of my intention this evening to put a question to the noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Home Department upon a very important subject, but that noble Lord being absent, as I see a right hon. Baronet who is also one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State is in his place, I think I am perfectly justified in putting the question to him. If the right hon. Baronet cannot answer it, it is no fault of mine, nor do I wish to impute any blame to the noble Lord the Secretary of State for the Home Department on account of his not being in his place at present. The question I am about to put is in reference to the arrival in this country, and the presence in London during the past week, of a very eminent Russian gentleman; and, in asking that question, perhaps the House will permit me to preface it with a few explanatory words. The gentleman to whom I allude is a member of a very distinguished Russian family, his name is Count Pahlen; he has been engaged in the Russian diplomatic service, and his brother occupies at this moment a distinguished position in the Council of the Emperor of Russia, and is said to be on the most intimate and friendly terms with him. Count Pahlen has arrived within the last ten days in this city, and since his arrival he has mixed freely in society, and it is stated that he has been introduced into some society under the special patronage and auspices of one of Her Majesty's Cabinet Ministers. I think it is fair to mention the name, in order, if the statement is incorrect, that a proper contradiction may be given to it. It is stated that, under the auspices of Lord Granville, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, this gentleman has been introduced into the society of this city. I must say that the presence of an alien enemy, or his arrival here, is a violation of the law, and the question I wish to put to one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, whom I now see on the Ministerial benches, is, whether that gentleman has arrived here with that protection which could alone entitle him to be in this country-the safe conduct of Her Majesty? In the terms of my notice, I wish to know whether the Government are aware of the presence in London of Count Pahlen, a Russian subject, and one who has been actively employed in Russian diplomacy; and, if so, whether his presence here is with the permission and sanction of the Government?

SIR GEORGE GREY: I have myself no information whatever upon the subject, and I must request the hon. Member to repeat his question upon the arrival of my noble Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department.

THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND—
QUESTION.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON said, le wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether any official communication was sent from the Colonial Office in 1853, to either the Governor or the Bishop of New Zealand, on the subject of the removal from the Estimates of that year of the usual Vote for the Bishop's salary? He wished also to ask whether any official communication that the usual allowance had been withdrawn had been sent to the Bishop of New Zealand, and if so, whether there was any objection to lay it upon the table of the House, together with any answer which may have been received from the Bishop?

SIR GEORGE GREY said, that in answer to the first question of the right hon. Baronet he had to state that he could not find that any direct communication on this subject was addressed either to the Governor or the Bishop in the early part of 1853, when the 600l. a year, up to that time voted for the Bishop's salary, was withdrawn from the Estimates. He understood, indeed, that the attention of the Governor was called to the manner in which the Vote of 5,090l. was appropriated, but that the Bishop had at that time left the Colony. He (Sir G. Grey) had, however, directed that an official intimation of the withdrawal of this allowance should be forwarded to the Bishop. He had done so in consequence of having received a letter from the late Governor of New Zealand, which induced him to believe that the Bishop was not aware of the withdrawal having taken place. He could have no objection to produce both the letter which had been written to the Bishop of New Zealand and that Prelate's reply, if the right hon. Baronet would move for them.

THE CANADIAN CLERGY RESERVES

QUESTION.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON said, that since he put a question to the right hon. Baronet a few evenings ago, as to whether the Government had received any in

India

{COMMONS}

h respect to recent events said to have transpired in her mail had arrived in this wished to know whether that any despatches from Lord f so, what was the nature gence which they contained? articularly to know whether it t the Canadian Assembly had ed in consequence of a Resolue subject of the clergy reg been carried as an AmendAddress, and in opposition to ent?

ne.

tenure of land in the Presidency of Madras. The hon. Member said that the subject of the tenure of land was of great importance in British India and its dependencies, and he believed he could show on official authority that the present system adopted with regard to the tenure of land tended to prevent the accumulation of property, to precipitate the decline of the Indian population, and to render it difficult to establish anything like a healthy and stable civilisation in British India. He must, in the first place, refer to a point which had been much discussed in relation to this subject. RGE GREY said, that when The House was aware that the land reven. Gentleman put this question nue formed the main basis of Indian in fact, that not less than ngs ago, the Government had finance any official intelligence on the 15,000,000l. out of the 26,000,000l. of hey had on Monday last re- the Indian revenue was derived from the Lord Eglin despatches, stating land revenue-and therefore it was not tances under which the Assem-surprising that the tax should have been The Governor the subject of much investigation, and een dissolved, that it should have been hotly disputed whether the land-tax in India was a tax in the ordinary sense of the word, or whether it was merely the legitimate rent of the land. Whatever might be their opinion on that question, he thought the House would agree with him that, whatever its origin, the smaller that tax could be made, consistently with the interests of the State, the better it would be for all classes, for the wealth of an empire depended on what was left in the pockets of the people, and not on what was taken out; and be this impost a tax or rent, it ought to be levied in such a manner as would be least onerous to the cultivator, most productive to the revenue, and, above all, most favourable to the operations of private industry. however, he believed, had not been attained under our present administration. They were aware that the tenure of land was different in different portions of India. According to the settlement made many years ago in Bengal, zemindars paid a fixed sum into the Treasury; in the North Western Provinces the village system was in operation; in the larger portion of Bombay and Madras the ryotwarry. He believed it was always injudicious in the State to undertake the duties of landlord; but it must be remembered that the founders of our Indian empire were placed in a difficult position with regard to the land revenues, and the policy it was expedient to pursue with respect to the tenure of land—and he admitted that the East India Company, stepping into the shoes of the

Session with a speech on the An Address was proposed to that speech, and upon that o successive Amendments were he first expressed regret that nment had not recommended present Session a measure for risation of the clergy reserves, The abolition of the seignorial That was rejected by 54 to 16. atly, however, another Amend66 an immediate setaking of was of the clergy reserves, That proposition, which was by several Members who had the former Amendment, was car2 to 29. An Act passed the Caegislature last Session, by which er of the members of that body eased from 84 to 105; and the Government of Lord Elgin both in thinking that it was inexo submit a question of such imto the present Assembly, but that be better to postpone its considentil another Assembly was elected e new Act. Under these circumLord Elgin, acting under the adthe Colonial Government, had prothe Assembly with a view to an te dissolution.

-TENURE OF LAND IN MADRAS. BLACKETT rose to move that an be presented to Her Majesty, for the appointment of a Commisproceed to India to inquire into the Er J. Pakington

That,

fs, fund themselve
Sed with many duti
2 de dreamstances, th
tempted to discha

Sage at the Company
tered that the disc
e only a disagreea
Laving undertak
nd to endeavour to
aer which would pro
erity of the Nat
ked forward to
a terminate thi
Asiatic society.
of the founde
He would, howe
er it was possibl
w this sagacious
h the rvotwarr
d? The sys

to every policy th
get to have pursu
g to stimulate
med the agency
pr

arnt that had no pa the world. The the ryotwarry sy hich would be di

cly situated Gov
Pamely, that of act
deed, as land

entory, and of
pl
every field with
How difficult was
to whom this d

wh

as

be easily seen w immense extent Madras Preside g on the average, quare miles, and Bellary and Cu and 13,000 square mil the superintendence a few English twurs through the attempting to a and each individual e bring into cultivati decking the produce very variety of season The effect of this system great disadvantag de Government with i was to break down de sail so completely t rate property in land sense of the word, . No doubt the eg so long as he it that tax pressed

80

W

upon his means of subsistence as to leave him at the mercy of the Government. In this case, too, the word "Government was synonymous with swarms of corrup Native functionaries, under whose adminis tration it was impossible that the tenant could accumulate capital from the produce of the soil, which was consequently without a marketable value-the sure sign of agricultural depression and distress. He (Mr. Blackett) did not think that Colonel Read or Lord W. Bentinck or Sir T. Munro ever contemplated such consequences as likely to result from the ryotwarry system. Sir T. Munro's idea seemed to have been to give the tenant of the soil permanence and fixity of tenure, to make the land-tax approximate as nearly as possible to a permanent quit-rent, and to provide that the exactions of the State should cease to keep pace with the profits of industry. It was obvious that for a fixed settlement of the tax to be beneficial to the people, it must be at a moderate rate. Now, what was the state of things in this respect in the Presidency of Madras? It had been said by the right hon. Baronet near him (Sir C. Wood) that the question at what were called the annual settlements in that Presidency seemed only to be a settlement of how much of the stipulated rent should be remitted to the ryots each year in consequence of adverse seasons, which render

Native princes, found themselves necessarily burdened with many duties which, under other circumstances, they would never have attempted to discharge. But he thought that the Company ought to have remembered that the discharge of these duties was only a disagreeable necessity, and that, having undertaken them, they were bound to endeavour to discharge them in a manner which would promote the welfare and prosperity of the Natives, and should have looked forward to a period when they might terminate this vicious characteristic of Asiatic society. This, in fact, was the policy of the founders of our Indian empire. He would, however, ask the House whether it was possible to detect any vestige of this sagacious policy in the manner in which the ryotwarry system was now administered? The system was directly opposed to every policy the British Government ought to have pursued; and instead of tending to stimulate private enterprise, it introduced the agency of the State to an extent that had no parallel in the history of the world. The Indian Government, by the ryotwarry system, attempted a task which would be difficult to the most favourably situated Government in the world-namely, that of acting, not nominally, but in deed, as landlords of their whole territory, and of placing a money rent upon every field within their vast dominions. How difficult was the tasked them unable to pay their full rent. He of the collectors to whom this duty was intrusted might be easily seen when they considered the immense extent of their districts. In the Madras Presidency, districts, extending, on the average, over an area of 7,000 square miles, and in some instances, as at Bellary and Cuddapah, over an area of 13,000 square miles, were placed under the superintendence of one collector, with a few English assistants, who made their tours through the districts, ascertaining, or attempting to ascertain, how much land each individual cultivator intended to bring into cultivation, and watching and checking the produce of the soil under every variety of season and of climate. The effect of this system, undertaken under great disadvantages, and charging the Government with immense responsibilities, was to break down the cultivators of the soil so completely that such a thing as private property in land, in any appreciable sense of the word, was altogether unknown. No doubt the tenant kept his holding so long as he paid the land-tax, but that tax pressed so severely

(Mr. Blackett) thought, then, that the House ought to consider whether the landtax in Madras was so moderate in amount that the tenants might have a reasonable prospect of being able to pay it, or whether the tenants were liable to vicissitudes, depending in no degree on their own care and foresight, and leaving them a mere equitable title to the consideration of their landlords. The President of the Board of Control had admitted, on a former occasion, that the amount of rent originally imposed was now too high in consequence of the general fall in the value of produce in Madras. The assessment, which pressed with peculiar severity upon the cultivators of the soil, was originally fixed under a survey made some fifty years ago, confessedly under circumstances of great disadvantage and imperfection, and in some instances without the aid of maps. principle upon which the rent was then fixed was this-the quality of the ground was estimated, and the probable percentage of profit on the gross produce of the soil was commuted into a money rent,

The

Sir

et prices of the day, and such | jected to an additional assessment.
en saddled on the land for ever. C. Trevelyan, in his evidence, alluded as
t this was a great misfortune, a notorious fact to the very objectionable
me to which he referred, many principle imported into the ryotwarry sys-
es combined to render the tem since the time of Sir T. Munro, of
ices of Indian produce un-imposing a tax upon the improvement of
h.
Ever since that period land, and stated that, in the Madras Presi-
been steadily falling, while the dency, that tax operated far more effectu-
still called upon to pay an assess- ally in discouraging the improvement of
ated upon the high rate of prices land, than the old tithe system did in Eng-
ailed sixty years ago. In regard land. Mr. Peacock was called on the part
vey, however, he believed that, of the East India Company, but he did
ding its imperfection, it gave a not contradict the evidence of Sir C.
e estimate of the value of the Trevelyan upon any single point of impor-
time it was made. But what tance. He (Mr. Blackett) considered that
House say, when he told them the evidence threw a great deal of light
sessment was so high upon the upon the necessary opposition which ex-
as actually to drive the land-isted between the interests of the respon-
ultivate poor
lands at a mode- sible Government of India and those of
ment rather than face the diffi- their local agents, whose main anxiety
tracting from good soil crops must be to make up a good revenue for the
enable them to bear up against year. He complained, not that the East
us taxation with which it was India Company acted under disadvantages,
They had the testimony of but that they adopted and perpetuated a
and Mr. Bourdillon that there system of taxation which greatly aggra-
villages in various parts of the vated the disadvantages under which the
which large portions of cultur- best and wisest Government in the world
ere permanently waste, because must labour. The general result was that
ment was so excessive that the the native population of India had been
I not cover it, and that a large reduced almost to a state of beggary under
he most productive soil in the this state of things. He thought another
s permanently kept out of cul- objection to the ryotwarry system was
the excessive demands of the the immense power which it placed in a
t. Sir Thomas Munro rightly swarm of Government functionaries, con-
that the State must necessarily sisting of native agents; no one was more
st landlord in the world, chiefly anxious than he was to see the native
acted at a distance, and through Indians raised by official employment; but
entality of innumerable agents; when he contemplated the characteristic
termined to prevent the State, defects of the Indian character, and when
lly as possible, from all oppor- he thought of the long-continued system
nterfering between the tenant of injustice which had stimulated their
rofits, and, therefore, he laid vices, the last thing in the world he should
rule that no tax should be in- wish to see was their ingratiating them-
imposed in consequence of any selves with their English masters at the
at of the land made by the expense of their poor fellow-countrymen.
f course, if the State effected He had before mentioned the enormous
ements, by irrigation or other-extent of land placed under the control of
h increased the value of the a single collector; and the House could
he State would derive the ad- conceive the pressure which might be ex-
an additional rent; but it was ercised by the native assistants of such an
at the tenant should reap the individual upon a population of 80,000,
any improvements effected by 100,000, or even 150,000 persons, a vast
le (Mr. Blackett) thought, how-proportion of whom were trembling on the
in this respect the policy of Sir verge which separated indigence from abso-
unro had been abandoned, for it lute starvation. Sir G. Clerk, the late
by Mr. Dykes, the collector at Governor of Bombay, spoke of this as one
t when the ryots attempted to of the drawbacks of the ryotwarry system.
e cultivation of the soil by plant- The evidence of Mr. Dyke was to the same
Is, by sinking wells, or by other purpose, and that of Mr. Bourdillon, whose
ecent days, they had been sub- peculiar authority on the question could

lackett

to an

01

engin pression. T

state of thing Atagonistic alike appiness of the the real interest and of this difficulties mig d the House to ta g them, and for din India-and es Sa a sound and jus ved in the most ng effect which the land revenue o , impossible st operate as an tural improveme aily declining,

37 by the accounts f pared with th 1850-51. With re the land, he found

the Report of the Co
return of the pri
d at the last revenu
red that in the eleve
the annual rental of

for sale was 115,48

feabed was
gued to the populat
only 10
Ledly conceive the
With which the multi

had proceeded,
arger body of

dillon said

"The enormous amount of constant and in

quisitorial interference was an evil of immense magnitude, but that was greatly aggravated by the power which was lodged in the hands of subordinate and ill-paid revenue officers. The number of convictions for peculation bore no proportion to that of the instances of its commission, and pecu

in Madras. 50 not be doubted, graphically described the serfs, without capital, without credit, manner in which the unhappy ryots were without any means of duly cultivating ground down beneath the monstrous exac- the soil, and themselves scarcely able to tions of the collectors' servants, whose keep soul and body together. In the cruelty towards the persons subjected to district of Coimbatore alone, the numtheir power was only equalled by their ser- ber of these pauper cultivators, holding vility towards their employers. Mr. Bour- from one to thirty-five rupees in land per annum or from 2s. to 70s.-had increased from 971 to 3,607, while the number of the comparatively wealthy tenants, holding from fifty to 500 rupees in land, had decreased from seventy-eight to twenty-eight. He knew it was said that the Hindoo law of inheritance was at the lation was by no means the only or the chief cor- bottom of this state of things; but was ruption of that class of the population; and if that any reason for our persisting in a that was the state of matters with the chief class system of taxation which seemed to have of subordinates, it was hardly necessary to say been contrived and established to strengththat the same vices obtained among the whole race of subordinates down to the very lowest." en a Government by the suicidal experiment of weakening society? Never had He (Mr. Blackett) fully admitted the difficul- such a scene been presented by any land ties with which that system was surround- that had been held for so many years by a ed; but it was the gravest condemnation civilised Government. The picture which of that system that it could not be carried Mr. Bourdillon-one of the most expeout without the employment of means rienced persons concerned in administering that converted it into an engine of the the ryotwarry system-drew of the condimost intolerable oppression. The evils tion of the population under this system, and of the existing state of things were not merely that of the very wretchedest, so great, so antagonistic alike to the but of what were deemed the favourably prosperity and happiness of the Indian situated among them, was perfectly appallpopulation and to the real interests of the ing-prostrate physically and mentally, Indian Government and of this country, pressed down by debt, by destitution-exthat, whatever the difficulties might be, it hibiting a dead level of squalid pauperism, was the duty of the House to take mea- misery, and starvation. The President of sures for overcoming them, and for placing the Board of Control had expressed the the tenure of land in India-and especially opinion that the matter might be safely in Madras-upon a sound and just basis. left in the hands of the Indian GovernThe returns showed in the most startling ment; but the conduct of the Indian Golight the depressing effect which the sys-vernment on the subject, and especially tem had upon the land revenue of India, that of the Madras Government, as partiand it was, indeed, impossible but that cularly illustrated by their unworthy treatsuch a system must operate as an insuper-ment of the Commission appointed to inable bar to agricultural improvement. The quire into public works in that Presidency, revenue was annually declining, as was clearly proved that the matter could not, shown clearly by the accounts for 1852 with any expectation of beneficial results, and 1853 as compared with those for be intrusted to that Government. It was 1848-49 and 1850-51. With regard to essential that the Government of India the value of the land, he found in the should be brought to recognise the prinAppendix to the Report of the Committee ciple of property in behalf of the cultivators of last year a return of the prices pro- of the soil, and should discontinue that duced by land at the last revenue sale; barbarous system of serfdom, which, howand it appeared that in the eleven years ever it might appear to Indian officials a ended 1852 the annual rental of the pro- perfectly legitimate situation in which to perty put up for sale was 115,4867., and continue the unhappy ryots, was a printhe price it fetched was only 160,000l. ciple from which the founders of the Indian Again, with regard to the population, the Government would have shrunk with horror. House could hardly conceive the fright- The claim of the State to the land in proful speed with which the multiplication perty was the prime vice which it behoved of small holdings had proceeded, creating the Imperial Parliament to extirpate-it a larger and larger body of wretched was no more than the delusion which had