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EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 831 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EASTERN See also:

BENGAL AND See also:ASSAM , a See also:province of See also:British See also:India, which was constituted out of Assam and the eastern portion of Bengal on the 16th of See also:October 1905. See also:Area 111,569 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 30,961,459• It is situated between 20° 45' and 28° 17' N., and between 87° 48' and 97° 5' E. The province, as thus re-constituted, consists of the Bengal districts of See also:Dacca, See also:Mymensingh, See also:Faridpur, See also:Backergunje, See also:Tippera, See also:Noakhali, See also:Chittagong, Chittagong See also:Hill Tracts, See also:Rajshahi, See also:Dinajpur, See also:Jalpaiguri, Rang-. pur, See also:Bogra, See also:Pabna, See also:Malda, and the native states of Kuch See also:Behar and Hill Tippera; and the whole of the former area of Assam consisting of the districts of See also:Goalpara, See also:Kamrup, See also:Darrang, See also:Nowgong, See also:Sibsagar, La.khimpur, See also:Sylhet, See also:Cachar, Garo Hills, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Naga Hills and Lushai Hills. It is bounded on the N. by See also:Bhutan, on the W. by See also:Burma, on the S. by Burma and the See also:Bay of Bengal, and on the E. by Bengal. The See also:line of demarcation between Bengal and the new province begins at the frontier of Bhutan, See also:east of See also:Darjeeling, runs See also:south-See also:west to Sahibganj on the See also:Ganges and thence follows the course of the Ganges down to the deltaic See also:branch, called the Haringhata, which leaves the See also:main stream above Gealanda, and the course of the latter, which runs south into the Bay of Bengal. The See also:capital of the province is Dacca, and its See also:chief See also:port is Chittagong. The Bengal districts which were transferred to Eastern Bengal and Assam comprised See also:northern and eastern Bengal, the most prosperous and least overcrowded portion of Bengal. The See also:land there is less densely populated, See also:wages are higher and See also:food cheaper, and the rainfall more copious and more See also:regular, while the See also:staple crops of jute, See also:tobacco and See also:rice command a higher See also:price relative to the See also:rent of the land than in Behar or other parts of Bengal. The See also:population are largely Mahommedans and of a more virile stock than the See also:Bengali proper. Northern Bengal corresponds almost exactly with the Rajshahi See also:division and lies within the boundaries of the Ganges and See also:Brahmaputra See also:rivers. It contains much high land of a stiff red See also:clay, with an undulating See also:surface covered for the most See also:part with scrub See also:jungle.

The inhabitants are Indo-See also:

Chinese, not Indo-See also:Aryans as in Bengal proper, and are 1blahommedan by See also:religion instead of See also:Hindu. Eastern Bengal consists of the Dacca and Chittagong divisions which are mainly Bengali in See also:race and Hindu in religion. For the See also:Assamese districts see ASSAM. The province as a whole contains 18,036,688 Mahommedans and 12,036,538 See also:Hindus. In See also:language 27,272,895 of the inhabitants speak Bengali, 1,349,784 speak Assamese, and the See also:remainder See also:Hindi and various hill dialects, Manipuri, See also:Bodo, Khasi and Garo. The See also:administration is in the hands of a See also:lieutenant-See also:governor, assisted by a legislative See also:council of fifteen members. Under him are five commissioners, and See also:financial matters are regulated by a See also:board of See also:revenue consisting of two members. The constitution of the new province arose out of the fact that Bengal had grown too unwieldy for the administration of a single lieutenant-governor. In 1868 See also:Sir See also:Stafford See also:Northcote See also:drew See also:attention to the greatly augmented demands that the outlying portions of Bengal made on the See also:time and labour of the See also:government. At that time the population of the province was between 40 and 50 millions, and the question was See also:left in See also:abeyance until 1903, when the population had risen to 781 millions. In the meantime the importance of rendering Assam a self-contained and See also:independent administration with a service of its own, and of providing for its future commercial expansion, had arisen. These two considerations led See also:Lord Curzon to propose that Bengal should be lopped of territory both on its eastern and western See also:borders, and that all the districts east of the Brahmaputra should be constituted into a See also:separate province.

This proposal was bitterly opposed by the Hindus of Bengal on the ground that it would destroy the unity of the Bengali race; and their agitation was associated with the Swadeshi (own See also:

country) See also:movement for the See also:boycott of British goods. After the constitution of the province in October 1905, the agitation in Eastern Bengal increased. Public meetings of See also:pro-test were held, See also:vernacular broadsheets containing scandalous attacks on the British authorities were circulated, schoolboys and others were organized and drilled as so-called " See also:national See also:volunteers," and employed as pickets to prevent the See also:sale of British goods. Such was the See also:state of things when Sir J. Bampfylde See also:Fuller entered on his See also:office as first lieutenant-governor of Eastern Bengal in See also:January 1906. His reception was ominous. Representative bodies that were dominated by Hindus refused to See also:vote the usual addresses of welcome, and non-See also:official Hindus abstained from paying the customary calls. There were, however, no further overt signs of objection to the lieutenant-governor personally, and after a See also:month or two—in spite of, or perhaps because of, his efforts to restrain See also:sedition and to keep discipline in the schools—there was a decided See also:change in the attitude of Hindu See also:opinion. At Dacca, in See also:July, for instance, the reception at Government See also:House was attended by large See also:numbers of Bengali gentlemen, who assured the lieutenant-governor that " the trouble was nearly ended." The agitation was, in fact, largely artificial, the See also:work of See also:Calcutta lawyers, journalists and schoolmasters; the See also:mass of the See also:people, naturally See also:law-abiding, was unmoved by it so See also:long as the government showed a See also:firm See also:hand; while the Mussulmans, who formed a large proportion of the whole, saw in the See also:maintenance of the See also:partition and of the See also:prestige of the British government the guarantees of their own See also:security. All seemed to be going well when an unfortunate difference of opinion occurred between the lieutenant-governor and the central government, resulting in the resignation of Sir Bampfylde Fuller (See also:August 1906) and in ulterior consequences destined to be of far-reaching import. The facts are briefly as follows. Acting on a See also:report of Dr P.

See also:

Chatterji, inspector of See also:schools, dated January 2, 1906, the lieutenant-governor, on the loth of See also:February, addressed a See also:letter to the registrar of Calcutta University recommending that the See also:privilege of See also:affiliation to the university should be withdrawn from the Banwarilal and See also:Victoria high schools at See also:Sirajganj in Pabna, as a See also:punishment for the seditious conduct of both pupils and teachers. Apart from numerous cases of illegal interference with See also:trade and of disorder in the streets reported against the students, two specific outrages of a serious See also:character were instanced as having occurred on the 15th of See also:November: the raiding of a See also:cart laden with See also:English See also:cloth belonging to Marwari traders, and a cowardly See also:assault by some 40 or 50 lads on the English manager of the See also:Bank of Bengal. These outrages " were not the result of thoughtlessness or sudden excitement, but were the outcome of a regularly organized See also:scheme, set on See also:foot and guided by the masters of these schools, for employing the students in enforcing a boycott." All attempts to discover and punish the offenders had been frustrated by the refusal of the school authorities to take See also:action, and in the opinion of the lieutenant-governor the only course open was to apply the remedy suggested in the circular letter addressed to magistrates and collectors (October 1o, 1905) by Mr R. W. See also:Carlyle, the officiating chief secretary to the government of Bengal, directing them, in the event of students taking any part in See also:political agitation, boycotting and the like, to inform the heads of schools or colleges concerned that, unless they prevented such action being taken by the boys attending their institutions, their See also:grant-in-aid and the privilege of competing for scholarships and of receiving scholarship-holders would be withdrawn, and that the university would be asked to disaffiliate their institutions. The reply, dated July 5th, from the secretary in the See also:home See also:department of the . government of India, was—to use Sir Bampfylde's own later expression—to throw him over. It was likely that a difference of opinion in the See also:syndicate of the university would arise as to the degree of culpability that attached to the proprietors of the schools; in the event of the syndicate taking any " punitive action," the See also:matter was certain to be raised in the See also:senate, and would See also:lead to an acrimonious public discussion, in which the partition of Bengal and the administration of the new province would be violently attacked; and in the actual state of public opinion in Bengal it seemed to the government of India highly inexpedient that such a debate should take See also:place. " Collective punishment," too, " would be liable to be mis-construed in See also:England," and the government preferred to rely on the See also:gradual effect of the new university regulations, which aimed at discouraging the participation of students in political movements by enforcing the responsibility of masters and the managing committees of schools for maintaining discipline." On See also:receipt of this communication Sir Bampfylde Fuller at once tendered his resignation to the See also:viceroy (July 15). He pointed out that to withdraw from the position taken up would be " concession, not in the interests of See also:education, but to those people in Calcutta who have been striving to render my government impossible, in See also:order to discredit the partition "; that previous concessions had had merely provocative effects, and that were he to give way in this matter his authority would be so weakened that he would be unable to maintain order in the country. On the 3rd of August, after some days of deliberation, the viceroy telegraphed saying that he was " unable to reconsider the orders sent," and accepting Sir Bampfylde's resignation. By the Anglo-See also:Indian See also:press the See also:news was received with something like consternation, the Times of India describing the resignation as one of the gravest blunders ever committed in the See also:history of British See also:rule in India, and as a See also:direct incentive to the forces of disquiet, disturbance and unrest. Equally emphatic was the See also:verdict of the Mussulman community forming two-thirds of the population of Eastern Bengal.

On the 7th of August, the See also:

day of Sir Bampfylde Fuller's departure from Dacca, a mass-See also:meeting of 30,000 Mahommedans was held, which placed on See also:record their disapproval of a See also:system of government " which maintains no continuity of policy," and expressed its feeling that the lowering of British prestige must " alienate the sympathy of a numerically important and loyal See also:section of His See also:Majesty's subjects "; and many meetings of Mussulmans subsequently passed resolutions to the same See also:general effect. The Akhbar-i-See also:Islam, the See also:organ of Bombay Mussulman opinion, deplored the " unwise step " taken by the government, and ascribed it to Lord See also:Minto's fear of the See also:Babu press, a display of weakness of which the Babus would not be slow to take See also:advantage. This latter prophecy was not slow in fulfilling itself. So See also:early as the 8th of August Calcutta was the See also:scene of several large demonstrations at which the Swadeshi See also:vow was renewed, and at which resolutions were passed declining to accept the partition as a settled fact, and resolving on the continuance of the agitation. The See also:tone of the Babu press was openly exultant: " We have read the See also:familiar See also:story of the See also:Russian traveller and the wolves," said a leading Indian newspaper in Calcutta. " The British government follows a similar policy. First the little babies were offered up in the shape of the Bande Mataram circular and the Carlyle circular. Now a bigger boy has gone in the See also:person of our own See also:Joseph. Courage, therefore, 0 wolves! Press on and the See also:horse will soon be yours to devour! Afterwards the traveller himself will alone be left." The task before the new lieutenant-governor of Eastern Bengal, the Hon. L.

See also:

Hare, was obviously no easy one. The encouragement given to sedition by the weakness of the government in this See also:case was shown by later events in Bengal and elsewhere (see INDIA: History, ad fin.). For the early history of the various portions of the province see BENGAL and ASSAM. See Sir See also:James Bourdillon, The Partition of Bengal (Society of Arts, 1905); official See also:blue-books on The Reconstitution of the Provinces of Bengal and Assam (Cd. 2658 and 2746), and Resignation of Sir J. Bampfylde Fuller, lieutenant-governor, &c. (Cd. 3242). A long letter from Sir J. B. Fuller, headed J'accuse, attacking the general policy of the Indian government in regard to the seditious propaganda, appeared in The Times of See also:June 6, 1908.

End of Article: EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM

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