Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/131

Rh and subdivisions; provided for a restoration of their rights to some village Zamíndárs, as well as for the permanent exclusion of certain others who had been out of possession since July, 1775, the date of our acquisition of the Province; revised the assessments; arranged for a moderate and progressive increase of revenue from portions of lands found to be waste but culturable; took steps to prevent the levy of transit duties which had been abolished, and against the creation of new rent-free tenures: enforced the necessary stipulations for the maintenance of peace, the detection and communication of crime, and the restoration of stolen property. On the whole they proceeded with cautious local enquiries, which were a decided improvement on the summary proceedings of the Cornwallis administration on the one hand, but were yet much below the standard of the regular village Settlement, with its detailed record of rights, liabilities, and privileges, which on the other hand has been the glory of successive generations of officials of the school of Thomason in Upper India, and of Munro in Madras. Of course this was not accomplished without obstruction and the expenditure of trouble and time. It was discovered that the Amils, or farmers, had often availed themselves of their position and knowledge to 'procure deeds of conveyance, in their own names or those of their relations, for