LAND-REVENUE. 295 



he could by no means be considered ns proprietor, but only 

 as perpetual lessee. Yet even this narrowed possession is 

 highly valued and proudly boasted of. The Hindoo derives 

 from it an assured subsistence, as the soil cultivated by 

 his fathers, and which, he hopes, will be tilled by his de- 

 scendants. 



On the whole, then, the only dispute appears to lie be- 

 tween the sovereign and the ryot. The zemindar, who 

 merely collected runts for the former, seems to have no 

 substantial claim whatever; yet in Bengal, at the time 

 when the settlement was to be made, he appeared the 

 greatest man in the district, corresponding to the country 

 gentleman or the feudal baron of Europe. He lived with 

 the pomp of a nobleman, and sometimes of a prince ; he 

 commanded a body of troops ; he possessed even the chief 

 criminal jurisdiction within his limits. The ryots, on the 

 contrary, reduced to the lowest poverty, subject to arbitrary 

 exactions, and to have their annual payments raised at the 

 will of their superior, appeared to rank, not as farmers in our 

 sense of the word, but rather as the villains and bondmen 

 of the middle ages. It was determined, therefore, to con- 

 sider the zemindars as the actual proprietors, and the ryots 

 merely as renters. The permanent settlement was made 

 upon the former class ; and on payment of a fixed annual 

 sum, whether of the description of tax or rental, but never to 

 be increased, they remained in every other respect the clear 

 owners of the property. They were only required to give 

 to the ryots a puttah, or bond, fixing the annual rent on 

 payment of which the latter were to remain undisturbed in 

 occupation of their farms. 



Never perhaps did a measure originate in motives so pure, 

 involving so extensive a sacrifice, and yet be productive of 

 so much°distress and injustice. It set out with wresting 

 from the ryots, the great body of the agricultural popula- 

 tion, rights which though much narrowed and invaded, were 

 still fondly prized. But so impossible is it to predict the 

 consequences of any remarkable change, that the unjustly- 

 favoured class of zemindars were those to whom it proved the 

 most ruinous. The payments demanded from them amounted 

 in fact to nearly the rack-rent of the whole country. It was 

 therefore difficult for them to avoid felling into arrear. But 

 non-payment was speedily followed by a summary process of 



