By one of these Articles the tribute to be paid for the said countries No. LXXVII. held by him was to be settled in the English month of October 1792; the Cherical. Commissioners therefore having met the said Rajah, it was settled that the pepper produced in the country should all be collected for the Honourable Company, and that for the produce of the said four districts in grain and in money revenues from the 1st of the Malabar month Canny year 968 to 30th of Chigan, the said Rajah Revyvarma should pay to the Honourable Company at Tellicherry the sum of Bombay Rupees fifty thousand or its equivalent in coins of the country or in pepper at the following periods; one-half, or twenty-five thousand Rupees, on the first day of the Malabar month of Cubour answering to about the 10th February 1793; twenty-five thousand on the first of the month Eddawan, answering to about the 10th of May 1793.

ARTICLE 4.

The said sum of fifty thousand Rupees being fixed in consequence of the Rajah's representation of the inability of the country to pay more from its ruined and uncultivated state, it is agreed that if on inspection of the country by persons appointed on the part of the Honourable Company it is found that more can be collected, it is to be for the benefit of the Honourable Company. The collections to be made this year are to be according to what was usual in the time of Tippoo, that is fifty per cent. on the produce.

ARTICLE 5.

Whereas formerly it was the custom in the country of Cherical to take for the account of the Circar one-half of the pepper produced by the cultivators; in order to encourage people to plant more vines and to cultivate pepper, it is agreed that this custom be abolished, and that in the place of it the whole of the pepper be taken for the account of the Honourable Company at the rate of five Rupees per maund, or one hundred Rupees per Tellicherry candy of 640 pounds; this pepper the said Rajah agrees to collect for the Honourable Company and deliver it to them at such places as may hereafter be settled, subject to such regulations as may also hereafter be settled between the said Rajah and the Commissioners for ascertaining the quantity and the mode of collecting it without oppression by those employed by the Rajah.

No. LXXVII.

Whereas formerly in the ancient government of the Malabar country Cherical. the Nair Chiefs and many of the petty Nairs held their land without paying revenue or tribute to their Rajahs, but were only liable to follow them in war, Hyder Ally Khan Bahadoor and his son Tippoo Sultan destroyed this custom, and after examining the value of the property of every person they fixed the revenue which was to be paid, and this revenue Tippoo Sultan delivered over to the Company. The ancient custom is not to be renewed by the Rajah by giving back the lands free from tribute; the Company having their own troops do not want the military service of the Nairs, and therefore, as far as they are able from produce of the lands and gardens, they are to pay according to the jumma of Tippoo or any jumma that may hereafter be settled.

ARTICLE 7.

In the same manner from very ancient times grants were made of lands to the Pagodas and to the Brahmins, all which lands were by Hyder and Tippoo brought to account in the revenue; these lands are not to be given back on any account to the Brahmins or any thing done to prejudice the revenue of the Company; they have to defend the country and their revenue must pay their troops.

ARTICLE 8.

Whereas it is the intention of the Governor General to send round persons from Bengal to inspect this country and to form rules for collecting the revenue and for the administration of justice, the said Rajah obliges himself to agree to such regulations as it is thought fit to make, and in general at all times to agree to whatever the Honourable Company may think fit to ordain for the better management of their country and the improvement of the revenue.

ARTICLE 9.

Any minister or other persons employed by the Rajah in the government of the country or the collections of the revenues to be with the consent of the Honourable Company by their representatives; if at any time any of them misbehave they are to be dismissed.

ARTICLE 10.

MALABAR.

Any disputes which may arise relative to the revenues between the No. LXXVII. Rajah and persons in the Cherical country shall be enquired into by Cherical. the Chief of Tellicherry, and if on enquiry the demands of the Rajah are just, the aid of the Company's forces shall, if requisite, be given to compel the payment of them.

ARTICLE 11.

The assessment for this year being rated at so low a sum as Rupees fifty thousand on the representation of the Rajah of the ruined and uncultivated state of the country, the Rajah engages that his representation is justly founded; the Company received the Malabar country in preference to more valuable countries in order to afford their protection to the Malabar Rajahs and people; the return due from the Malabar Rajahs is justice and good faith as to the revenues, and any deviation in this respect is a breach of the original agreement and will leave the Company at liberty to continue their protection or not as they may think proper. These agreements are for one year and subject to the approval or disapproval of the Honourable Major General Robert Abercromby, Governor of Bombay. Signed the day and year above written and sealed with the seal of the Honourable Company.

A similar agreement as the above was, on the 23rd day of the month of October 1792, concluded at Tellicherry between the Commissioners and Porlatiry Codarvarma, Rajah of Cartinaad, with only this difference-" He agreed to give 30,000 Rupees for the talooks of Kooteepoor, Bergeirah, and Kavil, and the 36

VOL. V.

MALABAR. periods of his instalments were 15,000 Bombay Rupees on the 10th February 1793, and the remaining 15,000 Bombay Rupees on the 10th May 1793."

Nos. LXXVII. & LXXVIII. Cherical.

A similar agreement as the above was, on the 29th day of the month of October 1792, concluded at Tellicherry between the Commissioners and Karlavarma, Rajah of Cotiote, with this difference—“ He agreed to give 20,000 Rupees for the talooks Caderoor, Paichy, Cuttiady, and Tamoracherry, and the periods of his instalments were 10,000 Rupees on the 10th February 1793, and the remaining 10,000 Bombay Rupees on the 10th day of the month of May 1793."

No. LXXVIII.

Whereas an agreement for the Malabar year 968, or A. D. 1792-93, was executed by Revyvarma, Rajah of Cherical, with William Gamul Farmer, Esquire, and Major Dow, Commissioners, appointed by the Presidency of Bombay for inspecting and regulating the countries conquered on this coast by the British army during the late war with Tippoo Sultan; in which agreement it is, among other things, stipulated, 1stly-That on the part of the Honourable Company there shall be inspectors to ascertain the exact amount levied as well from the land revenues as the customs, to the end that if more be realized than the sum therein stipulated, the surplus be paid to the Company; 2ndly-That a more full and particular account shall be framed as soon as possible of the country, for which end the said Commissioners shall also have a right to appoint inspectors; 3rdly-The said Rajah of Cherical does in the said agreement bind himself to agree to all such regulations and rates as shall be formed for the collection of the revenues and the administration of justice by the Commissioners then expected from Bengal on the part of the Governor General of India; and 4thly and lastly, by the said agreement the Rajah does contract and bind himself in general and at all times to agree to whatever the Honourable Company may think fit to ordain for the better management of the country and the improvement of the revenue;

And whereas since the date of the above agreement Sir Robert Abercromby, the Governor of Bombay, and Messrs. Duncan and Boddan, Commissioners from the Governor General, having come to the Malabar coast did, in conjunction with Mr. Farmer, Mr. Page, and Major Dow, Commissioners from Bombay, determine that there should be established

one civil government subordinate to that of Bombay with suitable MALABAR. courts of justice and other establishments for the general administration No. LXXVIII, of the countries thus conquered from and ceded by Tippoo Sultan, in Cherical, the manner already particularly set forth and fully notified in the Governor of Bombay's circular letter to all the Rajahs, under date the 30th March 1792,* in pursuance of which arrangement, as well as of the aforesaid agreement of 1792, it was again in the subsequent month of July 1793 further stipulated and agreed between the Commissioners above named on the one part, and the said Rajah on the other part, for the purpose of obtaining more full and satisfactory information as to the revenue funds of the districts subordinate to the said inspectors or collectors should be appointed on the part of the Company to carry on the collections jointly with the officers of the said Rajah for the space of one year in conjunction with the Canoongoes who, it was also agreed, should be appointed as permanent or perpetual registers on the part of the Government;

And for as much as the great number of inferior chowkies, for the collection of Soongham or duties and tolls on merchandize, were found materially to discourage trade and thereby keep back the improvement of the country, it was further agreed upon and ordered, in view to the general good, that all the said inland districts, tolls, and customs places for the receipts of them should be, from the date of that writing or ekrarnamah, viz., July 1793, for ever done away and abolished, and that the duties on merchandize should be only collected on exports by sea or land to or imports from the countries beyond the Honourable Company's province of Malabar, that is from Cavay to Cochin, and as the duties thus remaining to be collected would be levied solely on the trade with foreign countries, with whom the connection can only be maintained and cultivated by the Company's Government, so it was agreed that the management of these residuary duties should be and remain with the Honourable Company to be regulated or diminished as to their rates as might best suit the public interest with foreign nations.

In pursuance therefore and execution of the above quoted agreement of 1792 and July 1793, as well as in view to what has been already

* Vide page 415.