OF BENGAL AND THE FIFTH REPORT, 1812 BY F. D. ASCOLI, M.A. OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS THIS book was suggested by a course of four lectures, which I gave at the Dacca College at the request of Mr. R. B. Ramsbotham, of the Indian Educational Service. The lectures attempted to analyse and condense the more important facts, contained in the body and appendixes of the Fifth Report, so far as they deal with the revenue administration of Bengal, in order to make intelligible the period immediately preceding the Permanent Settlement. This book attempts nothing more, and its publication is merely due to the fact that, in Mr. Ramsbotham's opinion, it will be of assistance to students of the administration and revenue system of Bengal during the eighteenth century. One of the most important appendixes of the Fifth Report, viz. the Analysis of the Finances of Bengal, by James Grant, commonly known as Grant's Analysis, contains much valuable matter, obviously collected with a great deal of trouble and research; but the matter is sometimes inconsistent, often contaminated with error, and always composed in a confused and laborious style. I have attempted to explain the main facts contained in the Analysis in Chapters II and V. I must apologize for drawing the majority of actual. examples from the Dacca District. My excuse lies in the fact that I have enjoyed opportunities of studying its revenue history in detail; my justification I draw from Grant's own words, that in his time Dacca continued to be 'the largest and most valuable province of the country'. I am indebted to Mr. Ramsbotham for many valuable suggestions in the arrangement of the book, and for pointing out where explanations were required from the historian's point of view. To Mr. V. A. Smith I must express my gratitude, not only for his valued advice, but also for undertaking the thankless task of seeing the proofs through the press owing to my absence in India. The imperfections of the book may, perhaps, be partly ascribed to the busy life of an Indian official. DACCA, July 3, 1916. F. D. ASCOLI. CONTENTS II. THE MUGHAL REVENUE ADMINISTRATION III. BRITISH REVENUE ADMINISTRATION UP TO 1786 IV. REVENUE ADMINISTRATION FROM 1786-1790 . V. THE GRANT-SHORE CONTROVERSY. GRANT'S CASE VI. THE GRANT-SHORE CONTROVERSY. SHORE'S CASE VII. THE SHORE-CORNWALLIS CONTROVERSY VIII THE EFFECTS OF THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF |