FOOTNOTES:
[46] See Treaties of the Dutch with the Native Princes.
[47] This article has never been a contingent or forced delivery with the Dutch; and its extensive cultivation in the district of Kedu gives a proof of what the natives will do if not interfered with by European monopoly. The Kedú is, in consequence of this cultivation, by far the richest province in the island, giving an annual revenue to the government, in money, of half a million of rupees. This important district was never subjected to the Dutch government: it was transferred to the British in 1812, and immediately fell under the Revenue System.
[48] These principles were contemplated as just and practicable by a Dutch authority (Van Hogendorp) who resided on Java, and criticized freely the measures of administration, as will appear from the following extracts from a work, which only came into my possession subsequently to the introduction of the new system by the British government. "Property of the soil must be introduced by granting all the cultivated lands to those who have hitherto cultivated them, or, in other words, to the common Javans. All the rice fields belonging to each désa should be distributed among its inhabitants, and the gardens or spots of ground in which their cottages stand, should also, in future, be their personal property. Correct registers hereof should be kept, and certificates given to the different owners. Who can produce a better and nearer right to the personal possession of the land, than he who has cultivated and made it productive? And is there a country in the world where the natives are happy, free, and well settled, without having a property in the soil? Our own country, and all the kingdoms of Europe, afford the most direct proofs of this: they flourish in proportion as property is more or less secure and equally divided among the inhabitants of each. All Europe groaned under the feudal system of government: all Europe has freed itself from it; but by various means and in different degrees. Why, therefore, can similar changes not be brought about on Java? Every thing urges us to make them, and the results must be important and most advantageous to us. Java is alone able to relieve our commonwealth from all its difficulties.
"In order to collect a land-tax properly, a general and correct survey should, in the first instance, be effected in all the districts belonging to us, according to an established land measure, to be introduced generally throughout Java; for this is, at present, very irregular. All the lands should then be divided into three classes, first, second, and third class, according to the proportionate fertility of the soil, and according to the same proportion the land-tax should be established. I am very ready to admit, that this will naturally be difficult and troublesome; but what system of government is exempt from these inconveniences? and particularly in this country, where it is necessary to effect a radical change and reform, in order to produce any beneficial results? But with diligence, zeal, and deliberation, all difficulties may be overcome; and even should the survey not be exactly correct in the first instance, it might be improved from year to year. The word jung is now used by the Javans for a certain measure of land; but this differs so much in different districts, that it is impossible to ascertain how many square roods of land a jung ought to contain. The name might be retained, however, after having found by experience how many square roods, in general or on an average, are contained in a jung, the proportion might be once for all established, introduced throughout the island, and fixed as the regular land measure of the country. It would be difficult, and as yet unnecessary, to calculate how many jungs of land our territories on Java contain, and how much might be collected as a land-tax from each jung, in order to ascertain what this tax would amount to. I think it should be taken as a principle, that the land-tax can and ought to produce as much as the head-money, (namely, a rix-dollar per head): the land-tax would then yield an annual and certain income of at least two millions and a half of rix-dollars. Every spot of cultivated ground being measured and settled to which class it belongs, every owner will correctly know, how much he must pay for land-tax annually, and be completely at liberty to plant his land with whatever he may prefer, and may conceive most conducive to his advantage. I am of opinion, that during the first years it would be difficult, on account of the scarcity of specie, or rather its absence from circulation, to collect the land-tax; but, in the same way as with the head-money, it would be expedient, in the first years, to be somewhat indulgent in the collection, or else to receive produce in lieu of money, which might be done in this tax better than the capitation. But after five years of good administration, I am certain that the land-tax would be fully and without difficulty collected."
[49] Dated 1815.