[46] See Treaties of the Dutch with the Native Princes.
[47] This article has never been a contingent or forced delivery with the Dutch; and its extensive cultivation in the district of Kedu gives a proof of what the natives will do if not interfered with by European monopoly. The _Kedú_ is, in consequence of this cultivation, by far the richest province in the island, giving an annual revenue to the government, in money, of half a million of rupees. This important district was never subjected to the Dutch government: it was transferred to the British in 1812, and immediately fell under the Revenue System.
[48] These principles were contemplated as just and practicable by a Dutch authority (Van Hogendorp) who resided on Java, and criticized freely the measures of administration, as will appear from the following extracts from a work, which only came into my possession subsequently to the introduction of the new system by the British government. "Property of the soil must be introduced by granting all the cultivated lands to those who have hitherto cultivated them, or, in other words, to the common Javans. All the rice fields belonging to each _désa_ should be distributed among its inhabitants, and the gardens or spots of ground in which their cottages stand, should also, in future, be their personal property. Correct registers hereof should be kept, and certificates given to the different owners. Who can produce a better and nearer right to the personal possession of the land, than he who has cultivated and made it productive? And is there a country in the world where the natives are happy, free, and well settled, without having a property in the soil? Our own country, and all the kingdoms of Europe, afford the most direct proofs of this: they flourish in proportion as property is more or less secure and equally divided among the inhabitants of each. All Europe groaned under the feudal system of government: all Europe has freed itself from it; but by various means and in different degrees. Why, therefore, can similar changes not be brought about on Java? Every thing urges us to make them, and the results must be important and most advantageous to us. Java is alone able to relieve our commonwealth from all its difficulties.