taxation, should be rigidly maintained. But it appears clear to us, that no mere prescription, apart from distinct legislative pledges, can equitably or reasonably be held to void that right;— the alternative to its assertion being the continued subjection of the community to duties and taxes, from which the appropriation of the rent of land to public purposes ought to have absolved it; and from which it might now be relieved, without any breach of faith on the part of the Government, by the recovery of the alienations of that fund.

To such relief the revenue, recovered by the measures which Mr Crawfurd denounces in such unsparing language, ought most undoubtedly to be devoted. Such a course-urged in 1834 by the Board of Revenue-would be the best refutation of all injurious misrepresentations of those particular measures, and of the general spirit in which the revenue department of the AngloIndian Government is conducted; and, what is far more important, the best vindication of that Government to the understandings of the few of its native subjects who are as yet able to form a sound judgment on any point of political wisdom or morality. Those few, in common with all enlightened Englishmen who will take the trouble to acquaint themselves with the real merits of the case, will then be made sensible, that the community has been delivered from taxes, iniquitous, like those on justice and wealth-destroying, like the transit duties; at the expense of the comparatively small body which had long embezzled the public funds,—a measure in unison with the sentiments of every one deserving the name of a statesman-from Warren Hastings to Lord Auckland, Sir Charles Metcalfe, and Mr Ross-who has ever exercised rule in Bengal, and fully sanctioned by the laws of 1793. It is not to be expected that such considerations will satisfy those who have been thrown into a frenzy of philanthropy, by the steps which have been taken to rescue the public revenue from the hands of the individuals who have for many years diverted it to their private benefit; whilst they have never even whispered dissatisfaction against those existing taxes, which we have shown to be most unsound in principle, and oppressive in practice; nor that the lakhirajdars of Bengal will care whether the people of Madras are, or are not, continuedly oppressed by the inland customs. But those who are responsible for the just administration of an empire, the interests of which are one and indivisible, will betray their duty if they suffer the clamours of either of those parties to drown the modest claims for relief of those who have real fiscal grievances to complain of; and whom the long endurance

VOL. LXX. NO. CXLII.

2 E

of the burden, and hopelessness of being listened to, have alone kept comparatively silent.

It is necessary that we should dispose in a few words, before we leave Mr Crawfurd's pamphlet, of the principal objections which have been raised against the proceedings which we consider to be wise and just; first, on the ground of the long prescription under which it is alleged that the lakhirajdars enjoy their immunities; and secondly, because special tribunals have been constituted for the adjudication of the matter at issue between those parties and the community.

On the first point, we maintain that no length of prescription can give any class of men a right to enjoy the expensive benefits of society, at the cost of their fellows; that not even Mr Burke demurred to the abrogation of the analogous and older, but much smaller, fiscal privileges of the noblesse of France, (many of whom had even purchased those privileges;) and that the proceedings of the Indian Government (shackled by legislative pledges) go no farther than those by which the great Colbert, more than a century before, compelled those who, under the 'pernicious system which exempted the nobility from payment of 'direct taxes, had fraudulently assumed titles, and claimed rank,' to bear their share of the public burdens, on their failure to make out a legal claim to immunity.

Further, we maintain that the lakhirajdars have had the most ample warning of the intention of Government to enforce the rights of the community, by investigating their titles, not only in the laws of 1793, which we have quoted, but by other enactments of the same, and consecutive date, ending with regulations ii. of 1819, and iii. of 1828; since the promulgation of the former of which, all prescription has undeniably ceased, and every precedent is in favour of the community, and against the claim of exclusive privilege.

Thirdly, it is certain that not a single case has been brought forward, even by those who have most vehemently insisted on the argument of prescription, and talked, in vague and general terms, of transfers of property, tacit recognition of rights, and the like, to show that in any instance, under the sense of security alleged to have been created in the minds of the lakhirajdars and the public in general, any thing approaching to a fee-simple price has been given for land held exempt from the payment of revenue, previously to the confirmation of the tenure by competent authority. Nor, indeed, is it credible that any such transactions should have taken place, since the Government of 1793 availed itself of every opportunity of declaring-as in the general law, (reg. xlv.,) which prescribes rules for disposing of lands at

public sales in pursuance of decrees of courts of justice, and which is most familiar to every man of landed property or of businessthat 'the purchaser of lands held exempt from the payment of = revenue to Government, is to be considered to have succeeded only to the rights of the former proprietor, and that the transfer is not to bar any claims of Government to the recovery of the ⚫ public dues from such lands. The utmost that the lakhiraji dars can reasonably claim, on the score of their long immunity, is indulgent terms of assessment, and those should, we think, be accorded to them.

But it is asserted that special, and therefore unfair tribunals, (why more so than the Exchequer Court in England?) have been constituted for the trial, in each case, of the question whether, under existing laws, the assuming lakhirajdar is entitled to hold his land free from the payment of revenue for ever. As an argumentum ad captandum, it is also objected that the officers who try these cases hold their situations at the pleasure of the Government, by which, also, they may hope, if they give satisfaction, to be promoted.

To dispose of the last point first :-The judges of the ordinary courts, who have been relieved from jurisdiction in the cases in question, (which is the change complained of,) are precisely in the same predicament in relation to the Government as the functionaries who try those cases. They are all brother servants, have all the same to hope and to fear; and great pains have been taken to assign to the special tribunals at least an equal proportion of the ability and integrity at the command of Government.

Every one at all intimate with the Judicial pages of the Fifth report, and with later evidence on the state and efficiency (as regards their adequateness to the amount of the litigation to be disposed of) of the regular courts established by Lord Cornwallis, will easily understand why-upon the breaking down of the attempt made in 1819 to effect the matter in hand by means of their agency-a division of labour has been resorted to. 'Since 1793,' wrote Sir Henry Strachey, the highest authority, in 1813,' things have grown worse and worse,-causes have conti'nued to accumulate, the channels of justice are choked, and the 'judges are overwhelmed with business.' He says, in another place, that the Fifth Report conveys an imperfect notion of the

* Mr Crawfurd is pleased to sneer at this law as six-and-forty years 'old.' It is so, but it has been in force ever since. Would he think the argument which it affords against his position stronger, if it had been' enacted more recently?

'actual state of things. If there were twice as many courts, 'there might probably be twice as many causes; and if all obstacles of delay and expense in obtaining a hearing were done away, if the tribunals were really open to all, the number of 'suits would certainly for a time at least be very much augmented.' From 1814, down to the present day, the Government of Bengal has been earnestly, and, especially of late, in some degree successfully, striving to render the general administration of justice commensurate with the wants of the people and its own obligations. It is now made matter of complaint, that the Courts, barely equal, notwithstanding the heavy expense incurred, to cope with the ordinary business, have not been again overwhelmed by crowding their files with all the litigation between the Government, on behalf of the community, and the lakhirajdars; and that distinct means have been provided to dispose promptly of the latter, instead of allowing it to remain festering for an indefinite term of years.

The real grievance is, that a system which works, has been substituted for one under which-because the Government of 1793 misconceived the facts as to the extent of the abuse, and miscalculated the means (in the powers of the regular courts) of dealing with it-every man calling himself a lakhirajdar would have retained for ever his privilege of enjoying the benefits of society at the expense of the community.

Art.IV.-An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by ADAM SMITH, LL. D.; with a Life of the Author, an Introductory Discourse, Notes, and Supplemental Dissertations. By J. R. M'CULLOCH, Esq. A New Edition, in One Volume, Octavo. London: 1838.

HERE are so many advantages attending the communication

Tof knowledge, in its several branches, by the republication

of standard works, with such corrections as the subsequent advances of science may have rendered necessary, that it is, perhaps, a subject of wonder that it is so little adopted in the present day. We fear that the true reason is to be found, not in any decay of taste or deficiency on the part of the public in estimating the value of those models, but in the superior attraction, both to vanity and indolence, which is affored by the position of an author to that of an editor. It is not only much more dignified, but much easier to produce a substantive essay, than an

adjective commentary. Any one ordinarily informed on the subject of Political Economy, at the present day, knows many facts of which Dr Adam Smith was ignorant; and has acquired from others juster views of some elementary principles than Dr Smith had attained by his own enquiries. And it is natural enough, if he seeks to enlighten the world on the subject, that he should prefer to do so by reconstructing the whole science on a new ground, rather than condescend to the task of pointing out the errors, or adding supplements to the discoveries, of an older writer. He finds, too, no doubt, considerable facilities in adopting the more systematic form. It is more condensed, more artificial, and enables him to place all the points of his theory before the reader in such order as he may deem most convenient. Yet if he wishes to become popular, and to ensure a general reception for the theories which he advances, it would be as well to reflect on the real advantages which attend the other course.

The Treatise on the Law of War and Peace, the Essay on 'the Human Understanding, the Spirit of Laws, and the Inquiry into the Causes of the Wealth of Nations,' says Sir J. Macintosh, are the works which have most directly influenced the ' opinion of Europe during the two last centuries. They are ' also the most conspicuous landmarks in the progress of the 'sciences to which they belong.' Now it is certain that, in order to have acquired the proud position thus described, these works must possess certain other qualities besides those of original thought and soundness of reasoning-qualities still more essential to immediate and striking success, and to the full as essential to permanent reputation. Nothing is easier than to point out the errors of Grotius, Montesquieu, Locke, and Smith; but their standard excellence as authors remains unimpaired by the detection of faults or deficiencies in their respective systems. They must have added to their stores of thought and knowledge a peculiar felicity of genius in communicating them; or, although spoken of with respect and admiration, they would never have been extensively read. They each possessed the art of seizing the attention of the general reader, the more, perhaps, from that absence of studied regularity discernible in them all. As the same writer has very profoundly remarked, the apparent defects common to all the four, of want of arrangement and want of precision, 'have perhaps contributed in some degree to the specific usefulness of their works; and, by rendering their contents more ' accessible to the majority of readers, have more completely 'blended their principles with the common opinion of mankind.' And the same qualities will be found more or less to characterise standard works in general. Unless, therefore, the modern en