294 BRITISH INDIAN GOVr.RXMEXT. 



Motml government, were disposed to draw from it the ut- 

 most possible amount which would leave a decent subsist- 

 ence to the owner and cultivator. Lord Comwallis, with 

 the concurrence of the company, determined to introduce 

 the system of permanent settlement ; by which the propri- 

 etor would be assured that, when the tax had once been 

 fixed, he should reap the fruits of whatever improvement he 

 miaht effect. But it is remarkable that extreme difficulty 

 hits been found in ascertaining the real proprietor. There 

 appeared three distinct parties having plausible pretensions 

 to be so considered. These were the great Mogul, in 

 whose place the company now stood ; the zemindars, or 

 hereditary officers, who collected the land-revenue and re- 

 mitted it to the sovereign, retaining a certain proportion ; 

 and the ryot, or hereditary occupant, who, provided he paid 

 the assessment, could not be legally ejected. The latter 

 appeared in Bengal under so humble an aspect, that it 

 seemed impossible to recognise his right to the dignified 

 title of a landed proprietor ; yet the observations of those 

 aentlcmen who have hat! an opportunity of closely ezannn- 

 in* the districts where Hindoo institutions remained in full 

 force, seem to leave no doubt that the ryot is the original 

 owner. The Institutes of Menu distinctly recognise land 

 as the property of him who cut away the wood and first 

 cleared and tilled it. Wilks, who had very extensive 

 means of acquiring knowledge relative to Southern India, 

 and whose views upon the subject Sir John Malcolm con- 

 siders as incontrovertible, seems to have ascertained that 

 the share of the produce which could be claimed by the 

 sovereign did not, according to the ancient Hindoo law, 

 exceed a sixth. In Travancore, indeed, the most southern 

 territory, and the one least affected by foreign conquest, it 

 at this moment varies from a twentieth to a fortieth. Ex- 

 tensive encroachments were made by the conquering dynas- 

 ties professing the Moslem religion ; but the rights claimed 

 by these fierce warriors rested entirely on their swords, ac- 

 cording to which they held alike as their own the property 

 and the persons of vanquished infidels. Even under the 

 proud sway of Rajpootana, it had become the established 

 maxim of the rvot,— " The eovernmerit is owner of the 

 rent, but I am the master of the land." It has been main- 

 tained, that when reduced to the mere profits of farming, 



