How is London different than Tony imagined in the novel, East Indian?

When Tony spends time in London before he is sent to America, he is surprised and disappointed by the conditions there, which are not nearly as pleasant or favorable as he was told they might be in his youth. While living in the Coromandel, Tony was often told by the various Englishmen passing through that London was a beautiful, glimmering city; when he is met with its filth and its population of vagrants, Tony is taken aback. Several of his companions in America, including Dick and Ganter, also describe having grown up in extreme poverty in London and viewing the colonies as a chance to begin anew. London, then, comes to stand in for the false pretenses of the British Empire's promises of wealth and prosperity for its citizens.