ITS STATE AND PROSPECTS. BY EDWARD THORNTON, Esq. LONDON: PARBURY, ALLEN, & CO., LEADENHALL STREET. 1835. PREFACE. THE Act which last year passed the British Legislature, "for effecting an Arrangement with the East-India Company, and for the better Government of His Majesty's Indian Territories," has created an era in the history of those territories; and seems to afford a fitting opportunity for taking a view of their situation and resources. Such an attempt can scarcely be regarded as unnecessary when it is recollected, that the majority even of the best-informed of our countrymen are either entirely ignorant of the subject, or but superficially acquainted with it. Neither our long intercourse with India, nor the splendour of our commerce b |