ment reserving to itself the option of adjusting,it
by a inference to the former, at stated but distant
periods of time. The public sale of the government
lands would place at the disposal of the state,
for a long period of years, a large fund applicable
to the general charges of government, or to particular
improvements. Strangers of enterprise and
capital, chiefly from Europe and China, would
be encouraged to settle; improvement would be
rapid; and, long before the sale of the whole
lauds, the prosperity and wealth of the society
would furnish, if necessary, other sources of public
reyenue, which would far more than compensate
for any imaginary loss.
According to Mr Ricardo, a tax on rent falls
wholly upon landlords, cannot be shifted to any
class of consumers, ' and cannot discouraoge the cul- tivation of new lands, for such lands pay no rent.
In Java, or any country similarly situated, where
there are no landlords, and the sovereign is the
sole proprietor, it is evident, therefore, that the
whole of what is strictly the true rent of land, excluding
the produce of capital laid out in improvements,
might be taken by the state as tax, without
injury or injustice to any class of society. If,
along with this, we take into consideration the
extraordinary productive powers of the soil of Java,
it will not be too much to assert, that no government
was ever presented with so favourable an
opportunity of organizing a system of taxation so
certain, productive, and beneficial, as the administration
of that island has it now in its power to
establish.
In speculating upon this vital question I must
here remark, that it is upon the justice, liberality,
and entire equality, in this as well as all other great
questions of legislation, with which the different
classes of inhabitants are considered, that the prosperity
of European colonies, so circumstanced as
those in the Indian islands, must mainly depend.
Difference of colour and language are the great
obstacles to the happiness, improvement, and civilization
of mankind in such situations. We
have the fatal example of the Spanish colonies of
America to warn us against the danger and impolicy
of laws, the tendency of which is to create castes.
No specific regulation should, therefore, exist for
the peculiar protection of any one class. This is not
a matter for legislative interference. Every class
should be permitted to enter freely into contracts
with another ; and the dark-coloured races should
not be looked upon as minors under the guardianship
of the state, or their imbecility will be increased
and perpetuated, while their morals will be corrupted
by the temptation to evasion and chicanery which
the very laws themselves will hold out. I cannot
better impress this subject upon the mind of the reader
than by quoting the high authority of that en