Mountstuart Elphinstone: Report on the Territories Conquered from the Peshwa (1821)

REPORT

On The

TERRITORIES CONQUERED FROM THE PESHWA.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

        THE whole extent of the country under the Commissioner may be very roughly estimated at 50,000 square miles, and the population may be guessed at 4,000,000; but this does not include any of the detached territories beyond the Nizam's frontier.

        The grand geographical feature of this tract is the chain of Ghats, which run along the western boundary for its whole length. Between this range and the sea lies the Konkan, now under Bombay. It extends from 40 to 50 miles in breadth, includes many fertile places producing abundance of rice, but, in general, is very rough, and much crossed by steep and rocky hills. Towards the Ghats, the country is in most places extremely strong, divided by hills intersected by ravines, and covered with thick forest. The range itself is from 2,000 to 4,000 feet high, extremely abrupt, and inaccessible on the west. The passes are numerous, but steep, and very seldom passable for carriages. The table-land on the east is nearly as high as many parts of the ridge of the Ghats, but in general the hills rise above it to the height of from 1,000 to 1,500 feet. The table-land is for a considerable distance rendered very strong, by numerous spurs issuing from the range, among which are deep winding rugged valleys often filled with thick jungle. Farther east the branches from the Ghats become less frequent and the country becomes more level, till the neighbourhood of the Nizam's frontier, where it is an open plain.

        The northern part of the chain of Ghats, and the country and its base, especially to the west, is inhabited by Bhils. The kolies, who somewhat resemble the Bhils, but are less predatory and more civilized, inhabit the part of the range to the south of Baughhaud and the country at its base on the west as far south as Bassein. They are also numerous in Gujarat. The Bhils possess the eastern part of the range, and all the branches that run out from it towards the west, as far south as Puna; they even spread over the plains to the east, especially on the north of the Godavari, and are found as far off as the neighbourhood of the Warda. On the north, they extend beyond the Tapty and Narbada, and are numerous in the jungles that divide Gujarat from Malwa, as well as in all the eastern part of Gujarat. They are a wild and predatory tribe; and though they live quietly in the open country, they resume their character whenever they are settled in part that is strong, either from hills or jungles. The Bhils differ from the other inhabitants in language, manners, and appearance; they are small and black, wear little clothes, and always carry bows and arrows. In appearance, they much resemble the mountaineers of Baughalpur. The Bhils and kolies, when in the hills or strong places, live under Naiks or Chiefs of their own, who have some influence over those in the neighbouring plains. These Chiefs have in general been little interfered with by the Mahratta Government more than was necessary to prevent the depredations of their followers. South of Puna, the Bhils are succeeded by the Ramoshis, a more civilized and subdued tribe. They do not inhabit the main range of Ghats, but the branches stretching out to the eastward. They have the same thievish habits as the Bhils, but have no language of their own; are more mixed with the people, and in dress and manners are more like Mahrattas. They are of more consequence than elsewhere, in the hills joining the Ghats southward of Satara, where they lately acted so prominent a part in taking forts, and plundering the country, under the false Chittur Sing. They do not extend farther south than Kolapur, or farther east than the line of Bijapur.

        Hill-tribes like those mentioned have generally proved quiet when the Government was vigorous, and while they were managed through their Native Chiefs. We perhaps lose some hold on them by the destruction of so many of the hill-forts, which were situated in the midst of their mountains, and served to watch and curl their disposition to plunder.

        The districts belonging to the Peshwa in Nemar, being under charge of Sir J. Malcolm, I have no opportunity of inquiring regarding them. Their importance is small, yielding only 25,000 rupees; and, if it is not found necessary for securing the peace of Nemar that we should have some territory there, they might be well disposed of in exchanges.

        Our most northern district would then be Khandesh. This province is bounded on the north by the Satpura or Vindyadri range of mountains; and on the south by the range in which are the fort Chandore and the Ghat of Ajanta: on the south-west it is bounded by the range of Sahyadri, commonly called the Ghats, at the termination of which south the Tapti is the hilly tract of Bagalan. The plain of Khandesh descends towards the Tapti from the hills on the north and south (especially from the south) on the east it is bounded by Scindia's and the Nizam's territories on the plain of Berar; on the west, the plain along the Tapti extends, without interruption, from the hills to the sea; but it is divided from the rich country about Surat by a thick and extensive jungle. Though interspersed with low ranges of unproductive hills, the bulk of the province is exceedingly fertile, and it is watered by innumerable streams, on many of which expensive embankments have formerly been erected for purposes of irrigation. Some parts of the province are still in a high state of cultivation, and others, more recently abandoned, convey a high notion of their former richness and prosperity; but the greater part of Khandesh is covered with thick jungle, full of tigers and other wild beasts, but scattered with the ruins of former villages. The districts north of the Tapti in particular which were formerly very populous, and yielded a large revenue, are now almost an uninhabited forest. The decline of this province, from the flourishing condition which it had long since attained under its Mohammedan masters, is to be dated from the year 1802, when it was ravaged by Holkar's army. This blow was followed by the famine in 1803, and its ruin was consummated by the misgovernment of the Peshwa's officers. The Bhils who had before lived mixed with the other inhabitants and had, as village watchmen, been the great instruments of police throughout Khandesh, withdrew to the surrounding mountains, whence they made incursions and carried off cattle and prisoners from the heart of the province. The Pindaries annually ravaged the open country: various insurgents plundered at the head of bodies of horse; and parties of Arabs established themselves in some of the numerous fortresses and ghuries with which Khandesh abounds, and laid all the neighbourhood under contribution.

        The expulsion of the Arabs was a natural consequence of the war, and no parties of plundering horse were able to keep the field; but the settlement of the Bhils was a work of more time and difficulty. Those in the Satpura mountains were the most formidable, as that range, though not perhaps above 1,500 feet high, is deep and strong, and so unhealthy that no stranger can long remain in it. The plan adopted by Captain Briggs, and zealously executed by Lieutenant-Colonel Jardine, was to stop the supplies of the Bhils, which are all drawn from the plain; to cut off any parties that attempted to issue to plunder, and to make vigorous attacks on the points in the hills to which the principal Bhil Chiefs had retired. These measures soon reduced the Bhils to accept the very favourable terms held out to them; which were to forbear their depredations, the Chiefs receiving pensions, and allowances for a certain number of men, and binding themselves to restrain the excesses of their people.

        The same plan was carried through, with less exertion, with the Bhils of the Chandore range and with the Bhils and Kolies in Bagalan. The terms have occasionally been broken by some Chiefs, but most on the whole, they have succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations, and have effectually delivered the province from this species of invasion. The only attacks of the Bhils are now made in parties of three or four,  who rob passengers. Those outrages have been resisted by the police, and are stated by Captain Briggs to be greatly on the decline. I have little doubt that a continuance of this vigilance, together with the liberal provision authorized by Government for the Bhil watchmen, will soon completely extinguish the remains of these disorders.

        The effectual protection of the people is the first and most important step towards restoring the prosperity of Khandesh; but, from the havoc that has been made among the population, a long period must elapse before it can show any great signs of improvement. A very light assessment, and the favourable terms on which waste land is granted to speculators, will, it is hoped, accelerate this crisis, and not only draw back the natives of Khandesh who have retired to Gujarat and other countries, but even attract new settlers from places where the population is over-abundant.

        Captain Briggs has applied himself with great zeal to the improvement of the district, and has adopted and suggested various plans for that purpose: among these, a principal one is the repair of the embankments, and the fear of their falling into irretrievable ruin is a strong motive for commencing on this undertaking early. But at present the great want of Khandesh is in population; and where waste land is abundant, people are more likely to be attracted by the easy terms on which that is granted, than by the richness of lands irrigated by means of dams; where, from the necessity of repaying Government for the expenses of erecting and maintaining them, the condition of the cultivator has generally been observed to be worse than on land which has not the advantage of these costly improvements.

        Captain Briggs describes the people of Khandesh as peaceable and inoffensive, but timid, helpless, unenterprising, and sunk under the oppression and the multiplied calamities to which they have so long been exposed; but this of course only applies to the trading and agricultural classes: the soldiery (of whom part were till lately the predatory body called Barra Bye, in Holkar's service, and the rest must have often joined insurgents, and even Pindaries) are, doubtless, bold and restless enough.

        Khandesh is low and hot. Gangatari, which joins it on the south, is from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the level of the Tapti, and the rest of the conquered territory (except the Konkan) is on the same table-land. From this to the Kristna, or rather the Warna and Kristna, is comprehended in the districts of Ahmednagar and Puna, and the Rajah of Satara's territory. The western half of all this tract is hilly; the valleys rich and highly cultivated, and the country diversified and beautiful. Farther east are plains, but not all in the same condition. The east of Gangatari, though open and fertile, is almost entirely uninhabited since the famine in 1803; the country between that and Ahmednagar is better, and the plains south of Ahmednagar are for many marches in all directions one sheet of the richest cultivation. I do not know the state of the south-east of that district towards Sholapur, but I imagine it is equally prosperous. The country beyond the Nira is in a very different state, thinly peopled and badly cultivated. It is in this tract that most of the horses in the Mahratta country are bred, and that host of the Silledars, or military adventurers, reside. The principal towns in the Peshwa's late dominions are between Khandesh and the Kristna, but none of them are considerable. Puna may be reckoned to contain about 110,000 inhabitants, having lost from a tenth to a fifth since the removal of Baji Rav with his Court and army. Nasik does not contain more than fourth of this number. Pandharpur is still smaller than Nasik, and the rest all much smaller than Pandhapur. Ahmednagar, however, must be excepted, which is reckoned to contain 20,000 souls, and is increasing rapidly.

        This tract is the oldest possession of the Mahratta Government, and is by far the most decidedly Mahratta in the composition of the inhabitants. The character of that people is fully depicted in the answers to the queries which I sent to the collectors, especially in Captain Grant's.

        The Brahmins, who have long conducted all the business of the country, are correctly described by Mr. Chaplin as an 'intriguing, lying, corrupt, licentious and unprincipled race of people!' to which Captain Grant adds with equal truth, 'that when in power they are coolly unfeeling, and systematically oppressive,' and now I generally discontented, and only restrained by fear from being treasonable and treacherous.' They are superstitious, and narrow in their attachment to their caste, to a degree that has no example elsewhere; but they are mild, patient, intelligent on many subjects even liberal and enlightened; and, though regardless of sufferings which they may indirectly produce, they are naturally very averse to cruelty and bloodshed: their are among them many instances of decent and respect able lives, and although they are generally subtle and insincere, I have met with some on whom I could depend for sound and candid opinions.

        The Mahratta Chiefs, while in power, and especially while with armies, are generally coarse, ignorant, rapacious and oppressive.

        Those settled in their own country, and unconnected with courts and armies bear a much better character, being sober, industrious, and encouragers of agriculture. It must indeed be remembered, both of this class and the Brahmins, that we see the very worst of the whole, and that it is among those at a distance from the seat of Government that we are to look for any virtue that may exist in the nation.

        The soldiery so much resemble the Chiefs, that individuals of the two classes might change places without any striking impropriety. The Chiefs of course are more vicious, and probably more intelligent. The Mahratta soldiery love war, as affording opportunities for rapine in an enemy's country, and marauding in a friend's. In battle, they seem always to have been the same dastardly race; but they are active, hardy, vigilant, patient of fatigue and privations; and, though timid in action, they show great boldness and enterprise in their incursions into distant countries; and on all occasions they appear to have the greatest confidence in their horses, though little or none in their swords. Their plan in a campaign is to avoid general engagements, to ravage their enemy's country, and to cut up convoys and detachments; in an action it is to disperse when attacked, and to return to the charge, when the enemy has broken, to plunder: by these means they are enabled to prevail against better troops than themselves.

        The Mahratta peasantry have some pride in the triumphs of their nation, and some ambition to partake in its military exploits; but, although circumstances might turn them into soldiers or robbers, at present their habits are decidedly peaceful. They are sober, frugal, industrious; mild and inoffensive to everybody; and among themselves neither dishonest nor insincere. The faults of their Government have, however, created the corresponding vices in them; its oppression and extortion have taught them dissimulation, mendacity and fraud; and the insecurity of property has rendered them so careless of the future, as to lavish on a marriage or other ceremony the savings of years of parsimony. The first class of these vices, though prevalent throughout the whole in their dealings with Government, is more conspicuous among the Patel and others who are most brought into contact with their rulers; and the effects of the second are felt in the debts and embarrassments in which the whole of the agricultural population is plunged.

        It may be observed, in conclusion, that the military Brahmins combine part of the character of Mahratta soldiers with that of their own caste; and that the character of the Mahratta soldiery, in like manner runs into that of the cultivators. Taking the whole as a nation, they will be found to be inferior to their Mohammedan neighbours in knowledge and civilization, in spirit, in generosity, and perhaps in courage but less tainted with pride, insolence, tyranny, effeminacy, and debauchery; less violent, less bigoted, and (except while in armies on foreign service) more peaceable, mild, and humane.

        MAHRATTA KARNATIK. The country south of the Krishna, or, as the Mahrattas call it, the Karnatik, has few hills and few places incapable of cultivation except in the immediate neighbourhood of the Ghats it consists of extensive plains of black or cotton ground a large portion of it is, however, uncultivated, especially of the parts which have been under the Government of Gokhle and Appa Desai. The high cultivation of the Patwardhans' lands has often been mentioned. It is no doubt owing in a great measure to their good manage went; but in a great measure likewise to the oppression of their neighbours, which drove every man who could easily move into their lands. There are no large towns in this part of the country. Hubli is, I believe, the largest, and I have heard it estimated at 15,000 souls. The towns of Belgaum and Shahpur, which, though nearly contiguous, belong, one to Government, and one to Chintaman Rav, may amount together to 13,000 or 14,000 inhabitants. I have not heard of any other town in this district that contains more than 5,000 inhabitants.

        Both this division and Bijapur are inhabited by Kanarese, who retain their own language and manners. The Mahrattas are reckoned by Mr. Chaplin to constitute no more than an eighth or a tenth of the inhabitants: what there is of them seems to consist of soldiers and Brahmins, with a full share of the vice of those classes. The Kanarese Mr. Chaplin describes as resembling their countrymen in the ceded districts; but as being more honest, manly and courageous, though less mild, hospitable and humane: both are equally industrious and frugal.

        The Karnatik was at no distant period overrun with independent Desais or Polligars, but these have all been gradually swallowed up by the Mahrattas, and the Desai of Kittur is the only one who still retains his possessions. The people have always been considered by the Mahrattas to be turbulent and disaffected, which they showed in several rebellions, and particularly in readily joining General Munro to expel their rulers. They seem now to be perfectly quiet, and well affected.

        The general use of Shet Sanadis, or landed Militia, which is so common in Mysore, is only found in this part of the conquered territory.

SKETCH OF THE MAHRATTA HISTORY.

        The whole of, the territory above described does not belong to the British Government; and what does belong to it is not all under our immediate administration. The other possessors of independent territory are the Rajah of Satara, the Rajah of Kolapur; and, on a smaller scale, the Nizam, Scindia, Holkar, the Rajah of Berar and the Gaikwar. The lands held by dependent Chiefs belong to Angria, the Pant Sachiv, the Pritti Nidhi, the Patwardhans, and other Jahagirdars. To give an idea of the situation of all these Chiefs, and indeed of the general state of the country, it is necessary to take a hasty view of the history of the Mahrattas.

        The Mahratta language and nation extended from the Vindyadri or Satpura mountains, nearly to the Krishna; and from the sea on the west to a waving frontier on the east, which may be tolerably indicated by a line drawn from Goa to the Warda near Chanda; and thence along that river to the Satpura mountains. The whole of the territory was probably under a Mahratta King, who resided at Deoghari, now Dowlatabad; but this empire was subverted in the beginning of the fourth century, by the Mohammedans, and remained under various dynasties of that religion until the end of the seventeenth century, when the greater part was delivered by Sivaji and his successors. The eastern part still remains under the Moguls.

        The grandfather of Sivaji was of very humble origin; but his father had attained a considerable rank under the kingdom of Bijapur; had been entrusted with a Government; and profiting by the weakness of the King's power, had rendered himself nearly independent in the southern part of the Bijapur dominions. The same weakness encouraged Sivaji to rebel, and plunder the country; and he was enabled, by the increasing confusions in the Deccan, to found a sort of Government, which the desultory operations of Aurungzebe, distracted by his numerous and simultaneous foreign wars, allowed him time to consolidate. His rebellion began about 1646; he declared himself independent in 1674; and at his death, about 1682, he was possessed of great part of the Konkan; the rest being in the hands of the Moguls of Surat, and in those of the Portuguese, or held for the Bijapur Government by the Siddies or Abyssinians of Janjira. He seems also to have possessed the greater part of the line of Ghats, and to have shared with the Mohammedans the tract immediately to the east of those mountains, as far north as Puna, and as far south as Kolapur.

        Most of these possessions were wrested from his son, who was reduced to the hills, and part of the Konkan, when Aurungzebe was drawn off to the subversion of the monarchies of Golkonda and Bijapur. The convulsions occasioned by the extinction of those states completely unsettled the country, and threw a large portion of the armies, which had hitherto maintained tranquillity, into the scale of the Mahrattas, to whom the Jamidars throughout the Deccan also appear to have been inclined. The consequence was, that although on the execution of Sambaji, the son of Sivaji, in 1689, his son and heir Shahuji fell into the hands of the Moguls, and his younger brother Rajah Ram, who succeeded him, was shut up in the Fort of Gingee, south of Arcot so that for several years the Mahrattas had no efficient head, yet they were able, under different leaders, to withstand, and at length to deride the efforts of the Moguls, which were enfeebled by the faction of the Generals, and the declining age of the Emperor, till the year 1707, when the death of Aurungzebe, and the contests among his successors, set them free from all danger on the part of the Moguls. The Chiefs left in charge of the Deccan first faintly opposed, and then conciliated the Mahrattas: a truce was concluded about 1710, by which they yielded the Chouth; and this, on the confirmation of the agreement, together with a formal grant of their territorial possessions by the Emperor in 1719, may be considered as the final establishment of the Mahratta Government, after a struggle of at least sixty years.

        During the period between the death of Aurungzebe and the confirmation of the Chouth, etc., a great revolution had taken place among the Mahrattas. Shahu Rajah, the son of Sambaji, was released in 1708; but on his return to the Deccan he found himself opposed by his cousin Sivaji, son of Rajah Ram. This Prince had succeeded on the death of his father in 1700; but being either very weak, or entirely deranged in his intellect, his affairs were conducted by his mother, Tara Bai. Shahu Rajah was enabled, chiefly by the good conduct of his Minister Ballaji Vishwanath, to gain over Kanoji Angre, the chief support of his rival's cause, and to seat himself on the Mataratta Musnud. He immediately appointed Ballaji to the office of Peshwa which had before belonged to the family of Pingle, but was forfeited by its possessors adherence, to the cause of Tara Bai. Shahu Rajah being incapacitated by his mental imbecility from exercising the authority with which he was invested, the entire administration devolved on Ballaji Vishwanath.

        At the time of the confirmation of the Chouth, although the Mahrattas had numerous claims over several of the provinces possessed by the Moguls, their actual territory does not appear to have extended beyond the narrow limits to which it had reached under Sivaji. The Mogul's grant confirming their possessions enumerates the districts, by which it appears that they extended in the Konkan from the Goa territory to a point considerably to the south of Daman; while above the Ghats they only reached from the Ghatprabha to the river Kukri, 40 miles north of Puna. The greatest length (on the sea coast) is 280 miles, the greatest breadth (from Harni and Pandharpur to the sea) 140; but this breadth is only found to the south of Puna; north of that city the breadth does not exceed 70 miles.

        It was long before the Mahrattas obtained possession of the country in the immediate neighbourhood of their first conquest: the Forts of Junar and Ahmednagar, the first within 40, and the other within 80 miles of Puna, were not reduced until within the last sixty years; long after the Mahrattas had made themselves masters of Malwa and Gujarat, and had plundered up to the gates of Agra. Khandesh was not subdued until within these sixty years, nor the Karnatik until a still later period. The cause of this inconsistency was the close connection between the Mahrattas and Nizam Ul Mulk, who was glad to encourage them as the means of weakening the power of the Court of Delhi; while they, with their usual policy, were pleased to disunite their enemies, and attack them one by one. To this connection also it is to be ascribed that a third of the Mahratta nation should have been left to this day under the dominion of the Moguls.

        Ballaji Vishwanath dying in 1720, was succeeded by his son Baji Rav Balall. This Chief, who appear to have been a man of activity and abilities, took full advantage of the weakness, the distractions, and the mutual jealousy and treachery of the Moguls. He overran all Malwa, and had entirely reduced it some time about the year 1735; while the troops of the Senapatti, another great General of Shahu Rajah, had made similar progress in Gujarat. The rivalry of these Generals renewed the domestic distractions of the Mahrattas; but Baji Rav finally overcame the Senapatti; as Nana Sahib subsequently did his powerful servant, the Gaikwar, in 1750, when he compelled the latter to submit implicitly to his authority, and to make over half of Gujarat to his officers. Baji Rav died in 1741, and was succeeded by his son Ballaji Baji Rav, commonly called Nana Sahib.

        This Prince was the first of the Peshwas who openly exercised the sovereign authority on the Rajah's behalf. His two predecessors had always affected to act under the orders of that Prince; but Rajah Shahu dying in 1749, it was alleged by the Peshwa that he had formerly invested him with the sovereignty of his dominions, on condition of his keeping up the name of the Rajah's descendants. I may here remark, that it appears more than doubtful whether the Rajahs of Satara ever pretended to possess absolute sovereignty, or to hold their territories otherwise than as vassals, either of Bijapur or of Delhi. Nana Sahib was an inactive Prince, and entrusted his internal government to his cousin Sadashiv Rav Bhau, and the command of his armies to his brother Raghunath Rav, the father of the late Peshwa. A temporary exchange of these functions occasioned the defeat and fall of the Bhau at Paniput, and the death of Balaji, who never recovered the shock.

        The Government then fell into the hands of Raghunath Rav, who detained Madhav Rav, the son of Napa Sahib, in a state of tutelage and dependence, but who was not long able to resist the talents and energy which that Prince early displayed. Madhav Rav then took the reins into his own hands, imprisoned Raghunath, and reigned for eleven years. Though at least equal to his predecessors as a General, Madhav Rav's chief praise arises from his Civil Government. He was the first who introduced order into the internal administration, and who showed a sincere desire to protect his subjects from military violence, and to establish something like a regular dispensation of justice.

        His death, which happened in 1772, was soon followed by the murder of his brother Narayan Rav; the usurpation of Raghunath Rav; and a long struggle, in which the English were unsuccessful supporters of the claims of that usurper. During this disturbed period, and the thirteen years of comparative tranquillity which followed, Nana Fadnavis acted as Regent in the name of the infant son of the murdered Narayan Rav. The territories in the Deccan were quiet, and were governed in a spirit of peace and moderation, which aided the former measures of Madhav Rav in softening the predatory habits of the Mahrattas; but at the same time, the great Chiefs of Hindustan began to appear rather as allies than as servants; and, although the connection of the Mahrattas as a confederacy was probably at its greatest height at this period, yet the seeds of dissolution, which were inherent in the nature of it, began evidently to display themselves. A short view of the members of this confederacy will show the loose ties by which the whole was held.

        The State of Tanjore was scarcely ever even alliance with Satara; that founded by Malhar Rav Ghorapare, in the north of Mysore, was in nearly same situation; and that of Kolapur never joined it in any war. The confederates must therefore be Rajah of Berar, the Gaikwar, Scindia, Holkar, the Powars, and the Chiefs of Jhansi and Sagar. The first of these powers was closely united in interest with Puna, and had no points of disagreement; yet it was frequently at war with the Puna State, and seemed have been almost as much connected with the Nizam as with it. The Gaikwar was oppressed and subdued, a vassal rather than a confederate. He joined the first power that appeared against the Mahrattas in this part of India, and has adhered to his alliance to the last. The other Chiefs were subjects and servants of the Peshwa, and were themselves born and bred in the heart of the Mahratta country, as were the whole of their national troops; not one of whom to this day perhaps, was born in their foreign conquests. Besides the ties of kindred, language and country, which in most nations keep up a connection for ages, the Mahrattas had a strong interest in opposing their common enemies; yet there is perhaps no instance in which they were all engaged on one side in a war; and it is surprising that states so circumstanced should be unable to keep up a closer alliance for a period little exceeding the natural life of man. These facts do not, however, show that there is not at this moment a confederacy cemented by common country, common interests, and common enmity to their conquerors, but that there is nothing particularly durable in the connection to prevent its dissolving at no distant period.

        At the death of Madhoo Rav Narayen in 1796, the whole of the great Mahratta Chiefs, the Rajah of Berar, Scindia, Holkar, and the Jahagirdars of the Deccan, appeared at Puna, for the last time, as vassals of the empire. The power and weight of the Minister was insufficient to control this tumultuous assembly, and a scene of factions, violence and intrigue ensued, at the conclusion of which Baji Ran, the rightful heir, but the representative of the unpopular and proscribed house of Raghunath Rav, was elevated to the Musnud by the military power of Scindia. He, however, was for some time little more than a pageant in the hands of that Prince; and it seemed probable that Scindia would soon imitate the example of the Peshwa's ancestors, and reduce his nominal master to the condition of the Rajah of Satara. It was perhaps the dread or the interference of the British which prevented this change of dynasty; and at the end of a few years the increasing disorders in Scindia's own possessions obliged him to quit his hold on the Peshwa, and to withdraw to Hindustan. Baji Rav, now left alone, had neither ability nor inclination to put himself at the head of his turbulent Chiefs and mutinous army. He remained quiet in Puna, while every Jahagirdar assumed independence; and the country vas overrun by banditti, formed from the soldiery that were no longer employed in the armies, to within a few miles of the capital. At length his Highness was expelled by Holkar. He returned, supported by a British force; and from that time began a new order of things, which existed at the time of our conquest.

        Instead of the extensive but loose confederacy of which the Peshwa was head, which was in a constant state of foreign war and internal disorder, and which could only be held together by constant vigilance and I activity, as well as concession and management, the Peshwa was now to possess in peace a small compact territory; and as this had formerly partaken of the loose government of the general mass, it became the Peshwa's object to consolidate his power, and establishment it on such a footing as would allow of his governing with as much ease as other Eastern Princes.

        Some progress had been made towards this state things during the government of Madhav Rav and Nana Fadnavis; and Baji Rav himself, from temper much as from policy, had already adopted the course most suited to his situation. The head of an unpopular party, and educated in a prison, he had little sympathy with the bulk of his nation, and little desire for any enterprise in which he might require their assistance. His only wish was to gratify his love of power and revenge, without endangering his safety or disturbing his ease. He had therefore begun his administration by plundering all the Ministers connected with his enemy. Nana Fadnavis had seized on the Jahagirs of his principal opponents. When the treaty of Bassein relieved him from all apprehension of resistance, he gave a loose to his desire for depressing the great and degrading his enemies.

        Almost all those who had been connected with the government of his predecessors were discarded; the great Sardars who held lands were either dispossessed or kept at a distance, and obliged to yield implicit obedience to his will. No attempt was made to restore the old army; the Chiefs who had commanded it were left in want. The Court was almost entirely composed of new men; and the few troops that were retained were commanded by upstarts, and paid from the treasury.

        A severe famine that followed Baji Rav's restoration, prevented the natural effect of his reduction of the military force: many men perished, and more horses, and the vacancies occasioned by the deaths of the owners of land, afforded a provision for many who had till then maintained themselves by the profession of arms. Many more went to the camp of Scindia, who was then exchanging his Mussulman retainers for Mahrattas: others found employment with Holkar and the Rajah of Berar: and many probably joined the hordes of Pindaries, which begun about this time to be conspicuous.

        The discontents of the Chiefs were kept under by the presence of a British force, and great progress had thus been made in reducing the country to the state desired by Baji Rav, when other events occurred to induce him to change his system. The progress that has been made has, however, been favourable to us. The number of Jahagirdars, though still very great, has been lessened; the pride of the nation has been humbled, and its military strength reduced. The war and previous years of intrigue and opposition, however, unsettled men's minds; the reduction of the armies of Scindia, the Bhosale and the Pindaries have increased the numbers of the soldiery; the destruction of the smaller Jahagirdars in Hindustan has thrown them and their retainers back on their old country, and our having raised our irregular horse and formed our civil establishments before Baji Rav's adherents were sufficiently depressed to come over to us, has left most of them out of employ. So that there are now two irregular armies the Mahratta one and our own; and three civil establishments Nana Fadnavi's, Baji Rev's, and ours within this one territory.

REVENUE.

        The principle I adopted for the civil administration being to preserve unimpaired the practice which found established, this part of my report ought to consist entirely of an account of the Mahratta system; and although more changes have been introduced than were intended, that will in fact occupy a very considerable portion of the statement which is to follow.

        My information is derived, in a great measure, from the Jamabandi reports of the local officers, on revenue subjects; and on judicial ones, from the answers of the same gentlemen to a series of queries which I circulated about the end of last year. These answers are forwarded, and I beg to recommend them to attention. That of Mr. Chaplin is of particular value. Captain Grant's contains much information, both on the points immediately in question, and on the general character of the people; and those of Mr. Thackeray, Sub-Collector of Rane Benore, have likewise considerable merit. Besides this view of the former practice, I shall point out the changes that have occurred; and as local opinions are always of use, I shall add such suggestions as occur to me on the course to be pursued hereafter; though the want of general knowledge, as well as of experience in the departments to which they refer, may often make them crude or erroneous.

        In whatever point of view we examine the native government in the Deccan, the first and most important feature is, the division into villages or townships. These communities contain in miniature all the materials of a state within themselves, and are almost sufficient to protect their members, if all other governments were withdrawn. Though probably not compatible with a very good form of government, they are an excellent remedy for the imperfections of a bad one; they prevent the bad effects of its negligence and weakness; and even present some barrier against its tyranny and rapacity.

        Each village has a portion of ground attached to it, which is committed to the management of the inhabitants. The boundaries are carefully marked, and jealously guarded. They are divided into fields, the limits of which are exactly known; each field has a name and is kept distinct, even when the cultivation of it has long been abandoned. The villagers are almost entirely cultivators of the ground, with the addition of the few traders and artisans that are required to supply their wants. The head of each village is the Patil, who has under hint an assistant, called a Chaugulla, and a clerk called a Kulkarni. There are, besides, twelve village officers, well known by the name of the Bara Baloti. These are the astrologer, the priest, the carpenter, barber, etc., but the only ones who are concerned in the administration of the government are the Sonar, or Potadar, who is silver-smith and assayer of money, and the Mhar, who, in addition to various other important duties, acts as watchman to the village. Each of these classes consists of one or more individuals, according as their original families have branched out. The Mhars are seldom fewer than four or five, and there are besides, where those tribes are numerous, very frequently several Bhils or Ramoshis, employed also as watchmen, but performing none of the other duties of the Mhar.

        The Patils are the most important functionaries in the villages, end perhaps the most important class in the country. They hold their office by a grant from the Government (generally from that of the Moguls), are entitled by virtue of it to lands and fees, and have various little privileges and distinctions, of which they are as tenacious as of their land. Their office and emoluments are hereditary and saleable with the consent of the Government but are seldom sold, except in cases of extreme necessity, though a partner is sometimes admitted, with a careful reservation of the superiority of the old possessor. Patil is head of the police, and of the administration of justice in his village, but he need only be mentioned here as an officer of revenue. In that capacity he performs on a small scale what Mamlatdar or a collector does on a large; he allots the lands to such cultivators as have no landed property of their own, and fixes the rent which each has to pay he collects the revenue for Government from all the rayats; conducts all its arrangements with them, and exerts himself to promote the cultivation and the prosperity of the village. Though originally the age of the Government, he is now regarded as equally the representative of the rayats, and is not less useful executing the orders of the Government than asserting the rights, or at least in making known the wrongs, of the people.

        The Kulkarni keeps the numerous records and accounts of the village. The most important are: 1st, the general measurement and description of all the village lands; 2nd, the list of fields with the name, size, and quality of each, the terms by which it is held, the name of the tenant, the rent for which he has agreed, and the highest rent ever produced by the field; 3rd, the list of all the inhabitants, whether cultivators or otherwise, with a statement of the dues from each to Government, and the receipt and balance in the account of each; 4th, the general statement of the instalments of revenue which have been realized; and, 5th, the detailed account where each branch of revenue is shown under a different head, with the receipts and balance on each. Besides the public records, he generally keeps the accounts of all the cultivators with each other, and with their creditors; acts as a notary public in drawing up all their agreements; and even conducts any private correspondence they may have to carry on. He has lands, but oftener fees allotted to him by Government, from which he hold his appointment.

        The Chaugulla acts under the orders of the Patil, and assists him in his duties; he also has the care of the Kulkarnis' records.

        The most important revenue duty of the Mhar is to watch over the boundaries, both of the village lands and of each individual's field; to see that they are not encroached on, to give evidence in cases where they are disputed; he watches over crops, whether cut or growing, as long as they are in the fields. He is also the public messenger and guide, and will be mentioned again as a most important actor in the police.

        The Potadar, besides being the village silver-smith, assays all money paid, either to Government or to individuals.

        With the few exceptions already mentioned, all the villagers are cultivators; and these, as there are few labourers, are distinguished by their tenures into two classes, that of Mirasis or landed proprietors, and that of Upris, or farmers.

        As I was particularly directed to attend to the tenures of land, I have called on the collectors to furnish the requisite information; only two answers have been received, but the enclosed Extracts, No. 7, from letters written on other subjects, sufficiently elucidate this question. They are, perhaps, the more to be depended on, because all of them, except Captain Grant's and Captain Briggs's second letter, were written before any question had been put, that could influence the writers; and that they are not produced by any speculations, but forced on the collectors, by the course of their ordinary business. The deeds of sale enclosed in Captain Robertson's letter of March 9th, throw a clear light on the manner in which the Mirasi tenure was regarded by the people and by the Government. The result of those reports, and of my own inquiries is, that a large portion of the Rayats are the proprietors of their estates, subject to the payment of a fixed land-tax to Government; that their property is hereditary and saleable, and they are never dispossessed while they pay their tax, and even then, they have for a long period (at least thirty years) the right of reclaiming their estate, on paying the dues of Government. Their land-tax is fixed; but the late Mahratta Government loaded it with other impositions, which reduced that advantage to a mere name; yet so far, however, was this from destroying the value of their estates, that, although the Government took advantage of their attachment to make them pay considerably more than an Upri, and though all the Mirasdars were, in ordinary cases, obliged to make up for failures in the payment of each of their body, yet their lands were saleable, and generally at ten years' purchase. This fact might lead us to suppose, that even with all the exactions of the late Mahratta Government, the share of the Rayat must have amounted to more than half the produce of the land; but experience shows that men will keep their estates, even after becoming a losing concern, until they are obliged to part with them from absolute want, or until oppression has lasted so long, that the advantages of proprietorship in better times have been forgotten. The Mirasdars are, perhaps, more numerous then the Upris all over the Mahratta country. In the Karnatik, I am informed by Mr. Chaplin that they do not exist at all. Besides Mirasdar, they are called Thalkari about Puna.

        An opinion prevails throughout the Mahratta country, that under the old Hindu Government all the land was held by Mirasis; and that the Upris were introduced as the old proprietors sank under the tyranny of the Mohammedans. This opinion is supported by the fact that the greater part of the fields, now cultivated by Upris, are recorded in the village books as belonging to absent proprietors; and affords, when combined with circumstances observed in other parts of the peninsula, and with the light land-tax authorized by Manu, a strong presumption that the revenue system under the Hindus (if they had a uniform system) was founded on private property in the soil.

        All the land which does not belong to the Mirasis belongs to the Government, or those to whom Government has assigned it. The property of the Zamindars in the soil has not been introduced, or even heard of, in the Mahratta country.

        The cultivated land belonging to Government, except some parts which it keeps in its own hands, to be managed by the Mamlatdars, was always let out to Upris, who had a lease, with the expiration of which their claim and duties expired.

        These are all the tenures on which land was held, as far as regards the property of the soil. The assignments by Government of its own revenue, or share of the produce, will be mentioned hereafter. It need only be observed, that in making these grants it could not transfer the share of a Mirasdar. Even Baji Rav, when he had occasion for Mirasi land, paid the price of it.

        Such are the component parts of a village: its transactions with Government will be explained hereafter, but there are some of its internal affairs still to be mentioned. The maintenance of the village temple; its fixed and authorized pensions, and annual charities; its ceremonies and religious festivals; its alms to beggars and entertainments to guests, especially to Brahmins and Fakirs; its occasional amusements, tumblers, dancers, etc.; its nazars to superiors; its offerings to the Patil and other village officers on occasions of condolence or congratulation; the expenses of the Patil on the public affairs, and the fees of peons stationed in the village, entail a number of expenses on the community, which, unless allowed for from the Government revenue (which is very rare), are defrayed by a tax on the village. This tax falls on the cultivators, especially on the Mirasdar, and is a great source of profit to the Patils and Kulkarnis. In general these expenses were in the proportion of one-tenth, or from that to one-fifth, to the public revenue. The three first charges were called Salabad, or permanent, and were provided for by permanent assessments; and the rest Saudir Warrid, or contingent, which were paid by extra assessments called Saudir Warrid Patti; these last were always liable to a scrutiny by the Mamlatdars, who probably perceived that all expensive charges against the Rayats would in time fall on the Government. In addition to these, were occasional expenses, such as repairs of the village walls, the necessity of entertaining Sibandies for defence, or of paying an enemy or an insurgent for forbearance, which it was beyond the means of the village to defray at once. In this case the village contracted a public debt, which was gradually paid by an annual assessment included in the Saudir Warrid Patti, and sometimes provided for by mortgages, or grants of land on the part of the villagers. These grants were called Gaum Nishut Inams; if they were so small as to be admitted, or be likely to be admitted by the Government, no rent was charged on them; but if they were too large to be agreed to, or to escape observation, the revenue was paid by all the other Rayats, the creditor still enjoying them rent free; small grants were also made for temples, or to Brahmins, which were always acquiesced in by the Government, but the villagers have never pretended to any property in the soil, beyond the estates of the Mirasdars.

        The next division is a Taraf, composed of an indefinite number of villages, with perhaps an addition of uninhabited mountain and forest land (there being no other land not included in some village). A Taraf is under no particular officers; several of them make a Pargana, which is under a Deshmukhi or Zamindar, who performs the same functions towards the Pargana as a Patil towards the village. He is assisted by a Despande, who answers to the Kulkarni, and a Deschaugulla. The Deshmukh and Deschaugulla, like the Patil and Chaugulla, are Mahrattas. The Despande and Kulkarni are Brahmins: above these officers there appear to have formerly been Sar Deshmukhis and Sar Despandes; but this order of things is not remembered, though there is still one family of the ancient Sar Deshmukhis extant, beside the Rajah of Satara, who extorted the office of Sar Deshmukhi from the Mogul, as a pretext for some exaction from the country. The only Sar Despandes I have heard of are in the Konkan. There is also an officer called Sar Kanungo in Khandesh, whose office probably corresponds with that of Sar Despande. There are other officers still in existence in some places, such as the Sar Patil, the Nargund, etc., whose present functions are too unimportant to promise any advantage from an investigation of their ancient condition. It is universally believed in the Mahratta country, that the Deshmukhis, Despandes, etc., were all officers appointed by some former Government; and it seems probable that they were the revenue officers of the Hindu Government; that these officers, being hereditary, like most others under the Hindus, they were in possession of too much knowledge and influence to be dispossessed by the Mohammedans, who, though they appointed district officers, availed themselves of the experience of the Zamindars, and allowed them to settle with the Patils, explaining their proceedings to the more immediate officer of Government. They even often farmed out the whole Pargana to the Deshmukhis, who by this means acquired so much authority in some parts of the country as to be able, on the decline of the Mohammedan kingdoms in the Deccan, to maintain themselves, for a time, in independence. The Mahratta, or rather the Brahmin Government, was led by this conduct, and by their embezzlements of the public revenue, almost to set aside the employment of the Zamindars, transacting all business directly with the Patils, by means of its own officers. This change, though probably produced by the policy and avarice of the Brahmins, is considered to have been attended with beneficial effects, as delivering the people from the oppressions and exactions of the Zamindars.

        Long after the Zamindars ceased to be the principal agents, they were still made use of as a check on the Mamlatdars, and no accounts were passed, unless corroborated by corresponding accounts from them; but even this practice has been disused since the farming system, except in the distant provinces of Gujarat and the Karnatik.

        These officers still hold the lands and fees that were originally assigned them as wages, and are still considered as servants of the Government; but the only duty they perform is to produce their old records when required, to settle disputes about land by a reference to those records, and to keep a register of all new grants and transfers of property either by the Government or by individuals. This register must, however, be very incomplete, as no man is obliged to record his deed unless he chooses. The Deshmukhi's profits are very great; generally, I am told, above five per cent., not only on the revenue but on the land. Five acres in each hundred, for example, will belong to the Deshmukhi, and a twentieth of the collections besides; he has also various claims in kind, as a pair of shoes every year from each shoemaker, a portion of ghee from those who make that preparation, etc., etc.

        The Deshmukhi of Falton has even twenty-five per cent., but having been for centuries Jahagirdar of his own Pargana, he has probably transferred a great deal from the Government account to his own. The allowances of the Despande are about half those of the Deshmukhi. The allowances of the Patil and Kulkarni are exactly of the same nature, but much smaller. All these fees are levied by the owners, distinct from the Government revenue. Deshmukhis and Despandes, as well as Patils and Kulkarnis, sell their own land and fees (or Wattan, as both are called), but neither pretends to any property in the rest of the lands. It seems to be thought that they cannot even sell their offices (though Patils and Kulkarnis can), and it is even doubtful if they can sell their fees, though they may pawn them. Their land they can certainly sell.

        A number of Parganas formerly composed a Sircar, but this division is now completely disused; and that into Parganas and Tarafs, though still kept up in records, is not always the real revenue division. To explain this completely would lead me into the complicated system of the Mahrattas, which is the less necessary, as that system is now, as far as possible, laid aside. An idea of the divisions to which it leads, and which vary in different places, may be derived from the following account of one of the simplest cases.

        The first pretension of Sivaji was to levy from the Rayats, as Sar Deshmukhi, ten rupees for every hundred levied by the Government. This was afterwards followed by a demand of a fourth of the Government collections, which at length was yielded by the Moguls. The fourth thus acquired, is called by the Mahrattas the Chouth; it was immediately divided by the Prince with his Ministers and Sardars. A fourth of it was at first reserved for the Rajah, and collected by the Prati Nidhi, the Peshwa, and the Pant Sachiv, under the name of Baabti. Six per cent. on the whole Chouth, before the deduction of the Baabti, was given under the name of Sahotra to the Pant Sachiv. The remainder of the Chouth, under the name of Mokassa, was partitioned among the Sardars, on condition of maintaining troops, of bearing certain expenses, and of paying a certain portion of money to the treasury. The Sar Deshmukhi shared the same fate, and from these funds some Inams were also granted, and some charities defrayed.

        Subsequently to the acquisition of the Chouth, the remaining three-fourths of the country (which is called Jahagir, in contradistinction to the Chouth) fell also into the hands of the Mahrattas. The division then stood as follows:

                                           Subdivisions of Chouth

                                          Subdivisions of Mokassa

        This gives but an imperfect idea of the numerous subdivisions which have been made in most parts of the country. Some were assigned to Jahagirdars, and their separation from the bulk of the revenue was thus necessarily perpetuated; but even where they all fell into the hands of the Government, it still kept them up in name, and sometimes even in practice. Thus one man would sometimes collect the Sar Deshmukhi, another the Jahagir dues, a third the Mokassa, a fourth the Baabti, and a fifth the Sahotra, on the same village. In this case the holder of the Jahagir would settle the sure to be paid by the village, the Mokassadar would send and collect his share from the Rayats; but the other claimants would allow the holder of the Jahagir to collect the rest, and pay to each his share, the amount of which each would ascertain front the village accounts. But when there was a defalcation each endeavoured to collect his own and throw the loss on his neighbour, and a general struggle ensued, in which the Rayats were sure to suffer front the violence of the combatants. In addition to this distribution of the revenue, various causes broke up the Parganas, and made the Mahratta revenue divisions exceedingly scattered and intermixed.

        Their gradations of authority departed as far from the uniformity of the Mohammedans, as their divisions of the territory. In general each revenue division was under an officer, who in a large district was called Mamlatdar, and in a small on Kamavisdar; under these Tarafdars or Karkuns, who had charge of a considerable number of villages, and under them Shekdars, who had four or five. The nomination of the Mamlatdars rested with Government that of the inferior agents with the Mamlatdar. Then were, however, in every division permanent officer called Darakdars, appointed by Government, and generally hereditary, whose signature was necessary to all papers, and who were bound to give information or all malpractices of the Mamlatdars. These officer were the Divan, who was the deputy to the Mamlatdar the Fadnavis, or keeper of registers, the Potanavis, or cash accountant, etc.

        In some provinces, especially in remote ones, such as Khandesh, Gujarat and the Karnatk, there was an officer between the Mamlatdars and the Government, who was called Sar Subhedar; his powers and duties varied. In the Karnatik he was answerable for the revenue, and appointed his own Mamlatdars, but in Khandesh he had only a general superintendence, every Mamlatdar giving in his own accounts, and making his payments direct to Government. The allowances of these officers were not very clearly fixed; before the introduction of the farming system, a considerable Mamlatdar had 5,000 or 6,000 rupees a year, generally about one per cent on the revenue, besides an undefined allowance for his expenses. He also made large unauthorized profits, often with the connivance of Government. He was reckoned reasonable if his whole profits did not exceed five per cent on the net revenue.

        Every Mamlatdar on his appointment, or at the commencement of the year, received from Government an estimate of the revenue of his district, with list of all the authorized charges, including Sibandis, pensions, religious expenses, salaries, etc., etc. It was his duty to send in the balance to Government, and a proportion of it, generally half, was paid immediately; the rest was paid by instalments, but always in advance. The Mamlatdar then proceeded to his district, and moved about to superintend his offices, and to redress grievances; he kept a Vakil at Puna to receive all orders, and answer all complaints. Complaints are said to have been readily heard; but as all was done by the Prince or his Prime Minister, that must have depended on their leisure and patience. At the end of the year the Mamlatdar presented his accounts of the collections, confirmed by the accounts signed by the Zamindars, and the receipts and expenditure in his own office, drawn up by the Fadnavis, and signed by the other Darakdars. These were carefully revised, and, as from the mode of payment in advance there was generally a balance in favour of the Mamlatdar, all unauthorized charges were struck out of it, and often reductions were made on account of supposed embezzlements, without much proof or investigation. The admitted balance was carried on in account from year to year, was sometimes compromised by partial payments, by grants of annuities, etc., but was seldom fully paid. On the other hand, all balances due to the Government were exacted, though the Mamlatdar was not bound to pay the sum inserted in his estimate if the receipts fell short of it. If the defalcation was: owing to corruption on his part, he was obliged to refund; and if to his negligence, he was removed from his office. Though, in this adjustment of accounts, all advantages appear to be on the side of the Government yet the Mamlatdars do not appear to have complained or to have suffered much in reality. They had probably many ways of making money, which eluded the utmost researches of the Government, especially as they could generally find means to engage the Zamindars and Darakdars on their side. The sources of their profit were concealment of receipts (especially fees, fines, and other undefined collections), false charges for remissions, false musters, non-payment of pensions, and other frauds in expenditure.

        The grand source of their profit was an extra assessment above the revenue, which was called Saudir Warrid Patti. It was levied to pay expenses of the district not provided for by Government, and naturally; afforded a great field for peculation; one of the chief of these expenses was called Darbar Kharch, or Antasth. This was originally applied secretly to bribe the Ministers and auditors. By degrees their bribes became established fees, and the account was audited like the rest; but as bribes were still required, another increase of collection took place for this purpose, and as the auditors and accountants did not search minutely into these delicate transactions, the Mamlatdar generally collected much more for himself than he did for his patrons. It was said that it was chiefly the Government that suffered by these frauds, and that the imposts did not fall heavy on the Rayats. If this were so, it was probably owing to the interest the Mamlatdars had in the prosperity of their districts, from the long periods for which they were allowed to hold them. Many men held the same district for as long as fifty years.

        The following was the manner in which the Mamlatdar raised the revenue from his district. At the beginning of the rains he sent for the Patil, and gave him a general assurance that he should take no more than was usual; the Patil giving a written engagement, specifying the quantity of cultivated land, the quantity of waste, and that granted at a just rent to new settlers, and promising to realize the revenue. He then went to his village, encouraged the Rayats to cultivate, procured them loans, or forbearance from former creditors, promised to get them Takavi (or advances from the Mamlatdar), and prevailed on them to undertake the ploughing of new lands. Takavi was given by the Mamlatdar, not by the Government; it was payable in two or three years with interest, and security was given by the Patil, or several of the Rayats.

        About the end of one year, when the principal harvest was nearly ready to be cut, the Mamlatdar moved out into his district, and was attended by the Patils of villages, with their Kulkarnis, who laid before him the papers already enumerated. The whole country has been surveyed, and each field classed and assessed according to its circumstances and quality. The northern districts were surveyed by Mallik Umbar, and the southern by the Adil Shahi Kings, besides partial and imperfect attempts at surveys by the Mahrattas. The assessment fixed by those monarchs is called the Tankha. The whole amount thus assessed was never actually realized in some villages, while in others a greater revenue may have been collected. This gave rise to another rate, being the highest ever paid, which is called the Kamil or Hemaul, and which is considered more applicable to practical purposes than the Tankha; that of the last year, or of any recent year, is called the Wasul or Akar. All these rates are contained in the Kulkarni's papers, with the other particulars mentioned before, which ought to give a full view of the state of the inhabitants and cultivation. The Mamlatdar was enabled, by the intimate knowledge of the village possessed by his Shekdars, to judge of the accuracy of these statements, and he proceeded to settle the revenue of the ensuing season, on a consideration of the amount paid in former years, combined with a regard to the actual state of things. The Patil represented any ground there was for relaxation, in the terms in which he expected the support of the Deshmukhi and Despande; all hereditary officers being considered as connected with the Rayats. The Patil was likewise accompanied by some of the principal Rayats, especially of the Mirasdars, who were witnesses to his proceedings, and who also assisted him with their opinions. These discussions generally vended in a second more particular agreement, on which the Patil interchanged with the Mamlatdar an engagement fixing the revenue; that of the Mamlatdar was called the Jamabandi Pati, and that of the Patil, Kabul Katba. The Patils had generally settled with the Rayats the share which each was to bear before he came to make the settlements, and if anything unexpected was proposed, so as to derange the distribution agreed on, he returned to his village to consult the Rayats anew. When the Patil continued obstinately to reject the terms offered by the Mamlatdar, a special officer was sent to the spot to examine the fields, and if no other means succeeded in effecting an adjustment, the Mamlatdar would offer what seems to have been the original principle in all settlements, namely, for Government to take half, and leave half to the cultivator. This plan was termed Bhattye. It is generally adopted in the Konkan, but seldom resorted to above the Ghats, until the final settlement was made; the crops in many parts of the country were kept in charge of Havildars on behalf of Government, who allowed them to be carried off as soon as the settlement was completed. In the country immediately round Puna, however, and in that now uncles Satara, this custom was not observed.

        When the time for paying arrived, a Sibandi was sent by the Shekdar to assist the Patil. The Mhar summoned the Rayats, who paid their rent to the Patil in the presence of the Potadar, who assayed and stamped the money, and of the Kulkarni, who granted a receipt. When all was collected the Patil sent it by the Mhar, with a letter to the Deshmukhi, and another to the Kamavisdar, under charge of the Chaugulla, and received a receipt from the Mamlatdar. If a Rayat refused, or was unable to pay his revenue, the Sibandi pressed him for it, confined him in the village chouki, exposed him to the sun, put a heavy stone on his head, and prevented his eating and drinking until he paid. If this did not succeed, he was carried to the Mamlatdar, his cattle were sold, and himself thrown into prison, or into irons. This rigorous treatment was seldom necessary for the regular revenue; it was more employed in exacting extraordinary taxes, and under the farming system the practice of it years frequent and severe. If a whole village resisted, these severities fell on the Patil; but previous to that extremity a horse man was billeted on the village, or a fine levied to induce it to submit. The payments were by three instalments, corresponding with the seasons of Rabi, Tusar, and Kharif crops; there was frequent another at the end of the year, to recover all out standing balances.

        The above relates to the regular rent or tax on the land, for it may be considered as rent with regard to the Upris, and as a tax with regard to the Mirasdars (it is called by the natives, Ayin Jama, or proper collections). Another regular source of revenue, levied partly on the Rayats and partly on the other inhabitants, is that termed by, the Mahrattas, Savai Jama (or extra collections); these taxes vary considerably in different districts, and even in different villages. The following list, though not complete, gives an idea of their nature. The first fall chiefly or entirely on the cultivators, Dakab Pati: a tax of one year's revenue in ten, on the lands of the Deshmukhi and Despande; Hak Chouthai, a fourth of the fees, levied every year; Mhar Mharki a particular tax, on the Inams of the Mhars; Miras Pati, an additional tax, once in three years on Mirasdars: Inam Fijavi, a payment of Inamdars of a third of the Government share of their lands yearly; Inam Pati, an occasional tax, imposed in times of exigency on Inamdars; Pandi Gunna, an additional levy, equal to twelve per cent. on the Tankha, once in twelve years; Vir Hunda, an extra tax on lands watered from wells. Other taxes were on traders alone. These were Mohterfa, a tax on shop-keepers, varying with their means: in fact, an income-tax; Baloti, a tax on the twelve village servants. These, too, are sometimes included in the Ayin Jama, and in some places the Mohterfa forms a distinct head by itself; Bazar Baithak, a tax on stalls at fairs; Kumbhar Kam, on the earth dug up by the potters. The following might fall indiscriminately on both classes; Ghar Pati, or Amber Sari, a house-tax levied from all but Brahmins and village officers. Batchappani, a fee on the annual examination of weights and measures; Tag, a similar fee on examining the scales used for bulky articles; Dekka, or the right to beat a drum on particular religious and other occasions; Kheridi Jins (or purveyance), the right to purchase articles at a certain rate; this was generally commuted for a money payment: Lagna Tikka, a tax on marriages: Paut Dauma, a particular tax on the marriage of widows: Mahis Pati, a tax on buffaloes: Bakre Pati, a tax on sheep. There were also occasional contributions in kind, called Fur Furmanesh, such as bullocks' hides, charcoal, hemp, rope, ghee, etc., which were often commuted for fixed money payments; many other sums were paid in commutation for service. All these collections were made by the Patil in small villages, though in towns there was a separate officer to levy those most connected with the land. Government had other sources of revenue included in the Savai Jama in each village, besides those enumerated. The principal were as follows: Khamawis, Gunehgari, or Kund Furshi, as fines and forfeitures; Baitul Mal (Escheats) amount (profit from deposits and temporary sequestrations); Wancharai, paid by cattle grazing on Government lands; Ghas Kattani, or grass cut on Government lands; Devasthan Dubhi, derived from offerings to idols; Kharbuzwarri, on melon-gardens on the beds; of rivers. Besides all this, and besides the Guam Kharch, or village expenses, there were taxes to defray the Mehel Saudir Warrid, district expenses not already provided for by Government, in which were included many personal expenses of the Mamlatdars, and a large fund for embezzlement and corruption for himself and the courtiers who befriended him.

        In addition to all these exactions, there were occasional impositions on extraordinary emergencies; which were called Jasti Pati, and Yeksali Pati. If these happened to be continued for several years they ceased to be considered as occasional impositions, and fell into the regular Savai Jama; but until the introduction of the farming system, they are said to have been as rare as the occasions which furnished the pretext for them.

        The changes introduced by that system may be described without much difficulty. They were in fact rather aggravations of the evils of the ancient system, than any complete innovations. The office of Mamlatdar, instead of being conferred as a favour on a person of experience and probity, who could be punished by removal if his conduct did not give satisfaction, was put up to auction among the Peshwa's attendants, who were encouraged to bid high, and sometimes disgraced if they showed a reluctance to enter on this sort of speculation. Next year the same operation was renewed, and the district was generally transferred to a higher bidder. The Mamlatdar, thus constituted, had no time for inquiry, and no motive for forbearance; he let his district out at an enhanced rate to underfarmers, who repeated the operation until it reached the Patils: If one of these officers farmed his own village, he became absolute master of everyone in it. No complaints were listened to, and the Mamlatdar, who was formerly a check on the Patil, as the Government was on the Mamlatdar, now afforded him an excuse for tyranny of bearing the blame of his exactions. If the Patil refused to farm the village at the rate proposed, the case was perhaps worse, as the Mamlatdar's own officers undertook to levy the sum determined on, with less knowledge and less mercy than the Patil; in either case, the actual state of the cultivation was in essentials entirely disregarded. A man's means of payment, not the land he occupied, were the scale on which he was assessed. No moderation was shown in levying the sum fixed, and every pretext for fine and forfeiture, every means of rigour and confiscation, were employed to squeeze the utmost out of the people before the arrival of the day when the Mamlatdar was to give up his charge: amidst all this violence a regular account was prepared, as if the settlement had been made in the most deliberate manner. This account was of course fictitious, and the collections were always underrated, as it enabled the Patil to impose on the next Mamlatdar, and the Mamlatdar to deceive the Government and his fellows. The next Mamlatdar pretended to be deceived; he agreed to the most moderate terms, and gave every encouragement except Takkavi (advances) to increase the cultivation; but when the crops were on the ground, or when the end of his period drew near, he threw off the mask, and plundered like his predecessor. In consequence of this plan, the assessment of the land, being proposed early in the season, would be made with some reference to former practice, and Saudis Warrid and other Patis would accumulate, until the time when the Mamlatdar came to make up his accounts. It was then that his exactions were severely felt; for he had a fixed sum to complete if the collections fell short of it, he portioned out balance among the exhausted villages, impose a Jasti (Zedati) Pati, or extra assessment, to it and pay it, and the Patils to extort it on whatever pretence and by whatever means they thought proper. We are suffering from this system, for as we have no accounts, and are afraid to over-assess, we are obliged to be content with whatever the people agree to. Captain Briggs's collections in Khandesh though willingly acceded to by the Rayats, are yet much heavier than any that appear in the accounts during the years of oppression that have depopulated Khandesh. Some places, no doubt, escaped the oppressions of farming system. There a village belonged to a man of influence, or a favourite of such a man the assessment fell light on him, and he gained by the emigration of Rayats, occasioned by the misfortunes of his new neighbours. 

        The above sources of revenue were collected by the village establishment; the following were in the hands of distinct officers directly under the Government:

     Zakat, or Customs. This was a transit duty levied by the bullock load; but the rate varied in proportion to the value of the article; the highest was eight rupees. It was levied separately in every district, so that property was frequently liable to be stopped and searched. To remedy this inconvenience, there was a class called Hundekaris in towns, who undertook for a single payment to pass articles through the whole country. These men arranged with the farmers of the customs, and were answerable to them for the sums due. In addition to the transit duty, there was a tax of 12 per cent. on the sale of animals included in the Zakat.

    2. The Government lands were another source of revenue not included in the villages; they were divided into Shairi (cultivated fields); Kurans (grass lands); Bag (gardens); and Ambrai (orchards).

    3. The Sheep-pastures. This was a tax paid by the Khillarries, or wandering shepherds, for the right to feed their docks on all waste lands, from the Tapti to the Tungbhadra.

    4. Ranwa. A fee paid for leave to cut wood in the forests belonging to Government.

    5. Kotvali. This may be called town duties; it comprised, besides the taxes included in Savai Jama, a variety of other imposts, among which the cost considerable was a tax of 17 per cent. on the sale of houses.

    6. Tanksal: The mint.

    7. Watan Zabti. Produce of lands belonging to Zamindars, sequestrated by Government.

    Nazar. Fines, or fees paid on succession to property. If a son succeeded his father he was not liable to this payment, unless he were a Jahagirdar, or other servant of Government. But in cases of adoption (that is, in almost all cases except where a son succeeded) it was exacted from all persons.

        The first six articles were always, or almost always, farmed; the rest were not. The Zakat, before the cession of Puna, produced, about five lass of rupees, the sheep-pastures about 2,000 rupees, the mint at Puna yielded 10,000 rupees; the others were confounded with the general receipts of the districts where they were situated. The Watan Zabti yielded 50,000 rupees. The amount of the Nazars was too fluctuating to be guessed at.

        The Kotwalset in Nana Fadnavi's time yielded 50,000 rupees, of which a great part was produce by money extorted from persons guilty or suspected of adultery. Baji Rav, much to his honour, abolished this pretext for extortion, but his lenity was far from being approved by the better part of his subjects other articles were trifling. Abkarri, which is important with us, did not yield above 10,000 rupees. The use of spirituous liquors was forbidden at Puna, discouraged everywhere else; the effect of this system on the sobriety of the people is very conspicuous.

        The outline of the revenue system adopted since acquisition of the country is contained in my letter dated July 10th, conveying instructions to collectors, and in that dated July 14 enclosing instructions for Mamlatdars. The leading principles are to abolish fanning, but otherwise to maintain the native system; to levy the revenue according to the actual cultivation; to make the assessments light; to impose no new taxes, and to do none away unless obvious and unjust; and, above all, to make no innovations. Many innovations were, however the result of the introduction of foreign rulers and foreign maxims of government; but in the revenue department most of them were beneficial. The country which had been under many Mamlatdars, with very unequal extent of territory and power, was place under five principal officers (I include Satara), with much superior weight and respectability. The chief authority now resided in the district, and devoted his whole time to its affairs, and all subordinate agent were obliged to follow his example. The straggling revenue divisions of the Mahrattas were formed into compact districts, each yielding from 50 to 70,000 rupees a year, and placed under a Mamlatdar. The numerous partitions of revenue (Chouth, Babti, etc.) being thrown into the hands of one agent were virtually abolished. The assessments were much lighter than formerly, and much more uniform and clearly defined. The powers of the Mamlatdar were limited, and the system of fixed pay and no perquisites was decidedly introduced in principle, though of course it may be still secretly departed from in practice. The improvements in the administration of the revenue department are greater than in the rulers. Faith is kept with the Rayat, more liberal assistance is given him in advance, he is not harassed by false accusations as pretexts to extort money, and his complaints find a readier hearing and redress. Some of our alterations are less agreeable to all, or to particular classes. We have more forms and more strictness than our predecessors; the power of the Patil is weakened by the greater interference of our Mamlatdars. His emoluments are injured by our reductions of the Saudir Warrid; and even the Rayats, who were taxed for his profit, are made to feel the want of some of their charities and amusements, while they confound the consequent reductions of their payments with the general diminution in the assessment. The character of our Mamlatdars is not entirely what we could wish; as the country was occupied before the Peshwa's cause was desperate, few of his adherents would venture to join us, and we were obliged to employ such persons as we could procure, without much regard to their merit. In Puna and Satara the Mamlatdars are, nevertheless, respectable servants of the old Government; I have more doubts regarding those in Khandesh, being chiefly either from the Nizam's country (which is notorious for bad government) or from Hindustan. I have strongly recommended to all the collectors to take every opportunity to introduce servants of the former Government, but much time must elapse before this can be entirely accomplished. An important change is made by the introduction of some men from the Madras provinces though very anxious to employ the revenue officer; the Mahratta Government in general, I thought it desirable to have a very few of our oldest subjects, as well from general policy in a new conquest, as to introduce some models of system and regularity. As each collector was to have two principal officers to check each other, I thought it would contribute to that object and answer other ends to have one of them from the Madras provinces. General Munro was also obliged to bring a very great proportion of persons of this description into the country under his charge. They are more active, more obedient to orders, more exact and methodical than the Mahrattas, but they introduce forms of respect for their immediate superiors quite unknown here, while they show much less consideration for the great men of the country, and are more rough, harsh, and insolent in their general demeanour. It might be worth while to consider how much of the characteristics they owe to us, and how much to the Mussulmans.

        The duties of the Mamlatdars are to superintend the collection of the revenue, to manage the police to receive civil and criminal complaints, referring the former to Panchayats, and sending up the latter to the collector. They have a Sirashtedar, who keeps their records, an accountant, and some other assistants. The of a Mamlatdar is from 70 to 150 rupees a month and that of a Sirashtedar from 35 to 50. The systems adopted by all the collectors were founded on the Mahratta practice, though varying from it and from each other in some particulars. The foundation for the assessment in all this was the amount paid by each village in times when the people considered themselves to have been well governed. Deductions were made from this in proportion to the diminution of the cultivation, and afterwards further allowances were made on any specific grounds alleged by the Rayats. The amount to be paid was partitioned among the Rayats by the village officers, and if all were satisfied, Patas were given, and the settlement was ended.

        All the collectors abolished Jasti Patis (or arbitrary taxes having no reference to the land or trade), and all regulated the Saudis Warrid, doing away all exactions on that account, more than were necessary for the village expenses. Captain Briggs even abolished the Saudis Warrid Pati altogether, and defrayed the village expenses from the Government revenue limiting the amount to 4 per cent. on the gross Jama. The expediency of this arrangement is, however, doubtful both as to the close restriction of the expense and the laying it on Government; all paid great attention to the circumstances of the Rayats, and made their assessment studiously light. There were, however, some points of difference in their proceedings. Mr. Chaplin and Captain Grant contented themselves with ascertaining the extent of the land under cultivation, by the information of neighbours, and of rival village officers, aided by the observation of their own servants. Captain Pottinger and Captain Robertson had the lands of some villages measured, but only in cases where they suspected frauds; and Captain Briggs began by a measurement of the whole cultivation either of Gangtari alone or of both that and Khandesh. All the collectors kept up the principle of the Rayatwari settlement, and some carried it to a greater extent than had been usual with the Mahrattas. Mr. Chaplin and Captain Pottinger, after settling with the Patil for the whole village, settled with each Rayat, and gave him a Pata for his field. Captain Grant and Captain Robertson settled with the Patil and gave him a Pata, but first ascertained the amount assessed on each Rayat, and inquired if he was satisfied with it; and Captain Briggs, though he settled for each field, did it all with the Patil, taking an engagement from him to explain at the end of the year how much he had levied on each Rayat.

        This refers to the settlement with the villages. The customs have been farmed on account of the difficulty of preparing a tariff, and of superintending the introduction of a new system, while the collectors were so fully occupied in other matters. No complaints are made, from which it may be inferred that the present system, if not profitable to Government, is not oppressive to the people. The exemptions of our camp dealers have been done away, the original motive them (to prevent disputes between our people and the Peshwa's) being no longer in force. The exemptions made no difference in the price of articles to the troops though it afforded a pretence for great frauds in the customs. The only good effect it had was to attach dealers to the camp bazaars; but the exemption from taxes while in cantonments, and from the customs also when on service, may be expected to be sufficient to retain them.

        The sheep-pastures are still a distinct farm, but the arrangement is so inconvenient, from the want of authority in the hands of collectors over shepherds entering their districts, that I propose to alter it.

        None of the taxes called Kotwali are now levied, they having either been done away or suspended by Baji Rav. If they should prove only to be suspended, the unexceptionable ones ought, if possible, to be restored.

        The Abkari I would recommend keeping in its present low state, by prohibitions or by very heavy taxes.

        The mint is still farmed, but this should be changed as soon as a system regarding the coinage has been resolved on.

        The other taxes require no particular remark. The tax on adoptions ought to be kept up as one that is little felt, and is attended with advantages in recording successions.

POLICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

        The Mahratta system of police is that common in the Deccan, which has already been too fully described to require a minute account.

        The Patil is responsible for the police of his village. He is aided by his Kulkarni and Chaugulla, and when the occasion requires it, by all the inhabitants. His great and responsible assistant in matters of police is the village watchman, who is called the Talarri in the Karnatik, the Mhar in the Mahratta country, and the Jagla in Khandesh; in the first-named district he is by caste a Beder, in the second a Dher, and in the third a Bhil. Though there is only an allowance for one watchman in a village, the family has generally branched out into several numbers, who relieve and aid each other in their duties. The duties are to keep watch at night, to find out all arrivals and departures, observe all strangers, and report all suspicious persons to the Patil. The watchman is likewise bound to know the character of each man in the village, and in the event of a theft committed within the village bounds, it is his business to detect the thief. He is enabled to do this by his early habits of inquisitiveness and observation, as well as by the nature of his allowance, which being partly a small share of the grain and similar property belonging to each house, he is kept always on the watch to ascertain his fees, and always in motion to collect them. When a theft or robbery happens, the watchman commences his inquiries and researches: it is very common for him to track a thief by his footsteps; and if the does this to another village, so as to satisfy the watchman there, or if he otherwise traces the property to an adjoining village, his responsibility ends, and it is the duty of the watchman of the new village to take up the pursuit. The last village to which the thief has been clearly traced becomes answerable for the property stolen, which would otherwise fall on the village where the robbery was committed. The watchman is obliged to make up this amount as far as his means go and the remainder is levied on the whole village. The exaction of this indemnity is evidently unjust, since the village might neither be able to prevent the theft nor cases make up the loss; and it was only in particular cases that it was insisted on to its full extent, but some fine was generally levied; and neglect or connivance, was punished by transferring the Inam of the Patil, or watchman, to his nearest relation, by fine, by imprisonment in irons, or by severe corporeal punishment. This responsibility was necessary; as, besides the usual temptation to neglect, the watchman is often himself a thief, and the Patil disposed to harbour thieves with a view to share their profits. This peculiar temptation in case of theft has made that offence to be most noticed. In other crimes, the village has less interest in connivance, and probably is sufficiently active; but gross negligence in these cases also would have been punished by the Government. I have mentioned that besides the regular village watchmen others were often entertained from the plundering tribes in the neighbourhood. Their business was to assist in repelling open force, and to aid in the apprehension of all offenders, but chiefly to prevent depredations by their own tribes, and to find out the perpetrators when any did occur.

        The Patil was under the same authority as a police officer that he was as a revenue one the Mamlatdar, who employed the same agents in this department as in the other. The Mamlatdar saw that all villagers acted in concert, and with proper activity; and when there was a Sarsubhedar, he kept the same superintendence over the Mamlatdars. These officers lead also considerable establishments to maintain the tranquillity of their districts. These were the Sebandis or irregular infantry, and the small parties of horse which were kept in every district; they were, however, employed to oppose violence, and to support the village police, not to discover offenders. With the Mamlatdar also rested all general arrangements with the chiefs of Bhils or other predatory tribes, either for forbearing from plunder themselves, or for assisting to check it in others. The Mamlatdar had great discretionary powers, and even a Patil would not hesitate to secure a suspected person, or to take any measure that seemed necessary to maintain the police of his village, for which he was answerable.

        This was the plan of the police up to the time of Baji Rav, during the reign of Madhav Rav I., and likewise during the administration of Nana Fadnavis; it is said to have succeeded in preserving great security and order.

        The confusions in the commencement of Baji Rav's reign, the weakness of his own government, the want of employment for adventurers of all kinds and the effects of the famine, greatly deranged the system of police; and to remedy the disorders into which it fell, an office was instituted, under the name of Tapasnavis, the special duty of which was to discover and seize offenders. The Tapasnavises had districts of different extent, not corresponding with the usual revenue divisions, any only comprehending those portions of the country where the services of such officers were thought to be most required. They had a jurisdiction entirely; independent of the Mamlatdars, and had a body of horse and foot which was the principal instrument of their administration. They had also Ramoshis and spies, whom they employed to give information; and on receiving it, they went with a body of horse to the village where the theft happened, and proceeded to seize the Patil and the watchmen, and to demand the thief, or the amount of the property stolen, or the fine which they thought proper to impose, if the offence were any other than theft. The detection of the offender they seem to have left in general to the ordinary village police. It may be supposed that such a violent proceeding, and one so foreign to the ordinary system, could not fail to clash with the former institutions; and accordingly there were constant and loud complaints by the Mamlatdars and villagers, that the Tapasnavises were only active in extorting money under false accusations, and that robbers rather flourished under their protection. The Tapasnavises on the other hand, complained of indifference, connivance, and counteraction on the part of the villager and revenue officers.

        Great abuses, it must be mentioned, are stated to have at all times existed, even under the regular system. Criminals found refuge in one district when chased out of another; some Jahagirdars and Zamindars made a trade of harbouring robbers; and any offender, it is said, could purchase his release, if he had money enough to pay for it. False accusations were likewise made a cloak to exaction from the innocent; and villagers were obliged to pay the amount of plundered property, in the loss of which they had no share, and for which the losers received no compensation. There cannot be a stronger proof of the enormous abuses to which the former police was liable than is furnished by an occurrence in the city of Puna, under the eye of Government, in the days of Nana Fadnavis. There was at that time a Kotwall, called Ghasi Ram, a native of Hindustan, who was much trusted, and rose to great eminence. This man was convicted of having for many years employed the powers of the police in murders and oppressions, which the natives illustrate by stories far beyond belief; his guilt was at length detected, and excited such indignation, that though a Brahmin, it was decided to punish him capitally; he was therefore led through the city on a camel, and then abandoned to the fury of the populace whom this exposure had assembled, and by them stoned to death.

        In Baji Rav's time 9,000 rupees a month was allowed to the officer who had charge of the police at Puna:  from this he had to maintain a very large establishment of peons, some horse patrols, and a considerable number of Ramoshis; besides being answerable for the amount of property plundered, whenever the Peshwa thought proper to call on him. Still his appointment was reckoned lucrative, as the pay of his establishment was very low, and both he and they derived much profit from unavowed exactions. The police, however, was good; on the whole, murders or robberies, attended with violence and alarm, were very rare; and I have never heard any complaints of the insecurity of property.

        Next to the prevention of crimes and the apprehension of criminals, comes the manner in which offences, etc., are tried and punished: in this are involved the authorities competent to try, the forms of trial, and the law by which guilt is defined, and punishment awarded.

        The power of administering criminal justice, under the Mahratta Government, was vested in the revenue officers, and varied with their rank, from the Patil, who could only put a man for a few days in the village choki, to the Sarsubhedar, who in latter clays had the power of life and death. Formerly this power was confined to persons invested with the full powers of Government by being entrusted with the Mutalliki seal, and to great military chiefs in their own armies, or their own Jahagirs.

        The right of inflicting punishment was, however, extremely undefined, and was exercised by each man, more according to his power and influence than to his office. One Patil would flog and fine, and put in the stocks for many weeks; and another would not even venture to imprison. Most Mamlutdars would hang a Ramosi, Bhil, or Mang robber, without a reference; and those at a distance would exercise their power without scruple, while the highest civil officers, if at Puna, would pay the Peshwa the attention of applying for his sanction in a capital case. A Chief was thought to have authority over his own troops and servants, wherever he was. Scindia, while he affected to act under the Peshwa, put many of his Chiefs and Ministers (even Brahmins), who had been accused of plots, to death. At Puna, Appa Desai, in 1813, while completely in the Peshwa's power, blew away one of his Sardars from a gun, for conspiracy against him, and was never questioned, though the execution took place within a mile of Puna.

        There was no prescribed form of trial. A principal rebel, or a head of banditti, would be executed at once, on the ground of notoriety; any Bhil, caught in a part of the country where the Bhils were plundering the road, would be hanged immediately. In doubtful cases the chief authority would order some of the people about him to inquire into the affair. The prisoner was examined, and if suspicions were strong he was flogged to make him confess. Witnesses were examined, and a summary of their evidence and of the statement of the accused were always taken down in writing. They were sometimes confronted with the accused, in the hope of shaming or perplexing the party whose statement was false; but this was by no means necessary to the regularity of the proceedings. The chief authority would generally consult his officers, and perhaps employ a committee of then to conduct an inquiry; but I should doubt whether Panchayats were ever generally employed in criminal trials, though mentioned by Captain Grant to have been so in the Satara country.

        In crimes against the State, the Prince made such inquiries, or directed his Ministers to make such, as seemed requisite for his own safety, and gave such orders regarding the accused as their case seemed to require. Torture was employed to compel confession and disclosure of accomplices.

        Trials of this sort were naturally considered in a despotic Government as above all law; but even in common criminal trials no law seem ever to be referred to, except in cases connected with religion, where Shastris were sometimes consulted. The only rule seems to have been the custom of the country, and the magistrate's notice of expediency. The Hindu law was quite disused, probably owing to its absurdity; and although every man is tolerably acquainted with its rules in civil cases, I do not believe anyone but the very learned has the least notion of its criminal enactments.

        The following, were the customary punishments. Murder, unless attended with peculiar atrocity, appears never to have been capital, and was usually punished by fine. Highway robbery way generally punished with death, because it was generally committed by low people, for a greater distinction way made in the punishment on account of the caste of the criminal than the nature of the crime. A man of tolerable caste was seldom put to death, except for offences against the state. In such cases birth seems to have been no protection. Vitoji, the full brother to Yeshwant Rav Holkar, was trampled to death by an elephant for rebellion, or rather for heading a gang of predatory horse. Sayaji Atole, a dispossessed Jahagirdar, was blown away from a gun for the same offence yet it is well observed by Mr. Chaplin that treason and rebellion were thought less of than with us. This originated in a want of steadiness, not of severity, in the Government. When it suited a temporary convenience an accommodation was made with a rebel, who was immediately restored, not only to safety, but to favour. Balkrishn Gangadhar received a Jahagir for the same insurrection for which Vitoji Holkar was put to death. Viswas Rav Ghatge, who headed a large body of plundering horse and was cut up by the Duke of Wellington at Mankaisur, was treated with much favour by the Peshwa; but Abdulla Khan, a relative of the Nabob of Savanore, who committed the same offence at a subsequent period, was blown away from a gun. The other punishments were hanging, beheading, cutting to pieces with swords, and crushing the head with a mallet. Punishments, though public, were always executed with little ceremony or form. Brahmin prisoners, who could not be executed, were poisoned, or made away with by deleterious food; bread made of equal parts of flour and salt was one of these. Women were never put to death; long confinement, and the cutting off the nose, ears, and breast, were the severest punishments inflicted on them. Mutilation was very common, and the person who had his hand, foot, ears or nose cut off, was turned loose as soon as the sentence was executed and left to his fate. Imprisonment in hill forts and in dungeons was common; and the prisoners, unless they were people of consideration, were always neglected, and sometimes allowed to starve. Prisoners for theft were often whipped at intervals to make them discover where the stolen property was hidden. Hard labour, in building fortifications especially, was not unknown; but, like most ignominious punishments, was confined to the lower orders. Branding with a hot iron was directed by the Hindu law, but I do not know that it was practised. Flogging with a martingale was very common in trifling offences, such as petty thefts, etc. But the commonest of all punishments was fine and confiscation of goods, to which the Mamlutdar was so much prompted by his avarice, that it is often difficult to say whether it was inflicted as the regular punishment, of merely made use of as a pretence for gaining wealth. On the one hand, it seems to have been the Mahratta practice to punish murder, especially if committed by a man of good caste, by fine; but on the other, the Mamlutdars would frequently release Bhil robbers contrary to the established custom, and even allow them to renew their depredations, on the payment of a sum of money. No other punishment, it may be averred, was ever inflicted on a man who could afford to pay a fine; and on the whole, the criminal system of the Mahrattas was in the last state of disorder and corruption.

        Judging from the impunity with which crimes might be committed under, a system of criminal justice and police such as has been described, we should be led to fancy the Mahratta country a complete scene of anarchy and violence. No picture, however could be further from the truth. The reports of the collectors do not represent crimes as particularly numerous. Mr. Chaplin, who has the best opportunity of drawing a comparison with our old provinces, thinks them rather rarer here and there. Murder for revenge, generally arising either from jealousy or disputes about landed property, and as frequently about village rank is mentioned as the commonest crime among the Mahrattas. Arson and cattle-stealing, as a means of revenging wrongs, or extorting justice, is common in the Karnatik. Gang robberies and highway robbery are common, but are almost always committed by Bhils and other predatory tribes, who scarcely form part of the society; and they have never, since I have been in the country, reached to such a pitch as to bear a moment's comparison with the state of Bengal describe in the papers laid before Parliament.

        It is of vast importance to ascertain the causes that counteracted the corruption and relaxation of the police, and which kept this country in a state superior to our oldest possessions, amidst all the abuses and oppressions of a Native Government. The principal causes to which the disorders in Bengal have been attributed are: the over-population, and the consequent degradation and pusillanimity of the people; the general revolutions of property, in consequence of our revenue arrangements, which drove the upper classes to disaffection, and the lower to desperation; the want of employment to the numerous classes, whether military or otherwise, who were maintained by the Native Government; the abolition of the ancient system of police, in which, besides the usual bad effects of a general change, were included the removal of responsibility from the Zamindars; the loss of their natural influence as an instrument of police; the loss of the services of the village watchmen; the loss of a hold over that class which is naturally disposed to plunder, and, in some cases, the necessity to which individuals of it were driven to turn robbers, from the resumption of their allowances; the separation of the revenue, magisterial, judicial, and military powers, by which all were weakened; the further weakness of each from the checks imposed on it; the delays of trials, the difficulties of conviction, the inadequacy of punishment, the trouble and expense of prosecuting and giving evidence; the restraints imposed by our maxims on the assumption of power by individuals, which, combined by the dread of the Adalat, discouraged all from exertion in support of the police; the want of an upper class among the natives, which could take the lead on such occasions; and, to conclude, the small number of European magistrates (who supply the place of the class last mentioned), their want of connection and communication with the natives, and of knowledge of their language and character.

        The Mahratta country presents, in many respects, a complete contrast to the above picture. The people are few compared to the quantity of arable land. They are hardy, warlike, and always armed till of late years. The situation of the lower orders was very comfortable, and that of the upper prosperous. There was abundance of employment in the domestic establishments and foreign conquests of the nation. The ancient system of police was maintained. All the powers of the State were united in the same hands, and their rigour was not checked by any suspicions on the part of the Government, or any scruples of their own. In cases that threatened the peace of society, apprehension was sudden and arbitrary, trial summary, and punishment prompt and severe. The innocent might sometimes suffer, but the guilty could scarcely ever escape. As the magistrates were natives, they readily understood the real state of a case submitted to them, and were little retarded by scruples of conscience, so that prosecutors and witnesses had not long to wait. In their lax system, men knew that if they were right in substance, they would not be questioned about the form; and perhaps they likewise knew that if they did not protect themselves, they could not always expect protection from the magistrate, whose business was rather to keep down great disorder than to afford assistance in cases that might be settled without his aid. The Mamlutdars were themselves considerable persons, and there were men of property and consideration in every neighbourhood; Inamdars, Jahagirdars, or old Zamindars. These men associated with the ranks above and below them, and kept up the chain of society to the Prince. By this means the higher orders were kept informed of the situation of the lower; and as there was scarcely any man without a patron, men might be exposed to oppression, but could scarcely suffer from neglect.

        Many of the evils from which this country has hitherto been exempt are inseparable from the introduction of a foreign Government; but perhaps the greater may be avoided by proper precautions. Many of the upper classes must sink into comparative poverty, and many of those who were employed in the court and army must absolutely lose their bread. Both of these misfortunes happened to a certain extent in the commencement of Baji Rav's reign; but as the frame of Government was entire, the bad effect of these partial evils was surmounted. Whether we can equally maintain the frame of Government is a question that is yet to be examined. The present system of police, as far as relates to the villages, may be easily kept up; but I doubt whether it is enough that the village establishment be maintained, and the whole put under a Mamlatdar. The Patil's respectability and influence in his village must be kept up, by allowing him some latitude, both in the expenditure of the village expenses, and in restraining petty disorders in his village. So far from wishing that it were possible for the European officers to hear all complaints on such subjects, I think it fortunate that they have not time to investigate them, and think it desirable that the Mamlutdars also should leave them to the Patils, and thus preserve a power on the aid of which we must, in all branches of the Government, greatly depend. Zealous co-operation of the Patils is as essential to the collector of the revenue, and to the administration of civil justice, as to the police; and it ought, therefore, by all means to be secured. Too much care cannot be taken to prevent their duty becoming irksome, and their influence impaired by bringing their conduct too often under the correction of their superiors. I would lend a ready ear to all complaints against them for oppression, but I would disturb them for inattention to forms; and I would leave them at liberty to settle petty complaints their own way provided no serious punishment were inflicted on either party. We may weaken the Patils afterwards if we find it necessary, and retrench their emoluments; but our steps should be cautious, for if we once destroyed our influence over the Patils, or theirs over the people we can never recover either. Care ought also to be taken of the condition of the village watchmen, whose allowance, if not sufficient to support him, and to keep him out of temptation to thieve, ought to be increased; but it ought not to be so high as to make him independent of the community, and it ought always to be in part derived from contributions which may compel him to go his rounds among the villagers, as at present.

        If the village police be preserved, the next step is to preserve the efficiency of the Mamlatdar; at present all powers are invested in that officer, and as long as the auxiliary horse and Sebandis are kept up he has ample means of preserving order. The only thing requisite at present is that the Mamlatdar should have higher pay to render him more respectable and more above temptation, and to induce the better sort of natives to accept the office. When Sebandis are reduced in numbers and the horse discharged, our means of preserving the police will be greatly weakened, at the same time that the number of enemies to the public tranquillity will be increased; the number of Sebandis now in our pay, by giving employment to the idle and needy, contributes, I have no doubt, more than anything else to the remarkable good order which this part of our new conquests has hitherto enjoyed. The Mamlatdar will also feel the want of many of the Jahagirdars and others of the upper class who used to aid his predecessors with their influence, and even with their troops. The want of that class will be still more felt as a channel through which Government could receive the accounts of the state of the districts, and of the conduct of the Mamlutdars themselves. The cessation of all prospects of rise will of itself in a great measure destroy the connection between them and their rulers, and the natural distance which I am afraid must always remain between natives and English gentlemen will tend to complete the separation. Something may be done by keeping up the simplicity and equality of Mahratta manners, and by imitating the facility of access which was conspicuous among their Chiefs. On this also the continuance of the spirit of the people and of our own popularity will probably in a great measure depend. Sir Henry Strachey, in his report laid before Parliament, attributes many of the defects in our administration in Bengal to the unmeasurable distance between us and the natives, and afterwards adds that there is scarcely a native in his district who would think of sitting down in the presence of an English gentleman. Here, every man above the rank of a Harkara sits down before us, and did before the Peshwa; even a common Rayat, if he had to stay any time, would sit down on the ground. This contributes, as far as the mechanical parts of the society can, to keep up the intercourse that ought to subsist between the governors and the governed: there is, however, a great chance that it will be allowed to die away. The greater means of keeping it up, is for gentlemen to receive the natives often, when not on business. It must be owned there is a great difficulty in this. The society of the natives can never be in itself agreeable; no man can long converse with the generality of them without being provoked with their constant selfishness and design, wearied with their importunities, and disgusted with their flattery. Their own prejudices also exclude them from our society in the hours given up to recreation, and at other times want of leisure is enough to prevent gentlemen receiving them; but it ought to be remembered that this intercourse with the natives is much a point of duty, and contributes as much towards good government as the details in which we are generally occupied.

        Much might likewise be done by raising our Mamlatdars to a rank which might render it creditable for native gentlemen to associate with them. It must be owned our Government labours under natural disadvantages in this respect both as to the means of rendering our instruments conspicuous, and of attaching them to our cause. All places of trust and honour must be filled by Europeans. We have no irregular army to afford honourable employment to persons incapable of being admitted to a share of the Government, and no court to make up by honours an empty favour for the absence of the other more solid objects of ambition. As there are no great men in our service, we cannot bestow the higher honours; and the lower, on which also the natives set a high value as the privilege of using a particular hind of umbrella, or of riding in a palanquin cease to be honours under us, from their being thrown open to the world. What honours we do confer are lost from our own want of respect for them, and from our want of sufficient discrimination to enable us to suit them exactly to the person and the occasion, on which circumstances the value of these fanciful distinctions entirely depends.

        To supply the place of these advantages, we have nothing left but good pay, personal attentions, and occasional commendations and rewards. The first object may be attained without much additional expense by enlarging the districts, diminishing the number of officers, and increasing their pay. The pay might also be augmented for length of service, or in reward of particular activity. It