446 
tions, can apply no more labour than the 
demand of the market is permitted te en- 
courage. “Ef induftry be roufed, the pre. 
fent population is fufficient to bring into 
tillage the whole of the wafte lands in 
Bengal and Bahar; and in moft diftricts 
improvement may be expected whenever 
mew channels of trade are opened to take 
off-more or new preduce. In all it may 
foon follow the event, if Europeans imtereft 
themfclves in undertakings for the re- 
claiming of wafte tracts. 
a ae 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
&DDRESS fo the GRAND JURY of BOM- 
BAY, OCTOBER 125 1804, dy sir 
JAMES MACKINTOSH, RECORDER, 
ENTLEMEN of the Grand Jury : 
I heartily congratulate you on the 
fmall number of crimes which have oceur- 
red in our lite community fince I had 
Jatt the honour of addreffing you, and of 
that fma]l number I do not obferve that 
there are any refpecting which you can 
need that legal information from me, 
which ] fhall always be ready to commu- 
nicate. 
I might therefore have fuffered you to 
proceed to the difcharge of your duty 
without farther interruption, if I had not 
thonght it important to the intereft of hu- 
manity, to embrace this op ortunity of 
making public fome fasts, of fuch a na- 
ture. that ic feemed to me fit to oromul. 
gate them in the moft authentic form, and 
on the moft folemn occafion known among 
us. 
When we are aflembled to adminifer 
eriminal juftice, to perform the hizhett 
and mvft invidious, though mof neceflary 
funétions of political authority, it is 
confolatcry to rcfleét, and it connot be un- 
becoming to obferve, that the more pleaf- 
ing duties of bounty and charity have not 
been forgotten, aad that the Britifh Go- 
vernment of this territory is as forward to 
relieve the miferies as to punifh the crimes 
of its fubjects. 
You mutt already have perceived, that 
I am about to {peak of the fuccefsful ex- 
ertions which have been made to avert the 
calamities of famine from our own domi- 
nions, and to alleviate the fufferings of 
thofe wrctched emigrants who have fought 
refuge among us from the famine which 
has laid watte the neighbouring continent. 
What the caufes are which in all ages 
feem to have rendered famine fo frequent 
and fo pecuiiarly fevere in India, is a quef- 
tion of great curtofity, and, indeed, of 
great practical importance, but not very 
Sir Fames Mackintofh’s 
[June 1, 
fit to be examined in this place, and te 
which I have not yet the means of giving 
a fatisfactory anfwer. One general ob- 
fervation, however, I will venture to make. 
The fame unfortunate fate of things ex- 
ifed among our anceftors in Eurepe four 
or five centuries ago,. The fame unfa- 
-vourable feafons which now enly produce 
{earcity, then almof uniformly produced 
famine. Warious caufes have doubtlefs 
contributed to the great and happy 
change which has fince taken place, all of 
them connected . with the progrefs of Eu. 
ropean nations in the arts, in@itutions, 
and manners of civilized life, but the prin. 
cipal caufe is, beyond all doubt, com- 
merce ; for only one of two expedients 
againft dearth can be imagined ; either 
ave muft confume lefs food or we muft pro- 
cure more ; and, in general, both mult be 
combined—we mutt have recousfe both ta 
retrenchment and to importation. Both 
thefe purpofes are effected by commerce. 
The heme trade in grain reduces con- 
fumption, and this it does by that very 
Gperation of enhancing its price, which 
excites fo much clamour among the vulgar 
of ail ranks; and the foreign trade in 
srain makes the abundance of one coun- 
try fupply the wants of another. Thus. 
famine is benifhed from what may pro. 
perly be cailed che commercial world.— 
So powerful and fu beneficial are the ener- 
gies of that great civilizing principle of 
commerce, which, counterated as it 
every where is by the fupid prejudices of 
the people, and by the abfurd and mif- 
chievous irterference of governments, has 
yet accomolithed fo great a revolution in 
the condition of fo large a part of man- 
kind, as totally to exempt them from the 
dread of the greateftcalamiy which af- 
fiigted their anceftors. Whether com- 
merce could effect fo great a change in 
India, I fhall not undertake to determine. 
Pevhaps there. are phyfical difficulties 
which are infuperable, and others arifing 
from the condition and habits of the 
people which would be extremely dificult 
toovercome. Thefe certainly are circum- 
ftances which muft diminifh and retard 
fuch a beneficial change. 
Bet to return from generalities, in 
which I ough: net, perhaps, to have dwelt 
folong.——You are well aware, that, from 
a partial failure of the periodical rains in 
1802, aad from a more complete failure 
in 1803, a famine has arifen in the adjoin- 
ing previness of India, efpecially in the 
territories of the Peithhwa, which I thall 
not aitempt.to defcribe, and which, I be- 
lieve, 
