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heretofore waste, greatly in consequence of the exorbitant 

 assessment fixed or liable to be fixed on it ; and it is certain 

 that this land will be increasingly brought under the plough 

 if moderately assessed. If the settlement be undertaken in 

 this liberal and comprehensive spirit, the preliminary classi- 

 fication of the soil will not be diflBcult. Under a moderate 

 assessment exact accuracy is immaterial, because the greatest 

 difference of assessment which could be caused by the want 

 of it would not be such as to render the land an unprofitable 

 holding, or to prevent its occupation ; at the utmost, it would 

 only render such land somewhat less profitable than other 

 land." These principles were approved in their entirety by 

 the Home Government who went even further than the 

 Madras Government in insisting that the agricultural classes 

 should be treated with the utmost liberality with a view to 

 ensure their prosperity. The Madras Government had pro- 

 posed in accordance with ancient customary usage to fix 

 the land revenue at a certain share, viz., 30 per cent, of 

 the gross produce. The Home Government, however, ruled 

 that the land revenue should represent a fixed proportion of 

 the net produce. They pointed out that the proposal to take 

 a proportion of the gross produce was inconsistent with the 

 principle that the right of Government was not even to the 

 whole rent, but only to a share of it ; for, while as regards lands 

 of a high degree of fertility, possessing every means of com- 

 munication and in the neighbourhood of good markets, 30 per 

 cent, of the gross produce might fall short of the share of the 

 rent Government was entitled to, the same percentage of the 

 gross produce might, in the case of lands less fertile and less 

 favorably situated, considerably exceed the whole rent and 

 trench on the profits of cultivation and wages of labour. The 

 natural and inevitable consequence of such a procedure would 

 be to favour the most fertile lands and to press with increasii^ 

 severity on the poorer lands. They further pointed out that 

 the fact that the holdings in this country were of small 

 extent, that the labour was in most cases performed by the 

 ryot and his family, and that the agricultural capital employed 

 was small, did not interfere in any way with the principle 

 laid down, " as the produce of the land must at least 

 be sufficient to feed and clothe the labourer and his family 

 and to replace the cattle and agricultural implements as 

 they become worn out; and besides this, a surplus must 

 remain for the payment of the assessment imposed by the 

 State." In 1858 again, Lord Stanley, the first Secretary of 

 State for India, re-affirmed the same principle. He remarked, 

 •* I am satisfied that it is quite impossible to ascertain, with 



