466 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
differently on this aspect of the question were not then prepared to go to the length of joining a bimetallic union, although they did not see any objection to doing so “if a sufficiently large number of other Governments were prepared to join” in it. With the growth of their financial difficulties, however, this slender faith in bimetallism considerably deepened, so much so that in 1886 the Government addressed to the Secretary of State a despatch* urging him to take the initiative in calling an International Monetary Conference to establish a stable ratio between gold and silver. So intense was its interest in the consummation of bimetallism that it did not hesitate to administer a sharp rebuke to the Treasury when they negatived its suggestion referred to them for consideration by the Secretary of State.† With such feelings of faith and hope the Government of India entered these international Conferences and watched their fortunes. But no Government could have been treated with such suspicion and injustice as was the Government of India. Its admission to the bimetallic union was desired by none of the Powers, not even by England.‡ It was treated as a villain whose advances were nothing but manoeuvres to pounce upon the already dwindling stock of gold. Not only was it planned to keep India out of the bimetallic union, but she was to be required to pledge herself not to take a mean advantage of the union after its efforts had succeeded in establishing a stable ratio by making gold legal tender.§ All these guarantees the Government of India had offered in a pathetic faithfulness to the cause of bimetallism, on the success of which it had depended so much. Consequently, when the attempt failed, the disappointment caused to the Government of India almost broke its heart. It is not too severe to say that the part played by the British authorities in causing this disappointment was highly irresponsible— one might almost say wicked. They forced India against her declared wishes to keep to the silver standard, partly to trail her off from making any demand for gold, and partly to silence the criticisms of other nations that Britain was not taking
- Dated February 2, 1886, see C. 4868 of 1886, p. 5 et. seq.
† Cf. the despatch of September 4, 1886, App. II to the First Report of the Royal Commission on Gold and Silver, 1886.
‡ Cf. the evidence before the Gold and Silver Commission of 1886 of Mr. S. Smith, Q. 4,825-30 ; also of Mr. Watney, Q. 9,427.
§ Cf. The Report of the Indian Delegates, p. 12.