198 



as the case might be, could not be desirable ; and 

 that the enforcement of its provisions, would not 

 only be the arbitrary and unjust exercise of a des- 

 potic power, but that the retention of such a clause 

 in the Revenue Statute Book, would reflect discredit 

 if not disgrace on the Government of any civilized 

 nation. 



The intentions of the framers of this rule were 

 doubtless the very best and purest. They desired 

 not to sacrifice the interests of the country to 

 those of individuals, and they could not devise any 

 other means of accomplishing it. I am not aware 

 moreover of the provisions of this clause having 

 occasioned much inconvenience though the rage 

 for tea-planting being of very recent date, the 

 time for putting them in force had not fully 

 arrived and I am certain that in practice no injus- 

 tice would have been perpetrated. The existence 

 of the rule however, rendering, as it did, the 

 tenure of every acre of a grant precarious for the 

 space of thirty years, or more, was a blot which 

 could not have been allowed to disfigure the revenue 

 code of any province in India, had there been a 

 minister of commerce, well acquainted with the 

 principles on which business transactions are carried 

 on, at the right hand of the Viceroy, for no rule 

 could possibly have been framed better calculated 

 to defeat the very object the British Government 

 had in view. It would seem, too, as if some such 



