London, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 1853 The India bill has passed on Friday through its last stage, after the Ministerial propositions for raising the Directors and Chairmen s salaries had been rejected, and the latter reduced to 900 and 1,000 respectively. The Special Court of East India Proprietors which met on Friday last, offered a most lugubrious spectacle, the desponding cries and speeches clearly betraying the apprehensions of the worthy proprietors, that the Indian Empire might have been their property for the better time. One right honorable gentleman gave notice of his intention to move resolutions in the House of Commons rejecting the present bill, and on the part of the Proprietors and Directors declining to accept the part assigned to them by the Ministerial measure. A strike of the honorable East India Proprietors and Directors. Very striking, indeed! The Abolition of the Company s Salt-monopoly by the British House of Commons was the first step to bringing the finances of India under its direct management.
Karl Marx in The New-York Tribune 1853