396 



INDIA. 



least for the working of 40,000 more spindles 

 and 1,345 looms. 



The annual report of the East Indian rail- 

 roads, issued by Mr. Julian Danvers, the gov- 

 ernment director, states the length of the 

 railroad network for the year 1874 at 6,250 

 miles. In 1873 the total was 5,872 miles; in 

 1872, 5,111 miles; in 1871, 5,076 miles. It 

 thus appears that the railroad progress of 

 British India is, for evident reasons, slower and 

 less satisfactory than was anticipated a few 

 years ago. When Mr. James Wilson, one of 

 the best financial statesmen that England ever 

 sent to India, laid the foundations in 1859 of 

 a successful railroad policy, the total mileage 

 was but 432 miles. In 1863, under the stimulus 

 of Mr. Wilson's system of government subven- 

 tions, assisted by the cotton-famine, the result of 

 the war in the United States, 2,234 miles were in 

 operation; in 1867, 3,597 miles had been con- 

 structed ; and in 1870, 4,826 miles. The whole 

 network as projected was to be between 7,000 

 and 8,000 miles, and it was expected to be fin- 

 ished in about ten years. From the report of 

 Mr. Danvers it appears that the network is far 

 from being completed after the lapse of fifteen 

 or sixteen years. The total private capital of 

 the railroad system is reported at 95,119,119, 

 and the gross earnings amounted last year to 

 7,762,760, which shows a considerable in- 

 crease of traffic, due in part to the famine in 

 Bengal. The working expenses are reported at 

 3,804,689, and the net earnings at 3,958,071. 

 The electric telegraph connects all the im- 

 portant places in India. The aggregate length 

 of the telegraph-lines was, in March, 1873, 

 15,516 miles; the number of offices, 205. 



The present Viceroy and -Governor-General 

 of India, Lord Thomas George Baring North- 

 brook, assumed his powers in May, 1872. 



The expedition which, at the close of the 

 year 1875, was prepared against the Duffla 

 chiefs, on the northern frontier of Assam, for 

 keeping some Englishmen captives and com- 

 mitting depredations, was not carried out, as 

 the chiefs, in January, 1876, consented to sur- 

 render their captives unconditionally. The 

 survey of their country was continued, and no 

 further opposition to it was expected. The 

 following extract from a letter of an English 

 correspondent with the expedition gives a de- 

 scription of the people and the country : 



A more heterogeneous lot of mortals could not ex- 

 ist ; some are Paens, Dufflas, and some Assamese 

 all wonderful for ugliness, especially the former. 

 They are very free and easy in their manners, and 

 smoke all the time they are giving their information. 

 It is very difficult to keep them from playing a fast 

 and loose game ; and the position of their villages, 

 so close to the hills, may really be pleaded as an ex- 

 cuse for them. They are all right enough while our 

 force is here, but they have a wholesome dread of 

 the retribution their brethren in the hills may wreak 

 on them when the whole business is over and the 

 troops withdrawn. The forest-trees are simply 

 monarchs, the stems rising 120 feet clear in many 

 instances without a branch, and then there is a 

 spread of grand foliage. Then the enormous tree- 

 ferns are studies in themselves in fact, there could 



scarcely be a finer field for a botanist, as far as for- 

 esting goes. 



In February an expedition was sent against 

 the tribes in the Naga Hills, on the northwest- 

 ern frontier of Burmah, who had attacked and 

 killed Lieutenant Holcombe and a number of 

 Sepoys and coolies belonging to Captain Badg- 

 ley's surveying party in that district. At the 

 beginning of April advices from the expedition 

 announced its complete success. Seven villages 

 had been destroyed, and the power of the 

 guilty tribes completely broken. The neigh- 

 boring chiefs had tendered their submission. 

 The heads and rifles of the massacred party 

 had been recovered. The Nagas were found 

 to use firearms freely, but without inflicting 

 any loss on the English. 



A profound sensation throughout India was 

 created by the trial and subsequent deposition 

 of the Guicowar, or native prince, of Baroda,* 

 a tributary state, situated in the province of 

 Guzerat. On the report of a commission ap- 

 pointed in 1873 to ascertain the condition of 

 the Baroda administration, the Guicowar was, 

 in July, 1874, allowed a probationary period 

 of eighteen months for the reform of his ad- 

 ministration. On November 2d the Guicowar 

 wrote to the Viceroy, requesting the removal 

 of Colonel Phayre, who had been British Resi- 

 dent at the Guicowar's court since March, 

 1874. The request for his removal was based 

 on the alleged grounds of his persistently hos- 

 tile action, and the impossibility of carrying 

 out, in communication with him, the reforms 

 required by the British Government. On No- 

 vember 9th Colonel Phayre found reason to 

 believe that an attempt to poison him had 

 been made, and he instituted proceedings 

 which showed that poison had been adminis- 

 tered. About the same time Colonel Phayre 

 was, however, removed, and Sir Lewis Pelly, 

 formerly agent for Rajpootana, "appointed as 

 his successor. Sir Lewis Pelly, on reaching 

 Baroda, at once took up the inquiry regarding 

 the attempt to poison his predecessor. The 

 services of the Bombay Commissioner of Po- 

 lice, Mr. Louter, were secured, and on January 

 13, 1875, the Guicowar, Mulhar Row, was ar- 

 rested for having attempted to poison Colonel 

 Phayre, the British Resident, the Government 

 of India assuming temporary charge of the ad- 

 ministration of Baroda. A commission, or 

 court of inquiry, was appointed, consisting of 

 three British officers, two native chiefs, and a 

 native statesman of high reputation. The 

 Guicowar's advisers secured the services of 

 Sergeant Ballantine for the defense, paying 

 him the enormous sum of ten thousand guineas. 

 The trial lasted from February 23d to March 

 18th. The three European members of the 

 court regarded the Guicowar as guilty, while 

 all the three native members considered the 

 evidence insufficient. The Government ex- 



* The state of Baroda is situated between latitude 21 and 

 23 north and longitude 73 and 74 cast; area, 4,400 square 

 miles ; population, about 850,000. 



