214 



THE BRITISH COLONIES. 



stated in Parliament on July 2d, 1849, " that in the article 

 of Calicoes alone, there has been an export to the British 

 colonies, from 1831 to 1836, of 313,000,000 yards more 

 than to all the rest of the world," and it must be remem- 

 bered that a colonial trade is even more valuable than a 

 home trade, because not only are the two profits on buy- 

 ing and selling obtained by the citizens of the same em- 

 pire, but a larger and valuable amount of shipping is em- 

 ployed. 



British India and Ceylon consume annually British and 

 Irish produce and manufactures of the value of £6,000,000. 

 North American colonies £4,500,000 ; West Indies 

 £3,500,000; Australian colonies £2,000,000; the Afri- 

 can Settlements more than £2,000,000 ; the European 

 and other Settlements require for use or sale about 

 £2,000,000. Our colonial export trade therefore, amounts 

 to £20,000,000 a year, and is annually increasing. This 

 commerce, in a national point of view, is double the value 

 of an equal amount of foreign commerce, for the reasons 

 above stated ; namely, that the whole profits thereon ac- 

 crue to the empire, and are in no way divided with foreign 

 States. 



