8 



foot enquries on the subject, and sketched a plan 

 for carrying out the object in view. To the wisdom, 

 the ability, the energy and active support, of Lord 

 William Bentinck, India is, undoubtedly, indebted 

 for this valuable accession to her .wealth, and to 

 him, in my opinion, must be accorded not only the 

 full merit of having discovered that the tea plant 

 will grow in many parts of India, and is, or would 

 appear to be, indigenous to some ; but of hnving 

 introduced it from China, and laid the foundation 

 of the present promising trade in that valuable 

 Article of Commerce. 



His Lordship it is true had had the subject 

 brought to his notice by an intelligent gentleman 

 of the name of Walker, who, alarmed with others 

 at the unsatisfactory state of our political relations 

 with China, thought it not improbable 'that, at 

 no very distant period and from some apparently 

 accidental event^ not only the British Nation, but 

 all foreigners might be prohibited entering the 

 Chinese territories.' On this ground he considered it 

 of national importance ' that some better guarantee 

 should be provided for the supply of this Article 

 (TEA) than that already furnished by the toleration 

 of the Chinese Government/ He proposed, there- 

 fore, that the East India Company should ( reso- 

 lutely undertake the cultivation on the Nepaul 

 Hills and other districts where the Camellia, and 

 other plants of a character similar to the tea plant 



