Abstract

This study considers the relations between James Mill's _The_ _History of British India_ and Enlightenment historiography, especially William Robertson's _Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge the Ancients had of India_. David McInerney argues that it was in _The History of British India_ that Mill first published his theory of government, which appears there in his account of 'Oriental despotism' and his criticisms of Robertson's account of the caste system, and that, contrary to the opinion of certain critics, Mill's usage of 'history' in _The History of British India_ is not rationalist but rather entails a distinctively empiricist conception of the relationship between historical records and the improvement of government.