Extracts from a firmaun of the Emperor Aurenzebe, A. D. 1668, published by Mr. Patton in his Principles of Asiatic Monarchies. The firmaun consists of instructions to the government collectors.

p. 343.—“In a place where neither asher nor kheraj (mowezzeff) are yet settled upon agriculture, they shall act as directed in the law. In case of kheraj (mowezzeff), they shall settle for such a rate, that the ryots may not be ruined by the lands; and they shall not, on any account, exact beyond (the value of) half of the produce, notwithstanding any (particular) ability to pay more. In a place where (one or the other) is fixed, they shall take what has been agreed for, provided that in kheraj (mowezzeff) it does not exceed the half (of the produce in money), that the ryots may not be ruined: but if (what is settled appear to be too much) they shall reduce the former kheraj to what shall be found proportionable to their ability; however, if the capacity exceeds the settlement, they shall not take more.

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p. 340. They must shew the ryots every kind of favour and indulgence; inquire into their circumstances; and endeavour, by wholesome regulations and wise administration, to engage them, with hearty good will, to labour towards the increase of agriculture; so that no lands may be neglected that are capable of cultivation.

From the commencement of the year they shall, as far as they are able, acquire information of the circumstances of every husbandman, whether they are employed in cultivation, or have neglected it: then, those who have the ability, they shall excite and encourage to cultivate their lands; and if they require indulgence in any particular instances, let it be granted them; but if, upon examination, it shall be found, that some who have the ability, and are assisted with water, nevertheless have neglected to cultivate their lands, they shall admonish, and threaten, and use force and stripes."

Yet in this and in another firmaun, also published

by Mr. Patton, Aurenzebe speaks very tenderly of the rights of the cultivators as proprietors, and is clearly anxious to substitute a milder mode of management for the one actually in use.

The case was much worse with the ryots when the Mogul government was broken up.

Indian Recreations by the Rev. W. Tennant, Vol. 1. pp. 188—90.—“This aspect of the native governments merits the greater notice, because it forms not an accidental or temporary feature in their character, but a permanent state of society. It is a maxim among the native politicians, to regard their "State as continually at war." Hence their military chiefs are not permitted for a moment to indulge the habits of civil life; nor do they experience the shelter of a house for many years successively. Their camps are not broken up; nor, except during a march, are their tents ever struck. The intervals of foreign hostility are occupied in the collection of revenue; a measure, which in India is generally executed by a military force, and is more fertile in extensive bloodshed and barbarity, as well as in the varied scenes of distress, than an actual campaign against an avowed enemy.

The refractory Zemindars, (as they are denominated) upon whom the troops are let loose, betake themselves, on their approach, to a neighbouring mud fort; one of which is erected for protection, in the vicinity of almost every village. There the inhabitants endeavour to secure themselves, their cattle, and effects, till they are compelled by force or famine to submit. The garrison is

then razed to the foundation, and the village burnt, to expiate a delinquency, too frequently occasioned solely by the iniquitous exactions of government itself.

In these military executions, some of the peasantry are destroyed; some fall victims to famine thus artificially created, and not a few are sold, with their wives and children, to defray their arrears to the treasury, or to discharge the aggravated burdens imposed by the land

holders. Such as survive, betake themselves to the woods, till the departure of their oppressors encourages them to revisit their smoking habitations, and to repair their ruins. Thus harrassed by the injustice and barbarity of their rulers, the peasantry lose all sense of right and wrong; from want, they are forced to become robbers in their turn, and to provoke, by their fraud or violence, a repetition of the same enormities against the next annual visitation of the army."

The fixing the poor ryot to the hereditary task of cultivation, was evidently, under even the best of such governments, a great gain to the sovereign, and a miserable privilege to him.

Buchanan's Edit. Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. IV. App. p. 86. Mr. Place, to whom the management of the jaghire, that surrounds the presidency of Madras, was committed, when describing a certain species of tenant, observes, that by granting them the lands "to them and "their heirs for ever, as long as they continued in obe"dience to the Circar, and paid all just dues, he was "enabled to convert the most stubborn soil and thickest "jingle into fertile villages."

The same sentiments were expressed by Colonel Munro, who had the charge of several districts. He saw clearly, that the high assessment on the land checked agriculture and population; and on this account, he strongly recommended to government a remission of the tribute. His views were admitted to be just; but the public necessities were pleaded as an apology for a tax, the effect of which it appears is to keep back the cultivation of the country." It is the high assessment on the land,” the members of the board of revenue observe," which Colonel "Munro justly considers the chief check to population. "Were it not for the pressure of this heavy rent, popula"tion, he thinks, ought to increase even faster than in "America; because the climate is more favourable, and

"there are vast tracts of good land unoccupied, which may "be ploughed at once, without the labour or expence of "clearing away forests, as there is above three millions of "acres of this kind in the ceded districts. He is of opinion "that a great increase of population, and consequently of "land revenue, might be expected in the course of twenty"five years, from the operation of the remission. But a "remission to a few zemindars, he apprehends, would not "remedy the evil, nor remove the weight which at present depresses population.

"Under the system proposed, Colonel Munro con"ceives, that cultivation and population would increase so "much, that, in the course of twenty-five years, lands for"merly cultivated, amounting to star pagodas 5,55,962, "would be relieved and occupied, together with a consider"able portion of waste, never before cultivated. The ex"tension of cultivation, however, would not make the farms larger, and thereby facilitate collection. The enlarge"ment of farms or estates is at present prevented by the "want of property; hereafter it would be prevented by "its division.

"This is the outline of Colonel Munro's plan, which "is not less applicable to all the districts as yet unsettled, "than to the ceded districts; and, if the exigencies of government allowed of such a sacrifice as a remission of "the present standard rents, to the extent of 25 per cent.,

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or even of 15 per cent., we should consider the measure "highly advisable, and calculated to produce great ulterior "advantages. Indeed, it would be absurd to dispute, that "the less we take from the cultivator of the produce of his "labour, the more flourishing will be his condition."

"But, if the exigencies of government do not permit "them to make so great a sacrifice; if they cannot at once "confer the boon of private property, they must be con"tent to establish a private interest in the soil, as effectu

ally as they can under the farming system. If they "cannot afford to give up a share of the landlord's rent,

"they must be indulgent landlords." See Report of Select Committee, Appendix.

For examples of the rate at which population and produce have increased under mild government, I must refer the reader to accounts of Col. Read's administration of the Mysore, Sir Thomas Munro's of the ceded districts, and to Sir John Malcolm's picture of the rapid revival of central India, after the destruction of the Mahratta sway. I find that extracts would swell this Appendix too much.

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