The

functions were separated: but the combined office of judge and magistrate remained as before till 1827. The office of magistrate was then held by a single person till 1843, when the change, which had already taken place in other districts in 1833, was introduced into Cawnpore, and the charge of both the magistracy and the collectorate devolved on one person. But herein it must not be supposed that the union entirely assimilates to that adopted in native States. The fiscal and criminal departments are quite distinct throughout: the only connexion is, that the head of each is the same individual. The early formation of the subordinate Police was, however, managed entirely after the native fashion. The revenue establishment was charged with keeping the peace; and, in consideration thereof, was allowed 14 per cent. on the revenue collections.* Tuhsildars were held personally responsible for all robberies committed within their divisions, except those perpetrated on the high road. In the latter case, however, they must prove to the magistrate that they had no previous knowledge of the intent. The farmers and proprietors were held similarly responsible. Certainly, there is not much in this, which savours of European ideas. It meant to say, that the new British Government was not prepared to undertake the management of the Police; and that it would only look to results, whilst ways and means were left to the personal responsibility of the Tuhsildars and landholders. This of course did not last long. The Government soon discovered that it could trust to nothing but its own energy: and, in 1807, the Tuhsildari system of Police was abolished, and compact jurisdictions of twenty square miles each were formed and placed under a regular Police establishment. The next change occurred in the appointment of village watchmen in 1824. Hitherto it had been the custom to leave everything connected with these watchmen to the landholders. In the last-mentioned year, this matter was taken out of their hands. The watchmen were then chiefly nominated by the Police, and paid by a cess on the inhabitants. Thus the influence of the landholders in the preservation of the peace was neutralized. This circumstance, combined with feeble administration, had brought the Police into a disorganized state by the year 1832. Gangs of robbers began to ramify all over the country, and formed a kind of mercenary army, ready to serve the highest bidder. Disputes, which had hitherto been decided by litigation, or, at the worst, by an affray, were now settled by one party employing a band of dacoits to plunder his adversary.

At first the remuneration of Tuhsildars for their revenue services consisted of a per centage on the amount collected. Since 1809, they have received regular salaries.

All this was at once stopped by Mr. Caldecott's vigorous hand in 1832. The village watch was placed on its original footing. The landholders were induced to form their tenantry into a local militia, or special constabulary, for the restoration of order; and the banditti chiefs were captured and brought to justice. Vast improvements were also made in the transmission of intelligence. Hitherto, the Police couriers had been paid by the landholders, through whose estates the roads happened to run. This plan was both unfair and ineffectual. Despatches, which now-a-days reach the magistrate in a few hours, used then to take seven or eight days in arriving. A reformation was commenced by Mr. Caldecott in 1834, and completed by Mr. Brown in 1845. A tax of one anna per cent. on the Government revenue was assessed on the landed community, yielding a sum of Rs. 1,800. With this an establishment of thirty-eight dâk runners was paid. The money was collected by the revenue authorities, and disbursed to the recipients by the magistrate. The men, being regularly appointed and paid, worked well. The farthest Police Station is fifty miles distant from Cawnpore. The dâk would leave in the evening and arrive by daylight. The rate of travelling would be four miles in the hour at least. The Police dâk was then thrown open for the reception of private letters. The postage was fixed at two pice per letter: which sum being less than one half-penny, the desideratum, which the public journals are now clamouring for, namely, a low and uniform rate of postage, was secured. There is a daily delivery, Sundays not excepted. During seven and a half years, viz., 1840-41-42-43-44-45-46, and the first half of 1847, there passed 125,349 letters to and fro in these district dâks. postage amounted to Rs. 3,176-7-8. Of this sum, Rs. 1,942-12-8 were disbursed for current dâk expenses, such as the remuneration of the Thanah Muhurrirs, who act as local Post Masters: the residue is being devoted to the improvement of the post. As the surplus increases, it is expected that the dâk will pay itself, and the landholders be relieved from all expence.

The

We solicit the attention of our readers to these apparently dry facts. They indicate that the most complete postal communication is being extended all over the N. W. Provinces. They would have gladdened the heart of Rowland Hill. In Cawnpore, during the year 1847, the number of letters amounted to about 12,000; for the two preceding years, the number had been increasing at the ratio of 2000 per annum; with such a ratio of increase, the numbers, by this time, must be at least 18,000; and a similar system is being carried out, more or less, in other districts. Is not this something? Let the people of the Lower

Provinces be asked whether such a Post as this would not be considered a blessing there!

In 1845, the Police jurisdictions were remodelled. The number of Thanahs was reduced from nineteen to twelve; greater respectability in the Police officers was secured by increasing the pay of a Thanadar from twenty-five to fifty or sixty rupees. per mensem. Weak and scattered outposts were swept away, and well-officered stations were established at convenient posts. The Tuhsildars were vested with Police powers, in order that they might exercise a general supervision over the Police in their divisions. All these changes conduced to efficiency.

We must return to the thirty years' settlement. This important measure was concluded in 1842, having been conducted under Regulation VII. of 1822, as modified by the provisions of Regulation IX. of 1833. Four settlements had been previously made-three of them for short periods; the fourth had remained in force since 1807. They had been formed on no fixed principle. The only criterion was the ease, or difficulty, with which the revenue had been collected. If the people had paid willingly, the assessment was presumed to be light and would probably be raised; if they had paid unwillingly, then the assessment would be considered too heavy and would be reduced. But in good truth, unwillingness to pay may proceed from other causes besides inability. Men soon found it their interest to be contumacious; for contumacy would obtain a reduction of the revenue. At the same time, the industrious were heavily burdened. The former settlements therefore had the worst of faults, in that they encouraged idleness and misconduct, while they depressed honesty and industry. But the one main principle of the new settlement was to ascertain the capabilities of each estate, to assess fairly, and to equalize the public burdens, All estates were classified according to the qualities of the soil or soils. Then the total assessment was fixed for each class. Then this amount was apportioned to each estate in the class, by means of rent rates and revenue rates. The financial result, with reference to the former settlement, may be exhibited as follows:

Thus the last settlement gave a decrease of nearly two and a half lacs on the first. We learn from a most valuable and elaborate table, appended to this Statistical Report, that the total

produce of the district of Cawnpore is worth eighty-two lacs of rupees. The present assessment therefore of twenty-one lacs absorbs above one-fourth of the gross produce of the soil. It is generally supposed, and no doubt with truth, that the land revenue of these provinces takes up from one-fourth to onethird of the gross produce. Cawnpore is therefore rather lightly assessed than otherwise. The land revenue of Cawnpore and the North Western Provinces, respectively, falls at the following rates per acre :-

Total area. Malguzari or assessed area.* Cultivated area, Cawnpore... Rs. 1 7 5 N. W. P.

0 14

Rs. 2 4 7

1 3 8

Rs. 2 13 8

1 12 1

Thus it will be observed, that although Cawnpore is not heavily taxed, yet the revenue falls there at rates considerably higher than the average rates for the whole country. This must of course be attributed to the superior productiveness of the soil. The Company's land-tax has long been a fashionable theme for oratory and denunciation; but let any indignant rhetorician be kind enough to contemplate the above figures. From them, it appears, that in Cawnpore the land revenue consumes a quarter of the gross produce (and we have seen that this district may be accepted as a specimen of the provinces generally), and that therefore a cultivated acre of land, which pays Rs. 2-13-8, or 6s. to Government, yields 24s. worth of produce. If the people (as they probably will do within the term of the settlement) exert their skill and put forth their industry and bring all the culturable land into cultivation, then the Rs. 2-13-8 or 6s. may be reduced to Rs. 2-4-7 or 4s. 31d., which latter rate upon 24s. will be little more than one-sixth. And this is a sample of the grinding land-tax !'

It may be not uninteresting to note, that the revenue (just previously to the cession) under Ulmas Ali Khan, amounted to Rs. 22,56,156. This sum was no doubt all that found its way into the Nawab Wuzir's coffers: but we are not at all sure that this was all that the people paid. From these figures, therefore, the burdens, which the land really bore, cannot be estimated with certainty or precision. But, as this sum exceeds the present assessment only by one lac, it would appear that theoretically, at least, the Nawab Wuzir's Government was not very exigent.

The manner in which rights were recorded at the settlement

Including culturable, as well as cultivated land.

we have endeavored to explain in a former article.* Suffice it here to say, that the record appears to have been prepared as completely in Cawnpore as in most districts; nor do the tenures of land present any special peculiarities. They consist of Zemindari tenures, when the estate is held by a single individual, or by several proprietors in commonalty; of Puttidari, where the land is held in severalty; and imperfect Puttidari, when it is held partly in commonalty, partly in severalty. The Zemindari villages greatly preponderate: they stand to the Puttidari in the proportion of six to one. In other districts, the converse often holds good. Mr. Montgomery accounts for this unusual proportion by the great number of transfers, public and private, fraudulent and otherwise, which have taken place since the cession; but it must not be supposed that these Zemindari estates are principally held by great landlords. There are 16,542 proprietors of all descriptions. On an average, each proprietor owns 90 acres, and pays 130 rupees land revenue. The rights of cultivators are also guaranteed by the record. These cultivators are divided into two classes, namely, hereditary and non-hereditary. The former cultivate a certain portion of land at a fixed rent-the landlord being unable to oust them from the one, or to raise the other; the latter are tenants-at-will. Of the first class, there are 61,000, cultivating 390,000 acres; of the second class, there are 35,000, cultivating 160,000 acres ; so that the one class doubles the other. Hereditary tenants cultivate on an average six acres each: tenants-at-will, four acres; and proprietors, seventy-eight acres. From these figures may be imagined the elaboration and detail required for the settlement record. In few countries, we apprehend, does sub-division of holding exist to a greater extent; and in no country, not even in France or Germany, is the registration more complete. With respect to caste, among the cultivators, the Kurmis are pre-eminent; amongst the proprietors, the Rajputs preponderate, comprising upwards of onethird their numbers however have decreased by one-ninth since the cession. Next after them, in importance, come the Brahmins and Mussulmans. The latter, during the early years of our rule, acquired large possessions through their official influence. The former are successful mercantile speculators, who have invested their savings in land. It may be mentioned in this place, that 302 Mahajuns, or bankers, have speculated in land, have bought 301 estates, and pay three lacs of revenue per annum. This fact is significant. If the land

* Vide Paper on Village Schools and Peasant Proprietors in the North West.