American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson saw the demand for hard evidence as a peculiarly English trait.

Richard Cobden asked Parliament to make a better effort to understand the Russian mindset.

Adam Smith could not imagine it would ever happen, but he nevertheless recommended that Britain grant independence to her colonies.

Contemporary historian Ramanath Aiyar catalogued the ways in which Maharajah Moolam Thurunal led the way in modernising British India.

Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, welcomed the way that railway construction had taught Indian navvies to demand a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s labour.

Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay, shared his excitement at the way railways were making Indians more independent.