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with some knowledge of its circumstances, should 

 view, with some alarm, the daily increasing tendency 

 of Englishmen to apply to India, in full detail, sys- 

 tems of Political Economy, adapted to a people in 

 a high state of civilization, living under a constitu- 

 tion free as air a constitution which, if granted to 

 India but for a day, the first act of the legislature 

 would be to vote every Englishman out of the coun- 

 try. Now, though I say this deliberately, I would 

 not be understood to imply that the British Govern- 

 ment is obnoxious to the natives of this country. 

 I simply mean to assert, that the ideas, characteristics 

 religions &c. of the two nations are distinct; that the 

 masses here, are too ignorant to have any political 

 opinions at all ; and that in respect of place 

 and power, the upper ten thousand of India are in 

 no way dissimilar to other people a fact which the 

 rebellion of 1857-58 I think, pretty clearly esta- 

 blished. But be this as it may, it will not follow 

 that, because they are willing to undertake the task 

 of managing their own affairs, they are competent 

 to perform it efficiently. On the contrary, to 

 place before the public satisfactory arguments and 

 proofs of the converse of this proposition, is the 

 sole object of this digression. For, what I 

 desire to maintain is, that in proportion as the 

 great mass of the people of India, because they 

 are in a very early stage of civilization, are unfit- 

 ted for self Government, in such ratio is it the 



