ILLYRIA (KINGDOM OF).

chamois, red deer, and roebuck, and less frequently the
wolf, bear, and small lynx. In the S. provinces, the ortolan
and the common partridge, quails, water-fowls, and birds of
passage are common. The fishery in the gulf of Quarnero,
and in the channels between the islands, furnishes an
abundance of fish peculiar to those waters.
Mines.-The chief wealth of Illyria consists in the rich
metallic veins found in its mountains. The N. mountain
chain separating Carinthia from Styria consists of transition
formations, overlaying mica slate, which composes the great
spine of the Noric Alps, and contains vast quantities of a
very superior iron ore. This chain opens S. into several
valleys, sending tributaries to the Drave; and in these se-
cluded districts the various mining operations are carried
on, favoured by the water-power afforded by the mountain
torrents. In the valleys in the Lieser, Gurk, Olsa, Mett-
nitz, and Lavant, iron is the chief product. The moun-
tains near Huttenberg are rivalled in productiveness only
by the most prolific of the Swedish veins. The ore is chiefly
the carbonate of iron. The usefulness of these mines to
the country is much impeded by the interference of the
government with the industrial occupations of its subjects.
In fact, the limitations on the export of iron, and the vexa-
tious hinderances to enterprise, are such as to cramp all
speculation; and the quantity annually produced corres-
ponds neither with the wealth of the mines nor with the

Districts.

wants of the empire. In Carniola the same description of
ore is found, near Feistriz, in the valley of Wochein; at
Sava and Jauerburg, in the valley of the Save; and in
Lower Carniola, near Hof. There are rich mines of lead
at Bleiberg, in Carinthia, and of quicksilver in Idria. The
latter are situated in the E. portion of the Julian Alps,
on the right bank of the Isonzo. The ore is found in
a schistose rock, breaking through the predominant lime-
stone of that chain; and as the veins get deeper, they
are said to become richer. Blasting is the usual method
employed for obtaining the ore; and the workmen, on
account of the depth and consequent heat of the mines,
work by relays of eight hours each gang. The lowest
point in the mine is 300 feet below the bed of the adjacent
Idritza. The following is the return of the produce of
the mines of Illyria, for the year 1837:
Gold and silver

Lead

Iron
Coal

Alum and graphite

3 marks

56,487 cwt. 391,323

92,653

120

Quicksilv. (from Istria) 3,326

value £300,000.

value £75,000.

The other occupations of the people, though less important, exhibit an annual increase. The following table shows the increase in the number of registered manufacturers and traders between 1829 and 1837:

Most of the manufacturers in the above table are em- | ployed in converting the metals imo hardware, &c. There is no return of the commercial establishments in Trieste, inasmuch as that city is not included in the tax registers of the kingdom, its taxes being commuted for a payment of 60,000 florins annually. Flax spinning and linen weaving are the common and supplementary employments of the peasantry during their leisure from tillage labour, and the quantity annually produced for home consumption and ex portation is considerable. Common woollen fabrics are likewise manufactured for home consumption; and fine cloths are made at Klagenfurth. There are 21 glasshouses, but only two cotton factories in Illyria.

In the trade returns of Illyria, Trieste, being a free port, is usually excluded. Its exports are chiefly metal and timber. The inhabitants of the district of Gottschee are almost all pedlars, who travel through foreign countries with their wares. The trade of Carinthia, Carniola, and the Illyrian coast, exclusive of Trieste, according to the official report for 1837, was as follows:

Imports
Exports

7,304,257 florins.
7,197,595 do.

Quarnero islands, among which the port of Lussin Piccolo is, perhaps, the most capacious.

The roads of Illyria are as good as in most parts of the Austrian empire. The valleys of the Drave and Save are used for communication between Tyrol and Salsburg, and Carinthia and Carniola. Two main lines of road lead from the capital to Trieste, one by Klagenfurth and Goritz, the other by Laybach. From Goritz the former has a branch to Venice and other parts of Italy, while the latter is connected by roads, following the vales of the Save and Drave, with Hungary and the military frontier provinces. The internal navigation is limited to rafts on the Save and Drave, by means of which rivers and their tributaries, much timber is floated down from the forests to the Danube.

Population.-The population of Illyria, in the course of 20 years, has increased in Carinthia and Carniola at the rate of 174 per cent., and in the Litorale at 30-3 per cent.

The inhabitants (with the exception of the German settlers and of the Italians who have immigrated into the southern circles) are of Slavonian origin, and the vernacular language of Carniola, which is used as a written dialect, is one of the purest of the Slavonic idioms. Carniola

The amount of the trade of Trieste wtih the rest of the is divided into Upper and Lower, the seats of the Gorenzi empire, during the same year, was:

31,281,533 florins.
12,712,882 do.

Imports Exports The exportation of metals is chiefly confined to the other provinces of the empire, Germany and Italy. Formerly a considerable export trade was carried on with England; but it has almost ceased since the interruption occasioned by the continental blockade, and the increased production of iron in England. The present customs regulations, which prohibit, by extravagant duties, the exportation of raw steel, have also been most prejudicial to the iron trade of Illyria. The shipping lists, in 1837, gave the following report:

CrewB.

Port.

4,591

6,936

2,110

918 692 1,671

Krainzi and the Dolenzi Krainzi; the former of which are the mountaineers of the Julian Alps, the latter the inhabitants of the valley of the Save. The Viparzi, in the valley of the Wippach; the Kraschorzi, on the Karst; the Piuz chene, in the Poik valley; and the Zoitzke, are perhaps only local names. The general denomination for the Illyrian Slavonians is "Windi or Wenden" (Venedi). The inhabitants of Friaul call themselves "Furlani:" the peninsula is occupied by the "Istriani," and the Quarnero islands by "Liburnii." Nearly one million of the inhabitants are Slavonians.

The condition of the Illyrian population, though certainly improving, is by no means prosperous. Like so many of the Slavonian inhabitants of the empire, they speak a langunge which has not for centuries been the vehicle of intellectual improvement, and from an early period they were governed by tyrants, who availed themselves of their fendal rights, to the injury of the people, without conferring on them any of the advantages incidental to that system. In fact, the Illyrians had no national existence till the time of Napoleon. The ephemeral kingdom of Illyria which he Since 1837, great activity has prevailed in the shipping in- established infused a spirit into all classes, which awakenterest, chiefly owing to the exertions of a joint-stock com-ed them from the lethargy of ages. Much still remains to pany, named "The Austrian Lloyd's," which has 10 steam- be done towards ameliorating the condition of the peasant, boats running between Trieste and the harbours of Dal- yet the change in his condition for the better, within the matia and the Levant. The Illyrian coast has many ex-present century, is very great. The mountaineers of Cacellent harbours, few of which, however, are made avail-rinthia and Upper Carniola are the poorest and worst fed able for purposes of commerce. Istria abounds with ports, many large enough to shelter whole fleets, the principal of which are Capo d'Istria, Pirano (Porto Rose), Quieto, Pola, Parenzo, Rovigno, &c., but these are now only frequented by the barks conveying salt, wine, oil, gall nuts, charcoal, bark, and other productions of the peninsula to Trieste and Venice. There are likewise some tolerable harbours in the

of the inhabitants. Among them "cretins," or idiots, are of frequent occurrence, and are recommended to their neighbours' charity by the superstitious notion that their presence in a family indicates good fortune. Goftre is common among the mountaineers, and the mortality is so great as scarcely to admit of any increase in the population. The inhabitants of the valleys, especially those living near the

INDIA (BRITISH).

in the East India Company. The body of proprietors of of directors and proprietors. It is clear, therefore that, East India stock, assembled in general court, elected 24 from 1784, when the board of control was established, the directors, to whom the executive power was entrusted, the real sovereignty of British India was taken out of the hands body of proprietors reserving exclusively to themselves all of the company, and placed in those of ministers. legislative authority. A vote in the court of proprietors Under the act of 1833 (3 & 4 William IV., cap. 85), the was acquired by the holders of £500 of the company's company holds, under the superintendence of the board of stock; but to be a director, it was necessary to hold £2000 control, the political government and patronage of British stock. The directors, with their chairman and deputy India, till the 30th of April, 1854; but its exclusive comchairman, were chosen annually, and subsequently sub-mercial privileges are no longer in existence. The supreme divided themselves, for despatch of business, into 10 sepa- authority is vested in the governor-general, who is also rate committees. As early as 1707, the three principal pre- governor of the presidency of Bengal. He is nominated by sidencies into which British India is divided-those of Bom- the court of directors, the nomination being subject to the bay, Madras, and Calcutta, were in existence. Each was approval of the sovereign, and is assisted by a council of governed by a president or governor, and a council of from five members, three of whom are appointed by the court nine to twelve members, appointed by commission of the of directors, from among persons who are or have been ser company. All power was lodged in the president and vants of the company; the fourth is also chosen in a simicouncil jointly, every question that came before them being lar manner, but from among persons unconnected with the decided by a majority of votes. In 1726, a charter was company; and the fifth is the commander-in-chief, who granted, by which the company were permitted to establish takes rank and precedence immediately after the governora mayor's court at each of the presidencies, consisting of a general. The other presidencies have also their governors mayor and nine aldermen, empowered to decide in civil and councils, subordinate to the governor and council of cases of all descriptions, with an appeal from their juris- the Bengal presidency; the presidency of Agra, however, diction to the president and council. The latter were also comprising the upper provinces of Bengal, is at present advested with the power of holding courts of quarter ses- ministered by a lieutenant-governor only. The governorsions, for the exercise of penal judicature, in all cases ex- general in council is competent to make laws for the whole cepting those of high treason, as well as a court of requests of British India, which are binding upon all the courts of for the decision, by summary procedure, of pecuniary ques- justice, unless annulled by higher authority. Parliament tions of inconsiderable amount. Added to this, the powers reserves to itself the right to supersede or suspend all proof justices of the peace were granted to the members of the ceedings and acts of the governor-general; and the court council, and to them only, the president being at the same of directors has also power to disallow them. The foretime commander in chief of all the military force stationed going remarks do not, however, in any way apply to Ceywithin his presidency. It will thus be readily seen that lon, which is quite independent of the jurisdiction of contithe officers of the company were recognised as the judges nental India, being placed directly under the colonial secrein their own cause in all cases; and that, notwithstanding tary of Great Britain. By the act of 1833, the salaries of the establishment of the mayors' courts, they still held all the principal civic officers in India were fixed, that of the the judicial as well as the executive functions, both civil governor-general at £24,600 a year; the governors of the and military, in their own hands. An individual who be- Bombay and Madras presidencies, £11,600; the ordinary came a member of the council was not debarred from sub-members of the head council, £9600 each; and the memordinate functions; and from this circumstance especially it might have been expected that abuses would prevail; and to the abuses which thence arose, in fact, Mr. Millattributes the embarrassments in which the affairs of the company afterwards became involved.

bers of the other councils, £6000 each yearly. (Parl. Acts, Reports, &c.; Mill's Hist., &c.)

In 1773, the great increase in the territorial possessions of the company attracted the attention and excited the cupidity of the government at home; while the financial embarrassments of the company, and the abuses which had crept into the government of India, furnished ample grounds for interference. In consequence, the ministry introduced two bills into parliament, distinctly asserting the claim of the crown to the territorial acquisitions of the company, raising the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors from the possession of £500 to that of £1000 stock; giving to every proprietor possessed of £3000 two votes, of £6000 three votes, and of £10,000 four votes; limiting the annual election of the whole 24 directors to that of six only; vesting the government of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa in a gov-pees, several of whom he established in each zillah or disernor-general, with a salary of £25,000 a year, and four councillors, of £8000 each; rendering the other presidencies subordinate to that of Bengal; and establishing at Calcutta a supreme court of judicature, consisting of a chief justice, with £8000 a year, and three puisne judges, with £6000 a year each appointed by the crown. As subsidiary articles, it was proposed, that the first governor-general and councillors should be nominated by parliament in the act, and hold their office for five years, after which the patronage of those great offices should revert to the directors, but still subject to the approbation of the crown; that everything in the company's correspondence from India which related to civil or military affairs, to the government of the country, or the administration of the revenues, should be laid before ministers; that no person in the service either of the king or the company should be allowed to receive presents; and that the governor-general, councillors, and judges should be excluded from all commercial speculations and pursuits.

Mr. Pitt's famous India bill of 1784 established the board of control, consisting of six members of the privy council, appointed by the king, two of the principal secretaries of state being always members. The president of the board is, in fact, secretary of state for India, and is the officer responsible for its government, and for the proceedings of the board. The superintendence of the latter extends over the whole civil and military transactions carried on in India. It revises, cancels, or approves all despatches, letters, orders, or instructions proposed to be sent out by the court of directors to the government in India; it may also require the court to prepare and send out despatches on any given subject, couched in such terms as it may deem fit; it may transmit, in certain cases, orders to Indía, without the inspection of the directors, and has access to all the company's papers and records, and to all proceedings of the courts

Judicial System.-When, in 1793, the Marquis Cornwallis undertook his reform of the judicial and revenue systems of British India, that territory was in a most deplorable state. "The administration of justice through all its departments was most pernicious and depraved; the public revenue levied upon principles incompatible with the existence of private property; the people sunk in poverty and wretchedness; more than one third part of the country a desert, and the rest hastening to desolation." (Mill, v., 428.) Under the orders sent to India in 1786, the same individuals combined the business both of judicature and finance; being at once collectors of revenue, judges, and heads of the police. Lord Cornwallis endeavoured to separate these apparently incompatible offices, and distributed them among different individuals. He gave to native commissioners power to determine civil suits among natives to the value of 50 rutriet, giving an appeal from their decisions to the zillah court, held in the principal town of the district, of which one of the company's servants was appointed the judge. The latter functionary was assisted by a registrar, and some other members from among the junior servants of the company, and natives duly qualified to expound the Hindoo or Mohammedan law. These courts had jurisdiction in cases to the amount of 1000 rupees. From them appeal might be made to four provincial courts established at Calcutta, Patna, Dacca, and Moorshedabad. These courts consisted of three judges, chosen from the civil department of the company's service, a registrar, one or more assistants from the junior European servants of the company, and three expounders of the native law-a cauzee, mufti, and pundit. A higher tribunal," that of Sudder Dewannet Adawlut, was established at Calcutta, composed of the gov ernor-general, his counsel, the head cauzee, two mufties, two pundits, a registrar, and assistants. All suits of Europeans were exclusively tried in this court: appeal from it lay only to the king in council, in cases above the amount of 50,000 rupees. Four tribunals were erected in the four provincial courts, for criminal judicature, at which the judges, &c., of the civil tribunals officiated every month; the penal judicature was administered in most of the country districts only twice, but in that of Calcutta four times a year. The superior criminal tribunal was the Nizamut Adawlut, held at Calcutta, and constituted almost similarly to the Sudder Dewannee Adawlut.

But with all this machinery of legislation, nothing like a code of laws was promulgated. The Hindoo and Mohammedan population were governed by the rules laid down in their respective sacred books-the Shasters and the Koran -as interpreted by the ever-varying opinions of the pundits and cauzees. The courts established on the European model were infected with all that multiplication of techni

INDIA (BRITISH).

cal forms, which forms the worst feature of our own legal
code, and all that delay and expensiveness of process,
which tend to destroy the ends of justice, followed as a
matter of course. The errors in the system adopted were
great; but, considering the state in which Lord Cornwallis
found affairs, it may be truly said that he effected a vast
deal of good. He was actuated by the purest and most
benevolent motives; and wisely endeavoured to respect, in
as far as possible, the different legal codes of the various
sects and nations comprised in the population of India.
Of late years, however, a disposition has grown up to
unite again the judicial, magisterial, and revenue authori-
ties which Lord Cornwallis had separated. A considerable
change of this description was introduced by Sir T. Monro
in the Madras territories, and more recently by Lord W.
Bentinck in Bengal. (See Revenue and Judicial Selections;
Asiatic Journal, &c.)

Within the cities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and also within the settlements of Penang, Singapore, and Maacca, English civil and criminal law is administered to both natives and Europeans, with the exception of their own laws of inheritance being preserved to the former. But beyond the limits of the above-mentioned cities, on the continent of India, the native laws have been made binding on Europeans as well as natives. The charter of 1833 provides that no one shall, by reason of his nation, colour, or faith, be disqualified from holding office under the company, and that, henceforth, there shall be no distinction of blood or nativity. "Upon this ground," says Mr. Craw furd, "the legislative council of India, without waiting for the code of laws which, under direction of the same statute, was in course of preparation, passed a law subjecting Europeans to the same tribunals to which natives are subject, although these tribunals administer their own domestic laws respectively to Hindoos and Mohammedans, are cognisant of no others, repudiate expressly the laws of England, and are presided over by natives, or by unprofessional European servants of the East India Company, the first of whom rarely know a word of English; while the proceedings of the courts are both conducted in the native languages, to the express exclusion of the English tongue. This act, from its unpopular character, is commonly called by Europeans in India, the 'Black Act.""

|

tention given to Indian affairs at home will tend to make them wary in their proceedings. We are less able to judge of the expediency of making British-born subjects responsible to the native tribunals; but even this is, we believe, less objectionable than it might appear to be.

Revenue system. The land-tax constitutes the principal source of the revenue of British India, as it has always done of all eastern states. The governments of such countries may, in fact, be said to be the real proprietors of the land; but in India, as elsewhere, the cultivators have a perpetual, hereditary, and transferable right of occupancy, so long as they continue to pay the share of the produce of the land demanded by the government. The value of this right of occupancy to the rural population depends on the degree of resistance which they have been able to oppose to the exactions of arbitrary governments. In Bengal and the adjacent provinces of India, from the peculiarly timid character of the inhabitants, and the open and exposed nature of the country, this resistance has been trifling indeed, and, consequently, the value of the right of occupancy in the peasant, or ryot (an Arabic word, meaning subject), has been proportionally reduced. This, also, may be considered, though with some modifications, as being nearly the condition, in this respect, of the inhabitants of every part of the great plain of the Ganges, comprising more than half the population of Hindostan. But where the country is naturally difficult, the people have been able more effectually to resist the encroachments of the head landlord, or state, and to retain a valuable share in the property of the soil. This has been particularly the case along the ghauts, as in Bednore, Canara, Malabar, &c.; the inhabitants of which provinces not only lay claim to a right of private property in the soil, but have been generally ready to support their claim by force of arms. There can be no question, indeed, that the same modified right of property formerly existed everywhere; and it is indeed impossible that otherwise the land should ever have been reclaimed from the wilderness. But, in those parts of India which could be readily overrun by a military force, the right of property in the soil has long been little else than the right to culti vate one's paternal acres for behoof of others, the cultivators reserving only a bare subsistence for themselves.

Under the Mogul emperors, the practice in Bengal was There can be no doubt that, under the act of 1833, Euro- to divide the gross produce of the soil, on the metayer prinpeans gained great advantages by the abolition of the East ciple, into equal shares, whereof one was retained by the India Company's monopoly and trade, the power to possess cultivator, the other going to government as rent or tax. land, and the comparatively ample field which is thus The officers employed to collect this revenue were called opened to their enterprise. It is alleged, however, that, in zemindars; and in course of time their office seems to have so far as respects their rights, liberties, and laws, they are become hereditary. It may be remarked that, in Persian, in a less favourable position than under the old system. zemindar and landholder are synonymous; and this etyUnder the latter, British subjects, within the special juris-mology, coupled with the hereditary nature of their office, diction of the king's courts, could only, like the native, be which brought them exclusively into contact with the ryot, tried by their own laws, and the local government could or occupier, as well as with the government, led many to enact no new law for their government not in accordance believe that the zemindars were in reality the owners of with the "laws of the realm." But by the new system, the the land, and that the ryots were their tenants. This, governor-general in council may enact any laws whatso- however, it is now admitted on all hands, was an incorrect ever that shall be binding on British subjects, whether the opinion. The zemindars in reality were taxgatherers, and same be consonant with the "laws of the realm," or other-were, in fact, obliged to pay to the government nine tenths wise. Under the old law, an appeal lay to the privy coun- of the produce collected from the ryots, retaining only one cil, which any individual might institute. The privilege is tenth as a compensation for their trouble; and, so long as now, however, cut off, and, under the modern system, no- the ryots paid their fixed contribution, they could not be thing short of an act of parliament can repeal a law that ousted from their possessions, nor be in anywise interfered has the sanction of the Indian authorities. Under the old with. system, British-born subjects in the provinces, that is, beyond the special jurisdictions of the king's courts, were, in civil cases, amenable only to courts presided over by their countrymen in the commission of the peace. Under the new system, they are amenable to the extent of £5000 in value, to the pettiest native tribunal, presided over by a Mohammedan or Hindoo-judges equally ignorant of their manners, laws, and language, and, with few exceptions, viewing their religion with hatred or contempt. The appeal to the king's courts, which was a guarantee for their own laws, is taken away from them; and it lies to the chief native tribunal-of which the judges, indeed, are Englishmen, but in which the proceedings are in the native tongue-in which there is no one to advise the judges, and where an English barrister is not even permitted to plead. Under the old system, an appeal lay, even from the competent tribunals of the king's courts, to the king in council; under the new system no such appeal lies from the native tribunal, unless the value be above 12 times as much as it was before the innovation.

But, notwithstanding what has now been stated, the perpetual or zemindary settlement, established by Lord Cornwallis in Bengal in 1793, was made on the assumption that the zemindars were the proprietors of the soil. His lordship, indeed, was far from being personally satisfied that such was really the case; but he was anxious to create a class of large proprietors, and to give them an interest in the improvement and prosperity of the country. It is clear, however, that this wish could not be realized without destroying the permanent rights of the ryots, for, unless this were accomplished, the zemindars could not interfere in the management of their estates. The interests of the zemindars, and the rights of the ryots, were plainly irreconcilable; and it was obvious that the former would endeavour to reduce the latter to the condition of tenants at will. But this necessary consequence was either overlooked or ineffectually provided against. The zemindars became, under condition of their paying the assessment, or quit-rent, due to government, proprietors or owners of the land. The amount of the assessment was fixed at the average of what it had been for a few years previously, and it was declared to be perpetual and invariable at that amount. When a zemindar fell into arrear with government, his estate might be either sold or resumed.

We believe, however, that, practically, little inconvenience has arisen, or is at all likely to arise, from most of these regulations. We may be quite sure that the power given to the governor-general and council of enacting laws will not be rashly or capriciously exercised. How exalted That the assessment was at the outset, and still is, too soever, these functionaries are not merely responsible to high, cannot well be doubted; and it must ever be matter parliament, but to public opinion: the free press, now es- of regret that the settlement was not made with the ryots, tablished in India, will not fail to advertise them of any or cultivators, rather than with the zemindars; but, noterror they may be likely to commit; while the growing at-withstanding these and other defects, the measure was, on

INDIA (BRITISH).

the whole, a great boon to India. Until the introduction | an acre. If it had a supply of water capable of growing

of the perpetual system into Bengal, the revenue was raised in it, as it continues to be in the rest of India down to the present day, by a variable as well as a most oppressive land-tax. We all know what a pernicious influence tithe has had in this country; but suppose that, instead of amounting to 10, tithe had amounted to 50 per cent. of the gross produce of the soil, it would have been an effectual obstacle to all improvement; and the country would now have been in about the same state as in the days of Alfred, or of William the Conqueror.

In France, Italy, and other parts of Europe, where the métayer system is introduced, the landlord seldom or never gets half the produce, unless he also furnish the stock and farming capital, and, in most cases, the seed. But in India, neither the government nor the zemindars do anything of the sort: they merely supply the land, which is usually divided into very small portions, mostly about six, and rarely amounting to 24 acres. A demand on the occupiers of such patches for half the produce is quite extravagant, and hence the excessive poverty of the people, which is such as to stagger belief. Still, however, the perpetual system is vastly preferable in principle, and also in its practical influence, to any other revenue system hitherto established in India. It set limits to fiscal rapacity, and established, as it were, a rampart beyond which no tax-gatherer dared to intrude. The enormous amount of the assessment, and the rigour with which payment was at first enforced, ruined an immense number of zemindars. But their lands having come into new and more efficient hands, a better system of management was introduced, and the limitation of the government demand gave a stimulus to improvement unknown in any other part of Hindostan. This, in fact, was the grand desideratum. A land-tax that may be increased should the land be improved, is all but certain to prevent any such improvement being made. This has been its uniform operation in every country in the world that has had the bad fortune to be cursed with such a destructive impost. But a heavy land-tax, provided it be fixed and unsusceptible of increase, is no bar to improvements, unless in so far as it tends to deprive the proprietors and occupiers of land of the means of making them. There is, in such a case, no want of security, and the cultivator is not deterred from attempting improvements, or of bringing superior enterprise and industry to operate on his estate, by the fact that the tax will, in consequence, be increased. The truth of what is now stated has been fully evinced in Bengal during the last 20 or 30 years; for both the population and the land-revenue of that part of our Indian empire has greatly increased. A great deal of waste land has been cultivated, and various works have been undertaken that would not be so much as dreamed of in any other part of our empire in the east. But, with all this, there has been but little, if any, improvement in the condition of the people of Bengal under our government. They, in fact, are practically excluded from, at least, all direct participation in the benefits resulting from the limitation of the assessment. They have merely exchanged one taskmaster for another. It is their landlords who have been the great gainers. The occupiers still, generally speaking, hold under the métayer principle, paying half, or even more, of their produce as rent; so that their poverty is often extreme, and their condition not unfrequently inferior even to that of the hired labourer, who receives the miserable pittance of two annas, or about 3d., a day as wages.

rice, the tax rises to 23s., or to nearly eight times the former
rent; and if the irrigated land be a garden, or an orchard,
the tax rises to 40s., or above 13 times the tax on dry land!
In the first instance the natural and inherent fertility of the
soil only is taxed; in the second, to that tax is added one on
the capital and labour which the peasant or his ancestor
laid out in reservoirs, canals, trenches, or wells. In the
third, not only are all these taxed, but there is imposed be-
sides an excise on fruits, garden stuffs, and potherbs. But
the radical vice of the system is, that the lands are not let
for a considerable number of years, or for ever. On the
contrary, there is a constant tampering and interference
with the concerns of the ryots. It is enacted, for example,
that "at the end of each year the ryot shall be at liberty
either to throw up a part of his land, or to occupy more, ac-
cording to his circumstances." When, owing to bad crops,
or other unforeseen accidents, a ryot becomes unable to pay
his rent or assessment, it is declared that “the village to which
he belongs shall be liable for him to the extent of 10 per cent.
on the rent of the remaining ryots, but no more." "And, to
crown the whole, the tehsildars, or native officers, employ-
ed in collecting the land-rents, or revenue, have been vested
with powers to act as officers of police, to impose fines, and
even to inflict corporal punishment almost at discretion!
It is really astonishing how acute and able men should
have dreamed of establishing a system in an extensive and
only half civilized country that every one must see would
be destructive of the industry of the tenants, and would lead
to the grossest abuses, were an attempt made to introduce
it into the management even of a single estate in Great Bri-
tain. Mr. Tucker, a gentleman who resided long in India,
and now occupies a place in the company's direction, has
animadverted on this plan as follows: "My wish," says
he, "is not to exaggerate; but when I find a system requí-
ring a multiplicity of instruments, surveyors and inspectors,
assessors, ordinary and extraordinary potails, curnums,
tehsildars, and cutcherry servants; and when I read the
description given of these officers by the most zealous advo-
cates of the system, their periodical visitations are pictured
in my imagination as the passage of a flight of locusts, de-
vouring in their course the fruits of the earth. For such
complicated details, the most select agency would be re-
quired; whereas the agency we can command is of the
most questionable character. We do not merely require
experience and honesty to execute one great undertaking;
the work is ever beginning and never ending, and calls for a
perennial stream of intelligence and integrity. And can it
be doubted that the people are oppressed and plundered by
these multiform agents? The principle of the settlement
is to take one third of the gross produce on account of gov-
ernment; and, in order to render the assessment moderate,
Sir T. Monro proposed to grant a considerable deduction
from the rates deducible from the survey reports. But, if it
be moderate, how does it happen that the people continue
in the same uniform condition of labouring peasants? Why
do not the same changes take place here as in other com-
munities? One man is industrious, economical, prudent, or
fortunate; another is idle, wasteful, improvident, or un-
lucky. In the ordinary course of things, one should rise and
the other fall: the former should, by degrees, absorb the
possessions of the latter; should become rich, while his
neighbour remained poor: gradations in society should take
place; and, in the course of time, we might naturally expect
to see the landlord, the yeoman, and the labourer. And
what prevents this natural progression? I should answer,
the officers of government. The fruits of industry are nipt
in the bud. If one man produce more than his fellows
there is a public servant at hand ready to snatch the super-
fluity. And wherefore, then, should the husbandman toil
that a stranger may reap the produce?

It seems, however, as if there were some strange fatality
attending the government of India; and that the greatest
talents and the best intentions should, when applied to
legislate for that country, produce only the most pernicious
projects. The perpetual settlement carried into effect by
Lord Cornwallis in Bengal was keenly opposed by Lord
Teignmouth, Colonel Wilkes, Mr. Thackeray, Sir T. Monro, "There are two other circumstances which tend to per
and others, whose opinions on such subjects are certainly petuate this uniform condition. The ryots have no fixed
entitled to very great respect; and it would seem that the possession; they are liable to be moved from field to field:
Board of Control became, at length, favourable to their this they sometimes do of their own accord, for the purpose
views. In consequence of this change of opinion it was of obtaining land supposed to be more lightly assessed; at
resolved to introduce a different system, under the super- other times the land is assigned by lot, with a view to a
intendence of its zealous advocate, Sir Thomas Monro, more equal and impartial distribution of the good and the
into the presidency of Madras, or Fort St. George. This bad, among the different cultivators. But these revolutions
new system has received the name of the ryotwar settle- tend to destroy all local attachments, and are evidently cal-
ment. It proceeds on the assumption that government pos-culated to take away one great incentive to exertion.
sesses the entire property of the soil, and may dispose of it
at pleasure; no middlemen or zemindars are interposed
between the sovereign and the cultivators; the ryots being
brought into immediate contact with the collectors appoint-
ed by government to receive their rents. It is impossible,
however, to enter fully into the details of this system. They
are in the last degree complicated, which of itself would be
enough to show their inexpediency. The land is taxed, ac-
cording to its quality, at rates varying from 6d. up to 70s. an
acre. Thus, for example, if the land were mere dry field,
without artificial irrigation, the land-tax would be about 3s.

"The other levelling principle is to be found in the rule, which requires that the ryot shall make good the deficiencies of his neighbour to the extent of 10 per cent.; that is to the extent, probably, of his whole surplus earnings. Of what avail is it that the husbandman be diligent, skilful, and successful, if he is to be mulcted for his neighbour's negligence or misfortune? A. must pay the debt of B. If a village be prosperous it matters little, for the next village may have been exposed to some calamity; and from the abundance of the one we exact wherewithal to supply the deficiency of the other. Is it possible to fancy a system