experience. The error in Bengal was that, from a variety of causes, the corollary to a new and comprehensive measure which had established a solid landed aristocracy, was not carried out for more than half a century. In the greater part of Madras the settlement is Ryotwárí, and though in cases where Zamíndárs have thrown up their estates, and Government has stepped in, the Ryotwárí system has been introduced, the converse operation has never taken place. No district and no part of a district put under the Ryotwárí system, has ever again reverted to the Zamíndárs.
The multifarious and important sub-infeudations which have arisen out of Cornwallis's Zamíndárí system may claim a little attention. Although reliable statistics in regard to trade, commerce, agriculture, and population have only been collected of very late years, there are the broad facts in regard to the Lower Provinces in general, and to Eastern and Central Bengal in particular, which have been so prominent as to admit of no dispute. The alluvial soil was extremely fertile and the revenue assessment was light. For some years, as has been shown, the Zamíndárs were restricted from giving perpetual leases of villages or portions of their estates. But it soon became clear that whatever laws Government might enact for the benefit of the cultivators and for the security of its own exchequer, the Zamíndár could not be prevented from assigning to other persons
