H IT S H U S 403 The census of 1868 was taken over an area of 2086 square miles, an 1 showed a total population of 038,890 (males, 504,393 ; females, 434,497). Of these, the Hindus numbered 415,471; Mahometans, 317,967; Sikhs, 79,417; and "others," 126,035. The district contained nine municipalities in 1875-76, namely, Hushiarpur (SSL- below), UimarTanda (13,970), Mukerian(5116), Dasuya (8677), Anandpur (6405), Hariana (7802), Garhdiwala (3874), Una (4908), and Miani (Meeanee) (7942). The total imperial revenue in 1872-73 was 148,708 ; the local revenue for expenditure on works of public utility, 14,856. Fifteen civil and revenue judges exercised jurisdiction in the district. There were 321 schools, with 7066 pupils, receiving 2291 from the public funds. The cultivated area in 1868 amounted to 751,707 acres, out of an assessed total of 1,335,245. Rice is largely grown, owing to the abundance of marshy flats along the banks of the Bias. The other products are wheat, barley, gram, tobacco, jodr, maize, moth, mash, cotton, and sugar-cane. "The state of agricultural knowledge is very backward, and implements are of the simplest description. Only 17.836 acres are under irrigation, chiefly from an old canal in the northern corner. The trade of Hushiarpur is confined to its raw material, including grain, sugar, hemp, safflower, fibres, tobacco, indigo, and cotton; of these, sugar forms by far the most important commercial item. The manufactures are of no importance. Several religious fairs are held, at Anandpur, Mukerian, and Achintpurni, all of which attract an enormous concourse of people. The Jalandhar an 1 Kangra road forms the chief route ; and good roads connect Hushiarpur and other centres with the neighbouring towns. The district, owing to its proximity to the hills, possesses a comparatively cool and humid climate. Malarious fever, cholera, and bowel com plaints are the prevailing illnesses. The annual rainfall in 1871-72 was 32 6 inches. There are five charitable dispensaries. The country around Hushiarpur formed part of the Katoch kingdom of Jalandhar. The state was eventually broken up, and the present district was divided between the rajas of Ditarpur and Jaswan. They retained undis turbed possession of their territories until 1759, when the rising Sikli chieftains commenced a series of encroachments upon the hill tracts. In 1815 the aggressive maharaja, Runjft Sinh, forced the ruler of Jaswan to resign his terri tories in exchange for an estate on feudal tenure ; three years later the raja of Ditarpur met with similar treatment. By the close of the year 1818 the whole country from the Sutlej to the Bias had come under the Government of Lahore, and after the first Sikh war in 1846 passed into the hands of the English Government. The deposed rajas of Ditarpur and Jaswan received cash pensions from the new ruler-;, but expressed bitter disappointment at not being restored to their former sovereign position. Accord ingly the outbreak of the Mooltan war, and the revolt of Cii ittar Sinh in 1848, found the disaffected chieftains ready for rebellion. They organized a revolt, but the two rajas anl the other ringleaders were captured, and their estates confiscated. HUSHIARPUR, municipal town and administrative head quarters of the above district, is situated on the bank of a broad sandy torrent. The population in 1868 numbered 13,022, comprising 6350 Hindus, 6002 Mahometans, 119 Sikhs, 62 Christians, and 489 "others." The town was founded, according to tradition, about the early part of the 14th century. In 1809 it was occupied by Ranjit Sinh. The maharaja and his successors maintained a considerable cantonment one mile south-east of the town, and the British Government kept it up for several years after the annexa tion. Floods often cause much damage, to guard against which an embankment was raised in 1852. The civil station contains tae district courthouse and treasury, sensions-house, tahsil and police offices, dispensary, staging bungalow, and sardi. Both station and town are plenti fully wooded, and enjoy a good sanitary reputation. There is a trade in grain, sugar, and tobacco. HUSKISSON, WILLIAM (1770-1830), statesman and financier, was descended from an old Staffordshire family of moderate fortune, and was born at Birch Moreton, Wor cestershire, March 11, 1770. Having been placed in his fourteenth year under the charge of his uncle Dr Gem, physician to the English embassy at Paris, he passed his early years amidst a political fermentation which led him i to take a deep and absorbing interest in politics. But though he approved of the French Revolution, his sympa thies were with the more moderate party, and he became 1 a member of the "club of 17^9," instituted to support the new form of constitutional monarchy in opposition to the anarchical attempts of the Jacobins. Even at this early period he displayed his mastery of the principles of finance by a Discours delivered in August 1790 before this ! society, in regard to the issue of assignats by the Govern ment. The Discours gained him considerable reputation, but as it failed in its purpose he withdrew from the society. j In January 1793 he was appointed by Mr Dundas to an office created with a view to direct the execution of the
- Aliens Act ; and in the discharge of his delicate duties he
manifested such ability that in 1795 he was appointed under secretary in the colonial department. In the follow ing year he entered parliament as member for Morpeth, but i for a considerable period he took scarcely any part iu the i debates. On the retirement of Pitt in 1801 he resigned ! office, and after contesting Dover unsuccessfully he with- | drew for a time into private life. Having in 1804 been chosen to represent Liskeard, he was on the restoration of the Pitt ministry appointed secretary of the treasury, hold- | ing office till the dissolution of the ministry after the death of Pitt in January 1806. After being elected for Harwich in 1807, he accepted the same office under the duke of Portland, but he withdrew from the ministry along with 1 Canning in 1809. In the following year he published a pamphlet on the currency system, which confirmed his reputation as the ablest financier of his time; but his free- trade principles did not accord with those of his party. When in 1814 he re-entered the public service, it was ] only as chief commissioner of woods and forests, but his influence was from this time very great in the commer cial and financial legislation of the country. He took a prominent part in the corn-law debates of 1814 and 1815 ; and in 1819 he presented a memorandum to Lord Liverpool ! advocating a large reduction in the unfunded debt, and explaining a method for the resumption of cash payments, which was embodied in the Act passed the same year.
- In the following year he was named a member of the
committee appointed to inquire into the causes of the agricultural distress then prevailing in the country, and 1 the proposed relaxation of the corn laws embodied in the report was understood to have been chiefly due to his strenuous advocacy. In 1823 he was appointed president of the board of trade and treasurer of the navy, and shortly afterwards he received a seat in the cabinet. In the same year he was returned for Liverpool, having from 1812 re presented Chichester. Among the more important legis lative changes with which he was principally connected were a reform of the Navigation Acts, admitting other nations to a full equality and reciprocity of shipping duties ; the repeal of the labour laws ; the introduction of a new sinking fund ; the reduction of the duties on manufactures and on the importation of foreign goods, and the repeal of the quarantine duties. In accordance with his suggestion Canning in 1827 introduced a measure on the corn laws proposing the adoption of a sliding scale to regulate the amount of duty. The bill passed the House of Commons, but a misapprehension between Hnskisson and the duke of Wellington led to the duke proposing an amendment, the success of which caused the abandonment of the measure by the Government. After the death of Canning in the same year Huskisson accepted the secretaryship of the colonies under Lord Goderich, an office which he continued to hold in the new cabinet formed by the duke of Wellington in the following year. From the beginning the cabinet was
rent by internal disputes, and, after succeeding with great
