Summary
IN their political relations with the Mother Country, the British Constitution has raised an impassable barrier between the East Indies and the West. When British subjects settle in the latter, and when they go there to settle, they retain or have specially granted unto them all the privileges of Britons, namely, to make their own judicial regulations through their own Representatives, and their Sovereign by his Representative; in one word taxation only by representation. On this sure foundation the fabric of British colonial policy arose in the Charaibbean Archipelago, and till the rights of Englishmen are overthrown by the strong arm of despotism, it must stand, and will stand upon the same immoveable foundation. It is British residents and capital that cultivate the West Indies. The British East India subject stands in a very different situation. From the moment he embarks for India, nay, even before it, he surrenders up every political privilege which distinguishes Englishmen from the subjects of surrounding states, and yields himself, soul and body—bound hand and foot, to the mandates of a commercial but governing body, as implicitly and completely as any subject of Russia. Their authority he dare not even question or scan, or if he is bold enough to attempt it in any shape, he is sent out of the country without the intervention of judge or jury. He is not allowed to cultivate, possess, or purchase a foot of land in India. I do not mean to say, constituted as our Government in India is, that this course is improper.
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- West India Colonies , pp. 51 - 77Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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