ed by some theorists, who are practically unacquainted
with agriculture in this or any other country, that all who have any
interest in land above the rank of cultivator or ploughman are mere
_drones_, or useless consumers of that rent which, under judicious
management, might be added to the revenues of Government--that all
which they get might, and ought to be, either left with the
cultivators or taken by the Government. At the head of these is the
justly celebrated historian, Mr. Mill. But men who understand the
subject practically know that the intermediate agency of a farmer,
who has a permanent interest in the estate, or an interest for a long
period, is a thousand times better both for the Government and the
people than that of a Government officer of any description, much
less that of one removable at the pleasure of the collector.
Government can always get more revenue from a village under the
management of the farmer; the character of the cultivators and
village community generally is much better; the tillage is much
better; and the produce, from more careful weeding and attention of
all kinds, sells much better in the market. The better character of
the cultivators enables them to get the loans they require to
purchase stock, and to pay the Government demand on more moderate
terms from the capitalists, who rely upon the farmer to aid in the
recovery of their outlays, without reference to civil courts, which
are ruinous media, as well in India as in other places. The farmer or
landlord finds in the same manner that he can get much more from
lands let out on lease to the cultivators or yeomen, who depend upon
their own character, credit, and stock, than he can from similar
lands cultivated with his own stock; and hired labourers can never be
got to labour either so long or so well. The labour of the Indian
cultivating lessee is always applied in the proper quantity, and at
the proper time and place--that of the hired field-labourer hardly
ever is. The skilful coachmaker always puts on the precise quantity
of iron required to make his coach strong, because he knows where it
is required; his coach is, at the same time, as light as it can be
with safety. The unskilful workman either puts on too much, and makes
his coach heavy; or he puts it in the wrong place, and leaves it
weak.

If government extends the twenty years' settlement now in progress to
fifty years or more, they will confer a great blessing upon the