150 



munity's share of the produce of the soil ? Most 

 certainly it will. 



Under the circumstances then, if far distant, it 

 cannot be said that the time will not come when the 

 land of India may be worth, not twenty-five years' 

 purchase at present rates ; but twenty-five years' 

 purchase at infinitely higher rates than any that 

 have ever yet prevailed in India. And setting 1 

 aside legal considerations regarding the right of a 

 non-representative Government to dispose of the 

 property of the Community in the Soil, and viewing 

 the question as one simply of policy, nothing more 

 should be wanting to prove, that the present is the 

 least opportune time that could possibly have been 

 chosen, for attempting the introduction of a measure 

 of such fundamental importance in the philosophy 

 of government, as the transfer of the property of the 

 Community, or the Crown, in the soil, to individuals. 

 The outline of things above sketched certainly indi- 

 cates that there is great room for profitable specula- 

 tion in land ; but for such, capital is required, and 

 notwithstanding Middlemen, which a few short 

 j r ears ago were considered the curse of Ireland, are 

 thought by some to be required in India, I doubt 

 very much whether the transfer of estates from 

 ancient and noble families to native money-lenders 

 and English Capitalists, is a policy that would tend 

 to ensure those political advantages considered of so 

 much importance. The present sale laws for arrears 

 of revenue, though possibly not more stringent than 



