Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/358

 342 INTERCOLONIAL COMMERCE. exports of the Indian islands to Bengal have been valued at the yearly amount of L. 429,4-0, and the imports at L. 530,880. The trade between Madras and the Indian islands is much smaller. The exports from the Indian islands to Madras have been valued at L. ^80,000, and the imports at L. 205,000. The chintzes and cotton goods of Madras were at one time imported in large quan- tities into the Indian islands, but were in time supplanted by the cheaper manufactures of Bengal, as the latter have been by those of Britain. The value of the exports from the Indian islands to Bombay have been reckoned at L. 131,000, and the imports, consisting of a few Surat cloths and other trifles, at about L. 45,600. Since this esti- mate was formed, the exports have greatly increased, and large quantities of coffee, sugar, and even pepper, are now sent thither from Batavia. According to the statement just given, the total exports from the Indian islands to the Continent of India, in the country trade, will be L. 840,000 Sterling, and the imports L. 781,400. It is probable that the country trade of India, in all its branches, will decline, when the capital and enterprise of Great Britain are allowed to come into fair competition with it. It has owed its rise, in a great measure, to the unjust exclusion of that capital and enterprise, through our absurd system of regulation. The country gains no military