PART I.

That the property of the lands of Bengal is, according to the laws and
customs of that country, an inheritable property, and that it is, with
few exceptions; vested in certain natives, called _zemindars_, or
landholders, under whom other natives, called _talookdars_ and _ryots_,
hold certain subordinate rights of property or occupancy in the said
lands. That the said natives are Hindoos, and that their _rights and
privileges are grounded upon the possession of regular grants, a long
series of family succession, and fair purchase_. That it appears that
Bengal has been under the dominion of the Mogul, and subject to a
Mahomedan government, for above two hundred years. That, while the Mogul
government was in its vigor, the property of zemindars was _held
sacred_, and that, either by voluntary grant from the said Mogul or by
composition with him, the native Hindoos were left in the free, quiet,
and undisturbed possession of their lands, on the single condition of
paying a fixed, certain, and unalterable revenue, or quit-rent, to the
Mogul government. That this revenue, or quit-rent, was called the
_aussil jumma_, or _original ground-rent_, of the provinces, and was not
increased from the time when it was first settled in 1573 to 1740, when
the regular and effective Mogul government ended. That, from that time
to 1765, invasions, usurpations, and various revolutions took place in
the government of Bengal, in consequence of which the country was
considerably reduced and impoverished, when the East India Company
received from the present Mogul emperor, Shah Allum, a grant of the
_dewanny_, or collection of the revenues. That about the year 1770 the
provinces of Bengal and Bahar were visited with a dreadful famine and
mortality, by which at least one third of the inhabitants perished. That
Warren Hastings, Esquire, has declared, "that he had always heard the