ing Mr M'Culloch's calculation were as correct as we shall immediately see it is erroneous, that the tea monopoly costs the nation annually L.1,800,000 a-year-still this would have been a small price for so great and lucrative an empire. In what other age was it ever heard of, that, for little more than a million and a half a-year, a dominion was obtained over one of the richest countries in the world, tenanted by a hundred millions of souls, and yielding a revenue of two-and-twenty millions ayear? Compared with this, the conquests of Louis XIV. and Napoleon were costly enterprises; and the acquisitions of all other European states but as dust in the balance.

Reformed Parliament the East India Government.

Now, the way in which this result was obtained was this:-Returns were obtained in 1829 from the consuls at all the chief harbours in the world, of the prices at which teas were sold. It so happened that there was an extraordinary glut, from an accidental cause, at Hamburgh in that year, and that in consequence tea of every sort was selling at Hamburgh below the prime cost at Canton. And this unparalleled low price, in consequence of an extraordinary glut, the Reviewer deliberately put forth as the price at which tea could fairly be sold under a free trade in Great Britain! All this we shall demonstrate as clearly as that two and two make four.

The prices on which the Reviewer founds at Hamburgh, in 1829, were these:t 0 8 per lb.

1 2

But, in truth, the China monopoly has cost the country nothing; and the statements on this subject, by which the public has so long and generally been deluded, furnish one of the most striking instances of the misconception produced by the press, of which modern history makes mention.

The foundation of this mass of misrepresentation is to be found in the well-known article, said to be from the pen of Mr Crawfurd or Mr M'Culloch, in the 104th Number of the Edinburgh Review. In that paper the author states, from a comparison of the prices which tea fetched in 1828-9 at Hamburgh, where the trade is open, over those at which the teas were sold by the Company in London, that the "Company sold their teas in 1828-9 for the immense sum of L.1,709,837 more than they would have fetched had the trade been free."* This statement was instantly seized hold of by the liberal press; the country resounded with the immense sums annually levied on their industry by the cupidity of the East India Company. It was by this means that the impression was produced on the public, which is now looked to as likely to overturn in the

Bohea,
Congou,
Twankay,

1 2

Now, what were the prices at Canton? These have been proved in the Lords' Report, from which it appears that the cost prices in China are

09 per lb.

Bohea,
Congou,
Twankay,

1

21

1 31 Thus it appears that Congou, in that year, was selling at 'exactly the same price in Canton and Hamburgh, and that Bohea and Twankay were, the first a penny, the second threehalfpence cheaper at Hamburgh than in the warehouses of Canton! Nothing can be clearer than that the prices at Hamburgh in that year were the result of an overstocked market, and that tea was sold there at a ruinous loss.

To illustrate this still farther, we hare given below a comparative statement of the prices of teas at Hamburgh and Rotterdam, as shewn in the official returns applied to the

quantities of the several sorts sold by the Company in 1828-9.*

From this table, it appears that the prices at Hamburgh, which the Reviewer held forth as a fair sample of the prices of tea, under a free trade, were no less than £1,309,791 lower than those sold at Rotterdam in the same year, and consular returns. And even these teas at Rotterdam were sold at a grievous loss to the importers; for it is stated in the Report from the select committee of the House of Commons, that "the returns of teas of the Netherlands Association have caused a loss of twenty-five per cent, and that the Dutch private traders have, since 1825, abandoned this trade in consequence of heavy losses."+

Hamburgh.
1s. ld.

Souchong,
Campoi,

2s. 11d. 1 2 2 0 Yet it is these returns that are referred to as supporting the Hamburgh prices, and warranting the monstrous conclusion of Mr M'Culloch," that supposing the excess of price over the Hamburgh prices charged by the Company to have been throughout the same as in 1830, the total surplus price received by the Company since 1814 will have been L 28,815,000!"|| By such means, in these days of liberality and information, are the public instructed.

Species of Tea.

Bohea,

Congou,
Campoi,

Souchong,

Pekoe,

Twankay, Hyson Skin, Hyson, Gunpowder,

But the misrepresentations of Mr M'Culloch and the Edinburgh Review do not rest here. That gentleman observes, in reference to the consular returns-" The extraordinary excess of the Company's prices over those of Hamburgh, Rotterdam, et cetera, is obvious at a glance; but taking the prices at Hamburgh as a standard, the discrepancy may be set in a still clearer point of view."‡ Now, let us take a glance at the prices "at Rotterdam, et cetera," which are here represented, without quotation, as supporting the Hamburgh results, and shewing that they are a fair average :-§

Frankfort. 28. 8d. 2 11

To illustrate this matter still farther, we shall transcribe, for the benefit of our readers, the important tabular view given by Mr Montgomery Martin, in his late elaborate and able work on the Tea Trade of England, of the prices obtained, from the consular returns, for tea in the principal harbours of the world, according to the consular returns of 1829, and the latest prices current of 1832, the cost reduced to sterling money, by Dr Kelly's " Cambist.”

P. 19, Report of Commons. § See Martin, p. 146, 147.

New York. 1s. lld.

6

Boston. 1s. 61d.

Excess of Prices
upon Quantities
Sold.
Li

31,483
671,402

11,841

52,652

14,222

495,639
7,131

25,373
48

L.1,309,791

SALE PRICE OF TEA in ENGLAND and on the Continents of EUROPE and AMERICA, according to the Consular Returns in 1829, and by the latest Price-currents of 1832; the Cost reduced to sterling money by Dr Kelly's Cambist," and by the most respectable mercantile houses.

66

From this important document it is manifest that the prices at which teas are sold by the East India Company, are fully lower than those at which they are furnished by the free traders to the other parts of the world. And if so, what becomes of the boasted statement of the Edinburgh Review, that the China monopoly costs the nation nearly two millions a-year! It is evident that that statement was made on the most insufficient grounds; that the truth, as obtained from the general result, was cautiously suppressed, and a depreciation of price below prime cost palmed off upon an uninformed public as a fair average statement, and a clamour raised against the East

And it is stated in the Report by the House of Commons, "The principle to which the Company look in deter mining what quantity to offer for sale, is the amount of deliveries, and the quantity sold at the previous sale. The supply is said to have more than kept pace with the demand, considerable quantities of tea offered having been withdrawn in consequence of no advance having been offered on the upset price; when the Company augmented their supply, on a complaint of the Scotch deal

1826-27

The average quantity exposed for sale has greatly increased of late years.

Thus, there is a diminution in the American trade to Canton between 1818 and 1826, of nearly Twelve Millions of Spanish dollars.*

But not only has the quantity imported by the Americans been falling off of late years, but the price of

average of three years, 25,028,000 lbs. 28,017,000 lbs.

ers some years ago, the same dealers complained of the increase, owing to their interest being affected by the reduction of the price of their stock in hand."

While the trade with China in the hands of the Company has been constantly increasing of late years, that of the Americans, under the guidance of the Free Traders, has been as steadily diminishing. The American exports and imports to China will demonstrate this.

Exports. 9,041,000

4,363,000

5,677,000

tea in their hands has been rising; while the East India Company has been at once lowering their prices and increasing their supply. The following Table places this in a clear point of view.

L.3,896,000

3,896,871

8,489,000

3,741,000

3,485,000

3,286,000

Thus the price of tea has been constantly rising in America at the time when it has been constantly falling in this country.

The solution of this seeming paradox, so contrary to the dogmas of free trade now so fashionable, is to be found in the combined wisdom and liberality with which the proceedings of the Company have been conducted, and the great experience they have acquired in the conduct of that department of business, from the skill of the officers intrusted with its management, and the unbounded credit of the body carrying it on.

The sales of tea by the East India Company are minutely regulated by several acts of Parliament. The 24 Geo. III. c. 38, obliges the Company to have always on hand, in London, a quantity of tea equal to one year's consumption, and to charge as an addition to the prime cost only freight according to a regulated charge; interest on the one year's stock in hand, insurance and warehouse charges, &c. Experience has now proved, that under these regulations, tea has been furnished to the inhabitants of this country at a cheaper rate than to other countries by the efforts of private traders.

It results from these considerations, that the China monopoly costs the nation literally nothing. This calumniated branch of commerce yields only 14 per cent profit on the

1828.

s. d.

2 8

2 3

1

5

1 6

capital employed on it, and the total profit received is just L.670,000 ayear. This is not more than must be received by private traders who engage in the trade; and what Great Britain has received, without any loss, for allowing it to remain in the hands of the Company, is the magnificent and unexampled Empire of India.

1829.

s. d.

2 7

2 3

1 4

1 7

Such are a few of the considerations, which it is important that the public should have in view in the discussions on the renewal of the Charter which are about to take place. Never, save only when the Reform Bill was under discussion, were such important interests at issue, and never have such efforts been made to mislead the public mind. The present system has worked admirably well for this country, for the East, for the human race. All is now at stake; one false step now taken is irretrievable. We cannot conclude better than in the admonitory words which Mr C. Grant addressed to the British Parliament on a former occasion, when the same interests were at stake. "Let us remember, that if we once embark on a system of speculation, it will not be easy to retrace our steps: If the experiment be once made it is made for all. If we once break down those ramparts, within which we have intrenched the security and the very existence of the Indian people, we can never rebuild the ruins.'

Hansard, xxvi. 439.