aurongs is in contemplation. If any one will take the trouble to proceed to the spot where these arrangements are carried into effect, should they be resolved upon, he will speedily see with what reluctance even the worst-conditioned amongst the manufacturers will abandon an occupation which has been long considered so wretched and unremunerative; instead of hailing the measure as a boon, it is well if its introduction be not attended with riot and resistance, which would afford a very singular confirmation of all the theories which have hitherto been fashionable on the subject of the miseries of Molunghees. For my own part I can positively assert, that such a measure will, to say the least of it, throw back thousands to the comparatively unprofitable employments of cultivators and labourers, while the richer classes of salt producers will be forced to invest their capital in speculations holding out no more than the ordinary return.

"The above facts will, I trust, go far to convince unprejudiced persons, not only that no compulsion is permitted in the salt manufacture, but that none is necessary. Not wishing to weary your readers, I shall reserve further particulars for my following letters.

Will the British public now believe, after perusing this letter, that the Molunghees are "in a virtual state of slavery, every man of them being in debt to the East-India Company, inextricably and for life, and not daring to engage in any other employment?"* I will not demean a character so truly noble as Dwarkanaut Tagore, by placing his testimony on a par with that of the author of the foregoing assertion; the one was written in India, challenging investigation as to its truth; the other written in England in utter disregard of facts,† as a clap-trap to obtain a footing in Parliament, by ingratiating the author

Crawfurd's East India-Company's Monopolies, page 9.

+ Mr. Crawfurd, among many other misstatements, observes, that "British enterprize, skill, and what is of equal consequence, British integrity, are excluded by statute from either manufacturing or trading in salt," (p. 13). This assertion is totally untrue; any European may purchase salt at the monthly auctions in Calcutta, and when I was in India Mr. Prinsep was making salt near Calcutta, and paying the government duty on it. Such is the veracity of a man who, in his endeavours to bespatter the East-India Company with odium, seems to hazard every thing like political integrity of character.

with the electors of Glasgow or Liverpool, to the reader I would say, "Utrum horum mavis accipe?"

To shew yet further the quo animo of a person, who in all his writings libels every oriental functionary, from the Governor-General downwards, I may observe, that he asserts the number of persons employed in the preparation of the Bengal salt, that is of about 400,000,000 lbs., is only 125,000 labourers, in "a soil muddy, drenched by the fresh waters of the Ganges and Burrampooter, and liable to frequent inundations, and in a moist and insalubrious climate," (p. 9): the salt darogah says, "there are about one million persons deriving employment from the salt monopoly; and in another letter he adds, "allow me. to state, that all reports as to the compulsion resorted to to secure the Molunghees will soon be put to the test, as the present government are, it is said, about to reduce the quantity of salt to be made in the ensuing year; by which measure many thousand people will be thrown out of bread, or (according to the adversaries of the salt monopoly) rescued from oppression and misery, and we shall then be enabled to judge how the zemindars will so easily realize their rent, which they have hitherto been enabled to do, out of the profits of the Molunghees."

In fact, many of the Molunghees are wealthy individuals, and all are as well off, if not better, than other classes of the community;* this I am enabled to assert from per

*In Ceylon the state of the salt manufacturers is most wretched. Col. Colebrooke, in his recent report to Government, states: "the collection of salt is made on the Government account, partly by voluntary, and partly by compulsory labour, and in some cases also by debtors, who have sold their services for life to the owners of the salt pans, in consideration of an advance of 25 or 30 rix dollars (£1. 17s. 6d. or to £2. 5s.)." Such is the system under the King's Government at Ceylon; the prime cost of the salt at the Government stores of Tangalle, Colombo, Trincomalee, and Jaffna, is 4d., 64d., 11d., and 3d., and the profit of the Government in selling it varies from 800 to 1,100 per cent.! while on the charge the gross revenue

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sonal knowledge; and so far from conceiving it a hardship to receive advances for the manufacture of salt, they look on its absence as a heavy calamity. The Honourable Mr. Ramsay thus testified as to their condition, before the House of Lords, in April 1830:

"3403. How long were you employed in the superintendence of the salt manufactory?—I was nearly six years in the salt department. "3404. At what place were you stationed?—I was stationed for about ten months in the twenty-four Pergunnah agency, though only three actually resident; then five years in the Tumlook agency.

"3405. Have the goodness to state in what manner the salt was provided?-By advances to the Molunghees, who are the people who manufacture the salt.

"3406. Was the condition of those Molunghees as good as that of any other labourers in the country?-Fully as good, and in many cases better.

"3435. Is salt generally manufactured on advances ?-Entirely by advances.

"3436. To whom are the advances made?—Individually to the Molunghees (who make the salt), in the presence of the agent.

"3437. Can you state what is the amount of advance made to each Molunghee ?--It depends upon the quantity of salt land he has to manufacture his salt from.

"4338. Is a Molunghee invariably the proprietor of salt land, or is it allotted to him?-He is either a proprietor himself, or he rents it. They are generally renters, and the Company pay a remuneration to the zemindar of the district in which the salt is manufactured.

"3439. Speaking generally, are the Molunghees indebted to the Company on their advances, or are they, on the delivery of their salt, free from all embarrassment?-I do not recollect, during the time I was salt agent, that there were any balances at the end of the year, and rewards are invariably distributed to those who conduct themselves with the greatest propriety.

"3440. Do you conceive it is in the power of any Molunghee with

is 20 or 25 per cent. The revenue derived from the salt is £27,781 per annum; the contingent expenses exceed £4,000, although in most places the salt is spontaneously formed. The prosecutions in 1828 and 1829 amounted to 304, for infringing the laws relative to the salt monopoly, and the fines are often paid to informers by the Government, owing to the poverty of the people who are convicted; such, according to Col. Colebrooke, is the state of the salt revenue in a King's Government, according to his Majesty's commissioner!

out difficulty to leave the manufacture of salt?-Certainly it is; but it is generally considered to be a very great punishment to be dismissed from the service.

"3441. Are you not aware that an impression contrary to that statement prevails in this country?—I have heard it often mentioned.

“3442. Do you know on what it is founded?—I conceive there is no foundation in truth whatever for it; for there is no class of people in the world better looked after, or more kindly treated, than the Molunghees employed in the salt monopoly in India."

Mr. Mangles was asked, can you state the condition of the salt manufacturers ?—He replied that it was 66 upon a footing with that of other persons of the same class in the community," (Lords 652). "Do they select that manafacture by preference ?"—" Undoubtedly; there is no compulsion whatever." The other testimony before Parliament is similar. Let those who have pinned their faith and opinions on the monstrous mis-statements of Mr. Crawfurd, Mr. Rickards, and others, now say if they will continue to believe the assertions of these personages; if they do, though an angel were to come from heaven, it would be of no avail.

A great deal has been said and written respecting the increased price of salt in Bengal, compared with what it was thirty years ago; this part of the subject is despatched in a few words by the salt darogah, by comparing it with the enhanced price of rice; he might have added other articles, and shewn how the wages of the commonest labourer have doubled, trebled, in some places, quintupled, of late years: "Regarding the enhancement of the price of salt, I said in my former letters, that it has been increased, and I again observe, that such is the fact; but let me ask, what necessary of life has not done so, and that in a much greater proportion than salt? It will be readily agreed that rice is the staff of life, and that it is an indispensable article of food to the natives; yet it now

bears the price of two rupees a maund, while thirty years ago it did not exceed four annas a maund! Here is an enhancement of eight hundred per cent., while in the article of salt there is an enhancement, at the dearest marts, to less than half that extent; yet such is the prosperity arising out of comparative good order, security, and good government, that even the greatest of those enhancements is imperceptible to the people—what then, must the lesser be ?"

I admit Col. Galloway's statement, that during the last thirty years there has been an increased charge on the cost of manufacturing salt, to the amount of fifty per cent. ; but Col. Galloway, when observing that "this fact requires explanation," would, on reflection, have found it in the increased rate of wages and labour throughout Bengal. Ten years ago a labourer in Calcutta received but two rupees a month now he is not satisfied with less than four or five rupees, and there is even a scarcity of workmen. Twelve field labourers used to be had for one rupee per diem, now six cannot be obtained for that sum; a Hindoo cabinet-maker, who was glad to receive eight rupees per month, now readily obtains from sixteen to twenty rupees for the same period. The price of fuel has trebled, and in some places quadrupled, within the period under review; all indicating, as Dwarkanaut Tagore observes, the prosperity of the country, arising out of good order, security, and good government." Col. Galloway will therefore admit, that it would be remarkable if the cost of producing salt should remain stationary while every thing else increased. Let us now observe the average rate at which this tax presses on the population subject to it, and who, from being an essentially non-militant people, with extensive frontiers which require protection, and a very moderate landed assessment, are peculiarly called on to contribute for the support of the government.

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