Page:James Thomason (Temple).djvu/167

Rh times succeeded in their object. After the introduction of our rule, they continued to effect the same designs through their influence, and by means of the Courts of Law, in which the real merits of the case were little understood.

'At length when Regulation VII. 1822 was enacted, to lay down the method in which the revised Settlement was to be conducted, legal provision was made for meeting these cases.

'A class of estates was recognized in which there might be separate heritable and transferable properties, viz. that of the superior or Tálukdár, and that of the inferior or village proprietor.

'The Officers conducting Settlements were ordered judicially to ascertain where such separate properties existed, to define the amount of the net profits of the estates to which each party was entitled, and then to take the orders of the Government as to which of the two parties should be admitted to engage direct with the Government, and on what terms.'

In no affair has his policy been so much controverted by opponents as in this. From his point of view the question may be thus summarized. The matter was not one of policy to be settled by territorial considerations, but one of justice to be determined by judicial enquiry. Often the decision was clear; in some cases the Tálukdár proved that somehow he had acquired the proprietary status from the Village Community, so the judgment was in his favour; in other cases the Community proved that despite him they had kept their status, so the judgment was in their favour. But often the decision was dubious; the Tálukdár had evidence to show his acquisition of the status, the Community had