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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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Untitled Article
rage the middle-men to wrench the largest possible portion of produce from the inferior tenants ,, while zamindars and middle- * Xnen are equally ready to complain of their small gains , and
perpetually liable to seizure and a forcible sale of the land , which frequently becomes ,, through the collusion of agents , the property of any rapacious person who may have set his heart upon it . The ryotSj , meantime , have not the power of retaining a bare subsistence in return for their labour . The necessary consequence is that the value of property decreases on account of its insecurity ; the labour of the cultivators becomes heartless and inefficient , and the revenue declines year by year . The average nominal rent paid by the cultivator is half the produce ; of which , half , nine-tenths or so go to government , and the remaining tenth to the proprietor : but the proprietor , naturally dissatisfied with his share , exacts as much more than half the produce as
his power will enable him to obtain . In some districts , the rate of assessment has been fixed ; and the zamindar , now encouraged to improve his estate , has taken in waste land , and begun to accumulate capital ; but the poor ryot is as much oppressed as ever . His rent is not fixed , like his superior ' s assessment ; and the sole difference to him is that the fruit of his labour goes to augment -the zamindar ' s wealth instead of alleviating his poverty . While
the people are thus oppressed by law and custom , and very far removed from such a state of enlightenment as would enable them to proportion the supply of labour to the demand , their condition remains as nearly hopeless as any mortal condition ought to be considered . No improvement in their lot has taken place -within the memory of man . Their best moral condition must be that of untempted ignorance ; their best physical state , that of a
languid exemption from mortal disease ; their best temporal lot , that of a bare supply of rice and spices to eat , and a few yards of cotton to wear , and a reed hut to sleep in , till they obtain justice whence they have yet received only oppression . Vigour of body , energy of mind , external sufficiency and comfort are wholly out of the question , and will be for ages , unless they who must -answer for the life of the starving and the groans of the injured ,
immediately take their condition to heart , and begin to reflect what are the objects of government , and what the responsibilities of rulers . Much—it is truly said—much of this evil is owing to the bad system under which these poor creatures lived before the English had any thing to do with them ; and much to the baneful superstitions they still hold ; as is shown by the superiority of the
• Mahomedan over the Hindoo . True ; but we ought to obliterate -instead of perpetuating the traces of ancient barbarism ; we ought to win them from their superstitions , instead of making them hate what we call our religion of love . Where is the use of telling them that our faith obliges Us to yield to all their rights , —to ; provide for the need of all , —when they look about them and ace , v .
Untitled Article
Government and Religion of India . 619
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1832, page 613, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1820/page/37/
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