ABSTRACT
The cotton industry was the first to experience the technological and financial advances of the industrial revolution and the result was the staggering increase in its manufactured output after 1765. The first government initiative was early in 1786 at the time of the negotiations on the Eden treaty with France. After representations from the manufacturers, Hawkesbury asked the Home Secretary Lord Sydney, to promote the growth of fine cottons in the West Indies. The problem became that of how best to establish sufficient supplies of the finer cottons within the Empire. Another less direct possibility was to transplant the finer varieties of cotton plant from their country of origin to some British overseas territories, and it was this possibility which naturally attracted Sir Joseph Banks. Gujarat was a Maratha territory and although British traders did have some part in the cotton trade carried on through Surat, the cultivation and manufacture of cotton was in Indian hands.
