192 COTTOK m THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. Y. 



rican Cotton at the prices fixed in the still uncan- 

 celled contract ; and that unless he did so, they would 

 grow no more American Cotton. Dr. Wight saw 

 both the justice and the expediency of their claim ; but 

 whilst fulfilling his duty as Government Agent, he 

 took the opportunity of cancelling the long-standing 

 agreement, and of assuring the Ryots, that if they con- 

 tinued the cultivation of American Cotton, after the 

 current year, they must run the chance of the market, 

 exactly as they were in the habit of doing in the case 

 of the Native article. 

 287 Retirement of Dr. Wight: Final Despatch of the 

 Court of Directors, 1853. — Dr. Wight appears to have 

 retired from the service, and to have left India in 

 March, 1853. In the following July, a despatch from 

 the Court of Directors was addressed to the Madras 

 Government, ordering that all purchases of American 

 Cotton should cease from that date, and that all direct 

 interference in the culture of foreign Cotton should be 

 gradually withdrawn. 



The following is a literal copy of the despatch of the 

 Court of Directors : — 



u REVENUE DEPARTMENT, 



20*A July, 1853. 



« OUR GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL AT FORT ST. GEORGE. 



"1. We entirely approve your having declined to entertain the 

 proposal of Dr. Wight, that all the Cotton grown by the Ryots in 

 Tinnevelly from American seed, should be purchased at a fixed rate 

 by the Government. There are now, it appears, individuals con- 

 nected with Manchester settled in the District ; and if the price at 

 which the Ryots can afford to sell the Cotton is greater than it suits 

 the purpose of those parties to give, it is hopeless to attempt to force 

 the cultivation by factitious encouragement on the part of Govern- 

 ment. 



" 2. The statement of Dr. Wight, that since the relinquishment 

 of the Government Farms in Coimbatore, the Ryots have taken to 

 the culture of American Cotton on their own account, to an extent 

 considerably greater than during their existence, would seem to 

 imply that the time had arrived when the interference of Govern- 

 ment could properly be withdrawn. All that is now wanted, you 

 observe, is a purchaser on the spot ready to give a fair remunerating 

 price to the Ryot for his Cotton, and in your opinion, this object can 



