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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
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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.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
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