John Stuart Mill

Memorandum Of The Improvements In The Administration Of India During The Last Thirty Years [With 5 Other Works]

[MILL,John Stuart] Memorandum of the Improvements in the Administration of India during the last thirty years. London, 1858

Tall octavo, blue cloth on grey boards, spine lettered in gilt, pp.(4), 101, drop head title.

Very rare, 1 copy only in Copac at BL. MacMinn, p.90

First separate edition. Of this Memorandum Mill wrote in his manuscript of the bibliography of his writings of this I was partly the author and partly the editor, the facts being furnished by the departments of the India House.

Price- £3500

It was published in Parliamentary Papers, 1857-58, XLIII, 1-38. (see above in folio). There was also a separate printing containing the correspondence between the directors of the East India Co and the government and their Petition to Parliament.

MacMnn: "A review of the improvements in legislation, education, religion, roads, and other matters achieved under the supervision of the East India Company".

together with five pamphlets in one volume

[MILL,.John Stuart] A Constitutional view of the India Question. London, William Penny 1858

Octavo, pp.10, bound with four others.

Very rare, 1 copy only in NUC at Yale. MacMinn p.91.

First edition. "An argument that all government except that by a single man is double government and that the proposed abolition of the East India Company was a long step toward totalitarian government" MacMinn

bound with

[MILL,John Stuart] Practical Observations on the First Two of the Proposed Resolution on the Government of India. London, William Penny 1858

Octavo, pp.10

Very rare, 1 copy only in NUCLS at Newberry Library, Chicago. Copac: 1 copy only LSE. MacMinn p.91.

First edition. "An exposition of the fact that the government of India has always been controlled by Parliament, that the East India Company has had charge of administration only, and that such a system provides better government for India than is provided by the proposed resolutions". MacMinn

bound with

[MILL,John Stuart] A President in Council the Best Government for India. London, William Penny 1858

Octavo, pp.8

Very rare, 1 copy only in NUC at University of Illinois. MacMinn p.91.

First edition. "An exposition of the view that the power of the Indian Minister should be effectively checked by a council because of the fact that experience is requisite to intelligent dealing with Indian affairs." MacMinn

bound with

[MILL,John Stuart] The Moral of the India Debate. London, William Penny 1858

Octavo, pp.10

Very rare, 1 copy only in NUC at Newberry Library, Chicago. MacMinn p.91.

First edition "An argument that the Indian Minister should be required to present all important measures to a council and abide by the advice of the council". MacMinn

bound with

[MILL,John Stuart] Observations on the Proposed Council of India. London, William Penny 1858

Octavo, pp.7

Very rare, 1 copy only in BL., no copy in NUC. Not in MacMinn.

First edition. Discusses the composition of the proposed Council and the plans of the leaders of the three sections in Parliament and stresses the need to have a very strong Council because of the impermanent nature of the Minister.

"In 1856 I was promoted to the rank of chief of the office in which I had served for upwards of 33 years. The appointment, that of Examiner of India Correspondence, was the highest, next to that of Secretary, in the East India Company's home service, involving the general superintendence of all the correspondence with the Indian Governments, except the military, naval, and financial. I held this office as long as it continued to exist, being a little more than two years; after which it pleased Parliament, in other words Lord Palmerston, to put an end to the East India Company as a branch of the Government of India under the Crown, and convert the administration of that country into a thing to be scrambled for by the second and third class of English parliamentary politicians. I was the chief manager of the resistance which the Company made to their own political extinction, and to the letters and petitions I wrote for them..." J.S.Mill, An Autobiography, pp.248-250.

See also: L.Zastoupilo, John Stuart Mill and India. 1994