
audiobook
by Earl of John Dalrymple Stair
An impassioned appeal from the late eighteenth‑century political arena, this work lays bare a heated debate over the nation’s finances and the fate of the East‑India Company. Its author, a self‑styled Earl, launches a measured yet forceful critique of parliamentary overreach, arguing that the government’s attempts to merge the company’s debts with the public treasury risk destabilising the entire financial system. Through a blend of meticulous fiscal calculations and pointed rhetoric, he exposes the contradictions in contemporary policy and warns of the long‑term consequences of unchecked interference.
Listeners will be drawn into the era’s urgent concerns—rising peace expenditures, dwindling revenues, and the looming spectre of war—while hearing a persuasive case for preserving the sanctity of private enterprise against political ambition. The prose, rich with period diction and vivid analogies, offers a window into the ideological battles that shaped Britain’s imperial and economic trajectory, making a historic argument feel startlingly relevant today.
Full title
The Proper Limits of the Government's Interference with the Affairs of the East-India Company Attempted to be Assigned with some few Reflections Extorted by, and on, the Distracted State of the Times
Language
en
Duration
~21 minutes (20K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Richard J. Shiffer and the Distributed Proofreading volunteers at http://www.pgdp.net for Project Gutenberg. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.)
Release date
2011-08-07
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1720–1789
A Scottish soldier, lawyer, and peer, he moved from the bar to the army and later became known in Parliament for warning about government finances and opposing the policies that led to the American War of Independence.
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