is a variety of the gossypium herbaceum; but it is inferior to that
generally cultivated on the Indian continent, which is also found on
Java, and called by the Javans _kápas múri_. The plant of the former
differs from the latter, in having a smaller stem, and in yielding a
material, both of coarser fibre and in less quantity. There is a third
variety, with a subarborescent stem, called _kápas táhon_, which is
very scarce. Trials remain to be made, to determine how far the culture
of the Indian cotton might be extended, so as to supersede the Javan
cotton. The inferior kind, which forms the principal, and indeed with
the mass of the people the only material for clothing, is cultivated in
almost every part of the island. The soil, however, is not considered
as universally favourable to its growth: many of the low lands,
consisting of a clay, which bursts in the dry season, are unfit for it;
and on several of the more fertile districts, where the plant itself
flourishes, little cotton is obtained from it: the declivities of the
hills, in which the mountain rice is raised, yield in general the best
and most abundant supply. At present, scarcely a sufficient quantity is
produced on the island to employ the female part of the inhabitants;
and one district often depends upon another for the principal part of
what it uses. The cotton of _Bányumás_ is exported to _Bágalen_, to
_Tégal_, and the western parts of _Matárem_, where it is manufactured;
the environs of _Wong'go_, _Adi-langú_, and other places towards the
southern hills, supply both the capitals in the interior; _Kediri_,
_Pranárága_, and the vicinity, likewise furnish considerable quantities
for other parts of the island. In the _Súnda_ districts, the principal
supply is received from the east and west _Jámpang_. The culture of
cotton, and the manufacture of yarn, are in some degree promoted by an
ancient custom, which imposes on every householder or village a certain
contingent of cotton yarn for the sovereign, or for the person who
holds the land on his account: this custom is called _panyúmpleng_. The
chiefs on Java, and particularly on _Báli_, frequently wear a skein
of cotton yarn entwined round the handle of the kris; a custom which
sufficiently indicates the respect paid to this species of cultivation.
The Javan cotton is a hardy plant, which grows to about the height of
a foot and a half. It is generally planted on the _sáwahs_ after the
reaping of the rice crop, and yields the cotton in less than three
months. The Indian cotton grows to a larger size, and produces a
material of an infinitely superior quality; but it is more delicate in
its nature, must be watched with greater care, and requires a month
longer to attain to maturity. Cotton cultivated on _tégal_, or dry
land, is considered as generally better than that raised as a second
crop on _sáwah_; and this mode of cultivation has been adduced as the
cause of the superiority ascribed to the cotton of _Bâli_, and other
more eastern islands.
Tobacco,[47] termed by the natives _tombáku_, or _sáta_, is an
article of very general cultivation, but is only extensively raised
for exportation in the central districts of _Kedú_ and _Bányumás_:
as it requires a soil of the richest mould, but at the same time not
subject to inundations, these districts hold out peculiar advantages
to the tobacco-planter, not to be found on the low lands. For internal
consumption, small quantities are raised in convenient spots every
where; but the most eastern districts and _Madúra_ are principally
supplied from _Púgar_. Bantam receives its supply from _Bányumás_, by
means of native traders from _Pakalúngan_ visiting that port in small
craft. The produce of _Kedú_ is conveyed by men to _Semárang_, the
great port of exportation.
In _Kedu_ it forms, after rice, by far the most important article
of cultivation; and, in consequence of the fitness of the soil, the
plant grows to the height of from eight to ten feet, on lands not
previously dressed or manured, with a luxuriance seldom witnessed in
India. Cultivated here alternately with rice, only one crop of either
is obtained within the year; but after the harvest of the rice, or
the gathering of the tobacco-leaves, the land is allowed to remain
fallow, till the season again arrives for preparing it to receive the
other. The young plant is not raised within the district, but procured
from the high lands in the vicinity; principally from the district of
_Káli-béber_, on the slope of the mountain _Díeng_ or _Práhu_, where it
is raised and sold by the hundred to the cultivators of the adjoining
districts. The transplantation takes place in the month of June, and
the plant is at its full growth in October.
Wheat has been introduced by the Europeans, and cultivated with success
to the extent required by the European population. It thrives in many
parts of the interior of the country: it is sown in May, and reaped in
October; and, where the cultivation has been left to the Javans, the
grain has been sold at the rate of about seven rupees the _píkul_.
Potatoes have been cultivated during the last forty years, in elevated
situations, near all the principal European establishments, and are
reckoned of a quality superior to those ordinarily procured in Bengal
or China. Few of the natives, however, have as yet adopted them as a
common article of food. Besides potatoes, most of the common culinary
vegetables of Europe are raised in the gardens of the Europeans and
Chinese. It must be confessed, however, that they degenerate, if
perpetuated on the soil without change; and that their abundance and
quality depends, in a great measure, on the supplies of fresh seed
imported from Europe, the Cape, or other quarters.
Having now given an account of the different kinds of produce raised
within the island, and the arts of husbandry practised by the natives,
I shall conclude this short sketch of Javan agriculture by an account
of the tenure of landed property, the rights of the proprietor and
tenant, the proportion of the produce paid for rent, the division of
farms among the inhabitants of villages, and the causes that have
obstructed or promoted agricultural improvements.
The relative situation, rank, and privileges of the village farmer and
the native chief in Java, correspond in most instances, with those
of the Ryot and Zemindar of Bengal; but the more frequent and more
immediate interference of the sovereign, in the former case, with any
tendency to established usage or prescriptive claim, has left no room
for that difference of opinion, concerning proprietary right, which
exercised the ingenuity of the highest authorities in the latter. In
Bengal, before the introduction of the permanent revenue settlement,
there were usages, institutions, and established modes of proceeding
with regard to landed estates, that rendered it doubtful in which of
the three parties more immediately interested, the proprietary right
should finally and lawfully be settled. The claim of the Ryot to
retain the land which he cultivated, so long as he paid the stipulated
contribution, seemed to raise his character above that of an ordinary
tenant removeable at pleasure, or at the conclusion of a stipulated
term. The situation of the Zemindar, as the actual receiver of the
rents, standing between the sovereign and the cultivator, although
merely for the purpose of paying them over with certain deductions to
the sovereign, and his frequently transmitting the office with its
emoluments to his children, although held only during pleasure, gave
his character some affinity to that of an European landholder. And
lastly, the sovereign himself, who ultimately received the rents, and
regulated them at his pleasure, and removed both Zemindar and Ryot, in
case of negligence or disobedience, was arrayed with the most essential
attributes of proprietary right, or at least exercised a power that
could render any opposite claims nugatory. Thus the Ryot, the Zemindar,
and the Sovereign, had each his pretensions to the character of
landholder. After much cautious inquiry and deliberate discussion on
the part of our Indian government, the claims of the Zemindars, rather
perhaps from considerations of policy than a clear conviction of their
superior right, were preferred. In Java, however, except in the cases
of a few alienated lands and in the _Súnda_ districts, of which more
will be said hereafter, no such pretensions are heard of, as those
which were advocated on the part of the Zemindars of western India;
although inquiries to ascertain the equitable and legitimate rights of
all classes of the people, were known to be in progress, and a plan
was declared to be in contemplation for their permanent adjustment.
From every inquiry that was instituted under the British government,
and every fact that was presented to the view of its officers, it
appeared that, in the greatest part of the island, in the eastern and
middle districts, and in short in those provinces where rent to any
considerable amount was attainable, there existed no proprietary right
between that of the sovereign and that of the cultivator, that the
government was the only landholder.
There are lands, indeed, which contribute nothing to the state, some
on which the cultivator pays no rent whatever, and others of which the
rent remains in the hands of his immediate superior; but the manner
in which individuals acquire, and the tenure by which they hold such
lands, form illustrations and proofs of the proprietary right of the
sovereign. As his resources arise almost entirely from the share of
produce which he exacts, and as he considers himself invested with an
absolute dominion over that share, he burthens certain villages or
estates with the salaries of particular officers, allots others for
the support of his relatives or favourites, or grants them for the
benefit of particular charitable or religious institutions; in the same
manner as, before the Consolidation Act in this country, the interest
of particular loans were fixed upon the produce of specific imposts.
Here the alienation shews the original right: the sovereign renounces
the demand to which he was entitled; he makes no claim upon the farmer
for a share of the crop himself, but orders it to be paid over to
those whom he thus appoints in his place, so far as the gift extends.
With the exception of the _Súnda_ districts, as already stated, and
a comparatively inconsiderable portion of land thus alienated on
different conditions, the proprietary right to the soil in Java vests
universally in the government, whether exercised by native princes or
by colonial authority, and that permanent and hereditary interest in it
so necessary to its improvement, those individual rights of property
which are created by the laws and protected by the government, are
unknown. With these exceptions, neither law nor usage authorizes the
oldest occupant of land in Java to consider the ground which he has
reclaimed from waste, or the farm on which he has exerted all his
industry, as his own, by such a tenure as will enable him, and his
successors for ever, to reap the fruits of his labour. He can have
gained no title, even to a definite term of occupancy, but from the
capricious servant of a capricious despot, who himself is not legally
bound by his engagement, and whose successor is not even morally bound
by it.
As a matter of convenience, the same cultivator may continue to occupy
the same portion of land for life, and his children, after his decease,
may inherit the ground which he cultivated, paying the dues to which he
was liable. The head of a village, whether called _Búkul_, _Peting'gi_,
or _Lúrah_, may be continued in the collection of the village rents
for life, and may be succeeded in office by his heirs; the superior
officer, or _Demáng_, with whom he accounts, may likewise hold his
situation for a long period, and transmit it to his family; but none of
them can stand in the possession against the will of their immediate
superior, or of the sovereign, by any claim of law or custom.
Little of the revenue collected from the occupants is transmitted to
the government treasury; the greatest part of that which is raised, and
which, in other countries, would come into the hands of government,
for subsequent distribution among its servants and the support of its
various establishments, is intercepted in its progress by those to
whom the sovereign immediately assigns it. The officers of police, of
justice, of the prince's household, and, in short, public servants of
all classes, from the prime minister down to the lowest menial, are
paid with appropriations of the rent of land.
To this general principle of Javan law and usage, that the government
is the only landholder, there are exceptions, as I mentioned before,
in some districts of the island. These are chiefly in the districts
inhabited by the _Súndas_, who occupy the mountainous and woody country
in the western division of the island. Among them, private property
in the soil is generally established; the cultivator can transmit his
possession to his children: among them, it can be subdivided, without
any interference on the part of a superior; the possessor can sell
his interest in it to others, and transfer it by gift or covenant.
He pays to his chief a certain proportion of the produce, in the
same manner as the other inhabitants of Java; because, in a country
without trade or manufactures, labour or produce is the only shape
in which he can contribute to support the necessary establishments of
the community. So long as he advances this tribute, which is one-tenth
or one-fifth of the gross produce, he has an independent right to the
occupancy of his land, and the enjoyment of the remainder. The reason
why the landed tenure of these districts differs, in so important a
particular, from that of the most extensive and valuable part of the
island, may perhaps be explained from their nature, without resorting
to any original difference in the laws of property, or the maxims of
government. Where the population is small in proportion to the extent
of soil, and much land remains unoccupied, the best only will become
the subject of demand and appropriation. The latter alone is valuable,
because it yields great returns for little labour, and therefore offers
inducements to engage in its cultivation, in spite of many artificial
disadvantages: it alone can afford a desirable surplus, after
maintaining the hands that call for its fertility, and consequently
tempts power to reserve unalienated the right to this surplus. On the
other hand, when waste ground is to be reclaimed, when forests or
jungle are to be cleared, or when a sterile and ungrateful spot is
to be cultivated, the government have less interest in reserving the
surplus, and must offer superior inducements of immunity, permanency,
or exemption, to lead to cultivation. On this principle, the tenure
of land in the _Súnda_ districts, and on some parts of the coast,
may be accounted for. It may be concluded, that many of these lands
were reclaimed from waste by the present occupiers or their immediate
predecessors, and their rights to possess them, which is similar to
that which the discoverer of an unappropriated field, forest, or
mine would have, by nature, to as many of their products as he could
realize by his labours, has not been crushed or interfered with by
the sovereign; a forbearance, probably, more to be attributed to
motives of prudence than to the restraint of law. Nearly coincident
with this conclusion is the supposition which assumes, that before
the introduction of the Mahomedan system, and the encroachments of
despotic sovereigns, all the lands on the island were considered as the
property of those who cultivated them; but that, as the value of the
most fertile spots became more apparent, while the labour which had
been originally expended in clearing them, and constituted the title to
their original occupancy, was gradually forgotten, the government found
inducements and facilities to increase its demands, and thus became
possessed of the rights of some by violence, while it rendered those
of all unworthy of being preserved. The land tenures of the _Súnda_
districts, according to this hypothesis, are only wrecks of the general
system, which have been protected against encroachment, because they
did not so powerfully invite rapacity. Whatever truth there may be
in this opinion, the fact is undoubted, that in the mountainous and
less fertile districts of Java, and in the island of _Báli_, where the
Mahomedan sway has not yet extended, individual proprietary right in
the soil is fully established, while in that portion of Java where the
Mahomedan rule has been most felt, and where proprietary right amounts
to the greatest value, it vests almost exclusively in the sovereign.
The situation, however, of the cultivator in the Sunda districts, who
is a proprietor, is not much more eligible than that of the tenant of
the government: he may, it is true, alienate or transfer his lands,
but while he retains them, he is liable to imposts almost as great as
they can bear; and when he transfers them, he can therefore expect
little for surrendering to another the privilege of reaping from his
own soil, what is only the average recompense of labour expended on
the estate of another. The Revenue Instructions, therefore, bearing
date the 11th February 1814, and transmitted from the local government
to the officers intrusted with the charge of the several provinces
subject to its authority, lay down the following general position: "The
nature of the landed tenure throughout the island is now thoroughly
understood. Generally speaking, no proprietary right in the soil is
vested in any between the actual cultivator and the sovereign; the
intermediate classes, who may have at any time enjoyed the revenues of
villages or districts, being deemed merely the executive officers of
government, who received these revenues from the gift of their lord,
and who depended on his will alone for their tenure. Of this actual
proprietary right there can be no doubt that the investiture rested
solely in the sovereign; but it is equally certain, that the first
clearers of the land entitled themselves, as a just reward, to such a
real property in the ground they thus in a manner created, that while
a due tribute of a certain share of its produce was granted to the
sovereign power for the protection it extended, the government, in
return, was equally bound not to disturb them or their heirs in its
possession. This disposal of the government share was thus, therefore,
all that could justly depend on the will of the ruling authority;
and consequently, the numerous gifts of land made in various periods
by the several sovereigns, have in no way affected the rights of the
actual cultivators. All that government could alienate was merely its
own revenue or share of the produce. This subject has come fully under
discussion, and the above result, as regarding this island, has been
quite satisfactorily established." It is remarked, in a subsequent
paragraph of the same instructions, "that there have been, it is known,
in many parts of the country, grants from the sovereign of lands in
perpetuity, which are regularly inheritable, and relative to which
the original documents still exist. Of these, some have been made for
religious purposes, others as rewards or provision for relatives or
the higher nobility. These alienations, as far as it was justly in the
power of the sovereign to make, must certainly be held sacred; but
their extent should be clearly defined, that the rights of others be
not compromised by them. The government share, when granted, will not
be reclaimed; but the rights of the cultivator must not be affected
by these grants. Such proprietors of revenue, as they may be termed,
shall in short be allowed to act, with regard to the cultivators on
their estates, as government acts towards those on its own lands,
that is, they shall receive a fixed share of the produce, but whilst
that is duly delivered, they shall neither exact more nor remove any
individual from his land." It is remarked by Major Yule, the British
resident, in his Report on Bantam, that there, "all property in the
soil is vested exclusively in the hands of the sovereign power; but
in consequence of its having been long customary to confer grants of
land upon the different branches of the royal family, and other chiefs
and favourites about court, a very small portion was left without some
claimant or other. The _púsákas_ granted to the relations of the
Sultan were considered as real property, and sometimes descended to the
heirs of the family, and at others were alienated from it by private
sale. To effect a transfer of this nature, the previous sanction of the
Sultan was necessary, after which the party waited on the high priest,
or _Mangku-bumi_, who made the necessary inquiries, and delivered the
title deeds to the purchaser, in which were specified the situation,
extent, boundaries, and price of the land sold. A register of sales
was kept by the priests, the purchaser paying the fees; and it rarely
occurred that lands sold in this manner were ever resumed by the
crown, without some adequate compensation being made to the purchaser.
_Púsákas_ given to chiefs for services performed, were recoverable
again at pleasure, and always reverted to the crown on the demise of
the chief to whom they had been granted: in all other respects, the
same privileges were annexed to them as to the former. The holders of
_púsáka_ lands were very seldom the occupants; they generally remained
about the court, and on the approach of the rice harvest deputed
agents to collect their share of the crop. They do not let their
lands for specific periods. The cultivators are liable to be turned
out at pleasure, and when ejected, have no claims to compensation
for improvements made while in possession, such as water-courses, or
plantations of fruit trees made by themselves or their parents."
"We must make a distinction," say the Dutch Commissioners appointed to
investigate this subject in 1811, "between the _Príangén_ regencies,
the province of _Chéribon_, and the eastern districts. Throughout the
whole extent of the _Príangen_ regencies exists a pretended property
on uncultivated lands, on which no person can settle without the
consent of the inhabitants of that _désa_, or village. In the _sáwah_
fields, or cultivated lands, every inhabitant, from the Regent down to
the lowest rank, has a share, and may act with it in what manner he
pleases, either sell, let, or otherwise dispose of it, and loses that
right only by leaving the village in a clandestine manner.
"In the province of _Chéribon_, according to the ancient constitution,
each district and _désa_, like the _Príangen_ regencies, has its own
lands; with the difference, however, that whilst those regencies are
considered as belonging to villages and individuals, here the villages
and lands are altogether the pretended property of the chiefs, or of
the relations or favourites of the Sultans, who even might dispose of
the same, with one exception, however, of that part allotted to the
common people. Sometimes the Sultans themselves were owners of _désas_
and chiefs of the same; in which case the inhabitants were better
treated than in the former instances. If an individual thought himself
wronged by the chief, who either sold, hired out, or otherwise disposed
of his lands, he took his revenge, not on that chief, but on the person
who held possession of the property. To corroborate this statement it
may be mentioned, that the lands in the district of _Chéribon_ were for
the most part farmed out to Chinese, who increased their extortions
in proportion as the chief raised his farm or rent, and thus almost
deprived the common people of all their means.
"On the north-east coast of the eastern districts, no person can be
called a proprietor of rice fields or other lands: the whole country
belongs to government, and in this light do all the Regents consider
it. The rice fields of a regency are divided among the whole of the
population: in the division the chiefs have a share, according to their
rank, occupations, or taxes they are paying.
"The chief enjoys his lands as long as he holds his station; the
common people for a year only, when it falls to the share of another
inhabitant of the _désa_, or village, that all may reap a benefit from
it in turn. The ideas of the Javans concerning tenures, thus appear to
be of three kinds: in the _Súnda_ division they consist in allotting
to the villages of uncultivated, and to individual persons of certain
portions in the cultivated or sáwah fields: in _Chéribon_, the sultans
and chiefs, as well as the common people, assert pretensions to similar
allotments: in the eastern districts, on the contrary, nobody pretends
to the possession of land; every one is satisfied with the regulation
laid down, but if a man's share is withheld, he is apt to emigrate. No
person considers himself bound to servitude. The Javans, however, in
the _Príang'en_ regencies, in _Chéribon_, and in the eastern districts,
pretend to have an unquestionable right to all the fruit trees and
_síri_ plants, at or near their _kámpung_ or _désa_."
"There is not," says Mr. Knops, another of the Dutch Commissioners,
"a single Javan, who supposes that the soil is the property of the
Regent, but they all seem to be sensible that it belongs to government,
usually called the sovereign among them; considering the Regent as a
subject like themselves, who holds his district and authority from
the sovereign. His idea of property is modified by the three kinds
of subjects to which it is applied: rice fields, _gâgas_, and fruit
trees. A Javan has no rice fields he can call his own; those of which
he had the use last year will be exchanged next year for others. They
circulate (as in the regency of _Semárang_) from one person to another,
and if any one were excluded, he would infallibly emigrate. It is
different with the _gágas_, or lands where dry rice is cultivated: the
cultivator who clears such lands from trees or brushwood, and reclaims
them from a wilderness, considers himself as proprietor of the same,
and expects to reap its fruits without diminution or deduction. With
regard to fruit trees, the Javan cultivator claims those he has planted
as his legal property, without any imposts: if a chief were to trespass
against this right, the village would soon be deserted. The Javan,
however, has not, in my opinion, any real idea of property even in his
fruit trees, but usage passes with him for a law. All dispositions made
by the chief, not contrary to custom or the _ádat_, are considered as
legal, and likewise all that would contribute to ease the people, by
lessening or reducing the capitation tax, the contingent, the feudal
services, in short all the charges imposed upon them. A different
system would be contrary to custom. Whatever favours the people is
legal, whatever oppresses them is an infraction of the custom."
The tenure of land in the native provinces is the same generally as
in the eastern districts. Thus stands the question with regard to the
proprietary right to the soil in Java; but it is of more consequence
in an agricultural point of view, and consequently more to my present
purpose, to inquire how that right is generally exercised, than in
whom it resides. Though the cultivator had no legal title to his lands,
there might still be such a prevalent usage in favour of his perpetual
occupancy, as would secure him in the enjoyment of his possession,
and enable him to reap the fruits of his industry equally with the
protection of his positive law.
But unfortunately for the prosperity of the people, this was far from
being generally the case. The cultivator had little security for
continued occupancy, but the power, on his part, of enduring unlimited
oppression without removing from under it, or the interest of his
immediate superior in retaining a useful slave; and as he could not
expect to reap in safety the fruits of his industry, beyond the bare
supply of his necessities, he carried that industry no farther than
his necessities demanded. The sovereign knew little about the state of
his tenantry or the conduct of his agents, and viewed the former only
as instruments to create the resources, which the latter were employed
to collect or administer. All his care was to procure as much from the
produce of the soil and industry of his subjects as possible, and the
complaints of the people, who suffered under the exactions of these
chiefs, were intercepted on their way to the throne, and perhaps would
have been disregarded had they reached it. The sovereign delegates his
authority over a province of greater or less extent, to a high officer
called _Adipáti_, _Tumúng'gung_, or _Ang'ebái_, who is himself paid
by the rent of certain portions of land, and is responsible for the
revenues of the districts over which he is appointed. He, in his turn,
elects an officer, called _Demáng_ or _Mántridésa_, to administer the
subdivisions or districts of the province, to appoint the chiefs, and
to collect the rents of several villages. The village chief, _Búkul_,
_Lúrah_, or whatever designation he bears in the different parts of
the island, thus appointed by his immediate superior, is placed in
the administration of the village, required to collect the government
share of the crop from the cultivator, and to account for it to the
_Demáng_. In some provinces, the village elects its own chief, called
_Petíng'gi_, who exercises similar functions with the _Búkul_ appointed
by government, as will be afterwards more particularly observed in
the account of the native administration. As all the officers of
government, of whatever rank, are paid their salaries in the produce
of the land, the _Búkuls_ and the _Demángs_ become responsible for the
share of the appropriations of villages to this account, as much as
if it went into the government treasury. They are themselves paid by
the reservation of a certain share of what they collect, and of course
are always ready to please their employers, and to increase their own
emoluments, by enforcing every practicable exaction. Every officer
has unlimited power over those below him, and is himself subject to
the capricious will of the sovereign or his minister. When the Regent
makes any new or exorbitant demand upon those whom he immediately
superintends, they must exact it with an increased degree of rigor over
the chiefs of villages, who are thus, in their turn, forced to press
upon the cultivator, with the accumulated weight of various gradations
of despotism.
The _Búkul_, or the _Petíng'gi_ is the immediate head of the village,
and however much his authority is modified in particular districts,
has always extensive powers. To the cultivators, he appears in the
character of the real landholder, as they have no occasion to look
beyond him to the superior, by whom he is controlled. He distributes
the lands to the different cultivators on such shares, and in such
conditions, as he pleases, or as custom warrants, assesses the rents
they have to pay, allots them their village duties, measures the
produce of their fields, and receives the government proportion. He
sometimes himself cultivates a small portion of land, and in so far
is regarded only as a tenant, like the rest of the villagers. He is
accountable for all the collections he realizes, with the reservation
of a fifth part for his trouble, which share must be viewed merely
as the emoluments of office, and not as the rent of the landlord, or
the profits of a farmer. He sometimes holds his situation immediately
of the sovereign, or by the election of the cultivators; but more
generally from the intermediate agent of government, whom I have
mentioned above, to whom he is accountable for his receipts. By his
superior he may be removed at pleasure; although the local knowledge
and accumulated means, which are the consequence of the possession of
office, generally insure its duration to his person for a considerable
period, or as long as his superior himself retains his power.
The lands which he superintends and apportions range from six or seven
to double that number of _jungs_, or from forty or fifty to an hundred
acres English, and these are divided among the inhabitants of his
village, generally varying from about two acres to half an acre each.
That this minute division of land takes place, may be shewn from the
surveys made under the British government in the eastern provinces,
which nearly resemble those under the dominion of the native princes,
and consequently may be taken as indicating the general state of the
island. The inhabitants in the agricultural districts of the residency
of _Surabáya_ amount in all to 129,938: these compose 33,141 families,
of which 32,618 belong to the class of cultivators, and 523 belonging
to other professions pay only a ground rent for their houses. The area
of the province contains about twelve hundred square miles, or 34,955
_jungs_, about 20,000 only of which are cultivated, so as to become of
any consequence in the division of lands among the villages, the number
of which amount to 2,770. By a calculation founded on these data, it
would appear, that each village averages about twelve families, that
a family falls considerably short of the average of four, and that a
little more than seven _jungs_ are allotted to a village. In _Kedú_ the
population amounts to 197,310, the number of villages to 3879, and the
quantity of cultivated land to 19,052 _jungs_; so that in this province
there are about five _jungs_ attached to a village; and a village is
inhabited by fifty-one souls, or about twelve or thirteen families.
In _Grésik_, the number of villages amount to 1396, the quantity of
cultivated land to 17,018 _jungs_, and the population to 115,442
souls. In _Probalíng'o_ and _Besúki_, the numbers are--of inhabitants,
104,359; of villages, 827; of cultivated land, 13,432 _jungs_. In these
two last the proportions vary, the number of _jungs_ to a village in
the former being more than twelve, and of inhabitants more than eighty,
or about twenty families; and in the latter, the proportion is more
than one hundred and twenty souls to a village possessed of more than
sixteen _jungs_ of land. It would be superfluous to state any more
examples. In different parts of the island, there are variations within
certain limits; but the quantity of land occupied by one cultivator
seldom exceeds a _báhu_, (or the quarter of a _jung_), although
the quantity occupied by a village, as will be seen by the above
instances, varies from five to sixteen, according to the extent of the
population.
The land allotted to each separate cultivator is managed by himself
exclusively; and the practice of labouring in common, which is usual
among the inhabitants of the same village on continental India, is
here unknown. Every one, generally speaking, has his own field, his
own plough, his own buffaloes or oxen; prepares his farm with his
own hand, or the assistance of his family at seed-time, and reaps
it by the same means at harvest. By the recent surveys, when every
thing concerning the wealth and the resources of the country became
the subject of inquiry, and means were employed to obtain the most
accurate information, it was ascertained, that the number of buffaloes
on that part of the island to which these surveys extended, was nearly
in the proportion of one to a family, or a pair to two families; and
that, including the yokes of oxen, which are to those of buffaloes as
one to three, this proportion would be very much exceeded. In some
provinces, more exclusively devoted to grain cultivation, the number of
ploughs, and of course oxen or buffaloes, nearly amounts to one to a
family. In other cases, where they fall much short of this proportion,
a considerable part of the inhabitants must be engaged in labours
unconnected with agriculture, or the cultivators must be engaged in
rearing produce, where the assistance of those animals is not required.
Thus in _Japára_ and _Jawána_, where the number of inhabitants is
103,290, or about twenty-six thousand families, the number of ploughs
amount to 20,730, and of buffaloes to 43,511; while in the Batavian
Regencies, where the coffee culture employs a considerable part of the
inhabitants, the number of families is about sixty thousand, and of
ploughs only 17,366. The lands on Java are so minutely divided among
the inhabitants of the villages, that each receives just as much as can
maintain his family and employ his individual industry.
"A time there was, ere England's griefs began,
When ev'ry rood of ground maintain'd its man;
For him light labour spread her wholesome store,
Just gave what life requir'd, and gave no more:
His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth."
But situated as the Javan peasantry are, there is but little
inducement to invest capital in agriculture, and much labour must be
unprofitably wasted: as property is insecure, there can be no desire
of accumulation; as food is easily procured, there can be no necessity
for vigorous labour. There exists, as a consequence of this state of
nature and of the laws, few examples of great affluence or abject
distress among the peasantry; no rich men, and no common beggars. Under
the native governments and the Regents of the Dutch Company, there
were no written leases or engagements binding for a term of years; nor
could such contracts well be expected to be formed with an officer, who
held his own place by so unstable a tenure as the will of a despot.
The cultivator bargained with the _Búkul_ or _Petíng'gi_ for a season
or for two crops, had his land measured off by the latter, and paid a
stipulated portion of the produce either in money or in kind. When the
crop had arrived at maturity, the cultivator, if his engagement was for
so much of the produce in kind, cut down his own share, and left that
of the landlord on the ground.
The proportion of the crop paid as rent varied with the kind of land,
or produce, and the labour employed by the cultivator. In the _sáwah_
lands, the share demanded by the landlord rarely exceeded one-half,
and might fall as low as one-fourth, according as the quality of the
soil was good or bad, or the labour employed in irrigating or otherwise
preparing it was greater or less. In _tégal_ lands, the rent paid
varied from one-third to one-fifth of the produce; a diminution to
be attributed to the uncertainty of the crop, and the necessity of
employing more labour to realize an equal produce than on the other
species of cultivation. In cases where there was a second crop of less
value than the principal rice or maize crop, no additional demand was
made upon the additional grain reaped by the farmer.
If such rates had been equitably fixed, after a deliberate estimate of
the proportion between the labour of the cultivator and his produce,
and if from the best kind of _sáwah_ no more than the half had been
required, with a scale of rents diminishing as labour increased or the
soil deteriorated, the peasant could have had no reason to complain of
the exactions of government A _jung_ of the best _sáwah_ lands will
produce between forty and fifty _ámats_ of _pári_, each _ámat_ weighing
about one thousand pounds. Suppose a cultivator occupied a quarter
of a _jung_ of such land, he would reap ten _ámats_, or ten thousand
pounds of _pári_, and allowing a half for the government deduction,
would still retain five thousand pounds, which is equal to about eight
quarters of wheat. The best _sáwah_ lands return about forty-fold;
_sáwah_ lands of the second quality yield from thirty to forty _ámats_
the _jung_; and they are considered of inferior quality when they yield
less than thirty. From these last, two-fifths or one-third was required
as the landlord's share. _Tégal_ lands were assessed at one-third, one
fourth, or one-fifth of their produce, according to their quality, and
their produce in value is about a fourth of _sáwah_ lands of the same
relative degree in the scale. In Bengal, according to Mr. Colebrooke's
excellent account of its husbandry, "the landlord's proportion of the
crop was one-half, two-fifths, and a third, according to the difference
of circumstances." The value in money of a crop of rice grown on a
_jung_ of the best land under the wet cultivation, may amount to one
hundred and sixty Spanish dollars; and on a _báhu_ (the space occupied
by an individual cultivator), forty dollars. I formerly stated the
price of the implements of husbandry, the price of buffaloes or oxen,
the expence of building a house, and providing it with the necessary
furniture. The whole farming stock of a villager may be purchased for
about fifteen or sixteen dollars, or for little more than a third part
of the produce of his land in one year. The price of labour, the price
of cattle and of grain, as well as the fertility of the soil, varies in
different parts of the island; but, in general, it may be laid down as
an indisputable proposition, that from the natural bounty of the soil,
the peasantry might derive all the means of subsistence and comfort,
without any great exertion of ingenuity, or any severity of toil, if
their government made no greater demand than the shares stated above.
But besides the rent which the cultivator paid for his land, he was
liable to many more grievous burdens. The great objection to a tax
levied on land, and consisting in a certain share of its produce,
arises from the effect that it has in obstructing improvements; but
there were other imposts and contributions exacted from the peasantry,
which were positively and immediately oppressive. A ground-rent for
houses, called _pachúmplang_, was prevalent over many parts of the
island, amounting in the provinces subject to the native princes,
to one-sixth or seventh of a dollar for each dwelling or cottage.
The cultivator, in some parts of the country, instead of paying this
tax, was obliged to pay for his fruit trees. In some districts there
was a capitation tax; arbitrary fines were levied in others, and
contributions on the birth or marriage of the children of the superior,
regent, or the prince. There were several charges made on the villages,
that had a more immediate reference to their own advantage, but which
nevertheless were felt as burdens; such as contributions for the repair
of roads, of bridges, for the making or repair of water-courses, dams,
and other works necessary for irrigation. Demands on the inhabitants
for charitable and religious objects or institutions are universal,
though not very oppressive. Every village has its priest, who depends
upon the contributions of the peasantry for his support, receiving so
much rice or _pári_ as his salary. The taxes on the internal trade
of the country extended to every article of manufacture, produce, or
consumption, and being invariably farmed out to Chinese, who employed
every mode of extortion that their ingenuity could invent, or the
passive disposition of the people would allow them to practice,
constituted an inexhaustible source of oppression: to these we may add
the feudal services and forced deliveries required under the Dutch
government.
The following observations extracted from two reports, the one
on _Bantam_, at the western side of the island, and the other on
_Pasúruan_, almost at its other extremity, were unhappily by no
means inapplicable to the greatest part of the intermediate space,
and contain by no means an exaggerated representation. "The holders
of _púsaka_ lands in _Bantam_ were very seldom the occupants; they
generally remained about court, and on the approach of the _pári_
harvest deputed agents to collect their share of the crop. But what
proportion their share would bear to the whole produce does not appear
to be well defined: it is by one stated at a fifth, and by some (which
I suspect to be nearest the truth) at as much as the cultivator could
afford to pay, the agents of the proprietors being the judges of the
quantity. The proprietors of the _púsakas_ have also a claim to the
services of the cultivators: a certain number of them are always in
attendance at the houses of their chiefs, and on journies are employed
in carrying their persons and baggage. The lands not _púsaka_ used to
pay the same proportion of produce to the Sultan as the others did to
the proprietors; but the cultivators of the royal dominions laboured
under greater disadvantages than the others. Every chief or favourite
about court had authority to employ them in the most menial offices;
and chiefs possessing _púsakas_, often spared their own people and
employed the others. The Sultan always had a right to enforce the
culture of any article which he thought proper to direct; and, in such
cases, a price was paid upon the produce, which was generally very
inadequate to the expences."
"It may be very desirable," says Mr. Jourdan, in his report on the
completion of the settlement of _Pasúruan_, "that I should mention
a few of the oppressions from which it is the object of the present
system to relieve the people. I cannot but consider the greatest of
these, the extent of the personal service demanded, not only by the
_Tumúng'gung_ and his family, but the _Mántris_ and all the petty
chiefs, who had trains of followers that received no stipendiary
recompence. These added to the individuals employed in the coffee
plantations (to which they appear peculiarly averse), in beating out
the rice for the contingent, in cutting grass for and attending the
_jáyang sekárs_, post carriage and letter-carriers, may be calculated
to have employed one-fifth of the male population of the working men.
Another great source of exaction was the large unwieldy establishment
of _jáyang sekárs_, and police officers: the former were liberally
paid, the latter had no regular emoluments. Both these classes,
however, quartered themselves freely in whatever part of the country
their functions demanded their attendance. This was equally the case
with any of the Regent's family or petty chiefs who travelled for
pleasure or on duty. Whatever was required for themselves and their
followers, was taken from the poor inhabitants, who have now been so
long accustomed to such practices, that they never dare to complain
or to remonstrate. The European authority did not escape the taint of
corruption. Monopolies, unpaid services, licences, forced or at least
expected presents, were but too common even in the best times, and must
have contributed to estrange the affections and respect of the natives
from that power which should have afforded them protection. From this
faint sketch it will be deduced, that while the men of rank were living
in pampered luxury, the poor provincials were suffering penury and
distress."
The Dutch Company, actuated solely by the spirit of gain, and viewing
their Javan subjects with less regard or consideration than a
West-India planter formerly viewed the gang upon his estate, because
the latter had paid the purchase money of human property which the
other had not, employed all the pre-existing machinery of despotism,
to squeeze from the people their utmost mite of contribution, the last
dregs of their labour, and thus aggravated the evils of a capricious
and semi-barbarous government, by working it with all the practised
ingenuity of politicians, and all the monopolizing selfishness of
traders.
Can it therefore be a subject of surprize, that the arts of agriculture
and the improvement of society, have made no greater advances in Java?
Need it excite wonder, that the implements of husbandry are simple;
that the cultivation is unskilful and inartificial; that the state
of the roads, where European convenience is not consulted, is bad;
that the natural advantages of the country are neglected; that so
little enterprize is displayed or capital employed; that the peasant's
cottage is mean, and that so little wealth and knowledge are among
the agricultural population; when it is considered, that the occupant
of land enjoys no security for reaping the fruits of his industry;
when his possession is liable to be taken away from him every season,
or to suffer such an enhancement of rent as will drive him from it;
when such a small quantity of land only is allowed him as will yield
him bare subsistence, and every ear of grain that can be spared from
the supply of his immediate wants, is extorted from him in the shape
of tribute; when his personal services are required unpaid for, in
the train of luxury or in the culture of articles of monopoly; and
when, in addition to all these discouragements, he is subject to other
heavy imposts and impolitic restraints? No man will exert himself,
when acting for another, with so much zeal as when stimulated by his
own immediate interest; and under a system of government, where every
thing but the bare means of subsistence is liable to be seized, nothing
but the means of subsistence will be sought to be attained. The Dutch
accuse the Javans of indolent habits and fraudulent dispositions; but
surely the oppressor has no right to be surprized, that the oppressed
appear reluctant in his service, that they meet his exactions with
evasion, and answer his call to labour with sluggish indifference.
The mode of dividing land into minute portions is decidedly favourable
to population, and nothing but those checks to the progress of
agriculture, to which I have referred, could have limited the
population of Java to numbers so disproportioned to its fertility, or
confined the labours of the peasantry to so small a space of what would
reward their industry with abundance. The cultivated ground on the
Island has already been estimated at an eighth part of the whole area.
In _Probolíng'o_ and _Besúki_, the total number of _jungs_ of land
amount to 775,483, the total of land capable of superior cultivation
174,675 _jungs_, while the space actually cultivated amounts only to
13,432 _jungs_. In _Rembáng_, the land belonging to villages is about
40,000 _jungs_, and not the half of that quantity is under cultivation.
In _Pasúruan_, the same appearances are exhibited. From this last
district the Resident's report on the settlement states, as a reason
for his assessing the same rent on all the land, "that the cultivated
part bearing so small a proportion to the uncultivated, the inhabitants
have been enabled to select the most fruitful spots exclusively:
hence arises the little variety I have discovered in the produce."
_Chéribon_, Bantam, the _Priang'en_ regencies, the eastern corner of
the Island, the provinces under the native governments, and in short
the greatest and most fertile districts, furnish striking illustrations
of this disproportion between the bounty of nature and the inefficient
exertions of man to render her gifts available, to extend population,
and to promote human happiness; or rather they supply an example of
unwise institutions and despotic government, counteracting the natural
progress of both.
When the British arms prevailed in 1811, the attention of government
was immediately turned to the state and interests of its new subjects.
It saw at once the natural advantages of the Island and the causes
which obstructed its prosperity, and it determined to effect those
changes which, having succeeded in Western India, and being sanctioned
by justice and expediency, were likely to improve those advantages and
to remove those obstructions. In consequence of the instructions of
Lord Minto, the Governor-General, who was present at the conquest, and
took a great interest in the settlement of the Island, no time was lost
to institute inquiries and to collect information on the state of the
peasantry, and the other points, the knowledge of which was necessary,
before any attempt to legislate could be wisely or rationally made. The
following principles, laid down by his Lordship, were those on which
the local government acted.
"Contingents of rice, and indeed of other productions, have been
hitherto required of the cultivators by government at an arbitrary
rate: this also is a vicious system, to be abandoned as soon as
possible. The system of contingents did not arise from the mere
solicitude for the supply of the people, but was a measure alone of
finance and control, to enable government to derive a revenue from
a high price imposed on the consumer, and to keep the whole body of
the people dependent on its pleasure for subsistence. I recommend a
radical reform in this branch to the serious and early attention of
government. The principle of encouraging industry in the cultivation
and improvements of lands, by creating an interest in the effort and
fruits of that industry, can be expected in Java only by a fundamental
change of the whole system of landed property and tenure. A wide field,
but a somewhat distant one, is open to this great and interesting
improvement; the discussion of the subject, however, must necessarily
be delayed till the investigation it requires is more complete. I shall
transmit such thoughts as I have entertained, and such hopes as I have
indulged in this grand object of amelioration; but I am to request
the aid of all the information, and all the lights, that this Island
can afford. On this branch, nothing must be done that is not mature,
because the exchange is too extensive to be suddenly or ignorantly
attempted. But fixed and immutable principles of the human character
and of human association, assure me of ultimate, and I hope not remote
success, in views that are consonant with every motive of action that
operate on man, and are justified by the practice and experience of
every flourishing country of the world."
In compliance with these instructions, the object of which was embraced
with zeal by the local government, to whom his lordship entrusted the
administration of the Island, a commission was appointed, under the
able direction of Colonel Mackenzie, to prosecute statistic inquiries;
the results of which, as corrected and extended by subsequent surveys,
will frequently appear in the tables and statistic accounts of this
work. The nature of the landed tenure, and the demand made upon
agriculture, in all the shapes of rent and taxes, were ascertained; the
extortions practised by the Dutch officers, the native princes, the
regents, and the Chinese, were disclosed; the rights of all classes, by
law or usage, investigated; the state of the population, the quantity
and value of cultivated land, of forests, of plantations of cotton
and coffee, the quantity of live stock, and other resources of the
country subject to colonial administration, inquired into and made
known. The result of these inquiries, with regard to landed tenure, I
have given above; and, as it will be seen, it was such as opposed the
rights of no intermediate class between the local government and the
beneficial changes it contemplated in behalf of the great body of the
people. After attaining the requisite information, the course which
expediency, justice, and political wisdom pointed out was not doubtful,
and coincided (as in most cases it will be found to do) with the track
which enlightened benevolence, and a zealous desire to promote the
happiness of the people would dictate.
The peasant was subject to gross oppression and undefined exaction:
our object was to remove his oppressor, and to limit demand to a fixed
and reasonable rate of contribution. He was liable to restraints
on the freedom of inland trade, to personal services and forced
contingents: our object was to commute them all for a fixed and
well-known contribution. The exertions of his industry were reluctant
and languid, because he had little or no interest in its fruits: our
object was to encourage that industry, by connecting its exertions with
the promotion of his own individual welfare and prosperity. Capital
could not be immediately created, nor agricultural skill acquired; but
by giving the cultivator a security, that whatever he accumulated would
be for his own benefit, and whatever improvement he made, he or his
family might enjoy it, a motive was held out to him to exert himself
in the road to attain both. Leases, or contracts for fixed rents for
terms of years, in the commencement, and eventually in perpetuity,
seemed to be the only mode of satisfying the cultivator, that he would
not be liable, as formerly, to yearly undefined demands; while freedom
from all taxes but an assessment on his crop, or rather a fixed sum
in commutation thereof, would leave him at full liberty to devote the
whole of his attention and labour to render his land as productive as
possible.
In conformity with these views, an entire revolution was effected
in the mode of levying the revenue, and assessing the taxes upon
agriculture. The foundation of the amended system was, 1st. The
entire abolition of forced deliveries at inadequate rates, and of
all feudal services, with the establishment of a perfect freedom in
cultivation and trade: 2d. The assumption, on the part of government,
of the immediate superintendence of the lands, with the collection of
the resources and rents thereof: 3d. The renting out of the lands so
assumed to the actual occupants, in large or small estates, according
to local circumstances, on leases for a moderate term. In the course of
the following years (1814 and 1815) these measures were carried into
execution in most of the districts under our government, with a view to
the eventual establishment of a perpetual settlement, on the principle
of the _ryotwar_, or as it has been termed on Java, the _tiáng-álit_
system.
The principles of land rental and detailed settlement were few and
simple[48]. After mature inquiry, no obstacle appeared to exist,
either in law or usage, to the interference of government, in
regulating the condition of the peasantry; and it was resolved,
therefore, that it should take into its own hands the management of
that share of the land produce which was allowed to be its due, and
protect the cultivator in the enjoyment and free disposal of the
remainder. The undue power of the chiefs was to be removed, and so far
as they had a claim for support, founded either on former services or
deprivation of expected employment, they were to be remunerated in
another way. The lands, after being surveyed and estimated, were to be
parcelled out among the inhabitants of the villages, in the proportions
established by custom or recommended by expediency. Contracts were to
be entered into with each individual cultivator, who was to become the
tenant of government, and leases specifying the extent and situation
of their land, with the conditions of their tenure, were to be granted
for one or more years, with a view to permanency, if at the end of
the stipulated term, the arrangement should be found to combine
the interest of the public revenue with the welfare and increasing
prosperity of the occupant. If that was not the case, room was thus
left for a new adjustment, for a reduction of rate, or for any change
in the system which might adapt it more to the interests and wishes of
the people, without prejudice to the rights of government.
This experiment hazarded nothing, and held out every prospect of
success; it committed no injustice, and compromised no claim. The
peasantry could not suffer, because an assessment less in amount, and
levied in a less oppressive manner than formerly (all rents, taxes,
and services included), was required of them: the chiefs could not
complain, because they were allowed the fair emoluments of office,
and only restrained from oppressions which did not so much benefit
themselves as injure their inferiors. Most of the latter were not only
allowed an equivalent for their former income, but employed in services
allied to their former duties,--the collection of the revenue, and the
superintendence of the police. As the cultivator had acquired rights
which the chief could not violate, as the former held in his possession
a lease with the conditions on which he cultivated his farm, no
infringement of which could be attempted on the part of the latter with
impunity, no evil could result from employing the chiefs in collecting
the revenue of districts, while, from their practical knowledge of
the habits and individual concerns of the peasantry, of the nature
of the seasons and the crops, they were the fittest persons for the
office. For these services it seemed most expedient to pay them, either
by allowing them a certain percentage on their collections, or by
allotting them portions of land rent free. The village constitution
(which will be more particularly noticed in treating of the
institutions of the country) was preserved inviolate; and the chiefs or
head men of the villages, in many instances elected by the free will
of the villagers, were invariably continued in office as the immediate
collectors of the rents, and with sufficient authority to preserve the
police, and adjust the petty disputes that might arise within them; the
government scrupulously avoiding all unnecessary interference in the
customs, usages, and details of these societies.
In looking at the condition of the peasantry, and in estimating the
fertility of the soil, the wants of the people, and the proportion of
produce and industry that they formerly were accustomed to pay for
supporting the establishments of government, it was thought reasonable
to commute all former burdens into a land rent on a fixed principle;
all _sáwah_ lands being estimated by the _pári_, or unhusked rice,
they could produce, and all _tégal_ lands by their produce in maize.
The following (as stated in the eighty-third article of the Revenue
Instructions) was considered as the fairest scale for fixing the
government share, and directed to be referred to, as much as possible,
as the general standard:
For _Sáwah_ Lands.
1st sort One-half of the estimated produce.
2d do. Two-fifths ditto.
3d do. One-third ditto.
For _Tégal_ Lands.
1st sort Two-fifths of the estimated produce.
2d do. One-third ditto.
3d do. One-fourth ditto.
"Government," it is said in the eighty-fifth section, "think it
necessary to declare explicitly, that they will be satisfied when
the land revenue shall be productive to them in these proportions,
determining at no future period to raise the scale; so that the
inhabitants, being thus exactly acquainted with what will form the
utmost demand on them, and resting in full confidence that government
will not exact any thing further, may in that security enjoy their
possessions in undisturbed happiness, and apply their utmost industry
to the improvement of their lands; assured that, while they conduct
themselves well, that land will never be taken from them, and that the
more productive they can render it, the more beneficial it will be for
themselves."
The government share might either be received in money or in kind from
the _sáwah_ lands; but the _tégal_ produce, though estimated in maize,
was always, if possible, to be commuted into money at the lowest price
in the market; and as cultivators generally held portions of both, this
rule, it was conceived, could not be considered generally as a hardship.
In the first settlement, leases were only granted for a year, or at
the utmost three years, and were given to intermediate renters; but in
the more detailed settlement of 1814, after sufficient information had
been collected on the state of the country, government determined to
act directly with the individual cultivator, and to lay the foundation
of a permanent system. By this latter period, the experiments have been
tried to a certain extent, and had succeeded beyond the most sanguine
expectation. Difficulties met us in the way, but they were by no means
insurmountable; there were at first imperfections in the system, but
they did not affect its principle, and were easily removed. By the
zeal, the ability, and industry of the various officers entrusted with
the execution of the duty, whatever was practicable in furtherance of
the object in which they felt deeply interested, was accomplished. In
the course of the years 1814 and 1815, the new system was introduced
into _Bantam_, _Chéribon_, and the eastern districts, over a population
of a million and a half of cultivators, not only without disturbance
and opposition, but to the satisfaction of all classes of the natives,
and to the manifest increase of the public revenue derivable from land.
In several journies which I undertook into the different provinces,
for the purposes of examining in person the effect of the progressive
system of reform which I had the happiness to introduce, and of lending
the sanction of official authority to such modifications of it as
local circumstances might render advisable, I was a pleased spectator
of its beneficial tendency, and of the security and satisfaction it
universally diffused. The cultivator, protected against all vexatious
exactions, and no longer at the beck of a tyrannical chief who made
unlimited demands upon his personal services, was beginning to feel
additional stimulants to his industry, to acquire a superior relish
for property, and to acknowledge that government and power were not
always the enemies of the lower ranks of society, or as they modestly
call themselves, _the little people (tiang-halit)_. The British
administration of Java, with all its agents, having watched the
progress of the amended system at first with vigilant anxiety, at last
saw it nearly completed with success, and rejoiced in its beneficial
operation on the prosperity, improvement, and happiness of the people.
During the two years that we retained possession of the island, after
the greatest part of its arrangements were carried into effect, we had
daily proofs of the amelioration they were producing. The cultivation
was extending, the influence of the chiefs appeared to be progressively
weakening, and the number of crimes, both from the superior industry
of the people now become interested in the result of their labours,
and from the contented tranquillity produced by an increase of the
means of subsistence, as well as from the amended system of police
(mentioned in another part of this work), was gradually diminishing.
Without troubling the reader with further details, I may mention that,
in the beginning of December 1815, a few months before I left the
island, not satisfied with my own observation or the vague report of
others, I circulated specific queries to the different residents, on
the comparative state of cultivation in the different provinces, before
the introduction of the detailed settlement, and at the latest date
to which an answer could be returned, and on the comparative number
of crimes at the same two periods, and the return was as gratifying
to humanity and benevolence as it was corroborative of the opinions
previously formed. I shall quote a few extracts from these reports. The
Resident at _Chéribon_ "cannot, from certain data, tell what progress
has been made in extending the cultivation of that province, but thinks
it has been considerable;" and adds, "I have no doubt but that a few
years of the amended system of government would render the district
of _Chéribon_, so notorious for crimes, one of the most flourishing
and valuable in any part of the island." The Resident of _Tégal_ is
nearly in similar circumstances with regard to authentic documents,
but gives a very favourable opinion, both with regard to the increase
of industry and the reduction of crimes. The return from _Kedú_ is
more definite: it states a positive increase of _tégal_ land to the
amount of thirty-six _jungs_, but a much greater increase of produce
from improved culture. The revenue afforded a sufficient proof of the
latter fact. The same favourable account is given of the state of
police and the diminution of crime. No data are given in the report
from _Pakaláng'an_ to ascertain the additional quantity of rice lands
brought into cultivation; but an opinion is expressed, that it has
increased; and an assurance is afforded, that the culture of indigo
and tobacco has sensibly extended. As an evidence that the means of
subsistence are raised in greater abundance than formerly, their price
has very considerably diminished.
A commission which was appointed to inquire into the state of the
revenue, report from _Japára_ the great facility there was in
collecting the revenue under the amended system, and certify its
beneficial effects in extending cultivation, securing tranquillity,
promoting industry, and diminishing crimes. The same commission
conclude their report of _Grésik_ with similar assurances of the happy
results of the revenue, and judicial arrangements for the prosperity
of that province. The Resident of _Rembáng_ gives an increase of
cultivation of fifty-two _jungs_ of _sáwah_ and about thirteen of
_tégal_ land, and accounts for the smallness of this increase from
the comparative sterility of the soil, and the precarious supply of
water. Indigo had not increased, but tobacco had to a great degree. The
vigilance of the police, and the ameliorating effects of the revenue
settlement, are seen, it is said, in the improved state of morals. In
_Surabáya_ it is stated, that during the time the amended system had
been in action, there had been an increase of three hundred and twenty
government _jungs_, making upwards of two thousand English acres. In
the residency of _Pasúruan_ there is an increase of cultivation to
the amount of three hundred and six _jungs_: this, however, does not
comprehend the whole advantage that the new system produced in that
province, for industry had been so much promoted by it, as to obtain
two crops within the year, on many of the lands where the cultivator
was formerly content with one. It is needless to enter into any further
particulars, to shew the advantages of the regulations adopted with
regard to the settlement of the landed revenue.
By a steady adherence to a system which, even in its origin, was
productive of such fruits, by continuing to the peasant the protection
of laws made for his benefit, by allowing full scope to his industry,
and encouraging his natural propensity to accumulate, agriculture on
Java would soon acquire a different character: it would soon become
active and enterprising; there would soon be created a difference
in farms and in the circumstances of individuals; capital would be
fixed and augmented in the hands of the skilful and the industrious
among the cultivators; the idle and the indifferent would relinquish
their possessions in their favour; roads, intercourse, and markets
would be increased, the organization of society would be changed,
and an improved race would shew themselves, in some measure, worthy
of the most fertile region of the globe. What Egypt and Sicily were
in different ages to the south of Europe, Java might become to the
south of Asia and the Indian Archipelago. From the exertion with which
the British government endeavoured to lay the foundation of such
improvements, at first amid the embarrassments of a recent conquest,
and latterly with the prospect of only an intermediate possession; from
the attachment it cherished for a people whose gratitude it deserved
and acquired, and from the interest that every friend of humanity must
feel in the anticipation of seeing this highly favoured island, the
metropolis, the granary, and the centre of civilization to the vast
regions between the coast of China and the Bay of Bengal, it might
have been expected, that those who were instrumental in introducing
the late arrangements, should watch with peculiar anxiety the first
movements of the power to which the colony was transferred, and should
look into the regulations for its Indian empire for the support, or
the death-blow, of the most animating hopes. It must therefore be
with peculiar satisfaction that we see, with regard to the freedom of
cultivation, the Dutch government sanctions what we had done, and gives
our regulations permanency by embodying them in its colonial policy.
In articles seventy-eight and seventy-nine of the fundamental laws for
the civil, judicial, and mercantile administration of India[49], we
find the following enactments. "The free cultivation of all articles of
produce which may be raised in the possessions of the state in India,
is granted to the inhabitants of these possessions; with the exception
of cloves, nutmegs, and opium, and without prejudice to the regulations
which might be adopted concerning the contingents and forced
deliveries, which on a resumption of these possessions out of the hands
of the English, will be found to be continued in force. All the fruits
of cultivation raised within the possessions of the states beyond the
forced deliveries, and every kind of produce not comprehended under
the exceptions mentioned above, are to be the lawful property of the
cultivator. The free unrestrained disposal thereof belongs to him of
right, as soon as the land rent assessed thereon, either in kind or
money, shall be paid. It is the duty of the Indian administration to
maintain him in these rights." Let him be maintained in those rights,
and the Dutch government will realize a revenue far beyond the amount
of their former assessments, without, as formerly, disgracing the
Europeans in the eyes of the Asiatic, by their weakness, corruption,
and injustice.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] See Treaties of the Dutch with the Native Princes.
[47] This article has never been a contingent or forced delivery with
the Dutch; and its extensive cultivation in the district of Kedu
gives a proof of what the natives will do if not interfered with by
European monopoly. The _Kedú_ is, in consequence of this cultivation,
by far the richest province in the island, giving an annual revenue
to the government, in money, of half a million of rupees. This
important district was never subjected to the Dutch government: it was
transferred to the British in 1812, and immediately fell under the
Revenue System.
[48] These principles were contemplated as just and practicable by a
Dutch authority (Van Hogendorp) who resided on Java, and criticized
freely the measures of administration, as will appear from the
following extracts from a work, which only came into my possession
subsequently to the introduction of the new system by the British
government. "Property of the soil must be introduced by granting all
the cultivated lands to those who have hitherto cultivated them, or,
in other words, to the common Javans. All the rice fields belonging
to each _désa_ should be distributed among its inhabitants, and the
gardens or spots of ground in which their cottages stand, should
also, in future, be their personal property. Correct registers hereof
should be kept, and certificates given to the different owners. Who
can produce a better and nearer right to the personal possession of
the land, than he who has cultivated and made it productive? And is
there a country in the world where the natives are happy, free, and
well settled, without having a property in the soil? Our own country,
and all the kingdoms of Europe, afford the most direct proofs of this:
they flourish in proportion as property is more or less secure and
equally divided among the inhabitants of each. All Europe groaned under
the feudal system of government: all Europe has freed itself from it;
but by various means and in different degrees. Why, therefore, can
similar changes not be brought about on Java? Every thing urges us to
make them, and the results must be important and most advantageous
to us. Java is alone able to relieve our commonwealth from all its
difficulties.
"In order to collect a land-tax properly, a general and correct survey
should, in the first instance, be effected in all the districts
belonging to us, according to an established land measure, to be
introduced generally throughout Java; for this is, at present, very
irregular. All the lands should then be divided into three classes,
first, second, and third class, according to the proportionate
fertility of the soil, and according to the same proportion the
land-tax should be established. I am very ready to admit, that this
will naturally be difficult and troublesome; but what system of
government is exempt from these inconveniences? and particularly in
this country, where it is necessary to effect a radical change and
reform, in order to produce any beneficial results? But with diligence,
zeal, and deliberation, all difficulties may be overcome; and even
should the survey not be exactly correct in the first instance, it
might be improved from year to year. The word _jung_ is now used by
the Javans for a certain measure of land; but this differs so much in
different districts, that it is impossible to ascertain how many square
roods of land a _jung_ ought to contain. The name might be retained,
however, after having found by experience how many square roods, in
general or on an average, are contained in a _jung_, the proportion
might be once for all established, introduced throughout the island,
and fixed as the regular land measure of the country. It would be
difficult, and as yet unnecessary, to calculate how many _jungs_ of
land our territories on Java contain, and how much might be collected
as a land-tax from each _jung_, in order to ascertain what this tax
would amount to. I think it should be taken as a principle, that the
land-tax can and ought to produce as much as the head-money, (namely,
a rix-dollar per head): the land-tax would then yield an annual and
certain income of at least two millions and a half of rix-dollars.
Every spot of cultivated ground being measured and settled to which
class it belongs, every owner will correctly know, how much he must
pay for land-tax annually, and be completely at liberty to plant his
land with whatever he may prefer, and may conceive most conducive to
his advantage. I am of opinion, that during the first years it would
be difficult, on account of the scarcity of specie, or rather its
absence from circulation, to collect the land-tax; but, in the same
way as with the head-money, it would be expedient, in the first years,
to be somewhat indulgent in the collection, or else to receive produce
in lieu of money, which might be done in this tax better than the
capitation. But after five years of good administration, I am certain
that the land-tax would be fully and without difficulty collected."
[49] Dated 1815.