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ground down by oppressive taxation, by the illegal exactions 

 of tlie oflScers of Government, of the renters employed to 

 collect the Government dues, and of the sowkars without 

 whose assistance the ryots could not subsist and carry on 

 their calling and who kept them in a state little removed 

 from that of perpetual bondage ; trade was hampered by 

 insecurity of property, defective communications and onerous 

 transit duties ; the vast majority of the population suffered 

 extreme hardships when there was even a partial failure of 

 crops in small tracts, owing to the great diflSculty and cost of 

 obtaining supplies of grain from more favored regions ; the 

 peasantry and even possessors of considerable landed pro- 

 perty when not holding offices under Government themselves 

 were cowering before the pettiest Government officer and 

 submitting to tortures and degrading personal ill-treatment 

 inflicted on the slightest pretext ; persons who had chanced 

 to acquire wealth, if they belonged to the lower classes, dared 

 not openly use it for purposes of enjoyment or display for 

 fear of being plundered by the classes above them ; the 

 agricultural classes as a whole had few wants beyond those 

 imposed by the necessity for bare subsistence, no ambition 

 or enterprize to try untrodden ways, and no example to 

 stimulate them to endeavour to better their condition, while 

 the rigid rules and usages of castes and communities in 

 which society was organized repressed all freedom of action 

 and restricted the scope for individual initiative. To under- 

 stand the full significance of the change which has come over 

 the country one has to contrast what he sees at present, 

 unsatisfactory as it may appear from some points of view, 

 with the state of things described above. 



Secondly, it must be remembered that considerable por- 

 tions of the country are liable to frequent droughts and occa- 

 sional famines, which no human foresight can prevent, and 

 that the results of several decades of good administration are 

 liable to be suddenly swept away by the occurrence of one 

 of these terrible visitations. The famine of 1876-77 is a case 

 in point. It was the severest in magnitude and duration of 

 any known during the present century ; but it is satisfac- 

 tory to find that the districts affected by it have recovered 

 more rapidly than those afi'ected by the famine of 1833, 

 which prevailed in a smaller tract of country and was of 

 shorter duration. The development of communications since 

 1877 has also greatly mitigated the effects of temporary 

 scarcities. This is illustrated in a remarkable manner by 

 ■what has happened during the last two years. The railway 



