Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/62

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INTRODUCTION".

accordiag to the extent of the charge but with equal powers and the same duties. Those duties were pratjtically confined to the realization of as much money as could be extracted from the land, and to this all other considerations were subordinated. have already seen the difficulties with which the constitution of the xural society hampered their task, And their position necesThe unsitated the maintenance of a considerable armed force. supplemented by was their camp disciplined rabble which followed stationed and officers, regular forces commanded British more by With a few excepat convenient points ail over the country. tions they were reared at court, and incapacitated by their education and prejudices from inderstanding the society over which they were placed. They neither knew nor cared whether their rule was mild or oppressive so long as they could remit sufficient sums to save themselves from disgrace at headquarters, and realize enough over and above to provide for themselves and their retinues of needy dependents. The two native sovereigns who must be exempted from the reproach of absolute indifference to their duties were Saddat Ali Khan, who ruled from 1798 to 1814, and Muhammad Ali Shah, who occupied the throne between 1837 and 1842 A.D. The first of these signalized his reign by two measures of the highest importance, the thorough revision of the land revenue, and a series of regulations for the export of grain, which were meant to provide against the periodical famines to which the province is liable, and the most terrible of which was at the time yet fresh in men's memories. The principal objects effected by the revenue reform were the separate assessment of every village, and the impositionof a fair tax on the countless plots of land which the prodigal liberality of his predecessors had exempted from contributing to the state The work was well carrieid out, and served as the basis treasury. of the land revenue demand right up to annexation. There can be little doubt that the grain laws, which prohibited exportation when the price of flour fell below 40tt)S. for a rupee, were dictated by a statesman-like appreciation of what were at the time the real needs of his kingdom. The reforms of Muhammad Ali Shah were more excellent in their intention than appreciable in their effects. The first was the attempt to organize a machinery for the administration of justice ; the second, the substitution of the amani for the ijdra system in distributing the revenue appointments. The judicial reform was never more than a dead letter. All the officers appointed were Muhammadans, and the Muhammadan law only was to govern every tribunal. The judges were subjected to no

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