The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

JUNE 4, 1853._ lodging-houses in an English town. This is ' simply irrelevant. The truck," - tally," and • sweating" systems are bad enough, no doubt, and hard to be remedied, but they are not the work of Government. which, at the worst, only stands aloof, refusing to interfere. The suffer ings of the ryot, supposing them unexaggerated. are really influenced by the revenue system. which has decided how, when, to whom. to what amount, and under what penalties, his rent shall be paid. We may add, that no enactments yet devised have been effectual in protecting him from his immediate superior, the zemindar. The best part of the Bengal revenue laws is their working as regards the treasury. That presidency not only pays its own expenses, but nearly makes up the deficit of the rest. And the admirers of Cornwallis may point in triumph to Madras, where a greater administrator than Cornwallis, engaged on a similar duty, laboured long, only to fail at last. With the ryotwar system, as prevalent throughout Southern India, the name of Sir Thomas Munro is inseparably connected. No Indian statesman enjoys a purer, scarcely any* higher, fame. His biography is read with de light by thousands who know and care to know nothing of the lows which he originated , or the . province which he governed : for the character of the man shines through all his actions, and writings, and words. lie was, in truth. the ideal of the Anglo-Indian ruler—at man of the sword as well of the pen, a linguist, a financier, a philanthropist, not unversed in the crooked diplomacy of the East, when need of such knowledge arose—above all, a patriot. Devoid of vanity, and superior to passion, he laboured long years without hope of fame, earning nothing by his services except premature old age and a perpetuity of exile. Not until the closing epoch of his life were those services acknowledged as they deserved, and then death stepped in to rob him of his well-earned and splendid prize—the vice-royalty of Asia. lint it was to him that the inexperienced ;overator-General, Lord Amherst, instinctively turned. when perplexed by conflicting counsels respecting the conduct of the first Burmese war; it was to his judgment that Wellesley appealed, when on the field of Assaye he sat down to calculate the results of that complete but costly victory ; and it was his strong will and thorough practical knowledge which, in nuttters of finance. prevailed over the united opinion of the Madras authorities and the home Government. By a singular but not unparalleled destiny, that which he probably regarded as his chief title to be remembered is DOW mentioned as his principal error ; but, SO powerful is the influence of character, the reputation of the minister has survived the failure of the measure. The ryotwar system was, in one word. at grand mistake. It shall be described in Munvo's own words : " The plan," he wrote, " which it appears to me would lw the bestcalculated to secure to the people the fruits of their industry, and to floventment a permanent revenue, is eomprised antler the following heads A reAuction of tift vet t percent. to he made on the lease set The c( pantry to be rented immediately of t ioven 1111 l lit by small farms as at itresent, every one receiving just as much laud as he demands. a. Settlements to be annual ; that is to say, every man to be permitted to give up or take whatever WO he pleases every year. 1. Every man to have a part, or the whole, of his hinds on lease who wishes it : and, in order to encourage the application tUr kases, all lands held titular annual tenures to be taken from the occupants and given to such other fanners as may demand them in lease, Or their paying to I ioventment. as purchase-nuoney, yeat's rent for any particular field, or one half-year's for the whole fann. h. Villages and districts to be respon sible for all individual failures. 11. All lands include() in the lease should remain ins ariably at the rent then fixed after the provosts' reduction of fifteen per cent. 7. All Lords, not included in the lease, should be rented at the average o f th e v illage to which they belong. s. I.tusls in• eluded in the lease. being given Itp and allowed to lay waste, for any number of years. should, when again eveupied, pay, the very first year, the full rent as before. 11. All cast's, whether natives or aliens, to pay the saute rent for the laud. 10. No additional rent ever to be demanded for improve. ments—the farmer, who by digging a well, or building tank, converts dry land into garden or rice fields, to pay no more than the original rent of the ground. 11. No re. auction of the established rent ever to be allowed, except where the cochineal plant, mulberry, ttc., are cultivated."* It is not easy to explain the full magnitude of the task which, according to this scheme, * !Words quoted in 11w Calcutta Perietr. It ih in be re• gretted that the author of this able ki)tl interesting paper has nut, in all Inatancee, glees the dates of the original doeumeuta which he quotee. THE PRESS. devolved on Government. The Company. practically, became sole landlord, and under took to collect its rent from many millions of tenants, whose holdings were for the most prt infinitesimally small. and collectively ex tended over a territory somewhat larger than France. Nor was this rent ever fixed. but varied annually. according to the caprice or ignorance of the collector ; thus discouraging improvement, and tending to impede. if not actually to forbid, all outlay on laud. The assessment, too, was originally fixed higher than it should have been ; and this fault is not removed to the present day. Some modifica tions of principle, and many involving ques tions of detail, have been introduced lay suc ceeding governors, the principal one being it reptsal of that most odious regulation by which tenatucy was made compulsory, and the rya forbidden, without leave first obtained, to throw up a firma which he could not, culti vate to advantage. But as at whole the ryot war plan still remains in force ; and even Mr. Kaye, the apologist of the Company, aeknow ledges its ill success. Legislative blunders are not quickly repaired ; and legislative blunders in India less quickly than anywhere else. Renee Madras early obtained the sobriquet which it still keeps. that of the " be nighted presidency." From this red of unrepaired and now al most irrepantble blunders—these " follies of the wise," all the more dangerous because the " great" men who planned them seem to have acted without. fear, and unhesitatingly to have committed Government to an unworkable plan—it is at relief to turn to the history of the North-West Provinces. This territory enjoyed the great advantage of being the last operated upon. It profited at the cost of Bengal and Madras ; for time had taught caution, and English statesmen had learnt that legislation in the East must of necessity be experimental. The authors of the North-West settlement• came to their work impressed with a strong conviction at once of the complexity of the questions involved, and of their own inability to solve them. They deprecated permanent, measures, and both at Calcutta and in mead enhall-street their request for delay was fa vourably looked upon. In the ceded districts of Outle, about the year 1801, the basis of the new system was first laid. Mr. Wellesley, brother of the Governor-General, directed operations under the title of Lieutenant- Governor, himself devoid of Indian experience, but full of ardour and talent, and aided by intelligent councillors. Their task was not light : The misrule which pmeeded our at4sunipt ion of dominion, owl the disorder which we found Mewlry department, were se vast, that it. would have loeeit a miracle if any great momma mot of success had ancialell our initial operations. A iris natal gettlement wits !Hideo:diem infinity with the land hi•blers, in. the expiration 14 the eurrent financial year ; laid a permit:ma settlenela was after two Mon' the first, three foal' Years' duration. The area of territory to be dealt with soon extended over what is known as the Doab— the country of two rivers—lying between the Jumna and the Ganges. The state of this province, as of that of Omit', is well described as follows • -• The systent of laud revenne which obtained at this t• • was based upon the old estaldisliment of village (soon 1 1 11 l • nities. These institutiotoe existed but in all imperfect, fragmentaiy state ; anti when the 111111'0N if the British I l o vernment began hastily and to establish %4 011ie intelligible system of revenue collection, or at all events to make out clearly the parties to whom the State were too look for the apportioned amount of revenue. th e y groped about painfully in the dark. All sorts of claimants answ, with titles god, hood, and inditio•oviit, and flocked to the Cool• lector's ('curt at the chief station, urging their proprietary rights. Enolotorrossed by these eloittlicting claims, the rob lectoor plaeoll loiniself in the hands of the " extoxingo," or native notary, and decided locos':sling to his dictum upon thu claims that were laid before him. There was little or no inquiry, and the decision was wrong. The amount of re• yellow hall then to be fixed ; and here again the a u thority of the village fnuetionary was go•tiendly followed, and the valuation was generally wrong. Every day of inquiry made one fact plainer, that Government had not knowledge enough to legislate permanently and safely. I)elity, though 1111 evil, was felt to be the preferable alternative, and the idea of a perpetual settle ment was relegated to the future : Thus was the question of the permanent iissetignont of the ceded and conquered provinces settled, at all events 113 for a time. * In the meanwhile short leasea were granted, from three to tire %yam, to pniprietor*, sir pseudo proprie mist. of didenmt kinds, to reminder.. to independent ta looktlars. and other violin:tins; but e% en during Bloat* short periods it was often necessary to Traibast the auuautt of 33,No , onetit. .%11 this created *II discontent. Mani. SW justly thialVva of their proprietary rights, clantouri.sl for rt.ares.s. and were told to appeal to the civil courts. This, in eifeet, was a •kol'y awl it delusion. T Iv* perplexity was only inereaseil The errors of the arcs' * were often Perretititteil by the judicial department ; and the suitor in idied in new etulourassnients 11l t pitintul Bout the old. Decrees. - it it &list, *ere constantly passed ro irvecon• citable with truth and justice, that it was absolutch tin. possible to execute them... The inside of eolleeting the revenue tended shrilly to the IKTPiltilition of initistiee. The colleetora endeavoured to guard against default by placing watehmen over the si liag oeopm. If, in spite of this precaution, then, was a deficiency of IVlellae. the property of the registered land• holder was dlatTitialetl awl he himself thrown into prison. Then the estate was !nit Op to situ', 11111114 . 01:11.$ pun issrtl, iit a nominal aunt, by some astute native ittlicial- - otleit a stranger foxim the lower provinces.* But as these largo estates, although standing on the (linen ttttt lit records in the loktilt• kf some kale rei•oviscil proprienir, sere 111 reality often held in isipareenery Mlllong a number of sharers, of w Mon (love eat hail na 'L1111%1410 . , it happened often Hutt the &Goat of it few eauseil the pimislimentlit ' All wets • in..ersed ill one ttt hint 5 ruin. The here. ;Altary eitlthators were aepri‘,4l, basidy MINI NbMililtel\, of their right**, and compelled to sue for leases under some perhaps fraudulent, purchaser. whisili they hated and despised. ,Mitch injury ensued to proprietary rights by the arbitrary nature of the proeess. Dry the fear which natives in general entertained of the assessing officers, by the i n evitable lionentnee of those officers themselves, and by the mul pntetieem of native subordinates. Many fraudulent I.lllllSferei tit' propetiy took place. Many impostors were confined in their astir pations of broad lauds, while the real owners, unable to prove their claims, languished in poverty. The injustice thus wrought was afterwards discovered, but could searettly remedied. .t commission appointed to inquire into these abuses brought to light more evils than it could cure, and dealt partially with individual cases, not. however, touching the root of the mischief. One great im nree o f error was our it., , not - ance of the peettliar tenure by whielt lands in Northern India are held. The village communities, bound together by ties of immemorial duration, were altogether ignored at. first, and not fully reeognistml until I H2-t. lly a regnlittion dated in that year, the principle of Joint responsibility was Silliellooe 4l, 311141 the head Ilutu of the 111111.ge ellall'l,4ell with the sloe volleetioll of 11oVelilllielit rent , . though this great, reform commenced during the vice-royalty Of 1.4 , 111 Ilitstings, to 1.4 William Ilentinck was res er ved 44 the glory of etfectually carrying it out. In 1t4:13 the work of revision began, and continued in progress during many years. Tllll amse3ollll4 , lll. 134+441111e at once lighter 111141 ! e4lllllllle ; the Imam datriem of villages were for the first time de fined, as also the respective rights of their inhabitants ; a system of registration was inaugurated ; u local police established : ac counts wen' regularly kept ; n fund created for the construction of roads. 1:1144 , 1' alien 11101 as 111111. Ikletellife, 11obellsoli,1111411.11011111- Moll, Upper India began to euit,y it prosperity such as, under our rule at least, it bad never known. !Mr. Kays lamotage of panegyric is here not misplayed. nod with it. wa. gladly close our review 'nue NI ortli-Wostuns Prsiviiires of India hoe new flr half a century, under British ride The weal exiwri nient of Indian government has there been heed forward I with remarkable (intl . * and solution h 11 4 . 1 .1 sh 14%. W Of India are the signs of progress so great mad MO TIOTe is a freshness. a yipsiir. it healthy roldist viaith, W 4 it Wurt.. apparent eee.M%•llo . l l. ill * the adnrilrismw thin of these provinces. 'floe physiral improvement id' the ttttt try, Mid lilt . Mosul improvement of the !people, alt. IA- Valwil 44, Maier our eyes, w ith It rapidity which would till the bygone generatii on of Italian ail ttt i t list ran *rs with as •11 as• tonishinetit ti the iowient 110 . 4 . Of .oldis•rs would experience Nt the of the magoitirent sliuu•nsiuns of our Indian empire. I 110 lint 101.1i 1. % 4' that t in the world eimseienti, MIS tuid loom lalmaioUs class of s'i% it falai 4.1111E1 41 . allot those Who, Staler' one of this . beat Diets WWI iii teat admailtln . trators who have vier devoted their hies to the service *if the eff pcsiple of India , ar e now Issuin g the bunion and heat a the day. in serious toilsome oris to make the yoke o of foreign cerepieht sit lightly oil tile liiilive tot hieets of w British Crown. Earnestness and energx are contagions, and it, the nortlywesterti pri•viiicA•ri of 'lndia the le•avy. • The .1110Ation Wm front those rit‘ive•gl at the India. Ikons , . owl awns. vcry able menders 4.1 r aim •ili melutling Mr. E.I ~,,, n.tono. and Mr. '11..k..r, advovaled Jim iatrofineti.m of the permanent tiettlipowitt into the Norili.Wrat but the majority of the U.oort did not enterteuu the , project. Neleirly one•half of the I aanporo and ehstridadi panned tut* the hands of native ottletalw.