32 THE OWNERSHIP OF LAND 



was one of constant change. The following settle- 

 ments were put in force in different districts at slightly 

 different dates, but in order to give an idea of their 

 chronological place in fiscal history I give the dates 

 upon which they took place in Mainpuri : 



The First Triennial Settlement ... 1802-3 to 1804-5 



The Second Triennial Settlement ... 1805-6 to 1807-8 



The Quadrennial Settlement ... 1808-9 to 1811-12 



The Quinquennial Settlement ... 1812-13 to 1816-17* 



In the eyes of later officers better acquainted with 

 the people and with scientific principles of land settle- 

 ment, these early assessments appeared excessive and 

 very hastily framed. ' The main end ' (of the first 

 triennial settlement), wrote Mr. McConaghey in 1875, 

 ' apparently seemed to have been to obtain as much of 

 the gross produce of an estate as possible, compatible 

 with reservation to proprietors of such a quota as 

 would not drive them to refuse engagements.' One 

 mitigation of the severity of the assessments was 

 found in the ignorance of the officers of the time. Of 

 the third, or quadrennial settlement, we have a few 

 details. Mr. Batson, who settled part of Mainpuri, 

 first gives an account of the precautions against fraud 

 which he had taken in framing his estimates, and con- 

 cludes thus : ' Nothing further occurring to me at pre- 

 sent as necessary to observe on the mode by which I 

 formed my gross estimate, I have only to remark that 

 the assessment is by no means equal to what the 

 pargannah could bear, as I have since the conclusion 

 of the assessment been informed by a respectable 

 native, that it is only in the small estates where I have 

 come near the true assets. He states that in the larger 

 ones I am sometimes 20 per cent., but in general not 

 within 30 or 35 and 40 per cent, of the true resources.' 



* This settlement was in most districts continued for several 

 terms of five years — first by Regulation 16 of 1816, then by Govern- 

 ment order in 1822 ; again from 1827 to the end of 1832. 



