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This is a question certainly involving very high 

 and important considerations a question which 

 perhaps it would be better to leave in the hands 

 of men more accustomed to deal with those pro- 

 blems of political philosophy which governments 

 are daily called on to solve, and one which I 

 should not have touched upon, were it not for 

 a confident conviction that the interests of both 

 this country arid England will be better served, if 

 questions regarding India, involving interests of 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 

 haphazard 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 understanding of the position and condi- 

 tion of India in comparison with other nations 

 of the world, I shall have accomplished my end. 



I would not, however, be understood to advocatft 

 a French centralization, nor any of those strange 

 doctrines in economic science with which we ara 

 occasionally favored from that country; nor yet 

 do I mean by the use of the term philosophical, 

 introduction of that speculative theorism, so 



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