This line has been taken from George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant", which is not exactly an essay, it is a sort of reporting. Here 'I' refers to the author himself and the phrase 'large number of people" suggests the native Burmese people.             The Burmese people hated the author because he was "the subdivisional police officer of the town"...

George Orwell in his essay, "Shooting an Elephant", expresses his bitter experience as a sub-divisional police officer in Burma under the British authority. He perceived there an extremely hostile view of the native against the English people whom they regard as 'oppressors'.   ...