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be seen, thus, that, as regards the plains, the 

 Government of India has little to dispose of, and 

 that that little is not worth the acceptance of those 

 who can obtain all they require, if laud be their desi- 

 deratum, in regions far more congenial to their 

 constitutions and habits. I have given these statistics 

 then, not because they were necessary to enlighten 

 Indian Statesmen, who must know, or who certainly 

 ought to know these facts ; but because I desire, to 

 exclude from the whole, the discussion of a question 

 which ought to be confined to a comparatively 

 limited part. 



When people talk, generally, of the Secretary 

 of State of the Government of India, throwing 

 obstacles in the way of European settlers obtain- 

 ing land in India, they evidently talk at random, 

 and without a knowledge of the true facts of the 

 case. The Secretary of State and the Government of 

 India, as far as regards powers of absolute disposal, 

 have, little more concern with the great area of the 

 plains of Hindostan, than Her Majesty's Ministers 

 have with the broad lands of England. But that the 

 subject may be more clearly understood, and follow- 

 ing out the principle of looking at these questions 

 from a business point of view. I will add, that were it 

 otherwise were for instance the rights of the people 

 in the soil to be confiscated tomorrow, and all the 

 cultivated and culturable land in India to be put 

 up to public auction the next day, except in unpopu- 



