1011 



BENGAL. 



BENGAL. 



fee* required are increase.! to a degree which compels the majority of 

 parent* to withdraw their children before they attain the age at which 

 they could make most program. The amount of knowledge a 

 comprise* only reading, writing, and the elementary rules of arith- 

 metic. Through an absurdity for which it is difficult to account, the 

 book* generally u>ed ore composed in a language or dialect quite 

 different from that commonly spoken, go that the pupil loarna to 

 repeat a vast number of verses and phrases without knuw -ing what 

 they mean. Praiseworthy attempts hare been made by the East India, 

 Company to remedy this state of things. On this subject Colonel 

 Sykes remarks : " The government educational institutions of India 

 date comparatively from so recent a period that the most ancient 

 among them (with the exception of the Sanscrit college at Benares), 

 the Hindoo college at Calcutta, was only in its 23th year in 1S44 ; and 

 many of them are only of five or six years' standing. A gradual pro- 

 gress however is manifest, both in the number and character of these 

 institutions ; and though the time is far very far distant when they 

 will be commensurate with the wants of the people, yet a perseverance 

 in the benevolent and politic activity which has evidently been 

 strengthening of late years, will ultimately fully realise the objects 

 contemplated a healthy, moral, and intellectual standard in 

 the native mind, and a bond of union between the governors and 

 governed, by sympathies and taste* in common, derived from a com- 

 mon knowledge." 



Previous to the renewal of the company's charter in 1813, the 

 Mohammedan College, or Medrissa, of Calcutta, was the only institu- 

 tion for educating native children under the diz-ect patronage of the 

 government within the province. This college was founded in 1781 

 irren Hastings. At the renewal of the charter in 1813 the 

 company was bound to expend one lac of rupees annually for this 

 object This sum (about 10,0(>0i.) would do but little towards pro- 

 Tiding instruction for the population of the three presidencies, and 

 the company ha* not considered itself to be thus restricted by the 

 terms of the enactment. In April, 1843, a council of education was 

 established in Calcutta by the government for the n leuce of 



colleges and schools. There were at that time six in Calcutta, five in 

 Hoogly, twenty -five in the provinces under Bengal, and fifteen in the 

 rn provinces. Scholarships have since been founded to 

 the number of 203 English and 88 Oriental, as follows : English, 154 

 junior for four year, and 49 senior for six years ; Oriental, 50 junior 

 <r years, and 38 senior for six years. In selecting young men 

 for situations in the government service, preference is given to such 

 as have distinguished themselves as students. At the annual examina- 



f the Hindoo college in 1845, Lord Hurdiuge said that ! 

 the establishment of "a college at Patna since last autumn, arrange- 

 ments have been made for the establishment in Bengal of 100 schools 

 for instruction in the vernacular." These schools were established, 

 but at the date of the last report only 29 of them remained, and 

 these were in a languishing condition. The cause of this failure 

 appears to have been the want of a proper sy.-' , ction of the 



schools. In the North- Western provinces the nature of the tenure 

 under which land is possessed, and the advantage of an official regis- 

 tration of deeds, make it the interest of all parties to acquire some 

 knowledge of reading, writing, arithmetic. an<I mensn 

 circumstance, combined with an efficient management and inspection 

 of the schools, has given a considerable impulse to education among 

 th* natives. The amount expended on public schools throughout 

 the entire presidency in 1851 was 71, 7u"/. ; of which about 14,7SOt 

 WB* derived from fee* paid by the pupils, and from bequest* ; the 

 rat was defrayed by the government Of the native students attend- 

 ! public schools, as compared with the extent of their respective 

 oommunitie*, the larger proportion appoar to be of the Mohammedan 

 aect, the Mohammedan student* being to the Hindoo as one to five: 

 while in the general sum of the population the Mohammedans are to 

 the Hindoo, only a* one to twelve. Many of the schools instituted 

 by the various Missionary Societies included in the subjoined table, 

 are of a superior claas. 



In January, 1852, the statistics of Protestant Churches and Schools 



in both department* of Bengal Presidency were as follow* : 



Lower J-rorin-r., North.Wntcrn 



or Prorinc<, or 



Bengal FnsldtneT. Agra Fnldcnc)r. 



Ntlie CatecbUU 

 Suite Churchr. 

 ,. No. of Members 



ChrUtUn population 

 BojV School*. Vernacular 



i. No. of Boy* 



Boarding SchooU 



i> No. of Bojr* 



XnglUh school. 



No. of Boys 



xkooU. Dtj School. . 

 i No. of GlrU 



i, Boarding Reboot* 



No. of GlrU 

 KnglUh Chapels . 



89 



101 

 130 

 87 



.1,300 



11,77.1 



140 



6,470 



21 



7BO 



11 







14 

 

 ID 

 830 

 11 



19 

 66 

 49 

 11 



878 



2,032 



01 



3,707 



10 



191 



11 



1,754 



10 



241 



10 



i;-. 



14 



Total. 

 lift 

 108 

 17 

 10* 



201 



in,] T; 



82 



44 



7,759 

 14 



911 

 19 



1,003 

 35 



Missionary operations are carried on by the Church Missionary 

 Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the American 

 Missionary Society, and the London, \Venleyan, Baptist, Free < 

 of Scotland, Established Church of Scotland, Basel, American Pres- 

 byterian, General Baptist, and American Baptist Missionary societies. 



Commerce. The external commerce of Bengal is of great magnitude. 

 In the year 1831-2, under the regulated commerce exist- 



ence of the tnuliug privileges of the East India Company, the amount 

 of the imports into Bengal (exclusive of the trade with China) was 

 close upon two millions sterling; of the exports about 3,3-" 

 During the years 1842-43 to 1849-50 the amount of imports and 

 exports, exclusive of the Indian port-to-port trade, was as follow*, 

 namely : 



Imports. Ksporta, 



1842-43 . . . 5,583,897 . . . 7,430,370 



1843-44 . . . 0,226,849 . . . 10,076,904 



1844-45 . . . 7,515,355 . . . 1(1,21- 



1845-46 . . . 6,223,625 . . . 10,102,755 



1846-47 . . . 6,049,671 . . . 9,519,798 



1847-48 . . . 5,418,585 . . . 8,864,918 



1848-49 . . . 5,770,623 . . . 9,819,741 



1840-50 . . . 6,498,035 . . . 10,502,244 



The commerce of India has very greatly expanded during the hut 

 twenty years, in consequence of the removal of several restr 

 and the abolition of certain oppressive duties. Transit or inland 

 duties were abolished in 1836 ; export-duties w< i 

 sugar in 1836, and fn,m cotton in 1847. In 1848 the duties one 

 of British and foreign ships were equalised, and dui 



ruin port to port in India were abolished. Another advantage 

 to the shipping interest is the recognition by law of Asiatic nail' 

 Lascars, being natives of India and under the government of tl 

 India Company, as British seamen. 



One of the most important branches of internal commerce in India 

 is the trade in salt. In 1849-50 the sale of salt amounted toalx 

 and a half millions of maunds, each inauud consisting of 82 Ibs. Of 

 this quantity 624,673 maunds were imported from England; 2,126,848 

 maunds from all countries. The excise duty on salt is li .;. 

 maund, or }rf. per Ib. The East India Company is still tin 

 manufacturer and dealer in salt, but individuals also particij 

 the trade, both by importation and manufacture. The i 

 from salt, derived from government sales, excise mi prl\ 

 ture, and customs duty, amounted during 1849-50 ' The 



amount of the customs duties for the Presidency of Bengal in 1850-51 

 was 1.014.554/. 



A considerable part of the trade between Bengal and China in 

 carried on from Calcutta. The most valuable part of this 1 1 

 regards its amount, ia the shipment of opium. The opium r. 



: 1,695,323?. in the year 1844-45; 2.069.743/. in 1845-46; 

 2,136,880t in 1846-47; 1,210,8091 in 1847-48 ; 1,835,865?. 

 and i!,ti25,747/. in 1840-50. No person in the Bengal 



I to grow the poppy, > xcept on account of the gov< rnment. 

 The other principal articles shipped from Bengal t . gait- 



. eameli.ins, coral, v. oollcn and cotton main: 



Europe, and rice. The r, I urns have been made in silver bullion, 

 as Syeee silver, and in bills of exchange drawn upon tin- 

 it Bengal by the factory at Canton, and given in \-. 

 for t!i investment of tea sent to Europe. The trail 

 and the Kasteni Islands, and the Arabian and Persian gulfs is very 



The trade of Bengal with England comprehends an immense v. 



.U. The principal articles of import are various me 1 

 wine and spirits, beer, woollen and cotton cloths, cotton yarn, glass, 

 and hardware ; in return for which the exports are silk and silk 

 factures, indigo, sugar, saltpetre, and lac-dye. Of these articles i 

 is by far the most important, its value being equal to nu- 

 the total export* to Europe from the province. It is pri 

 tivated in Moorshedabad, Nuddcah, and Jeosore in Bcnjjal, and 'I 

 in Bahar, where there arc altogether from 300 to 400 factories in 

 o|peration. This important bran, li of bag diicfl\ 



since the beginning of tin- present century. (If the total supply of 



it is said that India now pro. luces about five-sixths, 

 cotton exported from Itengal is very small in amount as com 

 with that nont tVoiu the (.tin i ; for the Bengaleoe grou 



little more than they work up themselves. The exports of < 

 from Bengal in 1849-60 wore, to England, 27,306 Ibs. ; to all other 

 1 i ring the same year Madras . wards 



of 13,000,000 Ibs., and Bombay more than 150,000,000 Ibs. of c. 



With the exception of the districts on the eartern frontier, silk is 

 grown in every part of the province of Bengal, and forms a 

 dcrable part of it* exports; nearly the whole quantity of raw silk 

 that is shipped is sent to England, which likewise receives more than 

 half of the silk fabrics exported from the province. The importation 

 of this commodity into England from Bengal i greatly influenced l.y 

 the state of fiscal regulation* in the mother country. Recent legisla- 

 increase the use of East India sugar in England. 



Saltpetre is another article of importance in the external commerce 

 of Bengal. Nearly seven-eighths of the whole quantity shipped from 

 the province come to Great Britain. This branch of trade is valuable, 



