Harvested, and the peasant cannot pay;
the poor people are then obliged to sell the unripe crops for half
their worth, and their landlord generally contrives to buy it
himself in the name of another person. The unfortunate peasant
frequently has scarcely a sufficiency left to keep life in himself
and his family.
Laws and judges there certainly are in the country, and, as
everywhere else, the laws are good and the magistrates just; but it
is another question whether the poor ever receive justice. The
districts are so extensive, that the peasant cannot undertake a
journey of seventy or eighty miles; and even when he lives near, he
cannot always reach the presence of the magistrate. The business of
the latter is so great, that he cannot himself attend to the
details, and generally he is the only European in office, the
remaining officials consisting of Hindoos and Mahomedans, whose
character - a lamentable fact - is always worse the more they come in
contact with Europeans. If, therefore, the peasant comes to the
court without bringing a present, he is generally turned away, his
petition or complaint is not accepted or listened to; and how is he
to bring a present after being deprived of everything by the
landlord? The peasant knows this, and therefore seldom makes a
complaint.
An Englishman (unfortunately I have forgotten his name) who
travelled in India for scientific purposes, proves that the peasants
have now to suffer more than formerly under their native princes.
In India, under the so-called "free English government," I found a
sad proof that the position of the slaves in Brazil is better than
that of the free peasants here. The slave there has not to provide
for any of his wants, and he is never burdened with too much work,
as the interest of his master would then suffer; for a slave costs
seven or eight hundred gulders (70 or 80 pounds), and it is to the
interest of his owner that he should be well treated, that he may be
longer of service. It cannot be denied that there are cases in
which the slaves are tyrannically treated, but this is extremely
rare.
Several German and English missionaries reside in the neighbourhood
of Benares, and go constantly to the town to preach. At one of
these missionary establishments is a Christian village, which
contains more than twenty Hindoo families. Nevertheless,
Christianity makes scarcely any advance. {173} I inquired of each
of the missionaries how many Hindoos or Mahomedans they had baptized
in the course of their labours: generally they said, "None;" very
seldom, "One." The above mentioned families result from the year
1831, when nearly the whole of India was ravaged by cholera, nervous
fever, or famine; the people died, and many children remained
orphans, wandering about without a home.
