lamented that the case admitted of neither consolation nor relief! The good policy of making some provision for the children of the soldiery, is indisputably good; they could not, with propriety, be sent to Europe, both because the expence would be disproportionate to the means of their parents; and, that, in time, a very extensive importation of persons of color would take place among us. The boys are now amply provided for; but the situation of the girls is truly lamentable. It is wonderful, that the Society have never established any factory, in which their minds, as well as their hands, could be employed, while their maintenance would be paid for by the produce of their industry. The only argument I ever could hear urged against such a measure, was, that the price of labor being so cheap throughout India, there could arise but little profit from the exertions of the orphans. My opponents forgot, that where labor is cheap, provisions must be cheap also; consequently, that, under proper guidance, enough might be earned to defray the expence of provision for the whole establishment. I am confident, that, if the refuse, or _ferret_ cloths, manufactured for the Company, were to be handed over, in such quantities as might be in demand, to the female orphans, for the purpose of being worked up into wearing apparel, such as shirts, under-shirts, drawers, pocket-handkerchiefs, neck ditto, upper and under waistcoats, small-cloaths, &c. there would always be so extensive a sale, especially among the lower classes of inhabitants, the sea-faring people, and the fresh arrivals from Europe, that no stock would remain on hand. It is a notorious fact, that if raw silk, after being wound off from the _cocoons_, or pods, were to be given to the orphans to finish, and to reel properly for the Europe market, there would be an immense saving both of the article itself, and of the expences in every part of the adventure; while the institution could not fail to derive the most solid advantages. To prove this, look at the number of mills established in various parts of England, for preparing raw silk for the throwster, &c.: in all these, a portion of refuse is found; on which, however, as well as on the perfect quantity, a very heavy duty has been paid, whereby the commodity is considerably enhanced in price, without being a benefit to the merchant; who is, indeed, rather injured, by the necessity he is under of demanding more for his fabrics, and thus, either deterring purchasers altogether, of enabling the traders of other countries to under-sell him.