1904-5.] THE CAUSES OF FAMINES IN INDIA. 229 
Now nearly all these industries are broken down, and the millions of people 
who used to be engaged in carrying them on, are scattered, impoverished 
and driven back on the land, to divide the already too scanty income of 
the ryot. More and more India has been forced to become a mere producer 
of raw material for British manufacturers, while her own native manufac- 
tures have been crushed out. Let me give the testimony of an English 
historian on the subject. In Mill and Wilson’s ‘‘ History of British India,’’* 
we read: ‘‘In the early days of the East India Company’s rule, fabrics 
produced by Indian weavers supplied the markets of Europe; and men 
now living can remember when every village in the weaving districts had 
its looms and millions of Indian weavers were supported by that profitable 
industry. How this industry was gradually strangled and destroyed, 
first by protective duties imposed on Indian goods in England, and then 
by unequal competition. . . . forms one of the saddest chapters in 
the history of British India.’’ India was a great manufactory of both 
cotton and silk goods, which were shipped to all civilized lands. ‘‘These 
goods,” continues the historian, ‘‘were sold at a profit in British markets 
at a price from fifty to sixty per cent. lower than those fabricated in 
England.’’ So they must be destroyed. The British mills of Paisley 
and Manchester ‘“‘were created by the sacrifice of Indian manufactures. 
Had India been independent, she would have retaliated; would have 
imposed preventive duties upon British goods, and would thus have 
preserved her own productive industry from annihilation. This act of 
self-defence was not permitted her: ‘‘she was at the mercy of the stranger.” 
Such is the tragic story of the destruction of India’s manufactures, told 
by one of England’s most careful historians. India was not permitted 
to protect herself: “‘She was at the mercy of the stranger.” 
Defenders of the policy pursued in India inform us that if old indus- 
tries have declined or been broken down, the British have introduced new 
industries. In a measure this is true. The British have given India 
railways, jute-mills, coal mines, tea plantations, and many things else. 
These are important, but they would be more important if they were 
in the right hands. The trouble is, for the most part they do not belong 
to the people of India. Nearly all belong to the British; their profits 
go to the British; they are a part of the wide-spread exploitation of the land 
by means of which nearly all the more important sources of wealth are 
gathered into the hands of the ruling race. 
* Vol. VII., p. 385, London, 1858. 
