GAMBLING on EMPIRE: COLONIAL INDIA and the RHETORIC of “SPECULATION” in BRITISH LITERATURE and CULTURE, C.1769-1830 by JOHN C
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GAMBLING ON EMPIRE: COLONIAL INDIA AND THE RHETORIC OF “SPECULATION” IN BRITISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE, C.1769-1830 by JOHN C. LEFFEL B.A., University of Michigan, 2000 M.A., New York University, 2004 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English 2013 This thesis entitled: Gambling on Empire: Colonial India and the Rhetoric of “Speculation” in British Literature and Culture, c.1769-1830 written by John C. Leffel has been approved for the Department of English X [signature form submitted under separate cover] Jillian Heydt-Stevenson, Chair X [signature form submitted under separate cover] Jeffrey N. Cox, Committee Member Date: 7/11/13 The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we Find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards Of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. iii Leffel, John C. (Ph.D., English) Gambling on Empire: Colonial India and the Rhetoric of “Speculation” in British Literature and Culture, c.1769-1830 Thesis directed by Associate Professor Jillian Heydt-Stevenson ABSTRACT: Gambling on Empire offers the first extended study of a central trope governing literary representations of British colonial expansion in India: “speculation.” My study proceeds from a fundamental question: why do authors so frequently invoke this term in relation to the burgeoning Indian empire, relying upon it to characterize, in a negative fashion, the East India Company (EIC), its leaders and employees, and the men and women who emigrated to its stations? Through analyses of a wide range of works both from recognized authors such as Austen, Edgeworth, and Scott, and less well-known writers like Mariana Starke, Elizabeth Hamilton, and Frederick Reynolds, I address this question and situate “speculation” at the heart of British attempts to reconcile new modes of commerce to customary conceptions of value and virtue during an era of unprecedented economic and imperial expansion. Speculation has always held the root meaning of “vision” or “perception,” but expanded during the 1770s to encompass suspect financial activities “of a venturesome or risky nature, but offering the chance of great or unusual gain” (OED). The material conditions that precipitated this semantic shift were tied to the economic, cultural, and political instabilities generated by Britain’s transition to a global credit economy fueled by the Scylla-and-Charybdis of finance capitalism and imperial domination—specifically, the EIC’s conquest of Bengal and the subsequent opportunities for iv employment, investment, and upward class mobility it created. The spectacle of returning Company employees laden with the spoils of imperial conquest—as well as the popular journalism, novels, plays and travel narratives that represented and narrated these successes— dazzled domestic Britons and reinforced the popular (though ultimately chimerical) view that India was a mine of exhaustless riches. Authors employ a rhetoric of speculation to characterize, reprove, and reform what seemed to be excessively dicey schemes employed by those who, inspired by India’s glittering prospects, scrambled to share in the spoils—whether by seeking employment with the EIC; trading in its stocks and imports; emigrating to colonial stations to marry Company servants and leaders; or engaging in other high risk activities. Indexing terms: Speculation; Eighteenth-century British Literature; Empire and Colonialism; Early British India; Nabobs; Colonial Marriage Market; Gender; Migration; Leffel, John C. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My deepest gratitude to Jill Heydt-Stevenson and Jeffrey N. Cox: exemplary scholars, teachers, mentors, and friends. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Prof. Heydt-Stevenson’s scholarly generosity and expert guidance: I am blessed to have had such a fierce and devoted ally to show me the way. I cannot express how lucky I am to have worked with such an incredible group of scholars at the University of Colorado at Boulder. A profusion of thanks go to John Stevenson, Paul Youngquist, Sue Zemka, Terry F. Robinson, Dana Van Kooy, Padma Rangarajan, Kurtis Hessel, Kirstyn Leuner, Kelli Towers, Jeffrey C. Robinson, Nan Goodman, Katherine Eggert, D. A. Miller, Anne Lester, Deepti Misri, Michael Zimmerman, Teresa Toulouse, Chris Braider, Laura Winkiel, Ali Hassan, and everybody else: you know who you are! I would also like to thank the English Department, the Center for Humanities, the Center for British and Irish Studies, and the Graduate School at CU-Boulder for supporting me with various fellowships and grants during crucial stages of my project. Before coming to Colorado, I had the privilege to learn from an astounding group of teachers: among the many, special thanks go to Cindy Sowers and Marjorie Levinson at the University of Michigan, and to Perry Meisel and the late Paul Magnuson at NYU. To Devoney Looser, George Justice, Erin Goss, Jennifer Frangos, Hannah Doherty, Jodi Wyett, Cheryl Wilson, and all of my new friends from the 2012 NEH summer seminar on Jane Austen: thanks for an amazing five weeks! And to Michael Gamer, Dan White, Tilar Mazzeo, Mark Lussier, Greg Kucich, Devoney Looser (again), James Allard, Michael Macovski, Julie Kipp, Fran Botkin, Tara MacDonald, Lindsey Eckert, Christopher Laxer, and my many conference cohorts and chums: thanks for the collegiality and the good times. Finally, I would not have made it this far without the support, good humor, and kindness of my friends: Sarah Schrift, Jeff Maitz, Andrew Morrow, Seth Haber, Kara Kroes, Katie Cohan, Elena and Michael Degnan, and my dear comrade Michele Speitz, now at Furman University. Portions of Chapter Two were previously published in Monika Class and Terry F. Robinson, ed. Transnational England: Home and Abroad, 1780-1860 (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009). Selections from Chapter Three were previously published in European Romantic Review 23.5 (October 2012). I thank the editors and anonymous readers for their advice and helpful commentaries. vi CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..iii-iv Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………..v Introduction: “Gambling on Empire”……………………………………………….1 I. “Extravagant speculations of plunder”: The East India Company, Nabobs, and Imperial Wealth………………………………………………………………..44 II. “To trade in love, and marry for rupees”: Englishwomen and Matrimonial “Speculation” in Early British India………………………………...101 III. “The tables turn’d”: Frederick Reynolds’ Speculation (1796), Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent (1800), and Jane Austen’s Sanditon (c.1817)……..146 IV. Siren Songs……………………………………………………………………194 V. Coda. “Stick to the East”: India, Imperial Riches, and Authorial Speculation...222 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………235 NOTES vii FIGURES Figure Page 1. “The Unhappy Contrast.” Anonymous, 1791. 66 2. “The present times, or the nabobs Cl-ve and C-l-ke brought to account.” Anonymous, 1773. 84 3. “A Macaroni Gambler.” Anonymous, 1772. 88 4. “A Sale of English-Beauties, in the East-Indies.” James Gillray, 16 May 1786. 110 5. “Rival Candidates in Calcutta!!” James Moffat, c.1800. 139 1 INTRODUCTION “Gambling on Empire” Speculation is not a theory about making money; it is a practical way of turning a profit. But the ability to make money by speculation remarks on the theoretical status of the money made, its conjectural relation to real productivity or value. In its mingling of theory and practice, the mind and the market, there is something uncanny about speculation [….] --Jerome Christensen, Lord Byron’s Strength: Romantic Writing and Commercial Society (1993) (158) “Why did ye quit a kind, indulgent home, / And challenge sad vicissitudes to come? / May your experience make hereafter wise / All who would speculate ‘neath Indian skies” (44; emphasis added). So writes John Hobart Caunter in “The Cadet” (1814), a long autobiographical poem detailing his experience as a young East India Company soldier. Disheartened by the failure of his own venture in the burgeoning eastern empire, Caunter writes a cautionary tale of a youthful dream not only deferred, but ultimately dried up by the brilliant though unforgiving Indian sun. His strategic use of the verb “to speculate” in this passage foregrounds imperial excursion as a gamble: a risky scheme to abandon the safe confines of “home” in order to reap colossal riches abroad. As he acknowledges in the preface, Caunter offers “severe truths” (viii) to counter the “specious stories which he constantly hears” of the easy fortunes made and the “luxurious pleasures” enjoyed by Britons on the subcontinent (xi). He explicitly sets out, in other words, to “burs[t] the airy bubble” (xi), or demystify one of the most entrenched cultural scripts (or fantasies) of the rapidly expanding Eastern empire: that India was a land of easy and unlimited wealth; an Edenic paradise studded with sparkling gems ripe for the plucking; a magical place where eager young men like himself could speedily amass handsome fortunes to enjoy back in England: Thine artless ear imbibes the frequent lie, 2 That Earth’s best blessings show’r from India’s sky; That Nature sheds profusion o’er the soil, Nor asks the ruder drudgery of toil; […] Thou hear’st that wealth by little heed is gain’d, And life at no important cost maintain’d; That ev’ry bliss ambitious man can know, Is here secur’d, nor ever dash’d with wo[e].— Accurs’d Deceit! (1-2) His mind “warm’d”