igio] British Rule in India. 83 



BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. 

 By J. Patterson, M.A. (Cantab.). 

 Late Imperial Meteorologist to the Government of India. 



{Read 12th November, 1910.) 



When your secretary asked me to give a lecture on India it occurred 

 to me that I could not do better than give you an account of some of the 

 things that the British Government are attempting to do for India, 

 because you hear very much about discontent in that country and very 

 often a strong criticism of the Government, so much so that you may at 

 times think that it would have been better for India had Britain never 

 conquered the country. I wish to correct that impression from my own 

 personal experience after a residence of seven years. 



Greece and Rome, Egypt and Palestine, Assyria and Babylon — 

 countries which have long since ceased to play a part in the drama of 

 humanity — are the subjects of text-books in our schools and universi- 

 ties, while India which is a modern reflex of the ancient world and has 

 become part and parcel of the British Empire is to this day practically 

 unknown to most of us. It seems to me therefore that before dealing 

 with my subject proper it would be well to give a brief synopsis 

 of Indian History before the British appeared on the scene, so that you 

 may better appreciate the difificulties and the task that Britain assumed 

 when she was compelled by force of circumstances to take up the reins 

 of Government. 



India has been governed by three dynasties, Hindu, Mohammedan 

 and British. As you know the earliest histories of Greece and Rome are 

 contained in great epic poems in which it is difficult to separate truth 

 from fiction and myth, so in India, the earliest history is contained in 

 the great Hindu epic poems, called the Vedas, which are the basis of 

 their religion and philosophy. From these poems we learn that India 

 was originally inhabited by an aboriginal race and that in the migration 

 of the Indo-European peoples which inhabited the Central Asia plateau, 

 one branch of them extended down through the mountain passes into 

 India and drove the aborigines into the mountains and jungles, just as 

 our forefathers drove back the Indians in their day. The invaders 

 overran the whole country and their descendants are now known as 



