Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/32

8 nor have they expended much means or talent in the construction of great and necessary public works, such as roads, canals, bridges, and aqueducts; they have not improved – nay, they have actually neglected – the irrigation of the agricultural districts, an object of such vital importance in a rice-growing country; and it must be admitted that they have not diffused so much as they ought to have done the blessings of education, and a knowledge of the arts, sciences, and literature of Europe, amongst the hundred millions of human beings committed to their care, and immediately under their control.

But, still, it is something to have rescued that hundred millions from the cruelty, caprice, and oppression of native misrule, and placed them under the aegis of laws (such as they are), administered by enlightened, able, and independent Englishmen. It is something to have extended the influence of European civilisation so far as to have nearly eradicated the abominable Suttee, the frightful infanticide, and the horrible system of Thuggee, which had prevailed time immemorial in that benighted land, unchecked and unnoticed by its native princes. Finally, does it not redound to their praise and honour that they have effectually, and for ever, put down those savage hordes of banditti, who, under the name of Pindarries, enlisted in their ranks every monster that could steal a horse and a weapon; and swept in ruthless masses, like the dark simoom, over many a hundred leagues of peaceful, industrious, and happy lands, leaving no other traces