In his progrefs through Bengal, the traveller will not confine himfelf to remark the natural diverfity in the afpect of the country, but will compare the neat habitations of the peafants, who refide in hilly regions, with the wretched huts of thofe who inhabit the plain; and the contraft may fuggeft a reflection, how little the richeft productions, and moft thriving manufacturers, contribute to the general comfort of the people at large. '

We had scarcely time to lament the unfortunate inhabitants of plains, before we were reminded that the waters which fertilize their fields, frequently deluge their habitations; and that the inconveniences of their quarters was compensated by saving the labour of artificial irrigation, and obviating the necessity of manure. Again,

If dikes, to check the inundation, fhow an attention to improvement-refervoirs and dams, conftructed for irrigation in the champaign country, are equally a proof of fome attention to that object, while wells for watering the fields offer a pleasing specimen of industry in the western provinces. But if fomething occur to extort applaufe, the moft defultory obfervation will notice more to cenfure. The affemblage of peasants in villages, their fmall farms, and the want of enclofures, bar all great improvements in husbandry.'

This unaccountable propensity in the peasants to huddle together in villages, whilst they might apply their labour so much. more profitably by living on their farms, would have appeared like infatuation.

But, it is true, that in a country infefted by tygers, folitary dwel lings and unattended cattle would be infecure; but no apology can be offered for the peasants indifferently quitting the plough to use the loom, and the loom to refume the plough. Induftry cannot be worse directed.'

But since the danger from beasts of prey renders the assemblage of houses necessary, was it judicious to insert this amongst the objects of censure? We are unable to judge how far enclosures would prove beneficial in Bengal; they are rare there, as over the whole Continent of Europe; but were they ever so abundant, they would not at all obviate the necessity of guarding the cattle from the attacks of ferocious animals, nor admit of their being left out at night. Bold as it may seem, we even venture to apologize for the alternate labours of the loom and the ploughshare,

The fpring and the dry feafon occupy four months,' fays Mr Colebrooke, during which the heat progreffively increafes, until it becomes almost intolerable, even to the natives themfelves. '

At this period, uninterrupted field labour is impossible; and though the greatest sultriness prevails then, yet the heat is intense during three fourths of the year, for some hours after

€ 2

noon.

noon.

When his rural occupations are unavoidably interrupted, through fatigue or excessive heat, application to a sedentary employment appears to us rather laudable, than an object of censure. It is true, the husbandmen have the alternative of being idle during that period; and many of them have had the penetration to prefer it.

The neceffaries of life are cheap, the mode though the price of labour be low, a fubfiftence

of living fimple; and may be earned without the uninterrupted application of industry. Often idle, the manufacturer and peafant may nevertheless fubfift.'

It is possible, that, in temperate climes, the minute subdivision of labour may furnish a tolerably accurate criterion of the commercial prosperity of the country in which it subsists. It is possible that the numerary value of its productions may be in some degree commensurate with the moral degradation of the mass of its inhabitants; and that when their ideas shall each be limited to the performance of one simple manipulation, the country shall have attained the acmé of its splendour. These axioms we are by no means disposed to combat; but think that, during the unavoidable interruption of his rural labours, occasioned by the climate, the Bengal peasant may be allowed to employ himself in plying his loom within doors.

An observation which Mr Colebrooke has applied to one branch of cultivation, might, in our opinion, be judiciously applied to all.

• A course of experiments would be requifite to ascertain whether the methods actually employed, be better fuited to the foil and climate, than others which might be, or which have been, fuggested, after comparing the practice of other countries with the various methods pursued in Bengal.

It will frequently be found, that customs which appear to strangers the result of negligence and want of refinement, have their origin in local peculiarities, and may, on further information, be traced to a series of profound and continued practical observations. We are disposed to think, that our author's strictures on the plough, and on the rotation of crops used in Bengal, may be found in this predicament. The former is not calculated to make a profound impression on the soil, and only scratches the surface. Is it desirable it should do more? We can affirm, that, in most parts of Bengal, at some distance from the surface, the soil is strongly impregnated with alkaline salts, extremely hostile to vegetation; insomuch, that delicate plants. have frequently a layer of bricks placed below them, to prevent their roots from descending to the noxious stratum. To enable his readers to judge how far the Hindus are scientific and intelligent cultivators of the soil, we lament that Mr Colebrooke has

not

not given the names adopted by them for the different species of lands, discriminated by their respective level above the line of inundation, and the peculiar mode of culture appropriated to each. The Dowra, annually fertilized by inundation, and yielding one crop. The Caduri, above the level of inundation, but receiving an annual deposite of rich soil washed from higher lands, and yielding two crops. The Danga, more elevated than either, and manured (not indeed with dung, which Mr Colebrooke seems to regard somewhat too exclusively as the only fertilizing substance, but) with soil brought from the tract of inundation, and left by the waters on their retreat; this is devoted to the more delicate and costly productions. These are only a few of the distinctions. admitted in Hindu husbandry. The two first, to which nature applies the manure it requires, bear crops ad infinitum, without the necessity of lying fallow to recruit their vegetative powers. What we have said will suffice to prove that the Bengal peasantry do not proceed without fixed principles for their guidance, and those probably derived from a remote antiquity, and possibly the best adapted to their soil and climate. We can also assert, that, in the part of the country with which we are most conversant, the rotation of the crops was in a certain degree regulated by their supposed effects on the soil, excepting where the annual deposite of alluvial earth rendered this attention superflu

ous.

It were idle to criticize the data on which Mr Colebrooke has founded his calculations of the population of Bengal. They were the best, we have no doubt, to which he had access; and unsatisfactory as they are, we are persuaded they have conducted him to a nearer approximation to the truth than his predecessors, and that the population of the tracts in question may perhaps fairly be estimated at thirty millions.

We appeal,' fays Mr Colebrooke, to the recollection of every perfon who has traverfed the populous parts of Bengal, whether every village do not fwarm with inhabitants? whether every plain be not crowded with villages? and whether every ftreet be not thronged with paffengers?'

This apparent affluence of inhabitants, in a country where one fourth of the population are rarely seen abroad, convinces us that the inhabitants bear a relatively great proportion to the superficies of occupied land. Our author has excluded a fourth of the area for tracts of land nearly or wholly waste;' but this is in addition to one sixth, previously allowed in his calculation for lands deemed irreclaimable and barren,' and wastes liable to pay revenue. This classification is not very intelligible. Does our author comprehend in the former, the extensive tracts of forests, such as the Sundrivana; and indicate, under the .at

a

ter, the barren and waste tracts which occur in fertile and cultivated districts? If this exposition be correct, we shall be at loss under what head to place the rich pastures which occupy so great a proportion of the whole superficies. An incidental expression in a subsequent passage, would induce us to conclude that these must find a place amongst the waste lands-' Cows are usually fed near home, on reserved pastures, or on the waste lands of the village. But, without adverting to the injudicious choice of the term selected to indicate lands from which the peasant derives so capital a part of his subsistence and profit, our astonishment is extreme, to find them rated at only a sixth of the whole area, whilst the land in tillage is estimated at a third. We should certainly have been disposed to reverse these proportions, in the part of Bengal with which we are familiar: and we find that Mr Grant estimates the pasture land at two fifths, whilst he allots only one fifth for the portion in cultivation.

To the writings of that meritorious servant of the Company, Mr Colebrooke appears to have devoted little attention. We find him once quoted, in a note, and that inaccurately, which we think it right to rectify, in order to preclude important misconceptions.

The ftandard, fays our author, for the regulation of rates bas been loft. We learn from Mr James Grant, in his observations on the revenues of Bengal, that the affeffment was limited not to exceed, in the whole, a fourth part of the actual grofs produce of the foil. The antient method of eftimating the refources from the produce is explained in the Ayin Acberi.?

Mr Colebrooke has inadvertently mistated the fact asserted by Mr Grant. That gentleman states one half of the crop to be the general contribution from corn, when paid in kind; but one fourth of the estimated value when paid in specie, which was optional with the cultivator. But as our author thinks the original standard is now lost, he, of course, conceives that this fact rests on the single authority of Mr Grant. Yet, in the Ayin Acberi itself, the proportion of a fourth is distinctly stated. In the Muntukheb al Bab, the following passages authenticate the original standard on which the Asul Tumar Jumma was constructed by Rajah Tudor Mull.

A new mode of collecting the revenues was alfo adopted, and named Butta; the aggregate quantity of grain produced, in the autumnal and vernal harvefts, by the fole influence of the periodical rains, underwent an equal divifion; one half rewarding the labour of the husbandman, and the remainder being appropriated by government.

Again,

The dues of government might alfo be collected in money, if judg ed preferable, in the proportion of the fourth of the estimated produce of each Biga.

The

The same fact is attested by Shah Nuaz Khan, in his biography of Rajah Tudor Mull.

He exacted the fourth of the produce in money; and in kind divided the crop, which was called Buttaï. '

Considerable perplexity will be found also to occur in Mr Colebrooke's manner of considering the subject of Zemindari rights.

In one point of view, the Zemindars, as defcendants of antient independent Rajahs, or as the fucceffors of their defcendants, feemed to have been tributary princes. In another light, they appeared to be only officers of government. Perhaps their real character partook of both. '

We know, in point of fact, that none of the considerable Zemindars of Bengal are descended from independent sovereigns, and that their possessions are comparatively of very recent date. The observation, then, only tends to embarrass the question, by the introduction of an irrelevant supposition.

It only remains to consider the hints suggested by the enlightened benevolence of Mr Colebrooke, for the amelioration of our Indian dominions. They consist of two propositions: 1st, That the capital employed in agriculture is too small, and injudiciously applied.

If Bengal had a capital in the hands of enterprizing and intelligent proprietors, who employed it in agriculture, manufactures, and internal commerce, these arts would be improved; and with more and better productions from the fame labour, the fituation of the labourers would be lefs precarious, and more affluent.'

Let us examine this proposition. A more intelligent cultivation would indisputably raise a greater quantity of produce: But is it the penury of its produce of which Bengal has to complain? In a country where corn does not pay the expense of cultivation, would the production of a still greater quantity augment its value? The produce is now exuberant, and the defects of the agricultural system cannot be demonstrated by the scantiness of the produce, as stated by our author himself. We apprehend, from Mr Colebrooke's statements, corroborated by our own observation, that it is not the produce, but the constant demand, which should be augmented, to alleviate the situation of the husbandmen. But who are the intelligent and enterprizing proprietors, to whose assistance he would have recourse? Would he recommend the rescission of the act of Parliament, which precludes Englishmen from purchasing or farming lands? To rescind an act of the Legislature, which places the character of the British nation

Above all Greek, above all Roman fame?' An act of justice and enlightened policy, without which, we will