R Y O 
R Z G 
505 
the accommodation of travellers, are frequent in every part 
of the country, and are useful, as well as noble monuments of 
Indian munificence and humanity. 
The precise mode, however, in which the Ryots of Hin- 
doostan held their possessions, is a circumstance in its ancient 
political constitution, with respect to which gentlemen of 
superior discernment, who have resided long in the country, 
and filled some of the highest stations in government, have 
formed very different opinions. Some have imagined, that 
grants of land were made by the sovereign to villages or 
small communities, the inhabitants of which, under the 
direction of their own chiefs or heads-men, laboured it in 
common, and divided the produce of it among them in cer¬ 
tain proportions. (Descript, de l’lnde, par M. Bernouilli, 
tom. ii. 223, &c.) Others maintain, that the property of 
land has been transferred from the crown to hereditary 
officers of great eminence and power, denominated Zemin¬ 
dars, who collect the rents from the Ryots, and parcel out 
the lands among them. Others contend that the office of 
the Zemindars is temporary and ministerial; that they are 
merely collectors of revenue, removeable at pleasure, and 
the tenure by which the Ryots hold their possessions is 
derived immediately from the sovereign. This last opinion 
is supported, with great ability, by Mr. Grant, in an Inquiry 
into the Nature of Zemindary Tenures in the landed Pro¬ 
perty of Bengal, &c. This question still continues to be 
agitated in Bengal, and such plausible arguments have been 
produced in support of the different opinions, that although 
it be a point extremely interesting, as the future system of 
British finance in India appears likely to hinge, in an essen¬ 
tial degree, upon it, persons well acquainted with the state of 
India,' have not been able to form a final and satisfactory 
opinion upon this subject. (Captain Kirkpatrick’s Introd. to 
the Institutes of Ghazan Khan. New Asiatic Miscell. No. II., 
p. 130.) Though the sentiments of the Committee of Re¬ 
venues, composed of persons eminent for their abilities, lean 
to a conclusion against the hereditary right of the Zemindars 
in the soil, yet the Supreme Council, in the year 1786, 
declined, for good reasons, to give any decisive judgment on 
a subject of such magnitude. 
Mr. Rouse, in his ingenious and instructive Dissertations 
concerning the landed property of Bengal, adopts an 
opinion contrary to that of Mr. Grant, and maintains, with 
laudable candour and liberality of sentiment, that the 
Zemindars of Bengal possess their landed property by here¬ 
ditary right. Dr. Robertson, in his “ Historical Disquisition 
concerning India,” suggests, that the possession of land was 
granted at first during pleasure, afterwards for life, and at 
length became perpetual and hereditary property. But even 
under this last form, when land is acquired either by purchase 
or inheritance, the manner in which the right of property 
is confirmed and rendered complete, in Europe by a char¬ 
ter, in India by a “ Sunnud” from the sovereign, seems to 
point out what was its original state. According to each of 
the theories above-mentioned, the tenure and condition of 
the Ryots nearly resemble the description which our author 
has given of them. Their state, we learn from the accounts 
of intelligent observers, is as happy and independent as falls 
to the lot of any race of men employed in the cultivation 
of the earth. The ancient Greek and Roman writers, whose 
acquaintance with the interior parts of India was very imper¬ 
fect, represent the fourth part of the annual produce of land 
as the general average of rent paid to the sovereign. Upon 
the authority of a popular author, who flourished in India 
prior to the Christian era, we may conclude, that a sixth part 
of the people’s income was, in his time, the usual portion of 
the sovereign. (Sacontella, act v. p. 53.) It is now known, 
that what the sovereign receives from land varies greatly 
in different parts of the country, and is regulated by the 
fertility or barrenness of the soil, the nature of the climate, 
the abundance or scarcity of water, and many other obvious 
circumstances. 
RYPEN. See Ribe. 
RYPPIN, a small town in the north-west of Poland, in the 
alatinate of Plock, with 1000 inhabitants; 32 miles east- 
y-north of Thorn. 
RYPTICS. See Rhyptics. 
RYSBERGEN, a village of the Netherlands, in North 
Brabant, with 1200 inhabitants; 6 miles south-by-west of 
Breda. 
RYSSADIUM, a town and port of Africa, in Mauritania 
Tingitana, on the coast of the Iberian ocean, between Sestiaria 
Extrema and the promontory Mesagonites, according to 
Ptolemy. It is named by Antonine Rusarder Colonia, and 
Rusardir by Pliny, who places it near the promontory 
“ Solis.”—Also, a promontory of Africa, in the Interior 
Libya, near the promontory Arsinarium, according to 
Ptolemy. 
RYSSEN, a small town of the Netherlands, in the province 
of Overyssel, not far from the small river Regg. Population 
1500 ; 16 miles east-north-east of Deventer. 
RYSWIK, a large village of the Netherlands, in Holland ; 
2 miles south-east of the Hague. Population 1700. It was 
in the fort of this place called Nieuwburg, that the well 
known peace of Ryswik was concluded, in 1697. 
RYTHER, a parish of England, East Riding of York¬ 
shire ; 7 miles north-west of Selby. 
RYTON, a parish of England, in Salop; 4 miles south-by- 
east of Shiffhal. 
RYTON, a parish of England, in Warwickshire; 4| miles 
south-east of Coventry. 
RYTON, a township of England, North Riding of York¬ 
shire ; 3 miles north of New Malton. 
RYTON, a parish of England in Durham; 7 miles west- 
north-west of Gateshead. Population 5307. 
RYVES (Thomas), born in the latter end of the 16th 
century, and educated at Winchester school, from whence 
he was sent to Oxford. He became celebrated as a civilian 
in Doctors’ Commons, and in the court of Admiralty. At 
the accession of Charles I. he was made king’s advocate, 
and was knighted. He died in 1651. He wrote several 
works, among which were “ The Vicar’s Plea;” “ Historia 
Navalis Antiqua;” “ Historia Navalis Media.” 
RYVES (Bruno), an English divine, and near relation of 
the preceding. At the restoration of Charles II. he had the 
deanery of Windsor conferred on him. He was also secre¬ 
tary to Garter King-at-arms. He was author of “ Mercurius 
Rusticus,” or “The Country’s Complaint;” and divers other 
works, which were popular in their day. 
RZECZICA, a small town of Russian Lithuania, in the 
government of Minsk, on the Dnieper; 152 miles south-south 
east of Minsk. 
RZECZICZ, Roth, or Czerwena Stara Rzeczice, a 
small town of the east of Bohemia; 52 miles south-east of 
Prague. Population 1200: 
RZESZOW, one of the circles of Austrian Poland, which 
contains a track of 1675 square miles, lying along the 
southern frontier of the country called, since 1815, the king¬ 
dom of Poland. It is watered by the San and the Wisloka, 
and has about 225,000 inhabitants. It is in general level 
and fertile, but it is covered on the north side by large and 
almost impenetrable forests. 
RZESZOW, a small town of Austrian Poland, on the 
Wisloka; 70 miles west of Lemberg, and 80 east of Cracow, 
and the chief place of the above circle. It is one of the best 
built towns of the Austrian part of Poland, contains 4600 
inhabitants, and has a brisk traffic in corn and poultry. There 
are here also several goldsmiths, who, as well as the merchants, 
are mostly Jews. 
RZGOW, a small town of the west of Poland, on the river 
Nev, with 900 inhabitants; 70 miles west-south-west of 
Warsaw, and 20 north-by-west of Petrikau. 
s. 
Vol. XXII. No. 1518. 
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