" Under Native rule the land tax was the chief source of revenue 

 and was in great part either levied in kind, or assigned for the 

 support of troops and establishments. There was only a small portion 

 of the whole collected in money, and transferred from the local to the 

 central treasuries. The standing military force kept and regularly 

 paid by the Government was small. The bulk of the troops consisted 

 of a kind of militia furnished by jaghirdars and other landlords, to 

 whom the collection of the taxes was assigned for the support of these 

 levies and for conducting the civil administration of the districts 

 placed under their jurisdiction. The troops or retainers of these 

 feudatories were in great measure maintained on the gi'ain, forage 

 and other supplies furnished by the districts in which they were 

 located. The laud tax was in consequence either wholly or partially 

 taken in kind and what was collected in money was generally paid 

 away to parties on the spot, and thus quickly returned into circulation. 

 The hereditary revenue and police officials were generally paid by 

 grants of land on tenure of service. Wages of farm servants and 

 agricultural laborers were paid in grain. Grain also was the common 

 medium of exchange for effecting petty purchases in country towns. 

 The farmer's or laborer's wife took a basketful of grain on her head 

 to market instead of a purse of money, and therewith purchased her 

 week's supplies. The people lived in a rude and simple fashion, 

 having few wants, and knowing little of luxuries. In inland districts 

 the c}>ief imports were salt, metals, and a few luxuries for the better 

 classes ; but the value of the whole was inconsiderable and the exports 

 with which these were purchased were, of course, correspondingly 

 limited. In this state of things money was hardly wanted at all, and 

 a small supply of coin sufficed for the realization of the public revenue 

 and the settlement of commercial transactions. But while the quan- 

 tity of coin iu circulation was small, the prices of agricultural produce 

 were well sustained, owing to the limited extent of land in cultivation 

 and the large demand for food by the numerous body of the people 

 employed unproductively as soldiers, retainers, and public officers of 

 all kinds, and the difficulty of supplementing deficient harvests by 

 importations from more favored districts, through the want of good 

 roads or other facilities for the transport of bulky produce. The 

 foreign commerce of the country at large was necessarily confined 

 within very narrow limits. It was only the products of the coast 

 districts and the more valuable commodities of the interior, such as 

 indigo and manufactured goods, that could bear the expense of 

 carriage to the ports of shipment so as to admit of being exported. 

 India, at that time, coveted few of the productions of foreign countries 

 and her most important imports were the precious and common metals, 

 broad-cloths, jewels, and other luxuries for the wealthy. 



" The innovations made in the revenue and financial system by 

 the British have, however, effected the most sweeping changes in all 

 of these particulars, and we shall now endeavour to trace their opera- 

 tion on the territory of a native prince passing under the sway of the 

 Company. The first steps taken were to substitute regularly-paid 

 and disciplined troops, located in military stations, for the rural 

 militia of the native feudatories, and a staff of European and native 

 officials receiving fixed salaries, in place of the former mamlutdars and 



