gulated for the sake of public revenue, like those of salt and opium, may be useful and unobjectionable; but one imposed for the benefit of individuals, be they few or many, cannot but be a nuisance and a grievance.

Another objection is that, from the large stock of tea in store, and from the length of time during which the outward and homeward cargoes are in transit, an unnecessarily large capital is employed, and consequently an unnecessarily heavy charge for interest incurred. The dead weight of this objection Mr. Tucker has also found irremoveable. "It may be alleged," he says, "that the private merchant would carry on "the trade on a much smaller capital, since his "returns would be annual, by reason of his "employing smaller ships, calculated to perform "the voyage out and home within the year. "This is partly true; but under any circum"stances, the capital employed must far exceed "the amount of the annual sale." He estimates that the prime cost of the tea brought to sale annually is £2,000,000, and that the whole capital employed is £10,000,000. Now, suppose a private merchant sold annually a quantity of tea, of which the prime cost was £100,000, could he not trade to that extent without "a much smaller

"capital" than £500,000? One of £150,000 would be sufficient. The objection, then, is not partly true," but true to the fullest extent.

For a third objection, that by restricting the supply they extort higher prices from the consumer, Mr. Tucker also admits that there is some foundation. "They ought," he thinks, "by degrees to increase their annual sales, and to "endeavour to draw the same profits, or even a "reduced profit, (if the present rate be unrea

sonably high,) upon a more extended consump"tion of the article." But what security does Mr. Tucker point out, what ground of assurance does he suggest why we should expect that they will ever" attend to the interests, and consult "the convenience and comfort of the British "consumer," more than they have done since the time of Queen Elizabeth? Does he consider his appeal to feelings of undefinable duty or generosity, an effectual substitute for the principle of unrestrained competition?

Since the opening of the trade in 1813, the increase of the exports and imports has been sufficient to falsify the predictions of all the witnesses brought forward by the Company, but has fallen incomparably short of what it would have been if the trade of agriculture had also been laid open. Without colonization it is im

possible that any considerable augmentation of the exportable productions of India, or of demand for the manufactures of Great Britain, can ever take place; and with colonization the augmentation of both is incalculable. Besides indefinitely improving the quality of the commodities which now constitute the list of exports, new articles, such as coffee, cocoa, and cochineal,

might be made to enrich the commerce of the Ganges, and afford a return investment, under"stated at a crore of rupees.

In the Report of the Lords' Committee of 1821, it is stated that the value of merchandize exported from Great Britain to India had increased from £870,177, in 1815, to £3,052,741, in 1819. In the tables of Cæsar Moreau, I find the increase stated only at from £2,153,120, in 1815, to £3,163,647, in 1822. But the increase of British cotton manufactures exported to India was from £142,411, in 1815, to £1,147,393, in 1822. It was respecting the probable extension of the demand for this article that the principal dispute was maintained; the manufacturers insisting that the astonishing powers of machinery enabled them to produce it in such cheapness as to create a demand for it throughout the whole of India, while the

* Prinsep's Remarks, p. 65.

witnesses for the Company, civil and military, strangers to the mysteries of trade, but presuming on what they considered the indispensable advantage of local knowledge, pronounced with more solemn confidence that the few wants of the natives could be supplied at a cheaper rate, and more to their taste, by articles of their own manufacture. Some specimens of the testimony then recorded may now be read with profit and amusement: such a scene will never be rehearsed again.

The most eminent witness produced was one whose administration of the Government of India, and protracted trial of eight years, had long been matter of history, and contributed to it some of its most memorable passages. The appearance of Warren Hastings was well calculated to strike the members of the House of Commons with awful surprise. It was thought the House would believe if one, as it were, rose from the dead. We have seen that the value of British cotton manufactures imported into India was, in a few years from the opening of the trade, increased tenfold; and the use of them is continually spreading among all ranks of people. When Mr. Hastings was questioned on this subject, he said that "the poor in India may be said to have no wants;" they have "their apparel almost without

any cost."

"The

"habits of the rich Hindoos are simple, and

"such as require no aid from our trade. "I do not believe, therefore, that the demand "would be increased by it." "Are you of "opinion that the commerce of India, as at "present regulated, is as advantageous to that "country as it would be if free and equal to "all the subjects of Great Britain?" "CER66 TAINLY AS MUCH; AND MUCH MORE SO." Mr. Cowper, formerly a Member of Council at Calcutta, was asked, "Do their habits of living, provided their manners and customs "would permit, admit of any saving sufficient "to enable them to become purchasers of European commodities ?" "I should think "certainly not."

Colonel (Sir Thomas) Munro was of opinion that Europeans "could not possibly subsist in "India by manufacturing, on account of the 66 superior skill of the natives!"

Captain Thomas Sydenham, formerly resident at Hydrabad, was asked, "Are you of opinion "that, in the event of a free trade, there would "be any great increased demand for European "commodities?" 66 Certainly not; I do not see "how the demand is to be at all increased by the "opening of the trade. The demands, of course, "take place from the wants of the natives there."

The following facts exhibit some of the differences which characterise the Company's