64 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Mr. John Ranking to the questions of the committee of House of Commons in 1813 :—
Q.—“Can you state what is the ad valorem duty on piece-goods sold at the East India House ?”
A.—“The duty on the class called Calicoes is £3 6s. 8 d . per cent upon importation, and if they are used for home consumption there is a further duty of £68 6 s . Sd. per cent”.
“There is another class called Muslins, on which the duty on importation is 10 per cent, and if they are used for home consumption, of £27 6s. 8 d . per cent.
“There is a third class, coloured goods, which are prohibited being used in this country (England), upon which there is a duty upon importation of £3 6 S . 8 d . per cent; they are only for exportation”.
“This Session of Parliament, there has been a new duty of
20 per cent on the consolidated duties, which will make the duties on calicoes….. used for home consumption, £78, 6s. 8 d. per cent upon the Muslim for home consumption ;. £31, 6s. 8 d. ”
This much for the Parliamentary Exactions, direct and indirect. The Exactions of the Governors and Governor-Generals were by no means small. It is necessary to recall here the words of Sir W.W. Hunter who, describing the morale of the European people, when they came in contact with India, says, “Europe just emerged from mediaevalism, was then making her first experiments in Asiatic rule. Mediaeval conceptions of conquest imposed themselves on her exploitation of the Eastern world : Mediaeval types of commerce were perpetuated in the Indian trade. Portugal, Spain, Holland established their power in Asia when these conceptions and types held sway. The English ascendency in India came later and embodied the European ideals of the eighteenth century in the place of the European ideals of the sixteenth. It was the product of modern as against semimediaeval Christendom. Yet even for England it was difficult to shake off the traditions of the period… of monopoly in the Indian trade, and of Indian Government for the personal profit of the rulers.” [1] “Self-interest certainly swayed the corrupt and oligarchic legislature, and politics were always discussed on plane from which principles were banished... Men faught avowedly for the most material objects only. Gold ruled the aspirations of the greatest, and India afforded many examples of its fatal power at the time.” [2]
W, W. Hunter, “A history of British India”. Vol. 1, p. 6.
G. B Hertz, “The old colonial system”, p 4.