Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/483

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 467 subject of exclusive trade, for the assumed benefit of the state. This system is too palpably vitious to deserve particular exposure. The sultans of Palembang paid six Spanish dollars a picul for tin, and sold it for 12 Spanish dollars. The profit upon, say 60,000 piculs, was, therefore, Spanish dollars 360,000, or L.8 1,000. Under the British administration, 10 dollars a picul were paid, in- cluding all charges ; and the tin, after being trans- ported to Batavia, was sold at 15 Spanish dollars. If from this we deduct one dollar for expence of transportation to that place, and incidental charges attending it, and take the average produce at 30,000 piculs, the profit was but 120,000 Spanish dollars, or L.27»000, against which was to be de- ducted the interest of money advanced to the mi- ners, the whole civil, naval, and military expences of the island, with its share of the expence of the general government of all the European establish- ments, of which it is a part. As a mere fiscal ar- rangement, therefore, it is evident that the com- mercial monopoly will not bear a moment*s exami- nation. It is not the rent of the mine, the value paid for the productive power of the earth in mineral, that, either in Cornwall or in Banca, put the min- ing adventures in motion. In Cornwall, the ca- pital of private adventurers is the fund on which the mining adventures are conducted j and the