pending the discussions on the Government of India, and I understand
that it was agreed that the original letter, which countermanded the
improvements, should be withdrawn, and that then the remonstrance from
Colonel Cotton should also be withdrawn. A gentleman who has been in the
Company's service, and who has for some time been engaged in
improvements, chiefly in irrigation, writes in a private letter as
follows:--

'From my late investigations on this subject, I feel convinced
that the state of our communications is the most important
subject which calls for consideration. I reckon that India now
pays, for want of cheap transit, a sum equal to the whole of the
taxes; so that by reducing its cost to a tenth, which might
easily be done, we should as good as abolish all taxes. I trust
the Committees in England are going on well, in spite of the
unbecoming efforts which have been made to circumscribe and quash
their proceedings. Woe be to India, indeed, if this opportunity
is lost! Much will depend upon you--

(the letter was not addressed to myself)--

and others now in England, who know India, and have a single eye
to its welfare. It behoves you to do your utmost to improve this
most critical time, and may God in his mercy overrule all the
efforts of man for its good! What abominations, villanies, and
idiotcies there still are in our system! Is there no hope, no
possibility, of infusing a little fresh blood from some purer
source into these bodies?

(the ruling authorities).