time to time hereafter, cull from the papers, in that quarter, whatever touches the general subject.

INDIA COTTON CULTURE.

We discussed, at considerable length, last week, the all-important question of a commission to India, to investigate thoroughly the real nature of the impediments that prevent the extension of cotton cultivation in the presidencies most favorable to its growth. Mr. Bright has already presented to the House of Commons, a petition from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, embodying its views on this subject, and praying for a full and impartial inquiry through the medium of a government commission. The honorable member for Manchester has, also, given notice of his intention to move for the appointment of such a commission; and we are glad to see that active exertions are in progress to strengthen his hands, by an effective representation of the opinions of the mercantile classes of Manchester, on this important subject. A petition now lies in the Exchange, which has already received the signatures of upward of two hundred of the principal merchants and manufacturers of this district. The following is the petition:

TO THE HONORABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.

The petition of the undersigned, merchants, manufacturers and other inhabitants of Manchester and Salford, and their vicinities,

Showeth-That, for the last four years, the cotton manufacture of this country, which, in a healthy state, supplies nearly one-half of the whole value of British exports, has been subjected to most injurious disturbances through an inadequate supply of the raw material, for which, from its nature, this country is wholly dependent upon imports from warmer climates.

That it is of vital consequence to every interest in this kingdom, that a trade, in which so vast an amount of fixed capital is embarked, which distributes such immense sums, weekly, among a population dependent on them, and which influences the well-being of every consumer in the State, in proportion as it is in a prosperous or a depressed condition, should be as little as possible liable to pernicious fluctuations from a deficient supply of its first requisite.

That, to engender steadiness of supply, it has become of absolute necessity, that the sources whence cotton may be obtained, should be immediately multiplied.

That, in looking to the countries capable of producing cotton, your petitioners first fix their attention upon India, because the plant is there indigenous, and the cultivation of it has been pursued for centuries. They see, however, with regret, that while the use of cotton manufactures has increased with an almost incredible rapidity, in countries which cannot produce the raw material, India, which has so long possessed the raw material and a population adequate to the production of any quantity, has not, from the inferiority and want of improvement of the quality of her cotton, participated with other and younger countries in the supply of it.

That your petitioners believe that the supineness of India, in the improvement of her cotton, has not arisen from the unfitness either of the soil or climate. The government of India, at great cost and with much apparent earnestness, have endeavored to arouse the native population to a sense of their own interest, in this respect; but the experiments have mainly, if not entirely, failed, and the hopes of relief from that quarter, so hopeful by nature, are becoming faint, and the benefits which a more enlarged intercourse with this country would confer upon India, are repressed.

That it is in evidence before your honorable house, that large portions of India are well suited to the production of cotton-your petitioners are anxious to have it ascertained, by means of an inquiry that may leave no doubt, what have been the causes which have restrained India from so improving the quality of her cotton, as to enable her to compete with the cottons of other countries in the British market; and as such an inquiry could not but be most useful in displaying the economical condition of the people of India, and in providing data whereby your honorable house may, at the proper time, be better enabled to consider whether the system heretofore applied to India is such as is best calculated to excite the energies of the people, to lead to industry and well-being, and to

develop the resources of the country; and being desirous only that the truth should be made manifest, and that errors in government, if errors exist, should be corrected.

Your petitioners humbly pray, that, for the benefit both of this country and of India, and for the useful guidance of the legislature, your honorable house may address her Majesty to appoint, forthwith, a royal commission, to make strict inquiry within the presidencies of Bombay and Madras into the causes which have prevented the increase of the cultivation and the improvement of the quality of the cotton grown within them.

The capabilities of India, for the growth of any quantity of raw cotton, are unquestioned. The difficulties that impede its cultivation, arise from the causes that spring from the very nature of the government, and are remediable only by an entire change in its financial and internal policy. These causes are to be found chiefly in the impoverishment and exhaustion of the material resources of the people-the utter absence of all encouragement, on the part of the government, to any improvement in the means of communication-a wasteful and injurious system of taxation, that strikes at the very root of industrial enterprise, and which denies everything like security or protection to the capital, as well as to the labor, of the cultivator. The government of India assumes to be the landlord of every portion of the soil, and derives the main bulk of its revenue from a direct tax on the produce of the land. Now, if this were a fixed amount, equitably levied, not by an arbitrary assumption on the part of the government, of a right to determine what proportion of the whole produce would constitute a sufficient remuneration for the skill, industry and capital of the cultivator, but on a fair valuation of the intrinsic worth of the mere use of the soil, as an implement of production, this form of taxation would probably be the least injurious in which it could fall upon the tax-payer. But the assessment of the Indian land tax is both arbitrary and capricious. As a rule, it is excessive as well as fluctuating; and the natural consequence is, to deprive industry of all stimulus by destroying the only incentive which can sustain itthe certainty of reaping the full fruits of its own skill and perseverance. Experience sufficiently shows us, in this country, how powerful the tenantcy-atwill system has been in checking agricultural improvements, although the great majority of landed proprietors were not disposed to deal harshly or unjustly with enterprising or improving occupiers. The mere liability to have the fruits of their industry torn from them, has operated like a blight on the energy of our farmers, and maintained the produce of the soil far below its natural capabilities. How, then, must the same principle have worked in India, where the landlord was not the 'squire of the parish, influenced by local ties and associations, but the government of a huge territory, constantly under the pressure of financial exigencies, and interested in raising the largest revenue in the most summary way? How could industry, capital or cultivation, increase under a system where the amount of produce was invariably made the criterion for determining the tax-paying capabilities of any particular district? For this, unquestionably, has been the practice of the Indian government in most of the collectorates. In the able report of the Bombay commission, made three years ago, the evils of a fluctuating assessment to the land tax are very clearly shown. But a much more important fact is also substantiated by the same document, viz. that a ficed assessment, though bearing a large proportion to the gross average produce, than a fluctuating one formed on the actual estimates of each year's standing crop, is much more favorable to cultivation and industry. But the facts stated in this report, not only show the advantages of a fixed, over a fluctuating estimate, but prove, most conclusively, that a low fixed assessment tends rapidly to increase cultivation, and is more favorable to the revenue than a high one. In the collectorate of Broach, the report informs us that the fluctuating was changed for a high fixed assessment; while, in the Shalopore collectorate, a similar change was made to a fair or low fixed assessment. What was the result of this experiment, in the two districts only, in twelve years, with a high but fixed assessment-from 1834 to 1546? In the district of Broach, the total land under cultivation increased only from 590,000 beegas to 610,000; while, in Shalopore, with a low assessment, the quantity of cultivated land increased from 413,000 to 1,713,000 beegas: so that, not only was the revenue obtained from the low assessment much greater than it would have been with a

high one, but the cultivated surface was increased, in this collectorate, above 400 per cent.

A government commission, despatched to India, expressly to investigate the operation of the land-tax assessments in all the cotton growing districts, would supply a vast fund of facts illustrative of the destructive effects of the present loose and arbitrary system of taxation. Whether India can, or, can not, successfully compete with the cotton growing States of America, such an inquiry would, at any rate, conduce most materially to her prosperity, by revealing the real impediments with which our system of government fetters her resources and harasses the industry of her people. The position of Lancashire is every year becoming more critical, and the necessity more imperative for some decisive attempt to ascertain whether or not our possessions in British India can be made conducive to the greater security of our staple manufacture. The accounts, which every successive steamer now brings, from the other side of the Atlantic, with reference to the deficiency of the last cotton crop, and the apparently unfavorable season for the planting of the new one, render it more than ever important that some decisive steps should be taken to render us less dependent upon a single soil and climate for our future supplies. We trust, therefore, that the exertions which are now making will induce the government to accede to the motion of Mr. Bright, and that both the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Commercial Association will cordially co-operate to bring the whole weight and influence of the mercantile community of Manchester to bear upon what we cannot otherwise designate than as a great national necessity.—Manchester Examiner.

CULTIVATION OF COTTON IN INDIA.

As we have repeatedly explained, the transport of cotton from the fields to the port of shipment, as at present conducted, is all but fatal to the character of the staple, and even to the profits of the traders. Until some substitute is found for the miserable bullock-droves, which now supply the only means of carriage, it is quite impossible that a fair trial can be given to the cotton-producing qualities of India. Yet, at this point, also, the personal intervention of English agents might be of infinite service, for their reports would convey authentic information as to facts, and when these facts have been duly appreciated, we are entitled to anticipate with confidence that capital would be no longer wanting to establish all the requisite communications between one port of India and another. At present, the very name of a railroad has been brought into unfortunate disrepute by the results of improvident speculation and scandalous mismanagement. But these miscarriages should serve rather to guide than to deter, and with warnings so impressive, and so fair a field as India for the revival of enterprise, results of a widely different character might be safely expected. Above all, it must be remembered that our choice is not absolutely free. Cotton we must have, and though some aid may be, perhaps, contributed from miner sources, it is evident to all who have considered the subject, that in India alone can be found any permanent or effectual safeguard against such contingencies as have suggested the present remarks.

There is, we fear, little room left for doubting that the apprehensions which have been repeatedly expressed, for the steadiness of our cotton supplies, will receive an unpleasant verification in the imports of the ensuing season. Already have the results of last year's deficiencies become sensible. It is not anticipated that the total shipments to England, from the American ports during the present season, will exceed 1,000,000 bales. They have, hitherto, not reached 950,000; and, indeed, the total exports since the first of last September, have been fully 500,000 bales below those of 1849, and 200,000 below those of 1848. Last year the shipments to England, during the first half of the mouth of April, were 84,000 bales; this year the return, for the corresponding period, gives an export of only 29,000-showing a decrease of nearly two-thirds. Facts, like these, read us an impressive lesson upon our position and our perils. Cotton is scarcely less indispensable to us than corn; whereas, while in one case we can command the resources of the entire globe, by the immutable laws of demand and supply, in the other we are virtually dependent on the produce of a single State and the variations of a single climate. The cotton plant is as liable to injury as the vine, and a bad crop is as probable an event as a bad vintage: yet, against so

disastrous a contingency, in spite of repeated warnings, we have made no provision whatever.

It is true that the attention of the manufacturing districts have been awakened to the hazards of their position, and directed toward the real source of security; but though all parties seem prepared to co-operate in the work, there has been, as yet, nothing effected toward the production of a tangible result. The East India Company has expended vast pains and considerable sums, in testing the agricultural capabilities of their territory; and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce has memorialized government in furtherance of the same ends. It has been ascertained, on one side, that India can unquestionably produce cotton of admirable quality, in abundance, sufficient for all the demands of England; and it is confessed, on the other, that the opening of such a source of supply would be extremely acceptable. To complete the unanimity of purpose, the finances of India are in such a condition that any measure tending to increase the exports and revenue of the country, would be in a high degree opportune and serviceable. If, therefore, certain proceedings would conduce, at one and the same time, to the prosperity of India and the security of Manchester, and are, besides, notoriously practicable, why is the result not achieved without further delay?

The first necessity of a cultivator, is food. In this country, as in most parts of Europe, any agricultual produce can find a market and secure a safe return in money; but in India, the cultivator has no such guarantee. He has no certain market within reach, nor has he the means of transmitting his produce, however intrinsically saleable it may be, to markets at a greater distance. Unless, therefore, his crop be of such a kind as will serve in the last resort for his own consumption, he is liable to the extremities of want. Suppose, for example, that he plants his fields with cotton, and that, by aid of a favorable season, he raises a respectable crop, he is, perhaps, hundreds of miles from the cotton markets of the coast, to which he has no means of access. In other coun ries, such conditions of cultivation would call into being a class of inland merchants, whose trade it would be to purchase the crops on the fields of their growth, and collect them for transmission to the exporters. In India, no such class of agents exist. The inland trader is a man without enterprise, capital or knowledge, who would simply avail himself of such circumstances as we have supposed, to lie in wait for the unfortunate cultivator, and secure his cotton at a nominal price when he was on the verge of starvation. But, by growing edible grains, the ryot escapes such straits as these. In the worst of cases he can pay his modicum of rent in kind, and reserve the remainder of his crop for his own subsistence. By such means, he makes himself independent of merchants or markets-nor can it be any matter of surprise that he adopts them. The consequence is, that, in the interior of the Deccan, where the best cotton lands lie, cotton is not grown upon one field in fifty capable of producing it—and thus, no material supplies have ever found their way to England.

The remedy for this is so obvious and simple, that it scarcely needs to be indicated. What is primarily required, is a class of Indian traders, sufficiently intelligent and provided with sufficient means to take the cotton from the ryot, at a money price, which will renumerate him for his labor, and encourage him to renew the experiment. There is no want of acuteness in the native cultivators. The capabilities of various lands, and the values of various descriptions of produce, are computed and known, to a nicety, and the preference would be invariably given to the more remunerative crops, if there were accessible markets for all. At present, grain of the coarsest kind is grown, not because the land will not bear cotton, but because cotton will not yield food. Whenever such arrangements can be made, that cotton becomes readily convertible into money, it will supercede grain to any extent required. As for the land tax, it will be seen how correct were our calculations in attributing no weight at all to this alleged burden on agriculture. With rent and dues of all kinds, at eighteen pence an acre, no man can well complain of taxation.

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce has thus received a very promising, and certainly not an impracticable, suggestion. The agents of English mercantile houses are stationed all over the world-in all climates, and under all governments-from Hong Kong to Vera Cruz-from Hudson's Bay to the coast of Africa. Why should not such an element of commercial success be introduced into ludia-London Times.

COTTON CULTURE IN THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS.

The following article appears as editorial in Wilmer and Smith's European Times of April twentieth :

"The law of supply and demand, is the leverage which moves the commercial world. When an indispensable article of consumption becomes scarce, the value, as a natural consequence, rises in the market, just as it falls in value when there is a superabundance. Applying this uncontrovertible fact to cotton, you would imagine, to hear certain sapient persons talk, that they desired a bill of indictment against the whole of the southern planters, because they cannot control the seasons, and furnish abundance of the raw material for all the spindles in the world. These grumblers forget that the grower can no more regulate the price of cotton, than he can mete out the sunshine which feeds, or the frost which kills, the plant. The southernors engaged in the cultivation of the staple, might justly retort upon the lords of cottonopolis, in the language of the ancient Briton: If Cæsar can hide the sun with a blanket, and put the moon in his pocket, we'll pay tribute to him for light.'

"At the same time, when the equilibrium of prices has been destroyed by an unlooked for casualty-when exclusive dependence upon a particular country, for an essential article of commerce, is found to interfere with the legitimate course of capital and labor-it becomes, not only necessary, but imperative, to look elsewhere for a supply, fully equal to the requirements of the times, so as to be provided for every contingency; and in this spirit we can discern nothing to censure, but, on the contrary, much to commend, in the pains which are now taken to procure a supply of cotton from other parts of the world, to compensate for the unquestionable deficiency of the American crop.

"Much has been said and written about the capabilities of India, to send us as much cotton as we require, and, to a certain degree of faith in the capacity of that country, may be traced the anxiety with which the public has watched the formation of Indian railways, and the eagerness with which the progress and commpletion have been regarded. The East India Company has partaken largely of this feeling, and has extended a helping hand to two companies which have taken the field, and for which acts of Parliament were passed in the last season. One of these companies will cut a line from Calcutta to Delhi ; the other a line from Bombay to Kalliar, in the direction of the great cotton field of Ghauts. These undertakings may be regarded as in practical operation, for the East India Company has guaranteed a dividend on the outlay, which makes their completion a matter of certainty. A third line from Madras to Arcot is also projected; but whether it will struggle into existence is, at present, somewhat questionable. Nevertheless, grave doubts exist, whether the best internal communication in the world would enable India to grow cotton in quantities sufficient to affect the price in the home market. At present India grows little more than is required for its own consumption and the export trade to China; and as to quality, it is impossible, under any circumstances, that the cotton of India can ever compete with the long staple of America.

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“Port Natal is also mentioned, with encouragement, as a cotton growing district; but the smallness of the population, and the fact that no vessel has ever yet sailed from D'Urban, the only port in the colony, direct to England, shows that a long period must elapse ere its developments can produce tangible results. The most feasible scheme of the many which has been broached, is one put forward by the owners of property in British Guiana. The West India Association, in their petitions to parliament, as well as in their memorial to the colonial secretary, make out a strong case on belialf of the West Indies generally, and of Demarara more especially. The labor question is at the bottom of all our West India difficulties. Every plan adopted since the emancipation of the black population, to secure a sufficiency of labor, has failed, and the association ask, through Mr. F. Sand, their chairman, permission to engage blacks on the coast of Africa, on the plan which the British factories on the river Bonny adopt with the natives of the Kroo coast-namely, to hire them, say for five years, at the expiration of which they can return, if they desire it, to their native country. In the estimation of many persons, this would be equivalent to a renewal of the slave trade; but if similar arrangements were permitted in the case of the coolies, and in the one referred to that of the Kroo blacks-we can see no sufficient reason why precautions might not be taken on the African