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it from destruction, and himself from utter ruin, at 

 all hazards. To ( tell such a man that ' those who 

 ask Government to encourage this product, ask 

 it to go beyond its natural and ligitimate func- 

 tions ask it to meddle with that which every body 

 agrees in the abstract, is best left in the hands 

 of individuals, without any interference from Go- 

 vernment with supply and demand, production and 

 consumption, profit and loss '* is tantamount to 

 telling a ship-wrecked man that he must not catch 

 hold of his neighbour. The Manchester men have 

 doubtless as long and as intimate an acquaintance 

 with Adam Smith and John Mill as their instruc- 

 tors. They have their excuse. Their existence 

 the existence of the millions they support, is at 

 stake. The opposite side, with equal determination, 

 hut with more reason, would protect the Indian Cul- 

 tivator from the ruin one quite as deplorable as that 

 which now devastates certain districts of England, 

 which must inevitably result from immense tracts of 

 country being placed under a cultivation, the produce 

 of which, when grown, circumstances might place out 

 of the market. They too have their excuse. But 

 with neither do I wish to meddle. It is certainly 

 now too late for people to look to India to afford 

 immediate relief to England's distress. The hour 

 is past. India has done her utmost; and the pre- 

 sent crisis must be tided over as best it may. But 



* Home Newspaper 26th June 1862. 



