it is the custom of the country, which the
planter did not invent, and to which he
unwillingly yields. The system is common all
over India, where you can scarcely get a native
to make even a pair of boots without giving him
an advance. It is one which the government
themselves are compelled to adopt in the opium
and salt manufactures—both of which are
monopolies in India—though it must be said that
the system in the case of the government does
not lead to such disastrous results, as they take
care to reserve to themselves the remedy which
they deny to the indigo planters, and to enforce
the fulfilment of their contracts by summary
process. Moreover, the planters' advances,
sometimes reinforced by additional loans, are made
without any interest whatever, and however
large the arrears may accrue, a case has never
been known in which the planter has sued the
ryot for their recovery. Yet these arrears
extend over years of time and hundreds of
rupees, which are so much money sunk as
effectually as if cast into the Bay of Bengal.
The native zemindars and usurers, on the other
hand, when they make loans and advances, sell
up the poor man without mercy; his bullocks,
and his extremely little all, are ruthlessly seized
and disposed of, and he is fortunate if he finds
himself able to "take up his bed and walk" to
some more promising district—that light but
necessary article of furniture being most
frequently sent the way of the rest of his chattels,
if he happen to have any others.

As for his being compelled to cultivate an
unprofitable crop, the assertion is disproved by
incontrovertible facts. One would fancy, if
one accepted all the nonsense put forth upon
the subject, that the ryot was obliged to starve
by growing indigo, while he would have an
ample fortune at his command by simply growing
rice. But it happens that the land best
adapted to indigo is least adapted to rice. More
than one-half of the indigo crop in Lower
Bengal is sown upon new alluvial-formed lands, or
churs, on the banks of large rivers or the beds
of old rivers, which are unfit for rice or any
other crop. Moreover, indigo is a fertilising
and not an exhausting crop. The rich strong
black loam, in fact, is the best land for rice,
and nine-tenths of this is bheel land, which
is land on which indigo is never sown. The
planter aims at having a proportion of
different descriptions of soil, so that under any
varieties of weather he may have the chance of
a good crop on the average. The only land
upon which indigo and rice will grow in
common is high land, and it is notorious that what
they call the aous rice, which is grown upon
this, is a failure. Indigo is doubtless a
precarious crop, but so are all crops in a tropical
country subject to inundations, and none more
so than rice. Taking every circumstance into
consideration, it has been shown that the same
piece of land would produce either aous rice
at a profit of sixpence, or indigo at a profit
of two shillings. The ammon, or better kind of
rice, is more remunerative, but that is grown
only where indigo is of no use. Nevertheless,
it is declared that indigo, compared with rice,
is a losing speculation to the ryot.

The above facts—which are only a few out
of the many which might be cited on the same
side—may give some idea of the encouragement
afforded to independent enterprise in India
when the independent enterpriser happens to
incur the displeasure of the government, or
even of the magistrate of the district in which
he lives. And, looking at the treatment of
indigo and its English planters, it is not
wonderful that Lancashire should have some
fears for the fate of cotton, and be
indisposed to embark its capital upon the
venture. It is but justice to the government,
both in India and at home, to notice that
some of the evils complained of are in a fair
way of being remedied. The odious Mofussil
courts, for instance, are to be replaced by Small
Cause courts, presided over by barristers, who,
whatever their failings, will be free from
corruption, and will administer an intelligible law.
There is to be an arrangement for the cheap
and ready registration of indigo contracts. The
Sudder, or high native court of appeal, is to be
merged into the Supreme Court, and competent
and independent judges will have jurisdiction in
the provinces. The civil service will no longer
be a close service, but will be open, under
certain restrictions, to any qualified persons who
may be found best fitted for particular posts.
Non-official Europeans, as well as natives, are
to be admitted into the legislative council, and
their advice, instead of being received on
sufferance from the outside, will be forced upon
the attention of the government.

These and other reforms are in progress, and
although far from perfect, they will effect a
great deal of good. Still, much remains to be
done before the settler in India can have
confidence in the country, and before he can be
made to feel that his property and privileges are
safe. Wherever the settlers and the natives are
left to themselves they get on very well
together, and the prosperity of the district is a
proof of the mutual benefit that they receive.
During the mutiny and the rebellion no indigo-
planter was interfered with, except when he
was found in arms assisting the government;
and in several cases, as is well known, these
gentlemen held their districts successfully after
the authorities had fled. In the position of
honorary magistrates several of them
subsequently did good service, until deprived of
those positions through official jealousy. It is
only when the government interposes between
the settler and the native that mischief arises,
as in the affair of the indigo-planters which we
have noticed.

What the settler requires is the privilege to
purchase waste lands in fee simple; to have the
same right of enforcement of contracts that the
government take to themselves to enforce their
own; to be encouraged by the government to
stay in the country, instead of being thwarted at
every turn; to be protected from corrupt native