Much pains have been taken to prove, that the zemindars, &c., were the legitimate proprietors of the soil; but a very slight inspection of the forms of ancient grants, made by the Emperors of Hindostan, must satisfy the most scrupulous, that no person whatever occupied the soil, except by tolerance of that power under which it was protected. Until our acquisition of the Dewany, (i.e. of the government of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa,) no fixed tenure, beyond the will of the ruling despot, was known, or even claimed; to have asserted such a right, would have been to provoke immediate castigation, and removal from the lands.
Even in the times of our own governors, no hesitation was made respecting the banishment (for it virtually was one) of those who either assumed a decided claim to the property, or who, from whatever cause, whether rebellion, mis-management, or unwillingness to pay their rents, fell in arrears. Such men were always displaced, and others were appointed in their stead, as a mere matter of course. ‘Saheb ke koossy,’ (its master’s pleasure,) was the patient response of the offender; who, whatever might be his feelings, or his opinions, felt the expediency of being perfectly passive on such an occasion.
I believe the records will prove, that Mr. Hastings, during the ten years he was in the chair, made a very free use of this well-understood authority; yet, so far were the natives from thinking him unjust, or over severe, that, when the intelligence of his being acquitted by parliament, was received in India, such was the pleasure felt by all classes, that addresses of congratulation were poured in from every part of the country! This was a compliment that never had been paid by the natives to any of our governors, even when about to return to Europe; a period, at which it might be expected some adulatory addresses might, by great influence, be obtained: no, it was the spontaneous flow of gratitude, pity, and admiration; such as never would have been forth-coming, if the ejectment of a zemindar from his soil had been considered as the expulsion from an hereditary or established right, rather than as the removal of tenants-at-will.
It certainly must appear curious, that we receive eleven-sixteenths of the produce of the soil from its proprietors! Such is, indeed, the case, taking all upon an average. The peasantry, in a number of instances, pay more; especially where middle-men (a class of people by no means scarce in India) are concerned. These are the same harpies all over the world; never failing to reduce the industrious to distress, and to seize upon the all of those most unfortunate beings, whom want of experience, or of interest, may place at their mercy!
The old system of farming out the country to particular persons, many of whom rented of the Company to the amount of fifty lacs, (upwards of £600,000.,) was productive of the greatest evils with which an industrious, but indigent, population could have to contend! Under that mode, it was impossible for Government to make certain of its rents, which were generally remitted in part to the great farmers, lest they should, in bad seasons, oppress the Ryots, and drive them either to despair, or out of the country. This was intended as an act of generosity on the part of Government, which had not the means of enforcing arrears, otherwise than by the sale of a farmer-general’s property, whence but a small portion could be expected to result; but, unhappily, no alleviation of consequence was extended to the real agriculturist; who, being subject to a very summary process, was often compelled to embrace ruin, rather than to suffer all the penalties inflicted by an avaricious and obdurate creditor.
That such should have been the case under the immediate eye of Government, may excite much surprize; but it must be considered, that, under the farming system, the least interference would have instantly been the signal for universal clamor, and that it would have proved beyond the power of all the civil servants, throughout the Company’s territories, to have even registered, much less to have heard, and settled, all the references which would have been made.
This difficulty could not fail to be greatly augmented, by the extreme deficiency then existing of Company’s servants in every part of India; for, in each of the zillahs, or districts, only a collector, with an assistant, perhaps, was stationed. In one instance, I recollect passing by a civil station, when marching from one province to another, when the resident-surgeon was under the necessity of requesting an officer of our corps to aid him in examining the accounts of the factory, which he had been obliged to make out; the president and his assistant being both absent on public business. This occurrence afforded not only much amusement, but a wide scope for observation regarding the paucity of Europeans employed at the out-stations.
In those days, the collector had abundance of duty to perform; for he was not simply to settle all accounts respecting the revenue, and, in some instances, of manufactures provided for the Company’s homeward cargoes, but the whole of the criminal, as well as of the civil, code of justice, were under his control: whatever petty offences were committed, or whatever disputes arose among the inhabitants, became equally his province to enquire into. Fortunately, the banian, or dewan, employed, used to take a very considerable portion of such toil off master’s hands, and to prevent, by a kind of petty adaulut, or tribunal, held in some corner of the office, or perhaps at his own house, thousands of references to his principal. The chief renter of the zillah being often employed as banian to the collector, it is easy to imagine to which side justice, as it was called, used to incline.
Within the last twenty years, the number of servants employed by the Company has been greatly augmented; not only on account of their extension of territory, but, in consequence of the separation, very judiciously made, of two offices, incompatible to be held by the same individual. The collector is now, except in a very few zillahs of less note, confined to the collection of the revenues, having under him one or more assistants, according to the extent of his district.
The whole of the judicial proceedings are under cognizance of a judge, who, aided by his register, decides civil causes between parties residing within his jurisdiction; while the criminal catalogue is handed over to a court composed of natives versed in the Mahomedan and Hindu laws, though the former are, generally, the guide. These native judges are superintended in their proceedings by three of the Company’s servants of long standing, having likewise under them a secretary, or register.