Part 3 (1/2)

Amidst events of such absorbing interest as are now taking place every day in Europe, India cannot continue long to engage much of your thoughts; for, with the exception of the little outbreak at Mooltan, tranquillity prevails, and is likely to do so for some time.

There has been delay in putting down the Mooltan rebels, but the next mail will, I hope, take home news of the work having been effectually done. This delay seems to have arisen from a notion that troops ought not to be employed in the hot winds and rains; but when occasion requires they can be employed at all times, and the people of India require to be a.s.sured that they can be so. It has not, I think, been found that troops actually employed in the hot winds and rains lose more men than in cantonments, at least native troops.

It was, I think, your Lords.h.i.+p's intention that, in the Lah.o.r.e state, we should guide, direct, and supervise the administration, but not take all the executive upon ourselves, to the exclusion of all the old native aristocracy, as we had done in Afghanistan. This policy has not, I am afraid, been adhered to sufficiently; and we have, probably, less of the sympathy and cordial good-will of the higher and middle cla.s.ses than we should otherwise have had. But I am too far from the scene to be a fair judge in such matters.

The policy of interposing Hindoo native states between us and the beggarly fanatical countries to the north-west no wise man can, I think, doubt; for, however averse our Government may be to encroach and creep on, it would be drawn on by the intermeddling dispositions and vainglory of local authorities; and every step would be ruinous, and lead to another still more ruinous. With the Hindoo princ.i.p.alities on our border we shall do very well, and trust that we shall long be able to maintain them in the state required for their own interests and ours.

I wish England would put forth its energies to raise the colony of New Zealand, the queen of the Pacific Ocean; for the relations between that island and India must some day become very intimate, and the sooner it begins the better. I am very glad to find by the last mail that the French have put their affairs into better hands--those of practical men, instead of visionaries.

Believe me, with great respect, Your Lords.h.i.+p's obedient, humble servant, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To Lieut.-General the Right Hon.

Henry Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B., &c. &c. &c.

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Jhansee, 22nd August 1848.

My Dear Sir Erskine,

I thank you for kindly sending me a copy of your Address to the Native Youth at Bombay and their Parents, and should have done so earlier, but it has been in circulation among many of my friends who feel interested in the subject. Whatever may be thought of the question as to where we should begin, all concur in acknowledging the truth of your conclusions as to the value and use of the knowledge we wish to impart, and in admiring the language and sentiment of your Address.

There are some pa.s.sages of great beauty, which I wish all persons could read and remember; and I do not recollect ever having seen one that has pleased me more, for its truths and elegance, than that beginning, ”But if a manufacturing population.” That which begins with--”The views, young men, as to the true object and ends to be attained,” is no less truthful and excellent.

It is unfortunate that the education which we have to supplant in India is so blended with the religion of the people, as far as Hindoos are concerned, that we cannot make progress without exciting alarm. Had a nation, endowed with all the knowledge we have, come into Europe in the days of Galileo and Copernicus, and attempted to impart it to the ma.s.s of the people, or to the higher cla.s.ses only, the same alarm would have been raised, or nearly the same. We must be content with small, or slow progress; but there are certain branches of knowledge, highly useful to the people, that are finding their way among them from our metropolitan establishments, and working good.

I might better have said, that had we come into Greece when Homer was the Bible of the people, with all our astronomy, chemistry, and physical science generally, and our literature, blended as it is with our religion, we should have found our Greek fellow-subjects as untractable as the Hindoos or Pa.r.s.ees. The fact is, that every Hindoo, educated through our language in our literature and science, must be more or less wretched in domestic life, for he cannot feel or think with his family, or bring them to feel or think with him. The knowledge which he has acquired satisfies him that the faith to which they adhere, and which guides them in all their duties, ceremonies, acts, and habits, is monstrous and absurd; but he can never hope to impart to them this knowledge, or to alienate them from that faith; nor does he himself feel any confidence in any other creed: he feels that he is an isolated being, who can exchange thoughts and feelings unreservedly with no one. I have seen many estimable Hindoos in this state, with minds highly gifted and cultivated, and with abilities for anything. For such men we cannot create communities, nor can they create them for themselves: they can enjoy their books and conversation with men who understand and enjoy them like themselves; but how few are the men of this cla.s.s with whom they can ever hope to a.s.sociate on easy terms! It is not so with Mahommedans. All the literature and science in the world has no more effect on their faith than on ours; and their families apprehend no alienation in any member who may choose to indulge in them; and they indulge in them little, merely because they do not find that they conduce to secure them employment and bread.

I think it would be useful if we could get rid of the terms _education_, _civilization_, &c., and subst.i.tute that of _knowledge_.

It would obviate much controversy, for the greater part of our disputes arise from the vagueness of the terms we use. All would agree that certain branches of knowledge are useful to certain cla.s.ses, and that certain modes are the best for imparting them. The subject is deeply interesting and important; but I must not indulge further.

Believe me, My Dear Sir Erskine, With great respect, Yours very faithfully, (Signed) W. H. SLEEMAN.

To Sir Erskine Perry, Chief Justice, Bombay.

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Jhansee, 24th September, 1848.

My Lord,

I feel grateful for the offer contained in your Lords.h.i.+p's letter of the 16th instant, and no less so for the gracious manner in which it has been conveyed, and beg to say that I shall be glad to avail myself of it, and be prepared to proceed to take charge as soon as I am directed to do so, as I have no arrears in any of my offices to detain me, and can make them over to any one at the shortest notice, with the a.s.surance that he will find nothing in them to perplex or embarra.s.s him.

I shall do my best to carry out your Lords.h.i.+p's views in the new charge; and though I am not so strong as I could wish, I may, with prudence, hope to have health for a few years to sustain me in duties of so much interest.