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original character, whether as proprietors of land or collec- 

 tors of revenue, or with respect to the changes which may in 

 process of time have taken place in their situation, there can 

 at least be little difference of opinion as to the actual 

 condition of the Zemindars under the Moghul Government. 

 Custom generally gave them a certain species of hereditary 

 occupancy, but the sovereign appears nowhere to have bound 

 himself by any law or compact not to deprive them of it ; and 

 the rents to be paid by them remained always to be fixed by 

 his arbitrary will and pleasure, which were constantly exer- 

 cised upon this object. If considered, therefore, as a right of 

 property it was very imperfect and very precarious, having 

 not at all, or but in a very small degree those qualities that 

 confer independence and value upon the landed property of 

 Europe. Though such be our ultimate view of this question, 

 our originating a system of fixed equitable taxation will 

 sufiiciently show that our intention has not been to act upon 

 the high claims of Asiatic despotism ; we are, on the contrary, 

 for establishing real permanent valuable landed rights in our 

 provinces, and for conferring that right upon the Zemindars, 

 but it is just that the motive of this concession should be 

 known and that our subjects should see that they receive 

 from the enlightened principles of a British Government 

 what they never enjoyed under the happiest of their own." 

 The authors of the permanent settlement inappropriately 

 called the rights conferred on the Zemindars, " proprietary 

 rights," being influenced by the notion fostered by modern 

 English law, that there should be full ownership vested in 

 some one person, and all other rights should be considered 

 as derived from or through him. This view of the case 

 placed the rights of the ryots at a disadvantage in that they 

 were regarded as a sort of inferior, derivative, possessory 

 rights. The existence of the latter rights was, however, 

 fully acknowledged and the Government reserved to itself 

 the fullest power to legislate, when necessary, for the protec- 

 tion of the ryot's rights. The Court of Directors specially 

 cautioned the Governor-General " to so express himself as to 

 leave no ambiguity as to their right to interfere from time 

 to time, as it might be necessary, for the protection of the 

 ryots and subordinate landlords, it being their intention in 

 the whole of this measure effectually to limit their own de- 

 mands, but not to depart from their inherent right as 

 sovereigns of being the guardians and protectors of every 

 class of persons living under their Government;" and the 

 Governor-General in accordance with the Court's injunc- 

 tions issued J in 1793, a proclamation containing, among 



