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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 
 fbl^li 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 JUDICIAL AND REVENUE SYSTEMS 
 OF INDIA.
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by Littlewood and Co, 
 
 Old Bailey.
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRACTICAL OPERATION 
 
 OF THE - 
 
 JUDICIAL AND REVENUE SYSTEMS 
 
 INDIA, 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF 
 ITS NATIVE INHABITANTS, 
 
 AS SUBMITTED IN EVIDENCE TO THE AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND, 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 A BRIEF PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF THE ANCIENT AND 
 
 MODERN BOUNDARIES, AND OF THE HISTORY 
 
 OF THAT COUNTRY. 
 
 eiucitJatcU bg a ^Kap. 
 
 BY RAJAH RAMMOHUN ROY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SMITH, ELDER AND CO., CORNHILL. 
 
 1832.
 
 j)5 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 India, anciently called the ** Bharat Varsha"* 
 after the name of a monarch called " Bharat"t is 
 bounded on its south by the sea; on the east 
 partly by this sea, and partly by ranges of moun- 
 tains separating it from the ancient China, or ra- 
 ther the countries now called Assam, Cassay and 
 Arracan ; on the north by a lofty and extensive 
 chain of mountains which divides itrfrom Tibet; 
 and on the west partly by ranges of mountains, 
 separating India from the ancient Persia, and 
 extending towards the Western Sea, above the 
 mouth of the Indus, and partly by this sea it- 
 self. It lies between the 8th and 35th degrees of 
 
 * " Varsha " implies a large tract of continent cut off from 
 other countries by natural boundaries, such as oceans, mountains, 
 or extensive deserts. 
 
 t " Bharat" a humane and powerful prince, supposed to have 
 sprung from the " Indu-Bangi' or the lunar race. 
 
 1573001
 
 vi 
 north latitude, and the 67th and 93d degrees of 
 east longitude. * 
 
 Wide tracts of this empire were formerly ruled 
 by different individual princes, who, though poli- 
 tically independent of, and hostile to each other, 
 adhered to the same religious principles, and com 
 monly observed the leading rites and ceremonies 
 taught in the Sanscrit language, whether more or 
 less refined. These tracts of land are separated 
 
 * The boundary mountains are interrupted on the east between 
 90° and 91° E. and lat. 26° and 27° N. Hence the countries to 
 the east of the Burrampooter, as Assam, Ava, Siam, &c. as far as 
 102° E. long, are by some authors considered as part of India, 
 though beyond its natural limits ; and by European writers usually 
 called ''India beyond the Ganges." There, relics of Sanscrit lite- 
 rature, and remains of Hindu temples are still found. Other an- 
 cient writers, however, considered these countries as attached to 
 China, the inhabitants having greater resemblance to the Chinese 
 in their features. 
 
 The western boundary mountains are in like manner broken 
 at long. 70° East, and at lat. 34° North. Consequently the 
 countries beyond that natural limit, such as Caubul and Can- 
 dahar, are supposed by some to be included in India, and by 
 others in Persia. But many Hindii antiquities still exist there 
 to corroborate the former notion. — Not only the northern boun- 
 dary mountains of India, but also those mountains which form 
 the eastern and western limits of it, are by the ancient writers on 
 India termed Himalaya, and considered branches of that great 
 chain, " In the north direction is situated the prince of moun- 
 tains, the ' immortal Himalaya' which immersing both in the 
 eastern and western seas, stands on earth as a standard of measure 
 (or line of demarcation.)" Cali. Das.
 
 Vll 
 
 from each other by rivers, or hills, or sometimes 
 by imaginary lines of demarcation. 
 
 The part styled " the civilized," in the sacred 
 writings of the Brahmans, consists of two large 
 divisions.* 
 
 The first is called " the civilized and sacred 
 land ;"t which, extending from the banks of the 
 Indus at 34° north and 72° 25. east, in a south- 
 easterly direction, along the foot of the Himalaya 
 mountains as far as 26° 30. north and 87° 30. east, 
 lies between this line and the northern limits of 
 the Vindhya range, which runs from 22° north 
 and 73° east, to 25° north and 87° 30 east, through 
 Rajmahal, Behar, Benares, the Provinces of Alla- 
 
 * Manu, the most ancient authority, thus defines their limits. 
 " The lands lying as far as the eastern, and as far as the western 
 oceans, and between the mountains just mentioned (Himalaya 
 and Vindhya), are known to the wise by the name of " Aryavata" 
 or the land inhabited by respectable people." Ch. II. v. 22. 
 
 In his translation of this passage, Sir William Jones, by omit- 
 ting to refer to the commentary, which substitutes the copulative 
 Sanscrit particle " Ch" for " Eb," has thus translated this pas- 
 sage : "As far as the eastern and as far as the western oceans, 
 between the two mountains just mentioned, lies the tract which 
 the wise have named Aryaverta." This rendered the description 
 obscure, if not wholly unintelligible ; since the countries lying 
 between these two ranges of mountains, are scarcely situated be- 
 tween the eastern and western seas. 
 
 t Because this division includes within it the tract which is 
 called the Sacred Land, situated to the north of Delhi, thus de- 
 scribed by Manu. " Between the two divine rivers, Saraswati 
 and Drishadwati, lies the tract of land which the sages have 
 named Brahmavarta, because it was frequented by gods. 
 *A 4 ■
 
 Vlll 
 
 habad, and of Malwa, along the north side of the 
 Nerbudda, almost to the west coast of India. The 
 second division is named merely " the civilized 
 land," and is situated between the eastern and 
 western coasts, terminating towards the east at 
 the mouth of the Ganges, about 22° north, and 
 87° 30. east, and on the west towards the mouth 
 of the Indus, at nearly 22° north, 72° 30. east, 
 comprehending the large province of Guzrat. 
 
 The countries situated beyond the limits of the 
 civilized lands, as above described, whether moun- 
 tains, valleys, or low lands, though included with- 
 in the Bharat Varsha, are declared to have been 
 chiefly inhabited by Mlechhas, or barbarians, and 
 were therefore called barbarous countries.* 
 
 In consequence of the multiplied divisions and 
 subdivisions of the land into separate and inde- 
 pendent kingdoms, under the authority of numerous 
 princes hostile towards each other, f and owing to 
 the successive introduction of a vast number of 
 
 * A country, where the distinction of the four classes (Brah- 
 man, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra) is not observed, is known 
 as ' Mlechha Desk' or barbarous country," as quoted by Rag- 
 hunandan. 
 
 t Compare the feeble state of Persia when ruled by several 
 independent princes, with the formidable power she enjoyed when 
 consolidated under the empire of Saffi. 
 
 Direct your attention to a still nearer country, I mean Eng- 
 land ; and compare the consequences formerly arising from her 
 divided resources, with her present state of elevation under the 
 subsisting union.
 
 IX 
 
 castes and sects, destroying every texture of social 
 and political unity, the country, (or, properly 
 speaking, such parts of it as were contiguous to 
 foreign lands,) was at different periods invaded, 
 and brought under temporary subjection to fo- 
 reign princes, celebrated for power and ambi- 
 tion. 
 
 About 900 years ago, the Mahommedan princes, 
 advancing by the north-west, began to ravage and 
 over-run the country ; and after continued efforts, 
 during several centuries, they succeeded in con- 
 quering the best parts of India. Their rule was 
 transferred in succession from one dynasty of con- 
 querors to another (Ghazni, Ghor, and Afghan,) 
 till 1525 of the Christian era, when prince Babur, 
 a descendant of Timur (or Tamerlane), in the fifth 
 generation, established his throne in the centre of 
 Hindustan. His offspring (the Moghul dynasty) 
 exercised the uncontrolled sovereignty of this em- 
 pire * for nearly two centuries, (with the exception 
 of about sixteen years) under a variety of changes, 
 according to the rise or decrease of their power. 
 
 In the year 1712, the star of the Moghul as- 
 cendancy inclined towards descent, and has since 
 gradually sunk below the horizon. The princes 
 
 * It may be considered as consisting of the following twenty 
 provinces : Delhi, Lahore, Cashmere, Cabul, Candahar, Ajmere, 
 Multan, Guzrat, Agra, Oude, Allahabad, Behar, Bengal, Orissa, 
 Malwah, Khandesh, Berar, Aurungabad, Golconda, Bejapoor.
 
 oftener consulted their own personal comfort than 
 the welfare of the state, and relied for success on 
 the fame of their dynasty, rather than on sound 
 policy and military valor. Not only their crowns, 
 but their lives also, depended on the goodwill of 
 the nobles, who virtually assumed independence 
 of the sovereign power, and each sought his own 
 individual aggrandizement. 
 
 At present, all the southern and eastern, as 
 well as several of the western provinces of the 
 empire, have gradually fallen into the possession 
 of the English. The army they employed chiefly 
 consisted of the natives of India, a country into 
 which the notion of patriotism has never made its 
 way. Those territories were in fact transferred to 
 British possession from the rule of a number of 
 the rebellious nobility. While the greatest part of 
 the northern provinces beyond the river Sutlej 
 has fallen into the hands of Rutijeet Singh, the 
 chief of a tribe commonly called Sikhs. 
 
 Akbar the Second, present heir and representa- 
 tive of the imperial house of Timur, enjoys only 
 the empty title of '' King of Delhi," without either 
 royal prerogative or power. 
 
 Runjeet Singh, sovereign of north-western In- 
 dia, (consisting of Lahore, Multan, Cashmere, 
 and Eastern Cabul,) is considered highly gifted 
 with prudence and moderation, and apparently 
 inclined towards liberal principles ; judicious in 
 the discharge of public duties, and affable in pri-
 
 XI 
 
 vate intercourse. The idea of constitutional go- 
 vernment being entirely foreign to his mind, he 
 has necessarily followed the same system of arbi- 
 trary rule which has been for ages prevailing in 
 the country. The government he has established, 
 although it be purely military, is nevertheless mild 
 and conciliatory. 
 
 With regard to the circumstances under which 
 a body of respectable English merchants (com- 
 monly known by the name of the Honorable East 
 India Company) first obtained their Charter of 
 Privileges in 1600, during the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, to carry on trade with the East Indies ; 
 and with respect to the particulars of their success 
 in procuring from the Emperor of Hindoostan 
 (JahangTr), and from several of his successors, 
 permission to establish commercial factories, as 
 well as the enjoyment of protection, and various 
 privileges in that country ; with relation further 
 to their conquests, which commencing about the 
 middle of the 18th century have extended over 
 the greater part of India, — conquests principally 
 owing to the dissensions and pusillanimous conduct 
 of the native princes and chiefs, as well as to the 
 ignorance existing in the East, of the modern im- 
 provements in the art of war, combined with the 
 powerful assistance afforded to the Company by 
 the naval and military forces of the crown of Eng- 
 land, — I refer the reader to the modern histories
 
 Xll 
 
 of India,* such particnlars and details being quite 
 foreign to the object which I have for the present 
 in view. 
 
 The government of England, in the meantime, 
 received frequent intimations of the questionable 
 character of the means by which their acquisitions 
 had been obtained and conquests achieved, and of 
 the abuse of power committed by the Company's 
 servants,t who were sent out to India from time 
 to time to rule the territory thus acquired ; and 
 the impression in consequence was that the im- 
 mense, or rather incalculable, distance, between 
 India and England, impeding intercourse between 
 the natives of the two countries, and the absence 
 of efficient local check on the exercise of power 
 by the Company's executive officers, as well as 
 the hope of support from their influential em- 
 ployers in England, might lead many of them to 
 neglect or violate their duties and bring reproach 
 
 * Bruce's Annals ; Anderson's History of Commerce in 
 M'Pherson's Annals ; Sir Thomas Roe's Journal and Letters ; 
 Raynal's East and West Indies ; Orme's Historical fragments, 
 and on the Government and people of Hindostan ; Dow's His- 
 tory ; Malcolm's Sketch of the political History of India ; Ditto, 
 Central India ; and Mill's History of British India. 
 
 t They were generally relations and friends of the leading 
 members of the company, twenty-four in number, called the 
 "Directors," first elected in 1709, and invested by the general 
 body of the company with the power of managing their territorial 
 possessions in India, as well as their commerce in the East and 
 West.
 
 XIU 
 
 on the national character. Under these ap- 
 prehensions the British Parliament in 1773, by 
 13th Geo. III. commonly called the Regulating 
 Act, declared that all territorial acquisitions by 
 conquest or treaty belong to the state, and directed 
 that all correspondence connected with their civil 
 or military government should be submitted to the 
 consideration of the Ministers; and subsequently 
 in 1784, (by act 24th Geo. III. cap. 25.) a Board 
 of Commissioners was established by the crown 
 as a controul over the East India Company and 
 the executive officers in India. The Board con- 
 sists of a president, who usually has a seat in the 
 British cabinet, and of several members, honorary 
 and otherwise, with a secretary and other requisite 
 subordinate officers. This institution has an- 
 swered the purpose as far regards subjects of a 
 general nature. 
 
 The system of rule introduced and acted on in 
 India by the executive officers of the Company, 
 previous to 1793, was of a mixed nature — Euro- 
 4)ean and Asiatic. The established usages of the 
 country were for the most part adopted as the 
 model of their conduct, in the discharge of poli- 
 tical, revenue, and judical functions, with modi- 
 fications at the discretion of the local authority. 
 In addition to the exercise of the sovereign power, 
 declared through policy to have been vested in 
 them by the throne of Delhi, they continued to 
 act in their commercial capacity with greater
 
 XIV 
 
 success than previous to their sovereignty.* In 
 consideration of the extensive territories acquired 
 by the Company in different parts of India, they 
 deemed it advisable to establish three govern- 
 ments at the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras 
 and Bombay ; the two latter being, since 1773, 
 subordinate to the first in matters of a political 
 nature. 
 
 The Marquis of Cornwallis, a straight-forward 
 lionest statesman, assumed the reins of govern- 
 ment in Bengal in 1786.f He succeeded not 
 only in consolidating the British power in its poli- 
 tical relations in those remote regions ; but also 
 in introducing, in 1793, material changes in every 
 department, particularly in the revenue and 
 judicial systems. These changes approximating 
 to the institutions existing in England, are calcu- 
 lated to operate beneficially, if regularly reduced 
 to practice. 
 
 As my evidence respecting the government of 
 India which will form the main body of this 
 treatise gives a particular account of the practical 
 operation of these systems, I refrain from a repeti- 
 tion of it in this place. 
 
 * The monopoly of salt has proved an immense source of re- 
 venue to them. Besides the factories of opium, silk, cloth, &c. 
 have been established in many places favourably situated for com- 
 merce. 
 
 t Since the formation of the Board of Commissioners for the 
 affairs of India, the Crown has exercised the right of selection in 
 regard to the governor-general to be nominated by the Company.
 
 XV 
 
 From occasionally directing my studies to the 
 subjects and events peculiarly connected with 
 Europe, and from an attentive, though partial, 
 practical observation in regard to some of them, 
 I felt impressed with the idea, that in Europe 
 literature was zealously encouraged and know- 
 ledge widely diffused ; that mechanics were almost 
 in a state of perfection, and politics in daily pro- 
 gress ; that moral duties were, on the whole, ob- 
 served with exemplary propriety, notwithstanding 
 the temptations incident to a state of high and 
 luxurious refinement ; and that religion was 
 spreading, even amid scepticism and false phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 I was in consequence continually making efforts 
 for a series of years, to visit the Western World, 
 with a view to satisfy myself on those subjects by 
 personal experience. I ultimately succeeded in 
 surmounting the obstacles to my purpose, prin- 
 cipally of a domestic nature ; and having sailed 
 from Calcutta on the 19th of November 1830. 1 
 arrived in England on the 8th of April follow- 
 ing. The particulars of my voyage and travels 
 will be found in a Journal which I intend to pub- 
 lish ; together with whatever has appeared to me 
 most worthy of remark and record in regard to 
 the intelligence, riches and power, manners, cus- 
 toms, and especially the female virtue and excel- 
 lence existing in this country. 
 
 The question of the renewal of the Honorable
 
 XVI 
 
 East India Company's Charter* being then under 
 the consideration of the government, and various 
 individuals connected w^ith India having been 
 examined as witnesses on the subject, the autho- 
 rities wishedme also, as a native of that country, to 
 deliver my evidence ; which was, in consequence, 
 given as in the following pages. 
 
 Although it has been printed among the other 
 minutes of evidence taken before the select com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons, I deem it proper 
 to publish it in a separate form, for the purpose of 
 prefixing these preliminary explanations, and of 
 accompanying it with notes and replies to re- 
 marks made thereon, by persons whose opinions 
 are deserving of notice. 
 
 * The company's charter was last renewed by the crown in 
 1813, with certain modifications for a period of, twenty years, 
 and consequently expires in 1833, unless previously renewed.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 I. Preliminary Remarks — Brief Sketch of the An- 
 cient and Modern Boundaries and History of 
 India i — xvi 
 
 II. Questions and Answers on the Judicial System 
 
 of India 1 — 55 
 
 III. Do. Do. on the Revenue System of India.. 57 — 85 
 
 IV. A Paper on the Revenue System of India . . 87 — 89 
 
 V. Additional Queries, respecting the Condition of 
 
 India 101—111 
 
 VI. Appendix 1 13—126
 
 ^-
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF INDIA. 
 
 1. Question. Have yon observed the operation of 
 
 the Judicial System in India ? 
 Answer. I have long turned my attention to- 
 wards the subject, and possess a general acquaint- 
 ance with the operation of that system, more par- 
 ticularly from personal experience in the Bengal 
 presidency, where I resided. 
 
 2. Q. Do you think that the system hitherto acted 
 ■ upon is calculated to secure justice ? 
 
 A. The judicial system established in 1793, 
 by Lord Cornwallis, was certainly well adapted 
 to the situation of the country, and to the charac- 
 ter of the people as well as of the government, 
 had there been a sufficient number of qualified 
 judges to discharge the judicial office, under a 
 proper code of laws.
 
 2 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 3. Q. Explain particularly in what points you 
 
 consider the practical operation of the system 
 
 defective ? 
 A. In the want of a sufficient number of judges 
 and magistrates, in the want of adequate qualifi- 
 cation in many of them to discharge the duty in 
 foreign languages, and in the want of a proper 
 code of laws, by which they might be easily 
 guided. 
 
 4. Q. Can you explain what evils result from the 
 
 want of a greater number of judges ? 
 A. 1st, The courts being necessarily few in 
 number in comparison to the vast territories under 
 the British rule, many of the inhabitants are situ- 
 ated at so great a distance from them, that the 
 poorer classes are in general unable to go and seek 
 redress for any injury, particularly those who may 
 be oppressed by their wealthier neighbours, pos- 
 sessing great local influence. 2ndly, The busi- 
 ness of the courts is so heavy that causes often 
 accumulate to such an extent, that many are ne- 
 cessarily pending some years before they can be 
 decided ; an evil which is aggravated by subse- 
 quent appeals from one court to another, attended 
 with further delay and increased expence. By 
 this state of things wrong-doers are encouraged, 
 and the innocent and oppressed in the same pro- 
 portion discouraged, and often reduced to despair. 
 3rdly, Such a mass of business transacted in fo- 
 reign languages being too much for any one indi-
 
 OF INDIA. 3 
 
 vidual, even the ablest and best intentioned judge, 
 may be disheartened at seeing before him a file of 
 causes which he can hardly hope to overtake ; and 
 he may therefore be thus induced to transfer a 
 great part of the business to his native officers, 
 who are not responsible, and who are so meanly 
 paid for their services, that they may be expected 
 to consult their own interests. 
 
 5. Q. Will you inform us what evils arise from 
 the want of due qualification in the judges 1 
 
 A. It is but justice to state that many of the 
 judicial officers of the company are men of the 
 highest talents, as well as of strict integrity, and 
 earnestly intent on doing justice. However, not 
 being familiar with the laws of the people over 
 whom they are called to administer justice by 
 these laws, and the written proceedings of the 
 court, answers, replies, rejoinders, evidence taken, 
 and documents produced, being all conducted in 
 a language which is foreign to them, they must 
 either rely greatly on the interpretation of their 
 native officers, or be guided by their own surmises 
 or conjectures. In one case, the cause will be de- 
 cided by those who in point of rank and pay are 
 so meanly situated, and who are not responsible 
 to the government or the public for the accuracy 
 of the decision ; in the other case, a decision 
 founded on conjecture must be very liable to er- 
 ror. Still, I am happy to observe that there are 
 some judicial officers, though very few in number, 
 
 B 2
 
 4 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 whose judgment and knowledge of the native 
 languages are such, that in cases which do not in- 
 volve much intricacy and legal subtlety, they are 
 able to form a correct decision independent of the 
 natives around them. 
 
 6. Q, Cati you point out what obstructions to the 
 
 admi?ustratio)i of justice cu^e produced by the 
 
 ivcmt of a better code of laws ? 
 A. The regulations published from year to 
 year by the local government since 1793, which 
 serve as instructions to the courts, are so volu- 
 minous, complicated, and in many instances, ei- 
 ther too concise or too exuberant, that they are 
 generally considered not a clear and easy guide ; 
 and the Hindu and Mahommedan laws adminis- 
 tered in conjunction with the above regulations, 
 being spread over a great number of different 
 books of various and sometimes doubtful autho- 
 rity, the judges, as to law points, depend entirely 
 on the interpretations of their native lawyers, 
 whose conflicting legal opinions have introduced 
 great perplexity into the administration of justice. 
 
 7. Q. Is there any other impediment to the fair 
 
 administration of justice besides these you have 
 
 stated! 
 A. The first obstacle to the administration of 
 justice is, that its administrators and the persons 
 among whom it is administered have no common 
 language. 2ndly, That owing partly to this cause 
 and also in a great measure to the difference of
 
 OF INDIA. 5 
 
 manners &c., the communication between these two 
 parties is very limited ; in consequence of which 
 the judges can with the utmost difficulty acquire 
 an adequate knowledge of the real nature of the 
 grievances of the persons seeking redress, or of 
 the real character and validity of the evidence by 
 which their claims are supported or opposed. 
 3dly, That there is not the same relation between 
 the native pleaders and the judge as between the 
 British bar and the bench. 4thly, The want 
 of publicity owing to the absence of reporters and 
 of a public press, to take notice of the proceedings 
 of the courts in the interior : consequently there 
 is no superintendence of public opinion to watch 
 whether the judges attend their courts once a day 
 or once a week, or whether they attend to business 
 six hours or one hour a day, or their mode of 
 treating the parties, the witnesses, the native 
 pleaders or law officers, and others attending the 
 courts — as well as the principles on which they 
 conduct their proceedings and regulate their de- 
 cisions ; or whether in fact they investigate and 
 decide the causes themselves, or leave the judicial 
 business to their native officers and dependants. 
 (In pointing out the importance of the fullest 
 publicity being afforded to judicial proceedings 
 by means of the press, I have no reference to 
 the question of a free press, for the discussion of 
 local politics, a point on which I do not mean to 
 touch). 5thly, The great prevalence of perjury,
 
 6 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 arising partly from the frequency with which oaths 
 are administered in the courts, having taken from 
 them the awe with which they were formerly re- 
 garded, partly from the judges being often un- 
 able to detect impositions in a foreign language, 
 and to discriminite nicely the value of evidence 
 amongst a people with w^hom they have in gene- 
 ral so little communication ; and partly from the 
 evidence being frequently taken, not by the judge 
 himself but by his native officers (Omlah), whose 
 good will is often secured before hand by both 
 parties, so that they may not endeavour to detect 
 their false evidence by a strict examination. Under 
 these circumstances the practice of perjury has 
 grown so prevalent that the facts sworn to by the 
 different parties in a suit are generally directly 
 opposed to each other, so that it has become almost 
 impossible to ascertain the truth from their con- 
 tradictory evidence. 6thly, That the prevalence 
 of perjury has again introduced the practice of for- 
 gery to such an extent as to render the adminis- 
 tration of justice still more intricate and perplex- 
 ing. 7thly, The want of due publicity being 
 given to the regulations which stand at present in 
 place of a code of laws. From their being very 
 voluminous and expensive, the community gene- 
 rally have not the means of purchasing them ; nor 
 have they a sufficient opportunity of consulting 
 or copying them in the j udicial and revenue offices 
 where they are kept. As these are usually at a
 
 OF INDIA. 7 
 
 distance from the populous parts of the town, 
 only professional persons or parties engaged in 
 suits or official business are in the habit of attend- 
 ing these offices. 8thly, and lastly, Holding the 
 proceedings in a language foreign to the judges, as 
 well as to the parties and to the witnesses. 
 
 8. Q. In what language are the proceedings of 
 
 the courts condactedl 
 A. They are generally conducted in Persian, in 
 imitation of the former Mohammedan rulers, of 
 which this was the court language. 
 
 9. Q. Are the judges, the parties, and the wit- 
 
 nesses sufficiently well acquainted with that 
 language to understand the proceedings i^ea- 
 dily ? 
 A. I have already observed that it is foreign 
 to all these parties. Some of the judges, and a 
 very few among the parties, however, are con- 
 versant with that language. 
 
 10. Q. Would it he advantageous to substitute 
 
 the English language in the courts, instead of 
 
 the Persian 1 
 A. The English language would have the ad- 
 vantage of being the vernacular language of the 
 judges. With regard to the native inhabitants, 
 it would no doubt, in the mean time, have the same 
 disadvantage as the Persian ; but its gradual in- 
 troduction in the courts would still, notwithstand- 
 ing, prove ultimately beneficial to them by pro- 
 moting the study of English.
 
 8 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 1 1 . Q. Does the native bar assist the judge, and 
 form a check on the accuracy of the deci- 
 sions ? 
 
 A. It is no doubt intended to answer this most 
 useful purpose, and does so to some extent; but, 
 from the cause alluded to above (Ans. 7. No. 3.), 
 not to the extent that is necessary to secure the 
 principles of justice. 
 
 12. Q. Do the judges treat the native pleaders 
 
 with the consideration and respect due to their 
 office'? 
 A. They are not always treated in the inferior 
 courts with the consideration due to their office. 
 
 13. Q. To what do you attribute it, that the bar 
 
 is 72ot treated with respect ? 
 A. The native pleaders are so unfortunately 
 situated from there being such a great distance 
 between them and the judges who belong to the 
 rulers of the country, and from not being of the 
 same profession, or of the same class as the judges, 
 and having no prospect of promotion as English 
 barristers have, that they are treated as an inferior 
 caste of persons, 
 
 14. Q. Do not the native judicial officers em- 
 
 ployed under the judge assist him iri his pro^ 
 ceeditigs 1 
 A. Of course they assist him, and that very 
 materially. 
 
 1 5. Q. What kind of assistance do they render to 
 
 the judge ?
 
 OFINDIA. 9 
 
 A. They read the proceedings, viz. the bill 
 (darkh'ast, or arzT), answers, replies, rejoinders, 
 and other papers produced in the court ; they 
 write the proceedings and depositions of the wit- 
 nesses ; and very often, on account of the weight 
 of business, the judge employs them to take the 
 depositions of the witnesses : sometimes they 
 make abstracts of the depositions and other long- 
 papers, and lay them before the judge for his de- 
 cision. 
 
 16. Q. A?^e they made responsible ivith the Judge 
 for the proceedings held ? 
 
 A. They are responsible to the judge, but not to 
 the government or the public. 
 
 17. Q. A7^€ not the judges assisted also by Hindu 
 
 and Mohammedan lawyers, appointed to act as 
 interpreters of the law ? 
 A. They are : learned natives of this descrip- 
 tion being attached to the courts to give their opi- 
 nion on the Hindu and Mohammedan law points 
 which may arise in any case. 
 
 18. Q. Are natives of the country empowered to 
 
 decide causes of any description ? 
 A. Yes : there are native Munsifs, or com- 
 missioners, for the decision of small debts ; and 
 Sudder Aumeens who are authorised to try causes 
 under five hundred rupees, whether connected 
 with landed or moveable property. 
 
 19. Q. Are they qualified to discharge the duties 
 
 entrusted to them ?
 
 10 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 A. Many of them are fully qualified ; and if 
 proper care can be taken in the selection, all the 
 situations might be filled with well-qualified per- 
 sons. 
 
 20. Q. What is your o'pinion of the general cha- 
 racter and conduct of the judges in their 
 official capacity as such ? 
 
 A. I am happy to state that in my humble 
 opinion the judicial branch of the service is at 
 present almost pure ; and there are among the 
 judicial servants of the Company gentlemen of 
 such distinguished talents, that from their natural 
 abilities, even without the regular study of the 
 law, they commit very few, if any, errors in the 
 administration of justice. Others are not so well 
 gifted, and must therefore rely more on the re- 
 presentations of their native oflicers, and being 
 free from any local check on their public con- 
 duct, their regularity, attention to business, and 
 other judicial habits, are not equal to the wishes 
 of their employers, nor calculated to give general 
 satisfaction. 
 
 21. Q. Do they boy^row money to any extent from 
 
 the natives ? 
 A. Formerly they borrowed to a great amount ; 
 at present this practice is discouraged. 
 
 22. Q. Why are the natives prevailed upon to lend 
 
 to the judges, and other civilians, money to 
 such an extent ? 
 A. Natives not having any hope of attaining
 
 OF INDIA. 11 
 
 direct consideration from the Government by their 
 merits or exertions, are sometimes induced to ac- 
 commodate the civil servants with money, by the 
 hope of securing their patronage for their friends 
 and relatives, the judges and others having many 
 situations directly or indirectly in their gift ; 
 sometimes by the hope of benefiting by their 
 friendly disposition when the natives have es- 
 tates under their jurisdiction ; and sometimes to 
 avoid incurring the hostility of the judge, who, 
 by Regulation IX. of 1807, is empowered not 
 only to imprison, but inflict corporal punishment, 
 by his own authority under certain legal pretences 
 on any native, whatever his respectability may 
 be. 
 
 23. Q. What is your opinion of the Judicial 
 
 character and conduct of the Hindu and 
 
 Mohammedan lawyers attached to the courts ? 
 
 A. Amongst the Mohammedan lawyers I have 
 
 met with some honest men. The Hindu lawyers 
 
 are in general not well spoken of, and they do not 
 
 enjoy much of the confidence of the public. 
 
 24. Q. What is your opinion of the official cha- 
 
 racter and conduct of the subordinate native 
 
 judicial officers ? 
 
 A. Considering the trifling salaries which they 
 
 enjoy, from 10, 20, 30, or 40 rupees to 100 rupees 
 
 a month, (the last being the allowance of the head 
 
 native officer only,) and the expenses they must
 
 12 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 incur, in supporting some respectability of ap- 
 pearance, besides maintaining their families ; (the 
 keeping of a palankeen alone must cost the head 
 man a sum of between 20 and 30 rupees per month,) 
 and considering also the extent of the power which 
 they must possess, from their situations and duties 
 as above explained (Q. 15.), and the immense 
 sums involved in the issue of causes pending in 
 the courts, it is not to be expected that the native 
 officers, having such trifling salaries, at least many 
 of them, should not avail themselves sometimes of 
 their official influence, to promote their own in- 
 terests. 
 
 25. Q. What is your opinion of the professional 
 character and conduct of the pleaders ? 
 
 A. Many pleaders of the Sudder Dewanee 
 Adawlut are men of the highest respectability and 
 legal knowledge, as the judges are very select in 
 their appointment, and treat them in a way which 
 makes them feel that they have a character to 
 support. Those of the provincial courts of appeal 
 are also generally respectable, and competent to 
 the discharge of their duties. In the Zillah courts 
 some respectable pleaders may also be met with, 
 but proper persons for that office are not always 
 very carefully selected ; and in general, I may 
 observe, that the pleaders are held in a state of 
 too much dependence by the judges, particularly 
 in the inferior courts, which must incapacitate
 
 OF INDIA. 13 
 
 them from standing up firmly in support of the 
 rules of the court. 
 
 26. Q. Is briberi) and corruptmi evei" practised 
 hi the judicial department, and to what ex- 
 tent ? 
 A. I have already intimated my opinion in the 
 answers to Questions 20 and 24. 
 
 27 and 28. Q. Have the respectable and in- 
 telligent native inhabitants generally con- 
 fidence in the purity of the Company s 
 courts and the accuracy of their decisions ; 
 and have the native community confidence 
 in the integrity of the subordinate judicial 
 officers ? 
 ' A. Whilst such evils exist as I have above 
 noticed, in my reply to Queries 5, 6, and 7, as 
 well as to Queries 20 and 24, the respectable and 
 intelligent native inhabitants cannot be expected 
 to have confidence in the general operation of the 
 judicial system. 
 
 29. Q. Are the judges influenced iti their decision 
 
 by their native officers ? 
 A. Those who are not well versed in the na- 
 tive languages, and in the Regulations of govern- 
 ment, must necessarily be very much dependent 
 on their native officers, as well as those who dis- 
 like to undergo the fatigue and restraint of busi- 
 ness, which to Europeans is still more irksome in 
 the sultry climate of India. 
 
 30. Q. Can you suggest any mode of remoimig
 
 14 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 the several defects you have pointed out in the 
 judicial system ? 
 A. As European judges in India are not gene- 
 rally expected to discharge judicial duties satisfac- 
 torily, independent of native assistance, from not 
 possessing a thorough knowledge of the languages, 
 manners, customs, habits, and practices of the 
 people, and as the natives w^ho possess this knovv^- 
 ledge have been long accustomed to subordination 
 and indifferent treatment, and consequently have 
 not the pow^er of commanding respect from others, 
 unless joined by Europeans, the only remedy 
 which exists is, to combine the knowledge and 
 experience of the native with the dignity and firm- 
 ness of the European. This principle has been 
 virtually acted upon and reduced to practice since 
 1 793, though in an imperfect manner, in the con- 
 stitution of the courts of circuit, in which the 
 Mufti (native assessor) has a voice with the judge 
 in the decision of every cause, having a seat with 
 him on the bench. This arrangement has toler- 
 ably well answered the purpose of government, 
 which has not been able to devise a better system 
 in a matter of such importance as the decision of 
 questions of life and death, during the space of 
 forty years, though it has been continually altering 
 the systems in other branches. It is my humble 
 opinion, therefore, that the appointment of such 
 native assessors should be reduced to a regular 
 system in the civil courts. They should be ap-
 
 OF INDIA. 15 
 
 pointed by government for life, at the recommen- 
 dation of the S udder Dewanee Adawlut, which 
 should select them carefully, with a view to their 
 character and qualifications, and allow them to 
 hold their situations during life and good behavi- 
 our, on a salary of from 300 to 400 rupees per 
 mensem. They should be responsible to the go- 
 vernment as well as to the public for their deci- 
 sions, in the same manner as the European judges, 
 and correspond directly with the judicial secre- 
 tary. A casting voice should be allowed to the 
 European judge, in appomting the native officers, 
 in case of difference of opinion ; the native asses- 
 sor, however, having a right to record his dissent. 
 These assessors should be selected out of those 
 natives who have been already employed for a 
 period of not less than five years as assessors 
 (Mufti), lawyers (Zillah Court Maulavis), or as 
 the head native officers in the judicial depart- 
 ment.* 
 
 Par. 2. This measure would remove the evils 
 pointed out in the answers to Q. 5 and to Q. 7. 
 Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and also afford a partial remedy 
 to the evils noticed in Nos. 5, 6 and 8 of Answer 7, 
 as well as provide against the evils referred to in 
 answer to Query 24. 
 
 Par. 3. In order however to render the admi- 
 
 * The native judicial officers are generally versed in Persian, 
 and therefore the proceedings hitherto generally held in that 
 language would be familiar to them.
 
 16 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 nistration of justice efficient and as perfect as 
 human efforts can make it, and to remove the pos- 
 sibility of any undue influence which a native as- 
 sessor might attempt to exercise on the bench 
 under a European judge of insufficient capacity, 
 as well as to do away the vexatious delays and 
 grievous suffering attending appeals, it is neces- 
 sary to have recourse to trial by jury, as being the 
 only effectual check against corruption, which, 
 from the force of inveterate habit, and the conta- 
 gion of example, has become so notoriously pre- 
 valent in India. This measure would be an ad- 
 ditional remedy to the evils mentioned in the 
 reply to Query 5 and 7, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5, 6, 
 8, and also in the replies to Query 4, Nos. 2 and 
 3, as well as in Query 24. 
 
 Par. 4. With a view to remove the evils ari- 
 sing from want of publicity of the Regulations, as 
 noticed in No. 7 of Ansr. to the Query 1 , two or 
 three copies in each of the principal native lan- 
 guages used in that part of the country should be 
 kept in a building in the populous quarter of the 
 town, under the charge of a keeper on a small sa- 
 lary, and all persons should be freely admitted to 
 read and copy them at leisure from sunrise to 
 sunset. The expence of this would not amount to 
 two pounds a month for each station, and the be- 
 nefits of it would be incalculable. 
 
 Par. 5. In order to remedy the evils arising 
 from the distance of the courts as noticed at Ques-
 
 OF INDIA. 17 
 
 tion 4tb Ansr. No. 1, I beg- to suggest as follows : 
 The Sudder Aumeens, or superior commissioners 
 for the decision of causes under 500 rupees, af- 
 affecting moveable or immoveable property, are at 
 present stationed at the same place where the 
 zillah judge holds his court, and plaints are at 
 first laid before the judge, who turns them over 
 to one of these commissioners at his own discre- 
 tion ; consequently they afford no remedy for the 
 great distance of the courts from many under their 
 jurisdiction, as this often embraces a circle of 60 
 or 80 miles. I therefore propose that these Sud- 
 der Aumeens should be stationed at proportionate 
 distances in different parts of the district, so that 
 suitors may not have to travel far from their homes 
 to file their bills and afterwards to seek and obtain 
 justice ; and that one of the assistants of the judge 
 should be stationed in a central position which 
 might enable him (without any additional charge 
 to government as I shall hereafter show) to visit 
 and personally superintend these Aumeens, when 
 the judge's station is on or near the border of his 
 district. If it is otherwise situated, one of the as- 
 sistants of the judge may remain at the head sta- 
 tion with the judge and superintend the commis- 
 sioners nearest to him, while another assistant 
 being stationed at an appropriate distance, may su- 
 perintend those who are more remotely situated 
 from the first assistant. There will thus be as 
 complete a check over them as under the present 
 
 c
 
 18 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 system, and justice will be brought home to the 
 doors of a great majority of the inhabitants of each 
 district, since causes under 500 rupees are exceed- 
 ingly numerous in every Zillah or City Court. 
 
 Par. 6. These assistants may, at the same time, 
 be very usefully employed in checking the dread- 
 fully increasing crime of forgery, by which the 
 course of justice is now so very much impeded in 
 the judicial courts. Written documents of a dia- 
 metrically opposite nature are, as is well known, 
 constantly laid before these courts, and serve to 
 confound justice and perplex a conscientious bench. 
 Therefore under the proposed system of assistant 
 judges' courts in two different quarters of a dis- 
 trict, I would recommend, as highly necessary and 
 expedient to check materially the practice of for- 
 gery, that parties to any deed should be required, 
 in order to render the same valid, to produce it in 
 open court before the nearest assistant judge, within 
 a certain number of days from the time of its exe- 
 cution. This rule should apply* to all sorts of 
 deeds, contracts and agreements regarding pro- 
 perty above 100 rupees in value, such as wills and 
 bills of sale, &c. and money bonds for debts pay- 
 able at a certain period beyond six months, and 
 upon receiving a fee of from one to two rupees, 
 according to its importance, the assistant judge, 
 
 * By Regulation XXXVI. of 1793, the registering of deeds is 
 authorised, but left in the option of the parties.
 
 () F 1 X D I A . 19 
 
 after ascertaining the identity of the parties in 
 open court, should immediately affix his signature 
 as witness to the deed, and retain a copy of the 
 same in a book of record kept on purpose, duly 
 authenticated and marked to prevent the possi- 
 bility of interpolation, or any other species of 
 fraud. The sum above allowed as a fee on regis- 
 tering, with a small fixed charge per page for re- 
 taining a copy, would be more than sufficient to 
 remunerate any extra trouble attending the duty 
 and the labour of transcribing. To induce the pro- 
 prietors of land and other respectable persons to 
 appear without reluctance in open court on such 
 occasions, they should be invariably treated with 
 the respect due to their rank. Further to encou- 
 rage the public to have papers registered, and to 
 satisfy the government that no improper delay 
 takes place in registering them, as well as to pre- 
 vent the copyists from extorting perquisites, a 
 book should be kept in which the party presenting 
 a paper should in open court enter a memorandum 
 of the day and hour on which he presented it for 
 registration, and of the day and hour when it was 
 produced and returned to him. This system would 
 materially remedy the evil referred to in answer 
 to Q. 7. No. 6. 
 
 Par. 7. The assistant judges should also re- 
 ceive appeals from the Sudder Aumeens, and try 
 them in conjunction with a native assessor ap- 
 pointed by the Sudder Dewanee Adawlut, on a 
 
 c 2
 
 20 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 salary smaller than that of the judges' assessor, 
 that is, perhaps not exceeding 200 rupees a month. 
 In the event of difference of opinion between the 
 assessor and the assistant judge on any case, it 
 should be appealable to the Zillah judge, whose 
 decision should be final ; and as the Sudder Au- 
 meens are now paid from the duties on the stamps 
 used and the fees received on the papers filed, so 
 the assistant judges' assessor may be paid in the 
 same manner from the fees and stamps imposed 
 on the appeal causes. 
 
 Par. 8. The assistant judge, though not em- 
 powered to interfere with the police officers of the 
 interior in the discharge of their duties, should 
 notwithstanding be authorised to receive written 
 complaints of any abuse of their power from per- 
 sons who feel themselves oppressed by the police, 
 and to forward the same to the head magistrate of 
 the district for his investigation ; as very often the 
 poor villagers or peasants are oppressed by the 
 local police officers, but despair of any relief, from 
 being unable to leave their homes and travel to a 
 distance to the station to seek redress. 
 
 31. Q. Is trial hij jury (or any thing resemhimg 
 it) resorted to at present in any case 1 
 
 A. The principle of juries under certain mo- 
 difications has from the most remote periods been 
 well understood in this country under the name of 
 Punchayet.
 
 OF INDIA. 21 
 
 32. Q. What is the difference between the Jury 
 system and the Piinchayet ? 
 
 A. The Piinchayet exists on a very defective 
 plan at present, because the jurors (members of 
 the Punchayet) are not regular in their meetings, 
 have no power to compel the attendance of wit- 
 nesses, unless by appealing to the court ; they 
 have no judge to preside at their meetings and di- 
 rect their proceedings, and are not guarded in any 
 manner from partiality or private influence. They 
 are in fact at present only arbitrators appointed by 
 the court with consent of the parties in a cause, 
 each party nominating one arbitrator and the 
 judge a third ; and sometimes both parties agree to 
 refer the decision of the case to one arbitrator, 
 
 33. Q. Why and when was the Punchayet system 
 discom^aged ? 
 
 A. It has not been totally discouraged, but 
 rather placed on a different footing. In former 
 days it was much more important in its functions. 
 It was resorted to by parties at their own op- 
 tion, or by the heads of tribes, who assumed the 
 right of investigation and decision of differences ; 
 or by the government, which handed over causes 
 to a Punchayet. 
 
 34. Q. Do you really think the introduction of 
 any system of jury trial or Punchayet ivould 
 be beiicficial ? 
 
 A. Undoubtedly, as shewn by the 3d Par. of 
 my answer to Question 30. Since a Punchayet
 
 22 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 composed of the intelligent and respectable inha- 
 bitants, under the direction of a European judge 
 to preserve order, and a native judge to guard 
 against any private influence, is the only tribunal 
 which can estimate properly the whole bearings of 
 a case, with the validity of the documentary evi- 
 dence, and the character of the witnesses, who 
 could have little chance of imposing false testi- 
 mony upon such a tribunal. 
 
 35. Q. Do you think it would be acceptable to the 
 inhabitants 1 
 
 A. As the Pimchayet even in its present very im- 
 perfect form is still practised by the inhabitants, 
 it would without doubtbe much more so, were it re- 
 duced to a regular system, guarded by proper 
 checks, and dignified by judicial forms, which 
 would inspire the whole community with higher re- 
 spect and confidence for this ancient institution. 
 But whatever length its popularity may go, it is the 
 only system by which the present abuses consist- 
 ing of perjury, forgery, and corruption can be 
 removed. 
 
 36. Q. Will you e.vplain, in detail, the modification 
 . of the Punchayet-jury system which you 
 
 think best suited to the circumstances of the 
 
 country ? 
 
 A. I am of opinion that the Punchayet system 
 
 should be adopted in conjunction with the plan 
 
 above stated. (Q. 30.) It would be easy to adapt 
 
 it to the object in view, without imposing any heavy
 
 OF INDIA. 23 
 
 duty on the respectable portion of the native com- 
 munity. Three jurymen, or at most five, w^ould, 
 I conceive, answer the purpose as well as a greater 
 number, and any zillah (district) could easily 
 supply a list from which these might be taken 
 without inconvenience. Three times the number 
 required for sitting on a trial should be summoned, 
 and the persons actually to serve should be taken 
 by lot, so that neither the judges nor the parties 
 may be able to know beforehand what persons 
 will sit on the trial of a cause. The general list 
 of jurymen should be as numerous as the cir- 
 cumstances of the city or zillah (district) will ad- 
 mit. It should be prepared by the European 
 judge at the station, and altered and amended by 
 him from time to time as may seem proper and 
 requisite. He may easily select well qualified 
 juries from respectable and intelligent natives 
 known to be versed in judicial subjects, who 
 reside in considerable numbers at every station. 
 A necessary concomitant to the introduction of 
 jurymen will be the sole use of the vernacular 
 dialect of the place to the exclusion of the Persian 
 language in proceedings. Publicity should be as 
 much fostered as possible, and the jury should be 
 kept apart and required to decide without separa- 
 ting, as in the English courts of law. In a trial 
 thus conducted the resort to appeal will cease to 
 be useful, and for the purposes of justice, need 
 only be allowed where there is a difference of
 
 24 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 opinion betwixt the bench and the jury. For, 
 where judge and jury are unanimous, an appeal 
 would be more likely to produce injustice by vexa- 
 tious expense and delay, than to rectify error on 
 the part of the inferior court, and ought therefore 
 to be prohibited . 
 
 37. Q. Do you think the natives of the country 
 
 qualijied to discharge judicial functions of 
 this nature, and from what class would you 
 select the jurors ? 
 A. They are assuredly qualified, as I observed 
 before, in answer to Query 19, and the jurors at 
 present may be judiciously selected from retired 
 pleaders (waklls) and retired judicial officers, from 
 agents employed by private individuals to attend 
 the court (mukhtars) who are generally well qua- 
 lified, and from the other intelligent and respect- 
 able inhabitants as above observed (Answer to Q. 
 30 and 36.) To avoid any undue bias or partiality, 
 both parties in a suit should have a right of ob- 
 jecting to any juryman, who can be shewn to 
 have an interest in the cause, or particular con- 
 nection with either party. 
 
 38. Q. Do you think the natives competent and 
 
 eligible to all judicial situations, or only sub- 
 ordinate ones ? 
 A. As many of them, even under the present 
 manifold disadvantages, already discharge all the 
 judicial functions, even the most arduous (see 
 Q. 15.), it will not be very difficult, I think, with
 
 OF INDIA, 25 
 
 proper management, to find qualified persons 
 amongst the natives for any duty that may be 
 assigned to them. Many, however, as in other 
 countries, are only fit for subordinate situations. 
 
 39. Q. What advantage do you conceive this Pun- 
 
 chayet-jury system would possess over the 
 judicial system ?wtu established ? 
 A. First, from the thorough knowledge of the 
 native character possessed by such a tribunal, and 
 of the language of the parties and witnesses, it 
 would not be so liable to error in its decisions. 
 Secondly, the jury would be guarded from undue 
 influence by the judge and his assessors. Thirdly, 
 it would guard the assessor from the use of undue 
 influence. Fourthly, it would secure the dispatch 
 of business, and the prevention of delay, and of 
 the need of appeals. The checking of perjury and 
 forgery may also reasonably be hoped from it, be- 
 sides many other advantages already pointed 
 out. 
 
 40. Q. Are the provincial courts of appeal con- 
 
 ducted on the same principles as the district 
 courts to which you have referredl 
 A. As they are presided over by gentlemen of 
 more experience and longer residence in the coun- 
 try, these courts are generally conducted with 
 greater regularity. 
 
 41 . Q. What is the nature of the difference exist- 
 
 ing between them 1 
 A. Under the Bengal Presidency, in causes
 
 26 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 above 10,000 rupees, the action must be laid in 
 the provincial court of appeal, and may be de- 
 cided by one judge. This court takes cognizance 
 also of any case of inferior amount below 10,000 
 rupees, v^hich may be carried to it by appeal from 
 the decision of, or proceedings held by, the judge 
 of the city or district court, and from these pro- 
 vincial appeal courts, appeals can only be made to 
 the Sudder Dewanee Adaw^lut, the highest civil 
 tribunal. 
 
 42. Q. Can you point out any defects in the Sud- 
 der Dewanee Adawlut, and their remedies ? 
 
 A. Government has always been very careful 
 in its selection of judges for the Sudder Dewanee 
 Adawlut, both as regards their ability and inte- 
 grity ; and they are fully competent to remove any 
 defects which may exist in the court over which 
 they preside. It is, however, highly desirable 
 that judges of the Sudder Dewanee Adawlut 
 should have the power of issuing the writ of ha- 
 beas corpus, on seeing sufficient grounds for the 
 exercise of this peculiar power, according to the 
 practice of the English courts. But when the 
 person imprisoned is situated at a greater distance 
 from the Sudder courts than fifty miles, the judges 
 of this court, to save useless expense, might direct 
 one of the circuit judges, on whom they could 
 best rely, to investigate the case, and report to 
 them .
 
 Of INDIA. 27 
 
 43. Q. What other duties are assigned to the judges 
 
 of the provincial courts ? 
 A. They are a medium of communication be- 
 tween the S udder Dewanee Adawlut and the in- 
 ferior courts, and were also judges of circuit. 
 
 44. Q. Hoiu many provincial courts are there ? 
 
 A. There are six provincial courts in the pro- 
 vinces attached to the Bengal Presidency, viz. 
 that of Calcutta, Dhacca, Moorshedabad, Patna, 
 Benares, and Bareilly. 
 
 45. Q. Are not the judges of the provincial comets 
 
 still judges of circuit? 
 A. No: they were so formerly ; but about two 
 years ago the local government transferred the 
 duties of judges of circuit from them to the reve- 
 nue commissioners. 
 
 46. Q. Does any inconvenience arise from making 
 
 the revenue commissio7iers also judges of cir- 
 cuit 1 
 A. Such an union of offices is quite incompatible 
 and injurious. The judge of circuit discharges 
 duties of the highest importance, being invested 
 with the power of life and death, and imprison- 
 ment during life in chains, the infliction of corporal 
 punishment, and the confiscation of property. 
 He is, besides, charged with the preservation of 
 peace and good order in several extensive districts ; 
 and it is morally impossible, therefore, that he can 
 fulfil the expectation of Government and the pub- 
 lic, if his attention be at the same time engrossed
 
 28 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 and distracted by political, commercial, or revenue 
 transactions. In criminal suits, moreover, he la- 
 bours under a peculiar disadvantage, not being 
 assisted by a bar composed of persons of liberal 
 education, or by a body of honest, intelligent, and 
 independent jurors. The former often proves of 
 essential service to the bench in the king's courts, 
 by able expositions of the law as applicable to 
 every case, by great acuteness in cross-examining 
 witnesses, and in the detection of false evidence ; 
 while the importance of the jury is universally 
 acknowledged. 
 
 Par. 2. Formerly, when the judges of the pro- 
 vincial courts of appeal did the duties of the circuit, 
 one or two of them used to remain at the station, 
 to attend to the necessary current business, while 
 the others (one, or sometimes two,) were on circuit. 
 But on the present system, the commissioner of 
 revenue being also judge of circuit, when he goes 
 on circuit, all references to him, by the collectors 
 under his jurisdiction, often remain unanswered, 
 and the most important matters in the revenue 
 business are entirely suspended for months toge- 
 ther. Although the former Mohammedan govern- 
 ments were subject to the charge of indifference 
 about the administration of justice, they yet per- 
 ceived the evils liable to arise from an union of 
 revenue and judicial duties. No judge or judicial 
 officer empowered to try capital crimes, (as Cazees
 
 OF IXDIA. 29 
 
 or Muftis) was ever suffered to become a collector 
 of revenue. 
 
 Par. 3. The separation of these two offices has 
 also been established by long practice under the 
 British government, being one of the leading prin- 
 ciples of the system introduced by Lord Corn- 
 wallis. Accordingly those young civilians who 
 attached themselves to the revenue line of the 
 service, have advanced by successive steps in that 
 line ; while those again who preferred the judicial, 
 have been in like manner continued and promoted 
 through the different grades in that department of 
 public duty. Therefore, by overturning this sys- 
 tem, a gentleman may now be appointed to dis- 
 charge the highest judicial duties, who never be- 
 fore tried the most trivial cause ; and another to 
 superintend the collectors of revenue, to whose 
 duties he has been all his life a stranger. Mr. 
 E. R. Barwell, Revenue Commissioner and Judge 
 of Circuit of the 24 Purgunnahs, Baraset, Jessore 
 and Burrisal, is an example of the former case ; 
 and Mr. H. Braddon, Revenue Commissioner and 
 Judge of Circuit of Burdwan, Jungul Muhal, and 
 Hooghley is an instance of the latter.* 
 
 Par. 4. The remedy I beg to propose, without 
 further expence attending the establishment, is to 
 separate the duties between two distinct sets of 
 
 * Vide the Directories containing- the list of civil servants in 
 Bengal.
 
 30 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 officers, and double the jurisdiction of each. By 
 this arrangement each gentleman discharging one 
 class of duties would find them more easy and 
 simple, though the field embraced was more ex- 
 tensive, and the expence would be the same as 
 under the present system. 
 
 Par. 5. The duties of judges and magistrates 
 are not so incompatible as those of the judges of 
 circuit and the commissioners of revenue ; but still 
 separation of these duties is advisable on account 
 of the great weight of the business in the Zillah and 
 city courts. Therefore these two offices (the office 
 of judge and that of magistrate) should be exer- 
 cised by different individuals. However, the ma- 
 gistrates should assist the judges in the execution 
 of their decrees or orders as they have hitherto 
 done in those districts where the offices of judge 
 and magistrate are separate. 
 
 47. Q. What delay generally takes place in the 
 
 decision of causes ? 
 A. In the Zillah courts a cause may be pending 
 on an average about two or three years ; in the 
 courts of appeal four or five years ; and in the 
 Sudder Dewanee Adawlut the same period. But 
 if the property in dispute amount to the value of 
 about 50,000 rupees, so as to admit of an appeal 
 to the king in council, the probable period of de- 
 lay in the decision of such an appeal is better 
 known to the authorities here than to myself. 
 
 48. Q. What is the cause of such delay?
 
 OF INDIA. 31 
 
 A. It must be acknowledged that irregularity 
 in attending to the discharge of the judicial du- 
 ties, and the want of proper discipline or controul 
 over the judicial officers, are the main causes of 
 obstruction in the dispatch of the judicial busi- 
 ness ; and these daily growing evils in every branch 
 of the judicial establishment, have in a great mea- 
 sure defeated the object which the government 
 had in view in establishing it. For example, a 
 bill of complaint written on stamp, the first paper 
 in a suit, cannot easily be got on the file unless it 
 be accompanied with some perquisite to the na- 
 tive recorder, whose duty it is to ascertain, first, 
 whether the sum in dispute correspond with the 
 value of the stamp, an act which may be accom- 
 plished in a minute or a week, just as it suits the 
 inclination of the examiner. The case is the same 
 with respect to the issuing of the summonses 
 prepared by another native officer, to command 
 the attendance of the person sued, either in per- 
 son or by a pleader to put in his answer. Sum- 
 monses, subpoenas, and the processes of the pro- 
 vincial courts are issued against individuals through 
 the judge of the district in which they reside, and 
 a certain period is always allowed for the serving 
 these processes ; but neither are the Zillah judges, 
 whose time is otherwise fully occupied, punctual 
 in observing those subordinate duties, nor does the 
 higher court, which is occupied by other impor- 
 tant business, take any early notice of the expi-
 
 32 JUDICIAL SYSTilM 
 
 ration of the time allowed for making the return. 
 The parties are therefore obliged to cultivate a 
 friendly understanding not only with the officers 
 of the provincial court, but also with those of the 
 Zillah or city court. Whether the defendant at- 
 tends immediately or long after the time allowed 
 him, or whether he files his answer within the re- 
 gular prescribed period, or a year afterwards, is 
 treated as if practically immaterial. But delay 
 unintentionally allowed to the parties in filing the 
 requisite papers and in producing their documents 
 and witnesses, is the too frequent source of great 
 abuses ; as the opportunity thus afforded by de- 
 lay is embraced to invent stories and forge docu- 
 ments in support of them, to procure false wit- 
 nesses and to instruct them in the manner that 
 appears best calculated to serve the purposes in 
 view. 
 
 Par. 2. Moreover, some of the judges are very 
 irregular in calling on causes, choosing any day 
 and any time that suits their convenience to oc- 
 cupy the bench singly. The pleaders being na- 
 tives of the country have little or no influence over 
 the conduct of the judges to prevent such irregu- 
 larities, and dare not hint dissatisfaction. 
 
 Par. 3. I would suggest, with a view to remove 
 irregularities originating in a want of official con- 
 troul, without disregard to economy, that the head 
 writer in each court be required to discharge this 
 duty with some extra remuneration for the same,
 
 OF INDIA, 33 
 
 and be made strictly responsible under an ade- 
 quate penalty, with proper sureties for his con- 
 duct, liable, jointly with him, for any fine he may 
 incur, by want of punctuality proved against him 
 by either party, on complaint to the judge of the 
 court, or of a superior court, or to the judicial 
 secretary. 
 
 Par. 4. This superintendant or clerk of the pa- 
 pers, should be required to place on the file in open 
 court, bills of complaint as well as answers and re- 
 plies, &c. within the period prescribed inRegulation 
 IV. of 1793. These should not be admitted to the 
 records after the time allowed, unless the judge, 
 on motion publicly made, find sufficient reason 
 for prolonging the period, say a week or two in 
 particular cases. 
 
 Par. 5. The clerk of the papers should vigilant- 
 ly watch that no delay takes place in issuing sum- 
 monses, subpoenas, and other process of the court ; 
 and that the day on which these are ordered to be 
 issued, and the day on which their return is ex- 
 pected should be correctly registered in a separate 
 book kept on purpose. 
 
 Par. 6. In case of neglect or wilful disobe- 
 dience, the superintendant of the papers should im- 
 mediately submit the circumstance to the notice 
 of the judge. Should the neglect be on the part 
 of the prosecutor, the judge ought immediately to 
 pronounce nonsuit, and if on the part of the de- 
 fendant, proceed e.v jmrte without allowing the 
 
 D
 
 34 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 neglect to be remedied. Or if the judge do not 
 attend to these rules, the clerk of the papers 
 should be bound to report the circumstance to 
 the superior court, or the judicial secretary on pain 
 of forfeiting his situation. A separate register of 
 the returns should also be kept, as well as a regis- 
 ter shewing the time when the defendant's answer 
 must be filed — say one month from the day when 
 the summonses are served, as is the case with 
 equity suits in Calcutta ; also shewing the hours 
 during which the judge may attend on public duty, 
 and likewise his occasional absence from court with 
 the alleged cause thereof. The superintendant 
 should transmit monthly a copy of each register, 
 with his own remarks, to government through the 
 secretary in the judicial department, for its parti- 
 cular attention to every breach of regularity there- 
 in mentioned. 
 
 Par. 7. With a view to the same end, every per- 
 son who chooses should have a right to be present 
 during the trial of causes in any court : the courts, 
 as is generally the case at present, should be so 
 constructed as to aiford facilities for a considerable 
 number of persons hearing and witnessing the 
 whole proceedings : any one who chose should be 
 entitled to make notes of the same and publish 
 them, or cause theai to be published, in any man- 
 ner he may think proper for general information, 
 subject to prosecution for any intentional error 
 or misrepresentation that might be judicially prov-
 
 or INDIA. 35 
 
 ed ag^ainst him before a competent tribunal, and 
 to incur such penalty as it might award. This 
 measure would tend to remove the evil pointed 
 out in answer to Query 7, No. 4. 
 
 49. Q. What number of causes may be pending 
 
 at one time, and undisposed of in the district 
 
 courts and courts of appeal ? 
 A. This depends partly on the comparative de- 
 gree of industry and attention to business bestow- 
 ed by the judicial officers, partly on the extent of 
 the district, and amount of business within the 
 jurisdiction of the respective courts. However the 
 average number of causes pending may be ascer- 
 tained by a reference to the registers kept, which 
 are not at present accessible to me. My impres- 
 sion is that in some districts they are very numer- 
 ous. But to shew how much the vigilance and 
 activity of a public officer may accomplish, even 
 in so extensive a district as Hoogley, I may men- 
 tion that there, under Mr. D. C. Smith, every case 
 is decided in the course of four, five or six months. 
 In the courts of appeal the causes pending are 
 very numerous. Conscientious and active as Mr. 
 Smith is, he is often obliged, from the pressure of 
 business, judicial and magisterial, to authorise his 
 native judicial officers to take the depositions of 
 witnesses in the civil suits. 
 
 50. Q. Could the number of appeal cases be re- 
 
 duced without any disadvantage! 
 A. Yes, certainly, not only without disadvan- 
 D 2
 
 c{6 JLTDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 tage but with great positive advantage. 1st, By 
 introducing a more regular system of filing papers 
 and bringing on causes, as above suggested, in 
 ansvs^er to Q. 48. 2nd, By the aid of a jury and 
 joint native judge, as proposed in reply to Q. 30. 
 3d, By allovs^ing of no appeal unless when there 
 is a difference of opinion in the zillah or city court 
 in giving sentence, as noticed in reply to the 
 Query 36. By these means the business would 
 be at once conducted with more dispatch, and 
 with more accuracy ; so many litigious suits would 
 not occur ; and there would be very little need of 
 appeals to revise the decisions. 
 
 51. Q. Has the right of appeal to the King in 
 Council pi^oved beneficial or otherwise ? 
 
 A. Owing to the vast distance, the heavy ex- 
 pence, and the very great delay which an appeal 
 to England necessarily involves, owing also to the 
 inaccuracies in the translations of the papers pre- 
 pared after decision and sent to this country, and 
 to other causes, I think the right of appeal to the 
 king in council is a great source of evil and must 
 continue to be so, unless a specific court of appeal 
 be created here expressly for Indian appeal causes 
 above 10,000/. At the same time to remove the 
 inaccuracies above noticed, three qualified persons 
 (a European, a Mussulman, and a Hindu) should 
 be nominated joint translators, and the translations 
 should be furnished within one year from the 
 conclusion of the proceedings in India, and both
 
 OF INDIA. 37 
 
 parties should be allowed to examine the accuracy 
 of the translations thus prepared.* But if the ap- 
 pellant neglect to pay the fees of translation with- 
 in two months after the decision, the appeal should 
 be quashed. 
 
 52. Q. What is the nature of the duties assigtied 
 to the revenue commissio7iei^s ? 
 
 A. They exercise a general superintendence 
 and controul over the revenue collectors, with 
 powers similar to those vested in the board at 
 Calcutta, formerly called the board of revenue, 
 and in the board of commissioners for the upper 
 provinces. That board at Calcutta is now the supe- 
 rior authority to which an appeal may be made 
 from the decisions of the present commissioners, 
 (it is in consequence now generally termed the 
 S udder or supreme board), and thence to the go- 
 vernment itself. In other words the office of com- 
 missioner is a substitute for the board of revenue, 
 but an appeal being allowed from the one to the 
 other, of course there is abundance of appeals and 
 
 * In noticing this circumstance, I by no means intend to make 
 the least insinuation to the prejudice of the present translators ; 
 but make the statement from my own observation of various 
 translations, and my own experience of the great difficulty, or 
 rather impracticability, of rendering accurately large masses of 
 documents from an oriental tongue, and frequently a provincial 
 dialect, into a European language, of which the idioms are so 
 widely different, unless the translator be assisted by persons pos- 
 sessing peculiar vernacular knowledge of the various localities.
 
 38 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 a great part of the business is thus transacted twice 
 or thrice over. 
 
 53. Q. What is the nature of the duties assigned 
 
 to them as judges of the circuit ? 
 A. As judges of circuit they exercise control 
 over the magistrates, and try the higher classes of 
 criminal causes, which involve a question of life 
 or death, or severe punishment ; and an appeal 
 lies from them to the S udder Nizamut Adawlat, 
 the highest criminal tribunal. 
 
 54. Q. Does not the discharge of one class of du- 
 
 ties interfere with the discharge of another 
 class, which seems to be of a very different 
 nature ? 
 A. As above noticed (Ans. to Q. 46.), while 
 they are engaged in the duties of their circuit 
 court, the reports and references from the revenue 
 collectors must remain for several months unan- 
 swered ; and not only do the people suffer in con- 
 sequence, but the public business stagnates, as 
 already observed. 
 
 55 and 56. Q. What is the iiature of the func- 
 tions of the judge of circuit, and his native 
 law assessor! Do they afford each other 
 recipi^ocal assistance in the discharge of their 
 duties ? 
 A. Both take cognizance of the charges brought 
 before the magistrates and sent to their court ; 
 both hear the evidence and examine the wit- 
 nesses, and both give their voice in passing the
 
 OF INDIA. 39 
 
 decision, as I observed in Par. 1st, of my Ans. to 
 Q. 30. In a vague sense the Mohammedan law 
 assessor may be considered as analagous to the 
 jury in English courts, while the European judi- 
 cial officer is the judge. 
 
 57. Q. Are the judges generally competent to the 
 
 discharge of their duties ? 
 A. Some of them are highly qualified ; but it 
 is not expected that European judges should be 
 generally competent to determine difficult ques- 
 tions of evidence among a people whose language, 
 feelings, and habits of thinking and acting are so 
 totally different from their own. 
 
 58. Q. A7'e the native law assessors generally 
 
 competent ? 
 A. They are generally so : some of the Muftis 
 (Mussulman law assessors) are men of such high 
 honour and integrity, that they may be entrusted 
 with the power of a jury with perfect safety ; and 
 they are all of the most essential utility, and in- 
 deed the main instrument for expediting the busi- 
 ness of the criminal courts. However highly or 
 moderately qualified the European judges may 
 have been, the business has been advantageously 
 conducted through the assistance and co-operation 
 of these Mohammedan assessors for a period of 
 40 years past. 
 
 59. Q. If they should differ in opinion, ivhat 
 
 course is adopted^
 
 40 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 A. The case is then referred to the Nizamut 
 Adawlat (the highest criminal tribunal). 
 
 60. Q. What course do the Judges of the Ni- 
 zamut Adawlat adopt ? 
 
 A, If the judge of the supreme criminal court, 
 before whom the referred case comes, should, 
 after consulting with the Muftis of that court, 
 concur in the opinion of the circuit judge, his 
 decision is confirmed and carried into execution. 
 But should the Sudder Nizamut (supreme crimi- 
 nal) judge differ from the opinion of the circuit 
 judge, the case is then submitted to a second, or 
 if necessary, to a third Sudder Nizamut judge, 
 and the opinion given by two Sudder judges 
 against one, is final. 
 
 Q\. Q. Are the Judges of the supreme crimi- 
 nal court also Judges of the highest civil 
 court ? 
 
 A. Yes ; and very deservedly. 
 
 62. Q. Are they generally competent to the dis- 
 
 charge of their duties t 
 A. I have already observed (Q. 42.) that they 
 are highly competent. 
 
 63. Q. As it is of the highest importance that 
 
 the courts of circuit should be above all 
 
 corruptio7i ; can you suggest any means of 
 
 improving them 1 
 
 A. Courts which have the disposal of life and 
 
 death are undoubtedly of very high importance ;
 
 OF INDIA. 41 
 
 and I would therefore propose instead of only one 
 law assessor (who stands in place of a jury) that 
 three or five (at least three) law assessors should be 
 attached to each court, while trials are going on. 
 
 64. Q. Frojii what class of men would you select 
 the juries in the criminal courts ? 
 
 A. The criminal law now established in India 
 has been very judiciously founded on the Moham- 
 medan criminal lav/. It has however been so 
 greatly modified by the acts of government from 
 time to time since 1793, that it, in fact, constitutes 
 a new system of law, consisting partly of its origi- 
 nal basis, and partly of the government regulations. 
 But it has been made a regular study only by the 
 respectable Mohammedans, who when they attain 
 a certain proficiency are styled Maulavies, a term 
 equivalent to Doctors of Law. Formerly two of 
 these were attached to each court of circuit, and 
 one to each district court. Of late the office of 
 Maulavi of circuit having been abolished, the 
 Maulavi or Mufti of the Zillah (district) court has 
 been ordered by government to officiate as Mufti 
 of circuit, while the judge of circuit is engaged in 
 the trial of the criminal causes of that district. 
 Thus he alone, as assessor of the judge of circuit, is 
 entrusted with the powers usually assigned to a 
 jury in a British court; having the power of de- 
 livering his opinion on every case at the close of 
 the trial. 
 
 Par. 2. With a view to lessen the abuse of the
 
 42 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 great power thus given, it is highly desirable that 
 government should adopt the following precaution : 
 The judge of circuit previous to his departure for 
 any Zillah (district) or city to try criminal causes, 
 should summon, through the magistrate, one or 
 two additional Maulavis attached to the adjacent 
 courts, with a few other learned, intelligent and 
 respectable inhabitants of that district or city, to 
 join, him on his arrival with a moderate extra al- 
 lowance for their services, and every morning be- 
 fore he takes his seat on the bench, the judge 
 should, without previous intimation, direct three 
 of them to sit with him during the whole trials 
 that may come on for that day as his law assessors ; 
 and they should be required to deliver their opi- 
 nions in each case in open court, immediately after 
 the close of the proceedings, without previous op- 
 portunity of communicating with any one whatever, 
 on the same principle as an English jury : and the 
 judge should immediately inform the parties of 
 the verdict, to put an end to all intrigues. The 
 judge of circuit should also be required to keep a 
 vigilant watch over the proceedings of the magis- 
 trates within his jurisdiction, and to institute an 
 investigation personally and on the spot, into any 
 complaint preferred against them, whenever he sees 
 sufficient ground for adopting this prompt measure ; 
 and the judge of circuit only should have the 
 power of inflicting corporal punishment; not any
 
 , OF INDIA. 43 
 
 magistrate as injudiciously authorised by Regula- 
 tion IX. of 1807, Sec. 19th. 
 
 65. Q. What would be their duty ? precisely like 
 that of a jury, or like that of the law as- 
 sessors as hitherto employ edl 
 
 A. More resembling that of the law assessors as 
 hitherto employed. The difference between them 
 is not important, and the result would be the 
 same. 
 
 QQ. Q. Should not the jury he selected from per- 
 sons of all religious sects and divisions 1 
 
 A. Since the criminal law has hitherto been 
 administered by the Mohammedans ; to conciliate 
 this class, the assessors should still be selected 
 from among them, until the other classes may 
 have acquired the same qualifications, and the 
 Mohammedans may become reconciled to co-ope- 
 rate with them. 
 
 67. Q. Do you think any alteration necessary in 
 
 the system of criminal law now established? 
 A. As the criminal laws now established are 
 already in general very familiar to the natives, I 
 think they may better remain in their present state, 
 until the government may be able to introduce a 
 regular code. 
 
 68. Q. In ivhat manner do you think a code of 
 
 criminal law could be framed suitable to the 
 wants of the country 1 
 A. A code of criminal law for India should be
 
 44 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 founded as far as possible on those principles 
 which are common to, and acknowledged by all 
 the different sects and tribes inhabiting the coun- 
 try. It ought to be simple in its principles, clear 
 in its arrangement, and precise in its definitions ; 
 so that it may be established as a standard of cri- 
 minal justice in itself, and not stand in need of 
 explanation by a reference to any other books 
 of authority, either Mohammedan or Christian. 
 It is a subject of general complaint that per- 
 sons of a certain high rank, however profligate some 
 of them may be, are, from political considerations, 
 exempted from the jurisdiction or controul of the 
 courts of law. To remedy this inconvenience, in 
 the proposed code, so as to give general satisfac- 
 tion, without disregarding the political distinc- 
 tions hitherto observed, it may perhaps be expe- 
 dient for government to order such persons to be 
 tried by a special commission, composed of three 
 or more persons of the same rank. This very re- 
 gulation, when once known to them, would, in all 
 probability, deter them from committing any very 
 gross act of tyranny or outrage upon their de- 
 pendents or others. 
 
 69. Q. What period of time would it take to frame 
 such a code, and by whom could it he done 
 satisfactorily ? 
 
 A. It must require at least a couple of years to 
 do it justice ; and it ought to be drawn up by per- 
 sons, thoroughly acquainted with Mohammedan
 
 OF INDIA. . 45 
 
 and Hindu law, as well as the general principles of 
 British law. 
 
 70. Q. Are the Judges capable of regulating their 
 
 proceedings by such a code of laws ? 
 A. At present they are not generally capable 
 of performing their judicial duties independent of 
 the aid of the assessors ; but with a proper code, 
 as above supposed, they might most of them, in 
 no great period, by making it a regular study, be- 
 come much more capable of administering justice 
 by it than they are by the present system. 
 
 71, 72. Q. Would not the detention of the young 
 civilia?js in England to obtain a regular 
 legal education be injuinous by delaying 
 their proceeding to India for several years, 
 at that period of life, wheti they are 
 best capable to acquii^e the native languages'^ 
 Do you conceive that any disadvantages 
 arise from civilians going out at an early 
 
 age 
 
 A. This is a subject which merits the deepest 
 consideration of the legislature. Young men sent 
 out at an early age, before their principles are 
 fixed, or their education fully matured, with the 
 prospect of the highest power, authority, and in- 
 fluence before them, occupying already the first 
 rank in society immediately on their arrival, and 
 often without the presence of any parent, or near 
 relative to advise, guide or check them, and sur- 
 rounded by persons ready, in the hope of future
 
 46 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 favours and patronage, to flatter their vanity and 
 supply money to almost any extent to their too 
 easily excitable passions — are evidently placed 
 in a situation calculated to plunge them into many 
 errors, make them overstep the bounds of duty 
 to their fellow creatures and fellow subjects, and 
 to relax whatever principles of virtue may have 
 been implanted in their yet inexperienced minds. 
 The excuse made for so injudicious an arrange- 
 ment, that it is favourable to the acquisition of the 
 native languages, is of no weight ; for it may be 
 observed that the missionaries, who are usually 
 sent out at the age of from 25 to 35 years, acquire 
 generally in two or three years so thorough a 
 knowledge of these languages as to be able to 
 converse freely in them and even to address a 
 native audience with fluency in their own tongue. 
 In fact the languages are easily acquired at a ma- 
 ture as well as at an immature age by free commu- 
 nication with the people. Moreover, by the sys- 
 tem of native assessors, juries and other helps to 
 the judges and magistrates, and by the gradual 
 substitution of English for Persian, as above pro- 
 posed, so extensive and minute a knowledge of 
 the native languages would not be requisite. In 
 short from the present system of sending out 
 youths at so early an age very serious evils arise 
 to themselves, as well as to the Government, and 
 to the public. 1st, With respect to themselves, 
 they are too often seduced into habits which
 
 OF INDIA. 47 
 
 prove ruinous to their health and to their for- 
 tunes, becoming thereby involved in debts from 
 which many of them are never afterwards able 
 to extricate themselves without having recourse 
 to improper means. 2dly, These embarrassments 
 interfere very seriously with their duty to Govern- 
 ment and the public, as the persons to whom they 
 are indebted generally surround them, and seize 
 every opportunity of enriching themselves which 
 their situation and influence put in their way. 
 3dly, Their indiscreet choice of native officers 
 from youthful partialities, and the thoughtless 
 habits acquired in early days, amid power and 
 influence, prove very injurious to the community. 
 Therefore no civil servant should be sent to India 
 under 24 or at least 22 years of age, and no can- 
 didate among them should be admitted into the 
 judicial line of the service, unless he can produce 
 a certificate from a professor of English law to 
 prove that he possesses a competent knowledge 
 of it. Because, though he is not to administer 
 English law, his proficiency therein will be a 
 proof of his capacity for legal studies and judicial 
 duties, and a knowledge of the principles of juris- 
 prudence as developed in one system of law will 
 enable him to acquire more readily any other sys- 
 tem ; just as the study of the ancient and dead 
 languages improves our knowledge of the modern 
 tongues. This is so important, that no public 
 authority should have the power of violating the
 
 48 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 rule, by admitting to the exercise of judicial func- 
 tions any one who has not been brought up a 
 lawyer. 
 
 73. Q. Hoiv are the laws of inheritance regu- 
 
 lated ? 
 A. The property of Mohammedans descends and 
 is divided according to their own law of inheri- 
 tance ; and the property of Hindus according to 
 theirs ; and of other sects also agreeably to their 
 respective laws of inheritance. 
 
 74. Q. What books do the Hindu lawyers offi- 
 
 cially attached to the courts follow as law 
 
 authorities ? 
 A. There are various books, but in Bengal they 
 chiefly follow the Dayabhaga, with occasional 
 reference to other authorities ; and in the western 
 province, and a great part of the Dakhan they 
 follow the Mitakshara principally. 
 
 75. Q. What books do the Mahommedan lawyers 
 follow as authorities ? 
 
 A. The majority of the Mussulmans of Hindu- 
 stan follow the doctrines of Abu HanTfah and his 
 disciples ; consequently the Hidiiya is their chief 
 law authority ; but they also refer to some other 
 books of decision or cases, such as the Fatawae 
 AlamgirT and others. 
 
 76. Q. Is there any mode by which the law 
 
 authorities, now so voluminous and per- 
 p leaving, might be simplified in such a 
 manner as to prevent the native lawyers
 
 OF INDIA. 49 
 
 from misleading the comets, and confounding 
 the rights of property ? 
 A. To effect this great and pre-eminently im- 
 portant object, a code of civil law should be for- 
 med on similar principles to these already sug- 
 gested for the criminal code, and this, as well as 
 the former, should be accurately translated, and 
 published under the authority of government. By 
 printing off large impressions, and distributing 
 them, at prime cost, in the current languages of 
 the people, they might render the rights of pro- 
 perty secure ; since, these being clear and well 
 known to the whole community, it would be im- 
 possible for any designing man to induce an intelli- 
 gent person to enter upon litigious suits. The 
 law of inheritance should, of course, remain as at 
 present with modifications peculiar to the differ- 
 ent sects, until by the diffusion of intelligence 
 the whole community may be prepared to adopt 
 one uniform system. At present when a new 
 regulation, drawn up by any officer of govern- 
 ment and submitted to it, is approved of, it imme- 
 diately becomes law when promulgated, the 
 same as an act of parliament in this country, 
 when approved of, discussed, and sanctioned by 
 king, lords and commons. From the want of 
 sufficient local knowledge and experience on the 
 part of the framers of such regulations, they are 
 often found not to answer in practice, and the 
 local government is thus frequently obliged to 
 
 E
 
 50 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 rescind the whole or part of them. I would 
 therefore suggest that if any new regulation be 
 thought necessary before the completion of the 
 civil and criminal codes above proposed, great 
 care and precaution should be observed in its 
 enactment. With this view every such project 
 of law before it is finally adopted by the go- 
 vernment, should be printed and a copy sent 
 directly from government, not only to the Judges 
 of the Sudder Dewanee Adawlat, and the members 
 of the Board of Revenue &c., but also to the 
 advocate-general on the part of the Honourable 
 Company, to the principal Zamindars, such as the 
 Rajahs of Burdwan, Behar, Benares, &c., and to 
 the highly respectable merchants such as Jaggat 
 Set at Murshedabad, Baboo Bajnath atPatna, and 
 the representatives of Baboo Manohar Dass at 
 Benares, also to the Muftis of the Sudder Dewan- 
 nee Adawlat, and the head native officers of the 
 Boards of Revenue, for their opinion on each 
 clause of the Regulation to be sent in writing 
 within a certain period. Because these being the 
 persons who are affected by the Regulations, they 
 will be cautious of recommending any that is in- 
 jurious.* It should still be optional, however, with 
 government to be guided or not by their sugges- 
 
 * In the case of those parties who do not understand Eng- 
 lish, the draft regulations, when sent to them, should be accom- 
 panied with a translation.
 
 O F I N D 1 A . 51 
 
 tions. But a copy of the minutes made by the 
 different parties above named should accompany 
 the Regulations, when these are to be transmitted 
 to England for the consideration of the court 
 of directors, and parliament ; and there should be 
 a standing committee of the House of Commons, 
 to take the whole regulations and minutes into 
 consideration, and report to the House from time 
 to time on the subject, for their confirmation or 
 amendment. 
 
 In such matters as those of war and peace, it 
 may be necessary that the local government 
 should act on its own discretion and respon- 
 sibility according to existing circumstances, not- 
 withstanding the opinion of the government in 
 England. But as the affairs of India have been 
 known to the authorities in Europe, for such 
 a series of years, in matters of legislation, the 
 local government should be bound to carry into 
 effect any regulations or orders in judicial and 
 revenue matters sent out, formally enacted by 
 the British government, or the Court of Directors 
 under the express sanction of the Board of Com- 
 missioners for the controul of the affairs of India, 
 although the local Government might still remon- 
 strate against them to the home authorities. 
 
 The attention thus shewn by the government 
 at home and abroad, to the feelings and interests 
 of the Zamindars, and merchants, as principal 
 members of the community, though it would not 
 
 E 2
 
 52 JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 confer upon them any political power, would give 
 them an interest in the government, and inspire 
 them with greater attachment to it, and also the 
 whole community, as being under their influence, 
 and in general receiving its opinions from them. 
 77. Q. Should the civil servants, in the judicial 
 and revenue departments, be educated e.v- 
 presslyfor the particular litie of the service 
 in which they are engaged, or is it advan- 
 tageous to transfer the7n from one branch of 
 it to another ? 
 A. It is found by experience that persons, by 
 long habit in the performance of any particular du- 
 ties, become not only more dexterous in but more 
 reconciled and even attached to them, and find 
 them less irksome than others to which they have 
 not been accustomed. In my humble opinion, 
 the duties of a judge are not inferior in difficulty 
 to those of any other profession whatever, nor is 
 the qualification requisite for them to be acquired 
 with less experience. It has been alleged that 
 the revenue officers, when converted into judicial 
 officers, must be better judges of revenue causes ; 
 But on this principle, commercial officers ought 
 to become judges for the sake of commercial 
 causes, agriculturists for agricultural causes, and 
 mechanists for mechanical disputes. However, 
 as matters of revenue, commerce, agriculture, &c. 
 are decided on the general principles of law and 
 justice, any such special preparation has never
 
 OF INDIA. 53 
 
 been found necessary : therefore these two 
 classes of duties should be kept quite distinct, if 
 it is wished that either of them be performed well. 
 
 78. Q. Can you offer any other suggestions for 
 the improvement of the Judicial Establish- 
 7nent ? 
 
 A. 1st. In order to keep the judicial officers 
 above temptation, their salaries should not be 
 reduced. 2dly. With the additional aids and 
 checks of joint native judges, assessors, and juries 
 above proposed, (Ans. to Q. 30.) all civil courts of 
 appeal may be dispensed with, except the su- 
 preme civil court (Sudder Dewanee Adawlat,) 
 and thus a very considerable saving may be effect- 
 ed by the government. One tenth of this saving- 
 will suffice to support all the native assessors, 
 juries &c. above recommended (Q. 30.) 3dly, By 
 gradually introducing the natives into the revenue 
 departments under the superintendance of Euro- 
 pean officers, (as I proposed in my Appendix A, on 
 the revenue system,) and in the judicial depart- 
 ment in co-operation with them, the natives may 
 become attached to the present system of govern- 
 ment, so that it may become consolidated, and 
 maintain itself by the influence of the intelligent 
 and respectable classes of the inhabitants, and 
 by the general good will of the people, and not 
 any longer stand isolated in the midst of its sub- 
 jects, supporting itself merely by the exertion 
 of superior force.
 
 54 JUDICIAL SYSTERI 
 
 Par. 2. Should the gradual introduction of 
 the natives into places of authority and trust as 
 proposed, be found not to answer the expecta- 
 tions of Government, it would then have the pow- 
 er of stopping their farther advancement, or even 
 of reversing what might have been already done 
 in their favour. On the contrary, should the pro- 
 posed plan of combining Native with European 
 officers have the effect of improving the condition 
 of the inhabitants and of stimulating them with an 
 ambition to deserve the confidence of the govern- 
 ment, it will then be enabled to form a judgment, 
 of the practicability and expedience of advancing 
 natives of respectability and talent to still higher 
 situations of trust and dignity in the state, either 
 in conjunction with or separately from their Bri- 
 tish fellow subjects. 
 
 Par. 3. In conclusion, I deem it proper to 
 state, that in preparing my replies to these que- 
 ries, I have not been biassed by the opinions of 
 any individual whatsoever ; nor have I consulted 
 with any person or even referred to any work 
 which treats on the subject of India. I have for 
 the facts consulted only my own recollections; 
 and in regard to the opinions expressed, I have 
 been guided only by my conscience, and by the 
 impressions left on my mind by long experience 
 and reflection. In the improvements which I 
 have ventured to suggest, I have kept in view 
 equally the interests of the governors and the go-
 
 OF INDIA. 55 
 
 verned ; and without losing sight of a just re- 
 gard to economy, I have been actuated by a de- 
 sire to see the administration of justice in India 
 placed on a solid and permanent foundation. 
 
 (Signed,) RAMMOHUN ROY. 
 
 London, 
 Sep. \2th, 1831.
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 REVENUE SYSTEM OF INDIA. 
 
 1. Question. By what tenure is land held in the 
 provinces with which you are acquainted ? 
 
 Answer. In the provinces of Bengal, Behar, 
 and part of Orissa {Midnapoor), land is now held 
 by a class of persons called Zamindars (i. e. land- 
 holders), who are entitled to perpetual hereditary 
 possession, on condition of paying to government 
 a certain revenue, fixed on their respective lands. 
 This is termed the Zamindary system. But in the 
 ceded and conquered provinces belonging to the 
 Presidency of Fort William, no fixed agreement 
 has yet been made with the Zamindars as to the 
 amount of assessment. Consequently their es- 
 tates are not in their own hands, but under the 
 immediate management of government, and sub- 
 ject to fresh assessments from time to time at its 
 discretion.
 
 58 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 In the Madras Presidency, the revenue is, for 
 the greater part, collected directly from the cul- 
 tivators, (called Ryots), by the government revenue 
 officers, according to the rate fixed on the differ- 
 ent descriptions of land in various situations. 
 These cultivators may retain possession as long as 
 they pay the revenue demanded from them. 
 
 2. Q. By what tenure was land held under the 
 
 former government ? 
 A. Under the Mohammedan government, lands 
 were held by hereditary right on the Zamindary 
 system (though the revenue M^as sometimes ar- 
 bitrarily encreased) ; and the Zamindars were con- 
 sidered as having a right to their respective es- 
 tates, so long as they paid the public revenue. 
 They were at the same time responsible for any 
 breach of the peace committed within the limits 
 of their estates. In this manner many estates, 
 some of which can yet be referred to, such as 
 Vishnupoor, Nuddea, &c., continued in the same 
 family for several centuries. 
 
 3. Q. Do persons of all religious sects hold hy 
 
 the same tenure 1 
 A. No religious or other distinctions were ob- 
 served under the former government in regard to 
 the holding of land ; at present, Europeans are 
 interdicted by law from becoming proprietors of 
 land, except within the jurisdiction of the British 
 courts of law at the three presidencies, Calcutta, 
 Madras and Bombay.
 
 OF INDIA. 59 
 
 4. Q. Are the estates most usually large or smalll 
 A. In the Bengal presidency the estates are 
 
 many of them considerable, and there are many 
 others of various smaller dimensions ; but in the 
 Madras presidency, where the revenue is collected 
 directly from the cultivators, the district is gene- 
 rally divided into small farms. 
 
 5. Q. Do the proprietors cultivate their own es- 
 
 tates, or let them to tenants ? 
 A. To the best of my knowledge, almost all the 
 land in the Bengal presidency is let out by the 
 proprietors in farms, on a larger or smaller scale. 
 
 6. Q. On what terms are the farms rented 1 
 
 A. The farms are frequently rented by the 
 Zamindar himself to cultivators, often on lease, for 
 payment of a certain fixed rent, and frequently 
 the Zamindar lets the whole, or a great part of his 
 Zamindary to respectable individuals, who realize 
 the rents from the cultivators according to the 
 contracts previously made with them by the Za- 
 mindars, or subsequently by these middlemen. 
 
 7. Q. Does the ordinary rate of rent seem to press 
 
 severely on the tenants ? 
 A. It is considered in theory that the cultivator 
 pays half the produce to the landholder, out of 
 which half, 10-1 Iths or 9-lOths constitute the 
 revenue paid to government, and 1- 10th or 1-1 1th 
 the net rent of the landholder. This half of the 
 produce is a very heavy demand upon the cul- 
 tivator, after he has borne the whole expense of
 
 60 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 seed and labour ; but in practice, under the per- 
 manent settlement since 1793, the landholders 
 have adopted every measure to raise the rents by 
 means of the power put into their hands. 
 
 8. Q. Under the former government had the cul- 
 
 tivator any right in the soil to cultivate in 
 perpetuity on paying a fixed rent not subject 
 to be increased? 
 A. In former times Khud-Kasht Ryots (i.e. cul- 
 tivators of the lands of their own village) were 
 considered as having an absolute right to continue 
 the possession of their lands in perpetuity on pay- 
 ment of a certain fixed rent, not liable to be en- 
 creased. But under an arbitrary government, 
 without any regular administration of justice, their 
 acknowledged rights were often trampled upon. 
 From a reference to the laws and the histories 
 of the country, I believe that lands in India were 
 individual property in ancient times. The right 
 of property seems, however, to have been violated 
 by the Mohammedan conquerors in practice ; and 
 when the British power succeeded that of the 
 Mohammedans, the former naturally adopted and 
 followed up the system which was found to be 
 in force, and they established it both in theory 
 and practice. 
 
 9. Q. Are the tenants now subjected to frequent 
 
 increases of rent ? 
 A. At the time when the permanent settlement 
 was hxed in Bengal (1793), government recog-
 
 OF INDIA. 61 
 
 nized the Zamindars (landholders) as having alone 
 an unqualified proprietary right in the soil, but no 
 such right as belonging to the cultivators {Ryots). 
 (Vide Reg. I. & VIII. of 1793, the foundation of 
 the perpetual settlement.) But by Art. 2. S. 60. 
 of Reg. VIII. of 1793, government declared, that 
 no one should cancel the Pattahs (i. e. the title 
 deeds), fixing the rates of payment for the lands 
 of the Khud-Kasht Ryots (peasants cultivating 
 the lands of their own village), " except upon 
 proof that they had been obtained by collusion," 
 or '* that the rents paid by them within the laSt 
 three years had been below the Nvrkh-bundee (ge- 
 neral rate) of the Purgimnah,'" (particular part 
 of the district where the land is situated) or " that 
 they had obtained collusive deductions," or " upon 
 a general measurement of the Pmgimnah for the 
 purpose of equalizing and correcting the assess- 
 ment." In practice, however, under one or other 
 of the preceding four conditions, the landholders 
 (^Zam'mdxirs), through their local influence and in- 
 trigues, easily succeeded in completely setting 
 aside the rights, even of the Khud-Kasht culti- 
 vators, and encreased their rents. 
 
 10. Q. In what manner was the revenue assessed 
 
 by Government upon each estate, and upon 
 
 what 'principle at the time of the permanent 
 
 settlement ? 
 
 A. In the province of Bengal at the time of 
 
 tlie permanent settlement, (in 1793) the amount of
 
 62 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 the revenue v^^hich had been paid on each estate, 
 {Zamindary) in the preceding year, was taken as 
 a standard of assessment, subject to certain modi- 
 fications. Estates (Taaluks) which had paid a re- 
 venue directly to Government for the twelve years 
 previous without fluctuation, were to be assessed 
 at that rate, and the principle of that assessment 
 was considered to be nearly one half of the gross 
 produce. In Behar and other places the gross 
 amount of the rents arising from an estate was fix- 
 ed upon as the rate of government assessment, al- 
 lowing however a deduction of ten per cent, to the 
 landholder {Zamindar), in the name of proprietors 
 dues {Malikanali), and also something for the ex- 
 pense of collecting the rents, &c. In the upper 
 provinces attached to the Bengal presidency, as 
 before observed, no settlement has yet been con- 
 cluded with the Zamindars (landholders.) The 
 estates {Zamindary s) are sometimes let out by 
 government to the highest bidder, to farmers of 
 revenue on leases of a few years, and in other 
 cases the rents are collected from the cultivators 
 by the government officers. 
 
 11. Q. On what principle do the proprietors of 
 land regulate the rate of rent paid by the 
 tenants 1 
 
 A. The different fields or plots of ground on an 
 estate are classed into 1 st, 2d, 3d, and 4th quality, 
 and certain rates per higah (a well known land 
 measure in India) are affixed to them respectively.
 
 OF INDIA. G3 
 
 agreeable to the established rates in the district. 
 These rates are considered as a standard in settling 
 the rent to be paid by the cultivators. But as the 
 precise quantity of land is always liable to dispute, 
 and fields may be classed in the first, second, third, 
 or fourth quality according to the discretion of the 
 Zamindars or government surveyors, and the 
 measurement is also liable to variation through the 
 ignorance, ill will, or intentional errors of the 
 measurers — there is in practice no fixed standard 
 to afford security to the cultivators for the rate or 
 amount of rent demandable from them, although 
 such a standard is laid down in theory. 
 
 12. Q. Is the rent any specific proportion of the 
 
 gross produce of the landl 
 A. In theory the rent is estimated, as I before 
 observed, at half the gross produce of the land ; 
 it is often encreased however much beyond that 
 amount by various means ; but in places peculiar- 
 ly subject to have the crops destroyed by sudden 
 inundation, or any other casualty, villagers culti- 
 vate generally on condition of receiving half the 
 gross produce and delivering the other half to the 
 landlord (Zamindar). 
 
 13. Q. Is the rent paid in money , in agricultural 
 produce, or in labour ? 
 
 A. The rent is generally paid in money, except 
 under peculiar circumstances, when the agreement 
 is to pay half the gross produce as rent. And it 
 is sometimes paid by labour, when some of the
 
 64 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 villagers enter the service of the landlord (Zamin- 
 dar) on condition of holding certain lands in lieu 
 of their serv^ices. 
 
 14. Q. If in money or produce, at what period of 
 
 the year, and in what pi^oportionl 
 A. The money rent is usually paid by monthly 
 instalments, the heaviest payments being made 
 when the harvest is realized : and the payment in 
 produce is of course exclusively at that season. 
 
 15. Q. Is the revenue in many instances collected 
 
 by government directly from the cultivators, 
 and not from the proprietors, or any set of 
 middlemen 1 
 A. Yes ; very commonly in the Madras presi- 
 dency, and sometimes in the ceded and conquered 
 upper provinces, as above observed (Question 1 0.) 
 Also when lands advertized for sale, in order to 
 realize arrears of revenue, do not find purchasers, 
 they may remain temporarily in the hands of 
 government. 
 
 16. Q. In the event of a proprietor or cultivator 
 falling into arrear in his instalments of re- 
 venue, what means are adopted by the govern- 
 ment for realizing it ? 
 
 A. Various modes have been adopted, but the 
 usual mode now followed, with respect to land- 
 holders i^Zamindars) is, that at the expiration 
 of every third month of the revenue year, should 
 any balance of revenue remain unpaid, the estate 
 in arrear may be advertized for sale.
 
 O F I N D I A . 65 
 
 17. Q. Is theperso7i of the proprietor liable to be 
 
 arrested for the revenue ? 
 A. Should the arrear of revenue due not be 
 realized by the sale of the estate, the person of 
 the proprietor may be seized. 
 
 18. Q. What pj'oportion of the revenue may fall 
 
 into arrear in one year, or what proportion 
 of the land may he subject to legal process by 
 the public authorities for its recovery ? 
 A. Perhaps two fifths, or one half of the whole 
 revenue are usually in arrear, on an average, 
 taking the whole year round, and more than one 
 half of the estates are advertized for sale every 
 year, but comparatively few are actually sold, as 
 many of the proprietors contrive, when pressed by 
 necessity, to raise the money by loan or other- 
 wise. 
 
 19. Q. In the event of the tenants falling into ar- 
 
 rear ivith their rent, what means do the pro- 
 prietors adopt for realizing it ? 
 A. They distrain their moveable property with 
 some exceptions by the assistance of the police 
 officers, and get it sold by means of the judicial 
 authorities. 
 
 20. Q. Do the courts afford the same facilities to 
 
 the proprietors for recovering their i^ents, as 
 
 to the government for realizing its revenue'? 
 
 A. When the revenue of an estate falls into 
 
 arrear, the government by its own authority sells 
 
 the property. But the proprietor cannot sell the
 
 66 revp:nue systetvi 
 
 property of a cultivator, except by the means of 
 the judicial authority, which however generally 
 expedites the recovery of such balances. 
 
 21 Q. In the event of a sale of la?idfor revenue, 
 
 what mock does the collect o?^ adopt in bri?iging 
 
 it to sale ? 
 
 A. When, at the end of the revenue quarter or 
 
 year as before explained, a balance remains due, 
 
 a notice is put up in the collector's office (O^^- 
 
 cherry) announcing that the lands are to be sold, 
 
 unless the balance of revenue be paid up within a 
 
 certain period. On the expiration of this period 
 
 the lands may be sold to the highest bidder at 
 
 public auction by the collector, under the sanction 
 
 of the Board of Revenue. 
 
 22. Q. What period of indulgence is given to the 
 defaulter before the sale takes place ; 
 
 A. A space of from one month to six weeks, 
 and not less than the former period from the time 
 of advertising, is allowed for paying up the arrears 
 before the sale can actually take place. 
 
 23. Q. What previous warning is given to him to 
 
 pay up his arrears, what length of notice of 
 the i?2te?ided sale is given to the public, and in 
 what mode is the notice published. 
 A. First the collector sends a written order to 
 the defaulting landholder, demanding payment of 
 the arrears due. Failing this, a catalogue of the 
 various estates for sale is inserted in the govern- 
 ment gazette, and the particulars of each are ad-
 
 OF INDIA. 67 
 
 vertised in the office of the collector, and of the 
 judicial court and the Board of Revenue. 
 
 24. Q. What class of persons become the principal 
 
 purchasers ? 
 A. Frequentl}'^ other landlords become pur- 
 chasers, and sometimes the proprietors themselves 
 in the name of a trusty agent. Sometimes per- 
 sons engaged in trade, and sometimes the native 
 revenue officers in the name of their confidential 
 friends. 
 
 25. Q. What proportion of the land is purchased 
 
 by the revenue officers f 
 A. The proportion purchased by the revenue 
 officers is now, comparatively very small. 
 
 26. Q. Do they conduct the sales fairly or turn 
 their official influence to their own private 
 advantage t 
 
 A. As such publicity is not given to the notices 
 of sales as the local circumstances require, native 
 revenue officers have sometimes an opportunity, if 
 they choose, of effecting purchases at a reduced 
 price; since the respectable natives in general, 
 living in the country, are not in the habit of rea- 
 ding the government gazette, or of attending the 
 public offices ; and in respect to estates of which 
 the business is transacted by agents, by a collu- 
 sion with them, the estates are sometimes sold at 
 a very low price. 
 
 27. Q. Can you suggest any plan for obviating 
 
 abuses of this kind? 
 F 2
 
 C8 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 A. 1st, The advertisements or notices of sale 
 should first be regularly sent to the parties inter- 
 rested at their own residences, not merely de- 
 livered to their agents. 2dly, They should be fixed 
 up not only in the government offices, but at the 
 chief market places and ferries (ghats) of the dis- 
 trict ; also in those of the principal towns, such as 
 Calcutta, Patna, Murshedabad, Benares, Cawn- 
 pore, 3dly. The police officers should be required 
 to take care that the notices remain fixed up in 
 all these situations from the first announcement 
 till the period of sale. 4thly, The day and hour 
 of sale being precisely fixed, the biddings for aa 
 estate should be allowed to go on for a specific pe- 
 riod — not less than five minutes — that all intending 
 purchasers may have an opportunity of making an 
 offer; and the lapse of that period should be deter- 
 mined by a proper measure of time, as a sand-glass 
 placed on the public table for general satisfaction. 
 
 28. Q. When a cultivatoi^ fails to pay his rent, 
 
 does the proprietor disti^ain or take possession 
 of the tenant's moveables by his own power, 
 or by applying to any legal authority ? 
 A. Already answered. (See Ques. 19.) 
 
 29. Q. Does the legal authority seize upon both 
 
 the moveable and immoveable property, and 
 the person of the tenant for his rent? 
 A. 1st, On a summary application to the po- 
 lice, the moveable property of the tenant, with 
 some exceptions, is distrained by the help of the
 
 OFINDIA. 69 
 
 police officers ; 2ndly, by the ordinary judicial 
 process, the immoveable property of the tenant 
 may be attached, and his person arrested for the 
 recovery of the rest 
 
 30. Q. What is the condition of the cultivator 
 
 under the present Zamindary system of Ben- 
 gal, and Ryotivary system of the Madras 
 Presidency ? 
 A. Under both systems the condition of the 
 cultivators is very miserable ; in the one, they are 
 placed at the mercy of the Zamindars'' avarice and 
 ambition ; in the other, they are subjected to the 
 extortions and intrigues of the surveyors and 
 other government revenue officers. I deeply 
 compassionate both ; with this difference in regard 
 to the agricultural peasantry of Bengal, that there 
 the landlords have met with indulgence from go- 
 vernment in the assessment of their revenue, 
 while no part of this indulgence is extended to- 
 wards the poor cultivators. In an abundant sea- 
 son when the price of corn is low, the sale of their 
 whole crops is required to meet the demands of 
 the landholder, leaving little or nothing for seed 
 or subsistence to the labourer or his family. 
 
 31. Q. Ca7i you j)ropose any plan of improving 
 
 the state of the cultivators and inhabitants at 
 
 large ? 
 A. The new system acted upon during the last 
 forty years, having enabled the landholders to as- 
 certain the full measurement of the lands to their
 
 70 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 own satisfaction, and by successive exactions to 
 raise the rents of the cultivators to the utmost 
 possible extent, the very least I can propose, 
 and the least which government can do for bet- 
 tering the condition of the peasantry, is abso- 
 lutely to interdict any further increase of rent on 
 any pretence whatsoever ; particularly on no 
 consideration to allow the present settled and 
 recognized extent of the land to be disturbed by 
 pretended remeasurements ; as in forming the 
 Permanent Settlement (Reg. I. of 1793. Sec. 8. 
 Art. 1.), the government declared it to be its right 
 and its duty to protect the cultivators as being 
 from their situation most helpless," and " that the 
 landlord should not be entitled to make any ob- 
 jection on this account." Even in the Regula- 
 tion (VIII. of 1793. Sec. 60. Art. 2.), the go- 
 vernment plainly acknowledged the principle of 
 the Khud-Kasht cultivators having a perpetual 
 right in the lands which they cultivated, and ac- 
 cordingly enacted, that they should not be dis- 
 possessed, or have their title deeds cancelled, 
 except in certain specified cases applicable, of 
 course, to that period of general settlement (1793), 
 and not extending to a period of forty years af- 
 terwards. If government can succeed in raising 
 a sufficient revenue otherwise by means of du- 
 ties, &c., or by reducing their establishments, 
 particularly in the revenue department, they may 
 then, in the districts where the rents are very
 
 o r I N D I A . 71 
 
 high, reduce the rents payable by the cultivators 
 to the landholders, by allowing to the latter a 
 proportionate reduction. On this subject I beg 
 to refer to a paper (Appendix A.) which I drew up 
 some time before leaving Bengal, which, with some 
 additional hints and quotations, is subjoined. 
 
 32. Q. A?'e the Zaminclars in the habit of farm- 
 
 ing out their estates to middlemen in order to 
 receive their rents in an aggregate sum, au- 
 thorizing the 7niddlemen to collect the rent 
 from under-tenants ; and if so, how do the 
 middlernen treat the cultivators t 
 A. Such middlemen are frequently employed, 
 and are much less merciful than the Zamindars. 
 
 33. Q. When the cultivators are oppressed by 
 
 the Zaf?iindars or middlemen, are the pre- 
 sent legal authorities conipetent to afford 
 redress 1 
 A. The judicial authorities being few in num- 
 ber, and often situated at a great distance, and 
 the landholders and middlemen being in general 
 possessed of great local influence and pecuniary 
 means, while the cultivators are too poor and too 
 timid to undertake the hazardous and expensive 
 enterprize of seeking redress, 1 regret to say that 
 the legal protection of the cultivators is not at all 
 such as could be desired. 
 
 34. Q. Can you suggest any change in the re- 
 
 venue or judicial system which might secure 
 justice and protection to the cultivators against
 
 72 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 the oppixssion of the Zamiridars, middlemen, 
 
 or officei's of government. 
 A. I have already suggested (see Q. 31.) that 
 no further measurement or encrease of rent on 
 any pretence whatever should be allowed ; 2ndly, 
 Public notices in the current languages of the peo- 
 ple, stating these two points, should be stuck up 
 in every village, and the police officers should be 
 required to take care that these notices remain 
 fixed up at least twelve months ; and to prevent 
 any infringement thereof, on receiving information 
 of any attempt at remeasurement on the part of 
 any landholder {Zamindar^, Sec. 3rdly, Any na- 
 tive judicial commissioner for small debts ij^lunsif) 
 who is authorized to sell distrained property for 
 the recovery of rent, should be required not to 
 proceed to sale unless fully satisfied that the de- 
 mand of the Zamindar had not exceeded the rate 
 paid in the preceding year ; and if not satisfied 
 of this, he should immediately release the pro- 
 perty by application to the police. 4thly, That 
 the judge or magistrate be required to hold a court 
 one day in the week for cases of this kind, and, 
 on finding any Zamindar guilty of demanding 
 more than the rent of the preceding years, should 
 subject such offender to a severe fine ; and on 
 discovering any police officer or native commis- 
 sioner guilty of connivance or neglect, he should 
 subject them to fine and dismissal from the ser- 
 vice. 5lhly, The judge or magistrate in each dis-
 
 or INDIA. 73 
 
 trict should be directed to make a tour of the dis- 
 trict once a year, in the cold season, in order to 
 see that the above laws and regulations for the 
 protection of the poor peasantry are properly 
 carried into effect. 6th, and lastly. The collector 
 should be required to prepare a general register 
 of all the cultivators, containing their names, their 
 respective portions of land, and respective rents 
 as permanently fixed according to the system 
 proposed. 
 
 35. Q. Is the condition of the cultivators improved 
 
 within your recollection of the country ? 
 A. According to the best of my recollection 
 and belief, their condition has not been improving 
 in any degree. 
 
 36. Q. Has the condition of the proprietors of land 
 
 imp7^oved under the present system of assess- 
 
 ment ? 
 A. Undoubtedly : their condition has been 
 much improved ; because, being secured by the 
 permanent settlement against further demands of 
 revenue, in proportion to the improvement of 
 their estates, they have in consequence brought 
 the waste lands into cultivation, and raised the 
 rents of their tenantry, and thus encreased their 
 own incomes, as well as the resources of the 
 country. 
 
 37. Q. Has the government sustained any loss by 
 
 concluding the permanent settlement of 1793 
 in Bengal, Bchar, and part of Orissa, with-
 
 74 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 out taking more time to ascertain the net pro- 
 duce of the land, or waiting for further en- 
 crease of revenue. 
 A. The amount of assessment fixed on the lands 
 of these provinces at the time of the permanent 
 settlement (1793), was as high as had ever been 
 assessed, and in many instances higher than had 
 ever before been realized by the exertions of any 
 government, Mohammedan or British. Therefore 
 the government sacrificed nothing in concluding 
 that settlement. If it had not been formed, the 
 landholders (Zamindars) would always have taken 
 care to prevent the revenue from encreasing by 
 not bringing the waste lands into cultivation, and 
 by collusive arrangements to elude further de- 
 mands ; while the state of the cultivators would 
 not have been at all better than it is now. How- 
 ever, if the government had taken the whole es- 
 tates of the country into its own hands, as in the 
 ceded and conquered provinces, and the Madras 
 Presidency, then, by allowing the landholders 
 only ten per cent, on the rents (Malikanah), and 
 securing all the rest to the government, it might 
 no doubt have encreased the revenue for a short 
 time. But the whole of the landlords in the 
 country would then have been reduced to the 
 same wretched condition as they are at present in 
 the ceded and conquered provinces of the Bengal 
 Presidency, or rather annihilated, as in many 
 parts of the Madras territory ; and the whole po-
 
 OF INDIA. 75 
 
 pulation reduced to the same level of poverty. 
 At the same time, the temporary encrease of re- 
 venue to government under its own immediate 
 management would also have soon fallen off, 
 through the misconduct and negligence of the 
 revenue officers, as shewn by innumerable in- 
 stances in which the estates were kept khas ; 
 i. e. under the immediate management of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 38. Q. Whi/ are lands so frequent li/ sold for ar- 
 rears of revenue, and transferred from one 
 set of hands to another ? 
 
 A. For ten or twelve years after the introduc- 
 tion of the permanent settlement, the old Zamin- 
 dars, from adhering to their ancient habits of 
 managing their estates by agents, and neglecting 
 their own affairs, very soon lost a great part of 
 their lands, and some the whole ; the purchasers, 
 by their active exertions and outlay of capital, 
 improved many of their estates, and encreased 
 their own fortune : but many of their heirs and 
 successors again becoming less active and more 
 extravagant, by rivalry with each other in nuptial 
 entertainments, funeral rites, and other religious 
 ceremonies, frequently run into debt, and brought 
 their estates again into the market. 
 
 39 and 40 Q. Do the lands sold for arrears 
 usually realize the ?xvenue clabyied by go- 
 vernment, and fetch their full value ? If 
 not, what is the cause of the depreciation ?
 
 70 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 A. They generally realize the revenue due from 
 them ; not alw^ays, however, as they are sold 
 sometimes even below the amount of arrears due 
 by the proprietors, owing to the want of due pub- 
 licity and consequent absence of competitors ; or 
 to collusive sales of the estates as before observed 
 (see Ans. to Quest. 26). 
 
 41. Q. After the sale of the lands, should the 
 
 arrears not be realized, does the government 
 seize upon the person of the proprietor ? 
 A. Yes : the government seizes his person, and 
 
 any other property government may discover him 
 
 to be possessed of, is sold. 
 
 42. Q. If so, is there any limit to his confinement, 
 
 e.vcept payment of the debt 1 
 A. There is no specified limit to the best of my 
 recollection ; but after government is satisfied 
 that he has given up all his property, he may ob- 
 tain his release from its humanity. 
 
 43. Q. Have the cultivators any 7neans of accu- 
 
 mulating capital under the present system ? 
 A. Certainly not : very often when grain is 
 abundant, and therefore cheap, they are obliged, 
 as already observed, to sell their whole produce 
 to satisfy the demands of their landlords, and to 
 subsist themselves by their own labour. In scarce 
 and dear years they may be able to retain some 
 portion of the crop to form a part of their sub- 
 sistence, but by no means enough for the whole. 
 In short, such is the melancholy condition of the
 
 OF INDIA. 77 
 
 agricultural labourers, that it always gives me the 
 greatest pain to allude to it. 
 
 44. Q. Wheji the gover^nment makes an assess- 
 ment on the fields of the cultivators by means 
 of numerous subordinate officers, is there any 
 effectual mode of preventing collusion, em- 
 bezzlement or oppression in the valuing and 
 measuring of the lands ? 
 I think it is almost impossible under that system, 
 carried on, as it must be, by means of a vast num- 
 ber of individuals who are generally poor, and 
 have no character to support. From their mis- 
 management not only the cultivators suffer, but 
 ultimately the government itself, from the falling 
 off in the revenue, under a system that at once 
 presses down the people and exhausts the re- 
 sources of the country. However, if the government 
 would take the survey and assessment of one of 
 the preceding years as a standard, and prevent 
 any future measurement and assessment, it would 
 relieve the cultivators, from the apprehension of 
 further exactions,* and the collector or the regis- 
 ter of the district should be authorized to grant re- 
 duction to any cultivator subjected to overmeasure- 
 
 * Since writing the above, I happened to meet with a gentle- 
 man from Madras, of high talents and experience, who maintain- 
 ed that no further measurements or assessments are at all allowed 
 in the provinces belonging to that presidency. I felt gratified at 
 the intelligence, and shall feel still more so to find it confirmed by 
 the Regulations of government.
 
 78 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 mcnt on being petitioned, and on personally ascer- 
 taining such to have occurred. 
 
 45. Q. Are collectors generallij competent to super- 
 
 intend personally the revenue affairs of the 
 
 district 1 
 A. From the heat of the climate, and from the 
 difficulty of transacting business in a language 
 which is foreign to them, the collectors in gene- 
 ral for the above reasons, must stand in need of 
 aid from others, whom they employ as instruments 
 in conducting the details. At the same time they 
 have so little intercourse or acquaintance with the 
 native inhabitants, that they must naturally de- 
 pend chiefly on two or three persons who are 
 around them, in whom they generally place confi- 
 dence, and consequently these few who have no 
 chance of bettering their condition from the trifling 
 salaries allowed them, sometimes consult their own 
 interests, rather than those of the government or 
 the people. 
 
 46. Q. Arc the collectors vested with sufficient 
 •power to perform effectually the duties at- 
 tached to their office, or do they enjoy author- 
 ity of an cMent to be injurious to the public 1 
 
 A. Their powers are amply sufficient. The 
 judicial authorities also are always required by the 
 regulations of government to afford them prompt- 
 ly every necessary assistance in the discharge of 
 their duties ; and many collectors are even invest- 
 ed with the additional office and powers of magis-
 
 OF INDIA. 79 
 
 trates; contrary to the judicious system established 
 by Lord Cornwallis, and to the common principles 
 of justice, as they thus become at once parties 
 and judges in their own case ; consequently such 
 powers very often prove injurious to those who at- 
 tempt to maintain their own right against the claims 
 of government, whose agents the collectors are. I 
 much regret such a wide deviation in principle 
 from the system of Lord Cornwallis ; as I think 
 that system, with such modifications and improve- 
 ments as time may suggest, should be maintained 
 as the basis of the revenue and judicial system of 
 India. 
 
 47. Q. Can you suggest any impy^ovement which 
 might secure the revenue to government and 
 protection to the people ? 
 
 A. The regulations already in force are fully 
 adequate to secure the government revenue. But 
 to secure the people against any unjust exactions 
 on the part of the revenue officers. I would propose, 
 first, that the collectors should not by any means 
 be armed with magisterial powers. Secondly, 
 that any charge against the revenue officers should 
 be at once investigated by the judicial courts to 
 which they are subject, without reference to the 
 number of cases on the file of the court, as has 
 been the practice with regard to causes in which 
 the collectors are prosecutors ; so that both parties 
 may have an equal chance of legal redress. This, 
 under existing circumstances, seems to be the best
 
 80 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 remedy that presents itself; but with the present 
 system, I must repeat my fears that redress will 
 not always be attainable. 
 
 48. Q. Would it be injurious or hetieficial to allow 
 
 Europeans of capital to purchase estates and 
 settle on them ? 
 A. If Europeans of character and capital were 
 allowed to settle in the country, with the permis- 
 sion of the India board, or the Court of Directors, 
 or the local government, it would greatly improve 
 the resources of the country, and also the condi- 
 tion of the native inhabitants, by shewing them 
 superior methods of cultivation, and the proper 
 mode of treating their labourers and dependants. 
 
 49. Q. Would it be advantageous, or the reverse, 
 
 to admit Europeans of all descriptions to be- 
 come settler^s ? 
 A. Such a measure could only be regarded as 
 adopted for the purpose of entirely supplanting 
 the native inhabitants, and expelling them from the 
 country. Because it is obvious that there is no re- 
 semblance between the higher and educated classes 
 of Europeans and the lower and uneducated 
 classes. The difference in character, opinions and 
 sentiments between Europeans and the Indian 
 race, particularly in social and religious matters, 
 is so great, that the two races could not peaceably 
 exist together, as one community, in a coun- 
 try conquered by the former, unless they were 
 gradually assimilated by constant intercourse,
 
 OF INDIA. 81 
 
 continued and encreased for a long period of years, 
 under a strong and vigorous system of police, in 
 every village, large or small ; an establishment 
 so expensive however, that the present revenues of 
 India could not support it. Such assimilation has 
 in some measure taken place at Calcutta, from the 
 daily cx^mmunication of many of the respectable 
 members of both communities. Yet even in that 
 capital, though the seat of government, and nu- 
 merous police officers are placed at almost every 
 hundred yards, the common Europeans are often 
 disposed to annoy the native inhabitants. By 
 the above statement I do not mean to convey that 
 there are not any honest and industrious persons 
 among the European labourers. On the contrary 
 I believe that amongst the very humblest class of 
 society such characters are numerous. But even 
 in justice to them, I deem it right to state that 
 without capital, they could not, in a hot country, 
 compete w^ith'the native labourers, who are accus- 
 tomed to the climate, and from their very different 
 habits of life with regard to food, clothes and 
 lodging, can subsist on at least one sixth, if not one 
 tenth of what is required by an European labourer. 
 Consequently the latter would not find his situa- 
 tion at all improved, but the very reverse by emi- 
 grating to India. 
 
 50. Q. Would the judicial system as at 'present 
 established, be sufficient to controul the Euro- 
 pean settlers in the interior of the country 1 
 
 G
 
 82 REVEKTE SYSTEM 
 
 A. At present British-born subjects are not 
 amenable to the Company's courts, except as re- 
 gards small debts under 500 rupees (about £50) 
 and for petty cases of assault. Consequently under 
 the present regulations, the courts as now esta- 
 blished, are by no means competent to exercise 
 any adequate control over British- born subjects 
 in the interior. 
 
 51. Q. Would it be advisable to extend the juris- 
 diction of the king's courts already established 
 at the presidencies, or to augment their num- 
 ber ; or to give greater poiver to the Com- 
 pany s judges over the European settlers ? 
 A. If the expenses attending the king's courts 
 could be reduced to a level with the costs of the 
 Company's courts, it would be useful and desira- 
 ble to encrease the number of such courts to the 
 same extent as that of the Company's courts of 
 appeal at present; if Europeans of respectability 
 are permitted freely to settle in the interior. But 
 should such reduction of expense be impracticable, 
 it seems necessary in that event to extend the 
 power of the Company's courts under the judicial 
 servants of the Company. In the latter case these 
 judicial servants should be regularly educated as 
 barristers in the principle of British law ; or the 
 British settlers must consent to be subject to the 
 present description of judicial officers, under such 
 rules and regulations as the local government of 
 India has established for the rest of the inhabitants
 
 OF INDIA. 83 
 
 of the country. With regard to the extension of the 
 jurisdiction of the kings courts already established 
 at the presidencies, although in these courts, 
 justice is, I think, ably administered, yet it is at an 
 expense so enormous to the parties, and to the 
 community, that even so wealthy a city as Cal- 
 cutta is unable to support its exorbitant costs, to 
 which two successive grand juries have called the 
 attention of the judges without any effect. 
 
 52. Q. How would the settlement on a lai^ge scale 
 
 of Europeans of capital in the country im- 
 prove its resources 1 
 A. As a large sum of money is now annually 
 drawn from India by Europeans retiring from it 
 with the fortunes realized there, a system which 
 would encourage Europeans of capital to become 
 permanent settlers with their families, would ne- 
 cessarily greatly improve the resources of the 
 country. 
 
 53. Q. Is there any portion of land in the pro- 
 
 vinces with ichich you are acquainted free 
 from public assessments 1 
 A. There is land of this description, and in 
 some districts to considerable extent. 
 
 54. Q. Have any measures been adopted by go- 
 
 vernment to ascertain the validity of the title 
 by which such lands are held free from as- 
 sessment, or have any of them been 7^esumed, 
 and under what circumstances ? 
 A. In Reg. XIX. of 1793, Lord Cornwallis,
 
 84- llEVEXUE SYSTEM 
 
 the Governor- General in Council, directed the 
 revenue collectors to enquire into the validity of 
 the titles of such lands : and in case of there be- 
 ing any doubt as to their validity, to institute 
 prosecutions so as to have them judicially inves^ 
 tigated ; and in the event of the parties in pos- 
 session of the land failing to establish a valid title 
 in the court, the lands might, by a decree of the 
 court, be resumed by the collectors on behalf of 
 government. But the government declared, in 
 the preamble of that regulation, that no holder of 
 such tax-free (lakiraj) lands should be deprived 
 of them, or subjected to revenue, until his title 
 should be judicially investigated and ** adjudged 
 invalid by a final judicial decree." However, 1 
 feel bound to add, that in 1828, by Reg. III. of 
 that year, the reveniie collector in each district 
 was authorized to dispossess the holders of such 
 tax-free lands by his own authority, without re- 
 ference to any judicial courts, if the collector 
 should be of opinion, after such enquiry as might 
 satisfy himself that the title of the proprietor was 
 not valid. It is therein enacted (Sec. 4. Art. 1.) 
 that " such decision of the collector shall have 
 the force and effect of a decree." Also (Art. 2.), 
 that " it shall not be necessary for him to trans- 
 mit his proceedings to the Board of Revenue," but 
 " the party dispossessed might appeal ;" and by 
 Art. 3., whether an appeal be filed or not, "that 
 it shall and may be lawful for the collector imme-
 
 OF INDIA. 85 
 
 diately to carry into effect his decision by attach- 
 ing and assessing the lands." This regulation 
 produced great alarm and distrust amongst the 
 natives of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, many of 
 whom petitioned against the principle of one 
 party, who lays claim to the land, dispossessing 
 an actual possessor at his own discretion ; and 
 Lord William Bentinck, though he has not re- 
 scinded the regulation, has suspended the im- 
 mediate execution of it for the present. 
 
 (Signed) RAMMOHUN ROY. 
 
 London, 
 August 19, 1831.
 
 PA P E R 
 
 ON TIIE 
 
 REVENUE SYSTEM OF INDIA. 
 
 Various opinions are entertained by individuals 
 with regard to the perpetual settlement of public 
 revenue, concluded according to Regulation I. of 
 1793 with proprietors of land in the provinces of 
 Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and arguments resting 
 on different principles have been adduced for and 
 against this system ; no room is therefore left for 
 throwing any new light on the subject. We 
 may, however, safely advance so far as to admit 
 the settlement to be advantageous to both the 
 contracting parties, though not perhaps in equal 
 proportion. 
 
 2. To convince ourselves, in the first instance, 
 of the accuracy of the opinion that the perpetual 
 settlement has proved advantageous to govern- 
 ment, a reference to the revenue records of the 
 former and present rulers will I think suffice. No
 
 88 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 instance can be shewn in those records, in which 
 the sum assessed and annually expected from 
 these provinces was ever collected with equal ad- 
 vantage prior to the year 1793. To avoid the 
 demand of an encrease of revenue on the part of 
 government, proprietors in general used then wil- 
 fully to neglect the cultivation, which very often 
 proved utterly ruinous to themselves, and exces- 
 sively inconvenient to government, in managing, 
 farming, or selling such estates for the purpose of 
 realizing their revenues. 
 
 3. Such persons as have directed their atten- 
 tion to the revenue records of government, must 
 have been struck with the extreme difference 
 existing between the rate of value at which es- 
 tates usually sold prior to the year 1793, or even 
 several years subsequent to that period, and the 
 common price which the disposal of those estates 
 now obtains to government or individuals at public 
 or private sales ; and it will not, I believe, be 
 alleged that I am far wrong, when I say that this 
 encrease may in general be reckoned tenfold, and 
 in some instances twenty. This enormous aug- 
 mentation of the price of land is principally to be 
 attributed to the extensive cultivation of waste 
 lands, which has taken place in every part of the 
 country, and to the rise of rents payable by the 
 cultivators, and not to any other cause that I can 
 trace. 
 
 4. It is true the common encrease of wealth has
 
 OF INDIA. 89 
 
 an irresistible tendency to augment the price, 
 without any improving change in the property ; 
 but when we reflect on the extent of overwhehn- 
 ing poverty throughout the country (towns and 
 their vicinity excepted), we cannot admit that 
 encrease of wealth in general has been the cause 
 of the actual rise in the value of landed estates. 
 To those who have ever made a tour of the pro- 
 vinces, either on public duty or from motives of 
 curiosity, it is well known that within a circle of 
 a hundred miles in any part of the country there 
 are to be found very few, if any (besides pro- 
 prietors of land), that have the least pretension 
 to wealth or independence, or even the common 
 comforts of life. 
 
 5. It has been asserted, and perhaps justly, 
 that much of the encreased wealth of Bengal in 
 late years is to be ascribed to the opening of the 
 trade in 1814, thereby occasioning a greatly en- 
 creased demand for the produce of lands. In as 
 far, however, as this cause may have operated to 
 encrease of wealth, it is confined to landlords and 
 dealers in commodities. 
 
 6. Besides government appropriates to itself an 
 enormous duty on the transit and exportation of 
 the produce of the soil, which has, since the pe- 
 riod of the perpetual settlement, encreased to a 
 great amount, from the exertions of the proprietors 
 in extending and improving cultivation, under the 
 assurance that no demand of an encrease of re-
 
 90 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 venue would be made upon them on account of 
 the progressive productiveness of their estates, 
 
 7. In the second place, that the perpetual set- 
 tlement has been conducive to the interest of the 
 proprietors of land is, in fact, acknowledged by all 
 parties, and is fully evident on reference to the 
 present and former revenue registers. The bene- 
 fit which the proprietors enjoy is principally owing 
 to two circumstances : First, The extended cul- 
 tivation of waste lands which formerly yielded no 
 rent : Secondly, Subsequent encrease of rents, 
 much beyond those rates paid by cultivators at 
 the time of the perpetual settlement, in defiance 
 of the rights of Khud-kasht Ryots — that is, such 
 villagers as cultivate on lease the land that belongs 
 to the village. 
 
 8. None will, I think, hesitate to rejoice in the 
 augmentation of the incomes of proprietors de- 
 rived from the extension of cultivation, as every 
 man is entitled by law and reason to enjoy the 
 fruits of his honest labour and good management. 
 But as to the policy of vesting in the proprietors 
 themselves, exempted from any encrease of tax, 
 the power of augmenting rents due from their 
 Khudkasht tenants, I must confess it to be a 
 subject that requires examination. 
 
 9. It is too true to be denied that there was 
 no regular system of administering justice, even in 
 theory, under the government of the former rulers, 
 and that there were few instances in which such
 
 OF IXDIA. 91 
 
 humble individuals as Khud-kaslit Ryots suc- 
 ceeded in bringing complaints against proprietors 
 to the notice of higher authorities ; nevertheless 
 their claims to the cultivation of particular soils 
 at fixed rates, according to their respective qua- 
 lities, were always admitted as their means of 
 livelihood, and inducement to continue to reside 
 in their native village, although proprietors very 
 often oppressively extorted from them sums of 
 money, in addition to their rents, under the name 
 of abwabs, or subscriptions ; while, on the other 
 hand, the Ryots frequently obtained deductions 
 through collusion with the managers acting in be- 
 half of the proprietors. 
 
 10. The measure adopted for the protection of 
 Khud-kasht tenants in Article 2nd, Sec. T^X. 
 Reg. VIII. of 1793, was conditional, and has 
 been consequently subject to violation. Hence 
 they have benefited very little, if 'at all, by its 
 provisions. 
 
 11. The power of imposing new leases and 
 rents, given to the proprietors by Reg. I. and 
 VIII. of 1793, and subsequent Regulations, has 
 considerably enriched comparatively a few in- 
 dividuals — the proprietors of land — ■ to the ex- 
 treme disadvantage, or rather ruin, of millions 
 of their tenants ; and it is productive of no ad- 
 vantage to the government. 
 
 12. During the former system of government, 
 proprietors in these and other provinces, contrary
 
 02 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 to the tenure by which lands are held in England, 
 were required to pay a considerable proportion of 
 their rents to the ruler of the country, whose 
 arbitrary will was alone sufficient to augment or 
 reduce the rates of the revenue demandable from 
 them, and who, by despotic power, might deprive 
 them of their rights as proprietors when they 
 failed to pay the revenue unjustly alleged to be 
 due from them. Under these circumstances, the 
 situation of the proprietors was not in any re- 
 spect on a more favourable footing than that of the 
 Khud-kasht tenant, and consequently their right 
 was not in any way analagous to that of a landlord 
 in England. 
 
 13. In short, there were three parties acknow- 
 ledged to have had a fixed right in the soil : — 
 ] St, The Ryots to cultivate the land, and receive 
 one half of the produce in return for the seed and 
 labour. 2ndly, The government, in return for its 
 general protection, to receive the other half, with 
 the exception of one-tenth or eleventh. 3dly, The 
 Zamindars, or landholders, to receive the tenth 
 or eleventh for their local protection, and for 
 their intervention between the government and the 
 peasantry. 
 
 14. With a view to facilitate the collection of 
 revenue, and to encourage proprietors to improve 
 their estates, government liberally relieved them 
 in the year 1793 from the distress and difficulties 
 originating in the uncertainty of assessment, by
 
 OF INDIA. 93 
 
 concluding a perpetual settlement with them. 
 But I am at a loss to conceive why this indulgence 
 was not extended to their tenants, by requiring 
 proprietors to follow the example of government, 
 in fixing a definite rent to be received from each 
 cultivator, according to the average sum actually 
 collected from him during a given term of years ; 
 or why the feeling of compassion excited by the 
 miserable condition of the cultivators does not now 
 induce the government to fix a maximum standard, • 
 corresponding with the sum of rent now paid by 
 each cultivator in one year, and positively inter- 
 dict any further encrease. 
 
 15. Some, however, doubt whether government 
 can now assume the power of bettering the con- 
 dition of this immense portion of its subjects, 
 without violating the long-standing practice of the 
 country, and the principles laid down in their 
 existing regulations, at least for the last forty 
 years. But I am satisfied that an unjust prece- 
 dent and practice, even of longer standing, cannot 
 be considered as the standard of justice by an en- 
 lightened government. 
 
 16. With respect to the Regulations, however, 
 there would be no real violation of them ; as in 
 Reg. I. of 1793, which is the basis of the perma- 
 nent settlement, the government thus expressly 
 declares, that " It being the duty of the ruling 
 power to protect all classes of people, and more 
 particularly those who from their situation are
 
 94 REVEXUE SYSTEM 
 
 most helpless, the Governor-general in council 
 will, whenever he may deem it proper, enact such 
 regulations as he may think necessary, for the 
 protection and welfare of the dependant Talook- 
 dars, Ryots, and other cultivators of the soil ; and 
 no Zamindar, independent Talookdar, or other 
 actual proprietor of land, shall be entitled on this 
 account to make any objection to the discharge of 
 the fixed assessment which they have respectively 
 agreed to pay." 
 
 17. And again in Reg. VIII. of 1793 (Sec. 60. 
 Art. 2.), the government recognized the principle 
 of the cultivators of the lands attached to their 
 own village {Khud-kasht i?j/o^5) having a permanent 
 right to retain possession thereof at a fixed rent, 
 and enacted that their title-deeds (Pattahs) should 
 not be set aside, except in certain specified cases, 
 applicable to that period of general settlement, 
 and not extending to forty years afterwards. 
 
 18. I regret to say that in some parts of these 
 provinces the rent is already raised so high, that 
 even an interdict against further encrease can- 
 not afford the Ryots (cultivators) any relief or 
 comfort ; consequently, the government might 
 endeavour to raise part of its revenue by taxes on 
 luxuries, and such articles of use and consumption 
 as are not necessaries of life, and make a propor- 
 tionate deduction in the rents of the cultivators, 
 and in the revenues of the Zam'mdai^s to whom 
 their lands belong.
 
 OF INDIA. 95- 
 
 19. Failing this, the same desirable object may 
 be accomplished by reducing- the revenue estab- 
 lishment in the following manner : — Under the 
 former government, the natives of the country, 
 particularly Hindoos, v^ere exclusively employed 
 in the revenue department in all situations, and 
 they are still so almost exclusively under the 
 present system. The collectors being covenanted 
 European servants of the Company, are employed 
 as superintendants, at a salary of a thousand or 
 fifteen hundred rupees (100 to 150/.) per mensem. 
 The duties, however, are chiefly performed by the 
 native officers, as they are not of such importance 
 or difficulty as the duties attached to the judicial 
 department, in which one slip might at once 
 destroy the life of the innocent, or alter the just 
 destination of property for a hundred generations. 
 
 20. The principal duties attached to the situa- 
 tion of Collector are as follows: 1st. The receipt 
 of the revenue by instalments according to the 
 assessment, and remitting the amount thus col- 
 lected to the General Treasury ; or to one of the 
 commanding officers ; or to the Commercial Re- 
 sident, or Salt Agent, as directed by the Account- 
 ant General. 2nd. Advertising and selling the 
 estates of defaulters to realize arrears. 3rd. 
 Taking care of his own treasury (to prevent any 
 mismanagement of it,) and the revenue records. 
 4th. Making partitions of estates, when joint 
 sharers thereof apply to him for such division.
 
 96 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 5th. Preparing a quinquennial register of the es- 
 tates paying revenue within his collectorship. 
 6th. Ascertaining what tax-free land has been in 
 the possession of individuals without a valid title. 
 7th. Furnishing the judicial authorities with offi- 
 cial papers required by them, and executing their 
 decrees concerning lands &c. 8th. Deciding 
 cases which the judicial officer has it in his op- 
 tion to refer to the collector. 9th. Officiating as 
 local post-master under the authority of the post- 
 master-general. 10th. Assessing duties on the 
 venders of liquors and drugs with the concurrence 
 of the magistrate, and collecting the duties pay- 
 able thereon (receiving five per cent, on the 
 amount of collection for his trouble). 1 1th. Giv- 
 ing out stampt papers to native venders, and 
 he being responsible for the same, ten per cent., I 
 think, on the sum realized is allowed him for 
 his trouble and responsibility. (The two latter 
 articles produce to the collector an additional 
 monthly income of from not less than 200 to 1000 
 rupees a month, according to the greater or smaller 
 sale in different districts.) 12th. Regulating the 
 conduct of the native sub-collectors, assessors and 
 surveyors, employed on the estates under the 
 immediate management of government. 13th. 
 Transmitting monthly and annually reports and 
 accounts to the accountant-general and the civil 
 auditor, and corresponding with the Board of
 
 OF iNj)rA. 97 
 
 of Revenue on the various afiairs of his collector- 
 ship as well as obeying their instructions. 
 
 21. A native of respectability at a salary of 
 about 300 or 400 rupees per month may be ap- 
 pointed in lieu of the European collector, and he 
 should give sureties for his character and respon- 
 sibility to such amount as government may deem 
 adequate. The large sum that may thus be saved 
 by dispensing with the collectors would not only 
 enable government to give some relief to the un- 
 fortunate Ryots above referred to by reducing 
 their rents, but also raise the character of the na- 
 tives and render them attached to the existing 
 government and active in the discharge of their 
 public duties, knowing that under such a system 
 the faithful and industrious native servant would 
 receive the merit, and ultimately the full reward 
 of his services ; whereas under the present system 
 the credit or discredit is attributed to the Euro- 
 pean head of the department ; while the natives 
 who are the real managers of the business are en- 
 tirely overlooked and neglected, and consequently 
 they seem most of them to be rendered quite in- 
 different to any thing but their own temporary in- 
 terest. 
 
 22. With respect to the expediency and ad- 
 vantage of appointing native revenue officers to 
 the higher situations in the revenue department, 
 I am strongly supported by the opinions of 
 persons whose sentiments have great weight with 
 
 H
 
 98 REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 the governing party as v^^ell as with the party 
 governed. I can safely quote the remarks of 
 many distinguished servants of the Honourable 
 East India Company, such as Sir Thomas Munro, 
 Mr, Robert Rickards, Mr. H. Ellis, and others. 
 
 23. The native collectors should be under the 
 immediate and strict controul of the Board of 
 Revenue as the European collectors at present are, 
 and should be made strictly responsible for every 
 act performed in their official capacity. No one 
 should be removed from his situation unless on 
 proof of misconduct regularly established to the 
 satisfaction of government on the report of the 
 Board of Revenue. 
 
 24. For the present, perhaps, it would be pro- 
 per to transfer the duty of selling the property of 
 defaulting landholders to the registers ; and the 
 judges, instead of referring causes to the revenue 
 officers, should submit them to the Sudder Ameens 
 (or native commissioners already appointed to de- 
 cide causes under a certain amount.) 
 
 25. In order to prevent the exercise of any 
 undue influence or bribery in obtaining the situa- 
 tion of native collectors of revenue, it is requisite 
 that all the present Serishtadai^s or head native 
 officers attached to the different collectorships^ 
 should each be confirmed, at once, in the situation 
 of collector, and in case of his death or removal, 
 the next in rank should succeed him. In the same 
 manner those under them should be each pro-
 
 O F 1 N D I A . 99 
 
 moted regularly in succession according to his 
 rank in the revenue department, unless incapaciated 
 from being unable to produce the requisit esecurity, 
 or from other evident disqualification. And no one 
 should be allowed to hold the situation of collector 
 unless he had been at least ten years in the revenue 
 service. 
 
 26. The present collectors may be transferred, 
 if found qualified, to the judicial or some other 
 department, or allowed to retire on suitable pen- 
 sions. Besides, the Board of Revenue, who should 
 exercise a constant superintendance over the re- 
 venue branch, there should be six or eight Eu- 
 ropean civil servants of the company, who stand 
 high in the estimation of government, appointed 
 under the denomination of circuit collectors, to 
 examine personally, from time to time, the re- 
 cords kept, and the proceedings held by the na- 
 tive collectors. 
 
 27. At all events I mustconclude with beseech- 
 ing any and every authority to devise some mode 
 of alleviating the present miseries of the agricul- 
 tural peasantry of India, and thus discharge their 
 duty to their fellow-creatures and fellow-sub- 
 jects 
 
 LoNHON, 
 
 August 19, 1831.
 
 ADDITIONAL QUERIES 
 
 RESPECTING 
 
 THE CONDITION OF INDIA. 
 
 1. Question. What is your opinion of the physi- 
 cal condition of the India?! peasantry ? 
 
 Answer. India is so extensive a country that no 
 general statement on this subject will apply cor- 
 rectly to the people of the various parts of it. The 
 Natives of the Southern and Eastern Provinces for 
 example, are by no means equal in physical quali- 
 ties to those of the Northern^ and Western Pro- 
 vinces. But as regards physical strength, they 
 are upon the whole inferior to the Northern nations, 
 an inferiority which may be traced, I think, to 
 three principal causes : 1 st, The heat of the climate 
 of India, which relaxes and debilitates the consti- 
 tution : 2dly, The simplicity of the food which they 
 use, chiefly from religious prejudices : 3dly, The
 
 102 CONDITION OF INDIA. 
 
 want of bodily exertion and industry to strengthen 
 the corporeal frame, owing principally to the fer- 
 tility of the soil, which does not render much exer- 
 tion necessary for gaining a livelihood. Hence the 
 Natives of Africa, and some parts of Arabia, though 
 subject to the influence of the same, or perhaps a 
 greater intensity of heat, yet from the necessity 
 imposed upon them of toiling hard for sustenance, 
 and from using animal food, they are able to cope 
 with any Northern race in physical strength ; 
 therefore, if the people of India were to be in- 
 duced to abandon their religious prejudices, and 
 thereby become accustomed to the frequent and 
 common use of a moderate proportion of animal 
 food, (a greater proportion of the land being gra- 
 dually converted to the pasture of cattle,) the physi- 
 cal qualities of the people might be very much 
 improved. For I have observed with respect to 
 distant cousins, sprung from the same family, and 
 living in the same district, when one branch of the 
 family had been converted to Mussulmanism, that 
 those of the Mohammedan branch living in a freer 
 manner, were distinguished by greater bodily ac- 
 tivity and capacity for exertion, than those of the 
 other branch which had adhered to the Hindoo 
 simple mode of life. 
 
 Q. What is the moral condition of the people ? 
 
 A. A great variety of opinions on this subject 
 has already been afloat in Europe for some cen- 
 turies past, particularly in recent times, some
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA. 103 
 
 favourable to the people of India and some against 
 them. Those Europeans who, on their arrival in 
 the country, happened to meet with persons whose 
 conduct afforded them satisfaction, felt prepos- 
 sessed in favour of the whole Native population, 
 and respected them accordingly ; others again 
 who happened to meet with ill treatment and mis- 
 fortunes, occasioned by the misconduct or oppo- 
 sition, social or religious, of the persons with 
 whom they chanced to have dealings or communi- 
 cation, represented the whole Indian race in a 
 corresponding light ; while some, even without 
 being in the country at all, or seeing or conversing 
 with any Natives of India, have formed an opinion 
 of them at second hand founded on theory and 
 conjecture. There is, however, a fourth class of 
 persons, few indeed in number, who though they 
 seem unprejudiced, yet have differed widely from 
 each other, in many of their inferences from facts, 
 equally within the sphere of their observation, as 
 generally happens wnth respect to matters not ca- 
 pable of rigid demonstration. I therefore feel 
 great reluctance in offering an opinion on a subject 
 on which I may unfortunately differ from a consi- 
 derable number of those gentlemen. However, 
 being called upon for an opinion, I feel bound to 
 state my impression, although I may perhaps be 
 mistaken. 
 
 From a careful survey and observation of the 
 people and inhabitants of various parts of the
 
 104 CONDITION OF INDIA. 
 
 country, and in every condition of life, I am of 
 opinion that the peasants or villagers who reside at 
 a distance from large toicus and head stations and 
 courts of law, are as innocent, temperate and 
 moral in their conduct as the people of any 
 country whatsoever ; and the farther I proceed 
 towards the North and West, the greater the 
 honesty, simplicity and independence of character 
 I meet with. The virtues of this class however 
 rest at present chiefly on their primitive simplicity, 
 and a strong religious feeling which leads them 
 to expect reward or punishment for their good or 
 bad conduct, not only in the next world, but like 
 the ancient Jews, also in this : 2dly, The inhabi- 
 tants of the cities, towns or stations who have 
 much intercourse with persons employed about 
 the courts of law, by Zamindars &c. and with 
 foreigners and others in a different state of civili- 
 zation, generally imbibe their habits and opinions. 
 Hence their religious opinions are shaken without 
 any other principles being implanted to supply 
 their place. Consequently a great proportion of 
 these are far inferior in point of character to the 
 fornier class, and are very often even made tools 
 of in the nefarious work of perjury and forgery : 
 3dly, A third class consists of persons who are 
 in the employ of landholders (Zamindars) or de- 
 pendent for subsistence on the courts of law, as 
 attorney's clerks, and who must rely for a liveli- 
 hood on their shrewdness ; not having generally
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA. 105 
 
 sufficient means to enter into commerce or busi- 
 ness. These are for the most part still worse 
 than the second class ; more especially when they 
 have no prospect of bettering their condition by 
 the savings of honest industry, and no hope is 
 held out to them of rising to honor or affluence by 
 superior merit. But I must confess that I have 
 met a great number of the second class engaged 
 in a respectable line of trade, who were men of 
 real merit, worth and character. Even among 
 the third class I have known many who had 
 every disposition to act uprightly and some actu- 
 ally honest in their conduct. And if they saw 
 by experience that their merits were appreciated, 
 that they might hope to gain an independence by 
 honest means, and that just and honourable con- 
 duct afforded the best prospect of their being 
 ultimately rewarded by situations of trust and 
 respectability, they would gradually begin to feel 
 a high regard for character and rectitude of con- 
 duct ; and from cherishing such feelings become 
 more and more worthy of public confidence, while 
 their example would powerfully operate on the 
 second class above noticed, which is generally 
 dependent on them and under their influence. 
 
 3. Q. What is the rate of wages generally allowed 
 to the "peasantry and labourers 1 
 
 A. In Calcutta, artizans, such as blacksmiths 
 and carpenters, if good workmen, get (if my 
 memory be correct) from ten to twelve rupees a
 
 106 CONDITION OF INDIA. 
 
 month (that is, about 20 to 24 shillings ; common 
 workmen who do inferior plain work 5 or 6 
 rupees (that is, about 10 or 12 shillings sterling 
 money); masons from 5 to 7 (10 to 14 shillings) 
 a month ; common labourers about 3i and some 
 4 rupees ; gardeners or cultivators of land about 
 4 rupees a month, and palanquin bearers the 
 same. In small towns the rates are something 
 below this, in the country places still lower. 
 
 4. Q. On what kind of provisions do they subsist ? 
 A. In Bengal they live most commonly on 
 
 rice with a few vegetables, salt, hot spices and 
 fish. I have however often observed the poorer 
 classes living on rice and salt only. In the upper 
 provinces they use wheaten flower instead of rice, 
 and the poorer classes frequently use bajra (mil- 
 let) &c. ; the Mohamedans in all parts who can 
 afford it add fowl and other animal food. A full 
 grown person in Bengal consumes about lib to 
 Ulb of rice a day; in the upper provinces a larger 
 quantity of wheaten flower, even though so much 
 more nourishing. The Vaishya (persons of the 
 third class) and the Brahmans of the Dakhan 
 never eat flesh under any circumstances) 
 
 5. Q. What sort of houses do they inhabit? 
 
 A. In higher Bengal and the upper and Wes- 
 tern Provinces they occupy mud huts ; in the 
 lower and Eastern parts of Bengal generally 
 hovels composed of straw, mats and sticks ; the 
 higher classes only having houses built of brick 
 and lime.
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA. 107 
 
 G. Q. How are they clothed i 
 
 A. The Hindus of the Upper Province wear a 
 turban on the head, a piece of cotton cloth (called 
 a Chadar) wrapped round the chest, and another 
 piece girt closely about the loins and falling down 
 towards the knee ; besides, they have frequently 
 under the Chadar a vest or waistcoat cut and fitted 
 to the person. In the lower provinces they gene- 
 rally go bare-headed ; the lower garment is worn 
 more open but falling down towards the ancle ; 
 and the poorer classes of labourers have merely 
 a small strip of cloth girt round their loins for the 
 sake of decency and are in other respects quite 
 naked. The Mohammedans every where use the 
 turban and are better clad. The respectable and 
 wealthy classes of people, both Mussulmans and 
 Hindus, are of course dressed in a more respectable 
 and becoming manner. 
 
 7. Q. Does the population encrease rapidlijl 
 
 A. It does encrease considerably, from the 
 early marriages of the people and from the males 
 so seldom leaving their families, and almost never 
 going abroad. But there are occasional strong 
 natural checks to this superabundance. The vast 
 number carried off of late years by cholera morbus 
 having greatly reduced the surplus population, 
 the condition of the labourers has since been much 
 mproved, in comparison withwhat it was be- 
 fore the people were thinned by that melancholy 
 scourge.
 
 108 CONDITION OF INDIA. 
 
 8 Q. What is the state of industry among them ? 
 
 A. The Mohammedans are more active and ca- 
 pable of exertion than the Hindus, but the latter 
 are also generally patient of labour, and diligent in 
 their employments, and those of the Upper Pro- 
 vince not inferior to the Mohammedans them- 
 selves in industry. 
 
 9. Q. What capability of improvement do they 
 possess ? 
 
 A. They have the same capability of improve- 
 ment as any other civilized people. 
 
 10. Q. What degree of intelligence exists among 
 the native inhabitants ? 
 
 A. The country having been so long under sub- 
 jection to the arbitrary military government of 
 the Mohammedan rulers, which shewed little res- 
 pect for Hindu learning, it has very much decayed 
 and indeed almost disappeared, except among the 
 Brahmans in some parts of the Dakhan (Deccan), 
 and of the Eastern side of India, more distant 
 from the chief seat of the Mohammedan govern- 
 ment. The Mussulmans, as well as the more res- 
 pectable classes of Hindus chiefly, cultivated Per- 
 sian literature, a great number of the former and 
 a few of the latter also extending their studies 
 likewise to Arabic. This practice has partially 
 continued to the present time, and among those 
 who enjoy this species of learning, as well as among 
 those who cultivate Sanscrit literature, many well 
 informed and enlightened persons may be found.
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA. 109 
 
 though from their ignorance of European literature, 
 they are not naturally much esteemed by such 
 Europeans as are not well versed in Arabic or 
 Sanscrit. 
 
 11 . Q. How are the people in regard to educa- 
 tion ? 
 
 A. Those about the courts of the native princes 
 are not inferior in point of education and accom- 
 plishments to the respectable and well bred classes 
 in any other country. Indeed they rather carry 
 their politeness and attention to courtesy to an 
 inconvenient extent. Some seminaries of educa- 
 tion (as at Benares &c. &c.) are still supported by 
 the princes and other reapectable and opulent 
 native inhabitants, but often in a very irregular 
 manner. With respect to the Hindu College in Cal- 
 cutta, established under the auspices of government 
 on a highly respectable and firm footing, many 
 learned christians object to the system therein 
 followed of teaching literature and science with- 
 out religion being united with them ; because they 
 consider this as having a tendency to destroy the 
 religious principles of the students (in which they 
 were first brought up and which consequently 
 were a check on their conduct), without substitu- 
 ting any thing religious in their stead. 
 
 12. Q. What influetice has superstition over the 
 cotjduct of the people ? 
 
 A. I have already noticed this in reply to 
 query 2nd.
 
 110 CONDITION OF INDIA. 
 
 13. Q. What is the prevailing opmion of the Na- 
 tive inhabitants regarding the existing form 
 of government and its administrators, Native 
 and European ? 
 A. The peasantry and villagers in the interior 
 are quite ignorant of, and indifferent about either 
 the former or present government, and attribute 
 the protection they may enjoy or oppression they 
 may suffer to the conduct of the public officers im- 
 mediately presiding over them. But men of aspir- 
 ing character and members of such ancient fami- 
 lies as are very much reduced by the present sys- 
 tem, consider it derogatory to accept of the trifling 
 public situations which natives are allowed to hold 
 under the British Government, and are decidedly 
 disaffected to it. Many of those, however, who 
 engage prosperously in commerce, and of those 
 who are secured in the peaceful possession of their 
 estates by the permanent settlement, and such as 
 have sufficient intelligence to foresee the probabi- 
 lity of future improvement which presents itself 
 under the British rulers, are not only reconciled 
 to it, but really view it as a blessing to the coun- 
 try. 
 
 But I have no hesitation in stating, with re- 
 ference to the general feeling of the more intelli- 
 gent part of the Native community, that the only 
 course of policy which can ensure their attach- 
 ment to any form of government, would be that
 
 CONDITION OF INDIA. HI 
 
 of making them eligible to gradual promotion, 
 according to their respective abilities and merits, 
 to situations of trust and respectability in the 
 state. 
 
 (Signed) RAMMOHUN ROY. 
 
 London, 
 September 2S, 1831. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In replying to Queries 2nd, 9th and 10th, I have felt 
 great delicacy in offering to the British public, situated at 
 the distance of so many thousand miles, my opinion of the 
 character of my own countrymen, and of their intelligence 
 and capability of improvement ; lest T should be accused 
 of partiality, or supposed to be prejudiced in their favor. 1 
 have, therefore, endeavoured to convey my sentiments in 
 very moderate language. 
 
 In replying to Query 11, I wish to be distinctly under- 
 stood as referring to those Natives of India who have been 
 brought up under the mixed system of Hindoo and Ma- 
 hommedan education, which has hitherto existed in the 
 country among the respectable classes. The present gene- 
 ration of youth, particularly at the Presidency, bred up in 
 communication and intercourse more or less with Euro- 
 *h8- I
 
 112 
 
 peans, are progressively becoming imbued with their habits, 
 manners, and ideas, and will in the course of time, most 
 probably approximate very nearly to them. My remarks 
 are, therefore, not applicable to these, and may in a few 
 years appear strange to those who do not consider and 
 make allowance for these chanoes.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 Since the foregoing evidence has been circulated, a 
 gentleman of high literary repute, connected with India, 
 has expressed doubts regarding the policy or expediency 
 of the suggestions, I made in reply to Queries 71, 72, on 
 the Judicial System, in the following words : 
 
 " No civil servant should be sent to India under twenty- 
 four or at least twenty-two years of age, and no candidate 
 among them should be admitted into the judicial line of 
 the service, unless he can produce a certificate from a pro- 
 fessor of English law to prove that he possesses a com- 
 petent knowledge of it." (vide p. 47 supra.) 
 
 In addition to the reasons there advanced in support 
 of this position, and also in reply to Query 77, (vide p. 52) 
 I beg here to quote (with deference to that gentleman's 
 extensive oriental acquirements), the authority of Sir Wil- 
 liam Blackstone, given in his introduction to the cele- 
 brated " Commentaries on the Laws of England," an au- 
 thority which stands very high in the estimation of the 
 British public. 
 
 " Should a judge in the most fsubordinate jurisdiction 
 I 2
 
 114 APPENDIX. 
 
 be deficient in the knowledge of the law, it will reflect 
 hifinite contempt on liimself and disgrace upon those who 
 employ him. And yet tlie consequences of his ignorance is 
 comparatively very trifling and small : his judgment may be 
 examined and his errors rectified by other courts. But 
 how much more serious and affecting is the case of a 
 superior judge, if without any skill in the laws he will 
 boldly venture to decide a question upon which the welfare 
 and subsistence of whole families may depend, where the 
 chance of his judging right or wrong is barely equal, and 
 where if he chances to judge wrong, he does an injury of 
 the most alarming nature, and injury without possibility of 
 redress." Sec. 1. INo. 12. 
 
 It should not be overlooked that the Company's district 
 Judges and young Registrars who have the decision of 
 minor causes, are afterwards made judges of the provincial 
 courts of appeal, and also of the Sudder Dewanee and 
 Nizamut Adawlut (the highest civil and criminal tribunals), 
 whose decision is final in all criminal causes, as well as in 
 civil causes under 50,000 rupees ; and that even in regard 
 to causes above that sura, very few have the means of 
 appealing to the king and council in England. The pecu- 
 liar difficulties and discouragements attending such appeals 
 have been already pointed out in my evidence, (Judicial 
 System, Q. 51. page 36.) 
 
 No. II. 
 
 In my paper on the Revenue System I expressed an 
 opinion that the permanent settlement has been beneficial 
 to both the contracting parties, i. e. the government and
 
 APPENDIX. 115 
 
 the landholders. This position, which, as regards the for- 
 mer, was long much controverted, does not now rest upon 
 theory ; but can be proved by the results of about forty 
 years' practice. To illustrate this, I subjoin the annexed 
 statements, Nos. I. & IL, shewing the failure of the whole 
 amount of the public revenue at Madras under the Ryot- 
 wary system as contrasted with the general increase of the 
 revenues of Bengal under Zumeendary permanent settle- 
 ment ; the latter diffusing prosperity into the other branches 
 of revenue, whereas the former (or Ryotvvary system), 
 without affecting any material increase in that particular 
 branch, has, by its impoverishing influence, tended to dry 
 up the other sources of Revenue : a fact which must stand 
 valid and incontrovertible as a proof of the superiority 
 of the latter, until a contrary fact of greater or at least 
 equal weight can be adduced. 
 
 Statement 1st. — Bengal, Be/iar and Orissa. 
 
 By a comparative view of the Revenues of Bengal, Be- 
 har and Orissa, from the period of the Perpetual Settle- 
 ment, it appears that, in the thirty-five years, from 1792-3 
 to 1827-8, there was a total increase on the whole amount 
 of the Revenue of above 100 per cent. (101-71), and that 
 this increase has been steady and progressive up to the 
 present time ; in the first seventeen years (from 1792-3 to 
 1839-10), it was about 42| per cent. ; in the next eighteen 
 years (from 1809-10 to 1827-8) 43^ per cent., and in 
 the last ten years of that period (from 1817-18 to 1827-8) 
 it was nearly 30 per cent. 
 
 These results are extracted from The Second Report of 
 the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India 
 Company in 1810, p. 80 ; The Second Report of 1830, p. 98.
 
 116 APPENDIX. 
 
 In 1815-16, the revenue of Cuttack was incorporated 
 with that of Bengal, but in 1822 the revenue of this Pro- 
 vince did not exceed 185,000/. 
 
 Statement 2nd. — Madras. 
 
 By a comparative view of the revenue of the old British 
 territory in Madras, it appears that during the same period 
 of thirty -five years (i. e. from 1793 to 1828, there was an 
 increase of only about 40 per cent. (40*15.) on the total 
 amount of the whole revenue. That the increase during 
 the first seventeen years (from 1793 to 1810) was 43^^^ per 
 cent. ; that in the next eight years the increase was only 
 about 3g per cent. ; and that in the last eighteen years, 
 (i. e. from 1810 to 1828) there has been a decrease of 2j^ 
 per cent. 
 
 These results are extracted from the Second Report of 
 the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Com- 
 pany in 1810. (p. 88.); Second Report of 1830, (p. 98) 
 and Minutes of Evidence, 1830-31. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 A doubt has been expressed with regard to the policy 
 and advantage of acting on the principle suggested in my 
 paper on the Revenue System (paragraph 14 to 17), in which 
 I expressed my opinion as to the propriety (on grounds of 
 justice and humanity) of fixing a maximum rent to be paid 
 by each of the cultivators, that their rents, already raised 
 to a ruinous extent, might not be subject to further en- 
 crease. I shall therefore here offer a few additional re- 
 marks on that point, shewing the policy of such a measure.
 
 APPEIS'DIX. 117 
 
 Since the establishment of the permanent settlement in 
 the lower provinces of the Bengal Presidency, the land- 
 holders (whose rents have been secured by it) are well 
 known to have been firmly attached to the existing go- 
 vernment (as I noticed in reply to No. 13 of the Additional 
 Queries). This cannot be said of the same class in the 
 ceded and conquered provinces, whose estates have not 
 been secured by a similar arrangement; and it is not the case 
 with regard to the people of a large proportion of the Ma- 
 dras presidency, where no similar attachment can be rea- 
 sonably expected. Hence we may be justified in inferring 
 that if the benefit of a permanent settlement were also 
 extended to the cultivators, the farmers and labourers in 
 every part of the country, both in the upper and lower 
 provinces (who form the largest portion of the population 
 of India) would be equally attached to government, and 
 ready to rise in defence of it, as a militia or in any other 
 shape that might be required ; so as to secure the British 
 rule in a foreign and remote empire, alike from internal in- 
 trigue and from external aggression, without the necessity 
 of keeping on foot an immense standing army at an 
 enormous cost. This consideration is of great importance 
 in respect to the natives of the upper and western pro- 
 vinces, who are distinguished by their superior bravery, and 
 form the greater part of the British Indian army. If this 
 race of men, who are by no means deficient in feelings of 
 personal honor and regard for family respectability, were 
 assured that their rights in the soil were indefeasible so 
 long as the British power should endure, they would 
 from gratitude and self-interest at all times be ready to 
 devote their lives and property in its defence. The saving 
 that might be effected by this liberal and generous policy,
 
 118 APPENDIX. 
 
 through the substituting of a militia force for a great part 
 of the present standing army, would be much greater than 
 any gain that could be refvlized by any system of in- 
 creasing land revenue that human ingenuity could devise. 
 How applicable to this case is the following line of the 
 Persian sage (Sadi). " Be on friendly terms with thy 
 " subjects, and rest easy about the warfare of thine ene- 
 " mies ; for to an upright prince his people is an array." 
 
 Ba ray at sulk kun luat jang i khasm aiman nishin 
 Z'dnki shahinshdh i adil ret rayat lashkar ast. 
 
 On the other hand, the same confidence could not be 
 produced by any periodical settlement (be it quinquennial, 
 decennial or even centennial) formed on the narrow policy 
 of securing a temporary advantage or remote problematical 
 gain to the government ; since the love of offspring and the 
 desire of continuing name and lineage in connection with 
 the place of nativity and of residence, and with hereditary 
 property, are the same in a peasant as in a prince. 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 An idea has gone abroad that the permanent, or Za- 
 mindary system, though undeniably beneficial to Govern- 
 ment, has proved too advantageous to the landholders ; 
 and the vast wealth which they are supposed to have de- 
 rived from it has excited an anxiety in the minds of 
 some to devise a plea for overturning it. The fact, 
 however, is, that even the greatest landholder in the coun- 
 try, such as the Rajah of Burdwan, who pays a land-
 
 APPENDIX. 119 
 
 tax of between 30 and 40 lakhs of rupees to Government, 
 does not receive more than six or eight lakhs, about 20 per 
 cent, on the amount collected, for his own share as pro- 
 prietor. For this sura they incur an immense respon- 
 sibility to the Government ; they are punishable for thefts 
 and robberies committed within their estates, when sus- 
 pected even of negligence in preventing or detecting such 
 offences, and subject to loss by inundations and failure of 
 crops. Some may have about an equal sum with that 
 payable to government, and a very few double ; these al- 
 most exclusively in the eastern parts of Bengal. But the 
 generality are by no means so favourably situated as is 
 generally supposed ; a fact clearly proved by the estates 
 which come into the immediate management of Govern- 
 ment in the Court of Wards, and which may be easily in- 
 ferred from the frequent sales of estates for arrears of re- 
 venue. 
 
 Supposing these landholders of Bengal to stand in the 
 place of the farmers in England, who are considered to 
 pay about one-third of the produce of their farms as rent ; 
 is there any thing so unreasonable, if the Zamindars re- 
 ceive 15 or 20 per cent. ; a very few 30 per cent, of the pio- 
 duce of their estates ? If the persons above alluded to, 
 who suppose the Zamindars too well off, will only wait 
 a little, as the law of primogeniture is not established or 
 observed, the effect of hereditary succession will soon so 
 subdivide the estates, and reduce the incomes of the land- 
 holders, that very few, if any, rich Zamindars can be found 
 in the country.
 
 120 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. V. 
 
 In illustration of the statement made in my reply to 
 Query 52, on the Revenue System, that as a sum of 
 money is drawn from India by Europeans retiring from 
 it with fortunes realized there, a different system, cal- 
 culated to encourage Europeans of capital to become per- 
 manent settlers with their families, would necessarily 
 greatly improve the resources of the country ; I here sub- 
 join some tables showing the amount paid to the prin- 
 cipal European Civil Officers of the Government in the 
 General, Judicial and Revenue Departments in India in 
 1826-7. The Military Establishment, of course, is not in- 
 cluded. Besides, such Europeans as are barristers, solici- 
 tors and law officers paid by fees, merchants, agents, and 
 planters also, not being permitted to settle in the country, 
 retire from it with their fortunes ; and these, likewise, are 
 not included in the Statement. Moreover, many miscella- 
 neous and minor officers are not enumerated in the sub- 
 joined List ; I also annex a note shewing the amount of 
 the Revenues of India expended in England. 
 
 BENGAL CIVIL OFFICES. 
 I. General Branch. 
 
 Per Annum. 
 Indian IMoney. Sterling. 
 
 Governor General's Salary . .Rupees. 2,44,181 £24,418 
 
 3 Members of Council, in all 2,93,017 29,301 
 
 6 Secretaries to Government 2,74,000 27,400 
 
 3 Judges of the King's Supreme Court 1 ,95,344 19,534 
 
 Lord Bishop of Calcutta 50,303 5,030
 
 APPENDIX. 121 
 
 Per Annum. 
 Indian Money. Sterling. 
 
 Archdeacon and 31 Chaplains 3,00,222 30,022 
 
 Advocate-General, Company's Attor- 
 ney, and Standing Counsel 80,581 8,058 
 
 7 Residents at Native Courts, (Delhi, 
 Lucknow, Gualior, Nagpoor, Hyder- 
 abad, Indore, Nepaul) 6,81,509 68,150 
 
 9 Local (Political) Agents, with 6 As- 
 sistants and 6 Surgeons 2,37,573 23,757 
 
 5 Do. Do. (at Joypore, Harowtee, for 
 Sikh and Hill Affairs — Serovvhee, 
 
 Mhairvvarra) 95,241 9,524 
 
 18 Assistants 1,29,000 12,900 
 
 11 Surgeons and Assistant Do 86,640 8,664 
 
 Postmaster-General 60,635 6,063 
 
 Accountant-General 44,400 4,440 
 
 Sub Treasurer 36,000 3,600 
 
 4 Mint Masters 60,993 6,099 
 
 4 Assay Masters 60,600 6,060 
 
 II. Judicial Branch. 
 
 Supreme Civil and Criminal Courts (Sudder Dewanee 
 and Nizamut Adawluts.) 
 
 • 5 Judges Rs. 2,80,000 £28,000 
 
 1 Registrar and Deputy 39,600 3,960 
 
 4 Assistants 27,683 2,768 
 
 2 Translators 9,600 960 
 
 Four Provincial Courts of Appeal and Circuit, viz. Cal- 
 cutta, Dacca, Moorshedabad, and Patna. 
 
 17 Judges Rs. 6,55,000 £65,500 
 
 6 Surgeons at 4,800 28,800 .2,880
 
 122 APPENDIX. 
 
 Two additionalProvincial Courts of Appeal and Circuit of 
 Benares and Bareilly, 9 Judges ; also Benares City 
 Adawlut, Gazeepoore, Juanpore, and Mirzapoor, 4 Judges 
 and Magistrates. 
 
 Per Annum. 
 Indian Money. Sterling. 
 
 13 Judges Rs. 4,71,196 £47,1 19 
 
 5 Registrars, and Registrars and Joint 
 
 Magistrates 51,082 5,108 
 
 8 Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons . . 38,400 3,840 
 
 Three City Adawluts — Dacca, Moorshedabad, Patna. 
 
 3 Judges with Magisterial power. . S. Rs. 84,000 £8,400 
 5 Registrars 37,200 3,720 
 
 Forty Zillah Adawluts. 
 
 49 Judges, Magistrates and Assist- 
 ant Do 12,13,762 121,376 
 
 57 Registrars (or Registrars and Joint 
 
 Magistrates) S. Rs. 4,39,893 £43,989 
 
 49 Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons 2,26,393 22,639 
 
 Superintendentsand Assistant Do... 138,120 13,812 
 
 5 Commissioners and Assistant Do. . 118,510 1 1,851 
 
 III. Revenue Branch. 
 
 Lower Provinces. 
 
 Board of Revenue, 3 Members 1,40,000 14,000 
 
 Secretary 26,784 2,678 
 
 Sub-Secretary and 2 Assistants .... 20,400 2,040 
 3 Commercial (or Opium) Agents in 
 
 Behar, Benares, Malwa 1,56,091 15,609
 
 APPENDIX. 123 
 
 Per Annum. 
 
 Indian Money. Sterling. 
 
 Board of Customs, Salt and Opium, 
 
 2 Members 1,05,000 10,500 
 
 Secretary 29,449 2,944 
 
 8 Salt Agents 2,89,354 28.935 
 
 20 Collectors of Customs and Duties 4,30.695 43,069 
 5 Superintendents of Stamps and of 
 
 Salt 1,22,099 12,209 
 
 28 Collectors in the Lower Provinces 6,06,288 60,628 
 
 Commissioner in the Sunderbunds. . 22,800 2,280 
 
 10 Revenue Officers for Calcutta, 
 
 Hooghley, Jungal Mehals, N. E. 
 
 of Rungpore, Kumaoon, Cuttack, 
 
 Balasore, Kherdah 1,99,424 19,942 
 
 Secretary of Presidency Committee 
 
 of Records and Registrar 10,800 1,080 
 
 Western Provinces. 
 
 Board of Commissioners, 3 Members 1,44,487 14,448 
 
 Secretary, Sub ditto, and Assistant.. 42,744 4,274 
 12 Collectors, 2 Deputy- Collectors, 
 
 and 1 Sub-Collector 4,14,792 41,479 
 
 Central Provinces. 
 
 Board of Revenue, 3 Members 1,45,000 14,500 
 
 Secretary and 5 Assistants 58,179 5,817 
 
 16 Collectors and Sub-Collectors 3,53,129 35,312 
 
 Agent to Gov. General in Saugor and 
 
 Nerbuddah 50,000 5,000 
 
 9 Assistants in charge of Districts . . 1,23,765 12,376
 
 124 APPENDIX. 
 
 The allowances of the Civil Officers on the Presidencies 
 of Madras and Bombay, are similar to those of Bengal ; 
 the chief difference exists between the salaries of the Go- 
 vernors and Members of Council in these Presidencies, and 
 those of the Governor-General in Bengal and the Mem- 
 bers of his Council. I shall therefore only subjoin an 
 Abstract of the Total Amount of the Civil Service of the 
 Three Presidencies.
 
 A P P K N D I X 
 
 125 
 
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 126 APPENDIX. 
 
 N. B. — By the evidence of Messrs. Lloyd and Melville, 
 (the former the Accountant-general, and the latter the Au- 
 ditor-general of the East India Company,) recorded in the 
 Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee of 
 the House of Lords, 23d February 1830, it appears that 
 the proportion of the Indian revenues expended in Eng- 
 land on the territorial account amounts, on an average, to 
 3,000,000^. sterling annually. It includes the expences at 
 the Board of Controul and India House ; pay, absentee 
 allowances, and pensions to Civil and Mihtary Officers in 
 Europe for services in India, with interest of money real- 
 ized there, &c. &c. besides 453,588/. for territorial stores 
 consigned to India. 
 
 In a letter of the Court of Directors to the Government 
 of Bengal, dated the 20th of June 1810, and quoted in the 
 work "On Colonial Policy as applicable to the Govern- 
 ment of India," by a very able servant of the Company, 
 holding a responsible situation in Bengal, the Directors 
 state that " it is no extravagant assertion to advance, 
 that the annual remittances to London on account of in- 
 dividuals, have been at the rate of nearly 2,000,000/. per 
 annum for a series of 7/ears past." (p. 70.) From these and 
 other authentic documents the author calculates the amount 
 of capital, or " the aggregate of tribute, public and pri- 
 vate, so withdrawn from India from 1765 to 1820, at 
 110,000,000/." (p. 65.)
 
 INDEX. 
 
 [The following Abbreviations are used in this Index : p. for jjage ; j. q. Ju- 
 dicial Queries ; r, q. Revenue Queries ; r. -p. Revenue Paper ; a. q. Addi- 
 tional Queries ; Appx, Appendii.'\ 
 
 Appeals, Courts for, j.q. 41 ; delays in, j.q. 47 ; mode of reducing, 
 
 j.q. 50 ; to King in Council, j'.^. 51. 
 Arrears of Revenue, land sold for, r. q. 18; of rent, »-. q. 19, 20. 
 Aumeens Sudder, j. q. 18 ; new arrangement of suggested, j. q. 30, 
 
 (par. 5.) 
 ■Bar, Native, depressed state of, j.^. 12, 13; bad effects oi this, j.q. 47, 
 No. 2. 
 
 Capital drawn from India, Appx. V. p. 120. 126. 
 
 Circuit Courts, proposed improvements in, j.q. 63,64; Judges, j.q. 
 
 45, 46 ; evils of their union with Commissioners of Revenue, j. q. 46 ; 
 
 duties of, j.q. 53, 54. 
 Civil Servants, age of when sent to India, j.q. 71, 72; education of, 
 
 j. q. 77. App.v. I. p. 113—114. 
 Code of Laws, want of, j.q. 6. C7 ; principle of suggested, j. q. 68, 
 
 69, 70. 
 Collectors, qualifications of, r. q. 45 ; powers of, r. q. 46 ; duties of, 
 
 r.p. 20. 
 Commissioners of Revenue, j. q. 46. (2.) ; duties of, 52. 
 Company, East India, rise of, p. xi. 
 Controul, Board of, origin of, p. xiii. 
 Courts of Appeal (Provincial), powers of, 40. 41. 43.; number of, j.q. 
 
 44, 45. .
 
 128 INDEX. 
 
 Courts (King's), on the extension of their jurisdiction, ;.^. 51 : ereat ex- 
 penses ofj 
 
 Courts (Company's), defects of,j. q. 2, 3. 7. ; language of their proceed- 
 ings, j, q. Q, 9,10 ; general opinion regarding, j. q. 27, 28 ; delays in, 
 j.q.47; causes of, and remedy for proposed, ;. g*. 48; causes pend- 
 ing in, j.q. 49. 
 
 Cultivators, 7\q. 5, 6; rights of, r.q. 8. (see Ryots). 
 
 Forgery and Perjury in the Courts, cause of, ;. q. 7. (No. 5.) ; remedy 
 for, J. q. 30, (Par. 6.) 
 
 India, its ancient name, p. v. ; boundaries of, p. vi. ; " Civilized" and 
 "Sacred Land," p. vii. ; political divisions of, p. viii. ; conquest of by 
 the Mahommedans, p. ix. ; decline of their power, p. ix. x. ; acqui- 
 sition of by the English, p. x.; government of by the E. I. Company, 
 p. xi. xii. ; creation of Board of Controul for, p. xiii. ; nature of 
 the Company's rule, p. xiv. 
 
 Inheritance, Laws of, j. q. 73, 74, 75. 
 
 Judges, fewness of, 4 ; qualifications of, j. q. 5. 70 ; character of, ;'. q. 
 
 20. 57; borrowing money, j.q. 21. 22. 
 Judicial System, defects of, j.q. 2, 3. 7; want of judges, ;'. 9. 4; of 
 
 qualification, J. 5. 5; of code of laws, j.q. 6 ; of a proper judicial 
 
 language, j.q. 8, 9, 10 ; remedies suggested, j.q. 30. 78. 
 Jury, ti'ial by recommended, and why, j.q. 30. (par. 3.), j.q. 31. 32. 
 
 34. 36. 39. 63. 64.; from whom to be selected, j.q. 64. 66.; duties 
 
 of, j.q. 65. (See " Punchayet.") 
 
 Land, Tenures of, r.q. 1, 2, 3; transfers of, r. q. 18. 24. 25. 38. ; sales 
 of, r.q. 26 ; increased value of, 9\p. 3 ; from opening of trade, 7\p. 5. 
 
 Lakheraj land, r. q. 53 ; measures for resuming adopted, r. q. 54. 
 
 Law Authorities, Hindu, y. ^. 74 ; Mussulman, y. g'. 75; simplification 
 of proposed, j. q. 76. 
 
 Lawyers, Native, j. q- 17 ; character of,y. q. 23. 
 
 Maulavis, character of, y.gr. 30. 64. 
 
 Muftis,y. ^. 30. 55. 56.; qualifications of, j.q. 58. 
 
 Munsifs,y.g. 18, 19. 
 
 Natives of India, condition of, r.p. 4 ; formerly employed in the revenue 
 department, r.p. 19 ; advantages of so employing them, r.p. 21, 22 ; 
 suggestions respecting, r.p. 23, 24, 25, 26 ; physical condition of, 
 u.q.\; moral and religious, do. u.q.2; rate of wages, n.q. 3 ; food
 
 INDEX. J29 
 
 of, a. (/. 4 ; houses, a. q. 5; clothing, u.q.Q; increase, a.q.7 ; industry, 
 
 a.q. 8; capability of improvement, a.q. 9; intelligence, a.q, 10; 
 
 education, a. 9. 11 ; their opinion regarding the Government, a.q. 13. 
 
 Officers, Native Judicial, use oi,j. q. 14, 1 5 ; irresponsibility of,^'. q.\Q; 
 
 character and allovsrances of,/, q. 24 ; influence of,/, q. 29. 38. 
 Pleaders, Native, relations between them and the Judges,/, q. 7. 11, 12, 
 
 13; their character, /. q. 25; their want of influence,/. 9. 48. (2) 
 Press, public, want of as a check on judicial proceedings,/, q. 7. 
 Publicity of the Courts of Justice,/. 9. 48. (7) ; do. of the Law Regula- 
 tions recommended, /. q. 30. (par. 4.) 
 Punchayet System, /. q. 31, 32, 33, 34; Absolute necessity of resorting 
 to it, j.g. 35; mode of forming it, J.q. 36, 37; great advantages of 
 introducing it, J.q. 39. (See "Jury.") 
 Registry of Deeds, &c., plan of recommended, /. q. 30. (par. 6.); do. of 
 
 causes and papers filed, /. q. 48. (4.) 
 Regulations, greater publicity of necessary, /. q. 30. (par. 4.) ; improve- 
 ment in the mode of framing them proposed, /. q. 76. 
 Rent, rates of. ?-. q. 6, 7 ; increase of, ?•. q. 9; regulation of, r.q. 11,12, 
 13; periods when paid, 7\q. 14; recovery of. r.q. 19 ; maximum 
 should be fixed, r.p. 14. Appx. III. p. 116. 
 Reporters, public, want of, j.q- 7. 
 
 Revenue, from whom collected, r.q. 15; Arrears of, how realized, r.q. 
 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; abuses in conducting the sales, 
 r. q. 26 ; remedy for, r. q. 27 ; cause of sales of land for, r. q. 38 ; re- 
 sults of the revenue systems of Bengal and Madras contrasted, r. q. 39, 
 40, 41, 42, ^/7j3.r. II. p. 213 ; reduction of revenue establishment pro- ■ 
 posed, r.q. 31. r.p. 19, 20, 21. 
 Revenue system, see Zamindary and Ryotwary Systems, comparative 
 
 results of, Appx. II. p. 114. 
 Ryots, rights of, r. q. 8, 9, and r.p. 13 ; condition of, r. q. 30, r. p. 27, 
 a.q. 1 ; mode of improving suggested, r. </. 31 ; protection of, imper- 
 fect, r. 5. 33; remedies, r.(y. 34; no means of accumulating capital, 
 r.q. 43; excessive rents of, r.p. 18; limitation of proposed, r.p. 14, 
 Appx. No. III. p. 116. 
 Ryotwary System, evils of, r. q. 44, Appx. II. p. 116, 1 17, 1 18. 
 Settlement, Permanent, r.q. 10; benefits to Government, r.q. 37, r.p. 
 2; to proprietors, r.p. 7, Appx.; transit duties raised by, r.p. 6. 
 p. 89.
 
 130 INDEX. 
 
 Settlers, European, limited coi\troul of Courts over, r.q. 50; remedy, 
 r.q. 51 ; benefits to the country from Europeans of respectability and 
 capital becoming settlers, r.q. 48, 52 ; objections to their indiscriminate 
 admission, r. q. 49. 
 
 Sudder Devvanee Adawlut (Company's Supreme Civil Court), higii 
 qualifications of judges of, ;. q. 42 ; duties of, j.q. 61, 62. 
 
 Sudder Nizamut Adav^lut (Company's Supreme Criminal Court), j. 5. 59, 
 60, 61. 
 
 Tenures of Land, R. 1, 2, 3. 9. 
 Trade, effects of opening the, r.p. 5. 
 
 Tribute drawn from India and expended in Europe, amount of, Appx. 
 p. 120, 125. 
 
 Union of European and Native Judges recommended, and on what 
 ground, j. q. 30 ; union of revenue with judicial officers, evils of, 
 J. ^f. 46. (3); remedy for, J. ^r. 46 (4) ; union of judges and magis- 
 trates, inconvenience of, j.q. 46.(5) 
 
 Zamindary System, introduction of, r.q. 10, r.p. 14; condition of 
 Ryots under, r.q. 30; middlemen, r.q. 33 ; improved condition of 
 Zamindars, r.q. 36, r.p. 3, Appx. IV. p. 118; rights of, r.p. 13; 
 advantages of to Government, Appx. II. p. 114.
 
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