Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/211

Rh form of arbitration was known, the courts of the head-men and Panchayats were not similarly deserted, and the proposals emanating from England were not unsuccessful.

The Board of Control also came to the conclusion that it would be expedient to undo the administration established by Lord Cornwallis (who separated the functions of the Collectors from these of the criminal Judges), and to re-unite in one person fiscal and police duties; in order to carry out this reform, it was moreover necessary to vest the zamíndárs with authority, and to give additional powers to the native revenue officers. The Government of Bengal in this instance also found the proposed change unadvisable, as calculated to oppress the people; for it was not believed that the rapacity of the native element could be restrained from exacting more than was due. The following remarks from Lord Hastings' Private Journal touches upon this subject, and may be reproduced, to show how disastrous it would have been to increase the powers of the zamíndárs over the people: —

'It was assumed that the zamíndárs were the real landowners, and that, commanding as such the attachment of the peasantry, they would insure the adherence of the latter to our government if their interest in the land were secured from precariousness or extortion. On this principle the proprietary rights of the zamíndár to the tract under his management was declared, subject to his paying in perpetuity to govern-