Wednesday, February 17, 1813.

It is very observable, that the objections which have been made by the East India Company to the admission of ships, returning from India, to import and dispose of their cargoes at any other place than the Port of London, are not founded so much upon any statement of the injury which the trade of the Company would sustain by admitting them, as upon a provident regard for the adventurers themselves, and a caution held out to them not to entertain an expectation of benefiting by any commercial speculation in India; since the long experience of the Company has enabled them to show, that it must be ultimately ruinous to the speculator. The sum of the experience, alleged by those who have come forward to defend this point, is, "That it is not practicable to extend the consumption of European manufactures generally in India;" and the facts which they have asserted in support of this experimental argument, and upon which they rest its strength, are these four following:

1. That the natives of India entertain a strong characteristic aversion, to engage in commercial transactions with foreigners.

2. That their religious prejudices, customs, habits, and tastes, render it impossible that they should ever become consumers of our manufactures, to any extent.

3. That their poverty opposes an insuperable bar to such consumption.

4. That these facts and their consequences are demonstrated in the examples of the Portuguese and the Dutch, who were not able to carry their export commerce with India to any considerable extent.

Let us take these several propositions in their order; and examine, how far they possess that force of truth, which the Company has supposed to belong to them.

1. In the infancy of the European intercourse with India, the sole object of those who engaged in its commerce was, to procure the produce and commodities of the East. In this pursuit, so far were the natives from opposing any obstacles to their endeavours, that they were found disposed to afford every facility to a traffic, which brought them specie in exchange for their manufactures, and for the productions of their soil. This fact, which is established by every writer who treated upon the subject of the India commerce during that period, would of itself constitute a complete answer to those who advance the proposition, that the natives of India are averse, through an established prejudice, to engage in commercial transactions with foreigners.

When the ingenuity of the French and German artists enabled the speculators in this traffic to introduce works of fancy, we learn from Tavernier, who made six several journeys, between the years 1645 and 1670, from France to India, by various routes, that the Rajahs of Hindostan and of the Deccan, as well as the Mahomedan princes of those countries, admitted him into their states; that the articles of manufacture which he introduced were received and purchased with an avidity which encouraged him to continue, for so many years, the pursuit of that commerce; that he found the natives of India, spread over the whole range of country from the Indus to the Caspian Sea, engaged in the active prosecution of foreign traffic; and that the number of Banyans (the chief commercial cast of Hindoos) at that time established at Ispahan, were not less than ten thousand. Forster, who, in a more recent period, followed Tavernier in one of the routes which he had traversed, informs us, that, in the year 1783, he found Banyans established at Astrachan, within the Russian empire. And we further learn from Bruce, that the principal agents of commerce at Mocha and Jedda, in the Red Sea, were Banyans; and that they had even extended themselves into Abyssinia. No stronger evidence, therefore, can be required to make it manifest, that foreign as well as internal trade has been in all ages, and still continues to be at the present day, a common practice, and a favourite pursuit of the Hindoos.

2. With regard to the restrictive operation of the religious prejudices and customs of the Hindoos, against the adoption of foreign articles of manufacture; Mr. Colebrooke, lately a Member of the Supreme Council, and an eminent Oriental scholar, has furnished us with information upon this subject, equally important and decisive. In an unpublished work, on the Agriculture and Commerce of Bengal, cited in The Edinburgh Review, for November 1812, that gentleman observes, that, according to the sentiments of the Hindoos, "All things come undefiled from the shop;" or, in the words of Menu, "The hands of an artist employed in his art are always pure; and so is every vendible commodity when exposed to sale: that woollens are purified by a single exposure to air, while water is necessary to purify other clothes." Proceeding with these principles, he further informs us, "That the rainy season and winter of India afford real occasion for the use of woollens; that the fabrics of Europe are always preferred; and, if the articles were adapted in the manufacture to the Indian use, and the price reduced, the consumption would descend from the middle even to the more numerous classes. That the natives of India do not want a taste for porcelaine, and other elegant wares; that they require vast quantities of metallic vessels, and of hardware; that, considering the greatness of the population, and the disposition of the natives to use European manufactures, it cannot be doubted, that a great vend might be found, and that the demand will increase with the restoration of wealth."

The authority of Mr. Colebrooke on this subject would be conclusive, even if it stood alone: but it may be supported by a reference to the opinion of many persons, who have been resident in the great cities of India. Those persons would be found to testify, that at Delhi, at Lucknow, at Hydrabad, Mysore, and Tanjore, in all the capitals, whether Hindoo or Mahomedan, a taste prevails amongst the natives for a variety of articles of European manufacture. The late Nabob of Oude, was known to have affected the European dress; as may be seen by the costume of his picture, in the possession of the Marquis Wellesley.

A large assortment of cut glass lustres has been provided by order, for the Soubahdar of the Deccan; and a person is now proceeding to India, with the license of the Company, for the express purpose of arranging them, when they shall have reached his palace of Hydrabad.

The Rajah of Mysore (and, in the same manner, many of the Serdars of that state), is frequently clothed in scarlet cloth; his servants are generally dressed in woollen of that colour; and he often travels in an English carriage, driven by postillions, who are habited in the English costume. The Rajah of Tanjore exhibits in his palace a colossal marble statue of himself, wrought by the hand of Flaxman; and the monument of his revered Mentor, the late celebrated missionary Swartz, sculptured by the same eminent artist, was executed and sent to Tanjore, at the express and urgent desire of that enlightened Prince.

We must further observe, that so far are the religious and civil habits of the Hindoos from obstructing the intercourse of trade, that their policy has connected trade with religion; and the great festivals of their worship, are at the same time the appointed periods and scenes of their most active commerce. Jaggernaut, Ramisseram, Tripetty, are the most celebrated places of Hindoo devotion within the British dominions; and every one who has resided in India must know, that fairs are held at those places at the periods, when the greatest concourse of pilgrims is drawn to them by the celebration of their religious rites and ceremonies. In further illustration of the disposition of the natives to traffic, in every way by which profit can be derived, the following fact may be stated; which can be attested by every officer who served with the army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (now Marquis of Wellington), against the Mahrattas, in 1803. The distant and severe service in which that army had been engaged, had exhausted the store of European necessaries with which it had advanced against the enemy; and the officers arrived at Poonah, almost destitute of those comforts and accommodations. But they found the native merchants of that capital provided with the most essential of those several articles, and they were soon supplied, through the agency of those merchants, with every thing for which they had occasion. Poonah is the capital of a Brahmin government; and, therefore, this single fact would serve to furnish a complete answer to every thing that has been asserted, against the practicability of introducing and extending the manufactures of Europe into every part of Hindostan.

3. That the poverty of a large majority of the native subjects of our Indian Empire is such, as to disable them from acquiring our manufactures, is certainly true; but it is no less true, that a very considerable portion of that population possess the means of indulging in every article of convenience and luxury, both native and European. It has been very generally stated, that there are only two classes of people in India, the very rich and the very poor. But a minute investigation into the society of India, would discover the error of this statement, and would show, that there exists a third and middle class, far removed from the condition of either of the others; greatly exceeding in number the former of these, and falling far short of the latter. This class, as they certainly possess the means, would, if proper steps were taken, materially contribute to the demand and consumption of many of our home manufactures.

4. With respect to the evidence, attempted to be drawn from the ill success of the Portuguese and Dutch traders, we are to observe, that the situation of the Portuguese and the Dutch, during the period when they were in possession of the European trade with India, was so exceedingly different from that of the British nation at the present moment, that it is scarcely possible to draw a sound comparison between them. The native Governments were at that time powerful; and the establishments of the Portuguese, and afterwards of the Dutch, extended but a short distance from the sea-coast; the manufactures of Europe were, in a manner, in their infancy; and neither Portugal nor Holland were manufacturing countries. Whereas, the British empire is now established over the richest and most populous regions of India, and its influence is extended even further than its dominion; the manufactures of the United Kingdom have attained a degree of perfection, which never has been equalled; they can be fashioned to the tastes, the wants, and the caprices of every nation and climate; and certainly, the interests of the country call for the cultivation of every channel, which can be opened for the enlargement of our commerce.

We cannot better conclude these observations, than by applying the circumstantial evidence which they afford, to Mr. Dundas's letter of the 2d April 1800; in which that Minister admitted the fact, of a progressively increasing consumption; but, at the same time, conceived, that the customs of the natives would prescribe limits to its extension. "I do not mean to say," says he, "that the exports from this country to India have not been very considerably increased of late years; and I make no doubt that, from recent circumstances, they may be still considerably increased. But the prospect, from the causes I have already referred to, must always be a limited one." What these causes are he thus explains:—"The export trade to India can never be extended to any degree, proportionate to the wealth and population of the Indian Empire; neither can the returns upon it be very profitable to individuals. Those who attend to the manners, the manufactures, the food, the raiment, the moral and religious prejudices of that country, can be at no loss to trace the causes why this proposition must be a true one."

The evidence which has been produced demonstrates, that neither the manners, raiments, nor prejudices of Hindostan, are of a nature to impede the introduction of articles of European manufacture; and it thus proves, that the causes assigned for the limitation of our export trade, are not calculated to impose any such limitation. What, then, it may be asked, are the causes, why the consumption of the manufactures of Europe in India has in no degree kept pace with the extension of our territories, and of their population? The examination of this branch of our subject would carry us to too great a length on the present occasion, and will therefore best be reserved for a separate communication.

GRACCHUS.