Page:Madras Journal of Literature and Science, series 1, volume 6 (1837).djvu/192

170 appear not the least satisfactory point having frightened Mr. Bell. I must take the liberty of beginning at the end of Mr. Bell's paper, and proceeding upward; by this method we discover the source of Mr. Bell's alarm, namely, the great and increasing prosperity of Bombay. Mr. Bell may be assured that I have very good authority for estimating the trade in cotton at very nearly three crores. He says 'the external commerce of Bengal has not for many years been so brisk as at this moment, but Bombay will beat us hollow (hinc illæ lachrymæ!) if she takes such vast strides, &c. &c.

Here we put it to our readers, to Dr. Lush himself, now that the irritation under which he penned that passage has subsided, to say whether he would be satisfied with such an answer from another, or if that is meeting the question fairly. The accuracy of a statement of his, presumed to rest on official returns, is called in question, on the faith of the correctness of official authorities, open to all, which seems incontestably to prove that his statement is a greatly exaggerated one; and how is the objection met? not by producing his authority, but by telling his readers that Mr. Bell may be assured his statement rests on good authority! This may be satisfactory to him, but not to us; the more so, when we find that, at the rate of sixty-two and a half rupees per candy of 500-lbs., it amounts to the enormous quantity of 340 millions of pounds; or more, by a million, than the estimated produce of the whole of India, and more than half (nearly six-ninths) the produce of the United States.

We trust Dr. Lush will not accuse us of envying the prosperity of Bombay, for we can assure him that none can more heartily rejoice in her success than we shall, when he makes good his assertion, by the production of adequate authority; but, until he does so, we must be excused for withholding our belief in its accuracy, and adding that we think he has weakened all the other statements adduced in reply to Mr. Bell's objections, by shirking the only one which, if his authority be such as he alleges, could have been answered to the satisfaction of all parties, by their immediate production. Having thus far followed Dr. Lush in beginning with the end of Mr. Bell's paper, partly we confess, with a view to show how much he has lost the vantage ground on which Mr. Bell's premature attack placed him, by descending from the elevated tone of scientific discussion to the dogmatizing one of his antagonist; a departure from decorum which can only be excused by allowing for the feeling of injustice done him, under which the reply is dictated; we shall now return to the beginning, and notice a few only of the leading points of difference between them.

After a careful perusal of the whole series of Dr. Lush's papers, it appears to us that their sole object is to prove that labour and care