An Inquiry Into the Practical Merits of the System for the Government of India, Under the Superintendence of the Board of Controul

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1809 Excerpt: ... practices entailed on the natives; for Mr Bolt, in his considerations of India affairs, informs us, that, In the time of the Mogul go vernment, and even in that of the Nabob Alaverdy Khawn, the weavers manufactured their goods freely, and without oppression; and though there is no such thing at present, it was then a common practice for re putable families of the Tanty, or weaver cast, to employ their own capitals in manufacturing goods, which they u sold freely, on their own accounts. There is a gentle man now in England, who, in the time of that Nabob, has purchased, in the Dccca province, in one morning, an establishment of servants at the different aurungs; and, on the effect of competition, in debasing the quality of the commodities brought from the East, as well as in ruining the trade, by eight hundred pieces of muslin at his own door, as brought to him by the weavers, of their own accord. See also Mr Francis's Letter to Lord North, 1777, page 63. Lord Cornwallis says, in his Letter, 1st November 1788, The manufacturers shew a great inclination to quit the Company's employ. November 1788, Mr Bebb says, - The manufacturers prefer the employment of the private agent to that of the Company. By the Gentoo Accounts, it appears, that the manufactures in Bengal were formerly incomparably finer than they are at present; so that they must have fallen off under the Company. There was a sort of muslin, called Abrooan, which was manufactured solely for the use of the Emperor's seraglio, a piece of which, costing 400 Rupees, or L. 50 Sterling, is said to have weighed only five Sicca rupees; and, if spread upon wet grass, to have been scarc...