whatever faults attach to it are not part of the system.
We have nothing to do in these days with
any original invasion of private rights; these
evils are beyond remedy, but need not of
course be repeated; while, as regards the
condition of the peasants, we shall soon have ample
protection for them in proper courts, and, it is
to be hoped, in an improved police. Nor is
there any real sacrifice involved on the part of
the government. The right to increase the land
revenue is sacrificed, it is true; but that right,
is one which can never be exercised without
exciting discontent, and perhaps disaffection, while
the mere knowledge that the right is reserved is
alone sufficient to destroy confidence and
prevent prosperity. Even under the thirty years'
settlement in those parts of the North- West Pro-
vinces and Delhi territory under notice, there
are at the present time nearly eight million acres
of culturable but uncultivated land, being equal
to one-third part of the whole present cultivation,
and to about one-sixth part of its total area.
Since the existing settlement has been in operation,
one million acres of new land have been
brought into cultivation; it may be therefore
supposed that a settlement in perpetuity would
speedily increase that amount— eventually,
perhaps, to the full extent of the culturable area;
in which case, not only would the proprietors of
the soil have gained proportionately in profits,
but they would have lightened the burden of
the state demand by not less than eight hundred
thousand pounds per annum. This is Colonel
Smith's calculation, and may be accepted as
trustworthy. The colonel might have added
that, with honest courts to protect them, and a
respectable police to preserve order, the condition
of the peasantry could not fail to be
improved by augmented cultivation, as it has been
to a great degree in Bengal without either of
these aids; while, as far as government interests
are concerned, it must be a ruling power rather
hard to please which would not consider itself to
be a gainer, both financially and politically, by
the spread of prosperity and contentment.

The report to which we have referred touches
upon another topic intimately connected with
the subject of famines— the redemption of the
land-tax by a capital payment, a measure
strongly advocated by the writer, and since
conceded by the government. This, as well as
the sale of waste lands in fee-simple, which is a
companion measure, indicates that our rulers
have entirely thrown over their former restricted
policy, and are prepared to join earnestly in the
cause of the regeneration of India. The government
waste lands may now be bought by
anybody who has the money to pay for them, at ten
shillings an acre for cleared, and five shillings
an acre for jungle land. The land-tax may be
redeemed by anybody who desires to redeem it,
at twenty years' purchase, which, considering
that money is worth ten per cent, in India, is
no such bad bargain. The natives, it is said,
will not avail themselves of it, at any rate for
the present: in the first place, because they are
never prone to part with capital except for
some very strong reason; and, in the second
place, because they do not believe in the stability
of our rule; but the Europeans will, and will by
these means, implant themselves permanently on
the soil, where they cannot fail eventually to get
the upper hand. In the North- West the Permanent
Settlement is still wanting, but there can
be little question of its being granted very
speedily, not in every part of the provinces
at once, but first, as recommended by Colonel
Smith, in all those parts of the country not
under the influence of canals executed at
the exclusive cost of government, where
prolonged settlements have previously existed, and
where there is reason to suppose that those
settlements are fair and equitable, doubtful
settlements to be set right as soon as possible,
and brought under the same law; those parts
where expense has been incurred on account of
canals being allowed to remain under present
conditions, until the water-rate can also be
settled in perpetuity. Under some arrangement
of this kind, with a complete system of irrigation
and internal communication, such as we
now find suggested, it is scarcely too much to
say that droughts would be impossible to any
great extent, and famines, whether arising from
these or any other causes, would be so easily
met as to be deprived of all their horrible
features— becoming, in fact, a mere question of
expense which the local community could be
generally relied upon to meet. But it is highly
desirable that, in any change of the kind,
encouragement should be given to the creation of
an upper class, as in Bengal, which, besides
being a bulwark for the peasantry in case of
distress, shall be a bulwark for the government in
case of disaffection. Whatever argument was
wanting in favour of the superior wisdom of this
policy, is supplied by the events of 1857, which
left our authority in the greater part of Bengal
absolutely untouched, while in the North-West,
where the aristocracy had been broken down by
our revenue system, the government collapsed
at the first shock. It would be a glorious
triumph, indeed, if we could cure the double
evil by the same enlightened means, and kill two
such birds of prey as Famine and Rebellion with
one liberal stone!

We promised to take a cheerful view of a sad
subject; but it is with mournful feelings that
we must conclude after all. Colonel Baird
Smith, while the above lines were being penned,
was dying on board ship. He was on his way
home, broken down in health by labours from
which relief came too late. The famine report
winch gained for all India a fee simple tenure
of land, and will gain for the North-West
Provinces a perpetual settlement, gained nothing
for its author but a grave at Madras. His
constitution, already weakened by a wound received
at the siege of Delhi, where he conducted the
engineering operations, finally succumbed to the
exposure which he incurred during the last rainy
season while engaged upon his last and not least
important work. Colonel Baird Smith belonged
to the best type of the old " Company's officer."