Volume 1

The East-India gazetteer; containing particular descriptions of the empires, kingdoms, principalities, provinces, cities, towns, districts, fortresses, harbours, rivers, lakes, &c. of Hindostan, and the adjacent countries, India beyond the Ganges, and the eastern archipelago; together with sketches of the manners, customs, institutions, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, revenues, population, castes, religion, history, &c. of their various inhabitants / By Walter Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Walter, M.R.A.S.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The East-India gazetteer; containing particular descriptions of the empires, kingdoms, principalities, provinces, cities, towns, districts, fortresses, harbours, rivers, lakes, &c. of Hindostan, and the adjacent countries, India beyond the Ganges, and the eastern archipelago; together with sketches of the manners, customs, institutions, agriculture, commerce, manufactures, revenues, population, castes, religion, history, &c. of their various inhabitants / By Walter Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    with doubtful policy, promulgated against the hoarding of grain, or dealing in it clandestinely'; and as a measure of necessity, 60,000 maunds were stored for the subsistence of the array. For these exertions the na¬ tives were principally indebted to Mr. Becher, of the civil service, who yet on his return to England found him¬ self traduced as the author of the famine, and the purchase of a stock of rice for the army may have assisted to suggest the notion of a monopoly. In the northern districts of Bengal the famine raged so early as Novem¬ ber 1769, and before the end of April had spread universal desolation. Rice rose gradually to four, and at length ten times its usual cost, and even at these prices was to a vast multitude unattainable. Thousands crawled forth to the fields, and endeavoured, by knawing the bark and chewing the bitter and astringent leaves of trees, to prolong their miserable existence. In the country the highways and fields were strewed with the dying and the dead; in towns the streets and passages were choked up with them. Vast numbers flocked to Moorshedabad, the capital, and sup¬ plies for that quarter were eagerly sought. Subscriptions were liberally made, and the Company, the Nabob, the ministers, and European and na¬ tive individuals, largely contributed to the feeding of the poor. In Moor¬ shedabad alone 7,000 were daily fed for several months, and the same practice was adopted in other places; but the good effect of these charitable endeavours was scarcely perceptible amidst the general mortality. In and around the capital, it became necessary to keep a set of persons constantly occupied in removing the dead, who were placed on rafts by hundreds and floated down the river. At length, the persons employed in this sad vocation fell victims to the noxious eflduvia, and for a time, dogs, vultures, and jackals were the only scavengers. The air became offen¬ sive, and resounded with the frantic cries of all ages and sexes in the agonies , of death. In many places entire families, in others whole vil¬ lages, became extinct; forbidden and abhorrent food was resorted to ; the child fed on its dead parent, and the mother on her child. A gloomy calm at length succeeded, and it was found that death had ended the miseries of so great a proportion of the cultiva¬ tors, that when the new crop reached maturity, in many parts no proprietor remained to claim it. The number cut off during this period of horror has been variously estimated, but probably exceeded three millions; and although the desolation was of such uncontrollable magnitude as to be evidently beyond the power of man either to prevent or inflict, yet in England it was ascribed to the very persons who endeavoured to alleviate its ravages, and even to others who were not in the country when it com¬ menced. Nor did the total impos¬ sibility of establishing a monopoly of grain, prevent a general belief in the western world, that the inhuman ex¬ pedient had been resorted to by the servants of the East-India Company. The calumny originated in the French settlement of Chandernagore, and from thence was transmitted to Paris, London, and Europe generally, where it has been registered as truth in the page of history, has been made the subject of religious lamentatio.i, has been immortalized in verse, and, such is the power of perverse credulity, is still considered as an indelible stain on the British character; yet is wholly a phantom, and never had the slightest foundation in fact. In 1772 Mr. Hastings was ap¬ pointed governor, and , next year, by the interference of the British legis¬ lature, a new constitution was given to Bengal, and a majority of the members that were to administer it sent from England, the others being selected from the existing council. About the same period, 1772, Eng¬ lish supervisors were sent into the districts to superintend the collection of the revenue, by which measure the British government stood forward as dewan, an office hitherto executed by native functionaries, residing at