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No. 438, Atjgt;st 14,185S.] THE 1, E A D...
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INDIA.
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MR. EWART'S COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN COLONI...
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Irish peasantry until the exodus which f...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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No. 438, Atjgt;St 14,185s.] The 1, E A D...
No . 438 , Atjgt ; st 14 , 185 S . ] THE 1 , E A D E B . 813
India.
INDIA .
Mr. Ewart's Committee On European Coloni...
MR . EWART'S COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN COLONISATION AND SETTLEMENT IN INDIA . —THE LAND REVENUE SYSTEMS . Our readers , we think , will welcome a continuation of our notes on the evidence given before tliis committee . In a recent notice we quoted the causes alleged by European settlers to account for the toial absence of that class in entire provinces , and their small number anywhere . Our chief cause , as we pointed out , is the state of the land tenures , as resulting from the systems of raising the land
revenue . Throughout India the land tax is the chief source of revenue ; it amounts to sixteen or seventeen millions sterling , or two-thirds of tie whole revenue j and it is assessed on the principle that the Government is the lord of the soil , and entitled as such to all ihat sliare of the profit of cultivation ¦ which constitutes rent , and belongs to the private landowner . This principle has been applied in different ways in different parts of India , according to the opinions for the time being of the ruling authority ; and no fewer than three very different systems have come in this way to be established . The hn .
porfcance ^ of the principle will be readily appreciated , and it will not be difficult to describe an imaginary case which .-will convey a very fair idea of the manner in which it has been acted upon by the East India Company . Suppose , for instance , one great ducal landowner , resolved tp grant no leases for terms , and to have dealings through his steward only with actual cultivators . The tendency of this system would certainly be to cover his estate with a pauperised tenantry ; and it would be very difficult at any future time to introduce capital and reparcel the estate among great .-farmers . - Suppose
next , on the contrary , the same great landowner resolved to have no connexion at all with the pear santry or actual cultivators , and to renounce his ancient jits progrieialis and secure a . fixed fee-farm rent , anuV nothing more , in perpetuity , for himself and his heirs for ever ; suppose again the same great landowner to come to a new estate , and on which he finds a landlord class in receipt and enjoyment both of land and of rents , and also a cultivating peasantry , —as lord paramount ( which he declares himself to be ) , he becomes jealous of the old landlords , and regards them as an encumbrance to the land , or as useless ; but , from a certain equity of temper , he wishes to exercise his new power with
moderation , and at the same time that he fixes the rent of the land as absolute owner , he allows a percentage of it to the old proprietor , and grants a lease for thirty years to tlie cultivators , holding himself free to do as he pleases with the reversion when the term shall expire . Of the East India Company we may now say , the Company has been exactly such a landowner ; and such are the different courses it has pursued in India . The first case supposed is a type of what exists in Madras and Bombay ; the second case is that of Lower Bengal , with its permanent and Zemindaiee settlement ; and the third case is the I'J'orlh-Wcst
Pro-. The question , then , arises , How have these different systems answered ? l ' or the East India Company ' s own opinion we need only turn to their celebrated " Memorandum" on its administration , published when the Court was first threatened with extinction ; and it is curious to observe that , of its tlirec systems , the only one which to the last it dislikes is the permanent settlement . la the ryotwaree settlement it is , admitted tlmt great mistakes were made ; bat ., then , remedies arc being- applied to them , and the North-West Settlement is regarded as a prodigy of practical wisdom and a model system ; but the permanent settlement , it is said , began in wrong , and is a standing injustice to the Goveminent
: it made , it is said , those proprietors who wero only collectors ; deprived tlie Government of all power of protecting the ryots ( cultivators ) from the proverbial cruelty of private landlords , and of all power , also , of profiting b y the improved value of the land tax or rent . Such is tho view generally which the East India Company takes of these different systems . "We shall not stop here to controvert them , beyond remarking that the two last objections to the permanent settlement savour of inconsistency aud tho first of them is not true in . fact . Tho ryots , J twassumed , have been oppressed , and this is imputed * s a consequence of tlie permanent settlement ; but the truth is , that the power of legislating in the interests of the ryots was reserved by the express
terms of the settlement , and the oppression is rather chargeable against the Government , which never exercised its reserved power , and neglected its duty towards the population . We must now return to the evidence , which required these introductory statements to make it quite latelligible . The view which the European witnesses took of these reserved systems was quite the reverse of that presented in the " Memorandum . " In Madras and Bombay there are no European settlers , and the reason " is , that they cannot get a . footing in the country under such a revenue system ; and were this difficulty removed , the system has so pauperised the mass of the population , and split up holdings , that the operation of the capitalist would be practically impossible . In the North-West Provinces , the settlement is unfavourable to the capitalist , and consequently to the settlement of Europeans . In Lower Bengal alone Europeans find a system , in its main features , favourable to them , but it is impaired by faults -which jeopardise alL capital . Its merit consists in the fixed character of the land tax . The tax was assessed in 1793 ; it remains the same in the present day , and such it will remain for ever ; but in case of non-payment , the Government has a statutory execution , more summary and severe than the -extend of tlie Crown in England , and they sweep away , by tlie mere fact of the sale in execution , all leases , and hand over a clear estate , sueli as it was in . 179 $ , to the new purchaser . This it is which places capital in a state of insecurity much complained of by all the witnesses .
Irish Peasantry Until The Exodus Which F...
Irish peasantry until the exodus which folio-wed the famine . You said that the people were emigrating , & c , in . consequence of the revenue system of Madras?—I stated , certainly , that there was an unusual emigration , & c , and by conjecture I imputed it to the difficulty of livingon the spot . The native of India does not emigrate very willingly , and I have ascribed it to the condition of the permanently settled population . Are you not aware that the vages of labour upon , that coast are extremely high ?—No ; I hare no information on that subject . Therefore , Laving no information , you thought it best to ascribe it to the undue amount of the Government assessment ?— -My information led me to draw the conclusion that it was owing to the revenue system , and not merely to the amount of the assessment .
EVIDENCE REFERRED TO IN PAGE 666-" vV iTifEss : \ N ' . THEonAi . T > , Es < j . Subject : The Rvotw > rbee SvsTEBr . The witness having spoken of the land tenures as preventing Europeans from getting settlements in some parts of India , is asked— - To what do you refer when you speak about the land tenure preventing the settlement of Europeans , & c . ?—I refer to the ryotwarree settlement , as it is called— -a term very well known in this country ; under that tenure the Government is the immediate landlord , and in its transactions with the ryots and cultivators is represented by an army of what I should call revenue police , who , I think it sufficiently appears now , by the Madras Tontine
Report , are men of no principle whatever . I am now referring to the Madras territory , and I believe that the same revenue settlement , that is , ' the ryotwarree settlement , exists to a great extent in the Bombay Presidency ; in all where that state of things exists , that is , with the Government as the landlord , and being represented by such a police as exists there—an army of something like sixty thousand—I apprehend it is selfevident that with a pauperised tenantry the capitalist cannot possibly get a footing ; and he cannot get a footing for another reason , that the settlement is an exclusive settlement , and does not involve any plan for introducing a class of landlords intermediate to the Government . I state tbat as the conclusion of my own mind as to that settlement . Would your answer be represented by the opinion that the frequent interposition of the Government agents between tlie producer and the consumer is productive of much evil ?—By tho interposition of the existing class that is the case . The existing class is a revenue police ; large numbers of them are very ill paid , and from vvliat we have lately learned , througli official reports , they are a very unprincipled , rapacious class of men , -who pauperise the population ; and I think it is stated in Mr . Kaye ' s book , that the Government are of opinion that tliey cannot extend cultivation any farther ( I do not know whether they admit under that settlement ) , although there are large tracts at present uninhabited , and large numbers of persons are constantly migrating eastward from tho Coroinaudel coast , where this settlement prevails , for employment elsewhere . Do you ascribe that to the revenue system ?—That would be tho conclusion of my own mind . It excludes the capitalist and prevents thnt expansion of prosperity which tho introduction of capital leads to . CllOSS-EXAMINED BY Ml ) , MANGLES ON TUB ABOVE KVIDKNCK . You said that at Madras , in consequence of the ryot-¦ wnrreo system , capitalists cannot get a footing?—Yes ; that was the expression which I used . A capitalist can buy land of tho ryot at Madras , can he not ?—Yes ; from a ryot no doubt ho can . I believe now tho ryot lias a saleable interest , hut I should think it a perfect impracticability for a capitalist to buy out a whole population , because it would' come to that , and what ia to become of tho population -when It is bought out ? The question supposes a thing to be practicable which is only theoretically possible . Are you not awnro that many of tlio ryots have largo holdings ?—Yea , I think it is very likely . I am not aware -whether they are numerous . I understood that tho lnnsn of the ryot population had very small holdings , and were in a pauperised condition , something like tho
Sajvie Witness , on the Pehbianbnt Settlement . What is the nature of the revenue settlement that you refer to in Lower Bengal , and what faults do you impute to it ?—The settlement ia known by tlie name of the permanent settlement . It is also called the Coruwallis Settlement , because it was established by Lori Cormvallis under the authority of an Act of Parliament , and with the full consent , and after gr & at consideration of the Court of Directors here , it was established by Lord Comwallis . I mention that because I have seen publications in which it appears to hare been imputed to Lord Cornwallis as rather an arbitrary act , arising out of a prejudice of that nobleman for the institution of great landlords ; but I believe that was tie origin of the permanent settlement . It -was Lord 'Comwallis
acting on tlie views of the first-class statesmen of that day , and it was called the Permanent Settlement because the settlement already established had been only- for tea years , which was converted into a settlement for perpetuity . Then , with reference 'to the faults of that settlement , the Government imposed very stringent terms on the zemindars for the purpose of realising its revenue—such as , if there was any default in thepayment of the revenue ,-what we should call iu England a statutoryexecution mi ght immediately issue , that is , the mere fact of default entitled-the ' collector , immediately to sell the zeiriindarree . That was done , and it had the effect , I believe , of sweeping away the zemindars who were ; the proprietors , and most of the great families who were tlie zemindars , when that settlement was established . I thiuk that proves that it was , as respects the terms « f the settlement and the amount of the revenue , not a
particularly favourable settlement . Then the condition of the settlement , to which I adverted , and to -which I should refer as a fault in the . settlement not particularly favourable to us , was this , that , whenever an estate had to be sold for default of the payment of revenue , all under-tenures created suhsequently to the date of tlie settlement ( 1793 ) were swept away by the fact of tho forfeiture ; and that affects us in this way : we talce parts of a zemindarree , perhaps on a lease or some other tenure , such as a putnee tenure ; we thereby become perpetual householders of a part of the zemindarree , and that interest is forfeited by the zemindarree being sold free from all under-tenures . Our lease is cancelled hy the'act of sale , and as the tenant or putnee-holder has not necessarily , or had not originally , notice of the forfeiture , his property is lost without his being at all aware of it . Since I have been in India there has been an improvement in that respect .
Does that grievnnce exist now?—To a much Ies 3 extent than it did formerly , and it has been under the consideration of the Government of Indin . The sub-renter is affected by the default of tho superior landholder , without the priority of the settlement to it ?—Yes , he may have given 10 , 000 / . for a valuable lease , and also bo under an engagement to pay a portion of tlie Government revenue accruing in respect of that lease , and that is swept away . It is a forfeiture which cannot be appealed against That is quite a recognised grievance , and Mr . John Peter Grant , a man of very distinguished ability undoubtedly ,
brought in a bill for the purpose of removing this inconvenience and altering the law . The Indigo Planters A ssociation entirely approved of the object of the bill , but tho new law would have produced practical inconveniences , which obliged tho Europeans to oppose that form of the law , and , as too often happens where -we partially oppose , and on grounds bo strong that the measure is postponed , -we did not get tho better measure which we ourselves suggested . Wo are , therefore , still ¦ undor the old arrangement and tho old law . Although a reform of the law was undertaken by a member of thn Government in consequence of our partial opposition , tho matter appears to hnvo boon dropped .
Do Europeans seriously suffer urulor trio existing state of tho law ?—Yes ; I believe they do . It affect * tho value of their property as n security . I understood you that the grievance is simply thisthat the rights of tho sub-renter « re swept nwny together with tho proprietorship of t » c zemindar ?—Yea , all such interests created since 1791 $ . Can putnoednrs aavo thoir tcnuro from tlic effects ol a sale for arrears of revenue by depositing thoir own rent with tho collector?—I think not merely by depositing their own rent ; I think they have to deposit also tho'rent of tho zemindar .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1858, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14081858/page/21/
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