AGRICULTURE, A NATIONAL INDUSTRY. 23 



arm of tlio power of that rich and prosperous khigdom. It is 

 not India, a manufacturing and commercial people, that is valu- 

 able to England, but agricultural India whicli has filled her 

 coffers, and employed her ships, and consumed her manufac- 

 tured goods, and furnished employment for her surplus soldiers, 

 and her ambitious nobility. 



The importance of the "West India Islands, in all their di- 

 vided political relations, arises from the fact that they al)ound 

 in the most important agricultural productions. Cuba, as a 

 Spanish possession, may almost be said to save Spain from 

 bankruptcy, so large is the tribute which that island pays, in 

 every variety of way, based upon her agricultural resources. 



It was an agricultural rivalry between the British West India 

 Islands and Brazil, in which the latter, by her superior markets 

 and cheaper productions, offered irresistible temptations to the 

 manufactures and commerce of England, which, at last, settled 

 the question of emancipation there. In 1820, a large trade 

 sprang up between England and Brazil, which, owing to a 

 Brazilian tariff in favor of English manufactures over those of 

 all other countries, had reached the amount of £5,000,000. At 

 the same time, the importation of the produce of Brazil into 

 British ports was prohibited, in order that the West India Colo- 

 nies might find a market there for their coffee and sugar. This 

 state of things became at last intolerable ; and one advocate of 

 emancipation tells us, that " there is no doubt whatever that 

 the "West India Colonies have been a sad burden to this coun- 

 try, (England) and, what is not very consolatory, they are very 

 likely to continue so. A vast capital is invested in these 

 islands, and must not be too hastily interfered with ; but, at the 

 same time, the legislature is bound to encourage the trade with 

 the States of South America, for they are decidedly our best 

 customers, and, if properly managed, promise to take from us, 

 at no distant day, more manufactures than we now export to 

 all the rest of the world besides. The blacks and the planters 

 are sufficiently burdensome, without permitting them to shut 

 out all competition, to curtail our commerce, and limit the em- 

 ployment of our shipping. The Brazilians take from us now 

 all the manufactures they are able to pay for ; but, if we took 

 their sugar and coffee in return, they would of course, be 

 enabled to take from us a much larger quantity." 



