Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/78

 66 PUBLIC REVENUE. iiient reserving to itself the option of adjusting' it by a reference to the former, at stated but distant periods of time. The public sale of the govern- ment lands would place at the disposal of the state, for a long period of years, a large fund applicable to the general charges of government, or to par- ticular improvements. Strangers of enterprise and capital, chiefly from Europe and China, would be encouraged to settle ; improvement would be rapid ; and, long before the sale of the whole lands, the prosperity and wealth of the society would furnish, if necessary, other sources of pub- lic revenue, which would far more than compen- sate for any imaginary loss. According to Mr Ricardo, a tax on rent falls wholly upon landlords, cannot be shifted to any class of consumers, and caimot discourage the cul- tivation of new lands, for such lands pay no rent. In Java, or any country similarly situated, where there are no landlordSy and the sovereign is the sole proprietor, it is evident, therefore, that -the whole of what is strictly the true rent of land, ex- cluding the produce of capital laid out in improve- ments, might be taken by the state as tax, without injury or injustice to any class of society. If, along with this, we take into consideration the extraordinary productive powers of the soil of Java, it will not be too much to assert, that no govern- ment was ever presented with so favourable an