The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-01 00:00:00

I in dispute as to the recognition or non•recognition
of the Southern States of America—apart from this
purely personal matter affecting the dignity and
independence of a popular member of the English
Parliament—it is impossible not to recognise
already, through the haze of the first night's discus-
sion of that one paramount question in dispute, that
the House of Commons has the opportunity now
clearly before it of guiding to the one only wise
and humane course of a temporising, a hesitating,
and an all but bewildered Cabinet.

The Budgets of the current year have been espe-
cially fortunate for India. Sir CHARLES TREVE•
LYAN'S able statement met,'as it deserved to do, un-
qualified approval in Calcutta, and has given every
encouragement to the well-wishers of India. Our
English financier has, however, been equally for-
tunate or praiseworthy in affording a stimulus to
the energies alike of capitalists, settlers, and natives.
The cultivation of tea promises to open a new field
in which success is not even doubtful. Attention
has recently been especially turned in this direction,
and by a fortunate coincidence at the very time
when 1,500 miles at the foot of the Himalayas are
being covered with the tea plant, the joyful news
arrives that the English Chancellor of the Exche-
quer has greatly reduced the dity on tea. This
has of course redoubled the energies of the specula.
tors, and the prospect of profiting by the increased
home consumption has raised their hopes and ex-
pectations to the highest pitch. Tea has, of course,
been long cultivated in India, and the Assam tea
plant in that country is well known among
us. It is the spirit and extent of the present culti-
vation that renders it remarkable, and when we
learn that the resources of neglected and misgo-
verned India are expected to excel Japan and com-
pete with China, so long the undisputed sovereign
of the tea trade, we may reasonably hope that
better days have dawned for our Eastern Empire.
The usual export of tea from India has been about
two million pounds and a half, while Japan has
doubled the amount. The resources of Japan are
not yet half developed, notwithstanding the indus-
try and sagacity of the people, and possibly the
rapid advance of her competitor in the tea market
may arouse her energies to make further progress.
But even then there are na fears for India, where
European capital and intelligence take the lead, and
where such a vast expanse of hod lies waiting for
cuttivation. The home trade and the protection of
England give also immense advantages to the
Indian cultivators, which the peculiarities of the
Japanese will prevent them from sharing. Solittle
doubt is entertained of the rapid development of
the trade that there seems to be an absolute tea
mania ; and certainly there is some excuse for the
most prosaic mortal being carried away by excite-
ment when he sees comparatively new and unre-
markable companies declaring dividends of four,
six, and even ten per cent. The great point on
which the success or failure of the company chiefly
depends is the possession of an able, experienced,
and thoroughly trustworthy manager, who is on
the scene of action. It is to be hoped that as soon
as this want is more widely known there will be no
lack of intelligent and capable Europeans to supply
such offices. The tea districts and many other parts
of India open a field to a class of men for whom
there is not too much room at home, men who are no
longer young enough for a subordinate position, but
who, from various causes, are compelled to seek a
new employment in middle life. The management
of the tea districts would, of course, require some
experience in that special line; but there are other
branches of trade and commerce now opening in the
country in which ready employment might be found
for capable, honest, and intelligent Englishmen.
The lessons taught by the indigo and silk trades

which languished under native control, hut flourished

with sudden energy under the management of Euro-

peans, are not forgotten, though, thanks to the re

strictive wisdom of our legislators, they have not
hitherto been profited by to their full extent. Ten

years sufficed to render the drooping Indian indigo

a dangerous rival for the African market. Ten

years from this time, if Providence spares us wars
and disasters, will probably see India transformed.

The one condition is that she should have enligh'

ened and liberal government, and not be ruled in
that perverse and prejudiced fashion which refuses
to learn from the positive facts before its eyes. Atter
all the experience of the past the Madras Presi-
dency still clings to the old restrictions. One would
think the effects produced by the nine months of
Lord CANNING'S regulations would have convinced

the most prejudiced of the mischievous course they

were pursuing. During those few months thousands

of acres of land were purchased, which are now
being cleared for tea cultivation. But if those rules

had not been in force the land would still be lying

waste, and we should hear no more of the promising
trade. Assam, in which the plant is indigenous, is
for the most part uncultivated, though larger than
the little kingdom that rules the vast domains of
India. We may fancy what the trade will be when

ea drinking is as popular throughout Asia as it is

,n Europe, and it is a beverage peculiarly suited to
:he temperate Hindoo. It has hitherto been an

almost unattainable luxury for the lower classes,
but the day is fast approaching when they may
drink their own native produce at trifling cost. The

admixture of Europeans, who, we may
hope, wi

remember the moral responsibility attaching to them,
must have a beneficial effect on the nations,while the
regular and pacific employment is already, we learn,
transforming rude and bloodthirsty tribes into

orderly and quiet labourers. A better future is
dawning for India, and we trust that our statesmen
and legislators will feel it their duty to encourage
it by every means in their power. The reduction
of the tea duties has been a most welcome boon, and

the sooner the
sugar duties follow their example
the better for India, as well as for England. Public
works are greatly needed,
but the negligence of

years is not atoned for in a day, and the large sums
set aside for roads, canals, &c., by our able Indian
financier, ought to produce great results by next