158 



Had the question regarding the redemption of the 

 land revenue or the sale of the rights of the Com- 

 munity generally, after full and fair discussion, been 

 decided in the affirmative, there could be no objection 

 to the sale of wastes ; but until such has been done, 

 it is not expedient to introduce an idea into India 

 which possibly may cause dissatisfaction with fiscal 

 arrangements which till now have been considered 

 sound in principle, and have been for centuries ap- 

 proved and acquiesced in, not only by the people of 

 India, but by the people of all Asiatic countries. 



A Governor-General of India, brought up in an 

 English school of politics, can have no knowledge 

 whatever, from personal intercourse with the natives 

 and practical experience of the country, of many 

 circumstances necessary to the complete understand- 

 ing* of an Indian question. Of necessity, therefore, 

 on those points requiring this special knowledge he 

 must be guided by the opinions of his advisers. The 

 late Earl Canning, in sanctioning the redemption of 

 the land revenue of India, was apparently fully 

 sensible of the momentous nature of the question with 

 which he was dealing. He foresaw the important 

 bearing* such a measure, if carried into effect, must 

 have on the finances of the State, on the prosperity 

 of the country, and the welfare and happiness of the 

 people. Above all he foresaw that such a measure, 

 if once passed, was irrevocable. His information 

 was defective ; he knew it, and his cautious wisdom 

 suggested that in legislating* on so important a 



