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the Zemindars have always done something* towards 

 building 1 wells, tanks, school -houses, making 1 village 

 roads, &c. The Bengali Zemindar has acted in 

 accordance with the dictates of his uneducated mind 

 and his narrowed intellect, and possibly in a manner 

 not very dissimilar to that in which other people, 

 similarly situated and in a similar stage of social, 

 moral, and intellectual progress, would act. Before 

 the powerful influence of self-interest was allowed to 

 form so fundamental a portion of our European 

 systems of Economy, the contrast between the 

 English and the Bengali landlord was possibly 

 not so great as it now is ; and if we excuse the 

 Government on the ground of its being* precluded 

 from deriving any profit from the outlay of its 

 capital, we must assuredly make some allowance for 

 the Zemindar, who, though deeply interested, is at 

 least two centuries behind the Englishman in educa- 

 tion and social progress. My intention, then ; is not 

 to bespatter the Bengali with dirt ; but simply to 

 point out to those who know less of the people of 

 India than those on the spot, that before plunging 

 irrevocably into, a policy which, if mistaken,' will 

 inevitably prove disastrous, some more certain data 

 than i anxious wishes ' and ' confident expectations,' 

 are necessary, if it be desired that its results should 

 be different to those which have attended other 

 measures introduced with similar intentions. 



It is distinctly stated that the object aimed at by 

 a perpetual settlement in India, is to improve the 



