323 



any other nation. If we can get wine cheaper 

 from France than from Portugal, the annual va- 

 lue of our imports for wine will be diminished by 

 dealing wilh the former coiintry. Besides, what 

 is imported may often be so, only for the purpose 

 of re-exportation to some other country/' 



It must also be remembered, when discussing 

 the trade of Rhio. that from 1819 to 1825 Ma- 

 lacca waJ5 also a Dutch colony, and the recipro- 

 ciiy of trade existing between the two settlements 

 greatly contributed to the prosperity of the for- 

 mer. The restoration of Malacca to the English 

 in 1825, and the heavy duties imposed upon Chi- 

 nese junks, were two causes which materially 

 affected the commercial interests of Rhio, but 

 the senseless tax imposed, on tlie 26th April 

 1826, on the import of gambier to Java, blasted 

 her trade and was one of the io direct causes of 

 the disturbances amongst the Javanese* 1 shall 

 exhibit the combined effects of these three in a 

 comparative shipping Report of Rhio from 1820 

 to 1826 inclusive, but, could 1 lay before my 

 readers the reports of the subsequent years, the 

 decline of Rhio would be still more strikingly dis- 

 played . 



