(>6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JULV I, 1882. 



Sciences. M. Maumpn6'e announcement is quite clear 

 and distinct, and liis reputation as a philosopher is 

 too hi:;h for liim to imperil it by a piemature or ill- 

 cousidered statement ; we may, therefore, take M. 

 Maumene's word th:it he has succeeded m making 

 artificial quiniue. The next question is that of cost, 

 for we may pay too dearly even for artificial diamonds, 

 as Mr. Haunay has shown. Another case occurs in 

 artificial indigo, the process for niakiug which is so 

 costly as to be industrially useless. Ou the other 

 hand, artificial alizarin, the colouring principle of 

 madder, can be made at a far cli>'aper rate tlian by 

 extracting it from that one useful plant, which is 

 now almost driven from thcm.irket. Quinine, or rather 

 its sulphate — the form in which it is generally ad- 

 ministered — has been rising steadily for the last 15 

 ye.ars the latest Mincing Lane quotation being 10s 

 per ounce, as against 43 9d per ounce in 18()7, and 

 the demand for it is increasing steadily. Its im- 

 portance may be guessed when we remember that 

 without it India and our tropical possessions gener- 

 ally would be little better than European graveyards. 

 If M. Maumeu^ has succeeded in making artificial 

 quinine at a cheaper rate than by extracting it from 

 bark he has hoth fame and fortuue before him ; 

 and the Peruvian bark plantations of South America, 

 India, Ceylon and Java, whether natural or artificial, 

 may be cut down for firewood. If, on the contrary, 

 he can only produce it at a dearer rate, he will 

 have achieved a result that will hand down his 

 name to posterity as the first chemist who succeeded 

 in the artificial formation of a vegetable alkaloid. It 

 may not be out of place to mention that nmuve, the 

 first of the large and brilliant family of coal-tar 

 dyes, was discovered by Mr. Perkin while he was 

 endeavouring to form artificial quinine. 



PLANTERS ON INDIAN OFFICIALDOM. 



[CoMMUNIOATEP.] 



We cannot in regard to the Indian C. S. expect to 

 find, among the rising members of that, envied profes- 

 sion, 80 uiuny of the cliisa that, once almost exclusively 

 filled its ranks, and had, by so doing, become patrician 

 in the days of the Ea-t India Company, when the son 

 followed the fa' her, and had a family name and prestige 

 to uphold. No, here, m in England, the plebeian and 

 the patrician h^ve now to elbow ei>ch otlier in the race ; 

 and as the plebeians of England greatly out-number the 

 patricians, what wonder is there tdat, in these days of 

 cheap (almost free) education, the number of the former 

 in the Civil Service, the army, the D. P. W. and 

 other Government eervioes, should exceed that of the 

 latter ? 



It, is not with the origin but with the conduct of 

 officials that we have now to do : the former consider- 

 ation is only so far mceasary as it lends to throw some 

 light upon the latter. We all know Shakespeare's 

 lament over the tricks of the man clothed in a little 

 brief authority. More sad (<jr more amusing, ac- 

 cording to the temper of the observer) are the airs 

 of our Government servants who find themselves 

 hoisted into positions of wealth, honour, and power, 

 far above the level from which they have emerged. 

 Now, if our otlici;ils choose to tolerate the assumption 

 of almost divine honours by the C. S., and, if there 

 were no other Europeans besides Government servants 

 in the country, no one would have any just cause 

 for complaint. .\s, however, it h;ippens tliat, in many 

 dependencies, remote thongli tliey may be, as for 

 example, the Provinces of Assam, Cacliar and Sylliet, 

 of Mysore, Coorg, and Travancore— some directly un- 

 der our rule, others in the hands of tlieir own native 

 Princes, but under British surveillance — tlie European 

 planting community is a large one, and the amount 



of capital invested in tea, coffee, and ciuchonn, oon- 

 siderible ; these large and important bodies nf men, 

 who are at present powerless owing to their disunion, 

 are liable to, at any time, become powerful and dan- 

 gerous ou account of tlieir strength, should common 

 injustice and official arrogance impel them to unite 

 aud make common cause against their persecutors 

 and insulters. The individuuls coinpo,sing these bodies 

 of men differ as much, intur ,«e, as regards origin as 

 do the individuals composing the ranks of the Civil 

 Service or the army ; some are patrician, others are 

 plebeian — vei'y much so in a few eases. They are 

 at piesent disunited through rivalry in business 

 aud class jealousy. If, however, jealousy is not suffici- 

 ent to kee[) asunder rival aspirants for prizes in the 

 ranks of tlie C S., the aiiny, the I). P. W. and other 

 Government services, when one of their number has 

 been met (it matters not witli wliat justice) with op- 

 position by a phmter, the time may, perhaps, come 

 when the scales of ignorance of their own strength 

 (induced by the malady of personal jealousy) shall 

 drop from the eyes of the phmters and other non- 

 officials, aud they will make common cause against the 

 aggressive insolence of certain Government servants. 

 These are paid (and handsomely paid) for doing Ihew 

 work, just as all other loyal subjects of Her .Majesty, 

 whether European or native, have to do iheir work ; 

 but ofl[icials are not paid to use or abuse tlie olfieial 

 positinn with which Her Majesty's Government has 

 entrusted them, and by so entrusting has honored them, 

 feir the purpose of insulting and obstructing non- 

 official Europeans whenever the opportunity may i 0- 

 cur to them to show their power before their native 

 subordinates. 



Have we not all seen the light in which 

 Colonel Bumblebeaks, the Deputy Commissioner, 

 regards the planter or other outsider whose income 

 is say between E200 and 11500 per mensem, while 

 Colonel B. draws a large salary for — what? Now 

 many a planter is of a family better than that of Col. 

 B., and one ihut at home occupies a higher social 

 position than his ; but here the planter dr ws a small 

 pittance, and Col. B., thinks himself entitled to 

 assume superiority over him because he draws huge 

 pay for doing — what ? He knows, we imagine, though 

 others might find it more difficult to explain. 



Should the planter not care to call upon Col. B., 

 he will find upon any occasion, when business may 

 require his piesence in the Deputy ('ommis-ioner's 

 kachcberi, that the official cannot forgive the slight,; 

 should he call, he will be treated with half-con- 

 temptuous grudging civility, though the almighty man 

 will not scruple, upon occasion, to condescend to 

 sponge upon the planter's resources by requesting the 

 loan of his boat, horse, or elephant. 



We all know Mr. Brown, the greengrocer's son, 

 who is now Assistant Magistrate. What a pet he 

 is among the ladies, and how mammas with marri- 

 ageable daughters vie with one another iu doing 

 him homage ! The result is that Brown, who 

 was not a bad fellow at 20, and with whom we 

 formerly passed some pleasant days, has become 

 au insufferably conceited young puppy, iu place of 

 the quiet (almost timid and retiring) man that ho 

 used to be while yet at his crammer's, now batrays 

 his real origin ; and, under the illusion that all his 

 utterances, of whatever nature, are the acme de la 

 crime of wit, ooiasionally gives vent to veiled vnl- 

 garisms and scaudalous (/ouhle-s cnUndren^ which liia 

 innocent appreciators applaud simply because they do 

 not understand them, t»ut which almost cause his 

 male auditors to blush for their sex. 



The planting community has much reason to com- 

 plain, iu many districts, not only of tlie arrogance 

 and assumption of Indian officials, but also of the in- 

 justice which the latter, through their ignorance o 



