Darkest India Part 15

The Country Colony, with its Industrial Villages, Suburban Farms, and Waste Settlements, will involve a still heavier outlay of capital. There is every reason to believe that we may look for an ample return. Indeed the financial prospects of this branch of the scheme are more hopeful than these of the City Colony. But to commence on a large scale will involve no doubt a proportionate expenditure. We may hope indeed that Government, Native States and private landowners will generously a.s.sist us to overcome these difficulties by grants of land, and advances of money and other concessions. Still we must antic.i.p.ate that a considerable portion of the financial burden and responsibility in commencing such an enterprise must of necessity fall upon us.

The Over-Sea Colony may for the present be postponed, and hence we have not now to consider what would be the probable expenses. But omitting this, and having regard only to the City and Country Colonies, I believe that to make a commencement on a fairly extensive scale we shall require a sum of one lakh of rupees. We do not pretend that with this sum at our command we can do more than make a beginning. It would be idle to suppose that the miseries of twenty-five millions of people could be annihilated at a stroke for such a sum.

We do believe however that by sinking such a sum we should be able to manufacture a road over which a continuous and increasing ma.s.s of the Submerged would be able to liberate themselves from their present miserable surroundings and rise to a position of comparative comfort.

We are confident moreover that the profits, or shall we call them the tolls paid by those who pa.s.sed over this highway, would enable us speedily to construct a second, which would be broader and better than the first. The first two would multiply themselves to four, the four to eight, the eight to sixteen, till the number and breadth of these social highways would be such as to place deliverance within easy reach of all who desired it.

The sum we ask for is less than a t.i.the of what has been so speedily raised in England for the rescue of a far smaller number of the submerged. And yet there may be those who will think that we are asking for too much. But when I see far larger sums expended on the erection, or support of a single Hospital, or Dharamsala, and when I remember that Indian philanthropy has covered the country with such, I am tempted to exclaim "What is this among so many?"

Surely it would be a libel upon Indian philanthropy and generosity to ask for less, in launching a scheme, which has received the hearty support of mult.i.tudes of persons so well able to form a judgment as to its feasibility and soundness, and this too after having been submitted to the most searching criticisms that human ingenuity could suggest! At any rate this we can promise, that whatever may be given will be laid out carefully to the best possible advantage. A special annual balance sheet will show how the money entrusted to our care has been expended, and if the success of the work be not sufficient to justify its existence, it will always be easy for the public to withhold those supplies on which we must continue to depend for the prosecution of our enterprise.

Looking at the future however in the light of the past history of the Salvation Army, both in India, and especially in those other parts of the world, where its organization has had more time to develop and fewer obstacles to contend with, we are confident that the results will be such as to repay a hundred fold every effort made and every rupee laid out in promoting the welfare of India. And even supposing that comparative failure should result, we should have the satisfaction of knowing that

"'Tis better to have tried and failed, Than never to have tried at all!"

The anathemas of posterity will alight upon the heads, not of those who have made a brave effort to better the evils that surround them, but of those who by their supineness helped to ensure such failure, or by their active opposition paralysed the efforts and discouraged the hearts of those who, but for them, might either have wholely succeeded in accomplishing what all admit to be so desirable, or might at least have been far nearer reaching their goal than was possible owing to the dog-in-the-manger obstructions of those who had neither the heart to help, nor the brains to devise, nor the courage to execute, what others might have dared and done!

CHAPTER XXI.

A PRACTICAL CONCLUSION.

In proposing at once to deal with the problem of lifting out of the jaws of starvation India's poorest and darkest however impossible it may look to some, we have the immense advantage and encouragement which arises from the fact that General Booth's scheme (which I have followed as closely as the widely differing conditions of Indian society would admit) has already received the all but universal approval of the best and ablest in Europe from the Queen downwards. It has in fact so commended itself to the general public that men of all shades of religious belief, men of no belief at all, men of every political party, and from every rank of society have not only heartily approved but contributed already 100,000 for the carrying out of the project.

Moreover, some of its most important details have already had applied to them both in England and Australia the valuable test of experience.

There is one question which may start up in the mind of the reader and that is, granted that the scheme is sure to prove successful in England, is it not still probable that, owing to the complex arrangements of caste and religion in India any such scheme would meet with failure. To this I answer in the first place, that all will be helped, irrespective of their creed, and any change of opinions on their part will be purely voluntary, since no compulsion, beyond that of love and moral suasion, is intended to be used. Moreover, drowning men are not too particular as to the means available for their rescue. They would rather be dragged out of the water by the hair of their heads than left to drown, or would rather be lifted out feet foremost than left to be devoured by alligators. If it be true that starving men are driven by hunger to commit theft solely that they may be sent to jail where at least they will get food and be saved for a time from the hunger-wolf, how can we doubt but that thousands will hail with gladness a deliverance which is not only a deliverance from want and starvation, but the opening out of a brighter path for their whole future.

The blessed example set by hundreds of men and women in our ranks who have given up friends, parents, home, prospects and everything they possess to walk barefooted beneath India's burning sun in order to seek the weal of its people cannot fail I believe to stir up the rich and well-to-do, nay _all_ but those too poor to help,--to make some sacrifice to heal the unutterable woes, and to sweeten the hard and bitter lot of those who, often through no fault of their own, have fallen in the battle of life, and who have been all but crushed and cursed out of existence by misfortunes which are to some extent at least within our power to remedy.

True lovers of India (and nothing is more encouraging than the splendid manner in which the intelligence of this country is arousing itself to thoughtful active effort for the weal of the nation, putting aside all differences of race and religion, that it may unite to seek the common good,) true lovers of India, we say, will never allow differences in race and religion to hinder them in a question affecting the well-being of some 26,000,000 of people who are already a drag and a hindrance to the rising prosperity of the nation, and who are sure if neglected to become a danger. No one asks about the religion of Stanley. His heroic march through the terrible forest, his rescue of Emin Pasha, his successful achievement of that which to most men would have been impossible, have made him to be admired and praised in every land.

Here we are proposing to rescue, not one Pasha and a handful of his followers, but almost as many people as the entire population of Great Britain. We stand at the edge of this forest. We know something of it before we enter. We are not dismayed. We only ask you to meet the cost of the expedition. Great armies of beggars and workless, and drunkards and opium-eaters and harlots and criminals are going to be dragged out of these mora.s.ses, to bless the land which gave them birth with the wealth of their labor and to build new Indian Empires across the sea.

A bold and daring expedition has been planned into this dark social forest, with its dismal swamps, its pestilential vapours, its seemingly endless night, to rescue and bring to the light of hope, to green industrial pastures and healthy heavenly breezes, its imprisoned victims. May we not then, since men can be found to do and dare in such a G.o.dlike enterprise, confidently claim the enthusiastic interest and the practical help of all good men, no matter when or how they worship the great Eternal Father of the human race!

If any one should object that is an impossible enterprise, we answer, who can tell? Why indeed impossible, seeing that millions of acres wait to be tilled and to yield their treasures to the unfed mouths of workless labourers? Why impossible, since hundreds of thousands are saying, it is not charity, we crave, but the privilege to work and earn our bread? Why impossible, when willing hearts and hands are ready to spring forward and at any cost dive into this dark forest and bring the hungry mouths into the fostering care of the fruitful earth? Why impossible, when a ma.s.s of unproductive wealth waits to serve some useful purpose and bless its holder, bringing back to him a hundred per cent, if he will but lend it to his G.o.d by giving it to the poor?

We have portrayed with studied moderation the dark regions of woe. We have laid before you with careful explicitness the scheme or remedy. We have endeavoured to antic.i.p.ate and answer all objections. And now it is for you to make this great enterprise possible by uniting to subscribe the sum we ask for, as necessary to float the scheme.

We have built our deliverance ship in the dockyard of loving design, we have wrought her plates, riveted her bolts, fixed her masts, put in her boilers and engines, fitted her and supplied her with gear. It is your privilege to launch her--to draw the silver bolt and permit her to leave the stocks and glide down into the dark deep sea of misery and land on heavenly sh.o.r.es the drowning submerged millions.

We believe that your response will be worthy of you. Coming generations will thank you, and the blessings of them that were ready to perish will rest upon you, and the G.o.d of the fatherless and the widow will remember you for good.

APPENDIX.

_The Poor Whites and Eurasians._

It will doubtless be noticed that I have excluded the consideration of this question from the foregoing pages. This has been decided on, though with considerable hesitation, for the following reasons:--

1. Numerically they are much fewer than the submerged India of which we have been speaking.

2. Influential charitable agencies already exist, whose special duty it is to care for them; any effort on our part to apply General Booth's scheme to them would probably be regarded by those societies as a work of supererogation, and would be likely to be received by them with a considerable measure of opposition.

3. The circ.u.mstances and surroundings of the European and Eurasian community are so different that the scheme will require considerable readaptation. Indeed the subject will need a pamphlet to itself, and I have found it impossible to work it harmoniously into the present scheme.

4. I am convinced moreover that this is a _subsidiary_ question, and that our main efforts _must_ be directed towards reaching and uplifting the purely Indian submerged.

5. Should however the question be pressed upon us hereafter, we shall be quite prepared to take it up and deal with it systematically and radically on the lines laid down by General Booth. I have studied with considerable care and interest the writings of the late Mr. White on this important matter, and believe that if the necessary funds were forthcoming, it would be comparatively easy for us to adapt the Darkest England Scheme to the necessities of this important cla.s.s.

PUBLIC OPINION ON GENERAL BOOTH'S SOCIAL SCHEME.

_Her Majesty the Queen-Empress cordially sympathises._

Her Majesty says "The Queen cannot of course express any opinion on the details of the scheme, but understanding that your object is to alleviate misery and suffering, her Majesty cordially wishes you success in the undertaking you have originated."

_His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales,_

Writes to express his hearty interest in the scheme and is seen earnestly studying the book and making notes upon it.

_The Empress Frederick reads the book with interest._

THE EMPRESS FREDERICK'S PALACE, BERLIN,

_November_ 1, 1890.

Count Seckendorff begs leave to acknowledge by command of her Majesty the Empress Frederick the receipt of General Booth's book in "Darkest England and the way out." Count Seckendorff is commanded to say that her Majesty will read the book with special interest.

_The Earl of Aberdeen expresses his sympathy._

In common with thousands of others I have been studying your "plan of campaign." Last night I saw Mr. Bancroft's letter. I think he has performed a public service in coming forward in this spirited manner at the present time. Those who have been in any way a.s.sociated with past or existing efforts on behalf of the cla.s.ses which you aim at reaching should reasonably be amongst the first to welcome a scheme so practical, so comprehensive, and so carefully devised as that which you have placed before the country. I shall be happy to become one of the hundred contributors who according to Mr. Bancroft's proposal shall each be responsible for 1,000 on the condition specified. With the offer of sympathy, and the a.s.surance of hearty good wishes,

I remain, yours very faithfully,

ABERDEEN.