Universitätsbibliothek HeidelbergUniversitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
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1819-27.


123

Mahratta army; but Colonel Walker in 1805 fixed their tribute,
and afterwards repressed their disorders. They are now quite
peaceable, but circumstances have prevented their being pro-
sperous. Famine, the plague, the cholera, and the incursions
of marauders from Cutch and the desert have carried off a third
of the population, and left almost all the chiefs in debt and
difficulty. It was almost settled under the late Government
of Bombay that the only remedy, indeed the only way of
securing the tribute, was to take charge of the lands of almost
all the chiefs, farm each to a person under our control, and
allot a certain sum to the expenses of the proprietor. In ten
or twelve years this would recover their affairs, and we were
then to restore them to their lands. I think this so great an
interference that it would annoy the chiefs, and bring on
quarrels between them and their farmers, and that we could
not manage the details of so many petty governments ; that
we ought therefore to leave each to manage his owm lands, and
only require the assignment of a sufficient portion of land to
cover our tribute to some banker, who should become respon-
sible for the payment of the tribute. This is a subject on
which you have great experience, and I should be very much
obliged if you would tell me what you think of the original
plan. I have now mentioned all the Bombay territories except
the Deckan, which is still managed by a commissioner on the
principles of my former report. 80 much for local arrange-
ments. The only general ones we have on foot are a reform of
the regulations by a committee composed of Erskine, Babington,
an excellent judge (who is president), and Captain Robert-
son, a celebrated collector. A new digest of our military
regulations, and a college which has been suspended by the
opposition of my colleagues to my plan for grafting a native
college on the European one, so as to educate native instru-
ments of Government, as well as young civil servants, and
likewise to preserve and encourage native learning. I have said
so much of Bombay that I have no room left for Malwa ; but
of it I have little to say. I am astonished that there should
be any doubt of the policy of keeping everything there under
 
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