Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/130

124 shares. The Zamíndár of Bengal and Behar, in fact, may somewhat loosely be described as a big, and the Zamíndár of the Upper Provinces as comparatively a small personage; and it would be also correct to say that the powerful Zamíndár in Bengal is analogous to the Tálukdár in Oudh.

It is quite clear that this distinction, though not fully expressed, was clearly understood and recognised by the administrators who framed the Perpetual Code for Benares on the model of that of 1793, and with just the necessary amplifications of the same, fitted to the special demands of the new Province. It seems also tolerably certain that the Permanent Settlement of Benares was preceded by enquiries of a more detailed and formal character than had been thought possible in Bengal Proper. Particulars of the assessment on the Tálukdárs and village Zamíndárs had been obtained; registers of lands exempted from payment of revenue, of pensions, and of charitable allowances, were drawn up. Recourse was had to local officers known as Kánúngos, and new forms of the documents known as Pattás and Kabúliyats, which are loosely termed leases and their counterparts, had been framed and issued under the authority of the Government. In order to facilitate the transition from a Settlement for five years to a Settlement in perpetuity, the English Resident and his Assistants made a regular tour throughout the Province in the cold season. They investigated the capabilities of the villages and of their divisions