e
country would have to make up for the loss of the revenue by
submitting to some other mode of direct or indirect taxation. There is
an inconsistency in the statements of the Court of Directors, which is
absolutely amusing. "The free cultivation of the poppy," say the
Directors, "would doubtless lead to the larger outlay of capital, and
to greater economy in production; but the poppy requires the richest
description of land, and its extended cultivation must therefore
displace other products." How very considerate on the part of the
Directors, but how strongly at variance with facts, since all the fear
of displacing other products, and all this appropriation of the
richest description of land for other purposes has not prevented the
Indian Government, within less than ten years, from more than doubling
the cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium. The
Directors tell us that the heavy transit duty charged at Bombay is to
discourage production, but they do not say whether that discouragement
applies, as one would imagine, to those foreign districts which have
to pay the transit duty for their production. If so, the assertion is
again at variance with facts, because in a subsequent statement they
say, "It is stated that neither the price of opium, nor the extent of
cultivation in Malwa, has been affected by the great enhancement of
the pass duty, which has taken place since 1845."

The following will show that the Company loses no opportunity of
applying the screw:--

The subjugation of Scinde afforded opportunity for the levy of a
higher rate. Down to the period of that event, a large portion of
the opium of Malwa had been conveyed through Scinde to Kurrachee,
and thence onward to the Portuguese ports of Diu and Demaun. That
route is now closed, and it was reasonably expected that an advance
might be made in the charge of passes without the risk of loss to
the revenue from a diminished demand for them. The rate was
accordingly increased in October, 1843, from 125 to 200 rupees per
chest. Upon the principle that it was desirable to fix the price at
the highest amount that could be levied, without forcing the trade
into other channels, a further increase was made in 1845. when it
was determined that the charge should be 300 rupees per chest. Under
the like views it was, in 1847, raised to 400 rupees per chest.

The company was perfectly correct, for though