THE TALUQDARI SETTLEMENT IN OUDH. BY RAJKUMAR SARVADHIKARI, B.L., LAW LECTURER, CANNING COLLEGE, LUCKNOW. "Quoth Hudibras, 'I smell a rat'; "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again : CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK AND CO. 1882. PREFACE. I HAVE endeavoured in the following pages to write a succinct history of the Taluqdari Settlement in Oudh. My principal object has been to narrate the history in the very words of the great Statesmen and Administrators who have been the authors of the settlement. My materials have been principally derived from Parliamentary Blue Books, Official Reports and Returns, and other State Papers. I have not hesitated to use the exact language of the documents, in my earnest wish to give a clear and authoritative exposition of the fundamental principles upon which the Taluqdari system is based. I have tried to present an impartial view of the great issue between the landlords and tenants in this Province. The passionate advocates of tenant rights have, in their philanthropic desire to ameliorate the condition of the Oudh peasantry, scouted the idea of ancient hereditary rights in Oudh, and failed to evince due respect for the permanent proprietary rights guaranteed by the British Government. It is a mistake in principle, even as a political measure, to rob-in the language of a familiar proverb-Peter to pay Paul. The relations between landlords and tenants in this Province have been entirely misconceived. Taluqdari system has been declared by high authority to be "the ancient, indigenous, and cherished system of the country." "The feudal attachments of landlord and The |