spread over 1,372,450 square miles of the fairest and, probably, earliest
inhabited region of the globe--that maintains a _standing army_ of
1,182,000 men, and levies a revenue of only 11,649,912_l_. sterling--an
empire that has preserved the records of its dominion and the integrity of
its name from a period of three thousand years antecedent to our era,
while the most powerful monarchies of remote or modern ages have dwindled
into nothingness, or been borne towards the ocean of eternity, by the
swiftly destructive gulf of time,--an empire whose people have materially
contributed to advance the civilization of Europe and America, by the
discovery of the most useful arts and sciences, such as writing,[3]
astronomy, the mariner's compass, gunpowder, sugar, silk, porcelain, the
smelting and combination of metals,--and, in fine, enjoying within its own
territories all the necessaries and conveniencies, and most of the
luxuries of life; standing, as it proudly asserts, in no need of
intercourse with other countries,[4] which it is its studied policy to
prohibit,[5] openly and arrogantly proclaims its total independence of
every nation in the world!

_Origin of the Tea Trade of the East India Company_.--In 1668, the East
India Company ordered "_one hundred pounds weight of goode tey_" to be
sent home on speculation. A taste for the Chinese herb was created and
carefully fostered; the invoice was increased from year to year, until it
now amounts to 30,000,000 pounds weight (notwithstanding the excessive
duty of 100 per cent, and the onerous restrictions of the commutation act,
since 1784), yielding an annual revenue to government, on a _luxury of
life_, of about 3,300,000_l_. sterling, with scarcely any trouble or
expense in the collecting;--employing 35,000 tons of the finest
shipping,--requiring annually nearly 1,000,000_l_. sterling worth of
cotton, woollen, and iron manufactures, and affording employment to a
numerous class of society, for the wholesale and retail dealing in a leaf