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and usurpers, it is known, have but very small 

 respect for the responsibilities of their predeces- 

 sors. When Kings wanted money, as in former 

 times in Europe, they seized, imprisoned, and 

 tortured rich subjects, until their wants were sup- 

 plied ; or later, if under the surveillance or pro- 

 tection of the British, they borrowed, on the 

 security of their jewels or other valuable property, 

 from some wealthy banker. The idea of a State 

 loan, as understood in Europe, in India, is wholly 

 unknown. Jageers and rent free grants, conferred 

 by Sovereigns on their nobles and servants, as 

 a rule, have been held on the condition of main- 

 taining troops &c., or were the reward of personal 

 services, and were conferred, and received, with 

 a full understanding that the security for their 

 permanence was the life of the donor, the pleasure 

 of his successor, or the power of the possessor 

 to hold them against all comers. Possession, it 

 is true, is nine points of the law in most parts 

 of the world. Here, to the strong, it has always been 

 something more. Such a title, therefore, might be 

 good as regards possession ; but that it could create 

 an absolute property in the soil that it could 

 confer immunity from revenue for all time to come, 

 is an idea that could not, under such circumstances, 

 enter into the day dreams of a single individual 

 living under such a form of Government ; and, 

 consequently, it never did. 



