Sketches of social life in IndiaBuckland, C. T. (Charles Thomas)
History
Sketches of social life in India
Buckland, C. T. (Charles Thomas)
British -- India -- Social life and customs; India -- Social life and customs
it could not do him any harm. He was evidently an irascible, overbearing
man, but Cicero particularly desires it to be understood that his hands
were pure, and that he took no bribes. Admitting this to be so, he seems
to have stood very much in the position which the Indian civilian
sometimes fills. He too is often suspected of being irascible and
overbearing, and is, fortunately, not often accused of any want of
honesty or high principle.
With regard to the people of Asia Minor, Cicero writes that the province
is composed first of that kind of allies who, of all the human race, are
the most humanised, and in the next place, of those Roman citizens who
are, either farmers of the public revenue or have become rich by trade.
Yet, he observes, “even among these men serious disputes exist, many
injustices are committed, and great contentions are the consequence.”
Here, then, we have a sort of parallel with the people of India. The
natives themselves are proud of a civilisation which dates back to a
period long anterior to our own. There are English merchants and
planters and jute manufacturers settled in India, some of whom become
rich, and are also, unhappily, not free from disputes between themselves
and with the natives.
Cicero warns his brother to be careful that the inhabitants are not
alarmed at his journeys, that they are not frightened by his approach;
that there should be the utmost rejoicing, both public and private,
wherever he goes; that every town should seem to receive him as its
guardian, not as its tyrant. Do not these remarks call to mind the
progress of great Indian officials with their large camps and retainers
innumerable, who are only too apt to prey upon the people of the country
through which they pass, unless the most vigilant supervision is
maintained? Even the smallest civilian who goes out into camp in his
district will find that unless he himself sees that everything is paid
for, his servants and followers will endeavour to live at free quarters
in the name of their master.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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