or the vague report of-others,-1 circulated specific queries' to the xfifferent
residents, on the comparative state _of cultivation in the different, provinces,
before the intooductiotfraiofbtKe detailed .settlement and at [the .latest date to
■which an answer could'be1 returned, ■ and on- theï-comparative-numberiof
crimes at the same two’periods,' and the return was as gratifying to humanity
and benèvolenèe as-it'.was corroborative.:of '"the'opinions; previously formed.
I shall quote a few ex tracts, from Lthésè. reports. The Resident at Cheribm
“ cannot, from certain data, .tell-what progress has been.ma'dean extending
“ the cultivation of that ;pr.ovmce,\but : thinks ;it has been, considerably”
sad-adds,---«-Tv havêedo/dóiibt but that a few years of [the .amended system
*s óf ([government > would render the district ofi Ckéribon, notorious; for
(t crimes,'-•one of-thé most flourishing and valuables in any ;pa1ft^d£the
“ island.” The Resident of Tégal is nearly-in ^similar -cu.curns.taoc,es Iwith
regard to authentic documents, but gives a .very'favourable opinion;, 'both
with regard to the increase, of: industry and'the -rèductioh.of crimes.' > The
return from Kedu is more definite : it states a positive increase of ‘tégal land
to the amount of thirty-sixljtmgs,: but a much greater. inc£eaSei;öfc^.i:Q.duQe
from-, improved • culture. - - The revenue, afforded- a . sufficient; pvbofbnfihtfefe
latter fact.:: The jsame favourable' accounts is given-; óf t-he. statb of-police
and: the. diminution of:crime!-. No data are given, <m fhe*report -from-J^a&a-
lung^an to ascertain the additional quantity ofhrice-lands brought into cultivation
j. but.an opmion is expressed, that it has increased-.;-;add;ah assurance
is'afforded, that the-culture of indigo and tobacco has:sensibly .extended.
As an evidence that the means of * subsistence are; raided ;in greater abundance
tban formerly, - their priqe lias very considerably .diminished,* r
A commission which was appointed to inquire intothê state ofthere venue,
report from J ^ a n z ; the .‘great facility there was in collecting .the jrevenue
under the amended system,' an decertify tits beneficial effects in extending.cultivation,
securing tranquillity, promoting industry, and diminishing .crimes.
The Same Commission conclude their report of-.Qrésik withvsinfilar assurances
of th é happy resultsr of the revenue, and judicial arrangements for fhe.pjfps-
perity of that province.". The Resident of Rembang gives an increase ofbulti-
-vation of fifty-two jungs of sawak and about thirteen of tégcth\m$i .and
accounts for the smallness of.this: increase from the comparative .sterility,of
the soil and. the precarious supply-of water. Indigo, had n'ot increased, J^ut
tobacco had to a. great degree. The vigilance óf thé police, and the amelio-
orating effée^ of the revenue settlement, are seen, it is-said, in the improved
state of morals.' In Surabaya it is stated, that during, the time the amended
. system
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 óf Pasüruan there is an increase of cultivation to the
amount of three hundred and six ju n g s: 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, oil many of the lands where the cultivator was formerly content
with one.. I t 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
fpr his benefit, by allowing full scope to his industry, and encouraging bis
natural propensity to accumulate, agriculture on Java would soon acquire a
different character: it would soon become active and enterprizing; there
would soon be created a difference in farms and in the circumstances óf
individuals; capital would b e . fixed and augmented in the hands of the
skilful and the industrious among the cultivators j the idle and the indifferent
would relinquish their possessions in their favour; roads, intercourse, and
markets would be increased, the örganisation o f society would be changed,
and an improved race would shew themselves, in some measure, worthy of
the nfost fertile Tegion 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 j 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 civilisation
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 deathblow,
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
Y permanency