[356] Mill, in his _History of British India_, substantiates the thesis
that under primitive conditions the land belongs always and everywhere
to the sovereign, on evidence collected at random and quite
indiscriminately from the most varied sources (Mungo Park, Herodotus,
Volney, Acosta, Garcilasso de la Vega, Abbé Grosier, Barrow, Diodorus,
Strabo and others). Applying this thesis to India, he goes on to say:
'From these facts only one conclusion can be drawn, that the property of
the soil resided in the sovereign; for if it did not reside in him, it
will be impossible to show to whom it belonged' (James Mill, _History of
British India_ (4th edition, 1840), vol. i, p. 311). Mill's editor, H.
H. Wilson who, as Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, was
thoroughly versed in the legal relations of Ancient India, gives an
interesting commentary to this classical deduction. Already in his
preface he characterises the author as a partisan who has juggled with
the whole history of British India in order to justify the theories of
Mr. Bentham and who, with this end, has used the most dubious means for
his portrait of the Hindus which in no way resembles the original and
almost outrages humanity. He appends the following footnote to our
quotation: 'The greater part of the text and of the notes here is wholly
irrelevant. The illustrations drawn from the Mahometan practice,
supposing them to be correct, have nothing to do with the laws and
rights of the Hindus. They are not, however, even accurate and Mr.
Mill's guides have misled him.' Wilson then contests outright the theory
of the sovereign's right of ownership in land, especially with reference
to India. (Ibid., p. 305, footnote.) Henry Maine, too, is of the opinion
that the British attempted to derive their claim to Indian land from the
Mahometans in the first place, and he recognises this claim to be
completely unjustified. 'The assumption which the English first made was
one which they inherited from their Mahometan predecessors. It was that
all the soil belonged in absolute property to the sovereign,--and that
all private property in land existed by his sufferance. The Mahometan
theory and the corresponding Mahometan practice had put out of sight the
ancient view of the sovereign's rights which, though it assigned to him
a far larger share of the produce of the land than any Western ruler has
ever claimed, yet in nowise denied the existence of private property in
land' (_Village Communities in the East and West_ (5th edition, vol. 2,
1890), p. 104). Maxim Kovalevski, on the other hand, has proved
thoroughly that this alleged 'Mahometan theory and practice' is an
exclusively British legend. (Cf. his excellent study, written in
Russian, _On the Causes, the Development and the Consequences of the
Disintegration of Communal Ownership of Land_ (Moscow, 1879), part i.)
Incidentally, British experts and their French colleagues at the time of
writing maintain an analogous legend about China, for example, asserting
that all the land there had been the Emperor's property. (Cf. the
refutation of this legend by Dr. O. Franke, _Die Rechtsverhältnisse am
Grundeigentum in China_, 1903.)
[357] 'The partitions of inheritances and execution for debt levied on
land are destroying the communities--this is the formula heard nowadays
everywhere in India' (Henry Maine, op. cit., p. 113).
[358] This view of British colonial policy, expounded e.g. by Lord
Roberts of Kandahar (for many years a representative of British power in
India) is typical. He can give no other explanation for the Sepoy Mutiny
than mere 'misunderstandings' of the paternal intentions of the British
rulers. '... the alleged unfairness of what was known in India as the
land settlement, under which system the right and title of each
landholder to his property was examined, and the amount of revenue to be
paid by him to the paramount Power, as owner of the soil, was regulated
... as peace and order were established, the system of land revenue,
which had been enforced in an extremely oppressive and corrupt manner
under successive Native Rulers and dynasties, had to be investigated and
revised. With this object in view, surveys were made, and inquiries
instituted into the rights of ownership and occupancy, the result being
that in many cases it was found that families of position and influence
had either appropriated the property of their humbler neighbours, or
evaded an assessment proportionate to the value of their estates.
Although these inquiries were carried out with the best intentions, they
were extremely distasteful to the higher classes, while they failed to
conciliate the masses. The ruling families deeply resented our
endeavours to introduce an equitable determination of rights and
assessment of land revenue.... On the other hand, although the
agricultural population greatly benefited by our rule, they could not
realise the benevolent intentions of a Government which tried to elevate
their position and improve their prospects' (_Forty One Years in India_,
London, 1901, p. 233).
[359] In his _Maxims on Government_ (translated from the Persian into
English in 1783), Timur says: 'And I commanded that they should build
places of worship, and monasteries in every city; and that they should
erect structures for the reception of travellers on the high roads, and
that they should make bridges across the rivers.
'And I commanded that the ruined bridges should be repaired; and that
bridges should be constructed over the rivulets, and over the rivers;
and that on the roads, at the distance of one stage from each other,
Kauruwansarai should be erected; and that guards and watchmen should be
stationed on the road, and that in every Kauruwansarai people should be
appointed to reside....
'And I ordained, whoever undertook the cultivation of waste lands, or
built an aqueduct, or made a canal, or planted a grove, or restored to
culture a deserted district, that in the first year nothing should be
taken from him, and that in the second year, whatever the subject
voluntarily offered should be received, and that in the third year,
duties should be collected according to the regulation' (James Mill, op.
cit., vol. ii, pp. 493, 498).
[360] Count Warren, _De l'État moral de la population indigène_. Quoted
by Kovalevski, op. cit., p. 164.
[361] _Historical and Descriptive Account of British India_ from the
most remote period to the conclusion of the Afghan war by Hugh Murray,
James Wilson, Greville, Professor Jameson, William Wallace and Captain
Dalrymple (Edinburgh, 4th edition, 1843), vol. ii, p. 427. Quoted by
Kovalevski, op. cit.
[362] Victor v. Leyden, _Agrarverfassung und Grundsteuer in Britisch
Ostindien. Jahrb. f. Ges., Verw. u. Volksw._, vol. xxxvi, no. 4, p.
1855.
[363] 'When dying, the father of the family nearly always advises his
children to live in unity, according to the example of their elders.
This is his last exhortation, his dearest wish' (A. Hanotaux et A.
Letournaux, _La Kabylie et les Coûtumes Kabyles_, vol. ii, 1873, 'Droit
Civil', pp. 468-73). The authors, by the way, appraised this impressive
description of communism in the clan with this peculiar sentence:
'Within the industrious fold of the family association, all are united
in a common purpose, all work for the general interest--but no one gives
up his freedom or renounces his hereditary rights. In no other nation
does the organisation approach so closely to equality, being yet so far
removed from communism.'
[364] 'We must lose no time in dissolving the family associations, since
they are the lever of all opposition against our rule' (Deputy Didier in
the National Assembly of 1851).
[365] Quoted by Kovalevski, op. cit., p. 217. Since the Great
Revolution, of course, it had become the fashion in France to dub all
opposition to the government an open or covert defence of feudalism.
[366] G. Anton, _Neuere Agrarpolitik in Algerien und Tunesien. Jahrb. f.
Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft_ (1900), pp. 1341 ff.
[367] On June 20, 1912, M. Albin Rozet, on behalf of the Commission for
the Reform of the 'Indigenat' (Administrative Justice) in Algeria,
stated in his speech to the French Chamber of Deputies that thousands of
Algerians were migrating from the Setif district, and that 1,200 natives
had emigrated from Tlemcen during the last year, their destination being
Syria. One immigrant wrote from his new home: 'I have now settled in
Damascus and am perfectly happy. There are many Algerians here in Syria
who, like me, have emigrated. The government has given us land and
facilities to cultivate it.' The Algerian government combats this
exodus--by denying passports to prospective emigrants. (Cf. _Journal
Officiel_, June 21, 1912, pp. 1594 ff.)
_CHAPTER XXVIII_