so has given away the whole case for the
Government. But no one has ever denied the admission in question except
Mr. Mackay; and his absolute denial, when questioned on the subject, that
the producers of India would be affected by the measure, was subsequently
eaten up by himself in cross-examination towards the close of his evidence
given before the Currency Committee. But it is of course the rule, to
which there are few exceptions, that those who are engaged in the
unfortunate business of bolstering up an indefensible case, invariably let
out something which is absolutely destructive to the cause they are
advocating; and we find another instance of this at p. 191, Appendix I. of
the "Report of the Currency Committee." And if Mr. Mackay has given away
the whole case in London, one of his followers equally did so in Calcutta
when a deputation, headed by Mr. Mackay, was received by the Viceroy. And
on this occasion Mr. W. O. Bell Irving, as representing over 3,300 square
miles of land in Lower Bengal, stated that he "was not prepared to contend
that in certain respects the ryots and zemindars have not benefited from
the depreciation of the rupee." We thus see that both the Government, as
represented by the Viceroy, and the most active supporters of the present
monetary policy, have admitted that the measure would have injurious
effects on the producers of India--in other words, on those on whom the
financial stability of the empire entirely rests.

And the producers of India have as little reason to be satisfied with the
action of the Currency Committee which was presided over by Lord Herschell
as they have with the Government in our Eastern Empire. A glance at the
first page of the Report, and at the professions of the witnesses
examined, will show that this is the case. The Committee was requested by
Mr. Gladstone's Government to form, _inter alia_, "a just estimate of the
effect of a varying, and possibly much lower exchange, upon the commerce
and people of India." Now, the people of India almost entirely live either
directly (and I think about ninety per cent. do so directly) or indirectly
on the land; and yet, though in England there are to be found persons who,
like myself, are Indian landowners, and who, from having lived amongst the
people in the rural districts, are well able to testify to the effects of
the measure on the welfare of the people, not a single Indian landed
proprietor was called before the Committee