328 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 



The demand for the finer manufactures of Hindostan has 

 within the last fifty years greatly diminished. All branches 

 of industry have been deeply affected by the fall of so many 

 great sovereigns and splendid courts, where alone remu- 

 nerating prices could be obtained. The astonishing suc- 

 cess with which they have been imitated by several nations 

 of Europe, and particularly by Britain, has also very much 

 reduced the quantity brought into this part of the world, 

 and made them be regarded as little more than objects of 

 curiosity. Nor is this all. The fabrics of Manchester, of 

 Glasgow, and of Paisley, by the superior cheapness which 

 they combine with their excellence, have superseded on 

 their native soil the finest which India can produce. The 

 only cloths that now meet a sure sale are those coarse cot- 

 ton robes woven in almost every village for the use of the 

 great body of the people. 



The commerce of India, prior at least to the opening 

 of that with Mexico and Peru, was considered the most co- 

 pious source of wealth of any in the world. This impres- 

 sion, for reasons already hinted, was in some degree illu- 

 sory ; yet India always produced commodities of great 

 value and beauty ; and though the demand has somewhat 

 diminished, in consequence of the improved state of man- 

 ufactures in this country, an annual value amounting to 

 more than five millions sterling, conveyed nearly 15,000 

 miles, marks it still as one of the most important objects 

 of British enterprise. Cotton piece-goods, muslins, calicoes, 

 though in a smaller degree than formerly, are still exten- 

 sively exported. Silk manufactures and Cashmere shawls 

 are only introduced in limited quantities. Opium, V e VV n > 

 and indigo are articles in general use over the world, which 

 are chiefly drawn from India. Thrown silk and cotton- 

 wool, though of secondary quality, make their way, by dint 

 of cheapness, in the Briti'sh market. Sugar, saltpetre, bo- 

 rax from Thibet, and various minor articles, form an addi- 

 tion to the cargoes of our Indian ships. The European re- 

 turns have always been an object of considerable difficulty. 

 The orientals, generally speaking, have shown very little 

 taste for the productions of the West, and were wont to re- 

 quire that by far the greater part of their commodities should 

 be paid for in gold and silver. This was a circumstance 

 deeply afflicting to the commercial speculators of the old 



