528 



INDIA, BRITISH. 



converted into ornaments in due course. The 

 Banks of France and England felt the drain, 

 and the rates of discount and exchange took 

 sudden leaps. In India, husiness during the 

 whole of December was virtually suspended 

 for want of a currency, several speculators 

 failed, new joint-stock companies were forced 

 to postpone their calls, and the best document 

 bills were unsaleable, for want of silver and 

 not of credit, at 2s. 3d. per rupee. The circu- 

 lation of the paper currency, which had been 

 obstructed beyond Allahabad by Sir 0. Wood's 

 unwillingness to use the State Banks as an 

 agency, was only 5,160,000 at the close of 

 November, and some two and a half millions 

 of the four allowed to be invested were so em- 

 ployed. 



With regard to the semi-independent princes, 

 Lord Elgin persevered in the policy which Lord 

 Dalhousie began and Lord Canning continued, 

 to consolidate with due legality the relations of 

 the feudatory chiefs to England, so as to form 

 a loyal Indian aristocracy The Maharajah of 

 Mysore was however informed that England 

 would never consent to waive her treaty rights, 

 and forget her duty to the people by subjecting 

 them to the misrule of his priests and parasites, 

 and the administration of that territory was 

 made uniform with the rest of India. 



Early in the year Col. Haughton, as special 

 commissioner, succeeded in putting down the 

 revolt which had disturbed the villages of 

 the Cossya hills on the Assam frontier. The 

 district was made over to the new constabu- 

 lary, a grant was given to the Welsh Mission 

 there to educate the savages, a little progress 

 was made with roads, and Major Agnew suc- 

 ceeded in ascending the Berhampooter to Sud- 

 dya, in a small steamer. But otherwise, Assam 

 continued to be neglected, being administered 

 by young military officers, utterly insufficient 

 in number for its vast extent and growing re- 

 sources. The Government of India sent the 

 Hon. Ashley Eden with a large party of native 

 soldiers, a photographer and surveyor, on a 

 political mission to Boohtan, the people of 

 which had made raids into JSritish territory 

 with impunity since the days of Warren Hast- 

 ings. 



On the Northwest frontier an outburst of 

 Hindostanee fanatics and fugitive rebel se- 

 poys, such as England had punished in 1858, 

 and overlooked in 1862, forced Lord Elgin to 

 action. Before leaving Simla, on his Himalay- 

 an tour, he gave orders to Sir N. Chamberlain 

 to march, with a native force only, into the 

 Eusufzaie country, some fifty miles northeast 

 of Peshawur, and chastise the Judoon and Oth- 

 manzuio tribes that had given protection to the 

 fanatics, who were to be annihilated or driven 

 farther into the hills. But, unfortunately, 

 General Chamberlain could not at once mus- 

 ter a sufficient number of native soldiers, the 

 commander-in-chief s desire to make a grand 

 campaign with Europeans causing serious de- 

 lay ; the political information, in the absence 



of Major James, Commissioner of Peshawur, 

 was incorrect, and when, finally, a large force 

 of Europeans and natives advanced up the Um- 

 beyla defile, nine miles long, they found the 

 whole of the Boneir branch of the Eusufzaies 

 prepared to resist an invasion of their territory. 

 From 8th October till 15th December the Eng- 

 lish force was kept, amid great hardships, at 

 the crest of this defile, and the loss of the Eng- 

 lish in officers and men was heavy. But large 

 reinforcements were sent up, and Major James 

 arrived in time to take political charge. The 

 severe defeats they had met with, combined 

 with Major James's tactics, induced the Bonei- 

 rees to surrender, in spite of the opposition of 

 their Swat brethren, and they even sent a con- 

 tingent of two thousand men which helped to 

 burn down the Hindostaneo stronghold of 

 Mulka, after which the English force retired. 

 With special reference to the difficulties on the 

 frontier, Sir John Lawrence was despatched 

 from England in hot haste as viceroy. 



The financial condition of the Government 

 was improved through judicious management, 

 and the revenue exceeds the annual expendi- 

 ture. In 1862-'3 the surplus amounted to 

 1,280,596, and for the year 1863-'4 it is esti- 

 mated at 480,775, although a considerable re- 

 duction of taxes has taken place. This sur- 

 plus of income is due to the imposition of new 

 taxes. The exports of merchandise during the 

 last twenty years exhibit a rapidly increasing 

 ratio, as follows : 1841-'2, 13,885,218; 1851-'2, 

 19,879,254; 1861-'2, 34,894,767. 



Within the last twenty-five years several ar- 

 ticles of great commercial value have been 

 added to the exports from India, of which the 

 principal are oil seeds, jute, wool, cofiee and 

 tea. The value of these articles exported in 

 1862 was as follows: oil seeds, 1,197; jute, 

 537,610; wool, 400,342 ; coffee, 462,380; 

 tea, 192,242. The most remarkable, as it 

 promises to be the most valuable, of all the 

 new articles of export from India, is tea. 

 In 1834 it was definitely ascertained by a Gov- 

 ernment commission that the tea plant was in- 

 digenous in Upper Assam, and plants, seeds, 

 and skilled cultivators and manufacturers were 

 obtained from China, to promote the cultiva- 

 tion of this important herb. The Government 

 entered with energy and enthusiasm into the 

 enterprise, and established tea gardens and 

 manufactories, which, after a while, were turn- 

 ed over to a joint stock tea company, called the 

 Assam Tea Company, on very liberal terms. 

 The affairs of the company were mismanaged, 

 however, and its capital of 200,000 sunk ; but 

 in 1852, a dividend of 2 V per cent, was realized, 

 and from that date its prosperity was establish- 

 ed, and last year the dividend paid was 12 

 per cent. 



The final success of this company encourag- 

 ed capitalists to embark in the tea grow- 

 ing business, and there are now in Assam 

 160 plantations, estimated to yield, in 1862, 

 1,788,787 Ibs. of tea. In the adjacent province 



