138 



COTTON-WOOL. 



Letter esteemed by the British manufacturer ; insomuch, 



to Bombay, *^ 



18 Feb. 1829. that many persons, who were previously in the 

 habit of using Surat cotton, have discontinued 

 their purchases, and it is only from very great 

 improvement that they can be expected to return 

 to its use. 



4. The course of public affairs, at the present 

 time, has caused us to direct our attention in an 

 especial manner to this subject, and to look to 

 India for the means of rendering Great Britain 

 independent of foreign countries for a considerable 

 portion of a raw material, upon which her most 

 valuable manufacture depends : the effecting of 

 which would also lead to another not less im- 

 portant object, namely, that at the same time 

 as it would add to the agricultural resources of 

 our extensive possessions, it would also facilitate 

 the remittance of the annually increasing political 

 and commercial debt, for which India becomes 

 liable to the mother country. 



5. We are informed, that at least three-fourths 

 of the cotton which is manufactured in Britain is 

 the produce of Georgia and New Orleans in the 

 United States of America, being known in mer- 

 cantile language as Georgia Upland cotton and 

 New Orleans cotton, and is exclusively the wool 

 of the species of cotton which produces a green 

 seed ; and we are further informed, which is ex- 

 ceedingly material in the present consideration, 

 that the Bombay cottons, pai'ticularly those of the 



growth 



