rsity of ithern brary MODERN INDIA: A SKETCH THE SYSTEM OF ClYIL GOYERNIENT. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NATWES AND NATIVE INSTITUTIONS. BY GEORGE CAMPBELL, ESQ., BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREE^L. 1852. London : Printed by W. Clowes aud Sons, Stamford Street. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN, LORD CAMPBELL, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND. My dear Uncle, Humble as is this my literary attempt, I have been incited to it by your illustrious example ; and I inscribe the volume to you in the hope that you will judge it indulgently, and accept it as a testimony of the respect, admiration, and affection of THE AUTHOE. February 15, 1852. a 2 PREFACE. I BELIEVE that India is now more considered than it was wont to be, and at this moment, when the periodical Par- liamentary review of Indian affairs is approaching, prac- tical information may not be unacceptable. My object is to give in one view such a general sketch of the mode in which the civil administration of the country is conducted as may satisfy those who take an interest in, without being technically acquainted with, the subject. It appears that this information has nowhere been brought into small compass or accessible form, and some very false ideas on the subject have obtained cur- rency. Whether I may succeed in supplying this want the reader must judge. I have had an intimate experience of the detail of the principal departments of the Indian ad- ministration, and I am not without hope that a description of the machinery which I have handled, and the facts which I have witnessed, may be in some degree interesting and useful. I have therefore, during the last few months, devoted my spare time to the pages for which I now crave indulgence. The subject is almost too large for such a volume, but I have compressed it as much as possible. Parliament will shortly legislate for India under pecu- liarly interesting circumstances. We have lately reached the natural limits of the country, and having become, for a 3 V! PREFACE. the first time, its undisputed masters, we enjoy a much better prospect of quiet and peaceable government than has ever before been known. It is now, then, more than ever important to secure the best system of administration. I do not at present attempt to suggest changes or amend- ments ; to do so would be premature, and there is much to learn and much to compare in this country before finally determining opinions formed on the spot. But as the first and most necessary step towards improvement is correctly to estimate the facts as they exist, I would both myself study the subject, and contribute my mite towards informing the public. Fortunately little question of English politics is now involved in Indian affairs ; yet the effect of former political prejudice is by no means altogether obliterated. A set of notions, originating in the days and in the errors of Burke, are, in some degree, traditionally handed down to the pre- sent day. The Indian Government having once acquired a bad name, the most absurd stories invented by the Indian press obtain a certain degree of credence, or affectation of credence. It is hardly wonderful that individuals (even members of Parliament) should be found to make un- founded assertions on the subject, but the misfortune is that nine-tenths of the educated classes (in or out of the House) seem to be in no condition to say whether these stories be true or false. I should hope that a very little attention to a very few plain facts will show the antecedent im- possibility of most of the fictions so often repeated. I could have wished to have confined myself to present facts, but I feel that if I were to require as a preliminary the perusal of the nine volumes of Mill, I should be merely throwing myself into a great gulf without the slightest PEEFACE. vii hope of filling it up; and even those who have studied Mill imbibe a great deal of error. In the absence, then, of any correct or generally read civil history of India, I find that, in order to save constant reference and ex- planation, the easiest course is to prefix a few chapters descriptive of the people, and explanatory of some parts of our Indian history. But this part of my volume is ancillary to what follows, and I only notice those things in the past which directly affect the present. Elphinstone alone promised to supply what was wanting in our Indian history, but he has most unfortunately stopped short on the threshold. So far as he goes nothing can be wanting, and I have taken his volumes as my text- book, and have frequently referred to them. The well- known Fifth Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, printed in 1812, is a very admirable account of our early administration, and I regret that it is not in a more convenient form. I am not aware that any- thing of the kind has been published during the last forty years. I have tried to generalise in regard to the whole of India, because my great principle — in which I am more and more confirmed the more I see, read, and inquire — is the absolute identity, in the main, of the manners, institutions, and mode of government, found by us in different parts of the country. At the same time it will be seen that in many things different, and some- times opposite systems, have been followed by us, and that, in consequence, considerable differences now exist. It will be understood, then, that my descriptions more particularly refer to Northern India, and that where I do not expressly mention the Southern Presidencies there may viii PEEFACE. be varieties of detail. I am, of course, liable to error in those things which I have not myself witnessed, but I have used the utmost endeavour to ascertain, test, and cor- rect all such statements, and I have been most obligingly- permitted to have access to the best sources of information in this country. I have obtained many statistical facts and tables, which cannot be mistaken, and trust that the comparisons which I have drawn will be found useful. It is necessary here to state, with regard to the relative value of Indian and English money, that, as the Sicca rupee no longer exists, I have abandoned the exchange of 2s. per Sicca rupee, which is still maintained in, and so much complicates, the official accounts, and have adopted the simple decimal exchange of 25. per current or Com- pany's rupee, which is not only so much more convenient, but is, in fact, much nearer the relative intrinsic value of the two coins. The conversion from rupees to pounds sterling, or vice versd, by cutting off or adding a decimal, is thus a matter of very easy arithmetic For convenience of English eyes I have generally stated all monies in pounds sterling. London, February 15, 1852, ( ix ) CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. THE INDIANS TO THE DECLINE OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE. Aborigines — Hindoos — Bramins and Khatrees — Character of ancient Hindoos — Institutions — Degree and influence of civilization — South- ward progress of Hindoos — Northern republican tribes — Mahommedans — Turcish empire — Portuguese — Mogul empire — Its character — Marattas — Jats — Sikhs — Dutch and English — Decline of Mogul empire Page 1 CHAPTER 11. THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE AS WE FOUND THEM, SHOWING THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIVES. Definition of India — Geography — Soil — Climate — Capabilities — Effects of predatory wars — Products — Population — National divisions — Interior divisions — Paces and classes — Character of the people generally — Condition of women — Institution of castes — Slavery — Religion 25 CHAPTER III. THE INSTITUTIONS AND SITUATION TO WHICH WE SUCCEEDED. Mahommedan as compared with Hindoo polity — General government — Provincial governors and subordinate officers — Maratta and Sikh systems — Village communities — Tenure of land — Revenue system — Laws — Crime — Punishments — Judicial system . . . . .75 X ' CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. OUR POLITICAL PROGRESS AND PRESENT POSITION, SHOWING THE ORIGIN AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE NATIVE STATES. The native powers with whom we have had to deal — Foreign Mahommedan powers — The French — Origin of various rulers — Acquisitions of the British — Lord Wellesley's pohcy and acquisitions — War with the Marattas — Change of policy — Pindaree war and consequent acquisitions — Supremacy of British power vdthin the desert — Burmese war — Long peace — Affghan policy and disaster — Annexation of Scinde — First Sikh war — Second Sikh war — Annexation of the Punjab — Statistics and obligations of different native states — Summary of our political obligations, receipts, and disbursements — Present political management — General effect of our political system — Succession to lajises — Debts of native princes Page 113 CHAPTER V. ON THE HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF OUR INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. First government of Company's settlements — Clive — Hastings — Lord Cornwallis — Sir J. Shore — Lord Wellesley — Lord Hastings — Monro — Elphinstone — Lord W, Bentinck — Act of 1834 — Its requirements and their execution — Improvements independent of the Act — Sir C. Metcalfe — Lord Auckland — Lord EUenborough — Sir C. Napier's government of Scinde — Lord Hardinge — Lord Dalhousie — Freedom from domestic disturbance — Europeans in India — European capital — Products and manufactures — Commerce — Ecclesiastical establishments — Missions 172 CHAPTER VI. THE GOVERNMENT AS IT NOW EXISTS. Composition of the Supreme Government — Its legislative and executive powers — Position with reference to home authorities — Choice of Governor- General and Counsellors — Working of Government — Law Commission — Subordinate Governments — Territories under each — Want of uniformity — Boards and courts — Division into districts — Executive officers — The magistrate and collector — System in non-regulation jjrovinces : the Punjab — Centralization — Mode of conducting business — No official publicity — Absence of sinecures — Character of Government. . . . 211 CONTENTS. . xi CHAPTER VIL THE INSTRUMENTS OF GOVERNMENT. Civil service — Tests — Course of study at Haileybury — College life in Calcutta — Commencemeut of service — Duties — Promotion — Periods of service — Leave — Furlougli — Qualifications — Character — Salaries — Pensions — Honours — Comparative remuneration — Military officers in civil employ — Uncoveuanted officers of different classes : their quali- fications, salaries, &c. — Inferior servants — Qualifications — Their sup- posed influence — Police and revenue establishments — Pay — Unau- thorized receipts — Constant change of officers . . . Page 2G3 CHAPTER VITI. THE LAND REVENUE. Different systems — Zemeendaree system — Perpetual settlement of Bengal — Piyotwar system — System of village leases — Results and i^resent working of Bengal permanent settlement — System in north-west provinces — Its principles — Formation and completion of present set- tlement — Existing tenures — Mode of working the settlement — Pie- sults. System in the Punjab, &c. — Tenures — Summary settle- ments — Proposed regular settlements. Madras system — Sir T. Monro's views — • Introduction of Eyotwar management — Descrijition of this system — Its results. Bombay — Tenures — Mr. Elphiu- stone's views — New system adopted in Bombay, and its results, General statement of land revenues of British India . . . 300 CHAPTER IX. SOURCES OF INCOME OTHER THAN THE LAND REVENUE. Salt-tax — Its origin — Present and former systems and receipts — General statement of salt reveniie — Customs — Opium revenue — Bengal system — Agencies — Receipts — Excise — Tobacco revenue — Moturpha reve- nue — Stamps and fines — Tribute — Post-office — Local taxes . 379 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. FINANCE. Our peculiar financial position — Our financial history — The debt — General statements of revenues and charges for 1849-50 — Finance of different Presidencies — Result of recent acquisitions — Financial com- parison between 1835-6 and 1849-50 — Cause of deterioration explained thereby Page 405 CHAPTER XI. POLICE AND CRIMINAL ADMINISTRATION. Police establishment — Duties — Village police — Mode of police proceed- ings — The magistrate and his duties — Progress of a case till trial — Character of the police — Madras and Bombay police — Special Thuggee and Dacoitee police — The criminal law — Classification of offences — Mode of trial and procedure in felonious cases — And in petty cases — Punishments — Evidence — Eesults of criminal system — Statistical tables — ComiDarison of crimes — ■ And of judicial statistics — Eeasons of want of success — Crime and police in the Punjab — The code proposed by the Law Commission ......... 440 CHAPTER XII. THE ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL JUSTICE. The Eegulation system — The courts — The judges — The laws, &c. — The mode of procedure — Interference with landed rights — Pleaders and attorneys — Perjury and forgery — Madras and Bombay systems — Appeals to the Privy Council — Statistical statements — Non-regulation system — Civil justice in the Punjab — Experience in regard to examina- tion of parties, &c. ......... 524 Index 554 MODERN INDIA. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. THE INDIANS TO THE DECLINE OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE. Aborigines — Hindoos — Bramins and Khatrees — Character of ancient Hindoos — Institutions — Degree and influence of civilization — South- ward progress of Hindoos — Northern rejiublican tribes — Mahommedans — Turcish empire — Portuguese — Mogul empire — Its character — Ma- rattas — Jats — Sikhs — Dutch and English — Decline of Mogul empire. In India, as in most parts of the world, there exists in the mountains the remnant of an aboriginal The fir^t inha- race, differing in appearance, language, and ^^''^"^''• manners from the inhabitants of the plains, and doubt- less the first possessors of the country ; but of the his- tory of this race we know nothing farther. The Hindoos had occupied the plains of the Indus and Ganges prior to history. Whatever be the origin of the latter people, we first find them settled in Northern India, and highly civilized. Their connection with Egyptians or Persians I pretend not to trace. It is sufficient that we know that they were members, and important members, of that most ancient Eastern civilization which existed contemporaneously, and of an almost identical type, in India. Persia, Assyria, and Egypt, before origin of fust our Western civilization had taken its origin civilization. in the Greeks. It arose in the rich alluvial lands of the 2 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. Ganges, the Euphrates, and the Nile. There first the earth did more than support those employed in cultivating it. There was a surplus produce, which gave to its con- sumers leisure for following the arts of civilization, and at the same time rendered necessary legislation to regula1;e its disposal. In all the countries which I have mentioned we find at the commencement of history a state of things and division of nearly the same. Laws can be inculcated classes. ■, ■, ,■, ,- n t • upon savages only by the sanction oi religion, and in all those countries a dominant tribe were the dis- pensers of religion and law, and ruled rather by moral than physical force. In all, the civilized people became at a later period subject to warlike conquerors — in all, the conquerors were made converts to the faith and civi- lization of the priestly class, and took place in the com- munity as a military caste, first in a civil, but second in a religious view. In all, the accumulators and dispensers of capital known as the mercantile class were also admitted to a certain rank and honour, while the mass of the labouring population formed a fourth and lowest class. In all, the surplus produce of the The first reve- . nue or rent, and land was the fuud for defraying the ex- its application. p , i , • p • ,1 penses or government and satisiying the dominant classes ; and this fund being available, there was little resort to other taxation. In all, surplus wealth or surplus labour, in the absence of modern modes of disposing of them, were applied directly to the masses of structure which remain as monuments to the present day, and which need in no way surprise us. For in the infancy of civilization, when men had no railways to travel on, nor exhibitions to contribute to, nor the thou- sand domestic luxuries which consume a rich man's in- come, they spent their money in building pyramids and carving rock temples. The valley of the Nile doubtless Chap. I. THE ANCIENT HINDOOS. 3 supported double the population required to cultivate it. If for the one-half no useful occupation could be found, what more natural than to set them to work on pyramids, and what surprising that such a mass of labour should produce such a mass of building ? Again, as they must in the end have become tired of pyramids, and found them somewhat unsatisfactory, their ingenuity was exer- cised to find more useful employment, and they led the way in arts and manufactures. Such also was no doubt the history of Hindoo civilization. Whether , -j^ . II' • • • T T "^'^^ Bramins the Jiramms took their origm m India or and tiie Kha- came from somewhere else, they were a dominant tribe ; and whether originally warlike or not, they assumed in the end rather a priestly than a military character. The Khatrees were evidently military con- querors of the more civilized Bramins ; for notwithstand- ing the account of their own superiority given by the Bramin authors, it is clear that the Bramins would not have admitted them to the first civil rank if they had not taken it by force. The Bramins were content to attempt to exercise a moral rule through the medium of religion and law ; and together the Bramins and Khatrees ruled a people far advanced in civilized arts. This, then, was the ancient Hindoo people settled in Northern India. They resembled the -,^ . ,.,.... Character of the iLgyptians not only m their institutions ancient nin- and manners, but also in physical appear- ance, as may be judged from the monuments of both nations, and the appearance and character of the purest Hindoos of the present day. Everything shows the original Hindoos to have been of that oily, long-eyed, Egyptian cast of countenance, and sleek, supple-jointed, luxurious-looking bodies, which we see in monuments — a people of little physical energy and courage, but of great acuteness and cunning of mind. The history of the B 2 4 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. Khatrees, who they were, and where they came from, we do not know. The Hindoos at this stage of their history are fully described by Menu about 800 B.C. But it Menu. . , . , , , IS the too common mistake to look upon Menu as in everything a ho7idJide reporter of facts. The best authorities are agreed that he describes things not so much as they were, but rather as in his opinion they ought- to be. Hence the excessive superiority attributed to Bramins, which is the foundation of English ideas in regard to them at the present day, but which neither have they enjoyed to such an extent at any time or place with which we are acquainted, nor is it probable that they ever enjoyed under the rule of the Khatrees. In like manner many of Menu's laws seem much more theo- retical than practical. But in matters in which he may be supposed to be impartial much is to be learned from him. The Bramins seem to have been a great Levitical tribe settled in large numbers on the Position of the ^-^ rr^i Tn i_ i dominant tribes (jrangcs. 1 he Khatrees do not appear to in Menu's time. , , . /r» • i i , i have been m suiricient numbers to have formed a large proportion of the population, or to have been settled in agricultural communities. They were purely military, and may either have been the fore- runners of the larger agricultural tribes which after- wards immigrated, or military nomads, like the shepherd kings of Egypt. The country was divided among them in petty independent kingdoms ; but it does not seem clear whether they divided their conquests with their followers on a feudal system, or ruled on purely monarchical principles. The latter may be gathered from Menu. In Menu's work w^e find no traces whatever of the purely democratic institutions of modern Bajpoots and Chap. I. CORPORATE VILLAGES. 5 Jats. This is not conclusive as to the origin of the Khatrees, for democrats at home may be Absence of de- , . PI p • mocratical insti- autocrats when they go torth as foreign tutions. conquerors ; but it shows that there was then no large democratic population. The institution of corporate villages was, however, universal, and is evidently essentially Hiii- corporate vu- doo; but they were by no means demo- ''^s^^- cratic in their constitution. Civilized cultivators settling amongst wild men and wild animals must dwell together in villages ; there must be some system for regulating- common affairs; and division of labour being a charac- teristic of Hindoo civilization, there must be rules for this division. Hence the villages became municipalities governed by a headman appointed by the king, and the different trades and professions were practised by individuals who received a regulated remuneration. There never was cultivation in common. Each man broke up as much land as he could, and it belonged to him who first tilled it. I^ocal taxes for common expenses were raised rateably. The village headships, like every- thing Hindoo, often became hereditary ; and when govern- ments M^ere overturned, the villages had sufficient internal machinery to carry on their affairs for a time till another government was established. The headman was doubt- less in such cases to a great degree dependent on popular support; but in this original form of village there was, as I have said, no regular democratic constitution. The latter form belongs to another people. The revenue was principally derived from the surplus produce or rent of the land. The propor- i The rcvGiiuG tion of gross produce levied by the State was less than in later times ; but it is natural that in a less perfectly cultivated and less fully peopled country the rent should at first be less than when population in- 6 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. creased ; and allowance may have been made in calcu- lating the real rent for capital expended in breaking up the soil, since accumulated labour is as much capital as gold or silver. In course of time, as land became more valuable, and as from successive change of masters the right of in- vested labour became more indistinct, opportunities may have been taken by the government to raise the rate of rent, just as Joseph took occasion to raise it upon the Egyptians. There is no doubt that the early civilization of the DecTee of civil- Hindoos was Very considerable — that they ization. made great advances in the sciences and in the arts of life. But the point which they then reached has never been exceeded by them ; there was wanting in their civilization that general intercommunication of ideas which marks the civilization of the West, and makes it progressive — which enables one generation to connnence where another has left off, and so build contiimally up- wards. Successive generations of Hindoos but go over the same ground again and again. Yet they at least have not gone backwards. They alone have retained to the Tts permanence prcscnt day their own Eastern civilization, and influence on ^^-^^ havc absorbcd iu it their successive successive con- querors, conquerors. All the other ancient civili- zations have been destroyed, and latest the Arabs, ener- getic and proselytizing, have overrun and changed the character of all the countries which I have mentioned as cotemporary with India. But India they have never made theirs. She has successively received Khatrees, Rajpoots, Jats, Turcs, and Moguls; her character has doubtless been modified by the intermixture, but still her civilization and her manners are essentially Hindoo. A very marked feature of the Hindoo civilization is the Division of la- "iii^utc divisiou of labour. Every em- tour, ployincnt is apportioned to a separate class. This minuteness of apportionment is generally Chap. I. SOUTHERN INDIA. 7 the result of a very far advanced stage of society, but seems to have obtained among the Hindoos from very early times. In the Hindoo constitution everything was hereditary. Not only were the chiefships so, but the ^ TIT Hereditary cha- various omces, great and subordmate, were racter of Hindoo ,, , 1 Tt rpi institutions. all more or less hereditary, ihere were hereditary ministers, hereditary superintendents of large tracts of 1000 or 100 villages, hereditary village officers, and hereditary trades and professions. In Menu's time and even in Alexander's the proper Hindoos seem to have been confined to the Progress of the north 01 India. Uut they subsequently Hindoos south- overran the South, and even (it is certain) crossed the ocean, and at one time established themselves in Java and other countries of the East. Who they found in the south it is impossible to say, whether merely the aborigines whose re- E^riy state of mains are still in the hills, or whether some *^^ ^°^^^' intermediate civilization had preceded them, or whether the Buddhists had gained a footing for a few centuries and the Hindoos reconquered the country ; but it is clear that there were several southern nations, each of whom, amalgamating with the Hindoos, took their form and civilization, yet occasioned varieties in the language and in some minor particulars which remain to the present day.* But it was not by the present military tribes of the north that the south was in the first instance overrun * It is to be regretted that, while the gi"eat language of India, the Sanscrit, has been minutely examined by philologists, no one seems to have under- taken any general survey and comparison of the other elements of the lan- guages prevailing in different parts of India. It is probable that much light might be thrown on the history of races, if, separating the Sanscrit, we had a comparison of words of other origin in the Hiudee, Punjabec, Bengalee, Southern, and Aboriginal dialects. I have never been able to obtain any suflicient information on this head. There should be a combined philological and ethnological survey of India. 8 .MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. — it was by the Bramins and their inferior subjects. Bengal is said to have been colonised by tion of Bengal Bramiiis and Soodras, the south by Bramins and the Deccan. i tt i ,^ ^ i and Merdsmen, the latter perhaps some nomad tribe, the most military of the followers of the Bramins — for there have been nomad tribes in India from the earliest times. When we look to the cause of these migrations we find the most probable solution in the displacement of many of the pure Hindoos by another Another race has ^.^ ,.., .. appeared in the race, 01 a ditierent political constitution, north — Rajpoots i • i i i • ,• i i • ^i and their cog- which about this tiiiie settled in the north, the race of which the Rajpoots are the best known type. Indeed, we are not without a historical glimpse of the facts. We have very good and accurate accounts of Northern India as it was in Alexander's time; and we find that in addition to the Hindoo kingdoms, such as we have hitherto and were found , i p i i , i i i • by Alexander in sccu them, he louiid Settled or encamped in unja . ^^^^ Punjab great tribes of' a purely repub- lican constitution, far more warlike than any others which he encountered. The best account of them is to be found in Heeren, in the volume on the Persians, page 316. Heeren represents their constitution as aristocratic, or under the government of their optimates, the ^^ Kpan- cTTeyovre?." Alexander treated with 300 deputies of a tribe ; but it by no means follows that these optimates were other than elected deputies. On the contrary, it is evident that they were the Punches or delegates of the people, with whom we treat in the same country at the present day. In reading the description it is impossible not to be struck with the exact similarity of this people to the Jats or Sikhs of modern times ; and one might con- clude them identical but for the improbability of their remaining so long stationary, and our knowledge that the Chap. I. NORTHERN TRIBES. 9 Jats do not claim so ancient an origin. They were, in fact, doubtless the Rajpoots, a people of the same original manners and constitution, who are known to have formerly occupied those territories, who must have about this time appeared in India, and who shortly conquered it. Our ideas of the Kajpoots are principally derived from their condition as rulers and conquerors, and in- ,1 1 Original charac- deed they have been very mucli exhausted ter of the Raj- 1 II- 11 •• xri_ V^ot family. and expended in the latter capacities, let they may still be seen in something of their original cha- racter in Rajpoot villages in the plains of the Ganges, where they are settled in large bodies as a people ; and the more recent Jats show in a more perfect state a similar and allied race. They follow agriculture as , . ,,, 1 1 £ 1 , Altogether agri- their proper calling, and have tixecl property cuimrai, but apt in land, but also keep herds of cattle when the country is favourable for pasture; and they show an aptness for arms, not as the profession of the nation, but of individuals. Among themselves (the free landholders) when settled in a body they have a purely p^.^ democratic democratical constitution. Each Rajpoot or i'^stitutions. J at in his own village is a free citizen, and all are peers. The '"'■ KpaTiarTevovreg" or Punch* (or as we, strangely compounding English and Persian, now call them, Lani- berdars) are but the elected representatives of the body of the citizens, and the only general rule is, that a village is never represented by one but always by a plural number of representatives, so jealous are they of individual as- sumption of authority. But when they go , . , , .,. Feudal organiza- lorth as armies they adopt a military organ- tion as conquer- ization, and as conquerors their constitution is feudal ; for the feudal system naturally results when bands of freemen rule a conquered country, and are neces- sitated to maintain a military organization. They divide their conquests, but acknowledge a leader and system of 10 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. subordination. The personal appearance of the Raj- Their personal poo^s and kindred nations differs greatly appearance. f^^^-^ ^^^.^^ ^f ^]-^^ Original Hindoos. They are not the soft, supple, oily-faced, effeminate people, but a robust, hard-headed, strong-featured race, absolutely identical with Europeans except in colour, and colour is more easily changed than any other feature. The Greeks relate that all these republican nations esteemed their free constitutions an inherit- eir origin. ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ Bacchus or Diouysius, and they evidently immigrated from the west under a leader whom the Greeks identified \vith that ancient conqueror of India. Even the Rajpoots of the present day retain the tradition of such an origin. These races then settled in Their setiiement Northcm India, uot as mere military con- in India, querors, like the Khatrees, but as immi- grant peoples, occupying and cultivating the soil, forming a large proportion of the population, and doubtless holding the rest in subjection. The Khatrees they probably overcame and absorbed, and they themselves assumed the place of the military class, amalgamated with the Hindoos, and received the Hindoo religion and civilization : but they very much changed the physical and tion with'the an- political character of the people of Hindos- forming the mo- tan Propcr or Northern India. The result was, the present Hindoo population of that country and the Hindee language. Many of the most im- portant innovations on the original Hindoo religion and customs were probably introduced by the immigrants; suttee, for instance, was probably a Rajpoot practice. The Bramins could not be comfortable under the Raj- poots, who have never held them in much honour, and the Soodras may have been dispossessed of their lands. Hence (even if the natural causes of advance and increase of population were wanting) a sufficient reason why large Chap. I. SOUTHERN NATIONS. 1 1 bodies of both those classes should advance to the south. At any rate, from whatever cause, advance , , . , 1 • 1 1 1 Ancient Hindoos they did, and ni the south and east we in the east and find a much nearer type of the ancient Hindoo than in the north and west. The Bramins and Soodras colonised Bengal, and probably found and incor- porated some aboriginal tribe, forming the i-, , - , , 1 • 1 Formation of Joengalee people and language, which seem Bengalee people to be among the most purely Hindoo in ° anguage, India, for there never appears to have been in the popu- lation of Bengal any intermixture of Rajpoot race. Other bodies of Bramins and Herdsmen, amalgamating, as has been said, with the tribes of the south, and of the south- formed the present southern nations. The ®^" nations. republican tribes, subsequently following, seem to have conquered and partially, but only partially, colonised the south. They are to be distinguished by subsequent pro- their democratic constitution, agricultural f^f ^ repuSicrn pursuits, and dominance over the other *"^®®" tribes. They seem to be the originators of what is called in the south the Meerassee proprietary tenure of villages, by a certain body sharing the land, democratic republicans among themselves, and regarding all others as their servants ; and wherever this is common the race is doubtless largely infused. Guzerat was fully occupied by them, and they seem to have followed the line of the western coast till they were stopped by the sea, and col- lected in a large body in the extreme south. They are evidently largely intermixed in the composition of the Marattas, whose language denotes a northern origin. The Nairs, &c., of Canara and Malabar are probably of this race, and in the extreme south in the Tamul country they are most numerous, and retain their institutions most perfectly. The democratic people who settled in the south may not have been of the particular tribe which 12 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. attained extended military rank and power, but their internal institutions are clearly identical with those of the north. But if the republican tribes did not fully colonise all India, at least the Raipoots conquered al- Military supre- i , p r 1 • 1 T • • 'T'^^ Portuguese. that the rortuguese found m the divisions and distractions of the empire the opportunity of rising to great power along the sea-coast. They first had to do with the Hindoo rajas of the south, established in the interval between the Turcish and Mogul empires, and not yet (a.d. 1.500) subdued by the Mahommedan kings of the south. Here they became rivals in trade of the 16 MODERN INDIA. Chap. 1. Arabs ; and the Indian Mahomniedans having little naval power, the Arabs obtained the despatch of Egyptian and Ottoman fleets from the Red Sea to put them down. But the Portuguese were altogether victorious, and throughout the sixteenth century quite supreme on the sea and powerful on land. They followed the sys- Their system as i-ii ^ i c^ -ii distinguished tcm which they Biid the Spaniards nave always adopted of establishing their religion and social rule along with their political power. They settled in the country and surrounded themselves with partisans and converts, made themselves a nation in India, rather than encamped on the non-interference principle as we do. They have not succeeded as we have ; but it nmst be remembered that they were overcome by Eu- ropean rivals from without, and met by the establishment Causes of their of ^ vigorous and powcrful Mahommedan decUiie. empire within — causes suflacient to account for the difference of success, without at once assuming that it is entirely due to our difference of system. At any rate it must be confessed that they at least, with Impression made Smaller Opportunities, made a more perma- bythem. ^-^^^j. iQ^p^ession. I mcau that, if even at this day our rule in India were to cease, we should leave fainter traces of our race, our religion, our manners, and our language than the long-expelled Portuguese. Akber was the first who established on a firm basis the Mogul empire. His father died almost im- estabiishes Mo- mediately after his return to India, and gu ynasy. Akbcr reigucd long and prosperously for nearly half a century. Yet he was by no means master of all India. He first occupied Hindostan Pro- 18 possessions, pgj.^ ^j^j |jg|-^ggjj 1570 and 1600 successively conquered Bengal, Malwa, Guzerat, Candeish, Cashmere, and other Mahommedan kingdoms, but did not attack those of the Deccan. Chap. I. THE MOGUL EMPIRE. 1 7 Throuojhout the seventeenth century his successors waged continual war on the latter states, till, quite at its end, Aurangzebe finally subverted the great Progress of his southern Mahommedan dynasties of Beeia- successors to •' J complete empire, pore and Golconda, and completed the empire ^■"- leooto 1:00. of India. But the seeds of dissolution were already sown. New Hindoo races had acquired vigour and riM -11? • n ^•°- I'OO.-Mo- courage. Ine empire had become internally gui empire cui- 1 Ai 1 T^T/-v/-v- !• 1 niinated and im- weak. About the year 1/00 it culminated, mediately de- and from that time declined more rapidly than any great empire which had preceded it. In an- other half-century it had in fact ceased to exist. Considering the space which the Mogul empire has occupied in the European eye and imagination, it is curious to note how shortlived it really was. It was in fact vigorous for barely 150 years, and , „ ^ n .1 • n Its duration. under tour monarchs, irom the accession 01 Akber in 1556 to the death of Aurangzebe in 1707; and commencing with but a portion of India, the greater part of that time was spent in gradually acquiring the whole, while in the latter years of the period it had actually begun to lose ground. Akber gave his character to the Mogul empire. He was far from being a Mahommedan bigot: Derived its tone he was, on the contrary, altogether a free- from Akber— thinker, and would have united all his sub- jects in one system of pure deism. The grand aim of his policy was in fact to unite all classes * *^ . - . , Policy of conci- into one people, and to this end he treated nation and amai- the Hindoos, and especially the Kajpoots, with peculiar favour, and employed them in the highest offices. His immediate successors, Jehangir and Shah Jehan, followed in his steps, and much Followed by his was effected towards bringing together the ^"'''^cssors. Hindoos and Mahommedans, and gaining the coiifi- c 18 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. dence of the Hindoos. The Mahommedans adopted the Hindee language, into which they infused, Formation of . • i t> • i a i • iiindostaneeian- as occasiou required, rersian and Arabic ^"^se. words, making the Hindostanee now the lan- guage of the north, and the lingua franca of all India. EmpiojTnent of Hiudoo financiers and Hindoo soldiers rose Hindoos. ^Q jjjg]j posts and great commands, such as they can hardly attain under our different system. The chief Rajpoot princes had long been driven from their proper seats in the plains of the Ganges to the more barren tracts of Central India, where they were then, as now, tributary chiefs of feudal principalities. Them, as the representatives of the ancient Hindoo rulers, the Mahommedan emperors particularly cultivated. They Favour shown to allied thciiiselves with them in marriage, the iiajpoots. employed the Rajpoots in their armies, and made their chiefs generals and governors of provinces. Lord Ellenborough was not the first who " revenged the insult of 1000 years." For under the Moguls we ac- tually find a Rajpoot chief governor of Affghanistan, and Hindoo armies invading Balk and fighting the Tartars in the mountains of Central Asia. Aurangzebe C^TiinsTG Oi svS" tern under Au- was a uiuch better Mahommedan, but much rangze . -yvorse rulci', than his predecessors ; looked on the Hindoos with no such favour, and did much to per- secute into military vigour the rising Hindoo tribes. The Mahommedan dynasties made themselves complete Hindoo tribu- ^"^ dircct mastcrs of all the more open and hufand'rcmote P^^^'^ parts of India ; but in the wilder and P*'^*^- more remote parts they were content to rule through the medium of Hindoo tributary chiefs. Except about Ciishmere, they never penetrated into the Himma- layas. The Rajpoots were allowed to possess large, but for the most part unfruitful, territories in Central India. The aborigines and other inhabitants of the mountains of Chap. I. THE MAHOMMEDAN POPULATION. 19 the interior were under chiefs generally of Rajpoot origin. In the extreme south, where the Mahommedan dominion was less perfect and permanent, there remained to the last several tributary Hindoo Rajas. But they were gradually disappearing, and Travancore, on the extreme point of the peninsula, seems almost the only southern chiefship boasting an ancient Hindoo origin which has come down to our time. Affghanistan under the Moguls was under the same government with India, but there was no social amalgamation between two so dissimilar countries. The Mahommedans in India somewhat influenced the Indian character, but were themselves much Formation of a more largely affected by the Hindoo blood po^S^l'n and manners, and in mixing with the Hin- ^'^'^'^• doos in many respects drew near to them. In religious matters there was little persecution, but the natural result of the influence of the Mahommedans, and their inter- mixture with the natives, was a continual addition to the Mahommedan religion, which is always proselytising, at the expense of the Hindoo, which seeks no converts, and excludes for ever from her ranks all who have been un- faithful in their practice or are mixed in their blood. Particular tribes were, from political reasons, induced to come over in a body, especially great numbers of the Rajpoots, the favourites and allies of the Mogul emperors. But the great mass of the population still remained Hindoo, except along the line of the Indus — in Scinde and the Western Punjab — where the Arabs having once had a footing, and the Mahommedan tribes of Belochistan and Affghanistan being in close contact and constantly overrunning the country, the mass of the agricultural tribes have become Mahommedan in religion, while they remain Hindoo in character. All the Indian Mahom- medans not only retained or acquired much of the Hindoo character, but also many of the Hindoo religious preju- c 2 20 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. dices, and very much departed from the purity of their proper faith. The system of government I shall afterwards more par- ticularly describe ; suffice it to say that the Despotic and . , . . . t i centralised go- empire was when m its vigour a centralised despotism. There were no subordinate Ma- hommedan states or Mahommedan hereditary feudatories of any kind : all was made one empire. The centralising system of the Moguls led to a uni- formity of practice throughout the empire. From which re- . •' ^ . t • suited uniform- Nativcs of all parts of India were employed ity of system .,. .. ,. ii throughout the indiscriminately in all other parts, and the empire. „ *, . . . • i • i system oi administration was identical throughout. Akber perfected the revenue system com- menced by Shir Khan. It was extended over Regular revenue . , r t t i • i and judicial sys- the greater portion or India, and is the pre- cedent on which is founded our method of detailed revenue settlement. There was also a regular judicial system. Public works to facilitate Public works. '' .... communication throughout the empire, and for other such objects, were carried on with a liberal hand, and a very respectable preventive police seems to have Prosperity of bccn maintained. Altogether the empire the empire. ^^^^ ^^^^ prospcrous, and the revenue of the Mogul princes must have been much larger than that Revenue and ^f any of their European cotemporaries, Mo'ui °empe^- though probably never equal in amount to "^"rs. that now raised in Britain or France. The value of food, labour, &c., seems to have been much the same as now, that is, infinitely cheaper than in Europe ; and certainly, in comparison to the price of labour and all articles of consumption, the revenue of the Moguls must have been more effective than that of any mo- dern state — I mean that it enabled them to command more men and luxuries, and to have a greater surplus. Chap. I. THE MARATTAS. 2 1 Akber abolished many imposts, and exercised a very mild sway ; but the necessities of Aurangzebe compelled their revival. Taken altogether, India was fortunate in the Mogul rule while it was in its vigour. We must now look for a moment to the progress of those who were to dispute the empire on the fall of the Moguls. The time seemed to have come when, both the old Hindoo races and the Mahommedan conquerors being effete, new blood was to spring up to distinction and power among the Hindoos. The Marattas have been mentioned as serving in the wars of the j^jg^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ southern states. They were the most hardy ^''^"'^^• of the southern nations formed on the immigration of the Hindoos into the south. They seem to have among them many people of nomad race, and to have also received a large infusion of the northern democratic tribes. The result was a people rather active and energetic than of much physical force or aptness for military discipline ; but they proved themselves most effective in predatory war- fare. A daring and talented leader originated their power, before Aurangzebe had completed the conquest of the south. The father of Sevajee was in the service of the king of Beejapore, and was recompensed by the chief- ship of Tanjore, taken from an ancient Hindoo chief in another part of the country. Tanjore he transmitted to one branch of his descendants, with whom we afterwards had our first political connection in India; but Sevajee preferred to set up as an independent leader in his own country and among his own people. The wars then raging between the emperor and the kings of the south gave him the opportunity of making himself powerful at the head of his Marattas as a partisan and plunderer, and he even acquired considerable territory and levied black mail from his neighbours. His successes from 1G50 to 1675 were great, and he assumed independence in posses- 22 MODERN INDIA. Chap. I. sions which he governed with remarkable system and skill. In fact, he was a very great man, and to him indi- vidually was due the transformation of the Marattas into a powerful military nation. He died in 1679. A few years later, when Aurangzebe had at last completely over- come his Mahommedan opponents, he found the Marattas powerful and formidable. He therefore set himself to reduce them, and, the genius of Sevajee being gone, he had all but succeeded. About 1700 the Marattas were at their lowest, and the Mogul empire seemed complete ; but just then the tide turned. The Mahommedan emperor was now old and weak : his empire was ready to fall from its own weight. The Marattas again carried on a successful guerilla warfare, and so harassed the impe- rial armies that the last movement of the long and pros- perous reign of Aurangzebe was a partial retreat before these apparently contemptible enemies. At this juncture, in 1707, the emperor died, and thenceforth the Marattas acquired fresh force. Aurangzebe had also alienated the Rajpoots. They Conduct of the rebelled and maintained a protracted war, Rajpoots. |jy^ ^Yiey proved unequal to take advantage of the opening now presented, and were not dangerous competitors of the Marattas for empire. The Jats were one of the purely democratic peoples, and settled in Northern India, west of the The Jats. ^^ „ , . . . (jranges — oi the same constitution and man- ners as the Rajpoots, but a more recent tribe, who as yet followed agriculture, and had attained no military rank ; but the sequel has proved that they were fitted to make admirable soldiers. They have been principally known as Jats about Agra, which they afterwards conquered. But it was also in a Jat country that the Sikh religion and power arose. Nanak has been mentioned as a peaceable religionist in the begin- Chap. I. EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS. 23 iiing of the sixteenth century, and such his sect long remained, till, in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury, they were, like other Hindoos, persecuted and alien- ated by Aurangzebe. It was then that Gooroo Gobind changed their character and made them military zealots. They were put down and cruelly punished ; yet they soon reappeared with increased zeal and rancour, and during the decline of the empire made themselves masters of a large territory. Of European powers the Portuguese had their day in the sixteenth century. In the seventeenth their Euro- pean rivals, the Dutch and English, got the ^j^^ ^^^^j^ ^^^ better of them, the Mogul empire became English. supreme in the south, and their power declined. The English and other Europeans were encouraged as traders probably more to counterbalance the power of the Portu- guese than for any other reason. But during the integrity of the empire there was no room for them to aim at poli- tical power, and the Dutch, ambitious and impatient, principally betook themselves to the eastern islands. The English bided their time in India, but soon commenced the system of making themselves more respectable and formidable by a military force, with which they defended themselves against the local governors, and engaged in their intrigues. Here is a Mahommedan historian's account of the first settlement of the English in India:- — "In the year 1020 (a.d. 161 1), the Emperor of Dehly, Jehangeer, the son of Akbur Padshah, granted a spot to the English to build a factory in the city of Surat, in the province of Guzerat, which is the first settlement that people made on the shores of Hindostan. The English have a separate king, independent of the King of Portugal, to whom they owe no allegiance, but, on the contrary, these two nations put each other to death wheresover they meet. At present. 24 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. I. in consequence of the interference of Jehangeer Padshah, they are at peace with each other, though God only knows how long they will consent to have factories in the same town and to live on terms of amity and frindship." From the death of Aurangzebe, in 1707, the empire Decline of the ^cgau to dcclinc, and during the next thirty Mogul empire, years the dissolutiou rapidly proceeded. Terms were at first made with the Hindoo Marattas, Kajpoots, &c. ; but a series of contested successions to the throne rapidly followed one another. Ministers and governors of provinces espoused different sides — sometimes gained great power, and sometimes lost it altogether. The Marattas took advantage of the state of things greatly to extend their limits and power; the Rajpoots acted a considerable part; the Jats and Sikhs made themselves conspicuous ; and petty chiefs assumed a large measure of authority. In short, in this period was the rise of all the Mahommedan governors and Hindoo confederacies with whom we have had to do. In the mean time we also were strengthening ourselves, building forts, and increasing capital, trade, and soldiers, but had not yet attempted considerable territorial acquisition. In 1720 the French first appeared in India as our rivals. Several rival emperors had sat on the throne when Mahommed Shah was established, in place rather than in power, in 1720, and he nominally reigned for many years. In 1738 the dissolution of the empire was completed by the invasion of Nadir Shah. But as I have come to the point at which the modern powers appear on the scene, I shall pause to describe the country and the people as we found them, and shall then briefly remark on the modern history of India, which has ended in our establishment in complete empire. Chap. II. DEFINITION OF INDIA. 25 CHAPTER II. THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE AS WE FOUND THEM, SHOWING THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIVES. Definition of India — Geography — Soil — Climate — Capabilities — Effects of predatory wars — Products — Population — National divisions — Interior divisions — Paces and classes — Character of the people generally — Condition of women — Institution of castes — Slavery — Eeligion. Elphinstone defines India by the Himmalaya, the Indus, and the sea. Although the Indus nearly Definition of corresponds with the actual and political ^°^^^- boundary, yet, as rivers are seldom real boundaries of race, it would perhaps be more true to attribute the limit to the offshoot of the Himmalayas called the Soli man range, extending from the Himmalaya to the sea, and not far from the foot of which the Indus runs ; for to the moun- tains is doubtless due the separation of countries and races. The mountainous countries to the west are inhabited by tribes of the hardy races of Central Asia, a people quite independent, and of a genius altogether different from Hindostanees. But when we descend to the plains, we are at once in the great country so often conquered and reconquered, disunited and united, till all its people have been thoroughly well mixed together, and form, in fact, one great nation. For particulars of the geography, see Elphinstone. A few main features will suffice for my purpose. India is surrounded by the sea on the south from Kurachee to Chittagong, and by a contiimous pale of ^g mountain mountains on the north from Chittagong to boundary, 26 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. Kurachee — in fact, is separated from the rest of the world by a sort of ring fence which I shall call the exterior hills. Within these exterior mountains one great alluvial plain, which may once have been sea, ex- interior tea- tends in a curve from the mouth of the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges. The remainder of the country forming the peninsula of India is of solid formation, and something of a diamond shape, and may once have been an island. It is surrounded and crossed by hills which I shall call the interior hills. An important feature is the desert which runs up between the plain of the Indus and the interior hills, and thus nearly divides the country into two unequal parts — the plain of the Indus and the rest of India — as seen in the annexed diagram. Chap. II. GEOGRAPHY. 27 Of the exterior fence, the proper Himmalayas extend- ing all along the northern face are absolutely impene- trable to large bodies of men, and form an insurmountable wall. It is only at the western and eastern extremities that the mountains are penetrable. But on rj,^^ exterior the east they lead to nothing formidable, ^^''°®* only to fresh mountains. They might have given exit to the Burmese, but thei/ have been once punished, and are now contemptible. The natural obstacles be- tween India and China are too great to admit of any direct intercourse in this quarter. It is, therefore, only to the West that we have to look for formidable enemies. Through the western mountains only has India been invaded ; for beyond them are all the great nations of Central Asia, and they are penetrable to The one iniet to armies through one or two difficult passes, ^^^^^sion- But these passes are so narrow, difficult, and easily defen- sible, that it is believed that no army, from Alexander's down to General Pollock's, has ever passed without bribing the mountain tribes. In the face of regular troops and an organized defence all the armies in the world could not force an entrance; but in the absence of such a defence experience proves that the local tribes are always accessible to moderate bribes. India beyond the desert comprises Cashmere (a large valley surrounded by hills), the Punjab, and interior divi- Scinde. Between the desert and the Him- ^^°"®- malayas, the plains of Sirhind, or " the head of India," are highly cultivated and populated, and through them is the easy and undefended communication between the Punjab and the rest of India. Of India within the desert, Hindostan proper extends over all the north. The great Delta through which the mouths of the Ganges and Berhampooter form a network 28 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. of rivers is Bengal ; between the eastern and western plains lies Malwa, or the middle land ; and the southern country is the Deccan. The soil of India is extremely fertile, but the utmost Soil and pro- ^^^ been taken out of it from ages un- ductiveness. couutable, and its productiveness principally depends on the fall of rain ; for the rains are periodical, and nowhere last the whole season so as to Want of rain. . , . r • i • t • give the maximum oi productiveness. It is on this account that it labours under a disadvantage in tropical productions. The climate in summer is equally tropical all over India. When the sun is 20° north, it is just as hot in 30° or 32° as in 10° or 12°; but in winter there are various degrees of coolness or cold, from mere abatement of heat in the south to considerable cold in the north. The rains generally commence about the middle of the summer ; and hence tropical crops must either be brought to maturity in three or four months, or sown early and kept alive in the great heats by very abundant artificial irrigation. Failure of the rains occasionally Liability to fa- causcs great famiucs, and the crops are "*^°^^- altogether much more uncertain than in temperate or even purely tropical climates. Throughout the plain of the Ganges the rains are generally more or less sufficient — abundant Proportion of . -,-, , . ^t t t rain in ditferent m iicHgal — uiorc scauty lu Upper India; ^^' ^' but of the plain of the Indus only the upper portion near the hills receives these periodical rains. No clouds come up from the western seas, and there are no rains to be depended upon in most of the country be- tween Lahore and the sea. Hence the formation of the great desert, and the provinces of Mooltan and Scinde are only rescued from a similar fate by the waters of the Indus and its branches, and only so far as those waters extend. CHAr. II. SOIL AND PRODUCE. 29 In all Northern India there are two distinct cultiva- tions, a tropical crop in the hot weather, Tropical and and a temperate crop in the cold ; but these ^^iperate crops. are very seldom grown on the same land in the same year. The soil will not bear two crops. The wheat and similar crops are ripe in April ; and for the next two months little is cultivated except sugar-cane and such products, which take so long to come to maturity that it is necessary to cultivate by irrigation. As soon as the rain falls (generally in the latter half of June) the active season commences. All the tropical products are sown, and the land is prepared for the winter crops, which are sown in September, October, and November, about the same time that the tropical crops are reaped. From October to March the climate is the finest possible, gene- rally clear and sunshiny — temperate at the beginning and end of the season, cold in the middle, but not to such an extent as to destroy the more hardy vegetation. The ground having been saturated by the rains, the crops come off well in October and November ; but about Christmas and the latter part of the cold season more or less rain is hoped for and generally obtained. Crops come to ma- turity with less frequent rain than it would be conceived possible in England ; but the supply being so scant, irri- gation is resorted to to the utmost practicable Artificial irriga- extent, and makes the product many times *^°°' greater. Indeed, though barley, vetches, and such-like grains are grown without irrigation, good crops of wheat and the more valuable productions are seldom, except very near the beds of rivers, obtained without artificial water- ing. To make up for the deficiency of rain from above, nature has given to all the plains of India an inexhaustible supply of water from below. By digging and building wells water can everywhere be had in any quantity at various depths, and the value of the land much depends 30 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. on the depth of the water below the surface. There are therefore wells for irrigation in every village ; some have the means of irrigating a great portion, some a very small portion, of their whole lands. Another means of irrigation is by canals from the great rivers. There are in Northern India few perennial stream- lets ; they dry up when the rains cease, and the only con- stant supply is from the large rivers which come from the far interior of, or from beyond, the Himmalayas. To divert their streams requires great works, such as only great governments could attempt. Such the Turcish em- perors achieved on the Jumna. They attempted it on the Sutlej, but failed, and had some smaller canals in the Punjab ; but the Ganges they never attempted to divert. The Jumna canals immensely fertilized a portion, but a comparatively small portion, of the country. In later times they fell into disrepair and disuse, and so we found them. As we go south there is less variation in the tem- perature ; the tropical productions become Difference of . , . , . -i .i climate, &c., in Comparatively more important than the temperate ; and the Deccan is also a more hilly country, less universally productive, and less fully supplied with well-irrigation, but still fertile, with a better supply of rain and a greater irrigation from tanks, dams, and such works, which avail little in a plain country. The climate of India not only differs widely according to latitude, but still more according to ele- Variation of cli- • a i • i • r> mate according VatlOU. AsCCUding the SUCCCSSlVC raUgCS 01 to elevation. ,i tt- i i • i the Himmalaya, we nave every variety up to perpetual snow, and the interior hills of the south are in many places high enough to give a climate altogether temperate. The Mahommedan monarchs used to find in Cashmere a relief from the heat of the plains ; but they never built sanatariums on the nearer and wilder hills. The hills are everywhere more or less cultivated, according Chap. II. CLIMATE AND CAPABILITIES. 31 to their capabilities and the race which inhabits them. The precipitous Himmalayas are terraced and worked to the utmost by the skilful Hindoos. The central hills are less done justice to by the wild aborigines. Altogether, then, India is a country much favoured by nature and capable of supporting a very ^^dia altogether large population, and is in fact very highly l^^ L'ghiT-cuT- populated and cultivated. It produces tivated country. everywhere great crops of grain and the most necessary articles. The dryness of the climate during o ^ 11 1 • f> Clreat crops of a portion of the year, and the exhaustion oi grain and neces- , , . 1-1 1 •, 1 sary articles. a long-cultivated soil, makes it a less suc- cessful producer of the finer tropical articles of merchan- dize than the new countries whose virgin soils and abun- dant rains have enabled them to rival it ; but it at least yields within itself almost every product of the soil suffi- cient for its own consumption and for a considerable ex- portation. In its most prosperous time its capabilities seem to have been made the most of, and Development of cultivation was carried as far as in any ^^s capabilities. country which we know. In regard to the modern ac- counts of uncultivated land in so fully populated a country, we must allow, first, for grazing-grounds in a country where artificial grasses are not cultivated, and there are many cattle to be grazed ; second, for parts where there are no means of artificial irrigation, and which can never be fully cultivated ; and third, for malarious tracts, such as the Terrai under the Himmalayas, which seems to the eye so rich, but is not cultivated simply because the malaria at a certain season makes it impossible to live. We must always remember that in India, as in most Natural obsta- other countries, nature has made a portion ^l^ ^^of^'^some of the area difficult or impracticable for cul- p^^*^- tivation ; and wherever we find some tracts very highly cultivated and paying a good rent, we must pause before 32 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. we attribute to neglect the barrenness of others. Nowhere is the possession of good land more prized than in India, and I suspect that Europeans are very much inclined to exaggerate the " undeveloped resources." But, believing as I do that every part has at some time or other been very highly cultivated, and the country fully populated, so We found it re- ^luch is the fact — that we found it torn to with^ much ^To pieces and reduced by the desolating preda- gain from peace, ^^py y^^Ys wliich SO loug prevailed. The predatory system of the Marattas, Pindarees, &c., depopu- lated and impoverished the country to an extent which no regular wars could have done *, works for irrigation, &c., fell to pieces for want of repair ; the people became needy, the land out of cultivation : and so the country was in a state from which it could be recruited only by many years of peace. The fertile plains of the north seem to have suf- fered less, and to have had easier means of recovery, than the countries of the south, the state of which appears gene- rally to have been bad. I need not detail the different grains and vegetables produced in India, for they include almost all those of either tropical or temperate countries. The Temperate more i i i • ^ valuable than most valuablc gram-crops are the temperate tropical grains, , , , o i j^ j^i but more expen- oucs, whcat, barley, cfcc, but they require sive to cultivate. ■, , i i i • i i • i • much greater care and labour in cultivation than the tropical grains, which are thrown in after a single ploughing at the commencement of the rains, and grow with little expense. In Upper India wheat-flour is the staple of the bazaars and the food of all who can afford it, sol- Staple food. . o i j i • i • diers, servants, ccc. ; but the agriculturists themselves principally subsist on the inferior grains grown in the rains, " Jowar," "Bajra," and such-like, of which I do not know the botanical names, but I fancy they are such as those described by Herodotus as grown on the Chap. II. PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL. 33 Euphrates, in a not very different latitude; and these (Elphinstone mentions) are the principal food in the high lands of the Deccan. Rice is the staple of Bengal and of the low lands round the peninsula, which are flooded in the rains. Elphinstone supposes that Indian corn is never made into bread, but I can at least say that in the farther north, about the Sutlej and the Sikh country, there is no more common flour at a certain season. Sugar-cane seems to be grown in every part of India from the extreme north to the extreme Production of south, and its juice is largely used in various ^^°^^- shapes. The cane used for sugar is small and thin, yet this is not because a larger cane is unknown. A large cane is cultivated and sold as a fruit ; but I suppose that for sugar it does not pay so well as the thin kind, since the latter is preferred; and this circumstance may be due to climate ; for I have heard that in the West Indies the large cane takes two years to come to its growth, whereas the Indian cane (at least I speak of Northern India) has only ten or eleven months to grow. It is planted very early in the spring, about March, grows till the frosts of December kill the plant ; and it is cut down in January and February. Sugar is likewise largely produced from the date-tree. Cotton is also .-p,. , Til T" Of cotton. m India a short-lived plant, it is not so valuable, and does not strike its roots so deep, as the sugar- cane, and therefore it is not, like the latter, grown by irrigation through the hot weather. If possible, it is sown by the aid of wells a little before the commence- ment of the rains, so as to give it a good start when they do come down ; but a great proportion of the cotton is merely sown when the rain falls in June, and is then put in before any other crop. It grows till the frosts of the cold weather burst the pods, and is gathered about De- cember. It is not worth while to keep the plant alive by I) 34 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. irrigation till another year, so it is an annual, and cut down as soon as it has borne. This may account for the cultivation in India of the small, quick-growing, inferior plant, rather than the large, fine, biennial and triennial plant of America, which requires a supply of moisture all the year round. Cotton seems to grow in all the latitudes of India, and the consumption by the inhabitants is enor- mous. They use it for everything, both as we do, and for many of the purposes to which we apply wool, flax, &c., so that the foreign export is a mere Of tobacco. .„ Ill trine compared to the home consumption. Tobacco seems also to grow in all the different latitudes, and is very largely consumed. ' Opium grows in the north, but not in the south, and Of opium. is the one article in which India excels be- yond competition any other country in the world. Dyes Of dyes. have always been largely produced in India, and indigo was formerly manufactured in a rude native method. The great rivers, the Ganges, Indus, and their tributa- Navigation of ^1*^'^, afford facilities for traffic. They are all rivers. uavigablc for boats ; but from their running unrestrained through a plain country and loose, soluble soil, and rising and falling prodigiously as the rains set in or subside, their channels are not nearly so good for navi- gation as could be wished. They vary their course every year, and generally a comparatively sniall stream runs in a bed infinitely too large for it, and filled with sandbanks and shallows. Hence it is impossible to have any regular towing-path on which animals can be used. Boats cannot always sail, and, when they cannot, must be pulled by men. In the plains the roads are always in dry weather practicable for carts, but always execrably bad. The Mahommedans took great trouble to build bridges and serais, but I cannot find that they Chap. II. POPULATION. 35 ever metalled their roads ; and in the decline of the empire the bridges had fallen down or been deserted by the wandering streams •, the serais had generally either gone to pieces or been appropriated by some one for other purposes ; and altogether we had in this respect to com- mence almost de 7iovo. In the south the rivers are seldom navigable, and the hilly roads are not practicable for carriages without being made. The state of things in regard to traffic was, therefore, in those parts worse than in the north, and much of the merchandize was carried on the backs of bullocks. The population of India has long been very large. The climate seems favourable to life, and every . , 1 • 1 J The population. woman is married as soon as she is old enough ; consequently, when there are not counteracting causes, the people multiply very rapidly, and it is suffi- ciently evident, wherever peace and plenty have been long enjoyed, that this result is taking place. Accord- ingly there is no doubt that in the most pros- ^ , '' . p ^^ Tendencj' to iii- perous times there was a very full popu- crease greatly, ,. .. ,. . '' unless checked lation ; but it is subject in India to two hy war and fa- great checks — war and famine. War may be averted ; but great periodical famines, arising from total failure of the rains, are very difficult to remedy. It is only at rare intervals, when, for instance, a very bad year is succeeded by a total failure, that mortal famines occur; but when they do happen in a country which has little import of foreign grain — in the interior lite- rally none — and where the mass of the population are without capital, and have no superiors or unions to sup- port them, the result is frightful. Indeed, when there is no food in the country and no means of speedy im- portation, no government, however rich' or philanthropic, can save the people. If it buys the grain, it only raises the price and diminishes the quantity in the market. D 2 36 MODERN INDIA. Chap. If. There was a frightful famine in Bengal about 1770. A great famine desolated the north, about Sirhind, in 1786, and is the era to which everything in that country is referred. So lately as 1837 a dreadful famine depopulated the country about Agra. Such occurrences can only be But the increase ^litigated as pcacc, plenty, and the increase penTat?s'"forfo- ^^ Capital causc grain to be more largely mine alone. storcd than formerly. Still the increase more than supplies what is lost to the population in famine. It was principally on account of We found the r> ^ • i i i • i J population dirni- war that wc louiid it mucli lower than it had nished by war. , , . mi i t • i been ; and it was still large, it was entirely distributed in towns and villages. There were few scat- Towns and vii- tered habitations. The considerable towns ^^^^^' were numerous ; yet there were hardly so large cities in proportion to the population of the country as with us. Dehli, Benares, and Lucknow were large, but none contained a fourth of the inhabitants of modern London. It is the peculiarity of the Indian population that it is Similarity of 01^^ iu many respects. The same systems, sions^o/the^^plo- niauners, and divisions of the people prevail aUinSryltva* throughout the country. And yet in every dweUin^ ^toT P^^^ thcrc is a great variety of different ti^er. classes dwelling together, but in many points altogether dissimilar. Although there are many classes, almost all the classes are found more or less everywhere, and hence the same general features of society exist alike in every part of India, even when there is a considerable In effect one difference in personal appearance and lan- Tstem^ through- S'^^^S^' ^^^ cffect it has bcconie one country, ^"*- and, though many different races have en- tered it, and have been, by peculiar institutions, kept in many respects separate, each has in its ovv^n sphere per- vaded the whole country ; all have become united in one Chap. II. INDIA ONE COUNTRY. 37 common civilization ; tlie same system of Hindoo polity has been overlaid by the same system of Mabommedan government ; inhabitants of one part of the country have served, travelled, and done business in all other parts indiscriminately ; and so altogether, while the different degrees in which different elements have been mixed pro- duce exterior differences, the essential characteristics of all are the same. Especially in the details p 1 1 1 Especially in Ihe 01 government we lound the same phases details of go- throughout, a result principally due to the centralizing and uniform system of ihe Mabommedan government, and the frequent change of functionaries from one part to another. Most of the supposed differences are of modern origin, and originate in the different views of different Europeans settling at remote points and pursuing different courses. The more one studies the subject the more identity one finds in the state of things in all the different parts of India. The different nations of Europe may have been in some measure so assimilated in former days, when , , . Compared to va- successive waves of conquest and population riety of nations broke over the whole continent and left the '" "™^^' de'bris to ferment together into nations; when all united in common crusades, and English yeomen took service at Constantinople. But now widely different national charac- ters have sprung up, and there are bold distinctions which, for the most part, exist not in India. That country is common to all its inhabitants, and the most close inter- course exists throughout. Even the Mabommedan is not the fierce, proud foreigner. His character and his blood are in general much more nearly allied to the Hindoo than to the Affghan. There is but one exception to this amalgamation of the people. Throughout the interior hills the ^ * . , , . , . i'l*^ aborigines. remauis of the aboriguial race is everywhere 38 MODERN INDIA. Chap. il. found separate and little mixed. They are small and dark, and generally complete savages, and speak a language alto- gether different from the Hindoos. In the farther south they seem to have been reduced to slavery ; more to the north, in and about the Bombay presidency, they gave great trouble as robbers and plunderers of the adjacent plains. It is, however, a curious fact, which I have Their absence in ^^^t sceu clscwhere noticcd, that in the Him- theHimmaiayas. j-i^alayas adjoining Hindostan Proper, though much more abrupt and difficult than any of the interior hills, there exists no such race. The population of this part of the Himmalayas is pure Hindoo, till it meets the Mongolian Bhooteas of the other side of the hills ; and the fact might be a strong argument in favour of the in- digenous or very early origin of the Hindoo civilization. The aborigines have in their features no trace of the Negro or Mongol, and would seem to be of Caucasian race. The chief difference in the population of the north and Chief difference ^^^ south of India sccms to cousist iu the latum ^of' nordi l^^'g'Gr intcrmixture with the Hindoos in the and south. Qj^g Qf ^]^q later northern races, and in the other of the population which existed prior to the Hindoo invasion. The following is the distinction of nations which exists to a limited degree. The inhabitants of the plains of the Indus and of the Principal na- Gaugcs, cxceptiiig Bengal, and of the in- Thr* '^nSZ- termediate countries of Malwa— in fact, tanees. almost all tliG uorth — are the same people, speaking the same language, the Hindostanee. In the Punjab there is a variety and admixture of other words, called Punjabee, while the groundwork is the same ; and even on the Ganges different classes speak Hindostanee very differently (as is the case in most countries), the higher classes intermixing much more Persian than the Chap. II. NATIONAL DIVISIONS. , .39 lower. But the lowest villager uses some Persian words, and the most affected Mahommedan retains the Hindoo grammar and most unavoidable expressions ; so that the language is really the same. The whole of the Hin- dostanees are in physical appearance, excepting colour, very like Europeans, and evidently of the same great race. The features and cast of countenance are indeed identical, and their general height and size is nearly as great. I have not noticed in the north the very marked physical difference between different classes which has been much commented on in the south ; and I fancy that in the latter part of the country the fact is principally due to the immigration from the north. The Bramins in the north are a sturdy race, but no fairer I should say than others of similar occupations. The Rajpoots and Jats are fine men ; the meaner classes naturally meaner looking ; but even among the lowest class of all — the unclean out- casts — may be found as fine men as any. The mercantile classes are both the fairest and most Hindoo looking ; but this is the natural result of their in-door occupations and stricter exclusiveness. The people of the Himmalayas retain much more of the ancient Hindoo character than those of the rpj^^ people of plains ; and in Cashmere especially there re- and"^^""cash- mains an ancient race, which I should take to ™^''®- be very pure Hindoo, unmixed with any northern invaders ; and this may be the reason that the Hindoos class the Cashmerians with the southern nations — a fact which I have seen mentioned, but not explained. They are fair — the result of latitude and climate ; but in other respects more like Bengalees than Hindostanees, — aneffeminate race,_ but very clever, cunning, litigious, and intriguing, and dex- terous manipulators ; no soldiers, but great scribes, diplo- mats, and weavers. Such very much are i-U T) 1 11 11 '^^"' Bengalees. the Bengalees ; but they arc very dark. 40 MODERN INDIA. Chap. 11. They have a Bengalee language and character, principally founded on the Sanscrit. The Deccan is divided among four nations — Maratta, The southern TcHnga, Cauaresc, and Tamul — all speaking nations. different languages, of which the Sanscrit forms a large portion, but in which other elements are present to a greater or less extent. The southern people are smaller and darker than those of the north, but seem to approach the Hindostanee character a good deal nearer than the Bengalees. JNIany of them make good soldiers, and they seem generally a pretty hardy race, with whom the northern and some nomad tribes may have been con- siderably intermixed. A great part of the population of the far south is said to consist of inferior races, supposed to be the remains of conquered peoples. This seems still more marked in Java, where we may suppose that the proportion of invading Hindoos was much smaller, and where it appears from Baffles' account that they merely form the upper and dominant class, while the mass of the population is of other race. The Marattas I have mentioned as the most hardy and energetic of the nations of the Deccan. The Maratta country is nearest to Hindostan Proper, and no doubt first and most largely received the tide of immigration from the north. I conclude that the nomad element also enters largely into their composition, since many of their leaders are of nomad castes, and many of their military habits seem to spring from such a source. I shall now notice the interior classes of the people Interior divisions whose general ramifications I have been de- of the people. scribiuo". First come the Bramins. In Northern India they form a large proportion of the population of some The Bramins ; , p ^i ^ • ^i j • • • X? parts of the country — m the divisions or Oude, Allahabad, Benares, and Bahar (all on the Ganges). Chap. II. INTERIOR DIVISIONS. 41 They are in fact not merely a priestly class, but an ancient tribe or nation. Alexander found the Brachmani, a separate nation, possessing territory and cities of their own. The most remarkable feature in their .-.■ „,,„„, present position seems to be, that they are *^°"^5 almost the only class which engages in all professions. Among the rural population they cultivate largely ; they are very numerous among the sepoys of our array ; they are commonly found as bankers and traders among the mercantile classes ; they take all kind of service, and are even constantly met with as common labourers. They are priests, astrologers, and cooks, wherever they can find employment as such, — cooks, because a Hindoo who can afford only one servant keeps a Bramin to cook his meals. All classes can eat at his hands, and the employer has also the merit of supporting one of the sacred order. But generally speaking, where the Bajpoot fa- , . milv have been long dominant, the Bramins and character in •^ ^ .' the north; have not the same respect, miiuence, and share of good things as elsewhere ; are in fact very much su- perseded as priests by the monastic orders, and as men of business by the writer caste ; and so they are reduced more nearly to a level with other people. But they still retain some share of respect from all good Hindoos ; and in all positions (except perhaps as pure agriculturists) they have something of the wily character of the race, — try to assume the attributes of a tribe of Levi, to influence fellow-ser- vants, fellow-sepoys, and such like; and are generally cunning, clever, and insinuating, yet bold and manly enough when necessary. Although but a small proportion of the Bramins are priests, there are a good many of them about the country in that capacity, and as schoolmasters, &c. ; and they are the exclusive guardians of all the Hindoo sacred places, and reap an excellent harvest from devout pilgrims. 42 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. In the south they are altogether an immigrant race, and in tJie Settled there within the historic period, and south. i^Q^j^ -j^ Bengal and in the Deccan they seem to hold a much higher position than they now do in Hindostan, to have much rank and influence, and in the Deccan to monopolise the profession of the pen and all the business of the country. There too they are nu- merous, and follow many professions ; but they seem to have the best of everything, and not to descend to the lowest offices ; to have acquired the most valuable landed rights, and most of the district and village offices, which never fall to any priestly class in the north. As priests the Bramins are a purely secular clergy ; The Bramins as p^ofcss uo coutcmpt for the things of this priests. world, have wives and families, and riches as much as they can get. The four stages of a Bramin's life, and all that kind of thing, as described by Menu and related in Europe, have no existence now ; a Bramin never wanders about as an ascetic, but lives comfortably. Hence they are deservedly superseded in much of their influence by the comparatively modern religious orders The monastic wliich are drawu from the general popula- orders. ^^^^^^ ^^^^j^ many of whom renouncing the world, lead an enthusiastic devoted life, and form a kind of regular clergy. They are described by Elphinstone, vol. i. p. 110, and are an innovation, doubtless caused by the shortcomings and worldliness of the Bramins. But even of them many have now become secular and corrupt. Many of the orders permit marriage and acquire pro- perty. Sometimes they have well-endowed institutions, where they dispense food to the needy, and do a great deal of good. Next I must classify the cultivating population, which, The cuitivatiuo- in a couutry like India, exceeds in numbers population. ^j-j^i importance all the others. The Greeks, Chap. II. INTERIOR DIVISIONS. 43 in their accounts, make two castes of herdsmen and cul- tivators, and it may well be that they had . p - . A 1 1 1 Greek division some ground lor the assertion. Although of cultivator and . 1 1 p ^^ 1.1 1 i i 1 1 herdsman castes, 111 the present lully populated and settled wiiich can stm condition of the country the distinction of occupation is not fully kept up, there exist throughout India classes which still retain most unmistakeable nomad propensities and character ; and others whose occupation is exclusively the cultivation of the ground — more like gardeners than farmers — who cultivate highly small plots and valuable products, and have little to do with flocks and herds. This may not improbably have been the original division of labour when there was plenty of room for pasture, and cultivation was confined to the land immediately around villages. Now-a-days there is in most parts of India no real nomad country, and the nomads have settled down into fixed inhabitants, culti- vating more or less. But, however they are settled, they are still distinguishable. In Bengal and some parts of the south the cultivating classes seem to be The cultivators entirely made up of the gardening castes, °* ^^ngai. the nomads, and a great accession of miscellaneous classes who have taken to the plough as cultivation extended. In Bengal especially, which has much progressed of late centuries, I could not hear of any great farming land- owning tribes, such as I shall describe in the north ; but, in addition to the petty cultivating classes, people of all kinds of castes — goldsmiths, and oilmen, and fisher- men, and I don't know who besides — have adopted agri- culture as a hereditary profession ; and I believe that it is the same in some parts of the south. Of the origin of the nomad races — Ahcers, and Goojars, and Gwalas (or cowkeepers) — we know -p^g ^omad nothing. Ferishta ascribes to the Aheers '^''''''^• (a tribe very widely spread over India) an Arabian origin, 44 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. but does not give his grounds for the assertion, and probably had none but the resemblance of occupation. Although the nomad tribes now to a certain extent adopt agriculture, they are invariably bad cultivators, and much prefer flocks and herds, and little-cultivated parts of the country. They are great thieves and cattle-lifters, have plenty of courage and energy, but do not like the discipline The gardening 0^ the regular army. The gardening classes classes. mostly Seek rich alluvial lands, and are the great producers of sugar-cane, tobacco, and such finer crops. They are not martial, and hardly ever take service as soldiers. But I have alluded to other great farming tribes in the north. These are the democratic races for- farming tribes uicrly mentioned, who now form the great of the north. p ■ i i , • /> i ^ i? mass 01 the population oi a large part oi India, and unite the occupations of the herdsmen and cul- tivators. They are in fact by profession agriculturists in our sense of the word. They have nothing at all nomad in their character, but settle down to the possession of arable land, and farm on a large scale, growing principally grain and all kinds of farm-produce, rather than sugar, tobacco, and the finer articles, and also keeping as many cattle as the nature of the country will permit. In low lands they may cultivate exclusively ; in some high, dry situations may depend principally on their cattle. They are not a literate race, never follow the profession of the pen, and read and write only to keep their own accounts ; but, wherever occasion calls them forth, they make excellent soldiers, and especially regnlar infantry. In all their physical, moral, and social characteristics they eminently resemble the races which overran Europe. They have none of the Oriental Jewish cast of countenance found among the Affghans and many Mahommedan tribes in Chap. II. FARMING TEIBES, 45 Asia. The Rajpoots are the first and best-known type of this family, but I describe it rather as it originally was than as the E-ajpoots now generally appear after long ages of conquest and domination. The original type is much more perfect in the Jats, whom I have mentioned as identical with the Rajpoots in all essential characteristics, although a more recent tribe, which had not till, lately aspired to general conquest and domination. They claim kindred with the Rajpoots, and allege that they are Raj- poots who have lost caste. But it is more probable that they are tribes of the same family who never attained the same rank, and, not having been the conquerors of India, were content to assume a lower place in the Hindoo scale. I have mentioned that some of the democratic tribes seem to have gone south, and I find men- similar tribes tion made in the Tamul country, and even ''^ *^^ ^°"'^- in Ceylon, of a people called Vellallers, who must, I imagine, occupy much the same position as the Jats in the north. It is stated that they are cultivators by profession, and that these cultivators look down upon and consider themselves superior to the other classes. The Vellallers invariably represented themselves to have settled in and taken possession of the country in a body at a comparatively recent date. They formed large communities of a purely democratic constitution, and alleged that they were the originators of the democratic Meerassee tenure in the south, which is described as existing in their villages word for word as I should describe the constitution of a Jat or Rajpoot village of the present day. They are doubtless a cognate people settled in the other extremity of India. I also observe that the hills of the northern Circars are said to have been conquered and ruled over by a people from the Tamul country called Velmas, just as Rajpoots have established themselves in other parts, but I have not 46 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. II. been able to ascertain whether these Vehnas have any connection with Vellallers. All the tribes of this race refer to some period of un- certain date when they settled in a body. General charac- ,.-^, , . , . teristics of these 1 liey claim and exercise a very strong pro- tribes. • • • • prietary right in each village over the whole land, cultivated and uncultivated, and divide the culti- vated land in fixed shares, which are supposed to represent the original division by the first settlers, and the subdi- vision by inheritance. Among themselves their constitu- tion is, as I have said, purely democratic, and they are represented by elected committees or Punches. They do not admit any other inhabitants to such rights, but regard them as their servants or serfs ; and so it happens that, though democrats where they form the main portion of the population, wherever (as has occurred in many parts of India) they are merely dominant families settled in villages and claiming superiority over the rest, they are rather oligarchs. As the Rajpoots became military conquerors, and successive conquerors have since exer- cised political rule, there has been in modern times no opportunity for democratic institutions on a large scale such as Alexander found. The democratic races are now quite content to acknowledge a general government, and pay the revenue of the state, so long as they enjoy unimpaired the democratic institutions of their own villages, and care not for further political independence so long as they have that personal independence the love of which Guizot mentions as introduced into the Roman world by the barbarians, and which these races also espe- cially esteem. The constitution of the village communi- ties will be afterwards more particularly described. The Rajpoots seem to have been settled as a nation about the Upper Ganges, Jumna, and Sutlej ; Lower CiiAP. n. THE RAJPOOTS. 47 Rohilcund, the middle Doab, and Bundeleund are still, to a certain extent, Raipoot countries. The 1 • 1 ,1 , PI, The Rajpoots. armies which they have sent lorth to con- quest have doubtless in course of time much thinned their numbers, diminished their vigour, changed their character, and made them somewhat effete. But still many large and perfect Rajpoot communities exist in the countries I have mentioned. There are the remains and scattered villages of the race to the west and in the Punjab, and many of them seem to have found their way into the neighbouring Himmalayas. To the east, in Be- nares and Bahar, they are numerous, but there seem to be settled rather as dominant families than as great cultivating communities. The old Rajpoot princes are settled with their military followers in feudal style in parts of Malwa and the habitable portions of the desert, forming what is now called Rajpootana, but this is rather their adopted than their proper country. In the rest of India the Raj- poots have only settled in smaller numbers, as chiefs, princes, and military dynasties — more numerous in the nearer parts — less so in the farther. They are numerous in Guzerat ; there are a good many in the Maratta coun- try; and farther south they are scarce, and principally known as the princely families who preceded the Mahom- medans. A curious fact is the way in which Rajpoot families have made themselves clannish chiefs of remote districts, and alien peoples never properly conquered by them ; and there is a great analogy in this respect between them and the Normans. They have pushed their way by superior vigour just like the Normans, and we find Rajpoot chiefs of the savage aborigines of the mountains, just as Norman families in Scotland became chiefs of our Celtic Highland clans. Besides the pure Rajpoots there is in the original Raj- 48 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IT. poot country a large class claiming kindred with them, forming the same kind of communities, but not of pure caste. They are all doubtless of the same family, and are, like the Jats, better behaved and better cultivators than their brethren spoilt by prosperity. It is not to be wondered at that the Rajpoots should have somewhat deteriorated. They are now but indiffer- ent cultivators and bad revenue-payers — too prone to idleness and fighting. Many of them, especially of the higher classes, were converted to Mahommedanism. West of the Jumna most of the Rajpoot communities have gone over in a body, and are generally the worse for the change, very bad cultivators and great thieves, living in the remembrance of their privileged days, and rapidly giving place to the fresher and more energetic Jats. The Rajpoot chiefs trace a descent from times long anterior to history ; blood and family they consider above all things ; and the matrimonial alliances of different fa- milies are regulated by the nicest and most jealous rules. Of course the marriage in some instances of their daughters to the Mogul emperors was a political necessity, violating all rules, and, in their eyes, no marriage, but a social death of the bride. The Rajpoot prince hardly exercises the authority of a sovereign. He is surrounded by feudatories, large and small, generally claiming kindred or clanship with himself, to whom the greater part of his territory is allotted on tenure of military service, and each of whom exercises most of the powers of government in his holding or Jagheer. The relation between superior and inferior is so exactly feudal, that I need not farther detail it. Their religious guides are generally their own bards and devotees rather than Bramins. The Jats are seated along the Jumna from Agra to the Ilimmalayas, to the west of that river, and throughout Chap. II. THE JATS. 49 the Punjab. A flourishing and increasing people, they form, in fact, the great mass of the popula- tion from the Jumna to the Ravee, and in smaller numbers extend much farther. In the upper part of the Doab, between the Jumna and Ganges, they are numerous as cultivators, but have not there aspired to a martial and dominant character. Towards and along the Indus they have been, in common with the other Hindoo agricultural tribes, converted to Mahommedanism, and, like others similarly situated, have deteriorated in blood, energy, and character from the change. But in the country I have mentioned as peculiarly Jat, between the Jumna and the Sutlej, locally called Malwa (whether as an extension to the north of the great province of Malwa, or a mere coincidence of name, I know not), and again between the Sutlej and Kavee, called Ilanjha., they are in their full vigour. There are traces of the former pos- session of this country by the Rajpoots, and the Jats are avowedly comparatively recent settlers. Of their pre- vious history they can give no very distinct account, except that they seem to have been advancing from the west and south-west, and claim kindred with the Raj- poots ; but they now fully occupy the country in large village communities of a uniform constitution. The Jats are ranked as Hindoos, and are physically and politically as much so as the Rajpoots, but have never been assigned good rank among the castes, and are in their conduct and observances very bad Hindoos. In fact, as distinguished from the Mahommedan races, they are in every respect Hindoo, but among Hindoos they have less than any other tribe of the old Hindoo blood, and more purely that of the later democratic races. They have very great physical and moral energy, are admirable cultivators, and, under a fair system, excellent revenue- payers, are prodigiously tenacious of their rights in the E 50 MODERN INDIA. (^hap. II. land, and very orderly and well-behaved while in posses- sion of those rights : in fact, in every way they are, be- yond a doubt, the finest population in India. They make capital soldiers, and in the decline of the Mogul empire began to develop that military genius, though not so early or so quickly as the predatory Marattas. All along the upper Jumna Jat chiefs rose to considerable power — in the country about Agra, Dehli, and in Sirhind or Malwa Minor; and it was, as I have before said, in the Jat country that the Sikh religion arose, and among that people that it found most of its followers. It was from Maiijha that the most uncompromising and successful Sikhs took their origin ; but the Jat chiefs of Sirhind had also adopted the Sikh religion, and, with their followers, were called Malwa Sikhs. The latter, however, always kept place as feudal chiefs, but the Manjha Sikhs were more purely republican in their arrangements. They acknowledged leaders, but rather followed than obeyed them, and in their conquests each soldier had his assigned share, something additional being given to the leaders for their expenses and remuneration. They were united in different confederacies or "misals," under different leaders, and each misal again had various subdivisions, each sub- division acknowledging a limited allegiance to the general leaders, and managing its affairs through its own elected head. One of the most widely spread and best of the agricul- tural tribes is that of the Koormees. They The Koormees. • i i r ^ i are common in the lower part ox the north- west provinces, and extend quite across India to Bombay, forming the principal agricultural population of Central India and the Maratta country. They seem in many things to resemble the Jats, but are more exclusively agricul- tural, have less decided proprietary rights, and less demo- cratic institutions. I have not so intimate an acquaintance Chap. TI. ORIGIN OF RAJPOOTS AND JATS. 51 with them as to give a decided opinion as to their origin, but may hazard a conjecture that they may have sprung from an intermixture of northern tribes with the ancient Hindoo cultivators. My want of local acquaintance with the south prevents me from giving particular details of the locality and con- dition of the Vellallers and kindred tribes in that part of India. Elphinstone has entered on the question of the origin of the Rajpoots. Tod had shown the proba- , .,. p .1 • , • • 1 Elphinstone's bility 01 their western origm, and supposes views as to the them to be Scythians. Elphinstone admits Rajpoots and that there is ground for supposing that some people immigrated into India from the West, and decides that they were not Rajpoots, but probably Jats. But here he has evidently been misled by an imperfect local know- ledge of the north of India. He speaks of the Jits or Jats as an inferior race in the Punjab, different from the Jats, a " local tribe near Agra." Assuredly the Jats are not a local tribe near Agra, but a far extended people such as I have described. The Jat chiefs of Bhurtpore, &c., inter- marry with the Sikh chiefs of Sirhind, and they again with the Manjha Sikhs; and the people, far from being local to Agra, and occupying an inferior position in the Punjab, are spread over the whole intermediate distance, and are the dominant population of the greater part of the Punjab. In the farther Punjab and in Scinde the Mahommedan Jats are a scattered and deteriorated race ; but I have made repeated inquiries, and never could discover that they are any separate people. The Jats are, as I have explained, in all essential characteristics, of the same family as the Rajpoots ; and certainly, if the Jats come from the north, so do the Rajpoots : they are but successive waves from the same source. The story of the descent of the Rajpoots from Khatrce E 2 52 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. fathers and Soodra mothers was probably invented to justify their admission into the Hindoo orders ; the more as they have perhaps absorbed and incorporated the Kha- trees. But a great people was never formed from a mere illicit connection of this kind. " Scythians" is a wide word, and the Rajpoots and Jats are certainly not the Mongol nomads described by Elphinstone ; they are neither Mongol nor nomad. I make no doubt that they are of the same great races which overran and peopled Europe, and which are known to us as Germanic. There is a great similarity in many of their customs and institutions to the ancient Germans as described by Tacitus. Their political system, their leaders of limited authority, their capacity as infantry rather than cavalry soldiers, their agriculture, the consti- tution of their village communities, the common right to common lands and distribution of it according to shares, the compensation of homicides by transfer of land, the ex- clusion of females from succession, the burning of dead bodies — all are points common to the two races.* * My space did not admit of a lengthened investigation of the origin of races, and, in fact, I had not made a study of the subject. I merely formed the conjecture of the identity of the Indian democratic tribes with the Teu- tonic races from a general idea of the character of the German nations ; but I have since seen Kemble's ' Saxons in England,' and there find iu Chap. II. a description of the German " Mark," corresponding to that of a Jat or Raj- poot village with an exactness and minuteness of detail Avhich I could hardly have thought credible, and which, to my mind, makes wliat was a conjecture now almost absolute certaint}\ There may be some things common to most men under similar circumstances, but other things arc not so, and there is nothing which so permanently distinguishes races as social habits and insti- tutions. Kemble particularly marks the most notable points of the German character as distinguishing them from Celts, Scythians, Arabs, and all others, and in all these points their identity with the Indian tribes is perfect. 1 have reserved for the next chapter a more i)articular account of the village com- munity, and have not space to give it in great detail, but no one can peruse a full description of such a community, and then Kemble's account of the "Mark" without being satisfied that the resemblance is much more than accidental. The settlement of cognate families in a body — their peculiar con- stitution — their agricultural habits, combined with the possession of cattle — Chap. II. ' MEECANTILE CLASSES. 53 Having disposed of the cultivating, I come to the mer- cantile classes. In the extreme north we -^j^g mercantile have a caste called Khatrees, who may ^^i^^^^^s- possibly be descended from the ancient Khatrees, but are now mercantile, and have the mercantile characteristics, except that they do not object to, and The mercantile sometimes follow, the profession of arms. ^"^^^^''^^^• As merchants and bankers these people extend far into interior Asia. Toder Mull, Akber's minister, was a Khatree ; so was Moolraj of Mooltan. With this ex- ception the mercantile class throughout all rj.^^ common India seems to be quite identical. Neither mercantile class. Rajpoots nor Mahommedans, nor any other conquerors, have interfered with their peculiar avocation. They are much the purest and most orthodox Hindoos — more so, I should say, than the Bramins, who may once have been conquerors, and now turn their hand to anything. They are bigoted in their religion, and abstain from animal food, exclusive in their habits, devoted to their peculiar calling, entirely unmartial, and in their appearance gene- rally fair (probably the result of their in-door occupations), with the sleek Egyptian countenance in a greater degree than in any other class. In their own line they are an extremely vigorous energetic race, and a great support to the country. By them almost exclusively is capital accu- mulated and circulated ; and in their capacity of bankers and traders they are found in every village, and highly che- rished in all native states. It has been the fashion with us rather to decry them as usurers, while our sj^stem altogether the division of arable lands — the common pasture land — the rights and privi- leges of freemen — the position of inferiors — the council of marlcmen — the lord himself originall}' only first markman — and many other particulars, are all such that, the names being transposed, the whole chapter might be given as a most faithful and exact account of the Jats instead of the Saxons. I should say that, while the Bramins are of the kindred of the Greeks and Romans, the Rajpoots and Jats are of that of tlie barbarians. 54 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. favours them, and our courts have a tendency to create an antagonism between them and those with whom they deal. But we should consider that, after all, things are so arranged that the pursuit of self-interest leads to the right principles of political economy better than the artificial appliances which have been too much attempted in Eu- rope ; that (to take the instance most common in India), there being free trade in grain, the mercantile classes, by buying cheap in cheap years, and selling dear in famine times, effect the just measure of accumulation and distri- bution according to the necessities of the market ; whereas, if they did not buy cheap, no grain would be accumu- lated, and, if they did not sell dear, the supply would not be eked out in proportion to the crisis. It is better in all such things, especially in mercantile matters, to let things take their unfettered natural course, and the merchants need not be decried as enemies of the human race because they make usurious profits in hard times. The natives, whose political economy is generally natural, and therefore right, have little such feeling. A village community could not get on at all without a mercantile man as banker, money-lender, and accountant, and all these func- tions are performed by the mercantile caste. I must not forget to mention a class which has flourished The Kaits, or much Under us — the Kaits ; I know not their writer caste. origin, but their profession is exclusively the pen. In the north entirely, and in Bengal for the most part, they have superseded the Bramins as writers, ac- countants, &c. They adopt indifferently the Persian cha- racter as that of State business, or the Hindee as that of the people, are capital men of business, and have long held many offices under government. In regard to artizans and all the smaller trades of Artizans, &c. cvcry sort, I uccd only here generally re- mark that every possible occupation forms a separate CiiAi'. II. THE LOW CLASSES. 55 caste, fbllowiiig its avocations with hereditary skill, but little mechanical aid. Lastly come the low classes, existing in much the same situation, but in different numbers, through- T T XI 1 111 The low classes. out India, it has been remarked that no democratic republic seems ever to have succeeded which included the whole population alike. The balance of the constitution could not be maintained, and there has always been in such cases a large population of free republicans, with an inferior class to do the dirty work. Thus in Greece, Rome, and America we have slaves, and the constitutions of Tyre, Carthage, Venice, Holland, and England have always been more or less aristocratic. So it is in a republican Hindoo village. Though circum- stances preclude in most parts of India actual slavery, there is always a class without political rights who do the inferior work, and are held in subjection. In the north they are generally much fewer than the proprietors, but still relieve them from particular tasks which they think beneath them. In the south they form a large portion of the population. These inferior classes are two. There are the Chamars, or preparers of leather, in , IP • 1 • '^^^^ Chamars. numbers much out oi proportion to their profession, and who, in fact, carry burdens and work as labourers more than any other class ; they eat carrion and unwholesome food, and have an inferior appearance ; they may and often do cultivate to a considerable extent, but do not serve as soldiers. They are admitted as Hindoos, though at the bottom of the tree, and consider themselves a distinct caste with an exclusiveness of their ,—,, 1 • 1 1 1 '^^^^ outcasts. own. Ihe other is the actual outcast class, who are not admitted to be Hindoos at all, and whom good Hindoos regard with abhorrence and dread of their very touch. In the south of India these people seem to be in great numbers, of inferior personal appearance, and 56 MODEEN INDIA. Cuav. II. to be regarded as the aboriginal race •, but in the north they are not so numerous, and have not the same personal characteristics : on the contrary, I think that, when in good circumstances, they are by no means physically inferior ; and what chiefly distinguishes them from the Chamars is that they make capital soldiers. When there is anything very daring or desperate to be done, they are the men to do it. It is probable that, although the class may have originated in the aborigines, the latter have disappeared from the north, and their place may have been supplied by outcasts, men of desperate cha- racters from all classes, and so become a hardy mixed race. It is a curious circumstance, indicative of the fate of the aboriginal race when conquered by the Hindoos, that the word used throughout India to express a bearer of burdens is "coolie," the most widely spread name of the aboriginal tribes, the " Calantise" of Alexander, the "coolies" of the interior hills. There is throughout India a wandering gipsy race in considerable numbers, with all the charac- The gipsy races. . . i • i i i i • n teristics which belong to that race m ail parts of the world, without fixed houses or habitations of any kind, but moving about continually, and following all kinds of avocations, honest or dishonest, except those which require hard labour. There are several different varieties of this class. It remains that, before leaving this division of my TheMahomraed- Subjcct, I should givC SOUIC aCCOUUt of the ^"^- Mahommedan population, something of which, and the sources from which it is derived, I have before noticed, as well as the conversion of most of the population about the Indus, and from that river as far as the Chenab (the mercantile classes excepted), and of large portions of the Eajpoots and other tribes. In the plains from the Chenab to the Jumna, besides most of the Eajpoots, the nomad and miscellaneous cultivating classes have been Chap. II. THE MAHOMMEDAXS. 57 converted, but not the Jat population. Passing eastward again, there is in the DehH and Agra provinces a consider- able Mahommedan population, but I believe not so large as in Bengal. They seem to be numerous in the south, as the sepoys from thence are principally Mahommedans. In the east of Bengal there are more Mahommedans than anywhere else, and it seems at first sight unexpected that near the seat of the Mahommedan government the pro- portion should be less than so far off; yet it is doubtless explained by the more sturdy independent character of the people. In Bengal and the south the Mahommedans are no doubt principally converts, and the proportion of foreign Mahommedan blood is much less than in the north ; even in the latter quarter I doubt whether there is much foreign blood in proportion to the population. The chief immi- grants are Affghans, Patans, or Rohillas (for the terms are nearly synonymous) . We find occasionally Patau villages, but I should think that they are much recruited by con- verts and native blood ; and in Rohilcund and other places Rohillas have often established themselves as dominant village zemeendars or individual cultivators. Where the northern Rajpoots and similarly situated tribes have been converted in a body, they retain the names of the castes and many of the habits of their Hindoo forefathers, yet (what one would hardly have expected) are generally a good deal changed and Mahommedanized in personal ap- pearance. The other Mahommedans are miscellaneous converts from the general population, with a proportion of the blood of Tare or Mongul or Persian adventurers, with whom they have indifferently intermixed, and after whom they call themselves Moguls, or Syuds, or Sheiks. They are fairer than the rest of the population, but have more of Hindoo than Affghan feature, and have adopted many Hindoo fashions, as if they would maintain their rank as a separate caste among Hindoos — will not eat with unbelievers, and so on. The higher classes, and those 58 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XL with a larger share of foreign blood or of more recent power, have of course the feelings natural to a fallen race, but most of the Mahommedans partake little of this feeling. They follow all occupations, but, as may be supposed from their origin, are principally to be found in towns, and seek chiefly all kinds of service. Among the Mahommedans alone are found men of education and feeling something corresponding to ours, especially among those of foreign blood. The Hindoos do not combine education and soldier- like qualities ; some are educated — some honourable soldiers ; but a Mahommedan, like a European, may com- bine the intelligence of the one with the gentlemanlike character of the other. Although the AfFghans are not Indian, they appear so much in Indian history that it may be well ° " here briefly to notice them. Their origin is not known ; they claim a descent from the ten tribes of Israel, and certainly have a good deal of Jewish feature. They are a fine race, of a ruddy olive complexion. They are generally of the Sunnee sect of Mahommedans, and diffier in every way from the Persians, though some of the latter have found their way into Affghanistan. They in- habit a very mountainous country, form several different tribes, and live under a system of clans and chiefs ; but the authority of the chiefs seems to be very limited. They are above all things impatient of rule and control. Not only to us have they given trouble, but the Mahommedan emperors, whose first territory was Affghanistan, could never keep in order the Affghan tribes bordering on India ; and the most powerful of them had more trouble from petty clans about Peshawar than from all the rest of their subjects put together. The Affghans are always ready to serve as mercenaries, under any one, and any- where. The Beloches in the hills to the south of Affghan- istan seem to be a different people, smaller and darker, and Chap. II. CHARACTER OF NATIVES GENERALLY. 59 more Arab in their ways. They are a purely nomad race, unwilling to take regular service, but always ready for thieving and plunder. A great many of them are settled throughout Western India, in the professions of camel- drivers and thieves. It is from Bengalees and the purer classes of Southrons with whom we first came in contact that the early popular ideas of the mildness and ter of the natives effeminacy of the Hindoos are derived. ^^^^^^ ^' Such was probably the character of most of the Hindoo cotemporaries of the Egyptians, but in the north and among many tribes of the south the northern blood has (as the description already given has shown) completely changed this character and infused a full Physical cou- share of courage and energy. Yet still it is, ^^^^• to a great extent, the courage of excitement. The perse- vering, indomitable, moral courage in all matters of the European is generally wanting at a push. The natives seem to have less fear of death than Europeans, do more rash things, and fight well when led or disciplined, but are easily disheartened by reverses. Perhaps the most important point in distinguishing the character of different races is that of indus- j , , . , Industrial cner- trial energy ; that in which the difference is sy- so marked between the Celtic and Saxon races — the one without much desire to improve their condition, or incli- nation to work more than barely to support existence, the other always ready to push onwards. In this respect the character of the mass of the natives of India is decidedly good. They have none of the laziness or apathy of the Celt or Negro, and the more they get the more they want. It is fortunate that it is so, or, in so large a population, great competition for bread, and necessity of labour in raising crops, they would not subsist as they do. With peace and prosperity the Hindoos make a great deal (tf 60 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. money, and, though they also spend it extravagantly, they are well fitted to accumulate capital. In talent the natives are by no means inferior to Europeans. Talent. . . Their intellects are excellent. They are remarkable for a mathematical clearness of head and talent for figures and exact sciences, which is not general with us, and it is worthy of note that this talent is found most remarkably in the purer Hindoo races, and does not appear to so great an extent in the northern agriculturists, whom I suppose to be more of our blood. The literature of the Hindoos is entirely ancient ; there Literature and ^^ nothing modcm deserving the name. The education. Mahommcdans have the Arabic and Persian literature. They may be well educated after the Mahom- medan fashion ; but there is nothing of a corresponding kind among the higher Hindoos. As with them all labour is divided, so is learning considered the province of learned men, and that learning is of a useless sort. Printing was not at all practised. On the other hand, in no country is manuscript cheaper or more expeditious, and in no country are written documents more largely used in all the common affairs of life — agreements, receipts, accounts, statements of evidence, &;c. &;c. But in this, too, is the division of labour conspicuous. Writing is generally done by those to whom writing is a profession, and accounts are kept by those to whom accounts are a profession. Perhaps good clerks are more abundant, better, and cheaper in proportion to other labour, than in any country in Europe ; they are to be found in every vil- lage, but the mass of the population is not literary. There is, however, a considerable proportion of the people who have received a rude education, such as they require to scrawl receipts, sign their names, and keep little accounts. The whole of certain classes, especially all the mercantile castes, are well educated in their own way. What is the Chap. II. STATE OF EDUCATION. 6 1 proportion to the whole population of persons so educated I am unable to say, but it is smaller than in Europe. The women are generally uneducated ; but among the Jats, and such tribes, where they enjoy greater freedom, they are sometimes so far educated as to keep the house- hold accounts. I take it that the Hindoos were formerly more gene- rally educated than now. Mahommedan historians repre- sent early Hindostan as famous for the number of its schools ; and I have observed that a very large proportion of the purer Hindoos of the hills read and write with facility. The hundred years of political commotion which preceded the establishment of our power probably did much to break up the schools and render the people illi- terate. We found few scholastic institutions, and educa- tion was merely received by those whose avocations made it worth their while to learn privately. In towns were generally found persons teaching classes of the boys of the mercantile and writer castes, and of the Mahommedans. The litigious lying character commonly ascribed to the natives is to some extent to be found every- Litigiousness and where, but seems to be more or less promi- '^i'^*™*'^- nent as the blood is more or less purely ancient Hindoo. Litigiousness is to a certain extent the result of the tran- sition state from anarchy to order. The rights of the different classes are unsettled by anarchy, and rendered uncertain by a new system. They have been accustomed to fight over their claims, and, that mode of arranging matters being forbidden them, they love to fight it out in courts of law •, and the feeling is exactly that described by Scott in the case of Dandie Dinmont, who, as he might not fight his neighbour about the disputed boundary, was deter- mined to '■'■ding" him in the Court of Session. Many such a case I have had to deal with. Still it must be acknow- ledged that among the Bengalees and unwarlike Hindoo 62 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IT. races there is a great proneness and aptness to cunning and litigious arts ; but among the agricultural tribes of the north I doubt whether it would be much more so than with Europeans under similar circumstances, if not encou- raged by a peculiar system. Truth certainly is not in the nation ; but the difference is, that some lie with more cunning than others. A Ben- galee makes up a story with all kinds of premeditation and circumstance, and supports it by all artifice ; while a northern Jat lies in a good-humoured way, and may be reasoned with, and induced to cut down his statements. It is also worthy of note that oaths, as administered among themselves with peculiar sanctions, were of remarkable bindingness and efficacy, and very seldom falsely sworn. It is not unlikely that the cunning and untruthful cha- racter of the natives may be the result of continued and repeated political slavery, leading the vanquished to have recourse to cunning arts. Doubtless to the same cause is due nuich of that Want of patriot- waut of patriotism and extreme selfishness ^^^' which only looks to a man's own case, and cares not what may befall his neighbour, for such is very decidedly the character of the people. And it is, indeed, a very marked characteristic of India, that, while the whole population is to a certain extent socially one, they have no political unity whatsoever. Not only have the Mahommedans and Hindoos no political feeling in common ; but no two tribes, classes, or castes of Hindoos pull together in politics. This, which in the first instance is no doubt in a great degree the consequence of political slavery, is now still more the cause of it. Natives of different classes associate much together, have their alliances and enmities in common. But employ one of them in the service of Government, and he has no particle of political sympathy beyond his own subdivision of a class, if even Chap. II. GENERAL CHARACTER. 63 SO much. Political nationality there is none ; and even in matters of public concernment between the people and the government there is little public spirit. They have so long lived under an alien and despotic government, that they feel little bound to assist it ; and in the pursuit of cri- minals and such matters, if a man is immediately touched himself, he is active enough ; but so long as this is not the case he moves not in the matter, and renders little assistance. The natives have pretty strongly what we call the '•'' moral sense." the feeling of sympathetical Moral sense. pain in witnessing human pain, and pleasure in human pleasure, when it is brought quite close to them ; but they have come to regard most atrocious classes of criminals and enemies of mankind with little personal horror, so long as they are not actual spectators of their deeds. Generally speaking, they certainly are not a cruel or bloody-minded people, and do not generally commit so great atrocities as barbarous and excited Europeans. But when particular classes or individuals make blood a pro- fession, they acquire a coolness and insensitiveness which we could hardly attain. It is, I think, a remarkable distinction between the manners of the natives and ours, and one _ • 1 1 Dmercnce be- which much affects our dealmgs with them, tweeniiigherand .-,-,.„, p lower classes. that there does not exist that diiierence oi tone between the higher and lower classes — the distinc- tion in fact of a gentleman. The lower classes are to the full as good and intelligent as with us ; indeed, they are much more versed in the affairs of life, plead their causes better, make more intelligent witnesses, and have many virtues. But these good qualities are not in the same proportion in the higher classes : they cannot bear prosperity ; it causes them to degenerate, especially if they are bom to 64 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. II. greatness. The only efficient men of rank (with of course a few exceptions) are those who have risen to greatness. The lowest of the people, if fate raise him to be an em- peror, makes himself quite at home in his new situation, and shows an aptitude of manner and conduct unknown to Europeans similarly situated ; but his son is altogether degenerate. Hence the impossibility of adapting to any- thing useful most of the higher classes found by us, and for all fresh requirements it is necessary to create a fresh class. From the acuteness and aptness to learn of the inferior classes, this can be done as is done in no other country. In the useful arts the natives are as far advanced as Arts and ^licy cau be without modern sciences or me- sciences. chauism. I belicve that the system of he- reditary trades secures greater individual skill than if each man were to follow his own bent. Their weavers I should think at least equal to our hand-loom weavers ; their carpenters and blacksmiths have wonderful skill with small means, and will make anything that can be made without great machinery. Agriculture is an art in which their skill is most re- markable. In nothing does Mill evince a .A.GnriciiltuT6 w^ant of knowledge of India so much as in his depreciation of their agriculture. They have not large capital or machinery, large farms or scientific farmers, as in rich modern countries ; but their system is suited to the country, and the proof of their excellence is in the crops they raise, and the fact that, with all our talk of their rudeness and our skill, no European has ever been able to compete with them for a moment in any agricultural product, though he can get land and labour as cheap as they can. As a general rule, farming is not carried on by hired labourers. A man has his own little farm, ploughs and Chap. ]T. AGRICULTURE. 65 cultivates it himself; he generally has sons or brothers to assist. He may occasionally hire labour, and certain services are performed by the inferior inhabitants of the village. But large farms there are not. What is want- ing to small cultivators is supplied by their union in village conununities ; the community has its common artificers, and bankers, and watchmen, and threshing-places. The plough is light and rude, yet may be suited to the soil, climate, and light draft cattle, and certainly no Eu- ropean has ever made anything of a heavier and deeper instrument. The fields are manipulated to a very great degree, ploughed and reploughed a dozen times, and re- duced to a powder without a clod or a knot. The result is that excellent crops are obtained from wonderfully dry- looking soil, and an English farmer would be astonished to see grain crops where it may not have rained for three or four months. To appreciate the skill of the natives a man must try a little cultivation on his own account, and see whether he can make it pay, or in any way succeed so well. I have tried it, and have seen a good deal of experiment. The rotation of crops, and art of keeping up the virtues of the soil, is well under- stood. The capital expended on the cultivation of the more valuable crops, and on wells and works of that kind, is not inconsiderable. The condition of the women among the Hindoos is good; their confinement is a Mahommedan condition of wo- institution, which is imitated by some of the °'^°' higher Hindoo classes, including most of the Rajpoots, but is alien to their genius and habits. In all Hindoo fami- lies the women play an important part. As widows, they have in many cases separate maintenance, and when there are no sons they retain the whole property. Practically, the general rule is that one man has one wife ; but men of rank and wealth may, if they please, increase the num- F 66 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. ber indefinitely (generally when there is no family by the first), and the result of this partial polygamy and of the universal practice of marriage is that the demand for women rather exceeds the supply, and that they are sought after as valuable. Every woman is married as soon as she is old enough. Most marriages are arranged beforehand by the parents of children, but sometimes and among some classes no- thing is settled till they are grown up. Marriage is a very regular and binding ceremony, and cannot be dis- solved. The general opinion is certainly against second marriages, but many tribes have the Jewish custom by which the brother of the deceased husband succeeds to the wife (a right loudly claimed), and the less strict classes practise second marriage without scruple. Abroad the people are very much united, but in their own homes one caste knows not another. Still they have large family circles, and within those circles have many social virtues, and assist and support one another to an admirable extent. Families generally live together as on the Continent, and the young men who go out to service return and remit money most dutifully to their families. The general manners and habits of the people are strikingly like those prevailing among the Jews when the New Testament was written. A feature of their social system which must be noticed Support of pau- 1^ their mode of supporting paupers ; for P®^^- in every country there must be a large number of the population unable to support themselves, and who must be supported by others. In no country, I believe, are these people systematically permitted to die of want, and they are either supported by Govern- ment or by individuals. In India no provision has ever been made by Government, but it is a remarkable fact Chap. II. WEALTH, WAGES, ETC. Q7 , that, being left to itself, the evil provides its own remedy. In India (excepting what is due to private benevolence, casual, or from benevolent institutions) every family supports its own poor, and public relief, never having been heard of, is never expected or required. The system seems to answer its purpose; the burden, pro- bably, in the end becomes pretty equal ; and the waste- ful expense of collection and distribution, the demoral- ization of the people, and many evils of our system, are avoided. And here it may not be out of place to give some opinion of the condition and the degree of wealth, wages, riches of the people. I need not go into the ^°" abstruse question of the causes affecting the relative value of money and food in different countries. It is sufficient that, when wages are low and articles of consumption are also low-priced, a man is as well off as when both are high. The nearest approach to a uniform standard is, I should say, the proportion which the cost of sufficient food for the support of an able-bodied man bears to his wages. He who can feed himself for half his wages is richer than he who can only do so for three-fourths. Even if his wages in money be not half so much, he has a greater pro- portion of luxuries. So in India wages are very low, but food is also low. According to the standard I have laid down, the English labourer, under free trade, must still have much the advantage ; but then, again, comes the difference of climate. An Englishman requires stronger food, a more expensive house, more fuel, and more clothing, as necessaries, all which makes the difference much loss than we might suppose. An able-bodied labourer in India makes about 2hd. or Sd. per diem, but then he can get 2 lbs. of coarse grain for about one halfpenny. And again, if we take the rent of land to average about five shillings per acre, that is, in proportion to food and labour, a high F 2 68 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. rent, indicating a very fully cultivated country. As to capital, the proportion in India is of course infinitely small compared to England, but it is not by any means entirely absent. The mercantile classes have always had a good deal of money, which, through them, is actively employed in all the ordinary operations of the country. The rate of wages seems to be somewhat greater in the south than in the north, whether from proximity to the sea, and facility of communication with other countries, or from under population, I pretend not to determine ; but, notwithstanding, the people of the south seem to be much poorer, to have less to spend on luxuries, if we may judge from the comparative smallness of imports. The south seems to have much fallen off from what it once was in population, riches, and everything else, as evidenced by many dilapidated remains. The institution of castes is, in fact, originally nothing more than a great system of very minute hereditary division of labour. Our ideas of it are too much derived from descriptions of caste as it existed in Menu's time, or as Menu thought it ought to exist. The four great classes are no longer in existence, but the variety of castes is infinite. I have said that every occupation and subdivision of an occupation forms a separate caste, and these again are subdivided. To this classification succes- sive immigrations have added another, that of different tribes and subdivisions of tribes, of which the distinction is not so much of occupation as of origin and family, each tribe taking place in the Hindoo system as a separate caste. There is doubtless a distinction of rank, some castes ranking higher than others ; but, after all, it is most decidedly a division of labour or of clans, and not a division of rank. There is, in fact, no fixed general classification of the rank of castes — it is a mere matter of opinion, and exclusiveness is generally mutual. The higher castes Chap. IT. CASTES. 69 have no considerable advantage over the lower in the material enjoyments of life, and when there is superiority- it is rather political than the result of caste. A middle or inferior caste man retains his exclusiveness and his cus- toms as much as one of high caste, and has not the least envy of the other, nor desire to change places. He can turn his labour to just as much account, and indeed has great advantages in the freedom from certain restrictions; for instance, in the free use of the labour of his women, the want of which is said to keep the Mahommedans, Rajpoots, and other classes whose women are concealed from public view, always poor. On the other hand, the restrictions against eating or marrying together are stricter than in Menu's time, and are quite absolute. These rules, in fact, constitute caste. No man may lawfully eat with any individual of any other caste, or partake of food cooked by him, but he may have all other intercourse with him, may be his friend, his master, his servant, his partner. Marriage is strictly confined to the same caste, but the accumulation of too much of the same blood is obviated by another peculiar Hindoo rule, viz. that, though a man must marry in his own caste, he may not marry his relation the most distant ; and hence, as most great castes have subdivisions, the general rule is, that he must marry in the caste, but not in his own subdivision. Exclusive Hindoo families cannot therefore have a system of mar- riages among themselves, like Europeans and Mahommed- ans. This it is which makes daughters of high rank so difficult to provide for. Although a man of good Rajpoot family may for his advantage marry a woman of inferior family, it is highly disgraceful to a woman to marry a man of inferior blood. The Rajpoots have in these mat- ters nnich of the chivalry of the barbarians. Slavery of able-bodied men for general purposes is, and I believe always has been, unknown in most parts of India, 70 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. for this simple reason, that free labour is so cheap that slavery is not profitable. Willing labour V. arery. ^.^^ g^|,^gyg j^g more effective than unwilling labour, and, therefore, where there is an abundant supply of labour, and wages are so near the limit of subsistence as not to leave a margin of profit for forced labour, a slave has no market value. If a slave has no value there are no slaves ; and therefore real practical out-of-door slavery only exists where labour is valuable and wages are high. In India, generally speaking, every man's person and labour is his own, to make the most of it. We see, indeed, w^hat may seem forced labour in the performance by certain classes of certain duties without remuneration in money, but this is much more of the nature of a con- tract, for they receive a fixed proportion of the grain of the whole village in lieu of their services, and any man in practice leaves the village when he likes, follows any occu- pation he likes, and acquires land if he can. The demo- cratic freemen often claim the inferior inhabitants of the village as " adscripti glebce," and they are, while they remain there, something in the position of serfs. One community ought not to entice away the serfs of another. But practically they have little hold over their persons, and there is nothing of the nature of private slavery. Domestic slavery, again, as existing in most Oriental countries, is another matter, and applies chiefly to women or foreign eunuchs, and such like. Women are, under the Mahommedans, always subject to the authority of their lords, and the slave-girls are slaves for the conve- nience of great men. It appears, however, that in some peculiar districts of the south there was actual slavery, some of the aborigines, in a dearth of labour, having been made sla\ es in Malabar and Canara. Practically I should say that the religion of the Hindoos is the simplest Monotheism. This may more particularly Chap, H. SLA VEEY— RELIGION. 71 apply to Northern India, where the Mahommedans have destroyed the temples, and more impreg- nated the country with their ideas ; but in all ^ '^'*'"' dealings with all classes of natives, in conversation, and appeals to a higher power, I have never found any active or practical belief in particular gods or idols ; and under different names, Hindoos, Mahommedans, and Christians all look to and appeal to one and the same God, invisible and all-powerful. But as the Hindoos claim no recent revelation, normal religion is less active as a guide of their lives than with Christians or Mahommedans, and most of their faith is natural religion. They have an undoubted apprehension of a future state of rewards and punishments, but in no distinct form, and their reliance is on good works. They have the feeling of charity to mankind, which perhaps results from that " moral sense " which is a part of our nature, and the chief of their good works are practical benevolences to mankind. A Hindoo who wishes to lay up for himself a store of good deeds founds insti- tutions for feeding the poor, or builds wells and serais, or plants trees to protect travellers from the sun. But he also (and it is the only practical part of their arbitrary religion) goes the round of all the sacred places, and fees the priests there. To this the Hindoos attribute immense efficacy, and nothing is so common as their pilgrimages to Hardwar, Juggernath, and such places. For those who are not satisfied with these observances — who lose all taste for the things of the world — there are the religious orders, of which they may at any time become members, in which all distinction of caste is abolished, and the devotee, forsaking all other ties, becomes only bound by the rules of his order. The various orders represent different schools of religion and philosophy. All have their origin within a few centuries, and some comparatively recently. The Hindoos were in fact much in the same 72 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. position as the Greeks and Romans. They had a profuse mythology, in which they had Httle practical belief, and a certain natural religion ; but their minds sought for some- thing more determinate, and they found it in their different schools of philosophy. They have indeed shown a great readiness for, and inclination towards, religious innovation, and it may be that they are, like the Romans, ripe to receive a rational religion and code of morality. The best and most successful of innovators in Northern India was Nanak, the founder of the Sikhs. He had very wide views, and his doctrines make the nearest approach to those of Christianity that we meet with in any part of the heathen world. He would have united all nations and all religions in a belief in one perfect God and in charity to all men. He was, however, in advance of his age. His son became much more of a zealot, and was merely a Hindoo reformer. He founded the sect of the " Oodasees," an ascetic order, which was at this stage separated from Sikhism, and had a wider success among Hindoos. It is indeed one of the most widely spread and influential of the orders, has very many followers throughout a great part of India, and is often called the sect of " Nanak." But the proper Sikhs, who separated from this sect after the death of Nanak, have always been merely local, and, from political circumstances, have very much degenerated from the faith of their founder, and become much more a political than a religious association. They ought to have no distinction of castes, and, being principally Jats, do in practice much relax the Hindoo rules, but they do not altogether abandon them, and, becoming Sikhs, retain the names and some of the distinctions of their original castes. The less strict Hindoos still intermarry with their Sikh brethren. In the south, the Portuguese had at one time great suc- cess by grafting the Christian religion on Hindoo fables. Chap. 11. IIELIGIUN. 73 institutions, and prejudices, as the early Roman Catholics had grafted it on the old Koman system of mythology. It may be that, to the majority of the southern Hindoos, as to southern Europeans, such a system is better suited than the more uncompromising doctrines of Nanak or of Calvin. Compared to the Hindoo, or even to the Roman Catho- lic tenets, the Mahouimedan religion has much to boast of in the way of purity and intellectuality, and indeed may owe much of its success to its denunciation of the idolatrous corruptions of Christianity. In the unity of the object of their adoration, their iconoclastic zeal, and not inequitable laws, the Mahommedans doubtless consider that they have a great advantage over most of the Chris- tians with whom they have come in contact, and, not without reason, regard the religion of the latter as very much corrupted. Here is Ferishta's idea of the religion of the English : " The persuasion of this nation is dif- ferent from that of other Europeans, particularly the Por- tuguese, with whom they are in a state of constant warfare. They assert that Jesus was a mortal, and the Prophet of God ; that there is only one God, and that he is without equal, and has no wife nor son, according to the belief of the Portuguese." But the Mahommedan religion has also in the course *of ages become much corrupted, in India more so than anywhere else, and there is a considerable disposition to reform. Several reforming sects have sprung up, but have been put down by the hand of power. One of the latest was that of Syud Ahmed, a plunderer out of employment, who, turning religious reformer, denounced the corruptions of Mahommedan fathers, and the inter- mixture of Hindoo practices, and preached a return to the original faith and original independence. He gave much trouble to Ranjeet Sing, and created some disturbances in 74 MODERN INDIA. Chap. II. our territory near Calcutta, but was eventually put down. I merely mention this affair (though bringing it in here is somewhat of an anachronism) to illustrate the state of JMahoramedanism as we have found it. Temples, mosques, religious institutions, and religious persons, both Hindoo and Mahommedan, had from time to time acquired considerable endowments in the shape of assignments of land revenue. These were often granted and often resumed, but we found them in considerable numbers. Chap. HI. THE MAHOMMEDAN TOLTTY. 75 CHAPTER III. THE INSTITUTIONS AND SITUATION TO WHICH Wf: SUCCEKDED. Mahommedan as compared witli Hindoo polity — General government — Provincial governors and subordinate officers — • Maratta and Sikli systems — Village communities — Tenure of land — Eevenue system — Laws — Crime — Punisliments — Judicial system. Having noticed the chief personal and social characteristics of the natives of India as we found them, I shall now touch on the government and political institutions to which we succeeded. We are the immediate successors of the Moguls in the government of the greater part of India. Even when the empire was broken up, the provinces were ruled by Mogul governors on the Mogul system, and the different Hindoo conquerors of portions of the country had hardly been settled long enough to establish systems of their own, or efface those of the Moguls. It is, there- fore, chiefly the Mogul system with which we have had to deal, and which I must describe. The Mahommedan polity is distinguished from the Hindoo as altogether wanting the republican characteristics element, and to a great extent the disposition commred™"^ to to hereditary succession, of the Plindoos ; Hindoo polity. and their tendency has always been to the formation of great empires, having nothing feudal in their composition, but everything centralized — the only aristocracy being official, and the officials the creatures of the sovereign. They had not, like the Hindoos, local ties and local strength. Under their system the only hereditary oflEices 76 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. were those held by Hmdoos or people of Hindoo race. The throne itself was to a certain extent hereditary, sub- The govern- j^^^^ ^0 ^^^ irregularities of revolutions and ™^'^'* changes of dynasties common to all Oriental despotisms. The ministers were the servants of the sove- reign, raised by court favour, and often falling as sud- denly as they rose. Under the greater emperors, who exercised personal authority, there were different ministers for different departments, Hindoos as well as Mahom- medans ; but in later days, when the emperors were the creatures of successive revolutions, power was generally exercised by one Prime Minister, who rose for the time to the top of the political wheel. There was a certain imperial regular army, principally cavalry, and large numbers of local troops or retainers were entertained for local purposes by the governors of provinces. The empire was divided into the great soubahs or pro- Divisions of the viuccs (sometimcs natural, sometimes artifi- empire. ^j^j divisious), which are known to the present day. Dehli and Agra were the head-quarters of the em- pire. There were governors of Bengal, of Bahar, of Oude, of the Punjab, of Malwa, &c. &c., and, in later times, the greatest government of all was that of the Deccan, which comprised the whole of the more recent conquests in the south, — in fact, all India south of the Nerbudda. It was probably as being a more distant and less settled country that it was found expedient during the short period that it was held by the Moguls to unite the management of the whole under one great Viceroy or Governor-General. Under him there were deputy-governors of the Carnatic and other provinces subject to his authority ; but the nomi- nation of these deputies the emperor originally retained in his own hands. The governors were of the same class as the ministers, Chap. 111. GENERAL GOVERNMENT. "J^J seldom selected for any local qualiiication or connection, but despatched from Dehli and recalled at The governors pleasure. Probably the emperors were jealous "^ p^^mces. of the formation of any local influence, and for this reason frequently changed the governors, and exercised a very immediate control over them. At any rate, any- thing approaching to hereditary succession to governorships was absolutely unknown ; and all the viceroys whose families have now become hereditary princes were but very recently appointed, and by mere accident found the control from above withdrawn when the empire went to pieces. The centralization of the Moguls was effected by main- taining a sufficient control over the governors, not by diminishing their powers. So long as he held office a governor was the delegate and representative of the em- peror, and united all powers. Where there were deputy- governors of subdivisions they in like manner represented the governor, and were only responsible to him. The governors themselves managed revenue and ordinary police matters, but had under them commanders of the forces charged with military discipline and with the subordinate es- keeping of the public peace, and also judges tabhshments. for the trial of cases civil and criminal. Lines of mili- tary posts were established for the prevention of crime along the great roads, and military detachments were em- ployed for the suppression of violent crimes or disturbances. The ordinary police and revenue duties, and in fact the general charge of the country, na°ry police and 1 .1 n .1 • , • , , 1 , revenue duties. while all remamed quiet, were intrusted to one establishment. The governor appointed his agents or kardars to different districts, the smallest subdivision being that called a Pergunnah, containing perhaps one hundred villages. The kardars collected the revenue, apprehended criminals, and exercised a general authority within their 78 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. charges. In large towns there was a separate police under a kotwal. The trades had a sort of limited municipal constitution, but the towns had no common funds or real self-government, so that large non- agricultural munici- palities cannot be said to have existed. There was another class of instruments of which the Moguls availed themselves, and which they in fact them- selves created or revived in pursuance of that system of conciliation towards the Hindoos which they adopted. I have said that when they conquered India they exer- cised an indirect authority in the hills and poorer districts The zemeen- through tributary Hindoo chiefs. To them ^^^^- was applied the Persian term Zemeendar, or landholder, probably to show that they were not sovereign princes, but native subjects exercising a certain authority. At first, indeed, the term Zemeendar seems to have been used much as we use "natives," and applied generally to all with whom the foreign conquerors had to fight or to treat ; and when the conquest was effected the tributary chiefs are invariably called- " Zemeendars " by Mahom- medan writers. These chiefs had been altogether swept away and disappeared from the plain and completely con- quered country, and with them had disappeared all the Hindoo hereditary district oflftcers. The latter the Moguls were inclined to revive, and they did revive or establish a class of hereditary officers, to whom also they applied the term "Zemeendars." None of these modern Zemeendars can boast any ancient Hindoo origin. Distinguished indi- viduals of native origin and local influence were appointed by imperial commission Zemeendars of considerable tracts (perhaps of a Pergunnah). They were generally of im- portant Hindoo tribes — Rajpoots, Bramins, Kaits, &c. ; and we often find grants of such offices to Rajpoots of con- sideration who had turned Mahommedans. The heir of a deceased Zemeendar, if well fitted, was generally confirmed Chap. III. SUBOEDINATE ESTABLISHMENTS. 79 as his successor, but they were always liable to be de- prived for misconduct or disfavour. Through them and their local influence it was desired principally to manage matters with the natives. Their authority was in the first instance subject to or co-ordinate with that of the Kardars : the latter receiving the revenue, apprehending criminals, &c., through the Zemeendars, who maintained a consider- able establishment as a sort of militia, were responsible for the police, and collected the dues of government. If an individual Zemeendar particularly gained the confidence of the government, he might be permitted himself to perform the duties of Kardar, and to manage his division without any immediate supervisor. The Zemeendars were remu- nerated by a percentage of the revenue. On the same principle as the office of Zemeendar was established another hereditary office, that of ^^ ^^ "^ Canoongoes, Uanoongoe. Canoon seems to be a canon, rule, or regulation, and the Canoongoe is the registrar and accountant for the district. He is supposed to have a minute local acquaintance with all property and tenures, to register them in his office, and to keep an account of the demands and receipts of Government for each village. The same class of duties performed by the Zemeendars and Canoongoes for large tracts were under ^nd viUan-e of- them performed for the interior of each ^^^^'^- village by the Head-men and Accountants. They were responsible for the police, the collection of the revenue, the record of rights, and account of demands and pay- ments for each individual. The village offices had always remained universal throughout India. Canoongoes seem to have been everywhere established by the Moguls, and Zemeendars over a great portion of the country. The farther from the seat of government, and the less perfect the organization of the village corporations, the more commonly was the Zemeendaree system introduced. 80 MODEEN INDIA. CnAP. III. It was general in Bengal and the lower parts of the country — less universal in the upper provinces. In the south there had hardly been time for the complete dis- appearance of the old, and establishment of new Zemeen- dars. There were both remains of ancient chieftainships, and new chiefs who had established themselves by force of arms, sometimes called Polygars — modern Zemeendars ; and large tracts where neither existed. In the centre and west of the peninsula Zemeendars seem to have been once pretty general, but to have been lost in the long wars and successive inroads. On the other hand, where the com- munities were well capable of managing their own affairs, the office of Zemeendar was not so common. Where do- minant families were the superiors over the other inhabit- ants of villages, their heads generally exercised the func- tions of the Zemeendars. In fact it was only where existing institutions left to Government too great detail that inter- mediate Zemeendars were resorted to. Such then were the different instruments through whom the Moguls governed. In the prime of the empire the object was to centralise all accounts, &c., and so guard against abuses. The system of paying establishments and pensions by assignment of particular revenues Payments by as- , . , , i i i • signments of was discouragcd to the utmost, and the object was that, everything being credited, all grants and payments should be in money. But this was never fully carried out, and in the decline of the empire the reverse of the system prevailed. Village officers held lands exempt from revenue. District and provincial officers received assignments of particular revenues. Re- ligious institutions were so endowed, and troops were paid by similar assignments. Salaries of ministers and govern- ment officials, pensions to court favourites, &c. &c., such as would make the civil list in our phraseology, were all paid by the grants of particular revenues, which the recipients Chap. III. CHANGE OF SYSTEM. 81 were themselves to realise without the intervention of government. During the decline of the empire the whole official system was also tem in decline of subject to many irregularities. Besides the open conquests of Hindoo confederacies and rebellion of Mahommedan governors, enlarged functions and powers were usurped under the name of legitimate offices. In that confusion many Zemeendars doubtless disappeared, but others exorbitantly increased their power, enlarged their districts and their jurisdictions, and succeeded in assuming somewhat of the character of tributary chiefs *, such were the Zemeendars of Benares, Burdwan, and the like. Some were mere predatory leaders, who succeeded in establish- ing themselves and levying black mail or tribute from the villages, and called themselves Zemeendars. Such were some of the Jat chiefs, and such were Rajpoots and Bheels, who established themselves in Guzerat. Gene- rally speaking, either the Zemeendars ousted the Kardars, or the Kardars the Zemeendars — the Zemeendars assuming the whole management, and merely paying the revenue to the power for the moment supreme in the province, or the Kardar exercising an authority freed from all former restraints and division of duties; and in both cases the executive officers taking on themselves all judicial func- tions. The old feudatory system prevailing among the Baj- poots I formerly noticed. The only modern J^ . •' 1 1 • 1 1 Maratta system. Hindoos who ruled long enough and widely enough to establish anything of a system were the Ma- rattas. In some things they followed the practice of the Moguls ; in others they Hindooised the government. They had great hereditary officers of state, and their secondary leaders became hereditary rulers of feudatory princi- palities, forming a federal union instead of one empire. With them we find little distinction between adminis- 82 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. trative and judicial functions. Their agents exercised unlimited general authority. Under them and other Hindoo powers the village system was much cherished, and they had in some places established Bramins and such people, in the place of the ancient Hindoo district officers, corresponding to the Mahommedan Zemeendars. The Maratta villages seem to have been less generally de- mocratic, and their whole system to have more partaken of the aristocratic character of ancient Hindoo institutions, than among the purer northern tribes. Malik Amber, an Abyssinian, under the old Mahommedan kings of the south, and Sevajee, on the establishment of his power, did much to systematise the revenue administration on similar principles to those of Akber in the north, but later contests created confusion again. The Sikhs, before Runjeet Sing's time, minutely di- viding their conquests, had no regular sys- Sikh system. i , -pk • i o ,^ tem ; but Kunjeet and some oi the greater chiefs have in the last half-century managed matters tolerably well. They have altogether abolished the Ze- meendars of the Moguls (who had once been pretty gene- rally established), and left nothing intermediate between government and the village communities. Their Kardars had charge of the different districts, and had a general authority, only checked by the privilege of appeal to head- quarters, very generally exercised by the communities when dissatisfied. The communities were more perfect and vigorous than in any other part of the country, and were well treated by the government. In order to explain the revenue system which we found in India, I must more particularly notice the nities and landed coustitutiou of the village couimunities, and the nature of the different landed tenures. I have formerly explained that the Hindoo agriculturists from the first settled together in villages, and that the CiiAP. III. PROPERTY IN LAND. 83 land, so far as use and possession went, was the property of him who first tilled it, subject to the pay- , £> J^ . , ,1 , First and lowest ment oi the proper rent to the government, property in the This property in the land, however, only extending to possession of the soil actually cultivated, gave no right to the remaining waste lands, nor authority over any other cultivators who might be settled in them ; and, the rent being excluded from the property, the mere right of cultivating (though it might be prized by those who had it, who had been bred on and were attached to the soil) could have little market money value. This then is the lowest description of property in the soil, and amounts to little more than a sort of very strong tenant- right. It appears to have been the tenure of very ancient Hindoo times. The democratic tribes have been mentioned as pos- sessed of much stronger rights. With them the whole land of the country was divided stronger form among the different communities. They claimed the proprietorship not only of the cultivated, but also of the uncultivated land, within their limits, and they had authority over, and certain superior rights in the land of any inferior holders cultivating on the original tenant- right just described. In the first instance they probably themselves retained the whole or part of the rent, but the greater part of this they have eventually been obliged to pay to some government. They generally, however, re- tain some marginal portion of it as their profit and for local expenses, and especially where there were inferior holders a portion of the rent levied from them went to the superiors. This then was a much stronger and more decided proprietorship. The share of the actual rent enjoyed by the proprietors varied, according to circum- stances, from something infinitesimally small to a consi- derable proportion ; but at any rate all the acts of pro- G 2 84 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. III. prietorship are in every case much more evident than in the original tenure first described ; and all the strongest proprietary rights found by us are not so much those of occupation as of conquest. There is then a considerable difference between the constitution and rights of the simple and the democratic communities. I must explain their working. I have before alluded to the village communities, which Viiia-'-e commu- wcrc fomicd iu early Hindoo times, and nities. which are described by Menu. They were composed of the tenant-right men, and I call them " simple communities." They were aristocratic in con- stitution, and vmder single head-men appointed by the King. Here is a modern description, principally applying to aristocratic communities and to the south of India, and corresponding very closely with the original type. I quote from the Fifth Report : — " A village, geographically considered, is a tract of The original aris- couti try Comprising some hundreds or thou- tocratic form. sands of acrcs of arable and waste land. Politically viewed, it resembles a corporation or township. Its proper establishment of officers and servants consists of the following descriptions. The Potail, or head inhabit- ant, who has the general superintendence of the afikirs of the village, settles the disputes of the inhabitants, attends to the police, and performs the duty of collecting the revenue within the village ; — the Curnom, who keeps the accounts of cultivation, and registers everything connected with it ; — the Tallier and Totie — the duty of the former appearing to consist in a wider and more enlarged sphere of action, in gaining information of crimes and off*ences, and in escorting and protecting persons travelling from one village to another ; the province of the latter appear- ing to be more immediately confined to the village — con- sisting, among other duties, in guarding the crops and Chap. III. VILLAGE COMMUNITIES. 85 assisting in measuring them ; — the Boundary man who preserves the limits of the village, and gives evidence respecting them in cases of dispute : — the Superintendent of Water-courses and Tanks, who distributes the water for the purposes of agriculture ; — the Bramin, who performs the village worship ; — the Schoolmaster, who is seen teach- ing the children in the villages to read and write in the sand ; — the Calendar Bramin, or astrologer, who pro- claims the lucky or unpropitious periods for sowing and threshing ; — the Smith and Carpenter, who manufacture the implements of agriculture, and build the houses of the ryots ; — the Potman, or Potter ; the Washerman ; the Barber ; the Cowkeeper, who looks after the cattle ; the Doctor; the Dancing-girl, who attends at rejoicings; the Musician ; and the Poet." And Elphinstone says, " Each township conducts its own internal affairs. It levies on its members the revenue due to the state, and is collectively responsible for the payment of the full amount. It manages its police, and is answerable for any property plundered within its limits. It administers justice to its own members, as far as punishing small offences and deciding disputes in the first instance. It taxes itself to provide funds for its internal expenses, such as the repairs of the walls and temple, and the cost of public sacrifices and charities, as well as of some ceremonies and amusements on festivals." Where the democratic element prevailed, viz. in the north, and in many parts of the south, the . , . ,, , , . . p, T ^ ■, The democratic constitution oi the communities so tar aitiered form of the from those in other parts, that the proprietary members were all equal, and considered themselves mas- ters of the village, of all the lands attached to it, and of the other inhabitants — the watchmen, priests, artificers, (S:c., being their servants rather than village officers; while common affairs were managed, not by one head-man 86 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. holding of the government, but by the Committee or Punch ah'eady alluded to, elected by the proprietary com- munity, and consisting on an average of perhaps half a dozen members. The Potail, in the south, seems to be not so much a representative among equals as a superior by whom is kept together a miscellaneous body. But the members of the Democratic Punch have no official power or autho- rity except as representatives of the body. They gene- rally, from personal character and position, exercise per- sonal influence, and disputes may be voluntarily referred to them ; but the punishment of other proprietors, or judi- cial decisions of cases not voluntarily referred to them, they do not attempt. The simple municipality has been often described, and I shall therefore more particularly notice this democratic form. The old reports clearly show that it generally obtained among the Vellallers, and other tribes of the south, previous to our rule ; and in the north it is still universal among the Jats, Pajpoots, and kindred tribes. In fact, in the part of India where I have lately been employed, about the Upper Sutlej, and east and west, to the Jumna on one side and far into the Punjab on the other, no other form of village community or landed tenure is known. Most authors have supposed that in this part of the country all traces of communities must have been swept away, whereas here alone do they still exist in perfection. Each village then is one community, composed of a number of families, claiming to be of the same brother- hood or clan; and generally most of the villages in the same part of the country are of one tribe or subdivision of a tribe. Yet others are intermixed, and it often happens that a village may be made up of two or three separate divisions of different tribes, castes, or even religions yet uniting for certain purposes. These then form a commu- Chap. III. VILLAGE COMMUNITIEW. 87 nity, who assume and possess the strongest proprietary- rights in the soil, and are not to be, nor ahiiost ever are, dispossessed by any native government. They are, in a perfect village, almost the only professional cultivators. If a shopkeeper or labourer has obtained land to cultivate, he is generally considered as holding only on sufterance. Yet sometimes, by long possession and the dying out of the original owners, a few such may have acquired a full right, and be recognised as adopted members of the com- munity. The government officers do not interfere directly in village matters, so long as the proprietors agree among themselves, but invariably treat with the communities as a body corporate, and as such transact all business with them through their representatives. They have a ma- chinery by which they distribute all burdens, and are enabled to make engagements in common. Yet they do by no means " enjoy to a great degree the community of goods," as Mill supposes. I never knew an instance in which the cultivation was carried on in common, or in which any of the private concerns of the villagers were in any way in common ; and I very much doubt the exist- ence of any such state of things. The whole land is the common property of all, and they have certain common responsibilities in return for common rights. But things are managed in this wise : every village is divided into a certain number of fixed portions called ploughs, but a plough is rather like an algebraical symbol to express a fixed share than a literal plough. The arable land then is divided into, say for instance, sixty-four ploughs, and every man's holding is expressed in ploughs ; he may have one plough, or two ploughs, or a plough and a half^ or three-quarters of a plough ; all imposts, whether of government demand or of common expenses, are assessed at so nmch a plough, and each man pays accordingly. 88 MODERN INDIA. Chap III. In the first instance lands might be annually changed, after the fashion of the Germans, by way of guarding against inequalities, but since the communities have settled down the holdings are fixed, and he who invests in wells, &c., cannot be dispossessed. So much of the common right remains that the members may claim periodical remeasurements and re-adjustment of holdings and payments, to rectify the inequalities and alteration of boundaries which may gradually arise. The grazing-ground of each village is common to all ; but the division between the grazing-grounds of different villages is very jealously maintained, and any uncertain or unde- decided boundary leads to very bloody affrays. When these cases were decided compensation was given to the heirs of those killed in the right from the lands of those in the wrong. If fresh land is brought under cultivation, it may either be shared by all, the number of ploughs remaining the same, or, if all do not desire fresh land, certain members may by common consent be allowed to create fresh shares : say land equal to two ploughs is broken up, there are henceforth sixty-six ploughs, and the imposts per plough are lightened to all. But when the grazing-ground is no larger than sufficient to afford pasture to the village cattle, no one is permitted to break it up. In large villages there are generally two or three great divisions called Pattees ; for example, in the instance quoted there may be one Pattee of thirty-two ploughs, and two of sixteen each, and each Pattee has, if possible, some share in the representative Punch. The Punch is as a rule of a plural number. In small villages there may be only two, in large ones a dozen or more. Claim to the office is considered to consist in a large stake in the village and personal fitness. A clever, well-spoken man who has a good share of land, and is the head of a number Chap. 111. VILLAGE COMMUNITIES. 89 of relatives and friends, becomes one of the Punch, which office he holds for life if he continues to give satisfaction to his constituents ; but if he becomes very old or incom- petent or unpopular, some one else probably revolutionises himself into his place. The office is so far hereditary that it is a great claim to it that the candidate's father held it before him, and if there be any fit arid well-spoken relation he generally succeeds, seniority obtaining a pre- ference in equal degrees of fitness. It is purely a matter for village election ; but if one party does not carry all before it, if claims be nicely balanced, one man's father having been of the Punch, and (as is often the casej another's grandfather before that, and a third declaring that both were usurpers, and that he himself is backed by the great majority of the constituency — in such a case it often falls to the officers of government to regulate and confirm the election. The office of Punch is much coveted, and all arrangements are made by the Punch collectively. They act not as persons having authority over the community, but always as repre- sentatives, and on many subjects they consult their con- stituencies before deciding. Their power is somewhat ill defined, and there is generally in the village a leader of opposition, perhaps the defeated candidate for the last Punchship, who leads a strong party, accuses the Punch of malversation and (sometimes not without reason) of embezzlement, and insists on their being compelled to render an account of their stewardship ; for there are abuses and grievances in all corporations in all parts of the world. The inferior political position of certain of the inha- bitants of these, as of all other pure republics, I have already noticed. The accountant, and banker, and mer- cantile inhabitants generally, are rather allies than subjects, for, though they have no direct voice in the management. 90 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. they are courted as moneyed men, who increase the pros- perity of the community, and with whom all have trans- actions. From them advances, &c., are received ; they take all the grain and credit it at the market price, and generally the revenue is paid through them. Money is power in all communities. But all the other inhabitants — carpenters, blacksmiths, priests, &c. &c., and the large class of labourers who do everything laborious except actual agriculture, and are sometimes employed to assist in that — all these are classed as "kameens," or inferiors, and receive an annual allowance of grain for their services. I am afraid that a Bramin's profession is not so profitable in the north as in the south, for I find in a particular description of a village of Dehli (Revenue Selections, iii. 401, to which I would refer for a very excellent account of these communities) that, while the washerman receives twenty seers of grain per plough, the tailor fifteen, and the musician twenty, the Bramin has but three-quarters of a seer. When the communities are so strong, independent, and well-organised, there can be no doubt with whom rests the proprietary rights ; they will permit no encroachments, and there is generally no middle-man between them and the government. They pay their revenue direct to the government agent, or, if any one is interposed, he confines himself entirely to the power delegated to hun, and does not interfere with the communities. In their lands, as in all others, the original right of the government consists in a share of the produce. Even when it is levied in this form they have always an account of fines, presents, and common expenses,, which are paid according to shares, and keep the machine in working order. But for the mutual convenience of the proprietors and govern- ment the payment of revenue may be connnuted into a Chap. III. VILLAGE COMMUNITIES. 91 fixed sum in money. They may agree for a certain sum per annum on the whole village, and each knows what he has to pay according to his share. This, then, is a perfect democratic community ; but there are others less perfect, and a variety of tenure has arisen. There is the first form of corporation already mentioned, composed of miscellaneous elements, with one Potail or Mokuddum as a ruling head. Here the parts are less firmly united, and the machinery less perfect, and there are no fixed shares or common property. Yet here, too, it seems clear that under native governments the revenue was frequently paid "in the lump," and to pay it in the lump there must have been means of distributing it. This might be effected by a survey and classification of the land, and the creation of shares as in democratic villages. If there were not such a survey, either the representative of government must collect direct from each cultivator, or the Potail must distribute the burden among the difi'erent cultivators in proportion to the land supposed to be held by each, and they must settle the matter equitably among themselves. Again, it has happened in many parts that the original community has become worn-out and effete, y.^^^^ eZemeen- They cannot cultivate the whole lands ; '^^'^^• other cultivators are admitted ; the representatives of the original community insist upon their original rights as proprietors of the whole village, yet are frequently not in a position practically to exercise them ; or, as I have stated to be in some parts of the country the case, the democratic conquerors never were sufficiently numerous to occupy the whole village, and are merely settled in com- paratively small numbers dominant over the other inhabit- ants ; and it has frequently happened that in the original simple corporations the head-man or representative of government has made his office altogether hereditary, 92 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. III. divided it among his descendants, and so his particular family exercise general authority and receive certain dues in the village. Or the government may have granted to a man of capital a tract of unoccupied land, on condition of breaking it up, settling tenants upon it, and paying a cer- tain portion of the rent, while he retains another portion. In these several ways have arisen the tenure of what are called village Zemeendars, viz. certain families or indi- viduals in a village claiming certain proprietary rights over the whole, while the great body of the cultivators occupy an inferior position. Lastly come the great Zemeendars of districts, whose District zemeen- positiou and functious Under the Moguls as ^^^^- instruments of government have been already explained. They, among other duties, collected the rent or revenue for government, and received a percentage for their trouble ; and being called Zemeendars, which may be translated into English landholder, the mistake of sup- posing them proprietors was natural enough to English ideas. It is, indeed, wonderful how much difficulty and difference arise from a name and from some men's inapt- ness to understand that different persons may have different rights, duties, or privileges in the same thing or under the same name. This word Zemeendar, originally used as I have before mentioned, is now variously applied to tribu- tary chiefs, to hereditary district officers, to dominant families in villages, and, lastly, to all the members of all the democratic conununities in the extreme north, each of whom, not inappropriately, calls himself Zemeendar, using the word in its literal sense, and meaning thereby merely an agriculturist ; so much so, that the Jats, being there the agricultural tribe, have appropriated the name, and call themselves of the caste of " Zemeendars." The word, then, is applied to various descriptions of rights, some of which are by no means inconsistent with one another. It Chap. III. ZEMEENDARS. 93 is therefore absurd to argue as if the name everywhere implied the same absolute, entire, exclusive proprietary right, and the only question were, " Who is Zemeendar ?" In fact, Zemeendars of different kinds may and do exist together. But as things act and react, it happens that, as government was more likely to delegate its powers to middle-men where the communities were weak and dis- organised than where they were perfect and well organ- ized, and as small governments, or persons exercising the powers of government in small districts, are more likely to push far their rights or their interference in minute affairs than great governments, so the middle-men placed over the detail of weak, ill-organized villages took ad- vantage of them, and, while the strong remained strong, the weak became weaker still, and the apparent dissimi- larities were exaggerated, although the different tenures originated in nearly the same system, and principally differ only in degree. Where the district Zemeendars were most powerful, there the communities were at the lowest ebb ; where the communities were strong and in good working order there were seldom Zemeendars. I should also not forget to mention that, where the govern- ment revenues of land or villages were assigned to indi- viduals, in what is called "Jagheer," the Jagheerdar might himself exercise the powers of government, or of the Ze- meendar the delegate of government, and so have a share in the management. The different kinds of tenure then are as summary of tc- follows : — ""'■^«- 1. Simple municipal communities under a single head- man. 2. Democratic communities managed by a committee of their own number. 3. Village Zemeendars, derived from several different origins. 94 MODERN INDIA. Cpiap. III. 4. District Zemeendars, officers of the Mahommedan government. 5. Jagheerdars. 6. Tributary chiefs. Several of which tenures may exist together in one and the same land. What is looked on as one of the strongest tests of pro- Atestofpropri- pi'ietary right is the investment of capital in etary right. ^}jg gQJj i^y building wells and such works. These investments are private property, on which the government has no claim, and a valuable interest in the produce is therefore at once created. It is on this account that those claiming the ownership of the soil are very jealous of permitting those either above or below them, either hereditary officers or mere tenants at will, to invest in this way in the land claimed by themselves. The rights in the land were not freely alienable as chattels ; mere offices were not properly saleable ; the lowest tenures had little market value ; and in the stronger communities, with more decided rights, the Transfer of land. , ^ , • t • i i i , land was not an individual but a common property, and therefore one man could not, without the consent of the others, sell to a stranger, M^hom they proba- bly would not choose to admit into their society. Sales, therefore, were principally confined to transfers among different members of the same community, and the indis- position to part with these rights was so strong that the transfer was almost always a mortgage, and was not fore- closed for a very long period. ■ The tenures of different provinces, as we found them, were somewhat as follows: — In Bengal Proper Distribution of , . . \ tenures in dif- the communities were at a very low ebb, ar^^v^" found and the institution of Zemeendar was pretty t lem. general ; but the Zemeendars were men of known most recent origin. In Bahar there were also Chap. III. VARIETY OF TENURES. 95 many village Zemeendars with subordinate rights. In the north-west provinces there were many perfect democratic communities in some parts, but a great many were more or less imperfect after the different manners of imperfec- tion which I have described, and there were many village Zemeendars. Then there were in some places, but by no means universally, some district Zemeendars of Mahommedan institution ; and, finally, there were one or two Jat leaders and others, who had established themselves by conquest under the title of Zemeendars during the troubles. In Madras, as in the north-west, there were many perfect democratic communities, but more imperfect ones ; and there were a great many of the simple muni- cipalities under Potails. There were in some places Zemeendars, descendants of Mahommedan officials, and Polygars, who had established themselves by force of arms ; but in the greater part of the Madras terri- tory we found no district Zemeendars. In Bombay there were in limited tracts some of the Hindoo Desh- mucks, corresponding to Zemeendars, and there were com- munities more or less perfect, and of both the different kinds. There were Zemeendars by conquest in Guzerat, and in some places people corresponding to village Zemeen- dars. Finally, in the extreme north, beyond the Jumna, the communities were perfect ; district Zemeendars had either ceased to exist or were recognised as tributary chiefs, with whom we have not interfered, and who exer- cise the powers of government without disturbing the perfect existence of the communities. The tenures, then, being detailed, I come to the revenue, of which the land-rent was by far the principal 1 1 • 1 1 -i 7 n The revenue. branch ; mdeed it was the proper revenue, all other sources being merely, as it were, supplemental. I have mentioned how the surplus produce, the rent, or the main portion of it, was from the beginning reserved to supply 96 MODERN INDIA. Ckap. III. the revenue of the state, and, it being so, the revenue system of India was in the main founded on the absence of taxation properly so called. In fact, that portion of the produce of the land which is the common gift of Provi- dence, the rent (distinguished from the interest of invested capital), is always the proper and natural source of revenue, and, if not alienated or appropriated by prescrip- tion to individuals, it obviates the necessity of taxing labour or capital. This state of things is not inconsistent with private property in the occupation of the land, in capital sunk in it, and in the portion of the rent allowed to individuals to give them an interest in the soil. But the revenue being supplied from the unalienated rent, there was very little direct taxation, and the indirect imposts were light. The land revenue or rent is originally levied in the Land revenue- sliapc of a proportion of the produce fixed shape- dmsfon ^ccordiug to the Capacity of different soils of crops. ^i-^(j lY^Q value of different products. Where circumstances render this inconvenient, or the cultivation of the crop is so expensive that to take a large share of the produce would be unfair to the cultivator, money rates are fixed. In regard to ordinary soils and ordinary crops, there is nothing very extravagant or inconsistent with good management in the levy of rents in the shape of a propor- tion of the produce ; and in countries where the seasons are very uncertain, prices variable, and the cultivators on a small scale and without capital, it is often found most con- venient for both landlord and tenant, not fi'om the want of money as a medium of circulation (that is not felt in India), but because the rent is thus proportioned to the season, and the cultivator can pay it when he might otherwise break down. It even appears, from experience, that, where the boundaries of fields are very ill defined and the tenures very small and intermixed, and grain is threshed Chap. III. LAND REVENUE. 97 out at once where it is cut, if the parties cannot enter into long and large leases, it is easier and less liable to abuse to divide the grain as it is threshed than to calculate annual money payments according to the quantity and quality of land actually cultivated. From whatever reason it is at any rate certain that in most countries this was the ori- ginal form of rent. It was so and is in most Oriental countries, and is the Metayer system of Italy and some of the countries of the Continent. In Hindoo times, then, when the country was divided into small principalities, and each Raja could conveniently manage his own possessions, all parties seem to have been very well satisfied with this arrangement. One modification became common, which seemed to save trouble, while the principle was maintained, system of esti- viz. that when the crops were ripe, impartial i^ating crops. persons, skilled in such matters, estimated the probable produce, and then, the share due to the superior being cal- culated at the selling price of the day, the cultivator paid in money, without any actual division of the produce. It was, of course, a matter of arrangement between the parties which of these modes should be adopted, but it generally became customary to divide certain crops and estimate others. The more valuable products were, as I have said, paid for at money rates according to measurement, and in some parts of the country money rates were general espe- cially in Bengal, probably because rice is there the great staple, and rice-fields are well divided from one another, and produce according to the attention given to supplying them with water, so that money rates could be more easily and fairly fixed on the fields than where many crops are cultivated on a broad plain of light soil. In most ])ro- vinces of India, however, rent was universally paid by division or estimate of the crop. Government, then, being the recipient of the rent, and H 98 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. the rent a portion of the produce levied from the actual cultivator, there was no opportunity for the No inferior tea- . . n ' t • , ants in original Springing up 01 any intermediate private pro- sys em. prietor, receiving rent from the cultivators as his tenants. The relation of private landlord and tenant was therefore unknown, and the only interest beyond their own cultivation enjoyed by any individuals or classes was in the management of the village and the receipt of cer- tain dues. When the Mahommedans established a great empire Mahommedan this detailed systcm became very inconve- modifications. ^ient. A great government could not, without corruption and abuse, deal so minutely with many millions of separate cultivators, and it became necessary to commute its rights in some way. The corporate constitu- tion of the communities made it possible to deal with them in a body •, but to do this and arrange leases with them required a great deal of system, and it was generally found easier to lease out to mercantile speculators the dues of The farmin Grovernmeiit ill particular tracts. The farm- system. gj.g Qf ^Q revenue paid an annual sum, and, receiving the Government share of the grain, made the most of it as a mere temporary speculation, without acquiring any local rights, claims, or ties of any kind, or in any way interfering with the former rights of the culti- vators. This was the farming system always so common in native states. I have referred to a regular settlement of the revenue Detailed settle- commcuced by Shir Khan, perfected by ments. Akber, and to a similar system carried out in the south by Malik Amber, and have mentioned that these are the foundations of our detailed settlements at the present day ; I must therefore a little more particularly describe the system. The farming system naturally led to abuses and grasping Chap. III. AKBER'S SETTLEMENT. 99 on the part of the fanners, to resistance on the part of the cultivators, and it was highly desirable to find some substi- tute. This was to be obtained by a settlement with the communities, and Akber, a wise and beneficent prince, was anxious to carry out such a settlement on the most liberal principles. The accounts we have of his system and pro- ceedings cannot be surpassed in enlightenment and liberality by anything that has appeared in the present day. The only fault to be found with the system is in its laying down too precise rules for matters that must be somewhat left to discretion. It may be that he could not trust to the good faith of his instruments, or it may have been the same dis- position to regulate minute matters by rule which we find in the Koran and other systems, aiming at too great regu- larity of conduct, and to which the Mahommedans a good deal incline. A correct account of the boundaries of each village was drawn out, and the whole land, cultivated and Akber's settie- uncultivated, was carefully measured. The ™^"*' land was then divided into certain fixed classes, correspond- ing to the most common descriptions of soil, and each field was assigned to one class or other. The average produce of each class, and the average price for ten years past, was then ascertained. One-third of the average gross produce was taken as the rent, which was then struck in money. In this way the revenue to be paid by each vil- lage was calculated, and a detailed statement was drawn out of the amount payable by each cultivator. The assessment thus obtained was less than former assessments, and is stated to be less than that of Shir Khan, but the difference was expected to be made up by increased punc- tuality of payment. For the joint responsibility of the community was the condition on which the reduced rates and other advantages were accorded them. Without this joint responsibility Government would have gained no- li 2 100 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. III. thing, since it would still have to deal with each cultivator, and the system would be impracticable ; but the lease being joint, the community managed their own affairs. It was their interest to break up as much land as possible, for which they paid no additional tax, but which lightened the rate of assessment on all. The acceptance of the terms was perfectly optional with each community, and when they accepted them formal engagements were given and taken. It was at the same time that for the better working of this detailed system the offices of Zemeendar or Choudree, and Canoongoe, called in the south Desmookh and Des- pandeh, were established •, and in every case the heads of villages, whether the Mokaddams or Potails of simple municipalities. Punches of democratic communities, or village Zemeendars, and the accountants in all, were made the instruments for working the settlement in their villages, and received a liberal remuneration. Uniform measures and weights were everywhere esta- blished, and the instructions are most careful and con- siderate to prevent abuses. All lands exempted from revenue were registered and inquired into, and those im- properly held were resumed. Provision was made to prevent abuses in the assignment system. Remissions were to be granted on the occurrence of great calamities, but then only. Payment was enforced by personal re- straint and seizure of goods, but not by sale of lands. The Government, however, might take land from those who did not properly cultivate it, and give it to others. On these principles a settlement for ten years was effected of most of the territories long in the possession of Akber, comprising the greater part of the present Bengal Presi- dency and some other districts. The whole annual land revenue thus settled for ten years was 90,743,881 Sicca rupees, or about nine millions and a half sterling. Chap. III. AKBER'S SETTLEMENT. 101 That for Bengal Proper (exclusive of sicca rupees. Bahar, Orissa, &c.) 14,961,482 The Dehli province about 15,000,000 Lahore . . ,, 13,750,000 Mooltan . . ,, 3,750,000 Scinde . . ,, 1,500,000 This settlement seems to have worked well, and the system was continued during the prosperity of the Mogul empire and was very closely imitated in the south by Melik Amber. But it could only be properly carried out by a powerful, peaceful, careful, and liberal Government ; and as soon as this ceased to be the charac- Effect of the de- ter of the empire the old abuses were re- p^^^on the^^- verted to. The system of joint leases and ^^^"^ system, joint responsibility is admirably suited to the joint demo- cratic tenure, and to good cultivators who have sufficient means of internal management, and by such has always been very much liked ; but with the simple municipalities and indifferent cultivators it can only succeed with great care and consideration on the part of Government, and a light rent. Considerable supervision must be exercised in the due apportionment of the burden, and to pre- vent oppression and abuses. These requisites then being wanting in latter times, the old farming system again became general. The remains of the old system, the Canoongoes, and some of the old records, and many of the , , , IP state of things usages have come down to us — enough tor as we found our example — but it had generally ceased to be effective. New conquerors recurred to the old right of a share in the produce, and it was farmed to speculators. Sometimes the official Zemeendars took the farms, and paid as much as Government could get out of them ; but as these offices were not property, of course they could not be sold on occasion of default. Ejectment and imprison- 102 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. ment were the only remedies for non-payment. When settlements were made with villages it was in those latter days rather a matter of bargain than a regular system of settlement. The Government stood upon its right to the portion of the produce : well-constituted villages made bids to commute those rights for fixed annual sums, and if the parties agreed a bargain was struck. Generally speaking, small rulers took the share of the crop as of old. Great Governments made some arrange- ment either with farmers or communities. The farmers exacted as much as they could get. The bargains for money-payment with the communities were generally for indefinite periods, but no very exact faith was observed on either side. If there were prosperous seasons and good prices the Government laid on extra cesses and percent- ages on some pretext however absurd ; if there were bad years the communities obtained remissions. Still, of all the systems, the division (actual or estimated) of the crop was the foundation and last resort, and either directly or through farmers was most commonly prac- tised when we obtained the country. The proportions taken varied much, but were very precisely fixed by usage in each district or subdivision. In fact. Government never could, as a system, levy more than the rent, and in those days left as little as it could help. Equitable rent-rates were arranged according to circumstances, and, appearing in the accounts of each crop, formed rule and precedent for the succeeding ones. It naturally resulted that the proprietory rights of weak communities were re- duced to a very low point, while strong ones retained them and paid light rents. The payments are, however, regulated by some very correct principles of political economy. Not only do some crops and some soils pay a larger proportion of the produce as rent than others, but land irrigated from wells, Chap. III. LATER LAND-REVENUE SYSTEM. 103 a portion of the increased produce of which is the interest of capital, pays a smaller proportion. The proportion of the gross produce levied as rent may be taken to be generally from one-quarter to one-half, and to average about one-third. In Madras, I see it some- times stated to have been even more than half; but it has never been more in my experience. And the cultivators have besides a good deal of valuable straw, grazing for cattle, and such like, which would in fact diminish the share of Government in the total produce were not some extra items levied. The money-rates on valuable pro- duce M^ould seem disproportionately high, but these crops are almost all grown on the most valuable land near vil- lages, which would let high under any circumstances. The share of wheat crops may yield eight or ten shillings per acre, of inferior crops two to eight shillings; while cotton, opium, and vegetables may pay at the rate of from ten to twenty shillings per acre, and sugar-cane double that rent. The inferior classes receiving a fixed share of the grain for the performance of certain duties, it is generally ar- ranged that a certain number of labourers are furnished, free of wages, to the native Governments, one or two un- paid labourers regularly appearing as an item of revenue in each village. If not required, a money commutation is paid instead. Then all presents, bribes, &c., are reduced to a regular system. So much is charged in the account as the customary present to Government, so much to the immediate agent, so much in commutation of a skin, a blanket, a pair of shoes, green food for horses, and other articles which ought to be supplied for the use of the Commissariat, but if not wanted are taken in money, and perhaps so much is levied for some holy ascetic. All these items are distributed and levied rateably. A. system which became very conunon in Central India 104 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. and the countries held by the Marattas was this : — In simple aristocratic communities there was a kind of register of land and rates. The whole village was assessed ac- cordingly, and was leased to the headman individually^ he agreeing to take the regulated rates from the cultivators, while he had the profit or loss of increased or decreased cultivation; so that in fact the Potail in those villages occupied very much the position of a village Zemeendar under our system in the north-west provinces, as will pre- sently be seen. I have mentioned the system of assignments in pay- ment of salaries, &c. — under which the the land reve- assigucc cftcn had the management of the assigned villages or Jagheer. Akber's sys- tem checked this practice, and reviewed all alienated reve- nues ; but in later times no abuse increased more than this. The Jagheers were continued when the services ceased to be rendered ; they were improperly enlarged, and new ones were created with or without any authority. And be- sides the large Jagheers, which could hardly be concealed, there were a multitude of alienations of small sums or small portions of land in every village, of which there ceased to be any register whatever, and it only required a little con- nivance of the local officials to keep them out of sight alto- gether. But under no native Government were these alienations ever looked on as in any degree property, any more than are salaries, pensions, sinecures, and corrupt receipts with us. They were granted and resumed at pleasure, and of course only the rights of Government were granted ; those of the cultivators of the land were in no way affected. I hope that the above will make clear the state of the land-revenue system with which we had to deal on our accession to power. At the same time that Akber settled the land revenue Chap. III. OTHEE EEVENUE. 105 he also much reduced and put on a regular footing the other imposts of Government. These were other sources of all included under two heads : the Jehat, or ^^evenue. tax on manufactures, which he reduced from ten to five per cent. ; and the Sayer, which included all the other dues of Government, the customs receipts, fees, duties from non-agricultural inhabitants of villages, produce of forests, fisheries, &c., and other miscellaneous receipts. Among the obnoxious taxes abolished by Akber are enumerated the capitation tax, tax on ferries, market duties, fees on weighing, duties on the sale of houses, and on salt made from the earth. Salt seems to have paid a very ■ moderate customs duty. It is stated that the Lahore rock-salt was bought at the pit for about two dams, or a little more than one penny, per maund ; that ten dams per man's load was paid to the Zemeendar, and one and a half rupees per eighteen maunds to the State. The whole is under one-tenth of the duty now charged by us. The customs seem to have been moderate. There was little excise and no opium revenue in those days. In after times most of the abolished taxes were revived, and some more besides. The tax on manufactures became rather a moderate tax on manufacturers, very fairly due for protection. The Sayer has generally brought in consi- derable receipts under various heads. The customs or transit duties became very oppressive where constantly levied by many different powers. The charge on salt remained pretty moderate. The obnoxious capitation tax was tried by Aurangzebe, but afterwards generally aban- doned. The market duties and such imposts were re- vived. There was a sort of excise in the shape of a monopoly in some parts of the country on spirits, tobacco, betel-leaf, and other articles of consumption. The mercantile classes have always been singularly free from direct taxation, but if they are cherished they are 106 MODERN INDIA. Chap. III. generally expected to lend something in the end, or to accommodate the State in some way, and when they are detected in any real or alleged crime they pay largely. Fines of all kinds are a great source of revenue in native states. From all these different sources a good deal was de- rived; but I do not think that the natives have ever realised so large a proportion of extra revenue, in addition to the land income, as is now obtained with the aid cf the salt and opium taxes. The laws prevailing in India were of three kinds : First, the unwritten customs of the country, The laws. . , applying to mercantile transactions, and all dealings common to the whole community. Second, the class laws of different sects and tribes ; so many different classes living together, yet socially distinct, had many different laws for regulating their own affairs, marriage, inheritance, &c. The Mahommedans had the written laAV attached to their religion. The first principles of law com- mon to all Hindoos were also found in their books, but the great variety of laws and customs in which the different tribes, castes, and families differed from one another were all unwritten laws of custom. Thirdly, the orders of the emperors, which, though not formally enacted as laws, were circulated and made generally known, and had the force of laws. Many of these became established by prac- tice and long use till they were engrafted on the customs of the country, and all were binding and obeyed till rescinded, or from time and circumstances disused. Many of the rules and practices now in use were in- stituted by the Mahommedan emperors. Their rescripts modified, where they considered it expedient, the strictness both of the Mahommedan and Hindoo laws. The un- bending preciseness of the one was mitigated to suit a country which was not, and which it was not attempted to make, exclusively Mahommedan. The rules or sanctions Chap. III. LAWS— CRIME. ]07 of the other were abrogated where inconsistent with huma- nity, equity, sound pohcy, or the first principles of rehgion. For instance, suttee, child-murder, and other intolerable practices were prohibited, and a convert from Hindooism retained his property. Generally speaking, the laws pre- vailing in India were singularly free from impolitic re- strictions and over interference in trade, currency, and such matters. Things, therefore, took very much their natural and proper course, and a great deal of personal freedom was enjoyed by all classes. All imposts were for revenue and with no other object. The Mahommedan law is in most things reasonable enough. Their rules of inheritance, &c., I need not here detail. Their criminal law, with certain modifications, was applied to all. Among the Hindoos everything is here- ditary ; but only in Governments and hereditary ofiices is there any rule of primogeniture. Property, real and personal, is equally divided among sons ; daughters may receive portions when they are married, but from that time they are entirely separated from their father's house, and have no rights or duties connected with it. The state of property and general rules affecting ordi- nary transactions are much the same as in most civilised countries. The amount of crime in India we found considerable. We have no statistics of crime under the em- perors, but Mahommedan writers represent the country as enjoying very great peace and safety in this respect ; and it is very credible that under a rigorous Government, using boldly all its powers for prevention and detection, it may have been so ; but latterly, when the whole system was weakened, when there was little regular police, and military disorganization gave cover to civil anarchy, there was great opportunity for and increase of criminals. 108 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. III. In crime, as in other things, we have again the Hindoo principle of division of labour. A thief is generally a thief by profession, and skilful accordingly. Blundering occa- sional thefts are not common ; consequently such crimes are more artistically committed and less easily detected than in most other countries. Great facility is also afforded by the openness of the country, the character of the dwellings, and the habits of the people. The land is not at all en- closed ; and in an open plain country criminals can travel about at will, without the restraint and surveillance im- posed on them by defined roads. Then the people journey a great deal on foot or on ponies, very generally carry money and valuables on their persons, and in the hot weather very often make their journeys at night, for cool- ness' sake. In their dwellings, too, they keep a great por- tion of their substance in the shape of ornaments of precious metal and such valuables, and those dwellings are generally so constructed that the walls can be easily pierced ; but the greatest facility for crime is in the selfish and unsympa- thising disposition which has arisen among a people so often conquered, and so little identified in interest with the Government, or with one another : so that when a crime occurs there is little common effort for its detection, which is principally left to those immediately affected. On the other hand, the concentrated and unlimited authority placed in the hands of the agents of native governments, and the unscrupulous way in which they use it, the inducements to confession held out by them, and the account to which confessions are turned, the absence of legal and formal facilities of escape for the prisoner — all these tell against the criminals. There was little simply malicious or revengefid crime of a serious nature — much less indeed than might have been looked for from the cunning and unscrupulous cha- racter of many of the population, and the facilities for Chap. III. CEIME. 109 avoiding detection. Secret assassinations and poisonings from enmity, and occurrences of similar character, were rare. Destruction of female children was common among some Hindoo tribes, who, priding themselves on the purity of their blood, could not, without great difficulty and ex- pense, obtain what they considered suitable marriages for their daughters •, and the burning of widows, though pro- hibited by the emperors, again became pretty common in the decline of the empire. Affrays became likewise very common and bloody in this latter period, owing to the con- fusion of rights and absence of judicial tribunals. But it was in crimes affecting property that professional criminals exercised their trade, and that some of them became pro- fessionally indifferent to human life. The Thugs formed organised societies, who robbed miknown travellers at a distance from their homes ^ and, on the principle that dead men tell no tales, invariably murdered the victim and con- cealed the body ; and less aggravated highway robberies were on the great roads not miusual. Dacoity or gang robbery was reduced to a system, which was often practised professionally by wandering bands of wandering tribes, whose avocations and residence were little known, or by associated criminals of the more daring of the ordinary classes. In that open country a gang of Dacoits appoint a rendezvous (generally at a distance from their homes, where they are imknownj, and select a rich man's house for plunder. In the day-time they are scattered about in different directions and in different disguises. At night they collect at some appointed place, and in a gang make the attack, generally about or a little before midnight. For the time they bear down all oppo- sition, light torches, and search for and plunder all light and easily concealed valuables. This done, they withdraw as they came, and immediately disperse. Before morning they are all long distances off in every direction, and no 110 MODERN INDIA, Chap. III. gang is to be traced ; nor in so open a country, and among such multitudes of unchallenged travellers, is any clue of a skilled Dacoit generally at the moment to be obtained. Such is a Dacoity. These crimes are most common only where the people are timid, and little able or willing to defend themselves. Near hills or strong fastnesses, marauding incursions of hill-men were also not uncommon. Burglary was also very common. A skilled burglar sets himself down at the back of a house with a little iron in- strument, picks a hole in the wall, enters, and silently guts the house while the family are asleep. Thefts from travellers and unwary persons were also very numerous and very skilfully performed ; and cattle- stealing was in some districts much practised by indivi- duals of the agricultural classes, who are generally above petty crime. There was a watchman maintained by each village for police purposes. Village communities were also held re- sponsible to make compensation for plunder of property within their limits, as mentioned by Elphinstone in an extract which I have given in another place. The Mahommedan criminal law generally marks out for punishment the same acts as modern systems Punishments. , , . , . ., do, and assigns a somewhat similar propor- tion of punishment. The chief differences are these : — First, it goes a good deal farther, and punishes criminally offences which we consider only against morality, as adul- tery, seduction, gambling, &c. Secondly, there are many punishments of a nature in- consistent with modern ideas, such as mutilations and re- taliations. Thirdly, the Mahommedan law of evidence is much more absurd than ours — attempting to fix by rules the credibility of testimony ; how many witnesses shall be required to Chap. III. JUDICIAL SYSTEM. 1 1 1 particular crimes ; what comparative credit attaches to a man and to a woman, to a believer and to an unbeliever ; how often a confession must be repeated, and so on. In later times, and especially among Hindoo rulers, the principal change was that the rulers and their agents were guided by no general law whatever, but by their own dis- cretion ; and that they were willing to commute almost all punishment into a fine. For the trial of causes and criminals the Mahommedans had a regular judicial establishment, as thus 1 Mil T^i 1 • i ^^ T ,' Judicial system. described by ii "^*^°- chief power in the Carnatic. The English were in consequence much depressed and very hard pushed : it was only after the conquest of Bengal, when they received assistance from thence, that, after a pro- tracted contest, they succeeded in expelling the French in the year 1761. The English candidate, the repre- sentative of Anwarodeen, remained Deputy Governor of the Carnatic, almost independent of the Governor of the Deccan, and their influence with him was unbounded. Meantime Aliverdi Khan was Governor of Bengal. The English traded prosperously and peaceably. But the province was sorely vexed by the Marattas. Ali- verdi died in 1756, and was succeeded by his grand- nephew Suraj u Dowlah, a violent tyrant, who expelled the English. They got reinforcements, re-established themselves, and made peace. But an opportunity soon occurred of obtaining a secure footing, for, as he was hated, they joined one of his officers, Meer Jaffier, Paymaster- General of the Army, in the well-known Origin of the *^ ' pensioned Na- and succcssful attempt to supplant hnn. This Meer Jaffier was the ancestor of the pensioned Nawabs of Bengal. Meer Jaffier became Governor by English assistance, and granted to the English the district Acquisition of i /-^ i n i i m the Twenty-four arouiiQ Calcutta called the Iwenty-iour ergunnais. Perguimahs, while he ruled Bengal under their advice. He did not succeed well, so his son-in-law, Acquisition of Mccr Cossiiu, was iiiadc Governor in his BiiS^-^n'^'and 1*001^1? ^nd gavc to the English the three Chittagong. distHcts of Burdwau, Midnapore, and Chit- tagong. This was the state of things in 1761. Chap. IV. THE AFFGHANS. 1 2 1 But I must go back a little to Dehli. The affairs of the empire had become worse and worse. rr\\ /-> J? /-^ 1 / ^ 1 • Affairs at Dehli. Ine (jrovernor or Uude (who was also mi- nister) went so far as to call in the Marattas against the Rohillas, and Ahmed Shah, the Affghan (who on the death of Nadir and disruption of his empire had become KingofAffghanistan), invading India, nexed ""iT^Aff- annexed the Punjab and Scinde in 1752. ^ ^'^^^ '^"• The greater part of India beyond the desert remained sub- ject to Affghanistan till it was reconquered by the Sikhs. Ghazee u deen, a grandson of Asof Jah, now usurped power at Dehli, called in the Marattas, blinded and after- wards murdered the Emperor. The heir apparent went to Bengal with a patent as Governor, but being met by Clive, and unsupported, accepted a sum of money to pay his expenses back again, -and retired. The Marattas were now at the height of their power: the Jats and Sikhs were their allies. But Ahmed Shah, King of Affghanistan, at this juncture appeared with all his force, and there was a general combination of the Mahommedan powers. The Marattas put forth all their strength, and, deserting their ancient tactics, fought a great pitched battle at Paneeput, north of Dehli, January 6, 1761. They defeat of the were totally defeated with immense slaugh- ^i^^attas, nei. ter, and Ahmed Shah remained the arbiter of India. That he might have made himself supreme cannot be doubted. But it was otherwise arranged. Ahmed marched back to Cabul, retaining only the Punjab, and left India to be won by others. Alum Shah became titular Emperor; but he had no real power. The Marattas soon gained con- origin of the fidence again. The Jats and Sikhs extended ^ajas of Nepal. their power about the Jumna and the Sutlej. The Emperor took refuge with the Governor of Oude. Soon after this 122 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. the Goorkahs, a small Hindoo tribe settled in the hills, dispossessed the ancient Rajas of Nepal (1767), and founded the Goorkah power. In 1763 the English quarrelled with Meer Cossira, Governor of Bengal, who fled and appealed to the Em- peror, while the English set up Meer Jaffier again. The Emperor and Nawab- Vizier, or Governor-Minister of Oude, took the field in favour of Meer Cossim, but were met by the English on the confines of Bahar, and totally defeated. The Emperor then treated with the view of being put in possession of the territories of his minister and ally of Oude ; to which he of Oude objecting, again tried the fortune of war, and was again defeated. Finally the following agreement was made: — The Nawab-Vizier to pay the expense of the war, and Imperial grant to restorc Allahabad to the Emperor, who, hL-,^a^nd oriSa^ ou his part, granted the Dewanee or manage- subject to tri- ^-^^^^^ ^f Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa to the Ijute, and con- 07 7 firmation of all j^^g^ India Companv, on condition of an other posses- _ r J ' sions. annual tribute of 26 lacs, or 260,000/. He also confirmed to them generally w^hatever they possessed throughout the empire. Here, then, was legitimate autho- rity attained a.d. 1765. The Company, however, did not at once " stand forth as Dewan." Meer JaflSer died, but his sons were successively made nominal governors, and other natives executive deputies, while the English administered the finances. The Emperor and Nawab-Vizier soon courted a more First subsidiary ^losc alHancc with the English, in the hope Govrrnor*^*of of recovcHng Dehli, and in 1766 was formed Oude. the first subsidiary alliance, the English agreeing to furnish troops, and the Imperialists to pay for them. But, so far as the Emperor was concerned, he seems to have gained little by the arrangement, for, the Chap. IV. BRITISH ACQUISITIONS. 123 Marattas having taken Dehli in 1770, he preferred to ally himself with them, and the next year actually rpj^g Emperor deserted to them. The Nawab- Vizier re- Jo'^e^itraSat tained his possessions, supported by British ceLe to^^j' 'wm troops in his pay, and from this time the tribute. tribute paid by the Company for Bengal ceased. By an arrangement shortly after concluded between the Nawab- Yizier and the English the latter obtained Acquisition of Benares from the former, while he became Benares. master of Allahabad, left by the Emperor on joining the Marattas. In 1772 the Company took the management of Bengal into their own hands, and assigned to the . , ^ PI- Nominal Nawab descendants 01 the noramal Lxovernor or their of Bengal pen- own creation a pension of 160,000/. per annum. From this time to the end of the century our political position in Bengal was not materially altered, except that the military necessities of the Governor of Oude became greater, and the troops with him and his consequent pay- ments were increased. The Marattas retained their hold of Dehli and the north, and Scindia became a very powerful prince. In 1796 Shah Zeman, King of Cabul, advanced to Lahore, but retired without doing anything of importance. In the south we had, during this period, much harder work. In 1765 the Company had obtained Acquisition of from the Nawab of the Carnatic a Jagheer l^s^^^^ ^™^;;J around Madras, and in 1767 the Nizam Northern circars. gave them the Northern Circars as a Jagheer, on condi- tion of assisting him with troops. Mysore belonged to an old Hindoo prince. A Mahom- medan adventurer, Hyder Ali, rose to power in his service, supplanted him, and in the general confusion made him- self powerful and increased his territories at the expense 124 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. both of his Hindoo neighbours and of the Nizam, from 1761 to 1780. During this time he had one war with the English, but made peace again. In 1780 came the great w -.u TT war with him, in which he gained great suc- Wars with Ily- ' ^ ^ der and Tippoo. ccsscs and rcduccd the Madras Government to the brink of destruction. He died in 1782, and his son Tippoo continued the war till 1784, when peace was made on equal terms. The Company in emergencies assumed charge of the Carnatic, but it remained till the end of the century in the T- IV, „ o c nominal rule of the Nawab and his suc- Enghsh posses- sions in 1785. cessors. Altogether to the end of Warren Hastings's time (1785) the English possessions in India were as follows : — Bengal Presidency — Bengal. Bahar. Orissa. Benares. Madras Presidency — Jagheer around Madras. Northern Circar?. Bombay Presidency — Island of Bombay. The English authorities at home, finding war expensive Pacific instnic- ^^^^ daugcrous, wcrc now very anxious to tions from home, remain at peace in India, and deprecated extension of territory. Lord Cornwallis arrived m 1786, as Governor General and Commander-in-Chief, with most pacific instructions and intentions. Yet in 1790 another war with Tippoo broke out. It has been mentioned that up to the end of the Mogul Empire there existed some tributary Hindoo chiefships in the south ; but they were now nearly extinguished. Hyder and Tippoo had been absorbing them, and one only, Travancore, remained. This last Tippoo now wished to absorb. But the Raja of Travancore was our ally ; we interfered, and war resulted. Chap. IV. WARS WITH HYDER AND TIPPOO. 125 Tippoo was now so formidable to all his neighbours that Lord Cornwallis succeeded in ^ettina: the TVT- 1 1 T»T . . 7 1 War with Tip- JNizam and the Marattas to ioni m a league poo, and acqui- , . , . Ill- • A sition of a por- aganist him, and nivaded his territory. At tion of his teni- first the Marattas did not meet him. He was ^^^' unsuccessful, blew up his guns, and was retreating, when the Marattas, ignorant of future fate, arrived with abun- dant supplies, cavalry, &c., and the combined armies, returning, begirt Seringapatam, and in the end reduced Tippoo to pay the expenses of the war and yield half his territory, which was divided between the English, the Marattas, and the Nizam — the English portion being attached to the Madras Presidency. In 1798 Lord Wellesley became Governor-General, and during his reign a warlike and advancing T •11 mi -XT' 1 1 Lord Wellesley poncy prevailed. ihe JNizam was hard Govemor-Gene- pressed by his old enemies, the Marattas, and, to strengthen himself, had established a regular corps under French officers. In 1798 he agreed The Nizam sub- to dismiss these, and to pay for a body of ^idised. British troops sent to support him. In 1799 we again went to war with Tippoo, and the Nizam p^,j ^^ Tippoo aided us. Seringapatam was taken, and the and further ac- '^ , , quisition of ter- power of Tippoo annihilated. Part of his i'i'°'">- territories were annexed to Madras, and in part, according to the policy of those days, it was considered expedient to establish a Hindoo Raja, a descendant of the Establishment of former petty dynasty, under subsidiary en- liajas of Mysore, gagements, and altogether dependent on us. The Nizam's subsidiary force was also increased, and to provide for its payment he ceded all the territory which had fallen to his share from the spoils of Tippoo — both that assigned to him for the former war and that to which he had a claim for his share in the present victory. Both he and the Mysore Raja also agreed to support us in war with contin- gents of their own troops. 126 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. The subsidiary system was very generally adopted by Folic of Lord ^^^^ Wellesley. It was his policy to take weiiesiey. {q^q our owii liaiids iiiost of the territory really our own, and to subsidise all the native states. About this time we assumed the management of Tan- Assumption of Jore» and pensioned the Raja; and in 1801 'TrnoreTiid the ^^ adopted the same course in regard to the carnatic. Camatic. In 1801 the troops employed with the Governor of Oude had become so expensive, and he managed so ill, that he could not make good his en- gagements, and it was then arranged that he should cede half his territories, viz. Allahabad, Rohil- tory by Gover- cuud, and a gTcat part of the Doab, in return for which we undertook the external and internal defence and protection of the whole. He also engaged to introduce in his remaining territory " an im- proved system of administration, with the advice and assistance of the British Government." Hitherto, Bombay had been obscure, but at this period it began to rise. While the Maratta leaders extended their conquests to the point from which they had been repulsed by the AtFghans, they fell into internal divi- Internal divi- . p i i i p i sions of the Ma- sions at houic aitcr the death oi the great Peshwah, whose heart was broken by the news of the defeat at Paneeput. The chiefs became un- faithful in their allegiance to his successors, who were served by their ministers as they had served the ori- ginal Bajas. Of these internal opportunities the Bom- bay Presidency took advantage. So early as 1775, and again in 1778, they espoused the cause of a pretender to the Peshwahship, on condition of obtaining the island of Salsette, and other advantages, and a force marched from Bengal right across India to assist them. But they were totally unsuccessful, and obliged, as the price of their own safety, to give up the person of their candidate to his enemies. Chap. IV. MARATTA RULERS. 127 In 1799 they entered on terms with the Guickwar, whom they assisted with their troops, and Acquisition of from whom in return they obtained Surat. ^^'^*^- In 1805 the Guickwar concluded a subsidiary treaty by which he surrendered a considerable terri- Guickwar subsi- tory in payment of a British force. ^^^^^- The native powers had now learnt the advantage of European discipline and imitated it. By none was this system carried so far as by Scindia. character of Of the Maratta chiefs who at this time ex- tended the Maratta rule he was the most powerful. From his first possession in Malwa he had extended his levy of contributions over Rajpootana, and his conquests to Dehli and the surrounding provinces. He had a large force of disciplined troops, for the most part 7iot Marattas, and had altogether changed the character of a Maratta army. He had some very able Europeans in his service, especially General Perron, who was not only a good general but a very able civil administrator, and whose name is still great in the land. Holkar, on the other hand, was a true Maratta to the last, and in his service or alliance were Ameer Khan and the other great leaders afterwards called Pindarees ; and who were, in fact, plunderers of the same kind, though not of the Maratta nation, q^ jj^^ Na^-pore The Raja of Berar had become a settled ^'"y**- prince at Nagpore, and no longer attempted to levy con- tributions from Bengal. All the Maratta powers, the Guickwar excepted, had hitherto resolutely refused to enter into any subsidiary or other engagements with us. But Scindia and others having oppressed and tyrannised over their liege lord the Peshwah, he at last, in 1803, agreed to re- tj^^ Peshwah ceive and pay for a body of subsidiary troops, subsidised. To this the great feudatories, Scindia, Holkar, and the Nag- 128 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. IV. pore Kaja, decidedly objected, and general war resulted. General Wellesley in the south and Lord Lake in the north defeated the Marattas, and an accommodation with Scindia and the Nagpore Raja took place. Agra, Dehii, They gave up the whole of the Doab and cund^and'^'cut- Dehli territory possessed by Scindia, and part of Bundlecund (which with the cessions of the Nawab of Oude and the province of Benares con- stitute the north-west provinces), and also Cuttack, adjoin- ing Bengal on the west, and some territory on the Bombay side. The Jats were forced to retire to the west of the Jumna, and to abandon Agra. But in the next year (1804) Holkar carried the war into our territories in true Maratta style, and was joined by the Jats. He appeared before Agra and Dehli, had considerable successes, and, when at last routed in the field, took refuge in the Jat fortress of Bhurt- pore, which successfully resisted our attempts to take it. Holkar, however, was at last reduced to great straits. But at this time Lord AVellesley being succeeded by Lord Cornwallis, with pacific instructions, a change of policy took place and peace was made with him. He retired to his own territory in Malwa ; the Jumna —^the Jumna our was made the limit of our empire, and the ™^ ■ many chiefs to the Mcst of that river were left to the mercy of the Marattas. There was, therefore, a large tract in Central India still free from our interference. Meantime the Sikhs were powerful in the north. They Progress of the ^^^^ ^^^^^ after the retirement of Ahmed Shah Sikhs. expelled the Mahommedan Governor of Sir- hind, and carried their incursions into Mooltan on one side and into Bohilcund on the other. Latterly they con- fined themselves to the west of the Jumna, but on the other side largely increased their territory at the expense of the now reduced power of Cabul. Chap. IV. FRONTIEE RELATIONS. 129 The Goorkahs overran all the hill country of the Him- inalayas, till they met the Sikhs at Kangra. andoftheOoor Ranjeet Sing, originally one of many Sikh '^^^s. leaders, now began to get the better of the others, and, conquering them, became supreme beyond Ranjeet sing the Sutlej. Finding that we had made the ^th^'^S lead- Jumna our limit, he then hivaded the Cis- *^''^- Sutlej or Sirhind Sikh territory, and commenced the sub- jugation of the Sikh chiefs and confederacies established there. They applied to us for assistance. We interfered, took them under our protection, left to Ran- ^y^ protect the jeet whatever he had already conquered on cis-sutiej sikhs. our side, and everything on the other side the Sutlej. He acquiesced, made a treaty of amity with us /I r,r\n\ 1 11' 11 Treaty with (1809), and turned his arms the other way. Ranjeet; his sub- He successively conquered Mooltan, Cash- ^^^'^^'^^°'°y- mere, and Peshawar from the AfFghans, and established a regular army and absolute monarchy. Scinde had also belonged to Cabul. Beloch chiefs acquired power there about the end of the . , , 1 1 • 11 • • Scinde. eighteenth century, and their allegiance in the decadence of the Cabul kingdom became nominal. Ranjeet Sing, at a subsequent period, proposed to conquer Scinde, but was deterred by us, since we feared his reach- ing the sea, and establishing a communication with foreign European powers. About the same time that we settled our relations with Ranjeet Sing we also sent missions to Persia p^^.^^^ and Aff- and Cabul, by way of guarding against AfF- ghanistan. ghan invasion. But in AfFghanistan a revolution shortly occurred. The Dooranee sovereigns, descendants of Ahmed Shah, were expelled, and the Barukzye chiefs usurped the feudal superiority of the country, but did not assume the title of king. The expelled family took refuge with Ranjeet Sing (who on that occasion appropriated the 130 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. Koh-i-Noor), and finally were received by us at our frontier station of Loodianah, where they still remain, and whence they have made many attempts to recover their kingdom. Lord Hastings became Governor-General in 1813, and he found himself compelled to complete the Lord Hastings ,. />• ii •,• iitt Governor-Gene- policy 01 uuivcrsal dommation over all India ra , spoicy. ^-^j^'j-^ ^j^g dcscrt, which had been so far advanced by Lord Wellesley, but since receded from. In 1814 we quarrelled with the Goorkahs, and till 1816 War with Ne- wagcd war against them. The result was tionofhiifterri- *^^^ ^'^ acquircd the mountain territory from to''y- the Sutlej to the Kalee, and many of the most productive lands belonging to the Goorkahs at the foot of the hills. The Nepal Raja has since that time been much circumscribed in his revenue, and is bound to receive a Resident, not to employ Europeans, nor to make foreign alliances. We have had no further trouble from that quarter. Central India was now in a state of anarchy. Scindia and Holkar levied contributions on the smaller chiefs, and exercised a general supremacy, but a great number of plundering leaders called Pindarees did what they could on their own account, and sometimes made incursions into the settled territories. In 1816 Lord Hastings determined to put an end to this state of things. Scindia and Holkar Pindaree war. n i • i were called on to assist, and a great army surrounded the disorganised territory. But at this junc- ture there was a dispute with the Peshwah as to our rela- tions and interference with him. He committed several outrages, then suddenly fled to the Pin- Peshw^i and darccs, and made open war. The Nagpore Nagpore. Raja also declared himself hostile. All were however beaten : the Pindarees were reduced. Ameer Chap. IV. FRESH ACQUISITIONS. 131 Khan, the chief Pmdaree leader, came in and received a principahty at the expense of Holkar, his former master. The Peshwah, reduced to extremity, surren- j , 1 1111 • 1 Acquisition of aered, was deposed, and largely pensioned, territory from rpi , ,. i? 1 • i. 'i. / i the Peshwah; Ihe greater portion or his territory (except- ing that formed into the Sattara principahty, to be after- wards mentioned) was attached to the Bouibay Presi- dency ; and we also succeeded to the superiority over a number of petty chiefs in Bundlecund. Large cessions on the Nerbudda and south-west frontier of Bengal (con- taining a number of feudatory Rajas) were ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ exacted from Nagpore, and a minor Baja v°^^- was established at Nagpore under British control and subsidiary engagements. Holkar's territory was now much reduced, and was subjected to British supervision. Scindia •' . . ■•■ . Acquisition of remained to a certain degree independent, the supremacy 1 . re • IIP- 11- 1 over Central In- but ill otiensive and deiensive alliance, and dia and other provided a contingent. In the southern (and proper) Maratta country there were many feudal Maratta chiefs, whom we treated as such, maintaining those who had not been decidedly hostile. The superiority over the Guickwar (formerly belonging to the Peshwah) was now also transferred to us, and he made over more territory and increased his subsidiary force, receiving cer- tain advantages in return. The supremacy over, and tribute rendered by, the Bajpoot and other minor states of Central India, also passed to the British Government. We became possessed of some small territory about Ajmere. Cutch was also about this time subsidized. A descendant of the family of the original Kaja of the Marattas was dragged from obscurity, and Establishment of set up at Sattara as a dependent monarch in ^^i^ of sattara. a portion of the territories taken from the Peshwah. These arrangements effected, the British Government K 2 132 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. became (1818) avowedly altogether supreme in India British Govern- within the desert — that is, in the larger Stogether^'^u- ^^ ^^^ ^^^ portions into which the country ^twn \he^°dl- ^^ divided by the desert, as shown in the s^""*- diagram, p. 26. The lesser portion, composed of the plain of the Indus, long remained independent under amicable rulers. The province of Sirhind, on the Upper Sutlej, was our frontier. Hitherto both the British and all the modern Mahom- Name of the ^^edan rulcrs had founded their claim to Dehir no longer authority ou nominal grants of the Mogul '^^^"^- Emperor of Dehli. All money was coined in his name. The British Government of India now transferred its allegiance to its own proper sovereign, and The Governor of ,7^ n r\ ^ ii-i n Oude becomes the (jrovcmor 01 (Jude assumcd the title oi King, or rather Emperor. It would have been more appropriate if he had transferred his allegiance instead of throwing it off. We have seen the system of subsidizing many states Distinction be- ^ith our troops, for which they paid. Many tween subsidiary of thcui also engaged to assist us with a fixed and contingent " ° ^oi"^^s. number of their own troops when required. This last is the origin of the Nizam's and other contingents ; and we must distinguish between subsidiary forces, which are our troops, paid for by native states, and contingents, which are native troops now generally officered by us. We had now acquired the territory of some of the ab- original tribes of the central hills — Coolies, Aboriginal tribes, ^j-diic. Ji.i_i. (jronds, Bheels, &c. — and they have given us a good deal of trouble in a petty way. For they are savages, very impatient of all rule, who do not acquiesce in the orders of the powers that be, and some of whose practices — as, for instance, human sacrifices — are too abominable to be tolerated. Chap. IV. PEACE AND PKOSPERITY. 133 In 1824 the Burmese threatened our eastern frontier. War was undertaken against them. It was , , , , Burmese war. expensive ; but eventually we gave them a lesson, and they have never since been formidable to India. We acquired from them some dis- , f, 1 Tt r> Acquisitions on tricts on the eastern coast oi the Jaay ot eastern side of Bengal, detached from India, and the ad- ^^^ ^°^^' vantage of which does not appear. On the contrary, we are obliged to keep troops there and run the risk of differ- ences with the contiguous Burmese, without any adequate advantage. We also on this occasion took possession of Assam and charge of the petty chiefs on the north- and of Assam. eastern frontier. In 1826, a revolution occurring at Bhurtpore, the de facto chief defied us ; but this time we took capture of Bhurt- the place and established the de jure chief ^°^^' under our protection. From this time the Indian empire enjoyed for some years unprecedented peace and prosperity. Peace and pros- Lord William Bentinck was Governor-Ge- pe^tyof the em- pire under Lord neral from 1828 to 1835. He was the w. Bentinck. only Governor who has been engaged in no considerable wars, and was enabled to devote his whole attention to in- ternal improvements. Ranjeet Sing was the only power on our narrow frontier, and he was strong and friendly. In 1835, in consequence of the mismanagement of the Oude state, the Governor-General was authorised to take possession of the Oude territories. But he deferred doing so. The protected state of Mysore established by ourselves was, however, taken under direct charge of charge of My- British officers, on account of the Raja, and ^^'^^^ "^^"'"^'i- has ever since so remained. It had gone on prosperously for a time under an able 134 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. minister, but subsequently fell into complete disorder, and was unable to meet its engagements. Lord Auckland In 1836 Lord Auckland became Go- Governor-Ge- ^^ -, nerai. vernor-vjreiieral. In 1838 the Indian Government was alarmed by the The Aff han ^^vances of Russia in Central Asia — and of policy. Persia, then supposed to be under Russian influence, and to be besieging Herat with a view towards Affghanistan. The ruler of Cabul was not thought friendly. That country was judged to be the barrier of India on its only vulnerable side. The expelled king, so long resident under our protection, had made several ex- peditions to recover his kingdom, and had on one occasion for some time maintained his ground at Shikarpore, in Scinde ; but had always been obliged to retreat, for want, it was understood, of a sufficient force to commence with. It was believed that a little assistance would set him up again, a friendly and grateful power, in Cabul. It was not considered that the Russians were still far off, that Persia had little military strength, and that the independent Punjab, still lying between us and Cabul, made an advance less called for and proportionately expensive. It was determined to set up Shah Shoojah (Shah Ze- man, the old invader of India, was alive with us, but long blind), and a tripartite alliance was formed between the British, Shah Shoojah, and Ranjeet Sing. A great army was prepared to cope, if necessary, with the Persians. The Persians being foiled at Herat, the army was reduced in strength, but proceeded to its original object by way of Scinde, Ranjeet Sing objecting to the direct passage by the Punjab, but aiding us and conveying the Shah's family by that route. The country proved much more naturally Advance and difficult than was cxpcctcd, showing that the results. ^^y .^,gg j-iq|. gQ Qpgi^ f^Q ^ foreign enemy as we supposed. But partly by fighting, and partly by Chap. IV. THE AFFGHAN POLICY. 135 bribing, we got through the passes, the famous fortress of Ghuznee was taken by a coup de main, and then the army triumphed. Shah Shoojah was established, part of the army re- turned, and part remained to support him in Cabul and Candahar. The Affghan tribes were troublesome, the country unproductive, and the expedition proved unne- cessary and expensive, yet need have been no more disas- trous. It was hoped that the Shah would soon be strong enough to support himself, and that we might withdraw. The AfFghan tribes have no force formidable in a pitched battle, nor can keep the field for any length of time out of their own hills, any more than the Highlanders could under similar circumstances. But they are impatient of foreign rule, and have always been prone to insurrection. In the end of 1841, in the beginning of the winter season, they rebelled about Cabul, and gradually gained courage from success. We had 5000 men in a plain (the plain of Cabul), a fort commanding the city, and good store of ammunition and provisions. Such a force, acting as British forces generally act, would have stood in no danger from the insurrection of undisciplined tribes (as witness the position of the troops at Candahar and the very small force at Jel- lalabad), who, with none of our provisions of war or ad- vantages of any kind, would soon have dispersed, and we might have regulated our civil policy as we chose. But from military causes a military catastrophe ensued. A general officer, who with mature age had obtained high standing in the army, received the prize of an Indian command. His constitution was unequal to . p T I • T "^^^ disaster. such service or to the heat of India. It was humanely judged that the cool climate of Cabul might improve his health, and on the retirement of the Com- mander-in-Chief of the expedition he was appointed to 136 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. the Divisional command. His health did not improve ; during the insurrection he was an unhappy invalid, utterly unequal to command, and soon after died. The second in command was a brave man, but of a bad temper, on bad terms with his superiors, and hated with intense hatred by the men under his command. Others there were, brave and good men, but no one commanded, no general measures were taken. The troops remained in an open cantonment. The Europeans showed, under trying circumstances, bad discipline under a hated com- mander ; the stores were left in detached places, and suc- cessively captured by the enemy ; bad feeling acted on bad fortune — all was depression and confusion. The political envoy, who was invested with general authority and alone showed some energy, was murdered. In this state of things the army agreed with the chief of the in- surgents to abandon Cabul and retreat, he giving them a safe-conduct through the pass, always nearly impassable before an enemy, now filled with snow and much more difficult than ever. But neither could such a chief be trusted under such circumstances, nor had he any power whatever to fulfil the agreement. So, no sooner did our troops get into the defiles, where they had not a chance, than the tribes fell upon them, cut them to pieces, and carried off the spoil. Such it was — a grievous military catastrophe and misfortune to us both then and in our subsequent relations with the country ; but in no way attributable to our policy, from which no such result neces- sarily or probably flowed. To the policy is due the ex- pense, but not the disaster. At this juncture Lord Auckland was succeeded by Lord Ellenborough. He seems to have shrunk Lord Ellenbo- -i •!• rough Governor- fi'om the responsibility of giving distinct orders to the generals, and to have left to them to determine their own movements. Chap. IV. ANNEXATION OF SCINDE. 137 The troops in Candahar and Jellalabad maintained their ground. In the summer General Pollock advanced by the Khyber Pass, got through it by the help of bribes as usual, there met the Candahar force, blew up the bazaar of Cabul in a kind of triumph, to show what we could do, and retreated. Dost Mahommed, then a prisoner with us, was released, established himself as before, and we have since had no political relations with him. But though we withdrew from Cabul, our military ex- penses were not yet over. On invading Affghanistan by the Bolan pass, Scinde became a base Annexation of of our operations, and troops were there can- ^'^^'^'^'^■ toned. When our misfortunes occurred it was supposed that the Beloch chiefs would have liked to have turned against us, but dare not and did not. Major-General Sir C. Napier then commanded a division in Bombay ; he was a good soldier, of a keen energetic temperament, but somewhat quarrelsome disposition ; had at one proud period of his life been in temporary charge of a petty island in the Mediterranean, but was, I believe, deposed by his superior, most unwisely as he considered ; and he had ever since added to his military ardour a still greater ambition for civil power — as it often happens that we prefer to the talents which nature has given us those which she has denied us. He was appointed to the command in Scinde, and Lord Ellen borough, an admirer of heroes, subsequently invested him with political powers. He soon quarrelled with the chiefs, and came to blows with them. Their followers were brave but undisciplined, and they had no efficient artillery. An active soldier was opposed to them. He easily overcame them, declared the territory annexed, and was made Governor of Scinde. Now the Beloch chiefs had no other right to the terri- tory than that of the sword, and we, having the better 138 MODERN IXDI A. Chap. IV. sword, were perfectly justified in taking it from them if we chose, without reference to the particular quarrel be- tween Sir Charles and the chiefs, the merits of which have been so keenly disputed, and on which I need not enter. But the question was one of expediency ; and this prema- ture occupation of Scinde was not so much a crime as a blunder, for this very simple reason, that Scinde did not pay, but, on the contrary, was a very heavy burden by which the Indian Government has been several millions sterling out of pocket. The Ameers had amassed in their own way considerable property and treasure, which the General obtained for the army. He was thus rewarded by an unprecedented prize money, and with the government of Scinde, while Bengal paid the costs of the Government he had gained. Scinde was so great a loss for this reason — that it was not, like other acquisitions, in the midst of, or contiguous to, our territories, but was at that time altogether detached, and separated by the sea, the desert, and the independent Punjab ; while on the fourth side it was exposed to the predatory Beloches of the neighbouring hills. Conse- quently, every soldier employed there was cut off from India, and was an expense solely due to Scinde. And while a great many soldiers were required to keep it, it produced very small revenue to pay them. It is in truth very like Egypt, — that is, it is the fertile valley of a river running through a barren country, where no rain falls. But there is this difference, — first, that, while no broader, it is not so long, nor has the fine Delta which constitutes the most valuable portion of Egypt ; second, that, Mhile Eg\^t is free from external predatory invasion, Scinde is exceed- ingly exposed to it ; and thirdly, that, while Egj^pt has a European market for its grain, Scinde has not. Alto- gether, the conquest was at the time, as concerns India, much as if we had taken the valley of the Euphrates. Chap. IV. VACANCY IN GWALIOR CHIEFSHIP. 139 Half a dozen years later, when we advanced over the plain of the Indus, and annexed the Punjab, we must have arranged to control Scinde too, directly or indirectly, as might be done cheapest ; but during those intermediate years it was a gratuitous loss and the chief cause of the late derangement of our Indian finances. Towards the end of the year 1843 another important political event occurred: Scindia had died vacancyinGwa- without heirs. His territory in Malwa, and ^^°5 ccTnseqSt extending to the Jumna close to Agra, was arrangements. rich and productive, in the very centre of our dominion, surrounded by our civil and military posts. It was no ancient Maratta country, ruled by a national Government, but a recent conquest which did not contain a single native Maratta ; and Scindia, more than any Maratta chief, had ceased to keep up a Maratta system or Maratta army. He had regular regiments of mercenaries, and many Portuguese and half-caste officers, and he ruled simply as a foreign conqueror. Here, then, was an opportunity of adding fairly and wisely to our resources. No heir to deprive of his rights, no nationality to destroy, a territory which would not have involved the addition of a single soldier to our army, and a large revenue which would have been all clear gain. But, unluckily, too great eagerness in seizing the unripe crab-apple of Scinde deprived the Government of the ripe pear of Gwalior. The summary treatment of the Ameers, and perhaps still more the unprofitable nature of the acquisition, had hurt the consciences of the people of England, and there was a great cry against such acts. Lord EUenborough, therefore, at that moment dared not to annex Gwalior. He sanctioned the adoption by a widow-child of thirteen of a boy of eight to fill the vacant throne, and selected a minister to manage his affairs for him. But the Gwalior court and camp chose to set u}) 1 40 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. another minister, and declined to alter their choice. A force was moved against them, met the Gwalior army, fought, and, at the expense of much bloodshed, conquered. Lord Ellenborough was present in a state of military en- thusiasm, distributed oranges to the wounded and sweet- meats to the army, and set up his minister and Council of Regency. The Gwalior army was for the most part dis- banded, and a contingent under British officers was sub- stituted. But the country and its revenue were left to a native Government of our own creation, subject to British authority during the minority of the Raja, but with no provision for the internal administration after January, 1853. Shortly after these events. Lord Ellenborough being recalled. Lord Hardinge reigned in his stead. Governor-Gene- About this time occurrcd a serious outbreak in the southern Maratta country. This ter- ritory was principally under small Maratta states. It was the original Maratta country, and filled southern Marat- witli old forts and old Maratta soldiers. The a s a es , native Governments did not directly and avowedly rebel, but there were minorities, and regencies, and misgovernment, which caused rebellion. Some of the old soldiers in charge of forts, believing that they were to be dismissed, armed the forts, and eventually the whole of the two states of Kolapore and Sawantwaree were in open revolt, and a large British force was employed to put them down and to take the forts. This done, we, by a singular policy, reinstated the chiefs, but for the time un- dertook the management of their territory. We had also much trouble in another part of India, the aborigines of highlands of Orissa, from the aborigines, the Khoonds. We tried to put down human sacrifices and to support friendly chiefs ; but the Khoonds maintained a barbarous warfare which was not put an end to without nmcli trouble. Chap. IV. CAUSES OF FIRST SIKH WAR. 141 The Punjab wars occurred in this wise. Ranjeet Sing- died in 1839. During his life the discipline p , . IT ,• D ^ ' r^ Events which 01 nis army and discretion oi his brovern- led to first Sikh ment was great. Goolab Sing was one of a favourite family — not a Sikh •, had risen from a low position to be Governor of the hill country about Jummoo, and had acquired great local influence. After Ranjeet's death, and the speedy end of his two immediate successors, the suc- cession was disputed ; but Sher Sing was finally esta- blished, and, reigning during the very critical period of our Affghanistan disasters, was most friendly and useful to us. In the end of 1843 he was assassinated. The minor, Dulleep Sing, was proclaimed, and a succession of revo- lutions and assassinations followed. The army usurped the power of the state, and largely increased its emolu- ments and its numbers. It regulated matters by its Punches or committees, exactly in the same way as the old Republican army did in England. This being the state of things, our frontier no longer enjoyed security. It was quite without , .-P'T ,,• ^ •, Causes of breach natural or artincial protection, and it was of treaty by sikh necessary to be ready with a large army to *^"^* meet the great Sikh force, which might at any time be- come hostile. The troops on our frontier were, therefore, largely increased in as quiet a manner as possible. It happened, too, at an inopportune moment, that a pontoon bridge (which never proved of material service) was brought up from Scinde and placed on the Sutlej, opposite Ferozepore. The Sikhs fancied that they saw in these movements an intention to interfere in their affairs, as we had done in those of other states. There was another cause of irritation. When we took the Cis-Sutlej Sikh states under our protection, we left to Ranjeet Sing the territory then possessed by him on our 142 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. side the Sutlej, with the stipulation that he was not to send across any military force except that required for the internal management of his own territory. It was now a question whether that territory (on our side the river) was held, like the protected states, subject to our supremacy and interference, or whether it was as completely inde- pendent as the Punjab. I cannot learn that we had formerly claimed the right of interference ; but — the Sikh army being restricted to the other side, Ranjeet Sing being disposed to cultivate a good understanding with us, the political agents (Sir C. Wade and Sir G. Clerk) having great personal influence, and the Sikh Vakeel or ambassador being resident at Loodianah in our territory — it had so happened that our wishes were generally attended to, and that disputes with the other Sikh chiefs were settled by the British officers, while we, on the other hand, met Ranjeet's wishes as far as possible. Sir G. Clerk having been pro- moted, new men were put in charge of our frontier rela- tions by Lord Ellenborough, and seem to have assumed as a right what had heretofore been yielded to a good understanding. In 1845 Major Broadfoot was political agent. He was a man of great talent and immense energy, but of a rather overbearing habit. In difficult and delicate times he certainly did not conciliate the Sikhs. Both from these circumstances and from the concentra- tion of our troops the Sikh army became irritated, and the impression was strong with them that they — or at least their territories on our side the river — were menaced by us. They formed no deliberate plans, for they were under the authority of no individuals who could form and carry out plans, and their intentions could not be foretold, because they did not know them themselves. At last the body was sufficiently moved. They marched to the Sutlej, crossed in December, 1845, and encamped Chap. IV. AERANGEMENT WITH THE SIKHS. 143 in their own territory south of that river, half fearing the result of a conflict with us, half big with the idea of over- running India if they beat us. Altogether I believe the fact to be that, had Sir G. Clerk remained in charge of our political relations, the Sikhs would not have attacked us at the time they did : it might have been delayed. But still it was well that they came when they did. It was impossible that we could go to the expense of continually maintaining an army to watch a disorganised force, restrained by no government, no treaties, and no fortifiications on our side. It was therefore fortunate that, by a breach of the treaty in crossing the river, they brought matters to a crisis. An army, hastily collected from our frontier canton- ments, pushed up to oppose the Sikhs. It consequent ar- was at Moodkee and Feroshahar, in their rangements. Cis-Sutlej territory, that the first engagements took place. The result, as is well known, was their discomfiture, after an obstinate contest, in which the old plundering guerillas took little share, and the regular army fought in regular battle. Goolab Sing had held aloof, and now appeared to negotiate. The ministers about the person of the minor chief were recognised by us as the Government. They agreed to cede their Cis-Sutlej territory and the con- venient and very productive Doab between the Sutlej and Beas (together yielding about half a million per annum), and to pay a large sum towards the expenses of the war. The whole of this money not being forthcoming, an ar- rangement was made by which Goolab Sing paid half a million sterling from his private resources, and received in return the sovereignty of all the hill country, including Cashmere, under obligations of fealty to us. A force was left at Lahore to establish on a firm footing the new Government, and another was employed to give Goolab Sing possession of his purchase. 144 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. But at the end of 1846 it was clear that a "strong Sikh Government " had not been formed. The ministers had little inclination to trust to the temper of the army. They therefore prayed our assistance, and a treaty was formed by which we were to supply a subsidiary force, for which the Sikh Government was to pay ; and they were to govern under the control of a British resident during the minority of the Maharaja. This treaty was signed by the principal ministers, Hindoo, Mahommedan, and Sikh, and also by several distinguished Sikh chiefs of the principal families, including Sher Sing and one or two others, who afterwards treacherously distinguished themselves in the next war ; but the great body of the Sikhs and the army were only so far bound as they, for the time, silently acquiesced in the arrangement. The subsidiary force was cantoned at Lahore only. The Lahore army was reduced, remodelled, and distri- buted over the provinces, retaining the usual proportion of artillery and munitions of war. The Resident had a large staff, and under native form directed most of the affairs of the Government. It was considered that in the late war the protected Sikh states had shown a lukewarmness in assisting us. They were, therefore, with certain exceptions, deprived of most of their powers and reduced to the condition of subjects. Several of them who had been connected with Lahore, and hostile to us, forfeited their possessions altogether. These arrangements being finally completed and carried out. Lord Hardinge shortly retired from Lord Dalhousie -i r^ i • i i • • Governor-Ge- the (jrovemmeut, and m the begunnng oi 1848 Lord Dalhousie succeeded. Before coming to the second Sikh war I must notice a lapse which in this year occurred in the Lapse of Sattara. . rj^, i i t i j_ r cs i^l south. Ihe estabhshnient oi oattara as a dependent native government has been noticed. The Chap. IV. THE SECOND SIKH WAR. 145 ivaja had been some years before detected in treasonable ])ractices. He was deposed, and his brother was set up in his stead. The justice of the deposition has been much questioned ; the more, as the Raja had a large connection with Europeans in Bombay, and paid high for their advo- cacy. But it is perfectly clear that our Government gained nothing by that proceeding, and may therefore have the credit of acting to the best of its judgment. Both the deposed and the new Raja died without heirs, and each dying adopted a son. The question now came to be finally decided, whether dependent princes were to be permitted in default of heirs to adopt without the sanc- tion of the superior power. Lord Dalhousie decided most reasonably that they should not. The decision was confirmed at home, — and Sattara so lately set up by us, again lapsed to us. In the Punjab the Sikh army was ready to try one more struggle with us. The Resident found 1 1 • 1 • Circumstances that to conduct matters as he could wish it leading to the - ... second Sikh war- was not only necessary to exercise his au- thority at head-quarters, but also in the provinces. ^\ hile therefore native provincial governors were appointed, assist- ants of the Resident were in several instances sent with them as a sort of supervisors, who exercised a very discretionary authority. These arrangements, and the general economy and reform enforced, were naturally very distasteful to the Sikhs and to the army, and that army was still strong and in uncontrolled garrison of the provincial canton- ments and forts. It was found too that under this system the resources of the country were unable to pay for a double Government and a double army, the one main- tained to check the other ; and the payments due to the British Government fell altogether into arrcar. The province of Mooltan was still under its old Go- vernor, who was also farmer of the revenue. But from L 146 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. the necessities of the State increased payments were required of him. Mooh-aj was a man of little military- propensity ; he found his position diflBcult, and had amassed a large private fortune. He therefore sent in his resignation before Lord Hardinge's departure, and there is no doubt was seriously anxious to resign. He was pressed to retain his Government, but declined to do so ; and as he was de- termined, it was resolved to send a new Governor, a Sikh, but with him a European supervisor to exercise real power. Khan Sing and Mr. Agnew arrived at Mooltan, and were received by Moolraj. He was willing to deliver over his cbarge ; but very much insisted that bygones should be by- gones ; that it should be a stipulation that he was not to be afterwards made responsible for acts done by him as Sikh Governor, and which might not be in accordance with our ideas of justice, nor be compelled to render any account of collections for which he had already paid up his stipulated quota. He was told that such stipulation could not be made, as his accounts were necessary for our settlements of revenue, and that he would be liable to answer com- plaints of injured parties having reference to a limited period. This resolution very much disgusted him, and his feeling may in some way have communicated itself to the garrison, but he certainly made no arrangements deli- berately to rebel. The soldiery, however, were very much irritated, they believed that they would be dismissed and superseded ; and when the British agents viewed the fort a tumult arose, they were wounded, eventually at- tacked and killed, and the garrison of the fort was in open rebellion. Moolraj, finding himself irretrievably compro- mised, permitted the insurgents to put him at their head. The fort was strong, the season unfavourable, and the force first sent turned out to be insufficient. Mooltan held out for several months, and in the end almost the whole Sikh army took part in the rebellion. Chap. IV. ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAB. 147 Slier Sing, and those who had signed the treaty and after- wards rebelled, were in this guilty of'a gross breach of faith \ but the great mass of the Sikh army can hardly have this blame attached to them, and the war was theirs, not that of the non-military ministers. It was a war to retrieve their power and independence, which they were quite justified in attempting if they chose ; but in which they at the same time fairly staked the remains of their in- dependence if they should lose. They did lose ; and all military opposition being overcome. Lord Annexation of Dalhousie, in March, 1849, annexed the the Punjab. Punjab to the British dominion. He considered that the Sikhs, having rejected all compromise, and fought to the last extremity, were entitled to no further consideration than that due to the brave vanquished — that they had no further claim to political domination. It being then open to us to do as we would with the Sikh territory, it was further clear that, however well pleased we might have been to have on the Sutlej a secure and peaceable frontier, as in Lord W. Bentinck's time, that being impossible, it was cheaper for us and better for the country to take it our- selves than to maintain an army to watch a hostile power, and enact over and over again such scenes as we had just gone through — that, in fact, such a conclusion was unavoid- able. The country, then, being taken, long experience proved that it was better, more securely, and more cheaply ruled directly by ourselves than indirectly through native agency. A great part of the territory to the north, near the hills, was very productive, and altogether it yielded, with the slice already assumed, a revenue of nearly two millions sterling, a sum much more than sufficient to pay the additional cost, civil and military. The addition ol this territory brought us to the natural boundary of India, the hills beyond the Indus. Our next neighbour is now Affghanistan, a hill country of small resources, and of little L 2 148 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. aggressive military power, from which we are in no danger whatever. We are also enabled to diminish, in some de- gree, the mihtary force in Scinde from its former dispro- portionate amount. The territory ruled by the Sikhs was therefore wisely and properly annexed. It included, with the Punjab, some territory beyond the Indus and adjoining the hills, conquered by Ranjeet Sing from the Affghans. Result of the '^^^^ Punjab, ever since it has been in our annexation. dircct posscssiou, has remained perfectly quiet and orderly, as much so as any, even the oldest and best, of our possessions. Our Trans-Indus territory has given a good deal of trouble. The marauding tribes inhabiting the outer ranges of hills are those of un-Indian blood and manners, predatory habits, and independent character, who gave the Mahommedan emperors so much trouble. They are, in their own fastnesses, independent of all government and all rule, and the neighbouring plains and valleys are subject to their depredations. Our humanity will not permit us to make their mere origin and race a capital offence, wherever they are found, without further accusation or trial, as General Aritabile did, and our dig- nity is little consistent with compromise and payments to them. The direct rule of the strip of territory exposed to them is therefore still a political difficulty to us, as it was to the Moguls before us, but it is a difficulty on a small scale. We have had no political relations with Dost Mahommed, but he and his subjects have given us no trouble or annoyance of any kind. We have, then, at last reached the limit of^ and become supreme in, all India. We have the whole country in our power, to do as we will with, and we have a natural line of circumvallation dividing it from the rest of the world. We may now, then, devote our attention exclusively to internal improvement; and the review of our system of internal policy becomes doubly interesting. Chap. IV. OUK POLITICAL SYSTEM. 149 We have seen how, and with what obhgations, we acquired our present territory. We have also noted the origin of the native states, and may judge how far they are in the position of nationalities, how far they have any right better than that of those who may conquer and succeed them. It appears that, in fact, hardly one of the '^ ^ , 11 • General conclu- modern native powers had so ancient or sion in regard to . . . . . ^ native states legitimate an origin as ourselves •, that many and native of them were, in fact, established by us ; and p"°^^^" especially that many of those nominal princes who draw the largest political stipends from our treasuries are not ancient, national, or rightful rulers, but mere creatures of our peculiar policy. I have given the sketch contained in the present chapter principally to show clearly these points. Many of the smaller native states have not been parti- cularly mentioned, but they come under general heads ; and in the territories made over to us we found, and have sometimes maintained, and we have sometimes created, where we did not find, subordinate native chiefs ; and we have granted political pensions and compensations to claimants of various rights. I shall therefore give a list, first of our present obliga- tions or undertakings, pecuniary and political, on account of the territories held by us ; and second, of native states, with their obligations, as they exist at the present day. In the statements of the population and revenue of the native states I cannot pretend to exact accuracy. An accurate statement could only be officially obtained by the Government of India, and I cannot find that any such exists. Some of the items are given from tolerable in- formation, some are more or less conjectural. The areas are taken from the Survey statements, and the whole population and revenue must rather considerably exceed than fall short of what is here stated. 150 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. Annual Political Payments of the British Government. Reciiients. Amount in Pounds sterling. Remarks. KingofDehli .... £. 150,000 The only pension for the amount of which there is reasonable ground. Nawab of Bengal . . . 160,000 An -absurdly large pension to the de- scendant of Meer Jaffier, a temporary Governor created by us. Families of former Nawabs of Bengal. 90,000 It seems most unreasonable that this should be addition to instead of part of the allowance made to the head of the family. Nawab of the Carnatic 116,540 The descendant of a Deputy-Governor established by us gets about four times as much as the Prince Consort of the United Kingdom. Families of fovmer Nawabs of the Carnatic. 90,000 Should be paid by the Nawab. Raja of Tanjore . . . 118,350 Allowance to the descendant of a petty military chief. Raja of Benares 14,300 Allowance to a deposed Zemeendar. Families of Hyder and Tippoo. 63,954 Allowance to the descendants of an up- start usurper, our bitterest enemy, who fought to the last, and with whom no terms were made. Rajas of Malabar . . . 25,000 Bajee Rao, deposed Peshwah 80,000 The Peshwah is lately dead. I do not know whether the pension is discon- tinued. Others of the Peshwah's family. 135,000 A great deal too much. Various other allowances . 443,140 Includes a variety of small political stipends, pensions, and compensations. Total . . 1,486,284 Chap. IV. OUR PAYMP]NTS AND OBLIGATIONS. 151 Political Obligations of the British Government other than Pecuniary. General. Obligation. Consideration. Remarks. Defence and Imperial Go- vernment of the whole of India. The revenues of half of India. Income has not hitherto equalled expenditure. Particular. Consideration. External and internal defence and protection of the whole of Oude. External defence and protection of the Nizam. External and internal defence and protection of Nagpore. External and internal defence and protection of Gwalior. External and internal defence and protection of Holkar. External defence of Bopal External defence of Gc.olab Sing .... External defence of Bahawalpore . . . , External and internal defence and protection of Mysore. External and internal defence and protection of the Guickwar. External and internal defence and protection of Travancore and Cochin. External and internal defence and protection of Cntch. External and internal defence and protection of Eajpoot states. External and internal defence and protection of a vast number of petty states. Part of former Oude territories. Some territories conquered by us for the Nizam, and a contin- gent. 80,000/. per annum. A contingent. Part of territory, and a contin- gent. A contingent. Nil. Nil. 245,000Z. per annum, and a con- tingent. Part of territory. 113,000/. per annum. 18,000/. per annum. About 95,000/. per annum. In most cases nil ; in some very small tributes, amounting to about 30,000/. per annum. 152 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. f! 05 h S S - o ~ en O ■< " W 2 o 2 CO ^ •H S -3 fcX) bo o ■*-' CO "^ s ^ "^ a Sh I— c 0) p ■5Ph "2 s 0) ■*j a) Qj -^ fi, a, ^ OJ a'.S c^5 "OS'S iT . =*^ .£ -w 2 " o 2 r- S2i C: 01 r> •a "^ « .- ^ o o c a o "" a i, a s Oi ^ H ^ +S ? 0) ti ^g C .5 i: es «5 -3 I J 1"^ o a 13 ^ CA O^ U ^ c j_ H -^ ^ _3 P-i tS O tc s eta S n 1-5 •'-' ;3 rn Ol 3 - I?"* "> o >> o .2 c1 C>4 d, - H ""Eh a; o) S ^■3 S ^ £ = ^ . .= 33 K r !- S ~ ■-" a _,'£ Sg'O'^ O •2 .„ hDO g^-: ?«-. S \n aSpq 5 c " -3 • 5 S K ^ .2 n W es O « I •'= "3 ^ o a .COO) •~- c/5 , , ^ '*^ C^ en cfl -M S*-* -^ (13 ^ fcDfcC&D O oj 0^ o O fcH t-l W •* (?) t^ "cS Cj i ^ '?.'*' ^js O) m cs r. . P. III ^ CO bo .5 1—3 P4 S 154 MODERN INDIA. ■t: g O ci g I ? -5 ^"1 ^ OJ .X. ■ ~ 5: a : — I a •r' 5 _, -1^ , ' ~ £. ^ ^ o Z ^ > O o CJ O am u^ 2i •2 ^ ^ "3 ■S •" "3 -^ §« a i^ a >> o a tG o U5 m o a; B* a o ■" CO) ,^ a >> C3 -= a .2 si CS 0* i-M W S 3 fee 5 ^ 2 ■ a-^ '1^ aag .a) -^ cu o g i a -g ^ a ■ -s-o a •= 3 lA U) ,C fl 5 a •3 ^ S S a ^ a cs ea ii C J:; >, ^g pq O H 03 O (U ->! * a K) a a «> 52 =x)-3 -at" -^-S o a W >^.2 .5:-^ a Ph S rt a •"§ a -^,5 -M rt a "3 •- o -ij o a =<-i — U-i o cs o c :i o IN -* 1-1 00 EELATIONS WITH EACH STATE. 155 > S 3^ oM t^^ !>0"-SO-*SH'i3ort c a .j^ o*rbtaet,*J-*;ig a; ^ 2 S ^ g^^ 2 g > ^ 'sbS'" ?? ^ ^ ^ a ^ t. to O ■^ .o _^ - - 5^ a ~ rt u c o P '^ o-s s; . ^;-) g g3 O :-j ^ n tr -,-3^ ?i _ M ? 5 c; 2 « 3 -c m m 2 .2 !K bb ^ a S o Q "■ u,i; a : cs is 5 i *c a .2, „ i* H^ a « - ;> £ ,_ "E; S :? ^? o 43CO a rsO CO a •'"^ a .2 c £ w C) S r" m 5 nJ , M ^t^ 01 o) aj ? S o o o C 5- p-i ^ ' o o o o o o o o o o o o coo o o o o'o o o o o ■* W CO rt> O C ;_; a; ... 2 a ^' a ca I" i~r ca a a> C3 cu a a U c« a; o o a; a-n 0) PM ^3 o 158 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. -^ -3 in < > -si tion,and fere and .'henever iency of ment been lad a lage- rtain efore ights ed. 4 aj £ O ;- ;s o o a c -^ -5 2 'S ^ "iS £i *- 1- >! u rt • S ,^ -^ aj t. _: s g .5 § ^ ?; 'bb > £" S a 2 S 2 2 C o 1 s a) St or military p ive right to ge the territ pprehend a lie, is Tra-vancoi Is a 1 tary protection which territo ed. We at oi iicipal share in nt, and guara its and persor the last treaty ' nterference Ave er British conti ^ H-i ji rt n c o s «« P 5 ? S cs o iS =*- "g 's- S !> >*>'<-i ^ .c feS . 4J-0 2 a> a> C g o P5 > ^.S| o o o o o O o o o o o o o £ 2 S ,^ p. o o o o 2 i »!!^ '^'o o o o o o Q is CO o Q 00 ■rf O o o to CO p ^ c H n ^ cu M -iS cs .S cj -ts cj a *-« a; c3 a S 3 a o" a* p a a q; OJ a a a o . . . § § in <35 • • . • in ^ ^ "^ CM CI CI f-H ^ a s -2 3 i o a o CJ o c CI o o 1~ o o I~. a o_ ^ o t^ o o 1^ ^'^ w CO o '-' . . ; — ; 00 o , CO CO ^H o.'g KJ -' ^ '^ in a> X5 *-" a B'S o (C s ■^ ■o o CO CO o 1-- o ^ !-• r~ ir; CO o t^ "* CO cr. CI C) o o o lO Oi 05 o o m CO 05 CO o o in CI in o in CI C! o «~ o o o^ (M CI r— ( t^ OJ (M CI CI O^ -t o o o CO t-» r— 1 t~ (—1 CO 1 — 1 ■f. o o (M Ol p • 'S o o s a rt M £ cd P-1 5 ^ ^ rS < m o ^" ,0 3 Q c •£ a H Mi § - l ' \l tiaiiy independ- pendent actiou as any other. iiut in its internal affairs we have never attempted to interfere. The Resident is rather an ambassador than a supervisor. Nepal, therefore, might be formidable if it had the means, but our security is in the smallness of its revenue. Its territory is almost entirely mountain, yields a comparatively small sum, and its army is very small. It is formidable on the defensive, but would be contemptible on the offensive. All the other states are, in fact, now directly subject to our political power, and have no independent All other states . directly subject military cxistencc. It will be seen that and°^'^ miutary soiuc Contribute a little towards the general defence of the empire, and a great many, especially most of the smaller states, nothing at all. In , ., , the 2:reat maiority of instances there was Some con tribute, <- J J most do not. y^Q stipulation to give us the power of inter- fering in their internal affairs, but, rather, it was either expressed or implied that they were to be In most cases no ,, ... .. i.j stipulation for absolutc ui their own territories, and to do as interference in , i 1 , • i i • j • i_i internal govern- they chose .' luore particuJarJy it was so with '"*^"'^' regard to the smaller states. In fact, these latter seem to have much the best terms in every way. It has always been remarked that small native Small states. ,, ,, i i i states are oitener well managed than large ones. The natives can manage detail well, are often quite inclined to rule well, and succeed when their territory is within the range of personal control (as it was in the old Chap. IV. MILITARY CONTRIBUTIONS. 161 Hindoo system of petty states) ; but they have seldom, in these days, system, energy, and confidence in one another sufficient to manage large governments, and those are, therefore, ahiiost invariably bad. All the states subject to our supremacy and military rule — that is, all except Nepal — are bound, ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ in return for our protection, to assist us with ^®^^^* "^^ ^° ^'^'^• such troops as they possess when required to do so. It is therefore unnecesary more particularly to state this pro- vision in each case. But even although the number of troops to be furnished is generally stipulated, this obliga- tion is now in most cases practically a dead letter, because, in our present position, we never want, or are likely to want, the irregular native troops ; if we did, they would be of no use to us ; and if ever we are so far reduced as to stand in need of their assistance, they are not likely to join us. It is therefore only the regular forces under g^^. ^^^ly ^^^^ British officers which have grown out of ^jjj^^fjjf XS some of these contingents which may be con- ^^^ useful. sidered as in some measure a contribution to the general defence of the empire, and I have entered them in the statement accordingly, omitting the obsolete contingents altogether. The principal native states have already paid for their defence and protection by the cession of territory sup- posed to belong to them, and now incorporated in our possessions, and we have undertaken the military ex- penses of the whole with the revenue of a part of India. Oude and some other states are thus in the pleasant position of holding their present territories without the necessity of any military expenses whatever, and with the whole revenue to do what they hke with ; while some, as, for instance, Mysore, contribute largely in different shapes to the Imperial resources. Some states contribute in money (generally at a very inadequate rate) towards our M 162 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. military expenses; and T have alluded to the fact that Contingents in Several of the contingents, which many states general, and the bowid themsclves to fumish, havc been gra- ISizam sin parti- -r» • • i cuiar. dually brought under British control and made efficient troops, doubtless adding to our military strength. This change has been in most instances effected by mutual consent, from time to time, as opportunity oc- curred and necessities urged, rather than under express agreement by treaty. In this way was formed the Nizam's contingent, about 8000 regulars being substituted for the 15,000 irregulars (9000 cavalry and 6000 infantry), to furnish which he had stipulated. There is this objection to such a form of contribution to the general defence, that contingents are apt to be more expensively managed than our own troops, are not so gene- rally useful, and are not uniform in system with our army, so that the money probably does not go so far as if it were paid to us and the military service left entirely in our hands. But, certainly, to support the contingent is not a hard- ship on the Nizam since he has agreed to it and it has long existed. For it must be remembered that he does not from his present revenue pay one farthing for any subsidiary force. This contingent is his sole and only contribution to the Imperial army or the Imperial expenses, and, if that were disbanded, he would enjoy an immense and valuable terri- tory free from all contribution, while the British Govern- ment, his defenders, are embarrassed and in debt ; a phase of things of which we have a great deal too much already, without going out of our way to better the Nizam at our expense. He may, like us, reserve a portion of his revenue to meet the expense of the regular troops main- tained on his account ; and if there be a change, it should be to pay the cost of the contingent to us, and let us do the work cheaper if we can. It is not to be thought Chap. IV. PECUNIARY CONTRIBUTIONS. 163 of that the Nizam should in practice escape his engage- ments altogether, and that, instead of receiving military- assistance from him, Ave should be constrained to main- tain an army at our own expense to watch his insubordinate troops. It will be seen how great is the number of petty states who enjoy territories and revenues and are , , 1 1 • • Pleasant posi- protected by us, yet nave irom the begmnmg tion of petty na- rendered nothing, or next to nothing, in re- turn. It was always our policy to conciliate these feuda- tories. Nothing can be more agreeable than the position of a subordinate chief who manages his affairs so tolerably as not to render absolutely necessary the interference of the British Government. He has none of the obligations and embarrassments of the larger states, and but small necessary expenses ; is much more independent and more absolute master of his territory than princes of greater dignity ; and has, perhaps, a clear income of 50,000/. or 100,000/. per annum to do what he chooses with. It is an immense estate wdth an unlimited heritable jurisdiction. This is the only class of rulers in India who now-a-days make money ; they often amass large sums. It is very plea- sant for them, but a pity that they do not contribute something towards our expenses. Altogether it appears that from native states, possess- ing a revenue of about 13,000,000/., the summary of our British Government receives about 571,000/. P°!f^'^i|'S^^^ per annum, and has more or less the com- "^ents. mand, when occasion requires, of about 22,800 contingent troops, while it has been seen that we pay about 1,486,284/. annually in political stipends, &c. Against the receipts must also be set the whole cost of the Resi- dencies and political establishments of every kind, which must alone be quite equal to the sum received, and which is entirely defrayed by the British Government. So that M 2 1 64 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. our political balance-sheet shows a result very much on the wrong side. Besides, it is to be observed that there seems always to be Tendency to in- ^ tendency to iucreasc of disbursements and ments and^dc- dccrcasc (cxccpt whcu Considerable lapses crease'ofreceipts. ]^y death occurj of rcccipts. When a pay- ment is once assigned, the faith of the British Government is considered pledged in perpetuity. No one ever admits that he has too much, but there are always many people who cry out that they have too little, and who sometimes succeed in proving it to be so. When, then, such new claimants start up, they must be separately provided for. For instance, one would think 160,000/. per annum a suffi- cient allowance for the representatives of a man who was made for a very few years nominal Governor of the province of Bengal under us. Yet it would seem that the families of former Nawabs are now separately and largely provided for by the British Government. Hence, these payments, which should be all more or less temporary, and should gradually diminish in the way of letting the former rulers down easy, seem to become rather more than less. And, on the other hand, tributes are never increased, but reductions occasionally occur, when in fact they ought to be gradually increased till they absorb the greater part of the available revenue. For in- stance, Jyepore was bound to pay eight lacs (which it paid to the Marattas before us) from a revenue of 40 lacs, with provision for a prospective increase. Although it has so large a revenue, it furnishes no contingent, and never paid up its tribute, because the Rajas preferred spending the money, and of course would not pay if they were not made to. The late British agent was an enthusiastic admirer of Rajpoots, and succeeded in getting the tribute reduced by half, on the ground that it never had been paid. It would be more regular to notice our present mode of CiiAi'. IV. PRESENT POLITICAL MANAGEMENT. 165 political management as a department of the administration of Government ; but as we have now men- Present political tioned all the states, their origin and obligations, °*^"^g<''"ent. it is more easy in this place briefly to touch on the subject, and in subsequent chapters I shall be enabled to confine myself to the civil administration of our own territories. I have classed the native states under the Govern- ments in whose charge they are, that I might afterwards refer to the distribution. It will be seen that most of our important political relations are in immediate charge of the Supreme Government, while some of the minor states are under the subordinate Governments. Under Government our relations with native states are intrusted to officers selected from either the civil or military services, variously denomi- nated Residents, Governor-General's Agents, or Commis- sioners. There are Residents at the courts of the chief states, Hyderabad, Oude, Nepal, Nagpore, the Guickwar, &,c. A very large portion of Central India is superintended by the Governor-General's Agent for Rajpootana, who has under him several subordinate agencies, and many states, great and small. The Resident at Indore (Holkar's capital), and the Agent for Bundlecund and the Saugor territories, have also charge of considerable circles, and there are many minor political agencies. The smaller detached states are generally in charge of the Commis- sioners of the adjoining British divisions. Each of the Residents and chief political Agents has two or three assist- ants. There are also several political Agents in charge of deposed princes. The higher political appointments are among the best paid in the service, and the work is generally of a lig ter and more discretionary description than that of the appointments in our own provinces. At times there may be hard work and great responsibility, at other times little that is important — according to tlie 166 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. character of the native administration for the time being. Generally speaking, there is more room for the exercise of patronage or for rewarding miscellaneous merit in the political department than in any other. In particular, two or three agencies with deposed princes are the nearest approach to sinecures in the Indian administration. Since Lord Ellenborongh's time the great majority of political appointments have been held by military officers. It must be admitted that in our interference with the In practice we ii^temal conccms of native states we do letter of JtP£ ^^^ practice go very much beyond the letter tions. of original stipulations. In fact, excepting in the more recent arrangements, we seldom acquired by distinct treaty the right to intermeddle at all, and very often, especially in regard to all the states of Central India, it was provided that the princes should be " abso- lute" over their own subjects, and that British jurisdiction should never be introduced. But everything has shown the incompatibility of civil independence w^ith military dependence, and the force of concurring circumstances has driven us to interfere till there has grown up a prescrip- tion which settles and authorizes the practice. The stipulations with some states gave a colour for „ ,^. , interference. Then there was a large class How this has _ _ ^ come about. of petty cliiefs who were subordinate to the greatei' powers to whom w^e succeeded, and that superiority fairly gave us the right to interfere when necessary, even though it was not at first expressly so declared. Next, the provisions in so many of the treaties, that we should defend the native rulers against " internal " as well as external enemies, made it necessary to inquire into internal affairs — for we could hardly undertake to fight without inquiring what it was about. Again, wherever payments to us were stipulated by treaties, that gave us a right or a necessity of interfering to protect our own interests. And more than Chap. IV. INTERFERENCE IN INTERNAL AFFAIRS. 167 everything else, mismanagement, disorganisation, disputed successions, minorities, rebellions, and revolutions, have been the causes of our intervention. Our power has always made contending parties court our influence. Hence, whatever the original stipulation, there is, in fact, almost no state with the internal affairs of which we have not had something to do. There is no uniform system, and it is impossible to give any definite explanation of what things we do meddle with, and what we do not. A great discretion always rests with the British Residents, and in each state a .... , , A prescription prescriptive custom seems to have grown up has grown up in 1 • , • . * 1 ,^ 1 each case. accordmg to its circumstances, the personal characters of the native rulers and of the British Agents, and the accidents of each case. This prescription of custom is always the great rule in political residencies. Such a thing has been done before — such a thing has not been done — precedents are quoted — and a system has grown up like the practice in English courts of equity, founded not so much on law as on precedent. Generally speaking, in all quarrels with other states, complaints of British subjects, and such mat- , -P, . . , . , . ■,. General practice. ters, the JJritish Agents exercise an unquali- fied authority ; but they do not, except in extreme cases, listen to complaints of subjects against their legitimate rulers, and in the general administration advice is oftener given in the choice of a minister than in the detail of particular measures. We have indirectly interfered, as far as was possible bv personal influence of British agents, to •> ^ ... . Degree of inter- put down suttee, infanticide, and such crimes lereuce to put ■"^ . . ••Ill down practices abhorrent to our principles, but have never abhorrent to our openly prohibited those practices (as the Mahommedans did) in virtue of our imperial supremacy and their inconsistency with our rule. 168 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IV. Indeed, in all our transactions with native states, however We have not in ^^'^ ^^^"^Y exercisc real power, we have never as^s^med"'^ imp" Y^^ ^^^ fomi assumed the imperial superiority rial superiority, ^f y^j. predccessors. We still treat with small native states as in name our equals, and make little distinc- tion between great princes, rebellious governors, and petty chiefs — as if all alike Mere absolute and unlimited sove- reigns. Even when forcing measures upon them, we do it in the form of a treaty between two equal Governments, while many measures which should be forced upon them are not insisted upon because we only violate their independence Inconvenience of ^'^ political ncccssities. This maintenance not doing so. ^f fomis loug gouc by is false in fact, incon- venient in practice, and disadvantageous in every way. It would be much belter formally to assume the feudal superiority of India, and to interfere authoritatively in those things in which it is proper and expedient to inter- fere, and to leave untouched those things which are judged proper to be left to the inferior rulers. There would then be a uniform system and line of conduct, instead of all the periphrasis and inconvenience of forcing some things, obtaining some things by influence, and leaving some things done or undone which ought to be undone or done. Latterly something has been effected towards modifying or toms and ^^S^^^^^ing, piccc by piece, the customs and transit duties in trausit dutics of uativc states, but many of native states. .,, . . . them still retam a very inconvenient power in this respect. It is usual to demand from all states (except perhaps Nepal) the delivery of refugee criminals, but not of debtors or revenue defaulters. As to internal government of their own dominions, whether we have left it alone, or whether we have advised, we seem in all the larger states to have been equally unsuccessful in obtaining any favourable result. We have Chap. IV. GENERAL EFFECT OF OUR SYSTEM. 169 on many occasions assumed for a time almost entire charge of several states during minorities, interregnums, &c., and have restored them to be again mismanaged. The system of protected native governments then works excessively ill. There is nothing so bad as General effect of power without responsibilitv, and that is the o"r political sys- -T r J ' tern in regard to condition of the native states. If left to native states. themselves, they would feel that they must stand or fall on their own merits and success. As it is, they have nothing to keep them straight. Even when we have the right to give advice, it is much more easy to give it than to get any one to take it. Our right of interference with Oude seems to be exercised to very little good purpose. The King has no con- siderable military force, and we have no apprehension on that score. The evil of his government is to the people of the country and to the revenues of India. We have less ground for interference in the internal affairs of the Nizam than of almost any other state ; and while he has permitted the contingent to fall into arrears, he has been keeping up that large and noxious army of mercenary irregular troops of which we hear so much, and which may give us much trouble. In several of the principal states we have, by late treaties, a large right of interference ; but the go- vernment in native form, where real native responsi- bility is wanting, must always, except in some peculiar remote and unproductive districts, be expensive, incon- venient, and injurious. And above all we cannot too continually bear in mind that, for every act of superfluous generosity to the accident of an accident assuming the cha- racter of a prince, we must tax many millions of our inferior subjects, and that we should be just before we are generous. One right of lord paramount we have unequivocally established — that of succeeding to the estates „. , , ^ "_ _ _ Kight of succes- of princes who die without legitimate heirs ; s>°" ^° '^pses. yet that right has not always been exercised. In former 170 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. IV. times, when it was the policy of the Government to main- tain and even to create subsidiary states, heirs were gene- rally found or created ; but latterly, better understanding our position, we have been more inclined to insist on our rights. It is indeed only in this way that we can hope gradually to extinguish the native states, which consume so large a portion of the revenues of the country, of which we bear the expenses, and so prevent us from lightening the burdens and improving the condition of the mass of the people. Connected with this right of succession to lapses was the Ado tions b long-disputed question of adoptions ; for of native princes, course tlic ministers and people about a native court were altogether unwilling that it should cease to exist ; and when heirs were likely to fail, they had begun to make a practice of procuring the adoption, by the dying prince or his widow, of a small boy as heir ; and it was one of the inconveniences of our choosing to retain the name of allies, when we were in fact the legitimate superiors, that they had some ground for saying that it was no business of ours who was adopted, or whether they adopted or no. On the other hand, it was perfectly clear that we, as in fact the superiors, and possessed of a re- versionary interest, had a right to be consulted. The pro- prietor of an entailed estate cannot adopt an heir to the exclusion of the next in succession ; and it seems to be now very properly settled that adoptions shall not be per- mitted without our consent. The decision of the Indian Government in the Sattara case has been formally sanc- tioned at home, and I hope that the question is finally set at rest. There is another question of importance with regard to Debts of native our right to lapscs, cscheats, and forfeitures. princes. g^ \q\\^ as native princes are masters of their own revenues, their getting into debt is their own Chap. IV. DEBTS OF NATIVE PRINCES. 17 1 concern ; and formerly they did not do so very largely, because no one would trust them to a very large amount, and those who advanced monev did so on the mere personal credit of the native Government, and in the hope of being shortly repaid by assignments on the en- suing instalments of revenue. But finding how particular we are on these points, money-lenders become less scru- pulous and lend more largely ; and the question arises, what if we find territory thrown on our hands subject to overwhelming debts ? I have seen much of these claims on a small scale. Whenever a petty territory lapses, all kinds of people start up alleging claims on the late ruler ; and there never has been any general declaration whether these are to be considered good as against the territory, or personal to the former possessor. Hitherto a discretion has been used in each case, but it would be well to declare some rule publicly. For instance, it is all very well just now if the Nizam borrows money to pay his debt to us ; but if he still spends as before, and in the end gets so much involved that he cannot pay, and his territory is thrown on our hands, we shall have all the creditors upon us. States in the position of these protected rulers are much better without the power of getting into debt ; and we should declare, once for all, that we shall never be liable when the territory in any way lapses to us. The princes woul I then be compelled to curtail their expenses, or throw up their territory. They cannot both spend the money themselves and pay to us our just dues. 172 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V, CHAPTER V. ox THE HISTORY AND PROGRKSS OF OUR INTERNAL GOVERNMENT. First f^overnment of Company's settlements — Clive — Hastings — Lord Cornwallis — Sir J. Shore — Lord Wellesley — Lord Hastings — Monro — Elpliinstone — Lord W. Bentinck — Act of 1834 — Its requirements and their execution — Improvements independent of the Act — Sir C. Metcalfe — Lord Auckland — Lord Ellenborough — Sir C. Napier's government of Scinde — Lord Hardinge — Lord Dalhousie — Freedom from domestic disturbance — Europeans in India — European capital — Products and manufactures — Commerce — Ecclesiastical establishments — Missions. In my preface I have remarked on the historical want in this hranch of Indian history, and it is not for me to at- tempt to supply it. In the present chapter I merely wish to mark, in very short compass and naked form, some of the leading circumstances of our civil progress, which are necessary to explain and connect what follows. I shall do so as briefly as possible. When the English in India were merely a trading First govern- coinpauy posscssing a few small settlements, ment of the ]jq\\^ the trade and the settlements were re- Company s set- tlements, gulated by a President and Council at each station, who exercised certain judicial and other authority within their own limits. Bombay, being the chief place, was at first vested with authority over the others ; but subsequently Calcutta and Madras were erected into in- dependent " Presidencies," to receive orders direct from home, and the three presidencies seem to have been quite independent of one another. The President was but the chairman of the Council with a casting vote. In 1726, at the request of the Company, a Mayor's Chap. V, EARLY FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 173 Court was established at Calcutta for the better main- tenance of order and administration of justice within the settlement; and in 1753 that court was converted into a Court of Record with superior powers. The affairs of the Company were conducted by their servants sent out from England under covenants of ser- vice, and the Councils were filled from the list of these servants. They were wretchedly ill paid — received in fact mere nominal pay, but were permitted to trade (under certain restrictions) on their own account, and to receive presents. Clive was President of Bengal, but did not attempt to take the detail of administration into his own hands. It remained with the Mahommedan Governor, and in native form, under European supervision. One reform Clive attempted — that of regulating the allow- ances of the Company's European servants. He could not openly pay them well from the Company's cash, but he tried to get rid of the evil and abuse of private specu- lation and extortion by monopolising the sale of salt, dividing the proceeds in fixed proportions, and prohibiting other irregular gains. This was the commencement of our salt-tax ; but the arrangement was discontinued under orders from home. Salt seems to have remained free for some years, and the Company's servants relaxed into the former system. Warren Hastings was in 1772 appointed President of Bengal. He assumed the direct management W^flrrGn Has— of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and was the tings President father of our civil system. But as during the ° ^"®* ' greater part of his government he held office under a new Act of Parliament, I shall notice that change first. By the Regulating Act of 1773 there was to be a Go- Regulating Act, vernor-General and Council of Bengal, with ^''"^• power to make local regulations and authority over the other 174 MODERN INDIA, Chap. V. presidencies. Each presidency carried on its own affairs separately, but Madras and Bombay were subject to the general control of, and liable to receive orders from, Bengal. In council the Governor-General had no more than a cast- ing vote, but the executive function was vested in him. A crown court of judicature, styled the Supreme Court, The su reme ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ Same time established in Cal- Court. cutta, with very large powers independent of the Company. It had a local jurisdiction over the town of Calcutta, and a personal jurisdiction over all European subjects of the Crown in India and over all servants of the Company. No local regulations of the Government had force till registered in the Supreme Court. It was, in fact, in the first instance, intended as a check on the Company and its servants. Warren Hastings, a servant of the Company, was the first Governor-General, and counsellors were appointed from England who did not belong to the Company's service. Errors of the Scvcral crrors of the Regulating Act soon Regulating Act. bccauie apparent. The Government and the Supreme Court clashed together, and almost went to war, the Court attempting indefinitely to extend its juris- diction to the destruction of all government. The mem- bers of Council disagreeing, and the Governor-General being in a minority, the machine of Government was clogged and almost stopped. The line between the superior and subordinate presidencies being ill-defined, differences arose, and the Madras Government refused to obey that of Bengal. To remedy these evils some changes were made. In 1781 an Act of Parliament was passed to Act restraining , • .i o /~\ rrn A the Supreme rcstraui ttic ouprcme Court, ine Governor- General and Council, all matters of revenue, farmers, landowners, iiative servants of the Company, and Chap. V. LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS~1773 to 178G. 175 all judicial officers, for acts done in their official capacity, were exempted from its jurisdiction. To save recurrence, I may here mention that by these enactments the juris- diction of the Supreme Court is for the most part still regulated, and that similar courts were subsequently esta- blished at Madras and Bombay. By Acts of 1784 and 1786 the Governor-General was empowered to act in certain cases without , -11 • Further provi- the concurrence oi his Council ; the presi- sions of the le- dencies of Madras and Bombay were made regular governments under governors and councils, with power of regulating their own concerns, but subject to a more complete control by the superior Government, which had the power of suspending the other Governors. All vacancies were to be filled up from the covenanted servants of the Company, but the offices of Governor. General and Governor were excepted. Lord Macartney had been in 1781 appointed Governor of Madras, and was the first instance of a Governor not of the Company's service. Warren Hastings was Governor-General from 1774 till 1785. We had then no experience of In- , . . . 1 /^ ■> Warren Has- dian administration ; the Company s servants tings Govemor- were, for the most part, those sent out for commercial duties, and quite inadequately paid ; and Hastings had very limited powers and met with every possible obstruction and opposition from the Counsellors and the Supreme Court ; so that he had a very difficult task ; but he seems to have held wonderfully just views, and to have done as much to introduce an efficient admi- nistration as was possible under the circumstances. The country was divided into districts, in each of which a European functionary presided, and was His incQ.surcs« vested with powers in all departments, fiscal, magisterial, and judicial. In the departments of revenue 1/6 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. and civil justice he was assisted by a native Diwan and establishment, and was empowered to refer petty civil suits to Zemeendars and head-farmers. In the criminal department he exercised a general supervision as magis- trate over the district Zemeendars (who were intrusted with police powers), to see that they did their duty and that criminals were properly tried. Criminal trials were conducted by Mahommedan law officers, and according to Mahommedan law. At the Presidency the Governor-General and members of Council formed a board of revenue and chief court of justice to superintend the whole. They had a native esta- blishment to assist them in revenue matters and in civil suits, and there \vas a native chief criminal court, the working of which they superintended. Regulations for the guidance of the officers employed were printed and promulgated, which, says the fifth Re- port, " manifest a diligence of research and r. desire to improve the condition of the inhabitants by abolishing many grievous imposts and prohibiting many injurious practices which had prevailed under the native Govern- ment." All these arrangements were carried out under the personal superintendence of Hastings himself. But the system first tried, which seems undoubtedly better than those which immediately followed it, did not at first succeed as hoped for. Perhaps the officers employed had not then sufficient experience for the duties. His many burdens Mere too much for the Governor-General. The following changes were therefore made : — The superintendence of criminal justice was moved back to Moorshedabad, the residence of the representative of the former nominal Mahommedan Governor, and was placed under a native superintendent ; and to each district was appointed a native magistrate, with a regular police es- tablishment. Chap. V. MEASURES OF WAEEEN HASTINGS. 177 The European superintendents of districts were recalled, and the detail of revenue and civil justice was again in- trusted to natives; but, for their better superintendence, six provincial councils were established in different parts of the country. This system, however, succeeded worse than the other, and in 1781 it was arranged as follows : — A separate board of revenue was appointed at Calcutta, apart fi^om the Government, and also a separate superior court, under Sir Elijah Impey. The provincial councils were withdrawn, and single European collectors were charged with the revenue ma- nagement, while separate European officers were nominated to the combined office of "Judge and Magistrate " in each district, and superintended the administration of civil jus- tice and the police; but the Mahommedan law officers were still the criminal judges. Under orders from home the functions of the superior court of civil justice were again shortly after transferred to Government. At this time Benares remained under the management of a great Zemeendar, who merely paid a stipulated revenue. The administration of civil justice in Hastings' time seems to have been chiefly carried on by the aid of the indigenous institutions which he found in existence. There was no sufficient machinery for a formal hearing and deci- sion on each case, and the great majority of petty suits were decided by a reference to arbitration, under the general superintendence of the judicial functionaries. To the settlement of the land revenue Hastings gave much attention, and he made great efforts to acquire information ; but the subject was not one to be mastered in a day or in a few years, and the great famine of 1770 had immediately preceded his administration. He had not the N 178 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. machinery or the information necessary to enter into detailed settlements, and was obliged to make, from time to time, such arrangements as he could with Zemeendars, farmers, and others. These arrangements were for short terms, as preparatory to more satisfactory settlements on better information. But under them the revenue fluctuated considerably. The passage already quoted from the fifth Report bears testimony to Hastings' improvements in the branch of miscellaneous imposts. Many of these he abolished or modified, while he taxed sdt for public revenue, and, con- solidating the sources of income, commenced the system since fully acted on. In Hastings' time various prohibitory orders were passed to restrain the Company's servants from the receipt of pre- sents, from private trading, and irregular gains; but they were insufficient, because there was no adequate legitimate remuneration. Many men, however, seem by practice to have attained great expertness and ability in administra- tive duties. During this period, and for some time after, the northern Management at Circars wcrc managed under the Madras Madras. Govcmment by the provincial councils sta- tioned along the coast for commercial purposes, who merely supervised Zemeendars and farmers intrusted with general authority. The management seems to have been bad, and the Madras functionaries acquired little admini- strative knowledge or aptitude. In 1/86, Lord Cornwallis being appointed Governor- General and Commander-in-Chief, the first Lord Cormvallis. • t t place m India was thus for the first time held by an English statesman of personal and political weight, invested by the Act of 1/84 with immense powers, greatly exceeding those exercised by his predecessors. His position was very different from that of Warren Chap. V. MEASURES OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 1 79 Hastings before the passing of the Act of 1784; and his reign was an important era. The Government was then established in much of its present form, and the institu- tions and arrangements still existing in India to a great degree take their character from the reign of Cornwallis. He paid great attention to internal affairs, and, if his arrangements were not always judicious, they ., ,, . 11TT 11 ^'^ measui-es. were certainly well nitended. Me had, at any rate, one great merit, that of securing a pure and good tone among the servants of Government. The salaries were increased to a sufficient scale, and, a vigilant supervision being exercised, the old corrupt practices in a very short time entirely disappeared ; the other extreme was reached, and a purity was attained such as is not common in European countries. Most appointments were paid by fixed salaries, and where fees or commission were in some instances permitted, abuse was strictly guarded against. The instructions given to Lord Cornwallis were — to put the revenue on a regular and permanent footing, and in the administration of justice to conform rather to " sub- sisting manners and usages of the people than to abstract theories." Of these instructions he overdid the one and altogether reversed the other. He had been desired to unite again in the same officers fiscal and judicial functions, as being the method best in practice and most suited to the manners of the country, as "tending to simplicity, energy, justice, and economy," and they remained so united for some years. In 1790 the administration of criminal justice was finally assumed by the British Government, assisted by Mahommedan law- yers. The Governor-General and members of Council were the superior court, cases in the provinces Avere tried by courts of circuit, and the magistrates exercised a sum- mary jurisdiction in petty cases. N 2 180 MODERN INDIA. Chap. Y. Towards the end of his reign Lord CornwalHs com- His judicial sys- plstcd the SYstem which still, for the most *®™- part, prevails in the provinces where he in- troduced it. He separated entirely judicial from revenue duties, and made the latter subordinate to the former, since the collector was liable to be sued for all his acts before the judge. He established a regular police and a highly artificial and technical system of judicial procedure, by which, in supercession of all native institutions and usages, every suit was to be decided after the model of the most artificial and technical of English legal proceed- , ings of that day. He fixed in perpetuity His permanent ~ •' ^ ir r J settlement. ^j^g Jand reveuuc to be paid to Government, gave to one class (that of the district Zemeendars) abso- lute rights of property in the soil, corresponding to those of English landlords, and rejected, on the part of Govern- ment, all future information or means of information, and all administrative concern whatsoever in landed interests. He did all this in the greatest ignorance of landed tenures, and of the capabilities and every other particular re- garding the estates ; and it is not to be wondered at that the result was inequality and injustice. Altogether, his arrangements were such as seemed equitable and mode- rate to European ears, but were in reality injurious both to the people and to the Government. The fact is, that he dealt well with Europeans because he understood them, but excessively ill with natives because he did not under- stand them. The revenue and judicial arrangements of Lord Corn- wallis will be more particularly explained in the chapters on those subjects. In 1/93, before his departure from India, he published a series of regulations, forming a kind of His regulations. i r. , i -n i t> • i t code tor the l^engal rresidency, superseding all former regulations, and fully setting forth the principles Chap. V. SIR J. SHOKE— LORD WELLESLEY. 181 of his Government. These are now the first on the In- dian statute-book, and remain in force unless altered by- subsequent enactments : the greater part still subsist to the present day. A regular series of regulations was hence- forth published, and the acts of Government and of all functionaries were regulated by these published laws, and were liable to be judicially called in question for their violation or misconstruction. Lord Cornwallis was succeeded by Sir J. Shore, the last of the Company's servants who has been appointed Governor-General. Though he had been wisely opposed to some of his predecessor's most important measures, he had principally managed their detail, and now did what he could to carry them out and give them a fair trial. In 1794 Benares ,1 ] r i. L ^Management of was taken under direct management, an Benares as- estate being left to the Zemeendar as a pro- ^^^^ ' vision. The Bengal system was immediately introduced. Considerable improvements were also at this time effected in the Madras territories. The cessions of Tippoo having been in 1792 added to that Presidency, and the previous territory having been mismanaged by the commercial ser- vants, trial was made in the new acquisitions of military officers who had gained some experience of native language and manners, and they seem to have succeeded wonderfully well. Under Lord Wellesley our territories were largely in- creased. He does not seem to have origin- ated much in the system of domestic ma- ^^ ^ ^^°"^' nagement, and altogether in internal affairs I should say that he was not a great Governor-General. He princi- pally followed in the footsteps of Lord Cornwallis. He was probably too much engaged in warlike and political schemes. The tone and conduct of the Company's ser- vants, which Lord Cornwallis had put on so good a footing, 182 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. was still further improved by Lord Wellesley. He set up a college in Calcutta to perfect the edu- Colleges of Cal- . „ , . ., t t i cutta and Hai- catioii 01 the youiigcr civil scrvants. It did "^'^ ^^^^' not long fulfil its original object, was out of place in India, and subsequently degenerated to be worse than useless ; but it probably led to the college of Hailey- bury, soon after much more properly established at home, and which has been of great use. A great mass of experience was now rapidly acquired, and the service, losing altogether its commercial character, assumed a higher position. It may be remarked that from Lord Cornwallis's time to that of Lord William Bentinck there was a sort of Non-employ- uiinimum of the employment of natives in ment of natives, superior officcs — the old native officials being done away with, and a new class suited to our system not having yet sprung up. They were of course employed in the inferior and ministerial appointments, but (with few exceptions) in no higher grade. The Cornwallis system appeared to advantage at first. There were considerable immediate good effects, and the evils were only gradually developed. In 1802 regula- tions founded on those of Bengal were enacted at Madras, and a little later the Government were anxious to force the same system on the newly acquired Extension of the . n ^ ir> Cornwallis sys- uorth-wcst proviuces, lor the settlement oi which a commission was appointed. The judicial system was, indeed, introduced throughout, and chief courts of justice separate from the Government were finally established. But the revenue system was not made uniform. Doubts were soon suggested as to the excellence of the Cornwallis mode of settlement. It was found that loss of revenue v/as occasioned, the land alienated, frauds and perjuries encouraged, and justice obstructed by a mass of suits, for the disposal of Chai'. V. LOKD HASTINGS— MONIIO—ELPHINSTONE. 183 which there was no sufficient machinery. Strong remon- strances came from Madras and the north Doubts regard- west provinces, and, ultimately, positive in- fof '^'change ^of structions to change the system arrived from ^J'^^^™- home in time to prevent the further progress of the system. This took place under Lord Minto. Lord Hastings' reign, from 1813 to 1823, was im- portant. Much new territory was acquired ; , , '' - . Lord Hastings. and what was called the " regulation sys- tem " being now thoroughly distrusted, many new pro- vinces were then and have been since exempted from the operation of the code of regulations (now called " Non- Regulation Provinces"), and reserved for administration under more simple and natural instructions of the execu- tive Government, probably with the view of eventually obtaining a good code generally applicable to all our ter- ritories, for which we still wait in vain. Orders were also received from home for changing and simplifying the judicial system ; and under Lord Hastings a considerable movement was made towards improving the judicial ma- chinery by the introduction of native agency, but the foundation of the Bengal system still remained the same. An improved revenue system was devised for the north- west provinces by Mr. Holt Mackenzie. Two great men, Monro and Elphinstone, were made Governors of Madras and Bombay. Monro very much changed *' . Monro. the system at Madras — introduced the " Ryotwar " revenue management, which will be after- wards explained — and attempted a new mode of judicial administration. Elphinstone did much to . -P, , 1 • 1 Elphinstone. introduce system in Bombay, which was principally composed of entirely new acquisitions, and he would doubtless have succeeded if he had remained long enough ; but it requires a great many years to settle a good system in new territories. In 1827, the last year 184 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. V. of Elphinstone's government, was published the Bombay code of regulations in all departments, which is the most systematic yet attempted in India. The Law Com- mission attributes crudeness to the Bombay criminal code, and it could hardly be otherwise when examined by lawyers ; but it must have been a great advantage to have any attempt at system and condensation of rules. It would only seem that Elphinstone was too indulgent, and permitted too many alienations of the revenue, too many claims to hereditary offices, &c., to leave a paying revenue at Bombay. The Bombay judicial code is for the most part founded on that promulgated in the other presidencies, but seems to contain several improvements, besides an entirely new criminal code which got rid of the Mahommedan law altogether. Elphinstone's minutes seem to show that he was entirely favourable to the principles of the revenue system now followed in Northern India, but the question was then one on which men's minds were not made up, and no settlement of Bombay Avas completed during his government. Lord William Bentinck, during his incumbency as Lord w Ben- Govcrnor - General, introduced great im- ^^^^^- provements. He required more and at- tained greater efficiency from the servants of Govern- ment than any previous administration. The last rem- nants of emoluments in the shape of fees or commissions A\ere swept away, and there remained nothing but fixed salaries for fixed and substantial duties regularly exacted. Merit was more than formerly considered in promotion. The employment of natives much more generally, and on a much improved footing, M'as now at last practicable. A class had sprung up in the inferior offices quite competent for farther promotion, and abundant opportunity was Chap. V. MEASURES OP LORD AV. BENTINCK. 185 opened to them. As judges in the civil courts, ahnost all original jursidiction was intrusted to them ; and the arrears and impediments to obtaining a decision heretofore ex- isting were thus altogether remedied. As deputy col- lectors, they were employed to assist the collectors ; and by their aid the Governor-General was enabled to put in active train the revenue settlement of the north-west pro- vinces, the scheme of which was devised in Lord Hastings' time, but not carried out — perfected and put in opera- tion by Lord W. Bentinck, and carried on to completion under his successors. For the further improvement of the natives, great educational establishments were at this time founded. The offices of magistrate and col- lector had been united in Madras and Bombay, and the same plan was adopted in the north-west provinces — one functionary thus uniting all executive duties, while the judge remained a purely judicial officer with extended powers. In Bengal Proper this union was not effected, but the offices of judge and magistrate being disunited, judge, magistrate, and collector became three separate officers. A peculiar detective police was also organized to act against associated professional murderers and robbers. liOcal transit duties and such imposts having been found impolitic, measures were taken for their mitigation and abolition. The Supreme Court of Bombay, like that of former days in Calcutta, at this time made a grand effort to in- crease its jurisdiction in the face of all law, and went to war with the Government — a state of things only put an end to by the decision of the home authorities, and the ejection of an offending judge. Hitherto, although European British subjects were ex- empt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals of the 186 J.IUDEKN INDIA. Chap. V. country, injurious and seditious practices could be sum- marily met by deportation. The press, too, was subject to a censorship, and under considerable restrictions. The " Regulations " of the three separate Presidencies were entirely separate and distinct ; and though they were subject to a general control, there was a great want of uniformity of form and system, which has not been com- pletely remedied to the present day. In 1834 came into effect the new Act of Parliament Act under which uudcr which India is governed till 30th effromfssTto ^P^^^' 1^54; and as we are chiefly con- ^^^^- cerned to look to its results, I shall here recapitulate its principal requirements, and note how far they have been fulfilled. As I shall afterwards detail the present Government — being that established by the Act — I shall merely say that all legislative and financial powers were taken from the minor Presidencies and vested in the Governor-General and Supreme Council of India- — to whom was given unlimited power to make laws binding on all persons and courts of justice, with certain small limitations. The Indian laws are from this time called no longer "Regulations," but "Acts." The following are the most notable requirements of Requiiements of ^^^^ Act of Parliament to be executed in the Act. Jj^^-j^ ._ 1. A new Presidency to be established at Agra. 2. As it is expedient that a general system of judicial establishment and police should be formed, to which all persons, European and native, may be subject, and that the laws and customs should be consolidated, and hew laM's, M'here necessary, enacted, a law commission, not exceeding nine members, shall be appointed by the Go- vernor-General under instructions from home, to carry out this object.. 3. Europeans, subjects of her Majesty, may freely pro- Chap. V. THE ACT OF 1833. 187 ceed to, and reside in, India, within certain limits, and hold lands and engage in all other lawful dealings ; but the Governor-General, in council, shall, and is hereby required to provide, with all convenient speed, for the pro- tection of the natives of the said territories from insult and outrage in their persons, religions, or opinions. 4. No person shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, or colour, be disabled from holding any office, place, or employment. 5, The Governor-General in council is to take measures for mitigating and extinguishing slavery as soon as pos- sible. Now, as to the execution : — 1. The Court of Directors, being empowered by a sub- sequent Act to suspend the provision for the _^. ^ I ^ • Their execution. Agra ^residency, have suspended it, and substituted a Lieutenant-Governor appointed by the Go- vernor-General, and exercising the power of Government in simpler and cheaper forms. For all purposes of civil government the object of estab- lishing a fourth Presidency has thus been effected. 2. A law commission has been appointed, lasted for a number of years, and died away — has again been revived in the persons of the Members of Council. It has pub- lished a proposed criminal code, known as Macaulay's Code, which has not been adopted ; and no codification, consolidation, or general emendation and completion, of the laws and customs of the country, nor any of the objects of the law commission whatsoever, has yet been eftected. 3. Europeans are permitted to proceed freely to India, and, in addition to what was required, unlimited freedom of the press has been accorded to thcni and to all. But nothing whatever has been done to protect the natives, or any one else, from insult and outrage, or to render Euro- 188 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. peans subject to the most ordinary checks required to keep any men in order. They are a privileged class, amenable in criminal matters only to the Supreme Court, however many hundred miles distant, and licensed to outrage and insult with impunity the natives and the tribunals and Government of the country, and to hire their services to seditious and malcontent persons. Al- ready have several individuals made a trade of getting up native grievances for pay and profit. Europeans have however been made subject to the civil courts in civil causes. 4. This provision was a mere flourish of trumpets, and of no practical effect wdiatsoever as far as the natives are concerned. No one ever was excluded from office by reason only of religion, place of birth, descent, or colour, under a government in this respect the most liberal in the world. Lord William Bentinck had already commenced a much more general employment of natives in important offices, and they have now a very much larger field than formerly ; but this legislative provision had nothing on earth to do with it. It in no way broke down the distinc- tion between certain offices allotted to covenanted servants of the Company sent from England, and others filled in India, whether the recipients be white or black. Christians or Pagans. The only effect of the provision has been to open to Europeans offices originally intended for natives — an admission rather liable to al)use. 5. By an Act passed in Lord Ellenborough's time our courts cease to recognise slavery. I believe that a right to the services of slaves was till then occasionally recognised in civil suits in the civil courts ; but in any part of India of which I have experience the law has had little practical effect, and been little noticed, because slaves, if slaves they be, were of little value, and only held in bondage by do- mestic ties. Chap. V. EECENT IMPROVEMENTS, &c. 189 These then are the improvements specially provided for by Act of Parliament. In other matters i^nprovements the principal advances in our older territories ^^^^^ ^j^*^^ ^j^'^^* during the last twenty years have been those ed^'b^^'tL' T'is- originated by Lord William Bentinck. '^ture. The judicial machinery has been brought into perfect working order; there are no longer exterior obstacles, and all present evil is that of the venue improve- system, not of its execution. It has had the ^^^ ^' fairest trial. Our land-revenue system has been in many respects much improved, and especially in fully carrying out the settlement of the north-west provinces we have really attained a good knowledge of tenures and their manage- ment, and have at last seen light towards a satisfactory conclusion of the subject. In other branches of revenue the movement towards the abolition of vexatious, impolitic, and unproductive im- posts bequeathed to us by former native governments (transit duties, taxes on professions, and such like) has been fully carried out in the greater part of our domi- nions, and an increased revenue has been obtained from the consolidated sources of opium, salt, sea customs, excise, and stamps. Almost all restrictions and interference with trade, commerce, and the free employment of labour, may in fact be said to have ceased. The educational institutions for teaching to natives the higher branches of learning have amply Educational ad- demonstrated their aptness to acquire the "'^'^^^^• useful sciences ; and in particular I may quote, as an example of what they are capable, their proficiency in medicine, in which native students have shown themselves no whit inferior to Europeans. I cannot, however, attribute to normal education fur- nished by us, but rather to a spontaneous engraftment on 190 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. indigenous education — to the supply created by the de- mand — the greatly increased quantity and quality of the native agency now available for the service of Govern- ment, and which has enabled us of late yeai-s so largely to avail ourselves of their services in all departments and in a superior grade of office. An education of this kind has not been furnished in the chief Government schools. And little has been done towards educating the masses, or encouraging and improving indigenous schools. It is only in the last few years that the present Lieu- tenant-Governor of the north-west provinces has adopted that system. Even in the higher branches, and among the higher classes, the medical alumni are almost the only practical fruit of our education. A college of civil engineering has lately been established in the north-west provinces ; but generally speaking the useful objects of Government col- leges have been sadly perverted. A great many young Hindoos have been taught Milton, and made proficient in literature, which they will never appreciate, but few have learnt the practical science for which their genius so emi- nently fits them. Sattee, and the open perpetration of acts abhorrent to our notions of right, have entirely ceased in Sattee and such . . ^ i t things no longer our owu territories, and we have at last dis- connected Government from all native reli- gious institutions almost as completely as it has always been disconnected from any patronage of the Christian religion. Although no general consolidation or change in our laws Partial improve- ^^^^ bccu effected, a good deal has from time mentsoftheiaw. ^^ ^'j^^^g heen douc iu legislating for parti- cular points as they arose, and some attempt has lately been made to restrain the most glaring violations of the law on the part of the Supreme Court, and to correct Chap. V. RECENT IMPROVEMENTS, &'C. 191 some of the worst abuses which have arisen in its limits or under its fostering protection. But this evil has yet been but very partially met. The arrangement of provincial offices held by covenanted servants remains much as left by Lord \y, ^j^^ administra- Bentinck, but they have been shorn of a tive machinery. good deal of their pay and privileges, and the seniority system, which Lord William designed to extirpate, has been very much reverted to. In the Govermnent and miscellaneous offices considerable changes and reductions have been effected. Throughout the country and in all departments the great administrative improvement has been in the employment of natives in the performance of a great portion of the duties which were too many for Euro- pean agency alone. It was the want of sufficient machi- nery which had previously interfered, with the success of all schemes, and that want has now been supplied. Main lines of road have been constructed, steamers employed on the large rivers, the great ^^ 1 1 1 ■• -111 Public works, &c. Ganges canal undertaken and considerably advanced, and important improvements made in the means of communication, in travelling, posts, &c. In our newly acquired territories, with the experience which we have gained, and a perception of ... , , . . , Improved sys- errors which we have learned to avoid, we tem in new ter- have instituted and begun to carry out a system of administration considerably different from that adopted in our older territories, and which is likely to be a great improvement upon it. The finances of India, brought into a very prosperous state by Lord W. Bentinck, were again de- 1 1 T-( i^n/^ lr^,-^ Financial results. ranged by wars, from 1839 to 1851 we were borrowing, and added about fifteen millions to our debt. It is only in the last year that, the Punjab having been annexed, its conquest paid for, and a safe frontier 192 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. reached, our income has again equalled our expenditure, and given promise of future prosperity. These then, I think, are the chief changes and improve- ments effected since the administration of India last came under Parliamentary inquiry, and which I have thought it well to sum up in one view, that it may be seen in a general way what has been done and what left undone. I shall briefly notice the different administrations under which these changes were effected. The origin of most of them under Lord W. Bentinck has been already noticed. He held the government till 18.35, and obtained a con- siderable surplus of revenue over expenditure. The legislative council having obtained the power of Conclusion of legislating for Europeans soon used it to tinck's^admhi^- subject them to the jurisdiction of the local tration. courts iu civil causes. The abolition of sattee was one of the last of Lord W. Bentinck's acts. There was great fear on the part of men of the old school, who had always exaggerated the danger of interposing in native practices, however abominable, or interfering with native prejudices, however absurd, and who maintained that in ruling India we should give the utmost toleration to native crime — such toleration as the more scrupulous Mahommedans, with all their liberality, had held it incon- sistent with their principles and with their moral sense to permit. However, the abolition was effected, and the result of this and several other experiments has shown that these fears have been carried absurdly too far, and that we may rule India without doing violence to our own consciences. In 1835, on the resignation of Lord W. Bentinck, the Sir c Metcalfe's ^ourt of Dii'cctors dcsircd to appoint the administration, j^^ost distinguished of their servants. Sir C. Metcalfe ; but he was in India and had little political or personal connection at home, and Ministers vetoed the Chap. V. Slli C. METCALFP:— LORD AUCKLAND. 193 appointment. The result was the nomination of Lord Auckland, a highly respectable, but by no means brilliant, man. Sir Charles Metcalfe held temporary office during the interregnum, and did that which obtained him great popularity in the newspapers, but which was undoubtedly utterly unjustifiable under the circumstances, whatever be our opinion as to the policy of the act. Of his own authority, he being then a mere temporary and accidental Governor-General, and knowing that his proceeding was not only without the sanction, but was opposed to the wishes, of the home authorities, he freed the press from all restric- tions whatever, and without making any provision against libel, sedition, or any other crime of the press. An act of this kind, though it might have been withheld, was too popular to reverse, and the press was freed against the will of legitimate authority. It is certain that the Indian press has become unscru- pulous beyond all precedent, and extremely false and libellous, and that it is only tolerable because most of the papers have rendered themselves discredited and con- temptible. The abolition of the obnoxious and unprofitable town and transit duties was at this time fully carried out in all the Bengal Presidency, and an exterior customs line was substituted. Lord Auckland cannot be considered a distinguished Governor-General. He made few changes t , , _ . _ '^ Ijord Auckland's of importance in the civil government, and administration. his attention was chiefly occupied by the unfortunate Aff- ghan campaign. He gave fair scope to the improvements originated by his predecessor, and it may be that in some things they succeeded better under his mild and discreet patronage than if they had been pushed too nuich by the Quixotic energy and amid the opposition excited by the o 194 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. partial indiscretions of Lord W. Bentinck. The settle- ment of the north-west provinces was, for the most part, carried out in Lord Auckland's time. Lord Ellenborough reigned from 1842 to 1844. That he had abundance of zeal, energy, and talent Lord Ellenbo- . i-i iii ii •• n rough's adminis- IS admitted on all hands, but it is equally undeniable that he was utterly wanting in sane, sound judgment, and in subordination to his lawful superiors, and had, after Pollock's success, a great deal too much warlike enthusiasm. He did reform some abuses, and introduced considerable improvements in the imme- diate offices of Government. He infused a good deal of energy and method into several important departments, and he did a great deal towards completing the beneficial change of system in the miscellaneous branches of revenue. In his reign vexatious duties were, for the most part, abolished in Bombay and Madras, as they had previously been in Bengal, and the Customs system was still further improved and consolidated. But he was, at the same time, so hasty and inconsiderate ; showed so much little and per- sonal hostility to the civil employes of the state ; added to his reforms so many unjust, vexatious, and unprofitable innovations ; spitefully drove from office or kept down so many men distinguished by former services ; raised to the most important posts so many men utterly inexperienced, but distinguished by his imperial whim and favour, after the manner of capricious autocracies ; devoted so much of his attention to pomp, circumstance, and pageant ; and contrived to effect all the evil so immediately, while he had not time to mature the good parts of his projects, that from all these causes he, perhaps, did more harm than good. He systematically excluded from all appointments in which he had a latitude of patronage — from the political and non-regulation branches — almost all those who had previous experience or had acquired previous reputation ; Chap. V. LORD ELLENBOROUGH. 195 SO much so, that at the close of his reign hardly one single civilian, and very few military men of any civil or political experience, remained in those appointments. Colonels, who had exhibited coolness under fire, and had made notable remarks about the polish of their boots in the middle of the Khyber Pass, were, by the Imperial will, taken from their regiments and put in charge of the most important civil and political affairs, and dashing young Herculeses rose with the rapidity peculiar to Oriental sovereignties. But in the regular branch of the service, where his choice was limited, it must be admitted that Lord Ellenborough made some very good selections for promotion ; and, in particular, he had the merit of giving to the north-west provinces the present admirable Lieuten- ant-Governor at an age unprecedentedly early, and when he was yet capable of doing long and good service. Under Lord Ellenborough was opened to the natives the useful office of Deputy Magistrate, which had not existed before. By Act VIL of 1843 the Madras judicial system was very much assimilated to that of Bengal. His acquisition of Scinde Lord Ellenborough intrusted to the government of Sir Charles Napier. The Government Now that famous personage is very dis- ^^^'^^'''i'^- tinguished in his own way, and would have been a capital commandant of a military police to repel the hill marauders ; but that he, an officer of the army, inexperienced in civil affairs, utterly ignorant of the people, the language, the manners, and the institutions of India, should understand civil management — should be fully equal to that in which Monro, after a life of labour, declared that we were yet but feeling and groping our way — would have been nothing less than a miracle. There have arisen among us heaven- born generals, but never heaven-born collectors. Scinde was a most difficult country, disorganized by invasion and o 2 196 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. V, misrule, the landed tenures in confusion, the people poor and ill doing, the land out of cultivation, the revenue sys- tem most vicious, and all judicial and other institutions wanting. It was the most difficult field for the most skil- ful and able administrator to be found. It was then hardly to be expected that Sir Charles should succeed, nor a matter of blame to him that he could not ; but he himself had no such misgivings. The Company's servants were corrupt, the Company's system vicious. He would show them a model province. The native language, and the information to be gained through its medium, he held in contempt ; but he had, as confidential adviser and prime minister, a native Moonshee who spoke English, and with that assistance he considered himself perfectly master of his subject. He therefore intrusted very little discretion to his subordinates, and caused all kinds of details, reve- nue, judicial, and everything else, to be submitted for his orders. Military officers were appointed collectors of dis- tricts, and under them the old native system was in full force. The revenue was collected in kind, and sold for the benefit of Government. Various officers were nomi- nated as magistrates, under magniloquent quasi-parchment commissions, such as were heretofore unknown in be- nighted India, setting forth, in terms somewhat as follows, that "We, Charles Napier, Governor of Scinde, &c. &c. &c., by virtue of the power in us vested, do constitute and appoint our trusty John Smith a magistrate in Scinde," and so on. At the same time efficient but very expensive military police corps were organized ; and there was a camel baggage corps which was to move to musical signals, and would have been very efficient too if the camels had not, most unexpectedly and perversely, proved themselves to be unmusical animals. As it was, the corps turned out to be a scheme for carrying the minimum of baggage at the maximum of expense. Chap. V. SCINDE— LORD HAEDINGE. 197 The result of Sir Charles's government was as great freedom from external invasion as was possible in so ex- posed a comitry ; but in the civil administration no system at all — merely the arbitrary rule of the Governor, under which were frightful abuses of native officials, small re- ceipts, great expenses, and a dreadful deficit to be defrayed by bills on Calcutta and Bombay. I may as well here anticipate a little to finish the history of Scinde. When Sir Charles retired, the Supreme Government, keenly alive to the evils of his administration, attached it to Bombay, and desired the Bombay Government to send a civil commissioner. They deputed their secretary, a grave, ancient, and most experienced civilian, great in red tape and the secretary's office, but not much accustomed to roughing it. His dismay on arriving, and finding the state of things, may be conceived — so much not only to do, but to undo, before he could get into the regular business ways to which he was accustomed. The result was, that, al- th.ough the revenue has somewhat improved, and the ex- penses diminished, no efficient civil system was yet effected. The Commissioner resigned, and there has now been sent to fill the office a man unprecedentedly young in the ser- vice, but distinguished by his management of the lately lapsed territory of Sattara. What he will effect remains to be seen. From 1844 to the end of 1847, under Lord Hardinge's government, the attention of the Governor- L^rd Hardinge's General was necessarily principally occupied administration, by the important military and political arrangements in which he was engaged, and there were few important changes in civil matters ; but the administration Mas steadily and efficiently carried on, and the confidence in the discretion, justice, and impartiality of the Government, so sorely shaken by Lord Ellenborough, was fully repaired. The system of administration established in oni- then 198 MODEEN INDIA. Ckap. V. newly-acquired territory was, for the most part, the model of that afterwards extended throughout the Punjab. Lord Hardinge distinguished himself by a declaration, for the encouragement of education in the Government colleges, that proficiency should lead to employment in the service of Government, which has not been and cannot be carried out, simply because a business education is not given in those colleges, and the efficient service of Government cannot be sacrificed to the gratification of literary fancies. A young Hindoo may know Milton by heart, and yet not be fit for the charge of a police station. From the commencement of his reign, in the beginning LordDaihousie's of 1848, till the Punjab was settled in 1849, administration. Lqj.(1 Dalliousic had uiost auxious political occupation, and since the termination of the war he has been constantly separated from his legislative council : as regards the general government of India, he has, therefore, laboured under great disadvantage ; but he has established and worked under his own eye a system of administration in our new territories which I shall presently explain, and under which they have been un- precedentedly quiet and contented, and are exceedingly prosperous. He has also particularly addressed himself to local improvements in the Presidency towns and in the supreme courts. Various n]unicipal acts have been passed, police abuses inquired into and reformed, embezzlements and malver- sations by officers holding by appointment of her Majesty's judges guarded against,*" and some laws made to restrain * For it lias turned out that, while the Rupr<;me Court was in the first instance established to ii;uard against abuses by the servants of the Comiiany, no one had ever guarded against abuses by the Supreme Court and its ser- vants. Not only was jiirisdiction vmlawfully usurped, and official emolu- ments and perquisites raised to an exaggerated amount, but private were added to public occupations, private speculations to public gains, and public funds were applied to private purposes. Chap. V. LORD DALHOUSIE. 199 the usurped jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, as far as it can be bound by any law. Several changes have been effected in the criminal law, and the Legislative Council is understood to be now making efforts to complete a new code, to which all — Europeans and natives — may be subjected. Natives changing their religion have been exempted from the operation of their religious laws, and liberty of conscience is thus established. Public works (especially the Ganges Canal) have been steadily advanced. Commissioners have been appointed to inquire into, with a vievv to improvement, the Post Office, the Com- missariat, the department of Public Works. The finances have been brought into a healthy state. Since the last parliamentary review there have been few Governors of Madras and Bombay of , , , . . . . , , 1 • , • Governors of remarkable experience m civil (as distm- Madias and Bom- guished from political) affairs, and the priii- ^^' cipal general changes have been those already noticed. The following have been Governors : — Madras. Major-General Sir Frederick Adam, of the Royal Army, and of colonial experience, 1832 to 1837. Lord Elphinstone, 1837 to 1842. Marquis of Tweeddale, 1842 to 1847. Sir Henry Pottinger, of the Company's army, and distin- guished by political services, 1848. Bombay. Earl of Clare, 1831 to 1835. Sir Robert Grant, 1835 to 1838. Sir J. RiVETT Carnac, of the Company's military service and the East Indian Direction, 1839 to 1841. Sir George Arthur, 1842 to 1846. 200 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. Sir George Clerk, of the Company's civil service, and of dis- tinguished ^?o/t7ec<2/ experience, 1847 to 1849. Lord Falkland, 1849. From 1835 to 1842 there were several Lieutenant- Lieutenant-Go- Grovernors of Agra. At one time different vernors of Agra, nieii^bej-g of council Were successively sent up to do the duty, and the Governor-General sometimes took charge when in the upper provinces. But Mr. Thomason, of the civil service, and of constant civil ex- perience, was nominated in 1843, and still holds the ap- pointment. To him is due an improved executive admi- nistration, such as we have never had elsewhere in India. Its details will be noticed in detailing the different departments. Here I need only say that by personal supervision he has very much increased the efficiency of all officers, European and native, introduced method and energy in all departments, completed and worked to the best advantage the new settlement of the north-western provinces, defined and explained the rights of different parties in the soil, improved the efficiency of the police, done what was in his power to make the most of a vicious judicial system, applied himself to the vernacular educa- tion of the masses of the natives, and given to the upper classes opportunities of acquiring practical science, carried out important public works, made good roads and canals, rendered travelling easy and secure, regulated the mode of procuring supplies and carriage for troops, and super- intended with personal knowledge and personal energy all the minute details of civil government only understood by those who have made it a profession. A remarkable feature in the history of our internal government in India is the absence of rebel- Absence of do- , . . T 1 mestic rebellion liou or scrious disturbaucc m all the provmces or disturbance. , . , . i -r~\ n subject to our direct rule, h rom our first acquisition of territory to the present day there has been Chap, V. UNDISTURBED TRANQUILLITY. 20 1 nowhere any general rising or struggle for independence of any kind. The former Government once overcome, and an equitable system of administration introduced, there has been no disposition to resistance, the people have at once acquiesced in the change of masters. At first, before our system was well known, there was occasional resistance to the payment of revenue, in the hope of obtaining better terms, after the practice which had long been common under native Governments in the decline of the empire, when the mode of seeking an abatement of rent was by pointing guns at the collector; and in the beginning of the present century strong Rajpoot clans or great Zemeendars sometimes rendered necessary a show of force. But we are now so well understood that even the semblance of force is altogether dispensed with ; and on acquiring new territories, filled with a population constantly accustomed to resist the native Government, we hardly ever find it necessary to use a soldier or a musket. The people at once betake themselves to other weapons ; come to the functionaries of the British Government, ap- peal to its justice and moderation, and expend a large amount of flattery in representing the excessive payments formerly exacted, and their confidence of reduced rents under our rule. In all our new territory, from the Jumna to the Indus, I believe that not a musket has been fired in exacting- revenue or in the civil administration of the country. The few local disturbances which have occurred in our territories have not been of sufficient importance to call for notice in the short sketch which I have giv^en. The nearest approach to positive rebellion was in the town of Barreilly, where the inhabitants rose in opposition to the unaccustomed privilege of taxing themselves for watchmen and local purposes, and were ordy put down by the active use of military force ; and there have been in several towns strong expressions of public opinion, amounting to 202 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. V. riots, on the subject of obnoxious local imposts ; but this is the whole extent of resistance which has occurred. A Ma- hommedan reformer, alluded to in a former chapter, once created a small disturbance near Calcutta, and the " Mop- lahs " have lately more than once given trouble, on a small scale, on the south-western coast. But the latter are not of Indian, but of Arab blood, and are a mere local accident. The aboriginal hill tribes can in few instances be con- sidered to be under our direct government, and the serious rebellions in the southern Maratta country and other parts have all originated in the mismanagement of protected native states, not of our own territories. A circumstance which has very much influenced the The British in ^istory and character of our government India ha^'e not ]g \}i^i as wc havc ucver iu any degree be- become Hindoo- ' ' Jo ised. come permanent residents in the country, and all superior offices have constantly been filled by a fresh influx of fresh Europeans, who keep up their con- nection with home, and return or hope to return, we have not become, like all previous conquerors, in any degree Hindooised. I have before alluded to the fact that the Hindoo civilisation seems hitherto to have in the main absorbed all other with which it has come in close con- tact ; and w^e, too, so few among so many, would doubtless have felt its influence, and would have in some degree assimilated to it, but for this constant change of function- aries. As it is, the communication with England is every day so much increased and facilitated that we become more and more entirely free from native influence, and the disposition to Hindooise, which at first certainly showed itself, has altogether disappeared. The English in India have now become as English as in England. While this state of things has great advantages, it has also some disadvantage in the want of local knowledge. Chap. V. EUEOPEANS AND THEIR CAPITAL. 203 and of permanency in the tenure of appointments which results. As there has been a constant succession of total strangers in every appointment, it follows that the govern- ment must be entirely carried on upon general principles, with little aid from local knowledge and experience. Neither in nor out of the service of Government have Europeans much settled in India, nor has Ey^opgang j^ anything approaching to colonization, or even i°*^^- any considerable introduction of European capital, ever taken place. The fact is, that in a country where native labour, talent, and skill are so cheap, there never can be any large market for expensive foreign commodities of the same description ; and that even in those things in which Europeans have for a time the advantage, the natives soon learn to imitate them at a cheaper rate. There may even be good reason why English capital has not found its way into India. Money is t, J J European capi- no doubt cheaper in England than in India, t*^'- but the difterence is not so immensely great when we re- member that the Indian Government was long able to borrow at four per cent., and that the fives are now at a premium ; and, in fact, a great deal of capital is accu- mulated among the native mercantile classes, and they must be content if, after allowing for risks and losses, they clear a reasonable interest. They very eagerly em- bark in all kinds of speculations ; and have an immense advantage in skill, knowledge of the country, local con- nection, and cheapness of agency, over European capi- talists. It is therefore hardly to be expected that a London capitalist should embark capital at so great a distance, and through expensive European agency, in anything in which natives will compete with him. Hence it has been that European capital has found its way to India still less than European labour. European skill and energy are still in some demand, but in nine cases out often it will be found 204 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. that Europeans are employed rather as the agents of native capital than that they have brought any moi\ey from England. Since the Act of 1833, by which it was supposed that so much encouragement was given to the employment of European labour and capital in India, and under which they have had every privilege, they have not only not advanced, but have considerably retrograded. It so hap- pened that the great commercial houses, which till 1833 had a sort of monopoly of the external commerce of the country, had immense credit. All the savings of the Company's servants w^ere invested with them, and they commanded a very large borrowed capital. This they spent recklessly. Through European agents they em- barked in all kinds of speculations in the interior of the country, and for a time it seemed that they were going on prosperously; but when at last, about 1833, the bubble burst, it turned out that in fact the great majority of these speculations were carried on at a loss — that European science and capital had competed unsuccessfully with native cheapness of labour and skill in applying capital. The money invested was gone, and the merchant princes, who had lived gloriously while it lasted, went to the insolvent court. Since that time there has been no such fund for the supply of money to European speculators. Something has been done on a smaller scale in the way of getting money under the form of banks ; but these, too, have now been exposed. The consequence is, as I have said, that European speculation has retrograded. Far up the country, where the agents of the old houses were formerly nume- rous and well sup})lied with money, the planters are now few and needy, and generally earn but a precarious sub- sistence as in fact the servants of native capitalists. It is probably for this reason that so few Europeans of a supe- rior class or respectable character are found in the interior Chap, V. IMPROVEMENTS IN NATIVE PRODUCTS. 205 of the country ; and that they are driven to questionable conduct, to guard against which it is very necessary that they should no longer be exempted from the law. No considerable amount of European capital has been embarked in land, nor is it likely that it would succeed if so applied. Europeans can never compete with natives as farmers, and their only chance is as middle men between the tenant-cultivators and the Government. None but men intimately acquainted with the country, and perma- nently settled in it, find advantage in this speculation ; but some very respectable persons of European blood (in whole or part) and Indian education have embarked in it with considerable success, as it requires but small capital, and principally depends on uprightness and re- spectability of character, and skill in dealing with the native tenants. We have not had great success in introducing material improvements in the products and manu- improvements in factures of India. Repeated experiments manufocrures^'S seem to show that no one article can be pro- ^'^'^''^• fitably cultivated on European principles, and it is only in the manufacture of the raw material that we have some advantage. Indigo is the only article in which Europeans have decidedly succeeded, and that they do not cultivate themselves ; they merely contract for a supply of the plant, and manufacture the dye. Even this resource seems to be failing. Natives have now in many instances taken up the trade, the Dutch in Java compete, and indigo- planters make small profits, and grumble exceedingly. A vigorous attempt was lately made to manufacture sugar on scientific principles, and there are some tolerably successful sugar-works; but in most instances tlie experiment seems to have failed, and the great mass of the sugar exported from India is still of purely native manufacture. 206 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. For the last fifty years continual efforts have been made by Government to improve the Indian cotton. India is just as nmch a cotton country as ever, and the pro- Cotton. , . „ . -^ . . . ^ duction lor its own consumption is immense ; but its export of cotton has much diminished, simply be- cause America has undersold it. Indian cotton is still cheaper than American, but unfortunately is much inferior in quality. Of course inferior cotton will not sell so well in England when good cotton is at sixpence per pound as it did when the other was at two shillings per pound •, and the price does not fall in an old fully-peopled country as it has fallen from increase of cultivation in a new comitry. It is therefore quite unnecessary to seek about for some dreadful cause in the misgovernment of the country to account for decrease in the export of cotton from India. The Americans can only be met by improving the quality. The Indian Government has unceasingly tried to do so — it is admitted without success ; and if the Manchester manufacturers distrust what has been done, they should study agriculture instead of railing at the Government, and send planters instead of political econo- mists to India. If there be questions of government, they affect tbe cultivation in a comparatively very small degree. If one of the prophets were to come to govern India, he could not render cotton one halfpenny per pound cheaper. It is almost entirely a question of prac- tical agriculture. One important point is to be observed, viz. that the supply of cotton from India, solely depending on price, can at any time be increased to any amount by increase of price ; and if by any unfortunate accident America were sunk in the ocean, India could the very next year supply all the quantity required. Cotton is there but one among many articles of cultivation for home consumption. The extent of land over which it can be sown is immense ; Chap. V. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. 207 and if the price were to rise, each cultivator could the very- next season double or quadruple his cultivation of cotton. It is not confined to particular fields, but is invariably grown in rotation with other crops, and the quantity ex- ported is at any time comparatively small. The manufactures of India we have not materially improved. Everything is still woven and manufactured after the ancient fashion. But if we have not improved the Indian products, we have at least created a great commercial revolution commercial by the introduction into India of goods change, manufactured in Europe, so that, while formerly it was principally an exporting country, it now also imports very largely. Although the export of cotton, raw and manu- factured, has decreased, that of sugar, opium, and indigo has increased. The increase of imports is immense; espe- cially of manufactured cotton. It may, in fact, be said that the higher classes of natives are almost entirely clothed in English cottons, which have superseded the finer native manufactures. One circumstance, however, is worthy of note, — that a great deal of thread 1 1 !•, 1,1'TT Cotton thread. IS imported and made mto cloth m India. From this it would appear that the native hand-looms can still compete with English power-looms in weaving cloth, and that it is in making thread that machinery has the great advantage over the ancient spinning-wheels. It is, then, well worthy of consideration whether so simple a manufacture as that of thread might not with great advan- tage be introduced into India, and whether, with a little scientific machinery, the cheap labour and indigenous cotton ought not to produce cheaper thread than the de;ir labour and imported cotton of England. I looked with interest at the thread-making machines in the Exhibition on this account. The social institutions of the natives we have never in 208 MODERN INDIA. Chap. V. any way interfered with for good or for evil. Their habits, their castes, the condition of their women. Non-interference . i p • i • with social insti- their inodc of supporting their own poor, their religion, remain just as we found them. From any attempt at influencing the religion of the people Government has remained scrupulously aloof. Unlike all previous rulers, it has abstained not only from violent interference, but from the exercise of indirect influ- ence of any kind. It has been of no religion, and, if it has made any distinction, it has been in an indisposition to tolerate the introduction of Christianity, while it played the part of the former Governments in regard to certain temples. Christianity is now tolerated, but not encouraged, and the connection with the temples is for the most part dissolved. The ecclesiastical establishments of the Government are solely for the benefit of its own Christian ser- Government ec- , . , . i i • i ciesiasticai esta- vauts, aiiQ ccrtaiuly are not chargeable with any attempt to proselytise ; but that their head has a suflficiently strong opinion of the position and privileges of an establishment may be judged from a letter publicly addressed by the present Bishop of Calcutta to Government in this nineteenth century, when it was proposed to permit the various sects of Christians in India to be mar- ried by their own ministers, and he expressed his fear of the result " if a person calling himself a dissenting minister is now, for the first time since England was a Christian nation, to stand in the place of the priest in holy orders, with the authority of a Divine commission, derived through succes- sive consecrations and ordinations from the Apostolic ages." The progress of Christianity in India, by the influence Private mission- ^f private uiissiouaries, cannot, in truth, be ary progress. gg^j^j ^q ]^q great. I belicve that they have some success in the south, where the Jesuits had preceded CiiAP. V. MISSIONAEY PROGRESS. 209 them, and where they found a large body of Christians, but even there the Protestants are few ; and in all parts of the Bengal Presidency it must be admitted that the attempt to Christianise the natives has entirely failed. We have made some infidels, but very few sincere Christians, and are not likely, on the present system, to make many more. The fact is, that to succeed we must either throw into the scale the influence of Government and of the servants of Government, by which mainly the Mahom- medan and many of the Koman Catholic converts have been made, or the missionaries, abandoning a European life, European habits, and, above all, European doctrinal niceties, not trusting to convince by translations of the Old Testament or dissertations on the Athanasian creed, but preaching with apostolic fervour the essential doctrines of Christianity, — one God, all powerful and all merciful ; the revelation of his simple will, love and charity to all men, reward to the good, punishment to the bad, they must go among the natives, wath native language and native habits, and must appeal to the moral sense of men who stand much in need of religious revelation, and to the intrinsic excellence of the principles which they preach. In no other way can we succeed with a people who have already some religion of their own, and to whom we can no longer exhibit miracles or any physical proof of our doctrines. But if the missionaries have not made converts, they have done much in the way of education, p juration b The nature of the Government education the missionaries. has already been noticed. The missionaries do not aim so high, but do more that is practically useful. One dis- tinction between their schools and those of Government is this, that they make the Bible a class-book, while Govern- ment excludes it. The scholars need not believe the Bible, but they must read it, and have the opportunity of believing. It is found that this by no means deters chil- p 210 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. V. dren from coming to the schools, but that they are much better filled than those of Governuient, by persons who wish to receive a cheap and practical education ; for Avhich, indeed, the natives show every disposition when they have the opportunity. The missionary schools are not sufficiently numerous to educate a large proportion of the people of the country, but in many of the principal towns they do a very great deal, especially the Free Kirk and American missions. Chap. VI. COMPOSITION OP GOVEENMENT. 2 1 1 CHAPTER VI. THE GOVERNMENT AS IT NOW EXISTS. Composition of the Supreme Government — Its legislative and executive powers — Position witli reference to home authorities — Choice of Governor-General and Counsellors — Working of Government — Law Commission — Subordinate Governments — Territories under eajch — Want of uniformity — Boards and courts — Division into districts — Executive officers — The magistrate and collector — System in non- regulation provinces : the Punjab — Centralization — Mode of conducting business — No official publicity — Absence of sinecures — Character of Government. The Supreme Government of India has its seat at Cal- cutta, and consists of the Governor-General J^j^a™*"^"* ^^ and the following Counsellors : — Governor -Gene- The Commander-in-Chief of the army may be, and always has been, an extra- and Counsellors. ordinary member of Council, and takes rank next after the Governor-General. Three ordinary members, being persons who have been not less than ten years in the service of the Company. They take rank according to date of their appointment to Council. The fourth ordinary member, commonly called the legislative member, is a person not in the Legislative coun- service of the Company, and has hitherto ^*^'^"''" been, in every instance, an English barrister. He votes only in the making of laws and regulations, so that the Government may be said to consist of two separate portions, a legislative and an executive govern- ment — the first composed of the Governor-General and p 2 212 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. five counsellors, the other of the Governor-General and four counsellors. Questions in council are determined by a majority of Powers of Go- votcs, and the Governor-General has a cast- ™opi?o:raTo iiig vote. But if the Governor-General Council. differ from the Council, after exchanging opinions in ^vriting, he may, if he consider it necessary and choose to take the responsibility, act of his own authority in executive matters, but not as to the making of laws and regulations. The style under which the government is conducted is, therefore, not the " Governor-General and Council," but the "Governor-General in Council" — that is to say, the Council are consulted, and an executive order is made in their presence and with their knowledge, but not necessarily with their consent. Laws and regulations must be made at a meeting of Number to con- Couucil, at whicli are present the Governor- stitute a quorum. Qgncral, or President in council, and three ordinary members ; and no law can be passed without the consent in writing of the Governor-General, whether he be present or absent. Executive functions may be exer- cised in a Council consisting of the Governor-General and one ordinary member. But when public service calls the Governor-General , away from the seat of government, a short Powers exercised •'. . it-i*/^ by the Governor- Act IS passcd HI the Legislative Council General when . . ^ away from Coun- giviug to hiiii alouc the powcrs usually exercised by the Governor-General in Council, except that of making laws. On these occasions an ordinary member is nominated President in Council. The Council thus constituted may pass laws after having And of the Conn- ^^'^t obtained the consent of the Governor- ciiiett behind. General, and they manage such other mat- ters as he leaves with them. Generally the Governor- General himself retains all important political and executive Chap. VI. POWERS OF GOVERNMENT. 213 duties, and leaves to the Council all routine and petty detail, minor references from the subordinate govern- ments, &c. &c. The legislative powers of the Government of India extend to the making of all laws for the Bri- tish territories in India, binding on all per- ers of supreme Tt •,- ^ ,' n • 1 m Government. sons, i^ritish, native, or loreign, and on all courts of justice, whether her Majesty's or any other, and on servants of the Company employed in native states in alliance with the Company ; and also extend to the re- pealing of all provisions of all Acts of Parliament affecting India passed before the Act of 1833, and not specially re-enacted by the provisions of that Act, with the following exceptions : — 1. European British subjects and their children may not be condemned to death by any court other than those established by her Majesty's charters, without previous sanction of the Court of Directors. 2. The Supreme Courts may not be abolished without similar sanction. 3. The Act 3 and 4 of William IV., cap. 85, and subsequent Acts of Parliament affecting India, and the Mutiny Act, may not be altered or interfered with. 4. Nothing may be done affecting the prerogative of her Majesty, the authority of Parliament, the constitution of the Company, or the allegiance of her Majesty's subjects. 5. Orders from home must be implicitly obeyed, in regard to the making and repealing of laws and every- thing else, and disobedience is a misdemeanour. The executive powers and functions of the General Government of India are, — Executive pow- 1. The entire power of the purse. No- If^'^i^ZfcZ thing can be spent in any part of India '*«i''""ent- except by its authority. 2. The power of control over the subordinate executive 214 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. governments. The Supreme Government has information of all acts of those governments, may issue any orders to them, and they are bound to obey. 3. The direct management of such British territories as have nol yet been attached to any particular Presidency, as, for instance, the Punjab. 4. The Bengal army is under the immediate control of the Supreme Government, as are all such matters respect- ing the armies of the other Presidences as are transacted with the Commander-in-Chief in India. 5. All political relations which ^may not have been specially intrusted to the subordinate governments. 6. The patronage of all appointments held immediately under the Supreme Government, and the nomination of the Deputy and Lieutenant Governors of Bengal and Agra. The Government of India sends copies of all its pro- Position of In- ceedings, letters, minutes, &c. Sec, to the fnent i^^reftr"- Houic authorities, aiid is guided by the in- home mithori- structions it receives from them. Its conduct *^^^- is, therefore, rather influenced by the pro- bable reception which its acts will meet with at home than by any fixed rule, and the degree of its independence of action depends principally upon the personal character and position of the Indian and home authorities for the time being. It generally happens that political transactions and affairs, depending chiefly on the turn of matters on the spot and requiring prompt action, are carried out by the Governor-General on his own responsibility, but that important internal changes, especially those involving increase of expense, which need not be particularly hur- ried, are reported to England and orders obtained before they are carried into execution ; and the nearer India is brought to England the more constant such references be- come. But as the Indian Government has the power of CuAP. VI. rOSlTION OF GOVEKNMENT. 215 carrying out anything till ordered to rescind it, it some- times happens that changes are made which would not have been sanctioned (e. g. the freeing of the press by Sir C. Metcalfe), or that a contumacious Governor-General may much thwart the intentions of the Home Govern- ment. When there is good understanding between the Governor-General and home authorities, many views may be previously communicated in demi-official correspond- ence, and important measures are thus much facilitated. Although I do not enter on the subject of the Home Government, it is necessary here to remark that the energy and progressiveness of the Indian Government is un- doubtedly much lessened by the practice of constantly referring home all important measures, and by the com- plicated machinery of the Indian administration in Eng- land. The division of authority between the Board of Control and the Court of Directors, the large number of Directors, and the peculiar system by which measures are originated in the Court, sent for approval to the Board, then back again to the Court, and so on, render all de- liverances very slow and difficult. And when a measure is discussed in India the announcement that it has been referred to the Court of Directors is often regarded as an indefinite postponement. In fact, it is evident that (able and experienced as are many of the individual Directors) twenty-four Directors in one place and a Board of Control in another are not likely very speedily to unite in one opinion upon any doubtful point. They are, therefore, slow to move, and there is a considerable disposition to let things rest quietly till the necessity of a change is very urgent indeed. There is another great impediment to quick and easy intercommunication between the Indian and Home Govern- ments, which may at first seem attributable to the former, but I believe may be eventually traced to the latter : I 216 MODEliN INDIA. Ciiap. VI. mean the immensely detailed form in which all corre- spondence is transmitted from India to England, and the absence of condensed and general reports. For instance, the Madras Government docs not even attempt to string- together the revenue reports of the different district officers, but sends home a copy of each as it is received. Now, too much information is almost a greater evil than too little, and a body of twenty-four less easily masters that information than a single individual. Hence the difficulty. The fact probably is, that the Indian Go- vernments, supreme and subordinate, have not a sufficient staff to condense and review reports in addition to their executive duties. The Governor-General has made several attempts to increase the salaries of the under-secretaries and officers similarly situated, but the Court of Directors seem to have made it a rule to disallow and reverse every- thing of the kind. It will be found that it is much cheaper as well as better to pay one efficient secretary to condense than fifty clerks to copy a shipload of papers. During the present century the Governor-General lias been in every instance an English statesman of the first political rank. Canning seems to have pro- Selection of ^ - , . , , , . Governors-Ge- poundcd the Qoctruie that it was not ex- pedient to nominate any person, however able, not personally and politically known to her Majesty's advisers at home, and the doctrine seems to have been acted upon in the case of Sir Charles JNIetcalfe ; but, on the other hand, the fact that the office has been twice offered to Mr. Mount Stuart Elphinstone (distinguished in the Indian service, but who has taken no part in poli- tics at home) shows that the rule is not invariable. The fact I take to be that, for convenience of demi- official communication, it is found desirable that a Go- vernor-General should be personally known at home, and that with that qualification the office is open to all. But Chap. VI. MEMBERS OF GUVEENMENT. 217 the prize has generally" fallen to men of rank and political eminence in England. The Governor-General's term of service is not limited, but it is understood that no slight is implied if a successor is appointed after five years' service, and since Lord Hastings no one has held the office for a much longer term. Lord W. Bentinck is the only Governor-General in the present century who had any previous Indian experience. He had been formerly Governor of Madras. Of the three ordinary members of Council, servants of the Company, there are generally two civilians and one military officer. These appointments are made in England by the Court of Directors, and, involving little executive and of the coun- duty, may be considered to be generally seiiors. bestowed rather as the reward of past services, or on ground of past experience, than with a view to present energy. They are not given exactly according to seniority, but men comparatively young in the service are never appointed. Generally, those are nominated who have long filled important offices. The military member is often (e.g. the last two in- stances) appointed as the reward of military services, since the highest military appointments are restricted to her Majesty's officers. The present ]nembers of Council have served the Com- pany respectively fifty-two, thirty-five, and thirty-two years. The junior civil member of Council is thirty-second in the Bengal civil list for 1851. The members of Council are appointed for five years, and their term is seldom extended beyond that period. But it is in the option of the Court of Directors to extend it if they choose. The counsellors may be chosen from any Presidenc}', but Bengal being so much the largest, and the seat of 218 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. VI. the Supreme Government, and this being the only Council to which Bengal servants are eligible (while Madras and Bombay have their own exclusive Councils), they have been of late in practice almost exclusively nominated from the Bengal list. The Directors appoint the legislative member with the sanction of the Crown. The following have held the office : — Mr. Macaulay. Mr. Amos. Mr. Cameron. Mr. D. Bbthune. All recent Governors-General have been more away Governor-Geue- froi^"^ ^hau with their Couucils, bccause all seliffVom^h^ad- ^^^ most important transactions have for quarters. \on^ bccu thosc iu Northern India, very far removed from Calcutta, and the climate of the northern hills is much more favourable to European life, energy, and efficiency, than that of the plains of Bengal. The Governor - General therefore generally marches about (wherever he is most needed) in the cold weather, and spends the hot season at Simlah, iu the Himmalayas. About seven out of the last ten years have been thus spent, and the remaining three in Calcutta. From this frequent separation the Governor-General becomes prac- tically the sole executive Government, and the Council but his legislative advisers and assistants in matters of detail. The Governor-General and Supreme Council seem, Working of the "uder prcscut arrangements, to pull well Government. together. Disputcs and serious differences do not appear to have arisen. In fact, the Governor- General is generally a man of much personal and political weight, more energetic than his elderly counsellors ; the business of the Supreme Government is of a large and CiiAi'. VI. WORKING OF GOVERNMENT. 219 general character, in which local experience has not so exclusive an advantage as in smaller matters ; the Council comprehending civil, military, and legal members, there is on each separate subject a majority of non-professionals likely to follow the head ; in the event of difference and reference to the India House much time elapses, and the influence of the Governor-General is very likely to prevail ; the continual absence and large executive power and pa- tronage of the Governor-General give him so prepon- derating a position; the members of Council are well paid, comfortable, and contented : and from all these causes it has resulted that the Governor-General absorbs almost the whole power and influence of Government, and the administration takes its character from him individually. On the other hand, there being no rivalry between him and the counsellors, and his own local experience being limited, he is generally willing to make use of their experience and advice in legislation and general domestic measures when he has the opportunity of doing so. The Supreme Government of India might, then, be con- sidered very efficient, but for two drawbacks ; first, the accession every few years of a new Governor-General, of no Indian experience, and most frequently with no pre- vious knowledge of, or connection with, Indian affairs, who necessarily takes some time to acquire knowledge and experience of a country so different from his own, and who returns to England just when he is beginning to under- stand it; and, secondly, the constant separation of the Governor-General from his Council, offices, records, and establishment (owing to the location of the latter at so inconvenient a place as Calcutta), and the hindrance to legislation and many important measures caused thereby. The Supreme Government has at present in its own hands the immediate management of— 220 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. The Punjab, and other territories attached to it, being Territories in ^^^ wholc country froni the Jumna to direct charge of Peshawar I bupreme Go- ^ vernment. The Saugor and Nerbudda territories, and parts of Bundlecund (in Central India) ; And the political relations with the principal states — • Hyderabad, Oude, Nepal, Nagpore, Scindia, Holkar, the Rajpootana circle, Mysore (now managed by a British Commission), and others as shown in the list given in Chapter IV. The Law Commission as first established consisted of The Law Com- ^^^^ legislative member of Council, another mission. English barrister, and three experienced civil servants from the three Presidencies. The great object is to obtain as legislative member a man who is, if I may so express it, a jurist rather than a lawyer ; a man skilled in the principles and practice of laws, but not wedded to English legal ideas and forms so utterly unsuited to India ; in short, a sort of lawgiver, a man who cultivates jurisprudence as a science. But, unfortunately, there exists no such class in England. We have had till lately no active endowments or schools of jurisprudence whatsoever. No one has studied law except as a profession, and all who have sufficient talent have found their reward in it as a profession in one department or other. Ilence it seems that there is no school of jurists from whom to choose a lawgiver for India. It being clear that a mere English lawyer would not do, the resource has been to select a man of distinguished talent but no great pro- fessional eminence. Such was Macaulay, but he cannot be considered strictly a jurist ; jurisprudence is but one of many subjects to which his versatile talents have been turned, and in these days of division of labour it may be doubted whether any man can become master of many great subjects ; and, assuredly, of all tasks requiring Chap. YI. SUBOEDINATE GOVERNMENTS. 221 the perfection of human skill, one of the most difficult is that of forming codes of law for a great country, strange to us, in which much that was indigenous had become dis- organised, and little had been done to analyse the mass of old and new laws and customs. The men of Indian experience, again, were no jurists •, they depended on the assistance of a jurist to give shape, system, and a key to their experiences ; it is therefore hardly to be wondered at that Macaulay and his Commission did not at once in so short a time fully succeed. After his departure the Commission was allowed gradually to become extinct. The members of Council were lately again constituted a Law Commission, but the lamented death of Mr. Drink- water Bethune has interfered with this arrangement. At present no appointment connected with India is so important as that of legislative counsellor. It has been seen that the design of Parliament for collecting, codifying, and improving the laws, customs, and judicial institutions of the country has for eighteen years entirely failed of effect, and it is perfectly clear that no ordinary man or ordinary commission will ever carry it out. It is high time that our course should be determined, and our only hope is in the appearance of a great lawgiver. If such a man cannot be had, it would be better to give up the idea of radical codification, and to proceed to arrange and patch up, as we best may, what we already have. The subordinate Governments are as follows: — Bengal, divided into Bengal Proper, and su^j^j-^iinat g the Lieutenant-Governorship of Agra, or the vernments, North-West Provinces ; Madras ; Bombay ; And the Eastern Settlements of Singapore, Malacca, and Prince of Wales' Island have just been made a separate small Government ; but as they have little to do 222 ^rODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. with the continent of India, I shall not farther touch upon them than to say that they seem to defray their own ex- penses, exclusive of the troops furnished from India for their defence. The Governor-General is ex-offtcio Governor of Bengal, but may, when the exigencies of the service require it, ap- point a Deputy-Governor from among the ordinary mem- bers of Council, who may be invested with the whole or part of his powers, but receives no additional pay. The Lieutenant-Governor of the North- West Provinces is also nominated by the Governor-General, who defines the powers to be exercised by him. He has the power of a Governor, with certain reservations. Councils may be appointed to all the Presidencies, In practice, there never has been any Council of Bengal. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal and Agra exercise all the powers in their own persons alone; but Madras and Bombay have each two ordinary Counsellors, and the Commander-in-Chief at their respective Presidencies as an extraordinary member. The Government at those Pre- sidencies is conducted by the Governor in Council, under the same rules as to voting, casting vote of the Governor, and power of acting on his own responsibility, as in the Supreme Council ; and the conditions and period of ap- pointment of the Governors and Counsellors are the same as of the Governor-General and Counsellors respectively, the term of the Governor being unlimited, that of the Counsellors for five years. The period of service of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North- West Provinces has not been limited. The powers of the subordinate Governments are thus Their powers defined : — They can make or alter no laws and duties. whatsoever, but must refer to the Supreme Government drafts of laws which they may think neces- sary. They cannot add one farthing to their fixed perma- Chap. YI. . SUBORDINATE GOVERNMENTS. 223 nent establishments, and must apply for sanction to the Supreme Government when any addition is required. They have been authorized by the Supreme Govern- ment to incur contingent expenses — that is, money spent once for all, and not to be repeated — not exceeding 5000 rupees, or 500/., for any one object. They have the whole executive administration of their respective charges, but furnish to the Supreme Government copies of all their proceedings and orders, and obey instructions received. Hence almost all general and important measures are rC' ferred and explained before being carried into execution, while ordinary transactions within their power are carried out at once, and it is left to the Supreme Government to comment or alter if they choose. The whole detail of revenue, police, and general management, public improve- ments, and local matters of all kinds, are carried on by the local Government ; and they have the charge of our rela- tions with some of the smaller native states intrusted to them by the Supreme Government. Their duties are then altogether of a working, practical, and often minute de- scription, the execution of which entirely depends on Indian professional experience, knowledge, and skill. The land revenue involves the regulation and management by Government, as great superior landlord, of the immense mass of inferior rights, tenures, and liabilities ; and the police is a very difficult charge. The inferior Govern- ments also exercise the whole patronage of the appoint- ments in their territories. The Governments of Madras and Bombay have the control of the military affairs of the armies of those Presi- dencies, excepting such orders, common to all the armies of India, as. emanate from the Supreme Government; but the Bengal army being, as I have said, directly under the general Government, the Governor and Lieutenant- Governor have nothing to do with it, except ns regards 224 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. VI. supplies, encamping grounds, cantonment jurisdiction, and such matters, involved in the ordinary civil administration. Besides sending copies of their proceedings to the Supreme Government, the subordinate Governments also send them to the Court of Directors, and correspond with the Home Government in matters regarding which informa- tion is required or instructions are issued, such as can be more conveniently obtained or given without the official circuit to the Supreme Government. Many matters of civil detail are thus disposed of; and on many subjects it is customary with the Court of Directors to hear appeals against the proceedings of the subordinate Govern- ments, without previous reference to the Governor- General. Of late years, the Governor-General having been so much Deputy-Governor abscut, there has generally been a Deputy- of Bengal. Govcmor of Bengal ; and latterly, the duties of Governor-General and Governor of Bengal have been found to be too much for one man, and the Governor- General has even when present nominated a Deputy- Governor. He has most of the powers of Government (delegated to him by the Governor), except that, as the Governor-General is better acquainted with, and more frequently present in Bengal than in the other Presi- dencies, he exercises a more minute supervision, and I believe that he retains in his own hands the patronage of appointments exceeding 1000 rupees per mensem. Although the Governor-General may select the Deputy- Governor from the members of Council, in practice it has become the custom to consider the appointment the right of the senior member, and he has invariably been ap- pointed. The consequence is a constant change in the holder of the office. In twelve years up to 1850 the reins had been held by nine successive Governors or Deputy- Governors. The present Deputy -Governor has served in Chap. VI. SUBORDINATE GOVERNMENTS. 225 the army with credit for fifty-two years, but has never had any experience of any kind in civil affairs ; and at this stage of his life, being suddenly promoted into the office of Deputy-Governor, he is called on to perform duties to the nature of which I have alluded, and to superintend the details which I shall afterwards describe. The Lieutenant-Grovernor of the North- West Provinces is a civil servant, not a member of Council ; Lieutenant -go- andthe Governor-General has it in his power vemor of Agra. to nominate for so very important executive duties the man of greatest present efficiency, whose vigour and energy have not decayed, even though he be not so old in the service as the members of Council. I have alluded to Lord Ellenborough's appointment of Mr. Thomason. He was when appointed of twenty-one years' standing in the service, and has already governed for eight years. The Governorships of Madras and Bombay seem to be about equally divided between Englibh ,, ,,.. 'IT r> ^ Governors of Ma-^ noblemen and distuiguished servants oi the dras and Bom- Company, sometimes one and sometimes the ^' other being appointed. The prize does not seem sufficient to attract English statesmen of importance, and I think it may safely be said that the English Governors have not been of that class, but very respectable peers of moderate reputation and small fortune. Of the Indian Governors there have been some of notable experience and qualifica- tions — Elphinstones and Monros ; but of others it may be remarked that they are most frequently men who have earned reward by services in the political department, which seem always to obtain greater fame and recom- pence than the less blazoned but more useful duties of domestic administration. The functions of the subordinate Indian governments consist almost entirely of these latter duties, and it is only experience of our internal system which can make a really good governor. Q 226 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. The members of Council at Madras and Bombay are selected exclusively from the civil servants Members of . *^-p, . . ct • Council, Madras 01 the respectivc r residcucies. btrict se- and Bombay. . . , , , , , i i , • , i • niority seems to be more attended to m their appointments than in the Supreme Council. At Madras the present Counsellors and the Counsellor-elect (to succeed on next vacancy) have each served thirty-six years, and all three are in the first seven of the civil list. At Bom- bay one Counsellor has served 34, one 32, and the Coim- sellor-elect 36 years, and the three are in the first six of the civil list. The two civil Counsellors at Madras are also Presidents of the Board of Revenue and Chief Court of Justice, and one of those at Bombay is President of the Chief Court, but I understand that these duties are nearly nominal, and that they practically do little duty beyond that of members of Council. The success which attends the plan of a Governor and Working of Ma- Couucil in the Supreme Government is by w ^°Gover™- "^ mcaus fouud in those of Madras and ments. Bombay. On the contrary, the Governors and Counsellors seem to be frequently occupied in quar- relling ; and that it is so may be explained on general grounds, as follows : — First, The subordinate governors are very often — in the case of English Governors I may say invariably — not men of the same personal weight and influence as the Governor-General. Counsellors who would defer to a distinguished member of the Cabinet, or to Elphinstones when they occur, are not so ready to yield to an inexpe- rienced nobleman, or even to a worn-out Asiatic diplomat. Secondly, The duties of the subordinate governments being so much those of detail and ^uvaXy 2^'>^ofessional, the members of Council are, in the cases I have supposed, really infinitely better qualified in every way than the governor. Chap. VI. BENGAL PROPER. 227 Thirdly, The governors have not, like the Governor- General, political duties to take them away from their councils, and with themselves the whole executive power. Fourthly, In the event of a difference of opinion there is an immediate appeal to the Governor-General, instead of a distant reference to the home authorities. Hence it happens that the governors by no means exer- cise the whole power of government ; the counsellors urge their own opinions on all subjects, patronage included ; the governors' wishes are often thwarted ; ill feeling is too apt to arise ; and in any case there is none of that energy and singleness of action which is so necessary to the efficiency of a purely executive administration. The government of Bengal Proper must be the heaviest of all. The Governor has the administration Government of of the great provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and ^^"S**^ Proper. Orissa, with subsequent additions — Assam, and the country known as the North-Eastern frontier Agency — another very large thinly-peopled tract of hilly country, known the South-Western Agency — Arracan and the Penafurim Provinces on the east of the Bay of Bengal ; and he has the charge of a number of petty independent states. He has under him the opium manufacture, whether carried on in his own territory or in the north-west provinces ; the Bengal salt manufacture ; the whole of the very heavy local business in and about Calcutta, rendered very harassing from the presence of a large population of European adventurers, bound by no laws — and of the Supreme Court, ever ready to thwart him in every particular ; the marine and pilot establishments, and river flotilla, maintained by Government; a number of educational establishments; and many other miscellaneous charges. One circumstance has hitherto lightened his labour in the revenue department compared to the same department in other Presidencies, viz. the non-interference of Govern- Q 2 228 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. ment in the permanently settled estates, except to receive the land revenue and sell those in default ; but the system has worked so ill that there may be more trouble in store for the Governor of Bengal on the score of land revenue than where surveys and boundary marks and detailed set- tlements have been established from the beginning. All the duties above detailed have hitherto been left to a Governor-General with the whole management of the empire on his shoulders, who takes them up for a few months at a time when he happens to be in Calcutta, or to an accidental senior member of Council, civil or military, fit or unfit, continually changed, who receives nothing for his trouble, but is put to large expense. It is no wonder that such a government is inefficient, that nothing has generally been done beyond mere routine, and that Bengal has suffered in consequence. The best man who could be selected, permanently appointed, and with no other duties, would have a hard task of it. As it is, the whole adminis- tration depends on a good secretary and compliant go- vernor -, and even in this case there are many disadvan- tages in the exercise of power without responsibility and the establishment of a bureaucracy. The Lieutenant-Governor of Agra has not so many Government of harassing details as the Governor of Bengal; ^°^^- but he administers the largest land revenue of any governor, and has had ample occupation in bringing into operation the new detailed settlement, involving so many questions, so much experiment, and the solution of so many long-disputed points. He has the whole plain of the Ganges and Jumna, from the confines of Bahar to the northern hills ; the adjoining hill country ; several detached districts south-west of the Jumna ; the political relations with a few of the minor states; and the customs line be- tween his territories and Central India. Some outlying provinces formerly under him have latterly, in consequence Chap. VI. AGRA — MADRAS — BOMBAY. 229 of the presence of the Governor-General at Simlah, been put under the Supreme Government and Punjab board of administration. The Lieutenant-Governor has ample duties ; but being a practical working governor, selected for efficiency, unem- barrassed by a council, and holding his appointment for a long period, he does his work thoroughly. The North- West Provinces can alone be said to be fully governed. Every- thing is done systematically, and nothing neglected. Hence this Presidency is far ahead of the others, as will be seen when I come to details. Madras has a large territory and land revenue — all the south and east of the peninsula — but little Government of political or miscellaneous work, no opium, Madras. and small customs, and a smaller and less important Euro- pean community than at Calcutta or Bombay. The Bombay territory (excepting Scinde, which has a large area chiefly of desert) is comparatively Government of small. But as there is no board of revenue Bombay. as at other Presidencies, the Government must have more revenue detail on its hands. It has also charge of a num- ber of small states, Maratta chiefs, &c. ; of some of our political relations on the coasts of Africa and Arabia ; of the greater part of the Indian navy ; and being nearest to England, has a good deal to do in the way of managing the communications with home. Annexed is a statement showing the area, population, number of districts, and land revenue of General state- each Presidency. I give the land revenue "ierundereach because it is the best index to the ordinary Government. branches of administration, and implies a certain popula- tion, police, and general business, whereas other branches of revenue are mere taxes, and may (as, for instance, the opium duty at Bombay) involve comparatively little trouble to Government. 230 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. ■J & 1=1 oB •si 12; Pi o a Ph H oi Q t3 o l^-^ oi 3 3 o C3 O U D fl o ^ ScH3> bfl« S S 3 -^.a rt -3 0,0 «3 < O Is 12; > o O Q ^i rO «" iJ .S .2 ■K ° O *^ > -« S 0£ ^-5 " c o fl S «« 3 ci o '^ .9 wj.ti & i:S ^ .2 ^cc iO ^ cc 2 « -2 « o _ Ph 60 d « S ^ W Chap. VI. TERRITOKIES UNDER EACH GOVERNMENT. 231 5 "u 2 . .ri -^ -i^ln a, ^ t« ^ 03 S ■" a 3 <^> ^, a- -2 a 3 o 0) '^ '3 a CM ''-S-S a s O " *^ ? > ., 0) <» a> tjH S JJ 5 t^ fcH !h 2 a cs o S 1 -a o ^ -t; a oj t5 a c/j "S<9— • «-,a o ■" 00 m — a a> - 2 -S rt .a aj oi 0) o 43 tfi +^ «j -a (>) ^ Eh Pi CO <1 CO o o CO CO CO CO 02 CO 05 CO in in CO r^ CO in Ph Tt< Tl<^ n CT> OS o % t- ■*" (M Q oT OS ^ o g,P o" •* -rf r- o K H O ■"*„ S ■* -* (M Ol (M Tj^ 't IJ^ CO CO Ph (N 1" 5M in Ph O O o ^ H H (— < tC in Z w 00 CO ^H ^ CO -H « •^ CO H CO CO '^ (M H '^ in s z S ^ fe Pi Pi O 00 ^ 03 w CO O CO W 00 ■* -f t^ CO CO 00 •^ > o O (N (N o ■* CI ■* Eh CO 00 vn (N IM "^ O C^ t^ O^ o^ CJ o' o" o (n" I~^ O o rt CT> -^ in IM W S ^ o o -H (N CO in in i^ 00 CD ■"^ CO 00 w CO t^ CO H ■— o (M ■* 00 CO CO ffl 't l-H CO Eh Pi 00 ^ '-' O O « Eh Pi w > C> CT> .-H w CO CO 05 P in o O in 1^ o o r^ Oi 'f -* 00 o ^ o CO a cu .9 ■£ . 0) Eh *? CO a> o CO V oi O * to o >:> a 1 (In Ph a .2 5S .9 Ph 2 § Ph '5 2 a "^ 1 § Ph '5 1 <4H o ts t^ C3 ^ '^ ci t-t 0} a 0) c3 r3 O) a m 0) -w © 'S 13 o Et, ^3 o !=* TS .=" * 3 bD 0) M a o a o ■*-» QJ 1 § 1 .^ bc i ^ c i cost of different Madras, and Bombay, the lormer under a Lieutenant-Governor and the latter two under Governors and Councils. I exclude fi-om the statement military secretaries, and all charges pertaining to the military branch, and only give the purely civil charges of the members of the Government, personal staff, and secretariat. Cost of Government of Agra. Salary of Lieutenant-Governor . . . £8,400 Personal establishment and house-rent . 1,320 Secretariat 12,840 Total . . £ 22,560 Cost of Government of Madras. Salary of Governor and Members of Council £ 25,600 Personal establishment .... 7,984 Civil Secretariat 27,340 Total . . £60,924 Chap. VI. NON-REGULATION PROVINCES. 233 Cost of Government of Bombay. Salary of Governor and Members of Council £ 25,600 Personal establishment .... 6,328 Civil Secretariat 43,292 Total . . £75,220 It will be seen how much cheaper is the Agra Govern- ment, while that of Bombay, smallest in receipt, is greatest in expense. Before going on with details of the mode of internal management, it is necessary to explain the difference be- tween regulation and non-regulation pro- difference be- vinces, the origin of which distinction has anrnon^reguia^ been noticed in sketching the history of tion provinces. our civil system. The regulation provinces, consisting generally of our older and more valuable territories, are governed by regu- larly enacted and published laws, commencing with the Cornwallis code, and continued from time to time to the present day. All revenue and judicial matters are here regulated by law, the rights of Government are defined and limited, and it can exercise no arbitrary power in individual cases. These provinces are administered exclu- sively by the civil service. The non-regulation provinces are those to which no regularly enacted laws whatsoever have been applied, the existence of which as British provinces the law has, in fact, not recognised, and which are governed under such particular instructions as the Executive Government may issue to its officers. These territories are still classed as "Foreign," that is to say, their administration is still con- ducted in the " foreign " department, a somewhat anoma- lous state of things, which might give rise to many difficult questions, and which it would be very desirable to remedy so soon as a suitable code of laws can be obtained. 234 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. XVI. For the administration of these territories the Com- pany's servants, civil and military, are equally eligible, but (excepting in the Punjab) the appointments are now chiefly held by military men. I must here also mention that uncovenanted, as distin- uncovenantedas guishcd froui coveuauted scrvauts, are those from"covenanted ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ regular service of the Company, servants. ^^^^ employed by the Government in India, principally natives, but in many instances Europeans or half-castes. So much before classifying the different departments of the public business. The business of Government is conducted by the secre- secretariat. tarics, Avho are not secretaries to the Go- vernor, but to the Government, — not merely ministerial, but public and responsible officers ; in fact, stand in the same relation to Government as the minister or secretary of a republican or elective government, of which the head is supposed himself to possess some official aptitude ; and when the Governor-General has no local experience their position must be still more important. The secretaries have entire charge of the offices and establishments, do all the routine (merely submitting the papers before despatch), and bring forward more important matters in the clearest and briefest form. Lord Ellenborough thus arranged the offices of the Supreme Government as they now stand : — The Foreign Secretary, charged with all political rela- tions, the affairs of dependent states, and those of our own non-regulation provinces ; The Home Secretary, who has all the affairs of our regulation provinces ; The Financial and Military Secretaries, whose names signify their duties, the one being a kind of Chancellor of the Exchequer, the other Secretary at War. Chap. VI. SECRETAEIAT. 235 The business of the Home Secretary is again divided into revenue, judicial (including police, &c.), general, and some less important departments. The subordinate Governments have a similar division of departments, but have not necessarily separate secretaries for each. In Bengal and Agra, respectively, there is but one secre- tary for all departments. In Madras and Bombay the secretariat has not been remodelled on a uniform system, and thus stands : — Madras. Chief Secretary in charge of Political, Public, and Financial Departments. Secretary — Revenue and Judicial Departments. Secretary — Military Department. Bombay. Chief Secretary — Secret and Political Departments. Secretary — .Judicial, General, and Persian Departments. Secretary — Revenue and Financial Departments. Secretary — Military and Naval Departments. Much inconvenience must result from the want of a uniform classification of business in the dif- ^ -r» • 1 • mi T • Want of uniform lerent Jr residencies, ine discrepancies are method in difFer- ,1 . p,i 11 , 1 I'l ent Presidencies. the remains oi the old system, under which each Presidency separately transacted its own affairs in its own way, and there is great difficulty in consequence in comparing the different systems and statements, espe- cially in matters of account, which seem to be kept quite differently at the three Presidencies, so that it is impos- sible to compare them correctly without abundant expla- nation, and English commentators are continually falling into egregious mistakes from this cause.* * There is altogether a great want of intercommuuicatioii between the Presidencies. The services are entirely distinct ; no one knows anything that is done in another Presidency. The only connecting link is the Supreme Government, and it has not time to attend to details. 236 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. The secretaries in all civil departments are civil ser- vants. Each secretary has generally one covenanted assist- ant or deputy, but the pay of the assistant is so small that these appointments are only held by junior servants. There is also in each Presidency an Accountant-General, Other offices in Trcasurcr, Civil and Military Auditors, and Sfo'liwithGo- Tostmaster-General ; and in Bengal a re- vernment. membranccr of legal affairs, who looks after the interests of Government in suits to which it is a party. The superintendence, under Government, of the details Chief depart- ^^ ^^^ chlcf departments in our own terri- SedbyZTrds ^^^'^^^ ^^ lutrusted to Boards and Chief and Courts. Courts of Justicc. To this modc of adminis- tration it has been objected, and with much reason, that Boards are always less energetic and efficient for executive duties than single individuals ; but, on the against this othcr hand, it must be observed, that, while important matters are dictated by Govern- ment and carried out by the executive district officers, the Boards have the duty of supervising and securing uniform- ity in a mass of detail, w^iich it would be difficult for one man to compass, and which, once compassed, he could not transmit to a successor. In India, where there are so many changes in all offices, there could be no uniformity if single superintendents of departments involving much detail were frequently changed : whereas the whole jf?er- sonnel of a Board is seldom changed at the same time, the chain is never broken, and a continuous system is car- ried out. There have long been Boards of Eevenue for Bengal, the North- West Provinces, and Madras ; and Revenue Boards. ^ T->iPTi-r» ^ n the separate lioards oi Land Kevenue and or Customs, &c., have just been consolidated in Bengal, so that the system is now uniform in all those Presidencies. The Bengal Board has three members, the Agra Board Chap. VI. BOARDS AND COURTS. 237 two, the Madras Board one member of Council as Presi- dent and three ordinary working members. These Boards are charged with the management of all revenue affairs, much in the same way as the Boards of Customs, Excise, &c., in England ; and each has a secretary, through whom the business is carried on. In both divisions of Bengal there is a grade of officers which was instituted by Lord "VV. Bentinck, -ml- I % o r^ Commissioners. and does not exist at Madras — that oi com- missioners, each charged with the general supervision, in revenue matters, of five or six districts (constituting what is called a division), and attending to many matters of detail, and to petty appeals from the executive officers, which would be too much for the Board. Their first duty is as Commissioners of Revenue ; but as they are not much pressed by their proper fmictions, then other duties are thrown on them. In the North-West Provinces they are also Commissioners of Police, and everywhere they are the representatives of Government in their divi- sions, have the general superintendence of public matters and public servants, the relations with petty chiefs, the posting of junior officers, &c., and they can sanction certain contingent charges and rewards. In Bombay, again, where there is no Board of Revenue, two Commissioners divide the whole territory, and are immediately under Govern- ment. In the judicial department, pretty much the same system has been established at all the Presidencies ; and the supreme judicial power is in each vested in the chief civil and criminal court, called the Sudder Court, ^,^j^^ ^^ sudder which is not only the highest court of appeal, ^°^^^- but is vested with an executive superintendence over all the other courts, and appoints the lowest grade of judicial officers. There are at present five judges in the Coin-t at Calcutta, and three at Agra ; at Madras, one member of Council is president, and there are three ordinary judges ; 238 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YI, at Bombay, one member of Council is president, and four judges. Each Court has a registrar, who keeps a list of, and assigns causes, &c., but is principally employed as secretary to the Court, in its executive and controlling capacity. The police, however, is generally not under the Court, Superintendents ^^^ ^^ managed by Government. In Lower of Police. Bengal the whole department of police is intrusted to one superintendent, who exercises authority over the magistrates. In Madras the Government itself, and in Bombay the Sudder Court, superintend the police. There is one super- intendent of a special police for putting down Thuggee and Dacoitee for all India. In the North-West Provinces all J ^ „ the prisons were lately placed under one in- Inspector oi r J r Prisons. spector, but this is not the case elsew^here. In Lower Bengal, Government takes the direct manage- ment of the prisons, and corresponds with each magistrate on the subject. There are military Boards at all the Presidencies, which have charge of all public works and build- Military Boards . . ., i -t, p ,i and Councils of mgs, civil and mihtary, oi tne commissariat, and many other matters ; and there are Councils of Education. We now come to the actual executive officers. The For executive wliolc machine of Government is but to purposes, coun- regulatc aiid control the executive officers of try divided anto " districts. districts ; and in stating their functions and mode of performing them, I shall best explain how the country is really governed, in what things we interfere, and in what we do not. All that I have already men- tioned — supreme and subordinate Governments, Boards, Courts, Councils, and Commissioners — are but different parts of the controlling Government ; while for practical executive management the country is divided into districts. Chap. VI. EXECUTIVE OFFICEES. 239 The average size of the districts in each Presidency, popu- lation (actual or estimated), and land revenue, is here given :- Average of each District. Presidency. Area in Square Miles. Bengal .... North-West Provinces Madras .... Bombay .... 3,200 2,300 6,500 4,200 Population. 1,000,000 730,000 800,000 600.000 Land Revenue. £ 103,000 130,000 165,000 160,000 I shall describe, as the most general, the system by which the offices of magistrate and collector Mao-istrate and are united in one individual, and which pre- Collector. vails in the North-West Provinces, Madras, and Bombay. My details refer principally to the former. The principle of the union of offices is that of uniting all the executive representation of Government. In both capacities, the magistrate and collector exercises the authority and the functions of Government, and acts under its orders ; while the judge's duties being purely judicial, be has nothing to do with the executive, and is in no way controlled by Govern- ment, The object of uniting the police and revenue ma- nagement is to obtain greater energy, uniformity, and sim- plicity of working, together with an adaptation to the manners of the country ; while any inconsistency of func- tions, as in the former union of civil judge and police magistrate, is avoided. The same character, habits, and mode of conducting business, fit a man for both the ex- ecutive departments. The magistrate and collector is then a sort of local Governor, and has a great advantage in his object of union management from the combination of powers, of '''^''•^s- He exercises an extended superintendence over his district, 240 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. a good deal beyond what his simple name implies, and the people look to him as their immediate ruler. As magis- trate, his functions may be said to be threefold : — First, as magistrate in the Scriptural sense of the word, Duties of magis- ^^ ^ne Set in authority, exercising a general *'''^*®- charge, like the body of county magistrates in England ; making local regulations, superintending the application of local funds for roads, bridges, serais, &c. ; the assessment of local imposts for local police ; the esta- blishment and management of dispensaries, schools, &c. ; the prevention of nuisances ; the sale of intoxicating drugs and liquors. Second, as magistrate like a metropolitan commissioner of police, he is charged with the whole management of the large police establishment, the keeping of the peace, the prevention of crime, the pursuit and detection of crimi- nals, and the bringing them to justice. Third, as magistrate exercising summary jurisdiction as a judge. Like the London police magistrates he investi- gates charges, passes sentence on certain cases within certain limits, and commits others for regular trial. As collector he is not so much in the character of receiver of taxes as in that of the representative of the great land- lord of the country ; for, whatever may be the subordinate rights, Government, as possessing the chief beneficial inte- rest in the rent, itself fixing the sum to be paid, and exer- cising minute superintendence over the afftiirs of the culti- vators, is practically in its relation to the people as a landlord Duties of col- ^o hereditary tenants. The collector registers lector. ji^ minute form all the landed property of the district, and all the rights connected with it, and all transfers as they occur ; he estimates the rent of the land, fixes the share thereof to be taken by Government, and the share to be left to subordinate holders. When it is so fixed he collects the revenue as it becomes due. If delay Chap. VI. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS. 24 1 or remission is granted, it can only be through him ; if there is failure of payment, he investigates the cause, and, if there be no good cause, he exercises the summary power of realising by distraint, imprisonment, and (under the orders of his superiors) annulment of leases or sale. He also receives and manages the miscellaneous revenue de- rived from several other sources. He has a large summary jurisdiction in everything con- nected with the rent and with the possession of landed property. He decides all suits by superior against inferior holders for the rent of the season ; he hears complaints of the latter against the former regarding alleged exaction, and gives summary remedy for forcible dispossession of land ; but he has no power to try regular suits in regard to rights not in possession. He manages the property of Government. All pensions, grants, and exemptions from payment of revenue, come through him. He is charged with the interests of Government in all matters litigated in the civil courts ; he takes charge of the landed property of minors and incompetent persons, he procures supplies for troops, and in fact, in all emergencies, and on very many ordinary occasions, the collectors are (from the inefficiency of the Commissariat department) the commissaries of the army. The Commissariat seems to consider itself, for the most part, a mere office of distribution and account, and never provides supplies for the march of a single regiment. On such occasions a requisition is sent to the collectors of districts through which troops are to pass, and all supplies are received through them. In the same way, when an army takes the field, the Commissariat department write to the collectors for supplies, dole them out to the troops, send in the bills, and take the credit of supplying the army. The collector has a treasury, keeps very minute accounts, gives bills on all other treasuries, and manages all casli transactions; in short, he does everything as the agent 11 J 242 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. of Government. The magistrate may be considered the delegate of the ruling powers of Government, the col- lector its agent in everything that concerns its own interests and the interests of those connected with it in the land ; but the two duties are intimately con- nected, and the functions materially assist and affect one another. It may be supposed, from what I have said, that the duties of a magistrate and collector — not one of many equal magistrates, as in England, but the sole head of so large a district — are sufficiently onerous and important, and it may be surprising that he can do so much. It must, Assistance and then, bc explained that he is the chief of a machiuery. ^^^^ large establishment, and aided by a very powerful machinery, and is rather the head and con- necting link of all these duties than expected to perform them all himself First, for the survey, registration, and assessment of landed property. As soon as it has been sufficiently long in our hands, the object is to obtain very minute and cor- rect surveys, most particular record of all rights, and, this obtained, to fix the revenue for long terms. As the officer in active executive charge cannot go about all this sys- tematically and in detail, separate temporary officers, called Settlement offi- Settlement officers, have been, in many parts ^^^- of the country, deputed to survey, settle, and record all that is necessary for this end, the doing -which is called making a settlement. This done, the settlement officer makes over his record to the collector; the district becomes a settled district. AVork is thus amazingly facilitated. The collector finds everything systematically recorded, and has only to work the settlement. At the same time there is thrown upon him the duty of keeping up these minute records and car- Chap. VI. SUBOEDINATE ESTABLISHMENTS. 243 ryiiig out their provisions, involving a mass of detail, which will be better understood when I more particularly explain the land-revenue system. In the performance of his duties the magistrate and collector has under him — first, a covenanted deputy, of some standing and experience, to whom he may make over any portion of his duties, and who acts during his absence from head-quarters ; second, a covenanted assist- ant, generally a young man learning his staff of assist- work ; and, third, one, two, or three unco- *^"'^*^- Tenanted deputy magistrates and collectors, whom he may employ in all duties, within certain limits. The most usual course is for the head of the office to retain the greater portion of the administrative portion of the duties in his own hands, and to distri- 1, r> ^ ' !• ■ 1 1 !• Division of work. Dute most 01 the judicial work among his subordinates according to his opinion of their aptitude. To the covenanted deputy may be made over, from time to time, a portion of the district or of the duties ; and he generally takes most of the criminal trials of considerable importance, as having alone powers equal to the magis- trate. The judicial portion of the revenue duties, and the petty local investigations, are generally committed to native deputies, and the treasury to a Christian deputy ; while the assistant may be employed by the chief to aid him personally, and in all little odds and ends most likely to teach him his duty. In Madras and Bombay, as the districts are generally larger, there is a larger staff of covenanted subordinates ; and one or more deputies or assistants are generally sta- tioned at outposts in subordinate charge of portions of the district. It appears that there are in those Presidencies no uncovenanted officers of the same grade as in Bengal, but that the native officers of another grade (the tehseeldars, R 2 244 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. or native revenue collectors), stationed in subdivisions of the district, have large powers, nearly equal to those of deputy magistrates and collectors. All the above-described are public officers holding their Subordinate es- appoiutuients froin Government, but under tabiishments. them is a large establishment appointed by the head of the district for the ministerial duties of his office, and for the subordinate police and revenue functions in the interior of the district. The magistrate's and collector's offices are kept en- tirely separate. There is the magistrate's office, with a native head, called Serishtadar, who has general charge of all the papers, registers, and writers ; a sort of head clerk of the Court; a nazir, or native sheriff, who receives charge of all criminals and property, executes summonses, processes, &c., is the executive officer of the Court; a record-keeper, to whom are made over all decided cases, and papers on which orders have been passed, who keeps them with great system, and can produce them at a few minutes' notice when required ; ten or twelve native writers to take down evidence, record proceedings, keep books, fill and arrange papers, and do all the duties of a very voluminous office ; and a suitable number of chuprassees, or badge-bearers, who do the inferior duties, attend on the officers, &c. There is a similar and somewhat more highly paid establishment for the collector's office, and a much more important and perfect record-office. Then there is the English office, which, including the heavy duties of the Treasury, generally gives employment to four or five clerks. All the accounts are kept in English, the corre- spondence with superior authority is conducted in English, and a great number of monthly statements are trans- mitted in English. The magistrate and collector has no considerable force of police, or establishment for the collection of the revenue, Chap. VI. SUBOKDINATE ESTABLISHMENTS. 245 immediately under him at his head-quarters. The pohce are posted at different stations under the inspectors, but can be collected when required ; and the realization of the revenue is intrusted to the tehseeldars, or native col- lectors. There is generally attached to the magistrate a party of horsemen who act as mounted police, patrol the roads, carry expresses, and are ready for emergencies. Treasury, personal, and other standing guards, are furnished from what are called police battalions — civil corps, drilled by a European commandant, and employed on these duties. For the inferior police and revenue duties the district is divided into about a dozen smaller divisions, in each of which is posted a native police inspector and native tehseeldar or collector, with suitable establishments. In Madras and Bombay the superintendence of both these duties is united in the same individuals — the tehseeldars, whom I have mentioned as having in those Presidencies a great part of the powers of deputy magistrates and col- lectors, and who are highly paid. The heads of villages are, in Madras and Bombay, the officers of Government, and intrusted with considerable powers, and to them the police is in a great degree intrusted. It is expected that what is thus lost in efficiency will be gained in good will. In the North-West Provinces the necessity of an organized police is recognized, and the village officers are only re- sponsible for their own proper duties, are not the officers of or invested with the authority of Government ; but here, too, it has lately been found that the tehseeldars arc so highly paid, and so well qualified, that they may with ad- vantage be made use of for superior duties ; and they arc pretty generally employed judicially in summary revenue suits, and very frequently are made deputy magistrates for the trial of petty criminal cases. Farther particulars of the police and revenue establishments will be given in 246 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. the separate chapters on those heads, and therefore I need not at present go farther into detail. In the Bombay Presidency the system of recognizing Hereditary offi- ^i^^l maintaining hereditary officers of vil- ces in Bombay, lages, and somctimcs of districts, seems to have been carried a great deal too far. Not only has the hereditary character of these offices been acknowledged, but they have been made matter of the most absolute pro- perty without any reference to fitness or duties, or anything else — may even descend to females, be performed by de- puty, and are bartered and sold, while they are largely paid at the expense of Government, and are of very little practical use of any kind. They have been permitted to become numerous out of all proper proportion, and to eat up a very large share of the revenue. The chief station of the magistrate and collector is station and cir- usually near the most important town in, trill "amf^'fol- ^^^^ ^^ Central as possible to, the district. lector. Here are his head-quarters, and here he spends the season unfavourable for marching, except when emergencies arise. But from the nature of his duties it is by no means desirable that he should be stationary ; and every cold season he goes into camp (as it is called), pitches his tents, leaves the current duties of the chief station with one of his subordinates, and, taking with him a sufficient portion of his establishment, he marches about, pitches for a few days here and a few days there, sees all that is going on, and attends to local matters. His manner of life is a pleasant one, and leads His manner of ^ . ... , t-iti life and course all to take ail interest in their work. When of business. i • i i i • in he IS at head-quarters, his mode oi passing his time may be something in this wise. People rise early in India, and ride a great deal, so he is probably out on horseback ; but he generally combines business with exer- cise ; he has improvements going on, roads making, Chap. VI. DUTIES OF MAGISTEATE AND COLLECTOE. 247 bridges building, streets paving, canals cutting, a dis- pensary, a nursery garden, &c., &c. He may look in at his jail, and see what work the prisoners are doing, or at his city police stations to see what is going on there, or canter out upon an outlying patrol, or go to see the locality of a difficult case. Every one he meets has something to say to him, for in India every one has, or has had, or is about to have, some case, or grievance, or project, or application, of which he takes every occasion of disburthening himself whenever the magistrate is in sight; and the old woman whose claim to a waterspout was decided against her years ago, but who persists in considering her case the most intolerable in the whole world, takes the opportunity for the hundredth time of seizing his bridle, casting herself under the horse's feet, and clamorously demanding either instant death or a res- titution of her rights. Though he has not time to listen to all, he may pick up a good deal from the general tenor of the unceasing fire of language which is directed at him as he passes. He probably knows the principal heads of villages, or merchants, or characters in different lines, and this is the great time for talk with them. If anything of interest is to be discussed, they obtain admittance to his garden, where he sips his cup of tea under his vine and fig-tree on his return from his ride. Then come the reports from the tehseeldars and police inspectors for the previous day ; those from the outlying stations having come in during the night. These are all read, and orders briefly recorded ; the police-inspector of the town, and perhaps other native officers, may be in attendance with personal explanations or representations ; and all this done, the serishtadar bundles up the papers, and retires to issue the orders passed, and prepare for the regular work in court, while the magistrate goes to breakfast. At breakfast comes the post and packet of 248 MODERN INDIA. Cuap. VI. official letters. The Commissioner demands explanation on this matter, and transmits a paper of instructions from Government on that ; the Judge calls for cases which have heen appealed ; the Secretary to Govern- ment wants some statistical information ; the inspector of prisons fears that the prisoners are growing too fat ; the commander of the 150th regiment begs to state that his regiment will halt at certain places on certain days, and that he requires a certain quantity of flour, grain, hay, and eggs ; Mr. Snooks, the indigo-planter, who is in a state of chronic warftire with his next neighbour, has submitted his grievances in six folio sheets, indif- ferent English, and a bold hand, and demands instant redress, failing which he threatens the magistrate with Government, the Supreme Court, an aspersion of his honour as a gentleman, a Parliamentary impeachment, a letter to the newspapers, and several other things besides. After breakfast he despatches his public letters, writes reports, examines returns, &c. During this time he has probably a succession of demi- officials from the neighbouring cantonments. There is a great complaint that the villagers have utterly without provocation broken the heads of the cavalry grass-cutters, and the grass-cutters are sent to be looked at. He goes out to look at them, but no sooner appears than a shout announces that the villagers are waiting in a body, with a slightly different version of the story, to demand justice against the grass-cutters, who have invaded their grass preserves, despoiled their village, and were with difficulty prevented from murdering the inhabitants. So the case is sent to the joint magistrate. But there are more notes ; some want camels, some carts, and all apply to the magistrate : then there may be natives of rank and con- dition, who come to pay a serious formal kind of visit, Chap. VI. JUDICIAL OFFICERS. 249 and generally want something, or a chatty native official, who has plenty to say for himself. All this despatched, he orders his carriage or umbrella, and goes to Cutcherry — his regular court. Here he finds a sufficiency of business : there are police and revenue and miscellaneous cases of all sorts, appeals from the orders of his subordinates, charges of corruption or misconduct against native officials. All petitions from all persons are received daily in a box, read, and orders duly passed. Those setting forth good grounds of complaint are filed under proper headings ; others are rejected, for written reason assigned. After sunset comes his evening, which is probably, like his morning ride, mixed up with official and demi-official affairs, and only at dark does the wearied magistrate retire to dinner and to private life. The above is the style of life and duty of a magistrate and collector in Northern India in particular, and generally where the two offices are united. In Bengal proper the magistrate and the collector are separate officers, and there altogether the sys- . p /-, '^ •!• • ini Separation of tern IS tor (government to identiiy itseli less officers in Ben- with the affairs of the land and the people. A magistrate is there nearer to a police magistrate, and a collector to a mere revenue receiver. No one officer has very great personal weight and influence. In both divisions of the Bengal Presidency the judge is an officer of higher grade than the magis- judicial depart- trate and collector, but in Madras and Bom- "^ents- Judges. bay he is of the same rank, standing, and pay. In Bengal he has no European covenanted subordinates European sub- (the registrars having been done away with in o'^'i"^'^^'^'^- Lord William Bentinck's time) ; but in Madras and Bom- bay there are junior officers as sub and assistant judges. The jurisdiction of a judge is not necessarily conter- 250 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. minous with that of a magistrate. There is a judge at most stations, but not unfrequently two districts are under one judge, so that on an average there are about two judges to three districts. As civil judge he is rather a superintendent of the Native subordi- administration of justice than a judge in '"^*^^- original cases, which are almost exclusively tried by the subordinate native judges, of whom there are on an average seven or eight under each judge. As criminal or sessions judge he monthly tries, in Duties and juris- regular fomi, all cases committed by the diction. magistrate, and he hears appeals from the summary judicial decisions of that functionary. The col- lector is liable to be sued in the civil court for all his acts. Their legality is frequently contested, and all his summary decisions may be reopened by regular suits in the civil courts. The above comprise all the district functionaries, but other depart- there are also some special departments ™^°*^- managed by a separate agency. In each of the departments of customs, excise, salt, and opium, several covenanted officers are employed for the general superintendence ; but the executive of these departments, being work of an inferior and less intellectual description, is carried on at a cheaper rate by uncovenanted servants. In the whole opium department but two civil servants are employed. I must now explain the system in the non-regulation provinces. A principal feature is the union S5-stem in non- ^ . ^ • ^• ' a r i- regulation pro- OT cxccutivc and judicial luuctions m one individual, the office of judge being added to that of magistrate and collector. The instruction is that the spirit, but not the letter, of the regulations is to be fol- lowed ; and practically the general course followed is that, in criminal matters, the regulations are pretty closely the rule. In the civil court the regulations and artificial sys- Chap. VI. PUNJAB ADMINISTEATION. 251 tern of Lord Cornwallis are entirely dispensed with, and the court is conducted on simple and natural principles, suited to the country ; and in revenue matters special directions are received from Government. Generally a large tract of country, comprising several districts, is under one commissioner, who unites all the powers of the different departments ; and the executive is managed, under him, by officers in charge of districts, also uniting all functions. I shall take the best and most important in- stance of a non-regulation province, the Punjab. There is united under one management the Punjab, the Cis-Sutlej territory (between the Sutlej and Punj^^, admini- the Jumna), now partly our own and partly ^tration. belonging to protected Sikh and Hill chiefs, the territories beyond the Indus conquered by Ranjeet Sing, and the political relations with Goolab Sing and other chiefs. The following is a statement of the area, &c., of these territories, exclusive of Goolab Sing and the Nawab of Bahawalpore : — Area in Square Miles, about Population, about Land Revenue. lu our own hands Inferior chiefs 75,763 25,000 7,500,000 2,500,000 £ 1,500,000 500,000 Total 100, 7G3 10,000,000* 2,000,000 Besides the protected Sikh and Hill Cis-Sutlej states, some few chiefs in the hills, and one known as the " Aloo- wala" in the plains, have been permitted to retain feuda- tory principalities, or have received at our hands territory * There lias been no census of tlie population, and it must be much under- estimated in the usual statements. I have estimated it principally from a comparison of the land revenue with that of the N. W. Provinces, It must bo rather above than below what 1 have stated. 252 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. of which they had been formerly dispossessed. The rest is under our own direct management. Many chiefs and others still hold jagheers, but they are subject to our laws and to our direct rule. It has been mentioned that these territories are in imme- diate charge of the Supreme Government. Under the Go- vernor-General they are intrusted to the management of a Board, consisting of one military officer of political experience and two civilians of civil administrative experience. A Board may not be the form of government best suited for originating and carrying out a system, but that form was rendered necessary in the Punjab by circumstances. One officer was by his position and services entitled to claim the first place, yet had not the requisite experience to enable him alone to administer. It was therefore neces- sary to associate others, and the political, administrative, and judicial duties being united, and being together more than one man could accomplish, the Board was appointed to do them all, and the three members for the most part divide the three departments. The principal management of the civil administration has been taken by Mr. John Lawrence, to whose labours and energy is due the esta- blishment of a very efficient system. Under the Board are commissioners of divisions, charged with the general superintendence of all departments, and invested with large judicial powers. By selecting good men, whose standing did not entitle them to a similar grade in the provinces, Government have obtained very efficient commissioners. Under each commissioner are about four districts, the executive officers of which are called deputy commissioners. The deputy commissioner is magistrate, collector, and superintendent of civil justice. His assistants and some of his native subordinates have also judicial powers. All civil cases are decided in the simplest way, by confronting the parties, and by the help Chap. YI. PUNJAB ADMINISTRATION. 253 of native juries. As double duties are united in the same individuals, the districts are smaller in point of revenue and population than in the provinces ; but the average geographical area of districts in the Punjab is swelled by the large barren tracts betv^een the rivers. The following is about the average size of a district : — Area in Square Miles. 3,500 Population. 350,000 Land Revenue. £ 70,000 Each deputy commissioner has under him a covenanted or commissioned assistant, generally two native assistants (taken sometimes from the best of the servants of the Sikh government and sometimes from the corresponding class in the north-west provinces), and a subordinate revenue and police establishment on the model of the Agra Presi- dency. The principal difficulty in the Punjab administration has been in getting good executive officers of districts, for the reduced scale of pay which modern economy prescribes is not sufficient to tempt men within several years of a corresponding grade in the provinces to run the risk of health, and undergo the hardships and labour which must be required of them in a new territory. And as the duties involved teaching ignorant establishments, it was for the most part only from the north-west provinces that men sufficiently acquainted with the language, the people, and the system to be introduced could be drawn. To find men young enough to accept the pay, and yet efficient enough for the duties, was not easy ; and the exposure and labour being so great, the consumption from sickness and conse- quent change of officers was large, and created further difficulties. Hence much was thrown on the superior officers, and their duties have been very severe ; yet have 254 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. things been wonderfully well managed. A good system has been introduced, and the administration goes on quietly and well. Particulars of the revenue and judicial management will be given under those headings respectively. The country having had the benefit of our previous experience, the best systems have been introduced, while all vexatious native taxes have been at once swept away, transit duties abolished, and the plain of the Indus opened to free and unrestricted commerce. Especial encouragement has been given to a manly and industrious agricultural population, and altogether the condition of the people has been made so good, and they are so well satisfied, that the perfect quiet and facility of administration which we have hitherto experienced in the Punjab (cis-the-Indus) is likely long to continue. Although the executive officers of Indian districts exer- cise large powers, the Government is intensely System of checks i t i mi -i i p and centraiiza- Centralized. 1 hcy arc rcsponsiblc lor cvcry particular of their proceedings, and are super- vised to an amazing extent. For all acts beyond those of ordinary routine it is necessary to obtain the previous sanction of superior authority, and the most ordinary busi- ness is reported in a form which keeps the controlling Boards and the Government well aware of all that is going on. It is, indeed, the great principle of all grades of the Indian administration, that each official grade is always kept constantly cognizant of all that is done by that below, by means of an infinite variety of statements trans- mitted periodically, showing in every possible form every kind of business, and devised to include everything in every shape. The Governments receive abstracts of cor- respondence, and annual statements and reports from the Boards, the Boards monthly statements, and reports from the executive officers of districts, and the executive officers Chap. VT. CENTRALIZATION. 255 daily reports and figured statements from their native sub- ordinates. The system of unlimited appeal also acts as a very great check on all authority. It is very freely exercised. Dissatisfied parties always carry their cases upwards as long as there is the smallest hope, so that all acts must stand the test of constant appeal and revision. Executive ^proceedings are as appealable as judicial decisions. There is this difference between the control exercised by the higher authorities over the executive officers, and the power of the latter over their inferiors, that in the former case the superiors can only act officially through the executive in the prescribed official course, and in the latter magistrates and collectors may do as they please, keep what they like in their own hands, delegate what they like to others, act either directly themselves or through others, and post and make use of all under them as they deem best. In India, as everywhere else, the great check on every- thing is the power of the purse, and that ^j^^^ ^^ control is very vigilantly exercised ; for, as tJoning charges, there are no funds which can be spent without being cre- dited, as every farthing of gross receipt of every kind appears in the public accounts, and as the executive oflacers have no power to expend the smallest sum on their own authority, all charges must be explained and sanctioned. The regular fixed establishment has a general sanction, and, full lists of the incumbents being submitted, the monthly pay is passed ; but for all contingent charges monthly bills are sent in. A certain class of ordinary items are, within certain limits (200 rupees, or 20^.), sanc- tioned by the Commissioners of Revenue and Police, cer- tain other charges by the Boards of Revenue, others may be sanctioned by the subordinate Governments, and some must go to the Government of India ; and all charges 256 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. which are not of a strictly routine and ordinary nature would be disallowed if incurred without previous sanction of Government. The rules of the civil auditor are very strict and precise. From the executive officers upwards all business is transacted, correspondence carried on, and Mode of con- , • i x^ t i i j ducting busi- accouuts kept, m the English language and the English form. The business of the dis- trict officers (except treasury accounts and correspondence with superior authority), and everything from them down- wards, is entirely transacted in the native language and in native form. Particulars of the English official form and system I need not give, as it corresponds very closely with that adopted in public offices in this country. Much method and many tabular statements are used to economise time and labour. The native forms of business, modes of account, &c , differ considerably from ours, but are very good and busi- ness-like. The Persian character used for the Hindostanee and in all the north is a sort of short-hand, in which vowels are for the most part omitted, and which is written much more quickly and easily than English, and, although by no means so good a character for record, is excellently well suited for ordinary current business. The natives seem to have an immense aptitude for tabular statements, and every writer who can do nothing else can, at any rate, make out figured schedules in synoptical form •, so the practice is very largely adopted, and is very useful. In India all business is conducted in writing to an extent quite beyond anything known in this Everj^thing re- . . corded in writ- couutry, cvcu lu our uiost important courts °' of record. There is more official writing and recording in a case of petty theft in our Indian police Chap. VI. ABSENCE OF PUBLICITY. 257 office than in the gravest case in Westminster Hall. All petitions, statements, applications of every description, are filed in writing ; all evidence is recorded in writing, and all orders and instructions of every kind are formally written and signed. This is much facilitated by the cheap- ness of the labour of clerks and the facility and brevity of the. Persian character. It is also rendered necessary by the incorrectness, vagueness, and talent for speaking hyperbolically of the natives. There is no getting them to make exact statements till they see their words put down in writing ; and, moreover, where there is no press, no reporters, and a jealously centralizing system, a minute record is necessary for future reference, to show exactly what has been done, and on what grounds, I have seen it somewhere stated that the same peculiarity exists in Kussian courts, perhaps for similar reasons. The language of the courts is now everywhere that of the people. It is one great advantage of Northern India that one universal Ian- ^"^"age guage prevails among all classes, and no man has any excuse for not becoming familiar with it, nor, indeed, can he well avoid becoming so if much employed among, or mixing with, the natives. In the south the variety of lan- guages seem to be a great disadvantage. Before leaving the subject of the Indian official system, it is necessary to mention one peculiarity, — -^^ official pub- at least, a peculiarity as co-existing with a 1^"^*^' f"*^ P°"- ' I •/ ~ sequent misre- free press. There is no provision for giving presentation. any publicity to the acts or views of Government ; there is little secrecy or concealment, but still it is not permitted to official men to publish official documents, and there is no official organ of the Government. The following is a circular issued by Lord Tweed- dale : — 258 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VI. From the Government, Madras, to the Board of Revenue. (Public Department, No. 809.) August 31, 1847. I AM directed by the Most Noble the Governor in Council to transmit to you the accompanying copy of a letter addressed to Mr. , under date the 24th instant, and to request that you will communicate it to all officers in the revenue department for their guidance : — " From the Government to , Esq. " (Public Department, No. 783.) " August 24, 1847. "1. I AM directed by the Most Noble the Governor in Council to desire that you will immediately report to Government whether the letter bearing the signature ' ,' inserted in the 'Spectator' newspaper of the 13th instant, was addressed by you to the editor. " 2. His Lordship in Council, while he desires that this Report may be made in order that it may stand on the records of Govern- ment, has no doubt of the authenticity of the letter ; and I am instructed to point out to you the great irregularity and impro- priety of your conduct, in submitting explanations touching your official proceedings to a newspaper. " 3. He warns you against the repetition of an act so unbe- coming in itself and to your position in the service, and so directly opposed to the spirit of the orders of the Honourable Court." This was very proper. If Government, or the officers of Government, once admit the practice of explaining their conduct to the newspapers, it would give the latter a sort of claim to explanation, and to assert anything they choose when explanation is withheld — a position altogether inconsistent with the nature of the Indian Government and the character of the Indian press ; but I mention the circumstance to show the position in which official men are placed and the cause of the false and fraudulent repre- sentations of official acts, which are harmless in India, but by dint of uncontradicted perseverance are apt to mislead the English public. Chap. VI. CHAEACTEE OF THE GOVERNMENT. 259 I may also here generally observe, that in the whole Indian official system there are almost no ,• -, 11 1 PI Absence of sine- appomtments (in the regnlar branches oi the cures, piuraii- service literally none) which are in any de- gree sinecures. They all require the undivided labour of the incumbents, and the performance of duties by deputy and such abuses are quite unknown. No office of any kind (excepting village offices in Bombay and Madras) is considered as property, or a "vested interest," as in Eng- land. In every case it is but a contract, the Government retaining a man and paying him a salary, for which he renders his whole power and service ; consequently plurali- ties are also unknown. No officer can absent himself from his district or his work, except by leave of Government, and on the official appointment of another to act. In every case the official list shows exactly what a man's office is, what he does, and what he gets ; and this applies to all grades and all persons. Anything superfluous is very speedily found out and abolished ; and there are no fees, perquisites, or any other emoluments excepting the fixed pay of the office. It must be understood that what I have said of the functions of different officers comprises all character of the the interference with and rule over the people ^^o^emment. exercised by the Government. The police in India is simply a police for suppressing crime, and is used for no political purpose whatsoever ; indeed, the natives enjoy a remarkable degree of personal independence. They arc under no surveillance whatever, subjected to no rules, irritated by no restraints. They do what they like, go where they like, and say what they like, provided they do not violate the laws. Those laws are of the fairest and mildest description. In fact, the code is almost entirely composed of the ordinary revenue, judicial, ;ind police regulations, and of enactments for the cstablish- s 2 260 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YI. merit, distribution, and powers of the different offices, and relating to a variety of local matters. Nothing of a severe or arbitrary kind is to be found in the whole list of laws and regulations, and political prosecutions of any kind very rarely occur, even more rarely than in England. By the laws not only individuals but the Government itself and its officers are most strictly bound, and all their acts can be called in question in courts of justice, which have at least the credit of independence and freedom from improper influence. The Government permits its acts to be questioned in the courts on an equality of footing to which I believe that no other Government in the world descends. England is one of the most free countries in Europe, yet in England Government can only be sued with the permission of the Attorney-General, and in a particular form ; and it is not, as to costs, &c., on an equality with a private suitor. In India, on the other hand, any one dissatisfied with the proceedings of the agents of Government may try the matter even in the lowest court, and on perfectly equal terms, or rather on unequal terms, for the Government officer has nothing to gain and nmch to lose by a suit of this kind. I think that the principle is carried a great deal too far, that it is in such excess inconsistent with an absolute government ; but it shows the spirit in which things are regulated. At the same time it is certainly the case, that, if the Government is mild and even over-cautious of offence, it is so of its owui will ; for it is undoubtedly a pure despot- ism, and must remain so. Any attempt at instituting self- government beyond the limits of a village, Impracticability ... . n ^ • i r> of self-govern- or obtauimg au expression oi the wishes oi the natives as a body, is at present out of the question. It has sometimes been attempted to palm on the public, as expressions of native opinion, documents of purely European concoction, to which the signature is Chai>. VI. IMPEACTICABILITY OF SELF-GOVERNMENT. 26 1 obtained of some Europeanized natives of the presidency towns, and in which the seditious Europeans, under the fiction of " the natives," express their attachment to the Hindoo religion, desire to retain the privilege of burning their widows and of depriving converts of their property, intimate their aversion to the Government, and so on. But most assuredly, however those residing among them may judge of their feelings and wishes, the real natives have never united in any expression of them. The best test of con- <>''<^<:- n portunities of Hcrc are the very best professors, some or education there. ,-, ii, -.i , iti the ablest men in the country ; and i nave no hesitation in saying that nowhere in England is there opportunity for learning more in a little time. Indeed I very much doubt whether there is anywhere to be obtained, in the time, so much useful practical education at the hands of so able men — the first principles and founda- tions of law and political economy, the great features of history, and useful applications of mathematics. Classics are but read sufficiently to keep up what has been before acquired. But unfortunately the regulations of the College have been too much in the hands of admirers of the Oriental CiiAi'. VII. thp: civil service. 265 languages ; and a large portion of the valuable time, which is little enough for the subjects which I have oriental lan- mentioned, is compulsorily devoted to that s'^^ges- which would be much better and more easily acquired in India, or rather to that which is not required in India at all. The great study at Haileybury is Sanscrit, a language not more useful to an Indian magistrate than a knowledge of the tongue of the ancient Germans would be to a modern commissioner of pr lice, who might now and then discover a slang term to be of orthodox Saxon origin, to the great edification of philologists ; yet it may be doubted whether his efficiency would be much increased thereby. Not only is Sanscrit required at Haileybury, but the distinguishing feature of the whole system there is this : that while the study of the Oriental languages is compul- sory, that of the other, or what are called "European" subjects, is in practice purely voluntary. Of the latter a student may learn a great deal or nothing at all, but Ori- entals he must know something of The natural conse- quence is, that all those who are at all idle, who are not inclined to serve two masters, stick to the Oriental lan- guages and despise the European sciences, because the one secures their appointments and their pay, the other only tends to make them efficient, which is quite another matter. The idle are always in a majority, and there is less than common incitement to work beyond a certain point among those whose provision in life is secured ; yet I do not know that there is a larger proportion of idleness than elsewhere. Perhaps one-third of the students at Haileybury do real good there ; the majority acquire next to nothing that is practically useful, except the Oriental alphabets ; and say about fifteen or twenty per cent, are or used to be plucked, and go out in the cavalry. There is an examination each term. Sanscrit is exacted every 266 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. term, and in the two last terms a smattering of Persian and Hindostanee is added. Mr. H. H. Wilson, the great apostle of Sanscrit, comes down ; a certain moderate number of pages in each language is the " test," and who- ever fails in any one is immediately plucked. On the other hand, although there is also an examination on European subjects, a student may be utterly ignorant of several of these without injury to his prospects. I can speak positively that in my time I have seen a man passed, reported qualified for the service, and sent out to India, to whom had been inihlicly assigned, by each and every professor of European subjects, the mark which in one Oriental would have plucked him — that of " little," which being interpreted means " nothing" I hope that such extreme instances are rare ; and I understand that some attempt has since been made to require, in fact or in name, some knowledge even of European subjects, but am sure that Orientals are still in reality the only sub- stantial test.* Now this Oriental test proves nothing whatever of talent or intellect. The most obtuse person can, with certain labour, get over a fixed number of pages in any language ; * Since writing this I have seen in 'The Times' of December 16th, 1851, the report of the last Haileybury examination, and it confirms me in the belief that, while greater nominal attainments are now required, there is less real test than formerly. At the summer examination a Director very perti- nently remarked — " Tliere must be something wrong here, for no one is plucked ;" and in truth we must estimate the severity- of an examination, as of a battle, by the number of killed and wounded. In my time it was not pretended tliat more than one in three or four was " highly distinguished," and there was very often a most respectable return of " plucked ;" but now- a-days Mr. Melville must be either a miraculously skilful or a singularly for- tunate man ; and even then, I should say, that his report is not very logical, for the exception is formed by those who are not " highly distinguished." In the fourth term, whose turn had come for going to India, there were on this occasion 20 students ; none were plucked or had mere moderate merit, but 19 yiGve "highly distinguished" Aiiii the 20th had " passed with great credit." Now who is really distinguished — the 19 remarkable above the 20th, or the 20th distinguished from the 19? Chap. VII. HAILEYBUUY. 26? but it acts in another way, for as it does require a certain amount of labour, to which the wildest and most reckless will not submit, some of these latter are eliminated, and sent to serve their country in a fitter sphere — on the saddle instead of the bench. Altogether I take the combined result of the prelimi- nary and Hailevbury examinations to be, •'•'•' Result of the that, from the average of an educated class several examiua- of life, those who combine great idleness and recklessness with stupidity are purged out; the majority, who have a little industry, and most of those who have a little talent, remain : say one-third are eliminated, and two-thirds go to India. To India, then, they are sent between the ages of nineteen and twenty-three, with a Haileybury certificate of fitness. All carry with them a decent education, some a very good one ; there are all de- grees of talent and absence of talent, but all have shown some small power of application to languages. All know a little Sanscrit, which is of no use, and two Oriental alphabets, which are jn'O tanto usefid ; some have acquired the first principles of jurisprudence and political economy, some know nothing at all about it, except a few terms and phrases picked up at lecture. I think it must be admitted that the average is considerably above par ; but a few are certainly sent whose intellects have been sufiiciently proved to show that they are not and never can be fit for the duties which will be required of them — most indubitable bad bargains to the Company. It becomes pretty clear at Haileybury what is in a man, and to send out an unfit person is clearly wrong. Greater fools are admitted into all other professions — barristers, or clergymen, or phy- sicians ; but there is this difference, that no one need em- ploy a foolish barrister or physician, and the cure of souls being, by our peculiar constitution, matter of legal barter and sale, we are content to require no qualifications ; but 268 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. VII. in the Indian service, a man once retained must be paid, whether he be fit or no. The duties are such as to require a very considerable amount of intellect ; and it is one dis- advantage of the absence of sinecures, that Government has no opportunity of so providing for an incompetent man that if he can do no good he may at least do no harm.* Civilians are nominated in England to a particular Pre- sidency, and the line of division is absolute. SoutiriitG SGirvicG . ^ . for each Presi- They are almost never transferred or em- '^^'^^' ployed out of the territory to which they Numbers. belong. The whole number, by a late list, is as follows : — Bengal Service ...... 484 Madras Service . . . . . .189 Bombay Service . . . . .135 Total Civil Service . . 808 On arrival in India, Bengal civilians are assigned either to Bengal Proper or to the North- West Provinces, and once attached are seldom changed. The civilians em- ployed under the Supreme Government also belong almost exclusively to Bengal. At the commencement of the career of the young civilian ^ „ . f.,, in India, the Government have a very in- College in Cal- ' J cutta. genious plan for at once fully developing, and it may be expending, all his bad qualities. It is judged that he must read the languages to fit him for the public service. He therefore remains for a time " in College," as it is called — that is to say, he lives and * Haileybury is a very useful place, but the system and tests of qualification should be considerably altered. It has often struck me that the tone and style would be much improved if the whole college, professors included, were transjjlanted to Cambridge, so as to combine the education of Haileybury with the tone, character, contact, and competition Avith other classes of tlie University. And I can see no possible objection to the plan except a little expense, trifling compared to the magnitude of the interests involved. CiiAP. VII. COLLEGE IN CALCUTTA. 269 amuses himself as he likes in Calcutta (Madras, or Bombay, as the case may be) ; and once a month, if he find no con- venient excuse, drives to the College (the shade of that established by Lord Wellesley, now let out for merchants' warehouses) to give the examiner there an opportunity of ascertaining how he is getting on ; but for the first year at least he is literally not in any way required to do anything. On the contrary, he is allowed for passing many times longer than is necessary. Calcutta is an extremely plea- sant, gay, and expensive place ; he receives within a frac- tion the same pay as a working assistant ; has always at the first a certain amount of credit ; and there are glorious traditions of the doings of former days, when the service was a service, and a few thousand pounds of debt was a trifle. The privilege of remaining to enjoy all this, instead of being forthwith banished to a remote up-country station, depends on not passing ; and being for the first time their own masters, all who are either naturally fast, or have any lurking propensities that way capable of being de- veloped by judicious temptation, stay in Calcutta as long as they can, lead an idle dissipated life, and get into debt, not, as of old, when native bankers trusted them to any amount — that magnificent credit has gone by — but they go to banks and money-lenders. A goes security for B, B for C, and C again for A. They get money on usurious terms, and sufficiently into debt to interfere very seriously with their future prospects ; for fast men seldom turn good managers, and, promotion being slow and pay diminished, they do not soon get clear. In my time eighteen months was allowed for passing college, with additions if a medical certificate could be procured ; and I understand that Government, thinking this, I suppose, too short a term for thoroughly sowing wild oats, have since further extended it, although six months would be amply sufficient to pass. But all plea- 270 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIT. sant times must come to an end, and after a stay in college, varying- according to disposition from two months to three years, the young civilian passes in the languages, and is declared qualified for the public service ; that is to say, he reads certain passages in certain out-of-the-way books, which he is never likely to open again ; but has little more practical or useful knowledge of the languages than when he left Haileybury ; cannot talk to a native or understand a word of an ordinary paper read in Court. Even the colloquial smattering which in any other part of the country he must have picked up, he is not likely to have acquired in the Presidency towns. There is a myth, that those who don't pass within the limited time will be sent back again to England, and a tradition that they have been so sent in former days ; but in Bengal, at least, I believe that there has been no such instance in the memory of the present generation. All happen to pass at the last moment. This ceremony gone through, a civilian's real practical service commences. He has very probably The civilian .. , . ., . i t ■ r. after passing really sowu his Wild oats — got to the limit ot his credit — and begins to discover that debt is not so pleasant after all. He is attached to either the Bengal or the Agra Government, and appointed assistant to a magistrate and collector. He now commences the education which he should have received at first. Around him nothing is spoken but the colloquial native tongue ; he can only communicate by means of it with all with whom he has to do in Court and out of Court ; and he must pick it up whether he likes it or no. At the end of a year he can generally more or less understand, and make himself understood. A few years more and the language becomes familiar to him as his mother tongue. I believe that this is the case in all the countries where Hindostanee, or dialects nearly approaching to Hindos- Chap. VII. THE CIVILIAN'S PROGRESS. 27 1 tanee, are universally spoken, in all of which there is but one language to learn. In Northern India the effi- ciency of very few officers is diminished by want of fami- liarity with the language of every day life and business. It seems to be somewhat different in Bengal and the south, because the language understood by and used in communication with a certain class, such as servants, &c., is Hindostanee, while the language of the people is quite different, and more than one language may be necessary. Especially in Madras there are four different languages. Hence it often happens that an officer who has served in one part of the country is posted to another, where he can- not understand the language of the people. In such a case it would be well to exact and ascertain that he attains within a moderate time a sufficient knowledge of the vernacular. To return to the progress of the young civilian. Once in the interior, and assistant to the executive officer in charge of a district, he has little further temptation to idleness and extravagance ; but, on the contray, everything to draw him towards his profession. All his njg j^ties and pursuits and amusements become connected pu^'^^its- with his duties, which are of such a nature that few men can but like them. He is of little use at first ; but his superior gradually initiates him, and, from signing his name to formal papers and making translations and ab- stracts, he begins to take a practical part in the duties and generally soon becomes a zealous servant of Government. Indeed, it is wonderful how this position acts on a man. Whatever may have been his former character, and what- ever the inconvenience to him personally of former extra- vagance, he almost invariably acquires zeal . 1 1 r. 1111 Almost invaria- lor his work berore he has been long up biy becomes rpi p .• ^ zealous, country. Ihere are very few exceptions to this rule. All the varieties of talent, temper, and of me- thodical aptitude of course remain, but hardly any men 272 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. ill the end altogether fail from idleness or dissipation. The common accusation against the service is of a too great disposition to " talk shop " in public and private. The effect of official education in even begetting a sort of Effect of official talent for business is very remarkable. It education. |g astouishiug with what very moderate in- tellects men employed exclusively on official duties from their youth upwards become very tolerably efficient, and how a tolerable amount of sense is developed into great official skill •, for instance, how large a proportion of the service become in time well fitted for the charge of a district, and for duties such as I have described. The fact is then, that, with the exception of the few bad bar- Generai effi- g'^^ins, who are quitc too stupid to learn, and ciency. ^^.j-,q ought ucvcr to havc been sent out, the great majority are, or at some period of their lives have been, wonderfully efficient. Commencing, as I have explained, with a material considerably above par, it is improved to the very utmost by constant professional practice ; and I think I may without vanity say that the service as a body pos- sesses habits of business, a knowledge of its duties, and general official aptitude, such as is excelled by no body of equal numbers in the world. I do not say that it might not be improved, but speak comparatively to any other existing body. To one class of exceptions to the general efficiency (that of men w^anting in intellect) I have alluded. Another is that of men once equal to their duties, but worn out in body, mind, or temper. Promotion is so slow now-a-days, and so many men get into debt at the commencement, that they only attain the pleasant places of the service com- paratively late, and then can't or won't retire. The most indifferent officers get on the slowest, and yet attain a cer- tain rank in time ; the wear and tear of climate must in the end, say in thirty or thirty-five years, tell on a man's Chap. VII. BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE. 273 powers. And so it happens that some of the higher ap- pointments are for long blocked up by elderly men, never brilliant, and now inefficient, yet not so bad as to be positively ejected. The Bengal civil service was lately nearly thus distri- buted : — Serving under Supreme Government, including the Punjab . . . . , .55 Under Government of Bengal . . . 184 Under Government of the N.W. Provinces . 140 379 In College 20 On leave, including furlough to Europe and sick leave in India ..... 85 484 And the 379 actually employed may be thus classified according to departments : — Distribution of ^ '■ the Bengal civil Supreme Council Lieutenant-Governor — Agra Secretariat (Supreme, Bengal, and Agra) Treasury and Accounts, Audit, &c. Post Offices .... Boards of Revenue (including Secre taries) ..... Chief Courts of Justice (including Re gistrars) .... Commissioners of Revenue and Police Superintendent of Police (Lower Pro vinces) ..... Inspector of Gaols (Upper Provinces) Salt Department Opium Department Customs Dcj)artment . Excise and Stamps Carried foi'wai-d 2 1 10 10 12 12 1 1 6 2 5 3 75 274 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. Brought forward Judicial and Executive of o^' districts — Lower Provinces : — Judges Collectors Magistrates Assistants Settlement Officers Judicial and Executive of 31 districts — Upper Provinces : — Judges ...... Magistrates and Collectors . Joint Magistrates and Deputy Collectors . Assistants , . . . . Employed in the Punjab In other Non-Regulation Provinces In the Political Department . Total 75 28 34 34 34 5 135 20 30 31 31 40 12 5 — 57 112 379 Promotion goes for the most part by seniority. I have already mentioned that the nomination to cipaiiy ^goes by appointments rests with the Indian Govern- senionty. nicnts ; and they are under no positive obli- gation to be guided by seniority ; but still it would seem that a strong prescriptive custom has grown up. Nowhere in the world, I believe, is patronage exercised with a smaller proportion of undue favour. Nothing can be per- fect ; but the comfort and credit of the dispensers of patronage depend so much on its proper application, and the rule of seniority holds so strong, that there is little room for the exercise of favouritism ; and the distribution is wonderfully fair. But then, on the other hand, too great equality takes away the incentive to extraordinary exertion. The general rule seems to be, that a very in- Chap. VII. MODES OF ArrOINTMENT. 275 efficient man may be kept out of his promotion, and advantage may be taken of local opportunities to give a very good man promotion a little earlier-, but that, when neither extreme occurs, seniority is, in what is called the " regular line" of the service, the rule. It is some- what different in different governments, and under different governors. In Bengal proper the rule of seniority seems to be very strict. In the north-west provinces it is sometimes a little relaxed. The departments of treasury and accounts, of salt, OTjium, customs, &c., are considered out of the , ,. , '11 Appointments regular hne, and some men remam througii out of the regu- their whole service in particular departments. Sometimes too the secretariat becomes a sort of separate department, in which individuals almost exclusively serve. A few political and non-regulation appointments held by the civil service, are hitherto exempt fi'om the ordinary prescription of seniority, and the Punjab has of late been the principal opportunity of escape from the routine of promotion for those who like to take the extra labour and risk of health. The regular line consists in the district executive and judicial appointments as classed in the distri- ^j^g regular Hne bution list which I have given. Of this line "f *« ^'^'•^'i'^e- the prizes are the appointments in the Boards of Revenue and Chief Courts of Justice, commissionerships, and an occasional secretariat appointment. The course of promotion is somewhat thus. An as- sistant works in the offices of both magistrate course of pro- and collector. In a Bengal district the ™°'^*'"- judge is the highest officer, the collector next; lowest, and by far the least paid, the magistrate. Therefore, the first step is to a magistracy, and when his turn comes the assistant is promoted to that office. When he has been a number of years magistrate, and his turn again comes, T 2 276 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. he is promoted to be collector, with a totally different set of duties, in which office he remains till in due course he becomes a judge and undertakes another set of duties. In the North-West Provinces, the magistrate and col- lector being the same person, a man remains so far in the same office. He is first promoted to be joint-magistrate and deputy-collector, and eventually to be head of a district. There are oftener exceptions on the ground of inefficiency in this step than in any other, because so much depends on efficiently filling the appointment ; but the great ma- jority are promoted in due course. During all this time there are but very few prizes for men in the regular line. Indeed, the three or four ap- pointments as secretaries to the subordinate Governments, or to the Boards of Revenue and Chief Courts, are all that can be considered in that light, and they are few among so many, and are often given to those in the secretariat line. When a collector is old enough, he is made a judge; and to this step there is almost no exception if it is wished for. It seems to be considered that, if at this time of life a man is fit for anything at all, he is fit for a judge ; and if he is fit for nothing, better make him a judge and get rid of him ; for once in that office he has no claim to further promotion by mere seniority alone. The judicial department being in a less satisfactory state than any other, is less sought after, and, the ill effects of mismanage- ment being less immediately startling, the principle that (in a choice of evils) any man will do for a judge seems to have become established. Some who mismanage their districts are said to be promoted to be judges against their will. Moreover, all who can get anything out of the regular line have by this time got it. A crack magistrate and collector probably prefers a commissionership in the Punjab, or to wait for one in the provinces, and men are now nearly entitled to their pensions before they get CiiAr. VII. COURSE OF PROMOTION. 277 judgeships. Altogether it happens that comparatively few much above mediocrity remain to be judges, and that of those who do many are disappointed, and many hang on when they are old and worn-out. A bad department is thus made worse. I think it may be said that the higher appointments, the seats in the superior Boards and Courts, ^he higher ap- are more or less made by selection. Young p^^^tments. men cannot be appointed to them. A man must go through all the inferior grades, but when he has passed through them he may look to the higher appointments as the prizes of distinction, although there may be many old judges senior to him. The greatest prizes of all, and the appointments which depend least on strict seniority, are the Secretaryships to the Supreme Government, because these lead to public distinction and to still higher posts in the gift of the authorities at home. Secretaries have been taken from all departments. Altogether the difference between the extremes of suc- cess and want of success in the civil service is certainly not nearly so great as between the extremes of any other profession. All are well provided for; but it must be re- membered that of 800 men seriously devoting themselves to any profession — say the bar — some attain rewards such as do not fall to Indian civilians. The difference of pay and promotion of different members of the service may be judged by a report of the Civil Annuity Fund, from which it appears that, of the men of a particular year quoted, the highest amount of subscriptions (a uniform percentage on salaries) paid by any individual was 22,910 rupees, and the lowest 14,119. The evil of changing men from one department to another is very great. If departments are Eviis of change ^ from one tlepart- to be kept separate there should be grades mcit to another. of promotion in that department. Nothing can be worse 27S MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. Average of service. than the system in Bengal Proper of making a man first magistrate, then collector, then judge. In all the other Presidencies, where the executive duties of magistrate and collector are united (as I think that they most con- veniently may be), there is a very good training and gradation so far; but in both divisions of Bengal the Judicial department is entirely in the hands of men pro- moted to be Judges late in life, and with no previous experience whatever of the principal portion of their duties (civil justice), than which no evil can be greater. In Madras and Bombay there is some opportunity of acquir- ing judicial experience in a lower grade, and there un- doubtedly ought to be so in Bengal if the department is as now kept separate from the executive. The following is the average period of service (includ- periods ^^^o furloughs, kc.) of civil servants holding appointments of different grades in the Ben- gal Presidency : — Secretaries to Supreme Government Secretaries — Bengal and Agra Judges — Sudder Court, Calcutta Judges — Sudder Court, Agra Members — Boards of Revenue Civil Members — Board of Punjab Commissioners — Punjab Deputy Commissioners — Punjab Judges — Zillahs . Magistrates and Collectors — N.W vinces .... Collectors — Lower Provinces Magistrates — Lower Provinces Joint Magistrates and Deputy Collectors Upper Provinces Assistants .... The present promotion in Madras and Bombay seems to be at least as good as that in Bengal. nt . .25 yesLTs . 23' . 34 . 26 . 30 . 22 . 18 to 23 . 7 to 14 . 23 to 57 \ Pro- . 18 to 26 . 18 to 26 . 7 to 19 lectors . 7 to 19 . 1 to 7 Chap. VII. ACTING APPOINTMENTS — FUELOUGII. 279 The Government may grant any officer leave for one month in any calendar year, if it be convenient to do so, without deduction from his pay, except so 1 -n • 1 • Leave rules and much as will cover any expense mcurred m acting appoint- supplying his place. With this exception "'^^ ^' no absence of any kind can take place without forfeiture of pay. During absence on medical certificate, not ex- ceeding two years, one-third is cut — on private affairs, not exceeding three months, one-half; provided that the leave is confined to certain geographical limits. The officer who officiates receives as follows : If he has no appointments of his own, one-fourth of the salary ; if he has another appointment, 10 per cent. ; and the Government pockets the difference. This is an arrangement of Lord Ellen- borough's. The Government was formerly subjected to loss by absence and acting appointments. He had there- fore ground for setting right so much. But on pretext of public advantage he went so far ou the other side as to subject the service to rules which seem rather personally spiteful and unjust than any thing else. Ten per cent, will not nearly pay a man's expenses when he goes to act for another at another station. If the service were paid too high it should have been directly and openly cut down, not indirectly injured in this inequitable way. The moment any servant of the Company passes certain degrees of latitude his appointment in India ]7„riough to eu- becomes vacant. To enable civil servants "^"p®- to visit Europe a furlough of three years is permitted after ten years' service, during which an allowance of 500/. per annum is paid in England. But there is this extraordinary anomaly still subsisting, that on medical certificate a man may go for two years to the Cape, Australia, Syria, China, and many other places, involving longer voyages than to England, with the greater portion of his Indian allowances, and retaining his Indian appointment ; the time is counted 280 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. for service ; and he may repeat this several times ; but if he comes to Europe he receives a much smaller allowance (and that only once), and on his return he is without an appointment, and may knock about on Lord Ellenborongh's acting allowances till a suitable vacancy turns up. The consequence is that there is a much greater disposition to take leave within Indian limits, where nothing is learned and much is forgotten, than to come to Europe and Eu- ropeanise ; and visits to Europe are not at all so frequent as they ought to be in these days of easy communication. These rules ought long ago to have been changed, and the Governor-General strongly urged that they should be so ; but in consequence of the divided authority at home, and the unwillingness to stir matters, it was resolved to postpone a measure of the general propriety of which all were separately convinced, although they might not agree as to the detail of new rules. One of the greatest hindrances to the efficiency of the Frequent chano-e scrvicc is the frcqueut changc of the persons of officers. holding each appointment. On an average a man does not hold the same office for more than two or three years without interruption, if so much. The conse- quence is, that there is little opportunity for the acquisition of local knowledge, which is so necessary to administrative duties. This is an evil to a certain extent unavoidable in a service of foreigners. Men must sometimes return to England, and they must sometimes get sick; but it is very much aggravated by the system of promoting, ac- cording to seniority, from one grade to another, from one part of the country to another, and from one department to another, with little reference to any local experience or claims whatever. The vacation of appointment on pro- ceeding, for however short a time, to Europe, also destroys all local connection. Hence it is that the efficiency of the service depends Chap. VII. QUALIFICATIONS OF CIVIL SERVANTS. 281 altogether upon a uniform and centralized official system rather than on local experience. I have already remarked on the great official aptitude acquired by the service generally from conti- Qualifications of nued practice. But I did not mean thereby ^^^'^ servants. to say that the appointments are always sufficiently well filled. What I would express is, that by means of this acquired official skill the civil servants are enabled to carry on the business of appointments which give ample scope to the very highest possible powers infinitely better than would seem at first sight credible in a country alto- gether foreign to them, under a system by which all are promoted without reference to intellect, and officers are continually changed from one appointment to another, while the laws have never been properly systematized, nor the foundation of a good judicial system obtained. To speak generally of the qualifications of civil servants for their appointments, I should say that in all administra- tive duties they succeed, generally speaking, exceedingly well, but that the judicial part of the work is very indiffer- ently performed. It has long ago been remarked that they are not "juris periti," and they are not likely to become so unless we have, first, good, clear, intelligible codes ; and, second, a good judicial training. I think that it is one bad effect of the seniority system that men become too independent of Govern- ment — too fond of following their own ideas, independent of r^^^ ^ fv* • t ^ i Government. ihey have sumcient zeal, and as long as they feel that they are well intentioned, are too apt to be indifferent to the wishes and general system of the Govern- ment. It is to meet this that the Government are driven to impose so many inconvenient checks and restraints in order to obtain a compulsory centralization ; whereas, if officers felt themselves more dependent on the ap])r()val and good-will of the dispensers of promotion, they would 282 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. be more likely bond fide to try to meet its wishes without the necessity of imposing so strict a sm*veillance, and a more efficient centralization would be obtained without so much trouble. \^ purity of conduct, character, and intention I am sure that the service has for the last fifty years Purity of cha- • n i i • 11 racter and con- stoocl unrivalled, aucl HI Very agreeable con- trast to other speculating, fee-receiving, job- bing officials in several parts of the world. There must be occasional exceptions to all rules, and debt, the reduc- tion of pay, and contact with the many rascals, official and non-official, dwelling within the jurisdiction of her Majesty's Supreme Court at Calcutta (that capital of com- mercial rascality), have lately induced one or two instances of misconduct on the part of men employed in some of the Calcutta offices. Even these instances are of no such deep dye as they might be. There has been no disposing of justice for bribes or embezzlement of trust-money, but only unjustifiable conduct in regard to debts, and in one instance, I believe, the sale of an office in the Stamp department. Such cases are exceedingly rare — out of Calcutta, indeed, almost unknown — and have been met by prompt ejectment from the service. It remains to notice the rate of emoluments received by the civil service. It must be borne in mind that the fixed salaries are the only receipts of any kind, that there are no extra sources of gain what- soever, and that every kind of private speculation is abso- lutely prohibited and prevented. Each man draws his monthly pay, and if he saves anything can only invest it in Government securities or in the public banks. The following, then, may give some idea of the salaries received. I have calculated in English money at 25. per rupee, which makes the pay higher than according to the usual calculation. The distribution list of appointments Chap. VII. SALARIES. 283 and statement of average standing already given will show the number and standing of the recipients. I give the gross salary, from which the subscriptions to pension funds (to be afterwards mentioned) are deducted before pay- ment. The salaries of the members of the Government are as under : — Governor-General, per annum . Governors of Madras and Bombay Lieutenant-Governor of Agra . Members of Supreme Council . Members of Council, Madras and Bombay £ 25,000 12,500 8,400 10,000 6,200 The Home Government have fixed 5200^. per annum as the limit of all the higher appointments under members of Council. That salary is received by the secretaries to the Supreme Government, by some of the members of the superior courts and boards, and by some of the chief political residents and Governor General's agents. Some of the appointments in the Sudder Court have lately been cut down to 4200/., which is, I believe, the salary received by the Agra judges, the additional judges at Calcutta, the second and third members of the Punjab board, and the second class of political residents. Commissioners in the provinces receive , £ 3,500 In the Punjab 3,300 Judges' 3,000 Magistrate and Collector — N.W. Provinces . 2,700 Collectors— Bengal 2,300 Magistrate — Bengal 1,080 Joint Magistrates and Deputy Collectors — N.W. Provinces . . . .840 and 1,200 Assistants ....... 480 Deputy Commissioners— Punjab . . 1,200 to 1,800 Judge — Madras and Bombay . . . 2,800 Magistrate and Collector — Madi'as and Bombay 2,800 284 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. Civil servants have a pension of 1000/. per annum after twenty-two years' service and three years' I*Gnsion9. furlough, on the following terms : — They are required to subscribe four per cent, of all pay and allow- ances, and the accumulated subscriptions, with interest, must amount or be made up to half the value of the annuity when the pension is taken. All the subscriptions of those who die in the service, or remain till their con- tributions exceed the half value, go towards payment of the other half What remains is contributed by Govern- ment : but on these terms that contribution certainly does not exceed 300/. of the 1000/. annuity. Some indirect advantage is also given in the allowance of six per cent, on the contributions, while the public only receive five per cent, for money invested in the funds. The pension given by Government may therefore be taken to be about 400/. per annum, while the rest is made up by subscriptions on a mutual assurance system. There is another fund supported by a percentage on all salaries (regarding which there is no option) and a small contribution from Government. From this fund widows receive 300/. per annum — sons from a certain age till twenty-one, and daughters till married, each 100/. per annum. These then, I think, include all the advantages, direct or contingent, received by the civil servants in return fbr the labour of their lives, unless we may also include certain rewards and decorations lately bestowed on individuals by Her Majesty's Government, which seems now to appreciate the official merits and qualifications of the only class in the empire exclusively devoted to the administration of government as a pro- fession. Several colonial governments have of late years been bestowed on them, several civil K.C.B.-ships, one or two baronetcies, and one peerage. In regard to badges Chap. VII. COMPARATIVE REMUNERATION. 285 of honour, it is, however, to be regretted that (as gene- rally happens) these rewards are more freely given for political services, which meet the public eye, than for the less obtrusive internal administration of great territories. Mr. Thomason, who has made the North-West Provinces, and Mr. John Lawrence, who is making the Punjab, still remain undecorated. There is an ancient popular belief that the civil service is a monopoly, and too highly paid. Now f ■, -,. IP 1 1 .. -, 1 Comparative i believe the tact to be that it is only by rate of remu- . . I . -PI Deration. entertaining an exclusive service irom boy- hood that the work is done so cheap as it is ; and secondly, that, supposing the duties to be efficiently performed, the pay is not only not too high, but has become of late years too low. Work in India is not to be measured by the same standard as in England, but by the marketable value of the commodity. We must consider the nature of the duties and of the country, and then compare the remu- neration with that of other professions and other countries. European agency in India must be expensive, and should be used as little as possible ; but the appointments in which it is indispensable should be sufficiently paid. I think it may be fairly estimated that European labour in India is at least three times as dear as in England. Put the case practically : — Would most men who have ap- pointments of 1000/. per annum in England think it a very great gain to get one of 3000/. in India ? Would a Master in Chancery, with 2500/. a year, always care to accept an Indian judgeship or seat in Council, with three or four times that salary ? And do not persons practising private professions charge and make profits three times as largely as in England ? To compare, then, we must divide all salaries by three. Take an instance : — Judges of the Sudder Court receive, some 5200/., and some have been cut down to 4200/. 286 MODERN INDIA. Chap, VII. These men have each the superintendence of justice over (on an average, if we divide the whole, say) 8,000,000 of people, who have to the full as much taste for litigation as in England, and there is a much less well ascertained and consequently more difficult law to administer. The salary of the best-paid is about equivalent to 1700/. per annum in England, which it has been thought necessary to cut down to 1400/. Or, to take an Indian comparison: the Supreme Court has a local jurisdiction much less than that of a single Zillah Judge, and a personal jurisdiction over Europeans in the interior, concurrent with the Com- pany's courts, which is happily very seldom called into play, except when the object is to harass the Company's magistrates and judges by the exercise of a usurped juris- diction contrary to law. The judges receive as follows : — Chief £ 8,000 Two Puisnes .... 6,000 each. Now I do not say that these salaries are too high, if such a court is required at all ; and certainly there has not been a sufficient inducement to fill the posts with barristers of any eminence at home ; but I ask, is it reasonable, while to persons not in the exclusive service such salaries are given for such duties, to say that the smaller pay drawn for vastly more important duties is too high and must be cut down ? Then take a Zillah Judge : he is in the position of a judge who superintends, hears appeals from, and altogether directs, half a dozen county court judges, and has un- limited original jurisdiction ; yet his appointment is not (being divided by three) so valuable as that of one of the judges of county courts in England, who have 1000/. or 1200/. a year, besides private practice, and yet are con- fessedly underpaid. Again : is the equivalent of 900/. a year too much for a magistrate and collector, charged Chap. VII. MILITARY OFFICERS IN CIVIL EMPLOY. 287 with the whole administration of three or four counties? and is not a salary equal to 360/. a year in England ridiculously too small for the sole magistrate of a Bengal district containing 1,000,000 inhabitants ? The next class employed in civil duties is that of mili- tary officers, selected for the purpose. They ,. .. pT'i 1 Military officers have the great majority oi political and non- employed on regulation appointments, to the number of about 200, exclusive of civil duties of a military nature, such as police battalions, &c. The appointments are nearly thus distributed: — Supreme Council, Governor of Madras, Military Secretariat, College of Fort \Yiniam, &c. &c. 20 Political appointments ..... 80 Non-regulation appointments .... 100 The transfer of military officers to civil or political employ is, generally speaking, in the first instance a matter of patronage. Some who distinguish themselves in other ways get political appointments as rewards, but in most cases it must be admitted that a young officer is made assistant to a resident or civil commissioner very much at random, or through interest ; and it is so for the best of reasons, viz. that, however desirous Government may be to get the best men, it really knows nothing of them, and must take those recommended by their friends. There is no test of qualification, but these, in common with all staff officers, are required by a late rule — or rather by an old rule lately for the first time enforced by Lord Dalhousie • — to pass a certain small examination in Hindostanee. Once in this employ an officer's farther promotion, and everything connected with his appointment, depends on much the same rules as those of the civil service, except that there is not the same general seniority list. Of course a well-educated man, caught young and long in civil em- 288 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YII. ploy, acquires business habits just the same whether he be military or civil, and there is every grade of fitness and unfitness. Military men are on various occasions liable to be recalled to their regiments. Of course they have not, on the average, so much experience as those who have been educated to the business, but many distinguished men have sprung from this class ; and I need not take upon myself to say more of their qualifications. Many of my remarks on the civil service apply to all civil employes. I have also mentioned the salaries of many of the appointments to which military men, in common with civilians, are eligible, and which are as good as any in the service. But the exe- cutive of some barren, thinly-peopled districts, is perhaps carried on by military men at a cheaper rate than tracts of equal area in the provinces. Lord Ellenborough, having ejected from the Saugor and Nerbudda commission the whole body of employes, civil and military, tried the expe- riment of putting in new^ military officers on very much reduced pay, to which he added certain allowances for the command of police battalions which could not be held by civilians. In my account of the Government I have alluded to the Uncovenaiited ofRccs held by uucovcnanted servants under officers. appointment of Government, and who now relieve the covenanted officers in charge of districts and departments of a great part of the duties which they were unable single-handed properly to perform. They may be thus classed : — 1. The uncovenanted judges, in whose hands is almost all original jurisdiction in civil suits in both divisions of the Bengal Presidency and in the Punjab, &c. ; 2. the un- covenanted deputies to the magistrates and collectors, and 3, the Tehseeldars, who, though not originally gazetted to their appointments by Government, cannot now be removed except by sanction of superior authority, have such large Chap. VII. UNCOVENANTED OFFICERS. 289 pay and powers, and are altogether so respectable and useful a class, that both in Madras and Bombay, and in Northern India, they may be considered to belong to the superior class of uncovenanted servants. In Bengal Proper there is no such grade as that of Tehseeldar. There is, moreover, a large class of uncovenanted officers by whom, subject to a general supervision, the whole executive duties of the salt, opium, customs, &c., are performed. There is no correct list of uncovenanted servants, but, as near as I can calculate, the whole lumbers and number in all India must be somewhat as tiistnbution. follows : — Uncovenanted Judges, called Principal Sudder Aumeens, Sudder Ameens, and Moonsiffs . 600 Deputy Magistrates and Deputy Collectors in Bengal and North-West Provinces, and Un- covenanted Assistants in the Punjab, &c. . 250 Tehseeldars 800 Salt, Opium, Customs, &c. : Superintendents of Salt-Chokees, Sub-Deputy Opium Agents, Deputy Collectors, and Patrols of Customs, &c. &c., say 200 Total number . . .1850 The more important officers are appointed by Govern- ment, but the Sudder Courts nominate the gy .^j^^,^ Moonsiffs, or lowest grade of judges; officers p^^^^*^'^- in charge of districts select the Tehseeldars (reporting for sanction), and the Commissioners of Customs the patrols. All hold their appointments till removed for misconduct or unfitness. Government most frequently appoints at the recommendation of local officers, and in this case the duties, for which the recommender is responsible, so much depend on getting good men, and there is so little local connection, that nominations are made in the very sincere 290 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIT. and single desire of finding the best-fitted person, and (so far at least as those filled by natives are concerned) the distribution of appointments is fair and disinterested to a degree rarely seen. The candidates for uncove- Tests of quaiifi- ^^nted judgcships must have certificates from cation. Government examiners, but in the other de- partments no test of qualification has been laid down. It is difficult to distinguish in the lists between Euro- peans and persons of Christian descent born in the coun- Different classes ^''Y' '^"^ ^ think that the latter, as being employed. nativcs, havc a very fair claim to a full share of these appointments. The class is one which has occupied rather a despised and unfortunate position, but I think that much might be made of it, and that, with proper encouragement, men might be found or formed combining something of our habits and feelings with such knowledge of the natives as no European can ever attain. Such men as Colonel Skinner have possessed more personal influence and local knowledge than a foreigner could possibly acquire, and such qualifications might be of great use, in the police for instance. The judicial officers are almost all natives, with a few exceptions. About half of the deputies of magistrates and collectors, and nearly the whole of the uncovenanted servants employed in the salt, opium, and customs, are Europeans or Christians, but doubtless a great many of these are born and bred in the country. The Tehseeldars are all natives, at least I can hardly suppose a case in which any one else could be so employed without abuse. The uncovenanted Europeans are of two classes, — either adventurers picked up in India, men who Europeans. , . ^ ^^• t have gone out in some other callmg, have acquired some experience of the country, and have even- tually obtained Government employ ; or of another class which has lately begun to seek for these highly respect- Chap. VIT. UNCOVENANTED OFPICEES. 29 1 able and well-paid appointments, the sons of commissioned officers, who cannot obtain appointments in the Com- pany's regular services. Many of the European employes are very useful, and there is not yet, I think, too large a proportion of them ; but it would be well to have some test of qualification, otherwise it is quite possible or pro- bable that, as these appointments become more and more sought after, they may be made matters of private patronage through European interest, which it is not de- sirable that they should be. The native uncovenanted servants are principally drawn from the class of individuals or families attached to our service, and who have made it their profession from youth. The system sometimes tried of giving the higher appointments to cadets of native families of rank does not generally succeed. They are not devoted to us, do their work without pride or zeal, and are at least as apt as any others to be corrupt. It is only from those who have been educated in the lower grades that a class fit for farther promotion has gradually been created. And in a country where all rank has long been official, it is proper that with us too the best official should take the highest rank. There are many highly respectable Mahommedan families whose only profession is service, and who are very willing to serve us ; and as they are the most' educated natives, and the most gentlemanly and well- mannered according to our ideas, they have in the first instance been most frequently employed. But, on the other hand, there is a very rising class of Hindoos, principally of the writer and mercantile classes, who have sprung from the lowest grades in our offices, have acquired great official talent and skill, have no reminiscences of former greatness, and are exclusively devoted to our service. They are not such respectable, gentlemanly-looking men as the Mahom- mcdans, but are in fact very often the best men of business II 2 292 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VII. when there is serious hard work to be done ; and if they conduct themselves well in their prosperity, they may in the end have the best of it. I think that this class of native servants is extremely well qualified for the duties now intrusted to Qualifications. , , ., , • i i them, and have already said how great an improvement all must consider their employment to be. Perhaps they might with advantage have a little more criminal work, and a little less absolute power in civil suits. Their jurisdiction in the latter department seems sometimes great, out of proportion to the pay and position of the lowest grade of judges, and a more efficient superintendence is required ; but in other departments they may be still more largely employed than at present. At the same time it is not to be supposed that they are, or for many years will be, fit for higher grades than those which they now fill. They are very good and useful under active and efficient supervision, but superintendence they unquestion- ably require. They are now employed immediately under the European heads of districts, but could not be left in independent charges. The pay of the different classes of uncovenanted ap- pointments is, generally speaking, as fol- lows : — Per Aunum. Judicial officers . . . from £120 to £800 Deputy Magistrates and Collectors . 300 to 800 Tehseeldars 100 to 300 Salt, Opium, and Customs Appointments 100 to 1200 These, it will be observed, are, in proportion to the price of labour in India, very liberal allowances. Native labour in India may be estimated at about one-sixth of the price of labour in England. No fees or other emolu- ments are permitted to this class of servants. Of course Chap. VII. INFERIOR SERVANTS. 293 the possession of landed property, &c., cannot be prevented, but the employment of officers in districts where they have private concerns is discouraged. Superannuation pensions, of one-third or one-half salary (according to length of ser- vice), are granted to those worn out in the service. In regard to the purity and uprightness of the uncove- nanted servants, I think that the result has • p 111 Honesty. been as satisfactory as could be expected, and that corrupt conduct is quite the exception. I have no doubt that the great majority of those employed in the executive department, who are well paid and strictly overlooked, are perfectly pure. Many of the lower judicial officers are accused, and some convicted, of corruption and improper conduct, but they are exposed to too great tempt- ation without sufficient supervision. Last comes the class of inferior and ministerial ser- vants. Excepting some of the English , , , 11 • T 1 1 Inferior servants. clerks, they are all natives. i have de- scribed the ministerial establishment of a magistrate's and collector's office, and there is an establishment of the same kind in every office in the country. Then there are the large revenue and police establishments under the Tehseeldars and inspectors of police, and great numbers employed on the same system in the executive duties of every other department. I cannot attempt to estimate the whole number of per- sons thus employed, but it must be immense. The number of districts and of judicial and ""^ ^'^^' other offices will give some idea of the great number of ministerial employes if we allow about twenty literate and twenty illiterate men to each office ; then in each district are from half-a-dozen to twelve or fifteen revenue divisions, in each of which is an establishment of twenty to fifty men, and from ten to thirty police divisions, each having from a 294 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VTI. dozen to fifty policemen, and there are customs posts, opium agencies, &c., on a similar scale. All these appointments are filled by the heads of ofl5ces . . , ^ at their discretion, and each holds till removed Appointment ' and removal. fQp good and sufficicnt Tcason assigned. Ge- nerally speaking, the power of removal for misconduct or unfitness rests with the same officer who appoints, but an appeal against every such order lies to superior authority in the case of all servants receiving more than ll. per mensem. The native ministerial officers are a most useful set of men, a great deal too much decried by Eu- Qualifications. , n I^ • i i i i ropeans out oi the service, who do not under- stand them. I am at this moment speaking not so much of their honesty as of their efficiency, and am sure that the latter quality cannot be questioned. The world does not produce better men of business than some of the native Serishtedars or heads of offices, men whose quickness, memory, method, skill, and knowledge of official detail are quite surprising, and whose fluency of pen and language no European could surpass ; and the common native clerks are a remarkably intelligent class. The undue influence of these men over their superiors is ridiculously magnified by those who know Sui)pose(l influ- . *^ . -r> i ence over their nothuig about it. JTopular grievance-moii- gers, people who have lost their suits, and Europeans who are not permitted to do as they like, represent a state of things which could only arise if either the " Omlah," as they are called, possessed preternatural powers, or their superiors were absolute idiots, — not only not wise, but so destitute of the ordinary senses as to be fit only for an asylum. The fact is, that no man who is even tolerably efficient is likely to be influenced in an excessive degree. He has generally no private intercourse whatever with his native subordinates ; all that is done is Chap. VII. INFERIOR SERVANTS. 295 done publicly; and where a man does his own duty, the natives know too well the European character seriously to attempt to influence him. It is sometimes even difficult to get an opinion from a native officer whose knowledge and experience are fairly and properly consulted, so cau- tious are they in this respect. I believe that real influ- ence is only exercised in the case of a few men of extraor- dinary inefficiency, or, again, of a few others who have become enthusiasts in admiration of the natives, and par- tially " Hindooized." The Omlah are either Hindoos or Mahommedans, but I should say that there is a majority of the former, especially in the lower ranks. The character of the police, &c., will be afterwards noticed, but I think it may be generally stated that while the revenue servants are iice and revenue iY> • i. 'stem. rent their districts at a fair sum ; and here, for the first time, we find the germ of our sale system, hitherto un- known. Instead of demanding security for fulfilment of engagements from Zemeendars as from mercantile specu- lators, it was stipulated that, if they defaulted, their rights and interests might be sold to others. Several attempts at settlement of this kind having been made, and all having very much failed, the Zemeendars proving as bad managers and worse payers than the mercantile specu- lators, and the collection of revenue having been very irregular and uncertain, the Directors at home were an- noyed and alarmed. The fact is, that in our then igno- rance and want of machinery, we could not at once suc- ceed in so difficult and delicate a matter. At this juncture (1786) Lord Corn wallis went out to India, and his instructions were to put an end to these changes and fluctuations, to introduce some permanent system, to respect hereditary rights, and not to dispossess the " Zemeendars, or hereditary superintendents of the land." The last title quite describes their character. But Lord Cornwallis was one of the good old English gentlemen who considered ancient English institutions perfection in any part of the world — had no doubt that rights in land must belong to the highest class connected with it — that a landed aristocracy is the greatest of 304 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. VIII. blessings — and that the receipt of any portion of the rent by the state was a tax on them which could not, indeed, be dispensed with, but should be fixed and limited for ever as soon as possible. He therefore insisted that the Zemeendars were either the actual proprietors, or should be made so forthwith, by the creation in their favour of an absolute private property to do what they would with — that the Government revenue should be fixed and limited in perpetuity, and that Government should no more interfere, but have the right of selling the land for non-payment of revenue. And on these principles he made a settlement for ten years to begin with. By far the greater portion of the country became the property of the large Zemeendars of districts, but there were also some villages where particular families succeeded in getting themselves set down as proprietors of small tenures, and in some few instances they are even so numerous as to make it probable that the members of the community were registered as separate proprietors. In Perpetual settle- making thcsc arrangements Lord Cornwallis ment of Bengal, ^^g assisted, aiid the dctails were carried out, by able and experienced men, who were also favourable to the Zemeendars. But when, having gone so far, he pro- posed to make the settlement perpetual, these men strongly dissented. In making the inquiries for the ten years' settlement they became aware of the existence of rights in the under tenants and cultivators of the soil which were in no way defined or provided for, and they were besides aware that they then possessed no sufficient information either as to the limits of the lands thus assessed or the equality of the assessment. On these grounds they urged that it would be madness to pledge Government for ever. But Lord Cornwallis was determined. He was respected at home, his philanthropic generalities were admired, his promises of regular revenue were well received, and the Chap. VIII. PERPETUAL SETTLEMENT. 305 Directors gave a somewhat reserved and qualified assent, urging the rights of inferior holders, and expressing a hope that provision might be made for increase of re- venue from waste lands. However, on receipt of this assent the Governor-General, no longer delayed, but pro- claimed in due form the famous permanent settlement, which still holds. With our present experience and know- ledge of the requisites to a proper assessment, and of the difficulty of avoiding inequalities and other evils, even with all the resources now at our command, and the minutest surveys, information, and experience of all kinds, it seems monstrously incredible that such a settlement should have been made in such ignorance. Even the very first step towards the roughest settlement of modern days, the definition of boundaries, was not taken. There were neither then nor since (till the other day) any boundary marks whatever in Bangal. There was a mere register of rent-paying estates, with the names of the proprietors, but no means of identifying the lands. And upon tho> same principle that registration of rights in estates is considered a gross innovation on the established liberties of England, Lord Cornwallis arranged for the future that Government should have no information whatever, nor right to inter- meddle in any way. The property was to be private pro- perty, with right to abuse and mismanage at discretion. Quinquennially the registers were to be revised, by making the necessary changes in the names of proprietors, if the collector could find them out. If the revenue was not duly paid, the estate, or a part of it, as it stood in the register, was to be sold, and the collector gave a title but no possession — the purchaser might find it, or sue in the civil court for it. Co-sharers might claim a division of land and revenue. In regard to the inferior tenants, it was merely provided that the Zemeendars should give them written leases stating the X 306 MODERN INDIA. Chap. Vlll. sum they were to pay, and they have in fact become mere tenants at will. The village accomitant was made entirely the servant of the Zameendar, and district ac- countants were abolished. The collector was deprived of all judicial power whatever, was made amenable to the new civil courts, and to them he must apply for en- forcement of the rights of Government. To them was also referred the decision of all disputes between different parties connected with the land, and the explanation and definition of all the newly created rights was entirely left to their discretion — as if that could be judicially decided which had never existed before, and which was not now sufficiently defined by law^ I may here mention, however, that it was soon found necessary to give the judges a power of summary procedure in suits for rent. It was not till a later period that this power was restored to the collectors. I have formerly explained the mode in which portions Alienations of ^^ ^^^^ Govemuient rcvcuue were assigned revenue. jj-^ paymeut of Stipends, charities, and as pensions on the civil list. There had been many of these alienations under the Mahommedan Government, many more were made without authority during its decline, and many were fraudulently eflPected after it had ceased to exist. They should at once have been examined, any claims to consideration ascertained, and the rest resumed ; and so it was proposed and attempted in the first instance, but the measure was not properly carried out. As the Zemeendars, the assignees of a portion of the rights of Government, had been regarded as proprietors of the land, the Jagheerdars, &c., holding the whole of those rights, came also to be regarded as proprietors, though in fact their holdings were altogether consistent with the existence of separate landed rights, as may now be seen in any such grant in the north, where the communities are perfectly Chap. Vlll. ALIENATIONS OF REVENUE. SO? undisturbed, and the Jagheerdar is merely the assignee of Government revenue. However, they were, and are in Bengal to the present day, regarded as proprietors of land, free from payment of rent or revenue. And this being so, Lord Cornwallis, in that spirit of too excessive liberality to the higher ranks which has so injured our finances to the detriment of the lower classes, notwithstanding the notorious abuses, threw on Government the "onus probandi" as to their liability to pay revenue. He recognised all gifts of former Govern- ments and a moderate prescription as conveying a valid title : which was as liberal as if, a revolution occurring hi our country, the next Government was to confirm in per- petuity, as hereditary property for ever, all the Civil List, and the salaries of the ministers, the beefeaters, and constables, beadles, and sinecurists throughout the kingdom. And it was left to the collectors to find out such as had not such titles, and prosecute them for revenue in the Civil Court. As might have been expected, the collectors had not the means of proving that there was no title, and had other work to do, and this shameful alienation of the proper revenue of the State stood over indefinitely ; notice being only given of the claim of Government to test these tenures when it should have time to do so ; and all being required to re- gister their rent-free lands. There were also a variety of pensions, &c., of the former Government paid direct from the treasury. These too seem to have been treated as a sort of property, and were investigated, and if held on genuine grants were generally continued. Such liberality would be all very \^ell, but should not be indulged in while we are obliged to raise the salt-tax from the masses. Sir J. Shore, though opposed to the permanent settle- ment, did his best to make the most of it, and enacted various improved regulations. But the system resulted in the continual sale of estates, oppression of the culti- X 2 308 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. vators, and many other evils, and presently fell into dis- credit. But before giving an account of the working of the per- manent settlement as it exists in Bengal at the present time, I nmst trace its fortunes elsewhere till the system was changed. The first difficulty occurred at Madras. The Bengal Permanent settle- Government, big with their own settlement, mcnts at Madras, i^gigted on forcing it GO Madras. There, as has been said, there were some Polygars and Zemeendars in the northern Circars, &c., to whom the system could be applied, and it was at once adopted in regard to them. But it turned out that there was also territory held directly under the native Governments, in which no one claimed a character analogous to the Bengal Zemeendars. The Ben- gal Government got over the difficulty. If there were no Zemeendars, they must be created. Convenient estates were to be partitioned off, assessed, and sold by auction ; and some were so sold under the denomination of Mootahs. But the feeling was strong at Madras against this mode of settlement. It was urged that communities existed with whom a settlement should be made, with the whole body jointly if they could and would take the contract, or, if not, that it w^as better to rent the villages to their native headmen than to strangers. Even where permanent settle- ments were concluded the Madras Government directed an investigation and registry of subordinate rights. I quote the following from the 5th Beport, and it has Village settle- ^^^^^ referred to by several authors: — "The ments. modc of Settlement introduced- by Mr. Place into the Jagheer was that of village rents on the produce being commuted for a money payment. The parties who entered into engagements for the rents of villages were those who held the principal shares of land, and these jointly, leaving it with those who possessed fractional shares, or, in Chap. Vril. VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS. 309 other words, those who were entitled to a portion of the shares, to adjust their rights among themselves — each man's right and place being well known to one another ; the col- lector contenting himself with the exercise of that superin- tending authority which enabled him to redress disputes on this subject when preferred in the form of complaints. He could easily fix the value of all the lands together of one village ; but he did not feel himself competent to assign to every small allotment its portion with sufficient exactness, and regard to fertility of soil and other circumstances. " The next two settlements in the Jagheer were also on the principle of village rents. " The revenue derived from the Jagheer during the four years it was under the management of Mr. Place was far greater than had ever been received from it since it had been granted by the Nabob. " It appears that annual village settlements, on a still more accurate estimate of the produce, continued to be successfully made until the lands were permanently as- sessed in 1802-3." I have given this passage to show that, whatever may have been the state of the communities in Bengal, actual vital working communities were overridden at Madras by the Zemeendaree and Ryotwar systems, and rights were sold to new Mootahdars which belonged to others. Such is the obstinacy of men following preconceived ideas. It is a pity that Mr. Place's system was interrupted by others, or we might have had prosperous communities and a prosperous state of things at Madras at the present day. Another system had already its advocates at Madras, the Ryotwar. It was, in fact, a dissolution The Ryotwar of the corporate character of the communi- ^y^^^^- ties. The settlement was no longer made with them jointly, but with each individual separately ; in ftict, Go- vernment assumed all the functions of an immediate land- 310 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIIT. lord, and dealt with the individual cultivators as its own tenants. The Ryotwar system in Madras seems to have originated with Tippoo, who destroyed all superior tenures, and tried to get as much as possible from the mdividual cultivators. Most of the communities were in a dis- organized and impoverished state ; they could only have been brought back to working order by much care, atten- tion, and cherishment ; we had yet had little experience of them in their perfect state, and therefore did not under- stand them ; and the other system secured theoretically more exact justice and a larger revenue, without regard to the difficulties of its working. Hence, in a part of the country where the communities were not perfect, there arose (in the commission in which Monro commenced his services) strong arguments in favour of the Ryotwar plan. The course was to survey in a native way all the land, to classify it, and to fix the maximum money rates to be paid by it, and then each year to charge each tenant for the quantity of land in cultivation at these money rates in lieu of the previous grain rent. The rates fixed were the maximum or standard, subject to reduction when the crops were bad. This commutation seems, however, with poor tenants a doubtful advantage. Under the former system the object was not to pay in kind for want of money, but rather to make the rent vary with seasons and circumstances. Grain in India is almost as current as money, and, the produce being ascertained, the collector may receive the value at the regular "fiars" price either from the culti- vators or the village grain-dealers (see ante^ chap. III., p. 96). Of course Government under this system is liable to fraud, from collusion of its servants ; but in the other case it is not less liable to imposition in ascertaining the quantity, and especially the quality of land, and still more when, from alleged unfavourable seasons or unfavourable Chap. Vni. RYOTWAR SYSTEM. 311 circumstances, the tenant is unable to pay, and the rent is discretionally reduced below the standard ; tor, as it has been found impossible to collect fixed rents in all seasons from poor tenants, reductions are continually made. In practice good tenants, with a little capital, prefer money rates. Indifferent cultivators, in reduced circumstances, prefer grain rates, and when money rents are fixed they break down in bad seasons. However, money rates and payments according to annual cultivation by each individual cultivator, with remissions for bad crops and bad seasons, make the Ryotwar system ; and it M^as first tried with the aid of recent surveys, freshly made arrangements, and intimate local knowledge, and in every way under the most favourable circumstances. But both Mr. Place's village system and the Ryotwar were for a time checked by the orders from the Bengal Government and the partial introduction of the permanent settlement. When the North-West Provinces were annexed, Lord Wellesley ordered a permanent settlement The North-West there too ; but we now began better to un- ^'■o^'i"^*'^. derstand landed tenures and interests, or rather to be aware of our want of information. The Commissioners appointed to carry out the permanent settlement in the north-west strongly objected, and, being urged, resigned their appointments. Others were appointed; but in the mean time the Home Government had discovered their error. Stringent orders were received prohibiting perma- nent settlements, and at this period (1807-8) the system of village leases came into vogue. Both in the north-west and at Madras triennial leases on this principle were tried. But difficulties at Madras, in the way of their immediate success, have been already indicated. The country had suffered much from war and misgovernment ; the villagers were frequently as yet un- prepared to prefer the risk of fixed money leases to the 312 MODEPvN INDIA. Chap. YIII. secure and easy mode of rendering a proportion of the grain ; and above all, the communities were not generally understood and not properly managed. The settlements were sometimes made with the communities, sometimes with the head-men as renters, sometimes (and most fre- quently) both refused, and the cultivators were left entirely at the mercy of mercantile renters, who were authorized to levy the full maximum survey rates without any re- duction at all, or about half as much again as was actually collected by Government. No wonder that the villages, instead of improving under such a-system, became worse. In short, the result was not at first satisfactory. Instead of persevering, giving the villages a fair trial and the benefit of a few years of peace, good management, and easy rates, in order to regain their original vigour and con- stitutions, the system was changed. The Ryotwar system on a comparatively small scale, and under the immediate Adoption of the ^Y^ ^^ ^^s first projcctors, had acted wondcr- Ryotwar system, f^jjjy ^^j]^ Mouro, its enthusiastic advocate, went home, the fifth report was in its favour, and in 1813 orders for its introduction went out. Presently Monro was appointed Governor; and from 1820 the system was made general throughout the whole of the Madras Presi- dency not already permanently settled. I reserve a more particular account of the result, and Results of the I'^^ust uow follow up the permanent settle- tiemenTof Be^n- ^^^^nt in Bengal. The first result of the new g*'- settlement was, that the new rights of the old Zemeendars were sold for balances. In India, under the native system, no man understands payment without pressure. If a cultivator or Zemeendar is dunned for his rent, he pays up well enough ; but if merely told generally that he must pay on a certain day under any kind of penalty, he never thinks of doing so, takes the Chap. VIII. EESULTS OF PERPETUAL SETTLEMENT. 3 1 3 chance of what may befal — a new conqueror may supersede the old any day — so, the system being to leave the Ze- meendars to make their own arrangements, they defaulted and were sold up. Various alterations have been made in the details of the sale law, but still the system in Bengal Proper is, that, if the money is not paid, no investigation of the cause is made, a certain notice is given, and, if that is not effectual, the estate is sold. The proceeds are applied to liquidation of the balance, and the surplus is paid over to the ejected proprietor. From the working of this system and that of the civil courts the result has generally been that, excepting one or two great Rajas, the proprietary rights in Bengal have been sold over and over again, and are now in no way derived from any old here- ditary source, but are simple, transferable, and constantly transferred properties, like any chattel, and the subject of mercantile speculation. It has also happened that, while there are still many large tenures, many have become divided, and the small estates have become smaller still, from sales, divisions, equal inheritance, &c. : so that the collector realizes his revenue from a very great number of holders, from a much greater number altogether than if each village was one estate. The Zemeendars, too, prove to be an unthrifty, rack-renting set of people, and take the uttermost farthing from the under-tenants. Yet, now that estates are so much speculations, it is probable that mercantile specu- lators possessing capital sometimes do what they can to keep up cultivation and turn the land to the best account, so for as they can manage properly with the tenants. On the other hand, the rights of the inferior holders have been utterly swept away and disappeared. No efficient pro- vision was made for them. It was, perhaps, intended that they should claim their rights in th'e civil courts ; but in practice all such rights have long since ceased to exist. 314 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. Government have by law made a distinction between ancient and new cultivators : the former have the right of possession at market rates of rent so long as they pay regularly. But so to fix the rent is very difficult ; the cultivator's only remedy is a regular suit in the civil court ; and the enactment has been in Bengal for the most part inoperative, especially as there was no provision for the maintenance of village accountants, and the cultivators are in every way left at the mercy of the Zemeendars. Another tenure, called the Patnee, has been established of late years by some of the great Zemeendars, with the aid of Government enactments, and it is very common in Bengal. The great Zemeendar, for a consideration, makes over a portion of his estate in feu to another, subject to a per- petual rent, payable through the collector, who receives it on behalf of the Zemeendar, and, if it is not paid, the interests of the Patneedar are sold by the collector. These, again, have sub-Patneedars, and the system has become very much in vogue in certain districts. The parties are like the Irish middlemen, and the last screws the tenant to the uttermost. The assessment was necessarily, with so insufficient in- formation, very unequal, and the system of non-inter- ference and non-registry of landed property has led to great frauds and loss to Government, The estates turn out to be neither villages, nor clusters of villages, nor por- tions of a village. Each man's property was registered as an estate, even if it consisted of shares or lands in a dozen different villages •, and there being no means of identifying these estates or portions of estates, it happened that not only all bad bargains were thrown back on Government, but land was fraudulently transferred from one estate into another. In selling portions of land for arrears, and in dividing Chap. YITT. RESULTS OF PERPETUAL SETTLEMENT. 315 estates, it has constantly happened that the good estates have been made better, and the bad ones worse, and then the latter are thrown on the hands of Government. So especially in regard to the revenue-free holdings, already alluded to ; they are constantly increased at the expense of neighbouring revenue-paying land. When an estate is sold, it often happens that the purchaser can nowhere find it, and the collector gives him no assistance. The neighbouring proprietors tell him they know nothing of it, the river has probably washed it away ; and he can only sue in the civil court for what he can prove to have been the estate of the late proprietor, who probably plays into the hands of the opposite party. The collector does not even interfere to ascertain the names of present pro- prietors : he registers changes by sale, &c., which come offi- cially under his cognizance; but, excepting in such instances, the names may not have been, and often have not been, changed for generations if the money is paid. Altogether it is clear that some estates have now land and rentals immensely out of proportion to the revenue paid by them, while others barely pay or do not pay at all. One result of the frauds and irregularities which I have mentioned has been that a great many estates are now in the direct management of Government. It has also a -Estfitcs in tliG right to land newly thrown up by the great hands of Go- rivers, if the collector can find it and sub- stantiate his title. These form what are called the " Khas Mehals," and so sensitive is the Government of the evils which have resulted from the permanent settlement, that in regard to them it seems to run to the other extreme, and will not let them in any shape go out of its own hands. They are now regularly and carefully surveyed, and are either managed in the first place after a RyotAvar fashion, or (as is now the general rule) the rents are farmed to speculators for fixed periods. T>ut this system seems 3 1 6 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YIIT. little better than the first. There is some medium be- tween a blind bestowal of absolute rights without informa- tion, and a proper creation of a limited interest in the land, with full information, subject to the supervision of Government, and liable to periodical revision of re- venue. The evil of the absence of boundaries, or any other Surveys now in Hicans of identifying estates, has become so progress. cryiug that there has been lately instituted a definition of boundaries and survey which is now in progress in several districts of Bengal. Yet Govern- ment is always so accessible to a cry of vested interests, interference with private rights, and breach of faith, concocted on every occasion by European abettors of Europeaniscd Calcutta Zemeendars, that it remains to be seen whether they will carry the measure out to a sufficient extent and with sufficient firmness. As yet no provision has been made for maintaining the boundary-marks which have been set up. I have explained the revenue-free lands as they existed Revenue -free ^^ ^^^ tuTie of the permanent settlement. lands. -jj^g provision then made to enable col- lectors to claim Government rights was wholly insufficient, and for the next five-and-twenty years nothing effectual was done ; but at the end of that time Government at last took the subject up seriously. All actual grants of former Governments, and revenues in possession for a moderate time before our rule, were still to be upheld ; but frauds of a later period, involving an enormous loss of revenue to Government, were to be investigated ; and special commissioners were appointed to decide, under the rules originally promulgated, the validity of the tenures. Unfortunately the long delay in making the investigations had established in their seats the fraudulent appropriators of the revenue ; and when it came to be taken from them, Chap. Vm. REVENUE-FREE LANDS. 317 the measure caused great change and apparent hardship to individuals in comfortable circumstances : hence arose a great cry of hardship and injustice. We were still most apt to view with sympathy the misfortunes of the higher classes ; many soft-hearted officers of Government exclaimed against the sudden deprivation ; and some of tlie seditious Europeans, who find their profit in profes- sional attacks on Government, raised the cry much louder. But the worst of the storm had expended itself A little firmness, a little voluntary beneficence to indivi- dual cases, and it would have ceased ; and the temporary inconvenience to fraudulent individuals would have re- sulted in great permanent addition to the means of the State ; but the Bengal Government is pusillanimous. Since Warren Hastings was persecuted in doing his duty, and Lord Cornwallis praised for sacrificing the interests of Government and of the body of the people, it has always erred on the side of abandoning its rights to any sufficiently strong interested cry. It wavered about these resumptions. It let off first one kind of holding, then another, then all holdings under one hundred beegas (about seventy acres), whether one man possessed several such or not ; life tenures were granted where no right existed ; finally, all resumed lands were settled at lialf rates in perpetuity ; and the Board of Revenue intimated that they " would be happy to see all operations discon- tinued." The result therefore is, that the Government have incurred all the odium and abuse of the measure, have given the cry more colour by so nmch yielding, and in the end have got not half so much revenue as they ought to have had. There has been an addition of about 300,000/. to the annual revenue, at an expense of 800,000/. Altogether, from resumptions, the settlement of Govern- ment estates, and other sources, there is a considerable increase in the Bengal rent-roll during the last fifVeen years. 3 1 8 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. Vlll. In 1835-6 the land revenue was about 3,170,000/.; in 1849-50, 3,506,070/. A Bengal collector of the present day has no tehseel- dars. For local investigation, when re- Duties of col- •11 1 • 1 lector in Bengal quireQ, uc employs special aineens, or native ^*'^'"' deputy collectors. He is not supposed or required to know anything about the interior of his dis- trict. He sits for the receipt of revenue, which the Ze- meendars must pay on certain days ; and if it does not come he asks no questions, but advertises the estate for sale, as it stands in the list. He has, however, other miscel- laneous duties. The Khas Mehals, or estates owned by Government, of course give a great deal of trouble, and he has all the details of their management. Then he has to decide a large number of summary suits for rent; but the essence of these suits consists in the existence of public registries, accounts, and accountants, to which easy reference can be made; and, in the entire absence of all these, the means of deciding the suits in a summary way are very unsatisfactory. He ought to hear suits for over- exaction and unjust ejectment from land ; but in the de- struction of all rights, and absence of all registers, these two last species of summary suits seem very little used, and the Court is for the most part only made use of by landlords. Having decided the suits, the collector enforces the de- crees. He has also a great deal to do as " Court of Wards" for the management of the estates of infants and incompetent persons, and has many other miscellaneous duties generally mentioned in describing the distribution of offices. Districts have been added to Bengal in which different systems are pursued. Cuttack is, I believe, on the village system. Chittagong (a peculiar province) and Behar differ in population, and in some things in manage- ment, from Bengal ; but as all are more or less on one or other of the different svstcms which I shall describe, I Chap. Vlll. WORKING OF PERPETUAL SETTLEMENT. 319 need not farther particularise them than to say that they affect the amount of revenue received at different periods, and add to the Bengal rent-roll. The general view of the present working of the perma- nent settlement, shown by the last Reports, proves that, the Bengalees now under- ing of permanent standing our system, and the bad estates '^ ^"^'^" " having long ago fallen to Government, the revenue is realised with considerable punctuality. A good many sales for arrears still take place, but they are principally of small estates. Some, probably, are permitted to go to the hammer by those wishing to dispose of them, and to give a good title to the purchasers. Remissions are still occa- sionally made on the ground of natural calamities, but they are small in amount. The regularly settled estates of 1848-9 bore a rent of 3,45,98,603 rupees, of which up- wards of 90 per cent, was realised within the year, along with 87 per cent, of the last year's balance, showing that the greater portion of the 10 per cent, current balance is the portion due at the end of the year, and collected in the next year. A little more than 1 per cent, was remitted or transferred to " Defaulters' Register." On estates the property of Government the demand was 16,78,642 rupees, and there was collected within the year 16,09,462 rupees. Of the total demand on account of land revenue the whole is eventually realised within 1 to H per cent. 1 169 estates, bearing a revenue of 3,87,938 rupees, were (in 1848-9) sold for arrears, of which 128 were bought in l)y Govern- ment at a nominal price, and 1037 were purchased by individuals for 11,57,807 rupees, or something less than four years' purchase on the revenue. It seems that no less than 10,872 under tenures, prin- cipally the Patnecs already alluded to, were sold by the collectors. 320 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. It might have been supposed that on the Bengal Cost of coiiec- system, there being no estabhshments in *'""■ the interior of the district, and the Govern- ment interfering so little, the expense of collection would at any rate be small ; yet it appears that disorder is as expensive as highly perfected order, for the charge of col- lection and revenue establishments in Bengal is higher than in the North-West Provinces, one being above, the other below, 9 per cent, on the receipts. The last account for Bengal gives — Receipts — Land and Excise together Rs. 3,80,92,100 Charges .... 35,57,300 Percentage charges .... 9g The great argument in favour of the permanent settle- ment is, that during our possession Bengal has exceed ingly increased in wealth, population, and cultivation. Wealth has undoubtedly accunmlated in a certain superior class, to whom our rule is most favourable ; and popula- tion, cultivation, and the receipts from rent of land, have largely increased — so that Government realises an unduly small proportion of the rent, and the rest is private pro- perty. But the mass of the population is probably poorer, and in a worse social position, than anywhere else in India ; Degree of pros- ^^^^ ^^ may bc that the country has increased penty in Bengal, jj-^ population and rcsourccs in spite of, or independent of, the settlement. That a portion of the revenue, instead of being taken by Government, is re- mitted in favour of individuals, is of course, pro tanto^ a source of wealth — but directly at the expense of Govern- ment, which is obliged to lay it on in other ways. If we had the land revenue of Bengal, now a source of wealth to the higher classes, we need not tax (to take n\y former instance) the salt of the population ; and the con- dition of the mass of the people on the land certainly Chap. YIII. WORKING OF PERPETUAL SETTLEMENT. 32 1 could not be worse. They benefit in no way by the settle- ment. To account for the increase of population, and conse- quent cultivation, we must remember that upwards of eighty years' protection from external war, with the absence of any great internal calamity, must always lead to great multiplication of the people. Bengal is a comparatively recent country rising from the sea, and Mahommedan history shows it to have been much advancing throughout the last two or three hun- dred years ; its weak people had long been the prey of the Marattas, or any other invader ; and it had just been afflicted with a dreadful drought and famine, Avhich had destroyed a great part of the population, and thrown it many years back. We therefore undertook its charge when it was not fully peopled or cultivated. We have entirely protected it from external invasion — there has been no great year of drought — and it has progressed greatly ; yet it is not necessary to attribute the progress to the perpetual settle- ment. After all, too, the fertility, population, and produc- tiveness of Bengal have perhaps been exaggerated. I believe it will be found less populous and productive in proportion to area than Upper India. It certainly yields a much smaller land revenue, and from what I have heard of rents in Bengal I believe that even rent, as distin- guished from revenue, is nmch lower than in the best districts of the Upper Provinces. I now go on to describe the revenue management of the North-West Provinces. Zemeendars, in j^^nd revenue the Bengal sense, were only here and there SXwestPro- to be found, and we began to look to rights '^'"°^^' of others nearer the soil. Still we seemed to suppose that one party or other nmst be absolute proprietors. Y 322 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. The village communities not being universally perfect, tliere was a scramble for recognition as proprietors among different parties. The village system was so far adopted that it was determined to make the settlement of each village separately But each village might be claimed by a district Zemeendar, or by village Zemeendars, or by a perfect community, or by the headman of an imperfect community, or, finally, fraudulent claims were put forth, and their own names were fraudulently registered by officers of the native government or our own employe's, or by Mahommedan Jagheerdars, and others. We com- menced in a very lax way, and many parties had esta- blished themselves by continued possession before their rights were accurately investigated. In many instances, where great Zemeendars existed, the perfect communities subsisting under the Zemeendars sur- vived to establish their claims when a more detailed settle- ment was made. Several successive leases were made for periods of from three to five years with proprietors or farmers, before a regular settlement was effected. The estates were, as in Bengal, held liable to sale for arrears, and possession of many was acquired by fraudulent sale and purchase by native officers of our Government. It was not till some years after (1821) that Government became so much alive to this latter injustice as by special enactment to create a commission charged with investi- gating, and, if fraudulent, reversing, these transfers. And a great deal was done to remedy the evil. But the Government, having now become sensible to the evils of the previous system, and aware of the rights of different parties, determined to devise a remedy, and to ascertain and put on a secure footing all tenures by a detailed survey, a settlement for a long period, and an investigation and registry of rights of all sorts. With this view the well-known Regulation YII. of 1822 was Chap. YIII. SYSTEM IN NOETH-WEST PROVINCES. 323 enacted. It was the work of the Right lion. Holt Mackenzie. It was intended to combine the Regulation vii advantages of the Ryotwar system with that °^ ^^^-• of village leases. The land was to be minutely measured and classified, and rents, &c., were to be ascertained ; all of which was to be registered for the thorough protection of the cultivator. But this done, Government was not to undertake direct dealings with each individual, but to settle with the proprietors, whether particular indi- viduals or corporate communities, for a fixed sum, to be paid by each village. The assessment was to be formed after the manner of the system projected by Akber, on exact calculations of the quantity and value of grain pro- duced by each description of soil, and to become a mere matter of arithmetic ; and a liberal marginal profit was to be left to the proprietors between the gross rent and the revenue assessed, to cover their risk and create a valuable and marketable proprietary right — for it has been a great object throughout to create a valuable property in the land, which should be the security for payment of revenue, and afford the means of obtaining capital for improvements. The collector was also vested with judicial power to deter- mine in the first instance (subject to appeal to the civil courts) the nature of all landed tenures and rights, and to register them accordingly in great detail. Such was the scheme on which the present revenue administration of the North-West Provinces is on the main founded, and which is in fact that of Sher Shah and Akber, excepting this important difference, that, while they only settled with the cultivating com- munities, we have admitted in most instances middlemen as proprietors. But unfortunately its authors had neglected to provide the requisite machinery for its execution. It was found that the collectors, with their many duties, could not Y 2 324 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. accomplish the details of many villages in many years, and for ten years the regulation was not rendered effective. At the end of that time Lord William Bentinck coming up the country the thing was again seriously taken Regulation IX. ^^P» ^^^^ Regulation IX. of 1833 was pro- ofless, niulgated, under which the present settle- ments were made. Regulation VII. of 1822 is still the groundwork, but the new class of native deputy collectors was created, and through them most of the details of the settlement are carried out. Some further provisions for mapping, &c., w^ere introduced, and the original plan for making assessments by pure arithmetical calculations was abandoned, as it was found that equitable assessments could not be thus obtained, and admitted that it must, after all, be matter of discretion and judgment — the data obtained being used to assist the judgment, not to control it. The present set- Separate Settlement officers were appointed, tiement. ^^.jj-j-^ j-^q other dutics. A great man, Mr. R. M. Bird, member of the Board of Revenue, arose to carry through the settlement. Its progress, as it advanced, became accelerated, and from 1838 to 1842 one district after another was finished, till in the latter year the settle- ment was complete throughout the provinces — twenty years after it was first designed. It w^as made at first for twenty, but has latterly been extended to thirty years in all cases. The origin of the tenures has been traced, and the first Tenures as they chaugcs by salo alludcd to. During the last now exist. twcuty ycars, the transfers by sale for ar- rears of revenue have been comparatively few. But there has been an immense change of property from the opera- tion of the civil courts and considerable private transfers. Land having been made marketable and auctionable in execution of decrees, and our civil courts having given an immense advantage to creditors (who lent on exorbitant Chap. VIIT. SETTLEMENT OF N. W. PROVINCES. 325 terms on bad security, and realise from good security), for one sale for arrears of revenue there are a hundred by order of the civil courts. Hence in the north-west, as well as in Bengal, a great deal of landed property is now held as a mercantile speculation. It can always be bought in the market, and is a common investment of money. Still the old holdings have not by any means, as in Bengal, been altogether swept away, and this is their condition. It has been supposed that the Agra Pre- n * Proprictfirv cul- sidency is the stronghold of perfect village Uvating commu- communities, and that they are there uni- versal. This is a mistake. In the Dehli territory (which was not till afterwards added to the Regulation Provinces) they are general, and that country will more nearly fall under the description which I shall give of the state of things in the Punjab. But in other parts they are by no means universal, and many have been permitted to fall to pieces. In some instances simple communities have been made perfect by the assignment of shares to the cul- tivators, and settlement with the body under a joint re- sponsibility and the headship of the chief inhabitants, but in most such villages some intermediate person has suc- ceeded in establishing himself as Zemeendar. Perfect communities exist more or less everywhere, and are very numerous in some parts of the Doab and in Lower Bohilcund ; but I have ascertained, from a com- parison of settlement reports, what I always suspected, that in general this (called the Bhyacharah, or brother- hood) tenure, now forms but the smaller proportion of the whole number of villages, and that in the greater por- tion of the North- West Provinces intermediate proprietors exist between Government and the actual cultivator. The perfect communities are less common than they were, on this account, that, while few new ones are formed, the old ones are always liable to dissolution by sale of frac- 326 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. tional parts. Government not only is now most lenient, and very seldom sells for arrears, but has provided by enactment, for all shared villages, that the shares of de- faulting members may be simply transferred to the solvent members. This is as it should be, and is only equitable in a common property, and as a recompense for joint responsibility. But the civil courts are bound by no such rule. They sell the rights and interests of individual sharers to a stranger without the least compunction, and a stranger once introduced into one of these communities the seed of dissolution is sown. The most common tenure of all in the north-west is Proprietary fa- ^^'^^ whcrc a village belongs not to a single ™^'^^®- individual but to a single family. In this case the great proportion of the land is cultivated by tenants, and the sharers have not their shares separately divided off — the tenants are the tenants of all in common. The proprietors generally live in the village, and their own cultivation is taken into account at lower rates. The whole collections are brought together, the revenue paid, and the surplus divided among the proprietors according to the fractional share possessed by each. When there are many proprietors, one or two are chosen repre- sentatives and managers. This is what I have described as the village Zemeendaree tenure. In a single village there are often two or three separate divisions or pattees, and it is called Patteedaree ; but each division is either a Zemeendaree holding, or a Bhyacharah* conununity, and the Patteedaree is hardly a separate tenure. The only other tenure to be mentioned is the distinction between ancient and modern tenants, already Ancient tenants. • i • i-» i i i • n noticed m liengal, but here practically ope- * The l>ro;id distinction of tenures is tliis, that tlie Zemeendaree (of what- ever character) is where the ground is cultivated by tenants under the pro- prietor, while the Bhyacharah (the perfect community) is where the proprietors and cultivators are identical. Chap. VIII. SETTLEMENT OF N. W. PROVINCES. 327 rative. Every tenant is recorded with his holding and his rent, and ancient tenants cannot be ousted so long as they pay the registered rent. But the rent can be in- creased by suit in the civil courts. The mode of settlement is this : — First, the bounda- ries of each village are decided, and well ^^^^ ^f settie- and permanently marked off; for the settle- ™®'^*- ment is to be made village by village : and this is the first and most necessary step. The jji'ofessional survey then passes over the district, by which each village is scientifically mapped off by its exterior boundary, and the total area exactly ascertained. Next is made the interior (not scientific) survey of each village by rod and chain. Each field is registered with the name of the cultivator and proprietor, its dimensions and area, the nature of the soil, and the rent, if rent there be, and a very precise map is made of the whole. This work is very carefully tested and retested by the superintending officers, as upon its accuracy rests the whole. When it is completed, the fields of each cultivator are added together, and a list of cultivators is Registry of made out, showing what each holds, what "s^*®- rent or proportion of revenue he pays in money or grain, and whether he is an ancient or modern cultivator, or a proprietor. Another list is made out of the proprietors, specifying particularly the share, rights, and nature of the holding of each proprietor; and whenever disputes arise in the course of this process they are judicially decided. All this done, the assessment nmst be made. The set- tlement officer has the record of all former , , 1 • Assessment. payments, the exact measurement and speci- fication of the land, the rents paid by the tenants (if there be inferior tenants), and the advice and opinion of all sup- posed best to know the village. He is, as a general rule, 328 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. to allow 30 or 35 per cent, of the gross present rental, for risk and profit to the proprietor, and the remainder of the rental is the revenue assessment. He probably fixes fair rates on the land, calculates the total amount, and com- pares the result with the estimated value of the village, or vice vej'sd calculates the rates given by estimated values, and compares the result per acre in adjoining and similar villages. Taking care then that all discrepancies are ac- counted for and explained, and giving, after all, some con- sideration to the class and character of the proprietor — to men hitherto considered, and to certain classes who must be lightly assessed to keep them out of mischief — taking everything into consideration, he fixes the assessment. If the proprietors object, he hears their objections ; but if these avail not, they must either agree to the terms or give a written refusal. In the few cases in which all negotiation ends in the latter result, the proprietors are entitled to 10 per cent, of the revenue, and sometimes get more, and the village is rented to a farmer. But in all ordinary cases the proprietors sign the agreement of lease, and the bargain is concluded. The assessment is in one sum for all the lands, cultivated and uncultivated, in each village, and the proprietors may bring as much as they can into cultivation without any additional payment. The assessment fixed, the settlement officer causes the election of managing representatives, and records their powers, &c. &c. Lastly, he draws out the administration paper of each Administration vlllagc, showiug in full detail how the re- paper. vcuuc is to bc distributed and collected, what each proprietor is to pay or to receive, how every matter of village detail is to be managed, what are to be the future relations between the proprietors and the different classes of tenants, the remuneration of the village servants, and everything in short that can be regulated by rule. Chap. VIII. SETTLEMENT OF N. W. PKOVINCES. 329 In fixing the assessment he makes provision for the maintenance of a village watchman, and a village ac- countant. The latter is supposed to be the „ ^^ , Village and dis- common accountant oi (jrovernment, the pro- trict account- prietors, and the tenants. The proprietor nominates him. The collector approves of the nomina- tion, and objections of the tenants are heard. Once no- minated he can only be removed for misconduct, and a son, if as well qualified as any one else to succeed his father, has naturally a preference, from being in posses- sion of the family papers, which give value to the office as hereditary. Canoongoes or district accountants are also appointed over each fifty or a hundred villages, as superintendents of the village accounts and accountants. For the purpose of working the settlement, it is provided that the village accoimtant shall annually file ^ ^T , rn T Annual continu- m the collector s omce papers corresponding ation of the set- . . , , 111 1 tlement papers. to those originally made by the settlement officer, showing all changes in cultivation, deaths, suc- cessions, &c., and rents, payments, and balances of the cultivators. These accounts are open to the inspection of all interested, and no summary suit for rent is entertained unless the papers for the previous year have been filed. At the same time as the settlement, the claims to rent- free lands are adjudicated. The survey has Revenue-free brought all these to light, and shown their ^^"'^^^ exact measurement, and they are either rendered liable to assessment, or confirmed on recorded terms. The remarks in reference to these holdings in Bengal are to a consider- able extent applicable here, except that they were not of so long standing, and that something at least has been decided as to all lands so held, without so great vacillation. During the survey the opportunity is taken of arranging conveniently the boundaries of districts and of minor divi- 330 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. sions. As the settlement of each division is completed, the settlement officer makes over to the collector all the maps, papers, &c. &;c., signed by himselfj the proprietors, the accountant, and as many tenants as possible, and his functions cease. This settlement having been now in operation for a series of years, it is necessary that I should give some particulars as to the mode of working it, and opinion as to the result. A collector in the North-West Provinces has under him ,, , ,. ,. an efficient establishment of tehseeldars of sub- !MoQe 01 working the settlement, divisious, and, with their assistance, exercises a minute control over, and has a minute knowledge of, all the affairs of his district ; he is the protector and superin- tendent of the landed interests and of the people connected with them. There are eight or ten tehseeldars in a district, each collecting, say about on an average 20,000/. The col- lector does not quietly wait for the cash, and sell the estate if it does not come ; he takes every possible measure to get the money, and, if the proprietors do not pay, he is instructed to send for them, and to investigate and exactly ascer- tain the reason why. If, as is most frequently the case, it be some quarrel among themselves, and consequent stop- page of internal machinery, he settles it, or procures it to be settled ; any other cause in his power he removes. For special and good reasons he may in rare instances deem it expedient to grant a little delay ; but if he finds it to be really the fault of proprietors, he tries transfer of shares from good to bad sharers, or lets the estate tempo- rarily to a farmer, the rights of the proprietor being in abeyance till better times, but not extinguished. All the efforts of the collector and tehseeldars are directed to avoid the extreme measure of forcible alienation by sale ; but if the proprietors seem really incorrigible, and fit to be got rid of, the collector reports the case, and gets sanction to selling the estate. Chap. VIII. SETTLEMENT OF N. W, PROVINCES. 33 1 An equal assessment having been made, and a large marginal profit allowed, this is supposed to cover the risks of unfavourable seasons, and to make such coercive mea- sures as I have described uncommon, as, in fact, they are. If in any rare instance a collector should find that an assessment is really too high, and that failure of payment is not the fault of the proprietors, rather than unjustly sell, he will report the facts, and any other means will be tried ; but Government is very reluctant to alter the assess- ment once deliberately fixed, because it is such a bad precedent, and brings so many other applications. Such instances, therefore, very seldom occur. It was the great misfortune of the settlement that just in the midst of the operations occurred the n ^ * . r r U niortunate fa- distressing drought and fiunine of 1837-8; mi-e m 1837-8. this threw things back very much, but they have since recovered. The principal difficulty has been experienced with some strong Rajpoot clans,^ frequently occupying Refractory ijaj- a number of conterminous villages. These p°°*s- Rajpoots, having been spoiled by former prosperity, are not nearly such good cultivators or so well behaved as the Jats, &c., and when, from their own fault, they fail in the revenue, they are apt to try to prevent any other mode of management, to deter farmers and purchasers by com- bination, menaces, and violence. In such cases it is neces- sary for Government to interfere with its own strong arm, and to take direct charge of the villages ; but this proceed- ing is always attended with loss and inconvenience, showing the evil and diminution of revenue which would attend a Ryot war system. The settlement has certainly been successful in giving a good market value to landed property. It Marketable va- is saleable for considerable sums, small, no luyoii-mJ- doubt, in proportion to English purchase-money, but then 332 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. the tenure is a wholly different one. The average result of sales seems to give about four years' purchase on the revenue, which, supposing the net profit to be one-third of the revenue, would be twelve years' purchase on the profits, and is as large as the usual yield of sales in Bengal. The settlement has secured a very punctual realisation of the revenue (more so than does the permanent settle- ment of Bengal), and at the same time has left large pro- fits and means of wealth and improvement to most of the proprietors. It has very greatly stimulated cultivation, and it has efficiently protected the rights of the cultiva- tors ; it is, in short, infinitely better than anything we have hitherto seen. On the other hand, there are yet matters which will Imperfections of ^^ improvcd ucxt time; and it makes us settlement. woudcr the uiorc at the incredible rashness with which the Bengal settlement was made perpetual, when we see that, with all the infinitely greater means and information we possessed in the North -West Provinces, we could not have wished the present settlement to be perpetual. It is not to be said that the assessments are yet by any means uniform ; all have a profit, but some have a very small profit and some a very large one, and the value of estates is very different ; some are barely paying speculations, some bear a very high price. Then, as to the registry of rights. It turns ont that, even with all the time and trouble which was bestowed on them, they are so very complicated and numerous that they have been in many instances hurried over or mistaken. The proprietors have sometimes foolishly concealed the real state of things, and thus caused errors and omissions ; these are discovered as the accountants' annual papers come in, and the collectors have had a great deal to do in putting them to rights. A principal duty of the tehseeldars is to teach the Chap. VIII. SETTLEMENT OF N. W. PROVINCES. 333 village accountants and to get the papers required under the new system correctly and clearly made out. It has been hard labour, but the accountants are beginning to understand it, and a very exact registration is now kept up. The collectors' Summary Suit Court is much resorted to, not only for realisation of rent, but by tenants and inferior holders complaining of exaction or summary Suit unjust ejectment, and, with the aid of the ^^^^^' records and accountants, and a very summary mode of procedure, the cases are very easily disposed of. It is, in fact, a court every way suited to the country. The parties are brought face to face, the records and the accountant are examined, and a skilful officer will soon have no doubt about the facts. Many of these cases are tried by the tehseeldars. The knowledge of all particulars of rights and holdings is now not only efficiently maintained, but is rendered from year to year more exactly correct ; for, not only is so pow- erful a machinery kept up for the purpose, but, as the whole land has been marked off and settled with different parties, there remains nothing between the people and Government in which the former can defraud the latter. All questions of right to land, &c., are now between individuals, and if one man were to gain another must lose. Each is there- fore tenacious of his rights ; and the collector's summary judicial powers enabling him to decide at once all disputes, and to register the result, he keeps everything in its place, and becomes fully cognizant of all that is going on. If the annual papers are well kept up, at the end of the thirty-year leases, that is, some fifteen or twenty years hence, we may approach much nearer to perfection. I imagine that nowhere in the world does so minute and exact a public survey and record of rights exist. 334 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. VIII. ^ ^ ■'& ^ O be >5 o I o "IV-I'OJ, 899 661'85 i B id -uoM Sti OSI'S •[BJtujnoiiSv Zi5 96S'I § •jBinj^naijSy -UOfj 069 T-oS'g t3 C a •^Ejn}|n3u3v 956 i5l'8I 0) m fac QJ S £? HW ^ f£> '2 J3 2 S Z =4 CO _fi O =3 1^ S to O H CI „ !! O M J w « OS - ;^ 1 ^ 0) CO 1 3 •* p C V 9 S! CO CO tf t^ . 05 1 ''-^ _g S 1 2 CO •n3 ;§ fe S 00 ^ S u (£ 05 TS 5 CO 1 ^ •o 00 < > CI 3 o CO a •S -S „• in 00 J! c •2 3 _« 05 < ■" Mm" r^ lumber of louzahs or H "= 3 <; B CO 00 00 o 1 <. 00 Chap. VIIT. SETTLEMENT OF N. W. PROVINCES. 335 The following may also be interesting : — Table showing the Average Produce per Acre in pounds avoirdupois of two Districts. Name of District. Seharunpore Agra Wheat. Irrigated Land. 1634 1234 Unirrigated Land. 1080 Barley. Irrigated Land. 1832 1224 Unirrigated Land. 1098 928 Millet (Rain Crop), 522 754 Average Retail Prices of Grain in Agra Bazaar, giving number of pounds per rupee (or 2s.). Grain seems from this statement to be dearer at Agra than in most parts of the country. Number of Pounds per Rupee Wheat. 61 Barley. 82 Millet. 78 General Average of Grain. Percentage of Caste of Village Proprietors in Zillah Agra ard Europeans 2| Merchants 6 Writer Caste . . . . 6j Bramins 22| Rajpoots 25| Carried forward 64 Brought for Jats Nomad Castes Mahommedans Other Castes . 64 lU 11 n 100 Agra is more than most districts composed of Bhyacha- rah villages, for the following is the per centage : — Bhyacharah tenures Zemeendaree tenures 571 421 and the total number of proprietors is 20,300. As the Agra district is a dry country west of the Jumna, the cultivation is somewhat diiferent from most districts. There is a great deal more cotton than usual, and less ot 336 MODERN INDIA. Chap. Ylll. many other products, sugar-cane, wheat, &c. But the following statement shows the percentage of land cultivated with different crops in that district : — Rain Crops. Cotton 14 percent. Millet and similar grains .40 , , Indigo 1 ,, Sugar-cane 1 , , Rice i , , Indian corn .... I , , 62i ,, Cold "W^eather Crops. Wheat 13^ per cent. Barley llf ,, Gram, a kind of pea . .11 ,, Vegetables, tobacco, &c. . 1 j , , 37: There is in this district less irrigation than in most others, and the water is far from the surface. Number of masonry wells, 5263. Average depth of water from the surface, 39 feet. Generally speaking, rents in the North-West Provinces vary from 2s. to 2l. per acre ; tolerably good grain land is generally from 45. to IO5. ; good cotton land is not to be had for less than IO5. to 155. ; and sugar-cane land fetches up to the highest price which I have mentioned, and even more. At Nugeenah, in Rohilcund, the sugar-cane land sometimes brings as much as 31. lOs. per acre. About one-third of the whole cultivated land is irrigated from wells. The cost of the settlement of the North- West Provinces was as follows : — Professional Survey . . . £220,000 Settlement Establishment . . 320,000 Total . . £540,000 While the burden on the people has been equalised and eased, the increase of revenue from the new settlement has been considerable, as is shown from the following statement of the average collections for five years before and after the completion of the settlement of the North- Chap. VIII. SETTLEMENT OF NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 337 West Provinces, exclusive of the Benares districts, which were previously permanently settled : — Average annual collections, 1827-8 to 1831-2. £3,250,072 Average annual collections, 1842-3 to 1846-7 . 3,547,205 That the revenue is now collected with wonderful punc- tuality is shown by the following statement of balances and coercive processes, taken from a paper by a very able pen, published in the ' Calcutta Review.' Many districts took some years to recover from the famine of 1837-8, and, of course, there were a few diffi- culties at the commencement of the settlement, but the proportion of revenue not realised is already reduced to an insignificant fraction of h per cent., and the number of sales is very few. It must be understood that, as instalments of revenue fall due near the close of the revenue year, considerable balances appear in the accounts of each year, but these are all collected in the first weeks of the ensuing year. Statement of Balances and Coercive Processes for Five Years. YEAR. 1843-4 1844-5 1845-6 1846-7 1847-8 Percentage of Balance on Total Demand, in Decimals. 2-25 1-88 1-20 •46 •48 Coercive Processes. Sales. 221 121 97 115 52 Temporary Farms. 260 214 127 129 41 Transfers from Solvent to Insolvent Sharers. 423 414 347 238 108 It will be seen that the proportion of balances and of coercive processes is rapidly diminishing, and that the z 338 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. result contrasts very favourably with that in the lower provinces after sixty years of the permanent settlement. I have no figured statement later than 1848, but the result of the later years must be at least as favourable as that now given. The statistical return gives the cost of the full executive revenue establishments at 6^ per cent., that charge being Cost of coiiec- not only for collection, but for the many ju- *'*'"■ dicial and other duties which I have de- scribed. The parliamentary accounts seem to include some other items along with the executive establishments, and make the whole charge about 8^ per cent., while that for Bengal is 9^ per cent. These accounts (for the last year published), which include non-regulation provinces, and some territories now attached to the Punjab, state the land and excise revenues and charges of the North-West Provinces thus : — Gross collections . . Rs. 5,18,75,000 Charges . . . 44,20,000 I shall next notice the revenue management of our System in the i^^wly acquircd territories still farther north, Punjab, &c. which are generally administered by officers from the North- West Provinces, but upon which they have entered with the advantage of more matured ex- perience, and in which they have found more perfect tenures, and the country and people generally in a more satisfactory state than anywhere else, so that it may be fairly expected that there will result the best system which has yet obtained. Beyond the Jumna, then, the village communities are all perfect, and the people are a fine, in- Tenures. . dependent, and industrious race and good cultivators, principally Jats. Each village is a cultivating body with a complete internal system of management: Chap. VIII. SYSTEM IN THE PUNJAB, ETC. 339 each man's share is represented in fixed ploughs, or portions of ploughs, into which the village is divided, and each man has land to correspond to his share in his own separate management and possession. The grazing-ground is common to the cattle of all. Each village is represented by its Punch, or committee of management. Although the share of grain is the original and common form of revenue, these villages have always viiiage manage- been accustomed to make occasional bar- "^"*- gains in money, and common payments in their cor- porate character. Frequently, they agreed to pay a fixed sum in lieu of detailed assessments on the rain crop, while the cold weather grain was divided. Sometimes payments on cotton and such fine crops were compro- mised for one annual sum, and very often they paid a stipulated sum in satisfaction of the whole revenue. The way in which these things were managed I have explained in Chapter III. From the revenue certain sums were invariably given to the head-men of villages, and to the heads of families, &c., as remuneration for their trouble, and to bind them to the interests of Government. These payments were designated gifts or presents, but were generally made annual by written grants, which lasted till they were revoked, and were of various amounts according to the interest or influence of the recipee. Larger sums were often given to men supposed to have influence beyond their own villages, and to form a sort of Punch of Per- gunnahs, or districts. The whole sums thus given gene- rally amounted to from 5 to 20 per cent, of the revenue. In assessing the members of the community, an additional rate was laid on for the corporation expenses. The ac- countant, a man of the mercantile class, was also banker of the village. The Punch drew on him for all common z 2 340 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YIII. expenses, lodged collections with him, and paid revenue through him, and at the end of each season he brought in his bill. If there were any common receipts, feu duties levied from resident weavers and such classes, grazing dues, or other items — it may be in disorganised times a little bit of public plunder — all such were credited. The whole sum due was then divided ; the rate for the season was declared at so much per share or plough. It was also part of the constitution of the communities that, being jointly responsible and holding common rights, if one member broke down it was made up by an extra cess on the others, who at the same time have the right to ap- propriate his land, unless he, within a reasonable time, makes good principal and interest. As the Punch received nothing for their trouble from the community, they charged against the village all their expenses for public purposes, their journey ings, &c. &c. All fines, and compensation to travellers robbed in their limits, were included in expenses, as was entertainment to public guests and such matters ; and they generally con- trived to include a little secret-service money for bribes and such like. This was the principal source of abuse and profit to the office-bearers, as it is in all corporations, Saxon or Jat ; especially as they had generally a good understanding with the local Government Agents, who vouched to the community for the correctness of their charges, while the Punches vouched to the Raja for the correctness of the Agent's accounts. Such were the communities with whom we had to deal. They liked the system of contracting in money for the revenue ; we liked it, and had always adopted it ; and there was no doubt or question as to who were the pro- system pursued p^ictors. We havc therefore pursued the by us. system of the North-West Provinces, with this essential difference, that there are no middlemen of Chap. VIII. PUNJAB SYSTEM. 34 1 any kind. The proprietors and the actual cultivators are absolutely identical. The tirst thing to be done was to make a summary set- tlement, or in fact a bargain with each village for the annual sum to be paid. The boundaries of villages are immediately determined, and roughly marked off, subject to future more deliberate adjustment. In making the assess- ment, we go on the principle of considerably lowering the sum formerly received, partly as a compen- g^^^^^^ 3^,^,^. sation for the greater punctuality of pay- ™®"*®- ment which we shall exact, and partly as an earnest of our liberal system of administration. Of course we are obliged, before survey, to trust to any means we can find for ascertaining the correct value of villages. Averages of former receipts, native measurements and estimates, former leases and general opinion, are all made use of^ and the proper rent is ascertained as accurately as pos- sible. A handsome percentage is then generally de- ducted, and an allowance is made to the Punch. A large crowd from the villages being assembled, the proposed assessment is declared. The Punches, as a matter of course, whether the assessment be high or low, hold up their hands and go into ecstasies of astonishment at the extravagance of the demand. It is entirely out of the question ; they are ruined and undone. The late Govern- ment stripped them of everything, and they always under- stood that we were just and moderate, but such a demand is unheard of They are the Company's slaves; but how can they agree to any such a sum ? Couldn't be done. Rather relieve them of the cares of managing villages alto- gether, and they will take service as grooms to our horses, and sell their wives and children. However, all this talk blows over. Perhaps there is a general union of ^•oices that one or two villages are more highly assessed than others, and something is reduced in their favour; a trifle niav here 342 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. and there be added to the allowance to the headmen, and in the end, after some discussion and communication with other members of the community, they quietly sign the agree- ments and go oflF congratulating themselves on the good bar- gain they have made. If, as very rarely happens, there are broken-down villages of badly cultivating tribes, which will not agree to any reasonable terms, and prefer lazily render- ing the regulated portion of the grain, the only course is to farm the Government share to a mercantile speculator. But this is to be avoided if possible, because the farmer and the community always quarrel. And if circumstances render such an arrangement desirable, it is better that the community should afterwards make an arrangement with a capitalist of their own choosing, probably the village accountant and banker, and stipulate for themselves the most favourable terms they can obtain as to the share of the produce. Presently they gain confidence, see the prosperity and easy rates of other communities, and under- take money payments. The summary settlements are to last till a regular survey and settlement can be formed after the model of the Agra system, when all the land will be exactly surveyed, all questions as to alleged dispropor- tion of holdings with nominal shares and with payments will be satisfactorily decided, the rights of all will be ex- actly defined and registered, the constitution and rules of management of the village will be recorded in detail, and with the light of a survey the revenue will be fixed for thirty years. In the mean time, to facilitate the summary settlement, the collector probably causes short statements to be made, showing the shares in each village expressed in the symbolical ploughs, the names of the Punch, and the nature and constitution of the com- munity. At the same time with the summary settlement a alienations of revenue are registered, and as far as can Chap. YIII. PUNJAB SYSTEM. 343 be investigated, it being now understood that this is one of the things which should be done first. Alienations of All the larger assignments, and those which revenue. aY>ipear prima facie without any good ground, are inquired into, and if it appear proper resumed at once without giving time for any prescription to grow up. The smaller holdings which seem to be founded on any claim which makes their continuance at all possible are left for more minute investigation at the time of regular settlement. It is distinctly understood that no one has any legal right to appropriation of the public revenue ; for here the nature of the assignments could hardly be mistaken. They seldom involve possession of the land, and the assignee merely receives the Government revenue from the village com- munity. But Government, in a generous discretion, gene- rally takes the most favourable view of such cases, when there is any reasonable claim. It generally upholds for life in favour of old servants of former Governments, with perhaps a smaller allowance in the next generation ; in perpetuity, in favour of old families and religious institu- tions. But it does not transform assignments of revenue, in lieu of pay for service, or to courtiers, or courtezans, or fiddlers, and other Oriental favourites, into absolute landed property, as has been done in the provinces. Summary settlements have now been everywhere made, and regular surveys and settlements have Present state of been commenced. I have described the arrangements, system in districts where tenures are perfect. There are variations in parts of the Punjab ; but in every case the object is to bring them back as nearly as possible to what I have described. A sufficient time has not yet elapsed to enable me to show the issue of these attempts. As far as yet appears, they arc most favourable, and will I hope be a model and example for other parts of the country. The general result of the summary settlements I may 344 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. state to be such as to show that the revenue is realised with a punctuality and ease such as has not been ex- perienced in any other part of the country, or under any other system, while the people enjoy rights and profits which they have not elsewhere. In short, I believe that by this system the largest revenue is realised to Government, and the least rent taken from the culti- vators, since no one stands between these two parties. Yet by the corporate character of the communities Go- vernment is entirely relieved from the multitude of deal- ings with an infinite number of separate tenants, and the cultivators are, by their collective strength and mutual support, rescued from individual weakness and poverty ; evils which ruin the Ryotwar system. It is the old story of the bundle of sticks. I have reserved one and the only argument against the Argument in re- communitics. If ouc member breaks down, f^onsibi?u "* '^of ^^^ general community have yet to make good communities. ^jjg wholc suui, and this is said to be unjustly making the industrious pay for the idle. Now, first, it is no injustice, because this risk is taken into consideration in fixing the assessment. The community running the risk, Government is content with a smaller gross revenue than if it ran the risk itself. There is therefore an equivalent given. Second, this is not a duty gratuitously imposed. Rights and duties being correlative, the common responsibility is merely the just result of common rights. If each partner were separate, he would only have to pay for himself the higher rate due under my first argument ; but he would have no claim to common advantages, no right to share the land of a dead or defaulting member; no claim to the decrease of payments from increase of cultivation, or of common receipts, which generally occurs in the course of a long settlement ; in short, he would sacrifice much more than he gained. Chap. VIII. PUNJAB SYSTEM. 345 Third, he would have no claim on the support or assist- ance of the community in general interested in maintaining his cultivation and credit. Fourth, practically the members would not wish for such a separation. And fifth and principally, it would be altogether incom- patible with the system. Government could not manage the communities, there would be continual representations of real or pretended inability of each individual to pay, no one would be interested in keeping up cultivation, and, in short, we must at once fall back on all the evils and in- conveniences of a Ryotwar system. There is (admitting all arguments) but a very small and doubtful evil to counterbalance enormous advantages. In fact, the population being a fine one, the government equitable, land greatly sought after, and the assessment easy, the evil is not felt at all. We have most certainly already succeeded in giving a great money value to the land, always socially prized above all things, and, if a man cannot pay, many others are found to pay for him on receiving his land. The whole village is interested in keeping up cultivation to the utmost, for the more the cultivation the less each has to pay, and nothing is allowed to be waste which can possibly be turned to account. Independent members often come in to say that a par- ticular person is not cultivating properly, will break down, and beg that he may be sent for, and made to arrange matters himself, or give the petitioners the use of his land, who are willing and anxious to cultivate and pay for it. There is, in fact, no difficulty whatever. But there is one point, the practice on which is vet to be regulated, and about which I am anxious. A^i I • • 1 T 1 1 1 • • 1 Liability of land s the members are jouitly liable and jomtJy to compulsory owners of the whole village, I do not think that the land in possession of each is so far a separate pr()])erty 346 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. that individuals can sell it to a stranger without the consent of the community. It never has been so sold ; and if we should ever in these territories have civil courts, such as those in the provinces, and the shares are sold in execution of decrees, a very great injustice is done to the other holders, and the constitution of the village, being invaded, will fall to pieces ; for no extraneous or dissimilar member will amalgamate in so complicated a machine. It is wonderful that these corporations work so well as they do, but, while accepting the fact, the most useful and profitable fact, that they do work in their native condition, we must remember that we cannot engraft on them incompatible institutions without spoiling all, and that in this way we have ruined and are ruining the communities in the provinces. No present debts were contracted on the faith of sale of landed property, for hitherto it has not been sold, and yet the cul- tivators have, as members of and with the assistance of the community, quite credit enough. It is by no means desir- able to increase that credit by making their landed rights auctionable by civil process ; such a course is incompatible with the rights and even with the existence of the com- munities ; I think it should be as before, that if a man break down his land goes to the community, who are liable for the revenue. Creditors will then manage pru- dently, instead of throwing money at careless proprietors in order to appropriate their landed rights, as is every day done in the provinces. Some rights are of much greater value to their possessors than they will fetch in the market, and should not be dealt with after our mercantile fashion. The country on this side of the Sutlej under our protec- tion, and on the other side under the strong for coercive mea- rulc of Raujcet Sing, had for forty years enjoyed tolerable freedom from external war, and, the villages being strong and the government Chap. VIII. PUNJAB SYSTEM. 347 native,* had tolerably prospered — Government taking all they could, but still the communities holding their own. Under our system the communities have received a fresh accession of vigour, the disbanded soldiers and others returned from the army have taken their places again in their villages, cavalry horses are at a discount, bullocks at a premium, and agriculture is the order of the day. The collections have been so easily and punctually made, that there has been hardly time for settling the mode of coercion in case of default. If there is delay of payment, it can generally be set right by a little dunning and adjudi- cation of disputed points. In the summary mode of assess- ment mistakes may possibly occur. If such prove to be the case, and a village bears an unfairly high assessment, the error must be fairly met and a reduction obtained ; yet in the general prosperity such instances are of most rare occurrence. Again, if anywhere there are incorrigible bad cultivators, who will not listen to reason, their rights must be given to others. Sales have not yet been resorted to. The collector has of course a great deal of duty in de- ciding disputes in various forms regarding Djgp^jtes sum- points which have not been recorded bv ^^J'^y.^'^ecided, r J and village ac- regular settlement, but this is necessary to counts filed. keep the machine in order, and will diminish after settle- ment. Under our system the Punch are less highly paid and less implicitly depended on for management than under the native government. A deputation of the com- mons frequently comes in, headed perhaps by an old Sikh soldier, to represent that they suspect foul play, that the Punch have charged them for imaginary hospitalities, bribes, and attendance in court, and give unintelligible accounts. The Punch and accountant are therefore re- quired to file full accounts of all their charges, and every member may inspect them, and, if he object, may file a * I mean "native" of the provinro, and akin to the pcoiile nilcd over. 348 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. summary suit to determine the overcharge. All these dis- putes can, however, be brought within reasonable bounds, and satisfactorily disposed of, by a good collector with good tehseeldars. The people are very amenable to reason and to the revenue authorities, to whom they look up, and with whom they hold familiar intercourse and discussion on all points. In the favourable account I have given of the working of the system of settlement with the village General indue- ... , , i i T tion in regard to communitics, it iiiust 06 undcrstood that 1 system of settle- , ., i ii i^ j_ ii • i. • mentwithcorpo- descriDC merely the tacts as they exist in rate communities. , . , n n . t i i. i. this part 01 the country, i do not assert that the result is solely attributable to the system pursued ; on the contrary, I am aware that it is in the first instance founded on our finding good communities and good culti- vators in existence. 1 only say that, having what we have, and treating it as we do, the result is most favour- able; and I argue that, if the same state of things can be elsewhere attained, it is most desirable. I do not say that the communities can be reconstructed at Madras and other places, but, having seen from the reports of the first col- lectors that such communities certainly did exist in those parts, I am not sure that sufficient attempt has been made or well made to reconstruct and make the most of them, and think that in the sweeping orders for the general in- troduction of the Eyotwar system they have been wantonly broken up. I have not detailed figured statements of the Punjab Eesuit of Pun- dcmaiids, collections, &c., so can only speak jab settlements, generally of the collections in districts with which I am personally acquainted, and in all of those I am sure that the amount of balance is next to nothing. The total land revenue of the country beyond the Beas, as assessed for the year 1850-51, was 1,035,213/., to which last sum is to be added about 4/0,000/., revenue of Chap. VIII.- MADKAS SYSTEM. 349 the Julinder and Cis-Sutlej territory, included in the ac- counts of the North-West Provinces, making the whole land revenue 1,505,213/. The rate of assessment on total area is, from the large quantity of barren land, apparently small, but on the culti- vated land it must, I should think, be much the same as in the North- West Provinces, and the soil, products, &c., are very similar. As a specimen of the punctuality of collection I shall only quote the last year of the last district of which I was in charge, that of Loodianah, in the Cis-Sutlej territory, lying along the Upper Sutlej. There had been an unusually bad season in 1848, and some balances remained at the end of the year. The season of 1849 was tolerably, but not unusually, favour- able. The land revenue demand for 1849-50 amounted to 85,000/. In three instances I thought that there was error of assessment, and obtained sanction of Govern- ment to a small reduction, but, this done, every farthing of the demand from the whole district, both former balances and the revenue of the current year, was col- lected, and I sent up statements of balances blanks having, by the medium of the corporate institutions, collected with this degree of punctuality from about 30,000 pro- prietors. I doubt whether the rents of many English estates are so punctually paid, and am sure that it is a most agreeable contrast to Irish ones. We have touched generally on the state of things at Madras prior to the introduction of the pre- sent or llyotwar system. We know that ^^ ""as sj stem. the village communities existed, and were, up to our time, in operation, in a gi-eater or less degree of perfection, sometimes as perfect republican comnumities, such as those described in the north, more frequently imperfect, 350 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VlII. with a superior body of republican Meerassidars and an inferior body of cultivators with inferior rights, or a community of cultivators under a head-man, without any Meerassidars at all. We have seen that, after a conflict of different systems, that of village settlements was tried for some years from 1808, but not, as there is reason to believe, long enough, nor under favourable circumstances ; nor was the result so conclusive as to satisfy the chief revenue officers of its failure, — on the contrary, they seem still to have defended it. Whoever at the present day washes to be satisfied that, whatever be the merits of the Eyotw^ar system and of its great advocate, it rested in its origin on a consider- able degree of enthusiasm and error, has only to read Sir T. Monro's minute on the state of the country, recorded in the expectation of resigning the Government, 31st of December, 1824. It must be premised, in justice to the author, that he is by no means positive of the success of his own system, fully admits our ignorance and experi- mental state, and only argued for a system which he ex- pected to succeed, but which must now be judged by the result. In examining the revenue system introduced by him in the Madras Presidency he chiefly applies tJfelT^sir T. himself to confute the arguments of his own Monro and Ma- t-> i p "d Ti. aL i. il. dras Board of Board ot Kevcuue. It appears that they. Revenue. misguidcd and obstinate men, persisted in upholding the village system, and insisted that, "on the original establishment of every Tamul village (par. 4), the hereditary right to all the lands w^as vested in all the occupants." One (Mr. Ellis) described the country as having been chiefly a forest, but colonised by 300,000 Hindoos, of whom a large portion w'cre of the tribe called " Vellallers ; " that the Meerassee tenure, ^^ with all its incidents " (that is to say, joint tenures, joint payments, Chap. Vlir. MADEAS SYSTEM. 351 and pure republican constitution), was first introduced by these Vellallers. He had asserted that all the lands of Arcot were at one time held under the joint or " Soma- dayem " tenure (par. 9), which was much praised by some revenue authorities, and its breaking up into the separate individual or '■^palabhogum " tenure regarded as a cala- mity to the country, its happy state under the ancient system being contrasted with its present state. All these assertions Sir T. Monro disposes of as not founded on fact. The original settlement and joint hereditary tenure of the Tamul villages described by the Board of Revenue " is assumed without the least proof, and altogether incre- dible," and various objections are taken to poor Mr. Ellis's fanciful theories ; the joint tenure is admitted to have been at one time common, but is represented as entirely a modern contrivance ; that it " originated in local circum- stances ;" that the Government, to keep up tanks and watercourses, may have granted certain privileges •, and that the joint tenure arose out of a desire to give to each his share of the water. He also partially falls into the very common error of supposing the joint tenures to be a sort of socialism or cul- tivation in common, " only existing in the rude and early stages of agriculture," and he speaks of the land as inter- changeable at stated periods, just as Tacitus describes the German system. He adds, that most of these tenures had of late years become much disorganized and broken up, whence he argues that the members must prefer the separate tenure. Now, any one who reads these arguments, and turns to what I have described of communities and a state of things in another part of India so exactly corresponding to the description given by Mr. Ellis and other members of this wrongheaded Board of Bevenue of the former state of the Tanud country — a state of things not niatter of 352 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. theory in the north, but in present operation, yielding a very punctual payment of revenue, and having existed from time immemorial as the most prominent institution of a very marked race, without any trace of royal grants, or of an arrangement for keeping up tanks or water- courses ; — whoever compares the two statements — the pre- sent facts in the extreme north, and the theories of the past held by the Board of Revenue in the extreme south — must admit that the Board of Revenue were in this much right, and that Sir T. Monro was wrong ; that the state of things described by the Board was not incredible, but cre- dible, as actually existing and having long existed ; that the controverted constitution was no creation of modern governments, but a characteristic institution of the people ; and that these Yellallers are beyond doubt a race identical in their institutions with Rajpoots and Jats. I am no witness risen from the dead, no theorist of the past, but I have been actively employed in charge of several districts of a large province, where the state of things described by the Madras Board's theory is in perfect and universal operation, and I not only say that it will work, but that it has worked and does work, for I have touched the coin collected as I have shown with a wonderful regularity. The question should have been, not whether such insti- tutions ever existed and were practicable (which Sir T. Monro denied), but whether they could be brought back to their original perfection at Madras ; and whether, being brought back, they would be preferable to the plan for doing without them. The first of these questions yet re- mains : the second is, I think, answered by the results. The village system, then, was disposed of by Sir T. Monro, who said that it had been tried and had failed, and must have failed, as it was not an original institution of the country, and was bad in itself. The village leases having been all got rid of, on 1st Chap. TUT. MADRAS SYSTEM. 353 May, 1820, iii- pursuance of orders from the Court of Di- rectors, the Ryotwar system was declared , n • 11 Ml General intro- to be generallv introduced ; every possible auction of the . ', , p . , , Ryotwar system. opportunity was to be taken ot g;etting back, on occasion of lapses and by buying in, the Zemeendarees and Mootahs, and all other tenures, into which the Ryot- war system was to be immediately introduced ; and collec- tors were even continually impressed with the desirableness of breaking up the joint tenure wherever it existed, and entering into engagements with individuals separately — to so great an extent was this enthusiasm carried. The orders were executed ; every village not permanently assessed was brought under Ryotwar management, and things so continue till the present day. The rates of assessment were at the same time reduced, and the re- ceipts from land revenue were for some years considerably diminished. There has been since that time no important change or fresh measure of any general kind. I must therefore more particularly describe a Ryotwar settlement, or rather absence of settlement, as it exists at Madras. For the distinguishing feature of the Ryotwar system is simply that no settlement is concluded at all, but the revenue is made the most of from year to year without settlement. I must premise that there seem to be several varieties of detail in different districts, but I give the general principles. To begin with the assessment^ — it is rather fieldwar than Ryotwar. The Government deals directly not only with each Ryot, but with each field. Instead of assessing each village, it assesses each plot of ground. The Ryotwar A field, be it observed, is not in India a large T^ZTTu^- piece of land, fenced and hedged, but a mi- '^''''^■ nute portion, suited to the minute tenantry, divided from the next by a little gathering together of the earth about 2 A 354 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. six inches high. Fencing is not common, and in a dry flat plain, containing thousands of such fields side by side, it may be supposed that boundaries are only permanent when the fields belong to different owners on the spot with different interests. Moreover, instead of assessing at a fixed sum for a series of years, there is fixed on each field a maximum rent to be paid for good seasons and good crops ; and it is undertaken, not as an incidental indulgence, but as an essential part of the system, that if the crops fail the rent shall be reduced ; in short, that land which does not produce shall not pay ; not only uncultivated land, but land which, being cultivated, does not produce good crops. To effect then the commutation of the share of the grain into money rates, all the land was surveyed, "ac- cording to the native mode of measurement," with "chains for measuring dry land, and staves for wet, oi* given length," and particulars of each field were entered in a register. There were no maps ; " the survey was not mapped in this district, nor I believe in any other under this presidency." No provision for maintenance of bounda- ries seems to have been made, except charging the village officers to keep them up. The land was classified, its gross produce was calculated and the value thereof. Of this pro- duce it was assumed (as appears from a statement for Salem) that the rent in kind was fi-om one-half to six-tenths ; and, by way of leaving a profit to the Ryot, the share at which the new rates are calculated is in Salem from 32 to 45 per cent, of the produce. These rates being regis- tered and applied to each field, the result was set down as the maximum or standard rent. The waste land was also registered in convenient fields, and a sliding-scale rent was provided, by which on first breaking up it paid little, but gradually came up to the regular rates. Each Kyot may each year cultivate as many of his own fields, or of waste fields, or of those given up by any one else, as he pleases, CiiAP. Ylir. MADRAS SYSTEM. 355 and he may each year give up as many as he pleases ; but after the lapse of one year he has no farther right to reclaim what he has given up ; and if the Kyots of a village do not cultivate all the land, any one else may come and take it. In levying what are considered reduced rates of rent, the Government designed to create a value in the pos- session of land, and to make this value hereditary and alienable. This right it conceded to all, Meerassadars and non-proprietary cultivators alike ; for as long as a Ryot pays the assessment on a field he may do what he likes with it. In fact the Meerassadars and other tenants are put on exactly the same footing ; for the claim of the former to general rights in the village, to waste lands, &c., being disal- lowed, they remain proprietors of the fields cultivated by themselves, and the other tenants also acquire similar rights. For the management of the village the head-man and accountant are made altogether Government servants : by •Government are they paid, and through them are Govern- ment affairs entirely carried on. They keep an account of the land cultivated by each tenant ; through them is the rent collected and paid into the treasury •, they are respon- sible for the proper boundaries of fields ; in short every- thing depends on them. The ryots are under them, they are under the tehseeldars, and the tehseeldars are under the collector. For the encouragement of cultivation, advances are granted, through the tehseeldars, to needy tenants, with which to purchase seed, bullocks, &c., and these advances are recoverable in the same way as land-revenue. In short, by direct management, by encouraging people to take land, settling them on it, giving advances, and obtain- ing, when necessary, reduction of rent, the tehseeldars and village officers are supposed to perform, on the part of Government, throughout the whole country, the exact })art 2 A 2 356 MOUEEN INDIA. Chap. Till. which is familiar to every landholder of a village on Ze- meendaree tenure, and of which, in both parts of the Bengal presidency, many Europeans have experience. It does not appear that there is any general provision for a revision of the survey or survey rates. The survey once made seems never to have been repeated. For in- stance, in Salem the payments were some years ago still founded on a survey fifty years old, and no doubt are so to the present day ; for in the Board's Circular Orders there is no mention of new surveys. All with whom I have spoken with one voice admit that these old rough surveys are exceedingly incorrect and not at all to be depended on, as indeed nnist necessarily be the case. Sir T. Monro's measurement is said to have been greatly vitiated by fraud, and it may be supposed is not the better for lapse of time, especially in the entire absence of maps. Though nothing was stipulated in this respect, the col- lectors say that the standard assessment is in practice permanent, because if the standard rent be paid it is never raised. For the prevention of fraud, concealment of cultivation, alteration of boundaries, &c. &c., reliance is placed on the headman and accountant, and, for the prevention of collusion and fraud on the part of those functionaries, on informers. Fifty per cent, on the assessment is allowed as a reward to any informer of concealed cultivation, &c., and it is stated that there are " in almost every village dismissed accountants desirous of being re-employed, and unem- ployed servants who wish to bring themselves to notice," whose services as informers can be relied on. The greatest security, according to one collector, is, that "those who do not participate in the advantages of the collusion are always ready to bring the unfairness of the proceeding to notice." " The revenue servants are Chap. VIII. MADRAS SYSTEM. 357 also restrained by the fear of dismissal from office and the penalties provided by Reg. IX. of 1822." The mode of managing matters then is this. Before the commencement of the rains the tehseel- 1 i. 1 i. ^ i.U J. i. Mode of making dar takes engagements irom the ryots as to annual settie- the quantity of land they are to cultivate, which of course he promotes to the utmost. Of these he makes a " Dowl Bundobust," or statement preparatory to settlement. But this is by no means the settlement. He makes advances, &c., during the season to the ryots in proportion to their means and necessities. When the crops are nearly ripe, the collector goes out into the dis- trict to look at them and to make his annual settlement. The village accountant makes out a statement showing the cultivation of each ryot, his crops and circumstances, "the number of his cattle, sheep, and children." Of the fields which he has undertaken to cultivate, first, he does not pay for those which on account of the season he has not been able to sow ; second, he does not pay for those which, being sown, have produced nothing ; third, the collector may grant reductions from the maximum or standard jumma on account of inferior crops, unfavourable seasons, &c. &c. Accordingly at this time all who think that tliey should not pay full rent apply for reduction. All these cases are settled, and then and then only does the collector make up his " Jummabandee" or annual set- tlement, grant formal leases, and take formal engagements for the crop, which by this time is past and generally /?(3zo? for. This is important to note, for it does not seem to be generally understood, and it puzzles those whose ideas of a settlement are of an arrangement made before, not at the end ofj the season to which it refers. Sir T. Monro avows extensive remissions as part of the system, and argues that those are wrong who think that the system is bad because in all districts " very many ryots require a remission of a 358 MODERN INDIA. Cuap. VIII. part, or a half, or even the whole of their rent ;" for he says that we must " among two or three thousand ryots always expect to find two or three hundred who are un- able to pay their rents ;" and from this disposition to hold land without being able to pay (being inclined to look on the bright side of things) he argues a " spirit of independence" which we ought to " encourage rather than repress" (par. 14). He would have made a capital Irish landlord, and would no doubt have encouraged this " spirit of independence" with perfect success. In all the discussions on the subject all the authorities at all the Presidencies dwell on these great remissions as a chief evil, and one which is admitted by the Madras revenue officers themselves. Yet on turning to the figured statements of the ryotwar collectors I was surprised to find them ex- hibiting the most wonderful punctuality of payment, the balances rarely exceeding three per cent, and averaging little more than one. It was only on talking to a Madras official that I discovered the explanation of this discre- pancy. "Oh," he said, "all that is before the Jumma- bandee. The Jummabandee is not made up till after the crop is ripe, in fact generally does not reach the collec- tor's office till after most of the money has already got there, and after making all the remissions and reductions of the season from the standard assessment — that is our annual ryotwar settlement." No wonder the recorded assessments are punctually collected in this way ; but it is a style of settlement which was altogether new to me. As the difference between the first " Dowl Bundobust" and the "Jummabandee" does not publicly appear, I can- not state its amount ; but I find it incidentally mentioned in the Bombay Settlement papers in regard to Coimbatore, the very Madras district the collector of which, in reply to Lord William Bentinck's queries, represented the system to be so flourishing that in ten years his annual balances Chai'. VIII. MADRAS SYSTEM. 359 varied from H to 2f percent: "they state that in Coim- batore the average annual settlement for the last ten years is about one-third, or 1 1,62,463 rupees, below the maximum demand, and that in Canara, in the year 1243 fuslee, out of 51,449 vergs only 31,835 paid the maximum, and in 20,164 vergs temporary or permanent deductions were allowed." (Bombay, Settlement Papers, Appendix, par. 41.) This was the deduction from the standard assessment before the Jummabandee. The collector only states balances on the Jummabandee, or settlement, made up after he has got most of the money. Such is the system. I must however state that it would appear, so far as I can understand the modern Madras reports, that, the fixed rates being now lower than before Sir T. Monro's time, and the system more settled, the standard assessment is more nearly adhered to. Remissions are still part of the system, but to a much smaller extent. As what cannot be at once realized is generally remitted, complex modes of coercion are not used, j^jo^e of enforc- Personal property is distrained, and the land "^''^ payment. would be sold for balances, but generally is not, for a very good reason, viz. that nobody will buy it ; and the collector of Salem naively mentions " various unauthorised modes of stimulating the tardy," rarely resorted to by heads of villages, such as " placing him in the sun, obliging him to stand on one leg, or to sit with his head confined between his knees." That the result of the Ryotwar system in Madras is most unfavourable all parties seem to admit, ^^^^^i^ of the Not only the Bengal authorities condemn ^^yoiy.-&r sy&t&m. it and dwell upon its evils, but the Bombay revenue officers, who had in many districts followed the Ryotwar system and, still defend it in principle, admit quite as decidedly the very great evils of the Madras mode of 360 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. management, and in fact urge them as the ground for adopting an improvement thereon which they have pro- jected. They attributed the failure at Madras, not to the system, bat to the execution and details. And the Madras men to whom I have talked candidly admit that at the present moment the state of things is most unsatisfactory — that the people are wretchedly poor, the land of little value — that the difficulty is to get people to cultivate it on any terms — and that the cultivation is kept up by forcing, by Government advances, &;c. &c. And indeed no one who has experience of these matters can wonder that it should be so. The idea of the British Government undertaking to perform the duties of imme- diate landlord throughout a great country, discarding all the assistance of the system which we found, the self-contained communities, and dealing singly with each wretched culti- vator, is, to one who knows the trouble and difficulty of managing in this way but two or three villages, quite absurd. All experience, as M^ell as all reason, is against it. Any indigo planter who has a village or two could tell the weary work, the coaxing and the bargaining, and the ma- nagement, the favourable leases given to some cultivators, the bad debts left by others, the thousand and one details of managing a village on this system ; and the idea of one man so managing a couple of thousand villages is perfectly monstrous. The system of annual reductions to each cultivator who has a bad crop makes it ridiculous to suppose that the collector can do else than trust his native subordinates. Only imagine one collector dealing with 150,000 tenants,* not one of whom has a lease, but each pays according as he cultivates and gets a crop, and with reference to the number of his " cattle, sheep, and children/' and each of * I took two districts at random. In Coimbatore there were 1-10,105 tenants ; in South Arcot, 143,667. Chap. VIII. MADRAS SYSTEM. 361 whom gets a reduction if lie can make out a sufficiently good case. What a cry of agricultural distress and large families there would be in England or any other country under such a system ! AVould any farmer ever admit that his farm had yielded anything, that his cattle had produced, or that bis wife had not produced? If the collector were one of the prophets, and remained in the same district to the age of Methuselah, he would not be fit for the duty ; and as he is but an ordinary man and a foreigner, and continually changed, it would be strange if the native subordinates could not do as they liked, and, having the power, did not abuse it. Accordingly, it is generally agreed that the abuses of the whole system, and especially that of remissions, is something frightful; that the oppor- tunities of extortion, peculation, chicanery, and intrigue of all kinds are unbounded ; while the reliance of the Madras collector on informers by no means mends the matter. The worst of the Ryotwar system seems to be that it leads to nothing in the end. What does it tend to ? Are we to go on for ever with this annual patchwork, this annual settlement as it is called, and annual reductions and remissions, and annual difficulties of all kinds? Things do not seem to mend at Madras ; we shall pre- sently see the improvement tried at Bombay. Before leaving the subject I may here mention that, although much the greater proportion of the Madras land is utterly valueless, some portion watered from IIP . ., ^ i> •! 11 1 Value of land. wells, oic, IS said to be oi considerable value. If the assessment is unequal, it follows that any man who has once got a good bargain keeps it, especially if he can contrive to have more land in his field than he is charged for in the register, and such fields no doubt (the assessment being fixed) must bear a considerable value. There are even said to be a good manv under-tenants in such lands. 362 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. As part of the system Government midertakes the Works for irri- management and repair of all tanks, water- gation. courses, &c., for general use, charging for the water. The revenue-free holdings seem never to have been Alienations of thoroughly investigated, and almost all the revenue. instructions of the Board are as to what cases are not to be sent to them. In comparing the financial results of the Ryotwar with any other system, it must be observed that it Financial results. . i p i i • i i is everywhere round by experience that much less net revenue is realized under such a system than by means of village leases ; that the Madras receipts fell off when the Ryotwar system was introduced, and that a much smaller rate on area is realized in Madras than in other parts of the country under other systems. The maximum of Madras receipts seems to be referred back to the year 1809. They declined very much in the intermediate years, but have lately again revived. Of course under such a system receipts vary from one year to another, but the following are fair specimens : — In the year 1814-15 the settlement was for Rs. 3,45,63,213 3 825-26 „ „ 3,30,11,159 1829-30 „ „ 2,84,73,996* 1840-41 „ „ 3,40,82,393 1848-49 „ „ 3,53,38,613 The collections have been within one or two .per cent, of the amount of settlement. It will be seen, then, that while the decline was at first considerable, there has been a great rise of late years. How much of this is owing to the general peace and increase of population, and how much to estates added to the rent-roll (lapsed Jagheers, &c.), I am unable to say ; but it is stated that the increase is in great part nominal, certain sums being credited * An iiiuisiially Viad year — the lowest of any. Chap. VIII. BOMBAY SYSTEM, 363 which are afterwards written off as assignments ; and the resumption of rent-free lands must have added something ; so that it is probable that the ordinary rate of receipts is now considerably less than before the introduction of the Ryotwar system. Of the assessment for 1848-9, the sum of 54,76,291 rupees was permanently assessed ; 1,48,406 rupees was due upon leases for more than one year; 2,97,13,916 rupees was the amount of annual leases and produce of division of crops. The amount under permanent settlement seems to be continually decreasing. The whole gross receipts for 1849-50. are 3,47,94,373 rupees, which gives a revenue rate on area considerably Jess than half that of the North- Western Provinces. The charges are of course larger ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^_ than under any other mode of management. *^°°- They are stated at about fourteen per cent., but this does not seem to include the receipts of village servants, and other expenses deducted before the revenue is credited. We have seen that it was not till a comparatively recent period that we had large territory in -P, , *^ Bombaj' sjstem. Uombay. Here, too, we find exactly the same tenures as in dif- ferent parts of India at the farthest extre- TcnurGS. mities from each other, and the same dis- cussions going on. There were, in some few places, Des- mooks or Hindoo officers over a number of villages, who had established a sort of claim to hereditary management. We have the joint republican tenure just as I have described it, sometimes in great perfection, and warmly advocated by different functionaries. The distinction is very clearly shown between these villages, on the one hand, called "Baughdar," and never represented by a single head-man, but always by four or five at least, and those, on the other hand, under a single head-man, and wanting the republican character and decided Mee- 364 MODERN INDIA. Chap. Till. rassee tenure. The Baughdar villages were again some- times partly cultivated by the republican Meerassadars, and partly by inferior cultivators ; and in some the com- munity was perfect. In Broach there are stated to be ninety-eight villages in which there is not a single culti- vator besides the sharers •, and it is seen in the first Bombay reports, just as I have shown, how the assessment on the whole village being fixed each man knew at once what was his share, whether it was a fourth or a three- hundredth part. The Native revenue system was not here in the same systematic order which once obtained nearer the seat of the Mogul Government. There had been formerly a good revenue system. Malik Amber I have mentioned as a financier of the south. He " revived and confirmed the Meerass tenures," and made village settlements for fixed money payments. In fact, he did just what we should have done, cherished and perfected this excellent system, and reaped the benefit of it in what we wish to obtain (but have not in those parts obtained, because we have acted diff"erently), viz. fixed village settle- ments in money. It is to Malik Amber that Sir T. Monro attributes the invention and institution of the Meerassee tenure and joint community system. It will hardly be be- lieved that a mere local administrator originated a system common all over India, and stamped in the national charac- ter ; but that he revived and confirmed it when failing, with the same object which we have, or ought to have, in view, is a historical fact which should be borne in mind in de- termining our conduct. Sevajee seems also to have been, as well as a great robber, a great administrator. But latterly, in the terri- tory now under the Bombay Presidency, it would seem that constant change of masters, internal and external wars, and a predatory system had niade the management very irregular. The villages contrived to manage their Chap. YIIT. BOMBAY SYSTEM. 365 own affairs, and paid revenue in the lump to whoever could claim it with a sufficiently strong hand. In the republican or Baughdar communities the management was of course simple enough ; but in the less republican municipalities, under a single Potail, the latter seems to have acquired more than ordinary power, and to have distributed the common burthens in a somewhat arbitrary way. But at anv rate it is clear that both descriptions of villages somehow managed to pay their revenues in one sum as a body corporate. For some years after we took possession we followed very much the native system. There were ^1 ' Til T , First revenue then no surveys •, but each year, accordmg to system at Bom- the state of the crops and the price of grain, ^^' the collector fixed in one sum what each village was to pay, and it was levied and paid by the headmen, the burthen being distributed in joint villages according to the known shares ; in other municipalities according to cultivation and produce, under the authority of the Potail. However, complaints soon became rife that this authority of the Potail was abused, and to remedy the evil accountants were established as Government servants, to enable Go- vernment to see justice done to the cultivators of the mu- nicipality. This step disgusted the Potails, who threat- ened to resign in a body ; and the Byotwar system being then in vogue, and highly recommended by the home authorities, the dispute led in many instances to the Go- vernment assuming direct charge, after Ryotwar fashion. However, a settled system of management was required. Some kind of settlement was urgently advocated by the collectors, and surveys were commenced. The system to be adopted for the future was at this time much discussed by Mr. Elphinstone, jjr. Eiphin- the Governor, and the members of Council. ^^""^^ ^'*'"'*- Mr. Elphinstone's opinion was against the Ryotwar system, as " involving so much detail that the collector and his 366 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YIII. assistants cannot perform it" (" Nor a hundredth part of it," adds a member of Council), "while it cannot be safely in- trusted to natives ;" and " when combined with our general revenue and judicial system, it has a great tendency to annihilate the power of the Potail and to dissolve the village government, the value of which has been rated so highly." Besides, he observed that leases for fixed periods could not be maintained on this system, on account of the poverty and uncertainty of unsupported individual cultivators. Village leases therefore he would introduce, but carefully and gradually. The joint repub- lican or Baughdar tenure he pronounced to be much the best w^herever it existed, most fitted for long fixed leases and a good system of management. He regretted that we should have allowed any of these tenures to become disorganised, and proposed that they should be particu- larly cared for, and that leases should be given to them. Where this tenure did not exist, he indicated a plan of surveying, registering, and recording the holdings of each Eyot, so as properly to know the share he should bear of the common burthen; then to make the rent low enough to afford a profit in fixed leases, and to make joint village leases. " The settlement," he says, " would still be with the Potails ; but the right of every Ryot would be known and fixed." He seems to propose to give the Potail the profit of extension of cultivation, and, I conclude, to charge him with the risk of failure of Ryots ; but does not yet bind himself to details, merely generally propounding this plan for uniting the two systems, by maintaining and perfecting the village system ; not making the Potail ab- solute, or the Ryots separate, but fixing the proportions of the revenue paid by each, and leaving to the Potail the management, and with him individually, or M'ith the community generally, the risk of individual failure ; in fact, perfecting the indigenous municipal system, as Chap. YIII. MR. ELrHINSTONE'S VIEWS. 367 Malik Amber did. The design was worthy of so great, a man. In the directions for the survey of the Deccan, where perfect communities w^ere not common, the instruction is that the Kyots must (their holding being ascertained) " engage for each severally, and the whole collectively, it being distinctly understood that individual failures might be assessed on the whole village, as was invariably done by native Governments. The rights of the Ryots being fixed, the villages may be leased to the Potails." Such were the view^s of Mr. Elphinstone, the distin- guished man who then ruled Bombay.* But unfortu- nately they do not seem to have been since acted up to. They required much management, patience, and care. The Ryotwar system, or want of system, had been intro- duced, and was in favour ; and it was much easier to let a village go to pieces than to keep it together — to say that a lease could not be effected, and hand it over to the tehseeldar for direct management. Get rid of everything else, and a village ipso facto becomes Eyotwar; and in fact to this cause is owing the prevalence of the system, simply that it is absence of system, and a negative is easier than a positive. So it happened in Bombay, that, the system propounded by Mr. Elphinstone not being fully carried out, the Eyotwar tenures much increased, and a great variety of very irregular holdings exist in different parts of the Presidency. The first surveys proved incor- rect, and the Potails retained power as much as they could. But in 1840 it would appear that a new era had com- menced in Bombay revenue matters, in the ^^^ Bombay southern Maratta provinces hitherto Pyot- ^J^**'™- w'ar. The system of the North-West Provinces had been recommended, but the Bombay Settlement officers (or, * Hev. Selections, vol. iii. p. GGl. Whoever desires a good view of these matters should read Mr. Eli)hinstone's IMiuutes. 3G8 MODERN INDIA. Chap. VIII. as they are there called, Survey officers), engaged in the settlement of the Deccan, would not admit its applica- hility, and they had a new plan of their own. They were against joint tenures altogether; preferred the Ryotwar plan ; but agreed as to the immense abuses and complete failure of the old Madras Ryotwar management. Their plan was to make a field settlement, with well-defined fields, and much reduced rents, fixed for thirty years with no abatement. In 1847 the different settlement officers met, and agreed upon a set of rules in exposition of their system — under which the southern part of the Bombay Presidency is now administered. The system then is this : — the as- sessment is still on fields, but a field is no longer as before the indigenous field — the undefined little bit of ground heretofore described. It is an artificial field, much larger than before ; and wherever so much land belonging to the same owner can be found in one place, it is as much as one man and a pair of bullocks can conveniently cultivate. It is permanently marked off by sinking large stones, &c., and a very accurate survey is made, not strictly scientific, but with the assistance of scientific instruments in marking the main bearings. The rent is fixed on each field for thirty years, and each Ryot may, as before, each year cultivate what fields he pleases, and give up what he pleases. Fields which are not taken up for cultivation are let annually by auc- tion as grazing grounds. All cultivators are proprietors of the fields they cultivate so long as they choose to keep them on the rent fixed ; but there is this difference, that, as Meerassadars were always considered proprietors, their rights of inheritance, &c., are not interfered with ; whereas, other cultivators receiving the proprietory right as a gift from Government, there is this condition attached, that their fields cannot be divided, and a single field, or land Chap. VIII. NEW BOMBAY SYSTEM. 369 under a certain quantity, must go to the eldest son or single heir in order to prevent subdivision. The rent-rates are very much reduced. But the rent of a field once fixed will never, under any circumstances, be altered during the set- tlement, whether it is taken or not. Fields will be sold fiDr balances. All joint tenures and common responsibilities of every kind are utterly done away with, and it is stated to be the great object to get rid of the Meeras tenure alto- gether, so that the Government may deal with the whole land under its own rules. In fixing the assessment on each field, a most minute and artificial system is to be fol- lowed ; there are nine good qualities of soil, according to depth, colour, &c., and seven defects, which are set forth in a strange-looking diagram, and, the defects being sub- tracted from the good qualities, the relative values are expressed in fractions of a rupee. A field is thus valued in a number of compartments, and the sum of the whole is the assessment of the field. Here is a field as surveyed in Bombay. The figures are the good qualities of each compartment, the hiero- glyphics the bad. East. 7 4 3 1 2 . . 5 1| It VW H If 6 5 4 A 3 3 r 1 1 H 1* If The system has not had a long trial, and the result remains to be seen. It is said that, although it involves a large sacrifice of revenue in the first instance, the cultivation is increasing, and so making up for the loss; that the people are prosperous and contented, and that balances and remis- sions are now inconsideral)le, not exceeding five per cent. 2 B 370 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. VIII. The system is at any rate an immense improvement on the old Ryotwar. It is only in this way that a Ryotwar system can have any chance of success, and it is probable that for a few years so elaborate an arrangement may suc- ceed to a certain extent. But, as to its success in the long run, there are several questions. First, the general objections to the Ryotwar system will somewhat apply, though in a less degree ; secondly, the possibility of cor- rectly fixing the value of each field with such minuteness is more than doubtful ; thirdly, it is found that cultivators are continually throwing up their cultivated fields to cul- tivate waste land at low rates ; and lastly comes the ques- tion whether to obtain the permanent working of the system it may not be necessary to assess too low. It is certain that in the newly settled districts less is realised than formerly. While Bombay collectors say that the Madras system fails because the assessment is too high, Madras collectors seem inclined to say that the Bombay practice may be all very well, but that a sufficient revenue is not realised. And in fact Bombay does not pay, and the land revenue has diminished. But this brings me to another prominent feature of the Cost of coUec- Bombay system, the enormous expense of tion at Bombay, collection. The payuicuts to village ser- vants, &c., are brought into account, but the amount exceeds all bounds. In the Bombay accounts we find for 1849-50 — Land Revenue . . . Rs. 2,29,09,690 Allowances to district and village officers, including charital)le grants to mosques, pagodas, &c., no less than 98,26,840 And charges of collection (after de- ducting Sayer expenses) . . 28,00,000 Leaving net Revenue only . . Rs. 1,02,82,850 chap.yiil cost of collection. 371 — and the result is that Bombay, all othei' sources of revenue being added, not only contributes nothing to the general or home governments, or to the interest of Indian debt, but has a large deficit in its own local government. We must look, then, to this enormous allowance of nearly one million sterling to district and village officers, mosques, &c. &c. I have mentioned the disorganised state of this part of the country previous to our possession, and the power of the Potails. Besides the Marattas, it seems that there were a number of predatory chiefs and robbers, Rajpoots and hill aborigines, who occupied some villages, and levied a black mail called " Grass " from others ; and when dif- ferent parties contend for the possession of a village, it often happens that they bid high for the assistance of the cultivators, each offering the most favourable terms, and granting all kinds of allowances and immunities to the headmen. In the frequent contests and change of mas- ters, grants or promises of this kind had at different times been made without limit. Moreover, when the head-men themselves manage the village they contrive to appropriate land free from assessment, and grant it to other people on all kinds of pretexts, or in consideration of bribes. In fact, land free from revenue had been systematically sold by the Potails to parties who kept it as long as they could conceal the fact from the Government of the day, or allege a character of sanctity or such pretext. Of these alienations there were an unusual number in the Bombay territory. But it is utterly incredible and iiupossible that so many as now exist were ever permitted at any one time mider any one native Government. For as such alienations are, under native Governments, per- fectly arbitrary and discretional, there is a constant suc- cession of them, old ones being resumed, and new ones granted. 2 B 2 3/2 MODEKN INDIA. Cjiap. YIIl. When, then, we recognise them as a right, not only as many as have possessed at any one time make claim, but an immense number more start up. One has such a grant in possession ; another was unjustly deprived of one a short time ago ; a third's father had one, so he thinks he may fairly bribe the head-man and accountant to put him down in the present list. Mr. Elphinstone, in taking possession of the Peshwa's country, had proclaimed in a general way that all the rights and property of the people should be respected. But it speedily appeared that the greater part of the revenues were claimed by different parties, and much discussion ensued. Some of the claims were disallowed, but in the end both the black mail of the robbers, and the offices and incomes of all village officers and other such claimants, as well as all religious and charitable alien- ations were admitted as "vested rights;" and, moreover, these vested rights were never properly investigated or sifted, and were permitted to attain an enormous amount by gross fraud and abuse. In the Bombay revenue papers it is simply stated that there are many deductions from gross revenue in favour of village officers and others which are " vested rights," and cannot be interfered with. The term is one of evil omen. Whenever there is an abuse in England — a sinecure, a misappropriation of pro- perty, an office or an institution turned from its proper end to private purposes, the pretext is always " vested rights." But I do not see why these discretionary allow- ances should be made vested rights ; why we should be deprived of the power of interfering, and still more of inquiring whether they are what they pretend to be or no ; why we should have to pay not only our own expenses, but those incurred by native Governments for purposes not now required ; and, especially, why we should let these " vested rights " mount up to a sum which it is incre- dible that anv native Government would have permitted. Chap. YIIL RESULT OF BOMBAY MAXAGEMENT. 373 It may be all very well to let people have for ever as a right whatever they can make any plausible claim to, having at some time or other enjoyed temporarily, as a favour, but we must consider that in consequence Bombay does not pay, and the deficiency is made up by taxing the salt of the wretched Bengalees, already deprived of all favour and of all rights in the land. All Bombay oflScers with whom I have conversed unite in deploring the frightful expense of collection, which eats up the greater portion of the land revenue. They say that the vast majority of these district and village officers do nothing whatever for the money they receive, and that the excessive allowances are in no way advantageous, but that they are kept up simply because they are considered "vested rights," and, having now attained a certain prescription. Government is unwill- ing to interfere with them. I have no detail of the 98,20,840 rupees, but it seems not to include the black mail, the "vested rights" of the robbers, for that is treated as a separate matter, and is not mentioned in the detail of what is termed " Pasaita," and described as including allowances to district and vil- lage officers, Bramins, Bheels, Mosques, and Faqueers (corresponding to the title in the accounts). In spite of all grants and liberality it seems clear that the Bombay revenue system does not suc- •^ . , rt -., ry 1 Result of Bom- ceed, that the receipts have lallen otr, and bay manage- that the country is, generally speaking, not prosperous. The gross land revenue of that Presidency has been apparently increased of late years by about 600,000/. in consequence of bringing into account the allowances to village officers, &c., heretofore excluded, but at the same time the charges called assignments are increased by upwards of 700,000/., and the charges of collection by a further sum, showing that real revenue has diminished, notwithstanding that Sattara has been added 374 MODERN INDIA. Chap. YIII. to the Bombay territory, and must be included, as it ap- pears nowhere else in the accounts. Perhaps, so much being given to possessors of "vested rights," the others are squeezed to make up for it. The most prosperous part of the Bombay territory is said to be the southern Maratta country under the new settlement, but there the assess- ment is exceedingly light, and the expenses are most ex- ceedingly heavy. The greater part of the revenue is derived from the districts in the north, Guzerat, Broach, &c., comprising some of the very richest and most valuable tracts in India, producing the most paying crops, close to seaports for exporting them, and capable of yielding the highest rents. To these the new system has not yet been extended, perhaps because the keeping up the privileges of the privileged, and at the same time granting an easy assessment to the many, is incompatible with the realisation of revenue. The system in these parts of the Bombay Presidency is avowedly very unsatisfactory. The partial surveys are quite incorrect and insufficient ; no uniform system is fol- lowed. There are still a good many perfect communities ; in some cases robbers or district officers have been recog- nised as Zemeendars ; in some cases, as in the North- West Provinces, particular families are village Zemeendars ; many villages are managed on the old Ryotwar plan, and many are let to the Potail, who distributes the burden among the cultivators in an irregular way, the collector merely deciding at his discretion, and without any system or sufficient record, disputes brought before him. In such villages it seems to be admitted that the system still in some places prevails of charging according to the kind of crop, higher rates for more valuable crops, and lower for the inferior products. There is evidently great need of a settlement of these districts. From the Bombay revenue reports it would appear that Chap. YIII. RESULT OF BOMBAY MANAGEMENT. 375 the collectors of the southern districts still (notwithstanding the new settlement) retain and use the power of granting remissions, and, in fact, that that power is practically exer- cised by officers much lower in the scale than collectors. The revenue demand of Poonah for 1849-50 (aliena- tions being deducted) was 8,04,671 rupees, out of which remissions were granted in a favourable season to the ex- tent of 31,482 rupees, and on 1st of August the out- standing balance was 48,404 rupees : while the collector says that the papers sent in by the Mamlutdar (or Teh- seeldar) " do not explain how the remissions were calcu- lated." Decrease of receipts is attributed to introduction of the new survey-rates. For Dharwar the demand was 12,35,348 rupees, remissions 38,437 rupees, balances 5,882 rupees. In 1 835-6 the land revenue stood thus : — Gross Land Revenue .... Rs. 1,67,19,975 Allowances to village officers, Enamdars, &c. . . 27,18,378 Charge of collection . . 18,25,828 45,44,206 Net Revenue . . Rs. 1,21,75,769 while in 1849-50 it was — Gross Land Revenue .... Rs. 2,29,09,690 Allowances to district and village officers, &c. . 98,26,840 Charge of collection . . 28,00,000 1,26,26,840 Net Revenue . . Rs. 1,02,82,850 Showing that, while there is a large nominal increase, there is a real net decrease of 18,92,919 rupees, notwith- standing the addition of lapses and resumed rent-free lands. 376 MODEEN INDIA. ClJAI". VIII. The following statement exhibits the whole land revenue of India for 1849-50, with the charges General state- i • i • i i • merit of land which it uiust be remembered include the revenue. . . , ,.,.., registry, superintendence, and judicial ma- nagement of everything and everybody connected with the land. Almost all these duties must be performed, even if Government derived no revenue from this source. The mere collections could easily be made at a cost of one per cent. It w^ill be seen that the comparative net revenue realised per square mile stands thus : — N. W. Provinces. 514 Bengal. j Madras. 280 208 Punjab. 180 Bombay. 151 and that the charges vary from 8^ per cent, in the North- West Provinces to 55 per cent, in Bombay. c'HAi-. viir. GENERAL STATEMENT. 377 ci"§ =a CS '^ « i o ol >->.S t« a 3 crr«2 . ^,-5 fe g 3 >» t,.?!o-i; ?=■-:■■?-! = >. S ^ Saugo erritor der th ernmei ,000 1 eof Ju lej ten ucludei t Provi robabl ed. < 3 ca iS. s tlie udda 1 nt un e Gov 47,00 ■evenu !is-Sut rto i i-Wesi :ion p stimat S H M a. 3 .3 £cj5 -< be S Ml-* 1 V -a o-.' 00 «[.# O^ CO ic 00 r-. m • 2 « ) jj J . o TT O O CO ^ 3 t. « a £ a: 00 i-H 05 00 o 'n 1 Pi 2o^ M . n t^ l~ t^ 't IT! !M « S I^ C) OS rt CO O a p:5 Si '^- »^ .' .^ »^ •» .* CO Oi -). ■* o c^ o t^ CO CO o o to M CO ^ CO -^ 'M ""* o o O O CO O o o o o o ■* -f CO o^ O O O CO f—f s . 1^ ^ o O O to •i> Ef m in o (N O 00 CJ CO rt PS - ^ g t^ to CO O CO to t~ s > . o t^ 1^ l~ -* C5 to 2 0) M ■£, t- -- Cs O O OO ^ PS K - o o Tf «~ «~ t^ a> f>. *T3 5 o o CO ■* -^ c» 1—* CO -* ^ CO (>J in ^__, oo o o to CO oo c o CO 00 O O (N t^ to o» to O O ■* (N n ■^ CO C5 o o o» o CO -^^ -f C5 O O CO t-< 05 a. 00 O m CO (Tl o to CO CO t^ to o> to CO <>) '^ OS l?» m o o o> in 00 s o t^ O O (M -1< -* ei « ?! l^ w O O CO 05 t 3 ^ cr ^ CO 00 in T(< t^ <5 CO g J- ^ l^ Tf to 0-. c *"* '^ •* ca S Qi 'a?.i * O ^H t^ 'u .s .S s S . . , o p 15 -3 (S t- .23 - . . o cd o fl =5 . . _^ GO tT o o .a "^ B M 1 C3 t bO a <1 Non-Regulat of Agra Punjab, wit and Trans tories Madras Bombay . o 378 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. CHAPTER IX. SOURCES OF INCOME OTHER THAN THE LAND REVENUE. Salt-tax — Its origin — The system and receipts at eacli Presidency — General statement of salt revenue — Customs — Opiiim revenue — Bengal system — Duties on Malwa opium — Excise — Tobacco revenue — Moturplia reve- nue — Stamps and fines — Post-office and miscellaneous income — Local taxes. In most countries, European and Oriental, salt has been taxed. In India too it has long been more Salt-revenue. , „ ,.^. or less a source oi revenue, ilie consump- tion of salt in proportion to other articles is probably greater there than in other parts of the world. Every individual of the population uses it largely, and it is even given to cattle. In an Indian establishment horses, cows, and sheep have all a regular allowance of salt. The climate and the mode of living probably tend to its use. I have mentioned that it was not in former times so highly taxed as it now is. It is perhaps the only burden on the j)eople which we have made much heavier than before, and we have in fact increased it from a small beginning to a very serious impost. On our first assumption of Bengal, the salt-revenue w^as Origin of salt- ^^^ ^^ great importance. The monopoly of ^'^^' the trade seems to have been merely held by the English, like other commercial monopolies — was once abolished and v>"as revived by Clive as a fund for the payment of the Company's servants without adequate public incomes, and subject to a Government duty calcu- lated at 100,000/. This arrangement was, as has been Chap. IX. SALT-TAX, BENGAL. 379 seen, discontinued under orders from home, but a few years after the monopoly was finally and strictly established on behalf of Government. The tax was subsequently car- ried to such an excess, that salt, like tobacco in Eng- land, came to bear a price three or four times exceeding its mercantile value, and yielded a large revenue. But this severity has all along been for the most part only applied to the salt of Bengal proper, and other parts of India have till lately borne but a small part of the burden. There are three sources of salt in India : — First, the sea at all the three presidencies ; second, the sources of sait- great salt lakes in Central India (in Rajpoot- ^'^ppIJ'- ana), yielding an inexhaustible supply to the central and northern countries ; third, the mines of rock-salt in the western portion of the Punjab. To these it may be added that an inferior salt oozes from the ground, and is obtained in small quantities in manufacturing saltpetre. From the time then of Warren Hastings salt w^as in Bengal a strict Government monopoly, and , .,, „ I'll • Former system it so continued till 1817, alter w^nich date its and receipts in import was permitted at a duty of 3 sicca ^"^^ ' rupees per maund of 82 lbs. But it was not imported to an extent practically to affect the monopoly till 1836. During all this time the practice was to expose to public sale by auction, on the part of the Government, fixed quantities suited to the consumption, which were knocked down to the highest bidder. The revenue under this system rose to be very high, and for the six years ending 1835-6 the average net receipt from Bengal salt was 1,28,01,391 rupees. But there was great liability to abuse in the sales, and to the creation of sub-monopolies in the hands of spe- culators, causing the imposition of a higher price on the consumer than that realized by Government. From 1 836 the monopoly system altogether ceased, ex- cept as concerned restriction of the manufacture to prevent 380 MODERN INDIA. I'iiap. IX. smuggling, and the rule was laid down, that a fixed duty should be charged alike on all salt, whether in addition to cost price of Government-manufactured salt, or on private salt imported by sea. The duty was fixed at 325 rupees (nearly equal to 300 sicca) per 100 maunds. Under this system the revenue still increased, and was during three years on an average as follows : — Net duty on Government salt . Rs. 1,33,13,395 Ditto on importations .... 9,41,401 Total, . Rs. 1,42,54,796 In 1844 the duty was reduced to 300 rupees per 100 Present system niauuds, and iu 1848 it was farther reduced and receipts. ^^ ^bO rupccs per 100, or 2i rupees per niaund. From the latter date the receipts from Bengal salt considerably diminished, in correspondence with the diminution of rates ^ but they were rather better in 1 850 ; and meantime the duty on imported salt, included under the head of customs, has largely increased. The statement for 1849-50 is as follow^s : — Sale of salt . . . Rs. 1,47,38,000 Cost 31,66,216 Net ... 1,15,71,784 Duty on imported salt . . 44,00,000 Total net Revenue . Rs. 1,59,71,784 — being larger than that realised in former years, when the duty was higher. The system then is simply this : — It is believed that, from the great number of places in which salt can be manufactured, and the facility of making it, it is impossible CiiAP. IX. SALT-TAX, NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 381 to collect a heavy excise on salt freely manufactured in Bengal, without giving too great opportunity for smug- gling. The manufacture is therefore prohibited, but Government maintains a separate establishment for the salt department, and, by contracts with native salt-boilers, manufactures it at the cheapest rate in its power. The cost of manufacture is exactly calculated, averaging about 12 annas or I5. 6d. per maund, and the duty of 2i rupees per maund, or about 1.?. per 16 lbs., being added, the salt is offered for sale to all purchasers at about 3 rs. 4 an. per maund, or 6s. 6d. per 82 lbs. According as it is sold does the Government manufacture more. But imported private salt is admitted to the freest competition at the same duty, however fine the quality may be. The Bengal salt is made by boiling, but is a very coarse sea- salt. The salt described above supplies Bengal and its de- pendencies, and also the Benares provinces and adjoining country. From Allahabad to Dehli and the hills the country is supplied from the salt-lakes of Rajpootana. mi n • 1 Salt-duty in the iney overiiow every ramy season, and on Nortii-West Pro- drying leave the salt in a thick incrustation. These lakes do not belong to the British Government, but to different tributary states. The supply seems to be so great that the salt bears no considerable price on the spot, and is brought away freely. As we cannot put an excise on the lakes, we are obliged to surround them with a long customs line, being the same line on which we levy the small customs on other articles still maintained in the upper country. The line formerly ran up the right bank of the Jumna till it joined the Ilinimalayas, so as to intercept Lahore salt ; but since the acquisition of the Punjab it is turned from Dehli across by Hissar to the Sutlej, and down that river to its junction with the Indus. Supplemental lines run 382 MODERN IXDIA. Chap. IX. from the Indus to the Sohman hills, and from Allahabad across the plain of the Ganges, to keep Scinde salt out of the Punjab, and north-west salt out of Benares and Bengal. From 1834-35 (when the regular exterior customs line was established) till 1843-44, the duty was 1 rupee per maund, or less than one-third of the then Bengal duty, and the annual receipts from salt were about 18,00,000 rupees, or 180,000/. From 1843-44, the duties on many miscellaneous articles having been abolished, but the cus- toms line being put on a more efficient footing, the duty on salt was increased to 2 rupees per maund. On a farther payment of 8 annas per maund (making it equal to the Bengal duty), north-west salt is permitted to pass below Allahabad, and a considerable quantity does so pass. The system has succeeded excellently well, and the salt receipts for 1849-50 are estimated at 47,50,000 rupees, but have actually a great deal exceeded that sum, being about 51,00,000 rupees, or 510,000/. As the customs line is principally employed for the col- lection of salt-duties, I may here notice it. It is exceedingly efficient, under two commissioners of customs, each of whom has several uncovenanted deputy collectors, and a large esta- blishment of patrols, principally of European blood. The temptation to smuggling is great, and it was at one time carried on to a considerable extent by large parties, who violently crossed the line at night ; but, owing to the increased efficiency of the establishment, it is I believe much diminished. The duty, however, is quite as high as it is possible to maintain on so open and unprotected a line. The cost of the customs establishments is about 13 per cent, of the receipts, w^hich, considering the nature of the duties, is not excessive. The manufacture of coarse salt from the earth is strictly prohibited in our provinces. It is but an inferior article, and would not be worth manu- facturing except on account of the duty on imported salt. Chap. IX. SALT-TAX, MADRAS AND BOMBAY. 383 Since our acquisition of the Punjab we have taken off that part of the customs line, and established an excise at the mouth of the mines of 2 rupees per maund, the same as the duty on Rajpootana salt. But as there are mines beyond the Indus which supply the west — as the Asra territory has a nearer supply from _, . -^ - 1 • .,1 1 Punjab salt. Kajpootana — and as sea salt is still very low- priced in Scinde, the consumption of Lahore salt is not so large as it might be. At present the duties do not yield more than 10,00,000 rupees, but they may be expected to increase. Salt has been for long a source of considerable revenue at Madras, but not so at Bombay, where it was but one of many small miscellaneous items, as under the native Government. For instance, in 1830, the whole revenue derived from salt at Bombay was 2,73,520 rupees. But about 1843-4, at the same time that the north-west customs line was remodelled, a variety of miscellaneous and obnoxious taxes were abolished wholly in Bombay, and partially in Madras, and an increased tax on salt was substituted, not so high as in Bengal, but considerable in amount. At Madras the salt is an inferior article, as it is merely dried by the sun, and seems to cost a very -^ . ' -^ Salt duty, Ma- small sum m the manufacture, tiere too dras and Bom- it is manufactured on the part of Govern- ment. It is sold at 1 rupee per maund, equal to a duty of 14 annas. It is managed by the collectors of land revenue and their establishments. By the last accounts the gross receipts were 46,45,926 rupees, and the cost of manufacture 8,12,614 rupees, leaving net 38,33,312 rupees. At Bombay, previous to 1843-4, there was a duty on salt of 8 annas per maund. It was then increased to 1 rupee, and there was on the occasion a serious riot at 384 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. Surat. Whereupon Government compromised the matter by fixmg the duty at 12 annas or \8d. per maund, being lower than anywhere else. It is of the nature of an excise duty, and is levied at the pans. The receipts for 1849-50 amount to . Rs. 23,58,220 Expenses 1,78,800 Leaving net Rs. 21,79,420 The whole receipts from salt for 1849-50 are thus stated : — Bengal Agra . Punjab Madras Bombay Total Gross. Rs. 1,91,38,000 47,50,000 10,00,000 46,45,926 23,58,220 3,18,92,146 Net. Es. 1,59,71,784 40,53,000 10,00,000 38,33,312 21,79,420 2,70,37,516 equal to £2,703,752 It thus appears that from salt Government derives a very large and increasing revenue of upwards of General state- i i in mt t i ment of salt re- two and a halt mulions sterling very much to be depended on. But this duty is obtained by doubling, trebling, or quadrupling (according to distance from the place of produce) the price of a very necessary and wholesome article of universal consumption. It is therefore a hard, and our only hard tax, and only justified bv our inability to do without the money. But those who cry out in England against the monopoly and their unjust exclusion from the salt trade are egre- giously mistaken. As concerns them there is positively no monopoly, but the most absolute free trade. And Chap. IX. CUSTOMS. 385 more than this, the only effect of the present mode of ma- nufacture in Bengal is to give them a market which they would never otherwise have. A Government manufacture of salt is doubtless more expensive than a private manu- facture \ but the result of this, and of the equality of duty on bad and good salt, is, that fine English salt now more or less finds a market in India ; whereas, were the salt duty and all Government interference discontinued to- morrow, the cheap Bengal salt would be sold at such a rate that not a pound of English or any other foreign salt could be brought into the market. So much for English agitation. For the rest, the question is between the Go- vernment and our native subjects, whether the evil (for it is an evil) of Government exclusive manufacture is greater than would be the difficulty of collecting and managing an excise duty on salt freely manufactured, without giving opportunity for smuggling. The rate of duty to be levied is a financial question. Customs are a source of revenue in all Indian states ; but they are rather after the fashion of tolls '' . Customs. on transit than regular customs hues and rates of duty after our fashion. Certain tolls were levied throughout the interior of the country on the transit of merchandise at every town and on every road. This system was long continued under our Government; but proved a source of very great abuse and inconvenience, without yielding a commensurate revenue. The Inland Customs, Town, and Transit duties in the several Presidencies were all therefore successively abo- lished ; in Bengal in 1834-5, in Bombay in 1838, and in Madras in 1844, and the customs w^ere reduced to a nearly uniform system of sea customs at all the three Presidencies, and to three continental lines between our territory in the North- West Provinces, Madras, and Bombay respectively, and the native states of Central India. 2 c 386 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. IX. But the proceeds are not such as to make the customs the very productive source of revenue which they are in Eng- land. I exclude salt and opium from the general customs. Sea customs were till 1848 levied at single rates on Bri- tish, and double on foreign manufactures — single rates on British bottoms, and double on foreign bottoms — making altogether quadruple rates on foreign goods Sea customs. n • i -n i t i • r^ on loreign bottoms. J3ut the Indian (jrovern- ment anticipated the repeal of the Navigation Laws by abolishing the distinction between British and foreign bottoms. The distinction between British and foreign products still remains, and, I must say, seems inconsistent with the general free-trade principles of the empire. The principal receipt from sea customs is from import duties, but some export duties still remain. The coasting trade from port to port throughout India is free. The rates at present levied on the principal articles are as follows : — IMPORTS. Metals Woollens Cotton and Silk goods Cotton Thread . . . Beer, &c Wine Spirits Other manufactured articles British. .5 per cent. Foreig;n. 10 per cent. 10 ,, 10 ,, 5 3i .. 5 1 rupee per gallon 1 rupee 8 annas do. 5 per cent. 10 per cent. Exports generally 3 per cent. ; bullion, &c., free ; cotton and sugar to British possessions, free. The inland customs line, in the North-West Provinces, Land customs, is, as I havc Said, the same by which the duty on salt is levied. It divides our north-west terri- Chap. IX. CUSTOMS, GENERAL STATEMENT. 387 tories from Rajpootana, Malwa, &c. The duty is levied on only two articles : the import of cotton and the export of sugar. Oil the former, the rate is 8 annas or Is. per maund of 82 lbs. On the latter, 3 annas per mauiid on raw material for sugar, 8 annas on the manufactured article — on an average about 7d. per maund. The whole receipts seem pretty nearly equally divided between these two articles.* I have mentioned that all customs and transit duties in the Punjab have been abolished. The Madras and Bombay inland lines are between the territories of those Presidencies and the possessions of the Nizam and other chiefs ; and the rates very much cor- respond with the sea duties. On the Madras continental line a scale of import duties is given with the Board of Revenue's Circular of 11th August, 1845. Cotton is not put down as a dutiable article ; sugar is prohibited (for what reason does not appear) ; grain free ; other articles Sh to 5 per cent. I have not the receipts of either of these lines separate from the sea customs. The whole gross receipts from land and General state- sea customs are as follows : — ment. Bengal Sea Customs (excluding salt) . N. W. Continental Line on Cotton and] Sugar only J Punjab Customs (now abolished) . Madras (Sea and Land) .... Bombay (Sea and Land) .... Total Gross Revenue. Rs. 39,27,500 12,16,000 5,56,000 10,27,100 27,39,010 94,65,610 Cliarges. Rs. 4,74,800 2,00,000 6,000 2,15,433 4,08,640 13,04,873 Net Revenue. Rs. 34,52,700 10,16,000 5,50,000 8,11,067 23,30,370 81,60,747 * The ' Examiner,' iu a review of Indian ciistonis, made out the excessive customs charge on this line to be a monstrous abuse ; the fact being, simply, that the whole expense of the customs line was charged against tlie small customs receipt, and the salt receipts were entered separately, whereas seven-eighths of tlie duty levied is on salt, and but for salt the line would never bo kcj^t u)i. 2 c 2 388 MODERN INDIA, Chap. IX. The most remarkable feature in this result is the very small proportion of the Madras customs, which, considering that it has the sea on all sides, and that all the south of India must be thus supplied, would seem to indicate a poverty and inability to consume foreign goods, out of all proportion to the other Presidencies. Opium is still more than salt a great source of revenue of our own creation, and is now the most Opium revenue. i • r> i i i productive oi any, next to the land revenue. It is, however, a more fluctuating and uncertain income than any other. Its great distinctive feature is that it is in fact an immense export duty, three or four times the intrinsic value of the article ; and as such, I imagine, quite without parallel in the world. We have as large import duties (e. g., that on tobacco in this country), but probably nowhere else is such an export duty possible. In fact, though India produces everything, she has not, in most things, a pre-eminence over other countries ; but in this one product of opium she stands almost alone— not only first, but Sid generis — so much so, that, even with this im- mense export duty, she suffers little from any competition in China, her neighbour and great customer for opium. Turkey opium is not nearly so much liked by the Chinese, and is not sold in such quantities, or at such a price, as seriously to affect the market. The Indian Government is, then, enabled to realise a very large and most unexceptionable revenue at the ex- pense of the Chinese, by taxing the supply to them of a pernicious drug. Under native governments, little if any revenue was derived from opium, except as a common article of cultivation ; and the drug was sold at a cheap rate, and very generally used. We only permit its culti- vation and sale with the imposition of our very high duty. In India we derive but a very inconsiderable revenue from this source. Our taxation diminishes the consump- Chap. IX. OPIUM REVENUE. 389 tion, and it is well that it should be so. The Chinese have a stronger appetite, and almost the whole of our revenue is derived from opium exported for sale to them ; and which, if Government did not interfere, would go to them under a free trade, in increased quantities and at a very- cheap rate. Opium requires a temperate climate, and is grown in all the north of India, but not in the south, sources of sup- The great sources of supply for export are, piyofop^um. first, the plain of the Ganges above Bengal, in our provinces of Bahar and Benares ; second, the part of Central India called Malv.a, between Agra and Bombay. It can be grown much more cheaply in the former provinces, and, if upon equal terms, the Malwa opium would soon be driven out of the market ; but unluckily the latter country belongs to different protected native states, with whom we have not felt authorised to interfere in the . . Malwa opium. matter, and we have been obhged to let their free compete with our highly-taxed opium, subject only to such a tax on its passage through our territories as we can impose without fear of the smuggling of so valuable and little bulky an article. The consequence is that the Malwa opium has all along gone to China much less highly taxed than our own, and it is only lately that we have begun to try to equalise the duty in some degree. In the Bengal Presidency the opium is in fact a mono- poly. Now every monopoly is in reality a Bengal opium tax on the consumer, but this is not subject ^y^tem. to the general objection to monopolies — that it is a tax on the community for the benefit of individuals. It is a tax levied on the Chinese for the general benefit of the State ; and the only question is, whether this is the best and cheapest form of the tax in preference to an excise. It has been considered that, if the cultivation were free, and Government levied so high an excise, it would be im- 390 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. possible to prevent smuggling \ and that it is therefore the cheapest way only to allow the cultivation under contract with Government, which, through its agents, obtains the limited quantity which it requires at the cheapest rate it can, and sells it at the highest rate it can. The free cul- tivation is therefore prohibited throughout our Bengal provinces, which has also the effect of diminishing the consumption in those territories, and thus preventing the demoralization of the people. The cultivation is permitted in the native states, and in our far away non-regulation districts ; but as these are many hundred miles from the sea, and the import into our provinces, or even possession of considerable quantities, is strictly prohibited and pre- vented, it is not found that smuggling results. So far, therefore, as revenue is concerned, it would be sufficient to prohibit free cultivation within five hundred miles of the see ; and it is useless to interfere with it in our provinces above Allahabad, while it is permitted in Oude. It might even be a question whether, if Government bought the drug in free markets of Bahar and Benares, and strictly prohibited its introduction into Bengal (which is not an opium-growing country), the object might not be attained ; but then comes the other view of the question, that we should thus give cheap and plentiful opium to our subjects in the interior of the country, which is by no means de- sirable •, so perhaps it is as well that things should remain as they are. For the supply and manufacture of Government opium Opium agencies, ^hcrc is a Separate establishment. There are and mode of pro- ^^q great opium agcucies at Ghazeepore and curing the sup- o r o r ply- Patna, for the Benares and Bahar pro- vinces. Each opium agent has several deputies in different districts, and a native establishment. They enter into contracts with the cultivators for the supply of opium at a rate fixed to meet the market. The land revenue authori- Chap. IX. OPIUM EEVENUE. 39 1 ties do not interfere, except to prevent cultivation without permission. Government merely bargains with the culti- vators as cultivators, in the same way as a private merchant M^ould, and makes advances to them for the cultivation. The only difficulty found is to prevent their cultivating too much, as the rates are favourable, Government a sure purchaser, and the cultivation liked. The land cultivated is measured, and precaution is taken that the produce is all sold to Government. The raw opium thus received is sent to the head agency, where it is manufactured, packed in chests, and sealed with the Company's seal. As the supply of and demand for opium are uncertain, and it cannot be kept for years, like salt, in- iPiv . p 1 ... Sale by auction. stead of sellmg it at a fixed price it is sold by auction, in quantities and at times advertised at the com- mencement of the season, and each lot is knocked down to the highest bidder. This creates great speculation and competition, which is regarded by some as an evil, and said miduly to enhance the price ; but I do not think that there can be much in these ideas, or that the price can be unduly enhanced by fair competition more than in any other mercantile speculation. One advantage of the mo- nopoly is that, with the Company's seal, the opium passes for genuine, whereas the free Malwa opium is very much adulterated. Under this system the revenue derived from opium has been, in spite of fluctuations, largely increasing. The cost of the article to Government is about 325 rupees per chest. In 1837 the sales at Calcutta had reached 17,244 chests, at a little above 1000 rupees each, Receipts issr to yielding 1,76,16,665 rupees. ^**^- For several subsequent years the Chinese prohibition and Chinese war woefully reduced the revenue, but since the war it has risen to be very much larger than ever, and in 1843-44-45 the price rose to about 1350 rupees 392 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. per chest, the gross revenue was about two and a half rail- lions sterling, the net revenue not far short of two millions, and the Government profit about 320 per cent, on prime cost, or upwards of 1000 rupees per chest. But meantime the Malwa opium exported from Bombay DutyonMaiwa ^ad, up to 1842, paid only 125 rupees per opium. chest, and an equal or a larger quantity was exported, to compete with the Bengal opium. This inequality was clearly inexpedient, and the object has since been to equalise the duty, as far as possible, in two ways ; first, by increasing the quantity and lowering the price of Bengal opium, and thus obtaining for it a larger share of the market, to w^hich its cheaper produc- tion entitled it ; secondly, by raising the duty on Malwa opium. This has so far been effected that the Bengal sales for Object to equal- 1849-50 havc iucreascd to upwards of iseduty. 37,000 chests, averaging 100 Irs. 6an. 2ip. per chest, and yielding in gross 3,75,46,596 rupees, and net 2,55,90,000, or a profit not far short of 700 rupees per chest, while the Bombay opium duty has been gra- dually raised to 400 rupees per chest ; and whereas, in 1845, 24,700 chests were exported from Bombay, yield- ing, at 200 rupees per chest, 49,00,000, in 1849-50 w^e have 20,000 chests, yielding, at 400 rupees, 80,79,300. By these arrangements the duty is, to a certain degree, equalised, and the revenue is much increased, and we shall clearly only have the right state of things when the duty on both sides of India is made quite equal, when wx' can fix the Bombay duty at, say 700 rupees per chest, and then selling the Bengal opium at the same rate, in addition to the prime cost, realise the greatest revenue, on the fairest terms, from the smallest quantity of the drug, and with least injury to the Chinese. Not only is the system of late thus improved, but the Chap. IX. OPIUM REVENUE— EXCISE. 393 market in China seems to be extending, and the price does not fall so much as the quantity increases. For 1849-50 the opium revenue thus stands : — Receipts 1849-50. Gross. Net. Bengal . . Bombay . Total . . Rs. 3,75,46,509 80,79,300 Es. 2,55^90,304 79,96,540 4,56,25,869 3,35,86,844 Showing an enormous net revenue of nearly three millions and a half sterling, realised at the same time that we promote the morality and sobriety of the Chinese, by tax- ing and restricting the supply to them of so noxious an article. Under present circumstances there seems every probability of this revenue still further increasing. The failure of one attempt of the Chinese to exclude the drug has shown that they are not likely to effect that object, and if we do not supply them some one else will ; but the worst of it is, according to some people, that, if the Chinese only legalised the cultivation in their own country, they could produce it much cheaper, and our market would be ruined. Both for their sakes and ours we must hope that it is not so, or that they will not find it out. The next tax is similar in character to that on oj)ium, viz. that on intoxicating liquors ; but this is derived, not from exports, but from consump- tion in our own territories, and is comparatively small in amount. It was a small source of revenue to native Governments, but the consum])tion \\-as inconsiderable. The mode adopted by us is not an excise after European fashion, but the sale of licences to vend spirits, — in fact, of small monopolies. The monopoly of s})irit- vending in Excise. 394 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. each large town or district is farmed yearly to the highest bidder, who sells his wares at whatever price he thinks most profitable, but under regulation as to the number and position of shops, hours of keeping them open, &c. Of course he charges a much enhanced price to cover his purchase-money ; still it is a curious fact, partly owing, no doubt, to the diminished consumption of opium, but also to other causes, that under this strict monopoly sys- tem the consumption of spirits much increases, and that, while we find it small, it becomes considerable in towns and cantonments where our rule and system have been long established. The fact is, that there are exceptions to all things, and although, in the general course of established trades, there can be no doubt of the advantage of free trade, and the disadvantage of monopolies, still there may be cases where a trade has not so much to be promoted as created, in which the inducement of a monopoly will suc- ceed when free trade and small profits do not find a footing. So it has happened in this instance of the spi- rituous liquors, that the trade, small and neglected before, has been stimulated by monopoly and monopolists into considerable activity. The monopolist incurs a trouble and expense in creating a vend for his wares, wdiich the free-trader could not afford. The trade and the taste once created, the sale would now, no doubt, be greater under free-trade ; but it is by no means an object to extend it. The tax is a desirable one, and it is found more con- venient to levy it in this way than as an excise. The whole of the other taxes, included under the head of Sayer, have been generally abolished. But there are one or two small receipts from licences for drugs, and such things not strictly classed as spirits, and the re- ceipts are still credited under the general name of " Sayer and Abkaree," the latter meaning the duty on " waters." Chap. IX. EXCISE— TOBACCO. The receipts are as follows : — Bengal . . . Rs. 30,31,400 Calcutta excise . . 2,81,600 33,13,000 29,50,000 3,54,000 24,56,139 9,28,350 North-AVest Provinces . Punjab .... Madras .... Bombay .... Rs. 1 ,00,01,489 395 — a little over one million sterling. On spirits manufactured after the European mode an excise of one shilling per gallon is levied, with drawback for exportation. This branch of revenue has generally been managed by the magistrates, and the charges are included in the land revenue accounts ; but of late years it has in Bengal Proper been put under a separate establishment. I un- derstand, however, that the old system is likely to be reverted to, as the revenue realised in Bengal is not larger, and the charge is much heavier, than elsewhere. There remains to notice a peculiar revenue of a similar kind, levied on tobacco, in one portion of Tobacco reve- the Madras Presidency only. Tobacco is ^lue in Madras. largely grown and largely used throughout all India, but was not, I believe, taxed by most native Governments, nor is it by us except in this instance. How the exception arose I do not know. It probably originated in some scheme of profit of some individual native ruler, and has been continued by us in consequence of our financial difficulties. It seems that in the provinces of Malabar and Canara, on the western coast, private trade in tobacco is prohibited, and the Government, purchasing it up in other districts (wherever it grows best), sells it at enhanced prices in these provinces. 396 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. The revenue thus realised is . . Rs. 8,81,065 Cost 2,65,523 Giving a profit of . . . Rs. 6,15,542 But it is difficult to reconcile this small exception with the general exemption of the article from tax. The miscellaneous taxes levied under native Governments on heads, hearths, trades, professions, markets, &c. &c., have been generally abolished throughout our territories in India, with one exception at Madras. This is the Moturpha re- venue, which is levied on the following articles : — Shops. Looms. Sheep. Cattle. Sundry professions, &c. It is an old and universal native tax, and, being small in amount, paid for the most part by people who paid nothing- else to Government for their protection, and an established usage, was not of itself a very great grievance. But, as involving much detail, vexation, and abuse in the collection, and bringing small profit, it was very early abolished in the Bengal Presidency. It remained in Madras and Bombay (as the native Moturpha reve- systcui was iu those presidencies more ex- nue in Madras, actly adlicred to), but was abolished in the latter in 1844, when the small salt duty was increased. It still remains in Madras, and yields 11,55,194 rupees. It is collected along with the land revenue. It seems surprising that this remnant of an ancient, vexatious, and unprofitable system should remain at Madras alone, especially as that presidency pays much better than Bombay, where they are so liberal to everybody while they have Bengal to draw upon for the deficit. Next come the stamp duties and judicial fees and fines, Chap. IX. MOTURPHA— STAMPS AND FINES. 397 both of the same nature, viz. taxes on litigation and crime towards the support of the Courts. The in- stamps and fines. stitution fee on suits is in the shape of a stamp. More- over, all petitions and papers of all kinds filed in court are required to be on stamped paper. In addition to these judicial charges, since 1824 stamped paper has been required for bills of exchange, agreements, re- ceipts, deeds, &c., as in England. The date and record of vend on the stamp is supposed to be a security against forgery. But, on the other hand, it is to be observed that in no country are agreements, receipts, &c., more frequently put into writing than in India, and it seems very doubtful policy to discourage this good practice by throwing so serious an obstacle in the way as requiring stamps. I do not know the rate of stamp duties at Madras, but the re- ceipts seem low out of all proportion. The judicial fees and fines are what the name imports, but, as few fees are received in money, the receipts must be principally fines ; and they are small in amount com- pared to the fines under native Governments. The whole receipts are : — Bengal . Agra . Punjab . Madras . Bombay . ( Stamps ( Fees and Fines ( Stamps t Fees and Fines j Stamps ( Fees and Fines I Stamps 1 Fees and Fines (S If Stamps Fees and Fines Total Es. Rs. 22,37,600 hgo 30 . 7,92,900 I l'^^''^^''- 14,50,000 2,20,000 } 3,, 000 4,20,363 1,21,714 5,. 5.5, 000 85,250 59,39,827 500 \ 17,27,000 37,000 [ 5,22,077 1 6,40,2,50 Charges, Judicial and Police. Rs. 64,82,332 71,23,000 33,74,322 24,55,857 1,94,35,511 398 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. It thus appears that the present receipts from judicial stamps, fees, and fines are not nearly sufficient to support the establishments. The tributes received from native states have been particularised in Chapter IV. I do not give the Post-Office as a source of revenue, though it is placed at the head of the offi- Post-oflBce and • i t i • • , i other misceiia- cial list, oecausc it IS iiot mcaiit to be so. neous receipts. /->• ,• , , 'p • i ^ ' ^ Government is content it its work is clone without charge. The following is the result : — Collections. Charges. Surplus. Deficit. Bengal Ks. 4,80,500 Rs. 5,36,800 Rs. Rs. 56,300 N. W. Provinces . . Punjab 8,00,0001 1,78,000) 7,65,000* 2,13,000 •• Madras 4,03,773 4,33,903 30,130 Bombay 2,43,000 3,92,110 1,49,110 Total . . . 21,05,273 21,27,813 •• 22,. 540 Showing only a small deficiency, but a difference in dif- ferent Presidencies, inasmuch as the large profit in the North- West Provinces makes up for the deficit in other parts ; Bombay in this, as in other matters, being the chief source of loss. It is singular that the Post-Office revenue of the North- West Provinces should be so much larger than that of Bengal, the latter being so much older a possession, and so much more Anglicised, The remaining sources of income are as follows : — * The North-West and Punjab establishments are one, though separately stated in the accounts. Ckap. IX. POST-OFFICE, ETC.— LOCAL TAXES. 399 Revenue. Surplus. DeQcit. Mint Duties Marine Pilotage and Dock) Dues j Receipts from Burmese Ter-1 ritory J Prince of Wales Island, Sin-1 gapore, and Malacca . . j Receipts from Scinde Miscellaneoas .... Total .... Rs. 7,39,010 9,44,560 19,67,700 7, 03,. 540 29,83,750 19,85,640 Rs. 5,23,800 40,69,950 12,23,000 6,84,340 43,92,420 Rs. 2,15,210 7,44,700 19,200 93,24,200 108,93,510 Rs. 31,25,390 14,08,670 Local taxes. Before leaving the subject of revenue it is necessary that I should mention the few taxes locally collected and expended, and not included in the general accounts. They are few in number, and are in fact of only two descriptions — first, for roads, bridges, and improved means of communication ; second, for local police or watchmen, and sanitary measures in large towns. Throughout both portions of the Bengal Presidency and the Punjab, the large rivers with which they abound are crossed by public and regulated ferries ; and partly for pur- poses of police, partly for revenue, boats are only allowed to ply at the regular ferries. At the prin- cipal of these a toll is levied on the part of Government exceeding the cost. Government provides for the proper supply of means of transport. Generally the boatmen receive a stipulated proportion of the pro- ceeds, supplying boats and labour. On the great roads, where there is large traffic, and troops, &c., are continually crossing — on the Ganges and Jumna at and above Alla- habad, and on the rivers of the Punjab — bridges of boats are formed every cold weather from the proceeds of the ferries, and are maintained till the rain-floods render them all untenable, except that at Agra, which now remains 400 MODERN INDIA, Chap. IX. throughout the year. But after provision made for the ferries there remains a large surphis, which is not credited to Government, but is applied as a local fund for improving the means of communication generally, building bridges and caravanserais, mending roads, and planting trees. As some districts have more ferries than others, the proceeds of several contiguous districts are generally brought into a common fund and equally divided. The landed proprietors are held to be originally respon- sible for the maintenance in proper order of the roads passing through their lands. In the North-West Provinces at the time of the last settlement, engagements were taken from them in lieu of this obliga- tion to pay one per cent., in addition to the land revenue, as a local road fund, to be expended in the making and maintenance of roads within each district, and this road fund is administered along with the ferry fund. No such fund exists in Bengal ; but the system is followed in the Punjab. The road and ferry funds are managed by district committees, of which the magistrate and col- lector of the district is the head, and generally the manager. The other Government officers and chief in- habitants of the district may be made members. It is not a subject in which the natives take much part ; but European indigo planters are often very useful in applying the fund. In Madras there seems to be no such local provision for improvements, nor have I heard of any in Bombay. But at the Bombay Ghauts, or hill passes, a toll is levied to form a fund to keep the roads in order. For local police and watchmen in large towns provi- sion is made from local sources. All octroi Tax in towns . i o i • i for watchmen, dutics auQ taxes ou tradcs, &c., having been abolished, and towns in India possessing no corporate property, this expenditure can only be met by Chap. IX. LOCAL TAXES. 401 direct taxation. Accordingly in the principal cities a house tax is imposed, varying from 3d. to 45. monthly, on each of the better sort of houses and shops, the poorer classes being omitted altogether. In a town of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, about 100 or 150 watchmen and scavengers are entertained under the regular police, and in other towns in proportion. Any surplus collections are sometimes devoted to sanitary measures of extreme necessity ; but the tax is so unpopular and difficult of col- lection, that it is not generally used for anything beyond its first purpose *, and for local improvements a magistrate is hard pressed, and can only by persuasion and influence get things carried out. He induces each shopkeeper to construct a drain or part of a drain in front of his shop, and adopts many similar devices, while he assists with the labour of prisoners and such small funds as he can com- mand. It is wonderful how easily rich merchants can be induced to lay out a great deal of money in building and ornament (they are very fond of brick and mortar) who resist to the death the payment in cash of a single rupee as a local tax. The tax for watchmen, but very small in the whole, and for purely local purposes, has been more unpopular and more desperately resisted than all other imposts put toge- ther, for two reasons — first, that it is new, and second, that it is a direct tax. It falls principally upon classes who have never paid any tax before^ — the better inhabitants of towns. The only purely civil rebellions which have ever oc- curred in our regular open populated territories have been in opposition to this impost in one or two great cities. However, resistance was put down, the system is carried out, and they are getting accustomed to it. But the assessment and collection of the tax gives great trouble. The assessment is made by "Punches" of diflPerent divi- 2 D 402 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. sions of the town, who allot the sums to be raised ; but it is difficult to avoid inequalities, and every man fights to the last as to the sum he is to pay. All the regular police and charges connected with it of every description are paid by the general Government without reference to this local tax. In addition to these local revenues, the Government Local Woods generally permits the proceeds of Govern- and Forests. nicut property — houses, gardens, shops, feu- duties, bricks, fruit-trees, and such like, to which it has succeeded from the native Governments — to be used under its orders as a local fund for public improvements, public buildings, hospitals, &c. &c. There are no tolls on roads, except in some parts of the Few tolls on Bombay Presidency ; but an act has lately ^°^''^^' been passed legalising tolls generally, wher- ever Government may choose to establish them. In comparing our present revenue system with that of the former native Governments, it is to be our revenue sys- obscrvcd, first, that wc retain under different our predeces- systcius and modifications the oldest, chiefest, ^°'^^' and most proper revenue, that derived from the land ; second, that we have abolished or altogether altered the character of almost all the other native imposts, the Sayer, the Moturpha, the transit duties, the large and heavy fines, and many other sources of income ; and we have established or increased other taxes on a different system in their place. Our principle has been to do away with all local imposts, and to substitute general imperial sources of revenue. We have succeeded. Our salt, cus- Chap. IX. OUK SYSTEM COMPARED WITH OTHEES. 403 toms, and excise receipts probably give us a proportion of extra income, in addition to the proper land revenue, nearly as great as that realized by native Governments, while the accident of our being enabled to derive a very large income from a duty on opium paid by the Chinese makes it, I should think, considerably larger. It may be safely said, too, that while the extra revenue is greater, it presses less severely on the people than under the old system. The salt duty is an impost which falls on them much more heavily than before, but it is not by any means an equivalent to the many things remitted to them. The customs and stamps press less heavily than the ancient transit duties and judicial fees and bribes ; and the opium and excise taxes are by no means injurious, but rather beneficial, to the people from whom they are raised. Lastly, it may be observed that our system has been more completely introduced in all the Bengal Presidency, and less so in Madras and Bombay. In comparing the revenue system with that of other countries, what most strikes one is the very ^^^^ ^.^j^ ^Yla.t of small amount of taxation on individuals, and other countries. the almost entire absence of any direct taxation. In fact, submissive as the country may seem, it is undoubtedly the case, that any direct taxes to which the people are unaccus- tomed would be met with the most determined and pro- bably successful opposition, as is shown by the great re- sistance to the only little direct tax for local purposes ever imposed, that for watchmen in towns. The land revenue, fairly assessed, is paid without hard- ship, because it is an ancient due, and is not looked on as a tax, but as the rent or portion of rent, ab initio reserved for the purposes of Government, and never the property of individuals. 2 D 2 404 MODERN INDIA. Chap. IX. The salt, customs, excise, and opium are all indirect taxes on Hindoos or Chinese, which we may levy without serious resistance. But direct taxes are out of our power. Attempt to levy an income-tax, and there would be a re- sistance such as few governments have experienced in Europe. The abstinence from direct taxation is the great secret of our power in India. Chap. X. OUR FINANCIAL POSITION. 405 CHAPTER X. FINANCE. Our peculiar financial position — Our financial history — The debt — General statements of revenues and charges ibr 1849-50 — Finance of different Presidencies — Result of recent acquisitions — Financial comparison between 1835-6 and 1849-50 — Cause of deterioration explained thereby. After all, the important question in considering any ad- ministration is this simple one, Does the country pay? For without money we can do nothing. A government which has plenty of money is generally good, and one which is in difficulties is invariably exceedingly bad. It is very easy to accuse the Indian Government of ex- acting too much on the one hand, and spending too little for public purposes on the other *, but we must first show where the money is to come from. Hence the import- ance of really attending to plain financial facts, and we should not discuss Indian politics in glorious disregard of them. It will appear that our Indian financial posi- tion is not at all so desperate as some writers would make out, — that we have erred on the side of excessive scrupulousness to the sacrifice of the revenue which might fairly belong to us, — and that the real causes of the deficits which have occurred are simple and evident enough if the facts be honestly sought for. Before entering on particulars of Indian finance we must consider generally what our position in the country practically is. We are supreme throughout all India ; we are responsible for its general government, and for the whole of its military defence ; but we have by no means 406 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. X. the whole of the revenu js. It is this circumstance rather than the detail of our expenditure which financial " posi- ha?. Riadc our positlou all along so peculiar. tion in India. t ^• • ^ • i t ^ India IS a country yielding a very large revenue, verv easily ruled, and very easily defended (so well is it fenced in by nature) ; and it is not only capable of paying for a regular peaceable and imperial government, but has always yielded and now yields a large surplus, either as the spoil of the conqueror, or applicable to the mitigation of the burdens of the people. Accord- ingly, although no oriental conquerors have ever obtained so complete an ascendancy, so quiet, universal, and undis- puted possession as we have, yet all have enriched them- selves from the revenues of the country, and many have out of their abundance laid out considerable sums on works of public improvement. With our principles I believe that we should not desire to enrich ourselves at the ex- pense of the conquered country, and that, if we now had a surplus revenue, we should not think ourselves justified in applying it for the benefit of the English state, as the Dutch apply the surplus which they derive from Java ; but yve should rejoice in the opportunity of diminishing burdens and making improvements. From doing this we are debarred, because we have no surplus. We have by our more enlightened system much eased the burden of taxation by altering its form, but still the quantity of the whole burden is by no means diminished ; yet we have no surplus. A foreign is doubtless more expensive than a native government ; but then what we lose in this way we more than make up for by the greater economy of our system. We have no foreign court or foreign nobility to support ; and probably our government is alto- gether less expensive than that of the Mahommedan Em- perors ; yet still we have the fact that they were much richer than we are ; that, instead of getting largely into Chap. X. OUR FINANCIAL POSITION. 407 debt, they had funds at their disposal, and could spend money on such objects as they chose. Why then was this ? Simply because conquering the country they appropriated the whole of the revenues. In the more open and valuable territories they left no tributary princes, and permitted no large alienations of revenue ; and in the poorer and more remote parts they but governed through tributary princes, as the cheapest mode of administration, and not from a regard to " vested rights." Hence, with all their extrava- gance, India was in their hands a paying country. We have been always in debt and often in difficulties, and have been prevented fi-om doing our duty by the people of India, because with a false conscientiousness we have shrunk from avowing ourselves the conquerors of the last conquerors, and from putting ourselves in a position to make the most of the situation given us by Providence for the benefit of the conquered. We have almost entirely advanced by bargaining with those who had no better right than ourselves, as if they were the lawful owners of the country and the people. We have obtained territory on the condition of render- ing full equivalent in military assistance and protection, and we have thought it necessary in that territory to re- spect what we call the " rights" of the subordinates of the previous conquerors. The result therefore is, that at this moment we are bound to all the duties and expenses of the Government of India, with a revenue which, with the utmost tension, is barely sufficient ; while the surplus is actually still enjoyed and squandered by the effete de- scendants of other conquerors, or of deputies or favourites of conquerors whose days have long gone by ; and these hardly in any instance even conquerors of any respectabi- lity, standing, or prescription, but mere usurping modern governors or creatures of our own creation, whose pre- tended claims we choose to prefer to our own better 4 OB MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. founded right. Both their rights and ours were but those of the sword, and to us Providence has now decreed the rule of the country. But, doubting our own proper title, we think to save our consciences by founding it upon an- other which is mfinitely worse, and by dividing the reve- nues with others who have no valid claim to them. We are generous without being just — generous to the worth- less and undeserving few instead of just to the many, an account of our stewardship over whom will be required at our hands. We seem to suppose that virtue consists in liberality to real or pretended princes and nobles, rather than to the people. Hence it is that we are unable to spend so much for public ends as was derived by the country from the pride or superfluity of the Mahommed- ans ; and that, while we have abolished some taxes, we are obliged to substitute others from which the people of a country fortunate enough to retain the unalienated land- rent for the purposes of Government, and to be ruled over in peace by a civilised Christian nation, might hope to be relieved. We have seen in Chapter TV. the list of native states, their origin, and the terms on which they hold their terri- tories. All the most valuable of these states are in the centre of our possessions, composed of productive, paying territory, and each is so much taken from revenue without decreasing by one farthing (but rather increasing) the im- perial military and general expenditure ; and the native rulers consume the revenue without the expenses or respon- sibilities of government. Take, for instance, Oude, — the king has no good or ancient title. The territories claimed by him and conquered by us would have yielded a large surplus ; but instead of standing on our own right, we make a bargain with him, take half the revenue and the whole of the expense, and leave to him half the revenue and none of the expense. And there are many other princes, with or Chap. X. OUR FINAXCIAL POSITIOX. 409 without the shadow of a just claim, who thus eat up the surplus revenue. There is, moreover, the large class of alienations in various forms in our own territories. It is then no wonder that we have no money to spare, and that the mass of the people is sacrificed in favour of conspicuous individuals. I estimate the whole gross revenue of India, as it would be under our present revenue system, at about 48 millions sterling, which is thus accounted for : — Native States estimated (but revenue pro- bably exceeds the estimate) . . . £13,000,000 Alienations in our own territory, inferior States, rent-free lands, &c. &c. &c. . 5,000,000 Sacrificed by permanent settlement of Bengal 2,000,000 Political pensions and assignments, Bombay hereditary officers, &c. ... 2,468,969 Total 22,468,969 In our own hands ..... 25,288,884 From this it appears that we in fact possess little more than half the revenues of India. Whereas, if we appro- priated the whole, we should undoubtedly have a large surplus, and India might be more lightly taxed than any country in the world. Next, let us see how we have managed that portion of the revenues which we do possess. I do not by any means argue that we have done posi- tive evil in consequence of our unfortunate financial posi- tion ; but only that we have sacrificed the good which we might have done. It has been seen that our taxation is by no means intolerable ; and it appears that in all our acquisitions we have so well calculated, that our ordinary revenue has defrayed our ordinary expenditure. Our debts are almost Avithout exception the result of extraor- dinary expcnliture in war. Having no surplus to fall 410 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. back upon, we have always been obliged to borrow on these occasions ; and we have now a debt, the interest of which consumes a considerable portion of the revenue. It is necessary then to look a little back to our financial Our financial history. The Company's commercial ca- history. pital subscribcd in England, and with which we first established ourselves in India, was nominally alto- gether 6,000,000/.; but as a portion of this sum was sub- scribed at enhanced rates, the whole money actually contri- buted was 7,780,000/. This has been spent and absorbed ; but as the result of a successful speculation interest is paid from the revenues of India at 10^ per cent, on the no- minal stock, being 650,000/. per annum, and the prin- cipal is to be paid at a double rate, or altogether 12,000,000/., so that the latter sum may be considered a debt due from India. It would be difficult and uninstructive to trace minutely in figures the whole progress of our revenue and debt. A very brief and general sketch will suffice. In the \ery commencement of our territorial acquisi- tions we felt the difficulty of our financial Clive. . . -^ -' - - position. Irom one revenue we had to defray the cost of two governments, our own de facto, and the native supposed to be de jure. The consequence was, that even under Clive, the first conqueror, the country did not pay. There was continual trouble about remittances to the Company at home, and the Indian Government got Warren Hast- ^^^^o debt about two millioiis Sterling. AYar- ^"s^- ren Hastings, being strongly urged by the home authorities to remedy this state of things, used his utmost endeavour to do so. He attempted to get a larger share of the revenue of the country which he in fact ruled, to make the Governor of Oude and others more punctual in the performance of their stipulations, and in so doing resorted to exj)edients which to English eyes, with Eng- Chap. X. OUR FINAKCIAL HISTORY. 4 1 1 lish exaggerations, measured by English manners and standards, and supposing those with whom he dealt to be strictly rightfid owners and native sovereigns, seemed harsh. In spite of very difficult times, he at first suc- ceeded in somewhat reducing the debt, and much easing the Indian finances ; but in subsequent diflSculties fresh liabilities were incurred. Hastings was persecuted and misrepresented ; those who got the money were willing to sacrifice the man through whom they got it ; and in the end, under his successors, it has become an established fact that the Indian Government is in matters of finance the most pusillanimous or self-denying in the world ; always gives to others the benefit of a doubt, respects everything which puts forth the pretext of " vested rights," yields to interested outcry, and consequently has no sur- plus, but a great deal of debt. And the hard thing is, that the ancient accident of Hastings' persecution having given it a bad name, that bad name sticks to it to the present day ; and with all its sacrifices — unjustifiable sacri- fices of legitimate revenue — it is still popularly believed in England to be harsh, grasping, and extortionate ; and any idle or malicious agitator, or newspaper vendor, or hired advocate, has but to trump up the most improbable story of oppressed ryots, excluded Rajas, or ill-used Com- missariat contractors, and it is greedily swallowed by a large portion of the public. Such is the misfortune of a bad name, and so little the profit of Ibolishly sacrificing the means of doing real good. After the establishment of the Supreme Government in 1775, our position amid Mogul Governors, Marattas, and AflPghans, all contending for the falling empire, was very difficult ; our power was greatly extended ; the calls from home for money were continual; and the Go- vernor-General was much hampered in his movements. In the .ten years from 1775 to 1785 the debt increased 412 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. to about 8,000,000/. But Hastings left a promising re- Aenue and considerable surplus, which were for Bengal alone as follows : — Revenue . . . £ 5,315,197 Charges. . . . 4,312,519 Surplus . . £1,002,678 During the following ten years, under Lords Comwallis and Teignmouth, we had in Bengal peaceful Comwallis. . iti i- times, and did not advance ; and notwith- standing the war w^ith Tippoo at Madras, the debt did not materially increase. The Company's dividends were re- gularly paid, and there was then established that admira- tion of quiet management and dislike to extension of territory which long marked the policy and instructions of the home Government. In 1 793 the financial statement stands thus : — Revenue of our whole possessions . £ 8,225,628 Indian Expenditure . . . 7,007,050 Surplus for remittances, &c, 1,218,578 Indian Debt . . . £ 8,000,000 But from 1798 to 1805, under Lord Wellesley's admi- nistration, came very expensive wars, great Lord Wellesley. ' -^ . ^ ^ • n Great debts in- advaucc 01 our powcr, immcnsc extension oi the subsidiary system, and exceedingly in- creased debt. A very large proportion of our whole present debt was in fact incurred at this time. In 1805 the debt had reached the sum of 25,626,631/. The Revenues are stated at . £ 15,403,409 '^I'otal Charges — Indian and Home 17,672,017 Deficit . . £2,268,608 Chap. X. OUK FINANCIAL HISTORY. 413 To remedy this state of things, the home Government (not perceiving that in such a position as ours in India we could not halt where there was no halting-place) ordered not the appropriation of the revenues of the countries of which we were de facto masters, but our withdrawal from them, and thus caused a backward move just when the first convenient limit— that of India within the desert — had at a great expense been nearly reached. However, for some years fresh wars were avoided, the deficit nearly disappeared, and in 1810 — The Revenue was . . . £ 15,525,055 The Expenditure . . . 15,551,097 The Debt .... 28,897,742 The interest of the debt (at one time 10 or 12 per cent.) was now reduced to 6 per cent. ; the prosperity of the country increased, and the finances assumed a favour- able aspect. In Lord Hastings' time (1813 to 1823) it was found necessary to complete our supremacy in ^^^^ Hastings- India within the desert, from which we had Prosperous times. retrograded in 1806. The Nepal and Pindaree wars were a fresh source of expense, and we made great acquisitions of territory and power. But the revenues were prosperous and increasing, and Lord Hastings succeeded in establish- ing our supremacy without materially adding to the debt. In 1823 The Receipts were . . £ 19,645,000 The Expenditure . . . 19,792,000 The Debt .... 29,382,600 It is to be observed, however, that about this time the rate of exchange at which the Indian accounts were calcu- lated was greatly altered, and hence much apparent dis- crepancy. AVhen India was principally an exporting country the rate of exchange was generally 25. CkL \)vy 414 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. rupee, but since the imports have so much increased it has averaged about 2.5. per rupee, and the calculations were therefore altered. Thus the revenue at the close of Lord Hastings' reign is stated at the old rate to have been 23,120,000/., and at the new rate but 19,645,000/., as I have given it, and the debt must also be reduced in proportion. Lord Hastings' reign was then very successful, and Lord Amherst found the finances prosperous. Lord Amherst— -p, , ,. , . ^m Tt financial embar- Jaut they clicl not rcmaui so. llie laurmese war caused fresh expense — all the establish- ments seem in this reign to have been much increased, and the administration must have been altogether extrava- gant. From 1825 to 1829 no less than ten millions of debt was incurred, without any sufficient cause •, but, owing to the alteration of the rate of exchange, only about half that increase appears in the account. In 1829 the debt was about 34 millions sterling, and there was a considerable deficit. But money seems notwithstanding to have been very abundant, and the rates of interest were reduced to four and five per cent., at which they still remain. Lord W. Bentinck was sent out expressly charged to remedy the grievous financial embarrass- Lord W. Ben- ' n a n r^ tinck— surplus mciit 01 the lormer Government, and he was most successful. From 1829 to 1838 it has been seen that India enjoyed profound peace. Our empire being supreme within the desert, our frontier nar- row, and Ranjeet Sing friendly, we attained a financial prosperity unknown before or since. Lord W. Bentinck not only got rid of the deficit, but created a large surplus. In 1835-6 there was, without any extraordinary receipts, a surplus of ordinary income of 1,466,848/., and I have selected that year for a comparison with our present financial position. In 183/, the last year of surplus, the Chap. X. OUK FINANCIAL HlSTOllY. 415 debt is stated at 30,446,249/. Hitherto there was an account of receipts and assets at home; but as in 1834 the commercial assets were applied to the liquidation of the commercial debts, and as the commercial debts and credits seem to have nearly balanced one another, it is not necessary farther to notice them than to say that a sum of 2,000,000/. was deposited in the Bank of England, at compound interest, with the view of eventually paying off the capital stock of the Company, and that a certain bond debt still remained in England. The year 1837 seems to have been the culminating point of Indian financial prosperity. We had then a sur- plus — we have since had a continual deficit. Notwith- standing a very prosperous and largely increased revenue, our military establishments and war charges have in- creased in a much greater proportion. In 1837-8 The gross Income was . . £ 20,832,710 The total Expenditure . . 20,052,393 The Surplus . . £ 780,317 But in 1838 commenced the AfFghan war — the military charges rapidly increased — the Chinese war Affo-han war— for a time very seriously diminished the increased debt. opium revenue, and there was from 1839 to 1842 a deficit averaging nearly 2,000,000/ per annum. Between 1838 and 1843 upwards of six and a half millions was added to the debt, and in April, 1843, it is stated at 36,322,819/. But the Affghan and Chinese wars were now over, and the revenue rose higher than ever. In the three years 1843-6 the receipts were upwards of two millions per annum higher than they had been in the prosperous years 1835-7, and, notwithstanding the state of preparation required by the disorganised condition of the Punjab, 41G MODERN INDIA. Cuap. X. we might have retrieved our financial position. But Sir Scinde — more Charlcs Napier chose to conquer Scinde, and, *^®^'- while he divided the spoil among the con- querors, the cost was paid by the Indian treasury. During these three years (1843-6) the local expenses of Scinde alone exceeded the gross income by 1,300,000/., and an army was besides maintained in that country wholly isolated from India, which must have cost at least two millions more. About 3,400,000/. was thus added to the debt. From 1846 to 1849 we had to pay for the two Sikh wars, and Scinde continued a burden. The Sikh campaigns. . j i -i • •, • r> revenue was increased by the acquisitions oi 1846; but in 1847-8 the opium fetched a lower price than usual. Another four millions of deficit occurred, and the debt was raised to 44,208,080/., as calculated in the par- liamentary accounts at 25. per sicca rupee, or, as I calcu- late, at 25. per Company's rupee, 47,151,018/., being 47,15,10,184 rupees. In 1849-50 we had again peace. A bill of 829,630/. 1849-50— cessa- ^"^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^"^^ ^^*^ late war chai'ges ; but tion of war-re- j-|^g reveuue of the Punjab has been added — venue equal to _ J _ expenditure. ^hat of our oldcr proviuccs is more flourish- ing than ever, and in particular the receipts from opium have reached an unprecedented height. The deficit has therefore disappeared. But there is little more than a nominal surplus. An entire cessation of the war-charge would be so much gained in subsequent years ; but then, on the other hand, it must be remembered that we cannot depend on realising from opium every year the somewhat extraordinary income of 1849-50, and that we must calculate on occasional diminution of several items of receipt. It cannot therefore be considered that our fixed and ordinary income materially exceeds our fixed and ordinary ex- penditure. It is sufficient, but little more, I shall there- fore, before concluding this chapter, try to show how, in Chap. X. THE DEBT. 417 spite of a much-improved revenue, we have a less favour- able balance-sheet than in 1835-6. The Gross Revenue for 1849-50 is stated at £ 27,757,853 The Net Revenue 21,686,172 The Charges 21,621,326 The Surplus . . . £ 64,846 Having now, then, reached the natural limits of India, we have nothing to hope or to fear from advance of our frontier. We must look to our internal resources. If we are fortunate enough to avoid war, we may either conti- nue our present system, without getting farther into debt, without materially relaxing the burdens of the people, and without spending large sums on public improvements ; or we may appropriate a larger share of the internal revenue of the country, now consumed by those who toil not, and so creating a large surplus we may make reduc- tions and improvements. Measured by European standards, the financial position of the Indian Government is by no means , , , . • 1 , , , The debt. bad, but it might be much better. The Indian Debt I have stated at . . £ 47,151,018 There is also a Bond Debt at home of . 3,920,692 Total . . £51,071,710 To this we may add Company's Capital Stock as it is to be paid . . 12,000,000 Less credit in Bank, by this time increased to — say . 3,500,000 8,500,000 Making a total of . . £ 59,571,710 This is the whole amount of liability, on account of which are now paid from the revenues of India the follow- ing animal sums: — 2 E 418 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. X- Interest of Debt .... £2,410,535 Dividend on Capital . . . 629,435 Total . . £ 3,039,970 On the other hand, against the debt of 59,5/1,710/. is to be credited Cash Balance in India . . . £ 11,042,455 Cash Balance and Money in Funds in England .... 2,889,227 Leaving . ' . £ 45,640,028 to set against the whole of the public pro})erty and public works of the Government, which is, comparatively speak- ing, not a very large debt as the price of the acquisition of so great a country ; and if w^e but now, being masters of the whole of India, manage w^ell and keep out of wars, we are in no immediate danger of bankruptcy. The different rates of exchange and different kinds of rupees cause great confusion in all Indian financial state- ments, and I hope that I have much simplified the fol- lowing statements by reducing them to the uniform mo- dern Company's rupee and the simple decimal exchange of 25. per rupee. But this circumstance must be borne in mind, as accounting for various discrepancies in my state- ments as compared with some of the published accounts. The annual Parliamentary accounts are made up in a peculiar way. The Presidencies are not combined ; the gross revenue of India is not given ; some charges are written off from the gross, some charged against the net revenue, while some items of receipt are in a singular way written off the charges. I have tried to show the result in as plain and simple a form as possible. I have given the detailed revenues and charges for 1849-50, although the accounts for that year are stated as partly an estimate, because it is the latest year of which we have Chap, X. REVENUES AND CIIAEGES, 1849-50. 419 public accounts in any shape, and is the only recent year of peace in which we obtain an approach to ordinary in- come and expenditure. The "estimate" is made after the close of the year, and is fact as to the general result, though the details of the account are estimated. I regret that I have not yet been able to obtain the actual accounts of that year, but I have ascertained so much as to be sure that the result will be at least as favourable as the estimate, probably more so ; and, for all practical purposes of com- parison, the account which we have will do sufficiently well. I here annex a statement (I.) of the revenues and charges of India for fifteen years, detailed statements (II. and III.) of the principal items of revenue and charge for 1849-50, comparative statements (IV., V., and ^'I.) of the revenues and charges of each Presidency, &c., for that year, and a statement (VII.) of the ordinary revenue and charges of our acquisitions from the Sikhs, as they will be for the future divested of the extraordinary items of 1849-50. I. — Revenues and Charges of India for 15 years from 1835-36 to 1849-50, Gross Revenue. Net Revenue. Cliaffres. .Surplus. I'efiiit. £. £. £. £. £, 1835-36 20.680,246 16,391.000 14,924,152 1,466,848 183G-37 20,976,580 16,215,000 14,960,776 1,248,224 1837-38 20,832,710 16,070,000 15,289,682 780,318 1 838-39 16,320,000 16,701,000 381,000 1839-40 15,512,000 17,650,000 2,138,000 1840-41 16.141,000 17,895,000 1,754,000 1841-42 16,834,000 18,605,000 1,771,000 1842-43 17,485,000 18,831,000 1,346,000 1843-44 18,284,000 19,724,000 1,440,000 1844-45 18,271,000 18,854,000 583,000 1845-46 18,998,000 20,493,376 1,495,376 1846-47 25,272,520 19,896,000 20,867.202 971,202 1847-48 24,675,960 18,748,000 20,659,791 1,911,791 1848-49 25,231,000 19,442,000 20,915,115 1,473,115 1849-50 27,757,853 21,686,172 21,621,326 64,846 Total ... £ 2,093,388 15,264,484 Gross Deficit £15,264,484 Gross Surplus 2,093,388 Net Deficit from 1830 to 1850 420 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. 11. — Revenues and Charges of India Revenues. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 J2 13 14 15 16 17 SOURCE. Ijand Revenue Excise Moturpha at Madras .... Salt Customs Opium Tobacco at Madras .... Stamps, Judicial Fees, and Fines . Post-Office (Gross Receipts) . Mint Marine Pilotage and Dock Dues . Miscellaneous Burmese Territory Eastern Settlement, Singapore, &c. Scinde Receipts from Native States Extraordinary Deduct Pensioned Native Princes, &c Total .... Gross Revenue. £. 15,178,676 Charges of Collection, Manufacture, &c. £ 1,000,148 i^ 1,732,494 88,106 3,189,214 946,561 4,562,586 115,000 593,982 210,527 73,901 94,456 198,564 196,770 70,354 298,375 566,694 369,400 485 130 1,203 26 23 27,757,853 3,602 462 487 902 552 813 712 Chap. X. REVENUES AND CHARGES, 1849-50. 421 for 1849-50 in Pounds Sterling, at 2s. per Rupee. Revenues. Percentage Charge. lOi 15 23 4 Assignments under Treaties, &c. Bombay, 982,684 \ Charged on Net < / Revenue. 1.486,284 2,468,969 Net Revenue. £. 13,551 ,752 2,703,752 816,074 3,358,684 88,448 570,169 210,527 73,901 94,456 198,564 196,770 70,354 298,375 566,694 369,400 minus 1,486,284 21,686,172 Percentage of each Item of Net Receipt. 58* 111 3i 14i X 2* 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 422 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. Ill — Revenues and Charge-:, &c.—cofi(inue(/. Charges ox Net Revenue. Military, including Military chargesl defrayed at home J Marine cliarges Civil and Political Establishments, in- cluding Ecclesiastical and other charges, and repairs of public works, buildings, &c. Judicial and Police charges .... Public Works, exclusive of repairs . Mint Post-Office — gross charges .... Territory ceded by the Burmese — Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, and Malacca Scinde, exclusive of regular troops . Extraordinary Home Establishments, including civil) Pensions, cost of Mails, &c. . . . ( Dividend on East India Stock . . Interest on Debt Total Surplus 1,943,550 482,862 52, 380 \ 212,781 190,734 ^ 439,242 227, 100 y 709,172 629,435 2,410,535 Percentage ou Net Revenue. 56 2 9 2i 2,621,326 64,846 3\ 3 11 99 f ClIAP. X. REVENUES AND CHARGES, 1849-50. 423 m 0) Cl> c « >A i> w (/D be 5 a; M O « EH CO <1 > , , ■^"^ .2 Oh • • • ■* CI CO • a CI cf O CO ^ in to c) o •* X to C5 CO r^ ■-4 * 1— 1 • 'I" • • •- -+ c ao • CO , a . to « f— 1 "i* w in ' ■^ „ '==''§ i" o O CO CJ CI CI o to o o CI Tf t^ r^ CI ° 2 =s 2 in CO CO o CI as CO |-&-^ , •, i3 C'l -= in ~^ .^ ^H ^ CTl 'O CO -*> in 02 •^ c% ^ r^ 3 o t>. o OS CO CO CI CO iM .~ -T i; o o m CI to rf o^ to 1^ --D X i"! ^ CO o o ? CI in c» 3 (M o o CI t^ t^ a r-- -* in CI 05 CO 1— < 1, > ^ ^ in O Cs f^ 00 • • to •5 CO t^ CO CT> a « 00 r- « t^ lO o t^ CO CI to O 00 ■* ?! CO CI r—t ^ CI to o o o ^ _, l^ o o t~ CO 00 s o CO n< to CI to 2 '^ ^^ s t^ ,-^ t£> CO • • • p^ 3 CO (M « » , t^ 'CJ — H Ci CI CI in o Q CI ^^ "^ to aJ (N o o O to in CO ^ O o o o l^ i^ in 7! 00 t^ 05 as F-H CO 00 D r ^* "^ CM .■^ in ,—t 00 « • t^ r^ ^ o in -* o in Oi a , in w -t C-l o_ 00 CI t^ p o in (M in CO t^ 6 ^ CI . — - — , '— ^— N , ^ , ^-f^—^ tn OJ * -^3 • '^ M~i5 • • a a c3 O . be >> g 'o CO § 2 be t-i ■2?!; a c« .2^ a , — 1 "^ 0) be n 2^ 0) -a 3 o ■5 '3 .2 1 • bc.2 a «i a o £ 1 o 0) s 0) «t„!S O ^ ft) U-« tH bO fS^a J=H§g o 'o ^W 424 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. V. — Statement showing defail of Cliarges of each Presidency for 1849-50. BENGAL, WITH NOETH-WEST PROVINCES AND PUNJAB. Net Revenue. Military Charges, including Punjab Corps. Percentage. £15,270,626 £6,412,964 42 BENGAL. Net Revenue. £. 8,724,726 Charges other than Military. Marine and Pilotage Civil and Political, including general Government of India Judicial and Police Public works, exclusive of repairs . Mint Post-Office Burmese Territories, Singapore, &c. . Total 184,680 901 ,002 648,233 92,200 25,210 53,680 190,734 Percentage. 1 3i 2,095,740 24 NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 4,535,400 Civil and Political .... Judicial and Police .... Public works, exclusive of repairs Post-Office Total 175,500 478,500 348,500 74,000 1,076,500 4 n 11 24 PUNJAB. 2,010,500 Civil and Political Judicial and Police Public works . Post Office . . Extraordinarj' Total 37,900 233,800 2,500 2,500 227,100 503,800 11^ \U 25 Surplus on all the above | 5,038,800 | 33 per cent. Chap. X. EEVENUES AND CHARGES, 1849-50. 425 MADRAS. Net Revenue. Total Charges. £. 3,779,229 Military INIariue Civil and Political Judicial and Police Public works, exclusive of repairs . Mint Post-Office Total . Surplus £. 2,524,695 12,259 351,603 337,432 14,919 10,023 43,390 3,294,323 480,905 Percentasre. 66 on 9 9 20? 87i 12? BOMBAY. 2,337,942 Military Marine Civil and Political .... Judicial and Police .... Public works, exclusive of repairs Mint Post Office Total , Deficit £. 1,757,684 75 210,056 9 340,622 14i 245,585 lOi 24,743 1 17,147 39,211 ]n 2,635,012 297,070 ) 37h 112i lU VI. — Statement showing comparative Percentage of different Items of Charge in each Presidency on Net Revenue for 1849-50. Bengal. Agra. Punjab. Madras. Bombay. General. Military .... 42 42 42 66§ 75 56 Marine .... 2 0^ 9 2 Civil and Political If'i* 4 If 9^ 144 H Judicial and Police . H 10^ llf 9 loi 9 Public works, exclu-j sive of repairs . . / 1 7ft 0^ 01 1 2i Includes Supreme Government. t Besides local funds. 426 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. VII.— Ordinary Revenue and Charges of Punjab, with Cis-Sutlej and Trans-Indus Territories, excluding extraordinary items. Rkvenue. Revenue Cis-Sutlej territory, and Julinder hitherto in- cluded in Agra accounts, about £550,000 Country beyond the Beas : Land Revenue, 1850-51 . 1,035,213 Expected Salt Revenue . 120,000 Revenue from other sources 144 , 243 Total . . . £1,849,453 CUARGES. Cis - Sutlej and Julinder, charged in Agra account, about £110,000 Country beyond the Beas : Political pensions, &c. &c. 36,268 Total civil expenses . . 186,795 New local corps . . . 156,950 Total .... £490,013 Surplus towards defrayin;^ Military and General i „ T. e.x. f? ■ \ £1,359,440. Expenses of the Empire j ' The statement No. I. shows the progressive increase of the revenue during the last fifteen years. Progressive in- ,^, . . , . . „ • , • n crease of reve- 1 he principal variations 01 receipt arise iroin the varying proceeds of the opium sales, and in a less degree from the unequal annual settlements of the land revenue of Madras and Bombay. The famine in Northern India of 1837-8 caused large remissions. In subsequent years we trace the effect of the Chinese war, after which we have both a rapid rise of internal resources and the new acquisitions of 1846 and 1849. So that altogether, in the last ten years, the net revenue has in- creased by considerably more than five millions sterling, of which about 2,300,000/. is the proceed of our new ac- quisitions in the plain of the Indus, and about 3,000,000/. an improvement in the revenues of our older possessions. In the charges, on the other hand, w^e trace but too clearly the Affghan war, the annexation of Scinde, and the expenses of the late Sikh campaigns ; but we also find that the cost of ordinary establishments and outlays has increased since 1837 more than in proportion to new acquisitions and improved revenues, viz. by about six millions sterling. The statements II. and III. exhibit the revenues and charges of India for 1849-50, classed under the principal items of receipt and charge. Chap. X. REVENUES AND CHARGES, 1849-50. 42? It will be seen that nearly three-fifths, of the whole net revenue is derived from the land and excise, Different items about one-seventh from opium, and upwards o^^'^ceipt. of one-ninth from salt. From these sources then we have about 85 per cent, of the whole receipt. Customs and stamps yield about 6 per cent, more ; and the remaining 9 per cent, is made up of various headings, ordinary and extraordinary, which for the most part cost as much as or more than they yield. The whole effective revenue may, therefore, be said to consist of the six first-mentioned items — land, excise, opium, salt, customs, and stamps — which are productive in very different degrees. Of the charges, the military expenses alone consume about 56 per cent, of the whole revenue, Different items and the marine about 2 per cent. The of charge. whole civil, political, and judicial charges, ordinary and ex- traordinary, including public works and the gross charge of the post-office, mint, &c., and of Scinde and other out- lying settlements, amount to about 24^ per cent., or con- siderably less than one-half of the military charge. The home establishments and charges amount to some- thing above 3 per cent., and about 14 per cent, goes for the interest of money expended in acquiring the country, being dividend on stock, and interest of money borrowed. So that, if we deduct the payment of interest, the military charge is about two-thirds of our whole expenditure, and the item of infinitely greatest importance. And when much stress is laid on the magnitude of the Indian civil establishments, it should be remembered that the whole civil administration of the country is carried on at a cost of one-fourth of the revenues. The " civil and political " charges include not only the establishments properly so classed, but the "ecclesiastical" and every other charge which does not fall under some separate heading. The judicial and police charges are heavy, being about 423 MODERN" INDIA. Chap. X. 9 per ceiit. of the revenue, but this is not a greater propor- tion than the importance of the duties fully warrants. By far the larger part of these charges is incurred for subor- dinate establishments, and the whole sum drawn by the superior functionaries is comparatively small. The sum expended on jmblic works is independent of local funds, and is considerable, but not large in proportion to the whole revenue, simply because there has been no money to spare. The statement No. IV. shows the receipts and disburse- ments of the different Presidencies, in order Comparative re- i • i ^ • i ^ n ^ ceipts and dis- to cxplam whcuce are derived the funds to bursements of , . iTiin different Presi- mcct the remittances to Leadenhall-street and the interest of the debt. The opium may be considered an imperial source of revenue, belonging to no particular presidency ; but as the whole of the produce, both of the North-West Provinces and of Bahar, is sold at Calcutta, it is credited to Bengal Proper, and recent arrangements have caused the enhanced duty on Malwa opium to be credited to Bombay ; the net revenue of Bengal is thus raised by opium from about six and a quarter millions to eight and three-quarters, and that of Bombay from a million and a half to two millions and a third. The whole Bengal army is in the Parliamentary accounts debited against Bengal Proper, but, as that army is common to Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and the Punjab, this mode of charging gives a false view of the case, and I have entered the military expenses as common to all three divisions of the Presidency, have then noted separately expenses other than military, and stated a common surplus. The Bengal civil expenses include those of the Supreme Government. The three divisions of the Bengal Presidency show a surplus considerably exceeding five millions, which is just about equal to the whole of the home remittances and the Chap. X. COMPARISON BETWEEN PRESIDENCIES. 429 interest of the debt. Those charges are therefore defrayed entirely from Bengal. Again, Madras on the one side, and Bombay with Scinde on the other, nearly balance one another, and contribute nothing to the imperial expenses or the debt. Madras has a surplus of nearly half a million, Bombay with Scinde a corresponding deficit. If we sepa- rate the opium revenue as an imperial resource, it will pay the whole interest of the debt and about one-third of the home remittances ; and there will be from ordinary sources a surplus of about 2, "00,000/. from the three divisions of Bengal, and of nearly half a million from Madras, but a deficit of a good deal above a million in Bombay, besides that in Scinde. In this view Madras contributes not so far short of a fair share ; but Bombay is in every way the chief source of loss. It seems under every head to collect less and spend more than any government. Statements V. and YI. show the detail and proportion of charges in each Presidency. It will be seen that in Bengal the military charges are 42 per cent, of the whole revenue, in Madras about QJ, and in Bombay 75 per cent. The revenue of Bengal Proper, swelled by the opium, makes some charges appear less in proportion than in the other divisions of the Presidency ; but if we except the opium from the revenue, they will be as large. In the North- West Provinces alone is a large proportion of re- venue expended on public works. Considering the posi- tion of Madras, exposed to no foreign enemies, and pro- tected from the Nizam's troops by his own regular contingent under our officers, the Madras army seems expensive out of all proportion. The Madras judicial expenses are unusually moderate, probably because the re- venue establishments there perform police duties. Every- thing appertaining to Bombay is on an extravagant scale. The comparative statement shows in a remarkable degree the difference in "civil and political" expenses 430 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. between the North-West Provinces and the Punjab on the one hand, and Bombay and Madras on the other. As the account of Punjab revenues and charges for Ordinarj' reve- 1849-50 coutaius sevcral extraordinary oraTquSdons i^ems, I have given a statement (VII.) from the Sikhs, ^f ^|^g ordinary revenue and expenditure of our late acquisitions from the Sikhs, the fruit of the two wars of 1845-6 and 1848-9. I have included in the charges the local corps raised for service in the Punjab, but not the portion of the regular army cantoned hi its limits ; because the Punjab is not (as Scinde was when conquered) a detached country. The army heretofore employed in guarding our frontiers has only been moved forward — and, in fact, instead of being increased in numbers or expense, has rather been diminished since the conclu- sion of the war. It will be seen from this statement that we gain from our new possessions a surplus of 1,359,440/. applicable to general purposes, which, with the extinction of the war and opportunity afforded for reducing our mili- tary charges, alone enables us to bring our finances into a healthy condition. The land revenue of the Sikh territory is large, and, as the country is tolerably prosperous and well culti- vated, it cannot be expected spontaneously to increase very largely and rapidly ; but if we succeed in making great canals, there is no limit to the increase. If the land on which little rain now falls be made culturable, the population will very quickly multiply and fill it. The villages in the culturable tracts are even now thickly populated ; the people are most industrious, and the de- mand for land is great. As we have at once remitted all the Sikh transit duties, fines, and other native im- posts, and our own indirect taxes have not yet had time to grow up, the extra sources of income are, it will be seen, small. But they may be expected rapidly to in- crease, and the country will certainly pay excellently well. Chap. X. FINANCIAL COMPARISON, 1835-6 & 1849-50. 431 I have undertaken to compare our financial position at two different periods, in order to show how comparison of the surplus and great prosperity of Lord lon'^'/slve^and William Bentinck's time has now disap- 1^49-50. peared, and for this purpose I have taken the first and last years of my series of fifteen years, 1835-6 and 1849-50. One of these years is before the commencement of the twelve years of war and deficit, and the other after the conclusion of that period. In each of these years we had peace, and the prospect of peace. In the first our dominion was confined to India within the desert. We had an undefended frontier on the Sutlej, but a strong and friendly power in the Punjab. In the latter year we have advanced and absorbed the other and smaller portion of India — that beyond the desert. We have a very easily defensible frontier, and, for our next neighbours, the AfF- ghans, weak in every way, and who have shown no dispo- sition to be hostile. Moreover, our ordinary revenue has between the two years largely increased. Ought not then our financial position to be much improved ? I think that it ought, and that it in fact may be very much better than it ever has been. As we must include Scinde, the revenue of our new acquisitions is not large compared to the area. But it is sufficient to pay its own expenses and to contribute a large sum towards the cost of the army. It is perfectly clear that our older territory must require fewer troops than it did in 1835-6, now that the frontier is advanced many hundred miles, that the Gwalior army is transformed into a British force, and that the country has in every way become more settled, and the remembrance of former wars more distant. Suppose then that but 40,000 men are thus gained, and that the surplus revenue of India beyond the desert (about 1,200,000/.) will support 40,000 more. Here, then (supposing military charges to be on the same scale of economy as before), is an army of 80,000 men for the Punjab 432 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. and Sciiide without touching our three millions of in- creased ordinary revenue, and we should in this case have a very large surplus. Even if we also admit (which should not at all follow) an increase of the army proportioned to the increased receipts from opium, salt, &c., as there v/as a large surplus in 1835-6, there would still be a propor- tionate surplus now. The absence of this surplus is mainly explained by the broad fact, that, while the revenues have increased by about one-third, the military charges have increased by about one -half The following statements will show that the revenue is now more cheaply collected, and that (notwithstanding immensely increased establishments and much greater efficiency) the whole of the civil administration is more cheaply conducted — that the civil charges bear a less pro- portion to the revenue than in the prosperous and econo- mical times of Lord W. Bentinck. In fact, the expense of all the extensions and improvements of the subordinate agency has been more than made up by deductions from the emoluments of the superior officers. It behoves then the public organs (which ought to be well informed), when they thunder in a general undefined way about abuses, and overpaid officials, and immense establishments, as referring to the civil department, to look a little to facts, and to try to put the saddle on the right horse. In 1835-6— The Gross Revenue of India was i'20,680,246 The Net Revenue . . 1(3,391,000 The Charges . . . 14,924,152 The Surplus . . . 1,460,848 — showing about 9 per cent, of surplus. In 1849-50— The Gross Revenue had increased to . £ 27,757,853 The Net Revenue to . . . . 21,686,172 But the Charges had increased to , 21,621,326 — leaving but a very small surplus of about ^ per cent. CiiAP. X. FINANCIAL COMPARISON 1835-6 & 1849-50. 433 There has been an increase of Gross Revenue, of Of Net Revenue, of Of Charge, of Deterioration £ 7,077,607 5,295,172 6,762,174 £ 1,467,002 Of the gross increase of revenue the greater part of one million sterling is nominal, on account of assignments, &c., brought to account, and then written off; so that we must look to the net revenue for the real increase. The following statements exhibit — A. — A comparison of principal items of receipt for 1835-6 and 1849 50. B. — A comparison of principal items of charge. C. — Comparison of receipts and charges of each Presidency. A. — Comparative Statement of different Items of Revenue for 1835-6 and 1849-50. 1835-6 1849-50 Increase Decrease TVT * Gross. Net. Gross. Net. Net Revenue, Revenue. Laud Revenue . £ 12,228,000 £ ) £ n5, 178,676 £ £ £ Sayer (Excise). 738,000 [11,645,010 1 1,000,148 13,551,752 1,906,752 Moturpha . 101,000 [ 88,106 Customs 1,872,000 1,696,000 946,561 816,074 879,926 Opium . 1,990,000 1,. 589, 754 4,562,586 3,358,684 1,768,930 Salt .... 2,161,000 1,594,000 3,189,214 2,703,752 1,109,752 Stamps, Judicial ) Pees, and Fines/ 387 , .5.'50 332,500 593,982 570,169 237,669 Tobacco "S.-OOO 51,000 115,000 88,448 37,448 Other sources . 1,129,246 1,129,246 2,079,241 2,079,241 949,995 Deduct political) pensions, &c. J 1,568,000 1,486,284 81,716 20,680,2-16 16,391,000 27,757,833 21,686,172 5,295,172 2 F 434 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. B. — Comparative Statement of different Items of Charge for 1835-6 and 1849-50. Charges on Gross Revenue. Percentage Percentage 1835-6 1849-50 on Gross Revenue, on Gross Revenue, 1835-6 1849-50 £ £ Assignments . . 1,568,000 2,468,969 7f 9 Land and Sayer 1,422,000 1,732,494 111 lOi Customs . 176,000 130,487 9i 13i Opium 500,246 1,203,902 26 26J Salt .... 567,000 485,462 25 15 Stamps . 35,000 23,813 9 4 Tobacco . 21,000 26,552 30 23 Charges on Net Revenue. 1835-6 1849-50 Percentage on Net Revenue, 1835-6 Percentage on Net Revenue, 1849-50 Military Marine Civil and Political . Judicial and Police . Public Works, exclusive"! of repairs ... .J Other Charges . . . Scinde Home Establishments . Dividend .... Interest £ 8,050,000 284,649 1,440,000 1,631,000 46,200 446,205 550,000 626,098 1,850,000 £ 12,110,307 406,995 1,806,627 1,943,550 482,862 682,995 439,242 709,172 629,435 2,410,535 49 14 8f 10 I 56 2 9 2J 3 2 Total . . . Surplus . . 14,924,152 1,466,848 21,621,326 64,846 91 9 99f Note showing Increase of Charge in Percentages between 1835-6 and 1849-50: — Increase. Military 7 per cent. Marine 4 > > Public Works .... 2 , , Scinde 2 , , Other charges .... | , , Deduct decrease 111 3 Decrease. Civil and Political Judicial and Police Dividend on Stock Interest on Debt . ^ per cent. Net increase . . . 8| been diminished to \ per cent. — whereby the surplus of 9 per cent, has Chap. X. COMPAKATIVE STATEMENTS. 435 03 00 CD I o p^ ^: a « H H > PS a o O o 1 i; tA "^ !^ ffl o fcij'cS pq a; a bc .Spa CO Cu eside aud M ° pq n, -O ?D "^ "^ - CO 1— 1 in o w o C-J CO t— ' ■* oo ,—i CO CI (— < CO o '~' CO o Oi (N in Oi ? ot o ^ ^ CO 05 CO 00 o CD 00 ■^ t-- ifS »^ CO CO CO CO J5 00 ■* CO CI (N c^ o o o o o 1 3 o o o o o C CO o Tf CO o 1 ? lO Pi '^ ^ o CO CO • p-H CO CO irl o\ , 02 00 o o 00 o> CO 1— 1 ^ «3 ^ CO '-' CD £ O o CO CO -+ a o CO CI c o o s o o ^ o o 00 (M * o Pd ^ o o CI m • 00 00 CI CO n g 00 in 't o o CI • • • • '^ . . . • 5 «» . ..H U tc 2 be J3 CO C4 a o ew ter Punjab Scinde 1 M < ^ m i^ 2 F 2 436 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. It will be seen from statement A that, in the period under review, there is a great improvement Comparative re- . . o • ceipts 1835-6 and HI every item 01 receipt except the customs. The customs have much diminished, in con- sequence of the abolition of internal transit duties and the recent policy of drawing from the one article of salt the revenue heretofore vexatiously collected from hundreds of different articles at hundreds of different places. The loss amounts to about 880,000/. per annum ; but then the in- crease of 1,109,000/. in the salt revenue a good deal more than compensates for the loss. The increase of land revenue (nearly 2,000,000/.) is prin- cipally due to new territory, but it has been seen that the land revenues of Bengal Proper, the North- West Pro- vinces, and Madras have also considerably increased of late years. The opium revenue has a good deal more than doubled, and shows a clear net increase of upwards of one million and three-quarters. The smaller items of receipt have also considerably increased. Statement B shows, first, charges on gross revenue ; second, charges on net revenue. The large increase in the charge on account of assign- Comparative ments is the writing off" of the nominal increase charges. ^^ gross rcvcnuc in Bombay and Madras before alluded to. The sum of political pensions, &c., is rather less than before. It will be seen that the cost of the establishments connected with the land revenue is re- duced from llf to lOi per cent. There is a very great reduction in the cost of salt. In the year 1835-6 the opium charge is unusually low, and in 1849-50 it is stated in the estimate a good deal higher than it has actually turned out to be ; so that the cost of opium has really diminished, though it does not so appear in this statement. The comparative cost of collecting the customs has in- Chap. X. FINANCIAL COMPARISON 1835-6 & 1849-50. 437 creased, owing to diminished receipts, and probably also to the mode of* making up the accounts. Of the charges on net revenue the military charge has increased comparatively from 49 to 56 per cent, on the revenue, and positively by a little more than 50 per cent, on the former charge. The marine charge has somewhat increased. Of the civil and political establishments there is some increase in the departments under the Supreme Govern- ment, but the proportion of the total charge has decreased from 8i to 81 per cent. Increased territories of course require increased judicial and police establishments, and throughout the country the improvement in and addition to the strength of this esta- blishment is very great ; yet the charge is reduced from 10 to 9 per cent. The sum devoted to public works, formerly almost nominal, is much increased. The home charges remain in nearly the same proportion, but the increase of debt is less than increase of revenue ; so that, the divi- dend remaining stationary, and the proportion of interest of debt being somewhat reduced, the sum of these charges has come down from 15^ to 14 per cent. It may then be generally stated, that the cost of the civil departments — the "Revenue," "Civil and Political," and " Judicial and Police " establishments — has decreased in proportion to the revenue by about one-tenth, while the charges for "Military," " Marine," "Public Works," and " Scinde" have increased. Appended to statement B is a note showing the ])er- centages of increase and decrease of charges on net revenue, and how the 9 per cent, surplus of 1835-6 has been re- duced to I per cent, in 1849-50. Statement C shows how far each Presidency has im- proved or deteriorated since 1835-6. The KachPresidencvin Bengal revenue has increased immensely, is'^'-en'"! isw-r.o. principally from opium and salt ; and that of the North- 438 MODERN INDIA. Chap. X. West Provinces has increased by about lialf a million, the salt revenue making- up for the abolished transit duties, and the ordinary revenues having improved. But the Bengal army has increased so much as to make the Bengal charge bear a much larger proportion than formerly. The net revenues of Madras have suffered a very slight decrease. The abolition of internal customs caused a loss, which is scarcely made up by improvement in other sources of revenue. On the other hand, there has been an increase in military charges of about 280,000/., and in other charges of about 60,000/. So that altogether the result shows a de- terioration at Madras of about 400,000/. It seems strange that the Madras army, already so large, should have been farther increased. It is true that, the Bengal and Bombay armies having been pushed forward, it has occupied some stations which hitherto did not fall to it ; but one w^ould think that, with nothing to do at home, and so large a force, it might have done this without an increase. The Bombay gross revenue is made to show a great increase, but, the nominal additions being written off, the difference in the net revenue is much less considerable. There is a net increase, something above 400,000/. But then the late opium arrangements have added 615,000/. to the net revenue of Bombay, without reference to internal management, and without expense ; and the ordinary sources of receipt have in reality diminished by about 200,000/. The salt duty (though smaller than anywhere else) has made up for the transit duties ; but the land and other revenues have deteriorated. On the other hand, the Bombay charges have increased (exclusive of Scinde) by nearly 600,000/., of which about 520,000/. is in the military department, and the remainder in other depart- ments. The military increase is principally attributed to the supply of Bombay troops to Scinde ; but still the opium would pay for that, and Bombay does not, from its ordinary revenues, defray its own mere local expenses. Chap. X. GENERAL FINANCIAL CONCLUSION. 439 Such a drag on the finances of India really should not be permitted. The Punjab and Scinde, our new acquisitions, being united, show a surplus (exclusive of regular troops) of 1,190,633/. : the Punjab surplus being considerably dimi- nished by the deficit in Scinde. Altogether, the whole expenses in India, exclusive of the debt, which were formerly 66 per cent., are now 76 per cent, of the revenue. In regard to the state of our finances we may draw the general conclusion, that, being now about General conciu- equal in income and expenditure, we should ^^""• have a considerable surplus were it not for Bombay and Scinde ; that the land, excise, salt, customs, and stamps are sources of revenue very much to be depended upon, and likely to increase ; that the opium is a very flourishing but somewhat uncertain revenue ; that the Punjab is a great ease to our finances ; and that, having now peace and prosperity, we may very well return to a finance as prosperous as that of Lord W. Bentinck, and shortly surpass it. 440 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. CHAPTER XI. POLICE AXD CRIMINAL ADMINISTRATION'. Police establishment — Duties — Village police — Mode of police proceed- ings — The magistrate and his duties — Progress of a case till trial — Character of the police — Madras and Bombay police — Special Thuggee and Dacoitee police — The criminal law — Classification of offences — Mode of trial and procedure in felonious cases — And in petty cases — Punishments — Evidence — Results of criminal system — Statistical tables — Comparison of crimes — And of judicial statistics — Crime and jwlice in the Punjab — Reasons of general want of success — The code proposed by the Law Commissiou. The mireformed English modes of procedure have not General charac- been SO nearly imitated in the criminal de- OM ^°*^ crfmfnai partuient as in the civil courts, because the system. g^j|g ^f mismanagement in the former are more speedily apparent in the disorganization of the comitry. The criminal laws are undoubtedly the best part of the Indian judicial system. But they are far from perfect, and it appears that they give the criminals facili- ties of escape of which the latter have learned to take advantage, and for which some remedy is necessary. Since it is first necessary to catch a thief, I commence with the police. In Chapter III. I have briefly noticed the state of the country as we found it in regard to crime, criminals, and police. I have observed the facilities to crime Recapitulation tr> ^ i i ^ r ^ of previous cir- atiorded by the open nature ot the country — the character of the dwellings — the habits of the natives — the want of public spirit in the people — the common practice of accumulating property at home, in the shape of money or ornaments, instead of investing Chap. XT. CHARACTP]R OP OUR POLICE SYSTEM. 441 it or placing it in security — the character of the criminals, rather professional than accidental, and the absence of any general organized police 5 and the facilities for suppression in the unscrupulous nature of the means employed by native officials for detection — the summary and severe character of their punishments — and the responsibility enforced on village communities. I have mentioned the most prevalent crimes — gang and highway robberies, burglaries, cattle- stealing, and affrays. We see then the nature of the subject with which the British Government had to deal. We have introduced an organized, although not very successful police ; but, on the other hand, Cxenerai charac- our scrupulous judicature gives much greater introduc^ed"^ *' b° facilities of escape to the prisoner, and much "® ; diminishes the responsibility of corporate villages. Also it may be that the great personal freedom enjoyed under our Government — the total absence of local transit duties — of any system of search, passports, or surveillance of any kind — the entire freedom of travelling about at will — that all this may give facilities to the criminal — a dis- advantage by no means to be compared to the great advantage of such freedom, but still something in a merely police point of view. The result of our system has generally been a great decrease of crime on its first introduction, ^nd general re- when the old facilities of disorder ceased, ^"^*^- and the criminals had not yet learned the niceties and loopholes of our law — but a subsequent increase, as they became experienced in the latter means of escape, and able to meet us with our own weapons. Partly fi'om this circumstance, and partly from other causes, it has singu- larly enough happened that the amount of violent crime seems now to be greatest in our oldest possessions. It is comparatively small in the Punjab (cis the Indus) com- pared to the districts of Bengal immediately around our 442 MODERN INDIA. Ciiap. XL capital of Calcutta, where violent gang-robberies are of very frequent occurrence. I have already described generally the agency to which the criminal administration is intrusted ; and I have men- tioned some of the reasons why so efficient a native police service has not grown up as that which we have obtained in other departments. Our police system being so different from that of the natives, in order to form a thief- catching profession on our principles, it was necessary both to unmake and to make. But the pay and discipline of the inferior grades has been so small, and the changes in the personnel, both of the magistrates and of the superior officers of police, have been so constant, that in fact no well-organized profession has been formed. We have seen the division of the country into districts and the general duties of a magistrate. But Bengal system. -• l i i • i.u 1 • i must more particularly explain the working of the subordinate police. The following principally applies to the Bengal Presidency in all its divisions \ for the police system is pretty uniform from Calcutta to Peshawar, although it is worked with various degrees of success. Size, population, » i • • i i i ^ and division of A Qistrict thcii, uudcr the general super- districts. . , , p • , , 1 • intendence oi a magistrate, being on an ave- rage, say, in area about 3000 square miles, and in popu- lation about 800,000, and containing fifteen or twenty sub- A subdivision or divisious, undcr inspectors of police — each Thanah. subdivisiou luav be about 150 square miles, and contain a population of about 50,000, probably a considerable town the head-quarters of the police, and about 150 villages large and small But of course all these particulars vary very much according to circum- stances. Each subdivision is called a Thanah, and the inspector (called Thanahdar or Darogah) has charge of the country for six or eight miles around his station. The inspector is almost always, but not of absolute Chap. XI. POLICE ESTABLISHMENT. 443 necessity, a literate man, but should at the same time possess the physical qualities of personal The inspector or courage and activity, and make the police his i^«^™g=iii- profession. It is this combination of qualities which it is difficult to obtain in India, where the principle of division of labour so much obtains. We are apt to get either mere scribes, or men of energy so deficient in education that it is difficult to transact business with them or to check their proceedings, Mahommedans, as most frequently com- bining the qualities required, hold (at least in the north) the majority of the inspectorships ; and of Hindoos, both Bramins and Kaits (the writer caste) often very efficiently fill these posts ; but there are not many Hindoo inspectors of any other caste. An inspector receives from 30/. to 120/. per annum, which, considering the value of money, is, I should think, as much in proportion as the salaries of the same class in this country. The magistrate has generally the oppor- tunity of giving promotion to deserving men ; but in Bengal proper, of late years, inspectors have been divided into classified grades, and promotions to the superior grades are made by the Government itself Each inspector has under him the following establish- ment : — A writer, who does all the paper- work of secondary importance ; a jemadar under the in- , , spector. or Serjeant, and on an average say about 20 or 25 policemen, besides outlying parties, under petty officers, where there happen to be considerable towns or im- portant roads at a distance from the main station. Single policemen are not generally stationed about the country. The local police is intrusted to the village watchmen. The landed proprietors have always been held respon- sible to do their utmost for the prevention ,. . 1 1 . P • • 1 1 Village police. or crime and apprehension oi crimmals, and are required to inform the inspectors of all crimes and 444 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. suspicious or unusual occurrences. But as there may be a hundred proprietors of one village, or one proprietor of a hundred tillages, the duties cannot generally be properly performed in person, and they are in part delegated to the village watchman. This officer is not hereditary, but is appointed by the proprietors, subject to the veto of the magistrate, and for his maintenance provision is made at the time of assessing the village. The proprietors are or ought to be responsible for the conduct of their nominee, the watchman ; and if they misbehave or show themselves unworthy of confidence, the magistrate should himself appoint the watchman, collect his dues, and pay him. The watchman is supposed to keep watch at night, to have an eye on the motions of all thieves and bad characters, and to apprehend felons Mhen he can catch them flagrante delicto. He is required to report at the police station everything that occurs ; and whether anything occurs or no, to make in person periodical reports, from once a day to once a week, according to distance from the station. Duties of the The proprietors, or in republican villages landowners. their representative heads, are required to assist the watchman in matters beyond his authority — to prevent breaches of the peace — to take measures for de- taining criminals, or to secure stolen property, pending the arrival of the police, in cases which do not admit of delay. But they have no jurisdiction in petty matters, such as do not fall within the province of the police, nor act in any way except in co-operation with the latter force. It is evident that, if the village watchmen be at all effi- cient and the proprietors do their dutv, we Causes of ineffii- , . , , , . , , *' ciency of village havc lu thcm the real materials and ground- ^^°^°*^" work of a good working police, and might hope to obtain a very high degree of efficiency. The watchmen are immensely numerous, resident in and inti- Chap. XI. VILLAGE POLICE. 4 15 mately acquainted with the affairs of every hamlet ; and such a body, acting together and supervised by a re- gular police force of competent efficiency, would be irre- sistible. But unfortunately the village police has never been disciplined into efficiency at all commensurate to the magnitude and cost of the establishment. The difficulty is this : we have permitted the responsibility of the propri- etors to be very much w^eakened, since we seldom make them answerable unless some direct collusion is brought home in a particular case by legal evidence. They con- trive to shift most of their responsibility to the shoulders of the watchman. If the nomination of the watchman is left to them, they are too apt to appoint a miserable de- pendant of their own, to employ him as their inferior servant, and to deprive him of his just dues. He thus becomes disreputable and inefficient, and the magistrate has little hold over him and obtains little assistance from him. On the other hand, if (as has lately been attempted in many districts of the North-Wcst Provinces) the ma- gistrate assumes direct charge of the watchmen, puts in efficient men, collects their dues, and pays them from the Treasury, in this case each w-atchman becomes a powerful policeman in each village, and the inhabitants are subjected to too much police interference ; they are deprived of the personal independence and village self-government which they prize so highly. So many policemen could not be sufficiently supervised by the present establishment, and efficiency could only be promoted at too high a price. If we were in England under an absolute government, an absolute policeman stationed in every hamlet would be felt an intolerable grievance ; and it is by exercising as little domiciliary interference as possible that our rule is most agreeable to the people. It is therefore perhaps better that the watchmen should remain dependent on and part of the village community. But the proper mode of ob- 446 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. taiiiing efficiency would be to enforce the original responsi- bility of the proprietors to the utmost. Let them under- stand, that if they maintain an efficient watchman who does his duty he shall remain their dependant ; but that, if not, they will invariably be themselves held responsible, and in extreme cases a policeman will be stationed over them at their expense, instead of their own watchmen. Certain it is that, from apathy, carelessness, or want of discipline, the present watchmen do their duty very ill at a great cost ; and some reform is first necessary of this substructure of the police. In the Bengal division of the Presidency it seems that The watchmen of thcrc is the cnomious numbcr of 167,000 Bengal Proper, yiUage watchuicn, but that no uniform system or discipline whatever is attempted. The " vested rights " of the Zemeendars being secured by the permanent settle- ment, the office of watchman is merely one of private patronage, the emoluments of which are little known and not at all secured. The magistrate has little or no control over the watchmen ; and, on the other hand, the responsi- bility of the Zemeendars has become quite nominal. So that, altogether, the magistrate has almost no assistance from the village police, and this is in Bengal one of the chief causes of failure. The draft of a proposed act has lately been published for giving increased power over the watchmen to the Bengal magistrates. In the North- West Provinces and Punjab the system is not nearlv so bad. The watchmen are accu- and of the North- , ' . , i i • West Provinces ratcly registered, and their remuneration unja . secured •, the magistrate enforces their ap- pointment, and exercises the right of veto and some consi- derable control over them. In some districts the attempt has, as I have said, been made to render them more completely a part of the regular police. Altogether much greater efficiency has been obtained, but still not nearly so Chap. XI. VILLAGE RESPONSIBILITY. 447 much as we should look for from so large and expensive an establishment. In the North-West Provinces the present law does not admit of the enforcement of a full nieasure of responsibility on the proprietors ; but in the Punjab the wholesome ancient system is more exactly adhered to, and, as a condition of self-government, there is exacted from the communities a proper performance of their police duties. I have mentioned the ancient rule by which villages were responsible for the value of propertv , - 1, . , . , ,.,.." Kesponsibility of plundered within, or traced to, their limits, villages tor piun- This was also the old English custom (the '^^^ ^"^ ^^^ ^' hundred was held responsible), and is in some cases very useful and necessary, not because the inhabitants of the village are necessarily the perpetrators of the crime, but because they can best prevent such occurrences or find out the culprits. What is every man's duty is no man's duty, and as long as each is not himself directly affected no one cares to assist the police ; but when the whole village is taxed, every man becomes fully sen- sible of the public evil, and they have no tolerance for robbers. He must be a bold man who would, in fact, rob a whole strong community on their own ground. If held responsible, they are pretty sure to obtain some clue and make the robber reimburse them, or else they give him up. Still the system of giving compensation in money to injured parties is apt to be abused, and is a strong measure only to be applied with caution and care to remedy very crying evils. But ill the case of serious highway robberies or cattle raids (when the cattle are traced by their foot- prints to the grazing grounds of particular villages) it is very necessary and advantageous. This system still obtains, with certain restrictions and modifications, in the Punjab and in the Dehli territory, but has fallen into disuse in most of our provinces. 448 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. The village police disposed of, we come to the powers and duties of the regular district police. The district police are authorized to take cognizance, without previous reference to the magistrate, ties of the dis- of all such crimcs as we call felonies — thefts, trict police. i i • i • t r, robberies, murders, serious woundmg, «Scc. They are charged with the prevention of serious breaches of the peace, violent affi-ays, riots, &c., with the regulation of fairs and other great assemblies within their limits, with the superintendence of the village watchmen, and with the local police of large towns ; but they are in no way em- powered to interfere, without special orders, in petty cases, small assaults, trespasses, and the like. All such cases must be referred to the magistrate, and are only entertained by him on the application of private prosecutors in his judicial capacity. By a regulation of 1832 it was ruled that the police shall not interfere of their own motion in cases of simple theft, or theft by burglary, unaccompanied with personal violence, not exceeding in value a certain sum ; but that in all such cases they can only act either on a written application from the injured party filed in the police office, or under special orders from the magistrate. On receipt of such an application or order, the inspector is to render every assistance ; but, generally speaking, the originating of the prosecution in these cases may be said to be left to private prosecutors. The rule is one of doubtful policy, but it is supposed to guard against over-interference and extortion on the part of the police, of which complaint was made in Bengal Proper. In all the more serious cases — aggravated thefts and burglaries, robberies of all kinds, serious affrays, murders, &c.. Government under- takes the prosecution, and the police act at once on re- ceiving information. In such a case they repair to the spot, and endeavour by every means to trace the offenders and the property. Chap. XI. PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLICE. 449 There is, however, no regularly organized " detective " police. The magistrates may attempt little j.-^ detective detective dodges on a small scale, and the ^°^'^''- inspectors are expected for their own credit to do some- thing in this way ; hut there is no system of informers or detectives for the best of reasons, that there are no funds applicable to such a purpose, and therefore individual officers have not the means of doing much. It must then be admitted, that a clue is much oftener in the first instance obtained by the injured party than by the police ; but if the latter well work out and follow up the clue given to them (which cannot be done by a private prosecutor), they do a great deal towards securing the ends of justice. Of every case which he investigates, the inspector makes and immediately forwards to the magistrate '^-^6 inspector's a full written report, containing the deposi- report of a case. tions of prosecutors and witnesses, and the examination of the defendant, a description of property, &c. &c , and his own statement of his proceedings and conclusions. He is prohibited from keeping a case, more than two days at the police-station without special report and special orders. If he thinks that there is proof of guilt, he forwards all the parties to the magistrate ; if not, he releases or refers for orders. In addition to these regular reports of regular cases the inspector keeps a diary, in which he records everything that occurs, the reports of the at'"7h'e ^'police village watchmen, the movements of the police, remarkable incidents of all kinds, and everything appertaining to his duties. A copy of this is made late every evening and despatched to the niagistrate, who re- ceives it early in the morning ; for a regular daily, or rather nightly, post is kept up be- daily to'^'the ml- tween each police station and the head- ^'^^'^'^^*'' quarters of the district. The magistrate is thus kept fully 2 (; 450 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. aware of every particular of everything which is going on at each police station. All orders of the magistrate the inspector returns when executed, with an endorsement on the back. He also keeps several books, in which are copies of orders received and reports made, lists of absconded cri- minals, &c. &c. I say that the inspector does all this, for he is responsible for its performance ; but it will be remem- bered that he has a writer on purpose to do the voluminous writing. Besides their own regular duties, the police may be employed by the magistrate in the execution of his orders in various matters, cognizance of which belongs to hiin. The magistrate every morning passes such orders as may to him seem necessary on the diaries The magistrate's r, ^ t . • n ,^ • i course of busi- 01 cach policc statiou lor the previous day, and on the reports of particular cases, and various references and applications of all kinds. He gives directions regarding those cases which have been sent in ; if necessary, he talks to the parties and the prisoners, and makes such private inquiries as he deems expedient, or he orders the evidence to be duly brought forward in open court, where, after full investigation, he either disposes of it himself, if within his powers, or commits it for trial before the Sessions Judge if it is beyond his jurisdiction. In the latter case, he must not only, as in Commitments. -^ . . •1,1 • i • 1 Lngland, consider the case one in which there is sufficient presumptive evidence to justify a trial, but must, after fully going into the merits and hearing both sides, be satisfied that there is such proof as renders a conviction probable. For nothing is a magistrate more censured than for committing cases without sufficient proof; and, as the proof is all the less likely to be perfect when it goes before the judge after the lapse of a few weeks, he must look very sharp to its full sufficiency, or had better not commit. The time during which a magistrate may keep a case under investigation is not actually limited, but, Chap. XL PROCEEDINGS OF THE MAGISTRATE. 451 as his monthly statements show how and when he disposes of everything, and much of his credit depends on a repu- tation for quickness, there is a great indispcsirion to keep cases long pending, and, if satisfactory proof is not speedily obtained, the parties are generally released and the case disposed of; otherwise he is called upon for all kinds of explanations. Besides the disposal of felonies sent in by the police, the magistrate exercises his discretion in originathig prosecu- tions, either on application of the injured parties or on such private information as he may obtain. I have men- tioned that he has no funds for a detective police, but he is authorized in certain cases to offer pardon to accomplices, and he may occasionally obtain sanction to the offer of rewards. His influence and patronage may bring people about him to act as informers and give him assistance. If he fraternise much with the prisoners in his gaol (and in road-making and such common pursuits the magistrates and prisoners often become great friends) he may often get nmch out of them. He also holds court for the hearing of the large class of grievances of which the police have not cognizance. Of some cases, forgeries, frauds, kc, he may undertake the prosecution, but the great majority of these cases are left entirely to private prosecutors. I have mentioned in a former chapter the official supe- riors of the magistrate, so need not here recapitulate them. To his executive superior (the Commissioner or Super- intendent of Police) he must apply for sanction to ofl'er rewards and pardon of accomplices, and for everything regarding establishments, &c. &c. ; while for all acts of a judicial nature he is subject to the superior courts. The progress of a case of felony, from the occurrence of the crime till it is brought to final trial and decision, is somewhat as follows : — 2 G 2 452 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. Jeelall, shopkeeper, gets up in the morning, finds a hole in his wall, and all his moveables gone ; Proffrcss of o, case from begin- whereat he laments exceedingly, and, raising a great outcry, summons the watchman and the Punch. The watchman declares that it is most extra- ordinary ; he kept watch all night, but saw no thief. The Punch observe that they are very sorry, — by all means send for the police ; so the watchman is despatched to the in- spector. Meantime Jeelall, seeing that he is not likely to get much satisfaction if he trusts to other people, him- self sets to work in earnest. He has probably influence and connection in the village, and, knowing the right person to apply to, pays something handsome for informa- tion, acting on which, with the assistance of the Punch, he secures a small boy, supposed to be mixed up in the affair, and lays an embargo on two or three suspected houses. By this time arrives Mahommed Khan, the police Daro- gah, a handsome burly Mahommedan, mounted on a com- fortable-looking pony, with a distinguished-looking turban of extravagant proportions, several daggers in his belt, and a posse of followers. Now if (as very frequently happens) no clue had been found, and the case had seemed a hopeless one, Mahommed Khan would have set forth in his report a dozen excellent reasons to show that Jeelall never was robbed at all, but made a hole in his own wall, in order to defraud his creditors ; and would have varied the barren- ness of his statement with many excellent Persian and Arabic aphorisms and pertinent observations on the faith- lessness of shopkeepers in general, and of Jeelall in parti- cular. In this instance, however, finding that a clue has been obtained, he probably goes about the case actively. The suspected houses are searched, and the " Khan jee " has a private interview with the small boy, the result of which is that some of the property is found, and the boy consents to name his associates. " Dours," or flying par- Chap. XL PROGRESS OF A CASE OP FELONY. 453 ties, are sent off to pounce on the distant rendezvous of* the principal burglars ; they are apprehended, and the whole affair comes to light. Mahonmied Khan probably takes this opportunity of despatching by express to the magistrate the following report, or "petition," as it is called in oriental phraseology : — " Cherisher of the poor, your good fortune is great. You will have learnt from yesterday's diary that upon hearing of the bur- glary in the house of Jeelall, shopkeeper, your slave, girding up his loins, set off determined to discover the criminals or return with his f>\ce blackened for ever. Not through any merit of this humble one, but solely through the favour of God and the over- powering good fortune of your worship, the efforts of the lowest of your slaves have been crowned with success, and 'Inshallat- tallah' (please God) the thieves shall be rooted out from the face of the earth. Your slave, immediately on his arrival, adopted a thousand devices and deep stratagems, and expended a large sum from his own pocket in bnbing informers, and with intense diffi- culty insinuated himself into their confidence, so great was his desire to gain your approval. But not to these persevering efforts of your slave, simply to your fortunate star, is due the discovery of a clue to the j)erpetrators of the crime. " Your slave, being thoroughly acquainted with all the bad characters, apprehended a desperate burglar, and so managed him that through your good fortune he gave a further clue, and eventually (the efforts of your slave being unremitting) six bur- glars and two receivers have been seized and the whole of the property recovered, except some few articles, which Jeelall doubt- less inserted in the list from a mere spirit of exaggeration. It is impossible at this moment to furnish a detailed report, therefore I despatch this preliminary petition for your information. The regular report, with the parties, the prisoners, and the property, will be sent in to-morrow morning. Your fortune is invincible. The petition of your humble slave " Mahommed Khan, " Thanahdarr Doubtless the magistrate is duly impressed with the belief that his good fortune, so often referred to, consists in 454 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XL tha possession of so invaluable a treasure as Mahommed Khan. All the evidence, &c. &c., is duly recorded in the police station, and the next day the case is forwarded to the magistrate's court, with a very voluminous report. On its arrival the depositions are all taken over again, and the magistrate hears the whole of the case. It most frequently happens that some new defence is set up, or some of the evidence is imperfect or irregular, or some further investi- gation is required ; and whatever is in any way wanting the magistrate causes to be supplied, and postpones the case till it is complete. When he is satisfied, he decides and santences, or commits to the judge. In the latter cas2, the judge appoints the trial for the next convenient sessions, and the magistrate becomes, in fact, the prose- cutor. All the witnesses, &c., appear a third time before the judge after a considerable interval, and the prisoner is allowed to bring forward any fresh evidence that he chooses. In the mean time there is no one interested to keep the witnesses for the prosecution untampered with, but the prisoners and their friends have a few weeks to buy over as many as they can. Moreover, they produce, to meet the evidence of the witnesses whose testimony they have heard before the magistrate, any number of fresh witnesses, re- garding whom or whose testimony the prosecutor has no previous notice whatever, and who may be trained and drilled to the exact part required. Thus prepared the case comes on for trial before the judge in a way which gives every possible advantage to the criminals. The judge makes no farther investigation, but condemns or acquits on the evidence before him. The magistrate has (as I have explained in a former The assistants of chapter) scvcral assistants. Till 1843 the the magistrate, magistracy was entirely confined to cove- nanted servants ; in that year the class of uncovenanted Chap. XL DEPUTY MAGISTRATES. 455 deputy-magistrates was instituted. The principal object seems to have been to obtain, through deputy-magis- trates stationed in the interior of the district, greater efficiency of the pohce ; but this intention has, I think, failed for sufficient reasons, and it is chiefly in a judicial capacity that deputy-magistrates are very useful. The fact is, that a good luanagement of the poHce does not depend on immediate proximity and division of authority, but rather on an uniform system and the efficient union of power in one energetic hand. The qualifications required for the superintendence of the police, managed according to our system, are much more likely to be found in the magistrates than in the classes employed as deputies. It is a duty for which the natives are not well fitted ; they either want the firmness and energy of the European, or they resort to means deemed inadmissible by us. Natives may, I fully believe, be formed into a very good executive police, but they must be supervised and disciplined by a European magistrate. It is, therefore, better to centralise all authority than to interpose deputy-magistrates between the head of a district and the police inspectors in matters of executive direction. I believe that it is found to be so in London, where, while there are many magistrates for judicial duties, the control of the police seems to be cen- tralised in one office. On the other hand, it was in India very hard that in petty cases the parties and witnesses should have to travel long distances to the magistrate's court ; that, while both petty revenue and civil suits could for the most part be disposed of by local officers, criminal cases (the course of which ought of all others to be most easy) should thus be rendered tedious and difficult. For judicial purposes, therefore, the introduction of the grade of deputy-magis- trates was a very great improvement. The question has been, to whom the powers of that office could most 456 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. XI. appropriately be given. The police inspectors could hardly be trusted with them ; the inferior civil judges had already enough to do ; unpaid magistrates were not to be depended on, and there was hardly work enough for many deputy- magistrates exclusively employed in that capacity at several places in each district. In Bengal Proper, where there are no tehseeldars, there has generally been but a single deputy-magistrate stationed in the farthest part of a large district ; but in the Upper Provinces great advantage has been found from intrusting a portion of the judicial powers of a magistrate to the tehseeldars, of whom it will be remembered that there are six or eight at different sta- tions in each district. Petty cases are referred to them at the magistrate's discretion. An immense ease is thus given to the people, and the administration of justice is much facilitated. It appears that there is now a great difference in the character of the police of the Upper and Lower Provinces, notwithstanding that the system is the same. Although it has been seen that there is no regular detective machinery and no very efficient police profession, yet in the Upper Provinces so much success has been attained Character of po- i i • i • i lice in the North- as to Kcep down violcut crimc — to render West Provinces, i i • o o t i gang-robberies, £«c., oi exceedmgly rare oc- currence. A man is there pretty secure in his property and person if he exercise perfect vigilance. He has little apprehension that his house will be entered by open vio- lence. But it must be admitted that nothing short of a very unusual degree of vigilance will secure him from secret thieves and burglars, and that in far the greater number of ordinary thefts he will derive little assistance from the police, unless he himself gets some clue or hazards some fortunate conjecture. In short, in the Agra division of the presidency the police, under an energetic government and magistrates possessing a considerable concentration of Chap. XI. CHAEACTER OF THE POLICE. 457 authority, and among a manly people, has been made as efficient as it can be without a detective system, and under the several disadvantages heretofore explained. In Bengal Proper, on the contrary, both the police and , rt» • 1 1 f- 1 ^"'1 "^ Bengal. people are eiiemmate, and the lormer has attained an unfortunate notoriety as being more active for evil than good. The misdeeds of the Bengal police may be a good deal exaggerated, but they are doubtless ineffi- cient and apt to be corrupt. The chance of efficiency seems to be much lessened by the precautions which it is necessary to take against extortion and malversation on their part. A Bengal inspector, instead of an active, soldier-like man, mounted on a strong pony, is generally an obese individual, clad in fine linen, who can hardly walk, and would think it death to get on horseback, who is carried about in a palanquin on men's shoulders, and affects rather a judicial than a thief-catching character. When a serious crime occurs, he first writes an elaborate report, and perhaps intimates his intention of proceeding next day to investigate the case ; and when he does go, he takes up his quarters in the village, and, summoning all and sundry to appear before him, holds his court. This is just the man to suit a prosecutor who gets up his own case at his own discretion and produces his own witnesses, but little is gained by an unfortunate, stripped by Dacoits, who finds the inspector quartered upon him taking useless depositions. But, after all, the great cause of crime in Bengal is the effeminacy of the people, who do not defend themselves against either Dacoits or police. It is very difficult for any government to defend those who do not defend them- selves. It is certain that, at this moment, in many dis- tricts of Bengal, the inhabitants are not only in danger of secret thieves but of open robbers; that gang-robberies are frequent, and that any man's house may be invaded in the night bv armed force. 458 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XL But as the suppression of crime depends quite as much on the judicial system as on the po'ic'% I shall not more Darticularly compare the criminal results till 1 have noticed the working of the tribunals. The police system of the Madras and Bombay presi- dencies considerably diff.^rs from that of Bengal. I have already mentioned that the police is, in those parts of India, intrusted to the revenue servants, after the native fashion. In Madras there seems to be no Madras police. -r» i attempt at a regular police. Both police management and certain judicial powders are intrusted to the tehseeldars and village officers. It is supposed that the severity and extortions of the police are thus avoided, and that the government is carried on in a paternal way. Such a system might succeed in very quiet, well-behaved districts, where there is little crime, and little active police management is required ; but I doubt y»hether there are many such districts in India, and am sure that, under our system, serious crime cannot be checked without stronger measures. I thiidv that the plan is inconsistent with our judicial system and rules of evidence. It appears that the magistrate of a Madras district has little real control over the village police, for I find that the Governor highly ap- proves of a proposal made by one magistrate " to register the talliers and toties (watchmen), to enable him to exer- cise some control over them :" whence it may be concluded that hitherto the magistrates know nothing about those functionaries, and that they are mere hereditary " vested- right" men, of all people the most useless and most expensive. In regard to the exercise of police powers by the re- venue establishments, it may be observed that the union of the offices of magistrate and collector in the European head of a district succeeds, and is so far beneficial, be- cause in Europeans intellectual qualifications are not gene- Chap. XI. MADRAS AND BOMBAY POLICE. 459 rally separated from bodily energy, and the object is to unite in the hands of one man energetic and centralized power, which we do not fear his abnsiiig. But it is other- wise when, going farther than this, we unite all powers in the native subordinates. In them different qualifications are seLlom united, and the qualities required for a good revenue manager or civil judge are almost incompatible with those of a good police officer. A stout, well-paid tehseeldar may be highly respected by the cultivators — a most learned, acute, and w^orthy man, and well qualified to decide petty cases brought up before him — yet not at all fitted to mount his horse and ride off after a band of Dacoits. Moreover it is not the object too much to strengthen the hands of individual native officials, but rather, by disuniting police and revenue powers, to arrange that no man may become too absolute a ruler in his limits. In Madras there is a judicial officer called Subordinate Judge, by whom are exercised most of the judicial func- tions vested in the magistrates in Bengal. All important cases are committed by the tehseeldar to the subordinate judge without going before the magistrate at all, and he either sentences himself, or, if the case require punish- ment beyond his powers, he again commits to his superior, the sessions judge. The result of the Madras police system does not seem to be by any means favourable, if we may judge from the very large number of gang-robberies which appear in the returns. The Bombay district police is upon nmch the same footing as that of Madras. The tehseeldars / T 1 1 1 11 i\ Bombay police. (or mamlatdars, as they are there called) have much larger powers, but do not seem to commit direct to the judge. Serious cases are sent in the first instance to the magistrate : petty cases are decided by the police officers. 460 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. In some districts of Bombay I understand that there is also, in addition to the ordinary police, another force, consisting of organized and disciplined police battalions, who do much of the most important work. In Bengal a police battalion is merely an irregular corps, which furnishes guards and escorts for civil duties ; but in Bombay it appears that these corps are really police — that their commandants are intrusted with large police powers — that they have approvers, informers, and detec- tives regularly entertained — and that they are employed under their own officers in tracing Dacoits and important criminals. In Bombay, too, notwithstanding the vast proportion of the revenue consumed by hereditary officers, little control is exercised over the village police, and they are of little use. The police authorities recommend to Government a plan for availing themselves of the vast material which is now in a state of "comparative torpor." The Bombay returns show so many violent crimes that we must con- clude the police to be inefficient. Besides the ordinary local police, there is another special police for all India, altogether separate and for the suppres- peculiar, of the results of which a good deal sionai Thugs and has bccu heard in Europe, and to which I have generally alluded in describing the sys- tem of government. Of this system I have had some experience. The district police dealt with local criminals. But it was found that there were classes of professional criminals, carrying on their trade with great art and skill, and confined to no particular localities, but travelling all over India, and with whom no local magistrate could at all cope. Travellers, both honest men and robbers, pass daily unquestioned and unnoticed from one end of India to the other. Hence it happened that the travelling mur- derers murdered the honest travellers at a distance from CHAr. XT. TIIUCGEE AND DACOTTEE TOLICE. 461 their homes, buried the body with artistic skill, no one remained to tell the tale, and the best local magistrates might know nothing either of the murderers or the mur- dered. These were the Thugs. Again, there are the vagrant wandering gipsy-like classes, to whom I have formerly alluded, generally with some ostensible occupa- tion — feeding cattle, or carrying grain, or killing game and vermin, or dancing and singing. But many of these are professional gang-robbers, and passing, as they do, at liberty from one district to another, no magistrate knows anything of them, nor could in any way distinguish differ- ent parties. Hence, if any night they committed a robbery in one district, and a couple of days after were quietly encamped, like a multitude of other such parties, a hun- dred miles off, following their ostensible trades, it was most difficult to trace them. Neither their coming nor their going was in any way remarkable, and there was no fixing on the right party. These were the professional Dacoits. In the native states the Thugs and Dacoits were not so unmolested as with us ; they were much more likely to be, without any particular accusation, stopped and searched and roughly handled by any local official who thought they professed no good, and, if evidence of dishonest pursuits were found, a dreadfid punishment was wreaked on them, without regard to systematic proof of a particular robbery, or they could escape only by giving up many years' earnings. But under us they shared in the general personal liberty of the subject. An inspector of police, however much he suspected them, could not interfere when he had no particular crime to lay to their charge — no prosecutor, no witnesses, and the probability of only getting into a scrape. And if an over-zealous magistrate seized a party, and perhaps found a miscellany of property, evidently not honestly their own, it most fre- quently happened that they had brought it from long 462 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XL distances — the owners were not to be found — no case could be sent up for trial, and the magistrate was obliged to release them. Hence it began (about Lord Hastings' time) to be apparent that both these kinds of crimes were increasing, and that some measures were necessary. Finally a pecu- liar police for the purpose was established under Colonel Sleeman (author of various publications on the subject), which was most successful. Our ordinary police is, I have said, more preventive than detective ; but this was a purely detective force. It was entirely unconnected with the local police, but armed with general powers, both in our own territories and in most of the protected native states. It principally worked by a great system of ap- provers — men whose lives were spared on condition of their faithfully serving Government, and to the accuracy of whose statements many tests were applied. The super- intendent of the new police and his assistants were entirely freed from the ordinary checks and restraints. They were in no way responsible to the Sudder Court or to any local authority, but solely to the Supreme Government. They were permitted to retain prisoners under trial for any length of time — to separate them to different parts of the country — to make them over to the old approvers, and to worm the truth out of them, after the German fashion, by any means short of actual torture. Committals by them were to be tried by any judge, without regard to venue ; and the most important point of all was that, by a new law, a man, though not charged with any specific crime, might be tried for "having belonged to a gang of professional Thugs or Dacoits," and, being convicted, was subject to the penalties of Thuggee or Dacoitee. The police force and approvers were organized after a semi- military fashion. Tlie assistants of the superintendent were stationed in different parts of the country, and sent Chap. XI. THUGGEE AND DACOITEE POLICE. 463 out their parties, with approvers, on detective expeditions. Minute lists were made of all persons satisfactorily de- nounced as professional criminals, and who were to be seized wherever found ; and the motions of the different gangs were traced and followed over all India. The first gang through whom anything effectual was discovered was kept seven years under trial before anything could be established against them. At the end of that time they confessed and turned approvers. All the information they could give was taken advantage of. Many were seized, many confessed, the truth of many stories was established by strong corroborative evidence. A very large number of criminals were convicted, many punished, and many made approvers. The approvers have life, but no actual liberty. Those who do good service have many indul- gences, but sentence of imprisonment for life is recorded against them. Their stories are tested by the discovery of bodies and of property, the verification of the loss of travellers of whose nmrder they tell, and so on. The account given by one man is compared with that of an associate in a prison a thousand miles off, and his with another somewhere else ; and altogether so minute a sys- tem of checks is established that, with really efficient supervision, falsehood becomes almost impossible. The result was the seizure and suppression of almost all the professional Thugs, and the greater number of the pro- fessional Dacoits, and the end desired has been admirably attained. Having shown the advantages of the system, I am bound also to state that it is so delicate and dan- gerous an instrument, that one careless or inefficient officer may do immense harm, and that it is very difficult to prevent the police and approvers, the instruments of so formidable a power, fi-om establishing a system of terrorism, and plundering the innocent while they appre- hend the guilty. The conclusion I draw is, that it is a 464 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. XI. most necessary and efficient weapon in desperate cases, such as the criminal associations I have described •, but in the absence of any very crying evils, or after their extir- pation, it should be withdrawn, or used in connection with the general administration in a modified form. In connection with the police system, I have briefly mentioned by whom criminals are tried. It remains to notice the laws and rules under which they are tried and punished. But of course I can here but briefly touch on this subject. It is nuich too large for such a treatise as this. The foundation of our criminal law is still the Mahom- medan code ; but so altered and added to The criminal . i • • i n i law, its founda- by our regulations, that it is hardly to be re- cognised ; and there has, in fact, by practice and continual emendative enactments, grown up a system of our own, well understood by those whose profession it is, and towards which the original Mahominedan law and Mahommedan lawyers are really little consulted. Still the hidden substructure on which the whole building rests is this Mahommedan law ; take which away, and we should have no definition of, or authority for punishing, many of the most common crimes. Most serious crimes are offences in all countries, and by all laws ; but the whole Mahommedan law of evidence (a very artificial and absurd one) and almost all the Mahommedan punishments have been swept away, and our own rules of evidence and pu- nishments have been substituted. We have also, as the emergency arose, enacted special laws against most of the more common and grievous offences. In Bombay only is the Mahommedan law altogether dispensed with, both in fact and in name, and the Regulations of 1827 con- tain a criminal code, which seems a good deal to corre- spond in principle with the criminal laws of the other pre- sidencies, but derives its authority from an independent source. Chap. XT. THE CRIMINAL LAW. 465 In Bengal it was early found that the Mahommedan criminal law, as enounced by the Mahom- . •' Subsequent medan lawyers, was too mild to meet some changes and Gimctiii6iits of the most serious and prevalent crimes. There have, therefore, been passed very stringent enact- ments for the punishment of gang-robbery, and crimes of that nature. It was also necessary to punish affrays with great severity. Murders, thefts, and such ordinary crimes, have been provided for. The powers of the different officers and of the police, and the mode of procedure, are also laid down in the regulations and acts. The miscel- laneous offences not specially provided for by the regula- tions ought properly to be punished only as being crimes by the Mahommedan law ; but in the neglect and contempt into which that law has fallen, it nmst be admitted that miscellaneous offences depend very much on general prac- tice and the judge's opinion as to the acts which are probably mala prohihita, inasmuch as they are mala in se. From what has been said, it may be concluded that our criminal law is very much of a patchwork made up of pieces, engrafted at all times and seasons on a ground nearly covered and obliterated. The Sudder Court is in the habit of issuing authoritative "constructions" of regu- lations and points of practice, which regulate all inferior courts ; but successive judges pretty often vary their con- structions. The general result is, that all the worst and most com- mon crimes are satisfactorily provided for by special enact- ments ; but that there is a very great want of definition, accuracy, and uniformity as to the miscellaneous offences, a good deal of uncertainty regarding the construction of the law, and great room for difference of opinions between different authorities. We have the main points of a tole- rable system ; but it wants remodelling, classification, and codification. 2 H 460 MODEEN INDIA. Chai>. XI. European British subjects are still altogether exempt from the jurisdiction of the Courts, except a special power of fine (for injuries to natives accompanied with violence) given to the Company's magistrates by the Act 53 George III. cap. 155. That they should remain so exempt is a crying grievance and evil entirely in- compatible with the freedom to reside in the country, and to carry on all dealings, now accorded to them, and quite contrary to the intentions and requirements of Par- liament. But of course most of the Europeans and Eu- ropean conductors of the press are violently opposed to any change, and allege all kinds of possible and impossible reasons against it. The matter was for long delayed in the hope of a new criminal code ; but that not appearing, and the present criminal law being very tolerable, and by no means oppressive, there seemed no reason why Eu- ropeans should not, as well as other people, be subjected to it, and a draft Act, styled by the editors " the Black Act," was published to abolish the exemption. It turned out, however, that there was a regulation, fortunately dis- used, which said that prisoners, not Mahommedans, might claim exemption from the operation of Mahommedan law ; but did not explain by what law (in the absence of special enactment) a Hindoo or European claiming this exemp- tion icas to be tried.* And all kind of outcry and diffi- culties being raised, the matter has again been postponed till a code appears. There is a great want of a uniform classification of Classification of cHmes ; but the following shows the nature offences. ^^ ^j^^ most comuiou ofFcnccs, classed with reference to existing laws : — * An odd case occurred a few years ago at Benares of a half-caste who Avas convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for adultery, but was pardoned by Government on the ground of his being a Christian — a fact which certainly does not seem a mitigation of the offence. Chap. XI. CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCES. 467 Offences against the Person : — ■ Murder. Criminal homicide. Affray, with homicide. Affray, with wounding or personal injury. Simple affray, or riot. Assault, with serious wounding. Simple assault. Rape. Adultery. Seduction of girls or married women. Child- stealing. Suttee. Importation of slaves. Offences against Property, committed loith violence : — Dacoitee, with murder. Do. with torture. Do. with wounding or personal injury. Do. unattended with aggravating circumstances. Highway robbery, with murder. Do. with wounding or personal injury. Do. unattended with aggravating circumstances. Burglary, with murder. Do. with wounding or personal injury. Theft, with murder. Do. with wounding or personal injury. Do. by administering poisonous or stupefying drugs. Cattle-stealing, with murder. Do. with wounding or personal injury. Offences against Property, committed without violence : — Burglary, unattended with aggravating circumstances. Simple theft. Simple cattle-stealing. E-eceiving stolen or plundered property. Plundering. Fraud. 2 II 2 468 MODEKN INDIA. Chap. XL Offences against Property, committed without violence — continued. Embezzlement. Trespass. Being by habit and repute a bad character, and without ostensible honest livelihood. Malicious offences against property, arson, &c. Perjury. Forgery. Offences against the currency. Smuggling. Crimes and offences not included in the above — of which there is no general classification whatever ; but I take the following from the statements for several districts, to show the most common offences thus classified: — ■ Misconduct, or neglect of duty, on the part of public servants. Do. do. of Zemeendars. Do. do. of village watchmen. Resistance of process. Contempt of court. Harbouring criminals. Leaving service without due notice. Bribery and corruption. Gambling. Abusive language. Destroying boundaries. Attempt at suicide. Procuring abortion. The Mahommedan classification of homicides still ob- tains and differs considerably from that adopted in England. Instead of murder, manslaughter, and culpable homicide, there are but two grades of the crime, and the distinction is drawn, with reference, not to the presence or absence of malice aforethought, but Chap. XI. CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCES. 469 to the probable intention or otherwise of causing death. Thns, if two persons suddenly quarrel, and one stabs the other with a knife, it is manslaughter by the English, but murder by the Mahommedan law. Again, if one person lie in wait to horsewhip another, and the latter happen to die from the blow of an instrument not likely to cause death, it is murder by the English law, but only criminal homicide by the Mahommedan code. But if death be caused by the blow of a heavy club exceeding a certain weight, such as the striker might reasonably sup- pose to be likely to cause death, it is murder, whether there be malice aforethought or not. A large class of homicides, those which occur in the prosecution of parti- cular crimes, are by the Indian regulations classed with those crimes, and provided for along with them. Thus, "Affray with homicide," " Dacoitee with murder," " Theft with murder," are each, it will be seen, specific crimes ; and so "Theft with wounding," " Burglary with wounding," &c. Any person concerned in an affray, dacoitee, or theft, in which murder or wounding occurs, is guilty of an offence thus described, and particular proof as to whose hand struck the blow is not required. This arrangement is extremely equitable and useful. The crime of Dacoitee, or gang robbery, is distinguished from ordinary robbery, by the numbers en- •' IP Dacoitee, &c. gaged formmg a gang ; and from burglary, by the use of open and intentional violence. There may be many persons concerned in a burglary or theft, and, being disturbed, they may murder or wound ; but Dacoits do not attempt concealment. They disguise their faces, but make an open attack with lights, &c., and for the time defy the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Herein the crime as practised in India is well defined and dis- tinguished from anything else. Dacoitees are classified according to the degree of violence used. Dacoits not 4/0 MODERN INDIA. Crap. XI. unf'requently apply torture to induce a disclosure of hidden valuables. Burglary is in India merely stealing from an enclosed and fastened place ; and the dwellings are of so frail a de- scription, that it is a much more common and less heinous crime than burglary in this country. I have formerly mentioned the common method of making a hole in the wall. Cattle-stealing, as being more severely punished, is distinguished from ordinary theft. As there are occasions in India when property is plun- dered without actual robbery or theft — as, for instance, when it is left unguarded — it is necessary to enter some cases under the head of " plundering." The last offence which I have entered as against pro- Notorious bad P^rty is that of notorious bad character, character. ^^-^^ ^^le prcsumcd liviug by evil practices in the absence of ostensible means of honest livelihood. From such persons the magistrate is authorised to demand security for good behaviour, in default of w^hich he may detain them in prison for a limited period, viz. one year ; but if it be necessary to keep them beyond that time, he must report the case for sanction of superior judicial autho- rity, and in every instance a fresh order must be passed by the sessions judge every three years. In all such cases the accused party is regularly tried ; proof is led that he has a notorious bad reputation, or has been violently suspected of particular crimes, and he is called on to rebut this evi- dence, and to show if he can that he has any honest means of livelihood. He has also every facility of appeal against the magistrate's order. It may seem that this powder is liable to abuse ; but it is very necessary, and, in fact, the magistrates AVant of law "^ nn ■ t • • m> • against va- cauuot sumciently exercise it. ihere is no ^ ^'^ ' general law against vagrancy, of all things the most fruitful source of crime. I believe that two- Chap. XI. CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCES. 4/1 thirds of the whole serious crime is committed by wan- dering tribes, who have little honest livelihood. Yet in practice no magistrate has any power of dealing with these people. He may apprehend them, but they never can furnish security of any kind, and no one knows any- thing of them. It is no use keeping them for a year and then letting them go again ; if they were kept longer the gaols would not contain them, and the judges would not sanction their detention without specific proof of crime. I have apprehended a gipsy gang (a part of which had already been convicted of theft) wandering about in the disguise of religious devotees, who admitted that they be- longed to one of the thieving castes, whose accoinit of their residence turned out to be altogether false, who had no ostensible means of subsistence whatever ; yet, in the ab- sence of a specific charge, have been unable to obtain sanction to their prolonged detention, and obliged to re- lease them to disappear into other districts, and there of necessity live upon the community. There is no dealing with these people, unless (what I think would be the best plan) they M'ere deported to some under-populated part of the world, where they would have more to gain by honest labour and less opportunity of living on the plunder of a fully peopled country. At present each magistrate merely tries to send them out of his own district into the next. Certain extreme tribes, whose sole profession is robbery, have been, as I have before mentioned, denounced by law in the same way as the Thugs, and have been nearly ex- tirpated ; but no provision has been made against the large wandering classes who generally affect some nominal occu- pation, and always thieve whenever they can. The law against bad characters is principally enforced in regard to fixed inhabitants, who can give some kind of security when hard pressed ; and the judicial authorities are so nnich in- clined to look with disfavour on the exercise of this power, 472 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. and to suspect the magistrates of abusing" it, that it can only be applied in very extreme cases. The nature of the other crimes included in the foregoing list does not call for particular comment. Political crimes of any kind, treason, sedition, &c. &c., are Absence of poii- ^^ uucommon, that they do not find a place ticai crimes. jj^ ^y,g |jg|- ^j^^.^^ jj-j sgyeral years, and there is very little legislation in regard to them. I do not think that there has been any civil execution for a political crime in the whole course of our Indian history. The njagistrate, in fact, acts as public prosecutor in ,, , „ most felonious cases when they come before fllode of trial. i • , , • him, but he is prosecutor, not as a one-sided advocate, but as one charged with the interests of truth and justice, with the detection of the guilty, and the pro- tection of the honest. So long, therefore, as the criminal is under trial before him he unites all functions, as prose- cutor, protector of the prisoner, and judge. In passing sentence as a magistrate he is sole judge, and consults no one ; he fully examines all the parties, including the pri- soner, makes every investigation in his power, and then decides. I have before said that a magistrate is not sup- posed to commit till he is quite satisfied of the guilt of the prisoner and of the sufficiency of the proof When the case is committed, he can interfere no farther. One of his native subordinates goes to the judge's court and produces the papers, witnesses, &c., does the mechanical duties of a prosecutor, but no more. In describing the progress of a case I have referred to the mode of trial before the judge : he holds sessions generally once a-month ; he hears the witnesses upon whom the magistrate rests his proof, and any others whom the accused may have named, but the prisoner is not required to criminate himself or to answer questions. The judge cannot decide of his own mere motion. There were originally Mahom- Chap. XI. MODE OF TRIAL IN FELONY. 473 medaii law officers whom he must consult, and, if he differed, he must refer to the Sudder Court ; but these law officers are now generally permitted to die out and dispensed with. Instead thereof the judge is authorized to summon a jury of assessors, consisting generally of half-a-dozen respectable people, whose opinion he takes instead of that of the law officers ; but he is not bound to abide by this opinion. No one is compelled to serve on the iury : it is alien to the feelings and "^ -^ \, , , , . Trial by jury. customs or the country, people cannot be m- duced voluntarily to sit upon it, and for all practical pur- poses it is an entire failure. The Punchayet or jury of arbitrators, chosen by two parties to decide between them in civil cases, is a native institution ; but to be summoned by Government to decide on the guilt or innocence of a person in whom they take no interest is a hardship and unprofitable responsibility much disliked by all natives. In fact, the judge generally puts into the box some of the pleaders and such people about the court, in order to comply with the law, intimates to them very broadly his opinion, they always agree with him, and there is no more trouble. For having taken their opinion, he may decide as he chooses. Up to a certain limit he sentences at once, beyond that limit he refers the papers with his recom- mendation for the judgment of the Sudder Court, who decide and sentence thereupon without personal appearance before them. An Act was lately proposed to give to every one the option of being regularly tried by a jury of his peers, but being quite inapplicable to the country it has not been yet adopted. Hitherto prisoners under trial were not allowed to com- municate at will with people outside the counsel to im- prison. The magistrate gives them every ^°"^^^- facility for obtaining through him the means of clearing themselves, and it is impossible to prevent their friends 474 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. XI. outside from doing what they can ; but a desperate criminal was not allowed to plot with a professional adviser the means of defeating justice, nor was counsel generally allowed on trial. The magistrate and judge were in their respective courts counsel for the prisoner, but, in the absence of an advocate for the prosecution, an advocate for the defence was not permitted. During the last year, however, an Act has been passed giving to every criminal a riglit to counsel. This is an innovation in deference to English ideas of justice, yet destructive of justice. If it is intended that a professional adviser shall have free access to a prisoner under trial, be permitted to trump up his story, cram false witnesses to correspond, and use every means for avoiding the discovery of the facts, it is a ruinous measure and strengthens indefinitely the hands of those wdio are too strong already. So soon as a regular profes- sional advocate shall appear at the time of trial to urge the case against the prisoner, so soon a like advocate may at that time fairly appear in his defence ; but, in the absence of the former, to admit the latter is most absurd and ine- quitable. I am aware that I argue against a strong English prejudice in this matter. Prisoners have within a recent period been allowed counsel in this country, and rightly and properly so ; and hence it is supposed that it must be proper to adopt the same course everywhere. But the difference is immense. In the one case, the advocacy of the prosecution has been brought to such perfection and refinement, and the facilities of the prosecutor are so great, that counsel for the prisoner is quite necessary for the in- terests of truth ; in the other case, there is no advocacy for the prosecution, the facilities are all in favour of the prisoner, the professional advocates are the most unscru- pulous of men, and the admitting their interference is a simple and unqualified hindrance to the discovery of truth. It must be remembered that but a comparatively short Chap. XI. PEOCEDUEE IN PETTY COMPLAINTS. 475 time ago a majority of the Judges of England were against giving counsel to prisoners. They were wrong, as in the advance of time and circumstances it has turned out •, the .time had then come in England for the change. But these wise and learned men did not lightly argue without any grounds. The time for such a change, which they were so slow to believe to be come in England, will not come in India for many long years ; and if there was so lately a doubt about the expediency of the measure in England, there may be a certainty of its inexpediency in India during the lives of the present generation. There is a right time and a wrong time for all things. I am sorry to see in the Indian legislature such signs of concession to the false philanthropy of the times. It is a very false philan- thropy to facilitate the escape of criminals to the detriment of honest men. The mode of procedure in petty cases not felonious, in which the magistrate does not undertake the (Y, f, • 1 Mode of proce- oince 01 prosecutor, m petty assaults, tres- dure in petty passes, seductions, &c., is more like that in a civil action. The complainant presents a petition to the magistrate on a stamp of the value of one shilling. If the complaint is J'5n7?zi2 facie good, the defendant is summoned, but he may generally appear by attorney if he chooses ; his answer is heard, the proofs of both parties produced, and the case being decided as between two parties, in the event of conviction sentence of fine or im- prisonment is passed. I have alluded to the fact that in the Bengal Presidency there has been a great want of facility for the hearing of these complaints, since, the police having no jurisdiction whatever, redress could only be had at the chief station of the magistrate, perhaps a long way off; and, although it may be well to discourage litigation of this kind, it was very hard to have no nearer means of redressing small but real grievances ; but the appointment of deputy- 476 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. magistrates does much to remedy this evih In Madras and Bombay, on the other hand, the regulations seem to run to the other extreme in regard to petty offences. Not only the police are invested with the power of deciding such cases, but even the village officers have authority to hear and determine them by verbal process, and to inflict certain punishments. The great majority of criminal cases in the returns of those Presidencies are those of petty assaults, abusive language, &c. &c., decided by the subor- dinate officers. In Madras there are 32,000 Potails in- vested with civil and criminal powers, but the great majority of these men do not act at all, and it is principally by the regular district police that petty cases are enter- tained. Throughout India magistrates are authorized to hear and determine cases of disputed possession, in order to prevent affrays. They have also summary jurisdiction in regard to breach of contract of service. The judicial powers of a Bengal magistrate are as follows : — Judicial powers o- i i /> of (lifFerent offi- simple theit and burglary — imprisonment not exceeding three years, or thirty strokes with the rattan. Affrays — two years' imprisonment. All other offences not specially excepted — imprisonment for six months and fine of 200 rupees, or farther impri- sonment for six months more in lieu of fine, making alto- gether one year. Assistant and deputy magistrates have powers extending to two months' imprisonment, or fine of fifty rupees ; but Government may extend these powers till they equal those of a magistrate. It appears that the powers of magistrates in Madras and Bombay do not extend beyond one year. The Madras subordinate judges have powers nearly equal to those of a CuAP. XI. PUNISHMENTS. 477 Bengal magistrate. The Madras tehseeldars, as chiefs of the district police, imprison for twenty-four hours, and may inflict six strokes of the rattan and fine of one rupee. The Potails imprison for twelve hours in the village choultry, or for six hours in the stocks. The Bombay tehseeldars, or mamlatdars, have power of imprisonment for twenty days and fine of fifteen rupees. All cases of theft of property exceeding in value a certain sum, or accompanied with violence — all murders, robberies, affrays with loss of life or serious wounding — all cases of rape, forgery, perjury, coining, and all other offences calling for a more serious punishment than the magistrate has power to inflict, must be committed to the sessions. The sessions judge has a general power, extending to nine years' imprisonment, and a special power in cases of gang robbery, affrays, &c., extending to sixteen years. Punishments beyond these limits are under warrant of the Sudder Court, from whom all sentences of death emanate. As the court exercise their discretion in sen- tencing, almost all capital and other sentences are fully executed. The Government hardly ever interferes. From all sentences of the magistrate exceeding fifteen days' imprisonment, or fifty rupees fine, and from all "orders other than criminal trials," an appeal lies to the sessions judge : and from sentences of the judge an appeal lies to the Sudder Court. The latter court may also at any time call for any case, decided or undecided, and pass any order thereupon. Sentences may be mitigated on appeal or review, but cannot be enhanced. The nature of the punishments may be inferred from what I have said of the powers of the dif- ferent officers. Capital punishment is only inflicted for atrocious murders. Imprisonment for life is now generally carried out in transportation beyond the sea 4/8 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. (or " black water," as the natives call it), at Moulmein and the other settlements on the Burmese coast-, and, on account of its unknown character, this " black water " seems to be regarded by the natives as worse than death. Death they are accustomed to see, and regard with a flitalist stoicism. But the transportation to unknown re- gions, never to return, inspires them with great horror. All sentences of imprisonment for terms are carried out in the gaols of the country, of which there is one in each district; but Government has the power of transferring desperate prisoners from the district to certain central gaols, and has latterly frequently exercised this power. In all felonious cases imprisonment is with labour and irons ; in other cases labour is commuted for a fine, and the imprisonment is, if the fine be paid, simple. Corporal punishment is only allowed for petty thefts to the extent of thirty stripes, and may not be accompanied with any other punishment. The private property of a felon is not confiscated by Government, but, by a recent Act, the magistrate may levy on it the value of stolen property for the benefit of the plaintiff. The prisoners are well fed and clothed. They princi- pally work in large gangs on the roads, and at all kinds of public improvements, at the discretion of the magistrate. They are also in many gaols taught carpet- making and such trades ; and in the North- West Provinces, under the Inspector of Prisons, great efforts have lately been made to improve the discipline of the gaols and introduce new systems. The solitary and separate systems are tried in some gaols. Education of the prisoners has as yet been little attempted. It must be admitted that escapes are not unfrequent, and that the worst criminals are escaped convicts, men wholly desperate. With all India before them, and no means of tracing or recognising them, they might do incalculable mischief; but Chap. XI. CHARACTER OF THE JUDGES. 479 fortunately they always return again and again to the vicinity of their homes, and are generally sooner or later recaptured. In regard to criminal trials, it is very important to note the character and description of officers fill- character of the ing the post of sessions judge, as explained J^'^s^^- in Chapter VII., for, to their over caution and timidity, excessive adherence to strict judicial forms, weighing of evidence in Court without reference to exterior circum- stances, hesitation in convicting, and disposition to give the prisoner the benefit of every doubt in their minds, rea- sonable or unreasonable, is due much of the difficulty of convicting clever criminals. Some judges are old and nervous ; some are old, disappointed, and captious ; and cases are brought before them under the most unfavourable circumstances. Some weigh straws, and, unable to make up their minds, think acquittal the safest course ; some, considering themselves charged with the interests of the prisoner as opposed to the magistrate, seek for every argu- ment for acquittal, substantial or technical ; and none have any direct interest in the success or failure of the executive administration. Indeed, with Indian police, Indian wit- nesses, Indian contradictions, and clever Indian criminals, and cut off as the judge completely is from many of the best means of discovering the truth, it requires great nerve and great confidence in the proceedings of the magistrate to convict, unless the evidence is more overwhelming than can generally be obtained. In many cases, when the ma- gistrate has no doubt of the guilt of the prisoners, there is great temptation to release, rather than run the risk of a trial before the judge ; and many commitments or convic- tions of the magistrate end in release on trial or appeal. There is apt to grow up a sort of antagonism between the judge and the magistrate. The judge stretches to the utmost his judicial functions and power, and feels that his 480 MODEKN INDIA. C:hap. XI. consequence altogether depends upon exercising an active interference with the proceedings of the magistrate. Then there is the disposition to overstrained forms and exag- gerated technicalities, which we always find much greater in unprofessional lawyers administering an imperfect law, than with fully educated judges and a settled system. The latter understand the principles and rationale of legal rules, the former are too apt to imagine that law consists in a blind adherence to technicalities ; and it is probably on this account that all Indian judicial officers seem to be exceedingly given to legal quibbles and attempted niceties ■ — a fact which (in regard to civil cases) has been fre- quently remarked by those who have had to do with the Indian cases referred or appealed to this country, and which much affects the criminal administration. This evil effect is not only asserted by me, it has been publicly stated by the chief police authorities in India ; and in regard to the state of crime in Bengal, I shall presently have occasion to quote the representations and statements of the superintendent of police respecting a judge who acquitted almost every criminal, and the consequences thereof. Before concluding the subject of criminal law, it is ne- cessary that I should say something of evi- dence. I have remarked that the Mahoni- medan law on that head has been entirely swept away, and I think that few restrictions have been substituted in its place, except that all evidence must be brought forward openly in open court, and that the private worming out of the evidence of unwilling witnesses is not authorised. All evidence is taken down in writing. In the magis- trate's court, where a great mass of work must be per- formed by a single officer, it is usual for deposition writers sitting in his presence to take the deposition of each witness. It is then read over to the magistrate, who Chap. Xr. EVIDENCE. 481 puts some further questions, cross-examines, and ascertains that the witness understands what has been recorded, and that it expresses his full meaning. The deposition is then attested by the witness and the m?!gistrate. In this way an immense deal of business is got through, and if the European officer is at all efficient there is no oppor- tunity for fraud. I have hardly ever known evidence to be at all perverted where the parties, the magistrate, and the witnesses all speak and understand the same language. The defendant is fully examined by the magistrate ; and his examination is one of the best means of Examination of discovering truth. There is no actual mode '^•^^'^"'lant. of forcing him to answer questions ; but the right of refusal never having been heard of, and silence being universally taken by the people to indicate guilt, no man refuses to answer. Generally the defendant is too eager to clear himself by telling all kinds of stories, which, being disproved, go far to show that he has it not in his power to tell an honest story, and place him in a much worse position than if he had affected a little stupidity and re- serve. It is all very well to argue that it is contrary to English legal maxims to make a man criminate himself ; but practically there can be no doubt that the system tends largely to elicit the real facts whether of guilt or innocence. I have always found that, in investigating a case, one of the first suggestions is, Well, what does the prisoner say to it ? And it is so in every case in all the common affairs of life. If a child or a servant is accused or suspected of anything wrong, what do we first do ? Why, interrogate him — examine him. It is naturally so, and ought to be so. I have argued with a murderer, talked it over with him, pointed out the improbability of his statements, confronted him with other evidence, and driven him from one position to another till he has fairly 2 I 482 MODERN lNDIx\. Chap. XT. confessed and told me all about it ; and, on the other hand, I have been by the arguments of a prisoner convmced of his innocence. A remarkable feature, principally resulting from the system of examining the defendant, is the Confessions. ' p r- • • i • i frequency oi confessions m newly acqmred territory. This alone, at first, goes a long way to coun- terbalance the disadvantages which arise from the pecu- liarities of the country and people. It is indeed singular, considering the great tact and ingenuity of the people, that they so often confess. The fact seems to be, that under the native Governments a prisoner who confesses and tells his whole story is supposed to be treated with more favour than one who stubbornly denies, in spite of evidence, and refuses to give any information. And to men ignorant of our system it seems that, when they are caught jiagrante delicto, or when there is tolerably clear evidence of their guilt, it is better to confess at once. Being apprehended, and knowing themselves guilty, they conclude that it has been all found out, and that they are not likely to get clear off; and as they are required to give a full and satisfactory account of themselves, which they cannot do, they make a clean breast of it. In such a country as India it is hardly safe to trust to a bare con- fession. One knows not what hidden causes may be at work. But when a man confesses, his story is at once tested in every possible way. He can probably give a clue to the property — his accomplices are seized. Finding that the thing has come out, and that one has peached, and not understanding the English principle that a criminal is no evidence against his associates, the others confess too. Their stories are separately told and minutely compared. And so it happens that the conviction of criminals and de- struction of gangs is more than in any other way promoted by confessions. But as the criminals become accustomed Chap. XF. EVIDENCE. 483 to our system there is a great change. It is then found that there are many judicial chances of escape, and little benefit to the individual from a confession made without stipulation. They run to the other extreme, — not only will not confess while there is a chance of escape, but in the clearest cases invent with great ingenuity the most extravagant stories. If the stolen property is found con- cealed in the thiefs house, he immediately has it that his enemy has put it there. If he is caught in the act of committing a burglary, he unblushingly asserts that his object was not the plaintiff's property, but his wife. And so in our older provinces criminals avail themselves of every means to defeat justice, and very often but too suc- cessfully. A considerable advantage in regard to evidence which the Indian have over the English criminal Evidence to courts is this — Evidence to character and of character. previous convictions is admitted before^ and not aftei\ the decision of guilt or innocence ; and is in fact the very best and most important evidence. What can possibly more tend to a right conclusion in a doubtftd case than to know whether the defendant is a professional thief or an honest man ? Suppose I lose my pocket-handkerchiefj and find it in the pocket of a stranger. If the stranger turns out to be a professional pickpocket, will any rational man doubt that he stole it ? But if he is proved to be a most respectable gentleman, who says that he took it by mistake instead of his own, will not his innocence be be- lieved ? Is it not monstrous then to attempt to exclude such evidence ; or in practice is it possible to prevent the facts from influencing the minds of the jury, even when they are legally kept out of court? The most absurd part of the English law seems to be that a pickpocket may bring a dozen witnesses to testify that he is a most honest, amiable, and worthy man, and the prosecution 2 I 2 484 MODEEN INDIA. Ciiap. XI. may not (in theory at least) hint at his connection with the swell mob till after the verdict. In regard to ordinary evidence, it has long been my Truth and iin- conviction that, though the habit of untruth ^^^^^' and hyperbole is most common, still among the people, as ice find tliem^ an efficient and experienced official can very well get at the truth in most cases. A great point is, that their very acuteness and intelligence helps one. There is no getting over a stolid witness who tells his story, and ivill understand nothing more. But most native witnesses one can cross-examine to any ex- tent. Certain conventional exaggerations are given up ; the parties are confronted and questioned ; each is required to explain inconsistencies, and it very often happens that stories widely different to commence with are in the end brought wonderfully near one another as to the main facts; or if one party is telling a story altogether false, it be- comes surrounded with such a mass of contradictions, and inconsistencies, and unexplained facts, that there is little doubt about it. Of course the judge weighs the talents of different witnesses, and, his object being to discover truth, not to get one story, he assists and encourages those least able to explain facts. This then is the state of things in new territories. But there is a great deterio- ration in course of time, and hence I infer that the lying and perjury so much complained of are quite as much due to our judicial institutions as to the people. There is too great an inclination in our courts to take de- liberate statements as the best legal evidence. A ma- gistrate is an executive as well as a judicial officer. He can to some extent ascertain the character and history of the witnesses, and does a good deal towards weighing them properly. But still experienced criminals, and especially the professional attorneys about the court, do much to baffle him ; witnesses are sent up well crammed and cau- C'HAi-. XI. EVIDENCE. 485 tioiied to tell a connected story, and especially not to tell too much. And when the case, after a long mterval, goes to the judge, the evidence is worth literally nothing. All the witnesses are thoroughly well up in a thrice-told tale. They have probably forgotten minute facts, and each merely remembers the story which he has told or under- taken to tell. Nothing is to be made of strings of such witnesses directly contradicting one another. The judge can get little more out of them. To him a witness is a witness, and he knows nothing more about him •, and the antecedents of fresh witnesses produced by the defendant cannot then be inquired into. The civil courts are the great school for perjury, and in our older possessions false witnesses for criminal cases can easily be obtained from thence. Another cause of the untruthfulness of evidence is the difficulty of punishing perjury. Much that is untrue or exaggerated is stated by many witnesses, and falsehood is a comparatively venial offence in their eyes. But perjury is treated in India as the same grave offence as in Eng- land. It can only be tried by a regular committal to the sessions, and is punished on the same scale as the graver felonies. It is therefore only in the very most serious cases of the kind that the law is at all applicable. And as one perjurer can generally bring any number of others to back him, and a decision is rather a weighing of opposite probabilities than clear proof of the falsehood of one side, it is very seldom that a case can be made so strong as to justify a trial at the sessions (under all the disadvantages which I have described) of criminals whose very offence and profession is the exercising the means of defeating the law. Magistrates are, therefore, very slow to run the risk of committal for perjury, and seldom obtain convic- tions. Formerly regular oaths were taken by witnesses on 486 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. Ganges water or the Koran. But the sacred form was so lightly used, that it was altered to a general form of declaration, " in the presence of God" to speak the truth. Practically, I must at once say, that the judicial oath, as it is used, does not in the very least affect the evidence. The religious sanction does not extend beyond the general religious incentive to act well and uprightly with or without an oath. And yet this is not because the religious sanction of an oath is unknown to the people. On the contrary, it was nowhere stronger; and this is another of the changes caused by our system. In a new country, among the Jats of the North, I found that a solemn oath was astonishingly binding, not gabbled over lightly as an every-day matter in the courts of justice, but taken on rare occasions after the fashion of the people themselves. Nothing was more common, in cases of cattle raid and such-like matters, than for the plaintiff to demand the oath of the headmen of the suspected village. He took them out of court to some sacred place, or made them lay their right hands on the heads of their sons, and there in the face of their people swear a solemn oath. If they did so, the plaintiff was perfectly satisfied. If the cattle had really gone to the village, the Punch would not swear, but made private restitution and produced the plaintiff's written declaration that he had become satisfied of their innocence. But such binding oaths do not exist in our older provinces. The judicial oath is much too commonplace an affnir to carry weight, and the people, seeing perjury practised with impunity, become used to it. The longer we possess any province, the more common Perjury. and gravc does perjury become, and the more difficult to deal with. In the first instance the most common perjury is that of the strings of witnesses brought on behalf of criminals to make out alibis con- tradict the evidence for the prosecution, or prove the stolen property to be the prisoner's. In the North- West Chap. XL EVIDENCE. 487 Provinces prosecutors often exaggerate, or act on con- jecture or misapprehension ; but a criminal prosecution is seldom founded on direct conspiracy without some foundation. The injured party has not the same strong incentive to obtain a conviction that the defendant has to effect his escape. But in Bengal a still more frightful evil has arisen, which not only endangers the innocent, but by throwing a doubt on the very foundations of the judicial system immensely increases the difficulty and danger of convicting the guilty. There seems to be no doubt that the wily and unscrupulous Bengalees have discovered that the very same means which enable the guilty to escape, also facilitate the conviction of the inno- cent, and that they try to turn the criminal courts into instruments of private vengeance. There the question is not only wlio committed the crime, but whether it ever was committed at all, — and the best evidence is often the most suspicious. Great Zemeendars carry on feuds by prosecutions and cross-prosecutions in the criminal court against the dependants of those opposed to them, and the most serious cases sometimes turn out to be entirely trumped up. I had no idea of the frequency of such things till I found them to be of common occurrence in a Bengal dis- trict ; and so far w^as it carried, that even Christian indigo planters wrote to the magistrate accusing one another of procuring murder and many other crimes. From all that has been said, my first assertion will not be deemed sur]:)rising — that violent crime has not decreased as might have been hoped ; that it is most rife in our oldest possessions, and many timesmore common nearCalcuttathan near Lahore. Our criminal system has many good points ; but it is necessary to deal with crime with a stronger hand. I have reserved to this place a review of the statistical results of our criminal administration, as shown Results of our in the returns of crime, trial, and punishment, criminal system. It is very difficult accurately to compare the criminal statistics 488 MODEEN IXDIA. Chap. XI. of different countries and places, from the immense variety of classification of which the subject admits ; so that, gene- rally speaking, no two statements are in any degree parallel. The comparisons usually drawn from the total number of offences and offenders, as, for instance, between India and different European countries, are on this account apt to be fallacious. It is even very difficult to compare the results shown in different parts of India, on account of the want of uniformity of system, and more especially of the difference in the forms in which the statements from the different pre- sidencies are drawn up. And the practice is so little settled that, even when the same forms are used, they are differently understood in different districts, and the most extravagant discrepancies are exhibited. For instance, in Bengal proper, in 28 districts there is not a single case classed under " false imprisonment :" in one, that of Mymensing, there are no less than 36/6 cases so classed. But this difference is chiefly remarkable in the minor offences, and we shall best obtain a comparison by classifying under large heads the most remarkable crimes, the tribunals, and the sentences. It has been a work of considerable labour to obtain (by analysing and comparing the elements of statements in M'idely different forms) the following results ; but I hope that they will show pretty simply and clearly the main facts, and enable us to make the necessary comparisons. The annexed statements exhibit the detail of crimes and statistical tables offeuces ascertained to have occurred in the of crime, &c. several presidencies in the year 1848, the numbers of persons charged, the mode in which they were dealt with, and the detail of punishment inflicted. I have only one half-year's statement for Madras, and have there- fore doubled it, to show a whole year, for the purpose of comparison. In regard to the statements of crime, the following general remarks may be made : — Chap. XI. RP:SaLTS OF CRIMINAL SYSTEil. 480 Serious breaches of the peace are pretty accurately re- ])orted and ascertained ; but it is not attempted to record more in regard to petty misdemeanors than the number of such offences of which complaints were lodged and entertained. The number of perjuries, forgeries, &c., is likewise only that of cases which went to trial. Of the two great classes of offences against property — those with and those without violence — it is only in the former that we can pretend to considerable accuracy in the report of the number of occurrences. These violent of- fences are the crimes to guard against which is the first and chief duty of the police ; and I think that most of these cases come under their cognizance, and that we have pretty accurate returns regarding them. It is in this class of crimes that a comparison of different provinces and systems is most important and interesting. The class of thefts, &c., without violence, is much more numerous, and is, in the aggregate, of hardly inferior importance : but then we do not pretend that the police are yet efficient to cope with this last class of crime ; and indeed we have seen that the law has taken from them the power of interference in most of these cases, except on the applica- tion of private prosecutors. Neither, then, are the returns of the class of cases without violence always sufficiently ac- curate, nor, if accurate, would the result be a test of the efficiency of the police. On the contrary, as the first step towards suppressing crime is to obtain an accurate know- ledge of its existence, I think that, generally speaking, in the present state of the Indian police, those districts are most efficiently managed in which the largest number of simple thefts arc reported — showing the best machinery for ascertaining these occurrences, and the greatest con- fidence on the part of the people who report them. Bur- glaries are generally reported, because the hole in the wall makes the fact patent; but it is oidy where there 490 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. is the best police that we have a good account of simple thefts. In the statements of criminal trials, I have not at- Generai appor- tempted to distinguish the numbers who are cTim™rand pn- tried for each offence, because this would nishment. involvc (in the form in which they are at present reported) too much detail ; but the detail of crimes will give a pretty accurate notion of the nature of the most common charges, and the detail of punishments will pretty clearly show the class of offences in which con- victions were had. The sentences of death and transport- ation for life are generally for murder. Imprisonment exceeding three years is for the most part awarded for the violent and more serious offences against property. Im- prisonment for three years and under is, in the majority of cases, for crimes against property without violence, and also includes a number of convictions for considerable assaults, affra^^s, and other misdemeanors. Flogging is invariably for petty theft; and fines are for minor mis- demeanors. With these explanations I proceed to the figured statements which here follow : — I. — Crimes reported in 1848. In botli Divisions of the Bengal Presidency. NATURE OF CRIME. Bengal Proper. N. W. Provinces. I /Murder: — By Thugs ------ Other cases ------ Wounclinf>; with intent to murder - Criminal homicide - - - _ - Atfray with homicide ----- Aii'ray witli wounding, or serious injury - Assault with wounding - - - - Rape -------- Adultery ------- Child-stealing, to sell into slavery, &c. - Sattcc, aiding and abetting - - _ Importation of slaves, or sale or purchased of imported slaves - - - - - / 318 24 180 25 15 504 86 4 13 1 298 33 244 60 123 716 69 17 48 2 Chap. XI. CRIMINAL STATISTICS. 491 I. — Crimes reported in 1848, In both Divisions of the Bengal Presidency — contbmed. NATURE OF CRIME. ft. 'Dacoitee : — With murder - - - _ _ Witli torture _ _ _ _ _ With v^•ounding - - - - - Simple ------- Highway rohbery : — With murder - - _ - _ With wounding - - - - - Simple ______ Burglary : — With murder _ - _ _ _ With wounding - - - - - Theft :— With murder _ - _ _ _ With wounding - Of children for sake of ornaments - By ada:iinistering poisonous oi' stupe- fying drugs - - - Cattle-stealing : — With murder _ - _ With wounding _ _ _ -"} :! Without personal violence : — Burglary _ - - _ - Theft __--_- Cattle-stealing - - - _ Receiving stolen or plundered property - Plundering -------- Arson --------- Coining and uttering ------ Forgery _-__-_-- Perjurjf -------- Smuggling ---_---- False imprisonment ------ Offences not included in the foregoing state- ments -____--_ Bengal Proper. N. \V. Provinces. 9 3 10. 82 4 386 5 9 3 21 53 74 88 1 9 22 31 6 10 18 6G 12 32 13,136 11,258 107 1,434 210 54 55 Not stated 4,986 Not stated 30 7,296 15,416 4,06(3 410 Not stated 157 26 79 94 647 Not stated 3,162 492 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. -Chimes reported in 1848 — continued. MADRAS. BOMBAY. Murder 220 Criniiual homicide .... .54 Maiming or -wouiidiiig . . . 292 Itape 54 Abortion, procuring .... 42 Child exposure 2 Branding 2 Poisoning 18 Sorcery 2 Suicide, attempt at .... 52 Proselytism 4 Violent crimes against property: — Gang-robbery, attended with or "without aggravating circum- stances 1324 Murder and robbery ... 58 Robbery by a single Individual 64 Housebreaking : — By day 158 By night 35U2 Theft 2122 Cattle-stealing, killing, or wound- ing 892 Arson .304 Fraud (extensive) 140 Forgery 88 Perjury o Subornation of forgery or per- Jti'T 4 Jilurder : — By Thugs 1 Other cases 167 Criminal homicide .... 40 Assault with homicide ... '.) Assault with wounding, &c. . . 496 Assault, simple . . , . 13,241 Rape 7G Adultery 221 Child-stealing 14 Violent crimes against property:^ Gang-robbery — With murder .... 18 With wounding, &c. . . 2(15 Simple 152 Robbery, including burglary, highway robbery, and cattle- stealiug — With murder .... 15 With other violence . . 1910 Theft, with murder .... 9 Burglary, unaggravated by vio- lence 4429 Theft, ditto 5405 Arson 6GS Forgery, or conntt.rfeiting the coin 101 Perjury 130 Treason or rebellion .... 3 Miscellaneous aud petty cases 17,25G Detail of Miscei,i,ankous Cases — BoTunAv. Abuse of authority Abusive language . Abortion, procuring Attempt at theft . Breach of contract . Breach of religious law Breaking or destroyii ries .... Bribery .... Conspiracy . Concealment of rob!;ery bounda 29 9175 68 642 80 170 38 190 152 20 Sitting Dhurna 7 Embezzlement .... 87 Escape from custody . 66 Fraud . 322 Failure to furnish security 95 Infraction of police rules . . 1388 Neglect of duty . . . . 1324 Return from banishment . . 30 Attempt at suicide . . . 14 Using false weights . . . 2(.'3 Not included in the above . 3153 Chap. XT. CRIMINAL STATISTICS. 493 II. — Comparative Statement of Serious Crimes in different Presidencies and of Criminals in England. Number of Offences reported. Be nsal. Area in square miles . Population .... 113,702 N. W. Pro- vinces. 71,972 36,848,9812.3,199,608 Murder * Criniiual homicides not amount-" ing to murder . . . Riots, affrays, and assaults with serious wouudiug Rape Total serious breaches of peace , Dacoitee, or gang-robbery . . Highway robbery, &c. . . . Burglary or theft by house- breaking, with personal vio lence Theft, with personal violence . Total crimes against property,! committed with violence . J Burglary or theft by house-) breaking without violence Simple theft, including cattle- stealin ":} Total crimes against property, without violence . . . . , Arson . . . . Coining and uttering Forgery ... Perjury ... 318 205 546 80 1,155 487 104 23 33 647 13,136 11,258 24,394 299 304 839 09 1,511 336 Madr 144,889 16,. 339,420 220 54 292 54 020 Bombay. Number of Offenders committed lof 'I'rial in England. 57,405 ,151,048 1,.324 122 Not sepa- ately stated 1,446 7,296 19,482 26,778 210 I 54 55 Not stated 157 20 79 94 3,000 3,014 0,074 304 Not stated 108 49 490 70 435 1,934 57,812 17,922,768 2,369 4,429 5,405 9,834 608 101 1.30 192 590 159 993 319 1446 including all burijlars and house- breakers. 1,900 (Included I above 19,390 19,390 174 175 57 * Exclusive of nmrders combined with other crimes, which are as follows : — Bengal 25 1 Madras 58 N.W. Provinces . , 27 Bombay 42 494 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. III. — Statement sliowing tlie Operations of the Criminal Courts in the several Presidencies for One Year. BENGAL. Trials. Tried by Persons Accused. Acquitted Uncondition- ally. Ordered to find Security. Convicted. Committed or Referred. Pending. The Magistrate his assistants Sessions Judges Sudder Court . and' 100,980 4,118 583 35,628 1,361 149 1,932 57,431 1,839 420 3,663 1 .535 2,336 .383 14 Total 105,671 37,138 i 1,932 I 59,680 4,198 2,733 Punishments. Transportation for Life. Imprisonment for Flogged. Fined. Dismissed Death. Life. 10 to 7 years. T to 3 years. 1 1 3 years j and under. from Office. 15 105 17 779 851 17,950 998 36,4.53 2,199 N. W. PEOVINCES. Trials. T, ■ J . 1 Persons T"*^"* ^y Accused. Acquitted ITncondition- ally. Ordered to find Security. Convicted. Committed or j Pending. Referred . 1 The Magistrate andlj --, .-7 his assistants . . ) ' ' Sessions Judges . . 4,021 Sudder Court ... 426 29,105 940 27 2,436 40,819 2,112 376 3,661 502 1,434 467 23 Total . . . : 81,904 30,072 ' 2,436 43,307 4,163 1,914 Punishments. Transportation for Life. Imprisonment for Flogged. Fined. Dismissed Death. 21 to 7 years. 7 to 3 years. 3 years and under. from Office. 100 165 579 1,185 i 14,678 1,445 22,621 2,077 Chap. XL CRIMINAL STATISTICS. 495 III. — Statement showin<2: the Operations of the Criminal Courts in the several Presidencies for One Year — continued. MADRAS. Trials. Tried by Persons Accused. Acquitted or Discharged. Ordered to find Security. Convicted. Committed or Referred. Pending. Village Police District Police Magistracy Subordinate Judges . Sessions Judges . Sudder Court . 11,536 122,850 9,854 7,360 2,070 344 5,338 86,758 6,430 2,428 996 118 348 126 6 6,086 35,292 3,342 1,922 796 212 2,070 122 Not stated 3 > > » Total . . . 153,514 102,068 480 47,650 2,092 Punishments. Transportation for Life. Imprisonment for Flogged. Fined. Confined in .Stocks. Confined Death. Life. 14 to 7 Under years. 7 years. Village Choultry. 32 38 10 2.58 j 2,738 618 28,782 1,814 13,310 B M B A Y. Trials. Tried by Persons Accused. Acquitted. ( ordered to find Security. Punished. Committed ' or Pending. Referred. Village and District Police Magistracy Sessions Judges . Sudder Court . i 72,352 2,575 224 35,759 954 26 I 1,228 27,935 4,042 1,268 198 2,404 224 i 985 129 Total . . . 75,151 36,739 1,228 33,443 2,628 1,114 PUNISHMKNTS. j Transportation 1 for Life. i Imprisonment for Flogged. Imprisonment Death. 14 to 7 years. 7 to 3 years. 3 years to 3 months. under 3 months, and fined. 41 99 13 359 2,103 196 30,596 49G MODERN IXDTA. Chap. XT. IV. — Comparative View of the Criminal Results in the different Presidencies and in the Superior Courts of England for One Year. Trials. Persons Accused. Acquitted or Discharged. Ordered to tind Security. Convict ed. Committed or Referred. Pendinj,' tlie Year. Bengal .... 105,071 37,138 1,932 59,680 4,198 2,733 N.W. Provinces . 81,904 30,072 2,436 43,307 4 , 1 63 1,914 Madras .... 153,514 102,068 480 47,650 2,092 Not stated Bombay 75, 151 36,739 1,228 33,443 2,628 1,114 Eugland (in Supe-) rior Courts ouly J 26,813 6,238 20,537 •• Not stated Punishments. Death Transportation, or impri-1 sonment for life . , . ) Imprisonment for 7 years) and upwards . . . ) 7 to 3 years .... 3 years and under . Flogged Fined Bengal. N.W. Provinces. 15 122 779 851 17,950 998 36,453 100 165 579 1,185 14,678 1,445 22,621 Madras. 32 38 258 > 2,738 018 28,782 Bombay. 41 99 13 359 2,103(3niontlis and upwards) 196 30,596 (includ- ing imprison- ment less than 3 mouths) England, (in tlie Superior Courts). 108 2,503 551 17,051 No returns from iu- feriorCourts. Chap. XL COMPAEISON OF CRIMES. 497 -Statement showing the Number and Result of Appeals preferred from the orders of the Magistracy to the Sessions Judges for the vear 1849. Appeals in Regular Trials. Appeals from Miscellaneous Orders. Percentage of Sentences aud Orders upheld. Percentage Number preferred. Number of Sentences upheld. Number reversed or modified. Number preferred. Number Number of reversed Orders or upheld, modilied. reversed or modified. Bengal N.W. Provinces Bombay 5,112 2,905 929 3,342 2,064 720 1,770 841 209 3,137 1,761 1,964 1,173 1,277 484 65 72 71 35 28 29 I am afraid that these statements confirm what I have already stated, the fact that our criminal ,.. . . r ^ • • J • Unsatisfactory administration is not successtul in its mam conclusion dra«-n ,1 1 -i 1 1 • J , 1 • from statements. or rather sole end and object, the suppression of crime. It is but a negative good that the most liberal measure of justice is insured to all who are accused, and that none have to fear that the criminal courts should be used by a tyrannical government as an instrument of seve- rity. We gain nothing if those who themselves exercise a sufficient measure of diligence are not protected from vio- lence and plunder. It must, in fact, be admitted, that serious crimes against property are very prevalent, and that it is so, is explained by the fact that the number of convic- tions and punishments for such crimes is small in proportion to the number of offences, showing that the chances of escape are so great as to make robbery and theft profitable trades. But while we admit that violent crime is more prevalent in India than in England, and much more common than it ought to be, it is not to be supposed that the state of things is really in most districts so veiy bad as is represented by the Calcutta newspapers. Their statements in regard to the police results are not so wholly without foundation as those respecting the judicial proceedings of the criminal courts, and a belief in the excessive prevalence of crime 2 K 498 MODEEN INDIA. Chap, XI. and corruption has also been much more widely spread by two or three highly respectable organs which have commented with honest emphasis on the subject. But it is to be observed, first, that the statistical returns clearly show the facts to be very much over-rated ; second, that such as they are, the facts stated have reference not to all India, but to Bengal Proper ; and third, that of Bengal Proper the greater number of the most serious crimes are confined to the six or eight districts imme- diately around Calcutta. We must take a larger view of the subject. It will appear that there is a wide differ- ence in the results shown by different Presidencies. In Southern India there is no thoroughly organised police, But wide differ- propcrly SO Called, and the result is bad ; in partV° of'^'tbe ^^^ North-Wcst Proviuccs a very respect- country. ^\^\q degrcc of success has been attained ; in Bengal Proper there is great cause for apprehension as to the ultimate result. I shall notice successively the different classes of crimes as shown in the statements for each Presidency. I am unable to obtain a statement of the number of " offences reported " in England. The par- liamentary returns are of offenders committed for trial ; and I therefore take this statement as the nearest ap- proach to a ground of comparison, and have entered it in a column parallel to the Indian Presidencies in the compa- rative statements. Supposing that the cases in which more than one offender is committed counterbalance those in which none are discovered, the number of offenders may be pretty near what that of offences would be. First, then, as to serious crimes against the person. Murders are, I believe, considerably more numerous in India, in proportion to the population, than in ti""%ersoT— England, and so we may conclude from the comparative statements. But I have before stated (p. 108), that crimes of the nature of assassination.'^ Chap. XI. COMPARISON OP CRIMES. 499 (as we understand the word in its more limited sense) fortunately were never very common ; and I think I may say — at least as regards the parts of India of which I have experience — that but a very small proportion of the mur- ders are of this nature ; I mean, deliberate murders of obnoxious persons, not prompted by sudden passion, women, or the wish to rob. The great majority of murders are of a domestic description, generally the result of passion or wounded pride ; and in most cases there is a woman in the matter. The most common executions are those of husbands for the murder of wives, who are, or are supposed to be, no better than they should be, or of persons sus- pected of being too intimate with them. These cases then are not so much a question of police as of social habits ; there is no preventing them. There is often little attempt at concealment, and the only course is to give a sufficient judicial remedy in the first instance to the party who consi- ders himself injured, that he may have no pre- Domestic mur- text for taking the law into his own hands. Al- *^*^'^^- though we retain the law which makes adultery and seduction criminal, the feeling of English judges seems to be so much against it that it is little put in force. Indeed, in regard to adultery (which requires a regular committal to the sessions in the same way as murder or forgery) the law has become very much a dead letter, and the construction of the offence of " seduction " is so various, and has been so much restricted, that there is generally little sufficient remedy. I have often been unwillingly compelled to refuse redress to a man who sues for the restoration of his wife and the punishment of the co-eloper, and to whom it seems an inexplicable law that he who steals his bullock is punished as a felon, but he who steals his wife and injures him in a much more tender point retains the prize in triumph. In Bombay only are a number of cases of adul- tery entered in the statement of trials. Murders by 2 K 2 500 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. " Thugs" are distinguished in the statements, and it will be seen that this species of crime has been pretty nearly rooted out in all the Presiden- cies, as but two cases of that nature occur. Child-murder, as it involves concealment of the fact, would Infanticide. i i i i i i i not be shown by the reports ; and the murder of female infants, at one time common among certain tribes in certain parts of the country, is sometimes repre- sented to be very general in our provinces. But I must say that I doubt the fact. I do not think that it is likely to occur in present prosperous circumstances among large clans, hi which there is plenty of room for intermarriages without infringing the rule which prohibits the marriage of blood relations. In fact, except among isolated families claiming peculiar rank, girls are very valuable. And if child-murder did take place to a large extent, many in- stances must come to light. If ten such cases be ascer- tained by the magistrate, we may well believe that ninety are concealed ; but if none are found out, I should believe in neither ninety nor nine. I have had to do wdth a con- siderable Rajpoot population, and have seen nothing of the kind. I am therefore slow to believe speculative people who go into a village pencil in hand, and, because they fancy that they see more boys than girls, calculate and propound that exactly one-half of the female infants of the ordinary agricultural Rajpoots are annually murdered. I do not know any other class of simple murder which calls for particular notice. The murders which occur in prosecution of other crimes are separately entered. As I have said that the punishments of death and transportation for life are for the most part inflicted in murder cases, by Proportion of tumiug to the Statement No. IV. we may murder '° to o°f- j^^l^gC of the proportlou of COUvictioUS to of- fences, fences. I think that from the character of these crimes the perpetrators are most frequently discovered, Chap. XF. COMPARISON OF CRIMES. 501 and it will be seen that there are a great many executions and transportations. In the North- West Provinces there are upwards of 3 punishments to 4 murders, or 265 punishments to 326 murders of different kinds ; and in Bombay, also, the proportion is large, viz. as 2 to 3, or 140 punishments to 210 murders. In Bengal Proper it is less, being 137 punishments to 243 murders*, and in Madras the result is the least favourable of all, as there appears to be only about 1 conviction to 4 murders, or 70 punishments to 278 murders. The proportion of criminal homicides (parallel to man- slaughter) and assaults with serious wound- - , - Serious assaults. mg, IS not remarkable, and seems to be on the whole less than in England. The number of these cases is a good deal larger in the North-West Provinces than anywhere else ; and this result is principally due to the common practice of carrying very long heavy sticks, bound with iron at the end, which are used for a variety of legitimate purposes, but are most serious weapons when a fight takes place and they are brought round with a swing on a hostile skull. Five-sixths of the manslaughters and broken legs and arms are caused by these blows. The serious affrays are by no means numerous. In the North- West Provinces a good many cases , . ^ ,. 1 • Affrays, &c. are so entered ni consequence oi the acci- dental use of the sticks to which I have just alluded, but rights are there so well defined that there is little occasion for affray respecting landed property ; and in other parts of India they prefer to fight with hard words. I confess to having been misled by the statements of the periodical prints into the belief that prodigious affrays between bands of hired clubmen, maintained by the Zemeendars, were of every day occurrence in Bengal, which the entire absence of any public definition or registration of landed rights and boundaries seemed to render extremely probable; but from 502 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. the returns it seems that the number of considerable affrays is (if they are all entered under the proper heading) really small after all, and the opposing armies must generally be content with abusive language and skirmishing, while their employers litigate in the courts. There have been, how- ever, several very bad cases of systematic violence near Calcutta, and it has been found impossible to convict those who were the real authors of the crime, and for whose profit it was perpetrated. They were too well skilled and supported in the legal game. The number of cases of child-stealing is very small, and is for the most part that of female infants ; it is only on rare occasions that it is an object to steal children ; but they are not unfrequently carried off for the sake of the orna- ments which they wear. It is quite frightful the tempta- tion to crime caused by the universal practice of decking children with gold and silver ornaments. One may see a little creature without a stitch of clothing running about with valuable bangles on its wrists and ankles. It will be seen that the number of cases in which sattee was attempted is next to nothing ; of slave- dealing still smaller. I now go to the class of violent crimes against property, which I have already characterised as the Violent crimes . '' i • i i /v^ against pro- most important, and that by which the effi- ciency of the police is chiefly tested. Of these by far the most remarkable and most serious is that of Dacoitee, such as I have formerly described it. It seems, indeed, almost pecu- liar to India, being open plunder by armed bands, and yet not open resistance to Government, the bands collecting at night and disappearing in the daytime in a way which can only be effected under very peculiar circumstances. It is much to be regretted that, in the greater part of our Indian possessions, we have by no means succeeded in CiiAi'. XI. COMPARISON OF CRIMES. 503 putting clown this crime, nor do we appear to be at all pro- gressing towards its complete suppression. It will be seen that the number of cases is very large ; but there is a very great disproportion in regard to this crime in the different Presidencies. In the North -West Provinces it may be said to be almost entirely suppressed. The i^ the North- statement shows only twelve cases of the West Provinces ; kind in the whole year, of which six were in the Benares division, three in Allahabad, and there were but three in all the twenty districts to the north of the latter division. The tribes who made dacoitee in its most serious form their exclusive profession have been rooted out, and the police have got the better of the ordinary village Dacoits. This is an extremely satisfactory result, and a great blessing to the country. From the Calcutta papers one might suppose that in Bengal every wealthy man is knocked up in ill !3cn£r Judicial deci- double the number of the convictions. Lut sions of the ma- in Bengal and Agra the numbers tried by this class of officers are very large (100,980 and 77,457), and the convictions are considerably more numerous than the acquittals. The numbers committed for trial before the superior courts seem not much out of ^nd of the su- proportion in the different presidencies, except p"'"'"'" tribunals. Madras. In Madras the proportion of acquittals seems to be much greater at every stage than in any other presi- dency — a circumstance which is not at all accounted for. The following is a comparative statement of the per- centage of the numbers convicted, com- Comparison of ... convictions and mitted, acquitted, &c. acquittals. Con victed, per cent. Committed, per cent. Security, per cent. Acquitted, per cent. Bengal . . 58 4 2 36 N. W. Provinces . .'54 .5 3 38 Madras 31 u i 67 Bombay . 44 4 2 .50 The latter part of statement No. lY. shows at one view the different punishments. In capital puni.shments there is considerable dispro})or- 512 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. tion, the number of executions being much larger in the Capital punish- North-West Proviuces than anywhere else, ments. There are no less than 100 executions in those provinces to 6 in England. I have no doubt that the executed all abundantly deserved their fate ; yet the object of these inflictions is not punishment, but pre- vention ; and if transportation be equally effectual to deter, the only argument in favour of executions is their greater cheapness. I do not think that we ought to take upon ourselves the use of such a fearful and unknown punish- ment as death when it can be avoided. We should only shed blood in self-defence; and as transportation has to the natives of India, I really think, much greater terror than death, I feel a great repugnance to executions when transportation would answer the purpose of prevention still better — espe- cially in the case of domestic murders under the influence of passions for which human nature is some excuse. We are not such inspired ministers of justice that we should take away life w^hile we can deter others from murdering, and yet save the murderer in another country to be dis- posed of as Heaven shall decree. Sentence of transportation is never passed except for Other punish- 1^^? fo^" ^his rcason, that, if prisoners were to '"®"*®- return, the punishment would lose the greater portion of its terrors. Although the fines are numerous, they are very small in amount. Very few large fines are inflicted, and the revenue derived from this source is inconsiderable. Statement No. V. shows the number of appeals pre- ferred from the orders of the magistracy to the sessions judges. The result must be considered very unfavourable, as showing a large proportion of orders reversed or modified on appeal, and tending very much to weaken the effeict of criminal justice. The right of appeal is very necessary, and cannot be dis- Chap. XI. CRIME AND POLICE IN THE FUNJAB. 513 pensed with ; but I would intrust an appellate jurisdiction only to officers of undoubted discretion, and of a rank very- much superior to those whose decisions are appealed to them. It does not do to have in every district a magis- trate in one room to pass orders, and a judge in the next to upset them — as is continually the case in India. I have no general criminal statements for the Punjab, as 1849 was a broken year, and the reports Punjab police, for 1850 were not available when I left ^*^' India. I can therefore only speak generally from my own personal knowledge. The country is very quiet, more so I have no doubt than any part of India except the North- West Provinces, but it has not hitherto been so free from violent crime as the latter territory. We found some serious crime, which it takes a little time to suppress. I do not speak of the hostile outrages of the hill tribes in the country beyond the Indus ; those are foreign to my present subject. East of the Indus, the crimes which have occurred in the Punjab are such as have been The most serious much more generally known in our older ter- <^""^^s- ritories. I think there is no crime peculiar to that part of the country. There is the usual proportion of thefts, ordi- nary murders, &c. &c. Serious affrays have been of very rare occurrence. The crimes, most to be guarded against, which have occasionally occurred, are three — murder of the nature of Thuggee, Dacoitee, and highway robbery. The Thuggee cases have been already alluded to in the English papers. During the latter part of my service in India I had charge of this department, in addition to other duties, so have a know- ledge of the facts. The Punjab Thugs were not a regu- larly affiliated branch of the profession which was till lately spread over the whole of India, nor had attained such professional skill ; but still they had done a great deal of harm, and it is fortunate that they were checked in 2 L 514 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XL time. They had principally carried on their operations within a hundred miles on either side of the Sutlej in the time of the Sikh Government, when the jurisdictions on the left bank of the river were very much intermixed, and a great many soldiers of the Sikh army crossed on their way to their homes with considerable sums of money — the plunder of the state— in their possession. It was known that a number of roadside murders of such travellers had occurred, but there was (in the protected states at least) no general government or police, and no sufficient mea- sures had been adopted. The Lahore Government seem to have handled rather roughly some of the Thugs on their side, but they emigrated and took refuge in the petty jurisdictions on the left bank. Soon after the country came into our possession some very mysterious murders occurred, and for some time the murderers baffled all attempts at detection. But at last a clue was obtained in a particular case, a murderer con- fessed, and then it all came out that the whole of these murders were the work of a particular set of men, gene- rally of the lowest caste, who had become habituated to the work, and acquired a good deal of artistic skill. A detachment of the organised Thuggee police was sent up to assist in tracing the matter; the system of approvers, &c. was adopted ; and the result has been the convic- tion of a large number of the criminals. The number of cases which have lately occurred is in consequence very small ; but a few of the Thugs who were driven from their haunts between Sirhind and Lahore seem latterly to have made their appearance to the westward of the latter place. It was still necessary (a year ago) to push farther forward the Thuggee police. Up to October 1850, 69 Thugs had been convicted and sentenced. In 1850 (up to October) five murders, which seemed to be of this description, had been reported. Chap. XL CRIME AND POLICE IN THP] PUNJAB. 515 The Dacoitees in the Punjab have been few in number, — compared to the number in Bengal, &c., a Dacoitee. mere trifle — perhaps altogether 20 or 30 in a year (I have no particulars of the southern and western districts) ; but when they do occur they are among 1 hat people serious affairs, as the Dacoits must be prepared for resistance, and there is generally pretty severe fighting on both sides and con- siderable bloodshed, so that three or four such cases occurring in a year in any one district is considered a very bad result by men accustomed to the North- West Provinces. The worst cases have been about Amritser and Lahore, in the Mangha Sikh country, and the perpe- trators are generally men accustomed to arms, out of employment, and such as do not condescend to petty crime, sturdy fellows who think nothing of appointing a meeting forty or fifty miles off, and returning without a halt after it has come off. There are no professional Dacoits, properly so called. The police have been suc- cessful in discovering and bringing to justice most of the perpetrators, as they are yet unskilled in the law, and, when it is pretty clear against them, often foolishly confess. Especially at Amritser, some very severe examples have been made, and I have no doubt that the crime is already, or shortly will be, effectually crushed and suppressed. Highway robberies have been, I am afraid, a good deal more frequent, and this is the crime with which it has been most difficult to deal, bery and inse- mi , rr' ,1 • i i curity of roads. Ine passenger traiiic on the mam roads be- tween the Punjab and Hindostan is at present enormous, the roads are not yet properly marked out, and long portions of them lie through a jungly country in the dry little cultivated tracts bordering on the desert, and between the Punjab rivers. The facilities and temptations to high- way robbery, always great, were under these circumstances much more so, and there were about the country a great 2 L 2 516 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XI. many loose desperadoes. Detection proved to be much more difficult where two or three people stripped a single traveller who could make no resistance, and were off into the jungle in a few minutes, than when there were large gangs of robbers, and the injured parties had local habita- tions and local connections. In fact, it must be admitted that the police were not at all successful with this class of cases. Till the lines of road were settled it was im- possible to adopt efficient preventive measures ; and I had for years parties stationed under trees, or in temporary sheds on the old roads winding through the jungle, in every-day expectation of the marking out of a new road, to which an engineer officer had been appointed, but which the Government had then no money to carry on. I believe that the work is now commenced in earnest, and a very strong preventive police has been established on the roads ; so I hope that they have now become pretty secure. There is no public work more necessary at present than AVant of road ^^6 making a great and good road between Sn^InTthiptn- Hiudostau and the Punjab, in continuation j^''' of the grand trunk-road which runs up to Dehli ; and I really think that there would be no so good opportunity for trying a railway. Whether it would and suggestion P^}' I cauuot Say. There is no doubt that for a railroad, ^very ouc would go by it if carried cheap enough ; but the fares must be in proportion to the price of labour and value of money, and infinitely less than in this country. If railways are made in India, it must be by Government (the less it hampers itself with jobbing, troublesome companies the better), and to Government the rail would pay over and over again in the immense advantage of a communication for troops, stores, and everything else between its resources in Hindostan and the frontier army in the Punjab, the procuring of carriage for which is at present one of the greatest difficulties and Chap. XI. CRIME AND POLICE IN THE PUNJAB. 517 hardships that can be conceived. The strongest argument is this, that if we had a road already made there might be a question, but, since we have as yet spent nothing on a road, it would be better to devote the money to a rail which may pay and which is so much more useful, than to a road which certainly does not pay. In a perfectly flat country all the bridging, &c. &c., is just as expensive for a road as a rail, and laying down rails once for all cannot cost so very much more than continually laying down metal, an enormously expensive article in the plains of India. From Dehli to Lahore would be under 300 miles, over a perfect flat, particularly free from rivers and inundations (the Sutlej is in fact the only perennial stream), in which there is no water conveyance and a very deficient supply of land-carriage, a very much larger Government traffic than anywhere else, and I am sure as large a passenger traffic as anywhere in India, the whole of which would be con- centrated in a single line of road. Nowhere could a rail be made so cheap, and nowhere would it be so useful. It would, in fact, bring the Punjab for our purposes within the desert, while we retain the advantage of its revenue and of its mountain boundary ; and there would be no highway robberies, for that is the point from which I started. The first money we can save should certainly be devoted to this object. But I have wandered from the Punjab police, and must return to it to notice a point which I consider of great im- portance in reference to a class to which is traced most of the heinous crime. The low outcast class is numerous in the Punjab, and they are a particularly hardy, daring race. _ "^ , -r -11 1 • • The most com- In the J at villages they occupy a position mon class of cn- altogether inferior and serfish, but the ori- ginal Sikhs, who disregarded divisions of caste, distinctly admitted into their ranks such of them as chose to become 518 MODEEN INDIA, Chap. XL Sikhs. Many had in consequence in this character adopted the profession of arms, and they were constantly enter- tained by Sikh chiefs, especially for desperate services, which required a reckless obedience. They were, in fact, the best mercenary soldiers in India, and it is impossible to imagine a class more suited to our service ; they were the very men for regular troops, would have been devoted to us, and faithful to their pay — with nothing to look to be- yond our service and no pride, but plenty of bravery and habits of subordination — and it would have been consonant to our Christian principles to give an opportunity of rising to respectability in our service to others of a class hitherto degraded. But it is our system to be more Hindoo than ivhom we refuse ^hc Hindoos ; the old notions still prevail in to employ, ^]^q hcad-quartcrs of the Bengal army, fanci- ful ideas that men of good birth and family make the best soldiers, and that high-caste men are not to be contami- nated by the vicinity of low-caste men, for which there is, in fact, little foundation. Of course the high-caste men prefer to have a monopoly of the service if they can, but in any other department, where high caste is not so much appreciated, they never hesitate about taking a place to inquire the caste of their fellows ; and, in reality, I believe that the high-caste men are much the worst regular soldiers, and that to this cause is principally due the mutinies and relaxation of discipline which have of late years appeared in the Bengal army. Ask the commanding officer of an English regiment which recruit he would prefer, an able- bodied labourer or a broken-down gentleman ? However, the prejudice in favour of high-caste men prevails, and the system of a false centralisation is carried so far in the army that no discretion whatever is allowed to commanding offi- cers. Descriptive rolls of every recruit are sent up to head- quarters, and, if the caste is at all questionable or new, down comes an order to say that the Commander-in-Chief Chap. XI. REASONS OF WANT OF SUCCESS. .519 has doubts about the purity of this man's caste, and there- fore desires that he be forthwith paid up and discharged.* The consequence of this system is, that these low-caste men can get no employment in our service ; and they have not, like the Jat-Sikh soldiers, a place in their own villages to fall back into. The Jat Sikhs take at once to agriculture, and give no trouble. Dacoitee is really almost the only crime in which they ever engage. But the low-caste men out of employ have no resource ; they are naturally un- willing to return to a degraded position in their native places, and, being denied our service, they not unnaturally betake themselves to the crime for which their courage and despau' so well tit them, consequence dri- A 1 n 1 rni n l^ • ^'^'^ to crime. Almost all the 1 hugs were ot this caste ; they commit the greater number of the highway robberies, burglaries, and other violent crimes, and have a large part in the Dacoitees. The first step towards a suppression of crime is to admit these men to honest employment. The whole of the Punjab police is now formed on the model of that in the North-West Provinces, and I do not remember any other circumstances connected with its work- ing necessary to be here dwelt upon. I have, I think, in the course of this chapter referred to all the different causes of the admitted general want of the success which might have been hoped for in our criminal administration, but it may be well here to sum them up briefly in one view. They are, first, the causes which we found in existence, the nature of the country, the character and •' Summary of rea- the habits oi the people ; second, the causes sons of unfa- , . , 1-1 vourable result. connected with our system, which are as follows : — * Feb. 2. — I see in to-day's paper a paragraph about the Comraander-iii- Chief's being forced by the sepoys to dismiss fifteen low-castc uieu — an unpleasant state of things in more ways than one if it be true. 520 MODERN INDIA. CHAr. XL 1. The great personal freedom enjoyed by all classes. 2. The abandonment or practical weakening of the system of village responsibility. 3. The want of permanence in the magistrates, every day changed, and every day changing those beneath them ; and generally wanting that local knowledge so necessary to the establishment of a good police. 4. The want of a good and well-organised native police profession. 5. The want of a detective system. 6. The incompleteness of the criminal law, opening a door to legal uncertainties and quibbles. 7. The rules of evidence, which would be very good in this country, but in India render it difficult to contend with fair and unbiassed evidence against unfair and biassed evidence, especially as between Government and private parties, where one side is impartial and the other altogether unscrupulous. It may, in fact, be necessary to counter- balance unfair arts by fair influence and exertion, in order to elicit the truth from unwilling, indifferent, or intimidated witnesses. 8. The forms and rules of trial. In England, a free country, formerly menaced by tyranny in judicial form, and where criminals are sufficiently opposed by public opi- nion and public effort, the object of all these rules has been solely to protect the innocent against the Government, and English rules have been imitated in India, where the state of things is quite different, where the Government is avow- edly absolute, and at the same time cannot be suspected of any designed injustice or wish to make judicial tribunals the instruments of political oppression.* The object of * I am sure that no ratioual person who knows anything about the matter really suspects the Indian Government of misconduct of this kind. The editors of Indian papers certainly do not, although it has suited them for a consideration to make an interested outcry in Jotee Pershad's behalf. They are always willing enough to side against Government, but, in the instance Chap. XI. CODE PEOPOSED BY LAW COMMISSION. 52 1 our Indian judicial rules should be, not only to protect the innocent, but also to insure the punishment of the guilty, 9. The character of the judges. Altogether the accomplished criminal who is brought to justice must indeed be born under a most unlucky star, since he has so many chances of escape. To begin with, he is probably not caught ; if caught, he may baffle or per- haps bribe the police ; if the police send him in, he may bribe or intimidate the witnesses, and has a chance before the magistrate ; if the magistrate commit him, he has ample opportunity for all kinds of contrivances, and a much better chance before the judge ; if the judge convicts him, he ap- peals to the Sudder. It is hard if some doubt, contradic- tion, or difference of opinion cannot be found or created in all these many stages, and amid so much false, uncer- tain, and inaccurate evidence, and such doubtful law. In connection with the criminal law I must refer to the proceedings of the Law Commission, because it has been to this subject that the labours of code of the Law that body have been almost entirely directed. The Commission has published a code of criminal law, commonly called Macaulay's code, several reports and comments on the aforesaid code, and, finally, a rough sketch of a code of procedure for administerhig the code of law. It is now understood to be engaged in emending the code, with a view to its adoption. I think that the Commission was unfortunate in its first subject. The criminal law, though imperfect, was more suitable than most parts of our system, and it was the system of civil and criminal procedure which it was most urgently necessary to regulate. It will be seen that the alluded to, they must luidouLtedly have been stimulated by bribes, because the poj^ular opinion in every Indian cantonment ran very strong against the Commissariat, and they wrote in the teeth of the feeling of the great majority of their subscribers. The accused was rich, in danger, and ready willi his money. 522 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XL evils of our criminal system result more from the form of the process than from want of laws for punishment of the most serious crimes when proved ; and in the civil courts, a new code of procedure was still more necessary. Still a systematization of the criminal laws would be a great good, necessary in the second degree. In regard to what has been done, I think that the excellence of Macaulay's code is doubtful ; it seems to have attempted too much at first ; it goes on the principle of sweeping away all that exists and commencing de novo. The codification may be good in its way, and the illustrations seem very useful, but the ancient order of things, in the classification of crimes, seems to be too rudely interfered with ; for instance, " bur- glary with violence " has hitherto been one crime. In the code it is three — trespass, theft, and assault ; and the punish- ment is " cumulative." I doubt the philosophical correct- ness of this system. The crime alluded to is no more the sum of these three items than the number 999 is the sum of three nines. And, moreover, it may be that b)- too minute analyzation we get a greater complication than by keeping in our list well-known compounds. We all know what water is, but, if reference were made to a certain compound of hydrogen and several other difficult substances, Ave might be somewhat puzzled. I would by all means compress and codify^ but would not over-refine. We do not want to achieve slowly something which will be a model to the civilized world, but to get quickly something which may be put into immediate and easy operation in India. In fact, it seems that, in attempting so refined a system, there were in the first instance many omissions and im- perfections ; and, what is no less important, the difficulty of bringing it home to the comprehensions of those who were to administer it would have been very great. One thing, which has gone fjir to convince me of this latter difficulty, is the absolute impracticability of translating it Chap. XI. CODE PROPOSED BY LAW COMMISSION. 523 into Hindostanee. A translation has been lately made by a most accomplished scholar, but only by the use of a mass of abstruse Arabic words, found or coined for the occasion, such as no ordinary Flindostanee can understand; and I admit that I was fairly puzzled by the code in Oriental garb. The punishments of the code (when one can identify the crimes) seem to correspond pretty nearly with those awarded to the same crimes by the present regulations ; but it is a very difficult thing to recognise our old friends in their new garbs. The abolition of the punishment for seduction and such crimes was altogether a step in the wrong direction. Perhaps it would have been better or easier in the first instance merely to have classified, sys- tematised, consolidated, and completed the existing criminal law, and to have furnished good rules of procedure. Some- thing practical would then, at least, have been done ; whereas all the labour bestowed has unfortunately as yet yielded nothing. The result of the present revision of Macaulay's code remains to be seen. The proposed rules of procedure, published by Macau- lay's successors, would be positively injurious. T'l- J 1 -L X? ^^ iX, • '^^^ proposed 1 ney are drawn up by men who lollow their code of proce- own ideas of justice, Avithout regard to the circumstances of Indian society ; for instance, the power of cross-examining the criminal is taken away. Republican America is quoted as an example for absolute Hindostan. The magistrate is to have a fixed set of questions, a formula laid down by the Commission, and he is to ask each criminal these questions, and no more. Nothing can be more injurious than this ; it is going exactly in the contrary direction to what is required. Criminals have facilities enough already, without going out of our vvay to give them more by depriving the magistrate of the best means of arriving at the truth. If this is the direction of our new legislation, we are nuich better without it. 524 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. CHAPTER XII. THE ADMINISTRATION OF CIVIL JUSTICE. The Regulation system — The courts — The judges — The laws, &c. — The mode of procedure — Interference with landed rights — Pleaders and attorneys — Perjury and forgery — Madras and Bombay systems — Appeals to the Privy Council — Statistical statements — Non-regulation system — Civil justice in the Punjab — Experience in regard to ex- amination of parties, &c. I UNITED in my last Chapter the whole criminal adminis- tration, police and judicial, because the one part depends so much on the other, and I noticed several points connected with the general judicial system. But the latter subject is as important, and more complicated as concerns the branch of justice which I have put at the head of my present Chapter, and I must again revert to it. The judicial system involves, however, so many large ques- tions, that, even if I were competent to deal with them, it would hardly be possible to do so in a chapter of such a volume as this. I find that neither time nor space would permit me to go fully into it at present, and I am the more willing to defer doing so, as I have now an opportu- nity of observing the English judicial system, and the effects of recent changes of the law, and would not desire to com- mit myself to crude opinions which are but in course of formation, at a time when much more competent persons are watching the result of late experiments and reserving their judgment. I have not had much personal experience of the courts of civil justice in the Regulation provinces of India, Chap. XII. ADMINISTRATION OF CIYTL JUSTICE. 525 but have seen them from the outside as a spectator, and, mixing much with the people, have thus learned their general effect and the estimation in which they are held (perhaps the best point of view for forming a correct opinion), rather than attained professional knowledge of the details of their practice. But the weight of authority in England is now so completely opposed to a system of artificial technicalities, that it is hardly necessary for me to get up a minute exposition of a system which must be condemned on general grounds, and which will I hope soon be obsolete. On the other hand, I have for several years acted as civil judge, and superintended several subordinate courts, in the Non-Regulation Provinces now attached to the Punjab, where, freed from the Cornwallis code of pro- cedure, and furnished by Government with a few simple rules founded on the most correct principles, I have been enabled to try another system, and have experimented on a considerable scale on most of the points now mooted in Eng- lish jurisprudence, — the examination of parties, summary forms of procedure, simple and rational pleadings, &c. &c. If number of instances is the best basis of induction, I have as regards India a good ground for general conclusions, and hope by comparing Indian with English experiences, to gain an insight into the subject. Meantime, I would not here attempt more than (in order to complete the subject of this volume) to give a very brief and general sketch of the nature of the courts by which civil justice is administered — first, in the Regulation, and, second, in the Non-Regulation Provinces. In regard to the former, I have compiled in small compass some comparative sta- tistical tables, which will go farther than anything I have space to say to show the working of the courts. In sketching the progress of our internal government, the present system, and the character of the instruments employed, I have noticed generally the origin and cha- 526 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. racter of the courts, the form of the judicial machinery, and something of the different classes of judges. There have been comparatively few great changes in the prin- ciples of this department since its first establishment, and Regulation sys- ^^ ^111 uot bc ncccssary farther to sketch the *^'^" past, I therefore proceed at once to the pre- sent Regulation system. I regret to be obliged in limine unreservedly to avow that this part of our administration is, generally speaking, by no means so satisfactory as other departments ; that there has been great en- .Its general clia- '■ , ,. . . , racter and re- couragemcnt to thc litigious and unscrupu- lous, and little justice for petty wrongs •, a great houleversement of the rights and institutions of the country, and lamentable demoralisation of the people ; all proceed- ing from the best of motives, but in effect, it is to be feared, going flir to counterbalance the good derived from our executive rule. It is some relief to find, that, while the result of the departments already discussed has been very unfavourable to Madras and Bombay as contrasted with Northern India, on the other hand, in their judicial practice, those presidencies seem to have decidedly the advantage — to give more justice in small cases, and cause less evil in large ones. I shall first dispose of the judicial machinery. One peculiarity of the system, as distinguished from the The courts, English, may have been already observed, viz., judges, &c. ; ^}^^^^ although the whole of each presidency is superintended by one chief court, there is no central court of original jurisdiction. The hearing of original causes rests exclusively with separate functionaries in each district, of whom the Zillah judge is the head. That ofiicer exercises his original jurisdiction in regular suits only in very special cases, is principally occupied in appeals and in hearing miscellaneous motions, applica- tions, &c. Almost all causes are in the first instance tried Chap. XII. REGULATION SYSTEM. 527 by the nati\e judges, whose grades and powers I shall more particularly mention. The Sudder Court is the only collective judicial body. In every other court there is but a single judge. The native judges are as follows: — In each district, there is at the same station with the Zillah ^he native judge a chief native judge, who tries claims J"'^^"^^- exceeding 1000 rupees, or 100/. His jurisdiction is unli- mited in amount, and, generally speaking, he tries all important cases, which the judge does not for special reasons retain on his own file. He is styled Principal Sudder Aumeen, the two first terms being a repetition of words of nearly the same meaning in different languages. He receives from 500/. to 750/. per annum. The next native judge is a Sudder Aumeen, but there seems a con- siderable disposition to do away with this intermediate grade. A Sudder Aumeen tries cases exceeding 30/., and not exceeding 100/. He receives 300/. per annum. The lowest, most numerous, and most important class of native judges is that of Moonsiffs, who try all cases not exceed- ing 30/. Moonsiffs are divided into two grades, who re- spectively receive 120/. and 180/. per annum. There are upon an average about five Moonsiffs under each judge, stationed in different parts of the district. All these courts have jurisdiction in all suits of every kind for real as well as personal property ; and in regard to landed property, do in fact exercise a much larger jurisdiction than the limits mentioned, because the value of landed property is calculated at one years revenue^ a calculation much below the fact. The land so valued really involves most important interests, disposed of under these rules by the inferior courts. Candidates for Moonsiff'ships are annually examined, and those qualified receive diplomas, which render them eligible for appointment, if nominated by the Sudder 528 MODEHX INDIA. Chap. XII. Court. These diplomas are most frequently obtained by the pleaders and ministerial officers about the courts. The examination does not extend to Hindoo or Mahommedan law, but is confined to the British code of procedure. Native judges of the higher grades are selected by Go- vernment from the list of Moonsiifs. An appeal lies from the decision of the MoonsifF, or Sudder Aumeen, to the Zillah judge, and he may refer a portion of the appeals to the principal Sudder Aumeen for decision. A second or special appeal lies to the Sudder Court on special points, as does a regular appeal in cases decided in the first instance by the judge or principal Sudder Aumeen. I have already expressed my belief that the judicial machinery is now quite sufficient in quantity for the work, and that the faults are those of the system. Lord Cornwallis's object was "to afford the means of a The CornvTaiiis regular judicial decision in every case to system. evcry inhabitant of the country," and by "a regular judicial decision" he meant one encumbered with many of the forms of the English law of that day. He altogether ignored the institutions of the country, gave no encouragement to decisions out of court and avoidance of lawsuits — to agreeing with a man's neighbour while in the way with him ; but rather encouraged all to come to the regular tribunals. The nature of the system is not un- fairly described by Mill, in a passage which I have some- what abridged, vol, v. p. 502. It was, he says, one of the prejudices of lawyers, " that to render judicial proceedings intricate by the multiplica- tion of technical forms, by the rigid exaction of a great number of nice, obscure, puzzling, pedantic rites and cere- monies tends to further the ends of justice. For courts of law, provided for a people among whom justice had always been distributed in the method of simple and rational inquiry, was prescribed a course of procedure loaded with Chap. XII. THE LAWS. 529 minute formalities. Of the intricacy and obscurity thus in- tentionally created, one effect was immediately seen, that the candidates for justice could no longer plead their own causes. The necessity of an establishment of hired advocates was therefore acknowledged, and a body of native pleaders was formed, paid by a percentage on the litigated property. From this one inconvenience immediately flowed, that the class of causes which is infinitely the most important of all could not fail to be treated with comparative neglect." Of these evils, so far as concerns both divisions of Bengal, not a whit has been abated to the present day, and no case, small or great, can be conducted but in a most artificial way and by professional persons. Recent legal reforms have not extended to the Indian Regulation courts, and the system only becomes more and more complicated as legal precedents and constructions of law accumulate. Our Government has interfered very little, or I may almost say not at all, in the laws regulating m p ' Laws. property, &c. The courts profess to give to every man the law of his own religion, country, or tribe, and, where the plaintiff and defendant are of different tribes, decide according to the custom of the country or the law of the defendant. Our legislative enactments form a code of procedure and no more. On the other hand, precedents and " constructions " of the Sudder Courts have swelled out Engraftmenta into a large and complicated legal system, on the laws. quite undigested and unarranged. I have remarked on the tendency of men not regularly educated as lawyers to rush into the extreme of legal niceties and quibbles, grasping the shadow while they lose the substance of law ; and it is in the civil courts that this disposition has shown itself to the greatest extent. Not only is too much refine- ment attempted, but the Judges of one day are constantly altering the constructions of their predecessors. 2 M 530 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. XII There is no separate equitable jurisdiction mitigating the harshness of the strict letter of the law, Want of equi- , i -» r i i table jurisdic- as uuder the Mahommedan emperors; nor has any system of equity been engrafted on the common law. It is administered without any relaxation whatever ; nor is there any machinery for obtaining dis- coveries and other such assistance to persons barred of regular legal remedies. In questions involving class laws the courts can call before them Mahommedan or Hindoo lawyers to expound their doctrines ; but the means of correctly and uniformly administering those laws seem very imperfect. Neither in the forms of procedure nor in anything else is there any distinction whatever between Uniformity of. .,.„. ., , procedure in au the superior and mierior tribunals, except as to the value of the suits which may be enter- tained. A Moonsiff's court, therefore (though it adminis- ters justice to about the same or a smaller extent of country and population), by no means corresponds to a county court of summary and limited jurisdiction. The mode of procedure is somewhat as follows : — There Mode of pro- ^^ uo distinction of different forms or de- cedure. scriptious of actious ; every kind of right or injury is sued for alike, the value merely being stated, and the courts deciding what is and what is not a fit subject for judicial cognizance. None of the steps of an action are conducted out of court. Every step must be taken through the court* All pleadings, applications, and everything else are in writing. The plaint must be lodged on a stamp of a value propor- tioned to the sum claimed. There is no rule as to the nature of the matter to be contained in the "declaration." It generally consists of a very long, rambling, circum- stantial, and of course exceedingly exaggerated, detail of * In some things the procedure somewhat resembles the Scotch system. Chap. XIL MODE OF PBOCEDURE. 531 grievances, and a great many other things besides which have nothing to do with the case. Attached is a power of attorney naming a licensed pleader, and an account of particulars is generally given : thereupon the suit is ad- mitted. A formal notice is served on the defendant, or stuck up in the village where he is supposed to reside, and he is required to file an answer and defend the case within a certain number of days. If he does so it is in a style similar to the plaintiff's. There is no limit to the number of pleas, relevant or irrelevant, consistent or con- tradictory. The plaintiff is then called on to put in his replication, and the defendant his rejoinder, and so on ; each paper containing all kinds of assertions and accusa- tions and technical objections, and each scrupulously avoiding to give the other the advantage of any admission of the plainest facts. All this completed, issue is sup- posed to be joined : that is to say, the judge has before him a mass of the most prodigious contradictions which unscrupulous subtlety can deliberately prepare in writing, and great quantities of irrelevant matter. He thereupon proceeds to trial. Issues of law and fact are all joined at the same time, and decided at the same time. All mis- cellaneous applications of every kind are made to the same judge who tries the case, and he has no officer empowered to act otherwise than ministerially, or to do or arrange anything of his own authority. Not a paper can be filed except by order signed by the judge. Issue being joined, a day is appointed for the trial. Witnesses are subpoenaed on the application of the parties. Their evidence is taken, and exhibits, &c., are produced. The judge is not permitted himself to make any effort towards ascertaining the truth, as is done in a criminal or revenue case. Everything is left entirely to the management of the parties and their professional advisers. They marshal up their own pre- 2 M 2 532 MODERN INDIA, Chap. XH. pared witnesses, produce their own documents, and apply for reference to particular records — all of which of course depends upon their skill in arts, fair or fraudulent. The judge would not even, on any account, refer to the records of his own or the collector's office, except on special appli- cation of one of the parties. He must scrupulously restrict himself to the worst evidence, and, having heard that, he decides as he best may. If either party commit any error of form, it is fatal to his cause. If the defendant does not appear in the manner required, the decree goes against him by default, and the first he hears of it is the seizure of his goods, after which he has no legal remedy whatever. The parties may, by mutual agreement, refer to a jury or arbitrators ; but, under such a system, and the case being from the beginning in the hands of professional pleaders, it is very seldom that both sides come to any such voluntary agreement, and the judge does nothing to encourage their doing so. Such are the courts with which a Government, fully intending to do right, has overloaded the country, and to which it itself submits. It is not to be wondered at that petty suits cannot be carried through so expensive a form of trial, and that in every case there is every opening for fraud, perjury, and forgery. In execution of decrees, personal property is distrained. Execution of de- ^^^ imprisonment for debt is permitted for crees. limited periods, the creditor paying for the subsistence of the debtor. Against the possessor of landed rights the process is exceedingly simple. They are at once sold by auction without reserve to the highest bidder, in satisfaction of the decree ; or, if certain rights are decreed, they are at once made over by precept addressed to the collector, who must implicitly obey, however inequi- table he may know the decision to be, and however in- Chap. XII. INTERFERENCE WITH LANDED RIGHTS. 533 consistent with the rights of other parties and of Govern- ment. It is supposed that, because the courts are called courts of justice, they are competent, on the technical interference with pleadings and evidence just described, and landed nghts. without any record or knowledge whatever of the nature of the rights in dispute, and of other co-existent rights, to decide of their own arbitrary will and mere motion on interests which are in fact for the most part created or altogether metamorphosed by our system, and regarding which there is consequently no indigenous law to guide their decisions. In all settled districts these rights have been judicially defined by the collector, and re- corded in the most perfect register of landed property existing in any country in the world ; yet by regular suit before a Moonsiff they may be at any time transferred to some one else, in utter disregard of all previous investi- gation and record. A struggle sometimes ensues, when the courts, in their extreme ignorance, send precepts im- possible of execution, and make decrees regarding things which do not exist, or incompatible with the rights in possession of third parties who have never been in court. Near Agra a district Zemeendar has obtained decrees against the village communities (making him proprietor), by going to the civil courts, after the question had been tried and determined years before in the revenue courts, so much better qualified to decide it. It is by the instrumentality of the civil courts that all the most important interests in the country have been rapidly converted and transferred. So far the advantage rests principally with the plaintiffs. A case comes into court by choice of the Evasions on part plaintiff; not of defendant, and the former «f defendants, is generally most likely and willing to use or abuse tech- nical weapons. A rich and powerful defendant can, no 534 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. doubt, by them excellently avoid justice ; but the poorer and more ignorant and careless class are at an immense disadvantage. It is principally in the execution of decrees that defendants begin to find their advantage, and adopt a system which yields an abundant crop of fresh litigation. As soon as a decree is put into execution the defendant becomes seriously alive to it ; and when the plaintiff at- tempts to seize his property, he is met by the information that it belongs to some one else. In no country is this kind of thing can-ied to such an extent as it now is in India. Litigious people take the "general precaution of never having any legal property at all ; it is all in the name of a son, or a brother, or a cousin, or any one but the right person. It is wonderful how a rich man turns out to be an absolute pauper under a decree of court ; and when landed property is decreed or bought, there generally start up a dozen claimants, of whom no one ever heard before. Thus, altogether, it happens that in India it is one thing to get a decree or a title, and quite another thing to execute or keep it ; and the difficulty of making out a title has be- come the principal obstacle in the way of Europeans and others acquiring land. A man buys a village from its re- corded and ostensible proprietors, and is duly registered and put in possession by the collector ; but, before a tw^elvemonth is out, he may have a dozen suits in the civil court hanging over him. As some remedy for these and such like evils the Government have instituted a system of registration of deeds. They do not give any legal validity to the collector's general register of landed rights (which would have been the rational course in settled districts), except as evidence of possession. But there is a separate registry of deeds ; and it is provided by law, as regards deeds executed after a ertain date, that registered shall have precedence over unregistered deeds. This system is so far very useful, but I doubt whether Chap. XII. PLEADEKS AND ATTORNEYS. 535 it is yet properly or efficiently carried out, or ever will be, as regards landed property, except in connection with the collector's register. There is so far a distinction between pleaders and attor- neys that there are always many people pieaders and at- practising as professional petition-writers and Forneys. pettifoggers, without any qualification or licence at all, and having no right regularly to appear as pleaders, but over whom the officer in whose court they practise gene- rally assumes some regulating authority. These men per- form almost entirely the duties of attorneys, and manage in the name of the parties, or under special power of attorney, all miscellaneous business. The regular pleaders are limited in numbers, only admitted on proof of some quali- fication, and are comparatively a superior class, principally employed to plead regular cases in court. In the higher courts some of these men have been very successful, and realize large incomes ; but the majority are very far indeed from what we expect in a barrister, and the spirit of un- scrupulous polemics is strong within them all. They avail themselves of every weapon, fair and unfair. On techni- calities they live. Certainly we have, at least, succeeded in planting most successfully among the natives a taste for this kind of litigation ; it thrives amazingly. If it is difficult to repress perjury and fraud in the cri- minal courts, where at least the magistrate 11' 11* P^ijury. does his utmost to get at the truth, it may be supposed that under the system described in the civil courts such crimes are altogether rampant ; in fact, the whole system is one of highly-perfected fencing with those weapons, and it is not to be wondered at that the people have become practised and skilled in their use. Perjury is of all things the most common.* Forgery is also most * I mu.st, however, here say that what 1 have seeu in p]ii>i;huKl ol' the opera- tion of the new law of evidence goes very far to dimini.sh the distance between English and Indian truthfulness or want of truth. Ililherto the pleading^ 536 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. XII. extensively practised in regard to documents used in civil causes. The great school for forgery was orgery. .^^ ^^^ investigation of claims to revenue-free lands. Government having announced its intention of respecting all alienations of former Governments, and no ancient records existing, these titles (for the most part fraudulent) could best and most unanswerably be made out by the production of written grants of the emperors ; and such documents were eagerly sought for. Forging became a sort of branch of the legal profession, just as conveyancing is with us, and the professors of the art attained great skill. It was the more easy to use these forged grants, as there were no opposing private parties, and all had a common interest in getting as much as pos- sible out of a too scrupulous Government. I have turned up the collection of a forger who had the seals of every pos- sible emperor, minister, and governor. It was but " name your emperor and say how much land you want," and a most imposing-looking grant was produced, all ancient, and musty, and tattered, and torn, but still preserving in legible characters the great seal of the empire, signature of the prime minister, consignature of the governor of the province, and the cardinal particulars of the grant. The same appliances are now largely used in civil suits of all kinds. Wielding so enormous a power, the civil courts have assumed an altogether undue prominence in the country. Most people are frequently involved in some shape in civil litigation, as parties, or witnesses, or conspirators, or aiders and abettors, and the litigiously inclined Demoralization . •ii' ni*T of the people and make it the busmess oi their lives; hence other evils the demoralization of the country, and the lowest villagers are becoming up to many " dodges " of have been privileged falsehoods, which shocked no one ; but it now appears that the oaths imposed on the parties by no means get rid altogether of these contradictions, and that perjury is far from uncommon at Westminster. Chap. XII. CHAEACTER OF JUDGES. 537 the law. It seems quite inconceivable that such a system should in these days, when its absurdities are admitted in England, be permitted to remain in India, a country so peculiarly unfitted for it — or perhaps it may be as cor- rectly said, so peculiarly well-fitted for the growth and frightful prevalence of all the evils attached to it. The Law Commission might much more usefully and easily have supplied a decent code of civil procedure, instead of working away without success for seventeen years on a new system of criminal law. The character and qualifications of the judges I have already noticed in former chapters. I think character of there can be no doubt that the lowest class J"^ses. of native judges have a degree of power, in regard to real property and some other matters, inconsistent with their pay and position. The examination of candidates in the technicalities of our system of procedure and the construc- tions of the Sudder Court is very strict, and renders necessary considerable talent and application. The higher class of natives unanimously assert that this tends to ex- clude them, and to throw the appointments into the hands of the lowest pettifoggers, skilled in the minute practice of the courts. It is undoubtedly necessary that, if we are to maintain the system, those best acquainted with it should be selected ; but, under a more simple system, the difficulty would be very much lessened, and sufficient personal standing and weight of character might be united with a sufficient knowledge of a simple and rational mode of pro- cedure. Generally speaking, however, I must say that the native judges are an able and intelligent set of men. The fault lies not so much with them as with the system, and in the want of efficient superintendence. The mode of promoting at a late period of service to the office of civil and sessions judge has been seen, and it would be strange indeed if the judges were well fitted for the duties required of them. Transferred to the superintendence of 538 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. a large judicial machinery, after having expended the best of their years and energies in other employments, it is hardly to be expected that they could well perform so diffi- cult a task. The Sudder Courts are generally composed of men much too old to commence an useful career. It is but very recently that the Lieutenant-Governor has perpetrated the innovation of putting some of the youngest and best judges into the Sudder. I do not attempt to go into particulars in regard to the Madras and Madras and Bombay civil courts. The re- Bombay courts, guiations for their guidance seem to be in the main the same with those for Bengal, with certain modifications on the right side ; but the fact is, that a great deal also depends on the spirit in which laws are construed and put in practice, and it appears that there has never been in those Presidencies so great a disposition to render the proceedings technical and complicated. At Madras, The Monro sys- hidced. Sir Thomas Monro at one time at- ^^^- tempted an entire change of system ; but, unfortunately, his plan seems to have for the most part failed from an error in the mode of executing it. He seems never to have properly appreciated the republican institutions of India. We have seen that he altogether dissolved the corporate communities, and dealt with indi- vidual cultivators through a head-man, the servant of Government. In the same way he failed sufficiently to revive the republican Puuchayet, or the system of voluntary reference to a jury named by the parties, which might well have been adopted under the superintendence of the courts ; but the heads of villages (32,000 in number) were invested with arbitrary power as unpaid judges in petty cases, and generally even without appeal. It turned out that this was not at all what the people wanted. The head-men might have been often selected as referees ; but the villagers were by no means inclined to submit to their Chap, XII. APPEALS TO PlllVY COUKCIL. 539 uncontrolled official jurisdiction, and so successfully op- posed the measure that it seems that the great majority of the head-men do not act judicially at all, and the project has in most instances fallen to the ground. The greater number of cases in Madras are, therefore, now tried by the same grades of judges and under nearly the same regulations as in Bengal, but with a considerable difference in practice ; and there is a much more summary mode of procedure in petty cases under twenty rupees. The Bombay code seems to make some provisions for judicial examination of parties, &c., which so far are an improvement on the Bengal system. One part of the Indian judicial system I have omitted to mention. For the more perfect administration of justice an appeal is provided in civil suits from the Sudder Courts to the Privy Council in England, a tribunal 1 1 •! /T» 1 1 Appeals to the so many tnousand miles oii, whose members Pnvy councu in must of course be wholly unacquainted with °^ the manners, laws, and language of the country from which the appeals come. Such a proceeding must be fearfully expensive and somewhat unsatisfactory, and it seems in- consistent to have transferred to India the whole legislative power, and yet left in England the judicial tribunal of last resort. But the most extraordinary part of the arrange- ment is to follow, and it is one of the most wonderful enactments ever heard of in any country. It was found that the parties, after having formally appealed, often neglected to prosecute their cases before so distant and expensive a tribunal, and the file of the Privy Council was encumbered by such cases ; it was therefore provided by law that, when the parties do not themselves take the necessary steps, tlie East India Company shall do so for both parties^ and at their own expense bring the cause to a hearing. Annexed are the comparative statistical statements of the operations of the civil courts. 540 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. 3 O O 00 u O ^ U2 -" c c bD o a o r-- ^H E a> cS -c i: OJ s o ^ S ,_, -a rt o 2i Hfl^ bo , 0) Cj t-t bi: w.S C3 TS S< .5 O -a t3"o-. tS £|2 0) a> CO 0) in _2J 03 3 1-3 — ^^ "•«)'* to «o to Tt CO ♦J cy Ci •S =^ B-^^ ^ ■* O t« 00 a .< o I ^ co" ^a'** ^ ■^ .£ CT> 00 w- . — . ^ o . -* ■* t^ 0> CO CO in s o Oi CT> • • CD 00 O (M (£5^ CO »n rH cS ^ o <>1 o « o r^-a 00 o> Tt< II -* 00 t^ 00 ■ • ^1 ,_r t^ OJ t^ ' ■ o» CO o> I~ (5 t i o «1 (M t^ in CO Tf »^ 3 o"? ■? ■5 in in CO o ' ' < ^ rl 05 o CO H . . a • o • T3 S ^3 a • o ■fcb a lO a to' >< o C3 S Lh © ^ O 3 O o:§ 60 n 0) cq to ^ o o 3 o :«< pd r- I— m O 1-1 -0 as . , 1 i Q 1 CO r- Tf in u S o o 1 § (M CO S 6^ !<-- b 3 >..2 o B 3 2 ►-5 fl S V3 ft '« '^ « -CI 6iO •a § > 3 00 CD t^_, q; i/i •^ CO -s ^t »-i Cfl •- s e CO "T CO cj C ■" C a; ™ £|- (D 00 «; o =^ is c tn C5 1 CO CO in CO g OJ < CO 00 (T> t^ ^^ s ^ <7i 05 CO Q c t3 C4- "^ K O i 0) iS ^ S 'S s o c CO CO 2 s a: o S CO CO o» OJ 5 *b^ 00 in t^ •" 01 Cd be [X4 5 c !e '^ o g U5 in 00 'a5 S * • CO in H e« »--. Z ^ H :^ S > » H • • • • • < B . « ^ , cr> . d . . (— J , 1—1 u ^1 to t1 0) 02 ^ a CQ H Chap. XII. STATISTICAL STATEMENTS. ;41 III.— Statement showing the Number of the Functionaries employed in the decision of original Civil Suits, and the average Number of Cases dis- posed of by each. Number of Functionaries. Average Number of Cases disposed of by each in the Year. Principal Sudder Aumeens. Sudder Aumeens. Mooiisiffs, and County Court Judges. Principal Sudder Aumeens. Sudder .\umeens. Moonsiffs. Bengal .... N. W. Provinces . Madras .... Bombay . . . England, County ] Courts . . .1 Not stated 16 20 6 19 35 14 101 98 66 eo 251 160 1,0.52 519 284 981 535 734 888 3,628 IV. — Average Duration of Causes in Bengal and N. W. Provinces for Five Years. Bengal ■ ■{ W. Provinces . \ Average Duration of each Cause tried in tlie Court of the Moonsiffs. 4 months and 4 days 2 months and 24 days Sudder Aumeens. 7 months and 19 days 2 months and 25 days Principal Sudder Aumeens. 10 months and 9 days 4 months and 8 days Judges. 1 year, 4 mo., and 11 days 7 months and 1 day Sudder Court. 10 months and 18 days 6 months and 3 days V. — Statement showing Value of Property claimed in Civil Suits in the different Presidencies, and in the English County Courts. Cases disposed of; — Bengal . . . . N. W. Provinces . Madras . . . . Plaints entered : — Bombay England, County Courts . NUMBER OF CAUSES. Under £1 £5 £10 £20 £30 £50 86,676 54,007 68,462 36,801 160,425 £l 42,191 169,256 6,517 37,543 10 6,839 3,659 25,272 £100 £2() Under 1,363 9,859 2,334 555 3,405 4,012 354 1,658 j 486 486 I No general return of su- perior Courts Above £100 Under £20to£50 £100 Above £100 Average Value of each Cause in Moonsiffs' and Countv Courts. £. s. d. 6 7 2 Not stated Not stated 3 4 542 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. VI. — CoMPABATiVE STATEMENT showing the different descriptions of Suits instituted in the year ] 849. N. W. Pro- vinces. Suits connected ■with land-rent and landed ) interests j Claims to real property other than land Claims to hold land free from Government 1 assessment J Suits to contest sales by collectors for arrears ) of Government dues J Debts on bond or otherwise Suits between bankers, traders, &c. . . . Eeligious suits connected -with caste, rights 1 of priests, &c J Breach of contract, embezzlement, wages, 1 &c / Suits coimected with indigo, sugar, silk, 1 and other staple products j Suits for personal property not included in 1 the above ( 20,498 2,4G1 84 332 10,133 5,082 13 23,929* 52,144 39,225 3,932 7,028 895 104 1,596 1,200 3,238 756 5,518 4,013 \ 48,391 * The Bombay statement gives the number of cases in which Zemeendars and Ryots were plaintiffs, which is here stated, but there is no other return. VII. — Comparative Statement showing Number and Result of Appeals for One Year. Number of Appealable Decisions. Number of Appeals Preferred. Number Confirmed. Number Reversed or Modified. Percentage of Appeals Preferred. Proportion per cent. Confirmed. Proportion per cent. Reversed or Modified. Bengal . . . 67,116 8,990 4,859 3,814 13 56 44 N. W. Provinces 50,928 8,057 4,602 2,446 16 65 35 Madras . Not stated 2,522 1,281 940 59 41 Bombay . . • ,, 5,212 3,322 2,156t •• 60 40 England, County 1 Courts . .; 2,436 5 3 1 0-2 75 25 t Decisions include some arrears. Chap. XII. STATISTICAL STATEMENTS. 543 From statement No. I. it appears that the number of causes tried in each presidency is much comparative sta- smaller than that disposed of in the EngHsh l^e^ts^ and^^l- county courts, and that it is considerably 'Auctions. larger (in proportion to population) in Madras and Bom- bay than in Bengal and the North- West Provinces. Statement No. II. shows the proportion of causes tried by the different grades of judges. The village Moonsiffs (or headmen) of Madras, although incomparably more numer- ous, decide little more than one-tenth the number of cases tried by the regular judicial officers, the district Moonsiffs. The latter decide much the greater proportion of the causes, or about four-fifths of the whole. It will be seen that the number of causes tried with the assistance of a jury or punchayet, is very small indeed. No. III. shows the number of judges of each grade, and the average number of causes decided by each individual. The Indian inferior judges seem on an average to decide but about one-fifth the number of causes tried in an Eng- lish county court. But when we remember the vastly more tedious mode of procedure, this discrepancy will not be surprising. Under the present system the Indian judges have full occupation. No. IV. shows how long causes tried by each court have on an average lasted, from the filing of the suit till it is decided or struck off. From No. V. it appears that, while the average amount sued for in each case before the English county courts is but 3l. 4s., the average in the loivest class of Indian courts is, for Bengal and the North-West Provinces, 61. and 7L 2^., and, allowing for the relative value of money, we may fairly estimate the Indian causes to be comparatively at least ten times as high — a result which shows that the mode of procedure altogether cuts off from justice the class of petty cases for which the county courts arc principally 544 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. useful. The same fact might be inferred from the great number of petitions daily presented to the magistrate re- garding petty matters in which he has no jurisdiction, by people who consider a reference to the civil courts altoge- ther a denial of justice, and who cannot understand that the magistrate, to whom they are accustomed to look up as their ruler, should not have an equitable jurisdiction. The exact average value of each case is not given for Madras and Bombay ; but in regard to Bombay at least we may infer, from the classification of causes, that it is very much less than in Bengal ; about six-sevenths of the whole number of causes being under 51., and considerably more than one-third under U. This is a much more favourable result. From No. VI. will be seen how large a number of causes having reference to land, and which might be so much better disposed of in the revenue courts, are litigated in the civil courts. It is lamentable to think that, after so much trouble and expense in making so perfect a settle- ment of the North-West Provinces, 10,133 litigious per- sons should (in one year) be allowed to reopen their cases before such tribunals as I have described. No. YII. shows the number of appeals and the result. A great many cases are appealed, and no wonder, for about 40 per cent, of the appeals are more or less suc- cessful. This is a strikingly unfavourable result, and law must indeed be a lottery under such circumstances. Either the inferior judges must be very bad indeed, or the law must be most unsettled and unsatisfactory. I believe that the native judges are far from wanting in acuteness, and that the result is principally due to the overstraining and over-refinement, which have rendered the law compli- cated and uncertain. From the civil courts of the Regulation Provinces as worked on the Cornwallis system, I am glad to be now Chap. XIL NON-REGULATION SYSTEM. 545 able to turn to the entirely opposite system adopted in our more recent acquisitions, the result of which Non-re^uiation is I think much more satisfactory. After system. a long trial of the working of the old courts, it may be supposed that the Government was little inclined to extend their operation, and the system was so radically vicious that there was no amending it except by altogether sweep- ing it away and commencing de novo. No Governor- General has yet had the courage or leisure to make this change in the provinces where the old system was already fully instituted, embodying as it did many old legal saws once popular in England. But of late years a system has been pursued in all new territories which I shall briefly notice. I refer more particularly to the courts existing in the territories administered by the Lahore board under the Governor-General. One most important feature of the system I have no- ticed in a former Chapter, the union of the office of civil judge with that of magistrate and collector, by which the antagonism and other evils flowing from the opposite system have been avoided, and the judge is enabled to avail himself of his revenue knowledge and revenue re- cords, and of his personal acquaintance with the people, while the simplicity of the proceedings and use of indi- genous aid render it possible for him to master the subject and superintend the proceedings without becoming exclu- sively a professional lawyer. The forms of procedure and rules of evidence are solely designed to get at the truth in the shortest and best way, according to the generally received modern principles. And the great reliance is on Punchayets, not independent of the court, but worked under its immediate supervision and control, in some respects like an English jury, although they decide many issues of law as well as of fact. The judge is rather superintendent of the administration of 2 N 546 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XII. justice than required to possess a technical knowledge of class law. Litigation is not encouraged in the first in- stance, but, when an aggrieved party comes into court and pays for a stamp proportioned to the value of his claim, speedy and cheap justice is rendered to him whether the amount be small or great. A very brief and simple code of procedure, entitled " Rules for the Ad- ministration of Civil Justice in the Punjab and Cis-Sutlej Province," has been promulgated under the authority of the Governor-General. Perhaps I shall best describe the system by the follow- ing extracts from a statement of the mode adopted by me in the district of Loodianah, which I had occasion to draw up shortly before leaving India. I have unfortunately no figured statistics of the Punjab courts. My object lias been to obtain substantial justice in the simplest Note on the ad- and easiest way, its course being unimpeded ^^r^Justk" i'n hy artificial forms, embarrassments, and delays. the Punjab. This principle seems to be that at which Govern- ment and modern opinion aim, and to obtain which our " Rules " are, I think, in the main very well fitted. Still I by no means hold that it is expedient to provide cheap and easy litigation for the million and to encourage resort to the courts — far from it : but I think that whatever impediment it is desirable to throw in the way (as an inducement to suitors to settle with their adver- saries while they are in the way with them) should be a direct tax levied from the litigant (to be applied towards defraying the expense of courts of justice) and not in the shape of various expenses, delays, and useless forms of procedure, injurious rather to the honest than to the dishonest, and tending in no way to fill the coffers from which the judicial establishments are supported. I believe that there can be no greater evil than a too frequent resort to the courts, and that the direct tax should be heavy, but in proportion to value and small for small claims. Our object Chap. XII. CIVIL JUSTICE IN THE PUNJAB. 547 should be, not to supersede the internal institutions of the coun- try and the people which have long (under the influence of pres- sure from without) sufficed to keep alive the framework of society in the absence of all law, but rather to hold out our courts as a last resort, a reference to which is in some degree expensive (as judicial establishments must be expensive), but which, the sacrifice being in extreme cases made, secures to the party in the right speedy and effectual justice. There is one distinction which has not been drawn in our courts, and which is, I believe, customary and necessary. It is between regular suits to ascertain rights and summary processes for possession of undisputed rights. At present the landlord of a house cannot eject or distrain a defaulting tenant except by bring- ing against him a regular suit for the value of the house or amount of rent claimed, nor can notice of legal process of any kind be served but in the same way. I am not prepared to specify particulars, but some classification of actions is desirable. There should also be some rule as to the form and limits within which counter claims as offsets are admitted, as is, I believe, the case in the summary courts in England. Prompt and substantial justice is to be attained, first, by availing ourselves without scruple of the best evidence in the best way ; second, by excluding as much as possible the opportunity of pro- fessional chicanery in matters of fact ; and thirdly and chiefly, by using the court principally as an instrument for enforcing the in- ternal institution of Punchayet or arbitration. I would always, when possible, resort to this last mode of decision. Where evi- dence must be taken by the court, I would go into it very much in the same way as in a case of theft — avail myself of every means of discovering the truth, whether suggested by the parties or not, and come to the best possible decision on the merits, unrestricted by a formal code of procedure. We have no statutory system of civil law, but profess to admi- nister to every man his own law. It may be supposed that no man professes a technical acquaintance with all laws, and in prac- tice the judge is not supposed to have, nor in fact possesses, a minute knowledge of any national or municipal law. His duty is merely to superintend and enforce the decision of cases between man and man by the light of the laws and by means of the instru- ments which he finds indigenous to the country. The indigenous 2 N 2 548 MODEEN INDIA. Chap. XII. civil laws are so imperfect, and there are so many cases in which the decision of law must be arbitrary, that it may seem wonderful that such a system should succeed, and in fact there is a consider- able want of uniformity and certainty in the decisions of the courts ; but in practice we find, first, that where neither equity nor the custom of the country afford grounds for a decision, the result may be uncertain, but cannot be called unjust, for, if such cases were decided by lot, it could hardly be injustice ; and secondly, that the number of such cases is few, since the great majority of cases may be decided by one of three laws : — 1st. The law of equity, which is the same all over the world, and has fixed the mode of deciding the commonest of the transac- tions of life. 2nd. The commercial and general custom of Hindoostan. By this custom (assuming in most common civil transactions the form of an unwritten law) most matters of bargain and sale, insurance, securities, &c., are determined among all the inhabitants, without reference to caste or religion. 3rd. The class law of each sect, race, and even subdivison, by which questions of inheritance, marriage, &c., are decided. In regard to the second of these laws it may be observed that foreigners may fairly be expected in such matters to submit to the custom of the country ; and of the third it may be noticed that the institution of caste, by preventing any intermixture of classes, also prevents the clashing of different class laws. The Mahommedans have both a system of law and a sort of professional expounders of the law ; but a reference to the original religious law would in many cases cause error, for it has never had unrestricted operation in India. We know that the rescripts of the Emperors largely interfered with the regular law of the Moolavees, probably to as great an extent as does equity with the common law of England. I know not whether the rules of Mussulman civil law thus modified, as they were administered under the Emperors, are anywhere to be found, but I imagine that they are not now practically available, and that, in all those trans- actions in which Mussulmans are mixed up with the community at large, the Mussulman law must be considered as superseded by the customs of the country. Their class law is thus, like that of other classes, for the most part confined to class matters. The Hindoos have neither a uniform system of law nor regular ex- Chap. XII. CIVIL JUSTICE IN THE PUNJAB. 549 pounders of law ; the custom of the country may for the most part be considered Hindoo, but it is not to be looked for in Menu. In matters of inheritance, marriage, &c., there can hardly be said to be any general law ; every caste and subdivision differs in this respect ; we cannot therefore decide by a reference to books and pundits ; but the custom of the tribes is generally well known, and a case is decided by a jury of the brethren of that tribe. Such being our laws, we come to the mode of administering them. And first for questions of fact. Distinct issues of fact are best tried by juries,* but it is well (unless a voluntary reference to arbitration is agreed upon in the first instance) first to confront the parties and to try by cross-examination to bring the issues within as narrow limits as possible. If the judge is fully satisfied, it is useless to go further ; if it becomes necessary to go on, the issue must be put in clear and distinct form. Discretion must be used as to hearing evidence in court, or referring the case at once to a jury, according to the nature of the issue and the greater probability of a speedy decision. In the majority of cases the issues of law and fact may most conveniently go together to the jury. Of the three kinds of law which I have specified above, the judge will generally decide on the first (equity) himself, and leave the two others (custom and class law) to a jury. Where the two latter do not apply and the equity is not clear, he will generally leave the decision to a jury, inasmuch as they are less likely to decide contrary to general feeling than a foreigner is. The judge's duties are then shortly, first, to ascertain the issues to be decided ; second, to decide all clear questions of equity and some questions of fact ; third, to superintend the nomination and working of a jury. The parties are required to consent to the reference of a cause to a jury, and will generally do so voluntarily or under the influence of the judge. If either refuse, the fact cannot be taken as positively conclusive against the party refusing; but in the absence of sufficient reason assigned, it may fairly weigh in the mind of the judge as establishing a strong presumption against one who distrusts the judgment of his peers. A general jury will decide doubtful questions of equity and all questions of general custom. A special class jury will decide all questions of class law, but * I use this word al present generally for a certain number of peers, how- ever brought together. 550 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XIL in the particular case of Mussulman class law a reference may often be made to Maliommedan lawyers rather than to a jury. I have used the word jury because I know no better terra, but the Indian jury differs much from the English, inasmuch as it is generally nominated by the parties and does not often consist of more than four or five members, and the evidence is not necessarily heard in court, but is sometimes referred to the private examina- tion of the jury. The common practice is that each party nominates two arbitra- tors, and the four may, if necessary, choose a fifth as foreman. But we generally expect, and it is desirable to obtain, unanimity of opinion. In fact it may be said that for a final decision by a jury it is the rule to require unanimity. When the nominees of each party take different sides and cannot agree, the judge must hear the arguments and decide as he best can : to leave it to a majority is a last resource. It is wonderful how seldom this diffi- culty occurs, and how generally the juries, under the influence of a little pressure and control, agree as to the verdict. It may (but should seldom) happen that the parties will not or cannot agree in the nomination of jurymen, and that there are questions of law or account which cannot be otherwise determined. In this case it may be necessary to call together a jury at discretion, but they must rather be considered as assessors whose opinion is to be asked than as invested with plenary powers. The jurymen seem generally to perform their part wonderfully well ; in fact the institution is one of the most marked in the customs of the country, and they have for good conduct the strongest of all sanctions — that of public opinion. Nevertheless they are often accused, and are probably sometimes guilty, of corruption, for the temptation of which the course of procedure admits is great ; yet I believe the amount of corruption to be surprisingly small, and hope that, as our procedure is improved, the opportunities of corruption will be diminished. I am strongly of opinion that it is necessary, if this institution is to be supported, to compel litigious parties to agree to arbitration, to compel the nominees to serve on a jury, and to use strong measures to compel a jury to come to a decision. It is not to be urged on the other side that the institution is in its nature voluntary, for I have set out by premising that our object is to keep the great majority of cases out of court. The court is the last resort when one or both par- Chap. XII. CIVIL JUSTICE IN THE PUNJAB. 55 1 ties are fraudulent or litigious. The object is to enforce what ought to be voluntary, and for this end compulsion must be used or nothing is gained. When it is decided to refer a case to a jury, the parties are required to name jurymen on the spot, objections are heard viva voce and determined. A plan I have often found to succeed is to make each party name six names, and of these the opposite party selects two. It is then, according to the nature of the case, determined whether to refer to the jury in their own village or to summon them to court. In either case a written paper specifying the issues is given to them, and they return a written reply with their signatures attached. If they disagree they are told that they must keep together till they agree, and it is only in rare and extreme cases that it is necessary to dismiss them. When the decision is given in, the judge first satisfies himself that it contains nothing extravagant or unreasonable, and that it decides the dis- puted issues. The parties are then permitted to urge anything as to the fairness of the mode of decision (not of its merits), and, there appearing no cause for rejecting the decision, it is accepted and the case is finally disposed of, I have alluded to the desirableness of excluding as much as possible professional chicanery. It may be assumed that we have no respectable profession of the law, and that in India to be a professional lawyer is generally to be a professional rogue. The worst results must therefore follow when a man is allowed to hire one of these rogues to lie and manage for him. It is impossible to prevent those who will from consulting out of court whom they will ; but if little encouragement is given to the class, it will not much extend itself ; and as the principles on which I would proceed, and which are designed by our rules, aim principally at confront- ing the parties and drawing as much of the truth as possible from their own mouths, professional assistance shoidd not be permitted in the first instance, and is in most cases in no way required. If a case is protracted and a party is absent or incompetent, the judge must use his discretion in admitting a proper person to act for him, and a relation or a servant should be preferred to a pro- fessional man. 552 MODERN INDIA. Chap. XIL Upon these principles I have for five years super- intended the administration of civil justice in a large dis- Experience in ^I'^^t (ill addition to cxecutivc duties), and nt^^on **oriw- ^I'lve watched its effect both in my own court ties, &c. Qj^^ jj-^ f;hose of my assistants, European and native ; and the conclusion to which I have come has been altogether favourable to the system. I do not propose at present to enter farther into the questions involved. But in regard to one point which now creates great interest in this country, the examination of the parties, I must say that experience has more and more confirmed my opinion of the immense advantage of such a course. I have always found that much is elicited and explained, and that many apparent contradictions are accounted for. I have often commenced with stories utterly opposed to one an- other, and piece by piece reduced the issues of fact to a mere shadow. I think that contradictions are quite as often the result of unreflecting eagerness as of deliberately concerted perjury ; and that it is a mistake to suppose, that, because plaintiff and defendant come into the box and contradict one another, one of the two is of necessity wil- fully perjured. Much may be done by judicious sifting and skilfully drawing the witness towards the ^probable truth. AVitnesses are always in such cases much more easily led than driven. It strikes me that the end desired is by no means so well attained by the hostile and tedious cross-examination by opposing counsel (which has lately wasted so much of the time of the courts, and generally leaves the contradictions as glaring as ever), as it would be by a little brief and friendly examination on the really important points by the judge. When the plaintiff goes into the box, his own counsel, who has the story in its largest characters in his brief, merely applies himself to bring it all out with full effect ; the defendant's counsel treats the witness and is treated as altogether hostile ; beats about Chap. XII. EXAMINATION OF PARTIES, ETC. 553 to induce him to contradict himself, bullies him, and ends by making him more obstinate than before. And in this way it seems that much of the good expected from the measure is frustrated. Whereas, if the examination of the parties were, as in India, principally judicial — the judge examining on really relevant points, obtaining answers willing, and not too willing, and exercising his discretion as to questions which each party desires to put — much more truth would be obtained in a very much shorter time. That I believe would be the happy medium between the exclusion of the parties on the one hand, and the pro- motion of perjury on the other. I must however say that I greatly doubt the expe- diency of administering oaths to the parties, and have not been in the habit of doing so except when one party has agreed to be finally bound by the statement on oath of the other. The object is rather to have an opportunity of obtaining the facts by cross-examination than to compel a discovery by a religious sanction. I would by all means retain the punishment of false testimony in this world ; because that follows speedily, and can in no case be more appropriately awarded than to fraudulent plaintiffs or de- fendants ; but I would dispense with the religious ceremony, because experience shows that it does not suiRce to bring out the truth when there is so strong a temptation to false- hood, and, the punishment not being immediate, it is dan- gerous to accustom people to see oaths frequently set at defiance with impunity. If the parties were examined without an oath, but subject to the temporal punishment of perjury if proved to be false, as much truth would be obtained, and there would be less scandal to religion. 2 o INDEX. Aborigines, their position, character, &c., 1, 37, 56— their conduct, 132, 140. Acts of Parliament regulating the In- dian Government, 173-5, 186 — re- quirements of the last Act and their execution, 187. of the Indian Government, 186. Adoptions by native Princes, 139, 145, 170. Affrays, 501. Affghanistan, immigrations and inva- sions from, 13. 121, 123 — a Eajpoot governor of, 18 — geographical con- nection "with India, 27 — character, personal and political, of races inha- biting, 58, 148 — change of dynasty in, 129 — the British expedition to, 134 — cost of the expedition to, 415. Agra. See North-Western Provinces. Agriculture, native, 64, 205 — the several classes following, 42 — soil, crops, and products, 28, 29, 33. Akber, liis possessions, 16 — his charac- ter and policy, 17 — his revenue sys- tem, 99, 105. Alexander finds republican peoples in India, 8. Amherst, Lord, his financial extrava- gance, 414. Appeals in criminal cases, 477, 497, 512— in civil cases, 528, 542, 544— to Privy Council, 539. Arabs, conquest of Scinde and retire- ment from India, 13. Arson, 508. Arts and artisans, 54, 64, 207. Auckland, Lord, his administration, 134, 193. Aurangzebe completes the Mogul Em- pire, 17 — his character and policy, 18 — retreats before Marattas, 22. B. Beloches, their position and character, 58. Benares, acquisition of, 123. Bengal, Hindoo colonisation of, 8, 11 — geographical position of, 27 — the people of, 39, 43, 57, 457 — under the Mahommedans, 14, 16, 80, 101 — condition in which we found it, 120, 132 — origin of Nawabs of, 120 — es- tablishment of British influence in. 120 — granted to the Company, 122 — eai'ly administration of, 176, 180 — Government of, 222, 227 — Deputy Governor of, 224 — executive of, 249, 274-5 — perpetual settlement of, 304 — present revenue manage- ment, landed tenures, &c., 312 to 321 — revenues other than laud, 380, 393, 395, 397, 398 — revenues and charges, 423, 424, 428, 435, 437— police sys- tem, 442, 457— crime in, 490, 498, 503, 507 — ^judicial system (criminal), 472, 494, 510 — judicial system (civil), 526, 540. Bentinck, Lord W., his political ma- nagement, 133 — his civil administra- tion and impi-ovements, 184, 192 — puts in train the settlement of the Ts^ W. Provinces, 324 — his successful finan- cial management, 414. Bird, R. M., makes the settlement of N. W. Provinces, 324. Boards of revenue, 236. military, 238. of the Punjab, 252. Bombay, Hindoo colonisation of terri- tories, 11, 40 — former Government, tenures, &c., 81, 95, 363, 371— acqui- sition of territories composing. 127, 131, 144— Governors of, 199, 225— Government of, 226, 229 — execu- tive of, 239, 243, 24.5, 246 — land revenue system, 365 to 374 — extra- vagant alienation of revenues, 370 — sources of revenue other than land — see Salt, Opium, &c. — revenues and charges, 423, 425, 435 — financial po- sition and deterioration, 373, 428,429, 438— police, 459, 506— crime, 492, 505 — criminal courts, 494, 510 — civil courts, 539. Bramins, origin and early state of, 3, 4 — colonisation of Bengal and the south, 8 — modern position, character, &c., 40. British, first settlement in India, 23 — INDEX. 555 possessions a.d. 1720, 115 — posses- sions A.D. 1785, 124 — Government becomes supreme in India within the desert, 132 — becomes supreme in all India, 148 — political obligations of, 151. Burglary, 110,470, 507. Burniah, position in reference to India, 27, 133. Business, mode of conducting, 256. Canals. See Irrigation. Capital, native and European, in India, 68, 203. Canoongoes of the Moguls, 79 — in the N. W'. Provinces, 306. Caruatic, origin of Nawabs of, 119 — British power established in, 120, 126. Cashmere, inhabitants of, 39. Castes, system of, 2, 68. Central India, acquisition of supi-emacy over, 131. Centralisation of the Moguls, 77— of the British Government, 254, 281 — in the Army, 518. Changes, constant, of European officers, 280— of native officers, 298. Charges, particulars of Indian, 422, 427. Civil departments, cost of, 427, 429, 437. justice system in Hastings' time, 177. justice. Regulation system, 526 — want of equitable jurisdiction, 530 — evils of the system, 536 — system Madras and Bombay, 538 — statistical statements regarding, 540 — system in non- Regulation Provinces, 545. • service, origin and progress of, 173, 175, 178, 182 — appointments to, 264 — number and distribution of, 268, 273. i servants, education and tests of qualification, 264, 267 — dis-educatiou of, 269 — official apprenticeship and result, 270, 272— promotion of, 274 — employments of, 275-7 — average periods of service, 278 — rules relat- ing to leave, furlough, &c., 279 — qualifications and character of, 281 — salaries of, 282 — pensions of, 284 — honours bestowed on, 284 — com- parison in regard to remuneration, 285. Civilisation, early Asiatic, 1 — Hindoo, 6. Climate of India, 28, 30. Clive, his administration, 173 — his financial management, 410. Collector, duties of, 240, 318, 330. College of Haileybury, 182, 264. of Calcutta, 182, 268. Commerce, revolution in Indian, 207. great freedom of, 189 — rem- nant of protection, 386. Commissariat, duties of performed by collectors, 241, Commissioners of revenue and police, 237. Commitments for trial, 450. Conspiracy, 487. Contingents, explanation of, 132 — par- ticulars of, 152 — transformation into regular troops, 162. Cornwallis, Marquis of, his administra- tion, 179 — his revenue system, 303 — his financial management, 412 — his judicial system, 528. Corruption, degree of, in Government servants, 282, 293, 297. Cotton, production and supply of, 33, 206— thread, 207. Counsel allowed to prisoners, 473. Counsellors, particulars regarding, 217, 227. Covenanted and uncovenanted servants, distinction of, 234. Crime, amount and character of, found by us, 107, 441 — facilities for, and native means of suppressing, 108 — classification of, 467 — statistical state- ments of, 491. Criminal system, result of, 488, 497, 519. courts, statistics of, 494, 510. code. See Law Commission. Customs- revenue, particulars regarding, 385 — cause of diminution of, 436. D. Dacoitee, 109, 461, 469, 502. Dalhousie, Marquis of, his political ad- ministration, 144 — his civil adminis- tration, 198. Debts of the government, 417. of native princes, 170. Diccan. See ' Southern India,' * Ma- dras,' and ' Nizam.' Democratic tribes, absence of, in Menu's time, 5 — their origin, character, and settlement in India, 8, 11.38 — their present position, occupations, institu- tions, &c., 44 — their affinity to the Germans, 52 — the constitution of their villages, 85, 338, 350. Departments, chief superintendence of, 236. Desert, great, dividing India, 26 — cause of formation of, 28. Districts, division of country into, ave- rage size of, S.'C., 238, 251, 442. 2 O 2 556 MODERN INDIA. Divisions, geogi-aphical, 27 — national, 38 — interior of the people, 40 — admi- nistrative, 237. Division of labour, 6, 68, 108. E. Ecclesiastical establishments of govei-n- ment, 208. Education, degree of, found in India, 60 — promotion of, by British govern- ment, 185, 189, 198, 238— by the missionaries, 210. Ellenborough, Lord, his political admi- nistration, 136 — his character and civil administration, 194. Elphinstone, Hon. M., his History, preface (vii.) — his views regarding the Rajpoots, 51 — his government of Bombay, 183 — his views on the sub- ject of land revenue, 3G5. Europeans in India, freed from all re- strictions, 186 — exempt from the con- trol of the courts and the laws, 187, 466 — their progress and position in India, 203 — employed in uncove- nanted service, 290. Evidence, Mahommedan laws of, 110 — British-Indian rules of, 480, 520, 531, 547 — derived from examination of the accused, 481 — to character, 483 — of parties to civil suits, 549, 552. Exchange, rate at which calculated, preface (viii.), 418. Excise revenue, particulars regarding, 393. Executive, administration of British possessions, 238 — of salt, opium, and customs departments, 250. Expenditure, checks upon, 255. F. Falsehood, degree of, found by us, 62, 484 — degree of, under our system, 484. Famine of 1837-8, 331. Famines, liability to, 28 — of recent occurrence, 36, 331. Fees, abolition and entire absence of, 184, 282, 292, 296. Ferry fund, 399. Finance of the Moguls, 20, 406 — history of British-Indian, 410 — present, of the British-Indian government, 406, 417, 420, 439— of each Presidency, 423, 428 — comparison of 1835-6 and 1849-50, 431— of the Punjab, 426— of India beyond the desert, 431. Fines, revenue derived from, by native governments, 106, 111 — by British government, 397, 512, Food, staple, 32. Forgery, 509,*536. Freedom, great personal, of the natives, 259, 441, 520. French, their rise and fall in India, 115. G. Gardening classes, 44. Germans, comparison of ancient, with Indian tribes, 52. Gentleman, absence of the distinction of, 63. Geography of India, 25. Goolab Sing, his origin, 141 — his prin- cipality, 143, 154. Government, ancient Hindoo system, 7 — system of the democratic tribes, 9 — Mogul system, 75 — Maratta and Sikh systems,- 81 — early British systems, 172, 175. of India {see Supreme) . , weak yielding of rights of, 307, 31V, 372, 4(18 — bad name un- justly attached to, preface (vi.), 411 — character of, 259 — offices in con- nection with, 236 — classes employed in administration of, 263. Governments, subordinate, their consti- tution, powers, duties, &c., 221 — British territories under each, 230 — native states in charge of each, 152 — comparison of cost of different, 232, 429. Governor-General, powers of, 212 — selection of, 216 — constant absence from head-quarters, 218. Governors, Mahommedan provincial, 77. , Deputy and Lieutenant-Go- vernors, past, 199, 224 — pi'esent func- tions, &c. &c., 222, 224 — salaries of, 283. Guickwar, origin of, 118— subsidised, 127 — territories of, 158. Gwalior. See Scindia. Gypsy races, 56, 471. H. Haileybury. See College, Hastings, Marquis of, his political admi- nistration, 130 — his civil administra- tion, 183 — his financial management, 413. , Warren, his administration, 173, 175— his financial management, 410. INDEX. 557 Hardinge, Lord, his political adminis- tration, 140 — his civil administration, 197. Hereditary offices, 372, 458, 460. Hinimalayas, geography of, 27 — absence of aborigines in, 38 — inhabitants of, 39. Hindoos, early state of, 1, 3 — influence on character of their conquerors, G, 202 — conquest of Southern India, 7 — Northern races appear among, amal- gamate with, and rule over, 8, 10, 12 — conquered by the Mahomraedans, 14 — position under the Moguls, 17, 18 — rise of new Hindoo nations, 21, 24, 113 — religion of, 71 — character of those employed by British govern- ment, 29 1 . Hindostanee people and language, 38. Holkar, origin of, 118 — war and settle- ment with, 127, 128. Homicides, classification of, 468 — sta- tistics of, 498. I. Infanticide, 499. Invasion, natural fence against, 27. Inspectors of police, 443. Irrigation, works for, 29, 191, 336, 362, 430. J. Jats, probable origin, 9, 45, 52 — par- ticulars regarding, 22, 49, 51, 86, 338— of Bhurtpore, 118, 128, 133. Judges, civil and sessions, mode of pro- motion to office of, 278 — character of, 479 — criminal functions of, 250, 454, 472, 477 — civil functions of, 52'i, 549 — subordinate, 459, 476 — native, 289, 527, 537— of the Sudder, see Sudder court. Judicial system of the Mahommedans, 111 — of the British Indian Govern- ment, 237, 249 — in criminal matters, 450, 472, 510— in civil suits, 528, 545 — statistics of, 494, 540 — stamps used in proceedings, 475, 530. Jury, in criminal cases, 473— in civil cases, 543, 549. Justice. See ' Civil,' ' Criminal,' ' Ju- dicial.' K. Kaits, or the writer caste, 54. Khatrees, early history, 3, 4— modern, 53. Koormecs, an agricultural tribe, 50. L. Laud revenue, early Hindoo system, 2, 5 — Akber's system, 98 — systems found by us, 95, 101 — choice of sys- tems open to us, 301 — Bengal sys- tem, 304, 312 to 321 — system in N.W. Provinces, 311, 321 to 338— Punjab system, 338 to 349 — Madras system, 308, 311,349 to 363— Bom- bay system, 363 to 375 — General statement, 376 — cost of collection, &c., 320, 338, 363, 370, 436. Landed tenures existing previous to our rule, 5, 83 to 95, 309, 338, 363— created by us, 304, 314, 324, 354, 368 — sale of, for arrears of revenue, 303, 305, 313, 319, 337, 345, 369— saleand alienation of by the civil courts, 324, 346, 532. Languages, want of comparison of In- dian, 7 — different now existing, 38, 40 — used in the courts, 257 — acquaint- ance of public officers with, 270. Lapses, right of succession to, 169. Law Commission, appointment of, 186 — results thereof, 187 — its constitu- tion, &c., 220 — criminal code of, 521. Laws found by us, 106, 110, 548 — made by us, 259, 464, 529. Litigiousness, degree of, found, 61 — degree of, created, 536. Local taxes and revenues, 399, 402. Low classes, 55. M. Mackenzie, Rt. Hon. H., devises an im- proved reverue system, 183, 323. Madras, Hindoo colonisation of terri- tories, 11, 40, 350 — former govern- ment, tenures, &c., 14, 76, 95, 310— acquisition of territories composing, 123, 125, 126— Governors of, 199, 225 — Government of, 226, 229 — execu- tive of, 239, 243, 245 — revenue sys- tem, 349, 383, 387, 395— finance of, 425, 429, 438— magnitude of army, 429,438 — police, 458 — crime, 492, 504, 506 — criminal courts, 510 — civil courts, 538. Magistrate, duties of, 240, 249, 450— • deputy, 455 — judicial duties of, 476, 511. Magistrate and collector, union of offices, 185 — object of union, 239 — his assist- ants, 242 — subordinate establish- ments, 244 — his manner of life and business, 246. Mahomniedan-race and cliaracter of con- querors of India, 12 — formation of population in India, 19— character of their government, 20 — origin of pre- 558 MODEKN INDIA. sent native states, 113 ^ — foreign powers, 114, 129. Maliommedaus, character, &c., of native, 56 — their religion, 73 — their hiws, &c., 100-548 — class of, employed by us, 291. Malik Amber, a great financier of the south, his revenue system, 82, 364. Manufactures. See Arts. Marattas, composition of, 11 — first po- litical appearance, 15 — rise to power, 21, 114, 118 — system of government, 81 — repulsed by Ahmed Shah, 121 — our struggle with them, 126, 130 — outbreak in southern states, 1 40. Meerassadars, origin of, 11, 350 — posi- tion of in Madras, 355 — in Bombay, 368. Menu, character of his writings, 4. Mercantile classes, 52. Metcalfe, Sir Charles, his administra- tion, 193. Military charges, magnitude and in- crease of, 427, 429, 437— fund for in India beyond desert, 431. officers employed in civil du- ties, 181, 287. Miscellaneous revenues, 399. Missionaries, position and progress of, 208. Mogul emperors, 4, 17,24 — conciliatory policy of, 18 — revenue and riches of, 20 — system of government, 76 — name of ceases to be used, 132. Moolraj, Dewan, chai acter and conduct of, 146. Monro, Sir Thomas, Governor of Ma- dras, 183 — his views on land revenue, 351 — his judicial system, 538. Moral sense of natives, 63. Moturpha, revenue at Madras, 396. Municipal constitutions attempted in towns, 201. Murder. See Homicides. Mysore, acquisition of, 125 — establish- ^ment of Kajas of, 125 — management of assumed, 133— statistics of, 154. N. Nadir Shah, his invasion of India, 119. Nagpore, origin of Kajas of, 118 — war with and settlement of, 131 — statistics of, 1.53. Napier, Sir C, his character and con- quest of Scinde, 137 — his government of Scinde, 194. Native Princes and states, position and character of, 149, 103, 407 — tabular statement of, 152 — interfer- ence in internal affairs of, 166 — debts of, 170. Natives, their personal characteristics, 59 — their social habits and institu- tions, 66 — their political institutions, 75 — their employment by the British Government, 177, 182, 184, 291. Nepal, origin of Rajas of, 121 — progress of the Goorkahs, 129 — war with and acquisitions from, 130 — our present relations with, 100. Nizams of the Deccan, origin of, 116 — subsidised, 125 — contingent of, 162 — debts of, 1 7 1— statistics of territory, 1 52. Nomad races, their early presence in India and colonisation of the South, 8 — their present position, 43. Non-Eegulation Provinces, 183, 233, 250, 545. North-Western Provinces, geographical situation of, 27 — soil, climate, and products, 28, 32 — races inhabiting, 4, 10, 38, 40, 44 — former government of, 76 — acquisition of territories com- posing, 120, 128 — placed under a sepa- rate lieutenant-governor, 187 — Mr. Thomason's administration of, 200 — Government of, 228— executive of, 239 — revenue system of, 321, 381, 386 — finance of, 423, 435 — police, J442, 446, 456— crime, 490, 503, 505 —Criminal Courts, 472, 494, 510— Civil Courts, 526, 540. O. Oaths, judicial, 486, 553, Oinlah, character and influence of, 294, 297. Opium, production of, 34. revenue, particulars regarding. 388 — financially considered, 416, 428, 439. Oude, origin of Kings of, 117 — sub- sidiary alliance with, 122, 126 — title of King assumed, 132 — financial po- sition, 408 — statistics of, 152. P. Paupers, support of, 66. Patriotism, want of, 62. Perjury, 485, 486, 509, 53.^.. Peshwahs, origin and progress of, 118 — subsidised, 127 — assumption of ter- ritory of, 131. Pindarees, war with, 130. Pleaders and attorneys, 535, 551. Police, native system, 77, 440 — cha- racter of our system, 441 — village, 443— district in Bengal and N.-W. Provinces, 442, 448, 456 — progress of a case till trial. 459 — Madras, 458 — Bomb.iy, 459 — Thuggee and Dacoitee, 460 — Summary of results, 509 — in Punjab, 513 --Commissioners and Superintendent of, 237, 238. INDEX. >59 Political pensions, 150 — other obliga- tions, 151 — relations with native states, 160— Receipts and disburse- ments, 163 — present management, 165 — officers, 165 — system, general effect of, 169 — crimes, absence of, 472. Population, increase and checks, 35 — of native states, 159 — of British pos- sessions, 231 — of N.-W. Provinces, 232, 334. Post-office, receipts and disbursements of, 39S. Potails, 84, 355, 476, 510, 543. Portuguese, their power in India and decline, 15. Press freed and the result, 193, 520, note — position of public officers in regard to, 258. Prisons, 238, 478. Products, 31, 205 — statistical return of, 335, 336. Prosecutions, 448, 451, 472. Publicity, prohibition of official, 257. Public works, progress of, 191, 428. Pnnchayet, system of trial by. 111, 545. Punishments, 110, 477, 490, 496 — capital, 511. Punjab, Hindoo occupation of, 1 — in Alexander's time, 8 — geographical position of, 27 — inhabitants of, 38, 49, 56 — former Government, tenures, &c., 76, 82, 86 — annexed to Affghanistan, 121 — overrun by Sikhs, 12S — annexed to British India, 147 — statistics of, 230 — administration of, 251 — revenue, management of, 338, 383 — finance of, 423, 426, 430 — crime and police in, 513 — system of civil justice, 546. K. Kajpoots, early history of, 8, 12, 51 — favour shown to them by the Moguls, 18 — many are converted, 19— their present position and character, 47, 331 — territories ruled by, 156. Railroad, suggestion for a, 516. Rain, distribution of, 28. Ranjeet Sing, his rise and character, 129, 133. Rebellion, domestic, entire absence of, 200. Registration of landed rights, absence of, in Bengal, .305, 314— of landed rights in North-West Provinces, 327. of deeds, 534. Regulations published by Warren Hast- ings, 176 — by Lord Cornwallis, 181 — by Mr. Elphinstone, for Bombay, 184. Religion of the Hindoos, 70 — of the Sikhs, 72- of the Portuguese, 72 — of the Mahommedans, 73 — endowments for, 74 — conduct of British in regard to, 208. Rents, system of paying in kind, 300 — commutation into money, 310 — com- mon rates in North-West Provinces, 336. Rent free and resumptions. See Re- venue. Revenue, assignments and alienations of, 80, 306, 371, 419— resumptions of. 316, 329, 343, 362.. system, comparison of, with other times and countries, 402 — estimate of gross, for all India, 409 — general statement of British Indian, 420, 426. Revenues and charges, for 15 years, 419 —for 1849-50, 420. Rivers, navigation of, 34, 191. , ferries and bridges of boats over, 399. Roads, state in which we found, 34 — construction of, 191 — local funds for, 400 — tolls on, 402 — robberies on, 505, 515 — necessity of, between Hindostan and the Punjab, 516. Rohillas, origin of, 117. Ryotwar system of management, its origin and nature, 309 — particulars of, at Madras, 353 — results of system, 359 — new system, Bombay, 368. Salt tax, levied by the Moguls, 105 — particulars regarding, 378 — general statement of receipts, 384. Sanscrit, study of, 265. Sattara, establishment of Rajas of, 131 — kpse of, 144. Scindia, origin and history of, 118, 127 • — vacancy in chiefship and recent arrangements, 139 — territories of, 1 .53. Scinde, geographical position of, 28 — modern history of, 129 — its annexa- tion, 137— nature of tlie country, 138 — the civil administration, 195 — cost of the conquest. 416 — revenues and charges of, 423, 429. 438. Secretariat, particulars of, 234. Self-government on a large scale, im- practicability of, 260. Servants, inferior, of government, par- ticulars regarding, 293. Settlement officers, 242. Sevajee, origin, character and successes, 21, 364. Shir Klian, his reign and character, 15, Sikhs, origin of, 15 — assume military character, 22 — locality and political constitution, 50 — religion of, 72 — 560 MODERN INDIA. system of government, 82— progress of, 128 — commencement of our rela- tions with, 129 — events leading to war with, 141 — first war and consequent arrangements, 143 — second war and conquest of, 145 — low caste, refused military service, 518. Sinecures, &c., entire absence of, 259. Slavery, 70, 187, 188. Smuggling. 509. Soodras, origin of this class, 2— coloni- sation of Bengal, 11 — merged in a great variety of castes, 68. Southern India, early inhabitants of, 7 — present population of, 40. See also Madras. Stamps, revenue derived from, .397. Statistics of British Possessions in India, 230— of Native States, 152— of N.W. Provinces, 334 — of land revenue, 377 — financial, 420, 433— of crime and criminal courts, 490— of civil justice, 540. Subsidiary system, explanation of, 132 — obligations, 151. Sudder Courts, 237. 538. Sugar, production of, 33, 205. Summary Kevenue Courts, 318, 333, 347. Supreme Court, its origin, conduct, and jurisdiction, 174, 185, 198, 261— sala- ries of the Judges of, 286. Supreme Government, constitution of, 211— powers of, 213— relations with home government, 214 — working of, 218 — territories in immediate charge of, 219— native states in immediate charge of, 152. Surveys Kevenue in Bengal, 316 — in N. W. Provinces, 327 — in Madras, 310, 354, 356— in Bombay, 367, 369. Suttee, abolition of, 190, 502. T. Tamul country, colonization of, 11, 350. Tanjore, origin of Rajas of, 119 — as- sumption of management of, 126. Tehseeldars, numbers, salaries, &c., 289, 292 — employment of in N.W. Pro- vinces, 3-30, 456— in Madras and Bombay, 355, 477, 510. Tenants, absence of in native system, 98 — distinction between ancient and new, 314 — in N.W. Provinces, 326 — in Madras, 361. Thanah, a police subdivision, 442, 449. Theft, facilities for, 108 — slati.stics of, 507. Thomason, Mr., appointed Lieut. -Go- vernor of N.W. Provinces, 19.5, 225 — his administration, 200. Thuggee, nature of, 4C0— measures for suppression of, 462— present state of, 499— in the Punjab, 513. Tobacco, revenue raised from, 395. Towns, 36, 78. Trial, mode of, in felonies, 472— in petty criminal cases, 475— in civil actions, 531, 549. Tributes of native states, 152. Turcs, their conquest of India, 14. U. Uncovenanted servants, particulars re- garding numbers, classes, salaries, &c., 288. Uniformity of system introduced by Mahommedans, 20, 37. of social circumstances throughout India, preface (vii.), 36. want of, in the British Government of the several Presi- dencies, 235. Vagrancy, frequency of and want of law regarding, 470. Vellallers, their colonisation of the South, 45, 350. Vikramajeet, era of, 12. Village communities, constitution of, 82 — aristocratic, 5, 84, 326 — demo- cratic, 85, 338, 350 — the Saxon, called Marks, 52 — joint responsibility of, 344, 366. Village responsibility for plundered property, 85, 110. 447. Village officers, duties of, under Mo- guls, 79— under us, 247, 355, 373, 458, 460. W. Watchmen, tax in towns for, 400— vil- lage, see Police, village. Wealth and wages, 67. Wellesley, Marquis of, his political administration, l-.'6— his civil ad- ministration, 181— his financial ma- nagement, 412. Women, condition of, 65. Z. Zemeendars, great or district under the Moguls, 78, 81, 92— under us, 304, 308, .ilS, 321, 36.3— village, 91, 326— castes of in N. W. Provinces, 335— police duties of, 444. Zemeendaree system of settlement, 303. LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. 50, Albemarle Street, London. 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