10 Present State of Huslandrtj in Bengal. 



The want of capital, employed in manufactures and agri- 

 culture, prevents, m Bengal, the division of labour. Every 

 manufacturer, every arti.st, workuig for his -own account, 

 conducts the whole process of h.is art from the formation of 

 his tools to the sale of his production. Unable to wait thfe 

 market, or anticipate its deuiaud, he can only follow his 

 regular occupation as immediately called to it by the wants 

 of his neighbours. In the intervals he must apply to some 

 other employment in immedialc request ; and tlie labours 

 of agriculture, ever wanted, arc the general resource. The 

 mechanic, rtnding himself as fully competent as the constant 

 cultivator to the management of common husbandry, is 

 not discouraged from untlertaking it at his own risk. Every 

 labourer, every artizan, who has frequent occ?vsion to recur 

 to tlie labours of the lield, becomes a tenant. Such farmers 

 are ill qualified to plan or conduct a well judged course of 

 husbandry, and are idly employed, to the great waste of 

 useful time, in carrying to market the paltry produce of their 

 petty farms. 



If Bengal had a capital in the hand of enterprising pro- 

 prietors, who euiployed it in husbaudrv, manufactures, and 

 uiternal commerce, these arts would be improved ; and, 

 with greater and better productions from the same labour, 

 the situation of the labourers would be less precarious and 

 more affluent, althsugh the greatest part of the profit might 

 rest with the owners of the capital. 



Capital is certainly not lens deficient to the internal com- 

 merce of Bengal than to manufactures and agriculture. The 

 small capitals now emploved require large returns. Blessed 

 as Bent^al is, beyond any country, with an extensive internal 

 navigation, the want of roads (though a great evil) would 

 not sufficiently accotmt for the very limited intercourse of 

 commerce at present existing. But the largp profits which 

 small capitals reqyire, explain the want of intercourse. 

 This conspires with the deficiency of capital in manufac- 

 tures and husbandry to depress Bengal ; for in agri- 

 culture particularly, which is the basis of prosperity to a 

 country, the want of capital is a bar to all improvement. 

 Under a system of government which neither drained its 

 wealth nor curbed rational enterprise, Bengal could not fail 

 to .cvive ; the employment of capital in husbandry would 

 introduce large farms, and from these would flow every 

 j.mprove!\!enl wanted ; and which must naturally extend 

 from husbandry into every branch of arts and commerce. 



Without capital and enterjnise, improvement can never 



be obtained. Precept vvill never inculcate a better hus- 



'2 bandiy 



