276 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



the writer before us will be found in ihe extracts 

 which follow, and if well founded would ai)pear 

 to account fully, as well for deficiency of supply, 

 as Ibr defectiveness of quality. 



In our next we shall present, the views of this 

 painstakin<>; writer as to the measures and causo- 

 which may be expected to operate in]the removal 

 of '.he (ibstacles here desiirnated, and to insure to 

 Great Britain an ample supply of this great staple 

 of our slave holdinii; states irom a rejrion under 

 her own control, and of a quality to meet all 

 demands. 



" The chief obstacle however, to cotton-<rrow- 

 ing in the East, and indeed the great cause ol 

 most of the evils of India, lies in the nature ol 

 the government that controls its destinies, a 

 government which acts, not for the benefit ot its 

 subjects, but the aggrandizement of itself. Wrest- 

 ing Iromthe natives the proprietorship of the soil, 

 it imposes on them taxes under which no peo- 

 ple could flourish. It subjects them to a system 

 of forced labor and purveyance, which, allowiutr 

 no security for property, lakes away the motive to 

 its accumulation. The insolence, exactions and 

 cruelties of its officers in many caees leaves no 

 refuge to the miserable native but absolute po- 

 verty. Nothing scarcely is planned or executed 

 Ibr the good of the country; a few nabobs' think 

 themselves entitled to coin money out of a hun- 

 dred million people, thouuh tiieir policy, so far as 

 the accumulation of wealth is concerned, is scarce- 

 ly so wise as the slave system of the south. The 

 virtual assumption by the government of the 

 proprietorship of the soil, is the root of the mis- 

 chief". It has proclaimed itself the universal land- 

 lord, and affirmed it-? right to take from its tenants 

 what it wiil. Eelbre the country came under 

 British rule, the Hindoo or Mahommedan sove- 

 reiiin clainied as a tax, a limited portion of the 

 crop of every man's field, leaving not less thair 

 three-fourths to the farmer. The British govern- 

 ment lakes the whole matter into its own hands — 

 fixes an assumed capability in every field to pro- 

 duce, an assumed price on the produce itself and 

 then exacts from 35 to 45 per cent, of the money 

 value of that produce as its share for ever ; — and 

 all this, without any reference to varyinir crops or 

 prices! VVlien the produce exceeds the amount 

 [treviously fixed, the assessment is increased. 

 When an individual lails in the payment of this 

 lax, it is collected oil the village. When the crop 

 of a whole village is deficient, neighborinix vil- 

 lages are compelled lo make up the deficiency. 

 45 parts in 100 of the gross produce of the soil 

 are taken by the government. As to the cultiva- 

 tor, his average share of the gross produce is 

 stated to be irenerally Irom five lo six in a hundred ! 

 The tax loo is demanded in money ; a most crind- 

 ing hardship in a country where the people de- 

 pend more upon barter, than a circulating medium. 

 The elfecls of the land-tax are represented as 

 most destructive. Villages, in tirnea past happy 

 and flourishintr, have been desolated by it, and the 

 cultivators in numerous districts driven from their 

 farms, so that large tracts of land once oreufiied. 

 are now covered with jungle and ranged by wild 

 beasts. It has beggared the industrious ryot, 



1827-8, a liimine prevailed in the north-western 

 provinces of Bengal, which carried ofl', it is said, 

 500,000 human "beings, more than the whole 

 population of Illinois. And yet the same year, as 

 much grain was exported from the lower parts of 

 Bengal, as would have led half a million of peo- 

 ple, at a pound of rice a day, fcr a whole year. 

 The Oriental Herald Ibr February. 1839, states, 

 that '• in 1819. ibere were 19,676,076 beegas, or 

 about 6,558,692 acres of waste land, in the very 

 provinces where half a million of human beings 

 died last year from actual starvation."' While 

 immense tracts of feriiie land have been aban- 

 doned, and others suffered to remain the haunts of 

 the tiger and jackall, the natives of the country, 

 the real, bona fide proprietors of the soil, are not 

 allowed to bring any portion ol'them under cultiva- 

 tion, except on payment of whatevef amount of 

 taxation may be imposed bj' the government, 

 which is so heavy as in many instances soon to 

 drive off the new settlers. 



The pertinacious adherence of the board of 

 directors to this ruinous system, seems to amount 

 10 madness. In the year 1835, Sir Robert Grant 

 issued a proclamation, offerinir to those who would 

 cultivate waste land, freedom from taxation Ibr 

 five years, and from half the usual amount of 

 taxation the next five. Alter the natives had 

 overcome their distrust of this strange kindness on 

 the jiart of the government, they began to avail 

 themselves of the offer, and, under a system which 

 secured to fihor us jusi reward, soon showed what 

 jhey cou'd do. The court of directors, however, 

 in less than three j'ears, as if bent on keeping 

 down all intprovement in the country, ordered 

 the ofiers to be recalled ! 

 The U.^v. Howard Malcolm of Boston wrote : 

 " Feb. 1837. A more beautiliil country than 

 that from Cuddalore to Tanjore, (Madras,) cannot 

 possibly be imagined. 'I'he dense population 

 and rich soil give their energies to each other, and 

 produce a scene of unsurpassed loveliness. But 

 the taxes and other causes keep down the-labor- 

 ers to a state below that of our southern slaves. 

 The government share of rice crops is, on an 

 average, about 60 per cent. ! But the mode of 

 collection in money causes the cultivator to pay 

 about three-fourths of the crop." 



This grinding land-tax, then, destroying, as it 

 does, the hope and energy of the laborer, and 

 weakening the motives to the exercise of skill and 

 carefulness, is the first and greatest obstacle to, 

 the free growth of cotton in India. 

 Several other obstacles may be noticed. 



1. The almost absolute dependence of the 

 cultivators on their bankers. The grower of cot- 

 ton, in the beginning of the season, without seed, 

 without money, is obliged to ajiply to the village 

 banker, who lends his money on condition, first, 

 that he receive exorbiiant interest, secondly, that 

 the entire crop be sold to him in advance, at a 

 low price. Such a bargain, o( course, takes away 

 all motives to carelulness in raising and preparing 

 the cotton, inasmuch as ihe grower knows that he 

 will get no more for a good than bad article. 



2. The revenue officers frequently will not suf- 

 fer the crop lobe touched, till securiiy be given 



there is perhaps not one of the many famines 



and converted himTnio a robber or assassin. AruUilbr the payment of the land-lax. INleantime, the 



crop ripens ; the cotton falls to the ground, and, 



under wliich India of late years has groaned, that I becoming mixed with leaves and dust, is greatly 

 niay not be traced lo its blighting influences. In | deteriorated. 



