History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c44.49

v2.c44.49

While British officers in Orissa were proposing the introduction of their own laws into the semi-independent States, the same laws administered by them and carried into effect by their Bengali subordinates were ruining the nobility of Orissa and impoverishing the richest people of the country. Though the 19th century had begun, the British Officers who administered the laws in Orissa belonged to the 18th Century and carried on the tradition of the past. Bengalis of an undesirable type came into Orissa after 1803. The Oṛiyā was very backward at that time and in fact he was just like the semi-literate Panjabi after 1848. He was certainly not fit for any of the lower offices in the British Administration. Musalmans were too few, as they are still now. So in fact Bengalis of a low type ruled Orissa for nearly half a century after the conquest. They became notorious for chicanery and dishonesty, while no protest could be raised against the camouflaged dishonesty of the early 19th century English officers, known as "Nabobs," out of fear. For years the Oṛiyā suffered in silence till the Bengali became more honest by education and till the English officers became true representatives of British justice.