ABSTRACT
The radical Scottish doctor, Orientalist, colonial administrator and lobbyist, John Crawfurd was a proponent for the creation of a utopian empire based on free trade. He worked for the British East India Company for more than twenty years and played a crucial part in the administration of the British Empire in nineteenth century Southeast Asia. Crawfurd's 1829 pamphlet was remarkable, if for no other reason than, as part of the anti-monopoly campaigns leading to the Charter Act of 1833, it helped end the Company's monopoly over the trade to China. Crawfurd had already spoken out against the British East India Company even before he ended his career with them. As a liberal proponent of imperial policy, he believed that measures should be taken to promote the welfare of Britain's colonised subjects. The liberal administrative practices of other colonising nations, like Russia, were described in glowing terms to add support to his proposed liberal colonial reforms for India.
