CHAPTER XXXIII.
It was the same with liquor. For years I never saw a drunken man in the district. There were no spirits made, none to be obtained and none used. It is contrary to the religion of the better classes of Hindus to have anything to do with liquor in any manner, and the Muhamedan religion prohibits its use entirely. The people were in blissful ignorance of the use and effects of liquor. Along came the abkari agent of the Revenue Department of Government who saw a great field for his operations and he at once arranged for the erection of four distilleries. Natives in the Government service, both Hindu and Muhamedan were placed in charge. At first the distilleries were idle, but by sending out agents to offer big prices for sugar cane refuse, the natives were induced to bring the stuff for sale. Then the liquor was not used and the same methods were employed as for the introduction of opium. Places were licensed and liquor at first given away for the encouragement of trade and the benefit of the Government revenue. The result was that in a few years there were drunkards, and the nights were made hideous by their revelry. Idleness, poverty and crime increased. Broils destroyed the good order of the communities. The Muhamedan officer in charge told me that every year there was a large increase in the amount of spirits produced and the annual reports of Government were exultant over the increased revenue from this department. One of the members of the Board of Revenue, an Englishman, in one of his tours of examination boasted of the increasing success of the liquor traffic among the natives and the consequent advantage to Government. A man might as well boast of his seduction of innocence, of his robbery of widows or of defrauding the simple-minded. But what of the officers of Government, intelligent men, calling themselves Christians, representing a civilized Christian people, deliberately planning a scheme with the all-powerful, despotic, brute force of Government to debauch and degrade the ignorant, simple-minded people of India? The devil himself, if there be one, as theChristians devoutly believe, must have made hell ring with laughter when he saw what these Christian officers of a Christian nation were doing to help him damn the world.
It may be asked why did the people submit to such tyranny and raise opium? Only an innocent, unacquainted with the power and methods of the Indian Government would ask such a question.
What else could these helpless people do but to go when seized by the policemen of the opium agent, and to take the contracts forced upon them? The Collector of the District was snubbed by the agent for his interference and when he referred the matter to the Government of the Province, he was told in polite, but very emphatic terms, that he was not to meddle with things outside his own department. As this is a true story I could name the place, the year, and give the names of all the officers concerned, but as such methods of raising revenue were no secret, why be personal? A European, writing of the Eskimos, says: “Our civilization, our missions and our commercial products have reduced its material condition, its morality and its social order to a state of such melancholy decline that the whole race seems doomed to destruction.” Would not this be applicable to India, especially as regards the introduction of European vices?
Why did the natives continue to cultivate opium after the Government pressure had been removed? Because there was a little ready money in it. They are so desperately impoverished that the offer of money is a temptation not to be resisted. Nothing is so attractive to a native as an advance of money, peshgi. He will often make a ruinous bargain or take a losing contract if he can get a prepayment, trusting to fate to help him out in the end. Though heathen, they are not more able to resist temptation, when money is in question, than their Christian fellow men. I learned when in England that the business of a publican was considered degrading and disgraceful, yet there were many church members, both Catholic and Protestant, engaged in it.
Such is the power and worship of wealth that even Her Majesty, the Queen, and her eminent advisers make peersof brewers and distillers, and it is not wholly a concealed secret that some prominent ecclesiastics hold shares in breweries and distilleries. If such things occur in the civilized Christian light of England, is it to be wondered at, that the wretched natives of India are tempted by money?
I frequently took pleasure in tantalizing the natives connected with the distilleries for having to do with a business contrary to their religion and customs. They replied that it was utterly hateful to them in every way, but as servants of Government they had to obey orders or lose their situations, and this would be poverty and starvation to them and their families. A Tahsildar was in charge of one of the distilleries. I said to him, “You are a strict Mussalman, you say your daily prayers, you rigidly fast during all the Ramazan, and yet you superintend the manufacture of spirits forbidden by your Koran.” He replied, “I have been in the Government service over thirty years, and have to obey its orders. Should I refuse, I would receive my dismissal and this would greatly reduce my pension on which I retire soon. I am helpless in the matter and compelled to have charge of a business, of which I am ashamed and more than that, every day when I go to the distillery I am afraid that the curse of the Prophet may come upon me for doing what is contrary to my religion.”
If the natives of India were asked about the liquor and opium business, nine-tenths of them, heathen as they are, would say “abolish it at once.” Why then is it continued? For the sake of the revenue. Were there no gain from it, the Government would not tolerate it for a day. The most detestable feature of the whole matter is the philanthropic, for-the-glory-of-God air, that the Government supporters assume, when they try to uphold this crime against a conquered and helpless, ignorant people. One can have some respect for an outspoken, frank man, though he be wicked, but I have yet to learn that a truckling hypocrite has ever been regarded with anything but contempt. If the Government of India would frankly say that it didn’t care a blanked ha’penny about the morals, happiness or eternal welfare of the people of India or China, but what it wanted was revenue from opium and spirits, it would betelling the truth and one might respect its frankness, though detesting its principles. When it claims that it is cultivating opium and fostering the liquor traffic out of pure philanthropy, it is presuming too much on the capacity of human credulity. The statement that if India does not raise opium, China will do it for herself, or that India should supply the pure drug, otherwise the Chinese would get it badly adulterated, is simply twaddle of the thinnest kind, such as any villain might use as an excuse for his wrong-doing and none but a knave or an idiot would accept.
Being such as I am, I have great sympathy for these poor, oppressed people. I have seen the constantly increasing degradation of India, through opium and liquor. Year by year it is becoming worse and worse through the fostering help of this so-called Christian Government. Years ago, one might travel through the length and breadth of the country, and not see a man drunk with opium or liquor, now he can see and hear them everywhere, and the end is not yet. The seed has been sown, and the harvests are coming.
Every native, and all Europeans, who are not in the service, and have not their own selfish interests at stake, will lay the blame where it properly belongs, on the Government. All the blessings that England has conferred upon India, will never outweigh this curse of drunkenness, directly caused by Government authority.
As I had an experience in regard to the cultivation of opium, so I had to thwart a plan for the introduction of liquor. Anyone could see, at a glance, that these villagers of mine were prosperous, and had money to spend; so the greedy eyes of the agents of the Abkari Department did not overlook them. One of these men, in one of the villages, by his oily tongue, and the offer of a big rent, had nearly obtained the lease of a house, for the sale of liquor and opium. This was at once reported to me, and I was soon upon the ground. The opportunity afforded me a chance for a temperance lecture. The people were all collected one evening under the big tree in front of the school-house. I explained to them that their ancestors had neverused opium or liquor; that their religion was opposed to the use of these things; that it would be a violation of their caste and custom, to degrade them all, and make them mlecchas or outcasts; that the use of them would be a waste of money. I portrayed all this with explanations, and begged of them that they would not degrade themselves, and destroy the good name they had got among the surrounding people. I wanted to touch their pride, as well as to encourage their feeling of moral responsibility. I saw that I had gained my point, and might have rested, but I reminded them of what I had done for their improvement and happiness, and as they well knew that I had never done anything to their hurt, they should trust me still, but if they should allow the sale or use of these injurious things, contrary to my wishes, I would have less interest in helping them in the future. Instead of this method, I might have given an order, forbidding the sale, and it would have been obeyed, but it was not my way of treating these people. I wanted them to take the responsibility, and to make them feel they had done the work, not I, by an order.
After the assembly broke up, the man who had lost his chance of getting a big rent for his house, stopped to ask some questions. “If the use of opium and liquor were so bad, why did the Sircar, who was the mabap to all the people, urge and compel them to raise opium, build distilleries and license places for the sale of sharab? Was the Sircar so bad as to be willing to injure the people? He had heard in the bazar of the station, that all the sahibs drank liquor, and that the khitmutgar of one of the Collectors had said that his sahib would often be drunk after dinner. All the sahib log were Esai log, Jesus people. If the Christian religion was the true one, then how could these Christians make opium and liquor for sale, and use them if it was wrong to do so?” A great question, as difficult to answer, as it is to excuse Jesus for making wine; and make an apology for Paul, recommending Timothy to take wine for his stomach’s sake. It is an unpleasant task to have to apologize for the wrong-doing of Christians. I explained that the sahibs were only men, andmany of them often did wrong, which was no excuse for others. If other people should steal, it was no reason why he should become a thief, no matter who they were.
Why should he not ask such questions? They are asked daily throughout India. The occurrences in the European households, the tiffs between husbands and wives are freely discussed in the bazars, and are as well known as if they had been performed in the street in open daylight. The people may be heathen, and uneducated, yet they know a great deal more than they are credited with.
There was no more trouble after that about the culture of opium, or the sale of liquor in the villages. The people saw enough of the evil effects in the communities around them, where the government had established liquor and opium dens, to convince them that they had happily escaped a great calamity and nuisance.
Not long after this, one of the villages had an object lesson, when I happened to be present. A sweeper had been away to a village, attending some festival among his brethren, and returned in a great state of hilarity. At first he was only amusing, then began to take liberties, which the people resented. In return he gave them gali, pouring upon them the foulest abuse. I suggested, they tie him to a tree, and drench him with water, which they did till he was sober, a great crowd in attendance, to whom I gave a temperance lecture, with the subject before me. The next day the village committee came to me to inquire what punishment should be given to the man for his foul, abusive words. I suggested they put him on a donkey, with his face tail-wards, and as a dead vulture had been brought to me, from under one of the trees, that the skin of this stinking bird should be put on the sweeper as a headdress. He was soon in position, with his regalia upon him, and the donkey was led up and down the streets for an hour, while the crowd, including many from the other villages, for the report of the coming fun soon spread, made all possible sport with their victim, while the boys pelted the sinner with bits of earth and rotten vegetables. This I considered sufficient for the time, but the committee decided, that if he, or any one else, should commit a likeoffense, they should be tied up, drenched with water until sober, and then be flogged. I never heard of a case of drunkenness in any of the villages afterwards. The people became a law unto themselves in opposition to the philanthropic government that tried to make them drunkards.
Life with us went on with the monotony usual in an India station. From month to month scarcely anything, not even the unexpected, happened. The military officers were longing for a break out somewhere, no matter with whom, the French on the south-east, the Russians on the north-west, or with the border tribes, so long as it would give them something to do in their line. Their trade was war, and war they wanted, something to take the place of the everlasting drill, and to break up the tiresome routine of cantonment work. The members of the civil service had their daily grists to grind, and like toilers on a tread-mill, were glad when the days were ended. Though excluded somewhat, I could hear the murmurs of discontent. Few seemed to have any real interest in their work. They considered themselves as exiles driven away from home by necessity, to become naukars, and their great hope was in furloughs and the prospect of retirement. As I was at home I made the best of it, and my wife joined me heartily in promoting our mutual happiness. We had our books, magazines and papers, which gave us an abundance of enjoyment. Our large garden gave us recreation and pleasure, while our villages gave us work.
We often spent days with our friends, the villagers. My wife became the mama to all the women and girls and they were very quick to profit by her teachings. She visited them in their houses, criticised their ways of keeping house, and advised in regard to making their homes pleasant and comfortable. She showed them how to make various cheap articles. Soon all hands were busy in trying to excel each other in having the cleanest and best furnished house. There were no zananas, and the women had become so accustomed to seeing me at our assemblies that they freely welcomed me in company with my wife. It may appear very insignificant, but it has been one of the delights ofmy life to recall the great improvements made in the habits of these simple-minded villagers. The cost was so little and the results very great, showing what a little teaching and encouragement can do. Cleanliness became a pride, as well as a habit. If some kept their houses clean, others did not dare to do otherwise, if not from choice, for fear of remarks.
The houses were, however, not satisfactory, and my wife suggested that we build a model house. I selected a spot in a central place, and built one upon it as cheaply as possible, with a view to substantial use and comfort. It had two rooms, a small veranda in front, and an enclosed yard at the back, where the cooking could be done and various articles be stored. The walls were plastered with clay by the women with their skill at such work. Then came the furnishing. This model house, matted, charpoyed, stooled and cupboarded, with pictures cut from illustrated papers upon the walls, was good enough for a king, and probably much neater than what some of the lords in England not many years ago enjoyed. When completed, at one of our evening assemblies I called attention to it, and promised to give ten rupees to every one who would build a house like it. I explained to them that by joining together they could mould the brick, thatch the roofs, and do all the work themselves, without any outside help—all to work together like busy bees.
I suggested to the committee that the ground plot of the village should be enlarged, so as to allow of back yards, with alleys between the yards. This done, the work went on apace, and soon a number of houses were built. There was an abundance of grass on the borders of the fields. I engaged a mat-maker from the city, and set him to instruct the women as well as men to make mats. At first some hesitated, as it was not according to their caste to do such work, but they soon fell in, and it was not long before every house had mats for its floors. Many of the people had slept on the ground from sheer laziness or custom. I had a carpenter make same cheap charpoys and then thick mats were made for them. It was a mat-making community for a while, as no one wished to be outdone by hisneighbor. Then came the making of rude shelves, on which they could place their trinkets, and soon every house had such a cupboard. Then little low stools, with twine grass bottoms, on which they could sit cross-legged if they chose, instead of on the floor as formerly. The desire for these new things became contagious, and their eagerness gave us great amusement.
My wife had offered to give the twine for the mats, the wood for the shelves, and the pictures for the walls, and still better than all that, she would give a looking-glass like the one she used, for each house when it was complete. This last offer took the cake, as every Eve’s daughter of them was bound to have a looking-glass, and gave her men folk no rest until they had built a house. I might have planned for days and nights together, before I could have caught on such a trick as effective as that. It was a woman’s instinct that did it. My advice and offer of ten rupees were nowhere compared to the looking-glass for the erection of new houses.
The result of our model house suggestion was that within a year there was not an old house in all the village. Each one was in line, matted, shelved and pictured, and last but not least, judging by the expressive faces and appearance of the women, each house had its looking-glass.
My other villages, seeing what was going on, became extremely jealous, and their committees called on me and asked what they had done to turn the hearts of the sahib and mem sahib away from them—to favor one village and not the others. I was greatly pleased with this sign of life, and after letting them talk a while, as each member of the committee had to tell his story of their regard for me, how anxious they were to please me, and how heartbroken they were to think that I had forgotten them.
I asked what they wanted. Were they willing to build new houses? And they all responded yes, as with one voice. I then promised to do the same for their villages as I had done for the other, when they fairly embraced me, and departed with protestations of love for me and the mem sahib. They had not left her out, for they had probably been well instructed before they left home, as they very politely asked,“And the looking-glasses too, mem sahib?” She responded, with a laugh, “Yes, to every house a looking-glass.” Soon we had a model house in each village, and for days I was occupied in staking out the ground for houses, alleys and yards.
Before another year all the old houses had disappeared, the rubbish removed and everything was spick and span new and clean, a wonderful change compared to the filthy places formerly occupied.