A. D. 1800. 519 



year 1808, will have paid about ^^300, reckoning interefl: on bis pre- 

 mium, for his fliare of /^loo *. By this management the proprietors 

 of the canal effeded a clear profit of about jTi 2,000. 



It muft be acknowleged, however, that (hares in feveral other canals 

 fometimes fell for lefs than the half of their original fubfcription coft. 



Auguft 30''' — Since the month of April 1799 twelve India-built fhips, 

 and four Britifh fliips, which, having carried out troops and ftores to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, had proceeded to India by the company's per- 

 miflion, arrived in London with 34,504 bales of cotton, partly from 

 Bengal, but moftly from Bombay. And from June 1799 to this time 

 twenty India-built fhips, of from 460 to 1,237 tuns, failed from Lon- 

 don on their return voyages to India. Two of them were completely, 

 and two more almoft completely, loaded with troops and ftores by go- 

 vernment. The cargoes of the remaining fixteen, taken in at London, 



amounted to ,^588,643 8 



those of the two, not quite loaded by governmentj to 24,6o4 4 6 



<^6l3,'247 12 6 



Eight of them took in wine, &c. at Madeira to the amount of 116,505 O 6 

 The expenditure of the whole in London, for repairs, ships") ^ 

 stores, provisions, advance wages, and insurance^ amounted to J " *'' ' 



^932,630 5 3 



But it may be obferved, that the Britifh goods, Madeira wine, &c. 

 carried to India by thefe fhips, did not make any real augmentation of 

 the trade, but only foreftalled the market, which ufed to be fupplied 

 chiefly by the private trade of the commanders and officers of the com- 

 pany's fhips, who were thereby difappointed of their fales. It is well 

 known that in India a glut of goods could fcarcely make any increafe 

 in the confumption ; and the fucceeding imports muft have been lefs 

 than ufual, till the proportion between the demand and the fupply re- 

 turned to its proper level. Neither has the trade in cotton turned out fo 

 profitable as was, rather too-fanguinely, expected. It was not the pro- 

 duce of Britilli India, which has none to Ipare from its own manufac- 

 tures : and, in confequence of the eagernefs of the purchafers, much 

 was fliipped not fufficiently cleaned, whereby they fubjeded themfelves 

 to a heavy freight for carrying cotton feeds, and a fubfequent expenfe 

 for clearing the cotton of thole coftly and ufelefs feeds, and reducing 

 the weight of it very much below what they bought and paid freight 

 for. 



September 3" — A treaty was concluded at Paris between the French 

 republic and the United ftates of America, whereby 



* Some inftances of much higher advances on £112.. Thus the difftrenct of pofitively becom- 



canal ftock have already been noticed (p. 257). ing a proprietor of a fhare, and retaining the op- 



But, on the other hand, in February 1801 iome tion of being either a creditor or proprietor, an- 



fliares of tlie grand jundtion canal fold at ^170 to pears to have been valued at about ^"130 I 



