Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877Kennedy, James
History
Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877
Kennedy, James
India -- Description and travel; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Biography; Missionaries; Missions -- India
Many mistakes would be prevented if English people would remember that
we have in India nations differing widely from each other. We have a
striking illustration of this fact in the part of India in which we have
lived. Bengalees abound in the public offices in the North-West
Provinces and in the Punjab. They are deemed sharper in intellect, and
are better educated, than the Hindustanees, and on account of their
superior education they have got situations which would have been filled
by natives of the country, had their educational acquirements been
equal. These Bengalees are not strangers in these Provinces to the same
extent as Englishmen, but they are strangers, and are looked upon as
such by the people. Where they are numerous they keep mainly to
themselves, and however friendly they may be with Hindustanees they are
regarded as belonging to another country. When you meet them you know
them at once by their look, dress, language, and habits. A part of
Benares, called Bengalee Tola--Bengalee district--is inhabited almost
wholly by Bengalees, and when you enter it you feel you have come among
another people, who speak a different language and present a different
appearance. During the Mutiny they were regarded in the North-West with
suspicion, as half-English, and many were happy to seek shelter where we
were able to keep our footing. If the question was put in Hindustan
Proper to any large body of people--Would you have Bengalees or
Englishmen for your magistrates and judges? I think in most places the
well-nigh unanimous response would be, The Englishman.
If my opinion is to rest on my own observation, I would confidently say
that notwithstanding the injustice and unkindness charged against some
English officials, the people generally have profound trust in our
justice--in our _insaf_--and as a rule, except when they think the
native partial to themselves, they prefer to have their cases tried
where an Englishman presides. When on a journey I once came up to two
men engaged in eager talk. I heard them use frequently the words,
_Ungrez_ and _Insaf_--_Englishmen_ and _Justice_--and on stopping I
heard the one telling the other of the bribes taken by native officials
in a case he had, and of the justice done when the Englishman took it
up. He ended with the words, "What a wonderful people for _insaf_ these
English are!" to which remark the other man assented. I thanked them for
their good opinion, and held on my way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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