In accepting the invitation of a friend to read you a paper on the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial resources of India, I wish to explain that during my short residence there of seven years—for seven years is but a short time for learning muchof that country—my attention was devoted almost exclusively to this subject, andas I carried out with me a practical knowledge of public works, their adaptation to particular purposes, their forms and cost, and their utility in developing the resources of a country, I feel some confidence in my ability to speak to the purpose of these coarse and material yet important affairs—important, because they affect not merely the physical comforts and enjoyments of a people, but also their moral and intellectual condition; the material prosperity of a man providing him not merely with food, clothing, andshelter, but also leisure, and its necessary adjuncts, for the promotion of his mental and social enjoyments. I have, therefore, accepted the invitation of my friend, not willingly alone, but gladly, partly from my having devoted much time to these affairs, but more especially as my strongest passion on any public question is the desire to promote the welfare of the people of India, particularly that of the predial classes, of whose simplicity of character, truthfulness, and honesty I have received the most favourable impressions.