the East Coast of Africa there are lines of steamers under the British flag trading regularly from the principal ports of India. The officers and engineers of these ships are British-the crews chiefly natives of India. As recently as 1857, on the outbreak of the Sepoy War, the Government of India were in extremity for steamers to bring troops from Mauritius, Ceylon and China to the assistance of their hard-pressed and greatly outnumbered forces. At the present time, it would be easy for that Government to have promptly available, chiefly by means of the Suez Canal, 80,000 to 100,000 tons of steam shipping for such a purpose. An additional security for the safety of the Empire, is thus afforded, the value of which it would be difficult to estimate.

But, in congratulating the nation upon this great additional security, it must not be overlooked that it is dependent upon access to the Suez Canal being always available. Should that route be closed, which might easily occur by accident or design,* or by a COMPLICATION OF EVENTS IN EUROPE, our extensive steam fleet would be rendered useless, either for purposes of trade or for transports,† and as the commerce of India extends, so that country becomes more identified with the interests

*See Appendix E., "Evidence of Select Committee of the House of Commons on Euphrates Railway, 1871-1872," &c.

+ On a recent occasion Sir Garnet Wolseley declared at a numerously attended meeting at the Royal United Service Institution, that the largest ironclads could not pass by the canal, and it was evident that it would be the easiest matter in the world to stop the traffic on that canal. It might be done by a few barges, by one good large torpedo, by a vessel laden with dynamite or powder and taken to certain positions in the canal well known in our Intelligence Department, and where they would do enough damage

of Great Britain. The necessity for the alternative route by the Euphrates Valley becomes more than ever apparent. Twenty years have elapsed since the largest and most influential deputation that ever waited upon a Minister urged the importance of this subject upon Lord Palmerston, and in 1871-1872 the Select Committee of the House of Commons, presided over by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, fully confirmed the opinions then expressed,* and recommended the construction of the Euphrates Valley Railway connecting a port on the Mediterranean with the head of the Persian Gulf, to the consideration of Government, based on the evidence of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord Strathnairn, Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Donald Macleod, Sir Henry Green, Mr. S. Laing and Sir Henry Tyler; of General Chesney, the original explorer of the route, and of two officers of the expedition, Admiral Charlewood, R.N., and Mr. W. Ainsworth; of Sir John Macneill, Mr. Telford Macneill and Mr. Maxwell, C.E., who surveyed and reported on the most difficult portion of the design, and of Captain Felix Jones, who surveyed the entire route, from the head of the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. If this line were in other than British hands, in those of Russia, for instance, the Suez Canal could be turned, and the railway could be extended through Persia and Beloochistan to India, notwithstanding all the ironclads of England being in the Persian Gulf.

to stop the canal for a year. Or a simpler method might be adopted by taking out a few heavy vessels and scuttling them. So we could not depend upon the canal.

*See Appendix E, Euphrates and Indus route.

In seaports and harbours of refuge India is less favoured by nature than most other parts of the globe, but efforts have been, and are being made to supply the deficiency. It is far, however, from being destitute of such natural advantages. The harbour of Bombay is probably one of the safest and most picturesque in the world, and would accommodate shipping far in excess of the trade of the port, present and prospective. Calcutta, approached by a noble, though somewhat treacherous river, is admirably situated for trade, and the long rows of stately Indiamen moored along the banks was a sight not to be surpassed elsewhere. Madras is unfortunately, at present possessed of no harbour, and the loss of shipping, lives and property at that place has been very great; in bad weather vessels have to slip their cables and run out to sea to prevent stranding. Cochin possesses a good little harbour, but the bar is only to be crossed by vessels of small tonnage and light draught. Within six miles of Cochin, however, is Narrakal, where ships discharge and load in perfectly smooth water in the heaviest weather; this harbour is an open roadstead, and how it happens to have its peculiar immunity has never been satisfactorily explained; passengers and cargo landed there are conveyed by back water to stations on the Madras Railway. At Carwar, on the Malabar coast, and Kurrachee, a port 500 miles north of Bombay, excellent harbours have been constructed, easy of access and provided with accommodation for a large trade, which is finding outlets at these ports.

Besides the above-named, there are the smaller ports of Pooree, Gopaulpore, Vizagapatam, Coconada, Masu

lipatam, Negapatam, Tuticorin, Colachel, Aleppy, Calicut, Tellicherry, Cannanore, Mangalore, Vingorla, Rutnagherry, Surat, Gogah, Porebunder and Verawa, as well as the ports in British Burmah, Arracan and the Malay Peninsula. All of these places have of late years greatly increased their imports and exports, and some of them being the terminal ports for the railways, will doubtless be far better known in the future.

Between the southern ports of India and Ceylon there is a very considerable trade, which deserves a better communication than now exists; it has been proposed that the Paumbaum Channel, which divides India and Ceylon, should be deepened, in order that large steamships to and from the East Coast of India may be saved the extra distance of going round the island of Ceylon.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

FINANCE.

Revenue Land Tax-Opium Tax-Salt Tax, Customs, &c.-Indian Budget-Lord Northbrook on Famines-Depreciation of Silver.

The revenue of India at the present time (1878) amounts in round numbers to fifty millions sterling a year, or nearly double the figures of 1850, and higher by ten millions than the sum total of 1860. As compared with the revenues of England or France, these fifty millions may appear a small sum to raise from so large a population, but the great mass of the people is very poor, living from hand to mouth in the most simple, frugal and primitive manner possible, consuming little that can legitimately be taxed; and it should further be remembered that a foreign government cannot tax its subjects to nearly the same extent as a native government for what in the one case is submitted to as a necessary evil, is in the other resented as extortion, and pointed to as an aggravation of the drawbacks of foreign rule. One such drawback of an undeniable character in connection with the collection of revenue is the petty tyranny which corrupt native officials are prone to wield in the name of their foreign masters, too few to supervise personally what is going on and keep the rapacity of