Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/312

'290 INTEKCOLONIAL COMMERCE. tea intended ultiuiatuly for the consumption of Europe. Tiie principal productions of the Arclii- pelago, which are now sent to China, are of great value compared to their bulk j and the same observation holds respecting those articles of the return cargoes for which there has been hither- to an effectual demand. When, under good go- vernment, the rude productions of the Archi- pelago are cheaply grown and cheaply convey- ed, its corn, raw cotton, and Imnber, will be add- ed to its present list of exportation, and, consti- tuting the staple articles, will give occasion to a great trade, similar to that which exists between Europe and America. From the vitious principles of all the European governments established in the Archipelago, so frequently dwelt upon, no capital has ever been created applicable to such a trade. Of the effect of these principles, we require no more decided proof than in the fact that raw cot- ton, which, in every tropical country having a good soil, has invariably become a staple of exportation, has never done so in the Indian islands, though possessed of a soil of eminent fertility; and al- though having, in China, a nearer and more con- venient market than can be paralleled in the case of any other tropical country. The more liberal go- vernments established by the British, in their con- tinental possessions, have long ago given rise to a capital there which is beneficially employed in the cotton trade to China, though these be so much more 12