SUB-PROPRIETARY RIGHTS RECOGNISED 27 



zemindars, who, on the other hand, assert claims on 

 written documents, and as the acknowledged heirs of 

 reputed proprietors of the soil.' Mr. Sands, however, 

 fails to arrive at any very definite conclusions. ' The 

 proprietary right in the soil of the acknowledged pro- 

 prietors is extremely doubtful. From the great facility 

 with which in this part of the country deeds are pro- 

 duced, it is difficult to decide the right, if any should 

 really exist.' 



The result of their study of land tenures was to 

 convince the English officers that there were in India 

 sub-proprietors, who had undeniable rights, and that 

 these rights had been overlooked in the permanent 

 settlement which was made with the landholders in 

 Bengal. Sir J. E. Colebrooke, in a minute dated 

 July 12, 1820, speaks of the 'melancholy results of the 

 errors of the Permanent Settlement in the Lower 

 Provinces.' He goes on to say : ' The errors were 

 twofold ; they consisted, firstly, in the sacrifice of 

 what may be denominated the yeomanry, by merging 

 all village rights, whether of property or occupancy, 

 in the all -devouring recognition of the zemindar's 

 paramount property in the soil ; and secondly, in the 

 sacrifice of the peasantry by one sweeping enactment, 

 which left the zemindar to make his settlement with 

 them on such terms as he might choose to require.' 

 Colebrooke was a warm advocate of the principle of 

 permanent settlement, for he closes his minute with 

 these words : ' On the eve of finally quitting the 

 country in which I have resided' forty-two years, and 

 a service in which, through the early partiality of the 

 late Warren Hastings in selecting me for Persian 

 Secretary to the Government as long ago as the be- 

 ginning of 1780, I have borne an efficient and respon- 

 sible part from the age of eighteen, I should feel a 

 true satisfaction if, by the last act of my official exist- 

 ence, I could flatter myself in having contributed to 

 secure the blessings of a limited assessment to that 



