John Dickinson on Indian Reform – India – John Dickinson, Chairman of the Indian Reform Society fine autograph letter 200 signed dated December 3rd 1861, 4pp 8vo to an unnamed correspondent saying that he had just returned to London and intended to attempt some political action again in the cause of Indian Reform. ‘...it cannot have escaped the penetration of a man of your remarkable intelligence that the last acts of Lord Canning in promising a permanent settlement to the North West Province & conceding the sale of waste lands on very favourable terms as well as the redemption of the land tax are measures calculated to give him a very great degree of popularity in England, just at the close of his administration & to increase considerably the difficulty of those who object to other parts of his policy... in most cases English interference has been degrading, oppressive, & injurious, but in some cases it has been necessary & really beneficial...in this dilemma all I can say is that I shall try to secure such a spirit in the Government as will compel its political agents to do justice to your rights & feelings and I think the time is favourable to an object of the sort. For the great increase of our Commerce with India in the last few years has attracted more English attention to the subject of our connection with the country & has generated a greater wish to conciliate the vast population who contribute so much to our national wealth & to remove all causes of their discontent & disaffection which threaten the performance of our profitable trade with them, and there are no doubt higher & better motives for the wish to conciliate operating on a portion of my countrymen. I hope therefore that I shall now recommence my annual labours with a greater prospect of doing good & my first practical step will be an attempt to collect supporters for a deputation to the new Governor General Lord Elgin of which I must communicate the success or failure in future mails...’ Clearly from the context of this letter, it was sent to a leading figure in India.