370 



INDIA. 



INDIANA. 



prisonment. The Governor of Bengal, Mr. 

 Grant, had, in a journey of 60 miles, met with 

 thousands of the families of the ryots, who im- 

 plored him on their knees to repeal the ordi- 

 nance compelling them to cultivate indigo. 

 He promised to do this, by a public proclama- 

 tion ; but the planters prevailed on the Coun- 

 cil of India, at Calcutta, to nullify this procla- 

 mation. On an appeal to the Great Council 

 of India, at London, however, Gov. Grant was 

 sustained, the ryots relieved, and the planters 

 severely rebuked. 



The finances of India were at the commence- 

 ment of the year in a deplorable state. The 

 debt of India was 80,000,000, and a further 

 sum of 12,000,000 was still to be paid to the 

 old East India Company, and for the liquida- 

 tion of other claims. The deficit for the year 

 1861, was estimated at 6,500,000. Mr. Wil- 

 son, an able financier, sent by the English 

 Government in the spring of 1860, to examine 

 the finances of the country, after careful in- 

 vestigation, proposed a scale of duties and an 

 income tax, which he believed would raise the 

 necessary revenue, in connection with a bank- 

 ing system, more comprehensive than had pre- 

 viously been introduced ; but before his plans 

 could be acted upon, he died from overwork, 

 and his successor, Mr. Laing, adopted a differ- 

 ent policy, retaining the bank, but diminishing 

 the imports, and raising the amount needed by 

 a stamp duty and a capitation tax. 



The scarcity of cotton in 1861, in Great Brit- 

 ain, and the probability of a still greater scar- 

 city in 1862, induced the greatest exertions to 

 increase the crop in India, which, it was evi- 

 dent, must be the principal or at least the 

 largest source of supply. In 1861, it furnished 

 nearly one-third of the whole amount imported, 

 and its capacity for a vastly increased produc- 

 tion was well known, if it could be properly 

 prepared, and brought into market without too 

 great cost. For this purpose efforts have been 

 made, and with considerable success, to open 

 new lines of railway penetrating into the cot- 

 ton districts ; to furnish ample seed of the best 

 quality to the planters and ryots, to relieve the 

 latter from the oppression they have suffered, 

 and thus impart a new stimulus to their indus- 

 try ; to introduce cotton gins- of the best pat- 

 terns, and improved methods of packing, that 

 the cotton might come into market in better 

 condition, and by offering bounties to encourage 

 the culture. For the better attainment of these 

 objects, the Secretary of the Cotton Supply As- 

 sociation went out to India in the spring of 

 1861, and remained till October. For the pur- 

 pose of facilitating the plans of the association, 

 arrangements were made with the Peninsular 

 and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, 

 and with parties in Egypt for shipping from 

 Egypt four tons of cotton seed monthly to In- 

 dia. The Egyptian seed is said to produce on 

 India soil a cotton of larger and stronger fibre 

 than the American, and consequently will yield 

 an article more nearly like the American cotton 



than the Snrat is at present. The result of these 

 efforts will not be fully seen till the amount of 

 cotton received from India in the winter and 

 spring of 1862, is known ; that the production 

 has been greatly increased, is, however, .certain. 



The railway enterprises in India, which, in 

 connection with the common roads being made 

 as feeders for them, must greatly develop the 

 industrial resources of that country, are on a 

 gigantic scale, and are constructed mainly by 

 British capital. On the 31st December, 1860, 

 842 miles were opened for traffic, and 1,353| 

 miles more were contracted to be completed 

 in 1861, and 1,579 more in 1862. The cost 

 of these lines is estimated at 49,000,000, or 

 $245,000,000. Besides these, the French Gov- 

 ernment were constructing a railroad to bring 

 their town of Karikal into connection with 

 the great Southern India line. One of the 

 inclines on the Ghaut Mountains near Bombay, 

 called the "Bhore Ghaut Incline," is 3,662 feet 

 in height, and extends 15 miles, being built up 

 with a solid mass of masonry on an almost in- 

 accessible mountain scarp. Its construction 

 employed over 40,000 laborers for many 

 months. Another marvel of engineering skill 

 on one of these railroads is the Brahminee 

 bridge on the line between Calcutta and Raj- 

 rushal. It consists of nine iron girders of 60 

 feet span, and seven brick arches of thirty 

 feet span each. Its total length from abutment 

 to abutment is 950 feet, and the height of the 

 rail level above the bed of the river is about 

 thirty feet, the foundations being sunk ten feet 

 below the bed of the river. The fuel for burn- 

 ing the brick used had to be brought 70 miles 

 on the native carts. Notwithstanding the nu- 

 merous difficulties incident to a country with- 

 out roads, and without fuel, Messrs. Perry and 

 Powell, the engineers, succeeded in completing 

 this noble bridge in a single season. 

 . In Anam, one of the States of Farther India, 

 France has, during the year, made considerable 

 conquests. The strongly fortified town of Sai- 

 gon, on the coast of Anam, was captured, and 

 the region adjacent, for a considerable distance, 

 ceded to the invaders, who have already com- 

 menced establishing a colony there. 



INDIANA, one of the interior States of the 

 American Union, was admitted in 1816. It is 

 situated between latitude 37 47' and 41 46' 

 north, and longitude 84 49' and 88 2' west 

 from Greenwich. Its extreme length from 

 north to south is 276 miles, its average breadth 

 140 miles, and its area 33,809 square miles, or 

 21,867,641 acres. Its population in 1860 was 

 1,350,479. It is bounded north by the Lake 

 and State of Michigan, east by Ohio, south by 

 Kentucky and the Ohio River, and west by Il- 

 linois. It is divided into 92 counties. The 

 valuation of the real and personal property of 

 its citizens, in 1850, was $202,650,264; in 

 1860, $528,885,371. 



The sessions of the Legislature are biennial, 

 and the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor are 

 elected for four years. 



