We wanted him to
write this document in the regular form of a deed of sale; but he
said that none of his ancestors had ever yet sold their lands, and
that he would not be the first to disgrace his family, or record
their disgrace on stamped paper--it should, he was resolved, be a
deed of gift.'
'But, of course, you prevailed upon him to take the price?'
'Yes, we prevailed upon him to take two hundred rupees for the land,
and got his receipt for the same; indeed, it is so mentioned in the
deed of gift; but still the landlord, who is a near relation of the
late chief of Hatras, would persist in having the paper made out as a
deed, not of sale, but of gift. God knows whether, after all, our
grove will be secure--we must run the risk now we have begun upon
it.'
Notes:
1. This phrase is misleading. There is no want of trees in Upper
India generally; only certain limited areas are ill wooded. Most of
the districts in the plains of the Ganges and Jumna are well wooded.
2. This is a favourite doctrine of the author, often reiterated. The
absence of a powerful middle class is a characteristic, not of India
only, but of all Oriental despotisms, and the subdivision of landed
property is only one of the causes of the non-existence of such a
class.
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