388 Life of Sir Stamford Raffles. 



in the laws or the usages of the country, to the interference of 

 government, in regulatinj; tlie condition of the Javan peasantry ; 

 and Mr. Haflles resolved, therefore, that it shouhl take into its 

 own hands the management of that share of tlie laiid-produce 

 >yhich was allowed to be its due, and protect the cultivator in the 

 enjoyment and free disposal of the remainder. The undue power 

 of the chiefs was to be removed, and, so far as they had a claim 

 for support, founded either on former services, or on the depriva- 

 tion of expected employment, they were to be remunerated in 

 a. different manner. The lands, after being surveyed and their 

 crops estimated, were to be parcelled-out among the inhabitants 

 of the villages, in the proportions established by custom or recom- 

 mended by expediency. Contracts were to be entered into with 

 each individual cultivator, who was to become the tenant of go- 

 vernment ; and leases, specifying the extent and the situation of 

 their land, together with the conditions of their tenure, were io 

 be granted for one year, or for two or three years, with a view to 

 permanence, if the arrangement should be found, at the end of 

 the stipulated term, to combine the interest of the public revenue 

 with the welfare and increasing prosperity of the occupant. Room 

 was thus left for a new adjustment, a reduction of rate, or any 

 other change in the system which the result of the provisional ar- 

 rangement might render necessary, in order to adapt the system 

 better to the interests and wishes of the people, without prejudice 

 to the rights of government. 



In regarding the condition of the peasantry, and in estimating 

 the fertility of the soil, the wants of the people, and the propor- 

 tion of produce and industry they were formerly accustomed io 

 contribute towards supporting the establishments of government, 

 it was deemed reasonable to commute all former burdens into a 

 land-rent on a fixed principle ; from one-fourth to one-half of the 

 estimated produce being required by the government, according 

 to the .'Pspertive value of the lands, which depended on the com- 

 pai'ative facility that existed of fertilizing them by irrigation.* 



After having deliberately considered his design for two years, 



♦ History of Java, vol. I. p. 155— li»8. 



