At the time that Nobinkissen called upon
me, the government of India were in
considerable difficulty in respect to finance. A
new loan had been opened, but it did not
fill, and the government had very wisely
determined upon closing it. Nobinkissen made
this a topic of conversation, and his views—
albeit they came from a man who had been
convicted of a fraud — are, at the present
time especially, entitled to the very gravest
consideration.

"Ah, sir!" he remarked, "it is a pitiful
thing that the government of a great empire
like this should ever be in pecuniary difficulties
and put to their wits' end for a few
millions annually, in order to make the
receipts square with the expenditure."

"But how can it be helped?" I asked.

"Easily, sir," he replied. "Why not make
it expedient to do away with the perpetual
settlement of Lord Cornwallis, and resettle
the whole of Bengal? That is by far the
most fertile province in the East; but it is
taxed lighter than even these poor lands of
the Upper Provinces. Look at the
Durbungah Rajah. Nearly the whole of Tirhoot
—the garden of India — belongs to him, and
he does not pay into the government treasury
half a lac [five thousand pounds] per annum,
while his collections amount to upwards
of twenty lacs. These are the men who get
hold of the money and bury it and keep it
from circulating."

"But all zemindarees [lands] are not so
profitable in Bengal?"

"No. Many are not worth holding —
especially the smaller ones, although the land is
just as good and just as well cultivated."

"But how is that?"

"They are so heavily taxed. You must
know, sir, that in those days — the days of
Lord Cornwallis—the greatest frauds were
committed in respect to the perpetual settlement.
The natives who were about and
under the settlement officers all made
immense fortunes, and the zemindars from
whom they took their bribes have profited
ever since to the cost of the poorer zemindars,
who could not or would not bribe, and to the
cost of the British government. It is a great
mistake to suppose that the whole of the
landholders in Bengal would cry out against
a re-settlement of that province. Only men
holding vast tracts of country, at a
comparatively nominal rent, would cry out."

"And tax the British government with a
breach of faith?"

"Yes. But what need the government
care for that cry — especially when its act is
not only expedient, but would be just
withal ? In Bengal, all the great zemindars
are rich, very rich, men. In these
provinces, with very, very few exceptions, they
are poor, so that the whole of Upper
India would be glad to see the perpetual
settlement done away with, and the land
re-settled."

"Why so?"

"That is only human — and, certainly,
Asiatic — nature. Few of us like to behold
our neighbours better off than ourselves; so
that the cry of faith-breaking would not meet
with a response in this part of the world."

"Yes; but in Europe the cry would be too
powerful to contend against. The Exeter
Hall orators and the spouters at the Court of
Proprietors would—"

"Ah, sir! India should either be governed
in India or in England. It is the number of
wheels in the government that clogs the
movement of the machine."

"Very true."

"But who are these men—these zemindars
with whom you are required to keen an
illicit faith? Are they your friends? If so,
why do they never come forward to assist
you in your difficulties? Did a single
zemindar, when, after the battle of Ferozeshah,
the empire was shaking in the balance,
lift a finger to help the government of India?
And, to-morrow, if your rule were at stake,
and dependent on their assistance, think you
they would render it? Think you they would
furnish money if your treasury was exhausted?
Not one pice! Think you they would
furnish men to protect your stations denuded of
troops? No! Although hundreds of them
can each turn out a thousand or two of
followers, armed with iron-bound bludgeons,
swords, and shields, when they desire to
intimidate an European indigo-planter, or to
fight a battle between themselves about a
boundary question. These are the men who,
in your greatest need, would remain neutral
until, if it so happened, you were brought
to your last gasp, when, as one man, they
would not fail to rise and give you the final
blow."

"Do you believe that? I do not."

"Sir, I know my own countrymen better
than you do."

"If such a state of affairs were to come
about, and these zemindars remained neutral,
of course the cry of breaking faith would be
absurd in the extreme. Neutrality, in such
a case, would be almost as bad as hostility."

[Nobinkissen's prophecy has been fulfilled
to the letter. Our rule has been at stake,
in imminent peril, and not one of these men
has offered to assist us with men or money.
The Rajahs of Durbungah and Burdwan
alone, to say nothing of the Newab of
Moorshedabad, between them could have furnished
an army of, at the very least, five thousand
stalwart fighting-men, whereas they have
looked upon our difficulties in perfect apathy.
It is from the coffers of men of this stamp
that large sums should be extracted annually
towards keeping up a vast—an overwhelming
—European force in India. Faith with such
men as these! What claim have they to our
faintest consideration? What right to
expect that we shall any longer forego the
collection of several extra millions annually—