As it is, we have
admitted the right of former rulers of all descriptions to alienate
in perpetuity the land, the principal source of the revenue of the
state, in favour of their relatives, friends, and favourites, leaving
upon the holders the burthen of proving, at a ruinous cost in fees
and bribes, through court after court, that these alienations had
been made by the authorities we declare competent, before the time
prescribed; and we have thus given rise to an infinite deal of fraud,
perjury, and forgery, and to the opinion, I fear, very generally
prevalent, that we are anxious to take advantage of unavoidable flaws
in the proof required, to trick them out of their lands by tedious
judicial proceedings, while we profess to be desirous that they
should retain them. In this we have done ourselves great
injustice.[8]
Though these lands were often held for many generations under former
Governments, and for the exclusive benefit of the holders, it was
almost always, when they were of any value, in collusion with the
local authorities, who concealed the circumstances from their
sovereign for a certain stipulated sum or share of the rents while
they held office.
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