256 



justly due, unless he compensates the Bait ol-Mal r i. e 

 the public treasury, either from the amount received 

 from the land, or from his privy purse, by a sum equal 

 to the khiraj or revenue accruing thereon.* Private- 

 individuals cannot sell lands at all, otherwise than 

 chargeable with the revenue due to the State. In 

 practice, it is true, Sovereigns have availed them- 

 selves largely, and often wholly regardless of the 

 laws by which the Bait ol-Mal is governed, of their 

 royal prerogatives, to bestow lands, free of revenue, 

 as rewards to faithful servants. Much again of the 

 land so bestowed on individuals has been bequeathed 

 to the Church, and to be devoted to the ' service of 

 God ;' and out of this illegal exercise of a despotic- 

 power, has arisen, -a beacon as it were to warn 

 posterity off this fatal rock, the gradual and increas- 

 ing poverty and weakness of Mohommadan dynasties 

 when not strengthened by fresh conquests. 



The comparatively small revenues of the Ottoman 

 Empire, indeed of most existing oriental States, is 

 mainly due to this cause, and the Inaam Commis- 

 sions in India, furnish convincing evidence of the 

 mischief and injustice that Governments may inflict 

 on posterity, by a thoughtless alienation of the 

 revenues of the State. 



In the East generally, and in India particularly, it 

 has been the rule that the crown has been fought for, 



* If the proprietor is very poor, the Soltan may remit the revenue, 

 in which case it is written off to Charity. 



