An Essay on the Government of Dependencies

Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806–1863) was a British politician and scholar. Lewis was called to the Bar in 1833, but turned from law to politics, entering the House of Commons in 1847. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1850, and Home Secretary in 1859. This volume, first published in 1841, contains Lewis' discussion of the political interaction between a dependent government and its superior government. Focusing on the dependent government as a political institution rather than as a colony with economic assets, Lewis explores the distinctions between the two types of government and the ways in which a dependent government may be formed, discussing in detail the advantages and disadvantages of this arrangement to both the dependent and the superior government. This volume was the first published work on this subject, and provides a valuable example of nineteenth-century British Liberal political theory.