The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-19 00:00:00

Honourable Gentleman admitted that thy' EA9,t India

Company were not to blame. Since t e ycar 1788 trig re
were reports on this stiti,ct, whieb ~ere contalle-i in
tive hundred and fict ven paces, of which a summary bat
been made by Dr. Boyl-.. from which it appeared that
the grestest attention had been paid to this subject since
that period, and, in f4et, from the 3eir 1788 to 1839,
there had been eight different measures to promote the

cultivation of cotton, and this course was pursued ua to
1839, when Lard Auckland esta)lished his exoerirni,nt
by sending ten American planters to the country for the
purpose of improving the cultivation. Four were sent
to the presidency of Madras, three to Bengal, and three

r.,
to Bombay. Even last year the company offered a re-
ward of 5,000 rupees for improved cotton cleaning.
Then there was the Committee which sat in 1847 and
1648, of which the lion. Gentleman was chairman, and

certainly there was no objection made to the appointment
of that Committee. It made its report in July. The
Hon. Gentleman tools no exception to the evidence, but

he was not pleased with the report, and he considered
that it was a fair reduction from the evidence. It cer-

tainly did not recommend a Royal Commission, 59 the
II n. Gentleman had now proposed. It is true the

- .
Committee expressed their apprehension that the
growth of cotton would full into its old course
if Government relaxed its efforts to improve it.
Now, ho would ask, why hurl not the capital
and intelligence of this country been applied to the cul-
tivation of cotton, as it had been to that of other pro-
ductioss of India? The Honourable Gentleman re-

sorted to the vexed question of the land aiseastnent to
account for it, but several of the witnesses who had been

examined by the Committee stated that it had nothing
to do with the Tiestion. He could only deduce one fact
upon this point—that the Committee did not report
upon it ull. The Committee, however, did justice to the
East India Company, and he hoped the House would do
the same. It should be observed that an improvement.

hudbeenm ado with regard to the assessment Which was
now taken on the character of the soil, instead of the na-

tare of the produce. The company were making great
efforts far the promotion of the cultivation, and were
alive to its importance; but ho doubted whether we
could compete with American cotton; still every effort
should be made to improve the cultivation in India.
There was something in the produce which prevented
such competition, an opinion which was confirmed
by the testimony of Doctor Boyle, though he was
acquainted with the sentiments of Mr. Crawford upon
the subject; and after quoting that gentleman's
opinion, he said he thought the cotton of
India, on account of the shortness of the staple
and the quantity of dirt it contained, was not so fit for
British manufactures as the cotton of America. The dirt
in India cotton amounted to 25 per cent., while in that
of America it was not more than 124 per cent. There
was the same difference in the comparative produce per
acre. In India it was fifty to a hundred pounds an acre,
while in America it was from two hundred and fifty to
three hundred pounds an acre. Besides, a great deal of
the produce of cotton in India was required for clothing
the population, which amounted to 120 millions, so that
they would never expect a large supply from that
country. Other products, such as indigo and opium,
had greatly increased, and there was no reason for sup-
posing hut the same result would take place with regard
to cotton, if it was profitable. The land assessment was
not the, obstacle. The ryots were not the serfs the Hon.
Gentleman represented. The Hon. Gentleman charged
the East ludia Company with neglecting the roads and
irrigation. He would say nothing with regard to what
had been done towards the formation of railways. The
Hon. Member for Westbury had the other night fully ex-
plained that; but with respect to irrigation, the Company
had expended, in the presidency of Beep!, 586,00 e/. for
canals; besides, there was the estimate for the Ganges
Canal, which amounted to a million.—(Hear.) And in
Bombay there had been an expenditure of 230,0001., be-
sides an annual sum of 50.000/ in clearing canals, and
another annual expenditure in the Punjaub of 50,0001.
for the purpose of irrigation. The Hon. Member com-
plained that larger sums had not been expended, but
he should consider the great expenditure occasioned by
the wars they had been recently engaged in; which,
however, it was to be hoped would not be required again,
and that u larger balance would in future remain for
these purposes. Another point urged was the condition
of the people. No doubt in ludia, as in other countries,
there would be found great distress. The cultivation
of cotton had greatly iecreased according to the state-
ment of Mr. Hamilton Bell. The increase was in the
north-west provinces, and there the condition of the
people had greatly improved—wages had increased.
The people were better fed, and this improvement
would lead to their requiring better clothing. The peo-
ple were indisposed to make accumulations, except for
their marriages and the expenses of their religion. The
Right Hon. Gentleman read largely from a private latter
of Mr. Frier, to prove that even marvellous changes for
the better had taken place in the Sattara district in the
Deccan. After an absence of some years, the writer
could scarcely recognize the people, so much were they
improved in condition and circumstances. That district
had had no special advautages. The whole was the effect
of good revenue administration. There bad officers
could be found he did not deny, but he could make the
same admissions with respect to other departments.
Generally speaking there was every sign of improve-
ment morally and socially. The abominable practice of
Thuggee, which no former Government had attempted to
grapple with, was now almost wholly done away with,
Life and property were generally and permanently secure.
That never was the case before. The Right Ron. Gentle-
man read from a very learned work by Sir Henry Elliot
upon Mohammedan history. In the preface to that book
Sir Henry had asserted, that within the last half century
the English had done more far India than had ever been
done in ten times the period before. Now, with reference
to the cotton commissioners, if any gentleman went from
Manchester, they would have to sp:nd five years in In-
dia before they learned what they had to do, and then
they must go to the servants of the company for the in-
formation they required. They had, in fact, at the pre-
sent time every information that these gentlemen could
require. Lie did notsee, then fore, what a Commission
could do more than the company had done, or were wil-
ling to do. If the Manchester capitalists would ensure a
certain price, the growers in India would ensure them
any amount of supply of that article.—(Hear.) There
was, he would remind the Hon. Gentleman, a commercial
association in Manchester, which had fora long time been
in communication with the East India Company respect-
ing the best mode of improving the quality and increas-
ing the quantity of cotton grown in India. The board
of that association were opposed to this suggested
Royal Commission, entertaining grave doubts as to its
useful operation. The experienced members of that
board were inclined, from experience, to trust to the
efforts of the East India Company. The Hon. Member,
therefore, did not represent the whole commercial in-
terests of Manchester. He represented the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce—a very important part, no
doubt, but nut the whole. Then with respect to the
commissions sent to the other parts of the world, if in-
quiry was made it. would be found that they were newly-
acquired territories, and that their object was to inves-
tigate the laws and customs of the people. He objected
to the supersession of the East India Company by the
issue of this Royal Commission. It would be implying
a reflection upon all that the company had done for the
promotion of this great object. What more could a
Commission do that had not been done? They could
ask questions, but questions had already been asked.
The book contained thousands of questions, and both
the Governors-General of India and the officers of the
company were willing to do all that was desired for the
advancement of cotton cultivation. As neither the
Government at home, nor the officers and servants of
the company abroad, had neglected their duty in this
respect, he did recommend the Hon. Gentleman not to
press his motion.—(Hear.)
Sir EDWARD COLEBROOKE said he admitted
the difficulty of forming a Commission such as that sug-
gested, without the concurrence of the East India Com-
pany and the Government, but he would suggest that
these Commissioners should not come altogether from
this country. The servants of the company might form
an important element in the Commission, and if they
entered into an inquiry with a proper spirit, no doubt
everything anticipated as desirable would be obtained.
The lion. Gentleman who had brought forward this
motion had spoken too sweepingly respecting the results
of the Indian revenue system. In the north-west the
settlements had been periodical, and the instructions
under which ho had acted in India as a revenue officer
when carried out, did not leave the land valueless.
Far from it. At the same time, the revenue had im-
proved 75 per cent. Up to last quarter the value of
land had doubled. The Government wore guilty of gross
neglect with respect to the internal communication in
India, and therefore hoped that the House would take
this matter into their serious consideration, as such neg-
lect tended not only to the injury of the British empire,
but to the colonies individually, which, he regretted to
say, was a source of complaint with other colonies as
well as this, to which he more particularly referred, for
he felt assured that such a line of policy tended to inter-
fere with the revenue of this great empire.
Mr. NE WDEG ATE could easily believe that as far
as the internal administration of India was concerned,
there was a great improvement; but locking at the diffi-
culty of communication between the interior and the
coast, he thought that the Hon. Gentleman Mr. Bright
need not look for any great supply of cotton from that
country. He (Mr. Newdagate) thought it deserving of
consideration to inquire what were the causes which
operated to produce the falling off of the production or
supply of oott fin from India. The question was worthy
of inquiry. He believed the real cause was attribut-
able to the low price given in the markets of this coun-
try for it. He had a letter in his possession from a
large and respectable house in the trade, which would
show that, and prove that the discouragement given
to the cultivation of the article was owing to the low
prices given by the spinners for it. The lion. Member
read retui ns which had been furnished him in support of
his argument; and then directed the attention of the
House to the article of sugar, with a view of showing
that the alteration of the tariff in this country, and the
throwing epsn of the trade, had caused large trots of
cotton-;;rowing countries in the United Sta es to be di-
verted from the production of that article to that of vu-
g=r. How, he would ask, were they to get out of the
diffictay ? He thought it would he wise in the House to
reimpose one penny per pound on cotton, as a moans of
getting out of the scrape into which the Free-traders had
brought the country, fur as the Free-traders had got the
country into a scrape, so they must get:it out of ir..
Mr. GEORGE TROSIPSON sPtid that the tra, cm cot-
ton engrossed a capital of 70,000,0001 o, 80,000,000/ia,ardid
gave employment t )2,000 000 peoplein the British 1.!1_
United
States h e y
fr
oe
rc ht iht
efli yr dee
hp
ieenf d
seuript
pon n
i
y nofe country—the
t
e. , was,ite
however, in possession of undoubted authority, which
would show that India afforded not only an ample but a
rich field for the cultivation of cotton, and tha', if pro •
Perly attended to, the cultivation a tpe article
would beccese so profitable in that country, as tm render
England, for its supply of it, independent of the Utated
States.—(Hear, hear.) There were, it was true, diffi-
culties in the way, but they were of a nature which Bri-