, and he may conceal the improvement
from the local authorities, or bribe them to conceal it from
Government; or it may diminish from lands falling out of tillage, or
becoming impoverished by over-cropping, or from a diminution of
demand for land produce; and the landholder may be unable to satisfy
the local authorities of the fact, or to prevail upon them to
represent the circumstance to Government. The amount of the _nankar_
once recognised remains the same till a new rate is recognised by
Government; but when the Government becomes weak, the local
authorities assume the right to recognise new rents, to suit their
own interest, and pretend that they do so to promote that of their
sovereign.

I may instance the Amil of this district last year. He was weak,
while the landholders were strong. They refused to pay, on the plea
of bad seasons. He could send no money to the Treasury, and was in
danger of losing his place. The man who had to pay a revenue of ten
thousand could not be induced to pay five: he enjoyed an acknowledged
_nankar_ of two thousand upon a recognised rent-roll of twelve
thousand; and, to induce him to pay, he gives him an increase to this
_nankar_ of one thousand, making the _nankar_ three thousand, and
reducing the revenue to nine thousand. Being determined to render the
increase to his _nankar_ permanent, whether the Government consents
or not, the landholder agrees to pay the ten thousand for the present
year. The collector sends the whole or a part of the one thousand as
gratuities to influential men at Court, and enters it in the public
accounts as irrecoverable balance. The present Amil, finding that the
increase to the _nankar_ has not been acknowledged by Government,
demands the full ten thousand rupees for the present year. The
landholder refuses to pay anything, takes to the jungles, and
declares that he will resist till his permanent right to the increase
be acknowledged.

The Amil has taken the contract at the rate of last year, as the
Government had sanctioned no increase to the _nankar_, and he pleads
in vain for a remission in the rate, which he pledged himself to pay,
or an increase of means to enforce payment among so turbulent and
refractory a body of landholders. As I have before mentioned, the
Oude Government has this season issued an order to all revenue
collectors to refuse to recognise any increase to the _nankar_ that
has been made since the year A.D. 1814, or Fusilee 1222, wh