85 



great national importance be treated philosophically, 

 if at the same time practically, instead of being left 

 to be worked out on the principle of a theory wholly 

 inapplicable to her .present circumstances, by the 

 hap-hazard operations of individuals irresponsible 

 agents, acting often under the exciting influence of 

 a self-interest, which need not necessarily conduce 

 to the welfare of the country; and if by these 

 remarks I can direct the attention of deeper thinkers 

 to the subject, and thus contribute to a better un- 

 derstanding of the position and condition of India 

 in comparison with other nations of the world, I 

 shall have accomplished my end. 



I would not, however, be understood to advocate 

 a French centralization, nor any of those strange 

 doctrines in economic science with which we are 

 occasionally favoured from that country ; nor yet 

 do I mean by the use of the term philosophical, 

 the introduction of that speculative theorism, so 

 much decried a few pages back. Of all systems 

 this latter is the most abominable the most mis- 

 chievous ; because, being* propped up by what are 

 called ' sound principles/ it often deceives or 

 mystifies the public, as a rule not the thinking 

 portion of the people, into the belief, that a policy 

 apparently so well considered and surely based, 

 will, in the end, be conducive to the best interests 

 of the country, whereas, all the while, it simply 

 indicates a total absence of originality of ideas, a 

 grievous want of common sense, and is the greatest 



D 2 



