[96] Competent authorities state, that the French navy alone will be far more powerful than that of England, when the ships now in course of construction have been completed, and the French navy can be much more concentrated than ours, which must be distributed over the whole world. [97] _The Mail_, Decr. 19th, 1883. CHAPTER XXVI. THE PAGODA TREE. What has become of the Pagoda tree? Is it a myth? Did it ever exist? These are questions which you must have heard over and over again. Have you ever tried to answer them? No! Well! let me do so. The Pagoda tree is _no myth_. It exists, but in a deplorably dilapidated condition, and bears but little fruit. Your car of Jugernāth has crushed its roots; your wheels have excoriated its bark; you have torn down its branches to cremate your victims. You have denied it water and manure. Its vitality has been sadly lowered, but it is not _quite_ dead. Only smash your detestable car of Jugernāth; send your false prophets adrift; and devote a little attention to the cultivation of the Pagoda tree; and it will flourish and bear more fruit than it has ever borne before. Let us drop metaphor a little. India has every requisite for the production of unbounded wealth--for the employment of untold capital. How is it then that, with all the advantages it possesses, its industries languish and struggle for bare existence, and in many cases die out altogether? How is it that, with all its material advantages, it does not enjoy unbounded prosperity? I have no doubt that you will point to the increased exports and imports of India, and claim this as an instance of unbounded prosperity due to Free Trade. I contend that it is wholly due to extension in railways, improvement in facilities of transport, and that with these improvements its prosperity ought to have been enormous. If it be prosperous, why do we have essays on the Poverty of India?[98] Why do Viceroys dwell on the subject of its poverty?[99] Why do its industries languish and die out? India has untold wealth, and wonderful natural resources, whether agricultural, mineral, or industrial, but they are to a great extent dormant.