The three Essays which form the chief contents of this volume were published last year in the Nineteenth Century, and I wish to express my best thanks to my friend, Mr. James Knowles, the Editor of that Review, for his kind courtesy in permitting their republication. In some introductory remarks I have endeavoured to show the importance of placing the present system of financial control on a different basis. Although it is generally supposed that the entire control over the expenditure of the revenues of India was vested in the Council of the Secretary of State by the Government of India Act of 1858, yet by an Act which was passed in 1869 the tenure of the office of the Members of Council was materially modified, and the discussion which took place when this Act was passing through Parliament plainly shows that the law had been left in a state of such extreme uncertainty by the Act of 1858 as to make inquiry into the entire subject by a Parliamentary Committee urgently necessary.

In a short Appendix to the last Essay, attention is directed to some important Amendments which, within the last few weeks, the Government of India have proposed to introduce into the Trades Licence-Tax, and some remarks are made on the intention which was at the same time expressed to relinquish the Famine Fund.

As I have always felt that Indian questions should as far as possible be discussed free from any party bias, I hope it will be found that none of the remarks contained in this volume have in any way been influenced by a feeling of political partisanship.

I desire to say how much I am indebted in the preparation of this book to my wife, who has revised the volume as it was passing through the press, and to my secretary, Mr. F. J. Dryhurst, who has acted as my amanuensis, and who has carefully verified the statistics which have been quoted from official and other documents.

HENRY FAWCETT.

Cambridge, January 21, 1880.