some of the higher officials at Madras, an opposition which so far prevailed that shortly after Munro left the ceded districts the ryotwár method of settlement was superseded by a system, first of triennial, and subsequently of decennial leases, under which the revenue of an entire village was farmed to the principal ryot, or, in the event of his refusing to accept the lease, to a stranger; but under both there were heavy losses of revenue to the state and much damage to the prosperity of the country, and, after eight years' trial of the plan of leases to middlemen, a recurrence to the ryotwár system was ordered by the court of directors.
Munro left India in October 1807, carrying away with him warm encomiums from the government of Madras, and much regretted by the natives of the districts which had been for seven years under his charge, and by the officers who had served under him. He remained in England for upwards of six years, during which time he was much consulted by the government and the court of directors on the various administrative questions which came under discussion in connection with the passing of the Company's Charter Act of 1813. The evidence given by him before the House of Commons produced a most favourable impression. It was mainly through his influence that the plan of applying the zemindári system of land tenure to the whole of India was finally abandoned, and that the ryotwár system was authorised for those districts in the Madras and Bombay presidencies which had not been already permanently settled, and his views on the judicial system and on the police were so highly approved that in 1814 he was sent back to Madras on a special commission for the purpose of preparing on the spot a scheme for giving effect to them.
It was not, however, exclusively upon questions of internal Indian administration that Munro's opinion was sought at this time by the home authorities. On the question of the company's trade, which it was then proposed to throw open, and especially upon the question of extending it to the outports, as well as to London; on the question of the demand in India for European manufactures, as to the probable extent of the import trade from India, as to the policy of withdrawing the restrictions then in force upon the admission into India of Europeans not in the service of the company, and on the question of the military organisation best adapted for India—on all these questions Munro's opinion was sought, and was given in language so clear and straightforward as to compel the admiration even of those who on some points held different views. He evinced little sympathy with the outcry raised against the company's monopoly, which in his opinion had been the source of many great national advantages, enabling it to acquire the extensive dominions then under British rule in India. His views on the organisation of the Indian army were very similar to those which have been acted on since the mutiny of 1857. He regarded the establishment of English officers provided by the organisation of 1796 to be excessive, and he disapproved of the plan of appointing young officers to native regiments on first obtaining their commissions. His opinion was that every officer on first entering the service should be employed one or two years with a European regiment until he had learnt his duty, and, by making himself in some degree acquainted with the character of the natives, had become qualified to command and to act with sepoys. He deprecated a proposal to abolish the company's European regiments, and, on the contrary, like Lord Canning fifty years later, was in favour of adding to their number both in infantry and cavalry.
Before returning to India Munro married Jane, daughter of Richard Campbell of Craige House, Ayrshire, a beautiful and accomplished woman, whose picture, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, hangs in the drawing-room of Government House at Madras. Accompanied by his wife, he returned to Madras early in the autumn of 1814, and at once entered upon the duties of his commission. Mr. Stratton, one of the judges of the chief court of appeal of the presidency, was associated with him on the commission. At the outset it encountered many obstacles from the local authorities, but after a time Munro's patience and firmness triumphed, and in 1816 a series of regulations was passed involving organic changes in the judicial and police departments of the administration. The new regulations transferred the superintendence of the police, and also the functions of magistrate of the district, from the judge to the collector. They expressly recognised the employment of the village officials in the performance of police duties, and empowered the head men of villages to hear and determine petty suits. They extended the powers of native judges, they simplified the rules of practice in the courts, and legalised a system of village and district pancháyats, or courts of arbitration, to which, as being adapted to native habits and usages, Munro attached special importance.
The work of framing these regulations had not been fully completed when the outbreak of the second Mahratta war led to Munro's
