now embittered by ill-fortune. A dark and superstitious gloom deepened the shades of cruelty over his remaining days; and long before the diadem of Mysore finally perished, its lustre had faded in the eyes of men.

Thus was the honour of our ally vindicated. We can nowhere find that his Highness of Travancore was benefited in any way by the sanguinary conflict or the partition treaty. Like the Prince of Hohenzollern, his name was wholly forgotten from the moment the first gun was fired. The Nizam was humoured by the show of new provinces, while in reality he was to be treated as a mere trustee for those who gave and who could also take away. But if the manufacturers of the treaty forgot their allies, they did not forget themselves. "Thirty lacs of rupees (£300,000) were demanded and given as durbar khurutch, or expenses, avowedly to be distributed amongst the officers concerned in settling the treaty."1 The Viceroy returned to Calcutta. The reproach of York Town was effaced, and Lord Cornwallis was made a Marquis.

Soon after the news of these brilliant achievements reached England, the public became partially aware of the means whereby they had been accomplished; and certain folk asked querulously whether wars of annexation were not administrative jobs, got up by powerful individuals for the sake of realising fortunes after the Clive fashion? The following year, when the Company sought a renewal of their charter, a storm of political virtue broke out, with all the violence by which the epidemic has, at capricious intervals, been characterised amongst us. A show of penitence for past misdeeds was deemed expedient on the part of the Company to appease the outcry; and ere Parliament granted the renewed charter, it solemnly declared "that 1 Malcolm, vol. i. chap. vi, note.

the pursuit of schemes of conquest and extension of dominion in India is repugnant to the wish, the honour, and the policy of the nation." 1 This declaration was said to have the validity of a command; and upon the assumption of its being obeyed, the fate of Hindustan was once more intrusted to those whom Chatham used to call "the lofty Asiatic plunderers of Leadenhall Street." For a season the injunction was observed, at least in appearance. The states which had been cajoled into admitting subsidiary forces within their confines fell daily more abjectly under the control of their protectors. As the pay of their garrisons fell into arrear, they were required to mortgage the revenue of additional provinces to the Company; for the honour of British protection was no longer optional, and the last step in each case usually was the complete and formal cession of the mortgaged lands. Before Hyder's invasion in 1780, a large portion of the revenues of the Carnatic had been thus assigned by the Nawab. The expenses of the war were declared a sufficient pretext for demanding the entire, a sixth part being reserved in the nature of a pension to Mohamed Ali. Mill, like a true utilitarian, argues that this arrangement was quite a boon to the pensioned Prince, inasmuch as he was punctually paid; that he was relieved from all anxiety and risk, and that the annual stipend allotted him was, in money, rather more than he had been in the habit of appropriating to his own use.

1 East India Act of 1793.

CHAPTER XV.

66

THE LAND SETTLEMENT.

1793.

Bengal is one of the most fertile countries on the face of the globe, with a population of mild and industrious inhabitants, perhaps equal to, if not exceeding in number, that of all British possessions put together. Its real value to us depends upon the continuance of its ability to furnish a large annual investment to Europe, to give considerable assistance to the treasury at Calcutta, and to supply the pressing and extensive wants of the other Presidencies. The consequences of the heavy drains of wealth from the above causes, with the addition of that which has been occasioned by the remittance of private fortunes, have been for many years past, and are now, severely felt by the great diminution of the current specie, and by the languor which has thereby been thrown upon the cultivation and the general commerce of the country. A very material alteration in the principles of our system of management has therefore become indispensably necessary, in order to restore the country to a state of prosperity, and to enable it to continue to be a solid support to British interests and power in this part of the world."

-CORNWALLIS.1

HE conditions of land tenure, and the methods of assess

THE

ment throughout India, were as various as the features of the country itself; the customs prevailing in one region being often wholly unknown in another. When by the treaty of 1765 the Company became Dewan of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, they continued the system of land taxation then existing. This was principally a produce assessment. The fruits of the land were equally divided between the Government and the actual occupier, the Zemindar receiving about one-tenth of the Government share. 1 Minute on Land Settlement, 10th February 1790.

An account of the land under cultivation, the produce, rent, and other details, was kept by native officials in each village, who were paid fixed salaries by the cultivators, or received allotments of land for their services. A collection of villages was called a Pergunna, a combination of these again formed a Circar, and the union of two or more Circars constituted a Soubah. The holders of large areas, who became directly responsible to the Government for the revenue therefrom, were called Zemindars, under whom were the Talookdars, or owners of smaller estates, and the Ryots, who were the actual cultivators of the soil. A few Zemindaries, as Burdwan, Barrackpoor, and Berbhom in Bengal, were nearly four thousand square miles in extent, and their occupiers were Rajahs, or native princes of high rank; but the greater number were of much smaller proportions, held by men of less influence and authority. On the acquisition of the Dewanny, the Directors had instructed their officers to confine themselves to the simple duty of receiving the revenue, the details of collection being left to the ordinary native hands. But the corruption which attended the arbitrary substitution of foreign for native local rule bore the usual fruit of weeds in the fiscal field. The Court of Directors, alarmed for the state of their balance-sheet, in 1769 appointed English supervisors over the native collectors. In the following year, Boards of Inquiry and Control were established at Moorshedabad and Patna, but they did nothing but expose abuses which they lacked the power to remedy. In 1772, Warren Hastings revolutionised the entire fiscal department. European were substituted for Indian collectors. The Calcutta Council were constituted a Board of Revenue; several new officers were created; the treasury was removed from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, and four members of Council were sent on a tour

of inspection through the country to collect the materials on which to base a re-assessment. A purely Feringhee exccutive however did no better for Leadenhall Street than its halfblood predecessor. A number of native clerks were turned adrift, and a few more adventurers were benefited, but the earth brought forth no greater increase, and the India House dispensed no greater blessing in the shape of an improved percentage. In 1774, the newly-appointed Viceroy reverted to the employment of black collectors, as they were termed, and set up six district councils of superintendence. An experimental assessment had been made for five years, but the results were not sufficiently satisfactory to warrant a renewal; and on its expiration in 1777, annual settlements were decreed for the four years ensuing. In these the Zemindars were encouraged to become responsible for the land revenue, Government retaining power over lands in their own occupation as a guarantee for the faithful performance of their duty. In 1781 another scheme was tried. The district councils were superseded, and a central committee of revenue was formed, and the collectors were encouraged to replenish the exchequer by the grant of a percentage on their collections, in addition to their salaries. How this bribe succeeded may be estimated from a fact mentioned by Lord Cornwallis, that one collector, with a salary of 1000 rupees a month (£1200 a year) had an income of at least £40,000 a year.

By Mr Pitt's Act of 1784, the Company were empowered and directed to "inquire into the alleged grievances of the landholders, and if founded in truth, to afford them redress, as well as to establish fixed rules for the settlement and collection of the revenue, and for the administration of justice according to the ancient laws and usages of the country." The first official duty of Lord Cornwallis, there