By the extension or increase of British consuinptiou antl 

 the reduction of charge and expense, by means of the 

 reduction of the British revenue system, or the liquidation 

 of the Public Debt of the United Kingdom, and by the spe- 

 cial protection of the State ; the agriculture of the British 

 Eastern dependencies, becomes a distinct and unem- 

 barrassed consideration, and unquestionably presents an 

 object fraught with the most important bearings and 

 consequences. 



The ascendancy of Great Britain depends upon her 

 Marine, and her Marine depends upon the bulk of the 

 commodities of which she is the carrier, and the distance 

 to or from which such commodities be carried, combining 

 the consideration of the nature of the climate which she 

 may visit. 



The Eastern parts of Asia are highly fruitful in most of 

 the Imlki/, as well as the more refined productions, which 

 Europe demands from Tropical countries ; and those parts 

 of Asia are not only the most distant of the Tropical 

 countries, but are, to vast extent, a portion of the British 

 Empire. The bulky Tropical productions are demanded 

 in quantities so considerable, as to render their carriage a 

 chief source of maritime power ; and although Tropical 

 climates, generally speaking, are not favorable to the health 

 of strangers, the effect of a change of climate upon the Eu- 

 ropean constitution^ has been mitigated by care and pro- 

 fessional skill, and seamen seasoned to such climates by the 

 intercourse of trade, are the best calculated to defend their 

 country, in the same climates, in the day of trial. 



The chief bulky Tropical productions are saltpetre, 

 pepper, rice, indigo, cotton-wool, sugar, coffee and tobacco. 

 These commodities, if wholly derived from the Western 



