ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY 35
raised the Indian Debt to the amount of £ 30,098,857 in 1807-08 bearing a total annual interest of £ 2,339,087. After the conclusion of peace, attempts were made to lower the debts by redemptions : as a consequence of this policy the Indian Debt was brought down in 1810-11 to £ 22,545,843 and the interest to £ 1,503,434. But wars were the rule and peace the exception : and in 1819-20 by the Nepal War and the First Maratha War the Indian Debt was raised to £ 31,338,855. By 1823-24, as a result of the intervening peace, the debt was reduced but the next year the First Burmese War of
1824-25 raised it to £ 38,316,486. In 1835-36 the debt was reduced to £ 31,821,118 : but a train of military operations were awaiting India. The Afghan War, the Sindh War, the two Sikh Wars, the Second Burmese War increased the debt which in 1852-53 amounted to £52,313,094 and the interest to £2,479,133. In 1853-54, however, the Indian Debt was reduced to £49,762,876. In 1853-54 the Public Works policy was inaugurated and as a consequence of it the Indian Debt increased to £ 55,546,650 in 1855-56. The year 1857-58 witnessed what is known as the Indian Mutiny or the War of Independence, raising the Indian Debt to £ 60,704,084.
The Home Bond Debt (in England)
In 1800, the Home Bond Debt amounted to £ 1,487,112 at
5 % interest. But the wars of Wellesly also told upon the Home Debt and increased to £ 4,205,275 in 1807-08 : in
1811-12 the Home Bond Debt reached its maximum limit of £ 6,565,900 at 5 %. In 1816-17 the rate of interest was reduced to 4 % and it never rose above it. In 1814-15 the Home Bond Debt was reduced to £4,376,976. By occasional reductions it lowered to £ 1,734,300 in 1840-41. As a result of the Afghan War and the Mutiny the Home Bond Debt rose to £ 3,894,400, besides £ 40,000,000 as the cost of the Mutiny.
It is likely to be a matter of surprise when one sees the smallness of the Indian Home Bond Debt as compared with the Indian Debt. But the surprise will no longer exist when we know that the capacity of the East India Company to borrow in England was strictly limited by Parliamentary Regulations. The Parliament