rennin Kunvek fe kind of wheat) .. iy wef 8) Chilkea annas, , Uiska (barley) ae Py afk 4, 2 Kurrer (peas - Wyn ” Tilogogolo (a grain ‘from which oil is “imnde) 3 ae = Kuttan (ditto ditto) 3 ” iy ion t from which dil is made f i 1 : 4 osour w 2 Krotur i ditto ditto ha } ; ‘ agrain used for ontile, and also by Méut > tho poorer classes of the pele for Ibo, rr food ie on Total tukon in money pon ora, 192 tk of the rubbiacrop 1 i oe] 224 Chilkeo annas.
Out of every 32 trik of each grain of the khareefn crop, the following amounts are taken fvom the zemindars,—
otter tne ete nena nttnceresniyn pes
‘Trik. Sear, Government share... oe oo ms 21 2 Mundeer (or tomplo) tax 0 2 Juloos-us- gowl (said to bo for the neo of the Maharajah’s nee) m on Me 0 2 Tho patwaree Sa ve ve 0 iy Tho hurkera one an 0 13 The shugduy a tee tee 0 1 The surgoul “ avi 1 0 a Servants of the kurdar Mer si 0 4 Tho tarougdar 0 4s otal taken in kind out of every 32 Trik of oach
grain of the khareala crop. . a eo 21 | 184
CASTIMERE ATSCOVERNM ENT, Hy]
The Kkhareofa. crop consists of the following grains, and the sums annexed to cach area monoy tax levied on ovary $2 trik of each grain of tho kharcofa crop, in atldilion to the tax in kind which I have just detailed —
A chilkeo anna=about § Company’s anna. rte
Shitlloa (vies fn the husk). ive wef 2) chilkea annay
Mukki (Indian corn) ge ae ura ee Bios ” i" a grain used oxtonsively for food 4
Trombre by the zemindars ie os ie Shawul f grains usod for food hy Behe 2 on ” Pingi people... ou ve vel BL og ” Kupas (flax) a} rs ie ice wel hoy ”
Total akon in money oul of overy, 142 drile of the khaveofa orop ... ve [| 174 chilkeo annas,
Russudart—In addition to these monoy taxes upon tho different grain of tho rubbia and khhreela crops, thorve is also a tax called russudart, which is levied annually upon cach houso throughout the villages, of from 4annas to 20 annag, according to the number of inmates,
Ivuit Lav.—-Of ho moro valuable kinds of fruils, such as walnuts, apples, pears, apricots, almonds, and quineo, throo- fourths of tho aunual produce are taken by Government, ho duty of preserving them for this purpose falls upon tho siz owl and his shigdors ; the abovo proportion is enllectod by the kardar and his assistants, and transmitted according to tho
ordors of Government, . *
Animal Tax,—Sheep and Coals-—¥rom avery village ov villages whose land produces 600 kharwahs of grain, two or
(a) Tho proportion takon in kind upon kupis ov Max is in gecordauee wilh the seule Inid down for tho subbia orop,
G
10 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
thyee of Lheso animals ave taken annually, aud half theie value yelurned in coin to the zemindars.
Ponies —One pony is taken every year under the same conditions, half of his value being retuned to the zemindars,
Puttoo—One léie, or woven blanket, is taken annually under similar conditions ; half of its value is returned.
Ghee.—Fov ench milch cow half a seer of ghee annually is taken.
Fowls,—From one to ten fowls yearly from cach houso, according to the number of inmates,
Honey.—-Tn tho honey districts, as the Lidur and Wardwan valloys, two-thirds of the produce are taken yemly by the karday and others; but Lam uncertain whether thig is an authorized Government tax,
The accounts of all these taxes are kept by the pattwiroo and mokiddum, and the distribution of returned moncy is made by them.
Tho above aro the taxes levied upon the zomindars of Cashmero—i.¢., upon the population of the country, exclusive of those who live in the larger towns, such as Srinagur, Islamabad, Sopor, and Pampur; and it should be borne in mind that all these taxes, .inoluding the amounts both in money and in kind, taken -upon the rubbia and khaveefa exops, ave the regularly authorized Government taxes, and aot exactions made by officials (a.) It is highly probable that
—n
7) Except the honey, regarding which I have no certain knowledge,
CASIMURL MISCOVURNALNT. i
exactions are mado 7 excess of the eval amounts herein Jaid down, bul of this it is not possible to speak with perfect certainty (2), Of the evils of the above systom, (inde- pendently of the enormous porecntage of produce taken by the Govornment,) it is not necessary to say much, sinco thoy
are tolerably apparent.
For instance, if a zemindar wishes 40 complain thal he has been mulcted of a larger proportion of grain or money than he ought to have paid in accordance wilh the above complicated scale, he goes to the thanedar of his pergunnah, who makes enquiries, and sends for the kardar and the pabt wares, If the man’s complaint is just, and if the thanedar has not been bribed by tho kardar, ho gois redross om pay» ment of @ rupee or two, besides the loss of his time. If the thanedar has been bribed, tho zemindar can apponl to tho higher tribunal of the tchsildar ; but here again there is the risk of hig being forestalled by the united bribes of both karday and thanedar, so that usually tho zomindar finds it a wiser corse to pocket his money in silence,
The chief way, however, in which tho ovils of the system ave felt throughout the country, is in the provontion of all tende and bartor between tho people of tho towns and tho pooplo of tho villages, Tho Inttor (excep) a fow shawl bats who may be located in some of tho villages) aro all zemindars,
(a) Imeonu that, supposing no bribos avo {aken, no oppression ynactisocd hy any of tho numorous officials whom I hava named ag conneated with the collection and dhvision of tho nnd produco, the vominder will pny whats is hoe laid down, and, on tie fypothesis that alt these yffeiats ard nerfoolly honest, ho will pay no moro; of tho yalyo of this hypothoals, my renters may form the own opinions.
12 CASHMERE MISCOVERNMENT.
the former are chiefly shop-keepers, shawl merchants, karkan- ders, shawl bals, sida bafs, boatmen, and artisans of all descriptions (2). Thus, the people of the towns and the people of the country constitute tivo large classes,‘ with diflevent wants; the former requires the things that the zemindar possesses—xice, corn, fowls, sheep, milk, &c,; and the latter yvequires money, which the city people would willingly give him for his produce, to buy those comforts and luxuries which the city can supply, chiefly imported articles, as spices, cotton, cloth, &c. But this natural system of exchange is ontirely * prohibited by the above arrangement ; so that, as I have been informed by the best English authority, there were people in Srinagur, some two or three years ago, with money in their pockets, in a state of semi-starvation, ‘Tho zemin- dars had, of course, no surplus supplies to sell them, and the Government kotas (4) were shut for the time,
In fact, it is only vory recently that regulations have been made whereby the people are permitted to buy os much grain as thoy require from the Government, and for this poor boon they are exceedingly thankful.
At some of their spring melas this year, I was struck with the inevensed number of people as compared with tho year before, and, on onquiry, was told that this year they have ‘boon allowed to buy food enough to cat, and aro consequontly
(q) Wovrkers in leather, papicr-maché, wood, motal, &o. ~ (2) Tho kota is tho Govovnmont storo-houso, from whoneo grain ia gold fo tho pedple at prices which T shall give a list of in the sequal. Untal vory yecontly it was the custom to close theao kotas fiom timo to time, and nover towell rice but am yery small quantities,
CASILMERE MISCOVERNMENT, 13
able to come out and enjoy themselves a little, Such is the boon which a paternal Government has recently aceordod to the Cashmeeries |—permission to buy their own rice ab a very oxorbitant rate; and (poor wretches!) so accustomed. ae they 1o' oppression and misusage of all kinds, that they look upon this as a concession deserving of tho utmost gratitude.
It has beon truly said that the present system of land produce taxation is no now ono introduced by the present dynasty, but had ils ovigin al some vemolo period. hore is, however, an important point of difference, which to the peoplo makes all tho difference bewleen a mild system and an oppressive one, and this is in the prices of the grain sold by the Government,
Now, whon Gulab Singh began his iniquitous reign, ho found the system pretty much the samo as I havo deseriled, with cortain important exceptions (seo p. 58), and tho prices of the grain thus collected in the Government kotas were ag follows :—
A Iwree Singh rupeo=8 annns.
ShAlloo (unground ries) 1. 1 IL, 8. rupeo per kharwah,
Viska (barley) - 1. ve lL do do. Mukki (Indian corn) wel do do. Oil. . ais tee wel do do.
and the remainder in proportion.
‘When tho chango in tho coinage was made by Gulab Singh, ‘of which I shall hayo occasion to spenk horealter, ho nlso raisod tho prices of ovorything sold by tho Government to
.
14 CASHMERE MISGOVERNNENT.
a rave higher than the present one, to which they wore lowered on the accession of tho present Maharajah. The prices at the present time avo as under ~~
A chilkee rupee= 10 aunas.
Bhillee a ins ite at 2 ch, Rs, por kharwah, Viska me me oe 2 oy ow oy ” Kunuk we os as Bn ww on Mukki Bee “eg wee 2 ow ow on Muttur (peas) wee on os bois ow oo” Mong (fiom which dal) és wes Tannin on Mohar ‘ 6 ek ae yr er a) Mosor ” on oo 4yon wn oo» Kidta * ww ie 2 on oye Katiin (Lom whieh oil) ait ow 8» » » ” Mout (a grain usod chtofly for cattle) 2 wow Tilogogolo (from which oil) ow Bo a Oo Tromba (fox food) oo cu are 2 oy moo” ” 2 » ” ” ”
Pingi } grains used for food by tho sine f people... on }
Kupis (flax) -_ on ve
wR ao
These prices, it will be secn, are more than double those for which the same things were sold whon Gulab Singh got the country, And, moreover, il can searoely bo pleaded in behalf of a bad system, that it has been a long time in oporation.
The Government kotas ave both store-houses for the grain and also: the places avhere if is sold to the peoplo in small quantities.
Any ono in want of a largo amount must go to the officer in chaige of the kotas, who gives them an order upon somo one of the kardass, for which the officer tnkes the payment and!
GASIMERE AMISGOVERNMENT. 16
places if Lo tho oredit: of the kardar in his accounts. ‘Thove is a considerable loss in buying from the Governmont kotas, from the amount of dirt accumulated by transit from tho villages, &e., go that the purchasor docs not, in point of frat, obtain 1 karwah of shalleo for his two chilkeo rnpees, but about a irik less, It will be remombored that the Govornment kharwah, when they sold to the people, is only 15 trike, (Seo pago 7),
The chiof points, then, with regnrd to this system of taxation a11e,—
1, The provention of that traffic, and consequent inter. course and union betweon the city and the country people, which ave manifestly essontial 10 their comfort and woll- being.
2, The comparative poverty which it produces among the zemindars, and the actual want and misery which it holps to produce among the shawl and sdda bMs, of whom I shall speak hereaflor.
8, The opportunities afforded to Govornmont and Govorn. mont officials of creating tomporary famines hy alosing tho kotas (@) and thus raising the pricos of grain,
4, Tho countless opportunities for chicanory and opprossion which it affords to the numerous loonl oftcors employed in carrying out itg most complicated arrangomonts,
In consequence of the want of intercourso and trafte between the city and country people which this aystom
z
(a) 1 do nob know that prices havo been notually yaisod hy tha olostug of * tho kotas, bul it ia cortain that tho pooplo hayo often guilorod gront migory on necount of if, (Seo p. 12),
16 CASHMERD MISCOVERNMENT,
produces, there has grown up a fecling of distrust and jealousy between them, most detrimental, of course, to the happiness and well-being of the community, but which it is probable that a mean and selfish Government like that of Jamoo would rather foster than diminish,
By way of final comment upon this extraordinary system, T shall translate a sort of fable commonly known throughout Cashmere, which {hey havo either invented, or perhaps adopt- ed from the Persian, as emblematical of tho condition of their country, and the peculiar system of its government:
TIE STORY OF ‘MOS DEDN KHAN?
Oneo upon a time there was a very grent nobleman, who was a Pathan, and who lived in the mountains to the north. west of Cashmevo; hisname was Mds Deen Khan. One day he went upon a journcy to Srinagur, in Cashmere, in order ~ to pay his respects to the king of that country, and it happened that on that occasion he rode a horso for which he had a vory great regard. Ile was indeed so fond of this horse, that he used to call himself the ¢ father of the animal’ (a),
« When Mads Deen Khan reached Sat-o-kuddel, which is the soventh bridge over the Jhelum at Svinagur, he alighted from his steed that ho might proceed to the royal palace on foot ; and having given many instructions to the groom with regard to the well-treatment of tho horse, ns well as especial order's on no account to ride him, he sent him back to his abodo in the mountains,
7
(a) Tho meaning of this expression will appear in the aoquel of tho storys
CABIIMORE MISCOVERNVLN'D. Li
But when Mods Deen Khan got half-way to the palace of the king, ho bethought himsolf that perhaps bis sorvant might ill-tront his hoiso; he therefore sont anothor of his attendants with orders to overtake thom, and aseortain whether the beloved animal was woll caved for, ‘The menial doparted, and found tho first sovvant viding the horse ; ho thonght, ‘it is better for me to ride at my enso than to quarrel with this servant, who may perhaps afterwards falsely acouso mo to my master ;’ ao ho too mounted.
“Now whon Mos Deen Khan got vory near tho palace of the king, ho again bethought himself that perhaps it would be better to sond a still more trustworthy servant do be a cheek upon the conduct of the obhers with reyaid 4o his horse. But whon tho third servant overtook the party, and found his two predeccasors riding, he also mounted ; and the horse, which could havo canied one, hecama so oxhausted under tho weight of three, that, on reaching his stable, he died.”
Tho application of the story is obvious onough, and is a good illustvation of the natural wil of tho Cashmoories. 16 is particularly applicable al tho prosont time, sinee the Mahurajah himself is said to be in ignorance of a Jargo part of the oppression of his Government, and of the injustice of his irresponsible officials,
Novortheloss, such ignorance is equivalent to guilt: and tho desivo for the happiness of his subjects, if such a feeling ba known to the Mahaajah, must be feeble and worthless indeed, since it cannot even rouse him to ascortain for himeelf tha condition of the people from whom he dorives his wealth, and for whose well or ill-being Ze is responsible /
D
18 GASTIMERT: MISCOVRRNVENT,
Tt ig vavoly even, that he takes the trouble to visit the Cashmere valley ; he sits apart in his Juxurious palace at Jamoo, contented to receive such reports of the state of his country as hig officials may choogo to furnish him with,
From time to time, some of the numerous complaints af hiy bancfal administration, which circulate in newspapers and in the talk of society, must penetrate the seclusion of the royal chambers. Ilo hears them apparently unmoved (!)—with indifference or contempt, and never seems to have conceived the idoa of investigating their truth or falsehood for himself’; or of scaing with his own eyes, and hearing with his own ears, the actual condition of his people, Ile trusts evorys thing to hig dihwans and wuzeers, who ave Hindoos of a different onste from his own, are ill educated, totally ignorant of English forms of government and of English ideas of justice.
There is not only no link between the governing class in Cashmere and the native inhabitants of the country, but there are all those deep-rooted antipathics which must exist between Mussulmen and Iindoos, Those who know the fecling that exists betiveen the tsvo races, do not require to be told that a country whose population is entirely composed » of followers of one ereed (a), and whose governing power is ontively composed of adherents of the othcr, must be
oppressively and unjustly ruled,
That Mussulmen and Iindoos to a certain extent amalga. mate in Ilindostan, is no evidence to tho coutrary, They
.
(®) Tho proportion of pundits is too small Lo bo taken into consideration.
CASIIMERD MISCOVERNMDN'T, 1 have the common feeling of dislike to the English ; and, moro~ over, the Mussulman of India has lost almost all tho distin- guishing characteristics of his raco and religion. Nono of the noble qualities which once animated the followegs of ‘that creed in so many quartois of the globe, are to be found in the semi-ILindooized, and consequontly dobused, Musgul- man of India.
The people of Cashmere, however, (as I hope to shew in a future work,) ave possessed of many characteristics, both intel- lectual and moral, which command our respect and admira~ tion ; and amongst them, the religion of Mahomot, although sullied by long contact with idolators, is still kepl ap with much.of its anciont purity, and with a dovotion and enthusiasm that would not have disgraced the best days of Islamism,
CUAPTER If
TITER SIAWL SYSTEM,
Tim “poshm” which reaches Cashmere by the ordinary traders, is bought up in its raw state and spun into thread of different dogrees of fineness by women, the wives of shawl and gida bafs, merchants, and evon of shop-keopors and others who are unconnected with the shawl tirade (@), They soll it in small quantities 10 shop-kcepers (2) in the bazar, from whom it is bought by tho karkandoxs and othors.
Tn order,to undorstand the shawl systom in Cashmore, ib will be necessary to consider separately that of thoso which , ara worked by the loom and thogo which avo worked by tha hand, since the classds of people employed in each, and tho government rogulations affecting thom, avo casentinlly diferent, We will first examine
The Loom Systom.—A. kavkandor is a shawl mannfactaror who employs under him a number of shawl bifs (c)—from 20 or 80 to 800. To buys the spun thread from tho pobiwtneo,
(a) It acems to ho considerod a nocossary branch of the edueation of tha fair sox in Cashmore, and to bo a very anciont institution among thom.
(8) Tho Cashmore namo for theso poople is “ podiwtnos.”* po BP
{e) Shawl bifs, ov shagivde, ave Zoom workmon, Sida bifa avo thoso whos manufacture the plain pushmine by tho hand, with the assistanea of a amull frame, Rufodgas work tho pattorn upon tho plain pushmina by the hand
22 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
and gets it dyed of different colours before it is distributed among his workmen. There are about 100 karkandas in Cashmere, small and gyeat, all of whom live either in Srinagur or Islamabad; but the houses in which their shaw] bats worl are in different parts of the valley, the largest number being in the towns of Pampur and Sopor. A number of overseers are therefore necessary to superintend the work, to be respon- sible for the pushmina, and to draw the pay of the workmen, etc, These people are called usttd (a word which signifies master or, sometimes, teacher) there is usually one over every 25 or 30 shawl bafs, At the end of cach month, the ustid takes to the karkander an account of the work performed in that time by each of the men under him, and dratys go rauch pay for each, which is regulated by the amount of work done, The sum thus realized by the shaw] bif is usually from three to five chilkee rupees a month, izedusive of the amount deducted by the Government for rice, which is sold to the shawl bafs under conditions which I shall explain presently, Such a sum is not sufficient to support a family with any approach to comfort, even in so fertile a country as Cashmere (@).
The inability of the karkandor to pay his workmen a higher rate of wages, I shall now proceed to demonstrate.
The annual tax levied on each karkander up to the Let December, 1867, was Rs. 47-8 (chilkee rupees) for each shawl haf in his employ ; from that date a reduction was made of 11 chilkeo rupees, The method of raising this {ax is some- what complicated, and most liable to abuse.
(a) Tha hat of prices at the Government kolus, given in the last chapter, vendors this apparent (p. 1d).
CASIMERE MISGOVERNMENT, ay
Thore ig in Srinagur a large Govornment office, called th? Déghshali, in which ave employed about 200 pundits for purposes which I shall explain, At their head is mu official commonly called the Dardgha of the Dighshili, Beloro n loom shawl can be legally mado, a small piece of the intended degree of fineness must be brought to tho Daghshili, Tho proposed size is named, and tho price is thus caloulated; tho piece then recvives the Government stamp, and is laid up in the Daghshali, The karkander reoeives a paper describing the shawl and giving the date of the stamp, for which ho pays at the time Rs. 18°12 per cent. on the price of the shawl; when the shawl is nearly completed, itis taken to the Digh- shali, and the stamped picce is worked into it. ‘No loom shawl can of course be sold withoul this stamp; and in ordex to ascertain that no karkander puis in hand a shawl without first obtaining it, some of the Dfighshdli pundits avo continually employed in inspecting tho different karkhanas (2) throughout the towns and the few villages in which there may happen to be any.
Tt appears that thoy aro in the habit of domanding and receiving from the karkandors illegal remunoration for their bont-hive, road expenses, oto., which, as thoir visila ave nooos- sarily very frequent, must amount to a considorablo sum,
At the end of each year, the amount paid into the Digh~ phdli by cach karkander is caloulated by the officials of that ben and compared with the amount he would have paid
d the tax of Rs, 47-8 per shawl baf been taken from him yxstend.
oe nme en
: A karkhana {s a hougo in which looms for making shawls are set up,
24 CASTIMERT AMISGOVERNMENT.
The deficiency is then paid by the karkander; it rarely or nover happens that he has paid percentage in excess, becanse he entertains a doubt (not, I suppose, unfounded) that in the event of his having done go, the difference would not be refunded to hip’ by the dardgha, Ile restricts himself, there~ fore to the making of such number of shawls the tax upon which will not exceed the amount of the original impost of Res, 47-8 per shaw] baf annually. :
That such an arrangement is detrimental to the interests alike of Maharajah, karkander and shatwl bf, and beneficial only to the officials of the Daghshali, is evident enough, It is not, however, the interest of the Maharajah and tho karkandor which call for any special consideration, but those of the unfortunate shawl baf, In order to understand moro fully the situation of that individual, and the principal causes of the wholesale emigrations of shatvl and sada bals to the Punjab, it will be necessary to advert to an oceurrence which happoned at Srinagar in the year 1865. In the sming of that year, the Dihwan Kirpa Ram was appointed to succeed Wuzeer Punnoo in the post of Governor of Cashmore.
On his way to take yp his appointment, he was met at Banihal by from 1,200 to 1,600 shawl bits, who came to complain to him concerning two matters, Tirst, that in con= sequence of tho Government order, no shawl bhf wag, allowed to purchase more than cight kharwahs @%) of shallee yearly, and that such an amount was insufliciont for their support.
Second, that the deduction in thdyprice of shallee sol ato them by Government, which had been ordered by
(@) Seo note to p. 12 and p. 14,
CASIMERE MISCOVERNMENT. 28 Maharajah nbout three years before, should be allowod them in full,
This requires some oxplanation, which will further illustrate the system of Cashmere government. Soon after the neces» sion of Gulab Singh, the rupee of the country, eadled that of TLurree Singhia—valuo 8 annas—was changed by. him for tho present ohilkeo coin, value 10 annas,
All taxes, however, romained at tho same amount of yupees | Thus the karkander’s tax of Rs. 47-8 Tlurree Singhia was changed to 47-8 chilkee rupees ; necessarily tho prices of everything rose in proportion, and tho shaw! “bat, about six years ago (a), most reasonably requested that for such amount of work as formorly ontilled thom to a Turree Singhia rupee, they should now receive a chilkeo rupee. They preferred their request to tho Maharajah, who devided that half of the diforenco between the old and tho new coin should be paid by tho karkander, and half by tho Govorn- ment, to the shawl bifs,
Tt was farther decided that the mannor in whioh this Inet portion should be liquidated, was to be by a remission of two and ahalf Company’s annag in tho price of cach khatwah of shalleo gold by tho Government to tho shawl bif (4). Shalleo should therefore have been sold to tho shawl bit at tho rato off
<n eorcnnceenineemne
(4) About twolvo yoars aftor tho change of coin,
(2) By this anangomont, Govornmont did not py hell the difforonco, sine onlytoight khavwala woro eae yonrly Lo onc shwitl Daf. ‘This gives 20 annas yearly from Governmontto enol shail bAf But, computing the wages of a shawl bal at Rs. 4, Lhe difforonco roquired by him in a year would bo 96 amnas. Govornmont thoroforo paid somowlhat loss than ono-Lhid of the difforonco, ;
Dn
26 CASUMERE MISCOVERNMENT.
174 aunas per kharsvah, but the Davdgha of the Déghshali, named Rajkark, through whom the Government shallee was sold to the shail bafs, ordercd that they should pay 18 annas per kharwah, intonding to make half an anna oneach khonvah for himself (a),
This, therefore, wis the second causo of complaint, for which, after waiting some three yoars, the shawl bis assom- bled to petition their now Governor, Kupar Ram, on his arrival in Cashmore, The answer they reecived from him was, that he would listen to their complaints when he reachod Srinagur. When that event took place, he was again waited upon by tho shawl bafs, but they only obtaincd an answer that he would attend to them in a fow days, ‘This process having been repeated tivo or three times, tho shawl bAfs assembled themselves togethor, in a somewhat riotous manner, on the maidan beyond tho canal at the back of tho city, 10 consulh over thoir wrongs and grievances, In bitter and despairing mood they made a wooden bier, such as Mussulmon uso to carry their dead to tho placo of interment, and placing » cloth over it; carried if to and fro in procossion, exclaiming Rajkark is doad, who will givo him a grave?” ‘Tho house of the individual thus honoured overlooked tho mnidan, and the wholo proceeding was apparent enough to him. Ifo went to the Governor, Kupar Ram, who gave ltim somo 800 or 500 sepoys with whom he proceeded to “te muidan, ‘Tho shawl bafs fled at the approach of an arniéd force, and in the crowding and hurry of their flight some five or six wote downed in the wafers of tho canal, Tho affair was reported
i,
(a) Whothor tho shawl bifs wore actually mato to pay 18 auuas, ov only ordored to pay if, is um obsoure point, upon which I cannot pronounces with cortainfy.
CASIMIR MISGOVERNMENT, 27
to Jamoa, but no enquiries appear to have been made at tho time, Aboué a month and a half afterwards, Rajkark did really die—with unenviable‘feclings, one can fancy-—nnd the shaivl bifs were loft to purchase their rico at tho rednecd yates in peace, The restriction as to quantity, however, yemained unchanged, until by the deeree of the Ist Docomber, 1867, the boon of permission to purchase clevon khaywahs of shallee yenvly was granted to the family of cach shawl bat,
Tho manner of solling the shallee to the shawl bills is as follows :—On tho arrival of tho grain in Srinagur, a Inrge amount is sot, aside for the shaw! bifs, and portions of it aro from time to time made over to the dardgha for them. ‘Whon that official receives an order for so much shallee from tho Governor, ho takes his accounts, and writes ordors for oach of the karkanders, entitling them to receive so much rice, necording to the numbor of men in their employ, from certain. specified boats, ‘Tho karkandex, on receipt of the order, sonds for the boat or boats named, and distributes the rico to his shawl bafs, keeping an account of the amount delivered to enoh, to bo deduoted from hig monthly wages, tho karkandor being himself charged with tho total cost of tho xico in his account with the dardgha,
Such was tho way in which tho shawl bifs woro allowed to purchase thoir oight kharwahs, and sre now allowed to prow chase their clevon kharwahs yoarly, It is unnecossary to point out the endless confusion, mistakes, and corruption which must ontor into such an arrangement; and this also is to bo noted. yogarding il, thet even now, although a anfficiont amount of rico is provided for tho use of tho shaivl bit én the yoar, yot, since it is not given in the lump, butin portions from timo tc time, he may at cerlain seasons find himself short.
28 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
Such was, of course, froquently the case under the sight~ kharwah system, when tho shawl bit and his family were ofton redueed to a state of semi-starvation.
Unable to obtain rice from his mastor, the karkandor, who had issued all that he had received from the dardgha, he (the shawl bat) went. to that official 10 complain that his yieo was tomporavily withheld.
The dardgha sont for tho karkander, who produced his accounts, shewing' that he had distributed all the rico he had veeeived, and the dardgha having” also expended all that he had recoiyed from the Governor up to that date, the unfor. ‘tunate shawl bal was, of cowse, told to go about his businoss (4).
‘
By the Maharajah’s proclamation of the 1st December, 1867, that “a court for the shawl bifs has beon appvinted, under the title of the Dardgha-i-Shil-Darg,” the dardgha always had power to punish shawl bifs and sida bifs, and to adjust their complaints, so far as the Govornmont system pormitted him; and some 50 sepoys aro always prosont during the day at the Déghshili for the oxceution of his orders, The only difference now ia, that another official is to hold outchorry in the Daghshili, and attend to complaints, Ho is, howover, in a position inferior 4o that of the dardgha, and thorofore (in an Eastern Government) subgorvient to him; and moreover, since the complaints of tho shawl bifs are always oither of scant supply of rico, or small payment of wages, the impos sibility of any adjustment is evident enough!
73 @) Tho aamo ovils may happon now unday tho cloven-kharwah aystem, shica the whole amount cannot possibly be supplicd tothe derdgha, and con- sequently not to the shawl bifa, at one times
GASIIMERE MISGOVERNMENT. 20
The most detestable piece of oppression committed against the shawl bafs is, howevor, this, that none of them aro per mitted to relinquish their cmploymont withoul finding a substitute; which, of course, it is almost always impossible
to do!
-The shawl baf may becomo half blind, as many of thom do from the nature of tho work; ho may contract other diseases, which tho sedentary life, and the foxtid atmosphora of the low rooms, engender and ripen; he may Jong 10 tako up some other employment, which will permit him to breathe the fresh air, to reeruit the unstrung nerves, the oramped sinewa, and the weakened framo; and to prolong tho poor boon of existence, which tho fearful toil of tho loom ig hurrying to its close—no! nothing but death oan releaso “him from his bondage, since the dischargo of a shawl bat would reduce the Maharajah’s yovenue by 86 chilkocs a
year,
Is it not strange that the Govornmont of India should havo tho power to remove by a word theso misorios nnd sullerings, and will not say ib ?
Do those who ara in powor ever spond a thought upon tho people whom their predecessors adld into slavery ?
Do they ever picture to themselves those low-roomad, ill- ventilated abodes, whore the loom-workors sit ab their (@) forced labour day after day, toiling for their misorablo pibtince ?
n
‘ (a) That fs, forced” in many instances 5 of course they do not ull want to give it up,
30 CASIMERD MISGOVERNMENT.
Those gaily-coloured threads of wool ave not the only ones which these looms weave to their completion! Thyeada of life, more costly than thoso of the softest poshm, whose price will be demanded hy ILeavon yet, ave spun out theye on, tha loom of sickness and suffering.
Denth or flight avo the only doors of ioleaso open to the heavy-laden shawl bifs; and thus we havo arrived ab an undeistanding of the causes which havo produced those extensive emigrations of the Cashmere shawl bifs 10 tho Punjab, But tho latter alternative is only possible to a man in tolerable health and strength, sinco the difficulties to be encountered, including the guarded outlets of the valley, are many and great. Many of the fugitives make their way over remote and difficult mountain passes, others by tempo« rarily attaching thomselves to an Iinglishman’s camp,—one way or another they contrive to reach the Punjab in considov-
" able numbors, and find, in exile, a refuge from the Mahavajah’s officials of the Dégshili, Is it not almost inoredible that the Government of India has only to say a word to restore these unhappy beings to their homes, and happiness and comfort to hundreds and thousands of suffering familios throughout Cashmere, and will not say it?
Consider the half-despairing fecling of ono of those refugioo shawl bifs as ho prepares to My liko a hunted felon from his wife and childvon ; for to take zhom with him is, of course, an impossibility! Tow many a miserable hour must he have known, debating with himself whethor oy not to take the final step! Consider what must have beon undergone, in most eases, before he can bring himself to leave tho dear ones of his home with tho uncorlainty of ever again beholding them t
’
CASIIMERI] MISGOVERNAIENT, 81
‘A difficult and dangerous path bofore him, the possibility of capturo and imprisonment, the uneovininiy of what ha shall meet with in that unknown land which he haz heard of by the name of the Punjab, which they toll bim tho “sahibs’ rule over, and do not suffor the poor to be oppressed! Tha journey across the mountains is, indeed, ensy enough Lor an Englishman with hie camp and all ils comforts and appliances ; but what is ib for one of these unfrionded outcasts, with scant supply of clothing, food, shelter, and the dread of capture and punishment continually bofore his eyes ?
The English traveller, as he pauses on his plensant jowncy _ towards Cashmere, and looks up at the bright snow.glad sum.
mits towering above him, and perhaps thanks God—if he havo any gift that way—for making this carth so beautiful, heeds not that other aspect of tho world, which tho palo, worn figure hastening past him might reveal, Io flies like a hunted folon, as I snid, and his crime is—povorty !
OF these fugitives I have learnt that thoy avo in tho habit of sending supplies of money to their families, ag ocension offers, by some trader or other returning to the Valley ; and I am told that the confidence thne placed is nover abusod, Surely this one fact speaks volumes in favour of tho Cashmore charactor (a) in regard to thoso tivo “qualities, which thoy certainly oxhibit in a marked degreo (considering that thoy avo an Asiatic race)—namely, honesty and loving-kindnoss,
I nover yot heard of an Englishman having had anything slolen by a Cashmeerie, and have very rarely heart of theft
(a) The peoplo of Cashmoro ara unjustly abuecd by intevostod peaplo, whe support the Jiamoo Clovorpmeni, and also by travellers whoso Jnow lodge of thon is Inmted to boatmon, shikaricg, und othois with whom the Englwh viaior ordinarily comos in contact,
82 CASUMERD MISGOVERNILNT,
among themselves, In their villages, any one who may hav become ineapacitated from old age or sicknoss, and who ha no near relations to look after him, is supported by the com munity, In the cities, especially in Srinagnr, food an money are given to all of the poor who may come to ask fo them from the houses of those who are tolerably woll off, o1 the 11th of every month (@), as well as on all their sacred days and especially on tho occasion of the do, and throughout thi month Ramadan. It were easy for mo to multiply instances of this and other traits in their character worthy of admira tion, but these pleasanter aspects of Cashmere aro somewhat foroign to our immediate purpose, nor have I at present time to speak of thom. ‘Lo refurn therefore:
The family of a refugeo shaw] bif is by no means loft in peace ; for, according to ILindoo ideas of justice, infraction of tho law by any membor of the commimity implicates all his yelations. The karkander, of‘ courso, immediately informs the dardgha in order that his tax may be decreased (2),
The dardgha sends a sepoy to tho house of the fugitive, and, wife or mother or father, or probably all of thom, are brought up before the Digshali.
(a) This oustom is in 1omombraneo of thoir prophot Das Ghyx, whosg slxino ig im the onvirong of tho sity, noar tho Dagh-i-dilawar-khan, and ia probably one which those who thoughtlossty abugo tho Onshinera people are onttrely ignoxant of,
(8) Which is not done, howovor, wutil the ond of the yenv, even in caso of death, Thus, 1f a shaw) bit dies in tho fat month of the your, tho kaikan- dor pays tax for clovon months for » dead men! and when the nme of fho dofunot is at Inst crasod from tho Dagshdli list, tho offlcinls of that admirnblo institulion make the km kandor pay 9 feo Lo Uhom in honoy of tho
occasion |
CASHMERE BMISGOVERNMENT, 33
They ave fined a rupee or two, or suffer 2 few days’ im- prisonment, by the Government, whose cruelty and injustice have driven from them, in some cases, their almost only means of support.
Such is the case of those who fly from the Valley! But how many are there who would fain fly and cannot, who are driven to,theiy unhealthy, and sometimes fatal, labour in the karkhana by the sepoys of the Dagshali |
* * * x *
Such is the loom system, and the misery which it produces | The obvious remedy for most of its ovils would bo tho abolition of the Dagshali, and the institution of a trionnial consug of the shawl bafs, shewing how many wero at that time employed by each karkauder, The tax, which ought to be lowered to 25 or 80 chilkeo rupees on each shawl bf annually, should be collected in advance, by which arrangement the karkander would be enabled to increase the number of his workmen for three yenrs, witHout an inoreaso of tax (the Government at tho same time reaping the corresponding bonelié of sustdining no loss by a possible decrease in the number of workmen), At the end of the first three years, the leskors would probably show an increase in tho total numbor of shaw] bafs, and in the course of six or nino yonrs, the Government yvevonue from the loom shawl tax would most likely bo larger than it is now; and, what is of more import. ance, the karkander would be enabled, and should be compelled, to raise the present wages of his shawl bats to 10 or 12 chilkee rupees a month, thoreby enabling them to livoin their baative country in very tolerable comfort: provided that the.
tr CASHVERL MISGOVURNMENT,
Jaw of forced Inbour was abolished, aud a rensornble money tax, ingtend of produce, taken from the zemindars (2).
As the matter stands at present, the condition of the shawl baf has only been bettered to the extent of 54 chilkes rupees a year, by the remissions of the Ist December, 1867, It now remains for us to examine
THE HAND-WORK SHAWL SYSTEM.
A sida baf is the workman who makes the plain pushmina fiom the spun poshm, upon which the qvloured threads are afterwards worked with needles by the workman who is called a “xufodgn.” The sida bdfs ave immediately under the dudgha of the Déghshdli, and in that office a registey of their names is always kept; for, like the shawl bdfs, they ave neither allowed to lenve the valley nor relinquish their employment. The sida bdfs bay the poshm themeclves from the bazaars, and manufaoture pushmina usually in thoir own houses, sometimes employing an agent to eell it for them to the merchants and others. No pushminn ean, of course, be sold by them without the Déghshali stamp, the tax on which is levied at the rate of 104 chilkeo rupees for 44 yads of push- mina. Pundits ave employed, similarly to thosa who visit the karkhanag, to ascortain ial no pushmina is sold by a aida bit without having paid the above tax, Tt is said that their visils are dreaded by the sida bafs, since the pundila oblige them to pay a sort of black-mail, under pretence of bout-hire, road expenses, &e,
(@ bis wnnocessary to point oul tho facilitios for evasion of tho tax as it. is at present collovted, by collusion hetween the du dgha and the karkandor, which ‘would be in b grott monstio removed by the institution of a trlennial woneuts
CASUMERE ISGOVERNUUNT. 35
Whon plain pushmina is bought from a side bat for the purpose of having a pattern worked upon it, or of being dyed, it must be again taken to the Daghshali, whore the first stamp is washed out, and a paper given by the owner, in which the intended ground colour is named; as soon as ib ig dyed, it, must be again taken to the Dégshali, and a second stamp is affixed, and a second tax of 18 chilkee rupees is levied upon the same 44 yards. Tho shawl work may then be com- pleted upon it; when finished, it is taken for a jourth time to the Déghshdli, when the owner receives a certifiente that the tax has been paid, which he is bound ta give to tho purclaser of the shawl, who is required to produce it at the custom houses though which it may have to pass on ils way to the Punjab or elsewhere,
The antount paid by a rufodga or other to a sida bal’ for a piece of plain pushmina is one chilkeo rupee per yard, 7x addition 10 the markot value of the thrend and the cost of the Dighshali stamp. ‘
A yard cannol be made under from two to four days; the position, therefore, of the sida haf is but slightly belter than that of his brother of tho loom, but he is not allowed bu lonve (lie valley ov relinquish his trade.
The civeumstances of the rufodga are tolerably comfortable, nor is he in the samo state of serfdom ag the shawl and the sida, DA; being permittod the privilege of changing or giving up his trade, should he wish to do so,
teen nga reaneent
CHAPTER ILI.
TRANSPORI OF SUPPLIES FOR TROOPS.
A tangn number of troops being usually kept in the coun» tries of Gilgit and Astor, supplies of rice, eto, are sent up in the autumn of every year from Cashmere for their use. Yemindars are pressed from every part of Cashmore to carry these supplies. ‘They aro collected by the different kardars from the villages under their respective control, whore a kind of register is kept, that each houso may furnish its quota of men in turn, Those who are thus collected are ‘paid from 4 to 7 chilkee rupees for the double journoy by their kardar, and sent by him in charge of a hurkira to Bandipoor, where there is a sort of depdt presided over by a Hindoo official, Thom him thoy reccive their loads, with memorandum of the amount which they have to deliver to the Governor of Astor, and from him thoy bring back a receipt to be presonted to the official at Bandipoor, Now, sinco tho full amount that an ordinary man can carry is givon to 4 « zemindar, and since little or nothing ean bo purchased on the road, it is obvious that he must cithor oat part of his load, ox starve,
Nevertheless, on his return to Bandipoor, the quantity thug rendered deficient, as shewn by the recoipt, is talon from the zemindar in money! (a) The journey from Bandi.
(a) Thelieve, however, that it is now usurl to send tho aupplios by tho zemindars only ae far ns Gurfis, from whenco thoy avo transported on ponies, What the paymont is on this arrangomont, T do nob know. Tn proportion, I auppose, to what 16, 01 rooently was, the payment of a zemundar for the whole distance,
88 CASHMERE. MUSGOVERNMENT,
“poor to. Astor; fora Jaden: mun; occupies. . twelve, days, Such. is. the -ordinay system in, time of peace ;. and. if this. were all, it , would: not perhaps, considering the ‘far greater evils’ than. inadequate” payment (a) “for work that disgrace the Government of the’ country; “be. scarcely worth writing about, But, when. somo of. the frequent disturbances: in: Gilgit. nécessitate -an increased . number “of troops, the Cashmeerie zemindars, aud others, hays: to auffer “worse: evils ‘than a month: or: two of -bad.and ill-paid abour..
“Phe last, occasion’ was in. 1866, Tn the summer of that year, it was supposed to. be necessary to send up an unugual number, ‘of: troops, and zemindars, boatmen, and even tradesmen, of
i (@)’, Gvossly inadequate certainly. | A, zemindar will ordinarily. havo . three days j journey from his village ‘to ‘Bandipoor, twelve Anysto Astor, where’ lie will bo. Golayed for a fow Aaya ho will also be dolayod at Bandipoor na woll
. going as rotimning ; therefore the doubloj journey rom, his village to. ‘Aator and Dack cannot také lesa than fifty days, “Tor this tha zomindar recoives from four to seven ohilkao rupecs; Now, when-an Wnglish traveller takes zonitidars 7 into the. ‘mountains: to aot a8 coolies, (not a8 shikaviog; Who are ‘pia a! chighor xate,) ho usaully .givos thant six Ooripany's wmipess. @ mondh and rusendy ow eight witliout russud, Lhe sopoys in Astor Appear tobe Wunder 1: control,’ and to itl-treat: tho ‘poople of the counury. aa anntelt a8 thoy .plonse,Whan. 7 wis in that. district in Ootobar; 1867, I, found'a sopoy abusing an old man. and! trying to tuko somothiing from. him—his shoog I think, ..T called the agpey : But ho’ ‘would not come 3 he rolrentod to'thie guard shonso of tho'v! sveie'some other. sépoya, info: which I puvanod him, and brotig
t HjevorL bound: chim with ropes and nado hitn sit-na ia. pilsdher,
ulyror, for some. times
avithowt
mndntion;: thia- little: inoident ..in- ord’ to -romind those’ who may feol. _Aeandalizéd at hoaving of ‘Bngliahmot i in Cashmore who aot contrary to Inw,” ” "Shab, thyoughoué, ‘the. dominions ‘of tha Tanioo Gaverninent thera'ig propivly -sponking: no Tews: Boo. Chapter TV.—-Powors of ‘tho: Mayistratey, iidprigon?' noi, term of, nover ‘spaciltod,: &u,
CASHMERTE, MISGOVERNMENT. © 5)
the eity were prosbod to carry their supplies and baggage. ‘They.
were sent off in a-hurry, without: thé slightest provision being
made for their ‘lodging, clothing, or subsistonce on the road, beyond their athoernats of one seer oft vice a day for their food, Sand payment. '
It is “commonly ee that saianees of inns died. on thnt occasions: many of them did certainly die ‘during. that year onthe Gilgit’ road, engaged. in oanying govornment. stores, and from the enuses Ihave. mentioned, namely,‘ want of food, shelter, ‘and clothing; but I believe that the actual time was somewhat later, After those who. had: been sent with the troops had retumied to Cashmore, ik was found neces sary to send further supplies, ii haying béon then determined to keep the incréased number of troops ies throughont tha: en
Accordingly, Inte i in tho autumn of 1866, the supplies ware, sent on the backs of zemindars, taken ‘from their villuges: in, ‘ the manner I have described; and many of those men diod on, th rond from cold, exhaustion, ang. wiaat of food (a ),
* Thave: loot hate taken ocension to noties this traly Tindoo« ‘Tike’ sot of barbavity, but was thon andor the impression: that the men died during. the summer, when sont: with the troops to Gilgit. : “Tid not, thon. know “thatthe ‘zemindars’ had. been again sont Jate:i in the antumn, at which time it Appears 8 deaths dcourred from: the causes I. have imentionody umanity of the authorities only. appears more glaring: “fromthe: fast of their here. sont mon,” weithonb any. equip.
6
fC ae ti of, food,"*: although they’: saviiel, aice on their Pack ainds,.in “the absence at OF and‘ consequently of boiling. wntor, rico. isnot available for food.
40 CASIEMERE MIIQOVERNMENT.
mont, along a road like that, from Cashmere to Astor, at such aseason of the year, It was necessary, no doubt, to supply the troops; but if the Government arrangements were so extremely bad, that no provision had been made heforchand in a place where there is always the possibility of an increased domand for troops, an adequate amount of equip. ment, clothing, and amangement for the shelter of those who were sené up with tho supplies should have been made, But nothing of the kind was done; the men were sent off over the passes with their heavy loads, and many of them perished as I have said.
A Hindoo-like act of barbarity I havo called it, since it proceeded not so much from active cruelty as from a passive carelessness to human suffering; a dull, stupid indifference like that with which the driver of a bullock waggon in Hin. doostan urges on his starved and yoke-galled beast, with blows and foul language, until the miserable brute falls dead on tho yond (@), Ihave travelled that rond fiom Astor to Cashmere, dnd can testify (2) that it is one of tho worst of the mountain paths which lead out of Cashmere into the interior, both on account of the steepness and height of the passes, and still more from the scarcity of villages, and the unwillingness of the inhabitants to sell supplies of any kind,
(a) The state in which bullocks, donkeys, and dik-gharry horses are froquently goon on the public 10Ads of Hindostan, is a Aisgrace to the Govern~ mont of India, Their ownors would be punished in Ragland: why avo they Permitted to escape in India? ‘Iho stule of tho last ought to be woll known to the present Viceroy, who patronizes that mode of conveyance in his annual Journeys betweon Simla and Calontia.
(%) There are mideod two ronds from Gurdis to Astor, but I was told that the ono I did not sco was the worst of the two; of couse T do nol know whioh tho zonundars took,
CASHMERE MISCOVERNSENT. 4b
T crossed the Kumori pass, which leads from the Guriiis into the Astor valley, in October, 1867. It was covered with snow for many miles on the Gurfis side, and for two days’ journey on the Astor side. I saw no human habitation for at least three days in crossing from ono valley to the other, and no shelter of any kind (a), I mysolf, with sorvants, coolies, tents, &., and the advantage of fine weather, had some diff- culty ina tho pass. We were shelterless by twilight in tho middle of tho snow at a great elevation, and only suesceded in reaching a spot where tents could be pitched, by obsorving a part of the mountain side which we could descend rapidly, and thus reached a spot of ground free from snow ns dark. ness came on.
Some troops had crossed a fow days before me, and tho number of dead tattoos by the side of the track boro witnoss to the difficulty they had encountered.
But it was in the month of November that theso zomindars were sont up to Gilgit, where the pass must have been con- siderably worse, and thoy were sont without tho slightost plovision for their shelter, clothing, or food, boyond tho loads of rica which they carried on their backs. ZZow many died, ib is of course impossible to say! What ILindoo Govornment would ever think of recording the namos or numbers of those who had died in their service ?
4
Picture to yourself, oh reader! thoso desolate scenes wheve the Cashmere zemindars had to lay down thelr lives None save those who have seen such can fully ronlize thoir
{@) Excopt that whon I crossed there wero tho remains of a fow wigwama
put up by troops, who lind passed three or four days before, aud which would ‘be destroyed by the first storm,
r
42 CASHMERE MISGOVERNALENT,
horrors, No imagination is powerful enough to realize them: the waste, hopeless aspeat of the unbounded stretch of snow ; the intensely keen blast of the wind, which strikes you with the force of an engle’s wing as it sweops down upon you through the ravines ; above and around you are snowy peaks and summits, and precipitous slopes of rock, upon whose edge sits the avalanche waiting for his prey.
Through such scenes, heavily laden, the zemindars take their way. Powerful and hardy are the sons of Cash- mefe ; patiently they toil onwards through the drifting snow, in the name of Allah and his prophet! Many encourage each other with words of hope: it may be that they will yet reach tho offer side in safety. Alas, nol From two or three the strength is already departing, and the keen wind is paralysing the sinews.
Slowly the conviction fastens upon them that they shall never quit those fiightful solitudes, ever sce again their homes, nor those who dwelt there waiting their return, far off in the sunny vale of Cashmere!
Who dare realize such thoughts—such moments ? * * * * *
Let us lenve the asvene of death, But oh, British vender | forget not that these and other frightful miseries are pro- duced by a government whose chief is a feudatory (a) of the British crown; by a government which derives its per- manence from the protection of the British rule; by a government which the British powor forced upon the people of Cashmere; by a government into whose hands British
(a) See the Treaty of March, 1846,
OASHMERD MISGOVERNMENT, 48
statesmen sold the people of Cashmere; by a Government, therefore, whose existenca is a disgrace to the British name | It is at onee a memorial of that fon) act, when, like the ach traitor of old, we bartered canocent lives, which fate placed in our hands, for a few pieces of silver,
And it isa standing witness that we accept that act of the past, now that ils conseguences have been seen, and take the burden of its responsibility upon ourselves,
a
CHAPTER LV. MISCELLANEOUS,
‘Cum punishment for killing a cow used formerly to ho death , but on account, I believe, of the remonstrances of the British Government, it was changed to imprisonment for lilo. Tho method, however, of carrying out the mitigated sentence yenders it seavcely move morciful than the capital penalty.
The Hindoo vengeance does nob only fall upon the actual cow-killer himself, bat on the whole of his family ; and all who in any way participated in, or were cognizant of the decd, ave imprisoned with him also, I bolieve for lifo!
In addition to this, after each day’s investigation into the cironmstances of the so-oalled crime, thoy aro crnolly flogged, and when consigned to prison ave branded and torlnred with hot irons (a). Insufticiont food, and gonoral ornel treatmont, hasten their deaths, before which there hag been, I believe, no instance of any one connected with the slaughter of a cow having beon released, But no formal sontenco is pronounced in any caso when imprisonment is awarded, whethor for amall offences or great ones,
Tho offender is sent to prison, and noither he nor any one else knows how long he may be kept thoro. Possibly there are many who have been forgotten! (2)
(@) All the offenders aro, I am told, aubjectad to oriuro, bub the setual dolinguont mora soveroly than tho olhors,
(8) An insolvent debtor is usually handed over by Une court to the erediter to sorve nga playo,
46 CASHMERL MISGOVERNMUNT.
Of justice, there is, in fact, little or none, Offences against the Government or against [indoos are punished with undue seveiity, while offences perpatrated by Hindoos or Government officials ave either passed over, or adjudicated with partiality and injustice. There has, indeed, been recently established in Srinagur a new court for tha trial of petty offences and misdemennours, consisting of five Suni Mussulimen, tivo Shiab, and three Pundits: this seoms a fair distiibution of religious bias; but their powers only extend to about ten chilkee rupees fine, nor does their court in any way interfere with the power of the Chiof Magistrate to imprison whoever he pleases, for any cause or no catise! (a)
Before the advent of English visitors this year (1868), ‘s number of prisoners wore, T believe, sent in batches from the Sritagur gaols to Jamoo, lest the number of prisoners, and the causes of their punishment, should be ascertained and commented upon by the Buropean commu. nity. This, however, I cannot youch for, although I believe it to be perfectly true,
The system of tho city police resembles that of the Iand- tax aystem, in the number of different grades of officials, and donsequent fucilities for bribory and intimidation whioh ib affords, There is a policeman—myledar—told off to every 20 or 80 houses; his business is not only to koop ordor, but to report to his zilladar all that goes on. The zilladar is a sort of constable, Kaving %0 or 80 myledays under him ; he reports to the sub-kotwal, the sub-kotwal to the head kotwal, and the last-named, funetionary to ‘the Chief Magis-
‘trate. If the subordinates bring a false acousntion against
(@) -1 only xefrain from giving apecial instances Sor fonr of the consequences to which the aulfforois migltt bo oxposed,
CASHMERD MISGOVERNMENT. 47
a family or an individual, the latter will sometimes esonpe punishment; but theiv accusers are unpunished for the crime of false accusation.
The tax on the salo of land is enormously high, being 44 annas in the rupee (!) oxclusive of the necessary doxeezs to the clerks, who ave, of course, pundils. A marriage license osts three rupeas, and about a rupee more is taken by the pundits ; and in the case of a second or third marriage, in the ense of the first wife or wives being alive, great difficulties are thrown in the way of the Mussulman by these officials, unless they ave properly bribed, since it appears that their opinion as to the advisability of permitting a second mar- ringe is consulted in many enses by the Magistrate. Some- times tho license is refused unless payment of Rs. 100 or more is made (2), In short, in this as in most other matters there is no law but the will of the Magistrate,
* % x * *
All classes of the Mussulman community are tax-payars, except the inilors, von tho boatman, whoso pay is only Jo.’s Re, 2-8 a month, is taxed! Porhaps the poorest and worst off of all, except some of the shawl bits, aro a clues of people who live along the shores of the Anchar lake, not far from the city. They subsisL on the sale of what they can procure from the lake, consisting of a conrse kind of grass for cattle, reeds which they weave into matting, and fish, which by a vory veoent order they are permitted to catch and sell.
For the privilege of thus making uso of the lake, thoy pay a considerable yearly tax ta Government, It was impossible
(a) Thatis, (o the pundits It is commonly isported that tho progont Magistiate, Dihwan Budtinath, is aboye taking bribes,
48 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT,
to ascertain with any degree of certainty what the amount was; but that they are in a state of extreme wretchedness and poverty, and thal the Govornment take a considerable sum of money from them annually, is certainly true. I went into some of the cottages, and found them in as miserable a condition as the appearance of the people outside betokencd—- windowless, fireless, lightless, and bare !
Some children and others were shewn to me suffering from different diseases. I gave them whatI could, and told them to come to my house in Srinagur, and that I would take them to a hospital, They never came ; they seem quite hope- loss and unable to believe that any ono would ever do any~ thing for them, Their food is ouly rice, and tho conrse vege~ tables they produce in their Inke gardens; and the only fuel they can procure is dricd horse dung! And these people pay taxes | |
There is no Jack of fuel in this country, All round the shores of the Walar Lako, magnificent forests of deodar are flourishing in luxuriant strength and beauty, but the heavy duties on wood, as on all other things which ave brought into the city or its preainots, render the poorer classes utterly unable to obtain it.
And now, before closing this Jong list of miserios and atrocities, there is yet one other misory and atrocity, and ono other iniquitous source from whence the Jamoo Government derives its revenue, which T shall present for the consider. ation of the reader. :
The sale of young girls in Cashmere to established houses of il-fame, is both protected and encournged by the Government,
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMEN'T, 40
and helps to swell that part of hig revenue which the Maha- raja derives from* the wages of prostitution. The licousa granting permission to purchase a girl for this purpose, custs about 100 chilkee rupees, and an additional payment is, [ believe, made to Government when the wrfovtunate victim enters upon her miserable career, The vary fret that such sules take place, is due to the grasping and avaricious nature of the Government, since none but the vory poorest and lowest classes of tho people ever sell their children (2).
It is with a Governmont as with an individual ; one crime stands not childless, but is the fruitful parent of an hundred more, Sale of children is a consequence of paverty, which is produced, first, by oxtremo taxation; and, second, by the high prices of all kinds of food, which is cnused by the Govornmont, system of faking the Jand produce inte their own storo- houses.
Those who have been bought as I have described, cannot even quit that, life should they desire to do go, since thoy oan- nol, of coursa, raise money Lo repay to their purchaser either the prico paid for them or the license tax to Government.
It is nob many years ago since others, who Zad not deen bought, wove nevertheless prohibited by Government from relinquishing (heir foarful culling, and wero refused per- mission to marey, Sov tho same reason as the shai] bats are
(a) Tho only class of poople who soll thoi children ava cortaiu of tho villagera, who are shoomakers and workera m Ioathor. ‘Cho other Miwauhuen of Qushmoro consider Lhem to bo a low and degraded race, and will not ont with thom, I once askod, “ What could induce tho women to sell hor ehijd PY * and woe angworodl, “ Poverty! But no Mussutman of any othoy olnsa vould do auch athing; he would rather slarve !
q
50 CASIMLRU ASSCOVERNMENT.
still prevented from turning to other employments, namely, the loss of the high taxes (¢) which these two unfortunate classes of the people pay to Government.
I will offer no woid of commont upon theso things; the facts'‘speak eloquently enough for themselves. If they fail to arouse pity and indignation and horror in the hearts of English readers, that class of people must have changed their natures since I left the civilized would eighteen months ago to travel in the Tlimalayas.
(a) Some of tho nautoh girls poy 80 and 100 chilkee :upoca a year, Iam told that those “unfortunate females” ae now permitted to marry, and tun to a bottoy and « happior hfo xf they wish to do so. But thore can bo no cortainty—acarcoly probabihiy—that the Jamoo Govornment, which{eontinuos to dove rovonuo fiom the land of “sales” I havo dosenabod, will nob withdyay this po mission and onfoice its former barbarous o1dor,
I know of one anstanco in which a woman who entreated tho Govornment to be allowed to mary and Jead a viituous hfe, was rofused pormission to do 50, She attempted to fy with a man sho wished to marry, but was pre- vented or biought back, and 18 now what sho was bofore, I bolioyo this took placo only thioo years ago, and smilnt beibaiity mony again bo perpotiated at any moment—a toat tho miasionarics would do well to onlargo upon,
OWAPTER VY.
MORAL AND POLITIOAL REASONS FOR 'TITH PUR- MANENT APPOINTMENT OF A RESTDENT AND ASSISTANT TO CONTROL AND DIRECT THE ACTION OF THE JAMOO GOVERNMENT.
(Ar the present time we aro all indulging in a harmless, but nob vay dignified species of solf-gloiification about the Abyssinian war. The press is full of laudatory notices of England’s conduct on this great occasion; we read of “ pure and holy motives,” of * disintorestcd action,” “a righteous struggle for the noblest ends, &.” A good opinion of self is, no doubt, as gratifying to a nation as it is to an individual, Nevertheless, one cannot: but be rather forcibly reminded of the old proverb, that “self praise is no praise ;” and forcign nations who read our numerous self congratulatory expres« sions on having for onco achieved an unselfish public action, may fecl tomptcd to sny that such a course must bo somo- what an unusual ono with us, since its adoption provokes us to trumpet our own praises to all the four quartors of tho globe, in a stylo that might have desaribed somo horoio and unequal struggle of a whole nation in dofence of hearth and altiax, or of a wonk ally to whom her word was pledged! Perhaps no stronger internal evidence than this outburat of sclf-laud- ation for the performance of an act which if would havo been simply disgraceful not to have dono, could bo found to vemind us that our character as a nation has sunk from what ib was, Thero was a time, not so very long ago, when we,
52 CASIILRL MISGOVLENMENT,
almost singlo-handed, vesisied the oppressor of Iurope, and through tho teriible enmpaign of the Peninsula gave freely the, lives of our best and dearest, that we might at Inst be able to say to Despotism, “ Thus far, and no futher !” There was 9 timo when we, first of nations, led the way to the abolition of slavery, and at a loss and sacrifice which was felt in every house in England, wo cast away the thing which we felt to be an evil and a shame from amongst us.
At that time England was looked np to as the ono power whose public actions were based upon other than selfish considerations; she was honored as the nation who would flinch from no sacrifice and from no danger to fulfil a noble object, or defend a sacred cause; and she was then, undoubt. edly, the fast of nations in the world. Ter voice was first in the councils of Emope; her opinion on all great ques. tions ivas waited for with eagerness, and heard with voverence, What is her position now? Others better qualified than I may answer that question. But whatever bo her position in regard to powor, influence, authority, no one can have the hnrdihéod to assert that she bas any longer the moral power and dignity that were once accorded hey in tlie days when the “moval support” of England was somo. thing more than an empty sound,”
No one can imagine that she retains the character of a generous and high-minded nation, so far as her public con- duct is concerhed.
(Perhaps she doés not caro whether she retains it or not, But the frantic delight into which she seems to have boot shvown by having actually done something which she need rob he ashamed of, would seem to indicate the contrary ; and
CASHMERT MISGOVIRNMONT. 53
inducos me to entertain a faint hope that she still retains a sufficient regard for “pure and holy motives” to induce her to perform that act of justice and mercy which such motives call upon her to undertake in behalf of tho people of Cashmere, whom, in the year 1846, she sold into a alayory but Httle less oppressive and detestable, than thal which she abolished from her domains in the West."
That such is the true light in which the question of interference with the Jamoo Goverument ought to be viewed, it is now my task to shew,
(cashmora was sold to Gulab Singh under the following cireumstances i—
By the conditions made with the Lahore Durbar, after the first Punjab war, a cortain sum of money was demanded by the British Government to defray the expenses of the eam. paign ; but the Durbar being unable to refund tho full amount, it was vosolved to take Cashmero and corlain neighbouring hill states in Neu of the deficiency, and 10 transfor theso to Gulab Singh for an cquivalont sum, which arrangomant presented tho further advantages of reducing the power of tho Sikhs, and of gaining Gulab Singh as our ally.
An Cunningham’s “ Tlistory of the Sikhs,” thoreis tho fol lowing passage :-—As two-thirds of the pecuniary indemnity required from Lahore could not be made good, territory was taken inatend of money, and Cashmore and the hill states, from the
. Beas to the Indus, were ont off from the Punjab and transforred to Gulab Singh, as a soparate sovereign, for a million of pounds sterling, Tha arrangement was a dextorous ono, if xoforonce
54 CASIIMERE MISGOVERNVUENT,
be only had to the poliey of reducing the power of the Sikhs; but the transaction scems scarcely worthy of the British name and greatness, and the ohjections become stronger when itis considered that Gulab Singh had agreed to pay 68 lakhs of rupees as a fine to his paramount before the war broke out, and that the cusiom of the East as well ag West requires the foudatory to aid his lord in foreign war and domestic sivife. Gulab Singh ought thus to have paid the deficient million of money ag a Lahore subject, instead of being put in possession of Lahore provinces as an independent prince.”
Such is the plain historical statement of the outward facts eommected with the sale of Cashmero; bué there are certain othor considerations which give that transaction a pecu- liarly odious aspect, and render it a dark stain upon the history of the British 1ule in India, These are— '
First, that in no portion of the treaty made with Gulab Singh was the slightest provision made for tho just or humane government of the people of Cashmere and others upon whom we forced a government which they detested,
For purposes entirely selfish, wo deliberately sold millions of human beings into the absolute power of one of the mean- est, most avaricious, cruel, and unprincipled of men that ever sal upon a throne,
Second, that after our expulsion from Cabul, and the murder of Shah Soojah, » Government proclamation (@) was issued, that Dost Mohamed’s accession to the throne was sanctioned by thé British Government, “ because principle
(2) Seo Arnold's “Poltey of Lord Dalhousio,”
CASHMERH MISCOVERNMENT, 55
and policy alike forbade that power to force a ruler upon a reluctant people,”
Five years had not passed when, by tho troaty of the 16th March, 1840, we proclaimed the miserable hypoerisy of the statement by which we had vainly sought to hide our weakness when Dost Mohamed regained his rightful kingdoms
It was contrary to our principle to force a ruler upon the wild and turbulent Affehans, to whom any scltled govorn- ment would have been a blessing, and who would not have suffered any ruler to oppress them with impunity, Bul Lord Hardinge and Sir Ilenvy Lawrenco failed 10 porecive that there was aught unjustifiable in forcing upon the weak and unresisting people of Cashmere, not a ruler who, like our Affghan puppet, was of tho samo raco, the samo religion, the same people as those upon whom we sought to impose him, bub one of a creed between which and that of Islam the most doeply-rooled antipathios oxist, rondering any sympathy, or any cordiality, or any sentiment othor than disgust and hatred, ubterly and for over impossible botween the governing and govornod olasses,
Nor was ita ruler only whom wo forced upon “a roluotant people,” but the orowd of rapacious and unprincipled ministers, courtiers, hangers-on of every grado who followed the fortunes of Gulab Sing. These, raised like himself {rom the lowest classes, and invested with the titles of Dihwan, Wuzeer, Téhsildar, &o,, desconded upon Cashmere like a flock of hungry vultures, and swept away tho progpority aud. happiness of ils people ; and their descendants avo worthy of their ancestors, Tho dihwans, tdhsildars, thanedars, &e., who rule Cashmero, avo, as a rule, avaricious, moan, and cruel ;
\ wholly untrustworthy, and powerless apparently to concolve
66 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
of the ideas of imlh aud justice! Tinally, we did not, as in the case of our Affehan interference, foree upon Cashmere avuler who was to govern by out gdvice, and was bound to attend | cow suggestions, but one whom, by the terms of the treaty, we rendered jaresponsible for any outrage or unjustice he or his ministers mighb choose to commit, with vegard to the internal adminishation of the country.
The third consideration which makes the sale of Cashmere yet more iniquitous, is the chaiacter of the man into whose absolute power we sold tho people of that country,
Tn supportof the terms I have previously used in desorib- ing the nature of Gulab Singh, I shall quote the following passage from Mr, TLepel Griffin’s “Panjab Chiefs,” on official work compiled and published by order of the Punjab Government :—~
“ There are perhaps no characters in history more repulsive than Rajahs Gulab Smgh and Dhyan Singh. Their splondid talents, and their undoubted bravery, count as nothing in the presence of their atiocious cruelly, their avarice, their troaghery, and their unscrupulous ambition, :
“The history of the siege of Lahore is too well known to be repeated here. For seven days the garrison held out lnayely against the whole Sikh army, which lost in the asgaull a great number of mon, and it was uot till Rajah Dhyan Singh returned from Jamoo that negotiations were opened, by which Sher Singh ascended the throne and Rani Chand Nour resigned her claim,
Gulab Singh, laughing in his sleovo at tho success of his and his brother’s plans, marched off to Jamoo amidst the
CASUMERE MISGOVERNMENT. 57
curses of the Sikh army, carrying with him a great part of tho treasure, principally jewels, which Maharajah Runjit Singh had sioved in the fort, and which plunder, five years taler, helped to purchase Cashmere 1”
After the investment of Gulab Singh as Maharajah at Amritsir, he sont some rogimonts to take possession of Srinagur, and to take over the fort, &c,, from Sheik Maum-ud-deon, Whother the Sheik had received information from the Lahore Durbar regarding the change of masters which Cashmere had suffered, it is impossible to say; at all ovonts, he refused to admit Gulab Singh’s forces into the city, or to acknowledge their master as having any authority in Cashmere, Upon the refusal of the Dogras to quit the valloy, tho gallant Sheik sallied forth at the hoad of hig troops, ind an engage- ment was fought at the back of the Hurrec-Singh-Bagh, in which the Dogras were complotely routed, and one or tio leaders of note wero killed (a). A layge number of prisonag were taken, to whom, the Cashmeerios say, tha Sheik gave money and clothing to enable them to roach tho Punjab, and that in a fow days’ time thero was nota single Dogra left in the valley (4), Whon nows of thie event roachod Gulab Singh, he applicd to the British Govornmont for assistance, to ennble him to tako possossion of his now king. dom, and an order was sent to the Sheik, requiring him to yield obedience to the new sovereign of Cashmore, or to consider himsolf as an enemy of the British powor,
(2) Ono of theso was tho Wuzsor Sukpuls lie was buricd whore tho fakoor's house alanca, half way down tho long avonuc ; and tho fakeor receives, I boliove, a handsomo allowance Lo say prayors ovor tho grave.
(6) Bxoopt 4 fow who vomainod shut up in the fort, whoro thoy had takon rofuge.
ih
58 CASHMERE MISGOVERNM ONT.
The Sheik wisely chose the former alternative, and Gulab Singh’s troops were permitted to occupy Srinagur in peace,
From that period, as I have shewn in Chaptors I, and Il, the misfortunes and miseries of Cashmere com- menced, The change of coin, the increased taxation, the increased prices, the shutting up of the kotas, the mismanagement and oppression of the Déghshali, the restrictions in the amount of rice purchasenble yearly by each shawl-baf, the consequent diminution ia their number, the consequent oider that no shaw! or sida bat might leave either his employment or the Cashmere valley, and similar orders regaiding the nautoh girls, (Sce p. 108-6),
All thege miserics and atrocitios date from the commence- ment of the iniquitous reign of Gulab Singh |
The Sheik Imaum-ud-deen was a Mussulman, and had heen, T am told, appointed Governor of Cashmere by Shere Singh. Under his rule the countiy was well and justly governed, Tho shawl bafs and other classes wore allowed to purchase ag much rice ag thoy required, nov wore any of the poople hindered from leaving the valley (2), Tom this bonificent Government we took Cashmere, and plunged if into all tho miseries which it hag since sufferred.
The Cashmeeries, in speaking of these things, do hot séem animated with any unjust or undue feeling against the Maharajah himself; and in speaking of the misfortunes of
ee ——————~
(@) Tho Cashmocrics say thas the country was thon so prosporous, that tha people of tho Punjab usod to come up and sottlo in Cashmore, bué now tho Coshmoories are forced to fly to the Punjab.
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT, 5D
their country, the well-informed amongst thom always date their origin fiom the alteration of the old coin by Gulab Singh, (Seo Chapter I.)
The manner in which that was carried out, paved tho way for all the oppression of which I have given anaccount, That, they always, say, was tho beginning of evils. Still less are they inclined to blame the present Maharajah for the evil administration under which they yuller ; nor do I, except as far as the ignorance of a ruler regarding the people under him involves a neglect of sacred duties and responsibilities amount- ing to guilt. The immediate miminalily rtela with the exccutive officers thoughout Cashmere and its dependent states, but, I believe, in a much higher dogree with the minis- tors who are located at Jamoo.
The Ilome Government |
* * * * *
Let us pause hore for a moment to roviow our position, I have, I think, conclusively shown that the ory of opprossion in Cashmere, so fav fiom being nonsensical, as was falsely declared hy the Caloutia Znglishman of 12th February, 1868, hing but too good causo for its efforts to obtain a hoariug,— efforts which would seem 10 have beon hitherto in vain, alike in theiy appeal to tho justice of the British Govornment, and the humanity of the Anglo-Indian public. ;
ae *
T have also shown that wo deliborately forcod upon a more than “reluetant” people, a despotic governmont of the very - worst degoxiption, at whose head was a ruler of a charactor held infamous, even by natives of tho Lagt,
NE
60 CASIIMERE MISGOVERNMENT,
I have therefore, I conceive, shewn that towards the people of Cashmere we have committed a wanton outrage, a gross injustice, and an act of tyrannical oppression, which violates every humane and honorable sentiment, which is opposed to the whole spirit of modern civilization, and is in direct opposition to every tenct of the religion we profess, “y
Tt remains for us to ascertain whether reparation towards those whom we have thus injured be still possible, without the commiting of any fresh piece of injustice,
The following is a copy of the Trenty of March, 1846 :—
“Treaty between the British Government on the one part, and Maharajah Gulab Singh on the other, coneludéd on the paré of the British Government by Frederick Curvia, Fisq., and Brevet Major Henry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under the orders of the Right Honorable Six Henry Tardinge, G.C.B,, one of her Brittanio Majesty's Uonor. able Privy Council, Governor-General, appointed by the Honorable Company to direct and control all their affairs in the East Indies, and by Maharajah Gulab Singh 21 POrBON te
* Annore I,
«Tho British Government transfers and makes over for over, in independent possession, to Maharajah Gulab Singh and the heira male of his body, all the hilly or mountainous country, with its dependencies, situated on the enstward of tho River Indus, and westward of the River Raveo, including Chumba (a), and excluding Lahoul, being part of the territory
(a) This ia probably o mistake, sinco Ohumba is porfootly indopondont of Cashmere, My copy of the trenty is takon from Dr, Inco’s “ Handbook of Cashmore,”
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT. 61
eeded to the British Government by the Tahore State, ac. cording to the provisions of Article IV of the Treaty of Lahore, dated 9th March, 1846.
© Anviots IT,
The eastern boundary of the tract transforved by the fore- going Article to Maharajah Gulab Singh, shall bo Iaid down by Commissioners appointed by the British Government sand Maharajah Gulab Singh, respectively, for that purposo, and shall be dofited in a separate engagement, aftor survey,
Anmonn IIT.
* In consideration of the transfer made to him and his hoiig by the provisions of the foregoing Articles, Maharajah Gulab Singh will pay to the British Government the sum of soventy~ five lakhs of rupees (Nanuk Shahee), to be paid on ratification of this Treaty, on or before the 1st Ooteber of the ourront year, A.D, 1846,
© Anrionn TV,
“Tho limits of the territories of Maharajah Gulab Singh shall not at any time be changed wilhout tho concurronce of the British Government.
Anvone V.
“Maharajah Gulab Singh will vofer to tho arbitration of the British Government any disputes or questions that may arise between himself and the Govornmont of Lahoro, or any other neighbouring state, and will abide by the decision of the British Government.
« Anmomm VI,
“Maharajah Gulab Singh engages for ‘himself and heivs to join with the whole of his military force the British troops
62 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
when employed within the hills, or in the tovritovios - adjoin. ing his possessions.
© Arvroun VIL
“ Mahavajah Gulab Singh engages never to take or retain,
in his service any British subject, or the subject of any Enropean or American state, without the consent of the Buitish Government.
“Antoun VII.
Maharajah Gulab Singh engages to respect, in regard to the territorios transferred to him, the provisions of Articles V, VI, and VII of the separate engagement between the British Go- verumont and the Lahore Durbar, dated 11th March, 1846,
“Avro IX.
«The British Government will give its aid to Maharajah Gulab Singh in protecting his territories from external enemies,
“ Ansiowm X.
Maharajah Gulab Singh acknowledges the suprematy of the British Government, and will, in token of such supremacy, present annually to the British Government ono horse, twelve perfect shawl goats of the approved breed (six male and six female), and three pais of Cashmore shawls,
“This Treaty, consisting of ten Articles, has been thig day settled by Frederick Currie, Hsq., and Brevet Major Ienry Montgomery Lawrence, acting under the orders of the Right Honaable Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General, on the part of the British Government, and by Maharajah Gulab Singh in person, and the said Treaty has beon this day ratified by the seal of the Right Honorable” Sir Henry Hardinge, G.C.B., Governor-General,
CASUNERE MISQOVERNMENT. 03
“Done at Umritsur this 16th day of March, in tho year of our Lord 1846, corresponding with the 17th day of Rub. bee-ool-awul, 1762 Tijvee.”
That Article IV of the above Troaty has been in more than one instance broken by the Jamoo Govornmont, tho following extract from Major Cunningham’s “ Ladak” (¢) will, I con~ ceive, sufficiently prove +~
“Tn the antumn of 1846, duing the rebellion of Sheik Imaum-ud-deen in Cashmere, there was a slight distur bance in Zanskaz, which was promptly repressed by tho Vizier Basti Ram, who is now one of the confidential servants of Maharajah Gulab Singh. Since then the whole country has been quiet, and the passive Tibetans have yiolded to a power which they find it ungafe to resist, ‘Che neighbouring countries of Gilgit and Chilas have been added to the Mahkarajah’s kingdom ; ond tho same prince whoss domi- nions only twenty yonrs ago were limiled to the potty alato of Jamoo, now rules undisputed master of Cashmore and Western Thibet, from the sourcos of tho Shayok ¢o the head of the Gilgit Rivor?
‘These ava instances in which the Jamoo Governmont has violated the tronty of 1846 ; but thore is another of moro rocent ocourrence, and which is not generally known in India, and of which the home authoritios must be in total ignorance,
* In acedrdance with Article II of the Treaty, threo officors Worle appointed by the British Government to aurvoy and
(a) “Indak+ with Noticos of tho surrounding County" By Alosandor Onnningham, Byovet Major, Bongal Nnginoors, London, 1864. Ohaptor XII, pago 356,
64 CASIIMURD MISGOVERNMENT,
determine the “limits of the eastern boundary of thé tract transferred to tho Maharajah.” These were, Major Cunning- ham, Lieutenant Strachey,and Dr, Thompson, The map, there. fore, published by Major Cunningham with his work on Ladak, (to which I have just referred,) may be considered to shew cor- rectly, not only the eastern boundary, but the limits of those other portions of the Maharajah’s dominions which he helped to survey, as they existed at the time such survey was made,
The north-eastern boundary of the Maharajah’s dominions is defined in Major Cunningham’s map to be the water-shed of the Kaia-Korum range. ZEEven without the authority of that map, I am justified in assuming that to have been the north-eastern boundary of the Jamoo territories, both because it ig tHe natural boundary of tho country of Nubra and its northern valley and ravines, and because the Kara-Korum has always been considered asthe farthest limit of the Ladalk district by the Yarkundis, who dwell on the other side. How- ever, in 1865, the Jamoo Government despatched a small body of troops across the Kara-Korum, with orders to ocoupy the country as far as Shah’dula, or Shidula, and to build and garrison a fort there, which was dons,
Sbah’dula is about three days’ journey beyond the Kara- Korum pass. Tho fort was provisioned and occupied by the Jamoo troops during the summers of 1865 and 1866, the force being withdrawn in the winter on account of the severity of the climate, Towards the end of 1866, the newly estab- lished ruler of Yarkund and Kashgar had taken the country of Koten, and had further strengthened himself by the expul- sion or conciliation of those who wore disaffected towatds his Government,
OASIIMERD MISGOVERNMENT. 6s
1t waa therefore probably from prudential motives that the Jamoo troop wero not sent to 1¢-occupy their new fort in the _ Spring of 1867.
Some timo during that year, Yakoob Begi sent a handful of men to Shah’duln, who destroyed the fort aud took the supplios and stores with which it was furnished (¢).
It is true that a Government map has recently: been pub- lished, which shews the boundary line of the Maharajah’s territory in this direction to lie along the Kara Kash River, and which consequently includes Shah’dula within the Jamoo domi~ niong; but this map was not published until the end of 1866, wherens the Maharajah’s foreo went 10 Shah’dula ond orect- ed aud garrisoned the fort in the spring of 1865, or oarlior, The existence of this map, thoroforc, cannot bo plended as having given the Jamoo Government any authority for such extension of tenitory.
The map in question was founded upon a survey mado by Mr, Johnson in tho year 1865, after the ocoupation of Shah’ Qula by the Jamoo garrison ; and tho boundary line theroin laid down is entirely at variance with that shown in tho map which accompanies Major Cunningham’s work on Ladalch, Whith was published by Government authority in 1864, (Soo page 64).
p
FS a a eas i as The latest accounts from Yarknad say thatthe Kooshbegheo has mostly ondotrddl Hitnself to hia aubjools by tho atmot jnatioo of his administration and by abolftion of the alava markot, which was formorly held in tho Yar Bind bazasw, "Me i is said (o bo ongngod in massing his forcon ab Kashgar, his
Siontioy town, alotacht about sovon marches {yom Kokand, which ts ooeupléd by tho Russinne,
66 CASHMERE MIS@OVERNYENT.
The title of the map ig
MAP OF THE PUNJAB, WESTERN WIMALAYA,
* AND ADJOINING PART OF TIBET,
From vecent Surveys, and based upon the Urigonometrical Survey f of India,
Compiled, by order of the Ifonorable Court of Dirovlors of the Bast, India Company,
BY JOIN WALKER, GROGRAPHDR TO THE COMPANY.
The fact then remains that the trenty of March, 1846, hag been in several instances broken by the Jamoo Govornment,and it thergfore follows that the British Government is not bound by that treaty to abstain from that interforonce with the affairs of Cashmere which the miserable condition of the people, tho impediments thrown in the way of tradors, the exclusion of English travellera, &., have now for so long demanded (a),
ney nrnenetennentenep bree etenepeenaiei
(a) Not only avo English tourists, sportsmen, soiontifla mon, &o., oxoluded from tho Mahaiqjah’s dominions during six months of tho yen, but English and Fyonch iradere alao, although nalive twaders fom tho Punjab and clgowhoro pass unquoationed. Of cowan, all tho nativos of tho hill atates, and possibly many of tho Punjab itself, oxplam this extiaordinary fuch by sppoalng tho British Covornmont unable oy afraid to domand from the Onshore Rajah that which common courtesy would seom to yoguivo from him. Ts it vory imptobablo that tho insolonco and outrages of tho fontier tribes havo boon jnorpnsed, or in gome instances caused, by this mistaken oatimate of oux posi- tion with rogard to tha Maharajah of CashmoroP—pn ostimate which the Govornmont of India dous its beat to foster, by not only cxoluding all its soryants from the Jamoo dominions during tho winter, but by limiting the numbors of those who wish to travel there dw ing tho summer,
CASTIMERE MISGOVERNMENT, 67
Té may be pleaded by tho supporters of tho Maharajah that the countries of Gilgit, Chilas, and Astor were annexod by his fathor many years ago, and that no notice haying beon taken at. the time, it would now be an ungracious act on the part of the British Government to make such infringement of the treaty a gvound for interferonce, "With regard to the matter of the Shah’dula fort, it may be urged that so slight an aggression into a barren and desorted region can seareely constitute an infraction of the treaty sufficient, to justify the interference of the British Governmont with tho Makarajah’s internal administration.
To these and similar considerations the following answers appear to be sulficient :—
Hivst.—That the Jamoo Government has shewn itsolf incapable of jus or humane rulo.
Second.—That the Jamoo Government has for many years pursued a system of oppyession and misrule under the protection and countenance of tho British Government;
Third,—That it has consequontly bocomo a stigma and a voproach to the Brilish Government, both among the European and native community of India.
Fourth—That there ave no moans of rendering the administration of the Jamoo Government consonant with that which should distingnish 1 power protected by tho British Government (sée Article IX of tho Trenty), except thoso of active interference.
Fifth.~That the British Governmont committed an act of gross injustice in forcing the rule of Gulab Singh upon a reluctant people,
08 CASUIMERE MISGOVERNMENT.
Sivth—That, therefore, to forego tho power of making reparation to the people we injured, which the infractions of the tréaty give to the British Government, would be an net of injustice and cruelty scarcely inferior to that which we perpetrated when we sold the people of Cashmere into the slavery of Gulab Singh by the iniquitons Treaty of 1846,
In a word, we cannot exercise generosity towards the Jamoo Government without commitiing a fresh injustice towards the people to whom we owe reparation.
With regard to the matter of the Shah’dula fort, it should be remembered that although a slight instance in itsolf, yot little things have sometimes led to great wars ; and that since by Avticle IX. of the Treaty the British Government is bound to protect the Jamoo Government against all oxtornal encmies, itis obvious that such little encroachments as that of Shah’dula might plungo us into « war with all the Mussulman tribes of Central Asin, The Pall Mall Gazette vomarks, without any particular comment :—~" Wo believe that it haa just boon vuled that the Maharajah is at liberty to hold whatever foreign relations he may caro to entortain without reference to us” Evidently, the Palé Mall Gazette must he totally ignorant of the nature of the Treaty of 1846, since a glanaa at Artiole IX will convines any one that if the Maharajah és pormitied to enter into whatever foreign relations he may please to entertain, he may at any time plunge us into a war with Turkistan, or Bokhara, or with Russia horself |
Suppose, for example, that next year the Maharajah were
“to send a few troops to occupy a portion of the country
beyond his Gilgit boundary, and that Russia had , con-
queved Budukshan, and concluded an offensive and defensive t
CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT. 69.
allianes with that country and Bakhara, and that a foree subsidised hy a fow regiments of Cossacks and Kirghings, officored by Russians, was sent to chastise the Jamoo chiel for his temerity by annexing to the Russia-Bokhaxe terrilory say only Gilgit and Astor, and the valloy of the Indus so fav as to include Skardo, we shonld have a pretty libtle mountain campaign cut out for us, with more formidable opponontg than the undisciplined robbers of tho Iazara, who ave now giving us the trouble of heating them, It is possible that, in the event of such a contingoncy, our home authorities would, re-consider their verdict, that the Maha yajah has a“ right to entertain what foreign relations ho pleases,” &e. ; and it may he as well to remomber this, that if tho Shah’dula affair ig not considered of sufficient importance to velense us from whatever engagement of non-interference may be implied in Article T of tho Treaty, we cannot at any future time plead that any similar act of aggression on tho
“part of the Jamoo Government is a violation of tho treaty of
sufficient importance to release us from our ongagomenta contained in Article IX, by which woe avo bound to protect the Mahavajah’s Government agninst a/7 eaternal enemies |
It is to be hoped, however, that our relations with Russia will be thosé of pence, not war; and that wo shall, at no distant period, co-operate with her in aprondiug tho blossings of civilization and settled govornmont among oppressed peoples and savage tribes (2), Should such be our happy destiny, the importance of freo trado and unvestvicled transit. (for Iinglishmen as well as natives) trough Ladak and a Se
(a) Soo M. Vainbarg’s description of alave life and slavo trado in Contral “ Asia, whioh Russia is alrondy, evon amid tho difoultios of hor fest advance among hostile and barbarous nations, trending down boneath hor foot,
70 CASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT,
Cashmere must be ovident enough, On this subject, the following extract from a Russian papor, called tho Golos, of Decomber, 1866, which I have taken from a late number of the Caloutla Review, is interesting and important —
“ An amicable division between Russia and England is quite practicable. What has not been conquered by one power might, without any opposition, he conquered by the other, more especially as the advantages of such acquisitions are contested by many.
“We even do not see any reason for dissatisfaction in the possibility of our Central Asiatic frontier soon forming the boundary of the Anglo-Indian empire, Such a frontior would, at all events, determine the commorcial fields for the disposal of English and Russian productions, and would considerably weaken, if nob altogether remove, all ae gerons sivalry, That the sale under such circumstances of English and Russian productions would rapidly increaso, is evident, Lhe chief obstacles to trade in this region ane the tncessant depredations and rapacious ewactions male by potty Asiatio despots.
“All theso drawbacks must at once disnppear ander English and Russian rule, and then an interchange of com~ modities will freely take place.
* The eapansion of the frontier to a mutual point of contact between English and Russian territory, will not only dooreasa the chances of collision between Russia and England, but also conduce to amity and a feeling of friendship between
ethose countries, seeing more especially that a conflict between them jn such a distant region wauld be disadvantageous to both, and only lead to mutual losses,”
CASLMERE MISGOVERNMEN'S, 7
CONCLUSION.
Ir is impossible to avoid drawing a mental contrnst Yetwoon the careless indifference with which, on the ocension of the sale of Cashmere, all question of moral right was complacently ignored both by the Governmont and the publio, and the virtuous indignation into which it scoms that a large party of the former, and a small proportion of tho latter, are thrown at tho idea of any transgression of legal right with regard to interference in the affairs of Cashmore,
In ‘the former cago, injustice and inhuman disregard for the welfare of our fellow ereatures were sot in the senle against our political interests, and the former kicked the beam, In the present caso, a question of logal right is set against the performance of an act of justicn and reparation to thosa whom we have injured, and ihe vesere of millions of human beings from oppression and misery, against a slight invasion of the political rights of a Government which hing showrilsélf incapable of just or humane rulo,
Is it thon a recognised Government principle that all considerations of morality and religion must givo placa to those of political interests ? It would soom so in tho presout instance. Butif it be so, how infaiuatod seems the opinion of those who think that wo can over porsuade the natives of India to embrace a religion whose outward forms only are adhered {0 and supported, and whose ossoniial and sacred principles are as dust in the balanco against motives of soll. interest and solid advantage,
That our failure in imbuing tho natives of India with any vegard for tho spirit of Christianity has boon almost complete,
72 CASHMERE WiSCOVERNALENT.
the conduct of the wealthy Inndowners of Bengal seems sufliciently to prove. I quote from the Friend of India of the 20th August, 1868 :—
‘No language can be too strong to characterise the solfish- ness and apathy of the zemindars in the inundatcd districts to tho south of Caleutta, and in Midnapore; as on tho occasions of the cyclone of 1864, the Orissa famine of 1866, the Nuddea inundations, and tho cyclone of 1867, the wealthy landholders of Bengal have been found wanting,
Tlow can wo expect them to act otherwise? An Orissa or Jellamoota zemindar might say: “True! I havo not given my money to 1clievo the distress of my tenants, but what is that compared 1o the sale of a wholo people for money ? Ihave not given money to relieve distress which was produced by natura? causes, but your Government is con- tentad to obtain money atthe cost of producing misery by their own act among a happy and contented people I” (@)
In conclusion, I have one earnest word fo say regarding the foregoing pages, and that is to protest against the idle and unmeaning criticism of those who are ignarant of the syb- joot. ‘There i is onlyrone question to bo asked, and answoredl, with roghivd to the work, and that is, Avo the stntemonts heroin contained concorning the Jamoo Government true or,untrne ? ener RA tt rete
(a) In Cashmero osponnlly, ono is not surprised to find that ntlesionary Inbourg are. a completo faliue. I wonder how a missionary oan show his {nce thete Tow oan bo ask a Cashimcoyis to ombrace our religion ?—a rehgion which, toashos xts votaviea that human beings may bo sold like cattle, and thad fo hand ovor # nation into the horrible slavary of ond of tho worst, foot ot pastorn deapotism * for ovar" (sco treaty) is no ornny, but only alae High lo !
CASUMERE MISGOVERNVWLNTE, 73
And there is only ono method by which thal question ean be auswored, namely, by tho course which I haye mysell pursued, of srict and laborious investigation in Cashmem itsolf,
Should that be done, as it is my carnest wish that it may he by a Government Commission, the truth or untruth of the charges 1 have brought against the Jamoo Government will be ascertained.
Of the futility of the Maharajah’s promises, there has been ample proof in the fact that none of those made to Sir Rohor Montgomery in 1864, concertting reduction of duties, &e., were kept, The Maharajah affirmed that he had given ovdors do his officials to carry out the promises, &e., but Dr. Cayloy’s yeport from Ladakh, for the season of 1867, showed that no improvement upon the old system had beon attempted.
w Tho Maharajah is, therefore, unablo to control his officers in Tradath, dud i is hot wnvensonable to suppose that he is Hke- wise unable to control them in Crshmeve! Nay, ib is but just to suppose that the Mahatajeh’s officials in all paris of his dominions act systematically in’ defianco of thoir master’s ordérs and wishes, since the Maharajah is represented Aa boing of a humane and benevolent disposition, and desiroug to pro. mote the well-boing of the subjects for whom ho feels him. self’ responsible (a).
(a) 4 the proclamation of the Mahaayah of Cashmore, which wns prmted in Ug Lahore Chromele of tho 28th December, 1867, in which it ia end that “the good of Ins sutyoots, which avo tho gonil gifts of tho Almighty, ana ther happiness, and the supporting the pontor elnssea, lia on Iile (the Mab njal’ 8) shguldors a8 & luton, '
K
th OASHMERE MISGOVERNMENT,
‘Since, then, tho Maharajah ts manifestly unable to earry out his. benign intentions, how -thankful he will doubtless feel to the British Govornment, should they resolve npon ‘finishing him with the means of protecting his people (for, whose welfare hé iygo Taudably anxious) front the rapacity of ministers and officials who must undoubtedly (if the character. the Maharajah claims’ for himself’ bg true) conduct. every: ‘braneh’ ofthe! administration in a: manner. diametrically: opposed to. the. wishes of HE. the Maharajah of Cashmere ‘aud Jamoo, tr
Calcutta Contydl Prose Compaity, ‘Limited,