"De gustibus non est disputandum!" And so long as the tobacco of Virginia or Havannah is preferred by the public, it will be difficult to change the taste. The documents before Parliament prove that at the present moment, as well as during the past years, no pains or reasonable expense have been spared by the home and Indian authorities,* to improve the culture of the staples of Hindostan. Witney's saw gins have been procured from America, together with every variety of tobacco and cotton seed; premiums and rewards have been offered; Italians have been sent to India for the benefit of the silk manufacture; West-India sugar-planters have changed hemispheres at the Company's expense for a similar purpose; but all these will fail to contend against climate and soilt in some articles, and against prohibitory duties in England on others. different from the tobacco of North America; approaches more to the Brazil, and some of it sold higher than any American tobacco in the English market; it brought 6d. per lb. in bond, when the best American was 5d.; in Bombay 38 lbs. cost three or three and a half rupees. In another place he adds, "the tobacco lands of Guzerat that I saw under cultivation, were the cleanest and best farmed land I ever saw." 1440. * Mr. Ritchie positively declares that capitalists at Bombay are not deterred by any steps taken by the Company's government from farming lands; on the contrary, he observes, very great encouragement has been given to individuals, to Dr. Scott and others; but the mercantile houses are a good deal deterred by the want of success of three or four establishments. Even the statement of Mr. Crawfurd, that £1,680,000 of Indian capital is expended by British-born subjects on the cultivation and manufacture of indigo, demonstrates that every reasonable encouragement has been given by the Company's Government, for if, as asserted, the revenue from the land be more readily raised by the extended culture of indigo, it stands to reason that the same would be the case with sugar or any other tropical production; while under the system of engaging with the ryot for so many bundles of indigo, or so many sugar-canes, or so much uncleaned cotton, the European manufacturer is saved the necessity of sinking a large capital in the purchase of land. A peculiar instance of the effects of soil on the vegetable kingdom is observable at the Seychelle islands, where on one only (Praslin) the With respect to the introduction of British capital into India, it is a perfect farce; *-has one shilling of British money ever been exported to India, except by the Company? It is unnecessary to answer the question: the only capital introduced into the country used to be by the Americans, who brought Spanish dollars in exchange for Eastern goods; that trade is now done up. There is, however, some bullion exported from China to Bengal, in return for the opium transmitted thither; but if the desires of Mr. Rickards and Mr. Crawfurd be gratified, even that resource to India will be denied, and the channel will be turned to England, who, like the Maelstroom whirlpool, would swallow up every thing, but give forth nothing that was of the slightest value.§ the coco-de-mer will flourish, although the other isles are within musket-shot distance, and present apparently no difference in their physical appearance; the fine Seychelle cotton, on the contrary, grows best on Mahé isle. Another illustration is that of the vine at Constantia, Cape of Good Hope, and the peculiar flavour which the different vineyards at Bordeaux give to different wines; the cinnamon grown in the gardens near Colombo is of a different flavour to that brought from Kandy; the currants of Zante are far preferable to those of the other volcanic contiguous group; but to come nearer home, the hops of Kent, the apples of Devonshire, the oats of Scotland, and the potatoes of Ireland, all bear a marked variety and characteristic from the earth in which they grow. 66 * Mr. Davidson admits that a great portion of the indigo works carried on is by means of native capital; indeed he might have added, that the mercantile houses of all India are, in the aggregate, supported by native capital. Mr. Ritchie says, we have more money than we know what to do with generally at Bombay." (Commons 1508.) The same is the case at Madras and Bengal: yet the cry is, send out English capital to India, and this too, at a moment when many persons are looking for a more profitable investment of their money in England than in India! + Colonel Galloway estimates the quantity of bullion remitted by the Company to India from 1700 to 1793 at £42,680,850. Now the Company are obliged to drain India of bullion for remittance to England! For instance, from 1795 to 1805, as Mr. Robert Grant says, the Americans imported into India bullion to the amount of £26,720,470. § Let us suppose, for instance, that the wishes of Mr. Crawfurd, Mr. Rickards, and Mr. Whitmore, were carried into effect for the entire Baffled, perhaps, on this point, the enemies of the Company say, "colonization will improve the natives." Let those who think so, read the evidence before Parliament, and they will find it confirmatory of the statement of Sir Henry Strachey: "In Calcutta, I have reason to believe that the morals of the people are worse, in spite of the severity of the police and of the English laws."* If this will not satisfy an incredulous person, let him visit the Loll bazaar, or the Chitpoor road in Calcutta, and observe the drunkenness and vice which is practised by those Hindoos who are influenced by the example of the colonization of the presidencies. It is indeed but too true, that the example of the lower class of Europeans has tended much to demoralize the inhabitants of the British possessions wherever they have come much in contact with them. entire supplanting of the Hindoo weavers, and reducing all that class of artizans to the condition of agriculturists, what would be the result? Population.... Annual average of longcloth, for each At the average price of 6d. per yard Ditto into 100,000,000 } 2,000,000,000 yards. 12,000,000,000 pence. 1,000,000,000 shillings. £50,000,000 sterling. Where would the Hindoos procure fifty millions sterling to pay for calico? To be sure the advocates of the Lancashire people would not care; this, however, is a specimen of so called 'liberal principles.' • In the event of colonization being permitted, what check would there be to runaway and emancipated convicts finding their way from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land to India? Several of this class of persons do so now, and prove serious nuisances; but when an unrestricted admission of Europeans is permitted, hundreds will seek an asylum in Hindostan, as preferable to the abode to which their crimes had condemned them; when, therefore, so much has been said relative to the expense which a low European would be at in finding his way to India, it should be recollected that he may proceed from New South Wales not only for nothing, but often be paid for going the voyage. A recent publication gives a list of the trades, &c. at Calcutta, as follows: 3. Circu This is particularly visible in the natives of the sea-coast provinces of Ceylon, and the hilly tracts of the interior, where there are few Europeans but the government functionaries; in the former the inhabitants are many of them incorrigible drunkards, and the criminal calendar of the circuit shews their proneness to crime; murders, robberies, earslitting, and amputation of the limbs, for the sake of the rings and bangles with which they are adorned, being unfortunately too prevalent; but in the Kandian districts, crimes are of unfrequent occurrence. This fact with respect to India, did not escape the acute vision of the amiable Heber; in speaking of the Rajpoots he says, "some effects of a favourable nature have been produced among them by the intercourse which they have had with the English; the specimens of our nation which they have heretofore seen, have on the whole been very favourable ;* 3 River do. officers. do. societies. 5 Carvers and gilders. This is a fair specimen of the gradual colonization' which is now going on at the presidencies, and a complete refutation of Mr. Rickards' statement. With reference to the European tailors above mentioned, it must be observed, that of native tailors, dirzees, it is computed that 10,000 come into Calcutta every morning! * Mr. Holt Mackenzie says, "the habits of the Hindoos are still comparatively simple."-Evidence before Parliament, 1832. none of the king's regiments have yet been sent here, and few Europeans of any description except officers; they have therefore seen little of the drunkenness, and violence of temper, which has made the natives of our own provinces at once fear and despise a Feringee soldier; and they still therefore admire us,* and wonder at the difference of wisdom, morals and policy, which they perceive between us and them." Heber, p. 71. Neither has the demoralization of the people of India, proceeding from the example of open vice, escaped the penetration of the philanthropic Rammohun Roy, who thus remarks in his able replies to the questions of the Board of Control: "From a careful survey and observation of the people and inhabitants of various parts of the country, and in every condition of life, I am of opinion that the peasants or villagers who reside away from large towns and head stations and courts of law, are as innocent, temperate, and moral in their conduct as the people of any country whatsoever; and the farther I proceed towards the north and west, the greater the honesty, and simplicity, and independence of character I meet with. The virtues of this class, however, rest at present chiefly on their primitive simplicity, and a strong religious feeling, which leads them tó expect reward or punishment for their good or bad conduct, not only in the next world, but, like the ancient Jews, also in this; 2d, the inha * Mr. Chaplin, in his evidence before the Lords, March 30, 1830, says, "2783. I am not quite sure that the admixture of Europeans of the middling or lower order with the natives, would have a tendency to create in them an increased sense of the advantages of living under the English government. I should be very much afraid that the respect and reverence the natives now have for the English, would rather be diminished than increased by mixing with Europeans of the middling or lower classes.-2787. À free unrestricted resort of Europeans would at no distant period lead to the total overthrow of our government.-2785. I am perfectly sure that native prejudices would be outraged if the lower classes of Europeans came much in contact with the natives, and that it would produce hostility to our government, and disaffection generally." Mr. Ritchie, a free merchant at Bombay, says, that "the Company's authorities having the power to send persons away, most certainly affords them the means of supporting their authority in the country.' He was asked, "Q. Would think it advisable that that power should be withdrawn from the Company?"-" A. Certainly not. 1479.” you |