“We are satisfied that most of the native states can challenge comparison with British India so far as the material condition of their subjects goes. The subjects of the former, especially the agricultural classes, are happier and more well to do than their brethren of the British provinces. But the ideal Government is not one which is satisfied merely by providing its subjects with the means of meeting the requirements of their physical wants… We hear nothing of the endeavours made in the other equally necessary matter of promoting the moral and political education of the people”.
JANUARY 19, 1888
Moral and political progress in native states
THE TELEGRAPH OF HYDERABAD SAYS THAT THE PRIME MINISTER of His Highness the Nizam is about to exercise his “prerogative” of deportation with regard to certain servants of the State. These servants are said to have carried certain complaints directly to the Resident in violation of the prescribed procedure, which insists on all communications to the Resident going through the Prime Minister. The offenders appear, from the statement of our contemporary to be, some of them, natives of Hyderabad and others Europeans. We are not aware of the circumstances that make this offence so heinous as to deserve the extreme punishment of deportation. But we should take liberty to observe that the tendency of despotic Governments is to indulge in their “prerogative” rather frequently and also with respect to comparatively light offences. While firmness and presence of mind are very valuable instruments of successful administration in a state containing an unruly and intriguing aristocracy like Hyderabad the Ministers of the State responsible for the well-being and progress of the people should exercise tolerance and leniency and should not visit all hostile criticisms of Government with severe punishments. With the exception of Mysore, where the genius of the late Mr. Rangacharlu, sowed the first seeds of political knowledge by inviting leading merchants and ryots to an annual discussion of State affairs and also by introducing some measure of local self-government, we see no native State in all India making the least progress in the direction of inducing the people to take part in the management of public business. We expected a good deal from the present Maharajah of Travancore whose enlightenment and culture have been a subject of praise and hope throughout India. But far from progressing, Travancore has gone on, since the accession of the present ruler, in a retrogressive direction and at present presents the sorrowful spectacle of a learned ruler countenancing a regime of intolerance, espionage and persecution, which has made the deceased Maharajah the idol of the people. It is to be hoped that the little capacity for liberal and progressive Government which the present Maharajah of that so-called model State, has shown himself to possess, will not be the sample of that of other educated young princes such as those of Hyderabad, Baroda, Bhownuggar and Cooch Behar. We are satisfied that most of the native States can challenge comparison with British India so far as the material condition of their subjects goes. The subjects of the former, especially the agricultural classes, are happier and more well-to-do than their brethren of the British Provinces. But, as we have often remarked in these columns the ideal Government is not one which is satisfied by merely providing its subjects with the means of meeting the requirements of their physical wants. The ambition of most of the native princes does not soar higher than the institution of what is said to be a liberal public works policy. The construction of railways, parks, palaces and other public works, which may be more magnificent than really useful, undertaken with much cost and labour, is regarded to constitute the very acme of good Government; and to complete the self-sufficiency of the ruler pursuing such a crude policy, he is regarded to constitute the very acme of good Government, and to complete the self-sufficiency of the ruler pursuing such a crude policy, he is patted and flattered by the Residency officials and the Government of India manifests its approbation by conferring on him some high honorary titles. We do not in the least deprecate the policy of investing State funds in public works, if it be founded on a true appreciation of the wants of the people and of the financial condition of the State. Such an investment is a much wiser course than that of investing them in Government securities as some native States have done. But we do deprecate a policy of bombast and vanity, of doing things not so much from sympathy with the people as from a desire to secure the good opinion of English officers and of the Anglo-Indian press. Now, a native prince like Maharajah Holkar, one of the worst of his royal contemporaries, who will not part willingly with a pie from his treasury for any good object of government, readily comes forward to spend thousands in ceremonies, fetes and in general pageantry. Such a blind courting of the good opinion of influential and distinguished Englishmen is an indication of .a most demoralising principle of administration, especially when it is contrasted with the utter absence of solicitude for the moral and political advance of the people. We have read a good deal about the endeavours made in the native States to ameliorate the material condition of the people. All honour to the rulers that thus fulfil the first of their duties towards the numerous fellow-beings of theirs that Providence has placed under their care, and all honour to their English and native advisers who instil and encourage such worthy ideas in their minds. But beyond this, we hear nothing of the endeavours made in the other equally necessary matter of promoting the moral and political education of the people. Within the past fortnight some events of local importance have taken place in Baroda and Bhownuggar – perhaps two of the most forward native States. The rulers of both these Provinces are young and educated and are generally spoken of highly. But the tendency of their administrations does not contain indications of the course to which we complain that native princes and native ministers are so generally apathetic. The Maharajah of Baroda assured “General Watson, Ladies and Gentlemen” that he could and would improve the condition of his capital and that they might look forward to the time when the drainage of Baroda would be satisfactory, when its markets and main streets would be broad and pleasant, when its public buildings would be spacious, when the approaches to it from the surrounding country would be numerous and easy;” and General Watson, as in duty bound, congratulated His Highness in the name of the British Government “who spends so much on works of public utility, and who can feel no greater pleasure than to find rulers of native States following their example in the same direction”. A correspondent that writes for the Times of India an account of recent festivities at Bhownuggar bears testimony to “the heartfelt loyalty, and the sincere affection with which the unsophisticated (mark the word – Editor) subjects of a native ruler look up to him as their veritable mabap, literally mother and father” and says that His Highness seems to be determined to use his surplus revenues in “acts of charity and benevolence”. All this is good, which we regard as the sign of a new spirit coming over the administration of native States. But what we regret is the apparent indifference to an essential element of social well-being, the moral elevation of the people. The great progress that has been going on in British territories for the past twenty years has evidently had little effect on the neighbouring areas subject to native administration. Yet it cannot be said that upon these latter English education has not trespassed. In Travancore and Cochin for instance there have been first rate Colleges and schools doing good work for several years, and Christian missionaries’ have settled in larger numbers than in other parts of the country, yet the people remained “unsophisticated”; not regarding indeed the Maharajah as their mabap – literally their father and mother – but working out their monotonous life in perpetual dread of the Sirkar. We hope that a change for the better will soon set in, and as communications are opened more largely with the British Provinces and as English education makes more progress, the subjects of native States will imbibe the spirit of advancement and reform that at present animates the minds of their fellow-subjects of the British Government and that has brought them to the threshold of an era so full of promise in the near future. Much depends upon the Ministers, who when they happen to be men of education and capacity, naturally exercise much influence over the titled rulers. It will be unworthy of their education, and infraction of the duty they owe to their fellow-countrymen, if they yield to the temptations of despotic power and to the intrigues of court, and neglect the moral education of the people whose ignorance and servitude as well as the abject poverty must be a source of humiliation to them. Political Residents should not be actuated by an unbecoming jealousy against the diffusion of public spirit and political knowledge among the subjects of the native States, but, on the other hand, should encourage to the utmost of their power and opportunities every attempt made in the direction in a manner worthy of the sons of England – the motherland of political liberty.
Reference:
The First 100
A Selection of Editorials, 1878-1978, THE HINDU, VOLUME I