254 



some of the difficulties with which it was supposed 

 to be surrounded. But to frame a rule, or at 

 least to lay down such broad principles as commis- 

 sioners and collectors can apply to the circum- 

 stances of the localities in which they may be placed, 

 without risking a sacrifice of the interests of the 

 State, the Country, or the People, is clearly the 

 business of the Crown, whose property these rights 

 are, and not the business of either occupiers or 

 intending settlers, and until the Crown has done 

 so, it cannot be said that it is in a position to 

 sell. "Kings'* says the Hindoo lawyer before 

 quoted, " were created by GOD to decide the various 

 contests between subjects concerning occupancy 

 and the like, and to maintain just proceedings : 

 therefore the king, as lord of his subjects, is called 

 lord of men (nerapatl.) By his own power, the king 

 prevents others from seizing the land over which 

 he has dominion ; by his own power, he legally 

 seizes the land over which others reign : therefore lie 

 is not subordinate to the subject." And this would 

 seem to be the common sense view of the case." 



But the point, as regards disposing outright of 

 waste lands, in India, requiring the gravest atten- 

 tion, is the introduction into the Country, generally, 

 of a novel principle, a principle altogether foreign 

 to the fiscal laws of the land, and the traditions 

 and ideas of the people; and it was partly for 

 the better elucidation of this portion of the subject 



