[Captain Skinner, in his _Excursions in India_, makes the following
sensible observations on the tyranny over servants in India:]
There are throughout the mountains many of the sacred shrubs of the
Hindoos, which give great delight, as my servants fall in with them.
They pick the leaves; and running with them to me, cry, "See, sir,
see, our holy plants are here!" and congratulate each other on having
found some indication of a better land than they are generally
inclined to consider the country of the Pariahs. The happiness these
simple remembrances shed over the whole party is so enlivening, that
every distress and fatigue seems to be forgotten. When we behold a
servant approaching with a sprig of the _Dona_ in his hand, we hail it
as the olive-branch, that denotes peace and good-will for the rest of
the day, if, as must sometimes be the case, they have been in any way
interrupted.
Even these little incidents speak so warmly in favour of the Hindoo
disposition, that, in spite of much that may be uncongenial to an
European in their character, they cannot fail to inspire him with
esteem, if not affection. I wish that many of my countrymen would
learn to believe that the natives are endowed with feelings, and
surely they may gather such an inference from many a similar trait
to the one I have related. Hardness of heart can never be allied
to artless simplicity: that mind must possess a higher degree of
sensibility and refinement, that can unlock its long-confined
recollections by so light a spring as a wild flower.
I have often witnessed, with wonder and sorrow, an English gentleman
stoop to the basest tyranny over his servants, without even the poor
excuse of anger, and frequently from no other reason than because he
could not understand their language. The question, from the answer
being unintelligible, is instantly followed by a blow. Such scenes are
becoming more rare, and indeed are seldom acted but by the younger
members of society; they are too frequent notwithstanding: and should
any thing that has fallen from me here, induce the cruelly-disposed to
reflect a little upon the impropriety and mischief of their conduct,
when about to raise the hand against a native, and save one stripe
to the passive people who are so much at the mercy of their masters'
tempers, I shall indeed be proud.
[Again, speaking of the condition of servants, Captain Skinner
remarks--]
It is impossible to view some members of the despised class without
sorrow and pity, particularly those who are attached, in the lowest
offices, to the establishments of the Europeans. They are the most
melancholy race of beings, always alone, and apparently unhappy: they
are scouted from the presence even of their fellow-servants. None but
the mind of a poet could imagine such outcasts venturing to raise
their thoughts to the beauty of a Brahmin's daughter; and a touching
tale in such creative fancy, no doubt, it would make, for, from their
outward appearances, I do not perceive why they should not be endowed
with minds as sensitive at least as those of the castes above them.
There are among them some very stout and handsome men; and it is
ridiculous to see sometimes all their strength devoted to the charge
of a sickly puppy;--to take care of dogs being their principal
occupation!
Our attention has been drawn to the above passage in Captain Skinner's
work, by its ready illustration of the views and conclusions of the
late Dr. Knox, in his invaluable _Spirit of Despotism_, Section 2,
"Oriental manners, and the ideas imbibed in youth, both in the East
and West Indies, favourable to the spirit of despotism." How forcibly
applicable, on the present occasion, is the following extract:--"from
the intercourse of England with the East and West Indies, it is to be
feared that something of a more servile spirit has been derived than
was known among those who established the free constitutions of
Europe, and than would have been adopted, or patiently borne, in ages
of virtuous simplicity. A very numerous part of our countrymen spend
their most susceptible age in those countries, where despotic manners
remarkably prevail. They are themselves, when invested with office,
treated by the natives with an idolatrous degree of reverence, which
teaches them to expect a similar submission to their will, on their
return to their own country. They have been accustomed to look up to
personages greatly their superiors in rank and riches, with awe; and
to look down on their inferiors in _property_ with supreme contempt,
as slaves of their will and ministers of their luxury. Equal laws and
equal liberty at home appear to them saucy claims of the poor and the
vulgar, which tend to divest riches of one of the greatest charms,
over-bearing dominion. We do, indeed, import gorgeous silks and
luscious sweets from the Indies, but we import, at the same time, the
spirit of despotism, which adds deformity to the purple robe, and
bitterness to the honied beverage." "That _Oriental_ manners are
unfavourable to liberty, is, I believe, universally conceded. The
natives of the East Indies entertain not the idea of independence.
They treat the Europeans, who go among them to acquire their riches,
with a respect similar to the abject submission which they pay to
their native despots. Young men, who in England scarcely possessed
the rank of the gentry, are waited upon in India, with more attentive
servility than is paid or required in many courts of Europe. Kings of
England seldom assume the state enjoyed by an East India governor, or
even by subordinate officers. Enriched at an early age, the adventurer
returns to England. His property admits him to the higher circles
of fashionable life. He aims at rivalling or excelling all the
old nobility in the splendour of his mansions, the finery of his
carriages, the number of his liveried train, the profusion of his
tables, in every unmanly indulgence which an empty vanity can covet,
and a full purse procure. Such a man, when he looks from the window of
his superb mansion, and sees the people pass, cannot endure the idea,
that they are of as much consequence as himself in the eye of the law;
and that he dares not insult or oppress the unfortunate being who
rakes his kennel or sweeps his chimney."
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