A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT 23 



the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Govern- 

 ment therefore formally declared its intention of 

 making a permanent settlement with the landholders 

 — that is to say, of fixing in perpetuity the tax upon 

 rent. This intention was stated unequivocally in a 

 circular, issued by the Commissioners who then dis- 

 charged the functions of the Board of Revenue (Messrs. 

 R. W. Cox and H. G. Tucker), to all collectors, dated 

 September 7, 1807, 



' It is almost unnecessary to observe that principles 

 which scarcely admit of a question, and which recent 

 experience in the Lower Provinces* may now be con- 

 sidered to have established in the most satisfactory 

 manner, point to the expediency of limiting the demand 

 of Government upon land ; and the Governor-General 

 in Council, in enacting Regulation 10 of 1807, has 

 evidently had in view to extend to the Ceded and 

 Conquered Territory* the benefits which have already 

 been realized in Bengal from the practical operation 

 of those principles. The permanent settlement con- 

 cluded in the Bengal Provinces has notoriously been 

 attended with the happiest success, and the flourishing 

 state of those provinces must, we think, be ascribed 

 in an eminent degree to that wise and salutary measure^ 

 . . . We consider it to be a point established that it is 

 desirable to extend to the Ceded and Conquered Terri- 

 tory the benefit of a permanent settlement whenever 

 circumstances may admit of it, and the chief object of 

 our present reference to you is to ascertain how far 

 the present state of your district encourages an opinion 

 that the ensuing settlement can be declared permanent, 

 consistently with a proper regard to the rights of the 

 landholders and tenantry, and to the interests and just 

 expectations of Government.'! 



* Lower Provinces = Bengal ; Ceded and Conquered Territory = 

 Province of Agra. 



t Selections from the ' Revenue Records of the North-Western 

 Provinces, Allahabad,' 1873. 



