We cannot better conclude these observations, than by applying the circumstantial evidence which they afford, to Mr. Dundas's letter of the 2d April 1800; in which that Minister admitted the fact, of a _progressively increasing_ consumption; but, at the same time, conceived, that the _customs of the natives_ would prescribe _limits_ to its extension. "I do not mean to say," says he, "that the exports from this country to India have not been _very considerably increased of late years_; and I make no doubt that, from recent circumstances, _they may be still considerably increased_. But the prospect, _from the causes I have already referred to_, must always be a limited one." What these causes are he thus explains:--"The export trade to India can never be extended to any degree, proportionate to the wealth and population of the Indian Empire; neither can the returns upon it be very profitable to individuals. Those who attend to _the manners_, _the manufactures_, _the food_, _the raiment_, _the moral and religious prejudices of that country_, can be at no loss to trace _the causes_ why this proposition must be _a true one_." The evidence which has been produced demonstrates, that neither the manners, raiments, nor prejudices of Hindostan, are of a nature to impede the introduction of articles of European manufacture; and it thus proves, that _the causes_ assigned for the limitation of our export trade, are not calculated to impose any such limitation. What, then, it may be asked, are the causes, why the consumption of the manufactures of Europe in India has in no degree kept pace with the extension of our territories, and of their population? The examination of this branch of our subject would carry us to too great a length on the present occasion, and will therefore best be reserved for a separate communication. GRACCHUS. LETTER IX. _Saturday, March 20, 1813._ In searching for the _causes_, which have prevented an extensive introduction of the British manufactures into the countries subject to the dominion or influence of the British Crown in India, it naturally occurs; that no measure appears ever to have been concerted, for the general purpose of alluring the attention of the natives of India to the articles of European importation. This neglect, has evidently arisen from the opinions which have been so erroneously entertained, concerning the civil and religious prejudices of the Hindoos. The evidence of Mr. Colebrooke has been adduced, to prove that those opinions are wholly unfounded; the following extracts from the Travels of Forster, in the years 1782-3, will further evince, that the Hindoos, far from entertaining any indisposition to engage in commercial dealings with strangers, have widely extended themselves in different foreign countries for that express purpose.