The book is a allegory on the short sightedness and avarice of eighteenth and nineteenth century Briton. It comments on the breakdown of socio-political structure, cultural degeneration and decimation sustainability in British colonies and their traditional spheres of influence. The story opens with the British policy of banishing its criminals to its colonies.

"....the accused though pardoned, is excommunicated from Christian society. He is ostracized from the civilized world and banished from the shores of Briton. He is exiled to the barbaric and uncivilized land of cobras and tigers, to the land of snake charmers and bear tamers, to the land of the thugs and dacoits, to the land the Hindoos and the Moslems, to the land of the Brahmans and Buddhists. He is banished to East India."