ABSTRACT
THERE was an eighteenth-century proverb that he who would bring back the riches of the East must take the riches of the East with him. This was interpreted by
Dr Johnson as meaning that the Merchant needed a stock to trade with. But there was another sense in which the proverb was true, more especially in the period with which we are dealing. For, although the English in India were making fortunes, most of their wealth came out of taxes paid, and to be paid, in England. This was a fact which few people observed at the time, and which fewer have remarked since; but it is one which may easily be ascertained from available statistics. The East India Company's affairs were being carried on at a loss, largely due to the extravagance of the Indian Governments. Instead of reducing expenses or admitting that there was no dividend to be paid, the Company's policy was to allow a huge debt to accumulate. This was partly in the hope that peace would bring prosperity again. But was there no other way of cancelling the debt? Surely, the far-seeing had already anticipated the eventual annexation of India by the Crown. And if any of the directors of the East India Company had this probability, or certainty, at the back of their minds, they were unlikely to worry very much about a debt which would ultimately be laid on the public. At least two men foresaw the fate of India and the India debt, and neither of them took much trouble to conceal his views. One was the Marquis Wellesley, and the other was William Cobbett. They differed only on the question as to whether India was worth the expense, and on this question disagreement is still possible.
