factured from her own cotton, so she could be made to supply England now with cotton adapted to all kinds of her manufactures. There is much dissatisfaction in England with the East India Company on this subject, and this was one thing urged lately against renewing and prolonging the Company's chartered rights for another period of 20 years.

The area of land in India which is suited to the cultivation of cotton, is 3 or 4 times as large as has been at any time used for cotton in the United States. Labor in those districts is abundant and cheap, not exceeding from 6 to 9 cents per day, and often cheaper than this, and the laborers generally finding their own food. And yet the cotton England has obtained from India for 20 years past, has been upon an average only one eighth part of what she has obtained in the mean time from the United States. The average price of Indian cotton in the English market, on account of its generally inferior quality, is only two thirds the price of American cotton. This difference in the price will make the value of all the cotton which England procures annually from India only one twelfth part of the value of what she procures from America.

India suffers much from drought. Seldom a year passes without the rains failing, and consequently the crops failing in some part of the country. In such cases the poverty of the people and the want of facilities for procuring grain from other places, occasions great distress. Not unfrequently nearly all the inhabitants are compelled to leave their homes, go into other places and appeal to the charity and compassion of the people to save them from starvation. Roads and railways for transportation would much diminish these evils. Means for cultivating ground by irrigation, would also greatly diminish them. In this way in many districts, the amount of the crops might be greatly increased, and in some places 2 or even 3 crops in succession be procured in a year. Formerly the native governments were awake to the importance of works of this kind, and some rivers and plains are lined with works for irrigation.*

* "In 14 districts in the eastern part of the Madras territory the public accounts show that there are upwards of 43,000 works for irrigation in repair, besides more than 10,000 out of repair, all of which were constructed before

*

Some large works of this kind have been constructed by the East India Company in the provinces on the Ganges and its branches, and the outlay has in all cases yielded a large return.* There are still millions of acres in different parts of India, now of little use and value, but which might in this way be brought to a highly productive state, and made to yield a large return for the expenses incurred upon them. Public works of this character would be profitable to the government by increasing the revenue. While in the process of construction they would furnish employment and means of support to many thousands of the inhabitants, and by increasing the productiveness of their lands would be of great permanent advantage to the cultivators. And unless the government undertakes such works and completes them, they can never be made.†

The agricultural population are generally very poor, and pass through life, depressed in spirits, and embarrassed in their circumstances. The appearance of their villages, their houses, furniture, personal appearance, lands, cattle, implements of husbandry, and conversation with each other, are all indicative of a state of depression and poverty. They are generally involved in debt, and it appears to them to be entirely beyond their means or power to improve their circumstances, or in any way ameliorate their condition. They have only the prospect of being able to obtain a scanty, coarse, and hard-earned subsistence while they live, and then to leave their families to the same state, or what they call their fate.

the English had possession of the country. The annual revenue from these lands is £1,500,000, or nearly 7,500,000 dollars.”

* The aggregate length of these canals is 765 miles, and the expense of making them has been 7,500,000 dollars. The revenue of the government from navigation and irrigation, chiefly from the latter, is variously estimated at from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 dollars annually, a result so gratifying that works of a similar character, for which there is much need, will probably soon be undertaken. These works, as well as the large railways, now in the course of construction, will produce great results in developing the resources of the country, and will be enduring monuments of British enterprise and skill.

†“In India, government is really the landlord, and the occupiers of the land are for the most part miserably poor, and generally in arrears to the government for their rents, or for money borrowed to pay them. Irrigation can only be conducted on a large scale, and therefore the expense of it, whereever it is adequately performed, must be defrayed by the government.”

*

Such has been hitherto the state and prospect of the great body of the people of India for many years past. The measures of the government fixing the rent or tax on the land in some districts for a certain period, as 15 or 20 years, and so giving the occupants the advantage of any improvements they can make, has been regarded by them as a great favor, and should be extended wherever they do not come in conflict with intermediate parties or previous revenue settlements. If the works for irrigation, and the roads and railways for transportation, which have been projected, are carried on vigorously, and completed during the present period of the East India Company's charter, thus first furnishing employment to great numbers of the people, and then opening the way for industry and enterprise to develop the natural resources of the different parts of the country, it will constitute a new and important era in the history of India.

MANUFACTURES.

India and the other countries of southern Asia supplied Europe and the western parts of Asia with cotton and silk manufactures for many centuries. The traffic of the English and other East India Companies for two centuries was chiefly in articles of this kind, and such would apparently have continued to be the course of trade to the present time, if new causes had not occurred to interrupt it. The invention of machinery and its application to the various purposes of manufactures, have made great changes in the commerce between Euand the southern countries in Asia. Fine fabrics of cotton goods to a great amount are now annually sent from England to India, and the manufacture of such articles in India has nearly ceased. The coarser kinds of cotton goods for domestic use are still made there in large quantities, but even in these articles manual labor holds very unequal competition with machinery. This change in the manufactures of India has been a great injury in those districts where the inhabitants were formerly largely engaged in such labor. High or moderate protective duties would have greatly diminished these evils, but

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* For the revenue settlement of Bengal, see pages 188 and 196–198.

unhappily for India the power to regulate all the commerce between the two countries has been in the Parliament of England and in the East India Company, and the commerce between England and those parts of India subject to the English (which now includes nearly all India and all the seaports) has been managed on terms for the benefit of the manufactures of England, and much to the injury of the manufacturing interests of India. Villages, towns, and cities, which formerly subsisted by their manufactures and were in a flourishing state, are now becoming dilapidated, and falling to decay and ruin. The population in some such places I have seen, exhibit the appearance of extreme poverty, and they know not what to do for means of support, nor where to go for employment. A late governorgeneral of India, in a communication to the Directors of the East India Company, says: "Some years ago the East India Company annually received of the produce of the looms of India to the amount of 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 pieces of cottonTM goods. The amount gradually fell, and has now ceased altogether. English goods made by machinery has now superseded the produce of India. Cotton piece goods, for ages the staple manufacture of India, seem forever lost. And the present suffering to numerous classes in India is scarcely to be paralleled in the history of commerce."

The use of machinery for any kind of manufactures is yet scarcely known in India. The inhabitants use the same kind of spinning wheels, looms, etc., which their ancestors had centuries ago. Very few among them have any capital to construct and apply machinery to manufacturing purposes, and the few who have means have not sufficient confidence in the suecess of such works to engage in them. The regulations of the government and some other causes have prevented Europeans from engaging much in such enterprises. And even if these difficulties were all removed, the want of motive power has been a great obstacle to the use of machinery. The rivers of India, owing to the peculiar seasons, in very few places furnish any permanent and reliable water power, and the coal-deposits are situated so far from the districts which have the raw material and the population for manufactures, and are so inaccessible for want of roads, canals, and railways, that steam power has been

available only to a small extent for manufacturing purposes. Should the railroads which have been projected, be constructed and become available for the transmission of cotton, coal, etc., and the needful facilities and securities for establishing cotton manufactories in suitable localities be obtained, the abundance and cheapness of the raw material, and the low price of labor * and provisions may yet again make India a great manufacturing country. Her inhabitants may again be able to make their cotton into cloth not only sufficient for their own use, but to supply England and other countries, as they formerly did for many centuries, with fine fabrics, and at a cheaper rate than those nations can manufacture them.

Silk goods are made in considerable quantities for domestic use and also for exportation. The woollen goods manufactured in India are coarse, as the wool produced in the country is too coarse to be capable of being made into fine cloths. Cashmere shawls, known in all parts of the world, are still made in large quantity in Cashmere and other parts of northern India. At one time 30,000 looms were engaged in the Lahore districts in the manufacture of these shawls. Not more than 12,000 or 15,000 looms are now thus engaged. These shawls are much worn by native princes, nobles, and wealthy men. The material is the hair of a goat, which is said to thrive best in Cashmere. The implements used in agriculture and in the mechanic arts are generally made in the country. Cables, ropes, and cordage, are made of coir and different kinds of hemp. Good household furniture, carriages, etc., are made in all places where there is sufficient demand to encourage such work. All classes of people are excessively fond of jewelry, and their ornaments, which are of many different kinds, of gold, silver, and precious stones, are generally made by the native goldsmiths. The skill displayed in such work generally exceeds what Europeans expect to find in India, and they are yet more surprised to see so ingenious and good

* Wages in India seldom exceed 6 cents for a woman, and 9 cents for a man per day at common labor. Over a large part of the country wages are less than these sums. And the laborers, whether men or women, generally find their own food. There are millions of persons in India who would be glad to obtain work at these prices.