165 



ered is the alteration in the value of money in the 

 country concerned, which, as I have already shown, 

 in regard to India, is a question of much import- 

 ance. Some people talk much of the depreciation 

 in the value of the precious metals, but this is a very 

 long- process, and seems to have been introduced 

 into the argument, rather as a remnant of the old 

 confusion of ideas regarding- prices and values, than 

 from any practical bearing it has on the question 

 under discussion. Long before the quantity of the 

 precious metals in circulation in the world, could 

 influence the result of this measure, if it ever could 

 influence it at all, the gain or loss 'to the State, 

 would have been absorbed in its powerful effects for 

 good or evil on the Country. 



Now I have before stated my objections to the 

 principle of redemption, as applied to India in its 

 present circumstances, and as the principle, or at 

 least the effect of a permanent settlement of the 

 land revenue from a financial point of view, is pre- 

 cisely the same, it is superfluous to say that the 

 same objections which apply to the one, apply to the 

 other, though possibly with greater force ; and this 

 would seem to be admitted.* The measure of Lord 

 Canning was preferable, I think, to a permanent 

 settlement throughout India, because it was designed 



* Whatever advantages or disadvantages are anticipated from 

 a direct permanent settlement will be equally caused by the in- 

 direct mode of attaining the same object by the redemption of 

 the land assessment. Despatch Secy, of State, 1862. 



