administration." Although bearing this modest title, the 

 work is indeed a compendious history of the period to which 

 it relates, compiled with great industry and care mainly from 

 official records, but embodying also the results of independent 

 inquiries. The task which the author at the request of His 

 Excellency the then Governor Lord (Jonnemara undertook to 

 perform, and' which, in the opinion of His Excellency the 

 Governor in Council, he has very successfully accomplished, 

 was " to examine whether the economic condition of the 

 Madras Presidency, and especially of the agricultural classes, 

 has improved or deteriorated during the last forty years, and 

 whether, if there has been improvement, it is proceeding on 

 right lines." 



2. After describing briefly the state of the country and 

 the condition of the people in former centuries, and, from 

 the information available, drawing the conclusion that the 

 government of former rulers was generally oppressive, the 

 author proceeds to consider the state of the Presidency at 

 the end of the eighteenth century, when most of the pro- 

 vinces of Southern India were acquired by' the British. The 

 position at this time is described thus : " Jn the .earlier 

 centuries, although the country had suffered from frequent 

 wars, it had, with some intervals of anarchy, the advantage 

 of a more or less settled governmeut. In the eighteenth 

 century, however, the completest anarchy prevailed, and the 

 position of the people was miserable in the extreme. In 

 the Zemindar and Poligar countries the only limit to the 

 exactions to which the ryots were subject was their ability 

 to pay; the customary share of the produce, belonging to 

 Government was nominally half, but additional taxes were 

 levied on various pretexts, reducing the share enjoyed by 

 the ryots to one-fif«th or one-sixth." Such was the state of 

 the country when the government thereof was assumed by 

 the Enghsh : the condition of the agricultural classes, who 

 formed the bulk of the population, is said to have been 



'abject and demoralized to the last degree. 



3. The next section is devoted to a description of these 

 classes under British administration during the first half of 

 the present century. Efibrts were made on all sides to 

 improve the position of the ryot, but frequently without 

 success. The substitution of payment of Government dues 

 in money for the former system of payment in kind, led to 

 much inconvenience and hardship owing to the insufficiency 

 of the currency to meet the increased '* duty " thrown upon 

 it by the change, and prices steadily fell. The period of 

 20 years from 1834 to 1854 was one of great agricultural 



