A
zemindar is an Indian subject, and as such exposed to the common lot of
his fellows. _The mean and depraved state of a mere zemindar_ is
therefore this very dependence above mentioned on a despotic government,
this very proneness to shake off his allegiance, and this very exposure
to continual danger from his sovereign's jealousy, which are consequent
on the political state of Hindostanic governments. Bulwant Sing, if he
had been, and Cheyt Sing, as long as he was, a zemindar, stood exactly
in this _mean and depraved state_ by the constitution of his country. I
did not make it for him, but would have secured him from it. Those who
made him a zemindar entailed upon him the consequences of so mean and
depraved a tenure. Aliverdy Khan and Cossim Ali fined all their
zemindars on the necessities of war, and on every pretence either of
court necessity or court extravagance."
I beseech your Lordships seriously to look upon the whole nature of the
principles upon which the prisoner defends himself. He appeals to the
custom and usage of the Mogul empire; and the constitution of that
empire is, he says, arbitrary power. He says, that he does not know
whether any act of Parliament bound him not to exercise this arbitrary
power, and that, if any such act should in future be made, it would be
mischievous and ruinous to our empire in India.
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