﻿205 



HINDUSTAN. 



HISPANIOLA, 



208 



commercial adventurea of the Company were small, but a profit of from 

 100 to 200 per cent, was realised upon the capital employed, and iu 

 1609 the charter of the Company was renewed for an indefinite 

 period, subject to dissolution on the part of the government, upon 

 giving three years notice to that effect. The first factory of the 

 Company was at Bantam, in Java, established in 1602. In 1611 the 

 Company obtained permission from the Mogul to establish factories 

 at Surat, Abmedabad, Cambaya, and Goga. In 1639 permission was 

 obtained to erect a fortress at Ma'lras, in 1652 the first footing -was 

 obtained in Bengal, and in 16C8 the Island of Bombay was cefied to 

 the Company by Charles II., into whose hands it had come as part 

 of his marriage-portion with the Princess Catharine of Portugal. 



The functions of government were first exercised by the Company 

 in 1624, when authority was given to it by the king to punish its 

 servants abroad either by civil or by mrxrtial law, and this authority 

 extended even to the power of taking life. The capital of the 

 Company was successively augmented, till in 1794 it amounted to 

 6,000,000t By an Act, 6 Anne, c. 17, the Company received the 

 exclusive privilege, as regarded English subjects, of trading to all 

 places east of the Cape of Good Hope, as far as the Straits of 

 Magalhaens ; and this privilege was confirmed by successive acts of 

 Parliament till 1814, when the Company's charter was renewed for 

 20 years. Retaining only its monopoly in the importation of tea into 

 this country, the Company resigned its exclusive privilege of trading 

 to the East Indies, and allowed the unrestricted intercourse of British 

 merchants with the whole of ite Indian possessions. Under these 

 circumstances the Company found it impossible to enter into cotn- 

 petition with private traders, whose business was conducted with 

 greater vigilance and economy than was possible on the part of a 

 great company ; its exports of merchandise to India fell off during 

 the 10 years from 600,000<. in 1814-15 to 275,000«. in 1823-24, and to 

 ISfiOOL in the following year, after which all such exportation of 

 merchandise to India on the part of the Company may be said to 

 have ceased. The shipments to China were still continued, and large 

 quantities of stores were also sent to India for the supply of the 

 army and other public establishments. 



The impossibility of the Company's entering into competition with 

 private merchants had a powerful influence with Parliament when it 

 was called upon to legislate upon the affairs of India, and in the 

 charter of 1833 not only was tiie monopoly of the China trade and 

 tea-trade abolished, but the Company was restricted from carrying 

 on any commercial operations whatever upon its own account, and 

 was confined entirely to the territorial and political management of 

 the vast empire which it has brought beneath it-t sway. 



The succession of wars, conquests, and treaties by which the 

 territorial poesessioas and political power of the East India Company 

 have been acquired, are matters of history. It may suffice to state, 

 that in addition to the Non-Regulation Provinces attached to the 

 presidency of Bombay, the Eastern Straits Settlements, as they are 

 called, were also placed under the control of that government, namely, 

 Penang, Province Wellesley, Singajwre, and Malacca; but, by an 

 order of the Court of Directors, Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, 

 and Malacca, from Sept. 1st, 1851, were formed into a separate 

 government, independent of Bombay. 



The charter of 1833 (3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 85) expired in April, 

 1854, and by the terms of the Act 16 and 17 Vict, cap 95, some 

 alterations were made in the constitution of the Board of Directors, 

 and its relation to the general government of the empire, by which the 

 afiairs of the East India Company are brought more directly under 

 the control of the Government and of the British Parliament. 



The home government of the East India Company consists of the 

 Court of Proprietors, the Court of Directors, and the Board of 

 Control. The Court of Proprietors eloct out of the general body of 

 proprietors twelve members of the Board of Directors (six others 

 being appointed by the crown), declare the amount of dividend, and 

 make bye-laws. The Board of Directors appoint the governor-general 

 of India and the governors of each pretidency ; but as these appoint- 

 ments are all subject to the approval of the crown, they may be said 

 to rest virtually with the government. The directors have the uncon- 

 trolled power of recalling any of these governors; and in 1844 they 

 exercised this power by recalling Lord Ellenborough, the govemor- 

 eenOBL All subordinate appointments are made by the directors, 

 out, as a matter of courtesy, a certain portion of this patronage is 

 placed at the disposal of the President of the Board of Control. The 

 Board of Control was established in August, 1784, by the act of 

 Parliament known as Mr. Pitt's India Bill This board has the general 

 superintendence of the territorial and political concerns of the Com- 

 pany, and the president has been correctly described as " a secretary 

 of state for the affairs of India, governing by means of the Court of 

 Directors as its instmment in all matters of a political nature." 



The army of the British government in India, including her Majesty's 

 troops and the Company's European and native -troops of all arms, 

 consists of 289,529 men, namely : — Queen's troops, Europeans, 29,480; 

 Company's troops, Europeans, 10,928; natives, 240,121. The con- 

 tingent troops of the native states commanded by British officers, and 

 nvnilnble under treaties to the British government, amount to about 

 8i,0l)'i i;,. ;i. 



The t<.>tal net revenues of India, fur the year ending April 30tb, 1 853, 



are estimated by Sir C. Wood, President of the Board of Control, at 

 26,915,43U. ; the total charges for the same year at 26,275,966^. The 

 total amount of the public debts, bearing interest, April 30th, 1852, was 

 48,014,244?., on which the annual amount of interest was 2,279,53U. 



Languages and Religion. — The languages spoken in India may be 

 ilivided into two great classes, the one consisting of those languages 

 which are derived from the Sanscrit, and which are spoken iu the 

 northern and central provinces — these include the Hindee, Bengalee, 

 Punjabee, Mahratta, Guzerattee, Cutchee, Boondela, Brig Bliakhur, 

 Ooriya, and Asamese : the other comprising those languages which are 

 not so closely dependent upon the Sanscrit, and which are spoken in 

 the southern parts of the peninsula — these are the Teloogoo, Tamul, 

 Canarese, Malayala, and Cingalese. The common language of Moham- 

 medans throughout India is Oordoo or Hindostanee. This is a compound 

 of Hindee, the primitive language of the Hindoos, with Arabic and 

 Persian, the languages spoken by their Mohammedan conquerors. The 

 Legislative Acts of the Governor-General in Council are translated 

 for the benefit of the community into Persian, Bengalee, and Oordoo or 

 Hindostanee. The Hindoos from the earliest times have been divided 

 into four castes, or races — the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and 

 Sudras. The Brahmans occupy the first rank in Hindoo society, and 

 their proper duties are to teach the Vedas or snored books, to perform 

 sacrifices to the gods, and to meditate upon divine and holy objects. 

 The Kshatriya, or military class, is said by the Brahmans to be extinct, 

 but the Rajpoots claim to belong to this clas.s. The Vaisyas are agri- 

 culturists, herdsmen, and hunters. The Sudras are the handicraftsmen 

 and artisans, and form the lowest and most degraded class of Hindoo 

 society. The sects into which the Hindoos are divided at the present 

 day are numerous ; but they are all of modem origin, aud most of them 

 differ very much from the ancient religion of the people of Hindustan. 



£ducation and Chriilianily. — The amount laid out by government 

 for the purposes of education is above 100,000?. a year. Some particu- 

 lars under this head will be found in the article Bengal. 



In 1852 there were in India 128 clergymenof the Church of England, 

 including three bishops ; there were also 6 army chaplains, who were 

 clergymen of the Church of Scotland ; and in Januai-y 1853, there 

 were, as far as could be ascertained, 42 Roman Catholic priests offici- 

 ating throughout ludia. There are 12 Missionary Societies at present 

 carrying on operations in India : their names, given according to the 

 order in which their operations were commenced in India, are as 

 follows : — Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1727 ; the Bap- 

 tist Missionary Society, 1793; London Missionary Society, 1805; 

 American Boar<l of Commissioners, 1812; Wesleyan Missionary So- 

 ciety, 1814 ; Church Missionary Society, 1815 ; General Baptist 

 Mission, 1822 ; Free Church of Scotland, 1830 ; Established Church 

 of Scotland, 1830 ; Basel Missionary Society, 1830 ; American Presby- 

 terian Mission, 1834 ; American Baptist Mi3sion,'1840. According to 

 a statement laid before a Committee of the House of Commons in 

 July 1853, it appears that the state of the Protestant Missions in 

 India presents the following figures : — The number of stations is 258 ; 

 of preachers 983, of whom 383 are missionaries, and 600 are native 

 catechists : there are 250 native churches, with 15,129 members, and 

 a native Christian population of 94,145; the number of vernacular 

 schools is 1120, attended by 38,102 boys ; of English schools for boys 

 there are 92, with 13,189 scholars; of boarding-schools 86, with 2167 

 boys ; of day schools for girls 262, with 8772 scholars ; and boarding- 

 schools for girls 97, with 2576 boarders. The number of English 

 chapels in connexion with the Missions was 62. 



HINGHAM. INOBFOLK.] 



HINOJOSA. [Cordova.] 



HINTON WALDRIDGE. [Berkshihe.] 



HINZOUAN. [Anzuan.] 



HIORRING. [Aalboro.] 



HIPPO. [Bona.] 



HIPPOLITE-DU-NORT, ST. [Gard,] 



HISPALIS. [Sevilla.] 



HISPANIA. [Spain.] 



HISPANIO'LA, HISPANO'LA, ESPANO'LA (that is. Little 

 Spain), known also under the names of SAN DOMINGO and HAITI, 

 is one of the Great Antilles or larger islands of the West Indies. It 

 extends from the Mona Passage, which separates it from Puerto Rico, 

 to the Windward Passage, which lies between it and Jamaica and 

 Cuba, between 68° 30' and 74° 30' W. long., 17° 40' and 20° N. lat. 

 Its length is about 360 miles. Its area is about 29,500 square miles, 

 or nearly the extent of Ireland ; and four times as large as Jamaica. 

 The population is said to be about 940,000, of whom 490,000 are 

 blacks, 420,000 mulattoes or Creoles, and 28,000 whites. The island 

 is now divided between two states ; the western portion forming the 

 empire of Haiti, the eastern the republic of San Domingo. 



Hispaniola was discovered by Columbus in his first voyage (January 

 1493), at which time it received this name. The Spaniards formed 

 settlements first at Isabella and then at San Domingo. For nearly 

 half a century these settlements received much attention, and rose to 

 great prosperity, until different parts of the American continent were 

 discovered and conquered. From that time Hispaniola was neglected, 

 and as the natives had been nearly extlrjiated, the island soon became 

 depopulatetl, and the northern and western districts were nearly a 

 desert. The buccaneers now settled on the island of Tortuga, opposite 



