24 



question to be decided belonged. But in this matter 

 no such cause is assignable. The question was dealt 

 with by one of England's best financiers a gentle- 

 man sent out purposely to India, as being perhaps 

 the most competent person in the country to restore 

 a financial equilibrium, and one long accustomed to 

 deal with similar questions in England. The late 

 Mr. Wilson's idea was, ' that a principle good in 

 one place, is good all over the world ;' * and, if it 

 was sound Economy in England, 'that those who 

 enjoy the protection of the State must pay for it in 

 accordance with their means/| he thought it must 

 also be sound in India ; and on these points no one 

 will dispute with him. He was aware of the success 

 which had attended the application of this principle 

 to a tax on incomes in England, and that no tax 

 there was more easily collected, or better calculated, 

 on any sudden emergency, to enable a Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer to turn a deficit into a surplus. Why 

 the same very simple rule should not hold good here 

 though informed by the writer of these remarks, 

 as well as by many abler men he could not 



imagine. 



Now the late Mr. Wilson was undoubtedly a very 



able man. He saw before him a yawning 1 chasm. 



/ 



He saw also that it was hourly widening, and that 

 unless immediate and extraordinary measures were 



* I quote from memory of a speech delivered in England 

 previous to his sailing for India. 



t Speech by the Eight Hon. James "Wilson, in the Legis- 

 lative Council of India, 18th February, I860. 



