paid the land tax direct to Government; while to the Tálukdár there would be allowed by Government a certain percentage of the land revenue, reckoned to be in lieu of the profits he used to get from his assignment of the revenue after the defrayal of his charges.
Thomason first learnt this lesson at Azamgarh, before 1840. Next, in 1841, he urged it upon the Governor-General in Council and the Court of Directors. After his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor in 1843, one of his earliest private letters to the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, bore this very burden. By 1844 he had carried his main contention, but he addressed the Governor-General in Council, with a view of reducing the allowance payable to the Tálukdárs from 22 to 10 per cent. on the land revenue, after the death of present incumbents. This measure was referred to the Court of Directors in London, who ultimately sanctioned Thomason' s proposals with a proviso only, that they should not take effect during the currency of the then Settlement, that is, till about the year 1870. The Court's despatch did not reach India till after his death.
The Tálukdárs, though their pecuniary interests had been well cared for, found a restraint imposed on their power to dominate the Village Communities in their districts. Being on that account displeased, they were capable of making their voices heard, not only within these Provinces, but in Calcutta also,
