The Letters of Gracchus on the East India Question — John Shaqi
The Letters of Gracchus on the East India QuestionMiles, William Augustus
History
The Letters of Gracchus on the East India Question
Miles, William Augustus
East India Company; India -- Politics and government -- 1765-1947
The Rajah of Mysore (and, in the same manner, many of the Serdars of
that state), is frequently clothed in scarlet cloth; his servants are
generally dressed in woollen of that colour; and he often travels in an
English carriage, driven by postillions, who are habited in the English
costume. The Rajah of Tanjore exhibits in his palace a colossal marble
statue of himself, wrought by the hand of Flaxman; and the monument of
his revered Mentor, the late celebrated missionary Swartz, sculptured by
the same eminent artist, was executed and sent to Tanjore, at the
express and urgent desire of that enlightened Prince.
We must further observe, that so far are the religious and civil habits
of the Hindoos from obstructing the intercourse of trade, that their
policy has connected trade with religion; and the great festivals of
their worship, are at the same time the appointed periods and scenes of
their most active commerce. Jaggernaut, Ramisseram, Tripetty, are the
most celebrated places of Hindoo devotion within the British dominions;
and every one who has resided in India must know, that _fairs_ are held
at those places at the periods, when the greatest concourse of pilgrims
is drawn to them by the celebration of their religious rites and
ceremonies. In further illustration of the disposition of the natives to
traffic, in every way by which profit can be derived, the following fact
may be stated; which can be attested by every officer who served with
the army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (now Marquis of Wellington), against
the Mahrattas, in 1803. The distant and severe service in which that
army had been engaged, had exhausted the store of European necessaries
with which it had advanced against the enemy; and the officers arrived
at Poonah, almost destitute of those comforts and accommodations. But
they found the native merchants of that capital provided with the most
essential of those several articles, and they were soon supplied,
through the agency of those merchants, with every thing for which they
had occasion. Poonah is the capital of a Brahmin government; and,
therefore, this single fact would serve to furnish a complete answer to
every thing that has been asserted, against the practicability of
introducing and extending the manufactures of Europe into every part of
Hindostan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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