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 CHAPTER X

Mutiny marks the inauguration of a new era in Indian finance. When order was sufficiently restored to allow the question of public revenue and expenditure to be considered, the position was recognised as extremely grave. Each of the Mutiny years had ended in an enormous deficit. So far all parties agreed. As to the means of rehabilitation there was less unanimity. The first efforts of the Government to retrieve the position of its exchequer provoked such strong conflicts of opinion that, on his return to Calcutta in 1859, Lord Canning considered it desirable to obtain the assistance of an English financier whose experience and prestige would inspire confidence and overrule opposition. The appointment of Mr. James Wilson fulfilled these conditions. His experience as Secretary to the Board of Control, as Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and, at the time of his Indian appointment, as Vice-President of the Board of Trade, invested his opinion with all the desired authority. He arrived at Calcutta in November, 1859, made a tour of inspection through Upper India, and in his Budget speech, February 1860, he re-