[ 6 ] 



brethren, now lording it as masters, and intercepting 

 one-half of the State dues. 



In these and similar cases we are doubtless not now 

 getting by perhaps eight millions a year as much as 

 we might have done, but for the well-meant errors of 

 our predecessors. But these are accomplished facts ; 

 they have been built into the very foundations of the 

 new social order that has arisen under our rule, and 

 no wise or competent ruler could now dream of 

 changes in these directions. For good or for evil, 

 there they are, and there they must remain, unless 

 we desire to shake society to its base and risk the 

 overthrow of the fabric on which three generations 

 have laboured. 



Broadly speaking, accepting these tenures and sys- 

 tems that we have created, and of which we cannot 

 and must not even try to rid ourselves, it may be 

 safely asserted that we are making as much on the 

 whole out of the land as, in its present condition, we 

 can. 



It is only necessary, at any rate for those who 

 understand these questions, to read the more recent 

 Settlement Eeports of any of the temporarily-settled 

 provinces, such as Bombay, the J^orth- Western Pro- 

 vinces, the Punjab, to realise the patience and re- 

 search, the care and intelHgence, with which the 

 assessment of the Government land revenue is now 

 conducted. 



Certainly, making due allowance where settlements 

 have been running for some time, for improvements 

 that railways, canals, and other less direct causes have 

 effected in the value of produce, as a whole we are 



