The Sun.
London, England, 1812-04-02 00:00:00

tysterri, Woulci be folibwed tv the disdoVeiY of sit h
new and valuable produaions of the East, as
would serve materially to augment the trade of
this country with, the Continents of Eurnpe add
America ; for, with regard tb the supply of our home
consumption of Indian commodities it cannot be as-
serted that .the importations already made .by the
Company aed individuals do not abundantly suffice
for it, or may not, at any time, be extended to the
exigencies of the market ; in which, it may be
noted, th ht a preference is given to the cotton and
silk inattotaetures of our own country, and to Sortie
of the' tropical produ6tions brought trom our West
India colonies. Nor can it be asserted, that new
adventurers in the .Eastern trade„fitting out from.
Great Britain, could,. with any profit to theaiselves,
_furnish the home consumption on cheaper terms
than it is now supplied.; for both the'Company and
British individuals resident in India, must have an
advantage over such adventurers in the provision of
goods teere (British residents.in the freight also) ;
and yet, oflate, the great Indian staple of cotton
piece goods has been a losing erode in this country..
Now, as to the productions of India, valuable for
foreign commerce, the, trade of European, of differ-
ent nations, to all parts of it- in the course of the last
three centuries, may well be presumed to have - left
little for .discovery in that way. The .Portuguese,
who, in their early time, spread themselves along ail
the shores of the East, explored every considerable
part of it, and they were followed by the Dutch,
English, and. French Companies, with their tnne-
eels establishments, some of which extended inland
to the Upper India. But the modern European
tneretiants resident in the East, who have long been
the chief navigators and adventurers in what is called
the ,coasting trade, have become well acquainted
with the commercial capacity of every region washed
by the Indian seas ; so that many countries, sup-
posed here to be little known, because
by the ships of Europe, are larrailiar to them, and
whatever articles those Countries ftirnish, valuable
for the commerce of the West, are already conveyed,
through the medium of private or foreign trade, to
Europe. .
The chief . commodities. suited to the .European
Market, which India has hithertO been found to
produce, are spices, pepper, drugs, sugar, coffee,
raw silk, saltpe:ee, indigo, raw cotton, and above
all, cotton,manufailures of singular beauty and in
endless variety. These last have, as already inti-
mated, forined, from time immemorial, the grand
staple, of India ; but, from the rise and excellence of
similar manufactures in Europe, particularly in our
own country, and from,the general impoverishment
which veers and revolutions have brought upon the
Continent of Europe; with the obstruCtions opposed,
in much the greater part of it, to our commerce, the
Consumption of the fine fabrics of India has consie •
derabiy decreased,. and it is not likely that it can be
restored to its former standard. Spices, sugar, and
coffee, have been, furnished chiefly from the
.Mo-
luccas and Java, Dutch- i.lands not in our eiosssese
sion, nor, in a commercial vieW, ,Worth the expense
of conquering and keeping, them. The cinnamon
of Ceylon, now ours, may be brought, in sufficient
quantity for the supply of ail Europe, in one ot. two
of the Company's snips., Pepper is a very losing ar-
ticle. Sugar has been of late, imported from our
territories ; but the necessary expense of convey-
ance from set great distance, prevents it from being
profitable, and it can be mech, encouraged only at
the expense of our West. India colonies. Raw silk
and indigo now produced in great perfeCtion.in Ben-
gal and its dependencies, have been brought to that
state, by the expense incurred, and the support af-
forded by-the Company. Both are articles occupy-
ing little space, in proportion to their'value. The
flatories where the former is colle&ed and prepared,
are in the hands of the Company, wild have, 'in the
course 'of many years, established themwith great
labour and expense. They can furnish not only all
the raw:silk this country requires, but much for the
consumption of the Continent, it it was poissible to
bring it thereinto competitipit with the raw-silk of
Italy, ; and the tonnage already employed- by the
Company is quite sufficient for its importation from
India. The Indigo produced in Bengal and the ad-
jacent provinces is equaleprobably, to three-fourths
of the demand of all Europe, and may easily be raised
to. the whole demand ; but the manutacture of this
article is entirely; and the trade in it chiezly, in the
hands of individuals, who need and require no-ship-
ping from this. country, except what the Company
provide, to convey to Europe all that Europe can
consume of it. • Saltpetre, furnished only from
Bengal, is, for political masons,' prohibited to fo-
reigners, and exported exclusively in the ships of the
Company : for the Same reasons,' it could never be
prudent to allow the private ships of this country to
carry it away at pleasure. Where, then, is the scope
for the,admission of new shipping•and adventurers,
without limitation, into the trade of India with Great
.Britain? In general, it may be'observede that the
commodities which have hitherto come from that
country, in a state prepared for use, such as the great
staple of cot ton piece goods, being articles of luxury,
can have only .a limited , consumption, and that the
demand for thetn could not be increased, at all in
proportion to the number of new ,competitors that
should enter into the trade: The same may be said
of all klnds of spices and drugs, which, from their
nature, have a Limited consumption ; and with re-
gard to the importent articles of raw silk and indigo,
wntch require a further preparation before they are
used, there is already abundant . provision made
for" their importation to the utmost extent of dee
mand.

There remains to be considered, of. all the coin- •
modities above enumerated, only the raw material
of cotton ; and to this may be added another, of
high importance, which India is in time likely to
produce abundantly,—namely herop. Now, with
respe6t to the former-of these, ft he Company hate
.formerly imported it, and permitted private mer-
chants so to do; but it was found that the cotton
of India could not enter into competition with that
produced nearer home, in the Brazil', tiro We-t In-
dies and North America. 01 late, since the -inter-
ruption of our trade with the las: mentioned country,
the Company have themselves commissioned cotton
from India, and have been willing to encourage in-
dividuals to export it from thence : but that it can
support a competition with the cotton of Georgia,
v. hen the AMerican embargo is taken off, or t;ecoMe
an ankle of extensive demand in this country, sup-